Hel will walk over to the farmhouse and see if she can find any people.

The farmhouse has some people! There's somebody outside washing a window. He's got purple hair and is wearing a work uniform. He looks around at the sound of footsteps.

Hel waves, awkwardly and uncertain. She's in a somewhat ragged looking, oversized sweater and loose sweatpants. More notable is the fact that she is a skeleton.

The guy with purple hair clearly has no idea how to respond to that. "Hell of a costume," he offers after an uncomfortably long silence.

"Costume?" Hel looks down at herself. She's pretty sure her clothes are normal ... but she also seems to be on the Surface so ... "You're not familiar with Monsters?"

"No, I don't watch a lot of movies, is it really big with the kids these days or something?"

"Uh ... no ... I'm a Monster. Like ... I'm actually a skeleton? Could you tell me where I am?"

"Ha, ha, ha. Anyway, you're on Chansu'a farm, miles from Shapto, how'd you get here?"

"I actually don't know! I was in the lab heading to my room ... "

"That's... weird. Did you get hit over the head or something? Take anything from a stranger in a bar?"

"No skull damage ... and I've never been to a bar. Um ... where is Mount Ebott? That's where I'm from ... "

"...well I can't pronounce that so it's probably not anywhere in Tapa."

Well, that's a problem! And she doesn't remember "Tapa" from any of her Geography lessons, so she has no idea where she is.

"Huh ... Are there any scientist-type people I can talk to?"

"On... the farm? Unless you want the ag engineer you're fully out of luck."

"I assume an ag engineer wouldn't know about multiverses or causality or that sort of thing. I don't know how things work up here ... do you know how I could get to somewhere with people like that?"

"I guess you could take the shuttle to the train station, it next runs in a half-hour. They might want you to ditch the costume, it's pretty freaky."

"Not a costume, just how I look. And I don't want to cause a problem for anyone ... so you think I should disguise myself somehow? Also will I need to pay? I have some G but I don't know if that'll work here - in fact I assume it won't."

"The shuttle's free but the train's not. Are you telling me you're some kind of real live alien? Do you have magic or anything like that, I'm going to feel real dumb if I haul a bunch of government nonsense over here to deal with a real alien made of bones and you're just pretending too hard."

"I guess you could call me an alien. And I mean ... all Monsters have magic, we're made of it, but ... mine is fairly weak. Especially right now. The most I can really do is ... "

She demonstrates her magic by creating a small bone in her hand. It's white with a slight green tint and is about the size of her forearm, and is shaped vaguely like a femur.

"Yeah okay I'm gonna call the government on you and they'll figure out what's what. You good to stay put for a bit?"

"Sure. I don't really have anywhere else to go. Or be. You have anywhere I can wait?"

"I mean like literally right there without going anywhere you haven't been yet."

"Oh. Uh, sure. I can stay here. Is it alright if I ... sit? Or do you want me to stay standing?"

"Sitting's fine. Do you need... anything? Like do you eat? Or... know if our food would poison you."

"I know I'm a skeleton but yes, I eat. I doubt your food would poison me, and something to snack on would be nice. It's been ... a while ... since I ate last. Some type of shade would be nice, too ... I'm not really used to the sun. Thank you ... Sorry to be so troublesome."

"Just tell the government people I was nice and they'll probably give me a big chunk of change." He drags over a half-empty water barrel that'll cast enough shade for her to sit in and fetches a bag of chips.

"I can do that," she says with a smile. "Thank you."

She munches on the chips while she waits.

The purple takes some pictures of her.

It's about twenty minutes before a helicopter roars into view.

Hel's sockets go wide at the noisy machine, and she glances to see if the person she was talking to is alarmed ... because she's alarmed, but maybe the loud flying thing is normal here.

"That looks like the government to me," says the purple, at her questioning look. "Ugh, they're gonna land on the tomatoes. Figures."

She nods in acknowledgement, then frowns as the helicopter lowers. "But ... if they land on the tomatoes ... won't that damage them? I would think they'd go out of their way to avoid damaging food crops."

"Yeah, they're gonna crush some of them. They'll probably pay the farm but it's such a waste. I guess it's not like we have a helipad."

"I see ... Guess you have more food than we do where I'm from. I probably should have asked this earlier, but what do you think they're gonna do with me? Guess I figured it wasn't really worth worrying about but ... " she trails off, uncertain.

"Yeah, I don't know - like, they're not gonna hurt you, you're a fucking, magical alien!" The helicopter touches down. "That's important! But they'll want you somewhere they can keep an eye on you and to figure out where you came from and stuff."

"That's good, at least. The no hurting part, I mean. And I being 'observed' isn't exactly a new experience for me, so ... " She shrugs and stands up. "Um, thank you, again. My name is Helvetica, by the way, rude of me to not introduce myself."

"Can I just call you Tika, that's pronounceable. Probably they'll have linguists who can say all the weird noises but not me."

"Sure! I usually shorten it to Hel, but I like 'Tika'. And if it's easier to pronounce, all the better."

She watches the helicopter, trying to hide her anxiety. Probably failing.

The helicopter disgorges a few people with white and grey hair, in silvery uniforms; they assess the state of the tomatoes she walked through, and cut down the plants they conclude she may have brushed in her path to the house. They are followed by a woman with green hair and a man with blue hair.

She wraps her arms around herself as she waits, uncertain how to approach. Showing proper respect for "authority" has always been complicated, but waiting quietly rarely goes wrong.

They seem fine with her waiting quietly!

After they've killed all the tomato plants she might have touched, they reach where she's been sitting. The uniformed greys don't address her but form a perimeter around the area; the blue and green walk up to her. "I hear you already speak Tapap!" says the blue, smiling.

"I guess I do because I can understand you!"

"Aww, rats," says the green, but in a good-humored way. "How'd you pick it up?"

"No idea. Honestly I thought I was speaking English. Could be magic?" She shrugs a little helplessly.

"Could be!" says the green.

"This is Papenna, our linguist, and I'm Kato. Is how you are a skeleton and able to - move around and such - also magic?" asks the blue.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Helvetica. And yes, I'm made of magic."

"...and also bones? Bone-shaped magic? Magical bones?"

"I think 'bone-shaped magic' is the best description. Magical bones would probably be more like this ... " She demonstrates her magic again.

"- do any of these bones come from anywhere? Have they ever belonged to a creature that was non-magically alive?"

"Nope! They're made from mana, which is produced by my Soul."

"I'm so curious why the bone form factor, is that a deliberate choice or practical for some reason -" says Papenna.

"We can talk about that on the ride to Shapto!" smiles Kato. "Let's get out of these poor tomato farmer's hair, shall we?"

"Lead the way," she says. She smiles at the farmer one last time. "Thanks again, for everything."

"No problem!" says the farmer. "I'm Takta Fan!"

"I'll bear that in mind," says Kato with a disarming smile.

Hel follows them into the helicopter, trying to hide how nervous she feels.

"Since you're not too far off from an Amentan in size and shape, probably the safety restraints will work the same for you!" says Kato. "Let me show you." He buckles himself in.

"Thanks! I've never been in ... well ... anything like this." She mimics him to buckle herself in.

"It's one of the fastest ways to get places, but it's not always a smooth ride, and this keeps us from jostling into each other.

"I'd been hoping to hear why the bones form factor," Papenna reminds Helvetica as they take off.

"Most Monsters have bullets - that's what that bone I showed you is called - that are somehow connected to them. Froggits' magic looks like flies, Woshuas' look like soap and bubbles, Vulkins' look like fire ... Not that you know what any of those are. And it doesn't always follow. So probably because I'm a skeleton? But I'm not sure."

"I meant, why are you a skeleton in the first place, though separately I'm so puzzled by the 'bullets' translation, what do you use them for?"

"Oh! Um ... That's somewhat complicated because I wasn't ... born? That seems like the best word ... like most Monsters. I was created in a lab. The person who donated the physical material to do this was a skeleton, so that's what I am, too. For bullets ... They can be used either defensively or offensively - hence the name 'bullet' - but most Monsters don't use them that way. Instead they're mostly used as a form of self-expression. Some Monsters work hard to make beautiful and complex patterns of bullets, for example."

"Patterns of them? Like you arrange them as a mosaic?"

"Sort of! It's a bit more interactive than that. Bullets are fused with a Monster's intent - if a Monster wants to hurt you, they can make their bullets hit harder. But it works the other way, too! If a Monster means no harm, they can make their bullets be relatively painless to touch - some do no harm at all. A lot of times the patterns are meant to be dodged, not just observed. The complexity is often dictated by who is receiving the pattern. Someone who knows your skills and abilities well might send an intricate, complex pattern that pushes the limits of your skills - observation, reaction time, that sort of thing. They'll use a lot of different techniques or add different colors of magic to the pattern, which have to be interacted with differently than just dodging. Someone who barely knows you may only send something simple."

"So it's a martial art, or a dance?"

"I'd say more like a martial art."

"All right - I'd love to see some of it at some point but I don't think I'd be especially good at avoiding bones, maybe we can get a dancer or someone who does an Amentan martial art in for demonstrations at some point?"

"I can try ... but to be honest I'm not actually very good at magic. My mana well is small, so I don't have much to work with." She looks away, obviously embarrassed and ashamed by this. "I also have a disorder that means my mana is further restrained ... it's ... well, like a lot of things involving me, it's complicated." She sighs and looks up with a strained smile. "If we can figure out how I got here and can replicate it ... I know someone who would love to show you his bullet patterns."

"We'd love to figure that out too! Do you have any ideas what was going on on your end at the time?"

"I know the Royal Labs - which is where I grew up and is where I was before I showed up here - had a machine that was being worked on. It was supposed to break the Barrier, but it looked like it might have been doing something with combining or connecting different parts of the multiverse? I don't understand it much, myself.

"And because I know you'll ask: The Barrier is the result of a sealing spell that has trapped monsters under Mount Ebott for centuries ... possibly millenia? I'm not entirely sure how long it's been. There are only a handful of monsters still alive from back then, but one of them - our king, Asgore - is essentially immortal, and the others are all from long-lived bloodlines. The most we really understand about it is that things can enter but can't leave unless they have the soul of both a boss monster - basically an exceptionally powerful monster, like the king - and the soul of a human. Or power equal to that. To break it we need the magical equivalent of seven human souls."

"What's a human - and a soul, for that matter -" says Papenna.

"You'd mentioned you were made in a lab, but that this isn't customary; what is customary?" asks Kato.

"Humans ... they look kinda like you. They're a sentient species that lives on the Surface of my world. A long time ago they waged war against us. We lost. Now most of what we know of them comes from things that fall into the Underground. Old magazines and books, stuff like that.

"Souls are a sort of metaphysical organ, and are the culmination of our beings. It's where my magic comes from, although I don't fully understand how that works. As far as I know, all sentient beings have a soul. If you think it would be helpful, once we're in a more ... secure place, I can manifest mine as long as no one touches it. Human souls are shaped like this," she draws a cartoon heart shape in the air with her fingers, "and monster souls are inverted from that. Most monster souls are white or have very pale coloring, while human souls have a very strong color.

"And finally, when two monsters want to have a child they'll soulbond or mate, combining their souls together to bud off a souling that gestates in one of their parents until birth."

"Huh!" says Papenna. She's taking notes on her pocket everything.

"I imagine it's hard to know what the war was about if it was so long ago," says Kato.

Hel shakes her head.

"It's pretty well known, at least in the Underground. It was fought over magic and souls. When monsters die our souls disappears almost immediately, but human souls remain stable outside their body. Monsters, being mostly magic, can absorb human souls and use their power. Humans were afraid of us because of this. As far as I'm aware, this has only ever happened once, long after the war, in a tragedy that claimed the lives of the king and queen's son and adopted human child. But humans were afraid of the very possibility of monsters gaining power this way, and they attacked us."

"What do you use the power for in general?" asks Papenna.

"We use magic for all sorts of things! Monsters who can will often use fire magic to cook, and some monsters can use their magic to heal. Woshuas like to use their magic to clean things, and Vegetoids use theirs to produce food. The Royal Guard uses magic to keep the peace and uphold justice. I know some monsters use gravity magic to do help with things like construction. Most of our food is magic, and our energy grid is partially fueled by magic. It's a lot of little day-to-day things."

"That sounds amazing, it must lead to a completely different way of life than we have here without any magic!" squeaks Papenna.

"Could be! We still have a lot of problems. Plant monsters like Vegetoids don't do great without sunlight, and the Underground doesn't have any. We're pretty space-restricted because of the Barrier. And Hope - which is as necessary for monsters as air, it fuels our souls - is dwindling, which means a lot of people have fallen down.

"But magic does make a lot of things easier."

"Hope - is that just, the emotion of hope, I don't fully understand how you're speaking Tapap..."

"That's a good way of describing it, honestly. I've heard that humans have expressions like 'dying of a broken heart'. I don't know if that's something here or not, but where for humans it seems largely metaphorical, for monsters it's a real thing."

She takes a deep breath before continuing. "Losing hope is extremely dangerous. We have a general scale for 'hope' - which we shorten to 'HP' a lot of the time. My HP is 20, which is low. The other two skeletons I know have HPs of 680 and 1. The captain of the Royal Guard's HP is somewhere around 1500, I think. There's a big range. As a general rule, though, the higher the number, the stronger and healthier you are."

"Please let us know right away if there's anything we need to do to be psychologically supportive!" says Kato.

"I will! Thank you!

"Can I ask you some questions? RIght now I'm just wondering where we're going and how long will it take to get there? And what's gonna happen once we're there? I got the impression you might want to study me?"

"We're going to Shapto. Of course we want to know more about you, but we can make lots of progress on that just by asking questions, and you should feel free to ask us about anything you want to know, too. We'll land in about five more minutes and then we'll take a car to a house we've set aside for you, but we can reshuffle the living arrangements pretty much however you'd like, the procurers of the house haven't had a chance to be apprised of anything magic bone people need."

"An entire house? I ... thank you! That's ... far more than I was expecting. I don't think I have any special needs - food and water, shelter, clothes ... I like reading, but I don't know if whatever is letting me speak the same language as you will overlap with being able to read."

"Ooh, let's check," says Papenna. She turns her pocket everything around; it says this is a sentence in Tapap.

Hel reads it normally.

"Huh, I guess that answers that question! So, yeah, I like reading."

Absentmindedly she rubs at her right forearm through her sweater.

"We can get you lots of books," Kato assures her. "What kinds do you like most?"

"What's technology like where you're from?" Papenna asks as the helicopter descends.

"I've never had a big selection choice, so I'll read just about anything? But I like stories more than textbooks.

"As for technology ... Um, actually ... let me see if I can show you my cellphone." Hel quietly stares straight ahead for a moment before a blocky flip-phone appears in her hand. She flips it open and checks something before offering it to Papenna. "I hadn't even though to try checking my inventory before, glad to see I still can, even if I don't have service here. Anyway, this is my cellphone! It's an older version that can only do calls and messaging. Newer versions can connect to the Undernet and dimension boxes.

"I think my inventory counts more as magic than technology. It's a sort of ... dimensional pocket that I can access to hold things to pull out later. Most monsters use it like I do - in place of a backpack or bag, or instead of pockets or wallets. Dimension boxes are a technological version of the same idea.

"We don't really have vehicles like this, but cars and planes exist on the Surface. Our only method of transportation beyond walking is a ferry that connects the Underground. And some elevators and air vents in Hotland. Although I don't think anyone actually likes the vents? They're really annoying, actually.

"Our biggest feat of engineering is probably the Core. Which is a technomagical generator that uses geothermal and ambient magical energy to power the Underground. It doesn't supply everywhere - there are parts of Waterfall that don't have power, for example - but it covers probably 80%?

"Our media is largely television and radio, with the biggest star - really, our only star - being Mettaton, who's a robot with an artificial soul. He was created by our Royal Scientist, Alphys.

"I think that hits the biggest things ... "

She seems calmer as the helicopter settles on solid ground again.

"Wow, an inventory just like an RPG character, that sounds so convenient," says Papenna, unbuckling herself when the helicopter stops. She peers at the cellphone. "Looks like a precursor to a pocket everything, more or less. We have TV here too, and radio, though the sound quality on conventional radio is such that most people prefer digital options these days for their audio content."

Hel nods as she unbuckles as well. "We don't use radio much at all, honestly. The King doesn't do many broadcasts, and MTT - Mettaton - prefers visual media, so radio is fairly obsolete. I know some monsters still use it, but most get their media through the TV, which is a wired connection. "

She follows Papenna and Kato out of the helicopter.

They lead her to an elevator - the greys also squeeze in - and descend. "Do you think you'd be able to render a decent map of the Underground?" asks Kato.

"Probably. It's not very big."

"How many monsters are there living in it, about?"

"Five hundred thousand or so? Less than a million. "

"That is pretty small! Do you have a guess how many humans there are?"

"A lot more than us monsters! I'm pretty sure they're into the billions."

"Us too," says Kato. The elevator reaches the garage; they get into a car which has a purple chauffeur waiting already.

Hel slides into the car and buckles herself in.

"I can barely imagine a population that big."

"It probably won't come up that much exactly how many we are, since we're spread out all over the continent, but you might want to take the Internet a bit slow if you're used to a much smaller version."

"I'll keep that in mind! The Undernet is pretty small. It's basically a single social network that lets people keep in touch with one another and a few personal pages."

"Was it invented by monsters? I'm having a hard time imagining it making sense to invent in such a small population in a small confined space," says Papenna.

"Yeah, it was. I don't know who exactly invented it, and computers themselves were sort of reverse-engineered from what fell into the Underground from the surface, but the Undernet itself was made by monsters. My best guess is it was made by the spiders. There are two large colonies that are separated by most of the Underground, but are still closely related to one another. Before the Undernet, they had a lot of trouble communicating with each other.

"There are also a lot of monsters who can't communicate with words, and some who also can't communicate with Hands, so having another way to talk was useful. It also it gave some of the more reclusive monsters ways to connect to the larger Underground as well.

"Mostly monsters use the Undernet to post little thoughts or status updates throughout the day. Opinions on Mettaton's shows, complaints about opinions on Mettaton's shows, that sort of thing."

"Sounds like those shows are a big cultural touchstone, what do they tend to consist of?"

"A little bit of everything. I Fell In Love WIth A Killer Robot is a romantic comedy, The Killer Robot Who Loved Me is a psychological thriller. Cooking With a Killer Robot is a cooking show. He has a game show that mostly revolves around explosions called Find the Bomb ... He's the main source of news - MTT Nightly News - but since little ever happens in the Underground most of the news is just him aggrandizing himself, usually promoting his newest thing. Basically, if it has explosions, chainsaws, and Mettaton, he does it."

"...that's a lot of, uh, killer robots," remarks Kato after a silence.

"Mettaton is the killer robot in question, so it's just the one, actually."

"He... kills people?" says Papenna.

"Is he a robot or is he a robot themed monster?" says Kato.

"He's supposed to kill humans who fall into the Underground, by order of King Asgore. As far as I know Mettaton hasn't actually killed anyone yet. He oly seems passingly interested in it.

"And I'm not sure what you would classify him as. He's a robot with an artificial monster soul, or at least that's what Alphys says."

"...why did the king order him to kill humans who fall into the Underground?" asks Kato.

"Would he still - work - if he didn't have the soul?" asks Papenna. "Or is it just that souls can make things that wouldn't normally act alive, like bones and metal, behave like they're alive, and if he didn't have his he'd just be a sculpture?"

"I don't think he'd work if he didn't have a soul, but you'd have to ask Alphys for specifics. She's been pretty tight lipped about how she created Mettaton. Some monsters think she's hiding something about it. I don't know if he'd be a sculpture. I know without my soul I would just be dust - which is what all monsters become when we die," Hel says to Papenna. When she turns to answer Kato she looks sad.

"It was after his son and adopted human child died. The story I was told is that the human became ill and died after living in the Underground for a while. Asriel - the prince - took their soul and crossed the Barrier with their body. I think they meant to find the other six souls and free monsterkind. But when Asriel returned to the Underground he had been attacked by humans and was fatally wounded. He died and dusted in the throne room, just inside the Barrier. After that, Asgore proclaimed war against the humans, and said that the life of any human to fall into the Underground was forfeit."

"Do the humans... know about that?" asks Kato.

Hel shakes her head, clearly uncomfortable. "Doubtful. None of the humans who have fallen since then left the Underground, so there's no way they could have found out."

Kato doesn't pursue that line of questioning. "What other six souls?" he asks instead.

"Seven human mages - magic users - made the Barrier, so seven human souls are needed to break it. Or power equivalent to that. "

"Right, you mentioned that, but if Asriel was bringing one human soul to the barrier, his sibling, then where were the other six intended to come from?"

"I don't know what his plan was. From what people say, he was a gentle soul. He was the one who found his sibling after they entered the Underground, and took them to his parents for help. At the same time, all I can think of is he planned to kill six humans and take their souls. Maybe he hoped he could find violent or cruel humans?"

"Why would there be any humans in that spot at all? He couldn't go out looking, could he?"

"Once he was past the Barrier he could go anywhere he wanted. And there must be a town or a city near Mount Ebott, or the human wouldn't have been able to fall into the Underground."

"Is the barrier not... difficult to get through? I thought it was what was keeping monsters underground."

"Monsters can't cross the barrier, but humans can as long as they also have the soul of a monster. Asriel could cross because he had a human soul and a monster soul. After taking his sibling's soul he would have had godlike power."

"Oh. - and then he wouldn't have it anymore to use to free the monsters, or could he take it out again?"

"Once a monster takes a soul it becomes part of them. Trying to separate a monster and a human soul would be like trying to tear yourself in half. "

"Was he planning to... die in the process of opening the Barrier -? I'm sorry, I know you're not him and can't reasonably answer all these questions about his motivations, it's just a remarkably puzzling story."

"None of the stories talk about the monster having to die to break the Barrier, just that it required the power of seven human souls. My assumption is his plan was to get the souls and absorb them and then throw magic at the Barrier until it broke. That's what I would have done. He was a child, so I don't know if he had a plan at all, but I don't think he planned on dying."

"Oh, I see, that makes more sense. - How old are you, Helvetica?" Kato can pronounce the V just fine and the L almost fine.

"Nineteen. I'm a bit out of adolescence, but I'm not really considered a fully independent adult yet."

"Nineteen what, how long are your units - do you use years, operating underground -"

"Oh! Yeah, we use years. Our years are 365 days - with an extra day every 4 years, although more important to us are solstices and equinoxes. Monsters can feel things like the rising of the sun and length of days, due to how the ambient mana reacts. It's sort of like how the moon controls the tide."

"Oh that's so cool!" squeaks Papenna. "Is there any mana here, can you tell?"

"I'm not great at it, but I can try ... "

Hel focuses on their surroundings, trying to feel for something that's as ubiquitous as air but has a spark of energy and life in it.

This is a planet that has life on it!

"Yeah, there's mana here! Which is a good thing, because I need that to survive long term."

"Oh, good, I'm sure the scientists would have tried their hardest but it's better that we have everything you need to survive," says Kato.

"I appreciate it! It's not as dense as in the Underground, but it's there." She glances out the window of the car. "... How much longer until we get where we're going?"

"The house is a little out of the way, because we needed one where you'd be able to get from the car to the house without being seen, you'd attract a lot of stares if we put you in a rowhouse downtown. It should be another..." Kato looks at his pocket everything. "Seven to ten minutes."

Hel nods. "That makes sense, I don't want to cause a problem. Am I going to have to stay in the house all the time?"

"We can probably figure something out if you want to go somewhere else, but it's much easier to secure the house."

"I would like to be able to go outside, but there's nowhere I'd really like to go. If there's a yard or a garden, that would be fine."

"There's a yard. I'll ask the experts if the fence is tall enough and the trees cover enough. Is there much of an outside, in the underground?" says Kato.

"Sort of. It's all underground, obviously, so there's nowhere that you can see the sky. But there are parts where the cavern's ceiling is high enough that it feels a lot more open - especially in Waterfall."

"There's an underground river with a falls?" says Papenna. "That sounds beautiful - wait, how do you light the place, is it all electric, what do you use to generate your juice -"

"Almost there," says Kato, as the car pauses at a fence and the gate swings open.

Hel looks out the window to get a view of what she assumes is going to be her home for the foreseeable future.

It's a three story house, shadowed by a few big old trees, accompanied by more younger trees, and encircled by a privacy fence overgrown with various ivy and climbing flora. Helvetica has no fingers on the pulse of Amentan architectural movements, and it's in good repair, so it would be hard to guess the place's age, though the tree closest to the house has had a lot of time to recover from the prunings that kept it from growing straight through the attic. The car pulls up in front of the veranda and the doors pop open for them.

That ... is the biggest house she has ever seen. She's a bit awestruck. She gets out of the car to follow Kato and Papenna again. 

"I hope you find it comfortable - and not too empty, in the past I think this particular house has mostly been used for entire diplomatic parties, but it's suitable for this occasion because it's nice and private," says Kato, tapping his everything on the front door to make it unlock. "If you wind up finding it lonesome I'm sure no small number of scientists would be happy to stay the night in one of the rooms you don't pick for yourself, but no obligation, that's just what I think of first if I imagine what I'd need to want to sleep here. The kitchen should be stocked already..." He turns right to hit the kitchen, which proves to have various foods in it when he checks cabinets and the fridge.

She looks through the cabinets over his shoulder, getting an idea of what kind of food is available.

"I'm sure I'll be comfortable - I'm used to a lot ... less than this. Like, a lot less. It would be nice to have other people around. I can deal with it but I don't really like being alone."

"I'll stay if you want!" volunteers Papenna. "I'm mostly a linguist but I can do generalist green-ing."

The cabinets contain pickled vegetables that are hard to identify specifically, pasta, rice, flour, beans, cooking oil, spice mixes with names like "Southeastern Fryup" and "Fish Breakfast", peanut butter though the picture of a peanut on the label isn't quite right, bottled juices, condiments like ketchup and chutney, a couple kinds of crackers, something called Seed Snacks in Garlic Amazement Flavor, and canned not-quite-pineapple and canned some-kind-of-pepper-in-molasses-sauce. The fridge has cherries, except that they're green, and a stack of vacuum-sealed steaks of various kinds, and a quart of milk and a box of eggs and a few microwaveable complete meals of various sorts and butter and a plastic bowl of ready-to-mix salad greens.

 "Of course! It would be nice to at least sort-of-know someone. What do you mean by 'green-ing'?"

She grabs a couple of the cherries, which look the best to her at the moment, then looks around for a bin to put the pits in.

Kato reveals the trashcan by kicking a cupboard which slides out to reveal the existence of a trash bin.

"Oh, I guess we haven't explained castes yet!" says Papenna. "Amentans have a few different castes, and you'll be able to tell who's who by the - oh, do you have full color vision, like do all the parts of a rainbow look distinct to you -"

"Thanks," she says to Kato.

To Papenna she says. "Yeah. Or ... blue to red. I can't see ultraviolet or infrared, but everything between those is visible."

She bites into one of the cherries, separating the fruit from the pit.

"We can't see those either. So, red orange yellow blue green purple? And my hair looks green to you, right, and so does the cherry?"

The cherry has two pits for some reason but it's pretty tasty.

"Yep!"

She happily eats more cherries.

"These're good!"

"Oh good! We didn't know what you liked so I think they just got a variety of stabs in the dark... anyway, castes, I'm a green, and we're the caste that does academic work and professional art and music. Kato's a blue, they do diplomacy and governance and things like that."

"Alright ... what are the other colors? All the security had grey hair ... I'm assuming that's part of this caste thing, too?"

"Yup, grey is the caste for security and military and athletics. You might have seen the purple who drove us here, most Amentans are purple, they also do farming and construction and manufacturing of various sorts. You're less likely to run into oranges - doctors, nurses, teachers - or yellows - programming, clerical work."

"Okay, that seems easy enough to remember. Grey is security and athletics, purple is labor, blue is government, green is academia and art, yellow is clerical, and orange is doctors and teachers." She lists them off on her fingers as she talks. "Is there no red? And they're inherited, right? It's not like you choose a job and then spend your life dying your hair? What happens if a yellow wants to be an actor? Or does that just ... not happen somehow?"

"There is red but they're rare and you won't meet any," says Papenna, waving a hand. "And they're inherited, though some people do have throwback colors or mixed ancestry and those need dye. Nothing's stopping a yellow from doing amateur theater, it's just the professionals who are greens."

Hel accepts this with a nod, even though it sounds strange to her.

"Cool. So ... what next? I can keep answering questions if you want, or ... you said I could choose a room to stay in?"

"You can!" agrees Kato. "And it would be totally understandable if you wanted to decompress - or go to sleep, I have no idea what time zone you're coming from, please don't let us overtax you with our excitement."

"That actually sounds nice - getting to decompress a bit, I mean. I don't think it's fully set in that I'm in a different universe. Where are the rooms?"

Kato takes her on a little tour of the house. There's an elevator in addition to the stairs.

Hel looks for a room with a window seat or a bay window (or both!), somewhere she can sit near and see outside. 

There are window seats in two of the bedrooms on the second floor! One has a tree right up against it, the other has a bit more depth of field to the view.

She chooses the one with more depth of field.

"Would it be a lot of trouble to ask for some more, like, pillows and blankets?"

"Not at all!" says Kato, and he finds the linen closet. "Are you cold, do you want the thermostat turned up too?"

"No, the temperature is fine, I just ... like having a lot of blankets and pillows. I tend to make ... well someone called them 'nests' at one point, and it seems like the best description."

"Is that typical?" asks Papenna, helping unload the spare blankets and pillows from the closet.

"I don't think so. I mean, some monsters are bird-like and they make nests, but it's not common outside of them. I'm just weird."

"I'm probably going to ask you that a lot," Papenna says. "Since there's only one of you and I can't tell by observation."

She chuckles, "I know. It's your job, right? I'll try to give you the best answers I can, but I can only go off of my own experience and ... well, like I said, I'm weird."

"That's okay!" says Papenna, pulling out the last pillow. "We're so glad to have you here. I'm going to take the room down the stairs first on the left, do you need anything before I go scope that out?"

"I don't think so. If you leave me something to write with and some paper or something I can draw out a map of the Underground to show you later.

"And thanks for the help with the pillows!"

"I'll go scare up some paper!"

Papenna's back in a couple minutes with a pad of paper and a pen, and then she trots down the stairs to her own designated room.

Hel starts making herself a pile of blankets and pillows on the bed while getting a feel for the room. Is there a desk or table she can draw the map at?

There's a desk near the window seat, and a nightstand.

After making up the bed how she wants it, Hel goes to the desk to draw a map to show Papenna later. Then she decides to curl up in the bed and sleep for a while.

It has been a long day.

It's not sundown yet, but the shadows are getting longer. No one disturbs her, assuming occasional soft voices and footsteps and door-openings downstairs don't do it.

They make it a little hard to sleep, but Hel is able to doze until it grows quiet. Then she's able to fall fully asleep.

Her dreams are fairly unpleasant, and she wakes with a gasp, covered in sweat, sometime in the early morning.

She decides to find a bathroom so she can shower, even if she's just going to put on the same clothes afterwards.

There's an ensuite! It's... weirdly nice! Like, the whole house is big and nice, but in proportion to the room itself, the bathroom is amazing. There's a TV you can watch in the shower, if you know how to operate an Amentan TV.

Hel is appropriately impressed, especially as up until now she's largely used communal showers.

She fiddles with the TV to see if she can figure it out. Surely it can't be too different from the sets back at home ... 

She can get it to turn on if she tries pressing all the buttons. Getting it to play anything in particular is more difficult, but if she will be satisfied with the first random guess the device makes, a miniseries about superheroes rescuing stray boats and spaceships and lost kids and hikers and would-be victims of crimes and fires, it will play without further ado.

She likes superheroes and stories of people being and getting rescued. She'll watch that while she washes off in the shower.

When she feels clean and is drying off she wonders if it's too early to bother Papenna about maybe getting some different clothes. Hers need to be washed.

She gets dressed and leaves the room to see if anyone else is awake.

Papenna is in the kitchen, describing in weirdly exacting detail how she likes her toast to a purple. "- Good morning, Helvetica!" she says. "Oh, I knew I should have told you last night, I just didn't want to overwhelm you - you were tromping through a tomato farm in those, we got you a few more outfits, though we're guessing at style and fit -" She pulls a parcel across the kitchen table to hand it to Helvetica.

"I was going to ask about that, actually. And good morning, to you, too!"

She takes the parcel gratefully and opens it.

It has some things that are as similar in cut as possible to what she's been wearing as was feasible in a completely different clothing market, with some extra room in case the proportions turn out to be weird in some way they haven't had a chance to see since she's been fully clothed whenever anyone was looking at her, and drawstrings in case it's too much extra room. "If you don't like these we can get you measured and you can look for things online, of course. There's a laundry chute in your room somewhere, probably next to the bed."

"Thank you so much!" She's pleased to see more sweaters similar to the one she's wearing - although in much better condition - and pants that will fit fine. She removes anything that's striped. "I won't wear these." Then she picks up the remaining parcel and says, "I'll go try these on, make sure they fit. And I can do my own laundry, I don't want to cause trouble for anyone."

"Can we tell the shoppers why you - oh, don't worry about it, you won't have seen the machines before and there's lots of more valuable things to be spending your time on, we can have Shenno over there do the laundry." Shenno, in the kitchen, waves and smiles.

Hel waves back at them. "Alright. And the stripes? It's a monster thing, I guess? It isn't always obvious when monsters are adults - because there's so many different kinds. So we use stripes to indicate that someone is a child."

"Oh, okay! All kinds of stripes, like even if they're wavy or not the same width or -?" says Papenna.

"All stripes, yeah."

"Okay! Any patterns you do like? Colors?"

"I like ... well, I like colors. I don't like whites or greys much. Pastels in general are ... aversive. As for patterns - I don't actually know! For general style, though, I prefer to cover my arms. So long sleeves or gloves are important to me."

"I'll pass that all on to the shopper - unless you want to meet her yourself, but I don't want to assume how overwhelming it'll be to meet all these new people -"

"I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, honestly. Entirely new universe and all ... "

"So I'll let her know. Anything I can help with?"

"I don't think so. It's just a lot. Thank you."

"Of course! I'd be super overwhelmed if I wound up on another planet. If I were you I'd want all week to just settle in and get used to the basics."

"Ha! I didn't even consider that as an option. I'm ... not really used to taking breaks. Speaking of which, is there anything you'd like from me?"

"We want to know absolutely everything, especially about magic, especially-especially if we could figure out how to travel between worlds, but we know you weren't prepped for this! It's okay to take your time and collect your thoughts and not worry about being valuable less than a day after you appeared. Housing you and getting you stuff like clothes and food would be overwhelmingly worth it for the government even if you were a stripe-clad child and couldn't talk yet and wouldn't remember anything by the time you learned."

Hel smiles.

"Well, I'm gonna go try these on and see how they fit. Do you know if it's possible for me to go outside in the yard?"

"Yep, security checked and they said that you can go in the yard out the back door, but shouldn't go past the flagstone path on the north side or the water feature on the south, there's some possible visibility out front."

"Thanks! I'll stick to the back, then. Oh! We also talked about books? Where can I find those ... or have you not had a chance to get them, yet?"

"We've got some, though we won't know how on the money we were with picking them out till you've read a few! Over there on the coffee table in the parlor."

"Thanks!"

Hel suppresses a shudder at the word "parlor", then nods and walks over to the coffee table to look through the books.

There's a stack of five novels and a short story collection and each has a sticky-note on it with a brief overview. Her options are:

Kalun: An Imperial Tragedy ("historical novel, set in neighboring country Anitam, incredibly sad")
Mine, Ours ("classic orange romance")
The Dynasty of Sah ("high fantasy adventure, has seven sequels if you like it")
The Moons Your Eyes ("lowbrow sci-fi drama, lots of wish fulfillment")
How To Say Hello in Oahkar ("immigration experience story meets thriller")
Essential Works of Modern Tapai Short Fiction

Hel picks up the high fantasy and sci-fi dramas, then heads back to her room to change clothes. Once re-dressed she heads outside to see if she can find somewhere to sit and read for a while.

There's some yard furniture!

Hel makes herself comfortable in a lawn chair (moving it into the shade - the sun is still a bit ... bright) and settles in to read for a while. She decides to start with the fantasy novel.

Sah is a fantasy realm with fractal geography; the main character enters at a point where things of objective sizes like atoms are the same as in the world of ordinary physics, but can go along magical paths to larger and smaller areas, growing and shrinking accordingly, forever in both directions along any of the relevant spurs of the fractal in question. It's inhabited by Amentans who settled the place some thousand years ago and have developed differently since then - there's details on the alternate caste system and political structures, descriptions of cuisine based on what grows well in Sah and architecture oriented to the weather in Sah, and so on. The real estate is, naturally, infinite. The plot concerns the first kingdom she meets trying to break free of the yoke of a power center, and the protagonist (purple) helps with war fortifications, though she never touches a weapon, and gets into a love triangle. Because of the locally relevant caste system she is then able to be granted an in to the ruling family of her kingdom - a peripheral branch wherein she is a gentry plantation-lord in service to their rulership, but the love triangle option she selects means her kids will have an in to be at the top - and has an epilogue wherein she is blessed with six such kids.

Hel heads back inside after reading for a while to get some food. She's uncertain what's even available.

Shenno's in the kitchen! There's crackers and a couple dishes of various relishes and cheeses to go on them on the counter under a glass bell. "Hi! Can I get you anything?" he asks.

"I am feeling hungry, but I don't know what to ask for. ... Do you have anything you particularly like making?"

"The stuff I like enough to want an excuse takes a long time, but I can prep something like that for dinner if you like! For lunch I usually do noodle soup."

"That sounds great! It sounds like something one of my friends would make."

He puts the kettle on and preps her a bowl of instant noodles. "Egg? Onion? Mushrooms? Chicken? Bean powder?"

"Egg, mushrooms, and chicken sound wonderful."

He tempers an egg to stir into the broth, and pours the kettle over the flavor packet and some chicken out of the fridge and some dried mushrooms. Stir stir and here is her bowl of soup.

Hel accepts it with a smile. "Thank you!"

She happily digs in.

It's mass produced hyperpalatable seasoning in hot fresh noodle soup with her chosen add-ins! Whether she likes it will depend on her opinion on those things.

It's not too different from some of the food back home - better from the add-ins. She's happy with it.

"So, what else do you do besides cook?" she asks, feeling somewhat awkward.

"I do general high-clearance domestic maintenance stuff! I clean and handle laundry, stock up household items, and basic repairs and gardening and things like that. When your shopper drops things off I'll be getting them all out of their packaging and making sure they're what they're supposed to be, that sort of thing."

Hel nods in understanding.

"Gardening? What sort of things do you grow?"

"Oh, here in particular gardening just means trimming and weeding and edging and spraying for bugs that are trying to eat the flowers, I'm not planting carrots here."

Hel nods, then finishes up her soup.

"Thanks for this," she says as she moves to clean up the dishes.

He takes them as she gathers them up. "You're welcome! It's so thrilling to have you here, really, I'm just glad I get to be near the excitement."