Mono and Six immediately recoiled when Toriel entered, hopping off the table and hiding behind Alex. Momo and Okarun were freaking out too, but at least they had powers and some actual combat experience.
Alex gently pats their heads as they clutch his pants, a quiet reassurance instead of words.
"Morning Toriel, or Afternoon," he greets her with an apologetic smile. "Don't mind them," he says with a sheepish grin. "They don't have the best history with, uh… non-humans."
"Oh, I hope they're alright." She says with a worried look. "It wasn't one of the monsters from the Ruins, was it?" She asks, a hard glint in her eyes at the thought.
"No, nothing from your world." He reassures her, turning his attention to the kids for a second. "Hey, you're alright. Nothing from that place will come to get you, she's nice. I promise."
While they both seem to trust Alex a bit, Mono is the one who decides to reveal himself first, cautiously poking his head around the counter to look at Toriel.
Who looks over at him and immediately can tell he's hurt, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth with a small gasp.
"Oh my." She whispers. "Can I-?"
"Give it a minute," Alex says gently, cutting her off before she can move. "Again, they're not exactly great around others right now."
She doesn't look happy, but she silently nods, looking back at Mono as he slowly creeps out from his cover. Tense and carefully watching her, Mono inching towards her, bit by bit.
Thankfully, once he fully realized she wasn't likely to eat him, he stood just in front of her, looking up.
"Are you okay, little one?" She asks gently, kneeling to eye level. "Would you like me to heal you?"
Mono gives a small, hesitant nod. Still uncertain, but a bit more confident now.
She carefully reaches out, gently patting him on the head as he flinches for a second, before a green wave goes over him. He almost seems to stand a bit straighter, his bag repaired as his eyes seem to glow in wonder.
"Cool!" He compliments, hopping in place as he dashes back towards the counter, rounding it and snatching Six by the hand. He tugs her back to Toriel, putting Six in front of her.
With a soft smile, she pats Six's head as healing magic flows over her, the signature raincoat looking pristine as an almost satisfied smile crossed her face.
"...warm." Six mutters happily, heading back to Mono. "Safe." She calmly states, pointing at Toriel.
Alex, seeing an opportunity to fulfill his deal, speaks up quickly at Six's comment. "I mean, while there are a lot of different monsters in their world, they won't really do much if you befriend them."
'Huh, I wonder if they'd get souls like Frisk if they went? I could see Mono being Bravery...'
"Oh. I don't know." Toriel looks conflicted, torn between taking them and leaving them. "The Ruins can be a nice place to live, but typically humans find themselves feeling trapped and not wanting to stay, I don't want to..." She trails off, troubled at the idea of more children sent to their deaths.
"Well, I can assure you," Alex snaps her out of her thoughts. "The Ruins is better than where they came from. Unless you think they should go back?"
Does he feel bad about the blatant emotional manipulation? A bit. But would it be worth it if Mono and Six could live a half-decent life? Absolutely.
"Well, if they wish to join me, I can't exactly say no." She relents, looking at the two children with uncertainty. "Though, I can't say I was expecting two children on my shopping trip."
'Oh, right. This is a shop, forgot about that.'
"Well," Alex coughs, gesturing to the shelves. "You can absolutely still get something if you want, I have some pretty good deals."
"Oh, I'll certainly be back." Toriel promises, smiling down at the children as they stand next to her, having made their decision. "Come along, little ones. I happen to have a nice pie cooling at home!"
"Fair enough. Good luck and have fun!" Alex waves casually as they leave the store, watching carefully to make sure Mono and Six actually pass the threshold into Undertale. It'd be the worst luck if they went straight back to Nowhere after all.
Luckily, everything went perfectly fine. Alex let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that worked out." He mutters, looking over to the shelves-
"AH!" He yelps, nearly falling backward as Momo's face fills his vision. Almost falling to the ground, he catches himself on the counter, holding his chest. "Jeez, bout gave me a heart attack."
She pouts at him, narrowing her eyes. "You forgot we were here!" She accuses him. "Do you even want to sell anything? Ignoring paying customers-" She mutters under her breath, going over and sulking by the shelves, purposefully ignoring Alex.
"Sorry about Miss Ayase." Okarun calmly speaks up, thankfully not sneaking up on Alex. "She's still in a bit of shock about the whole situation, I-I think this helps her calm down."
Alex shrugs. "Eh, I'm good now. If you or Momo want anything, let me know alright?"
"Of course." Okarun smiles earnestly up at him, before his eyes widen in realization. "Oh, right! About what I asked for last time..."
'Last time, last time... Right! Controlling powers and all that.'
"Inventory's been upgraded." He tells Okarun. "You should find what you're looking for if you browse a bit."
"Wait, you don't have a catalog or anything?"
'System?'
...
"No, whatever you're looking for will just kinda pop up. Might be somewhere weird or random, but it'll be somewhere out there."
"Ok, thank you." Okarun bows a bit in thanks, turning around to look at shelves-
*Ding*
"M-M-MISS AYASE!" He suddenly shrieks out, dashing over to her and hiding behind her.
"What? What's happening?" She darts her eyes around, before locking them onto the new customer's, eyes widening in shock. "W-woah."
"Ugh, more humans?" Uzi scoffs, glaring at them. "As if one wasn't enough..."