The new look of the island entrances Karma, many positives changes happening in the babybones life but of course you cant expect perfection overnight

——

Another collaboration with @Firehedgehog 😸

——

Between Omniverses

Oneiro was very glad to be back home, feeling exhausted after the many surprises that Template had created for Karma. While glad his child had enjoyed it he still felt exhausted after spotting a few 'non-child friendly' parts that Pale had been quick to devour.

He carried a lightly dozing Karma through the house, wondering if Hearth had a successful training session and rather resigned he would have to go back to the weird AU Template made in the future.

They looked around, then finally headed outside.

They froze shocked as they stepped outside, as the sky and weather project Hearth had done had changed so much.

"Look up, little raven. It seems your brother has been busy since we left.~" Oneiro nuzzled the sleepy babybones who finally looked up to admire the no longer black 'sky'.

It seems they had indeed been successful with their training as he recalled them talking about the logistics and powers needed to ever set this sort of thing up.

He let Karma down whose wings twitched and chirped curiously at the new 'Sun', Oneiro cooing at how adorable they were and snapping a few photos.

In the end they almost walked past Hearth, hidden within his flower garden.

He looked so relaxed, a smile on his face as he slept.

Karma didn't waste time and went to go cuddle them, hoping they would wake up soon so he could tell them about his fun day.

It was nice sensing them nearby again though, how his wings fluttered with how settled they almost felt and very much enjoying the feel of their SOUL.

"Ka...yawn.. ma?" Hearth said waking up "Did you have a good day?"

Karma chirped loudly and nuzzled them before he took out his phone to show off all the pictures he took.

There were alot and he made sure to point out all the 'mythical animals' Template made and showing off the chocolate river and other cool things he saw.

Oneiro interjected at points when Hearth looked a tad concerned, assuring them that none of those 'animals' had come back with them, Nix meowing at their side in confirmation.

Some of those animals had been nightmare fuel and was baffled how much Karma seemed to adore them.

Hearth happily listened and looked at the pictures, glad it had gone well. He had worried as Karma still stressed a lot, yet it was over.

FATE was never coming back, he still worried as Karma was prone to trouble. He pushed it away as right now Karma's happiness was more important.

"By the way I finally met Celestial and Infernal, and yes I took pictures" Hearth told Karma, and grinning pulled out his own phone to show them.

Karma leaned in eagerly and cooed at the many pictures, eyelight switching to a star at having clear images of what the other sides of brother looked like.

"Can i ever meet them?" He asked curious, still scrolling through the pictures and chirping in awe at how cool they looked.

"Most likely, right now they're resting as they helped me set this up" Hearth said feeling pleased.

"I cant wait!...Do we only have daytime?" Karma was happy with the new sky but the mere idea of having the night sky as well filled him with delight, loving to look at the stars.

"Nope, all times of days with multiple versions of day and night. I've been recording them for eons" Hearth said getting up, and pulling Karma into his arms as he did. "We'll even have different weather patterns, mind you I can turn off rainy days if we want sun"

"Can we have a sleepover outside tonight with s'mores?!" Karma was near bouncing in their arms, his magic sparking on his wings and making the star pattern seem to light up.

"S'mores huh, how about we have hotdogs also. We do have camping supplies" Hearth said eyes warm, he wondered if he still had the cool looking sleeping bags in storage.

"Dinner outside!" Karma was very much all for this plan, chirping happily and began relaying all the cool things they could do to Nix who was rubbing against Hearths legs.

"Template gave us some cookies but they sadly were damaged in the trip.~" Oneiro relayed quietly to Hearth who looked deeply relieved, neither wanting a repeat of the 'pasta incident' and wary of trying anymore of Templates 'cooking'.

"Oneiro, why don't you and Karma go grab the camping supplies from the storage room by the art room. I'll start getting food ready, and set the weather so we don't get rained out" Hearth said, Template should be banned from cooking and baking.

Oneiro accepted Karma who was still a ball of excited energy, amused how all signs of sleepiness had fled as soon as Hearth confirmed they had a full day cycle now.

"Lets go find them my little helper.~" He said playfully to the still chirping babybones, snorting when Nix meowed insistently and stopped so the familiar could climb onto his shoulder.

"I'll meet you both by the fish lake, there is a good spot near the fruit trees we can set up our camping spot and campfire" Hearth chuckled taking a picture of the scene, then headed to the kitchen to get the food.

Oneiro ended up bringing a lot of things from the storage room, amused at how much of a hoarder Hearth was but at least Karma was delighted by the many 'treasures' they discovered.

He set up the tents while Karma cooed over the many camping supplies of course having picked the colourful ones placing the sleeping bags in last, which amusingly had star patterns on them.

"I see you had fun" Hearth said joining them, and quickly began to set up the campfire the food in his item space "I forgot I had those tents, thought I had donated them to an AU already like I do with the toys I make"

"Good thing you didnt. Im pretty sure Karma would have been devastated.~" Oneiro joked but both could clearly see just how much Karma was loving the tent pattern which also had space imagery, impressed when he realised the image seemed to move and wondered what type of magic made that work.

"I'll have to store that in the other storage then, so they don't accidentally get donated. Did he find the plushy bin?" he asked curious "Need to find out how much was raided"

He started setting up the sticks for hotdogs, Karma thrilled as he helped slide the dogs onto them to cook over the campfire.

"im pretty sure one of the tents might have become filled with all the plushy's they found.~" Oneiro said amused, pulling Karma into his lap when he saw them try and take a bite out of a hot dog before it was done.

"Karma, try not to keep all the plushies every time you hit the bin. I make those for children in places that don't have toys" he said, then paused and said dryly "Mind you.. I hear there is a black market across multiple Omniverses for them"

Karma chirped to show he heard and guessed he could put a few of them back but was still very happy with how comfy his tent now looked.

"I've bumped into a few. It was kind of disturbing how much your creations went for....~" Oneiro muttered, having stumbled into one by accident when he had been searching for Karma and weirdly kept bumping into more despite not trying to.

"Don't worry about it, Karma, I can make more.. keep all those you silly nebula" Hearth giggled "And yeah... the toys have been getting really popular. I barely put any magic in them unlike Karma's bear but a few of them are a bit more advanced than normal toys"

"I have three cat plushies out there with self repair functions like Karma, but only one of them has the crystalized magical eyes like the bear. I hope they found good homes" he admitted, it did upset him that some idiots actually fought over them.

"Im sure they were. The majority at the actions seemed to be rich parents...and a few odd collectors.~" Oneiro was impressed at the quality of work Hearth could produce, even the 'basic' plushies had an amazing quality to them but it was still baffling how much money people were willing to throw away to obtain one.

"As long as those meant for the toys get them, if the child needs to sell them or give them away that's their choice.. " Hearth said with a sigh.

"Cheer up. Ignore the idiots out there and focus on the more positive for now. We have a long night of watching the stars with a very bouncy babybones.~" Oneiro cooed playfully at Karma at the end, the babybones still wiggling in his lap and trying to reach the hot dogs which were far from done.

"True, I put in a lot of work so you'll enjoy the night skies" Hearth said arranging condiments on a blanket and buns, moments later he was grabbing the cooked hotdogs and placing them in said buns and making sure everyone had access to whatever addons they wanted for them.

Oneiro was unsurprised by how much Karma ate, considering how they had hardly stayed still the entire day out apart from a short nap they had with Pale. He watched as Karma ran around the lake with Nix, feeling this might be a regular occurrence with how bright their emotions were right now.

"Karma seemed receptive to the idea of going out again, so you will be able to train some more without issue.~" He informed Hearth as Karma did their tenth lap of the lake with no signs of slowing down.

"That's good, but... I'm glad he's pretty recovered now other then some night terrors. Think we should continue with day trips, maybe we jumped the gun last time when he started wondering" Hearth said as he began to pull out the supplies for s'mores, while FATE was gone there were still many horrible beings out there.

"We went a bit fast to give him independence.~" Oneiro agreed with a slight grimace, very much planning to take it much slower this time and with far more supervision when outside.

His child seemed to be able to stumble into danger as easy as breathing and he doubted that all had to do with FATE interfering.

"He is a free spirit, I.. think though.. he's learned to fake he's alright a bit too well due to his Reaper. Its, well another reason I time sealed the island to speed up Karma's recovery even if only a few months happened outside the between" Hearth admitted, its an upward battle.

Oneiro sometimes regretted how quickly he had killed Reaper the more he saw what their actions or rather inactions had caused Karma, it near impossible to realise all the things that the giggling babybones had been put through with how they acted.

"It will just be another thing we will have to keep a close eye on.~" He truly wished he could just click his fingers and solve all of his child's issues but sadly life wasnt that easy.

"Have you ever thought of visiting other Omniverses?" he asked, as Oneiro and Karma had always stuck to there birth Omniverse.

"It has always been a thought but with everything that keeps happening I've been a bit wary to do so.~" Oneiro had enough nightmares with trying to care for Karma in this Omniverse but perhaps after some more time helping them to recover they could perhaps consider the idea again.

"It could be fun to do so.~" The idea did appeal to him, especially with all the stories Hearth shared about their travels that he could tell greatly intrigued Karma as well.

"I know of a few small Omniverses that only hold a few multiverses. Safe ones" Hearth said softly "One of my foster children live in one, I mentioned him once the Ink they call Blotch or Blotched when he leaves"

A fond smile came to his face, his little Inky had matured so well and considered an adult now.

"I can even teach you both my shields, in case there are issues of magic compatibility" he offered "Actually, Karma might want to meet his foster sibling"

"I think that would be a wonderful idea.~" Oneiro slowly nodded at the reassurances and only saw the positives with their ideas with it also sounding like a gentle way to get Karma used to going to new places again.

"Meeting Blotch should also help.~" He said thoughtfully as the more monsters Karma met who visibly cared for him, then perhaps they would finally realise that people cared about them for them and not for some placid mask.

He had a bit of a bias against Reapers due to this, unsure how anyone could treat a babybones like that.

"There is a Reaper and Geno there, and a Goth. No timekid though. But Inky's home is pretty nice, I have mentioned Karma to him on my last visit, and Karma has asked about home when I showed him pictures of those I've raised it as another relative he could visit" Hearth said humming, also Inky would be a good Guardian if stars above something happened to Oneiro and himself.

"Karma, Nix time for s'mores!" he called.

Karma near teleported at the word 's'mores' and eagerly held his hands for the marshmallows, munching on one while he sat in brothers lap as they began the process of making the yummy treat.

"You'll become a marshmallow yourself if you eat so many.~" Oneiro teased when Karma stuffed another marshmallow in his face, cooing at the grumpy chirp he got in response.

Nix sniffed the sweet Karma held out to him and nibbled on a bit, far more patient then the babybones by far.

"Hey Karma, how would you like to meet Blotch the Ink I raised. You could consider him a brother or uncle?" Hearth asked as they ate.

Karma looked from stuffing the third s'more in his mouth, looking almost like a curious puppy as they tilted their head in consideration. He licked his fingers clean before giving a hestaint nod, his magic poking the parental bonds in a need of reassurance.

"You both will be there?" He asked timidly, his confidence from earlier sapped away as fear near instantly replaced it.

"Of course, it would be silly to introduce you to Inky then leave. Mind you, if you two want to have sleepovers with just you two we can arrange a night here and there. Inky has been wanting to meet you for awhile" Hearth smiled.

Karma looked a bit more interested after the promise and hesitantly began asking more questions about the trip before he eventually got back to his usual enthusiasm once he grew more confident again.

"I'll contact Inky in the morning alright, and before you go you and Oneiro will learn how to shield like I do as this will be a new Omniverse.. just in case" Hearth giggled.

Karma chirped in agreement and happily went to grab another s'more, beginning to actually look forward to going outside again with how fun brother was making it seem, even if it was rather soon from the last outing.

Soon enough the false night sky covered the island, looking ever alive and changing. Hearth smiled and cuddled Karma, as they cooed over a falling star. Sure it was recorded long ago, and wasn't a real sky but it was real enough.

For now... one day they'd have a real sky just like this.

"Truly a beautiful view.~" Oneiro said softly, the night sky one of the most beautiful he had ever witnessed, none of the Outerals he had visited in the past holding a candle to the sight.

"Its from celestial Outertale, there such a rare AU. Maybe one in a thousand multiverses have them. Maybe one day you'll see that place" Hearth said quietly.

"I do hope so.~" Oneiro sighed wistfully, leaning back on his hands as he watched the night sky shift as time passed, it looking so real despite it being anything but.

"Seems today had far too much excitement for little ones.~" He said quietly when he noticed Karma had passed out cuddling Nix, smiling down softly at the peacefully napping babybones.

"Goodnight Oneiro, I'll see you in the morning" Hearth said pulling his sleeping bag around Karma and himself, he was soon snoozing away.

Oneiro spent the rest of the 'night' just watching the sky, at one point Thanatos landing on his shoulder to join him after tugging on a few of his feathers, feeling no need to take out a book to pass the time.

"Caw..." the crow said, but even he ended up flying to the sleeping eternal children and nesting in Hearths wings to sleep. The Death crow liked to sleep, he didn't need to though.

"All the creatures are finally asleep.~" Oneiro said quietly in amusement, brushing gently against Karma's wing to settle them down when he saw it twitch in their sleep before looking back at the sky once again.

The only thing that was missing, to make it like an actual outdoors was the sound of certain animals and insects. Giving enough time, he was sure the island would gain more wildlife as it grew.

Oneiro only looked away from the mesmerising sight when he saw the 'sun' come up, carefully removing his wing from his child's hold and getting up to prepare some warm drinks and bring a few things to snack on.

He felt outside would be a very popular spot for a long while.

It would be a very good morning also.

------

"How does the energy feel Karma, Oneiro.. anything leaking through your shield?" Hearth asked, he'd taken the two to a small multiverse with rather mild issues with his own magic so they could test their shields. They'd spent the last three weeks teaching them his personal type shields, amusingly Karma had caught on faster but then again he had a seed of creative magic he'd one day be able to use.

"Dont feel anything!" Karma chirped happily as he cautiously looked at the new place while staying close to dad, his wings occasionally shivering at how different this place felt to what he was used to, sneezing again at how weird the magic in the air was.

"I don't think I've got the shield quite right.~" Oneiro said contemplatively, eyelights narrowed as he tried to fully block the energy.

A frown lit Hearth face and he walked over to Oneiro, walking him through each step again and feeling their magic each time till they found it. "There is no rush Oneiro, we have time and Inky understands you have to get the shields down to visit"

"This is much harder then i expected.~" Oneiro sighed at how long this was taking him but this magic was far different to anything he had used before, his magic far more instinctive to use even after eating the apples.

At least Karma didnt seem to be having any issues with this, amused how they were poking a stone suspiciously as if they expected it to spring up and bite them.

"Mind you.. for me it was learn or die, this place is very mild. Just glad neither of you accidently jumped Omniverses before, otherwise without the shield this would be painful" Hearth replied.

Oneiro winced at the thought of having to go through that, the slight uncomfortable feeling when he failed to shield properly more then enough to fuel him to get it right.

"I could barely imagine having to do that by myself....~" He muttered with a frown, his darker thoughts suddenly vanishing when Karma bounced over and proudly held out some 'shiny' rocks that looked rather plain to him until he used his magic to examine them.

"I did have some help. There is a being named Shell who helped me craft them. He doesn't need them though, he can go anywhere he wants without issue" Hearth admitted.

Oneiro was surprised by the information, it hard to imagine someone so easily able to travel around without issue, just shivering at the sheer power levels if they could do what Hearth struggled to do with ease.

Existence truly was more vast than he could ever imagine, wondering what other Omniverse were out there and what sort of things he could discover.

"Do you both feel up to trying another multiverse, its a bit worse but we need the shields stronger to see Inky?" Hearth asked "I can shield you if your shields start failing"

"We might as well. Full on testing is important.~" Oneiro had just gotten his shield stable for a solid length of time, so it would be wiser to make sure it would actually hold and not just collapse like a wet tissue paper under any pressure.

Karma was busy cooing over his new shinies to add to the collection, very much enjoying this trip so far and looking up at brother eagerly.

"Karma make sure to stay close to be when I move us to the next multiverse, I'm going to be shielding you both at first" Hearth told his brother, and opened a portal to the next place,

Karma clung close to their side and felt an immediate difference when they stepped through, the air feeling oddly 'heavy' before it immediately lightened when brothers magic enveloped them.

"This place definitely as more of a punch to it.~" Oneiro said with forced lightness, his wings shifting uneasily at how different the energy felt here and very much needing to adjust the strength of his shield.

"This.. is still rather mild compared to many places"

Oneiro made a face at that news and did not look forward to what other places were out there, very determined to make his shield as solid as possible.

Karma in comparison merely shook their wings like a dog trying to get dry before seeming perking up and fully recovered, once again cautiously looking at the new location for more shiny things.

They stayed a few hours, then moved to the next one.

"If it works here, you'll be able to visit Inky" Hearth told the two, almost amused by there expressions on how discordant the magic here was to them.

Karma recovered much quicker this time but still briefly resembled a cat that had their fur brushed the wrong way, hissing at the energy in the air until his shield adjusted itself.

"This is certainly motivation to learn quickly.~" Oneiro took a few tries to get his shield right but with the help of Hearth, he eventually was able to block out the absolutely abhorrent magic that seemed to scrape against his own.

"In the future I'll take you to heavier and worse ones, but for the deadly ones I'll shield. There are even a few out there I can't even enter, I'll give you a list of places and shield levels you'll need if you do travel about. You can even update the list if you find a new place" Hearth told him, this place barely affected him nowadays.

"I doubt i'll feel comfortable travelling without you for a while but i will check the list out later.~" Oneiro said honestly, especially not with Karma who was still very much determined to have them both in sight the majority of the day.

Although, being prepared for the worst was always wise especially with how much trouble they seemed to get into without even trying.

"That's fine, travelling outside your omniverse is always off. Once you're both a bit more ready, I'll show you a few places I like to visit" Hearth said, mind you when he started he didn't have a choice as his multiverse was just gone.

Oneiro had to sit down so he could fully focus on his shield and also keep an eye on Karma, relieved that at least they didnt seem to be having as many issues as them right now.

"He's going to be such a little troublemaker when he learns how to explore other omniverses.~" He sighed tiredly but with an air of fondness, rather looking forward to it as it would mean Karma would finally be recovering from what they had gone through.

"He's always a troublemaker" Hearth giggled.

Oneiro thought that was pretty much fact, it proven less then a second later when Karma had to be pulled out of some quicksand, inwardly sighing at their utterly thrilled expression. It was rather impressive considering they were in a forest that was relatively flat, only that spot in particular having the quicksand and grabbed the squeaky babybones before they could purposefully go find more of the stuff.

"Don't do that Karma, what if the quicksand was faster" Hearth told Karma finally, tapping his brother skull softly "Once your deep enough that's it"

Karma's wings drooped and chirped in understanding, not wanting to upset brother or dad.

Oneiro rested his head on top of the babybones and began purring to calm them down, knowing Karma could get a bit too excited and forget common sense sometimes.

"It's ok, little raven. We arent angry. You just need to calm down for a bit.~" He said gently, the last few days having been rather busy for the recovering babybones.

"I'm not mad Karma, but.. quicksand's not toys. They kill people. I don't want to lose you to something not even alive" Hearth said quietly taking him from Oneiro. "You know... maybe I should give you some of the thinking exercises mother gave me as a child"

Palette had been a bit of a ditz as a child, common sense a bit off as he kept reincarnating as himself in new multiverses so in his final life Dream had decided to get his child to learn common sense. Also, no one wanted him to be hyper like father has been.

"Might be for the best.~" Oneiro couldnt help but agree, Karma sometimes acting a bit too much like an Ink some days and was surprised he hadn't dusted from all the stress they inadvertently caused him.

"Its kind of a fun game, I raised Inky with them after I took them in" Hearth smiled, his ink child was such a good boy. So caring and careful of the balances.

"As long as it helps in any way.~" Oneiro knew Karma had improved greatly over the years since he met them but they still weren't quite there yet in the common sense department.

He truly loved his child but he still felt himself age at some of the stunts they pulled off.

"Fun?" Karma perked up, the most important part of the sentence for him and intrigued what these games would go.

"It can be" Hearth replied with a grin nuzzling Karma "When we go home we can try some of them"

Karma purred as he nuzzled back, clearly looking forward to that and remained the rest of the time in this omniverse in their arms.

~~~~~~~~~

Template: *Handing over homemade cookies that look radioactive* It was my first time making them but I'm sure they taste good. Pale even ate some!

Pale: *Looking as traumatised as a soulless monster can and giving a thumbs down behind Templates back*

Oneiro: *With a forced grin and already planning to 'lose' the food* How kind. You really shouldn't have~

-

Hearth: *Mentioning hearing rumours his plushy's are in high demand and utterly exasperated* I've heard some are in the back market

Oneiro: *Who had the misfortune of stumbling into one and saw exchanges of the the rarest items for them* Im pretty sure a mafia started solely trading them....~

Hearth: *Sighing* I even made some cat ones but I've lost track of them. I hope they go to a good home

*In a far off part of the omniverse*

Sun: *A half feral babybones obsessed with cats*...why do I feel my cat senses tingling?

-

Hearth: *Teaching Oneiro and Karma how to shield in other omniverses*

Oneiro: *Struggling with shielding* This is harder then it looks~

Karma: *Adapting to the shield like a fish in water and realising he can find even more shinies now* Best. Day. Ever!

_

Karma: *Purposefully jumping in quicksand as it feels funny*

Hearth: *Sighing tiredly and planning many 'common sense' exercises* I should have done this long ago. I'll make some flash cards when we get home

Oneiro: *Fishing Karma out of yet another dangerous situation and holding an unrepentant giggling babybones* Might be for the best~