Toriel sleepily opened her eyes. Her head was resting in her arms at her sentry post in Snowdin Forest. What a surprise, fell asleep at my post again... she thought to herself. She straightened up and yawned, hoping that her brother, Asgore, wasn't around to catch her slacking off. Then again, could she really be blamed? Being a sentry was pretty boring. Sure, it paid well, but nothing ever happened that was worthy of reporting. In her area, at least.

Despite how bland it could be, her younger brother always kept an open mind and shot for the stars. He wanted to capture a human in order to become part of the Royal Guard and impress the King. They had six human souls, and only needed one more in order to break the Barrier and be set free from the Underground. Tori longed for that day to come, but she would definitely miss Snowdin and the Underground itself when the time came for their freedom.

She heard snowy footsteps and turned to see her brother running energetically into the clearing. She smiled a bit. Asgore was always positive and eager. He looked at her with a cheerful smile. "Howdy Tori! Anything new so far?" he asked her in his loud, hyper voice. He could barely ever seem to sit still for long. Tori wasn't even sure if he slept much. He always seemed to be awake before she was. She shook her head. "Nah, bro. Nothin' exciting so far."

Despite the news, the young goat monster flashed her one of his proud grins, and he almost seemed to sparkle. His purple scarf flapped in the light winter breeze. "No worries, sister! Someday a human will show up, I just know it! Nyohoho!" Tori smiled. "You're the coolest, Gorey," she told him. He smiled back at her and struck a confident pose. "Of course I am! Now, I have to run along and get back to my post. Text me if something happens, Tori! Stay safe!" he called as he left after giving his older sister a tight hug.

Tori decided to stay awake for a while, just in case something happened. After about ten minutes of nothing, she just started messing around in order to keep herself entertained. She built a snowman in the shape of a human, then rapid-fire-sniped it to death with snowballs, chanting "Ten point kill! Tori wins!" and laughing. Then she made snow angels, practiced hitting trees with snowballs to improve her accuracy, and put some music on her phone, having a private dance party. Hey, a girl's gotta get her cardio.

After a while, she got bored, so she decided to call up her father, Asriel. No matter how busy he was, he always made time for his two children, which meant a lot to them. His boss, King Papyrus, never seemed to mind, as he thought it was sweet how Asriel always tried to make time to talk to his family. Besides, his unmatched brilliance and quick working more than made up for all the time he spent talking.

She dialled his number and waited. It rang twice before he picked up. "Hello?" said a classy, British-sounding voice. Asriel's accent had been mildly passed on to Asgore, but not Toriel, for some reason. "Hi Dad!" Tori said cheerfully, sitting on the counter of her station. Asriel sounded happy to hear her. "Oh, hi sweetie! Anything new?" "Not really, just wanted to talk for a bit," she told him. Asriel laughed a bit. "Well, you know that's fine by me. How has your day been so far?" "Good, yours?" "Not too different, but it hasn't been bad."

They carried on like this for a while, the conversation eventually turning to Asriel's work, which Toriel always seemed interested in. "I'm currently working with Dr. Amara to try and create a new type of medicine. It will hopefully strengthen the healing process of broken bones in a monster's body." "Sounds neat!" Tori chirped. "Heh, indeed it is! We're like astronauts. We've made stellar progress so far." "Ayyyyy!" Toriel said, laughing. "Nice one, Dad!"

Asriel laughed too. His daughter had inherited his love of bad jokes, his son not so much. "Say, nothing special's going on here. Mind if I pop by to see if I can help you and Amy?" Tori asked. "Of course, sweetheart! Your intelligence will help us out a lot. Tell your brother I said hello!" "I will! See you in Hotland, Dad!" Toriel said with a cheerful smile as she hung up the phone. She loved science and enjoyed helping her father with his work. Dr. Amara, or Amy for short, was a cat monster who worked with him as his assistant. She was very nervous and stuttery, but still very lovable and a quite intelligent monster.

She hopped off the counter, told Asgore where she was going and that Asriel said hi, then decided to take a shortcut to Hotland. She walked into the trees, then opened the door to the Lab. "Tori makes an entrance!" she called out loudly. Asriel poked his head out from behind a doorway and waved cheerfully. "Welcome back, Tori!" he called back. Amy walked out too. She was a dark grey cat monster with a creamy-white mask on her face, an underbelly of the same colour, big ears, black eyes and a small creamy-white smudge on her forehead. She waved shyly.

"H-hi Toriel! Nice to see you again!" she said. Tori smiled at the cat monster. "Nice to see ya, Amy! So, what are you two doin'?" Knowing full well that his daughter could understand his notes, Asriel passed a clipboard to her. She read them over — they had made progress. "Wow!" she said, stars in her eyes. Amy and Asriel both smiled. "It's a huge project. Your intelligence, added to our own, would be useful help," Asriel told her. Tori threw on a lab coat and a pair of goggles. "Say no more! Now, how about showin' me the rest of the research?"

Asriel led her upstairs and showed her what he was talking about. A large table with chemicals, papers, labeled bottles and such rested in front of them, and Tori looked interested. She began to help them with their research, and a little while later, Asriel turned to her. "You would make an excellent Royal Scientist if you weren't so bloody lazy, Tori," he told her. Tori was known for her laziness. "I know, Dad, but I don't think I'm up to such a big position," she told her father as she read over the papers she had in front of her. He shook his head with a smile. "You never change, sweetheart," he said. Tori smiled back. "I'm not sure if I ever even want to change."