video; un: coolskeleton95

[boneafide]

[So maybe it's been a while since you've seen Everyone's Favorite Skeleton! Because it has. But don't worry, he is still here, just as loud and annoying sounding as before.]

I HAVE A FEW VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, IF EVERYONE COULD PLEASE ANSWER!

[What a way to preface this. He appears to have a notebook he's been writing in, and keeps it in his hands for the duration of this post.]

ONE! What are your favorite parts of the maze you've experienced so far!! Was it that impenetrable walls?? The laser net?? The lizards?? The less handsome and completely anti-social skeletons? Or fill in your own answer!

TWO! What would you do to improve this maze?? Lava? Cannons? More traps leading into spiked pits?? I'm thinking that last one, myself. Or, again, fill in your own answer!

Please vote with your answers!

Comments

[boneafide]

[And yeah, he just heads on over, since he can just see Sans waving. Takes a seat next to Sans, and sighs. Not like, deep sigh, just... you know.]

[skelepun]

[There was a time when Sans would've balked at offering Papyrus alcohol, not that he ever would've taken it in the first place. Here and now, Sans doesn't hesitate passing the bottle. This wasn't then, after all.

And yeah, he knows.]

'Sup, bro? Hope you don't mind, I got a head start.

[boneafide]

Hello, brother.

[Papyrus takes the bottle, recognizing it as definitely not juice. He smells it, just to be sure, and... yeah. Alcohol. He feels like he should have realized it. He doesn't drink from it right away, and instead just holds the bottle by the neck and looks at the campfire in front of them for a minute or two.

Eventually, he takes a sip. It doesn't taste good. Real juice is better. Maybe he even makes a face at it.]

Does it always taste this bad?

[skelepun]

Fermentation's basically another word for rotting, so...

[He takes the bottle back, taking a swig. So much for no beverages in the mysterious void.]

Yeah, pretty much.

[boneafide]

But you drink it anyway. Does it make you feel better that much?

[skelepun]

What've I got to feel bad about?

[It comes out quickly, but Sans regrets it almost as fast. His overcompensating grin scales back to a smile that's a little more neutral.]

... Not in any real way, Pap. [This time, he does hesitate passing the bottle back. Still, he does it.] But now and then isn't so bad.

[He's quiet for a while, drumming his fingers against his kneecap.]

So. You getting any good maze data?

[boneafide]

[Papyrus hesitates this time, mostly because he doesn't really like the taste, but... it always made Ban happy when he drank. Maybe it'll make this conversation easier?]

Not really. No one likes the maze, and I can't really blame them! It's kind of awful. But from a puzzle extraordinaire's perspective, it's really a good maze!

[Papyrus takes a sip.]

Things really aren't that bad, right? We're doing okay here.

[skelepun]

Yeah, we are.

[It sounds sincere enough, though Sans isn't sure if he means it. He's not sure what he feels about it, honestly.]

I don't think people are quite as used to being trapped as we are. Most of 'em haven't had to deal with that the way we did.

[boneafide]

I meant ... with Alastair, too. We're okay here, right? I know you'd probably prefer if we lived in a house with no adventure and normal things, but it's not bad, right? We have friends here! And we aren't always stuck somewhere. It could be ... worse.

[Another sip. He hasn't passed it back yet. It still tastes gross, though.]

[skelepun]

[Sans of all people isn't about to rush him, but he does take careful note of how much alcohol is disappearing from the bottle with each swig Papyrus takes.]

Yeah, it could be.

[It could be a lot worse. Sans slides his hands into his pockets, now 50Gs lighter. A small change, but anything is noticeable when the contents of your hoodie went unchanged for over a year. Dust coats his hands, and he finds himself noticing that more than usual too.]

Are... you happy here, Pap?

[boneafide]

Yes.

[Said quick, but honestly. Like there's no other answer he could have had. He notices at this point he hasn't passed the bottle back, and does so now.]

I mean, I'd be okay with a normal house and normal things too! But this is still okay. Even though things are hard sometimes, and people get hurt, and we have to make... really hard decisions...

[...]

It's still better than what it could have been. You're here, and my friends are. That's what's important to me.

[skelepun]

[If there was one thing Sans could always count on Papyrus for, it was big dreams. Fantasies that were as big in scale as they were unattainable. A sports car, a position in the royal guard, swaths of devoted fans -- they were outlandish, yeah, and got Papyrus his fare share of ridicule from less patient monsters (with very bad taste).

Still, even if Papyrus never did manage a fanclub, Sans was there to don the metaphorical foam finger and cheer him on. Even if the royal guard was perpetually out of his softhearted reach, Sans was there to slave over a sewing machine and help his battle body come to life. And while a bed might not be a real race car, it was a hold over while Sans privately poured over waterlogged auto enthusiast magazines from the surface, wondering what the G-to-$ conversion rate was on the surface.

Him, Sans the skeleton, thinking about the surface. That was something only Pap could bring out in him. He cherished that. And it made it all the more frustrating now, when Papyrus' desires were simple.

All Pap wanted was his brother, and he wasn't even the same guy.]

Listen. [He says, suddenly, choking up his grip on the bottle.] I gotta tell you something.

[Glug glug glug.]

[boneafide]

[They've had this sort of conversation before. Sans saying something along the lines of needing to tell him something he'd kept secret, and then the conversation veering left, and then they both pretend it doesn't happen. No, he needs to tell Sans something too. He can't let them just keep falling back into that loop, where no one says anything, and it just makes them more miserable in the end. Maybe what Mettaton said was right. Maybe this would make things better.

Maybe it might make things worse.

He has to give it a shot.]

Me too.

...Do you want me to go first?

[skelepun]

Yes. [Sans says, too quickly and with with palpable relief. Any stay of execution was welcome.] I mean... yeah, sure. Go ahead, bro.

[boneafide]

I...

[He offered, but now of course, the onus is all on him, and that kind of sucks. Still...

Papyrus takes in a breath (how?) and then all at once, like a he has to say it all as quickly as possible:]

I know that things could have been worse, because they were worse, because for a few days I wasn't me-Papyrus, but I was a king-version-of-myself and it was awful and I hated it!!!

[skelepun]

[And just like that, Sans feels his heart (what?) begin to sink. He didn't remember the timeline Papyrus described. There was a distant ghost of something similar at the back of his skull, but nothing concrete.

Something about a cluttered desk and a cold, empty castle. Something about missing their house in Snowdin. The rest was fog.]

Aw, Pap...

[Even if the specifics were lost, Sans had no doubt that it was a timeline aberration. Everything from the confusion in Papyrus's sockets the words I wasn't me spelled out a sensation Sans was so familiar with now, it was practically old hat.

There was one part that never seemed to dull, though: the loneliness. Holding a secret, because the reality might hurt the people you care about, trying to ignore the fact that it's hurting you too. It's the last thing he wanted for his brother, yet here they were.]

Crap. [He hisses, more to himself than anyone else. A private frustration as he opens his arms, meeting Papyrus's wide sockets.] C'mere.

ok but ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNbeBICLpqI

[boneafide]

[Papyrus all but throws himself at Sans' open arms, wrapping around him and pulling him tight. He's holding in the tears he wants to cry because he's not a baby and he doesn't cry unless he's really hurt, but it's very hard.]

I don't know why I remember that, I just know it wasn't fake, it wasn't something I just thought happened, and it really didn't. It did happen- just not... not to me!

you're CRUEL

[skelepun]

[This was a conversation Sans never thought he would have. Versions of it, sure. There must have been times -- countless timelines ago -- where a younger, confused version of him turned to his brother.

The outcome of those encounters were hazy non-memories to him now. However they went, whatever the outcome, it was apparently enough for Sans to never do it again. To actively, painstakingly avoid it.

So much for that.]


Pap... it's alright. [He mutters, rubbing Papyrus's back. Small circles, like he used to do when his brother was little and fresh off a bad dream.] You're alright. I've got you. We're together again here, even if we weren't back there.

[Well. There it was. The start of something he'd been avoiding for nearly six months. Or thousands of timelines. Something between the two.]

sorry....................but also not...

[boneafide]

[Eventually, he settles down, but doesn't let go of Sans, soothed by the familiar feeling. He must look ridiculous, totally wrapped around his brother like this, but look, shut up. At the very least, when he tries to talk again, he only hiccups once.]

We w-were... We were still together.

[He remembers that. He remembers Sans, still there, still with him, but... ]

...Why wouldn't we have been together?

rip me

[skelepun]

[Ridiculous was a word for it. Sans liked the word comfortable better.]

It wasn't me, Pap. The Sans here before. I wasn't there, I was back home and you... Weren't.

[boneafide]

[Wait.]

You're not... Sans?

[No, it's Sans-]

...You are, but you're... not?

[-But not the same Sans?]

[skelepun]

Pretty complicated, huh?

[The hug goes slack as Sans pulls back, turning his eye sockets back towards the fire.]

It is from this end too, bro.

[boneafide]

[He won't deny it- he's confused pretty easily by things like this. Science wasn't his thing, and this definitely seemed like a science thing.

Sans pulls away from him, and Papyrus probably shouldn't want to just pull him back in, but he does. Instead Papyrus looks at Sans like he's a puzzle to figure out. Slowly, but certain in his himself and his words:]

...But you are Sans.

[Just like the Sans who was his Sans, when he was a Papyrus that wasn't him... Sans is Sans.]

You're still my brother.

[skelepun]

[It was a strange sort of heaviness, hearing Papyrus say those words. It soaked into his bones like water, weighing him down physically until his elbows touched his knees, spine bent forward.

His shoulders shake slightly, be it from chuckling or something else it isn't quite clear.]

I lied to you, bro. [He sighs, smoothing out the rattle of his ribs.] That's not very cool.