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]

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.