spaghettimonster | We're Still Here

Yeah, and usually when they had magic it wasn't that strong. [Of course, there were exceptions, but everyone in the Underground knows about that giant, barrier-shaped exception.] Maybe it's just a training thing.

[Sans isn't sure about that, but he thinks it would give Papyrus something to do.]

[Papyrus nods, also thinking of that big exception.] I guess strong souls, substitute for magic, if you know what you're doing...

[A thought trickles from there. If monsters, magical but weak-souled, couldn't take down the barrier... And humans unusually strong in magic, with those strong souls, were the ones to make it... How powerful was whoever or whatever that plucked the two skeletons out from within the barrier to stick into human bodies...? And, how deep does the transformation go? Are their souls, now also...?

He carefully disengages from the whole train of thought with a shake of his head.]

Well, if that's it, then I'll be back to normal in- soon! [He can't exactly say in no time, with his ongoing issues with - ugh - needing to sleep.] All my past training, and training anew to get up to snuff, and before you know it.

Great, then I won't do anything and we'll compare results later. [It's a scientific experiment!]

You always volunteer to be the control. [It's a sincere complaint about laziness, but not one of wanting the job instead. Playing games of scientific experimentation as kids is much the same as any other game, with lingering grudges about who did what too much.]

'Cause there's no way I'll train and there's no way you won't. [Swapping is impossible.]

[Papyrus grumbles rather than deign to admit Sans is entirely correct. Instead he ponders the last couple minutes, then very gracefully changes the subject.]

Hey, are we keeping this secret from everyone??? It might be hard, to hide practicing from Kiara... or anyone else in the house.

[He glances back at the building, as his memories of the last few days have a few confusing bits. Encountering other people in the house, but like they're not always there, starting from the morning of January 1st, 1961. But he doesn't want to give Sans reason to worry that maybe his brother's mind is slipping, so he covers his grimace with a different reason:]

And, I may have accidentally admitted to magic... existing. To Lorna. Before.

To Lorna? [Sans's voice keeps its even tone, but he looks a bit concerned. The vagueness of "anyone else in the house" is left unexamined in favor of the more concrete concern.] Back when we both first woke up in the house, she told me she used to be able to do somethin'. Manipulating metal, she said. 'Course, I didn't say I could do anything.

[Sans doesn't yet realize just how caught out in that lie Papyrus may have accidentally gotten him.]

What'd you say?

Well... The first time, that a door brought me to the Christmas village. I thought it was you, with magic. [You know, that classic household spacetime prank of putting your brother in random places.] I'm sure I said the word magic... But I did my best to say, it was a joke!

[He's partly being evasive out of not wanting to admit a wrongdoing, but mostly out of trying to recall. It's hard to remember the specifics of the conversation, having happened something like a month ago.]

[Honestly, Sans kind of brought that on himself with all the pranks he's done over the years. He can't blame Papyrus for wondering, and Papyrus often does his wondering out loud, emphasis on loud.] Well, I'll just deal with that if it comes up. [Procrastination!] I guess there's more people around here with magic and stuff than I expected, anyway.

[Also everyone might be from different worlds entirely?]

[It's rare, but times like this, Papyrus is perfectly happy to let Sans take the job of dealing with it and put the job itself on hold. Especially when there's a perfectly good change in subject in front of them.]

Yeah, there are. Magic, and "witchcraft," and angels and things... Even a few superheroes. [It's all almost enough to make him think, maybe Undyne and Alphys's animes were on to something real after all. But thinking about either of them, after basically losing touch with either with the change in leadership, isn't a happy thing. Right now he'd rather focus on the question:] So, if other people find out about magic, it's hardly a problem at all.

[Sans still wants to play his cards close to the chest. But he knows he always wants to do that, and he knows Papyrus isn't as good at it, at least as far as directly lying goes. He's seen some of the discussions Papyrus has had on the network.] You wanna start talkin' about it?

[That's basically what Papyrus is saying there, but he might as well ask outright.]

[Outright lying was so much easier as a skeleton. Most people took his smile at face value, after all. It was mostly just when he stammered, or they already knew part of the truth, that they caught him out in lying. Here... He nods, wary.]

We're all in the same boat. Neighboring boats. Similar boats. [They can't all be cool ex-skeletons, but they're all kidnapped and human and without magic, until now.] I'm sure we can help each other better, if we use all the tools we've got. Like magic.

If you wanna talk about your magic, I'm not gonna stop you. [Emphasis your, except Sans isn't going to directly say 'don't tell people about mine'. Still, he would prefer it. Even if it's not a big deal, people might get expectations.] But the skeleton thing should probably still wait. [There's a guy who works as a monster hunter running around.]

Oh my god, I don't want to tell everyone about skeletons. Maybe other monsters... [He has used the word 'monster' with at least two other not-quite-humans already.] Magic's easy. If they ask about yours, I'll just tell them, you're too lazy to practice!

[That isn't quite true in multiple ways, but he trusts himself to be able to rant and complain about Sans's inactive lifestyle at the drop of a hat. Really, the honesty would sell the whole thing.]

Yeah, that sounds about right. [Not quite true but basically true. Spiritually, or something.] Have you met other monsters, or just other people who aren't human?

[Nobody from the same place as them, right?]

Well, just other people who aren't human-human. [He heaves a disgruntled sigh.] After all that time I put into making posters... nobody even recognized Mettaton.

[What truer test for monsterhood could there be, really.]

Maybe they only want skeletons. [That probably has nothing to do with it. Actually, if everyone is from different worlds, it's a miracle--or something--that both of them are here at the same time, unless there really is a criteria for this sort of kidnapping.]

That makes sense to me! Who wouldn't? [Not to be incredibly biased, but he is pretty confident that skeleton monsters are the best monsters. He laughs briefly, but sobers as he admits:] Even if it's personally inconvenient, for us, being here.

Yeah, I'm still not feeling all this skin. [Except in the literal sense, which he also dislikes, given how sensitive it is to temperature.] But the stars are pretty cool.

[Sans does like those, even if it would be better if Toriel could see them, too.]

It's still one of the upsides. Even if the snow blocks it sometimes...

[He vaguely knew of that aspect of weather, the way dramatically rainy scenes had the skies fill up with clouds so complete they could have been softer rocks. But it's another thing to experience the changing weather and sky visibility.]

Well, I'm pretty sure it doesn't snow all the time on the surface. The season'll change eventually. [Actually, the whole snow thing happened pretty quickly. Sans isn't sure if that's normal or not. But there hadn't been any snow in October. Of course, that does require remaining here and time going forward long enough to get to another season.]

That's true. There wasn't any snow in October, I think!

[He remembers clearly that the air was warmer then, only "crisp" rather than outright cold. And other fragments of visuals... The grass had been mostly uncannily green, and some of the trees had been like the one in the Ruins - empty branches, surrounded by colorful leaves.]

Yeah, pretty sure it was fall then. [Sans knows the seasons only in an academic sense, though he draws the same connection to the Ruins when he thinks about it.] Which makes sense, 'cause that's when we dropped in.

[Heh.]

[Papyrus snickers at it, a quick nyeh heh that gets out before he can help it. But this one, at least, he doesn't feel the need to pointedly not laugh at. Positive reinforcement for non-skeleton puns.

He then pulls his attention back from the question of their arriving here, with its general anxious fog of figuring out all the how-to-human things, and focuses on the bones at hand. Literally, the bone he summons and balances on a fingertip. It feels different than bone on bone attack, but that's his magic, familiar as anything else from childhood.] ...Wow. I really missed this.

[Sans's grin definitely widens at that positive joke reinforcement. Making people laugh is fun, even if making them roll their eyes is fun too.]

Yeah, now if any more weird creatures show up I can put 'em on a roof or something. [That is probably not the best way to deal with them.]

We're Still Here - IC Inbox

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gonna go ahead and keep it ambiguous to continue

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figure mostly wrap-up to switch focus to library thread?

sounds good

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Sans: *Flee

*Sans ran away