Yeah. That's how I found it--the room it was in felt the most like death, and then the desk drawer felt even more like it once I got close. [He's like a death detector.] It's messed up, y'know? It feels like a graveyard. But--it shouldn't. Someone's apartment shouldn't feel like that. [Sans doesn't know if that makes any sense because it's hard for him to understand, and he's only just now tried to put it into words. The feeling is still comforting, but in Dylan's apartment, he just keeps thinking about how that feeling shouldn't be there like that. A graveyard in an apartment complex.]
[It's strange to imagine sensing death. Sensing electronics makes sense, there's electrical charge and waves and everything. Things any mundane machine with the right parts and design could pick up on. Death, though... That's so much more fleeting for monsters. Ineffable to imagine anything of substance sticking around long enough to feel.
So Papyrus isn't sure he understands, but nods along slowly. Offers, with mild emphasis:] Especially not somebody's living room. [He lets that sit for just a second or two for the pun to sink in, then pushes on.] A-And, when you said 'all' of them... All of the ghosts we've heard about?
[The pun gets a small, short chuckle out of Sans--just one muffled sound. But it's a relief to know he can still laugh at all.] Yeah. Eight videos, nine people. One--one had two girls in it. [And that one was especially awful, though Sans isn't about to rank them. Of course, Dylan's wife would make ten, but she doesn't have a video and he hasn't heard anyone mention her ghost being around.]
[It is a relief, some of the tension leaves Papyrus's chest at the chuckle. Sans's couch lump state isn't new, but the combination of that and this unexpected willingness to share details is. In the context of talking about sensing things, it was just adding to the sense of unfamiliar changes. The followup comment... Well. He's still plenty tense with the topic.]
...Kids, huh? [The human had been a kid too, he thinks, but... Doesn't make it any better.] I didn't think this story could keep getting worse. Guess Emily has reason to be so mad so much...
Yeah. [Not the only kids, either. Sans loosens his grip on Papyrus finally in favor of settling into something more like a lean.] It was--bad. All of it. [The things he did and the things he said and all the emotions filling up his soul, terror and sadism and pain.] The last video was last year. He's not going to stop. [Not unless he's made to stop.]
Oh. He... definitely hasn't changed his ways, then. [When Papyrus learned that Jenny and Emily had died decades ago? He'd held out a thought that maybe, just maybe, Dylan had figured out there was no good reason to go around killing people. That he should spend his life making people feel welcomed and entertained. But the previous year...] That's... a lot of years, to keep killing over. And sneaky, to hide it for so long.
The stuff he did, and the things he said when he was doing it--he needs to be stopped. [Sans doesn't want to go into detail, feeling less shaky, more able to keep his thoughts behind his teeth, but he can still see scattered scenes when he blinks. He doesn't want to think about what his next nightmare is going to be like.]
That's... vague. [A conspicuous lack of elaboration, compared to the rest of the conversation. Papyrus takes a moment to think back to his own experience with dying, his scolding and encouraging, bracing for an impact he hoped wouldn't come. He drops his voice to something quieter.] ...Do I want to know how bad it got?
No. [That's an easy one. Sans would prefer if he hadn't found out how bad it got either. One of his hands drifts to his chest, like he can massage the pain out of his soul.] I've never felt anything like that before. [The anomaly's LV-soaked determination was different. Again, it's not something he can rank, but it was different. That he's admitted to being able to feel that kind of intent through a video doesn't entirely occur to him.]
[Papyrus gives his brother a side glance, and watches that hand drift up. He's not sure whether Sans means he felt weird at the seeing it all, or... something else. Not after that talk of sensing death.]
Well, who would want to. Seeing such horrible sights... [Other than, he assumes, the sorts of people who go in for making such horrible sights.]
Well, Dylan went to all the trouble of putting it all on a flash drive. [Transferring between media is always a hassle, but he'd done it plenty of times across different decades of mediums. Sans has some proper tone back in his voice, but it's that bitter tone now--all dark humor, like when he'd first arrived in the canyon.] So I guess if you're a murderer you'd be into that.
I guess so! [Papyrus's tone is its own kind of off, concern and fear and brittle cheer mixed together. It's unsettling to hear Sans talking like that, but everything's so unsettling about this situation that his voice is a blip on the old unsettleness meter. Just one more thing. Fans whirr a little louder with a sigh.]
...So. You found... proof. Video evidence, and everything. Do you think... it's enough? [If it's anywhere as vivid as Papyrus is imagining, surely it is. Even the best special effects he's seen still take a lot of money to put together, and, well, maybe the show does have enough of a budget to go giving people a couple hundred dollars for prizes... But they don't have enough to go making a fake of something like that.]
I stole proof. [A little different. If he walks into a police station right now, he's going to have to explain how he got it.] But yeah. I think so.
[It's not a full response. He thinks the videos will be enough for the police, sure, but is that enough to make Dylan regret it?]
I'm going back to his apartment. Not tomorrow. The day after, probably. [Sans needs a break, but he's not done. This is the kind of thing he wouldn't tell Papyrus, except for how worried Papyrus looks right now. Except for how he'd been understandably upset when Sans talked about having gone there without letting him know.] Got some stuff to leave.
[Okay, one thing of his own and then hopefully things from Jenny, assuming Sans can work out the logistics. Emily, too, if she's up for it and can go along.]
[That's semantics, if semantics an officer would care about, but Papyrus won't argue the point. Not when Sans immediately follows it up with future plans - with actually sharing those plans. And the detail at the end, well, he jumps to a few conclusions.]
The I know what you did, so confess plan stuff? You know I'm a fan of it! [Having come up with it, he knows it's a great plan. Not foolproof, obviously, but great for his own morale.] But, with so many people with ghosts, looking for proof... I feel like, maybe, we should tell about your find.
[Well, it is basically still that plan, even if Sans wants to ruin his life and any confessions are more of a side effect. Getting Dylan to confess would still be good, of course. As far as letting other people know...] I can tell people on your post, I guess. [The ghosts do deserve to know. And if Sans can figure out how to get Jenny to be able to leave some messages herself, maybe he could extend that to the other ghosts, too, beyond just Emily. Of course, that does involve potentially having to field questions about said videos, so:] Tomorrow.
That sounds like a plan! Tomorrow. [He has to agree with the sentiment of 'not today,' as today has already been a lot. If it turns out to be the day after... Well, for this, he won't have any chiding to share. The ghosts might feel differently, but hopefully they're more patient than that - they've been dead years and years.] And... For this. Maybe. A little more back-up, than just a ghost. [Maybe a little chiding. But only a little.]
More than one ghost, if I can. [Sans can see them all, so if he can, he'll bring all of them who want to come. He's reluctant to actually drag Papyrus along, but if Papyrus asks, he wouldn't be opposed to Papyrus acting as a physical lookout. And...] I can let you know when I'm heading out. [You know, as opposed to just heading off for the day and then coming back traumatized.]
[It's a conspicuously absent invitation. Better than the alternative of today, but still, Papyrus squints at him for a moment before grumbling.] Just you and a bunch of ghosts, huh? I guess I can be computer backup. Listening to police scanners... Let you know if anyone notices your illegal entry. [It's not like Sans getting into this constitutes breaking and entering, unless the stuff he plans to leave is broken stuff, in which case it's more entering and breaking.]
He'd have a lot to explain if he called the police about it. [Considering the kinds of things Sans is planning on leaving... But that actually is useful anyway.] Sounds like a good idea, though. You could keep an eye on his show recordings, too. [Make sure he's still at the office, so to speak.]
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spaghettimonster) wrote2021-07-31 02:32 am
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So Papyrus isn't sure he understands, but nods along slowly. Offers, with mild emphasis:] Especially not somebody's living room. [He lets that sit for just a second or two for the pun to sink in, then pushes on.] A-And, when you said 'all' of them... All of the ghosts we've heard about?
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...Kids, huh? [The human had been a kid too, he thinks, but... Doesn't make it any better.] I didn't think this story could keep getting worse. Guess Emily has reason to be so mad so much...
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Well, who would want to. Seeing such horrible sights... [Other than, he assumes, the sorts of people who go in for making such horrible sights.]
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...So. You found... proof. Video evidence, and everything. Do you think... it's enough? [If it's anywhere as vivid as Papyrus is imagining, surely it is. Even the best special effects he's seen still take a lot of money to put together, and, well, maybe the show does have enough of a budget to go giving people a couple hundred dollars for prizes... But they don't have enough to go making a fake of something like that.]
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[It's not a full response. He thinks the videos will be enough for the police, sure, but is that enough to make Dylan regret it?]
I'm going back to his apartment. Not tomorrow. The day after, probably. [Sans needs a break, but he's not done. This is the kind of thing he wouldn't tell Papyrus, except for how worried Papyrus looks right now. Except for how he'd been understandably upset when Sans talked about having gone there without letting him know.] Got some stuff to leave.
[Okay, one thing of his own and then hopefully things from Jenny, assuming Sans can work out the logistics. Emily, too, if she's up for it and can go along.]
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The I know what you did, so confess plan stuff? You know I'm a fan of it! [Having come up with it, he knows it's a great plan. Not foolproof, obviously, but great for his own morale.] But, with so many people with ghosts, looking for proof... I feel like, maybe, we should tell about your find.
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