[Papyrus's expression doesn't tell Sans anything he doesn't know - that that's not a great thing to hear from a mystery goop corpse, that the followup about electronics isn't promising.]
Okay, yeah, won't do that! I'm not in a hurry to find... to do that.
[He's especially not in a hurry to find out what would happen to him, if he suddenly lost all charge. Whether his skull is still his living part, with the machinery effectively elaborate prosthetics, or... whether he's an out-and-out robot, with a skull hanging on as a decorative vestige. He glances at the powerless phone with a grimace, then shakes his head, dismissing one troubling thought for another.]
Did it... say, what that means? 'The same.' Seems a little hard to believe...
Yeah. [Which is all Sans says immediately. He doesn't know if he wants to talk about it. Okay, he knows he doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't know if he's going to talk about it anyway.]
Same role, that's what it said. To help Okpaza rise. [Another hesitation, like just saying it might make something happen. Deliberately, he places a few more band-aids.] I guess it's like--a kid? It showed up as a hatchling and now it's growing up.
[Babysitting. He keeps getting that job. But nobody even asked him this time.]
[It's so out of anything he expected to hear that Papyrus is left staring at his brother, and pulling up fragments of his internal recording of that whole conversation. Isn't it wonderful, to be chosen as food, as a plaything, for a child with indescribable power who's also uniquely alone in the world...? He shakes off the familiarity, but flags it for later contemplation.]
Well. That sounds... Maybe that part's not terrible. It could hatch and go into space. [He pauses just long enough to emphasize:] Away from us.
Nah, uh, the corpse was pretty clear about the part where it's still gonna eat all of us. [Sans is looking in Papyrus's direction, but not seeing him.] "Another beast raised to maturity on the flesh and souls of the fated ones" was the last thing I heard before I got out of there.
...Wow! That's, uhh... [He can't honestly call it worse than expected, because it sounds pretty similar to some of the sentiments Jonas-and-friends(?) voiced underground. But it's not any better to hear again, no matter how it's phrased. At least it's clear Sans isn't a fan of it, and Papyrus gives up on milling around, beelining to the couch.]
It tried pulling me back, but it wasn't like last time. [Sans says, with only a small, slight hitch when he refers to last time. Papyrus's proximity settles him down a lot like it did last time; his soul is finally starting to shake less.] It said it was part of a hivemind, but I guess that doesn't give it the same level of power.
Okay, that's good to know... But, maybe, you shouldn't check it out anymore either?? What the hell, Sans. [His voice is tense with retroactive helplessness, at realizing there was nearly a close call today that he knew nothing about - and so did nothing about. Again. Sans is still getting that hesitation in his voice when he talks about last time, and there's no sign that the missing chunk is growing back...]
Did... Did anyone know you were in there? I didn't get a call, about... That. [Papyrus gestures at the broken glass on the hazmat suit, then the various bandages Sans has affixed to his bones.]
[Sans winces a little.] I didn't know it was shutting off electronics until I got there. Didn't think the lab guys would just let me in so I let myself in. [So no, he didn't tell anyone, he just teleported in. But he did kind of assume he'd be able to use his phone if he had to.] There were lab reports--didn't take 'em, but they said stuff about how any recording attempts keep glitching out, so I don't think they knew I was there at all.
[Things could have gone a lot worse. Presumably at some point someone who actually works there would have come to check on things if Sans had gotten hurt or something, but--well, who knows how long that would have been.]
Glitching out like the electronics were shutting off, huh. [It's more rhetorical than a question or an invitation for Sans to wince or apologize, because clearly Sans thought he was being clever and that all the safety measures he might need were working, no need to inspect any of it, etc etc.
For a scientist, Sans really is getting too much spacey optimism in his head. It's not religion exactly, but it's magical-thinking in the way of humans who don't have magic and figure it just solves problems for them. Not that technology promises solutions for something that drips on machines and turns them to skin, or abruptly drains the charge from them...]
Well, now you know! So, if you really have to go. Visiting? For some reason?? Tell someon-no, actually, tell multiple someones. Different people, different places. Leave me a message, at least. And charge your phone now? [He digs in that space cleared for the cords, and grabs two that seem likely to be a fit for the phone, holding it out at Sans like he's not taking no for an answer. He's angry and afraid, but helping, not going anywhere.]
[There are things Sans could probably say by way of explanation. The last time he'd checked on the corpse, it hadn't done anything to his phone. When the corpse had said his name, when it had started talking about some role that it shared with Sans but not with the others in the canyon, Sans couldn't have left without knowing what it was. Sans has spent a long time--a length of time even he can't know, because it stops and starts and loops and loops--trying to solve hopeless situations on his own, moving and acting in the background without telling anyone. He's telling Papyrus more than he has in ages, but it's like when Alphys tried teaching Sans to use chopsticks: it's awkward and his bones felt strained afterward from being used in a way they weren't used to.
But none of that really matters, and if he explains one part of it he's going to have to explain more and more. He takes the cord to plug his phone in.] Sorry. I don't really want to check that thing out again anyway.
...You didn't... have to go, did you? [His voice is tense and uncertain, less with the anger that he's putting a pause on, and more with a new idea.] It was just curiosity, not thought through, and not... compulsion. Right?
[Because if something had wriggled into Sans's skull and convinced him he wanted to go there, some allowances have to be made. They have to be, or they'll go crazy with their inability to control anything of their situation.]
Nah--I don't think so? [Sans has to pause and consider it, even with his initial reaction being to deny it. But as he turns his own thoughts over, he can't find any sign of anything he hasn't thought a hundred times over.] No. Just thought--well, it doesn't really matter. I went 'cause I wanted to.
[Because someone should check up on it. Because he doesn't know enough to know when Okpaza's going to bite down again, and he doesn't like that. Because even before he went to check on it again, he knew that corpse was just sitting in a lab not quite dead and growing in some way he couldn't understand. But it doesn't matter. He wanted to go, so he went.]
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spaghettimonster) wrote2021-07-31 02:32 am
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Okay, yeah, won't do that! I'm not in a hurry to find... to do that.
[He's especially not in a hurry to find out what would happen to him, if he suddenly lost all charge. Whether his skull is still his living part, with the machinery effectively elaborate prosthetics, or... whether he's an out-and-out robot, with a skull hanging on as a decorative vestige. He glances at the powerless phone with a grimace, then shakes his head, dismissing one troubling thought for another.]
Did it... say, what that means? 'The same.' Seems a little hard to believe...
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Same role, that's what it said. To help Okpaza rise. [Another hesitation, like just saying it might make something happen. Deliberately, he places a few more band-aids.] I guess it's like--a kid? It showed up as a hatchling and now it's growing up.
[Babysitting. He keeps getting that job. But nobody even asked him this time.]
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[It's so out of anything he expected to hear that Papyrus is left staring at his brother, and pulling up fragments of his internal recording of that whole conversation. Isn't it wonderful, to be chosen as food, as a plaything, for a child with indescribable power who's also uniquely alone in the world...? He shakes off the familiarity, but flags it for later contemplation.]
Well. That sounds... Maybe that part's not terrible. It could hatch and go into space. [He pauses just long enough to emphasize:] Away from us.
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Did... Did anyone know you were in there? I didn't get a call, about... That. [Papyrus gestures at the broken glass on the hazmat suit, then the various bandages Sans has affixed to his bones.]
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[Things could have gone a lot worse. Presumably at some point someone who actually works there would have come to check on things if Sans had gotten hurt or something, but--well, who knows how long that would have been.]
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For a scientist, Sans really is getting too much spacey optimism in his head. It's not religion exactly, but it's magical-thinking in the way of humans who don't have magic and figure it just solves problems for them. Not that technology promises solutions for something that drips on machines and turns them to skin, or abruptly drains the charge from them...]
Well, now you know! So, if you really have to go. Visiting? For some reason?? Tell someon-no, actually, tell multiple someones. Different people, different places. Leave me a message, at least. And charge your phone now? [He digs in that space cleared for the cords, and grabs two that seem likely to be a fit for the phone, holding it out at Sans like he's not taking no for an answer. He's angry and afraid, but helping, not going anywhere.]
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But none of that really matters, and if he explains one part of it he's going to have to explain more and more. He takes the cord to plug his phone in.] Sorry. I don't really want to check that thing out again anyway.
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[Because if something had wriggled into Sans's skull and convinced him he wanted to go there, some allowances have to be made. They have to be, or they'll go crazy with their inability to control anything of their situation.]
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[Because someone should check up on it. Because he doesn't know enough to know when Okpaza's going to bite down again, and he doesn't like that. Because even before he went to check on it again, he knew that corpse was just sitting in a lab not quite dead and growing in some way he couldn't understand. But it doesn't matter. He wanted to go, so he went.]