august catch-all log

[skelepun]

Who: Sans and a lot of goddamn people
When: The first half of August
Where: All around the ship!
What: Various closed prompts covering Sans' arrival + laying some groundwork for future Enterprises.
Warnings: Nothing off the top of the dome! Will update if any surface.


[ All prompts will be in the comments! Please let me know if you have any ideas for starters and either PM this account or PP safelybeds and I'll write something up for you! ]

Comments

Aug. 1st (evening); closed to hawke

[skelepun]

No brother in the cryo bay. No Toriel, no Asriel, no Frisk -- how long had it been? Elsa had given him a vague idea, but processing it? That took more time.

And if it took him this long, maybe the others were taking their time too.

The medbay was the same as before, thankfully. A few new wrinkles here and there, but he never spent enough time here to note the changes day to day. It was comforting, not being familiar enough to know he was unfamiliar.

"Pap?" He asks, walking forward. It's pretty easy to tell his brother isn't here, nor any of the rest of his family, but he is confronted rather immediately with a familiar face.

Well. Somewhat familiar. Much like the medbay, Sans isn't immediately aware of any changes in Hawke's face from the last time they spoke.

"... Hawke?"

[otiosity]

When Hawke was recovering from the Arishok, Varric used to spend late nights sitting by her side and making sure her fever didn't get to high or her wounds didn't bleed to much. He used to sit by her beside and scribble onto parchment until the candles were too low. She used to try to ask him what he was writing though the words often came out as slurred and nonsensical. He'd just chuckle deep in his throat and say "just wait Hawke this one is going to be a hit". He refused to tell her if he was writing about her or what he was saying. The scratch of his quill against the parchment often lulled her to sleep despite any pain her body was in.

So when she comes to in the the Med Bay, she mistakes the buzzing of the medical machines she's hooked up to as the sound of a quill and the blurry figure before he saying her name as her familiar friend.

"Varric?" She slurs, trying to blink the exhaustion out of her eyes. Maker, what happened to her? Oh yeah. She was a slave. That explains some things.

why do you hurt me so

[skelepun]

The name strikes a potent chord with Sans, most notably for how little he expects to hear it. It's been so long since his friend was gone, and even longer since he last spent long thinking about to where.

He assumed home. He always assumed home, when one of their own disappeared one day. The numbers were greater than he cared to admit.

"Close." He offers, as diplomatically as he can before stepping closer. "What happened to you, kid?"

because they both need to hurt because im a horrible person

[otiosity]

"Mmm," Hawke reaches out to rub her eyes, winces, and then goes with her left arm over her right. After blinking a few times, she realizes that it is indeed not Varric but the similarly statured skeleton that she's had a few run ins with. For now, his response isn't exactly computing which might be for the best. If she learned that Varric had been here at this moment, she might vomit, cry, or have her head explode. Maybe both. "I suppose it was rude of me to make assumptions that anyone shorter than my elbow is my favorite dwarf. He really is a dwarf, I'm not being crude."

She tries to sit up, feels a shock of pain and nausea shoot through her system and drops back down against the bed. "Got caught by slavers. And then they shot me. I also took a lot of lyrium. It was a good time."

[skelepun]

"You're fine." Sans shrugs, showing no sign of offense. Being short wasn't exactly the damning statement for monsters as it was for humans and the human-shaped. He takes a seat at her bedside, arms draped lazily over his lap.

... The mention of slavers is enough to draw his posture back to something resembling straight.

"Uh, run that by me again. Slavers?" His sockets edge slightly with confusion. "Shot you. Sounds like I missed a lot of excitement."

[otiosity]

"Good because I'm probably on a lot of things right now and not quite planning to thinking about what I'm saying particularly hard," She sighs, watching him sit down at her bedside. His gaze makes her want to put on a good face and sit up a bit straighter again. There's a few seconds where she tries and fails to do so a couple of times before just admitting defeat and sinking back into the pillows.

"Even more exciting than a glass ship! We just showed up on some... slaver... out post. One second on the ship and one second being sold like animals. I escaped, they shot me. It's a longer story but the details are rather gory."

[skelepun]

If Sans had lips to press together, they'd be forming a thin line right about now. Instead, he continues grinning, though with unshakable distaste rimmed around his eye sockets.

"Another Ingress fuckup?" He murmurs, as much to himself as to her. "That thing never seems to work right, does it."

Annoyed? Him? Nah.

"So who's the 'we'?"

[otiosity]

Hawke politely looks at the ceiling in order to let him muse to himself. Never talk to someone when they're musing. It's truly rude. Though at the question, she wrinkles her nose and sighs dramatically.

"There might have been 50... 60 of us? If you make me name everyone I'm probably going to vomit blood and die and then that will be on your conscious. We were sold into labor and murder sport and... well you can imagine the other unscrupulous things people own slaves for."

[skelepun]

"Save your energy." Sans comments, equal parts blithe and thoughtful. "Not sure I like what you're implying."

None of it was good, but he'd heard what humans were capable of. J was a prime example, and Sans was sure she wasn't the only one.

Much as he hoped he was wrong in this specific case. He didn't ask. Wasn't sure he could.

"How long were you all there?"

[otiosity]

"I don't like what was done. ...To the people I saw around me."

It's far too quick of an addition to ring all that true. But hopefully Sans could take the hint. It didn't seem like he was looking for gritty details anyway. She exhales slowly.

"I was there nearly two weeks. It was a few days before I escaped and then I tried to help out some of the rest of the crew. And cause some general trouble."

[skelepun]

Her cryptic words speak unfortunate volumes despite their brevity. Sans can't help but shift uneasily.

"Heh, wouldn't expect you to do anything else." Any humor he manages to inject into the sentiment is muted, despite himself. "And you're, y'know. Doing okay now?"

[otiosity]

"My stomach kind of hurts. And I'm hungry. But also nauseous. So the worst combination. I'm doomed to suffer."

She gives him a grin but she's clearly exhausted as she has to reach up and run her hands over her face and rub her eyes. The circles under them are fairly pronounced.