[open] do you know why the body is a prison?

[skelepun]

Who: Sans and YOU! Open to literally everyone
When: Between this and the final judgment call on this.
Where: The Hold.
What: There's a skeleton in the dungeon, come let him rattle his bones at u
Warnings: Probably some mention of murder/death/etc! But mostly pretty tame, I imagine. Will edit if that changes.


The hold was incredible. Three solid walls, one semi-solid wall, a bench-bed hybrid that wrecked havoc on his back, and all the down time a skeleton could ask for. It was perfect. The best vacation he's ever had.

It'll be a real bummer once all of it goes away again.

Whatever the kid is up to, they're biding their time. And the few times a stray unpleasant thought passed through his skull, Sans is able to wave them away easily enough. He didn't care for thinking about Chara's dead body, so he didn't think about it. The worrying notion that, perhaps, this reality experienced time differently from what he knew...

Again: not thinking about it. The perfect cure, really.

Of course, he couldn't exactly stop people from visiting him here. With news spreading throughout the ship of what happened, more and more people were reaching out to him with why spelled out across their furrowed brows. Sans wished he could help them, sincerely. It would be a load off both their minds.

Too bad the answer was just too damn huge.

( ooc: feel free to visit sans in the hold any time, either before or after your character has 'cast their vote (or not)' on his fate. woo! )

Comments

[pleasereset]

The news of Chara's death came to Asriel like a recurring nightmare. He didn't want to believe it when he heard the message on his MID - and for a while he tried different ways to make himself believe otherwise. The death was faked, maybe Chara started a fight and decided to reset. It's not like he hadn't done the same before, especially when it came to Sans.

But after hopeless searching, Chara was nowhere in sight.

Asriel still didn't believe they were gone. They couldn't. He just got them back.

He wanted to curl up and scream. It was all too overwhelming, too heartbreaking to relive something like this all over again. He didn't want to be here, he didn't ask for any of this. And part of him just wishes he could've stayed in the ruins like he was supposed to.

It takes a lot of courage to work up going to the hold. But soon enough, the small monster passes the row of cells until he finds Sans. He doesn't say anything - his voice is firmly stuck in his throat. He's trembling a little, from a mix of anger, fear, and bitterness that he doesn't really know how to express.

Finally, he finds his voice.

"I-I..." There's a voice that sounds a little like a squeak and a whimper, before Asriel puts a little more force into what he says. "I need to ask you something."

[skelepun]

Even for a guy who relished having nothing to do, the hold could get a little boring. After counting all the rivets in the walls (104) and the small imperfections in the bars (52), Sans found himself with very little to do except sleep. So sleep he did, quite frequently, and he was well on his way to another nap when the small voice wrenched him back.

Oh. The little boss monster. The prince. What was he doing here?]

... Huh? I mean, sure kid, shoot.

[pleasereset]

"Did you... did you really kill them?"

The question's hard to get out, and maybe there was a different way of asking. He needs to know what happened, as much as he doesn't want the answer.

"The human, I mean."

[skelepun]

It's hard to read them, which is a rare sensation for Sans. Are they scared of him, or scared of what he's done, or scared for...?

"I... yeah. I did." A beat. "It wasn't something I relished, though."

That was half a lie, but the kid didn't need to know the gritty details surrounding catharsis and revenge.

[pleasereset]

"No... it's... that's not fair."

Asriel's voice is quiet, but childlike desperation still slips in. A quivering in his voice that isn't quite tears, but it's pretty close. He couldn't save his family, the one member of his family he could never really save. They always felt like they were right in his reach, but just like before...

"W-why? Why did you do it? They... they were finally back and it was gonna be okay again a-and...!"

The words catch in his throat, and the tears he tried forcing back come rushing out. His babbling won't make any sense to Sans, at least not without more context. But until he composes himself, giving an explanation for why he's upset is the last thing on his mind.

[skelepun]

It's not the reaction Sans is expecting.

"I... kid, look, I don't know if they--if they were your friend, or--"

No, that was impossible. That thing killed plenty of children in their horrific tear through the underground, leaving them and their families as nothing more than piles of dust. The idea of them befriending any monster, let alone one so young and easily overpowered, is impossible for Sans to fathom.

That said, the reaction is strong enough and dissonant enough that Sans barely knows how to react.

"I dunno what they told you, but they're..." Bad news? A killer? God, Sans doesn't know how to put it.

[pleasereset]

Asriel shakes his head, although friend wasn't that far off. He doesn't understand what happened, why Chara and Sans fought or what even happened.

"...They're family. We're... we're siblings."

[skelepun]

That is a surprise, and it shows on Sans' face.

"Huh? How's that work...?"