in the words of thomas jefferson, "what'd i miss?"

[skelepun]

Who: Sans & YOU
When: The 24th, spanning from early in the morning to the evening
Where: All around the ship
What: Sans is back! It is unclear to him at this point what "back" means, both for him and for everyone else.
Warnings: Alcohol (er, well, ketchup, but y'know), Undertale spoilers out the wazoo

Groggy doesn't begin to describe. Sans knows groggy, like any guy who spends most of his life exactly that. No, this feels as if someone methodically stuffed his skull with cotton until it was fit to crack.

In other words, he has a headache.

Rolling up out of (bed? If it was, it looked more clinical than comfortable) wherever he was, Sans took a moment to take stock of his surroundings. For one, he wasn't dead. Guess the kid finally reset after all, and further back than he expected. To that point, there are his memories to consider. Much like the first time he awoke after death on the Moira, his memories were all exactly where he left them. The feeling of disintegrating, the indescribable expression on the kid's face, the slice of their knife...

No, not knife. Cup. It was a cup this time. Heh. What a way to go.

Yawning, Sans shakes out the last of his stiffness. One of the upsides to losing your memories each reset was blending in. When your brain simply reloaded, it knew exactly what to do and where to be. Like this, Sans has no idea what day it is, let alone if he's got a mess duty or not.

And people wonder why he takes such relish in laziness. It makes for great cover when the world decides to rewind and leave you stranded.

Papyrus would know -- he always knows exactly where Sans is supposed to be and how late he is getting there. With a bounce in his step, Sans steps outside with the intention of finding his brother.

closed to papyrus; outside cryo

He doesn't have to look very far.

"... Bro?"

Papyrus is parked outside the cryo lab, deliriously going over a puzzle book. The page he's on appears to have already been solved... twice? No, three times. Incorrectly, correctly, and then incorrectly again. Huh. For once, his little brother's superior perception seems at a loss -- he doesn't appear to notice Sans' presence at all.

Leaning against a wall, Sans is content to watch for a while -- though his smile can't help tightening when he notices just how out of sorts Papyrus looks.

"Figure out this page many more times and you'll need an upgrade to the senior scramble, bro."

ota; around cryo/halls/nomo deck

Parting ways with his brother, Sans rubs at his eye socket. The exchange was... bizarre, even for the two of them. All the component parts were right, but they wouldn't fit together. His brother scolded him for his laziness, encouraged him to shake a leg to work, talked at length about his exploits around the ship...

All together, it should be normal. But then Sans thinks about how he fell asleep right there against the wall, how tired he looked before that, how bone deep his exhaustion seemed to penetrate, and it's not right. Something happened, and Papyrus isn't telling him. Then again, he didn't ask. They really were the poster children of talking about their feelings, weren't they.

Hands shoved deep in his pockets, brow bone furrowed deep in thought, Sans makes his way in the direction of his room. Maybe he could find some answers there about where the reset spat him out...

closed to miles; his office

Welp.

Welp.

Sans doesn't bother mincing words. He doesn't bother walking, either, teleporting with careless agility. It's a miracle he doesn't wind up in another wall.

"Miles!" He barks, in a tone entirely unlike any Miles (or, well, most people) has heard from him. "I know you're in there, I can hear you being smug from out here."

closed to roomies; nomo deck

It couldn't have been more than half a day since Sans woke up. Revived? Jeez, this was a mess. And despite reality, it feels like thirty years by the time Sans drags himself into his bedroom. It's cleaner than he remembers. But then again, why wouldn't it be, his roommates have had more than enough time to adjust to life without him. Won't they be disappointed.

No, that was mean. Sans takes a moment to regard his bunk. Someone went to the trouble of making it (by who, he can't be sure -- well, no, he's sure it wasn't J), and Sans feels a tinge of regret as he promptly messes it up again.

One veggie burrito, heavy on the calcium, coming right up.

ota; gardens

Things don't really start to sink in until he looks his blueprints. Even then, they don't sink so much as tie an anchor around his middle and hurl him overboard.

He needs to be alone.

A step, a quick calculation, and he gets his wish.

The tree in the garden is tall, but Sans never appreciated how tall until finding himself perched at the top of its canopy. The trees are sparse and thin enough up here to be dangerous, but Sans doesn't weigh much to begin with. And even if they did snap, would it matter?

It would, his mind reminds him, it would matter more than it has in a long, long time.

No, Sans decides. He's not going to think about that. He's going to go through all the tree jokes he knows until he's either laughing or asleep.

What did the tree wear to the pool party? Swimming trunks.

(There are no resets. There might never be another reset.)

What did the beaver say to the tree? It's been nice gnawing ya.

(Time marches on here, with or without you -- no, with you, because they'll keep bringing you back and taking pieces until there's nothing left. No more do-overs, not for you, or him, or them, or anyone.)

How do you identify a dogwood tree? By its bark.

(You can't afford not to care anymore, but do you even remember how to care? To really try?)

Why did the tree get a timeout? It was being knotty.

"Heh... knotty." Sans chuckles from on high, oblivious to anyone below his perch. "Gotta use that."

[ ooc: i'll match action or prose, gimme whatcha got! ]

Comments

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

Miles had told Papyrus Sans would be here whenever he came back from his power nap, and he'd checked in several times a day out of impatience. When Sans had finally appeared, a full day or so before actually waking up, he'd decided to camp out nearby and wait for him. This had been an impressively long time out even for him, and he was sure to be disoriented. After all, someone had to be the responsible brother, right?

Papyrus normally ran on very little sleep and had energy to spare, but after close to a week of constantly keeping himself moving, distracted, busy, he finally understands what people mean about feeling worn down to the bone. Physically, mentally, he's burnt out. He'd brought a stack of puzzle books to whittle away some of the time, but he'd been stuck on the same word scramble for... he has no idea how long anymore. Letters swim into each other, creating bizarre new hieroglyphics he tries to solve anyway. His brain keeps catching on the same collection of letters, reading them over and over in an exhausted loop, until a familiar voice snaps him out of it.

He lifts his skull and even through his apparent weariness, he grins at the sight of his brother standing around making his usual jokes. Not dusted, not fallen and gone forever, but here and normal and...

"SANS!" Puzzle forgotten, he drops the book and leaps to his feet. "There you are! I... I mean, it's..." There are still some things he doesn't want to talk about, even if the hurt attached to them just became completely irrelevant, and he changes tack. "You absolute, unforgivable lazybones!" Yes, that sounds right. Throw in the petulant footstomping, and it's just like old times. "Where have you been?"

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Well, one thing that Sans' right about is that J has nothing to do with the current state of their room. In fact, after finding out about Sans' death, J didn't even look at the direction of his bed. She didn't say anything about what happened in the room and tried her best to avoid even thinking about it (and failing at it awfully.)

Keep it out of your mind and you don't get hurt. You don't have to feel anything at all.

But then, just as she gets back to their room, she sees Sans climbing up to his bed and looking perfectly okay and unharmed. Time stops for a second or two for J and she stands in the doorway completely still with a blank expression.

Taking a deep breath, J storms into their room, right towards at Sans. She grabs him from the jacket and yanks him off the bed, glaring at him while looking absolutely infuriated.

1. Near Nomo deck

[rraidergirl]

There are good days and there are bad days. Days where she can get up and move around and hardly see him or hear his voice. Then there are days he dogs her steps, waits for her around every corner, grinning and bloodstained. She's going to have to talk about this with Ocelot or Eric... She's been doing a lot of that these days, but that may just be what happens when one starts hallucinating dead friends.

It's a bad day. Or the beginning of one, hard to tell. She nearly walks straight past the painfully familiar figure, wondering idly of her mind has decided to double down when what she's seeing registers.

It's... Dramatic. She'll be embarrassed about it later, when her entire mind doesn't freeze and the strength is back in her legs. They don't come back, they never come back.. She already knows that's a lie, yet still. She takes an unsteady step towards him, ready for him to vanish into thin air.

"...Sans?"

gardens

[tigermillionaire]

Steven has been in the garden for most of the day, which is largely why he hasn't noticed anything going down about this yet. He's merely noted a few times that it seems like things are taking longer with Sans than they should be, with a heavy note of anxiety at the idea that it might fail, like it had with Athena. His thoughts don't dwell there for longer than he can manage, however. He finds solace in a pile of tiny cats.

The garden's tree cats are more or less a constant source of comfort for him, ever since he discovered their presence. They're one of the only other plant/mammal hybrids he's ever met, and they respond to him sort of like a sentient plant would, which means that when he goes to the garden he can often be seen with a small flock of them, communicating subvocally as they nap together or play.

His mind strays to ideas of trees, at some point. About how he misses his tree desperately, and at how maybe it would be a good idea to find one on the ship. His nymph soul aches at the lack of companionship, and hunting for a new tree wife is more or less what he's doing when he notices Sans up in its bows.

A few of the cats mew in response to Steven's sudden change of mood, one of them crawling up over his shoulder to see what he's staring at.

"Sans!" he yelps enthusiastically.

Nomo Deck

[gainedlove]

A week. It's been a whole week.

Frisk has slowly started to fill in the cracks in their mask, calling on more and more of that orange tint hidden deep within to keep moving, find their momentum again after being robbed of it over and over. It's slow going, but they're getting out of their room more, finding ways to be useful even if it's not nearly enough...they're recovering, bit by bit.

(He's not coming back. Chara was already alive by now, they can't do the same for a monster.)

No. They have to keep going, they have to have hope. There's a way through, and just maybe, if they try and think and LOAD hard enough...

Do they have to die here to RESET? Frisk is almost tempted enough to try.

Slipping out of their room, it actually takes a moment for the soft clacking of leg bones to make it through the muzzy fog of headache clinging to their skull, and Frisk looks up curious. Did Papyrus come by to check on them again? THey didn't mean to worry--

Frisk freezes seeing that familiar stout frame, and in an oddly fitting echo to Chara's own revival for a long moment all they can do is stare. He's--Sans is here. Sans is okay. He walking and grinning and there isn't a single crack on him, he's not turning to dust or falling apart or dying at all--

A full five seconds later the tableau breaks and Frisk runs to Sans with a broken sob, not caring if he dodges or flings them away or however his strange and horrible memories make him react. He's alive and that's all that matters.

more roomie time

[averagemedium]

"Took you a while to get back, huh."

His voice comes from the direction of the couch, and after a moment Ryan shifts to sit up more, folding an arm on the backrest to prop himself up. There's nothing accusing in his tone, still conversational-- like he's talking about the weather or asking how someone's day was.

It's not that he doesn't care; it's just that it's hard to get upset over the situation when it's a normal, natural sort of thing to him. Besides, Sans obviously came back.

"So- how was the trip?"

gardens

[swaddledog]

The gardens were one of the few places on the ship Furiosa felt she could really relax. It was such a sharp contrast to the wasteland, the ship, the endless inky blackness outside. It felt welcoming. It felt like home, more than anything else. The Green Place in all this unfamiliar circumstances.

She still was hesitant to touch the plants, as if touching would shatter the illusion and she'd find it all dead, but she was content to walk through them, feeling the warmth of the artificial sun on her skin. She'd come to accept that she was typically never alone there, but usually she was left alone.

A strange new flower in one of the trees catches her attention. Oh, not a flower. The skeleton.

Furiosa considers minding her own business, but instead she gathers pebbles around the ground until she has a handful, then starts throwing them up at him. Most of them bounce off the bark near his legs and head.

"Hey, bone man! You want to hear a joke?"

: )

[forwardmomentum]

Miles answers the door with a slightly bemused look, eyebrows sharply raised, and, yeah, he does manage to look kind of smug, somehow. He gives Sans a quick once-over with a flick of his eyes and he tilts his head slightly, resting his hip against the doorway.

"Hello, Sans," Miles says conversationally, watching him curiously for his reaction. He's never seen Sans this wound up before -- or hardly at all, really. A few moments of tension here and there, but that note in his voice is something entirely new. "I see you're back from the dead. How was the trip? Not too stressful, I hope. Won't you come in?"

[vengeance_driven]

☄ halls

Niko was on his way to the cargo bay again, in a hurry to get to work, when he happened to see the stout little man-skeleton-person-smartass-whatever. He remembered Papyrus's optimism, insistance that he was probably alright.

Good to see that he was now.

"Hey," he said, raising his hand in idle greeting. At first he intended to pass, because what the hell? Sometimes people died and came back. That? He was getting used to that (even if he hoped that if he kicked the bucket he'd not be returning). But he slowed down, another thought hitting him, and he looked over at Sans before he got too far out of range.

"You ah... you mind if we go sit somewhere? I am sure you got shit to do, but I got some questions. Just suspicions I sort of have."

garden!

[justabit]

[Speaking of going to the gardens for some quality time alone, that's exactly the same reason why Rick has decided to make a trip there himself.

Well, that and he's always on the look for any plants that could be used for experimenting and he may or may not have been stealing some of the cats because they interest him, from a scientist's perspective.

Either way, he's wandering around today, not looking for anything in particular when he hears the now familiar sound of a chuckle coming from above. Rick's not a small guy, towering over six feet and somewhat inches, so it's not hard for him to spot the skeleton sitting above in his perch.

The scientist smirks a little and leans back, craning his neck a little as he calls up to Sans.]

Wh-why'd the skeleton climb up a tree?

Roomies!!

[breakin_ur_lore]

Med'an is out of their room when Sans finally resurges, but he knows exactly when his roommate gets home. The new alarm spells he's put around the room ping him no matter where he is on the ship, and he's been around Sans enough to recognize the energy signature as his. In truth, he'd been a little concerned - it had been several days, and even as a new crew member he understood enough about the "resurge" process to know that that was a long time - so when he gets the alert he stops what he's doing to book it down to Nomo deck.

"Sans?"

And there he is, on the bottom bunk as usual, looking...well, usual. The concept of people coming back from the dead isn't entirely new to him, but on Azeroth those people certainly look different afterwards. And he hadn't really taken a close look at Chara to be able to tell if anything about them had changed.

So. The ship is capable of bringing you back, in a very intact state. But it doesn't always, and you're still at risk of being murdered, maybe in your own room...at the back of his mind, Med'an feels the alarm spells hovering steadily around the door, and feels reassured.

Now, what do you say to an acquaintance who's just come back from the dead?

He lets out a breath, and closes the door behind him. "Hi."

gardens

[soulist]

[ Oh. It's the skeleton that helped him out before. Cyrus will give him a curt wave as he walks a bit closer. He's still coughing as per usual, but at least he doesn't look as bad as did during their first encounter. That was a bit of a bad first impression, so maybe they can have a do over of sorts.

Either way he was a frequent attendee to the gardens so he's bound to run into the other at some point. ]

Sans, right? You make all those jokes up yourself? [ or is it some weird skeleton humor that he's never heard of. ]

nomo deck!

[knaval]

There were two things Riptide had Not Forgotten: firstly, his room was still half exploded and he needed to fix that somehow. Secondly, the completely bizarre conversation he'd had with Papyrus. It had slipped his mind a few times, admittedly, mostly because he doesn't really know the guy all that well and there wasn't much he could do about it.

He's technically inside his room when he notices Sans. Or, rather, the jacket. The missing wall makes it... easy to see out into the corridor. Riptide pushes the tarp (temporary wall) out the way and waves at Sans.

"Hey! You're back from... a really long jog? It was that, wasn't it?" he says, an odd tinge of desperation in his voice. He may not know the skele-brothers, but damn does he know how it feels for someone you care about to go missing.