what did the skeleton say to the other skeleton

[skelepun]

Who: Sans & YOU
When: From the 16th on.
Where: All around the ship.
What: Catch-all log for May!! Some post-void shenanigans, some general around the ship shenanigans, fun for everybody!
Warnings: Will add if any come up! Probably some talk of mass murder, though.





( All prompts below! Please either PM me or PP me on plurk (safelybeds) if you'd like to hash out a custom starter!)

OTA (MEDBAY)
Sans tries to sneak out of the medbay after Magic Overload.

OTA (CRYOBAY)
Who wants to tell bad jokes and hang out around a bunch of kinda dead people?

OTA (TRAINING ROOM)
Magic burnout sucks. Let's talk about powers and why they're the worst.

OTA (CLASSROOMS)
Who wants to learn chemistry from the world's most tired man?

Comments

[skelepun]

That's a little closer to authentic, but Sans can't quite help being disappointed all the same. He heard through the grapevine and saw it first hand, how hard Toriel pushed herself. The days leading up to her collapse he... well, he missed those, and that in and of itself is enough to set a guilty crease between his brows.

"Well, I'm here now, so..." He rolls up his flour-dusted sleeves, settling next to her at the counter. "Lemme help you out with this pie and you can tell me about it, maybe?"

As if to take the pressure off, he doesn't keep staring at her. Instead, he takes a look at the dough itself. "I've always wanted to see you do this. My crust always winds up gummy."

[inruins]

The shift softens her expression a little further. "If you want to hear this old lady complain about pie, you've come to the right place." Toriel offers in a vague attempt to make light of the moment. "I will warn you, I think I've lost my touch at this point."

Even with her disclaimer, it is clear she hasn't lost her ability from how easily she slides into teaching Sans about the pie crust. Explaining how she bakes to Sans is a comfortable niche for her even now. Even without the door between them, she describes what she does as she shows Sans her method. More than likely she motions for Sans to try his hand at braiding a length of dough for the pie crust.

Eventually, she breaks away from the ease topic of pie to be more honest. "I'm frustrated, I cannot do more. I must admit that much." She works on braiding the next strand. "I need to do less, but I don't want to."

[skelepun]

For all of Sans' focus, his braid is limp and sad compared to Toriel's long elegant one. Her mediocre was Sans' master class. Brow bone creased in concentration, he did his best to mimic her finger movements.

"Sounds like you could stand to take after me a little bit, T. Doing things is overrated." Still, for all his tone is joking, he ribs her gently in the side. "You passed out 'cuz you were working yourself too hard. You've got friends here, T, you could stand to share the load."

[inruins]

She easily finishes another braid as she mulls over just how to respond. "I just... I want to make sure things go smoothly. Someone needs to take care of all of these children, Sans." Even with what time she's had on the surface, that sense of duty, that sense of protection is something hard to shake. Toriel has lived with it long enough to feel like it is a part of her now.

"I always feel like it has to be me, even if everyone else wants to help." She can at least be honest in that, even if Toriel hates having to admit it. "There are many teachers here, but not many others who are to mind the children's day to day business beyond that. Many of them didn't come with their parents..."

[skelepun]

"I mean... I guess I get that." Not in a practical, relating sense, but in the spirit of an abstracted concept. "But like, maybe you oughta look at why you feel that way instead of just accepting it."

There's a twist in his metaphorical stomach. They're close -- very close -- but that closeness hadn't yet translated to calling each other on the ugly parts of their respective personalities. Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and Sans' house was made of especially thin glass.

Still. Say something, it might backfire on him. Say nothing, Toriel might collapse again. Those were odds worth gambling on.

"I mean, we both know you've got a stubborn streak, Tori."

[inruins]

There were always topics they knew to avoid, to keep the peace and comfort their friendship came with. Both were treading on ground they usually avoided.

Her lips tug into a thin line as she looks at Sans for a long moment. "That is a polite way of putting that. Very diplomatic." Toriel had been queen long enough to be called much worse. She continues braiding the next strand, wrinkling her snout unhappily.

"I know why I feel what I do, Sans. I know I need to help these people." She had failed too many children already.

[skelepun]

Yep. There it was. The face. The face that screamed turn back lest you meet a terrible fate.

He was really bad at acting sensibly today, it seems.

"Yeah, but do you know why you feel you gotta do it all by yourself with no help?"

[inruins]

Sans proceeding forward only makes her frown deepen. Usually they both withdrew on this kind of topic before it reached this point. "I can afford to work myself harder than others do, we both know why. I am not likely to fall down because of it."

Well, she had believed that more readily until recently. Having to question her usual behavior wasn't particularly easy, much less comfortable for Toriel. She addressed it with others, but delving deeply into it felt... wrong.

[skelepun]

"Okay."

Sans nods, looking back down at his braid. To his surprise, it shaped up to something resembling passable near the end of the braid. The entire thing ran the gamut of too tight, too loose, and just right. What does that average out to, 60%? Nearly a passing grade. Not bad.

"I'm just saying. Nobody was watchin' those kids while you were chilling in cryo."

He risks a smile in her direction, hoping the joke softens the sentiment a little.

[inruins]

Toriel carefully starts setting braided pieces aside on sheet of baking paper, wordlessly motioning for Sans to do the same. Clearly intending to use his alongside her own on the pie to be.

The joke and his smile softens her resolve some, leaving her answer more bland than purely defensive and prickly. "It means I'll have to do my rounds and check on them soon."

She starts to look more tired as she picks away at her thoughts. Toriel knows Sans has a point, even if she doesn't want to hear it.

[skelepun]

She's stonewalling him in her own agreeable way. Sans can't even fault her that much for that. He follows instruction, laying his own malformed braid against her many neat ones.

How was she so fast at that, especially when she was obviously so distracted? Guess that's what happens when you put effort into something.

"Heh... alright." He knows when pushing isn't going to get him much further. "I'm just saying. I worry about you."

[inruins]

Something passes across her features, something very torn and uncertain. More raw than she liked to be. "...I appreciate it. Truly."

She works on another braid more absentmindedly this time. More lost in thought than focused on her task. When she finally speaks, she's hesitant but more open. "I'm just not sure what to do with myself if I am not busy. Much less if something happens to any of the children and I couldn't do anything to help."

She had done everything she could back then for those fallen human children, but even now it didn't feel like enough.

[skelepun]

"Yeah... I know. I get it, T, I really do." He frowns, suddenly feeling extra fidgety now that there's no more dough to braid. It's an uncomfortable sensation. Normally he never feels much pull to expend any extra energy.

Now, he's practically vibrating with it.

"Well, you used to take breaks with me around. What's so different when I'm not around?" He cocks his skull to the side, drumming his fingers on the counter. It's hard not to think about his absence in the week prior to Toriel's collapse. Guilt is putting it mildly. "Did you ever used to take a break when you were living in the Ruins?"

[inruins]

Toriel pushes a apple and peeler over to him, a quiet offering to give him something to do. She can feel the energy coming off of him at this point.

"I like to be busy. Doing nothing just leaves my mind wandering on what I could be doing." She picks up her own peeler, naturally and carefully peeling the second apple she has.

"Occasionally, I used to knit quite a bit but- I don't really have my needles or yarn here. I usually just did the rounds of the Ruins and made sure everyone was alright. Even if the Froggits and Whimsims seemed uncomfortable around me."

[skelepun]

It's gratefully accepts. Sans isn't normally the guy who needs something to occupy himself -- staring into vacant space suits him just fine most days -- but the tenor of this particular conversation had him antsy. Relieved to busy himself, he gets right to work.

"Really?" He actually looks surprised at that last point, glancing briefly towards her before returning to the task at hand. "What's to be uncomfortable about? You're hilarious."

[inruins]

Toriel shrugs uncertainly in turn, not wholly certain. The fact she intimidated them with her presence never fully registered with the boss monster. "I am not sure. I did my best to make them comfortable. It tended to make it a bit worse." She laughs a little at the memories.

She continues peeling, turning the apple carefully in her palm. The motion is practiced, careful to avoid cutting her fingers. "Maybe I should take up knitting again, or archery, even if I'm terrible at the latter." It is a gentle admission, a conceit Sans has a point, even if she doesn't like it very much.

[skelepun]

"Archer, huh? I barely know 'er." He chuckles, eyes focused on the apples, but that doesn't stop him from soaking in each new kernel of information she deigns to share. Knitting, he could've guessed. Archery? Well, that's a little more surprising.

"Hobbies never killed anybody, that's all I'm saying. I mean, except for the arrow part. That sounds like it could come to a head real quick."

[inruins]

The boss monster chortles loudly at that, the sound genuine and more relaxed by far. Jokes are their shared bread and butter, a safety they both need. "You have never handled a knitting needle have you? I've hurt myself more with those than arrows. My mother would have had my head if I mishandled weaponry."

The topic shifting to something easier helps, even if her tone goes a touch nostalgic at the brief mention of her mother. "I understand though. Admitting I need a break is... strange for me."

[skelepun]

Hearing here talk like this is nice, in its own odd way. Different. Comfortable had been a key term of their friendship since the beginning, but Sans can't remember a time he saw Toriel this... loose before.

"Strange is good, right? I mean, not all the time, but some of the time." He winks, elbowing her gently before getting back to his apples. With only two thirds of the pile peeled, the finished apples have already begun to go slightly brown for how long Sans is taking with it. "I mean, look at us."

[inruins]

Toriel has finished with her apple, working on cutting it into proper sized chunks to put into the pie tin. When satisfied she moves to pick up the next. Toriel if anything is efficient.

She snorts, dark red eyes briefly stealing a glance at the skeleton. She pauses her peeling to rest a hand melodramatically against her chest where her heart should rest. Her tone is playful at that. "I will have you know, I was perfectly normal in my youth. I've just grown stranger with age. It happens when you've lived this long."

[skelepun]

"Sorry, did I wound you to your core?" Sans grins, dangling one of the leftover apple cores pointedly before tossing it back over his shoulder in the vague direction of the trash can.

"I don't think I can be friends with someone who was ever normal, sorry."

[inruins]

The pun warrants another laugh quite easily. For once she doesn't bother to cover her mouth whilst laughing. Even with the seriousness from before, she's relaxed now. Relaxed enough to forget about old habit. "So this is how it ends then? Over a pie too. Apples to Apples, dust to dust."

[skelepun]

"Pie can't believe it."

It's a noble effort, keeping a straight face, but Sans only lasts about another few seconds before losing the war against laughter. Leaning hard against the counter, he rolls the apple Toriel's way before donking his skull on the countertop.

"Man, Tori. I missed you a lot."

[inruins]

Toriel just continues giggling and chortling in equal measure. She catches the apple before it rolls too far, righting it as Sans struggles with his own laughter. His words maker her laughter taper off somewhat.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere." Her touch is gentle paw pads lightly brushing across the top of his skull. The gesture is meant as reassuring, though Toriel finds more comfort in it herself. The easiness of exchanging jokes and letting her barrier drop a little more was nice, nice enough she forgot how odd it all was. She had collapsed and lost nearly a week. Time lost due to her exhaustion, due to sudden aging.

She was going to have to deal with this, she was not Asgore, she did not run from her problems. The thought was reaffirming enough to ease her.

toriel you literally ran from your problems all the way into the ruins i can't deal with this goat

[skelepun]

"Heh... glad to hear it."

The touch is heavy and comfortable enough that Sans lets himself relax for a few seconds, sandwiched happily between the cool of the countertop and the warm press of Toriel's hand.

"It's been a month."