You know what? Have my W.I.P Papyrus angst ish for my story The Aftermath
“Hey %!0~3^?”
A bright mass of red and a speck of gold sit in a secluded area surrounded by white.
“Yes, 9^974V$?”
The gold looks to the red, tilting itself in a seemingly curious manner.
“Do you ever feel like- like you-”
The red slumps, unable to find the words to properly explain what they are searching for.
“C’mon 9^9$, you know I can’t feel~”
Gold titters at this remark amused that even after all their time together, Red still can’t grasp that they are an empty shell.
“...that's what scares me…”
Red turns away from Gold, almost ashamed that they are comparing themself to Gold's situation.
“What?”
For the first time in a while, Gold sounds genuine.
“I- I feel like I’m not feeling this- this world- this life- anymore.”
--------------------------------------
Papyrus went on walks regularly, it was essential to keep his bones as healthy as they can be after all. Except, his walks weren’t entirely because he enjoyed them. If he didn’t go on his morning walk then his best friend wouldn’t have anyone to hang out with!
Papyrus would do anything to keep his best friend happy, even if he couldn’t feel happy anyway, it was the intent that counts. Whenever he couldn’t sleep he would go out and chatter to his SOUL’s content with his flowery friend always intently listening to him.
This night, however, Papyrus was hoping to avoid him. The day had been a bit of a catastrophe and he knew his friend was already watching. There was no point in seeking a metaphorical ear to rant to if he had seen everything. So, the skeleton kept to the more open, public, busy side of Snowdin.
Unfortunately, he didn’t account for the lack of things to distract him. He had planned a calm walk to clear his thoughts, not drown in them, yet that was what this walk was doing. He had looped past the Gyftmas tree for the second time when he spotted a familiar monster with a lit treat stomping out of Grillby’s bar.
Inwardly Papyrus wanted to turn and walk off. Still, when he pushed his boots slightly too hard into the snow, it caught Doggo’s attention instantly. The canine's head turned quickly to the noise, reaching to his side where Papyrus knew he had pocket knives.
“Who's there?!?”
Papyrus started to wave his hands slightly to make himself known. “IT’S JUST ME, DOGGO-!”
Doggo relaxed and tucked his hands into the pockets of his shorts, no longer reaching for the knife on his belt. “Papyrus? Didn’t expect to see you out so late! How’re you holdin’ up…?”
The skeleton stopped waving his hands and instead started shifting from foot to foot, half out of nervous energy and half for Doggo to be able to still see him.
“I AM ‘HOLDING UP’ QUITE WELL, DOGGO! HOW ARE YOU?” Even if Papyrus wanted out of this situation as fast as possible, it didn’t excuse being rude.
Doggo’s eyes seemed to scan Papyrus before he huffed out a chuckle and pulled out another dog biscuit from his pockets. “I’m holdin’ an’ that’s about all a monster can do these days.”
He watched as Doggo lit the treat, thankful for his inability to smell the smoke from this distance. After a bit of silence, Papyrus realised his quietness would make the canine weary.
“HOW’S THe- THE SEARCH GOING…?”
He regretted asking as soon as the words left his teeth. Noticing Doggo's halt in movement, he glanced at the other sentry and saw concern rather than suspicion.
“Well- The only sentry station in Waterfall is your brothers since Undyne was- is usually able to handle patrols there on ‘er own, so we don’t have many leads. We are waitin’ on word from New Home though, t’ see if she jus’ went to visit Asgore.” Doggo stopped talking to send a quick glance at the bar. “D’ya wanna talk somewhere else?”
Papyrus stopped fidgeting before remembering why he was doing so in the first place. “SURE…”
Doggo leads the way and Papyrus silently follows. They walk with a comfortable silence until they come across Doggo’s sentry post.
“Papyrus- yer a good kid- but I’m gonna have to be honest with you about somethin’.” Papyrus tensed, unsure of where this would go.
“You and yer brother are on da top of ther list. Everyone knows ya hang with her fer trainin’ at the end of da day, and your brother has the only station in Waterfall.”
The canine paused as Papyrus struggled to not spill out confessions. “But I don’t think yer guilty.”
Before he could even sigh of relief, he picked up the unsaid remark. It was accusatory, he was accusing Sans of doing something.
“SANS WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING.”
He was just making this situation even more problematic to dig out of wasn’t he, he was causing the people around him trouble.
“Look, Papyrus, I didn’t mean ‘nything drastic. It’s just- suspicious, y’know? No one even knows anything abou-”
Papyrus squeezed his sockets closed, refusing to listen anymore. Sure he knew Doggo had disliked his brother, at the very least, but-
“SANS DIDN’T DO ANYTHING”
Doggo sighed and Papyrus could hear him throw and light another biscuit.
“Okay- I believe ya.” A chuckle. “If anyone knows anything about ‘im, it's you.”
The skeleton opened his sockets and crossed his arms. They had made it to one of his puzzles sometime during the conversation.
The sentries stood in silence, save for Papyrus’ shuffling. “Yer sumthin’ else, Papyrus-” A paw is placed on his shoulder before Doggo turns around. “Don’t stress too much, the underground and guard need someone like you durin’ moments like this.”
Despite the guilt swelling up under his ribcage, in the middle of his SOUL, Papyrus couldn’t help but be thankful for the canine's words.
“Thank you” The skeleton heard Doggo pause, likely because of the shift to lowercase, before chuckling once again and going on his own way.
“Your puzzles might need some cleanin’, best thing we got in case we’re all too busy to notice a human-!”
-
Papyrus turned toward his puzzles that were, unsurprisingly, covered in snow. He decided that keeping his puzzles in check was the least he could do. The work was tedious, the snow melting into all the little crevices when he wasn’t focused. Luckily the thought of being careful kept his mind off the dark thoughts that had previously plagued him. Unfortunately, for him or for his friend, it wasn’t long before-
“Howdy-!”
The skeleton halted in his movements, frozen to the spot. ‘What now? why now?’ Snapping back into reality, Papyrus sat on his knees and looked down at his flowery fiend. “HELLO FLOWEY! DID YOU WANT TO JOIN ME IN CLEARING MY PUZZLES? THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS GLAD TO SEE-”
“YAWN- no offense papyrus, but don’t ya think you can take a break from puzzles?”
“NONSENSE! I CAN NOT SIMPLY ‘TAKE A BREAK FROM -”
“Oooh-! Y’know what'd be real fun? SPARRING!”
Papyrus, who was waving gestures in an attempt to distract Flowey with a rant, froze. His eyes slowly glanced toward his friend to see a mockingly innocent smile.
OF COURSE, HE’D KNOW
“Ah- FLOWEY I’D NEVER EXPECT YOU TO BE INTERESTED IN SPARRING-! AND WHILE I AM FLATTERED, I STILL NEED TO CLEAR MY PUZZLES! MAYBE WE CAN- SPAR- LATER?”
A vine started fidgeting with a few of the snow poffs that surrounded the puzzle, threatening to topple them over. “Are you really going to just listen to the mutt that accused your brother of your crime? No one thinks you're capable of it, they all underestimate your potential. Maybe you can take this as an opportunity to build a name for yourself! Golly, I-” The flower stops his pushing as he’s nearly trampled by Papyrus standing. “HEY-! It’s rude to walk away when your best friends talking y’kno- EW”
The skeleton had run over to the edge of the trees and started emptying his magic reserves. Also known as vomiting. Flowey just stayed by the puzzle waiting for his friend to finish his disgusting and totally unnecessary activity.
— end w.i.p
I lost my outline for Sans’ part and my usual chapter set up is Papyrus, sans next sans, papyrus
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