text; have u seen this bone

[skelepun]

[To say Sans hasn't been around recently is a massive understatement. Since his public dumping, he's been taking in the scenery of his bedroom relatively exclusively. Occasionally he would broaden his scope and investigate the inside of an empty bag of chips for extra crumbs, but that was only on good days.

More than anything, he slept. That was supposed to change today, at Papyrus's nagging, petulant insistence. They'd agreed to meet today in one of his little brother's patented snap out of it jogs around the ship. Sans had never looked forward to exercise quite so much.

When Papyrus didn't show and the MID directory listed his name wreathed in nervewracking red, that excitement turned quickly to gnawing, persistent denial.]

hey so. hope everyone's doing alright. heard a lot of babies crying through my door the last few weeks. lemme know if you need babysitters, i've been looking for a few more chairs around here.

anyway...

i was wondering if anyone's seen my bro, papyrus. he's a morale officer around here, you may have met him through that? if you haven't, here's a picture. it's kinda old, he sent it to me from his MID a few months back. still looks pretty much the same, but his uniform might have more puff paint on it now (he's the circled one).



just to get this out of the way now: yeah, we're skeletons. yeah, we're really alive. no, how we eat isn't that interesting.

it's no big deal if you haven't seen him, he a busy guy. but if you DO see him could you let him know his brother's looking for him. he knows where to find me.

Comments

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[springlocking]

[There's a very long pause as Charlie reads this, and it makes her heart sink to think of it because it's so familiar. Oh, she knows this feeling. She knows, and wishes she didn't.]

I'll keep an eye out. The non-glass one, that is.

[It's a terse reply, but what else can you say? There are no words to make any of this okay or right. All she can do is hope Papyrus shows up soon, because this is something nobody should have to deal with.

Sammy...]

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[skelepun]

appreciate that, kiddo. he'll turn up, but, y'know. had to glassk, right?

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[inruins]

[Her concern for Papyrus outweighs her grudge for the moment. The boss monster considers this as much of an emergency as Chara or Frisk vanishing.

She's doing this more to make sure Papyrus is here opposed to helping Sans.]

I have not seen Papyrus today, but I will look around for him. I'm sure he's helping someone right now.

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[skelepun]

[It takes him nearly ten minutes to respond, typing and deleting five different variations on hey, thanks before settling on one.]

i appreciate it, t. you're probably right.

[Needless to say, "how are you?" didn't make the final draft.]

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[pleasereset]

...

[After Asriel's talk with Mettaton, he's pretty sure that Papyrus isn't on the ship anymore.]

If I see him, I'll let him know.

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[skelepun]

[Well whaddya know. They've both been talking to Mettaton. The only difference is, apparently, that Sans was particularly determined to ignore where every shred of evidence pointed to.]

aw man, thanks. you're a good kid, az. he'll turn up.

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[gainedlove]

[Frisk isn't...entirely unaware of recent events. Even as disjointed and hazy as many of their days are now, Frisk has spoken with Mettaton already. After Chara, though, it's hard to feel more than a pang of hurt and regret.]

[But they know how Sans must feel right now.]

ill keep a eye out

r u ok

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[skelepun]

never better, kid. haven't seen much of you lately, how've you been?

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[otiosity]

if i see him, i'll let you know. i have to give him his shirts back anyway.

[She has a bad feeling about this.]

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[skelepun]

shirts? heh, sounds like a story.

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[takeitslow]

[He takes a run around the ship before answering. The best end to this is someone finding Papyrus, prove Sans is just overreacting or too lazy to have found the other roaming around the mess hall.

But Peter knows Sans wouldn't make a post about his brother if he hadn't already looked. It's too close to the same message Papyrus had sent out those months before. He's not surprised when his quick search turns up nothing.]

I can take another look around for him.

[Is it a lie if he says another? If he says he hasn't seen him anywhere?]

I could probably bug Pietro and Tommy into helping comb over the place.

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[skelepun]

[There's a bit of innate fondness in seeing Peter's name come up on the MID. He's doing well, that's good.

At least, Sans chooses to assume he is. He's been so out of the loop in Peter's life lately, thinking any more deeply about it is a fast track to guilt he doesn't want to borrow. Not right now, anyway.

Once Papyrus was back, maybe.

Yeah.]

heh, i'm not gonna say no to the search party if you think they'd do it. but it's no big deal, seriously. he'll turn up.

[warandpeace]

I've not seen him. Sorry.

But I'll tell you if I do.

A few of the people I know aren't here anymore, so maybe he's safely home. [He hopes.] He was fine when you last saw him?

[skelepun]

[When Sans reads this particular message, he has to take a moment. Denial was a tough game to keep up when reality kept poking its ugly head in.]

there's no safely home for me and him, buddy. [To put it mildly.] we were supposed to get a ship, pilot our way outta here. i've just been dragging my feet on that lately.

and yeah, he was fine. making plans, all that.

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

oh look. its still alive

[skelepun]

hey to you too, j.

[chipouttaluck]

oh hell.

where's he usually hang out?

[skelepun]

the guy never sleeps, so he gets into just about everything. where do you hang out?

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[peridork]

[Sensitivity still isn't really her strong suit. Nonetheless, Peridot finds her gut twisting up with dismay upon reading this message. She doesn't see the point in beating around the proverbial bush...]

I'll keep an eye out, but you know he's probably gone, right? Just like everyone else who randomly disappears on this stupid ship.

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[skelepun]

[Well. Someone was bound to say it.]

if it isn't my favorite client.

[arcreact]

[ Well, doesn't this paint a sad picture? With the way people come and go in this place, there's almost no chance Jack Skellington is just incidentally AWOL. Surely Sans already knows that. ]

and here i thought you were the one who went missing
if i hear nasally laughing, you'll be the first guy to hear about it

[ It's lucky this is text so that he doesn't have to work extra hard to make that sound anything other than platitudinous. ]

[skelepun]

nah, just been catching up on my beauty sleep lately. i've got a lot of ground to cover there.

how bout you, keeping yourself busy? sleeping with some beauties?

private text.

[prayed]

Wait. Papyrus is gone?

[Gone, missing, whatever--either way, it's not okay..]

[skelepun]

nothing that dramatic. he's just not around right now.

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[redshitlord]

[Okay, Sideswipe still isn't totally sure how to react to the skele-man. But he is sure he likes Papyrus. A lot.]

[So...]

um
whered u see him last

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[skelepun]

[That makes two of them.]

hey, red.

it was yesterday. came to see me, gave me one of his big speeches about physical fitness and personal hygiene. pretty standard. didn't seem like anything was bugging him.

[He realizes as he types it just how unlikely a picture he's painting. If Papyrus was still on the ship, missing appointments, he would have to be acting very much unlike himself.

There's a pause before Sans adds an addendum, bolstering up the weakening resolve of his denial.]

but who knows, the guy's got a better poker face than most people.

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[neveroutwrenched]

[It wasn't the first time Sans (or Papyrus for that matter) had made a post like this. But it never wasn't for a good reason, and that fact fills Ratchet with a quiet, very slight sense of dread.]

hey...you wanna hang out?

[It's not exactly pointed, but he sure doesn't say anything about anything in Sans' mentioned in his message.]

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[skelepun]

[Sans glances around the room. He told Ratchet he would clean up a little bit in here while he was at work, but after sleeping in and waiting up for Papyrus and worrying about Papyrus... well, Sans just didn't get around to it. Looking a the dirty, crumb laden floor now, Sans couldn't help feeling guilty about that.

But not guilty enough to turn him down. He was used to disappointing people.]

i'm waiting up for him in my room. kinda don't wanna leave in case he shows up.

it's pretty boring. but if you're cool with that, sure.

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[squadgoals]

Checked the crew directory?

[Because she has. Hell of a first message for a "long time no see" — there's a drop in her stomach as soon as she sees the network post ping with his post.]