thisavrou | video | backdated to the third or so

[The first thing visible on the screen is eyesockets. Big, round, empty eyesockets, with the back of the skull just visible if anyone's paying attention.]

Wowie! This is even cooler than my phone at home! Look at all the buttons! And now everyone can see and hear me, regardless of where they are? Nyeh-heh-heh!

[Finally, the person on the screen pulls their arm away from their face and holds it up, tilted down slightly at a classic selfie angle.

Word has probably spread about living skeletons on the ship, and now it appears the tall one is addressing everyone.]

A-HEM!

[He doesn't have a throat to clear; he just literally said the word "ahem" really loud.]

Attention, monsters and humans and... otherwise! I, the great Papyrus, was selected to act as your new Morale Officer, and as such, I have some questions for you. Do not be intimidated! There are no wrong answers, just a really cool guy listening to everything you have to say!

[He ticks the questions off on his bony fingers.]

Firstly! If we haven't yet met, what is your name?
Secondly! Are you happy here on the ship?
Thirdly! If not, what is troubling you, and do you need a hug?
And lastly, if you said yes to the second part, what is your location. I may need a few minutes, as this place can get a little confusing, but just hang in there! I believe in you!

[A short pause as he tries to think of what else to say. This is his big debut, he should make himself seem as cool as possible so he can attract a lot of friends! Maybe he can just use some awesome radio slang and end it here? Yes, yes, of course, that's totally what cool guys do!]

This has been a very important message from the great Papyrus! Roger and out. No, wait--!

[Thinking he can erase the message and do it over, he jabs a button and turns it off.]

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[Rosethorn considers not responding. She doesn't want her morale improved, thanks ever so. And she won't admit she needs it, even if the gardens are the only thing keeping her relatively calm and sane.

In the end, it's curiosity that prompts a response. She'll answer his questions before asking one of her own.]

My name is Rosethorn. I'd much rather be at home than on board, and I'll thank you to keep your hugs to yourself.

Papyrus is a plant, but it's not native to my country. If you were named for it, it must be common in yours. Have you seen it growing? [No, this woman doesn't have a one-track mind at all.]

[Man. Wanting to go home seems to be the common thread here. Even if he doesn't have it in his power to send anyone home, maybe he can find a way to bring a little 'home' to them?

Either way, those gears are turning.]

Let me know if you change your mind! I'm always available and very good at being soothing!

[Shouted the very tall skeleton. Anyway.]

I don't think so! I live in a snowy region, so except for a few rugged trees, not much grows! But there's sea grass in Waterfall, and echo flowers, and in the king's castle there's supposed to be lots and lots of golden flowers!

[Since you've got him on the subject of plants. That's interesting, though. He didn't know he was named after anything that cool!]

[There's something vaguely unsettling about the idea of being hugged by a skeleton, but whatever Papyrus is, it's certainly not his fault he has no muscle or skin over his bones. Rosethorn wonders what kind of magic makes his existence possible.

Still, it isn't because he's a skeleton that she says dryly:]

I doubt I'll change my mind. And you might not realize this, but many people find quiet soothing.

[His enthusiasm and willingness to talk about other plants does earn Papyrus a (very) small smile.]

Papyrus grows where it's hot, not in snowy regions. Could you describe echo flowers for me?

[Rosethorn always likes hearing about plants from faraway places. Of course, the joke's on her now. She decided to travel, to see some of what she'd studied, and now she's been flung further afield than she ever knew was possible.]

[Her subtle dig flies right over his skull. Quiet! Certainly! He can do that!!

Except no, he probably can't.]

Are there no echo flowers where you live? They're a lot of fun! The're blue, kind of large, and they always repeat the very last thing they hear.

[Whatever Rosethorn was expecting, it wasn't that. She thought maybe something shell-shaped, that you could hear sounds in when you held it to your ear. Not literally echos.]

No, we have nothing like that. Are all of them magical? Do they just grow that way, or did someone place a spell on them to make them do that?

[Papyrus may actually be succeeding in cheering her up. Good job, Morale Officer. She loves hearing about new plants, even if these ones make no sense whatsoever by any laws of nature or magic Rosethorn knows.]

Oh, they're very magical! Almost everything in the Underground is, including some of the rocks. I guess that's just the sort of thing that happens when you live in an overcrowded kingdom teeming with monster magic. There's even this one golden flower who's friends with me, he's very--

[Papyrus gasps and covers his jaws with his hands. He's not supposed to talk about the special flower, but he got carried away.]

[This week has involved a whole lot of unexpected things. In the end, what's a skeleton who manages to be more expressive without a face to have features than most people manage with all their lips and eyes and skin? Just one more strangeness added to the pile. And that was a telling reaction, to an extent she's rarely seen.]

All elements of the natural world, rocks included, have some magic in them. It's just that some are more overt and powerful than others.

[She's curious, though...] Do you make friends with plants often? Most people can't communicate with them.

Yes, I agree completely! I've read books in the library that said the human world has almost no magic in it, but surely that can't be true. I don't even want to think about a world without magic!

[At her question he stops and considers, rubbing his jawbone.]

I try to be a friend to everything, epecially if it's alive! I can't talk to plants unless they're special, though.

[Papyrus is the most overwhelmingly positive person Rosethorn's ever met. He surprises a smile out of her with his opinion of a world without magic. On that, she has to agree with him.] I don't either.

[She frowns in consideration at the words 'human world' though.] You mean you're not from the same world as humans?

[He certainly looks like a human skeleton.]

No, I'm from the world underneath them! You see, thousands of years ago, we lived on the surface among the humans, but there was a lot of... disagreement.

[Actually, a fear-fueled war easily won by the other side, but hey, details. Papyrus bears no grudge.]

In the end, monsterkind was sent to live underground, behind a powerful barrier, and that's where we are to this day! We have lots of books about what it's like up there, and a lot of their trash falls into our world, so we get plenty of peeks into human life! It seems very exciting. I made a list of all the things I'd love to do if I ever got up there, but I don't have it with me anymore.

[Intolerance is nothing new, and Rosethorn isn't actually surprised to hear that living skeletons were forced underground. Their methods of learning about mankind since, though...] From the trash?

[And because Papyrus has actually managed to win her over in spite of herself, she finds herself adding:] You'll just have to make a new list. And I'd like to hear more about those underground plants. They're even more impressive, if they were growing without sunlight.

Oh, yes! We learn all about the human world from sifting through the discarded items that fall into our dump. It's a cool place, everyone goes there to look for treasures.

[At her suggestion, he nods enthusiastically.]

Of course! Any time! The secret is mostly artificial light, but monsters have done some pretty cool thing with magic and the power radiating from the Core.

video | backdated to the third or so

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