let's hear it for the boy

[trombones]

Another day, another toddler. Now, there's a small skeleton monster wandering the castle. He's three years old to be exact, but who here could date the exact age of walking, talking bones? It's easy to tell it's Sans. He's shorter than usual, a lot more bug-eyed (socketed, whatever), but that blue jacket and perma-grin are still dare. He's pretty cute for a monster who grew up to be a walking, talking grease machine.

For anyone wandering the library in the middle of the afternoon, you might find a pile of books and blankets piled at a table. The blankets cover most of the table, save for a small "entrance" supported by books. The blanket is just thin enough to see the candlelight inside, as well as a skeleton-shaped shadow.

Should you choose get closer, two pairs of large blue eyes glow from under the entrance and dart out. Two floating skulls, both resembling dogs, speed out and lap several circles around your feet in a flurry of barks and sniffing. Mostly sniffing. They're not really dangerous, they're actually pretty excited by the new company.

Sans pokes his head out.

"Hey! You guys are supposed to be guard dogs!!"

By now, the skulls are yipping and bouncing in their floating spots. Sans groans about as exasperatively as a toddler can get. Which is a lot, if you've ever met a three-year-old. They're pretty sassy. He props himself on his stomach, and in the gap he makes between the entrance and the candlelight, you might be able to catch the pile of Christmas-themed sweets stashed under the table. Like, a lot. He stole a lot of cookies.

"Hi. I'm Sans. This is my... this is my big cool fort. I got treasure and guard dogs and a moat."

He points to a pile of books laid in a uneven circle around the table. That's the moat.

Comments

[voidster]

Not to mention the third guard in the room. Beware the Dadster who speaks in hands. There is no way he's letting small Sans out of his sight again. Not for life, love, SOUL, or anything else. Hey, as long as he can keep the little guy entertained, there won't be any teleporting off for better rooms, he hopes.

A purple, disembodied, magical hand is sneaking under the table to steal the treasure!!!

Guess who's back, back again?

[sansational]

So this is...weird, but also cool.

There's another toddler standing at the entrance to the fort. He's a little bit older than Sans, though not by much and he's certainly not any taller. Not to mention that he still looks a little alarmed by the guard dogs.

But then the apparent owner of said guard dogs pokes his head out of the fort and...okay, this is even weirder, but also cooler! After all, this skeleton looks like him. And Sans likes to think that he's pretty cool. So skeletons that look like him are also pretty cool. Besides, it's just nice to see another monster around this place - he'd thought it was full of humans so far!

"hi!" he says, waving back. "i'm sans, too." He's gradually growing less alarmed and more charmed by the yipping little skulls. "can i pet your dogs?"

Most of the dogs he knows are much too tall for him to pet, even if they kneel down to his level.

[itstheend]

If Chara were older, and had therefore experienced a certain crummy juncture, the 'dogs' would not have recieved the... best reception.

As it is, this ten year old has no idea these things breathe searing light. At this point, they're kind of just going with things. Nothing here makes sense. It's a strange dream.

They were walking into the library to retrieve more books when they see the fort set up in their absence. They didn't intend to disturb whoever's inside, but they need to return this tome over there and they got a little too close - close enough to suddenly be accosted by... dog skulls? In a way, they are good guard dogs.

They stand there while being sniffed with the expression of someone who is being very cautioned by the Electrike bite on one hand, palms up, the book having been dropped with a wince. At the shout they jerk and look at the skeleton? It's rude to stare, and they avert their eyes.

It's rude to not answer people too, and they fold the non-bitten hand over the bitten one in front of them.

"May I pet them?"

They don't know what to say to fort, or treasure, or moat, because he sure does have those things. But dogs are for petting - if they like being pet.

[silvermists]

Small child, meet a slightly bigger, fleshier child. He looks to be about eight or nine, he has feathers stuck in his silver hair, and he has a goddamn monkey's tail. The skulls rushing him like that have him jumping, right up onto the table. Hey, he leaps like a monkey too, the silly boy.

He drops down onto his stomach, peering over the edge of the table at whatever's under there. Is that a person? It's talking???

"...What are you?"

[demonthatcomes]

Chara hasn't changed at all, and their eyes widen at the tiny little skeleton and the two skulls yipping and sniffing their boots. They tentatively pet the skulls, looking around inside the fort. Sans is so... small. Different. Kids and adults and their strange tendency to feel like two different people at different ages.

"Greetings... Sans."

[trombones]

The skulls love this. They both nuzzle up against Chara's hands, their yips turning more and more affectionate.

"Greetings," Sans repeats, albeit somewhat slowly. He's heard the word before, but it doesn't really roll off the figurative tongue. He pulls himself out of the blanket and sits up. His legs cross and he holds at his ankles. Slowly, he sways back and forth.

"I like... I like your fur. Why'sit all up there?"

He points to Chara's hair. One of the blasters floats up higher and sniffs it. He's met a decent variety of monsters in his whole three years of being alive, but most monsters with fur usually had it all over. Then again, Sans has only just barely grasped the concept of skin and hair. Maybe they shaved it? Now he's thinking about Mr. Dreemur with no fur. Maybe he's a skeleton underneath?

"Do you have bones?"

[trombones]

This one is a pretty weird-looking monster too. But he has more fur, feathers, and even a tail, so that makes more sense to the monster boy in his clearly well-guarded fort. He blinks.

"I'm Sans."

That's who, not what.

[trombones]

Oh, cool! He's never seen a monster like that before. Sans blinks up at them. Chara had hidden the bite before he noticed it, but the skeleton was pretty astute for his age. He'd ask later.

"Yeah! They like people."

He nods eagerly. Whatever Chara decides to do, Sans watches them for a moment. The wheels in his skull are turning. He's grinning.

"You're a cool monster! Why do you have all your fur on your head?"

Sans was born in the capital, so he had met a variety of monsters already. Most of the furrier monsters he met usually had it all over, though. Like Mr. Dreemur! He was really furry. And soft too.

"Can I touch it?"

HEYYYYYYYYY

[trombones]

Sans is quiet for a moment. He watches the other for a moment, blinking up with enormous eyes. It's not a long moment, but huh. This skeleton looked a heck of a lot like him. But as puzzling as it was, Sans was never the type to be shy or bothered for long.

He finally waves, then gives an eager nod.

"Yeah, you can pet them!"

The little skeleton crawls the rest of the way out and sits in front of the opening.

"They like people. They REALLY like skeletons. Dad says they're soul bond and magi... magicon... magikatrolled."

Translation: 'soul bound and magic controlled'.

[trombones]

He hopes. This doesn't guarantee Sans won't teleport in and out of the kitchen to stockpile more cookies. Speaking of: Sans crawls back to his fort a moment later. The blasters follow behind. The little skeleton quickly spots something purple out of the corner of the corner of his eye. By now, he knows exactly what it is.

He gasps quietly and bats the hand away. Not hard, naturally, but he's pretty determined. The other hand drags the platter he's kept his stash on.

"Uh-uh."

For all his determined insistence, he's not outright angry. He hardly had tantrums to begin with. It's rare to see Sans mad, even for his age. He was a pretty chill toddler, all things considered. Regardless, he looks up in the direction he knows Gaster is in.

"You said you're s'posed ask first."

[voidster]

Oh no, owned by a baby. Whatever shall he do?

Keep on grinning. He kneels down to peer under the table, and the hand vanishes.

"✌💧😐✋☠☝ ☞✋☼💧❄ ✋💧 ☠⚐ ⌖✌✡ ❄⚐ ❄☜💧❄ ✡⚐✞☼ ☞⚐☼❄🕯💧 👎☜☞☜☠💧☜💧 ✌☠👎 ☝✞✌☼👎 👎⚐☝💧📬 ☠⚐⌖ ❄☟✌❄ ✋❄🕯💧 👍☹☜✌☼ ✋🕯💣 ☠⚐ 💣✌❄👍☟ ☞⚐☼ ✡⚐✞📪 ❄☟⚐✞☝☟📬📬📬 💣✌✡ ✋ ☟✌✞☜ ⚐☠☜📪 🚩☹☜✌💧☜✍"

[trombones]

Sans stares down the hand for a moment, expression unchanging but saying nothing regardless. Then it disappears, and he looks to Gaster. He then slowly reaches for the sweets.

"Yeah."

He takes a truffle out and slides it under the blanket.

"S'chocolate. You like chocolate."

That's more of a statement than a question somehow. Obviously, you like chocolate. Sans said so.

[voidster]

Like he'd turn down sweets anytime, anywhere, especially since at least 50% of the time, he's forgotten to sit down and eat a real meal. Thank goodness he's a skeleton and not a hungrier sort of monster!

"✌☟📪 ✡⚐✞ 💧🚩⚐✋☹ 💣☜ 💧⚐📬" he says, partly to amuse himself, and takes the truffle, nibbling a third of it away.

[trombones]

"Bone appetite," Sans says with a giggle. There's crunching from behind the blanket. A lot of crunching, actually.

"Daddhy," says a muffled mouth full of cookies. "Do guard dogsh like cookeesh?"

Oh, wait. Dad told him once that they were magic. The rest of the cookie magically evaporates in his mouth.

"Uhmm. Do magic attacks like chocolate?"

[silvermists]

Makes perfect sense to him. His name is who and what he is, too. Because he's unique, special, and amazing.

(Okay, the last part is purely his own opinion.)

"I'm Kuja. Where's the rest of you??"

[voidster]

There's no reason they can't be both magic attacks and guard dogs. And that's a very good question, now that he thinks about it. What happens if you feed a Blaster food? It's hardly any weirder than a skeleton eating, who needs a throat and stomach.

"✋ 👎⚐☠🕯❄ 😐☠⚐⌖📬 ⌖☟✡ 👎⚐☠🕯❄ ✡⚐✞ ☞✋☠👎 ⚐✞❄✍"

[vvaylon]

Waylon wakes up smaller, still scaled, and considerably skinnier. It was about this age he learned to walk with a swagger so people would read into the implicit threat and just leave him alone. It's with this swagger (to no one, because he's all alone in this dank, damp little cave) he ventures into the castle proper.

The sun is gloriously out, and there's nothing more that Waylon would love to do than go bask in the sun outside. He sees kids playing down there, though, he sees people, and decides better of it.

When he goes into the next room, he's surrounded on two sides by... bones? They're nothing like the tough rotties that Waylon's well-learned to fear. He almost winds up to kick one before he hears an exasperated voice, and a grinning child-- nope, not grinning, just a skeleton like the rest of everything in here, apparently-- comes into the open.

"Oh." Moat. He plonks himself down on one of the moat-books, tail uncomfortably squashed. "You need a crocodile?"

[trombones]

"A crocodile...?"

Sans crawls the rest of the way out of his well-guarded fort and sits cross-legged. A crocodile-looking monster isn't all that unusual to him, it's actually a familiar sight compared to all the strange-looking monsters he had seen since he got here. Waylon was stranger, but Sans knew a lot of scaly monsters like him back home.

"Yeah!! A crocodile! Then we'd have a super strong moat!"

[trombones]

Baw. Thanks, dude.

Sans blinks again. He has to think about the question for a second, until he THINKS he knows what the "monster" means. He picks himself up off his stomach and crawls the rest of the way out. With that, he sits cross-legging and holding his ankles, emphasizing "the rest of him". He beams.

"Right here!"

[trombones]

Exactly. There's no reason why you can't be friends with your own attack. The Blasters weren't hostile if they had nothing to attack. So far, as of San's whole three years of life, they never had a reason to be. Even if they did, Sans' inexperienced magic (though already impressive and unusual for his age) so far put their strength at about puppy level.

They even react like puppies when Sans holds out a handful of cookies to them. They approach slowly and, one brief sniff later, chomp them out of his bony hand. Sans bursts into delighted laughter and pulls back.

"Heheheheh! They like them!"

Sans grabs another handful and offers more. They chomp. He squeals. This goes on for a while.

"Hey... hey, dad. Hey dad. They're really hungry. They were..." Give him a second. "I think they were hungry to the bone."

That's 'starved to the bone', but whatever. He's not good at this yet.

[voidster]

It doesn't matter, he's chuckling at the kiddo anyway, proud. That's pretty damn amazing for a toddler, in his seriously biased opinion. He's created a monster!!

(Haw.)

"✋ ❄☟✋☠😐 ❄☟☜✡🕯✞☜ ☟✌👎 ☜☠⚐✞☝☟📬 💧✌✞☜ 💧⚐💣☜ 👍⚐⚐😐✋☜💧 ☞⚐☼ 💣☜📪 ✋🕯💣 ☠⚐❄☟✋☠☝ 👌🕆❄ 💧😐✋☠ ✌☠👎 👌⚐☠☜📬"

Say something about skin, kiddo, please...

[trombones]

Sans shakes his head. His skull finally peers out from under the blankets.

"Nuh-uh. You don't have skin."

Now he's a critic. He's giggling about it anyway.

[voidster]

"✋ 👎⚐☠🕯❄✍"

He's squinting down at himself, looking very concerned and patting his ribs, his spine, his pockets.

"⌖☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 ✋❄✍ ✋ 😐☠⚐⌖ ✋ ☟✌👎 💧⚐💣☜ 💧⚐💣☜⌖☟☜☼☜📬 👎✋👎 ✡⚐✞ ❄✌😐☜ ✋❄📪 💧✌☠💧✍"

[itstheend]

Permission granted, Chara reaches out towards one of the dog skulls with the uninjured hand, slipping the other into a pocket. It's bad form, but showing injury is worse form. Weakness only ever is pounced on, so the lesser evil it is.

"I have it because I look human," they tell him politely, on the brink of matter-of-factly, petting carefully. It very much doesn't feel like petting a live animal at all, but they think the skull is enjoying it, so they're probably doing it correctly. They're just switching to the other so it doesn't feel left out when the small skeleton asks the second question and the petting hand stills before continuing.

They want the answer to be no. Very, very much. Asking to touch someone's hair is weirder than handshakes, so there might be room to decline (then again, they petted a talking cat not too long ago, so they aren't really one to talk either, are they?) But they know the tall skeleton is looking for this one and is probably his parent, and so they have to be very careful here.

"Yes," they say shortly, chewing their tongue, and they stay their gaze on the dog skull, keeping the small skeleton in their peripheral vision. "My apologies for not mentioning it sooner, but are you aware there is a tall skeleton looking for you?"

[trombones]

"... Oh."

Sans blinks up at them. Clearly unbothered, but not even more curious. The Blasters are having the time of their lives right now, panting happily and leaning into Chara's petting.

Sans gets up and waddles over to them. He then reaches up to touch their hair, fascinated but somewhat ginger. Dad always told him to be careful of touching monster's fur, as they can get caught easily in a skeleton's hand bones. Hair would be even more annoying, but he still thinks it's fur.

"Humans have fur on their heads?" He asks, looking up at Chara with a wide-eyed curiosity. As for Chara's next question, Sans only tilts his head.