Look at me still talking when there's science to do (Open Post)

[sansational]

Sans is starting to get a handle on this place. Perhaps more to the point, and more potentially useful, is that he's started to get a handle on its inhabitants. There are a few that he keeps a personal eye on on a semi-regular basis, even if they don't always know it. The rest, he's just made note of their passage and their movements. It's all for professional purposes, of course.

And that means that, when he's finally ready to do so, Sans can make contact with every person currently in the castle, either in-person if he knows them by name or by leaving a note somewhere they'll see it if he doesn't yet. Whether by spoken or written word, the message is nevertheless always the same. It's a request to meet him in the ballroom with the cakes table at a certain time and place. From his observations, it seems to be one of the more stable rooms in the castle, so everyone should be able to find it. 

On the stated day, at the stated time, everyone will...still have to wait five minutes for Sans to pull himself together after a nap, remember what he's supposed to be doing, and suddenly appear inside the room, still in the process of hastily smoothing out his notecards. 

"so, uh, yeah," he says, looking from the assembled residents to the cards and back again. "should probably explain what you're all doing here. so. i'm sure you've all noticed that this castle has got some weird things going on, above and beyond the whole, uh...stealing us from across time and space thing. i'm also assuming that most of you want to go home and won't mind helping me figure out a way to get us there." He gestures at the table. "to do that, i'm gonna need to start testing some of these theories. guesswork is fun, but it doesn't get us anywhere. timing how long it takes this place to reset something seems like a good start. and so this particular experiment runs as cleanly as possible, uh...i'm gonna need your help eating everything on that table. like, all of it. just don't choke on any shiny bits." 

Message delivered, Sans crams the notecards back in his pocket, and spreads his arms in silent indication for everyone to dig in. 

((ooc: Post comments for your characters that can be replied to, and mingle as you see fit! Eat, drink, be merry, have food fights, and try to be sick outside!))

Comments

[lostlegacy]

...Sans you are the best ever.

Some of the people here are hanging back, but not her. She charges forward with both hands outstretched, intent on grabbing as many sweets as she can before someone tells her no.

Very quickly, she has icing smeared down a cheek and on the tip of her nose, and she's found two rings and a surprisingly large ruby, both of which she's dropped on the table in favour of keeping on eating.

Someone is going to have to stop this kid before she throws up all over everything.

[consultmybooks]

Guess who's here to stop you, Sophie. Or at least to look very, very disapproving of your life choices.

"Sophie, by design, there will be more later. Our escape isn't going to be predicated on you eating yourself sick."

He is peering at her over the top of his glasses, using his babysitter voice.

[andthebat]

"Sophie."

Enjoy having a massive be-taloned bat hand settling lightly on your head, Sophie. He doesn't quite pull her away from the table, but the implication is there both from the gesture and the expression of exasperation on his fuzzy face.

"Slow down or you'll make yourself sick."

[lightofthestars]

Tauriel, after listening to Sans, spends a moment watching him with narrowed eyes. Is this one of his strange jokes? Yet he seems honest in his desire to learn.

After a time, she walks to the table to look over what it holds. Soon, her nose wrinkles. She had tried some of these foods soon after she was taken to this place and had found them to be foul-tasting, sweet beyond all sense. Must she truly eat them now?

She lifts what appears to be a circle of pure sugar upon a stick and stares at it.

[sansational]

"yeah, i know." Sans pulls a sympathetic face as he moves up next to her, staring at the table in no small amount of dread as well. "i hate 'em, too. that's why i decided to round you all up to help me out here. have you ever seen a skeleton get sick? i haven't. but boy, am i not eager to find out what it feels like." Especially since he probably shouldn't even be able to digest half of it anyway.

But, to show willing, Sans picks up a cupcake and holds it up to her in a mock toast. "cheers." And he takes a bite.

[lostinmyway]

How wonderful--Sans is having a party!

That's what she's understood from his speech, and in a way, she's not wrong. She's also very happy to help out by eating as many sweets as she can. It's such a fun, delicious game!

Grune will contentedly eat everything in front of her and, unlike a certain white-haired little girl, will show not a single sign of getting ill because of it. Lucky her.

[mediadarling]

"Really, darling?"

Mettaton, standing in front of the table, holds up a slice of cake on a plate and eyes it. He's been known to taste food from time to time, usually at the end of one of his cooking show episodes, but eating the quantity of food Sans is suggesting doesn't seem all that healthy for his body. Not to mention....

"Is this even monster food?"

[sansational]

"nope." Sans has been here long enough to feel confident in saying this with some certainty. "but, uh, that doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. you just wind up using a little excess magic to digest it. so it's just not as filling." Especially not a monster who's used to eating his fill of unhealthy food on a whim.

He thinks back to his experiment with the hot dogs, though, and risks adding: "it does seem like there's potentially a way to make the food here equivalent to monster food. but, uh, that would take a lot of work when what we've got does the job anyway."

[dustless]

Frisk has already tried just about everything on this table, if only a bite or two.

But hey, they'll help a friend any way they can. Plus they could maybe start a proper collection of jewelry? They'd mostly left them in other places of the castle, and they were usually gone when Frisk checked again--they must reset too.

So, quietly, determinedly, Frisk picks up two forks and starts digging into a chunk of carrot cake.

[lostlegacy]

"What's that?" Sophie asks around a toffee. She means "What kind of cake is that?", but she isn't always the clearest.

[mediadarling]

"Be careful, darling," Mettaton calls over as he steps around the table to join them. "If Alphys hadn't built my teeth so well, I would have lost one already. See?"

With the hand not holding a plate of half-eaten cake, he indicates the lapis lazuli necklace he's currently wearing.

[sansational]

"nicely handled, kid."

Sans hasn't been doing a lot of mingling since a certain someone showed up. He spotted Sans-Serif at about the same time that Sans-Serif spotted him, even if Sans had been a lot quicker at putting pieces together. There had been a lot of things he'd wanted to do, but very few things that he'd dared just in case his intervention might have accidentally set off his other self.

But he'd been keeping an eye on the proceedings, all the same, just in case. Some people were worth the risk, after all. And now that Sans-Serif is safely back in the company of the one who can probably explain matters in the most palatable manner possible, he saunters over to clap Frisk companionably on the back.

[whataprettyname]

Chihiro had actually gotten an advance explanation of Sans' plan from Sans himself, mostly due to the fact that a skeleton popping up in front of her had almost finished the job that the last two hours or so in the castle had started. Needless to say, being told "come to this place and eat strange food" had not sat well with the girl. She'd tried to point out that she had no money. The skeleton had told her it was fine, and upon seeing that Chihiro clearly didn't believe him, had asked for a joke instead.

Those, she had to spare, even if she hadn't had a lot of cause for using them lately. She almost hadn't found the ballroom in time, but here she was, surrounded by other people, in some cases other children.

She'd paid her price and anyway, she had to eat something before she disappeared. But this mountain of cakes and candies still looked rather suspicious. She ate cautiously, constantly keeping one eye on the people around her for signs of transformation.

[lostinmyway]

It's as Grune is finishing up a peppermint stick that she notices that there's one more child about than she's used to seeing here. The new girl looks very shy and unsure, and that isn't right. This is supposed to be a party!

And so she drifts closer, smiling warmly. "Hello. I'm Grune. Did you just come to the castle?"

[lostlegacy]

Oh hey, another kid. There sure are a lot of 'em around these days. It's pretty cool.

Sophie looks over the girl from a distance for a few moments. Is she older? Maybe. It's kind of hard to tell with her acting really shy right now.

Hm. She should probably do something about that.

Walking up to the new girl with a lollipop in hand, she tells her, "You can eat anything. Sans says it's okay. You're not gonna get in trouble."

Probably not, anyway. As long as Toriel doesn't ruin the fun.

[dustless]

Frisk eyes her caution with their own mild puzzlement.

"It's actually hard to choke on the jewel stuff. Don't need to be that careful."

[lovetheme]

One of those other children has already been hovering uncertainly at the table for a little while. So many sweet things in all spot is still almost disconcerting, honest, but...taking things in smaller portions and pairs seems to be the best bet, and he comes away from the table with a small cupcake and a cinnamon roll occupying the plate in his hands.

The unfamiliar stripe pattern of Chihiro's shirt is what snags his attention, though--a shirt belonging to a kid that's neither Frisk nor Sophie. Oh...another new person? Lucas approaches slowly, highly curious but also noting the mildly wary air about this one.

"Hello. ...These are pretty good, aren't they?"

[consultmybooks]

Well. He's certainly done less pleasant work, for the sake of researching strange happenings. As Giles regards the table, though, that less pleasant work is small comfort. He is much too old to be eating like this. Especially without some tea.

He might slip away to retrieve some from the kitchens at some point, but otherwise, he'll do his part by trying to select whatever doesn't look too corrosively sugary. Though, Giles will still probably eventually get distracted examining the jewels instead, squinting at them through his glasses. The design seems very odd, but he can't put his finger on how...

[lostinmyway]

By now, Grune has a comb of diamonds and emeralds in her hair, along with the flower crown she usually wears. She's eating what looks to be a daisy made of spun sugar and quite clearly having a grand time.

"Aren't they so pretty?"

She also quite clearly hasn't realised that suddenly interrupting someone who's concentrating very hard may not be the best idea.

[mediadarling]

Now here's a new face. Or at least, new to him. The castle being what it is, he finds his usual habit of at least somewhat getting to know everyone around him far more challenging than it ought to be.

And it seems this one is a kindred spirit, if the expression of distaste is anything to go by. That right there makes an introduction worthwhile.

"I do wish Sans had chosen a less sugary job for all of us," he remarks as he draws closer. "Only the children seem to be enjoying this. And Grune, of course."

He hasn't known her all that long, of course, but it seems to him that finding something she wouldn't enjoy would take real effort.

[andthebat]

...The Batman really isn't much for social gatherings, which is probably obvious from the way he hovers at the edges of the group, arms folded and frowning slightly. This does not, however, stop him from volunteering his opinion.

"It would be simpler just to throw everything out," he says. "It's going to reset either way and there's enough sweets here to make someone sick." Or several someones, for that matter.

(Somebody needs to distract him with some dessert before he goes full Stern Batman Mode.)

[mediadarling]

...Well, now. There's an unfamiliar face, and a shy one at that. Who would have thought, with someone that tall?

That's worth taking a break from socialising, and so he strolls up to the newcomer. "My, my. Hello, there, darling. I don't believe I've seen you around before."

[antitemporal]

What a strange dream this is.

It must be a dream. Sans-Serif assumes that he can dream, because Dr. Gaster always wishes them both "sweet dreams" whenever they get put back in their pods for rest. He's in a...castle? Maybe he's dreaming about the King's castle. The scientists are always talking about him.

He feels the collection of souls before he hears the voices. Monster souls and other souls and...human souls. That makes a little shudder of dread run up his spine, because he's dreaming that he's alone and his brother is supposed to be there when he faces humans. But it's just a dream. Just some mental exercise, like one of S-4's puzzles. He's really safe in his pod. As long as he doesn't dream that the scientists are here...

So, deciding to explore even the facsimile of freedom while he has it - and because even Sans-Serif isn't sure he could fall asleep on the floor, or what would happen if he tried to fall asleep in a dream anyway - he creeps quietly towards the cluster of souls. Down one flight of stairs, along a hallway...it feels strange, to be going anywhere without being led by the hand. Like he'll trip and fall at any moment without someone to anchor him down.

He'll probably slip inside in the shadow of someone else, a small, frail, child-sized being whose eyesockets have only the barest discernible glint in their otherwise dark depths. Nevertheless, those who know the skeleton in the hoodie might find several familiar details there. Sans-Serif does see himself there, taking notes, chatting, eating, and that only services to further convince him that this is a dream.

So he might as well try some dream-food. It all looks much too fanciful to be real anyway, and he's curious despite himself.

[lightofthestars]

It is difficult to escape the notice of an Elf, especially one so sharp-eyed as Tauriel. When she sees the skeleton--a child? --slip into the room, she is at once alert. Yet soon she can see that this skeleton offers no threat. He seems lost to wonder...as S-4 had been upon his arrival to the castle.

She frowns. Their garb is similar. Is there yet another skeleton brother of which neither Sans nor S-4 had told her?

Rather than scaring the child, she lets herself be seen as she draws near to him. Her voice is calm and steady when she says, "I greet you and mean you no harm. Will you speak with me?"

[folklorist]

Helios is definitely a new face around these parts, but he's sure gonna end up at the party at some point. He's pretty curious about this castle in general it's a homey sort of feel, given his own roots, but having been dragged here after Luceti and Haven makes him wary still. It's only until he sees the food that he moseys on over to help himself to several decadent delights.

There's a very audible sound of delight from him as he munches away and if you're nearby he'll offer you up a plate that he's filled with an assortment of things. "Have you tried any of these yet? They're rather delicious I must say! This is quite the welcoming party even if, ah, it's probably not one..."

[lostinmyway]

Grune doesn't give him the least chance to offer her anything. Once she's blinked a few times and realised that no, she isn't having a wonderful dream, that Helios is really there, she drops the fudge she's eating and runs straight for him.

"Helios!"

He'd better act quickly, because he's getting a hug whether his hands are full or empty.

[systematicsupport]

S-4... is not a very sociable person. He's more than fine with it one at a time, as he told Sophie, but in a big group? He's too nervous. There are too many souls around, too many potential dangers to keep track of, too many opportunities to make a mistake and end up punished somehow.

Still, as difficult as it is for him to even be in this room with everyone, Sans requested his help personally, and S-4 is always going to listen to his brother.

And besides, it gives him a chance to try more food.

He can usually be found in two places: either at the table itself, grabbing a few pastries and cakes, or in one of the far corners, eating silently and generally avoiding people.

He may accidentally bump into someone when he tries to rush to the table, however, and if he does recognize someone he knows, he'll try to beckon them over when no one else is around so he can at least say hello.

[lostinmyway]

S-4 is one of the people Grune has been keeping a special eye out for. With so many delicious kinds of food to eat, it's yet another opportunity to introduce him to the wonders of the world outside the lab.

It takes her a while to find him, though, and not just because she keeps getting distracted. But at last she sees him, and...oh. Oh dear.

She picks up a plate and fills it with the kinds of food she thinks he'll like best, then carries it over to his corner.

"Hello, S-4," she greets him with a warm smile. "How are you feeling?"

[dr_awesome]

Well, this is new. And weird. Definitely weird.

Watts isn't sure if he can call his test run of that new machine a success yet. This sure doesn't look like anything he was expecting to see. A weird, fairytale castle, complete with a ballroom filled with sweets and all sorts of weird non-humans? Definitely not part of his parameters.

That said, he has been pulling an all-nighter. Maybe he passed out before initiating this and it's all a dream? If that's true, he has to lay off on those... weird gluten-free chips he stole from Alistair.

He wanders into the room, offering a casual smile to some of the other partygoers, before snagging a slice of carrot cake and helping himself. Definitely not as good as his partner's, but it'll do.

[lostlegacy]

"Who're you?"

There is a short seven-year-old with white hair looking up at you, Watts, while sucking on a lollipop. She doesn't seem at all alarmed by the presence of a stranger; her curiosity is moderate at the very best.