castle_perrault | [open] There's a word for that, what does it start with? A word for that, I'll sound so smart

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undertale

[open] There's a word for that, what does it start with? A word for that, I'll sound so smart

It's been quite the stressful week for most of the castle's inhabitants. S-4 wasn't any different. With losing Frisk, fighting with Sans-Serif not to take any souls, struggling with the overwhelming emotions the funeral brought up, and then trying to deal with his dear friend's return as well as attempting to take care of his siblings (even Sans, despite him holing himself up in some mysterious room in the castle with that weird human), S-4 was a bit exhausted. But he wasn't about to sleep without a bedtime story.

Sans was too busy, so S-4 didn't want to bother him by asking. Sans-Serif would have helped, but he was still learning to read, and S-4 didn't want to frustrate him. It would probably be fine to just read it to himself.

He takes one of the picture books to the lounge, and is slowly flipping through it, a fingerbone pressed to the page underneath the words so he can keep his place.

"Out... came... the baby... bird."

Sophie called him a baby. He knows what that is. And a bird are those singing, flying creatures up in the trees. But the one in this book talks. Maybe only little birds can do that?

"'Where... is my... mother?' he said..."

Now that's a word he doesn't know.

"Mother? Mother... like brother?"

They rhyme, so it must be similar. But what exactly is one? Does he have one?

He's frowning at the book until he realizes someone is watching him read. Usually, he'd have a moment to be embarrassed about being caught like this, but right now, his question is too serious to be ignored for shame.

"What's a mother?"

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S-4 looks reassured himself, giving a warm smile to his brother and patting the top of his skull. Honestly, if he had to choose between having a mother or having his brothers, who are both so smart and brave and strong, he knows he would pick them. He's so lucky to have them both here.

The more S-4 reads, however, the more he worries for his sibling. The story just seems to be getting worse and worse. What if the bird really can't find its mother? What if it gets lost? Or it lands on that big machine and goes far far away? Then Sans-Serif will be upset, and S-4 won't know how to fix it.

When the bird lands on the big machine, S-4's words become more frantic, and he stumbles and stammers through the next few pages. The poor bird is getting lifted high, high up off the ground, and it doesn't know how to fly yet. And it's crying so much...

He quickly turns the page, only to see the bird getting dropped... back into the nest?

"Then something happened!" he says this excitedly, as he nudges Sans-Serif to encourage him to look. "The Snort p-put that baby bird... right back in the tree! The baby bird was home!"

Sans-Serif only screws his eyesockets more tightly shut, at first - enough things have happened, in his very definite opinion. But S-4 sounds...excited, even happy, and so the smaller skeleton risks peeking through his fingerbones down at the page once more.

When he sees the bird safely back in his nest, Sans-Serif looks as though he almost can't believe it. He turns the page back to where it had been, to make sure that S-4 hadn't gotten confused and started the story over again. He hadn't. The bird really was back home safe.

He slumps back against S-4 in visible relief, smiling shakily. "what a nice snort." It had looked big and scary, but it had really taken the baby bird safely home. Sans-Serif should know better than to judge monsters just based on how scary they look.

Then Sans-Serif gasps in delight, this time. Because so soon after the baby bird gets put back in its nest, the bigger bird from the start of the story flies up to join it. The baby bird had walked right by her earlier, but now it sees her there. Could this really be his mother?

"what happened next?" He's so excited that he couldn't have made out the words on the page even if he'd tried.

S-4 laughs softly at Sans-Serif's peeking through his fingerbones. He knew the happy ending would be worth it. Sans-Serif looks so surprised, and then relieved, and more than a little exhausted. It's probably a lot of work for his brother to experience so many emotions, especially when he hasn't had practice feeling things for very long. But it's probably a good idea for him to get that practice now, with his brother, where he'll always be safe.

"Yeah! It looks scary, but it probably just wanted to help from the start. It's like... how Frisk looked scary at first, but was really, really nice."

Of course, they had their reasons for believing Frisk was dangerous, but now they know not to judge based on species or appearance.

He flips the page, looking at the picture of the mother and baby bird smiling at each other.

"Um... let's see... 'Do you know who I am?' she said to her baby. 'Yes, I know who you are,' said the baby bird. 'You are not a kitten. You are not a hen. You are not a dog. You are not a cow. You are not a boat, or a plane, or a Snort!

'You are a bird, and... you are my mother.' "

The book ends with the mother wrapping a wing around the baby, and S-4 smiles softly, just admiring the picture.

"She really loves her baby."

Sans-Serif wraps an arm around his brother, leans his head against S-4's shoulder, and admires the picture with him. It makes him feel at peace, makes his soul feel light just looking at it. Here is a picture where all is clearly right with the world. "and he really loves her. he looks so happy..." They both do. Like they belong together. Like they've both found their most important person at last. S-4 is his most important person. Of this, Sans-Serif still has no doubt.

But wouldn't it be nice, if they had someone to hug them both and smile at them like that? Wouldn't it be nice if they had a mother as well as a brother?

...the other him used to smile at them like that. But he hasn't been around very much. Even when he is, his smiles don't look right. San-Serif is not happy about this, but mostly because S-4 is clearly so unhappy.

He is a little exhausted from so many emotions in such quick succession. But Sans-Serif doesn't mind. It makes him feel like he's really present in a way he doesn't always feel, here with S-4 as they share something together.

Even so, Sans-Serif's mind can never stay too quiet for long, and he finds himself thinking once more about the question that had first set them off on this little adventure. "s-so, um...i don't think a mother is just a thing birds are. at the end, when he said 'you are a bird, and you are my mother'? i don't know, but i, i don't think he would have said 'and' if all mothers were birds. right?"

For a while, they mimic the picture perfectly, Sans-Serif curled up against his brother, who has wrapped an arm protectively around his ribcage, both of them smiling at the book, and more than that, at each other, for feeling so happy. S-4 nudges his skull against Sans-Serif's, laughing softly.

"That's all that matters, right? As long as you love someone, and you're really, really happy with them. Then it doesn't matter who we have. A mother, or a brother, or friends, or anything else."

S-4 nods to himself, like this makes perfect sense, though he hesitates a moment after. Is that really all there is to it? Or... do they need someone else to love them both? They had Sans, but Sans has been so busy lately. Gaster has disappeared. And no one else here could be like that... could they?

S-4 frowns a bit when his brother goes back to puzzling over their original question, but eventually sighs. He should have expected that his brother wouldn't be satisfied without a proper answer.

"I don't think he would have said that, no. So some birds are mothers, but, but not all mothers are birds. I guess that's probably why he asked all those other animals. Maybe they can be mothers too."

Sans-Serif isn't about to be satisfied without a proper answer, but even his curiosity can usually take a backseat to his brother's comfort - especially when it feels like this is the longest time they've spent together since the funeral.

He can feel S-4's sigh in his own ribcage, sounding almost disheartened, and maybe his brother really doesn't care what a mother is or what it means to have one. Maybe he's okay just having Sans-Serif. The older experiment feels a little guilty for wondering, then. He can't help the way his mind races ahead, sometimes...but neither does he want to leave his brother behind.

"...we don't have to talk about mothers if you don't want to. we could read another book instead!" Maybe one that's a little less scary before the promised happy ending. "you did a really good job reading that one. you even read it really fast!" A mercy he appreciates greatly.

"No... it's okay. Um, I just don't know what to tell you. Maybe I can ask Sans about it later." Whenever his oldest brother isn't busy, they'll talk about it. And then he can tell Sans-Serif, and he'll be happy to know, and maybe they'll even learn a few other words.

Right now, though, S-4 doesn't really want to think about what a mother is, and why he doesn't have one when it seems like they're so important to most people. He just wants to spend time with someone special, and be happy. He's always happiest when he's with Sans-Serif. So reading another book sounds perfect.

"Oh! Okay, but we'd have to go to the library, so we can find another one. Um... I've been trying to read a lot. I think I'm getting better, but there's still a lot of words I don't know."

"you are getting better!" Sans-Serif gets down off the couch and offers his hand to his brother. "i even asked frisk, about kites, and they said you were saying it right!" So S-4 is even getting better at reading human words.

He doesn't need a mother. It might be nice to have one, depending on what one is, but he doesn't need one to be happy like that baby bird was happy. Sans-Serif doesn't even need to work very hard to convince himself of this, because it is fundamentally true. As long as S-4 is here with him, he's happy.

"maybe they'll have a book about making kites. i asked frisk if they wanted us to make them a kite, like in the story. and they said yes, but we should probably practice first. otherwise we won't get it right." And they need to make the very coolest possible kite to give to their friend.

"Oh! Frisk... Frisk heard me reading?" His smile grows wider at that. He wasn't sure if they had, and he didn't want to ask. But if they heard, then that must have made their death a lot easier to handle. It warms his soul quite a bit.

And that's really all he needs. If people like Sans-Serif and Frisk are here with him, then he'll always be happy.

"That's a good idea. I'd like to make a kite. A... A big red one! And it'll be even better than the one in the story!"

Spurred on by this idea, S-4 stands up, grabbing his brother's hand to tug him off to the library.

"yeah!" Sans-Serif answers even before he remembers what Frisk had actually said. But even then, he hastens on while barely missing a beat: "but they didn't hear all the story. because sometimes you don't, when you get read a bedtime story, because you fall asleep. so they want us to read it again to them later!"

And wouldn't it be just perfect if they had a big, red kite to give their friend to properly welcome them back once they did?

Sans-Serif takes his brother's hand and hurries along with him the best he can. Fortunately, the castle in general doesn't seem to move around as much for him as it does for others. Maybe that holds true for S-4, or maybe it just makes a difference that Sans is with him. Either way, they'll find the library, or at least one of the libraries, without too much trouble.

Sans-Serif stands in the doorway, regarding the array of shelves with his arms folded and his head tilted.

"okay...we should probably start where we found the first story about the kite. so you can find another story, and i can find out more about kites. that's probably where they put all the books about making kites, anyway." He nods decisively. That makes sense.

S-4 doesn't doubt for a second that Sans-Serif is telling the truth. It makes sense that poor Frisk fell asleep before hearing the whole thing, and honestly, that's probably a good thing. It means that S-4 read so well they were able to rest peacefully, despite all the pain they had gone through. S-4 must be getting better at reading, like his brother said.

"I'd like to read it again! And, and it would be great if we had a kite to fly right after the story."

He does notice that with Sans-Serif's guidance, they find the library a lot faster than S-4 usually does alone. That's a little strange, but Sanses in general are unique, and that's why S-4 cares for them so much.

He looks around the room and taps his jaw with a finger before pointing towards a collection of shorter bookshelves.

"Okay! The kite book is over there. Come on!"

He tugs Sans-Serif over, getting down on his knees to peer at the titles of the various colourful books.

With the two of them looking together, it won't take too much time to find the book. It's been carefully placed back right where S-4 would have first found it. And it's surrounded by other bright books with other interesting titles. Sans-Serif finds himself tempted to just pull one of those out to read with his brother instead - but, they have an important job to do. With the first book settled safely on a chair where they can hopefully find it again, he goes searching through the other shelves, or at least the ones he can see as high as.

Fortunately, for all the library's size, for all the hundreds of books crammed into it, it actually doesn't take them much longer to be successful in their search. It all starts with him finding a book on building boats, and searching much more carefully from there. A book on kites is three shelves down and four to the left. Sans-Serif pulls it out and holds it up with a delighted gasp. "here it is!"

Hastily, he sits down right there on the floor and opens it up to a random page. And he can scarcely believe what he sees when he does - rather than the simple square of red from the story, the kite detailed in this part of the book looks like some enormous monster, as big as a Snort.

Even if Sans-Serif doesn't allow himself to get distracted from the task at hand, S-4 is a little more curious about the different titles, and so even as Sans-Serif goes looking through the shelves, he starts pulling out more books. Here's one about some sort of game with a ball, and one about space, and a book about bunnies-oh, his brother will definitely like that one...

Sans-Serif's gasp of excitement quickly lures him over, though, and he hurries over to Sans-Serif's side, placing the stack of books beside him, only to gasp in surprise at the picture he sees.

"Wow... It's really big! And it has a face. Is it supposed to have a face?"

He flips the page, and it shows another kite, just as large, but designed to look somewhat like a frog.

Sans-Serif scoots over to make room for his brother, and obligingly holds the book up a little so that S-4 can see it better. "we could give it a face. do you want to give it a face?" Would Frisk like it if it had a face?

Then he remembers - "some of them do have faces! frisk said we could paint a 'kitty' face on it, if we wanted! but i didn't know what one of those was." And he doesn't know how to paint. Learning how to paint and learning how to make a kite seems like it might be a bit hard, even for the two of them.

He sets to work flipping throuh the pages one way, and then the other. Fortunately, a page almost at the very beginning of the book has what they were initially looking for. Sans-Serif's eyesockets widen, and he taps a finger against the page. "there!" A picture of a kite that's just a bright, simple diamond shape with a ribbony sort of tail.

"i tried to get us some fabric already. i left it under the bed." It's a respectable amount of torn curtain.

"Um, I don't know. Does Frisk want a kite with a face? Like a 'kitty' face? ...Do you know what a kitty face is?"

Because S-4 certainly doesn't. It sounds very silly, though, so who knows if Frisk would enjoy it? Maybe S-4 will just have to ask, and then if they really want one, he and S-4 can work on figuring out how to put a face on the creature.

As Sans-Serif flips to the page that shows the simple design, S-4 grins.

"That looks really cool! And it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, right? Can I see the fabric?"

He hopes it's the right shade of red.

"sure! i'll show you!" Sans-Serif gets to his feet, tucks the book under one arm, and holds his other hand out for S-4 to take. Guessing at least a little at what his brother is hoping for, however, he shakes his head and adds: "it's not red, though. but we can use it to practice, so we get it right when we do find enough red fabric." The castle might reset any damage it takes, but Sans-Serif doesn't want to wait around to find out if that applies to curtains.

And indeed, once they return to their room, Sans-Serif crawls about halfway under their bed, only to gingerly emerge holding a large bundle of material in his hands. It's more a dusty sort of pink, rather than proper red. The fabric is flimsy and even a little bit see-through, but at least that makes it light enough for even Sans-Serif to carry.

"now what else do we need?"

He's already reaching out to grab Sans-Serif's hand, and smiles when their fingers intertwine, before listening carefully to what his brother has to say.

"Oh, that's smart! We probably do need a lot of practice... I hope we can find red fabric soon though."

The dusty pink is nice enough, though, and light, so it should be able to fly on the wind well enough, right? S-4 looks over the material before he remembers the book, and checks the page.

"Um, we need two sticks, string, and a pair of scissors... Those should be easy to find, right?"

"sure they should!" Sans-Serif nods encouragingly up at his brother. "there's a lot of sticks outside. and, and everywhere needs string." Even a big, mysterious castle. "and..."

Hm. Scissors. Sans-Serif frowns thuoghtfully, staring straight ahead at nothing very much - that might be trickier. He's not sure he's seen something as mundane as a pair of scissors all while they've been here.

"...the other me might have some." Sans had gathered a lot of strange and sharp instruments for his makeshit lab. "or maybe we can borrow one of tauriel's knives."

He moves to smooth the pile of material out over the bed. It's enough to almost look like a second blanket. Maybe they can get two kites out of this.

As Sans-Serif speaks, S-4 looks just a little more relieved. Of course there would be lots of sticks and string. There's so much of it no one should mind if the two brothers need to borrow some. Especially for something so important as a kite for Frisk.

The scissors, though, will be an issue.

"Hopefully they'll let us borrow them. Do you want me to go try to find them?"

Sans-Serif is busy with the fabric, after all, and S-4 wants to do something to help in the meantime.

"yeah, that'd be good!" S-4 also looks older, even if he isn't. So if he has to ask to borrow something dangerous like scissors, the adults in the castle might be more inclined to let him. "and, and while you go find them, i can go get some sticks! and we can meet back here." String has to be around somewhere, but might be a bit harder to find by virtue of being string. So they can work together to find some.

"and if anything bad happens, we can just call each other."

Nothing bad should happen. Chara is locked up safely. But it's a big castle, and even Sans doesn't understand it all yet.

"That works! Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can! Be careful, okay?"

He knows Sans-Serif will, and he knows he'll be called if anything bad does happen, but he still finds it important to remind him, before he goes running off to find the scissors.

Shockingly, the lab doesn't seem to have any, but the kitchen does have a pair. S-4 looks around to make sure there isn't anyone to ask if he can borrow them, but no one is cooking, so he hopes no one will notice they're missing for now. He carefully carries them back to the entrance of the library, and then as he waits for Sans-Serif, he looks them over, snipping at a piece of scrap paper just to make sure they're sharp.

Fortunately, S-4 won't be waiting too long. After just a couple of minutes longer, Sans-Serif makes his way back into the room, balancing a handful of sticks and a ball of swing in his arms. There really were a lot of sticks outside, and he'd had no idea once he'd gotten there which ones would be best. So he'd taken a selection.

He can just barely see over the top of his pile, but it's enough to see that S-4 has been successful in his half of the quest, too. The little skeleton's expression breaks into a smile of relief. "oh, good, you found them!"

He lets the sticks clatter to the floor by the bed, sits down, and immediately goes to work sifting through for a likely looking pair to tie together. The actual tieing might need to be done by S-4, however - the sticks keep slipping out of place when Sans-Serif tries to do it alone.

S-4 brightens as soon as he sees his brother approaching, especially with a ball of string. He expected they'd still have to look for them, so he's glad Sans-Serif seemed to have some luck.

"Yeah! I think they'll work, too. We just have to be careful."

He looks at the sticks Sans-Serif has picked out, and they seem to be the right size, based on the diagram. When he sees his sibling struggle with the string, he takes it from him carefully.

"Just hold them in place, okay? I can do it."

With Sans-Serif's help making sure they don't slip away, S-4 slowly but effectively ties them together into a cross shape, just like the book says. He even leaves extra string to hold the kite by.

Sans-Serif grins in relief ash is brother takes over. "thanks!" Holding the sticks in place proves to be a much easier job - especially when his hands are so small, since it means that S-4 won't have to worry so much about accidentally tying one of them up in the kite. His relief looks even more pronounced when S-4 remembers to leave the extra string. That much had completely slipped the smaller skeleton's mind.

Once S-4 is done, Sans-Serif happily holds up the frame and swings it this way and that, testing. The sticks hold quite steady, though he shouldn't have expected anything less from his brother. Then he sets the frame back on the bed and gathers up the fabric instead.

"how do we cut it out?"

S-4 looks pleased that he figured it out himself. He is finding this to be a bit easier than he expected, honestly. Maybe he doesn't need to worry! Maybe their practice kite will be just as good as a regular kite!

At least, he thinks that until he looks at the fabric, and then he seems a little confused. How do they cut it?

"Um... if we put the sticks in a spot and cut the diamond shape out around them, maybe that will work?"

[open] There's a word for that, what does it start with? A word for that, I'll sound so smart

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