video/action (forward-dated to 4/20); while collecting the stars, i connected the dots

[skelebro]

[The video wobbles a minute before it steadies, locking onto a grinning skull. It's your friendly neighborhood skeleton, Sans, looking undeniably pleased with himself as he comments to someone just off screen:]

'S lookin' great so far.

[There's a fumbling tapping as the feed gets jostled, and Sans is forced to set the thing onto the ground, face-down. At least the audio filters through, unimpeded if a bit muffled.]

All right. We ready?

[There's a distant sound of affirmation - two, actually, though one sounds a mite more stammered than the first. Kate, it seems, hadn't much wanted to take part in the announcement itself. So when the feed swings up again, there's two distinctively non-human shapes in the periphery - a yellow, lizardlike creature and a small black hedgehog that sharp-eyed cave-dwellers might recognize as Alphys and Shadow, respectively. The video jerks again, blurring the twin blazes of color into smeared linear streaks, and the cave gets a lovely shot of Sans's pink fuzzy slippers in preparation for the finale.

There's a click of fleshless fingers snapping; hundreds of tiny, glowing objects being displaced and then replaced, buried into the rock of the ceiling. Takes a lot out of a skeleton and leaves him a bit stooped from the effort, but it's worth it.

The camera swings up again to pan across the ceiling, now lit with a vast array of blue sparkling stones.]

It ain't Tranquility's illusions, but... [One last whip-pan back to Sans's face, and he winks at the camera, lookin' just a tiny bit more on the edge of exhaustion than usual. Just a hair.] You can consider it a good constellation prize.

[Enjoy the night sky, Hadriel. It'll last for quite a while. Sans, for his part, plans to be stargazing all night. Feel free to find him at the lake, if you're real interested.]

Comments

[Lake]

[drabsolutelynot]

[When Rosen sees the video he can hardly contain his curiosity. He must go see it for himself, and he wanders, head craned back to see what can be seen. He might accidentally bump into corner in his distraction but he quickly corrects himself and continues in his directionless wandering.

It brings him to the lake where, upon dropping his head, he sees a familiar silhouette.

Lee stops a few paces away content to not say anything for a long moment. Though eventually he settles himself down on the ground, legs crossed and face turned upwards once again and after a while he says loudly enough for Sans to hear]

These are the kinds of prizes that really matter.

[skelebro]

[It really is somethin' to see it all at once. The lake offers the best view, though that could be just a personal bias talkin'. No way to say, really. Either way, he can't help but feel a mite pleased at how it all played out.

Something nice for people. Even if the idea itself was conceptualized while very drunk and intent on drowning his sorrows, post-deception.

The doc tracks him down, like he's wont to do, and Sans leans up against the nearest cave wall with a leisurely grin.]

You're tellin' me. You weren't 'round when Tranquility gave us a fake sky and everything, were ya?

[drabsolutelynot]

[Lee distractedly shakes his head]

No. Just the landsharks, remember?

[That was when he had met Sans in the first place, after all.]

I might be glad that I wasn't. It seems like a cruel thing to give only to take away.

[He steals a brief peek at the skeleton. Its odd the way the gentle light from above lightly illuminates bone. Sans almost doesn't look like he's actually there]

How did you do it?

( action )

[skelebro]

[Oh, please. He can be as gruff and standoffish as he likes, but he wouldn't've agreed to the whole idea if he didn't wanna make someone happy, on some level.]

You ain't gonna stick around? See the sights a little?

Video

[survivethis]

[She's a little breathless.]

Wow. It's beautiful.

Video

[skelebro]

[Just seein' the looks on everyone's faces, right here? Yeah. Totally worth it.]

Should last us a little while, I'm thinkin'. Not a real night sky, but...looks close enough, yeah?

[Action]

[save_theworld]

[Guess who's real interested?

There's a few things Frisk could have done to make this easier on themself. They could have called him, for one, or texted. Asked him where he was going to be, instead of running over half the city, instead of relying on vague, half-directions from a few people they come across.

Their thermos still feels warm when they find him, at least. Cozy enough to leave their palms sweaty. There's a blanket about their shoulders that they almost regret bringing, at this point- but picnics are supposed to have blankets, right?

Not that this is a picnic. It's more like... a miniature one. A hint of a picnic, heralded in by the scuff of their shoes against the ground, and the quiet slosh of liquid as Frisk holds the cylinder out for him to see.]

It's hot chocolate.

[He can't turn away hot chocolate.

Right?]

[Action]

[skelebro]

[They find him eventually. Maybe he should'a been a little clearer about where he was planning to be, but - hell, this works too. They're good at trackin' him down, if they're really feelin' up to it. Real determined to find him, and find him they do.

With a thermos in hand.

Hot chocolate. Exactly the kinda thing a kid should be enjoying, looking up at the fake sky speckled with fake stars. A halfway picnic, blanket draped about their shoulders, and he really should'a brought something along those lines. But, uh, preparation, evidently, is for chumps.

He grins, settling onto the grass and patting the patch of ground beside him. Pull up some turf, take a load off.]

Hey, good thinking.

[video]

[wormintheglass]

[Bianca is clapping her hands, her eyes dancing.]

It's wonderful. We are all of us in a hole in the ground, but now we're looking at the stars. Thank you. Thank you so much.

[video]

[skelebro]

[She seems - elated. That, right there, that makes it all more than worth it. Seein' people genuinely happy. Maybe Delight'll even find herself a bit of fuel in the meantime.]

See, now we gotta whole mess of fresh constellations that need namin'.

Video

[amos_moses]

That is a horrible pun an' you're fired.

Only not, that's amazin'.

[Amos has missed the stars and this, along with his familiarity with magic, has prompted him to commit, despite his unease with the undead.]

Video

[skelebro]

What? You got somethin' against skelepuns?

[That one's a gimme, but how else is one meant to establish his position as incorrigible punster?]

[Video]

[fadeling]

How did you get them up there?

[Video]

[skelebro]

Little magic, little ingenuity. Little help from a prickly misanthrope.

[Y'know, the usual.]

video;

[survivorsguilt]

This is the fucking coolest. That Alphys over there?

[SHE IS VIBRATING, SANS. Do you know how much she's missed an open sky to look up to? It was practically all she had inside the wall.]

video;

[skelebro]

[Success. She looks out and out delighted at the whole display, and that in and of itself - that makes it all worth it.]

Heh heh, yeah. She helped rig the stones to last a little longer than they would'a.

[video]

[elegant_and_proud]

What a lovely treat you've given us. Thank you. I've missed the sight of the night sky.

[video]

[skelebro]

It ain't a real sky, but...looks enough like it, don't it?

[Good stuff, right?]

[lake]

[journalname]

[Sooner or later, Asgore sweeps up to join Sans. He stands next to him in silence for a while before speaking.]

It is just like home. [Not Home, or New Home; the Underground.]

[skelebro]

[King Dad himself, in all his glory. Been a hell of a week prior, and now everybody's finally getting a damn break. It's nice, 'cept for the inevitable knowledge that the world ain't gonna stop for any respite. It'll keep turning, and keep playing out, and things will keep getting worse and then better and then back again.

'S how it always goes.]

Kinda...modeled it after Waterfall, a bit. Wouldn't know what the real stars look like, so.

[Video]

[dragonsgrasp]

[Kain looks to be in awe, even if he's still not quite at his best shape yet. But he's mesmerized by what's being show, and he needs to go out and see it soon. He's extremely grateful, so much that he's even willing to thank Shadow of all people.]

Thank you. To all of you involved in this... Thank you.

[Video]

[skelebro]

[That, right there, that look - yeah, it's more than worth it. It's...genuinely a nice thing, right there, seein' someone surveying the sky with that level of pleased wonderment.]

Not sure if it's astronomically accurate, but...looks well enough like the real thing, I'm hopin'.

[lake]

[soundtest]

[They really missed Waterfall. And this wasn't really Waterfall, they knew that, but it was as close and as comforting as they were going to get.

The ghost turned human makes their way to the lake, wanting to get a closer look. Or at least, pretend they're home for a little while.

They're looking a lot healthier than they have been lately.]

um.... hi...
i hope i'm not interrupting...

[skelebro]

[He's been meaning to check up on 'em since everything went down the the varren, with Mettaton's apparent dismay at seeing them hurt in the first place. Just another one of those things that, like most of his personal goals, eventually got downgraded and forgotten and eventually abandoned outright.

Nice to see that they're still in one piece. He can say that much.]

'Course not. [He's standing here all alone, watching the sparkling stones that pass for stars down here. What's there to interrupt?] You feelin' all right?