video; what's gonna be left of the world if you're not in it

[skelebro]

[Sans has something in his hands. It's a bolt of fabric that he runs between his metacarpals with a distant, unfocused precision, something to idly turn between his phalanges as he speaks. Might take a moment to realize that the backdrop to his video ain't the typical one. It's not his room he's sitting in, after all. He's reclining atop a racecar bed. The sheets are perfectly made, as though the owner were planning on returning at some point. On the bedside table, there's a small stack of belongings that clash rather astutely with the layout of the place. A snowglobe, a binder, an ECHOcomm, and at the very far right of the frame, a folded-up sweater vest.

He dropped in to visit some pals of his, you see. Only to find they ain't around anymore.]

For those of you who knew 'em, seems the docs've gone home. You know the ones. Newt and Hermann. [A pause.] Dr. Gottlieb.

[Being a pain in the coccyx suddenly gets to be less funny when there ain't anybody to yell at you about it, huh?]

Hope it's home they went, and not, uh...wherever it was before they got here. Yao know what I'm talkin' about.

[He folds up the cloth in his hands and stands up, grinning at the camera without a lick of despair. Maybe there's somethin' a bit tired to the whole facade, but who can say? He's always tired.]

I hate to tell ya, but it looks like my bro might'a been the guy to slack off for once. Funny, right? Takin' that hard-earned title from yours truly. Here I thought I was supposed to be the guy who nips off without a word.

[Those with sharp eyes might pick up that the cloth ain't just any old thing. It's Papyrus's sash delineating him as an official member of the City Guard - twice torn, twice mended, and now without an owner. Like hell Sans is cut out to wear a thing like this.]

'Pologies to the Guard. Looks like you're one member short. 'Fraid I can't help ya there either; Papyrus, he's got some big shoes to fill.

[He winks at the lens before reaching for the communicator and then, almost as an afterthought, adds:]

Someone ought'a take care of the lab the docs built. Lotta their stuff's still in there, too, and lyin' around my place. Figure it should go to the people who knew 'em best.

[Y'know, whoever that is. But you all know who you are, don't ya?

Yeah. He'd think so.

He cuts the feed.]

Comments

Re: voice;

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose is aware her double crossed paths with him. Ignorance is bliss though, isn't it? She'll ask, eventually, but for right now it's one less thing she has to think about. And after all that happened, she's going to take any opportunity to lighten the load that she can. ]

S'not the first time they vanished on me. It's actually more a possibility than I would have thought before.

[ Or they could be deep frozen, never to return. ]

I'll keep the place nice for them, at any rate. Just in case.

[skelebro]

That's a good plan. Real nice of ya.

[Notably, he don't make the same sorta guarantee where Papyrus is concerned. What's the point, right? He's better off where he is now anyway - livin' it large and happy on the surface. Gets himself a real racecar instead of a bed or one of these dinky mopeds.]

Lab's got most of their stuff. Pretty sure they knocked out there a coupl'a times.

[hasitsthorns]

A couple? Try every other night.

[ Rose can't claim to be good at taking care of herself; in fact, she's probably the opposite. Newt could get so wrapped up in what he was doing though that he lost all track of the outside world for stretches. She admires - admired now, she supposes - that dedication and passion of his. ]

It's the least I can do. It was nice to have something familiar to come back to in Haven when I went under for a month so I'm gonna return the courtesy if possible.

[ 'Went under' probably sounds a bit... odd. But she assumes Sans knows if he mentioned Yao. ]

[skelebro]

Heh. Yeah. That ain't surprising.

['Specially since he was the cause of a few of those times. Yeah. Good times.

"Went under" does sound odd. Newt didn't talk much about Haven. All he knew is that that's where he ended up after his work with the, uh...the Pacific...hell if he knows the acronym. The guys who fought the giant kaiju things. Those.]

I got the, uh...I got that stupid thing the gods gave the doc - Gottlieb.

[Sweater-vest with skulls on it. It's twee and ridiculous, and he glances at it where it's lying there, innocuously.]

Skeleton-print vest. Funny, right?

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose is aware, actually. Not that she was the best rommate in the world herself. Newt and Hermann probably needed some time to escape her, too. ]

Never let it be said the gods don't have a sense of humor, I suppose.

[ It would be actually funny, maybe, any other time. There's a hint of a smile at the visualization of Hermann's likely disgust with the sweater-vest.

She didn't think she'd miss that scowl, but. Here she is. ]

You can keep that one, of course. He has plenty of other ugly too big for me vests I'm sure. [ Newt, too, though his fashion was a bit more modern. ]

I'll pick 'em up when I can. Still, uh. Still dealing with some stuff. Think we all are.

[skelebro]

Yeah. That was, uh...

[That sure was a thing. He keeps his sockets partially lidded, relaxed in his ungainly sprawl on his brother's perfectly made, perpetually unused bed, his pose one of utter unconcern.]

You remember what yours did?

['Cause boy, he sure does.]

[hasitsthorns]

[ It sure was a thing and a half, definitely. ]

I remember everything.

[ Said a little too hollowly, like remembering it all on top of the feelings it drags up is too much to deal with. There were a lot of things that Sans didn't see. Though, of course, she knows what he did. ]

Guess the cat's outta the bag. Or, well. Wolf, in this case.

[skelebro]

Lotsa cats are outta lotsa people's bags.

[If nothin' else, the doubles did 'em all that nice big ol' favor, huh? Ensured that nobody's secrets would fester away in the dark crannies where they all belong. For better or for worse, everybody knows everyone's ugliness, and all the dirty laundry got aired for everybody to see.]

Chances are, people're too worried 'bout their own secrets to go botherin' with anybody else's right now.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose liked her secrets. She'd already been outed in Haven against her will so this two times too many that she had no control over people knowing what what she was.

Though Sans has a point. There's a lot out there now. Who's really going to get hung up on the fact that she eats soylent green when temples are destroyed and murdering murderers who murder are among them? ]

I can only hope so. Been through the whole 'a lot of people want to kill me because of what I am' thing before, so. I'd rather not do it again.

[skelebro]

I doubt it'll go through like that. Most everybody here sticks together.

[There's the bad eggs who don't but - hey, they're all in the same sinkin' boat here.]

You been here a while. You haven't hurt anybody. Way I see it, don't see much cause to go on a little witch hunt. But, hey. [A shrug prefaces his next words, as if that'll serve as an adequate apology for them:] I'm sure you've heard it all befur.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Yeah. Rose knows a bit about bad eggs. ]

I can only hope. [ Part of her is deciding if it's worth letting anyone know at all. So far, a handful of people are aware. She doesn't exactly hide it but it isn't information she gives out carelessly either.

Ah. A pun. Despite herself, a tiny smile twitches at the edges of her lips. He can't see it, of course, but it's there. ]

I have. Trust me, I won't soon furget.

[skelebro]

[A pun's about as much of a confirmation he needs. Can't be all that bad if she likes herself some real bad jokes, yeah? It sucks to have your secrets out in the world without your consent, but it could suck a lot more, yeah?

It could. It really, really could.]

Good. Beclaws that's better'n people comin' howlin' at your door.

[hasitsthorns]

[ It definitely could, he's right. Haven still owns the title of 'worst world ever,' even after this. The experiments there were like the doubles event on the regular.

It was a bad time to put it lightly. ]

You always got a pack full of puns, don't you?

[skelebro]

[Certainly don't seem like a good time. But bad jokes between friends - that's a valid way to alleviate the tension, yeah? The potential tension. The potension.]

'S a gift. Unless you'd rather I hit the paws button.

[hasitsthorns]

[ It's... something, at least. To her credit, Rose is very much a forgive and forget person. At least when it comes to others. Herself? Not so much. ]

Asking you to stop telling puns is a bit far fetched, don't you think? I just wonder how you become such a good Retriever of 'em.

[ She hates herself a little more each one she cracks. Is that the point? ]

[skelebro]

[Point is to lighten the mood. Or lion the mood, if the animal theme is a bit broader than initially assumed. Smile and smile, and maybe you'll start to believe that you're actually kinda happy, y'know?

Well, it's a work in progress.]

I can always leash it in if y'like.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Wolves, dogs... Canines seem to be the theme, at any rate.

Lie until it becomes truth. Is that it? Not a terrible strategy. Too bad it hasn't worked out so well for her yet. ]

I'd appreciate that. It's a little ruff for me to keep this going.

[skelebro]

'S all in a dog day's work. But I'll keep 'em quiet if y'like.

[Sans, offering to cut the awful jokes? Truly this is a momentous occasion. Or, y'know, he already feels like shit and he'd like to not feel like more shit on top of it for doing the equivalent of peeling back someone's extremely sore scabs and givin' the still-fresh wound a good poke.]

[hasitsthorns]

Yeah. Getting a little tired of yapping about all this.

[ To her credit though, she's... trying. Rose is coping in the only ways she knows how - a veil humor and nonchalance, avoidance - but time will tell how effective that is. There are things she can't avoid like the crippling silence of the house. But she can laugh about it like it doesn't matter, right? Like worry for her friends fate isn't eating her up inside until all she can do is cry. ]

[skelebro]

[Hey, it's a plan, ain't it? It's about as well as Sans copes with anything, which is to say - not at all, with a decent side helping of "no thanks, not today."

He'll sleep it off.

Always does.]

Heh heh. All right. You know you can collar for me if y'just need to chat.