"Paps, just calm down. it can't have gotten far."

"BUT SANS I DON'T REMEMBER WHEN IT CAME OFF! IT COULD BE ANYWHERE IN THE PARK BY NOW! ANYONE COULD HAVE PICKED IT UP AND THOUGHT 'THIS IS SUCH A COOL SCARF, I WANT TO KEEP IT ALL TO MYSELF!' IT COULD BE GONE FOREVER!"

Sans sighed heavily, shoving his hands into his pockets. He had always known his brother could be (heh) fairly empty-headed, but losing his scarf in a public place was certainly a new level in terms of carelessness. They had come out today at the younger skeleton's insistence that they enjoy the nice weather by having a picnic which had been going well until Papyrus suddenly realized that his red scarf was missing, leading to the scene he was currently creating. The humans were trying not to stare, but Sans could see them watching everything out of the corner of their eyes, as if afraid there would suddenly be some kind of riot breaking out. Honestly, it had been what, two years now? And still the humans stared. Oh well, at least it wasn't something that bothered most monsters anymore. Sans wondered if this was how Frisk had felt during their time in the Underground, surrounded by beings that are not their kind...wait, he was doing something, wasn't he? Oh right, the scarf.

"where was the last place you're sure you had it?" the shorter brother asked with his usual weary patience.

"WHEN I WAS WITH THE TINY HUMANS PLAYING THE GAME OF TAG," Papyrus replied. "IT WAS FLOWING SO MAJESTICALLY...BUT I DO NOT REMEMBER IF I HAD IT WHEN THEY CHALLENGED ME TO THE TREE-CLIMBING RACE."

"right. i'll go look back where we had the blanket and you—"

"Excuse me?"

Papyrus jumped in surprise and Sans froze reflexively. It wasn't often that they were snuck up on and both brothers were rather alarmed at the fact until they realized that the person who had spoken was only a human female who had seemingly just materialized from the surrounding throng. She seemed fairly unremarkable in both her clothes (jeans and an untucked button-up) and physical appearance (brunette hair pulled into a ponytail and dark eyes of an average size and a moderate skin tone), but held in her outstretched hand was...

"MY SCARF!" Papyrus exclaimed, his naturally loud voice somehow rising in volume as it took it from the woman's grasp. "WHEREVER DID YOU FIND IT?"

"Some kids said they found it in a tree. They were taking turns pretending to be superheroes. I was going to take it to the lost and found station, but then I overheard your conversation."

Sans searched the human's face for any sign of mockery—it hadn't been the first time someone had tried to have a subtle joke at his little brother's expense and that superhero comment stuck him as something that could easily be pointed towards the tall, soft-hearted skeleton if she wanted—but he saw only her small, honest smile. Papyrus began to chatter out profound thanks as he rewound the red fabric around his neck. It was then that the woman began to retreat, slowly edging away from the brothers. Sans was about to speak up when a small clump of humans passed by and when they had gone, so too was the young lady who had returned the scarf. If his jaw wasn't secured tight to the rest of his skull, it probably would have fallen off in shock.

"I MEAN, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WITHOUT HIS INCREDIBLY AWESOME SCARF WOULD BE NOTHING BUT A TRAGEDY! YOU HAVE MY ETERNAL THANKS, KINDLY HUMAN! IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT YOU MAY NEED IN RETURN—"

"bro."

"—THEN I SHALL BE HAPPY TO PROVIDE IT! PERHAPS IF WE EXCHANGE PHONE NUMBERS-"

"bro, stop talking and look, wouldja? they're gone."

Papyrus tilted his skull in obvious confusion before he looked to where the young woman had been standing and found the space to be empty. The skeleton whirled around, looking for her in the crowd only to find that she really had disappeared.

"WHERE DID THEY GO OFF TO?"

"y'know, I'm actually not sure. she just took a few steps back and...vanished. it was like she took a shortcut or something," the elder monster replied, a tad dazedly. "except...no magic."

"YOU MEAN SHE HAS MASTERED THE ART OF TELEPORTATION WITH...TECHNOLOGY?! I DIDN'T KNOW HUMAN SCIENCE HAD GOTTEN THAT FAR YET!" the tall skeleton gasped. Then a thought occurred to him. "BUT THEN HOW WILL I FIND HER AND OFFER HER GRATITUDE SPAGHETTI?"

"no idea," Sans shrugged. "but she was a pretty nice human, right? it's awesome she decided to help ya out when she probably had places to be."

"INDEED," his brother agreed wholeheartedly. "IF I EVER SEE HER AGAIN, I WILL REQUEST HER FRIENDSHIP. I WOULD LIKE TO BE FRIENDS WITH SUCH A KINDLY HUMAN."

yeah, but good luck finding her, Sans thought ruefully. She was just one human among thousands in this city. Heck, she might not even be from this city. This wasn't the underground where everybody lived in one of four places and was extremely distinguishable from one another. Of course, if he knew his brother, Papyrus would be stuck on this for weeks, going out whenever possible to catch a glimpse. But even this phase would pass. Then again, that's what he'd said about the spaghetti phase and look where they were now. He just hoped this desire to find that one human girl would pass away quietly.