Sans took a step from the biting cold of Snowdin and into the mild temperatures prevalent in New Home. Specifically he was walking out of an alleyway close to the Core, one he was familiar enough with to use for a shortcut but also relatively close to his destination. It was only a few blocks, just long enough for the snow still clinging to his sneakers to melt or scrape off, he pushed open an old, creaking, wooden door to a dimly lit bar. A mole was balanced carefully on the bar as they poured a drink, they looked up when he entered before returning their attention to the drink. Sans shuffled up to the bar and sat at the first open stool. Once the mole finished pouring the drink they slid it down to the customer at the end of the bar, then turned their attention to Sans.

"Welcome, what'll ya have?" They squeaked cheerfully.

Sans scratched at his chin as he looked over the dull bottles full of colorful, swirling liquids. "gimme a phoenix pinion." He dug around in his pocket for the G while the bartender poured the dink, then sent the tumbler his way. "thanks," Sans said as he put the G on the bar. Then he took his first sip. The drink burned as it suffused his magic matrix, then spread as a pleasant heat in his joints.

The bartender waddled over to collect Sans's payment, then looked him up and down. "Say, you look familiar, have we met before?"

"think so, i used to live around here a few years ago."

The bartender just nodded before moving onto the next customer. Sans spun around on his seat so he was leaning against the bar as he continued to slowly sip his drink. He had been in here before, and he was pretty sure the bartender's name was Mac. It could be Alex though, so Sans didn't want to risk using the wrong name. Instead he looked around the rest of the place.

It was familiar and comfortable, like slipping into an old sweater you dug up from the back of the closet. There were a few little changes, Sans thinks. He's pretty sure the tables have been re-arranged. The chairs around them, like in any establishment down here, were all mismatched and most were sporting scars and had clearly been repaired, so it was impossible to tell if any of them were different from when he had last been here. There were pictures all over the walls, posters and newspaper clippings taped up by their corners, a few photographs carefully pinned up, one was even in a frame. The dates on some of the posters were definitely new, especially that Mettaton one in the corner, but a lot of them were old, some even older than Sans himself. It was different, but at the same time it wasn't.

Before Sans knew it the tumbler was empty and he found himself chatting amiably with the monster next to him, a friendly dragon that seemed to have become a regular after Sans left New Home.

"You want another?" The bartender asked the next time they checked on him.

Sans looked down in surprise, somehow they had snuck up on him. "nah, i should get going. thanks, though." Sans smiled, the atmosphere was friendly and relaxing, exactly what he needed after all his stress. But it was also a little too close to a trip down memory lane, something he was desperately trying to avoid tonight. He was just turning to say his farewells to his newest acquaintance when the door opened and a crowd of college students, all of them chatting loudly with each other, came streaming in.

One of them went straight to the bar and ordered a round of beers for the group. They turned to Sans once the bartender had run to fill the order and looked him up and down. "Holy hell, you look like you've been through the wringer."

Sans looked down at his shirt stained with mechanical grease and his hands covered in grime and soot. He shrugged, "had a lab accident, decided to call it a night after that."

The student frowned, "Was anyone hurt?"

"nah, was working alone. and it barely exploded at all, mostly just a lot of smoke."

The student nodded in understanding and accepted their beer from the bartender. After they took their first swig a glint entered their eye and they turned to Sans to excitedly ask, "So what were you working on? And in a lab? For school or work?"


Grillby bustled from table to table, the lunch rush was winding down and only a few tables actually had customers. Most of them were regulars from the Underground and Grillby had sent the rest of his staff on their breaks so he could reminisce a little. The old canine unit had just come in and gathered around a table, just like old times.

"… how have you all been?" Grillby asked as he passed out bowls of kibble.

"We've been doing really good," Dogamy said with a tail wag.

(Still not used to actually living on the surface,) Dogaressa added. (I don't know if we ever will.)

"… I feel the same," Grillby said warmly.

"Grillbz, can I get another drink?"

Grillby nodded to Dizzy, then hurried off to get her drink and check on the other tables. By the time he got back to the canine table they were all gathered around Dogamy and were staring at his phone with their tails wagging.

"… is everything alright?" Grillby asked more out of confusion than anything else.

"Everything is just fine," Dogamy said happily as he looked up from his phone.

(Ryder is such a sweet name,) Dogaressa cooed as she leaned closer to the phone. (Do you think they'll have a photo up soon?)

Grillby would have asked what she meant by that, but Big Mouth had just walked in and immediately started chatting. Once he was situated Grillby had to head into the kitchen to get the next round of orders cooked. While in there, there were some noises from the dining room, excited chatter maybe? Grillby couldn't really tell from the back, but it didn't sound like anything or anyone broke so he thought it could wait until the orders were finished. Soon he was slipping back out into the dining room with food piled high on plates expertly balanced on his arms.

As he started handing orders out he noticed that everyone seemed to have their phones out now. The dogs were still huddled together on one side of their table, even if they were all looking at their own screens, and were talking in hushed whispers. Lesser kept glancing his way with a strange look on their face. Big Mouth had moved to sit next to Dizzy so he could look at her phone. Grillby watched Fischer move from the bar to go sit with with them, the three talked quietly and occasionally glanced at Grillby. When Grillby brought the ex-newspaper editors and librarian their orders they stopped talking and looked up at him strangely.

"… here are your meals, can I get you anything else?"

"This is… fine? Right?" The librarian looked to the others, who simply nodded. "This is fine, thank you."

Grillby nodded and turned to go check on the other tables. The moment his back was turned the whispers started up again, too quiet for him to make out the words over the rest of his customers eating, drinking, and whispering. It didn't bother Grillby so much, really, it was normal for customers to want to keep their conversations to themselves. It was the way whatever table he approached would stop talking immediately and look up at him strangely whenever he approached. No one was trying to hide their phones, he could probably see what they were talking about if he wanted to invade their personal space and all around be very obvious. But that would be very rude, and he was never one to be rude. Not after it had lost him a good friend and possible...

To calm his nerves Grillby slipped behind the bar and started polishing glasses. Everyone seemed content with their meals at the moment and would surely wave him down if they needed anything, these were his regulars after all. As he polished he watched the scattered groups keep glancing up at him with strange looks on their faces as they continued to talk quietly among themselves.

"Alright, I'm back from my break."

It was almost a profound relief to Grillby when his employee came out from the back. He motioned to the scattered tables and let them do the rounds. His other employee soon came out as well, meaning Grillby was free to finally get his own lunch. He was torn between just slipping into the kitchen and making his own meal and marching up to the nearest table to politely ask what had everyone acting so strangely. It was watching his employee lean over to look at Fischer's phone, then up at Grillby, then back down at the phone that finally decided it for him. Grillby put down the glass he was polishing and pulled out his own phone. Perhaps Mettaton was pulling some sort of stunt again? No, that wouldn't have everyone be so hushed.

The first thing he noticed was several Undernet status update notices. All from Sans. Grillby really should unfollow him, this was getting ridiculous. It was like stalking an ex, only it wasn't even that since they had never actually been a couple. And Sans hadn't been back since the incident with Scarlet so he clearly wanted nothing to do with Grillby any more, not even after Grillby had finally managed to apologize. Still, if this was why everyone was so quiet it would be worth looking at.

Grillby went to Sans's profile and noticed the most recent update: "I JUST CAN'T GET OVER HOW CUTE RYDER IS!" The same name Dogaressa had mentioned earlier, did that mean the baby had been born? As Grillby was about to start scrolling down a new update popped up. This one was a picture of Papyrus holding something in his arms. Grillby tapped the picture to get a better look. It was clearly a baby swaddled so tightly only their round head was visible. Their round head that appeared to be on fire.

Grillby's now ruddy flames barely flickered over his quickly cooling core, his vision going black around the edges. The world tilted dangerously before dropping him on his side on the floor behind his bar. He barely had the time to register distant shouts before the black closed in on him, leaving him out cold.