Had Mabel been in the middle of gulping down a fizzing bottle of her own homemade energy drink, she'd have sprayed it all over Papyrus' dumbstruck face.
A quick, frantic survey of the surrounding buildings made it abundantly clear that they were on the very edge of Snowdin town, meaning anyone who could possibly put a stop to this rolling boulder before it gained too much momentum was either too far away to interfere or too out of the loop to understand why they should. It was like she was standing in front of a television screen, unable to do anything but pound her fists against the glass and scream as the heroes made that inevitable mistake, that one decision, whether it was climbing down into the creepy basement or opening the closet with the banging, growling noises coming from inside, that doomed them all. As Papyrus surged forward to enthusiastically pump Dipper's hand, all she could think was there was a disaster unfolding before her eyes, one where two people who were both very important would be inevitably hurt, and she had no idea how to make it stop.
"I AM TOUCHED, HUMANS, THAT YOU WOULD ASK ME, YOUR COOL FRIEND, TO BE YOUR SPARRING PARTNER. AND AFTER THINKING THIS OVER LONG AND HARD," for a whole five seconds, "I CAN SAY WITH THE UTMOST SINCERITY THAT I GLADLY ACCEPT!" Pure happiness emanated from him in waves as he continued to beam, unintentionally bombarding one of his two new friends with increasing levels of unbearable guilt. He would have given them anything they'd asked for, because he liked them and trusted them and wanted them to like him, too. It wasn't right to take advantage of that. It wasn't right to take advantage of him.
And Dipper, who knew better than anyone how awful it was to have an honest desire to fit in thrown back in his face, should have known that…
He wasn't a bully. He wasn't. He was better than this.
Every time she thought too hard about that, though, it was like she could hear her brother's voice syncing with Flowey's, heard the same poison issuing forth from two mouths, and had to quickly hug herself to conceal a shudder.
Absently, her hands went to grip the thin, somewhat worn scarf she'd worn over the past few hours, seeking its comfort, only to remember with a sudden twist that the red scarf was back with its rightful owner, and the other one, the one that'd been made for her by loving paws to keep her warm... was in the petals of the meanest flower she'd ever met. Knowing him, the creeper was still close by, probably eavesdropping behind a rock or a bush. Idly twirling a finger around a lock of thankfully dry hair, Mabel pondered what would happen if she randomly shouted out that she'd changed her mind and would very much like the scarf back.
In front of her, the boys – her boys wore matching grins, both brimming with excitement and anticipation at the prospect of the upcoming spar, though for entirely different reasons. From the outside, they both looked so elated, and Dipper seemed really, actually happy for the first time in ages. It made her wish she could feel good about this, that she could banish the cold, hard sensation of dread pooling in her stomach and just be happy for their sakes.
There had to be a way to protect them both.
"WHY, WE MUST BEGIN AT ONCE!" Papyrus spun, ready to march from the buildings so as not to disturbed the townspeople with their enthusiastic sparring, a courtesy that sometimes slipped his most frequent and passionate sparring partner's mind. "THE SOONER WE BEGIN YOUR TEACHING, THE MORE YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM MY BOTTOMLESS CRANAL CAVITY… OF KNOWLEDGE!"
More than willing to follow, Dipper shifted to take a step forward, when Mabel's fingers curled around his wrist, bringing him to a sudden halt despite the surprisingly light touch. A little worried, Dipper asked, "What's up, Mabel?"
"Don't do this." She shook her head as though it were heavy, desperation making her eyes bright as lamplights as her grip tightened. "We can't fight him."
"What are you talking about?" He responded, sounding honestly confused. "He said himself that this isn't actually a real fight. It's a spar. I'm doing exactly what you asked me to do. We need to figure out how to get past the monsters without attacking them, right? Fighting Papyrus is the best and fastest path towards that goal. Observing how he fights and thinking of various ways to combat his attacks will benefit us in the long run. I'm sure of it."
"He thinks we want him to be our teacher, Dipper," Mabel replied slowly. There had to be a way to convince him to call it off. "He's really excited about it."
"Well, yeah." Dipper jerked his shoulders in a quick, careless shrug. "He kind of is, actually. I mean, teachers teach things and he's going to be teaching us how to fight so... I can't saying I'm seeing what the problem is."
Gradually loosening her hold on him, Mabel lowered her voice to only slightly above a whisper, "…If that's true, then why are you talking about Papyrus like he's another one of your science experiments?"
The question sliced through his rationalizations with the precision of a razor blade and the delicacy of a chainsaw. Gaping at the unexpectedness of it, he worked his jaw silently, struggling form a credible defense for an act that he hadn't been truly aware of until now, when they noticed Papyrus has poked his head around the corner. "HUMANS? ARE YOU COMING?" He paused, thinking, then added, "OR ARE YOU PERHAPS GETTING COLD FEET?" The pun didn't sound intentional, and neither of the twins were in the mood to draw attention to it, so they let it pass without comment. "BECAUSE IF YOU ARE, THERE IS NO SHAME IN FORFEITING THIS MATCH TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS. YOU CAN ALWAYS ASK AGAIN. NO MATTER THE TIME OR PLACE, I WILL ALWAYS BE UP FOR A CHALLENGE!"
After shooting a brief frustrated and guilty glance at his sister, Dipper assured Papyrus that no one was getting cold feet and, as though to make a point, strode ahead to keep up with the taller skeleton's long legs as he led them to an undeveloped part of Snowdin that led straight into Waterfall. Mabel moved to follow, too, but intentionally dragged her feet to slow the pace.
Shuffle. Stop to stare curiously at a mailbox exploding with letters and the empty one next to it. Shuffle. Direct a searching, pleading glance at the cheerfully lit windows, because if anyone could put a stop to this before it started it was the skeleton supposedly sleeping inside that house.
Stop.
Wait for a miracle...
But nothing happened. The door didn't suddenly swing open, the windows stayed shut. The cavalry wasn't coming.
It looked like she was well and truly on her own this time.
Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle.
If convincing Dipper not to fight didn't work, then maybe she could focus on taking such an excruciating long time to arrive on the sparring grounds that Papyrus would call it off.
Except Papyrus doubled back to pick her up. "DID YOU THINK I WOULD LEAVE YOU BEHIND BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT FAST? DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN. I AM QUITE ACCUSTOMED TO CARRYING AROUND SLOWPOKES."
Mabel squirmed, vehemently protesting that she could walk fine on her own, but if the complete lack of reaction from the skeleton was anything to go by, he'd gone temporarily deaf. Tucking her against his side, he bolted to catch up with Dipper, who had paused to regard the cat-sized blocks of ice he'd spotted floating down the river with an inquisitive quirk of his brow, and was quickly overtaken. "ON YOUR RIGHT!" Papyrus crowed as he streaked past.
It wasn't until they were far enough from Snowdin that only the dim glow of the skeleton's house could be discerned through the fog swirling over the ground that Papyrus set her down, leaving Mabel feeling dizzy and disheveled as she pondered this knew sense of kinship she felt with the luggage in the cargo department of an airplane.
Travel by skeleton, she decided, was rough.
Rows of forest green pines, their boughs dusted with white, on either side, served as a border between the path and the freezing waters beyond. Once Dipper had caught up and Papyrus was certain that he had the full attention of his audience, he strode further ahead, putting some space between them to give his mid-range attacks enough wiggle room to be effective while also giving the twins adequate time to dodge. It was difficult to use bone attacks from up close without doling out serious injury, and injuring your opponent was not the point of a spar.
A spar was a learning experience, a teaching experience. Not a battle to the death.
With that in mind, Papyrus had no trouble deciding which of his many dangerous and formidable attacks to utilize first.
Mabel and Dipper stood side-by-side, tense and ready, in the middle of a fog so thick they had to focus to squint and focus to discern Papyrus' blurry form. It was nerve-wracking, knowing he was going to attack soon when they could barely see their hands in front of their faces. While they were obscured and Papyrus was too distracted by the sound of his own voice as he psyched himself up to notice that the twins weren't paying attention, Mabel grabbed Dipper's hand and squeezed. "We're not going to hurt him," she said. It wasn't a question.
Seeing the determined glint in her narrowed eyes, like she was prepared to stop him if he tried, something raw and miserable passed over him. Things must have been really bad if not even Mabel believed in him, but that was why he needed to do this. "I already said I'm not going to." Hardening his expression, he looked ahead to where Papyrus seemed to finally be readying his first attack. "That's not what this is for."
Up ahead, Papyrus waved. "ARE YOU READY, HUMANS?!" They responded with a pair of stiff, tight nods. "GOOD!"
ready to haul the other out of the way of a barrage of some sort or throw themselves to the side, they waited, holding their breaths, but nothing in the landscape sprawling before them appeared to change. Papyrus flipped his scarf, looking very please with himself as the twins glanced around in confusion. Finally, Dipper noticed the row of thin bones protruding from the ground, each of them no larger than a toothbrush. They edged forward at a steady pace, passing harmlessly between their legs.
Grinding his teeth, Dipper wondered if Papyrus was going easy on them because they were kids. Even if that wasn't the case, an attack this pathetic wasn't going to teach him anything. "Is this the best you can do?!" Maybe a taunt would…
The next round of bones were smaller than the first. A low giggle from next to him was all he needed to hear to know Mabel's feelings on the matter. She nudged one with the tip of her shoe as it passed. "Maybe he's warming up?"
"YOU'VE DONE WELL TO DODGE MY ATTACKS SO FAR, HUMANS! BUT LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!"
Blue attack? No one had ever mentioned anything about a blue attack.
Not knowing what to expect, Mabel and Dipper kept a close watch on the ground, which meant they weren't caught unaware when Papyrus raised his arm and an onslaught of blue bones materialized out of thin air. They rose above the ground, above Papyrus, and then sailed towards the twins in a long arc before plunging into a steep dive.
"DON'T MOVE!" Papyrus hollered. "THIS IS YOUR VERY FIRST LESSON. BLUE ATTACKS CAN ONLY HARM YOU IF YOU MOVE, SO TRY NOT TO DO THAT!" He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "THINK OF SPAGHETTI. YOU STOP WHEN YOU SEE SPAGHETTI, RIGHT? NOW, IMAGINE THE SPAGHETTI IS BLUE!"
Mabel froze, flinching violently as the attack rushed at her arms and legs and face. She squeezed her eyes shut, only to open them a moment later when the explosion of pain never happened. There was a pile of scattered bones behind her, lying harmless with their magic spent. Somehow, they must have passed through her.
Standing close by, Dipper hissed, gingerly rubbing his right bicep with the hand that wasn't still holding onto the stick he'd found back in the puzzles. "I think I twitched or something but…" The grin he flashed her was more of a grimace, but she'd take it. "We know how to defend against blue attacks now."
Before she could respond, a sudden weight in her chest had Mabel pitching forward. She staggered, then collapsed to her knees with a surprised squeak. At first, all she could hear was Dipper shouting her name, then there was a choking, sputtering sound, and he was on the ground, too.
"YOU'RE BLUE NOW!" Papyrus helpfully informed them.
A small bone, similar to the ones they'd scoffed at before, slammed into their knees. The initial pain from the impact zinged up and down their legs, and Mabel cried out, eyes watering. Still, she managed a strained chuckle for the skeleton's sake, something to let him know they were okay. "That's good to hear. I certainly feel blue… but maybe that's because you're so far away?" Her knee throbbed.
Papyrus gasped, sockets widening to the size of golf balls. "W—WHAT?! FLIRTING?! SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR TRUE COLORS!" There was a slight chance that he might have misunderstood something. "CAN YOU MAKE SPAGHETTI, HUMAN?"
Mabel pondered that. She'd only recently started using the stove at home, and that was only under adult supervision. So far, she could make a mean omelet, but surely all anyone needed to cook pasta were the directions on the side of the box. How hard could it be? "I'm not sure, but I'd really like to try!" It took a colossal effort to get back on her feet, but she managed it. Then she grabbed Dipper by the arm and hauled him off the ground. "You really need to lay off the deserts, bro bro." She huffed. "You're starting to get really heavy."
Dipper grunted as he found his footing. "Hey, Papyrus, would you mind explaining that last attack a little?" He did his best to keep his tone civil, but it was a little difficult to keep a lid on all his built up stress when there was a bowling ball sitting behind his ribcage.
Unfortunately, and to his eternal consternation, Papyrus was too caught up in his imaginary romance to listen. "AH! HUMAN, YOU MUST BE DETERMINED TO MEET MY STANDARDS. I WILL REPAY YOUR AFFECTIONS SEVENFOLD. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD GLADLY GO ON A DATE WITH YOU!"
Stunned by the announcement, Mabel's positivity stuttered. "Um, you mean like a play date?" Papyrus clasped his hands, joyfully shaking his head. "A shopping date?"
Rejected. "NOPE."
Forgetting about the fight entirely, Mabel began to fret as any and all attempts to think of a way to decline Papyrus' date without hurting his feelings turned up nothing but buzzing white noise.
Unsure of what to do and, regardless of recent events, still very much in the habit of looking to him for answers, she turned to Dipper, who took one look at her and let out a resigned sigh. "I told you not to flirt with him." Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Try not to get too carried away just yet, Papyrus! We haven't finished our spar!" Acting on impulse, he threw the stick in his hand as far as he could, then gawked in amazement as Papyrus sprinted to catch it in his mouth.
Impressed, Mabel clapped.
"YOU ARE VERY RIGHT," Papyrus admitted after politely returning the stick, "THE DATE MUST BE SAVED FOR LATER." Dipper watched, wary, as he returned to his former position. Any second now and the next attack would commence, yet he still had no idea how to go about defeating him.
Okay, so maybe that wasn't entirely true. There was a surefire method of defeating him, a relatively simple one, but since it wasn't an option, it might as well have not existed.
Bones thick as Dipper's arm and as high as his hip came rushing through the snow at an increased speed as more projectiles rained down on the twins from above.
Ugh. What had possessed him into thinking this was a good idea?
"It's occurring to me," he paused, finding it difficult to speak and dodge at the same time, especially now that his limbs felt heavier than usual. It was throwing him off, making him overestimate his speed, "that I may have made a mistake here."
A small bone shot towards his ankle with the velocity of a ballistic missile. He attempted to jump over it, miscalculated, and landed flat on his face. If it weren't for the bone bullets zipping towards his head, he might have just stayed like that. Instead, he scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could manage without overbalancing himself.
"That's what I've been saying!" Mabel shouted, hopping over what looked like an average humerus. "Do you have any idea how many sweaters I am going to stress knit make we get home because of this, Dipper Pines?!"
Glistening, polished bones about the height of a track hurdle were prominent in the next wave. After seeing Mabel successfully clear hers, Dipper tried jumping over the top, only to catch his foot on the tip and fall face first in the snow again. This time, Mabel grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hauled him out of the way.
Spitting out a mouthful of slush, Dipper asked of Papyrus, "Has he shown any signs of slowing down? Anything?"
She frowned, trying to remember if he'd shown any signs of stopping. She wasn't worried about Dipper, anymore. Not really. If he'd been planning to hurt the precious skeleton man, he'd have done it, already. "I'm pretty sure he's been dabbing either cologne or tomato sauce on his skull, but that's the only change I've noticed so far."
"YOU ARE DOING WELL, HUMANS!" Papyrus called, momentarily allowing his bones to float aimlessly, still coated in their billowing cerulean auras. "KEEP THIS UP AND I WILL BE FORCED TO SHOW YOU MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"
Groaning at the sheer relentlessness of Papyrus' positive attitude as he strained against the blue magic weighing him down to rise out of his crouch, Dipper grumbled, "I honestly can't tell if this guy is patronizing us or not." A stray bone darted through the snow to slam against his shin. "Ow!"
After watching wordlessly as he examined what was sure to become a very impressive bruise, Mabel asked seriously, "Want to call it off?"
Honestly? No. He didn't. This wasn't just about learning how to fight monsters, anymore. This was personal. Papyrus was so much stronger than he'd given him credit for, but quitting now, after he'd asked for his help in the first place, would be an insult. It would mean he'd only asked Papyrus to fight them because he'd thought he was too goofy to pose any serious threat, which admittedly wasn't all that far from the truth, but Papyrus didn't have to know that. He'd done nothing to deserve it. "Let's keep going."
A closely knit series of graduated bones sprang from the ground, most of them too high to jump over. Mabel leapt onto the smallest, then used the added height to climb onto the next, hopping from on to the other like she was skipping up the stairs. Glancing over her shoulder, she called to her brother, "Well? Come on!"
Doing his best to imitate her, Dipper jumped onto the first bone, wobbled, then leapt onto the next. Not even breathing hard, Mabel clambered over the top, then bounded down the remaining bones with the effortlessness of a dancer. As for Dipper, it wouldn't have been quite as difficult to keep his footing if the bones weren't constantly moving back and forth, but he managed it, somehow.
The next few waves were similar to that one, with the occasional blue attack thrown in. Sometimes, the twins found themselves forced to duck and jump at the same time, which rarely ended well.
Eventually, Dipper realized that there was always a gap in the drove, a space they could safely run or jump to in order to avoid getting any more bruises, but the gap changed at a rapid pace, and was rarely located in the same place twice. He started shouting out directions for Mabel, then decided that was taking too much time and pulled her with him. After a few consecutive rounds where no contact was made and the twins refused to fight, Papyrus readied his special attack.
The fog trembled as an indistinct form materialized within it, floating near Papyrus' head. It opened a maw full of crackling cyan energy. The hair on Dipper's neck stood on end, and Mabel tried to tear her gaze away from it but the creature was as arresting and transfixing as it was terrifying… and then Papyrus shooed it away. It rumbled grumpily, nudging its snout against his skull, but was firmly lectured and fussed at until it finally, and with no small measure of reluctance, allowed itself to be dissolved.
Chuckling sheepishly with a gloved hand bracing the back of his skull, Papyrus said a little breathlessly, "SORRY ABOUT THAT, HUMANS! NOW, FOR MY REAL SPECIAL ATTACK!"
Cackling under his breath, Papyrus struck an impressive pose.
The twins shared a nervous glance. They weren't sure how Papyrus' attacks could possibly get any worse, their muscles were already protesting due to the toll the increased gravity demanded of their bodies, and they weren't keen on finding out.
A little ruffled by the news, Mabel inquired dryly, "Still think this was a good idea, Dipper?"
"I already said I didn't, didn't I?!"
The wait stretched to a ridiculous point before Papyrus realized with a shocked exclamation of displeasure that a little white dog was gnawing on his special attack. Dipper breathed a long sigh of relief as Papyrus furiously chided the dog for its misbehavior. Its eyes bugging out of its head, the dog gradually inched away, then broke out into a full four-legged sprint, taking Papyrus' special attack with it.
He stamped his foot, frustrated. "OH WELL. I'LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK." He sighed, clearly disappointed. "HERE'S AN ABSOLUTELY NORMAL ATTACK."
The bone bullets rained down from all sides, forcing Mabel and Dipper to run with their arms shielding their heads. The attacks fluctuated, changing height and speed and making it infinitely harder to judge when the best and safest time to dodge was. One of them caught Mabel's leg mid-jump, resulting in her slamming against the ground on her side. She frantically twisted out of the way before a bone could skewer her torso, and then Dipper was there, pulling her back to her feet. "Papyrus! Please, man, I changed my mind! This is too dangerous!" The skeleton didn't reply, his sockets were closed as he focused his will and magic into manipulating the bones to form the image he'd painted in his mind.
The little white dog ran past, still contentedly munching on Papyrus' special attack, and then a long string of magically floating bones came charging towards them. Even while fearing for his life, Dipper realized that the pattern of the attack wasn't random, and took the time to read aloud as he scaled the first letter of: COOL DUDE.
Shaking his head in amused disbelief, Dipper shouted to Mabel what the words were over the sound of rattling bones. She laughed, exhilarated and fierce as she ran across the second word and jumped down, then sidestepped to avoid the large bone riding by on its skateboard.
On the final letter, Dipper slipped, his legs flailing as he tried to find the ground. Mabel rushed back to grip him by the waist and help him down.
For a moment, there was nothing, and they thought it was over. They'd endured. They'd lasted an entire fight and without hurting anyone!
Then a forest of bones sprang forth from the Earth, every one of them them too high to jump over and too closely packed to climb.
It was going to crush them.
Before they could do more than open their mouths to scream, a soft blue enveloped the kids, lifting them up and over the endless sea of bones. It was an incredible feeling of weightlessness that they'd never experienced before, and they kept soaring higher!
Dipper let out an exhilarated whoop, then yelped as the blue magic seemingly faltered, dipping him closer to the bones below, only to lift him up high again before any damage could be done. The process was repeated several times, drawing out panicked squawks from Dipper with each new drop, as Mabel struggled to retain a straight face. Funny as it would have been to see him pranked under normal circumstances, it didn't feel right to laugh when he was already scared out of his wits. Plus, it wasn't her doing the pranking, and if it wasn't her scaring her brother, then it was someone who didn't really know him or anything about him. Next time Dipper started to drop, she aimed a broad and disapproving scowl at the tree line.
Gradually, the fluctuations in his flight path evened out.
At the end of the bone forest was a massive bone the size of a building, too large for even a dinosaur, and the twins craned their necks, struggling to see the top, which was obscured by a cloud hovering beneath the cavern's ceiling. The blue magic rapidly raised them up, allowing safe passage over the very top, and then they came rushing back down, screaming as their stomachs flipped and the wind whipped at their hair and clothes.
It vanished when they about a foot off the ground, letting them drop unceremoniously in the thoroughly marked snow.
With one final, tiny bone crawling towards them, the twins pulled themselves off the ground, dusted themselves off, and effortlessly stepped over it.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" Papyrus said, panting with exhaustion. "YOU'VE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED YOUR FIRST SPAR." He'd obviously exerted himself, but Dipper failed to see how. Did standing still while his bone attacks did all the work really take so much out of him?
The textbooks in the library had said that the physical forms of monsters were made of magic, so when a monster used a magical attack… it drained their stamina. Maybe it wasn't life threatening, but using magical attacks, especially the more powerful ones, definitely weakened them.
That was it! All he and Mabel had to do was keep dodging until the monsters wore themselves out, and they'd be home free in no time!
"SINCE YOU'VE COMPLETED YOUR TRAINING, I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE." Papyrus told them to keep moving forward until they reached the end of the cavern, and then once they got to the Capitol, cross the barrier.
At his side, Mabel stiffened, glancing anxiously between him and Papyrus, but Dipper was too focused on what he was hearing to pay her any attention. "THE BARRIER IS THE SEAL THAT'S KEEPING US HERE. ONLY SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL CAN PASS THROUGH IT… SOMEONE LIKE YOU TWO! THAT'S WHY THE KING-"
"Papyrus!" Mabel interrupted with an earsplitting, high pitched shout, running to stand directly in front of the skeleton. "Let's date!"
Dipper's brow furrowed with confusion. Hadn't she originally been against dating Papyrus?
"OH. RIGHT NOW, HUMAN? WOULDN'T YOU RATHER TAKE SOME TIME TO REST? A SPAR CAN BE VERY STRENUOUS... NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT... NYEH."
"Absolutely not! I am 100% good to go." She spun around sharply to march back to Snowdin and tripped over her own feet. Reacting quickly, Papyrus grabbed onto the back of her sweater to keep her from falling. With a feeble chuckle, Mabel peered over her shoulder to say, "See? You've really got me falling for you!"
Clicking his teeth, Papyrus lengthened his strides as the skeleton's home came into view. "I AM BEGINNING TO HAVE SOME DOUBTS ABOUT THIS BUDDING RELATIONSHIP."
Somehow, hearing that actually helped Mabel feel better about going on the date. Realizing that Papyrus wasn't so much deeply in love with as, well, a little lonely, she gave his ribcage a playful nudge with her knuckles. "Okay. But let's have a date before we break up."
"OF COURSE! HOW COULD I DENY SUCH ARDENT FEELINGS?"
Behind them, Dipper trudged, dragging his limbs because all the physical exertion required to survive Papyrus' spar had left his legs feeling loose and wobbly. His body also felt strangely light now that the blue magic was no longer weighing him down, like he was going to float away if he didn't stay focused on putting one foot in front of the other. "Hey, Papyrus," he huffed. "What you were saying before about the king, do you think you could tell us more about him?"
"OH! KING ASGORE? HE'S A GIANT PUSHOVER. I'M SURE HE'LL HELP YOU LEAVE THE BARRIER ONCE YOU GET TO THE CAPITOL."
"And that's it?" Dipper stopped walking. "Are you sure?"
Humming to himself an offbeat tune, Papyrus rolled the question over. "PRETTY SURE. THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEVER FORGETS THE THINGS HE'S FORGOTTEN."
To Dipper's utter mortification, Papyrus noticed he was no longer keeping up and doubled back to scoop him up, too, deftly tucking him under his free arm. Despite being in the exact same situation herself, Mabel tilted her head to the side and snickered behind a hand. "You've got to be the grumpiest sack of potatoes ever, Dip." The look he shot her was so aggrieved, the frown that pulled at the corners of his mouth so pronounced, that it looked dangerously close to falling right off his face.
For some reason, seeing it made her want to laugh, sing, dance, and twirl around in circles until the world started to spin and she had to sit down. And some of that must have shown because the frown gradually faded, shifting into a small, uncertain smile. While Papyrus was busy attempting to open the wreathed door to his home with his arms full of small humans, Mabel made a grab for Dipper's hand. He didn't pull away, just looked confused for a moment, before accepting that his hand had been captured with an accepting shrug.
The door swung open after Papyrus decided to try turning the knob with his boot, a blast of warm air came rushing out, and then they were inside the skeleton's humble abode. Papyrus set them down on the carpet with the plum purple and greenish-blue zigzags, giving them free rein.
There was a scarlet-covered quantum physics book on a round side table that immediately drew Dipper's attention, while Mabel examined the tower of sticky notes. The subject of each seemed to be the pair of dirty socks lying on the floor. After reading through each of the notes, and then, after stopping shortly to give the rock covered in sprinkles a quick pet, Mabel said, "Papyrus, I have a great idea for our date!"
He was still standing by the door. "WOWIE. AND HERE I THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING FOR US TO DO." He followed her gaze, suddenly wary. "THIS 'IDEA' DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SOCKS, DOES IT?"
"Unless you'd like to keep this stack of sticky pads around as a conversation piece, yes. Yes, it does." She gathered up the socks up in her arms, then turned to see Dipper still flipping through the quantum physics book, mumbling something about infinitely smaller joke books. "Hey, bro bro, I'm gonna go up and start my date with Papyrus. Want to join in, get in on a slice of all the fun we'll be having?"
"Actually, I think I'm going to explore a little more." He gave a distracted wave of his hand before finally closing the book with an air of defeat. "Have a good time."
"Oh. Okay." It was fine. Dipper didn't like arts and crafts, anyway. And he was… he seemed to be doing okay. If he'd asked to explore immediately after the explosion in the library, nothing would have convinced her to let him out of her sight, but they'd sparred with Papyrus, and things had turned out okay. Maybe some time to himself would be good for him.
Nodding quickly in an attempt to hide her initial hesitation, Mabel agreed to meet up with him later, and then followed Papyrus up the stairs, where she immediately took notice of the heatless flames billowing out from under the door farther down the balcony.
Papyrus caught her gawking at them. "MY BROTHER LIKES TO EXPERIMENT. I DO NOT OFTEN GO INTO HIS ROOM, SO I CANNOT TELL YOU WHAT HE MIGHT BE DOING IN THERE, BUT I CAN TELL YOU WHAT HE'S MOST DEFINITELY NOT DOING." Mabel waited for him to finish, expecting another tirade about how Sans wasn't putting enough effort into, well, anything. "NAPPING!" Though his hand was poised to at the doorknob, the concern evident in the nervous shifting of his sockets suggested that what he really wanted to do was enter the room across the hall. "THAT FOOLISH BROTHER OF MINE HARDLY EVER DOES ANYTHING, YET, SOMEHOW, HIS MAGIC WAS SIGNIFICANTLY DEPLETED BY THE TIME WE RETURNED TO SNOWDIN…" The memory of that discovery alone still upset him. "THAT SORT OF DRAIN ON A MONSTER'S MAGIC RESERVES DOESN'T HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT, BUT HE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT."
Downstairs, the front door slammed closed. Mabel leaned against the skeleton, finding him unexpectedly comfortable even after having already been ferried around by him once or twice.
"Our crazy brothers sure are a lot of work, aren't they?"
"THAT'S WHY THEY'RE SO LUCKY TO HAVE SIBLINGS LIKE US." He cackled. "WHO ELSE COULD POSSIBLY PUT UP WITH THEIR SHENANIGANS THE WAY WE DO?"
