"Sans! Have you brought the human?" Sans' brother stood, waiting for them, on the porch of their house. They had a nice, large-sized house. At least, compared to the human houses underground. This was probably average sized for houses in the surface. They decorated for Christmas with the colorful lights strewn on their windows and roof, similar to all the other houses in Snowdin. A flag fluttering in the wind from the very top of the roof caught her attention. It had a skull and bone design on it. She didn't know what it was supposed to mean. Must be a skeleton thing.
"yeah, bro."
The appearance of the new skeleton had caught off her guard mainly because of the size difference. From where she stood, she could tell Sans would only make it to his brother's shoulder. The next characteristic she noticed about him really made her breath catch in her throat. He dressed like he was part of the royal guard. He wore official looking silver armor and a red cloak that billowed majestically around him. The clasp on his cloak had a marking engraved in the metal that she recognized as the monster kingdom's emblem. The Delta Rune. The same symbol as on her locket.
"Is that the human?" The skeleton leaped down the steps of the porch and walked to stand in front of them. Frisk stiffened when he looked down at her. Flowey hadn't warned her Sans' brother was part of the royal guard.
The flower rested on her back with perfect tranquility. She remembered what he had said about the skeleton earlier. His worries were directed towards Sans, for whatever reason, not the royal guard skeleton. She shouldn't worry unless Flowey was worrying, and, even then, she'd have gauge the situation for herself instead of fully trusting her worry-wart flower companion.
"no, bro, i'm pretty sure it's a rock."
Frisk's shoulders relaxed. She glanced over at Sans and then up at the other skeleton who now looked extremely annoyed. She pressed a gloved hand against her lips and tried to keep her laughter in. She acted like she hated the puns Sans had spouted out earlier, but she enjoyed sarcasm most of the time. Her sibling, Chara, had been a master of sarcasm.
"NO ONE LIKES YOUR SARCASM, SANS!" The skeleton crossed his arms.
"the rock's giggling."
This just made Frisk laugh harder. "Sorry," she squeaked.
"ARE THEY A HUMAN?" Papyrus asked again. "I believe their SOUL says they are a human, but I can't tell for sure because of how bundled they are."
"I am the human," Frisk replied. "My name's Frisk. And this is Flowey."
"Thank you for answering, human! I wouldn't have gotten a straight answer from my brother." The skeleton held out his hand. "IT IS VERY NICE TO MEET YOU FRISK AND FLOWEY. MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, LIEUTENANT OF THE ROYAL GUARD."
Frisk's hand stayed by her side. She took a step backwards. The meaning of the word lieutenant went over her head, but she understood royal guard. She understood it all too well.
"Oh…" Papyrus dropped his hand. He took a couple steps backwards to give her space. "Don't be afraid! I don't capture humans. I leave that awful job to my boss."
"You don't?"
"No. I pity you humans. Stuck down there belowground." Papyrus gave her a pitying glance. He actually reached forward and patted her on the head. "I believe you should be able to experience the surface before you are captured. And there is none better than me to give you a tour!"
Now, Frisk understood why Flowey hadn't been worried about Papyrus. He had an incredibly different stance from the average member of the royal guard. "And your boss is fine with that?" She had trouble believing Papyrus could have a fancy title in the royal guard and be allowed to do what he wanted.
"Oh, yes! I do everything else she tells me, and I do it very greatly."
"What else is it that you do?" Frisk asked. She knew human hunting couldn't be all the royal guard did up here. They only had to deal with one human child a year. Capturing humans was an extremely small fraction of what they did, but she didn't know what else they would do. There were people who kept peace down in the underground, and their responsibilities were very few. With the fear looming that you could die at any moment, humans made sure to follow the rules. Sure, there were the people who stole and sometimes broke the rules, but no one bothered with them. Not even the people hired to deal with them. A lot went 'unnoticed' in the underground. People had trouble caring about matters that didn't concern them, and the officers were usually busy helping townspeople who were stuck in a collapsed tunnel or hurt in some other disaster.
Papyrus seemed pleased at being asked about his work. He answered her question right away. "I am stationed here in Snowdin, so I help out wherever I'm needed in town. I fend off wild animals who attack the village, stop criminals and shady travelers, answer the townspeople's calls for help, and supervise the sentries and guards also stationed here."
Sans jabbed his thumb towards Papyrus. "yep, so technically i'm supposed to call him boss."
Papyrus frowned. "But you never do."
"nope, bro."
Papyrus sighed. He pushed his brother away and turned back to Frisk. "I have an abundance of responsibilities!" he continued. "I also attend meetings with the captain, my boss."
"It sounds like you're busy!"
"Yes, I'm very busy!" Papyrus puffed out his chest. "Someone must work hard, though. Sans over there just bonedoggles and lazes about!"
"hey, i do work. i work a skele-ton."
"SANS! NO!" Papyrus glared at his brother.
"Stop!" Frisk waved her arms in his direction.
"Shut up!" Flowey smacked his forehead with his vine.
"none of you have a funny bone." Sans sighed in mock disappointment.
"BROTHER! WE WANT THE HUMAN'S MOMENTS ON THE SURFACE TO BE GOOD ONES. STOP IT WITH YOUR RIDICULOUS PUNS!"
"you're smiling," Sans noted.
Papyrus stomped his foot. "I KNOW, AND I HATE IT!"
Frisk and Flowey shared a glance, both smiling with amusement and thinking about the similar moment they had shared at the inn. "You want to deny that you're my brother and friend now?" Frisk whispered.
Flowey didn't stop smiling, but he nodded his head. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I haven't even acknowledged you as a friend. I'm not your brother. No matter how much I hate your puns."
Papyrus began speaking with Frisk again. "I am very sorry about my brother. Alas, you get used to his tomfoolery." He clapped his hands together. "But I should give you a tour of the town before it's too late!"
"Okay!" Frisk looked forward to a tour. She wanted to see as much of the monster village as she could before they left for the kingdom tomorrow.
"First, I must ask… Are you comfortable? You're all bundled up. Some of the other humans didn't do well in this weather."
"No, I feel fine," Frisk replied. She touched her hood and scarf. "I was just trying to hide that I was a human at first."
"Oh…! Well, I suppose that… It was a valiant effort!"
"I didn't know that the news I was human would pass around so quickly. I hadn't expected anyone to notice I was human at all. Someone, won't say any names, but someone told me they wouldn't. Multiple times," Frisk explained.
"I didn't say that! I said only an observant monster would notice your SOUL, and then I said how most monsters weren't observant, but still…"
Frisk patted Flowey's petals. "I should probably stop trying to hide it. It seems pointless now." They all knew who she was. She took off her scarf and let her hood drop. The skeletons stared at her.
"She's younger than I thought she would be," Papyrus whispered. His whisper wasn't very quiet. Frisk could still hear him. He didn't seem to have much a range in volume. He switched from loud to louder.
"the others were young," Sans replied. He didn't bother trying to whisper.
"She looks very young!"
"I'm actually eleven," Frisk said. "So, you know, not very young."
"WOWIE! YOU'RE ELEVEN!" Papyrus' eye sockets became big and round. "Eleven… That's still pretty young." Papyrus went back to his 'whisper' voice. "Briana was twelve, Dike was fourteen, Emilio was sixteen."
"what about that one kid with the pigtails? she was young."
"Oh, yes. She was eleven too." Papyrus clasped his hands together. He gave Frisk another look that could only be described as sorrowful and concerned. "Hopefully… the captain will…"
"why don't you start the tour?" Sans asked. "you were excited about that."
Papyrus straightened. "YES! THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA. LET'S GO, HUMAN. I WILL TAKE YOU TO THE HILL FIRST." He walked off without waiting for the others. Frisk had to walk faster than she normally would to keep up with his long strides. Sans ambled behind them, unconcerned about keeping up with them.
"What's the Hill?" Frisk asked.
"It's the place where we go sledding," Papyrus replied.
"What is sledding exactly?" Frisk kept hearing people mention sledding, but she had no idea what it was. "Is it fun? Is sledding all you do on the Hill?"
"You have a lot of questions, human!" Papyrus commented. "I'll show you! We'll be there very soon!"
Frisk hadn't even scratched the surface of all the questions she wanted to ask, but she kept them in.
As they walked, she could feel Flowey drooping and shivering on her back. Frisk pulled the scarf off from around her neck. She ripped a strand off.
"What are you doing?" Flowey asked.
She grabbed Flowey and tied the scarf around him. "You need some way to stay warm. I don't know if this will work, but it's worth a shot!"
Flowey picked up an end of the scarf with one of his vines. "Oh… Well… thanks, I guess."
"No clever spat?" Frisk asked.
"I don't need your stupid scarf, but thanks anyway. I think I'll keep it." Flowey rolled his eyes and smiled at her.
"Yep, that sounds more like you," Frisk giggled.
Papyrus stopped her a couple more minutes later. "We're here, human!" he announced. He swept his arm forward.
The Hill turned out to be a tall snowy hill located in the outskirts of town. Sledding was a thing when monsters got onto these flat objects and went whizzing down the hill. Some of the monsters went down so fast, Frisk could only see blurs as they flew by. She felt her stomach churn watching them. "That's sledding?" she asked, pointing at the monsters just to be sure.
"Yes! It is very fun!" Papyrus began to climb up a path taking them to the top of the hill. Sans followed. Frisk shuffled after them.
"We're not going to do it… are we…?" Frisk tugged at the ends of her ponytail.
"We are! There are sleds we can use at the top of the hill, so don't worry about not having one yourself."
"Are you scared?" Flowey taunted.
"No…" The monsters who leaped onto those sleds and went down at rocket speed looked like they were having fun. She could hear their laughter from here. Sledding couldn't be that bad… Or she could be the odd one out and it could be awful.
Papyrus grabbed a sled when they reached the top. He set it down on the ground. "OKAY, HUMAN. THERE ARE A FEW RULES WHEN SLEDDING. LISTEN CLOSELY."
"Okay!" Frisk stood straight. The commanding voice in Papyrus tone made her feel like she was a soldier about to take orders from her higher-ranking officer.
"FIRST, YOU MUST ALLOW ME AND SANS TO CLIMB ON BEFORE YOU SINCE YOU'RE SMALLER. NEXT, YOU MUST STAY ON THE SLED WHEN GOING DOWN."
"Is there a chance I'll fall off?" Frisk's eyes widened.
"Scared," Flowey whispered.
"NO, OF COURSE NOT. I WILL KEEP YOU SAFE, HUMAN! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR!" Papyrus reassured. "LAST, WHEN IT'S SAFE TO STOP, MAKE SURE NOT TO GET IN FRONT OF ANY OTHER SLEDS. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE RUN OVER."
"Does that happen often?!" Frisk screeched.
Flowey cackled.
"WELL… YES… BUT ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION." Papyrus glared over at his brother. "OR PEOPLE WHO DECIDE THEY WANT TO TAKE A NAP ON THEIR SLED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HILL!"
Sans shrugged. "yep, i'm guilty of that. it was just-"
Papyrus slammed his hand over his brother's teeth.
"you know i can still talk, right?"
"NO PUNS. WE'RE GETTING ON THE SLED NOW." Papyrus shoved his brother towards the sled. He climbed on first. Sans sat down in front of Papyrus and leaned against his brother. "YOU MAY GET ON, HUMAN FRISK."
Frisk watched when a small bear monster ran with his sled towards the steep part of the Hill. He held his sled in front of his body and then jumped with the sled. The snow flew around him when he landed. He shrieked with laughter. She still couldn't get over how fast they went down the Hill. Frisk sat down in front of Sans. She tensed when she saw the drop up close. "Are you sure this is safe?" she asked, panic finally entered her voice.
"Yes, of course. It is perfectly safe, especially since you are with me!"
"I really won't fall off?"
"Sans and I will make sure you don't fall off." Papyrus kneed his brother.
"course not."
"Of course you will make sure I don't fall off or of course you won't make sure I don't fall off?" Frisk looked up at the shorter skeleton with worried eyes. She reached out and clenched onto his arm. Some of the other children were falling off the sleds. A couple times, an incoming sled ran into them before they could get back up. They laughed and got up, but she didn't want to follow their example.
Sans chuckled. "it's fine. chill."
"SANS! THAT WAS A PUN, WASN'T IT?"
Frisk could forgive him for his pun. She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax like how Sans and Papyrus were doing. They were experienced sledders. If they were calm, she had no reason to be panicking and worrying about dying. Flowey managed to pry himself out of her arms. He wrapped a vine around her wrist and settled himself on the small patch of unoccupied space in the sled.
"Are you ready, Human Frisk?" Papyrus asked. He rested his hands in the snow.
"Yes…"
Papyrus gave their sled one good push and then wrapped one arm around Sans and grabbed onto the handle of the sled with the other. The sled tilted downwards.
"No!" Frisk shouted just as gravity took charge and their sled went flying down the Hill. She screamed and slammed her eyelids shut. The hand around Sans' arm tightened into a vise grip. She was going to die! Death by sledding would be what the orphans put on her grave… Actually, they wouldn't get to put anything on her grave, since they would have no idea how she died! Maybe Papyrus and Sans would be kind enough to sneak them a letter into one of the shipments of empty jars for determination.
They hadn't gone very far down before her eyes peeked open. She could hear Flowey laughing gleefully. She had never heard him laugh out of sheer joy. If Flowey could find enjoyment out of this, and she couldn't… There would be something seriously wrong with the world.
A small smile appeared on her face soon after. The wind whipped loose strands of hair around her face and bit at her cheeks. She liked how the frigid cold pricked at her skin. Snow sprayed around them. She joined in with Flowey's laughter. This was unlike anything she had done in the underground. She had never moved this fast in her life. She loved how the exhilaration of the speed made her feel. The world was a blur around them. They hit a bump in the hill and were bounced up into the air for a minute. She felt a hand grasp onto the back of her coat, but the thought of falling off had been pushed into the back of her mind. She enjoyed the ride too much to be worried.
The sled ride ended much too fast in her opinion.
Papyrus got out of the sled as soon as they stopped moving at the bottom. He held out his hand to Frisk. She scooped Flowey into her arms before she accepted the skeleton's hand and allowed him to pull her up and out of the sled. Papyrus grabbed the sled once Sans had gotten off. They scurried towards the safe zone area where they wouldn't be hit by the other sledders.
"Did you enjoy the sled ride?" Papyrus asked.
"Yes! It was amazing!"
"Would you and Flowey like to do it again?"
Frisk and Flowey shared a glance before giving their unanimous answer. "Yes!"
The sledding lasted until Frisk saw a group of kids to the side of the hill and it's sledders building something out of the snow. The kids rolled a ball of snow on the ground. The ball grew bigger and bigger until they stopped and started a new one. The new ball of snow was made smaller than the first. They picked it up and placed it on top of the first one.
"What are they doing?" Frisk asked.
"They are building a snowman!" Papyrus replied.
"What is that?" The kids rolled out another ball of snow. They placed it on the very top. "A man made out of snow?"
"Exactly! I make wonderful snowmen if you would like to see! We can build one together!"
"Sure, I want to try it out," Frisk said. The snowman the kids were making started to look more like a person. They found some sticks and stuck it in the sides for arms. They were now working on pressing rocks into the face for eyes and a mouth. Building a snowman looked simple enough.
"We will be on a team then, Frisk, since you are new to this. Sans can build one himself." Papyrus looked over at his brother who had plopped himself down in the snow.
"sure." Sans swept some snow towards him and began to make a pile in front of him.
"Okay! The first thing we need to do is make the different parts of the snowman. I will make the bottom and you can make the middle. Does Flowey want to make the head?"
Flowey didn't waste any time to answer. "No."
"C'mon, Flowey. It'll be fun," Frisk said.
"N…ugh…Fine…" Flowey hopped off her back. He awkwardly formed a small ball of snow with his vines and began to push it around.
"Did you see how Flowey did it?" Papyrus asked. "To make the body, you will need to gather some snow and form it into a ball." Papyrus swooped over and grabbed a handful of snow. He compacted it into a small ball. Frisk quickly moved to copy him. "And then you will roll it until it is a size you are happy with. You are making the body, so it should be a little smaller than mine."
"Okay. I understand." Frisk crouched down and set her small snowball down into the snow. She pushed it in a large circle. She kept a close eye on Papyrus' progress. She didn't want to accidently make her ball of snow bigger than his. She rolled her ball to his when he beckoned her over. She watched him lift her snowball onto his. Flowey rolled his ball of snow over to her and allowed her to put that one on the top. She took great care to make sure she positioned it on right, and she held it in place when Papyrus packed snow into the foundation to make sure their snowman didn't tumble to the ground.
"Do I look for sticks now?" Frisk asked.
"Yes, and I will look for rocks for the nose, eyes and mouth!"
Frisk found her two sticks underneath a cluster of the trees with prickly leaves.
She raced back to Papyrus and pushed the sticks into the sides of their snowman like he directed. Flowey finished up the details on the face, and the trio stepped back to survey their work.
"It is an excellent snowman!" Papyrus said. "Normally, I would make mine in the shape of a skeleton, but I thought you would like a more traditional snowman."
"I think he's great!" Frisk grinned at the snowman. He smiled back at her. Flowey had given him a smile instead of a frown like he had wanted to. "And it was fun to build!" She could imagine how excited the orphans would be at the snow and all the fun activities they could do in it.
"Yeah, it wasn't bad," Flowey begrudgingly chimed in.
"How did you do, brother?" Papyrus turned to see Sans progress. His eye sockets flattened when he saw. Sans stood up and let Frisk and Flowey see his… attempt at making a snowman. Frisk and Flowey both snorted. He had just made a pile of snow.
"That… THAT IS A SNOW POFF!" Papyrus stomped his foot on the ground. "SANS! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A SNOWMAN."
"i think it's one of my better ones."
Papyrus sighed. "Fine, it is one of your better ones. At least this one is more rounded."
"yeah, and y'know what it's good for?" Sans picked up the snow poff from the ground. He squeezed it in his hands.
"What?" Sans' snow poff smacked right into Papyrus' shoulder. "UGH! SANS! NO! YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO THROW YOUR SNOW POFF AT OTHERS."
The shorter skeleton only laughed. Papyrus smiled and bent down to grab a handful of snow. He tossed it at his brother. Sans stepped to the side with ease, and Papyrus' snow poff missed him and plopped onto the ground. "THAT'S NO FAIR!"
Sans shrugged. "did you think i was just going to stand there and take it?"
"What are you doing?" Frisk asked.
"It's called a snowball fight," Flowey replied. His vines wrapped around her shoulders. He hid behind her back, making it clear he didn't want any part of this fight the brothers had started.
"Why are you fighting? Isn't that dangerous?"
"No, it's just a game, Frisk! No one is hurt…" Papyrus glanced to the side. "Most of the time. There are accidents sometimes…"
A snowball went soaring into Frisk's direction. The cold snow smacked into her face, causing tingles to erupt onto her skin. Snow went into her mouth and up her nose. She spat the snow out and exhaled sharply with her burning nose. She heard Sans chuckle nervously when she wiped the snow from her eyes.
"SANS! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SHOW FRISK THE ACCIDENTS!"
"sorry, kid."
Frisk felt a vine trail down her back to reach the snow, and she knew what Flowey planned to do. She kept a pleasant smile on her face. She wouldn't give away his scheme. "It's fine, Sans." A snowball was set into the hand she had eased behind her back. "Cause I'm going to get you back!" In a swift movement, she tossed the snowball at Sans. He attempted to dodge, but her snowball still hit his arm.
"GOOD ONE, HUMAN FRISK!" Papyrus cheered. "IT'S SO HARD TO GET SANS."
"heheh, yeah, good job, kid." Sans brushed the snow off his jacket. He grinned at her. "but there's plenty of snow left."
After the snowball fight, Papyrus showed Frisk around the town. They saw the various shops and the librarby, as the monsters in Snowdin called it because of a misspelled sign. The last stop of the tour was Grillby's Restaurant and Bar, where Frisk and the rest sat in a booth.
"I was impressed with the skill you displayed for your first snowball fight, Frisk! You did an amazing job!" Papyrus said. The group still laughed and talked over the fight while they waited for their drinks. Frisk had gotten a cup of water and insisted Flowey get one for himself. Papyrus asked for a glass of milk because it was good for his bones. Sans had ordered… ketchup…? Papyrus had berated his brother for his drink choice until Frisk asked what the heck ketchup was. She became grossed out when they explained. Ketchup didn't sound like something that should be drunk.
"heheh, but, kid, you looked like a snowman when we were done with ya." Sans sat next to his brother. He lazily slumped against the taller skeleton and acted like the events of the day had tired him out. Papyrus didn't seem bothered at all by the closeness of his brother. It was opposite in fact. He draped an arm over Sans' shoulder. Frisk thought it was cute how close the skeleton brothers were with each other. Their strong relationship had been clear by the way they acted around the other, but now she saw for herself. She knew a thing or two about strong sibling relationships.
"You're just upset because Flowey and I were able to hit you three times," Frisk teased. Flowey sat next to her, stretching out his stem so he could see over the table. A smug and proud smile stretched itself across his face.
"That was truly an impressive feat. As lazy as my brother is, he is surprisingly good in the act of dodging." Papyrus' eye sockets flattened. "Infuriatingly good." Sans snickered at the look Papyrus cast him. There was some story there, but Frisk didn't have time to ask. Their drinks arrived.
"hey, grillbz."
The orange fire monster who brought the drinks nodded at Sans. He slid Frisk and Flowey's glasses of water to them. His gaze lingered on them for a moment before he gave the skeleton brothers their drinks. She thought his gaze lingered on her anyway. She couldn't see his eyes, but she assumed he had them because he wore glasses with cloudy lens.
"Thank you, Grillby. This is the new human, Frisk, and her flower companion, Flowey," Papyrus introduced.
"Hello! Nice to meet you, Mr. Grillby."
Grillby inclined his head again in a hello. Frisk wondered if he could talk. He didn't exactly have a mouth. Then again… she travelled with a living, talking flower, so she knew it would be wrong of her to say the fire monster couldn't find a way to talk without a mouth.
He brought out a pad of paper and pen. Frisk's eyes bugged out when she saw the paper in his hands. He was a creature of fire. The paper didn't burst into flames. The rules of the universe weren't working.
Sans and Papyrus both snickered when they saw her expression. Grillby seemed amused too. He held out his hand to her. She jerked backwards and tucked her hands close to her chest.
"Safe…" Grillby said. She had been right not to pin him down as unable to speak. He had a gentle voice with a bit of a stagger.
"He will not burn you, Frisk," Papyrus said.
Frisk's hand inched towards his. With the tips of her fingers, she touched his fingers and flinched back. Grillby remained patient with her. He kept his hand outstretched. She tapped her fingers with her thumb. She hadn't been burned by the quick touch. She placed her hand on top of his. Her eyes widened. A pleasant warmth emitted from him, but he didn't burn her.
"Wow, that's cool." Frisk dropped her hand.
"warm, you mean."
"No, I meant cool, as in…" Frisk trailed off when she realized Sans was just trying to mess with her.
Flowey came to her rescue. "Shut up."
"…Order?" Grillby asked. He placed the tip of his pen onto the pad of paper.
"Uh…" She looked at the menu. "I don't know what most of the stuff is. I've never had surface food before."
"the kid will take the usual," Sans cut in.
"I don't want anything, but you can give me the bill. Unlike my brother, I believe in paying on the spot." Papyrus cast Sans with a withering stare. The shorter skeleton merely grinned.
Grillby went to plug in their order.
"What is the usual?" Frisk asked. She wasn't picky when it came for food, but she did want to know what Sans had ordered for her. She didn't know what monsters ate.
"burger and fries."
"Fries… Like… The potatoes that are cut into thin strips? We have potatoes underground. They're a staple for us."
"yep, but they're cooked differently than what you got down there."
"How so?"
"You will see, Frisk!" Papyrus said. "The other humans liked our fries."
Grillby brought her meal out shortly after. He placed the plate in front of her and handed Papyrus the check. He paid right away, waving away Frisk's offers to pay for her own meal. She examined her plate of food. The meal did look different from what she would eat underground: golden colored potatoes strips with tiny and clear sprinkles on them, meat in between bread, and a side of green stuff that looked like leaves. She grabbed a piece of the green stuff and nibbled on it, pushing the plate closer to Flowey.
"You eat some too, Flowey. You said you need to do anything a monster does, but I haven't seen you eat anything."
"I'm fine, Frisk."
"Eat!"
Flowey grumbled about not wanting to be bossed around but grabbed a couple fries. He brought them up to his mouth and bit down hard. His grumpiness dissipated. "Oh, these are actually pretty good." He grabbed a few more fries.
Frisk took a fry for herself. Papyrus and Sans both watched her when she put it into her mouth and chewed. She grew self-conscious and ducked her head.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK, HUMAN FRISK? THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!"
"It's really good," Frisk replied. The fry was crispy on the outside and soft inside. She had no idea what made the potato taste so different from the ways they cooked the root vegetable, but she really liked it. She grabbed another fry. "What is the stuff on it?"
"salt."
"It's used to season food," Papyrus added.
Salt… Salt was good. It was a shame they didn't have any of the seasoning in the underground. A lot of their food would taste better if they cooked with it.
"Hey, Papyrus!" A red bird monster fluttered to their table. "Bun is drunk again. Do you think you can-" Everyone in the restaurant flinched when they heard glass shatter to the ground. The noise came from the booth behind Frisk. She peered over her seat and saw a bunny with unfocused eyes. They slumped in their seat and rested their head on the table. They had knocked one of their bottles to the ground. "…take them home?"
"Ah, yes, of course. The work of a royal guardsmen is never done!" Papyrus pushed Sans off him and scooted out of his seat. "Good luck on your journey, Frisk. Hopefully, we will meet again!"
"Nice meeting you, Papyrus. Thank you for the tour. I had fun!"
Papyrus smiled and patted Frisk's head. He glared at his brother. "SANS!"
"right here, bro. you don't have to shout."
"MAKE SURE YOU ESCORT THE HUMAN TO HER HOTEL, SO WE KNOW SHE MAKES IT SAFELY."
"'kay."
The two brothers had a staring match until Papyrus either grew bored or decided he could trust his brother to do something as simple as walking Frisk to her hotel. Frisk watched as Papyrus helped the drunk bunny get out of their booth and past the broken glass. He led them outside with a quick wave to Frisk and Sans.
Frisk continued to eat her food. She took a bite of the burger, which was good too, but she liked the fries better.
"so, what did you think of my bro?"
Frisk swallowed. "I think he's really cool and nice. I expected most monsters to want me dead."
"eh, yeah, most monsters are just following the king's orders."
"Why does the king still want humans dead? The war was eighty years ago."
Flowey looked up from his food. "I already told you. It's because monsters don't want you to gain LOVE and kill them all. Because humans are oh so dangerous and bloodthirsty. Isn't it, Sans? What other reason could they have?" The flower stared at the skeleton with narrowed eyes. Sans stared back. Frisk looked between the two monsters and involuntarily sunk in her seat. Everyone else in the room seemed to freeze, even the sound of Grillby sweeping the glass seemed to fade away, until Sans shrugged and looked away.
"i dunno. i've never really bothered with the king and his reasonings behind the stuff he does. the people in snowdin don't typically mess with the humans, thanks to paps believing them to be good and wanting to help them. and, y'know, i live here, so i don't worry about it either."
Flowey snorted. "Riiiight." Sans and Frisk both ignored Flowey. He stuffed another fry in his mouth and sulked.
"anything that gets me out of doing my job is good," Sans continued with a wink.
"The people in Snowdin are allowed to disobey the king's orders? Isn't that treason?"
"a lotta people are turning blind eyes, including the king himself. papyrus has good friends in high places. and, anyway, he's one of the best royal guardsmen out there. other than the humans, he puts his all into his job."
"Did you and Papyrus ever meet the first human who climbed up here? His name was Chara."
The white lights in Sans' eyes sockets dimmed. "uh… name sounds familiar, but i've never met him."
"Oh…" She glanced over at Flowey. Did Sans lie? She would have sworn his reaction meant something. "So, you wouldn't know what happened to him then… would you?"
"nah." He didn't react so strangely this time. He took another sip of his ketchup and slid his hands back into his jacket when he finished.
"Oh." Frisk pushed her plate of food away from her. She suddenly didn't feel hungry.
"why do you want to know?"
"A lot of people know them underground, since they were the first to rise and everything. I was just curious." Frisk didn't want to tell the truth to someone who might not be doing the same. She ran her fingers through her hair. "But, um… Back to what we were talking about earlier… Humans aren't bad. Most of them aren't anyway. I'm sure if the king just took a moment to speak with us, he'd see. We'd be able to put our differences aside."
"that'd be nice, kid, but…" Sans looked to the side. He shrugged to himself and turned back to her. "are you finished eating?"
"Yes, I am." Frisk had consumed half of the burger, most of the leaves, and all of the fries with Flowey's help.
Sans scooted out of the booth. "okay, i'll take you to the inn then."
Frisk clambered out of her seat with Flowey on her back. "You don't have to, Sans. Me and Flowey have made it here from Mt. Ebott. I think we can safely make it to the inn a few feet away."
"but then my bro would ask if did my job, and i'd have to tell him the truth. you don't want my brother to get fired, do you?" Sans held the door to outside open for her.
She stepped into the cold. "No, of course not." Her gaze travelled upwards to the darkened sky and glittering stars.
"shame." Sans walked down the sidewalk.
"What? Do you want Papyrus to get fired? Wait… Why would he even get fired for you not doing your job?"
"it's fun to see my brother get fired up about me lazing about all the time, even though nothing could be further from the truth." Sans winked at Frisk. She bit down on her lip to keep herself from smiling.
"This is why I call him a trashbag," Flowey muttered. "His puns and confusion belong in the trash."
"maybe you'd like knock knock jokes instead then?"
"No."
"knock knock."
"Who's there?" Frisk asked. She shrugged at Flowey.
"old lady."
"Old lady who?"
"oh. i didn't know you could yodel."
Frisk held in her laughter. "I don't know whether that one should go in the trash or if it's funny."
"Trash," Flowey said. "Like the rest of his jokes."
"actually, i can't claim credit for that one. a friend taught it to me… well, here we are." Sans stopped in front of Snowed Inn. He reached into his pocket. "papyrus wanted me to give you a couple things." He pulled out a pouch and tossed it at her.
She caught it with one hand. The contents inside jingled. Papyrus had given her more money. "Thank you."
"and this." Sans grabbed a bigger bag from his pocket and passed it to her. The bag had enough food for two meals.
"Uh… Thank you?" She stared at his pocket and resisted the urge to see exactly how large it was.
"yep, and this. in case you need to call him for anything." He pulled out yet another object from the same pocket. It was a small rectangular box thingy.
"Thank you, but… How did you fit everything in your pocket? And… Why did Papyrus give me a box?" She took the box from his hands.
"it's a cellphone."
"What's a cellphone?"
"I'll teach you how your box works in the safety of the inn," Flowey said, growing a vine to wrap around the door handle and pulling it open. "Not that we'll actually use it."
"well, i better not keep paps waiting any longer. he likes it when i read him a bedtime story..." Sans blinked, looking a little nervous. "but, uh, don't tell him i said that… well, bye, kid."
"Bye, Sans, thank you again! I had a lot of fun today. Papyrus's tour was awesome."
Sans waved and walked down the street. Flowey pulled her into the inn, muttering complaints as usual.
Author's Note: The first 4 chapters of this story has been edited, and I'm planning on editing the rest. I didn't do anything big, so I wouldn't worry about re-reading, but it might be a good idea to re-read the part in chapter 2 when Frisk is at the Barrier.
I want to say something about this line right here: "His name was Chara." No, this is not an accident. For some reason, I see this Chara as male, and I keep writing them as such. It's annoying to have to go back and fix it (And I actually do want to try out writing a male Chara), so I'm not going to bother anymore.