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I love all of the new theories that you have come up with.
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Mr. Tall and Handsome
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With the tiny human safely perched high upon his shoulders, Papyrus easily made his way through the deep snow. Well... it was deep for the human at least. It was no great feat for him, though. Either way, he felt much more comfortable having her right here, safe and sound, instead of running around and getting into potentially risky situations. After what had happened with Giftrot, he had learned firsthand how quickly things could go wrong. He wouldn't let something like that happen again. The Future Royal Guardsmen wasn't about to let anything bad happen to the tiny human on his watch!
Fearia released a barely audible groan of frustration as she draped her upper body over the tall skeleton's skull. Was this some kind of punishment? She felt like this was some kind of punishment! Sure, Papyrus did have a point. They would make faster progress this way. But she could walk on her own, dang it!
Well... on the brighter side, Fearia could see so much more from up here. So she wasn't completely upset about this. Papyrus was so tall, she actually got a touch of vertigo when she looked down. So she made a point not to do that. Instead, the little girl occupied herself by pointing at things and commenting. It was trivial but there wasn't much else to do.
"Hold on, Miss Fearia." Papyrus said as he stepped onto a path of ice leading into a darkened tunnel canopied by large pine trees. The small child squawked as she tried to cover her head from the snow falling in clumps off of the lower tree limbs. Humans sure did make some strange noises, the lanky skeleton mused as he slid down the path.
Reaching the other side of the tunnel of trees, Papyrus easily leapt over the gap and landed with practiced skill onto the unsolved puzzle floor. "Tah-Dah!" He cheered childishly at his own antics. In his opinion, sliding through that tunnel was pure entertainment. He loved how fun it was!
Fearia scoffed when she realized where they were. It was that stupid puzzle she kept messing up on! "Guess you don't even need to do the puzzle to get to the other side, huh?"
"I Always Jump Over The Gap Instead Of Solving The Puzzle." Papyrus revealed, unabashed. "Sans Never Solves It Either." Squinting suspiciously, he continued. "He Always Just... Um... Gets Across... Somehow..."
"yeah, you're both cheaters..." The little girl grumbled under her voice.
Either willfully choosing to ignore the child or just simply not listening, Papyrus smiled as he went on. "I Think He Has A Shortcut Or Something." His brother always had a trick or two up his sleeve.
Checking the small area off to the side for any stars, the two of them came across a couple of snowy replicas. A rather impressive snow Papyrus and a ...well... not so impressive snow Sans. After subtly checking for any dangers in the vicinity, the tall skeleton reluctantly lowered the giggling child into the snow. She wasted no time scampering away from him to admire their creations.
"We Were Getting Bored Waiting For You..." Papyrus explained. "So I Built A Snow Papyrus!" Squinting distastefully at the lump of snow, he sighed. "And Sans... Did His Thing..."
Circling around the snow Papyrus, Fearia marveled at the artistic display. "Wow, this is really good." She praised genuinely.
Papyrus smiled happily, his bones feeling lighter. Finally, someone was actually acknowledging his talent! "This Is The Best One Yet, If I Do Say So Myself."
The tiny human gave a nod as she approached the lump of snow. The word "sans" had been lazily written on it in some kind of red ink. "It looks just like him!" She grinned as she clasped her mitten covered hands together in front of herself in admiration. This was a true masterpiece!
"Actually, It's One Of His Better Lumps." Papyrus agreed.
Sitting once again on the skeleton's shoulder, Fearia hummed to herself quietly as they entered the next area. Oh! This was the place that had all of the snow dog sculptures. Unfortunately, they were mostly gone now. Frowning, her eyes traveled to the snow covered house she had tried peeking into before. She, of course, had been too short...
"Who lives there?" The little girl asked as she pointed.
"That's The Station Of The Lesser Dog." Papyrus answered. "He's That Slobbery Fellow You Met At The Diner Earlier."
"He's not slobbery!" Fearia shot back, defending her slobbery friend. "He's soft and nice and loves to be pet!"
"That's Actually His Defining Personality Trait." Papyrus agreed. "Wait... Why Is He Part Of The Royal Guard And Not Me!? I Love To Be Pet Too!"
Fearia giggled as she pet the skeleton's skull affectionately. "You're so silly, Pappy."
Papyrus sighed as he pretended not to enjoy the attention. "It's All Just A Popularity Contest." He muttered. "Everyone Likes Dogs. Even Sans Like Dogs!"
"Because they're adorable!" Fearia chirped happily.
Before Papyrus could reply to that obviously false statement, the little girl on his shoulder exclaimed excitedly as she pointed to something.
"Over there! See it? There's a star!"
He, of course, didn't see it, but nevertheless walked over to where she was pointing. Just like before, when he got close enough, or rather when she got close enough, a bright light flashed before them. Papyrus was still having a difficult time believing that these brightly glowing magical stars had somehow been here all along and yet nobody had ever known they were there. So mysterious!
After marking the spot with a crossing of two decently sized sticks, Papyrus took a picture of the human standing next to the star. He could have used bones instead, but not here... The Lesser Dog would be sure to find them! After sending the picture directly to his brother, the taller skeleton tucked his phone away in order to gather up the protestant child.
Leaving the Lesser Dog's area, Papyrus stepped inside the mouth of the nearby cave. "Oh- Ho! The Puzzle That Dr. Alphys Made!" He had almost entirely forgotten they had put it here.
"I think it was broken..." Fearia commented as she glowered down at the tiled floor. A good thing too. That trap was way to complicated and dangerous. "Why did you have something like this anyway? Does this Dr. Alphys make a lot of traps?"
"It's One Of Her Many Hobbies." Papyrus nodded. "But Since She Doesn't Take Requests, I Had To Ask Undyne To Ask Her To Make One."
"You never even talked to her?" Fearia was astounded.
"I Only Follow Her Online..." Papyrus replied defensively. "I'm Not Really Friends With Her... Yet!"
"Someday I'll Impress Her With My Huge Biceps... That's A Good Way To Make Friends!" Papyrus grinned as he flexed an arm bone for emphasis.
"Really?" The little girl looked doubtful. Was that an Underground thing? Or was that just a Papyrus thing? She couldn't be sure. Tucking that information away, she decided to get a second opinion on that matter later.
Exiting the cave, Papyrus smiled as he spotted his Papyrus Face Puzzle. Ah, good times... "That Puzzle Sure Was Tricky, But Our Teamwork Paid Off In The End."
"Yeah," Fearia nodded, a frown falling into place. "No thanks to Sans. We must have called out to him a dozen times!"
"He Was Probably Taking A Nap Somewhere, The Lazybones." Papyrus crossed his bony arms in disapproval.
"You know... for someone who likes to put traps everywhere, you're really not that good at solving your own puzzles..." The little girl pointed out.
"Nonsense!" Papyrus rejected the claim outright. "I Am The Master At Solving These Puzzles. For Instance, Take This One Right Here." He pointed. "See Those Spikes? I Can Just Step Right Over Them. So The Solution Is Clearly To Be Very Tall And Handsome!"
Walking over to the wall of spikes, Papyrus took one long leg and did just as he said. "See? I'm Solving It As We Speak."
Rolling her eyes at the tall and handsome skeleton's absurdity, Fearia gave him a sarcastic reply. "Wow, Pappy, I'm really impressed!" The sarcasm was of course lost on him...
After a bit of a walk, for the skeleton at least, a long scenic ride for the child, the two came upon a familiar area. The plate of frozen pasta still hadn't been touched and the big metal box was still as useless as ever.
"Ah, The Spaghetti Trap Room..." Papyrus smiled sentimentally. "And The Spaghetti You Left Me Is Still Here!"
"That's probably because nobody could eat it." Fearia pointed out. "It's still frozen!"
"Foolish, Human." Papyrus chided not unkindly. "Don't You Know That The Ice Perfectly Preserves The Flavor? Besides, If You Really Wanted To Heat It Up, You Could Have Just Used..." The self-proclaimed Pasta Connoisseur trailed off as he eyed the metal box... "Why Is Our Microwave Out Here?"
"Microwave?" Fearia tilted her head curiously.
"This Right Here." Papyrus replied as he bent down to brush the collected snow from off the top of the metal box. "I Had Been Wondering Where It Had Disappeared To..."
"So that thing's called a microwave?" The little girl asked, her interest genuine. "How do you make it work? When I tried to use it nothing happened!"
"Well..." Papyrus hesitated. Sometimes he found himself caught off guard by the small child's lack of common knowledge. The answer should be quite obvious. "It's Not Plugged In."
"That's what Sans said!" Fearia exclaimed in frustration. "But what does that mean?"
"SANS?!" Papyrus scowled. "So He's The One Who Absconded With The Microwave! I Should Have Known! I've Had It Up To HERE With His Shenanigans!"
"What's a shenanigans?" The tiny human asked, totally unaffected by her friend's angry outburst. He was always using so many big words.
"Shenanigans Is What My Brother Specializes In." Papyrus answered easily, a touch of pride seeping into his words. "Though, I Wish He Would Channel Some Of That Mischief Into Productivity Instead..."
...
Taking hold of the doorknob to their house, the mischievous skeleton's grin lessened slightly. He could just feel it. Someone, somewhere, was bad mouthing him at this very moment. He could probably guess who it was, too. Whatever, it was no skin off his teeth.
Door now open, Sans stepped inside carrying his bounty of trash. A wadded up dirty ball of cloth under one arm, a pocket full of treasure, and a brand new pet rock. This was the reason Papyrus didn't like him visiting the Garbage Dump. Could this be described as hoarding? Possibly. Was he a hoarder? No... He was a collector. A collector of things with unknown values or uses. He most certainly wasn't a hoarder...
Before Sans had a chance to close the front door, a small fluffy dog rushed past him and into the warm and inviting house. As if it actually lived there, the little home invader panted happily as it bounced up onto the couch and began wagging its tail.
"where have you been for the past few days?" Sans asked casually as he dropped the dirty wad of fabric to the floor without a care to the mess it might make. With a small sigh, the skeleton grinned at his furry friend. "you wouldn't believe what's been happening lately. it's a real mess, tibia honest..." Not really expecting a response to his troubles, the skeleton gave a lazy shrug. "i bet you're hungry, huh?"
The small dog barked in confirmation, it's fluffy tail going wild at the promise of food. A moment later, however, its enthusiasm tapered off, only to be replaced with curious sniffing. Short pointy white ears perked with interest as a strange but familiar scent was picked up by the dog's sharp nose. Smushing its snout to the couch cushion, the small creature investigated the smell thoroughly.
Sans watched the little dog knowingly. It smelled human. No doubt about it. The kid's scent was probably all over this house. Hopefully, this wasn't going to be a problem. If the happy tail wagging was any indication of the dog's feelings towards this matter, then it would probably be okay. Which was good, because if he knew that kid even a little, he knew that she loved dogs. This was bound to be interesting.
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New character alert!
In the next chapter, Papyrus and Fearia continue deeper into the Snowdin Wilderness in search of healing stars.
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Sheii Bae~
