Warning for brief mentions of violent and animal death.
The next morning Gaster was a bit late to arrive at sickbay, but considering all the rushing around he'd had to do it was pretty understandable. He swam into the room to find Sans with his torso rolled onto one side, his uninjured arm propping him up at the elbow as he looked around, though his head was having trouble staying steady. Well after everything he'd been through it wasn't surprising he was weaker than a newborn sardine. Gaster set down the bowl containing Sans's breakfast and lunch, then beckoned for the muscle he'd brought to come in. Undyne swam into the room, the water churning around her.
Gaster clasped his hands behind his back, unsure what else to do with them when trying very hard not to sign. "SANS, THIS IS QUEEN UNDYNE," as Gaster spoke she was looking him up and down with a cocked brow, "RULER OF THIS CITY AND QUITE A BIT OF TERRITORY AROUND IT."
"oh, huh." Sans looked Undyne up and down the same way she just had Gaster, likely taking in her thin, wiry frame covered in pale scars. "that's uh… that's pretty cool."
"Yeah! You bet your tail I'm pretty cool!" She grinned widely at Sans as she posed.
"SHE WANTED TO MEET YOU, SINCE YOU'RE GOING TO BE LIVING HERE FROM NOW ON. SHE WAS ALSO GRACIOUS ENOUGH TO HELP MOVE YOU OVER TO THE WORKBENCH OVER THERE." He motioned to the work bench near the back. It was still cleared off from the previous night and deep enough to act as a chair (as Undyne had already demonstrated that the last time she'd visited).
Sans twisted around to look at the bench, then back at Undyne. "oh shell yeah, that sounds just beachy."
Undyne's eyes narrowed as she glared down at Sans, "Was that a pun?"
"I BELIEVE THAT WAS TWO PUNS."
"Oh my god! Are you going to start signing or is he going to start translating? Because I'm SICK of having no idea what you're saying!"
"wait, ya can't understand him?"
"OF COURSE NOT! He just makes all these weird… sounds! Instead of talking!"
"MY, HOW ELOQUENT. TRULY YOU ARE THE EPITOME OF POETRY AND CLEVER WORDPLAY."
"What's he saying?!" Undyne demanded of Sans while gesturing wildly at Gaster.
"uh… he said ya talk real nice, but he was super sarcastic."
"WELL AT LEAST YOU'RE CONCISE, WE'LL WORK ON IT."
"fer real, ya seriously can't understand him?"
Undyne made a frustrated noise, "No! What I don't get is why you can."
"i mean… he's got a pretty thick accent but he ain't that hard to understand."
"Seriously? You just hear an accent?"
"maybe it's a skeleton thing?"
"JUST AS ELOQUENT AS HER MAJESTY."
"I can still hear the sarcasm," Undyne bit back.
"shut up the botha yas! it's… it's gotta be a skeleton thing! it's 'cause of the way we use magic to talk an' we uh… hear with… magic?" Sans trailed off towards the end, seemingly unsure of himself but also already tired out from just that little bit of conversation and the brief flare of temper.
"YES, THAT'S ALL VERY TRUE. SKELETON BIOLOGY IS WELL… A CONTRADICTION ACTUALLY BECAUSE MONSTERS AREN'T PHYSICAL AND DON'T HAVE BIOLOGY."
"ya rescued me to be yer translator," Sans drawled as he slumped.
"VERY GOOD!" Gaster couldn't help giving Sans a small applause and a wide grin.
"Yeah," Undyne confirmed, "he told me as much when he was still patching you back together."
"why the fuck didja do that whole song an' dance insteada just tellin' me?"
"IT HAS MORE IMPACT THIS WAY."
"What'd he say?"
Sans sighed like a drama queen, "he says it 'has more impact' like that." Sans settled back on the table, rolling onto his back and throwing his good arm over his sockets. Gaster frowned, it seemed Sans had hit his limit for the morning. Still, already much better than he'd been yesterday.
Gaster moved in front of Undyne, hands already poised to sign along, "MOVE HIM OVER THERE."
"oh right, yer s'posed to move me over to the wall bench thingy."
Undyne gave a shrug, "Sure, whatever." She unceremoniously picked Sans up, causing Sans to grunt in pain and Gaster to warn her to be careful with him. Then she far more gently placed him on the bench. "There, piece of cake! Ask me to do something hard next time."
"it was pretty hard on me," Sans grumbled as he tried to settle more comfortably.
"PLEASE BE MORE GENTLE WHEN YOU MOVE HIM BACK TONIGHT. OR HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DO IT. IN FACT THAT WOULD BE BETTER."
"yer not gonna have someone creep on me sleepin' again, are ya?"
Undyne guffawed at that. "What's the matter? Little guppy doesn't like being babysat at night?"
"'s creepy," Sans slurred as he slumped deeper into the bench, listing dangerously to the side. His socket lids fell to half mast.
"YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO SLEEP YET, I HAVE YOUR SNAIL FREE BREAKFAST WAITING STILL."
Sans perked up at that, "really?"
"YES, BUT IT'S NOT MONSTER FOOD SO YOU NEED TO BE AWAKE. YOU CAN SLEEP AFTER YOU EAT." Gaster turned to Undyne, "THE PATIENT NEEDS REST. COME BACK LATER. TWO HOURS."
Undyne threw her hands up, "WHAT?! The whole point of me coming here was to ask my newest citizen some questions!"
"SOME SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED ALREADY. HE NEEDS REST. LOTS OF REST. TWO HOURS AT LEAST."
"yeah, the patient ain't even had breakfast yet."
"Fine! But only because I got other stuff that needs doing too." Undyne rolled her eyes before storming out of the room. Gaster will never understand how she could manage to swim loudly.
Sans chortled softly to himself. "so, what's fer breakfast?"
"CLAMS BOILED OVER A VOLCANIC VENT."
"ya know, i was gonna make a joke 'bout how they're almost the same thing but the boiled bit makes all the difference. gimme!"
Gaster grabbed up the bowl of clams from where he'd set it down and swam over, holding up a half shell to Sans's teeth. Sans scowled and weakly lifted his good arm, trying to grab the clam from him. Gaster sighed and put the bowl down next to Sans on the bench, then held up Sans's hand so it was supported by his own before plopping the first clam in it. He could let Sans have the illusion of feeding himself at least, hopefully it'll be enough that he'll stop whining so much for a while.
Thankfully Sans was more interested in eating than talking, happily slurping down the clams as quickly as Gaster put them in his hand. Though by the fifth his (loud, obnoxious) chewing had slowed down considerably and he could barely keep his eyes open. "ALRIGHT, YOU CAN HAVE THE REST LATER. YOU SHOULD REST NOW."
"yer face shood rest," was Sans's brilliant retort.
"I'VE BEEN TOLD I HAVE RESTING BITCH FACE."
Sans gave a quiet bark of laughter, then slid across the wall to lay over the bench. His breathing quickly evened out, Gaster spent a moment wondering if he always fell asleep this quickly or if it was just from his injuries before shaking himself out of his thoughts and tending to his duties, the first of which was changing Sans's bandages. Gaster was pleased to note that several of the small injuries were healed to the point of no longer needing wraps at all, including the missing tooth.
Sans woke quicker than Gaster expected, though with the way he seemed to only be in a light doze Gaster wasn't surprised by this. Something else to be pleased about, Sans had progressed to the point that his usual sleep cycle was already reasserting itself. A pity the mind often recovered before the body, Gaster would simply have to be prepared to keep Sans occupied once that happened. Hopefully the novelty of meeting new people and learning new work skills would be enough.
"how long's it been?" Sans croaked, voice still husky with sleep.
Gaster held up one hand for the abbreviated signs, "NOT LONG." Then he remembered he didn't need to sign and coughed to cover his embarrassment as he turned back to the medicines he was mixing. "NOT TWO HOURS YET, AT ANY RATE, WE HAVE A LITTLE TIME BEFORE HER MAJESTY RETURNS."
"'kay, so any idea what she wants?"
"VERY LIKELY SHE WANTS TO KNOW WHERE YOU'RE FROM AND HOW YOU ENDED UP HERE. IF SHE DOESN'T I KNOW I'M CURIOUS, THE ONLY REASON I HAVEN'T ASKED YET IS I KNEW YOU'D HAVE TO TELL HER AND DIDN'T WANT YOU TO HAVE TO REPEAT IT AD NAUSEAM."
"thanks, i 'preciate it."
They fell into a silence after that, Gaster too busy getting the latest mixture into its container to respond. He had to be quick to seal it up before the pastille he'd just made started dissolving.
"so uh… what's queenie like?"
"LOUD," Gaster said without thinking, deftly tucking the last corner of seaweed around a pastille, then he magically sealed it, turning the whole package into monster food that was safe from the water's corrosive effects. "SHE DOES EVERYTHING WITH ALL HER STRENGTH, WHICH IS QUITE FORMIDABLE. SHE'S THE ONLY PERSON I KNOW WHO CAN PUT HER BACK INTO TALKING."
Sans laughed at that, "yeah, she seemed like the type. kinda reminds me of my bro, actually: doesn't do anything by halves."
Gaster perked up at that, "YOU HAVE SIBLINGS?"
"jus' the one. he's so cool, puts his all into whatever he does. there's nothing he can't do. heh, he even thought he could save my sorry tail, he prob'ly thinks i'm dead." Sans deflated at that, sinking into the bench.
Gaster wasn't sure how to respond to that, he didn't think telling Sans he'd brought it on himself by not accepting his brother's help was the right thing to say. Well, Gaster wasn't sure that was exactly what happened, but from what Sans had said so far it sounded like it. The silence dragged on, heavy and full of self loathing Gaster could feel even across the room.
"IT'S BETTER THIS WAY, ISN'T IT?" Gaster blurted out.
"better how?!" Sans snarled acidly.
"YOU'RE NOT DEAD, SO THERE'S STILL HOPE OF SEEING YOUR BROTHER AGAIN. THERE WOULDN'T BE IF YOU WERE ACTUALLY DEAD."
Sans's face relaxed from his snarl, going flat and neutral as his voice, "yeah, i guess so."
They fell into a tense silence after that, though Gaster was too busy working to really pay it any mind. Gaster had just cut another small strip of seaweed and started wrapping the next pastille when Sans started speaking again, "think ya can find a way to get a message to him?"
"POSSIBLY," Gaster said evasively, hoping his continued concentration on his task would be enough to explain his noncommittal tone. In all honesty he had no desire to find Sans's brother. Ever. He would likely drag Sans back to wherever they came from and leave Gaster with nothing to show for all the effort he'd put into saving Sans's life.
Fortunately Undyne showed up then to derail that entire train of thought. "Okay, it's been two hours! Is he awake yet?"
"IT MOST CERTAINLY HAS NOT BEEN TWO HOURS!"
"it hasn't, but i am anyway," Sans replied tiredly, wriggling to sit up straighter.
"Good enough for me. Alright, nerd, time to get some introductions out of the way! I'm Undyne and I'm in charge around here."
"sans," Sans replied simply, smirking up at her.
"So what I wanna know is where you come from and how you got injured."
"a'ight, simple enough. fer starters i'm not really from anywhere."
Undyne huffed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, suuuuure."
"my bro an' i don't got a steady home, ain't ever really had one neither. we just kinda wander around." Sans shrugged at that, or attempted to but stopped short with a wince. "anyway, we mostly hung around this pack of sea dogs up near the surface. they liked us, we liked them, but we weren't ever really parta their pack, ya know?"
"Alright, makes sense. And these injuries?"
"this fuckin' overgrown dolphin!" Red spat out angrily, practically frothing at the mouth.
Undyne guffawed loudly at that, "A wussass dolphin did that to you?!"
"no, ya bitch! it was an orca, an' they ain't nothin' but overgrown dolphins!"
"Wow, shit man! An orca's no joke. No wonder you're beat to hell and back!" Undyne started laughing again, Sans groused in his corner. "You survived though, that's pretty damn awesome."
"yeah, i sure did. but ya know what didn't?"
"The orca?" Undyne asked gleefully, her jagged teeth on full display.
Sans grinned in agreement, his own razor sharp teeth on display, "the orca!"