Just a Flickering Flame

by Cethulu

The biggest things in life often start with little ceremony. That's not the case for a certain skeleton in the underground, where chaos seems to breed chaos at every step. (formally titled 'Numbers')

7. Chapter 7 - Call him Lord of the wings

so... i make no apologies for this. The idea struck me as hilarious, and i knew exactly how and where to fit it in. enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it guys. =)

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Sans eyed up the prototype warily. He didn't think scans could get any more unsettling, but somehow his father had managed it.
"it looks kinda like a bird skull…" so he does what he does best "am I gonna get chirpies from this thing?"
His dad does his best to suppress a laugh, but he sees the shake in his shoulders. How do you even know-"
"i read a book once. I found the whole thing rather hawkward."
Another laugh suppressed, this time a hand coming up and a knuckle covering his mouth as it slips more than the last.
"did you know they can tweet it but they can't caw it."
That's Gaster's breaking point. He bubbles with laughter from behind a facepalm. "Sans!"
"it makes you bill for life."
"Sans!"
"it's a plucking shame, really."
"Why are you like this?" but he's still grinning.~
"dunno. henetics?"
"Please stop."
"but these are eggscelent." he winks at his father.
"They are, considering you're winging it."
...Oh heck yeah. "yep, totally on the fly. puns are my calling."
"I don't know, I took you more for a wrengineer."
"that was clever. are the tables about to tern?"
"Probably not, you're the starling of this show."
"don't get bittern about it, it sounds like I'm a chirp off the ol' block."
Gaster loses his gained momentum to another round of laughter.
"Okay, you win."
"i'm so glad, things were getting ruff for a minute." he sees the mischief in Sans' face dial up to 11.
"...Don't start with dog puns."
"i'm not!" Gaster raises a disbelieving eyebrow at his too-innocent tone. "philomachus pugnax - which, by the way, is possibly one of the most hilarious names i think i have ever heard… i laughed for like 20 minutes - common name ruff. belongs to the same family as sandpipers, snipes and phalaropes."

"You are going to give me whatever book you found so I can burn it. The last thing you need is a segue into more puns. How long have you been waiting to use these?"

"about three months." As he continues, he slowly and casually makes his way to the door. "i tried my breast but i kept getting the rump end of the deal. it would have been forced and robbed of it's humerus nature. that's not how i keep my mantle of king of the skelepuns. i searched thigh and low for any moment, but even with my level of articulation... nothing occurred. i just waited and waited and look at wattle i'm doing now. well, it's time for me to return to my nest. laters, dad."

Gaster's head is spinning by the end of that with the speed of word-play coming at him, and by the time he realises he's just listed a string of bird parts, he's also realised that he's left the room.
"Oh for- damn it, kid." He has to chuckle. "Well played."

Sans'd seen the blueprints, but seeing it in person was a whole other thing and no way was he sitting in that thing. There's a line, and he's drawn it. With some particularly good avian-based puns, if he did say so himself. He knows he's only bought time for himself, but it'll give him time to come up with something else. Or for his dad to finish the damned soul containers so he doesn't have to sit in any scanner again, which would be more ideal. Ha, yeah, there was no way he'd bought himself that much time. With nothing better to do, he returns to his room to study.
"Knock knock."
"who's there?"
"Deja."
"deja who?"
"Knock knock."
Sans bursts out laughing, putting down the book he was in the middle of.
"ok, that was pretty good. i guess i've gotta let you in." He swings the door open with blue magic, not bothering to get up from his bed. Gaster steps into the room, and takes a seat on the edge of the bed.
"Studying?"
"yep." He shows him the front of the book he's reading.
"I don't really understand your affinity with Quantum physics, but I'm sure if anyone can find a use for it you can." Gaster gives him a smile, which Sans returns. Since the discussion in the generator room, they'd both been making more of an effort to say the things that needed to be said more often, and things had seemed to be working well. Gaster had noticed that Sans' prowess in every area had improved faster than it had in all the time spent in the lab previously, and Gaster had found that his son was more free to speak and willing to open up. It was an unspoken agreement between them, and they were both trying their best.
"it feels… important. and i enjoy it." He shrugs. "there's a lot of potential in the quantum field, even if sometimes the humans are a bit…"
"Stupid?"
"i was gonna say ambitious, actually."
"Oh?"
"by what comes through, they've got solid theories and seem to be well on the way to proving some of them but half the things they talk about achieving aren't possible without the use of magic to facilitate and assist. And almost every book you read makes it abundantly clear they've pushed magic into the realm of fiction-" he lets a book zoom into a hand, and he waves it to accentuate his point. Fellowship of the Ring. One of his favourites and also one of his biggest point provers. "-along with monsters or anything that resembles them. i don't know whether they've forgotten about us and their own magic, or whether it was done as a form of propaganda to let the younger humans forget we existed in the first place to forget." He tossed the book over his shoulder, letting it thump to the floor.
"I never thought I would say this, but maybe you need to read less." His father's face has concern written over it.
"heh, never mind."
He raises a brow bone. "Sans."
"no, i'm not doing the thing, it just literally doesn't matter. we're stuck in this hole, so we gotta make the most of it. the core is only a year, maybe two, off completion at most, phase 1 of the soul experiments is complete save for a test run. things are good for now."
"It doesn't sound like you think they will be for long."
"to expect anything to last forever is asking for trouble."
"Now who's the old man?" Gaster teases him, trying to bring him out of the mood a little bit. Sans' depression hadn't had a bad episode for a while and when he starts edging into the mindset where nothing matters, it worries Gaster that one is close. It doesn't seem to be, seeing as he receives a laugh at the playful comment, but he was always going to fear it - especially now he has the added guilt of missing such a big problem and leaving him to deal with it alone for so long.

"speaking of old men, i assume you wanted something other than to tell me a knock-knock joke."

"I knew you'd like that one. But yes. I have something that I was going to show you earlier, but you left before I had the chance." He lets the 'old' comment slide for now.
"...ok…"
"Here." Gaster places a satchel on the bed, and gestures at it. Sans looks at it for a few moments, face unreadable. Not for the first time, Gaster finds himself wondering if it would be any easier if his eldest had been born with a hinged jaw. Or the ability to emote with any part of his face apart from his eyesockets and the slight movements in his cheek bones at all. "It's not going to bite."
Hesitantly, he opens the bag, and his pupils light up. "you finished it?"
"Yes."
"...how many projects did you put on hold to get it done? the prototype hadn't been near comple-"
"That shouldn't be a concern."
"but-"
"It's not a concern because it doesn't matter. Try it out."

Sans pulls the unassuming jar out of the bag and unscrews the lid with the same reverance as a human might treat their mythical cup from the old stories. There's a quiet pop of a vacuum releasing as he turns it. He holds it in place with his feet, and places his hands in front of him. Gaster had shown him how to do this and explained the theory as he demonstrated, but Sans has yet to actually summon his soul. Gaster hadn't pushed the matter either, summoning one's soul was the most vunerable you could make yourself.

A spark of light flares between his palms and the upside down white heart floats there. He sees something like relief in Sans eyes and hears it in the small sigh, before it's popped into the jar. He screws the lid on tight, and raises it to look at his soul closely, the science part of his mind taking the driving seat. Sans thought it would look … different. Not sure how, but different some how, considering that it was basically superglued together. But there it was, just floating in the magical containment field, doing it's thing. "thanks, dad. how long can it stay in there?"
"If it was a human soul, probably indefinitely as their souls can persist outside of the body. However, due to the nature of monster souls, six hours at most. You may be able to stretch it to 17 hours at an absolute maximum on a boss soul but that's based purely on mathematics as we, obviously, as we couldn't test that. More than enough time to cover a scanning session." or a few. "How does it feel?"
"weird." Sans starts tapping on the glass gently and investigating it. "how far away from it can you go? what would happen if you engaged a fight without it?"
"No limit on distance that we have discovered, and you don't ever enter a fight without your soul in place."
"why?"
"Magic is all about intent and responds to emotions, as you know. Put your soul back in."
Sans throws him a questioning look but does as he's asked, handling the souls container and the soul with the utmost care. As it slips back into place, he feels like the world just turned up 5 degrees of colour that he hadn't noticed was missing until they were back. "oh."
"Yes. Your soul is the epicenter of all of those things. It is likely you couldn't even manifest an attack. In fact, the strain of any magic may cause your body to break down immediately. The source of the magic holding the body together is in a jar, and while it is able to keep enough of a magical connection to keep the body alive-"
"that's also why there's a time limit on keeping the soul seperate?"
"Indeed."
"ok." But his soul perks in his chest happily, regardless. No more sitting in scanners - he can get onboard with that.

Sans had been reading again by the time Papyrus lets himself in, not feeling like wandering around without his soul in place. He'd given it to his father to use in the prototype level reader as he was the one who'd backed out of it the other day and not expecting a visitor - but he'd engaged the lock on his door and the sudden intrusion didn't make him panic (if he could right now) because there was only two other people that could bypass it. He sets the book aside, carefully closing it with his palms and pushing it aside, making sure his fingers are well clear of the pages.

"HELLO BROTHER, HOW HAS YOUR DAY BEEN?" Sans knows that tone in Papyrus' voice. Dad's told him good news, probably about the soul container, and Pap's here to find out if he knows yet. "HAVE YOU HAD ANY GOOD NEWS?"
Yep, good old pap. As subtle as a brick to the skull.
"not that I can think of." Doesn't mean Sans isn't gonna mess with him a little bit. Even if the distance and time away from his soul was making him feel… dull. Dull was a good word.
"I… OH. ARE YOU… SURE?"
"as sure as i am punny."
"O-OH. UHM. YOUR PUNS ARE NOT GOOD, EVEN IF YOU THINK THEY ARE SO THAT PROBABLY WASN'T THE BEST THING YOU COULD HAVE... NEVER MIND. THIS... IS NOW... AWKWARD IN THAT CASE."
"why, you got something to tell me?"
"NO, DAD WAS SUPPOSED TO- I MEAN I WAS MERELY CURIOUS. THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON TODAY OR IN THE LAST FEW DAYS, NO BIG SCIENCY BREAKTHROUGHS OR ANYTHING THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MOST AWESOME OF SECRET KEEPERS, IS NOT ALLOWED TO TELL YOU ABOUT BEFORE OUR DAD DOES."
i'd be laughing right now if i had the heart for it. eyyyy, that was pretty good. save that one.
"sounds like you can barely contain your excitement."
Papyrus narrows his eyes at Sans, trying to tell if he knows that was a pun or not. He's struggling due to the lack of humour in the expression. or the lacj of anything. "INDEED."
"are you sure you don't want to let it out of your ribcage? My door is not a door, it's always ajar for you, you know."

He sees it click. Or, more, hears it with an exasperated sigh. "HE DID TELL YOU! WHY MUST YOU MAKE SUCH TERRIBLE JOKES ABOUT SUCH AMAZING NEWS?"
"i guess it's because-"
"SANS WAIT, NO, I KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING"
"-i've already-"
"STOP RIGHT NOW, BROTHER!"
"put my heart and soul into them."
"GOD DAMN IT. WHY WAS THE GREAT PAPYRUS CURSED WITH SUCH A BROTHER?" He waits for the laughter at his expense, the reason he doesn't actually mind engaging in the pun-based banter, but his brother just gives a quietly perplexed 'huh' and turns his attention back to Papyrus.
"how's school?"
Papyrus holds up a stack of papers. "MATH." he pulls a face, but again the expected reaction is missing. Sans folds his legs up so they're crossed and Papyrus takes his place next to him, placing the work in front of them, but yet to open it. "IS- IS SOMETHING WRONG BROTHER?"
"not apart from your algebra." Sans has already opened the pages after fumbling with them for a minute, and the first few aren't great. He tries to soften and make the tone teasing, but it sounds wrong without the affection in the inflection.
"I AM VERY GREAT AT A LOT OF THINGS, BUT UNDERSTANDING WHY YOU SCIENCY TYPES INSIST ON USING NUMBERS INSTEAD OF LETTERS IS NOT ONE OF THEM." He sighs heavily. "I REALLY HATE THE LETTER X. IT'S THE WORST LETTER OF THE ALPHABET."
"i think it's x-cellent."
"...I WALKED STRAIGHT INTO THAT ONE, I CANNOT BLAME YOU AT ALL. I WILL FORGIVE YOU THIS TIME ONLY."
A moment of pause fills the air, and Sans flips back to the first page. "ok, i know how to help you with this."
"SANS, WAIT."
He looks up at his brother with a questioning look.
"ONE OF THE THINGS I AM GOOD AT IS FEELINGS. YOUR FEELINGS." The eyes narrow and look away for a moment as he adds quietly "...SOMEONE IN THIS FAMILY HAS TO BE…" then he focuses back on Sans, earnest expression in place. "YOU SEEM OFF TODAY. ARE YOU HAVING ONE OF YOUR SAD DAYS? WE DON'T HAVE TO DO MATH."
Pap's too sweet. He thinks that navigating this would be easier he could feel the fondness he normally does. It's strange to not feel a thing when he looks at him "no, it's nothing like that. i'm having a scan right now, and you know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder? they're kinda wrong."
"OH! THAT EXPLAINS IT THEN. AND, THE NEW CONTAINER MEANS THAT YOU CAN HAVE A SCAN AND HELP ME WITH MATH AT THE SAME TIME! THIS… IS PROBABLY… THE GREATEST THING HE'S EVER DONE!"

A laugh can be heard as the door opens quietly, then a third figure enters the room holding a container. "Hello Papyrus, you should have told me you were going to visit, I would have got us food on order. And here-" he hands off the container to Sans, which draws Papyrus' attention with great interest. "You probably want this back. Sorry it took so long."
"thanks." He notices Papyrus' curious look, and doesn't even have to think about it before offering it out to him. Probably the only person he trusts more with it. "wanna see?"
Papyrus gasps, and takes it gingerly like just touching the container was going to hurt it. He's amazed and transfixed by it, turning the container slowly. It's the first soul he's seen, ever.
"Any adverse effects from seperating for so long?"
"mmm… depends on what you mean by 'adverse'."
"So that's a yes?"
"it means it depends on what you mean by 'adverse'. there's effects, but i'm probably not the best judge of good and bad right now. unless we're talking about this." He bops Papyrus lightly on the head with his homework. Ah, so that's the reason for the sudden visit. Gaster's expecting laughter from at at least one of the two boys, but the expected sound doesn't follow up. Even the usual exasperated sigh has a couple more layers of emotion to it than usual, papyrus quickly passing the container back.
"IF YOU'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TEASING ME, CAN YOU PLEASE PUT THAT BACK IN FIRST." it's not a question.
Gaster definitely gets where Papyrus is coming from. Sans talks and acts like his son but it's very, very disconcerting when none of the humour playful laughter accompanies it. Well, this was not unexpected, but it's not comfortable to watch or listen to.
"but teasing you is my soul purpose in life." He holds up the jar to accentuate his point. Yep, Gaster definitely agrees with Papyrus on this one. It's too strange hearing this without the usual inflections or seeing the grin.
"SANS NO."
"sans yes. 'sides-" he puts the soul container on his nightstand next to his bed. "i'm leaving it out for a bit."

"What?"
"WHY?"

Sans takes a moment to read both faces considering the two answers came at him simultaneously. "ok, neither of you look very happy about that. him-" he points to Papyrus "-i get, but where's your curiosity, dad? mine's in a jar, and even I know that from a research standpoint we should do this at least once. especially as we currently have two people to make sure there's no trouble."
"ABSOLUTELY NOT."
"I'm agreeing with your brother on this one."
"c'mon. if we go to do this again, it's gonna freak me out when i can get freaked out and i'm not gonna do it. not for longer than it takes to do whatever scans are needed, any way, it's still preferable to sitting in the machines. i think. i'll tell you later. and it would be a good idea to find out any other effects of the seperation while in a controlled environment, rather than finding out when there's a snag later."
"NO, NO SNAGS ARE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN WHEN YOUR SOUL IS OUTSIDE YOUR BODY. I'M STARTING TO THINK THIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE WORST IDEA."
"...He does have a point Papyrus." And Gaster hates to admit that. Especially as there's no victorious smirk or accompanying grin.
"logic always wins, pap."
"I HATE LOGIC." He simply pouts.
"hey, dad said something about dinner. why don't you pick this time?"
"IT WAS YOUR TURN."
"and i'm lettin' you have it. c'mon, a hungry pap is a grumpy pap and i'm not doing math with a grumpy pap."
"...FINE." Papyrus stands up, and starts to make his way to the door. "BUT BE PREPARED FOR IT TO TAKE MORE THAN FOOD TO STOP ME BEING GRUMPY THIS TIME. THIS WHOLE SITUATION IS-"
"wait a sec." Papyrus sighs at the interruption and turns back, and is met with the sight of the jar being held out to him. "you take it."

He watches Papyrus' anger at the situation melt away. He looks like he's dangerously close to crying, he's so touched. Gaster has to marvel at the fact that even at the epitome of cold logic, his son's still all about making the youngest feel better. "BUT WHAT IF-"
"nothing bad is gonna happen to it with the greatest monster in the underground looking after it." He waves a casual hand in the air. "lazy and clumsy shouldn't look after something that important."
"O-OKAY. I DON'T KNOW IF I'D SAY CLUMSY, BUT YOU ARE RATHER LAZY." And just like that they're apparently going for dinner. Gaster stares at the back of their heads as he marvels at what just happened, before Sans turns to him and gestures his head towards the door.
"I'm coming." He shakes his head, and follows. Today was turning out to be more than the usual speed of strange.

"...i said effects. plural. and i was gonna tell you but we got sidetracked on the effects discussion." Sans is looking at his fallen fork like it's a puzzle to be worked out.
"THIS IS SOMETHING YOU SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED!" Papyrus sounds three thousand percent just done with his brother right now.
"eh, hang on." He slides it to the edge of the table, and presses on it until the metal bends over the edge on the tip of the handle, then follows the curve around. Too much pressure is applied, and the metal snaps. He pushes the fork at Papyrus, doing the most logical thing. "thought I was onto something, but didn't account for too much pressure. pap, stop complaining and help me? please?"
"ONLY BECAUSE I WOULD BE SAD IF YOU STARVED. EVEN IF IT'S MORE THAN YOU DESERVE RIGHT NOW."
Gaster suppresses a chuckle, and discreetly checks the time on his phone. Coming up for two hours. Five was going to be the limit unless anything horrific happened sooner than that.
"You should make aeroplane noises while you feed him. It helps the absorption process and he'll get more nutrients."
"REALLY?"
"no, it doesn't pap - absorption works the same as you chewing. dad, if you're going to feed him bullshit science at least feed him useful bullshit science. we would probably benefit from a psychologist in the family, after all."
Gaster's now laughing, but after papyrus makes an aeroplane noises and bumps the fork on Sans' teeth he simply says "Consider it your punishment for 'forgetting' to tell us that you had lost the feeling in your hands."
"fingers. it was only my fingers at the time. and joke's on you anyway-" He takes the forkful from papyrus, flipping his father off at the same time for effect "- because I literally can't feel embarrassed about this right now."

After the meal is done, during which Sans notes his brother is unusually quite during and idly thinks he would otherwise feel concerned about that, they sit around the table for a while. Gaster exchanges a few notes on behaviour, and takes a few tests on how far the numbness in his physical body has spread. He's halfway down tapping on Sans' spine when Papyrus speaks up.
"SANS, I'VE BEEN THINKING…"
"uh oh."
"NO TEASING WITHOUT YOUR SOUL. I TOLD YOU THAT ON THE WAY HERE."
"fine, fine. 'sup bro?"
"WELL…"
"...by the look on your face, you are about to ask something that you should probably wait to ask."
"I DON'T THINK I SHOULD. IF I ASK LATER, YOU'RE GOING TO LIE."
"this definitely sounds like something you should be asking later." He feels Gaster's hands pause on his hip joints where the legs start. "i feel you now, and i don't think you need to go down any further. i can check the rest easy, and you obviously want to listen in so go ahead if it's fine with pap."

Gaster takes a seat and papyrus indicates it's fine. Sans watches as his brother chooses his words carefully.

"IF YOU CANNOT FEEL EMOTIONS… THAT MEANS YOU DON'T LOVE ME RIGHT NOW, CORRECT?"
Gaster feels his metaphorical heart break for a moment, but then without missing a beat Sans speaks up with something that prevents that from happening.
"dude, i gave you my soul to look after."
"BUT-"
"look, you really should have asked me this later. But i'll answer if you really want me to."
"I… I DO."
"you need to sound more sure than that."
"YES! YES, I WANT YOU TO ANSWER."
"of course you do." He closes his eyes and takes a minute to think about how to word this correctly so as to do the least amount of damage to his brother's feelings. He opens them again, and stares at his hands. "then listen to everything I've got to say without interrupting."#
"OKAY."
Sans still answers slowly, thinking hard over his words and taking the time to articulate them in the best way he can think of without being able to follow his emotions. he watches Papyrus to keep a read on his feelings as he talks to try and guide him in place of his own. "no. I don't. But I know that I still love you, and that the moment we put my soul back, all the warm fuzzies will come rushing back in. I was thinking about how to answer this a minute ago without hurting your feelings because that will always be true, and even without the feeling behind it, I know that I know you are the most important thing. And it doesn't wipe out trust or anything like that, hence why I gave you my soul to look after; because I know it's safe. And, while I was thinking about that, I had another thought and your face as I talked confirmed it for me." He stares at Papyrus as he starts verbally putting the pieces together. "you're associating this with a depressive episode, correct? because they sound and look similar?"
"...MAYBE…"
"then you have nothing to worry about." Sans goes to make a gesture, and he manages to catch the ends of his fingers with a loud thud as he lifts it. "welp, that sounded like it should have hurt. anyway. as I was saying-"
"Sans, you should-"
"i said without interrupting."
"BROTHER-"
"let me finish. they're not the same thing. even in an episode, i still love you… it just might get a little lost behind everything else, okay?"
"OKAY, BUT NOW CAN YOU PLEASE LOOK AT YOUR HAND BECAUSE-"
"oh, the fingers came off. Well that's new."

Gaster kind of wants to scream right now out of frustration. He settles for a massive sigh.
"DON'T TOUCH THEM!"
"i was only gonna try and put them back on."
"NYEEEH! YOU SNAPPED A FORK. THEY ARE TINY FINGERBONES. DON'T TOUCH THEM."
"He's right, you can't risk picking them up. You can't feel how much pressure you are putting on them and we have no idea, if you break them, that they would heal after you put your soul back in.
"WHICH YOU SHOULD DO RIGHT NOW."
"well we could always- nope, never mind."
"What? Healing magic isn't going to work right now so if that was the idea, think harder."
"nah, that wasn't it… i'm punder a joke ban, remember?"
"SANS!"
"you both need to calm down."
"NO, YOU NEED TO- TO- UNCALM DOWN."
"that's both illogical and impossible. and not to add to the situation but I also can't feel my legs. feet yes, legs a solid no."
"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus looks like he's about to slam the container on the table, but he places it in front of his brother. Gently, very gently, but with purpose. "IN. NOW."
"I actually think he's right."
"time?"
Gaster looks at his phone while Papyrus nudges the container closer to him glaring at him angrily.
"Three hours and fifty six minutes."
"speed of deteriation increased in the last seventeen minutes... but it might have been more to do with knocking my hand."
"...How long have you not been able to feel your legs?" Gaster pinches at the bridge of his nose. Somehow, his son was even more frustrating like this.
"from the top twenty three-ish minutes or so ago. i wasn't countin', too busy talking to pap. told him he shoulda waited."
"YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!" Papyrus has officially reached his limit and storms off. Sans watches him go.

"i'm... gonna feel bad about that later. i wasn't blaming him though."
"No, you were just stating a fact." Gaster sighs, feeling exhausted. "Just put your damned soul back in. We have what we need. Falling apart definitely counts as a "something" happening."
"yup." He still doesn't open the container.
"Sans…"
"i can't feel my hands and i'm missing the tips of three fingers. and papyrus just stormed off. i ain't touching that thing. So if you could…" he gestures with his head instead of his hand.
"Oh. Sorry." Gaster reaches over and opens the container carefully.

The minute his fingertips - he used the hand that still had them - made contact with his soul, the soul vanishes from sight.

Sans flops forward with a tired sigh, like a drunk nursing a hangover. He reaches out and grabs the tips of his fingers, and with quiet resignation holds them and his broken hand out to his dad who immediately and carefully sets to fixing it.
"So... what did we learn?"
"never, ever listen to me when I have a logically sound scientific curiosity?" he doesn't lift his skull from the table.
"Well, yes."
"and that having no emotions and making puns makes you sound like kind of a dick by default?"
"also yes."
"and that somehow, by the grace of whatever god cursed the skeleton monster race, pins and needles are actually a thing."
"Oh, really?That's-"
"weird. and painful. either option is acceptable as the end of that sentence. 'interesting' is not." Gaster chuckles quietly, and let's go of Sans' hand now he's finished aiding the reattaching. "awesome. and speaking of painful, i gotta go find my brother."
"Also yes." He watches as Sans makes his way out of the room, shaking his limbs out as the feeling returns to them, the magic that had been flagging away from them and barely keeping him together reconnects itself with and through them painfully.

It doesn't take him long to find Papyrus as the younger of them both hadn't actually got far. He'd made it halfway down the corridor, and say himself down. He looked like he was debating with himself over something. Sans slides himself down onto the floor next to him.
"sorry."
"IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT, AND EVEN IF IT WAS I WOULD HAVE ALREADY FORGIVEN YOU. I'M JUST GLAD IT'S YOU YOU NOW."
"yeah, that was… it was somethin'."
They sit quietly for a moment, then Papyrus gives a sigh.

He can't believe he's about to do this, but it's what's been missing this whole time. And it would make his brother feel a whole lot better, he's sure.

"SANS… DID YOU KNOW I BROKE MY PENCIL? ACTUALLY, NEVER MIND. THAT STORY IS POINTLESS. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH."
Sans blinks in surprise at Papyrus a couple of times, before the amusement and pride creeps into his eye lights and he's doubled over laughing. That was definitely what was missing.

"c'mon we've got some math to do, right?"