Kit - For those of you curious, Kas and I RP this, so we take turns writing different characters. We're glad to see you enjoy the writing style so much!


Chapter Nine

::

"You're so lazy! You were napping all night!"

"Uh, Papyrus? I'm pretty sure that's called sleeping," Sans pointed out.

"Excuses, excuses!" Papyrus waved off the words as if they were another excuse, the skeleton suddenly pausing upon seeing Frisk and Toriel - although he seemed to mainly have eyes for the human. "Ohho! The human arrives! In order to stop you my brother and I have created some puzzles! I think you will find this one quite...shocking!" Giving a giggle, Frisk moved to hide behind Toriel, shuffling her feet a bit shyly.

Sans, instead of looking proud of the pun, was looking a bit wary, staring at a metal ball in Papyrus' hands and shuffling a bit nervously. Frisk tilted her head curiously, staring at the ball. "For you see, this is the invisible electricity maze! When you touch the walls of this maze, this orb will administer a hearty zap! Sound like fun?" Glancing to Toriel, the child gave a small shake of her head. She would not like to be zapped. Zapping was not fun. "Good! Becuase- Wait...oh. I was going to say that the amount of fun you would be having would be rather small, but, you seem to already know that, so, yes. You can go ahead now!" Frisk gave Toriel another look before she slowly moved away from the woman and towards where Papyrus said the maze was, and there was...nothing.

Well, not nothing, since across the 'puzzle' there was a sudden yelp from Papyrus, who seemed to have been getting shocked. Quite viciously. There was also a small wince from Sans and, ouch, that looked like it had hurt. The child couldn't help a small giggle as she realized the skeleton's mistake.

Papyrus was stomping on the ground in frustration, turning to his brother. "SANS! What did you do?!" Sans only scratched his cheek, still looking a bit concerned.

"I think the human has to hold the orb." Papyrus nodded.

"Oh, okay." With that, the skeleton was walking a specific trail across the puzzle before setting the orb on top of Frisk's head, nodding before walking back along the same trail. "Yes, now you may begin, human!" Frisk gave a nod, starting to follow in Papyrus' bootprints, not noticing the weight on her head all of a sudden get lighter. If she had, she would have seen Sans panickedly levitating the orb off her head and to Toriel. Toriel gave a nod, taking the orb gently and promptly throwing it off the side of the cliff, watching Frisk and giving an encouraging nod when the child looked up.

Papyrus hadn't really noticed the orb disappearing since Sans had distracted him. Honestly, there hadn't even been- "Oh! Human! Incredible! You slippery snail! You solved it so easily!" A pause, Papyrus narrowing his eyes a bit. "Too easy... The next puzzle will not be so easy! It is designed by my brother, Sans! You will surely be confounded!"

"...What's conf- Confu- What's that word?" Papyrus paused, kneeling in front of the child.

"Con. Foun. Ded." Sans was hiding a laugh behind his hand, and oh god, this was twice the amount of adorable as compared to what he had been exposed to all day.

"What is it?" Frisk was looking up at him curiously, tilting her head to the side.

"It means you shall be confused and unable to puzzle out the puzzle!" A snicker from Sans.

"I guess you could say it's means you're gonna be puzzled, kid."

Frisk giggled, nodding as she shooed them off to 'prepare' the puzzle, the girl hopping back over to Toriel with a grin. Toriel was only giving a small giggle herself, bending down to pick Frisk up and cuddle her closely to her chest again. Papyrus frowned, whispering to Sans as they walked. "Are you sure she's a human?"

"Hmm? Pretty sure, bro. Why you ask?" Because even with the slightly strange behavior, it was pretty clear to see that Frisk was a human.

"Because I'm fairly certain that's her mother, and she's most definitely a monster." At least judging by the way the two acted to each other. Sans paused, giving a slow nod.

"The kid is definitely human, but yeah, Tori-el. Yes, Toriel is a monster that just met her and is helping her, and stuff." A slight cough and right, right. He wasn't supposed to be calling her Tori, yet- Had he called her that, yet? He was pretty sure...he hadn't called her that yet. Almost positive.

"You like her, don't you?" Papyrus was smirking down at Sans, looking incredibly amused. Much like his brother usually was. This time, however, Sans was blushing very brightly, sweating profusely, and giving nervous giggles.

"Ahaha, bro, really, come on now. Pap, Papyrus, bro, brother, man, dude, do I really ever like anyone like that? Really, now."

"Oooh, you do. I should tell her- No, I should tell the human." Papyrus laughed as they waited for Frisk and Toriel. Although he probably wasn't expecting to get dunked into a snow pile by his brother's powers, the skeleton still looking flustered and horribly out of it. This only caused Papyrus to laugh even more.

"Shut up! It's nothing! Seriously, bro, I'm serious here!" Noooo he was making it worse. Uugghh, why was Papyrus so mean to him?! "Seriously, Tori is just a friend. And stuff."

"Oooh, Tori? Is she your girlfriend?" There was another pile of snow dropped on top of him, Sans pouting and storming off, still blushing and looking horribly like someone with a first crush. Which he kinda was.

::

"Hello! Would you like some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now only 15 gold!"

Frisk gasped loudly, tugging frantically on Toriel's sleeve. "Mommymommymommymommymommy!" Toriel seemed startled but was soon smiling a soft, fond smile, nuzzling at the child's temple.

"Yes, my child? What is it?" While she asked, Sans was suddenly beside them, looking a bit amused and, really. Adorable.

"Can we get some, pleasepleasepleeeaaaase?"

"I suppose if you truly want some..." And, yes. Nice to know Toriel was as weak to her as Sans was starting to become.

Frisk paused, somewhat kicking her foot. "How much is fifteen?" She squirmed down until she was landing on the ground, opening up her backpack to reveal a small fortune of gold coins. Sans and Toriel looked rather...shocked.

"Ah, kid...how much- How...did you get so much gold?" Sans knew some monsters dropped gold to the opponents who defeated them - more of an honor thing really - but...really. That- That was a lot.

"Whenever the monsters ran away, they always left some behind, so I picked it up." She looked incredibly thoughtful, slowly counting out ten before pausing. Sans only nudged her, smiling supportively.

"Eleven comes next." Frisk nodded, repeating the number and setting it with the small pile of coins she'd been counting. Sans, at realizing she didn't seem to know much past ten, gave a small nod, and okay. Right. "Think of it like this, written down, fifteen is 1-5. So if you can count up to ten, it's easy. Just count out the five more and you have fifteen. So you already counted out the one extra. So now you just need..."

"...Four more. What are the numbers in between fifteen and eleven?" Sans grinned, ruffling the girl's hair.

"After eleven it's twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and then fifteen. After twelve, and before twenty, it all ends it 'teen'."

"Is that why they call people teenagers? Cause they're agers in the teens?" Sans chuckled, ruffling her hair again.

"Spot on, kid. Now go get your ice cream before it melts, or something." Toriel was watching the two of them, looking utterly adoring of them. While Frisk procured her nice cream, Sans seemed to notice the look, returning it with a curious one of his own to the woman. "...What?"

"I didn't know that you taught." Toriel was smiling warmly at Sans, instead of Frisk as she typically did. Sans was only trying valiantly to hide a blush. He was failing, but he was trying dammit.

"Oh, ah, aha, yeah, totally. I mean, ah, yes. Yes. I taught Papyrus, and all. All that stuff. Yeah, pretty much raised him- Me and- Yes. Just. Yeah. But, yeah, good at teaching small childrens. And all that. Aha." Oh god someone shut him up.

Toriel laughed, looking incredibly amused. "Careful, someone might think you're flirting." When Frisk had successfully gotten her nice cream, she was holding her arms out to Toriel, again. While Frisk was picked up and cuddled, Sans was looking to be utterly and horribly broken and oh god he was so doomed. With a hum, Toriel nudged Sans with her hip, walking along the path. "Coming?"

There was a heavy sigh from Sans, who was already following. "I don't think I have a choice, at this point..." He was in deep- And it was barely the start of the Run! Oo, this was going to be...interesting. Shaking it off, he looked to Frisk. "You know, I've been thinking about selling treats too."

Frisk looked down at him curiously, tilting her head. "Like what?" Sans grinned widely, looking vastly amused.

"Fried snow. Want some? Starting price is 5 gold." The child gave an eager nod. "Did I say 5? I meant 50." She only continued nodding, Toriel looking amused. "Aw, jeez, I slipped up again, didn't I? It's 500 gold." At that, Frisk paused to glance at the backpack before nodding. "Aw, sorry, kid, I'm clumsy today. What I really meant to say was 5,000 gold." Frisk tried to kick at him with a giggle.

"Don't I get a di- A- Can't I get it cheaper for being your best friend?" ...Aw... That- Ow. Sans was broken, a little bit.

"I dunno, kid...are you really my best friend? I think I have to test you." Nodding, Sans looked rather mischievous. "Alright, ultimate best friend test. If you can answer this, I'll be your best friend for as long as you want." Which would probably be until the next Reset. "Ready?" Still...he could indulge this one just a little bit. Frisk nodded, a sense of DETERMINATION filling her as she grinned widely. "Alright, here we go...what is the name...of my brother."

"Pap-Pap." And Sans may have given a little 'aw' at that. And...close enough. That was close enough becuase cute!

"Spot on, kid! Guess that means we're best friends, huh? Alright, I'll cut you deal for 4,999 gold."

"Deal!"

"Sold! Do you have that much money?" Frisk looked to the backpack and back to Sans with a definite nod. "I like your spirit, kid, but I'm pretty sure you don't have that much gold? At most you probably have, eh...237."

"How d'ya know?" Frisk tilted her head, kicking her feet absently. Sans only shot a smile.

"Well, first I looked at the dimensions of the bag, and since it's a pretty common style around here, I pretty much know the inside dimensions well. Taking that into account, I picked your bag up earlier, and memorized the weight, after that, it was easy to remember the average weight and sizes of a singular gold piece and then quantify that in my head into a string of numbers that would roughly give me an amount as to how much you have."

Slowly nodding, Frisk curled back up to Toriel, looking content. Toriel only looked down at Sans with a smile. "Did you really do all that?"

"...Depends. If it's too weird, we can just say it was magic and call it a day," Sans hummed, looking like he hadn't just admitted to being a near mathematical genius. "'Sides, I was a bit too quick, so I was probably off by a couple gold pieces. One or two max."

"No, no, I think it's rather brilliant, actually." She held tightly to Frisk, bending over to press a kiss to the top of Sans' head. "You're rather clever, when you use your head."

"...A...h..." Oh god. He was in love. Cross his name out, sign his will, and turn him to dust he was head over heels in love with Toriel and wow...that didn't take long to figure out at all, did it? Just. Okay. There was some blushing and horrible- Oh god. He was so in love it was ridiculous and aaa. Aaaaaaa. "...Kid, this one is on you. Don't know whether to thank you or blame you."

Frisk paused for a moment, kicking her feet again before grinning brightly at Sans. "You're welcome!" She looked to Toriel, then back at Sans. "Does this mean you're dating?" At that, they heard a familiar laugh.

"Ah! So I see you enjoyed your little 'outing' with Tori, brother!" Papyrus was immediately picked up by blue energy and slammed into a snowbank, Sans blushing fiercely with his left eye glowing in a variety of colors.

Frisk grinned, waving at Papyrus. "Hi, Pap-Pap." Papyrus bounced back rather quickly - as was his nature - laughing and beaming.

"Hello, small human! Tell me, what is that name you are calling me? You do know that I am The Great Papyrus, do you not?"

"Yeah, you're Pap-Pap." Papyrus seemed to think it over for a moment, finally giving a nod and beaming.

"Yes, I quite like this name! If Sans can call this Toriel he speaks of 'Tori', then I suppose you may call me-" He didn't get to finish since Sans was slamming him into another snowbank, grumbling horrible things under his breath in a language Frisk had no idea how to understand.

Toriel gave a laugh, looking incredibly amused as she finally introduced herself to Papyrus. "Yes, I would be that Toriel." Before Sans could do anything else, Papyrus was picking him up and gently setting him down behind him, introducing himself to Toriel.

"Lovely to meet you, Toriel! My brother seems quite enamoured with you-"

"Papyrus I will destroy your figurines and not read to you for a week."

"-r child. Yes. He seems to have taken quite a shine to the small human! Nyeh heh heh!" Crisis avoided. Nice one, future Royal Guardsman!

Toriel laughed, holding her hand out to Papyrus. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you in person." Papyrus shook the hand, causing Toriel to look a bit startled, the other happy to meet her before turning his attention back to the human Frisk, who was finishing up her nice cream.

"So, human! I hope you're ready for- For..." A long pause, Papyrus looking down to Sans. "Sans. Where's the puzzle?"

Sans grinned, looking like revenge was about to happen before he nodded to a piece of paper on the ground. "It's right there. On the ground." A flash of a glowing blue eye that showed he was very much the type to hold a grudge. "Trust me. There's no way she can get past this one."

Frisk hopped out of Toriel's arms and picked up the paper, tilting her head at seeing a word search. She didn't know the words that much...but she knew how to match letters! This would be easy peasy! The child sat down on the ground, starting to go through the list slowly, letter by letter - a conveniently placed pen letting her mark them out.

It was a rough five minutes before Sans was kneeling down and nudging her, looking a bit amused. "You doing alright there, kid?"

Sniffling, Frisk looked up at him. "I ca-can't find it."

Papyrus snickered, looking amused. "You're right, Sans. She couldn't." There was a sudden dark presence behind the brothers, Sans tensing up and looking terrified before he was laughing nervously.

"Aha, say, here, kid, why don't I help with this, yeah? Just, let me see that pen for a moment." A small scribble and he was handing it back. "You should be able to find that last word now. Aha." Terror. Scrubbing at her cheek, the child huffed and no she was not close to crying, there was just...snow. In her eye. Yeah. Melting snow. "Ah, jeez, kid, don't cry. Look, see, it's right near the top."

"I wanted to do it myself," she muttered quietly, marking down the word and throwing the paper down to the side. She continued to sit on the ground, staring down at her lap as she threw a tiny tantrum.

"I see..." Sans was scratching his cheek while Papyrus edged away from Toriel, looking close to fleeing because, no. Protective monster mama. Did not want to get on her bad side. "Ah...would...a hug help? Maybe? I guess?" That was a thing people did to kids, right? Offer hugs? Frisk held her arms out to Sans, looking absolutely pathetic. "Aw, jeez, gonna make me work for it." Pulling the kid up and into his arms, with a little bit of trouble, he shifted so she would be a bit more comfortable. "Careful kid, I'm all bones, here." Frisk held tightly onto Sans, looking to already calm down as she clung to the skeleton.

"...Are we sure this is a human?" Papyrus asked, because, that was new... Humans should not be that comfortable around monsters, right? This one treated one like a mother, and Sans almost like he did.

Toriel gave a nod, looking amused. "Absolutely." Though it was interesting how quickly Frisk took to Sans, seeing as when the child first saw him, she was hiding from him.

"Well then, I have no time to waste for the next puzzle! It must be prepared!" With that, Papyrus was running off, Sans only looking after him a moment before looking to Toriel, and then Frisk.

"So, ah...when...do I put her down?"

"Whenever she wants to be put down," The woman said with smugness. Sans only glanced to Frisk, who was hugging and clinging tightly, before sighing and walking after Papyrus. Honestly, the things he ended up doing to appease others, sometimes. Ridiculous. When they walked into the next area, Frisk was reaching over towards the Save point when she saw it, looking to Sans pathetically.

Sans rolled his eyes and flopped down so she could reach it, Toriel only watching them curiously for a moment before reading the note that accompanied the plate of frozen spaghetti she saw. Sans nodded at seeing her distracted, speaking to Frisk quietly. "No one else can see the Save points, by the way. Just me and you for now, it seems..."

"...What's a Save point?" Frisk grabbed at it curiously, satisfied when her fingers brushed against it as she nodded.

"What you're doing now? It's called Saving. When you touch these lights, you create a Save point. You can use it to Load, or...Reset." Sans sighed, the word having sounded almost ...heavy when he said it. "It's...a lot to understand, kid." Curiously enough, he seemed to wrap around Frisk, as if trying to keep her hidden from something.

Frisk looked a bit curious, at that. It was like her brother, when he was playing his video games, and he tried to teach her. "How do I Load?"

"...Heh, can't give away all the secrets at once, kid," Sans grinned, trying to put a little humor in the situation as he ruffled her hair. "Like I said, if we see each other in Waterfall, I'll explain then." Which they probably wouldn't, because Sans had no intentions of leaving Snowdin and getting even more attached to these two.

"Kay." Frisk settled down in his lap, looking content as she leaned against his chest with a smile. Sans had a small, worn smile at that, gently ruffling the girl's hair again, and, really... With them like this, and the way things were going, and the way they could go...

It was as if he was filled with a sense of DETERMINATION.


Kit - Poor Sans. He's so doomed.