IC CONTACT

[osteothropy]

✆CHANNEL FREQUENCY: 800.80085
DESCRIPTION: Sans will frequently ignore messages about stuff he doesn't want to deal with, but the second something of importance comes up on the channel he will appear as if he's been listening intently all along.

✉MAIL BOX LOCATION: Novelty Skeleton Statue
DESCRIPTION: There is a skeleton statue next to his trailer door with an extended, bowl-like lower jaw, that looks like it's meant for putting Halloween candy in. He would like it if you did. It's technically his mailbox, though, so mail is probably fine, too.

Comments

[spaghettimonster]

[Papyrus checks his mailbox repeatedly through the day, slight veins of dread mingled in with his anticipation and hope. He gave so many reassurances, so many cues that Sans could bypass serious conversation by making a bad joke or a vague hint, that surely his brother would find something to say. If he wanted to. But what if he didn't...?

Admittedly, they've gotten a little distant over the last year. Papyrus, so busy as king, rushing around with food preparation, and encouraging people to keep striving to make something in their lives better, and doing his best to offer the ears he doesn't have for them to share their worries before he brushes those concerns away with even more hopeful sentiments. Sans, so busy sitting at a desk, reading so many pages of reports and requests, filling out tedious forms and sending them off to whoever wanted the responses. And, well, he seemed genuinely busy, and his smiles seemed a little more brittle than they did in years past. Like he wasn't faking it quite as well.

So Papyrus did his best to relieve a little of the pressure by not going to his brother to share and ask advice on every little thing, and, well, a little became a lot, and eventually...

Eventually he was calling the human, pretending to forget what he was saying while Sans was in the room, so his brother could fill in the blanks, think the conversation was full of trivial nonsense, and head off to do something else... leaving Papyrus with the chance to talk to somebody he didn't feel personally responsible for. For the first time in a year.

...Maybe that was it, Papyrus realizes, spilling a bucket of mop water all over his shoes and yelling at it in surprise. Even as he cleans it up, he keeps thinking through his sudden realization. Maybe it all got to be too much for Sans, and now he needs a lot of time, not just a couple of days, to recuperate from all the hard work? After all, he'd gone from horribly avoidant of effort to sincerely tiring himself out. Papyrus' increase in effort was hardly so remarkable!

How exactly Sans is going to recover by having some kind of job here, Papyrus has no idea. It's not very welcoming of people avoiding their duties. But it's easier work than running the kingdom, less emotionally tasking, and it all makes sense now. Clearly, Sans wants to avoid all reminders of the stress of being the king's assistant, not Papyrus himself!

He can work with that.


Morning of the seventh day of the new season. It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming... dreamcatchers are being created and hung all over the carnival, and the daily letter has appeared in the decorative skeleton's maw.]

DEAR SANS,

HAVE YOU MADE ANY DREAMCATCHERS YET?? I'VE MADE LOTS! EVERYBODY WILL HAVE WEBS FULL OF DREAMS IN NO TIME. EVEN IF THEY'RE NOT REALLY WEBS. IT'S TOO BAD THERE'S NO SPIDERS HERE. THEY COULD MAKE THE BES SECOND-BEST DREAMCATCHERS!!

DO WE EVER GET DAYS OFF WHEN THE CARNIVAL IS IN SESSION? I WANT TO TRY PLAYING A FEW OF THE GAMES AGAIN. I COULD PROBABLY ASK SOMEONE TO LET ME TRY NOW... BUT IT'S MORE FUN WHEN THERE'S LOTS OF PEOPLE MILLING ABOUT, ENJOYING THEMSELVES!

WHENEVER YOU WANT TO TALK, I WILL STILL BE HERE! AND I WON'T TALK ABOUT KINGDOM STUFF AT ALL! SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT!!!

- YOUR BIG LITTLE BROTHER PAPYRUS