ribticklers | Inbox

Didn't I? I'm not about to let this place settle into an unfestive lack of decor. [Papyrus scoffs, again, more pointedly. He suspects full well that Sans means the presents rather than the plastic stars by 'all this stuff,' but he's choosing not to respond to the possibility. It's a birthday, presents happen. And even if he didn't need to, well, Papyrus is all the greater for having chosen to do something he didn't have to do.

The top of the pyramid is a flat box, maybe six inches square and half an inch tall. If shaken, something like cardboard shifts around. Opened, it turns out to be a regular birthday card - closing an envelope being a challenge for skeletons. The writing inside reads:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! THIS PRESENT IS IN ANOTHER LOCATION.
AND ALSO ISN'T AVAILABLE UNTIL IT'S DARK.
BE PATIENT!!!
- PAPYRUS

Papyrus looks unhelpfully amused about it, having been the one to stack the presents like this.]

Well, you should leave the stars up. [Sans's smile quirks into something a little more real as he makes note of the star theme and reads the card. Of course Papyrus would do something like this.] Are you going to make me do puzzles on my birthday? [But Sans is already reaching for the next one even as he puts the card down next to him. The next one he grabs is bottom one closest to where he's sitting, of course, because he's lazy.]

Maybe! If waiting is a puzzle. Or poses a puzzling conundrum. [Come to think of it, with the first-last gift requiring night to really show off, it could be a little bit of a challenge. But he's sure he can always hassle Sans into waking up enough.

In the meantime, the middle gift is heavy enough to slide off with a small thud as Sans lifts the bottom gift. Papyrus winces slightly at the noise, but there's no other worrying sounds with it, so he doesn't protest. The bottom gift is relatively light weight for its size - several inches tall and over a foot wide in both directions. No particular noise if shaken, as if its contents fill the box. Within is a folded blanket, with a wired remote and a plug - a heated blanket.]

Good choice! Sure to make the rest of your gift opening comfortable.

[Sans is quick to fling the blanket haphazardly over his wings (he'll have to preen them again later). It's only a few moments before he gets it set up, but once it's started heating up, Sans remembers all over again how early it gets dark out lately. He could absolutely crash on the couch like this; his wings soak up heat incredibly well.]

How about I just take a nap break real quick? [It would not be real quick. He will grab for the last one on the table before Papyrus huffs at him too much.]

Oh my god. [Usually that might come in some flavor of outrage - today, it's closer to amused resignation. Papyrus rolls his eye sockets plenty, lights again reflecting off the lenses, and settles back away from the heat.] If you're fine with cold pizza, I won't stop you!

[Rather than continue mocking Sans's choices of food or slumber, he opens the soda near him and sticks a straw in it before sipping at it. The last gift on the table is a little smaller than the blanket box, only about a foot on two sides. Heavier, with something inside that shifts a little as it's handled - but not much, due to some materials bracing it in place. Unwrapped, it's revealed to be an electronic sun lamp. The labeling on the box brags about its natural daylight spectrum light, its benefits on mood and depression, and the various adjustable settings.]

Edited (lol small tags) 2021-11-03 12:07 (UTC)

Cold pizza's an important part of pizza. [But instead Sans opens up the next gift. As soon as he sees what it is, Sans has the strangest urge to set it up and turn it on immediately. Well, if Papyrus wants him to wait until night for that other present, it might not be a bad idea.] Hey, this is pretty cool. [But also if it's a sun lamp it's probably warm? Sans is going to be so warm, this is great. (It being apparently good for depression is probably also a plus, but a plus Sans is not going to trust without trying it out for a while.)

There's one more present to open. Sans gets up reluctantly, taking his blanket with him. It's very comfortable and he isn't ready to get out from under the warmth, even if the cord probably isn't that long. It's not like the last box is that far away.]

I guess they must be pretty effective! Since I've never heard of one winding up in the dump. [You know, the dump back underground. He's had more than enough dumpster diving experience here to see patterns in what the humans throw out when, and it's usually things that aren't very good and things that are broken.

The cord does reach 10', and one of Papyrus's home wiring projects has been making more outlets more accessible. It should reach, if the cord doesn't get caught on the table or the couch arm or anything - and Papyrus reaches across the couch to help make sure it doesn't. The gift is, as might be expected from the size, the heaviest yet. The box is scribbled all over with sharpie, and within... There's a used laptop, with some hints of scuffs and dents to the casing, that weighs several pounds. And there's a folded up box, emptied of its main contents but a paper manual and some spare parts still included, of a digital telescope.]

This! Happens to be! A sneak preview, of the gift you can't view yet. [On account of the sun still being out, even if it's getting low in the sky.]

[Sans pulls the laptop out curiously, followed by the folded up box. His eyelights spark with that delight he reserves for star-related activities. Even the spare parts get looked over, though Sans is obviously trying to do his best not to just squirrel himself away under his new blanket and look through the paper manual.] Papyrus-- [How much did he spend on all this? But If Sans says Papyrus shouldn't have spent a lot of money on him Papyrus is just going to scoff at him, in his brotherly Papyrus-y way.] Thanks, bro. [His tone is grossly sincere, in his own estimation.]

You're welcome! I hope you get plenty of starwatching time with it. [Between Sans's dangerously sincere happiness, and the lack of pushback about any of it, Papyrus is visibly pleased with himself. An expression that escalates, as he goes on to explain:] It's a 'beginner' telescope, so it should be enough for the local planets... But, not impossibly distant ones.[See, Sans, it's not ludicrously expensive.]

That laptop... is a laptop, but also, it has the program for running the telescope! And seeing what it sees. Wheeeeen it has power, because, as a digital 'scope, it only works when the electricity's on. [The smugness might be strong enough to feel empathically. A gift of stars that circumvents that whole impulse to do anything with the power grid - they can have their cake and eat it too.]

As usual, you're a genius. [Papyrus is so cool. Sans makes sure the laptop is in reach of the couch before he returns to it, skimming over the manual even as he settles in.] It says you can see nebulas with this thing. I'm gonna show you all the coolest ones. [Which is most of them, as far as Sans is concerned, but that's not the point.] I bet Jupiter and Saturn'll show up pretty good too. [To say nothing of closer objects, like Mars or the moon. Sans is going to look at so many things and then force Papyrus to also look at these things.]

[Papyrus doesn't preen in the bird way that Sans does, but there's a certain contentment to his smugness now. Even with the promise/threat to shove many images of stars in his face.]

If you find any nebulas shaped like me, I demand we petition to rename them. And also, print out some pictures to stick on the fridge. [And then the star stuff will really be spreading out through the house... But that's not so bad. It could be something spookier spreading out.]

Sounds like a good idea to me. [The petitioning or the pictures? Maybe both. Of course, they can't look at nebulas yet, so Sans reaches with a couple of his invisible hands to open the box for that sun lamp while he keeps reading over the telescope manual. There's a pause, though, as Sans remembers his halo still has its cast and he can't multitask like that without his extra eyes. He guesses he'll put the manual down for a second to set up the lamp.] Maybe we could print out some stickers. [Space stickers. That probably requires special paper and/or a printer and/or ink though.]

[Papyrus notes the pause, but doesn't connect the dots - it just looks like Sans not wanting to put the book down, as a part of general space enthusiasm. He doesn't move to help with the sun lamp, though, as he's still keeping a distance from that heated blanket. He doesn't need the sound of internal fans going crazy with trying to cool him.]

Some stickers, huh...? Why stickers? [He assumes for his idea of decorating the fridge with their finds, but doesn't see a problem with more conventional adhesives, like tape.]

[Sans takes the cord in one of his invisible hands to plug it in, at least, in the time-honored tradition of blindly flailing at a wall in the general direction of where you know an outlet is until you can find it by feel. The light is bright, which really shouldn't come as a surprise, but Sans has to angle it a little to better accommodate neither of them being blinded by it. He stretches one of his wings out from under the blanket, experimenting with how the lamp feels on them.]

To stick 'em on stuff. [A vague answer which definitely actually means "for pranks". Sans wants to stick them on Papyrus at least once.

Sans doesn't really notice, but as the sun lamp does its thing, he does visibly perk up from "could probably start getting ready for bed" to "hanging out in the middle of the day". He won't admit he's more sensitive to the times of day here, but his body will.]

Edited (you always find typos AFTER you hit post) 2021-11-05 06:03 (UTC)

Stuff, huh? [Papyrus just looks at him, in a resigned and knowing stare. What a familiarly suspicious vagueness.] Well! Good luck finding some! I will not be helping you, because. I have already gotten you plenty of things. This is the limit of my gifting. You'll just have to wait a while!!

[It's like it's another patience puzzle, except this time it's a patience and/or effort puzzle. Sans can make all the effort involved in it, to hopefully save Papyrus the trouble of scraping sticker residue off his metallic parts. Especially since that's most of them.]

Eh, that's a lot of effort. [The effort would probably just be "going to a Staples."] I'll just keep that in my back pocket for later. [When Papyrus is unsuspecting. Or maybe when he's so suspecting that he suspects it's too obvious to happen. Sans is flexible with his prank timing.] Got plenty of stuff to keep me busy anyway.

[For a certain definition of busy, of course, but this is Sans's way of confirming that yes, Papyrus has gotten him plenty of things, and Sans appreciates these things. His hands are working through his feathers again. There's something comforting about the motions, as long as he isn't focusing on it hard enough to start thinking about why he's doing it. Even the two wings on his head are stretching a bit more to try and catch more of the light.]

[The suspicious squint lingers for a few more seconds, picking up on those hints of an ambiguously far-off prank. He finally lightens up into an eye roll.]

Yeah, plenty! Not to mention all your jobs. [It's a little bit a warding off positivity - think of all that great stuff, and use it, instead of going and making annoyances for your great brother, Sans!

But it's also agreement, with a side of continued smug satisfaction. He's catching the way Sans's body language has picked up in energy - he was right, and that lamp's powerful enough to overcome the sleepy power of the warm blanket. Good prospects for the future, even if it's making himself a little overwarm too. He stretches out, casually sprawling his arms up away from his torso, and considers the time. The food probably isn't even fully made yet, let alone on route. And as for the sky...] Still half an hour until sunset... How long do stars take to get visible? [A patience puzzle for everyone.]

Depends on the star. It's a planet, but people call Venus the morning star and evening star 'cause as long as it's in the right place in the sky, it shows up right away. But it takes a couple hours before it's actually night. Gotta get past all the twilights. [There are three of those and they don't even have to do with vampires.]

A couple hours...? [Okay, it has been a few months on the surface. Papyrus has noticed the changing of things like weather, and the time of sunset, and that stuff. But the time that the stars start getting visible hasn't been high on his priorities, and it's not specifically listed in weather reports, so he's taken by surprise. A little disappointment. The patience puzzle comes for them all, in the end.]

Well! That's fine. The sky can twilight all it wants. We'll have food, soon, and... reading manuals? [Seems like it would put Sans to sleep, but hey, it works. And he has his phone and the TV if his brother fully dozes off.]

I could tell you about all the different twilights. [If Papyrus agrees to that Sans actually will, and since it's star-adjacent it might turn into a whole Thing.] We can probably get started during the last one instead of waiting for it to be over. Could get started a bit earlier'n that if we weren't by such a big city. [Sans please Papyrus has not even said he wants to learn about these twilights stop.]

[He hasn't yet, but Papyrus didn't go through the trouble of getting several hundred glow-in-the-dark stars and applying them all over the living room, in a couple of hours, to not encourage Sans to nerd about stars. That being said...]

Yeah, you said... something about that, before. With all the city lights... [Inside, he's tentative. But he does his best to keep his voice cool and casual, and not exaggeratedly so. Just... curious, confused.] I have to admit! I don't know how street lights would make stronger twilights.

The lights get in the way. Light pollution. Cities have tons and tons of lights, y'know? And since we're down here on the ground, all the artificial lights get in the way. There's civil twilight, nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight before it's officially night. Nautical twilight's called that 'cause it's supposed to be when sailors can't navigate by the horizon and swap to stars. [Admittedly, the ideas of sailors on an ocean is still a strictly intellectual concept to Sans. There's no oceans in the canyon; it's not like he's seen a real one, or a real sailing ship.] So you'd think we'd be able to see stars then, and we can see some, but not like if it was totally dark. Even the night isn't going to be as dark near a city as it'd be in the middle of nowhere.

[Sans sounds like he could absolutely keep going, and he has that sort of over-interested look about him, but there has been no mention of cutting any power so far.]

[At least that much is going fine. He claps himself on the back, mentally, and keeps going - especially since his questions are getting more sincere and less prompting.]

Light pollution...? Do all the lights get in the way, so the star light can't get in? [Among the surface things Papyrus hasn't really made a point of learning more about, the atmosphere is among them. He understands vaguely that the sunlight lights the air various colors, that things like fireworks and sports stadiums can light up the bottoms of clouds. But those are bright, obvious lights.] If there's places without any artificial lights at all... Seems like it would be hard to walk around. [You know, like those sections of the caves back home with those touch-activated crystals, or your average mysterious void showing up in a bad dream. Give Papyrus an artificial light any day.]

They're called dark-sky preserves. They restrict artificial light so you can see the sky how it's supposed to look at night. [Sans would love to go to one, but they can't exactly get out of the canyon right now. Still, the way he talks about it borders on reverent.] But it's not like it's pitch black. There's all the starlight. Moonlight, too. It's not like bein' stuck in a cave. [Which, actually, how had he stood that for so long? He thinks about being cut off from all the light now, and... Well, it's not as if he'd known anything else until he came here.]

That's true. Except when it's cloudy... [He imagines they unrestrict their artificial lights then, unless they have ways of seeing through clouds. Which they might, for all he knows! It's a shame the tunnel situation is what it is, and Sans can't get off to one of these mythical star-gazing places.

He shifts again on the couch, glancing up and around at the room of plastic stars still absorbing the excess lighting in the room. He's sure they'll be bright, when they finally turn off the lights in here. And maybe that's a good example of what Sans means - they're probably already glowing, but it's too faint to see with these lights, huh?]

The crystals weren't anything like real stars, huh...?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject