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[There's--well, one Papyrus. A Papyrus with a metal jaw, apparently. Sans is relieved to see him, worried about there only being one, aware that could be a good thing, and worried in a completely different way about having to deal with everything that's been going on lately if things are back to normal.

He answers out loud anyway.]

Yeah, I'm just one guy again. It got kinda weird in there, I needed a sec. What about you?

[The new jaw drops open as Papyrus turns to look at him, eyes widening in surprise and alarm and relief all at once.]

Oh my god, you're here. You're okay?

[He's glancing Sans over for signs of anything awry, then the question belatedly sinks in, and he nods - distracted at how the new jaw weighs in his skull, not all that different than the bone one had, but still something to get used to. Joy at being a little more whole, dread at even more metal in his skull...]

I, uh... I'm. [The jaw shifts in that old way as he tries to decide how to answer, then shakes his head.] I... need a sec, too. [He half-hugs himself with one arm, shifting uneasily with the new patterns of being relatively honest conflicting with longer habit, and follows with a joking tone:] Or three.

[Sans doesn't even have to ask for clarification: a reaction like that could only come from a Papyrus with all of his emotions. (Which makes that 61% emotional capacity yet another problem to deal with later).]

I'm not hurt or anything. [Just another weird experience to add to the pile.] You want a lift back home? [Sans can pop back over for the car.]

[He glances off to the side, where a red convertible with flames and bones painted along the sides is parked in the parking lot.]

Uhh... I drove here... [Which isn't an answer, and he doesn't say it like it is. That charge tracker doesn't activate with fluctuations in willingness to nap, but it's ticked up a few points just at the idea of driving back, as that'd involve driving through whatever blend of active and inactive stop lights are now in place. He dithers a few seconds before realizing just how much he's giving away by dithering, and sighs.]

...I would. If you're... [He cuts himself off from questioning Sans's willingness to do so, and tilts his head towards the parking lot instead.] I... can come back for that later!

I can come back for the car in like five seconds. [Sure, the car is big enough to be a bigger drain on his energy, but he can manage that. Papyrus may or may not want to argue about it, but Sans decides to cut off any of that at the pass by grabbing hold of Papyrus's arm and teleporting immediately after he speaks.]

[It's just as well Sans takes the decision out of his hands. Papyrus is of two minds about leaving the car vs getting it safely home soon, and would argue about Sans going and exhausting himself with the sheer size of the car... But suddenly being at home is such a distracting relief that he slumps before he tries to disguise it.]

...I can't believe how much visiting public utilities, really makes you long for home! [He offers as he straightens back up, wiping at his face like there might be tears he missed earlier. (No, but there's a few fresh ones.)]

Yeah, that was a real enlightening experience. [You know, because Sans got weird light goo everywhere, and also they went there in the first place to bring the power back. A few other ways, too, that Sans is reluctant to launch into.]

Hang on. [And Sans disappears. He drops the car off in the driveway before reappearing already draped on the couch. This is the best use of teleportation.] I dunno about you, but I'm ready for a break.

[Papyrus doesn't quite have the energy to laugh or dramatically complain, but a little cough of a laugh escapes him. Sans is gone and back again quickly enough for him to even comment in a way that acknowledges both:]

That's... entirely too true! I think... [They need to talk, he needs to know if the stuff he saw was real, he needs to hide and get his head together, he needs an excuse for them to never talk about any of this ever...] ...I need a shower. Do you?? Were those... I saw some shadowy tendrils...?

Nah, I'm good. [Though Sans can't help but give Papyrus an assessing look at the mention of shadowy tendrils. What exactly did Papyrus see? But asking directly is too much. He knows Papyrus mentioned light earlier, too, and Sans definitely left his room kind of a mess of light, so...] Did you go in the same room they sent me into or something?

I mean... Well, I asked after you, so that's where they took me! [That sounds too defensive. He feels too defensive. Shit, did he really did keep that skewed balance of feelings..? He still feels like it's a surmountable challenge, but... the notion sure is looming hugely in his awareness.]

Y-Your phone cut off, and... I thought something happened. [A little redirection to help him shake that defensiveness off, and he shrugs.] You're sure you're all of you? [A second, in which his eyes resolutely do not dart down.] All of you that went in there.

[Huh, Sans hadn't noticed his phone cut off. Well, he wasn't exactly thinking about keeping an eye on his phone at the time. That explains why Papyrus got there faster than Sans thought he would, though.] Yeah. I mean--I think so. [He doesn't exactly come with statistics.] I feel like all of me.

[Sans hesitates for a second, then tugs up his shirt. It's still missing that top bit, of course, but it's in one piece again.]

[Papyrus's eyes light up briefly as he takes in the details, compares to his mental record of the last time he'd seen Sans's soul whole.]

...That looks, uh, like it did last time. ['Right' is probably not the word he wants, here.] Okay. Okay, good! I don't know... the light was calling me 'brother', but maybe it was just echoing you. I thought... One of me thought... I was worried. [He crosses his arms, rubbing his hands on them in a mix of self-comforting and testing for mystery light residue.]

[Well, that's weird.] When I went in, uh, I kind of talked to myself? Or something that looked like me, anyway. I guess it was sticking around.

[He really doesn't want to go into specifics, now or ever. He thinks he's going to have to eventually--he's going to have to talk about a lot of things that he did the last week eventually--but he's great at putting this kind of thing off. Even if half of him had spent part of the week complaining about that.]

Three of you? [It has to be said - that's entirely too many of Sans.] Weird. It was... a human, when... we? I. Talked to it. Not another me or you.

[Papyrus shakes his head, coming to all the same conclusions - talking about all of this is difficult enough in the pronoun selection, let alone all the really difficult parts. The worse parts. The awful mistakes. The fighting. One of the hands he's hugging himself with goes tighter, and he glances off towards the stairs.]

There was a third me, then--uh, a fourth me. But that was after I'd gone back to being one person and the third me was--gone. [Sans still isn't sure if that counts as him having killed it. Probably not; he's pretty sure that was some projection of Okpaza. Still, it's uncomfortable to think about too hard. Sans starts fussing with his feathers. Papyrus looks strained.] We can talk about this later. You were gonna take a shower, right?

[The strain switches to incredulity as Papyrus tries to imagine a fourth Sans, and he shakes his head before he remembers to nod.] Yeah, I'm... Yes, I'm going to do that! A... thorough one. I'll be back out in a while!

[He is going to stand in the water, with the phone out on the shelf, and just listen to the trickle of electronics returning through the city. Try to let the water rinse away the film of guilt he imagines is floating on his soul.]

[When Papyrus heads off to take a shower, Sans closes all his eyes and spends a few moments in silence. He could probably sleep, if he stayed still. Instead, he stretches and grabs his phone. He has all this information rattling around, and he's tired of dealing with it. There are other people here who can do it. Some of it, anyway.

It goes worse than he expected. One conversation piles on top of another conversation of terrible decisions. Dinah's is the worst, sending him to his room after all, tucked up underneath his heated blanket like that'll keep the creatures under the bed at bay.

It doesn't. Of course it doesn't. When Sans finally ends up spat out on some sidewalk in the middle of the city, Dinah's soul in his hands, his thoughts are static and screaming. He doesn't know what to do. The fear is still there, like Okpaza might change its mind and drag him back down. Dinah's soul is just sitting there, exposed.

He's not thinking straight, which is why instead of just teleporting home, he barrages Papyrus with texts.]

papyrus
papyrus hey
are you still in the shower?
holy shit so much just happened
check the network

[It's a long shower. Far longer than usual, even compared to the spans of time in which Papyrus was outright showering in clothing that needed to be cleaned with the rest of him. The spray of water is like static on his casings, in a welcome way. It's a much-needed privacy, to try and wrangle with his feelings with some calming and assessing techniques.

His emotions... Ah, that tracker's still active, isn't it? And still sending Sans updates. He almost deletes it, then pauses - another thing best decided later. Right now, it might be giving Sans some much-needed reassurance. And fair's fair.

It's clear to him that the previous 28:35 split isn't active anymore - his positive self stopped caring about keeping emotions active and kept recording things, his negative self was so overwhelmed by emotions that it caused a couple smaller resets that he threw tantrums about. Until he does some backups, and sees if Sans is up for another round of that... There's just no conclusions to be drawn about his long-term emotional status. He'll just need to do the best he can with who he is. Kidnapper, would-be-torturer, concerned brother, determined to do better, and all.

Papyrus hears the phone buzz once or twice with a tracker-notification, but it's not until he has this sort of start of a handle on things and he hears multiple Sans-notifications in a row that he looks out of the shower to grab the phone. Something has his brother all riled up...? A network post - a long, informative, dancing on the edges of careful secrets post... Clips of that little girl Mary, talking about the thing underground wanting to be their friend. Clips of firey Dinah, going underground.

He tears the shower curtain open, racing to grab a towel and dry himself off enough to safely reattach the phone. Shoots a message at the network post itself, in case anyone's still reading it and willing to listen to a different skeleton's advice, before texting Sans directly.

I KNOW THIS ISN'T ALL MY FAULT,
BUT OH MY GOD,
I SHOULD HAVE SHARED THE VIDEO WITH EVERYONE
WHAT ARE THEY ALL -THINKING-??

[He knows it isn't, but some of his feelings... Why did he wait, and let that research group do nothing with the information. He could have shared it himself! Bucked the authorities and followed his own conscience! He's going to be feeling guilty for ages if any of them get hurt.]

i don't know
that thing in the power plant must have been talking to them
dinah went down there

[A pause in Sans's rapid-pace texts. He can't talk about all of that over text, especially not when he's just standing in the middle of the city.]

i've got her soul right now
it's just
in my hands

[There's several levels of confusion to be had here - Papyrus's encounter with a talkative something in the power plant wasn't one that'd lead him into the caves for any reason, but Sans's had involved a fight with shadows and a self-defense that ended in excess light...

But more than any of that is that last set of texts.]

HER
IS SHE
WHERE ARE YOU??

in the city
it's the place with the least okpaza influence so
hang on

[Hang on, because Sans has only just started processing things enough to remember he can teleport again.]

i'm in the living room

[Specifically, he's standing in front of the couch with his cell phone appearing to float as he hangs onto it with one of his invisible hands and a glowing yellow soul carefully held in his normal ones. There are black blotches on the soul. That can't be good, but Sans doesn't know what to do about it or about Dinah's soul being here like this at all.]

[Heavy footsteps dance in place upstairs, then pound down the hall to the stairs, coming down in an undressed rush. (He has a towel around his waist, for all that it's needed, and the rest of his clothing bundled in hand. Pants can wait until this soul situation is figured out.) It's clear when he sees the soul himself - he freezes at the base of the stairs, then slowly approaches.]

Oh my god... oh my god. [His gaze focuses on the black spots, which certainly aren't the same problem as a chunk missing, but aren't promising either. Takes a few reflexive screenshots, saving on himself and phone alike for comparisons later if relevant.] Did... she... die...?

[Vaguely, he remembers seeing a red soul floating above a small body he'd been starting to think of as a friend. In the snow, at the foot of a dog or two. In waterfall, a ways ahead on the route into Hotland, at Undyne's feet and near Sans's surprised stare. Televised for all the underground to see, to Mettaton's brief shock and then sneering smile...]

No, she's still alive. I mean, she feels alive. [He can feel a presence, at least, that doesn't seem like it should be there if she's dead. He got an up close and personal look at the anomaly's soul a few times, and that was different from this.] We were underground, and--I didn't think when I teleported I'd just take her soul.

Under...? You went underground after her. [It can't be called an accusation, for all there's a thread of not again - that Sans didn't send him a notification, that Dinah didn't buzz that emergency transponder. Mostly, it's numb shock and grieving realization. Not dead, maybe, but. Souls aren't supposed to float around this far from their bodies.]

...That can't be healthy. [It's muttered, a contextless continuation of his train of thought, and he shakes his head. It's too much - well, it's a lot to follow so closely after everything.] W-Was she... Did she seem like she was... melting, like the others?

[The other ex-humans of the tunnels, he means. He assumes Dinah was starting to turn into one of them, if she went bodily down there. For that matter, is anything visibly wrong with Sans's body?]

Not on purpose. [Papyrus asked a question about Dinah, but that's what comes out first. He didn't want to go underground, wouldn't have if he had a choice.] I just--got pulled down. There was--it was--

[Papyrus asked him a question. He focuses on that.] Yeah. I didn't recognize her when I saw her. Most of her skin melted off, her bones looked charred-- [Sans is hardly one to be squeamish about seeing skeletons, but ones that look like they caught on fire are unpleasant.]

Only knew it was her 'cause she said my name. [Which is yet another thing he has yet to deal with. She did that for him. She said so on the network and she was still focused on that even when she was like that.]

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Sans: after my bro showers and i post to the network, it'll be calmer for talking

what could possibly go wrong

it's a mystery!

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