Sans

----------------------

The kid and I headed over to Grillby's for my legally-required break, and the routine went the same as always.

"Hey, Sans. (Hi Sans.)"

"Greetings, Sans. Hiya Sansy~"

"Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"

"nah. i haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour. you must be thinking of brunch." And with that, the room erupted with laughter, as they always did. "here, get comfy.", I offered to them. And they excitedly set off the whoopie cushion right on cue. The kid seemed pretty enthusiastic about this timeline.

Oh, if only I knew why.

"whoops, watch where you sit. sometimes weirdos put whoopie cushions under the seats. anyway, let's order."

As grillby walked off to take care of those fries, I pulled out a comb and combed my nonexistent hair. Time for the interrogation. "so. what do you think? of my brother?" The kid replied with the thought that he was cool, like I expected them too. Pacifist runs normally choose the nice ones.

"of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had too." They gave a small giggle. "oh well. at least he washes it. and by that i mean he wears it in the shower."

3,2,1, cue Grillbz.

"here comes the grub." I picked up a ketchup bottle and offered it to them. When they politely declined, I started to drink it. I scratched a little, and continued with the spiel. "anyway, cool or not, you have to agree papyrus tries real hard. like how he tries to be part of the royal guard." You should know the rest of the script, so I won't bother repeating everything else.

"oh yeah. i wanted to ask you something." The kid put their full attention on me, with a smirk. "have you ever heard of a talking flower?" Giving a slight chuckle, the kid said something else. "Aren't you going to ask about Cristle? Papa?", they mocked in a higher pitched voice.

My eye sockets turned to black. Nonetheless, I went along with the script. If Chara saw something different, they would get curious. Same goes for Frisk. (sorry kid, you're not exactly innocent.) And you know what they say about curiosity and the cat.

"so you know all about it. the echo flower. they're all over the marsh. say something to them, they'll repeat it over and over... what about it?" I glanced over at a very unamused Frisk, and a pissed off Chara. I kept going. "well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around... a flower appears and whispers things to him.

flattery...

advice...

encouragement...

...predictions.

weird, huh?" Frisk seemed to grimace, while Chara just looked bored. At least Frisk pretended to be new to this stuff. "someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. keep an eye out, ok?" I was getting up to leave when the kid repeated themselves. "Aren't you going to ask about Cristle, Papa?"

Determination- a feeling or emotion described for when you just don't wanna stop. Synonyms include stubbornness. And the kid is filled with it.

I gave a small sigh and didn't move. "okay, a. cristle is the only person who gets to call me that, capiche? and, b. she's one of the best things that happened to me in a long time. so if you so much as think...", my eye started to glow. The silence around reminded me that I'm still in public. And so are they.

"...let's talk about this somewhere else, okay?"

The kiddo nodded in agreement, and we walked back out. Right outta Snowdin, the folks that were there before are gone. Perfect.

"You were saying?", the kids taunted. "and, b. if you so much as think about hurting her, you will be taught a lesson. whether it be from me, or someone else." My eye sockets were pitch black, with the blue beginning to form. It wasn't hard to scare Frisk a little, while Chara looked intrigued. "What about that TRUST thing she's got goin' on, huh? What's up with that?"

It was my turn to bring a scary smile. "you're smart, aren'tcha? figure it out."

They pressed on, leaving me to my station to slack off yet again.

"Papa! PapaPapaPapa!", an adorable little nutcase called while she jumped up and down, dashing towards me. The girl was proudly holding a piece of paper in her hands.

I looked back at the kid's distant shadow, and put my attention on the sweet girl I call my daughter. "what's up, angel?"