#by the way ignore gasters hands it sucked so bad drawing them

[pinkavtomation]

I can still make this joke its not too late

I ABSOLUTELY DON'T REMEMBER IF ITS BEEN DONE BEFORE BTW if it is uhm. Whoops

[quintessencea]

Another OC Sans of mine, poor Draft has had a rough life, and here's an example of one of the horrors he's put through! Gonna warn for body horror here, fragile hand versus metal machine in graphic bony detail. Also, he's currently got a shocking cuff around his throat as punishment for making one too many bad puns in front of Gaster...

---

"Hold this exactly here," Gaster ordered, tapping where the pen needed to mark.

Sans nodded as he reached forward, holding the marker above the point indicated.

"Now, once the machine starts, press gently, and do not tear the paper."

He nodded again, and Gaster walked around to the far side of the machine. Sans stifled a yawn with one hand, trying to ignore the raw burns on his throat and wishing he'd gotten better sleep. He'd never had to wear the cuff-turned-collar overnight before, and the vicious shock of electricity had been a rough way to learn he talked in his sleep. He felt his eye sockets drawing closed as he thought of his bed, of how nice a nap would be right about-

The machine whirred to life, and the ream of paper began to slowly draw into the rollers. As he'd been told, he lowered the tip of the marker. A line trailed out with the pull of the paper, disappearing towards the front. The machine crawled along, doing what machines did and he did his best to hold the line still.

There was no telling how long the test would take, or how long he was needed to record for, so he waited, holding the pen like he'd been told. Maybe if this went well Gaster might be in a good enough mood later to take off the shock cuff. That'd be nice.

It was strangely hypnotizing, watching the movement of the paper, the trail of the marker. Like ink dripping sideways, a soothing little river of black. After a while he carefully shifted his grip to his right hand, shaking his left to flex the stiffness out. It felt like he'd been standing here for at least an hour, watching foot after foot of the material roll by. With a yawn, he rested his left hand on one of the supports by the roller gears, his entire focus directed to keeping his right hand still, the line steady.

Until he felt a tugging on his sleeve.

Blinking dully, he turned to look-

As his left arm was being drawn into the machinery. With a sharp intake of breath, thankfully not loud enough to set off the collar, he pulled his arm back, only to come up short as the closing gears gripped his cuff. He dropped the pen, barely noticing the way it bounced on the material before being sucked into the machine with the paper. Sans ignored the horrid crunch sound that came after as it was crushed between the rollers, ink flooding the paper while Sans tried to pull his arm out of his sleeve. His wrist snagged in the tightening cuff, the material closed too far to get through. It wasn't going to come free, and his mind reeled with sudden panic.

"He- elp- ah!" He tried to call out but the jolt of pain from the cuff on his neck cut him off, electric teeth closing around his throat and turning his shout into a hoarse whisper. "St- ah! It- ah-!"

The fabric was tearing, but not as quickly as it was being drawn into the gears. He had be louder, he needed Gaster to stop the machine!

"Ga- ack! Ga- ahh!" He called, louder this time, but the shocking choked off his breath, stronger with every attempt at sound.

Time seemed to slow down as he watched the gears roll, the two sets of teeth inexorably pulling his fingers closer and closer. He pulled harder, curling his fingers against his palm, trying to buy seconds. The machine didn't stop.

"N- ah! N- no-!" His throat was on fire, the current nearly constant as the cuff reacted to his cries.

The first metal tooth scratched against his knuckle. The second one bit into his hand. He could feel the crunch as it broke through the bone.

"Ahh- urkk-! Ahhhhhhh!" He screamed, assaulted by two sides, the metal chewing into his fist and the cuff electrocuting his throat.

With a jarring screech of metal the machine lurched to a sudden halt. His hand was trapped in the gear, his sleeve and the last two fingers of his hand crushed into the machinery.

"Gast- ack! Please- ah!" He cried, unable to speak unable to stop trying. "H- ah- help!"

He was stuck, his hand was caught. He couldn't get it out. He didn't dare pull it out now, unless he wanted to leave pieces behind. He gripped his wrist, squeezing tightly as if he could block off the pain along with the circulation.

"And what have you done now?" Gaster's voice called from behind him. "You've ruined the entire test with your negligence! Do you understand the damage you've caused, dropping the pen into the rollers like that?"

Shaking, Sans turned to regard the tall monster. His face was set into a mask of disappointment. Hiccuping with the pain, Sans looked back to his hand. Splinters of bone stuck out between the gear teeth.

"The machine was barely moving. How did you manage such an incompetent feat?"

He couldn't answer without the collar activating, so he just hung his head, his shaking bones rapping loudly against the metal of the machine.

"By the angel Sans, I simply cannot believe you sometimes. Just… wait there, I'll salvage what I can and reverse the gears."

Sans nodded. Shaking his head, Gaster rounded the machine, and there was nothing Sans could do but wait. His hand throbbed, and he couldn't help but think that it was probably a good thing he couldn't get the fabric out or he'd likely rip his fingers off trying.

"Ready?" came the call from the other side. He didn't really expect an answer, did he? There was a click that echoed through the metal, and the gears began to move-

The wrong way!

"Wait-! Hrk! Ah-! Noo-! Ahhh-hh!" He cried as they began to close again, this time on his middle finger. No longer caring about the damage he pulled back on his arm, feeling the bones in his wrist stretching apart.

His voice cut out and he began to cough, each spasm setting off the cuff to claw him apart from the inside.

A loud groan from deep in the machine made him jump as the gears mercifully stopped, then began to reverse direction, millimeters from crushing his third finger.

Forcing himself to hold still, Sans shoved his other hand into his mouth, biting down to keep quiet, to keep the collar dormant. He was hyperventilating now, his breath coming in short gasps through his teeth as he watched the machine slowly, slowly release his hand. But even that wasn't enough as he had to wait for it to release the sleeve of his lab coat.

When he was finally free, he pulled his hand to his chest, cradling it gently as he inspected the damage.

His two outmost fingers and their metacarpels were crushed, destroyed almost beyond recognition. Of his little finger, nothing remained but splinters, the pieces of his ring finger hardly any larger. Blue magic dripped from the cracks, running down his wrist and over the fingers of his other hand.

"Let me see," Gaster demanded over his shoulder.

Sans flinched back, hesitating. Gaster only huffed in annoyance, reaching out to grab Sans' wrist himself. The contact made Sans shout out in pain as his mangled hand was jarred, only to have the cuff zap him again for his trouble.

"You're likely going to lose the fingers," Gaster said, turning Sans' hand over and back, his face set in a grimace of distaste. "Wrap them and use ice to slow the magic leakage."

Sans nodded, shaking and not really listening. Sighing, Gaster dropped his hand. Sans let it hang, sickly fascinated by the unnatural way the broken pieces stuck out from the rest of his hand. The longer he stared, the further the pain receded, leaving him cold. Spacey. Distantly he felt he should be concerned by Gaster's words, but he just couldn't seem to recall what the proper reaction should be.

"Go!" Gaster snapped, a dangerous exasperation in his tone, sharp enough to drag Sans back to focus. Gaster was glaring at him and Sans shrank back, his sluggish mind processing the order.

Without another word, Sans fled.

[huge6s-blog]

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE MUN.

Repost, not reblog! Tag 6 muns you would like to get to know better when done!

Name: Kaitlyn! Please, for the love of god, never use it.

Nickname: Katy, Kat, variations; (Katydid, Katybug, Kitkat, etc.) But if you wanna call me something else, that’s fine too!

Age: 22! Simultaneously too old and a wee bab, lmao

Faceclaim: Not something I do! I could never pick just one, besides maybe my own face! (I’d thought about using Shuu Iwamine or Rize Kamishiro before, if that says anything haha)

Pronouns: Your highness/My liege She/Her! But “they/them” is good too.

Height: ~5’6”-5’7”; I can’t remember the last time I checked.

Birthday: Poppin’, obviously March 30th.

Aesthetic: Purple and black?? EGNautilus scientists tittering excitedly over adorable or exciting sea creatures. Omnipresent Mountain Dew cans, fast food and colorful kneesocks. 2AM adventures on clear nights in summer that last until dawn starts sending it’s first beams into the sky. Spacey FPS games and cutesy RPG and Pokemon games interspersed throughout. Weathered frames and tired eyes. ROBOTS… I have no idea, man. A lot of things!

Last song you listened to: “The Thief and the Moon” by Shawn James!

Favourite muse(s) you’ve written: kfkjdf. Sixes definitely counts,, Uhh. My first was a canon-divergent Eridan, who I’d played before Act 6 was even close to being a thing! And he was a lot of fun. Accidentally made a “do not that” meme that still sometimes plagues me to this day ldkfdk A dream-bubble/dead Karkat who’d been murdered in his timeline’s Gamzee’s rampage and only had one eye, he was a biiiig favorite. I loved having enough energy for that all; typing that much shittalk??? Was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in roleplay, holy shit. Entire fucking PAGES of just these absolutely USELESS rants because that nubby little shit had so much passion for it. Fuck. I loved Karkat. A bloodswapped, cobalt-blooded Karkat who was also post-game for a pre-established timeline where trolls and humans co-existed on the same planet(s). He was a Thief of Blood and a massive asshole; at his worst, he was manipulative, isolative, vengeful, restless… But also, he was a really big dork??? He LOOOOOVED spy movies and probably popped boners regularly for Black Widow and James Bond or the Kingsmen. Fucking nerd. He fancied himself a spy; his best friend was a badass hacker, and they’d (F)LARP together as a stereotypical “you hack, I’ll infiltrate” team. Before Earth, he never cared about Christmas, but one year his richass neighbourhood started putting up flashy decorations and he got jealous, so he stole a shitton of them to make his own house look the best. He’s so… So stupid. I love him so much. And of course, jumping off the Homestuck bandwagon; I have Lv/Hadz! My dorky, sadsack pun machine. A (sort of, mostly) secret post-genocide Sans; the Bad Run™ had been reset after completion, but something went wrong, so he remembers it. Still, he’s been running for like, two years now! So he’s had a lot of time to go and bury all that as deeply as monsterly possible lmaooo. He’s distrusting, paranoid, and isolative himself; but he’s probably the most all-around good guy on this list. He just wants to get on with his life and never have to fight anyone ever again, lmfao. I… I also have a few OCs, but you’ll have to pry those out of my cold, dead hands. … Carefully. With lots of reassurance. (I’m very shy…)

What inspired you to take on your current muse (that you are posting this on): I like… Undertale. And I like Underfell enough that once the idea was presented to me, my mind kinda ran away with it, haha. It started with Hopper, my weird UF Sans! But it feels like every time I approach the AU I have slightly different ideas for it, pfft. I guess with Sixes, I wanted to step away from the skeletons for awhile! I was really excited about messing with Mettaton for it, because I… Really liked listening to the radio for awhile, haha. I thought it’d be kind of cool if instead of being really excited to be seen flaunting himself across a television set, he wasn’t so happy with how he turned out physically, and made his influence a little less directly visible. It fit in well with the seemingly common theme of conflict in Underfell, and things just really exploded from there! It’s hard to summarize in just a few short words. That said, Sixes probably wouldn’t have a blog at all if it wasn’t for tumblr user wibler’s- Sixes’ Sans!- mun coaxing me into giving it a shot! She has a lot of faith in my creative abilities. I dunno what I’d do without her support through the past few years, heheh. She’s neat.

What are your favourite aspects of your current muse: LOUD ANGRY ROBOT LMFAO Shit though, I dunno! I like writing a character who goes through the bipolar disorder motions, the manics and the depressives. I love watching him go hot and cold on characters as he flipflops through his impulses and subsequent regrets. I love that in his timeline, everyone knows him while he himself actually… Hardly knows anyone at all. He’s made himself untrustworthy, and in turn doesn’t trust anyone, either, so he hardly ever opens up beyond… You know. Angry screaming, or shameless flirting and flattery, ignoring personal space bubbles… I love that his Sans being absent kind of smacked him on the nose, because that was someone he was actually making a connection with, but tried to play it off like Sans was just another moment in his life so he kind of treated him like a dick lmao. Deadass knew the poor little dude had anxiety issues and scared him on purpose, made joking death threats, joked about flirting with his shittyass brother… Sixes was such a prick. Fuck. And he realizes that! And after ditching his family just to have a cataclysmic fallout with his other BFF, Alphys, Sans disappearing… It’s something he blames himself for. It kind of sobered him up a little to the way his actions affect people. AND DESPITE EVERYTHING, HE STILL USES HIS CAMERAS (THAT HE STOLE FROM ALPHYS IN A PETTY FIT) SCATTERED ACROSS THE UNDERGROUND AND HIS SHITTY TRAP ROOMS IN HOTLAND TO PUBLICALLY HUMILIATE RANDOM CITIZENS IN A WIPEOUT-ESQUE PODCAST ON THE UNDERNET. At least that assholitude earns him money, though! Fuck. I also reaaallly love how different AUs bring out different aspects of his character, but that’s a rant for another time or place! Hoo. I dunno, man. I could go on about Sixes for like, ever. He’s a really fun muse.

What’s your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing: I’m… I’m not even gonna lie, a lot of it is the positive feedback lmao. I don’t, uh. Do much these days, creatively or recreationally speaking, and I don’t really have a lot of friends IRL… Er, any, actually, if you’re only counting closehand. All my friends live hundreds of miles away, and it sucks. But this is… Simultaneously social and creative. I get to talk to people, and make friends, and toss creativity back and forth with people, and it’s really fulfilling. I love to be a part of other people’s creative processes! I love seeing what other people do with THEIR characters, and when we all??? Interact??? Mother of God, it’s such a treat! Everyone’s so creative and impressive and inspiring… And hearing/seeing us all go back and forth about what we admire in each other… I’m pretty happy with just being a part of writing, and telling other people that I love what they do! But every now and then it comes back around to me in little ways, and it feels really special. It’s hard to imagine anyone liking my stuff past a “they’re pretty cool I guess, yeah” sentiment, despite my glittering impression of a lot of the writers in the community; so when someone DOES say they like my stuff, even just by saying they like a drawing, or like the way I described something, I go OFF THE WALL LMAO. Straight up dissolve and slip through the floorboards a la Gaster style with how lovely it feels. Shucks… And, you know. Watching characters develop in general- whether they be mine or not- is really fulfilling and inspiring. A good cycle.

Favourite types of threads: Anything that feels meaningful! I love it when two characters make any kind of connection, despite the context. That said, typically “angst” and “fluff” style threads are a big favorite, but there has to be, like… you know. Meaning to it. It feels really… I dunno, cardboardy to just throw a muse into a woodchipper for no particular reason just to have them drag themselves to another muse begging for help or to have a chance to explain some kind of deep, edgy feeling or story. Baseless fluff has a lot more wiggle room lmao, but that can get really monotonous really quick if something more significant fails to spark somewhere along the line. Just so long as something’s getting achieved somehow, I guess! If it feels like nothing’s changed between the two at the end of the thread, it feels really unfulfilling and hollow.

Biggest struggle in regards to your current muse: URRRGH. IMPLEMENTING THE RADIO SHOW/PODCAST THING… On one hand, Sixes has kind of collected the idea that the multiverse is a very indifferent place towards the goings-on within his timeline! And, he supposes, that that suits him fine. Hurts his pride a little, but it’s something he’s just going to curl up and lick his wounds for, pfft. But still! I wish I knew how to make it a little more obvious and prominent- The same could go for his growing industry, too! I guess I’ve just been jobless too long to really have a feel for it like I should, oof… Additionally, drawing him is reALLY HARD… He’s in his classic box form most of the time because he’s really insecure about his EX form, and yet I draw his EX form more than anything because the box is frustrating to draw??? And despite it all, I’m still not sure I’m terribly happy with how his EX form looks!!! He’s supposed to be a little closer to a NEO design than initially planned, as Alphys fully intended him to be a KILLING MACHINE from the start without telling him! But he caught on early on, and they kind of bullied each other into compromising a bunch of things until he was just this “hideous” mess that neither of them were terribly happy with… So, you know. The indecision carried over to me too, evidently! Ugh.

Tagged by: nah! Just stole it was all. (from slobbyseconds/coolskeletonsdontcry forever ago, but just got around to now. kfjf)

Tagging: Anyone who wants to! @ me back if you do it, though; I love reading these things!

[booplebuns]

I had a weird dream that was all Monster/harry potter/ slice of life dream.. I don’t know if I could blame me being sick and all for that dream. It all began with me telling my friends @ticklemeelmonow , @haylee-scribbles , @kawaiitalesans , @genzelda and my lovely bby @korinichiiii on a large float in an endless swimming pool. I was telling them how awesome it would be to save up money and go to Hawaii for vacation and all them agreed  while we were being sucked in a whirlpool as we laughed away.

Next scene, I opened my eyes in the dream I was getting ready to dive in water and it seemed like I was practicing for a race. When I was about to reach the end of the pool I suddenly sunk and my legs stopped moving, nobody helped and this one man who looked like my coach was just shouting me angrily to continue it and not to stop until he saw that I was drowning already. He helped me up and scolded me that I should’ve not let that leg stop me but I ignored him and left.

Once I left, the scene changed and it looked like Hogwarts, I was walking in one of the corridors and I saw other students and teachers being scared of something so I continued walking to a light that was giving green and purple flashes. (Here’s the interesting part). I got to main hall of Hogwarts and posing as Voldemort was non other then @stealthnerd ‘s Sasster with his evil black goop like centaur monsters. Their skin looked like lava rocks as ashes dispel out of those bright steaming cracks. As I was walking towards Sasster, he was telling his evil plan like a stereotypical bad guy would do and once I was almost at the platform of the end of the hall, one of his goop monsters stopped me and said, “get through me first”. I wasn’t scared at all and placed  my wand on the monsters nose and said, “wanna see what a tomato looks like inside out?”, sounds like a weird line but oh well... Sasster slowly went down from the platform and “tch” me while shaking his head, “Of course my monsters aren’t scaring you... it’s because they need leather!”, he said while walking closer to me and waving his hand to change the goop like monsters appearance and me, slowly backing away.

The monsters had their skin clear and white while wearing bondage leather attire, I laughed and chuckled, “Leather huh... is this your kink?”, Sasster just laughed at me and summoned my couch(?) behind me which made me stumble and amazingly sat properly right away. Sasster then took off his black robe revealing nothing but his skeleton body and laid down the side corner of my couch like a teenager in love with his feet swaying and the palm of his hands cupping his chin. I was dumbfounded and just stared without listening to what Sasster had to say and one of his goop monster was on my right side blocking the light that was shining on Sasster so I said, “get out of the way! I can’t see!”, and pushed the monster off the couch and when I got a good view I mumbled, “Nice...” , Sasster just looked at me weirdly and copied a line on what Axel/Lea would say... “Got that memorized?”.

I blinked and saw @stealthnerd right beside me giggling and squealing, “THAT WAS THE BEST DREAM EVER! I’m so glad we had the same dream!”, I was looking at her and thought... ‘huh? same dream? Am I awake already? I thought stealth lived somewhere far?’, I just nodded at her and she sits next to me with a Gaster sock puppet and said, “we should really draw this”, while moving the sock puppets mouth.

it’s a weird ass dream.. I know...  I just had to write it down before I forget. heh. But I woke up bursting in laughter (while coughing a lot... rip me)

[theskelejournals]

Entry 42

A few nights ago Paps and I decided to hang out at Undyne’s house. Undyne has this board game that Alphys gave her when she got back from training and we tend to play that for hours just having snacks, cracking jokes, telling stories. It's not a bad way to spend an evening. A lot better than fighting a homicidal flower, heh.

Some time passed and I left the house for a bit, saying I wanted to stretch my legs, and wandered around Waterfall for awhile. Unlike being perpetual day in Snowdin, it's always dark there with only magical plants and the crystals in the cavern's ceiling far above as light. It's really relaxing and my favorite place in all the underground.

Deciding I just wanted some quiet time to myself, I went off to visit my telescope. The Underground’s a pretty safe place, so leaving your things out isn’t ever really a risk. My telescope is always there when I need it. After teleporting there, I looked at it for a moment and then up at the ceiling crystals. Sure they weren’t stars, but the sight of them always helped my nerves. Just something about ‘em.

I “stargazed” for a while, recalling the times I'd run away there to either escape job stress or just have some time to myself. It's not a bad to spend some time, even if I've seen every crystal before. Something about it is just relaxing.

I was standing there for a little while before noise brought me back to the present, and I turned to eye a batch of echo flowers skeptically. The motion made my soul skip, and for a moment I didn’t understand why. Then a memory sprung up and it became clear, leaving me staring at the shifting, whispering flowers silently. Frozen.

Eight years ago, Gaster and I had set this telescope up. It was a gift for my 15th birthday, a year after I started “working” at the royal labs as his assistant. My birthday had been about a month before then, and with that day off, he decided we should build it. We assembled it together right in this very spot, laughing and messing around with the pieces to get it just right. When it was finally built, the both of us couldn’t stop ourselves from just looking through it and grinning. Gaster was just as excited about it as I was. It was pretty great.

Then there was noise. I heard it first, looking over curiously at the sea of shifting, glowing plants. Someone was running through the echo flowers, which wasn’t really that rare. I was just trying to see if it was someone I knew. Gaster turned too, only to suck in a breath a moment later as a head of brown hair burst through the foliage.

He was in front of me immediately. A hand stretched to the side opposite side, glowing blue, and a box of bones surrounded the human girl that had paused in front of us. She was panting, eyes wide as she stared up at my father, drawing her arms in gracefully away from the bones.

“Stay back, Sans,” he ordered hastily after I had reached forward to cling to his arm, staring as I hid behind him.

“Wait, please!” she called. “Please mister, listen--”

“I don’t know how you got here, child,” Gaster said shakily, and it was then that I noticed that despite how he stood straight, his hand was trembling. “But... I can’t allow you to step closer. You will not come near me or my son.”

“No, listen! Please sir! You’re the most human looking monster here!” Gaster paused as if struck, taken aback. Staring. “I'm not trying to hurt either of you, or anyone, please. I just want to go home. I fell, somewhere far back there, and… and I’ve avoided the dogs but please, I just want to go home.” She stopped for a moment, fighting for words, to get him to listen. “The stories can’t be completely true, right? Isn’t there another way out? I won’t tell anyone if there is, I swear! You have my word!”

I had never seen Gaster stand so still, just. Staring before. There was a long stretch of silence between them before he blinked, furrowing his brow and frowning. I'm not sure the child could see it, but there was pain in his expression.

“I’m.” He sighed, shoulders sinking, but he never moved otherwise. He held his ground, the bones still up, still shielding me with himself. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

“There’s really no other way?” She asked, looking at him balefully as her own shoulders fell.

“dad?” My voice had been a whisper, but I couldn’t just stay quiet. Gaster’s jaw worked, closing his eyes tight, and he shook his head slowly before looking back up.

“The only way out of the Underground for a human is for them to take a monster soul with them through the barrier. You would have to kill to be free. Just like the rest of us.”

Her eyes stretched wide, a hand going to her mouth.

“Kill, but I… I can’t. I can’t…”

Gaster opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the clacking of metal and barking sounded. All three of us jumped at the noise of the guards arriving.

“Dr. Gaster, sir! You caught her!” One called as the group of four approached. The girl stiffened.

“I… yes.” Keeping the bones up, Gaster turned to face them. He was still frowning.

“Did she harm you, sir? Your son?”

“No. Nothing of the sort.”

“Thank the angel,” one of the others huffed. “She’s the 5th soul we need. You can release her now, we’ll take her the rest of the way to His Majesty.”

“No,” Gaster said sharply, making me look up in surprise. Then he softened. “No… that’s quite alright.” The guards looked at him in confused shock before he looked toward me. “Sans, stay with the royal guards, alright? I’ll be back shortly.”

“Sir?” One guard inquired.

Gaster lowered his hand to his side and the bones dropped. He met the dog’s gazes, but it was forced. “Remain here until I return. I’ll escort the girl to Asgore myself.“

“Uh, yes, of course,” the same dog said slowly, brow furrowed in conflict. “Are you sure you don’t--”

“I have the situation under control,” he assured, his tone calling for no more questions. Looking toward the human girl, out of the guard’s line of sight, I saw him give her a look. It was an apology, an ask for forgiveness. Sorrow. Guilt. “Child?”

The girl stepped forward, coming to Gaster's side without a word, her eyes down. He didn’t take ahold of her to move her along or anything, he kept his hands to himself and spoke authoritatively but gently. He simply nodded, glanced at me one more time.

“I'll be back soon, son.” Then he turned and started toward Hotland. The girl stayed right by his side. She knew her fate, and even then she didn’t fight. She could have hurt us, but she didn’t. She could have ran again. But she didn’t. She could have killed anyone to break herself free.

But she didn’t.

It wasn’t until later that I heard whispers of this human’s integrity. For roughly a week, Gaster didn’t smile, didn’t really laugh. He was quiet, he did what he needed to at work, he held us close, but he was sullen. His own integrity had been challenged and left him scarred. He didn’t tell me what happened after they left, all he said was he brought her to Asgore like he said he would. But his eyes held pain, conflict. I knew my father, and he wasn’t the kind for unneeded violence. I also knew he never liked discussing matters of the barrier and the human souls before either. His conversation about meddling with DT back when the machine was mere scratches on paper helped further prove it. He never wanted to harm humans, harm anyone, in the first place. It wasn’t his nature.

My recollection was broken as a yellow monster kid in a frumpy sweater broke out from the flowers, falling on his face with a yelp. The flowers around him joined in with the sound, making me softly cringe.

“uh. you ok kid?” I asked, ignoring the words repeated seconds later. “heh. didn’t expect anyone to drop in on me here.”

“Oh!” He shoved back up on his feet, giving me a toothy, near embarrassed grin. “Yeah! I’m ok! Happens all the time! Thanks though, gotta go!” With that, the kid ran off toward the direction of Snowdin. I watched for a moment longer, then looked at my telescope, the echo flowers, then sighed. Well. That was enough activity for me.

I teleported back in front of Undyne’s house not long after. My trip for some alone time was enlightening, but it brought back things I didn’t expect. As many memories as I’d gotten back, there were still some that took me off guard.

“What took you so long, punk?” Undyne asked when I stepped back inside. “We finished the game without you.”

“oh, you know, just got a little board and started talking to the flowers.”

Pap groaned and Undyne looked like she was ready to throw her tea in my face. We started another game, one that Undyne won and Papyrus called shenanigans on, then settled down and watched one of Mettaton’s new show premieres to finish the night.

Thinking back on it, that was the only time I’ve ever seen a human. I’d heard stories sure, but I’d never seen one up close. And this girl, the young human roughly my height with a frilly pink tutu, didn’t look anything like the merciless creatures I’d heard they were. She was scared, lost, seeking help. But most of all, she was unwilling to go against her honesty, even when faced with death. I think we can all take a bit to learn from that.

The fifth one. Six if you count the fallen prince ages ago. I just hope she had fun down here while she could. Don’t know how much fun you could have running from guards, but I know after their exchange, Gaster wasn’t cruel to her. That’s not how he was. If he was fighting with anything that day, it was his own broken and torn integrity from following what he thought was right versus following orders from the King of Monsters himself. - Sans