#creatures are less trusting of him? like monsters still attack and shit but more sentient ones

[waywardsalt]

sitting huddled in my little writers hut trying to piece together what kinds of effects i want bellum’s possession to have on linebeck

[tttinytrash]

I got my first request ever from @red-tums-are fun, so thanks friend! They requested some UF Paps being protective stuff, so here’s my rendition. Onward!

Papyrus was out on his patrol, and as much as he wanted to get home he couldn’t let the thought of the warmth and relative safety distract him. That’s how one gets dusted. 

Thank Delta he’d remained alert, as that was exactly why he felt the influx of magic coming from deep in the woods around Snowdin. He quickened his pace as much as possible without making it appear he was exerting himself, since he couldn’t seem as if he were concerned. 

The teens who skulked around the woods were the culprits, which was not surprising in the slightest. He heard their voices long before he saw any of the hooligans, several very animated voices mocking each other and getting louder.

“Target practice!”

“Dude, your aim is for shit!”

“Stay fucking still, you shit stain!”

They were clearly ganging up on something, maybe Gyftrot again or another non-sentient rabbit. Papyrus felt his concern drop in favor of annoyance.

He stomped into their sight, and before he could even get a word out one of them saw him being imposing.

“Shit, it’s the Bonehead! SCRAM!”

Rather than chasing children, he merely crossed his arms and allowed his annoyance to shine through. This worked out just as well, after all. He had no desire to gain any EXP from dumb monsters still in stripes. Now, what were they scrabbling over exactly...?

Papyrus’ soul froze in his chest.

It was his brother’s borrower. Sans had found the little creature living in their walls, and had for some reason decided they were safe to drop the tough act around. (Delta, he hated the awful ruse the two had to maintain outside the walls of their home. Papyrus cringed seeing his own brother in a collar, but it was better than having a pile of dust instead.) Luckily, his brother had been right. 

The borrower had quickly become Sans’ best companion, which Papyrus was glad for. (As much as Sans and Alphys got along, he didn’t trust her to not dust his brother one of these days, on purpose or not.) No one else knew of the little creature but Papyrus, who didn’t have much of a relationship with them. He just didn’t know how to approach them, honestly. The little thing was so meek and soft and no one survived the Underground like that anymore. Softness was beaten out of monsters at a young age, and he knew he terrified the borrower. So, for both of their sakes he’d stayed the hell away.

Obviously, he couldn’t afford that now. 

He threw his magic field out as wide as possible, and the only soul left in the area was the bright speck of the borrower, so he threw his persona to the wind and stooped down to where they laid in the snow. 

Oh god, they were bleeding. That was bad. He cupped his hands around them, and gentle as his big hands could manage scooped them from the ground. Their HP was pretty low, and they were shaking like a leaf. Was it pain? Fear? ...Were they afraid of him, still?

“p-pa...papyrus...” They weakly called out to him, tone watery and full of untold relief. They hugged his fingers as best they could, crying silent tears.

His soul swelled at their trust and simultaneously broke at how fragile a hold on life they had. He had to help, dammit. For the first time in what felt like ages, he pulled healing magic to pool in his hands, willing their wounds to close and the blood to stop leaking. 

This was terrifying on multiple levels, in that healing magic threw one’s intent open wide to the one receiving it. He knew all the concern, protectiveness, and fear he had for them was being laid bare by the required connection of the green glow flowing from his metacarpals. Well, he had no time to consider hesitation and given their lack of connection to magic he hoped they didn’t piece it all together. On another level of fear, he knew it wouldn’t be enough. As a youth he’d been the strongest healer in Snowdin. When things took a turn for the worst and healing magic became dangerous to practice, and violence became a horrible necessity, his adeptness had left him. He tried to tap into what used to be a plentiful well for this type of spell, but found the EXP he’d accrued (the lowest of any in the guard, he was proud to say) over the hard years felt like an impassable block. Damn his LV!

“...what... what are you doing? feels... warm. safe...” The borrower rasped.

He felt the stutter in the flow of magic, flinching but pushing forward anyways. “I’M HELPING YOU. JUST FOCUS ON THAT FEELING AND LET ME.” 

They gave him a weak sound of affirmation.

The blood did stop. But they still shook. He needed the med kit at home, the monster candy would have to do the rest of the work. Now that his focus wasn’t on channeling all the good intent he could muster into the tiny form in his hands, he could rush home. Again, he couldn’t outright sprint, but he definitely strode at a much faster pace than usual. 

“WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE WOODS? HOW DID YOU EVEN GET OUT THIS FAR? NO, IT DOESN’T MATTER NOW, BUT YOU NEED TO STAY AWAKE.”

“it’s cold...”

Ah, right. Organic beings and cold weren’t a good mix. ...Borrowers weren’t normally this blue, were they? Shit. They needed to warm up, and fast.

His body armor didn’t exactly offer much warmth, and even his scarf would be sub par considering the gapping that occurred from him being skeletal (not much neck to fill out a scarf, obviously.) He knew what he had to do but Delta he didn’t want to. 

His resolve melted when he felt the hold they’d kept on his thumb start to waver. If they fell asleep now, they wouldn’t wake up.

He found a secluded area and cycled a breath. “I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP. REMAIN CALM AND YOU’LL BE FINE.”

The speech was honestly more for him than them. Sans had already done this a few times, for less dire reasons. It had alway baffled Papyrus that the two seemed to enjoy what was about to happen, but at least now it would prevent them from panicking.

That didn’t help with his panic at all, unfortunately.

Another deep breath, and he tried to force himself to calm down. This was apparently skeletal tradition, taking someone in. But Papyrus had considered himself fortunate to never have to partake, not counting the times his brother had done it to him when he was a babybones. However, those were before he had any memories. There was just no good reason for adults to do anything of this sort in his mind. And yet, here he was. 

He was stalling, he knew it. Ugh, just get it over with, they’re literally dying in his hands!

His thoughts stilled and settled into firm resolve when their tiny body was wracked by a fit of painful sounding coughing. They needed him, whether either of them liked it or not.

“JUST STAY STILL.” he said, still mildly panicking.

As he couldn’t stall anymore, he decided to rush it instead. As soon as the borrower gave him confused but un-reluctant consent (Their mental state must have been even worse off than he’d originally thought to put this much faith in someone they barely knew.) he hastily shoved their body into his mouth. He felt them start to move in reaction to what he’d done but instead of letting that deter him, he ripped his skull back and swallowed firmly.

Now he couldn’t help but focus on the sensations of their descent. They felt like a block of ice slipping toward his core, except that he felt every twitch they made along the way. The heavy feeling settled at the base of his ribs, creating a pouch of magic to contain their tiny form. A tiny portion of the orb of cherry red magic. was visible under his armor, which he was able to obscure by somewhat awkwardly crossing is arms. He took his speedy march back up, heading straight for home. The sooner they were out, the better. 

He nearly fell over when they started petting at him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he hissed, face glowing with excess magic.

“You seem so tense... I’m trying to help....” 

He laughed, scrubbing his shaking hands over his face. “You nearly die, and you try to calm me down. A stranger. I don’t understand you, little one.”

“You’re not a stranger... You’re a friend...”

What? He wasn’t... They said...? He couldn’t process this now, he’d shut down if he didn’t give himself a task. “...We need to get you home.”

He only felt further baffled when the rubbing started again.

He texted his brother to come home immediately, and Sans was indeed there by the door when Papyrus arrived at their home.

“perimeter’s clear. ‘sup boss?” Sans asked, clearly concerned.

Papyrus uncrossed his arms and wasted no time in dispelling the magic pouch to remove the significantly less blue borrower. He presented them to Sans on a flat palm, saying “They were attacked in the woods. I did what I could, but they’ll need monster candy.”

Sans’ eyelights flickered out, but he took custody of the borrower without question and scuttled into the kitchen where the med kit was hidden. He heard both of their voices quietly exchanging and knew the borrower would be fine. 

Papyrus took his leave, retreating to his room. His job was done, leaving him to muddle through the questions this encounter had left with him. Why did they consider him a friend? Did he deserve that title?

Well, maybe instead he could take this show of faith from their side to break down his walls a little and reach back out to them in kind.

But that was later, after the healing was done.