#some staff member says some stupid shit and skull is just repeating 'bite him bite him bite him bite him bite h-'

[llamagoddessofficial]

Just curious… what would it take for Skull to finally break through in the DCA au?

Here are a few of the situations that could allow Skull to surface.

Generally, Skull doesn't try to make a break for it. He's grown accustomed to being in the passenger seat, and he's usually too distracted feeling exactly what the other two are feeling to be thinking all that hard about escaping. Also, taking control is a lot of mental effort, considering how the other two will be fighting so hard to get him back down again... he sees/hears/feels exactly what they do, so he doesn't feel like he's missing out on much.

Breaks for it tend to happen when there's a dissonance in what Skull is feeling vs. what the current controller of the body is feeling.

High emotions. When tempers flare Sans and Red aren't concentrating on keeping him down, and his pushes are more successful. This can be disastrous, considering they all share a body/mind and what makes them upset tends to make him upset too- Skull might get so mad he needs to step in. Whoever was stupid enough to piss off the DCA might find themselves seeing a flash of purple before they mysteriously awaken in a hospital bed.

... That could also mean good high emotions, though. For example... the cute daycare assistant just arrived for work and everyone's happy to see her, and Skull suddenly desperately wants to be the one to greet her.

Equally, very mellow moments might allow him to slip through. If Red/Sans are tired, or very chilled out, they might not even notice he's pushed into the driver's seat. A kiss from a lovely assistant might cause a few seconds of flustered purple staring.

He sometimes gets out when Sans/Red are switching places. Especially if the switch was unexpected; ie, a light turning on without warning. He'd only really get a few seconds with that one, though.

If Skull gets extremely excited about something, his happy stims bleed through into Red or Sans' movements.

Any sign language Red/Sans use is them asking Skull to talk for them.

There's only one thing that would guarantee him coming out- the mishandling of a child by Red or Sans. This very rarely happens, because they share all the same childcare protocols and skills, but... at the end of the day, they were built to deal with different kinds of kid. Red's best with hyperactive toddlers, Sans is best with small tots and babies, Skull is best with kids with complex care needs. If a child is having a meltdown and Sans/Red aren't handling it properly, nothing can stop Skull. He notices when the lights are too bright. He notices when the snack textures are too much, when the blankets are too tight/not tight enough, when it's too loud, when there's too many kids and the social pressure becomes too great. He sees things Red and Sans don't see.