#dopple!perseverance

[spotaus]

Typing this out and putting it in the Doppletale tag before it leaves my brain:

(Lots of Doppletale!Sans lore beneath the cut! Also, it is a Horror au so please check the tags for the trigger warnings before reading too far!!!)

Pretender(Sans) used to work in the lab.

He was alive on the surface, and worked as a merchant of sorts. He hardly remembers it now due to the pain of the memories (trauma response) and all he's got is the memories of the Stars and the Sun and maybe soft green grass. Mostly, though, he remembers those foggy nights when a traveler would happen upon him and his little traveling cart of a shop. When he'd invite them in, sell them some supplies, judge them. Some left. Some didn't. Dinner was always ready for him, hunting was never a struggle.

Of course, when the attacks started, people didn't know he was one of them. Such a friendly face, how could he be one of those things? The things that killed and maimed and tricked? He surely couldn't be... but he was. He picked up shop and retreated into the mountain with a hesitant mob guiding him. One of the few monsters who was sent off with an uneasy farewell rather than screams and destruction.

He'd been one of the ones who had supplies when they were locked away. Asgore and Toriel asked him for help, and Sans wasn't about to deny anyone that help. He let his supplies be divided amongst the people, he turned his attention to a new passion with his shop decidedly out of business. Making this place livable.

Eventually he started helping a team of folks. They were trying to construct something. The CORE. The head scientist (as the team deemed him) was W.D. Gaster. Sans had heard of him, a doctor who would take the bodies of dead human patients to sell, but never had they met before now. They meshed well, as did the other monsters on the team. They were efficient, and skilled, and made the place livable. More monsters moved out, and started building. Some sense of normalcy was nice.

And Sans kept working. Gaster kept working. Even through the first fallen human. Through their death. Through a monster named Alphys joining the team. Through the many, many fallen humans that followed. Through the days when monsters started to starve and their worked turned from how to free their kind, to how to feed them.

Sans still remembers the days when Gaster would put his head in his hands and slump tiredly over his papers. When they'd have just the barest slivers of soul to study so that their people could eat. The nights when the hunger got too much for some and... accidents... started happening at the lab. He remembers when everyone agreed that Gaster needed rations the most, as their most brilliant mind, and how he took that as almost an insult. How the Lab grew more and more quiet, until one day it was just him and Alphys.

It was just the two of them for... a long time.

Long enough that Sans watched the other scientist's confidence slip. After each mistake or failed attempt she'd started to give up. Sans couldn't exactly do anything to stop her. He just stayed by her side until the hunger took over, and he had to abandon his work at the lab too because, well... the supplies had run dry. The tests were all negative. And even though they'd found an alternative to the starvation, one that Asgore had put into motion, it wasn't pretty. (<- Cannibalizing other monsters to make Monster Candy and other magic food.)

When he left the lab he moved into Snowdin. He gave up on his human disguise almost entirely. The only thing that kept him going was that, well, one day a monster came to his door on the verge of dusting. They knew that Sans was well-off somehow. That he'd been strong back in the day. And they dusted there, not even explaining why they'd left their little bundle of a young monster with him.

Sans had likely only not fallen down because of that kid. Papyrus was a baby with no name, and no one seemed to remember his parents in Snowdin. So, sans had named him. Raised him. He was no father, so Brother did just fine. Paps decided that he wanted to look like the man that Sans had pictures with around the house (Gaster) and so he did. His proportions were a bit too long, and he was a skeleton like Sans, but he was Papyrus. That was perfect.

And so Sans (Pretender) provided for them. He taught Paps. He talked to his mysterious friend through the door. He tried, and failed, to save the little human boy that reminded him so much of his old boss. He nearly gave up. And then another human soul came along. The very last who would move through the underground, at least if they had anything to say about it.

This Final Human met Pretender (Sans) with so much fear, but still met him. Through the power of a promise, a sheer stubborn will, and a judgement proven right, he watched this human traverse the underground. He harbored her for many months (years? It was easy to lose track of time) and it felt like treason. At first. A betrayal of his role as Judge. And yet each day grew easier. He stopped watching with rigid focus, trying not to let himself lash out, and instead started watching her with apprehension, fearing that every monster she passed might hurt her.

Sometimes, more often than he'd admit, an intrusive thought would slip through. A moment of weakness where his mind would conjure her gruesome death before his eyes, and a ripping pain of guilt in his chest. But he'd blink, and shake it off, and remember to breathe because she was still alive and okay. And every single day he'd be amazed at her audacity. Her commitment. And once he noticed, he'd again be afraid for her. Her soul forcing her to react, a thing he'd only ever seen years ago on the surface, a thing he'd forgotten about and had never cared to study.

To him, once upon a time, humans were nothing more than livestock. Clever livestock, sure, but to him sparing some had been little less than a farmer sparing his favorite cow from slaughter another day. This was different. Being so long without a soul who failed his judgement, he couldn't imagine thinking about things the way he once had. Which was bad. His people were starving. And yet the human's death wouldn't feed them all, and somehow she just kept convincing more and more people that she could help. That they didn't need to eat her. She was insane, and wonderful, and had changed his mind more easily than a hot knife through butter.

Whether that was his nature or her conviction, he didn't care to debate.

[sometimes-life-gets-hard]

Basically Lexi calling Callum “daddy” that’s it.

Ben had a long day at the arches. The last bloke - Mr. John - really did his head in. Making all these crazy demands not listening to Ben at all, clearly thinking he knew more about his car than anyone else. “Idiot”, Ben muttered under his breath making his way home.

Callum has really only been home for about an hour and since Kathy was looking after Lex all day he offered to look after her until dinner. It’s not like he’d never done it before. Lex was used to him by now, last week she demanded he read her a bedtime story instead of Ben which - made Callum’s heart swell in his chest and even more so when he saw the surprised but happy half-grin, half-confused look on Ben’s face as he handed Callum the book over saying “Alright then” and a little quieter, just for Callum: “What have you done with my girl, ey?” Callum couldn’t hold the grin back that spread across his face. “Twist her around my little finger - just as I did with you.” He laught. “Oi” Ben was flirting, this wasn’t good. “I want to have words with you once you read my baby princess her good night story.” - Clearly more than words were had that night. But that’s why Callum thought, ‘this can’t be too bad right? We get along, just a quick hour until Ben’s here for dinner.’ It’s been 45 minutes now and Callum feels like he’s worked a dopple shift in the Vic, how can anyone have this much energy? They have already played Twister, Memory and Miss Watson which was Lex’s invention where Callum was Sherlock Holmes and Lex was Miss Watson, who was really the brain of the operation - obviously. At the moment they were just about to crack the case.

Ben entered the house through the kitchen, going straight to the kitchen sink, filling up a big glass with water and gulping it down. He really needed that. He closed his eyes for a second and tried to calm himself down, he didn’t want Callum or Lexi to see him like this. That’s when he heard their voices. “No Mr Holmes that makes no sense at all”, he heard Lexi proclaim. “Mr Teddy can’t have been the bad guy because he was with me the whole day.” She stretched the word ‘whole’ extra long to make clear that there was absolutely no chance of him being anywhere else that day. Ben smiled. He got Lexi a children’s version of the Sherlock Holmes stories for her birthday because he knew how much she loved to read. Since then she was obsessed and now it seems like Callum has fallen victim to her games again. It can be quite cute but Lex also has perseverance! These games can take hours and Lex won’t get tired of finding new clues and making up new stories. Ben really loved how clever and creative she turned out. He is so proud of her already. He was just about to go and rescue Callum when Lexi said something that made him stop dead in his tracks in the doorway to the living room. “No you can’t talk to Mrs Rabbit, you have to interview Mr Rabbit okay daddy Callum?“ Callum visibly freezed aswell. Lexi looks at Callum, clearly waiting for a responds. For a second it feels like the world stops. Then Ben find’s his vocal cords again that got tangled up in the strings of his beating heart. “What’s this then?”, he asks entering the living room? “Daddy!” Lexi screams running into Ben’s arms. “Hello princess”, he greets her, “how was your day?” “It was so good daddy! Mr Granger gave me a star for my math test!” She told him excited. “Well you are a clever star aren’t you?” Ben tickled her. Then he looked over to Callum who still stood where Lexi had left him. “Hi”, Ben said smiling. “Daddy Callum”, he teased him. Finally Callum broke out into a grin. “Hi”.

[oodlesndoodles]

SCREAMING OH NY GOODNESS GRAVY

AHAHAHAHHAJAUHQHHHHH

This.. this is torture how DRAE THY MAKE SUCH ART UQGWHWJO

I need more, eating this up like it’s my only and last meal ever

consuming, breathing

Typing this out and putting it in the Doppletale tag before it leaves my brain:

(Lots of Doppletale!Sans lore beneath the cut! Also, it is a Horror au so please check the tags for the trigger warnings before reading too far!!!)

Pretender(Sans) used to work in the lab.

He was alive on the surface, and worked as a merchant of sorts. He hardly remembers it now due to the pain of the memories (trauma response) and all he's got is the memories of the Stars and the Sun and maybe soft green grass. Mostly, though, he remembers those foggy nights when a traveler would happen upon him and his little traveling cart of a shop. When he'd invite them in, sell them some supplies, judge them. Some left. Some didn't. Dinner was always ready for him, hunting was never a struggle.

Of course, when the attacks started, people didn't know he was one of them. Such a friendly face, how could he be one of those things? The things that killed and maimed and tricked? He surely couldn't be... but he was. He picked up shop and retreated into the mountain with a hesitant mob guiding him. One of the few monsters who was sent off with an uneasy farewell rather than screams and destruction.

He'd been one of the ones who had supplies when they were locked away. Asgore and Toriel asked him for help, and Sans wasn't about to deny anyone that help. He let his supplies be divided amongst the people, he turned his attention to a new passion with his shop decidedly out of business. Making this place livable.

Eventually he started helping a team of folks. They were trying to construct something. The CORE. The head scientist (as the team deemed him) was W.D. Gaster. Sans had heard of him, a doctor who would take the bodies of dead human patients to sell, but never had they met before now. They meshed well, as did the other monsters on the team. They were efficient, and skilled, and made the place livable. More monsters moved out, and started building. Some sense of normalcy was nice.

And Sans kept working. Gaster kept working. Even through the first fallen human. Through their death. Through a monster named Alphys joining the team. Through the many, many fallen humans that followed. Through the days when monsters started to starve and their worked turned from how to free their kind, to how to feed them.

Sans still remembers the days when Gaster would put his head in his hands and slump tiredly over his papers. When they'd have just the barest slivers of soul to study so that their people could eat. The nights when the hunger got too much for some and... accidents... started happening at the lab. He remembers when everyone agreed that Gaster needed rations the most, as their most brilliant mind, and how he took that as almost an insult. How the Lab grew more and more quiet, until one day it was just him and Alphys.

It was just the two of them for... a long time.

Long enough that Sans watched the other scientist's confidence slip. After each mistake or failed attempt she'd started to give up. Sans couldn't exactly do anything to stop her. He just stayed by her side until the hunger took over, and he had to abandon his work at the lab too because, well... the supplies had run dry. The tests were all negative. And even though they'd found an alternative to the starvation, one that Asgore had put into motion, it wasn't pretty. (<- Cannibalizing other monsters to make Monster Candy and other magic food.)

When he left the lab he moved into Snowdin. He gave up on his human disguise almost entirely. The only thing that kept him going was that, well, one day a monster came to his door on the verge of dusting. They knew that Sans was well-off somehow. That he'd been strong back in the day. And they dusted there, not even explaining why they'd left their little bundle of a young monster with him.

Sans had likely only not fallen down because of that kid. Papyrus was a baby with no name, and no one seemed to remember his parents in Snowdin. So, sans had named him. Raised him. He was no father, so Brother did just fine. Paps decided that he wanted to look like the man that Sans had pictures with around the house (Gaster) and so he did. His proportions were a bit too long, and he was a skeleton like Sans, but he was Papyrus. That was perfect.

And so Sans (Pretender) provided for them. He taught Paps. He talked to his mysterious friend through the door. He tried, and failed, to save the little human boy that reminded him so much of his old boss. He nearly gave up. And then another human soul came along. The very last who would move through the underground, at least if they had anything to say about it.

This Final Human met Pretender (Sans) with so much fear, but still met him. Through the power of a promise, a sheer stubborn will, and a judgement proven right, he watched this human traverse the underground. He harbored her for many months (years? It was easy to lose track of time) and it felt like treason. At first. A betrayal of his role as Judge. And yet each day grew easier. He stopped watching with rigid focus, trying not to let himself lash out, and instead started watching her with apprehension, fearing that every monster she passed might hurt her.

Sometimes, more often than he'd admit, an intrusive thought would slip through. A moment of weakness where his mind would conjure her gruesome death before his eyes, and a ripping pain of guilt in his chest. But he'd blink, and shake it off, and remember to breathe because she was still alive and okay. And every single day he'd be amazed at her audacity. Her commitment. And once he noticed, he'd again be afraid for her. Her soul forcing her to react, a thing he'd only ever seen years ago on the surface, a thing he'd forgotten about and had never cared to study.

To him, once upon a time, humans were nothing more than livestock. Clever livestock, sure, but to him sparing some had been little less than a farmer sparing his favorite cow from slaughter another day. This was different. Being so long without a soul who failed his judgement, he couldn't imagine thinking about things the way he once had. Which was bad. His people were starving. And yet the human's death wouldn't feed them all, and somehow she just kept convincing more and more people that she could help. That they didn't need to eat her. She was insane, and wonderful, and had changed his mind more easily than a hot knife through butter.

Whether that was his nature or her conviction, he didn't care to debate.