Nothing says accidental network post like pocket dialing.

[justribbing]

[ At first, it's all black, just the loud, raspy sound of cotton against a receiver, until the image is just of dim blue interrupted by bars of fuzzy black as the rasping cuts out. Having apparently accidentally activated his phone while extracting it from his hoodie's pocket, Sans swings himself upright with the sort of hollowed-out and unreceptive expression that belongs to those who just woke up far earlier than intended.

He had pulled his phone from his pocket because it was digging into his hip. Now? He blearily gazes down on it like it offended him down to his bones. Several ways to Sunday. Not that he has much of a right to complain; of those who were snatched away for a few days under inexplicable circumstances, Sans was perhaps the last to return, crashed for a few hours, and once his phone had recharged itself on the ambient free energy transfer from the generator, a few careless movements had activated it.

It's not like anybody woke him. In any case, it's only 10:00 PM or so, and whatever ruined timepiece makes up his "internal clock" is surely totally messed up by now.

He tosses the phone aside. From its now awkward, ceiling-fixed angle, it still picks up his staggering silhouette shuffling away in a corner of the view screen. ]

Heh. Runnin' on empty. You want anything?

[ It's debatable if anyone answers, at least, in his room anyway. ]

Comments

[satanslash]

Oi. Sans. Were you intendin' on askin' the entire castle that?

1/2

[justribbing]

[ There's a distant sound of one of the doors creaking open, and Sans can be heard asking something to the tune of: ]

Didja say something?

[ There's a more nearby rustle, and Sans returns to the side of what is, presumably, his bed. He shrugs. ]

Guess not.

[ That's when he notices the phone, briefly blotting out the image with his hand as he grasps it and starts back out the door. ]

2/2

[justribbing]

[ When Sans uncovers his phone, he grins down (albeit sleepily) at the screen. ]

Heeey, pal. Sup?

[ Sans, he didn't call you, you called everyone. ]

[satanslash]

Dude, you called us. Don't 'sup' me.

[Rin scowls faintly, eventually releasing a sigh as he grumbles something to himself before demanding of Sans:]

Th' hell did you go?

[He may not have been active in all of the searches, but it would have been impossible to miss the news that Sans and several others were mysteriously missing - items left as if they were still in the castle but showing no signs of being dead, either.

And considering one of them had been Yukio...]

[justribbing]

Wouldja believe me if I said an actual resort?

[ He huffs a chuckle. ]

Me neither, but it's true.

[springlocking]

... You dialed the entire network on accident, didn't you.

[She thinks about it for a moment before adding:]

A friend of yours was pretty worried, by the way. Might want to check in with them.

[Wouldn't want them thinking he was dead, after all. Dead friends are the worst.]

[justribbing]

[ Why respond to her question when the answer is obvious? He's shuffling along -- groggy as he is, he isn't risking a shortcut. Besides, the 'commute' is a heck of a lot shorter now that he lives on the first floor. ]

Heh. Good one. C'mon, I've taken longer naps.

[ His shrug speaks volumes of nonchalance. One hand comes up to cover what sounds like a yawn, even though he doesn't actually... part his jaw or anything. ]

Whozzat?

/handwaves name issue by way of temporary memory derp

[springlocking]

I'm not a joker, remember? Don't recall if I caught their name, though. They specifically said you were a friend of their partner and their mother, if that's any help.

[justribbing]

Yeah? So the tomato was a fluke, huh? Good to know, kid.

[ There's nary a change about his smile. ]

Chara?

[ Another shrug. ]

Fuhgeddaboudit. We had a chat. S'all good now.

[Video]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko is simultaneously relieved and incredibly annoyed. She considers responding with text so she doesn't snap at him, but you know what? She thinks it's warranted.]

Did you even let anyone know you were back?

[Video]

[justribbing]

[ It sure is warranted. She can be as sharp as he deserves, but Sans still looks like he could use some strong coffee (or a stiffer drink) when he grins down at his phone. ]

Guess I just saved myself the trouble.

[ He isn't even contrite, what a jerk. ...But if he spares the puns with her, that's less MERCY than the fact that most of them get lost in translation. ]

Wasn't even gone that long, c'mon. It was, what. A day? I've had longer naps.

[Video]

[daughterofursa]

[Don't grin at her like that.]

Try three days. No one could find you.

Where were you?

[Video]

[justribbing]

[ Three days? That prompts a low whistle through his teeth.

But good luck getting this grin off his face, it's stuck that way. Cautionary tale of why you shouldn't make funny faces for too long. ]

Not here. Some kinda-- [ He holds up a hand to make airquotes, or at least, half of them. ] "resort". Lotta weirdos, nothin' dangerous.

Still ain't so sure I believe it happened, myself. It was a real trip.

[Audio]

[freedom_engineer]

There you are. Yeesh, had me worried there for a while.

[Audio]

[justribbing]

What, no contingency plan for a case of castle sans Sans?

C'mon, man.

[freedom_engineer]

I've found that most people I know are uncomfortable with me programming a synthetic intelligence to simulate their presence in the event of their absence.

I've also found that many people are prone to not believing that what I just said is a joke.

[justribbing]

[ He chuckles. ]

Yeah? But imagine the sweet japes you could pull off with a program like that.

[Nothing]

[heritrix]

[...Idiot.

Rin closes out of the network without responding, trusting someone else will chew him out throughly. He really isn't good with others, is he? Well, annoying as that is, Rin can't help but feel a little relieved he's back anyways. If only for the sake of a certain person.]

[Later >>> Action]

[heritrix]

[Rin doesn't particularly like her roommate. That was fine. In her mind, she's not here to make friends, nor does she need special accommodations like a private room. The plan has always been to get in and out of the castle as fast as possible, to return to her world for the fight that really matters. To her Holy Grail War, and the people she left behind in it.

In and out. An undesirable roommate is the least of her problems; just something to put up with. But it's going on three months now, and then that happened and...

Put simply, she needed a break away. Staying in that room for another night wasn't an option. So Rin had packed up a change of clothes along with some other necessary things, put together a nice thermos of tea, and made a place for herself to camp out for the night in the altar room. Some of the echo flowers Chara requested back in May are still lingering around, thanks to their experiments — that includes a few that are thriving under the long stairway. Those are the ones Rin has been treating specifically with her own mana, so she's familiar with the spot. Careful not to disturb too much, she set up a pillow and blanket under the darkest corner of the stairs, nestled where anyone wandering through the mess hall late at night wouldn't be able to see her easily. And then she went to sleep.

Or so was the plan. She's been out her since half after 2 AM and... She doesn't really know what time it is now, but things have gotten weird. There are whispers, but they aren't coming from the echo flowers. Right in the seconds where she feels she could nod off, they're there like a mouth next to the shell of her ear, somehow far away and intimate all at once.

A legion of them, and there's not a word she can understand but a sense of wrongness prevails all the same. The kind of feeling you get where you wake up wondering if there's a demon sitting on the edge of your bed, reaching out to grab your foot. There's nothing there each time she jerks back awake, but she can't shake the feeling that something is out there, creeping closer like black ivy.

With all of the ghouls in the castle, it's not impossible. Forcing herself to think critically, Rin would also bet good money on a curse. She's already put Koo back inside his pokeball for this reason to protect him, in case it would impact him too. For herself, she'd considered swallowing a gem, using it's magical energy to protect her body and mind from those kinds of spiritual attacks. In the event it failed, maybe she could still fall asleep and understand what the voices are saying more deeply.

And that feels like a slippery slope. The potential return she could gain doesn't balance out with all of the risks, so she's going to deny communing with evil for tonight, thank you.

It's impossible to sleep like this; for the most part she's laid quietly on her side, glaring into shadows and determined not to let whatever's out there see her squirm. Just when she thinks she has it tuned to static, however, something always makes her jerk violently, afraid for no reason. Despite that paranoia that makes the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, she only reasons she must be really tired for something to get to her like this.

And get to her it does. The next time her eyes fly open, her hand is in her bag and wrapped violently around the hilt of her Azoth dagger like she needs it. Rin's as annoyed with herself at this point as she is whatever trick this is of the Queen's, finally getting her to hiss angrily at the dark. Her words are barely above a whisper, but the echo flowers nearby catch onto them all the same, rippling like a wave to anyone who might be passing close enough to hear.

shut up shut up shut up shhhhh]

[justribbing]

[ There's a low noise, like a buzzing. Intermittent, with no real pattern. Getting a little louder, just a little, until: ]

-in.

[ Something closes cold around her shoulder. ]

Rin. Hey.

[ There's a shape here, white and dark and hunched down in front of her, two points of light staring out at her through a pair of hollow pits. Rin, the Echo Flowers drone, over and over, Rin. Hey.

Sans has no idea what it is her fingers are coiled around, he just thinks she's been trying to get something out of her bag, she's saying something, more like hissing it, and the fact that she doesn't seem to be all there just yet is... creeping him the hell out.

With the whispering so close and so constant, seeing a skeleton stooped down in front of her is probably just a little alarming. ]

Hey! The hell're you--

[soundmind]

Hey, dumbass, who told you that you could just take off like that?

[WAKE UP UNCLE.]

[justribbing]

Nice to hear from you, too, kiddo.

[audio]

[dreamalittledreem]

Hey, um- I don't think you meant to send this.

[But whaddya know, it works out fine, because he knows someone who will be super relieved to see him back. Well. Two someones.]

Chara was looking for you, and I think they were pretty worried.

[audio]

[justribbing]

[ Sure is the crown prince. Hey, kiddo. As good-natured as his tone and manner usually is with the child, Sans still tends to give him these... Uh. Knowing looks that probably aren't too comfortable for a guilty soul. But he hasn't done or said anything besides be distantly gregarious, so surely it's alright, right?

Right. It's the same tone of amused half-interest here: ]

Never would'a guessed. Just kidding ya, buddo. Already ran into 'em. It's fine.

[ Not really. ]

[audio]

[dreamalittledreem]

[Right... It doesn't stir up gross feelings in his stomach or make him avoid looking the guy in the eye too often. Not at all.]

Right... Well, I'm glad you're alright.

[A pause. Maybe just long enough for Sans to think that's it and reach to cut the call, but-]

Have you been here as long as they have?

[He needs to get to the bottom of this, seriously.]