logsville | the 1961 advent calendar sucked, huh?

Entry tags:

the 1961 advent calendar sucked, huh?

Who: Daylight & Various.
When: Post-December 21 & Post-December 25.
Where: Uptown (Blue Moon Diner) and Loomis Drive.
What: Closed prompt for

hydraulics and a quick catch-all for post event interactions.
Warnings: Possible descriptions of And All Through The House's events. Will update as necessary.

CLOSED PROMPT. (FOR MACE.)
It made sense to meet here.

Daylight had become a bit more practical over the years and he took some lessons to ~~core~~ heart these days. It never hurt to meet new faces in public places, even if you have shared circumstances with each other. The Blue Moon Diner was busy enough at night that there was a sense of activity to keep things from being too spooky but it was still enough that he liked to think a proper conversation could take place.

It helps that the bizarre weather is letting up (for now), the snowfall something more manageable for both travel and comfort. It made the Christmas music playing and the soft, peppy chatter of the other scattered customers less disconcerting to hear.

"-Oh! Hey there." Upon spotting the man, Daylight stands up from the booth he's sitting on, putting out his hand in an offer of a handshake. "Nice to meet you in person." Daylight gives a little grin, self-deprecating and bashful in a way. "Sorry if I'm not all that impressive to see. They had to tweak me a bit so I fit right in, I guess"

OPEN PROMPT. (FOR POST-DECEMBER 25.)
At least he got a consolation prize.

Standing on the doorstep of his home in Loomis Drive, bundled up for a hike through the mountains than a trip through the town, Daylight couldn't help but chuckle when he opened his present. He's tickled pink upon seeing what he got, turning it this way and that as if to make sure it's real. Well... It's a book. One about prayers, too, so there's that. The quality of the book intrigues him and so is the fact it's clearly meant for kids. He wonders if that's connected to...

"Hmm?" Daylight, hearing the crunch of snow ahead of him, looks up. He grins in relief when he sees they're not sporting a too-wide grin, probably sporting a look of WTFness and confusion like he had upon waking up. Someone like him then, he bets/hopes. "Hey there. Noticed anything different about today?"

Like how it's completely normal?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sans's expression is best defined as cautious--sure, things seem to be alright so far, and the snowmen are gone, but Sans hasn't decided things are actually completely safe yet. But it is Christmas/Gyftmas, and Sans is not missing out on giving Papyrus some gifts, which he's carrying around in a paper grocery bag. He has to make sure Papyrus doesn't see him sneak in, though, so he's got plenty of time to say hi to Daylight.

"Well, I haven't gotten a trip to the lake yet, but there's still a lot of time left today."

Daylight manages a tired grin at the mention of the lake. He didn't have as much bad luck with it compared to others but one or two times is enough. “Let’s hope you can stay busy enough to not need to do that.”

He held up the book in his hand. “Did you get something from Santa Claus, too? I wrote him a letter and asked for a gift for Agatha—“ Who he hopes is doing better now. It all seems to have returned to normal and he hopes it included her. He hasn’t checked on her yet. “—and got this. Points for effort, I guess.”

"Nah, I didn't write a letter." At least, that's the lie Sans is going to tell Papyrus, so it's easier if he just tells everyone the same thing. Never mind that the gift he got from Santa, now addressed to Papyrus, is also in his paper bag. "I'm guessin' that's not exactly what you were expecting?"

Sans checked his own before carefully rewrapping it, and while racecar slippers are sort of similar, they're not exactly a racecar bed.

"Nope." He's flipping through the pages now, showing them to Sans now and then. "Agatha was hoping for a Bible, whatever that is, and I was trying to double her chances by asking for it too."

He hopes she had better luck with her request. He hopes she cares whether she has better luck or not. This weird version he's been with for the last week or so has been unnerving. "Well- I guess out of all the things that happened in the past week, this bottom of the totem pole for sucky things. At least we have tangible proof of something happening."

He guesses. Daylight will not be surprised if this, like, gives him the deadliest papercut or something if he's not careful.

Sans is pretty sure a Bible is a human religion thing, but 'human religion thing' is the extent of his knowledge. Well, Daylight isn't (supposed to be) a human, judging by his network posts, so it shouldn't be weird if Sans just doesn't comment on it specifically at all. Prayers for Children, though...

"Maybe you should'a told Santa how old Agatha was in your letter. But it doesn't look like it's shooting out magic laser beams or anything, so I guess it's fine."

Okay, that probably wouldn't happen. Everything had a theme; it would clearly be magic ice beams.

"Specified how old Agatha..." Daylight's brow furrows at the thought before he suddenly smacks his forehead, cursing. "You're right! Argh- I should have mentioned she was, like, my wife or something."

But he did, didn't he? It's not like he can check past notes or anything once they've been shipped out. He sighs, crossing his arms in disappointment. "Definitely keeping that in mind if something like this happens again." He pauses, frowning. "If it happens again. Weird how this happens right after everything.

"Speaking of everything- You good?" He leans against the doorway and there's no hiding the genuine concern on his face. "I was pretty worried for you and Kiara and the others at the height of the blizzard. It was pretty rough."

Sans shrugs languidly. "I'm not dead, so I think I did pretty good." Especially with how many times he ended up in the lake. Even with leaving all the doors he could open and climbing out windows when he could, it was still several times. And he got chased by the deer creatures. Makes the snowman thing seem almost trivial, but he's glad those are gone too. "Never been through a blizzard like that before. What about you?"

Snowdin had snow, but being under a mountain didn't give it enough weather patterns for anything like what they'd gotten here. It could have been kind of fun under better circumstances.

Rubbing the back of his head, Daylight thinned his lips while trying to stir up some fainter memories for a response. "... It's been strange, I guess. Between having this body and the whole situation with Agatha-"

He pauses and turns around to look into his house, his expression one of nervousness. When he's sure that no one (obviously Agatha) didn't overhear him, Daylight continues: "Yeah. This has been a fucky holiday season. All I can hope now is that she goes back to normal or something. And soon. It's... weird living with her."

Sans's expression clouds just a little. It's clear he's trying not to show it--his eyes remain steady, but the rest of his face shifts, and it takes a moment before he gets the whole thing under control. "I've been around town a bit; she's not the only one who ended up like that. It's pretty messed up."

That might be more frightening than anything else. Maybe everyone living here, even the ones who say they've been here the whole time, was kidnapped and changed.

Daylight looks clearly alarmed when he hears that comment from Sans, leaning forward so they can keep this conversation between themselves. The snowmen are now gone but the townsfolk are, obviously, still around.

"Who? Who else is... like Agatha?" Anyone that he knows? Daylight's newly acquired stomach twists, trying to figure out who he's seen and who he hasn't seen.

"Papyrus snapped out of it, eventually," Sans says--and that's all he says about Papyrus's situation, because he doesn't really want to think about it. But Daylight should know that it can end. "Saw some other people around who I saw actin' normal at that Christmas party, too. Don't know how they're doin' now."

Daylight looks sympathetic to hear about what happened to Papyrus. "Oh shit... I'm glad he's okay." Given his brief introduction and acquaintancing with Agatha, he can only imagine what it must have been like for Sans when he came across his brother in that state.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to check on the others now. Everything's calmed down and turned back to normal... So it applies to them, right?" Right?

"Could be," Sans says, which is only slightly better than 'don't get your hopes up'. "It seems like everything's stopped, but it's only been a day, so don't go running off to that Christmas village if it's still around or anything."

Not that Sans would stop him, but Daylight is pretty cool. Sans would rather he did not throw himself into the jaws of deer creatures, if they're still hanging around that place.

Daylight seems to have an encounter (or two) with the deer creatures because the mention of the Christmas village has him scrunching up his face in horror. Between nearly freezing to death and close encounters of the deer kind, he thinks he's had enough of the village and makes it clear enough:

"Don't worry, Sans- I am definitely not going to be poking around there unless I have a baseball bat with me." That said... It does remind him to check on the supplies he left behind. It'll be nice to not lose his things, you know? "You think we're in the clear now? No more weird stuff happening anymore?"

Sans has to wonder just how hard Daylight plans on being able to swing that bat. But he did see Takame fight one of those things with his bare hands, so maybe human bodies are just--like that? Well, Sans isn't going to try anything like that out with his. As far as things being safe now, well, Sans isn't ready to commit.

"It's probably different weird stuff happening right now, if anything's happening."

Daylight winces at the possibility something different is going to happen but he sighs, nodding in agreement. "Yeah... That's true."

There's no way they'll be let off the hook that easily. Especially with what happened. Hopefully, they can get a bit of a break, or this break (if it is one) lingers for a bit. "Looking forward to 1962, then? New year, new chances to figure out what the hell is going on."

The new year... A celebration of time going forward. Even if it's gone backward, or something, Sans does like the idea in spite of himself. In spite of himself, because it's not like time is normal here, they missed November, he can hardly remember October. But, well.

"Hey, I'm always up for an excuse to eat more food. I've got a pretty bad habit of fallin' asleep before midnight gets here, though."

But this time maybe not. Just to see things go forward. (He'll be disappointed, later.)

(That is going to be a shared feeling, at least.)

Daylight cracks a big grin, a genuine bubble of laughter escaping him. "Well then! That means I just need to call you five minutes to midnight to make sure you're awake." And he will keep calling too, just in case. He knows from personal experience of waking up and falling back to sleep. He knows. "After all, you never called me in to help clean your Christmas tree. I still owe you a helping hand in something."

"Oh boy, my own personal wake up call." Usually that's Papyrus's job; hopefully Papyrus will be excited to know the job is now being outsourced. "I might just leave the tree up, actually. It's great."

How long will he be allowed to get away with that? Only time will tell.

May Papyrus be allowed to sleep in and enjoy said sleeping-in.

"Really?" Daylight's eyes twinkle at the thought of that. A Christmas tree in, like, the middle of July or something. That's hilarious. "Well, you did pay a lot for it and endured it being tied to your roof upright. Unless it vanished on, like, the first day of January, I think you should be allowed to do whatever you want with the tree."

He had been informed that, no, that's not how you tie things up on roofs of cars. His bad.

"It's too bad the car didn't fit in the garage like that," Sans says, and it sounds like he means it--that was hilarious and he would have loved to just leave it there like that. "If Lorna takes it down I won't stop her, I guess. But I'm at least keeping the pickle tree stocked."

Daylight may have seen those at the Christmas gala! Sans stole one.

Judging by the incredulous and amused expression that comes and goes on Daylight’s face, he’s must certainly saw those weird pickel trees during the gala.

“How did you—“ He laughs, finally realising how Sans got his hands on it. “Oh wow, I really need to drop by your house one of these days. Just to see what the decor looks like.”

After he gets a chuckle out, Daylight clears his throat, trying to look and sound more sincere and serious for this next bit, while he still can, “Also— I’m glad you’re doing okay. After, you know, everything that’s gone down.”

"Start sayin' stuff like that and I'm gonna trip into an open sewer or somethin'," Sans says, but he appreciates it anyway and it shows on his face just a bit. "Glad to know you didn't get eaten by deer either, though."

Daylight laughs and nods, tugging his bathrobe to the side to show the gnarly-looking bruises on his chest. "Had a pretty nasty encounter with them but yeah. I'm glad I didn't get eaten either." He fixes his bathrobe up and sighs, thinking about his encounter with them. "With how everyone is back to normal, I hope that means those nasty things are long gone."

Oh, Daylight... If you only knew they're permanently part of the town fauna and flora now. (Well. You will. Very soon. Still.)

As far as handshakes go, it’s fairly ordinary; and sure, there’s some folks who might say you can't tell what a person's like just by their handshake. But those people probably have the grip, temperature, and texture of a cold fish, because Mace tends to use it as a barometer as to the kind of person he's meeting, and he hasn’t been wrong yet.

Right about now, that barometer's telling him that — incredibly advanced life-form or not — Daylight’s a good kid. Solid. Decent. And Mace’s own grip is firm and warm, as blunt as he himself is and as straightforward, sharp blue eyes taking stock of Daylight’s appearance for a brief, intent moment. The friendliness and touch of self-deprecation he finds there helps solidify his feelings.

“Well, they did a terrible job,” Mace says dryly, and it’s his usual odd, grandpa-like humour, “You stick out like a sore, very impressive thumb.”

He softens the delivery with a quick wink to let Daylight know he’s just kidding, before his hand falls back to his side. A waitress squeezes by the two of them with a wide, marionette smile, and although he steps aside dutifully to let her pass, Mace’s expression goes momentarily stony, watching her with open suspicion. It’s only when she’s out of the way that he turns back to Daylight, lowering his voice a bit.

“It’s good to meet you, too. How’s the food in this place? Any less ... jellied than the stuff the neighbours’ve been foisting on everybody?”

Spoken with a eyebrow raise, as though what he’s really asking is — is the food here safe?

"Definitely less jellied from what I've seen so far." Daylight needs to stay his tongue from his usual rant against gelatin, knowing the reason both of them are there for at the diner.

Maybe another time when it's more appropriate.

"But," he continues, "I can't exactly vouch for the bestsellers here. Never tried it before and it's late enough that I don't feel like eating just anything. Want to watch what I eat, you know?"

Meaning: He isn't sure whether or not the food is safe. Not only that but he's not going to go out of his way to try out the whole menu to see if that's the case. Much as Daylight wants to give the majority of the town the benefit of the doubt, they both know they have to be careful and not walk into anything too obvious. (Plus- If both of them can get away with lingering here long as they can without ordering from the menu, that'll be an interesting thing.)

But- Right

"So..." Daylight pauses, trying to find a way to word his offer-slash-approach to this conversation. "Anything you want to ask in particular? Like something not brought up on our last chat and stuff? I'm pretty open to sharing stuff." He grins here, genuine and trying. "Because, you know, we're in this together. Don't see any reason to be hiding stuff from you guys."

Want to watch what I eat, you know, he says, and Mace groks his meaning more or less immediately. He gives a subtle nod to let Daylight know that he gets it — they’ll play it safe, for now.

“We are in this together,” Mace agrees, settling back into his booth; and there’s something soft around the corners of his mouth as he does so. That had been the refrain, back on Earth, when the news of the Sun’s slow, approaching death had first spread. It hadn’t held true among everyone, in the years that had followed — but that didn’t make it any less true, did it? Even here.

“And to be honest, I’ve got a ton of questions. Where I’m from, we still haven’t made first contact, so ... this is. Every astronaut’s dream come true, frankly.”

To say nothing of every astronomer and amateur space buff. Mace tilts his head and gives Daylight a brief, considering look before adding, “But I feel like you’ve probably had a lot of that. A barrage of questions the moment folks find out who you are. Humans don’t have the best of manners on a good day, and it’d be a real—”

Dick move, is what Mace had been about to say, but he stops himself just in time with a cough.

“A real shame,” he finishes instead, “If I just gave you more of the same.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

the 1961 advent calendar sucked, huh?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject