PATCHWORK SOUL

The ZZZ Arc Chapter 42

A plethora of mugs speckled the purple-blue carpet with flecks of extra colour. Red and white, stripes and spots. Bone patterns, leaf patterns, bubbles, and hearts, often faded and a little scratched. Maybe cracked at least once and stuck back together with careful fingers and a lot of patience.

Asriel rubbed his chin as he looked at them, brow furrowed. Papyrus, laying on his front, slowly kicked his feet back and forth in the air and watched him hopefully.

"Well..." Asriel said slowly. "At least none of them are taped together."

"Of course! We take the utmost care with our mugs, here!" he said. "See? Even the ones that were broken are fully functional once again!"

"You guys sure you don't have any flower pots?" Asriel asked. "You know, they're a lot more breathable, they're better for the soil..."

"Nope. Nothin'," Sans said. "Do I look like I keep plants, dude? Can't even keep track of a pet rock."

"It is very very cold here," Papyrus said with an apologetic smile.

Asriel looked thoughtful. He leaned over the mugs and, suddenly, began to blush a little. He looked away, but he pointed at the one that was white, cracked, and had a red heart on it. Frisk began to grin.

"That one?" she said.

"It's, uh... It's one of the biggest ones, so..." Asriel frowned at her. "Don't gimme that look."

Frisk grinned. Asriel scoffed, but Papyrus grinned and picked up the mug he'd chosen.

"Okay! Excellent. I will get you some dirt, be right back!"

Papyrus dashed out into the cold without a second thought. Frisk yawned and stretched her arms, and then blinked heavily. She tugged on Sans's sleeve.

"You have my phone, maybe? Know what time it is?" she asked.

Sans patted himself down slowly and then pulled her phone from his pocket. "Uh. Dunno. Almost six, I guess?"

"Ooh!" She reached in between the cushions for the remote and then flicked on the TV: a prerecorded gameshow was in its last round. "Mettaton said to watch at six."

"Huh. Weird," Sans said.

"You actually like that guy, huh?" Asriel said.

"Yeah," Frisk said. "He's good. He's just a little weird."

"You know he's a ghost?" he asked.

Frisk snorted and put her face in her hands. "Dude, you can't just go saying that stuff out loud!"

"Oh. Uh. Whoops?" Asriel hardly looked apologetic. "Well. Guess it doesn't matter if you already knew."

"Huh. Didn't realize you'd be so willing to screw things up for the Doc," Sans said as he sipped lukewarm tea. "Thought you two were kinda gettin' along."

"Huh?" Asriel looked confused. "What d'you mean?"

"Y'know, since her whole, uh, thesis and job application were built on giving a robot a functioning soul, which didn't actually happen, and if it got out, then..." He raised his brows. "Get it?"

"Oh. Jeez. Uh..." Asriel grimaced. "I forgot about that. Uh. Okay. Fine. I'll shut up, don't gimme that look."

"Hm." Sans raised his mug approvingly. "Good choice."