AHHH!! Why Are People So Nice And Patient? I Was Playing Sky: Children Of The Light And Was In The Music

AHHH!! Why are people so nice and patient? I was playing Sky: Children of the Light and was in the music hall, my little squid brain trying to string together the right notes to play Undertale's Memory. It sounded enough like the actual thing for someone to figure out what I was attempting. This masterful person played the song beautifully! And then they proceeded to teach me?! Ehhh?! And they were so patient?? And repeated notes so I could understand?? I love them but I can't tell them. And they taught me another Undertale song which I already forgot the name of. But that aside, I now know how to play Memory and it's incredible. I will now be getting an instrument as soon as possible and only the dark dragons will be able to stop me.

If my new bestest friend somehow sees this, I love you more than words can allow and am forever in your debt. If you want a seasonal pass next year, you can bet all your candles and hearts that I will get you one. May the rest of your year be wonderful and grand, may you get to meet and pet many super cute dogs whenever you go out and may someone pay for your food at a restaurant or your drink at a cafe. May you find twenty bucks on the street, may you find that lost sock or earring, may whatever god(s) you believe in grant you luck and fortunes untold for helping one small and undeserving Sky kid.

Purr

Reaper had always been drawn to the dead and dying. It's how he found Geno. The selkie had been attacked by poachers and on the verge of becoming sea foam when the leviathan first saw him. He didn't quite know what compelled him to save the selkie that day, but he was glad he did. Geno... not so much. The poor leopard seal now had a constant follower, a clingy orca mer he just could not shake. It wasn't the worst, considering the alternative was that he died, but it wasn't the best either. Because this particular orca was a massive flirt. Geno wasn't good with romance. He was a solitary selkie who didn't much appreciate the new company. At least, for a while. Some way, some how, Reaper grew on him. They started courting. And it was shortly after that when Geno learned what his partner really was. A giant leviathan with control over ice and death itself. Boy was that a chilling revelation.

Geno was busy chasing down penguins on his lonesome when he spotted the skull of his partner peeking from the water. He almost wanted the scold the behemoth, but that would only frighten away the prey. So Geno remained silent and continued his hunting. Until he was unceremoniously plucked from his hunting spot by a large hand.

"Hello darling!" Reaper chirped as he cradled his tiny seal in his hand.

"Put me down." Geno growled. The orca sighed dramatically and fulfilled his love's wish. And promptly beached himself to be right next to him. "REAPER!" Geno screeched as he tried to maintain his balance on the ice that was now weighed down by one- nevermind, Reaper was back in his smaller form.

"Here!" He gave the seal a smile and presented him with two penguins, freshly caught and ripped up in just the right way. Gifts weren't uncommon but something was different. Geno stared at his partner, hoping for some answer to the gifts to emerge. The cheeky bastard only gave him a dopey grin in return.

"What's the occasion?"

"Does there need to be one?" Reaper tilted his head in confusion, giving him the look of an innocent sea creature. Red blush crawled on Geno's skull.

"N-no. But, why hunt penguins? It's not exactly easy for you,"

"Can't I do something nice for my love?" The selkie's face got redder and rather than give the orca a reply, he dug into the meal he was presented with. Reaper smiled, something soft and sweet, looking almost unnatural on the face of death itself, and he curled around his smaller mate. Geno said nothing as he pressed against the warm body and continued his feast.

A pleasant silence settled around the two, Geno crunching away at the penguin carcasses whilst Reaper was content to just sit and watch. The two simply enjoyed each others company. It was only when the meal was finished and Geno felt exhaustion creep up on him that something changed. A rumble from the selkie started up, not startling Reaper as much as it surprised him. His- Geno was purring? It was a sound of utter contentment and Reaper was so happy he could provide. He curled his tail closer around the leopard seal and pressed a gentle kiss to his skull before allowing the smaller to fall into a comfortable and safe sleep.

Seaweed Nest

Cross was running his hand over the soft nest that he and the shiver had been sleeping in since he arrived. It was soft and plush, warm and safe. But it was starting to fall apart. He would have repaired it himself. If he knew how. There were quite a few nests hidden in the Trench. At times Cross saw the others working on theirs. It was amazing how everyone, everyone except him, knew how to weave these special nests that were all so comfortable. He wasn't jealous per se, but he certainly would love to learn.

"Whatcha doing Cross?" Dream swam up and curled himself around the thresher. He gave a small hum at the warmth.

"Just thinking," Cross received a bonk for his response. "How do you all make these nests?" The leviathan gave a squeal and darted away from Cross. Had... had he said something wrong. Just as the poor mer was about to leave, Dream swam back in, kelp in hand. He dumped the seaweed on Cross and sat next to him.

"Ooh, I've been wanting to teach you this!!" 

------

"Baha, oh my gosh Crossy-" A certain bull shark mer burst out laughing at the sight before him.

"Shut up," The mer glared at Killer for even thinking about teasing him. "It's Dream's fault."

"Don't blame me! I was just trying to-"

"Brother, you don't even know how to make a nest,"

"I do! It's just... Different is all," The goldfish pouted. Nightmare allowed himself to fall into his smaller form. Once a reasonable size, he untangled his brother and mate from the mess of seaweed they had made.

"Don't do this again. Horror will be happy to teach you both," He gave both of them a pat before leaving to dispose of the knot of kelp.

------

"This is nice," Cross murmured as he sunk deeper into the newly made nest. Horror only purred in response. Dream was still off sulking somewhere, though, it was likely Dust was with him as the whitetip had mysteriously vanished some time ago. "Thanks for the lesson," Cross got a kiss for his words.

Shiver

I finally decided to participate in Mermay. Got a bit of catch-up to do. But here's my first installment. The Mermay bingo I'm going off of is from @skumhuu

He was alone. Cross didn't quite know how he got here, but here he was. In the ocean, alone. Sand beneath his flippers and salt water surrounding him. Schools of fish swam past, only darting away when he moved. It was- relaxing. He felt free. Freer than he had since he was captured as a pup. Cross didn't swim, he just stayed. Watching the fish and other critters going about their lives. He should probably go on too.

Mismatched eyelights scanned the reef. Where would he go? How was life supposed to work under the waves? He tried to remember what Gaster taught him about shark behavior. Nothing came to mind. Except- Sharks had a tendency to live in shivers. Or, mersharks at least. Should he try to find others? Cross shook his head. He didn't want to think about how easily another mershark could tear him apart.

Maybe- yeah. He could just hunt for now. Build up his skills and get used to living outside of the lab. Then he could move on to settling a bit more. And maybe he could find a shiver. But, for now, he needed to be able to survive on his own.

Cross sat curled up on a rock. His eyelights scanning the area for anything dangerous or suspicious. There was the faintest bit of blood in the water, which he ignored. He hadn't heard anything, so the blood was likely from some unfortunate fish that was caught by another creature. The thresher debated on going and hunting for himself, but the water was too dark and his eyelights adjusted poorly. He would usually hunt closer to the surface, where plenty of light filtered through and he could see clearly.

"Yoo! Crossy!" The mer looked up, instantly spotting a red glow emerging from the darker water. A bull shark mer emerged, blood smeared on his skull, sharp teeth forming a wild grin. "Glad to see you haven't ditched us," Killer chirped playfully.

"As if," Cross huffed, nudging away his partner before any blood got on him. "Aren't you supposed to be with the others?"

"Nah, we didn't want you to be alone, after all, you've been up here makin' sure we all make it out," The smaller shark forced himself into Cross's arms, hugging tight. Cross froze up for a moment before sighing and returning the embrace. Killer let out a soft purr, relaxing Cross further. It was- nice. While the larger mer didn't mind waiting for everyone and keeping guard, maybe he did get a bit lonely. The thresher melted in his partner's embrace, exhaustion creeping up on him now that he was in familiar arms.

It wasn't long before Horror and Dust appears from the trench, Horror holding a large tuna and Dust with the rest of their catch. A school of pilot fish swarmed around the two sharks cuddled together. Cross let out a confused mrrp? before opening his eyes he didn't know he had closed.

"C'mon," Dust said, tail gently brushing over his two intertwined mates. "Lets get back to the twins," Cross stretched before swimming over and offering to help with the catch. Killer did the same and both ended up with a few things they brought back to the Depths.

Waiting there for the group to return were Dream and Nightmare, the goldfish settled on his brother's shoulder, talking about whatever ancient beings talk about in their free time. The warm, glowing entity darted down and greeted the sharks as they came in.

Once everyone was settled and eating, Cross paused from his meal. He looked over at everyone, securely nestled in Nightmare's tentacles, happy and content. He wasn't alone anymore. He had people, a lot of people. His time in the lab seemed so far away. Like it was a lifetime ago. And it might as well have been. Before, Cross was miserable and trapped. Now, he was free and living with the kindest beings he had ever met. And all of them cared about him so much. He finally had not only a shiver, but a family.

Cross smiled as he continued eating the squid Horror had caught especially for him.

Selfish Shellfish

Hunting in the reef was just fine and dandy with Killer. He had no issues with it. But hunting alone? That's where the issue lies. He was all on his lonesome, the rest of the shiver doing who-knows-what without him. And no, he wasn't upset or jealous just... really... lonely? Killer growled as he snapped at another fish, ending its life swiftly. This was stupid. Cross was free today, he could have joined him. Killer flicked his tail sharply, scaring away any prey that might have strayed close enough to be an easy kill. He was also grumbling loud enough to garner the attention of anything that might want to make a snack out of a lone bull shark mer. Not that anything would, lest it evoke the wrath of two leviathans. So Killer kept swimming, upset that he was alone on hunting duty, envious of his mates who were probably all curled up without him. No- He should probably stop that thought. They were all busy, sans Cross, but he still couldn't help but feel hurt. And Cross was down for the count because he was being forced to recover by Dream. It was unfair to act like he had been abandoned here.

Killer sighed and gathered his catch. Probably best to bring this all back to se could reunite with- Something shiny caught his eye. The mer took a sudden turn and dived to the soft sand of the reef. There was sitting a comically large pearl, like the ones he had seen in the artwork of mermaids Kelp had shown the shiver. It was a soft pink and had a light cream star-shaped marking on it. It was beautiful. Killer instantly had two thoughts. The first, try to woo his mates with the lovely treasure. Give it to them as an act of affection. Or... Keep it for himself and show off the remarkable thing he found at every opportunity. Both were fair and reasonable choices-

"Killer! Killer! C'mon! Where are you," The familiar voice of Dust rang through the reef as more fish fled away. A few pilot fish darted around, also searching for the mer. One approached the bull shark who had his hands cupped around the pearl. He growled at it and got a face full of bubbles for his trouble. Killer growled and went out to meet Dust. "Killz, thank goodness. I was worried you got lost for a second," Dust said in mocking relief.  Killer only glared. "Whatcha got there?"

"None of your business," Ah, sounded like Killer was going for the 'keep it and gloat' route with the pearl.

"C'mon, show me," Dust pushed, swimming around his partner as they started off towards the Depths. Killer sighed and slowly revealed the glistening pearl safely nestled in his hands. "Woah..."

"I know, right? It's my little reward for having to go out there all on my lonesome," Killer replied, a smug grin on his face. Dust only gave a laugh before darting deeper, Killer following soon after. The two were back to their normal flirtatious ways, the faux animosity between them forgotten. Killer had been showing off the pearl to Cross when Dream gasped.

"Nighty!" He cried out. "It's- Oh it's really it!" The goldfish swam over to Killer and yoinked the pearl right from his hands. Killer made a noise of protest but was ignored. Dream was already making his way to Nightmare. "My pearl!" The joy in his voice so evident that Killer's imaginary complaints died in his throat.

"I can see that." Nightmare's ecstatic tone giving away his emotions. "Where ever did you find this Killer? We lost this centuries ago," A slightly guilty look crossed Dream's face and was swiftly ignored.

"J-just in the reef," Killer's face had taken on a more red hue as Dream swam back to him.

"Well thank you so much for returning it," Dream pressed a passionate kiss to Killer's teeth leaving the bull shark out of breath and working his gills overtime.

Bite-Sized: Prologue

So, this is a bit of a prologue. The story before it starts. Because really, every story has to start somewhere. And this one starts, not at the beginning, but at, technically, an end. The end of a normal life, the end of calm, the end of quiet. And it begins again in pain and loss. But don't take to much at once. It's small, bite-sized, if you will. So let us begin. Or end, whichever you see fit to describe this.

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Papyrus had been dreading this day ever since the core failed. Why would he not? The people of the Underground had been slowly starving for years now. There was no one who could get enough food to properly sustain themselves. No one, except one. It wasn't Sans's fault that Papyrus never let him go hungry. He was only six, it would be wrong to deny him even a snack. Of course, now, that had all backfired.

"NO."

"Papyrus, I'm not asking anymore."

"I KNOW THAT AND I DON'T CARE. " The tall skeleton remained in front of the door, blocking the Emperess.

"Do you understand how dire the situation has gotten?"

"YES. I'M ONE OF THE MONSTERS LIVING THROUGH IT. BUT I REFUSE TO HAVE SANS SUFFER WITH US."

"That's not what I'm-"

"NO, WHAT YOU WANT IS FAR WORSE, UNDYNE." She sighed.

"papy? what's going on?"

"GO BACK INSIDE SANS, UNDYNE AND I ARE JUST HAVING A CHAT,"

"Papyrus..."

"whatcha talkin' 'bout?"

"UNDYNE-"

"We need someone with really strong magic to help start the Core back up,"

"and you need papy?"

"YES! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT UNDYNE NEEDS! A MAGNIFICENT SKELETON SUCH AS YOUR BROTHER! THAT'S WHY SHE'S COME, TO ASK FOR MY ASSISTANCE!" Papyrus knew it sounded forced. But he also knew that his baby brother was unlikely to notice.

"so cool papy!!" Sans cried out giving his brother a hug around his legs before running back inside and shutting the door.

"You can't keep doing this forever Paps,"

"I'LL DO IT AS LONG AS I NEED TO. I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE." Undyne exhaled loudly and made her leave, bothering only with a wave and spoke no farewell. Papyrus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and entered his house.

"did you help her?" Papyrus smiled.

"AS MUCH AS I COULD, SANS. BUT WORRY NOT, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE."

----------------------

Everything was not fine, Sans realized, if a bit too late. He shouldn't have gone alone. But he wanted to make sure that it really would be alright, that his brother really did help with the Core.

"p...papy?" His head hurt. It felt like it had been spiked through by a spear. And that wasn't an entirely incorrect statement. He couldn't see. All Sans knew was the pain blossoming through his skull. And that he was missing something important. What, he couldn't tell. But Undyne had been there. And now she wasn't. He thinks he might have seen her holding his eye, but also, that didn't seem right. His vision blacked out when it was forcefully torn from his socket, how could he still see?

"SANS? SANS, WHERE ARE YOU? IT'S DINNER TIME!" Dinner sounded nice. Papy always made tasty dinners but didn't eat much himself. Sans always gave him some of his snacks. His big brother wasn't the best at self-care after all. "S-SANS?" Sans tilted his skull towards his brother's voice.

"papy? i'm okay..."

"YOU ARE- VERY... NOT OKAY. GIVE ME A MOMENT BROTHER." Long, lanky arms scooped up the small body of the six-year-old and carried him in a gentle hold. They were walking, where? Sans couldn't see. They walked for a long time, and then, Papyrus set the babybones down, still as gentle as can be. "STAY HERE FOR A MOMENT, OKAY?" Sans only hummed his agreement before starting to doze off.

----------------------

"Papyrus-"

"UNDYNE. YOU KNOW THE SAYING."

"What saying? Paps, look, I'm real sorry it had to come to this, but your brother was the only one left in the Underground with enough magic to-" She didn't see the bone attack until it had pierced through her face.

"AN EYE FOR AN EYE, ISN'T IT?" Papyrus wanted to do more, he should have done more. But he didn't. He had a brother to get back to. Before leaving Undyne to her pain, Papyrus knelt down and picked up something round and squishy from where it landed after his attack. "YOURS FOR HIS. YOU DON'T NEED THIS."

----------------------

When Sans awoke, he could see again. Looking around, because he could do that, he could see he was at home. He didn't know how he got his sight back, or how he got home, but here he was, vision and all. Maybe it had all been a nightmare? He really hoped so. But it all felt so real...

"SANS! YOU'RE UP!" Papyrus chirped cheerfully. "HOW DID YOU SLEEP?"

"pretty good. but i had a nightmare..."

"THAT IS NO GOOD. LETS SEE IF SOME FOOD WILL HELP YOU FEEL BETTER," Papyrus lifted his brother into his arms and marched them off to the kitchen.

And if he stopped by Alphys' lab later that night to question why she had directed Undyne to Sans? Well, that was nobody's business but his own.

So what if he had to stay up late to scrub the bits of brains out of his bones and off the shower floor.