Humans, Monsters and Mysteries, Oh My!

[Kagami]

Things have calmed down as the trio was in the car en route to the Hinterlands after Papyrus proudly showed off his wonderful mixtape to the two girls recently.

While Sumireko did happen to like it as Kagami wasn’t a fan of it being too loud and it was at this point, the Beanish girl had passed out as she had long shut her tired eyes, now practically asleep, slumped over in her seat and well, in a sense, drooling.

In fact, her own glasses were fogged and tilted even as Beanish's face was partially squished against the door while she was lightly snoring, however, in the backseat, Sumireko was looking outside to the twilight skies of the night as the car was driving along the darkened landscape.

It has been a while since the brunette stopped with the puzzles as it would be bad for her eyes to even be doing so even though she has her smartphone that she was looking at for a while, especially she had recently texted to her parents that she may be late getting home and addressed her situation that she is with friends, to which she was bombarded with questions.

Unfortunately, this was of no surprise that they would react so negatively but maybe she could ask Papyrus to take her back afterwhile as she wanted to spend some time out in the Hinterlands. Of course, even if the brunette wished her parents weren’t so harsh on her, she’s doing well in school despite the fact that she has a tendency to doze off in class all because of the late nights she has been pulling with her research.

..especially counting the weird dreams she had been having as of recently.

Eventually, Sumireko let out a silent sigh as she lowered her head somewhat, only to perk up briefly with eyes slightly widened as she heard a growling from somewhere before looking around to an extent.

After a bit of timing, this was actually coming from the front seat and by the sounds of this, it was coming from Kagami’s end.

Judging by things, it sounds like someone may be hungry..

 

[Sans]

NYEH HEH HEH!!!

Papyrus continuously bobbed his slender skull of a head to the ceaseless beat of the music. It seemed to go on forever, having been playing nonstop since the trio had exited the groundspace of Arcadia and started making their way out into the Hinterlands. In contrast to Kagami, Papyrus showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. If anything, he only seemed to gain more energy the longer the trip went on. He bounced in his seat to the mixtape’s rhythm, humming its tune in his nasally, scratchy tone.

Fortunately, Papyrus’ ears– wait, do skeletons have ears?-- was able to easily detect the rumbling and grumbling emerging from the depths of Kagami’s little stomach. Papyrus’ mouth opened quite wide from shock.

WHAT HOH?! OUR PASSENGER IS STARVING!

Papyrus promptly gripped the wheel and yanked it to the side. The car spun about, kicking up dirt and dust everywhere as it skidded along the road before gradually coming to a complete stop along its side. The area around them was completely open save for a sizable forest to their immediate left. The countryside was nothing much more than tall grasses and fields, wildflowers and errant bushes sitting within.

Papyrus stretched, sniffed in the fresh air, and then turned the car off. Afterwards, he leaped out from his seat, did a couple of flips, and then landed perfectly in front of the car’s hood.

ALRIGHT! WHAT SHALL WE HAVE FOR DINNER, HM? I WAS THINKING OF MAKING MY SPECIAL RECIPE: SPAGHETTI!!

Papyrus stood proudly before Sumireko and Kagami with a grin on his face and his hands on both of his hips.

 

[Kagami]

Sumireko didn't even have a chance to react as Kagami would be awake from the insanity that is Papyrus' brief stunt. In fact, she was still in the car, with Sumireko that was.

Due to the situation that Papyrus had going on, the Beanish was practically forced awake from this stunt as her eyes was widened before she would be quick to sit up, readjusting her glasses as she would see Papyrus in front of the car.

"Okay..what..just happened?" Kagami asked as she was confused, thinking what in the world is this skeleton as a whole. The fact was that she still looked tired somewhat but she did yawned as Sumireko replied, "I was caught off guard as well."

Kagami's stomach growled again and turns out that she felt hungry. Yeah, it was only a manner of time before that would pop in. "Ah great, I knew that something is up. I'm hungry."

"Well, I did hear spaghetti." Sumireko spoke up as eventually, Kagami unbuckled her seatbelt and would eventually climb out of the car before shutting the door behind her.

It was moments before the Beanish stretched her arms and legs and it wouldn't be long before Sumireko would unbuckled her seatbelt, opening the door as she was carrying her phone with her, only to see what was around despite of it being dark.

"Eh, it's something. C'mon now, let's get a move on. Don't want to be out here for too long."

Sumireko would close the door behind her and it wouldn't be long before the two would catch up to Papyrus.

 

[Sans]

A DOZEN BATCHES OF SPAGHETTI COMING RIGHT UP!!

Without further ado, Papyrus promptly kicked open the hood of his Papyrus-mobile. A set of radiator-cooking bars sat atop the silent engine alongside a surprisingly-intact cookbook, a set of sauces, plates, and various cooking utensils.

HMMMM... YES, MARINARA WILL BE DELIGHTFUL! AND LET US ADD SOME CINNAMON TO THAT! PERHAPS SOME PARMESAN AND SOME FROG LEGS TOO? WAIT, WOULD CRACKERS WORK FOR THIS OR IS THAT CHILI...?

Either way, he quickly got to work. He twisted a knob, lighting the engine up and the stove atop it with burning, blue lights. He grabbed a pot from within the confines of the hood and set it on the stove before filling it with a clear liquid that was hopefully water. Humming a tune, he quickly got to making the spaghetti before a question struck him. He shifted his head to stare at Sumireko and Kagami.

A QUESTION! DO YOU TWO PREFER ORANGES OR LEMONS?

 

[Kagami]

Okay, what..what just happened? Is that even safe? This was just as crazy, if not more crazy, than what just happened recently.

Kagami nor Sumireko don't know what to say as Papyrus was doing what he was doing, but when offered, Kagami replied, "Yeah, I'll take orange."

The absurdity is already enough as is. Just what is with these skeletons after all? This spaghetti dish is going to be unforgettable with how much stuff was put into it.

Sumireko added, "I'll take lemon then."

Something tells Kagami this is going to be an dish that she isn't going to forget but at the same time, something tells her that if she is going to get to Sans, she would have to play along with Papyrus' shenanigans as well while Sumireko didn't know what to say as she was still thinking about what is going on.

 

[Sans]

ONE LEMON AND ORANGE SPAGHETTI PIE COMING RIGHT UP!!!!!!!

Or, rather, just one batch of the thing, and very quickly at that. With a mighty roar, the engine stove positively seared a blue fire underneath the pots of noodle-filled water. At the same time, Papyrus brought out a bundle of oranges and lemons and promptly dunked them into the sputtering pots.

NYEH HEH HEH! JUST LIKE UNDYNE MAKES THEM! SHE'D BE PROUD OF THIS!!

He obtained a bone-white spoon and began stirring the contents of the colossal culinary catastrophe forming before Kagami and Sumireko. Before they knew it, he tossed the spoon away and began relentlessly removing the noodles, oranges, lemons, frog legs, and everything else he had tossed into the pots out of the pots and onto various plates.

VIOLA! 'BONE' APPETITE!

He held the plates aloft in front of Kagami and Sumireko. It smelled like... something. Spaghetti congealed and wrapped around intact, whole lemons and oranges, with small frog legs poking out from the morass like porcupine spines. Marinara, cinnamon, and Parmesan cheese sauce laid flaked over the entire thing. Papyrus gazed at them both with an intense, gleeful smile.

 

[Kagami]

Both girls looked at each other but Kagami knew this is what she signed up for the moment that she came across Papyrus. She doesn't know why but this really doesn't look like how spaghetti should look, but maybe that was because she had it before while in the Underground.

In fact, that is leagues ahead of what this pasta disaster has in store for her and Sumireko.

'Kagami, you asked for this, just.. do it.'

The Beanish took her plate first before Sumireko would take hers as Kagami thought, 'Well, I guess it's nice knowing me..'

When she took the fork, she gets some of the spaghetti and took at bite out of it, which did send a tingling sensation across her body and tears in her eyes. The amount of this whirlwind of conflicting flavors is already a pain to eat but she had to keep going even if it felt like she was going to gag but refused to show signs of it.

"It's..unique." Kagami spoke up. "You really went out of your way for sure Papyrus."

'Sumireko, save yourself, the spaghetti is a disaster.' Kagami telepathically warned Sumireko who perked up, wondering.

 

[Sans]

OH, WHY THANK YOU! THAT IS SUCH A NICE COMPLIMENT! THANK YOU!

Papyrus promptly bowed before Kagami before turning his head to stare, excited, at the pondering Sumireko.

GO ON! FILL YOUR BELLY UP WITH DELICIOUS PASTALONI!

 

[Kagami]

Now it was Sumireko's turn and even though Kagami warned her, she didn't want to be rude as she would eventually tried out the spaghetti as well.

..that was a big mistake..

Likewise with how Kagami felt, she, too, had to try to not be insensitive to the skeleton.

"Yeah, it's unique just like Kagami said." the brunette nodded with a running thought almost practically internally screaming.

Kagami couldn't help but to giggle at Sumireko's situation as they were in this together which meant the both of them would have to suffer through what Papyrus' dish has delivered.

"The cinnamon ironically adds a twist." Kagami hummed as she was wondering as she felt like she would take anything but this ever again.

She could really use a delicious pie of sorts to take away what she has been given.

 

[Sans]

OH, YOU RAISE A GOOD POINT! I SHALL HAVE TO MAKE SOME CINNAMON PASTA ONE DAY!

Papyrus promptly stretched out the gloves along his boney hands.

BUT FOR NOW, I MUST CLEAN THE STOVE! I DO NOT WANT MY PRECIOUS ENGINE GETTING ALL GUNKED UP! YOU TWO CONTINUE EATING YOUR FOOD! IT WILL NOT TAKE LONG!

He left them to their fate as he began to clean out the engine-stove contraption. With the hood up, it was hard to exactly tell what it was he was doing, but several bars of bone-shaped soap were clearly evident alongside a strange jar of milk. Papyrus hummed a nifty tune to himself the entire time.

 

[Kagami]

Kagami rolled her eyes in silence but Sumireko was enjoying the pasta, or atleast trying to, as she didn't want to be rude after all.

Of course, Kagami had tasted better pasta, in fact, the last was when she was in Mt. Ebott with Sans, the pasta was way better than Papyrus' own but she decided to let the skeleton have his fun.

Though now, she has acquired the taste of the horribly unusual, in fact, she better have something sweet to counter the mess she had to deal with like pie, cake or something, but she is for sure, not going to ask Papyrus to do the cooking.

Given that now, the two have a front row seat of watching Papyrus clean his engine and it was better off if they didn't comment.

 

[Sans]

ALRIGHT! EVERYTHING IS SPICK AND SPAN! IT IS 'CRUISIN' RIGHT ALONG! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!

Papyrus poked his bony head up above the dashboard.

NYEH HEH!

With a final, nasally laugh, he slammed the dashboard down to cover up the engine. He vaulted over the windshields and landed butt-of-pelvic-bone first on the cozy leather of the driver's seat. He switched the vehicle on, the pleasurable tunes of trousling bones filling the air once again as the engine roared to life.

REMIND ME AGAIN, DEAR PASSENGERS! WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE OUT HERE IN THE HINTERLANDS? I DO WANT TO RETURN YOU TO YOUR PARENTS BEFORE TOO LONG!!

 

[Kagami]

Luckily, the girls were quick to re-enter the car before settling down in their seats among the sounds of shutting doors, though, the question that Papyrus gave was toned out by his music so Kagami nor Sumireko were able to hear him.

"Come again?" Kagami asked as she looked to the skeleton with confused look before she continued. "Can ya kinda, I dunno, repeat the question? The music's a little too loud in here and you know, it's kinda hard to hear."

Kagami literally couldn't hear him but there would be that tiny chance that she could be messing with him to get a reaction given that she would enjoy doing just that.

After all, there's nothing wrong with a little tease and besides, it's not like anyone is getting their emotions hurt or anything, though in the midst, Sumireko was just silently watching the situation between Kagami and Papyrus even if it is hard to hear.

 

[Sans]

I SAID WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE OUT HERE IN THE HINTERLANDS? I DO WANT TO RETURN YOU TO YOUR PARENTS BEFORE TOO LONG!!

Papyrus proceeded to shout even louder than should be physically possible for such a slender, tall skeleton such as himself. He didn't seem even the least bothered by having to do it, either.

As he shouted, he rocked the driver wheel back and forth, swerving the vehicle to and fro, kicking up dust and dirt and mud and leaves from the grassy sides of the road. He paid no mind to it. If anything, it made him smile even wider than he already was.

APOLOGIES, DEAR FRIENDS! THESE ROADS ARE A CURSE!

 

[Kagami]

"Weren't you the one that brought us back here from the library?" Kagami asked casually to Papyrus with a brief shrug in general before she heard about the word, parents.

Of course, both girls had different responses as Kagami kept silent as she sank back into her seat while Sumireko replied, "I already informed my parents that I may be a little late getting back and that's why I was texting on my phone earlier to give them an alert."

Sumireko had to given that her parents were particular about the girl being out later than she should be as a whole and she didn't want trouble because that would get into her school day ordeal for tomorrow and other things.

 

[Sans]

THAT IS QUITE ALRIGHT! I AM SURE, SOON, WE WILL ARRIVE AT MY HOME! IT IS QUITE LOVELY, YOU SHALL SEE! IT IS FULL OF PUZZLES AND JAPES!

Papyrus NYEH HEH HEH'd his standard NYEH HEH HEH as they continued down the spanning road. The sun was high up into the air and it looked to be quite the beautiful journey ahead.