**Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry about the late post. I've officially gone back to work, yay! But that also means less time to do all my projects. I'm still writing, and I'm trying to keep going!
Also, here are two more asks! Not really spectacular, but for those who like them, here ya go!
guardianoftheflame/art/Encoded-Asks-10-Cuties-847803184
guardianoftheflame/art/Encoded-Asks-11-Asriel-847803488 **
Chapter 35 – Hearts and StarsJewel laid on her back on the grass inside the Doodlesphere, waiting for a certain skeleton to return. So much for checking in periodically to see if she would show up… there had to be a better way to get ahold of these AU jumpers.
"Damn it, Red, I'm going to have to buy them all cell phones," she muttered into her own as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, going so far as to rub her eyes afterward.
"Heh, and they call me lazy," Red chuckled into the phone. He was at his station, doing his job, as per usual. Though he was in Waterfall this time around, kid was progressing. Undyne would have his head if he was caught, but he really didn't care. He wasn't sleeping, she couldn't argue. No rule against being on the phone at work.
"It's not lazy, just hard to reach. In fact, the fact he's not in base shows he's out doing something."
"Make 'scuses all you want, sweetheart. Why ya waitin' on him anyway?"
"Just… wanna do some art stuff," Jewel shrugged a little. "I've been using scrap paper at Blueberry's and it's not the same, I'm not… focused on the things on loose paper. I want another sketchbook, I want to rebuild my supplies."
"Heh, nice to hear ya so motivated," Red smiled a little into the phone. "Ya need the painter for all dat?"
"Well, I mean, yeah, Ink could make it for me but… eh… what I really miss is going to an actual art store. Just all the different things there. I could go on my own, but, there's something… special about going with a friend who gets it."
"I'd ditch in a second to go wit ya, but, I ain't got a creative bone in my body."
"Eh, I doubt that," she chuckled a little. "You're still into science, yeah? Ya need to be a little creative to be able to figure out new projects, do things that haven't been done before."
"I haven't touched a lab in years, sweetheart," Red said softly.
"I think it's the same for most Sanses, honestly. I know Classic got a kick out of what little I do know about quantum mechanics, got spark back in him a little."
"You know quantum mechanics?" Red rose a boned brow, disbelief in his voice.
"Couple theories," Jewel chuckled. "I actually used to be a good science student back in school. Math and science were kind of my thing. It was weird, I wasn't allowed to take any art classes, but I excelled at those, little bit in history too."
"You're so weird, that doesn't sound like you at all," Red chuckled.
"I know, right?" she chuckled. "I get theories, but I don't have the whole mechanical mind behind it. I don't think I'd be able to do all the complex math it takes. I mean, algebra I get, I enjoy it weirdly enough, but doing all that stuff? Eh… I can't even stand looking at the computer code I live in."
"Well, that's computer science, it's a different animal, sweetheart. Heh, maybe we should get together sometime, see what ya got wracking around yer skull. Might kick start whatever I got left in these old bones."
"You're not that old, Red," Jewel laughed a little.
"Feel old," he laughed back.
"You just need a break." She doubted Blueberry would mind… "You wanna come do this meet up thing?" she then asked.
"What meet up thing?" Red rose a brow.
"I'm teaching Blue and Classic's Papyrus how to cook. We're already gonna have the five of us, couple more won't hurt."
"Wait… you're inviting da Boss?"
"Well, if he wants," she said with a gentle smile into the phone, something he could easily hear in her voice. "He'd get to hang out with other Papyrus', try something different. I'm teaching them how to make spaghetti tacos, so not quite what he'd consider normal," he chuckled.
"Ya do make some good pasta, sweetheart," Red grinned a little. "But mixin' it with tacos? Really?"
"Yeah, Stretch and Classic had the same reaction. Actually, I think you're taking it better," she chuckled.
"Heh, I don't know how those two cook or whatever, but ya can't compare nuthin' until you've had to scrape charcoal out of a lasagna pan and pretend it's good."
"Oh boy. Well… maybe I can sneak Edgy in for the lesson too, show him how humans do things so he can try and "better us" at our own dishes."
"Oh, you're devious," he held a malicious grin. "You're doin' it to the others too, ain'tcha? Not tellin' 'em how much they suck."
Jewel chuckled a little. "I don't know what you mean, I'm just showing them how I cook," she said with an innocent inflection.
Red couldn't help his laughter. "Okay, sign us up. I'll convince da boss to come somehow."
Jewel grinned. "This is gonna be fun! Oh god, there's gonna be so much food," she chuckled. "Classic's already worried about the kitchen being burned down."
"Gonna need a firm hand on da reigns, dollface. Boss thinks he's monster's gift to culinary, he ain't gonna listen well."
"Eh, firm hand in teaching him then. Gonna have to keep a spoon in the back pocket, channel my Babci," she smirked.
"That ornery old hag? What'd she do?"
"Smack your brother upside the head and hand with said spoon," she grinned.
Red laughed at the image. "Oh fuck me! Please, do it! I want a picture!"
"Sure!" Jewel grinned. "Soon as he tries to do something he shouldn't. Blue and Classic Paps ain't gonna escape it either. It's how I learned," she laughed.
"So when is this goin' down?" Red asked with an excited grin.
"Kinda depends on Classic right now," she said softly. "He just had a reset and while it's looking like another pacifist, ya know…"
"Heh, I get that. Most of our resets are from the kid dying durin' a pacifist. I guess I'm lucky, boss does more killin' that the kid. Still sucks ass when I gotta… ya know…"
"Yeah, I know," Jewel sighed a little, knowing far too well. "Ya doin' all right? Really?" she then asked. "You were a bit… off, last time we were up and even now you feel a little…"
"Eh…" Red sighed a little. "This is great and all, I haven't smiled like this in a while," he said honestly. "But before ya called, yeah it was… a little rough. Boss dun hit me as much since ya showed up, but he's still harsh as fuck. Gonna take him a while to realize all that, I guess."
"You're not cutting, are ya Red?"
He grew silent on the other end of the line.
"Red?" Jewel asked, firmer, sitting up.
"Not in a while," he said softly, slowly. "I can't say I… haven't…" She'd catch him, he knew it. He knew when she was lying, they were practically the same in this regard.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"It was… when you were gone," he admitted. "After Error grabbed ya. Ink took me back home and I was just… then Papyrus… I dun think ya were awake, sweetheart…"
"Red…" she softly called out.
"I'm fine, really," he said, trying to reassure, though himself or her he wasn't sure.
"Ya wanna come with me and Ink?" she then offered. "I'll deal with Edgy."
"It's an art store, sweetheart, I'm not gonna really have much to do," he laughed a little.
"They have science kits and models. Granted, a lot of the science kits are for kids, but the models are pretty advanced stuff, some rockets and whatnot. You haven't dealt with that stuff, right? Kind of hard to do in the Underground. We can get you a few, heck, I'm sure Stretch and Classic would love to try some of these with you. I'll even take you guys to Overtale or Outertale, we can launch 'em."
Red could feel himself shaking a little. It was so strange to have someone worry about him like this. She wasn't yelling at him for cutting, wasn't calling him stupid or weak… instead she was just offering to spend time with him, trying to include him.
"Red?" she called into the line as he grew silent.
"Y-yeah," he said, trying not to let the tears that were welling in his eyes come through his voice. "Sounds fun," he said honestly, a fang-filled smile gracing his features.
"You want me to come steal you now? We can take a nap while we wait for Ink."
"I can just hear da Boss and Undyne," he said softly, "but yes. Please, that sounds amazing."
He said please. Damn it, he was doing pretty bad, wasn't he? In a second, she was there, grabbing him, before popping right back. He blinked as he was suddenly on grass once again, his phone not even hung up.
"There," Jewel said as she hung up the phone and laid back on the grass. "I'm going to have to take you to Overtale one of these days. There's no sun here, and there's nothing like taking a nap in the sun."
Red blinked, putting his phone away as he saw her lay down.
"Sweetheart?" he asked softly. He noticed how tired she looked. "Are you doing okay?"
"Eh," she shrugged a little. "Haven't been sleeping too well. Nightmares, ya know how it goes."
He knew it too well. He sighed and sat down beside her. He didn't feel quite able to just… relax, as much as he wanted to.
Jewel glanced over through a half-lidded gaze. She reached over and rubbed his back, feeling him jump a little at the attention. "Okay, Red, let me see it."
Red hesitated little. He knew why she wanted to, but it still felt so… he couldn't even find the words to describe it to himself.
"C'mon," she gently encouraged. When he still didn't move, she slowly stat up, moving right beside him. She put a hand on his shoulder and he looked toward her, a bit of fear in his eyes. "Red, I'm not going to berate you for it. C'mon, you know I know how it is. That's how we met, remember?"
"Yeah, I know," he sighed, leaning in a little, as if he could hide more if she couldn't see his face. "It's just… it always makes it feel so…"
"I know," she rubbed his back a little. "It's like you can ignore it if no one else sees it. But once the evidence is out there…"
"Yeah… just becomes… real…"
"It's always real, Red. Just because you don't have to face it right away doesn't make it any less true. And I'm not going to make you talk about it if you're not ready. I'm always here when you are. Though, I'd prefer you'd talk to me before acting out on it."
A few tears lined his eyes as he tried to hide it. He felt her arms wrap around him and he just leaned into her hold. It was so strange to him, to have her like this. He cared about her, she was nice and all… but damn it, he wasn't used to feeling like someone cared about him. He was always the one who gave a damn and tried to hide it.
"It's okay," she whispered softly to him. "You're not alone, Red."
"You're too damn nice to me, sweetheart," he said softly, but as she held him, he shrugged off his jacket off his shoulders, letting it fall a bit. He felt her move with him, even help him pull it down a little. He wiped his eyes and pulled back and slowly pulled up his sweater sleeves, wincing a little as some of the fresher wounds still pulled. He might have been left handed, but he still cut on both arms. Scars laced the bones all the way toward his elbows.
"Oh, Red…"
"Please don't…" he started. Instead, he felt that familiar warmth from her hand as she activated her healing magic. He leaned into her a little as she healed the cuts on his arms.
"You're loved, Sans," she told him softly, hugging him with one arm as she healed his injuries. "You have friends who care about you and I know Papyrus does too."
"He sure has a funny way of showin' it," Red muttered softly as he leaned into her. "But he's right, ya know?"
"No, he's not. And you know I'll fight him on this, I've done it before," she reminded him. "You're not worthless. You're my friend and I love you. You always have somewhere to go, Sans. All you have to do is call me, I'll come running, okay?"
"D-damn it… can you just… stop…" he managed to growl out, his eyes clenched shut as he tried not to cry at her words. She was even using his real name…
"Okay," she told him as she rubbed his back. His arms were healed, but she knew, mentally, he wasn't ready for most of this.
Jewel pulled him back with her as she laid on the grass. Red almost instantly stopped crying, feeling a bit of a blush come across his face. "W-what are you doing?"
"We're going to nap, right?" she said as if it was the most logical thing. "You don't have to read into it. We're friends, platonic cuddles are a thing. Besides, you could really use some."
Red didn't know what to feel with this. On one hand, he still felt like he needed to cry. This was enough of a jarring scenario that he stopped, but… "Damn it," he muttered before he leaned in, his head on his shoulder and his arm across her stomach, holding her tightly.
"There we go," she said, her arm around his back and resting on his ribs, her other arm behind her head as a pillow. "It's okay, Sans, you're not alone."
Red continued to hold her, fighting the tears as they welled up. "Just… just shut up," he muttered a little, before feeling her hand move from his back to his skull, gently petting him. It was a strange sensation… and he found himself liking it. It calmed him down slowly and he felt his eye sockets grow heavy. His eyes closed and he very softly started to purr.
It was such a strange sound. Was this a quirk of Red's, or did all the skeletons do this, she wondered. However, it wasn't unwelcome. Jewel had cats in her life and she quite liked the sound of the purr. It lulled her into slumber with him.
There was no telling how long Jewel and Red slept. Ink, however, was surprised to see them there, that was for sure. He tilted his head to the side as he stared down at them. He felt… weird, seeing it. Not just that it was strange. Jewel didn't really come visit him as much as he wanted, and now she was here with Red? And they were sleeping?
"Ya know," Jewel spoke, making Ink jump, "It's rude to stare."
"Damn it, how'd you..?" he questioned. "I was quiet!"
"Empath, remember? I feel when people are looking at me."
"Weirdo," he teased, sticking out a rainbow tongue. But he couldn't help the mischievous grin. "But you're lucky Error didn't see you, he'd get so jealous~," he teased more.
Jewel opened up one eye, giving him a half-lidded lazy gaze. "Error, or you?"
Ink blinked rapidly at the insinuation, his cheeks flushing before the rest of him caught up. "W-wha?"
"C'mon, Ink, I just said it. Empath."
Ink's face flushed more, before he plopped down, folding his legs under him as he sat near her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Jewel chuckled a little. "I suppose not, I doubt being jealous is something you're used to."
"And you do? Doesn't seem like you'd have a lot to be jealous about. Everyone's all over you."
Jewel pulled her arm out from under her head and held her hand out in front of Ink, who hesitantly took it. "Ink, think about how I grew up. There was a lot I was jealous of. But not everything I could so easily steal, ya know?"
"Like what?" Ink blinked, looking down at her.
"Like a good family for starters. I loved my little brother, but my parents… eh… but even that I suppose didn't matter for long. Guess I wasn't that jealous of things as I thought I was back then."
Ink tilted his head a little. "Anything else? I mean… seems like you were pretty lonely. You said your friend Cat eventually left you for a guy, right? Were you jealous then?"
That was oddly specific… "I mean… it hurt a little," Jewel admitted. "She spent more time with him than me. But I had also been trying to push her away. I mean, I was getting into more serious crime at that point. I liked the dude, he was good for her. He helped her in ways I never could. And I think I used him."
"Used him?" Ink parroted, confused.
"To get Cat away from me. I started getting worse when I realized he was there to stay. I purposely started acting more brash around him, not hiding as much of my criminal nature. Cat of course wanted everything to do with my plans. She was a wild card, she was acting out from pain too. He pulled her back down to earth. He made her happy. I was only going to get her killed. I mean… I can keep a small group alive, even against all kinds of odds, I did it with my group when we robbed banks. It didn't take much for us to case them. Nothing could really stand up to what I could do. I…" Jewel started to falter. "Damn, I really was like Nightmare…"
"How much did Dream tell you?" Ink asked. "I mean, he did compare you a bit, but that…"
"Eh… I fought the dude twice now remember? I can get a good read on people in short amounts of time. I was wondering why I hesitated the first time…"
"Wait, you hesitated?"
"Yeah, I mean…" She sighed a little. "It's nothing really, Ink. You probably felt something similar the first time you met Error. Kinda like… looking in a mirror."
"You're not like Nightmare," Ink said firmly.
"Eh, dunno about that. You say I'm like Dream, but my magic reflects them both."
"But you act more like Dream. You help people."
"Not really, Ink. I help my friends. I'm pretty selfish when you think about it. Definitely more like Error."
"Okay, that I buy," Ink sighed a bit. "But you're not like Nightmare, Jewel. You don't go around spreading misery just to power yourself up. Because you feel like you had it bad, that everyone else has to too."
"I was though, Ink," she reminded. "I showed you that, remember? The whole reason I got into fights was to take my anger out on people. I had it bad, so I wanted to hurt someone else. I learned to take people's anger and use it, much like Nightmare does, I could even make people feel angry or hurt and use it. "
"But you don't do that anymore," Ink said firmly. "Why is this on your mind to begin with? I thought you were doing better."
Jewel sighed a little, glancing back down at the sleeping skeleton against her. "Been doing a little soul searching lately. Trying to figure some stuff out."
Ink paled a little, quite a feat for someone so white already. "You're not going to leave us again are you?"
"No," Jewel chuckled softly. "Though… I'll admit, the thought crossed my mind. I mean, I could just reset everything and none of you would know I exist—"
"No!" Ink instantly grabbed her arm, a hand going over her mouth to stop her from even considering that! He didn't know what was pouring through him at that point, but fear was definitely one of them. He didn't want to lose her! "You're not allowed to think like that!" he yelled at her. "Promise me you'll never do it!"
"Ink," she tried, muffled by his hand.
"No! You're not allowed to say anything else until you promise me!" Tears were starting to line his eyes. He felt himself shaking.
Jewel was about to sigh, but she felt another arm squeeze her around her middle, a skeletal arm worming its way under her and squeezing her tight.
"Promise us," she heard from Red. She could feel him tremble.
What a thing to wake up to, she thought. She sighed. She broke promises though, she lied… It was why she didn't make them. God, she was a Sans, wasn't she?
The longer she took to respond, the more frightened the two skeletons became. Was it really something so serious that she thought of it that hard? Red sat up a little, letting her go just to look into her eyes. He had to know.
"S-sweetheart… you're not… serious about that, are ya?" he started to plead. "You're the best thing that's happened in my whole damn life, ya got Papyrus to actually think about what he does! He's gotten better at cookin' cuz he wants ta beat ya at sumthin'! You're there when I need help! Ya can't jes disappear!" Tears were starting to form in his eyes, fear running through him. "I deal wit enough resets that I can remember! Don't make me forget you, please!"
Jewel sighed a little. Still, Ink held his hand firmly against her mouth. An evil thought came to her though. She could always lick his hand… nah, she didn't know where he put those. Instead, she tapped his knuckles, sending the message well enough. When his hand pulled back, she slowly sat up, turning to look at both of them.
"I didn't mean to freak you out," she started first. "Force loading timelines, especially in multiple AUs is not something I've done and I rather not do it. Resetting a single world after something catastrophic is one thing but to erase a minor mistake? Nah. Besides, I'd still remember it and you guys would drag it out of me," she smiled softly at them. "I mean… realistically, I can go into the code, you guys can't, if I really wanted to disappear I just have to stay there. I'd outlive most of you…"
"Jewel, you're not helping!" Ink shouted at her. But he felt her hands on his arms. He felt her pull, and he didn't stop her. He fell into her lap and the tears just started flowing. The panic, the fear, it was too much. What was this?
Jewel held the small skeleton against her, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm not going to disappear," she then said, gently wiping his tears before going to Red, a hand caressing his cheek and gently wiping his eye as well. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere. I just… get depressed too and wonder sometimes if you guys would have been better off if I never showed up."
"Then Underswap would be broken!" Ink shouted at her, tears falling as he looked up at her. "It would have fallen apart!"
"I could have easily have waited for you guys to finish your fight, done it afterward. I guess… I was more in tune with what was going on than I thought…"
"What are you going on about, sweetheart?" Red asked, seeing the pain in her eyes.
"Nothing, I…" she sighed a little. "I guess talking about what happened to me was harder than I thought it would be. Error made it a lot easier but seeing it from a third person perspective… I don't know if it was better or worse than reliving it, ya know? He warned me about it, but I didn't…" She sighed. Everything kept going back to him too… "But that's why I'm trying to be around all of you right now, ya know? I've been staying with Blueberry the last few days, I went and made up with Classic. It's been… I've been happy, ya know? And I don't think I know how to handle it," she laughed a little, a few tears in her eyes.
Red blinked, but he then laughed a little with her. "Yeah, I get that. Feels so weird and you wonder what's going wrong."
"Exactly, and it's just like… you know that's why you're happy but it just feels like you're messing up somehow because you're not supposed to be."
Ink looked between the two of them. So that's why she was with Red. He understood that… Ink was still clueless with emotions. He knew basic things, but emotionally he was kind of on par with a child. Still a lot he didn't understand. Hell, he was overwhelmed just because of this… being near her like this… but that fear… he knew that was his.
"Jewel?" Ink spoke up, making her look at him. "You're supposed to be happy," he said firmly. "You have us now. We're all your family. You have a good family now. This is how it's supposed to be from now on."
Jewel stared at Ink for a while, the statement from earlier coming back at her. Ink was hard to read but right now he was clear as a bell. She leaned in and pressed her forehead against the painter's. "I know. I'm sorry if I forget that sometimes. I'm just going to need you to remind me."
Ink couldn't help how he leaned into her touch. Every time he was close to her, he felt more than normal, and it generally meant he felt the need to be affectionate, to touch her somehow. He figured it had to be her desire, she did admit craving contact after all. He had to get this under control… maybe now that she was spending time with all of them, they could work on this?
"Heh," Ink chuckled, his thoughts having gone through his head and out in a second. "Maybe we should get you a scarf to write stuff down on too," he joked.
Jewel laughed a little at the idea. "Heh, that'd work if I could handle having things against my neck like that. How about we just set reminders on my phone, yeah?"
"I'll get you into a scarf one of these days," Ink grinned at her.
"You can try, ya little squirt," Jewel teased, tickling him a little, which surprised him as he quickly snorted out a laugh.
Red chuckled a little with them. "Hey, weren't ya gonna go to an art store or sumthin'?"
"Oh, right! We should do that before they close."
Ink rose a brow. "Art store? I can just make you whatever you want."
"I know. But I just miss it," she smiled. "Besides, this way you can see what I like, I'm kinda picky," she grinned a little. "It's just fun to go."
Ink then tilted his head. "The Underground doesn't have anything like that. So we'd be going to… what, Overtale?"
"Dat the one with the humans?" Red asked.
"Yeah, but don't worry about it. I've been there with Blue in public, and even Error, despite being stared at, was left alone. Let's just go have some fun, eh?"
"Dun really like bein' stared at, sweetheart," Red admitted.
"I'll be the filter, don't worry," Jewel smiled. "Besides, aren't you looking forward to the models and stuff?"
Ink blinked and turned to Red, who simply chuckled a little. "Yeah, guess ya got me there."
Well, this was weird. But who was Ink to argue? He got to spend more time with Jewel, and with art stuff! He definitely wasn't going to complain about that!
"So, what are we waiting for?" Ink grinned.
It was little effort to actually get there. Teleporting wasn't new to the Sanses, though even Red had to admit, teleporting through dimensions was a little bit more nauseating than most. Good thing they didn't have stomachs, though that never stopped Ink. Not that it seemed to affect him as they appeared in an alley near the store. Red had put his hood up, a hint of a blush as he was already catching people glancing his way, but as Jewel put her arm around his shoulders he eased a little. She said she'd take care of it and he trusted her, as weird as it felt to do so.
Inside, it was… well, different. The store was mostly empty and those who were there were more focused on their own shopping than in staring at others. Ink's eyes lit up, despite being able to create all of this at will, there truly was something special about seeing it all on display. Neither Jewel or Red could stop him from running through, his attention pulled every which way as he saw the different things on display, the different amounts of projects listed for people of all ages to try.
"Ya think he'd be less impressed by all this stuff, given what he can do," Red chuckled.
"You never forget your first time in an art store as an artist," Jewel chuckled. "It's why I like to go though. You come in for a single thing and you wind up spending hours just looking at all the different things you could do."
She then took Red's hand and led him down a different aisle, Ink already having gone off into the back of the store in his excitement. Red was confused, raising a brow before he noticed all the different cooking utensils in the store. "Wait, I thought this was an art store?" Red questioned.
"Cooking is a type of art," Jewel smiled. "There's a lot more for dessert decorating, but they have all kinds of stuff." She turned to Red. "You said Edgy wanted to beat me, right? Think he might like a cookbook? He can learn human secrets," she winked.
Red blinked, but he laughed a little, a small red dusting appearing on his cheeks as he felt embarrassment growing. "You're buying, right? Cuz I didn't really bring anything."
Jewel laughed a little. "Not that they accept gold here. Human currency is weird," she grinned a little at him.
Red didn't argue it. He just accepted the fact things were different. He didn't really care. It wasn't coming out of his pocket. Though, he wasn't about to take Jewel for a ride either. "Well, if you're sure," he said softly, glancing through the cookbooks. Getting Edgy something was not on his mind, but… well… he couldn't pass it up. If nothing else, he could hold off on giving it to him until his birthday or Gyftmas… or use it to guilt him a little if he was being particularly mean.
As Red examined the books, he noticed Jewel looking through the different cake and candy molds. He remembered the frosting fight suddenly and he couldn't help but smile. It was the first time he really saw her happy. First time he met Classic and Ink.
"Ya know, if you wanna make another cake, I'm sure da boss wouldn't mind. He might make it a competition n'all, but…"
Jewel chuckled. "I'll keep it in mind." But her head turned a little. "Keep looking, I better go check on Ink."
Red was a little uncertain, but he did continue to browse as Jewel went on to find Ink. She found him in the pens and markers, trying out the ones that were on display. At least he wasn't tearing into packages like some crazed toddler. But he was everywhere, leaving the pens down on the ground when he was done trying them out. The test paper they left out was his canvas, tiny as it was. He ripped it out from the shelf and was holding onto it. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen it before, or didn't know how to put it back. Still…
"Guess all the clutter at the Doodlesphere should have prepared me for this."
Ink blinked, torn from his doodling by her voice. He glanced around at the mess around him, sweating a little. "Uh… they're all so cool! I couldn't help myself!"
Jewel chuckled a little. "I know, Ink, but these are simply for testing."
"Is that why some are locked up?" he asked.
"They're more expensive, and small pen kits are definitely easy to steal. Trust me, I know," she chuckled a little. "I don't mind that you want to try them, and neither does the store, but you shouldn't leave the pens all over like this, it's a hazard. Other people could come down this way."
"But, there's almost no one here."
"Doesn't really matter, anyone who draws will come down these aisles. C'mon," she urged.
Ink sighed, begrudgingly getting up with some of the pens. He was gonna just shove them in but she stopped him, making him put them back exactly where he found them. He pouted at her, maybe hoping to channel a little of Blueberry's puppy eyes, but it didn't work. She helped him, however, so it wasn't like he was cleaning up his mess alone.
"Come on," she then said once he was done, gently leading him away from the pens.
"But…" Ink pouted.
Jewel grinned a little at him. "I wanna talk to you about a project."
Instantly, his eyes lit up. "Project? What about?"
"I just… wanna paint with you," she grinned. "Like, a collaboration."
"Really? Oh this is gonna be fun! What did you wanna do?"
"I don't really know yet. That's why," she said as they turned into the aisle with the paint and canvases, "We're gonna start plotting."
Big yellow stars filled Ink's eyes as he stared down the aisles.
Oh, this was definitely going to be fun!