Finally, other people show up!
Error and his tagalongs finally get a bed after meeting some very chatty and VERY concerned village folk. Even have a brief POV switch to see their interpretation of Errors and the kids situation.
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It was very fortunate that they had been able to exit the woods and stumbled right at the edge of a village when they did. It was well into a late afternoon that they reached the village border lined in a foot tall brick wall that he stepped over easily as he made his way into what he hoped was the village center.
With the dimming sunlight the village felt rather cozy with it's wooden homes and cobblestone and dirt roads. The place looked like it was taken right out of a history book from a time before building homes out of more complex materials and well before any sort of electricity judging by the number of oil lamps starting to be lit. all the buildings, stalls and homes were built around a center of cobblestone where he imagines everyone hung out and ran their small buisness and markets.
The town centre was fairly quiet as the various stalls and the shops were packing up for the day and ready to go home to their families for the night. But, as soon as Error walked in carrying two children all eyes of the people, humans and monster alike turn to them finding a stranger among them. Many even stopped what they were doing just to stare as Error walked past them. He very quickly felt that he did not like all the staring eyes, as if peering into his very being and not liking what they find, looking to his ratty clothes and his scars and finding him disgusting. He just couldn't understand why and part of him wanted to shout out, to ask why they're all staring at him like that.
The two children at his side seemed to not notice how everyone stared at this odd looking trio and just happily looked at everything they could see with awe, ignorant to how the hands of the one leading them started to shake.
Starting to regret coming here and just wanted to leave as soon as possible Error beelined to the nearest person who he hoped would be sympathetic to his plight.
It was an older bunny monster with greying fur around his muzzle who looked to be packing up a stall stocked with various tools. Though he had stopped what they were doing to watch Error walk up to his stall with a curious look on his worn face and he waited for him to say what he wanted to say what he came to him for.
"E-excus3 m3 s-sir, bu-ut d0 y0u kn0w wher3 w3 c4n st4y th3 n1ght?" Internally cursing at his stutter and increasing glitching, but he just felt so off put by everyone staring at him still, but he just wanted to get this over and done with quickly so they could leave. "we'v3 been traveling f0r a wh1le 4nd i'd l1ke f0r th3m t0 sleep in a b3d"
The man had flinched slightly at his unusual voice but recovered quickly and his eye flicked down to the two children from their patchy clothes to their bare feet as they held onto his hands. The man just stared from the children and then to Error who started growing more and more nervous as those around them seem to press in more and watched the interaction even more intently.
Just as Error starts hysterically thinking that he had clearly made a mistake coming here and a very stupid plans comes to mind of grabbing the kids and making a run for the nearest exit out of town and keep moving, anything to get away from this town sleeping in the woods didn't seem that bad-
The man suddenly smiled up at him with a toothy grin "ah, your little one need a bed yeah? the local tavern is your best bet" one of his callused hands worn from work gestured vaguely in the direction of said tavern.
"the drunks sure like their booze so the barkeep runs a few beds for the drunks who can't walk home that night, hah!" crooked and yellow teeth on display as the man barked out a laugh, apparently finding that idea rather amusing. "The name's Bert by the way"
Apparently not minding leaving the mostly disassembled stall and the remaining stock behind the man marched the three up the street and to a door with a carved wooden sign reading 'The silent oak bar and inn'. Opening the door and pushing a rather surprised Error inside before walking around him into what looked like an old style tavern with wooden tables and antlers as the decor.
The place was pretty lively with people at the tables drinking and laughing after along day as some who he had to assume worked here started to attempt shooing them out the door. While some stopped their drinking to watch them enter they minded their own buisness and didn't bat an eye when their guide shouted called out across the room.
"Oi! Arthur! got a bloke here n some kids looking for a bed have the drunks claimed them all yet?"
This so called Arthur was a burly looking man with dusty blonde hair and was standing behind the main counter who paused in wiping up a mess with a rag to look up when he was addressed. He had a rather bored expression as his dark eyes flicked from his task to their guide and then the very nervous looking Error and at the children at his hip. He considered them with eyebrows creeping up into his hairline but no real change in his expression before looking up at the ceiling as if trying to see through wooden beams. "Yeah...there should be one up top"
Those dark eyes flicked back to Error's own "Do you want it stranger?"
"o-oh um..I d0n't kn0w if i h4ve th3 G t0 pay f0r it..."
The man to his credit didn't even flinch hearing his glitched and distorted voice "eh...i'll give ya the bed free of charge, you need it more than these drunkards" he snarked pointendly aiming a thumb at one of said 'drunkards' drooling over his nice polished wooden countertop "you look about dead on your feet to be frank, the kids over there look tired too"
Arthur then turned to address a woman who came up to the bar as they were talking, she looked pretty young and looked a whole lot like the man so he assumed she was his daughter "Joan would you go up and make sure the bed has a sheet?" she just nodded and walked up a flight of stairs Error hadn't noticed before.
Error jumps a little feeling a hand clasp around his arm and found the elder man was still there smiling up at him "see you got yourself a bed for the night, in the nick of time too"
"Now...they do have an alright cook in their somewhere, come on you need to get some food in ya, I'll cover it"
Before he knew what else to say Error found himself being shooed and made to sit on a bench at a free table with the kids following his lead and hot plates were placed in front of them. At the table across from them sat their guide who evidently decided to linger around for a while longer.
"H4ven't y0u g0t a st4ll t0 put away..? and st0ck s1tting 0ut on th3 ro4d?"
"eh, that can wait, the night bell hasn't gone off yet and the people here are noble enough to steal nothing" He just smiled while brushing off Error's concern and got himself comfortable in his seat as he starts a conversation with a random person at a nearby table. Leaving Error to attend to the still unnamed children kneeling on their part of the seat to peer over the table.
Seeing how the kids stared at the food sent a pang of guilt through him, he was such a terrible guardian to forgot that children needed food eve though he did not...so the kids must have been so hungry all day and he hadn't noticed...he was the worst.
Briefly lost is self loathing Error was barely able to catch on and stop them trying to put their hands directly into their food by lightly holding their hands away.
"no n0, y0u eat 1t l1ke this"
The plates held what looked like a simple stew of dark meat and potatoes so he just scooped some of it onto a spoon and held it out and showed them the proper way to hold it. Even as much as maneuvering the spoon handle into the nearest brother's small hand so their fingers landerd where his was before blowing lightly on the hot food. All the while internally thanking Blue for being the one who taught this to him, as a being who didn't really need food to live he had been clueless for some time on eating etique, more so than these kids.
Luckily they pick things up fast and soon both brothers were holding their spoons and digging into the dishes in front of them and taking extra care to blow on it like he had done. Unfortunately they prove to be very messy eaters as they seem to be wearing more on their faces than they ate as they shoveled food into their mouths as fast as possible, making him feel just a bit more awful about it all.
Sighing Error ignores his own bowl of stew to pull out a rag from his pant pocket and stops the two so he can wipe down their faces of their spilled meal lightly scolding them. "You're b0th eat1ng too f4st, sl0w d0wn a l1ttle 0r y0u m1ght ch0ke...0r wear m0re th4n y0u eat"
As Error's hovering over the two and demonstrating how to eat properly he had unintentionally been ignoring the man sitting across from them and didn't notice when the owner finished wiping down the counter and stood by their table. So he also had not noticed either man watching him interacting with the kids and smiling fondly at the display. He would notice when the owner, Arthur cleared his throat to get his attention. Bert focused in on the coming conversation.
"So, stranger where'd do come from and what brings you here to this quiet town?"
"we c4me fr0m very..V3RY f4r away" He said thinking on the fly at the unexpected questioning, they probably would have no idea just how far away he meant considering he's multiverses away from the home he knew "W3...c4me her3 t0 look f0r a b3tter l1fe"
That was about as much as Error felt he could share to the men, there was no way he was going to explain how he came from another multiverse and then fled another, though accidental and now they're here. THAT would be very difficult to explain. Though judging by the knowing expressions on the men they have seem to have made up their own conclusions behind their situation though chose to not pry further into what appeared to be a sensitive topic.
"...I see, do you three plan to stick around? This village while small and simple it is a nice enough place to settle for those needing to get away, real out of the way y'know?"
"...i'm n0t sur3, I just w4nt what is best f0r th3 kids 4nd r1ght n0w th3y need st4bility...they c4n't stay w1th me lik3 th1s..." Error trailed off as his attention was soon caught and he distracted himself with wiping down a very messy skeleton once again, and therefore entirely missing how the two men's expression grew pinched. "This pl4ce d0es seem n1ce en0ugh i gu3ss...every0ne keeps st4ring at us..." Even in this bar where most patrons are starting to trickle out the door he could still feel eyes staring at him from across the room.
"Ah, don't mind them we're all just curious folk" Bert chuckled jovially as he spoke "this is a small place where everybody knows everyone and we don't get a lot of strangers coming through so everyone's curious about the new face, I promise we're all nice folk"
"it's still rude of them" While Bert seemed a cheery sort of guy Arthur seemed a lot less so and spoke more gruffly as he turned and glared at the guilty party at the other tables, who quickly ducked thir heads down into their food.
Seeing the kids had cleaned their bowls Error just slid over his own ignored bowl of stew over to them to share, unlike them he did not really need to eat to survive and he didn't feel like he could stomach anything right now anyway.
Bert eyeing this action kept on talking "So...Is it just you three? is there a mother in the picture?"
Error just froze at the implication that these were his kids and there being a non-existent wife involved. The kids on the other hand perked up forgetting about the food and looked to the other with curiosity and asked the dreaded question.
"Whats a mother?"
"well..." Bert smiled good naturedly at the children now he had both of their's full attention, all parties ignorant to Error's inner panicking "A mother is the one who gave you life...you'll have a mom and a dad, who would love you very much and they'll dress you an look after you, it's their job to keep you safe and well"
They both soaked in that knowledge and seemed to think very hard on it before looking up at Error, who found himself blinded when the more active of the brothers smiled wide and bounced in his seat.
"Well that means we have the best dad!"
"oh really? is that so" Bert questioned teasingly, the taller brother just nodded with a big smile and so sure of himself.
"Yeah! he dressed us and looked after and kept us safe! definitely the best dad! isn't that right brother? isn't it?" He turned to his brother who so far had been content to let his brother do all the talking and clearly hadn't expected to have to say anything.
He looked from his brother and then to people sitting around before speaking slowly and unsure "...yeah, i guess so" . Evidently he was sure it couldn't be that simple and that his brother had likely misunderstood something but didn't want to contradict anything in front of everyone.
Whatever Error had wanted to say, to deny that these were his children and try to come up with some reasonable excuse as to why he had them. All of that came to a screeching halt when faced with such an excited child calling him 'dad' and so certain of it. He just froze, not knowing how to let this child down nicely that no, he was not their dad without everyone in the vicinity who were watching carefully over this interaction questioning him over the kids actual 'family'...one that didn't exist. What was he to do here?
Unfortunately for him, the kid just kept talking, not noticing their brother's heisitence "Waaay better than our old one!"
"old one?"
"mmh!" Not seeing how the men's eyes turn to Error questionally he went to cheerfully explain "the old one was so mean to us, but Dad saved us! so of course he's the best!"
Suddenly spending the night out in the woods and heading to the next village sounds more and more pleasant than this current conversation.
The two men however seem to take his silence and the kids odd words to mean something to them as they gave the trio a look that seemed to be pity. Concern over what looked like a small family who had been through so many bad things and had needed to escape from...something.
Thankfully they chose to not question further and seemed to try to steer the conversation to a lighter topic with the kids.
What they talked about Error doesn't quite know as he phased out of it some time ago, since the word 'dad' was first spoken actually. All the talking and everything else turned to simple background noise and suddenly he felt very tired...
~~~~~~POV switch~~~~~~~~
Arthur took one look at their guest who was clearly not listening to anything anymore even as one of the little ones had tried to get his attention and he felt pity for the man. He knew just why they were having a staring problem after only seeing him as he entered the bar behind Bert.
The kids were scrawny and their clothes a wreck and clearly stitched together from scraps but that was fairly normal compared to who had to be their father. His own clothes were all ripped to shreds and covered in filth and what looked to be his own blood. What he could see of the strangers bones on display they clearly have led a very unfortunate life, the cracked skull and blind socket looked especially nasty especially now he's up close. Those sorts of injuries were the sorts of scars he's only seen on the most grizzled veterans of war and he wondered if that was where he got them.
As the conversation kept going and some worrying statements from the kids of their other parent whose not in the picture he wondered just what happened to the three of them before they arrived here. But was glad that they at least had found a way out of...whatever their situation was and found their way to their little town.
Though the stranger was so battered and worn who had been through a lot he still clearly cared deeply for these kids which just made him smile a little. it just reminded him of himself when he first became a single parent to his Joan after her mother passed when she was still young. He'd felt that time tiredness and not so subtle parental panic, that not knowing what to do and not feeling like you were enough. All of which he could see that this man was clearly going through at this table. He looked so...lost.
He knew Bert saw all the things he did and felt the same way about this family and their...concerning traits. Which had to be why the other continued his light hearted conversation with the children to distract them while their father was clearly going through the motions.
Looking out the window Arthur sees how late it he turns to Bert and the kids "It's getting late, you'd be better get going before it gets dark"
"Oh, I hadn't realised how late it's gotten!" when Bert too realizes how late it was and went to stand up from the table "I better leave now, my things are still on the road! i'll hopefully see you around" Bert pats the children on their heads then turning to wave goodbye to Arthur before heading out the door.
Leaving the four of them in a mostly empty bar as the last few have fallen asleep at the tables too drunk from their booze to stay awake...He'll have to wake those ones and send them upstairs so they don't spend all night down here before he pack up for the night.
so troublesome...
~~~~~~~~~POV switch~~~~~~~~~
Error is shocked out of his dazed state by a hand clasping at his shoulder. Not expecting it he flinched back and swung around to face his assailant his magic sparking up threateningly, the shoulder that had been touched sparking up in violent glitches. Only to be met with the face of the tavern owner. They stared at each other in stunned awkward silence as Error tried to calm down his glitching for a few moments before Arthur broke the silence.
"my apologies...It's nearing closing time so I'll lead you upstairs to the room, Joan will deal with the mess" He spoke low as if trying not to spook him more than he had.
"...0-ok"
Gathering himself a little Error took a deep breath to settle his glitching before standing up and collecting the children from their seat. They had protested a little bit but allowed him to shepherd them while Arthur lead them to the staircase he saw earlier and they started to ascend up the creaky steps.
At the top of the stairs there was a landing with 4 doors and Arthur turned to indicate one of the doors to them "This is the room...there's only one bed in there, best i can do for ya"
"1t's f1ne...th4nk y0u"
The man just nodded and bade him goodnight as he walked back down the stairs into the tavern so Error opened the door and shooed the kids inside. Shutting the door behind him he finds the room to be very small with a lone bed and a lone chair tucked under a window showing the sun finally dipping under the horizon.
Upon entering the room the kids quickly got to wandering around the room and inspecting all the nooks and crannies of the place while Error went over to the window. Trying to open the window showed that it had been locked shut though deciding not to question that too hard he sat himself on the chair and watched the kids for a moment.
Some time later he heard an echoing chime of a bell ringing a foreboding tune that passed through the town for some minutes before falling silent.
Pushing himself off the chair he turns to the kids who have sat down on the ground tapping patterns into the wood to entertain themselves. "Lets g3t y0u b0th int0 bed, y0u need t0 sleep"
As much as they attempted to deny being tired, their droopy eyes and yawning gave them away. Error just smiled as he led them over and helped them hop onto the bed and started tucking them under the sheets.
As he made sure both brothers were tucked tightly under the blanket comfortably a sleepy child nuzzled into his hands and sleepily murmured "You're the best dad" and the nicest little smile aimed up at him before curling into their brother and fell deep asleep.
The little Sans remained stubborn in staying awake just a little longer but when they were sure their brother was sound asleep he finally spoke what was on his mind "Your not really our dad...right?"
"...n0, i'm n0t" They seemed a little disappointed but nodded seeming to accept it and looked away from him "but i DO c4are ab0ut y0u 4nd i d0 w4nt wh4t's b3st f0r y0u b0th"
That got him a look of surprise as his skull spun to stare incredulously at Error, seeming unable to understand that someone could genuinely care for them...
Error just leaned over and pulled the sheet a little further around them and lightly rested his palm on their skull
"g0 t0 sleep...w3'll t4lk 1n th3 m0rning"
Slowly their eyes drifted shut, unable to stay open for much longer as they fell asleep around their brother.
Error lingered by the bed for a moment absentmindedly smoothing the sheets down and staring at the sleeping children looking restful under the rising moonlight peeking through the window. He sighed deeply as he forced himself away by their bedside and dropped back into the chair and rested his face in his palms frustrated with himself.
He seriously could not be considering keeping them can he?
He's already messed up with them so many times in the short time he's had them, he'd be a terrible parental guardian. He will ruin these kids just by staying in their lives, regardless that they're far away from his multiverse and those who used to hunt him down and them by proxy, he would still be a danger to them.
Error couldn't hold back a snort, And who is he kidding him? a father? that was...ridiculous.
But...when that little boy looked up at him like that with so much hope and so sure he would be enough, that they wanted him and called him...dad and so sure that it was true. He can admit that he's not made of stone. Anyone would have been taken in with that face and he can't deny how that makes him feel...warm, in a way he's never felt.
What a mess he's gotten himself into, he's gotten attached.
On the bed the two children snuggled into each other under the blanket to keep warm as their souls glow in unison as they slept on unbothered. How they could sleep so peacefully in his presence was amazing to him, like they were certain he would keep them safe...that was when he knew.
Call him selfish, say that this was a stupid decision he will regret in the future but... If this kid could look at him, past his scars and his many flaws and still see someone important, that he might even be good despite everything...he wanted to try to be even half as good as that kid thought him to be.
For these two, he would try.
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This is probably the most dialogue i've ever written for anything also probably the longest chapter so far. I've always just kinda hated writing people talking as i always had trouble writing it without it coming out odd or too stiff to be people actually speaking and not bots. Did it come out ok here? I have no idea as i've read and reread it all so many times that everything reads off to me now.