;; DEVIL'S GOTCHA BEAT!!

   “I DON’T KNOW IF I’D CALL IT A CURSE AS MUCH AS A…” Nursing the fragility of the child’s face in his palms does his jaw grow taut. “A… GLITCH? LIKE, TIME WORKS IN ONE WAY, BUT IT’S LIKE THE GIANT HOURGLASS HAS SPRUNG A TINY LEAK. SOMETIMES, SAND FILTERS THROUGH AND HAS TO BE PUT BACK INSIDE, BUT NOT EVERY SPECK GOES… BACK? IT’S JUST, IT CAN’T BE THE SAME. SOME SAND ALWAYS GOES MISSING.”

   The intricacies of time and space may be lost on him, even if knowledge pertaining to its manipulation on a very basic level exists, but he can hodge podge something of an idea. It isn’t so complex if he twists it this way, even if still just as nonsensical in the end.

   “IT’S A LITTLE LIKE ——— MOST PEOPLE WON’T NOTICE THE BITS OF SAND GONE, BUT MAYBE THE PERSON WHO REPLACED THE REST OF IT AND ANY WITNESSES CAN ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT IS. THEY REMEMBER IT, BUT NOT EVERYONE KNOWS, AND IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING SILLY FOR THEM TO FOCUS ON. IT’S JUST SAND ——— BUT IT… KIND OF… ISN’T…?”

   This metaphor’s gone entirely off the rails, and there’s no saving this crazy train now. With a sheepish smile, Papyrus admits, “THAT SOUNDS REALLY ——— REALLY WEIRD. MAYBE IT MAKES SENSE TO YOU? MAYBE NOT? MY POINT IS, I MEAN… YOU’RE NOT ALONE.” Expression softening, he adds, “I GUESS… WE DON’T FORGET ANY OF THE SAND.”

     It did, and it didn’t, and for a moment, Kenny worried they were on entirely different tracks of thought in regards to how this whole thing worked. His life didn’t function like an hourglass, where shit spilled out and had to be replaced. Really, it was more of a “kid takes a cookie from the cookie jar” scenario (which was a crime he’d seen Stan commit multiple times over the years), where the guilty party just had to take the cookie from the equation, only to put it back later on before anyone even cared to notice. Things didn’t go missing, ever. He didn’t go missing. Just gone, unavailable, until he was back in the jar and had to catch up to whatever time he’d missed.

     But he nodded anyway, because being in agreement on it felt far more relieving and refreshing than not. They could work out the details of it later, and regardless of how much more bothered skeleton, he still felt like he was walking on Cloud 9.

@mccormicx liked !

They days seemed quieter as time slowly passed with seasons, as if the weird events that regularly happen within the place, decreased in numbers - to the point he could spend a calm day without much of concern. None were as sure what the influence behind this, but Kyle liked it anyway. It was almost as if the phrase that once been said by him as a child, that he really hates this town, could be changed temporary.

It was the end of the high school lessons, nothing unusual has happened again. Being close to finals, he decided to study hard today - not like he hasn’t studied well enough already, but when was he serious - could even nights be wasted with barely sleep, as he attempted to achieve his goal, and mostly impress his mother even. 

For that, gaining energy was necessary, and own hunger seemed to agree so. He would rather pick up something to take a bite on before returning home to start working. Agreeing on that with own mind, he entered one of the random fast-food places, only to see a familiar boy. It been quite a while, but it was hard to miss the blonde one around, when it seemed like switching jobs was part of the other’s routine. The town is used to have quick changes within it, so it was never a big surprise to see several people switching jobs, that didn’t depend on a career.

He gave a faint smile toward the other, inviting himself to sit close by the counter, to have a talk with an old friend.

“              You don’t look so good, Kenny. Maybe you should take a break. ”

      Kyle wasn’t the only one with his nose to the grindstone, or however you wanted to phrase it. Even if he wasn’t having to spend his time anymore trudging between periods and squinting at text books, all that extra time was just being filled with doing that classic poverty-line menial work that nobody else had the desperation to do. Although Dean’s gave him plenty of work to handle during the day, it was the odd jobs he picked up at night that really gave the McCormicks wiggle room for the important shit; this seasonal fast food job was gonna get the holes in the walls patched up. 

     Just because the motivation was there didn’t make the dark circles and the pale complexion go away, though, and he only felt more self aware of it as soon as Kyle showed up and made his comment - albeit, if nothing else, he knew it came from a good place.

     A quick smile, and he hopped himself over the counter’s edge, rag and bucket in hand to make an excuse to chat without looking like he was slacking on the job. Dip, squeeze, and Kenny was right to scrubbing away at a mustard and mayo stain on the next table over. [✞] “ My break’s in a half hour, but we’re dead anyway. It’ll be like this the rest of the night. “

Hopefully. He wasn’t keen to be back there on fryer duty again after the last burn to his hand, which was currently covered up with toilet paper and duck tape.