Favorite game?

Nightmare – he is a Fossil. The guys got him Mario and it’s now the only game he plays(and he’s damn good at it). Aside from that, he plays dating sims on his phone when he’s bored(which he would never admit to)

Killer – MINECRAFT forever. He is everything your 3 week mc faze was but all the time and at max intensity. It’s his absolute favorite game because he doesn’t have to think too hard about it and can dissociate to it when he’s having a hard time. It helps that there’s no clear objective or timeline of events he’s tied to, so he can have a level of control he doesn’t irl, plus all the mods, shaders and different maps makes for an as close to happy as he could be Killer.

Dust – Mr “video games are for kids” who absolutely destroys EVERY. SINGLE. BEING. At Just Dance, Dance dance revolution and any rhythm game u can think of. But that doesn’t count…….. why? “Because I said so” -Dust

Horror– Stardew Valley, followed closely by Animal Crossing. Why? Pretty simple. Farming games first, and the controlled social aspect of friendships(and romantic interests in stardew). Stardew is not an easy game, but it’s not challenging in a way Horror can’t keep up with. Repetitive tasks and anything relating to food is his forte, after so many years of cooking and managing his own little farm(not to mention the private, quiet lessons from farmtale!sans when he goes to pick up food for his au)

(all i know about stardew i know through youtube and tiktok. keep that in mind)

Cross – used to be Mr “I can’t afford yo waste time on silly things like that” until he chilled tf out and started trying the games he saw others playing on the communal consoles. His favorite game is, unfortunately, CSGO, and he frequently plays with Killer just to absolutely annihilate the latter.

Zerox – Hue! Charming little game that has his whole heart and soul. First game they 100%ed out of pure love for it and desire for it to not end. Perfect mix between a nice, simple story with a happy ending and genuinely difficult puzzles wrapped in a fun concept!

S – He doesn’t play video games, actually. Of any kind. Yeah… not joking. Any free time he gets is spent somewhere out in nature or at Ccino's. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t get much truly free time, but Zero does bring him coffee from Ccino's often enough that it’s bearable.

Bonus

Error – The Talos Principle. Perfect, immaculate, holds up incredibly well years later. (he went against Elohim from the first word he uttered). The only thing on par with his love for this game is Road to Gehenna, so, basically, nothing beats it or comes anywhere near. 100/10, author is planning on replaying it very soon as well.

(as a little aside, Error and Zero actually form a tentative friendship over their shared love for puzzle game, though Zero is borderline bad at them.)

Dream – He’s a phone game kinda guy, let’s be honest. The only games he plays are sudoku, word-related and tetris-like. His most recent favourite is 1010

Ink – Human Fall Flat. Need I say more? Probably. The amount of puzzles he’s skipped by accidentally parkouring around/over/through them is insane, and it makes him feel Good. Plus, it has no story he’d inevitably forget.

what is their relationship like?

Star Sanses Edition

Ink+Dream

Ink and Dream met shortly after Dream is freed from his stone-y prison. They're allies first, united in their shared goal to protect the multiverse, and over time they become friends.

While they love each other, their relationship is not perfect, and there are still secrets and sore spots they struggle with.

Zerox+Emmy, Plum and Hearts

(Context: Zero and the trio meet after Z hears, while disguised, from some residents of the Omega Timeline that a new AU variant was destroyed, its skeletal brothers and MTT being the only ones who managed to be evacuated in time. The rumors surrounding these new inhabitants were… less than savory, and the tone with which other residents described their newest neighbors’ universe varied from disregard all the way to vile.

He pieced together the vague concept of the AU, then went to investigate personally under the guise of “welcoming a new neighbor”. What he found was along the lines he’d expected, 3 traumatized people who hadn’t even had time to mourn the loss of their world, nowhere near the confident, overly sexual beings everyone had chalked them up to be.)

Zerox takes care to introduce the brothers and M to O(mega)T(imeline) and multiversal culture, and asks what they would like to be referred by.

Papyrus chooses Plum, and Mettaton, after brainstorming a little with Papyrus and Zero settles on Emm(Emmy for friends). Sans, in sans-typical fashion, lets Plum, Emy and Zero decide. After arguing for a while on what increasingly weird nickname to assign Sans, they compromise with Hearts. (thanks to the outfit Sans had been wearing)

Zerox gets attached almost immediately to Plum and Emmy, and they quickly form a strong bond. They often have “self care” nights together, during which they do stereotypical things like eat ice-cream, watch cheesy horror movies and enact mayhem upon whichever asshole/s decided to wrong the brothers or Emmy that week.

Hearts and Zero have a more distant relationship in the beginning, through no fault of Hearts’. Some time after midnight, on the heels of a self-care night, they finally sit down for a heart-to-soul. Zero apologizes for his cold demeanor, sharing a limited summary of their history in their own AU with his respective Sans, and how it affects his interactions with ALL sans-variations. Hearts accepts the apology and admits that he was not all that sure about having a human-hybrid around either.

The two are able to move on from their biases over time, and grow to be good friends.

(Actually, Zero meets Dream through Hearts. It’s an event everyone involved regrets.)

Zerox+S

Zero and S meet through Nightmare, soon after the Guardian employs him.

Zero bothers the everloving FUCK out of S by asking a million and one questions about his homelife, “lore” and overall AU(including its political climate pre-deletion). Z is fascinated by S and his ‘fancy guy-in-the-chair’ schtick, although he doesn’t get much past understanding basic HTML and a few C++ commands.

As one does, Zero also subtly tries to radicalize S into being able and WANTING o demand better for himself.

what is their relationship like? (part one)

Killer+Nightmare

Complicated. Being the first official member, Killer's had the most to get used to all the unspoken rules that come with living in the castle (through breaking every single one a million times each).

While he is loyalty personified when it comes to missions and other serious matters, he knows exactly how much he can(usually) get away with and loves to tow the line, especially with the others. Before anything and anyone else comes his cat, which has been tested by Nightmare when he first considered Killer, originally as a goon for throwing off Ink and Dream.

Nightmare employs a hands-off approach with Killer, for the most part, and doesn't go out of his way to interact more(or less) outside of missions. He keeps his "employee" in check as needed, though he becomes more lenient over time(as Killer settles down more).

His feelings towards Killer boil down to someone who got a roomba for efficiency.

Dust+Nightmare

Being recruited second, Dust had to settle in with already established dynamics, which wasn't too hard for him, since he didn't care about any of them nor how he's expected to fit into them.

His feelings towards Nightmare are pretty nebulous, but so are his feelings towards everyone(or so he insists).

He sees Nm as his boss and retains a purely professional relationship with him, which the Guardian is more than content with. Dust's loyalties lie with his brother first, and himself second, but surprisingly enough Papyrus and him agree more often than not. He gains, over many years, a sense of belonging and loyalty to the gang, but it's a very slow process.

Nightmare appreciates how quiet Dust is, and his business approach to working for him. He does not appreciate how often he has to pull Dust away from trying to, well, dust Killer.

Horror+Nightmare

Horror comes third, into what is, at first, just shy of a battlefield. He's brought in to mostly be Dust and Killer's keeper, at first, which he's scarily good at. He has his Role, and his home depends on him being good at it, so he does what he's always done and becomes what people need him to be.

He feels equal parts hate and gratefulness towards Nightmare, but regardless of his feelings he does his job without complaining.

He's the strongest physically, but the weakest overall when it comes to magic reserves. His scare factor comes in handy to making the other two skeletons listen.

His loyalty ultimately lies within the bounds of his home, and as such he is willing to do anything to ensure everyone's safety, even joining a multiversal war...against the multiverse.

Nightmare, although he would never admit it, finds Horror to be his favorite, even as the monster hates his guts. He appreciates his work ethic and the fact he can keep his other troublemakers in check. After he recovers enough from his starved state, he finds Horror to be an asset in spreading negativity throughout the aus.

Cross+Nightmare

Cross is the last main addition to the castle. He struggles heavily with finding his place in the relationships and dynamics already set in stone, and is more than a little awkward(which is more often than not read as antagonistic).

Cross swears loyalty to Nightmare and his cause out of a sense of duty, after the latter locates his empty AU through his negative emotions and helps give Chara and him new souls.

His feelings towards Nightmare are not exactly positive, but he carries on with his duties regardless. He mistakenly calls Nightmare "Your Highness" in his little allegiance speech, and the nickname sticks.

DATA CORRUPTED OR MISSING+Nightmare

(Senf is a ERROR405 skeleton, sole survivor of an attack by Error, near the start of his job. He plays the role of hacker and information broker for Nightmare.

Before the Omega Timeline existed, S was taken in by Nightmare under the condition that he provide information and keep Nightmare updated on anything and everything of use. He is also responsible for safe proofing the devices the gang uses.)

S's feelings about Nightmare are easily converted into a simple tiktok audio:

"Am I boring? Sure. Social skills? None. But I'm loyal if you feed me and I will never leave because well, I need the food."

It's a purely transactional relationship and he's fine with that, it's better than he could've hoped, really. His loyalty lies with his well-being, and Nightmare has provided perfectly fine for as long as he's needed, so the chances of S betraying the Guardian are nonexistent.

Nightmare feels ambivalent to S. He will keep his word as long as S keeps his.

Zerox+Nightmare

Zerox found Nightmare through his brother(or, more accurately, to SPITE Nightmare's brother).

As much as Zero doesn't really believe in or care too much about Nightmare's whole "making them understand " schtick, it's not like they are welcome in many places outside of the castle, so he makes do. Zero's deal with Nightmare is less about "overtaking the multiverse" than being entertained and radicalizing some fellow comrades<3 along the way. Zero's loyalties lie with the Gang, but not Nightmare outside of their deal.