The Skeleton Brothers + The Human
“Reddish is my own adaptation of Fellswap, which, although it started focusing on the skeleton brothers and their pets (reddish owners), ended up developing into a complete universe with adaptations to the world (surface & underground) and its characters.”
World Context // Reddish Masterpost (under construction)
🔺Content warning: Manipulation, toxic sibling relationships, overall bad coping mechanisms.
Sans, The Captain of the Royal Guard
He is the example of the ideal soldier: disciplined, effective, strong and obedient. The extension of the will of the queen in the kingdom. Whatever she orders, he will make it happen.
He had a complicated childhood, being only him and his older brother, who pressured him to try and be stronger in a world that was in constant danger of a so-called war.
All the children of the kingdom at a certain age (when they are about to leave the stripes) are recruited for military training.
His short stature and delicate appearance made him the target of ridicule and discrimination by the other rookies and by several of the instructors. Because of this and the resentment that he was beginning to generate for his brother (who continued to push him to become a royal guard), he gave his all to prove otherwise…and it worked, but it made him close in on himself, never showing any weakness and despising anyone who did.
He removed Alphys from her rank with a confrontation in which no one expected him to emerge victorious. He humiliated her by lowering her to a common soldier and received the congratulations of the queen in person, for whom he feels a strong and real respect for since she gave him the opportunity to prove himself.
He truly believes in the cause and would give everything for the kingdom, which could conflict with some questionable decisions of the queen. For the same reason Toriel, not wanting to lose such a loyal and strong subject, ordered him to settle in Snowdin to be the one who would be in charge of intercepting any human who arrived and took him directly with her. It's not his only duty, he must appear to make reports and patrol other sectors, but she keeps him far enough away from the capital to avoid noticing the irregularities that the queen may order behind his back, thus maintaining his loyalty.
In the village he is respected and hated in equal parts. On one hand, he fulfills his duty admirably, looking after the people and their needs. He personally sees that resources reach everyone fairly, especially families with children. But just the same, he expects that everyone follow the protocol without questioning the queen for a second. Also, he doesn't work alone, he has the complete loyalty of Snowdin's guards unit, who are an extension of his will.
*Royal Guards: Snowdin Unit
Papyrus, Sentry in Snowdin's Forest (The judge)
He's for many, nothing more than the pathetic shadow of the captain of the guard. A excuse of an older brother who doesn't excel at anything and can't even keep his job as a sentry.
Quiet, apathetic and a compulsive smoker, everyone knows that to get something to light he is willing to do whatever job is offered. Nobody understands why the captain still put up with having someone so useless by his side, much less how he agrees to keep him when it's quite clear that neither Sans is able to bear him. In a world that is governed by a compulsive war policy, someone with his characteristics is only considered a burden…and that's how it is supposed to be.
Papyrus from an early age saw himself alone and in charge of his baby brother. With everyone busy preparing for something that never came, no one gave them much thought until younger than any of the other children, he was recruited to give him something to do.
He was never particularly exceptional, but being in training gave him enough stability to support Sans. Anyway, it wasn't long enough for everyone to realize that maybe a soldier wasn't going to be his career after all. His magic was strong, but his body wasn't, specially with stats that left much to be desired. For the same reason, he was taken to meet the Queen and that was the beginning of the end.
She recognized his magic and what was his real role in the kingdom: he was the Judge (a role of ancient magic passed down through generations and randomly assigned to a monster to ensure harmony is maintained between them).
Knowing that she had already done many things that could cost her to be judged, she decided to take the opportunity that he was just a child and kept the secret, but not satisfied with just that, she kept him from his military training to be indoctrinate in a particular way: Make him believe with the bottom of his soul that he is nothing more than a burden. Without any use other than the occasional time she'll call him to do his work, for which I will not pay him what is right because in the end, it's not the great of a thing, right?, only the least he can do to serve his kingdom and queen.
Papyrus was too young to see the deception and fully believed everything that was told, ending with no self-esteem or self-worth. For this reason, in an attempt to prevent his brother from going through the same thing, he demanded too much of Sans, so he be able to overcome himself and become someone different from him.
Too late he understood what had happened and when he wanted to do something, the queen already had Sans in her clutches. Not only was he completely loyal to the queen, but their relationship had deteriorated to such an extent that he already refused to even call him brother.
Without any hope, Papyrus sank deeper into his depression and the only consolation he finds is his addiction, which works only as a temporary placebo that later makes him feel worse. He lives his days in a monotonous way, between the continuous demands of Sans and the illegality of his jobs to get cigarettes.
He doesn't interact with anyone more than necessary and his only close friend is ironically the voice behind a door in the depths of the forest. Every so often he is called before the queen, but in complete secrecy, since no other than her knows of his power, which forbade him to tell everyone, specially his own brother.
*The Reddish Bad Owners
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"You come from the ruins?… A human?… What's your name?… That's not a name. I guess that how that old man called you, right? … It's fine, let me think… Shaky sounds appropriate, right bat?"
Shaky: The Seventh Human
Why "Shaky"? Aren't they supposed to be "Chara"? Yes and no. Formally, the human didn't have a name when they fell into the Underground (or if they did, no monster ever knew it). When Papyrus finds them and discovers this, he decides to name them "Shaky," considering the poor creature was shaking like jelly.
The kid moved from one caregiver to another with particular ease. Papa Asgore said they should trust his friend, and since the friend turned out to be nice, they didn't question it too much. Accustomed to having nothing stable in their life so far, they clung to the first thing that offered him a little security.
Plus, it came with a little friend and a living scarf, cool (?)
Papyrus saw in Shaky the little brother he hadn't been able to protect before, and this finally completed to the sense of purpose that Batchis had started. He would protect the human, since they were a defenseless being who needed his help.
This worked for a while since Sans was on a mission outside of Snowdin, but once word got out that the seventh human had appeared, chaos quickly broke out and Shaky's race for their life began.