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[13thcommander]

"Hello, this is Erwin Smith. I'm unavailable at the moment; please leave a message and I will contact you as soon as I'm able."


ACCEPTED: WALKIE TALKIE
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ACCEPTED: 323 MIDWICH STREET
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323 Midwich Street, lateish January morning

[ribticklers]

[Sans knocks on Erwin's door one morning casual as he always is.]

Hey, figured I'd pay you back for carryin' my tree with somethin' weird I saw.

[Information in exchange for tree-carrying?]

[13thcommander]

Good morning, Sans.

[Erwin smiles, pleased to see his visitor.]

Would you like to come inside? I'm afraid we're finished with breakfast but I can offer you some coffee, if you like.

[ribticklers]

I'm not gonna turn it down. [Free coffee is quite similar to free food, and Sans appreciates free food. Also, it'll be safer to talk inside, anyway.

So, once the door is closed behind him:]

I found somethin' in the police chief's wallet. Or a wallet he had, anyway.

[13thcommander]

Oh?

[Consider Erwin interested! He looks back over his shoulder as he leads Sans to the kitchen.]

When were you spending time with the police chief? The man isn't particularly friendly.

[ribticklers]

Only if "caught him sleeping in his car" counts as hanging out. [Sans will sit himself down at the table once they're in the kitchen.] The wallet was sittin' on the floor of the car.

[13thcommander]

... you're a bold man, Sans.

[Which Erwin can appreciate! He pours them both a cup of coffee and sets them on the table, along with the milk and sugar to turn them into delicious sludge.]

What did he have?

[ribticklers]

[Sans puts only a little sugar and milk in his. He's gotten used to his human body enough to know what it seems to prefer, at least. As far as being bold, he waves a dismissive hand at that.]

I was just in the right place at the right time. I found this old photo--like, real old--of these kids in Halloween costumes. So I go and look up how the costumes here work, and those are modern costumes. Like, should be from this year or last year, right? But that photo was way older than that.

[Who knows how long it's been 1961?]

[13thcommander]

[Erwin has had a human body his entire life, and his demands sugar. After a lifetime without it, he's discovered the joys of real coffee with real sugar, and has been on a bit of a hedonistic streak with both.]

Interesting.

[Erwin taps on his chin thoughtfully. Photography is still a new technology to him, so he's going to need more clarification.]

I assume you're more familiar with photographs than myself. How old would you say the photo was?

[ribticklers]

It felt like it might fall apart when I took it out of the wallet--I was checkin' for writing on the back--so it's gotta be years old. [Admittedly, Sans isn't entirely sure about the photograph tech here, since it's more old-fashioned than what he's used to, but he has a general idea.]

[13thcommander]

Modern costumes in a photo so old it was falling apart...

[Erwin drums his fingers on the table for a moment.]

So whatever's happening here, he's trapped in it too. And whatever is going on, it must have started in 1961.

Which 1961 is the question now.