[Papyrus is on the ground as well, if sitting up and hugging at his knees. An inexplicable mix of fading and lingering aches do their thing without explanation, besides that maybe he fell over while having sudden onset daydreams. But before he can figure out if this experience was normal, by asking the people around him some initially circumspect questions...
Well, there's someone else curled up on the ground and gasping, who could maybe use a hand. Papyrus gets up to his knees to crouch closer, not quite reaching out to touch.]
Hey, are you okay? I think... The ball finished dropping, I think it's done.
[Not just the ball's drop being done, he means. But who's to say what caused people - a few more than just the two of them, he can tell with a look around - to fall down? Maybe it's like that story device of people having flashbacks at the end of their lives. And all of them just had a flashback on the year's behalf, as it died.]
I.b - the memory
Well, there's someone else curled up on the ground and gasping, who could maybe use a hand. Papyrus gets up to his knees to crouch closer, not quite reaching out to touch.]
Hey, are you okay? I think... The ball finished dropping, I think it's done.
[Not just the ball's drop being done, he means. But who's to say what caused people - a few more than just the two of them, he can tell with a look around - to fall down? Maybe it's like that story device of people having flashbacks at the end of their lives. And all of them just had a flashback on the year's behalf, as it died.]