Happy Birthday @hiimtryingtounderfell A little Athela with beautiful flowers for your birthday （⌒▽⌒ゞ Hope your day will be great ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ (after school XD) have a good and wonderful day °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
Hey uh sorry if this is bothersome or anything, just wondering if this story is still going, or if it's on hiatus or something? i'm not trying to rush i swear--
Haha sorry for making you worry. I am kind in a forced hiatus at the moment, because I have many college projects going on, and my Underfell comic takes most of my free time. I can’t sit down and give love to Athela as much as I’d like.
That being said, the upcoming chapter is halfway-written already. So there’s been SOME progress, I’m just VERY slow! Sorry c’:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 19 is finally up!!! So sorry about making you guys wait for so long... I have no excuse! But this is finally finished~ so go read it, and see how Athela meets two special brothers~
For those who can’t access AO3 or just don’t want to do it, the chapter is pasted under this sexy cut!!!
Bloomtale
Chapter 19 – The suspect
Softness... warmth...
Athela opened her eyes slowly, hoping to see some light, a ray of sunshine, the trees of her home's forest... but she only got to see that familiar darkness she was already so used to.
That meant she was still underground. Well, of course... there was no way out, was there?
The young monster sighed, her mind still quite foggy form waking up, and moved her arm upwards, ready to take impulse and stand up; she had probably passed out in the snow again.
...
Her hand, however, found some resistance.
What... what was that? It felt like a blanket...
...
Wait a second.
She froze in place, confused and rattled. Not daring to make another movement; she had yet to analyze the situation. What was happening? Where was she? Did... did she die? But if that was the case, where was she now?? That wasn't snow, the air wasn't cold...
Cautiously, the skeleton moved her shoulders and neck, only to find out that her head was resting on something really soft. The surface she was lying on creaked softly as it slightly sunk, fluffiness and warmth filling her now cozy bones.
"Wha...?" Athela's voice felt rusty; her throat sore. She coughed, trying to get rid of the soreness, but it only got worse. Ugh. Well, whatever.
After making a few more movements, she arrived to some important conclusions. First of all: she wasn't dead. She wasn't back at the last save point and the usual headache didn't greet her, so she had probably survived the cold. She knew little more but one other thing: she was on a bed.
Where exactly? She didn't know.
How did she get there? She didn't know either, nope.
The last thing she had managed to recall so far... was that Flowey disappeared. And that she fainted... so, was she dead? Was this limbo? If that was the case, she would like to speak to God or whoever was in charge, because she was still unable to see a thing and it was very annoying.
...
No, wait.
She remembered now. Someone picked her up and ran. Did... did that person bring her to safety? Who was that person? Oh, if that was true she would have to thank them immensely.
So she was alive and safe. That... she almost couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true, in fact! Not like she didn't trust anyone nor anything anymore, but... why? It was not the first time she arrived to that spot, so why did someone appear? Did Flowey do something?
...
Unlikely. Highly unlikely.
Well, her glee would have to keep its cool until she actually found someone. Clearly there was no one there with her, so she would have to go look for the person who brought her there. Or... wait until they appeared. But Athela didn't want to wait, she felt too anxious.
She felt awful in general, to be honest. Her head was pounding, her bones were aching... but she felt good enough to stand up, so she got to the edge of the bed, thinking about the person who saved her. All her clothes were still on her, minus her shoes. She would find them eventually... maybe they were next to the bed. Just kneel down and... no... not there either...
...
...
Ah, there. Those felt like her boots. She carefully put them on and stood up, cautious. She still didn't know a thing about the place she was at, so she oughta be careful. She also needed to see if there was someone around to guide her, or at least to greet her.
"Hello...?" Oh no, there it was again. It was painful to speak... why? Was it the flower's fault? Was it... what was it? She coughed again, unvoluntarily, and felt even more like she had just fallen flat form the bed instead of just normally getting off it.
Shaking her head softly, she took one step forward. The floor was hard, probably wood, like the one on her own house. Athela moved her arms erratically, looking for any obstacle that she could crash onto. Eventually she found... a wall. Well, that was something, she could follow it to the door. Then, she would probably find someone... hopefully, at least.
Slowly, she got to the so desired door.
Hello, door. Are you closed?
No, you're not.
With a creak, the wooden piece opened, and now Athela was even more lost than before. Was she in a hallway, did she get outside....? Wait, no, not outside, it was too warm for it to be outside.
If she was still in Snowdin, that is. Maybe she was in another area... knowing how different the Ruins were from the forest, she wouldn't find strange another sudden change in temperature. The underground was a mysterious place...
The skelly called for help, again.
But nobody came.
Sighing, and clasping her neck with one hand, she tried to find a way out. Following the wall would be easy enough. Just how big was that place...? Ah, there you go, Athela, one step at a time. Good. Maybe find another door and...
Wait.
The floor suddenly disappeared...??
Oh no.
"Oh my GOD, I can't believe you died! What happened??" Flowey's laugh and the bitter cold greeted Athela after some minutes of darkness and headache.
She just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, cry and cry a lot.
Why did this happen to her? Now that she was safe and warm, why...? Why?? Oh, the rage was building up so fast, she might just yell so loud even her mother would be able to hear her from outside that hellish place.
Or... well, she could've done it, if not for the sudden feeling of her head being about to explode.
"Gah!" With a weak cry, the skelly held her head and closed her eyes with force, trying to resist the pain.
"Hey, hey, tell me what happened!" Flowey poked Athela insistently. That, plus the enormous headache that suddenly assaulted her made the poor skeleton curl up in a ball and whine, both from pain and disgust.
Flowey just sighed upon this and retreated his vine. He wanted to know everything, since he hadn't been there to watch first-hand, but... yeah, her annoying headaches –those now were also annoying for Flowey too because; come on! leave already and let him know what he wants to know!– were in the way. Better just wait it out.
Flowey could wait.
"..." Athela could finally think clearly again. It had been just a moment, but for her it had felt like a whole hour. Was the pain getting worse? If that was the case... she was done for. Or she would be, if the resets kept coming.
Anywho, now she could be a decent person, not curse mentally and talk properly. She patted her hair, cleaning it from snow and other things that might've gotten stuck there during her little floor struggle, and then faced the direction she thought Flowey was. There was no way to know if it was the right direction though.
"Soooo?" The little weed sounded impatient. Like he couldn't wait to know the end of the last horror show. "Come on, tell me. How did you die now? Was the cold too much and you ended up passing out? Did someone try to hurt you?"
Flowey was making up so many theories in his mind. He even thought, for a second, that a small white dog might've showed up and stole one of her limbs and then she died. That would've been funny.
But nothing prepared him for what she would say next.
"I... think I fell down some stairs..." Athela managed to mutter. It was... embarrassing enough. She would've preferred to keep it to herself, jeeze. But who knows what the flower would do if she didn't satisfy his curiosity.
"Wha... the... the stairs?" Oh. Oh no, he was about to explode in laughter. Too late, he already did. "Ahahaha!! I can't... Are you serious?? I can't believe it ahahah..."
Athela frowned, humiliated and sad. Ok, so it had been her fault for not remembering that houses could indeed have stairs, but... on the other hand, she wasn't to blame at all! Because last time Athela had been living in a house with stairs, she had only six years old! Maybe less. She wasn't used to houses with stairs... so she thought...
Oh, what was the point in trying to excuse herself. Flowey wouldn't care, and in fact he was still laughing. The poor skeleton felt her face heatening up, and she would've cried if it weren't for the flowers that were deeply buried inside her eyesockets. That would not stop her from feeling awful, anyway.
She kept silent, waiting for Flowey to finish laughing.
...
Well, technically, she wasn't silent just because of that.
What was she supposed to do now? Should she just... try again and hope that person would appear again? Should she wait for that person to get to her and rescue her? Would it be necessary to move at all from that spot? Or maybe she needed to fullfill some requirements in order for that person to appear, but... which?
Perhaps Flowey knew...
"Flowey," Athela was also curious about another thing. Her brain was working so fast, she had around a million questions. Of course, she knew he wasn't going to answer most of them, but at least she had to try.
"Oh, golly. I have to thank you for the best laugh I had in... I don't know, a lot of time," Flowey still sounded gleeful. Well, good for him. She would still ask her questions. First of all...
"Do you know where that person took me? And how much time I spent there before I..."
"Before you fell down the stairs like the blind klutz you are? Hee hee hee..." He was still chuckling. Maybe the fact that he was in such a good mood would prove useful for her.
"Yes. I just noticed... when I woke up, I felt awful," she made some unconscious hand gestures around her throat as she spoke. "And it was difficult for me to speak, but... now I feel fine."
A few seconds of silence.
"Well, it's not like your voice isn't rusty right now, you know?" Flowey giggled.
"I... It is?" What a surprise. But she felt fine... as... as fine as she could feel at the moment, that is.
"You spent there half a day, more or less." Finally, an answer. "Well, maybe you're just constipated. Would explain the throat ache."
"Consti... pated?" Athela rose an eyebrow to herself, trying to understand what the flower was saying. And even though he knew she couldn't see him, Flowey rose an eyebrow and gave her a look that said 'really?'
Maybe she could feel it if he stared hard enough.
"Yes. Constipated. Ill. You know what that means, right? You're sick, maybe you have the flu," there were many ways to say the same thing. At that last sentence, Athela seemed to recognize some of the words.
"Ah! Mom fell sick once. She told me she had the flu," Athela smiled proudly and started explaining how one day her mom had spent all day out and it had been raining and then she came back home completely drenched and the next day she spent all day in bed, red like a tomato because she felt sick. "And then I got her some wet towels because she said..."
"Aaaarrrgggghhhh I don't care what she said, shut up!!" Flowey's annoyed voice made the poor skeleton freeze up and shut it. "Okay, so you know what that is, but apparently you never fell sick yourself."
"But... I'm a skeleton. I can't fall sick, right?"
Athela heard a soft slapping sound, and then a deep, deep sigh.
What?
But could she fall sick or not??
"Whatever," another sigh from the flower, who just chose not to answer her at all. "I'll just guess that your parents did a good job protecting you from germs."
"What? But my dad..."
"I don't care!" Flowey almost yelled again as he tried to keep Athela from saying unnecessary things. "I don't care. Just... stop talking and just... er..."
Silence.
Athela wondered if something was up again, or...
"Actually, I don't know if you should just wait out again. It worked last time..." Ah, no, he had just been thinking. It seems he had problems tying up his new wicked plan. Because it surely was wicked, Athela had experience already and could tell.
"Who saved me, Flowey? Do you know?" If Athela had any other question for this wicked flower, she had forgotten by now. She was interested on other things.
"I do know," short, grumpy answer, and then some whispering that Athela managed to hear. "He almost saw me last time, would be problematic if... no, but maybe I should just make her wait and then.... but that would be boring, argh..."
"... Flowey?" Athela muttered, not really wanting to interrupt. But her thirst for knowledge was stronger than her fear. "Who was that...?"
"Shush." One short hiss was all that Flowey had to do to make the poor skeleton shut up. He sounded really angry and focused. "Gosh, you're just like a child, so inquisitive and all. Stay quiet for a second, you idiot."
Jeeze, she just wanted to know...
But... anyway, if she managed to reunite with that person again, then it would be no problem asking. Maybe she should get going and, with some luck, she would encounter them again.
...
But she still didn't know what the condition for meeting them was. Did she need to do something, or did they just appear at random? Before she had any time to double think, she had already stood up. Apparently, that confused Flowey.
"What are you doing now?" He inquired, voice still sounding annoyed. Oops?
"Er... I'm going to... the place where..." Athela didn't know how to answer in an appropriate way. Was there a way he would get less angry?
"Oh my God. You'll just die again if you do that.... ..... but be my guest, come on." Apparently not. Athela's lack of knowledge was throwing him off edge. What was she missing??
"Wait, no, but... what should I do then?" She pleaded.
"Not telling you."
"Pleaseee?" Pleading would've been completely humiliating if this wasn't really important for Athela. It was the chance to meet another friendly monster! A monster that cared enough to actually save her. There was something... that made her want to know this above anything. So she played the part. "If you tell me I will keep quiet!"
...
That seemed to convince him alright. Was Athela THAT annoying? The skelly seemed a bit hurt over this, but... Flowey was just downright mean, nothing she could do about it.
"Well, it has to do with TIME, duh," Flowey started explaining with a slow tone, as if she were stupid. Which was annoying. "The timeline in which you encountered him, you stood here for a lot of time, whining like the baby you are. Then he had time to get there to save you."
"Oooh...." That made sense. She was not a baby, but that was... obvious. How didn't she think of that too? ... Maybe because she wasn't really focused at the moment.
"So your best friend Flowey recommends that you wait here for at least twenty minutes. Then you can go and probably meet your doom!" Athela knew Flowey so well by then that she was already imagining how he was moving. He was probably sticking his tongue out at her again while he winked like a... like a ... creepy weed with... eyes and mouth.
Yes.
She needed to get better at this insult game.
Athela didn't say anything. And Flowey didn't say anything, either. They were just there, silently waiting. Oh, the wait was so hard... for both of them. Both of them were stubborn and impatient. One more so than the other.
Because she had promised to keep quiet, there was nothing Athela could say; not like she wanted to speak with her killer, but... still, silent was difficult to bear with if you knew you had company.
Tick, tock.
How tedious.
...
Athela had started counting the seconds, when a sneeze interrupted her train of thought. It was quiet and weak, but it was hers. Weird. She felt colder all of a sudden...
"Huh. Standing still must've been getting you sicker," Flowey didn't sound worried, only thoughtful. His comments were appreciated in that frozen lake of silence, though.
Anyway, Athela would've preferred her mother. She missed her so much...
"I'm moving. It's been a while already..." She indeed felt worse than before... better get moving before the cold manage to sink through her bones.
"..."
There was no answer.
That made Athela nervous. Was he still there, or did he leave? N-not like she needed Flowey to go on, she already knew the way and honestly that weed creeped her out with his every word. So it was better if he wasn't around.
But if he wasn't around she could not know where he was, if he was plotting something in the shadows... uh, that was unsettling too. It seems like no matter where or what was Flowey doing, he always managed to make her feel bad.
Well, as Athela was saying, she didn't need him. He probably just resumed his stalker schedule to see how she played his game. His game... Flowey's game...
Flowey game.
Floweystep.
Super Flowey Bros.
Athela was thinking names for this "game" as she walked. She brushed a pinetree with her left arm, and so she knew she had to change directions. It was impressive how she was able to move swiftly while being blind... she almost felt proud of herself. Not like she could feel really proud; being blind was mostly her fault for being so clumsy anyway.
Oh, but the game thing. A name for it.
It needed to have Flowey's name in it, because Flowey was narcissistic like that. Or at least, he looked like he was. So maybe... Flowey's adventure? Too long.
Floweyventure. Uh, no.
Flowey...
Floweytale!
...
"I don't have any taste at naming games..." The skeleton sighed, saddened by her poor naming skills. Well, the time to think about that was over. Now she needed to concentrate at the puzzles that were coming next.
She kinda missed the times Flowey would solve them for her to make it all go quicker.
But that was bad. She couldn't become dependent of him. Not him, of all people. She would nail those puzzles, and then she would meet the person who saved her again. Just you wait and see. She could do this.
Athela opened her eyes, waking up from her slumber. The usual blackness met her, and this time she smiled. She could feel the softness of a bed, the warmth of a blanket.
She did it.
Well, she did die once before managing to do it for real. But now she was there, safe and sound, protected inside a house away from all that snow and cold death. She sighed, relaxing at last. There was nothing to fear now. Only stairs. But that was fine, she would just stay there, waiting.
...
She... wasn't good at waiting.
Both the expectation and eagerness of meeting someone new were rushing through her head, she was literally restless. At least now she knew more or less where she was and could process everything better, but... ugh. Where was her savior?
Athela sighed, trying to calm down. Be patient, Athela. Just pretend it's like when you were back home, waiting for mom to come back from work. Sometimes she took almost an entire day, but she would always come back. This was the same, that person couldn't just go away forever, right? They had to return to check on her. Maybe they just went to... get something. Or... well, it was no use worrying about that now. She just had to wait.
...
She couldn't just wait there on that bed. She... she didn't feel really good, physically speaking, but her mind was eager. So she stood up, caressing her neck softly.
It was sore.
She coughed, and that was painful.
...
So... skeletons COULD get sick, huh.
"I'll be fine..." Athela muttered to herself as she stood up from the bed. She put on her boots again, and she started walking across the room. Of course, she wasn't going to get out of it; dangerous stairs were out to get her. Begone, foul beasts!
No, she was just going to check the room.
Patting her surroundings, the skelly made her way to a table. It had small things resting on top... something that felt like figurines. Articulate dolls? They were small... maybe the room belonged to someone who really liked playing with action figures. She liked them, too. It was fun to play and pretend they were out on a mission to save the dragon from the mean knight who only wanted the princess' money and status.
She smiled, remembering her silly games. It had been a while... maybe she should play again sometime, when she got back home.
She would do that, definitely.
Not wanting to mess with someone else's belongings for long, she moved on. Next thing she found was... a bookshelf. Yeah, she easily recognized that, she had like four at her house. Filled to the brim with books, comics, and other cool things that could be read.
This one also seemed to have a wide variety of books... thin, thick, big, small, soft, hard. Wow. She wanted to know so bad what all those books were about... too bad she couldn't read anymore.
....
Sighing sadly, she left the bookcase alone and kept going through the room. Better forget she couldn't do one of the things she loved anymore because of her blindness... by.. touching a doorknob.
Wow, what. Another door? But the door was in the opposite direction, wasn't it? Weird... was this one open?
"there are no skeletons inside that closet, ya know? except my bro, sometimes," Athela went stiff when a deep voice interrupted her train of thought and her actions. What a scare...
"I... I'm sorry, I just... wanted to check, and..." Not daring to move, the skeleton started to feel her bonecheeks heating up because of the embarrassment. Oops, she had been caught snooping around.
But the newcomer didn't seem to mind her nosiness, or at least it looked like he didn't, because he let out a short laugh.
"hey, no sweat, gal. not my closet anyway," he sounded nice. Athela liked that. And... judging by what he just said, she had been about to enter a closet. And not his closet. So this was someone else's room... which meant he wasn't the one who saved her, right? Or at least, that was what she could deduce. Her brain was working so fast due to sheer nervousness and anticipation to meet her hero. But, if he didn't save her, who did? She turned around to ask, while the other guy kept talking to her. "so anyway, i came to check up on you because holy shit your eyes."
....
Oh. Oh, no, a swear. Bad word, bad.
"Er..." Athela felt uneasy. He sounded uncomfortable. Was he uncomfortable? So far, no one had said a word about her eyes... so why did he? No, but he sounded like he was really uncomfortable. She could hear him muttering something... what? she wasn't sure. But... whatever it was, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Was she just... gross to look at, with all those flowers covering her eyes? Oh no, surely she was. Oh no, she was starting to feel anxious. No words came out of her mouth... what could she even say in a situation like this?
That moment of silence was slowly turning into a deep, awkward one. Seems like the other guy didn't know what to say either.
...
...
Uh...
"BROTHER, YOU BETTER BE HERE AS I ASKED!!" Thankfully, another person came through the door and broke the suffocating silence with his high pitched voice. Was it really high pitched or was he just really excited? Whatever it was, Athela could feel a deep relief and a sigh coming up.
"hey bro," yes, that other guy also sounded relieved. "guess what."
"WHAT? DID UNYNE SHOW UP? I'VE BEEN CALLING HER!" The newcomer... didn't notice Athela was there. Probably he was busy talking to his brother.
Wait... his voice... sounded so familiar.
"nah, not yet. it's something else."
"WHAT? WHAT IS IT?" Oh, he was anxious to know. What his brother probably wanted to say is that she had woken up, but...
"well. you could ask her," ah, there it is.
"SANS, I CAN'T DO THAT, SHE'S STILL UNCONSCIOUS!! RIGHT, GIRL I DON'T KNOW YET?"
"........." Oh, oh no. He probably saw her and he didn't realize yet. That was so... funny?? She tried hard not to break into laughter. Best thing was that the other guy... Sans? was also silent, as if he were waiting for his brother to realize. Oh no.
"..."
"..."
Oh no. She was starting to break.
"OH MY GOD!" After a few moments, he seemed to realize. "YOU'RE AWAKE!!"
"Y-yes," She managed to say. It would be really rude to start laughing now. But gosh that was adorable.
"OH MY GOD!" He repeated, gleefully. However, his tone quickly changed to a scolding one. "SANS! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I SENT YOU HERE TO CHECK UP ON HER!"
"she just woke up, that's why."
"EXCUSES, EXCUSES." Athela was enjoying this conversation.
"hey bro. she just woke up. aren't you gonna ask... flower she doing?"
...
Well, any joy she could've felt was gone now.
What was that? Was he... making fun of her? First, he sounded kinda grossed out about her flowers, and now he did this... oh... oh no, what if the other guy was also grossed out but was too polite to say anything about it? She wanted to hide in that closet forever.
"SANS!" There, he sounded displeased. With... his brother. Not her? "I WAS ABOUT TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW!"
She heard him approach, his steps creaking on the floor. His hands grabbed hers and shook them in an excited manner.
"HELLO! ARE YOU OKAY? I SAW YOU SLEEPING ON THE SNOW AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE FEELING SICK, SO I SAVED YOU! DON'T THANK ME!" He was still shaking her hands. What an enthusiastic guy.
Wait...
HE saved her!! Oh gosh he saved her.
"yeah, don't thank him. that's just his daisy routine. helping people and all." Sans said something else. Athela didn't get it at first... daisy? A daisy was a flowe... oh. Oh.
Well, he was definitely mocking her now. Why else would he mix up words with flowers after seeing her eyes? That... that was rude. She didn't like him anymore.
"UGH... SANS!!" Even her saviour seemed annoyed at his word choices. "DON'T MIND MY BOTHER, PLEASE. OH, I LIKE YOUR FLOWERS! THEY'RE GOLDEN, AND PRETTY!"
"What...?" Athela was confused.
"I'VE NEVER SEEN ANOTHER SKELETON THAT HAD FLOWERS IN THEIR EYES! THEY LOOK REALLY COOL." He seemed blatantly honest... she couldn't help but blush slightly at the compliment. It wasn't really a compliment, because the flowers weren't really part of her body, but... he probably thought they were. Which made what he said, a compliment.
"Uh... t-thanks..."
"MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, BY THE WAY!" He just continued talking, excitedly. She felt like she would barely had time to talk, he was talking so fast... but she would manage to say her name, at least.
"I'm Athela... thanks for saving me, Papyrus," they just told her there was no need to thank him, but she would do it anyway, for she was really grateful. Also, his voice sounded REALLY familiar... when had she heard it before...? Think, girl, think...
"ATHELA! THAT'S A NICE NAME! IT SUITS YOU!" Papyrus seemed excited still. What a nice, cool guy. She was about to blush again... two compliments in a row! She felt better about being a gross flowery mess now.
"yeah, very appropriate," The other dude, Sans, seemed like he was giggling.
"UGH. SANS, I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE LAUGHING NOW, BUT STOP IT. WE HAVE GUESTS!!"
"well that's because her name is a... er... ya know what, never mind," Athela got what he wanted to say. She had a flower's name. What. Was it so funny to him? Jeeze... great, she was salty again. Why did she feel like this...?
Anyway, it didn't matter. Maybe it was because she felt like a rug, her head hurt and her throat were aching... ugh. She coughed, covering her mouth because she was polite, unlike that Jerry dude from before.
This seemed to alarm Papyrus.
"OH, OH NO. SANS, SHE'S SICK!"
"just as you suspected, paps," Sans didn't seem surprised, though. "but we have medicine, so that's snow problem, right?"
"UGH. WAIT HERE, I'LL GO GET YOU SOMETHING!" And with that, Athela heard a door closing. He har probably left... leaving her alone with Sans. She was pretty sure she didn't fancy the guy that much by now.
...
Silence was uncomfortable. She decided to go back to bed, because she felt pretty dizzy. She felt like she was abusing their hospitality, but... maybe just five more minutes...
"the bed is the other way," Sans' voice made her jolt and change directions immediately.
"... Thanks."
...
There it was. The bed. She sat down and then... then what? Should she lie down? The other dude was right there, she didn't really feel like sleeping while someone else was watching. Uh...
...
This was... an uncomfortable situation, to say the least.
"so, you're not from around here, huh," Sans sounded closer now. Weird... she never heard him take a step.
"Not really, no..."
"uh... good. i guess," yep, he still sounded uncomfortable. "look, sorry about earlier. i just... i wasn't expecting to see..."
"It's okay. I get it," Athela cut him off, not really wanting to hear what he wanted to say.
Athela wanted Papyrus back.
But at least having Sans was better than having Flowey, right? She could bear this.
"welp, i think paps has it covered for now. i should get back to work," oh, he was leaving, good. Well, not 'good', but... at least the uncomfortable situation would be over...
"Fine," she answered, trying her best to not keep silent and made it all more violent.
"just a question before i leave, missy."
"... Yes?" She didn't know what to expect, to be honest. And... his voice, all of a sudden, sounded more serious.
"did you always have those flowers on you?"
...
What... was that question for?
Should... should she answer honestly? But... but she didn't feel like explaining her situation to him, and... it would be weird. Maybe he would not believe her... no, he would definitely not believe her.
And if she said no, and he started asking even more questions... it would probably become messy and...
...
"Yes," She lied. Her lie, a short and simple word, sounded heavy on her throat.
But she thought it was for the best.
". . . i s e e ."
Athela didn't hear another sound. The silence grew deeper... until the door opened.
"I'M BACK! I THOUGHT WE COULD SHOW YOU AROUND AND... WHERE DID SANS GO?"
"... What?" Apparently, Papyrus was back, but... Sans left?
When did he even do that?
...
Okay, Athela was creeped out alright.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Papyrus didn't even care that much, because he immediately changed topic. "ARE YOU STILL TIRED? I WOULD LIKE TO SHOW YOU AROUND!!"
"Er... sure..." Still confounded, Athela stood up from the comfy bed, and walked her way to where she thought the door was. Still unnerved.
Hey Kaito... I haven't really seen any activity on this blog for a while, are you doing alright? Are you done with your fic, or are you just too stressed to continue at the moment? I'm not pressuring you to continue if you don't want to, but your fic is amazing and I was wondering what happened to it.
Oh boy, I know. The fact is, I have next chapter almost done, but with my comic, college and multiple projects, I can’t find the time to write!
Hey! I just wanted to tell you that I really really like your fic (it took me less than a day to finish it (and I'm a slow reader!)! Thank you to share it to us, it's very nice! <3 I love it, keep going (ps: I'm French so I can't say much things, sorry!) Have a nice day! ;)
A kind, sudden anonymous message showed up! I am grateful!!
I am sorry that I haven’t been able to post lately, but the story is on a stand point and I really need to think what to write and how to write it!
But anyway, the fact that a french reader is so enthused with what I do fills me with joy! Thanks for this nice ask ♥ Thanks for your patience!
It is not surprising news that fanfiction writers are highly underappreciated.
There’s something wrong with the numbers: let’s take a popular fic with almost 4k hits. For let’s say 700 readers, it will get about 50 comments and 300 Kudos (those numbers are just an example, sometimes it’s worse than that). Maybe I’m being too kind, maybe not, but things stay the same; there’s something wrong here. Can you see it?
It takes us days, weeks, sometimes months to write a story for you. We write for ourselves yes, but we also write to share. We write to offer you content about your favourite characters. We write to bring our and your ships to life. It takes you a fraction of second to leave a Kudos, ten seconds to one, two or a few minutes to leave a comment.
And here lies our problem: there’s no proper sharing if there’s no proper feedback. An author not getting comments is generally a sad author. If I didn’t get feedback I’d wonder what’s the point in keeping on writing. A comment makes a writer’s day, most of the time even motivates them to write more.
Another important thing thrandythefabulous and I noticed: why on Earth do so many readers don’t comment (even kudos) if the fic has been up for a little more than a week or two? Why? Your feedback is still welcomed and much appreciated.
We write for ourselves, but also we write for you. And sadly, many readers are being quite… ungrateful, when giving feedback is the least they can do to thank the people offering them stories for free.
So, before we get started on our little day, let’s talk about comments:
It doesn’t matter if other readers already said what you wanted to say, we’ll still love reading it again in your words.
It doesn’t matter the fic has been up for weeks or months or years; comments on those ones are unexpected and so, it makes them ever better.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much to say, we’ll be glad anyway.
Most authors leave the comment section open to people who don’t have an Archive of Our Own (AO3) account, which means you can still… comment! How amazing is that.
That brings us to our little Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day.
The point of this day is simple; on August 21st, writers and readers alike would go on AO3 (or any fanfiction website really), on Tumblr, and leave a comment on their favourite fics (even the fics they enjoyed!) and/or send their authors a message about their works.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve already or never commented. It doesn’t matter if the author doesn’t know about this post. It doesn’t matter if the author already knows how much you love their work.
Just let writers know you love the fics they write for you, simple as that!
And well, don’t forget to keep leaving a Kudos and a comment in the future, and make writers happy!
Annual day of revisiting old faves and realising I forgot to kudo and/or comment on something I’ve re-read umpteen times or am reading for the first time evar wooooooooot
Quick drawing od Day 16! The theme today was “supernatural”, but Athela is already a skeleton, so I didn’t know how to draw her as a ghost or a zombie... so! I just made her wear witch clothes~
That is, I had to draw Athela with Felys, who I already drew yesterday. Together, they’re unstoppable!!! [Or are they...? x’D Maybe it’s Felys the one who’s really unstoppable...]
