The queen’s forlorn sigh tore at the soul of her most loyal royal guard. He peered into the throne room to find her gazing out the window. It was hardly uncommon, but instead of looking out at the city, and her subjects, she was gazing up at the cavernous ceiling of the Underground, as though she might be able to peer through it.
Perhaps she was sad because she felt responsible, somehow, for the fact that the barrier was still up? He hesitated for a second. Whenever his brother got like this, he usually locked himself away in his filthy room and insisted that he just needed to be alone. BUT! On those days where the magnificent Sans’s perseverance paid off, Papyrus always got his smile back, and started acting more like himself. He wouldn’t try to force Queen Toriel to spend time with him… she was wiser about such things than his stubbornly lazy brother.
After the first faltering step, he strode forward with confidence, and bowed low. *IS THERE ANYTHING THAT I CAN DO FOR YOU, MY QUEEN?
When he peered up from the bow, she was looking down at him fondly. The sadness was still in her eyes, but her frown had already lifted into a warm smile. “Oh, I suppose I was just feeling like a silly, sentimental old lady.”
He tipped his head to the side in confusion, gazing up at her. *WHAT DO YOU MEAN???
She looked back out the window. “Sometimes, I let myself remember back to how things used to be… far back, before the war…”
Ah. So she was reminiscing. That was understandable. She sounded a little lonely, though. He’d wanted to ask, but this was the first time that it’d felt… right. *WHAT WAS THE SURFACE LIKE?
She was quiet for a while, but it was a thought gathering sort of quiet. “During the day, everything is bright, and beautiful. There is more variety up there… one place can be as different from another as Hotland is from Snowdin. Perhaps even more so.”
He felt his eyelights getting larger in wonderment. *EVEN MORE?!?
She chuckled fondly. “Yes. And so much more room. And the sky…”
His eyelights were probably filling his sockets by now, just from her voice, and the beautiful, wistful smile on her face. *THE STARS???”
Another fond chuckle. “Yes. At night the sky is simply filled with too many stars to ever count… billions and billions.”
*ONLY AT NIGHT??
She covered her mouth with one paw, and looked at him in a way that suggested she wanted to scoop him into a hug. “The stars are there all the time, but they can only be seen at night, dear. In the daytime, the sun is too bright, and the sky is blue, and full of fluffy clouds, most times white and sometimes gray, and stormy, always changing, bringing shade, and rain, and snow, and hail.”
*WOWIE!!! THE SKY SOUNDS AMAZING!!!
She folded her hands neatly in front of her again. “Yes. It is quite amazing.”
*IS THE RAIN ON THE SURFACE LIKE THE RAIN IN THAT SPOT IN WATERFALL???
“It is… similar. I seem to remember that it is, fresher somehow. And on the surface, the rain comes and goes, in more than one place, and never staying in one area forever. And often, when the rain stops, there is the most beautiful rainbow in the sky.” She gave a sad, wistful sigh.
*A… RAINBOW??
She blinked down at him, as if surprised, and, saddened, that she had to explain. He felt a quick surge of guilt for asking, but she was very patient. “It is… an archway of different colors, that appear in the sky after it has rained.”
He tipped his head to gaze up at her. *DO YOU MISS THEM VERY MUCH?
She nodded, her smile still a bit sad, even as she reached down to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I wish for everyone to be able to experience the freedom surface for themselves, but, on a more personal level, I suppose I have always hoped to see a rainbow again.” She gave his shoulder-blade a pat. “Thank you for cheering me up.”
He watched her walk away, back towards her home. She didn’t LOOK all that cheered up, but he hoped he had helped a little. But… he wanted to help even more. He returned to his duties, pondering this new dilemma.
****
Papyrus was snoring on the couch when the door was suddenly kicked in and a familiar blue blur of energy zipped to his side. *PAPYRUS!!!
He lazily squinted one eye socket open. “sup, bro?”
Sans looked excited, and slightly panicked. *DO WE STILL HAVE PAINT LEFT???
Paint? “uh… yeah? i think so?”
The worry melted away. *OH, GOODIE!!! WHERE IS IT???
Papyrus sat up, scratching the back of his skull. “mmm, i dunno. used to be in the shed, didn’t it?
Sans tapped his foot impatiently. *YES, IT DID, BEFORE THAT BECAME THE CAPTURE ZONE! BUT THEN YOU MOVED IT. WHERE IS IT NOW???
The probably dried out paint that they hadn’t opened since decorating the house didn’t seem all that urgent, but it was obviously important to Sans, so Papyrus dragged himself off of the couch. “s’probably out back. hang on a sec, k?”
Sans was practically vibrating nervously. *OK… PLEASE HURRY, BROTHER!!! AND… DO WE HAVE ANY OTHER PAINT???
Papyrus headed out back to dig around his admittedly messy workshop, wondering what this was all about, but figuring that if he hadn’t already heard about it, Sans wasn’t going to expound JUST yet. He found the can, and teleported back into the living room behind his bro. “here it is.”
Sans spun around and snatched the can gleefully, then hugged him around the waist. *OH THANK YOU PAPYRUS!!!” With that, and a hearty *MWEH HEH HEH!!! he raced back out the door, leaving his older brother to wonder when he was going to hear all about this in great detail.
*****
Her darling little knight was certainly excited about something today. She wondered if the specks of paint here and there had anything to do with that, or something else entirely, as he led her through caverns in Waterfall. He grabbed an umbrella, and tried valiantly to hold it up over her head, but no amount of stretching or standing on his tiptoes could fix the difference in height. When she started to reach for a second umbrella, his eyelights dimmed, as if he had failed her somehow. The same was true when she hesitantly reached to take the umbrella he was holding. Feeling remorseful for ‘dampening’ the utterly cheerful mood he’d been in just seconds before, she thought quickly, and the solution was so simple, she was surprised she was just now thinking of it.
With an air of decisiveness, she scooped him up, giving him the height he needed to hold the umbrella for his queen. The little darling’s whole face lit up in a blush, as he tried to hold up the umbrella in the most dignified way possible. “Shall we continue?”
*I-IT’S JUST UP AHEAD, MY QUEEN.
She smiled at him, and continued walking until they got to the dark cavern that didn’t leak. The one with the excellent view of the palace, and the glowing ‘star’ crystals. *DO YOU LIKE IT???
She was at a loss for a second. And then she glanced towards the palace, and took in a sharp intake of breath. “Oh!”
There, in the dark space between them and the castle, was a glowing bone construct, in the shape of an arch, each layer of the arch painted a different color. She stared at it, then him, in wonderment. “You made this? For me?”
His face was glowing in pride, (and his cheeks were a bit flushed, too). *I KNOW IT’S PROBABLY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU REMEMBER, BUT IT’S A RAINBONE!!! MWEH HEH HEH!!!
She laughed delightedly as she cuddled him close in a hug. “It is… absolutely beautiful! Thank you, dear.”
Here is some doodles I did today in the Soriel Discord Drawpile. I wasn’t originally gonna post them on Tumblr but then I though, hey, they look pretty good, why not. Too bad I can’t post the whole drawpile picture. There is a LOT of great art on it. If you want to see it I suppose you’ll just have to join the Soriel Discord. (PROMOTES PROMOTES PROMOTES)
Anyway, @solaris-starr has successfully turned me into a Rivster shipper and an overall River fangirl. These two are just so freakin adorable together. I partially drew this for myself (because I love the ship), but I also drew it for Sol cause it’s her birthday!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SOL!!!!!!!!!!
And, oh, right, there was one more picture I drew on the drawpile. I’ll put that one under the cut.
It’s Jerry!!!! Of course it’s Jerry! How can anyone resist this little cutie?
