anneandsnowflakepresent-blog

[anneandsnowflakepresent-blog]

Plans

*taps mic* This thing on?

Hey guys. We’re sorry to say that we’ve decided to discontinue this story. (We bit off way more than we could chew with this project...) Neither of us are particularly inclined to do more with it, nor do we really have a plan past where we stopped. We thought that we could at least post the plans we’d made and give you guys some sort of closure. Please feel free to pick up these ideas and run with them! Again, we’re really sorry about this. 

[anneandsnowflakepresent-blog]

I’ll Set You Free - Undertale Arc

Part 2: Get Moving

You decide to get moving. Whatever that countdown means, it can’t be good. It might be dangerous to explore without Toriel, but you can’t afford to waste any time.

You push off the pillar with your foot and walk into the next room. The cell phone in your hand suddenly rings, making you startle and almost drop it. You manage to pick up the call on the fourth ring. “Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?”

Obviously, you can’t tell Toriel that you have, indeed, left the room. So you say, “No.” You know, like a liar.

“Good. There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them yourself. Be good, alright?”

“Alright.” She hangs up. You pocket the phone and take some time to examine your surroundings.

You’re in another corridor, but this one isn’t as long as the one you just left. In front of you is another star, floating on top of a pile of auburn leaves. On your left is a smaller room with a single pedestal in it. A bowl of candy sits proudly on the pedestal.

You mull over your options. You could...

A) Inspect the star. Touching it was unpleasant and something you really don’t want to experience again, but maybe it wasn’t working before. Maybe something has changed now that you’re in a different location. Maybe.

B) Enter the room with the bowl of candy in it. You could probably find something useful in there, and with how dangerous Toriel is making the Ruins seem, you need all the useful items you can get.

C) Continue onwards. Time is of the essence.

D) Call Toriel, because why not.

--

Use the strawpoll HERE to make your choice. 

Go back to Part 1 HERE. 

[anneandsnowflakepresent-blog]

So far the stories great! I can't wait to see how it turns out :)

Me neither! - Snowflake

I’m excited to see where it ends up going. We have a general plan, but a lot of the direction depends on you guys! 😊 - Anne

[anneandsnowflakepresent-blog]

I’ll Set You Free - Undertale Arc

Part 1:

You find yourself on a bed of golden flowers with no idea how you ended up there. You stand, checking to make sure you're all there. You feel as if something is missing, but you've got all your body parts and nothing hurts. You walk forward and come across another golden flower. It grins at you. "Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!” Flowey leans forward on his stem and gives you a once-over. “Aren’t you just the strangest human I've ever seen!"  

You stammer something about a talking flower.  Flowey just laughs. "Oh, I know I'm one to talk—no pun intended—but I mean it. I've seen a lot of humans, but you are just... creepy. It's probably not good manners to do this, but... well, I’m just dying to see your soul!"

You feel a foreign tug in your chest. The feeling makes your hair stand on end and goosebumps rise on your skin. What feels like electricity gathers in the air, and your breath hitches as a small, cartoonish heart is pulled from your body. Immediately, you notice that something is very wrong. Your soul is a mess of vibrating black and white dots, just like a static screen. Your breathing quickens.

Something is very, very wrong.

“Oh wow," Flowey giggles, "you're even weirder than I thought! Look at that thing! That's… actually really gross. Like, how are you even alive right now, with your soul like that? I wonder what would happen if I were to..."

A circle of white pellets suddenly surrounds your soul.  Your heart hammers against your chest as they rapidly close in around you.  

Before you can do anything, you see a fireball materialize out of thin air and strike Flowey. He cries out in pain and you just manage to catch a glimpse of the burn on the side of his face before he burrows into the dirt and disappears. A tall figure strides towards you from the shadows. You try to shove your soul back into your chest, but it doesn't cooperate with you. You hastily cover it up with your hands to shield it from the potential threat.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth..." A soft, motherly voice comes from the figure. She steps into the light. Your savior is a goat-like monster with white fur and gentle maroon eyes. Her eyes travel downwards to see your hands cupping your soul. "Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I mean you no harm."

You’re still in disbelief over these talking monsters, but you can't sense a drop of malice or ill intent in her words. You decide that she can be trusted--at least, for now. She did just save you from a talking, homicidal flower after all, and what other choice did you have? You relax a little, but still keep your hands where they are. You can never be too safe.

Your response seems to be good enough for the monster. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. What's your name?" You tell her your name and she repeats it with a nod. "I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time."

You're not sure if that's good or bad.

"Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." Your soul is sucked back into your chest. That weird, empty feeling is still there, but at least it isn't as strong as when your soul was out in the open. "This way." Toriel beckons for you to follow her with a kind smile. You're hot on her heels, goosebumps still prickling on your arms from your encounter with Flowey. She leads you into the first room of the Ruins, and you immediately notice the bright yellow star hovering in front of a patch of red leaves.

You walk up to the star. "What's this?"

Toriel is already waiting for you at the top of the staircase. She gives you a look of genuine confusion. "What is what, my child?"

You frown. It's right in front of you! You reach out a hand and touch the star, your fingertips tingling from the contact. "This thing, of cour—!" You cut yourself off with a loud yelp. The tingling had quickly turned into a biting numbness that was slowly engulfing your lower arm. You jerked away from the star.

“Is everything okay?” The goat monster calls softly to you, her brows furrowed with concern—but you’re distracted by the black rectangle that had popped up in front of you like a screen. It only takes you a few seconds to realise that it’s a countdown; a countdown for 24 hours. Six minutes had gone already. What’s it counting down to?

You glance up at Toriel, suddenly remembering her presence. The countdown is gone when you look back. “...Yeah.” you say quietly. “Yeah, I’m fine.” You turn and make your way up towards her, taking the stairs two steps at a time. You catch her briefly inspecting your arm before she smiles at you again and leads you through the doorway.

“Welcome to your new home, innocent one. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins.” Toriel walks across four of the stone tiles on the right side of the room and pulls the lever mounted on the wall. The door clicks opens. She turns around. “The Ruins are full of puzzles; Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them.” She brings you into the next room, where you can see two streams running under small wooden bridges. “To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to flip.” She smiles reassuringly and walks over to the second bridge. You spot a plaque on the wall. Maybe it has some useful information for you?

“Stay on the path.”

...How enlightening.

You cross the first bridge and flip the switch. Toriel nods approvingly. The second switch is a little harder to pull. It’s jammed and touching it feels like pins and needles in your hand. Eventually the switch is pressed, and the spikes blocking the entrance to the next room fall away with a loud thud. “Splendid!” Toriel says happily. “I am proud of you. Let us move to the next room.”

You wipe your hand against your shirt as you follow her lead, trying to rid yourself of the prickling sensation in your skin. “You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple.” Toriel guides you over to a training dummy.  “When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy.”

Feeling slightly nonplussed, you take a step towards the dummy. Your soul is pulled out from your chest once more. Four orange, glowing buttons appear in front of you. FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. Following Toriel’s instructions, you choose to ACT and talk to the dummy. “Nice weather we’re having,” you say awkwardly.

“...”

The dummy doesn’t seem much for conversation, but Toriel seems happy with you. Just like that, the fight is over. She gives you a small round of applause. “Ah, very good! You are very good.” She disappears into the next room. You linger for a bit, staring deep into the dummy’s eyes in an attempt to connect to it spiritually, before giving up and following suit. “There is another puzzle in this room,” Toriel says as you approach her. “I wonder if you can solve it?”

Suddenly, a monster bounds up to you. Or is it two monsters? It looks like a large, white frog, with another tiny creature ducked underneath it. It’s staring down at the floor and twitching oddly. The encounter feels too early. You don’t know why it feels too early, but something isn’t right. Your soul flies forward and the four glowing buttons show up again. You prepare to call for Toriel… But you decide against it. You can handle this one yourself. You press ACT and compliment the monster. “You look really nice today!” you chirp. The monster slowly looks up. Its eyes are glazed over with tears. You frown. It leans forward, as if it wants to whisper a secret to you, and...

Static. Loud, ear-splitting static erupts from its mouth. You jerk back, heart leaping into your throat. It leaps onto your stomach. You topple down to the floor, landing hard on your tailbone. There’s no space in your racing mind to focus on the pain, because the monster is still spouting static in your face. You think it’s trying to say something, but you don’t know for sure until the white noise clears and you hear it scream something that makes your blood run cold:

H̶̢̰̦͙͋̽͒́͋̄̀̽͑̇̕͜��̧̧̭͓̹̖ͅẸ̶̡̭͉̱͇̪͔̬̭͗̇̉͛̅́͝ͅL̵̨͚͇̝̮̳̖̲͖̺̰̹̐́̅̀́̍͛͘P̸̢̡̬̠̠̠̯̳̬̳̠̊͛̉͗̀̀̍͆̆̓̈́̚͘ ̸̪͚̩̿̒͆Ṁ̷̝̅E ̸̨̭͙̞̘̝̝͎͔͚̱̳̋̈̐̉̉́̌̂̃̕͜͠!̸̡͉͓̘̩̰͔̬̼͖͆͌͛̏́͜

Your vision goes black. When it returns, the monster is gone, and Toriel is kneeling in front of you. “Are you alright?” she asks, a paw outstretched towards you.

Your erratic breathing slows, and you blink dazedly at her. Slowly, you reach out and take her hand. She helps you to your feet. “What happened?” you say. You know exactly what happened, but you want to hear what she has to say about it.

“You fell. You must’ve tripped on a loose brick. Please do be more careful, dear.” Still holding your hand, she leads you through the next puzzle. You keep your eyes on the floor as you reflect on your current situation. I’m stuck in a world full of monsters. I just got screamed at by a frog and no-one saw it except for me. Or maybe Toriel did see, and she’s just lying to me? You glance up at Toriel, accidentally meeting her gaze. You quickly avert your eyes. Does she have any reason to do that? Can I trust her? Can I even trust myself? I could be insane, for all I know. How am I going to get out of this?

“Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now,” she says. The next room is a ridiculously long corridor, which she asks you to walk through on your own. You obey stiffly. When you reach the end, she emerges from behind a pillar, thanking you for trusting her. You nod dumbly at her words, only tuning in when she says: “I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It’s dangerous to explore by yourself.” She gives you a cell phone to call her with before leaving. 

You roll the cell phone around in your hand. It’s prehistoric compared to what you had before you woke up here. You lean against the pillar, rubbing your neck and heaving a tired sigh.

What should you do now?

A) Stay put. Getting out of here will be easier if you have some insight on your situation, and that group of frog monsters huddled in the corner of the room might have some answers for you...

B) Get moving. Whatever that countdown means, it can’t be good. It might be dangerous to explore without Toriel, but you can’t afford to waste any time.

Vote here!

[anneandsnowflakepresent-blog]

Coming soon...

@anneimaginesundertale and @snowflakeimagines present an interactive Undertale story —

I’ll Set You Free!

Watch this space for details.