neroli9

[neroli9]

Happy answering tons of questions day! The fragments of Sans and Papyrus’ souls reveal more about their pasts, their life in the void, and the one subject that never came up between the two of them for all eternity. 

You look over at Papyrus. “How much did you actually know about the anomaly? Before you got to the void, I mean.” Papyrus straightens up with a start. “I WAS ENTIRELY IN THE DARK, OF COURSE!” he says quickly. Sans freezes. “I KNEW SANS AND OUR CREATOR WERE FIGHTING SOMETHING! IT WAS HARD TO MISS, WHEN THAT SOMETHING NEARLY DESTROYED OUR HOME AND WE HAD TO GO TO A NEW DIMENSION! BUT THE NATURE OF THAT SOMETHING WAS COMPLETELY UNKNOWN TO ME UNTIL WE GOT TO THE VOID AND SANS TOLD ME EVERYTHING!” There’s silence.  “YEP! COMPLETELY UNKNOWN!”

[neroli9]

Last time on A Puzzle Just For Me...

Spoilers under the cut for chapters 1 - 137.

Reader sold herself to Sans to pay for her sister Sasha’s hospital treatments; Sans bought Reader to help him forget his failure to stop the anomaly. Against their better judgments, the two of them fell for each other. When Reader learned the truth about the anomaly, she and Sans made a plan to stop him: she would distract Jerren for as long as possible while Sans figured out how to destroy his power to turn back time. Sans pulled it off — sacrificing himself in the process. For several months, no one remembered he existed.

Reader has come to understand there’s a gigantic hole in her memories, and has found clues Sans left her that can lead to bringing him back. She and her sister performed a ritual which endowed them with unfathomable magical powers and sent them to the void. There they went through a confusing, surreal sequence that ended with them being split up and trapped. But they managed to get out, and found that Sans and Papyrus were also there — or rather, fragments of Sans and Papyrus’ souls, split off and sent to the void by their mysterious creator. In the eternal chaos of the void, Papyrus was able to hone his dream-related powers and help guide Sans and Reader as they worked to defeat the anomaly. And although Reader’s Sans is lost in the void, they think he can still be saved… along with their creator. 

[neroli9]

I just read the entire thing (apjfm) in 4 days and my brain is spinning and my entire conception of reality is teetering violently.

This makes me so happy. Thank you for sharing your experience with me <3

Four days, though, dang. When people tell me things like that I get really worried for the state of their eyes.

Time to post 138, and give that conception of reality another light wobble...

[neroli9]

My birthday present ^____________^ Thank you, I love it!

Happy Birthday @neroli9!

From Ch 2 of "A Puzzle Just For Me":

"anytime. see you soon," he says, winking at you.

"How soon?"

His grin widens. Did you really just say that? You squeeze your eyes shut, wincing. You can almost hear your mother admonishing you for such brazen behavior.

He steps forward, closing in on you, and you smell the sharp scent of his magic. His fingertips graze your cheek. "not soon enough," he answers, his voice low.

He's gone when you open your eyes. You look around for him, but in the low light, you don't see him anywhere. How does he do that? He must be a lot faster than he looks.

When you're quite sure he's nowhere near you, you reach out to the Echo Flower and touch one of the delicate petals. 'not soon enough,' it whispers to you several times.

[neroli9]

hope everything’s okay babes!! don’t worry about it, life is kicking everyone’s ass rn😭😭

Aw, thank you 🥰 It's mostly that my son has had an ongoing health issue this year, which flared back up again in September. The good news is that he's doing a lot better lately! I really appreciate everyone's understanding ❤️

[neroli9]

Trick or... sorry, just trick

Hi everyone, sorry to say I don't have ch. 138 ready yet. I bet I'll be able to get it done in November but I am not going to give a definite date. This month has been rough too, sad to say.

I *will* finish this story -- no worries there. You'll just have to wait!

[neroli9]

APJFM next chapter next month

I'm posting ch. 138 next month (shooting for the 31st). September has really taken it out of me and I need to regroup and focus on my writing. Sorry for the wait!

[neroli9]

I kept meaning to ask this and meaning to ask this and meaning to ask-

> He turns around and winks at you. “let’s all take a break."

Is sans?? Talking to us?? Did the "you" just shift from being "you (reader-character perspective)" to being "you (actively reading this, behind the fourth wall)"? The same way we've been able to see into the void through our little device screens, have they also been able to see us in return?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but that "let's all" felt so emphasized to me-

Sans grins at you. "welcome to the void. it's not great out here, but we'll make it out together."

[neroli9]

Next chapter of APJFM will be the 28th. (I got sick 😭)

[neroli9]

APJFM next week

I'm not ready to post the next chapter -- I'll try again the 14th!

[neroli9]

Sans of the void, tell me your best joke! (Sorry Papyrus :,)

Sans looks thoughtful. "my best joke, huh? really putting me on the spot. uh, have you heard the one about the rope?" He pauses. "never mind. it's too long. how 'bout a joke about pizza? eh, that one's too cheesy." He looks thoughtful for a moment. "i know a couple of jokes 'bout unemployment, but they need some work. i could go with the one about paper... but it's tearable. maybe the one about the roof?" He makes a dismissive waving gesture. "no good. it's over your head." "Oh! The other Sans told me that one before," Reader says, beaming.

[neroli9]

Question for Sans of the void. You said the human thing is still kinda weird to you. Do you think the attraction/fetish for humans would have been there had your soul been whole? Or do you think it developed in the Sans we know because of his circumstances? Or would the attraction/fetish not have developed if your soul wasn't split, do you think?

Sans' eye sockets widen. "fetish?"

"Um... he was already into humans by the time he met me," Reader explains.

"huh." Sans turns back to the asker, looking disconcerted. "uh, you gotta remember, our knowledge is kinda limited. it took us long enough to figure out she an' the other guy were a thing."

"THAT'S RIGHT! I ONLY REALIZED IT WHEN HE STARTED DREAMING ABOUT HER DEATH MORE THAN HE DREAMED ABOUT MY DEATH!" Papyrus chimes in.

Reader shudders. "That's morbid."

"how am i s'posed to answer like this?" Sans says. "c'mon you two, clear out."

Once they're gone, he turns back to the asker. "okay, well, i stopped caring 'bout all that kinda stuff a long time ago. so all i can tell you is that whatever preferences her sans had, they developed after i got split off. we guessed that papyrus died in that timeline, given how people reacted to seeing him in their dreams, and i am not in the least surprised that the other guy started acting erratically afterwards. so..." He shrugs. "i'd guess it had more to do with his circumstances than his soul getting split up. but i couldn't say for sure."

[neroli9]

You survived infinite non-existence…  and now you’re reunited with two beloved friends! Sort of. It’s time to learn where they came from… and how they wound up in the void. 

“HAVEN’T I BEEN WITH YOU, ALL THIS TIME?” He draws you into the hug with your sister. “WHO GAVE YOU THE CLUES YOU NEEDED? WHO COMFORTED YOU IN YOUR DARKEST HOURS? WHO REMINDED YOU OF ALL YOU HAD LOST?” He squeezes the two of you even tighter. “WHO BUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS COULD PERFORM SUCH FEATS!” “But you died!” “AFTER MY SOUL WAS SPLIT OFF! DON’T YOU SEE? PART OF ME HAS ALWAYS BEEN RIGHT HERE!” He releases you, grinning at you as if this is all very obvious. You blink. Yes… you’d had a dream… You and Papyrus had gone down, down, down a staircase. And there had been a face… “maybe i can explain.”

[neroli9]

Last time on A Puzzle Just For Me...

Spoilers under the cut for chapters 1 - 136.

Reader sold herself to Sans to pay for her sister Sasha’s hospital treatments; Sans bought Reader to help him forget his failure to stop the anomaly. Against their better judgments, the two of them fell for each other. When Reader learned the truth about the anomaly, she and Sans made a plan to stop him: she would distract Jerren for as long as possible while Sans figured out how to destroy his power to turn back time. Sans pulled it off — sacrificing himself in the process. For several months, no one remembered he existed.

Jerren escaped and performed a terrible ritual to try to get his powers back, leading to him being forgotten as well. Reader, who had been slowly recovering from her ordeal, became aware of the gigantic holes in her memory, and discovered a puzzle leading to a hidden laboratory. There, she learned that she and a mysterious figure had been battling a god, and that the mysterious figure had sacrificed himself to defeat it, but had left instructions for her to come save him. She decided to go through with it, and she and her sister went through a ritual to send them to the void. There they went through a confusing, surreal sequence that ended with them being split up and trapped. But they managed to get out, and found themselves at an old friend’s house. Now he’s calling to them from the kitchen, where he’s making spaghetti. 

[neroli9]

Control shifts in the void.

[neroli9]

on one hand, I'm extremely psyched to be around for updates of a fic as they happen, and on the other hand I'm extremely distressed that I can't just binge the rest of it and get to know what's happening 😭 There are two wolves inside of me and both of them are scream sobbing thx

I love that there's three reading experiences people are going to have:

there from the beginning, witness to all the mind-bending stuff I've done (the fake 'end' at chapter 94, the chapters that got posted one little chunk at a time, all that's going on now)

came in somewhere along the way, got to read most of the chapters without waiting but missed some of the fun stuff

started reading after the end of the story, will be able to read the whole thing but will never know how it felt to see 'chapter 113/999,999,999' or get a notification of a new void chapter every morning

So to me, you're lucky! Don't worry -- there'll be more chapters for the wolves soon.

[neroli9]

The void is not so empty.