MagiStream

(As far as Papyrus knows, Sans found Alia first too )

..........

Alia was very relieved when Papyrus said he would leave her at ground level, and seeing that her speaking up for herself had caused a positive reaction rather than a negative one gave her some confidence. She still figured she'd be rather awkward if something happened later on that made her uncomfortable, but that was a problem for later. For now, she simply smiled at Papyrus, as well as Sans and Chara.

Alia did think the invisible puzzle was cool, so she simply nodded, though she then turned to Sans in confusion at Papyrus's statement about 'his' human.

"uh, i think he's referring to the fact I found another human a few days ago. she likes puzzles too." Sans said, looking incredibly confused by Papyrus's word choice as well.

Alia shrugged, accepting the explanation. Though, she had no idea another human had even fallen down here, especially so recently... Though, apparently she was still down here, so that might be why. Alia was not sure how she felt about there being another human down here... Many humans didn't seem to like her, and the rest usually just ignored her. Still... Chara was a human, even if they were a ghost now, and they were one of the nicest people she'd ever met, so humans weren't all bad.

She'd just wait and see. After all, she was bound to run into her at some point or another, if they were both here in the Underground.

"I like the invisible one a lot, it sounds very fun," Alia commented in reply to Papyrus's inquiry as to which puzzle was her favorite. She really hadn't seen many yet at this point, though. She figured that would change shortly, considering how enthusiastic Papyrus seemed about his puzzles. Most likely, he would try to show her all of them in one day... Though, that could be fun, so Alia didn't really mind. She smiled, anticipating seeing more puzzles. Besides, if Papyrus was happy, Sans would probably be in a good mood too, and might be willing to let her explore a little bit by herself when he saw how careful she was!

..........

Chara smiled back at Alia, glad to see her feeling relieved by Papyrus's assurance that he would leave her on ground level from now on. They were very confused by Papyrus's statement, more by the implication there was yet another human down here than anything else. When Sans verified he had found another human recently, Chara wasn't sure what to think.

Was the other human as nice as Alia? Well... It did not sound like she had hurt anyone, at any rate, so she must be getting along with the monsters at least relatively well. Since meeting Alia, Chara was a bit more comfortable with the idea of other humans being around, so long as they were nice. Though they somewhat hoped that whatever allowed Alia to see and hear them but not any monsters would also prevent the other human from seeing them. They did not think they were ready to talk with multiple humans just yet.

.........

Sans smiled as Papyrus reassured Alia he wouldn't pick her up anymore. This was sure to boost her confidence a bit, he thought. Though, Papyrus's comment about Mira threw him off at first. Sans had thought Papyrus had realized humans weren't pets by now, and that Sans certainly didn't consider Mira one... Of course, knowing Papyrus, he'd probably just chosen incredibly confusing wording for 'the human Sans found' and had no idea how awkward it sounded.

At least it didn't seem to have spooked Alia much, especially when he explained what he thought Papyrus meant to say. Anyway, she seemed to be quickly distracted by the topic of Papyrus's puzzles, and he figured that would keep her from worrying about it.

(I was very tired when I wrote it xD forgive me.)

It seemed that having this little discussion with Alia was already helping Papyrus to be a whole lot less careless with Alia as he really was just wanting to help this new human to get used to the Underground and was trying to be friendly with her, that said friendliness though often manifesting itself in ways that were likely odd to those unused to the tall skeletons certain brand of strange kindness though.

Papyrus sincerely wanted to get along with Alia, even if his brother seemed to be a whole lot more chill about the whole thing. Of course, that was because Sans and Alia shared a love of puns clearly though! Who wouldn’t be any to be friends with someone else who loved such a terrible thing as endless puns as they did?

“Yes! Sans found another human a week or so ago! I bet you two could bond over a love of puzzles!”, Nodding as he didn’t seem to realize that his statement confused both Alia -and- Sans for a moment, Papyrus wasn’t the master of being the most clear monster in the Underground when he was eager about something, “She was quite quick to figure them out, but I have the feeling in my Soul you will be even better at solving them!”.

The skeletons orange eye lights seeming to glow happier as Alia claimed she had really liked his invisible maze, it was so clear this child had good taste! That was one of his best and most well thought out mazes and it was one he had though out almost entirely on his own!

“Really?? That is such a good choice! Of course, there is plenty more where that came from if your up to the challenge!”, His perpetual grin widening as he was -almost- tempted to grab Alias hand and drag her along, Papyrus quickly remembered how uncomfortable Alia seemed to be with being handled and refrained from daring to touch her this time, “After this I will make sure you are fed properly, Alia! Ah, if you are willing of course...I do understand that I am a bit direct...but it is out of the kindness of my non existing heart you see!”.

(It's fine!)

..........

Alia simply smiled as Papyrus talked about how he thought she and the other human would bond over a love of puzzles. Truthfully, she figured it would not be quite that simple. Of course, she would give the other human a chance, but Alia wasn't really the type who would quickly become best friends with someone just because of the fact they both liked puzzles or something and nothing else. Her time on the surface had given her a myriad of trust issues, so while common interests would certainly help, the most important part of becoming friends with her was to start building trust. To show they actually cared.

Like how Chara had warned her to dodge Flowey's friendliness pellets, and helped her communicate with the froggits, and everything else they had done to help her since she arrived in the Underground. Like how Sans had agreed to guide her around the rest of the Underground without putting up a fuss, and even built a snowman with her just to cheer her up. Yes, both liked puns just like she did, but that wasn't really the main reason why she felt so comfortable around them.

Since Papyrus seemed so sure she would get along well with the other human who had fallen down here, though, Alia figured there was a good chance she would. Besides, talking about puzzles didn't sound like the worst way to get to know someone.

Alia was internally a bit nervous when Papyrus said he was expecting her to be even better at solving the puzzles; she'd never done well under pressure, and since apparently the other human had solved the puzzles quickly... She didn't want to be competing with anyone, she just wanted to have fun. Of course, Papyrus probably hadn't meant to make it sound like a competition, she realized. Perhaps he was just trying to be encouraging. She quickly squashed the nervousness and simply smiled again.

It was rather difficult not to fall into the mindset she'd had on the surface, where it felt like she would never live up to expectations, never be good enough... Though a supportive smile from Chara helped a bit.

She was distracted by Papyrus declaring that the invisible puzzle was a good choice. It was clear he was quite proud of the puzzle, which was understandable to Alia since it was indeed a clever idea. When Papyrus asked if she was up for the challenge of trying some puzzles, she nodded. "Sure."

She was a bit surprised when Papyrus said he would make sure she was fed properly. She figured he hadn't meant it in the sense of feeding a pet or anything, and was just trying to offer her a meal, so she just nodded again. "So, what is the first puzzle?" she asked curiously, wondering what other puzzles Papyrus had come up with.

M-maybe going slower was the best thing Papyrus could do to help ease Alia into getting more used to the Underground? He really didn’t want this little human to be nervous, especially with all the ‘mistakes’ he had made like assuming that she was a ‘baby’ human, the skeleton simply having thought that he was upping his ‘great’ vocabulary by using the phrase rather than merely calling her a child.

Of course, he hadn’t even thought of how insulting the innocent term would have been, him shoving it to the back of his skull for now though seeing as Alia appeared to have forgiven his misdeed.

To be honest, Papyrus was already thinking that Alia was truly great in her own way despite her seeming to think she was not, the awkward but good natured skeleton truly just doing his best to make her comfortable and feel welcome in the only way he knew he was good at.

Alia seemed to be so content with his brothers chilled out personality to be honest...perhaps he could learn from Sans for once and help Alia to realize he too could be just as ‘mellow?’

Yes! He would -prove- to Alia that he wasn’t a total hopeless case!~ he and her would be more then friends...they could be besties!~

Not seeming to realize he had potentially put his foot into his mouth again with the way he so happily suggested he would feed Alia after this was all over, Papyrus laughed in his most signature style as the new human asked what other kinds of puzzles he had, him proceeding to lead Alia and Sans a bit a ways to a forest clearing.

“This is a new and Improved design I have been working on!”, Showing off the oddly constructed rigging of what looked like a maze of water filled balloons, it was a alternative to the lava filled ones that Sans had convinced him -not to use because not every monster was fireproof. The maze being quite winding but filled to the brim with balloons that lay in the snow, if Alia was sure footed she should have been safe in it!

“Your goal is simple for this one, human! Try not to step on any of the balloons or you will get the worst case of cold water fright you have ever had when it pops and freezes you in place!”, Grinning devilishly as he secretly hoped Alia would step on one of his balloons so that she would need help, the other side of his mind was rooting for Alia to make it across without even a scratch!

Alia followed Papyrus towards the next puzzle curiously. Chara floated beside her, while Sans walked at a slightly slower pace. When they arrived at the puzzle, she looked at it curiously. Were those water balloons? She thought it could be fun, until she heard what would happen if she stepped on one. Just how cold was the water inside those things, if they could freeze someone in place? She was starting to feel nervous. Why would Papyrus make a puzzle where a single misstep would leave you drenched in freezing cold water? That seemed... Very unlike the kind-hearted monster she'd thought he was. At least it wasn't deadly, she told herself in an attempt to reassure herself.

It was probably for the best she didn't know Papyrus had originally wanted to use lava until Sans had talked him out of it due to how incredibly unsafe that would be.

And Papyrus's grin as he said all of that... Almost as if... Did he... Want her to step on one? But why? Why would he want her to fail? Before, he'd been a bit awkward, but she'd been able to tell he had good intentions even when his wording was confusing or he acted without thinking something through. This felt... Different. She couldn't believe that the tall, friendly skeleton would actually want her to fail this puzzle he had seemed so excited about, but how else could she explain the grin?

She was completely and utterly confused as he mind raced in circles, trying to figure out what was going on. Beside her, Chara was frowning slightly, looking just as confused as she was. It seemed they had come to the same conclusion and also could not figure out what was going on with Papyrus.

Still, even as uncertain and nervous as she felt, she didn't want to refuse to try the puzzle, figuring that would make Papyrus sad. Besides, as long as she didn't step on any balloons, she'd be fine, right? She took a breath, and stepped a bit closer to the puzzle.

This seemed to snap Chara out of their confusion, and determination replaced it in their expression. "I will not break any balloons, since I am a ghost. So I will go ahead of you, so you will see where to step." Alia nodded, watching carefully as Chara stepped into the maze. Alia followed them, stepping exactly where they stepped.

There were quite a few trickier spots that Alia probably would not have been able to get through if it weren't for Chara figuring out the safe way to proceed, and she felt an intense gratefulness towards them. By the time she had reached the end of the maze, quite relieved not to have stepped on any balloons, she was overwhelmed by the tenseness of the feeling of dread at the thought of a single misstep. Nonetheless, she managed a small smile, not wanting Papyrus to realize how draining that had been for her, and even more than that, not wanting Chara to feel worried. Considering how much effort they had put in to get her through that, she definitely didn't want them feeling like they hadn't done enough to help.

She really hoped all his puzzles wouldn't be like this... The invisible one had seemed much more her speed. Challenging, but not frightening in the slightest. Was it too much to hope that this puzzle was the exception to the rest?

.........

Sans was confused by the grin on Papyrus's face as he explained the next puzzle. And why was he purposely making the puzzle sound scary? It was clear that Alia was still rather nervous as she was still getting used to the Underground, and he'd thought Papyrus had realized that by now. So why was he trying to scare her? Honestly, a lot of his brother's actions lately had been confusing him. Some moments, he was his usual, slightly awkward but well meaning self, and others he was acting... Well, like this.

Seeing Alia hesitate, Sans was about to suggest they skip this puzzle, but when she stepped closer to the puzzle, he stopped himself. Not wanting to crush her confidence by saying they should move on just as she'd gained the courage to try the puzzle, he stayed silent, but watched carefully, wanting to be ready to step in at a moment's notice if she needed it. There was no way he was letting her get drenched with freezing water, already feeling quite protective of the newest fallen human.

Fortunately, she made it through the puzzle without him needing to interfere, and he was smiling proudly as she stepped onto safe ground on the other side of the puzzle. Until he noticed the weak smile she wore was hiding stress and uncertainty. It would probably fool Papyrus, but...

...Sans couldn't let her keep acting like everything was okay if it wasn't. It seemed his conversation with his brother couldn't wait until they got back to Snowdin Town.

"hey, great job, kid!" Sans said, gently guiding Alia away from the puzzle. "is it alright if i talk with my bro for a couple minutes? we'll be right back." Seeing her nod silently, he turned to Papyrus. "bro, can we talk for a bit?" he nodded towards the side, indicating he wanted to speak with him alone.

..........

Chara did not like this puzzle, and they especially did not like how nervous Alia seemed because of it. They did not understand what was going on with Papyrus. It was clear he was trying to be friendly, but then he turned around and tried to scare Alia with a puzzle, which he supposedly was trying to use to introduce her to the Underground. They also did not like the way he was grinning, as though he wanted her to fail.

It was all incredibly confusing, and was honestly starting to remind them of how Flowey was acting at first. Friendly to her face, until he threw a twist in just to throw her off. They wondered if he realized how nervous it was making Alia. Unfortunately, they were not exactly able to do anything about it, since even if they tried talking to him, he would not hear them.

Seeing Alia step towards the puzzle, Chara was filled with determination. She needed them, and they were not going to let her down. They would make sure she got through this puzzle without stepping on any balloons. They were careful as they led her through the maze, especially in the tricky areas, to make sure Alia was able to get through it. They were very relieved when she reached the end, but one glance at her expression made the relief disappear. This had been far too tense for her.

They were glad that Sans stepped in, and hoped he would be able to talk his brother out of trying to scare Alia with future puzzles. Though to be honest, at this point Chara was not sure if it was even a good idea for Papyrus to keep showing her these puzzles, at least until Alia had a chance to recover from the ordeal she had just gone through. Knowing Alia, though, she would insist she was fine... They sighed inwardly.

This was a perfectly reasonable puzzle to expect a human to be able to get through, right? After all, water balloons were harmless and the most that they could do was temporarily freeze Alia in place a bit. He hadn’t even filled them with lava like he wanted to because Sans had warned him that it could burn sometime unexpectedly. Of course, going from dangerous traps and the like to harmless mazes was a work in progress for the skeleton, and there -would- be mistakes along the way.

Papyrus was truly excited to see how Alia would fare against this maze! It was one of the main reasons he was grinning as he was quite oblivious to Alias clear nervousness. Puzzles were one of the best ways these days to get to know humans as far as Pap was concerned, even if he did want to show Alia all sorts of other cool things!

Deep down, it seemed that Pap knew he wasn’t doing things too well though despite his seemingly happy and determined attitude towards wanting Alia to complete the maze, him trying to be a bit more confident than he was with Mira clearly falling flat when Sans wanted to talk to him on the side of things.


“I know, I know, I’m making it weird, aren’t I?”, Muttering under his breath as he knew his efforts to befriend Aslia were failing by the minute, Papyrus just didn’t understand how to interact with someone who was as hurt as Alia was and was treating her like how he would any human who wanted to try out his puzzles, the fact that she was becoming afraid of his jokes about ‘death traps’ and the like not hitting home for the overly tall skeleton, “Give me advice bro, I don’t want Alia to hate me for saying the wrong things or something. You talked to her earlier...so, uh, maybe you get her a little more?”.

Sans could tell Papyrus wanted to be friends with Alia, and just needed a bit of a nudge in the right direction. Sans didn't want either of them to be sad, which was why he'd decided to try talking with Papyrus sooner rather than later, in hopes he could clear up whatever was going on. Hearing what Papyrus muttered to himself as he headed to the side with him to talk, Sans felt bad. Clearly he had at least somewhat of an idea that he'd upset Alia, even if he didn't know why. At least Sans could try to explain that much.

"bro, she's not gonna hate you." Sans said reassuringly. "i can tell she wants to be friends with you, and you want to be friends with her. the thing is, you can't treat her the way you treated frisk at first. making the puzzles sound scary instead of fun is only going to scare her. she's probably not going to say so, but i could tell she was really nervous when you said all of that about what would happen if she stepped on one of those balloons. we're not trying to capture humans anymore, bro. you can just treat her like a friend from the start. in fact, she'd probably appreciate that. try acting more like you did with mira. be encouraging and supportive."

Sans sighed. "and... be sensitive to her feelings. i know that's probably going to be kind of hard at first, since she hides them, but try to look past the surface level. i think... i think she had a rough time on the surface. how and why isn't really any of our business unless she decides to tell us, but we should be mindful of it. she's still getting used to the underground, so making it sound scary is going to make things harder for her. for now, please only show her the completely harmless puzzles. like the invisible one, that kind of thing. and introduce them the way you introduced mira to puzzles- so they sound fun and exciting."

Sans smiled encouragingly. "don't worry, okay bro? it's gonna work out. and if you aren't sure about something, try asking her first."

...........

Alia wasn't really sure what to do while the skeleton brothers were talking, so she simply sat down and started drawing in the snow around her. At first it was just random shapes. After a bit, though, she started trying to draw Sans and Papyrus. It wasn't exactly easy, considering it was snow, but the drawings turned out recognizable, at least.

Chara was silent at first, just letting her draw and clear her mind. She appreciated that, and when she was finished drawing, she turned to them with a smile.

"I didn't thank you earlier, did I? Thank you." Alia said.

"You are welcome. And do not worry, I will do everything I can to help." Chara replied, but Alia could tell they felt like they weren't doing enough.

"Character, stop being so hard on yourself! You've already helped me so much... You're my best friend." Alia wished she could hug them, but they were a ghost... She definitely needed to figure something out. She wondered if there was a library in the Underground. Maybe she could ask Sans and Papyrus when they were done talking.

"Alias..." Chara looked like they wanted to hug her, too, but thought better of it when they remembered they were a ghost. Instead, they sat down next to her, though they were still floating. "I am sure the Comedian will be able to convince Papyrus not to show you any more scary puzzles. Everything will be alright."

Alia nodded, smiling. "Yeah! You're right!" Then she sighed. "I hope it doesn't hurt his feelings..."

"I think he will understand."

Alia nodded and started drawing again.

It was honestly true that Papyrus was unintentionally treating Alia a bit like how he had treated Frisk way back when he had first met the human, him having shown the child every type of potentially dangerous trap that they had than easily bested through one way or another much to the skeletons chagrin. It was a wonderful that Frisk hadn’t been seriously injured in the puzzles that were once very much met to capture or kill humans....

Of course, Alia wasn’t Frisk though, Papyrus listening to his brother halfheartedly as he was pretty sure he had messed up things between him and Alia already in a way that was just going to make things more awkward between them, “Ah...well, I guess I could try cheering her on a little more? I mean, it’s not like I want Alia to outdo my puzzles and solve them right away, but I guess maybe I went a little too hard on acting like they were unbeatable...”.

Papyrus not being his usually loud and eager self as he often was in front of others, the skeleton knew how to take a softer and more subdued tone with his sibling as he wasn’t trying to always appear ‘greater than life’ in front of Sans, “I will be the most encouraging monster in the Underground if it means Alia will feel more comfortable down here!~ She won’t even know what lesser encouragement is once I’m done with her~”.

Papyrus’s once waning grin now returning as he seemed to understand that Alia needed to be treated like how Mira had been treated by him, minus the whole dog bit, the tall skeleton nodded in understanding as Sans suggested that she may have had a potentially difficult life on the surface and needed all the support a child like her could get, “Your so smart bro~ If we can make things fun and easier for this human child to adjust to life down here than maybe she will end up being a really good friend for both of us, kinda like Frisk was!”.

Clapping a hand on Sans shorter shoulder in a sign of good will, Papyrus was much more confident on his ability to show Alia that he just wasn’t some weird monster who wanted to hurt her through puzzles that were met to be welcoming, him knowing a perfect puzzle for Alia to go through that would be fun and cause no harm whatsoever!

Sans was relieved that Papyrus seemed to be listening to him, even if it was only halfheartedly at first. "yeah, cheer her on! she'll probably feel a lot better if she knows you want her to succeed rather than being uncertain whether you do or not." Sans smiled encouragingly, not wanting his brother to feel discouraged by the past. It was clear that he was starting to get what Sans was saying, so Sans had high hopes that things would go a lot smoother now.

As Papyrus's grin returned, Sans smiled back at him. "i'm sure we will be great friends with her," he agreed happily. Though he hadn't yet spent a particularly long time around her, Sans already considered Alia a friend. Starting to guide her through the Underground had been fun, and a good distraction from how worried he was about Mira. And it was obvious how much she wanted- and needed- good friends who she could count on to be there for her. Sans would try his best to be one.

Seeing that Papyrus was feeling confident again, Sans grinned and started heading back over towards where Alia was waiting, adding a final encouragement. "you'll do great, bro." As he got closer, he noticed Alia seemed to be drawing in the snow. Some random shapes, and a recognizable drawing of himself and Papyrus.

"nice drawing there, kid," Sans said, smiling at the picture of Papyrus. Alia looked up, a bit startled, but smiled back at him.

"Oh, hi! Thanks! I'm glad you like it." Alia said.

Sans glanced over at the drawing she was in the middle of before he interrupted. It seemed to be of a human, wearing a sweater with a single stripe on it. She hadn't finished the hair, yet, so he couldn't tell how long it was intended to be. Was it a self-portrait, or...? No, how could she have possibly known about them? It must be a self portrait.

Alia stood up, smiling at the skeleton brothers. "So, I guess it's time for the next puzzle, then?" She seemed to be doing her best to make it seem like she was completely fine. That was something Sans recognized well, from all the times he'd done the same thing. Still, he wasn't about to draw attention to it in front of Papyrus.

.........

Alia had indeed been drawing Chara, much to her ghost companion's surprise. They felt slightly uncertain about it as well, though they figured there was no way either of the skeleton brothers knew about them. If they even looked at it, they would likely just assume it was a self portrait. Besides, Alia had not finished the hair by the time Sans spoke up, so that was one significant difference in appearance that would not be able to give it away.

Sans, the one they supposed was probably more likely to figure it out, did not seem to notice anything amiss about it, so Chara relaxed. There was clearly nothing to worry about. They figured Papyrus would be too distracted by the idea of showing Alia another puzzle to put too much thought into it, either.

So the best thing he could do was treat Alia the same way he treated Mira when he had first met her? That seemed simple enough, Papyrus having made his share of mistakes in treating the older human like a pet that he wasn’t intending to repeat on Alia. Sure, he may have mentioned that she was a ‘baby human’ earlier, but the mistake had simply been him trying far too hard to be ‘accurate’ to what he had read in books at the library.

Er...maybe he hadn’t picked the best books though....anyways...


Nevertheless, Papyrus was determined to show Alia a much safer but no less challenging puzzle that he had been saving for later, him already knowing that the seemingly sensitive and soft heated human child was bound to love what he had came up with!

After all, he wasn’t simply a skeleton who made puzzles designed to just entrap humans anymore! He had standards to live up towards and anything he made had to be just as entertaining as it was challenging!~

Walking back to Alia where the child seemed to have grown bored and began to draw a rather cute picture of him, Sans, and seemingly herself while she waited, Papyrus beamed confidently as he now could sense the girls unease now that Sans had pointed out to him that she was just very sensitive.

“Is that your talent, human? It’s much better than I or my brother could do!”, Papyrus not having any idea that Alia was drawing Chara unlike Sans who seemed to sense something was amiss with the subtle details of the sketch, the tall skeleton motioned for the pair to follow him to a spot that was not too far away from the current one he had put Alia through.

“Alia! I have a puzzle here that I hope won’t be too difficult for you to solve!~”, Papyrus grinning happily and motioning towards what looked to be a maze of simple wooden doors inlaid into the snow around a set path, there was absolutely nothing that could hurt or harm Alia as it was simply a maze of locked and unlocked doors that she would need to find her way through, “The idea is very simple~ To get to the end you just need to find the right exit door! There are three in total but only one will open if you take the correct path. If you have any trouble me or my amazing bro here can help you out!”.