A chill traveled down Frisk's spine. They hadn't expected to encounter actual snow just a few rooms away from the comfortable temperature in the Ruins. They regretted not having the courage to ask that skeleton monster to lend them that fluffy jacket. They could certainly use it right now. Frisk looked at their clothes. They were grateful for once that their sweater and jumpers were oversized, although they were still way too thin for this weather…
Frisk shook their head. They wouldn't let the snow slow them down! They tried to think of something else than the cold… The lamp! The convenience of that lamp still filled them with determination!
Frisk stopped when they noticed that there were two ways clear of thick forest that they could go through, so they tried to look for hints of which to pick. The sound of a river flowing reached their ears from the trail to their side, but if they squinted they could see something… square in the one up ahead. But before they could decide whether they wanted to follow the river or see if there was somewhere to warm up ahead, they were startled by the sound of fluttering. Frisk looked around looking for the source of the noise. They didn't know there were birds down here! Not wanting it to go away, they tried to whistle at it… Then they remembered they didn't know how to whistle.
The kid's attempts to make contact didn't go unnoticed, though, because as soon as they turned around to continue walking, a giant bird jumped from between the trees and made them stumble backwards. Without a chance to even yelp, their soul was summoned out, so they hurried to stand up and face their opponent.
The first thing Frisk thought is that they had never seen such a huge bird in their life. It was even taller than them! Okay, maybe that wasn't so surprising considering that they were kind of short for their age. But still! Looking closely, its big head somewhat resembled a snowflake. Its wings did seem a bit small to actually fly, but what really made Frisk stare was its beak. It had several teeth here and there, but they were moving. As in the upper ones and the lower ones moved in opposite directions like they were attached to treadmills inside the monster's beak. Realizing the bird was returning the stare in a defiant manner, they quickly looked away and used their CHECK.
-Snowdrake. This teen comedian fights to keep a captive audience-
Comedian? So it told jokes? Frisk wondered if it was friends with the skeleton monster.
"Fights you in cold blood!" Snowdrake said as its turn started. It extended its little wings as much as it could, and to Frisk's surprise, some of the feathers stiffened (probably frozen) and shot out to Frisk's soul from every direction. They were taken by surprised, so they got hit a couple of times before finding a safe spot for their soul. Frisk might have found Snowdrake's joke funny if by the end of the turn it hadn't seemed more of a threat. They gulped. They didn't know yet what the monster wanted. A captive audience sounded like an audience that paid attention, so maybe if they told Snowdrake a pun it would see that they understood the monster.
"S-sorry," they tried, "I-I don't know what to do to break the ice between us, heh, heh…" Well, that was lame.
"Ha… Ha… Nice try." Snowdrake seemed to think that as well.
Disappointment filled Frisk, but they shook it off quickly to tend to the next batch of attacks. This time, the feathers were a little more organized and they formed curved lines that tried to corner the little red heart. Frisk shuddered when a breeze formed by the flying feathers reached them. They tried to ignore it, but suddenly the cold was catching up to them and they couldn't stop trembling.
Meanwhile, they could hear Snowdrake muttering something about puns being great and Frisk saw them smile at its own bad joke. They were startled, though, when the monster's expression changed to one of shock.
"Wait a minute!" it exclaimed, "My name is Snowdrake. I-it sounds like snowflake! You are telling me my name is a freaking pun and yet he told me that…! UGHHH! I can't believe him!"
Frisk, still trembling from the cold, just looked at it. Snowdrake seemed to be having some kind of revelation that was making him freak out, so they decided to pass their turn. They knew older people didn't like to be interrupted when thinking about something important. The monster, however, managed to remember it was on a fight and it glanced at Frisk for a moment. When it noticed their trembling, it looked at them with a hint of… worry. It slowed its movements and it suddenly didn't seem to know how to react. It kicked a little of snow, before backing a little, like wanting to give them space. Then Frisk realized: Snowdrake thought they were trembling because they were scared of it.
"H-hey! You need to…," Frisk thought it was going to say something comforting, but then its eyes sparkled and they knew what was coming next. "chill out!"
Snowdrake burst into laughter and so did Frisk. It wasn't the pun itself, but the exact moment Snowdrake had chosen to deliver it that made them laugh along with it. They even had to remember themself that this was Snowdrake's turn, although the feathers they had to dodge where kind of random and not too powerful since they had been expelled by the sheer force of the monster's laugh. When Snowdrake saw Frisk's reaction they smiled (how they managed that with a beak was beyond Frisk) and exclaimed:
"See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong!"
As soon as they could, Frisk closed their eyes to take a quick peek to see if Snowdrake's name in their head was yellow. And in fact, it was. Frisk could have ended the FIGTH that moment, but… Something about what Snowdrake just said bothered them. So it wanted to be a comedian, but its dad didn't believe in it? They didn't like that. At all. Snowdrake had made Frisk laugh, after all. So they decided, why not make them a bit happier? They passed their turn once again. They knew they could handle another bunch of feathers; they had enough HP.
"Hey, hey!" Snowdrake said excitedly, "Do you know what my favorite lunch is?"
Frisk smiled at them encouragingly and shrugged.
"M.. m.. macaroni and freeze!" Snowdrake stuttered, obviously trying to contain the giggles that wanted to escape. This joke didn't make Frisk laugh as hard as the last one, but it still made their shoulders shake with mirth.
"You have good taste! …In jokes" Snowdrake said.
After more feathers were accidentally shot because of its laughter, Frisk finally got their turn.
"U-um, can we stop here? I like your jokes and all, but I need to keep moving so I can find a warm place to stay…"
Snowdrake narrowed its eyes at them for a second, but it made its mind quickly. Frisk's soul returned to their body in a matter of seconds.
"Alright!" it said. "You've been the best audience I've had in a while, so I don't actually want to hurt you. Besides, no one would believe me if I beat you, because I'm 'too young' or I 'don't know what I'm talking about. How would I know what a human looks like?'" It appeared upset all of a sudden, but it got over it quickly. "If you want a warm place, Snowdin isn't too far from here. It isn't exactly close, but it's your best bet for now. There's an inn there. Oh, but it's kind of expensive…"
Snowdrake ruffled its feathers a little with its beak until it extracted something. Its teeth were clutching a small bag. Frisk looked at it questioningly and before they could say anything, the monster got close and offered it to them. They opened it and saw a bunch of gold coins within.
"Wow, this is so much money! Thanks!" Frisk gave Snowdrake a big smile.
"Heh, it's not that much, but I hope it helps you cover the inn." Snowdrake ruffled Frisk's hair with its beak. "Well, time for me to go! I need to find more people who will appreciate my puns! Take care, human!"
With a last fluttering of its wings as what Frisk interpreted was a wave of goodbye, Snowdrake retired back into the forest. That… had been kind of fun actually! Snowdrake had looked kind of fluffy, so Frisk wondered if maybe, if they were friends, it would take a nap with them sometime. Oh, but it was a teenager. Would a teenager want to hang out with Frisk? They shook their head, determined to ask Snowdrake if they found it again. But, for now, Frisk was really curious to what that underground river looked like, so they put the newly received money in their pocket and advanced towards the sound of the water stream.
Hi, everyone! I'm back! I once again have stable Internet, so let's hope I can bring you regular updates! I was kind of busy and I couldn't write as much as I wanted so no multiple chapters for now. Sorry! D: However, I'm working on a new Undertale fic! Don't worry, it doesn't mean I will stop updating this one or United by Collision, so I hope you'll check it out when it's up!
Well, that's everything I wanted to say for now. Please review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!
Up next: Doggo!
