After Toriel called the humans again almost immediately to ask if they don't dislike the other ingredient, they continued onward after pushing a rather large rock onto a switch, though Selendis had read a sign saying that "three out of four rocks recommend that you push them", confusing her greatly. Frisk already knew what the sign meant, but opted to observe how the older humans would react since they clearly haven't done that particular "puzzle" in any run before.
In the next room, Tenebris stopped dead and stared at the floor with a flat look. "The entire floor is cracked here. How do we even get past here? For that matter, how did Toriel get past here?"
Frisk pretended to look at the floor curiously while Selendis sighed with a small smirk on her face. "At least you were paying attention this time."
"Please don't remind me even though it just happened recently…" In the room before the rock, Tenebris didn't watch where he was walking and involuntarily fell through cracks in the ground. The squawk he let out when he fell made the sisters laugh, despite them worrying about whether or not he was okay.
Frisk smiled up at him. "Aw, I wanted to hear you squawk like a parrot again." He simply started grumbling under his breath at that.
Selendis rolled her eyes as she knelt down to start testing the cracks with her hands. Some sections fell away while others stayed firm. "You can worry about salvaging your dignity later, Tenebris. For now, I think some of these cracks are fake; paint on a normal floor."
Tenebris crossed his arms. "That's… actually kind of clever. The only problem is that I don't see how we're expected to tell the difference between real and fake cracks… unless they intended for us to feel our way across, but that would take forever."
Selendis let out a sigh as she got back up. "That's a fair point. Are we expected to do this by trial and- " She let out a loud squeak as Frisk suddenly and voluntarily stepped on a real crack and fell down. "FRISK!"
"I'm okay!" Came Frisk's response. "There are leaves down here to break your fall as well. Hang on, I'll come back up to you guys."
Tenebris frowned. "I swear, if the makers of this puzzle intended for us to fail at least once in order to find the solution, that's just a troll move."
Frisk suddenly called up, "I found the solution!"
"… What did I just say?" The older humans both shake their heads in distain.
Frisk climbed up another vent like Tenebris did earlier before excitedly saying, "Follow me!" She deliberately fell down to 'find' the solution partially because she knew it was down there, but to also ensure that neither of the older humans would question why she already knew the solution.
The older humans looked at each other before shrugging and following Frisk's footsteps and, sure enough, she led them on a path that didn't crumble on them. When they got to the other side, they found a room with three more rocks and another "moat" blocking their way. Two of the rocks were pushed onto switches no problem, but the third one seemed sentient and started giving the humans a hard time. Tenebris had to give it a subtle death glare in order for it to move onto the switch.
They then found a piece of cheese stuck to the table, which made Selendis raise an eyebrow. "Who would keep a piece of cheese here for so long, it would melt onto the table before growing mold?"
Frisk frowned as she never thought of it before. "Perhaps Toriel left it for the mouse in this room? It's the only thing I can think of outside of another monster putting it there because they didn't like it."
Tenebris hummed a bit. "I'm betting on the former. There's no evidence of attempted ingestion before it was stuck to the table… unless a monster can bite so cleanly it looks like a knife cut." He thought back to the monsters they've encountered thus far. Whimsuns didn't seem to have the mouth structure for it, Froggits probably don't eat cheese, and Moldsmals would probably just dissolve it entirely.
Frisk shuttered at the word "knife" while Selendis rolled her eyes in amusement. "Way to sound like an investigator there. "There's no evidence of attempted ingestion"? You could have simply said no one tried eating it before it got stuck."
"Comment on my way of saying things, why don't you… don't 'cheese' me off, Selendis!" Tenebris put his hands in his black duster's pockets with a grin while Selendis groaned before realizing one had something in it, which was a small music box that used to be his mother's. "Didn't we use this music box for your work-in-progress song?"
Selendis deadpanned. "Why do you have that in your pocket still? For that matter, why did you wear your dad's duster coat?" Frisk looked over; she was also curious as to why he brought that down.
Tenebris raised a finger to respond, but hesitated a bit before saying, "I… guess it was an on-the-spot decision when I got your message on the surface."
"Kind of a specific item to bring with you going up a mountain nobody has ever returned from."
Tenebris grunted. "I was in a hurry, okay?"
In the next room, they met a ghost named Napstablook. While Frisk remembered him and the older humans felt he was also familiar, all three couldn't help but feel sorry for the ghost at that point in time. They did manage to cheer him up before he left, even getting a small smile out of him.
Frisk quickly went through the door on their left, knowing that if Selendis saw the Spider Bake Sale, she would freak out from her arachnophobia. In that room, they found a group of rather confusing Froggits; even Frisk still couldn't figure out why they say what they say. One had said, "Press F4 for 'full screen'", prompting Tenebris to silently question it even more than usual, despite the Froggit asking if F4 meant four frogs.
At the end of the hall, Toriel called again to say she hasn't cleaned in a while because she wasn't expecting to have company over so soon. She then noted that there are things laying around that they can pick up, though she warned against carrying more than they needed in the off chance they find something they want. Tenebris was finding it increasingly difficult to not relate Toriel to a video game tu'torial' character, though he made that pun out of her name, much to Selendis' chagrin.
Selendis groaned at the next room. "Even more cracks? I know this place is called the Ruins and it should be expected, but did they really have to use pit-falls as part of most of their puzzles?"
Tenebris folded his arms. "Yeah… and normally you don't WANT to fall down holes because they typically are either death or bottomless… which is also death."
Selendis shook her head before reading the nearby sign. "Only one switch at least. Guess we'll have to figure out which one."
Frisk tugged on her sister's shirt. "Selly, don't be too grumpy over it. At least there's only six potential pit-falls here, so each of us can cover two to save on time."
Tenebris nodded wearily; he was starting to get tired of puzzles in general already and he plays video games. "I'll take the two farthest ones. Selendis, you take the two closest to the entrance we came in at and Frisk will take the middle two."
Selendis found a ribbon down the first crack and opted give it to Frisk. The next one she fell through had her encountering a Vegitoid, though she was able to spare it when she ate one of the vegetables it offered.
Frisk found Napstablook again and reminded him that he can fly before falling down the correct hole and flipping the switch. Tenebris had hole with nothing and the other had a Vegitoid, though he simply fled from it as he dislikes most vegetables. He was sorely disappointed when he found out that the sisters both found something whereas he didn't.
Selendis gave Frisk the ribbon she found and it reminded Frisk of the run when Selendis wore both the ribbon and the glasses from Waterfall and completely flustered Tenebris. It slightly frustrated her that the older humans have to re-find their feelings for each other, but she figured it was a far better alternative to Tenebris dying right as they escape the Underground.
The next four rooms frustrated Tenebris and not because they were difficult. "Did they seriously just make all of these rooms the exact same layout?! That just screams lazy design; they didn't even TRY to make anything unique about them!"
Frisk nodded slightly since the rooms always struck her as odd no matter what run she was in. Selendis raised an eyebrow. "Does this kind of thing frustrate you easily? I would think you would be a bit more… 'agreeable' to this concept."
"First of all, are you painting me as lazy?" That got a laugh out of the sisters. "Second of all, I hate it when people do it in other things as well, especially video games like RPG's. I will forever hate the trope of "Underground Monkeys" and what it stands for."
Frisk gave him an odd look as she never heard him mention that particular trope before despite visiting TV Tropes a couple of times herself. "Underground Monkeys? I've never heard of that before…"
"You take an enemy, slather it in a new color, make it stronger, and give it a new name or title. That's the trope in a nutshell."
Selendis let out a small "oh" before shaking her head. "Guess you see enough of it in your RPG's to make it a hated thing, huh?" Tenebris merely huffed in response. Frisk simply gave an amused shake of her head, wondering why he never commented on it before.
When they reached a dead-looking tree, they suddenly heard Toirel say, "Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." She came from around the tree and called the cell phone she gave the humans, only to notice with surprise that they were right there. "How did you get here, my children?"
Tenebris shrugged. "How did we get here? By falling through cracks in order to find solutions to puzzles."
Selendis facepalmed as Toriel gasped. "Are any of you hurt?!" She observed the trio a little bit before nodding. "Despite your… unamused tone, Tenebris, none of you are hurt. I'll admit, that's pretty impressive considering most of the monsters here, save for Migosps in groups, can be pretty klutzy and can do a lot of unintentional harm." She lets out a sigh. "Regardless, I should not have left the three of you alone for so long. It was irresponsible for me to try and surprise all of you like this."
Selendis caught on quickly. "Surprise us?" Frisk kept a straight face since she knew what surprise Toriel was talking about.
Toriel quickly realized she spoke about the surprise prematurely. "Err… well, I suppose I can't hide it any longer. Come, young ones." With that she led the trio to her house and entered. The older humans felt familiar with the look of the house, yet it somehow filled Tenebris with a slight sense of loneliness and sadness. Frisk on the other hand was happy that such a cute, tidy home filled her with Determination.
When the trio entered the home, a delicious smell wafted into their noses, which Toriel noticed. "You three smell that?" She giggles. "Surprise! It is butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we could celebrate your arrival here, as I want all of you to have a nice time living here. Because of that, I'll hold off on the snail pie for tonight."
Selendis' face twisted in disgust. "Snail pie? Really? No offence Toriel, but that sounds… gross to me."
Tenebris nodded. "I tried snails once while visiting France. They are definitely… an acquired taste." He suddenly smirks. "With that face and tone of voice, if you're given snails to eat, I guess you could say… you're escarGONE!"
Both Toriel and Frisk laughed at the pun, but they cut themselves short with surprised looks when Selendis said, "I don't get it."
Frisk facepalmed. "Selly, didn't you take French classes when you were younger?"
That caused Selendis to frown and think about it for a little bit. When she realized the pun, she facepalmed herself. "Oh my god, Tenebris!"
Tenebris sighs. "Kind of takes the fun out of puns when you have to explain the joke…"
Frisk elbowed him. "Don't be like that Tenny. She would of escar'got' the joke eventually!" Both Tenebris and Toriel howled in laughter as Selendis gave her sister an indignant look.
Toriel shook her head in amusement. "Hee hee… well, before we torture Selendis with anymore puns, I have another surprise for you three." She led the trio to a room. "This is it… A room for the three of you. I… wasn't expecting three humans to come down here all at once, so I hope the changes made are accommodating."
Selendis shrugged "I don't mind sharing a room with others. I've done it with Frisk for a long time." Frisk nods at that.
Tenebris shrugged. "I've… shared rooms with my parents whenever we traveled, so I'm not a stranger to it."
"Ah, I'm glad you're all okay with it." Toriel gives them a motherly smile before sniffing the air. "Is something burning? Um… make yourselves at home!" She runs off in the other direction.
Tenebris shook his head in amusement. "Shall we have a look inside?" Selendis opened the door, but he ran into the frame from his lack of depth perception from going blind in one eye, which the trio was used to; he always had problems even on the surface because he had an eye patch covering one eye.
It didn't stop it from being amusing to Selendis, who was unaware of the implications, and it sent Frisk through a massive guilt trip, since she felt responsible for somehow causing permanent blindness in the one eye from cutting it out in the last run.
The room looked like it was built and designed to be a child's room. Tenebris felt as though he had already slept here once, except that the room had a mattress on the floor big enough for one of the older humans to sleep on. Selendis gave it a once over. "I guess this is what she meant by hoping it was accommodating for us. Looks like Frisk and I are sharing a bed or mattress whenever we sleep."
Tenebris eyed the mattress on the floor before making up his mind. "You two take the bed. I should be fine with the floor mattress until we can figure something out with Toriel."
Selendis gave Tenebris a confused look. "You make it sound like we're going to be- "
"Staying down here? As much as she gets on my nerves with her overprotectiveness, I… admittedly kind of want to be with her. She's made it clear she wanted to adopt us and I want to take her up on that." The sisters look at each other and he lets out a sigh. "I'm not saying you two should have to as well. I just…"
"Tenny, it's fine. We feel the same way, it's just that we never expected you out of the three of us to proclaim that." Frisk gave him a reassuring pat on the arm before yawning. "But… I feel like we should discuss this after a proper rest. The puzzle in the Ruins might be easy, but they're still tiring."
Selendis thought about it for a bit before nodding. "Yeah, we can make a more knowledgeable decision with rest. We can ask Toriel about it afterwards as well."
Tenebris nodded, but doubted if he would be able to fall asleep at all. Even after he took off his dad's black duster to fold it up neatly before crawling under the blanket, he merely pretended to close his eyes as Selendis shut off the light and crawled into the bed before Frisk crawled in.
When he was certain the sisters were asleep, he looked around the room a little bit, attempting to account for what was in the room that he doesn't remember. The thing that caught his eye in particular was the shoe box that was filled with shoes in a disparity of sizes, signifying that they weren't the first humans to come down here like Toriel said, though he wondered if they were all children from the sizes of the shoes.
Letting out a little huff at nothing else popping out at him, Tenebris rolled over and closed his eyes, opting to pretend to sleep for a little while longer until he was certain the sisters were in deep sleep rather than regular sleep.
He was surprised when he felt his blanket start moving, though he managed to not react, but he was even more surprised when he felt someone cuddle up to him under it. He heard a small whimper and recognized it as Frisk's. Opening his good eye, Tenebris saw her curled up against his stomach with a guilt-ridden look on her face. He was uncertain as to why that was, unless she felt guilty for not only trapping him in the Underground with her but the fact that being trapped here somehow resulted in his blind eye and broken soul.
Tenebris let out a silent sigh and wrapped an arm around her protectively. He might not be able to sleep at this time, but he'd be damned if he didn't try and comfort his little sister figure.
After a little while longer and after Frisk fell asleep with a more comfortable look on her face, Toriel entered the room carrying three plates, each holding a hearty slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie. As she set the plates down, she noticed that Frisk had crawled in with Tenebris rather than Selendis, which made Toriel smile. The youngest human trusts her older, male friend as much as she trusts her older sister.
Toriel giggled quietly to herself as she left the room, not questioning why she knew Tenebris was "technically" their friend. "I guess Frisk sees Tenebris as her older brother rather than as a friend." With those quiet words, she silently prayed to the gods that she would never have to suffer another loss ever again. It would not only devastate her, but the two left behind.
