Previously: In their journey through Snowdin, they were met with bad puns, simple puzzles (made simpler by Papyrus' incompetence) they also encountered a badly positioned vendor of frozen treats, and a few dogs that were evaded by a couple of methods (one more disgusting than the other) and the thought of delivering cooking lessons to Papyrus is something that Toriel is looking forward to...
(Snowdin)
There wasn't much to say about what followed the married dog couple, a series of puzzles where before them, Deos decided to let Frisk solve them on their own as it's fun for them, Toriel agreed with him, Flowey didn't help Frisk, because he wanted to see Frisk fail at them...which they didn't. (much to his disappointment) In fact, the tile puzzle... didn't work properly or at least...it didn't appear to. Then they encountered a number of snow poffs...Deos stops, which causes the others who have legs to stop with him.
"Why did you stop, Deos?" asked Toriel
"There's a member of the Royal Guard nearby in hiding...Frisk, do you have that stick?"
Frisk nodded.
"Then you might want to be ready to...play fetch. This time, YOU have the non-violent solution"
"Whatever, you're not going to be able to solve all your problems the wimpy way." Flowey said in his usual nihilistic way.
"Kill or be killed? Sound familiar? (!)" Deos said mockingly.
"Yeah! When are you gonna learn that being a little punching bag is gonna get both of you killed?!" Flowey said angrily.
"I'm not going to let Frisk do any fighting, if I can help it, I prefer to not kill and..." Deos said calmly.
"NO! DON'T COMPLETE THAT SENTENCE! THAT'S NOT HOW THIS WORLD WORKS!" Flowey said with added venom.
"Sorry, did I touch upon a sensitive subject?" Deos asked, without giving any indication to his mood.
"Let's just play with the dog and get this over with." Flowey said quietly.
They then move towards the Snow Poff that's in their way and revealing itself is a dog that looks harmless, it barked at them and then revealed itself as Greater Dog, one of the Royal Guard with a large spear to attack with and in a suit of magic armor.
"Here doggy" Frisk waves a stick around Greater Dog making it excited and they threw the stick away "Fetch!" Greater Dog then runs out of its armor and runs after the stick and brings it back to Frisk "Good doggy!" they then pet Greater dog a few times and satisfied, Greater dog licks Frisk and walks away from them...backwards.
Deos looked at Flowey, who had a look of confusion "You seem surprised?"
"What...ARE YOU?! You know what's coming, you have this magic power that most humans I've met don't have and you're able to get past monsters without killing them!" Flowey said in both a confused and frustrated tone of voice.
"I'm someone who doesn't want either of us" Looking at Frisk briefly "...to confirm their worst fears about humans, I often find that lethal force is as excessive in some situations as it is unnecessary."
Toriel could sense that the atmosphere was tense, so she decided to interrupt them "What is next for us to deal with, Deos?"
"Just a trap that I need to convince Papyrus to turn off and then we're in Snowdin Town, it's probably one of the largest settlements in the underground outside of New Home in Hotland." Deos said and he noticed that Toriel looked angry when New Home was brought up. "I'd learn a bit more about the situation before you judge him, there are a lot of gaps in your knowledge, such as how the other five died, how close to the edge Asgore's mental state is, since dealing with the consequences of an order made out of anger and grief and how it's affected the underground." Deos said in an understanding tone.
"It isn't just him that's made a grave error of judgment, has he?" Toriel said with a hint of regret in her voice.
"There's nothing we can do about what has already happened, unfortunately, but we can do something about what happens to Frisk." Deos said.
"You are right, Deos...what did you mean that you won't allow Frisk to do any fighting?" Toriel said in a suspicious tone.
"It's because they're a pacifist, they're a child and it would upset both of you if they did fight, I'll do it for them. You've got to know me a little, do you believe that I would use lethal force against those in the way?" Deos asked
"No...I see that you want to improve their attitudes about humans and killing them will not do anything, except confirm them." Toriel answered.
Deos moved ahead and the others followed, they found the bridge that leads to artificial lights that can only be Snowdin Down, waiting for them is Sans and Papyrus. "HUMAN!" said Papyrus.
Deos then interrupted him "Is this going to be a gauntlet full of deadly weapons that have a slim margin of error, because if that's the case, it's not a puzzle, it's an unfair gauntlet of DEATH! Is that something worthy of The Great Papyrus?"
Sans said "He's got you there, Papy."
Papyrus gasped and then said "YOU'RE RIGHT, THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR IS TOO UNFAIR AND NOT WORTHY OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"
Deos was briefly bemused by this overconfidence "Right...can you wait in your house, please? We need to talk about something and bring Sans as well, this concerns him as well."
Papyrus was then intrigued by this "WHAT REQUIRES THE ATTENTION OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS?..."
Deos was evasive "Please wait at your home and you'll find out...and bring Sans as well, this concerns him as well."
Papyrus said "I SHALL WAIT AT MY HOME, COME SANS!" He then picks Sans up, with Sans resigned to his fate.
Toriel looked nervous "I guess that this is where I come in, what do you want me to do?"
Deos looked at Toriel "You just come out of the Dimensional Pocket Amulet when I throw my smoke bomb and play along with your part of the intro, after that...help him out as best you can." They then walked into Snowdin Town...
(Deos' Apartment)
Cali had just received another update with the present situation and she started to loosen up slightly "Aww...I wanted to play with the doggies..."
"I-Is this how a lot of humans act t-towards them?" Alphys said.
"More or less...where are they, now that they're past that doggy?"
"Oh r-right...they're in S-Snowdin Town, they s-shouldn't get too much t-trouble there." Alphys said nervously.
"Ugh...excuse me" she stayed silent as some pain of unknown cause was occuring "Sorry, I don't know what happened." She strained to think of something to say" I'm such a wreck, aren't I?!" Cali shouted.
"You're d-dealing with it a l-lot more than I am, s-sometimes I j-just curl up on t-the floor and d-don't get up for a w-while." Alphys said more nervously than normal.
"Can you just calm down already! I'm having a hard time understanding you, I'd get more sense out of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 that my niece gets me to watch, she actually likes that!" Cali said with a mix of anger and frustration, due to a combination of Dr. Alphys and the memory of what she had to put up with from her younger niece.
"WHAT?! How can she have such bad taste?! I'd like to meet the people in charge of that and give 'em a dose of lightning magic, I might not be that strong, but it'll be strong enough to make them scream!..." She stopped when she wasn't hearing anything from Cali after a few seconds, Cali then giggled at this exchange with Alphys joining in, their mutual dislike of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 and something else...
"I've just noticed..." Cali said with a smile on her face, something that hasn't happened while talking with Alphys before "You didn't stutter once during that nerd rage."
"R-really?" Alphys was surprised with this "So that's w-what it's called...what d-do you t-think of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie?" Alphys was slight more nervous about asking that.
"MUCH better, at least that wasn't torture..." Cali heard a buzz coming from the front door "I'll be right back" she then heard Lara, the Blue Mage coming from outside.
"Cali, I heard about what happened, I thought that you could use some help" Said Lara with a slightly Irish accent.
"The doors open, come right in." Cali said as she buzzed Lara in, she was a little annoyed by this as she wasn't expecting the others to be here so soon. a little earlier, she would've welcomed the interruption, but now...she was starting to question her stance on what she once considered to be her least favorate monsters.
How will Toriel's cooking lesson go with Papyrus? How will this help with getting closer to
Asgore? What is Lara's purpose to visiting Cali at Deos' place? Find out in Chapter 9:
Orange Insight.