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[*Looks like someone left their Grumpearl on.
*Listen in?
🤍Yes ‎ ‎ ‎ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ *Do Not]

... Why did I have to find Lusamine? I don't even care that she's in a stupid coma.

[You don't feel a sense of love or attachment or empathy... but there's a pang of something. Another name on the list. Another petal plucked.]

Hee hee... what an idiot. She spent so much energy trying to 'fix' me that she couldn't even take care of herself. Now look at us. I'm still here and she might as well be dead.

[Maybe he should have taken her soul. Then maybe she...

... no. Sharing a body has never worked out for him. And the last thing he wants is someone that close. Reading his thoughts, the stupid impulses that pass for 'feelings'... what a joke.]

I hate everyone. I hate all of them!!!

I hate every single one of those stupid losers! I hope they ALL drop dead!!

[He knows he doesn't mean it. But do you?]

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[ It's for the best, really. If they had to live somewhere as communal and group-oriented as the pack of bleeding hearts that make up the Oran Berries they might scream. And the Canopy of the Cheri Berries ... really, could they not put a little more effort into protection from the elements there? Anyway.

* Flowey called out.
* . . . . . .
* The door opens.

A levitating, blankly smiling mask is what will meet Flowey in the doorway, up until a few moments pass and the rest of them emerges from ... somewhere. Wherever ghosts go when they're not manifest, perhaps. ]

Greetings. Please come in. No need to wait around on my account.

[ The interior has the look of a cozy, tidy place, if not a particularly lived-in one. The decor is sparse and, essentially, nigh-untouched from when they'd moved in.

The various plants scattered around the space and in the front, though— those look well taken care of. In any case, they'll wave Flowey towards what looks like a comfy little seating area, a fireplace roaring merrily nearby. Chara will drift in following him after a moment or two. ]

So. Still feel like following up on whatever that was earlier even after the time it took for you to get here?

Nice place. [Flowey spends a long moment eyeing the plants. ... A sign of goodwill towards him? A carry-over of the days they'd garden with Asgore? Random decor that Polteageist provided and Chara took care of, fastidious as they are? Unclear.

Flowey settles in the seating area.] Here. A ton's changed, but I'd really be surprised if you didn't like this anymore. [From the tiny little sling across his body, he pulls out a little chunk of chocolate wrapped in wax paper.

It's partially a gift, partially an excuse. Buying it gave him some time to compose himself.]

It's...

... it was stupid. Ugh. I'm never living that down.

[He pauses for a moment, trying to remain composed.] She was an idiot who thought she could 'fix' me. She cared about me, even though I told her I can't feel anything about anyone. She put so much energy into it, and now she's... fallen down. And I'm still here. What a stupid waste of time.

You cannot reset or load their memory of it away, yes.

[ Agrees Chara breezily when the Sunkern laments his tweenage angst. That is when they'll accept the wrapped treat from him, though, opening up the wax paper with a delicacy that quickly changes to something more hurried (perhaps even excited) when they realize what he's brought with him.

So it goes, them nibbling at the treat as whatever it was that had upset Flowey is described.

Chara has never met Lusamine. There's a noticeable parallel here, though, just from what Flowey tells them. They finish their current bite of chocolate before speaking. ]

... I see. Suffering from an empty nest, do you think?

I wonder who it was she lost. [ A pause, as they settle themselves atop seating of their own. ] I wonder if she's dreaming of them now.

Heh. Familiar, right? [At this point, he doesn't know how much Chara saw through Frisk's eyes. He's going to assume they know how Toriel replaced them time and time again. He doesn't begrudge that they basically delivered the latest replacement up on a silver platter. Frisk deserves to be happy or whatever.]

... No clue. She didn't talk about her past. [Like someone he knows. But, some things are better left buried. He's fine leaving it behind. Asriel is dead and buried, too, as far as he's concerned.] If she doesn't wake up, I'll never know.

[He pauses, looking pensive.] ... it's weird, you know? Things being permanent. I must have reset a million times.

You said it, not I. [ Smiling blandly and spoken with misplaced, unfitting cheer, of course, as ever. Was it strange for him, being on this side of the replacement child paradigm? The replacer rather than the replacee. Or was it simply strange to be subject to that kind of care from a stranger, as opposed to the mother he could no longer muster up sentiment for?

Ah, well. To dwell upon it... they have both agreed that it is something to be left behind them. ]

Things are much more permanent here in a way they were not in the Underground, that is true. But I think ... [ They hum, blinking quite deliberately, slowly at him. ] You, in particular, tried to remind us of the concept regardless. Your insistence that regardless of what was or was not undone. You, at least, would know what had happened because of that power.

[ The power to reshape the world, as he put it. Even if his desires for the Underground were overpowered by theirs. ]

[Flowey isn't sure what to say. They're right; even if he reset to undo what had happened, he would remember. Just like Chara remembers all of his actions from that last timeline, now.

But talking about the past is only bound to hurt them both. What's done is- this time- done.]

... Hey, Chara.

[Meanwhile, he still doesn't know that Chara hadn't given their name to anyone and he leaked it on the Grumpearl network. Another case of permanence, flying over his head.]

What do you think you're going to do next? In this world, I mean.

That is the question, isn't it.

[ As for the name ... they will see if any telepathic eavesdroppers, so to speak, when nothing on the network is actually private ... they will see if any manage to match the name to the voice to the entity.

Now, how forthcoming do they want to be here? ]

I'd thought our story was over. I'd thought it, even when I found myself with Frisk.

[ It is why they never truly did anything. It is why they never made themselves known, even or especially to the people who had known them, once upon a time.

... they shouldn't have been mourned for as long as they were. They shouldn't have been so remembered. Regardless of the pleading they'd heard at their bedside back then, they should have...

(They should not have been so impactful so as to have been grown attached to, and therefore...) ]

... Did you know? When I first found myself on the sands of that beach. I thought Frisk was here.

I have not seen them since, of course. But ... that does serve to reinforce the question you are asking. I did not know what to do with myself back then, either. So I settled for guiding them through the Ruins, which turned into guiding them through the rest of the Underground.

I find myself in a similar situation now.

You and me both. I really thought I was going to stay in the Underground forever. Better for Frisk to have that last image of me as happy little Asriel, not this. [And he had to let them go. All of them, after so long.] But here we are.

[Somehow, it's been months, now. He's taken it day by day, just trying to get by... ambling blindly into the future, having long since thought he doesn't have one.

And, somehow, he """"cared"""" enough about someone to get mad on the Grumpearl network, leading to this whole fiasco. What is he doing?]

I guess we can figure it out. Help a few more Pokemon, help everyone else find a way home. And besides that... well. There's some nice flowers around town. And you still like chocolate.

[ Here We Are.

... come to think of it, even the Amalgamates went home to their families, didn't they? Thought gone, irrevocably changed from what they were, and yet.

The thought of it ... ]

Nice flowers around town? Are you implying the ones in here might get lonely, or... that you might want a few of your own to liven up wherever it is you're staying in the Canopy? I might be able to arrange for the delivery of some sort of flowerpot if it is the latter.

Ha! As if I need your handouts. My place is a million times nicer than yours. Tons of natural light- [because there's no roof,] -a great view, [because he's in a tree that takes forever to climb] and food delivered right to me! [... because sunshine and water enter through the lack of roof. It should be more than obvious that Flowey is bluffing out of some latent sense of sibling rivalry.]

... Or, what, you want us to match? Maybe come visit me sometime? Stay up all night telling scary stories? Hee hee. [And he's back to projecting his own wants.] I've seen some stuff that would even scare YOU, Chara!

Oh. Is that so? [ Their tone is serene, unperturbed; hardly rebuffed or offended. ] Well then. If your current arrangements really are so adequate, then consider my offer of a housewarming gift revoked. It is clear you will not need it!

[ If you say so, Flowey. Clearly, all they have heard about the Canopy is but mere hearsay. Truly, it must be so much more accommodating than their little enclosures here in Lum, sequestered away from community and environment alike! ]

But that is quite the bold claim to make. Something that would scare even me, hmm...?

Yeah. It's amazing up there. You really got the short end of the stick. [Now he's really done it. Well, knowing Chara- the little he seems to, anymore- they almost certainly know he's bluffing anyway.]

Oh, for sure! Tons of fun and gross stuff has happened! Just wait until you hear about Ursaluna, hee hee!

In that case, you simply must show me around at some point.

[ =)!

What happens if they call his bluff. What's he going to do then. ]

Perhaps you can even go on about whatever happened with this Ursaluna while you do so.

Yeah... sometime for sure! [How long can he delay this happening until his treehouse is somehow nicer than their Lum apartment and/or he gets promoted to mid-tier housing?]

We aren't kids anymore, so you'll have to try harder to scare me than doing your creepy face. [Verifiably untrue.]

[ Rip Flowey. Maybe they'll take pity on him, considering he's clearly bluffing ...?

... Nah. Maybe they'll just let him almost get comfortable thinking they'll let him off, then surprise him with a visit. The Canopy is not so difficult to navigate for one who is not beholden to gravity, after all. ]

I am also not as I was then, you realize. Perhaps my creepy face in this form might regain some of the shock value it has otherwise lost?

[ Is that a challenge, Flowey? Can Yamask perform Chara's creepy face, tune in next time on BCB to find out -- ]

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