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[*Looks like someone left their Grumpearl on.
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🤍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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Hee hee... and you want to know the BEST part? After she let us die and replaced us, now she acts like she's the best mom EVER! Nice... caring... gentle...

[Where was that when he needed it...? Well... she was kind to him, early in his resets, when he told her that he had been brought back as a flower. He was willing to overlook the stench of her pity. But by that point, it was already too late. He couldn't feel anything.]

Good riddance. I hope her and her new kid just have the best life ever. [... For as much loathing as that statement carries, he's not entirely insincere. Frisk deserves to be happy, and so does Toriel, he guesses. He's not as upset as he used to be, now that he's found some other people of his own.]

Ew.

[The situation wasn't so simple, but her gut reaction to this information certainly is. Her parents had done something similar after her death—carrying on with their lives as if she'd never existed, as if they'd done nothing wrong. And then one day they were gone, erased together with all of Shinjuku, as if they'd never existed.

She breathes out a derisive scoff.]

I'll say... Who needs 'em, right?

Not us!

[The bitter poffin isn't to his taste. He takes one bite out of it and spits it out a window. His Bullet Seed has given him good aim.

Flowey thinks for a moment. Her memories feel far away, now, but her home life hadn't seemed happy.]

... seems like yours sucked, too.

[Shoka blankly watches the morsel sail out the window, then snorts.] Okay, gross.

[She really hopes that the distant squawk she hears from elsewhere in the Canopy isn't some poor, unsuspecting bird Pokémon getting hit square in the face by Flowey's projectile leftovers... But it's apparently not so distracting that she won't react to his comment.]

Oh, yeah. They were pretty much the worst. But they were long gone even before I wound up here, so... At least I didn't have to see whatever lame, twisted BS they'd be up to nowadays. [Her tone is nonchalant, unemotional. Under her disguise rag, she wraps her arms around herself.] Paid a visit only once after I kicked the bucket, and that was more than enough for me.

[Flowey can't feel empathy anymore, but he does conclude that sounds like it sucked, and he holds back from making a shitty little comment. This time, at least. Progress.]

Good riddance.

[If there's one thing he remembers, it's that she'd had a feeling of being wrong- broken- from the start. At least with him, even though his parents hadn't been the best, they had loved him once upon a time. Too late for that realization to change anything now, though.

... There's a lot he doesn't know about Shoka, actually. He had the impression that she reset before. She mentioned having killed lots of people. Which, like. Same.]

Look, I don't remember a lot of the stuff I saw when we met. Something about resets, something about killing people. But who hasn't killed a few people? [Most people??? Regardless, he moves on.] But so what? You didn't deserve their crap.

[She glances at him in surprise. He's—actually trying to cheer her up, isn't he? She snorts.]

Y'know what's funny? None of that even happened until after they bit the dust. They just always had this idea in their heads about who I should've been. Had my whole life planned out for me before I even existed. And when I didn't exactly measure up—and tried to tell 'em, hey, maybe I don't want to do any of that actually! They... never got over it.

[And neither did she.]

I didn't even kill anyone, and they still couldn't stand me! Hah.

[The laughter is forced and hollow, shrinking in her throat. This—isn't even about her. She should probably stop.]

... Maybe I did deserve it, y'know? I basically proved 'em right. [Static pulses across her form.] I'm glad they got erased. I hope it hurt, too.

[He's... never seen Shoka like this. She's never lost her cool around him, even when he told her to kill herself.

Still, she's seen him at his lowest several points-- hell, even within the last hour. It doesn't feel bad that she's opened up to him more. He guesses.

... But that doesn't mean he knows how to deal with this. In the past, whenever he was solving people's problems, he used his encyclopedic knowledge of them already and the fact that he could fall back on resetting if he screwed it up. He chooses his words carefully.]

It was either prove them right or live as their stupid doll forever. And I know you weren't about to take THAT.

[She really had it rough, didn't she...? It really puts things in perspective for him with his own family.]

There was no way to win. Even if you tried living up to it, it wouldn't have been enough. You shouldn't have had to deal with any of that crap.

[A clipped laugh escapes her. Flowey's right; she wasn't about to take that. She couldn't, in the end.

As he continues, she quiets, and the static pulses cease. A part of her wants to argue and insist that she did deserve it—that maybe it would have been enough if she'd just been different, or if she'd just found those fundamental pieces she was born lacking—but at the same time, she knows he's right. The thought of living up to it makes her sick, even after she'd tried to for so long. And she wouldn't say any of that about him, would she?

Even if he wasn't right, she can tell that he's choosing his words carefully. Soul or no Soul, he's putting his all into this. For her, despite everything he's been going through lately.]

... Yeah, well. Same to you.

[He shouldn't have had to deal with any of that crap either.

Sniffing and willing her shadows to unwind, she shuffles a little in place.]

Ugh. My bad... Didn't mean to make this about me...

[She's never even told any of that to anyone else before. She was just—what? Trying to commiserate? Make a connection? Whatever it was, she... feels like it succeeded, somehow. She feels ashamed, too exposed—but also seen, in the good way.]

I... [She looks at him, then away again.] Thanks. I'm... glad I met you, too. I guess.

Don't worry about it! It's easier than talking about myself, at least. And... sorry all that happened. [... Actually, focusing on someone else did help him to get his mind off of things, even for a moment.

He takes another bite of his food to avoid having to get all mushy. He imagines that will be easier for her, too.]

... They can't make us go back. After all this is over, I mean. Emporio's gonna stay, and I will, too.

[She exhales an almost-laugh.]

I already promised Emporio. Anyone tries to kick you out, I'll take 'em down myself.

[She misses Shibuya more than she can put into words, but if she were to be sent back, the only thing waiting for her there would be erasure. It's getting harder and harder to think of that as an acceptable option.]

So I guess that means I'm sticking around, too. As long as I can. Someone's gotta keep an eye on you dorks.

Hee hee... then it's a plan. It would be too boring here without a total weirdo like you to keep me on my toes.

[He's finished stuffing himself. How can a Sunkern eat that much AND photosynthesize? It must store a lot of energy for evolution or something.]

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imagine shoka coming back to shibuya and joshua is like "so how was it"