bottlecaplogs | August Catch-all

Entry tags:

August Catch-all

Who: Flowey & Perrin, Bigby, Akechi, Siffrin, Siffrin (again), Chara
What: Quests!! The boy's got his non-existent hands full again! (Exploration: Yellow, Carts Before Charts, Flower Showers, Play Nice)
Where: New territory beyond the middle forest; places in and around the new Outpost
When: Throughout August
Warnings: Pokemon battling (violence/injury), severe weather, Flowey's trauma (mentions of/themes of depression, depersonalization, guilt, child death, murder)

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[With little guidance to go on, the former best friends have carte blanche to travel out in search of Pokemon who have 'come to their senses'. Redemption, so loosely defined. How poetic. Maybe they'll all join hands and sing kumbaya afterward.

(Oh, wait.)

The irony of Dondozo and Tatsugiri appearing and offering to ferry them isn't lost on him, either. These Pokemon nearly killed Flowey just the other month, but hey, what's a little murder among friends?

The sky is a clear, endless blue, only a few of the sun's rays peeking from behind the clouds. The fog has receded; the sky disorients him nearly just as much. Even though he knows nostalgia is pointless- neither of them are the same person, deaths and transformations aside- he can't help but remember old times. The weight of their body in his arms. The feeling of their souls in sync.]

... Golly. The Underground didn't have views like this. [He nods, especially, toward the ocean. Vast, expansive depths; waves gentle one moment and violent the next, seemingly without pattern to anything but itself. He wonders if Chara likes the ocean. He wants to ask if they've ever seen it before, but that, again, would play into fragile nostalgia. They never did like to talk about their life before falling underground, anyway.

So, instead, a simple observation. Now he's testing them, he supposes.]

[ They are — tangentially, academically — aware of the Bay's history with Dondozo. Presumably similar goes for Tatsugiri by proxy. Anything quite so personal as nearly killing any present entities remains heretofore unknown to them, however. Outside of any particular tells Flowey might or might not have, anyway.

In any case. Is Flowey attempting to make small talk? Well then. They'll hum, a bit, and engage. ]

It certainly did not. Some of the sights in Waterfall might perhaps make for potential contenders, but in the end...

[ Sun, even what little of it there is, playing across the surface of the water. Warm, golden light scattered across the endless waves. In contrast ... Waterfall is a closed, confined space, echo flowers endlessly whispering the same secrets back and forth to each other under the false stars of the crystals above. Everything within it passed down from something, somewhere else; nothing new, nothing novel.

No, Waterfall isn't remotely the same. ]

There is something different about being under the open sky, isn't it? Knowing that even when it gets dark, there isn't a cavern ceiling above us.

[Sometimes, Flowey finds himself taking in the outside world- the sky, the trees, the breeze- and reminding himself Chara grew up with all this.

Not this exactly, the alien world they find themselves in, but close enough. Compared to the relatively short time they spent underground with them, this was their experience.]

How's it feel? I'm still getting used to it.

... I keep having this moment of realization. There's no ceiling above. I could go in one direction forever and not hit an ending point. Weird, huh?

Well. In theory you'd eventually loop around as long as you're not going up ... but that would be quite a while of going in one direction indeed.

[ They say the world is round... Simple facts like that, irrelevant to them for as long as they were Underground. Strange to think of. Strange to realize. Stranger, then, for the monster they are with, isn't it? ]

But yes. I understand what you mean.

I suppose it is odd, though. I did not think I would miss it. And I do not. Not really. But all the same ... this, now. The ending the Underground reached. It is not unpleasant.

[ They still do not care for where they came from. Their opinion of the village in particular will likely never change. But that is something that consists of more than just the open sky above and the trees and breeze surrounding. The ocean on the horizon. ]

[Loop around... like reaching the end of a video game screen. But instead of hitting an invisible wall, it brings them back to the start. ... Kind of like him and Chara.]

Heh. Yeah. We did it in the end. [Nevermind the fact that he was directly opposing that goal for most of it, and he doesn't know the length of Chara's involvement.

... He's glad Frisk isn't here. They should be living their life, with their friends.]

No funny business, alright? [He looks pointedly at Dondozo and Tatsugiri. The latter mumbles that they're not worth the energy.

It takes some effort for Flowey to jump on Dondozo's head, even though they lowered it as low as they can.]

[ 'We.' Right ... As if it had been all some long-term plan of theirs, despite Flowey's active antagonism, and Chara's relative lack of direct action. Not pacifism but passivism, perhaps. The one truly responsible for much of it . . .

They will not correct him. There would be little point in it.

The interaction with Tatsugiri nets a faint tilt of their head in lieu of a raised eyebrow. Is there a more personal history here, then? Their own ascent onto Dondozo's head is much easier than Flowey's, though for his sake they wait until he is properly situated atop the fish before they follow. ]

What funny business would you be expecting, anyway? Have they a known history of taking monsters out to sea and then drowning them?

Sure! They almost did it to me!

[Tatsugiri protests that was in the past-- they weren't themselves, and they're part of Bottlecap Bay now. Flowey isn't really mad anymore; it would be pretty hypocritical for him to be mad over a little attempted murder. He's more concerned for Chara than anyone else.

Eventually, he hops onboard.]

How very trusting of us now, then.

[ But they, too, don't offer the pair any true hostility. Instead they watch for if Flowey might fall, and— as it appears to not be of particular concern, settle in to watch the horizon for whatever it is that might merit keeping an eye out for ... though they do give Tatsugiri the equivalent of a raised eyebrow in the form of a slight headtilt before they do.

(Hmm. How long can they float for? All the way back to the settlement if needed, perhaps?) ]

[There is one Pokemon they spot-- an Araquanid along the coast. Flowey demands that Dondozo pull into shore, which Tatsugiri reluctantly tells them to do.

They find themselves among tide pools. Flowey can't tell how deep they go, but a host of small Pokemon seem to be beneath the waves. On the surface, Araquanid seems to have just finished drowning and eating a smaller Pokemon of some kind.]

Woah!! That's sick, hee hee!

[The Araquanid turns and notices them. Whether because it just ate, it's too polite to attack a group of visitors, or it's intimidated by Dondozo, the Araquanid doesn't attack immediately. It politely listens to Flowey's pitch, which mostly amounts to "howdy, come join us in Bottlecap Bay, you seem totally badass!" Maybe Chara will be more loquacious.]

[ Is that the pitch they're going for. Well, politely, they'll drift forward after Flowey's done his thing, letting their head dip forward in a slight bow before straightening back up. The soft v of their nose, or beak, or whatever it is's silhouette paints a gently polite expression on their otherwise blank face. ]

Greetings. As my partner has just informed you, we are looking for others who might be willing to join us at a settlement not too far from here. [ Traveling through the water, anyway. ] There are many Pokemon there seeking to create a home for all sorts of other Pokemon there, and your strength, no doubt, would be a great boon to the community.

Will you consider our request?

[Araquanid is unreadable. Finally, it requests a polite show of strength. It seems like it's not impressed by the two- not even with Dondozo- and wants to know what they can do. It won't suffer being around a group of weaklings.

Flowey's face contorts into a wicked smile.] Is that all? Hee hee. That won't be a problem at all.

[He's eager to jump to violence for Mr. "Don't Kill And Don't Be Killed"... but this isn't killing, it's sparring. And, truthfully, he's excited to partner with Chara again. It will be fun-- just like old times.]

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August Catch-all

Play Nice

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this is an old, late tag, pardon

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