bottlecaplogs | Garden of Delights [Flowey November Catch-All]

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[Flowey has spent much less time underground than he used to.

Which, well. Of course, since the amount of time he spent underground before coming here was all of it, with one unpleasant exception. But he used to use tunnelling as his primary form of movement! Now he just has to hop.

For some reason, the idea of jumping back down the tunnels of the Southern Forest feels both soothing and nerve-wracking. There's the familiarity of being surrounded by earth, but also, these aren't his tunnels. He appeared in them, lost, forcibly transformed again, with memory-sapping fog and irate ground-types to deal with.

He takes a breath, then exhales. It's different now. He's much stronger, and he has Ren and Akechi with him. He turns to them before they walk down the winding rabbit hole that marks the entrance to the tunnel network.]

Remember, we stick together. Getting lost can be deadly. Keep your Grumpearls on you. I think I remember the way back to where I appeared, but I'm not familiar with the rest of it.

[They've already gone over the plan once, but Flowey loves to ~~backseat game~~ remind them just to be sure. He's not eager to wind up in the clinic again.]

[Flowey spends many days moping after being discharged from the clinic and arguing with Kris.

He's not about to run away again. His best chance of survival, whether he likes it or not, is to stay here. Once he's had time to cool down, he wonders how Fireheart is feeling. All the Pokémon with fur are struggling growing in their Winter coats, so that must be an irritant.

He shows up at his dorm with the same brush he stole from somewhere.]

I'm here for the quest. [Well, that's not right. He is still chasing guild points to an extent- what else is he supposed to do?- but he didn't just come here for the sake of the quest.] Or to talk to you or whatever.

[Now that it's so cold out, Flowey hasn't wanted to go out at all. But he still has to work-- otherwise, his mind wanders. So he settles by deciding to brush yet another resident cat, Siffrin. The first one to arrive, who he isn't sure if he likes more or less than the surprisingly agreeable 'Stardust'.

Neither of them seem to have killed each other, so maybe it worked out? Flowey has been too busy with his own crashouts to check on them for a while. He lets himself into their dorm with the brush in a vine.]

You're shedding all over the common areas. Sit down and get brushed, moron.

Flowey doesn't have much in the way of hobbies.

He's occupied his time these past few months by forcing himself to stay busy. He wanted to reach the top of the ranks and force Ribombee to acknowledge him. He wanted to dive into this strange new world and peel apart its mysteries layer by layer.

But the world wouldn't yield to him so easily. Winter has come early, blanketing the Canopy with snow. As a weak Grass-type, he's been forced to slow down. And now he doesn't know what to do.

He likes to read, but he has to find a way into the Archives somehow, and finding anything specific there is impossible. His other hobby is watching people, but it's harder when most of them are bundled up indoors like he is.

So when he hasn't been questing, he's been filling his time with training. Most Sunkerns sit in one place and wait for evolution. Meanwhile, he's been training like he has something to prove. Nearly every day he's firing Bullet Seeds at training dummies, trying to overcome his weakness. Even that has been limited by the snow.

A. Whether you have beef with him, he's dragged you into participating, or some other means, you've wound up agreeing to spar with Flowey. He has little chance of winning if he's not fighting dirty; he's no idiot, he knows that.

That's why he's set up the training grounds with tunnels (he'll fill them in later, probably), little snow forts to hide in/behind, and more. He hopes to train his agility and try to avoid getting hit at all costs.

"We're NOT fighting to the death... this time," he says.

B. Instead of training with him, you've decided to show him a new hobby. Flowey likely seems apprehensive about it. "So long as it doesn't drag me out in the snow," he grumbles.

C. Something else? Feel free to work out a wildcard with me!

We should mark the path so we don't lose our way. Ren and I have talons and claws, so I believe we can handle the brunt of the work.

[He casts a glance at Ren, just to be sure.]

Regardless, it would be wise to use our Pearls in case a cave in occurs. Hopefully it won't come to that, but one must never lower their guard.

[Siffrin(?... Siffrin.) cracks open their working eye. For a moment there's a flicker of something that might be alarm in it, followed by another moment of very rapid hang-on-how-should-I-react, and then they're yawning. And stretching, in that very unhurried way cats do when they're going to go along with you, but they want you to know they're doing it on their own time. Their front claws extend and retract.]

[Then they hop down from their bed - not that that's going very far - and pad over. They sprawl next to Flowey rather than sit, apparently relaxed. (But when Flowey touches them, with the brush or otherwise, they're holding themself stiff and tense under their fur. Gotta keep from flinching or jumping!)]

So kind of you, sunshine! Are you brushing everyone, or am I special?

[Their eyes are curved up in a smug, cat-like expression, but behind that they're watching Flowey intently. (Also... wasn't he in the clinic, like, 5 minutes ago? Or 5 days ago. One of the two. How's he looking.)]

The former. [He begins brushing, taking note the way they go stiff. Fake IDGAFer.

As for Flowey-- he seems fine? He can also be good at hiding his feelings behind an implacable smile when he's not throwing a tantrum. He's gotten pretty busted up a few times- his shell scratched, his leaves bitten off, the works- but he always seems to bounce back quickly. He's not delirious anymore, it seems. Without clear animal-like features, it's a little more difficult to tell if he's sick or hurt.

... Do his shades look a little off? Hard to tell without seeing color. If he is looking a bit unusual, it could just be because of the approaching Winter.]

'Sunshine'? So nicknames are your new thing? Woooow, that's definitely helping keep everyone at a distance. How's the new personality working out for you? Trust me, I know all about forming a convenient mask out of the shreds left of your old self that haven't been stolen from you.

[He's really not pulling any punches today.]

[They are such a fake IDGAFer it's not even funny.]

[...]

Oh no! You got me! Guess I've got no choice but to swoon dramatically and monologue about how sad and lonely I am!

[Though, come to think of it... wasn't Flowey going on about something to do with multiple Siffrins at some point? Had he actually figured something out, back then...?]

[Well, they're not going to ask about it now!]

What, don't you think sunshine is cute?

[Ren lifts his paw in the air in a fascimile of a thumbs up. That's what it looks like he's trying, anyway. He's got his Pearl in his satchel, at the top, so it's easy to reach.]

Worst comes to worst, I've packed an Escape Orb.

[And, of course, a bunch of other items. Regardless, he nods at Flowey.]

Lead the way, then. We'll make unique marks for each passage we try after getting there.

With how their recent conversation ended, Laios didn't actually expect an invitation from Flowey to spar. But here he is, looking over the training grounds that the Sunkern apparently set up all on his own. He knows that this is just for practice, but he still notes the obstacles and tunnels, as any seasoned adventurer would. Some battles take more than raw strength, after all.

"... Heh. Yeah." Good one, he almost says, barely catching himself in time. He smiles, strained, before looking at his gift currently wrapped around Flowey. Still so cool. "No hard feelings, right? I didn't mean it. I just — what you said — it reminded me of something else. That's all!"

Yeah, not necessary, buddy. [It's written all over their face.

... He honestly doesn't know how to approach this situation. How did Frisk do it? If he had to talk to himself post-transformation, he would have gone insane.

Well, at least they can segue back to the nickname conversation.]

No. I already CHOSE a perfectly stupid name for myself. [He continues brushing them, piling up all the fur.] Why 'sunshine', anyway? Let me guess, mocking my bright and sunny personality?

Okay! Flowey Detective Agency, move out! [He hops into the tunnel, letting the others follow.

Besides the lone beam of sunlight, it's quite dark down here. To an extent, he's used to it, and can feel his way around without too much trouble. The others may or may not have brought their own solution.

He begins to lead them down a winding series of tunnels. For a while, all is quiet and calm-- the Diglett and Dugtrio seem to leave them alone.

It's only when they find a bloody clump of fur that Flowey stops.]

... I don't remember this. The blood has dried. The fur is bright blue, almost white. [Definitely not a Diglett.]

"Of course not, Laios, old buddy!"

He's smiling broadly, like always-- but there's a swirling emptiness behind his eyes. He summons a halo of Bullet Seeds around his head as shadows play on his face. The match has begun.

"No hard feelings at all."

The seeds fly in an arc, making them trickier to dodge. He quickly follows this move by hopping behind one of his snow forts and preparing a Growth. Building up strength while he dodges will be key.

[Oh... That fur. Akechi looks away to hide a grimace.]

I may know who it belongs to.

[He shuffles over, picking up a clump of the fur in his talons.]

There was an Alolan Ninetales some months ago. While I can't guarantee that it's her, we should bring a sample back for further examination.

[The blood is a deeply worrying sign.]

[... Oh. That's...

Ren has to look away. He can't help it. It's not that graphic, all things considered, compared to what he's seen here, but... still. That's not... that's not good.]

Let's keep going, [he says regardless, his voice even. Leaderly.] We may find other clues yet.

[Oh. He forgot until now, but...] Wait, I remember her! We showed up around the same time. And there was also...

[He needs a moment to think.]

... There was also this bat who was a real piece of work. As far as I know, he never made it up.

[He shudders.] Be on guard. He was strong and merciless. Doesn't bode well for her.

But you gave me such a good cue! [Their smile is showing pointed teeth, a little bit.]

[If Flowey wanted to talk to someone about forming a personality out of shreds after losing everything, it's stardust he should be talking to! He's still working off that one! (Haha, funny joke, there's no way stardust would just talk about it.)]

[But whatever Siffrin is thinking about it not applying to them, or at least not this particular act... something about Flowey coming at them with that, right out of the gate, has put them on the defensive...]

It's because of how much time you spend basking in it, of course! [...of course.]

"Oh, I'm gl—" Suddenly, he feels his sins crawling on his back, never mind that this is a fight against a flower and not a pile of bones. His eyes go a bit wide once he realizes what's about to happen. "We're already starting??"

He lifts his head up to watch as the seeds begin to fall directly at him. With too many to dodge, a few inevitably pelt against him as he jumps away. Unfortunately, that gives Flowey plenty of time to go into hiding. Laios steadies himself, nose twitching, picking up the other's scent easy enough after a pause.

Despite being here for months, he still has no real ranged moves to speak of. Instead, all he can do is take in a deep breath, bellowing out a loud Roar toward one of the snow forts. It obviously won't scare or knock Flowey away like this, but maybe it could help bring down the barrier for now.

Of course.

[He recognizes he put them on the backfoot. He's not really good at this whole 'gentle sympathy' thing. Most of his later pacifist runs were dragging people to confront their problems because he already knew the stupid solutions and was sick of them dragging their feet.

And at least in his earlier runs, he could fall back on knowing people like Asgore well already. He only just started to understand Siffrin, he thinks, and now they pull some stunt like this.]

... so. I'm guessing you didn't kill the other Siffrin.

The Roar is powerful enough to knock down the snow fort, but better it than Flowey himself. Powered up now with a Growth, he fires another round of Bullet Seeds- much more potent this time- at Laios.

"Is that all you've got? Don't go easy on me. I'm not going easy on you, either."

...You believe he may have harmed her.

[It's not hard to read between the lines. Fortunately, Akechi is an old hand at keeping his guard up.

So, careful and quiet, he makes his way forward.]

Ren, can you try to follow the scent?

[Their ear flickers at "other Siffrin," but they don't comment on that. Instead:] Has he really been making himself that scarce?

[Their smile tones down into something a bit more genuinely amused. Or... no, it's hard to say? But it is less sharp.]

[They lift a paw up in front of their face, giving it two licks, then leave it positioned there.]

He was already all mushy and guilt-ridden about it! I didn't have the heart to do anything else to him.

Sheesh. People with 'feelings' and 'souls' and all that remorse crap. [Glass houses, stones, etc.] Letting him fester in it will DEFINITELY torture him more. Great job--

[Hmm. Two can play at that 'nickname' business. With that said, the creator behind the ingenious name 'Flowey' isn't that good at coming up with names. Something to tease them about losing their identity... no, about the time loops. 'Loop'? Nah, too obvious, even for him. 'Resetty'? Maybe...]

-- Loophole.

[Siffrin is debating which part of that to respond to when -]

[- they hear 'Loop' and go very still under Flowey's brush for a moment -]

[- then snicker into their paw.]

Good one, sunshine! [They get it, 'Loop' for the same terrible reasons they picked it, and then the rest because they're an assh -]

I thought you didn't like puns?

Garden of Delights [Flowey November Catch-All]

Is Anyone Out There? (Akechi + Ren)

Woolly Activity (Fireheart)

Woolly Activity (Siffrinx)

Stronger Monsters (Open to all)

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[1/2]

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A :)

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=)

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