lostcarnival | [your best friend] intensifies (open)

[your best friend] intensifies (open)

Who: Flowey and YOU!
When: B1: D1-6!
Where: Outside of his festive Children's Entertainment Booth!
What: Just you and Flowey, meeting each other and making friends!
Warnings: Flowey is (SPOILER) not nice.

[ Back here, after signing his contract, Flowey’s gone and raided the performer’s storage (which he had to burrow to find over and over again). He’s made dozens of balloon animals. Perhaps in one of his years resetting, he did it to stave off boredom. How he does it with no arms, absolutely no one can guess. “HOWDY! - ｆｌｏｗｅｙ” Is written on each and every indistinguishable bipedal animal that could resemble an annoying dog and he’s handing them out with a happy greeting! ]

“Howdy! You’re not the ugliest person on the planet, but you better hope he doesn’t die! Nice to meet you!”

“Howdy! You look like a mistake only the chaos of the universe could make, pleased to make your acquaintance!”

“Howdy! You’re kind of like Rapunzel, but instead of letting your hair down, you’re letting everyone down in your life! It’s so good to make new friends!”

“Howdy! I’m Flowey. Flowey the Flower! I’m an experiment gone wrong and I’m still less of a mistake than you! Have a nice day, happy to finally say hello!”

[ Do you… come up and get your custom insult?

Or do you defend the honor of someone he just insulted? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

................No. [She does frown though.] ....It's not even alive, it's a balloon. [What were you even doing, with that.]

Mmmh.... ....I guess I've had the big hurts... ....do people really get hurt about the leftovers though..?

[Yes Reira, and you'll find out when someone eats all of your candy.]

Yeah. That'll happen to you regardless of whether you set it up or not.

...

How about a story?

A story? [Oh, well. She looks to the ground beside the other.] ...Is it ok to sit down, then?

Yeah. I guess it is my job to tell stories to children here, after all...

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In a mountain that hid a bunch of monsters from the rest of humanity, who lost a war against them and were sealed away forever...
A little kid fell inside its peak. Normally, no one could survive that fall, but this kid did. They yelled out for help.
The, uh... the king's son heard the human's call.
He brought the human back to the castle he lived in, naturally. Because he was a prince? Over time, the prince and the human became like siblings. And even the King and Queen treated that little kid like their own. Talk about a lack of grudges, right?
Because a human and a monster could get along so well as siblings of the royal family, the world beneath the mountain had hope.
But nothing lasts forever. The kid got sick-- really sick. They really wanted to see the golden flowers of their hometown.
The next day.

The next day...
The human died.

The Prince, who was totally broken up about it, absorbed the human's soul. Because monsters could do that, yeah?
He transformed into something so powerful it could cross the barrier that held the monsters in like it was nothing!
He carried the human's body into the sunset. The nearest village of humans had a bunch of golden flowers, like the kid had asked for in their last request.
Suddenly, screams rang out. The villagers, of course, thought the Prince killed the kid, what with holding his body near the bed of flowers and all.
This Prince, with all the power in the world to hurt the humans who'd hurt the child enough to come down the mountain, but he didn't do a thing. He let the humans lash and attack him and stumbled home with their blades sticking out of his back.
When he got back, he bit the dust and collapsed. Literally, he became dust because of how long his form had held out.

So the kingdom fell into total despair, and their parents had lost two children in one night. Their birth child and adopted one. The humans took away their hope again, see? By proving they were vicious, cruel monsters.

The King restored everyone's hope by asserting that every human who fell into the mountain would be killed for their soul, and with enough, the barrier would be broken and all monsters would be free.

But that's not the end of the Prince. Did you know? I hear the moment before he shattered into dust, he was taken to make a deal with the Ringmaster, but only under the proposition that he disguise himself from his friends and work hard.

Can you imagine? The Prince, being here? Hahahaha... well, that's why it's a fairytale.

[If Reira is anything, it is patient. One has to be patient to go through what she has, after all, but at least it means she can exhibit that patience for stories now, as well.

Reira listens-but it's hard to see her face soften. It's harder still as he comes to the end. But finally her eyes seem to droop a little-with understanding perhaps? Something else, even? Something-]

...Is it ok to hug flowers? [She asks, seemingly out of the blue.] ....There's only two feelings right now-so I can't ask if you like hugs, right now. ....but is it okay, anyway?

....The story made me think of a friend. [Only the soul merging bit, perhaps. And the humans hurting monsters....maybe... ....Only those bits, but they're Bits.]

Yeah. I'm Kid's Entertainment here, so if I couldn't handle some kid putting their hands on me, I'd be pretty bad at my job.

[ It's his way of saying he doesn't care. Maybe it'll give her a new feeling? Whatever hugging flowers does for someone, he means.

He realizes his subtext isn't subtle but he doesn't have 'secretive' back either, so. SOL there. ]

...You could lie, probably. [She'd know you were lying, probably, but still.

Still. She does her best to carefully give the other a hug, with gentle arms.] ...but...

...'m glad. ...Sometimes people who need hugs don't take hugs, either.

I just told you a story? Why on earth do you think I need a hug? People tell stories all the time.

[ He feels like.. what hugging a particularly thick flower feels like. He can't hug back, but that's okay. ]

....People tell stories for reasons, [She answers, eventually pulling back to wipe at her eyes a little.] ....And....

...Especially stories like that... ....It's never something made up, or told from someone else. [That much, she knows. But....she ponders something, wondering if it's fair for her to know something like that, but not the reverse.]

....Neh. ...Even if your job is stories, and mine isn't... ...Should I tell you about my friend, too? ...So that it's 'fair'?

[ She's wiping her eyes? Well, at least she's feeling something, right? Even if he didn't change. Did she just imply she knows he's the Prince in that story? Or one of the people in it?

...

Aside from a few people, what does it matter if someone knows? ]

You don't have to do anything out of fairness. Life isn't fair. If you want to tell a story, you should do it because you want to.

I know it's not fair, [She shrugs.] ....That just means that, when you can be fair, it's better to make it fair, I think. [....She's come out a rather 'good egg', for being emotionless, all things considered. But...]

...My friend... ....Did a lot of bad things, [She begins.] ....I don't think he knows I'm his friend, either. I don't think he thinks anyone is his friend, now, [She adds, frowning as she stares ahead for her story.] ...But... his friends before everything bad happened, were Duel monsters.

[To this, she starts rifling in her pocket for something, while continuing.] ....Duel monsters... ....They don't have normal bodies. They couldn't have them, without 'Solid Vision'-but even without that, they had spirits. They had feelings, and voices.

....And all of them liked to fight. In the kind of fight where no one is hurt, and everyone can have fun instead. Like... ....I guess people call it a 'spar'? ...Or maybe a 'play fight'? Or a 'play'.

...They liked to make others happy with their fights. That's the important part.

[She gets her deck out, fanning it for Flowey. They're....odd cards, but probably not 'odd' to him at least. One hopes, anyway.]

... Yeah, I understand. That's what the underground is like. Sometimes a thing that looks like a carrot will fight with you to try to make you eat your vegetables.

Anyway-- I get what you're saying...? Go on.

I guess that's sort of the same. [Why would a carrot want you to eat their bretheren??? She doesn't know. But that's not what's important.]

....A long time ago, when Solid Vision was made, people didn't know that the monsters were alive. ...But one person could hear them-and feel what they felt. He wanted to make people happy the way they did...but in a duel, he accidentally hurt the other person with a monster.

....and the people watching liked it. ....He didn't want to hurt things. But he wanted the audience to be happy.

...So... ....Even though it hurt him, and his monsters, he kept doing it. And the more he did it, the more he told himself, 'the audience is happy', until he couldn't remember what was 'fun' anymore.

Until what was 'fun', meant the same thing as being hurt.

....when he defeated every duelist.... ....he said 'this isn't enough'. And he took his four dragons, with the power of his magician, and fused with them.

....If a monster was told by a person, 'attack them', they could do it. ....But a monster that isn't told doesn't have to. And they won't. Because no matter what, they don't want to.

...But they were angry, still. And when they fused, their anger became his anger. Their feelings became his feelings. He could feel that anger, before that.... ...but after they fused, he could let them be angry.

...When they fused, they could attack everything that had hurt them, back.

[Y i k e s]

... What a megalomaniac... even with those "good" intentions, you can still fake matches. That's what TV Pro-Wrestling is all about, isn't it? He should've thought about it. No one would have to get hurt.

-- Uh, anyway. That dragon sounds like a real piece of work. What... happened to it?

[She shakes her head.]

....You can't fake when someone is really being hurt, this way, [she whispers, her eyes held in the half squint others would gain as they fight tears.]

....Nothing could hurt them, like that. No weapons could work. And when duelists tried with their monsters, he blew them all away. One man, who had made Solid Vision, looked to find a way to stop him though. He looked through the world, for the power that made calm. Peace. The things that made 'nature'.

He brought them into the 'Natural Energy Cards'. ....but his daughter took them. And before he could do anything....she fought the dragon first.

Because of what they did, while the world was almost destroyed, the power of the cards decided it would be better if everything...'Reset'.

[Ah.]

...But different.

....The four cards broke the world into four dimensions. It broke the dragon, and the girl, into four-and scattered them across them. But the spirits of the originals were still there.

Deep inside... ...and while 'Ray' wanted to keep them apart, so that nothing would happen again, 'Zarc' wanted to be one again, so that he could 'finish'.

If they were on their own... ....maybe, those two could have stayed asleep, while their pieces grew up instead. ....but Ray's dad began to remember what happened, in the old world.

....and he wanted her back.

[ He leans forward-- her story is putting his to shame, that's for sure. But he's digging between the lines to find her. Hypocrite he is, denying he was in his own story, he can immediately tell this is personal enough that she's hidden between the verbal pages, but where. Is she Ray? She doesn't sound like Zarc, but-- ]

What happened when he wanted her back?

....He started to look for the pieces.

...Even if it meant doing what Zarc did. ....Leo destroyed one dimension. He started destroying another. And after a while, he had all of them.

...but because of what he did, Zarc's pieces started to come back together too. By the time they did, Leo had already started to put Ray back together-they were nothing but a ghost, in a pocket dimension he made.

...But Zarc... ...Was Zarc, using the last piece as his body. ...He fused with his dragons again, and started to destroy everything again. Everyone tried to fight him, shouting for the piece of him that they knew, but...

[...She trails off, and looks to the flower.] ....I could hear Ray.

...When Ray wasn't together again... ...I watched Leo tell everyone, about what happened in the 'original world'. ...He was...full of hate. ...So much hate, that it hurt until I couldn't think anymore, and everything was dark, [she admits, looking to the ground almost with frustration at her prior weakness.] ...When I woke up though, I could hear her voice. She wanted to help-because she knew how to stop Zarc...and even though her Dad had the cards from her pieces back, she knew he couldn't stop her.

...But she didn't have a body. And no one else could hear her..!

[Evidently, personal as it is, she's not merely not Zarc Or Ray.

She's neither.]

...I followed her voice, until I could find the way to where her ghost was, [She says quietly.] ...And...since she couldn't have a body to fight Zarc, I said...

...She could use mine. Because I didn't have a self. ....so.... ....There was room.

...

So you stopped existing?

[ He's intrigued by all of this but this is the only question he can ask. ]

....Not there. [....Which implies she did. But she moves on.] ....I brought Ray to Zarc. And Ray used my cards to get the Natural Energy Cards back-she used them, and what happened before...started to happen again.

...But.... ....if that happened again, everything would just repeat, right? Everyone would forget, except Zarc. And Zarc would come back together, and destroy everything again.

....So I pushed Ray out of my body.

And I pulled Zarc into mine, so that everyone else could stay alive.

...The dimensions hadn't finished merging again... ...so when I brought Zarc into my body, I took the Natural Energy Cards-and I made everything go faster. I held Zarc tight-so that instead of us breaking apart....the dimensions would stay the same, and like all the pieces Zarc and Ray made before, I'd become a baby, and forget everything.

And he'd be with me-so that he could grow up, and remember what he used to be like.

....but that didn't happen, I guess. [She is quiet, for a moment or so-resting her head on her knees, half shrugging.]

...Someone made a contract to 'save me'. ...So the Ringmaster pulled us out before I reset like that.

She pulled Zarc out.... ....and put him away to be killed later, [she adds, eyes half-lidded as she reflects on the unfortunate memory.]

....but.

...I didn't want Zarc to die. ...When we fought, Ray and I, I felt only hate from him. Hate, with something really far underneath.

...but when I held him inside...

...he was scared. And lonely. ...and...sorry.

...I think, when I did that... ...he finally remembered, everything that happened.

....I asked the Ringmaster, if there was anyway we could make sure he didn't die. If he could have another chance.

...She said, I could make a contract. She didn't like it-she didn't say that, but I know she didn't like it.

...but... ...Zarc needs to be able to start again, I think.

....because then this time... ....he can do what he wanted to do, and make people happy, instead of hurt. He can be with his dragons, and they can all be happy.

...For real, this time.

...

[ * ASRIEL remembers a voice...

Save.

Save.

Save.

... ]

I'm glad you saved others and were saved yourself. We're really... alike, I think. Or something about that last part is...

That's a good story. It's sad, but it doesn't have to be happy to be good.

[ Flowey quietly learns kinship ]

[Alike? She blinks to the other-and thinks back, quietly, to the story he told. Maybe, if it went a little different, somehow....

.... She manages a small smile.] ....Yeah.

...Sometimes, even if it's sad, it's still okay.

[...........................] ....hey.

....Is it ok....to give you a hug again?

It's fine.

[ He actually wants one now? This is strange... it's melancholy but also positive, so Flowey clings to his one positive feeling like a koala. ]

Go ahead.

[ He'll wait until after she's hugged him. ]

Oh...! [ His sing-song voice is back to cover up the sadness with his earlier bounciness. ]

I didn't tell you my name, did I? Funny, I usually introduce myself at the beginning of all these things! I guess I just forgot.

[ hint hint. ]

My name is Asriel. But... only you can call me that, okay? It'd be bad if other people found out about it early.

[It's a long hug. Not so long that it's uncomfortable however, and just as gentle as before. When she does sit back, she listens to the other introduce himself, though.

Rather, introduce himself again. She's bright enough to catch that, so...] ...Asriel? [She repeats-just to make sure she's saying it right. ...And she nods.] ...ok! ...I'll keep it secret, then.

...My name... ...is Reira, [she continues, giving him hers.] ...I guess....it wasn't always my name. But I don't know the one I would have had before it, and 'Reira' sounds like my brother's name.

...So I like it, I think.

[your best friend] intensifies (open)

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Prolly wrap this in a tag or two from here -chinhands tho...-

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that's a wrap, as I remember Someone Is Sick lfgdjkhsgf