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Yes. I've spent a lot of time in the library. There's lots of stories there, Greek myths and stuff.

[Many of which were morbid enough, interesting enough, dark enough to hold their interest.]

Narcissus was a man who was so beautiful he fell in love with his reflection. He wasted away staring at it, only able to look and always unable to touch it. When at last he died, a beautiful flower grew in his place.

That's the story, anyway. There's lots of them like that. Most of them are sad.

wow. that's pretty morbid.

i guess the moral is don't love yourself too much?

oh i bet that's where the word "narcissist" comes from.

[Funny how that works. He's flipping through more books. Narcissus. Also known as daffodils. Hey, he's actually heard of daffodils. Mostly for the sake of rhyming jokes. What's up, buttercup? What's the story, morning glory? Why don't you chill, daffodil?]

[Cultivars, regions where they grow, whatever a "tepal" is...none of this seems pertinent. He isn't even sure what he's looking for. He doesn't know anything about flowers. But there must be some kind of significance...right? Maybe he's just overthinking things.]

is chara still out there?

It is, yes. There's a story about the word "echo" too.

[The etymology of the word never interested them particularly, though linguistics can be pretty interesting. Chara uses a lot of big words sometimes. And some days Frisk has nothing else to do but read.]

We stayed out there for a while and talked. But we left after a while.

[Broad terms and generalizations. Besides, the place didn't smell too great after they were done with it.]

[Daffodil symbolism. And there's an abridged version of the myth, just a few sentences. Etc etc etc. He really is just reading too much into this, isn't he? Heh. Literally. Digging through the library, looking for answers about some dumb plant that Chara probably...probably just thought looked nice or something. They like flowers.]

[Toxicity. Huh. Lots of plants are poisonous, right?]

you guys back in the mansion?

[Symptoms...jeez, those sound nasty.]

it'd be nice if we could have a break after that last event.

[Death may result if large quantities are consumed.]

[The bulbs and leaves are the most poisonous part of the plant.]

[...]

think we could all use some downtime.

Yes.

[Frisk is, anyway. They're not lingering in that same spot anymore, if that's what he's worried about.]

I think so too. I just don't know how. There's no relief from this.

They're grieving.

wish i had an easy answer for you, kid.

[But let's not jump to conclusions. The pulled all the leaves off the flowers but that's what you do when you...stick flowers in vases, right? People do that. People do that all the time.]

time helps but sometimes it's not enough. grief takes awhile. sometimes there's not enough time.

[Sometimes there's a Reset before you can process everything.]

[He snaps the books closed. Puts them back on the shelf. Teleports back to his room.]

And all the years they spent dead and lingering? Was that enough time?

[How long a time period was that? Frisk...honestly doesn't know, and it's not like Chara's talking. Granted, their perception of time in that stretch might not have been the best.

But that doesn't matter.]

[Said the wrong thing. But really, what else is new? Frisk doesn't need empty platitudes.]

they were conscious that whole time?

[That's horrifying.]

either way. you go back to square one when the world decides to give back someone you lost and then take them away again.

The other human SOULs were when I called out to them.

[They called for help, and somebody came. No one could come if no one could hear, right?]

Yeah. I know. This isn't the first time it's happened. I'm just tired of it happening every time.

oh.

[They were conscious too? They were--]

[The whole time? Some of them had been in those goddamn jars for years. Some of them--]

[Stop.]

i'm sorry, kid.

[What is he supposed to say? It gets easier? You get used to it? That's a horrible thing to say. That's a completely awful thing to get used to. No one should ever get used to losing someone, to losing the same someone over and over. That's--ha. What kind of monster do you have to be to get used to something like that?]

Me too.

[It's the truth at least. They can only hope that the human SOULs, once used to break the barrier, can achieve some kind of peace. Wherever they go after they die, they...well, Frisk hopes it's better than here. Or there. Or whatever kind of living stasis they were trapped in.]

i should let you rest or something.

[Frisk probably wants to be left alone, anyway. And he has some things to think about.]

Okay.

I hope you're feeling better.

much better. thanks.

and uh. don't worry about me. something like that shouldn't happen again, unless there's another power drain.

[Which there probably will be, but. On the off-chance that Frisk is worrying about him--and Frisk worries about everyone--maybe this'll be a bit of weight off their shoulders.]

If there is, I can check on you again. Don't worry.

[And hopefully Chara won't be as liable to take things to the next level.

But they won't hold their breath.]

you don't have to. if that's as bad as it's gonna get then i'll be fine.

And if it gets worse?

You said you didn't want Papyrus or anyone else to worry. If I know about it at least I'd be able to help.

[Is that manipulative? It's probably manipulative. But oh well. They already knew they were scum.]

[If it gets worse then...well. He'd probably Fall Down and die and come back when whatever event it was is over, and everything'll be back to normal. Scratch off one life.]

honestly i don't think it would get worse.

unless wonderland found a way to suck all the magic out of us in which case

probably all us monsters would be in trouble.

but yeah uh.

you probably have questions, huh.

i'd be willing to answer some of them...

but not right now

like i said earlier i think we could use a break and you seem

you seem real worn out right now.

let's take a day or so to just, yanno, chill

and then if you still wanna talk about it we can.

[He knows manipulation when he sees it, knows how to dodge it, even knows how to deflect it. Not exactly nice, but if Chara--if Chara actually tried what Sans suspects, then--]

[Yeah, a break would be good, before things have to get all stupid and heavy again.]

Okay.

[Some questions. Not all. It's a familiar phrase.

But they're not going to worry about it right now. They're going to sleep for a solid day, maybe. Like he said, real worn out.

They're obvious, and he's only gotten better at reading them.]

talk to ya later frisk.

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