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unconnected plant shop au thoughts:

1.

imagining whoever is dismantling tenna to make the terrarium opening him up, discovering years worth of dusty, crumb-covered fur inside, and gagging. "yeesh, when's the last time anyone cleaned this thing out? alright, let's get to work..."

tenna, in tears: "n-no... my FUR... DON'T TAKE MY FURRRRR YOU CAAAAAN'T PLEEEEASE"

2.

re: tenna constantly comparing himself to other technology: imagine him crashing out when a tv gets installed in the cafe area (it's mostly there for background noise; just left on playing news at really low volume or, like, a 'lofi beats to study and relax to' playlist for the cafe-goers). it'll take tenna a while to realize that nobody even watches that tv while he as a display piece gets much more attention...

3.

imagining a laminated sheet that sits next to tenna on his cafe table that reads "Hi, I'm Mr Tenna! There are x different plant species who live inside me, can you spot them all?" with a list underneath of the latin and common names for each of the plants with a small picture of each. maybe it reminds tenna of his quizzes...

whatever GO MY THOUGHTSLOP this au has infiltrated my brain 😭😭😭

I HONESTLY IMAGINE CRACKING TENNA OPEN FOR THE FIRST TIME WOULD BE A REAL PIECE OF WORK like they'd have to discharge him and i wonder if that would mean having to clean out all the fur inside him first so you could actually see what's going on and to negate fire hazard? like when vets shave an animal before surgery...

AGGHH his crashout from the shop getting a working tv installed would be crazy... is that [SOBS] a FLATSCREEN....? hes spent so much time being proud of acting as a family tv i wonder if he would ever be able to decouple himself from technology despite being no longer electronic since you know... he was gutted and is quite literally a shell of his former self...

THE PLANTS FACT SHEET IS SO CUTEEEEE i work at a greenhouse and we have the same kinda thing where our very special plants have their own fact sheets this just makes me chuffed because it's something familiar hehe... heres another idea: ive seen diy terrariums like tenna that have spots for plant pots rather than the plants just being planted in the display so the plants can be removed for maintenance. i imagined that the terrarium tenna becomes would be like that and the plants inside him could be swapped and maybe they could have multiple laminated sheets too.. swapping plants would keep the experience somewhat new and people can come back to see a new plant...

oh yeah on the topic of decoupling himself from technology i guess its not entirely true that he wouldn't be electronic, like it wouldn't be coming straight from him but he'd have to have lights and probably a fan installed inside for the plants. however because he no longer acts as a tv i think he sadly might lose his speech quirk of using those big flashy flavored text (my headcanon for those is that when he does the fancy text it is him literally flipping his display to another channel and having it talk for him)... or maybe hed somehow make those sounds with his own mouth idk. if i remember correctly, he really doesn't use that speech quirk when he's having serious/genuine conversations

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YESSSS YOU'RE COOKING

hard agree! i'm happy that he can have an ending in canon where he gets exactly what he wants, but i love the idea of a happy ending for tenna that challenges his status quo more -- both because (1) like you said, it's frankly unrealistic for him to be in-use as a tv forever (the thing about tenna is that his fears of becoming obsolete and being thrown away are completely grounded in reality) and (2) tenna as a character is so driven by his nostalgia for his prime years (prime years that, as you point out, were unstable and traumatic for him no matter how hard he tries to pretend they weren't!) and his fear of change, so it'd be delicious to see him. like. get comfortable. learn to let go of his white-knuckled grip on a romanticized past.

like your body headcanon for tenna where he wears shapewear to try to hide any sign of aging or change and how that fits into the lightners' increasing perception of crts as big and bulky -- I think he'd keep wearing it at the plant shop to keep up appearances, but maybe he'd stop as he grows more comfortable with a new job where his size is valued for the amount of room he provides for plants to thrive. maybe he'd even grow to take a "let's see a flatscreen try to fit this much moss inside" sort of pride in his shape and size...

(thinking about your tenna body headcanons is now making me think about his dark-world body shedding his fur and growing vines and leaves in its place... and how he'd feel about that... he'd probably save a lock of that fur in a cardigan pocket or something, because he'll always cherish his time as the dreemurrs' tv even as he learns to move on...)

ok i'm rambling too much, here's more anonslop yum yum yum

TENNA BEING FORCED TO BECOME COMFORTABLE WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT... and i know its coded in his very being as a darkner to want to make lightners happy, but tenna in particular seems to crave evoking strong emotions (laughter, tears). transitioning from being watched to the quiet admiration you mentioned in your prev ask would be very difficult for him i think... he would feel very inadequate for a long time until he realizes that isn't it kind of a privilege that people want to observe him in complete silence?

also yes i think being in the plant shop would do his body image good!!! the lightners' perception of him being bulky will never go away, but maybe people who visit him would express awe at his size which would make him feel nice... thinking about how comfortable he would be to finally stop wearing the shapewear regularly..... he can breathe easy for the first time in forever...

tbh i've thought about this but tenna gives himself too little credit because i feel like compared to a flatscreen tv, crts have their niche uses like being beloved by retro gamers and their shells actually viable for projects like terrariums. another fun thing ive seen people do is turn crts into cat beds but im again getting sidetracked the point is yesssss tenna's self esteem will grow upon realization that it's actually special that he can be more than just a tv!!!

his fur shedding would actually be so distressing to him i feel akjnvdfkjhg like he would be down in the dumps for weeks before he pulls himself together (maybe when the foliage grows in, cementing his new role..?). him keeping some of the fur in a locket is so cute it brings to mind like if you've ever gotten secondhand furniture from a pet friendly home... you'll never get every strand of fur out...

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waiiiit your plant shop au is so good. to me, one of the most interesting things about tenna is that being another wacky roommate in castle town is NOT his happy ending; he wants to be owned by a lightner and used! but at the same time, he can’t function as a tv forever and it’s clear that his hardware is struggling to keep up.

and that’s why plant shop au has so much potential. such a good environment for that old man to grapple with a more nuanced form of change in life than the polarity of either “he’s still a tv, just for someone else” or “abandoned forever.” Imagining him struggling to come to terms with never being the show-stopping center of attention he once was in his prime and gradually learning to appreciate the quiet admiration he gets as a display piece… letting go of needing to be perceived as flashy and exciting… and as a bonus, most people don’t have loud, messy divorces in public plant shops! anyways sorry for rambling but this au is very very good :)

YESSSSSS YOU UNDERSTAND MY REASONING BEHIND THE AU PERFECTLY! NEVER APOLOGIZE ITS SO NICE TO SEE AN ASK ABOUT THIS AU BECAUSE I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT SO SO BAD

im happy that he got an ending he wants in the game you know? it's nice that he's going to someone who will love him and watch him and it kinda helps that that new owner is a ghost with ghost family so they'll stick around and most likely keep him. but idk... technology keeps changing and if you want to be realistic about it, he will inevitably become obsolete (eg: analog broadcasting stopped in 2009 in the US) keeping him running as a tv just has this uncertainty that nags at me

him retiring from being a flashy showhost is very important... he loves it so much, lives and breathes in the limelight, but showbiz is an unstable thing and not only this, so much of his life as a showhost is tinged with trauma. yes all the stress of witnessing a family, one he considers himself a part of, falling apart, but also in the dark world where he had his own falling out with spamton as his partner (in whatever way you want to interpret that)

its important to me that he doesnt leave EVERYTHING behind. so much of his character craves to entertain and be watched so anon you are very correct :) i think the quiet admiration is just what he needs, he won't have to concern himself with being relevant or bringing in new ideas anymore. even as technology develops beyond his imagination, he can turn his attention to the steady growth of plants around him.

there was this plant shop i visited some years ago that had a nook with some pretty displays with a seat for folks to sit and take pictures. i think having something like this but you can take a photo with the tv would be nice :) or idk maybe they can put a table and some seats around him as a waiting area/chill corner. add some board games or something too. come sit with Mr. Tenna....

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need to talk… about my plant shop au tenna…. thinking about himb too much

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tenna retired as a tv becomes a plant shop terrarium display

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???

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furred tenna + the fact that crts get warm would make him feel almost like hes a normal monster… like he isnt wires and metal underneath the fur

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scheming the best way to push my furry tenna propaganda next… this is important folks

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more tenna fur. you know. just like the family

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jerboa jevil

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weirdo like me

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pippins mimic in love (workplace romance)

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gay pippins and fuzzy dice pippins mimic

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i love pippins

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pippins like gacha games this makes sense to me