#🌹 lord damascena

[controlkris]

🎐send message to kris : oh no.

Kris raises their gun to shoot again, but is grabbed by two tulips. Lord Damascena conducts the orchestra ey've built up, leading them into an oppressive lullaby.

Kris struggles and kicks against the hold, trying not to listen. They manage to swing the shield around a little bit, but the tulips dodge and move around it. Kris' movements get weaker as the song goes on, then finally, Damascena conducts the tulips on either side of Kris.

They blast a symphony directly into Kris' ears, and Kris goes limp.

Damascena holds up a hand, silencing the choir to gentle background noise. Ey chuckle, retrieving a ribbon from the interior of eir cloak.

"You're not much to look at,... but I suppose you will make a fine bodyguard, Lightner."

A loud rumbling eminates from nearby, and a car's honk soon follows, disturbing the quiet melody present.

Damascena winces at the disturbance.

"What is that?"

HOOOOOONK

The car, blue with flames on the side, screeches to a halt in the grass.

"Damn, Kris. You skipped class just to explore some guy's backyard? And you didn't invite me?"

"Yeah! You can't be skipping, Kris!!! Your grades will dr-- Susie! Don't encourage! please."

Susie grins.

The choir has stopped singing.

[controlkris]

Protecting the innocent flower fills you with JUSTICE

Your SOUL turned GREEN! A shield appears in front of Kris. (im not redrawing it)

Lord Damascena slowly lowers eir hand, a sickly sweet smile spreading across eir face as ey step closer to Kris. Kris points the gun back at Damascena.

"Let all these people go. Or I shoot."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Kris, that is a very unheroic thing to say, isn't it?" Ey raises eir fingers like two conducting wands.

"Yet, I'm certain you'll change your tune soon enough..."

[controlkris]

👌︎⚐︎⚐︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 💧︎❄︎✋︎☠︎😐︎

Ey look up at the ceiling. There are small lights across the top of it, glittering like stars.

"Oh, how nice." Ey purr. "Hmm~ not a fan of the colour, but... tsk, ah- it's not bad."

Ey tap the tiled floor. "So many sparkles..."

Ey shake eir head. "No! No distractions, seldom has anyone gotten anything done without sufficient planning. Now." Ey fix their glare at the ceiling. "I might assay to somehow put a cage up there I might drop alow unto them... but... how to tie it?"

[controlkris]

✇︎💣︎✋︎💣︎✋︎👍︎ ☹︎⚐︎☼︎👎︎💧︎ ✞︎⚐︎✋︎👍︎☜︎

⚐︎☟︎📪︎ ☹︎✌︎✞︎☜︎☠︎👎︎☜︎☼︎ 👍︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 👌︎☜︎ ✌︎ 👎︎⚐︎☹︎☹︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ ☼︎☜︎💣︎✋︎☠︎👎︎ 💣︎☜︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 💣︎✌︎☠︎✡︎ 👌︎☜︎✌︎🕆︎❄︎✋︎☞︎🕆︎☹︎ ☞︎✌︎👍︎☜︎💧︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎✍︎ ⚐︎☞︎ 👍︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎💧︎☜︎ ☜︎✠︎👍︎☹︎🕆︎👎︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ 💣︎☜︎

"I'd need to restrict the arms and uncover the ears." Ey muse to emselves, reclining more in the throne and kicking eir feet up. "..."

Ey turn to a few flowerfolk.

"Go on and search for rope or a cage or... something. I shan't fail in my planning."

"Yes, My Lord." The trio say at once, rushing off.

[controlkris]

Ok so this guy is preparing a whole god damn musical for the gang, but let's stick around just a little longer. See if we can reveal anything else.

Lord Damascena tucks the baton away and ascends the stairs, the choir parting for em. Ey sit down on a periwinkle and silver throne.

"Now... What to sing exactly... How can I prevent any attempt at all to usurp me? They could just cover their ears, and fight... Tsk tsk, need to stop that... Perhaps restraining them shall do..."

[controlkris]

Your voices sound flat and your vibes are down right disgusting

"Oh yes, I'm certain those Lightners will not be able to resist your melodious and beautious voices!"

"... and MINE of course!" Lord Damascena chuckles nervously. "... You all do think my voice is nice, don't you?"

They all nod.

"Yes, yes, good. Good."

[controlkris]

> View Lord Damascena

5/5

You go inside the castle's walls, into the main building. The walls are a beautiful white, and the floor is tiled in a sparkling periwinkle. There are a few signs of age, and the portraits that hang have seen better days, certainly... But the room is nonetheless filled to the brim with beautiful flowerfolk: they line the stairs, the bottom floor, the hallway... all stood in a choir.

"Oh my, mon petit Lavender.. you look stunning right now." Lord Damascena coos to the woman eir fastening a ribbon to. "Your voice as well, oh, just lovely... we all make such a good chorus, do we not?"

Ey stands, looking proudly at the line of flowerfolk ey've got.

"... And what about me?" Ey coaxes.

Lavender smiles. "You're beautiful, Lord Damascena. You always have been."

Lord Damascena brims with delight and outstretches a hand. Lavender gently takes it and lifts it to her lips, pressing a chaste kiss to the knuckles. Lord Damascena giggles. "I'm so glad you finally see it, Lavender dear." Ey retract eir hand and turn away, looking to the rest of the flowerfolk.

"Alright, my lovely choir... the Lightners will be coming here soon..." Ey sigh. "We might fight them off, and to do that... we must practice. Now, personally, I think you're all great but we need to be better."

Ey retrieve a conductor's baton from eir cloak.

"Now, follow my guidance."

Ey raises the baton and the choir erupts all at once into a beautiful melody, with certain flowers able to imitate instruments like trumpets and harps. They all sing together in unison a wonderful lullaby that would put someone at ease in mere moments. Even Lord Damascena's shoulder's drop upon listening.

The lyrics are soothing and about flowers, love, beauty, and magic- with heavy emphasis on roses being the most beautiful.

They finish on a vocalization that trills and fades away.

"Oh ho ho!!! Chills, I have chills!"

Ey put a hand to their ear. "Who's the best conductor?"

"You are." Everyone says in unison. Lord Damascena nods, pleased.

[controlkris]

>input command: send message to Kris> woah holy shit that was crazy. Is everyone good?

Kris does a quick glance over everyone in the car. They all seem shaken up, FMN especially.

Mettaton is busying himself trying and failing to comfort FMN, who's still curled up in a little petaled bud on the car floor.

Susie turns the car off and gets out, walking around to the back.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Susie falls backwards as Lord Damascena crawls out from underneath the car. Eir claws dig into the metal, leaving scratches before ey stand up.

Susie unsheathes her axe and Kris stands up, watching Damascena carefully.

"HEY!" Susie shouts at em. "Did you fuck up our car?!"

Ey only chuckle in response.

"Such a gruff voice... is unfitting for the world." Ey sigh. "You'll never be a good singer like that."

"I ain't TRYNA be!"

She slashes at em. Ey dodge and wrap eir cloak tighter around emselves.

"My, my... I suppose that's my cue to go. Do not worry, you'll be graced with my vision soon enough..."

Ey give a little wave and sink into the ground, thorny roots spiraling out from underneath the cloak as ey twist into the soil.

The ground bulges, the bulge retreating off down the road... ey are gone. For now.

[controlkris]

>input command: send message to Kris> hey Kris, random question but remember when the souls were talking about vessel we were supposed to get? What will you do if you actually find it? Will you put us all in there so you wouldn't have to deal with us anymore or would you keep us in so we don't become everyone else's problem?

(... If the vessel is an empty body, one without will or a SOUL itself... then, yeah, it'd be fine to put you all in there. So, I would. Though, I don't doubt you'd be a fucking nuisance to whoever you talk to.)

From behind, Susie shouts; "Yo, Ralsei! I'm outta TP!"

"I'm running low myself." Ralsei responds thoughtfully. He wrings his paws together as he looks around at the bodies still unhealed. "We won't be able to heal them all, but I do hope that some of these Darkners have magic of their own to finish the job... if not, we may have to come back later."

"Damn." Susie tsked. "... Yo, Kris! You were here, right? What did this?"

Kris points to the front of the car, where Lord Damascena should be. However, ey seem to have vanished. Kris pales and looks around. "Uh... The red guy,... it was em."

"Huh. Wait, where'd ey go?" Susie looks around too. "Shit, how the fuck didn't I see em leave!?"

[controlkris]

>input command:send message to Kris> you should probably tell them that that red asshole is hypnotizing the flower folk and draining their life force or something.

Ralsei starts looking over all the flowerfolk, wringing his hands nervously. "This is a lot of people... who did this?"

Kris points to Lord Damascena, who is slowly getting up.

Susie nods. "This guy? Alright."

She bonks em over the head. Ey pass out, hitting the trunk on the way down. Susie snickers.

Ralsei leans over the Daffodil, who is slowly regaining colour. He lifts up a leaf and looks skyward. "... I can feel life in this one... I think perhaps all they need is some time to regain life... At least, I hope so..."

Ralsei stands. "The rest of them, though... they need healing. I-I don't have enough TP myself to do it."

Susie grins. "I'll help! I'm really good at healing now, remember?"

Ralsei nods. "Indeed you are. Um, Kris? Do you also wish to help?"

Kris nods.

"Great! Let's start helping!"

Susie huffs. "You make it sound lame."

[controlkris]

How did they know were you were , more importantly WHERE DID THEY GET THE CAR

Kris is a little curious too, looking over the car.

Susie leans against it and smiles. "You like it? It's a Flamin' Tires toy I brought in with me. Heh, I figured it would be useful." She leans against the door, but since the roof is open, she stumbles and falls in.

Ralsei chuckles.

Lord Damascena groans.

[controlkris]

🎐send message to kris : this is a tough one. if we were to just go out there, we'd be noticed immediately, lord would try to get us to wear the ribbon right away, and the only way to refuse would be a fight. we need mettaton unpacified before we can do anything. the songs will have a bad effect for sure..you can plug your ears with something, maybe? or, let me see if this will work.

🎐input command : when kris makes a motion to plug their ears; outer voices, and sounds, of which not produced by kris, will be dimmed down to a level thats hard to hear. when kris makes a motion to unplug their ears; voices, and sounds, will return to normal.

Kris makes a motion to cover their ears, but nothing really changes. They plug their ears instead.

Lord Damascena stops singing for a moment, the choir picking up where ey left off.

"..."

"I'm certain noone shall miss you." Ey grin toothily, claws extending and puncturing the stem of the Daisy eir holding captive. The tips of eir gloves turn a sickening yellowish green as the Daisy begins to writhe around in eir grasp. The bottom of her stem begins to turn a rotten beige as she gasps for air.

Kris acts before they can think. They charge at em and fires a yellow bullet through Damascena's hand, and ey hiss, dropping the Daisy who is quickly picked up by the ribboned flowerfolk.

[controlkris]

>input command: send message to Kris> ok so all the flower people are wilting, not good so we have to figure out how to stop that. Why is mettaton singing with them? Maybe under their control then. Hmm maybe this guy is some sort of flower vampire and is stealing their life force or something, no idea.

Kris looks down at the wilting flowerfolk, and thinks that perhaps sun and water would heal them. Or... Healing spells. Kris is not sure, honestly. They feel a little uneasy now, bad that everyone here is now... Maybe dead.

FMN sits next to Kris.

"Ellie's a good singer..." Ae mumbles.

"Ellie?"

"..." FMN points to Lord Damascena. Who is now descending the fountain gracefully, Mettaton trailing behind.

Kris briefly thinks the song is beautiful, but shakes themselves out of it. They plug their ears, then rethink it and grab FMN's hands, leading FMN into covering aer own ears before Kris covers their own again.

(Maybe it's the ribbons...)

Everyone who is singing has a red ribbon on their person.

[controlkris]

>> Not sure if I’d go outside. There’s definitely- like a hoard of zombified flower people probably. Maybe we should just go back to sleep.

Kris pushes aside the vines, and the music swells. Tens of voices all crying out in once, a beautiful vocalized melody. Kris steps back, but not due to the music.

The once lush village is beginning to rot. The flowerfolk milling about are either in the chorus or are laying on the ground, wilted and unmoving. Then, suddenly, the lyrics come in, deep and thrumming in Kris' chest.

They look up to the source, up, up, up... To the top of the fountain.

Lord Damascena carries the chorus with soothing lyrics, Mettaton providing backup.

Kris gulps and closes the vines. They grit their teeth upon realizing you all were right, feeling an odd guilt for sleeping before vehemently shaking that feeling off.

> input command

[controlkris]

>>Kris… urg GUYS. I thought we were supposed to be making sure Kris doesn’t up and DIE.

>> Command: Kris will automatically Reset if they feel very tired or nauseous for the next 5 minutes.

That thing is probably a Poppy or some Poisonous Plant?! Or Plastic or Paint?!

COMMAND ACTIVE

"... What kind of tea is this?" Kris asks eventually. They feel the blue ribbon in their hand... it feels... well. Like a ribbon!

Lord Damascena narrows eir eyes. "... Whatever do you mean?"

"What's the kind of leaves you put in it?" Mettaton rephrases. "It's lovely, by the way."

"Thank you. Brewed it myself~" Lord Damascena purrs. "It's... made of rose petals."

(I wish I hadn't drank that.)

[controlkris]

I was actually about to ask Kris to ask about aer forgetfulness, as it does seem a bit suspicious just how little they seem to be capable of remembering. Maybe we should...

Revise: Kris will not allow anyone to put a red ribbon on anyone's person -> change to -> Kris will not allow anyone to put any ribbon on anyone's person (slight paraphrasing)

Kris doesn't seem too thrilled about this new command.

(I just want to sit and eat, is that too much to ask?)

They look across at FMN. "... Hey, Forget Me Not."

FMN looks up curiously. Kris outstretches their hand. "Can I see your ribbon?"

FMN takes it off and hands it to Kris. Mettaton tsks. "What's with you and ribbons, darling? You starting a collection?"

"Won't be as big as mine." Lord Damascena boasts playfully. Ey keep an eye on Kris.

Mettaton grabs a snack cake. So does FMN.