#hollowstale

[ventusninja]

Hallowstale Napstablook: Napsta Blook

"Oh...don't mind me. I'm just lying here...feeling like garbage...blocking your way. It's the least I can do after not being at my post this morning. Though, I guess it doesn't matter...since apparently I've 'died' many times already by you."

[ventusninja]

Hallowstale Sans: Sanse

"I suggest you play nice, or you will end up having a really bad time."

"Trick or treat, fucker!"

[ventusninja]

Journal of Scientific Inquiries

Chapter 7: Determination and Empty Souls

(Trigger warning for an attempted suicide. Please be mindful of your mental health and tread carefully. I couldn't find a clean split between the trigger warning markers. If you find yourself being triggered at any point, skip to the end of the marker.)

I went to Gerson, an elderly tortoise justice m-h. I inquired about anyone with a determination carapace soul and nothing else. He said he's seen some, mostly from his time on the surface. All of them belonged to humans who were all angry, often picked fights, or blow up at the smallest inconvenience. Some were apathetic to the point that they could trick themselves into being fine. These people were also the type of people to be in terrible situations.

I think I now have a working hypothesis: people with these souls have lost all hope. They have forgotten patience, kindness, justice, integrity, bravery, and even somehow perseverance. All they have left is determination for their set goal and the lingering feelings of bitterness, resentment, and apathy. I think Empty souls is an apt name.

Asr Flowey visited me at my home today, after 6 months after the incident. She was ready to talk. First, she had me admit why I have a black soul. I told her everything I could. She asked if I could see Chara's spirit. I couldn't and stated as much. That was when Flowey unloaded everything they've held close to themself.

TW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asriel thought she was in shock. After Chara collapsed in the secret passage and me out of commission as well, Asriel focused on solidifying pur protection. When Chara didn't wake and their soul was encapsulated, Asriel described only feeling empty and numb, despite the plentiful amount of tears that flowed. Even after she was cleared from the hospital, she felt numb. She probably was in shock, for a vast majority of it. But even when she was taken back to the castle, she felt nothing. When both her parents loved on her, mourned for what happened, when they both got so unbelievably angry at what the cult had taken, Asriel felt nothing but empty. Even when they went to bury Chara, Asriel couldn't find it in her to grieve. She felt undeserving of this second chance at life, while Chara was dead. She tried to put her second chance to good use: letting me expirament with her, remind her parents what they still have, entertain the orphans, etc. But each day became more and more of a struggle. Each day, Asriel couldn't find a reason to keep going. Despite everyone around her, she felt alone. It got to the point where she attempted to take her own life. She traveled to an empty section of Underworld and gaze at the Molten Lava bellow. She sat there for hours before detaching her roots and plummeting down the cliff face.

TW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In those seconds of falling into the magical, molten lava, Flowey felt something pull at her soul. It was, as she described, something not entirely hers but familiar all the same. At that moment, she no longer wanted to die. She wanted to live. She screamed that burning desire that only intensified. Her vision became filled with a blinding, golden light. The next thing she knew, she was at the top of the cliff face staring down at the lava below.

She described feeling confused. She heard a familiar voice screaming something about resets, then she saw Chara, or their spirit at least. They sat there, talking, like nothing ever happened. Then came the topic of what happened: Flowey can reset. Flowey has become more determined than Sol. Flowey figured that she could possibly undo the incident. She brought up the reset button and hit reset, but again, Flowey found herself staring down the cliff. They tried again and again, and again, and again, but no matter how many times she reset, she'd always come back to staring down at the lava below. After about 10 times Flowey gave up. She decided to try and move forward with her life as someone new. So she and Chara came up with the name of Flowey, something friendly and unassuming, and Flowey went around to those close to Asriel and Chara to start anew. Flowey left a final goodbye note to Asgore and Torel. She didn't disclose what she wrote specifically. [I asked if I could experiment with her on the resets. I said we will have to have a full notification for all determination m-hs on the experiment we would be conducting however Flowey would remain anonymous. I also told her that this experiment would be beneficial for the both of us. She agreed after minutes later.]

Update. I requested a machine to be made by the technology science department that can data lock an item so it is not affected by resets. I'm tired of having to rewrite the same thing over and over again. [Plus with this next experiment, I don't know how far back we will reset for.] The new lab has been finished for a while and humans are temporarily banned from joining any of the science divisions. The Technological science department outdid themselves because not only did they create a capsule that can keep any item inside unchanged by resets, but also the machine itself should be unhindered by resets, even if we were to reset to a time before the machine was created.

[Update. I had told Asgore about the experiment and requested that she make an announcement to the whole Underground about reset experimentation occurring during this time, and that Determination m-hs take it easy and seek mental health if things get rough. We are set to start resets tomorrow.]

Update. Flowey Reset back 1 day

Update. Flowey Reset back 1 week

Update. Flowey Reset back 1 month

Update. Flowey tried to reset back a year, but it set us back on the unremarkable day for me, and tragic reminder for Flowey. I have a bit of a working theory on why Flowey can't reset farther right now. That day, at that specific time, for Flowey, was the date Flowey made a very important life altering choice. And the potential consequences were undone, like it never happened. I believe we just figured out a potential weak spot of the 'over powered' reset. Resetting is still powerful, but the person that reset can't go back further than the last major life decision they made. I'm thinking of calling this phenomena 'key events'. We still need to figure out what exactly makes up a key event. I now want to know why Sol's key events stop at the exact point a victim falls into the Underground and not right before. Hopefully answering the former question helps lead to the answer for the second question.

Update. I looked back at my previous notes. I can't believed I didn't comprehend that Flowey could see Chara. Or their spirit at least. Based on what is presented in front of me, Flowey can see Chara due to having a piece of their soul as her own. I won't know for sure unless I do more experiments on this matter.

Chapter 6 <-

Chapter 8 ->