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Kris leaned on the cafe looking back and, seeing Susie talking more with Blue and Ralsei talking with Seth. Their friends seemed to be enjoying spending time with the flower’s, Ralsei drinking the Pink and blue drink he’d been eyeing before.
Good, if there was one thing Kris didn’t like about Ralsei when they first met him, besides who they were reminded off, it was how much he forced himself to do anything Kris wanted. Kris was mentally preparing themselves for what was next. There was no way that sealing the Dark Fountain was going to go smoothly; they knew it wouldn’t. The beat of the soul made Kris cringe, pulling them back towards their friends. But Kris had to follow its demands.
“Heyo Kris, what are you being a wall flower for, this is supposed to be a treat for the boys. Even if some of them are girls” Flowery chimed in suddenly from behind the counter, Kris turned back towards him with a suspicious glare.
“You know Kris, I’ve been talking with your two friends about things they want, I think it’s about time we had our one on one. Understand each other better. We both want Asgore to be happy.” Flowery held up both his hands signalling peace.
Neither of his friends turned around as Aqua started bothering Seth and Ralsei, the two dancing around the energetic flower’s knives… Susie was busy cheering the violence on. The soul pulsed seemingly interested in what Flowery had to say, Kris wished it could make up its mind on how it felt about Flowery. Kris knew what they thought.
Kris nodded, going along with the soul. “Alright!” Flowery said with his big cheesy smile. “Happy to spend alone time princess.” he said, and Kris was caught off guard, the faintest of blush creeped on their face, not from Flowery no. But from being called princess, faint memories creeped into their head, only to be pushed down.
Kris looked at Flowery with an intimidating gaze, one that all but said “don’t call me that.” Flowery let out a bit of a laugh.
“Hey now no need to get so intense.” Flowery had been watching Kris as much as he could in between trying to make Asgore happy, he wanted to figure out how Kris ticked because he wanted to do something for Kris that would make both Asgore and Kris happy. What he was about to do would be tricky. But there wasn’t anything Flowery couldn’t do for Asgore.
“Let’s blow this popsicle stand, I have something I wanna show you once we leaf.” Kris suddenly found themselves in a princess carried by Flowery. “Besides, didn't you go around as a kid going on and on about being a bad ass Princess.”
Kris glared at Flowery again, “it was a stupid kid dream.” Kris said bluntly, it was before they realized they didn’t really feel like a guy or a girl.
“Well what is this dark world if not a dream?” Flowery said with a smile, “And I’m here to make dreams come true, to make Asgore happy, and what would make him more happy then his child being able to bloom and live out their dream.” Flowery put his hand on a wall, opening a secret door in the castle. One that nobody would really find without some sort of knowledge, had this been a video game Kris would expect this to be in a walkthrough detailing a 100% playthrough.
Setting the Lightner down, Flowery walked over to a paper wall blocking the view of something. Kris wasn’t sure how to respond to Flowery, they should just walk away and forget this happened, no use being mad at Flowery they’d never meet again after Kris sealed the Dark fountain, but part of them wanted to see where Flowery was going. Not the Soul, them.
Flowery pushed the paper wall aside, revealing a beautiful and royal feeling black dress, one with an elegant and frilly bottom with various silver pieces spread throughout it, and light silver armor on the top, underneath were leather heel boots it even had a scarf, though instead of the red/pinkish scarf Kris normally wore, it was a beautiful gold color with a flower on it.
While Flowery did put his face on a lot of things, this wasn’t for that reason. The scarf was to symbolize Asgore there supporting Kris. The dress did lean into the feminine side, yet Kris could imagine a powerful feminine warrior wearing it, for combat or something more simple and elegant
“Let the seeds of your dream spread. Just because you’re not a girl doesn’t mean you can’t be a princess.” Flowery winked with a comforting smile. “Don’t let what you think you need to be or do prevent you from doing what you want. No need to throw away your dream because you don’t think it fits your identity. I mean afterall, I want to be a human but am still a flower”
“Plus If you’re worried your nerves will be too much. I did make some modifications to help you get more into the role.” Kris’ body tensed, the soul controlled them enough. But before Kris could say anything. “Don’t worry it won’t make you do anything you wouldn't want to do normally. Flowers don’t force people to do something they don’t want too. It’s just, well lets say a slight suggestion enchantment to help you get over your nerves. Any decision or action you make is your own.”
Flowery comforted Kris, he didn’t want to remove Kris’ free will, just make it easier for them to get comfortable. Kris looked suspicious, feeling the pulse of the soul. It seemed like it wished for Kris to put on the dress as well, between the part of Kris that was curious and the push from the soul. “Fine, I’ll try it.” Kris had no choice, their red eyes flicked to the side, their blush more apparent on their blue skin from the dark world.
“Great! Then I’ll give you your privacy, Flower Princess.” Flowery winked and walked behind a conveniently placed lamppost as he vanished. Kris looked at the dress again and blushed. Before they shook their head it wasn’t like them to be emotional. It was best to get this over with to satisfy their own curiosity.
Dark world clothes were surprisingly simple to remove. So it took almost no time at all to get out of their clothes, and into the dress though, Kris hesitated a bit before taking off their binder, letting their chest help fill the dress out. It felt odd at first, Kris’ heart was pounding, they felt both, right, and wrong.
The dress brought joy but that was wrong wasn’t it? they weren’t a girl so they shouldn’t lean so heavily in being feminine. Before Kris’ thoughts went further, the armor started to glow slightly, yellow lines appearing in a spiral that sparkled in Kris’ red eyes. This must have been the enchantment Flowery mentioned. It felt nice, as the wrongness Kris felt started melting away, it was freeing like the moments Kris didn’t have to listen to the soul.
With another blink Kris felt relaxed, allowing those complicated feelings to vanish as they could throw themselves completely in the roll. They adjusted their pose, walking with a certain gait, they picked up their sword that morphed into a fan for them to hold in front of their face. “Ohohohohoh~” they laughed, it felt nice, Kris pretended like they didn’t practice laughing like that after seeing how much fun Queen looked like she had laughing so haughtily.
There was a conveniently placed mirror in the room that Kris walked too, closing the fan it transformed back into a sword, the wonders of the Dark world. Before they used their sword to lean on, posing, and looking at themselves. The dress was so pretty, it made them consider asking their mom if they could get a dress to wear around… perhaps even when Asriel gets back… Snapping back to the present it was fun modeling like this, it made them wonder what other dresses would look like on them.
“Oh my, a beautiful morning glory in bloom.” Flowery said appearing again. Kris looked back immediately, stopping their posing. “Don’t let me ruin your fun. By all means.” Flowery’s cheery smile remained, but it seemed just a bit bigger.
Kris just continued staring at them. As if to ask “what do you want?”
“Well, just looking doesn’t prove you can be badass and princess-like. So I brought some friends for you to have fun with." With a snap, there were two Darkners by Flowery’s side, an intimidating suit of samurai armor that reminded them of the Terracotta pottery Darkner’s but its armor was bright red, and the Geisha Mantis they saw earlier. With a gentle push from flowery, the Samurai Armor moved towards Kris
The world flickered and everything seemed to vanish for Kris, as they focused seeing the symbols of the menu in the corner of their vision. The samurai pulled out a Garden spade, with a… hilariously and inconveniently long edge almost to emulate a Samurai sword. With a quick act, Kris checked the Samurai for rather useless information. They didn’t even focus on the stats, just the description. “Its armor is bright red, almost as if it’s trying to make people angry.”
“Hit me as hard as you want, I won’t feel a thing.” The Samurai bragged, with a swing, a massive slash flew forward and Kris moved to the side, but remained close for TP, before vines suddenly sprouted out of the slash. Quick but reactable, Kris took a step back, again barely evading on purpose.
As one slash cleared, Kris felt a pull, two more slashes came in that Kris evaded barely. The Soul did have uses in helping them evade attacks. They barely squeezed in between two sprouting vines. Moving their dress to make sure it wasn’t torn, they didn’t want it ruined in the first fight. Princesses had to look their best.
The last thought was so natural feeling Kris barely noticed it, as the attack ended, and it was once again Kris’ turn. Checking their “acts” they pretty much could guess how to spare this Darkner, “Strong hit” and “Stronger hit”. Kris chuckled, they remembered something Azzy watched with a character who enjoyed putting themselves in danger and getting hit and stomped on by the enemies. The look on moms face as she flipped out the second she found out what the two were watching was almost worth the grounding.
Gripping their sword, they had just enough tp to choose “strong hit”. It was then they saw the line, This was something they rarely saw, preferring most the time to be a pacifist, but the few times they did attack, they could do more damage by precisely hitting said line. It was weird to be forced to use it, but, hey if this Samurai wanted to be hit, Kris didn’t see any reason to hold back.
SQUISH
Kris’ blade sank into the armor, but not in the way you’d expect, the armor warped and stretched, absorbing the impact like it was made of rubber, Kris could only guess this Darkner was probably that cute little stress ball Asgore got as a gift from Rudy “to help with wedding jitters.” Asgore enjoyed telling that story, though… he probably kept the stress ball for different reasons.
Shaking their head, they pushed hard enough to push the Samurai back. “Ahaha that was a strong hit but not strong enough!” the samurai boasted, though the blush creeping on the samurai’s face gave Kris a different impression. Before the Samurai sheathed their sword, “try and avoid this.”
Kris felt dread, this wasn’t something that normally happened outside of a select few attacks in the past. In a blink, several slashes appeared, yet with a single move Kris twirled away, their movements were filled with grace and flexibility. Their movements held an effortless feeling,
Even as they swished their dress to make sure it didn’t get hit, they continued to elegantly move. It made them feel both badass and beautiful. It was nice and liberating, it made their hearts soar, they didn’t feel held back by wanting to embrace a feminine side of themselves.
“See Kris, the dream was far from stupid. You just needed to give it room to sprout, rather than get caught up in what you must do. In a wild world full of everyone who’s different. Who’s to say someone who’s non-binary can’t enjoy being a princess.” Flowery said from the side, glad to see Kris enjoyment. Even if Kris might be different, Flowery still wanted to help them no matter what.
Kris didn’t respond, but for the first time in a long time, they cracked the slightest hint of a smile. To anyone who didn’t know them, it’d still look like the same flat expression they always had. But for those that did, it was heartwarming.
The expert dodging and weaving form Kris, got a massive increase in TP, So with a “stronger hit.” the lines appeared again, except this time there were multiple… Kris was surprised for a second, missing one of the lines, but connecting the other’s, Susie might have enjoyed that act. They thought for a brief moment as they slammed their sword hard into the Samurai, sending it flying back into a wall, a red blush and a pleased grunt left its mouth. It bounced back and landed in front of Kris.
Giving them the perfect opportunity to spare it.
RECRUIT 1/1.
“How ruthless, you need more than that to be a princess.” The Geisha Mantis said, approaching Kris with an elegant walk. She moved one of her arms in front of her face, mimicking a Geisha fan. Kris looked at her, not even needing the soul to tell them what to do. They acted on their own.
Curtsying, before bowing, and then walking up to her as they held their hand out. Motioning to a nearby tea table that had suddenly appeared thanks to a certain flower. ‘Allow me’ they said with their eyes. Guiding the Geisha Mantis gently and elegantly. Toriel’s jaw probably would have dropped, Kris wouldn’t hide the fact they are a trouble maker, one that people could hardly imagine being so delicate and chivalrous. But now, it felt right to be calm and elegant.
Helping the Mantis sit down first, Kris sat down after, giving her a kind gaze and wink. The Geisha Mantis held up its claws again, “you’ll need more than a simple wink and some charm to convince me you're elegant.” But just as the Mantis was saying that, Kris with ease picked up a tea kettle, and gently poured some into a tea cup for the Geisha.
“Is that enough tea?” Kris asked, a smile on their face, they made sure to not wrinkle their dress as they sat down or got up, and were being polite and rather charming.
“Yes Princess.” The Geisha let slip on accident, almost blushing as she caught herself. Kris merely chuckled lightly, sitting back down and pouring themselves tea. Taking a calm sip, even though it was amazing tea, one they’d tasted so many times when visiting their dad. They calmly sipped it, slurping it would be rude and unfitting of a princess.
“I can see you have potential.” the Geisha said, drinking her own tea. Kris nodded.
“Of course I have more to improve on, and if you’d be willing to teach me lessons and elegance I’d be happy to have you as my teacher.” Kris wasn’t used to talking a lot, but this felt right. The Geisha blushed more, and was almost instantly automatically spared,
RECRUIT 1/1.
Kris was looking forward to having more tea times with her in castle town. Perhaps on occasion Ralsei would join them if the fluffy boy wanted. Susie was also invited, even if she’s rough around the edges, that was no reason to exclude her even with Kris' new found love of being elegant. “I have to admit, this feel’s nice.” Kris said outloud to Flowery who smiled.
“Glad to hear Princess~.” Kris accepted the title in full. Next time they saw Susie and Ralsei they would ask them if they could call Kris Princess instead of leader.