Firmament

>Uneat Cerulean

>Try and absorb the dust, desperate for the fleeting memories you found when biting Cerulean.

>Grab dust in of the mouth.
>As much as of the can.
>Can't fix, can't help.
>Can't bring of the back.
>But maybe, maybe the purple rift can make newness.
>Pour the pieces into body, make newness soul.
>Likely not, but is where they wanted to be of going.

You hesitate for a moment, wondering if you can gather the remains of Cerulean. If anything of the Blue Soul's memories remain, couldn't you take them into yourself, the way you took their memories? Or, you could even just to carry their dust to the Rift, and send them through. Maybe they can Reincarnate still? That's what they wanted, right?

Surely, you can fix this. You can make this all better... right?

>Cerulean isnt comin' back

...no. Of course you can't.

You can't even see the cloud that became of them anymore, let alone gather it up. It's as impossible as catching hold of a ray of light. They're gone. Well, and truly gone.

>Remove friendship point.

eat yourself out of guilt

> feel remorse, regret, and shame

>Feel horrible forever.
>Never eat again, even if you get a stomach.

You loop back around yourself, and bite onto your tail again. Of course, you can't eat that either. And you're not sure you even want to eat anything, anymore? Still, something about this coiled-up position brings you comfort. It's like you're wrapping up around a hollow pit that just opened up inside you. Closing it off, to keep that hollowness from taking the rest of you...

Why do you feel so sick inside, now? Everything feels wrong. You feel wrong. Is it because you forgot your Manners? Because you neglected Friendship? Is it because you tried to Eat, and you... did it wrong?

now we have learned the most basic lesson, that if you kill things, you forever rob them of the one most vital right all things have - the right to exist - and in exchange, that knowledge will stick with us forever, like a black mark that cannot be scrubbed out.

And does that really even matter? Whyever and however you did it... it's still because of what you did that something Very Wrong happened. Your actions unmade a thing. And you can't remake it. It took away something which you can't ever give back. There is no more Blue Soul named Cerulean Cross. There will be no more lives lived, by a being housing that Soul. And there never will be.

---

???: Aha! I thought I heard voices out here.

Just you, though?

---

You hear a voice, from the direction of the Cafe entrance. Peeking through doorway, you see an differently-shaped Blue-Green Soul.

They call out again.

---

Blue-Green Soul: I mean, there's no shame in talking to yourself, o'course. I do it all the time. It's just been slow here, lately. Was hoping you'd brought a friend!

---

...

---

Blue-Green Soul: Anyway, if you don't mind my saying, you've got wonderful coloration! I like the Aspect you're wearing, too. Very clever.

You're the Ouroborus, right? Snake-eating-it's-own-tail? Symbol of the eternal, unbreakable cycle of death and rebirth?

---

...

---

Blue-Green Soul: You know...

Pretty as the Rift-light, and all these twinkling Souls are? It's even nicer inside this here Café. And I don't say that just 'cause I made the place. Got a Jukebox can play songs I guarantee you've never heard before. Plus, I just made this fresh batch of Forbidden Fruit Panopticakes! Though don't worry about the name none, you're allowed to eat 'em.

So, how'd you like to grab a quick bite of...

---

Cry, definitely cry.

---

Blue-Green Soul: Well I'll be... never seen somebody get so dang sad about food before. Chowing down on comfort food 'cause they're feeling glum? Sure, sure. But what's all this, then?

Come on into the Café. Sit a spell. Dry that eye. You can tell old Viridian what's eating you.

---

---

Viridian: Woah there... was it something I said? I didn't mean any harm, dear! I only meant to help.

Anyway, whatever's wrong... just let it all out. We'll get things sorted soon enough, I promise. In the meantime, how's about I go brew some Green Tea for you? That always helps me, when I'm feeling down. And before you worry, it's on the house. Just come in out of the void, will you? You know... whenever you're ready.

---

With that, the Soul with a Teardrop Sigil disappears quietly into the Cafe.

You're alone in the void, again. Alone with your feelings and thoughts. Alone, with the hole of grief and guilt you carry inside you. You're not sure if "Green Tea" is a thing that can really make this all better. So... what else can you do about these feelings? How can you fill up this hole?

resolve firmly to never let yourself ever ever hurt anyone ever again ever.

Perhaps... that's right. Resolve. Making a choice, about something important. And sticking to it... living by that choice, from now on forward.

You do that now, here, in front of this little green Cafe. Surrounded by the lights of a hundred different souls. Witnessed by the yawning Rift between Death and Life. You find your Resolve, and you make a Choice.

Never again will you cause a being to be hurt or destroyed like this. Not by the actions you take, nor by the actions you fail to take. Not by sitting back, and allowing someone else to hurt them either. You'll do whatever it takes, so that you never have to feel this way. So that no one ever has to feel this way. Never again.