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Soda waved back, returning to his mozzarella sticks. Wheat didn't move as usual, but Soda didn't mind. Overall, Soda was left in higher spirits by the end of it, a sense of purpose quietly kindling itself in his mind.

Soda waved idly. "I'm tired," he muttered, but gave Dave a reassuring nod. "And... yeah, fuck it. Thanks. I think... I'm gonna go and talk with Maple and everyone else, say I'm alright to go and see if they agree and whatever. After that... I'm gonna start looking at community service and...

"Tch... Nothing big." Soda glanced at the wall to clear his thoughts. "I'm gonna stick around on Cibus. Help with restoration. If they'll let me. Maybe... I dunno, maybe by then I'll feel like I made up for it a little." He sighed, arms crossed. "...Yeah... Maybe that'll be my life. I'm old...

"Tch..." Soda glanced away at that. "Yeah, yeah..." Finally, he took one of the sticks. In some of that silence, during which he downed two of them, he took a long, steady breath before saying, "I think I need to make up for it."

Soda deflated, listening to every word. "Yeah." They seemed to register, but at the same time, they weren't sticking like they should have. Not entirely. "No matter what happens, they aren't gonna just give up on me. That's how they are. I guess you guys would know more than anyone how much...

Soda grunted, looking away. "I owe Wheat for stabilizing me, so as creepy as he is, the guy does good work. Not gonna question it." He glanced at Wheat, who remained unresponsive. He wondered if he slept with his eyes open. Soda leaned back. "I still don't know if I deserve any of it, though,"...

Soda didn't look like he wanted to answer at first. "...They said I'm stable. You know, in terms of the whole world-ending thing." His claws dug into his arms' fur. "Maple and the others are looking into any legal issues I've got for the whole... natural disasters thing. You guys get it, but the...

"...Another Soda, huh?" he replied, smirking a little. "Well, I guess I've heard stranger things." There still wasn't a lot of energy in him, and he was clearly haunted by recent sins, but at least he wasn't spiraling for it. Wheat must have done a good job at curbing that part of his psyche.

The Zoroark was accompanied by Wheat again, but it was hard to tell if Wheat was awake or not. Soda himself was reading a book, but he must have heard Dave's and Kora's jabbering, because he was already closing the book. "Hey," Soda greeted, glancing at the bag Dave brought with an appreciative...

"Guess I'll see with that when I give you notes," Soda said, smirking. "...Nah. Nah, I'm fine." He finally took another mozzarella stick, and then another, not realizing how hungry he'd been. "...And... thanks. For, y'know. Whatever."

"He likes the Birch trees from the eastern Grass Continent," Soda said. "You gotta bundle up five of them with thick rope and he can munch on that all day. Satiates him for like a week. Longer if they were big trees." Soda rattled on, and Wheat stared intently at Soda, not that he noticed. A...

"Got to move on anyway," Soda repeated, looking at the sticks, of which he'd barely touched. "...Flesh..." He trailed off. "Yeah, I... I haven't talked to him in a while. I need to. And I need to make sure he isn't accidentally eating anything he shouldn't, heh. Need to get his favorite trees...

"Not my fault, huh..." Soda sighed, rubbing his forehead. "It was my claws. It was my thoughts. It was everything except the Parasite ignited it all. Sure... it wasn't me, I guess, but... it's hard to dissociate it. I saw it, I did it..." He sighed, looking down.

Soda smiled wryly. "Maybe some worlds are different, but in the Overworld, what happened, happened. The reason I was so... hopeful that I could get Adne back, even if maybe she died and got reincarnated, is that the old life is still there, etched forever into the spirit, y'know? Sealed away...

"...Yeah..." Soda didn't seem to agree. There were probably a thousand reasons, likely more, individual names, that he wondered were reasons why he shouldn't have made it. "...At least you get to move on," Soda finally murmured. "I'm... gonna be stuck with these memories. That's how memories...

"Yeah. Yeah, I have." Soda looked down. "They're all... being cordial and everything. Potluck says he still wants me on the team. Truffle is making all these fancy teas. Leg made a doll." He dug through his mane and pulled out a little Zoroark plush, which he placed gingerly down. "And Maple..."...

"...How many do you think are gonna see that?" Soda asked in a small whisper. "All the people I killed, all the spirits I twisted. How many lives were just... changed forever from what I did." He laughed, suppressed and low. "I can practically hear their spirits, y'know. Death isn't gonna help...

A long, helpless silence followed. Soda couldn't look directly at Dave. He fiddled with his claws, toyed with his bauble. "I nearly made one, Dave."

"Yeah, I guess," Soda said, though his usual nonchalance wasn't there. It all weighed on him. "No clue what I'm gonna do next. I'm not in a rush... to get outta here. What would I even do, y'know...? Apparently Maple's helping to take care of Flesh, with Truffle and Leg, so that's taken care of...

"No," Soda replied flatly, taking the first stick. "But they've been treating me nice enough, I guess. Could do without the totem pole, though." Soda glared at Wheat, who continued to not blink.