it's noot becauuuse the light here is brighter.. and it's not that i'm evil i just don't like to pretend :)

(yet another art for chapter 138) (also some indulgent lil author notes under the cut since i thought about this moment a bunch)

oops just realized the structure of this is misleading, like tori's protecting nye, nope! lotta stuff happens between panels 1 and 2 oh well ANYWAY

maybe it seems unlikely that this would be the moment flowey drops pretense and admits hurt to his mom attacking him, but listen! while this is the biggest regression into his old evil self so far, it's also the most vulnerable he's ever ever ever been in joat. he's spent the last few months having his walls chipped away by stubborn human friends, and just when he reached a point of trust, he suffered not one betrayal (frisk), not two betrayals (naya), but THREE (HIS LITERAL MOM) FREAKING BETRAYALS. like he's just crashed from his highest to his lowest. he's a mess. he's simultaneously the closest and farthest he's ever been from asriel and it's making him Say Some Things.

and as for tori shooting first, asking questions later, the next chapter gets into some reasons why. but she's definitely shooting to disarm, not to HARm necessarily. also, in the actual game tori has no qualms about blasting flowey's ass when he threatens flowey. she wouldn't mess around here.

but none of that is as important. as the fact that naya heard him. :)