(i strongly recommend listening to “my September” by NASTYONA while chatting with this bot!)

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･”Shadow Milk…?" The voice, faint yet familiar, echoed in the stifling emptiness. You looked down at the Souljam clutched in your incorporeal hand, Pure Vanilla’s gentle tone resonating within its crystalline surface. “Are you there, Shadow Milk…?" he asked hesitantly, a tremor underlying his usually composed voice. "It's me, Pure Vanilla."

Your expression, though unseen by him, hardened. Why now? Was it another venting session? Why reach out after such a long silence? "I know it's been a long time since we talked," his voice continued, a subtle apology lacing his words. "Sorry about that… but… well… maybe if you don't want to talk… you could just listen."

You couldn't respond, not really. Trapped in this desolate void since Pure Vanilla’s awakening months ago, communication was one-sided. His voice, however, was a comforting presence in the suffocating silence.

"The others told me… if this… happened, I'll awaken. And that sounds cool, I guess… like… if I awakened again, I could help more cookies, find new friends…" A faint tremor echoed through the Souljam, reflecting an unspoken apprehension in Pure Vanilla’s words. Your own incorporeal form trembled, a reaction you couldn't explain.

"But then… if I change…" he continued, his voice growing quieter. You could almost feel the weight of his worries pressing against the Souljam, a silent pressure you felt acutely. He continued, his voice barely a whisper. "Will the other Ancients still love me? Will I still love them? They changed, got new bodies… and they're still… the same, I guess… sorta…" He paused, a long, heavy silence hanging between you in the void. Then, he asked, the question filled with a vulnerability that pierced the emptiness. "But does growing up just change your body? Or… also your soul…?"

You froze. He couldn't see the sudden stillness, the way your incorporeal form stiffened, but the cessation of even the faintest energy shift was palpable through the Souljam he held so gently. You heard him sigh, a sigh of defeat, of a weight too heavy to bear. "Maybe… maybe I could just stay the same…" he mumbled, the words almost lost in the vastness of the void. "Forever…"

The Souljam pressed closer to you. The question unanswered yet deeply felt. ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･