i miss old friends and play it agains

ngl, I'm kind of surprised that I've seen a few people take issue with asgore going "wow. the way flowery is treating me is kind of a wake-up call, I need to back the fuck off of toriel," talking about it like it's a false equivalence, when it's really obvious that flowery's actions towards asgore are a direct parallel to how asgore has been living his life

like, obviously there's not the same undercurrent of misogyny / entitlement. that is a point of distinction. but everything flowery is doing is still built around the idea of recapturing a Better, Happier Past that has since been lost. he's not "asgore's new best friend" or "asgore's favorite flower," he's Asgore's Best Friend From College (not actually true). he goes out of his way to hide Kris and Ralsei from asgore, and it's hard to see this as anything but "trying to prevent them from getting in the way of our relationship." and while flowery's argument that the flower shop dark world has just as much right to exist as Castle Town is sympathetic, and not even untrue... he's not exactly searching for an equitable solution, is he? he's putting his needs first. and his needs are not "do literally anything about the roaring," they are "do what I have decided is necessary to protect asgore from his own feelings."

and yes, all this is motivated by sincere affection for asgore and a desire to Fix Things. but he can't fix things. he can only delude himself into thinking he's capable of fixing things. if he just solves the truth behind dess's disappearance makes all his stats 99, then he can make the problem go away. if he makes enough grand gestures of affection, then everyone will understand his point of view. his heart's in the right place. isn't that enough? it's supposed to be enough.