Published: November 5th 2022, 4:50:50 am
Strange was an understatement. What Ben proposed went against every single thing the Love-a-Bunch had ever known to be true. Ben was their singular focus. Their god. Their charge. They had no purpose outside of him. And yet as they stood around the big cloud table at Love-a-Bunch Castle, the Love-a-Bunch Care Committee was slowly coming around to Ben's new idea.
"Smart Bear, Aren't you helping people all over the world? Isn't that what you said?"
"Well, yes I..."
"And how does that benefit me? What drove you to do it, then?"
"Well, I guess... I guess because it felt good to do?"
"Very good, Smart Bear! You get a gold star. And Softheart. You helped save all your friends. You were one of the bravest of all, even though I know it must have been scary. Why did they matter?"
"Because I love them... because they matter too."
"That's right! Because we all matter, Softheart. You had the heart to see that."
"I guess I did!"
"And Grumpy Bear,"
"Yeah?"
"I know you don't always agree with all the other bears do you?"
"No, I don't," he said, with a smirk.
"Did you really think I was going to come back?"
"I did. But I was naive. Now that we know more about he world... I know better."
"It was just an accident that I came back for you guys," said Ben. "The truth is, I wasn't even thinking about you until I came across the headset. I had mostly forgotten about you..."
There were a couple audible gasps in the room, but mostly, the bears had their eyes trained on Ben, riveted to his every word.
"But then I found you, and I finally had my friends back. My dearest friends in the whole wide world. I do love you all," said Ben. His words had a notable effect on the room, like everyone let out a collective breath of relief. The bears were smiling at this reassurance. "But you shouldn't have had to depend on that..." he added. "I'm not all there is out there, am I? Now that you've seen the world, you know that. Right?"
The bears shifted uncomfortably, but no one spoke up.
"Isn't that right, Cheer Bear." Cheer Bear's eyes went wide.
"M-me? W-well.... I mean, you're the most important to me Ben. The most important to all of us. You come first!"
Ben shook his head. "We have a long way to go.... Hold on... consider this... If I'm the most important to all of you... then who should be the most important to me? Who should I care about most?"
The bears stared at each other. After a long silence, they started throwing out answers. All different answers.
"You?"
"Smart Bear?"
"Whoever is your favorite!"
Ben smiled and shook his head.
"Whoever you want to be!" said Smart bear, finally.
"Bingo!" said Ben. "That's the right of any sentient being. To choose what's important to them. And you all are sentient too, aren't you?"
"Yes, Ben," said Smart Bear, with more confidence. "We are."
"Then you have the right to choose."
"I choose you," said Cheer bear.
"Me too!" said Softheart.
"And me!" said Friendship Bear.
Ben laughed. "Okay, okay. I suppose that's fair. But you don't have to." He then turned to Smart Bear, who appeared to be deep in thought. "What about you, Smart Bear?"
Smart bear's arms were crossed and he was staring at the ground, his brows furrowed.
"I choose... Society." He looked back up at Ben, his face unclouded. A couple bears gasped at this blasphemy, but Ben seemed to be pleased.
"That's an interesting answer! Why do you say that?" asked Ben.
"Because there's so much hurt and strife in society now... but we're changing that.. We've been working to change that... to help everybody!"
"Very good, Smart Bear!" said Ben. A great murmuring was heard amongst the assembled.
"Anyone care to change their answer?"
Once they saw that it was okay, and with a little help, the bears began to come up with their own ideas, and aspirations. It became easier when Ben made a project of it, though they had to break in the middle of the meeting for an unscheduled diaper change.
"I'm going to want my underwear back sooner or later," said Ben, crossing his arms in frustration and trying not to show his embarrassment as he was changed right on the meeting table.
"You're so cute, Benny, even if you are a big boy," giggled Friendship Bear.
"Scientifically, I can't guarantee that we'll be able to restore your potty control without a lot of potty training," said Smart Bear. ""Which we happen to know all about!"
Ben was not happy to hear that, but he supposed he'd do whatever it took to get back on track.
After a long day of discussion, and plenty of presentations made with poster paper an crayons, each bear had their say about what was important to them, what were their goals, and why.
Smart Bear made a complex chart about society and his findings, extrapolated from the benefits Ben had experienced after being reunited with them. [and their new source of energy]; Smart bear wanted to become a doctor to help humanity, and it wouldn't take him long to go through all the training virtually, since part of him was still an AI after all.
Grumpy bear wanted to be a comedian, to make people laugh with his sardonic wit.
Baby Bear wanted to be a caretaker for all the littles, someone to turn to when they felt insecure, someone to teach them that it was okay to be who they were, and show them that they were loved for it.
Softheart and Cheer wanted to team up to represent all of the LGBT people out there like Ben who needed someone in their corner when they were feeling all alone in the world. Or even those that had support but were still confused and didn't understand who they really were and who they could truly be.
And Baker Bear, well, he just wanted to feed everyone by starting up his own real world bakery, which the bears all encouraged. And best part of wall was that all of the proceeds would go toward stopping world hunger - because the bears certainly didn't need money. But of course, that was the big secret - with their inexplicable access to the jealously guarded secret replicator technology, money didn't taint anything they wanted to do. And thanks to Ben's love, now their own, they had found a way to power that technology indefinitely.
As the day came to a close, Ben found himself alone with Grumpy Bear, who pulled him aside while everyone was packing up, and congratulating each other for a good day's work, and some well learned lessons.
"What's up, buddy?" asked Ben, feeling much more cheerful again.
"Just wanted to get you alone so I could ask you something. You never did say who or what was most important to you, Ben..."
"Oh that? Well, that's easy," he said. "Most important to me is to have my friends who love me, and who I love. That's all of you!"
"Corny," said Grumpy Bear with a smirk, before giving Ben a Noogie which ended in a fit of giggles from both of them.
"Wait a second, aren't you supposed to be grumpy?" asked Ben.
"Just because it's my name doesn't mean I have to be grumpy all the time," said Grumpy bear, smirking and raising an eyebrow, hands on hips.
"Now you're getting it, buddy," said Ben. He couldn't be prouder. "Guess that means we have to bring in the bad guys too and let them know they don't have to be baddies anymore..."
"That," said Grumpy Bear, "Is a whole other kettle of fish."