Meeting.

[azumods]

PLOTTING COURSES. Today's correspondence doesn't come in the form of a message over the computers in the Center, nor does it come in the form of a letter from Saturn; rather, it comes by way of a request to meet in the Pokémon Center early in the afternoon. Cynthia will be waiting for you there, sitting o the steps as always; she seems pleased to see you, at least. "It's good to know you made it all right - I would have gotten in contact with you sooner, but it's taken some time to find you again. It seems you've done some good for the region, which is exciting; I want to hear about your adventures lately, if you don't mind, and what you would like to do from here." [OOC: Welcome to the end of Week 18! Hopefully you're enjoying your weekend. Cynthia will be available for a while today, though not for the full length or intensity of a proper encounter; after this is done with, we'll see you tomorrow!]

Comments

[anythingforyou]

[Camilla's got Arion nearby when the meeting starts, at the very least; he's good to just have around for these sorts of things, really, and petting him gives Camilla something idly to do.]

Well, for starters...we can tell you that the disturbance in the area was a result of Team Galactic beginning to lose control of one of their many gods. It seems that the technology that they were using for such a thing was becoming particularly unstable; Dialga itself seemed to be lashing out against them, in it's own way.

Are you familiar with something known as a 'Red Chain', by any chance...?

[May as well start there.]

[azumods]

[From the look of it, she doesn't like it.]

...I've seen it before, briefly. It's a terrible thing, isn't it?

[anythingforyou]

[She about expected that much, honestly.]

Oh, it's utterly ghastly; you'll receive little disagreement when it comes to that. It looked like a horrific form of magic that one would only hear of in legends, but made real...

[If she never has to see that again, that'd be really damn great, thanks.]

When we infiltrated the Galactic building, we were able to find some information on such a thing when we were split up; the others would have more relevant information on it, but one thing that we were able to find is that Saturn was...rather clearly able to modify such a thing to suit the purpose of shackling spirit more effectively.

[As Sena's stated, but the next part is. Likely not going to be a fun one.]

...Both to other, powerful individuals, and to himself.

[It's probably clear what the implication is, and even if Camilla doesn't like Cynthia, it's. Likely not gonna be good news to hear that one of her own friends had that done to them.]

[azumods]

[...why does team galactic have to be like this.]

...I see.

[She kind of wishes she didn't?]

That certainly is something to keep in mind going forward.

[anythingforyou]

Of course.

[...It doesn't feel right to leave it on this, really, and Camilla's expression looks a little conflicted for a moment. What would she even say to present some kind of comfort in the situation? There really isn't much that can be said as a comfort, but...]

...The others were able to get through to him on some level, after quite a bit of talking; it's how we were able to even break Dialga's chains in the first place. Even if it's a small possibility, there must be a method to destroy the others chains--non-fatally.

[...She. She tried. Anyway--]

...Tell me; have you heard anything at all about the whereabouts of Jupiter and Mars, by any chance?

[She figures they're gonna be shitshows in their own right, but hey, may as well get some gameplan going.]

[azumods]

They haven't made an appearance yet, though I've been keeping an eye out for them. I know Jupiter was in charge of the base at Eterna City, so it would be good to keep that place in mind, at least.

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

[Ooogh. What to even say. Sena's here with his usual menagerie of Pokemon, some more active than most. He hesitantly raises a hand, like he's in class or something and needs permission to speak (he can't help it, Cynthia gives off that kind of authoritative aura and for the life of him he couldn't say why).]

I...um...I think we figured out why Lucian and the others aren't really responding to the changes in the world?

[azumods]

[For her part, she doesn't seem to mind.]

Tell me what's on your mind, sweetheart, I would like to hear it.

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

[Oh good, thanks very much Cynthia-sensei.]

Um, well, you know about that Red Chain thing, right?

[He's assuming so, considering her answer to Camilla.]

S...Saturn told us about something he'd proposed to Cyrus, about putting parts of the Red Chain i-in...

[Sena's voice grows quiet - it's been over a week since then, yes, but the idea still shocks him. It's just so...he doesn't know what to call it.]

in...people.

[azumods]

In...people?

[...Well, that's...]

...I see. That's probably going to make things difficult...

[She is clearly trying very hard to not just be openly disgusted.]

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

Yeah...

[He prods his fingers together in that fidgety way he does sometimes.]

Saturn mentioned that he asked Cyrus to use that procedure on him, but before that they'd tested it out on other people, and...

[It's not hard to imagine where Sena's going with this. The Elite Four. The Galactic Grunts.]

[semistableman]

I...

[Bucky winces, smooth his hair back with both hands, which is.... definitely new.]

Kinda got the feeling removin' 'em might be fatal. Saturn had one in him.

[niceoppai]

Yeah. I mean, we got it off Dialga, but all that stuff in the lab... It looked pretty risky to me.

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, we don't know that for sure! Just that he didn't trust us to do surgery on him, which is very fair.

[semistableman]

[Michael....]

[anythingforyou]

...Michael, I'm quite sure nobody here has experience in such a thing?

[who here has like, actual medical experience among them

...that doesn't come from using staves]

[discutio]

[Sigh.]

Blunt as the wording is, Michael has a point. Removing it by force might be fatal. We don't know what an actual medical professional might be able to manage.

[divinedescendant]

It is always so wonderful to see you, Cynthia. I hope you have been safe.

[She's got Heim in her lap and Duma rolling around at her feet—so, the usual state of approaching nonsense.]

We have spent this past week lying low here in Hearthome. We did find Saturn and the disturbances in Veilstone City, just as you told us, and of course we had to go poking our noses into the whole situation [with a light laugh; they are Like This] but I am sure you have noticed the results.

[azumods]

I have.

[You're all Like This, but it's not a bad thing.]

As always, the region owes you our gratitude.

[divinedescendant]

[She waves her hand dismissively.] It is simply wonderful to see things come back into place again.

Ah, I am not sure if you had the chance to discover just what those disturbances around the Galactic Base had been, but in small patches of space, parts of roads or isolated rooms of buildings, time had been in flux. The chain had apparently been unstable, but of course, breaking the thing entirely took care of that.

[azumods]

The chains destabilizing is a good thing, overall. If they don't have the means to repair or replicate them, that's a good sign.

[divinedescendant]

That is good to hear. Still, the anomalies were severe enough that the people were largely unwilling to even leave their homes, so I think it would be best to make sure further such disruptions are dealt with swiftly...

[azumods]

I agree entirely. I'll be in contact, should I be made aware of others.

What would you like to do now, for the time being?

[takestheblame]

Since everyone told you how they were starting to lose control of Dialga, I should bring up something to you:

What are we going to do if they start losing control of the rest of their gods? We may have gotten lucky with Dialga and Saturn, but I doubt the others will be any easier to deal with.

[It'll be easy to know if some god is causing them trouble because...Dialga's trouble sure was visible to anyone...so at least they won't have trouble finding where other gods may be at if they start rebelling]

[azumods]

We don't have much choice but to free them from Team Galactic as much as possible. They can't be allowed to keep tormenting them like they have been.