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Third.
ENCOUNTER 3. Snowpoint City is small, cold, and definitely not covered in waist-high snowdrifts. The traveling becomes far easier as soon as you enter the city limits, and the bright orange roof of the Pokémon Center is easy to spot among the white blanketing of snow dusting the ground and the local buildings; it's warm in there, and the attendants inside seem used to this sort of thing - people wandering in bedraggled and cold, unprepared for the weather and the routes leading up to this place - and they'll give you warm, fresh blankets and mugs of warm drinks that steam in your hands. The taste is difficult to place - it's definitely made of berries of some sort, though it doesn't seem to be proper tea or coffee; the point, however, is that it's good at warming you from the inside, and while it doesn't have proper medicinal properties, it'll at least perk you up a bit and make it seem like facing the rest of the day might not be so terrible. Which is fortunate, really, given what's to come. Come mid-afternoon, there's a loud, sharp whistle from the doorway of the Center - it's high and shrill, the sort of thing that's designed to get as much attention as possible, in as little time as possible. It'll stop before it goes on too long, but it's definitely enough to be heard, and the source isn't exactly hard to spot. She's another one that isn't dressed like the other members of Team Galactic, her hair and outfit far different from the usual grunt attire; she seems a bit older than Saturn, her expression harder and more experienced. She's smiling a bit now that she's holding the room, but the expression is strange in that it doesn't reach her eyes, even though those are just as bright and alert as her fellow Commander's were. It's cold. Unwelcoming. And deeply, deeply wrong in a way that's both vaguely similar and completely different to the way the emotionless people here tend to present - it's unfeeling, but in a way that's natural rather than enforced. Dangerous. "So you're the group that left us before I could get to know you properly," she says, and her voice is as cold as the rest of her; it's cordial, perhaps overly so, but there's a firmness to it that heavily implies that she's only being nice because she's expected to be nice. Because maybe if she's nice, this will go nice and easy and nothing will happen. "I'm Commander Jupiter, serving Team Galactic under the orders of Master Cyrus. Sorry I couldn't meet you all properly before; things got a bit hectic. But we can change that now." Her tone implies that that isn't a request. |
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Still, even so...they aren't exactly in the best condition, after trudging through all of that snow. And as much as it would be nice to greet this with some of her own anger, well...
Camilla is going to at least try to employ some politeness. It's no different from dealing with those in the court, after all.]
My, and here I thought we may never meet. [Her smile is a little tight, but it's no less than what she's getting.] To what do we owe the pleasure, hm? You must have come a long way to simply greet us; did you truly wish to meet us so badly?
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[Her voice never breaks evenness; it isn't blank, but there's none of Saturn's attempts at superficial displays, either. Just very straightforward, despite her words; the sort of thing that implies she's never had a truly friendly conversation in her life, but she knows what one should look like.]
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[Wait, uh.]
Jupiter, huh? The one those people were blocking our pathway before for.
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Though if my name was getting thrown around, I'm guessing you met Maylene. She's fun, isn't she?
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Seriously, what are those.]
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[Ignis' tone was similarly cordial, but carrying a distinct undertone of you fucking wish.]
And what might you wish from us today, Commander Jupiter?
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[Her tone never breaks cordial; her everything else is kind of screaming "ew"?]
As it is, you wouldn't last long under me, seeing as you don't listen. I wanted to see you for myself, is that so wrong?
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Then this happens. Sena looks up from where he's brushing Vee's fur at a table close to the doorway, the Eevee's ears folded down from the distress of hearing such a shrill noise. Nin stands at attention on his back, and Monta just looks annoyed from the seat next to him.
Sena, honestly, looks like a mess. He's taken his jacket off, but he's still wearing the sports jersey and shorts over his Galactic underclothing, and the visor combined with his light blue eyeshield honestly makes him look like a bizarre Galactic Grunt if one excuses the bright red clothing. He's stuttering, shaking like a leaf, and his expression indicates that he'd rather be back outside in the deep snow than dealing with this.
But despite all that, he still looks Jupiter directly in the eyes, eyes glinting with...some kind of defiance. Maybe.
Uh...N-Nice to m-meet you?
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Nice to meet you too, kid.
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...
uh anyway he's going to sip his kompot and kind of not meet her gaze...]
Yes. I suppose we should chat over some of these nice former Soviet Union beverages.
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Former...Soviet Union.
[She says it like she's trying it out, seeing if she likes how it sounds. She obviously has no earthly clue what he's talking about, but you know, she'll sort it out or something.]
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[Bucky....]
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Things got hectic? Because of what you were doing before you got here?
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[She doesn't sound angry about it; her voice still isn't breaking that icy evenness.]
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... I mean.
This is kind of scary honestly, to meet the woman who could boss around Maylene and she reminds her a little of Camilla in her more scary moments, but Zelda is nothing if not attempting to be cordial? And as such (with her Metang floating behind her because even if its way bigger now it feels wrong to keep it contained like the other two - err, now three. ]
Hello, my name is Zelda. [ ... Let's offer a handshake. ]
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[She'll accept it readily enough, actually; she doesn't have a death grip like Maylene, but it's pretty firm, albeit really brief.]
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You're here because you want something from us, aren't you?
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[She sounds vaguely amused, though, as opposed to angry or annoyed.]
I just wanted to see the lot of you for myself. That's all.
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[It's kind of an important distinction, in his opinion. He wants to know how hostile things could get]
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[...That is all said so alarmingly politely. Cold, but polite.]
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Emmeryn sets her drink down and stands up, kind in her cordiality against Jupiter's harshness.]
Good afternoon, Jupiter. My name is Emmeryn. You are welcome to take a seat and a warm drink if you intend to stay here with us for a while.
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Appreciated. Pleasure's mine.
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As a result, her demeanor remains completely relaxed as she wiggles her elbows out of the little cocoon of blankets she made for herself. From where he's sitting in her lap, Rubin the Sableye pokes his head up from under the blankets as well to see what the fuss is about.]
I'm not sure you can get to know someone properly after their spirit and emotions have been sealed away, without great effort. In that sense, if anything, we've saved you trouble meeting this way instead.
[Also, like... are you cold girl... we got extra blankets around.]
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I guess you could say that. I never did say I was mad about it.
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What kind of Pokémon do you have as a companion here? If you don't mind my asking, that is.
[Saturn had that Toxicroak, so Ari can't help but be curious.]
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She doesn't seem bothered by the question in the same way Saturn did; she isn't like. bursting with answers, but she doesn't seem troubled at all.]
We've all got a bunch of them. Why?
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So what are you hoping to get from this meeting?
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[She doesn't seem displeased by the fact that people here are distrusting; she remains cold but cordial, really.]
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I know you guys aren't likely to trust this coming from me, but you should probably know that Cynthia lied to you - or at least, she's being really, really misleading. Nothing good waits for you at Lake Acuity. I don't know what she's getting out of sending you in there, but if you go after the Guardian there, you're going to die. Believe me or don't, I don't really care. But I think it's only fair to give you some sort of warning.
I'm going to ask you one more time, because it's important that I get an honest answer - you're sure you haven't seen Saturn since Lake Valor? He isn't...in trouble, it's just important that I know.
[She's...really been asking about him a lot, this entire time; she doesn't seem concerned, just kind of weird about it.]
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Can you at least tell us why you think we're going to die?
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It looks like this is about all we're going to get out of this; it's been really interesting talking to all of you guys, you're cute. I'm sure this isn't going to be the last time I see you; hopefully it won't be here again, though, I really hate this place...
I'm not going to wish you any fond farewells or anything, but try not to die or something, that's just depressing.
[And with that she will take her leave, apparently, recalling Skuntank as she goes; you have the rest of the night to yourselves. Do what you want with it.]