Third.

[azumods]

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.

Comments

[azumods]

Good to know, but that doesn't really mean all that much to me; if you want to keep your names, that's fine. Master Cyrus and Saturn care more about that than I do.

[hyruglyphics]

Maylene still introduced herself with her own, I couldn't be sure.

[ ... But that's actually kind of reassuring in a way. ]

[azumods]

Maylene is a little like that nowadays. She's a fun person.

[hyruglyphics]

[ . . . Does that count as fun? ]

... You know, her and I had the same designation letter, does that mean anything?

[azumods]

It's just for the sake of records. Nothing too major, from what I understand. I'm surprised you haven't asked Saturn - haven't seen him in a while?

[hyruglyphics]

[ Well, he was supposed to be secret, so... ]

Not since Lake Valor. We've come a long way since that blockade! We weren't able to speak long.

[azumods]

[She offers a bit of a noncommittal humming noise at that; just...thinking, it seems.]

I'm actually surprised he left the base long enough to manage that much. It's hard enough getting that boy to go outside nowadays.

[hyruglyphics]

Oh, is it...? That must be very troublesome. I suppose that would go a ways to explain why we were not apprehended at the time.

[ Unless it's just policy to not apprehend them? she's not sure which is what. ]

[azumods]

It might. Don't get me wrong, it's not as though he slacks off. He just does what he's good at, usually.

[hyruglyphics]

[ She nods at that, because... yeah, there's no point in not agreeing there. She glances at Miphanus, who beeps back something to her and the princess inclines her head as she gets her focus back on Jupiter. ]

Have we been the cause of all your hectic tidings?

[azumods]

Somewhere between you and the Lake Guardians. You're all really inconvenient, to put it lightly.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Honestly, she's a little proud of that, and her smile ends up reflecting it a bit more than she wanted... ]

We've simply been on out journey, what have you had to deal with?

[azumods]

This frozen wasteland, for one thing.

[she hates the snow, zelda

she hates the snow so much]

[hyruglyphics]

It was quite the trog to take on foot. Are there not horses which could have sped up the process? Perhaps larger Ponyta?

[ They do have flames, after all. ]

[azumods]

[...Lar...ger...]

They do evolve, you know.

[hyruglyphics]

Oh, they do! I had assumed so, but I had yet to come across their evolution in a book yet.

[ Even so, point stands more! ]

[azumods]

They definitely do. I've never raised one, though, so I don't know too much about them personally.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Well Ari's already asking about her Pokemon and she is curious about that so she nods and smiles, again looking briefly to Miphanus and... huh. ]

Do you think they could not help with the trek up to here? ... I suppose the snow might actually make flight difficult too...

[azumods]

Yes and no. ...Have you ever tried riding a...what did you call them? A horse? Have you ever tried riding a horse on ice?

[Just...saying...]

[hyruglyphics]

... Not on ice itself, but with the proper horse-shoes and training they can make their way through snowy mountainous areas, like some of the route.

[ . . . Point taken on the ice though. ]

[azumods]

Mm.

[note to jupiter: obtain horse.]

Flying-types don't tend to like ice, but they can bring you up here if they know what they're doing. They might not like it, but it's not like they can express too many opinions anyway.

[hyruglyphics]

[ . . . Flinch.

Okay. She. Hmmm. ]

I... see.

[ Okay, like. ]

Are you here for us, or to go to the Lakefront, if I might ask?

[azumods]

I'm here for the lakefront; I'm talking to you on my own time.

[hyruglyphics]

I see. ... Did you have some specific questions for us? I may be able to answer some?

[azumods]

[Mm...]

You're positive you haven't seen Saturn since he stopped you in front of Lake Valor?