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

[redbellion]

I want to know why you're working under Cyrus.

[azumods]

Because I want to.

[...That's literally it.]

[redbellion]

[ ...he narrows his eyes. ]

Go on.

[azumods]

What about that is difficult for you to understand?

[redbellion]

There's a reason why you want to. Is it because your interests are the same as his? Domination?

[azumods]

Domination is probably closer to it. I'm not going to be like the others and pretend to be noble.

[redbellion]

....You're just like Zarkon.

[ not that she'd know who that is, but keith narrows his eyes and his hands ball into fists at his sides. his temper's starting to flare up again.

someone throw some snow on him so he can chill. ]

[nightcure]

[ did someone say chill ]

Keith, stay calm. Lashing out isn't going to help anything.

[redbellion]

She's right here! We can stop her now, and we're probably not gonna get another chance like this for a while. We have to do something!

[nightcure]

If we try to fight her, she'll wipe the floor with us. We're not strong enough just yet.

[redbellion]

I'm not talking about a Pokemon battle.

[semistableman]

[Oh, he knows that reaction.

He knows that reaction because he had the same reaction to Saturn, fill in the differing enemy as appropriate.]

Keep calm.

[redbellion]

They're trying to take over the universe, and they'll take over all of ours too if we don't do something!

[ once he calms down, he'll be more rational about this. this is not one of those times. ]

[semistableman]

They've already done it. Haven't you been listening? We're not exactly in a position of power here.

[redbellion]

We're already dealing with an empire trying to pull this on us where I'm from. We can't--I can't let another force try to do the same.

There has to be a way to put an end to it.

[azumods]

The insults work a little less if I don't know who that is.

[redbellion]

He's the same as you--on a conquest for power. Domination. And for no good reason.

[azumods]

It's not exactly a bad thing, if you ask me.

[redbellion]

Give me one good reason why it isn't.

[anythingforyou]

[Oh boy, if that isn't a mood...

Camilla's going to shoot him a Look, her eyes narrowing a bit and more than ready to get up if need be.]

Sir, keep your wits about you. We are not here to provoke hostilities.

[this is hypocritical coming from camilla for sure]

[redbellion]

What, are we trying to form an alliance? Because that's not happening. And now is the best time to take out one of their officers.

[anythingforyou]

What part of the fact that we are not strong enough to take them on do you not seem to be understanding? We're nowhere near making an alliance with these cretins, and I very sincerely doubt we will be, so you can drop the assumption right this very second.

[Boy, she got told she can't do a fight, you're not doing it because you just got here. Her tone's...definitely scolding, jesus.]

I understand where you're coming from--believe me, I do. But what you're thinking of doing could put this group in very serious danger, and I'm not about to allow it. Do not fight her.

[divinedescendant]

[all this snow. ALL THIS SNOW,]

Keith.

[quietly, stern but not quite admonishing, but Emmeryn notices that shift and hopes this will be enough to ground him some before things get to escalate.]

[redbellion]

What.

[divinedescendant]

Camilla is right in that we are in no state to start trouble. We cannot be sure what is outside these doors, and inside them, there are civilians with us.

[she wants the poor Center staff wrapped up in Some Shit even less than she wants all the rest of them wrapped up in it—but her voice stays even, calm.]

Easy. This is not the time.