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]

Okay, look. First of all, you are going to cut the oh-so-nice-and-polite-and-would-never-even-dream-of-being-disingenuous crap. I've asked you multiple times what you're doing here, and you have failed to answer every single time. You think I was born yesterday and am willing to believe that you came all the way up here, on a journey that was oh so long and arduous, because you're, what? Sightseeing? Trying to "gather information" in no specific way? You want me to believe you, Miss Prim And Proper, you're going to stop being a condescending brat.

[discutio]

[OKAY CHILDREN THIS IS QUITE ENOUGH not that ignis is much better but still]

Since I doubt you ventured out here solely to make our acquaintance, I might wager we're here for a similar reason to you, Commander.

[radiantflame]

Yes, I believe I recall you saying that you just wished to see us. And now you have. So surely you'll be on your way shortly, unless you misspoke earlier?

[azumods]

[well will you fucking look at that, it's an actual damn answer, sort of.]

You're here for the lake, then. And whatever's there. I've been blunt about that this whole time.

[niceoppai]

Pretty sure that's the only thing we can be here for. We can't exactly hide that we wanna save the world from you guys, you'd call us on it in half a second flat if we did.

[discutio]

I feel there's little need to hide the fact--all things considered, our next destination has likely been obvious to you since before this encounter began.

[azumods]

I want to know who told you to come here.

[radiantflame]

The legends about the lakes of this region are hardly a secret. We've done our research, is all.

[azumods]

Liar.

One of the biggest nerds among you doesn't know how many gods there are.

[radiantflame]

I never said we knew everything. We've done the best we can, considering we are not natives. Perhaps you'd like to enlighten us?

[azumods]

Depends on what you want to know. Everyone in Team Galactic knows the legends, Master Cyrus made sure of it. But that doesn't mean I'm a walking encyclopedia, either.

[radiantflame]

If you're offering, just how many gods does this region have?

[enjoymyatelier]

Oh, come now, I know about the Guardians. We were told about those the day we woke up.

I just have suspicions there are more gods than those, that’s all.

[semistableman]

There's at least four.

[Bucky might be in the peanut gallery permanently now, but he can say that much.]

[azumods]

[...]

I am so glad you're just wearing the nerd mantle with pride.

[...she actually likes you, kayneth, you're good people]

[enjoymyatelier]

I am a professional scholar. Of course I would.

[he’s still gonna fight you someday but at least you don’t suck like Saturn.]

[heritrix]

Like Kayneth said, we know about the Guardians. Specifically, we were told they're called the Lake Guardians. It doesn't take a genius to look at a map and see there's only three lakes in this region.

accidentally deleted because i'm a goddamn mess today ig

[discutio]

And why is that information we should be willing to put forth? Despite the current tension of the atmosphere, I certainly want nothing to do with unnecessary bloodshed.

[azumods]

I don't see why answering that should result in bloodshed at all. Was it Saturn, then?

[discutio]

I find it odd that your own coworker would be your first guess. Dissension in the ranks, Commander?

[azumods]

More that I can't figure out who else I should be mad at for telling you to come here. Saturn would be the first guess, since he's the one who's, you know. Not supposed to be doing things like that.

Like I've said, he's been weird lately. I don't appreciate him being weird, but it's not like I'm going to beat him down for it.

[discutio]

Saturn certainly did strike me as a touch eccentric, I must admit.

[Refusing to answer at all was only going to strain the situation further. But what answer was there to give? Selling out Maylene wasn't an option. Set Jupiter and Saturn against each other was a better route, but not ideal. Even though Saturn remained an enemy, it would have been in poor judgment to make that situation worse while there was still potential in their last interaction. The only other choice was...]

We were told of the guardians' existence when we first awoke. Were you not already aware of that?

[Lying like a politician.]

[enjoymyatelier]

I thought you already knew and didn’t see much of a point in saying it, honestly.

[divinedescendant]

[DON'T YOU "CHILDREN" HER SHE HAS BEEN PERFECTLY REASONABLE]

[divinedescendant]

[eh jupiter can't even dream of being half as fucking awful as gangrel and also hasn't tried to throw her off any cliffs yet so like? this is fine. emmeryn is maybe impressively unfazed, calm and polite as ever.]

I have not lied to you. You seek confirmation on our interest in the lake, yes? The hints of the local legends we have learned are as fine a starting place as we have here to decide our travels. Yes, we are here for Lake Acuity, as you full well already know and as I have said, as much as we are here for anything. We have been taking our intentions and expectations one day at a time.