azume | with knowledge comes great responsibility

with knowledge comes great responsibility

[What an absolute ordeal all of that was.

Today was certainly one hell of a day, that's for sure; they've managed to take care of another Guardian and gain it's trust (or at the very least, something resembling it), they managed to find Candice and manage to...well, maybe not get her back in a state that's altogether wanted, but ensure they managed to get her at least into a place where she could possibly regain herself. It will likely be a process, as such things are, but they've done their best, and they should have no regrets.

The center is definitely going to be a welcome reprieve for all of their suffering, at the very least. The Kompot is certainly more than enough to likely get everyone warmed back up and in a stable condition, along with the copious amount of blankets the locals have provided. They've got the time to rest and get ready for their next adventure.

Rest well, ye merry band of travelers. You've earned it.]

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Azelf didn't talk about that part quite as much, that's true.

[It's illogical. But Jake knows that; there's no real reason to dwell on it.]

Well. There's only one more to go! Afterwards...well, I'm not sure we have much of a plan after that, but it doesn't seem like it's going to involve hanging out with them.

[...]

I was kinda used for something similar. Kept for six months, not years, but the result was sort of a shitshow and fucked up a lot of people. So probably more of that bullshit again.

[PTSD. Whatever.]

I guess we start finding ways to do something about Cyrus after that. It sounds like what people want to do, anyway.

Yeah, that's gonna be a shitshow. I know what I said earlier, and I stand by it being possible, but we probably do need to go after some minor gods to have any real shot.

[He cocks his head at Jake for a moment. More specifically, at the hand he's fixing up.]

You know you're gonna fuck up your bones doing that?

...Yeah, I know. That's why I normally don't.

[He's just...not going to be looking at Michael while he says that; fortunately enough, he's got like. an entire damaged hand to focus on right now.]

It is sort of a stupid thing to do.

[He observes mildly, a tone that's probably entirely deliberate. Nothing stupid, right, Jake?]

We can't really have a proper destructive riot here, but would going out in a field and blowing some things up work for you?

[Yeah... He gets it.

...That said, wait what- ]

You got something to blow things up with?

They've got cleaning chemicals, we've got fire Pokemon. I'm sure we could work something out!

[Buck up, buddy, there's always a possibility of explosives if you work hard and believe in yourself!]

[Oh my god.]

I'll take you up on that someday. Maybe not tonight, I think everyone would kill us, but definitely sometime.

Cool!

[He grins, pleased to have actually successfully introduced a better coping strategy. Michael's not exactly the king of healthy coping himself, but like, exploding things in fields doesn't have to hurt anyone!]

Hey, if Sena were gonna die in his sleep, he would've done it by now, right? I've been keeping an eye on him, I thought that was something you were supposed to do with head injuries.

[Uh.]

...I'm pretty sure if Sena were gonna die, he would have done it back in that cavern with Froslass. He's probably okay.

Hm. Okay.

[Michael nods, mostly to himself. He figured it was safe by now anyway, just.]

I don't know how you manage hanging out with people who can die all the time, it's very stressful. [How's that hand doing, as long as we're on the topic of human fragility]

[...It's. He's managing. Used to taking care of himself, at any rate.]

It's only stressful when you give a fuck about them. Most of my job involves making sure other humans die. My friend, though, that girl I'm not trying to disappoint? Yeah, she nearly died on me early on, I nearly had a fucking aneurysm.

[Michael's not likely to do much better with it, but he's taking some mental notes.]

Man, I feel that. All my friends are dead already, but I literally almost died like four times trying to keep them away from other demons, and I didn't even think I could have a heart attack.

[Not to mention what's happened in Sinnoh since.]

We could probably stand to plan our next lake trip better.

Yeah, just a bit.

[...Speaking of people he gives a fuck about.]

How're you doing, after that? That can't have been too great on you, either.

Heh.

[Ugh, was it obvious?]

That Froslass was a real dick, huh?

God, tell me about it. Been a while since I've done anything like that, and back then we at least got shelter and some snowmobiles after a while.

I don't understand why people live in places like this! Got a whole continent, and they're all "ooooh, you know what would be great, let's go to ice purgatory".

[He could talk about this for years.]

I feel like I understand human reactions to near-death experiences better, now.

What seemed weird about them before?

[He doesn't sound like he's judging or anything, just kinda wondering.]

It's not that it seemed weird.

[Right? Michael looks thoughtful.]

I mean, I understand it. Your lives are so easy to just snuff out. [He shrugs.] I guess I just didn't give it much thought. Or I just didn't care. That's probably more accurate.

I've come close to dying before. But that was more like if someone held a gun to your head - scares you, sure, but you aren't actually actively dying yet. To have your body just start shutting down around you...I didn't realize I was quite that used to having it on.

...You don't ever really get used to it just kind of fading like that. One of those fun experiences that's completely shitty every single time.

It'd be pretty great not dealing with that again while we're here, to put it real lightly.

You guys really get dealt a shitty hand.

[That's a statement of fact, but at this point probably some kind of backwards attempt at sympathy also.]

Next time, we should just send an advance team of Pokemon into the lake an hour or so beforehand. They do all the talking with the inevitable Pokemon guards anyway.

I don't disagree with that, but good luck trying to convince anyone to let their Pokémon go alone.

We already let them fight alone, more or less. I get the idea is that we're training them, but practically speaking we're all completely useless in a Pokemon fight.

[.....siiiigh, as he replays that argument in his head.]

Yeah, that's not gonna fly. What if I made it about how much I trust them?

See, that might go somewhere. I don't know exactly how far, but they might listen to that one.

I just - [He leans forward, hand on his chest, suddenly painfully earnest.] - I really believe Cat Janet can do it, and I want to give her that chance. This is their world; shouldn't they be able to take the lead in fixing it, if they're willing? We should support them in their journey.

[.....]

That all probably sounds better if you don't know me as a person.

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with knowledge comes great responsibility

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