azume | Test 6.

EMOTION

After the discussions with Lucas, he seems calm enough; any visible nerves around you, muted though they may have been, seem gone entirely by now, and he seems sure that Mesprit will be able to make the right decision when it comes to what to do. Besides, even if it isn't displayed prominently it's clear that he's concerned about it; whatever is making it affect the Pokémon in the cave like this is more than a bit of a worry, even if the feelings flooding though those of you here haven't stopped, either - the sense that things will be okay somehow, the odd comforting presence, hasn't faded. Perhaps it's a good sign for things to come. Perhaps it's promising, perhaps it's meant to be an invitation.

Perhaps it's a request for help.

Either way, Lucas recalls Torterra - he isn't immune to the despondency flooding through the cavern either, though it seems it's taken a little bit longer to hit him - and he'll gesture for you to follow him; he weaves easily through the stalagmite structures everywhere, and after a while the lot of you will become aware of an area emanating a warm glow in front of what looks like another corridor. It's soft and pink, and looks more like a dim light than anything solid; however, touching it or pushing against it will prove to be like trying to move a steel wall reinforced with concrete, using nothing but your bare hands.

In other words, for a soft pink glow, it's very, very firm.

Lucas shifts a bit in front of it.

"This is it. I've been working on it for a few days now, but nothing really seems to work - I've tried teleporting around it, but that doesn't work, and Pokémon moves won't break it at all.

"I really think Mesprit is back there; we need to help it."

Do your best; that's all anyone asks of you right now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[As I said, understanding. Understanding emotions and why they happen is just as important to me as the fact that they do happen at all.]

What, so you can write about them in your sparkly diary?

[...

Do you not want to understand your human friends at all?]

I understand my human friends great. I mean, I set up a whole fake reality to take advantage of their insecurities and flaws! No better understanding than that!

[You understand what hurts them. But do you understand them?]

I'm fairly sure I just said I did, so.

[You did. But there's a difference between what you explained and actual understanding.]

Iiiiii...know that Eleanor has a voice in her head that tells her not to do bad stuff! And that's why all my torture never worked!

[...Are you referring to a conscience?]

Not the word she used, but sure.

[...If you're still working through things and trying to understand them, it's okay. You mentioned yourself that you don't always understand feelings just now. Not everyone does.]

[..........shit did he say that]

I - understand emotions fine.

[okay, let it just kind of pause for a moment here and try to regroup, because um.

...I know you do. Anger and confusion and how to hurt people. Things like that. I'm not saying you don't understand at all.

If you're still sorting through the rest, that makes sense. It takes practice. It doesn't mean anything bad about you, some people are just like that.]

(no subject)

eudaimonikos - 2018-08-26 01:09 (UTC) - Expand

azumods - 2018-08-26 01:17 (UTC) - Expand

eudaimonikos - 2018-08-26 01:28 (UTC) - Expand

azumods - 2018-08-26 01:30 (UTC) - Expand

eudaimonikos - 2018-08-26 01:32 (UTC) - Expand

azumods - 2018-08-26 01:33 (UTC) - Expand

eudaimonikos - 2018-08-26 01:35 (UTC) - Expand

... Michael, you are capable of understanding more than simply what causes people to suffer. We've seen it, in bits and pieces before now.

[ He's been resistant, but. ]

Hey, I haven't been butting in on any of your interrogations. Also, don't think I didn't see Rin looking at me and talking about sadism like, ten minutes ago.

How did you even—

[That was telepathic?! Like not even full on words telepathic, how could you tell.]

Urgh—I didn't mean anything nasty about it, okay? I meant what I said before; I'd take you over the priest any day. You don't pull any condescendingly enigmatic garbage, and even if you get a kick out of seeing us look like idiots, you've never done anything terrible to us.

Is it bad that more than one of us knows a criminal priest? Though mine's nothing like that, he's just a pirate.

...I think that's a new one, even for me.

.. What sort of faiths are there in your worlds to produce such priests?

Their level of awfulness is tied more to their personalities and personal vices, honestly. That they're priests is usually just incidental.

Most I've met aren't really so bad, it's just the one. [She brushes back a lock of her hair, gaze shifting to the cavern walls. So shiny, much crystals. Wow.] But that's not a subject to get into here.

hyruglyphics - 2018-08-26 01:18 (UTC) - Expand

Guess he went underground to live a peaceful life and then came back out of retirement. We were chasing the crew he was with for a while and then ended up working with them? One of those things where you gotta stop the even worse guys.

heritrix - 2018-08-26 01:19 (UTC) - Expand

niceoppai - 2018-08-26 01:39 (UTC) - Expand

-I was merely showing support, Michael!

Yeah, okay, appreciate that, but I'm doing great on my own in this conversation.

Very well, I apologize.

[Ahhhh, so that's what they're talking about. Rin puzzles this out well enough since "understanding emotions" came up in her own talk with Mesprit. Or well, feelings.

...This conversation is pretty weird when you're only getting Michael's half of it.]