Game Week of the Multiverse: Polteageist Cafe

[Ambyssin]

Shane blinked. "Are they? Because Nero is... not that," he mumbled. When his cheeks reddened, so did his eyes... and his chest. Bits of red light poked through his blue-white ruff.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Oh god, I managed to make it worse by accident. I can only pray nobody else heard that.

For the first time since arriving, he was grateful for the mask covering his face. "T-That's not what I meant. Sexuality-wise, I have no idea what goes through her head. I mean, like genderless except not really genderless because she seems to have a preference. So Null don't have a sex. Or, at least not from my world. I don't know how your friend was made. None of my business..."

Gladion sighed. "Can we just forget I ever said any of that? This was not what I meant to talk about."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Uh, sure." Shane took another bite of his food then looked at the other dish. "Y'know, some pokémon without mouths seem to be able to, like, absorb food if they hold it up to their heads. Maybe you should try pressing that against your helmet and, like, think about eating it?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"They... what?" Gladion lifted the skewer and examined it. Technically, this helmet wasn't even his head. He wasn't really going to try this, was he?

He held the skewer to his helmet and shut his eyes in silent contemplation of... eating-related thoughts. He was not particularly surprised to find that it had no effect. Except probably making him look silly. After a few seconds, he gave up.

"Is this the part where someone jumps out with a hidden camera to tell me this is a joke and show me a picture documenting how gullible I am being right now?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Shane's ears flattened. "... oh. I was really hoping that would work." He rested his head on the table, trying to look over the guy's helmet. "Maybe there's a hatch or something on it?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"If it's anything like the helmet my partner has had for her entire life, then there won't be. It wasn't really designed for normal life. She used to be fed liquid food with a tube. Once I saved her, I just ended up having to stick my hand through the eyehole. She didn't seem to mind it, but I'd much rather not need someone else to feed me."

He took the skewer, raised it to the eyes of the helmet, and shut his eyes tightly. It took a few seconds of fishing around, but he eventually managed to get the first berry on the skewer into his beak. Chewing was a little weird, and he'd probably want to rinse the inside of the helmet out later, but it would keep him alive and independent.

It tasted alright. Some of the sugars of the roast berry had caramelized, which was nice, but the inside was pretty much raw.

"There. I won't starve."

 

[Ambyssin]

Shane wasn't sure the way he phrased that warranted some sort of congratulations. "That's... good." He ate another bite of his meal. "Maybe we could work on trying to get rid of that thing, so it won't be getting in the way like that? I know Nero hated the helmet. He's been much happier since he broke it."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I don't know. We could probably get it off, but... Well, Nero seems to work properly, but I don't know if I would. The Nulls of my world... something went wrong with the connection between the RKS System and their brains. The helmet keeps the system deactivated. For my own safety as much as that of the people around me, as I understand it."

He put the skewer back into his mask for another bite. More so for the excuse to shut his eyes and avoid any potential eye contact than for the food itself.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Oh, we can help with that." Shane's tails wagged. "All we need is something like a soothe bell and we're golden."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

A soothe bell? A fucking soothe bell was the answer to the problem Faba almost lost his head for? Was Faba really so ridiculously inept that he'd been bested by a problem that could be solved with a cheap metal trinket?

Okay, that was plausible. It was Faba, after all. On the other hand, he was getting this on the authority of the guy who though helmets could absorb food, so maybe he shouldn't count on it, either.

"You're sure that would work?"

He'd have to ask Nero about it later.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I'm saying Nero and I can use it... or something like it... to build a device that could work," Shane said between bites of salad. "The two of us are training to work with spiritual energy."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Still in training? I guess if it worked for Nero.

Gladion wasn't sure how he felt about this guy, but Nero had seemed trustworthy. Nero had lived this himself, too, so surely if Nero approved of it, it wouldn't be a disaster.

"Sure. May as well give it a shot."

 

[Ambyssin]

Shane finished the last of the salad. "Did you want to go right this second? I'm not entirely sure what this place has as far as shopping and stuff."

There was also the fact that Shane didn't exactly pay for this salad. Had someone started some sort of interdimensional tab?

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I don't really know either. I just got here yesterday, and I've kind of been... avoiding the public eye. If there's something we- that I need, the counsel that taken pity on us would probably pay for it, too."

 

[Ambyssin]

Shane nodded. "Fine by me." He smiled at him. "Let's go see if we can't find a store, then. I'm Shane, by the way."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I'm..." Wait, did we really get that far in the conversation without introducing ourselves? "...Gladion. Nice to meet you."

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