Poppin' Arms ~ Large Dorms

[Navar]

Shiron looked at the ceiling for a couple of seconds, seemed to be lost in thought. Eventually, he sighed and went back to facing Vix.

"Hm, that's nice... I never expected to be called to do something like that." the Water-type shrugged. "But hopefully I'll be able to help you guys."

 

[Fusion]

"You'd be surprised. I'm just a candle and I do a lot for the team," Vix snickered. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

 

[Navar]

"As long as there are no grass types!" he gave a laugh. "Seriously though, if I evolve and touch any leaf, I'll probably die. Or just get very sick."

 

[Fusion]

"And I'll have to worry about getting caught in the rain," Vix laughed. She grabbed one of the history books and planted herself on the bed, close enough for them both to read easily. "Might as well get started, there's a lot to read up on."

<><><><><>

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste showed Dave to the place he, Nip and Cabot were staying. His ‘shade’ was on the floor.

“Here we are. What were you wanting to do?”

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave looked at the formless black blob with a rock in the middle. Fuck. It did look kind of dead.

"Huh. Well..." He stepped into the room, Mia following after him. He examined the blob. Black, half-liquid. It had hatched, though. Why would it do that at all if it wasn't 'stimulated' enough to show any sign of life?

He looked up only just in time to see Mia extending her scythe forward to poke it. "Mia--" he began, but she'd already given the blob a prod with the blunt edge of her scythe.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

The blob wriggled and recoiled from Mia’s scythe.

“It’s alive... in some capacity, anyways.”

He pulled his badge from his bag. “I’ll be back... in a bit. You’re free to stay, if you want.”

 

[Namohysip]

Celeste's badge made a quick beeping noise twice. It seemed that someone had contacted him directly, because the group communication channel had a different sound.

[Soda > Nazo]: chip wanted to see you for something. no idea what. go when you can.

 

[Dragonfree]

Huh. So not dead. Could react to stimuli. That was something.

He looked up at the beep of the badge; no sooner had Celeste looked at it than he made excuses and left. He seemed all too happy to not even be present for this. Whatever. Dave squinted at the blob again. "Okay. Do you understand me? Wriggle once for yes, twice for no?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“yes...”

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave jumped at the actual audible word. "Wait, what? You can talk?"

Mia cocked her head. "How it it making words? It's a blob. It doesn't have vocal cords."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“I can talk. I don’t want him to know, though. He killed one of us, and it makes him feel bad when he’s reminded of our tamedness. I don’t want to hurt him. I’d have to feel it too, then. I don’t know how to ignore the link like he does.”

“How do you talk, either? You’re made of the same stuff I am. It’s not like you’re real with real vocal cords.”

[Sneaky OOC note: This is whispering italics not Radiance.]

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave blinked. Mia narrowed her eyes. "That is weird. I shouldn't be able to talk."

"You're in magic talking Pokémon land, Mia, just go with it. I mean, I'm a fucking Poochyena, since when do they have human vocal cords?"

She frowned, dissatisfied. She started to make weird noises, testing her range. On the one hand Dave was tickled by her scientific spirit, but on the other hand it was really fucking annoying. He ignored it anyway.

"Okay, so, you're just pretending you're an inert blob, so that you won't make him feel bad because that'll make you feel bad?" He sighed. He'd come here hoping for an interesting scientific problem, not a blob with emotional hangups. "No offense, but that doesn't sound very sustainable. What, are you just going to play dead for the rest of your life? He's going to have to find out eventually. Sure you don't want to just rip off the bandage and get it over with? Maybe he'll, you know, get over himself."

Mia was still making bizarre throat noises. Why.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“I don’t know... What if I do something wrong and I can’t fix it? What if there’s something I can’t take back and I mess it up? It’s better to be careful. Not to break anything. It’s easier this way...”

“Okay, why are you making those noises?”

 

[Dragonfree]

"Welcome to social interaction, bud. You can just live under a fucking rock and never talk to anyone, but if you want to do anything interesting in life it's going to have to involve other people, like it or not."

Mia stopped. "I can make the same sounds the other me can. Is there another you? Do you have their voice?"

"What she means is," Dave clarified, "she, uh, came from my memories of my own world. Are you... somebody Celeste knew? Or just...?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

The shadowy gel quivered and condensed down a little. “Celeste doesn’t know anyone... like this. I am nobody. I haven’t even chosen a name. It’s like I’m a soul without an identity attached to it.”

 

[Dragonfree]

Dealing with a blob's identity crisis was not something Dave had been preparing for. "Well, uh... if you want to pick a name, you can just do that?" He hoped to God the shade wouldn't ask for help. "Look, what does it even mean to not have an identity? I mean, okay, you don't have a name but who cares, make one up. You're not missing anything."

"Names are arbitrary," Mia added. "They're just labels. It doesn't matter what you're called."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Soul. That’s my name, then.”

Soul felt that was decidedly unsatisfying. Picking a name didn’t give Soul an identity.

“I still don’t really have an identity. Soul is just a name for... nothing. I am blank. Empty. I guess I have to fix that myself...”

Soul let out an irritated puffing sound at Mia. “Easy for you to say. You were handed an identity and a name for it. Just given to you.”

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave gave Soul a skeptical look. “Look, this all sounds like some wishy-washy metaphysical bullshit to me. What the fuck do you mean, you’re empty? Here you are talking to me and wringing your hands about talking to Celeste because you might fuck it up and moping about your identity issues, and that doesn’t count as being a person because somebody else didn’t give you a fucking name when you were born?”

Mia tilted her head. “You’re just the same as everyone else. You only have your own memories. I have memories from the other me too but it doesn’t make any difference. Memories are just patterns in neurons. They’re the same no matter where they came from.”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Neither of us have neurons. We’re just... shade, moulded into somebody else’s identity. Except that I’m moulded into nobody. I’m a blank slate. The only “memories” I have are of the past few days, and of being at the bottom of a bag for a month.”

Soul hesitated. “I’m lost. I want to have someone else’s memories to guide me, too.”