Destiny Village ~ Library

[Namohysip]

Cosmog stiffened, or as well as his body was capable of that, when Bahamut got close. His nebulae frazzled and something vaguely psychic in nature flowed around him, but nothing more than that. "I refuse to be terrified by some random Pokemon," he said. "I am far... beyond that sort of fear. I..." He wasn't sure where this pride was coming from. Vague fragments of recollection shuffled about in his head, but he couldn't piece any of it together. He waved Bahamut off. "I'll train later. One thing at a time. First, I need to learn."

 

[Ambyssin]

"How about this, then?" Bahamut picked the book up. "We'll check this book out. Maybe a couple of others. I'll take you over to the guild. It'll be safer there and you won't have to have me stand guard."

 

[Namohysip]

To this, Cosmog seemed a little more receptive. "Fine," he said. "Then, answer me one last thing. I doubt a Pokemon such as myself would survive at all in the wild if this was all I was capable of. Magikarp become great serpents of the deep. What do I become?" He rose from the table and followed Bahamut.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Mmm... I think it depends." It wasn't a memory Bahamut loved to bring up, but it was all he had to go off. "Supposedly, you can evolve into a powerful creature. The emissary of the moon, Lunala, or the sun, Solgaleo. Both can create portals at will and draw in energy from the moon and sun, respectively, to attack."

 

[Namohysip]

"I see..." Cosmog grinned a little at that. "Then I suppose that is something I can look forward to, at least until I can regain my memories. From there, if I desire as much, perhaps I can find a way to be human again. It... is reversible, correct?"

With their books checked out, Cosmog practiced his floating to leave the library.

 

[Ambyssin]

"You're surrounded by gods. Surely, someone can reverse it." Bahamut slowly ambled behind Cosmog, shrugging. If Diyem could do it, Arceus could. Probably. Maybe.

<><><>​

 

[Persephone]

Cuicatl found her way into the library, annoyed at being dismissed but still determined to be useful. Somehow. Otherwise what was she even good for? Sure, she couldn't read most books, but their might be braille or something.

Not that she would know this world's version of braille. Or that her paws are sensitive enough to read it.

Shit.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste needed a break from all the chaos in this place. Hopefully the library would still be calm.

Indeed, it wasn’t too busy, Still, lots of strangers. Strangers, and Cuicatl. He really should check in on her, she didn’t seem to have been doing so well when last they talked.

“Hello, Cuicatl. How goes things?”

 

[Persephone]

She recognized that voice. Celeste. She'd entirely lost her composure in front of him before. He probably hates her now. Or pities her.

"Hi." As for how things were going, pretty terribly. But if she said that, Celeste would either follow up and she'd break down in public or Celeste would hear and not bother to follow up at all. She wasn't sure which was worse. "I'm fine. How have you been?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“I’ve been... okay. This place is a bit densely packed for my liking, but I’ll be fine.”

Celeste would be surprised to find that she’d genuinely gone from the way she’d felt before to being better with the whole shadow machine encounter between now and then. How could someone go through that and come out feeling better?

“It’s been... stressful. I’ve been unnerved ever since our visit to Shaymin Village... But I’m getting better, at least.”

 

[Persephone]

“Oh? Is this place larger than your home town?” Cuicatl could vaguely remember something about Celeste’s past, but she wasn’t sure enough to bet on it. She’d met a lot of people as of late, all with their own strange stories.

As for the village, well, Cuicatl was also unnerved, but she wasn’t going to give too much emotional ground in public.

“It was unpleasant, yes. I’m glad that’s done with.”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“This place is larger than any settlements in my entire world, I think. The technology is more developed, too. It’s a shame it’s me here instead of my sister. She’d be taking notes on all this.”

 

[Persephone]

A pain of nostalgia and grief struck Cuicatl’s heart at the mention of a sister. Nostalgia and curiosity won out over the impulse to shut down or run away.

“Sister, huh? What’s she like?”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“She’s kind and level-headed. Intelligent, too. Deep into the arcane arts, too. She’s performed her proof of mastery, which she did by... experimenting on herself... Yeah she’s an oddball, but a good sister. Her practice attracts a respectable flow of travellers, those looking for the blood chemistry treatments she provides for people like her. People with... gender issues.”

 

[Persephone]

At first Cuicatl was focused more on the magic part. It existed in her world. The Europeans and their vanguard despised it. Anahuac gave it a wary respect. You never angered the witches, but no one really wanted them around.

Blood magic was altogether different. That was the domain of the state.

It took her until the end to get that Celeste was talking about fairly normal medicine for people like Kekoa.

“Hmm. Pokémon have those issues, too? Some Pokémon change sex in my world, but I wasn’t aware of any wanting to be another sex and not being able to change it.”

Except for a handful of ghosts and true psychics that didn’t even have a physical sex in the first place. They don’t really count, though. Especially since most of them don’t even have blood.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste seemed surprised by Cuicatl’s response. “Humans have those issues, too? With their level of advancement, I’d have expected them to have some better solution.”

 

[Persephone]

“More advanced at some things than others, unfortunately.” Although human medicine in general was way behind Pokemon healing, mostly because of how durable the latter were. Pokémon get knocked through walls and get right back up. Humans get a little too much fluid in their brain and die. “Mostly just getting hormones from,” Cuicatl had no idea where the hormones came from. “Somewhere and then injecting them into other people.”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Injecting them? Celeste wondered why humans did it that way. He’d seen a glimpse of them in Veritas, and they seemed to have skin and mouths and other more convenient distribution methods. “More advanced at some things than others? If I’m not bothering you... I can’t help but be curious washout about human wonders.”

 

[Persephone]

“...washout? Sorry, I don’t quite understand... I guess the most impressive thing is that humans walked on the moon a few decades ago. And then stopped because the Clefable didn’t take it well.” Cell phones and the internet apparently exist here’s so that’s out. “We figured out how to make lightning from the smallest thing in existence or from the heat of the earth.” And then we burned a lot of coal anyway. Cuicatl decided to stop there. Pokeballs and potions probably helped, but they would open up some uncomfortable questions.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste had a funny feeling that Cuicatl was leaving out all the context that would make that not sound like nonsense.

“Ah... I take it you want to get back to your reading?”