Destiny Village ~ Pasta Plaza

[Namohysip]

"...Bean is one of them," Diyem replied flatly. "They probably already know."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"If they have any sense, they'll not count it as a stain on yer record," she said, offhandedly. "Otherwise, I'm guessin' there's not much we can do about the fuckin' issue. Seein' as yer track record has you as needlessly fuckin' pessimistic at every turn, I've half a mind to go chat it out with Bean myself. Don't look at me like that, I gave my word I wouldn't be indiscreet."

Brisa massaged her chin, thinking. This was one hell of a tangent, and she hadn't brought up any of the other shit that mattered yet. Joule, Giovanni, Silver, Red, Darkwhite and the Worldcore... It was an awful lot to keep track of.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyen huffed. "Well, do as you like... but I'd advise on being careful. If the Overseers decide that perhaps I'm too much of a risk, they'll apprehend me now, somehow. I'm sure they have a way. I'm sure that if this Blacklight threat becomes multi-world, they might consider sealing this world, or perhaps even destroying it to prevent the spread. One planet to save many. Who knows." Diyem grunted. "...But surely you had more to ask about than Eien."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Noted."

Brisa's muzzle slanted as she considered her priorities.

"Yer food'll be ready soon. Fuck it. We'll do a few of 'em rapidfire. Joule, Silver, Red. Y'worried about any of 'em? Y'want I should inquire after somethin' particular? Giovanni too, I guess. Gods... We still ain't found anythin' that sticks, regardin' his agents. Did ya get the notes I've been compilin'?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I'm very worried about Joule," Diyem said flatly. "He has been sending me messages on my badge all day and I do not know how to block it. His enthusiasm is disgusting. Red is creepy. I don't like the look he gives me. It's too kind. And I don't mind Silver." Diyem crossed his arms. "I haven't looked into any of them closely, but I do know that Silver has been getting flying lessons with other Legends. He always seems lost and confused but refuses help. Stubborn. Independent." He huffed. "He's the least insufferable."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Lemme block Joule fer ya then y'fuckin' moron," said Brisa, holding our a paw expectantly for Diyem's badge.

"Anyway, I guess I'll figure out Red an' Silver myself. Or get one of the team t'do it, I really oughta fuckin' delegate shit. You ought to too, y'fuckin' layabout. Team needs direction, an' yer the one with nominal authority."

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem growled. "I've bee busy," he said. "Bedridden for most of the day, focused on recovering my core, I can barely think half the time. I'm answering questions that are usually important all the time, and now I'm dealing with Xerneas." He glanced at the chefs. Looked like they were taking extra care for the king of darkness, but therefore were taking a little longer. "They better make sure the food is good," he added. "Xerneas prefers things fresh and finely cut."

And while Diyem was talking, it seemed that Diyem's badge had a lot of random data in it. Chats from several of Team spectrum--apparently he and Owen talked a lot--though it would be too spurious to sift through their messages now. But he also had pictures. Lots of pictures of the hospital, probably unpleasant things that he considered were worth pointing out. Maybe being left alone for too long, or unchanged bandages, uncleaned tools... There weren't very many. Zinc was apparently usually thorough. But there something curious among those pictures. The most recent two images. One was of Xerneas striking a pose, looking elegant, undoubtedly because Xerneas insisted. And the second one--the most recent one, was of Xerneas and Diyem both staring at the camera. Xerneas looked as pleased as a feral Rattata in a gourmet trash bin.

And in it, Diyem... was smiling.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

[Rot > Joule]: howdy, Joule, Brisa here. sorry to say Diyem is allergic to your texting habits, so i'm blocking you for him. no hard feelings partner

Brisa hummed to herself. "So, chief. You an' Xerneas have been becomin' awful familiar. Bahamut was speculatin' that the fella was corrupted somehow—I reckon Eien's personality could be manifestin' through his connection to the Tree, an' that's why the two of ya have this apparent mutual fondness. Sound plausible t'ya?"

She resisted the urge to do anything nefarious with Diyem's badge—though the temptation existed—and handed it back, Joule successfully blocked.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem pulled it back and looked offended that Brisa had looked at all. "I'm not familiar with Xerneas. I am just trying to keep him happy so he doesn't go off. I don't care in the slightest for him." Diyem glanced at the chefs again, glaring when he saw one of the fruits nearly fall on the ground. They hastily, and skillfully, caught it, but after seeing Diyem, replaced it with another one anyway.

The flame on his tail was erratic...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Xerneas prefers things fresh and finely cut," said Brisa, in a flat impression of Diyem's voice and accent. It wasn't bad. Luxray throats had bass to them. "Don't fuckin' lie to my face. Am I right, or not? Fella's fond of ya 'cause he's got a direct aura connection to Eien."

 

[Namohysip]

"Obviously," Diyem said with a low growl back. "But that means nothing to me when Eien is right there in the tree, suffering. I'm going to make sure that things are going to go well for..." Diyem trailed off, like he'd lost his train of thought. "...I just need to make things right and proper. And if keeping Xerneas satisfied for now is part of that, then so be it. We can cure him when we have a means. I still don't know why Xerneas is like this, or how."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Diyem's low growl set off Brisa's hackles for all of half a second, enough time to think I could waste ya with Radiance in a minute flat before the thought dissipated. Dropping her usual courtesies and compassion did strange things to her head.

"Alright. At least we got yer body restored further outta the arrangement. An' y'ain't sufferin' too fuckin' badly, evidently."

She scratched at her cheek fur in thought, tail flicking. "Okay. Giovanni, then. Is there anythin' y'can do to help investigate him an' his pet weapon now we have 'em detained? Are they truly detained?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Of course they aren't," Diyem said, looking half-defeated. "You can't contain something like that Mewtwo. It's dormant, awaiting some kind of... command., or signal. I have a horrible feeling any time I get near it, and not the sort I draw power from, either. And Giovanni certainly knows this, but-- mm."

And to this, Diyem paused.

"Giovanni. There's one thing about him that I don't understand. I had a talk with him, briefly. And he seemed confident. But there was something about him that was... unexpected from what I know of his 'iterations.' His demeanor. He was nervous about something. Uncertainty. I sensed uncertainty. Doubt, about something. It was faint. Like he was ignoring it. But it was there." He hummed. "I don't know why."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Figures," said Brisa, scowling. "As fer his doubt... Th'main thing that comes t'mind is that we still don't know what his grand objective is, besides accumulatin' power in general. Could be he's tense about matters outside his control. After all, there's no way he planned fer us to put the hurt on him at the Lab, or fer Joule to humiliate him like that, or fer Red to escape his control and beat the shit outta him. The other thought I had was that Giovanni as a personality don't seem much like the type to handle this sort of business personally, mewtwo body or not. Is that bastard in our cells accountable to someone? In any way at all."

She sighed.

"Plus he's claimin' he'll tell us more if we find somethin' of his that he's missin', whatever the gods'-honest-fuck that means."

 

[Namohysip]

"Something he's missing..." Diyem hummed again, trailing off as he rapped his claws along his thighs in thought. "What in the world could he be missing? What could possibly be missing for someone like him, who has the world in his hands? He obviously isn't asking for you to return that to him. That seems... more specific. Like he's been missing something for a while, perhaps... His human form? No, he'd have no real desire for that..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Have y'considered he might've been referrin' to his son?" asked Brisa, dryly. "Darkwhite stole the Shadow Machine from him an' it contained Silver. I don't much credit the idea, considerin' who he is an' all, but still. Maybe he had a plan fer the kid? Some way t'make use of him."

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't doubt that," Diyem said. "But Silver's memories about anything to do with his involvement with Giovanni are apparently sealed. Well, involvement here, at least." But that only led to more incomplete answers, and sometimes even more questions. "I personally wished we were more careful about Silver. Anyone with sealed memories. I'd been cautious of Owen until we cleared him, for one..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Who else is there? Shield comes to mind, pretty sure he had sealed memories. Fella's a bit of a worry either way, seein' as he's so single-minded he don't even care fer himself. Why, he's worse than I ever was fer self-neglect. But he's from a world destroyed centuries ago, an' yet he claims to have woken up on Cibus in a confused haze. Could he have travelled fprwards through time so dramatically?"

 

[Namohysip]

"...Traveled forwards... mm. No. Dialga might sense something like that, wouldn't he?" Diyem shook his head. "I don't think Shield is from the past, or was flung into the future. I think he appeared without any 'time portals' at all. But how that happened... is even more enigmatic." Which ultimately led them to the same problem: they had no idea.

"We need to gather more information somehow to figure that out. This is all happening at once in a way that's too strange. It can't be a coincidence. Somehow, all of this is related..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yeah, no fuckin' kiddin'. We need leads. ...Look, chief, how about ya point me at someone or somethin' and I'll check it out? I'm gettin' tired of chasin' up everythin' as seems worth investigatin' without makin' headway."