Destiny Village ~ Pasta Plaza

[Namohysip]

"Hmmmh..." Diyem's tail swished, and suddenly the chef shouted something that caught Diyem's attention. He stood up. The food was ready, and he didn't want to have Xerneas waiting for too long. "Are you familiar with the therapist office in DV? Some of the best Psychics and otherwise in the world. Bean is among them, for reference. Ngh. But that aside... I do not know how confidential they keep their information. But if you were to find a way to figure out what they might know about the memories of Shield, Silver, Giovanni... anyone with spotty memory... perhaps we can gain insight on what to be looking for. Possible triggers. Missing pieces."

He approached the front, paid for the meal, and started to leave. "Something like that."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I'm . . . not familiar with 'em, no," said Brisa, guardedly, as she stood to keep at Diyem's side.

Get yer head examined. Fuckin' talk t'someone.

"I'll look into it. I'd say I'd be surprised if they ain't already put their eyes on the matter, but everythin' in Cibus seems to take a season to get done, so maybe it'll be worth lookin' into."

He's givin' ya a fuckin' excuse to be in the goddamn therapists' office, he's had therapy, he thinks ya should be in fuckin' therapy—

Brisa grunted, uncomfortably. What was it with her inner thoughts pressing so much since she'd been in the Voidlands? Fucking Sombra.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem stared at Brisa for a little while, then shook his head. "I imagine you have a natural fear of Psychics. If you want to speak with someone who isn't, there's Bean, and apparently there's also one named Fugu. Samurott. Far from being Psychic. But I don't know how much luck you'll have unless you get some authority to get information out of them. Psychologists tend to be very guarded about confidentiality. You may need the literal word of God to have them divulge anything."

Diyem started walking down the road. "I need to see Xerneas," he added, and as he said that, the black flame on his tail seemed to flash an ominous red.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I'll be fine," snapped Brisa. "I ain't afraid of psychics. Mind-readin' an' telepathy jus' get me tetchy. I'm fine."

Literal word of God, huh? She might just have to pay a visit by Pop and Cola first.

Then Brisa caught the flash of red.

"Diyem. What the fuck, chief? You in yer right mind?"

 

[Namohysip]

"What are you talking about?" Diyem said, looking back. "Of course I'm not. I'm never in the right mind. Comes with the species." He continued down the road. The flame didn't flash again, but there was no way that had been a hallucination.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa kept pace with Diyem, examining him with a keen eye for any other irregularities.

"Red flash from yer tail, chief. Ain't a natural charizard flame colour, I don't reckon. Given what I understand about these exotic energies, I guess Eien's gettin' t'you too or somethin'. Ain't vibrant red th'colour of Eterna?"

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem swept his tail forward and walked a little awkwardly while he inspected it, but there didn't appear to be anything abnormal about it when he looked. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said flatly. "...But I will be careful."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"You'd fuckin' better be. Whole team's relyin' on you. Do not fuck up this Eien-Xerneas shit, Diyem."

Brisa sighed, and kept walking.

"Actually, there was somethin' else. Less... Somethin' not critical to the mission." She pursed her muzzle in frustration. "I confess I don't know how to discuss the matter, though."

That sigh of wind in the air again. Sombra.

"I can. Don't see as there's much point, though. The fuck kinda romantic advice would Dark Matter give, huh? Wind an' weather..."

What was it with extensions of Brisa's psyche and making her want to curl up very tightly and disappear from existence?

 

[Namohysip]

"...Relationship advice," Diyem said with the deadest pan in all of Cibus. "With what specifically?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I wasn't gonna fuckin' frame it like that, now, was I?" growled Brisa, ears practically aflame. "I don't want yer fuckin' datin' tips."

"Y'weren't gonna frame it at all," growled her Shadow in reply, the chains of light thrashing like an angry tail.

"Look, I just... I'm fuckin' sick of frettin' about gals I get heartache fer, thinkin' our time here is limited, an' then months an' months pass by..."

The Shadow-luxray gave her host and Diyem each a pointed look. "I want a guarantee that when the time comes to leave Cibus that it won't be sudden or surprisin'. I want time fer closure. I want hope that mutual care is somethin' worth persuin' even with an indeterminate deadline... An' if we can't have any of that, I wanna stop fuckin' feelin'."

Brisa glowered in silence.

 

[Namohysip]

"...Assuming we don't all die," Diyem said with what might have been a patient tone, "you will have the time to say your goodbyes before leaving. And until then, I expect a lot of us will be trying to reconcile the relationships being formed here that will ultimately end in returning to everyone's respective worlds. Everyone knows this. Some are in more denial than others. And some, if they're lucky... or unlucky, will remember some or all of this."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shot her Shadow a glare. "Good enough fer ya?"

"Mmhmm."

Brisa stared at Sombra until she dissipated again.

A moment passed, with the charizard and the luxray walking side by side.

"Thanks," said Brisa, without much feeling. "Here's a free bite of negativity fer ya, by the way. It is absolute bullshit that I've had so many fuckin' false starts on deep affection. Latest dead-end cropped up within fuckin' minutes of realisin' I'd taken an interest in a new person. Startin' to feel cursed."

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmph. Well, let me give you another: All the relationships you intend to start here are not meant to last. Don't aim for anything long-term. Treasure the friendships you make, and... whatever." Diyem looked off. "It is foolish to declare your love for someone when your time here won't even last. You've known each other for, what, not even half a year, now. Eien and I took decades. I cannot understand how mortals... 'hook up' so readily. Be responsible, like Owen. He feigns obliviousness to any advances because he has dedications at home, and he probably recognizes its futility."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa said nothing at first, chewing the thought over and over in her head. It tracked, it made sense, but she fucking resented it.

At least let me be fucking pissed off about it.

At last, she sighed, and answered. "Point taken," she grumbled.

Goddamnit.

"I'll just clamp down hard an' wait until I get sent home an' forget everythin' I've learned here, so I can continue to spend years on my lonesome, then. That's surely wiser. Good plan."

It didn't really help, but fuck, maybe Diyem would like the negativity.

"Alright. Back to business. We're better at discussin' the mission. The Worldcore. You're up t'speed, I take it? I wanna hear yer take on destroyin' the fuckin' thing or not."

 

[Namohysip]

"Foolish," Diyem said, and it was hard to tell which part of Brisa's words he'd responded to. Perhaps it was both and he just never said it. "Worldcore... mm. Yes. Destroying it would probably do a few bad things to the world. Not irreversible, not unsalvageable, but certainly bad. Minor apocalypse era bad, potentially. Would be best to avoid that. Owen told me everything he saw in there. Combined with what the team in the Reverse World discovered, and everything else, I suspect there are going to be many phantoms, corrupted entities, and Darkwhite herself within the Worldcore.

"We should probably change our strategy for such a mission. We've been fighting as an entire group for a while, but in this upcoming fight, we may need to fan out. Cooperate as smaller, modular units. Perhaps in squadrons... The first layer of the Worldcore was split into two passageways. We don't know if it will split further. But if we want to get to Darkwhite, we will need to explore as much as we can... Otherwise we might be ambushed by phantoms."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa grit her teeth. "We can't intentionally subject the world to an apocalypse, however minor. I jus' fear that there's a legitimate reason to do it, to prevent somethin' worse, that Darkwhite is aware of. I'll see if I can get through to her when I'm down there."

Squadrons, huh? That would make it easier to coordinate with the group, but reduce the maximum possible effectiveness of the team overall in cases of perfect coordination. An interesting tradeoff.

"Already got some ideas about squad coordination. Starr's been talkin' about keepin' an eye on Giovanni durin' missions, otherwise she'd be a sure pick. I reckon I oughta take Electrike Koamaru with me, t'keep an eye on him. Hmm..."

Her tail flicked in circular patterns as she memorised her thoughts.

 

[Namohysip]

"I imagine a lot of the strategists of your team will have suggestions as well. You've all been fighting long enough to know how well your synergies behave. Some better than others." Diyem rubbed his cheek, then looked at the food. "Mm. I should be going. I've said all I could."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Sure."

Brisa eyed the tailflame again, but there was no corresponding flash of scarlet. She spared Diyem any of the courtesies she'd normally voice, the thanks fer yer time, or the best of luck with yer date. She turned to leave, her mind fully entering a tactical headspace. She could use some training practice, or a fight, or something...

"Be seein' ya, chief."

<><><><><>

 

[Negrek]

Nate couldn't deny that the food was better at the X-Eye Cauldron. And the booze. But chowing down on some shitty greasy burger was a lot more homey, and you never knew when you'd run into somebody you really didn't want to see. Much easier to get lost in the plaza, and there were plenty of people on the team who avoided it because of its reputation or whatever the fuck. That suited Nate fine.

Rocky had run off somewhere, and Nate got the sense that this time it wasn't just because the familiar was mad at him again. No point going after him if he didn't want to talk, but he was going to have to deal with that at some point. Jesus. Nate grimaced and took another swig of his beer. How the fuck was he even supposed to deal with Rocky's... realization that he was mortal, or something. Good Christ.

Pasta Plaza was fairly lively even at this time of night, but Nate was still surprised to catch sight of someone he knew. That was Starr, wasn't it? There was that other incineroar guy around, but with that scarf--yeah, had to be.

For a moment he hesitated. The whole Giovanni thing... how was she handling it? He'd heard she'd been spending a lot of time around the guy, trying to stop him busting out. Which, honestly, good idea, but he couldn't imagine it being anything approaching a good time.

But fuck it. What, was he actually going to pass up talking to the only person who had some sense of how crazy this Giovanni shit actually was? Hell fucking no. "Hey, Starr!" he called. "Over here!"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr jerked her head to the left at the sound of a familiar voice calling her name. There was Nate, seated at the counter of one of the many food stalls, waving her down. She hadn't been expecting to run into anyone she knew here. If anything, she'd come here to have an excuse to get away from the anxiety-inducing atmosphere around the guild these days. But hey, he was one of the people she'd been meaning to talk to anyway, so it worked out.

"Hey. What's up," she grunted, taking a seat at the stool next to him. Whatever burger he had looked good, so she flagged down the stall owner and ordered one for herself.

"God dammit this spy business is making me lose my mind," she said, dragging a paw down her face.