Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa got the feeling Dave was seizing on something she didn't understand. Why did it matter whether she liked gals or guys? The thing was that she'd liked Cathy.

And she'd forgotten.

"...yeah. Yeah I like gals. 'Specially tough gals. Not so much fellas. Never met a fella who I'd care to... yeah."

She could feel the shape of the truth amidst the confusion and shock.

"He tried to cut out my memory of him threatenin' me."

Fuck.

"Instead he cut out my memory of why I was doin' what I was doin', and I was left with... what he thought he saw."

Fuck.

"I had somethin' with Cathy. And he took it from me, by accident, 'cause he didn't recognise it for what it was."

FUCK!

Brisa got up from her haunches and hurled her glass at the far wall, letting loose a feral scream of rage and anguish.

"Goddamnit, goddamnit, I've felt this way for six fuckin' years, and it was all for the sake of nothin', god fuckin' damn it!"

 

[Namohysip]

Glass shattered in all directions, putting the bar in complete silence for just a moment in the area around them. Several eyes turned to the glass, then at Brisa and Dave, in silent concern. Nobody seemed to want to step in to interfere; they did not think they were in danger, and they knew exactly what was going on. That poor Poochyena... Trying to break up in a public place so the Shinx wouldn't make a scene. So much for that.

A few other Pokemon looked sympathetically at Brisa. Gods, it must be awful to receive a breakup in a bar, of all places... What was that Poochyena thinking?! Perhaps it was best that they broke up, if that's how he was going about it...

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave jumped at the crash of glass against the wall. "Hey, whoa, let's maybe not get kicked out of the bar?" He looked evasively around; everyone was staring at them. Goddamn it.

He sank back into his chair and took a deep breath. Brisa seemed... pretty convinced it was an accident her dad had erased her relationship with Cathy. Was it? "Okay, hang on. So you don't think he had a problem with you liking girls?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shook her head, feeling numb.

"Nah. Is that somethin' people do where you're from? 'Cause if so, I don't intend to visit."

She chuckled bitterly.

"No. Jesse didn't fuckin' know. It makes sense, y'see? He didn't know. Nobody told him that was how carnivores made their move, and rather than let him see what kinda thoughts I must have been havin' about Cathy, I hit him with the cruellest, reddest, most vicious mental images I could. He must... he must have bought it. He actually thought I was tryin' to hurt her. Oh my fuckin' gods..."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Nah. Is that somethin' people do where you're from? 'Cause if so, I don't intend to visit."

Dave slumped onto the table. Christ. Okay. Sure, magical Wild West Pokémon land was a happy place with no homophobia. Why the fuck wouldn't it be. "Yeah. Unfortunately. Good call, honestly. I wouldn't want to visit either."

She chuckled bitterly.

"No. Jesse didn't fuckin' know. It makes sense, y'see? He didn't know. Nobody told him that was how carnivores made their move, and rather than let him see what kinda thoughts I must have been havin' about Cathy, I hit him with the cruellest, reddest, most vicious mental images I could. He must... he must have bought it. He actually thought I was tryin' to hurt her. Oh my fuckin' gods..."

Dave nodded reluctantly along with her. Okay. That made some kind of sense, he supposed. But... "You know what, my point still stands. If I were psychic and read my kid's mind and found her imagining some disturbing shit, I'm not going to take it as some kind of proof that she's a to-be-murderer and think I should fucking kill her. I'm just going to figure she's imagining it, and talk to her about it. Except I wouldn't read my kid's mind in the first fucking place, because it's none of my fucking business what she's imagining. And I wouldn't go into her brain to erase her fucking memories, either. Your dad's still a fucking scumbag and if he ever comes back you should tear him a new one."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa grit her teeth.

"You ain't fuckin' wrong. Gods, at this point, I actually would."

She covered her eyes with her dumb oversized shinx paws and sighed.

"Talking to that guy was always just hard fuckin' work. ...thank you for actually listenin' to me. I appreciate it."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Well, if I ever meet him I'm giving him a fucking earful."

Dave took a sip of his beer, thinking. If Brisa's reservations about psychic powers were based in this shit, no wonder she wasn't thrilled about the notion of psychic rocks. "You sure you want a shade? Like I said, they're not doing that shit. No digging around in your memories. You just sort of feel that they're there. But you're not obligated to pick one up. There's plenty of us who have them."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I'd pay to see that," said Brisa, with a sigh of catharsis. It was true. Poochyena Dave yelling at the legendary Jesse Stranger sounded like a sight to see. Too bad it couldn't ever happen.

She listened to Dave talk about shades, and while the creeping dread of mental linking was still there, the catharsis she was feeling softened it, as did his reassurances and rational perspective. Not to mention that he wasn't coercing her.

"Alright," she said. "I was probably gonna do it anyway, 'cause of the power, but I'm feelin' better about it by way of your explanations. Feelin' better in general, I think."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave nodded warily. This was the second person in a couple of days that he'd apparently convinced to get pet rocks by telling them they didn't have to have pet rocks. The power of reverse psychology?

"Okay. The God Squad seem to have a stockpile. Should be able to stop by there later. You'll want to feed them first. If you ever change your mind I'll come with you to yell at Chip about it."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded. "I appreciate it. I'll ah, head there shortly, see about gettin' my paws on one of those critters. I can't say I fancy havin' another drink right now after that, uh... outburst."

She proffered a paw to shake. "I can't say I'm delighted with givin' myself a nightmare of a realisation to wrangle with and losin' my shit in a public space, but I've enjoyed yer company today, Dave. I like your eye fer things. If you don't mind my sayin' so, I feel like... like we can be friends."

Her tail flicked anxiously at the opportunity she'd just given him to say no.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Eh, they'll get over it," Dave said, shrugging. Probably. For the purposes of now. "Thanks for the chat. You're a good kid." She was offering him a paw. Did Pokémon do handshakes? How did this even work, when no magic utensils were involved?

He hesitantly extended his own. One way or another, it worked out.

"Let's have another drink sometime," he said as they stood up. "Let me know if you ever need me to kick your dad's ass." As if. Fucker was probably dead and all. Good riddance.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

You're a good kid.

Brisa gripped Dave's paw and shook it firmly. A ranger's shake.

"Another drink sounds good to me, as does the ass-kickin'. Let me know if you ever want one yerself, I'll be in the colosseum any time."

You're a good kid.

"Be seein' ya, Dave. And thank you."

She headed out, intending to get her paws on a shade and fancy rock of her own. Her duty required it of her.

You're a good kid.

That, and she didn't want to let Dave down.

<><><><>​

 

[Negrek]

It was a crisp evening in Destiny Village, with sundown come early and the streetlamps lit. The streets near the colosseum were packed with people out in search of dinner. It was homey, almost, except for the fact that all the people out and about were pokémon, and a good number of them were big enough that they might step on Nate by accident, and they certainly blocked the view.

Nate stuck to the edge of the street where he could, trying to skirt his way around the throng. Grab something quick from one of the street vendors, or head to a bar and sit down for a while? It wasn't exactly going to get any warmer out here, so maybe grabbing something to take back now, avoid that long, cold late-night trip from the bar.

He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, lost in humdrum thoughts, until a booming laugh brought him back to the moment. Fucking loud. Who the hell--?

It was hard to see through the legs of the pokémon coming and going on the street, but there were dark fronds hovering over their heads, perhaps the tattered tips of--wings?

Nate scowled and took off across the street, dodging pedestrians, but was rewarded on the far side by a clear view of the hydreigon floating in front of a food stall, inspecting a sweet-smelling pile of taiyaki. After wrapping up some conversation with the stall's owner, it looked like the dragon was ready to float away. Nate put on a burst of speed and yelled, "Hey! Hydreigon! Are you the... the Voice of Life guy?"

 

[Namohysip]

The Hydreigon in question rose a little higher and spun around, careful not to knock anybody over in the hubbub of the very popular stand. "Oh! You must be Nate," Buffet said with his usual cheer. The fact that he remembered him at all either meant he was very sociable--Voice, after all--or he was studying them closely for some other purpose. Never could be too careful.

Buffet floated over a few smaller creatures and descended near Nate, trying to look as unimposing as possible. It was not very effective when put against a Mudkip, of all things. "I am the Voice of Life guy," he said. "Did you want to talk? Bit crowded, if you had somewhere else in mind!"

Despite the monstrous form, there was always something oddly melodic about his manner of speech. Even his smaller heads were smiling.

 

[Negrek]

So, the guy knew him. Somehow. Nate didn't exactly think they'd been introduced. "Well, I was just going to get dinner," Nate said, eyes narrowed--because he was suspicious, yeah, but also because even with the hydreigon practically brushing the ground he had to squint to see the main head way the hell up there. "Wasn't really expecting to run into you out here. You want to grab some food and talk? God Squad's buying." He nodded towards one of the bars nearby, the X-eye Cauldron. Solid enough spot.

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, that'd be wonderful! You know, it might be the body I chose to take the form of, but I can never quite get enough food! And there's no use talking over an empty stomach. Please, lead the way!" Chatty one, too.

Buffet cheerfully followed after Nate, and after being shown their table and given proper seating--or lack thereof, for Buffet--the Voice eagerly looked through the menu.

Occasionally, other diners spared a glance or two their way--the plight of being near-celebrities--but nobody tried to bother them. The rumor was that Nate wasn't one you wanted to approach.

 

[Negrek]

(( Namo, I'm dying at the image of people being intimidated by this foot-tall mudkip, regardless of crankiness level. :P ))

The pub was warm and bustling inside, all done up like it was in the middle of the woods somewhere instead of shoulder to shoulder with two other restaurants in the middle of a city. Not really Nate's scene, but at least the food was decent.

When they'd found a table, he shrugged out of his pack with a sigh, then pulled Rocky out and set him up on the table before kicking all the rest under his chair. He wished he had long enough legs to keep one of them on his bag while he was eating, but he practically had to stand on the damn table to reach anything up there as it was. He'd just have to keep this short and trust that nobody was going to try and snag it in a classy place like this. At least people around here didn't seem too inclined to fuck with Team Spectrum, and probably much less... whatever the fuck the hydreigon actually was.

"So... Voice of Life," Nate said, once he'd ordered a beer and a burger. And some potato wedges on the side because fuck it, why not. "What, uh, what exactly does that mean exactly? I mean, my world ain't got no Voice of Life, or if it does nobody knows about it, or maybe just the pokémon know, but... whatever. Point is I ain't, uh, exactly familiar with the idea."

 

[Namohysip]

(( A SUPERNATURAL cranky Mudkip that contributed to punching out triplegod ))

"Ohh, I see." Buffet nodded after placing an order for a large slider pan in addition to a platter of onion strings. The metrics used were worryingly large. "Well... How can I phrase this... I suppose, one way to put it is, I was born during the early eras of this universe, when the first signs of life were beginning to sprout. You could say that I am a... secret Legend that had been formed from the weave of the world--why, if you want my opinion, I'm on the same tier as the Creation Dragons."

He giggled, like he didn't believe it himself, and went on. "I am the world's guardian and overseer, in a sense. I work closely with some Legends to maintain that, namely Zygarde and Xerneas, among others. I'm also the one who usually reaches out toward other worlds if this one needs help since, in a sense, I am the world. So long as there is one person here who wants to keep living, I, too, will live."

 

[Negrek]

That was pretty much what Nate had picked up on. Maybe the smeargle had mentioned it way back when? Unknown legend didn't sound all that weird, really, except for one thing. "Yeah, and you... look like a hydreigon. I don't imagine they had too many of those around at the beginning of the universe. How come everybody else got their cool legend form, and you had to go pick some other pokémon?"

Nate reached out absently to block Rocky from rolling off the table. The shade had been unusually active lately, and was currently motoring around the edge of the table as though getting a sense of this new terrain. Nate stuck out his other arm to form a barrier against the shade toppling off the far side as Rocky backed up and started motoring in the opposite direction. "So, you're like, hope and light and life and shit. Does that mean Dark Matter's your opposite number? Does every world that's got a Voice of Life gotta have a Dark Matter, too?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh! Well, this isn't my real body, no, not at all." Buffet shook his heads. "You see, when I manifest in the physical plane, I need to take on a form that's familiar. If I were to try to manifest as something akin to my true form, well, it might scare the poor things that I try to meet! Or they wouldn't be able to comprehend what they're seeing. It depends on the person!

"Though, about that, Dark Matter and myself... You could say that. Dark Matter is what happens in a world like ours, where everyone has such great power within them. Some of that power seeps into the very fabric of our world, and at some point, it became, well..." Buffet looked down, contemplative. "Even I don't really know the true nature of Dark Matter's origins, but I agree that it's probably the same as me. I... do wish we could have gotten along. But it simply was not in his nature."