Poppin' Arms ~ Cafeteria

[Negrek]

Nate watched, horrified, as the farfetch'd shoveled a generous helping of lettuce and onions into his beak... and kept right on talking. Jesus, you could pick literally anything out of the entire cafeteria, and you went for fucking lettuce?

Nate instinctively scooted his own tray a little closer to himself and tried to ignore the messy way the farfetch'd was handling his meal. What the fuck was even going on, here? "Wait, you've been hanging out here the whole time?" he asked. "Training? In the cafeteria?"

He shook his head, tugging at his gills. "I mean, yeah, I guess we're all stronger than we used to be? Just feels like being back to normal, mostly. But I mean, uh, did you miss all the shit that's been going on lately? Like the stuff with Giovanni and time stopping and, and people fucking dying? All of that?"

 

[kyeugh]

"Training? Hah! I'd like to think so. Yes, I've been here all along... Someone or something brought me into this world to help their cause, yes? But if I was meant to be a combatant, surely they would have brought me over in my true, battle-hardened form, not..." He raised his little arms limply. "Not this. No, I suspect I was intended to play a different role here. And that's what I've been doing." His fork scraped the bottom of the bowl. No salad left. Curses.

He was licking the dressing off the bottom of the bowl when Nate said that word: dying. He lowered the bowl slowly, suddenly stricken with anxiety. "D-dying? Well, now that you mention it... Zounds. Yes, I'm afraid I've missed it all... I'm pleased to see you're in good shape, at least. I do hope I didn't strike a nerve. I didn't realize such grim things had come to pass, my apologies..." He glumly traced the table's surface with a finger, feeling his feathers bristle against the grain. People were dying out there. Some hero he was, eh?

"Back to normal, you say. So you were a mudkip in your own world, I take it?"

 

[Negrek]

Nate snorted. "Yeah, the power thing's some real bullshit. I guess there was some whatever with Diyem not being able to channel energy fast enough or whatever the fuck. Most people are getting stronger now, and I'm better than I used to be, but..." He gestured to himself in frustration. "Still a fucking mudkip over here." At least he wasn't the only person stuck in fun-sized form, but he had actually been going out and fighting. Fighting something other than, like, an unruly artichoke or whatever the fuck.

The sheer horror of the farfetch'd licking the lettuce-y dregs out of his bowl didn't leave Nate a lot of bandwidth for paying attention to what he was actually saying. "It's whatever ain't like they're permanently dead or nothing," Nate said, staring, paralyzed by a mix of horror and revulsion.

Disgusting eating habits aside, Nate almost had to envy the guy. Imagine truly having no idea about all the nonsense flying around this place. "Nah. I'm human. But let's just say this ain't the first mudkip bullshit I've had to deal with," Nate said. He eyed the farfetch'd uncertainly. "But you... actually are a farfetch'd, ain't you?"

 

[kyeugh]

“Not permanently dead, eh? Hmmm. I confess that goes over my head. But I’m pleased to hear our fallen comrades are returning. The thought of their death... It’s nearly too much to bear.”

He watched with amusement as the mudkip grumbled sulkily. It was adorable a strange way, though he supposed others probably thought the same of him. Out of respect, he did his best to suppress his fawning.

“Oho! A human, eh? Curious. Explains your foul mouth, I suppose. Didn’t seem quite right for a mudkip.” He chuckled. “Say, you must be from the future, like the other humans... Strange thing, that. If we’re from different times, you’d expect the heroes to be selected evenly from across time. Yet instead I seem to be the outlier. I wonder what it means.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully, still halfway surprised not to find a beard there.

“I’m a sirfetch’d, myself!” he crowed, dramatically placing a hand on his chest. “At home, of course. I shouldn’t ask of the future, but I can’t resist... My homeland still exists in your time, yes? Fetcheim, country of the fetch’d?”

 

[Negrek]

Nate snorted. "What, don't pokémon curse in your world? Sounds pretty fucking uptight." He studied the farfetch'd skeptically, although it wasn't like there was any way to tell if he was from, like, the distant past or whatever the fuck. He at least didn't talk like he'd just stepped out of some old-ass play or some shit like that one ninetales. "What makes you think you're from way in the past compared to everybody, though? Seems like most people's worlds are pretty different. Like I don't think we're most of us on the same timeline or nothing."

Nate prodded at his pile of cooling pizza, annoyed. Not hungry anymore now, was he? "Ain't never heard of Fetcheim," he said. "But I'm shit at geography. If it's a place with a lot of farfetch'd and sirfetch'd like you, it's probably out by Galar somewhere, and I definitely ain't got the first fucking clue what all's out there. I'm from Kanto, if you know where that is."

 

[kyeugh]

“Oh, pokémon certainly curse in my world! But only the ones that walk and talk, like me. Not mudkip.” All pokémon seemed to speak in this world, though. They were all intelligent. Perhaps that was the norm...? “Oh, I can’t be too sure that I’m the only one from my time, you’re right... But it does seem that way. I’ve caught onto everyone’s strange way of speaking by now, but it is strange to me—and everyone else speaks of the same technologies, ‘poké balls’ and ‘potions’ and what have you. It’s all terribly odd.”

He didn’t want to know too much about the future, though. Hearing about poké balls and whatnot already felt... precipitous. Using this strange foray into an alternate world to steal untrustworthy glances into alternate futures felt wrong somehow. But his curiosity was intense, too.

“Yes, quite near Galar! Sounds like your geography is better than you give yourself credit for. As for mine... well, I thought I was well-learned, but I’m afraid I’ve never heard of Kanto. Perhaps it doesn’t exist in my world. [narrator voice: it does.] Do you find yourself missing home? I know some prefer the lives they’ve built here… I’m unsure how I feel, myself.”

 

[Negrek]

Potions and pokéballs were weird to this guy? Maybe he really was from the past, then. Or maybe they just called those things something different where he was from. It was insane how you could go from "Red and Giovanni and Dark Matter just keep showing up all over the goddamned place" to something as wild as "some pokémon are people but some aren't," which was what it sounded like was going on here and which didn't sound like any of the other worlds people had talked about. "Pokémon speak human in your world? At least some of 'em?" Nate shook his head and laughed. "Damn. Then we sure as hell ain't in the same timeline. None of 'em can talk where I'm from, so all this is pretty weird." He waved a hand around at the cafeteria. "So do no mudkip talk in your world, or you just ain't met none?"

It was stupid to feel offended on behalf of some hypothetical mudkip in a world he didn't know or care about, but still. Talking ducks but he'd have been reduced to, what, running around and croaking? Why did mudkip have to be such shit, all the time?

"Anyhow, fuck yes I want to get home. I was trying to get home before I even got dragged to Cibus in the first place. I guess a lot of people have shitty worlds or whatever they don't want to deal with, but I got shit to do. I didn't sign up for no world-saving adventure, whatever the fuck Diyem says."

 

[kyeugh]

"Some pokémon speak Kalosian and Galarian, yes! Fighting-types, mostly, but some psychic-types too. Do pokémon not speak in your world?" He wondered to himself what a world would have been like. Humans had already taken so much in his world, where pokémon could speak and fight the humans back on their own terms. The thought of a world where nothing resisted humanity, where they were free to expand their dominion as far as they wished... He squinted at the little mudkip. What kind of life had he enjoyed before coming here? But he shoved the thought away. None of that mattered, not here, not now.

"No mudkip speak, at least not where I'm from. Maybe in another land, though... They say the farfetch'd in the east can't speak in my world either. So it isn't too fantastic to imagine."

His heart softened at Nate's words about home. He wondered about the man's family and friends. Was time passing in the real world as they spent time here? "Mm. Things need doing back in my world, too... I was anxious to return to them when I first arrived here, but as time has worn on, I've begun to wonder if they could all manage without me. I have responsibilities and people who depend on me, but... Well, it pains me to say it, but it's been nice to have nothing to worry about but the quality of my salads. If you still desire to return home so strongly, then I'm sure whatever awaits you there must be very important indeed. For your sake, I hope you can return soon, Sir Nate."

 

[Negrek]

"Nah, pokémon in my world can't talk at all. Some real powerful psychics can put pictures in your head, so you can understand them pretty well, but it ain't the same as them saying words. To do that they'd need to be--" He broke off, realizing where that sentence was going. It wasn't actually true that none of the pokémon in his world talked, now was it? "Anyway, that's weird. Some pokémon talking and some of 'em not. Ain't real fair to the ones that can't say nothing."

It was actually kind of interesting, trying to imagine how that would work. Like were some pokémon just like regular people? Did they even still have trainers, then?

But thinking about that bastard clone of all things had really fucking done it. Not like he was going to be eating much lunch anyway, after watching the farfetch'd devour his, but now he really wasn't feeling hungry. Nate shoved his tray aside with a scowl. Why the fuck was he even bothering with this asshole, anyhow?

"Well, thanks," he muttered. "Enjoy your cooking or whatever. Must be nice not to have to worry about shit." He grabbed up his tray with his mouth and headed out with it. He probably shouldn't have stopped for food in the first place. He had places to be. Rocky to corner. And that fucking spooky forest, and Sword, that he had to fucking man up and do something about already. No time for talking world-hopping or whatever the fuck. There was plenty to worry about right here on Cibus.

<><><>​

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Did we really need to take out this many at once? I don't know if even you can read that fast, Skara."

The stack of books on Araun's back wobbled precariously as the growlithe-shade loped into the cafeteria, and Skara wobbled yet more as she tried to keep herself balanced on top. "I don't think we have to go through all of them in-depth," she said, eyes screwed shut to counter the disorienting swaying of the stack. "This is just an initial... survey, I guess? A chance to skim through all of these to determine which ones merit a deeper dive. That library has more books than I've ever seen in my life, and there's no telling which ones might have useful information; I've got to start narrowing it all down somehow."

Araun snorted—or just made the noise, however that worked for familiars. "I still think it's too much. Surely some of the others on Team Spectrum must have some ideas they can contribute, too. Or the pokémon who live around here."

"Of course they do! But considering I've been completely useless for the past... mists, how long has it even been?... look, I just don't think it's fair to expect them to have to do all the heavy lifting. I'm in a better headspace for putting in legwork—uh, such as it is—myself, and I'd rather have actual, solid contributions of my own to bring to the table. Speaking of which, that one in the corner looks like it's empty. Set me down there so I can get a head start on skimming these indices, and then you can jump in when you come back with the food."

"I don't remember volunteering to do any fuckin' reading," the growlithe muttered, sweeping his gaze across the cafeteria to find the table Skara had pointed out. "I wanted to go see if there was any more sign of Sword, and— oh, hey! Isn't that Cynthian over there? Hi, Cynthian!"

Araun wheeled hard to the right and trotted toward a table nearly across the room from the one Skara had chosen; the charjabug tried to object, but all that came out was a startled hiss as she struggled to keep from toppling off after the sudden turn. Bah. She was completely at his mercy. It wasn't like she could carry all her books to the table herself, then go get food, then make it all the way back to her seat again without having wasted all of her lunchtime just on the journey. Socializing sounded like an awfully convenient excuse for avoiding getting some actual work done... but, she had to admit, catching up with someone she at least knew a little about wouldn't be too bad.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian had gone to the cafeteria and ordered every kind of food there as per Ivy's recommendation, which led to her having a massive pile of different junk food from hot dogs to meatpies in front of her.

"Don't worry! I'll eat anything you can't!" Ivy chimed up beside her.

"S-sure..." Cynthian wasn't sure how much of that she should believe. How could Ivy eat more than she could? Either way, she grabbed herself one of the muffins in the tray beside her and nibbled on it at first, then she ate the rest of it in one go to savor the taste.

"I wanted to go see if there was any more sign of Sword, and— oh, hey! Isn't that Cynthian over there? Hi, Cynthian!"

"Huh? Oh, Skara! And... your familiar!" Cynthian waved at them briefly even as the growlithe approached. "Oh my, it's been a long time, hasn't it, Skara? Why don't you join us for a meal? I have more than enough to share as you can see."

"Yay! New friends! New friends!" Ivy said, bouncing up and down on the bench.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Skara suppressed a sigh as Araun slid her—and several books—onto what space was left on the table. Bean was probably definitely not going to be annoyed that the spine of A Survey of Notable Electromagnetic Fields by Continent had brushed up against a meat pie. "It has, yeah! It's good to see you're doing well, Cynthian." (She wasn't sure whether it was appropriate to bring up the whole "dead" thing over lunch.) "And fully-evolved, too! Congratulations on that."

"Hi! You can call me Araun! I think you knew me as 'Limax' before," yipped Araun, tail going a mile a minute again. "Good to meet you properly! And you!" he added with a nod to the other familiar. He bounded up onto the seat near where he'd deposited Skara, instructions to head for the lunch line entirely forgotten as he helped himself to a hot dog. Skara sighed again, shook her head imperceptibly, and scanned the spread for anything a little less meaty. Even if it was synthetic (however that worked), fruit and vegetables seemed a lot more appetizing than whatever was dusting crumbs onto the Survey.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Thanks. Being a Roserade has been a dream come true so far," Cynthian said with a chuckle before grabbing herself another pie.

"Though I'm still getting used to the whole having an appetite thing. Wild roserade actually hunt their food in the wild, by the way." She took a bite from the meat pie. It tasted alright, but not quite as good as she'd been hoping.

"Oh hey, I know you!" Ivy said, pointing at Skara with glowing eyes. "You're the one that put me inside that jar! I remember! I remember!"

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Huh, really? I hadn't realized. That's pretty interesting. I probably ate more when I was a grubbin, I think. Helps to store up energy for..." Another sigh as she glanced down at her shell. "This." Hm. It did look like there were some berries here and there in the smorgasbord, at least. She sent a telepathic message to Araun, asking him to nudge a few closer to her. A few seconds later, as they rolled up to where she could reach, she sent him another one to make sure he got his paw out of that muffin dish, mists Araun watch what you're doing. Araun rolled his eyes in mock exasperation and pulled his paw back, along with a bunch of the muffins.

She froze for a second when Cynthian's familiar spoke up. She'd almost forgotten about the angry (apparently angry?) little shade in the jar. The familiar certainly didn't seem too irritable now, at least. Maybe she had just needed to find the right host? "Yeah, that's right," she said at last. "Sorry about that, by the way. How have you been doing, er... sorry, not sure I caught your name?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I'm Ivy! I know your name. You're Skara!" Ivy said, waving merrily at the living lunch box.

"Don't worry about her. She's... about as harmless as it gets," Cynthian said with a chuckle.

"I'm not harmless! I'm great and mighty!"

"So, what have you been up to these past few months? I can see you're doing a bit of light reading right now," Cynthian said, eyeing the books in between bites.

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Ivy." She did seem to be quite cheerful. There really was just no telling when it came to shades, huh. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you properly, Ivy. It looks like you're taking pretty good care of Cynthian, heh." She flicked her eyes toward the vast array of food.

"I wish you were joking when you said 'light'," Araun muttered, scowling at the books. "This isn't even half the fuckin' books we went through before settlin' on these and checking out. Not to mention all the ones about the Tree of Life before we were able to get you guys back. I'm not even sure we found anything helpful in those. Like, not with what we know now." He dropped his voice on the last sentence and furtively jabbed his good paw in the direction of the infirmary.

"Just because they don't explain the Blacklight situation specifically doesn't mean the general knowledge isn't helpful," Skara chided. "It seems likely that someone's going to have to do something there at some point, and the more we know about its normal layout and function, then better. And furthermore— hm." The charjabug frowned, then gave Cynthian an apologetic look. "Sorry. We shouldn't be going over all this in the middle of a nice lunch. Always time enough for talking work stuff later. Let's just say—" she flicked her eyes toward A Survey of Noteworthy Electromagnetic Fields by Continent "—that I think it's about time to look into evolution myself, and I've been doing some research on how best to set up the appropriate conditions here.

"What about you, Cynthian? What have you been up to lately? The, uh, the recent unpleasantness notwithstanding, I mean."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"What about you, Cynthian? What have you been up to lately? The, uh, the recent unpleasantness notwithstanding, I mean."

"Oh, where do I even begin?" Cynthian said with a huff. "A lot has happened since we last spoke like this. It's hard to pick anything specific thing to talk about."

"That said, I'd mostly undergone internal struggles having to do with my past. I somehow ended up befriending Leg and she got me into sewing and doll making. It's really fun!" Cynthian then blushed and scratched her cheek shyly. "I also evolved, fell in love and now I'm looking on to see where we go from here."

"I want to meet Darkwhite. When are we going save her," Ivy asked, resting her head on the table with a pout.

"Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I haven't been keeping up with that matter in particular. It'd do me good to be more proactive about helping the others. Maybe I could tag along some of the others that have found any leads and see what I can do to help, in whatever way I can."

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Eh, no need to go over every exhausting little detail," Skara said. She found herself actually smiling a little. "I didn't know Leg made dolls, huh. If you don't mind, I'd like to see some of the ones you've made when you get a chance!

"And love, really! I'm afraid I'm not super-knowledgeable about that myself, but congrats on the relationship! With Icetales, right?" The smile in her eyes brightened. "I don't know him very well personally, but he's been very sweet and a huge help around the team, so he sounds like a lovely person to be close to. I hope you two are happy together!"

Araun perked up at Ivy's interruption. "Finally, someone fuckin' gets it! I wanna find her, too!" he said around a mouthful of muffin. "I don't really know much about what's been going on with her ever since she got kidnapped, but Shield says he's been seeing her around as a charmander! And I even smelled her back in the guild lobby—well, uh, not really 'smelled', more of a 'sense'? Don't understand exactly what it was but I know it was something and she was definitely there for a bit! I know it! We should see if we can get a group together to really help Shield track her down sometime soon! I think some folks who went out with Maple before we got you guys back might have an idea of where to start, even!"

Of course. Again with this Sword business. Skara still wasn't convinced that her familiar wasn't just imagining things, but... "Well, whatever's going on, I do think that we can't leave Sword in Giovanni's clutches, or where he can easily recapture her if she has escaped." Sure would be nice if I could actually evolve first, but...

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Eh, no need to go over every exhausting little detail," Skara said. She found herself actually smiling a little. "I didn't know Leg made dolls, huh. If you don't mind, I'd like to see some of the ones you've made when you get a chance!

"I've made a few actually. I even made one for Vix the other day, and she seemed to like it." Cynthian chuckled while tapping a vine on the table.

"I enjoy the process itself a great deal. I should try making other things than just dolls too. Perhaps even scarves and other forms of clothing if I get the chance."

"And love, really! I'm afraid I'm not super-knowledgeable about that myself, but congrats on the relationship! With Icetales, right?" The smile in her eyes brightened. "I don't know him very well personally, but he's been very sweet and a huge help around the team, so he sounds like a lovely person to be close to. I hope you two are happy together!"

Cynthian blushed and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Thank you. We're still pretty early in our relationship, and honestly it doesn't feel like much has changed between us." Cynthian prodded at a muffin and rested her head in her other flower. "Perhaps that's what love really is. It's the extra layer of trust and connection that comes with it. I've certainly not felt this way towards anyone before, not in the same way."

Araun perked up at Ivy's interruption. "Finally, someone fuckin' gets it! I wanna find her, too!" he said around a mouthful of muffin. "I don't really know much about what's been going on with her ever since she got kidnapped, but Shield says he's been seeing her around as a charmander! And I even smelled her back in the guild lobby—well, uh, not really 'smelled', more of a 'sense'? Don't understand exactly what it was but I know it was something and she was definitely there for a bit! I know it! We should see if we can get a group together to really help Shield track her down sometime soon! I think some folks who went out with Maple before we got you guys back might have an idea of where to start, even!"

"Oh yeah, Shield is Darkwhite's old partner, right? I haven't really met him, though perhaps I ought to lend him a flower too." Cynthian rubbed her chin and hummed. "I think it's possible Darkwhite is existing both in and out of reality somehow. I mean, all sorts of dimensions exist. I just got back from the void lands for one thing. Maybe Giovanni put her somewhere like that?"

Cynthian let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, I really need to catch up on everything that's been going on."

 

[Phoenixsong]

"I've made a few actually. I even made one for Vix the other day, and she seemed to like it." Cynthian chuckled while tapping a vine on the table.

"I enjoy the process itself a great deal. I should try making other things than just dolls too. Perhaps even scarves and other forms of clothing if I get the chance."

"Scarves and clothes, huh? That sounds like a fun option, too. I'm usually more for reading and history than crafts, myself, but I'd really like to see what you come up with."

Cynthian blushed and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Thank you. We're still pretty early in our relationship, and honestly it doesn't feel like much has changed between us." Cynthian prodded at a muffin and rested her head in her other flower. "Perhaps that's what love really is. It's the extra layer of trust and connection that comes with it. I've certainly not felt this way towards anyone before, not in the same way."

"Well, however long it's lasted so far, I'm just glad to hear you're happy." Another smile.

"Oh yeah, Shield is Darkwhite's old partner, right? I haven't really met him, though perhaps I ought to lend him a flower too." Cynthian rubbed her chin and hummed. "I think it's possible Darkwhite is existing both in and out of reality somehow. I mean, all sorts of dimensions exist. I just got back from the void lands for one thing. Maybe Giovanni put her somewhere like that?"

Cynthian let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, I really need to catch up on everything that's been going on."

"That's an interesting theory..." Skara still wasn't sure what all of this was about—as far as she knew, Sword was still held prisoner, and there was no compelling evidence to the contrary—but at this point Cibus was such a mess, confusing in ways that almost made Mondhame's current mess seem predictable, who knew? "Well, it seems like we'll be here for a while longer, so there're plenty of ways to help out yet, and plenty of time to get a handle on... everything that's... everything. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know about first?"