2024-01-14: What We Learned on the Mountain
- Log: What We Learned on the Mountain
- Cast: Lily Keil, Citan Uzuki
- Where: Pewter City - Rock Road
- Date: January 14, 2024
- Summary: Lily and Citan convene to discuss what they'd found and learned on Mt. Moon. But from the shadows, something is watching...
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Pewter City is cold, of course. Here in the mountains, with a university nearby and a museum, even. It's an academic's dream of a town in many respects, and Lily Keil does not find it unpleasant. But she hasn't really delved into it yet, either; she passed through on her way to Mt. Moon, and now that they've made their way through the mountain, she tracked back with Citan to regroup and consider what they'd found.
Not least because someone needed to tell the authorities out there about that demon...
But right now, she needs to eat something, and so do her Pokemon. She's just walked away from a stall serving some hearty soft pretzels, and she leans down to offer one to Charmander, who walks alongside her. Glaceon has more rarefied tastes, and Clefairy seems to subsist primarily on moonlight.
All three are with her as she moves towards a bench, and takes a seat. "So," she tells the man she was walking with in the first place, "This is what an academic town in Energy Nede looks like..."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It had merely been a trip to see if it was possible for them to find some of the rarer ores that were said to exist on Mt. Moon, but they had ended up intruding upon something far more serious. Fortunately, they had prevented real harm from coming to the Fairy Pokemon of the mountain, but...
"So it would seem," Citan remarks, pausing for the moment to take in the sights. Ise has scuttled to a stop a few steps after him, definitely Just a Normal Pikachu out for a stroll. He'd given it a soft pretzel and pretended not to notice the way it had disappeared it under its rags.
"I must say, I had not anticipated a 'utopia' on the other side of the rift." He pauses, as if to contemplate his own words. "...Though, much like the word 'utopia' suggests, it is not as perfect as it may at first appear..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
At least there was that. And now, one of those fairy Pokemon is with them! Clefairy, squat and pink, hops after Lily as she takes a seat. She also has a pretzel of her own--Lily, that is.
Ise is cute... Lily looks after it for a moment, and then back to Citan. "I definitely hadn't," Lily answers. "But you're right about that. I'm not sure how deep it goes, though. The people do seem genuinely calm and generally happy... But how long have they been able to persist like this? The mind boggles."
"Maybe I'm just unused to the idea of peace. Maybe Filgaia would be like this by now, if not for the collapses." Pause. "Was Elw society anything like this...?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Ise shuffles over nearer to the bench as if interested in the Clefairy. Its plush head flops slightly to one side as if it were attempting to look endearing. The stitched-on face remains as fixed as it had been.
Citan, for his part, remains standing and folds his arms over his chest. "Yes. I do not think there is an active deception, as it were... but neither are their hands clean. Indeed, there is not a society that exists that can claim it has always been pure of action or even intent. These are the tradeoffs we make: something must be surrendered or exchanged for survival." Still, he shakes his head. "And often, it is not even for anything as 'noble' as survival. People behave as people, and their children regret the actions of their parents..."
And still, he gazes off into the distance, across the city that Nede has built and sustained over the thousands of years of their departure from the stage of the galaxy.
"...I cannot say of Filgaia. Of the Elw, we know they once had a civilization that was more in tune with the the ways of the world. They may not have cared for the 'garden' that Nede has built. And yet, even so... for all their attempt at coexistence, they found that they could no longer live in the world Filgaia became. Or at least, so I have gathered," he finishes, looking back at Lily.
"Mariel would be able to tell you more, I am certain."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The Clefairy waves happily at Ise, reaching out to pat its shoulder. "Clef!" it declares, and begins to dance.
Lily is seated, and Charmander, having charred its pretzel, continues to nom on the burnt remains. Glaceon just curls up next to Lily's feet. Dog sticks with Citan for the moment, sitting down beside him.
"That's true," Lily says of societies. "And they have a lot of regrets, here. Their media is full of them. Of it." A pause. "Still..."
Filgaia, we don't know. "Yes. I know more than I used to, about that, though even in the era of Zeboim, the Elw were reclusive from humans. ...And then, as you say, they left..."
Mariel could say more. "Probably. But I don't think I'll bother her just for a historical curiousity."
"What do you think of Nede so far?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Something claps a hand on Ise's 'shoulder' and immediately it perks up, as if this were something it hadn't anticipated but very much wanted. "Mi!" it chirps, its rags fluttering at the edges mysteriously (not at all because what's underneath the disguise is extremely pleased with itself). Its plush head, jostled by its cheer, flops forward and stays there. This definitely doesn't seem creepy.
But perhaps the Clefairy, being a Pokemon, might not mind it the way a human might.
"Without question... It feels as if it is something they want to forget, but do not wish to forget," he remarks. "It is a sentiment I am familiar with. Shevat, too..."
Shevat, too, has its past misdeeds, for all it strives for a better tomorrow. Some things cannot be forgotten, however much someone might want to forget them.
"Yes. It would seem that they did, at times, have interactions with people other than their own, but beyond that..." Citan shakes his head. "That is as much as I know. If you do not remember them, then perhaps that was the extent of it. Or..."
But he trails off, and does not complete that thought.
What does he think of Nede so far?
"...I do not wish to say this in haste. There are things which we do not yet know about Nede. Yet, I cannot help but think as I look about... this is the world in which I wish I could raise my daughter," he admits, looking away from Lily. A world that was beyond the point of simple survival, a world where fighting was no longer necessary... of course it is attractive, however he must know it can't be as easy as this.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Indeed, Clefairy seems to find Mimikyu charming. Perhaps as a fairy Pokemon it can read Mimikyu's heart... Or maybe not. Either way, Clefairy doesn't mind Ise to look. It continues to dance, trying to pull Ise into the celebration of nothing in particular.
"Ahh. Yeah..." Lily nods. "I can think of some things like that myself, even if our society in Kislev was happy enough to forget the things we did wrong."
"I know that they had a little more interaction now and then than they do now, but Sharon Wyatt never dealt much with the Elw. So that's all I can really say."
But what he doesn't want to say in haste he still says with care...
"...Yes," Lily says. "To a small extent... No, I can't say I understand, exactly. But I'd like to."
"...That's reason enough to try to protect this world."
Pause. After a soft moment, "Not that I intend to do it for free... But so far the chance to train in new ways is sufficient payment, I suppose."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Perhaps it is the nature of Fairy Pokemon to feel thus about other Fairy Pokemon -- and a Mimikyu is a Fairy at least in part. A part of it may well resonate with the whims of its fellow type, some secret part of the Fairy Pokemon soul that yearns to dance under the moonlight (or sunlight, or lamplight, or what have you) to the secret thrum of the world.
And like all Mimikyu, it has a natural inclination to want to feel included and liked. And so like any Mimikyu would, Ise begins to sway to and fro, trying to match the inner metronome of the Clefairy. Of course, this means that its plush fake head also wobbles to and fro, as if the fake Pikachu costume it wears had a broken neck.
Citan glances down the once at the two communing Pokemon and raises an eyebrow, but says nothing on the matter.
"Indeed. It could be that there were a few individuals who did communicate with the Elw, but... without record of it, we can only speculate. I am certain if we could speak to the Elw of the matter, they might be able tell us more, but..." Citan shakes his head. "Well, there is a reason why they cut off contact with humans."
Only Mariel remains as the sole source of information on how things might have been.
"It is... not unusual to desire things yet know they cannot come to pass," he remarks, smiling however slightly. "I do not think it would be wise to uproot my family and decide to live here, nor is it possible." Yui will not abandon Shevat and her duties anymore than he would his own, and there would certainly be a conflict of culture between the three of them with the ways of Nede, to say the least. "And I do not know if all is as it appears to be on Nede. As they say 'the grass is greener on the other side'. Yet... I do not think it is wrong to dream, even if the dream cannot come to pass," he concludes, unfolding his arms to spread them wide.
"I agree. For this and for other reasons, we have sufficient cause to protect this world as well," he says to her.
But... they are not alone here, them and their entourage.
"Lily..." Citan begins quietly, breaking the silence the follows as gently as he can. "I believe we are being watched." He has the feeling their watcher is behind him, though, which means that he's at a disadvantage. Turning around just now will reveal himself as having noticed, and he's not certain he wishes to show his hand just yet.
Lily will see it more clearly from her angle: a pair of eyes in the shadow of a doorstep across the street. ...It's small.
And it's not so much as blinked.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Clefairy might just recognize this inclination in Ise. Or maybe she's just a little moony herself. It's ahrd to say.
'Communing' is a good word for it, though.
"Yes. I doubt they'd want to discuss it with us. That's why I won't try to bother Mariel about it."
To desire things that can't come to pass... "Yes," Lily says. "I understand. You won't, and couldn't if you wnanted to. ...But it tells us what our world could look like, if we could achieve peace--not directly, but in allusion."
She actually looks... almost pleased. She doesn't quite smile. But, "Yes."
And then... The silence that follows is broken, and Lily does not give away that she's seen them. "We are," she says, without stopping her general movement pattern; she doesn't freeze, which would give it away.
"Small eyes, from the other side of the street..."
"A child, or a Pokemon, I think. What do you want to do?"
She speaks quietly, casually, like she's just continuing their conversation.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Perhaps it's even both.
"Hmm," Citan muses. "Well, if that is how you feel," he finishes, nodding as Lily appears to decide to set the matter aside. "She is young for an Elw. It is entirely possible this is something she knows little about in any case."
The topic shifts towards the matters of dreams or 'what might be', of an ideal world, even if what they see before them is but a facade. "Yes... it speaks to a future that may be achievable. Even if it it is not a world we might live in, our descendants might. Is that not enough to strive towards, if we decide that is what we desire?" He shakes his head. "And even so, I find myself wondering if it can be accomplished. Still... if this has been attained, even incompletely, once in this universe..."
Perhaps it can be done again. Perhaps even the grasp of fate can be outmaneuvered. That 'perhaps', that hope -- it's something he has to believe in.
But the silence their discussion settles into is interrupted by a feeling that they're being watched, somehow, and Lily confirms it. Someone, or something is watching them from across the street.
"Hmm. If it wanted to meet us, it would have already done so. It either intends to remain secret or... it may be shy," he concludes, thinking of all things of his own daughter. Citan glances down at the Clefairy.
"Perhaps... if you were to ask that one, that would be less intimidating than yourself or I?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Hmm. That might be, too."
"...Yes," Lily says. "Descendants... Thinking about who we'll give the world to later. I don't often. I'm cauhgt up in the world as it is now. But it matters, if we ensure there's a tomorrow, to think about who will have that 'tomorrow' the next day..."
"...Yes. If it can be done, it can be done. And why, then, can't we?"
The watcher could be... shy? Lily considers that, thoughtfully. "Sure," Lily says. "Clefairy," she directs, and gestures with her head towards the figure out there. "Go and greet whoever it is that's over there."
Clefairy is at least not very intimidating, in general. "Clef!" she says, and pats Ise again before she begins to trot over across the street. "Faaaairy..."
"Clefairy!" she greets cheerfully.
"That Pokemon manages to combine power and 'friendliness' fairly well..."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"You are still young," Citan tells her, smiling ever so slightly. "It was not until Midori was born that I truly began to think about who would follow in my own footsteps, myself. Perhaps it will come to you in time, however the thought might arrive," he concludes, turning his gaze off towards the vanishing point of this street they have stopped upon.
In spite of everything otherwise, there is still hope.
Speaking of hope, the Clefairy trots off across the street towards the mysterious pair of eyes. Their owner does not flee as the Clefairy approaches the shadows near the steps, and it soon finds who that happens to be.
"...purr..."
"That, it does," Citan says to Lily as the conversation in the lee of the steps continues.
It's a good thing that the both of them can be patient because it is some time before the Clefairy returns, with a friend.
"...es..." the tiny bedraggled cat-thing says quietly, once it seems to dare speak up.
Citan glances down at it and smiles good naturedly. "...Well, then. Interested in us, are you?"
The Espurr stares up at the both of them. It doesn't seem to be able to do more than stare. "...esp..."
"Kyuuu?" queries Ise, seemingly studying the new addition to their merry band. Its head flops over again.
The Espurr keeps staring, as if peering through time and space itself.
"Well," Citan says to Lily. "This would be quite the pair!"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"...That's true." Lily can accept that from Citan; she doesn't feel young, in that way a twenty-something often doesn't, but compared to Citan she is. ...At least, in most senses. "Maybe it will. I'll think about it anyway."
Hope... Lily can feel it, too. That wasn't true a few years ago.
Lily is willing to wait, as it happens. When her Clefairy returns with a friend, Lily regards it thoughtfully. "Hello," she greets, inclining her head. "...It doesn't seem to be hiding any ill intent," she decides after a little while, using her abilities to gauge its feelings. "I admit to being interested in it is as well, though."
Pause. "...But I have as many as I can train right now," she caveats. "I think if it's interested in us, then you're the one who ought to care for it."
"...It suits you anyway, I think."
"Clefairy!" Clefairy twirls.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It looks cat-like, this strange Pokemon. There's something about it that seems both at once a little bit alarming and a little bit helpless. "Unless I am misremembering, this is an Espurr. I had heard they sometimes frequent the places where the people of Nede live. Perhaps they are like our cats, in that sense? Of course, unlike cats..."
He glances down at the Espurr, which is staring at... the Mimikyu.
"...They have powerful psychic abilities, or at least, that is what I have read. It is strange to think something so small could be so powerful. Yet... it seems to wish to come with us, I believe."
Citan pauses, then asks of the Espurr, "...Or am I incorrect?"
"...purr..." speaks the Espurr. If it was going to run, it would have already done that. If it were going to cause harm, it would have already done that too: its ears remain tightly folded.
Citan thinks he recalls that the source of its power is kept under control by those folded ears.
"...Are you certain, Lily? Well, I believe I could take another along with me, especially if we are to learn the ways of the people here. It would be unbecoming of us to be poor guests to our hosts!"
And, he supposes, this little one would like to have more friends, too.