2024-06-16: Worthy

• Log: Worthy
• Cast: Ruth Pauling, Sable Aomori
• Where: Southvoid Hills, Energy Nede
• Date: June 16, 2024 (506 PC Filgaian)
• Summary: There is a frightening sentinel in the Southvoid Hills, avoided by the Rangers. Sable Aomori seeks her out.

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<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Of the two rifts leading to the strange world of Filgaia and its satellite Lunar, the one leading out to a war zone of the former has had the Pyroar's share of attention by the Kanto Police Department in trying to prevent problematic elements from getting in or out.
 
     The other rift is in significantly more dangerous territory to watch over on both ends, in the arid climate of Energy Nede's Southvoid Hills. The Pokemon Rangers do the best they can with the circumstances, but it's been made clear they're also occasionally dealing with problems the majority of the Nedian populace doesn't have the ability to perceive. In a stroke of good fortune... the Visitors brought along someone who does not appear to require much (or rather, any) need of shelter from the elements or any other creature comforts.
 
     And so that person - the strange, Nedian-looking 'elf' (as the Visitors call their own pointy-eared people) bearing a large antiquated firearm, Ruth Pauling, who seems to go between a reserved, quiet woman into a violent, monstrously powerful combatant with the rain following her and then back at the drop of a hat - like two different people at once. The Rangers have been made aware the immediate presence around her can be dangerous, so they give her a wide berth.
 
     She's stationed there when ARMS doesn't need her deployed elsewhere, and she seems contented to stay by herself in the dunes near the unstable rift to the Nanza Heartlands of Lunar. She's kept poachers, bandits, and... other strangely powerful, violent individuals out, and the Pokemon here safe. A Kricketot continues to keep with her, and she's made no apparent effort to dissuade them.
 
     Right now, she's still in the guise of the person she once was, sitting atop a rock with her head bowed. This is one of the less tame areas of the region, and yet most wild Pokemon don't aggress upon her for offending their territorial boundaries or what have you.
 
     It's late in the afternoon, and the day/night cycle has coincidentally been in sync with whatever time it is beyond the rifts. The Rangers report there haven't been any incidents or sounds of rifle reports today. (Some have requested a transfer of station because hearing them has been too spooky - and the first one to do so was specifically a Ghost-type specialist at that.)

<Pose Tracker> Sable Aomori has posed.

Sable Aomori has been to three Fields now, testing her Courage, Wisdom, and Power. And in one, she was reminded of a certain Drifter who helped to set her on the path she's on now. So after a bit of time searching her out, Sable has traced the rumors of where a spooky, violent woman resides. It happens to be near to her preferred territory lately of Armlock City, but out in the dunes away from the city. ?

Sable is intimidated by Ruth, but not terrified of her. She glimpsed something kind in the strange woman/creature, and she has benefited from her protection. ...But the area is still somewhat dangerous, given the bandits and the wild Pokemon. So she has two ways of protecting herself; one is the Pokemon at her belt... and the other is simply not being seen at all.

In this way, she evades much potential trouble, until she comes into Ruth's field of perception. Less adept at hiding her heart than her mother, Sable will reveal her presence by her complex feelings about Ruth before she comes out of the shadows among the rocks.

"...Miss Pauling?" Sable says as she does. Physically, her approach was silent; emotionally, well, as stated.

"It's Sable. We traveled together through Mt. Moon..."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    The strange woman seems like a painted statue, for how little she moves when first observed. It's only when she senses some of the younger woman's conflict that she seems to stir.
 
     'Miss Pauling?'
 
     Her head starts to rise, eyes open but never quite meeting Sable's directly. Her fingers curl gently, as the context is given as to who it is. It's been known to those more familiar with her that sometimes she has to even remind herself that she's being approached by those she sees and hears from almost any given day.
 
     "It's you," she responds, a soft smile. A Ranger peeks out from over yonder, looking about ready to say something, but he thinks better of it before he calls further attention to himself, and is content to just wait for any signs of danger to Sable before thinking to intervene.
 
     "I remember that," she says, right hand going up to her left shoulder. Her weapon is still on her back in the moment, as the late afternoon sunlight and nearby Symbological glyphs of the barrier cast and reflect light upon her rosary.
 
     "...You seem different from when I last saw you."

<Pose Tracker> Sable Aomori has posed.

Sable is a quiet young woman on the best of days. She does not cut an imposing figure when compared to Ruth, certainly not to a Ranger. On the other hand, she did approach.

"Good," Sable says of Ruth remembering. "It was important to me... so I'd be disapppointed if you forgot."

She looks at the barrier in a new light, now that she's been to its edges more often, for the Fields. It's different. She's different.

"I am," Sable says. "...I decided, after that day... that I wouldn't look away anymore. That I would try to fight, too. Since then, I've trained hard. I've been to three of the Four Fields that are supposed to help us fight the Ten Wise Men. Some of my Pokemon evolved... and I've been practicing my personal skills, too."

"...But it made me think of you," she explains. "One of the trials. Since you helped me, that day. You were kind, even though you were scary."

"...So I want to know if you think you're 'worthy' of our fear, now. And what you mean by that. You stay out here alone a lot, I hear..."

"Is it because you think you'll scare us? I know I sense... something, about you. Something whispery."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    The Visitor blinks twice while Sable speaks about what she's accomplished, and her decision to try and fight. It reminds her of someone... and she knows what that someone did when she made that decision, all too well. She does her best not to retreat into that emotional cycle while Sable speaks of how she was kind in how she helped her, even when she was - and probably still is - scary.
 
     Does she still think she's worthy? The smile grows from 'soft' to 'maybe a little alarming,' as the questions are asked. Her right hand tightens some before shuffling under her shawl to more directly massage her own left shoulder.
 
     "I can sense fear," she says. Is she a Psychic, then? That's a keen match for a known thing in Energy Nede. Meanwhile, the Kricketot that's there, hops a few times, looks up to Sable with little xylophone noises, and goes back to hopping somewhere else in Ruth's proximity. Kricketot is not a strong Pokemon, and they would not last here unattended.
 
     She trails off on that, head turning as she takes note of a source of fear right there. Apparently overhearing that has freaked out that Ranger over yonder, because that claim has exacerbated his concern. Ruth has the bearing of a predator that might have sensed a meal, but is far too patient to give chase.
 
     ...
 
     Kricketot is not intimidated.
 
     "I'm not... ignorant, of how others feel about me here." It might be more than gun than her, culturally speaking. "How we've intruded in their peaceful world, and brought so much with us that only brings fear and harm." What two-thirds of the known Guado have done, what Solaris has done... and the occasional talks about dangerously, deliriously violent people coming in through the Southvoid Hills have done, that's hard to argue.
 
     The former elf lowers her gaze as she resituates the distribution of weight on her back.
 
     "Where I'm from, that's all I've ever brought, and all I've ever been good for. So, I've made peace with that. Even your own... Rangers, were they called?" Yes, Rangers. "Would rather I deal with those like me from beyond the rift rather than risk themselves. In this world where the animals here truly seem to love, and be loved..."
 
     The unsettling smile softens again, but she doesn't look to her Kricketot head on even though it would correspond with the verbal language. The body language is completely out of sync.
 
     "If someone whose only talents are of pain, and misery, and suffering has worth to a place like this, then... yes. I'llb e worthy of that fear."

<Pose Tracker> Sable Aomori has posed.

Definitely still is scary. Sable is not the girl who knows no fear--merely one who acts in spite of it, relies on her discipline and resolve to see her through. But Ruth scares her for what she is, not what she will do; there is no fear that Ruth will attack her, in the moment.

Well, none from Sable. She can't speak for the Ranger.

"Hello," she says to Kricketot, and then returns her attention to Ruth.

She listens, when Ruth explains. Fear and harm... That much she can't argue with. The Visitors have brought that. But...

"I guess that make sense," Sable says, looking to the Ranger appraisingly. "...Most of us are afraid," she says. "So there's a lot you could sense. We don't have the 'strength' to fight, even though our techniques and spells are powerful."

She looks back to Ruth. "But..."

"You do have worth," Sable says. "You bring something else, too. You protect people. It's not very nice... But our world has things that aren't very nice, too."

The smile is unsettling. But...

"I've made friends from your world, too," she says. "I think... Yes. I agree. If we're going to be afraid, then you're okay to have it."

"..But I don't think you should be alone. If you're fighting to help us..."

"Then even if most of us won't accept you, I think you're standing with us. You're not asking to change our world to suit you. You just help. Like you helped me."

"So if you like fear, you can have mine. But you have my respect, too."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    To that Ranger's credit... he has, on his resume, wrestled a Krookodile, been inside a Hippowdon's mouth to deal with a bad tooth, broken up a turf war between families of Sevipre and Zangoose, and even shoved an aggressive Orthworm with enough force to get them to back off. He's one of the 'tough guys' of those stationed as Southvoid Hills. His service record is exemplary when it comes to decisive action regarding Pokemon and Nedians.
 
     Even he doesn't want to chance whatever it is about the Visitor woman right there. It's just too far out of familiarity, too far out of comfort, too far into uncertainty that even he's not sure of his capabilities in dealing with her if she decides she's going to turn violent on the others here.
 
     Kricketot makes more xylophone noises in response to Sable's greeting, friendly and in comfort, in comparison. It's striking, the difference.
 
     Ruth goes quiet to allow Sable to speak, as she finds the strength of character and acceptance in who she's speaking with - for all the fearsome danger she represents, she's still protecting them. The worth, in someone or something that to this day continues to carry a frightening legacy while writing entire new chapters in that entire story.
 
     'So if you like fear, you can have mine. But you have my respect, too.'
 
     Ruth's eyes close, and with that... a feeling of catharsis that never can materialize, but at least sees itself pressed up against a window.
 
     "Thank you," she says, words soft enough to nearly pass into inaudibility. "...Still."
 
     "Years ago... before you were born," she doesn't know that for certain but she's guessing (albeit correctly), "...I remember when I decided I'd stop looking away, and choose to fight. All the anger, the sorrow... the shame." Her words are measured, as if saying them were like an invitation for something gurgling in her throat to just come rushing out. She's had years to be familiar with this, but even then she verbally tiptoes around putting the emotional weight and emphasis behind them.
 
     "You might have to raise a blade, or an ARM," that's what the Visitors call firearms, though Timu has called them 'machina' instead, "and take something you can never give back. It's too easy to do in the moment. Too easy, to keep going with it."
 
     She looks to that little Kricketot that continues to hang around her, making eye contact for all of a second before she's the one that seems to recoil from it - as if she's not afraid to look into the eyes of a predator, but the eyes of someone that truly loves and trusts.
 
     She takes in a breath, as her right hand goes back over her chest.
 
     "When that time comes," not 'if,' "don't forget what it feels like."

<Pose Tracker> Sable Aomori has posed.

He must be very cool! But most of those Pokemon don't have a spiritual malaise plague going for them. ...No, Ruth is very different from the troubles Nede has had in the past. And she is different, Sable thinks, thank she thinks of herself too.

The young are often overconfident, that way.

"Mm." Still?

Sable doesn't argue her age; Ruth is guessiing correctly. She once made he same decision... And Sable listens o this, too. She has felt strong emotions on this path already. But not all those that Ruth has.

"To take something I can never give back... You mean killing someone, don't you?"

Sable looks to Kricketot, too. She wonders, at how Ruth is the one to recoil, and thinks she understands Ruth's perspective a little better because of it, maybe.

"...I'll try," Sable says. "I don't really understand... But I think one day I will. The Ten Wise Men won't just be convinced to go away and not bother anyone. ...The soldiers of Filgaia won't be satisfied with some FOL and a good battle."

"I don't really want to," Sable admits. "...But I said I wouldn't look away. So I won't look away from that, either."

"...I just wanted to see you, and understand a little better. That's all." A pause. "Well, and..."

Sable pulls something from her bag, and presents it to Ruth. "This is a radio," she explains. "I know you have those on Filgaia. But this one is tuned to a few fun stations..."

"I thought it would be nice to have something to listen to, even if you don't want to be around people." ?

"Mom says..." There's a complex feeling at that statement, which includes uncertainty and sadness, but also other things Ruth might have more trouble sensing. "...She has we should pay our debts. And you helped me. So I wanted to give you something, at least."

The radio is small, with a few knobs, and a screen; it's blue, with a few cheerful Pokemon stickers on it.

"...Maybe I'll bring something else sometime. OK?"

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    'To mean killing someone.'
 
     Ruth nods slowly. "To frighten. To scar. To destroy even creatures whose only misfortune was to be in the way." ...There might be a reason she feels contented enough around Nede's Pokemon that she isn't chasing them away at first, second, or thinnest veneer of an opportunity. She must be someone who did - or once - loved whatever the Visitors call the Pokemon of their home, then.
 
     Sable repeats her resolve, and the older woman doesn't push back.
 
     '...I just wanted to see you, and understand a little better. That's all.'
 
     "...mm." Ruth speaks within that pause with a slightly bowed head.
 
     'Well, and...'
 
     A gift is presented. A radio, she recognizes.
 
     "...Not everywhere in Filgaia," she says. "When I was younger... as part of my schooling, I went to a large city filled with... tall buildings, machines, lights, and cars as far as the eyes could see." Ruth's smile returns, but it feels like one trying to cover up a different emotion.
 
     "It was one of the few places I'd been in that had so many songs to hear. There were some hymns I liked listening to, that I'd sing along with," she takes the radio in both hands, holding it closely. It's smaller than the ones she's seen, but she's seen it enough in these parts to know it's true. Why does Nede make everything so small? Maybe it needs to, because it's not that large of a world now. (That's not why it's small, but...)
 
     She listens to Sable's rationale - that it'd be fun to have something to listen to, even if she doesn't want to be around people. Whether that's true or not, she doesn't comment, but she does look up as Sable speaks as to why.
 
     ...
 
     "Thank you," she says. She has a hard time accepting kindness out of the blue, her regular acquaintances and friends have noticed. This is one of the few times she hasn't outwardly talked herself into it. "I don't... hate, other people," she says, as the Malevolence within her roils about just how much she has hurt everyone around her. A contradiction.
 
     "I just... I know what is asked of me," a form of resignation, and what brings her fulfillment and the desire to keep holding onto herself. She nods, quietly and solemnly, to the offer to bring something else sometime.
 
     LATER
 
     The primary complaint about the Rangers wanting to transfer is that they're tired of hearing ancient Kalosian cathedral music.

<Pose Tracker> Sable Aomori has posed.

"I see..." Destroy creatures. It's something they don't have to do often, on Energy Nede; repelling wild Pokemon only makes them faint, after all. Pokemon are so sturdy... excepting how some predate on others, of course. But it's hard to kill them without meaning to.

But Ruth has had to do that wwith these 'animals'.

"Okay," Sable says.

Sable gives her gift, and listens to Ruth again. "I see... I've seen smaller settlements on Filgaia, but not the bigger ones. That one sounds a little more like ours..."

Songs to hear. Sable nods. "I like music."

The explanation about people... Sable nods thoughtfully. "I don't think you do," she says. "I think... you think staying away from us protects us, too. And maybe you're right."

"Still. Don't let us ask things of you you don't want to give. This is our world. We should protect it, too. So we'll stand with you, even if we're not together."

"...I should go," Sable says, unawaree of the repurcussions of her gift. "But... I'll come back sometime."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    It's a scary prospect, isn't it? That Filgaia hasn't come to cherish their world as much as Nede has taken to nurturing and preserving its remnants. That they lived without consideration for one another's lives, or their creatures.
 
     "That one only lives in memory now," she says of that city. That city's story is... maybe for another time.
 
     Sable reads out her thoughts about how staying away protects them. It is true that being who she is now does carry a risk and cost to the world around her, and yet... it's the least monstrous she's ever felt, is what she says to others.
 
     "It's all right," she tells Sable, looking away from her as she sees a handful of silhouettes staring through the void. If Sable looks, they sort of look like Midnight Form Lycanroc, but less angular and more bulky. There's four of them. She starts to rise from where she sits, setting the radio down. Her Kricketot friend looks up, then bounces towards Ruth's shadow.
 
     "...There's someone who isn't around to tell me what they saw in someone like... this," she says as she holds up her right hand, as Malevolence starts to wreathe around the forearm. It's a warning, to those beyond the rift - a show of her presence. She takes a few steps forward as she watches the lot of Not Quite Lycanroc Pack hesitate. One looms forward, making snarling noises.
 
     "This is how I live," she says, stepping forward towards the lot of them not like someone in a frenzied hurry to deal with a deadly threat that could tear limb from limb. As she comes within the very boundary to the rift, it is clear what's beyond won't back down - and Sable can watch that same frightening creature that stood against Cynne's malicious aims take shape again.
 
     "I'll see you again," she says, as her voice starts to trail off into a monstrous hissing before hurling herself through the rift to dissuade a pack of very rude Visitors, indeed, doing her part for Nede and, in its own way, herself.