strategicnaps | IC INBOX FOR CONSIGNMENT

( continued from here )

[ It's not funny.

But they weren't even the one being funny -- just casual, with a nonchalant way of speaking that doesn't breach offensive, exactly. Was he supposed to know who Sun Zuu was?

Regardless, there's no objections or nowhere better for Red to be at the end of it, so he resumes walking, approaching Hanbei until he turns again. At least no one's asking him to put his best face on. ]

What contract? [ What a lot of things, but let's start there. ]

[It was funny until he was dropped onto the ice and people were left to get eaten. It hasn't been funny for the past nine months.]

The contract binding us to work with the CDC. If it's any consolation, we're not exactly slaves. [Not exactly!] They can promise us a lot if we do what they want us to.

[...Which might not be worth it, but hey.

Again, like Sun Tzu said: One of the greatest sins to commit as a general is over-solicitude. Keeping your sympathy on the backburner (but don't kill it, never kill it) will help.]

And if you don't want a reward, they have another reason to keep you here.

[ Again: What contract? The CDC was sure a group of what and whys.

It's not a question that Red thinks to repeat (think it, sure, but not say it). What he thinks to ask is what's to keep him here, but not without first letting his own mind think about that with a certain set of words said already and the fact that that this was a group of 3 and not 8 sticking out. It was one or the other. Both? ]

...You said my home planet is safe as long as I'm here.

[ It's the more outrageous-sounding guess he goes for. ]

As long as you're here and you listen to the Instructors.

[The subtext is there. It's so obviously there. Don't make him say it out loud, because after everything, he's gotten even more allergic to blunt honesty.

Bluntness is a sign of trust, anyway. Maybe in the future.]

You might meet them soon.

[ Red gets it. A more straight-forward answer would've been preferred, but it's an answer enough and would probably be as hard to believe either way. Or rather, it was hard to imagine. Him (and Green) and their contracts, and all of those people and pokémon...

And those that didn't have that safety. ]

Do you think we can trust them? About them keeping everyone on our planets safe. [ What a funny thing to say about a group who legally abducted them.

He also feels it's a more personal question out of any he's asked already, but- he has to ask. ] I mean, is there proof? Can we only take their word for it?

[Hey, someone's got to do it, right? (Maybe?)]

Hmm, well, I ended up returning home for a while after destroying my first planet. I don't think they're out to get us, so I think we can!

[He can definitely 100% trust they will destroy their planets if they don't cooperate.]

Besides, it's a lot easier to trust the people you're working for.

[Hanbei says that like he follows his own advice.]

They'll give you video proof if you ask them, though!

[ There's something different about that- hearing that they have to destroy planets, but then actually hearing that this person has. It's not a reaction that shows on his face (and if it does then it's a slight rise in the eyes), but it unsettles him in the moment.

Not much difference there for his current state. ]

A video? Of the planet? [ Does he even know-? ] What if you don't know what your planet looks like?

[He doesn't miss Ajna. Macha, though--]

Oh, not just of the planet from afar, like how you see it on the spaceship. [Hanbei's been on a spaceship too! The galaxy is majestic. And full of debris.] You can have a video taken of places you're familiar with to prove they're safe. They have some power over time and space, so they can get you what you want to see. They don't allow us to visit, though.

[So Hanbei can't prove the planet isn't actually decimated at this point in time. It's hard to wrap your head around.]

[ Wait- ] But didn't you say you returned home?

[ So if that wasn't a visit, what was it? ]

[--Oops, Freudian slip. Now he actually has to explain.

They have time to talk before they reach camp, right? Right.]

You see, I returned home. But I didn't remember the CDC when I was there. I just continued life there for some time without even knowing it existed.

I'm not sure if I was brought home on purpose.

[But he probably was. Maybe? He doesn't know. And for once in his life, he's not quite sure if he wants to ask.]

[ If it wasn't on purpose then that explains why he got brought back, yet - it's not satisfying to think about how they could mess around with a person's memories...

It's a thought that has him quiet for a short while. ]

What about the Instructors? Are they here too?

The Instructors are here. You can contact them if you want to! Do you have anything like a Blackglass back home?

[He holds up the Blackglass and fiddles with the touchscreen for a moment. If he notices the pause for thought, he doesn't say it out loud.]

Uh- [ It prompts him to look at the cuffs on himself ~~(which i hope is where that thing is, the blackglass image confuses me ok)~~ and turning his arm, still largely curious about them. ] I don't think so, but I haven't really paid attention to it. [ Sometimes that one cuff beeped but uhhhh. ]

I know the colours tell you what team you're on. [ Which would be more evident on his if he had the screen up, but for now his synchroniser band gives off a green. ] I thought they were some kind of gadget to keep track of us.

[~~They're physically separate, but they are synced at the same time, so close enough...! The cuff doubles as a comms device too, anyway.~~]

Mhm. The Blackglass tracks where we go and if we're injured. [And, theoretically, alerts the hovering spaceship and sends someone to save them. Theoretically.]

I'll show you have to use everything once we get back! I didn't know how to use anything when I arrived, but I can teach now, I guess.

[ ~~I will learn this confusing technology with Red.~~ ]

Thanks. [ He should probably say that for a lot more, actually. But, he's thinking about something. ] The only thing I can think that does something like that are the pokéballs. If you try and catch a pokémon that's already been captured, it bounces your pokéball back... but it doesn't really track a pokémon. Just if it's owned.

[ Saying it aloud... ] I guess it's not the same after all.

[~~Good luck.~~]

Can Pokéballs work on all kinds of animals? Or are all the animals in your world Pokémon? That would mean it only works on animals in your world, right?

[Ah... back to the barrage of Pokémon world questions.] Anyway, don't worry! If you keep your mind open and your eyes peeled, you'll learn quickly! All you need to do is want to learn.

[Out of necessity, or interest? ...Well, you'll learn anyway.]

[ Want to learn. Now that might be the struggle. Red's a guy who likes to learn new things, even when he's not very good at it. Learning to use gadgetry while part of a crew destroying planets?

Well. ]

Sure. [ He'll probably try anyway. ] And animals... are those your pokémon? A pokémon's a pokémon, they live in the wild all over.

[ He could go into better detail, but he's not in the most best of moods. ] As long as it's a creature, a pokéball should be able to catch it.

[...Find the good thing in every situation, right?]

As long as it's a creature? Wow! Do you have a Pokéball with you right now?

[One that doesn't already contain Charizard. But for all he knows, you could catch endless Pokémon with one Pokéball.]

What counts as a creature, though?

[Not the Neraki, right?]

No. [ He's quick to shake his head. ] They took all my stuff. I should have five more pokémon with me too.

[ Not something that makes him very happy. One more thing on a pile of grievances. As for the next question, that gets Red flustered as he tries to explain. What makes an animal an animal? ]

A creature's a -- pokémon. It's anything not human. If it's not human it's a pokémon.

[ It's what anyone would say on his planet, not thinking about the others in existence. In their minds only more pokémon existed outside their world. ]

[Is that so--

Hanbei turns around again to walk backwards (didn't he say he wouldn't do that anymore?!), smile on his face.]

What if I told you I wasn't human, then?

[he's bluffing u btw]

[ What. ]

What?

I come from the Dimensional World! [...Not a lie, but the name is kind of misleading. Kind of.] And I've been trying to go back in time to save my world. That's not something a human can do, right?

[He's a human who met a Mystic, and she's the one who can travel back in time. But at least they've wasted so much time in small talk, they're coming closer to camp.]

N...no?

[ The question isn't if he's lying, but why he's saying this. What was the point of it? ]

No one can go back in time. That only happens in storybooks. [ So... ] What are you trying to say?

[ He really doesn't get it. ]

...Aww, is that all you have to say?

[Where's the wild overreaction and awe?] Well, time and space isn't a problem to some people. I know someone who can go back in time. And the CDC can jump forward and back in time, too. Just ask them.

[He turns back to face the right direction, stretching his arms behind his head. Once again, Hanbei looks awfully relaxed for someone who was part of murdering whole colonies of Neraki.]

By the way, I'm actually human. It was a joke, if you couldn't tell.

[ If only he hadn't gone for something so bizarre. At least with the CDC and all Red's heard of them so far, it's not that he's quick to believe it instead for them -- it's just difficult to argue it. That would require thinking hard about it, and he doesn't want to. There's already too much to take in.

Somehow, hearing about people travelling through time is hard to be amazed over.

His voice comes out dry when he speaks. ]

I could. You don't make a very good pokémon.

[ It's not a joke, not quite sarcastic, but there's enough to indicate that's he's tired and not in the mood for messing around. He doesn't question the ease that the guy walks, but that little game he doesn't get.

At least they're closer now to camp, with others who've already made their way there. The medical team are sure to be having a good time. ]

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