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Post by DataNinja on Nov 8, 2021 22:50:08 GMT
A lot of what Lysander is saying reminds him of what N had said, and he unconsciously moves his hand to lightly touch the pendant he'd been given. All in all, nothing sounds particularly bad yet. Perhaps things would be different this time.
"I think I understand," he says, nodding. "And I thank you for your kind words. What do you mean by... shaping this place, though? And... are you sure? I've only known the four of them for... two weeks, I think. That... I don't know, is that long enough to be able to tell?"
He's not sure what he'd expected to happen upon coming here, how he'd expected the other to be. But it's not this.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 9, 2021 0:04:12 GMT
"An idyllic world, a seed for so many others... Must be washed and tempered.". Lysander hung his head, for heavy was the brow that wore a crown. "For every soul like yours, there are a thousand content to clamber over one another for supremacy, burying the weakest in filth never to be seen or heard again.". He set his hands gently on Thel's shoulders. "Thousands on thousands on thousands of iterations of the same miserable doomed worlds. The hardest decisions require the strongest of wills, Mizz Lucasta. Will you help me?"
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 9, 2021 0:19:20 GMT
"I... I am sorry, Lysander," Thel says at last. "I don't have an answer. I want to help people, but I don't know if I can make the choices. I... don't have the experience to be able to tell right now." He's only been properly alive for two months. How is he supposed to know how to answer?
"What would have to be done?" he asks, softly.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 9, 2021 3:08:18 GMT
"We would attune our device to you, and those of this place that possess your qualities, or an aptitude for them, would be spared. The remainder, discarded. Those that survive will grieve for a time, and shape a better world from the ashes of this one. No more Pokemon need suffer. The machinations of Aqua and Magma silenced. Nihilism, eugenics, theft, abuse... All of it gone in the name of a loving, safe world. Even Giovanni would no longer be of concern. A single sin, to spare the world chaos, decay, and ruin."
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 9, 2021 3:22:19 GMT
"I... I see," Thel says, after a moment's silence of taking everything in. Well, several moments. He finds himself considering the prospect. Having no more people like Patience's former Trainer, who delight only in causing pain. "But... I have no illusion that I could possibly have everything in a person worth keeping. Would not the world be... less without the myriad differences?"
"I... couldn't imagine everyone being like me. There is so much that I don't know, that I don't have. I feel like it would be... hollow. I am who I am because of other people. And I... still don't feel like I'm the best me that I could be. It is the people unlike who I was who have taught me, and... like Aliana told me the first day we met, there's always something more to discover."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 9, 2021 18:49:41 GMT
"The girls are part of the result of our first attempt. They are intellectual, forward thinking with firm emotional resilience. They make good decisions. There is variety, just one designed to ensure positive growth and health of a society. In gardening, one must prune unproductive buds, wilted leaves, and dead branches so that the plant may grow Fuller, and stronger.". Lysander slowly took his hands from Thel's shoulder, brow furrowing. "Surely you see the sense in that?"
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 10, 2021 0:48:22 GMT
"I... never actually have learned anything about gardening," Thel admits, sheepishly. "But that makes sense..." He nods, before stammering. "I... I don't think I could do it. Not without... thinking, internalizing it. This... it's for so many people. And there's no turning back. I just... I can't do it right now. This is... it's bigger than anything I've ever known. I'm sorry. I just... I need some time to process all that you've said, if that's okay. My head's just... swimming."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 10, 2021 2:14:50 GMT
"Take a seat. Breathe. Rest. It was quite the hike to get here.". Lysander gestured to the lush grass. He carried himself with the air of a man that had no cause to rush. "Mable, please see that everything is in order while I entertain our guest?"
The blue haired girl visibly tensed at the instruction. "Am I to begin the warmup sequence then?"
Sharp eyes skyward, he took a long slow breath in, and let it back out again. "Not yet, just see that Yveltal is fed please."
Mable calmed at the new instruction and nodded, moving woodenly off towards the machine. Lysander took a seat on the grass and considered Thel with those deep, intense eyes. "I know I am asking a lot of you, and I am thankful you have at least chosen to hear me out. Please, tell me about your youth. Whatever happens today, I would like to know your story. Of your growth. What you see yourself as."
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 10, 2021 2:35:38 GMT
Thel sits as instructed, grateful to get off his feet. He considers what has been asked, what to say. "I... don't know what I see myself as, to be honest. I feel caught between so many things. I ask myself who I am, set out to discover that... but I don't yet have an answer."
"From your comments, you seem to know... well, what I am. That I am not exactly entirely human in origin. And... well, if you didn't know that, I suppose you do now." He gives a bit of an anxious laugh. It's still not easy talking about it with someone he doesn't trust implicitly. "Growing up, I was nothing. My life was entirely at the behest of another. I wouldn't even truly call me alive at that point. I don't consider myself to have been. That was my youth, but... it wasn't really me."
"Magma... they ended up saving me from that life, in their own twisted way. I wouldn't have wished it on anyone else, but... in a way, I'm somewhat grateful to them for giving me this opportunity. I've had two months of life. Two months to explore this world." He's smiling, glad that - for all the circumstances it's in - he's actually able to share. "The world is a wonderous place. Behind every discovery lies many more just waiting out there. Behind every individual, a story. So many friends, so much to find. I don't know who or what I am, not yet, but I do know that I'm excited to find out."
"I suppose," he adds, feeling a twinge in his arms and rubbing them, "I do have some idea of what I don't want to be..."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 10, 2021 19:46:35 GMT
"So there is a disconnect between who you were, and what you became.". Lysander mused breathily. "You have the eyes and mind of a child, and yet you are grown.". He clasped his hands and considered the forest around them for a long moment without elaborating, though he seems to consider this a very positive trait.
"What is it that you don't want to become?"
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 11, 2021 0:47:19 GMT
"I've been told that before," he comments. "A child but grown. I don't necessarily feel grown, but... I suppose that's part of it. I know things that I shouldn't. How to read and write. I didn't to start. So... there's something more there, I suppose."
"I... don't want to become like my old family. I have choices now, and that means I could have control. That is something that I don't want to become. I don't want to be like we feared Trainers to always be, like my family was. Domineering. Caring for nothing but themselves. It was awful, and I want no part in spreading it.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 11, 2021 1:30:32 GMT
"Now is your opportunity to make sure no Pokemon has to suffer that again. That those taken in, join their partner by choice. That they can be loved, or be free to seek their own destinies.". Lysander pressed gently. "You can have until the end of the day to consider your choice, but it must be made before you leave this clearing.". He cautioned gently.
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 11, 2021 1:38:22 GMT
"Thank you," he says quietly, before looking over at the flower, towering above all. "Is it... all right if I take a closer look at it?" he asks, hesitantly. "I've never seen anything like it before. Ever. It's beautiful." A deadly beauty, but perhaps that's only because he knows what it can do. It probably doesn't hold the answers for him. But it might. "I can't imagine being able to shape something like that from... is it rock? It looks like rocks..." Even at times like this, his curiosity is insatiable.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 11, 2021 2:14:40 GMT
"Of course you may. It's mostly crystal, a type of rock that can be grown, layered over machinery.". Lysander rises, offering Thel a hand to stand.
He idly accompanies Thel on his tour about the structure, letting the boy take it in on his own merits, content to enjoy the warm sun and distant birdsong.
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 11, 2021 5:10:08 GMT
"You can grow rock???" Thel says, amazed in spite of himself. "But... does that make it a Pokémon? ...no, there's machinery, that can't be it. But I haven't known any kinds of rocks to grow that aren't Pokémon... But it's a flower, so it might be?"
As he tours the strange flower, he wonders where Mable had gotten off to. He misses her presence. It was reassuring, a point of familiarity in this strange land of wonder and danger.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 11, 2021 19:18:20 GMT
"It doesn't grow in the way things that are alive do. More, it builds itself up in a specific way with the available materials. No sentience guides this.". Lysander explains as the pair round the back side of the machine to find Mabel pushing a panel closed. Lysander hesitates for a moment, studying her expression.
"Last minute calibrations, Mable?". He asks kindly. "There was some scoring along the walls when I went to feed them. I was making sure the components were intact."
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 11, 2021 19:28:13 GMT
"I'm... not sure I actually understand," Thel admits. "So... it has a plan, and then it builds towards that as best it can? I guess that just sounds to me like it's alive. Even if someone else is directing it how to be. Giving it the plan."
"There's a Pokémon that's actually in here?" he asks, before vaguely remembering Mable saying something about that. He imagines a flower within the flower for some reason.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 11, 2021 19:50:22 GMT
To Thel's tuned senses, Mable is lying, skillfully so even, but Lysander can tell. There is the faintest flicker of sadness and disappointment in the man's eyes as he turns to answer Thel's question.
"The great legendary bird, Yveltal. This is only the second time it has needed to be contained this way, and why I won't have it endure longer then it must. The flower empowers its natural abilities and ensures the transition to a better world is as painless as possible."
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Post by DataNinja on Nov 11, 2021 20:06:47 GMT
"Ah..." Thel says, his face falling a little. His dithering here is causing confinement to something that shouldn't be confined. "I see that... my indecision is costing it." And still he doesn't know what to do. The flower brought no answers. And he's only bringing pain.
"May I meet it?" he asks, softly. "I... I'm hurting it, aren't I? I need to know, I need to see. So that I can be sure of what I must do. I can't make choices for my own sake. It has to be for others. To help them. I want to know it. And for it to know me."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 11, 2021 20:59:35 GMT
"Not hurting it as such. Discomfort is not the same as pain, please don't trouble yourself so. You may see them." A panel flipped over at the base of the flower on only a touch, and several of the petals drew outward, revealing an entryway.
"It does tend to get cramped in there with too many, so we'll wait out here. Just be yourself, I am sure Yveltal won't take offense."
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