ohmyarceus | January - February Test drive

( Killing god is a little beyond her programming, so she's left looking blankly at the screen for a spell. )

Omnipotent?

( Should former robots ponder the existence of god? Do androids dream of electric sheep? )

( She pauses, her smile faltering. )

I can't sing. Not anymore.

...

So! I'll have to support you as much as I can! You'll have to work hard to earn us our money, otherwise we'll never be able to leave this place. And I want to see what other kinds of Pokemon are out there! Don't you?

O-Oh...

( She has to frown at that. Not only does she not understand, but she doesn't want to make her new friend unhappy, either. )

If singing doesn't make you happy, what does?

No - I was royalty, back in my home universe. It's not as pleasant as it sounds. When you're a member of a powerful family, you have powerful enemies.

[Paul smiles bitterly. In some ways, the relative anonymity of the Pokémon world is better for him, and safer, though he knows better than to let his guard down completely.]

But a lot of those skills can be transferred to adventuring, you're right about that. And it sounds like it's a good idea to be careful with Team Rocket about. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to defend myself.

Freddy?

( Like Freddy, far be it from Chica to turn down a hug, especially one from a good friend. Even in their strange new human forms, Freddy feels like Freddy. He's softer now, not as rigid with plastic. He doesn't smell like WD-40 and cheese pizza anymore, which might be a downside only because Chica had grown used to the Pizzaplex's smells. It's the only home she's ever known, really. )

...I'm happy, too!

( Again, speaking too loudly too suddenly cause a pop in her vocals, like hr voice has a limit before it fizzles out, but Chica is doing her best not to mind it. She has Freddy and now she has Piplup and Mike as well. Who knows how many more friends they'll make along the way? )

Now, what will we do about Gregory?

Gregory... Yes...

[He slowly set her back down before considering the question. What would they do about Gregory? He'd made a promise and he did not intend to go back on that, but things were more complicated now... Or... Were they?]

Chica, do you... know anything about the children who disappeared.

Missing children..?

( This question should be pretty easy for her. It's a yes or no question, really, but... but she really isn't sure. It sounds familiar, she has memories, but they're all so foggy. It's like they were thought up by someone else. )

I... don't know. I don't want anyone to go missing. I just want kids to have a good time at the Pizzaplex. That's all. No one gets hurt. All kids should be safe. That's what our friendly security staff is for.

01. New Bark Town

[What a curious thing. She's stood for a great deal of time at the docks, watching the ships come and go, listening to the ripple of the water, piecing together what information she's been able to acquire so far. It is not nearly as much as she would be comfortable possessing, but from an immediate assessment, it isn't a place filled with malevolence. Even without those who would otherwise protect her, Rhea feels that she is, at least for the moment, safe.

Beside her stands a ralts. Patient and imploring. It doesn't speak, though since she's come to, it's been there and it has yet to leave her side. There don't appear to be other ones either. In consequence, Rhea can only come to assume that it did not come with others. Merely on its own.

As she bends down as carefully as she can, she offers over a hand, slender fingers outstretched with care.]

You must be on your own here, as well. Perhaps you realised that I too came alone [With a soft smile, kind, patient, and understanding, she dips her chin ever in slight, as if in a silent acknowledgement, though she has no real way to know if that is, indeed, the way of it.]

Well, then. If the two of us remain together, neither of us will be alone.

[It doesn't provide her with response. Even so, Rhea's gaze exchanges between the ships and the opposing signs that indicate the road out of New Bark Town.]

Now then, which way do you think we ought to go...?

02. Ruins of Alph

[Admittedly, it loses a bit of its enigmatic wonder when groups of tourists are being led around. The history of the area seems to be largely based on local folklore, though given the lack of familiarity she has to the area, Rhea finds most of it very fantastical. In some ways, however, the ruins do make her think of Fódlan and its own collection of mysteries.

Well. Mysteries perhaps to others. To her...

The scattered voices of some of the other tourists catches her attention and for several long moments, she watches the group as they're led off to the next section and another chapter of fantastical story that Rhea has yet to determine truth or falsehood. She'll follow along in due time, but she suspects they will not miss her for too terribly long.]

Let us take a closer look at things.

[For it's riddled with history and there is likely much to learn. Sometimes one can only figure those out without a collective of voices around. And at the very least, she can treat it as an adventure she otherwise would not be in place to indulge in.]

03. Network | UN: ladyofscripture

[The video feed is awkward at best. Rhea barely has the most minimal knowledge of the features and much of that responsibility has been passed onto her ralts who is attempting to properly prop it up. The initial feed only shows the details of her ornate wear.]

Up a little more... Just a bit, I think.

[She addresses her ralts kindly, and eventually the feed finds her face and the gentle curve of her mouth.]

There we are. Thank you.

[The feed doesn't show it, but she's extending a hand for her ralts to approach her. She likely has the intentions to pick it up and hold it. Turning her attention onto the feed, she begins with a quiet disposition.]

I believe in passing, I may have heard something about contests. I would be most interested in hearing more, if anyone has information.

[Not because she wants to be involved. Only because it simply sounds interesting.]

04. Wildcard

[If none of the above strike your fancy, we can do something different. Please feel free to discuss something with me here or send me a private message.]

Edited 2022-01-14 04:59 (UTC)

[Dimitri likes the Ruins of Alph... He thinks. It is a difficult thing to say with any true accuracy. The first time he was in their vicinity, after all, well... He was hardly in the best state of mind. In those early months traversing Johto, his memories occasionally blurred together, became meaningless. He would be hard pressed to say he was properly living in that kind of state.]

[But some things still stand out clearly. After all, it was here in the Ruins of Alph that he finally was able to truly connect with Claude - that he began to listen to him instead of treating him like an enemy, a liar. Their "first date" as Claude likes to teasingly call it, although Dimitri thinks that is a bit much. It had just been a bribe, an attempt to distract Claude, at least at first. ]

[And then, perhaps even most importantly... This had been the place where Grant had met Kent, and caught him to bring to Dimitri. Kent, who Dimitri is now well aware is perhaps one of the strongest reasons why he can be as he is now.]

[That is one of the reasons why he is back in the Ruins of Alph, Kent the Munna dozily on his shoulder and braced by one of Dimitri's hands. The other is that one day he'd like to build a home in Johto, or even Kanto, so why not revisit the places they'd all visited once before?]

[Those are his thoughts as he makes his way down to the ruins, looking back idly. He knows this is hardly the ideal place to be near to, especially since he knows Felix is so fond of the beach now, but...]

[On his shoulder, Kent - normally nocturnal as he feasts upon Dimitri's nightmares - actually rouses himself, and raises his little head up in a certain direction with a low murmur of sound. It makes him pause, brow furrowed, before he looks around. This isn't in line with Kent's usual behavior, so what is...]

[For just a brief moment, that distant sight of pale green hair - so much more green than Alph in the winter - makes him think of the Professor, of that patient and hard to read stare. But when he turns his head properly, focuses-]

Lady Rhea?

[So shocked by this particular turn of events, Dimitri doesn't have much of a chance to consider anything else besides that shock.]

[Her reasons for visit are so much more shallow and superficial in comparison. No memories to have made here. No stunning moments to have drawn her interest and beckon her to pay visit time and time again. In her own thoughts, she simply has memories of home. Of a home torn by differing opinions. Incited rebellion. Such things are not uncommon. History is paved with the adversity that comes with leading others, of attempting to keep things at an uneasy peace.

Rhea can only consider her actions to be attempts at guidance and navigation. Perhaps, some might say her efforts to be extreme. She knows well enough she has those who would consider her a hindrance rather than a blessing. In this world, however, such things do not seem to matter. She is far from home, with no knowledge of when or if such a thing ought to ever change. She has expected this time to be granted to her in favour of self-reflection.

...Would she do things any differently? Would she revisit the past and adjust it?

Firmly, before Dimitri's voice breaks into her thoughts, she decides conclusively that she would not. Things have happened as they will. Out of her complete control and she must do all she can to take hold of all that has gone awry and set it to right once more.

His is a voice she recollects. Softer, perhaps. Not as coarse as she might expect. She turns only just enough to cast him a look from head to toe, the blond that crowns his head, the posture, the way he carries himself.]

A familiar face. The first I have seen.

[Even when it's a face that has surely seen better days. A small ralts hides at her skirts and she dips her head to offer it a reassuring nod. Dimitri is not necessarily a man she would consider a foe. But she, once, would have thought that of all of her students. Once. In a memory behind her.]

That's how I feel too. [He nods softly in agreement, the memories of the reality Gregory's presence made him face conflicting with his wants for the company that was their home still fresh.] But.. there are moments, memories that... aren't right. People and things where they shouldn't be, then gone.

Gregory is scared of the security guard, not just like a kid that wants to stay late, but... truly scared. And the way Vanessa talked about him... how angry she was... it made me worried too, what would happen if she found him.

[There were so many questions, so many things he wondered if Chica remembered, if she even knew about them, or if his control erased those memories when it wasn't active, or possible.]

Did you... ever get taken down under the Pizzaplex? Below where Parts and Service is... deep down.

[The Ruins of Alph are one of Felix's favorite places in Johto, because that's where the greatest wild population of Honedge and their evolutions live. So once in a while, he likes to travel here and find some who will duel with him and his Doublade.

That is, in fact, the scene Rhea will come upon as she moves further into the ruins: Felix, wielding a sturdy wooden training sword and dueling with a wild Honedge while his Doublade takes on another Doublade nearby.

Eventually, Felix and his Doublade win the fight, leaving the wild Pokemon to slink off into the ruins and lick their wounds, figuratively speaking. He tucks the wooden blade into his belt and turns, only to stop and stare at the woman standing there. He hadn't even noticed anyone there, let alone--]

Archbishop??

[The first familiar face she has seen... He wonders how familiar.]

[It has been a long time since he has seen her, from his own point of view. The last time was... when he was much younger, waiting underneath the church for something and never knowing what shape it would take. In the end, it was never holy, never divine - just a messy and earthly betrayal.]

[The realization hits him, then, that this is the first time he has actually thought of Rhea in quite some time. He went straight to Faerghus after the attack on the monastery, and things fell apart so quickly. It was all he could do to survive, to focus on his vengeance as fire that kept his cold and pathetic body going. Why worry or care about some holy woman whose life did nothing to his own? Who he had always felt a wariness towards - for her actions, for the church's influence on his own Kingdom?]

[Some small bit of guilt curls in his chest. People like Seteth had cared for Rhea's existence quite desperately, he knows that much, back when he had been lurking in Garreg Mach like a wraith. Even if he had not cared, they...]

[Dimitri takes in a slow breath, trying to reorganize his own thoughts. Regardless, right now, she is just a woman, here in this world separate from everything she knew. Just like the rest of them were, once upon a time.]

There are... some others from Faerghus here as well. Yet I have seen no other people sworn to the church arrive here before you, Lady Rhea.

[A quiet separation between Faerghus, and the church.]

I take it that you arrive in just... the last month, then?

[The number of red flags waving in Emporio's mind are

Numerous.

There are a lot of red flags here. The boy- barely teenager now, which is weird for him to think about if he's honest- stares with wide eyes at the screen, and only barely manages to speak with a stiff voice.]

....

...why do you want to find them?

[...He finds he has too much in common, with the idea of being targeted for murder as a (smaller) boy.]

See you soon!

[She expects to find historical tales, runed architecture, and other related fields of knowledge. What she finds instead, purely by sound alone, is Felix. Doing precisely what she's known him to do. That is, he has a reputation, and it seems regardless of where he may be, he's still living up to it.

Rhea watches him quietly, seemingly content enough to take in the sight. It's familiarity. In familiarity there is comfort. Stability. Security. Although his own thoughts of her, whatever importance or lack thereof that she may hold to him, she doubts he would mirror the same. There always was a line drawn between herself and the students under tutelage.]

Felix.

[She acknowledges him with a nod, taking the moments to examine him. Not unlike Dimitri, there are some... changes. Some. Although he looks very much the same as he did when he was younger.]

I see that even here, you are making a habit of this.

[Training. Sparring. Duelling. Whatever one may wish to call it.]

Edited (wrong 'here,' you didn't see that) 2022-01-14 22:01 (UTC)

[She suspects that he, like many others, may have no shortage of questions. If not now, then perhaps sometime in eventuality. She cannot determine what he is thinking by the harsher features of his face, so very different from the ambitious, seemingly bright-eyed stare of his younger counterpart. A younger Dimitri had always seemed eager. Intense, perhaps. If reports were anything to go by. How can she claim to have known any of them particularly well? It's not as though her interactions with them have been so direct.

Either way, she finds it difficult to know better whaever he may hbe thinking. Perhaps very little positive. It is probable that of all people he's expected to see, she is not one of them. Transparent, even, given his initial reaction.

She nods along slowly, no more or less than she was before crossing his path. Given that she'd made no expectations to see anyone from their homeland, or even Almyrans and those outside of Fódlan, she's made no expectations to see anyone akin to Seteth either.]

Recently.

[Rhea confirms for him, deliberately choosing her words carefully.]

Truth be told, I did not anticipate to see any of you here. You are not the only one so caught by surprise.

[Felix has generally never given the Archbishop much thought. He's not particularly devout, and she always seemed to keep her distance from almost everyone. More recently, Rhea came up in discussions of whether the army should march on to Enbarr with the tenuous hope of finding her there or retake Fhirdiad first. Felix never made a secret of which side of that debate he was on, though he never wished the woman ill. She was just less important than the entire Kingdom; not important enough to risk their victory for.

He gives a nod to his Doublade, which sheathes itself in the scabbards on his belt, and approaches a bit closer. She looks exactly the same as she always did.]

Even in a place like this, I would be a fool to allow my blade to dull. It could be needed at any time. Did you only recently arrive?

[Barely a pause, before he goes on--]

Is Seteth with you?

[She promises, though Gregory still doesn't know if he can trust her 100%...but he doesn't exactly have much choice right now, does he?

He nods with a sigh, definitely acting with more authority than he really should have in this situation.]

Okay. I'm hoping they're far away from where I am anyway...which matters more to me right now than being in a weird place, honestly.

[Sure, they're willing to help...but how is he supposed to know those same people aren't simply trying to gain his trust so they can turn around and trick him?

And if there's one thing Gregory doesn't give up easily these days, it's trust. Hard given, easily broken.]

So you're like...a police officer, or something.

[Sortof but also not really at all.]

...I'm...Gregory.

[Freddy makes a good point. If they had the power to change him into a human at all, then couldn't they just have him remain an animatronic? It would have been much easier to ensure that things be difficult for him...]

Well...that's good to know, at least. I dunno what we'd do if you were just some kind of...crazy human meat suit walking around on an endo.

[This is all so...weird. Chica being a human is weird enough, first and foremost, but...he really shouldn't trust her, should he? But then...what can she do to him here, really? She has no pizzaplex to drag him back to, as far as he knows. No Vanessa, or Vanny (he HOPES). And, well...even if she tries to find his parents, she won't.

So that just leaves Gregory standing there tensely as Chica hugs him, his heart hammering with the urge to fight his way free, or run away at the first opportunity...but her apology does stay his nerves somewhat. None of the animatronics had apologized before, none except Freddy.

While he doesn't relax, exactly- or return her hug- he does kindof...lean a little closer, reflexively, into the comfort of someone else's embrace.]

...where...where are you gonna take me?

[That idea makes something inside him feel... uncomfortable and a shiver runs up his spine.]

Yes, I do not know what we would do either. I am glad that is not something that we have to consider what to do about it.

I do not like the thought of being an endo inside a human meat suit.

[ Wow, that lady sure is fancy as all hell. Rose feels immediately, severely underdressed in her band T-shirt and torn jeans. Having been told about the ferry to another place, the blond wanted to check it out but... Hm. ]

I guess it's a choice between what risks you wanna' take. [ Rhea wasn't talking to her, she knows, but Rose has a habit of butting in to conversations like so. ]

Potentially drowning at worst, seasickness at best. Or, y'know, into the woods where kami knows what is waiting. [ On the blond's shoulder rests what looks like a bug poking out of an ice shell. It peers at Rhea and the Ralts curiously but doesn't make a sound yet. ]

[ Ehe. She likes this sassy teacup. You tell 'im. ]

Well, then you're gonna have to find someone else if you want to battle! I'm, uh. Not sure how it's gonna work for me here since I'm not about that life but we'll see.

January - February Test drive

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Rhea | Fire Emblem 3H

2 - i am throwing off my whole schedule for this because POINTS IT'S THE POPE

Oh no. No matter what this pope might think, she's not worth changing your schedule for. lol

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2!

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Prompt 1!

Wrap!

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01.

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