Earning her keep

[arceusstansme]

Who: Akari and any poor sod who crosses her path.
What: Akari is here to prove her worth to Bottlecap Bay. Whether you like it or not.
Where: Bottlecap Bay
When: Sometime during April (all of it)
Warnings: Swearing, the traumas:tm:



Some people (or, well, Pokémon) would take a day or two to adjust to having their bodies shaped into something new and thrown into a new location. Maybe take a moment to adjust to any weird dysmorphia about suddenly having no fingers or being a sentient bag of garbage (which, let's be real, isn't a change for some people.)

Akari on the other hand started to work. Someone needed a berry delivered from point A to point B without being eaten somewhere in the middle? Akari was on it. Needed someone to go tell their kid who was playing dangerously close to a ledge to stop it? Akari was already there. It didn't matter; it seemed like the moment someone looked mildly uncomfortable, the Cyndaquil was already there trying to fix an ill or find something.

It would be impressive if it seemed like she took a break. Or if she didn't seem like she was just sitting in traffic waiting for a light to turn as she listened to whatever someone needed. It was also obvious she was also trying to make sure the task was done 100 percent, even if she checked back in with the person like she was throwing a cigarette butt at them when she was done.

That was just the nature of her. Sometimes you might see her resting her feet for a second or two; other times you might see her waiting for someone or something to appear to give a message or deliver something. Or sometimes, she might stop and stare at you for a moment before asking if you needed help.

Comments

[arceusstansme]

[FIGHT HER, BIG SIS.]

It is fun though.

[bladeofnymeia]

...

[Well.]

Okay, yes, it is a little fun to see just how long and how far you can go.

[arceusstansme]

It is, like I remember working the field lands were tough, then eventually there I was in the Icelands, beating up Alphas like I was getting paid to do it.

[Because you were.]

And catching Gods and stuff. Just ask Ingo. I caught his God.

[bladeofnymeia]

You...caught a god.

How.

[arceusstansme]

Two actually, and in the normal way- beat them up then threw a Pokeball at them.

[bladeofnymeia]

...How large is a Pokeball, anyway?

[arceusstansme]

Like the size of an Apricorn.

[She says as if that explains everything.]

[bladeofnymeia]

Is that very big? I'm - what I have in mind, from my own reference, is something moon-sized. Literally the size of a small celestial body that is actually very big when coming towards you.

[arceusstansme]

About the size of a berry. Pokémon shrink when they get captured in a Pokeball.

[bladeofnymeia]

...Oooh. Huh.

[Sounds like some Allagan technology if she ever heard of it.]

I like that better than what I was imagining.

[arceusstansme]

Like, what were you expecting?

[She said running around Firoza a little. Obviously more of a way to burn excess energy than trying to hurry the other up.]

[bladeofnymeia]

[She doesn't turn her head/body to follow Akari, but does keep track of her movements. Out of curiosity, really.]

Something literally the size of a small celestial body. But not actually small, because in order for them to be small so far away, they're actually immense.

[arceusstansme]

Naw, they shrink down when beaten. They are Pokemon after all.

[bladeofnymeia]

That does not usually happen where I'm from. Dissipate into aether, yes - shrink? No.

[arceusstansme]

Dissipate into aether? They just die and explode?

[bladeofnymeia]

No, no, exploding is only if explosives are involved. [Except if you're in a Hildibrand questline. Bombs just do the cartoony things.] Dissipating is just...fading into motes of light, and your soul returning to the aetherial sea - er, the afterlife, if that makes more sense.

[arceusstansme]

[She thinks about this for a moment.]

What about ghosts?

[bladeofnymeia]

Oh, of course there are ghosts. The souls who have unfinished business and cannot pass on can be put to rest, though the method differs between ghosts. Some need to be defeated in battle, and others can be brought to peaceful resolution. And then they stick around the aetherial sea for a while, too. It takes time for the soul to renew itself, so they're still sort of...waiting.

[A pause.]

I only know that because of very unusual circumstances.

I promise, I'm not dead.

[arceusstansme]

Spill more, I want to know about your weird ghosts. Like, renew the soul? Like a soul spa day?

lol it's fine

[bladeofnymeia]

Oh, it takes more than a day. Souls take a lot of time to shed the lives they once lived, before they can be reborn as new people entirely. Some cling so deeply to their resentments. And then, the density of one's soul also takes that into account? My soul would take less time than, say, the soul of one of the Ancients to be reborn. It has to do with the density of the soul's aether.

[At least she's pretty sure that's how it works?]

[arceusstansme]

What about the age of the person before they bought the farm? Like would a 90-year-old need more time to go through the soulwash than a, like, toddler?

[bladeofnymeia]

I think so. The experience of a life full-lived is not so easily shed.

[But it's definitely aetheric density that's key, she knows that for certain. Other factors are "mm, it's possible" kind of territory.]

[arceusstansme]

[She nods as she listens.]

[Then she wonders. What if she one day died in Hisui- would that mean that even if she had family or friends, would her own spirit in Firoza's world be washed cleaned. Or did her memory loss-]

[So, she instead asks a 'hypothetical'. But at the same time-]

I have a friend, he lost his memories somehow. So let's say he was in your world and died from like, a dragon eating him or something. Would those memories just be like- lost forever? And like, what about people he might've known beforehand. Like- would they never meet up again?

[bladeofnymeia]

Well...

[Dang she actually has reference for this, who would've thought.]

Lost memories can come back to a soul while residing in the aetherial sea. Everything is washed away, but first everything has to be revealed again - as if the waves pulled sand away from the shore to reveal something underneath. Those memories, too, do fade, as with the others. But those they knew before? Hm...it's possible that souls can be reunited there, and spend time together there. It would not be forever. But it isn't impossible.

[Considering Emet-Selch, Hythlodaeus, and even Hermes are her only references for this...yeah, she sounds confident in what she's saying.]

[arceusstansme]

It would be nice, in cases like that, if the person could get a second chance with those others.

[She nods. Maybe she had a best friend wherever she came from, maybe she had a loving family, or a Pokémon who was her ride-or-die.]

[When you're running from enraged Pokémon, and barely survive due to dumb luck-you think about what if you messed up and bits of your clothing being found months later, peeled away by nature and scavenging creatures (Paras).]

But like, that shit is gloomy.