[Boop! Here we go! For that matter, how does using physical tokens to buy goods from a phone app even work anyway? We don't need to ask these questions.]
In this case, the plates do not actually disappear. But you purchase the Azure Flute. Suddenly in your hands appears a strange instrument. A new message pops up on the ticket machine's screen, and as it does, the words are spoken in your head in an echoing voice:
Seek the Coronet's summit, closest to the gods, to conclude thy journey.
You see a strange symbol out of the corner of your eye, suddenly. It hovers in midair, moving as you move. It's... a quest marker. If you choose to focus on it, it stays in focus! But if you choose to ignore it, your awareness of it will fade away until you choose to focus on it again.
[He is from a gen before quest markers and destinations. This is a very weird experience for him. But he can get the idea of what it's doing, at least, and tentatively begins to follow it. This feels like something a Pokemon would do to ensnare children and spirit them away, never to be seen again.]
[Aha, back to Hisui. That makes sense . . . and wasn't the Pearl Settlement in a cold location? Saturn remembers Ingo's memory of Coin. He glances at Sharpedo, nods, and heads onto the train with more purpose.]
This one is an old-fashioned, steam-powered train. The train is similarly old-fashioned inside, but there are photographs framed lining the walls of the train car. The photos are washed-out, as if done with outdated technology, even though the scenes depicted are from dynamic angles that don't seem like they would be possible with old cameras. They depict many different people and Pokemon.
The scenes depicted in the pictures include: - A tall young man with long purple hair looking offended, another man by his side fighting off a headache. - A girl playing a flute on a snowy cliff's edge. - A shirtless man flexing in the snow. - An older woman feeding her Bibarel. - A Gligar in some ruins, looking down at a berry on the ground. - A young man smiling next to Ingo, looking down at the vast snowy landscape glowing in the sunrise, from atop a high ledge. - Sneasler climbing a sheer cliffside, a basket on her back. - An aloof girl with a Croagunk.
She seemed to feel like an outsider in her own community, which made her more interested in you, who was without a doubt an outsider. She was the first one to adopt your practice of raising wild Pokemon as battle partners in Hisui, outside of the nobles. You know she was just doing it to be dramatic—and in hindsight, preparing to run away, to have defenses for living in the wilderness—but it was nice to feel validated in that sense. After that, more and more people gave it a try. And more and more people accepted you as a member of the community. But she was the one who did it before it was socially acceptable. If she really does have a family line, you hope it means she managed to settle down and get out of a dangerous and antisocial line of work...
[Ah . . . Saturn didn't really expect the level of great-great-whatever-grandmother feelings this would give him. It hits him a little harder than he anticipated, and he stands there for a moment with his hand on the picture. This woman he has so strangely much in common with . . .
Eventually, he moves on to the picture of Melli and Adaman.]
You never agreed with the political divisiveness between the Pearl and Diamond clans, and you didn't feel hostility towards Warden Melli when you shared space in the Coronet Highlands. Though that's no thanks to Melli's own efforts. You know he's just young and stubborn, and deep, deep down, he has his heart in the right place... He just needs to be managed properly, and that takes even more work than taking care of the Lady Sneasler does. Their leader Adaman is good at it, and that alone gave you respect for the Diamond Clan as an institution. You politely never mentioned it around Irida.
Sharpedo glances between you and the photo, but any thoughts he has about your words are unknown to you.
As you linger on the picture of Irida:
You're not sure you would be alive today without the graciousness of Irida. She wasn't the leader of the clan at the time that she first met you, but she was already a contender. And she was firmly the leader in your heart, with how she helped you settle into the community, despite your large gap in age. No one cares more about the wellbeing of every single member of the clan. You were proud to be a member, when it was to help that cause. You were honored to be a Warden who served closely under her leadership. And you were happy to help cultivate in her a love of raising Pokemon. Once she was on your side, the whole settlement would follow.
[This is so pure. Honestly, she looks way too young to be the woman Ingo is talking about here, and that's even coming from a Pokemon-world perspective and having dealt with Dawn and all . . . but Hisui was a different, and difficult, time. Saturn gets that.
She was finicky and snappish, and caring for her required working at perilous heights. It was an open secret in the Pearl Clan that she would cycle through Wardens quickly, burning them out one after another. That's what made you such a lucky break for them. You had a talent for raising Pokemon, and for tolerating her difficulty with little offense. You don't have the most confidence in your connections, particularly in Hisui, but you know: she loves you, and you love her. You are like family now. She wouldn't easily accept another Warden even if you tried to leave her to someone else. Every day, you are grateful that you can share your mind with someone who cares for you.
[This one also gives him more expected and less emotional warm fuzzy feelings. Ingo feelings, and also Azelf feelings. Saturn lingers.
Those were the ones he cared about most, but he's going to look at all of them now that he has an understanding that there doesn't seem to be any worry of him running out of time and not being able to get off at his destination, the way he initially worried about with the pictures. GIMME THE REST!]
There's one of Gaeric: You long ago realized that you shouldn't worry about Warden Gaeric, at least not except in extreme situations. He was going to continue being himself regardless of your feedback. That said, he was a powerful and charismatic person. He trained hard to be the way he was. You enjoyed talking to him on the occasions you did, and he knew how to energize a group. He had no easy task, as the massive Lord Avalugg's Warden. But he was always happy to work, every day of his life. In the harsh environment you lived in, that enthusiasm was vital for everyone's survival, and you were grateful for it.
One of Calaba: Warden Calaba may have had a short temper, and she rarely wanted to keep anyone's company, but the woman was almost a hundred years old. You would never turn down advice from her on any subject, even if you didn't always follow it to the letter. When you first became a Warden and were adjusting to long periods in the wilderness, she helped you find and prepare food in a way that helped you survive, even if the taste was nothing to write home about, with your meager skills. The clan thrived with her practicality.
One of Gligar: At that point, you were well-versed in how to travel through the territory of different Pokemon without causing conflict. You were distracting them and sneaking past them, not trying to start a relationship with them. It surprised you when they started to remember you. At first it felt like a liability, having one following you around. It would attract attention from other Pokemon, and if it got accustomed to food, it might get aggressive when you had none. But when it stepped in to protect you against another wild Pokemon, you realized—this wasn't a liability. This was the way things were "supposed" to be. It felt right, in a life where so few things did.
And a man with Ingo: He wasn't the one who helped you most in the settlement, but he was your biggest fan. He found your strangeness admirable and not off-putting. And you admired the courage it took for him to confess to you. In your loneliness, how could you refuse him? Someone who was invested in you, with a kind heart, who never spoke wrong of anyone, and always tried to do his part? He deserved someone to take care of him. ...That person couldn't be you anymore. You felt nothing when you considered your future. Maybe you helped him, but he couldn't help you. You hope he forgives you, and thinks well of you, still.
[Little snippets of Ingo's life, huh . . . Saturn appreciates them. Maybe he'll need them for what's coming, maybe he won't, maybe he shouldn't have pried, but he did and he's grateful to know it all. That last one is interesting, something to think about later, for reasons that kind of involve Ingo and kind of involve Saturn. Ingo is nowhere near a hundred years old, but he still has a lot more life experience and perspective than Saturn can at 22.
All right. It's about time to climb Mount Coronet, apparently.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Seek the Coronet's summit, closest to the gods, to conclude thy journey.
You see a strange symbol out of the corner of your eye, suddenly. It hovers in midair, moving as you move. It's... a quest marker. If you choose to focus on it, it stays in focus! But if you choose to ignore it, your awareness of it will fade away until you choose to focus on it again.
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The Spear Pillars . . .
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The scenes depicted in the pictures include:
- A tall young man with long purple hair looking offended, another man by his side fighting off a headache.
- A girl playing a flute on a snowy cliff's edge.
- A shirtless man flexing in the snow.
- An older woman feeding her Bibarel.
- A Gligar in some ruins, looking down at a berry on the ground.
- A young man smiling next to Ingo, looking down at the vast snowy landscape glowing in the sunrise, from atop a high ledge.
- Sneasler climbing a sheer cliffside, a basket on her back.
- An aloof girl with a Croagunk.
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Eventually, he moves on to the picture of Melli and Adaman.]
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You like that type, don't you. The type who needs to be managed as a full time job. Well, I can understand that myself.
[He also recognizes which one is Irida, so he heads for that one next while she's recently on his mind.]
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As you linger on the picture of Irida:
You're not sure you would be alive today without the graciousness of Irida. She wasn't the leader of the clan at the time that she first met you, but she was already a contender. And she was firmly the leader in your heart, with how she helped you settle into the community, despite your large gap in age. No one cares more about the wellbeing of every single member of the clan. You were proud to be a member, when it was to help that cause. You were honored to be a Warden who served closely under her leadership. And you were happy to help cultivate in her a love of raising Pokemon. Once she was on your side, the whole settlement would follow.
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Time to look at Sneasler!]
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Those were the ones he cared about most, but he's going to look at all of them now that he has an understanding that there doesn't seem to be any worry of him running out of time and not being able to get off at his destination, the way he initially worried about with the pictures. GIMME THE REST!]
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You long ago realized that you shouldn't worry about Warden Gaeric, at least not except in extreme situations. He was going to continue being himself regardless of your feedback. That said, he was a powerful and charismatic person. He trained hard to be the way he was. You enjoyed talking to him on the occasions you did, and he knew how to energize a group. He had no easy task, as the massive Lord Avalugg's Warden. But he was always happy to work, every day of his life. In the harsh environment you lived in, that enthusiasm was vital for everyone's survival, and you were grateful for it.
One of Calaba:
Warden Calaba may have had a short temper, and she rarely wanted to keep anyone's company, but the woman was almost a hundred years old. You would never turn down advice from her on any subject, even if you didn't always follow it to the letter. When you first became a Warden and were adjusting to long periods in the wilderness, she helped you find and prepare food in a way that helped you survive, even if the taste was nothing to write home about, with your meager skills. The clan thrived with her practicality.
One of Gligar:
At that point, you were well-versed in how to travel through the territory of different Pokemon without causing conflict. You were distracting them and sneaking past them, not trying to start a relationship with them. It surprised you when they started to remember you. At first it felt like a liability, having one following you around. It would attract attention from other Pokemon, and if it got accustomed to food, it might get aggressive when you had none. But when it stepped in to protect you against another wild Pokemon, you realized—this wasn't a liability. This was the way things were "supposed" to be. It felt right, in a life where so few things did.
And a man with Ingo:
He wasn't the one who helped you most in the settlement, but he was your biggest fan. He found your strangeness admirable and not off-putting. And you admired the courage it took for him to confess to you. In your loneliness, how could you refuse him? Someone who was invested in you, with a kind heart, who never spoke wrong of anyone, and always tried to do his part? He deserved someone to take care of him. ...That person couldn't be you anymore. You felt nothing when you considered your future. Maybe you helped him, but he couldn't help you. You hope he forgives you, and thinks well of you, still.
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All right. It's about time to climb Mount Coronet, apparently.]
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The quest marker doesn't lead you there yet. It is going to lead you inside one of the tents.