warriorscribe | Empatheias Message Box

[ Perhaps this would be better done face to face, but that would be difficult in a city where all Red knows about Enoch starts from the day before, and with only a shared interest that tells little of where the man (super-powered man, not-your-average man) could be found.

So this little trick, perhaps the first he's ever attempted to use it without prompt from another before him, seems the easiest. He isn't without his hesitations to begin with, but Red makes sure to keep them down and out of the way, to keep his line calm. It was a trying night for most of them, and the last that Enoch needed, the one who got burdened with the battle against that four armed red woman, was his unsteady emotions filtering through.

If the man would even want to speak, or if the conversation wouldn't somehow become sombre just them the two of them speaking in the first place. Regardless -- misery wasn't the reason he attempted to make a connection between them, the hum of a telepathic voice coming through. It's even, calm; soft and undemanding.

And then a boy's voice, should Enoch accept it. ]

Hello, Enoch? It's Red if you can hear me. The boy from last night, [ ... ] the one wearing the hat.

[He's trying to recover for the tournament tomorrow. He'd been healed, physically, but his mental state has been far less than ideal. Normally, when he mourned an animal, it didn't last very long. He worked in agriculture, after all, and the very deliberate death of animals he'd seen grow from infancy had been a fact of life since he was very young. He mourned, of course, empathetic as he is, but it was always tempered somehow, never as strong as it would be for a person. A moment of solemnity for livestock or game, a life in exchange for nourishment or clothes. An hour or maybe even a day or two for an accident, a pity, something he wished he could do over, but nothing even remotely approaching the way a person's death wracked him for years. Weeks for a pet or mount, but their life was so short already in comparison to what his would have been, it didn't hurt him the way a human friend's death would have.

Maybe if he had remained mortal even his reactions to human death would have been healthy, in time.

That this creature had been protecting her eggs, that was painful, but the eggs were in honest, caring hands now. That alone would have provided the tempering of his sorrow. He's not accustomed to the death of an animal feeling so like the death of a person, not accustomed to the waves of grief that come with little warning, and every time he thinks he's calmed down he thinks of the orphaned eggs that were depending on him and the sorrow and guilt wash over him again like they were something so much more to him than unborn animals.

It isn't as if he hadn't dealt with anything like this before. This shouldn't hurt him so much. So why...

Red catches him in a round of shadow-boxing interrupted by a bout of tears from absolutely nowhere, grief hanging around his mental presence like a thick, heavy fog.]

Red...? Wh-what is it?

[He can't make his mental voice as steady as his physical one. That's not where his practice lies.]

[ The emotion hits Red first before the man's words, something that sinks into his shoulders, under his skin. It makes him purse his lips for a brief moment, and in that time too -- it connects to him on a personal level.

-- but that was exactly what he'd told himself that he shouldn't let happen, shouldn't encourage. Not so soon anyway, when his mind can tell himself that it's not what the man needs. He lets himself release the breath he was holding in, and starts, slowly, ]

H..hey! How are you? Did I interrupt you? I wanted to see how you were doing. Does anything hurt? It looked like they healed you up alright last night, but...how is everything today?

I'm...

[He's a little startled by the sudden questioning, so it takes him a moment to find a place to sit down and think through them. If he were in a better place he would have responded to it immediately, but there's so much weighing on his mind it's exhausting.]

I'm all right, physically. Their healing was very good.

[He pauses, heavy with regret and guilt. When he'd taken charge of this group of young people for this task, he hadn't expected to be leading them to the death of something none of them would want to see die.]

...How are you doing? And the others?

[He kind of assumes the Pokemon trainers would want to stick together. It's what he would do if anyone from his world showed up. Even if they were his enemies. Not that he hates even them...]

I...don't know. I haven't seen them. [ Honestly, ] I've only met the red-haired one--Silver--once before, same with the older guy, but I don't know who that blond one was.

[ Not that he would want to meet him - blondie - again at this exact moment, but we're not sending any unnecessary feelings about that. ]

But I'm okay. I'm fine. [ 'Don't worry about me', wants to express the boy being concerned for another. ] Actually...

[ He pauses, semi-intentionally, semi-planned; there's words he wants to say, and he should say them now. Not wait.

Alright-- ]

I wanted to thank you -- for giving everything you had last night. We all tried our best and you took the brunt of it. You really gave it your all out there! I know it didn't turn out the way that we wanted, but...

[ He knows what he wants to say, but stringing it together in a meaningful way--now that makes him pause. But he wants to continue, doesn't want to create a prolonging silence through his uncertainty. Again: Go for it. ]

It shouldn't have come down to strength like it did. But those people-- they didn't care about that creature's life. It didn't mean anything to them. It was just a life for a life for them, or a job or their pride- the law was right there, but they only cared about people hurting people than what happened to the life of a creature!

I won't accept the blame for what happened. None of us should.

[ So much for calm. ]

I'm glad you don't blame yourself. You're right, you shouldn't.

[A soft hint of a smile.

He's not saying he's not going to not blame himself. It's in his nature to assume the blame, it's in his nature to direct negativity away from others, leaving only himself. He may not be aware of it on a wholly conscious level, but he does know it's futile to try not to blame himself for this. How can he not, when he was the direct participant in that contest?]

Thank you for your words. But it was only the right thing to do, stepping forward like that. I wouldn't have her fight any of you - even if your Pokemon are capable, I would never want to see you hurt.

[ The response results in a sensation, like something stuck in his throat that halts him for a moment or so before he can think. ]

It was our decision to be there. We would have been fine getting in a fight--I would have. [ Which brings up her in Red's mind, and just the trickling beginnings of thinking about that red-skinned woman brings another ping of annoyance to the boy. ] But that...woman, whatever her name is, she was more mad at you. She was shouting at everyone, but she only wanted to fight you. Why? Because you were supposed to be the leader?

[ Red, kid of not caring about leaderships. He only remembers that from Edea bringing it up -- that the red woman was her superior during that task, ans she wasn't acting as an Enforcer. ]

That likely had something to do with it - Edea suggested it, after all. But I had...mistakenly insulted her earlier. I'm not certain, in her mind, if there was any other course of action.

[He's a little scared, not of her, but of her refusal to acknowledge words - everything was battle for her, and that ran counter to every ideal he held dear.]

They were trying to appease her. [ It as obvious, from the small mind talks when it even came to suggestion that they have a fight. ] But they didn't have to bring that creature into it! But then, they didn't care about it to begin with... it was just a threat to them. An out of control being with a hammer means more to them than one being threatened in its own home.

[ He could easily sink into his own bitterness, and he has to take a step back. The small tug of fear in the back of his mind--coming from a world with monsters, caring for them here. What a world; and that enforcer woman thought pokémon were somehow different from what they considered monsters.

The breath he takes is only signified by the way his end of the line calms some, swallowing down the bitter taste. But really, would they do anything to that tower from here on out? ]

Can I ask... why did you want to save it? I... [ How does he want to say this... ] Most of the people here I've spoken to, when they talk about creatures, most of them say they would kill them. How would it go in your world?

That...depends. If people had built a settlement close to its den, it...likely would have been killed, if it made a habit of killing anyone who got too close. If one had to go out of one's way to disturb it, only the victim's friends and family would likely call for revenge. If it had been lying in wait for people to pass, and deliberately hunting them, it would have been killed without question.

[It's similar to the explanation he gave Trip and Edea. That made it easy to think of, to say.

Why, exactly, he decided to save this creature...that's another story. It takes him a moment.]

I decided to give it a chance because I no longer trust the guild. Not after what they revealed in their task board submissions. Live trophies...if you keep a live animal, you call it an animal, not a thing...

[ There's much to his emotions, better this time kept to himself and thoughts held back from being shared too carelessly. It's easy to be angry about the death of any creature ("then they shouldn't build too close to its den"), but all these worlds were just so... different to his. His wasn't perfect, he and every other human made mistakes, but

he misses it. The understanding and care put into keeping harmony between human and pokémon. If anything comes through, it's that: a feeling not dissimilar to homesickness. ]

The rest of the eggs... I went today and took them to the society. They'll know what to do with them. Without its mother...there wasn't another parent there. They said it's similar to another creature they know, so there may be a way to help them and make sure they can make it through to birth.

[ He hadn't gone with them to ascend the tower that night. He couldn't, not after the fight. There was too much disgust in him, for near everyone there, for the law. People who may have not been acting as the law, but that such a spectacle could be made, one's life hanging on a battle, was something to feel disgust for, and fear.

Red holds his hands, clasped tightly, and breathes. ]

It's not just the guild. People here... I know isn't anything like my world [ oh, does he know ] but the people here can do whatever they want with the creatures, and it doesn't matter as long as the ones who speak don't get hurt. Back home, that guild would be shut down. They're no better than criminals.

[There's a heavy pause that Red might find familiar especially if he's had these talks over the network, the "how best to explain a complex concept to a child" sort of deliberation.]

Red...Trip noted something that does have merit. He noticed that the creatures here were "mindless" compared to your Pokemon. That's not to say their lives can be thrown away without cause, but they do have far less capability to reason than us, or than your Pokemon. It's one of the reasons I was so resistant to the way Edea spoke of its - her killing, because it was unlikely she even knew what malice was, much less that she acted out of it. Only those who can reason know malice.

There are those who believe this lack of reason means they can do with their lives whatever they wish, but senseless death is always wrong.

[And that's what this was. Senseless. All because Looma was so bound to the letter of her word that even Silver's assurance that just getting it away from people would be accepted by the guild...

The ugly emotions rising in him make him guilty for even feeling them, and with that guilt comes the same too-strong grief, spilling through the connection like an immense pressure.]

I'm sorry, I....I'm so sorry, I...shouldn't have mentioned her...

[He tries to change the subject, his mental tone strained thin from trying to remain level.]

You should have told me about the eggs. I would have helped you move them. I...I didn't realize they weren't all moved immediately.

[He hadn't exactly stuck around very long, himself. He was just too torn up to bear seeing the eggs for himself...]

It's fine. I wanted to do it.

[ He's not too surprised that some of the eggs would have been left behind after the activity before, and for the amount there were. And no Enforcers were going to care about creature eggs. (And with the coming days, Enforcers going into the tower to kill off more of the creatures inside to help clear it out.)

But he can't let one point go, one that he held back on commenting on instantly to let Enoch's words finish. ]

...But you're wrong, you know. Comparing the creatures here to our pokémon that way. Anyone is--even that other trainer, Trip. That Enforcer woman, Edea; she said that if the creature up there had been a pokémon she'd let us deal with her, but that's the thing -- she could have been.

It's not like we can go up to any pokémon and they understands us. Sure, some of them can, but then you have all the rest that are the same as any of the creatures here in the wild. They all have their own instinct, their own way of understanding things in the world. The ones in the city outside the tower--they know people, and they're used to them. And then you have the ones that aren't. You're only supposed to go outside of towns if you have a pokémon with you.

...We just do what we can to live together with pokémon. We treat them as our friends because that's how we want to be with them.

[The mental equivalent of a shuddering sigh, emotion barely held back, ripples across the connection, as he tries to think through the grief that's taken him to his knees (though Red can't see that), tries to order his thoughts into something understandable and helpful. It's a distraction, at least, providing a shield in its own right from his own emotions.]

That's not what I meant. Every being - every person, in fact - has their own unique perspective. Every species has its own point of view, that much is not in contest. But though I've seen little of Pokemon, I have seen them respond to complex commands that no animal in my world would be able to understand without being trained in the expected response beforehand. That requires a grasp of language that only a reasoning mind can have.

[It's bad science, actually, but what does he know of science? He's only an ancient man initiated into a few ideas ahead of his time, some by new knowledge of the world around him and some by his open-minded nature.

That very nature means, as neither are arguing the creature was supposed to die, he leaves that room for doubt:]

...Do you think Trip has only encountered those few who can innately understand? The Pokemon I speak of were his. Perhaps it's best one of us asks him.

I don't know him... I never met him before then. I don't know anything about the pokémon he has.

[ What they were like, were from. After Enoch's own words, he doesn't want to make judgments, pressing down on his lips. ]

...Sorry, I'm just... [ Bitter? A little bitter. ...Extremely bitter, but he wanted to better hold it back. ] I've been thinking about it a lot. Pokémon act differently after you catch them, [ that weird old 'knowing what you're saying' science takes place to a degree ] but there hasn't been that much different with the creatures here and pokémon I've seen in the wild.

...To be honest, I hated that he called them mindless. [ And that's his own sigh, in real life, his eyes pressing closed. ] Not being able to talk to them doesn't make them mindless.

I'm not sure he really intended it that way. He was making a comparison...

[That Pokemon acted differently (understood more?) after being caught was a curiosity he simply didn't have the mental strength at the moment to pursue. Red might actually feel it, the subtle prickle of piqued interest that faded under the background noise of the link. His filter was more or less shot, after all.

A concern that does not fade no matter how much he's beating himself up over his failure is protecting others. In this case, Trip. Enoch is extremely protective of those he becomes attached to, children especially - it's part of what made the situation with Looma get so out of hand. The sadness and self-deprecation fade almost entirely in this protectiveness, and his "voice" is stronger for it, a paternal gentle firmness laced into every word.]

...You both have resolve and maturity beyond your years, each in your own ways. But you both have growing to do, still. His view and yours clash in this matter, but if you can find it in yourself to try to understand creatures who in all likelihood lack the ability to even think to do the same to you, surely you can do so for another person.

...If it helps you do so, I will tell you I believe something happened to him. He has a problem with trust no child his age should have. Please, be patient with him. I feel you'll speak to him before I do.

[He certainly didn't plan to do much in the way of telepathy for a while, not while his emotions stayed so raw like this (and then the tournament would drag him further into his feelings of inadequacy and distract him completely).]

[ With the conversation turning more personally to the other trainer, it's strange at first to Red. Maybe it's worry, or concern -- both. Like a request from someone who doesn't want to see bad blood between two people they know, even when one is barely an acquaintance.

He can't fault it, thinking about it that way, though there's parts that bother him about it. Still- ]

I don't know... I really don't know him. [ It's not a refusal, but Trip's was a face he hadn't even seen before. What was the likelihood he would see him before Enoch...? ] If you're worried I'm going to get mad at him, you don't have to be. I'm not looking for a fight.

[Enoch knows it's more likely. With his emotions the way they are, he's not going to remain long in telepathic conversation, and isn't likely to move around much, either - best emotional effects be confined to just the one area where his house is instead of anywhere in the city he happens to be.]

Good...I'm glad for that. I only want to help foster understanding. Especially if your world values it so much, I owe that much to you.

Empatheias Message Box

15/08; voice

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