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for outbounds
[ In the end, Ingo's return to his home station doesn't come down to any action of his own at all.
Akari's the one who offers the trip. She doesn't make any promises, but after the work she has put in for the almighty Sinnoh, she insists that it owes her a favor. Ingo spends a few days contemplating it, sitting quietly in his favorite spots on the mountain. Can he really leave? Whatever else he may be missing, he has built a good life here in Hisui. He is happy, most of the time. He could stay, and know exactly what his future tracks look like, and there wouldn't be any problem with that.
But...even after all this time, he still can't quite ignore the gnawing ache in his chest. How much would he regret passing up this offer? Would it not just poison anything he might build here? He has to know. Maybe he'll regret leaving Hisui behind in the end, but at least he'll know.
So he spends some time making his goodbyes. He officially steps down as Warden, and accepts one of Lady Sneasler's elder kittens as a passenger. He bids farewell to the Clan. They let him keep his bracelet, and his tunic - keepsakes, for a one-way trip. The whole time, he cannot help but question himself - is this really right? He's abandoning people that he knows care for him, to return to a complete unknown. Is that selfish of him?
Maybe. Maybe it is. But he still cannot waste the chance. And, suppressing any lingering conflict in his heart, he does.
The flash of light separates him from Akari. He had expected that; though they've agreed to try and find one another again, they did not come from the same home station. Wherever he came from, it is dark and silent. Ingo recognizes the feeling of the cool air on his skin: he's underground. Some sort of tunnel? It's hard to say from here which way is out. So he just starts walking. He hadn't been dressed for travel back then, so how far away from civilization can he really be?
After a little while, something bright and roaring barrels through the tunnel. Ingo hears it coming; he backs away from the tracks and presses himself against the wall, watching the thing pass by with wide eyes. There are people inside. Some seem to be looking back at him.
He keeps closer to the shadows and moves more cautiously after that. Scary... ]
Akari's the one who offers the trip. She doesn't make any promises, but after the work she has put in for the almighty Sinnoh, she insists that it owes her a favor. Ingo spends a few days contemplating it, sitting quietly in his favorite spots on the mountain. Can he really leave? Whatever else he may be missing, he has built a good life here in Hisui. He is happy, most of the time. He could stay, and know exactly what his future tracks look like, and there wouldn't be any problem with that.
But...even after all this time, he still can't quite ignore the gnawing ache in his chest. How much would he regret passing up this offer? Would it not just poison anything he might build here? He has to know. Maybe he'll regret leaving Hisui behind in the end, but at least he'll know.
So he spends some time making his goodbyes. He officially steps down as Warden, and accepts one of Lady Sneasler's elder kittens as a passenger. He bids farewell to the Clan. They let him keep his bracelet, and his tunic - keepsakes, for a one-way trip. The whole time, he cannot help but question himself - is this really right? He's abandoning people that he knows care for him, to return to a complete unknown. Is that selfish of him?
Maybe. Maybe it is. But he still cannot waste the chance. And, suppressing any lingering conflict in his heart, he does.
The flash of light separates him from Akari. He had expected that; though they've agreed to try and find one another again, they did not come from the same home station. Wherever he came from, it is dark and silent. Ingo recognizes the feeling of the cool air on his skin: he's underground. Some sort of tunnel? It's hard to say from here which way is out. So he just starts walking. He hadn't been dressed for travel back then, so how far away from civilization can he really be?
After a little while, something bright and roaring barrels through the tunnel. Ingo hears it coming; he backs away from the tracks and presses himself against the wall, watching the thing pass by with wide eyes. There are people inside. Some seem to be looking back at him.
He keeps closer to the shadows and moves more cautiously after that. Scary... ]
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[ Since, if they are going to be spending time here, they should probably...
Ah, but he should not get ahead of himself. ]
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[ Ingo's not comfortable enough to push for immediate roof access. Anyway, Emmet has a good point; he should, perhaps, try a little harder to familiarize himself with this space first, before adding another. So! He will...
...hm. What ought he to do? Ingo, at least, has the benefit of having gone through something similar before. He doesn't remember all of his early days with the Clan well, but surely there are still some common practices...? ]
Perhaps you could...show me around? If you like!
[ He's only seen his own room, after all! And maybe he can get an explanation for those...things over there. (Such as the refrigerator!) ]
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[ His hand goes for the rest as if to also get up to stand, thinking about how he'd tackle and go about a house tour— but then goes tight where it is on the couch and stills. ]
... mmm. No. I will not be our conductor for this. I have been dragging you around too much today already.
So! [ Emmet chirps, running a hand over Eelektross' back fin before now getting up as well. ] You can lead. Set the pace. Direct us to wherever you want to go. And I will explain whatever needs to be explained as we go around or as you point them out.
Does that sound okay?
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But he's not going to argue, so he casts around for something quick and easy to ask about. ]
Ah...very well! What is that?
[ The refrigerator. ]
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The refrigerator? [ says Emmet, parroting the metatext unknowingly. ] It is for keeping food cold. So it can be stored for longer.
Or just because some things are better cold. Like juices or ice cream.
[ See, this is why Ingo should be the one directing the course of this. If Emmet were conducting he absolutely would have missed things he needed to explain simply for not knowing that it was necessary, because he really doesn't know how much Ingo's managed to retain. ]
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[ This is of interest! Food preservation is very important! Ingo goes over to open the refrigerator, blinking at the cold and light that emanate from inside. ]
Oh! This is one of those machines Rotom can inhabit! I suppose that explains the ice typing!
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It is, however, well-stocked with a decent variety of Pokémon foods. There are definitely more species living here than Ingo's seen so far. ]
It is, yes! Though I am a little confused now on where you would have seen a Rotom possessing one of these, wherever it was you were.
[ Because from everything else he's picked up it doesn't sound like there'd be much around for a Rotom to inhabit? A fridge is much less portable than some of the other options, too (like, say, a phone). ]
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[ Ingo has grown somewhat accustomed to giving this speech, since he started spending more time so near the port. He turns, straightens as much as he can, folds one arm behind his back while bringing the other hand to his hat, and launches into it: ]
In the Hisui region, there are phenomena called Space-Time Distortions! They start as a region filled with strange lights and electricity, and then expand to a full distortion! Items and Pokemon from other times and places may appear within! However, the Pokemon are often powerful and frightened, and will attack anyone they see! I cannot recommend entering them...
[ He trails off-script as he realizes that Emmet...certainly cannot do that. ]
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[ The clothing isn't anything he has any real familiarity with, even if there's something about it it faintly so, sure, but 'because it is literally from a history textbook' is not exactly the first conclusion he'd jump to?
(Then what is, exactly.) ]
Sorry. I am not sure ... I am Emmet. I might not have heard you properly. You said ... time-space distortions. In Hisui?
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[ He says this quite naturally, as if he'd never expect Emmet to already have that information. Why would he? Ingo doesn't know anything about what they do in Unova; it's quite simply too far away.
Though...he does falter a bit. It's hardly a shock to hear that he's in another time. He knew it was possible. Dialga had to be involved; it was almost certain, even before he saw all the strange machines here! It's only that he's been trying not to think about that too closely. The machines seem to imply a timespan that he...hadn't quite been prepared for. ]
What...year is it now?
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[ Like hey. You know the traveling Hisui exhibit. Do you know if that's coming by any time soon. Oh, no reason. There is just something he was curious about. Yup. ]
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[ Carefully articulated. Ingo doesn't say anything more, just stares blankly at the shut door of the refrigerator before him. That...is a very long time.
This was a one-way trip. He knew that. While he hadn't precisely known where he was going, it was obviously too far to be traveled on foot or by ship. Ingo understood, when he left Hisui, that he would not see it again. Maybe, if he sought out the two Sinnohs now and begged, they would take mercy? But no, he has no real intention of trying. He made his choice. He said his goodbyes.
Still, though. To know that everything he knew, down to the very landscape itself, has no doubt been entirely lost to time... ]
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After a moment or so of— hovering, study, something, while Ingo stares blankly at the refrigerator door— Emmet slips out of the kitchen area without announcement or explanation, heading for one of the other rooms instead. It's another moment later before he returns, tapping away at something on the screen of the tablet he'd brought back before temporarily setting it on the counter as he opens up and reaches into one of the cupboards to pull out a glass, fills it with water...
Then, after making sure he's pulled up what he wants to on the tablet, offers both the glass of water and screen to Ingo. The pages he's pulled up are something about a Welcome to the Sinnoh Region, complete with picturesque and inviting shots of the landscape, something on Celestic Town, known both for the claims about its history and being the hometown of Champion Cynthia, and a page on Spear Pillar and Mt. Coronet.
He doesn't say anything as he offers them, just takes on a questioning cant of the head — brow faintly furrowed, smile confused, a little bewildered, but sympathetic? ]
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Ingo accepts both items automatically, then blinks down at the tablet. "Welcome to the Sinnoh Region"...he doesn't flip to any of the other pages, because he very visibly does not know how to work the tablet. Why is it glowing? ]
What is this?
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[ Is that understandable to someone who only seems to remember a pre-industrial tech level? Either way, he's going to scroll through the page they're on, past all the tourist guide-y blurbs on various destinations and locations and pausing when he finds a link to pull up a full map of Sinnoh, which he follows. ]
Where?
[ Knowing won't really do anything, but he still wants to. ]
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Somewhere in this region! [ About halfway down the southwestern side of Mount Coronet. The map isn't detailed enough for more than that. ] Most of the Clan lives up in the Icelands - [ Near Glacepoint City, though Ingo's confused enough by the name to put his finger outside of it. ] - but this is...was my Noble's territory.
[ Her new Warden is one of the young Pearl members whom Ingo took under his wing as Pokemon training began to take off with the newer generation. He was very sorry to leave her, of course, but she belonged in Hisui, and he had never been able to entirely ignore the pull to his home station. Still, his tone is sad for a moment. His eyes drift over the half-familiar map. ]
Jubilife has gotten bigger.
[ Did the port become a whole separate town? ]
the way i had to open up plza to check something
[ Confirms Emmet, though he hums through his thoughts on the rest. Noble? Did Hisui have fiefdoms the way Galar and Kalos and the other old regions over in that particular area of the world used to? Well, maybe that is not important. ]
I think that area has stayed mostly wild. The parts around Mount Coronet, I mean. Most of the settlements, [ he says, checking the map again to confirm the relative lack of much around where Ingo had pointed at— maybe Oreburgh, around the mines and quarry, but otherwise, ] —they look to be mostly along the coasts.
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[ The mountain pass is difficult even for seasoned travelers. Most immigrants arrive through the port, and Ingo can imagine that they would wish to establish more of those if the trend continued. He continues to stare at the map for a moment. ]
...I had known that there might be some...difference in time, or else Dialga would not have needed to help, but...I had not expected anything so significant.
[ He hadn't considered that enough time may have passed to render the world unrecognizable. ]
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[ he offers, then falls silent for lack of what else to say, toying restlessly at the cuffs of his sleeves. Well. There is one other thing that came to mind.
But 'do you want to go back?' maybe, probably. Not any good. No answer that anyone wants to hear right now.
(Their Pokemon, too, hover a little at the change in mood. Eelektross in particular presses in against Emmet's side and his shoulders, quietly buzzing an insistent sound.) ]
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Ah! Please, do not concern yourself with it!
[ That was probably insensitive, wasn't it? Oh, dear...he folds his arms behind his back and turns his gaze deliberately away from the tablet and its map. ]
How, ah...how long has it been, for you? [ Oh no. That wasn't any better, was it. ]
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[ He's being vague about it, but he knows exactly how long it's been. Hard to forget something like that, after all.
But he also huffs out a breath, rolling his eyes at the brush off. ]
Also. Too late. Concerning myself with it now. What can I do to make things easier?
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[ Ingo knows precisely how long it was - hard not to, when it's all he actually remembers. But we're not sharing that, apparently! As to the question, he glances around uncertainly. ]
Oh, well, I'm...not sure? This is...alright, I think...
[ For once, he's not even trying to be polite. There's just so much, he hasn't really formulated any specific requests. The interior of their home is easier, anyway, there's nothing especially loud or bright about it. The way the lamps hum like an electric-type is a little annoying, but he expects he'll just have to get used to it. ]
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Later. Tomorrow probably, if Ingo is still here. He will call out. They will understand. ]
Okay. But just let me know if anything comes up. Modern Unova is probably, definitely verrrry different from Hisui.
So! Where to next on the house tour?
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[ This question probably doesn't sound strange to a modern Unovan, but to a member of the Pearl Clan a few centuries ago, it would be at the very least indelicate. Ingo immediately balks and clarifies: ]
I do not need to see it! I just would not want to invade your space by mistake!
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I can show you it. I do not mind.
[ ... has he tidied up in there the last few days, or is his bed a rumpled and unmade mess... oh well. ]
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