beholdmydemons | seventh fusion

[Walter starts talking almost immediately after turning on the recording, sounding tired but as though his message was prepared ahead of time.]

You're the king of a country, and you hold a great contest - or a game. One man who comes to participate is very tall, and strong. Would you let him compete as any other, or bar him from the game to even those others' chances?

A man comes to a remote village, one that's remained as it is for a thousand years. He brings with him technology that would change life as the people know it, bringing them comfort and luxury. Should the village send that man away, or accept his gifts?

The person you love is gravely ill, doomed to sleep and never wake...you've tried every remedy you can imagine, and there's nothing left at your disposal. Would you tend to them for the rest of your life, or let them die naturally?

[He goes quiet, not sure what to follow that up with. The radio, playing tinnily in the background, switches to a holiday song that's been on at least five times already today.

...Yeah, that bears asking about. In just as tired a voice, but a much less rehearsed one:]

What the hell is Christmas?

[[ooc: canon update to end of first route split, complete!]]

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I've been asleep for a week and I just woke up to strange songs on the radio. It's quicker to simply ask than to try to puzzle it out.

[why don't you go shut up 8| ]

[Nope, never going to stop cracking horrible things at someone else's expense 8'D;;;;

But okay really, not gonna spend too long puzzling over why Walter's never heard of it. Might as well explain.]

Fair enough.

It's a holiday celebrated every December, and usually involves gift giving.

What kind of gifts? Food, clothes, anything?

It can be whatever you think would work as a gift.

[Helpful.]

That's it? Gifts and radio songs about winter and bells? Winter's a foul time for a holiday, anyhow...

[Oh, he can hear you there. He just doesn't want to think about the things that sucked about his last December. :|]

And celebrating certain figures, but that's neither here nor there.

Why's it a bad time, though? The cold?

What's the point in having a holiday when there's no leisure to be had?

[...It's as he's saying this that he starts mentally going through the usual difficulties of winter and realizes that a lot of them aren't really present here. That's...convenient...]

You'd be surprised by what people could do with a handful of snow.

[The house warms itself. You can buy warm clothes. The grocery stores don't ever seem to run out of food. Snow won't make the roof cave in. It's a short walk to anywhere of interest, and the streetlights stay on despite wind or cold...

...Johto (and Kanto), why are you so awesome...]

...Come to think of it...you may be right. There's all the time in the world...

[Warm food without any of the difficulty of making it.]

[Can we say all of the above? Because those are all legitimate reasons.]

And none quite like the present.

Hah! [And then, to Walter's surprise, he keeps laughing. It wasn't even particularly funny - there's just a strange, almost painful giddy feeling in his chest that latched onto the notion and is now flooding him with low chuckles that don't want to stop.

All the time in the world. This world. It's awesome. His wasn't, so he blew it up with demons, and not an hour later he's chatting about holidays and imagining where he's going to go when the snow melts. "True paradise", indeed.

He does Souji the courtesy of letting his arm fall to the side, pointing the camera towards something that isn't his face while he lets himself laugh. (Orthrus the Houndoom paws at the 'Gear in greeting.) That would get weird fast, especially since the laughter is fading but not exactly letting up too soon.]

[Talk about being happy over the smallest things. Things that seem so commonplace must be a huge luxury where he comes from...or perhaps they didn't exist at all, and this is the first time he's had the chance to properly experience it. He'd ask, but the guy's having the fit of his life.

Orthrus gets a wave back in return, in the meantime, while he waits out Walter's laughing fit. Hey there. :|b]

[Orthrus sticks out his tongue and wuffles out something that sounds suspiciously like "hoy there".

Walter feels so...unanchored. Lost. And he delights in it. The exhilarating terror of total freedom has carried him through the past few days, and he's finding that there's no solid ground to come back down to; just an endless roil of uncertainty and potential, and an alien world engulfing him that he'll have to beat himself into a new shape to make sense of.

Amazing.

He eventually settles down, trailing off into a sigh that's half-satisfied and half-wistful.]

...While I was asleep, I dreamt of spending time in the world I came from. But whether it was really a dream or not...I can't say.

[Blink. Who knew Pokemon could speak at all? As if he didn't have enough weirdness going for him...

Nevertheless, he does peek at Walter once he's finally settled from his fit. There might be a flicker of a smile for a few moments, though that's all he'll get if he glimpses it.]

Was it a pleasant one?

[Ain't that a loaded question.]

What would you consider pleasant?

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[Video] And coming in a month late iiiiiiiis

[Video] hello c: