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"Humans are inherently evil. It is in our nature." He wasn't about to deny what she was. He didn't know her past. He didn't really think he knew her that well. But all people were cruel. It didn't make her unique, to be a monster.
"We all die eventually. But I had a duty, so I have remained as a spirit."
She snorts bitterly. "Yeah, I've definitely figured that out." She peers out from the parting in her hair. "What does that mean? You're not one here. You can't be one here. Can you?"
"It means that I had died, but was brought back as a ghost in my world. I had...created Otherworlds, based on places I had known in life, and had the power to pull the living into those worlds." At her question, he shook his head.
"I had been dead for ten years...and I awoke here." He didn't mean to, but he lifted his hand and touched over his chest. To where he could feel his heart beat. A year later...it was still strange to feel his pulse, strong and consistent in his chest. "...I forgot what it was like to breathe. To feel the wind and rain on my skin."
"That's..." She's not sure. It doesn't sound impossible to her. But it's certainly not something she'd expected form anyone lower than a 5 bar. "Really some kind of power..." But the way he speaks. "That you don't like... Do you?"
"So, you're alive here. Really alive." What even was this place? It could just pull dead people out of nowhere? At his action, Diana narrows her eyes thoughtfully. "And... Don't you like it?"
"...the power is not mine. It is granted to me by the angel Valtiel, for a sacred task." A task that involved a lot of murder. He was both in control and completely out of control in his duty as the Conjurer, and it was something he couldn't escape. His feelings didn't matter.
His feelings didn't matter. "It doesn't matter what I feel, or if I like it. I am alive. I cannot die here, so that will not change. Until, I am returned to my worlds."
"An angel?" Walter did seem to talk about God and religion quiet a bit. She thinks about the times they've talked, how the idea of a cult has crossed her mind more than once. This was a religion that wanted people to bleed on supposedly joyous occasions. What sort of angel would that birth? And gave you a power that Walter clearly didn't seem to like.
"Just because something's not permanent doesn't mean it doesn't matter." She tentatively reaches out and very gently places a hand where Eileen had been holding a moment ago. "I put importance in how you feel, so I want to know."
She rubs soothingly, just a little. "I can't be Manaka. But I can try to understand. But I can't understand what I don't know. You're feeling something right now, and it looks to me like that's certainly mattering right now."
"...Manaka already knew. She knew that divine beings do not look like the pictures priests show." He exhaled slowly and pulled his arm away, holding himself. He kept his eyes on the grass. Above him, a pair of red eyes gleamed.
"And she did not judge me for what I believed. We knew what we had seen and what our duties were. We understood angels." Their worlds were vastly different and Manaka had been born special, unlike Walter who was made that way. But it had been a...soothing understanding.
She retrieved her hand and looked up at the eyes worriedly. "I can't really say I know much about divine beings. I just know a lot of things aren't what they say they are."
She didn't know what to say, she didn't really care about what God's Walter believed in, why would it matter? But she didn't see what help defending herself was. And as for duty... Diana didn't know anything about that. She mumbles, more to herself than Walter. "I don't know about having an actual purpose, outside of what people could use me for." What they wanted from her. "I see how that might've been comforting."
It just seemed to her like Manaka was another person who deserved to be here much more than she did. "I'm sorry she's gone."
The eyes dimmed. In the shadow of the tree, she could see who was up there; a Xatu, staring unblinkingly down at them.
"...Asriel understood as well. He had done things...hurt people. And he didn't want to hurt them anymore." And moreso than Manaka...Asriel believed Walter could be good. Even now, Walter didn't believe that about himself. He slowly got his feet under him and stood. His Pokemon rose with him; Gracie floated up to his shoulder with Eileen catching hold of his hand.
"But we continue to hurt others. It's what we are paid to do."
Oh, Ice Cream Bird. Diana wonders if she's here to make her leave.
Wait, who was Asriel? The name sounded... kind of like she'd heard before? Maybe. She remains sat as her rises, watching him. He was so tall. It just hits her sometimes. That there are adults here. That she wasn't one of the oldest; the pretend grownups. She's just a really stupid kid.
She blinks, brought back to the conversation. Was he talking about Team Rocket? "Yeah, well... Habits are hard to break." She picks at the grass again. "Maybe they knew? And if all you know how to be is a monster, sometimes it's just easier to keep being one."
Wisdom doesn't move. She just stares from above at them.
"And is it? Do you enjoy what we do, Diana?" Then he realised and turned to her slowly. "...You don't know what I'm talking about." he put his hands together. The labs were off limits. He didn't see many of the other Rockets down there...and certainly not in the Warehouse that was 'home' to Project Sun.
"No, I don't." She answers, before noticing the way he was looking at her. She's not sure she likes this any better to when he was avoiding her eye. "... What do you mean?"
"Have you seen the Rocket Labatories?" He did pocket the information that she just accepted what she must do as a part of Team Rocket. The same position he had been in.
But his Pokemon had grown strong. He had met Alessa. And with the badges he had collected...he knew he could hold himself in a Pokemon battle, in addition to his own ability to fight back. He just needed to prepare. Capable an strong as his Pokemon were, they would not be able to handle an onslaught against all of Team Rocket's members. And he needed to set Alessa free.
"Do you know what the Pokemon we collect are used for?"
"I'm not allowed in there." Her access was minimum back at the base, not that it was something that ever really bothered her.
At his words her stomach tightens and she holds her knees again, gaze flickering to the ground. "I don't..." She tried not to think on it. Obviously, they didn't go to the other members. She'd wondered if they were sold off but... That was a more optimistic scenario she'd created in her head.
Walter merely hummed. "It is where I work." He knows what Team Rocket does. He knows very well. He turned his gaze over the garden as a breeze brushed over them. In the distance, his Pokemon carried on as normal, letting the newcomers adjust to the new surroundings and the loss of their trainer before crowding them.
"I obtained Robbie from there." He murmured, eyes falling on the large, pink bear.
Diana's gaze follows his, unsure and uncertain about the direction this conversation is taking. Robbie seemed nice enough to her. "Oh, okay." She says cautiously. What does he want her to say?
"They did not tell me, when I first worked with him, that he had broken the bones of the other researchers. He was a Stufful at the time." He began to step towards him. Diana could follow if she wanted. Snickerdoodle took off from his shoulder, fluttering over to the trees filled with Murkrow, her brothers and sisters.
Should she follow, he would continue to talk about their history. "I did not give him treats, or pets. I would examine him, make my notes and leave. But I left for a month, to gather gym badges. In my absence, two more technicians were attacked by him."
She does follow, keeping a pace or two behind him. At his story she frowns and looks up at Robbie again, remembering him at the bonfire. Sure, he'd knocked Noir flying but more because the Absol had bumbled into his path. It hadn't seemed malicious.
"Why was he hurting them?" But the moment she asked, she knew the reason. "They were hurting him, weren't they?"
When she asked 'why', he simply truned and looked at her fromt he corner of his eye. Then nodded as she correctly guessed why. He was half lost in his own thoughts as he approached Robbie.
"That was a long time ago. A long time ago, a small, timid Cubone was put into my care, with a little Murkrow. But they've grown. They have evolved. They are strong." He paused frowning. When he spoke, there was something else to his voice. Something resolute. "...a long time ago, I was just a boy. But now...I'm something else." The Conjurer. A murderer. A ghost. And he had been loyal to no-one, but God. He shook his head slowly.
"You said you did not enjoy what you do. But you continue to do it. Is it because you are not strong?"
She waits as he talks, talking a tentative step forward only to pause when his voice shifts. She doesn't feel like she's really supposed to be speaking right now, less a conversation and more Walter organizing his own thoughts.
She's surprised when he speaks directly to her again. She looks off to the side. "That... And when you're so used to doing what other people tell you needs to be done it's hard to think otherwise."
He considered her quietly. behind him, Robbie had noticed them and met his trainer halfway with a warm rumble. Walter nodded to him, and Robbie noticed Diana. He gave a curious sound and stepped forward to look at her.
"I remember that." It had been like that at the orphanage, and with Valtiel. but Team Rocket was not Valtiel. They had proven themselves cruel and weak. Just like Andrew, a man he had coolly hunted through the Water Prison. His heart beat faster at the memory and at that connecting thought.
Again, Diana was unsure if she was supposed to be speaking. She keeps her eyes calmly on Walter as he watches her, then turns to Robbie as he steps forward. She offered the bear a half smile. "Hi Robbie."
Robbie considered Diana, turning to Walter as if for confirmation. Walter nodded and Robbie lifted one of his massive paws...to pat Diana gently on the head. Pat pat. Walter was about to murmur something quietly, but was cut off, as Robbie turned and gave him a big, cuddly hug. "..." he sighed and just, accepted this. Evidently, this was a common occurance with Robbie.
Diana's eye widen and squint in a flinch at the approaching paw, but she smirks at the patting. Afterall, she had her own Pokemon that expressed itself in a very similar way towards Walters. "Heh, thanks Robbie."
She can't help but giggle at the sight of Walter being literally bear hugged though. It's a good feeling to laugh too, which is why she doesn't stop herself as the coil in her stomach unwinds itself.
Walter just gave her a flat look. But noteably, he didn't struggle against Robbie's hold.
He just patiently watched Diana laugh with a flat expression on his face and waited for her to be done, as Robbie tilted his head to rest it on Walter's crown.
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"We all die eventually. But I had a duty, so I have remained as a spirit."
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"I had been dead for ten years...and I awoke here." He didn't mean to, but he lifted his hand and touched over his chest. To where he could feel his heart beat. A year later...it was still strange to feel his pulse, strong and consistent in his chest. "...I forgot what it was like to breathe. To feel the wind and rain on my skin."
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"So, you're alive here. Really alive." What even was this place? It could just pull dead people out of nowhere? At his action, Diana narrows her eyes thoughtfully. "And... Don't you like it?"
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His feelings didn't matter. "It doesn't matter what I feel, or if I like it. I am alive. I cannot die here, so that will not change. Until, I am returned to my worlds."
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"Just because something's not permanent doesn't mean it doesn't matter." She tentatively reaches out and very gently places a hand where Eileen had been holding a moment ago. "I put importance in how you feel, so I want to know."
She rubs soothingly, just a little. "I can't be Manaka. But I can try to understand. But I can't understand what I don't know. You're feeling something right now, and it looks to me like that's certainly mattering right now."
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"And she did not judge me for what I believed. We knew what we had seen and what our duties were. We understood angels." Their worlds were vastly different and Manaka had been born special, unlike Walter who was made that way. But it had been a...soothing understanding.
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She didn't know what to say, she didn't really care about what God's Walter believed in, why would it matter? But she didn't see what help defending herself was. And as for duty... Diana didn't know anything about that. She mumbles, more to herself than Walter. "I don't know about having an actual purpose, outside of what people could use me for." What they wanted from her. "I see how that might've been comforting."
It just seemed to her like Manaka was another person who deserved to be here much more than she did. "I'm sorry she's gone."
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"...Asriel understood as well. He had done things...hurt people. And he didn't want to hurt them anymore." And moreso than Manaka...Asriel believed Walter could be good. Even now, Walter didn't believe that about himself. He slowly got his feet under him and stood. His Pokemon rose with him; Gracie floated up to his shoulder with Eileen catching hold of his hand.
"But we continue to hurt others. It's what we are paid to do."
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Wait, who was Asriel? The name sounded... kind of like she'd heard before? Maybe. She remains sat as her rises, watching him. He was so tall. It just hits her sometimes. That there are adults here. That she wasn't one of the oldest; the pretend grownups. She's just a really stupid kid.
She blinks, brought back to the conversation. Was he talking about Team Rocket? "Yeah, well... Habits are hard to break." She picks at the grass again. "Maybe they knew? And if all you know how to be is a monster, sometimes it's just easier to keep being one."
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"And is it? Do you enjoy what we do, Diana?" Then he realised and turned to her slowly. "...You don't know what I'm talking about." he put his hands together. The labs were off limits. He didn't see many of the other Rockets down there...and certainly not in the Warehouse that was 'home' to Project Sun.
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But his Pokemon had grown strong. He had met Alessa. And with the badges he had collected...he knew he could hold himself in a Pokemon battle, in addition to his own ability to fight back. He just needed to prepare. Capable an strong as his Pokemon were, they would not be able to handle an onslaught against all of Team Rocket's members. And he needed to set Alessa free.
"Do you know what the Pokemon we collect are used for?"
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At his words her stomach tightens and she holds her knees again, gaze flickering to the ground. "I don't..." She tried not to think on it. Obviously, they didn't go to the other members. She'd wondered if they were sold off but... That was a more optimistic scenario she'd created in her head.
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"I obtained Robbie from there." He murmured, eyes falling on the large, pink bear.
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Should she follow, he would continue to talk about their history. "I did not give him treats, or pets. I would examine him, make my notes and leave. But I left for a month, to gather gym badges. In my absence, two more technicians were attacked by him."
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"Why was he hurting them?" But the moment she asked, she knew the reason. "They were hurting him, weren't they?"
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"That was a long time ago. A long time ago, a small, timid Cubone was put into my care, with a little Murkrow. But they've grown. They have evolved. They are strong." He paused frowning. When he spoke, there was something else to his voice. Something resolute.
"...a long time ago, I was just a boy. But now...I'm something else." The Conjurer. A murderer. A ghost. And he had been loyal to no-one, but God. He shook his head slowly.
"You said you did not enjoy what you do. But you continue to do it. Is it because you are not strong?"
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She's surprised when he speaks directly to her again. She looks off to the side. "That... And when you're so used to doing what other people tell you needs to be done it's hard to think otherwise."
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"I remember that." It had been like that at the orphanage, and with Valtiel. but Team Rocket was not Valtiel. They had proven themselves cruel and weak. Just like Andrew, a man he had coolly hunted through the Water Prison. His heart beat faster at the memory and at that connecting thought.
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She can't help but giggle at the sight of Walter being literally bear hugged though. It's a good feeling to laugh too, which is why she doesn't stop herself as the coil in her stomach unwinds itself.
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He just patiently watched Diana laugh with a flat expression on his face and waited for her to be done, as Robbie tilted his head to rest it on Walter's crown.
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