slowly looks at Route 29 / Victory Road

[thatwasours]

No.

Changing usernames to 'usedpayback' isn't funny, either. 

[sounds like someone needs a loving animal friend to help him get over his trauma. or a literal bloodthirsty hellhound that's determined to tear off his good arm. one or the other.]

Comments

[shalashaska]

[Houndour, huh?]

Cute, but completely lacking the nobility of a Liepard.

[thatwasours]

Why am I not surprised that'd be your pick?

At this point, I'm beginning to wonder if I should just bite the bullet and take an animal name.

[he won't, because his mother named him 'Peace' and he's going to hold onto that, but seriously, he's the only person on this base with a normal name.]

[raiderp]

Don't tell collecting animals for Mother Base was all that different.

[Yeah Raiden's pick is a little obvious. maybe with a dash of greninja]

i snorted at that choice ngl

[thatwasours]

We were getting paid for that.

But it's not the animals, it's the atmosphere. Sending me to a place based on a children's game seems a little inappropriate.

raidenchuuuu

[raiderp]

[[*Don't tell me, wow good job, me]]

Hey, Pokémon can be kind of dark. There's the Sinnoh myths about how if you touch or hurt one the lake spirits you'll completely lose your emotions and willpower. Then there's a ghost pokemon that used to be human and holds its human face as a mask, or another who wears the skull of it's dead mother.

[He's trying to sound very casual about being an actual dork. Save it for the kaiju movies, Raiden.]

[thatwasours]

Strange. But still something out of a children't story.

And regardless of whether the game's appropriate for me, there's the issue of whether I'm appropriate for it.

[he's aware, on some level, that his life is not rated E for Everyone.]

[raiderp]

So what then, you're just going to wander around aimlessly?

[thatwasours]

[he scowls. don't be a smart-ass, raiden.]

I'd opt for a different game.

[raiderp]

[Don't become one of those, Miller.]

Such as?

[thatwasours]

[don't worry, he'll never be able to run as fast as a Wandering Mother Base Soldier. R&D investigations are still ongoing as to how those men produce a seemingly infinite amount of grenades.]

I don't know. The mun's been out of the long-term game scene for awhile, but maybe something like Haven. Looks like it's closed now, though.

Not that I'm a fan of getting tortured or chased by ghosts, but there's a certain level of thematic appropriateness to consider.

[majorcrotchgrab]

You should have gotten a Growlithe.

[thatwasours]

I didn't pick it.

[or he would have minmaxed and chosen Dratini, because Dragonite has the highest non-legendary base stats.]

But why?

[majorcrotchgrab]

Get one eventually then. They're extremely loyal, hard working, and tough. The one I own is our guard dog.

[thatwasours]

Thanks. I'll keep it in mind.

[majorcrotchgrab]

It's a good place though, if you do wind up there. I'd love to go back but... my mun is lazy.

[thatwasours]

So's mine, but he's had a lot of time on his hands lately. We'll see what happens.

[majorcrotchgrab]

Good luck then. It's a far easier place to deal with than our world. Consider it a much needed vacation.

[shoulda_toined]

(Valiantly resisting the urge to meme, because Bugs suspects that the jokes will fly right over poor Kaz's head.)

Trust me, pal, of all da places yer mun wants ta throw ya inta, a place where dey raise Pokey-mans is one a da more harmless ones.

[thatwasours]

[a distinct look of 'it's the rabbit from that cartoon again' crosses his face, but he schools it and replies as if Bug's presence isn't slightly surreal.]

That's just it. I'd rather go to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, or some kind of Orwellian nightmare. Those are the kind of things I know how to deal with.

[and precisely why he is not going, because he is too used to crapsack worlds to be affected by that kind of setting.]

It's a bad match all around.

[shoulda_toined]

(Shrugs. Bugs basically is at home anywhere except for those creepy have-sex-or-die places.)

Well, den, consider it survival training.

[cardboard_boss]

Looking at a game, huh? [Because he didn't think you'd be into those, Kaz.]

[thatwasours]

It beats doing nothing.

[he is only a slight workaholic when setting around doing nothing is increasingly beginning to bug him]

[cardboard_boss]

Yeah, I can understand that. I was in one once but things got complicated.

[He'd rather not go into details.]

[thatwasours]

Huh. What's it like? Besides the whole 'many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics' deal.

[cardboard_boss]

You get used to it. Sort of like our own world but different.

[It was hard to explain really. Boss had only been on one game and that was aboard a spaceship.]

Last game I was in it was aboard a space ship.

[thatwasours]

...you're kidding.

A spaceship? One that was able to support permanent residents? Were they able to make every single resource fully sustainable from space with no ground support? Who foot the bill for this kind of project? Isn't there an issue with the lack of gravity having negative effects on the human physiology?

[nerd.]

[cardboard_boss]

No, I'm not kidding, Kaz. The spaceship was real. It was called The Moira.

[Interesting place since another version of Kaz was there, a Big Boss and an Ocelot. Not to mention Liquid and Solid Snake. Quite the family. Yet, he did feel rather awkward next to Big Boss.]

Yeah, they did all that. Ship was run by captains.

[thatwasours]

[deadpan, before he can stop himself--]

Yeah, ships tend to be.

[cardboard_boss]

More than one. Some say they weren't even human.

[Alien? Possibly. Anyway, he'd rather have his feet on firm ground this time.]

[thatwasours]

All right, that's a little more unusual.

Still, it's not like we've never seen things that aren't human.

[cardboard_boss]

Like the Skulls? Yeah.

[Good comparison but thankfully he hadn't seen anything of the kind aboard the ship. During his time in Diamond Dogs Snake had seen lots of strange things. Weird people and crazy creatures.]

[thatwasours]

And Quiet.

[he had to. just because he'd learned to tolerate her while she was around didn't mean he'd had to like it.]

[then again he'd tolerated Ocelot, so what else is new.]

[cardboard_boss]

At least she wasn't out to kill us. [She tried to assassinate you, Boss. Remember that?]

Now, she's on our side she won't try to kill me again. I know it.

[thatwasours]

You don't know--

[Kaz breathes in. Out. This is a dead-end argument and nothing they are ever going to agree on, because Quiet was an Outsider with Hostile Motives, as far as Kaz is concerned.]

Well, hopefully we'll be done with that at this place. Non-humans, I mean.

[cardboard_boss]

[He knows Kaz is right. The woman was mysterious beyond anything else, besides the fact she couldn't speak.]

Yeah. No zombie monsters chasing us. [Please? Because Boss is sick of being shot and blown up by Skulls.]

[thatwasours]

Hopefully, because I can't run very fast.

[the world's most bitter self-deprecating joke]

[megalutionary]

[Here's something Kaz probably wasn't expecting: an approving nod from a kid.]

Hondour are so cool. So fierce-looking and tough... it's a good choice.

[thatwasours]

[he tries to dampen what he knows is an intimidating aura around this girl, to limited success. he mostly just manages a pattern of speech that's a bit friendlier than his usual growl.]

Didn't choose it.

But they look useful, with the fire-breathing and good-sized teeth. And like you said, fierce.

[megalutionary]

[Well, he's a lot less scary than Lysander or AZ, so it's a start?]

Mn. Yeah, and they're not all cutesy like a lot of Pokemon people go for. [Fairy-types. Blech.] You want something with a little- a little "oomph", right? Makes people know where they stand with you.

[thatwasours]

[he smiles a little. the kid's got guts.]

Right. So what did you choose?

[megalutionary]

[She pauses, then reaches over to hold up one of the Pokeballs she carries with her.]

I, uh, chose this one. He's a little cutesy for my taste, but he sure looks cool, right?

[thatwasours]

Huh. Looks like there's a lot of variation in what these things look like.

A water-type, I'm guessing?

[megalutionary]

Yep. [A beat, then, lamely:] His name is Fontus.

There's all kinds. The fiercer ones are really cool, though. Especially the ones that look like they can bite or scratch really hard! [Oops, fangirling over scary Pokemon, give her a sec.] But hey, to each their own. It's the journey that matters the most.

[thatwasours]

After the Roman god? That's a... surprising choice.

[read: how old are you?]

[megalutionary]

[Shrug.] It seemed to suit him. You should name yours, when you get it. It helps.

I'm older than a lot of kids when they become Trainers. [Read: teenager.]

[thatwasours]

I've already decided on Havoc.

[ha ha, Caesar jokes.]

Still. You're surprisingly well-read.