o9 | video;

[bertall]

So, uh... I was going through some of the pictures I first took on my Pokegear and the first one was labeled for today. A year ago. It's almost hard to believe that I've been here for that long, and I only realized in May that I don't want to go back home. It probably sounds selfish, but things are, um... They're better here, and...

_{[Bertolt seems to hesitate for a moment, then he swings his camera around to focus on his Arcanine sprawled out on his back and taking up the entire space on the floor between his bed and the other in his hotel room.}

I couldn't leave him behind. It's even harder to believe that he was barely thirty pounds and didn't even reach my knee when I got here, and now he's got to be around five-hundred and even taller than I am.

_{[One of his Arcanine's feet kick and he shifts around so he's more or less completely upside down, his jowls flopping out to show off his big ol' pearly whites. He's sort of smiling for the camera in his sleep now!]}

I think if I was given the choice to go home or stay here, I'd choose the latter. _{[Bertolt stretches his leg out and now he's rubbing his Arcanine's chest with his foot, which earns a low, content rumble that sounds more bear than dog. Gods, why are these Pokemon so ridiculous?]}

If you had the option, uh... What would you choose? And why?

Comments

[video]

[captainash]

I've been away far too long. If this keeps going, they'll forget my face.

[...]

Besides, we'd just made the first steps towards the end of a 65-year war. I'd like to see how it turns out.

[video]

[bertall]

65 years... That's a long time to be fighting. What started it?

[video]

[captainash]

An attempt to create a Martian colony had unexpected issues, and the colonists were left to die. Their descendants decided to make everyone else pay.

[video]

[bertall]

...Why were they left to die?

_{[But also--]}

And, uh... What's a Martian?

[video]

[captainash]

Because saving them would have been expensive, and would have involved admitting that the government had made a mistake. They decided abandonment and a coverup would be easier.

[People suck.]

They're people from Mars. Are you from Earth, by any chance? Mars is the next planet over.

[video]

[bertall]

That's...

<sub>[Awful. And it almost reminds him of the mission to "reclaim" Wall Maria back home. How many people were sent out to their deaths?

But wait...]</sub>

...You mean people can actually live out in the stars like that?

[video]

[captainash]

[Ah, now there's a reaction he's come to expect.]

By my time, they do. In fact, I was born in a space colony myself. We can't get very far yet, though. And it's still not eenough space for everyone to get along.

[video]

[bertall]

What was that like? How far has humanity gotten?

[video]

[captainash]

We can safely live between Earth and the moon, and even a little further. And for all that the Vagan have been dealing with many health problems, they did manage to survive near Mars for centuries...

[Just with resource shortages, increased cancer rates...]

Honestly, except for the scarcity of some products, life in a colony is a lot like life on the planet. The main differences are the weather, and the variety of plants and animals around.