[Video]

[servedup]

[The Pokegear doesn't show anything but a view of the sky. But off screen, the sounds of a woman crying can be heard.]

No... no... change me back! I don't want this!

[By all means, she should be happy that she's here - alive and safe - but she's been through a lot in the past few hours. Giving her a human form is just insult to injury, and she's horrified by her new body.

This isn't what she wanted. She wanted to go home.]

Comments

[servedup]

W-who?

[The voice came from the odd little device that was given to her by someone called "Mom". There's people inside this thing? She picks it up, and her stomach twists at seeing another human.

Her eyes are red from crying.]

Who is this?

[standless]

Oh dear-

My name is Jonathan Joestar- are you hurt? Is there anything nearby that you can use to get help?

[servedup]

I’m not hurt. Not anymore....

[She leaves that cryptic comment there as she fiddles with the PokeGear and damn is it awkward having fingers now. She finally sees Johnathan and her stomach sinks in fear before she hastily tries to convince herself she won’t be eaten.]

I don’t... I don’t know what’s nearby. I need to find the ocean.

[standless]

[Anymore??

Oh no.] Do you mean to say...

I apologize- I'll not pry into the matters of what occurred before you came to this place. The ocean however? Are you fond of the seaside?

[servedup]

It’s my home.

[She wipes a hand across her face, wiping away tears.]

I was caught by humans and placed in a tank with other fish. We were just food for humans.

[standless]

[The conversation has become infinitely more awkward.

It takes a good solid minute before he can speak.] Oh...

[Oh, indeed. Except wait, hold on-] A tank for food? I've never even heard of such a thing...If something is to be eaten, from what I understand, things are to be humanely put to rest as soon as possible..! I cannot fathom why a tank would-

[Immediately- or possibly because someone else just gave him a Sharp Look- he grimaces, and flinches.]

Please, forgive my words- I can only imagine speaking about such a matter would only bring further distress...but even if you were a fish before, I fear that the closest you will be able to get is something floating above the surface- perhaps a brief period of diving as well, but the body you have now simply isn't meant for life beneath the water.

[He pauses, before adding.] But...I can at the least assure you that life here would not include eating fish. Befriending, certainly! In fact, my wife's companion just recently evolved into a great serpentine fish of mammoth length, certainly larger than I! It was quite remarkable indeed! There are a plethora of aquatic pokemon here, which I'm certain would love to befriend one familiar with their home!

...Or at least to whatever extent is possible. This place is...certainly quite odd at times, I shall admit.

[servedup]

[It doesn't make her feel any better, but it's not like she can say much. Fish eat other fish, of course, but at least it's not a drawn out, slow death. They don't have to wait in confined spaces, waiting for their time to be eaten.

Hearing that she still can't go home hurts, but she figured long ago that humans can't live in the ocean like she does.]

I'll find a way to go home. [She's not ready to give up just yet.] Whether I'm human or not.

[What he says about befriending fish gets a ??? reaction out of her. A fish and human friendship doesn't seem possible.]

Your wife's companion...?

[standless]

I can understand the desire to do so- many of us were taken from our own homes as well after all but...I am sorry miss, but it simply cannot be done. We cannot go home by our own means from this place.

[He at least looks apologetic but...well. It doesn't make the news any better.

Still.] Yes! They're a 'gyarados'! Truthfully, water pokemon are among the most plentiful...and a great number of them resemble fish- she managed to encounter a rather fragile looking fellow at the Lake of Rage actually...they've since evolved into a beautiful, lamprey-like being!

[Milotic are amazing,]

[servedup]

[Well... going home means death for her. So maybe it's a good thing she can't go home, but she can't help but feel bitter that being alive again means being human.]

No, you're right... I can't go home. There's nothing to go home to for me.

...

What is a Pokemon?

[She heard that word before. A strange human woman mentioned it, but she was too busy uh... being sick after waking up from such a traumatic experience.]

[standless]

[There is a sympathetic- perhaps even empathetic- wince.] We are sadly in the same boat then. But I do assure you, this is not the worst place to be 'stuck' in.

Oh- regarding pokemon however...

[He turns his camera upon his team- currently including his primarina, his arcanine...some sort of...Apple? It just blinked. There's also a rather large frankenstein's-beast of a dog, who seems content to stare at nothing.] They're the collective term for all of the fauna of this region- though many of them are not quite what you would expect of an 'animal'. For example, one of my favorite pokemon thus far has been an animated mirror! ...Though they became a bell, not long after...

[servedup]

[Padak can only stare in surprise at the array of creatures of all shapes and sizes. She thinks she has a pretty good knowledge of all kinds of creatures that live in the ocean... but this was all entirely new to her. She never considered other wildlife that lives on the surface.]

Pokemon...?

Why do you have them?

[standless]

Why? Well...

Companionship, I should say. The entire world here thrives upon it in fact- it's an inspiring thing to see, [he adds with a wide smile. In the background, the Primarina blows a few idle bubbles, seal that she is.] Though I certainly can't say I have the knowledge to speak for everything here.

[servedup]

[She's speechless for a moment. She died. She died brutally. And yet she somehow woke up, given some kind of second chance, and woke up in a world where fish and humans are friends?]

How...

[She chokes on her words. Dammit, she doesn't want to cry.]

How can you expect me to believe that? After what I've seen? After what I've been through? Humans cut me open! They tore out my guts, cut off my head, saw the dismembered body of my friend! And humans and fish are just... friends? Friends?

[it's too overwhelming. She can't handle it. It's too much.

So she starts crying.

Damn.]

[standless]

I...

[He looks, to put it gently, horrified. He's never seen food served like that, or at least prepared before his eyes that way- certainly whole fish was a dish he'd enjoyed at times, but the fact of the matter was it was still cooked from something that...well. Wasn't breathing at the time.

He doesn't know what to say.] I'm sorry, [he breathes, his own eyes watering in sympathy. He imagines it to not be unlike the sights at Windknight's lot, from his own perspective. The bodies of the people, the horses-]

I don't know what else to tell you. The words I speak are true- I do not intend to cheapen your experiences, and terrors, but this is the truth of this world. I am sorry, truly, and deeply...

But I don't know what to tell you...

[servedup]

[She continues crying. Johnathan seems genuine, and really he's not the one she's upset with. She's just. Completely overwhelmed.]

It's just a lot to take in...

It's too much...

[standless]

[Poor Jonathan is completely lost. There's nothing he can say- or do, is there! But this poor woman is clearly distraught, and he can't just leave her like that and disconnect the call.

About 30 seconds too late to realize her trainer is distressed, Clarity is nuzzling against his side. Blindly patting her crest, he realizes something.] ...Are you alone over there, Miss?

[Maybe her pokemon can help!]