Astrum hadn’t been sure what to expect the moment he loaded into the game, but it sure wasn’t, well, this. He eyes the piles of books scattered about the Lab, keeping a careful eye on the bubbling beakers of mysterious black fluid, before his gaze finally falls on the other individual in the room. A tiny woman hunched over the desk, apparently searching for something.

Well. Apparently, things can get even stranger.

Astrum wordlessly nods when the woman finally addresses him, amethyst eyes passing over her to peer at the display box. His eyes narrow a smidgen at the sight of the Poké Balls, and to anyone who isn’t looking closely, he might seem upset. But the truly keen-eyed would notice the excited glimmer in his gaze.

“I, uh. Questions? No one said anything about a pop quiz,” Astrum mumbles back, momentarily startled as he tries to rack his brain for any mention of this in the game pamphlet. He doesn’t remember hearing anything about it... Unless he skipped over it in his haste to play. Shoving his hands in his pockets, the ravenette swallows, mind racing to recall all the Pokémon facts he can, in the event that this is some sort of trivia quiz... Unless...

Astrum glances around again. This is the Pokémon Lab where he’s supposed to get his Starter...

A personality quiz, then?

Well, fine. That’s a bit more up his alley. Now that he’s thinking about it, he’s heard it mentioned in forums before...

“Uh, actually, just fire away. I think I get what’s going on.” He hopes, at least. It sure would suck to start off with missing out on something if this turns out to be a trivia quiz after all.

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...Yeah, Astrum really hadn't known what to expect, huh. He watches "Dr. Bunya" glance around, clearly trying to stall for time, and then scrounge around in her pockets for a few moments — all while simultaneously trying very hard not to judge the woman for precisely what was found in her pockets — until the professor seems to have gotten what she was looking for. Considering the sheer informality of it all, Astrum can't help but feel a little silly for being so worried...

...And well, hearing the questions laid out, he just feels even more silly. Seriously, what kind of questions are these?

'How would any sort of algorithm even come up with a Starter result based off of the responses to these questions...? Just how advanced is the NPC AI here?' Astrum wonders as he holds his chin in thought. 'Ugh, whatever, I can probably try to figure that out some other time. I've got a Starter waiting for me right about now!'

Astrum recalls the questions once more, repeating them in his head to make sure he's understood them all. As ridiculous as these questions seem on the surface, he still wants to spend a careful amount of time considering them.

"My favorite color, huh... Well, if I'm being honest, I don't really have much of one. I like pretty much all of them," the ravenette murmurs. Often times back in the real world, he'd have given a response like "rainbow", ignoring whether or not it was even considered a valid answer. But here... Astrum thinks he'd rather be a bit more specific. "I guess if I had to pick one, though... Probably the color of the night sky." Technically speaking, that still isn't exactly one singular color; the true night sky, far from light pollution, is a canvas of exploding hues and shades of blues, purples, pinks, and more, after all.

But, hey, if it works, it works!

The next question stumps Astrum a tad. Considering the nature of the questions as a whole and the situation that prompted them, this is clearly a personality quiz. As such, there can't be any wrong answers. But this question... Can just any answer suffice? The ravenette studies Dr. Bunya for a moment, noting the pink tie she's sporting. ...It can't be that easy, can it?

"Uh... I'm going out on a limb and guessing that your favorite color is pink?"

He shrugs. It's the best he's got.

Moving on, the next question is a bit simpler. "Three, technically two, if we want to be specific. Your thumb — which isn't actually considered a finger — plus your index and middle fingers." Three, for the number of questions so far. But, well, Astrum had to add "two", just on the off-chance that the AI doesn't consider the thumb a finger.

And now, finally, the last of these rather confusing questions. It's...honestly the most alarming of the bunch. He never would have expected it to come up in a situation like this, but it's the one that he finds himself spending the most time contemplating. "Unethical science"... It's honestly a very broad term that's primarily subjective. "Unethical" to one person could include something as simple as the Pavlovian tests tying behavior to patterns. They could argue that it was "unethical" to deprive the dogs of food once the desired conditioning was met, no matter if the dogs were eventually fed. But another could just as well argue that it was merely for the sake of the experiment, and that a bit of time without food isn't nearly enough to be considered "unethical".

"...I can understand the goal of unethical science if it's for the sake of improving the lives and/or survival of others, especially a large group of individuals. I'd understand even moreso if the 'unethical' part of it is limited to a temporary deprivation of a basic need for a short amount of time," Astrum starts, voice kept low yet audible enough to be heard. His tone is grave and solemn, the expression on his face changing to match. For a moment, his gaze is kept low to the ground, but then, his amethyst eyes travel up to meet Dr. Bunya's own gaze. "But science for the sake of science alone should never be attempted. If you have to commit a deed as vile as inflicting pain upon another living creature, no matter if it's temporary or not, then I'd have a problem with that."

There's a deep well of emotion in his amethyst gaze as the last of those words leave his lips, a veritable storm brewing behind his eyes. Truly the picture of sincerity.

C0D13

...Uh, what? Astrum really isn’t sure how to feel about the woman after seeing what Dr. Bunya had been so busily scribbling away the entire time. He’d been under the impression that she was jotting down notes... Just doing something actually productive.

‘Wait, wait, don’t jump to assumptions... Being an NPC AI, she has perfect recall anyway... And maybe this S drawing can still mean something...somewhere,’ the ravenette thinks as he accepts the sheet of paper when it’s offered to him. He squints at the S one more time, as if it might change now that it’s in his grasp, before pocketing it away for later.

It’s weird as all hell but whatever.

He cocks a brow when Dr. Bunya tells him he’s “wrong about the science question” — which doesn’t make the man feel better about any of this; is this woman supposed to be akin to a mad scientist character or something? or, maybe she means something more with it — but he decides not to comment since she finally gets to the crux of the whole interaction.

Eyes sparkling in delight as the professor hands him a Poké Ball, Astrum eyes the tape curiously (all while trying to ignore yet another nonsensical phrase from Dr. Bunya because why bon appétit? unless it’s a joke because the Pokémon she’d given him is a duck...?).

“‘Quaxly’? Not what I expected, but that’s fine. I’m happy with any of these little guys,” he mumbles to himself, peering down at the little duck Pokémon inside of the Poké Ball and giving it a soft grin, before letting the capsule pop open. Once the light faded to reveal the Quaxly curiously staring up at the man from the floor, Astrum squats down to greet the little one properly.

< H-Hello...? > the Quaxly chirps, looking almost unsure of his Trainer. For a moment, Astrum starts, blinking in confusion as he processes that the Pokémon has just spoken. But then the man remembers he’d turned the “Flavor” settings on, including Enabling Pokémon Speech. It’s a bit strange to see in action, but hey, he only had to think about it like Digimon. Realizing the Quaxly is still staring at him, Astrum only continues to give the little duck Pokémon a patient smile.

“Hey, there. We’re partners from today on, so I hope we’ll get along, yeah?” With that said, Astrum smiles softly at the Quaxly once more before turning back to Dr. Bunya.

All of the weirdness and concerning dialogue aside (seriously, what was up with that whole ethical science thing? is that going to be an event later on?) the ravenette is still grateful to the woman. NPC AI or not, she’s done him a real solid. Plus, Astrum is preeeeeetty sure there are way more layers to this Dr. Bunya character and he wants to stay in her good graces for now, on the off-chance it allows for some cool secret questline later on or something.

“And, uh, thanks for everything, Dr. Bunya. You know, despite first impressions, you’re actually interesting. You probably know way more than you let on, don’t you?” Astrum says as he stands back up to his full height. He shrugs, then. “Not that it’s any of my business right now. I’ll get out of your hair since you’re probably busy. Thanks, again.” Glancing back down at the Quaxly, his Partner for the journey to come, the ravenette gestures for him to follow before giving Dr. Bunya one last wave goodbye.

Then, both man and duck start heading off together.

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