[ti]private[/ti]theories to the test [s][c]

“Oh, this?” he began in the most nonchalant matter he could muster up, gesturing towards the bandages that were temporarily obscuring the right side of his face.

“Let me see. I was one route over, looking for something, and then the tiniest little shit alive decides to drop in, unannounced, and cuts my forehead open,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone, never mind if he felt something trickle down in the process.

Wondering if she understood that, he would offer a little more context.

“Kartana. I got fucking bodied by one,” he would add afterward. “I think it cut so deep it may have hit the bone…”

He then raised one of his hands up to the bandages to show her that his field of vision was—mostly okay, had it not been for the dried, caked blood that he’d forgotten to scrape off his face.

“Little shit decided to cut me open like a slab of meat so here I am. It still won’t stop bleeding.”

Anyway, that was not the point of the visit today…

“I wanted to talk to you. In private. About… about how long it took for you to get your stinger dragon to talk.”

Because clearly he was having problems trying to unravel the thoughts of his own… little collection of invasive species. One of them understood French, the other two he was not so sure about—he also noticed that his Celesteela had a really sharp sense of hearing.

“Have you noticed any… any weird ‘tells’ that your invasive companion… or companions if you have more than one… has?”

And then for some unknown reason, the cut on the back of his right hand started prickling again…

Alicia Westfield

“Ow! Hey, what the fuck are you—” he yelped as he felt his center of gravity shift—he thought he was going to hit the ground, but instead remained pinned to the lamp post as the bandages had gotten shoved out of the way to reveal the unkempt state of his face.

Yeah, he wasn’t looking so hot right there.

He really wasn’t sure if maxed Kindler had given him a mild case of hydrophobia, but he hissed the moment the water splashed on his face, removing the worst of the stains that still marred his features. While the healing was very much appreciated, fact of the matter was that the Kartana had cut really deep—his suspicions were right, after all: the tiny little murder paper had vertically bisected his forehead to the point where it had reached the bone.

So. While the worst of the injury would be healed up thanks to the energies released by the pastel Ponyta, there would be a permanent scar on the right side of his forehead in its aftermath.

“Ow…” he hissed once the healing energies had dissipated and left him with the mark of aforementioned ‘murder paper’: the scar that now permanently marred the right side of the forehead.

“I guess… you can’t do anything about the entire thing. At least… it feels better now. Thanks,” he would breathe out as he gingerly removed the bandages and made a mental note to dispose of them later.

He then frowned at the mention of her taking—it took that long?!

“Wait, that long?” he exclaimed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose as he always did in duress. How long had it been since the Asper cup, anyway? He would do the mental math as well and flinched.

“Shit. It took that long to get them speaking huh? Well, asides from the painfully obvious fact that they go crazy outside of this particular location. Well… I wanted to show you something. The strange quirk about mine. Remember the race?”

Alicia Westfield

“Look, I was in the middle of something and then I had a very belated realization that the only person who had managed to get one of them talking would probably be open for a private meeting outside of the raid prep party, so there’s that…” he sighed.

Okay, no more nose bridge-pinching.

“No, no, you did plenty,” he would remark in the pastel Ponyta’s direction. “Making the bleeding stop is good enough. Guess that little shit of a Kartana really wanted a piece of me,” he added with a short bark of laughter before pulling himself back into some form of seriousness.

About the topic at hand.

“You literally hit the damned gas pedal and left all of us behind, so. Okay. Remember what you said about them not being able to understand any kind of language at the start? Well, while I was trying to get out of the back of the pack, I may have made a peculiar discovery of my own.”

He would then step back, before pulling out his Celesteela’s Pokéball. With another gesture her way to step back as well, considering how large they were, he would summon the strange, rocket-armed companion of his, who was about to start making the strange whistling noise when he turned around to face the pinkette, and made a shushing gesture to not talk so she could see what he wanted to point out.

[tangent=“Good afternoon,”]“Bonjour,”[/tangent] he would greet the Celesteela as he returned his attention to her—not in English, but in French. Should the pinkette have a translation overlay of any kind turned on, she would be able to understand him to an extent.

Rather than making the shrill whistling noise, there was… silence. Silence, before a very strange, alien, melodic(?) sort of humming came from the comically enormous Ultra Beast.

[tangent=“How are you feeling today?”]“Comment te sens-tu aujourd'hui?”[/tangent] he continued—still in French, not English; and the humming noise, at least, would increase in intensity for a few moments. Nothing too teeth-grating, but nothing too uncomfortable either.

Realizing that the other may start asking questions, he would then pop open the ‘chat box’ and then type in:

‘Okay, so I noticed that—my own companion here doesn’t like it when I speak English. She doesn’t go all crazy and shit when I speak French around her. And yes, this extends to apparently battle commands as well.

Any other language that isn’t French makes the strange whistling noise go off and it’s not going to stop until I talk to her in French directly. And it’s not Quebecois French, but the actual European French straight from Paris.

I am also not sure if it’s because I know more than one language. I have yet to try it on the clown and the murder paper that cut me open.’

Was this because of him knowing three languages which had caused his own miniature collection of Ultra Beasts to pick a language out of the three and stick with it?

Alicia Westfield

He would get the reply back, and his eyebrows went up for a few moments—surely, he’d been at it just as long as she had; only with the caveat that he had to revert to another language altogether.

‘It also got me thinking. Since she only listens to me when I speak in French around her—thankfully I don’t need to shout all the time since despite her size she has a rather sharp sense of hearing. Haven’t you noticed that?’

He would immediately tense up the moment she started speaking around them; however—unlike when he started speaking another language around the Celesteela, the rocket ship would look over at the pinkette out of curiosity, before this… this rather apparent look of ‘confusion’ appeared on their nonchalant features.

At least the strange whistling noise didn’t start up around them.

‘Huh. She didn’t lash out at you? I guess that confirms another theory that’s been floating around in the back of my mind—she only loses her proverbial shit, so to speak, when I’m the one speaking English around her.’

Not to mention that—he felt his insides clench yet again the moment the Naganadel emerged from the pinkette’s presence.

‘You know, when I was looking for her, I almost got bisected by a Naganadel, so… apologies in advance if I tense up around Venex. You think there’s a language barrier between them and mine? Can they—can they speak, or at the very least try to understand each other? Can you have them try?’

That was the other harebrained idea he had in mind. If it didn’t work, then he had an entire long road ahead of him—just his luck that he got a Pokémon that was not English-friendly, so to speak!

Alicia Westfield

The Celesteela would then look at the Naganadel in confusion, before the strange—completely, absolutely alien ‘voice’ came chittering their way. At least they didn’t have to speak at a louder volume, all things considered. Bless the sharper-than-normal hearing they had.

[tangent=“Can you understand them?”]“Pouvez-vous les comprendre?”[/tangent] he would ask her; turning away from the screen and looking up at the tiny little head.

At the same time, he would keep his attention on the screen as she typed an answer back. For a few moments, he would give her a sympathetic look.

‘One almost turned me into a lightning rod had she not swatted them away. Plus the smell of ionized air around the walking wire tree is just. It reminds me of electrical burns. Something I’d rather avoid due to encountering that a lot in my line of work.’

The Celesteela would look at him for a few moments; before turning to look at the Naganadel and then…

Chirping back? Why did they sound like a bird?

[tangent=“Too noisy. Human words are too complex. Am I evil for making him talk to me in that non-English language?”]“⏁⍜⍜ ⋏⍜⟟⌇⊬. ⊑⎍⋔⏃⋏ ⍙⍜⍀⎅⌇ ⏃⍀⟒ ⏁⍜⍜ ☊⍜⋔⌿⌰⟒⌖. ⏃⋔ ⟟ ⟒⎐⟟⌰ ⎎⍜⍀ ⋔⏃☍⟟⋏☌ ⊑⟟⋔ ⏁⏃⌰☍ ⏁⍜ ⋔⟒ ⟟⋏ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⋏⍜⋏-⟒⋏☌⌰⟟⌇⊑ ⌰⏃⋏☌⎍⏃☌⟒?”[/tangent] the chirping, musical humming would answer back.

‘…what the hell are they talking about?’

The confusion was very evident on his face.

Alicia Westfield

Ah, ciphers. Admittedly one he encountered quite a lot in the actual field of work, not the NDA-disclosable version one he was allowed to share with people who wanted to know just what exactly he did for a living.

His brows furrowed into a concerned look.

‘You’ve had a longer hand on that, so I leave it to you. I don’t know if anyone else I’m familiar with has managed to smash the ‘no communication’ barrier between themselves and their respective Ultra Beasts yet—have you thought of asking either Josh Devlin or Shalin Nariya about theirs?’

Thankfully, when the Naganadel switched over to English, the strange whistling noise did not start up—so he had a suspicion the noise was directly connected to him, and him alone…

‘That settles it. They’re not making the kettle noise. They definitely don’t like me speaking with them in English. What’s strange is how did the game pick up my knowledge of French despite me not explicitly stating it outright…’

He would look over at the Naganadel, trying to puzzle out whatever it was they were chittering over with his Celesteela.

‘A her, because they don’t answer to the other pronouns I could think of. I asked her what name she wanted, but I have yet to get an answer back. Maybe it’s one that’ll come with time? Which admittedly, we don’t have that much of…’

[tangent=“You know something I do not,”]“⊬⍜⎍ ☍⋏⍜⍙ ⌇⍜⋔⟒⏁⊑⟟⋏☌ ⟟ ⎅⍜ ⋏⍜⏁,”[/tangent] she would muse in the same bird-like noise. Whatever it was, the entire… ‘sense’ of the conversation would fly over Alkaid’s head.

[tangent=“What have you discovered?”]“⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎅⟟⌇☊⍜⎐⟒⍀⟒⎅?”[/tangent]

Alicia Westfield