The woods were quiet and haunting, and Sarthor was bored. He walked through the woods, unaffected by the low creeping mist, the snapping of branches underfoot, the reaching of branches. It was all overused. Yes, yes, terrible spooky woods. Likely a killer in the darkness. Whatever. He wasn't terribly impressed.

Wysteria kept at his side, looking around at everything, eyes wide. <It's so misty... I don't like it.> She said, keeping her voice a quiet mewl, tail fluffed nearly into a ball. There were other pokemon lurking, and... and she was not about it. <Lacrimosa, can't we be somewhere else?>

Lacrimosa, obviously, ignored her. Her squeaking didn't mean much to him, anyway.

When a Wild PKMN appears, reply using the ATTACK button to weaken it! But watch out— it might fight back! If your PKMN faints, you must go to the closest SHRINE to restore your PKMN. When the Wild PKMN's HP reaches 10% or below, up to 2 players may spend 25 BYTES to catch it here. You may also simply retreat to end the encounter. Retreating succeeds automatically.

TRIGGER WARNING | LOVECRAFTIAN / COSMIC HORROR, UNREALITY

Lacrimosa offered a thoughtful frown. White haired, about this man's height, well built, crass attitude... cat ears. Surely such a man would be incredibly distinctive. Lacrimosa had never seen anyone fitting that distinction. In fact, precious few people had opted for- What had the menu called them? "Animal Decoration?" Eye color, sure. Jewelry, naturally. Even strange clothes. But this was more rare- why? A fear of breaking away from what was considered human? What was considered humanity?

"Oh- with a little cat?" It was a simple enough guess. "I saw him run by maybe... ten minutes ago? He looked angry..." He said, casting a glance towards the darkness of the new area. "Maybe we could go look for him together...?" It's a gentle non-offer. If this man- rude as he was- went in, Sarthor would stick to him.

Wysteria blinked as another sprigatito fell into view, staring down at him curiously. <Hi! That looked silly!> They said, laughing a bit. <I'm Wysteria- who are you? Are you nice?>

Lacrimosa moved back a step, letting Kazuki go first into the new area, and delicately trailed after him. The first step yielded... not much. The sky pulsed, like something was meant to happen. But outside of that? Not much. The cat didn't seem to agree, plying near instantly against his leg, letting out some terrible, strangled noise. "It's alright," He coaxed, eyes not on her, but on the darkness around them.

And, slowly... it started to make sense. Not just black forms, but... something more. He saw them, and knew they were code, the precise hex of the colors, the data points of the shape and curve. He turned, and as his hair swung, he felt the physics engine work, heard the whine of the headset in his chest-

Felt the mechanics that synced all their thoughts, countless, innumerable, together. He reached out, wondrously, idly, as if his fingers could brush the strands of thought and wire, the myelin that kept them all in the vast dream.

The world was new, now, striking and different than it had been. He knew it, as intimately as he knew the workings of the body and brain- maybe more so. As intimately as he knew his own home, his own body, his own thoughts. He could see it, perhaps, the actions being made into code and electricity, shot through the game- and Sarthor could see it, almost, almost, Alistair in the basement, by his body, looking over the data they'd already collected.

"This is incredible," He said, voice rising not in sound, but in code, a clicking of keys and a translation of binary, printed along the side of his vision, stored in a computer miles and miles away. His heart pounded in his chest, mirrored by the electric-mirrored sensations on the game. Sarthor was not a separate thing, not someone invited in, but something part of the infinities of this code- He was part of the living spectre that thrived in the machine. He was part of this. He could use this. He could use this.

He knew how to use this.

Wysteria, upon getting no support from Lacrimosa, had pressed herself against sprigatito and Kazuki, trembling and shaking. The dark shapes were moving, rising, and there was a terrible screeching, like something trying to get out- or in. <I- I want to go home!> She cried.

WYSTERIA || 100/150

Lacrimosa just smiled, pleased at the praise. "Doesn't that sound nice, Wysteria?" He asked, looking down at the pokemon again. She looked up at him, nose twitching a she studied his face, and brushed against him. <Lacrimosa,> She corrected, soft eyes moving to Mumble. <But I don't think he can hear us like your trainer can...> She trailed off, looking between the players.

Lacrimosa, quite naturally, didn't respond to her music. "So, um, what is it we need to be doing? Finding our... um, moms?" He'd pulled the quest log down to read from it, clearly confused by this. He... already had a mother, so this felt. Strange. "How are we supposed to do that?" He'd let this, mh, Taylor be the de facto "leader" of this little escapade. She was certainly chatty enough for it.

He'd need to see if his assistant could find a mod to quiet everyone down.

Lacrimosa had spent a good deal of time simply... walking. Feeling the motion of it, the sensations in his legs and feet, how it affected his breathing, how his eyes passed the movement of the world around him. He was, to be certain, learning a lot. It felt realistic enough, maybe, for what he wanted... but would any of it work?

He would need to test it, and see. So, he would play this little game, and see what it had to offer him. A little map lit up, with a helpful arrow, and he let himself head that way. The others he passed all seemed to have their little cretins out, so as he went Lacrimosa retrieved the instrument the Professor had given him, and let it out.

<Ohh... It's so sunny...> The little sprigatito said, shaking out her head before turning to look up at Lacrimosa. <Hi! What's your name?>

Lacrimosa looked down at the cat, and its incessant mewling, and gave it a smile before continuing onwards wordlessly. Sure enough, the map pointed to a house, where a woman and her animal were already loitering. Time to engage with the rabble, then...

"Um... hi?" Lacrimosa tried, ears pinning a bit nervously as he approached. "Are you here for the, um, the quest? Thing?" It was evident he was... not a gamer. The Sprigatito had trotted after him, not too put out at being ignored, and looked up at their hopefully new friends? <Hi! What's your name?> She repeated, looking up at the woman, and then the Piplup.

Sarthor thought, as he waited for the professor to speak proper. Either these were simple questions, with chosen answers, that had their values correlated to a specific type of vermin, or it was more flexible, but utterly random. Useless data or useless data.

At the first question, Lacrimosa smiled. "Oh, there's one I remember my mother reading to me all the time. It's called the Juniper Tree, I think. There's this little bird born out of a juniper tree, and he sings this pretty song- kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I. Isn't that pretty?" He laughed a bit, before considering the rest of the question. "One I hate... um, I don't know if I hate any, but... there's one about a boy who isn't afraid, but learns to shudder after his sister... throws fish on him? I never really understood it..." He frowned. The Juniper-Tree was a tale of power and revenge, while The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear offered... very little.

At the next question, he paused, as if concerned. "I- ... Probably I'd just cry?" He said, with a bit of a pathetic laugh. "You aren't... going to do that here, are you?"

The last question was the only one even vaguely interesting. Lacrimosa fiddled with a few locks of hair. "Lying... I think... It's wrong most of the time, but sometimes it's the only option for some things. And not lying would be worse. Does that make sense?" He looked up at Professor Ash again, almost pleadingly, looking for validation and confirmation.

What dull questions.