preybeforemeals | IC Contact/Voicemail

You're trying to spare my feelings. That's kind of you, you know.

It's a little strange having so many people around, isn't it? "Around" in a way that matters, that is. I wasn't entirely alone back home - I had a pair of servants who were good to me, and Hori-san, of course - but even they were different to how things are here.

[...Wait.]

Ah, you haven't met Hori-san yet - she's a human I've known since we were in school together. It's probably been about...seven years now? Something like that.

[Yet...?]

It is, yes, and...I don't think I have. You say she's...a human?

[Well, he is technically from the future and all.]

She is! Something of an unusual one, but she's definitely human.

[That's...a little surprising.]

...Does she know about you?

[...Ah.]

Yes, she does.

Ah...I'm not saying that that's a bad thing, or anything, by the way. I'm just curious.

But...if you don't mind telling me, what is she like?

[Besides unusual and maybe harboring a death wish.]

Well, first of all - and don't tell her I told you this in so many words should you ever see her in person, because I imagine she won't be very impressed with me for having said it, but - she's incredibly young-looking. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that she's so short, but she doesn't look a day older than she did when we met at sixteen. ...By which I mean she looks about twelve, if I'm going to be blunt.

Outside of looking so young, physically speaking she's very plain and frankly I find her unattractive, not the sort of person who would normally have caught my attention at all. In fact, we attended the same high school for years and I never noticed her.

As for her personality...she's very capricious in her daily life; I suppose you could say that she's somewhat like I am - I think she's looking for the ultimate experience, the thing that she won't be complete without, and she doesn't know what that is yet but she'll know it when she finds it. She's disinterested in things that don't lead to fulfilling that goal, and because of that she often comes across as apathetic and uncaring about life, but honestly I find her to be quite the opposite; she just doesn't have the time or the inclination to be kind to those that don't interest her. She's very blunt and socially strange, and she seems to prefer being alone; if she has any friends, I've never met them.

She's a photographer as well - an extremely talented one, actually, and that's how we met for the first time. She came across me while I was hunting someone and took pictures of the result. Things were a bit ugly between us for a while as a result, but everything worked out eventually.

She's never had any real interest in outing me to anyone, though, nor has she really threatened me with it; she's good at getting information for me, she's one of my best sources. We're very close now; she looks after me in much the same way that a sibling would, though she'll deny it if that's pointed out.

[Hang on just...give him a little while to read all of that...]

Wow. She sounds like a very distinct person, Tsukiyama-san. I'm sure if I ever did see her in person, it would be hard to miss her.

[...also good lord four for her for being brave enough to take a picture of Tsukiyama while he was hunting, gracious.]

[ahahahaha um

things "worked out" because she was also either brave or just fuckless enough to take a picture of him while he was holding her out an eighth-story window by her neck and threatening to drop her because he was super-well-adjusted in high school

he loves this girl because her metaphorical balls are dense enough to have their own gravitational pull, is what he's saying]

I'll have to introduce you, should she choose to grace us all with her presence eventually.

[Dear god.]

Alright. I guess it is almost time for people to start arriving here again, isn't it? So...maybe she will.

If she does, then she does; I'm not particularly concerned. We're going to be set back exactly where we came from anyway and it's not as though I'll remember missing her any when we return to our daily lives, so I'm not going to bother with it.

[...tsukiyama surely you can't just decide- ...okay, you know what, you do you.]

[Well, that's...one way to go about it, he guesses.]

I guess you're right.

That is a little sad somehow, though. ...not being able to remember this place, I mean.

[Moreso for him, he's sure. He really does like it here, for obvious reasons.]

I suppose so. While we're being honest with each other, though...if given the option to leave, right now, I would probably take it without thinking twice about it.

It's not that I'm unhappy here - I've enjoyed myself here, I've loved the opportunities and the people I've met - but it's more that I know I wouldn't be happy staying here, if that makes sense.

That makes sense, yes. I can't say I would want to do the same, but...I do understand.

I guess, in my case, it would be better for me to forget, should I leave one day.

[It would just be too hard, having to go back.]

...As I've said before, Kaneki-kun, I won't try to change your mind or convince you that you should want to go back.

If you're happy here and it's what you want, then it's what I want for you.

I know. ...thank you, for that.

I really do like it here for the most part, as strange as it can be. But since we don't have any control over what happens, I'm going to try to not worry about it.

That's the best we really can do with what we've been given, I think.

Are you going to be all right for the time being, otherwise?

I'll be fine. I just have to enjoy it while I can.

Right?

[ ... c: ]

Exactly! That's exactly it.

And even if you do start to worry about the state of things back home...just like pleasure isn't permanent, I think that can be said for our dark times as well. Sorrow isn't our natural state of things, regardless of who or what you are; the fact that we can experience pleasure with such intensity in the first place speaks a lot to that. Things will work out, just because they're naturally inclined to - if not toward happiness, then at least toward contentment and some sort of equilibrium.

We have too much to experience yet, in both this world and our own. It'll be fine.

[...Clearly someone's feeling pretty good now that the feelings jam is out of the way. ~~Might as well get the obligatory One Direction Laugh Track/REAL IRONIC IN THREE YEARS out of the way.~~]

[So is he, if we're being honest. ...not that he was planning on a feelings jam being a thing, but sometimes things just happen.]

That's a good way to think about it, I think. That things will work themselves out in some sort of way, eventually.

[Though Tsukiyama put it in better words than he could have.]

And honestly? I'm...actually a bit excited to see what happens here in the future. So much has happened already, and I've only really seen two towns in this world.

Well, I can tell you already that you're not missing out on anything if you don't get around to Cherrygrove - I spent far too long there at the start.

I can't imagine it would be much compared to Goldenrod, anyway...everybody I've talked to says this is the biggest town you'll find.

That's what I've heard, yes - at least as far as Johto goes. I can't say for certain because I've never been to Kanto and I haven't heard quite as much about it, but from what I understand a few cities there are rather large as well. They don't seem to have as large a population of "foreigners", however.

...The name of that region threw me a bit, I'll admit, but it's presumably nothing like the Kanto we know - I don't believe there's a Tokyo equivalent, at least.

Ah, probably not. I don't know very much about Kanto, either...I guess most people stay in Johto since it seems like traveling can get...hard.

[There's a bit of a pause before he continues.]

Though, one thing I'm really surprised by is that some people actually fly on their Pokemon between towns.

Ah, so I've heard! I'm currently training one so I can do that myself, actually, though I have yet to actually work out how it's done.

[HIGH PLACES, KANEKI-KUN]

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