mylittlejamjar | [Visual/Locked from Kyouko]

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[Visual/Locked from Kyouko]

It's come to my attention that the winter holidays in this world are bearculiarly similar to Christmas, a holiday made for spending time with either a group of hot studs or your special somebody. Unlike last year, I'm sadly going to skip on the stud meeting - but please save me a slice of cake - as I'm no longer a single bear anymore.

As a lotta you are already aware, but I've been training myself mentally and physically to reach the top of the maturity ladder, and my training is telling me that I gotta prebear the most romantic date imaginable.

[Teddie's standing in one of the Agency rooms, arms behind his back. This entire time he's been wearing a pair of glasses in hopes to make himself look smarter, but seeing as he's Teddie, he only manages to make himself look more ridiculous. Behind him are a few crayon drawings taped to the wall. He smacks one of them with a small tree branch, his temporary pointing stick. It's a little difficult to make out, but anyone with a good eye might catch that it's a drawing of a familiar city.]

Now, my field research concluded that Canterloft is the most romantic destination this world has to offer.

[See, it's not spying if it's for research. But enough about past nonsense, Teddie points to the next drawing, something much more sparkly looking. It...it also looks like it's covered in glitter.]

But with the inclusion of the Sparkling Crystal Place, I'm exbeariencing a sudden case of what we in the science business like to call "a difficult choice." [The scroll pans to the corner of the room, giving a good shot at Teddie's turtle, Peek, next to another piece of paper taped to the wall. It's drawn in such a way that it's meant to look like an itty bitty chalkboard, question marks scribbled all over it. Peek herself is wearing a tiny pair of glasses, clearly representing the science business of Equestria.] I need to know if we're still allowed to go there, or if I have to come up with a new sporting event to make it all pawsible.

[The scroll then turns back to him, one paw nudging his glasses "professionally."]

Any and all opinions on this matter are appreciated, as well as any and all snacks as I am scientifically starving at the moment.

[As if on cue, his stomach proceeds to rumble, causing him to drop character and grab onto it in an overdramatic flair. The feed ends there.]

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[Pokey puts down the bit of cake he was eating and, for a moment, is silent before nodding his head.]

Still alive. And she's fine. She's bounces back from trauma pretty quick. She doesn't forget it. But she gets back up from it.

She's still alive, so long as the server is up.

[The bitterness in his voice is palpable, and he crosses his arms over his chest in a grumpy little motion as he says it, and goes quiet for a moment just again. He looks down at the blanket and the banquet spread out upon it before looking back at Kyouko.

There's something in his eyes as he speaks. And it's hard to tell what it is.]

You're lucky here. Getting killed probably isn't a big worry you need to have for you and Teddie. It'll be easier to preempt most ways you can get hurt. But you gotta figure out what you're going to do if something really goes wrong.

Nothin's gonna go wrong.

[ She says it forcefully, desperately. ] Worst thing tha' could happen is one o'us gets taken away. [ And that is the worst. She doesn't know what she or he would do if that happened. ] We go back ta where we came from separately, at the same time - I go back ta bein' dead, he goes back ta bein' with his friends - we don' remember this place, s'fine. One o' us by ourself? I dunno.

[ She leans her head on the tree, looking up at the sun. The one she and Teddie are both under, at least for now. ]

Really, nothing? You think nothing is going to go wrong with some kind of freaky monster running this place. Everything until this point has gone just fine, is that right?

[He's trying not to get annoyed with her, but it's hard. The mindset just reminds himself too much of how he'd been early on in Mayfield, even if Kyouko is clearly far less malicious than he ever was. He's trying to keep anger out of his voice, out of his body language, but it's so hard. His eyes narrow a little, neck snapping to the side in a weird, serpentine like motion.]

This place is good for you. I get it.

[More than he'd like to admit. He's angry at himself, too, that he's having such a hard time not remaining calm when he can so easily understand Kyouko's position.

It doesn't occur to him how temporary places like this can seem to others, when in the end a place like this had ended up as home for him. To him, they were absolute places, and there was no going home. There wasn't in Mayfield, why should there be here?]

But don't just go accepting that everything is going to 'be okay'. You've got to accept that he's going to get hurt, and you're going to get hurt here. And I don't just mean like getting whacked around by someone or killed. I mean emotionally too. Because places like this tend to break you open then sew you back up.

Just...shut up. Don't talk like it's just something that happens, when you get taken away from this place, or others get taken from it.

[In three years in Mayfield, he'd seen so many people come and go. To come into that town and, for a moment, know him and help him find meaning to his life beyond power and control. And then for those people, who meant so much more, who were so much more than him...to just be taken away. Not even taken away, but to remain, physically, as shells of themselves.]

At least leave something for him, something for the people that you care about here, in case you do disappear. A note, a keepsake, just something.

You don't know. You think you just forget? How do you know? Because the last place I was at, you didn't just forget in the end.

You don't know. Try and think about the future.

[The most ironic, hypocritical statement he could possibly make. But he makes it anyway.]

[ Kyouko holds her legs and shivers. The future is scary. She sees emptiness ahead of her, where she wished she could see a long, fulfilled life for both her and Teddie. ]

A note wouldn' be enough. Nothin' would be. [ She's stubborn. She looks at Pokey, pleading. ] Can ya imagine that dumb bear? Can't ya see him wanderin' the streets, lookin' everywhere for me, only ta never find me again? Can't ya see how it'd be worse once he stopped lookin', and stayed cooped up in tha' closet?

[ She plays with some grass in her paws. Paws which used to be human hands, changed by this world. ] He's gotta have a friend. Tha's what he lives for.

If I go, ya gotta watch him for me.

No. It wouldn't be enough. But it'd be something.

[For a moment, maybe just a moment, the mean boy's eyes soften, if just a little. He can imagine it, for sure. He can imagine it so much more than he'd ever like to.]

I will. He barricades himself in, I'll pull him back out.

I promise.

[Once upon a time, his promises didn't mean much. Saying 'I promise' was just a way to get others to shut up, or to do what you wanted them to.

But now? It meant a little bit more. Even more so, in a case like this.]

Ya better.

[ She stares into the sun. Oblivion ... she fears it more now than she did before. She has more to lose.

... Glancing at Pokey, she surreptitiously takes a single slice of chocolate cake and scarfs it down. ] That it? That all yer advice? Only thing ya did that, uh... ya regret?

You kidding me?

[He looks at her, slightly blank-faced.]

I told you every little regret I had, we'd be here all day. Same with the advice.

[He takes a moment, then says, softly.]

Open yourself up to others. I know, that's some dumb crap coming from me. But it's true. Don't be afraid to here. Know who it is you're doing it to but...more good's going to come from letting others know you than trying to stick to only a few.

Like I said, leave something behind for those you care about if you disappear. And let them know how much you care before they do. Stick to a group; if you can find a close group, stay in it. You're going to need them here.

Rely on violence as a last resort. A lot less is going to get down by force than you think, even when you are in danger. Because the more fights you get in, the more hostility you spread in a place you can't really control and that's this small. The more hostility you spread? The more it's likely to come and bite you again.

...There's a lot more, I could go on. But I dunno how much of it really applies here. This place is too nice.

[ Half the cake disappears into Kyouko's mouth as she listens. Some of it she knows, some of it she doesn't want to admit, and some of it is new. But as Pokey finishes up, she blurts out: ]

An' what about you? [ She stares at him with hard eyes. ] Ya clam up an' call yerself not worthy of affection, an' yer pretty antagonistic too. Doens' sound like yer followin' yer own advice.

[He snorts, hands resting on his shoulders and fingers coming up in a brushing off motion as he speaks.]

Doesn't matter. I don't fit in. Not here at least. Mayfield was special. It's the one place where I could be accepted. Where there were people who understood.

The people here aren't going to. They're just going to hate me the moment they know who I am. And I guess that's deserved.

Doesn't mean I'm going to just sit around and wait for it.

Edited 2015-01-06 08:41 (UTC)

[ Kyouko shakes her head. ] No. I dunno who ya've met here, but there's a lotta messed up ponies. An' ones from yer world, too, from Mayfield. Ya think yer special? Please. Ever had yer soul ripped outta yer body, an' then willingly gone an' harvested humans?

[ She swallows thickly and glares at him. ] Stop thinkin' yer so special, Pokey. Yer not an island.

[Special.]

Hey. Hey guess what?

[His voice is building in annoyance. In anger.

Special is what he had always wanted to be. To be able to lord that over others, to show them how great he was. And in the end, special is what he was, though Mayfield showed him it was special in a way he didn't want to be.]

The soul ripped thing? Naw. Harvesting humans of my own free will though? Yep. I don't regret it either. I wish they were still stuck inside those dumb tubes, instead of getting free. I still wish we had destroyed Eagleland, and just about everyone there. I hate them.

[He leans forward a little, serpentine eyes having narrowed into complete slits.]

You wanna talk about monsters? Congratulations, you're talking to one of the worst of 'em.

Good. Join the freakin' monster club.

[ She says it wearily. Tired of arguing about who's worse and who's better. Even if he does want to kill everyone - the fact is, he hasn't done that here, has he? Compared to dragons who want to take over the world and ponies who lord it over everyone else, he's one of the better ones. Actions vs words and all that. ]

I grew up believin' that everyone had a chance ta be saved, an' then I got turned inta somethin' tha' I knew never could be. An' I got taken in anyway. Ya know what I think now?

[ She glares right back. ] Everyone has a chance ta be.

Everyone does. And I got my chance. And held it. And now it's gone.

I need them. Why can't you get that?

[He can't believe he's saying this, but he can't help it, and his little dragon claws are bunched into angry fists.]

What, how would you react if you got pulled from here and told this place had been destroyed and was dead with everyone you cared about? How would you do? You think you'd be thinking "oh well, better move on"?

Yer an idiot. [ Her voice is shaking. Really, truly, she can't bear the thought of leaving Teddie. But far be it from Pokey to distract her onto some subject like that for now. ]

Ya think just cause ya lost all that ya can stop tryin'? Hell, what da ya think? Of course I'd miss him. I... dammit.

It'd prob'ly break me. [ Like it has with Pokey? She takes a great shuddering breath. ]

Dammit. I dunno, Pokey. 'm sorry. [ Those words coming from this bear... well, there aren't a lot that have heard it. Teddie, certainly. A few close friends. Not many others. ]

I dunno wha's best. I just...

[ Her paws, so animated as she was talking a moment ago, fall to her sides. She takes the fallen apple and chews at it tastelessly, trying to get the stench of loss out of her mouth. She bites again and again, devouring the entire thing. But it doesn't help. ]

Stop trying?

[He says the words with a mixture of fury and indignation. Stop trying? Is that what she thinks he's doing? Does she really not understand how hard it is even to try without them?

Well. It is what he's doing, isn't it? He's looking for excuses, just like he ever has. He was good - well, better in Mayfield because he had something he could cling to there. And now that he doesn't, well...he's just sinking back in. Sinking back towards who he ever was.

He can't help it, and he thinks about how that's kind of the ultimate betrayal of everyone he knew in that town. Of everything they had seen in him and tried to help him with.

He's just quiet as Kyouko devours her apple, thinking. And when he speaks again, it's probably the last thing Kyouko would expect.]

I need your help.

'm here.

[ She answers automatically, surprised at herself even as the words leave her mouth. But it's true, isn't it?

It's kind of funny how Sayaka and then Teddie have aided her rebirth as a magical girl. Used to be, she was the paragon of the system, taking what she needed for herself and that was it. Now she feels like she has some sort of duty. Certainly for her friends (a word she wouldn't even have associated herself with before.)

But Teddie's hurting. She's concerned for him. It's an odd feeling, but it's why she asked him out here in the first place. In a way, it's a relief that he's asked. ]

'm here fer that. Whaddya need?

[He looks over at her, stubborn and obstinate as always. He doesn't allow himself to show what he's feeling, to try and give away what he might actually feel by that immediate response.

But deep down...deep down it tugs. Tugs at something, something he really only felt in Mayfield before and had only so rarely felt it over here. He's grateful, though he may not show it, and instead just sighs as he prepares what he has to say.]

There's a little white mouse going around here named George. I know that Teddie's been talking to it, and that it's spoken with a few others. Seems it's living with some bubbly, pink haired girl, Madoka or something. I haven't really spoken with her.

...It's dangerous. Back where I'm from, it's named Giegue, and it's an alien overlord out to enslave humanity, and my boss. And while it may not inherently care about here too much, it's going to turn it's interests to conquering it when it can. Because that's what it does.

I'm not going to let it. I have an idea to try and run a con on him, but I'm going to need help to do it.

...You get how dangerous this is probably going to be, right?

[ Her jaw hangs open. Well isn't that a story she's heard before.

White mouse. Living with Madoka. Alien overlord. ] God dammit. [ And Pokey's told her about him before, hasn't he, and she blew him off, hadn't she? Again, just like before. But with the pieces in that order...

She stands up, fists clenched. ] I know that kid. Madoka's bein' stupid. ... well, ignorant, but s'just as dangerous. Buck.

Yeah. I'll help. But only if ya really think it'll take care of him. Cause otherwise 'm gonna bury 'im at the bottom of the lake.

[Pokey shakes his head a little, tsking a little out of annoyance.]

I dunno if it'll take care of him but it'll keep him busy for a long, long time if we play it right. You can try fighting him here or getting rid of him here, but if this place is anything like others?

Death isn't permanent here, at least not always.

We've got to find a way to try and keep him occupied on something without making him get too aggressive. You can try going at him like that if you want, but that's going to be a lot more dangerous than what I'm thinking, for the people you care about along with yourself.

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[Visual/Locked from Kyouko]

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