005. [Video]

[explosivecombat]

[VIDEO]

[Good evening, Johto!

The room is a bit dim when the video feed flickers on; Kimblee seems to have set the Gear on some piece of furniture in front of him - probably a desk of some sort. The room is nondescript, the walls bare, but it's spacious enough and there's what looks like that long trenchcoat of his draped over the edge of the bed behind him, as well as the edges of those boxes that the care packages came in, almost out-of-frame but just barely visible.

The room is his, after all, he just hasn't bothered decorating the place.

His voice is calm when he speaks, his posture casual - he's leaning back in whatever chair he's sitting in (and either it's a hell of a swivel chair or he's leaning it back on two legs and balancing it like that), and his arms are folded across his chest; despite that, however, there's a definite cocky note to his voice.

Someone's pleased with what he's received for Christmas, holy shit.]

My, my - judging from the feeds today, I'm not the only one who's received gifts from an unknown benefactor. Whether this is a sign that we've been favored by this world, or whether someone simply has a strange and possibly sick sense of humor has yet to be seen.

Perhaps a bit of both.

[And when he unfolds his arms, he's playing with something; it's moving a bit too quickly between his fingers for the camera to really focus on it, but whatever it is, it's small and solid and gleams a bit when it catches the light. A crystal of some sort, perhaps, blood-red in color.

For those from his world who would know a Philsopher's Stone when you see one: yep.

However! Kimblee will just be smiling and it will be a very pleasant expression, actually.]

I should hope that you're all enjoying yourselves; it's been such a lovely season so far.

[End feed.]


[OOC: It's been a lovely season indeed. Some of his CR has received things from him, just for the sake of reference; enjoy it?]

Comments

[explosivecombat]

Along with a few other things, yes. Assuming it was all delivered in the same way, I believe you may have received something similar, along with your...particular gift, there.

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ Blinks. Yes. Why yes, he did receive other things as well this morning.

As did Roy.

But... what are the connections between all of these...? Roy had claimed to have no attachment whatsoever to his gift. And Maes' attachment to his gift was very very different from Kimblee's.

Also, there was the fact that Kimblee had claimed that the stone was pretty much useless here. So why would he get it?

Questions, questions, question... you'll just have to sit tight there Kimblee, while Maes processes everything in his head. ]

[explosivecombat]

Something on your mind, Hughes?

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ he may have just lost a great deal of respect for you... it's one thing to kill to survive. It's a whole other thing to...

... yeah. Here, have a very disgruntled look. ]

Just thinking of reasons why we would receive these gifts.

[ Among other things. ]

[explosivecombat]

Among other things.

[...yeah. He's rather aware that you're displeased with him, but in all bluntness? He doesn't exactly care. This is just the price one pays for trying to see the good in everyone, you see - a lot of disappointment.

A lot of disappointment.]

1/2~ Man, these icon spams never happen... Kimblee, what are you doing to him?

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ Have a slightly caught off-guard look ]

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

Among other things.

[ There's no point causing animosity though, while Maes is thinking about all this. You're still both Team Rocket members. And as it stands, Kimblee has been here a lot longer and has been fairly straightforward in the whole answer-getting process.

tl;dr: ... he could still make use of you. ... You... psychopath. ]

Whatever it is, it's magical, I'm sure.

[explosivecombat]

[Causing animosity is what Kimblee does, however.]

Care to elaborate?

Oh, of course.

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ A pause.

While he knows now Kimblee's... erm... we'll just call then tendencies for now... Maes also knows that he's been pretty honest thus far. And he can't exactly see Kimblee as someone who was terribly into trickery.

And he'd like to hear Kimblee's version of all this, honestly. Though, he'll be careful not to reveal too much on his side. ]

Don't you think it's strange that we've each gotten something specific to us? How could they have known that much information about us?

[ ... We're going to just neglect the fact that everyone knows Maes loves his family for a second here. This isn't about him. ]

1/2

[explosivecombat]

[Well, maybe you're going to neglect it...]

Ah...to be blunt, Hughes, yours was a bit obvious.

[explosivecombat]

[Moving on, however!]

But I do have to agree with you; it's something I've been wondering about since I received them, especially given that from what I understand, not everything in these packages would have been common knowledge.

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ Hey now! What happened to we're going to neglect it?

But, Maes knows his is pretty obvious. Roy's though, wasn't. And... had no meaning. Apparently. ]

I'm assuming not a whole lot of people knew about... your connection with the stone.

[explosivecombat]

Not too many would know details, no.

[The connection with the Stone wasn't exactly something that everyone would know about; at the same time, he's less bothered by the fact that he received it than he is by something else regarding the damn thing.

He got two of them, when all of five people knew about the second. Two are dead, and not in Johto besides. One is a Homunculus that he could trust wouldn't sell him out. And the other two are the Elrics, who wouldn't reunite him with these things in the first place.]

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ Eyebrow raise. You're being very vague today, Kimblee. Not that Maes blames you for it, all things considered. ]

And of those that know. Are there any who would gain anything from... reminding you of those times?

[explosivecombat]

[Oh, is his vagueness showing again? At least it's not anything like the train plot this time.]

No. If anything, I'd think most would want to avoid it.

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ At least he eventually found out about the train plot... ]

That makes the situation even more curious, don't you think?

[ He suspects that these items were dropped off at random. And Kimblee just happened to get this stone. ]

[explosivecombat]

It does. As does the fact that this - [and he'll just be pausing in his toying with that stone for a moment, long enough for it to be clearly visible on the feed, before starting up again] - was no longer in my possession by the time I arrived in Johto. Assuming nothing drastic happened when I wasn't present, someone else entirely had it at that point.

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

Oh? Do you know who?

[ That'd narrow down the list of suspects, wouldn't it?

Oh, but hold on... ]

How long ago, would you say, you had that thing?

[ It's a good thing he didn't get anything surprising, 'cause then Maes wouldn't be able to ask all the questions. ]

[explosivecombat]

I last had it several months ago; it's changed hands a few times since then. As for the person who had it last...I do know who they are, yes. Believe me, it's not anyone that would want to return it to me.

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ THAT SOUNDS REASSURING... ]

And it's of no use here?

[ ... You've tried testing it on your Pokemon, yes? ]

[explosivecombat]

Without alchemy? I would say not.

[Has he tested it on his -

...Hughes, who in their right mind would do that]

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ So let us just hope there isn't another 4th wall event any time soon... ]

Then it could only serve as a reminder, hmm?

[ ... hey now, they're the closest things to alchemists here, okay? It would be worth a shot. YOU NEVER KNOW. ]

[explosivecombat]

As far as I can tell - either a reminder or an attempt at being frustrating, I suppose.

[...how much do you actually want to give him ideas, here]

[eliciadaddy.livejournal.com]

[ He's not giving you any ideas. He's simply letting you know that you're stupid to not have thought up of all these ideas yourself, okay? ]

I suppose we'll never know.

[ Translation: I'm not talking about it over these devices where anyone could potentially be listening. ]

[explosivecombat]

[Riiiiiiiight.]

One of this place's many mysteries, I suppose.

[...we are going to require another session when you return to Goldenrod, aren't we?]