garbagechild | IC Contact

I keep the ones I like! Or the ones that the Admins give to me!

_{[Because he hadn't exactly chosen to keep Dirty.]}

I see.

[ He gives Wrath a moment as he thinks that over. It fitted with what he had seen of Wrath's team. ]

You do not ask many questions of Team Rocket yourself. You simply do as told.

Yes!

_{[He says this emphatically, as though Walter had finally gotten the correct answer to a math question.]}

I do what I'm told!

That's what you do in a team! You all do what you're told and everything works out!

And if you don't, you get punished because that's not what you do in a team!

So you do not think about what you want, unless it is what Pokemon you keep for yourself. Nor do you think about what it is we do.

If they asked you to take my Pokemon as a punishment, or to steal Envy's Pokemon, you would do it. For the Team.

They wouldn't.

They wouldn't tell us to steal from ourselves.

_{[And Envy... well... well... Wrath has never been commanded to steal from any one specific person. He's always been able to choose who, even if he couldn't simply choose not to steal.]

[The fact that he has to think about it at all rankles him, though, and he's scowling now.]}

That wouldn't make any sense.

Yet, a Team Rocket member have attempted to steal my Pokemon, in the Headquarters. When I last brought that up, you ignored it.

And Envy?

[ He didn't cover that part at all. ]

WHA-THUD!

Sometimes Wrath was just hard to see. He wore dark clothes and he had a huge mass of dark hair and when you're wheeling out of the office in a blind dissociative panic because you dreamed about your neighbor's giant warped face taking up the entirety of the back room of the Pokemon Center, it can be hard to see someone who looks like that crouching in the fucking hallway like a goblin.

And so Henry promptly appeared and then hit the floor, joining Wrath down in the below with a loud groan. He didn't have to guess who he tripped over.

"Sorry, Wrath."

It's true.

Wrath is perfectly camouflaged in the darkness.

That perfect camouflage can be a double-edged sword. Case in point: this exact situation.

The little monster lets out something between a grunt and a shrill, indignant note, skittering to the side of the hall with his back arched like a cat. He no longer has his weird, awful Homunculus eyes, so they thankfully do not turn into two balefully glowing ORBS as they're directed back at Henry.

He does, however, say "That's okay."

But it's in that kind of ominous Wrath way where you can't really tell if it's actually okay or not.

Henry remained on the floor. His head was spinning and his heart was still thumping and Wrath's ominous reassurance wasn't very...reassuring.

"What are you doing out in the middle of the hall? It's d--" Henry stopped speaking and blinked into the dark. "I was going to say dangerous. Wow."

_{[The boy's nostrils flare. He doesn't really have the vocabulary to put words to what he knows Walter is doing. It's frustrating-- because Wrath has a lot of strong feelings about things, and not a whole lot of language to describe them with.]

[The curse of being technically being a three year old with little to no understanding of the world.]}

Did the admins tell that Team Rocket member to steal your Pokemon? Or were they just being mean? Some team members are mean, you know. That doesn't mean that we're supposed to steal from each other.

And I can steal from Envy.

I've done it before.

_{[He'd been caught and forced to give back the wallet pretty much immediately. Which is actually a big reason why he's not worried about it-- the thought of Team Rocket being able to actually harm Envy or his Pokemon doesn't even compute in his head. Envy's just too powerful.]}

But they wouldn't ask me to.

Why would they? There are plenty of strong Pokemon out there to steal without going to ONE specific person!

And anyway, you're not even listening to me. You're just asking questions you already decided you know! Because-- _{[He pauses, searching for a reason why Walter could possibly have decided to hate Team Rocket. The 'hurting and mistreating Pokemon and people' bit doesn't occur to him-- that's all he's ever known and all he's ever been used for. So instead...]} --because you don't like me anymore!

_{[Yeah that's totally it.]}

Dangerous?

_{[He considers that for a moment... then shakes his head dismissively. Because this hallway is super NOT dangerous. :T]

[He does, however, answer Henry's question.]}

I saw terrible things downstairs in front of my closed eyes.

So I was going to scratch at Lust's door until she let me in.

You had a bad dream too, huh?

_{[He never really thought about what Wrath might dream about. Still reeling from his own terrible visions in front of his closed eyes, he propped himself up on his hands and actually looked in the direction of the living mop's voice.]}

You okay? Do you, uh, want to talk about it? I mean...I'm already awake.

_{[Whatever snake-filled breadscape Wrath would describe to him would be a welcome thought to chase away his own nightmare.]}

_{[Tired of standing there in that weird arch, Wrath finally sits down. His head is still tilted.]}

If we talk up here, Lust will wake up and be cross.

_{[But scratching at the door until she let him in was okay, apparently.]}

Edited 2017-10-07 07:03 (UTC)

_{[Henry makes a humming sound. That was true. He doubted Lust would be that annoyed but Wrath didn't seem to be too into the idea. Henry finally stands and fumbles around for the hallway light. He didn't want to trip again.]}

You wanna go downstairs? I can make waffle sandwiches.

_{[Honestly, she probably wouldn't be.]

[But Wrath has probably driven Lust to scolding more than once during his 'it's 3 AM time to run up and down the upstairs hallway at breakneck speed' sessions.]

[He does, however, perk right up at the offer of FOOD.]}

Mm, yes.

_{[AND HE GOES RIGHT DOWN THE STAIRS. On all fours.]}

_{[Henry jumps a little when Wrath SCAMPERS by. He leans to watch and make sure he makes it to the bottom of the stairs before carefully following. He heads over to the freezer to grab some frozen waffles and chocolate syrup.]}

What did you dream about, Wrath?

_{[Once successfully on the lower floor, Wrath hops right into one of the kitchen chairs. He's definitely been acquainted with the freezer waffles-- they work the same way as toast does!]}

The Gate.

_{[He answers this matter-of-factly, almost as though Henry should just... know what he's talking about, but his voice is a little smaller than normal. He's still got a a little of that nightmare in him, making his heart race and muscles tense.]}

_{[With a ca-CHUNK the first set of waffles disappears into the toaster. Henry occupies himself by squeezing the syrup bottle and causing it to make little farting sounds. It was the little things that could ground him and keep him from drifting off into that other world.]

[Henry glances over his shoulder at Wrath, his brows scrunched in sleepy confusion.]}

The backyard gate?

_{[Wrath shakes his head, digging at a smudge of something-or-other that had been left on the table after whatever Lust had made for dinner earlier. She was always very tidy, but some had escaped her notice.]}

No.

The Gate.

I escaped from it a few times.

But it always wants me back.

_{[Henry's brows peak up in confusion. This sounded like something he should know. The Gate. The Gate...he thought...he had snatched those words out of the air once when his friends were talking. So long ago. But he had to be honest.]}

I'm sorry. I don't understand...is it a place back--

_{[He started to say home but he has a feeling that his friends consider THIS home now.]}

--back where you're from? The other world without Pokemon?

_{[He's right.]

[The Homunculi didn't have a 'home' back there-- they never had.]

[Here was the first place that had ever happened.]

[But Wrath shakes his head again. It didn't feel like it was from "back" there... it was from a space beyond it, beyond all places, between all places. Coming here had allowed him to eventually lull himself into a sense of security from Master and some of the other particularly frightening aspects of that world...]

[... But never from the Gate.]

[The Gate feels as close as ever.]}

No.

It's where I was before I was born.

I wasn't supposed to leave.

It will take me back, if it ever finds me again.

_{[He sighs, slouching over the table with his bony elbows bent out, chin resting on his arms.]}

I see it sometimes when my eyes are closed at night.

_{[Henry listens. He honestly hasn't asked Wrath too many questions. He just...didn't do well with kids. He never had things to ask before but now...how could you not ask questions when somebody tells you they remember the time before they were born?]

[The toaster popped up suddenly and Henry's spine stiffened like a pole. He fetched up the waffles, slapped one on a plate, smothered it with the chocolate syrup, and placed the other on top. The plate is scooted Wrath's way and Henry readies his own sandwich.]}

That sounds...scary.

_{[It sounded dumb to say something so blunt as he toed the very edge of a very deep pit of curiosity.]}

I don't remember anything from before I was born...

[ Walter shook his head. ]

I do not dislike you, Wrath. I still enjoy your company. You're not mean to me. But I want you to think about what we do for Team Rocket, and if it is what you want to do.

[ If he truly disliked Wrath, he wouldn't be pushing him like this. He'd be finding loopholes to annoy and anger the Admins themselves. Which he was but in a more subtle way. He thinks, choosing his next words carefully. ]

You never answered why I should be loyal to people who would be mean to me. I was loyal to a group once who were like that. They hurt me often. They put me into very small cells. And they hurt every person I'd known. So I repaid them for both their kindness, and their cruelty. [ He completed the ritual in return for them providing him with food and shelter at the orphanage. And he used them for it, to repay for his suffering at their hands. ]

_{[The snap of the toaster startles them BOTH-- Wrath nearly pops up in the chair just like the waffle did in the toaster itself.]

[But the food being pushed over in front of him is enough to placate his jangling nerves for the moment, and he wastes no time before taking a big crunchy bite out of it. He'd honestly eat these things frozen if you let him, but toasty and covered in sweet stuff is a big upgrade.]}

Ith scary.

_{[He agrees through a mouthful of chocolate goo and waffle, fortunately swallowing before he continues.]}

The first time I was born, she didn't want me, so she put me back.

It's so dark.

I hate it.

_{[Henry drums his fingers on the counter, his eyes going from Wrath to the toaster, determined not to be startled again.]}

The first time...

_{[Right. Envy had explained a little about what he was. Like a Frankenstein. Or a zombie almost. But. Different. And clearly able to turn into a dragon because why not. But Envy never talked about it like this.]}

I'm sorry, Wrath...I have nightmares like that too--about bad places I've been. I wish we could both get away from that stuff.

_{[He steals another quick glance back at the toaster.]}

For the record, I'm glad you were born.

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