IC Contact

[garbagechild]

"... So I just talk? I start talking? .... Now? ... What's the light mean? ... Oh! HI, I'M WRATH, THIS IS MY MAIL VOICE, PLEASE LEAVE A--" BEEP.


[OOC: Want to thread with me but don't have a current post to do it on? Wanna send Wrath a private message? Wanna prank-call him in the middle of the night and then instantly regret it as he dials you back over and over and yells "Hello? HELLO?" into the mic? Pop a thread on here with the IC date and time and let's get playing!]

Comments

[11121_assumption]

Questions about teams. [ He paused, thinking of what words to use. ]

What is so important, about being in a team?

[garbagechild]

There's strength and safety in numbers, and when you have a team, you're taken care of. You belong.

[11121_assumption]

What if you do not trust the majority of the team. Or you have a different team, who you trust in more.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath thinks about it for a minute.]

[He's not actually sure 'trust' has ever really been part of the equation... after all, backstabbing one another to various degrees for points with the Master had SORT of been an expectation. If you screwed something up, there was no guarantee you'd be covered for. Any time that happened, it was a huge favor and you'd better damn well be grateful.]</sub>

Well, you should never trust a majority of people anyway.

Humans are very fickle.

[11121_assumption]

So loyalty is not part of being in a team.

You're not cared for. And you cannot rely on them. [ Being in a team...was sounding more like being in the Order. ]

[garbagechild]

_{[Wrath blinks his big baby-blue eyes at Walter as though they're talking about cloud shapes and not the intricacies of social relationships in homo sapiens.]}

What does loyalty have to do with trust?

<sub>[Wrath likes being able to trust people.]

[But the way he learned loyalty was through fear.]</sub>

Team Rocket does take care of me and I do rely on them.

_{[The eyes narrow a little. He doesn't quite have the eloquence to put his finger on it verbally, but he doesn't like the way Walter says "them" when talking about the Team. Is he not a Rocket too?]}

[11121_assumption]

[ Walter hummed thoughtfully. ]

How do you trust someone without loyalty? My Pokemon are loyal to me, so I trust them to do as I ask and to protect me.

Other Rockets are not loyal. I've heard them talk. And one has attempted to steal my Pokemon from me in the base. Why should I trust them to do anything, should I need them?

[ The Order he had been loyal to, from fear and brainwashing. But he knew, he had always known that they wouldn't protect him. It's why he saw no reason to spare them from their own teachings. He had served Team Rocket as commanded since he had arrived, and it was similar. The fear and brainwashing were gone but there was nothing else to otherwise bond him to them, and certain members; Handsome Jack, Felix, Vanitas; had taught him that just being a Rocket didn't promise anything.

In their place, he had learned a different kind of loyalty from his Pokemon. They liked him. They fought for him. And when he was in need, they protected him. He wasn't taken care of by Team Rocket. He didn't rely on them. His Pokemon did that. ]

What do you rely on them for, Wrath?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath wrinkles his nose. He doesn't. Like the way Walter is talking. At all.]

[He doesn't like the questions he's being asked.]

[He doesn't like thinking about these sorts of things at all.]</sub>

Walter.

You're talking like a traitor.

[11121_assumption]

[ He knows this tone. It's the same tone he'd heard when he'd questioned the priests. There's a pause that hangs in the air. ]

Are you going to answer my questions, Wrath?

[ Or was he going to try and punish him. He felt eerily calm. ]

[garbagechild]

_{[He folds his arms, stubbornly.]}

No.

I don't like your questions.

[11121_assumption]

[ Walter remained calm and thoughtful. ]

It does not matter if you like them or not.

But refusing to answer is also telling.

[garbagechild]

_{[Wrath, meanwhile, is growing red in the face and visibly more agitated.]}

I don't have to answer anything.

I got a promotion.

I outrank you!

[11121_assumption]

You do.

And what will you do to me?

[ He's still calm. Eeriely so. Would Wrath try to hurt him? Turn his back on him? He felt something in his chest. His heart was beating but there was something else, something familiar in his mind.

Don't trust them. They'll disappoint. ]

[garbagechild]

I order you to not ask me any more questions!

I'M the one who should ask questions!

So there!

<sub>[And then he folds his arms.]

[That settles it!]</sub>

[11121_assumption]

Very well.

[ And he cut off the call. There was no point continuing it. He'd asked his questions and had gotten...a response. And although the response he had gotten had done nothing to actually answer what he had asked, it opened his eyes in a different way. He saw Wrath in a different, harsher light. ]