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[Delivered directly to you by a friendly flying-type is a nicely wrapped package containing three very fluffy and warm sweaters!

Attached is a handwritten note:

Have a Merry Christmas! Stay warm, okay?
~Alphonse Elric]

[Sometime in the afternoon, Wrath receives a card and a small box of inexpensive chocolate cream filled candies. The signature is a messy scrawl that probably says 'Jimmy'.]

[It's more or less the middle of the night in the Goldenrod base. It's not exactly a time where most people are awake, unless they're doing guard duty or they're insomniacs.]

[For Micchy, it's the latter, though not by choice. He's managed to find a more secluded corner of the base, far away from prying eyes or ears, and he's curled up with his Vulpix and Ponyta. He'd curl up with his Absol, but she doesn't really like this kind of situation or know what to deal with it.]

[It's easy enough to overlook him, with just the flickering light of his Ponyta's mane to illuminate the group, but he's sniffling - and in this part of the base it echoes more than he'd like. He's also glaring at what appears to be an empty space in the air.]

... Stop it.

[Pause.]

I said go away!

[Another pause.]

Stop haunting me, dammit!

[His sharp tone echoes in the silence, but he doesn't seem to notice. He's too intent on whatever he's looking at.]

_{[Jack assumes Wrath is quite young so he foregoes the loopy script for block letters.]}

LITTLE MONSTER,

I must leave for now. I hope to see you again one day! Remember to dress warmly. Always say please and thank-you, and if you ever need a safe place to stay, knock on my door. It is the big black house on the north end of Goldenrod. Someone will let you in on my orders.

-A BIG MONSTER

_{[Ralph appears on Wrath's screen. He's holding up Hungry by the little knot at the top of his weird trash bag body. He's not happy.]}

Hey, kid, keep this thing on a leash, will ya? He just ate the only pair of shoes I have!

Wrath! I found the weirdest food ever! You gotta see!

Hey Kiddo.

Do you want to go out to lunch today?

Edited 2015-08-11 07:06 (UTC)

[This goes to Homunculus House, since that's Joker's best bet on where Wrath will be, and there are two things addressed to him. The first is a postcard from the Museum in Pewter. The second?]

[It's a sucker. But not any sucker. It has what looks like a bug entombed inside all that sugar. Fortunately, it isn't identifiable as any sort of Pokemon bug, which is... good? It's definitely disgusting, probably.]

[Which is honestly why Joker thought Wrath would love it.]

[The post card has written on it in Joker's surprisingly neat handwriting, "Made it to Pewter! Lots of rocks. Going to fight Brock, wish me luck. Hope you enjoy the candy. Love, Joker."]

[The delivery on the third has a gift card from Cerulean's Aquarium, plus a Sharpedo designed hat that clearly indicates Wrath should stuff his head into its gaping plush mouth.]

["Cerulean! Don't know how they can stand all the water in this weather. Can't see my hand in front of my face. Bought a hat for you, hope it amuses. Vermillion not too far off, see another letter soon. Love, Joker"]

[And, sure enough, less than a week later comes another postcard and box. This time, it's from Lt Surge's Survival Camp, which features a very muscular man roasting some sort of unidentifiable meat over a campfire in the middle of the woods. The gift is small, and is a swiss army knife of some sort.]

["Mate built like a truck tried to convince me to join a survival camp sort of thing. Told me I'd do fine myself. This thing has all sorts of little tools you can use. Ask someone older how to use it right, and be careful not to put out your eye with it. Love, Joker"]

Edited 2015-12-08 20:48 (UTC)

[Envy snuck back to the house to check on Henry, and then that conversation went a whole lot more intensely than he'd expected. But at least he knows that Heather isn't at home, so he's got free run of the house without having to sneak.]

[It's when he passes by the half-open door to the laundry room that he catches sight of a mess of black hair that is definitely not one of the Pokemon. He slows, poking his head in to see whether Wrath's asleep or tying all of the socks into knots.]

Something's missing.

After turning in his quota of nabbed purse Pokemon for the day, Ralph made his way back through the base hallways feeling like something was off. His shirt was on right-side out. He'd brushed his teeth that morning. He'd locked up before leaving his dorm. What could it be?

It was when he entered the Rocket cafeteria and spotted the droopy little mop at the far end of the table with an uneaten pudding cup at his elbow that it registered. There'd been no barrage of questions when he set foot inside the base. No weird drawings or 'gear messages needing translation were shoved into his face. Huh.

Slowly Ralph sidled over to where Wrath sat, brows knitted in something like concern. Was he sick?

"Hey, kid...what's eatin' ya?"

[Getting years' worth of memories (and the personality changes to go with them) back all at once had been an experience.]

[And he'd had a lot to deal with just with the people who were actually present when he finally got them back. So maybe he can be forgiven for not calling Wrath until the next morning. But he knows he needed to, as soon as possible, after the way yesterday had gone.]

Hey, Wrath. You there?

...I'm back to normal.

_{[It's time for lunch and Ralph knows exactly where to find the little goblin. He's had a lot on his mind and shoulders lately...and this is possibly one of the biggest things. He shuffles into the cafeteria, one huge arm behind his back. When he spots the kid he makes his way over with the disposition of somebody trying to take up as little space as possible.]}

Heeeey, kiddo. How's it goin'?

_{[It's been quite a few weeks since their little blow-up when Ralph turned over a new leaf. SURELY the little guy's gotten over it by now. Ralph rings him up on his lunch break, leaning outside the SECURITY door for the Poke'Mart in Violet City. He is wearing a blue uniform with his name on it and everything.]}

Heeeey, kiddo, you got a minute? It's me!

_{[It wasn't terribly hard to find Wrath when he was home. All one had to do was follow the path of destruction and scuffling sounds. When Henry does happen upon the boy, he takes a moment to observe what he's doing with the same caution one might when approaching a porcupine before clearing his throat.]}

Hey, uh. Wrath. Are you busy?

[ Walter's not confident in doing this but. He's fond of Wrath. He knows he cares about his Pokemon (the ones he's seen anyway). Wrath did give him a gift - a very weird gift but it was a gift - so he wanted to return that gesture. He sent Darkness ahead to get him, to lead him over to Walter; his house was not a safe place for Walter to approach, given he now knew who lived there. He turned as Darkness returned to him, perching on his shoulder and nodding to the younger Rocket. ]

Wrath.

Hey, Wrath, are you there? It's me, Mabel! Listen, I don't know where you are right now but I think we should meet up at some point!

I got something for you...!

[On the day of February 14th, should they look at their communicator, they might see a message from one young Mabel Pines!]

Hey, you! You there! Yes, I’m talking to you! I’m just here to wish you a super duper Happy Valentine’s Day! May you a lot of fun and candy from everyone around you!

Because I know you definitely deserve it!

[Envy's not planning on staying in this city long. But since it wasn't like they'd been told they had to leave Ecruteak once the battle was over...]

[The Burned Tower looms over the two of them. Not as much as it would if it were whole, but it's...a pretty darkly 'looming' sort of building, even in the daylight.]

[Which makes it the perfect cool place to show Wrath while the younger homunculus is outside of Goldenrod for once.]

Okay, so watch the floor. Remember that mission where we had to set that fire and then check through the house after? I think it's worse than that in here.

If we fall through the floor and die, Lust'd kill me again when we came back.

[Envy had tried to call Lust. No answer.]

[He had tried to call Henry. No answer.]

[It's taking forever to dial all these numbers, but there's one more person who might be at the house and who might be able to answer.]

[One...button...at a time....THERE.]

Wrath, Wrath are you there? C'mon, I need someone to be able to answer!

[The camera is pointed directly up at the sky, and Envy's very small head and shoulders are in the frame. He can't get much more of himself into it while still being able to see the screen. He's not looking particularly happy.]

[ It had been two days since he had returned from his badge trip and returned to the Rocket Labs. Two days since he had seen that the Volcarona, the Sun Pokemon, being held there had worsened since his departure.

He owed Team Rocket for giving him his Pokemon. But his faith taught him of the divine nature of the Sun, and beings born from it. Even if it was a moth, the Volcarona was a Blessed creature. To see it in such conditions...every time it looked at him, he felt God's eyes fix upon him. He had never feared God before. Even when Valtiel possessed him he hadn't been afraid of Her judgement, even when he knew She would punish him for the suffering he caused - She would punish him but She would be understanding. But whenever the Volcarona looked at him, in between it's pained thrashing and screaming, he felt cold dread grip his heart.

It had taken a while, to try and figure out what to say to Wrath. Wrath had claimed him as 'his human'...but had stressed the importance of being a part of the team. When they spoke on it quietly after meetings, Wrath didn't seem to really...think too greatly about what Team Rocket did. He simply followed and did as he was told. At least, that's what Walter hoped. Ignorance was one thing. If Wrath knew and simply didn't care, then that was an entirely different problem.

Walter was still the Conjurer. He still believed, unshakably, that God was sleeping, aware of the world. And that if he served Her well, She would love him and protect him. But to stand by as Her emissary, Her representative in this world, was tortured and tormented...it was worse than any murder he had committed. ]

Wrath.

I need to ask you some questions.

Edited 2017-07-22 00:18 (UTC)

You still hanging around base?

I just got back to Goldenrod. Anything interesting going on?

Hello Wrath. Do you know what happens to the Pokemon we steal for Team Rocket?

[ As usual, Walter didn't beat around the bush after the initial nicities. He wanted...well, he wanted to free Alessa. But in the meantime, he wanted to be doing something. He wanted to cause trouble for the Rockets. He wanted to upset them. He wanted to cause delays and to trip them up. And the closest Rocket he knew of authority was Wrath.

In another life, he would have recognised this as wanting to be difficult. Maybe a touch defiant. ]

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."

[ Outside his now abandoned home, empty of his possessions and Pokemon in readiness for this day, Walter calls in that area between the very early morning and dawn, when he knows it's extremely unlikely he will be answered. He doesn't want to talk directly to Wrath for this. It's easier to speak to static. Even then, his voice is soft and his words are chosen deliberately. ]

Wrath. There are some things I had to say to you before...what happens. We've talked a lot about teams and the humans we served. Or, we have mentioned the humans we were controlled by.

You serve team Rocket because you feel safe with them. A team will protect you, as long as you do what you are told. And they will punish you for disobedience, or for questioning their orders. When I was younger...I was raised by men who were like that. If I did not listen, they would imprison me, or beat me. I was too young and small to resist back then. Had I been that age when I was brought here, I would have been loyal to Team Rocket as well. Their punishments are weak, to what I have already endured, and they offer food and protection.

But I am not a child anymore. So I am not loyal to Team Rocket. They cannot offer me anything I cannot obtain for myself. When I first came here, I was confused and weak. Over time, I have learned. I trained my Pokemon. I obtained others and trained them. I have found a means to obtain a home and food. I do not need Team Rocket to protect me or to provide for me. I do not need them anymore. And their punishments do not frighten me.

But this does not mean that I don't want you. I would be loyal to you, Wrath. I do not dislike, or distrust you. What is about to happen is an act against Team Rocket. It is not against you. I think...I think, you have more potential than you realise, Wrath. I think that you do not truly need Team Rocket either. Your Pokemon like you for a reason; I have seen them with you. They would protect you. And you have a people in your home who would protect you as well.

I know that you will be angry with me but I need you to know this, Wrath. If you were in danger and called for my help, I would answer. If you called to talk, I would listen and respond.

...you're my friend. Not because we were both in Team Rocket. Because I like you. Even when people say you are a monster, or do not have memories. I think you are a person. And you matter. You matter to me.

[ That was extremely difficult to say. But it's been so long since he met and befriended Wrath and there were so many others he had lost before he had gotten to say this to them, and with this moment that was hung between him and the stars above, he could say it. He breathed. ]

But I know you are loyal to Team Rocket before you are loyal to me. But I want you to also know this; any Pokemon you have been given from Team Rocket has a chip inside it. The chip allows them to find you at any moment, and slightly alters the behaviour of those Pokemon. Do not forget this message.

Goodbye, Wrath. Take care.

[ He turned off the Gear and, as Wrath was the last person to contact, he dropped it and smashed it underfoot. He lit a cigarette (he'd picked up the habit due to the stress of "handling" Alessa) and lit it, taking a drag and watching the sky. He would trace the constellations until dawn, and then he would head to Goldenrod... ]

Edited 2017-12-04 21:56 (UTC)

Christmas Day Pidgey Post!

Valentine's Pidgey Post

[Backdated to the 21st]

[LETTER]

[Video]

[video]

8/11

Delivery - 11-18

Delivery x2 - 12/3 and 12/8

action | January 29th

March, Goldenrod Rocket Base, afternoon

[video] July 30th

Aug 11, lunch-time