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It started out like any other day. Wake up late, large breakfast, oppress the peasants, and then this happened. This thing appeared out of nowhere—literally nowhere; he can sense its mind and that mind did not exist until it was existing right on top of him—and then it swallows him. All the Lord Ruler sees is what looks like a gigantic mirror reflecting a reptilian mouth, and he's suddenly on the wrong side of it. Starts trying to destroy the creature, of course, but nothing he does meets any resistance.
Wherever he is, it doesn't look like the inside of any snake he's ever been swallowed by.
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unprophesied_of_ages
the_very_best
I'm psychic. I can't keep this up for very long, though. Your trainer thinks you might be psychic, too; can you do this yourself?
unprophesied_of_ages
No, I can't.
I have an idea, though; whenever you do this can you speak the same words out loud? It might help with the language problem.
I have an idea, though; whenever you do this can you speak the same words out loud? It might help with the language problem.
the_very_best
"He wants me to talk aloud while I communicate with him psychically," says/psychics the psychic. "To learn the language. And he seems smarter than most Pokémon by a long shot, but I don't think he's psychic."
"The Murkrow were tearing him apart," objects the guy who threw the ball at him. (The psychic translates.)
The girl who went and got the psychic is translated as saying, "He looks like a human. Murkrow could tear a human apart too."
"I caught him."
"That, I have no explanation for."
"The Murkrow were tearing him apart," objects the guy who threw the ball at him. (The psychic translates.)
The girl who went and got the psychic is translated as saying, "He looks like a human. Murkrow could tear a human apart too."
"I caught him."
"That, I have no explanation for."
unprophesied_of_ages
At every sentence, the Lord Ruler stores it and its translation in a small coppermind. He periodically burns the copper, stores the result in another speck, and burns that. The meaning in both languages gets fixed in his consciousness, and Compounding even allows the magic to make some inferences. He learns large swaths of the language's grammar almost instantly, but his vocabulary is going to stay limited to words related to something he's heard before.
He says mentally, I'm human. I am the— My name is Rashek. I'm from another planet, and your birds here are insane.
He says mentally, I'm human. I am the— My name is Rashek. I'm from another planet, and your birds here are insane.
the_very_best
"He says he's from space and he's a Rashek. Also he says he's human."
"I haven't heard him say 'Rashek' even once," objects the guy who caught him.
"Points against your 'he's just a Pokémon' theory," says the girl.
"I haven't heard him say 'Rashek' even once," objects the guy who caught him.
"Points against your 'he's just a Pokémon' theory," says the girl.
unprophesied_of_ages
What's a Pokémon, and why are they more likely to say their own names than humans are?
the_very_best
The psychic translates this. The talkative girl puts in, "Pokémon are non-human creatures, like the Murkrow that attacked you. They're almost all named after the sounds they make."
the_very_best
Several teenagers giggle like he has been very funny.
The psychic looks tired. If you're a human why did you go in the Pokéball and how did you survive the Murkrow attack?
The psychic looks tired. If you're a human why did you go in the Pokéball and how did you survive the Murkrow attack?
unprophesied_of_ages
"I don't know why only Pokemon usually go in the Pokeball, let alone why I'm an exception.
I survived the Murkrow attack because, while I may be human, I didn't say I'm an ordinary human."
He manages to get through saying it verbally.
I survived the Murkrow attack because, while I may be human, I didn't say I'm an ordinary human."
He manages to get through saying it verbally.
the_very_best
"You caught a legendary space alien!" giggles somebody with blue hair. It includes her eyebrows, eyelashes, and all other places where hair grows, so seems likely to be naturally blue.
"What's so special about you, then?" asks the boy who caught him.
"What's so special about you, then?" asks the boy who caught him.
unprophesied_of_ages
"I'm not sure I should say. I don't know what this planet is like, so being the only one who knows might matter."
A little bit of curiosity suppression should be the exact opposite of a helpful demonstration. He glances at the talkative girl; she was unaffected. Odd.
A little bit of curiosity suppression should be the exact opposite of a helpful demonstration. He glances at the talkative girl; she was unaffected. Odd.
the_very_best
"Naw, come on, tell me," says the boy who caught him, "before Joe gets too tired to translate and I have to put you away."
unprophesied_of_ages
"...put me away?"
The Lord Ruler wears shirts with metal buttons. When he turns to face his captor, there is a detachable piece of metal between his center of mass and the boy. He can, literally, kill him with a thought. If necessary.
The Lord Ruler wears shirts with metal buttons. When he turns to face his captor, there is a detachable piece of metal between his center of mass and the boy. He can, literally, kill him with a thought. If necessary.
the_very_best
"I guess I should feed you first, probably, what do you eat?"
"Dude," says the talkative girl, "he says he's a human and even if he wasn't a human he can talk. Intelligibly."
"He goes in a Pokéball and I caught him, Bella, you go on about your Linoone being near smart enough to talk -"
"Yeah, but he doesn't actually and also Zag volunteered to be mine, which is not what you're looking at here -"
"Dude," says the talkative girl, "he says he's a human and even if he wasn't a human he can talk. Intelligibly."
"He goes in a Pokéball and I caught him, Bella, you go on about your Linoone being near smart enough to talk -"
"Yeah, but he doesn't actually and also Zag volunteered to be mine, which is not what you're looking at here -"
unprophesied_of_ages
"In case it wasn't intelligible enough for you," Rashek confirms, "I am not even in the vicinity of OK with being imprisoned. Fortunately, you're a decent human being who doesn't lock people in small spheres and carry them around for no other reason than that you can."
It's probably true. He knows it's true because he's burning zinc, and emphasizing this person's sense of empathy, moral duty, all the messy stuff. In quantities larger than usual, since the curiosity dampening wasn't very effective.
And a bit of fear; fear of him is always a good standby.
It's probably true. He knows it's true because he's burning zinc, and emphasizing this person's sense of empathy, moral duty, all the messy stuff. In quantities larger than usual, since the curiosity dampening wasn't very effective.
And a bit of fear; fear of him is always a good standby.
the_very_best
"What are you doing?" asks the psychic, frowning.
"What? What's he doing?" asks the captor, alarmed.
"I don't know, that's why I asked him!"
"What? What's he doing?" asks the captor, alarmed.
"I don't know, that's why I asked him!"
unprophesied_of_ages
Rashek looks confused, and pretends to think about this for a moment. Subjectively, he's thinking about it for rather longer, weighing the likelihood that this psychic has a lie detector.
"Oh. I think I know what you mean. My kind of humans talk only mostly verbally. There's a psychic part too, and I was being psychically louder just now. Did it look like he was catching emotion from me? I can remember to keep it quieter if it's distracting."
"Oh. I think I know what you mean. My kind of humans talk only mostly verbally. There's a psychic part too, and I was being psychically louder just now. Did it look like he was catching emotion from me? I can remember to keep it quieter if it's distracting."
the_very_best
Some of the humans take a step back.
"Quieter," agrees the psychic. "Yeah, uh, don't do that. Maybe you'll bounce off Bella and I can sort of tell well enough to get along but anybody else is going to catch it and not know what to do with it."
"Quieter," agrees the psychic. "Yeah, uh, don't do that. Maybe you'll bounce off Bella and I can sort of tell well enough to get along but anybody else is going to catch it and not know what to do with it."
unprophesied_of_ages
Nice to have confirmation of that, then. There's no need to mention that the default state is "not at all," so Rashek keeps some zinc burning slowly to keep up appearances in case Joe can see small quantities.
"Bella can't hear this kind of thing?" He turns to the indicated person, pretending not to have tested it. "That sounds unfortunate."
"Bella can't hear this kind of thing?" He turns to the indicated person, pretending not to have tested it. "That sounds unfortunate."
the_very_best
"I get by. Larry, you have to let him go, you can't keep a sapient in a Pokéball if he doesn't want to be there whatever his technical species is."
"I caught him fair and square."
"You can reuse the Pokéball."
"You can't tell me what to do."
"I caught him fair and square."
"You can reuse the Pokéball."
"You can't tell me what to do."
unprophesied_of_ages
"Can't be convinced? Because she's literally right; you can't keep me. If you try to throw that at me again then you will fail. If I have to, I will defend myself."
the_very_best
"Leave him out till he can talk without Joe helping," suggests Bella, "maybe that will help make it clear."
Larry grumbles. "What, you want me to just leave unsupervised - I took him to a Pokécenter, he's probably associated with my trainer ID now!"
"Rashek," says Bella, "Larry is currently potentially legally responsible for anything you do. If you're going to do things that might get him in trouble he really, really won't want to let you do any things. Is that sufficiently clear?"
Larry grumbles. "What, you want me to just leave unsupervised - I took him to a Pokécenter, he's probably associated with my trainer ID now!"
"Rashek," says Bella, "Larry is currently potentially legally responsible for anything you do. If you're going to do things that might get him in trouble he really, really won't want to let you do any things. Is that sufficiently clear?"
unprophesied_of_ages
Rashek laughs. "Completely. It does make it sound like there's an obvious way to make Larry want to disclaim all ownership, but don't worry; I won't use it."