[He turns his attention back to his work, turning that errant screw into place. The manual for the machine lies nearby, turned to an illustration of what it should look like when fully assembled; on the pages are additional scrawls he's drawn, shapes and identifying parts with arrows showing where they go.]
[Verso nods.] Man who posted that lied — said he "didn't know" if any Augmented were taking samples away and getting cosy with them. Then hung up.
After he wouldn't say why the warning was needed.
Need to find him. Get some answers. [He knows at least two Augmented are as self-destructive as he is, though the first wouldn't take the Katalyth route... Unless the second was involved. His feathers ruffle with unease.] Thought you might help.
[He plucks a tiny set of pliers off the table and puts another piece back into place.]
Don't think he'd lie to you.
[And that is technically true: Pom doesn't think Jayce would get on the network to warn people, only to then omit important information. However, he suspects Jayce would keep certain things to himself to keep them safe from Patho-Gen, who might be monitoring the line.]
Friend of yours? Makes this easier. [Said lightly, because coming with a friend will make it go more smoothly. Make it seem less like he's tracked him down to interrogate him. Which is exactly what he's doing.]
He lied. Same as you about that nest. Soul told me. [He hesitates. Honesty... not his strong suit, but it's all the more effective for that when he is.] Need to know if I need to worry about Augmented as well as those people. [Patho-Gen.]
[With a wry, lopsided smile, he extends a wing — jerkily, still unused to controlling muscles he's only had for a month.] It can't. [The feathers turn deep red.
As they fade to black once again, he says,] Also makes me want to stab you in the kidney. Try not to follow through.
[Oh. Ooooookay, no lies for Verso. That makes things... complicated for Pom, about as much as the playful threat. He's been there, always fighting his own Souls' aggression. He picks his words carefully.]
Jayce isn't a friend so much as a close acquaintance. Friend of a friend. [Or Imprint, rather.] I bring him samples at the cabin they've got out in the woods sometimes, less these days than I used to. If he's lying to you... it's probably to protect someone.
[Now his voice has a trace of iron to it. Because people do stupid things to protect those they care about. And this person has apparently been doing a very stupid thing — stupid enough that this Jayce thought it best to warn the Augmented about trying it — but shut him down when he asked.]
[His eyes stray to his workbench as he turns the thought over in his head, his gaze landing on a small jar sitting at the back, tucked among tool-laden cups and long, shallow bins for odds and ends: in said jar is a large tooth, fractured at one end as though broken from its owner, kept sealed from the rest of his materials for reasons unknown. It's too small to be one of his, given the size of his Shift. His expression knits tighter as he considers it.
It's not the first tooth he's found like that, one with that distinct texture and scent. The first was in Jayce's basement.
At the time he'd given it to the man, Pom had thought Jayce was angry with him - for letting himself in their house, for coming in when he was in his Soul-induced hibernation, maybe just for sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Jayce had plenty of legitimate reasons for not wanting to elaborate on who owned the tooth, and whether or not they were a problem that needed to be dealt with. It wasn't Pom's business then, even if the hunter would have considered it as such. If someone was snooping around Mel's residence without her permission, he wanted to know - still does. He has to keep her safe.
But as he looks to that tooth now and thinks about Jayce's avoidance, he can't help but wonder if he was protecting someone else then, too.]
That's right. [One advantage of his wings is they confirm when he is being truthful. He doesn't need to weigh what will be the most believable answer he can put forward. He is prepared to do more than talk, but his preference is to show up, get his answers, and be on his way.]
Think we should know what happened when he's going around saying — [he opens up the post again, scanning for the relevant sentence.] "Do not isolate yourself, no matter what it tells you." Where I'm from, aren't many rocks that talk. Not heard what these ones have to say, either.
[Pom gnaws his lip, clearly still conflicted, although it's no longer for clear-cut reasons. As much as he trusts Jayce — particularly through his connection with Mel — he worries that leading someone to his home — Mel's home — will end badly. He, of all people, cannot help but respect the need for privacy.
But Verso seems to be telling the truth, and that's not something to be ignored so easily. Now it's a matter of principle that decides what he does.]
You're right. We should know.
[He sighs, using his genuine defeat as a mask.]
If you wanna talk to Jayce, you're most likely gonna find him at that cabin him and the other science-types work out of. Him and his partner practically live there.
[He tears a page from the manual for his sewing machine, drawing a crude map of the city in the blank space at the bottom. He marks the exits through the barrier, a few paths and notable features of the terrain, leading to where the cabin is.]
[The map makes the corner of Verso's mouth pull up. If gestrals sat still long enough to make maps, they'd look like this.] Don't need that? Looks important.
Hang on, you did all this— [he gestures at his clothes,] —without a machine? [Despite his astonishment, he's delighted by the revelation.] You tinker with stuff like this a lot? These Syntrofos things let you take photographs without the need for the full kit. Could use that to keep a record to compare, for the next gizmo. Though, doesn't look like you need it.
[His head follows Verso's gesture, his gaze falling to his own clothes as he laughs.]
You get a pretty good memory for this sort of thing when you take stuff apart in your spare time. You get fast at sewing when you don't got a machine for it, too. Practice gets you a feel for it.
[Another screw in, and he puts the main arm back on. He's not looked at the instructions once, save for when he tore that page out.]
The phone is a good idea, though. I've mostly been using mine to take pictures of bugs and flowers.
Some are similar, but nothing quite like those from home.
[A part of him wonders if he can distract Verso from following up with Jayce if he talks along enough; the other part of him suspects Verso is just biding his time to get more information out of him. He starts putting the foot back on.]
Back home, if I could Shift like I can here? I wouldn't be the biggest thing out there. Not by a long shot.
[He's right to suspect that, but all the same, hearing about another world filled with enormous monsters is something he can spare a few moments for.] Go on. How big? [If they're anything like the size of Eveques and Bourgeons... he'll be surprised — surprised and impressed.]
Bigger than buildings in this city. Big as an island crossing the sea, enough to be mistaken for one. Big enough to fight another monster on, and then some.
[He'll never forget feeling the ground rumble under his feet, only to realize it was Zorah Magdaros.]
[His eyes widen for a moment, before he covers his surprise with a lop-sided smile and a chuckle.] Could be bigger. [But hang on,] Did you? Fight monsters on them?
[On the presser foot goes. He winds the wheel at the side, watching it move up and down, making sure it works again. He can't help but smile at his work.]
Fought a raging Nergigante on one. An Elder Dragon covered in spikes that grow as fast as you knock 'em off. Aggressive, angry, avaricious. Not something you want to fight even on solid ground.
You've got that sorted. [The sewing machine.] I'd be most humbled if you would pay me the kindness of performing introductions, Monsieur dragon slayer Pom.
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About the rocks?
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After he wouldn't say why the warning was needed.
Need to find him. Get some answers. [He knows at least two Augmented are as self-destructive as he is, though the first wouldn't take the Katalyth route... Unless the second was involved. His feathers ruffle with unease.] Thought you might help.
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[He plucks a tiny set of pliers off the table and puts another piece back into place.]
Don't think he'd lie to you.
[And that is technically true: Pom doesn't think Jayce would get on the network to warn people, only to then omit important information. However, he suspects Jayce would keep certain things to himself to keep them safe from Patho-Gen, who might be monitoring the line.]
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He lied. Same as you about that nest. Soul told me. [He hesitates. Honesty... not his strong suit, but it's all the more effective for that when he is.] Need to know if I need to worry about Augmented as well as those people. [Patho-Gen.]
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Your Soul can do that?
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As they fade to black once again, he says,] Also makes me want to stab you in the kidney. Try not to follow through.
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[Oh. Ooooookay, no lies for Verso. That makes things... complicated for Pom, about as much as the playful threat. He's been there, always fighting his own Souls' aggression. He picks his words carefully.]
Jayce isn't a friend so much as a close acquaintance. Friend of a friend. [Or Imprint, rather.] I bring him samples at the cabin they've got out in the woods sometimes, less these days than I used to. If he's lying to you... it's probably to protect someone.
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Know who?
[Now his voice has a trace of iron to it. Because people do stupid things to protect those they care about. And this person has apparently been doing a very stupid thing — stupid enough that this Jayce thought it best to warn the Augmented about trying it — but shut him down when he asked.]
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No. He's the sort who would, though.
[His eyes stray to his workbench as he turns the thought over in his head, his gaze landing on a small jar sitting at the back, tucked among tool-laden cups and long, shallow bins for odds and ends: in said jar is a large tooth, fractured at one end as though broken from its owner, kept sealed from the rest of his materials for reasons unknown. It's too small to be one of his, given the size of his Shift. His expression knits tighter as he considers it.
It's not the first tooth he's found like that, one with that distinct texture and scent. The first was in Jayce's basement.
At the time he'd given it to the man, Pom had thought Jayce was angry with him - for letting himself in their house, for coming in when he was in his Soul-induced hibernation, maybe just for sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Jayce had plenty of legitimate reasons for not wanting to elaborate on who owned the tooth, and whether or not they were a problem that needed to be dealt with. It wasn't Pom's business then, even if the hunter would have considered it as such. If someone was snooping around Mel's residence without her permission, he wanted to know - still does. He has to keep her safe.
But as he looks to that tooth now and thinks about Jayce's avoidance, he can't help but wonder if he was protecting someone else then, too.]
You just wanna talk, right?
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Think we should know what happened when he's going around saying — [he opens up the post again, scanning for the relevant sentence.] "Do not isolate yourself, no matter what it tells you." Where I'm from, aren't many rocks that talk. Not heard what these ones have to say, either.
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But Verso seems to be telling the truth, and that's not something to be ignored so easily. Now it's a matter of principle that decides what he does.]
You're right. We should know.
[He sighs, using his genuine defeat as a mask.]
If you wanna talk to Jayce, you're most likely gonna find him at that cabin him and the other science-types work out of. Him and his partner practically live there.
[He tears a page from the manual for his sewing machine, drawing a crude map of the city in the blank space at the bottom. He marks the exits through the barrier, a few paths and notable features of the terrain, leading to where the cabin is.]
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Nah, I've got it figured out. Just got to get it all back together before I forget where I put all the pieces.
[And he uses that as an excuse to get back to it.]
We don't got things like this where I come from. It oughtta speed up my tailoring once I get it back in one piece.
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You get a pretty good memory for this sort of thing when you take stuff apart in your spare time. You get fast at sewing when you don't got a machine for it, too. Practice gets you a feel for it.
[Another screw in, and he puts the main arm back on. He's not looked at the instructions once, save for when he tore that page out.]
The phone is a good idea, though. I've mostly been using mine to take pictures of bugs and flowers.
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[He should probably leave Pom in peace or shut up to let him finish his task, but... that would be boring.]
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[A part of him wonders if he can distract Verso from following up with Jayce if he talks along enough; the other part of him suspects Verso is just biding his time to get more information out of him. He starts putting the foot back on.]
Back home, if I could Shift like I can here? I wouldn't be the biggest thing out there. Not by a long shot.
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[He'll never forget feeling the ground rumble under his feet, only to realize it was Zorah Magdaros.]
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[On the presser foot goes. He winds the wheel at the side, watching it move up and down, making sure it works again. He can't help but smile at his work.]
Fought a raging Nergigante on one. An Elder Dragon covered in spikes that grow as fast as you knock 'em off. Aggressive, angry, avaricious. Not something you want to fight even on solid ground.
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[Which is Pom for "Ask more nicely." He's not above doing favors if they don't make him question his own moral scruples.]
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