leftinbasketforfbi | 2nd Book Read A Accidental Video/Action for Cherrygrove Ω

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2nd Book Read A Accidental Video/Action for Cherrygrove Ω

[Click.

A big paw is batting at the Gear.]

Yang, stop playing with that.

[The Gear is showing the ceiling of an inn in Cherrygrove. A slender hand comes down on the camera briefly, and then the Gear is set on a table, and it shows Spencer Reid (considerably more calm now than he was on Sunday) walking back to the bed, where a very cranky Absol sits with a Munna egg wrapped in a warm towel next to him.

Also, there's half a library's worth of books piled around the room. No, seriously, if you put them all in one stack, it'd nearly be Reid's height.

Absol makes a irritable grunting noise.]

I know, I know, but we'll go out for some fresh air soon, promise. I just need to get through some more of these.

[He picks up a brick-sized book seemingly at random, sitting down on the bed with his legs crossed before placing the wrapped up egg in his lap. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have taken one before he knew what he was doing, but he doesn't really trust the textbooks here that much and wants to make observations of development by himself.

Yes, someone has started to consider the possibility that he's not completely insane. Since he might not be insane, he wants to learn about where he is, and he wants to learn everything.

He opens up the book and started fanning through the pages, as if he were trying to find his spot, but he doesn't stop. He turns the pages so fast that he can't possibly be reading them, so it's unclear what he's doing.]

Give me half an hour. We'll go out then. And if you really want to, I guess we can go into the woods and find something for you to fight.

[...No, he still hasn't noticed that Yang turned on the Gear. People who told him this wasn't a prank should feel free to gloat and say they told him so.]

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And you remember everything you read while you're at it.

I don't know whether to be impressed or sympathetic.

Well, it's not too bad. It can be really useful for my job, where quick recall or being able to read a lot of journals fast could mean a lot.

[Unfortunately, he also remembers all the things he's read that serial killers wrote. And people wonder why he has night terrors.]

What makes you say journals in particular, as opposed to other types of books?

I work in the FBI to track down criminals, most often killers and sometimes serial rapists. A fair percentage of serial killers have been institutionalized in the past, often because of being caught abusing animals extensively as a child, severely abusing a younger sibling, or because of an extreme personality disorder, and they often keep some habits that the institution instills in them. Among those is often keeping a journal for every day, sometimes even every hour. Those journals usually offer insight into their minds, their crimes, and ideally where the unsub is and where any victims may be held.

[Yes, he just babbled about killers like it was no big deal. You might want to get used to that.]

But I don't think I know who I'm talking to. What is your name?

Then I'll stand by what I said — I'm impressed and sympathetic. That's an admirable cause to put your skills toward, but I regret that it's one you have to.

[That's cool, she's about to introduce herself as the 90's edutainment icon she is like it's no big deal. It evens out.]

Carmen Sandiego. And yours?

Thank you.

[He's not used to being complimented, but luckily, this is text so she can't see him laugh nervously or avert eye contact or anything. When one's complimented, one thanks the one who did it.]

Carmen Sandiego? Were your parents fans of the show? [Wait. No. She's probably been teased a lot for that, so don't draw attention to it, Spencer.] I mean, you don't have to answer that. It's a very nice name.

I'm Dr. Spencer Reid. You can call me Spencer or Reid, whichever you like.

[Likewise, it's fortunate this isn't video on her end, either, because it means that no one sees the way the remark about her parents hits her — not badly, exactly, just oddly. It's rare that people raise the topic of her parents in the first place, and it's not precisely one she dwells on often herself. Being an orphan will do that to you.

Besides, it's much more curious to dwell on the latter half of that remark.]

Dr. Reid. I take it you've heard of me.

What do you mean? I don't

Don't tell me.

[...Aw, fuck it, he has a giant indestructible egg on his lap and a mutant albino goat capable of understanding speech on the foot of his bed. He'll believe anything.]

I'm flattered my reputation seems to have extended so far.

Yeah, it extends pretty far, especially in the United States.

[Oh jeeze, is this real life?]

I was in graduate school around when you really got popular, though.

Edited 2012-09-21 00:46 (UTC)

[BELIEVE IT. Also keep stroking her ego, why don't you, she likes the thought of being popular. ~~And witty and charming and brilliant and otherwise generally fabulous.~~]

I hope you weren't following my exploits because you intended to try to catch me.

[Hey, he just tells the truth.

Also, that's a weird statement for a cartoon character to make. Why would an adult still play? Or... oh, either she's making a joke or she doesn't actually know she's a fictional character where he comes from.

...He's going to err on the side of caution.]

No, sorry, that's CIA. I have my hands full with the domestic criminals, thank you. But I used to like trying to figure out where you were while I was growing up.

[Which is totally true. He just did it on a computer screen in school.]

ACME always was fond of precocious children. I'm not surprised.

I also hope you realize there are far worse criminals than me here.

Believe me, Ms. Sandiego, I realize that.

To be honest, after doing the work I do for as long as I have, it actually gets really hard to get angry about theft.

[No, seriously. After you've dealt with even half the things he has, other crimes really don't seem so bad. To his knowledge, Carmen Sandiego never killed anyone in her show, so he's guessing this one hasn't either.]

[Oh, good boy. That makes things much easier than she'd been anticipating. She's rather fond of the FBI agents she's met in Johto thus far, after all (well, most of them), and it'd be a shame to upset that delicate balance here.

But hey. Such are the perks of being the thief with a conscience, she supposes. ~~Go go Gadget Lofty Moral Superiority.~~]

I chased my share of psychopaths once. I don't envy you the job.

[And she did it when she was fifteen, so there you go.]

You might find it reassuring, though, that there's no such thing as death in Johto.

[What can he say? After dealing with things like a man forcing three girls to choose one among them to beat to death, stealing the smile off the Mona Lisa really doesn't seem like a big deal.

Hey, wait a second--]

No death? How is that even possible?

Aristotle once remarked that nature abhors a vacuum; this world seems to feel the same about death. I've never tried it myself, and for good reason, but from what I've been able to determine from the reports I've heard, the "rules" of Johto simply won't permit someone to die. Wounded, scarred, damaged, or altered, yes. But dying somehow upsets the game, so to speak, so people never reach that point. As though the universe intervenes to restore them before it can happen, because the very thought is contrary to some fundamental principle it operates on.

It's an outlandish theory, and one without much concrete support — as I said, for good reason. But there are enough other things here that defy the natural laws I'm familiar with to at least give the hypothesis its due consideration.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering some of the things I've seen, but how could this place possibly sustain itself without death? The population should be too massive to be supported by the local resources, if the children I've seen so far are any indicator of normal procreation.

And without death... There are always going to be psychopaths who have a need to harm others. They always find ways of operating, regardless of what laws or protections are put in place. If victims can't die... what happens to them?

[Oh Jesus. The thoughts in his head are horrifying.]

That's just it — the children you've seen likely aren't an indicator. It's as though there are two sets of people here, the ones who can remember another world and the ones native to this one. But the ones native to this one don't change or adapt. There's no evolving culture and only the barest minimum of history.

I did the same thing you're doing when I arrived. I suspect you're going to reach a similar outcome.

From what little I know, when a person reaches some given point, some threshold of proximity to death, they're transported instantly to the nearest Pokemon Center and restored to full health. It's as though death is treated as nothing more than a "game over", and the next minute a person is given the chance to try again from perfect health.

Someone told me that people thought this place was structured like a game, but I never thought it was so literal.

So the people native here are like characters in a game, and a very shallowly developed one at that. What about the people from other places? They don't know any more than we do about this?

Not that I've seen. But people stay here for years at a time, and it's a place that many times is better off than the one they left. People get attached to their Pokemon, forge friendships, begin to put down roots. It's not hard to see why there may not be a very strong movement to unravel this world and return home, especially when so many of the people involved are children.

But what about the people with friends? Family? Responsibilities? This place... it seems very nice on the surface, but it doesn't feel like it can ever be home.

[Partially because his team isn't here. He needs them to be at home.

And what about his mother? What will happen to her if he can't find a way back?]

That's a question of philosophy. Is home a place, or is it the people you meet?

Well... the definition changes depending on the person.

[For him, it's the people. And that's why this place will never be home.

It doesn't have his family.]

But even using either definition... most people have friends and family where they were before. Whether home's a place or people, you're still leaving it behind.

And yet some might say that's simply one of the perils of growing up. The problem isn't that you've left it behind, really. It's that they've taken away the option of going back.

Would it bother you to be here nearly so much, if you knew you could see the people you've left behind whenever you wanted?

2nd Book Read A Accidental Video/Action for Cherrygrove Ω

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