paladinlost | 93rd moon [video]

[The view: the ceiling of the most enpensive restaurant in Celadon. The background noise: dozens of customers enjoying their meals, and Cecil tapping his fingers on a wooden table.]

When I first awoke in New Bark Town, four years ago, I was... unwell. This whole world's very existence confused me, and so did my presence in it. The relatively weak and harmless-looking monsters were also a shock. Had it not been for Rosie's sweetness, I surely would have attempted to fight her. You could say that day was very unpleasant, though still far from the worse I've had.

[The background noise: a liquid hitting glass. The view: a quick flash of a wine bottle in a corner.]

And yet... when I finally managed to use the Pokégear, I was contacted by friends I'd not seen in seventeen years. Friends I'd not remembered in seventeen years, and that I would not have expected to ever see again even if I'd kept those memories. I also met kind people, good people, who made my first few weeks here much easier than they would otherwise have been. All have been gone for years, now, but I still find myself thinking of them fondly. Therefore... you could say that day was a good day, too.

[The action, unseen and barely heard: Cecil making a silent toast to all those people, and downing that glass before setting it back on the table.]

...Well! Now that I've shared my first day experience, it's only fitting that you do the same. Surely you all have interesting stories to share.

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That's a shame, though I've no doubt those memories are still ones you recall fondly. Then again, there is always the chance someone will return after so long and still remember you, is there not? Meeting friends again years after parting is the sort of feeling that nothing else quite matches.

[He knows that all too well.]

That is certainly always possible here, and one of them left once or twice but returned with memories. Sometimes it's still weird, that you think some people would be here forever... Ah well, even if they returned without memories, we could still become friends with them again, but that feeling is also very familiar to me.

[Good thing she's not actually making a list of people, who she'd like back with memories of this place... That would be a long list. For quite many people, probably.]

It seems as though certain people are always coming and going, losing and recovering memories, while others are constant presences until they're suddenly gone. ...The ones that keep returning with no recollection of their previous stays are the saddest, and yet we still want to befriend them every time.

[Cecil's list has grown so long, by now, that the earliest names would have faded away had he not written them down.]

[She gives a little chuckle at that, though it might come with a not actually an amused or even a happy smile.] But that's really admirable! The act of wanting to befriend them every time, I mean, not that I don't do that too. Or even better; to be someone close to them from the same world as them -- and then having to be on the role of explaining things to them every time or watching as they learn, and make the same mistakes, every time. That, I think, takes a lot of patience sometimes. I guess I'm lucky that I've kept my memories three times, and gone through a coma here once. That felt like a new start too, so much happened back home while I was sleeping.

Keeping your memories three times in a row... You could almost call that a miracle, though it's a shame it was not shared with your loved ones from home. Still, having the opportunity to help friends with our hard-won knowledge can be nice. ...Of course, I'm saying that as someone who's not had to do it in a very long time.

[He's still smiling, but it's more out of nostalgia than anything else at this point.]

Almost, but I think I'll just call it lucky, since there have always been people around who've known me before too... and I wouldn't want to forget them either. Mm, my friends from home haven't really stayed around here for very long whenever they've been here. Well, except one of them was around for what felt like a long time once. But no, I haven't had to do that in a very long time either. It's always weird how some people stay here for a long time, or keep returning, while others go away and possibly never return...

[Never say never though. But that reminds her of the original topic here...]

Ah, the two other times I woke up from New Bark were actually much better than the first one! I guess not being 12 anymore has something to do with that too. One was shared with a dear friend from home, who stayed here with me for a long time. This time there were a few dear friends from other places here to make me feel welcome, and I've been just really happy for the chance to see all them again.

Depending on those individuals' situation in their home worlds, one has to wonder which group is luckiest... Perhaps those who stay here exactly as long as they wish, if they exist.

[He really, really hopes they exist.]

Haha, I imagine a few years would greatly improve the situation indeed, at that age. The pleasant company and waiting friends too, of course, but longer legs do make the walks necessary to see them shorter, and also less tiring.

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