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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Well, you're all still alive, so it couldn't have been too bad, I suppose.

...at least, I'm assuming you are.

...Barring lunar monster attacks at the exact moment when I was brought, we should all still be, and our old swimming days would have nothing to do with that.

You know, you can't just throw out lunar monster attacks and not say anything further about it.

We were within a moon at the time. Said moon is home to thousands upon thousands of monsters, most of them much stronger than anything you'd find down on the planet. Which is is why I cannot completely be certain that they were not killed by one.

[So he's just 99% certain instead.]

...is there an atmosphere on this moon...?

[that's the concern here...]

Of course! Both the Red Moon and the True Moon have breathable atmospheres. In fact, their air is the purest I've ever smelled.

[Expect around monster nests.]

...ah. Well... thank goodness for that, then.

...

Wait, how big are they, even...?

I could not even begin to estimate the size of the True Moon, considering that it was on a collision course with the planet and grew larger every time we blinked. But the Red Moon is smaller than the White Moon, though not by much.

[That is most obviously very precise and helpful.]

...Ah.

[he's fate not tsukihime, what even is this]

Well, that's... certainly something. The crisis was averted, I'd imagine...?

We were making a very spirited attempt at it, when I suddenly found myself holding a Cleffa.

[To think that four years ago, he would have said that while completely freaking out...]

...Ah.

Well, that's an unfortunate point to leave off on. And I thought my circumstances were urgent...

I've no doubt the situation could have been much worse, just as I've no doubt we'll take care of it the moment I return.

[The more he says that out loud, the more he can tell himself he believes it.]

Were you at least in a good position to deal with those circumstances?

Those sorts of things do tend to turn out better than expected... though, I'm probably saying that because I wouldn't be around to say it if they didn't.

[...ah.

And that sure is a question he doesn't want to think about right now.]

...I'd like to think I was, yes.

I'm glad to hear it. This world has a very unfortunate dislike of convenient timing, but at least not quite to the point of encouraging hopelessness.

[It's a very close thing in his case, though.]

...that often depends on your definition of hopelessness, really.

I firmly believe that hope exists as long as someone is alive to feel it.

[Though the 'firmly' is not quite as sure as the definition itself.]

...what, even if literally everything else is dead?

Why not, if the one remaining person can still feel it? ...But then, few would be capable of hoping at that point.

Precisely. I presume that if they had some sort of plan to change the situation, that'd be something, but... that wouldn't be terribly likely.

...Most of the people I know would be the type to have one, though whether or not it'd work is another story entirely.

Well, better something than nothing, anyway. If it worked, it would work. If it didn't... well, there was only one thing left to lose, wasn't there?