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[action] sponsored by Gold's wallet

[ There's a little sheep going around campus... okay no, not really. Sort of. There's a Mareep turned human going around, with a basket carried in both hands. It's filled with what looks like tissue paper, tied and wrapped around a thing. ... Like circular balls. Oh, how mysterious! Sometimes, her basket might look nearly empty. But no worries, 'cause she'll soon have more in there.

And she's looking for people. Anyone. Everyone. You. Or maybe you. She's especially looking for faces she recognises, even if those faces don't recognise her.

Or maybe she's never seen you before, but hey, if you're around and don't look terribly busy (or maybe you are), maybe this girl with too much light blonde hair will come over to you. What's up?

And people whose rooms she knows of or of their classrooms, hey, you're getting a visit. Library goers, too. Greenhouses. The stadium. The gym.

Everyone, you are going to meet this girl.

Spoilers, for those with good noses: it smells like chocolate. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, right! To a... to a mister, I just bow, like this.

[He stood straight, placing his arms straight down his sides, and bowed forward with his eyes closed, like someone bowing to their opponent in a martial arts competition. He stood back up right afterwards, since it was only an example.]

Some people have told me that I don't have to do it every time I meet someone, but I feel like I should. I want to be polite.

[ She had seen a bow before -- well, just right now -- but not exactly like that. But it looked simple, and easy to remember. ]

I've never seen people doo it beefooore. ... but I wanna be polite, toooo.

[ Giggling a little to herself, Maisy then decided to copy that bow shown to her, closing her eyes only because of the movement of going down low. She comes back up after the same amount of time Pulse did, opening her eyes back up when she does. ]

Niiice to meeeet yooou.

[He grinned.]

Nice to meet you, too.

...I apologize if I startled you earlier, when I woke up. You reminded me of someone I used to know.

It's okaaay. [ She would mention why she was hovering, but for now- ] Do I remiiiind you of "mama"?

[He blushed, feeling a little nervous.]

Er, yeah... You do remind me, a little, of my... mother. But not like... I dunno. She had a lot of long hair, like you. She also had something on her head that looked a little like your... your...

[He slowly reached up and attempted to pantomime the yellow and black-striped protrusions on Maisy's head, which he could not identify.]

[ Oh, at least she didn't laugh at all when he admitted to her looking like his mother, right? But watching him make that motion over his head, she went to do the same- and felt the bumps of her amps. ]

Maaaa? I heeear with theeese. [ She felt them for a moment, trying to remember the word people call them.... ]

Hoooorrrns.

[Huh. He began to wonder if that was what his mother had, horns. He always thought they were just part of her hair... He didn't understand hair much, either. His mother had hair, lots of it, and so did his girlfriend, but he himself couldn't remember if he ever had any hair. His father had hair, even after he was corrupted and became half-program... but then again, he did lose half of his hair when that happened... Oh, dear. Pulse was born half-and-half. His current hair situation didn't sound very promising at all...]

Your... horns. Are they like ears...?

[He let one hand drop to his side, the other feeling the side of his helmet, where the round yellow panel was cupped over where his ear would be, if he did in fact have ears.]

Eaaarrrs?

[ She watched him feel at his helmet, but she didn't think him to mean that - it was like a hat, wasn't it? And while it was a strange hat, Maisy knew what a hat was like. Not 'ears', whatever they were. ]

Like what... humans...

[He pantomimed the physical representation of an ear from the side of his helmet.]

Usually humans have a bit of flesh here on the side of the head, both sides... [raising his other hand up to pantomime the other ear] it's a bit like a funnel, leading down into a canal that goes inside the head... they need it to process sound, but it's also used for coordination and balance. They call them ears.

[He spoke as one who did not identify as being human.]

I can't really show it... on my head. I'm not sure if I have them or not. I can hear, though... so maybe they're like... your horns.

[He pointed to the round yellow cap on the side of his helmet.]

[ Wow, that was a lot he shared. At just the beginning of the explanation, Maisy knew what he meant, having seen them on other people- but the Mareep girl had no idea they were meant for so much!

But as much at that moment she wanted to inquire more about ears and how they helped, Pulse's uncertainty about his own state made her wait, to ask a different question instead. ]

Can't you take off your haaat? [ Or, oh... ] Isnnn't that a haaat?

[ Maybe it was all his head instead? ]

...Hat?

Oh, you mean... this.

[He laid his hand on his helmet.]

This actually... grew over my head, like a protective shell. It's a part of my body. I didn't always have it, though... Maybe someday when I'm older, I might be able to take it off, I think. I believe that I'm... gradually evolving, I guess, toward that point. But for right now, it's stuck on.

[He experimentally edged one finger up under the rim close to his ear cap, trying to see how far under he could get with it, but there was no loose space between his head and the helmet.]

I did try to take it off once, right after I realized that I had it, but it felt like I was trying to remove my own... er, maybe I shouldn't say. But it did hurt a whole lot, so I stopped trying.

[ As he explained, as strange as it was, Maisy thought she could understand. Particularly evolution- she had never experienced it, but that didn't mean she didn't know about it with her own kind..! ]

Maaaa, that's because it's paart of yooou, isn't iiiit? Mareeps change too, when they get oooolder. When we chaaange, we turn piiiink.

[ But, looking at Pulse... ] Are you sure it'll come offfff one daaay? Maybe it wooon't.

Yeah... um...

[Mareep? He recognized the term, pulling the information from his memories of scouring cyberspace for information on the monsters which somehow fit in a pocket. Indeed, Maisy shared many key characteristics with Mareep. From his encounter with Riwane, a Charizard-turned-human, he came to be familiar with the concept of pokemon taking on a human form. It still took him a little while to process it, but still, it was a concept that he accepted.]

That's right... you become a Flaaffy then, right? And your hair turns... white?

It's very similar to what I went through... there was a time when I didn't have fingers, and before that, I had no arms. But I have been gradually... evolving... to look more and more like a human being.

I'm not really sure if the helmet ever really will come off, I just like to think so. If I really am becoming more human, I think it will come off, at some point. I'm really curious about what it looks like under there.

[ Wow, he knew things right away! She nodded as he said the name 'Flaaffy', though she didn't know if her hair would turn white... well, their wool did look more lighter than all the Mareep's did! ]

Maa, what did you look likee? If you didn't have fiiingeers, and you didn't have aaarms?

[ Though she didn't know what ears were, she knew what arms, hands, fingers, and legs all were. She looks down at her own arms, and decides to pin them against her body. To try and imagine this. ]

Did you have leeeegs? And feeeet?

[He had to sit down, taking a spot on the couch next to him, while he thought about it.]

A few years ago, my hands looked a little different... They looked like... what human hands look like when they're wearing mittens. My hands didn't have individual digits, but they were still shaped like hands, sort of. Before that, they were... I remember they were just round, no fingers or thumb.

I've had feet for most of my life, but they were always cased in this armor...

[He reached down and tapped one of his "shoes" with his finger.]

...and of course when I was younger, they were smaller. When I first realized I had hands and feet, though, I didn't have arms and legs to go with them. I remember that it took me a while to realize that the objects... floating near my body... were a part of me.

When I was very little, like for a few years after I was born, I didn't have hands or feet at all. Not even legs or arms. I only remember having a body.

...I didn't really look in a mirror often. The one time I did, was after I had... substantiated for the first time... Um.

Yeah, I should probably explain that. I come from inside a computer.

[He reached up and rubbed the back of his head with one hand. He was glad that he could meet another person who was more interested in him than afraid of him, but he still had to get used to being able to explain himself to someone who was so willing to listen.]

[ It wasn't directly after he sat himself down that Maisy did, but eventually, with how much was said by Pulse, she decided herself to do the same. It was on the floor that she did, right where she stood, legs half-crossed in front of her and the basket of chocolates sitting there.

Like a young kid, listening to a story. ]

A compuuuteer? [ Maisy knew about those, kind of. Gold had one that he used. But was it like that? ] With the flickiiing screens that play muusiic?

[Huh. He hadn't had anyone put themselves in a position where they were always looking up at him... He was always the short one looking up, especially around adults. Maybe she was younger than him? She seemed about the same age...]

Yeah, lots of flick... flickering screens... It's an ultracomputer, actually, very big, way bigger than the ones in the computer lab. I think it took up the whole building where I lived. ...I don't remember seeing it play music, though...

[He gestured toward the empty spot on the couch next to him.]

Ma'am, you can sit here if you'd like, I wouldn't mind.

[ She hadn't minded at all sitting on the floor, but at his gesture to the spot beside him, Maisy decided to get up with a- ] Okay!

[ She brought the basket with her, and when she climbed onto the seat, she did so with her legs joining her bottom on the couch at first. It was so normal for her to sit on surfaces with all her legs, but, upon noting how Pulse sat, Maisy brought her own legs to hang down from the edge too. Right, she should sit like people too!

Her basket, still with her, sat on her lap, wrapped firmly and securely by her arms. ]

How did you geet ooout? [ She was still interested in hearing more about his computer-life. Maisy didn't even know things lived inside them! ] Did annnyonnne elsseee live with yoou? Faamiily?

[Always happy to share knowledge, Pulse went right on ahead.]

I get out through the screen. There is a way that I can follow the light in and out of the screen... I'm not totally sure how it works, though, but for me it's just like walking or breathing, I never really think about it.

I had a mom... Well, yeah, I already mentioned her. I had a father, too, but I never got to meet him while he was... before he...

Um.

[He paused for a moment.]

He sort of... left... before I was born. I was raised by my mom.

I did have a brother, at some point, I guess... it's complicated.

Maaa... [ It sounded complicated, but not in the same way that Pulse meant it. Maisy knew nothing about computers as it were, but that people could go in and out, could even be born inside? This was such a new discovery for her!

But she was interested in what happened to this brother- since he didn't just leave like the dad, did he? She tilted her head a little as she looked at Pulse. ]

What haapppeenned to hiiim? Did he go tooooo?

He, um...

[He scratched at the back of his head, trying to figure out how best to explain it.]

Technically, he was more like a step-brother. My dad created him to fight me.

Well...

He wasn't really my dad. He used to be, but something happened to him, and he turned into somethi-- someone else. I'd rather remember my dad as he was before it happened, but all I know about him was what my mom told me about him. He was a great man.

After he changed, though... because of an accident... He went insane. He wasn't anything like what my mother told me about him, so... He had turned into a completely different person, but biologically, he was still my father. He began threatening others, and... I had to try to stop him. I didn't learn until much later that he actually was my father, though, but at that point, I really couldn't turn back, I had to keep fighting him.

My brother... he was simply created by my dad. He was a type of computer program, a really advanced kind of artificial intelligence from where I come from, called a C-Life. He was built to be better than me, because my father intended for him to... defeat me. I guess, needless to say, he wasn't really the kind of brother I would have wanted. I had to fight him... and...

...well, I hope, maybe someday, I'll be able to find out where his base code is. That's the root of his programming, locked in a computer somewhere. I'd like to bring him back, if I can... I don't think he was very happy, being made to be a weapon. If I could find his code and bring him back, maybe we could actually be like... real brothers. Especially since his da-- since he doesn't have to be a weapon for anyone, anymore.

[He blinked, and blushed slightly.]

...I'm sorry if I'm... overburdening you with any of this.

[ Maisy listened to it all, without interruption. There was no point that she could, or no need to, though the world that Pulse spoke about was one entirely different to the Mareep's. Her life was one of frolicking in the fields, playing games, and then following a boy to find more fun in the world.

It wasn't a world of computers or fighting- Maisy knew that fighting existed in some form, that trouble surrounded people and had to be watched out for. But though she knew that, Maisy's life had been simple enough. She didn't even know anything of 'war', and still didn't really.

Pulse's story was certainly a sad one to the little Mareep. She shook her head, the curls on her face fluttering around when she did. And when she looked at him, it was with a sad expression, eyebrows lowered and her lips frowning. ]

Why did your daaad wanna hurt yooou, Pulllsee? Why did he do thaaat?

[She was such a bright, pleasant person, probably what Pulse understood to mean "sunny" for a disposition, he hated to bring her down... But she seemed eager to listen, and Pulse needed someone to talk to.]

What happened, from what I understand... A little over a year before I was born, my father found a way to enter cyberspace for the first time. He was a human, and he did it so that he could be with my mother. But then there was an accident that put them both in danger. My dad saved my mom by putting her in a system restore memory backup, but when he tried to get out himself, when he left the computer he had been inside, something about being in there affected him. He turned into a... he... he kind of lost his mind.

[He paused for a moment, looking down.]

He thought he was a different person... he forgot who he used to be. Then he decided that he was going to try to take over the world, and he gathered a gang of... of cyberterrorists, people like hackers, virus programmers. They were going to try to use technology to control humans. My dad... at the time... he saw himself as something greater than humans. He believed he was like a god. And he was very intelligent, and very powerful... I didn't see him again until just a few years ago, when he and his organization launched their attack on the world.

I'm certain that if this hadn't have happened, if he didn't end up going corrupt by whatever it was that changed him, he would have still been the man that my mother knew and loved. He probably would still be alive today... I wouldn't have had to fight him...

[He swallowed hard, and fell silent.]

[ Pulse was good at explaining things. Even though Maisy still didn't entirely understand why his father had created a brother to harm his son specifically (beyond becoming a horrible person), she was hooked into paying attention to nothing else but his story. Things that she couldn't understand- memory backups, virus programmers, cyberterrorists. But though she didn't entirely comprehend these words, she gathered their meaning, that they were bad. That a lot of bad things had happened to this person, Pulse, and his family.

And she knew sadness. She could see it there as he spoke, and as he fell silent from the weight of the history connected to his words. Maisy didn't know what to say when he had finished, and at first all she could do was deepen her frown. But her heart felt heavy, and she couldn't just sit there and stare and look sad.

The basket that had been kept safely in her arms was put to the side, and Maisy moved closer to him, shifting closer by his side. When others were sad, Maisy would comfort them, just as she would be comforted. To give that comfort to Pulse now, she put her hands onto the side of his arm for support, and leaned over to rub her cheek against his.

As a human, she didn't have to worry so much about electrifying people. If she concentrated enough, she could bring out the currents that were still with her; otherwise, there didn't seem to be any worry of her shocking others accidentally. But her face had always been a safe place to touch people, and rubbing cheeks was an ordinary sign of comfort and affection for the Mareep. ]

[Pulse wasn't used to others empathizing with him. He tensed up a little when he felt Maisy draw close, feeling a little confused. But, somehow, it felt really familiar. Perhaps if he were the size of a softball, and she were holding him in both hands... It would probably be weird to tell her that she also felt like his mother, so he didn't. Instead, he reached up and scratched at the side of his helmet where his temple would be, if he could reach it.]

Er... th-thank you, Miss Maisy.

[action] sponsored by Gold's wallet

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