to know the unknown

[polarization]

WHO Sefton, blessddrgntamer, swatwithdragons and motherlanders.
WHAT ^P_KM_NT_RN_R Sefton needs a place to go after ecoterrorism goes way too far out of hand in Hoenn. He retreats to find his half-sibling in Blackthorn, whom he only knows about through the news and his mother's stories.
WHERE Blackthorn, in the Johto region.
WHEN Early 1994. Sefton is 11½, Lance is 20.
NOTES Continues over in the live-action pokémon musebox.

The road was beginning to give way, path widening into something more respectable and well-traveled. He was so close. So close to safety and finally finding the other half of his family. Not that his mother had ever let him down or did less than her best to raise him, but something had always been missing as he had grown up. Maybe he would find it here.

For that, Sefton was almost grateful to Teams Aqua and Magma for their insane plots that were literally destroying the Hoenn region in an effort to make it more habitable for pokémon. Who cared if all the people living there wouldn't be able to adapt or survive all the rapid changes as long as the pokémon were happy, right?

Sefton grunted disdainfully and picked up the pace. Glalie hovered behind him, matching his speed and watching his back. They were both exhausted from the journey, evading the authorities on the off-chance they would simply deport him back to Hoenn if they discovered him, not to mention fighting off all the wild Pokémon in the area that wandered too close. At least the nudge in the back of his mind usually gave them advance warning...

They were almost there. Just needed to make it toward the gym, announce his intentions to seek shelter with the clan...

"So close," he breathed.

Comments

[polarization]

Sefton glanced away at the question. He didn't think experience with pokémon counted when it came to something like his powers; there simply wasn't anything comparable between them. Well, if you discounted psychic pokémon entirely, and it seemed like a safe enough bet to say that Matthias wasn't an expert in a type that had nothing to do with dragons. Not enough to understand how his ability would work.

"Just—cautious," he said, having to pause to remember the word. It wasn't one he usually used to describe himself or anything else. Saying he was afraid would have been much more accurate, but he felt as though admitting to either of Matthias' options were losing situations.

[motherlanders]

"Have I not already stated I do not tolerate lying through omission?" Matthias asked neutrally. It was, of course, wise to be cautious, to not take risks, but Matthias highly doubted it was mere 'caution'. The reaction said it was more than that.

[polarization]

"S' not a lie," Sefton insisted quietly, though he recoiled slightly at the rebuke. It was so ingrained in him to keep his responses to himself, to try and seem less frightened than he was to avoid attention, that he didn't know what to do when called on it outside of denial. "I'm just... I don't want anything to happen. I don't wanna risk it. That's all."

[motherlanders]

Matthias kept looking at him, brow furrowed over piercing eyes. "And where, do you think, lies the line between caution and paranoia?"

Because it was arrogant of the boy, to believe he could affect even someone as trained as Matthias and his Dragonite. Understandable, of course, if that was all the boy had experienced. All Matthias wanted him to recognise was that his experience of things may not be right.

So he continued, "After all, I am of a skill. What makes you believe you are not wrong?"

[polarization]

"Haven't been wrong before," answered Sefton. There had been the one time, of course, but it was a special circumstance. It didn't count. "Maybe... maybe I could be, but—s' never happened."

[motherlanders]

"And you're foresighted as well, are you, to know what will always happen?" Matthias said mildly, knowing that the boy wasn't. The catscan would have said so, otherwise.

[polarization]

Sefton grumbled quietly, under his breath, then shook his head.

[motherlanders]

"Then I would say that your experience may not always be right, correct?" Matthias pressed, arching an eyebrow.

[polarization]

"N-no, but..." If he couldn't lean on his experience, what was he supposed to do?

[motherlanders]

Oh, but Matthias didn't say that, did he, Sefton? Only that your experience wasn't what would always happen.

"And if that is so, then what does that mean for you, grandson?"

He was genuinely curious to see what kind of response the boy would have.

[polarization]

There was a small frown at being called grandson. Still too new for Sefton to be comfortable with it, when the man in front of him was practically a complete stranger.

"Means trying to find out if I'm wrong isn't worth it," he mumbled. Even if he was wrong in some remote case, it would do no one any good for him to get used to it. The vast majority of his life had proven itself toward him being right, anyway.

[motherlanders]

Stubborn boy. Matthias said nothing for a minute, but maintained his long, pointed stare, making it clear that this was not an answer he was happy with and would be expecting Sefton to think it over in the future.

When he was satisfied that feeling might have gotten through, the old man inclined his head in quiet permission. "If you see a Clan member, tell them where you are going. They will take you there."

[polarization]

The look was met with a muted, stubborn gaze, half-hidden under his bangs. "It's just upstairs, right?" Ignoring for a moment that Sefton would still need to search them out, it seemed like a doable task.

[motherlanders]

"It is. At the top of the stairs." Two or three storeys up. "Ask for aid if you need it, Sefton." Warningly, in case the boy was going to decide to be difficult. There was no room for resistance inside the clan.

[polarization]

"I know," Sefton said. It took a lot of effort, but he managed not to whine the words or huff in utter petulance. All that the warning meant was that his definition of 'needing aid' would probably differ from Matthias'. It was, after all, in Sefton's nature to be difficult; the only difference was whether he sometimes meant it to be intentional or simply was out of habit.

[motherlanders]

Matthias's eyes narrowed; he knew children Sefton's age, and that phrase was said in such a familiar way. "Ask for aid if you are in any way lost," he clarified, "and accept it if it is given by a passing member. Is that clear?"

[polarization]

Sefton nodded. "Clear," he confirmed, though unhappily. He was more than used to doing things his own way. What were the chances of him getting lost or someone randomly offering help, anyway?

[motherlanders]

Quite likely, in fact. The estate could be something of a warren, though with the tapestries and the pillars set in the walls there were 'landmarks' for the observant. And it was almost certain that he'd run into a clan member, who would, naturally, offer their help instantly. So Matthias was unworried that Sefton would get lost.

"Very well." Matthias nodded toward the boy and turned to Dragonite, who had settled with a yawn on the window-ledge. Now one eye opened again with a hum, and he angled himself so Matthias could mount him.

[polarization]

Sefton watched for a moment, then nodded to himself and reluctantly trailed down the unexplored hallway. Hopefully they hadn't passed the stairs already and he had missed them... that would just be embarrassing.

[motherlanders]

It only took a few moments for Dragonite to lift Matthias through the air to the window looking out over the grounds from Sefton's new room (Lance's old one; the very window, in fact, through which he had escaped when he ran away. At least Sefton had no dragons). The man gave Dragonite an appreciative stroke along his antenna as the dragon settled himself in the windowsill.

And then he entered the room to wait, overseeing the quick preparations the cleaning staff had made in the interim.

[polarization]

While Matthias' trip was short, Sefton's was considerably longer. The first task was finding the stairs at all. Eventually, they were located with the (unwanted) help of a passing clansman. It had been uncomfortable, since Sefton could feel the curiosity and traces of suspicion over his general anxiousness, but the other man had been incredibly insistent to the point that Sefton had no choice but to accept. (Well, he had the choice to run the other direction. He always had that choice, but most times he was able to curb the response and realize he rarely ever planned for the inevitable "after" in that situation.)

When they reached the top of the stairs, briefly Sefton wondered if he was supposed to know where to go from there, or if Matthias would be waiting. He wasn't sure which would be better at this point. On one hand, if he should have known, but didn't, what other information might he have zoned out on? The other hand, however, meant that the clansman would realize their leader was taking the time to personally deliver Sefton to his temporary lodgings, and that would probably lead to some awkward questions that he had no idea how to answer.

[motherlanders]

Matthias was not waiting at the stairs. Sefton had chosen to make his own way up, and the decision was one he would have to stick with. Matthias had not given directions: Sefton had not asked for them. That, also, was an oversight the boy would have to learn from.

Nor did the clan member in question hesitate, asking Sefton with characteristic politeness, despite his suspicion (he did not know, of course, that Sefton was empathic), where Sefton was supposed to go next.

[polarization]

Sefton looked both ways down the corridor, trying to decide which way was more-likely to lead him somewhere that Matthias would have taken him. Without knowing anything about the man (not even how he felt his own emotions, which was weird enough), though, he simply couldn't figure that out. "I dunno," he said after a moment, looking none too happy with the concession. "He didn't say."

[motherlanders]

"Your destination," the man clarified with outward politeness and slight inward exasperation. "Where are you supposed to go? The library, the observatory, the terrace, the sunroom? Living quarters, couriers' common room, sentinels' common room, the onsen?"

Surely the boy could narrow it down a little?

[polarization]

"Living quarters," Sefton mumbled. It wasn't his fault he had no idea what kind of structure the place was built with! This was why he didn't like talking to people... it wasn't pleasant to be able to feel past their outward masks without even trying. "Something 'bout finding a room."