victory_road | 017

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017 - video

Now that everyone has hopefully had enough time to recover from the events regarding those tunnels and the mysterious creature within...

I have been thinking about that quite a bit, I must confess. Isn't it intriguing that, even in a world so developed and known as this, there are still mysteries spread throughout it?

Species we are not familiar with. Legendaries that evade all attempts to be known. Macaroni and cheese boxes which boast about their cheesiness and which yet contain no packet.

[One of these things is not like the other.]

So, my question to others in our predicament is... What mysteries have held your attention, whether in this place, or your homelands?

For myself, personally, I have ended up stumbling onto the answers of many practical matters. Medicine, food, things of that nature. It is still incredible to me how Johto and Kanto manage to handle it all so readiliy, to the point that even travelers such as ourselves can live comfortably with some effort.

Yet I wonder more about these Legendaries as well, and what an interesting presence they possess....

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Well...back home, my family was given a Miracle, which gave most of us a bit of magic. We call them our Gifts. But we don't really know where the magic came from exactly, or if there's even other magic in the world.

We don't really talk about it, because we didn't want to seem ungrateful for it. But I do still wonder about it sometimes.

Yes, I recall you saying something similar to that... although perhaps not in this detail. It is a similar struggle I feel familiar with...

[Crests, after all, feel much the same.]

It is a shame that you felt you could not speak freely of it. One can be grateful, and yet still curious.

Yeah. I've talked about it a little, but it's...It was pretty much everything to our family back home for a long time. My abuela received the Miracle after losing her husband, when he was trying to protect her and their children. Then the magic of the miracle gave those children magical Gifts, and when they had children of their own those children received Gifts too.

I guess it was hard to talk about and question without it feeling like we would be disrespecting Abuelo's memory and sacrifice.

Indeed... It must have been very person to her. For someone to question that - I can only imagine how that sort of thing would feel.

[Dimitri personally thinks that if he were in her shoes... His feelings towards such a sacrifice, the Gifts which resulted, would be a complex mess. In a funny way, that only makes him want to ask a little more, honestly.]

[Probably for the best she isn't here he decides, but he nods.]

I apologize for the tragedy in your family, although I imagine it was far before your time.

[ Luisa nods. ] Yeah. My mamá...she was only a baby when Abuelo died, so she never got a chance to know him. My sisters and cousins and I...we only really know about him from Abuela told us about him.

[ She can't help looking a bit guilty as she glances off to the side. ] He's always seemed more like...a story figure than anything.

I would think... that to be rather normal. You never met him, after all, and you have only heard of him in the context of, well, a miracle, as you said.

There was never any time for you to be told bedtime stories, nor time to see him forget his bag, or the numerous things which make people human.

I... am familiar with such views, and it is through no fault of your own.

[How many people used to think that of him, when they only knew of his title? Or of Glenn's duty, when they did not see the terrible choice he had to make and the pain it brought him?]

[Dimitri gets it.]

Yeah, it's...strange. I love him, of course, and I'm grateful for what he did for our family. But he's always felt so distance...and yet his presence always felt so heavy over our family. It was only recently that we all realized how stifling the Miracle felt to us.

Indeed... There are many relatives I feel similar to. I know their great deeds, I know it is thanks to them I survived, and yet...

...In some ways, are you happier here, Luisa?

[ Luisa is quiet for a long, long moment as she really thinks about her answer. ]

...Y...Yeah...in some ways. Things were starting to get better back home, but...It's just been nice, not having all the pressure I had back home. And getting to travel and see the world, even if it's not the same world I lived in. I never thought I'd ever get to leave the Encanto, so it's been nice having the chance.

I still miss my family, of course, but...is that bad? Does that make me a bad person, to be okay being here?

...That is something that I have had to ask myself here as well. In truth, I... am not entirely I can believe myself, if I try to convince my own mind that I am not wrong to stay here.

All I can do is listen to the words of those I love. And with those, they tell me that I am good. That after a lifetime of stress and suffering, one is permitted some small bit of relief in a place such as this.

I have to believe them, for what else can one do, sometimes, but believe those who love them?

And I believe the same is true for you.

You are allowed this relief, after the struggle from the rest of your life.

[ Luisa is quiet a moment, even as she draws in a soft breath. That's exactly the same kind of problem that she'd had; that even trying to convince herself that it was okay, she had a difficult time believing it.

But hearing someone else say it...she has to take a moment to wipe at her her eyes. ]

...Thank you. That...really does mean a lot.

If my words can help alleviate some of your own worries and fears even somewhat, then I can be nothing less than glad.

[Maybe it might even one day convince himself of the same thing, or help to.]

If you ever feel the need to speak more on this, I am always here, let it be said.

[ Luisa nods a little, and clears her throat before she's able to speak again. ] I really appreciate that, thank you.

[ She pauses a moment then, considering how to speak what she wants to say next. ]

And hey...I know you said that you have trouble believing it too, but...for what it's worth, I'm really glad to have gotten to meet you here.

[With how hard those he loves have had to work on his various issues, this sort of sentiment is not the first Dimitri has heard of it. Regardless, he too has to pause before letting out a slow breath.]

...Thank you.

If other people can believe that sincerely... then certainly there is a weight to it, do you not think so?

Yeah, I guess so. Even if it is still hard to believe sometimes...we can at least help each other out, right?

Indeed. [Dimitri takes in a deep breath for himself before he smiles back over to her.] I suppose that is one of the good things about friendship, isn't it?

That's true. It really does help, not feeling so alone.

And through these devices, we can contact one another at any time as well! So... Perhaps it is not the same as in person...

But it does a heart good, I think.

Yeah, that's true. And even if it's not the same as in person, I think it's kind of nice having something that lets us talk to people over long distances. It gives people a chance to do their own thing while still being able to connect.

Exactly. And through this, I know that I will always be able to hear your call.

Or, at least, if not myself, then one of many with hearing far better than mine, or who may be closer.

[And frankly, most of Dimitri's Pokemon know how to work a Gear, if only because they know they might need to.]

Right. And I'll be able to hear yours too.

[ And it's nice, knowing that they can be connected if the other needed help. ]

Thanks.

Thank you as well. If nothing else, even with our complicated feelings on this place and home...

I am glad we were to meet.

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017 - video

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