Breaking the Silence

Blake practically collapsed on the ground as soon as they arrived back at the Union. Her legs were absolute jelly at this point and she tried to get up, but they refused to respond. She sighed and tucked her arms under her chin. “Need some help there?” Wendy asked. “You look pretty spent.” Blake nodded. “Yeah… Some rest might be best for me.” She kind of just wanted to curl up and take a nap. It was probably around four at this point, but she was the type that could sleep no matter what. Even just laying down for a bit would probably do her wonder. She never, ever wanted to travel on those birds again. It was apparently pretty commonplace for Rangers to do in order to get from one place to the next, but she didn’t want to do that. If she took up any job at the Union, it would probably be Operator. She wasn’t much of a people person, but she could remain calm under pressure and be an effective communicator. But she wasn’t sure if she’d be here long enough to go through the Ranger Academy program. She wasn’t sure how long the Time Witch wanted her to be here. She could leave Almia once she got her papers all in order, but… She would feel guilty leaving Weiss like that. The woman had obviously been through absolute hell and needed support. If anyone would understand what Weiss had been through, it really was Blake… Wendy helped Blake to her feet, but she couldn’t keep any weight on them, so all she could do was lean against Wendy. They made their way up to the room she and Weiss were staying in and she heard what sounded like a ceiling fan. There wasn’t a fan in the room as far as she could remember… And the shade on the window was pulled. Thankfully, by this point, Blake had returned to normal to a degree and opened the door as quietly as she could manage. It was dark and she could see Weiss tucked up under the blankets of the bottom bunk. She closed the door and looked at Wendy. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to disturb her.” She shook her head. “Just get me a chair and I’ll rest like that.” “Well, we can go to the library. It’s not too far away.” Blake nodded and they headed to the library where Blake settled down in a chair at a table. “Is there any sort of book you’d like to read?” “Just grab me anything. I’m not too picky.” She shrugged. Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, romance, sci-fi, fantasy… She’d read just about anything. Wendy returned with a book on Pokémon and Blake nodded, cracking it open. It just didn’t feel right to bother Weiss. No, she didn’t have the most sympathy for her, but with as much hell as she’d been through… Why bother her? If she was resting, it was probably best to just leave her be. Blake would regain her ability to walk soon enough so that was good enough for her. She would read until she truly felt ready then would go down and grab some dinner. It was still weird to think that a good chunk of the population here didn’t eat actual meat. Granted, it had tasted more or less like the actual thing. Trying to convince the population of her world to not eat meat wouldn’t go over well and she knew it. People were basically addicted to the stuff and she wasn’t any different. She often had breakfast sausage, ham or pastrami sandwiches, a big, juicy steak for dinner… Nothing beat meat. She flicked through the book, not entirely paying attention to the words. She knew she needed to learn about Pokémon, but she just wasn’t too interested in reading at the moment. She had wanted to nap for an hour or so, but now she had to kill that hour instead of just sleeping it away. She just…really didn’t want to bother Weiss. They’d rescued her compatriots from torture and sleep deprivation was common enough. She wasn’t sure when Weiss had last gotten good rest, let alone slept on an actual mattress. It only made sense to leave her alone in Blake’s mind.  Eventually, though, she looked at the clock and saw that it was around five thirty. She put the book on a return cart and headed down to the cafeteria. Unlike when they’d gotten food earlier, it was absolutely packed with a ton of people in line to get their food from the buffet-style offerings. Yeesh. She’d have to wait quite a while. She just hoped and prayed she’d be able to get something . There were people in three different types of uniforms. One was black, red, and yellow. Another was a greenish suit. Another was a bluish suit. She could see the people in the black, red, and yellow uniforms had some sort of strange device at their hips… It reminded her of what Wendy had had on her wrist. Those were probably the Rangers and the others the Operators and Mechanics. She got in line and a group of people were talking. She caught snippets of all sorts of different conversations despite lacking her normal hearing. They were just…normal people. Some gossiped, some talked about love, others talked about their day at work… There were all sorts of different conversations. She definitely caught people looking at her, though. She stuck out like a sore thumb. There were no other civilians in the room. She wore just a simple t-shirt and shorts while everyone else was in uniform more or less. It felt odd to be the one standing out… She was used to wearing her blacks and purples to stand with the queen at her side. Now… She just had some dark blue shorts and a dark purple t-shirt on. She really wasn’t used to civilian garb in the slightest. She got to the buffet and piled her plate with as much food as she knew she could eat, but once done, she looked around. It seemed like everyone had a friend group of some sort… She really had no idea where to sit. It seemed like every table was taken up by at least one or two people. These people worked with each other, so of course they’d have their groups. She had nobody but Weiss and Weiss was asleep right now… It was best to just let her rest. Only gods knew when she’d last gotten good rest. Sleep deprivation was way too common in torture apparently… She was just glad to have escaped that particular fate. A blond guy walked over and waved. “Hey, you need somewhere to sit?” he asked.  Blake nodded. “Uh, yeah…”  “C’mon then!” He grinned at her and she nodded, following him. It was a small group of people, two young women, one redheaded with long hair, the other with short brown hair and sunglasses, the other another young blond man. The one with the sunglasses was dressed in the bluish suit. The redhead was dressed in the Ranger uniform. The first blond guy was also dressed as a Ranger. The second blond guy was dressed in the greenish suit. “Sit down, sit down! We’re not gonna bite!” He grinned and Blake nodded, settling down with her tray. “I’m Sun Wu Kong! I’m from Kanto.” “Coco Adel, Unova.” “Pyrrha Nikos, Kalos.” “Uh, Jaune Arc… Also Unova.” “Um… I’m Blake and I’m not from this world.” She wasn’t sure if she sounded insane yet or not. “Oh, you’re one of the otherworlders?” Sun tilted his head. “I wasn’t sure if that rumor was true or not…” “Absolutely is,” Coco said. “I met the white-haired woman earlier. She’s so frail a stiff breeze could blow her over… She looked like she really needed food though…”  “Um, that’s not my place to discuss what happened.” Weiss would need to handle the food thing slowly. Blake was a bit of a healer and knew about the idea of refeeding syndrome. After being starved of nutrients for so long, someone could go into shock if they suddenly had too much in their system immediately. They definitely wanted to avoid having Weiss go into shock because her body almost certainly wouldn’t be able to survive that. She was far too malnourished to handle anything that would put her into shock or heal from anything that would push her system in a harsh way. “And I definitely don’t feel like talking about my world…” That was a mess she didn’t feel like divulging. “That’s no problem.” It was Pyrrha who spoke this time. She smiled pleasantly. Blake got a strong air of calmness off her which…was nice. This was a lot to take in and she was definitely struggling to do all of that. She wondered where Wendy was though… Maybe off doing something? She couldn’t be sure. Wendy was polite and kind enough, though. The entire trip had just been way too much for Blake though. She hated flying on the Staraptor and wished there was something else that could carry them from Point A to Point B… She just felt too exposed and like she was going to fall to her doom. “If you don’t feel like speaking about something, you don’t have to. We’re not going to force you to talk about your trauma.” “Thank you.” Blake let out a breath. She was glad for that. Wendy hadn’t pushed her to talk about what she’d been through, so she hoped that would be a prevalent thing for the rest of the people here. “So what positions are all of you? I can tell Sun and Pyrrha are Rangers but…” She was trying to piece things together, but it was hard with her general lack of information. “I’m a Mechanic,” Coco said.  “I’m, uh, an Operator,” Jaune said. “Jauney here’s got some confidence problems but he’s pretty darn good at his job.” Coco grabbed Jaune’s shoulder and grinned. Jaune didn’t look too impressed but he was also obviously used to it. He was the most withdrawn of the group so far. Sun and Coco were the most forward with Pyrrha seeming to be middle of the road. Sun and Coco were definitely boisterous. They would be the life of the party if they were at one. They all seemed to be pretty kind, but it was definitely a lot to take in. She couldn’t help but wonder about Yang, Summer, and Ruby though… She had seen Yang earlier and Summer…definitely sounded like the queen she remembered. But it felt like it’d be wrong to ask about that up front. “I see… Wendy’s described what all of you do, but it’s nice to meet someone from every position.” Blake offered a small smile, the best she could muster. She was definitely more than a little overwhelmed with meeting so many new people at once. It was one thing dealing with a group of foreign dignitaries in a formal setting; it was another to just meet a bunch of random people while attempting to eat. She hadn’t even managed to get one bite down yet… She was hungry, but it was incredibly rude and unsightly to speak with food in one’s mouth. She’d had manners drilled into her head over years in her childhood… “Oh, you met with Wendy? She is quite pleasant to get along with.” Pyrrha continued to smile. “Though being a Top Ranger, she’s definitely busy much of the time with missions too dangerous for us lower-Ranked Rangers.” “Rank?” She wasn’t sure if Wendy had mentioned that or not… Pyrrha nodded. “Rangers have what are called Ranks. It’s a number system, one through then. Your Base Leader or another high-ranking official can name you a higher Rank. It’s basically a seniority system. Usually the longer you’ve been here, the higher your Rank…but it’s rare for most Rangers to get above Seven. Eight, Nine, and Ten are all reserved for the best Rangers and not much else.” Coco let out an amused noise. “Unless your name was Summer Young.” Sun chuckled. “Yeah.” “What?” Blake tilted her head. It was clearly some sort of in-joke among the Union, but with her being an outsider, it flew completely over her head. “Summer, current Chairperson, was one of the younger Rangers. Her and Ben were the youngest Top Rangers to ever be made and flew through the Ranks while in Fiore. They were Rank Ten by time they got to Oblivia about three, four years post graduation,” Coco explained. “It’s a joke among everyone that she’s now stingy about handing out Ranks because she feels like she was given her own too easily.” “Huh.” She wasn’t really sure what to make of that. She didn’t really know enough about Ranger culture or mechanics to make any real sense of it. If it was a joke, then it was a joke. There wasn’t much use of looking too deeply into it. She wasn’t sure if she’d work for the Union or not… She didn’t officially exist yet as far as the governments were concerned. It would probably be the easiest job to do since she wouldn’t have to go to Pueltown all the time, but she wasn’t sure if there were any entry-level jobs that the Union would give her either… She could work retail most likely… Or maybe fast food, though that wasn’t super appealing to her either. She had really only ever been a royal guard and not much else. She didn’t exactly have a ton of transferable skills that weren’t combat-oriented… “So yeah, it’s something everyone in the Union constantly jokes about. Despite being Chairperson, she’s a Ranger through and through. She still goes on Missions every once in a while because she feels like nobody else will be able to handle it.” Coco shook her head. “She’s quite the little daredevil.” “Would any of you guys happen to know if there are any entry-level jobs the Union offers? Wendy said Summer will probably already be putting in my new existence into other regions… I’d rather not have to go down to Pueltown everyday.” She shuddered. “I do not like flying on Staraptor.” She still couldn’t get over that. She would probably just move to Pueltown if she found a job there, but she would rather stay at the Union. The people here were nice and willing to answer her questions when they should have made no sense. They accepted her story at face value and were willing to help her… Plus, there had to be a reason that the Time Witch sent her and Weiss together. She wasn’t really sure how to help Weiss but it felt like it’d be a mistake to just abandon her. They were currently roommates which did make some things hard, but she was trying to be a good one. She hadn’t shown Weiss too much kindness at first but…she had just been frustrated by everything. Now that she had a bit of time to settle… She should’ve been kinder. “You’d have to ask Summer or Ben about that. Most likely Summer since she knows all the little goings-on around the Union. But there are probably plenty of jobs down in Pueltown,” Coco pointed out. “I was sent here with Weiss by the Time Witch… I don’t think it’d be a good idea to just straight-up abandon her…” It was pretty clear Weiss would have some nasty PTSD because of what she’d been through. Blake had grown up fighting and preparing for situations like the one she’d found herself in. The people were generally happy with the Rose family, but there were dissenters just like there were for anything. Blake had grown up killing and taking lives especially those of assassins. She was used to it. But Weiss seemed a lot…softer. She probably hadn’t taken her first life until well into the war. It was pretty clear that Weiss was messed up mentally from everything that she’d gone through. Blake probably wouldn’t have been much better if she’d been through months of torture as well. “Well, it’s whatever you wanna do. Either way, you’ll just have to wait until the papers go through,” Coco said. “I know…” Blake sighed. It was so hard to not technically exist in the world… She was limited until she could start taking a job. She was pretty sure the Union didn’t want to be caught paying people under the table. Honestly, even a janitor position would be better than nothing. It’d be some sort of financial independence… Though if she didn’t have to move out, she might not have to pay rent or anything like that. She wasn’t sure. She’d have to talk to Summer about it…  Coco leaned across the table and patted her shoulder. “Be patient. It sucks, but it’ll come quicker than you think.” “I hope so.” Blake shook her head. She really did hope so… It was hard to be stuck here with her thumbs up her ass and nothing to do other than wander around or read books. She had picked up her art supplies but those were limited and, if she drew all day, they certainly wouldn’t last more than a week or two. It sucked having nothing to do. The people sitting with her all had jobs to do, but she had to wait to be employed… She was already going crazy. “Considering it’s coming from the Chairperson herself, the Trainer regions should prolly put it through fast,” Sun said. “Bureaucracy is slow sometimes especially for these smaller regions, but if it’s coming from someone so high up, it ought to get approved pretty fast.” She hoped so. She really did. she wasn’t sure if there was really anything she could do about it either… She was just trying to hold onto what she could. But there was really nothing. She just wanted to work now so she could get money. She’d been employed by the castle at thirteen, so she knew financial independence since she’d been a child. This made her feel like such a child… It sucked so much and she hated it. “So what all did you guys do today?” Blake asked. She didn’t want to dwell on the realities of being an official person too much longer. Maybe asking about their days would be good. “Well, today was pretty good,” Pyrrha said. “A lady lost her baby Skitty and the mother Delcatty was beyond beside herself due to having lost one of part of her most recent litter. The baby is only about four weeks old, so it can’t survive on its own without its mother yet. The woman is a Skitty breeder and breeds for shinies and other coat patterns, so of course she was beyond worried that someone had stolen the baby.” “…Shiny?” What was a shiny? “Oh, right… Well, there are domestic-stock Pokémon and wild-stock Pokémon. Breeders can breed for lots of different coat colors from domestic stock that have been with humans long enough. In the wild, there are the wild-type colors and what’s called shiny colorations. It’s just a different coloration that happens naturally without human involvement.” Pyrrha opened her weird device and brought up a screen. “This is a Skitty.” One of the little cats was pink and cream, the other was peachier on both fronts. It was really hard to tell the difference between the two.  “They look practically identical.” She shook her head.  “Yes, but wild Pokémon do discriminate against shinies even if they barely look any different. It’s unfortunate. And they’re pretty rare in the wild because they’re the target of predatory Pokémon. Pokémon will abandon their shiny young and then predators will eat them.” “Sounds like albinos in my world. Basically white animals with red eyes. Natural coloration, but because they stand out so much more, they’re usually picked off and are incredibly rare.” “Albinos still happen and it can be one genetic variation breeders breed for. But there are a lot of different domestically created coat colors like piebald, striped, and so on. People will pay an arm and leg for them. My family’s been breeding the Zebstrika line for quite a few generations now.” “And you didn’t want to do that work?” Blake’s family had been royal guards for generations now. Not everyone was allowed to guard the royals directly like she was. She was just exceptional for her age and the queen trusted her because she’d played with Yang so much as a child. And she was good with Ruby despite the younger princess being Autistic and hard for most people to deal with. She had an obsession with weapons, combat, and machinery and building things. If Ruby was here, she’d most likely be a Mechanic… Assuming things were relatively the same across universes. Summer…still sounded like Summer. Pyrrha shook her head. “I just didn’t feel like breeding Pokémon. I love Pokémon, yes, breeding them just wasn’t something I wanted to do was all. I have siblings, some older, some younger, and most of them seemed keen on continuing the family legacy. My parents were disappointed when I told them I didn’t want to stay on the family farm, but they didn’t hold me back either.” “That’s definitely good to hear.” Not all parents would be so understanding in Blake’s experience… Her own parents would’ve been beyond understanding if she didn’t want to be a royal guard. She could’ve struck out on her own and started her own business or done something else for all they cared. As long as she was happy was all that mattered to them. But she loved the training she’d been through as a child and had managed to land her position pretty young. Pyrrha nodded. “We breed a special strain of the line. They’re black-and-white striped normally, but we have a special rosette pattern on them. They’re blue roans with dark spots. There are some independent Ponyta and Rapidash with that coat color, but we figured it out a few hundred years ago. They go for astronomical amounts of money because we’re the only breeders in the entire world.” “Sounds like an appaloosa horse variant.” She had seen them before and they were gorgeous horses. She didn’t know a whole ton about horses because she just didn’t have the time or ability to take care of one. Money? Certainly. She had a high-paying job and had since she’d been around thirteen. It wasn’t typical to give such a young child a job, but with how she was to protect Princess Yang, it only made sense to hire her on fully. Then she’d been hired on for Queen Summer’s own personal guard as well. It was basically a 24/7 job, so she couldn’t go out for leisurely horseback rides. She had days off, but she could be called in at a moment’s notice, so she had to be able to drop everything and get to the castle fast, lest something happen. “We do call them appaloosas, yes.” Pyrrha smiled sweetly. Man, she seemed like a saint. She was so sweet and gentle on first interaction. Blake wasn’t sure what to make of her at all… Maybe there had been someone named Pyrrha Nikos in her world, but if there was, she hadn’t met her. Blake’s world was relatively small, being mostly confined to the castle. She didn’t get out into the wider world too much because of the nature of her job. Sometimes she got to go to other countries when it involved protecting the queen or Princess Yang or Princess Ruby. But that was pretty rare since she was such a thorough planner. She was important for logistics and keeping the castle safe. Unfortunately, all the logistics in the world couldn’t protect them from a well-executed and meticulously planned coup. She pushed the thoughts away. No need to dwell on them now.  “Would you happen to have any photos?” Blake asked. Pyrrha nodded and pulled out a phone. It looked ancient compared to what she was used to. All phones in her world were hard light with only the bare minimum physical features. They still needed something to project from and something to define their projection area. But she put the thoughts aside and looked at the photos. “They’re beautiful.” They were. She could see some zebra-like horses in the background. “What are the zebra ones?” “Oh, those are sires and dams for other lines we breed. We specialise in the blue roan appaloosa, but we breed normal ones as well. What’s a zebra…?” Blake sighed. “Basically a striped wild horse that lives on the plains.” “That sounds a bit similar to Blitzle and Zebstrika in terms of wild-type coloration. But I’ve never heard of a zebra before.” “They do look very similar to those horses in the background of yours. But they were never domesticated. They have bad temperaments and don’t breed well in captivity. Some people get zorses which are a combination of zebras and domesticated horses, but they’re pretty rare. No reason to breed them because they often have the bad temperament of zebras.” She didn’t know much about horses, but she’d heard someone in her job brag about breeding a zorse just to get to the point she wanted to tame it. People like that were disgusting. Why get an animal that wasn’t well suited for captivity? Zorses weren’t meant to be ridden, but the woman had bragged she was going to break the animal until it capitulated and gave in so she could ride it. It sounded like animal abuse waiting to happen… “Horse?” “Uhhh.” Blake sighed. “I can’t even show you a picture because I don’t have access to my planet’s wifi networks.” She hated it. “Basically a four-legged animal that can come in many different breeds and coat colors and was domesticated with the express purpose of being ridden in less recent times. People still ride them but it’s not the main mode of transport anymore. Like your Zebstrika but not the same.” Pyrrha rubbed her chin. “That sounds like Ponyta, Rapidash, and Mudsdale with some others.” She opened her device again and showed Blake the Pokémon.  “…Yeah, those are basically horses. Mudsdale looks like a draft breed while Ponyta and Rapidash look more like saddle breeds.” She didn’t know much, but one of her younger sisters was obsessed with horses, so she had learned a little bit through osmosis. It was hard to stop an enthusiastic child from talking about something. She hadn’t followed in her family’s footsteps, but there was no need for every child to be a castle guard. Eventually, her little sister had gone on to be a physical therapist that worked with horses and children. She loved her job and Blake couldn’t fault her for that. She was glad her little sister had gotten her dream job.  “Interesting,” Pyrrha said. “Very interesting…” “Are Ponyta able to be ridden?” “By people of smaller stature, usually children. Or very short adults.” Pyrrha chuckled softly, her closed hand covering her mouth. “Blitzle’s too small to be ridden by anybody, but Zebstrika’s big enough. We have close connections with the Ponyta breeding community and one of the owners of a Ponyta was a young woman that was 4’11” flat footed despite being a full adult woman. She was so tiny. She became a good friend. Her name is Edelgard.” Blake smiled a little. “She sounds like a hoot.” “Oh, she hates being so short. Her best friend, Hubert, is over a foot taller than she is and she often has him get things from the top shelf.” Blake chuckled softly. “Queen Summer’s about the same. 5’0” flatfooted. She has to have other people get things from the top shelf for her. But considering she’s queen, we don’t mind too much. Often it’s my father who’s a brick wall of a man at nearly seven feet.” Yeah her father was practically a bear of a man. Granted, he was a diplomat and not a guard, but Summer would often snag him in when she needed something and he was nearby.  Pyrrha chuckled a little. “That’s funny. She doesn’t quite sound too intimidating…” Blake shook her head. “Despite being so short, that doesn’t mean she isn’t terrifying. She and Princess Ruby are basically once-in-a-lifetime geniuses. Queen Summer can and will master anything she sets her mind to. She’s mastered such a large swath of abilities that it’s astounding… She actually created our planet’s first AI system and it’s literally just a clone of herself. She wrote it in the most unholy of code scripts though.” Yeah, the queen was terrifying and anybody that wasn’t terrified of her was objectively wrong. Granted, Queen Summer ruled through compassion and not fear, but anybody close to her was terrified of her intelligence. Everyone in the kingdom knew that the queen was not to be crossed lightly. Once the coup was over, she shuddered to think of what would happen to General Ironwood. He’d been a good man, but he had betrayed the kingdom… He wanted to institute democracy which… Well. Had its merits but the Rose line had ruled over millennia and were rarely ever tyrannical… She didn’t quite understand why he wanted to change their nation’s ruling power. She was pretty sure he’d overturn the nobles as well… He was a man that had started from nothing and grown through the ranks. But something had gone wrong in that brain of his and he betrayed all of them.  Coco tilted her head. “If I could get my hands on it, I’d love to look at the coding.” “I’ve looked at it and it’s terrible. While I’m mostly a personal guard for the queen and her daughters, I learned computer coding.” Her parents had wanted her to pick up more than just being a guard… Most of her skills were combat-based, but she did have computer coding skills as well as cooking. Those were about the only real transferrable skills she had that might be able to net her a job elsewhere that wasn’t just entry level. She wasn’t sure if anybody would just take someone that had appeared out of nowhere for something like computer coding or cooking, though… She would probably have to work her way up through the corporate ladder. Sigh. “Well, we’re always in need of computer technicians here. Maybe Chairperson Summer can swing you a job here. Just be warned about Ben, head of the R&D lab and oversees all of the Union’s technology. He’s not personable in the slightest. How he managed to become a Top Ranger in his day is honestly something none of us really understand,” Coco put in. “He wouldn’t even be good as an Operator. He’s basically just a giant walking dickhole.” Coco shook her head. “You’d need to be run by him before you could work on computer stuff.” “Well, that just sounds perfectly pleasant.” Blake wasn’t always the most pleasant of people either, but she needed to be blunt and up front about things because she was a personal guard. If people were wasting her time or the royal family’s, they needed to be told. She had every license to be as blunt and aggressive as possible. She had to be on her best behavior around foreign dignitaries, of course, so she had learned how to balance being aggressive and being polite. She just wasn’t super personable when it came to interpersonal relationships… Her job was her life. She had been trained from her youngest years to guard the royal family. So trying to be in peace and get some sort of other job… She really didn’t have a lot of transferrable skills. “Yeah, no, everyone calls him a dick behind his back. Oftentimes to his face even. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass. As long as he gets competent people, that’s all that matters to him. He’s made the Mechanic curriculum in the Ranger Academy beyond brutal. I think there’s something like a 30% flunk-out rate or something because he’s tightened it so much. We get top-notch Mechanics, but losing 30% of a workforce in a small region? Not great.” Coco shook her head again. “If you want to talk to him, then we can show you where he is afterward.” “And he’s married to Chairperson Summer somehow…” Pyrrha sighed. “A literal empath is married to one of the most dickish people to show up in the history of, like, ever,” Sun said. Blake’s brows furrowed. “Empath? That doesn’t sound normal…” “There are all sorts of psychics around the world,” Pyrrha explained. “There’s a high concentration in Johto around Ecruteak City and other areas in the globe. It seems like Unova has one of the lower concentrations, but oddly, Almia and Fiore have some of the most psychics per capita in the world. It’s odd.” Blake tilted her head. “Almia and Fiore are incredibly tiny regions, so the fact there are so many psychics…” “I mean I’m used to magic, not psychics…”  “It’s not the most common thing here, but it’s common enough that most people understand different abilities,” Pyrrha said.  “Chairperson Summer’s also a medium. She can convene with spirits of the departed,” Sun explained. “So a medium and empath. That sounds like quite the whammy.” Blake shook her head. What a mess. So now she had to deal with someone that could read her emotions. She hoped she wouldn’t spend too much time around Summer. Such abilities didn’t exist on her planet, so she would have to get used to it… She really didn’t like it. But communing with the dead? There were distant gods on her planet, ones that didn’t really interact with the living, but they sometimes did intercede. The main one was the god of death, Kokon, but few ever spoke with her. She couldn’t really interact with the living too much. It just wasn’t her domain to do so. Oddly, she was one of the more worshiped gods because her presence could be felt in most things. By this point, most of them had finished up with eating. “By the way…do you think you could show me where Ben is? Assuming he’ll have me. It is getting kind of late.” Blake wasn’t exactly sure what time it was, but it was definitely evening at this point. She had no watch or time-telling piece. She was used to using her phone, but it wasn’t connected to the wireless network of this world. No way to get local time. And there was no clock in the cafeteria either. Coco nodded. “I can lead you to the lab. See you guys in a bit.” She got up and Blake also did. They disposed of their trash and took their trays to where they’d be taken of, then started out of the cafeteria. “When we say Ben’s a dick, we really mean he’s a dick. I won’t even say he’s blunt; he’s rude. He really doesn’t care about people much at all and doesn’t care if he hurts a person when he says something. If you work as an Operator or under him directly, you just gotta get used to it. Even Chairperson Summer can’t get him to change. I still do not understand how he operated as a Ranger for so many years.” She shook her head. “Thankfully, I’m used to rude people… You get a lot of entitlement when dealing with nobles whose bloodlines span back several hundred or thousand years. The Rose family spans back millennia at this point. They’ve been in charge for that long. They’re one of the better royal lines, though, by now, most places have switched to some sort of representational government over monarchy.” They were one of the few places remaining that had nobility in the sense of feudalism. Most still had aristocrats who were essentially noble in all but name. They still had lands, they still had wealth, they were old money, and held a lot of sway. But now everyday people could own land instead of it being pure feudalism. Most people still couldn’t own land in her home nation… So she dealt with a lot of entitlement when it came to the nobles. They had a god complex a lot of the time and she was just some filthy commoner who worked with the queen. “I wouldn’t say he’s entitled, at least. Just rude. But often those two do go hand in hand.” Coco shook her head. “I don’t know how anyone would deal with Ben if he was entitled as well as rude beyond words.” “Well, that’s something.” She wasn’t really sure what to say to that. Yeah, rudeness and entitlement usually went hand in hand, but not always. Nobles were rude and entitled because they thought they were above everyone else. She held a prestigious place of honor as the queen’s personal guard, but she was just a commoner… She didn’t own lands or anything like that. She was a knight, but that didn’t mean she was entitled to lands or nobility. She really did occupy a strange liminal space between commoner and noble… The queen held her in high esteem while the nobles treated her as if she were garbage. They reached a door on the third level of the building and entered. “Oh, great, more disruptions. What the hell do you want?” A man with tall, brown hair turned and faced them, arms folded. Oh, he was absolutely charming. Now she saw what Coco meant that he wasn’t pleasant. Yeesh, maybe she was making a mistake… Maybe she ought to pursue something in the cooking field… “Well, have fun. Bye!” Coco ducked out, leaving Blake alone with the man she could only assume was Ben. “What do you want? You’re not a face I recognise.” He narrowed his eyes. Had she had her ears, they would’ve gone down. This might just be the biggest challenge she faced while here in Almia.