Breaking the Silence

“Coco told me that you might be willing to test me on technology-related skills,” Blake said. Yeah, he was rude beyond words and she didn’t like it but what else could she do? Maybe she could find someone willing to let her be a personal chef or something… She was more than competent in the kitchen even though she didn’t need to be. This felt beyond daunting and like climbing Mount Hok, the tallest mountain in the world. He seemed an immovable object which she did not like. “If you can meet up to my standards, maybe the Union will have a place for you. I still have hours of work ahead of me so I’ll be working into the night. Now who are you?” “Blake. I’m not from around here…” “Are you the other off-worlder? I met Weiss a while back.” Blake blinked but nodded. “Yeah, I’m the person she arrived with.”  Ben sighed. “More multiverse nonsense…” He shook his head. “So what are your technological skills? Be quick or else I might just make you leave.” “I’m mostly a coder. I don’t deal with hardware a lot, but coding is where I shine.” Yeah, he was just a ball of complete and absolute sunshine… How anyone could like this enough to marry it was something else. How could anybody get along with him? He was harsh and unrelenting like some of her mentors had been. She was a knight and it had been a gruelling process to go through in order to reach that title. Few did.  Ben started questioning her about her skills back and forth for a while. He was obviously sizing her up and she could sense he was trying to figure out just how much she could handle in terms of his personality. She knew what people were like when they were sizing someone up. She didn’t feel like prey or anything, but yeah, he was definitely getting a feel for what she could do and stand up to. She wasn’t someone that was willing to bend over and just take whatever anybody gave her. In this case, she could stand up for herself since there wouldn’t be any repercussions on her family or the queen.  Ben stroked his chin. “All right then. I’ll give you a coding test.” He led her over to a computer and clicked a few things before opening a window for her. “You have forty-five minutes. Figure it out. I’ll come back when time’s up.” He looked at his watch and obviously set a timer then walked away. Blake swallowed and her ears would’ve gone back had she had them. She read everything carefully and looked at the coding language. It was unfamiliar to her which only made sense, considering the worlds were entirely different. She spent about ten minutes studying the coding and got the general gist of it. She started working where she saw the mistakes and fixing them, hoping she would be enough to impress him or at least gain his acceptance. She really was trying her best here. She was pretty much blind because the coding languages were completely different but they did follow a specific logic that she had picked up on. She knew she probably wouldn’t hit all the points, but if she could get a good enough ‘grade,’ so to speak… She’d consider it a win. The forty-five minutes blew by like they were nothing. She heard Ben’s hefty footsteps behind her and she turned around and looked at him. “Let me sit down.” She switched places with him and her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. He obviously ran it through a program to ‘grade’ it, but even so, he sat down and looked over it himself. “This code is just test code to see if you can understand what you’re doing. There are definitely some things you missed and mistakes you made, but considering you’ve probably never seen this coding language before… It’s not terrible. I can see your logic, but it doesn’t necessarily follow how the language actually works. You’ll need some training before you can really be of any use.” He really didn’t hold back. He was just mean. She didn’t like him, but what else was she supposed to do? “There are books in the library that can teach you how to use the different coding languages of this world.” “I’ll definitely take a look at them.” That was all she really could do. She wasn’t sure if she was getting praise from him or not. He was hard to read. She didn’t like him. But it was getting close to bedtime, considering she’d spent close to an hour on this after eating dinner… She did have time before then, though. She wondered if there were notebooks or anything she could write with. She was used to a tablet with a paper-like screen for writing things on, but she wasn’t averse to traditional notetaking. “Are there notebooks available?” “You’ll have to ask someone else. Anyway, I have work to do. Now go.” With the dismissal clear, Blake left, glad to be out of his tall, weird hair. She found her way to the library again and approached the librarian. “Are there notebooks available here? I need to start taking notes on coding languages and I obviously can’t mark up library books…” “Ah, we don’t sell them there… You’d have to get some from the dry goods store here in the Union. It should be open for a while longer.” The librarian smiled kindly, but Blake frowned. She didn’t have any money. How could she buy something if she didn’t have any money? This was beyond frustrating. She was so used to having money on hand at all times since she got paid incredibly handsomely due to working directly for the royal family. Now…she didn’t have even one cent to her name. “I don’t have any money.” “Well, you’ll have to figure that out then.” Blake sighed, defeated, and left the library. Even something as simple as a notebook was out of her range right now. She walked around the Union a bit until she saw Summer. “Oh, hey, Blake… Why are you so heavy? It’s like there’s a cloud hanging around you.” “I can’t even afford a damn notebook. I don’t have any money.” She wasn’t one to ask for handouts either. She was used to being financially independent and she hated not having an account. Her account was back on her home world so it wasn’t like she could exactly go and withdraw money. She’d fled because she had every reason to be afraid for her life. If she’d stayed, she probably would’ve ended up like Weiss. She was amazed at how well put-together Weiss was in all honesty. For someone that had been through torture…she could handle herself surprising well and still think quickly on her feet. How someone managed that, she really had no idea. Summer held up a hand and got in her wallet, then handed a card to Blake. “Even though you and Weiss don’t legally exist yet…I managed to get you two on my account for the time being. I don’t spend a whole lot of money, so I have more than plenty. Obviously, just don’t go wild. But for basic necessities and stuff? Use it as you will.” “I…” What was she supposed to say to this? She was frustrated, but she wasn’t attempting to wrangle money out of anybody. She already felt highly indebted to Wendy for getting her the art supplies and taking her out to lunch. She really had all her necessities covered: food, water, shelter, clothing. She really shouldn’t be asking for more, but it was hard when she wanted to study and figure out where she should be in this world. She still felt…so utterly lost at the moment. This world and its customs were beyond unfamiliar and she hated that she had no idea what to do or how to handle herself. “You don’t need to say anything. Again, don’t go crazy, but get what you need. If you need some notebooks and stuff, go get them. I’m sure there are plenty of subjects you need to take notes on.” “Thank you.” That was all she could say. She wanted a tablet again, but that would probably be ‘going crazy’ with the account. Notebooks? Beyond cheap. Like a couple credits for a single-subject notebook. More for the five-subject ones, but those were still pretty cheap in the end. Paper was plentiful and cheap and so were pencils. She really didn’t need more than that at the moment. Though she would prefer some clothes that fit her style more… The Time Witch had given them clothes that would let them fit in, but they weren’t Blake’s classically feminine style for when she was off-duty.  “No prob. Now go get some notebooks and pencils.” Summer grinned and pushed on her back a bit, encouraging her to go walk off. Blake did just that and went to the dry-goods store which, thankfully, wasn’t too hard to locate. It was on the second floor with a big, open window that displayed some of the goods they could buy. She walked in and went to the office supplies section. Definitely just for office supplies like pens, pencils, and so on; there were no specialty art supplies. But this store was clearly meant to just provide some necessities rather than be the end-all, be-all of stuff. She picked out her notebooks and pencils and checked out, feeling self-conscious about using somebody else’s account. She would definitely not use this too often. She would definitely need some new clothes, but the idea of getting on a Staraptor and flying again… It made her stomach churn. The idea of being so high in the air really put her off. Plus… How would she fly back if she had like five, ten bags of clothes? That made no sense. There was a road for cars to the Union as she’d seen from the sky, but it didn’t seem like it had a lot of traffic on it. She had no idea who drove or anything like that… She made her way to the library and found the section with books on coding. She found several bright yellow books that billed themselves as the coding languages ‘for idiots’ which felt condescending, but maybe it was a good place to start. She picked the books up and took them over to the table, starting to take notes from them. They were very, very basic for certain especially since she already did have a good grounding in coding to begin with. But they were useful to start learning the basics of the coding languages here. She already understood the logic behind how computer programs worked, but getting into the nitty gritty was definitely difficult.  However, after a while, she realised people were filtering out of the library due to the late hour. She sighed and picked up the books. “Can I check these out?” she asked. “Are you one of those two off-worlders?” the librarian asked. “If so, then you can. Chairperson Young said you two can check out things under her name as long as you aren’t breaking library policy.” “What policies would we break?” “No more than seven books out at once. Return them within the month.” “That’s not hard to adhere to.” She smiled faintly and handed the books to the librarian. They got checked out and Blake suddenly found herself a bit overwhelmed with the books and notebooks. Why hadn’t she thought to grab a bag of some sort? She sighed and went back to the room where she and Weiss were staying. The light was fully on, at least, which meant she wasn’t waking up Weiss.  Weiss sat on the bottom bunk of the bed, staring into basically nothingness. “…Weiss?” Blake spoke softly, but Weiss still startled badly.  “Oh, uh, Blake… What time is it?” Weiss frowned. “After ten.” “I really slept a good chunk of the day away…” She looked at Blake. “What are those for?” “Uh they’re books on computer coding. Ben put me through my paces today. I managed to get what I think is praise from him…but it’s hard to tell. Do…Do you know who Ben is?” Weiss nodded. “The head of Ranger technology here at the Union. He’s…not very nice.” She frowned. “No, he’s not. Anyway, I’ll be right back. I need to run to the dry goods store to get a bag. If you wanna look through these books, feel free to start.” She put them on the nightstand and then handed one to Weiss. Her eyes widened a bit and she treated the book as if it were something that would break if she handled it too roughly. It was crazy to think that Weiss came from a world where books were such a luxury… Blake left the room and jogged over to the dry goods store which was just at the opposite end of the floor as their room. “Back already?” the cashier asked. “How long are you guys open?” “All day and night. Rangers might need things immediately.” “Do you guys carry any sort of bags? Even just a tote bag would be useful.” Even if it was the shittiest tote bag imaginable, she needed a bag to ferry stuff to and from the library. Her pencils had been going everywhere and threatening to spill onto the floor with the way she’d had them perched on top of the notebooks which had been on top of the books… It had all been in one precarious stack that she was worried would spill over. “Yep, there’s a section with various types of bags just over there.” “Thanks.” She went over to the section and looked at all the various types of bags. There were tote bags, camping bags, backpacks, and other types. Right now, she wasn’t carrying a lot, so she just opted for a tote bag. It was lined with various pockets in it which was definitely nice and would hold things way better than a loose, unlined bag. A backpack would probably be better, but for right now, she just needed to carry things to and from the library. She paused for a moment. Weiss would probably be using the library too, so she grabbed a tote bag for her as well as a binder with some divider tabs, pens, pencils, a couple notebooks, and looseleaf paper. She wasn’t sure if Weiss would prefer looseleaf or notebooks. This would be more than enough to get her started at least.  She went and checked out, then went back to the room with Weiss. She heard the white noise machine on which honestly irritated her to hell and back but…Weiss clearly needed it. She didn’t know the details of what had happened to Weiss, so she would just have to deal with what would make Weiss most comfortable. They were roommates now, so they had to learn to deal with each other’s idiosyncrasies and needs. Weiss was clearly in dire need of help, so she couldn’t speak up. She was honestly afraid of making Weiss cry or something like that if she spoke up against it… She laid the tote bag and materials on the bed in front of Weiss. “What’s…this for?” She looked at Blake, confusion in her blue eyes. “Well, you’ll be using the library, right? You’ll probably want to take notes on things, so I got you some materials to start you with. I wasn’t sure if you’re a binder or a notebook type of person.”  “I’ve…never used physical paper to take notes on before. I learned handwriting and all of that because taking notes by hand is still important in my day and age, but we use ethis and other digital materials to keep our notes in.” “Well, paper is plentiful here. You can use whatever paper you want to. Oh, if you want to, you can also tear the paper out of your notebooks and put them in the binder. That’s what those holes are for.” She took the binder and a notebook out of the bag and showed Weiss. She looked awestruck.  “That’s ingenious.”  “And the paper is perforated so that way you can tear it out too.” She showed Weiss the inside of the notebook which had the perforations on each page. “That’s amazing. It’s so simple yet so effective.” Weiss continued to look amazed, a small smile on her face. Honestly, it was kind of nice to see some happiness out of Weiss. Blake definitely understood why she was so heavy. Torture wasn’t something could just walk away from without major repercussions. The fact Weiss was still so put-together was something else. And the fact her kindness remained as well… Weiss was quite the amazing person. “Though if you want to put paper from notebooks into binders, you’ll want to use these bad boys.” She pulled out some circular reinforcement labels. “Otherwise, the paper might easily tear and you lose pages. Pages from notebooks tend to have thinner hole punches rather than looseleaf paper.” Blake showed Weiss the difference and Weiss nodded a bit. Well, at least paper notes weren’t super complicated or anything… Still, it was weird how Weiss wasn’t used to it at all. She was stunned by something as simple as notebooks and binders. “I also have these little flags that will help you with organisation.” She showed Weiss the little colored flags. “Color coding? Oh that’s lovely.” “If you want color-coded notes, there are pens.” Blake pulled out a packet of colored pens with around a dozen different colors. “But keep in mind pens don’t erase; only pencils do.” Weiss frowned. “Why would anybody invent something that can’t be erased? That’s asinine.” Well, there was a little bit of spunk. Despite how short a time they’d been here, Weiss clearly hadn’t lost all of her spirit. She was glad to see Weiss hadn’t entirely given up on life despite the months and months of torture she’d endured.  “Pens predate pencils. Though if you want to write in different colors, you could always write in pencil, copy them over in ink, then erase the pencil.” “Ingenious idea, Blake!” Weiss smiled. It was a simple technique really…But considering Weiss’ lack of familiarity with paper, it really did seem like she would never have thought of it. Blake would help her if needed. “I love color coding my notes, but everything’s erasable since it’s not on paper. I didn’t even really know pens existed. Or pencils. I knew there were writing utensils in the past, but I didn’t know the difference or anything like that.” Blake nodded. “Well, there are a lot of different types of writing utensils… There are different gauges of lead as well as different widths of pens, different types of pens, pencils with different erasers, manual pencils, mechanical pencils… All different sorts of things.” “Wow. I had no idea.” Weiss shook her head. “It’s weird to think about…” “Do you have different gauges of stylus or anything on your world?”  “There are thicker ones, thinner ones, but the width of the tip doesn’t really vary too much. They’re all very fine tipped for maximum control. The different gauge comes from the screen. You can choose whatever width of writing stroke you want on the screen. I always preferred a fine tip for my writing.” Blake pulled out the pencils and pens and put them in front of Weiss. “Well, you can play around with these tomorrow to your heart’s content. And if none of them strike your fancy, we can go back to the dry goods store and you can look around.” She felt so bad for Weiss… Even with the clothing, she could see how it hung off of Weiss’ shoulders and how tightly cinched in the pants were. She was so incredibly thin thanks to the literal starvation she’d been put through… It was a pretty nasty reality check on what would’ve happened to Blake had she not escaped when she did.  “Okay…” Weiss frowned. “I’ve already slept most of the day away so I don’t feel like sleeping again…I feel ready to do stuff.” Blake sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, I’m ready for bed… Maybe you could track down Summer and see if there’s anything she can do for you.” Blake was the early to bed, early to rise type. Granted, with the black-out curtains and the noise machine, she wasn’t sure how well her circadian rhythm would hold up. Weiss’ rhythm was obviously pretty wrecked by whatever had happened to her. Blake could imagine she had been holed up in a windowless room so they could keep her on her toes and control when she slept and when she didn’t… Torture was an insidious and demented thing to do to someone. “I’ll try…” Weiss sighed.  Right…  “Here, why don’t we go try to find her together?” Weiss was incredibly weak and the Union was massive. There had to be thousands of people staying here. It was big enough for several thousand people to stay in. There were multiple massive floors and it looked like the floor they were on was just for bunks aside from the dry goods store. There were some individual rooms for people like what they were staying it, but it really did look like there were mostly large dorms behind the individual rooms. Weiss frowned. “I can figure it out.” “You’re weak from not having eaten enough for so long. I’ll help you.” “Thank you…” Blake put the stuff back in the tote bag and sat it against the wall, then helped Weiss up. Weiss leaned against her and they started out of the room. Blake…really didn’t know this place at all. She was learning it but it was at least eight stories tall. She wasn’t sure where anything was. Let alone trying to find one person in a place this massive. She could see Rangers coming and going from the various places that looked like shared bunks, but most of them were rushing around and probably wouldn’t have any time to help them. This place was busy despite the fact it was dark outside. She really wanted to find a Ranger or someone to help them figure out where Summer was. Granted, it was getting late, but even so, they needed to find the only woman that would likely be able to answer their questions. She really didn’t know what to do… This was so overwhelming.  It was then that Blake noticed a strange purple-and-white Pokémon with a bulky bottom but more slender top approaching them. Blake tensed immensely while Weiss surveyed the general area warily. “What…is that thing?” Weiss asked as she noticed the white Pokémon.  It approached them, though it more floated than walked. However, it did stand when it planted itself in front of them. Hello. The strange, deep voice came inside of Blake’s head. She noticed Weiss quickly shaking hers, looking around wildly.  “I must be going crazy. I’m hearing voices in my head!” “Was it deep and calm?” Blake asked. That was me. Again, the voice came and Weiss looked at the strange Pokémon. Relax. You are not going crazy. My name is Jacob. I was sent to check on you because I could hear desperate thoughts from this floor. It wasn’t hard to find the source.  “Yes, because the voice in my head telling me I’m not crazy is to be trusted,” Weiss said. “Weiss… I’m hearing it too. So unless we’re both hallucinating the same thing, I think it’s legit…” She thought back to her conversation with Wendy. “And…Wendy mentioned to me that telepathy is a common ability among Psychic type Pokémon. So it’s not you cracking from your torture. This thing is legitimately talking to us telepathically.” It was beyond strange, considering no such abilities existed on Blake’s planet… But planets played by their own rules. Weiss being completely unfamiliar with paper notes spoke to that. She was completely used to technology and not something as simple as paper notes… It was still beyond odd to Blake that Weiss had no experience with them. Weiss frowned. “Psychic type? What in the world are you talking about?” “Wendy gave me the run-down on Pokémon. There are basically around a dozen and a half ‘types’ that Pokémon are sorted into. One of them is Psychic. Psychic types tend to be pretty smart and telepathy is a super common ability that a lot of them share. Not all, but it’s common enough.” Correct. Obviously there’s more to it than that, but for a summary, that’s fairly good. I’m a Psychic type. My species name is Mewtwo, but I go by Jacob. That’s what everyone calls me. Its tail curled a bit. I was sent here to help you because I could feel strange energies that were confused and panicked which I traced to you. Weiss sighed. “I really don’t know how to handle being out of my personal situation… My circadian rhythm is all sorts of messed up and I’m incredibly easy to wear out right now… And I need help moving long distances… I’m glad everything in here is escalators, not stairs…” Blake could only imagine how grateful Weiss had to be to not have to walk up and down flights of stairs on her own. That would have to be incredibly difficult with how weak she was right now. Jacob’s tail curled again. I think what you need is a service Pokémon or two. Normally there are very stringent guidelines and procedures to follow in order to get them…but knowing Summer, she can figure out something to get around it. Weiss frowned. “Service Pokémon? Like a guide dog for the blind?”  Guiding for the blind is one type of service, yes. But there are also ones for mobility issues and psychiatric needs… A Psychic type like Gardevoir or a Ghost type like Gengar can learn the moves Hypnosis and Dream Eater to take away nightmares if that’s something you need. Weiss and Blake looked at each other. “Dream Eater?” Weiss asked, alarmed. “What in the world is that?”  “Wendy also explained Pokémon have different moves they can learn. I guess Hypnosis and Dream Eater are such moves?” Blake asked. Correct. I am incapable of learning Dream Eater and Hypnosis unfortunately. I cannot be of any help in this regard. But there are some Rangers with the Gardevoir line as their Partner Pokémon. Gardevoir can learn Hypnosis and Dream Eater. “I still don’t like the sound of Dream Eater. It sounds dangerous…” Blake felt Weiss’ hand tense on her and she squeezed Weiss’ hand. Granted she couldn’t exactly speak to the efficacy and safety of something like Dream Eater… “That and I won’t have nightmares… A weird being named Veshana visited me in a dream and gave me this.” Weiss showed Jacob an odd little leaf-like thing that sat strapped to her wrist.  Jacob blinked, its tail flicking. Veshana visited you? I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised but even so… She and Rafesan work to help people with their traumas and such at night in their dreams. They’re the Dream Walkers from ancient Oblivia. They were originally from another region but moved here when Oblivia was razed some millennium back. Backstory aside, that’s a Lunar Wing. It’ll protect you from any nightmares.  Weiss nodded. “It seems to… I didn’t have any nightmares when I slept today.” She sighed. “I don’t really need something to literally eat my dreams since I have this.” Jacob nodded. Let’s go find a Pokémon that can use Hypnosis then. It does sound like a hypnotist, but the fact is that it just puts people and Pokémon to sleep. It doesn’t do anything super special.  Weiss nodded. “Let’s go then.” Blake continued to support Weiss as they followed Jacob into one of the rooms and she felt Weiss tense quite a bit as they looked around. It was a pretty stock-standard bunking room with bunkbeds placed at a specific distance. There were wardrobes around the beds, one on each side, so that way people could keep their clothes and other essentials where they were easily accessible. They approached a sleeping person in pajamas, curled up in bed. A small white Pokémon with what looked like a green helmet on, curled up next to her. The little Pokémon stirred a moment later and sat up, its hand going up underneath the little helmet thing. Things were silent for several minutes. Blake could only guess they were having a telepathic conversation. The little Pokémon eventually nodded and hopped into Jacob’s arms. We can head back to your room now. She’ll come with us.  They headed back to the room and flicked on the light. Weiss climbed into bed again and Blake felt a strange pulse of power directed at Weiss. In an instant, Weiss’ head dropped and she curled up, clearly asleep. “Effective,” Blake remarked. Do you think you’ll need the help? Jacob asked. Blake shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve been in a war so I can definitely have some nightmares…but I don’t think they’re as big a deal for me as they are Weiss. Then again, it’s not like I’ve been away from home long enough to really register that I’m really away yet… So we’ll see.” She shrugged, arms raised. “I’ll change into some pajamas then curl up. Very well then. Good night. If you need anything, just yell my name mentally and I should be able to get to you quickly. Have a nice sleep. Jacob exited the room, leaving Blake alone for the time being. Weiss appeared to be sleeping peacefully which was good… She was glad Weiss could get some sleep after the hell she’d been through.  Thankfully, with Weiss asleep, it wasn’t like Blake had to worry about being seen, so she changed into her pajamas then turned off the light. The noise machine definitely bothered her as did the little pinpoint of light from the nightlight. But Weiss had been through a lot so it wasn’t like she was exactly going to take away things that would help Weiss sleep. She’d get used to it in due time.  With a yawn, Blake closed her eyes and curled up, soon falling asleep.