Novelux Smokestack Hostel & Bar

[Namohysip]

"It's sort of a long story, but... just, another world in trouble, powers similar to this one actually--Blacklight, you know, Shadows and Radiance and all that. It nullified the native powers, but we were able to nullify it..."

"I'm not familiar, but Owen talks about it often," Mhynt said plainly. "But it seems you have suffered some powerful amnesia... but you remember some species."

"Yeah, I remember them, too," Owen confirmed. "It's not all lost."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr blinked at pair, scratching at her cheek fur. "Jeez, okay this is kind of a lot all at once." Part of her was tempted to dismiss it outright, but then... the other half of her was too damn hungry for something, anything to do with her past. Even if it wasn't exactly the era of her past she'd been expecting.

"I did hear that word before--Blacklight," Starr said in a low voice, idly stabbing at her omelette a few times before taking another bite. "Brisa mentioned it, and..." She chewed over her food and her words for a moment. "So, hang on, did you forget it too, or..."

 

[Namohysip]

"I did at first," Owen said. "I'm kind of used to losing my memory, though. I think it comes with the cosmic job description."

"I've had no such problems... but that was more a curse than anything," Mhynt admitted. "Thankfully, I've killed the source of my traumas here, and the only scar is that I now can't get rid of my ex-mate." She gestured a claw at Owen, who tittered nervously.

"But ever since... well, recently, the memories have been slowly coming back. And a big burst of it really did when I heard you were in trouble... Something similar, uh, kinda happened before. But hey! At least you're not super big this time! I can't remember the details yet, though..."

"Super big," Mhynt repeated with a frown. "Owen, it's rude to talk about that to a lady."

"Huh? No, but you don't understand!" Owen said, further digging his grave. "She was HUGE! Like, the ground shook when she walked!"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr glanced between Mhynt and Owen with a crooked smirk. "Exes, huh? Gotta say, that makes this whole 'arrangement' ten times funnier." Enough so that she could temporarily forget that she was sitting here talking to a shadow like that was a normal thing to do. (She vaguely wondered if she had any exes back home.)

It took a good couple seconds for the rest of what Owen said to sink in.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need some fuckin' context for that one," Starr replied with an incredulous snort, reaching for her coffee.

She was hit with a sudden weird flash between daydream and memory. Standing in a blinding, rust-colored hellscape, looking down at a scattering of Pokemon far below, all of them minuscule in comparison, and of being filled with nauseating hatred like bile in her throat--

 

[Namohysip]

"Right, let me... think about that. . ."

Slowly, Owen tried to recall the details of everything that happened surrounding the incident, speaking of some names perhaps only vaguely familiar to Starr, including a different world's Voice of Life, of entirely different appearance and temperament to this one's. Mhynt seemed half-fascinated, half horrified that such problems are apparently popping up across words like a bargain bin sale.

"...So in a way, this isn't my first time around with all this. Though, the problems here are... different. I can't even get a full grasp on what the problem IS..."

"It's because some of it is political in nature," Mhynt said. "You aren't used to that. Not in this way."