captainash | 17th treasure [video]

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17th treasure [video]

[Ah, such a lovely day this is. Seriously, it has everything needed for perfection: a wobbly video feed, a fluffy lime green afro taking up most of said feed, a Relicanth swiftly swimming away from said afro, and an original score -crashing waves, Eevee screams, the shouts of a hundred furious souls- that matches the action perfectly.]

Look at that fish go-

[For a man who has to deal with an Eevee screaming in his ear and digging his claws in his shoulder, Ash sounds much too gleeful. The image starts to turn around, shaking even more as it moves.]

-and look at those turtles follow!

[Ash also sounds much too cheerful for a man being pursued by dozens of angry Tirtougas. He might even sound like he's laughing.

...He is laughing. Oh hell.]

Looks like they're gaining on us. Afrodite, show them what we can do!

[Not that anyone else will get to see what exactly that is, because Evo chooses that moment to try and get away from this madness, hitting the Gear in the process.]

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I know that all too well. So if all it takes to avoid that with her is to regularly buy hair dye and nail polish, I'll do it with a smile.

Well, there's no use in squandering an advantage.

[...he's beginning to get the idea that this person, while... still probably insane, at least seems to be the "crazy like a fox" variety of insane, so...]

By the way, I haven't introduced myself, though I meant to. My name is Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, and I believe Aradia Megido may have mentioned me to you?

[He's a space pirate. He kinda has to be.

Also, fun yet alarming fact: he's the one with all the common sense in his family.]

Indeed she did, some time ago. I'm Captain Ash; it's a pleasure to meet you.

[...goddamnit

...well, no reason not to be diplomatic]

It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Captain. I've been told you share a similar interest in unraveling this place's mysteries, so I hope that I can count on your assistance.

Of course. I might not have access to all of my usual resources here, but I have some talent for obtaining well-hidden but necessary information.

[As long as no one cares about pesky things such as legality.]

...Really, now...

[...well, as long as you're the acceptable kind of shifty-]

That certainly does sound helpful in a place like this, though it's quite difficult to say what kind of information is actually hidden and what the natives genuinely just don't have an answer for.

It's an advantage of having good connections.

[Totally acceptable! ...The word terrorist doesn't come up that often, at least.]

That would be problematic, though not particularly surprising. Can't exact find something if it doesn't even exist.

No, you can't. Granted, sometimes I'm not sure if things are even intentionally hidden-I initially thought there was some restriction on information about other regions, but it turns out that booksellers don't always seem to have the brains to actually import books.

...And, of course, if there's a way for us to import them ourselves and get them delivered here, they don't bother to mention it either. Do they really think there's no market for foreign writings?

Apparently not. I've gotten the impression that at least one of the booksellers thinks so highly of Johto's legends that he doesn't consider it to be worth it.

[oh come on, dude, you would have totally done something similar if it didn't inconvenience you]

...You're telling me our attempts to learn more about this world are being hindered by over-enthusiastic patriotism?

[That is somewhat sad and pathetic.]

It sounds as though it may be that way, which is completely absurd in quite a few ways. Of course, I don't know if that reasoning is universal-it may just be one bookseller.

Let's just hope that particular bookseller doesn't have too much influence over his peers.

I've been hoping that as well, though for all I've found... it seems to be rather endemic, I'm afraid.

There's always the possibility to create a petition and show them that there is strong interest in foreign materials, but those are rarely legally binding.

Exactly... and I'm sure offworlders aren't their largest consumer base, so it's not like they'll lose business.

Unless we could get the locals to sign it too, but they seem content with their current book selection.

Precisely... and who knows how deep this sentiment runs? Perhaps the view that foreign materials are unnecessary isn't unpopular enough for them to benefit us in that regard.

And since we have nothing to offer them in return for importing those books, other than our patronage, our chances of changing their minds are low.

[Yet not nonexistent.]

Exactly. Furthermore, the library system seems to have the same problem, and I'd rather not completely deprive myself of ways to access books.

Even a restricted source of information is better than nothing, without even taking into account its use as a source of entertainment.

Precisely. If nothing else, it doesn't seem to be the result of active censorship, so it's not as though there's active malicious intent behind it. That's really the only good thing you can say about the situation, though...

Whatever their intent, the results are the same. But it does give one hope that the situation might change.

If nothing else, information from other regions does have a chance of trickling in slowly... and it's difficult to spend any length of time here without learning some form of patience.

Along with some form of lowered standards concerning logic and physics, I assume?