Voicemail

[unkinder]

"...what is it?"

Comments

text;

[aufsassig]

You like it here.

Are you shitting me? You LIKE it here?

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[unkinder]

[There's a pause before he replies.]

I said I liked Pokemon. I never said that.

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[aufsassig]

You had me worried there for a second, you know.

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[unkinder]

Worried that I've decided to just stay here forever and live out my days as a Pokemon trainer? It's tempting, but unlikely.

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[aufsassig]

Just making sure you don't get too comfy and decide to go native. I've been thinking about that, off and on, considering next month.

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[unkinder]

It's easy to fall into routine in this place. Team Rocket offers a change from that when things are going on, but otherwise it's training and gym battles. Soon there will be no more badges to get, and it will be a matter of waiting until you suddenly wake up back home again.

[He considers just leaving it at that, but...something makes him continue before he can change his mind.]

Has something about that been bothering you?

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[aufsassig]

I don't get bothered by shit like that. You know that.

[He is an excellent liar, too. We all know this.]

Next month is two years.

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[unkinder]

[He won't push Schuldig further, at least not directly. He knows better.]

It doesn't feel like it's been that long. Does it?

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[aufsassig]

Feels like it's been longer. But then again, I hate this place.

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[unkinder]

[...]

Do you wish you could go home?

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[aufsassig]

Don't you?

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[unkinder]

Yes. For a while, it was all I could think about. If there was a definitive way to get home, I would have taken it a long time ago.

But there isn't.

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[aufsassig]

So now you don't think about it, because it's easier than the alternative.

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[unkinder]

...it keeps the time from passing quite as slowly, anyway.