Hiatus/Inactive

Eventually she would get tired, at some point. Her energy could not have been literally boundless, or near it, or whoever had made her had somehow stumbled on something amazing and thrown it away. Then again, considering her likeness, he was not terribly surprised by her boundlessness.

“Bartering used to be what made your tiny worlds go ‘round. Now with money, your children eventually stopped learning how to estimate the value of something and are afraid to guess. Or afraid to give things to others purely of goodwill.” He shrugged somewhat at Light’s words. These metal villages and their silly new traditions and habits.

“I would appreciate that. A few words of what some gods are and what they tend to like will help you in the travels you may or may not take, visitors you are incredibly unlikely to receive, but learning fluency in a language is a bit more difficult.”

     “Bartering was before my time, but I have seen some things about it in some of the articles I’ve found over the years. I like to think I know what my skills are worth should it ever come down to needing to do that to survive, but I’ll do whatever I need to so that we make it.” Light offered a smile as Harmony came back one more time with the ball and this time didn’t drop it into the god’s waiting hand, just holding it in her mouth and resting her chin where she would have put it. 

     Maybe it was a sign of trust as she stayed for a full minute before returning to her soldier’s side to curl up by his feet. 

     “The next time you come, I’ll help you with some of the language here and we can see if either of us can get Harmony to try to say a few more things in English. Would be nice if she could hold a conversation with others without me having to translate for her.” The child lifted her head at the mention of her name, at least knowing it in English with how often Light used it, wagged her tail before laying back down. He actually reached down and picked her up without too much fuss to place her on the wash basket beside his desk. Thankfully she only went in a circle twice before curling up so she could still see both of them. 

With what he had been told, it struck him quite odd that Harmony had warmed up to him so quickly. Any combination of things might have done it he supposed, his less than typical appearance or vocalizations, his ability to work with her… He would wonder for some time he figured, giving the ball yet another gentle throw once it was given to him.

“Hm, something like that. Gods are not fairy tales that rely on being believed in to sustain their powers and lives.” The dark paused, making a face, “Well, such creatures are not entirely unheard of, but have always been lesser creatures.” He shook his head; gross little things those were…

“The gods do not care what you think of them, that is what makes them so. Favors, sacrifices, rituals, it’s all the same. You give, I give, and there is balance. It’s not so complicated. Some deities are known for asking for more than others in their deals.” He shrugged some at that. “We will see.”

Light had mentioned bringing him a book, a good idea had he the item on hand. “Pantheons, I suppose you would call them, are very rare, are terrible at keeping true records in favor of your lies. Hm, ‘History is written by the victors’ is a far more true statement than you would, too. No one speaks very much of Juno and Jupiter very much, do they? Among others…” He chuckled some.

“I will bring you some documentation of what I know and think will be useful to you in your travels the next time we meet. Nothing so large that she couldn’t carry it.”

     A number of factors could be attributed to the child warming up to Mephiles so quickly. Most of it probably had to do with how calm Light was around him and that he was showing no ill will after their initial first few minutes in the same room to put her at ease. She was quickly going back to chasing her ball and bringing it back, nudging his hand each time before putting her toy in it. 

     “Yeah. I figured you guys just didn’t disappear after your group of followers stopped believe or anything, but a little give and take isn’t such a bad thing when everything works out in the end for both parties as a win win, right. I’m not sure what calling in a favor from you would cost me, but I can only hope you’re not going to be asking for a piece of me. One prosthetic replacement is enough.” 

     Everything was sounding like a fair trade off so far. Since Light was helping to translate the files for Mephiles when he asked for them and hopefully teaching him the language as well as the way he would need to posture in order to get certain words to change for sentences. 

     Hopefully those would be things that Harmony would be able to help the deity with as he tried to teach her English. Or at least enough to get by until she was willing to learn more on her own. Light quirked an eyebrow at the two mentioned names, filing them away for later and not speaking up on the fact that they two didn’t sound like anything he had read before. But there also could have been a translation hiccup between them as well. 

“The documentation was most certainly destroyed. Worlds do not exist long enough for your kind to appear naturally without a few… hm, at least a few creatures that appear godlike in your eyes. Your kind like to share stories like that.” That most certainly was the case. He did not doubt that there were elders in the world that he could track down that had stories of religions to tell if asked. That would be quite interesting to do, should the world not be reliberated before they died.  

An interesting little gesture, he’d keep his fingers together and run the back of his hand against her head. He’d keep his claws low enough for her to decide if she wanted a little scratching, perhaps be slightly annoyed he didn’t have a full five fingers to scratch with, or to just go back to chasing the ball around.

“Most religions come from somewhere, twist and turn into something that benefits the living and only the living.” He too shrugged. “It ultimately comes down to giving more power and money to the mortals that already have power. Though, I also find that some say they look forward to the afterlife, to be whisked away to their happily forever after to those from yesteryear…” The dark snorted, stifling a loud and very amused laugh so he didn’t startle the child. “You’ll only be worshipping me if you want something, boy. I think you’d be better off calling it a contract. Though…” He glanced down at Harmony.

“Perhaps it’s something to consider.” He said the words with no malice, shrugged again. “Something much later down the road.”

     That might have been something that Light would have been interested in hearing at some point. Maybe once they were able to escape the city and travel around the world since the soldier was always looking for new information to take in and digest. 

     “There might be information safely hidden to try to preserve it after Eggman had taken over, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look at the moment. But maybe sometime you could bring me a book on the godlike creatures you’re speaking of and I can cross reference them with anything I can find in my spare time.”

     It seemed like an interesting enough idea, but Light looked down at the child who took the finger running along her head as a chase to tilt it from side to side with the fingers. Harmony didn’t seem to mind the lack of fingers, purring just a little bit before she plopped the ball into Mephiles’ hand to throw it again. Thankfully she would have been mid chase when the dark laughed and only stopped to look over her shoulder and tilt her head, wondering what was so funny and then picking up her toy to return. 

     “A contract would mean you would be expecting a payment of some sort. Or is this like the tales of Lucifer that I seen some people mention, a favor for a favor sort of deal?” Light wasn’t too worried about it, since he had a discussion similar with another godly hedgehog on how some of their process worked. Hopefully they would work on something if that was the case, but until then, the soldier watched Harmony again as she headbutted the hand and went for a few more scratches. Her emerald eyes looked up at the deity and blinked, sitting on her haunches for the time being to wag her tail at him.

He rose an eye ridge at that. Did Light mean that travelers from the south were surprised that it was not warm…? Or other dimensions? How odd. He didn’t feel like asking, though.

The question did catch him more off guard though. The origin of the god varied in each world, but most did at least know the story in one form or another.

Turning his attention to the child, he gave her toy a small toss before addressing the god he’d mention.

“Usually, Quetzalcoatl is a serpent god of a southern jungle people.” He opened his hands as he spoke, the image of a grand snake with brilliant wings appearing before them. Without those wings, it was not so amazing looking and may have just been yet another snake of a rain forest or swamp. He let the image disappear after a moment and would extend a secondary hand to Harmony whenever she would offer the ball to him.

“A wingless Quetzalcoatl would simply be a fallen god.” He would shrug slightly. “I suppose you don’t get out too much.”

     The differences in the worlds would likely be to blame for Light looking at the image and listening to the explanation with a serious tilt to his head. It was an impressive display to say the least but was not something that the soldier had ever seen before in any of the things he had ever read or downloaded. Even Harmony had allowed her ball to bounce away for a moment to look at the display with a few chitters of amazement before chasing after it again. 

     “Something like that doesn’t exist here, or if it does... They’ve never been documented in anything I’ve ever seen.” Light watched Harmony pick up her ball with her mouth and come bounding back over to drop it into the secondary hand. This was more amusing to her than whatever the two adults were talking about. 

     Although the second time around she didn’t put the ball in the hand right away and instead gave it a small headbutt with her forehead. Could have been an affectionate gesture, but that was up to Mephiles to decide. 

     “I can’t shake this feeling that I’m being watched....” Harmony looked up from her Eggboss chew toy, the plush already missing an arm and button eyeball, but was keeping her entertain. 

So he did know where his contact was? Odd; he most certainly did not get that notion from the hybrid. Even then, he was hearing a lot of ‘ifs’ in what he was saying. Very curious use of ‘father’ as well; perhaps he was referring to his creator?

“Then perhaps we shouldn’t speak with our mouths at all then, should we?” A smirk. He was merely teasing the other; he would not share his mind even in the slightest with someone he knew so little about for such a casual reason. Light had made up his mind.

Though, his last words were annoying. The look Mephiles gave him, had he been closer, he would have struck him for, more than a playful smack though he wouldn’t have killed him. It was a good thing he was not closer for sure.

“Does it matter what you call it? It will be warming soon and then it will stay warm. Then it will cool and stay cold. It does not matter what you call it, it will do as it pleases. The giant snake does not care if you call it a snake or legless lizard or serpent or wingless Quetzalcoatl, it will eat your stupid ass nonetheless. Do you think the early summer cares what pretty name you give it as it beckons your leave?”

     Light would admit he had been expecting either reaction at first. The comment of not speaking with their mouths might have gotten a quip about staying out of his head as he wasn’t really too fond of things being in it. Not after his encountered with that strange yellowed eyed creature that made him sick for a week after meeting him. But the tone used to respond to his mentioning of the season was one that had him bringing up both hands.

     “I didn’t mean to insult you Mephiles.” He paused, thinking over how to best phrase his words again. “It’s just from others that have been to this world I’ve noticed that a lot come ill-prepared for winter and they will even make comments on how it is a completely different season where they are. I think we may move slower than other places, but I don’t really have a way to reference that...

     “Also.. What the fuck is a wingless ᑫᑌᕮTᘔᗩᒪᑕOᗩTᒪ?” The soldier took a minute to clear his throat and try that one a second time while still showing his confusion on what caused such a quick change in demeanor. “Sorry.. Quetzalcoatl.”

He briefly wondered what was meant by the hybrid being ‘terrifying’ to others, then decided it wasn’t worth thinking about. He, personally, hardly found anyone to be too threatening, and so it would be a conversation for another time, perhaps.

“So… no.” Light had not named anyone, not given any specifics. He was operating on hopes in this regard, though the contact he had could likely be strengthened as the time to leave came closer.

Once more the child had his attention, though this time he was impressed. He had uneventfully rolled the ball back to her before, but for her to attempt to speak properly without prompting was a nice surprise. Judging by the look on the other adult’s face, neither of them were quite sure what to make of it and Mephiles only barked pleasantries back to her.

“So when you leave, it’ll just be the two of you.” His attention back to Light, he wanted to make sure of a few things. “You’ll be outside of the cities, and… you’ll make due?” That was how it seemed, at least. Above all else, he should have prioritized getting off planet, yet Mephiles saw no way for the hybrid to make that happen beyond offering to do it himself for them, something he wasn’t keen on doing, not yet.

“Summer is coming. Will you be ready when it does?”

     In the world that Light and Harmony lived in. People had to be fluent in subtext. Light had given Mephiles a clue that he did have someone on the outside even though he wasn’t going to give a name. The reason being that the name he could give was one that could very well have someone passing by giving the information to someone that the soldier really did NOT want to be dragged into the office of. Thankfully Harmony had taken their attention for a moment and seemed to be pleased at both go their initial reactions, even softly barking back at Mephiles with her tail wagging behind her. 

     “For the time being it will be just the two of us and I have enough survival training to keep us safe until we can either find my friend.. Which I know where she is, it’s a matter of getting there and not bringing anyone unwanted with us or finding my ‘father’ and his companion and having them show us the way.” He looked down at Harmony as she rolled the ball towards their friend again with her nose and then laid there as if waiting for him to nudge it back. 

     “You gotta remember Mephiles. While I speak fluent English and Standard is our main language here, I'm not the only one who understands it... And this is the barracks for Eggman forces. Some things I can’t talk about outright as the walls have ears.. The only reason it doesn’t have direct eyes and ears in my room personally is because I can manipulate the signals.”

Of course she wanted the ball thrown again. He didn’t push the matter of getting her to stand any further, not her standing nor her stance, and simply grabbed the ball with a secondary hand and gave it a toss.

If a creature did not have a fondness for something sweet or salty in general, it was cheese. It was difficult to find someone that did not like the substance, and if it was a chip flavoring, then certainly it was salty as well. She must have loved it and for good reason; he would remember that.

“She looked to you as someone instead of property…” A friend for sure this Gretchen was. Perhaps “ally” was a better term, at least for the relationship she had with the child. That could certainly be improved, though he did wonder if there was time for that.

“Is she… useful?” Mephiles wasn’t entirely sure how to word himself and took a moment to think it over. “Can she do more than get you the supplies she already has? Assist you once you leave?” He turned his attention to the little one, certain she would want the ball thrown again as they talked.

“Do you know that you have anyone you can rely on once you leave this city?”

     Something needed to run the child’s energy out and ball chasing seemed to be it. Since something told her that Mephiles didn’t seem like the type to be willing to play tug of war with two socks tied together. They were clean pairs if you didn’t count the amount of chew marks in them, but still would not be something the Harmony tried to push. Instead she went back to chasing her ball and then came to curl up next to Light’s feet so she could chew on it for a little bit.

     “She’s been very helpful to us. One things she’s able to do that I’m not is talk to the other soldiers. Having an ear in the rumor mills around the barracks comes in handy in letting me know if people are getting suspicious or not. They’re usually too terrified of me to try to hold any sort of conversation.” Light wasn’t stupid. He knew that he scared a lot of this in the barracks and those that he worked with on a regular basis. It was just common sense that someone who was made to work for Eggman weren’t someone that they could tell anything that could be considered ‘incriminating’.

     “If she’s going to be able to assist us after we leave, it will only be with deleting any information that comes in on our whereabouts so we can’t be tracked down. I won’t be able to have any type of contact with her without running a risk of them either tracking us down using the signal on my laptop somehow or arresting her and ‘interrogating’ her for information on us.” Plus the tiger had put herself in enough danger helping them and Light was not about to let her do it again. Harmony looked up when Mephiles turned his attention to her, nudging the ball with her nose so it would roll over to him. If he threw it, she’s give chase, if he rolled it back, they could play like that for a little bit. Even saying something that was filtered with the youngster’s purring to show that she was still willing to play with him.

     “I was given a clue that there are people outside the city limits from someone already out there.” There was a moment pause before the soldier reached into the breast pocket of his uniform and pulled out a dried piece of lavender to offer to the god. “I share letters with her secretly, and she has been trying to help me from where she’s at on how to socialize Harmony with what little access we have to the outdoors.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the repeated command, only watched the child for the result. He found he was somewhat pleased by it; her movements were not very graceful but were deliberate enough that it was apparent she understood what he had said despite his own lack thereof. A pat to her head might not have been a good idea so Mephiles refrained and only gave her a delighted chitter before turning his attention back to the adult.

So she was not sociable. This was no surprise and he wondered how bad it had been and how much more work could be done to improve her stance with others. Light had, however, not done much to convince the dark of her status. Much more needed to be done…

“She likes chips?” He would keep that in mind; most children were fond of sweets over salty treats.

“Gretchen is a friend, I presume? Has she helped you in any of your endeavors?”

     The level of trust wasn’t there just yet. Trying to touch the child to show her praise that wasn’t the soldier sitting at the computer desk would have likely been met with her at the very least taking fingers into her mouth. Not to say she would have bitten down, but maybe a warning mouthing would have been in order. As such she did actually wag her tail just slightly at his chittering, responding in kind before dropping her ball at Mephiles’ foot.

     “Yeah. She’ll beg if I buy a large sized bag of the Spicy Nacho Cheese Chips, but I’ve been working to get her to ask instead. Most I get so far is she starts to move into that posture then changes to asking.” It was clear that Light was trying. They were working slowly and as best they could with the resources they had available. The fact that the soldier had technically stole her from an Empire sanctioned Fighting Arena made it very hard to take her out and about to socialize with anyone that Light didn’t trust himself whole heartedly.

     “Gretchen is a coworker of mine. I guess you could call her a friend since she was the first person to really look at me as a Mobian instead of a genetic experiment made for the Empire’s exclusive use. She’s helped me to get some of the supplies I have and also modified my guitar case to hold my laptop in a protected pocket. 

Perhaps they would; perhaps not. He hoped they did. All of Light’s ambition would be an upsetting waste should his plans fall through without accomplishing anything in this world, without changing any of its faults.

Perhaps he would manage to do something about the child and the way she behaved. Mephiles wasn’t really sure if he believed that were the case, though he was certain he very much did not like just about anything about her – through no fault of her own – at the current moment. As much as he was willing to oblige her with throwing the ball, it was only with the hands of his wings that he touched it; the other set required him to bend some and he was suddenly very disinterested in acquiring a typical quadruped stance in her vicinity.

The older hybrid’s voice caught his attention and he paused, raising an eye ridge. He did not necessarily mind, but he was somewhat distrusting of the request without knowing what exactly it was. But Light had not meant any ill towards him in any of their meetings and the dark did not think that would change now, especially not in the presence of the child he seemed so attached to.

Clearing his throat, he mentally went over the syllables. Then he chirped, making sure he had her full attention before he repeated the words as well as he could and awaited a reaction.

     Chasing the thrown ball one more time and picking it up with her teeth, the chirp did in fact get her attention. Both ears perked right up and her head was the first to turn before the rest moved to follow. At first the command that Mephiles was given was met with a tilt of her head to one side, the ear that had been upright flopped to the side. It was after a moment that she looked to Light as if expecting something. 

     All it took from the soldier was a slight nod and the child wrinkled her nose at him. Seemed she wasn’t too keen on the idea of listening at first, but took the ball into her hands so she could set it down on the floor. 

     Slowly she placed her hands back on the ground and rearranged her feet before pushing off the ground to stand on two legs. Although she looked odd by only standing on the balls of her feet and arms looking more like a begging position than a normal Mobian, she was at least standing up like Mephiles had asked. 

     “Well I’ll be damned. She’ll actually do something someone else asks as long as I give her an okay now... She used to just snap at Gretchen anytime she’d try to get her to do something.” Light saw this as a good thing. One more way that they were hopefully getting through to the child that she wasn’t a house pet and didn’t have to keep that posture. Save for the fact that she plopped right back down on her butt after and was now watching them both a little more carefully. 

Well, perhaps he would be able to carry more if he didn’t take the guitar with him. The dark did not say anything, but he did shoot a look over at Light when he said that; pleasantries such as much were not included in mutiny.

He did tilt his head slightly at the little one. “Gloves would be a good idea then.” Maybe some fingerless ones? He would have to see what he could find that would fit her. It would most definitely be uncomfortable at first for her, but if it helped…

“It’s more common than you would think.” Mortals that reached the point of being able to manufacture beings for their own use rarely considered the ‘downside’ of such beings having freewill. More malleable than machines, they were not so easily programmed…

“Those that find themselves in a rigid environment of comfort often find themselves wondering what else there is… In your case, you know now that there are many disadvantages that come with the advantages your society has, trading freedom for safety and stability.” It was one thing to be adverse to change, another to crave it. This was a dangerous road Light found himself on and the dark wasn’t sure just how over his head he was; certainly he could not convince the hybrid to rethink this plan, but how feasible it was…

He looked at the two, wrinkled his nose before chuckling. “How ridiculous you are,” though spoken in jest.

     The guitar bag actually had two reasons for being brought along. One was that it kept the soldier’s laptop safe in a compartment that was hidden in the back of the case and the other was that it housed the small device that he had been given by someone awhile back and was still figuring out how to use. 

     Another reason that Light wouldn’t mention was that it helped to calm Harmony down at night and he enjoyed being able to play for her. He did shrug at the look and went back to throwing the ball for Harmony as she brought it back to him. Taking a moment to scratch under her chin and at her cheeks when she rubbed against his fingers. She of course came back the next time and dropped it by Mephiles foot, backing up just a bit and waiting as patiently as she ever could with her tail wagging. 

     “Hopefully we’ll be able to do some good.” He shrugged and grinned at the comment made about them. “And would you expect any less from two bioprojects made from two completely different species? How much more ridiculous can it get.”

     Not that easily offended, Light just took the joke in stride and went back to making sure all the files he was working on previously were still being scanned and filed before watching Harmony try to interact with the winged hedgehog. She would stamp her hands back and forth, going from the ball to Mephiles and back again, never making more sounds than the occasional play growl. Now that she knew the god wasn’t going to hurt them, she didn’t have to be on constant edge. 

“Okay, so she said ya gotta like, picture where your goin’ in your head.” He put his fingers to either side of his head, squinting like he was concentrating really hard. “And then you just kinda throw it in front of you,” He made a motion mimicking a throwing motion. “And it’s supposed to open up.” His arms dropped back to his sides and he shrugged. “I dunno, it’s magic-y stuff.”

Smash huffed as he laid on his back, not quite at the top but close enough he could hear his brother’s voice. He was too tired to bother doing much else so he just stayed where he was.

     Well that was a vague enough answer, but something that Light could definitely work with as he held the golden ring in between his metal fingers. Although he did pause long enough to translate what had been said to him to Harmony, chuckling as she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. How could something like that do what she was being told it could, but it had done just that before they had arrived in the boy’s world. “❄♒♓⬧ ❍♏♋■⬧ ⬥♏ ♍♋■ ♑□ ♒□❍♏✍”

     “✌◻◻♋❒♏■⧫●⍓📬 ✌■♎ ❍♋⍓♌♏ ⧫❒♋❖♏● ❍□❒♏ ♓♐ ⬥♏ ♏❖♏❒ ⬥♋■⧫ ⧫□📬” He switched the Warp Ring to his organic hand so that he could scratch Harmony’s ears with his prosthetic, closing his eyes to concentrate on the barracks, their room specifically and opening them as he tossed the ring forward into the air. It was like watching something out of a movie as the device flipped once, twice and then just stopped dead upright to start spinning in a circle. The metal expanded, growing to a size that would allow both of them to pass through with ease and the other side of the portal image was the very drab walls of the soldier’s room.

     “👎♋⧫ ⬥♋⬧ ♍□□●📬” Harmony looked to Light after watching the Warp Ring work its ‘magic’, getting a chuckle before he cleared his throat to respond to Lightning.

     “Looks a lot better when it’s not opening up in a small room.” A gentle tap was given to Harmony’s back to get her to slide off his legs so he could stand. He followed it with a chirp and open arms that the child jumped into without a single protest. Which made it a lot easier to be able to step through together once they were ready.

How… feral.

Not that he would say this. Perhaps it would show slightly on his face that Mephiles was somewhat perturbed by the child’s behavior, perhaps not. He truly despised the state that she was in.

Still, he would oblige. He did not need to lean down to pick the ball up with the hand of his wing so he used that, giving it a careful toss and giving the child space to move past him to go after the toy.

So Light had no plans to leave this world by the sound of it. Doing that would prove to be much safer in the long and short term, but the means to do so must have still eluded him and the dark wasn’t sure he should offer anything to aid them in doing that. At least, not yet, perhaps.

“There would be no risk involved,” he said, shaking his head. No risk at all for someone like him, especially not if he obtained them from another zone. “Necessities and a tent. Is that it?” It seemed a small list to him.

Glancing back to the child, he considered the older hybrid’s statement before deciding it was ridiculous. “And gloves, I presume?” He tilted his head slightly, adding, “If she’ll even wear them…”

     While Light was working on ways to teach Harmony to be less like the housepet she was made to be, there was only so much he could do at the moment to run out her natural high energy when it came to play. Throwing a ball across the room to let her catch was one of them and showed when she bounded after the toy with her tail wagging the whole way. She pounced on it just as quickly when it bounced and took a few good bites into the rubber before picking it up and trying to repeat the process with the deity.

     “I wouldn’t have the means to carry much more than that. Backpacks with the bare essentials can be carried by both of us along with my toolkit and I’m hoping to be able to bring my guitar as well.” He pointed to said item in its bag in the corner, pausing at the added item that Mephiles mentioned. “Gloves would be a good idea, whether or not she’ll wear them is something I’m still trying to figure out, but if I want her to learn that she isn’t a housepet anymore... I’ll work on it with her.”

     Thinking back on everything, the soldier snorted and shook his head as he watched Harmony continue to try to get one of the two adults in the room to throw the ball for her. Using his prosthetic to scratch behind her ears when it was his turn before throwing the toy so he could speak without getting nudged.

The dark supposed that any language could sound like gibberish to one who knew nothing of it. But at least she would try; it would be quite the learning experience for the both of them. Mimicry would be a decent start; no doubt the words would be terribly foreign on her tongue, especially considering her age.

The attempt and success to say his name confirmed his suspicions. That was quite the accent. Still, he’d reward her with a pleasant little trill, a sound that anyone could easily interpret the pleasantness of.

Turning his attention back to the adult hybrid, Mephiles wondered why those supplies couldn’t be obtained now.

“What’s stopping you from getting what you need now? What would you do when you need to resupply?” Best to just ask.  

He took a breath in, holding it and refraining from letting it out as a sigh. “What supplies do you need now to be able to leave when you plan to?” Spoken absolutely as an offer of aid.

     With her head held high as she brought the ball back to her soldier, Harmony happily wagged her tail at the sound Mephiles had made to her and dropped the toy so it would bounce closer to his foot with a quiet, yet happy, bark. Light placed his hand on her head when she got close enough, waiting to see if the winged hedgehog was going to throw it for her. “ᗷᗩᒪᒪ!”

     Which also allowed the solider to think. 

     “Everything in the city is inventoried. So if I were to buy too much at once, I’ll set off suspicions from anyone that is looking at the records. The last thing I need is someone coming knocking at the door to see just what I might be doing with the amount of food rations I’m trying to stock up on.” He made a point to gesture with his free hand to the pup that was watching the ball and Mephiles intently. At least the second question he’d been asked was actually easier to answer. “Resupplies can be done in smaller cities wherever we go as most aren’t nearly as tight when it comes to security compared to the capital. And as long as we keep moving, I can just make different identities to make purchases.”

     For someone who had built his own PC, including the operating system, Light wasn’t too worried about having to create a new ID to make purchases to restock. It was just getting the initial items to make it so they could at least survive long enough to make it. 

     “What supplies....? Mephiles... You’re not going to try to get them, are you? You’re already putting yourself at risk just getting me these hard drives...” Yes, the soldier knew that tone and for a moment only stared at the deity as if to argue. But he stopped after remembering the back and forth they had just recently had and not wanting to risk starting another. 

Couldn’t find a way to contact Shadow.

Light didn’t even have a plan for that, not a real one. All that he hoped to accomplish depended on everything going well and in his favor; this was not likely to be the case and the dark was out of ideas on how to impress this upon the hybrid. His mind was made up and not even a god could change it. At this point, he supposed all he could do was help them along as best he could without saving them himself.

He wouldn’t have minded that too much. Though… “And she can learn English and speak proper words.” Mephiles didn’t bother too much to hide his disdain towards their language, terribly barbaric as it was. They could learn from each other. He tilted his head slightly, standing upright after having leaned down some to consider the child better. “I will bite back; I am obligated to defend myself even against children.” Said with some amusement, but one could observe the large fangs towards the back of the dark’s mouth even just when speaking with him. His bite would not be pleasant.

Light had been repeating himself. Once winter was over, they would leave. Why did that matter so much? Did this world have long seasons?

“What do you plan on doing when winter comes again? You cannot start and win a revolution in mere months.”

     The issue that came with getting a hold of the remaining members of team dark was that neither Shadow nor Rouge had disclosed to him a method of contact. They didn’t have an email or if they did, it wasn’t something that Light was privy to at the moment. Which made sense to the soldier as he wasn’t exactly in the safest place to be holding onto a way to track down two enemies of the empire. He also hadn’t proven to them that he could be trusted completely just yet. That would have to come later, much later.

     “She calls English gibberish, but I’ll see if she won’t pick up enough to hold a conversation with you.” Which he translated for the child nudging his hand repeatedly with the ball, having to hold in laughter as she puffed out her cheeks and said something accompanied by huffing. “She’s willing to try if you are. Just expect her to mimic you at first.”

     As if to prove his words, the soldier leaned down enough to whisper in the pup’s ear and waited as she took the ball from her mouth to speak. “ᗰᕮᕼ-ᑭᕼIᒪ-ᕮᕮS. ᗰᕮᑭᕼIᒪᕮS!”

     She looked back up to Light, wagging her tail as he gave her a smile and ruffled her hair tuft. The ball was taken with his prosthetic hand, tossing it gently across the room for her to chase so that he could focus on Mephiles’ last question. “The reason we’re holding out till spring is that I don’t have the supplies I would need for us to survive a winter. At least in spring we wouldn’t have to worry about freezing and we can travel towards warmer climate before next winter would be able to start.”

It was incredibly tempting to give the other quite the sarcastic answer. Whatever was the point of a sentient mortal living? Their lives were finite and temporary; they were so often merely happy little accidents who served no real purpose. Not that he was actually going to voice any of these thoughts.

Still… he wasn’t sure what the point of all this was. The inhabitants of Light’s world had allowed an intruder to infiltrate and take over; did hope exist at all for them? They seemed quite pathetic and the hybrid before him an outlier.

“Your world very quickly gave in to this interloper. Do you know what it was like before? Does anyone truly know? They would be the ones to hold and nurture hope in this world. You would do well to seek them out.”

     Honestly there had been years of fighting before Eggman had succeeded in taking over, and while it was not a time that Light knew of personally due to being created after the take over, he did know of what things had been like prior due to some of the things he had found on the dark web. Everything might not have been sunshine and roses, but it had been at least something that the people never had to live in constant fear over. 

     “Those that would have any of those answers are likely out in the world and not in this city. They’re probably the same ones that run the off grid part of the internet where I’ve been able to get files similar to the ones you’ve been able to bring me and they’re likely about the only people that I would trust to let know if there was a Chaos Emerald hidden here if I couldn’t find a way to contact Shadow.” The pair of bioprojects still couldn’t make a move until the weather began to warm up, but that was just incentive for Light to stock up on supplies and work on projects that would help them both in the end. He took a bite of his burrito, nearly finishing it off before looking at some of the files on the screen. One name catching his eyes for only a moment as it was filed into a folder for later review. 

     “Once the snow melts and things start to warm up, whether or not I have all the information I’d like to gather... Harmony and I will be leaving the city to see if we can find those that would be able to help us save our world.” He finished off his meal, crumbling up the foil and tossing it into the trash can that was by the wall. “You’re more than welcome to keep coming here to make sure I stay on that path, and you can think of it as practice to learn our language by speaking with Harmony.”