for all the time he had been rocket, it wasn't a surprising feat to know that jayden was more than well-aquainted within at least half the individuals in their organization. after all, both his parents had been a part of the organization and had bled for it — in more ways than one. in his time, jayden had learned that there were usually two different types of people who were part of the roster.

[break][break] first, there were those that you would expect of such a nefarious organizations. crooks, thieves, murderers. people who needed a recluse from the evils of the world, so much so that they became part of the shadows themselves. then there were people like mint frost , people who you might never expect.

[break][break] and there were people like kepler brueshaber .

[break][break] people who joined out of sheer passion, who needed the emblem of the organization to help them in pursuing their greatest passions. or at least, jayden assumed, that was why the other had decided to join their ranks.

[break][break] jayden walks through the subway interior, the creaking hull of the ship providing more of a comfort than it did an uneasiness. it reminded him of the time he and CIAN MAHER had explored the ship together, all those months ago.

[break][break] he's a man on a mission — making a beeline for the lab. this time, however, he is not here to greet Lulu Flint or even Raphael Pryde , but rather one of their other scientists.

[break][break] a friend.

[break][break] "i brought coffee."

[break][break] jayden places the cardboard drink holder on an empty spot on the table, which has but two black coffees for them.

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]

For the brief time he’d been in Rocket, it wasn’t at all surprising to know that Kepler barely knew anyone else in the organization. He worked with Lulu Flint-- she’d been the one to bring him onboard, so there was that. He knew Martín del Mar, though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen in the way this whole Armageddon thing played out. He also knew a handful of grunts in charge of doing coffee or supply runs or, that one time, when they almost got killed by an eldritch horror deep in the bowels of this submerged metal deathtrap.

See, there was that name again.

Then, he knew Jayden.

Jayden was… an exception? To the rule? The rule of not socializing with anyone? Because listen, he smacked of the cool people that used to bully Kepler when he was young, but he didn’t… do that?

But Kep was used to being kept around for his brain so he never put much stock in actual connections.

“Thanks,” he said, striding across the lab to retrieve the proffered caffeine before retreating to the other side of the benches and tables. Keeping space between him and-- and everyone else-- was a necessity. “You didn’t have to.”

There’s a long counter against the far side of the room, above which is a singular, solid window, staring out into the blackness of the sea beyond. Kepler takes the top off a sugar shaker and dumps half the container into his drink.

“So,” he says, tone carefully cultivated to sound bored, “what did you have for me today? More horticulture?” The last word comes out as a snort, like the butt of a joke that only Kepler finds funny.

---

wearing

jayden cross

☉

He watches as the other takes his piece offering, scurrying to the other side of the table. It didn't bother Jayden — for two reasons. One, because of the relationship that the two had, and the second because Jayden could honestly understand it. Sometimes he needed space from people too.

[break][break] At the question, Jayden blinks.

[break][break] He shouldn't be surprised; kepler brueshaber always had a keen way of understanding things. Perhaps a bit too easily.

[break][break] "Not this time," he says with a shake of his head. "Though, maybe next time. I'm still investigating the flora." Instead, he pulls out his phone and opens the app in front of him, swirling the device that it faces correctly towards the scientist.

[break][break] "We talked about this before — but have you seen the Unknown Report?"

[break][break] Surely, it was something that Kepler would've heard about, even if it was just the murmurings along the gossip vine.

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]

Kepler cultivates space around him like a gardener does flowers. It’s safe. It’s protection. He’s a much smaller target the further away he is. Harder to hit. More difficult to throw things at.

“Mm,” he hums, tugging a stool over and hopping up to sit on it, “how exhilarating.” He takes a sip of his drink, eyes slipping up to Jayden’s face. All he can think about is how boring plant biology was in school. Maybe someday he’ll have a better range of things to compare the world to.

He tilts his head when Jayden speaks, hunched over his coffee like a little, teal-tinged gremlin.

“I haven’t seen it, exactly,” Kepler confesses, “but I know about it.”

Not as much as he would like to, of course. One can theorize around in circles forever.

“Why?” his gaze jumps to Jayden’s phone.

What secrets do you bring me, O Keeper of them?

---

wearing

jayden cross

☉

He looks over at the other, facing his phone so that the other can look at it. Jayden has never doubted his own intelligence, but he is also self-aware enough to know that there are those who have specialties that are more impressive than his.

[break][break] His shoulder gives a slight shrug. "It just seems like something you would be interested in."

[break][break] kepler brueshaber has always had a better handle on these sorts of things than he did. Perhaps it came with burrowing yourself so deeply in a lab, in your passions, without having to worry about anything else. Jayden wondered if Kepler ever held a hand to a knife. At least, in the same way that he had.

[break][break] "To be honest," he confesses, "I don't know much. The app appeared on my phone after the events of that cafe we all ran, and it was shortly after these words seemed to appear on the report. I'm sure you've heard — they're connected to the Unknown, and seem to be updated every so often." Of the words that appear on the report, the most interesting to him was that of Adrian Malcolm — if only because he recognized the name.

[break][break] "Do you think there's a connection to those agents that appeared at the Star Soiree?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]

“I am interested,” he says, forcibly keeping his voice calm. Never buy too much into what they’re selling-- survival rule number, like, six, or something. “But it always seemed like something the big brass had a knowledge of and the rest of us found out about down the line.”

He supposed this was far enough down his line.

Then Jayden starts throwing out names and he blinks.

“I’ve only been here since, like, December,” he says, “so I wasn’t there for that. I know there were meteorites and they caused… weirdness. Interdimensional weirdness, which I would love to see the math for.” A big, gnarly, Interdream Zone hernia, where the organs push through the muscle and tissue and out into the big, wide world.

“Were they Unown assassins?” he asks. “Or, like, human assassins, with Unown. The reports never really made that clear. At least, the kind I have clearance for.”

---

wearing

jayden cross

☉

he shakes his head.

[break][break] "it was a prize offered to the public after the cats vs. dogs festivities," he said, recalling how bewildered he'd felt when the app had simply appeared on his phone. it had felt like yesterday — then again, nearly most events felt like yesterday, with the cataclysmic way that all events on hoenn seemed to. as if they were catapulting towards something by some unseen force.

[break][break] "i'm sure Lulu Flint could show you the math."

[break][break] pryde as well, but for a skittish man like kepler brueshaber , maybe lulu might be better.

[break][break] "both."

[break][break] his response is quick, though it's easy enough to see that he's unsure. if kepler brueshaber pries, perhaps he will see the cracks beneath the surface.

[break][break] "i was there for the catalysm, but only adjacently. things inside the event space would have been more clear." a hand drifts over to half his face as a memory hits him, the feeling of bleeding out on the floor, the sight of Roman Maher and boruta maher running away. the sparkling light of minior dancing in starlight. the scent of basil ferns.

[break][break] he'd been apart from luka chêne and mint frost both.

[break][break] away from Cillian Quinn .

[break][break] he hadn't been targeted.

[break][break] "i can bring you a more detailed report."

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]

Kepler frowned. “Cats vs. dogs?” he asked, voice skeptical. “That sounds… utterly ridiculous.” But he was starting to get a vibe, from Hoenn, that most everything was ridiculous, and it was up to the scientific of them to arrange the ridiculousness on a mildly corporeal, cartographal scale.

“Oh. I never thought to ask.” He wondered why. Wondered what readings remained. Wondered, exactly, what frame of measure one summed inter-dimensional schisms in.

“I’d love to see it,” he said, and it was the truth, but Kepler was nothing if not observant, and he senses the hesitation in the air around Jayden (a femto-ampere meter for calculating negative O2 ion flux?).

He makes an educated guess. “Things were bad, I take it?”

---

wearing

jayden cross

☉

jayden blinks, then lets out a short laugh of surprise. "i suppose it does. if it helps, i did not name it."

[break][break] who knew what he would have named it given the chance? probably something dreadfully boring. he was not as creative as other members of rocket.

[break][break] "it was a short event where we were instructed to prepare meals or drinks for the patrons." personally, he had found it quite a nice bonding experience for him and the new beasts - or how they were labeled at the time.

[break][break] he turns to look at kepler brueshaber properly. "it depends on what you consider bad."

[break][break] everyone had different parameters for it. some would consider secret assassinations or brainwashing dream mist a horrible experience. others might consider it a typical sunday afternoon in the ridiculousness that was hoenn.

[break][break] "well, the reason i bring this to you today is —" he starts, reaching into his belt and finally releasing the reason for his visit. it's an unknown-k that floats into the air in front of them. "this. would you like to see how the report works first hand?"

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]

Jayden laughs-- a burst of a sound, like laughing was the last thing he expected to do-- and it makes Kepler’s insides feel fuzzy. He tamps that shit down real quick. “I’m sure you would’ve come up with a better name,” he says, sarcasm only slightly coloring his vote of confidence. “Then again, it’d be hard not to.”

Kepler makes a face, then, at Jayden’s description of the event. “Like…” he doesn’t know why his fucking brain goes here, but go it does: “...like a… maid cafe, or something?” Which is quite possibly the dumbest sentence that has ever left his mouth and it doesn’t help that he’s picturing Jayden in a maid outfit now and god fucking damn it, Kepler, you need to tamp down on that shit.

He shook his head to dislodge the image from his brain.

“I have a pretty low threshold for bullshit,” Kepler tells him, almost conspiratorily, like it’s a secret, “and Hoenn constantly finds a way to exceed it.” But he takes the point, watches curiously as Jayden produces a Pokeball and the Unown that emerges from it.

Ah, a K. His favorite letter.

“Absolutely,” he says, without hesitation.

---

wearing

jayden cross

☉

he shakes his head. "you think too highly of me."

[break][break] if there is anything that he can be sure of, it is that he lacks the kind of creativity that fills people like mint frost or even luka chêne . he was never the creative type, after all.

[break][break] he was raised to be a vessel — someone to be filled, not to fill.

[break][break] jayden arches a brow. "a maid cafe?" his brow furrows at this unusual term, unsure what it means. "it was certainly a cafe, though i am not sure any maids were present." if they were, jayden certainly hadn't noticed.

[break][break] with that, the rocket is clear to set the reason for this meeting into the air — the unknown-k floats between them, curious and innocent and mysteriousness tied into a singular package.

[break][break] reaching for his phone, he walks over to kepler brueshaber and slides it to him. "here - just open the app, like that, and take a photo. it will immediately fill with the demographics."

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]

Kepler waves a hand in the air like he’s hailing a taxi, but really, the motion helps him organize his scattered thoughts. “Like-- like you get served by people in costume, or theme, or whatever,” he says, and then, a little quieter, “it doesn’t have to be maids.”

Though Jayden would look really cute as one--Arceus fucking shit, Kepler.

He focuses on Jayden’s phone as it slips across the table to him. He picks it up, gently resting it on his palm (it’s still warm) and taps the indicated app open as he lifts it to take a picture. The Unown K croons at him as he lines it up in the frame, the camera going off with an artificial shutter snapping sound.

He waits for the information to appear, as promised.

---

wearing

jayden cross

☉

"oh." he blinks, trying to recall the memory of the event itself. it had been just after he'd been announced as beast alongside Rowan Wrynn and Serena Malcolm. "we were serving customers, though i can't recall if there was a specific theme of the event. besides cats or dogs."

[break][break] another pause.

[break][break] "i might have been wearing cat ears."

[break][break] it had been the theme of the festivities, after all.

[break][break] as jayden hands the phone off to him, the unknown k appears in the air. it spins and croons, just as it's taken a photo of. as far as pokemon go, the pokemon seems to be quite the photogenic sort.

[break][break] sure enough — with the rest of the dictionary — unknown k's entry appears on the screen.

KATASTERISMOI

[attr="class","ooc"] kepler brueshaber [break]