His eyes slide to the side when Elinor Anderson enters. A quick look up and down. But his gaze is mostly focused on the Gardevoir at her side.

"Head Games won't work on me." He said, vaguely, before he sighed and started to sit up. Crossing his legs under himself, he sat on the bed and faced her proper. By 'Head Games' Chu-e meant the act of using Psychic types and drugs to warp people's minds. It was what he was used to doing himself. What he had expected to happen from the start.

The good thing about knowing every nasty trick in the book was knowing how to defend against them.

Chu-e didn't recognize Elinor for who she her, her real position, instead thinking her just anyone else here to question him.

Elinor Anderson's gardevoir will catch glimpses. Of his own gardevoir, Princess, falling battle. Slain by Orion Lykos's pokemon during the battle of Littleroot. But his mind is blocked off deeper, a steel trap that pulses with something dark and frightening. Something that the psychic type might not want to try and connect with for her own safety.

"Ah, the councilwoman? Got some balls on you compared to the rest of you big wigs." Chu-e is honestly a little surprised any of them came down here at all. They're afraid of him, he knows; and being treated like a ticking time bomb is as frustrating as it is funny to him. Elinor gets a little more respect for being the first to come see him in person.

"I am pretty busy...." He glances around the room, something like a joke in his eyes. "But I could make time. Sorry I don't have any tea for us." Chu-e tilts his head to the side, a small grin curling on his lips.

A small click of the tongue.

"You guys always ask the same questions." It would almost sound mournful.

Surface thoughts of bad memories. Shady and faded at the edges. A taste of pain for the Gradevoir to digest. That was the problem with poking in people's heads. You never knew what you would encounter.

The darkness there, seperate, seems almost dormant. It ignores, for now, but a thread is present inside Chu-e. And it is distinct. This thing is not Chu-e, even if it's intertwined so close they could be mistaken for the same at first glance.

"I was molested by a Ranger when I was eleven. He got away with it even though I had proof. I ran away from home. I was hurting and angry. Rocket found me when I was thirteen and nurtured that rage and anger. By the time I realized I was as being used, I had more blood on my hands than most people can live with."

He shrugs. A sad story. His story. If Elinor Anderson wanted finer details, he had told this to many other people by this point. The why was so important to them.

"What did you think might have pushed me towards Rocket, if you don't mind me asking? Before you knew the truth."

"That line of thinking won't solve 'Rocket' as a problem. As soon as you assume you know the 'why', we're dehumanized into monsters. Then you just try and cut out the symptoms without solving the actual problem. Most of Rocket has sob stories like I do and were taken advantage of for it."

It doesn't sound like a lecture when he says it. It's just how he feels, the truth he lives by. A small yawn.

"Don't mistake that for some 'poor, pathetic Rocket' sob story, by the way."

He had done many evils and he regretted most of them dearly. Yet, some he would never feel bad about.

Idly, his mind shifts. Surface thoughts of friends and family. The Gardevoir would find idle recipes repeated like some background mantra, memories from each sweet and warm. Chu-e, at the end of the day, was still focused on certain things in odd ways. So as the autism demanded.

The darkness still lingered at the corner of everything.

Chu-e licks his dry lips and hums, baring his teeth in the facsimile of a smile. Something dark shimmered at the back of his throat for an instant.

"I'm sure you're not here for a moral debate with me. Hit me something more interesting, big wig."

At this, Chu-e gave Elinor Anderson an almost wry look.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."

He didn't elaborate further on that. Chu-e didn't want to show all the cards in his hand in case he ended up having to use some of them.

In his mind, the darkness shifts. When it does, so does Chu-e, who sits up ramrod straight and jerks his head in the direction of the Gardevoir.

"... call your pokemon back or have her quit poking in my head." The darkness had fangs. It coiled and morphed, as if wanting to snap down on the Gardevoir's mind. To prevent her from leaving even if she wanted; but it hadn't struck yet. There was still time as it prepped whatever trap.

She would catch a few confusing glimpses, then. It was distinct, Chu-e's memories but not him. Of pokemon who had touched this darkness, during the Darkest Day, going mad and attacking trainers. Of black crystal coating every surface as if on the inside of a cocoon. Of hunger, hunger that could drive you mad.

"It's going to see her."

His tongue sticks in his mouth.

Chu-e is tense. Nails digging into the thin mattress. Waiting. But the Gardevoir pulls back. After a few moments, Chu-e sags in relief. He looks more tired than he did before, exhaustion lingering.

Yet when Elinor Anderson asks her question, Chu-e doesn't answer. With words, that is.

Lifting a hand, Elinor would be the first person to see this confirmation. The reports that Tam Fawley and Orion Lykos had were clear. An Avatar, or at least someone with similar powers. But the while time Chu-e had been in custody he hadn't shown any unusual activity himself. Yet now, Elinor would know. Cameras would watch.

Holding out a finger, Chu-e pointed at the small table. It was quick and hard to see. A wire thin strand of black crystal whipped out before retreating.

The table collapsed in on itself, sliced clean in two.

Chu-e rubbed his hand, staring at the remains of the table. But his eyes were elsewhere.

"I hate it."

He allows that soft admission to sit in the air.