Recursion Error
Episode 27- Tea with the king
"Yep. This is... this is the life. Hoo boy..."
Some days were just slow. It was a fact of living. But today wasn't just a slow day- it was a particularly slow day. A day in which absolutely nothing was happening. No missions, no life-endangering conflicts to resolve, and no mindless training to get to. And Sorun figured that he should have been happy with this change of events. And he was until he realized nobody else had an abundance of free time like he did, which meant that he had nobody to hang out with.
What was a man to do when overcome with such overwhelming boredom? Sorun found his answer plugging away at Solitaire in the Freedom HQ's lab's computer, just like most other people bored out of their minds with little better to do back on Earth did.
Some things apparently never changed no matter what zone one went to.
Leaning back in the chair he was sitting on with his eyes practically dead, Sorun languidly clicked away at the cards being displayed on the screen in front of him. He'd gone through eight rounds of this game already, and through it all he realized a very important fact: he hated Solitaire. And yet he had nothing better to do than continually match up a bunch of virtual rectangles. Truly a meaningless existence.
"Are you sure you can't hop out for, like, five minutes to get in a quick round of games with me?" Sorun asked aloud, tone practically begging as he matched up another card. "Whatever you're working on can wait five minutes, can't it?"
On the lower right side of the screen, a small icon in the form of Nicole's head blipped into existence. "No, Sorun, I can assure you that this project I am working on requires my utmost attention at the moment," Nicole informed him through the computer's speaker.
Sorun scoffed. "Your super secret project you won't tell anybody about? Even me?"
"Yes. That one."
"Can't be that important if you can split your focus doing that while talking with me here," the teen muttered in response as he finished the Solitaire game. "Yay, congrats to me. Let's do it again..." And, with a heavy sigh, he reset the game and began matching up cards once again.
He'd actually take Eggman randomly attacking the town right now if it meant he could finally tear himself away from Solitaire.
"You do realize there are more entertainment programs installed onto the computer's hard drive aside from Solitaire, correct?" Nicole asked a vapid-looking Sorun.
The human scoffed. "No way am I playing Minesweeper. Nobody understands how that game works, Nicole. It's impossible." Greater minds than him had tried to decipher the inner workings of that game. And while they may have actually succeeded, Sorun never endeavored to learn from them how Minesweeper actually worked. He somewhat regretted that now.
"I was not referring to Minesweeper. I had a more engaging game in mind." An icon of a black chess piece popped into existence right next to Nicole's icon. "A game we could both play." Nicole's icon moved against the chess piece and nudged it up towards the center of the screen. Sorun watched the display with an unamused expression. "A very thought-provoking game that I happen to very much enjoy." The icon was pushed up further. "Perhaps it could even jumpstart a conversation between us so you could quit staring at the screen as if you were asleep with your eyes open."
The hint the AI was giving was not lost on Sorun as he watched Nicole's icon continually push the chess icon closer towards the center of the screen. Unfortunately, he was having none of it. "How about no," Sorun said as he dragged the mouse cursor towards the chess icon in an attempt to remove it from the screen.
Nicole's icon moved right between the cursor's point and the chess icon, making Sorun's eyes widen and his wrist freeze, halting the mouse's movement. "Sorun, give chess another chance."
"You blasted me in eight moves the last time we played. I don't wanna." It wasn't his fault he was so bad at strategy-type games. Or that Nicole was a super genius AI who could probably beat out the world's greatest chess grandmasters without even breaking a sweat. With both of those aspects combined, what possible hope did Sorun have of even standing his ground against Nicole in chess?
Answer: none. So he wasn't going to try playing chess against Nicole again.
He maneuvered the mouse cursor so that it swung around Nicole's icon and towards the chess icon. However, Nicole's icon moved at an even greater speed, intercepting the clicker's path yet again. Sorun furrowed his brows as he continually swerved and dragged the mouse in all sorts of different directions at various speeds in order to try and elude Nicole. She was keeping up well with him, though, her face icon blocking him at every single turn whenever he even got close to the chess icon.
Changing strategy, Sorun made bigger drags backwards using strokes that slowly increased in size. It was right when he should have pulled the mouse back far enough that it would have touched the border of the screen did Sorun act. He'd moved the mouse a quarter of the way in order to bait Nicole into moving into his predicted position and, right when she moved, he let out a loud "ah-ha!" as he reversed movement, the mouse pointer practically flying towards the chess icon.
The teen's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when the cursor froze right before its tip managed to touch the icon. When he looked towards the mouse cursor's rear, he was shocked to see a black icon suspiciously shaped like Nicole's hand holding the cursor back.
"Come on. Come on, really?" Sorun tried moving the actual mouse around to try and break the cursor free of the AI's grasp, but while the cursor wiggled around due to his efforts, it remained locked in Nicole's grasp. "You're really gonna play a guy like this?"
"You put up an admirable effort in evading me," Nicole praised, and he could hear the smugness in her voice, "but I'm afraid it's futile. I refuse to watch you waste any more time playing Solitaire."
"This really is some next-level cyber bullying you're laying down on me," Sorun complained, though a smirk began to play across his lips as his finger hovered towards the right mouse button. "Too bad I don't play that way!"
A bit harder than he ought to have, he pressed down on the right mouse button. Immediately after, a white window full of shortcut keys appeared next to the mouse cursor. The sudden appearance of the window smacked away the hand that had been holding the cursor, causing Nicole to gasp out loud. Her head icon and a second hand icon attempted to zoom forwards to try and stop the cursor, but it was too late. Sorun's mouse cursor was just too close to the chess icon.
"And that's jackpot!" Sorun cried out victoriously as he successfully clicked on and dragged away the chess icon from the middle of the screen. He moved it over to the left side of the computer screen, hovering the mouse cursor and the chess icon dangerously close to the recycling bin icon located near the top of the left side.
He moved down slightly and safely deposited the chess icon in the empty space right below the recycling bin.
The two of them silently stared at the chess icon, with Nicole's head icon having moved right next to it while Sorun watched on. Afterwards, the two slowly broke out into mirthful laughter, and Sorun had to hold onto the sides of his chair just not to fall out from the laughter rocking his body. Eventually the laughter tapered off, Sorun in particularly shaking his head with a large smile still plastered on his face. "What did that even look like from your perspective?" he playfully asked as he brushed some of his dark hair out from his face.
"Like a giant, floating arrow flailing about," Nicole said, sounding just as joyful as Sorun looked. "I suppose I must concede this thrilling round of cursor combat to you."
"Inventing a new game and being the first one to win it all in the same hour? This day's goin' up for me," Sorun said to Nicole as he hovered his cursor back to the Solitaire board. The AI laughed again, making Sorun chuckle along with her. "But man, do I miss the internet," he added as he began matching cards again, the smile on his face lowering slightly. "Nobody could get bored on the internet. I don't even wanna think about how much time I spent on it."
"You've mentioned this 'internet' to me quite a few times in the past," Nicole noted, a tick mark having appeared over her icon's forehead when she saw the mouse cursor go right back to Solitaire. "Tell me about it."
Sorun hummed in thought. "It was, uh... it was a computer network, basically, but on a global scale," he explained as he continued to match cards. "Back in my world there wasn't an apocalypse that reset the whole world, so society was going pretty strong. All the world's governments were functioning, eh, relatively well and communication, transportation, and travel was good everywhere. And at the point where I left practically everybody had a computer or some other device to connect them to the internet. It was a commonplace thing."
"But what exact purpose did this computer network serve that made it such a prevalent aspect of your zone's society?" Nicole questioned him.
"Oh, Nicole, everything was on that network," Sorun said while slowly exhaling. "The sum total of all human knowledge was collected and put in that thing. There were server banks all over the world dedicated to storing all that data and maintaining the internet. I'm talking petabytes upon petabytes of data here." The eyes on Nicole's icon widened. "Yeah, a lot, right? History, technical knowledge, scientific articles..." His eyes darted away from the screen as Sorun's cheeks went red. "... Other things."
"Such as?"
"A-ack, ahem!" Coughing, Sorun quickly shook his head to get rid of the blush before refocusing on the the computer. "Ah, you know, things like... the ability to talk to people from around the world through various message boards and websites. A website where people could create content in video format and post literally whatever they wanted for entertainment and educational purposes for the whole world to see. Games, oh man, the games, Nicole. Most of the games I ever played I just downloaded off the internet. You could download practically anything off the internet." A sigh left him as he leaned back in his chair. "Sorry, but I don't think I can accurately describe just how big the internet was with words alone. That's how significant it was. Of all of the creations humanity ever conceived, I don't think anything ever surpassed the internet. Its ability to just... connect the whole human race like that, you know? The world just got so much better with it." He glanced off to the side. "I mean, antibiotics were pretty important, too, but you get what I mean."
There was just so much he missed from the internet at home. Steam and all its games. YouTube. All those pirate and torrent sites where he would get his music, comics, manga, and anime from. The chat boards. The ability to look up whatever information he ever needed on the fly. Having been cut off from it for so long just left a void in Sorun's heart along with everything else he'd lost.
"There is no need to apologize, Sorun. I think I get the picture," Nicole assured him. "An entire world connected together through technology sounds rather wonderful. And with how you talk about it you make it sound as if its conception was a revolutionary turn for your world."
"That's 'cause it was," Sorun affirmed with a nod. "Technology alone is an amazing thing that makes everybody's lives so much better. You know, as long as it's used right." Because some people like Eggman just couldn't take the hint. He'd cut his head off for perverting technology to the point that the world was at the brink of ruination if it was the last thing Sorun did. Which it likely would be. "After all," Sorun continued as he leaned back forwards in his chair, "you only exist because of technology, right? And you're amazing."
Nicole's icon blinked owlishly, and then slowly began to slide downwards towards the bottom of the screen, almost in an effort to get away from Sorun's sight. Even so, he could clearly see how bashful the icon's face had become. "W-well, Sorun, with how great you've made the idea of an internet sound, perhaps Mobius would benefit from such a system. If nothing else, it sounds like a fun enough project."
"Build the internet from scratch, huh?" Sorun mused. "Sounds like kind of a long-term goal. Like way after Eggman's dealt with and the world becomes stable again, but after that... sure. Go for it. If anybody could do it, it's you." At the very least it was one more thing to help put him at ease once he died. Knowing he gave somebody the idea of jumpstarting the internet revolution for this world.
From behind him, he heard the door to the lab open. Sorun tried to ignore it, but he was forced to pay attention after he heard his name be called. "Sorun? There you are." He suppressed a sigh at hearing Sally's voice, and then turned the chair around halfway so he could meet her eyes. "Is... is this seriously where you've been all day?"
"What time is it outside?" he asked her.
She blinked. "Around eleven in the afternoon, I think?"
"Then yeah," he confirmed with a nod. "Is this the part where you send me on some life-threatening mission because Eggman poisoned the water supply with nanobots or whatever?"
Sally shook her head. "No, nothing severe like that. Seriously, though, don't say that kind of stuff around people. You're just gonna scare them." The momentary, stern look in her features relaxed into an easy expression. "Actually my brother wanted to talk to you about something, so he asked me to go look for you."
The apprehension that had been growing inside of Sorun in dread at a coming mission collapsed instantly in place of a severe sense of unwant. "Ugh, your brother the king? What does he want?" Sorun asked.
"Apparently he just wants to hang out with you. As weird as it sounds."
The levels of unwant inside of Sorun grew. "Oh. Yeah, I don't wanna," he said as he turned his chair back towards the computer screen. "Tell him I'm busy with something else. Anything else."
He began matching cards up in his Solitaire game again, trying and failing to ignore the approaching footsteps from behind. He could just see Sally's face over his chair behind him from the reflection on the computer's monitor once she got close enough to him. She didn't look very convinced with Sorun's statement. "Busy, huh?" she deadpanned.
"Sally, I am not joking when I say the fate of the whole universe depends on the result of this game of Solitaire," Sorun replied in an equal deadpan.
There was a withering sigh from behind the chair. "You know, he told me about the talk you two had. I was honestly surprised you went to him of all people for support," she told him. "I guess I kinda got what you were thinking when he told me the reason, though. So you'll have to help me understand why you don't want to talk to Elias seeing as you're both on good footing already."
"Listen, it's not like I got anything against the guy, I just..." Sorun paused as he attempted to think of a good excuse. Unfortunately, he had none. "To be honest, I just really don't feel like it. That's all."
He could almost feel the dissatisfaction beginning to radiate off of Sally. "Of all the excuses I've ever heard from you, that one was probably the laziest."
"Oh-ho, oh, Sally, I could think of way worse than that," Sorun boldly claimed with a laugh. "I feel honored the king himself wants to blow an afternoon away with me, and admittedly I don't have anything better to do and have absolutely no reason to refuse, but I'm gonna refuse anyways."
An exasperated breath came from Sally. "Nicole? You still in the computer?"
"Yes," came Nicole's voice from the speakers, causing Sorun's eyes to widen and shoot towards said speakers.
"How long's he been at this?"
"Approximately two hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-five seconds," the AI happily informed Sally, much to Sorun's chagrin. "Based on my observations this activity has been insufficient in thoroughly stimulating Sorun's higher thought processes. It is my assertion that he is wasting his time on this thoughtless game and should therefor do something more engaging so that his mental ability does not atrophy."
"Et tu, Nicole...?" Sorun mumbled, his arm falling off of the mouse and table to limply hang off his side. Nicole's response was for the small icon of her face on the screen to flash him a playful grin.
From behind him, Sally crossed her arms as a satisfied smirk played across her lips. "Oh, really? Well, I can't have a Freedom Fighter's brain go and melt on me because they decided to waste all day playing a mindless card game." She nodded her head towards the lab's door. "You heard her, Sorun. Go play with my brother."
With a loud groan, Sorun slowly started to remove himself from the chair. "Arigato Mrs. Roboto," he sarcastically muttered to the computer. He stood up fully, and then turned to Sally. "And do you really gotta say it like that? I'm not eight."
"No, but you act eight sometimes," Sally said with a shake of her head. "Like right now, for instance. Now are you gonna go or am I gonna have to pull rank here?"
He rolled his eyes in response, but otherwise said nothing as he turned around and made his way towards the lab's door. He heard stifled laughter from both Sally and Nicole from behind him, and then began to angrily mutter under his breath as he all but slammed the lab's door behind him.
"Sorun! I'm so happy you could make it!"
"Yeah, I can't say the same." That's what Sorun wanted to say to the young king standing in front of him. What he actually said was, "Mm-hm, yeah."
He may as well have just greeted Elias in the same jubilant manner he'd greeted Sorun, as that's how the Mobian acted with his wide, grinning face as he spun around while gesturing towards the castle. "Follow me, if you would. I already have our venue picked out."
"... Right." With a barely-audible, resigned sigh, Sorun began dragging his feet forwards as he followed the squirrel into the castle. He began to mentally tune himself out when Elias began leading him around the labyrinth-like corridors inside of the castle, so he instead turned his focus into his inner thoughts. "Weird feeling, seeing somebody I barely know so happy to see me. Feels kinda nice, actually. But what the hell does Elias want with me so bad that I had to drag myself all the way to the castle?" He'd even been waiting for the human out at the castle's entrance. Sorun didn't know what to make of that. "Guess I just gotta wait 'til he tells me what's up. Doesn't mean I can't have some fun with him in the meantime."
It was Sorun's time that was being spent here, after all, as useless as it was at the moment. He had a right to a little bit of teasing if only to milk as much amusement from this experience as possible.
With that decided, the human sped up to Elias' side as the pair rounded a corner. "You know I was serious when I said I was joking about the marriage thing, right?" Sorun asked. "You didn't have to bring me all the way out here for a date."
"Huh?" Elias turned his head to meet Sorun's gaze, and then immediately grew a flustered look when Sorun's words finally caught up with him. "T-this isn't anything like...!" He cut himself off when he saw Sorun silently snicker besides him, causing him to huff and turned his head to the side. "Was this type of humor commonplace in your world...?" he almost whined out.
Sorun scoffed at that. "Oh, no. It was way worse. You have no idea how much I've been holding back since Mobian ears are so pure." He was honestly surprised at himself that he'd been able to avoid swearing in front of people he liked for the most part; he was sure he would have crumbled and given up at this point. But it was nice living with a bunch of people who acted like curse words weren't even in their vocabulary, a stark contrast of his life on Earth, so he'd endeavor to keep that going for as long as he could. Self-censoring was a small price to pay for the peace it provided him.
A good thing he could vent once in a while against people he didn't like, though, because otherwise he probably would have exploded by now. But nobody in Knothole deserved to hear any of that, so he'd keep a lid on it.
"Well, I suppose I should thank you for being mindful of your words," Elias told him, though he sounded unsure of himself as he said this. Sorun couldn't rightly blame him. "Ah, here we are. Right past this door."
As Elias said, the two exited through a small pair of doors. Where they ended up was, surprisingly, back outside. In from of them was a small, cobblestone patio fenced in by short shrubs with a view of a large, open courtyard in the background. In the middle of the patio was, simply enough, a single table with two chairs. There was a small box on the top of the table, too, though this went ignored by Sorun as he turned towards Elias.
"... I know you said this wasn't a date, and I was kidding around when I said that, but in all seriousness this is looking really suspect," Sorun said in a slow and even voice.
With a roll of his eyes, Elias walked forwards towards the table while gesturing for Sorun to follow. Rather reluctantly, the human did. "Sorun, I assure you this is nothing more than a strictly platonic meeting of the minds. Was simply spending an afternoon with friends not an occurrence in your world?" he asked with some concern as he turned back to Sorun.
"Well, no, it's just that this... this kind of formality really just died out after a while," Sorun answered.
"Oh. Shame," Elias said, shoulders lowering slightly. He brightened up a bit, though, and even went as far as to pull out Sorun's chair for him. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the sheer politeness. "Well, things at the castle were going particularly slow today." Sorun suppressed a scoff at that. "I had some free time, and there was something I wanted to discuss with you. So I thought we would get together, enjoy the afternoon and chat, maybe have some tea. We promised that we would if you remember."
"... Oh yeah, that did happen. Man, that was a long time ago," the teen realized with a small nod. "Geez, I don't think I've ever even had tea," Sorun muttered out as he sat down in his chair.
"Truly?" Elias remarked as he sat down in the chair across from him. "What did you have, then?"
"Too many brands of energy drinks to count," Sorun embarrassingly muttered.
Elias's brows furrowed at the answer. "I was lead to assume that consumption of such beverages at such a regular scale was unhealthy."
Sorun shook his head. "Nah, man, it's totally fine. I'm still alive, aren't I?" Despite his claim, he wasn't willing to admit how many caffeinated beverages and sodas he'd used to binge just to make it through all those overnight gaming sessions. With how much he drank that Chao-Cola from the HQ's fridge he'd worry Elias would assume he'd have a caffeine addiction and send him to a rehab center or something.
But wow, could he go for a Chao-Cola right about now. The light tenseness of the situation was giving him a craving.
"Anyways, what's with the box?" Sorun asked as he pointed at the aforementioned box laying between them.
"This? Oh, it's just a game I thought we could play while we talked. After all..." Elias reached forwards and removed the top of the box. Sorun had to resist strangling the king with his Bringer Claws when he saw the contents. "Nothing stimulates the mind quite like the game of kings, eh? Eh? Eh-heh."
It was chess. The box was the box to a goddamned game of chess.
"Son of a bitch, I can't escape this game no matter how hard I try," Sorun silently lamented as he watched Elias set up the board and pieces. "I won't lie to you, Elias. I'm not the best at these strategery-type games," Sorun warned him.
Elias paused. "... Strategery...?" he quietly mumbled to himself as he continued setting the pieces up. "I'm sure you aren't as bad as you say, Sorun. Maybe we can turn this into a learning experience for you as well!"
"Ah-ha, yeah, don't count on it," Sorun mumbled in response, forlornly looking down at the black pieces set in front of him. "Alright, dude, you got me all the way out here playing chess with the king. What do you actually want?" he asked, greatly desiring to get to the truth of the matter of why he was bothering with all this.
The squirrel paused, and then softly sighed as his shoulders slumped down a bit. "In truth, Sorun, I wanted to talk to you for a chance at gaining some outside perspective."
Sorun blinked in surprise, and then reached forwards to move one of the black pawn pieces forwards. "Okay...?" He responded, not really sure what to say at such vague reasoning. "Perspective on what?"
"Being the king is a... trying position. Especially to someone like me who is so young and so... inexperienced," Elias replied as he moved a white pawn forwards. "My mother and father, and even my sister, are practically leagues ahead of me on the subject. They try their best to help me, bless their hearts, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm not so skilled at this. That is why I wanted your assistance on a certain subject."
The pale teen hummed in response. "I'm unsure as to how helpful I will be to you, my dear compatriot, at advising you on the inner workings of socioeconomic matters necessary towards successfully steering a thriving kingdom in times of war when I myself am woefully inexperienced in such matters." He moved a black piece forwards, and then completely froze when he heard the words leave his mouth.
Elias reached forwards to move a white piece, but then stopped and looked at Sorun with widened eyes, almost looking as surprised as Sorun himself did. "... Sorun, just how... extensive is your vocabulary?" he asked him as he grasped and moved his white piece. "I admit, your way of speaking greatly confuses me sometimes. I always assumed it due to being your zone just having a different vernacular to ours, but Sally sometimes mentions that you'll say something uncharacteristically, well, pardon me if this sounds offensive... complex."
Sorun shrugged. "You might find this hard to believe, but I'm well-versed in verbiage due to my voracious consumption of volumes of literature," he said, causing Elias to smile in amusement. "Yeah, I read a lot before becoming a gamer. Actually, I tried my best to get some reading in every now and then even after my transition to gamer status. So I... talked really weird and fancy back when I was a kid. Then a bunch of other kids decided they didn't like me talking like that so they dragged me to the back of the school and beat me up."
The smile on Elias' face immediately fell away and was replaced by grief. "That's horrible!"
"Yeah, and guess what, it's real hard to fight back when everybody is literally twice as tall as you." Sorun moved a black piece. "I... started to talk like everybody else after a while of that happening. Practiced by listening and emulating the dialogue in a lot of shows and games. Heh." He let out a sad sigh. "Looking back I really was a nerd."
"You shouldn't say that about yourself," Elias admonished. He looked down at the board, and then hummed briefly in thought before moving a white bishop forwards. "Nobody would think twice here if you were to slip back into your old speaking habits. Nobody would certainly... assault you just for speaking," he added, looking like he was concerned over the fact he even had to speak that sentence.
"I know they wouldn't. But my speech right now is kinda permanently ingrained in me at this point." He picked up his rook and began rolling it between his fingers. "But even still, the fancy stuff kinda slips out randomly, especially when I'm focusing on something serious. Or when I'm playing old-timey games like chess that kinda have this weird vintage feel to them." He placed the rook down on the board.
Elias didn't reach for a new piece, and instead looked towards Sorun with a sad look in his blue eyes. "Are humans really so cruel that they would do something unthinkable to one of their own...?"
Sorun paused, and then slowly looked up at Elias. He did not like this train of thought, and he was shutting it down right now before it became something bad. "You shouldn't judge a whole species based on the actions of a few of its members," he told Elias. "I ran into this crazy jackal guy out there when I ran away. Just 'cause I meant one bad Mobian doesn't mean I think your whole species is bad. You're all pretty great, actually."
"But even still-"
"Look, Elias, they were just a bunch of kids. And kids can be cruel. That's just how it is," Sorun said. "Kids in general are just... they're idiots because they're kids and don't know any better. And then sometimes you get people that act like that but never grow up even after becoming adults. It's a real bad combo."
"Indeed," Elias morosely agreed as he moved a white piece. "My father often tells stories of how... unusually cruel the Overlanders were during the Great War. He doesn't favor them in a very good light."
"... Yeah, that doesn't make me nervous or anything," Sorun commented while looking over his shoulder. "He ain't around, is he?"
At that, Elias laughed a bit. "Settle down, Sorun. My father is a fair man." The smile died a bit. "That said, the war did... color his views a bit, we'll say, so if you two do happen to meet you'll have to forgive him if he seems a bit... course with you."
"Fair enough," Sorun sighed as he sat back down. "So why the sudden concern over Overlanders?" he asked, looking over the board to think over his next move.
"The war with Eggman won't exactly last forever," Elias began, propping an elbow up on the table as he looked out into the courtyard. "I'm expected to bring the kingdom back to the state it was in previously and maintain it until the next ruler takes over. That kind of position involves maintaining relations with other governmental powers across the world in order to keep the peace. Including..."
"The Overlanders," Sorun finished for him, still staring down at the board. He reached for a piece, but then shook his head and brought his hand back. "Yeah, sounds scary," he agreed. "Is this why you wanted to talk to me? Because I am very possibly the only human you have access to who's actually friendly with Mobians? Someone that you can comfortably talk to so you can get a good idea of what talking with a human is like?"
Elias laughed at Sorun's deduction. "You caught me," he admitted. "That among other things. Forgive me if this sounds crass, but you're a rather unique source of information given your background and character. I just simply wanted to speak to you of such matters."
It made enough sense from Sorun's perspective. Rookie king was trying to gather as much information as possible to make things easier on himself. He couldn't blame him; Sorun would probably try doing the same if he were in his shoes. He was curious as to what actually Elias wanted to ask of him, though.
"If I move the knight here... ah, screw it," he thought as he moved the black piece. "'Among other things', huh? Like what?"
The human teen mentally cursed when Elias' white rook took his black knight. "You spoke of a government in your world when we first spoke. France, I believe it was called? Could you, perhaps, tell me more of your world's governments?"
Sorun slowly nodded in understanding. That's what Elias wanted. No wonder he wanted to speak with him so badly seeing as Sorun was quite literally the only human in the world with a rudimentary understanding of the various governments and their systems in a world exclusively ruled by humans. "So that's the perspective you want," Sorun realized. "You want me to tell you about Earth's governments so you'll have at least some idea of what you'll be dealing with when it comes to the Overlanders since they'd likely be somewhat similar."
"Essentially, yes," Elias confirmed with a nod. "I realize you likely weren't the most studious of history scholars in your world-"
"- Boy was I not," Sorun agreed with a nod.
Elias breathed out a single chuckle before continued. "Nevertheless, I would still like to hear of your world, if only to be as prepared as possible to help protect mine." He moved a white piece. "Check."
"I can respect that," Sorun said in an honest tone. "Alright, Elias. My head might not exactly be the wealth of information you're looking for, but, ah... I'll try my best. I'm not exactly well versed on all of human history, but I know a good bit about Earth. I'll tell you what I can," he vowed as he moved a black piece. "Just don't expect a lot out of me."
In response, Elias flashed him a thankful smile. "I'm in your debt, Sorun." He moved a white piece. "That's checkmate, by the way."
Sorun's head snapped down to the board, and then looked back up to see Elias playfully tossing his black king up and down. "How the...? Man, reset the board."
Never before in Sorun's life did he imagine that he would adopt the role of a teacher. Teaching Nicole tricks with video games was one thing. Going full-on historian was another, especially considering that Sorun was the furthest possible thing from a historian.
But Elias had paid rapt attention to him as Sorun tried his best to outline what he could about human governments. It was kind of funny in a way, seeing him beam that curious look of his towards Sorun the more he spoke. It gave him a strange sense of importance he didn't often get, so it helped spur him into going further.
As to the actual content of his lecture: it wasn't much. He wasn't going for anything especially detailed or specific. Just basic governmental systems and how well they generally operated. He'd also gone over some light history on some of the major countries just for context, and while he'd been all but forced to mention the wars, he made sure to gloss over a large portion of the details just for Elias' sake. Times like these made him wish he actually had paid more attention in history, but he thought that he had a basic enough understanding to give Elias a good picture.
"- Yeah, like I said, royalty ruling countries pretty much fell on the wayside. Like the country I grew up in, for instance. America was really weird in that it was this confusing mess of a government system due to evolving into this weird democratic-republic fusion over the decades," Sorun explained as he leaned back in his chair, only paying half of his attention to the chess board. Elias had forgotten it entirely and was leaning forwards on the table as he intently listened to Sorun talk about the actual governmental system of his home country. "Small stuff was generally voted on by the populace, which made it a democracy, while big stuff while handled by democratically-appointed officials, which made it a republic."
"It still boggles me that your world's governments did away with monarchies," Elias said as he stared wide-eyed at Sorun. "Was it really considered that outdated a system?"
"I guess you could say outdated. Pretty much, yeah," Sorun confirmed. "I mean there are were places like Britain that kinda still has a monarchy, but they had an elected head of government that ran the country alongside the queen as an example of how, I dunno, diluted the monarchy system got over time to places that still used it. I guess people started to realize that letting a royal bloodline handle political affairs wasn't really that great an idea if there were others more suited to the job but could never do anything about it. Plus when you give that much power to so few people, and those few people don't listen to the general population, they start to realize real quick that an angry mob of people with pitchforks can be just as deadly as an invading army. Monarchies, autocrats, dictatorships and the like got dissolved or heavily reformatted pretty quickly in all the major countries once people started figuring that out. Governments should be a lot more afraid of their own people than the other way around." Sorun leaned back forwards and began poking at the black chess pieces. "Wasn't really surprising how few revolutionary wars there were when people got a say in how the government was ran, but I suppose the advancement of civilization played a part in that, too. Fact is, though, pretty much every stable country back on Earth ran on some form of democracy or republic. America, Canada, the European nations, Russia, Japan just to name a few... none of them were perfect, sure, but they worked for the most part."
"But if they didn't work perfectly-" Elias argued, but stopped talking when Sorun held a hand up.
"Elias, I'm gonna tell you probably the most important piece of advice you'll ever hear: no country or governmental system, absolutely none, is perfect." The squirrel seemed almost shocked by the claim, but Sorun continued unabated despite the wide-eyed stare he was given. "Governments are just... they're just too big and too complicated for it all to fit together nice and perfectly. People- humans, Mobians, whatever, just people in general- are all inherently flawed in their own ways. There are so many idiots that'll screw things up and so many variables that just come with life that a perfect system just ain't gonna happen. It's not about making it perfect. It's about making it good enough that it works. The trick," Sorun said as he pointed towards Elias, "is choosing the flaws of the country or kingdom or what have you. That way you can focus on the all the good stuff while you live with tolerable flaws." Sorun shook his head. "'Cause trust me, man. You're gonna end up doing a lot more harm than good if you try making everything perfect."
"And how would you go about choosing flaws?" Elias asked.
Sorun shrugged. "I dunno. That's your problem."
Elias sighed as he upper torso flopped onto the table, rattling some of the discarded chess pieces. "Sorun, after hearing all that you've said about your world, I must say... I have to question your people's sanity." He groaned and began rubbing at the sides of his forehead. "Just... so many different governments and systems, all the complexity... and the wars," he gasped out as he looked up at Sorun. "Why did your people have to have so many wars?"
"... Look, man, humanity ain't perfect," Sorun admitted after a long beat of silence. "Are we more prone to taking the violent route as opposed to Mobians because it's simpler and easier? Yeah, we are. Was there way more violence than necessary? Can't really dispute that, yes, there was. We were a relatively young species still learning. But there was a bunch of good stuff that came out of all that, too! Mainly the advancement of civilization and culture in general, but it was really great! It's just... really hard running that much stuff, you know? So of course stuff goes wrong. Accidents happen. Wars happen, but they happened a lot less the more time went on and the more advanced humanity got. Do I think that, given time, wars and conflict as a whole would be wiped out? Nah, I'm not that naive, but they'd get real close, though. And sometimes close enough is good enough." Sorun leaned back in his chair. "I don't know what's different with you Mobians. Maybe it's just because you all had a different history, or you're all just... naturally nicer than humans and don't have such a propensity for violence generally speaking. Whatever the case, you all share a world with humans-slash-Overlanders. So it's probably a good idea you came to me with help on the subject." He looked at his right hand and began rubbing his fingers together. "Peace with them is within the realm of possibility. You guys got along with the humans that live in Station Square after all, right? Humans would like nothing more than peace with everybody, too, and I imagine Overlanders are the same. It's just that sometimes an idiot like Eggman comes along and screws it all up for everybody."
"But I just don't know how I'm going to deal with them," Elias said as he sat up in his chair. "From how you put it, there's no telling how their government leaders would act towards me. How am I supposed to prepare for something like that?"
"Yeah, welcome to dealing with people," Sorun deadpanned. "Mobians ain't exactly rocking cookie-cutter personalities, either." He blew a lock of dark hair out of his face and looked to the side. "Just be amicable and don't provoke them. If you're lucky you'll get to deal with a bunch of fair Overlander leaders in the future when you're piecing international relations back together once the war is over. If you get people that aren't so agreeable, well, bear with it, but don't give them any pull, either. You gotta stand your ground and stay confident. You're the king. Besides that?" With a shake of his head, Sorun shrugged as he turned back to Elias. "I don't know, man. I don't deal with politics. Never had an interest. I just cut up robots."
"Ha-ha. I can understand that." Elias ran a hand through his red hair as he straightened his posture up. "I can't say you've given me definitive answers to my problems, but if nothing else, you've certainly shown me the way forwards towards finding my own answers. And at least given me somewhat of an idea on what I'll be dealing with in the far future." He flashed Sorun a smile. "I really can't thank you enough for everything you said, my friend."
Sorun started in his seat and felt an urge to rebuke the friend claim made by Elias. He even went as far as to open his mouth to do so, but when he saw that thankful look on the king's face, he couldn't bring himself to do it. So he simply breathed out through his nose while crossing his arms. "Don't mention it," he murmured under his breath.
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a Mobian dressed in a maid's outfit approach the table the two were sitting at, holding a tray in her hands. She and Elias exchanged quick pleasantries while Sorun watched on, only really becoming engaged when a cup full of brown liquid was placed in front of him. The maid turned to walk away while Elias had bid her farewell, while Sorun continued to look at the cup.
"Oh, Sorun, you said you never had tea before, correct?" Elias asked as he picked up his own cup. "Try it. I assure you it's quite relaxing."
The human watched as Elias sipped at his own cup of tea, and then looked down at the cup in front of him. He wasn't sure how he felt about warm drinks, especially seeing as he could practically feel its heat radiate onto his hand as he picked up the cup. He gave it a quick whiff, tilting his head to the side at the sweet and earthy aroma it gave off. "Doesn't... seem all that horrible," he thought as he slowly brought the cup to his lips.
He had to set the cup back down on the table after the first sip.
"People actually drink this shit!?" His thoughts screamed as he stared down at the cup in alarm. There was no describing the smooth yet bitter taste that assaulted his senses the moment he tried taking a drink from the cup. Not bad, per se, but it was far from being tolerable to his non-existent pallet. "Shoulda just brought a soda or somethin' with me, geez..."
Elias seemed to notice Sorun's distress at the drink, and then put down his own cup. "Is it not to your liking?" he asked with some worry to his voice. "The maid put some sugar aside for us."
Blue eyes followed Elias' hand as he gestured to a small pyramid of sugar cubes stacked near the end of the table, resting on a plate. "Oh, that's the problem. Didn't come with sugar," Sorun thought as he took a few cubes and a small, wooden stirring stick. "Thanks," he muttered as he dropped the cubes in and began stirring. "So are we done with politics? My brain can't really take much more of that talk."
"I suppose we can end that discussion there," Elias said with a small laugh. "Would you like another game of chess?"
Sorun glared down at the board with a flat stare as he dropped more sugar cubes in his drink. "How many times have we played this game?" he asked as he continued to absentmindedly stir.
"Oh... six times, I believe. And I won all six." The subdued yet cheeky grin was not lost on Sorun, whose only response was to put more sugar cubes in his drink. "E-er, Sorun, I think that's quite enough," Elias advised with a hint of nervousness to his voice.
Sorun briefly stopped, looked up at Elias, and then looked down again as he tipped the plate in order to dump all the sugar cubes into his tea.
Elias sighed at the sight. "I was actually hoping to have one..." His eyes widened in surprise when a single sugar cube bounced off his forehead and plopped into his drink. He looked down at the quickly-dissolving cube, and then looked at Sorun who was blankly staring at him as he stirred his own tea. "You really can be a child sometimes," Elias mumbled as he took another drink.
"You know, your sister said the same thing. I think you both just don't know how to have fun," Sorun claimed. "How'd you get into the king game so young, anyways? You said something about being taken away and brought here to take the crown up or something like that. What's the story with that?"
"That's quite the tale you're asking for," Elias said as he put down his cup. "I suppose it's only fair you know it since I already know the story of how you wound up here, and we've plenty of time. I'm willing to tell you if you truly desire it."
Did he desire it? Sorun wasn't really too sure. He was a bit interested in the Mobian's history, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't, and it wasn't like they had anything better to talk about at the moment. Sorun sure couldn't think of any topics that would probably interest the person sitting across from him. And he'd be damned if he'd get suckered into another game of chess.
"Sure, man. Go for it," Sorun said.
"Right. Ahem." Elias removed his hand from the cup and clasped his hands together on the table as he began. "When I was young, My mother and I were separated from the rest of our family. It was during the Great War, and our transport vessel had been shot down by Overlanders." He paused to gauge Sorun's reaction, though when it didn't budge an inch, he continued. "My mother was rendered comatose in the accident, though some... acquiescent echidna helped us after the crash. They put her in a type of stasis in order to stabilize her."
"She fine now?" Sorun asked.
Elias nodded. "Yes, she's quite alright. Thank you for asking. It was me and two older Mobians that were left, excluding my mother. Due to the war and us being, for lack of a better term, stranded, we... decided to start a life there," he explained. "I, ha... spent the majority of my youth as an adventurer exploring the island. That all came to a crashing halt when a detachment of kingdom's Secret Service happened upon me when the situation with Eggman had temporarily died down and my father, who had assumed the worst had happened to us, grew curious enough over our fate to send them. I'd helped them when situations arose, and it was decided I was to return to Knothole with them. The two Mobians who had been looking after me all that time, royal retainers who had survived the crash along with me and my mother, chose to stay behind while me and my then-comatose mother returned here." He exhaled and looked towards the courtyard. "My father turned his crown over to me, and... well, you know the rest. I left, came back with a family, and have been struggling to run this kingdom in the months since against Eggman's tyranny." He looked back towards Sorun. "Be truthful with me, Sorun... do you really think I'm doing an adequate job here? Because even after all this time I still have doubts."
Sorun hummed in response. "I can tell you right now that if I were in your shoes I woulda already ran this place into the ground. So you got that going for you."
At that, Elias made a humorless chuckle. "Forgive my bluntness, but I do not think that is a very high standard to surpass."
"I'll give you that one," Sorun agreed as he looked down into his tea. By now its consistency was the same as syrup with how much sugar he'd put into it, though when he drank from it he felt a happy feeling bloom in his chest. "Ohhhh, that's the good stuff..." he blissfully though as he licked the sweetness off from his teeth. "Do you even want to be king?" Sorun asked Elias as he set his cup down. "Because it kinda just sounds like you sorta, well... fell into the position."
"More like I was born into it, but... you're not entirely wrong." The squirrel shifted in his seat and leaned over across the table. "Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I just stayed up on the island, or if I'd just stayed in that village where I met my Megan. I'm grateful for coming back here, having met my family, and healing my mother, and I can never repay the love and support they've all given me, but... oh, I don't know." He started to trace the lip of his teacup with his hand. "My father says I've a knack for the position- 'in the blood' he keeps claiming-, and I've managed to keep the kingdom afloat so far, but that does little to assuage my doubts."
"Why not just give Sally the crown?" Sorun asked. "You don't want it, she'd probably take it, and Elias, I'm telling you, Sally is really cut out for this leader thing. I've been working under her long enough to see it. She's got this kind of 'take charge, no-nonsense' attitude when she gets serious, you know? It's a stark contrast to how she acts usually." He made a "tsk" sound. "'Stark contrast'- Jesus, there I go again. Stupid tea makin' me talk weird."
Elias laughed a little. "I think I quite like your verbose side better than the norm. But you're correct. Beneath my sister's sweet exterior is a rather... fierce ruler."
Sorun nodded in agreement. "I'll be real. I'm too terrified of what she'd do to me if I ever disobeyed an order from her to ever defy her. Not that I would, she's super great, but there's no way I'm poking that dragon." There would be not telling what would happen if he did. He didn't even know what she'd do; just that he would regret it. It's why he'd been so apprehensive returning after he'd ran and how he was still counting his lucky stars he'd made it out without so much as a lecture. Or worse.
Not knowing what "worse" could possibly entail but knowing it was a distinct possibility made it so that Sorun decided to never, under any circumstances, make Sally upset. His backup plan in case that failed was to run behind Nicole in hopes that the AI could calm her down since they were rather close. He was confident in saying he was done for if all that failed.
"I can see that," Elias said with a nod and a small smile. "To be completely honest with you, she probably would be better in this position than me. But she's busy leading you and all the other Freedom Fighters, and beyond that, I'm the older sibling and a male. The crown defaults to me whether we like it or not."
"Oh, it's one of those deals, huh?" Old-timey monarchy rules, then. He should have figured when Elias looked so surprised when he told him of Earth's abandonment of the system, and while he knew it still operated here, he didn't know the monarchy rules ran that deep. "Do you happen to have another long-lost older brother that could take it for you?"
Elias scoffed. "If only," he said with a roll of his eyes. "It would be a different story if Sally officially married. Then I could hand the crown down to her so she could become queen and her husband king. But I fear I don't see that happening anytime soon with everything being the way it is."
"I hear that." Sorun picked up his teacup, thoughtfully rolled around its contents, and then downed the entire cup down in one swig. Elias watched him with raised eyes, flinching slightly when Sorun softly slammed the cup on the table. "Alright, fine, you convinced me. I'll marry Sally."
There was a moment of silence that passed where Elias processed his words. He sputtered out in complete shock right after, causing Sorun to snicker in amusement as he reached for his tea in order to calm himself. "So you've given up your pursuit for me and set your sights on my sister now? Is that how it is?" Elias sarcastically remarked as he set the cup down.
"Anything for that royal dosh, my dude," Sorun replied, a wide grin on his face.
The squirrel shook his head, half in amusement and half in exhaustion. "Well, then, congratulations to you and my sister. My sincerest thanks for relieving me of this position in order to take up the crown yourself despite your earlier claims of you having no skill in being a king. You truly are a kind soul for taking such a burden on yourself for my sake."
The grin on Sorun's face slowly began lowering. "... Oh yeah, that'd make me king, huh?" he realized. "Changed my mind, don't wanna marry Sally."
"Probably for the best," Elias said with a nod. "Honestly, I wouldn't think anything of it, but if father found out she married a human, and that human became king... I'm not sure his heart could take it. I severely doubt he'd even allow it."
"You know if I was actually serious about this I wouldn't let that stop me, right?" The grin fell away altogether as Sorun's form slumped. Elias had shaken his head meanwhile. "Real talk though, I'm... not really looking for a serious relationship or anything like that with anybody."
"Really?" Elias tilted his head in curiosity at the statement. "Why ever not?"
"Because I'm gonna die before I'd ever get anything meaningful off the ground," Sorun sadly thought, with those thoughts making his features turn a bit gloomy. He saw Elias's features twitch as a reaction to this, though, so he decided to make up an excuse. "Don't get me wrong, I think Mobians are great, it's just... I don't know if that's something I'm willing to do."
At Sorun's explanation, Elias froze and slowly started to narrow his eyes. "Why would somebody being a Mobian be a deciding factor for you...?" he slowly asked Sorun in an even tone.
The sudden shift in Elias' demeanor caused Sorun's back to go straight, and his eyes to dart back and forth as he thought up something else to try and diffuse any negative thoughts Elias was probably having. "Elias, I lived almost my whole life in a world exclusively inhabited by humans. I didn't even know what a Mobian was until a month ago. Cut me some slack here," Sorun said, breathing out in relief when he saw Elias relax slightly. "I'm not... totally against the idea," Sorun added as he began to nervously tap on the table, "but that-that's a big adjustment for me. And I'm still too busy dealing with everything else inside of my head to even start to try and mess around with that idea."
It wasn't technically a lie, though it was exaggerated a bit. He was more hesitant than willing to even consider such a thing, but, seeing as he'd die before he'd ever have to even consider relationships, he wasn't worried too much about it. He needed some excuse to get people off his back if they ever asked, though, if only so he could continually distance himself from the topic. The one he'd just invented seemed satisfactory enough for Elias, though, as the squirrel's form had relaxed completely.
"Fair enough, I suppose," Elias said, giving Sorun an understanding nod. "I have to wonder what people would say if you did do such a thing, though. To my knowledge there's never been a romantic relationship of any kind between a Mobian and an Overlander- er, human, excuse me."
"Gee, wonder why?" Sorun sarcastically remarked.
"Quite." Elias blinked and leaned forwards in his seat. "If you're open to the idea, though-"
"Implied, I implied I'm open to it," Sorun quickly interrupted. "I didn't say I definitely was. Hinted at best."
Elias waved a hand at Sorun's words. "As you say, as you say. I'm sorry if this is a bit forwards of me, Sorun, but at least hear me out. I realize you've certain reservations over the matter, and your other duties with the other Freedom Fighters may keep you preoccupied, but you know fully well that there are those in the Freedom Fighters that manage to balance their work and a fully functioning relationship."
Sorun sighed and went slack in his seat. "Elias, come on-"
"Just hear me out, please," Elias repeated. "I know your heartache over the loss of your home is great, but take it from somebody who found a significant other of their own when I say that having somebody at your side can help a great deal. It could maybe perhaps even help to clear your head so you could focus more on fighting."
"Nah, you ain't gonna get me by appealing to my pragmatic side. Good try, though, Kingy," Sorun thought with a shake of his head. "I get what you're saying, and you're not wrong, but... well, it's not not an option, I guess..."
The king sitting across from him seemed to pick up on Sorun's hesitancy, and then perked up in surprise. "You sound like you've already given this some thought," he noted.
"You don't know that for a fact," Sorun denied.
"Of course not," Elias replied in a knowing tone. "You've been here for long enough now and have gotten to know a number of people. It wouldn't be surprising at all to hear there was at least one person you've at least considered." A beat passed as he turned his head in thought. "It's obvious you were joking earlier, but... you haven't actually considered asking my sister-"
Sorun burst out in short laughter hearing that, interrupting Elias. "Me and Sally? Pffft. No way, man." He shook his head as the laughter died off his lips. "She's a wonderful person and all, but I'm not a brave enough boy for that. Godspeed to whoever does end up with her though, if anybody. They'll need it." He slowly exhaled as he leaned back in the chair. "But no, I haven't thought that way about anybody. Well, maybe... nah, nah." He shook his head. "I can't, man. I talked about the same thing with Antoine, so I'll tell you what I told him: I just want to focus on the war and fighting robots. After all that is done and over with?" His eyes became half-lidded as his shoulders slumped. "I'll, uh... I'll worry about everything else later. Alright?"
Elias didn't look so convinced, and for a moment Sorun was worried he'd press the argument. The Mobian sighed in resignation, however, and slowly nodded his head, which put Sorun at ease for the moment. "Very well," he sighed out. "It seems as though your mind is made up on the matter. I won't argue it with you any further. And I'll respect that you think that you need to wait until you're ready, but you should know I truly think you're fit as it is."
"So he says." He was probably right in all honesty, but Sorun just didn't know. It didn't change the fact he practically had a death counter over his head, though, and that killed pretty much any notion he had about any relationship period. He was already stretching it with the bonds he was making as-is. So whether Sorun was truly ready or something like that didn't matter. He plainly refused to go down that route due to it not mattering in the end.
"Oh, what's this?" The black-haired teen saw Elias sit up in his seat, and at the same time Sorun heard a few sets of footsteps began to approach from behind his position. He saw a warm smile bloom across Elias' face at the same time as he sat back down in his seat. "It seems we have some visitors."
"Really?" Sorun drawled out as he crossed his arms. "Who?"
"The rest of the family," Elias answered. "It seems my father is with them as well." He turned his head to Sorun with a bit of a strained smile. "He's a fair man, Sorun, but... can you please try to be patient with him if he says anything unintentionally untoward?"
"Mm. No promises." The answer didn't seem to satisfy Elias all that much, but he hung his head in silent resignation all the same. Sorun didn't care enough to be cordial towards somebody he was just about to meet if they had a problem with him. Maybe on a good day he would, if he was in the right mood. And while the day itself had been rather pleasant he just plainly wasn't in the mood.
In fact, he wasn't even in the mood to meet the rest of the Acorn family at all. He wondered if he could just leave right now and save himself from all of that.
"Should I just go, actually?" Sorun asked as he made a move to get up from his chair. "I can just leave if-"
"Nonsense, sit back down." Internally, Sorun was heavily cursing as Elias gestured for him to sit back down. Begrudgingly, Sorun did so. "I assure you they won't bite."
"Then what was with the warning about your dad?" Sorun wanted to ask, but the appearance of a brown squirrel Mobian in his peripheral vision caused him to keep his mouth shut. A female Mobian in a dress, cradling an infant in her arms. When he saw Elias smile warmly at the new woman, Sorun found himself shyly looking away from the couple while shuffling further into his seat.
"I didn't think I'd find you all the way out here," the woman fondly stated after stepping to Elias' side. "Is this your new friend that you've been talking about?"
Something inside of Sorun got tickled upon realizing there were people telling others they were friends with him, but this feeling fell to the wayside when he saw Elias nod at her. "Yes, it most certainly is." He turned his head to the teen attempting to shy away form them in his seat. "Sorun, this is my loving wife Megan and our daughter Alexis. Meg, this is Sorun, the human that joined the Freedom Fighters and has been a big help to everybody."
"I wouldn't say I've been that big a help," Sorun quietly mumbled as he shuffled around in his seat. "I punched and stabbed a couple robots. That practically nothing compared to what everybody else has done."
"Oh, don't be so modest." When Sorun looked back upon hearing that statement, he almost had to look away again when he saw Megan beaming a large smile at him. "I'm always overhearing Sally tell Eli about how glad she is you became a part of the team."
It sounded to Sorun like he was being given too much credit, but he'd take any positives about himself he could get at this point. He saw that the child wrapped in a bundle of clothing was beginning to stir in Megan's grasp, and then he saw the brown-furred head of the squirrel infant lift up and turn towards Sorun. The human locked eyes with Alexis, the two being completely still for whole seconds as they silently stared at each other.
And then Alexis started crying.
Sorun's eyes widened in surprise when the infant started crying just at the sight of him, and he found himself shuffling further into his seat with an uncomfortable look on his face. Megan, still holding Alexis, was trying her best to sooth the child. Elias had even gone far enough to get up out of his own chair to try to assist his wife in calming their child while Sorun watched on.
"Why do kids always gotta ruin everything?" Sorun thought. He saw a third Mobian figure rush forwards to try an assist the couple with the child, and from a brief glance he saw a number of features on her that were similar to enough to Sally that he had a pretty good assumption on who she was. That assumption was all but confirmed when he heard her speak to Elias.
"Are you sure you don't need help with her, dear?" Came the worrying tone from the older woman.
"Mother, I'm telling you we're fine," Elias claimed, though the distressed tone to his voice implied otherwise.
Squeak.
There was something menacing about that metallic squeak Sorun heard right next to him. He wasn't sure what it was, just that, for whatever reason, he really didn't like it. He almost hesitated in turning his head towards the source just to see what it was, but he found his answer when he saw the wheels of a wheelchair out of the corner of his vision. He felt a bit better knowing it was just somebody in a wheelchair that stopped next to him, and the newfound courage allowed him to fully turn his head to the side.
All that courage immediately withered when he saw the Mobian sitting in that wheelchair and staring right at Sorun.
Sorun's first and likely correct assumption was that he was Elias' father, the former king. The teen remembered all too late of Elias telling him he was bound to a wheelchair these days. He was a squirrel like him, albeit much older-looking, especially with the white hair. He also gave off a very stern aura that seem to be directed right at Sorun, and the piercing gaze he was giving the human wasn't helping matters all that much. But, despite that, Sorun managed to muster up some newfound resolve within him and managed to turn his body just slightly to address the former king.
"Kids, huh?" Sorun asked, referencing to the crying child near them while nodding his head at the other.
"Yes. Kids," The aged Mobian replied as he turned his head towards Alexis. "It's quite strange. I live in the castle alongside my son and his step-daughter, and I can tell you from experience that the child rarely ever cries, especially with her parents present. I find it a bit odd how she became so distressed at the mere sight of you."
Sorun frowned. The undertone to his voice wasn't lost on him, and though Elias had warned him of such, and Sorun didn't even blame him, he at least wanted to try getting on good footing with the man. "I would like to point out that I am from a completely different zone where Mobians don't exist and have been nothing but help to everybody within Knothole upon my arrival here," Sorun carefully said. "But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Sorun."
"... Maximillian Acorn. Of the Royal House of Acorn." The Mobian turned his head back towards Sorun, and to somewhat the human's relief his features softened just the tiniest amount. "You'll have to forgive me. Your circumstances were made clear to me and I've been made aware you have been putting considerable effort towards the sake of the kingdom. For that you have my sincerest thanks. If I seem a bit off by your presence you'll have to realize that I have had little, if any, positive brushes with your kind."
"The war, yeah, I know," Sorun responded with a nod. "To be fair it's technically not my kind 'cause, again, different zone, but I get what you mean. Don't worry about it." To be honest, a single thanks for his efforts was a lot more than he had been expecting out of the man. He was expecting complete animosity towards him as a worst-case scenario, and while Maximillian didn't exactly seem overjoyed to be in Sorun's presence, he seemed to at least be willing to be fair with Sorun and give him a chance. He'd take that much alone without any hesitation.
Besides. They didn't exactly have to like each other in order to get along. Maximillian seemed to understand this sentiment as well as Sorun did based on the looks they gave one another, which caused the aged squirrel to scoff and turn back forwards.
"Right, how contentious of me," Maximillian said. "My apologies if I seem a bit overbearing towards you."
"Hey, man, as long as I don't get any grief for no good reason we're square."
Maximillian hummed. "Of course. I'm glad we understand each other." His eyes glanced towards the table, lingering on the tea cups and chess board, followed by him glancing back at Sorun. "You truly came all the way out here just to have an afternoon with my son?"
"Technically he was the one that invited me, but yeah," Sorun answered with a shrug. "I actually am friends with some Mobians, you know, your son included. I wouldn't be fighting for my life here if I actually didn't want to help save you all."
"I'm duly aware of this fact."
He didn't sound like he was, but he at least seemed genuine enough. That would have been good enough for Sorun, Though he was suddenly reminded of an important question he wanted to ask. Since they were on speaking terms at the moment and Sorun doubted he'd ever actively seek the former king to talk to him again or vice versa, he decided to ask now before he forgot again.
"... Hey, Maximillian, sir." The "sir" part almost made Sorun cringe, but he wanted to be as respectful as possible as to not cause any undue ire from Maximillain. It seemed to do the trick, as the squirrel turned his head towards Sorun to give him his attention. "You know that wooden tablet? You know, the one with the coordinates that brought me here? The one passed down in your royal family?" Sorun asked. "Tails told me they had to burn it because the tablet had instructions on it that said I couldn't see it. That honestly sounds really weird to me, but ignoring that for now... what was actually the deal with that tablet? It was in your family and you're the oldest one, so you'd know most, right?"
That tablet had been nothing but a constant hole being burned into the back of Sorun's mind, because that wood slab had been the sole reason his life had been ruined by being dragged here in the first place. There were so many questions he had about it that nobody seemed to have the answers to. Like who made it and why it seemed to be able to predict the future. Why it had coordinates pointing to a grocery store in Detroit in a whole other universe. Why Sorun couldn't have been allowed to see it.
The last one in particular really had him interested, but he doubted he'd ever get an answer to that, especially considering it was gone now. But maybe Maximillian, being the current elder of the Acorn family, would have at least some answers for Sorun. It wasn't like there was anybody else more likely than him.
Maximillian slowly nodded at Sorun's question, and then looked up in thought. "All things considered, you have a right to know. I'll tell you what I can." He looked back towards Sorun. "That wood tablet had been in the care of the Acorn family since the time of its founder, my ancestor Alexander. As the story goes, the Kingdom of Acorn, still in its budding youth, had mysteriously come under assault by a band of strange creatures. It's said that the kingdom's defenses were powerless in overcoming these creatures, though before any serious casualties occurred a mysterious stranger foreign to the kingdom, wielding what was described as a strange sword, vanquished the creatures."
Sorun, had been listening intently to the story, tilted his head with a questioning look on his face. "A mysterious stranger just came in and took care of the problem? Just like that?" He snapped his fingers for emphasis. "Who were they?"
The former king shook his head. "That, I cannot say, as the details were lost to history. This story comes from when my own father passed down the tablet to me when it was my turn to overlook it. He told me that, when my ancestor King Alexander went to thank this mysterious stranger for helping rid the kingdom of this menace, the stranger had presented to him the tablet with the single request to keep it protected by the royal family and to not have it read by anybody else other than the current king of the Kingdom of Acorn at a specific date during a time of great duress." He paused to take in a breath as Sorun absorbed his words. "The date arrived, and my son, the current king, read it along with the Freedom Fighters in the midst of the conflict with Eggman. Due to its seemingly prophetic writings they chose to follow its instructions. That is all I know, I'm afraid."
"So... the tablet was given to the Kingdom of Acorn. To the current king at the time no less," Sorun thought. "A mysterious stranger. And a specific time to read the tablet. A tablet with specific coordinates."
To the mysterious stranger, Sorun hadn't a clue; it was too vague for him to draw any conclusions. But it almost sounded like that not only was that portal meant to open at that grocery store, but that it was supposed to be opened at that specific time. And he just happened to be the only living soul even around at the time it opened. Not even that store employee he'd run into minutes prior had been there.
Was it just sheer coincidence that he happened to be there? Was it meant for somebody else, and the Freedom Fighters had just opened it an hour or two too early or late? The way Aurora and Athair described it implied any human from Earth could gain powers from absorbing Chaos Emeralds since nobody from Sorun's zone had a natural bond to the Chaos Force due to its nonexistence there. By that logic any human should have done.
So why was there a specific date tied to the contingency of not reading the tablet until a great conflict arose that necessitated its use? It had illustrations according to the other Freedom Fighters that suggested it predicted that conflict to be Eggman. But Eggman had been a problem for over a decade now with the world. So why now? Because this was at its worst?
And why the fuck did it predict Sorun liking orange juice back when Tails brought him that glass way back when?
"... I don't like how any of this sounds." Too many implications, too little information or proof to confirm or deny any of Sorun's suspicions. And much to his frustration, nobody had the answers he sought. Anything that even might have held a clue was nothing but ashes now. "It was just random chance I was the one that got pulled through the portal, right? Was it? I just don't know." With a sigh, he stood up off his chair. "Well, whatever. No use worrying over things I can't control. What's done is done."
"Thanks, Maximillian," Sorun muttered, stretching his stiff arms behind his back from having sat down for so long.
"The least I could do," the aged Mobian replied. "Did I answer any questions you had?"
"No, you just gave me a million more. But thanks anyways." He began stepping away from the wheelchair-bound Mobian towards the trio in front of him dealing with the child. Fortunately Alexis had calmed down by now as evidenced by the lack of crying sounds, and from what Sorun saw there were relieved faces all around that the child had finally calmed.
Well, at least some people were at ease. Sorun couldn't say he was in that group after his talk with Maximillian.
"Oh, Sorun!" The first to notice his approach was Elias, who then moved a couple of steps forwards to greet the approaching human. "Is everything well?"
"... Yeah." He glanced back at the Mobian sitting in the wheelchair behind him, and then looked back at Elias. "That your mom?" he asked, nodding his head to the older Mobian woman standing behind Elias.
"Hm? Oh, yes." Elias turned and gestured a hand out to her. "My mother, Alicia."
The older woman smiled at Sorun and waved in his direction. He met her gaze briefly to wave back, and then turned back to Elias. "Listen, man, it was great coming out here to spend and afternoon with you and meeting the family and all that, but I gotta get going. I got things to do."
By that he really meant that he was too unsettled by what Maximillian had told him to focus on anything else for the rest of the day, but fortunately Elias didn't look too far into Sorun's words and simply nodded in understanding. "Alright. I trust you'll be able to find your way back?"
"Yeah, I'll just go around the castle. Don't worry about it." Because there was no way he was taking the short way back through the castle. He'd get lost within the minute and never get out. He couldn't understand why they had to make the interior layout of castles so confusing.
"In that case, I'll bid you farewell," Elias said. "I'd say we should do this again sometime, but attaining free time to myself is a rare occurrence these days, and I'm sure that being a Freedom Fighter is an equally time-consuming position, so..."
"I get it. Don't worry about it." Sorun began walking backwards, waving a goodbye to Elias and the other members of his family standing behind him. "It was fun, Kingy. Have a good one."
Elias and the rest waved back to Sorun as he continued to walk away. He turned around when he got enough of the happy looks they were sending his way, his eyes briefly crossing Maximillian as he stepped away. The aged Mobian found it in himself to give Sorun a silent nod, which the human responded to by nodding in turn. He also chose to walk even faster in order to get away from them all as quickly as possible.
"I guess Elias is a pretty nice guy. Kinda rough how he got blindsided by this king position he's holding, but it looks like he's doing well enough now. Not surprising seeing how he's got such a great family. Good for him. Don't think his dad likes me too much, but eh, I can see why he'd be so salty over humans. 'Least he gave me a fair chance, which is honestly more than I could have asked for from the guy. All that stuff with the tablet, though... man, I really wish they didn't burn that thing. I woulda liked to have a look at it." He hummed in thought. "That thing must have been old, too,
There was no use thinking about it now, but it would have been nice to at least get some hint towards why things were the way they were. It would have been far from closure, but it would have been something for Sorun. At the very least it could have helped some of the questions he had.
But it was fine. His path was the same whether he knew the reason behind it all or not. He just would have liked to know why things were the way they were at the very least before he died. But he supposed it didn't matter much either way.
He needed a nap.
