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Warden Melli was an easily understandable person in many ways, and impossibly difficult in many other ways. Ingo could find him agreeing with everything they say one day, only to be borderline aggressively against their stance the next. Regardless, it was clear what progress Melli needed to do to become a person they liked. They'd already done plenty of work in this regard (Ingo was not there for it, obviously, but heard discussions of a shy and timid child) but the answer they needed next was obvious- they needed to dismiss their stubborness and harsh outer shell and give the opinions of others a chance. This isn't a world where they're a child waiting to be picked on anymore. To Ingo, this was easy to understand. What wasn't easy to understand was how he could tell this.
Warden Ingo sat alone on top of a mild peak, watching the sunset while Lady Sneasler went for a climb. He wasn't always up to go along with her; a human needs more rest than a Pokemon lord (or lady), for sure! He hummed and hawed as his gaze went in and out of focus, the sky melting from a brisk blue to a warm orange, down to a deep red. When it was about to reach purple, and that funny little feeling Ingo got whenever he saw the color was about to resurface, he heard footsteps from behind him.
"Oh, hello, Warden Ingo. Sorry for intruding!" Melli laughed, clearly not sorry for interrupting. They took a seat beside Ingo, leaving a respectable amount of space. Ingo hummed and nodded his head in their direction, still a little bit lost in his thoughts.
"No issue. Good evening, Warden Melli." His speech was almost quiet (well, for Ingo's standards) as he didn't want to disturb the silence of the sunset. While he didn't mind the noise and bustle of the town and battles at all- quite the opposite- there was a lot to be said about what some peace and quiet can do for you. Ingo was content to continue this silence, never one to go out of his way to start up a conversation with others, but.. he could tell Melli had other intentions. Just from the corner of his eye, he could tell the warden had a slightly impatient look on their face, pursing their lips and tapping a finger against the ground. Ingo wonders for a moment, as he has many times before, if his ability to read people was something he was talented at or if Melli was just that obvious.
"Something to say?" Melli startled at the words, blinking in shock at Ingo.
"Ah, well, yes! Haha, I guess I don't just hang out for no reason, huh." They seemed almost a little bitter, but not towards the other warden; no, towards themselves. Unhappy with their wording, maybe? Ingo finds himself feeling that way often. He tries to be as precise and long winded as he needs to be to get a point across. Ingo decided to simply shrug as a reply, finding a ‘no, you don’t’ to be redundant. Melli huffed, passing through whatever internal transit they were struggling through, turning slightly towards Ingo.
“I wanted to ask about your memory loss.”
A beat passed, and then another. Ingo was a bit at a loss here, not sure what new information the warden could possibly offer up. But sensing there was some other kind of intention behind the query, he gave a curt nod.
“Ok.”
.
A few tens of minutes passed with the two of them going back and forth over the usual information: So you really don’t remember anything? No. Not even your family? No, nor do I know if I have one. And your hobbies, too? Nothing of the sort. For a good amount of time, Ingo figured that maybe he was wrong and Melli really did just want to talk at a wall for a bit. By this point they were laying on the ground, staring up at the stars. He wondered for a second if the stars were the same wherever he came from, before releasing the thought. No reason to ask unanswerable questions. Or so he had figured.
“Do you think you were a good person?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, sorry, was that a bit much? Haha. Not to say you’re bad now, just wondering. Can’t have always been that polite, right?” Melli picked at their nails, trying to hide their anxiety with a half hearted joke… compliment? Ingo would have another introspective rant about that if he wasn’t so caught up on the question.
“...can I ask why you want to know that?” Ingo furrowed his eyebrows, looking down at the splotchy grass. He heard a hum from beside him, still not looking.
“I guess I just wanted advice on change from someone who’s not a complete loser in current times. You’ve been decent enough, or whatever, so. I don’t know. Maybe asking the amnesiac was a bad idea.” A wince made itself present the instant the words left their mouth, but Ingo waved a hand at them before the awkward cover-up could begin.
“Perhaps. Though, I think I can try to give you advice based on what I think I would do..? It may not be anything solid, but it might be enough.” It could also help me, Ingo thought to himself. More often than not, he found himself most useful when he was doing something with or for others, so talking about feelings and the past could reasonably do the same, right? Besides, he would feel bad waving Melli off after all the effort they were putting into this conversation. It might not be obvious to the likes of Adaman and the others, but it was to him.
“Fine with me. Whatever works, I’ll try it out.” A shrug, nearly mirroring Ingo’s from earlier. He hummed, trying to find a good starting spot. With a small amount of planning in his head later, Ingo began to speak.
“I think… It matters less to look at yourself as parts in time and more to see yourself as something that is always changing. The track leads forward, no matter the car. You will always be a passenger. If when you boarded you were one way, and now you are another, you did not leave the train to do that. I hope this makes sense.” Tipping his hat, Ingo glanced up at the sky. Lots of stars, and a waning gibbous moon. He wonders if he’s had this conversation before.
“Eh. Halfway. I don’t get a lot of your gibberish language still, but you’re baaaasically saying I’m still me no matter where I am?” Ingo nodded. “Well, that sounds more like advice for you.” They scoffed, closing their eyes.
“I know you can’t just up and forget about your forgotten past because there’s important things there, but you should really let yourself exist here. You’ve already got a place as Lady Sneasler’s warden and I know Irida trusts you greatly. Like, I’m not your boss or some kind of emotional expert, but you don’t owe your past anything. If you can’t remember it, why bother? Pay attention to the present. What’s going on now in almighty Sinnoh’s wonderful space and time, or whatever.” A slight blush made itself present on Melli’s cheeks about halfway through the statement, clearly a bit unused to giving sentimental advice. Especially not unprompted. Which was fine, though, because Ingo was not used to receiving it.
Most everyone treated him as a pity case, simply wishing him well that one day he would remember what he had forgotten and.. Well, and then what? For the first time, Ingo was really thinking about what he would do after remembering. He would still be here. He would still be Lady Sneasler’s warden. He would still eat potato mochi and go for night walks and speak in his local tongue. Does it really matter so much to try and grasp for something you can’t even name when you’ve got plenty that makes you happy in the present?
“Sorry. If I overstepped.” Melli muttered, nervous about Ingo’s long silence.
“No, no, it’s… I think perhaps I needed to hear that. Warden Melli.” The aforementioned warden let out a small hum, looking down at their lap.
“So much for helping me, huh?” The two of them both chuckled, Ingo shaking his head.
“I’m not done. I think you should consider your situation as if you were in my shoes.” Upon hearing their confusion, he continued. “If you were to suddenly wake up one day without remembering a single thing about yourself beyond your name, would you spend your time worrying if you were a good person in the past or simply be one now? It can be hard to let go of things regardless of how clearly you can recall them, of course. But if you really want to change, Melli, simply let yourself. That is all I can say to you.” They gave Ingo a surprisingly unreadable glance before looking away, picking at the grass.
“...do you think they’d accept that?” The unlabeled they was, of course, the entirety of Hisui. Warden Melli had established himself as petty and abrasive to all. Ingo shook his head, taking a rare chance to make eye contact with Melli.
“Would you?”
A sigh.
“Stop talking like you know everything about me. It’s exhausting.” The words were very obviously not meant to be taken seriously, spoken with a small smile on Melli’s lips. They looked out at a cliff, spotting Lady Sneasler meandering, giving the two of them space. They huffed.
“I don’t know. Obviously the change starts with me, yadda yadda, but it’s scaryyyy! I don’t want to think about going through all of this just for everyone to see me the same way as they do now!” Covering their face with their hands, Melli let out a deep whiny sigh.
“How are they supposed to know it’s genuine? I haven’t really given them much to work with.” Ingo hummed. Couldn’t really say no to that, but…
“Perhaps I could conduct you? Lead you into it and talk to the others by your side. As you’ve said, many trust and respect me, so I would be a good representative.” Ingo thought it was a relatively tame idea, but the shocked gasp that came from Melli suggested otherwise.
“Uh, you’d seriously risk your reputation just to make people like me more?” The warden had a look of stark disbelief on their face, looking as if they’d just been told the sky was bright green. Chuckling, Ingo adjusted his hat.
“Of course. After all, I am choosing to be a good person now regardless of the past.” Melli laughed- laughed, out loud, light and nearly giddy- before shaking their head, unable to stop a grin from spreading. Ingo could feel himself smiling too.
“Whatever, man.”