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Osiris didn't think there was ever a time when the streets of Grassveil weren't busy.

Having been born and raised in Grassveil, he'd spent much of his early childhood slithering all over the place at every given opportunity. The dratini was confident enough to make the claim that he knew his hometown like the back of his tail, and he definitely moved like it. He waded his way through the streets, snaking through the legs of much taller and larger pokemon, dragging behind him an empty leather satchel affixed to his neck by a strap.

"Excuse me—pardon me—comin' through~," he called out absently, his first stop of the day clear in his mind. That stuffy old book store that his mom used to drag him into when he was little.

Usually, he spent his time reading at home or playing with his friends, or occasionally working up the nerve to explore one of the forests surrounding Grassveil. It wasn't so, today; Osiris had an actual, bonafide errand to run. Classes at Peak had just started, and while Osiris had attended his first one already—his instant favorite, Countering—he had preparations to make for the second. School supplies, essentially. His second major was Essential Skills, so he figured it was probably a good idea to show up to class with at least the ability to take notes.

He didn't know what he specifically needed, but as he lived in town, he could afford to just get a few things and pick up others as he needed them. Today's list was simple - some writing utensils, some paper, and whatever else jumped out at him while he was out.

The dratini came to a reluctant stop at his destination, a decrepit, sad little structure with a sign out front reading Grassveil, Used Books and Other Goods. He heaved a long-suffering sigh before steeling himself and slithering through the open door, resigned to his fate.

(whoops my b)

"Well, why wouldn't I wanna join the guild?" Osiris fired back, a skip in his slither while he talked. "You get to explore, be a hero, beat up bad guys and bring 'em to justice, rescue people, find cool treasures, and you get paid for it all, too!" he went on, enthusiasm coloring his tone the more he spoke. "It's like a dream job. I've always wanted to join up, really, but I've never thought of myself as tough enough to make the cut.

"I'm gettin' there, though." Iris finished with a grin. With every practice foray into the nearby forest dungeons, he felt a bit more confident in his own skills. And now that he had started battling classes at Peak, it was only a matter of time until he was a force to be reckoned with in a fight! And he'd take the guild by storm when he joined up, rise up through the ranks 'til he was one of the most famous and cool explorers ever. Just a matter of time, at this point.

Alki had a whole host of answers to his initial (and probably intended to be rhetorical) question. For one, she could mention the dangers that seemed to be present even in the most seemingly-benign tasks. There was always the threat of ferals, of outlaws, of getting hopelessly lost in some icky marsh, getting beat up by otherwise nice strangers, having to deal with Pokemon interactions...

But she didn't have a chance to even mention these things, even if she'd wanted to. And she didn't want to in particular either... He seemed so excited...

"Oh..." Alki said, nodding along. "Yeah..." She didn't want to be a downer, but she really had no clue what she was supposed to say... She simply responded to the most attention grabbing aspect of his explanation and tried to roll with it.

"W-W-What kinda people are the bad guys, d-do you think? A-And... Uh... H-How badly... Uh... W-Would you beat em up?" She asked, suddenly revealing herself to be more nervous than even she had thought. "I-I'm... Uh. S-Sure you're tough enough, r-r-regardless, though..." She shifted her bag from one side of her body to the other as she struggled to keep up with the Dratini's relatively fast pace. He really seemed excited...

"Oh. Um, I dunno, I mean... you know, there's bad guys and there's bad guys, right?" Osiris stopped to consider for a moment, halting his hurried movement so that the jigglypuff could catch up to him. "And there's the police in town, and traveling's a big part of the job, so I'd probably wanna go after the big, big outlaws, you know? The ones who don't spend their time picking on little kids and doing petty stuff. Big bounty foreign outlaws, I think!

"And, I wouldn't ever wanna really hurt someone. Just enough to bring 'em in so they can, like, go to jail or whatever they do with outlaws when they get caught." he said, blinking a few times as he thought about it. What did happen to outlaws when they got captured? Did they just stay in jail forever? "But, you know, I'm not even in the guild yet. It's gonna be foreeeeever before I get to even think about tracking down outlaws! Let alone big ones. Hah. I bet I'd lose to even the weakest one right now." he went on, laughing self-deprecatingly for a moment. It would be a very, very long time before Osiris could even think about taking a job like that. He wasn't even in the guild yet! Kind of arrogant of him to be talking that way, honestly.

Talking about bringing in criminals after just one Battling class at school and a few poffins—he was really getting ahead of himself. He had lots of training, practice, and studying to do before he could even join the guild, he figured.

Alki finally caught up with Iris, and slowed her own pace back down. The girl held her bag in both of her hands, nervously considering what the Dratini was explaining. Apparently, there were bad guys, and BAD guys, and... there was a difference, somewhere? She wasn't sure. The explanation was a bit vague, all things considered. So... what kind of bad guy would he say she was, anyways? This question nagged at her mind, but asking him what kind of bad guy a thief would be oddly specific. Although, to be quite honest, she didn't think of them as bad guys at all...

Well, it didn't really matter anyways... Alki perked up as he explained how he wouldn't really want to hurt anyone. Just... a bit? Even the big outlaws? What if it was someone dangerous? Alki was about to ask as he paused, but he began to speak again. His tone of voice seemed different than it used to be... a bit softer, and noticeably more bitter... He sounded kinda like her... and that wasn't good! "H-Hey... I-I don't think so..." It wasn't good that he sounded like her... She got a pass because she was right about herself, but he didn't get that pass! He seemed awfully nice, and even if he'd just met him, Alki was sure that he was wrong... And she wanted to make sure he knew that! "T-There's... y-y'know... there's a lot of different kinds of outlaws..." Alki paused, choosing her words carefully. She wanted to comfort him, but at the same time... she'd rather avoid any suspicious comments. "H-Hell, t-there's probably some that are a lot like you  or me! Y-Y'know... B-Besides, the... uh... the good guys tend to beat the bad guys, right?" She said, offering a small smile. Hopefully that was enough to make him feel better. She'd hate to see him sad...

An idea occurred to the jigglypuff, which caused her to stop as she considered it. She didn't really like fighting, but at the same time... maybe it'd be useful to make him feel better? "H-Hey! If you're so sure about that, w-we could always... uh... y-y'know. P-Pretend I'm an outlaw? A-And then we could... U-Uh... pretend fight? Y-Y'know..." Alki mumbled, falling silent. The idea sounded better in her head, but what could she do now? Despite her embarrassment, she smiled again, hoping he'd play along with it.

The dratini nodded along hesitantly, not entirely sure what Alki was getting at but unwilling to really say as much. It sounded like she was trying to cheer him up and imply it wouldn't be so one-sided, but she'd only just met Osiris today. How would she know if he was any good in a fight? He'd only taken the one battling class, and beyond that, he'd only explored like half a mystery dungeon. Iris was not the most accomplished fighter, but he opted not to say as much. He'd ragged on himself enough for one day.

"I thought you didn't like fighting though," he noted. "I mean, that sounds like fun, don't get me wrong, but only if you think it would be, too..." He was perfectly willing to go a round or two with the jigglypuff in a practice fight of course; She'd read him her resume as far as dangerous opponents went earlier, so seeing how he stacked up would be interesting. But if she wasn't going to enjoy it, he didn't want to pressure anyone into doing something they'd rather not—even if it was their idea.

Alki felt quite nice as the Dratini seemed to take her suggestion at face value. Her ears perked up and eyes seemed to grow wider as he at least seemed to take her suggestion seriously. She'd been worried he'd laugh it off, or simply continue to be mean to himself, so she felt quite relieved to see that that wasn't the case. The girl seemed to liven up after her earlier stuttering, and considered his statement calmly. He was right, of course. She hated fighting, because she was garbage at it. What wasn't she garbage at, though? Regardless, even if she hated it, she hated to see him be so upset with himself, too. She knew what that felt like... and he clearly had redeeming qualities, so she wanted to help him out too...

Alki smiled through her rapidly-bittering thoughts, attempting to suppress them as she nodded, much more excited than she felt. "I mean, I-I don't, but... " Alki began, bouncing nervously from foot to foot. It was true that she didn't like it, but she wanted to make him feel better... but she'd feel silly just saying that... "I-I gotta practice things I don't like from time to time, y'know... to... uh... y-y'know... w-well, I'd like to be useful to my sister, one day... y'know?" Alki said. That much was true, she'd love to be useful to Darcy...   "B-But... Uh. Y-Yeah... I-It might be fun..." She said, not believing her own words at all. The fighting wouldn't be fun at all, but he seemed to think it would be... and in the end, it was him that mattered! If he turned out happy, then nothing else really mattered... besides, it couldn't be worse than last time she'd been in a fight...

"If you're sure...then yeah," Osiris nodded, allowing the suggestion to take root. "That sounds fun. No such thing as bad practice."

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested in Alki and how she actually fought; her teleportation trick was super impressive, and she had mentioned fighting a charizard once upon a time! Couple those things with the fact that her sister was a bonafide guild member, and you had a pretty serious resume built up. The jigglypuff did seem quite nervous, true, but against him? It wasn't that Osiris lacked confidence in himself or his species - he was a dragon type, so one day he'd be a strong fighter no matter what. But he was a ways off from that day yet, so Alki could doubtlessly perform decently, more likely even beat him.

Maybe he'd learn something too, in the meantime. "There's plenty of room around my place if you wanna come by sometime," Osiris offered, thinking of his home on the outskirts of Grassveil. It was quite a walk from town proper, true, but he loved the quiet that came with being away from all the hustle and bustle. "Or even just practice at school—I'm sure they've got places we can practice and stuff."

The girl nodded in response, the Dratini's words returning at least a bit of her cheeriness. He had said that there was no such thing as bad practice, and truthfully, Alki believed him. For better or for worse, people tended to be quite honest with her. So even if she was going to bite the dust in this mock fight in rapid fashion, at least she already had the reassurance that it wouldn't be a complete waste of Osiris' time. "Alright," Alki said, her voice noticeably less stuttery than before. "I-I guess that's settled, then."

One of her ears twitched as a smile returned to her face.He already seemed to be feeling better, and by extension, that seemed to validate her presence, at least in her own mind. The jigglypuff bounced up and down lightly, a bit excited despite herself. It'd hurt for a bit. But in the end, once Osiris won, he'd have a higher opinion of himself! At least, hopefully. That was the whole point of this, wasn't it? To give him a bit of confidence? Even if it was at her own expense. She'd never have confidence, mostly because she didn't really have any right to it...

"O-Oh..."   Alki mumbled, the question of locale suddenly presenting itself. His 'place', or school... both seemed kind of frightening... She stopped her bouncing, considering her options. His house likely had parents inside, and that seemed like a coin flip... she'd only ever known two sets of them, and one had been... well... Alki blinked, trying her best to stop that train of thought, although it persisted in the back of her mind. It was best to focus on Darcy's... those parents had been good to her... so she supposed it was like a coin flip. But if they went to the school, then that would possibly have kids in it... And the other kids when she'd been at the pond hadn't been pleasant to her at all... and if she lost in front of kids like that? "Um... Your place sounds good, I think." She said, the stuttering still removed from her voice, although the nervousness had certainly returned. She supposed she'd see how things turned out in time... "W-Where is that?"

"Oh, it's west from here, just outside town," Osiris answered, pausing his slither and rearing up. He reached his head up and looked off in the distance as if he'd be able to spot his house from where he sat. "It's a bit of a walk from here, though. I dunno if you'd wanna go all that way just to practice battling. You said you lived in a mystery dungeon, yeah?"

It was hard to judge the position of the sun given the eternally cloudy sky nowadays, but it had only been around noon when he went to the book store. At worst, maybe an hour had passed since then, but if they took too long at his house it'd probably be dark by the time Alki went home. And the prospect of sending her home to a mystery dungeon at night...well, if Osiris ever went home that late, his mom would scold him very fiercely. The last thing he wanted was for Alki to have to suffer through that with her parents or her sister just for him.

"It'll be getting dark by the time we get into it, probly," he explained, his tone equal parts rueful and light. "I wouldn't want you to get chewed out for coming home late or nothing. Take a rain check? Maybe you can visit after school one day and we can do it then." Osiris suggested, still visibly eager to practice with the jigglypuff beside him. And it was genuine. His concern for the fairy-type next to him just overrode his own selfishness in this instance—an admittedly rare occurrence for him.

"West...? " Alki repeated after the dratini. She didn't actually really know where west was, but she made a good show at pretending she did. She looked off in the same general direction as Osiris. "I know where that is... "  Alki said,  her voice dragging, and quite unsure. Still, no matter where it was, she'd be willing to spend some time there. It's not like she ever had anything else to do... "I'm fine with a walk... I-I mean... if you are. " The truth was that Alki quite liked spending time with this Pokémon. He was nice and he was happy all the time, and he seemed really genuine too! Not at all like her. And she liked that! Plus, maybe if she hung out with him, some of that would rub off on her, too.

"I-I'd love to, honestly... and I just used to live in a mystery dungeon. N-Now, I'm... uh... Alki paused, hesitant to tell the truth. It'd be awkward... and he'd get the wrong idea if she told him she was a guild member. It was only true technically anyways... "L-living with my sister... even though I'm not a guild member... h-honestly... I feel a bit out of place..." Alki said, her ears drooping as she paused for a bit too long, leaving the mood of the conversation a bit more somber than she intended. That fact still upset her, and it showed... she likely cared too much for someone pretending to not be a guild member, but... it was hard to hide that... she wanted to be like Darcy...

"Um... but..." Alki finally continued, nodding. "She doesn't mind too much if I get home a bit late, since... um... w-well... I'm living w-with her..." Alki paused, bouncing up and down nervously. "S-So... I'd love to go... i-if... um... y-you'll have me..." Alki paused, a question from earlier resurfacing in her mind. "B-But... uh... d-do you have parents? L-Like... l-living at your house..."

Osiris nodded along as Alki spoke, eagerly accepting what she had to say. Living at the guild despite not being a member—Alki didn't know how good she had it! It almost made him wonder whether or not he could stay with his dad at the guild, but after a lifetime of not knowing the dragonite the thought was not as inspiring as he might have assumed. Instead, he smiled easily at the jigglypuff. "Yeah, my mom and I live together," he answered. "It's a little cramped sometimes—not 'cos our house is small or anything, but she can be kind of a lot. She's a great cook, though!"

He was a bit shocked that the other pokemon was so willing to just blow off the rest of the day to hang out with a dratini that she just met, but he was equally willing, so who was he to judge? Spending some time sparring with his newest friend wasn't a bad way to kill time, and maybe his mom would let him walk Alki back to the guild after they were done if it wasn't too dark. The thought brought a bit of pep to his slither, and with gusto, he took off a leisurely slither.

"My dad lives at the guild...probably. Which is cool, I guess. What are rooms like up there?" he asked, questions bypassing whatever weak filter he had and firing off one after another. "Does it depend on what your rank is? You don't gotta share with anyone who's not your teammate, right?" Osiris had a strict non-spoil policy for himself when it came to some aspects of guild life; He wasn't going to go inside until he was ready, and he wasn't going to show up as weakling and waste anyone's time. When he joined up, he wanted to join up with a strong teammate and take the ranks by storm. But asking about the rooming situation...well, that was just good sense. If it wasn't so great, he could just keep living at home.

Alki smiled softly, torn on her feelings towards being around someone's parents. She'd only ever known her own and Darcy's, and they were about as different as any set of people could be... what would his mom be like? Hopefully more like Darcy's than hers... If he turned out like this though, then that was probably the case! Maybe she would've been more like that if her parents were nice... but happy people generally had happy parents, too... Just like Darcy! That thought comforted the fairy type, who seemed to perk up with confidence at this thought. "I-I... uh, I can't wait to meet her, then!"

The girl tilted her head as a thought occurred to her. What did a lot mean when it came to a person? Did that just mean... Did that mean they were big? Well... it made sense... Dratinis were a dragon type, right? And... didn't Dragons tend to get rather big? Oh... well, maybe she'd be a bit of an underwhelming friend, then... Alki held her bag snugly to her chest, her ears twitching as she listened to what he had to say next. A good cook, huh... The jigglypuff blinked a couple of times, surprised at her own reaction. She'd spent a lot of time as a little kid rather hungry, and what food she did get was rarely well prepared...  It made sense that other kids parents would go out of her way to cook for their children... "Dang... Y-you're lucky... m-my parents weren't very good..." Alki mumbled absently, before realizing she'd cut her sentence off a bit too early. "A-At... uh... c-cooking, I mean..."

Maybe she'd get a bit of food, she thought, although it'd be embarrassing to just ask for some... Alki listened attentively to what he had to say next, noting both his question, and the small thought that came before it. His dad probably lived at the guild? Alki's pace slowed down a bit as her ears and gaze curved gently downwards. So... he wasn't sure... He certainly seemed to love the guild, but his reaction to Alki's sister being in the guild had been much more enthused than his own dad being in it. So... was his dad not good? Did he just not know him very much? Alki kicked at the dirt, creating a small cloud before trotting forwards to catch up with the Dratini, having fallen behind a bit. Regardless, something seemed to be different about Iris's relationship with his dad. He seemed so much more excited than everyone else they'd talked about today... and his dad was in the guild! Or she was just overthinking things... That was probably the case. Things were fine...

"U-Um... it's..." She paused, searching for the words to explain it. "I-It's a bit dark... but I like that. Um... everything's lit by candles, and the rooms are pretty big, so... it can get kinda warm. But it's spacious! And that warmth is great in winter, and you can decorate the rooms however you like! My... uh... t-the area where I sleep isn't very decorated though... I-I don't know what to do for that, and... um... a-anyways..." Alki paused, embarrassed at having gotten off-track. "I-I don't think it depends on rank. I-I've... never met high ranking people..." She had, but truthfully, she didn't want to get into that... it hadn't been a good time for her. And that probably wasn't what he wanted to hear, anyways... He'd probably respect high ranking people even more... "B-But... I don't think you have to share with people who aren't teammates. Y-You can if you want, though... W-We could even have you over, if you'd like to visit at some point!" She said, laughing a bit. It would certainly be nice... although she'd have to tell Darcy about her little fib at some point... It wouldn't be good if Darcy just outted her as a guild member... He'd probably dislike her if he realized that she'd lied... Alki bit her lower lip nervously, her laugh subsiding. She really shouldn't have lied...

"Maybe," Osiris allowed, grinning easily. He could see himself spending a lot of time hanging out with Alki and her sister once he joined up with the guild. She was fun, easy to talk to, encouraging, and straight up just good company. "Sounds great, either way. Home's nice and all, but I'm kind of eager to stretch my wings, you know?" Putting aside the fact that he didn't have any wings to stretch in the first place, that is. Osiris spoke with the kind of easy arrogance of a kid who'd never gone hungry or even tasted the most minor hardships of life.

He led the two of them around the corner and down a side-street, mostly confident in the direction he was going in. Some of the stalls and buildings looked familiar, anyway, and they had plenty of light to work with. Worst case scenario, they found something interesting to kill some time with on the way back home. "I'd want, like, medals or something. In my room, that is, for decorating it and stuff. Or just trophies and rewards. Stuff you get for completing missions. It'd be nice to have a wall full of accomplishments that you got to look at every morning." he mused absently, imagining a cluster of make-believe rooms in the guild. Alki painted a very clear picture that was easy to work with.

Alki nodded, pushing the emerging feelings of unease back down from wherever those thoughts came from. She felt a bit tired, after eating so much and after running around and teleporting and stuff... Well, at least she had an excuse for when she did badly in this mock-fight... She just hoped she wouldn't do so badly so as to disappoint the Dratini, or his mother. If she did... well, when she did, she'd just have to figure out some other way to make up for it... but she could worry about that when she got there.

Alki listened quietly as the Dratini began to talk about how he would decorate his room once he was in the guild. Truth be told, Alki found it a bit too much. She wasn't half the guild member that Darcy was, and she had a bit of distaste for guild members as a whole at the moment. After interacting with a Glaceon that seemed to be one of the guild's premier members... well, if that was what success looked like there, she didn't like it. She liked what Darcy had done with her part of the room; mostly, there were books everywhere. Her sister was so smart, and Alki was so jealous of her... She couldn't even really read herself... Regardless, she wanted to tell the Dratini her thoughts on it, but she didn't think he would like it. She instead simply responded with a detached "Mhm," nodded, and left it at that.

Alki watched the fading sunlight with detached curiousity. It looked rather pretty; the months when the sun set later than usual also tended to produce the most bright and colorful sunsets, for whatever reason. She didn't really care about the reason. "It's pretty, don't you think?" Alki asked after some time of quietly enjoying the sunset as they walked. The Dratini seemed nice, and even if he was overly proud of the guild, it's not like he seemed to know many people actually in it... Besides, the Glaceon might have soured her opinion of it, but there were still good people there... Her sister being the prime example. It's not like the guild made someone a worse person fundamentally somehow... Suddenly, she felt bad about leaving him with such a curt reply after he detailed so much of what he was going to do.

"A-And about earlier... I'm sure you'll... Uh..." She paused and swallowed, suddenly feeling embarrassed about suddenly piping up. Just because she felt bad didn't mean she should speak up... She was probably about to make things worse. She looked away from the Dratini and back towards the sunset, a small nervous smile on her face as she continued. "G-Get a lot of accomplishments. And trophies. And rewards. I t-think you're right, i-it'd be cool..." Getting to have a wall of accomplishments to look at every morning certainly seemed like a good self esteem booster. It'd probably help her. Then again, you had to earn those kinds of trophies, didn't you? And she wasn't about to earn any recognition in anything... The jigglypuff wilted, and her smile was replaced by an overly neutral expression as she gazed at the now setting sun. No need to be so down...

"A-Are we almost there?" She finally asked, wondering just how much time had passed since they'd begun their trek. It certainly felt like a lot, but speaking with other people always seemed to make time go slower for her... Maybe that was just how conversations worked...

"Oh, uh, yeah," Osiris shot back, caught off-guard by the query. They were almost there, as things were. Not quite, but a turn here and there and one last stretch of road out of town, and they'd be at his house on the outskirts of Grassveil. "Few minutes, I think. And yeah... it is pretty." he went on, a bit squeamish about admitting that something was pretty. Not a very masculine thing to do, in his opinion.

He led the two of them on a ways forward, and before long the buildings and stalls that surrounded them turned into tall grass. It looked like they were on their way out of town, but just over the hill, one could spot the smoke trail of a busy chimney jutting out of a modest, one-story house. Leading up to the front door was an array of shrubbery, flowers, and a small garden nestled close to the house. At a glance, it was an extremely cozy, domestic settlement.

"That's it, there," he pointed out, a bit of energy returning to him at the sight of his house in the distance. "Mom's probably cooking dinner, you can tell by all the smoke coming up from the chimney. Hope you're hungry."