Obsessing and Stressing

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Mission Infos:

Shadowhue was known for being dark, hence the name.  So dark that in some of the more densely forested areas it could be difficult to tell the time of day.  It was far darker at night.  It seemed as if this place was now the definition of darkness.  Visibility was little more than a few feet, making for an eerie and dangerous environment.  To top it all off, it was freezing....

Acually, the cold was more of a plus side for a certain glaceon who had decided to venture into the dark woods.  Sova had found that since evolving, he enjoyed the cold.  Likely because of his new ice typing.  One thing was not in a hurry to learn was how he handled something like desert heat now.

"Love what you've done with the place."  The icy fox sarcastically commented to the darkness that was Shadowhue Forest.  It wasn't like he had anyone to talk to.  May as well get used to talking to himself.  At least that would help keep his mind from wandering and playing tricks on him in the darkness.  Or maybe it would do the opposite.  Either way, he was here for the purpose of completing missions and no overly creepy atmosphere was going to stop him.

(37 energy NINJA EDIT)

Finally, something to break the silence.  Sova resisted the urge to sigh in relief.  Everything wasn't fixed just yet, but this was a good sign.  "Look, if what that thing said, hypothetically, was true, then neither of us can do anything for our selves.  Linus definitely isn't gonna be any help with that since he's hiding from us - probably moreso me than you -, so that just leaves us to solve this problem.  We'll just have to do things for each other instead." he suggested to the archeops, trying to make him feel less alone and insignificant.  He knew that feeling.  It wasn't fun.

He raised his right front paw up to offer a high five in the hopes of boosting morale.  His view was that it would be taken as some unspoken teamwork truce thing.  He just hoped Acro wouldn't leave him hanging.  That would be the ultimate dis.

The archeops stared at the glaceon, not sure what the eeveelution was doing, "What...are you doing?" he asked. Acro, still not knowing everything about civilization despite the time he had spent with it. The archeops had never been offered a high-five before. He ignored the parts about Linus, and instead just focused on what the glaceon was saying.
"Why....why would he be scared of you?" he asked, blinking in confusion.

Linus knew they were talking of him, they did not bother to whisper, although Acro he could barely hear due to the weak tone of the Archeops's voice. He felt rather guilty about it, but there he remained. He just had to be the best teammate in the universe, staying up in a tree, away from his partner in his greatest time of need, and just minding his own business.

Sova lowered his paw, seeing that the archeops had no clue what he was doing. "To answer your first question, that was SUPPOSED to be a high five. Someone puts up a hand, paw, wingclawthing or what ever they have as an appendage and you respond by hitting it with your own....wing....thing." he paused in hesitation as he dreaded having to explain his situation once again.

"Oh, why would he be afraid of me.... Because there's something in my head that comes out when I pass out. It's a complete psycho and all I've known it to do is mercilessly beat anything that crosses me. And he just got to see it. I guess you were too preoccupied to notice anything going on around you...." he hung his head. "So I might not know exactly how you're feeling, but I know you're upset.... and I can relate on that part." His voice seemed to imply more that he was disappointed than sad, though this was because he could only manage to outwardly tone his negativity down to disappointment at this point.

Acro didn't quite get what the glaceon meant, "So you were possessed by a ghost?" but decided not to say anything about it. He instead remained silent for a few more moments, before finally speaking, "S-sorry...I didn't know what that was..." he referred back to the high-paw the glaceon seemed to have wanted to do.
"I-I'm not really that smart when it comes to stuff like that, hell I barely know how to read and write...but that doesn't matter right now..." the archeops shook his head, dismissing the off track subject, "What about you? Are you okay?" he asked, deciding to get the subject of his failure to be strong off of him and turn it to a different one.

Meanwhile Linus was still off in the tree being a pussy wonderful teammate that deserves the teammate of the year reward.

Sova shrugged. "I'm not dead. That's all that matters. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get your "friend" to get down here." he said before turning around and taking a breath.
"HEY, LINUS! GET DOWN HERE AND BE SOCIABLE WITH US!" he shouted to the honchkrow, knowing full well speaking so loudly wasn't at all necessary to get his attention. He simply wanted to get his point across. He was sick of waiting for Linus to stop being antisocial.

Acro even flinched when the glaceon yelled, feeling that it wasn't really necessary to yell, but said nothing about it. The archeops shuffled his feet as he watched Linus take off the tree farther away, glide across the gap between them and him, and land in another tree nearby. His couldn't look Linus in the eyes, the Honchkrow knew of his troubles with partners now. He probably hated him for not telling him, was he going to quit becoming an explorer because of it now? The archeops was silent, looking at anything and everything but Linus, not desiring to see hateful eyes or even eyes of disappointment.

Linus flinched as his name was called, and he was demanded to return to them. Like a dog that had gotten in trouble with the owner, he took off the tree and made his way guiltily towards the duo. He landed in the tree above them on the lowest branch.
"There..." he spoke, looking down at the ground near them.

Sova sighed in relief that he didn't have to chase Linus down and drag him back then guilt-trip Acro into talking. "Thank you. Now, clearly there's a lot of tension. If you two keep trying to ignore it, it's just gonna get worse and worse until something gives in the worst way. So get it all out of the way right now. Say what you want to say. That includes anything you may want to say to me." he demanded more than suggested.

He could see the beginnings of a horrible end already and from what he'd recently learned about Acro's past, the archeops REALLY didn't need any more friendships to be horribly ruined for him. He didn't see any real worry for Linus, but the honchkrow really needed to stop being such a coward. Since they clearly weren't interested in making an active effort to fixing these problems on their own, he was going to do everything in his power to make them.

"You're both f*cking psychopaths that need mental help," Linus stated bluntly, the honchkrow looked between the two. His guilt having washed away now that he had been given permission to say as he pleased. Linus's talons gripped the tree, waiting for the glaceon to turn back on its word and snap at him for saying such a thing. The bird's wings were prepped, ready to take off if the monster-thing that was in the glaceon decided to pop out as well.

Acro cringed as he was called a psychopath, but felt defensive that Sova was called one, "He's not a psychopath..." the archeops muttered. He accepted being called that however, after all he did just break down at the simplest provocation. He should have toughed it out, been strong. He shouldn't have buckled under the pressure so easily...oh how weak he was...

((This just in, Acro doesn't quite understand what a psychopath is either))

Sova rolled his eyes at the overgrown murkrow's comment. "When I said say what you want, I expected you to say something other than the obvious." he responded, sounding bored an unamused. He'd really expected a lot worse than that. It was actually kind of disappointing. What a letdown. He looked up to Linus and prepared to speak. Seeing as how the two weren't being eventful on their own, he'd just have to give them a push.

"Linus, you need to stop being such a coward. You're willing to let your friend who took you in sit here and sulk himself to death because you're afraid of some hypothetical curse. Ever think maybe his friends got into so much trouble because of their selves? Maybe they were weak, too weak for him to protect. So, if you're destined to die, then you're destined to die with or without his help and personally, I'd advise you try to get as much help in AVOIDING that as possible instead of pushing away those capable of protecting you." he paused and turned his head to Acro.

"That goes for you too. Have you ever ONCE thought maybe your friends got hurt, killed and what ever else because they were weak or foolish, that just maybe, it was their fault? Instead of dwelling on how horrible you are for not always being able to be an absolute defense for everyone, try focusing on protecting those who are still around."

Acro...had never quite considered that. He thought for a moment, "But...if I had been strong enough I could have prevented it..." he spoke against the Glaceon, he had taken a moment to answer, having tried to consider the thought. George left because things didn't work out, and he DID say that he had gotten rather strong back at Serene Cave. Rusty he didn't even know was alive or not, for all he knew the pooch could have just been a jerk who just wandered off. Astrid had always been rather dim, but Tally...Tallulah was no excuse. She had gotten hurt because he was incapable of defending her when she could do nothing. Sure he helped her in the end, but she had still gotten hurt because of it.

If he had been stronger back then, George wouldn't have left. If he had been more attentive Rusty wouldn't have disappeared. If he had been able to fly he would have been able to catch Astrid. If he had been stronger in general he would have been able to fight for Tallulah.

If he had just been better, then everything would have been avoided. They were all stronger than him, so how could they all be weaker?

Linus stared down, "Anything is possible," he dismissed the thought of the curse being impossible with the teachings of his mother. He seemed to dismiss everything the glaceon had said with those three words. He was taught to always listen to legends, always listen to rumors, always consider the flip side. Anything was possible. He didn't want to risk the curse being true.

"Maybe, and if I had been stronger maybe I could have stopped my PARENTS from being killed by a crazy froslass.  You can blame your self if you want, but in the end you only have so much control over things, there's only so much blame that can be issued to you.  Sure, maybe you could have helped or stopped it if you were stronger, but dwelling on that possibility will do you no good.  Instead, focus on the present and the future.  You have a chance to do right by a teammate and instead, you're sitting here sulking." Sova continued attacking the small defense of the archeops before moving back to the honchkrow.

"Speaking of said teammate....  So what if it's possible that Acro's cursed?  Are you really gonna let fear dictate you and throw away a friendship, a team and a strong ally because of the possibility that something bad MIGHT happen to you?" he questioned Linus.  "Living a life in fear isn't really living at all.  Maybe you'll live a really long life acting like that, but you know what?  You'll hate the life you lived."

He couldn't help but wonder if all flying-types were this sensitive and stubborn.

(Sova the therapist gooooooo.)

Acro fell silent, running out of arguments as the Glaceon gave reason to them. He looked to the ground, "I guess you're right..." he spoke. He honestly just wanted to get moving, pretend none of this ever happened and just finish the mission and go home. The archeops looked up to the Honchkrow, wondering how he would respond. The response caused a deep pit to form in his stomach, he looked away, a bit hurt by the statement.

"Who said we were friends?" Linus said, his tone being a bit more cold that he had intended. He hadn't intended it to be that way at all, "Er...I mean...well yeah i mean that but...you know?" he spoke, hoping that they would get that he wasn't trying to be a complete jerk.

Sova sighed at the crow's remark. "Why are you here? If it's not because he's your friend, why are you with him? No one's forcing you to stay." he questioned Linus, expecting the honchkrow to attempt to make up some lie to defend himself.
He was hoping for this, because he already had a plan to end this little debate and get the two birds back together. He'd all but completely lost his ability to think strategically in fights, but he could still do it outside of fighting.... At least, when the well-being of someone else was at stake.

"He uh...was assigned to be a team with me..." the archeops spoke after a moment of silence.
"There's not too many pokemon in Ailreon, so the guildmaster thought it would be best if the only two members would be a team together," Linus continued for the Archeops. He adjusted his grip on the branch below him, "If we're going to look for that lost phantump, could we please get moving? Don't you still have a mission to do?" Linus was getting rather uncomfortable with the glaceon's words. The look on the archeops didn't quite settle well with him either. Guilt was raking at his heart, but it was soothed with a sense of doing what's right.

Acro remained where he was, wondering just what to do to make everything better. Why did this all have to happen? Why did Linus have to find out?

OBJECTION!

Sova shook his head at the honchkrow's suggestion to get moving.  "First, I've got one more thing to say.  I didn't ask why you're on a team with him, I asked why you're here.  Why are you with the guild, doing missions?  If it's not because he's your friend, the only two possibilities are that you're doing it to improve some qualities about your self, or you're doing it to help others.  You don't have to tell me which it is if you don't want to, but just consider this; you're gonna need to be brave to succeed, regardless of what your goal is.  So try to stop being scared every little thing's gonna kill you.  At the very least, don't let fear rule you."

The glaceon turned and walked past Acro, having said everything he wanted to say.  Linus could defend himself if he wanted, but all that mattered is that he at least thought about Sova's words.  The glaceon didn't want to see where the crow continuing down his current path would lead him.  He looked back and waited for the two to get moving, specifically Acro as he was half expecting Linus to just run off at this point.  Or....fly off.