Rubik's.... Tube?

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Taking the lead.... was not something Sova fancied doing. However, most of the group he was with didn't quite seem capable of leading the way and he didn't want to make Mirage have to do it, so he decided to do it himself. No one seemed to complain, so all seemed well.... then they reached the end of the hall they'd gone down, with a fairly normal-looking door. He pushed it open to find what appeared to be the inside of a cylindrical tower, with a stairway spiraling up along the single, circular wall. He looked up to see there were torches lined along the wall in the same pattern as the stairs. The lights clearly continued very far up, but he couldn't seem to see the ceiling. Was it really that far up, or was this just some kind of optical illusion created by the house?

"Uuuh.... I hope no one's afraid of heights," he said to the group as he held the door open for them, still staring up.
None of them could fly, so this place seemed pretty dangerous for everyone in the group. They would likely get to a point where one wrong move could condemn someone to.... death. He wasn't too worried about it being his own death, but some of the members of their merry little group were probably nowhere near as experienced as him.

Krikka followed along, trying to stay in the middle of the group so that if anyone got attacked, it wouldn't be her. She looked in her bag as she walked to see if Plush-Vee was still there, and sure enough, it was. Maybe there'd been a Ghost-type trying to scare her using it before, but it didn't seem interested in moving anymore, so whatever had been going on with it didn't seem to be going on anymore. That didn't matter, though, she was fine with just having the plush doll with her.... it looked nice.

The eevee then turned her attention to her chest, rubbing it with a paw to feel her burn. She could barely feel it, maybe all those Oran berries she'd gotten Sova to give her had helped! The black marks of the burn on her fur had also begun to fade and she no longer felt half-crippled, it was almost like she was as good as new. Of course, she didn't quite feel perfect, but it was at least better than the state she'd been in directly after her fight.

Heir? Krikka took a moment to recall what "heir" they'd encountered before finally realizing who was being talked about. "That pipsqueak with the makeshift throne? I doubt that thing really ruled this place, I've heard the throne room is a lot prettier than that," she explained what she knew about this place, which wasn't much, but was enough to hopefully recognize the throne room when she saw it.
"Also, I've heard a story the original ruler of the chateau died with no heir. Dunno if it's true," she continued.

Of course, she made sure to make it evident these were all just things she'd heard, not necessarily facts. Though she doubted anything she or anyone else knew about this place, as it seemed quite outside the boundaries of normal logic, so she doubted anyone could entirely comprehend it. Maybe there was no ruler and no throne, all of it just being nothing more than myths. After all, why would a chateau have a ruler?

Sova sat waiting for longer than he was comfortable with before the enemy finally showed itself. He shifted the wind patterns of the blizzard as fast as he could and sent all of the snow downward, but the spiritomb disappeared back under the floor before he could hit it, resulting in a miss. Then Mirage decided to JUMP INTO THE BLIZZARD, which scared him at first, but it didn't seem it was really hurting her. This was when he noticed his heavy breathing and realized he couldn't even keep the blizzard at a threatening strength....

The wind subsided nearly all at once and the snow began to drop as the glaceon panted, trying to regain some of his lost energy. As much as he hated to admit it, he had a limit. "You.... you got it?" he questioned between breaths as he noticed Mirage holding a keystone.
Well, perhaps he wouldn't personally be able to deal with the creature, but he wasn't particularly against any outcome that involved that annoying thing getting what it had coming.

Mirage nodded, looking down at the keystone with strange carvings. Where was the spiritomb? A sudden force of energy blasted into her face, it didn't particularly hurt but more of just popped her in the nose. She glared down at the keystone in rage before chucking it at the wall like a baseball. The stone crashed right through the wooden wall, and disappeared into darkness.

"F*ck that guy..." she huffed, obviously displeased with the events. She ate a berry to restore her own energy before she looked to Sova, he seemed tired. Probably should have saved the berry... What had happened while she was out? Why did she feel like she had said something she should not have? How much of her 'dream' was actually a dream? Well, first things first.

"Need to rest?" she asked Sova.

--

"Although it would be annoying if he were dead, i'd at least like to find the proof of his hierarchy," Victoria spoke, she held up her amulet that hung around her neck, "Like mine, though theirs might not even be an amulet or a jewel, it would definitely be something valuable though."

Victoria glanced back to the lagging houndoom and spoke up, "If you're going to follow us at least keep pace!" she looked back ahead of her. What a pathetic guard, she figured he was probably swearing at her under his breath and cursing her name, but it was his own fault for being so weak in the first place.

Zera's snout snarled slightly, but he remained silent as he followed slowly and painfully behind the two. Where was Boss? Could he eat the eevee yet? The houndoom's head hung low as he panted, glaring at the two's backs with hatred only to look away when they looked back at him. He'd have to track these two down when he got stronger, track them down and make sure they regret their actions...

Mirage ate an Oran berry! Energy 11

Kat carried out 5 launched of one Ruined Passageway :

, , , ,

Victoria - 1

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Passageway :

Zera - 1

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Passageway :

Sova looked down at his paws for a moment as he was questioned on if he needed to rest.  However, he wasn't looking down due to being upset, he was just checking if he looked like he was in a bad condition.  His posture was.... so-so, but his body didn't seem particularly beaten up despite being in quite a few fights.  His ice armor had at least protected against most visible damage.  On the inside, that was a different story, but it was all fine as long as he could pretend it was fine!  Besides, he'd taken far worse beatings before and lived; this was nothing.

"Yeah, I'm fine.  More importantly.... are you?" he questioned.
His intention for the question was involving Mirage's mental and emotional health, but he knew very well it could be taken as pertaining to physical health.  This was fine too, as it would mean he could get an idea of Mirage's physical state too, and it wasn't too hard to just clarify what he meant afterward.  But, the reason he'd asked in such a manner that could be interpreted was because if there was really something seriously wrong with Mirage on a mental level....

The zoroark had been acting very different lately, or at least it seemed this way to Sova.  Perhaps he was just beginning to see his friend for her true colors?  He dearly hoped this was not the case, as it meant.... things he did not want to think about.  Besides, it wasn't like he would befriend someone they weren't actually someone who he liked on a personal level!  It wasn't like he'd just attached himself to the nearest non-hostile living thing in a time of desperation!

Krikka's attention was caught by the mention of something valuable, though she hid this interest rather than openly expressing it.  It didn't sound as if Victoria cared about the aforementioned valuable item, merely wanting to know whether or not existed, so perhaps she could just.... take it?  Wait, why was she questioning herself on such a thing like she needed permission!?  The tyrunt was strong, but she could get around someone stronger than her; strength wasn't the only thing to consider!  Besides, she wouldn't even have to fight.  She'd just have to get around Victoria.  The houndoom would presumably be no problem since he was under oath to not attack her, but from what had just happened, she guessed he'd also be no help against an unhappy Victoria.

Still, the eevee felt bad about the idea of ditching Victoria for a material item....  Well, this only made her want to do it more.  She was not going to stand for a force as petty as her own mind trying to dictate what she could and couldn't do.  "Oh, so some kind of treasure?  And do you intend to take it if the owner happens to no longer be alive?" she questioned, mostly just to get an idea as to what Victoria's intentions were and get her own course of action planned out in advance.

(Sova)

Lord E V carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

(Krikka)

Lord E V carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

"Yeah, I'm fine. More importantly.... are you?" the icy fox had questioned.

She felt weak, her muscles were sore, she felt as if she would collapse again at any moment, it hurt to move, her body screamed for rest, her mind rebelled against the very notion of sleep, the nightmares were still fresh in her mind, her movements felt heavy and sluggish, and she felt as if she had done something very very wrong...

"Fine," she spoke up after a pause of hesitance, he did not need to know how she felt. She had assumed that he meant if she was physically alright, even if he asked about her mental state her answer would be the same. Her problems were her problems, she was an outlaw, and he was an explorer. He was an oddball to say the least, but her conscious could not help but think of how wrong it was to keep him around. She's an outlaw, she should get rid of him, take his stuff and run. So, why didn't she?

--

Victoria thought for a moment, "Well, if I could find it, i'd take it. It'd make a fine tool for...persuasive actions." Like claiming to have conquered this kingdom single handed...or perhaps proof of some sort of "alliance" that did not exist. A Heirloom was usually a kingdom's pride and joy, to use it as a contract of alliance would be proof enough that this imaginary kingdom supported her without question or fear. It would be great for if someone decided to attack or try to intimidate them!

"If the heir is still alive, then i'd request some sort of truce, an alliance. If they happen to be less than pleased with my requests, then depending on the heir I may attempt to take it..." Victoria trailed off, realizing that her father's previous actions were theft. She fell silent as she thought this over, was that the right thing to do? She needed some kind of power for her kingdom, so how was she going to get it without some kind of force?

--

Zera listened to the two babble on about some shiny thing and a thing called "Air". Wasn't that what they breath? How could air be dead? How could it even have a kingdom? His puny mind did not quite figure out that they were talking about something different from what he thought, however he had the intelligence to keep his trap shut and not sound like a complete dumbass for asking what "Air" was.

Fine? That was it? Both physically and mentally, Sova knew his friend was not "fine." He knew because it HAD to be so, because if Mirage was fine, that meant she really was just evil! He had more faith in the zoroark than to just assume she really was so dark-hearted. Honestly, it wasn't like he himself was in much of a place to judge someone else for being immoral, but amoral was a bit of a different story. He needed something to tell him Mirage wasn't evil, which meant he was going to have to push this topic and no doubt make Mirage upset.

"Make this easy and be honest, please. What's wrong with you? And I don't mean physically," he spoke once more, this time clarifying that he meant in reference to Mirage's mentality and was not intending on taking "nothing" for an answer.
It wasn't that he knew something was wrong, it was that something had to be wrong! He knew a bit about Mirage's past already, he knew she'd had a rough life, and that was reason enough to believe there were plenty of things wrong.... but he needed them confessed right now so that he could know for sure. He intended on getting what he wanted.

A bit of disappointment made itself known inside Krikka as Victoria's intentions were revealed. This meant if there was an heirloom, she'd have to stab the tyrunt in the back if she wanted it.... Maybe that didn't seem like a big deal, maybe to the average 'mon the obvious solution was to just not try and steal it, but that wasn't the case for her. She kind of liked this princess dinosaur thing, she'd had a bit of hope for getting to know Victoria a bit more. This was going to be a significant issue.

Oh well. It didn't matter if someone else wanted what she wanted. That just meant she needed to get it for herself even more, just because someone else wanted it too. It made her feel a bit bad.... but this also reinforced her view that she needed to somehow end up with the heirloom if it existed. Although.... maybe there was an easier way, so that she wouldn't have to steal it and backstab Victoria. Because it was a lot of work, of course! That was the only reason!

"Any chance you'd be willing to give it to someone less.... fortunate than you instead?" she questioned, doing her best to keep up a friendly demeanor while also adding a hint of....
How to describe it.... she was trying to sound like a beggar who didn't want to sound like a beggar. Like someone who had too much dignity to ask for handouts, but kind of needed them.

....In hindsight, that wasn't far from the truth.

Mirage froze as the glaceon asked her what was wrong with her mentally. The only reason he could have asked that is if he was beginning to think if she had something wrong with her. The stress of the situation from before, the nightmares, and the general exhaustion caused the zoroark to snap, "What's wrong with me? Ha, funny. Of course i'm not alright. I don't want to die, I don't want to starve to death, I don't want to suffer like my parents did. I have to live a certain way else I die, and you're the one asking if i'm straight in the head? Good one. I almost forgot to laugh."

She continued, "I really don't understand any of you people. Everywhere I go it's the same thing, dark types are the outlaws. We're supposed to get dirty looks. We're supposed to be treated like dirt. We're supposed to take joy out of other's misery. Why is it that you haven't seem to have gotten the memo? Why aren't you treating me like i'm supposed to? What am I doing wrong? Why can't I just live my life like i'm supposed to without feeling this way?!" Her voice escalated as she went on, silencing herself at the last question. She had said too much again, she-no. She did not care anymore. If she was going to die then let arceus smite her where she stood, she was getting sick of the feelings of guilt, paranoia, emptiness, loneliness, and fear.

She wished there was a time in her life she could wish to go back to again. Her childhood consisted of starvation and humiliation, once she had left that it had been a time of lonesomeness and darkness, and now it was simply a mix of fear, confusion, and isolation.

--

Victoria shrugged in response to the eevee, "If it proves useless to me then it's nothing more than trash to me. Sure building up a treasure would be nice, but it would be dangerous to collect too big of a hoard before we build up a bit more. Other kingdoms or bandits could attack in search of it and kick us before we're up."

The tyrunt looked to the eevee, wondering if she was perhaps interested in the trinket, "I don't know where it would be useful though, usually the only ones interested in heirlooms are other kingdoms in search of power or the original heir to it."

--

Zera followed along, bored to hell as the group pressed onward and chattered about useless objects. He wanted to go home. This was boring. Where they there yet? Where were they even going again? The houndoom could only do nothing but listen to the two babble and look at the strange walls in the dark hallway.

Huh.  Sova's eyes widened slightly in initial surprise at Mirage's sudden outburst.  He'd really expected it to be harder than this, but more importantly.... man did that whole thing feel over the top.  Well, he already knew Mirage had issues, so this really wasn't a big surprise, but still.  He felt.... bad, and suddenly, there was something more important than stopping the zoroark from stealing away the livelihoods of others.  He was suddenly reminded of why he put up with an outlaw in the first place....  She wasn't.... evil, if that even existed.  Yet despite how he felt, he couldn't help doing anything but giving a hesitant smile.

He began to circle around the zoroark as he responded: "Is that it?  You're willing to throw your life away because others told you to?  Someone told you you had to be bad, and you believed them?  Someone said to hide, so you hid.  Someone said to steal, so you stole.  Someone said to ki-"

"I don't have a choice!  I'll die if-" Mirage tried to interject, cutting the glaceon off.

Then he just.... snapped.

"If you don't make yourself worth killing!?  You'll die if you're not evil!?!  Then, if you HAVE to be the stereotype everyone wants you to be, KILL ME!" he paused and stamped over to the misguided vixen.
Or at least, he very much hoped she was just misguided.  If not.... well, he'd had a good run at life, but he wouldn't want to live anyway if he didn't do this.  He would be a disgrace to his parents....

His momentary pause didn't last long before he started up again, speaking extremely loud to drown Mirage out if she tried to protest.  "If you have to do what others say to live, if you have to be EVIL to live, if there's no other choice, KILL ME!  IF I LOVE SOMEONE LIKE THAT, I WANT TO DIE!!"

He closed his eyes and lifted his head, giving the zoroark a clear shot at his throat.  It was true, anyway.... if he'd truly fallen for someone who was so twisted she'd kill him just like that, he didn't really want to live with himself anyway.  Now that he'd stopped talking, he could feel his burning, worse than Frost Breath when he overused it.  He'd been yelling so loud.... he'd probably injured his vocal cords.  He hadn't really thought much about what he'd said; the last part hadn't even registered to him.  It had been entirely on accident.  He'd gone into this with no intentions of revealing his feelings to Mirage.  In fact, until just a moment ago, he'd doubted he even still had them.

Meanwhile in the no-drama zone

Krikka listened to the tyrunt with increasingly high hopes as the conversation went on.  Wait.... no, why did she have high hopes at this?  Sure, it would be easier if she could get the treasure without having to go through Victoria, but.... but doing it the hard way was still a perfectly fine option!  Still.... she wasn't going to pass up the chance to get someone to just give her a valuable item.  For this, she needed her best excuse as to why she wanted it.  What could she say that the tyrunt would believe?

"Well.... things like that could sell for a lot.... and not everyone's royalty.  I don't mean any offense, but.... well, for some, money's important," she explained, not outright saying she wanted it.
Though, honestly, she figured it was probably obvious by now that she was interested.

A long lonesome silence hung in the air as the glaceon exposed his neck to the zoroark. She could legitimately kill him right now. She could take her claws, and cut the throat open nice and clean for some fresh air and end her problems. She knew she should, its what a dark type would do when challenged.

"I....I-I'm not going to kill you..." she spoke in a shackyshaky and meek voice. Her mind immediately searched for reasons to justify her actions based on how an outlaw would work as she did so. He was useful. He was strong. He's good for bait. He's a meat-shield. He's one of the only few that have ever been nice to her. He saved her life. He was her friend. He loved her even after all of this. He offered her a pecha berry.

The zoroark stepped away from the glaceon, her back against a wall now. There was no denying it. No matter how many reasons she came up with she knew it was simply because Sova was Sova. Mirage fell silent, unsure of how to cope with any of this. Should she just...stop? COULD she do that, without dying? What would she do then? Stand around all day? Sit in a jail cell all day?

--

Victoria blinked and looked at the eevee, "Well, yeah money's important, those who don't know are either peasants who don't utilize monetary systems in exchange for trade of items, or feral. Whoever has the jewels is in danger of having an army come crashing in on them. Royal Jewels are fairly important, and they can't just be replaced by something else. Anyone who buys a royal's jewel is either asking for trouble or plain dumb."

The tyrunt explained a matter of factly, not quite catching the hint that perhaps Krikka wanted the gems for herself. She carried on the conversation, looking at her own family heir as she did so in her tiny claws. She wondered what her parents were up to? Knowing them her father was probably yelling at some peasant while her mother calmed him down and reasoned with him as usual.

--

Due to the fact that Zera is an antisocial ass doing nothing but staying back and listening to the two, his post will be skipped as he's doing the same thing he's been doing for the past two posts.

Sova held his breath for what felt like an eternity as he awaited a feeling of pain across his neck. He began to have second thoughts about his offer; was he really giving his life up so easily? If he was wrong about Mirage, did that really make living not worth it? If the zoroark really was evil, was he going to just give her what she wanted? Well.... he'd already put his faith in Mirage, and he intended to stick to that, even if it ended in his own death.

Then the response finally came, in the form of Mirage admitting she wasn't going to kill him. He exhaled hesitantly and shakily, showing that he'd been a bit worried. He dropped his head back to its normal level and ceased exposing his neck, then opened his eyes. The world suddenly seemed a lot brighter.... which was funny because he was in a dark room staring at a zoroark; there was nothing physically bright about this situation.

The glaceon began trying to think of ways to bring Mirage even closer to his view. He wanted a way to make her fully understand, or at least to help with her current situation. However, he wasn't really sure where to go from here. He couldn't promise things would get better because they probably wouldn't; Mirage had gone too far to go back. She was an outlaw. She'd stolen. She'd killed. Her crimes would never be pardoned.

But that didn't mean she was evil. Mirage was just a product of a corrupt world; someone who'd been tormented into believing they were evil and had no other choice but to be evil. Sova.... knew how it felt, to an extent. He'd been looked down on throughout his childhood, considered an eevee rather than an explorer, when all he'd wanted was to just.... be like his parents. He couldn't say he knew the exact feeling of being called evil by everyone, but he knew something that was somewhat similar. The only difference was that he'd decided to prove everyone wrong.

He tried to think of something to say, some awe-inspiring wise words. But nothing of the sort came to mind. Instead, he continued speaking mostly on instinct, though he luckily wasn't saying anything else he would likely regret later. "You aren't evil, Mirage. The world lied. It does that."

Krikka resisted the overwhelming urge to flatten her ears at the words of Victoria. Not only had the tyrunt entirely missed her point, but as far as she could tell, she'd just been insulted. Unintentionally, but it still counted! She looked fine on the outside, but inside, she was really wishing she didn't have the form of a fluffy pushover right about now. For.... reasons.

Instead of revealing her intentions or even continuing to hint, the little eevee decided to return the attacked feeling she'd received. "Going looking for one is basically the same as buying it, so which one are you?" she questioned, figuring now Victoria would have to admit to either being an idiot or suicidal.
In hindsight, she herself probably fell closer to "suicidal," or at least she wanted to think so. She liked her ego how it was and being depressed was less damaging to it than being stupid. Though.... she wasn't depressed, of course. She was absolutely fine, and she always had been.

While Victoria was surprised by Krikka's sudden turn around, she could not help but to crack a grin, "Ha!" The tyrunt laughed at the question, "A dumb fool asking for trouble, so both," she responded with a growing smile. She allowed her amulet to fall and hang from her neck once more, focusing on the path ahead of them.

It was true, it was stupid of her to try to get the heirloom. If the heir was dead, then she could use it in weaving a lie, if that failed then she was dead meat with a shiny new trinket to the side. The tyrunt knew this, but she was not afraid to admit it. She wondered what Veriq would say about this, considering he was all for NOT doing these kinds of stupid ideas.

--

She was not evil? Then what was she supposed to be? Some shopkeeper, a hero, or just...nothing? Mirage seemed to be staring at something on the floor that was not there. The zoroark was still shocked from everything, and allowed herself to fall into a sitting position. It was finally beginning to sink in. She did not HAVE to be bad, the world had lied. Everyone had lied. The village had lied Lies...lies-it was all lies!

Just like she had lied to Sova. She was not fine. She was the complete opposite of fine. If there was a way to measure the amount of "fine" she was on a scale of zero to a hundred, she'd be off in the negative millions.

"I'm...not fine..." she finally spoke, still a bit silent.

Not fine.... Sova certainly wasn't one to judge for that, but he couldn't think of anything positive to say about it either, so what was he supposed to say?  Mirage was finally admitting to being damaged, yet he was only just now realizing he didn't know how the f*ck to fix her.  What was he supposed to do, magic up some reason for everything to suddenly all be better?  He sat down shortly after the zoroark, though he kept the little bit of distance she'd put on him, figuring she would appreciate the space.  Before coming up with a suitable answer, he realized.... what he'd said.  About love.

How was he supposed to talk his way out of that one?  Well.... he supposed he didn't have to, even if Mirage didn't feel the same way, which he figured she didn't.  But that wasn't important right now, what was important right now was Mirage's well-being.  "That's okay, that can change.... if you want it to," he spoke, with a pathetic attempt at a cheery smile.
It was clear he was sad, mostly because he knew not much would change for Mirage at this point no matter how hard she tried.  She was stuck as an outlaw for the rest of her life, and she didn't deserve it.  Mirage wasn't stupid, so he figured she knew this.

Since he'd already confessed his feelings, Sova decided to go with that in an attempt to give Mirage something worth being "good" for.  Or at least just something to not be evil for.  "And... as long as you aren't evil, I'll always be here for you....  I don't know how much that matters, but...." he trailed off as he ran out of things to say once more.
This was hard.

Krikka fell silent at the response she was given.  It was not at all what she'd hoped for.  She wanted to fluster the tyrunt with a seemingly innocent question, but.... this.... was the opposite.  More importantly, she couldn't help but like how open Victoria was about looking for trouble.  She hated that she liked it, but it wasn't like she could just change herself.  Or, well, maybe she could.... yeah, she'd need to look into that some time.  But for now, she had no clue how to go about doing that.

"Well, I guess I must be the same...." she quietly responded, showing a bit of legitimate emotion for the first time in the form of disappointment in herself.
She wanted the heirloom too, and seeing Victoria so willing to admit to being wrong in multiple ways for wanting it really put it into perspective.  It was kind of sad.... but she still wanted it if it was pretty.  She hoped she was being obvious about that now, or the conversation was probably gonna get really awkward.

Mirage waited a moment in silence, thinking before asking, "What is evil then? Dark types were supposed to be evil yet they're not according to you. What defines evil, if that's not it? How can I not be ev-"

"Evil is a term that is entirely subjective," a voice interrupted her before a strange puppet like figure phased through the wall beside Mirage. It grinned widely and spoke, "What is evil to you may not be evil to me, what is evil to me may not be evil to him, and what may be evil to him may not be evil to you." A shuppet had decided to intrude upon the conversation after a bit of eavesdropping.

"There is not true definition of evil, but there is a general acceptance of what is and isn't evil is it not?" the shuppet had floated over to the glaceon, a wide grin on its face as it floated over the fox's head and bent downward to look in his face suddenly.

--

It finally clicked to Victoria that the eevee had wanted the heirloom. Well that was a problem.
"Oh...well...uh..." she paused, trying to think over a solution for this predicament. She kind of wanted the trinket to ensure the safety of her kingdom, it was a risky maneuver that could end up being the destruction of it, but she was willing to take that risk.
"I..." the tyrunt started before an idea came to mind. She said that she needed money or something right?
"I may not be the richest kingdom in the world, but if you let me have the heirloom I'll give you something in return once I get back to the kingdom," she offered with a hopeful smile.

Zera gave an overly exaggerated sigh, wondering when these two would just shut up and make something happen. It felt as if it had been an eternity of walking down this damned hallway. Boss was nowhere to be seen, and he was beginning to get a bit hungry. Maybe Meatslab might come in handy later on...

Sova prepared to respond to the zoroark, and he was finally starting to get a good idea of how to handle this situation. Mirage was definitely stuck as an outlaw, as she'd come too far to just turn a new leaf, but that didn't mean she had to be evil. And however she'd been brainwashed into believing Dark-types had to be evil, he knew he could explain why that was wrong. He had one thing he could use here.... one thing he was surprised would come in handy.

Dusk. An umbreon, a Dark-type, who was not an outlaw. Kind of annoying sometimes, but not an outlaw. What was more, Mirage wouldn't be able to say it was just due to being in Grassveil, because Dusk wasn't from Grassveil! It was the perfect counterargument. However, a little interruption introduced itself before he could be heard, and before Mirage could even finish. A shuppet who'd taken it upon themselves to explain the concept of "evil." Well, it wasn't wrong, but it seemed like it'd been listening in.... The timing was just too perfect. He didn't appreciate the eavesdropping.

The shuppet suddenly leaned in toward the glaceon's face, to which he responded by simply staring with a bored expression. He didn't give the slightest bit of a reaction to the suddenness of it. "It's generally believed that one is evil based off who they are, not what they are," he continued, seeing that it seemed like the shuppet was passing the torch to him.
He then spoke once more: "So, wherever you were told Dark-types are evil.... you were lied to. The majority of the world doesn't care what your type is, they care about your actions. Your actions.... haven't been so good, so I'm pretty sure you're stuck as an outlaw, but that doesn't mean you have to be evil."

He could only hope that Mirage didn't like being "the bad guy," or else there was no incentive to change her behavior.

Krikka stopped walking at the offer of something else in return if she willingly let Victoria have whatever the heirloom was. Did Victoria know she was planning on taking it anyway if she didn't get something out of the situation? But more importantly.... this was perfect, assuming the tyrunt was telling the truth. She would get something out of all this, and she wouldn't have to figure out a way to get through someone stronger than her to do so. Worst case scenario was that she got ripped off, but even then, it wasn't like she couldn't just.... browse the treasury of this so-called kingdom when no one was looking.

"Deal," she agreed with a nod and a happy smile.
There was always the possibility what she would get in return wouldn't be as good as the heirloom, or that she wouldn't get anything at all, but this was a lot safer of a bet than trying to get through Victoria. If she was going to gamble, she was going to take the safe bet.

The shuppet huffed, "Although, who are you to say what the world does and doesn't think?" it tilted its upside down head as it continued to stare at the Glaceon, "Did you run a world-wide poll? Did others submit what they thought to you? What was the ratio?"

Mirage was a bit unsure of what was going on, with the sudden love confession, her world being flipped upside down, and sudden loss of purpose in life, but she knew one thing was for certain. This shuppet was annoying and probably going to be in a world of pain sometime soon if it did not shut up and go away. Mirage remained silent, unsure of what to say or do. She was still going to have to steal to survive, and she certainly did not want to go to jail, so...just...remain an outlaw? She's back to square one! Mirage felt a feeling of helplessness creep upon her, she found herself thinking about the pokemon back at the village. At first she had hated them since that was what she was supposed to do, however now she had a whole new reason for wanting every last one of them to suffer in hell.

--

Victoria held back a sigh of relief, however her feeling of relief changed once she heard yet another exasperated sigh from behind them. She suddenly stopped and turned partially to look at the houndoom, "Nobody's asking you to follow us you know." she huffed, getting a bit irritated with the dimwitted annoyance that had been following them.

--

Zera glared at the tyrunt as she snapped at his overly dramatic sigh, "Boss did," he responded as if it were simple. His tail twitched in irritation, and he looked to the fluffy he had been ordered to guard, "Can I eat her?" he asked as if he were joking, though part of him was serious.

Sova's ears slowly fell flat, and while his face remained the same, the change in ears made him appear more agitated than bored. This was accurate. This shuppet was infuriating him quickly, and considering there were far more important things to deal with right now than its ramblings, he was very much considering just swatting its consciousness away. Mirage needed someone to talk to, and he was pretty sure this thing wasn't going to do the trick. Still, morally.... he couldn't hit it if it wasn't a threat. Morally.... But really, his own morality was something he already ignored at times, so that didn't mean much.

Then his look abruptly changed. His ears perked up and he smiled cheerily, suddenly giving off a happy vibe. "Little ghost who has probably never been outside of this chateau, you are speaking to a Guild member who's explored nearly every area of the continent and has extensive knowledge on everywhere else. Now, I'm trying to console a friend and you're not helping, so if you would be so kind...." he paused, suddenly shifting his outward behavior once more.
His ears flattened once more, but this time, a full-on glare was painted onto his face.
"Shut. Up. Get. Out."

Krikka was one for just ignoring the sighs, as they seemed so loud and obnoxious that she was pretty sure the houndoom just wanted attention. Why give him what he'd wanted, especially after he'd done nothing but be a useless annoyance? Well, apparently Victoria held a different view from her, and since she was being brought into the conversation, she kind of had to respond now. Her gaze had followed the tyrunt, then turned to the hound, and she just stared for a moment before speaking up.

"No. And if you try, I'll get in the way and you'll end up hurting me," she stated outright.
It was true; even if it was for no reason other than spite, she intended to make sure the houndoom paid if he disobeyed her. It didn't matter if she was hurt in the process as long as she got what she wanted. Besides, being hurt wasn't too bad....