House of Hallways

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Varda was quite exhausted! The trip through the odd house had been very taxing already, but when he had to make a quick trip back to the little town with a Glaceon on his back... Well, it certainly had been something, alright! Luckily he didn't have to carry his friend back, as they had been lucky and there was a Pokémon who could deal with their injuries for a small compensation, so they could just rush to the spooky weird house as soon as their legs – and wings – allowed them to! They had lost some valuable time doing this, but the bird believed he had done the right decision on his own, without Sova's help...

The house felt strange this time. They had been through such strange rooms on their first visit, but now the door they took sent them to an odd, extremely long hallway. It was rather narrow compared to many rooms they had seen before, but the hallway was wide enough to let a couple of Pokémon to walk side by side. There were no doors the bird could see, there hadn't been any doors for a while since the last one they took. As usual, there were various candles on the walls lighting up the gloomy house, some dark spots left behind by the dim lighting. The floorboards creaked under the pair of Pokémon and the old wallpaper was ripped in many places, revealing old wooden panels.


Current Energy: 38 (57 -19 from entering)

Sova nodded in agreement to Varda holding onto the items for the time-being, though he didn't actually plan to ever request to have them back. For all he cared, Varda could keep that junk forever. However, when a seed was pointed out, well.... his attention was grabbed. Seeds, those tended to have very useful effects in fights, with many of them empowering the user. However, it was hard to identify this one at a glance as it wasn't one he was exactly accustomed to and he didn't know for sure what kinds of seeds could be found in this place, despite this being his third trip. However, he'd already found some seeds in this place before, ones that looked like this one, and he'd learned they were something called Vanish seeds.... and more importantly, they did something very.... neat.

"I'm pretty sure that's a Vanish seed, I've found some here before. Pretty sure I picked some up earlier on our second trip through the main house, too. Get this; they turn you invisible," he explained, showing clear interest in the seed.
Of course it was interesting, those things were basically free instant wins to any fight! He could be the perfect outlaw hunter with enough of those, nothing could ever hope to get away from him! Well.... considering how many outlaws he'd chosen to get to know instead of try to apprehend, maybe he wouldn't be a very good outlaw hunter even with a bunch of those seeds. He'd never befriended outlaws through missions, though, at least. Then again, the ones he encountered through Guild missions always ended up attacking.

(Well, there's also a Vanish seed. Those things are fkn awesome.)

Varda tilted his head as he listened to his friend – who was looking a lot more interested in this little seed he had found. He could understand that – seeds tasted pretty good and he could eat those for days! Actually, he often did. It made for a great meal, a big bowl of seeds... But now he was getting distracted and perhaps he even started to salivate a bit, quickly shaking his head to get his thoughts back on track. Right, a Vanish seed... And it would turn the eater invisible? The bird looked intrigued, his head tilting the other way as he cooed. He spread his wings a bit and brought the tips in his view, looking down as if imagining how he would look if he was invisible. That certainly sounded like an oxymoron.

"That sounds a bit scary!" The Altaria chirped, raising his cloud-like wings before he folded them against his sides again,
"What if... You lose yourself? And can't find you? That would be really bad!" He continued, clearly considering this something that might happen – and it would indeed be bad! How would he even fly if he didn't know where he was? That would be way too difficult.
"Would you like to have it, Sova? If you promise me you won't accidentally lose yourself..."

Bird carried out 5 launched of one Ruined Passageway :

, 53 , , ,

Sova couldn't help but snicker at the worry of losing oneself due to temporary invisibility. It seemed like a funny concept, losing the only thing that's quite literally impossible to lose. Even if he couldn't see himself, he highly doubt it would be possible for him to lose himself, though perhaps it could prove to be difficult to keep track of where his limbs were by way of sight, which could prove to be a difficulty in some scenarios. The easy fix to that was just to be more careful, though, and it wasn't like taking things a bit more slowly would be hard to do in a fight when he would be completely shrouded from view.

"Really? Sure you don't want it?," he responded, perking his ears as he was offered the seed.
Yes, if he kept some of these with him, he'd be absolutely unstoppable! Hopefully! But who knew, maybe there was some actual merit to what Varda'd said and using these seeds actually made it difficult to function. Who was to say if being deprived of sight of oneself could prove to be a major difficulty?

(Can I actually haz?)
(Energy - 34)

Lord E V carried out 5 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

, , , ,

Varda nodded happily as his friend seemed to not quite believe that he would offer the seed just like that. Well, why not? Sure, he liked seeds himself too... But Sova was giving him all this other great stuff he thought was the best, while he was a bit worried about the invisibility seed. He wouldn't want to get lost because he couldn't see himself, after all! That would be really bad, especially here.
"Yes! I don't need it, but you looked like you really wanted it," he chirped, nodding another couple of times for emphasis. How fun it was, exploring things with friends and making them feel happy!

The Altaria turned to face away from the seed, letting Sova just take it if he wanted to while he concentrated on their surroundings. It was... Awfully quiet, actually. He couldn't hear anything through the walls, and the floorboards weren't creaking under their weight – nothing was. For a house that looked so old and worn down, it could feel awfully sturdy all of a sudden.


((Sure, go ahead. Also wow first piece, now let's see how long it'll take to get the rest.))

Sova's mood brightened up just a little bit at being given a gift that he actually liked. "Thanks," he commented as he tried to pick the seed up, but found the bandage around his paw was still preventing enough movement to easily get the seed in the bag.
It would have been so much easier to just take the bandage off and ignore the resulting pain in moving his injured limb so much so soon, but he knew that would be a bad idea, so he'd just have to make due with what he could. He carefully opened his bag up, then picked the seed up once more and managed to toss it just barely high enough to get it into the bag. He then struggled to close the bag with his paw for a moment before just shaking a bit, causing the flap to fall down and cover it.

With that far-too-challenging task out of the way, he then put his attention back on the area of the head. Right, they still had to traverse the seemingly endless hallway, but it would surely end eventually. Just as long as they could avoid any conflict.... but sadly, that began to seem like wishful thinking as something came into view ahead.... something he really, REALLY didn't want to see. It was still a fair distance away, but approaching rapidly. A froslass.

(Ty. And I've already got Piece C from my thread with Kat, so all we need now is the box casing.)

Varda's gaze traveled on the bare walls for a while before he looked back at his friend who was just starting to get the seed into his bag – and he had pretty much missed all the earlier attempts Sova had, not realizing just how difficult it was for him to pick anything up with a bandaged paw. He still looked as cheerful as ever, his oblivious smile on his face as he looked at the Glaceon. With a nod, he started to waddle forward, waiting for his friend to come along so he wouldn't be left behind. Considering that Sova was still injured, he didn't want to move too fast...

But then he... Felt something, even heard something. In the distance somewhere, it was as if... Something was approaching. The Altaria raised his head and turned his gaze forward, looking down at the corridor. He saw something float closer – no, it was difficult to call it floating when the movements were so fast, just zipping by. The creature was white and looked as if dressed in some kind of flowing robes, the air starting to feel colder the closer it got. Varda stopped in his tracks, his beak opening as he watched. The movement of this assumed Pokémon was kind of... Mesmerizing...


((So, another 10 pages?))

Sova's fur immediately spiked out and back into icy armor as he realized a froslass was rapidly approaching, his temperature spiking dangerously low considering how vulnerable his ally was to the cold, but he simply couldn't help himself. Froslass were the only things that could scare him, really, though it wasn't necessarily for their strength. Sure, some of them were fairly competent fighters - actually, most of them were, it seemed - but it was a nightmarish past experience with one that set off the fear in him. This emotional response wasn't alone though, not by a long shot; it was joined by sadness and overwhelming anger. It made it quite difficult for him to properly think and control himself.

Much to the glaceon's surprise, instead of an angry glare or some other kind of look with malevolent intent, the froslass seemed to have an overjoyed smile on its face, becoming evident as it neared the two. "HIIIII," the feminine creature squealed in an absolutely thrilled tone.
It seemed to focus on him at first, but had no clear intent to attack, instead outstretching its arms in an attempt to.... hug him? He ducked just in time to avoid it, allowing the thing to fly right past him. It then stopped and turned right around, this time focusing on altaria with its outstretched arms, trying to get a hug in on someone, apparently not caring who.

As much as Sova wanted to just end the froslass' existence right that moment before it could dare to touch himself or his friend, he couldn't find any probable cause for such an action. It didn't actually seem hostile, at least at this moment, and even if he wanted to, he knew Varda would be absolutely devastated if he even tried to do something like that. As hard as it could be to believe at times, he did indeed have a moral compass and it was working.... to some extent.

(Give or take. Also I jacked your froslass, hope you don't mind. <3)

Varda felt how the temperature in the room was falling, the source of it... Well, actually right next to him, so he was standing in what might have been the coldest part of the room right now. But he didn't really register it in his mind as he stared at the approaching ghost-like figure, watching how it dashed closer...  He didn't even think that it could have been an attack, but perhaps he had been foolish to think that. His head just followed the new Pokémon's movements, watching how it just went past right next to him, aiming for Sova...

And Sova ducked, causing the Pokémon to go right over him and continue well past them both, unable to stop quite that fast to turn around, but turn around it did. This time the Altaria had rotated his body so he faced the flying Pokémon again, tilting his head a bit. This Pokémon was... Smiling, and her voice sounded happy too, cheerful! Even though just last time a kind of similar situation in this house had ended up in the two becoming trapped, Varda seemed to have forgotten all about it, rarely learning from the first time something happened.

"Oh, um, hello!" He chirped in turn, noticing that the Pokémon was now flying towards him with outstretched arms. Even the bird spread his wings a little to respond to it.


((Hey, I rarely have any plans for them, hah.))

The froslass didn't slow down the slightest bit until it reached its goal, wrapping its arms around the altaria's neck.  She clearly had no malevolent intent, though, at least not at the current moment in time, merely aiming for a friendly hug.  Maybe too friendly for a certain glaceon's comfort, but regardless, this particular froslass wasn't attacking.  "Ooooh, you two are so neat-looking!  Everyone here's so purple, I hate iiiiiiiit!  Ooh, ooh-ooh, names, what're your names, you have names right!?  You're outsiders, of course you do, have names!  Tell me tell me tell me!," she wasted no time in starting up berating the two with words, acting like someone who hadn't had company in a very long time.
Her voice was very feminine and sounded youthful, which, coupled with the.... interesting attitude, suggested she was young. Obviously not too young, but not exactly old and wise.

Sova's body tensed in preparation for what he felt was an inevitability in the froslass suddenly changing its tune and attacking his friend when it got close, but to his surprise, no attack came.  While to most, the outcome they'd gotten with rapid back-to-back statements and questions would be far better than a fight, to him, this was just miserable.  He wanted nothing more than to fight.... no, not just to fight, he wanted to rid the world of this froslass.  However, it hadn't done anything wrong.... hadn't given moral justification.... no excuse.  But it surely would, eventually, because all froslass were absolutely insane.  They were all monsters, unhinged from reality, senselessly killing others for literally no reason and freezing their victims to keep them around as decorations.

Despite absolutely despising the fact that he had to allow a froslass to breathe - let alone live - he listened closely to his words, more-so than he normally would have.  He wanted to mentally pick apart everything it said for any remote hints of hostility, though so far, he wasn't having any luck.  It seemed innocent enough.... but he definitely wasn't going to give that thing his name.  No way, and he hoped Varda would do the same, though he knew that was wishful thinking.  He was NOT going to socialize with a froslass, though, even if it upset Varda.

Varda stood his ground, but a small oomph escaped his beak as the floating Pokémon slammed against him. It wasn't an attack, but she was coming at them at such speeds that it was impossible for there not not be some kind of impact, but now that the bird was bigger and heavier, he was able to actually not be pushed away by it. His white plumage absorbed some of the impact as his chest was right where the Pokémon latched onto, those long arms of hers wrapped around his neck. Her touch was a bit cold, but it didn't hurt or feel very uncomfortable. It just wasn't the warm touch of a Pokémon he had gotten used to, but Sova was much the same. Was she an Ice-type Pokémon, maybe?

The Altaria was a little confused, but as the Pokémon started to speak, he couldn't help but feel happy as well, a smile on his face as he looked up at the new Pokémon's eyes. They were being... Complimented! For looking neat! This was the first time the bird heard it – and honestly this whole evolution thing was pretty new to him and everyone around him, so he hadn't really heard any comments about it! So it was... Nice! The bird even glanced at the Glaceon by his side, but Sova didn't seem to like the comments as much.
"Um, my name is Varda! And that there is Sova. It's nice to meet you, miss...?"

The froslass flew around the altaria whose name she'd just learned, Varda, giving an open-mouthed smile as she looked over the strange creature who was completely different from what was generally found in the house. She then stopped between her two new friends as she realized she'd been asked for her own name. "Oh, oh, I'm Nevi! Everyone here's so.... mean.... and purple. None of them ever wanna talk to me! But you're not like them, so what are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?," she rambled on once more, not only giving her name, but also continuing to ask more questions.

Sova was a bit surprised by the fact that Varda gave away HIS OWN name for him, which completely stole away his hope of keeping himself isolated from the froslass. Now it knew both of their names, great, now it could speak to him by name.... worse yet, now he knew its name as well. He preferred to just think of it as a nameless monster, but now he had the fact that it had a name in his head. He knew he couldn't blame Varda for being Varda and socializing with every living thing that would socialize back, but he certainly wanted to cast blame. Since he couldn't do that, though, he would just try to resolve this situation as quickly as he could.

"We're none of your business, we're from none of your business and we're here for none of your business. In fact, even my name is none of your business, but SOMEONE had to tell you that, so please, try to forget it as quickly as possible," he responded very harshly, disallowing Varda a chance to answer any more questions for the nosy monster.
He then immediately turned toward the path forward and started walking, not looking back and just expecting Varda to follow along, without the tag-along.

The froslass was visibly shocked at the sudden hateful comments from one of her new friends.... or at least, she'd thought he was going to be a friend. Apparently not. Her eyes widened a bit for a moment as she was clearly intimidated and shocked by the outburst, but that quickly faded, replaced with mere sadness. Her talkativeness and constant movement both came to a complete stop at the development, she even began to float closer to the ground. Her arms retracted toward her body and crossed, but not in an angered fashion. It was more like she was trying to hug or comfort herself. "Oh.... I-I.... I'm....," she muttered, sounding like she was about to cry.

Varda was totally down with all this, making new friends in the spooky house. He still remembered the balloon-like Pokémon that had been so friendly to them, wondering if he was still alright... When they departed, the poor thing was still unconscious because of the battle. But... If this Nevi as she introduced herself was able to survive in the house despite all the hostile Pokémon she talked about, surely that other Pokémon would be fine as well? He wanted to believe that – no, he knew that was how it was!

The Altaria was just full of smiles as he looked at the Pokémon still latched onto him, his beak opening as he was ready to answer to all of her questions, as talkative as her if he was given the chance. But this time, he wasn't given one. He just managed to inhale before Sova's voice interrupted him, his head twisting so he could face the Glaceon. And when the words traveled to his ears, his smile disappeared and his eyes started to look both bewildered and, well, sad! They weren't nice words. Yes he knew they were in a hurry, but still...!

The Pokémon that had been hugging him slowly retracted her arms, backing off a bit. She looked so sad and defeated, clearly very distraught. And who wouldn't be? Sova had been much too rude with what he had said!
"Sova! You can't say things like that!" He chirped, his voice certainly having some reprimanding qualities to it, but mostly he just seemed to be concerned and seemed to think that Sova didn't really meant to say something like that. It was an accident, he didn't realize what he said before he said it, right...?
"I'm um, sorry, miss Nevi..."

Sova merely ignored his friend and the sad sounds of the froslass as he continued to walk, showing no remorse for being so hostile. He already knew what he'd done and that it was wrong, but the thing about that was that he didn't care, he just didn't care. However, Varda was wrong.... he definitely COULD say things like that, as he'd just proven he could and he didn't plan to take it back. He was not going to socialize with a froslass.... if Varda wanted to stay behind and talk to it, that was fine, he could manage this on his own! Having "allies" around always just held him back anyway. In fact, considering how nice Varda was being to the thing, he wanted for the bird to stay behind and get away from him.

Nevi seemed to stay in her new sad mood, unable to pull herself out of it from a few kind words on Varda's part. "I.... Y-you don't hate me though, right? R-right, you'll stay, right?," she questioned to the bird, clearly not wanting to be alone but also knowing where she wasn't wanted.
It was very hard living here as someone sociable, as most of the natives to this area were.... not the most social creatures around. Sure, they didn't really attack her, it seemed most of them really only ever attacked outsiders, but.... they weren't fun to talk to. A lot of them didn't even talk. And they were all so purple. She'd gotten sick of the color purple being on EVERYONE over time.

"Heh," Sova chuckled as the froslass tried to plead for Varda to stay behind.
Normally, maybe he would have acted differently, but in this particular situation.... well, he was in no mood to beg anyone to be loyal to him. Actually, he wanted to do quite the opposite. He stopped and turned back toward the two before speaking, "Yeah, go ahead. I'll be fine on my own. Probably better, actually."
He couldn't quite bring himself to behave in the same manner toward Varda as he had toward the froslass, but his tone certainly had a hint of hostility in it. With that out of the way, he turned back to the path in front of him and kept on walking, not waiting for a response.

(In case I was too subtle, Sova doesn't like froslass.)

"Of course I don't!" Varda chirped at the Pokémon, not having any reason to hate her. She was a stranger, after all, this was their first meeting. And what had she done? Nothing that he saw as a proper reason to hate anyone, definitely! However, staying behind... That might have been an issue, considering what they were here to do. It was something very important and they had a time limit – and they didn't know if they were too late already! Hopefully not. The bird at least hoped that there would be some kind of sign, like a really loud noise or maybe the whole house would shake or something...

"Oh, well, we are on an important mission," he started to chirp, but he didn't get very far in his explanation before his friend chuckled and started to speak. That caused the Altaria to stop, turning to face Sova as he blinked slowly, confusion apparent in his beady eyes. He... Didn't really know what to do here. He wouldn't want to abandon his friend of course, but... The Glaceon was pretty much requesting it? Varda's gaze fell down, staring at his toes that had started to play with each other in his discomfort.
"...Why... Did you want me to come with you in the first place?" The Altaria asked, not looking up.


((Nothing subtle about it!))

Sova listened as his friend seemed unable to think of any ways to resolve the situation through words.... for once.  He didn't turn around or even stop again, but he did reply once more, simply stating "I didn't."
After a moment, he spoke up once more, figuring a bit of context would be appropriate.  "This place is too dangerous for someone as nice as you.  I didn't want you to come with me."
He then continued walking for a moment, before finally stopping.  It wasn't because he had more to say.... no, actually, it was because he was starting to calm down a bit, he was realizing what he was doing.  This didn't mean he was realizing he was being too harsh to the froslass - he knew that already and really didn't care - rather, he realized he couldn't just leave.

First, he couldn't trust anything in this place to watch Varda's back, let alone a froslass and he couldn't just leave the altaria alone here for the reason he'd just stated.  Varda was not a fighter, more of a.... carer or something.  Diplomat?  Either way, that did little to no good in a place like this, so Varda would be in danger alone.  He couldn't just ditch his friend.... as much as he really wanted to get away from the froslass.  "Speaking of which, I guess that means I'm stuck with you.  Can't really just leave you, even if that means I've gotta put up with that thing," he added on, a bit of disappointment in his tone.
By "that thing," he of course meant the froslass.

Nevi decided to just be silent for now, not really feeling up to talking anymore.  It'd been made clear to her that she wasn't wanted here and she wasn't so sure about sticking around now, with that in mind.  It also seemed the one who was actually being nice to her wanted to leave her as well, despite the glaceon just saying to stay behind.  They were probably friends, so.... of course they'd choose each other over some stranger.  And being on an "important mission" was a good enough reason to not want to stick around and socialize, she supposed.  Oh, important mission?  Did that mean they were from a guild?  There were GUILD MEMBERS who acted like this glaceon!?  But guilds were supposed to protect innocents, not.... whatever this was!  Maybe he was just in a really bad mood, then?

Yes, surely the glaceon, uh.... Sova!  Surely Sova was just in a bad mood, maybe he'd recently received some horrible news or lost a loved one or something.  The froslass' spirit began to lift a bit as she assured herself there must have been some justifiable explanation for why the glaceon was so hostile toward her.  Surely, it wasn't her fault, she hadn't done anything wrong.  "I'm.... not a thing.  I have a name and a gender," she quietly spoke, which elicited a growl from the glaceon.

(That was the joke, good to see you got it.  This would normally be the part where I'd put a broken heart but apparently that glitches the post, so I'll just have to make due with a sad face. D: )