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 was unable to keep his blizzard up for very long, given this was his first time doing it in this manner and it was quickly draining his energy to keep it going.  Besides, while it did seem to hurt the gourgeist enough for it to care, the thing was already seeming to shrug off the attack, clearly not being hurt nearly enough.  It turned around as Varda began to sing and for a moment, there was no movement or noise aside from the hail.... not even from the large gourd-like creature.  It just stared, clearly hearing the song, yet not falling asleep or even seeming to get drowsy.  It then disappeared once more, still ignoring the song as if it were physically impossible for the thing to be put to sleep.

Sova took to watching for a moment as his friend began.... singing.  Well, he knew what it was at least, otherwise he wouldn't have put it above Varda to try getting the enemy to like them by singing to it.  However, the tune didn't seem to do anything at all.  Like, it didn't even seem the creature was fighting off sleep, it quite literally seemed entirely unfazed by the singing.  It was then that he stuck his head into his bag and dug around for a moment before pulling out a sharp, silver spike.  However, when he pulled his head out of the bag with the spike in his mouth, the gourgeist was.... gone.  Before he could even gather what'd happened, it reappeared once more, behind Varda, reaching out with one of its arms.

Not wanting to wait and see if his friend could handle the situation, Sova was between the two in moments, swatting the gourgeist's arm away with his tail.  Not wanting to give it any time to disappear again, he immediately bolted into it, ramming it with his side and sending it back into the ground.  This gourgeist was certainly hard to hurt, but it wasn't exactly very strong, or very surefooted.  Now on top of it and not really the merciful type, Sova then stabbed his spike into.... it.... or........ tried.  Instead of piercing the gourgeist, he found its body too solid to actually damage with it.  The enemy then raised its two arms to slam both of its hands into him, but he still had the speed advantage and thus was able to jump out of the way and off the giant gourd in time.

Then something odd happened.  The light glow that'd been persisting around the gourgeist faded, signaling it was no longer being protected by a screen of light.  Sova immediately noticed this and knew just what it meant.  This thing's time of invincibility was over.

Nevi immediately went to preparing another ball of icy weather as the enemy's attention was taken off her, though she was still a bit slow with it.  She then noticed the gourgeist disappear and decided once more to split her Weather Ball into two separate parts, one in each hand, so that she had two shots right when it re-appeared.  However, Sova was faster than her, reaching the enemy before she could even lift an arm.  She then waited for the glaceon to move before attacking, not wanting to hit him by accident, when she noticed the light around the gourgeist cease.  Oh, she knew what the light was, it fading was good!  She wrapped her arms around her sides and proceeded to outstretch them, flinging the two Weather Balls out at rapid speeds and sending both into the gourgeist just as it tried to get up, knocking it back to the ground and showing that it was considerably more vulnerable to their attacks than before.  "It's vincible!" she stated, though it was probably obvious.

(I'd say good and bad.  At the same time.)

(Oh yeah. 3 energy. Because hail = 2 gained.)

Varda's eyes had closed while he concentrated on singing, but after he had done it for a while, he couldn't help but take a peek and open his eyes just slightly. The pumpkin was still there, staring in his direction, so he had at least gotten its attention! He took a better look, and he just managed to notice that before the thing disappeared, it didn't seem to be at all drowsy! Oh... It wasn't working? He was so occupied with that thought, so even though he stopped singing, he still didn't quite manage to pay attention to what was happening around him – or more like, behind him!

It wasn't until Sova hit the ghost behind him with his tail when the bird snapped out of his thought, glancing over his shoulder and then quickly hopping further away from the pair so he wouldn't be in the way. The thing was still really tough, but that just made sense! Bigger things were tougher, right? At least it was luckily slow, so they could avoid its attacks if they just could keep a track of its vanishing – something he was having a hard time doing himself, but it was possible in theory!

Two balls of airy snow flew from the side, hitting the large gourd-like Pokémon and forcing it off its little stubby feet! It didn't feel good to gang up on someone who was down, but if they did nothing... Would it continue following them the whole way, fighting and hurting them all? Varda didn't want that, shuddering from the cold as frost particles started to gather on his feathers and beak. Inhaling, he shot another one of his beams in the ghost Pokémon's direction.



((Sounds deep. Also Hail energy bar. Varda didn't like it.))

Watching the gourgeist take noticeable damage from Nevi's attack confirmed what Sova had thought, that it was now far more vulnerable to their attacks. Well.... to their non-physical attacks, at least, but it really didn't seem like there were many physical attacks between the three of them in the first place. He was pretty sure his spike wasn't going to do anything to this thing considering what'd happened the last time he tried to use it, so he merely dropped the weapon back into his bag for safe keeping. He caught Varda preparing to fire another attack at the gourgeist and decided to try aiming for the same exact spot. He took in a breath of his own just as the altaria's attack went out, then proceeded to carefully aim his Frost Breath for the same exact spot and blow.

The gourgeist was hit in the chest-area by the Dragon Pulse, but for once, it was visibly hurt by the attack, reaching toward its chest with one of its arms to cover the hit area, closing its eyes, and recoiling toward a wall. Then the Frost Breath came, hitting it in the exact same spot despite its attempt to cover the area with its arm. Actually, this only made the attack worse, as the cold affected both the chest and the arm of the creature. This caused it to move its arm away from the area a bit for just a moment. It began to groan in pain from the attacks suddenly hurting once more, but before it could get very far into its whining, a familiar - yet bigger - ball of wind and snow slammed into its chest, knocking it into the wall. It then slid to the ground, unconscious.

Nevi had just barely caught onto what the other two were doing, and while she wasn't sure if it was at all intended on either of their parts, she recognized it as an opportunity. The gourgeist had just been hit in the same spot multiple times and was clearly hurting in that area. Clouds began to form in one of the hands of the froslass, swirling around in circles and taking on the properties of the hail. The Weather Ball didn't stay in her hand for long, though, as she almost immediately tossed it as hard as she could right at the area the previous attacks had hit. Her attack finished what the others had started, knocking the gourgeist off its feet and confiscating its conscience.

(He's fiiiiiiiiiiine. Also, fear the Weather Ball crit.)

Varda managed to hit his target – and really, his target was big and slow, so missing was a pretty difficult thing to do when he just had to point his head in the right direction! But alone, he wasn't felling the Pokémon – and perhaps he never even really had the intention, deep down. However, he did have others to help him, Sova immediately jumping in to breathe his frosty breath on the ghost, followed by yet another ball of swirly snowy air, exploding into a big puff of white as it hit the Pokémon. The pumpkin was forced off its feet by the impact, hitting against the fall and... Slumping over, starting to slide down until it started the disappear under the floor.

The bird watched carefully, almost expecting it to come back up – or disappear and appear from another spot like it had done so many times before! It wasn't moving, but it could have just been playing, trying to fool them, right? So it could surprise them again!
"Is it gone?" He chirped, tilting his head. His blue feathers had been stained by the frost, now quite white thanks to the new very cold layer on his plumage. The Altaria tried wrapping his wings around himself as his beak chattered, but he wasn't sure if it was really helping now that his body already was so cold!


((Rip.))

Nevi watched the enemy fall from her attack, though she wondered how much she'd actually done. Her hit was only the finishing blow, after all, so she couldn't really tell who had done the most to it. She wondered how strong the other two were, hoping to get a sense of how dangerous sticking around the glaceon would be, but she wasn't gathering much. Sova was certainly the more aggressive of the two, but was he strong? It was hard to tell from just this one fight, but she could say for certain that he had endurance, certainly enough to take a hit from the likes of her, considering the beating he'd taken and gotten up from.

The froslass then snapped out of her thoughts as she realized the one she liked was talking to her. Well.... not necessarily to her in specific, but talking nonetheless. "Hopefully," she responded slightly quietly as she watched and waited for the gourgeist to spring back into the scene and attack once more. She was hoping they'd get moving again soon, but she wanted to wait until the others were ready to do so.

Sova paid no no mind to the enemy, nor to Varda's question, as he didn't care if it got back up. Now that its annoying friend was dealt with, it didn't seem particularly threatening, so he really wasn't worried. With his adrenaline fading, the pain from the scratches on his face began to hit him, and it wasn't pleasant. Sure, they'd been reduced to around half their original size thanks to the hail, but they were certainly still there. He pressed his injured paw against his face to see if the wounds were bleeding and avoid getting blood on his fur, and sure enough, when he took his paw down into his view the bandages were left with red stains. However, it didn't seem severe, just some minor bleeding.

With his own injuries seeming minor enough, he focused next on his friend. Sure, Varda had barely been touched by the two gourgeist, but the hail surely wasn't doing the fluffy bird well. As much as he wanted to stay and let the hail help with his injuries, he turned back to the path forward through the hall and began walking. "Lets go, so we can get you out of the-," he began, but paused as the hail began to stop, as if to nullify his attempt at to put someone else before himself.
"Well, that's convenient. I guess you don't need to worry about the hail then," he continued as he watched the clouds begin to dissipate.

(Oh, wait, weather apparently doesn't even affect energy. Woops. Well, either way, we have the same amount of energy between us so same amount of rolls, so that's just 2 for me.)

Lord E V carried out 2 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

,

Varda nodded a couple of times at Nevi's wishes, sharing them with her. It would be better if they weren't suddenly ambushed by the large gourd-like Pokémon when they turned their backs on it. An icicle – or two – had started to form on the bird's frost-covered beak, the ice melting little by little thanks to his body's warmth, but the freezing temperatures quickly froze the water back into ice. His beak was also chattering more, the chill causing his body to shiver in an attempt to warm it back up. And, it wasn't just cold, as the hail occasionally pelleted him with sharp shards of ice.

"Are you alright, Sova?" The Altaria chirped when he saw him friend rubbing his face and the gashes one of the Pokémon had caused him, now suddenly kind of healed, but not quite. It was possible that it still hurt, especially because the wounds were still bleeding. He tilted his head slightly, his feathers looking more and more like they were pure white with just slight blue undertones thanks to the accumulating frost.

Before Sova managed to finish his sentence, the hail started to grow lighter – it almost didn't hurt anymore! Varda looked up, seeing the odd dark clouds that had been created starting to disperse from the ceiling, though it honestly didn't affect how light the room was. The odd tiny sun that had been created didn't seem to be there anymore, so all they had was the light of the candles – something the clouds couldn't block, being so high up. It did somehow cause the temperatures to start rising, though of course the frost on the bird didn't just melt in an instant. But as it got warmer, the ice was starting to melt...

"Oh... This is nice," he cooed, nodding.

Bird carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Passageway :

Sova naturally hated having others worry for him, for multiple reasons.  First and foremost, he didn't like pity, as he always felt it belittled him, implying he needed help from others.  He was no longer a little eevee, he didn't need help from anyone and no one was going to tell him differently!  However, there was another reason he disliked others worry about him.  Specifically, he didn't like friends worrying about him because he simply didn't want them to worry.... it was one of many feelings he wished he could get rid of, as such weak feelings served only to weaken him, but he couldn't help it.  Maybe it was best that way, because after all.... he knew very well what having no kind emotion looked like, and it wasn't something he wanted to be.

Still, he didn't like others worrying about his well-being and Varda was no exception.  Sure, he could have just said he didn't want to talk about it, or insisted on being fine, but he didn't want to deal with the inevitable Varda-ness such words would bring about.  The bird would surely try to linger on the topic, so he figured simply ignoring the comment would be better.  Varda seemed scatterbrained enough at times to completely forget things within moments, so he just had to hope this would be one of those times.  Even if not, at least he could hope Varda just wouldn't push the topic.

The glaceon continued walking, but was noticeably slower than before the ordeal with the two gourgeist.  Why?  Well, his injuries had been mitigated, but not completely healed, so he still had more than enough reason to be a bit more cautious about the area.  The marks on his face that were starting to sting more and more as his adrenaline faded away served as a constant reminder to what could happen if he were not to be cautious.  He needed to focus on quickly dealing with any potential enemies.... as well as keeping an eye on the froslass, whom he was still kind of looking for an excuse to get into a fight with.

Nevi minded her own business as the others talked a bit, though she couldn't help but listen and take note of Sova clearly intentionally ignoring his worried friend.  How did those two get along if the glaceon always behaved in such a manner?  Maybe today was just an off day for him and he wasn't usually this much of a huge jerk....  He'd put himself at risk a lot in the battle just moments prior, and he'd really gained nothing from doing so unless he WANTED huge scratches on his face, so going right back to rude behavior seemed confusing.  Why try to protect others just to be a jerk to them?

The froslass still waited for her new friend to move before doing anything, despite Sova getting moving already.  "So.... are you alright?  The hail didn't hurt too much, I hope," she questioned as she waited for the altaria to be ready to move.
She really did feel bad, as the weather had clearly not been fun for Varda.  Actually, it seemed like everyone but her had had an unpleasant time from the artificial weather in one way or another.

(That trap roll was just insult to injury.)

Varda closed his eyes and enjoyed the returning warmth. It wasn't as nice as the sun, and the odd, creepy house didn't exactly invite anyone to relax, but... After the hail, even such a dreary atmosphere felt nice and warm! He could feel how the frost was starting to slowly melt off his feathers, the familiar blue color returning as the white disappeared. The larger icicles that had formed on his beak took a bit longer to disappear of course, being bigger than just a thin layer of ice, but small droplets of water continued to drip down their smooth surface. However, they could not hang onto the melting ice on the beak forever, falling down before they even fully melted and shattering into little pieces of ice on the floor – that eventually would turn into nothing but little puddles of water.

The Altaria just stood there in silence, enjoying himself and spreading his wings slightly as if inviting the warmer air to wrap him into its pleasant embrace. What happened outside his mind, the bird didn't know. He had stopped paying attention a long time ago, just smiling happily as he felt his limbs growing warmer. The areas the hail had hit did still tingle and hurt, but he didn't mind! Even the pain was forgotten along with everything else.

A voice did somehow manage to break through the bird's thoughts, causing him to stir slightly and open his eyes slowly, looking in the direction of the sound. It was... Nevi. Oh, that was right, Varda's eyes glanced at their surroundings. He had almost managed to forget where they were! Actually, he had forgotten. Just for a little bit. A little yawn escaped his beak as he had almost been ready to sleep, his wings stretching as far as they could go. What had he been asked about? Oh, right.
"Oh, yes! I'm fine," he chirped, taking quick steps to rush after Sova.



((It was a trap indeed.))

Sova didn't even glance back when his friend started moving, though he knew due to the sounds of feet on the floor. From the sounds of it, Varda was taking to a fast pace to catch up with him. Good, that meant he didn't have to slow down. As for the froslass.... well, he didn't really care if it followed them or not, so he wasn't particularly worried about it being left behind. If anything, he wanted to pick up his pace for the sole purpose of leaving the froslass behind. However, he knew it would keep up, as it had seemingly taken a liking to Varda and didn't seem interested in leaving with the bird around.

The glaceon said nothing at first as he moved along, not fancying the idea of making the froslass feel welcome to speak. However, that soon changed when he noticed something coming into view ahead of them. It appeared the hallway had been marked up by.... something a bit further up. He couldn't see it clearly from here, but it almost looked like words, marked onto the walls, floor, and even the ceiling, all in red. The red was a nice touch, he thought, it really brought the piece together if the creator was going for something menacing. With such a design, he had high hopes for some cheesy lines like "Keep out" or "Beware of growlithe," but he couldn't quite make out what the words said just yet, only that they were words.... probably.

"Varda, am I imagining the menacing red text on the walls up ahead?," he questioned as he walked along.
In all honesty, with the hits to the head he'd sustained in the earlier fight, he wasn't ruling out the possibility of hallucinations on his part right now. Luckily, he was the only one who'd really taken any serious damage due to purposely TRYING to do as such, so if the others saw it, he could assure himself it wasn't a hallucination.

Nevi was relieved to hear her new friend hadn't been notably hurt by her hailstorm, though she still felt bad that she'd had to do it. Surely, it couldn't have felt good, even if it didn't hurt too much. Dwelling on it would do no good, though, so she immediately followed along silently as Varda finally began moving. She wasn't really paying any attention to the path ahead due to this place not really being much to explore to her after LIVING here, though her attention was drawn when the red writing on the walls ahead was pointed out. She squinted and looked ahead into the dimly lit hall and found that she could indeed see something on the walls and even on the ceiling! "I think I-" she began, only to be cut off.

"Is your name Varda?" Sova interrupted, shooting a quick glare at the froslass before looking back ahead and continuing his attempts at making out the words.
Honestly, though, all he needed to know had already been confirmed to him by what little of a response the froslass managed to get out. He wasn't hallucinating, she clearly saw it too. Great, that probably meant they'd have to deal with more of this house's deranged inhabitants. On the bright side, it also meant he had the pleasure of knowing someone was actually edgy enough to do such a thing.

Varda scurried after Sova who had already been walking for a while, his pace slowing down once he got close enough to be able to keep up with his normal steps. Being a larger Pokémon with longer legs, he didn't even have to walk very fast to keep up – a whole different story compared to when he was a small bird with the stubbiest of legs! The movement also helped to warm him up a little, his head held high as he smiled... But he couldn't help but let out a little sneeze, his feathers ruffling up as he shuddered. Brr, it certainly did feel cold on occasion still!

The Glaceon's words caused the bird to blink and look at his friend, his gaze then moving straight to the walls ahead of them. Sova had seen something on them, so Varda stretched his neck closer to the walls and squinted as he tried to see. He couldn't see red text really, as he couldn't make out the letters and the words... But there was something red indeed! Something inside him got rather excited, wondering if there was an artist around them who had been making art of some kind. If one just wanted to paint the walls red, they had done a very poor job – huge parts of the original wall could still be seen! No, it had to be art or something...

Nevi was to first one to spoke up, the ghost-like Pokémon having stayed with them through the fight and floating by their side. The Altaria looked at her, but Sova's words soon cut her off in mid-sentence – and of course drawing the bird's attention to him as well. The question was an odd one, asking Nevi if her name actually was Varda... But the blue bird gasped, his eyes widening as he glanced from Sova to Nevi.
"I-Is it?!" He chirped in surprise and shock, his wings covering his beak as he took the question completely seriously and was even expecting a positive answer. He hadn't seen another Varda ever before!

Nevi's mood was once more killed as she was reminded of just how unwelcome she was by a certain member of the group. However, she didn't let this affect her attitude, as she knew already that the friendly altaria wouldn't like that. Then she was reminded that said altaria was.... a bit of an airhead. "Uh...." she began, not quite sure how to respond.
She couldn't believe Varda hadn't recognized a sarcastic and hostile comment, especially from someone he apparently knew well enough for the two to be traveling together.

Whatever brief sense of accomplishment Sova had garnered from making the froslass shut up was quickly forgotten as his friend made things very awkward with an odd question. Apparently, he hadn't been openly hostile enough to make it clear that he just didn't like the froslass. Well, either way, Nevi seemed to be having trouble explaining it, so he then decided to take it upon himself to do so. "No, her name's not Varda. Your name's Varda.... and I asked you a question, remember?"
He was hoping to move the topic back toward the red text he'd spotted quickly so that the rather awkward situation that'd arose from his comment didn't just keep getting more awkward.

Looking back at the text as he continued to walk closer, it was still hard to see, but he was certain it was supposed to say something. He wondered what had been used to make it, but figured it would probably be best not to bring such a thing up, since there were possibilities that.... well, wouldn't be too appealing to someone more sensitive than himself. All that really mattered was what it said, and hey, maybe it would be a friendly message! ...Okay, not likely, but still! There was the possibility that it could be a helpful message, perhaps some kind of warning. Actually, it was probably a warning. A warning or a threat. He kind of hoped it was a threat, he always found it funny when things tried to threaten him.

Varda stared at Nevi with large, confused eyes, yearning for a response. He didn't even breathe, forgetting to do it while he waited! But it wasn't her who ended up responding, the Glaceon's voice causing the bird to stir and look at his friend. No was the first word, immediately making him a bit sad – it would have been pretty interesting to meet someone with the first name as him for the first time, after all! But it seemed like that wouldn't happen now. Not today. Maybe some day, in the near – or far – future...

The Altaria kept looking at Sova, his disappointment soon over. Yes, that was right, he was Varda! But... A question? The bird looked quite oblivious as he blinked slowly, a small smile on his face as he tilted his head slightly. He couldn't quite remember, but – oh! Varda's eyes grew slightly bigger as the realization hit him, glancing at the wall he was asked to take a look at earlier. Yes, the red smudges that might have been text, Sova wanted to know about that.

"Oh, right!" He chirped, waddling after his friend,
"I saw it! I saw the red, Sova! I don't know what it is, but... I saw it," the bird added, his tone excited as he hurried to get to the Glaceon's side so he wouldn't be left behind.

Sova picked up his pace a bit in his desire to see what the red markings were, getting ever closer until words finally came into view.... It was hard to read, very sloppy writing, and it seemed like whatever had been used for "ink" had dripped a considerable amount to give it an eerie look. There were lines of red running down the wall off of each letter, dried in place to show it'd been there for a while. He squinted to read the letters as they came into view....

....B....E....W....A....R....E....
....W....A....R....N....I....N....G....
....G....O....A....W....A....Y....

Well, this was certainly disappointing. There were just cheesy lines plastered all over the walls in an attempt to be intimidating. Beware, warning, go away, dead end, continue at own risk, etc. He didn't bother trying to read them all, as there were quite a lot and this pattern of phrases painted all over the hallway seemed to continue for a while. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused as a.... strange noise started up. He wondered if perhaps it was just his imagination, but it sounded very real. It was like.... whispering, too quiet to understand, and not coming from any identifiable source. It was quiet, not a bother, but it made him feel.... odd. He wasn't exactly scared, but he didn't feel right.

It took the glaceon a moment to realize he'd stopped walking and had entirely left Varda hanging in their conversation. The whispers seemed to have somehow garnered his full attention.... In fact, it was as if it were out of his control, like the sounds had encompassed his mind. He considered speaking up and saying to turn back, but the noises were already beginning to make it difficult to concentrate again. In fact, he wasn't even sure if anyone was talking to him.

Nevi simply stayed silent and followed along, not wishing to start any conflict with the glaceon by speaking if she didn't really have anything to say. Besides, there wasn't much that really needed to be said, it was writing on the walls. As said writing came into clear view, she.... would have been intimidated, if not for the fact that she LIVED here and was quite used to creepy things happening. This house was all about creepy, even the inhabitants were mostly creepy. They weren't generally hostile toward her, but she often avoided them as they were just unappealing to associate with, not to mention it stopped her from making new friends as most inhabitants of the chateau simply refused to get along with visitors!

As the froslass approached the words on the walls, though, she began to notice something else. First, Sova seemed to have stopped moving. Second.... there was an odd noise starting up, like whispering. She looked around for a source, but there was nothing. It was quiet.... did the others hear it? Well, surely the glaceon did, with his giant ears, but she wasn't sure how good an altaria's hearing was.

(There are 2 gastly, 6 shuppet and a gengar creepin' up in the walls 'n usin' Swagger. Super Insanity Hallway.. Unless you had something in mind for any of them. Definitely not an excuse to get rid of a bunch of stuff.)

Varda stopped when the trio finally got close enough to actually read the red smudged on the wall, leaning closer and squinting slightly. They were letters indeed, something that could be read... Though the paint had dripped slightly, making some of the things rather difficult to understand! He could understand enough, though. Continue, how nice of them to say something like that! And... Warming, or something? He was rather cold, so the knowledge that it would get warmer made him happier! Oh, to get his feathers nice and toasty would certainly be a dream come true!

He had lagged behind a bit due to him stopping, so he quickly continued without paying much attention to reading all of the text, scurrying after Sova – who also suddenly had stopped. Oh well, he didn't think much of that either, smiling as he stopped. His friend's ears were twitching slightly, so Varda himself stayed quiet and looked around, twisting his neck and facing other directions to see if his ears picked up anything.

They didn't. Or... Did they? It was difficult to say. If they did, it was something very faint, something that seemed to blend in the other atmospheric sounds of the hall they were in. A slight buzz, a murmur maybe... Or maybe it was music? The Altaria perked up, the smile on his face getting ever wider as his eyes opened up and sparkled. Oh, maybe there was music and singing coming from another room somewhere, on the other side of these walls! He got very excited and pumped up, his feathers ruffling up.
"Oh, I feel like dancing? Do you feel like dancing? I think we should dance!"

With his attention less than available, Sova only barely managed to realize when his friend spoke up, suddenly being given something to fully ground his attention to and immediately appearing less zoned out. However, he hadn't paid quite enough attention to be entirely sure what'd been said.... something about dancing? Did he.... feel like dancing? What an odd question, but knowing Varda, he had probably heard correctly and the question was probably entirely serious. That meant he had to give a serious answer.

"Uh.... let's not. We're still racing time, and we don't even know if we're winning," he responded, making an excuse to not stop and dance.
Albeit, it was a very good excuse, but it was still an excuse. He wanted nothing less than to dance right now. Besides, with his body-type, how was he expected to dance properly? There wasn't much he could do given he was a quadruped. Sure, the froslass could almost certainly dance, and maybe Varda could even dance, but.... a dancing glaceon? Nonsense.

Despite having only desired to quickly think of an excuse, Sova actually managed to do more than just that, reminding himself that they were supposed to be going forward. Right, he'd stopped moving.... Well, that was something that could be easily fixed and he wasted no time in doing so, immediately moving along again, figuring Varda would be able to walk and talk. It seemed Varda wasn't hearing the strange whispers, at least from what the glaceon could tell, which was good. They were beginning to annoy him, but he imagined they could also be rather creepy to someone more innocent like a certain bird.

Nevi stopped near the altaria, worried that she would be suddenly attacked once more by the glaceon who'd stopped. To her relief, though, it seemed he was just distracted by something, presumably the odd sounds. Varda, on the other hand, didn't seem at all distracted. Why, he didn't even seem to notice! Maybe they weren't even there and she was just the only one hearing it, maybe she was going crazy! Froslass had a tendency to be rather unhinged from reality, it honestly seemed a bit genetic, and it wasn't like she was exactly "normal" in the first place.... However, she'd never hallucinated before, so it seemed odd for something like that to start up now.

The froslass paid close attention as Varda started up about wanting to dance, and while she was about to respond approvingly of the idea, she was beaten to it by Mr. Moody, who seemed very against the idea.... though he had solid reasoning against it. With this in mind, she said nothing, not wanting to inevitably get into another argument, especially since it seemed very easy to have things turn violent with this fox.