A Ghost's Definition of Fun (Open)

(Energy 6) Jude snuck quietly, careful not to make a noise. He hadn't detected any other pokemon yet, but just to be on the safe side, no sound came from the small Ghost Pokemon. Except for a few snickers, here and there. He could barely contain his excitement! Pranking was a great way to gauge himself. Also, as a plus side, sometimes it generated negativity. His favorite emotion was vengefulness. It was just so sweet. He almost forgot where he was, daydreaming about all the possibilities. He finally made up his mind. "Come on Jude. Time to get serious.", he thought to himself, and turned invisible, lying in wait.

It was a fine evening, and although the forest he had found himself in was dark by nature, his mood didn't seem to be affected as a result. In fact, Russell was rather in a good mood, despite how late it was in the day. He had recently evolved, and was making full use of his new set of wings to hover his way through Shadowhue Forest. As he flew, he carried his journal and pencil along with him, using his psychic type Hidden Power to levitate them with ease.

The Mothim had been to the depths of this forest once before, though that had been when the forest had been truly darkened by overhanging clouds that boded ill for any who traveled beneath them. From being here today, he had discovered that the forest did in fact have a certain beauty to it, even if it took someone looking for it to find it.

Unlike his time here previously, Russell had taken to making notes in his journal, studying the dungeon in a way that was likely to be much more useful than the time he'd been here before.... although he supposed he had recruited Kelina during his previous visit so it wasn't like it had been a complete waste of time.

A dusting of dappled light from the setting sun found it's way through the thick leafy canopy of Shadowhue Forest, casting it's orange hues upon the ground as Russell's thoughts drifted. He found himself staring at, it's subtle beauty intriguing him and prompting him to land neatly on the branch of a tree nearby in order to sketch the scene. His skills weren't perfect, but he would do his best to convey what he could see within the pages of his journal so that others might marvel at it's natural allure.

Jude had waited for so long, he had lost track of time. He was nodding off, until a subtle noise caught his attention. It was like a feathery flapping noise and a delicate "poof" sound. "I must be really tired...", Jude thought, until he heard the scratchy noise of a pencil. Jude almost giggled with glee, until he composed himself. He brushed the cobwebs of sleep out of his mind, and quickly poked his head out from behind the tree. He was right! There was a pokemon! Mothim, from the looks of it. "Perfect.", The gleeful ghost whispered. He turned invisible, and crept up slowly behind the Mothim, touched their back, darted away out of reach, and waited for a reaction.

A quick stroke of the pencil here, and a little crosshatching there... Russell had been so involved in his sketch that he hadn't even detected the subtle signs of movement behind him. That was, until something gently touched his back, square in the center and not quite touching any of his wings. He startled forwards at the touch, luckily having the presence of mind to move his pencil away from his journal before he accidentally ruined his work so far.

With both journal and pencil hovering separately in front of him, Russell whipped around, trying to figure out what had touched him. There were no branches sticking out and, when he looked down at the ground, nothing that would have caused that sort of sensation had it merely fallen onto or brushed past his back on it's way towards the ground.

Frowning, but understanding that something was a little fishy about this whole situation, he called out, "Who's there?"

Jude snapped a branch off of a tree, outside of the mothim's line of sight. No negativity yet... Jude was disappointed. Not even a tiny smidge of fear. Just mild confusion. Jude was going to have to up the ante. He still couldn't believe the fortitude of this Pokemon. Most pokemon would be EXUDING fear at this point. He didn't want to make a fool of himself, like he did on that day with the Gardevoir... "Now's not the time to dwell on the past.", He whispered, shaking himself. Jude let loose the creepiest giggle he could muster. After waiting a few minutes, he attempted an extremely risky move. Doing so would put down his invisibility, but that didn't matter at this point. He attempted to snatch the notebook away from the Mothim.

Russell whipped his attention around as his question was responded to with nothing more than a snap of a branch. Although this exact situation had not happened to him before, the similarity to his time in the house on Pricklemist hill was very telling as to what was going on here.

Rather than being scared by the odd occurrences, his knowledge of what might be causing them instead caused him to narrow his eyes and try to locate the source. He couldn't of course, as the Shuppet was invisible, instead a creepy almost childlike laughter reached his ears. The sound itself did make him shiver a little despite himself.

Just as Russell had been considering ways in which to try and get the ghost to show itself, the individual in question became visible in order to steal his notebook. Immediately flustered at the idea of losing his precious journal, the Mothim acted almost instinctively and darted forwards, using his Protect move whilst blocking the pokemon's - now revealed to be a Shuppet's - path.

Blocking the Shuppet's path in this way would cause it to bump into the barrier if it continued forwards, giving Russell an opportunity to take his journal back.

"No matter what sort of ghost you are, it's rude to steal someone's belongings,"' he frowned.

And his plan was going SO well... Oh, well. And not even a lick of negativity. He could always play the "innocent child" card, but he doubted it would work on a pokemon so...quick-witted. As he bumped into the Protect, he was pushed back, the book dropping from where it was suspended in the air, and turned to look the Mothim in the eyes. "Well, Excuuuse me! I just wanted to have a little fun. I would have given it back!" He wouldn't have. Lying was one of his fortes but he rarely employed it. Jude tilted his head slightly and gave an unsettling grin. This pokemon was obviously a force to be reckoned with. He realized he should try being polite, as to not upset this pokemon.

Russell quickly made use of his Hidden Power once again to catch his journal before it hit the ground from where the Shuppet had dropped it upon colliding with his protective barrier. He didn't reply to the stranger for a moment as he securely closed the journal so that only it's autumn leaf patterned covers could be seen and practically hugged it to his chest, glad that it was safe. Somewhere in the small scuffle he'd dropped his pencil, but he could easily find that again later or get another one, so he wasn't particularly bothered.

With a breath of relief, the Mothim turned to the Shuppet, a little more willing to listen now that his journal wasn't in danger.
"Honestly, I might be a little more sympathetic if you hadn't just tried to steal my life's work," he replied. The frown was gone from the bug's face now, but he still didn't seem amused at what had nearly occurred.

Jude huffed, then remembered he needed to be more polite. He took a deep breath and said, "I had no idea! Sorry." He gave a small smile, trying to get back on this Pokemon's good graces. But...there was one thing. The way this pokemon had protected their book, and called it their "life's work", kind of got him curious. At this point, there was no way they would willingly let him see the book, but maybe if he got on this pokemon's good side. "Again, I'm super sorry, and I hope that you don't hate me forever. Well... then again...hating me forever is also a valid option.", If someone hated him, he could hover nearby and feed off of the hate, until he was done tormenting them. "Actually...Don't hate me forever." He must be sounding really weird now. He cut himself off and looked a little sheepish.

The Mothim's hardened expression seemed to soften a little as the Shuppet apologised to him. At least he had made the effort to try and make amends... and of course there was no way he could know just how precious Russell's journal was to him. But he'd still kinda tried to steal it, and Russell wasn't entirely sure if it was just a prank, or if the Shuppet had truly intended to permanently steal it.

Cautiousness was probably his best bet in this situation.
"Well, honestly I find it a little hard to hate anyone," he admitted. Especially forever. Hate was such a powerful word. "Maybe dislike for a while..." he added after a momentary delay, almost as an afterthought.

"You know, Hate tastes a lot better than Dislike.", that seemingly random comment springing forth from the little ghost's mouth. He took note of the softening of the face. Time to go in for the metaphorical kill. "Do you mind waiting here for a moment?", he said excitedly. Jude darted away into the forest, weaving around trees, back and forth, stopped at a clearing, and rooted around, looking for something to give as an "I'm sorry" gift. He was so proud of himself for this one. There was nothing other pokemon liked more than gifts. Hopefully this Mothim liked gifts too.

Guest carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Russell's head tilted to the side a little in confusion as he blinked at that comment. What an odd thing to say. Then again, there really were some odd phenomenon in the world, who was he to say that someone being able to taste an emotion was at all weird.

However, the Mothim was confused once more as the Shuppet requested that he wait here for a moment. Blinking again, Russell replied with, "Uhm... sure?" before the ghost eagerly darted off. The moth pokemon was a little unsure what was going on here... and so just decided to wait, landing back on the tree branch from which he had been sketching on.

Deciding to do something useful whilst he was waiting, Russell then fluttered down to the forest floor to look for his pencil. Once he found it, he returned to the branch in order to finish his sketch from earlier. Luckily the light was still there, peeking through the trees and creating a dappled effect on the forest floor. It probably wouldn't remain the same for much longer though, and so the Mothim quickly finished up his drawing with the time he had left.

Solilo carried out 3 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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(6-1=5)
As Jude was searching, he sighed and looked up. Something pink caught his eye. He floated over to the shiny object, and realized it was a strip of cloth. It sure was pretty. Perfect! Jude picked up the cloth and flew as fast as he could to the Mothim. He was so excited, he wasn't looking and accidentally phased through a tree. He stopped, his smile disappearing. A shudder ran through his body. Boy did he hate phasing through things. It gave him the feeling like he was choking, and made him feel unnaturally cold. He picked up the cloth and flew back, his smile on his face. "Hey! Guess what I got for you! Think of it as a, "I'm sorry gift", he said, interrupting the Mothim while he drew. He offered a pink ribbon to the 
Mothim, smiling.

Luckily for the Shuppet, Russell had just finished shading in the last part of his sketch when Jude reappeared. The Mothim was the type of pokemon who didn't particularly appreciate interruptions, though it was mostly a pet peeve involved with verbal interruptions than anything else.

Looking up, Russell folded his journal closed once again and turned to the strange Shuppet as he offered the fabric. The Mothim blinked, looking at the fabric for a moment before almost reluctantly accepting it from the other pokemon and thus accepting his attempted apology.
"Oh.. uhm.. Thankyou?" he replied, a little confused, but also grateful for the gift.

Examining the fabric for a brief moment, Russell came to the conclusion that it was in fact a Defense Scarf. He didn't really need it, but figured it would be polite to accept the apology and let the Shuppet try to make amends for his actions. After all, Russell did believe that everyone deserved a second chance.

Jude glowed with pride as his gift was accepted. His plan was finally working. Now he had gained the trust back, he would try and ask. But first he wanted to seem as if that wasn't what was on his mind the entire time. Jude, smiling, said, "So, what do think? It's really strange, huh?" Jude glanced down at the book, wondering what it could hold. Maybe it held a treasure map? Or actual treasure! He was also mildly interested in what the Mothim was scribbling in it all day. "So...uh..." , Jude said, nervously. He wanted to know, but he was worried about the response he would get. The Mothim probably wasn't going to be too keen on letting him see the book. Better now than never. "Do you mind if I take a look at the book?", he looked at the Mothim hopefully.