Vanity Fair

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(OOC: Discussed in this thread.)

[Energy: 19-10=9]

T'was a windy, chilly day in Shadowhue, the kind of day in which most pokémon would sooner spend time near the comfort of a pleasant fire in Grassveil than running about in the woods. But for whatever reason, a particular pokémon didn’t seem to be spending time getting cozy and warm, and was instead moving forwards, away from the comfort of civilization and towards the dark woodland of Shadowhue.

This pokémon was a piplup named Clovis, a local of the general area, albeit not one too familiar with the in and outs of such a dark and dungeonlike place such as Shadowhue. He had found himself on the outside of the forest as the result of an aimless afternoon meander, and as he had far too much free time, he decided that he would stay.

Clovis blinked before looking into the dark, thick forest. Many 'mons he had met in the past warned him to avoid such a place, but he paid these warnings little mind. So long as these woods existed, and ferals roamed them unrestrained, there would need to be civilized pokémon like himself to explore the unknown and shine metaphorical light into the literal darkness. So he walked into the forest, prepared to spend all afternoon learning whatever secrets lay in the gloom in front of him...

Alki opened her eyes, as her singing, slightly trembling voice slowed down, and eventually stopped. She opened her eyes, gazing over her handiwork. There it was, the Pinsir lay there on the floor. Yooka approached it, and gave it a tremendous thwack on the head, to make sure it stayed down, she supposed. Alki released a half-laugh, half-cry, unsure of what to feel after the day’s events. She supposed she should just feel happy to be alive, what with the poisoning and ferals, but it was hard to find much joy when she’d been poisoned once, and attacked twice.

“D-D-Did I… Did I do good?” Alki asked, her voice trembling. Certainly, she’d helped, right? She hadn’t just been a… hindrance, or a little kid to protect. They’d avoided a fight, and that had to count something? She could tell Darcy about this, at the guild, and then the Skitty would be impressed, and she’d be happy to have her as a teammate, since she’d proven herself to be… not useless, at least. But as she searched the immediate area for the third Pokemon who had accompanied them, her dreams of usefulness were quickly shattered as she saw the Piplup lying there, on the muddy ground he’d claimed to hate so much earlier. And by that simple fact, she knew that she’d hit a teammate with her song as well as an enemy, and a small wave of guilt, and a tsunami of panic flooded through her. He had to wake up!

She bounced over to him, and took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. Her hands were still filthy… what if he yelled at her? She shook him anyways. The alternatives weren’t great. She could technically leave the dungeon with Yooka, leaving Clovis behind, but aside from being very immoral, that wasn’t something Alki thought herself capable of. What would Darcy think? And the second possibility was to simply wait for him to wake up of his own accord, but with ferals, poisonous ones, too, on the loose, she didn’t exactly want to wait long at all. So she shook him, softly at first, and then more vigorously. And worry and panic quickly overriding her earlier apprehension, she leaned right next to his ear, and yelled two very important syllables as loudly as she could: “WAKE! UP!” She yelled, and as her fear strangled her reason, she decided a kick to the stomach would be a good idea, if only to be 100% positive he’d wake up. Alki could take a bit of verbal abuse, as long as it meant saving their lives from the ferals of the dungeon. “We… let’s not s-stay here any second longer than we need to...” Alki said, before tugging on the Piplup’s wing as if to direct him towards the dungeon’s exit, which Alki could feel was rather close by.

Perhaps she wasn't annoyed bacause of the poison. Actually, the headache she had, got worse when she noticed the Piplup sleeping, rather peacefully. Maybe the poison was all just in her head. Either way, she was about ready to just leave the place and the two behind, but like usual, there was somethings holding her back.

One promise she needed to get rid of and one oath that she made a part of herself. The one promise she made to Darcy, that Yooka would help out anyone on Darcy's team. While, her old job as a merchant taught her to keep to her side of a deal in a rather deeper meaning than one expects. Perhaps too deep for her own good.

She was about to head over to the Piplup to carry him out but Alki was trying to wake him. Yooka had paused to watch and semi-question what she was doing. It was a little odd and it got far more awkward when Alki ended up yelling. Yooka cringed and rushed over to stop her but Yooka was just a tad late as Alki soon followed it up with a kick to the stomach. Fortunately, Igglybuff were rather physically weak... but that yell would probably be annoying.

"Um. Alki, you do know I could've just... uh. Meh, nevermind." If the Piplup managed to sleep through that, she'll just carry the Piplup. Not like she cared if he doesn't want that. Sooner she's out the sooner she herself can sleep.

((ooc: well... I could continue indefinitely, but this thread got old for me... the mind-set of 'Green' Yooka is actually way different than the Yooka I'm doing now...

Green:

))

It was a strange kind of sleep. It was certainly deep, deep enough to sort of... numb the issues that were going on around the piplup. There was poison in his veins, still, and he subconsciously clutched at his aching belly and joints as venomoth toxins did their work. But at least he wasn't moving, just lying down, asleep. What could be better than some rest, if he could not be cured? That was a logical mindset to be in, probably. In truth, going to sleep hadn't really been a decision of Clovis' own, but the sleep had been forced on him by a friendly source, surely they would wake him up if his attention was needed. Clovis did not think about the situation as he slept. He only dreamed of being somewhere cozier.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping piplup, Alki approached. She shook him around a bit, prompting the piplup to move his legs around a bit in response, as though a dream had been interrupted. His eyes remained closed, and his mind remained unconscious. Then, a second attempt to wake him came. The igglybuff positioned her mouth next to Clovis' ear, and suddenly, shockingly, screamed just about as Clovis expected she'd be able to. This sudden, aggressive noise pierced through the piplup's ears like knives, working their way directly into his head and jolting him awake. Clovis regained consciousness, and immediately felt a sense of the sort of anger that one might feel from waking up on a Monday morning. What was that noise, and why did I have to hear it? He wanted to ask. But the igglybuff wouldn't be satisfied simply to scream like a brat, no. She decided to mess around like one and give him a kick to the stomach.

Groggy and dazed, Clovis stood and faced the annoying little thing, reaching out a flipper as he stood, intending to hold her still to stop her shenanigans. Which was... grabbed? Alki spoke to Clovis, announcing they ought to get moving. Ought we? He let himself be dragged in whatever direction she tugged, mostly because he was too drowsy to bother looking for a way out himself.

((ooc: Up'd the quality by 11 I see, and is that a size code? lol. Also, I don't mind ending it ASAP if that is what you wish.))

About time the Igglybuff took some action. Wait, what? Why was Alki so forceful? The Igglybuff's little moment was nearly ignored by Yooka because the reasoning wasn't a concern for Yooka as that is also what she wanted right now. Following the Igglybuff felt slightly off but it was much easier to concentrate while she just followed and watched their surroundings instead of determining the movement of the party herself. Call it lazy or whatever but Yooka made no questions towards Alki for what she's doing. Infact, she smirked and nearly laughed after realizing what was occuring. This is what she practically wanted. Usually this never happens so easily.

The effects of the poison she had was long since gone and it wasn't like she couldn't feel it anyways. This came to show when her vigor returned even if just slight. The headache stayed but it wasn't nearly as bad as before. The relief didn't come however, she was too into the mood to relax. All she wanted to do now was rest, but she knew she had to wait a little longer for that reward. If it was even considered a reward. What for? Enduring randomness? Nothing really happened here, it wasn't even beneficial to her or them. If anything this just made her dislike doing random stuff without a plan but that won't change, she'll still do it unknowingly as she constantly does stuff without really planning ahead or really thinking about it's consequences first, or ever.

It was such, then, that there was nowhere to go but out. For a bit, Clovis let the igglybuff lead him onward, as his sense of post-sleep grogginess worked together with the venomoth's poison to disorient his sense of direction and send waves of blurriness into his vision, going between sudden spells of dizziness and sharp, bothersome headaches. He heard Alki's apology for kicking him, though really, what with all the other problems with the situation, he didn't think that he'd be capable of maintaining much in the way of anger even if she hadn't said she was sorry. There were a few comments from the impatient little fairy about how he ought to hurry up, but the igglybuff's passive nature bade her to apologize as expected almost immediately after she had spoke. Whatever. Clovis could deal with a few nagging words if he had to; advancing along the path, simply walking home- that was what kept his attention.

And so he did advance, along with the others, eventually separating himself from Alki's immediate grip, and finding the dungeon's exit. It had been a bit rough of a trek, all things considered, but it wasn't necessarily a trip that the piplup regretted. It was nothing forced upon him. He had entered in of his own will, so there was probably something in the way of a lesson to be learned. No way could he have made a decision to waste his own time, no-sir-ee. And it was not an unreasonable belief to hold. From being poisoned, he had felt its effects firsthand. From simply coming out, he had become acquainted with several other pokémon. And hey. The weather was nice and cool.