For Once (Semi-Open)

Black.  Nothing but black.  Darkness, silence, lack of being; black.  Empty in every conceivable meaning of the word.  No dreams.  Not even a nightmare, the staple of such a damaged psyche.  Just the void, lacking the presence of time and the concept of awareness.  Despite this blackness, there were a few things that were present.  Perhaps saying it was entirely "empty" was misleading, for there were small, subtle things.  Things like pain, and a great deal of it.  Then there was the feeling of... sadness.  They came and went, sometimes in separate intervals, but they were there.  They were all that was there.  The only sign of life in the otherwise-empty consciousness was the occasional glimpse of misery.  Ironically, these sensations were a good sign, or at least as good a sign as one could hope for.  Wavering on the cusp of consciousness in unconditional agony was unpleasant to say the least, but it was a continuous reminder of life.

Then there was light.  His eyes opened to a spectacle of painfully dazzling brightness, causing them to shut again on reflex.  Still, it was warm and better than the alternative.  With a mix of pain and drowsiness manifesting in a weak groan, he forced his eyes open ever so slightly.  All he could see was blinding light; misleading since the lighting in the room was relatively low.  As his eyes slowly adjusted to taking in any amount of light at all after days of being shut, he found a sense of familiarity in the atmosphere.  It didn't take long at all for him to realize he was in the guild; in his room, in fact.  With the light still piercing his eyes like needles, he lifted his head away from the wall he happened to be staring at in an attempt to survey his surroundings.  He was promptly shooed away from this idea as a jolt of pain struck through his body.  His head fell back to the bed beneath him, which did nothing to alleviate the sudden onslaught of sufferance.  "Oooooooooooow," he moaned in a manner that made him sound more inconvenienced than truly pained.

In reality the feeling was agonizing, but he was used to such things.  Still, it was taking a lot out of him to keep his composure; this was worse than anything he had experienced before.  He couldn't give full credit to his own discipline, as his exhaustion contributed to the understated representation of his torment.  "Whyyyyyy," he continued, uncertain if anyone was even around to answer him.  Now that he had been given a moment to gather his bearings... everything became so much less clear.  His head was starting to spin and questions were cropping up and passing by in his mind.  Why was he laying in his bed in the guild, and more importantly, what had happened to him?  He couldn't bring himself to lift his head again and get a look at his body to see what was causing the pain, and he couldn't feel any particular source for the wholly unpleasant sensations.  The more he was allowed to think, the harder it became and the more confused he was.  He was having trouble recalling anything at all, partly due to his incredibly dazed state.

Then he came upon what was perhaps the most puzzling question of all: what the f*ck was he laying on?  He had been too preoccupied with all the horrible feelings and confusion to immediately realize that he was not laying on his bed.  It was far more comfortable than that, and despite how little he actually slept in his bed, he was still fairly certain of his ability to recognize the feeling of it.  He couldn't exactly tell what it was through his limited field of view; just that it was a pale shade of lavender with... roses?  It seemed to have red flower petals attached to it, but upon further inspection it was clear that these were a part of the fabric.  It had a trim around the edges in a similar fashion, giving the appearance that he was laying on a big pile of roses.  This didn't really answer what it was in specific, but he could feel that it was a large pillow, or perhaps a very fluffy little bed.  He was laying on someone's big girly pillow.  Immediately, he leapt up and recoiled from the admittedly pleasant bedding... or at least, he would have if not for his nigh-total inability to move.  Alas, he was stuck laying on the soft cushion, which wasn't as bad as he would have liked to pretend.  He didn't want to be seen in such a situation, but it wasn't the worst thing to be stuck on top of.  There was only so much internal protest he could give toward having something so pleasant to lay on.

But why?  Really, why?

Sova could see his front legs, though he couldn't move the left and barely the right; his blue paws were wrapped in white bandages.  He assumed the rest of his body was in no better condition based on what little information he had.  It was still unclear what was going on, but he knew he was hurt and apparently being taken care of.  One of these things was no surprise.


Sitting outside the open doorway to the room was a vaporeon, having been idle in her position since returning to the guild.  She hadn't even eaten, too distraught to muster up an appetite; nor had she slept for that matter.  She was waiting for Sova to wake up and for someone capable of helping him to show up.  There were some guild members capable of healing such severe injuries, or at least, hopefully; but none of them had been available upon their return.  And so Skylar did all she could and waited, as if it would somehow help.  She was powerless and felt as such.  Even amid the battle with the unimaginably powerful psychic, she had done virtually nothing in the long run, at least in her mind.  And now because she had been too weak and useless to be anything but a burden, her leader was suffering.  Even Faye had done more for him than she had; bringing a big fluffy pillow may not have seemed like much more than a kind gesture, but with moving meaning pain, it would probably seem like a blessing once the glaceon woke up... if he ever did.

She was practically starving herself in her endeavor to remain in place and be among the first to know if there was any change in her leader's condition.  She couldn't bring herself to sleep their room since she wanted to give the entirety of the space to Sova, and she didn't want to go somewhere else to sleep; really, she just didn't want to sleep.  So there she sat, back to the wall, staring down at the floor below with a sad look as if the sight was the most depressing thing in the world.  Her past few weeks had been unappealing to say the least, being filled with insecurity, dread and pain.  Going to Serene Cave alone wasn't fun, especially since damned Keith should have been there with her!  But instead the jolteon had opted out, just like he was doing again with his lack of presence in support for Sova.  Apparently, he felt guilty, which was excuse enough for him to justify just leaving!  Sky didn't know where he was and really didn't care; if he wanted to run off and sulk when Sova needed him, then so be it.

Still, the majority of her ill will was directed at herself.  After finding Sova, all she had done was prove him right for being so strict and secretive with her.  All she had done was get herself hurt and burden him... and... the zoroark.  She wasn't too blind to recognize a wanted criminal when it was practically spelled out for her.  She didn't know why Sova was with someone of such reputation, but if he trusted her, then...  Well, Skylar may not have been blind, but perhaps her loyalty was.  Either way, the zoroark had done nothing to wrong her and had helped protect Sova, for which she was thankful.  She ignored her own part in making sure he didn't die; her distracting the beast, and her medical efforts.  As far as she was concerned, she hadn't done enough to be proud of... and even if she had, it wasn't as if anyone would believe her.  So there she sat, in the hall by her own room as if she wasn't allowed to enter.  She couldn't bear looking at him.  Such a sight was not something she was accustomed to, even though the glaceon looked a lot better with all his wounds wrapped up.  Aside from his physical appearance being disturbing and bringing back the memory of how bad he'd looked directly after his "victory," it also reminded Skylar of how little she had been able to do to help.

It was getting hard for her to stay awake.  It hadn't been more than a few hours since her return to the guild, but she was exhausted from the trip and had been sitting motionless since.  She had nothing at all to stimulate her aside from her own thoughts which weren't being kind to her.  On top of that, her refusal to eat or even drink was doing her no favors.  She doubted she could have eaten even if she were to try, though, as the constant reminder of Sova's riven image brought her to a nauseous state.  It was all she could do to stay awake... alone... and she wasn't sure how long she could keep up even something so small as that.

(Kat gets next post gtfo)
(P.S. Characters can come and go as they please. You have to stick around for a full page for it to count toward your character, but considering the amount of people who want a chance to roast Sova when he can't do anything about it participate, it'd be appreciated if you bow out if your character no longer has a reason to stay. Y'know, don't just stick around for more pages. Also, feel free to just come in for a post or two if you just wanna hop in and say hi to the cripple.)

The guild had been Alki’s first proper home, a place where she felt at least somewhat welcome, where she had people who liked her. That being said, she had never been a particularly busy guild-member. She had done two missions, and as much as Darcy liked to talk about just how great Alki was, she’d never done enough to deserve that. Her most recent activities notwithstanding, it was a small miracle she was still allowed in the guild at all. Faye was just a sweet sort of person; she had to be, because Alki was certain she was sharp enough to realize just how lazy the Jigglypuff had been. Maybe she should do a mission tomorrow? Her part in the heist that Synd’r was planning had been exhausting. Yes, she’d do a mission tomorrow.

As she arrived at the guild’s entrance, her small, brown messenger bag in hand, the Jigglypuff immediately felt a very different air about the guild. It was usually alight with excitement, buzzing with activity as the explorers that were filled with either excitement or dread, went off to finish yet another mission. Today, the few explorers that were at the guilds entrance conversed with each other, their voices subdued and eyes lit with a sort of horrified excitement. Had something happened? Well, of course something had happened, otherwise, things wouldn’t be so different. The question wasn’t if something had happened. It was a question of what, exactly, had happened. Alki leaned upon a nearby tree, which also happened to be within earshot of a pair of explorers. She pretended to adjust the straps on her bag, fiddling with them as she listened carefully to what these explorers had to say. Judging from their voices, they seemed older than her, and they made no attempt at keeping their loud, deep voice silent. It certainly helped Alki, at least. From them, she managed to picture what the situation was. The basics, at least, were easy enough to glean from them. Some famous explorer, who technically was a member of the guild, but never showed up. That is, until he showed up at some point within the last day or so, all wounded and bleeding, and was now resting somewhere in the guild. Suppose she could help with her heal pulse? Granted, it wouldn’t be very much help, but a heal pulse was a heal pulse, no matter what sort of weak, sorry excuse for an explorer it came from.

She’d heard about this guy, a Glaceon. Really, really powerful, and he’d gone to fight that thing she’d seen in Serene Cave a couple months back. When she’d just arrived in Grassveil, she’d gone into Serene Cave because it was dark . She’d ended up finding and running away from the monster of serene cave. No wonder her parents thought she was an idiot… She shook her head and pulled on her bag’s strap tighter, tighter than it really needed to be. Focus on something positive, she told herself. Gems and thieves. That was good. She was a thief now, right? Thieves didn’t get all sad and depressed about their parents, now, did they? Her attempts to reason with herself failed, and the Jigglypuff’s large, blue eyes were filled with a subtle sort of melancholy, a dullness that usually wasn’t present in her species bright eyes.

She opened the door of the guild, slipping inside and shutting it closed behind her, taking care to make as little noise as possible. It’d be best to get into that habit, wasn’t it? Never mind that… she wanted to help, somehow. But that couldn’t happen until she figured out where he was. From the entrance, there were quite a few places he could be. There was a Drillbur, who was asking the chef for food, except without talking. Alki felt the sight of the Drillbur remind her of something in the back of her mind, although what that feeling was, exactly, was unclear. Who knew? Maybe she remained just a bit too paranoid after her escapade with Pterra to think clearly. She, herself, had never seen a Drillbur. Perhaps this was some Pokemon she’d seen at the pond before she’d set off for Grassveil? That was possible, she supposed. But no, it felt as though he was connected to the guild itself. Somehow…

Alki fiddled with her bag, wondering if perhaps she should ask the Drillbur about this Sova. Before she could muster the courage to do so, he was already gone. Disappeared down some stairs, and Alki felt far too apprehensive of the curious Pokemon to chase after him. No, she could find this Glaceon by herself, anyways. Surely there’d be at least a few nosy Pokemon trying to get a look at him too? She’d find him somehow.

The Jigglypuff, eventually, and after many arduous minutes of going up and down the guild, searching for any sort of sign of where the Glaceon might be. In the form of a Vaporeon, she finally found one. Sure, it was a long shot, but they both evolved from the same Pokemon… suppose they were siblings? Friends? It wasn’t like she had any other shot… besides, one look at this Pokemon told her all she needed to know about her emotional state. She knew it pretty well herself. Maybe she was in such a miserable state because of the Glaceon’s wounds? It was always a possibility, at least. Alki approached the Vaporeon, tossing around introductions in her mind. Of course the Vaporeon knew she was a guild member, the badge pinned onto her bag told her as much. Her name was a given, or maybe she shouldn’t… why would such a depressed Pokemon want to know her name? There she was, right in front of the Vaporeon, and with nothing to say! Shit.

“Um… h-hi, I… well, I heard some Glaceon, uh, S-Sova? Got hurt… I know a heal pulse...” She said, looking up at the Vaporeon. If the Vaporeon knew the Glaceon, she’d recognize his name. Sure, she was tripping over her words, but at least it made her seem more genuine, and less… serious? It definitely made her seem like a child, although Alki rather doubted that was a good things. She pulled on her bag’s strap, and continued. “I… um, I was wondering if you knew him. I really want to help, y’see...” Alki looked at the door the Vaporeon seemed to be guarding. She was alone. Suppose she was just resting, or something bad had happened to her that had nothing to do with the Glaceon? Well, Alki was too far gone in this conversation to just retreat… her eyes widened ever so slightly, and the Jigglypuff didn’t even notice. She mumbled a quiet apology, and hoped to Arceus she was right. If she wasn’t, well, she’d just gone and made a huge fool out of herself, hadn’t she? She adjusted the messenger bag she carried, taking care to show that she was, in fact, a guild-member, and not some idiot kid who’d just wandered in. “If… um, if not, d’you think you could point me in the r-right direction?” She added, attempting to cover both scenarios, rather inadequately, though. Her hands became restless and played with each other as she waited for an answer.

There was an Absol in the hall. It was Izumi. Izumi was in the hall. She was basically a literal part of the guild, disappearing and reappearing at one end or the other based on her whim. New recruits told ghost stories about her phasing through walls. To the uninitiated, she was like a ghost, a legend spoken of of but never quite seen.... Unless you went to her shop. She had this terrifying chronic condition of always being at her shop. Always. Even when she wasn't. She'd supposedly leave on long excursions to locate exclusive items and yet somehow appear from the back room the second someone rang her little desk bell at the fountain shop. She had grown into this phenomenon that could only be explained in a select number of ways, all of which required quantum mechanics and eldritch summoning rituals. What do you call a paradox with paws? A pawradox? Yeah, she was one of those.

For just a moment, Izumi's nose scrunched up at a terrible non-existent pun. It was such a low-hanging fruit. She really thought that whoever the dingbat was who thought it up could do better. Who was it, an architect? Yeah, definitely had to be an architect. Those shut-in hobo antisocialites had no idea how to use humor.

A breeze blew outside as chunks of the fourth wall began falling towards the ground, guaranteeing certain death for whoever was below. Too bad Rayquaza was up in copyright tower and and couldn't save everyone via deus ex-machina godmode Deoxys murder.

The universe then decided it was time to kick Izumi out of the astral plane beyond the fourth wall.

So yeah, Izumi was there. Probably retrieving a book from the library to read or continuing the never-ending cycle of taking stock at her shop, since that's literally always her excuse. She had her torn old shoulder bag that somehow miraculously still functioned after literally constant usage. Inside, her books made shuffling noises against her items as she walked, soothing her. It made her think back to expeditions past. She felt proud of herself for refraining from punting that one Pikachu off the mountain that one time again. That was a good time. As she walked, she noticed the hallway was... suspiciously........ empty. Normally there would at least be SOMEBODY here, loitering or gossiping or just shooting the shit or honestly Izumi didn't care to think about whatever else the pipsqueaks got up to in these parts. that was far too close to the weird side of the guild.

As she walked, she came across a face she hadn't ever really seen up close before. It was the vaporeon Skylar, one of the most eligible bachloreevees in the guild (second only to the one listed on the outlaw board, the one sobbing while gripping a potato. Izumi would never understand that one). There was usually no other way to describe her other than "nice," however today the only appropriate word was "dead." She was just very, very dead looking. What better time for Izumi to go in for the approach?

Or at least, she would have, if a Jigglypuff hadn't beaten her to it. Izu screeched to a halt and watched a mandatory cutscene play out before her, in which the Jigglypuff nurse arrives late and has to search for a patient on her first day on the job, only to find out this is just another cheaply made surgeon simulator flash game-

The universe kicked Izumi out again for getting too memey. At this point though, the Jigglypuff had adequately finished her introduction and Izu felt it was appropriate to resume the approach. Target re-acquired.

"Hey, who's funeral are we gathering for?" Izu said as she made her own approach to the incredibly popular door. "But seriously, what's wrong falling water? You, uh, you look... well I'll be frank, you look dead. Massively dead. Your sad dad is really rubbing off on you," Izumi observed. She spoke to Skylar like she knew her, even though it was highly unlikely that she and Skylar had ever interacted. She looked around, still noting that Skylar and this open door were the only ones around. "...where is he anyways? Him and his terrifying affinity for unusual boxes."

She looked over the vaporeon's head (easily done because she dwarfed the eeveelution in terms of size) and peeked into the room, and she quickly and easily spotted the glaceon in question.... along with Dave the drillbur? Oh no, she was too late: [Tumblr] polygamy had gotten a hold of his relationship too. Izumi held a personal moment of silence for Sova before continuing.

"Oh, damn Sova, I didn't know you had a thing going on with Dave, to. Honestly....... he didn't seem like your type," she remarked casually. "Oh, yeah, you look pretty shitty, too. Like you got run over. Multiple times. By Proteus. Sucks to be you."

"So, uh, yeah, about this Dave thing..... does the madam wifey know? Or is this another 'don't ask, don't tell' thing.....? I can only keep track of so many of those when I'm dealing with literally everyone being the person who could potentially hear this stuff. You're gonna need to fill more punch cards if you want that kind of tight lip."

Keeping her eyes open was a chore. Her mental and physical states were obviously deteriorated, plain for anyone to see. Still, Skylar stood guard, feeling that the least and only thing she could do was to make sure no one came and tried to disturb the one sleeping within the room. Hopefully, he was just sleeping. The alternatives were coma and death, neither of which Sky wanted to think about. Still, both were very real possibilities with how badly he was injured. It was arguably a miracle that he had remained stable thus far, though that was perhaps due to his own force of will. The vaporeon had no idea and doubted she could have survived under the same circumstances. Of course, comparing herself to someone so capable was silly, but that seemed to be all she could bring herself to do in recent times. Her inferiority complex had only been further fueled by the happenings of late, and she really had no one to talk to about it at the moment. Sova was practically dead and Keith was off being a massive wuss.

Due to her distracting self-loathing coupled with her drowsiness, her awareness of her surroundings was gradually fading to nothing. She didn't even notice the approaching drilbur until he was right in front of her, but when she did, she straightened herself and stood up in preparation to prevent him from entering. Dave, she believed his name was, seemed like he wanted in. Dave was not getting in, no matter how much food he had with him. Who did he think he was, expecting to be welcomed into Sova's room under such circumstances? Then with one word it all became clear: Sidonia. Oh, she thought to herself in total defeat and hung her head, her gaze falling to her paws. It was her. Skylar felt a tad bit disheartened for some reason, perhaps because she had assumed she was going to be keeping the drilbur out of the room, but it turned out she was just wrong. It reminded her of her relative lack of use, and when she suddenly had the vast majority of the food in the drilbur's arms dropped in front of her. It almost made her jump in surprise; the last thing she'd expected was charity, and she didn't really want it.

Skylar stared at the food laid out before her, allowing "Dave" into the room without a fight in the process. She placed her left paw on one of the apples and rolled it around a bit as if to look it over and determine whether she wanted to eat it. She did not. She didn't want to eat anything at all, let alone something some lying criminal had gone and picked up for her. She had very mixed feelings about Sova's choice in friends; this criminal had deceived her and was highly wanted, but somehow had the trust and affections of her leader. Perhaps she was just letting her envy get the best of her. Either way, it made her hesitate at the offer of food, finding it difficult to decide whether she was thankful or bitter. In the end, she landed on the prior and decided it best to at least try to eat something. She knew "Dave" had good intentions and was right for trying to get her to eat. She couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten anything substantial, but there was still the issue of her lacking appetite. She was still nauseous and the thought of food still made her ill.

After a minute of toying with the apple under her paw, she laid down on the floor in front of it and stared at it. With a moment's hesitance, she rolled it closer to her and took a bite out of it, having decided to force herself to eat. The act became easier the further into it she got, and after a few more bites out of the apple, she leaned over to one of the pecha berries. Then her tired mind registered the sounds within the room... Sova was awake. The slightest tinge of relief came over her and suddenly, she had an appetite. She gripped the first pecha berry in her teeth and bit into its sweet flesh, taking a moment to actually enjoy it now that such a thing was feasible. She didn't bother turning around to see how Sova was doing, nor did she try to join in on the conversation. It wasn't her place, she felt; however, she tried not to let her negative thoughts weigh her down and instead focused on the task at hand. She still had one more pecha berry and like... two and a half apples? She would have had more of the prior, but "Dave" seemed to have an affinity for them. Or maybe the plan was to give them to Sova.

She finished the first apple, then moved on to another, then the second pecha berry... She was eating quite fast compared to her slow pace before; actually, it was fast for her in general. With just the slightest bit of an appetite, her starvation was getting the better of her. She was just starting on the third apple, now sitting upright with an ever so slightly perkier demeanor to her, when she spotted movement in her peripheral vision. It seemed her awareness was returning to her, and the first presence she picked up was... a jigglypuff. She stood up straight and pulled what was left of the last apple in close to her as if to protect it as she waited to see what the puff wanted. Alki or whatever; seemed nice enough, but she didn't really know her. Skylar stared down at the little ball of... ball as she spoke, giving a neutral stare lacking much emotion. Contrary to popular belief, she wasn't overly nice, and she was too tired to make the extra effort to be friendly at the moment.

Through all the stuttering and rambling that was annoying to follow, Sky at least gathered that the puff wanted to help and apparently thought herself capable. "You-" she began, only to have another presence interrupt her. This one was considerably less tolerable than the nervous jigglypuff with good intentions. At some mention of a funeral, her head spun to meet the absol the insensitive question had come from. She could recognize the guild's own discount safe-cracker even though the two weren't really acquainted. Izumi... was much less pleasant than the vaporeon would have thought, and it only grew worse as she neared the door. Sky's paws dug against the floor as she stared at the absol making so many offensive remarks so fast that she could barely process it all. As if talking about a funeral when there was someone legitimately struggling for life wasn't bad enough, apparently Sova was her dad now. And why? Because she was on his team!? And what kind of nickname was "Fallen Water?" Was it just meant to make fun of the fact that she was obviously upset?

She was already in a bad mood on top of being very sleep-deprived, so perhaps she was a bit more irritable than usual. Still, she could handle someone openly insulting her to her face... but when it Sova became the target of Izumi's mockery, it was suddenly much harder to ignore. She doesn't mean it, she tried to remind herself, able to tell well enough that the absol was clearly well-acquainted with Sova and wanted to know what had happened. Her dorsal fin bristled as the very bold and inconsiderate woman went on to imply Sova would be unfaithful, and in public! She looked down at the jigglypuff and spoke, "Go ahead in," before putting just enough space between herself and the door to let pink little Alki in... but not something absol-sized.
She stood and looked- no, glared at the absol.

Skylar wasn't unconditionally nice; in fact, she was irritable and distant, especially toward those she wasn't well-acquainted with. She tried to be friendly toward other guild members, but she was under no obligation to be kind for the sake of it, and she was most certainly not going to be an amenable pushover. "And you can leave. Now." Suddenly, her voice was laced with anger, her words bearing the subtle tone of a growl. Despite being worded more on the suggestive side, it was very clearly a command, something that was unlike her. She wasn't above treating someone unkindly when she felt they deserved it, but making demands was still far from her forte. This, however, was a special occasion, and she was carrying herself with a defiant confidence that would have been absent otherwise.

...Then came Sova's voice from within the room, telling her to stand down. Instantly, her poise vanished. The determination in her eyes faded to uncertainty, her gaze fell back to the floor and she stepped aside from the doorway.


At least one of the glaceon's burning questions seemed to have an answer. He immediately recognized Mirage's voice and forced his head to move so that he could see her, ignoring the shooting pain of his body's protests. At first, he was confused and his face showed it; he was certain he had heard Mirage's voice, but... "Dave?" he muttered in confusion. He was still too disoriented to immediately realize how stupid he was being. "Oh," the realization hit him, and a faint smile crossed his face with a a light chuckle as the the demeaning joke suddenly became much more pleasant in connotation. His laughter was cut short and replaced by a pained wince; his body had been so courteous as to inform him that he was not allowed to exercise his lungs so freely as to laugh. He was being constantly reminded of his own physical state, which only fueled his confusion.

Fortunately for him, the presence of Not-Dave was enough to jog his memory. It was still hazy, but... they had fought Mewtwo, and... Skylar had been there too. He could barely recall the end of the fight and had wavering certainty as to what had happened, leading him to ask a question. "What-" he stopped himself, realizing Not-Dave had just offered food to him and he had totally missed it. At that, it was a pecha berry, which he knew was Mirage's favorite; how hard it must have been for her to give one to him, and he had almost completely ignored the gesture. The weak smile on his face persisted through the pain thanks to this, but despite how much he wanted to accept, he didn't quite feel up to it. "I don't think so. It's all yours," he spoke quietly so as not to further agitate his tattered body. His voice was hoarse and strained, serving as a testament to his horrible condition. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, the most prominent of which being whether they had won and if Skylar was okay.

He decided not to beat around the bush. "Did we win?" If he was to expect bad news, he wanted to get it out of the way quickly. Still, he was hesitant to ask about his teammate for fear that he would get a response he couldn't handle. Perhaps fortunately, the response he got was enough to completely distract him from any woes, at least for the moment.

"You kissed Mewtwo."

For just a moment, Sova thought it was a joke, but Mirage seemed serious; or at least, as serious as one could be while explaining such a thing. "I'm... sorry?" he responded hesitantly for fear that Mirage would be upset with him for... whatever he had done. As a whole though, the statement was good news, implying that they had probably won and that nothing too terrible had happened. Well, at least, nothing aside from whatever the fuck had happened to him in specific. "So Skylar's..." he trailed off at the sounds of chatter outside the room and forced his head to move and carry his gaze once more. His body resisted as expected, but he wanted to know what was going on. He was thankful to see Skylar at the door, back turned to him; she seemed to have posted herself as a guard, probably for his sake. He wanted to call her over and... just talk. It was something he didn't do enough of with anyone, and he wanted to change that. Unfortunately, it seemed idle chatter would have to wait, partly because of his apparently horrible condition.

The other reason to put any heartwarming conversations on hold was the clear presence of someone other than Skylar. Actually, upon further inspection, there appeared to be two someones; and one of them didn't seem to be sitting too well with the vaporeon. It took him a moment to realize the other voice was that of a familiar box-opening wizard. "Sky, it's oka- kh... it's okay," he spoke as audibly as he could manage, having to struggle through the piercing sensations riddling his body from even this slight bit of exertion. He hated how ill and weak he sounded, and he hated the stupid girly pillow someone had decided to put him on, and his inability to do pretty much anything, and how there was apparently a crowd forming to see the crippled glaceon. But, at least the crowd seemed to be made up primarily of pleasant faces. Well, Dave's face wasn't really anything special, but presence behind the mask was comforting. Skylar was his teammate, so of course he was fine with her being there, and Izumi was... she was alright by him. She seemed to have managed to rubbed Skylar the wrong way, but Sova couldn't turn her away just because of that.

However, there was one thing he did want to address if only to clarify for anyone listening. The blue form blocking the doorway moved out of the way, and he stared at the absol who was now in his line of sight. "Dave is absolutely not my type," he responded for clarity's sake, though there was no hostility in his voice. This was just Izumi. He wasn't particularly close with her, but he was used to her... Izumi-ness. Besides, he was in an exceptionally good mood despite the piercing pains jolting all throughout his body. There were a lot of things about this situation that he hated, sure, but there was so much more about it that he was thankful for. Mirage and Skylar were safe, the battle was won, and... well, the pillow was comfortable. He wondered where the thing had even come from, as it didn't seem like something that would be in any average guild member's room, let alone anyone he knew well enough to warrant them loaning it to him in such a way. Had someone gone out and bought it for him? No, then they surely wouldn't have bought something so absolutely girly and embarrassing...

...Yes they would have. They absolutely would have. He had so very many friends and acquaintances who would absolutely have gone out of their way to put him on the girliest thing they could find. Why would they not seize the opportunity and do it when they knew there was no way he would be able to get up? He was trapped on a literal bed of roses with onlookers already pouring in. There were technically only two unexpected guests as of yet, but pessimistic as he was, he took to the assumption that there would be more. Plus, there was the unspecified amount of time that he had been unconscious on the bed, in which he had surely gotten plenty more spectators even with a certain vaporeon placing herself in front of the door. He tried not to dwell on and subsequently dread the idea of such embarrassment. Instead, he kept his attention on all the more pleasant aspects of his circumstances.

It had been a good day.  Spending time together with Yigo in his burrow had been fun, like always.  And while they still had a long way to go, their reading lessons together had been proceeding apace.  At first, Yigo hadn't even known what reading was, probably owing to his young age and nomadic lifestyle, but already he was beginning to learn all of the different letters and symbols she had to teach him.  She'd decided to leave some of her old picture books at his burrow this time, the ones she had brought from home to read whenever she was feeling down, the ones she had used to teach Alki.  She smiled at the thought of Yigo poring over them just like she and Alki had.  She hoped that he would enjoy them, hoped that the pictures would guide him along and keep him from getting too frustrated, wondered what questions he might have for her...  Already she could feel herself looking forward to their next lesson together.

Those were the thoughts that accompanied Darcy as she returned home, the Skitty humming to herself as she trotted north along the road that connected town and the guild.  It was late in the afternoon, but cloudy and with a chill wind.  She absently pulled her blue scarf closer around her neck, missing the warmth of Yigo's burrow.  It sure was cozy.  Exactly what she had expected, ever since she'd learned that some Pokemon lived that way.  Like...  One of her older teammates, one she hadn't seen in quite some time...

She sighed and shook her head.  No sense in dwelling on that.  Whether he'd chosen to leave the guild or not, thinking about how long he had been gone always made her feel sick.  She looked up again and focused her attention on the guild's front doors as she hopped up a flight of steps and shouldered her way inside, a welcome rush of warmth washing over her.  Maybe she could find Alki and Morty and they could have dinner together?  The thought made her smile again as she shut the doors behind her and ventured deeper inside, resolving to check their bedroom first.

...The guild was quiet today, her soft humming feeling loud compared to the hushed voices of all of the other guild members she passed by.  And this was normally one its busiest times, with herself and her workmates pouring in after a long day of training or exploring or whatever the people and police of Grassveil Town needed help with.  ...Maybe the persistent ill weather had put a damper on everyone's mood?  That wasn't hard to imagine.

Well, if her teammates were feeling that way, she would be there to cheer them up!  She grinned as she trotted down to the bottom floor and pushed open the door to their bedroom, grateful as always that it was so close to the stairs.  But...  The cozy little room was empty.  Darcy put her bag down beside her bed and hopped up onto the windowsill.  No sign of Morty in his favorite training spot outside, either.

Just where was everyone?  And what was going on today?  Had she missed a meeting, perhaps..?  The Skitty hopped down and poked her head back into the hallway, glancing right and then left for someone to ask.  The staff's side of the bottom floor seemed empty right now, but...  There seemed to be a small crowd forming on the hallway's other end.  She caught sight of a big, white Pokemon stepping inside of one of the guildmember rooms, accompanied by a blue one.  The din of quiet voices made her think that there were probably more just out of view.

She trotted towards them on light, energetic feet, her ears perked up and her curiosity building.  The voices grew nearer, and it became easy to tell that yes, there was quite a crowd over here.  She wasn't sure what they were all talking about, but...  She overheard something familiar.  A familiar name...

No way.  It just wasn't possible.  There must have simply been another guild member named Dave, right?  After such a long time apart she didn't dare get her hopes up, but all the same her breathing quickened and her heart filled with butterflies as her trot turned into a run.

"What about Dave?" she said as she skidded to a stop and gazed through the open door, eyes wide and sparkling.  Her gaze flitted from person to person, not staying on anyone for long until it finally came to rest on the familiar little mole Pokemon.  One of her first and closest friends.  Someone she had almost given up on ever seeing again.

"Arceus...  A-Arceus, you really came back..." she murmured, her voice heavy with disbelief, a broad, overjoyed smile spreading across her face.  "I thought...  Y-you know, you were gone so long, I thought you'd just...  Decided that..."

She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut.  She didn't want to welcome him home by crying.  Even giving him hugs had made him feel a little uncomfortable in the past, so while it took a herculean display of self-control, she resisted the almost overpowering urge to charge forward and tackle him with an embrace.  ...Later, once he was settled in and they'd had a chance to talk, perhaps.  Just not now...

Her original intentions completely forgotten, the Skitty made to enter the room, beaming as if her heart was so overflowing with glee that it was radiating right out of her body.  "Dave, I have so, so, sooo much to talk with you about," she said.  "You too, Alki!  As soon as you're done talking with his...  Boyfriend..?  We should all go and, umm..."

The overjoyed Skitty's voice trailed off as she finally took a closer look at the crowd.  Alki and Dave were there, of course. But there was also water Pokemon she had perhaps seen once or twice, and there was the nice Absol who ran the treasure shop, and there was...  Someone she didn't recognize, resting atop a big pillow.  Dave's boyfriend?  ...Was he a ghost-type?  Wrapped head to toe in bandages like that, it didn't seem unlikely...  She'd have to ask his name when she got the chance...

His offer had been rejected. He felt a bit disappointed that Sova rejected his offer, but on the brighter side more for his. He said nothing as he gave a shrug. The pecha berry was popped into his mouth as the sweet taste overtook his taste buds. He was not all for eating either, but he was not about to turn down Pecha Berries when they were given to him.

"Did we win?" Sova asked.

Dave's mind flashed back to the scene briefly. He was reminded of the particularly odd scene that he had awoken to the first time around. His expression shifted to a more blank stare in Sova's direction. He could only say a single thing as an 'answer' to that particular question, "You kissed Mewtwo." It was not a proper answer, but it was all he could think of on the matter. Sova went silent much to his disappointment. He expected some sort of explanation for the glaceon's strangely romantic endeavor with the legend that was trying to kill them all.

He wasn't upset, just...confused. Very, very confused.

He could hear a commotion outside, Skylar was getting on someone's case it seemed. He did not quite care much, but apparently, Sova did at least a little. The words of the absol had caught his attention, however. "Madam wifey"? What? Dave kept a blank expression despite the confusion that now swarmed his mind. Was...was there someone else? Why did Izumi think Sova would be with Dave of all pokemon? It looked as if Sova had more than one question to answer.

He was about to open his mouth to ask, but then, just his luck, a certain innocent soul happened to come along and make his life more difficult than it needed to be. He looked to the direction his name had been called and the mere look of the skitty let him know that he was in some deep trouble. They looked so hopeful and happy to see him...why did anyone care about Dave? Why did this particular pokemon have to know Dave? She had gone out of her way to pick the most irrelevant explorer she had last seen that would have been the last pokemon to visit Sova and yet this pokemon just happened to pass by. Wonderful.

Dave remained still as the Skitty spoke, though he began to panic as the skitty began to grow close. Skylar, do your job. Skylar, what are you doing? Skylar, this was the last pokemon that needed to be in the room in the world right now. SKYLAR, IGNORE SOVA'S REQUEST TO STOP ALREADY! SKYLAR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING-annnnd the skitty was past the doorframe. Dave kept his distance from the skitty. What should he do? React with hostility? Pretend he hated this skitty and left because of that? It would certainly keep him from having to talk. The skitty would most certainly know the sound of Dave's voice, right?

The drilbur grit his teeth together as he gave a cheerful wave to the skitty. He said nothing in response. Maybe he could get away with giving the impression that his vocal chords were damaged or something? If he were discovered, it would have certainly meant disaster for him and Sova. Well, for him at least, but perhaps he could give the impression that this was all some plot to kill Sova while he was weak? He doubted Sova would go along with it, but he would have had to at least try if things went too far down hill. He would just have to try and go along with this until he could get out of here, maybe try a different disguise...


Today, was his day. He had made sure that his fur was nice and groomed as he stepped foot into the guild doors. His head was held high as the grand master of the art of flirting graced the guild with his presence. His hat was neatly on his head, backward, but it only added swag style to him in his personal opinion. He had come here with a goal of his own in mind and that goal happened to involve that beautiful vaporeon just outside the door there.

He paused with glee as he took a deep breath. This was his time. The vaporeon was surely emotionally vulnerable, so surely she was wishing for a shoulder to cry on. Well, lucky for her, her knight in spark-ing armor had arrived!

Erebus approached quietly, before he suddenly bounded forward to Skylar's side with the announcement, "Alright m'lady, I'm here, your wish has been granted!" He spoke to Skylar. A paw quickly reached out to bring the vaporeon closer to him, "What's your next wish?"

S m o o t h.

Alki jumped ever so slightly as a very large Pokemon skidded to a halt behind her. She glanced at it out of the corner of her eye. The dark type was large and imposing. Then again, who wasn’t large and imposing for her? The Vaporeon in front of her was only slightly smaller than the Absol, yet still double Alki’s size. A few stuttered words and panicked, flittering glances later, the Jigglypuff finished her introduction. The Vaporeon wasn’t moving. Why wasn’t she moving? What was she supposed to say in a situation like this? She’d never even met this Pokemon before, she didn’t even know her name!

The Jigglypuff pondered over what to say next, but the Absol seemed to know exactly what to say. Perhaps she wasn’t so bad? Maybe she’d help her with the Vaporeon! Alki waited to see what the Absol had to say, perhaps with a bit of hope, until that hope was shattered by seven simple, and very tasteless words: “Hey, who’s funeral are we gathering for?” The tasteless Absol went on to dig herself into an even deeper hole. Then again, perhaps that was what she wanted? To piss people off? The Vaporeon, Absol, and Jigglypuff were at an impasse. Well, not exactly. Alki was watching a slightly amusing, if not incredibly brash display from the Absol. She had little to nothing to do with it, as the Absol called the Vaporeon ‘Fallen Water’, whatever that meant. Who was her sad dad? She thought that the Glaceon she’d decided to help was the Vaporeon’s teammate, not her father. She supposed it wasn’t out of the question. Then again, judging by the Vaporeon’s next words, it seemed pretty unlikely that that was the case. Well then, that was just stupid! It didn’t make any sense…

The following words from the Absol, Alki barely understood. Was the Drillbur she’d seen earlier named Dave? Or was Dave someone else? Dave the Drillbur. Well, nevermind that. She hadn’t come to investigate the Drillbur, after all. The Jigglypuff’s gaze danced between the two larger Pokemon. She would much rather be inside the bedroom than out here, in the poorly lit hallway, watching whatever this exchange was supposed to be. The Jigglypuff fidgeted with her bag a bit more, wishing she’d disappear, rather than be a part of this.

What if the Vaporeon expected her to say something? Well, honestly, she should’ve probably said something anyways a long time ago. This was stupid. Alki couldn’t understand why the Absol was choosing to talk like that. Besides, this Vaporeon had enough to worry about as it was. Her teammate, and presumably her friend, was supposed to be hurt. Pretty badly too, right? It was just common sense to not piss off anyone involved in that situation. Still, what was she supposed to say? She didn’t want to talk. Regardless of if she was supposed to, if she should, she definitely didn’t want to tell off the huge Dark Type. If only she were larger. Or at least not as innocent looking, then maybe she’d have a bit more courage in situations like this. The Vaporeon seemed to shudder with anger, and Alki decided that the Absol had been too much of a prick to ignore. The child looked up at the Absol, trying her best to avoid any stuttering. “You… you should probably shut up, y’know. I don’t think funeral jokes are too appropriate right now...” That was not menacing at all. What the hell was she thinking! Alki grimaced, and rushed inside the room as soon as the Vaporeon cleared the way. She couldn’t clear the stupid words out of her mind. It was the thought that counted though, right? She’d tried to stand up for the Vaporeon, that was something… Alki heard the voice from inside the room call out as she entered. “Sky, it’s ok... ” Sky? Her name was Sky, then. That too, sounded familiar. At least a bit familiar, but where had she heard or seen Sky before?

Those thoughts quickly fled from her mind. The scene she was greeted with upon entering was equal parts morbid and weird. For one, the Drillbur she’d seen earlier was standing right there, right in front of Sova. It was only those three in the room, at the moment. Sova, Dave, and Alki. Was Dave supposed to know Sova? And why was that name so familiar? Dave the Drillbur. She was staring. It was probably nothing. She found herself avoiding eye contact with this Pokemon. It was familiar, the name. It was from the guild, but where, exactly, she’d heard it before, well, that was something she couldn’t quite figure out.

Oh. He invited the Absol in. Why would he do that? She’d been making fun of both him and his friend. She seemed alright, standing guard for him, and now she seemed absolutely dejected. Then again, Alki couldn’t see Sky’s face. So maybe she was wrong. But now Alki was gonna get what was coming to her, what with that stupid quip. Why did she think that was a good idea? She sighed. She was here to help. No one could fault her for that, right? Who would’ve thought things would turn out so complicated? Alki shook her head, equal parts confused and surprised. She certainly hadn’t expected this overwhelming sense of familiarity, as if the answer were right on the tip of her tongue but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t speak it out. She hadn’t expected to meet this Absol who was probably going to be pissed off at her and... No. Stop thinking! Focus!

Sova, for his part, looked bad. Wrapped in bandages from head to toe, it was almost impossible to discern whether he was a Glaceon or not. If she hadn’t heard about him before, she’d probably have thought he was some completely new sort of species. Was she capable of helping him? Well, shit. She’d promised she would help, and… he was conscious, at least. That was something. The Jigglypuff’s gaze flickered between the rusty brown bandages, his tired, pained look, and the multiple minor scratches and wounds that covered his flank, before it finally settled on the ground. What if it was too much for her? She’d only ever used Heal Pulse to heal minor wounds. Nothing like this…

Her thoughts were interrupted by her best friend and team leader. When had she come in? She seemed overjoyed at the sight of… Dave? Dave! An old teammate of Darcy’s. Alki had never met him, but the Skitty clearly had. It was a strange sort of greeting. Darcy didn’t hug him, although she seemed to be crying. How long ago had this guy left? “Wait, boyfriend?” Alki asked, staring at Sova and then at Dave. She didn’t figure the two to be, well, together… Huh. Who was she to judge? Yet through all this, Dave didn’t say a word. Only a wave, but… he’d been gone a while, right? At least a couple months. Coming back after that long merited at least a few words, didn’t it? It was all so strange… Alki watched it unfold, skepticism in her mind.

Still, she’d come for a purpose, and that was to heal. Not to rain on Darcy’s parade… Alki walked towards the Glaceon, staring at the bloody, impossible task before her. Heal him. Much easier said than done… She supposed it’d be best if she started sooner rather than later. The Jigglypuff surveyed the Glaceon’s coat of fur, searching for a spot that had neither cuts nor blood. There, near the base of the tail! Alki placed a hand on it, and closed her eyes, beginning to use heal pulse. If nothing else, it’d make it a bit less painful. That had to be painful, right? It was a small miracle he was alive at all...

Izumi looked around and frowned at her company. Apparently she was the only one who was getting the joke around here, but it's not exactly like that was a big surprise. Izumi knew she was the only one who got these jokes normally, but sometimes she couldn't help but let these things slip. She often found she caused a whole lot of unintended tilt in the pokemon around her by saying things when the joke was not got, but such was life. She felt especially bad when the Vaporeon got upset; if the nice blue Vaporeon was that upset she had clearly done something wrong. Maybe it was best not to push it now though. Based on who she was seeing coming down the hallway towards them, she had a feeling any apologizing she was doing was not going to go over well.

She took a break from being a fucking anomaly to shrug sheepishly at the Jigglypuff. "M'sorry. Never was very good when it came to starting conversations. Just hate to see everyone so solemn. Tried to hard to bring the mood up," she admitted.

Izumi didn't want to pass by Skylar without saying anything, but that was a much trickier situation. Izumi decided to offer her the least she could for now in hopes of not making the situation worse, and then come back later to try and reconcile.

"I'm truly sorry. For all of this. If you need to tap out, let me know. I owe you that."

She patted her back with the back of her paw and went in to survey the scene. Clearly it had been some fight Sova had been in, but that..... that wasn't really new. The Glaceon just seemed to get himself into these situations, and he just didn't stop. She knew that this time wasn't any different, either. It was like..... an unconscious compulsion he had, a suggestion in his head that just wouldn't let him stop moving. Still, seeing him up close, she did feel a bit worse than usual. Still, the last thing he needed was more people feeling pity for him. The Glaceon was a walking pity party for himself half the time, and there were plenty of other pokemon here to be soft and coddle him. She'd tone her regular antics down now, for sure, but in all honesty Izumi felt like her best place in this situation was just to treat him like normal in terms of interacting with him. In her experience, people who had recently experienced trauma usually appreciated at least some form of normalcy while they recovered.

Seeing as Sova had said it was okay, she crossed the room and stood near the Drilbur and the Glaceon. She didn't invite herself to sit down though, in the current atmosphere she felt like that would be assuming far too much. Instead, she just smirked at Sova, kind of catching on to his hint. She kind of felt bad though, him saying that directly in front of Dave. She didn't know the full mechanics of this relationship, but the way Dave was helicoptering over Sova made it feel like the Drilbur was pretty fond of him. Oh, well, she wasn't much of a shipper anyways. Pokemon tended to work that shit out on their own if you let them.

"I know, I know, don't break yourself anymore just to prove it to me," she assured him. "I'd be a lot more worried if your tastes just suddenly flipped on a dime like that." She examined his rather broken state, and decided to deflect the conversation to a different pokemon until the Jigglypuff finished her work and Sova was a little less......... like an amorphous blob.

"What exactly happened? What did you guys win?" Izumi asked Dave, loud enough for Sova to hear in case he wanted to cut in.

Answers would not come quickly though, not with Darcy showing up awkwardly. "This can only go well," Izumi thought, bracing herself. The end came quickly, and painfully. The Skitty seemed almost to tears, a poor sad face that Izumi could only kind of cringe a little bit at. This was........ Izumi couldn't really predict how this was going to end. Dave becoming absent.... well, Izumi was pretty certain that hadn't just happened. She was pretty sure he just couldn't handle the guild load and went afk..... so it was unlikely that he would want to "go" anywhere and "do" anything guild related. Still, the Skitty was nice, if a little unaware, and it was going to suck. major. ass. to see her disappointed. This probably wasn't the best... atmosphere for this either.

"Ehe, let's not assume to much about my situational humor, Izumi choked out with a half-smile that said 'kill me.' "I say stupid things all the time, inside jokes and whatnot. Don't invest too much stock in what I say." Normally that wasn't an issue. People normally didn't take her seriously, even when she was saying something with some seriousness. Why did it have to be an issue now, of all times. Izumi was ready to jump off the mountain she was born on and end things honorably.

Sova was garnering more attention than he wanted, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.  He couldn't exactly get up and leave, nor did he have the will to tell everyone to leave when they were all probably there out of concern... or... most of them anyway.  Beside, his feelings on the matter were mixed; while he didn't like the crowd, it was nice to know he was of that much interest.  Still, in hindsight, there were a lot of stressful elements presenting themselves.  Dave was not Dave, there was a jigglypuff wanting to give out pity healing, Skylar seemed to be in a particularly bad mood, Izumi had come in and instantly gotten on half the crowd's bad side... and then the situation made itself even worse with the introduction of a skitty.  Sova didn't know every detail about every guild member, but he had seen the little bundle of joy and pinkness around before.  She knew Dave.  There was no good outcome to this development, and he wasn't sure if there was anything he could do to fix or mitigate it.

As the glaceon pondered who to respond to and what to do, he felt something touch him.  His tail twitched absently from the sensation, but he didn't have the energy for much more-

Scratch that.  He was not okay with where he was being touched.  His fur froze and bristled on instinct, making the exposed areas of his body really pop out compared to the rest where his blue fur was wrapped up and forced to stay flat.  His quills were sharp enough to pierce through thinner areas of the bandages covering him, though it fortunately wasn't enough to tear any major holes.

He took a quick glance over to the source to see it was the puff; he'd overheard her claiming to Skylar that she thought herself capable of helping him.  However, all she seemed to be doing was grabbing his butt, or at least pretty damn close to it.  He felt an impulse to tell her to step the fuck back and not dare touch him again; something that would have been true regardless, but he wouldn't have listened to this impulse if the jigglypuff had just had some boundaries.  It was just something he did; accepting help and socializing were things he had had trouble with for a very long time.  After being treated weak and practically being force-fed the "help" of others, he grew to despise the concept of help; a multitude of events in his life had made him grow distrusting and bitter toward pretty much everyone, and so he disliked being around anyone aside from a few specific individuals.  He wanted to do everything on his own and avoid interaction with others as much as possible, taking uncontested credit for his own accomplishments in the process.  It had worked in the sense that no one had been able to hurt him for quite some time, but... he was beginning to doubt this choice of his.  He was realizing he didn't need to cut himself off from others just to protect his own ego, and the idea that they needed to be protected from him... whether they liked it or not... was just wrong.  Frankly, he was sick of caring about something so petty, and of lashing out at and rejecting anyone who tried to help him.  He was ready to change.

BUT NOT IF IT MEANT LETTING THIS WEE LASS GROPE HIM.  He was confused to say the least, but he was pretty sure he wasn't interested in whatever kind of "help" she thought she was able to offer.  He lifted his head to look back at his not-really-assailant despite the pain it brought on, ignoring the potential negative impact such an action could have on whatever his wounds were.  "Woah there, I'm not into Dave and definitely not into you.  Back up."  It was difficult to keep his composure through the pain he was bringing about by moving so suddenly, but he fortunately had plenty of experience dealing with such sensations.  Or perhaps that wasn't a fortunate thing, considering it entailed a history of violence and injury.  In hindsight his life hadn't been much more than that... which was something he wanted to change.  He had done nothing but fight, believing he could do nothing but fight, but he was beginning to wonder if that was the right way to go about living.  That said, this didn't seem like the best time to give up his violent tendencies; maybe after he'd chased off the weird little puff ball or at least figured out what in the world she was trying to do to somehow help him.

Unfortunatley, he didn't have much time to worry about the little deviant with the situation demanding his attention on too many other ends to ignore.  He first needed to address the growing problem of Dave's presence, and there was only one true solution he could think of.  "And that's not Dave," he spoke honestly, figuring this was the best way to avoid any deeper conflict.  If he didn't do something, "Dave" would probably end up getting into a troubling situation, and the poor skitty would be crushed regardless.  The only solution he could think of was to simply tell everyone it wasn't Dave they were looking at.  "He's a friend of mine, and he doesn't talk.  If you could stop calling Gerome Dave, that'd-" he clarified, hoping to end any problems before they even became problems; he was cut off by his body reminding him once more that merely talking warranted agony, but he figured his message was received anyway.  Of course he wasn't going to tell anyone who "Dave" really was, but as long as they knew he wasn't Dave there would be no problems.  Hopefully.  Gerome was just the first name that didn't seem too painfully normal he'd thought of, but at least it was better than Dave.

He tried to think of something to change the topic to so as to avoid any further talk of Dave and hopefully drown out anything the jigglypuff had to say in her own defense, but he didn't have much to talk about outside of himself.  Granted, he did kind of want to know a few things pertaining to his own state, and he doubted anyone would mind.  Maybe he could ask about just how bad his injuries were; he had barely managed enough head movement to look at the little fiend, so he doubted he was capable of surveying his entire body.  He didn't want to admit to his own weakness; and while he didn't enjoy accepting help from others, he liked asking for it even less.  He didn't know why, but for some reason he wanted to change this about himself.  The only thing his stubborn pride had gotten him was an empty distance from the world and... whatever his body happened to look like at the moment.  He could only hope he wouldn't look too bad when it was all done, but he had presumably gone days without any treatment, so he knew the likelihood that he would have scars even with a proper healer.

Unfortunately, it seemed he had picked the wrong order in which to prioritize the issues at hand and wouldn't be getting an immediate answer to his question.  Having put his teammate's mental well-being on a lower priority, it looked as if he was a bit too late to try and console her.  Some dumb idiot had come up and done... something, and it seemed to have upset the poor nervous wreck.  He opened his mouth to say something, but even taking in the breath he knew he would need to speak audibly enough for her to hear him was enough of a pain to stop that plan and drop his head back onto the fluffy pillow below.  The longer he stayed awake, the worse the pain seemed to get... or perhaps that was just from his insistence on aggravating his injuries with constant movement and speaking.  He couldn't help but shut his eyes from the pain; his quills slowly fell from their standing position as they melted back into normal fur.


Izumi suddenly seemed unimportant, along with everything else.  Skylar, after trying to defend her leader against some inconsiderate absol, had been practically shunned.  Was she not right in thinking it wasn't okay to talk about funerals and make stupid offensive jokes when someone was barely clinging to life?  At least someone seemed to agree with her: the jigglypuff who seemed to believe herself capable of helping Sova.  Sky was beginning to like this one, though she was a bit too upset to show it.  At this point, she just wanted everyone to leave her alone and move on to Sova, where their attention was truly drawn.  She allowed the jigglypuff through, and of course, the absol as well... but then Izumi just had to go and try to interact with her.  She shuddered and recoiled from the touch of the absol's paw, showing her disinterest in whatever late, shallow pity was being offered.  She didn't want nor need it, least of all from some insensitive moron who would so flippantly insult both her leader and herself.

Someone else came down the hall and rushed into the room, to which the vaporeon did nothing.  This someone seemed to know Dave, which she knew would probably be a problem, but she wasn't interested in trying to help keep unwanted company out just to be shot down again.  She was especially uninterested in the prospect of doing so to the detriment of her own reputation; Darcy was a nice skitty, and telling to go away whilst keeping her from some friend of hers for no apparent reason wouldn't have looked good.  It was cruel, and she truly couldn't handle putting such weight on her own shoulders in the moment.  She leaned against the wall on the left side of the doorway, head tilted toward the ground so she didn't have to look at anyone else who happened to enter.  This kind of stress was too much from her, certainly a far cry from what she had thought being a guild member would be like for her.  Most other teams seemed so cheery and mellow...  Was it just Sova?  Or maybe it was just her...  Oddly enough, she hoped it would be her own fault before Sova's; she didn't view him as a father, but she did sort of idolize him in a way and didn't want to think that her despair was his fault.

Then another face made an appearance.  It was hard to ignore this one, since his goal didn't seem to line up with all the others; he apparently had no interest in the room.  He didn't care about Sova nor Dave or anyone else there...  The only thing he seemed interested in was the very upset vaporeon, and his special kind of... interest... wasn't one she wanted anything to do with.  She recognized the voice as that of someone she had once had a very brief and unpleasant encounter with.  He was mostly harmless, but absolutely insufferable.  Sky turned her head in the opposite direction of the voice and tried to inch herself away as he neared her, but she lacked the will to move with any haste.  She felt his paw wrap over her shoulders and pull her into him, and she found herself unable to resist; not because of any ability of his to overpower her, but because she simply... lacked the drive to reject the gesture.  He talked as if she had asked for his company; as if his very presence was somehow helping.

Skylar was effectively shutting down from the weight of her emotional stress, resulting in her simply allowing the jolteon to touch her and pull her close to him.  She could feel the burning sensation of the electricity in his fur against her vulnerable body.  It hurt, even if it was a relatively weak charge.  How was this supposed to help or comfort her in any way?  Perhaps if she were a masochist it would have been a nice gesture, but as things stood, it was just inconsiderate.  She pressed a paw against his chest with the intention of pushing him off of her, but found that she couldn't will herself to actually go through with it.  She wanted him off of her.  She didn't like his painful, electric, quill-like fur; and for that matter, she didn't like him.  "Stop..." she muttered under her breath, head still hung away from him.  She just wanted him to stop touching her and talking to her and just go away.  She wanted it so badly, but she couldn't bring herself to make it happen.

She could feel her body starting to liquefy; the electrified leg draped over her began to soak into her collar, making the sensation even more unpleasant.  She tried to stop it, but once more it seemed she had no ability to enact her own will.  Then, to her surprise, the jolteon actually listened and released her.  It wasn't as if his grip had been particularly tight in the first place, but upon her request he had actually listened and taken a step away from her.  He questioned her, but she gave no answer; she immediately turned and started walking down the hall toward the main area of the guild.  She wanted to be alone.  Having someone touch her against her will, and with the added pain... it just reminded her of the battle.  She wanted to get away from everything and find some peace and quiet so that she could just rest and collect herself.  Her feelings of helplessness were weighing her down and leaving her with less ability to motivate herself, which in turn made the aforementioned feelings even worse.  It was a vicious cycle that was quickly getting to her.

Then the cycle broke.  The pest was following her, still trying to do... whatever it was he thought he was doing.  She tried to ignore him only for a moment before she could no longer stand it; her body acted on its own, or at least it certainly felt that way to her.  Her liquid form solidified and spun, carrying her tail into the jolteon's face and throwing him against the wall.  Oh, nope, scratch that; it seemed she'd hit him hard enough to put him through the wall.  Oops.  Weak wall, maybe?  She wondered if perhaps she had gone a bit overboard, or if maybe hitting him hadn't really been required or called for at all... but she didn't really care.  "I said stop!" she spat, then turned and marched away.  She didn't stick around to see if he was still conscious or if anyone had anything to say to her about her behavior.  She didn't care.  She just wanted to be away from the crowd.

Actually, part of her wanted to hit the jolteon again.  It wasn't as if she had held back, but she
still wanted to hit him again... and again... and again...  She didn't like such thoughts, which just added to the reasons why she wanted to get away.  Maybe she could go see if the chef had made any snacks in her time away and saved some for her, or she could go outside an get some fresh air; anything but sitting around in this miserable hall... and the property damage that she was going to pretend wasn't her fault.

(P.S. Kat requested this reckoning for Erebus.)

Darcy couldn't suppress a tiny burst of laughter at the way Dave did nothing but wave.  She remembered how nervous he had been during his first day at the guild.  He wasn't too shy or quiet once you got to know him, but after being away for so long, of course he still wouldn't want to be the life of the party...  "Well...  Hey there," Darcy said with a broad grin, sitting down right beside him and giving an exaggerated wave of her own.  She decided to stick close!  He surely didn't want to feel all alone amidst all of these strange Pokemon.  

She sighed and shook her head as she stared down at him with a blissful smile, wondering what she should say.  She couldn't tear her eyes away from him.  The mere sight still made her body flutter with a whirlwind of emotions.  Pure shock and surprise that still made Darcy wonder if this was all a dream, deep pride that her teammate had returned safely from his first mission alone, something she had worried about from the beginning...

...But stronger than anything was the knowledge that...  Well, it was the knowledge that he still wanted to be friends.  He hadn't stayed away on purpose.  He really, honestly hadn't...

She had to squeeze her eyes shut again to keep herself from crying.  The promises they'd made to one another, the way they'd both been so glad to be on a team together, all of the talk about the places they were going to see and the things that they were going to do...  They'd meant as much to him as they had to her.

She took a deep breath.  Come on, Darcy, get a hold of yourself.  After everything he must have been through, torn away from his new home for so long, he deserved to be greeted with a smile.  "Dave..." she began, pausing and taking another deep breath as she realized how shaky her voice was.  "I-I..  Y'know, I...  I really--"

I really missed you, she was about to say.  I'm glad you're home.  But a sudden shout from the ghost Pokemon on the bed drowned out her voice.  The Skitty frowned and turned to look at him, ears perked up...  It looked like Alki had gotten a little too close, and he hadn't been happy about it, perhaps a mistake Dave had made earlier if the mystery Pokemon was so insistent they weren't together.  It all made Darcy tilt her head, wondering if she needed to step in.  Alki was just using Heal Pulse.  Of course she needed to get close.  There was nothing wrong with that...

...Although...  Although, the longer she looked, the more her eyes were drawn to the sickly, rust-brown parts of the bandages all over his body.  And...  Everyone had been so solemn today...  And Alki was using Heal Pulse...  Darcy's gaze darted away and her face grew a shade whiter.  ...That was one mystery solved.

At least this other Pokemon didn't seem too hurt to speak.  His words were a relief at first, assuring her that she didn't need to fear the worst.  ...But they also were a little confusing.  Almost funny, even.  Darcy's eyes flitted between Dave, and the little pile of apple cores resting by the doorway.  If she knew anything about Dave, she knew it probably wasn't a coincidence.  And he had seemed so happy to see her earlier, no confusion in his eyes at all.  ...Was the hurt Pokemon joking?  Or perhaps..?

Darcy looked back to Dave, leaning in close and keeping her voice to a low whisper.  "Hey...  Do you...  Want to come with me to our bedroom?  So we can talk..?" she said, smiling and raising a paw for him to take with his hand, ready to lead the way.  "...I bet you two don't want everyone to know he was saved by such a new guild member, huh.  It's okay though.  Whatever happened, I'll keep it a secret."

Why did Dave's life have to be so difficult? All he wanted to do was come in here and check on the Glaceon that had saved him in more ways than he could count. The drilbur had been too focused on the skitty in the room to notice the pink ball of fluff near the glaceon. Sova's snap took him by surprise. He stole a glance in the direction of the puffball to see that it touched Sova's...butt.

Why did the jigglypuff feel comfortable with the idea of touching there?  He frowned, though his facade still displayed a gleeful and plain grin. He was uneasy, for obvious reasons. Sova had definitely displayed that he was not interested, but Arceus damn if all of these strange and unfortunate coincidences did not look...odd. He could hear the absol attempt to communicate with him as well, but he remained silent with a blank stare in Izumi's direction.

He recalled that psychic types sometimes had the ability of Telepathy; why couldn't he have that? If he did, he could send off vibes of "SKYLAR GET THE **** BACK HERE" to that certain vaporeon that now allowed for the room to be crowded with pokemon that only seemed to stress Sova and himself further.

Sova had spoken up in his silence, "He's a friend of mine, and he doesn't talk.  If you could stop calling Gerome Dave, that'd-" he was interrupted by his own pain. Gerome only grew more concerned and frustrated. The gleeful smile of his facade finally shifted to a frown that showed obvious concern towards the condition of the glaceon. He sat up and drew closer, but he was stopped as the skitty approached.

The skitty leaned in close to Gerome, "Hey...  Do you...  Want to come with me to our bedroom?  So we can talk..?" Uh-oh "...I bet you two don't want everyone to know he was saved by such a new guild member, huh.  It's okay though.  Whatever happened, I'll keep it a secret."

Gerome remained silent in response. He did not take the skitty's paw, but he did not back away either. He stared down at the skitty as she seemed to focus on his toes with a paw extended towards her leg. The illusion merely gazed at the skitty blankly as he began to process what the skitty had just implied. Once it had finally sunk in, laughter had to be suppressed. The idea of the skitty believing that a wee drilbur saved Sova was just too amusing. He had managed to suppress the urge to snicker as he stepped away from the skitty. Gerome shook his head as he expressed disinterest in going along with the normal type.

He was not Dave.


Hook, line, and sinker-or so he believed. He was ready to continue his ways of woo, completely unaware of the harm he caused the vaporeon merely by touch. He smiled "warmly" as he waited for the vaporeon's answer. To his sheer and utter surprise, she wanted to be released. Eager to oblige, he took his paw off of her and spoke, "Aw come on, I'm here now! Don't you recognize me?" Honestly, the two barely knew each other, yet he spoke as if they were old friends. He held a paw closer to his chest to refer to himself. A bit of electricity sparked off of him as uncertainty about his plan finally hit him in a wave of self-consciousness.

He had been so confident before, but now that he was here and in front of Skylar it had all escaped him. Skylar turned away and began to walk. Panic rose as he bolted forward, slightly ahead of her though not quite in her path with various bits of dialogue along the lines of, "Hey! Come on, I'm here to help you!", "I came all the way here for you, ya' know?", "At least give me a chance?"

He was about to try to get ahead of her and cut her off, but it seemed as if he had tested her patience a bit too much. Before he could surpass her, the vaporeon had whipped around and attacked him. Her tail slammed into him with great force. A sharp yelp escaped him before he was sent flying through the wall to the room on the other side. He found himself in the rubble of the wall in some explorer's bed before darkness overcame him. He had blacked out.

((Feel free to make this your room if you're an explorer :D))

Alki had never been very aware of personal space. It didn’t help that she was a ball, and lacked many body parts that other Pokemon, such as the Glaceon in front of her, possessed. Take, for example, a leg. Jigglypuff did not have legs. How was she to know that touching his leg in that particular spot would make him so bothered? She knew why he was bothered, she supposed. She didn’t tend to think on those sorts of places, and in her defense, her own anatomy was quite different from the Glaceon’s. Not to mention she was still, compared to him anyways, a child. Then there was the fact that if she touched him, he would heal faster. That spot in particular was accessible to someone as short as her, and it was a spot that didn’t seem as battered as the rest of his body.

As the Glaceon’s words cut her, her reasoning did not help in the slightest. Her excuses only served to make her confused, as she stumbled backwards at his sudden interjection. She was trying to help him! Certainly not… whatever he thought she was doing. Did she look the age to be into that? Robbed of her dignity, and with no way to regain it, she backed off, behind Darcy and Dave, backpedaling towards the wall. “I was just trying to help… I-I thought it’d hurt less, t-there, you didn’t seem as, um...” She trailed off, searching for the proper word to describe his state. He was a bloody mess. That was the proper word. He was practically held together by the bandages more than his skin. That’s how it seemed to her, anyways. How anyone could take so much punishment was beyond her. But telling him he was a bloody, scratched up mess probably wouldn’t be the best thing she could tell him. “Hurt. You didn’t seem as hurt, uh, w-where I touched you...”

The Jigglypuff’s eyes wavered, the scene before her feeling all too familiar. Not because of the Drillbur, who Sova claimed to be Gerome and not Dave. Everyone was staring at her. The glaceon’s eyes shot daggers at her, Dave -- or was it Gerome? -- seemed confused, almost disgusted with her, and even Darcy seemed a bit off. Now she was talking with the Drillbur, and Alki wanted nothing to do with any of it, anymore. Perhaps she should leave… no, don’t leave. The Vaporeon from earlier, Sky, seemed rather pissed. Very pissed. Judging by the sound of whatever was going on in the hallway, anyways. But a fight’s not easy to mistake for anything else. A crash followed the sounds of the fight. No, now was not a good time to step out into the hallway. The Jigglypuff stood her ground, shakily, but the more she stared at the Glaceon, the more conflicted she felt. He was beat up badly. There wasn’t any question about it. There also wasn’t any question that he was a prick. She’d been trying to help! His friend at the door had let her in to heal him. She’d just tried to make it hurt as little as possible. That’s what she was supposed to do! She didn’t deserve to get treated like an idiot. She wasn’t! Not anymore.

The Glaceon’s sentence got cut off short by a groan of pain, and Alki began to plot her revenge. Gerome, or Dave, seemed to be a rather curious Pokemon, wasn’t he? He couldn’t talk, yet he seemed comfortable enough here in the guild to go get food from the Chef. Confident enough to confront the Vaporeon, pissed as she was, and they had to have been doing something in this room before she’d entered. Unless Gerome and Sova had been busy playing Charades. Given the Glaceon’s current state, she doubted that. Neither one wanted to reveal much on this. Especially the Glaceon. The Drillbur, for his part, seemed more concerned with Sova than with Darcy. Who still seemed to think he was her old teammate… Didn’t he care about the Skitty? He almost seemed smug, as he shook his head and stared at her.

“Hey, Gerome, right?” She finally piped up, hoping to put both the Glaceon and Drillbur on the spot. If she played it right, perhaps she could get answers to the questions that had been bothering her and also get some form of payback on the Glaceon.

“Sova here’s saying you can’t talk, right? So how’d you get in? Sky over there seemed rather picky about who got in. Hell, you must be a regular here at the guild, huh? The chef back there seemed to know who you were. And it’s funny, I don’t think I’ve seen another Drillbur at the guild. But if you’re someone else, I have a hard time imagining the chef would act so open with someone who’s not from the guild. Do you have a guild badge?” She paused, staring at the Drillbur. He was odd. She’d never met anyone who couldn’t talk before. “Now I know you can’t talk. Although a reason would certainly be nice. Anyways, I don’t expect you to answer, but I’m sure you can understand. If you’re not a guild member, then how did you know about him in the first place? And why was the chef acting so… acting like he was.” She said, gesturing towards Sova. “And if you are a guild member, well, I certainly haven’t seen a Drillbur around. Especially one who can’t speak. So who are you, anyways?”


The Jigglypuff paused, contemplating what she was gonna say next. No, it was fine. She wanted some sort of respect from these two. And even if what she was about to say was a bit out of line, well, they’d been pricks first. “I know Heal Pulse. Which really helps with injuries, like the kind your friend has over there. It works better if I’m touching them too, especially in a place that’s not all sorts of screwed up.” That last part wasn’t entirely true. But she felt reasonably confident they wouldn’t call her out on that small lie. “But I’d like you to tell me who you really are first, before I do that. I think you can speak. Otherwise, getting in here, and getting to know someone like him would’ve been a tad more complicated, don’t you think?” She said, glaring at the two of them. Was it a bit of a jump? Yes. Could she prove anything that she was saying? No. She was over letting people walk all over her. Standing up for herself, for once, felt very, very good. So, did she care? Again, the answer was no.

Izumi got silence from Dave aka Gerome aka how many god damn names can you have aka slim shady, and she took that as the Drilbur just not having the information or the comfort to talk about it. Right. Probably should have just relied of Sova in the first place if any conversation was going to happen, as odd and completely deviated as that was from the norm. Izumii was definitely getting a distinct sense of not being welcome here, and she figured Sova probably wasn't in the mood for her kind of presence anyways. She didn't want to just be rude and leave after he decided to go to the trouble to give her the go-ahead to come in anyways, so she decided to just try starting some kind of talk among the group, and then maybe she could try to bow out gracefully. This group of wild cards didn't seem to be the kind of setup where that could really happen, however. As she sat there pondering, the situation only got worse. And it happened ruuuuuueeeeeeal fast.

There was a slapping and then an almost explode-y kind of sound from the hallway, an almost certain indicator of someone getting fucked up. Great, add bricks from the guild walls to the things the glaceon was liable to catch with his body to the list. Perhaps that could be her graceful escape, but then it occurred to her that the Vaporeon out there was likely still not at all in the mind to see her right now, though it would probably grant her some relief to see her go. Izumi didn't have much more time to ponder this further though, as Sova promptly got a bit triggered by the jigglypuff's unfortunate paw placement and decided to get real spikey. Not that Izumi blamed him; she certainly didn't want anyone's paws on her haunches, no matter who they were or what they were trying to help her with. Doubley so if she was wounded and unable to defend herself. Hell, he could even eat on his own. She could understand the jigglypuff's confusion to an extent, however. Personally though, Izumi thought it would be best to find a different part of Sova to make contact with if it was required for him to be healed.

Oh holy god, had that Skitty just invited that drilbur to her room. To be fair, Izumi had heard that "absence makes the heart grow fonder," but arceus lord that was a bit fond. And maybe a bit soon. Izumi figured that their business was their buisness, but sheesh... Not to mention the fact that that wasn't actually Dave and ol "Gerome" was probably feeling ass tons of awkward right now. Yeesh. She was glad she wasn't in his/her/their shoes.

There were like twenty things going on at once and Izumi could barely keep track. She couldn't imagine what Sova was feeling right now, bobbing around in a padde-less kayak on this massive sea of bad time. She wasn't really in a place to handle any of this; whatever she had started had been swept by the wayside and as it stood she was rather irrelevant to the conversations.The even bigger problem, though, was that on top of all that the majority of the happenings were unrelated to Sova himself. That..... didn't make any sense. This was his room, and also if he was this badly injured than him inviting other pokemon in was a courtesy. It was clearly supposed to be moment of unpacking and relaxation for all of those who had gotten massively undeniably wrecked, and even if the rest of them weren't unwelcome they should all still be at least somewhat participating in that major topic. Things had only just started, so they could get better. Currently, however, it was a shitshow. Izumi waited for just one vaguely peaceful moment before she found some footing to cut in.

"Alright I'm going to get real serious here. This is Sova's time, guys," she started. "If he let us in, or is letting us stay after wandering in, or what have you, we should be respecting what they're trying to do here. If we're not, we should probably leave. I'm not saying that what's already happened could have been avoided or anything, what happened happened; and hell I'm really one to talk. If it's not related to what Sova wants or what the rest of these guys need though, I think it's time to wrap it up so that they can get to what they need." This whole time she continued to stand, now definitely too uncomfortable to have a seat. "He's entitled to have whoever or whatever he wants here right now, and it's not really the time to question it. He's earned it; he's pulled a lot more weight than the rest of our asses this week." She tried not to patronize Sova too much, but at the same time she thought it was pertinent to remind everyone that all this was happening in the middle of an ICU.

Skylar took little time to grieve for the fallen wall and even less to regret striking the jolteon.  She was pretty sure her strength didn't merit such destruction, which she assumed meant the wall itself had been in poor condition prior to having a cretin thrown through it.  She latched onto this belief to dissuade the rapidly encroaching guilt over damaging the guild for no good reason.  It was perhaps wrong that she cared more about the wall than Erebus, but she had no regrets over it.  She didn't even bother to check if he was alright before walking off to... she didn't really know where.  All she knew was that she wanted to be far from the sleeping quarters so she could have some time to herself.  She wanted to think and try to relax, and while she knew this to be wishful thinking, she still wanted to make an effort.  That said, getting away from everyone seemed like the best way to help herself.  All they were doing was upsetting her anyway, and it was clear no one there needed her presence.

She felt a hint of confidence in herself for a moment, perhaps as an aftereffect of quite literally putting someone through a wall.  Unfortunately, this feeling faded almost the second she reached the doorway leading to the main area of the guild.  She froze here and stood in silence, contemplating what she had just done.  She felt a bit of pride in actually being capable of doing something for herself, but that faded as she realized she had just struck someone who was no threat to her and wasn't even defending himself.  That was nothing to be proud of.  She stepped through the doorway then immediately sat herself against the wall on the other side, suddenly lacking the motivation to go anywhere or do anything.  Part of her actually wanted to go back and apologize... to the guy harassing her... to the girl so casually insulting her...  She wanted to say sorry to them, and for what?
 Defending herself?  Excessive as they may have been, her reactions were not entirely without justification.

Despite this, she felt bad; she was slowly but surely convincing herself that she was wrong.
 The worst part was that she knew it, and yet it felt as if she could do nothing to stop it."He's right about me," she muttered under her breath, staring down at her paws.  Sova was convinced that she was weak, so much so that he felt the need to restrict her from taking missions on her own.  He didn't share anything with her or let her help him with anything, presumably due to this same weakness.  He was right, as far as she was concerned, and she hated that.  It felt like her whole life since meeting Sova was nothing but her working to please him, all to no avail.  She didn't even know why she cared so much about his opinion.  It wasn't as if he ruled her, and his act of saving her in the past wasn't worth so much grief.  Her anger began to shift from herself back to others as she sat in thought; her leader was at the epicenter of this newfound spite.  To think he would choose criminals and skeevy shopkeepers over her was equal parts depressing and infuriating.

Sky sat against the wall for but a moment before getting up and setting off with no particular destination in mind.  With few options she decided to head for the mess hall, hoping that perhaps she could get something to eat.  She had already been given food and no longer had her stomach trying to eat her, but that wasn't what it was about.  She wanted something... sweet, to offer some kind of escape from the gloomy atmosphere.  It was possible that the chef had made something neat in her absence and saved some for her, and that possibility seemed worth some exploration.  If it turned out to be a misplaced hope, there would always be pecha berries to fall back on.  There was something distinctly different about eating a berry as opposed to something like candy, but it was a decent substitute if she happened to have no other options.  She couldn't think of anything better to do, so eating her problems away seemed like the best course of action.  It probably wasn't, but she didn't really care either way.  Anything to get her away from... well, just away.

As the vaporeon passed by the request and outlaw notice boards and caught them in her peripheral vision, she slowed to a halt.  Her body slowly turned to face the boards, moving in an almost mechanical fashion as if hypnotized by the sight.  "He thinks I'm so incapable..." she practically growled as she stared at the boards, getting a decent look at the both of them.  There were a lot of missions, and on second thought, she had decided she wasn't weak.  She was fairly certain she could do any one of the tasks presented to before her eyes.  She had protected Sova from whatever a Mewtwo was.  She had fought it alone, with no one to help, with Sova dying on the ground all the while.  His girlfriend hadn't been of much help either, aside from manipulating her if that happened to count.  She deserved the right to do jobs on her own... and Sova was in no condition to tell her "no."  She deserved his respect for going out of her way to come to his aid after he had been so cruel to her!

There were probably a lot of things she deserved, but unfortunately, she had no way to get some of them.  She couldn't bring herself to just go off and do the first thing she saw on the boards that looked dangerous; not out of fear, but more out of a lingering respect for Sova's word.  She also doubted there would be any change in his behavior toward her.  She didn't want to get her hopes up just to be crushed.  She turned away from boards and continued on toward her goal of food, trying to smother the rebellious thoughts.


For a moment, Sova had been afforded the slightest bit of hope that perhaps he had mended the growing problem that was Dave's presence.  He still had other issues such as the uncomfortably high population in the room and Skylar's very apparent emotional distress, but if he could solve things even one at a time, that seemed like a blessing.  With the state he was in, even the smallest of victories was a welcome result.  Unfortunately, his luck was as bad as ever and his ability to solve problems seemed to be lacking, as always.  Darcy was trying to be quiet and speak to Gerome in specific, but if she was trying to keep someone with a glaceon's large ears from hearing, it was a fool's endeavor.  The silly child seemed convinced still that this drilbur was Dave, and worse, she had come to the conclusion that he was somehow a savior!  Sova had lost much of his drive for credit and attention in recent days, but he still didn't want some random drilbur who wasn't even actually around to get praise for saving him.  It wasn't entirely unmerited aside from the fact that Dave wasn't Dave, but he couldn't really tell the skitty that.

But more importantly, if Darcy still thought this was Dave, the problem would persist.  The looming risk of exposure was growing with every moment this dumb kid decided to continue in her incessant pursuit of the one she believed to be her long-lost friend or whatever.  Then there was the issue of Skylar's internal trouble and clear need of a hug that he was incapable of giving.  The amount of attention was a problem as well, and of course, there was the worst of all: the crippled glaceon laying helpless in the room... who just happened to be him.  It felt like he had woken up to a struggle that was just getting worse by the second.  He normally would have escaped such a thing by simply walking away, but that wasn't exactly an option.  He had to sit on this big fluffy pillow, trapped in his own room, and watch the situation play out from beyond his control.  His mixed feelings about the whole thing were beginning to align toward negativity.  He didn't bother to open his eyes even after the pain subsided.

Then the jigglypuff decided to just... speak.  He had ceased all attention in her direction as soon as she had taken her hand off of him, but when her tone changed, it was hard not to take note.  Her outward personality had suddenly shifted from that of an anxious child to... an angry child.  Sova's eyes remained shut still as he listened helplessly to the jigglypuff's sudden onslaught of badgering.  No one was listening to him, and he was running out of spare willpower to deal with everything.  His head grew hazy as he listened to the puff's rant.  She expected an answer, but he didn't have one; more accurately, he didn't feel up to giving one.  He just didn't want to argue, which was apparently too much to ask for.  He could think of so many ways to counter the pest's arguments even though she was entirely right, but he just didn't have it in him.  Thankfully someone else decided to say something; it wasn't perfect, but Izumi was at least giving reason enough for the jigglypuff to stop berating others.

This was unfortunately not enough, and Sova was well aware of that.  Shutting the glorified ball up wouldn't do anything to dissuade any suspicion she may have already instilled.  Provided no one even came close to believing her, there was still the issue of how she very clearly believed herself.  She had to be confronted and made to look wrong, and... honestly, she kind of deserved it too.  Still, the glaceon couldn't find it in him to do it.  Instead, he wanted to just... go back to sleep and let everything sort itself out around him.  He was only just realizing how exhausted he actually was, but it was more than enough to make him hesitant to open his eyes back up after deciding to close them, especially with how little desire he had to stick around for this oh-so-wonderful conversation that was taking place.  He felt himself drifting away, back into the darkness he had been so happy to escape mere moments prior.  Whether he had the capacity to stay awake and handle the situation or not, he didn't want to.

I'm here if you need me.

I do.

A simple exchange of thoughts communicated through the same mind was all it took.  The glaceon's eyes opened to complete a new expression that replaced the mixture of pain and happiness his face had held so dear before.  There was now a cold bitterness lacking any indication of deeper emotion; the fear and dread were gone, and even most of the compassion-driven restraint was suddenly missing.  A chuckle escaped him, muddled by weak coughs before tapering out.  He took in a deep breath, raspy and probably not the best idea for his health with the state he was in.  "The sentiment is appreciated, Izumi, but I'd rather address these accusations."  His voice had an eerie and almost uncanny calmness to it due to the total lack of emotion as well as the sudden lack of strain.  He was speaking clearly, as if his injuries were no longer impeding him.  They were, but he was resisting his body's every impulse to cut him off.

He dragged his head along the disgustingly soft texture of the pillow to look right at the hideous pink thing that deemed itself so bold as to challenge him.  Perhaps it thought itself safe due to the whole "beaten half to death" thing, but if so, it was very wrong.  "I take it you completely ignored me when I said Gerome was my friend.  That word's not too big for you, right?  Skylar knows who he is, and I've known him a long time; I don't need to explain my personal life to you.  
But, that'd be be why he's here and how he knew, you outstanding genius," he spoke, his words laced with bitter sarcasm and mockery.  All sense of restraint was absent from him, and he had no intention of stopping there.  He paused only for an intake of air, and a quick one at that, before continuing.  "He's Gerome, my friend, not Dave the guild member.  I suppose you weren't listening when I said that either.  I can only assume the chef thought he was Dave like this halfwit over here," his tail became animated and flicked in the direction of the skitty as he spoke of her.  The appendage quickly fell back to its previous lifeless state on the pillow after fulfilling its duty.

Gerome's a stupid name, he thought to himself, and in most individuals, that would have been the end of it.  He, however, was very unlike most.

So's Senya, came a response from within his mind, bearing a voice similar to his own, yet different.  The tone was lighter than his, somehow sounding more casual and more serious than him at the same time.  Compared to him, the sound was... grounded, one could say.  Restrained?

He, of course, could not let this remark go unchecked.  Oh, good, you remember that.  So, does the sass mean you wanna take over here?  No?  Then shut up, he snapped back at the voice.  He was bitter and insensitive, but it actually didn't come from a bad place.  He knew Sova was joking; he could feel it... literally.

Fortunately, thoughts didn't take long to express internally, allowing him to have this little exchange without really wasting any time.  He continued speaking without hesitance, not wanting to give the jigglypuff or anyone else a chance to respond until he was finished.  "And I don't need or want your help, let alone if you're gonna try to hold your generosity over us while you harass my mute friend for coming to keep me company," he spoke with particular emphasis on the word "generosity" so as to indicate how utterly sarcastic and insulting it was intended to be.  His hollow, serious expression shifted to a glare with narrowed eyes in his continued focus on the jigglypuff, unwavering, unblinking.

"Get.  Out."