For Once (Semi-Open)

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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.)

If there were any doubts about what Sova wanted, Gerome was quick to clear them up, glaring daggers at everyone in the room in turn while pointing at the door.  A heavy, tired sigh left Darcy's mouth, the Skitty tilting her head and wearing a sheepish smile as her eyes flitted between the Drilbur and the Glaceon one last time.  All of the mysteries were solved, more or less.  Those two needed some alone time now.  Sova in particular.  He still seemed to be in a daze, wounded so badly and then sprung upon by such big news...  Darcy gave Gerome a nod.  It was time to go.

But as she turned around, ready to finally visit the mess hall together with Alki, she saw that the Jigglypuff wasn't there.  "Alki?" she murmured, her smile vanishing as she plodded towards the door and poked her head into the hall.  ...Alki was there, just a meter or two away, her blurry, tear-filled eyes glimmering with candlelight...  "O-ohhhh..."  Darcy whispered as her ears flattened against her head and her mouth contorted into an uneasy frown.  The Skitty had seen this look before.  The one Alki had worn almost every day when she had been new to the guild.  One of a small, sad, frightened Pokemon, too afraid to leave but too uncertain of herself to feel at home...

Darcy sighed inwardly, berating herself for not noticing sooner.  After their little ordeal in that room, of course Alki wouldn't be feeling her best.  Slowly and quietly, the Skitty stepped forward and sat down by Alki's side, her tail about to brush against the Jigglypuff again, though she reconsidered and held it still.  "...You okay, Alki?" she said simply, her voice quiet.  "...Wanna have me bring dinner back to our room tonight?  So it's just the two of us?"

Too concerned to stop it anymore, she swept her tail against the Jigglypuff's back, hoping her presence would help Alki feel better.  She wished they hadn't caught Sova at such a bad time, wished that he had been in a better mood, that he could have been a little more sociable...

Darcy's ears twitched as she heard the Glaceon's voice.  Quiet at first, little more than a mumble.  But it quickly grew louder, and louder.  Darcy raised her head and looked back towards the doorway in confusion.  It was the sound of laughter.  But why would he be laughing so soon after desperately gasping for the others to leave him alone..?  ...Well, maybe Gerome just knew how to cheer him up.  They seemed to be close friends.  Darcy stood up, ready to nudge Alki to her feet and lead her back to their bedroom...

But the laughter didn't stop, didn't even get quieter.  Unease settled across Darcy's heart as she stared at the doorway.  ...This wasn't the kind of laughter that made her want to laugh too.  Gerome hadn't just told a funny joke.  Was Sova...  Sad?  Was he like Izumi, with laughter being the way he dealt with heavy feelings?  The Skitty curled her tail around herself and put a paw up to her mouth.  ...It did seem like Sova had been through a lot lately.  ...Perhaps he wasn't taking it well.  She didn't want to go back on her promise to Gerome, and least of all wanted to bring Alki back to that room with her, but...  She couldn't get the hollow, cold laughter of her idol out of her head.

She plodded towards the door, an uneasy frown still on her face, her mind racing.  What should she say to him?  What could she say?  She had never been a parent before.  Maybe they should ask Faye for advice.  Surely she would be able to help.  Talking to Faye always helped her feel better, so--

She froze as she looked into the room.  Sova had fallen silent, save for some quiet mumbling, but they were words that Darcy couldn't bring herself to understand.  Her attention was locked instead on the fresh, sickening red color of Sova's bandages. Her eyes widened and she almost fell over as she dizzily stumbled backwards.  Blood.  Too much blood.  Not rusty like his old bandages, but fresh, and candy-red, and growing--

A choked whimper escaped her throat as her back collided with a wall.  Her body trembled with panic but she couldn't tear her gaze away, couldn't move her body from the spot, couldn't raise her voice, couldn't do anything but stare at the bleeding body of Sova while horror burned in her eyes.  What had happened to him?

The jigglypuff left first, good. That was the last pokemon she wanted in here out of all of them. Well, Alki had tied herself with Darcy, but the both of them were wretched little things that needed to GET OUT. Izumi left, probably the only one she did not care about really...kind of. She would have preferred to be completely alone but if anybody had to stay she would have preferred it to be Izumi out of the selection. The kitten pokemon left as well, though the departure brought a strange event.

Sova began to laugh. Confusion gripped her as she looked towards the father of her children. The illusion even wavered slightly, but fortunately, nobody was in the room to see it. While laughter was often a way to indicate amusement, she knew better. There was nothing 'funny' here. Her ears lowered in concern as she both watched and heard the laughter grow into a cackle. Did...did this have to do with the kids? Hm..maybe she shouldn't have brought them up just yet. Still, she did not know when she would have any better of an opportunity. It was something he needed to know. She did not want to end up in a situation where she was just questioned on why she did not mention this sooner.

Guilt began to eat her as the wounds began to re-open. She lifted her claws as if to touch him, but dared not to. Instead, they simply retreated to fold in on each other, keeping them to herself. He wanted someone to stay, begging even...but she was here, wasn't she? He clearly knew she was here, everyone left already she thought. She was unaware of the return of the skitty, as well as her friend if Alki decided to come back as well.

"But...I'm here," her voice mumbled quietly, though it seemed as if she gave up speaking halfway through. Her emotions conflicted with one another. She did not know what to feel anymore. Concern? Anger? Frustration? Guilty? She wanted to be alone with Sova, talk to him without being in the midst of some dangerous dungeon where they almost died repeatedly. He did not want that it seemed.

She recalled what she thought earlier about how it would 'suck to be Sova' if he meant everyone was to leave. She thought that, but it felt different to have the idea that it was most certainly her in specific that he did not want to be around. Mirage fell silent, though she burned with the desire to do something about the freshly opened wounds.

She didn't have any bandages though. Not for the body nor the mind.

---

The yellow pokemon only became irritated with the presence of the absol in his path. The shiny creature only blocked his view of Skylar as if she were a deer in headlights. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately depending on the perspective, he had his sights set on Skylar.

The water type had looked him straight into the eyes when she spoke to him and commanded him to leave before the intervention of the dark type. It infuriated him. How dare this vaporeon not only put him through a wall but command him to leave as if he had no right to be here! The electric type sparked angrily as he attempted to shove his way past Izumi. The electirc jolts threatened to shock her if she did not submit to his will.

"I'll leave you alone when you give me a damned good reason why you decided to slam me through a wall!" he demanded in response, "All I did was try to help you, ya'know, be SUPPORTIVE? How do you thank me? You put me through a wall. Some f**cking 'hero' you are, some f**cking guild members any of you are for doing NOTHING about that by the way!" his volume rose towards te end. He made it perfectly clear that he was not about to back down from Skylar. Even if he was going to be beaten down again, he wasn't going to just turn tail and run when he was in the right. At least, he believed himself to be in the right.

--

Aries was struck down with confusion. The voice of a jolteon ripped through the air just as Skylar was about to say something. He eagerly hung in the air for her response only to be disappointed with the disturbance. The little skiddo blinked as Skylar turned and walked away, supposedly to address the jolteon that called out to her.

That electric type did not sound very happy...

Erebus remained where he was, though he looked as if he was about to take a hesitant step forward. His fear got the better of him as he instead hung back and allowed Skylar to do whatever business she needed to handle on her own.

He could hear the angered tone of the jolteon from where he was. The electric type made no attempt to keep himself quiet, though the words of the jolteon confused him. What was he talking about? Aries tilted his head as he watched the scene from afar...oh, wasn't that Izumi? The skiddo would have been eager to see her if not for the situation the absol seemed to have accidentally gotten herself mixed up in.

Alki did not pay any of the members of the group much mind once she’d decided to leave. She didn’t notice the Absol tone down her laughter, and then stop altogether. If she had heard Izumi’s small, almost indiscernible apology. Maybe, if she’d have heard that, it would have made her feel a bit better, perhaps it would have relieved some of the pressure she felt inside her, the ringing in her ears that came from the heat of shame. That was a Catch-22, though. If she heard an apology, even from the Absol, maybe it could cure the worst of her shame, of her ill feelings, of her tearful eyes, but the only thing that stopped her from listening was her shame, and her desperation to escape before she dug herself into an even deeper hole. She’d had good intentions. They knew that much, at least, right?

Then again, she’d been rather unseemly. She’d been all too eager to take on the role of nurse, or doctor, or… whatever the hell it was that she’d been trying to do. She was a little kid, at the end of the day. She didn’t know boundaries, and if she did, then maybe she could’ve prevented this whole mess. Sure, touching him helped speed the healing process. Out of all the places she could’ve chosen… why not the paws? Or his flank, or stomach, or just not touch him at all? He wasn’t in any immediate danger, so it’s not like speed was necessary. The jigglypuff scoffed, looking away from the candle and down at the shadowy ground in front of her. She nodded at the Skitty’s words, but she had no clue what they were saying, whether they were meant to console her, or scold her. Usually, she’d remind herself that it was Darcy, that she should know better than to expect a scolding from the skitty. Now, she wasn’t sure at all. She’d yelled at a mute, for crying out loud! Sure, the mute turned out to be not mute later on, but she had no way of knowing that. She’d acted like a pompous asshole, she had invaded a wounded Pokemon’s personal space in what appeared to be the worst manner possible, she would’ve yelled at a mute, and now she was the one crying in a hallway. She’d gotten what she deserved. She deserved worse. Without really thinking about it, or meaning to, she found herself repeating those words that had gotten so familiar to her over the years, that she thought she’d forgotten. “I hate myself...” She mumbled, words meant only for herself.

She slumped, the words tearing apart whatever semblance of self-confidence she’d possessed that day. It hadn’t been long ago that she’d come to Darcy in a basket, lost and afraid and depressed. She’d been an idiot to think that she could fix that so quickly. She’d been an idiot to think that an illiterate little kid, some runt from Pecha Forest could actually be a guild member. Her parents had hated her for a reason, and now, she was sure that every one of those Pokemon inside that room hated her too. Alki listened with a detached curiosity as the Glaceon inside the room laughed, bitterly, almost insanely. At her? It didn’t sound quite right, even if she did deserve it. It wasn’t linked with malice… then again, who was she to decide? Every single one of her guesses had been nothing but wrong the entire day, after all. She hadn’t expected the strange new absol to end up laughing at her, especially after her introduction. She hadn’t expected the most senior of senior guild members to call her pathetic either, or to feel so much like garbage in general. Her expectations had been subverted each and every time, so maybe he was laughing at her. What did she care? She should just be thankful he wasn’t doing worse.

The girl pat the ground, trying to force herself to feel something resembling normal again. Nothing about the situation was normal, though. Not the laughter that seemed somehow, impossibly, a combination of desperate and happy. The feelings she were feeling had been normal for a long time, but a return to them was a sudden, horrible crash. Perhaps the worst offenders, was the Skitty. Alki had seen a wide range of emotions on her face. She imagined that the Skitty must have thought she looked rather abnormal herself. Maybe. The skitty, however, was nothing like the jigglypuff right now. Her small frown, tired, blurry, bloodshot eyes, and stiff, awkward pose contrasted painfully with the skitty’s sudden recoil, her collision against the wall sudden and perhaps even uncomfortable, but if it was, the Skitty showed no signs of it. She let out a whimper, as her eyes stared directly into the room. The room with the pokemon who hated her. Alki backed off, back into the hallway, away from the prying, perhaps even judgemental eyes of the pokemon inside. It wasn’t hard to imagine what was going on, or at least, maybe a rough picture. There was a wounded glaceon in there. Spirited, and definitely still kicking, but no matter how strong his words were, that didn’t make up for the bandages covering half his body. Alki knew that Darcy hated fighting, and she hated injuries even more. Their time in Cattail Marsh was all the proof she needed. The Glaceon had plenty of those. She’d handled it fine before, or at least, decently. She hadn’t acted like this, anyways, with her body trembling and shaking like a leaf in the wind. Alki watched this with detachment, unable to bring herself to feel anything more than mild shock. She should feel more. She was supposed to be healing, taking care of him, but all she could bring herself to feel was… almost nothing. He was bleeding even more, hurting himself even more with his laughter, or at least, somehow. What else would cause Darcy such terrible shock? Nothing in there could even come close, nothing short of his wounds.

“I-I’m not going back in there… I’m not!” She said, what was meant to be a mumble turning into a panicked cry. She repeat this to herself, under her breath, stumbling back down the hall. She could heal him just fine from behind the wall, after all. She didn’t need to touch him. Hell, she didn’t want to get near him. He was laughing so strangely, and the other Pokemon in that room still presented a problem, and then there was the fact that going back in would just make her day even worse… she could heal him fine! Alki sat down, resting her palms on the wall as she began to use heal pulse, again. The candle’s warm glow fell on her, and she stared at it, it’s curious flickering distracting her from the growing pain in her feet, from the heavy load that she still felt in her heart. I hate myself. She repeated those words inside her head, distracting her from her physical pain, but replacing it with another sort of pain altogether. She found herself saying this out loud, louder than before, and certainly louder than she’d meant to. Reacting to pain was something difficult to learn, although the girl did not quite realize her mistake. If she were alone, maybe no one would hear them. Was Darcy still there? She shook her head, lowering her eyes from the flame, to the wick, and then all the way down to the brass candle holder. Who cared? Her place was to heal, and to suffer in silence. That’s all she’d earned that day. Alki ignored the increasing numbness she felt, reminded herself that last time she’d felt like this was when she was an Igglybuff, although she knew that it was already worse than she’d experienced before. Like she said, who cared? No one would even notice her. She felt too tired to care about it. Maybe, once he felt better, she could leave. Take a trip somewhere, just like she’d done with Cattail marsh. Maybe tell Darcy she was just going to take a vacation to Steamrise or something. Leave a note, she wanted to be alone. Yes, a break sounded nice. Arceus knew, she didn’t want to spend a second longer in the guild than she had to. This experience made her painfully aware that the thief did not mesh well with the guild members. If not for Darcy, she’d just leave. Not come back. But Darcy was present, and that was the only reason she needed to pretend to fit in. But a break still sounded nice.

She sighed, feeling the numb pain of heal pulse take a hold of her, and welcomed it with a grimace. She didn't have any idea of redeeming herself for this whole fiasco. She'd done far too much damage as it was already. The sooner he was healed completely, the sooner she could leave, find a nice place to… be somewhere else. Anything but this. The girl sighed, and continued her painful work in silence.

What.

Okay, rewind. Play that back again, would you brain?

"....slam me through a wall"

Through a wall. Through a an entire wall?? What wall? Had she missed an entire hole in the wall somewhere?? She could hardly comprehend the idea of it. For a moment, Izumi felt more fear of the blue fish creature than she ever had. Granted, the Jolteon seemed less than charming. He had a terrible way of reacting to however he had been scorned, quite frankly; although if he had really been put through a wall the rage was at least a bit understandable. Still, she reasoned as she watched him sizzle, the energy he was putting into throwing this rave (though it had been successful in getting people to take notice), could be better spent in constructive ways like finding a hospital, or finding somebody to take him to a hospital..... Izumi had become so enraptured in her thoughts again that she hadn't noticed just how close Erebus's trajectory was to her being. She didn't notice until he was right up in her face, at which point it occurred to her that he was being extremely confrontational. She already knew that Skylar was upset, to the point of apparently slamming him through a wall once. Maybe Aries had managed to calm her down a bit since then, but it wasn't likely that she would take kindly to the outburst he was having. Speaking of Aries, he didn't need to be seeing a fight going down in the middle pf the guild. Izu held her ground silently, hoping that maybe if he ran into her he'd catch on that he was being a bit excessive.

"D'oof," she grunted as he shoved her aside. She could feel electricity crackling in his fur as he passed, making her vision blurry for a moment and her heart start jumping. Clearly not getting the message. He was hell-bent on getting whatever started with Skylar; he was probably looking for some kind of admission of fault. Knowing Skylar and the situation she had just been in though, there was no way he was going to find what he wanted like this. Things were only about to get worse, both eeveelutions were probably about to go down swinging, and then they'd have two more dying pokemon on their hands. That was exactly what they needed. At the very least, Izumi decided she was going to at least try and disable the situation a bit, if for no other reason than to ensure there weren't three potential deaths in the building that day.

"WAIT!" Izumi called after him, trying to get his attention. She didn't sound panicked, but there was some level of demand in her voice. She had a sneaking suspicion that reasoning with him wouldn't work while in this state; not without asserting herself to at least some degree. "Did you say you were smacked through a wall just now? Like, you really, honestly went through a wall?" She chose not to address the derogatory comments being thrown around about the guild members at the moment; she would address it if it came up again but he had been put through a brick wall without anybody noticing or stopping, if his claim was correct. "If that's true, you should be seeing a doctor, or a healer! I'm sure you want to confront whoever did this to you, be it Skylar or whoever else was involved, but this isn't the best time for that. If what you're saying is correct, you got knocked through a brick wall. You're well within your right to be upset, but think of your injuries!" She couldn't tell if this was getting through or not, but she sure hoped it was doing at least something to delay or diminish the inevitable fight. She took a breath.

"Try to take a breath. Things just aren't going to go your way like this."

Even without her spectators, Skylar didn't have it in her to lash out at the jolteon again so soon, especially since he was just ranting now.  She wasn't naturally inclined toward violence, and in fact, it did nothing but stress her out, which she didn't need more of at the moment.  She just wanted to be left alone to talk with the nice little skiddo who'd come all this way for her.  She wanted to be left alone, and she would have thought that her message had been made clear to Erebus already, but apparently, she was wrong.  Here the disrespectful ignoramus was again, right back to his endeavor to ruin her day and now even going so far as to play the victim.  Had it been in private, this would have seemed stupid, but in a public environment with onlookers, he was threatening to make her look like some kind of villain.  She had just been met with someone who actually respected her for a change, and that was about to be taken away.  Then there was Izumi, who was already willing to pick on her without any justification.

She would lose the gratitude of a kind child and have to deal with whatever Izumi decided to do to her, all because some guy was mad that she wasn't into him.  He was making her out to be much stronger than she was, too, as if she were some kind of... Sova, beating on a child.  She wasn't strong enough to break a wall, let alone just by throwing someone into it; the wall had to have been in disrepair already, which meant there was no way it had been as bad as it was being made out to be.  Now she wanted to hit him again, but she couldn't since that would only feed into what he was saying about her.  In truth, she didn't care all that much what Izumi thought of her, but she really didn't want Aries thinking this was true.  It was, in part, but it had been worded in an extremely misleading way to make it sound like she had abused this jolteon.  She had asked him once to leave her alone, and she was pretty sure she wasn't strong enough to break a sturdy wall, which suggested it was about ready to fall apart anyway.

Unfortunately, it seemed she was the only one who understood her own limits and that she was not capable of breaking a wall under normal circumstances.  Aside from not being particularly strong in the first place, her species wasn't one known for its physical power, but she was apparently the only one who knew this.  Izumi as not only buying the erebus' sob story, but even giving him attention and sympathy for it, acting all worried about him and siding with him.  She actually explicitly said that he was justified in being so upset, and that was the point at which Sky decided to speak up.  "I didn't smack him hard enough to break a wall with his face; it just gave way when he hit it.  He's fine, or he wouldn't be standing here trying to make himself look like a victim for harassing someone then getting hit for it," she stared directly at the jolteon while speaking about him in specific, but chose not to speak directly to him.  As an insult, she chose not to verbally acknowledge him, instead responding to the absol while she explained things the way they actually were.

Erebus didn't deserve to be acknowledged, and he needed to know that.  Skylar was far past sick of dealing with him; she was already miserable enough without some self-interested womanizer trying to get her to stroke his ego.  All she wanted was a bit of peace for herself and her leader, but since he apparently didn't feel the same, she had made the decision to just leave him be.  She had left the popular guy with everyone who was so interested in being around him, as per his request.  She just wanted to keep herself away from all of that, but apparently, a bit of alone time was too much to ask for.  Both Erebus and Izumi had decided to follow her, and she wasn't interested in seeing either of them, let alone talking to both of them.  It was especially upsetting because she now had someone who was actually making her feel better, and she was being taken away from him by these two.  The whole thing was probably upsetting him, too; what if he ran off while they were arguing, or what if he actually believed what the jolteon was saying?


One minute he wanted to be completely alone, and the next, he wanted to be surrounded by as much company as possible.  It wasn't just Mirage's presence dictating this desire; he genuinely wanted to have someone around to focus on, and he got the feeling that she just wasn't going to let this topic go easily, so she didn't count.  In fact, he actually wanted to be away from Mirage, but since he couldn't move, he needed someone else around to stop her from talking.  It was selfish and perhaps cruel, but he couldn't handle the alternative of actually having to talk about... that.  He didn't want kids.  He already had too much to worry about without adding the well-being of children to the list, and any child of his was pretty much doomed from birth.  He did nothing but hurt everyone around him, and he knew it was his own fault for letting himself become it, but he couldn't change it.  The only thing he could do was restrain himself and try to avoid others, or at the very least, avoid any unnecessary interaction.

He would just have to avoid these children as well.  His first and only action as a father would be to stay as far away from them as possible to ensure he couldn't hurt them.  Mirage would hate him, he knew she would, but he also knew this was the only thing he could do to fix this.  Mirage was already upset, actually, which was made apparent by her quiet utterance that she was here in response to the pleads for someone to stay.  It seemed like she knew she wasn't wanted, and she would soon be told her kids weren't wanted either.  It seemed cruel and the very thought pained Sova much more than his wounds, but he saw no other option.  Mirage had the right to choose whether she stuck around someone clearly dangerous to her health, and so did everyone else around him, but some kids who didn't even know anything about him would surely make the wrong choice.  Perhaps they'd want to see him, but they wouldn't if they knew who and what he was: a cruel, violent monster, not a parent.

It was really this that made him long for the presence of someone else in the room; he knew Mirage was going to attempt to talk to him about it, but he wasn't ready to tell her how he felt yet.  Fortunately, his words were heard and someone came running to his rescue... sort of.  He could hear the distinct presence of at least two of his visitors outside, one of which was the jigglypuff who... didn't want to come back in.  Fine, but was shouting it like some fruitcake really necessary?  This wasn't what drew his attention, however; he could hear another voice, or rather, a whimper, and it seemed to cut through everything else in his mind.  His head slowly lifted despite the shooting pains the motion sent rippling down his neck, and outside the doorway, he could see... Darcy.  Yes, that was her name; leader of a team with a really dumb name, and from what little he knew about her, she was sensitive.  Being reminded of how his presence did nothing but hurt those around him always seemed to ignite Sova's attention and consideration toward others, and suddenly, he knew who this skitty was.

Darcy had come down to see him despite not knowing him at all?  She had come for him, right?  And then, that meant the puff was one of her teammates... Akju?  Despite being nothing but a problem and an inconsiderate brat, the jigglypuff had come to heal him, at least from what he could gather.  He could feel the presence of her heal pulse on him again, and he knew she was still sticking around to heal him despite making it very clear that she didn't want to be here.  She still didn't want to be here, though, and then her leader seemed... scared?  No, not scared so much as shocked.  Horrified.  Of him?  What had he done?  Perhaps he, or rather, Senya, had been a bit mean, but that surely wasn't the cause.  He suddenly remembered the fit of deranged laughter he'd just recovered from, and for a moment, wondered if that was it.  The look on Darcy's face still didn't fit, though, which led him to absentmindedly look down at his body...  Suddenly, everything was clear and there were a few more layers of terrible added to his mood.  His eyes widened.

He was bleeding.  A lot.  The sight of it made him fully aware of the pain he was in, sending a shudder through him, but he managed to keep his composure for the sake of not worsening whatever the skitty outside was going through.  Was she scared for him, or...?  No, her behavior was not that of someone who was just concerned.  She obviously wasn't scared of him, what with how painfully obvious it must have been that he was crippled and semi-dead.  This left only one possibility: she was afraid of blood, and he was bleeding.  "N-no, I'm fine, it's okay!" he called out, trying to make his voice sound welcoming; he couldn't quite suppress the scratchy, exhausted sound to it, and he ended up making himself sound desperate more than friendly, but he tried.  Now he was worried, but despite having just opened nearly every wound on his body, it wasn't himself he feared for.  Rather, he was worried about Darcy and what the sight of him was doing to her.  It wasn't like he could just say "Hey, don't worry, I'm not actually bleeding all over the place," so what was he to do?

"Alki!" he shouted, knowing the jigglypuff was still out in the hall since he could still feel the rejuvenating aura around him.  Yes, that was her name.  He could have sworn he'd seen her listed as Akju somewhere at some point, but he was fairly certain her name was Alki.  He generally lacked the interest in others to remember details about them unless he was close with them, but that didn't mean he didn't pay attention.  At the very least, he knew the bare minimum about most of the other guild members; he knew their names, species, and sometimes a bit about who they were.  Despite avoiding most interaction with the guild and its members, he paid a lot of attention to them.  He liked to see their successes, to know that he wasn't the only one capable of doing the job... and to make sure there was someone around to fix the things he would inevitably break.  More importantly, he wanted to make sure he had a basic profile on every other member so he knew how to work with them, where to find them, and how to help them if it came to it.  He tried to keep track of the guild's residents to make sure they all stayed safe, or at the very least, to ensure he knew what to look for if one of them ended up in trouble.

"Come back!  You can come back in, just..." he continued, trying not to sound demanding or angry.  He just wanted Alki to come get the bleeding to stop so Darcy would stop giving him that traumatized look.  Such wide eyes were unnatural on a skitty.  "I'm not mad!  Just come back in!"  He couldn't think of any way to help other than to make sure Alki could heal him as fast as possible.  He looked back down at the bandages covering his body as if checking to see if he had just imagined it.  He was worried and it showed on his face, but he really didn't care about the bleeding so much as the effect it was having on Darcy.  If he had just kept his mouth shut and not asked her to come back in, then she wouldn't have had to see.  The white coating his body was slowly turning red, and with how bad his wounds felt, he guessed it would probably get worse before it got better.  He doubted he would pass out from blood loss or anything so extreme... at least, assuming he kept still, but that still didn't fix what he saw to be the true problem.

The glaceon's head lifted to look back toward the pink, fluffy kitty he'd successfully traumatized.  "I'm sorry, I-" he apologized despite knowing it would do little since she wasn't upset with him.  All he could do was hope for someone else to hurry up and fix him so he stopped looking like the monster he was, and it made him feel helpless.  There was only one other thing he could think to say, and while it went against his original desire, he cared more about this random skitty's happiness than his own.  He wasn't going to be happy either way, so it didn't matter.  "You... can leave, if you need to.  It's okay."

Silence. Her hears flattened, her expression fallen, and her mouth kept completely shut. she felt as if she had shrunken in size as she was ignored by the father of her children. He harmed himself with his movements, but it was not enough to prompt her to speak once more. It would not have done any good anyways. What was she going to do, force him to be still? She imagined that it would have done more harm than good. He spoke with the others, but she dared not move nor speak. The kitten pokemon was upset, still nothing. The puffball was upset, nothing. Just about everybody was upset, they were not special.

It was for the best that she remained silent from here on, even if the uncertainty of the situation ate away at her slowly and painfully. Not the one she was in, but the bigger picture. She was left to boil in her own thoughts and await the time that the others would leave and Sova was forced to be alone. Would he still even talk to her? Would he just tell her to leave? They did not have to talk about the kids if he did not want to, she would tell him, but it was certainly a subject that could not be ignored. She wanted it out of the way as soon as possible; any attempts to push it aside would only delay the inevitable.

---

'WAIT!' the outcry of the dark type halted him in his tracks. Confusion threw his angered thoughts off the rails and into oblivion as he tilted his head to glance at the speaker. It was the absol that he shoved his way past. The jolteon's look of anger faded into mild bewilderment, as if stunned. The absol spoke with a tone of concern and mild shock it seemed to him, whether it was actually true or the projection of what he desired was hard to tell in his point of view. A sinister spark of triumph struck itself up within him as the absol began to take pity upon him. A devious smirk wrestled with his facial features for only a split second before he settled himself back in to the outraged expression, though now it seemed to carry a false twist of exaggerated pain.

"Yes! She hurt me-I did not harass you!" he cut himself off to snap at the feminine eon just a small distance away from him. "You assaulted me for trying to help!" Oh, a big word; who gave him a thesaurus? The jolteon's face fell quite suddenly, his features expanded with almost sheer shock as the absol's final words hit him. Take a breath? This absol did not actually take pity upon him!

Rage matched the crippled ego as electricity began to jump from his fur, "Not go my way?" his voice sneered mockingly, "Don't pretend to be on my side like I'm the one in the wrong here!" He bared his teeth in a snarl at Izumi, "I could have been killed because of a guild member for absolutely no good reason!" The story begun to escalate it seemed as he went from simple 'harm' to what could have been interpreted as a near-murder.

His furious glare snapped back to Skylar, "That's not an excuse, the fact of the matter is that you put me through a wall and I was injured because of it!" Was he actually injured? Sort of. Most certainly his ego suffered massive casualties, but over all he had aches and bruises all about him. His jaw pinged his brain with waves of pain in a way that almost begged him to just shut up already, but he was not about to allow this sudden injustice to him to go away without some sort of battle.

--

Aries remained silent, observing the scene before him.

When the jigglypuff heard her name called, it did little to persuade her to re-enter the room. He knew her name. So what? She’d still done nasty things, he’d still yelled at her, justifiably so. He knew her name. Alki shifted uncomfortably from her position on the floor, making herself sit upright again. He was asking for her. Her specifically. She couldn’t exactly go and ignore that, could she? He wanted her back in the room. Another look at Darcy, her wide eyes full of shock, the way she opened and closed her mouth, unable to find the words for whatever it was that confronted her; one look at that, and Alki knew that whatever it was was serious. Sova had been absolutely pissed at her earlier. Now he wasn’t. Why go from hurtful sarcasm to desperate pleading, unless he needed her help?

She should stay away from that room. In one day, it already represented everything she was afraid of at the guild. Everything she hated about it. She’d just wanted to help. Why did things have to go so wrong? She let out a sigh and managed to prop herself back onto her feet, despite the fact that she could barely feel them anymore. For some reason, the pain she thought she’d feel was dulled, at least, enough so that she could make her way into the room. As she stumbled into the room and saw the Glaceon’s bandages, the overwhelming amount of red that seemed to be growing, Alki knew why the Skitty had been so shocked now. Alki took a few seconds to gather herself, get control of the chills that were now spreading throughout her body.

How the hell did someone get hurt this badly and still be alive? Let alone able to talk, move a bit… yell at her. Alki shifted uncomfortably, looking into the Glaceon’s eyes, as if trying to gauge what he was feeling and thinking. About her. She couldn’t find anything. If he was still mad at her, he was much better at hiding emotions than Alki was at reading them. And if he wasn’t, then maybe she could still be helpful to him. Maybe he’d change his mind about her too! Maybe he’d even thank her! She’d settle for him just not hating her.

Alki blinked and shook her head, dragging herself out of her thoughts. Heal him, and leave. That didn’t change. No matter what he did, and what happened, she didn’t want to be there any longer than she had to be. Maybe wait for Darcy, talk to her a bit, or at least explain. If they needed her help, she’d help. Otherwise, she’d be more than happy to wait outside.

Pain. Sharp pain in her foot. Alki managed to tone down the high pitched cry into a muffled, half-hidden moan of pain. Healing hurt more than fighting. That was her conclusion, anyways. She managed to pull herself back up, ignoring the fact that moving hurt . His words hurt more.  Maybe if it were from a grey-rank, or even a white-rank, Alki would be able to take it. But this was the leader of the best team around. His words mattered. His hatred hurt. She didn’t want this Glaceon to hate her.

The jigglypuff looked him up and down, although she did her best to avoid eye contact. Once was enough. What would be a good spot? If the way he was pleading with Darcy (and the way he ignored her) was any indication, he just wanted Darcy to feel better. That was fine by her. He knew she didn’t matter anyways. It was just like she’d thought when she had joined the guild: the only reason anybody wanted her around -- Darcy included -- was because of Heal Pulse. That was it. That was the only thing that mattered about her.

“Touching you heals you quicker,” Alki mumbled an explanation, her voice hoarse and raspy from crying too much. Why address the Glaceon’s claims of ‘not being mad’? Emotions didn’t change so quickly. He was just saying that so she’d enter the room and be useful for a change. Alki blinked back tears as she reached up and touched him on what she hoped was the least invasive part of his body. Nevermind that his forepaw -- both of them, for that matter -- were wrapped in bandages and bloody and probably painful. Like she’d observed earlier, there were precious few spots on his body that weren’t bloodied. The ones that weren’t were, apparently, invasions of privacy. She wished someone had explained this to her.

As she began to use Heal Pulse on the Glaceon, she found her eyes drifting to the other Pokemon currently in the room. Darcy was sitting down behind her. Very close behind her, actually, and it seemed almost as if she wanted to tell her something.

Well, that could wait now, couldn’t it? Alki ignored the Skitty’s attempts to make eye contact, and instead focused on the only other pokemon present: the not-mute. Where had the Absol gone, anyways? Alki must’ve missed her leaving. She stared at the strange Pokemon, trying hard not to focus on her own body. She’d been using Heal Pulse so much that day, and it seemed as if it was starting to take a toll on her.

She searched for something to say, deep or meaningful or impressive. Certainly, she’d hoped she could muster more than the two words she ended up saying. “Sorry, ok? Just… I’m sorry.” She said to the Drilbur, hoping that she sounded genuine. She was. Alki knew she was sorry for all of her actions that day. She only hoped her tone sounded genuine enough to the Drilbur too. The jigglypuff shifted uncomfortably, hoping her apology would go over alright. If it didn’t, there wasn’t much the Drilbur could do to worsen her day anyways. The pretending-to-be-mute Drilbur. Alki turned abruptly back to the Glaceon, focusing on her own work, blinking back tears as she did so. Nobody in the room cared about her beyond healing. Well, they cared when she did something wrong. Why was no one mad at the one pretending to be crippled?

~~~

“Ah…” Darcy stared at the red splotches that continued to grow across the Glaceon’s body. There was so much of it. A drop or two, maybe she could handle. His body was more red than blue at this point! How had he gotten hurt this badly? This shouldn’t even be possible, and Darcy knew that if she was hurt that badly, she’d be crying like a baby; no ifs , ands , or buts about it. How he was handing this so well was beyond Darcy. Beyond understanding, and beyond emulation. As horrifying as the situation was, Darcy was equally awed by this Glaceon. He was so… tough? Strong? It was certainly impressive, and while he had been a bit blunt earlier, well, Darcy supposed she could excuse that behavior. After all, she imagined that he wasn’t exactly in a humourous mood with so much blood loss. Darcy shivered and tried to calm her racing heart. She’d never seen that much blood in her life!

Darcy turned as she heard, rather than saw the jigglypuff enter the room. That was unusual. Alki was the quiet type, and most of the time, Darcy could barely even hear her soft footfalls. It was as if she was trying to be quiet all the time. The skitty didn’t really mind that, but today was different. The jigglypuff was stumbling forward, as if falling over, but never quite reaching the tipping point. At least, not until she was right in front of Sova. Darcy shifted uncomfortably, remembering the words that the jigglypuff had said out in the hall. Words meant only for her, but Darcy had overheard. Darcy found her eyesight beginning to blur with tears, which she wiped away. There was nothing she could to help either of the Pokemon who needed it. What did she know about healing? She knew a bit about first aid, but this was beyond her, and as for Alki… she wasn’t about to talk about her sister’s emotions in public. That wasn’t her place. They could talk later. In private.

But how long had she felt like that? And not told her? Darcy bit her lip as her gaze flickered between Alki and Sova. He’d said he wasn’t mad at her. Darcy believed him. He didn’t sound mad, but she knew Alki. Alki was always afraid of other people. Now wasn’t an exception. Darcy sat beside Alki, but was looking up at Sova. He was hurt worse, right now. Darcy had time to talk to Alki, but for now, Sova needed to heal. He was bleeding too much for her. Darcy closed her eyes and brushed her tail against Alki’s back. She was there for her, even if the bristling jigglypuff didn’t want her to be. She couldn’t exactly help the glaceon. She could at least make him feel a bit better, though. Even if she did feel sick…

“You don’t need to apologize, Sova.” She began, managing a shaky smile as she looked up at the veteran guild-member. “I’d… well, I’m not used to seeing so much blood, but that doesn’t mean I want to leave, right? I… well, I can’t help much. My sister can heal, I can’t do anything there… um. If there’s anything I can do for you, though, anything else, please let me know! Now, or ever!” She stood up, shaky on her paws. If she could see herself, she might have noticed how pale her face was, how wide her eyes still were. The blood was still there. Hopefully, Alki would be able to fix him…

Darcy looked down at the jigglypuff in question, rocking her body back and forth nervously. She was still healing him. That was good, sure,  but Darcy couldn’t help but remember the last time Alki had pushed herself so much. She’d still been an igglybuff, sure. Maybe she could keep it up longer as a jigglypuff, but she was still pushing herself a lot. Suppose she just couldn’t do it any longer? Her entrance into the room had been less than elegant. Had she already hurt herself? Darcy protracted and retracted her claws, looking between the wounded Glaceon and the upset jigglypuff. She couldn’t do anything about either of them. Maybe Alki had hurt herself. It’s not like anyone could afford for her to stop healing, as painful as this reality was.

She sat down beside the jigglypuff again, whispering to her. “Thank you for doing this, Alki. I know it’s hard, for a lot of reasons, but… thank you for helping him.” Darcy was met by only a shrug from the jigglypuff. She sighed, and rested her head on her paws. Maybe things would turn out better for Alki. She’d been trying her best, and even if she’d messed up, it’s not like this sort of situation was one she was used to. The best Darcy could do was hope. Other than that, she was powerless to do anything.

Izumi chewed on the inside of her lip as it became clear that the message was not got. Skylar was still feeling attacked, Erebus was still being... Erebus... and Ares was sitting there looking about like what she would except Ares to look like when confronted with this kind of dilemma. She waffled in her mind breifly; could she get Erebus to see reason while trying to convey empathy to Skylar? Or was this one big fuck circle that was just going to keep spiraling until one of them was removed or a fight broke out? She had to work with it. She had to find the right thing to say somehow.

Honestly she was just getting sick of this endless cycle of getting nowhere. And that's when she realized what she wanted to say.

Her head whipped around to Erebus. "I am concerned for you. You went through a wall. You are hurt. You should see a healer. Hell, I'll take you there personally," she stated, a bit calmer now. "On the other side of the coin, I'm also concerned for Skylar. Skylar's not slamming pokemon into walls on a daily basis. If she was, I would have heard, or heard of it, by now. Something's clearly so wrong that she felt that intensely provoked by whatever was said in the hallway. Hell I'll take responsibility for my part in provoking her; I said something out of line just before your altercation so I know she already had a reason to be upset," she continued, trying to let Skylar know that she wasn't excluded in the Absol's thoughts.

She looked at Skylar pensively. It was a fine line she was walking, mostly because she wanted to get an unfair situation settled in a relatively fair way and it was going about as well as you'd expect it to go. She was fairly certain at this point that she was going to fail no matter what she did. She wasn't entirely sure that she was doing anything outside of making things worse. The whole idea had been to try and resolve issues, but not more and more were cropping up. What was even happening, what was she trying to do? Keeping a bare fight from erupting in the middle of the guild, she guessed. "I wasn't in the hall to see what happened, but I know what I know about Skylar and I know what I know about brick walls. Let's just drop it for now and do what we need to do to recover; this isn't an appropriate time or place for fighting for either of you guys. I'll take you to a medic if you want, Erebus." She was gonna need some time to think on things if she was gonna confront anyone on this anymore, anyways.

Between Alki, Darcy, Mirage, and everything that had happened in this short time, there was a lot to process and pay attention to.  Sova wondered if he was the only one struggling to keep up, or if anyone else even understood that he was.  He'd only just woken up and was already being swarmed with far more attention than he could handle.  Fortunately, things were finally beginning to die down a little, what with Mirage shutting down and some of the others leaving.  On top of that, Darcy seemed to be recovering from the shock, albeit barely, and Alki was finally willing to come back inside the room.  Sova didn't care much for his own pain, but now that he was getting a bit of breathing room, he was starting to realize that he'd upset everyone.  It wasn't surprising, but he was by no means happy with his gift for hurting those around him.  He could at least say he hadn't meant to scare or worry Darcy, but with everyone else, it was all him.  Fortunately, with the skitty's reassurance, he felt the ability to actually think returning to him; it was as if a weight was lifted with her words.

He smiled up at the pink little cat as he lay on the luxurious pillow, eyes falling shut as if in some display of joy or overwhelming contentment; in reality, he was struggling to keep them open with his body burning all over.  Holding this happy look was a challenge, as was the entire struggle not to show weakness or discomfort.  He kept trying for his ego, but also for the sake of mitigating how much worry those around him felt.  He didn't care about Alki touching him, though the slightest tap from her still sent needles through his ravaged body.  He sighed very audibly at nothing in particular, though it was actually a show of relief as much as it was of frustration.  Alki had tried to apologize to not-Mirage, but he figured she wouldn't want to respond, let alone under the guise of some random dude he'd burdened her with.  Why couldn't he have just said she was a girl who didn't want to talk?  That would have avoided a lot of drama, but he had been so unprepared and practically delirious at the time...  Well, he was still finding it difficult to think, but this seemed like a good place to start trying to fix some things.

But what to call her?  It didn't take long for the glaceon to land on a name; he remembered every moment with Mirage, and so he picked one she had used with him before.  He wondered if she would remember it as well as he did.  "She likes to be called Ira.  She has her reasons for not wanting to talk, and I was trying to help her.  She was being confused for a guy, so for some reason, I decided it'd be a good idea to just go with that," he spoke in a very neutral tone and looked over to the jigglypuff with an expression that was more tired than anything else.  He wasn't really mad at her anymore; she was just a kid, and while she had still been out of line in harassing someone for no real reason, she didn't seem too bad.  His words were technically entirely true, too, though he was omitting a few pretty important details.  "Anyway, actions speak louder than words.  All that matters now is you're trying to help," he went on, hoping to brighten her mood a little since she was clearly hurting herself, both mentally and physically.

Sova's words may have been aimed to please, but they were also honest.  What kind of hypocrite would he have been to hold a few unkind words against someone when "unkind" was the only setting his own mouth seemed to have most of the time?  She clearly regretted it, and now she was exhausting and humbling herself to make up for it.  In hindsight, handing control over to Senya to deal with her had been uncalled for, but he was so confused and pressured at the time that he simply hadn't thought it through.  He wished he could have said a little more on the topic, but every word hurt, so he was trying to choose them carefully and make them count... and he didn't really know what more to say.  He just hoped it would make the kid feel better, and ideally, he would ease Mirage at least a little with the reminder that he still remembered their first days together.  He didn't intend to ignore her forever, but he didn't want to have the talk she wanted to have; not right now, at the very least.

All that was left was Darcy, but how was he supposed to make her feel better?  He could feel the pains in his body lightening, showing the healing was working, and fast, but he couldn't just magically turn the blood off.  Even when the bleeding did inevitably stop completely, there would still be the tarnished bandages to worry about.  The only way to make her feel better was to get her away, and she seemed to nice to be willing to leave just for her own sake, which meant she needed to be given a reason to go.  She clearly wanted to be kind and helpful, going so far as to randomly offer to help him unconditionally, even after he had upset her apparent sister.  Maybe she agreed that Alki had been out of line, but still, it took an extreme degree of compassion for her to sit there trying to please everyone like that.  There was only one thing Sova could think to do to give her a good excuse to leave and get herself some fresh air: give her what she wanted... and ask for something.  He didn't like getting help from others, let alone requesting it, but it was for her own sake.

"Hey, Darcy?  There is something you can do.  I'm not around much, so the chef always gives Skylar a little extra dessert to give to me.  Dunno what's on the menu today, but if there's anything sweet waiting for me...  I take it I haven't eaten in a while, so..." he trailed off and gave a nervous laugh, looking up at the skitty again with the same smile.  He didn't like asking someone for help, but it was all true; he did get sweets saved for him, he did need to eat something, and... honestly, comfort food was looking pretty good.  He figured he wouldn't be able to stuff himself in his current condition, so maybe he could share whatever it was with Mirage and anyone else who was still around.


Aries.  Think about Aries.  That was what she told herself, but it was beginning to lose its worth.  With every sentence, every word, every breath, Skylar could feel... something she wasn't accustomed to.  She could only imagine how she looked in her clearly unwell state; and Erebus, while obviously not the best guy around, was still hurt and seemed to be the one receiving support.  She knew it looked like she was wrong, and there was nothing at all that she could do to change that.  Her mind raced for some counter, a way to shut the jolteon down and redeem herself to what few were around to witness him, but she could think of nothing.  Was she wrong for hitting him?  Was she wrong for trying to argue here?  Was she selfish for making a scene not once, but twice, and dragging bystanders into it?  She was beginning to doubt herself, but this brought about an odd idea within her.  If she was wrong...

So?  What did it change about how she felt, or about how mistreated she'd been or how she'd tried so hard to please others and do the right thing for so long?  If she was wrong, it certainly seemed to be her only option, as she'd tried everything else and none of it was making her feel any better.  Aries had given her a glimmer of hope, but now she was faced with the judgment of those around her, and his kind gestures suddenly meant so very little.  With how the conversation was going, she knew she could get out of it if she could only play along and keep from being antagonistic; if she could just take berating and walk away, back to the little skiddo and his adoration... but even with the promise of such a reward, it was wholly unappealing.  To submit to these two and go along with the things they were saying... well, it was actually something she was contemplating.  The fight was draining from her under this pressure, and she was losing sight of what reason she had to continue trying and making herself and everyone around her more miserable.

Then Izumi spoke.

"I'm concerned for Skylar," the absol said before continuing on to justify Skylar's actions, talking about her like she was sick or wounded and needed help; like her actions were excusable if only because she was upset!  Of course she was upset, but how did that suddenly make her opposition right!?  Was this supposed to make her feel better?  It just felt condescending to her, like Izumi thought she was some damaged little girl who needed to be excused for throwing a tantrum!  The absol looked at her, and as if on command, she turned her gaze to the ground and away from the world around her.  She was shaking, struggling to hold her solid form, and she could feel her breathing speed up.  She couldn't stop it.  As she listened to the words of her "defender," her thoughts settled on the two ideas of herself with which she had been presented.  She was being painted as an unreasonably unstable trauma patient, upset by everything and lashing out at others for no good reason.  It wasn't true, and she needed to convey this and make them understand that she wasn't like what they were saying at all.

"Shut.  Up."  Her words were shaky but clear.  "Both of you, shut up."  She couldn't stand to hear any more of this.  She was able to stop her body from melting, but she couldn't stop her eyes from filling with water; it was all she could do to contain it and prevent herself from crying.  The memories she was trying to so hard to suppress, those of Sova's bloodied form and everything else, were flooding back.  "Don't t-alk about me- like I'm just some- victim- who had a bad day and st-tepped out of line.  I'm not, and I don't- need your "h-help" justifying my actions."  She was hyperventilating, struggling to speak through her rapid breaths, but she persisted and forced every word out as clear as she could.  She kept the stutters incredibly brief, pushing herself to speak through her breaths and bringing a lightheaded sensation over her.

Her voice began to clear up as she continued, stepping idly forward with her words.  "I-I've done nothing but try to help people.  I nearly died trying to save the guy everyone's in there worshiping!" she exclaimed, head snapping up to reveal a hateful glare while she threw a paw out toward the sleeping quarters.  "I got him back here then watched over him, worrying every second, and I didn't complain.  Now he's the hero and I'm just a joke," she directed the hate in her eyes toward Izumi, "and an object," she turned to Erebus.

She began to regain her composure, taking a short breath just for the sake of not passing out before going on in her rant.  It was only a second, but in this time, she became conscious of herself.  She realized how she was acting, what she was saying, and how private it all was...  Not only was she pouring her heart out to people who didn't deserve to know, but she was perpetuating the apparent belief that she was volatile and deluded from stress.  Maybe she was.  The malevolence on her face vanished and her eyes fell back to the familiar floor.  Her head was spinning.  She wanted this to be over.  She wanted to go back to Aries... but she doubted he would want to talk to her now.  Where had she gone so wrong to end up here?  Maybe they were right and it was her fault, but she still didn't feel quite like she cared.  Thinking back on her own words, she regretted telling them anything about how she actually felt, but not the message behind it.

"The only thing I've asked... is for this narcissist to leave me alone... and he wouldn't.  That's why I hit him."

Everything felt surreal.  She had just ruined her chances of preserving her image, winning this argument... and she doubted she would have a grateful child to comfort her now.  Oddly enough, she still felt better.

(I figured no one would try to cut Skylar's rant off, but if anyone were to, she'd be more than willing to just shout over them.)

Her eyes were locked onto the pink balloon as they walked back into the room. If her true eyes were visible to those within the room, the intensity of their glare would have probably drilled holes through the poor fairy type. It was not that she was afraid Sova was going to die, for she thought it would take more than that to bring a permanent end to him, but she simply hated to see him like this. It was easy to assume that he also did not like others witnessing him at what was probably his weakest.

She told herself that she would not allow him to be alone, however, unless she was left with absolutely no choice in the matter. The others could leave, she wanted them to in fact, but she was going to stay right there where she felt she belonged. She knew that she would not be able to stay for the entirety of the day, for she needed to go back and address the problem she wanted to speak with him about. Still, it felt...right to be here. She almost kind of wished she had brought them along, but they were too young to realize that they should keep their mouths shut still...at least she figured.

The jigglypuff touched the glaceon and the healing began. Her attention was completely fixed on the both of them as she sat there in total silence, almost as if she truly were mute. The jigglypuff looked to her, or rather the illusion. She was much larger than her illusion, so it really just looked like the jigglypuff was looking at her feet. The false-drilbur simply stared back while Mirage herself continued to bore her glare into the jigglypuff.

The pink fairy spoke an apology to her. She said nothing in response. It was probably cruel to not even make a movement to suggest everything was fine and forgiveness was given, but the truth of the matter was that everything was not fine. She would not 'forgive' the Jigglypuff, mostly because there was nothing for her to truely pardon. The jigglypuff was right after all. She was not a drilbur and there was most certainly something wrong with this situation, but it was not 'wrong' in a bad way. Alki was also right in the manner of only being cared about due to Heal Pulse by at least one person. She could care less if this Jigglypuff ran out bawling like a baby, she had her own problems. It would have been right to feel at least a little guilty about this situation, but at that moment her world revolved around Sova.

Mirage looked back to Sova as he began to talk. The blast from the past would have knocked her off her feet if the emotional weight behind it was transferring into a physical force. Ira. That was the name she used in front of a gastly. Memories flooded back to her of her and Sova just talking with one another...how she used to think...how she had him collect a pile of leaves just to see if she could do it...and how she treated him...

It was a good thing for her that nobody could see her real face at that moment. Her originally agitated and sullen expression had shifted to a wide-eyed realization followed by a wave of guilt and embarrassment. It was one of those moments where someone looks at their past self and wished to smack them as hard as they could. An internal high pitched whine sounded in her thoughts, but the blank and dull expression remained on the illusion without a single sound to be heard by the others. She remembered it alright, but it was something she wished she could f o r g e t about with how much of an ungrateful little b*tch she was.

She wallowed in self-depreciating agony as the skitty spoke to Sova, her true face covered with her paws even though nobody could see them. The illusion simply stood there, completely still almost as if they were an idle character of some video game. Her attention was brought back to the current situation as Sova began to speak again. It felt as if the breath was knocked out of her as the Skitty was requested to...go get sweets for Sova. He-he was hungry? But he refused the Pecha Berries earlier??

Her jaw dropped as if she were about to speak, both her and the illusion, but it snapped back shut almost immediately. When or if the skitty left, she would have the illusion look to Sova with extended claws in a half shrug as if to say, "What the hell, man?" She would manipulate the puppet to reflect the hurt she felt from the gesture as well. Her previous thoughts on keeping out of everything completely abandoned once more.

--

Erebus's jaw wanted him to shut up, but hell would freeze over before he listened to it in this situation. He bared his teeth at the absol as she tried to defuse the situation. His target of hatred was now on both this absol and the vaporeon. He wanted both of them to suffer. "Intensely provoked!?" he exclaimed in an attempt to interrupt Izumi as soon as she said it. The absol continued on, so he was not granted a pause that would allow him to forcefully inject his rant into the conversation. When the absol was done talking, before she could turn to Skylar, he continued, "The only time that would even be remotely justified is if I said I was going to kill her or someone she liked, and I said no such thing! I was trying to help, how could you feel provoked by someone that's obviously trying to HELP!?"

Whether he was ignored or not, the absol continued. The jolteon's fur sparked with electricity as his rage only continued to build with the lack of support he was getting in a situation he felt entirely in the right about. In his mind, he was justified.

---

Aries took the time to process and observe the scene before him. He had no idea what happened prior to his arrival, but it seemed as if it was pretty important. Izumi arrived at the scene and began to try and break up whatever was going on. From what Aries could understand, the jolteon was upset about 'being put through a wall' by Skylar. The skiddo was honestly sceptical that this even happened at first, but it became clear that it was a legitimate event that occurred. He was shocked when Skylar had admitted to it, but as the situation progressed he made his decision on who to believe quite quickly.

He remained quiet as Skylar's tone cut through the air. The intensity of her words took him by surprise. His eyes were locked on the water type as she spoke. Her body was changing in a way he did not quite understand. She was beginning to breathe fast, hyperventilation. He was way too familiar with that feeling himself lately. When she finished, his glance switched over to the jolteon to read his expression. From what he could tell, the electric type only seemed more annoyed and even a bit disgusted.

He found himself silently wondering why exactly Izumi wasn't...well, supporting Skylar? His blank expression shifted to a look of almost disappointment with Izumi. He found that he wanted to say something. His disappointment shifted to uncertainty as his mind bounced back and forth between whether or not he should do it. He began to shake himself, but he took in a deep breath and stepped forward to Skylar's side. He would have gone on some speech to support the vaporeon, but quite frankly he was too terrified to open his mouth. It was alright with him though, Skylar was a strong pokemon; She could stand up for herself. He did not try to defend her but support her instead. It may have been objectively wrong for her to hit him, but Aries believed Skylar to be completely in the right.

---

Erebus could hardly believe the audacity of this wet fish. She looked to be on the verge of tears, but he could care less, "How many times do I have to repeat that I was trying to HELP you!?" he growled just before the skiddo suddenly stepped up to stand by Skylar's side with an almost defiant twinkle in the frightened prey's eyes. The jolteon was confused by what he originally assumed to just be a passerby's intervening.

"What the hell are you doing, kid? This doesn't have anything to do with you!" he huffed at the skiddo with an antagonized look. He held his head high as he spoke almost condescendingly to the fearful pokemon.

The skiddo spoke, "I-I'm supporting Skylar!"

The words baffled him, not because he was shocked that the vaporeon had any support but that the grass type thought he was actually contributing anything. He couldn't help but give a mocking laugh, "How? All you're doing is standing there! Besides, why would you give support to someone who just about KILLED me anyways!? Why are any of you even remotely being on this b*tch's side? I wasn't harassing you, you can't harass someone when you're just trying to HELP!"

---

Aries's nerves spiked when the jolteon looked at him. His legs locked into place, he could not move them even if he wanted to. He swallowed as the jolteon laughed at him and once again perpetuated the claim he had good intentions. Once again he tried to shove aside his fears and speak, "B-because I-I don't believe you" his voice was too low for anyone to hear.

"What's that? I can't hear you when you mumble!" the jolteon huffed indignantly.

With a flare of emotion he spoke much louder and clearer almost to the point of a shout, "I said it's because I don't believe you!"

"WHAT!?" The outraged jolteon yelled much louder than the skiddo in a way that caused another shiver to make its way through the skiddo's spine.

Aries:

Izumi was starting to feel completely useless again, just utterly worthless as she stood here failing to get anyone to chill out, or do anything, for that matter. The look in the Skylar's eyes made Izumi feel absolutely stupid. Just... stupid. They were so full of the She couldn’t her take her eyes away from the Vaporeon’s while she got chewed out. She wanted her to chew her out. What else was there for her to even do at this point? She was getting a little fed up at her inability to pick up the ball; she had just wanted to straighten things out and leave these people to their damn peace. She shouldn't even be getting involved in things no one had asked for her to get involved in, she realized. That was the curse of her species, she supposed. She was always in the right place at the right time to pick up on some disaster that nobody wanted her help with so she could help with it. Because at that point, she was basically responsible right? That gut-feeling sixth-sense that she and all of the fuckers like her shared made her damned if she did and damned if she didn't, and she just preferred to be in the former of those two groups.

None of that was making her any more useful in this situation. She sighed, trying to expel it from her body so she could try and come up with a new approach.

Thankfully, she didn't have to try very hard. Erebus basically decided her next approach for her when he made the fatal mistake of going after Aries so hard after already riding the line of her patience so closely. It was bad enough that he had been picking on Skylar, who already didn't deserve it. Now he was dragging in the one person who didn't deserve it even more, if that were even possible. Izumi came to the realization that this mediation was pointless at this juncture. She couldn't appeal to the Jolteon's empathy after plenty of wasted attempts, so why was she still trying? She didn't even really have a reputation within this building to risk if she were to put him on blast, outside of that nerd in the corner who puts her nose on boxes. Hell, she wasn't sure she'd have cared if she did had this transpired in a different scenario. There was pretty much no reason for her to not put her foot down at this point.

A bright flash of light emanated from Izumi's body and from her bag in response to a low growl that erupted from the pits of her chest. She could feel her fur prickling and standing on end as her emotions were made manifest around her in a massive lightstorm. It was the same sensation she had had in the desert; only this time, it wasn't a swirling cloud of anxiety stemming from bring confronted with a giant snake that wanted to smash her cranium in. This was pure frustration; the intense emotional reaction to failing and being denied over, and over, and OVER again. Not this time, she decided. This time, she was going to give them a REASON to either take her offer or gtfo. Fucks given about playing the bad guy now were totaling at a solid zero.

The useless wings might have been a bit overkill for her, if she were honest. She didn't really have to look at them though, so she supposed she really didn't have to complain about them.

Izumi jumped in front of Aries and Skylar, cutting them off from the belligerent Erebus. She could feel their eyes on her, giving her more of the same animosity. "Don't stake your job and reputation on something as petty as this. You've got your guild member status to think about." Izumi's voice rumbled through the air between them.

She advanced forward, towards Erebus, forcing him to either back up or get the foot.

"I don't."

Izumi drew some air in through her teeth. "Listen up." She lowered her head a little lower so that she could make eye contact. "You've got exactly one chance to give me a reason why I shouldn't escort your ass home to your mama so she can tell you exactly what you did wrong here, since you won't hear it from anyone else. Otherwise, you can fight someone who isn't putting their career on the line - if you want to insist on causing trouble today," she stated flatly, giving him a look that said he wasn't gonna move. She left Skylar and Aries to their own devices; focusing on the yellow hairball with no respect for authority. He didn't actually have to fight her; she would have been more than happy if he would just shut his loose yapper for ten diddly darn seconds so that they could settle this like adults. She had a feeling that wasn't what he wanted though. She had a feeling this was exactly what she wanted. Frankly, she wasn't complaining herself at this point.

Izumi's muscles twitched with anticipation, making her fur visibly bristle.

Izumi the Absol - Mega Charge -1

Alki was struggling to maintain composure. It hurt. It really hurt, the more she healed, the more it hurt, and it didn’t seem as if she was really doing much, despite how much it hurt. He was still bleeding, his fur still remained more cherry red than ice blue, and it hardly seemed to be stopping. Alki felt her hands tremble as she tried to continue her work, and it hardly seemed to be from emotion now. Her lower body felt numb, her entire body was tired, and she could even feel droplets of sweat curving down her circular body.

But the worst part about her situation was the fact that the Drillbur didn’t say anything. She just stared back, her face not seeming to contain any particularly strong emotion. Still, it felt, at least to the jigglypuff, hateful. The Drillbur said nothing, did nothing, nothing at all, in response to her apology. Her response, then, was left up to the jigglypuff’s imagination. Was that expression hateful? Angry? It didn’t seem to be frustrated, per se, but… she knew emotions well enough to tell that it wasn’t happy. It wasn’t pleased with her apology, and it certainly didn’t seem like the type of face one made to give forgiveness.

No. It certainly wasn’t any of that. In the end, Alki came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter what emotion, specifically, it was. She knew it was a lost cause to seek forgiveness. The girl turned her attention back to her job of healing; the only thing that made her worth anything at all. Despite that, it seemed as though it was only because no one else could heal. She wasn’t being much use at all...

As time passed, (How much? She’d barely been keeping track of time. The only thing on her mind was her pain, and her efforts to ignore it.) she perked her ears up when she heard Sova begin to speak. She felt the paw she was holding on to move, ever so slightly with his speech. The girl was more than happy to take this as an excuse to stop her job, if only for a second, and nurse her feet. Nurse them, and think. Because, apparently, the Glaceon was talking to her.

She wished he would stop. It’d be better if everyone just shut up and forgot about her. Sova most of all, but it’d probably be better for Darcy too. For the Drillbur she’d harassed, and probably better for so many people she hadn’t met yet. It’d be better if people just forgot she existed, stopped trying to make her feel better, stopped putting up with her. There was nothing of worth to be gained, trying to get through to her, she now realized. After all, she was worthless.

Perhaps the Drillbur had only been a few steps ahead of her? Maybe she’d realized that it was the best course of action to ignore her. Well… Alki couldn’t blame her for being smart, could she? She was only doing what was best for her. And all of them, honestly…

"Anyway, actions speak louder than words.  All that matters now is you're trying to help,"

That was bullshit. And the only reason she didn’t tell him that was because… well. She didn’t have the courage. That wasn’t all that mattered. If it was, then the Drillbur would have forgiven her. If it was the only thing that mattered, she wouldn’t still feel guilty. She wouldn’t feel so shitty.

No… the Glaceon was full of it. Actions couldn’t make up for the words you spoke. No matter what she did, she’d always be that one prick who verbally harassed a person who was supposed to be mute. She had no way of knowing Ira wasn’t. And no action she ever did would take that away from her. Was it the same for actions?

“S-S-Sure.” Alki mumbled, if only to give the Glaceon a response. What else could she say? She knew it was bullshit, and he probably knew that too. The only reason he bothered saying anything at all to her was to try and make her feel better.

Neither actions or words could do that. Only time. Maybe.

Arceus, she couldn’t wait until the Phantom Thieves started their work…

Alki sighed heavily as she returned to her work. Almost immediately, a sharp pain rocketed back up her foot and through her body. Another groan of pain went through her, but otherwise, she was silent. She wouldn’t speak until spoken to, just like old times, and hopefully, things would work out, the rest of the day. That’d be really nice. If things worked out.

The jigglypuff began to lose sensation in her left hand. And that was a true shame, considering that was the one she favored. She wondered, briefly, what it’d feel like if her whole body went numb, but her (painful) thoughts were interrupted by the Glaceon. Again.

More bullshit? No… She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. Even if she hadn’t said it out loud, she still felt guilty for her thoughts. He’d just been trying to make her feel better! She didn’t have to be a prick about it… She needed to get a filter. She couldn’t stop being a prick, apparently, but she could at least make it a bit less obvious.

"Hey, Darcy?  There is something you can do.  I'm not around much, so the chef always gives Skylar a little extra dessert to give to me.  Dunno what's on the menu today, but if there's anything sweet waiting for me...  I take it I haven't eaten in a while, so..."

“W-Wait… H-Huh?”

Skylar. Skylar? That was…

“Y-You… uh… C-cookies?”

That name was from the day she’d evolved… wasn’t it? Yeah. Skylar. The cookies she’d taken that morning. It had extras. She just… She had thought there had been a mistake or… she’d thought it wasn’t fair! That someone got that many extra cookies. If it was only for one person it wasn’t! She wasn’t… Why wouldn’t there have been a separate plate? For Sova?

It wasn’t her fault…

Why was it always her fault?

Alki withdrew her arms and gave herself a small hug. No one else was going to want to be hugging her today… Her eyes began to feel painful as well. They were dry. She’d cried herself dry. She heard Darcy say something, and heard her footfalls as she left the room. She didn’t know what she said, but it didn’t really matter anyways.

“Oh, Arceus… F-Fuck me… Fuck me sideways, right?” She mumbled under her breath. It was all she could manage at the moment,  but… she had to gather courage, right? To confess? Skylar’s cookies… How long ago had it been? Why was everything bad happening to her? At least she wasn’t bled dry, she supposed, but… nothing bad had happened to anyone else since she’d arrived. Why only her?

Alki found herself hoping, even though she knew it was it bullshit, that the Glaceon really believed what he said. That actions spoke louder than words. She was healing him! But…

Stealing cookies was an action. It wasn’t… It had nothing to do with words.

She let out a sob before letting loose a plea in a small, surrendering voice. “S-Sova?”

~~

Darcy didn’t have much to say. The situation was bad, for everyone involved, but everyone knew that already, didn’t they? Why remind everyone? Alki still seemed too focused on her self-imposed job to say anything. She’d just have to wait to till they were alone in their room to comfort her. Easier said than done, too. But for now, all she could do was hope that Alki could stop the bleeding (She kind of was?), that the Glaceon would feel better, and that Alki would calm down, if only a bit. That would make her later job a whole lot easier, but… for now?

She didn’t have much to do. Plain and simple. Alki was busy, and even if she felt like the Drillbur could stand to at least acknowledge the jigglypuff’s existence, the last thing that the room needed was more drama. Yeah, that sounded like a good way to make everyone’s mood even worse, and Darcy wasn’t about to be the one to start it. All that the Skitty could do then, was bear the sight of her sister’s suffering, and do her best to stomach the flow of blood that, although slowed, hadn’t seemed to stop altogether. Then again. What did she know? The Glaceon was more red than blue at this point…

She sighed as the Glaceon attempted to comfort Alki. It was a good effort, but… sometimes, the jigglypuff just needed space. There was no way for Sova to know that, of course, but still… at times like these, Darcy tended to just let Alki go out, and do her own thing. Although… perhaps it was time to change that approach? After all, it hadn’t been that long ago that Alki had come home blackout drunk…

She shook her head. Maybe she should spend more time talking with Alki. Maybe she shouldn’t. It was difficult, either way. She didn’t know where her sister got off to, after all, and even if she did tend to come back happier, well… it’d be nice to know, at least! Maybe Darcy could even join her!

“Huh?” The Skitty lifted her head up from her paws as the Glaceon called for her. He had something for her to do! “Y-Yeah! Yeah! I can do that!” She exclaimed, jumping to her feet with a smile on her face. Perhaps she shouldn’t be smiling, considering the context, but… Sova had something for her to do! Nevermind the fact that it was this minor, she was still helpful!

And she didn’t have to watch the blood anymore… How Alki was bearing it, she didn’t have any clue.

“I’ll be right back!” Darcy said, gleeful at being out of the stuffy, drama-filled room. If she had seen the jigglypuff’s reactions, perhaps she would have been more hesitant to leave, and she certainly wouldn’t have left in such a jolly mood, but… what was she supposed to do?

As she pranced through the hallways towards the kitchen, she heard a few inklings of conversation, and it didn’t sound very pleasant, from what she could gather. And from the sounds of it, she’d have to go through the conversation to get to the kitchen.

Oh. Oh, joy.

"I-I've done nothing but try to help people.  I nearly died trying to save the guy everyone's in there worshiping! I got him back here then watched over him, worrying every second, and I didn't complain.  Now he's the hero and I'm just a joke, and an object,"

Before she rounded towards the corner and towards the kitchen, she decided it’d be prudent to allow the conversation to finish. “Conversation.” No, it wasn’t really a conversation… right now, the only person that seemed to be speaking was… well. Did she know them? Even if she did… they sounded rather upset. It’d be hard to tell who it was.

On the other hand… they seemed to be having a rough time. Whoever they were. And she was supposed to help, right? Judging from what she was saying, it was the Vaporeon from earlier, right? She’d been the one to help him? That was the only person Darcy could think of…

Deep breaths. Yeah… that’s it. Take deep breaths, and turn the corner, and…

“Um… what’s going on? Is… Is everything ok?” She said, much more nervous, and much less brave than she’d imagined herself in her head. Something was going on, that was for sure. Whether or not Darcy was well equipped to take it on remained to be seen, but as she looked at the cast of characters in this little play: Skylar, Izumi; and a couple of unknown actors too: A Jolteon and a Skiddo, Darcy assuredly lost a bit of confidence. The two eeveelutions certainly seemed awfully angry at each other, and… it seemed as if she came in at a very inopportune time. Everyone involved was screaming. Screaming at each other, and they were loud . Had they even heard her? Or noticed her? Darcy flattened her ears as the Absol and Jolteon began their stare off. Was… Was there going to be a fight?

“U-Um...” Darcy mumbled, hot under the pressure and, frankly, fear that came with the situation. She pawed at the ground nervously before continuing in as loud a voice she could manage, while still seeming calm. “C-Can’t we talk this out? Or… Y’know… Uh… N-Not fight?”

Sova had completely forgotten about Mirage previously offering him food, what with all the other things now flooding his thoughts. He hadn't declined the offer just because it was coming from her; in truth, he really didn't have an appetite, even now. The only thing that had changed was him accepting that he needed to eat, even if he didn't want to. Sweets probably weren't the best idea at this very moment, but he needed something he could get down easily. What better than his favorite kind of food? He would have accepted a pecha berry from Mirage, were it still an option, but he would just have to settle for the probably-less-healthy snacks he was asking Darcy to go get. Fortunately, the skitty seemed more than willing to do this for him; without hesitation, she was out the door and off to see to this errand.

Less fortunate was Mirage's clear agitation at this, the reason for which Sova quickly pieced together. "Oh..." he muttered in realization that he had just turned her down when she'd offered him food, then gone and asked someone else to get him food instead. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, uh..." he searched for the words to explain himself, with little success. After a moment, he gave up on trying to sugarcoat it and decided to just word it exactly how it was in his head. "I meant what I said. I wasn't hungry, and I'm still not, but I should eat. I just wasn't thinking earlier on account of just waking up from what I can only assume was a coma." It might have seemed like he was getting defensive, but it was really more of a matter-of-fact kind of thing. If anything, he preferred the food coming from Mirage, but he also wanted her here.

...And at the same time, he didn't. He was conflicted about a lot of things, Mirage's presence being one of them. He certainly didn't want to be left alone with just the jigglypuff who had already made a poor impression on him and didn't seem much for conversation anymore. She seemed too caught up with the concept of cookies to chat; Sova figured she must have really liked them; the rather foul language his sensitive ears picked up supported this idea. In fact, she liked them so much that she seemed like she wanted to say something about it. He would have turned his head to look at her if not for how bad that idea sounded with his current state, so he instead settled for shifting his gaze to her. She seemed really torn up over such a small thing, probably because she figured she wasn't wanted here and wouldn't get any cookies. "Yes, you can have some, so relax," he responded, assuming that was what this was all about.


Skylar didn't really expect her little rant to get her anywhere, but it felt good to let out everything she'd been holding in. Sova was to blame for a lot of her stress, between his attitude toward her and his decision to go die fighting... whatever that thing was, but the events of this day had done wonders for pushing the vaporeon over the edge. Between the worries and the insults and the Erebus, there was so much swimming in her head that it was relieving not to have to keep it in anymore. She didn't even care how it made her look, or what consequences her words could have. She was expecting to completely lose the support of the small crowd, but she wasn't afraid of even sad about the idea. This was mostly because she'd already spent so much energy feeling those things for so long now that she had finally burned out.

Oddly enough, it seemed her anger was slipping away as well, along with any desire to defend herself. She could see the jolteon's mouth moving, but it was almost like no words were coming out, just... sounds. She couldn't make out what he was saying and didn't really care in the first place. It wasn't hard to take a guess at what he was saying; it was surely something bad about her, just like everything else he'd said, and her outburst was probably helping his case. She wondered if Aries would want his bracelet back now that he could see what a mess she was. She had effectively proven Izumi's point that she was unstable, so there was no use trying to argue against that now. All of this should have been stressful, but she was still basking in a lingering sense of peace.

Or she was, until suddenly hearing Aries' voice from beside her. He was... defending her. He still believed in her? As Erebus' attention turned to the innocent skiddo, his words became clear and stung once more, now for a very different reason. She still didn't care what he had to say about her, but now he was picking on some kid who hadn't done anything wrong. The worst part was that it was still all about her; Erebus was lashing out at everyone who tried to defend her, regardless of whether they deserved it or not. She might not have felt the dread that had previously motivated her to stand against the jolteon, but now, there was something different pushing her forward. Now... she was mad. The fin along her back bristled as she stepped toward him, a dark glare coming over her. Treating Aries like that was simply too far. This time, she would have to make sure to break his jaw.

"You-" she growled in a low tone, but was interrupted as a vibrant light erupted from the absol in the room. From the light emerged Izumi, but she looked... different. Actually, perhaps it was more accurate to say she felt different. Skylar could almost swear she was suddenly feeling Izumi's aura, and it was enough to shock her still as the absol stepped in front of her. Her glare cracked if only for a moment to reveal hints of surprise on her face, but she quickly collected herself as Izumi spoke up. She was right: she had far less to lose than Skylar, and she was surely just as capable of putting this urchin in his place, especially with... Well, if Sky wasn't mistaken, she was pretty sure this was mega evolution. Erebus, in comparison, had been done in by a single slap of an iron tail from a weak little vaporeon, so it was safe to assume this would be more than enough to shut him up.

Sky wasn't a big fan of letting someone fight for her like this, but at the same time, she wanted to see Izumi put her foot through this guy's face. The idea seemed very entertaining to her, at least, but it seemed reality had different plans. Her head turned as a new but familiar voice made itself clear: Darcy, the skitty from earlier. Wasn't she supposed to be fangirling over Sova or something? She seemed to be trying to help, but she'd come in a little too late to understand that talking was not the solution here; it probably helped that she seemed like the naive type. Regardless, she didn't need to be a part of this, and she probably had better things to do anyway. "You don't need to worry about this. Besides, he was just leaving..." her gaze turned back to Erebus as she spoke, "Right?"

-- Mirage --

Sova explained himself while the jigglypuff seemed close to tears if not already there. While the glaceon had a clear explanation for what happened, she could not help but feel a little...upset. She knew that she likely shouldn't, but here she was. Jealous. It was odd really, she used to not really care all that much about him and now she was reading too much into every little thing he did. It needed to stop. She knew that.

She crossed her arms and sat herself back down. The drillbur merely stared at the glaceon for a solid moment before it gave a nod and looked away again. The waterworks by the jigglypuff was mostly ignored by her, seeing as she definitely could not help with it. She just wished the little pink ball would roll out of here already.

--Erebus--

There was definitely many things he could use against these pokemon in order to save his own skin, like the fact that these pokemon were now threatening him in a public setting even though he hadn't at all escalated it to that point. He would have loved to continue the verbal battle and throw all of their mistakes in their faces-make them regret treating him with such horrid animosity for "no reason" in his eyes...however...he was scared shitless.

His angered and almost cocky expression in the vaporeon's direction immediately switched to a wide-eyed look of total fear as the absol seemed to mega-evolve on the spot. His aching jaw dropped, but no words came out. His ears flattened as he crouched down in the presence of the superior pokemon. He could hear the anger in her words, but he was far more afraid for his life at the moment.

"You don't need to worry about this. Besides, he was just leaving...Right?" The vaporeon's words would stick with him. It was something he wanted to make her pay for later on. In the moment, however, he simply turned and ran. Like a bolt of lightning with a surge of adrenaline, all that was left was the dust that settled on him lingering in the air.

This fight wasn't worth his life.

--Aries--

Erebus wasn't the only one to be frightened into paralysis. In fact, Aries was also both shocked and fearful of the sudden change in Izumi. The surge of emotions felt within the past five minutes finally took hold of the little skiddo. The little goodies he had to deliver to his heroes dropped as he...fainted. He plopped over onto his side as his mental functions seemed to almost shut off in response to the stressful situation. His body wanted no part of any of this any more. One look at that mess and the "nope" button was struck.