Getting An Old One

"Go sight-seeing," they said. "You've had enough," they said. "You only go here and to Grassveil, you look antisocial," they said. Yadda yadda yadda. It didn't mean anything until the drinks stopped coming, under the stipulation that they would return if she made one trip to see time thing other than the inn. It had been a tough decision, but the prospect of actually being coherent was displeasurable enough to get the small woman moving, albeit with no shortage of gripes. She literally just picked the first place anyone told her about, some old haunted house that had one cliche disturbing backstory or another. It was in some wasteland, which was at least attractive in the fact that at least it lacked a general populace to make her miserable. She left the next day, despite the protests from people with better sense.

"Ugh."

Well, they were right. This place was a complete wasteland, and the mansion was appropriately an eyesore in the middle of the big fat nothing. Cecíl stood there and stared up at it with distaste. It was a waste of time made crucial by this ultimatum and also by a dwindling in her funds. Between the cost of staying in the inn and the increments of money she had been sending back to her friend, she found she didn't have much wiggle room with her money anymore. By this point, she was supposed to have set up this venture Penny had sent her with and have been supported by the income from that, but... well it had probably been an overly-generous estimation of the demand for that kind of service to begin with, and honestly the petlil just didn't want to think about that right now. It was best not to think about it really. For now she just had to keep making money through other means and definitely NOT think about it.

Cecíl peered in one of the windows of the mansion, trying to get a view of what was inside. This was the first time she had been to a mystery dungeon on her own terms (kind of) and not running some trivial errand to a rescue team in a vain attempt to generate interest and need for this unfounded service. She usually tried to get right in and out again, but in this circumstance that wasn't really an option. She needed to find things that she could pawn, and also this little mandatory trip had a requirement that she bring back a souvenir unique to the house, so rocks wouldn't cut it. This effectively put any plans to go, pick up a rock, and leave off of the table. The window failed to yield any details or landmarks to her, making her pull away with and exasperated grunt. Because going into a structurally-questionable dank old house without any pretense of what she was getting into was exactly what she had been looking to do on this trip. She looked around at the dead courtyard she was in. Where were the dead tourists, anyway? Where was anybody? She hadn't exactly been expecting the place to be a social mecca or anything, but it was a haunted house for god's sake. Bitches love haunted houses. She guessed the purple death vapors were probably a deterrent, but... well, she at least knew the guild had plenty of cocky or starry-eyed  accidents waiting to happen that would eat this shit up regardless.

She kept thinking about things to stall out her entry a little bit more, just to see if anyone would show up so she could avoid getting lost and probably dying in a musty old spook house. The only problem with this was that stalling here also prolonged the time she was away from a good glass of anything that would keep her incoherent, and her current buzz would only last so long. This made her increasingly more impatient with every second she stood there awkwardly in front of this big useless house. Why did it have to take so long for someone to stumble int her???

Cecíl the Shiny Petlil - 2 energy

The Jigglypuff was a fan of fashion, yet today, she wore nothing on her head. No straw hat, no blue ribbon, no guild badge on her bag. Her bag felt strangely lightweight, only an explorer’s map and a couple orbs contained within. Alki wondered if she'd need them. She looked around at the smog, the purple poison that was visible in the air, the gas that seemed to scratch at her lungs and her throat. “I really shouldn't be doing this… She mumbled to herself, but not slowing her pace at all. Maybe the little fairy type shouldn't be heading out into a sea of poison, but then again, that was the point, wasn't it? She was a guild member. Sure, an apprentice, but she wasn’t pathetic!

Alki felt her heartbeat begin to race again, as hot, humiliating memories came back into her mind. She’d done her best. Sure, she’d acted a bit like an idiot. Every pokemon her age did at some point… that’s what she’d been told. It didn’t make her feel any better, though. She’d spent far too much time crying. Even if she didn’t know him, even if the circumstances were unusual… what was she supposed to think? Possibly the most famous guildsmon from Grassveil had called her pathetic. Perhaps not to her face, but it was directed at her. That much was clear. Well, she wasn’t! At least… not in the way he thought. Alki felt the shame and embarrassment begin to return to her, and the girl closed her eyes, beginning to take in deep breaths, before remembering that, given the environment, that perhaps wasn’t the best idea.

“What the hell am I doing...” She mumbled to herself, as the house she was looking for came into view. After the constant purple smog, something new was certainly nice. Alki stood a few meters away, thinking over her actions. Going into any mystery dungeon by herself was quite a challenge. Going into the Chateau , though, was something else entirely? Alki adjusted and readjusted her bag, staring at the house. She wasn’t pathetic.

Not at all. No.

Certainly not.

Alki nodded resolutely, marching forward towards the house. The small, short fairy could certainly take the chateau. Alone. The haunted house filled with ghosts and poison types was certainly nothing to worry about! She was a guild member. She was mature, and she was capable. Not pathetic. And she could prove it, too!

The Jigglypuff found herself stopping again, in front of the house. She searched around her, hoping for a familiar face, of which there wasn’t one. However, there was a face. Alki walked towards the Petilil, wondering if she should perhaps be a bit more conscious. But… if it was someone dangerous, they’d have attacked her. Hopefully. That’s how things worked? “Hey!” Alki called out, smiling at the Petilil. Smiles became more natural as time wore on, right? Alki was painfully aware of just how much she was forcing it. Hopefully it’d go away soon, though. Did she seem so sad?

“Hey...” She repeated herself, suddenly unsure of what to say. All she could think about was her normal introduction. Hi. What are you doing here? I’m a guild member. But not today. Not until she could prove herself one. “Um… what… are you going in too?” Alki gestured towards the Chateau, smiling a bit at the Petilil, clearly afraid, and she wasn’t entirely sure her sadness was gone either. “Cause… ‘cause, well, I am.” She laughed, hollow and empty of pleasure or humor. The girl focused on the ground before her, drawing a small circle in the ground with her toe. “Would… um, would you like a bit of company?”

Finally, finally someone else showed up at this shabby old dump house, and Cecíl felt like she could breathe a sigh of relief. Ish. The pokemon that was approaching was a... jigglypuff, which didn't exactly have the most intimidation ability against spooky angry ghost types. Then again, she didn't have much of that ability either. The petlil wasn't about to waste any more of her time waiting around in front of the place. She'd take what she could get; two non-threatening squeak toys were harder to catch and hold on to than just one. She hoped. She didn't really have any idea how ghosts worked, but she still felt like there had to be some kind of power in numbers. Also, there was at least some tactical advantage to be had in the pokemon's normal typing. She watched the jigglypuff's approach impatiently; damn those unfortunately slow legs. Further prolonging this experience had not been the goal of this endeavor, and she was having a hard time tolerating it.

“Hey!” The jigglypuff called as soon as they got close enough to see her.

Ug.

"There's no need to yell," Cecíl groaned, rubbing her leafy temples. She thought she had been been safe from hangover irritants all the way out here in dull color hell, but apparently the world wasn't ready to let her have that one creature comfort. Thankfully, the rest of the approach seemed to quiet the girl's voice. She seemed to struggle a bit with what she wanted to say, but she also didn't give Cecíl the chance to jump in and say what they were both thinking. The jigglypuff's facial expressions made her bite back some of the raging sarcasm and the reflexive eyeroll that had roared to life inside after the few obvious questions the jigglypuff asked her. She resorted to just staring forward at her tiredly; she didn't stand to benefit from pissing off a potential ally and make the prospect of a united mansion tour misery or entirely nonexistant. She hadn't waited here for all this time only to get nothing out of it.

"Yes, I'm going in; and yes I'd like you to come with me," she sighed, turning around and starting towards the mansion's front door. "It's about time somebody showed up; I was beginning to think that there were only a bunch of pansies out today. Don't tourists come to this place???" she grumbled, mostly to herself, as she approached the doors to the mansion. She tried them, but much to her surprise (not), they were locked. Or stuck, because they were old and rusted. Fantastic, it just had to keep getting harder didn't it. Not about to let this old creaky door hold her up any longer, Cecíl reared back and slammed into the old doors out of frustration. It was only at this point did the doors give, surprisingly easily at that, and the house was open to them. Cecíl retained more of the momentum of her motion than she had been expecting to, so she ended up tumbling into the foyer of the building unexpectedly.

"Ugh....." she grunted as she pulled herself up off the ground. The whole place had an... offputting vibe to say the least, but the petlil was extremely dismissive of it. If there were things in here that wanted to watch her, they could. They were fine until they started interfering, then they were in trouble.

"......My name is Cecíl," she commented, completely ignoring the little display that had just been put on. "I'm from out of town. I'm just looking to find some things and here and get out, just trying to get a quick trip in. And you are...?"

Alki found herself silent as the Petilil responded to her questions. There wasn’t much in the way of kindness. There wasn’t anger, either. Just a pissed off tone in her short, curt answer. Maybe she should’ve tried to ask some less stupid questions? That had been a running theme with her recently, hadn’t it? Stupidity, incompetence, and patheticness had taken over the overwhelming majority of her life over the past few weeks. She’d had one job with the Glaceon, and one job only, and she’d gone and botched it in a way that only she could. The only thing she’d done well recently was her part of Synd’r’s plan, with Pterra. Even if her life of crime had gotten off to a good start, that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel bad about being such a shitty guild member. At least nobody would ever trust her to heal anyone, anymore. Even if the result of her new T.M hadn’t been quite what she’d expected.

“Um… alright. Yeah. I’m glad I’m not a pansy, then.” Alki mumbled, staring at the ground. She’d never been too great at hiding her blushing. She’d probably have to ask Synd’r about that sometime. Lying had never been a strong suit for her, although she supposed she’d have to fix that at some point. For now, though, nothing was on the line, and Alki made no extreme effort to hide her embarrassment. Tourists? Alki did not particularly want to embarrass herself further, or piss off the Petilil even more, but Alki felt fairly certain that tourists did not frequent the Chateau at all. Still, why mention that to the annoyed Petilil?

The jigglypuff followed behind the Petilil, wondering why the curious grass type was here. Then again, she supposed that the leafy pokemon was wondering the same about her, and she sure as hell wasn’t about to tell the Petilil her reasons for being there, not any time soon. Alki’s mouth twisted into a frown as she watched the grass type struggle with the handle. She’d brought her feather with her, although it was nestled safely in a pouch of her bag, not on her ear, where it would normally be present. Alki reached in, feeling it with detached pensiveness as she stared ahead at the Petilil. Show it off? Then that would raise the question of how she’d gotten the feather. Lockpicking wasn’t exactly a talent one was a natural at, either. Arceus knew it’d taken Alki eons to even start to seem good at it. That was suspicious. But she needed to get inside, and the Petilil seemed just as eager as her. Alki stepped forward, fully intending to open the door in a normal way, when the strange, angry little grass type practically threw herself at the door, getting the reward of a nasty looking tumble into the house, a surprisingly loud crash as the door opened up, and a small, innocent giggle from Alki. Certainly not on purpose, b ut the sight of this angry, little, leafy bulb taking a tumble, and glaring up at her so pissed off was at least a bit comical.

The jigglypuff’s eyes widened as she dropped the feather inside her bag, and lifted a hand to her mouth, coughing as she looked away, stepping inside the house as she did her best to stop her smile. That was not possible, it seemed, as the thief tried to straighten out her face, if only to not offend the Petilil. At least the cough sounded somewhat genuine; it wasn’t hard, with all the smog and the constant, irritating burning she’d felt since being exposed to it.

“Erm… ahem, I’m… sorry. My name’s Alki. I’m...” Alki paused, wondering what to say she was. Cecil had offered an explanation, and Alki felt it would be nice to offer her own back. Nice, however, did not mean easy. Alki’d thought of herself as a nice person, but as she tried to force something, anything out of her mouth, she found it more and more difficult. She was in a dark foyer of a house that had turned into a mystery dungeon, and this was what she was worried about. Politeness. A guild member? She sure as hell wasn’t a proper guild member. Not like the rest, not like most of the other pokemon who had crowded that room, not even like Darcy. She was the pathetic one. Guild members weren’t pathetic. They were brave and kind and adventurous, and they certainly didn’t cry like her.

And what else could she really tell the Petilil, honestly? “Oh, yes, I’m a thief. We’re a bit new on the scene, but hey, we’re planning to rob some guy’s illegal merchandise, if you wanna know! Still wanna explore together?” She was sure that’d go over great with the pissed off grass type, whom Alki was sure was about to grow even more irritated at her. She wasn’t about to tell her she was going to turn into an outlaw. Eventually. She could figure that out for herself when the time came.

“Alki. I’m a jigglypuff.” She put out a hand, forcing a dopey, stupid smile onto her face. She did stupid things, but she wasn’t stupid. The petilil couldn’t know that, right? “I just like to see new places, right?” Alki paused, twisting her mouth into a small frown, wondering if she should own up to earlier. She wasn’t mean. That wasn’t what the Petilil was looking for, but she could at least apologize for the other thing she’d done. “Hey, I’m sorry for laughing… that was a bit mean, I’m… well. I’m just… err. Sorry.” Having a bad day? Bad week? At least it was an honest apology. Alki looked behind the Petilil, staring at her shadow. Dark type. That’s what she’d gotten. She was a round, pink ball. Short, too. Even this petilil was taller than her, and she’d gotten dark type. Alki absently fidgeted with the shadow, moving the silhouette of one of the leaves Cecil had on her head. Back and forth. Just a few inches, but even that was difficult. Anything was a welcome distraction from the conversation that seemed on the verge of crashing and burning. Perhaps a feral would come soon? That’d be a nice distraction too… anything would be a nice distraction from her poorly thought out apology.

Cecíl felt the pain course through her head after her door-opening stunt unleashed its due fury on her already- aching head. She groaned, moving sluggishly. Was the room spinning? No, that was just her brain having convulsions, like a brick being shaken brutally in her head. She should have brought something to dull the pain, but her earlier impatience hadn't allowed her to entertain the though of what would happen if she stayed out past the grace period between alcohol and hangover (which normally she was asleep for). She heard giggling behind her, sending an unamused look in it's direction. The laughter annoyed her, it was pointless and not to mention rude after the ordeal she had gone through to get to get the door open. She couldn't really bring herself to waste the energy to be mad about it, though. After all, it was a natural reaction to laugh when someone was being a bumbling idiot and falling all over themselves. It wasn't as if she hadn't been in/laughed at the same situation numerous times before. Hell, getting angry like a child only made the display more worthy of laughter. Her annoyance quickly fizzled out to a simmer as she dusted herself off with nothing more than a displeased huff, trying to keep a grip on whatever she was calling her dignity at that point.

She begrudgingly waited through the jigglypuff figuring out exactly what she wanted to say, still feeling a buzzing in the back of her head. This waiting thing wasn't going to continue happening for very long; she only had so much grace time before the petlil decided to start dragging things out of her. "Well, hello Alki," she said once she finally had the floor again, offering Alki a shake of the hand. If she had nothing else, she would have at least the illusion of courtesy, "Don't sweat  the small stuff. I'm sure it was an impressive topple I took, and I don't doubt it deserved at least some laughter." As she turned to visually scan the room, she heard a creaking behind her. She turned back to the jigglypuff again in time to catch the doors swinging back into their closed position behind them. They clicked shut, accompanied by a dull thud that faded quickly, making the eerie silence and calm in the foyer even more apparent. She stared for a moment, processing what was going on.

"....What a surprise. I'm shocked. That's fine, though. We can get out the same way we got in when we're done," She reasoned. "I'm glad you like to see new places, because I need to get pretty deep into this glorified shack. Due to... circumstances, I need to find a.... 'suitable souvenir' to take out of this place in order to restore my good standings elsewhere. For reasons." Cecíl explained curtly, beginning to search the room. "I  also need to find some stuff to pawn. Doesn't have to be super valuable, but it can't exactly be rocks either. If you have a problem with that, well... there are doors all over this place, you don't have to stay here. I have a rent to pay." She looked back to determine what the jigglypuff's response would be, and once she had her answer she went back to rustling through the room. She wasn't finding much of interest. It was all pretty ordinary things despite the dubious atmosphere; couches and pillows hidden under sheets, a large mirror, decorative candle holders that were out of reach. She frowned.

"This room looks pretty cleaned out," she observed upon confirming the emptiness of the room. "Granted, it is the foyer. I'm sure plenty of pokemon have been through it before and have been taking things here and there." She paused to consider their options. Before them was a broken staircase that once clearly lead to the second floor balcony hall visible just above them. Behind was a hallway leading further into the mansion behind it. The idea of getting further into the mansion promised more of a yield of leftover objects, but at the same time.....

"...Less pokemon have probably been up there," Cecíl commented suddenly, breaking the silence. She was staring up at the visible doors, the wheels in her head clearly turning. She started to look around the room again. She went over and examined a light post, an end table, a foot rest... until she finally came across a stool. She grabbed it and drug it back over to the jigglypuff and laid it on it's side, the plan now solidified in her mind. She hadn't really payed much attention to anything that was going on outside her mind at this moment, to poor Alki's detriment.

"I have a way to get up there, if you want to see it. You know, for the insatiable explorer in you, or whatever," she explained, reconnecting with what was outside her ingenious idea. "I won't lie, the landing will probably suck a bit. There's enough pillows in here for you to use to cushion the blow if you're worried. Basically, if we find something long, flat,  and stiff  enough to put over this stool, we can use it to throw ourselves up to that balcony." She looked around, but all she could really see was old paintings, which certainly wouldn't hold up... she briefly entertained the idea of trying to rip one of the doors off of the hinges, but even in her state she knew that that idea was just not going to happen.

Alki watched the Petilil in front of her take on a face of anger, as she seemed to glare daggers up at the jigglypuff. The jigglypuff, for her part, did not seem to take any pleasure in laughing at Cecil’s misfortune. It had been rather funny, sure, but it also seemed humiliating, if the Petilil’s reaction was any indication. Even as Cecil seemed to forgive her for her laughter, Alki’s red-hued face and shamed eyes seemed a fitting partner to her quiet, mumbling apologies. Yet even these were interrupted, as shortly after Cecil’s curt, polite reply, the door behind them shut closed, as if someone had slammed it shut behind them. The jigglypuff jumped, resisting an urge to let out a cry of surprise. Her already large eyes grew wider as she whipped around, staring at the now closed door.

“I guess the ghosts like their dramatic door-slams, huh?” Alki mumbled, trying to comfort herself with a sarcastic comment. Her voice had seemed to regain the old, stammering speech patterns she’d worked so hard to get rid of. As she stroked the top of her bag, her hand shaking, she reminded herself why she was there. She was a guild member. She wasn’t pathetic. A not-pathetic guild member. She’d prove that. These thoughts repeat themselves in her mind, as she ignored all her urges to run away, and turned around to face Cecil, with a forced smile that seemed more like a grimace.

Alki’s fear soon met confusion, as the Petilil began to explain herself even more. Some of her words were familiar to her, either from her conversations with Synd’r, or one of the other phantom thieves. But pawning was something she was familiar with. What she wasn’t familiar with, however, was rent. “W-What’s… um, what’s a rent?” She mumbled, a mix of embarrassment, fear, and confusion rising up in her, trying to assert themselves in the poor jigglypuff’s mind, but each one failing. All that was left was a curious combination of all three, and she had no clue which one was superior. But as the petilil pointed out the plethora of doors and windows in the room, all of which offered suitable exits to the house, Alki stood her ground, trying to add some evidence of determination in her eyes. She wasn’t gonna leave the clumsy petilil by herself. Certainly, not because she seemed to suggest she wasn’t capable. “I’m quite alright in this house, I think.” She mumbled, her words falling flat of the confident tone she’d hoped for.

The jigglypuff nodded as Cecil turned back to observe the room. She seemed rather sure of herself, or at least, she seemed to enjoy talking. Alki stared at the broken stair case that Cecil seemed to be focused on. It was broken, and the gap between the bottom steps and the top was far too wide for a jump. Alki supposed that maybe, if they had a pokemon capable of flight around, they could maybe help them up. But there wasn’t any around. As the jigglypuff seemed just about ready to give up the idea of going up the staircase, the Petilil seemed to have her own idea.

“Yep. Absolutely insatiable.” Alki stared at the Petilil, not bothering to add any sort of fake enthusiasm in her voice. She tilted her head as her gaze flickered between the stool and the curious Petilil. How did she plan to get onto the second floor with a stool?

As Cecil explained her plan to the jigglypuff, who couldn’t help but feel a bit excited about the ingenuity behind it, Alki began to understand. “It’s like a see-saw! But… we don’t hold on. Right? So… we fly off.” For a second, Alki stared at the stool, wondering just what would happen if they missed, or if one of them landed awkardly. But only for a second. Because after all, getting onto the second floor like that seemed so, so awesome! Who needed stairs? “I am so willing to do that!”

The jigglypuff searched the room for something that fit the Petilil’s description. Long, flat, and stiff. So… what? As her eyes scanned the dark, dusty room, Alki could not think of anything available that would fit that description. There were a couple paintings, sure, but they weren’t exactly long. There was furniture, but that was about it.

Alki sighed, staring at the ground in defeat. They’d just have to content themselves with the first floor then. Maybe there was a staircase somewhere else in the house. But for now, there was nothing they could do about it. The jigglypuff kicked up a cloud of dust, moaning in frustration. It had seemed like such a cool idea! She glared at the floorboards beneath her feet, and then back at the stool.

“Huh.” Alki looked back and forth between the floor board, and then the stool. Long, flat, and stiff. Like a board. A plank. “Would… um, would a floor board work?” Alki felt the familiar shade of red returning to her cheeks, and she lowered her gaze from the Petilil, back to the ground. She could get it off. At least, if she was any good with her new move. There was plenty of darkness in the haunted house, after all.

The jigglypuff lowered herself to the ground, near a shadow of a couch. That would be enough. She placed a hand on top of the shadow, closing her eyes in concentration. This was a hard move to use. Flamethrower was just fire. Heal Pulse was time consuming and, after a while, it tended to turn painful, but this required precision. Concentration, precision, and a whole lot of frustration. Not to mention she looked like an idiot if it failed.

But now that the idea was planted in her mind, she wanted to do it so badly! Alki lifted her hand up, as if trying to draw the shadow along with her. Once, twice, three times, before finally, she had what seemed like a cylinder of it clutched in her hands. She placed her other hand on the bottom, feeling the strange, almost liquid-like texture of the cold, inky shadow.

Dark type hidden power. It was useful, sure. But as she stared at the cylinder, the girl couldn’t help but wonder why. What about her was dark? Alki frowned, staring at the shadow in her hands, until she could feel it begin to slip away.

“Ah, shit, c’mon...” Alki put both hands on top of the shadow, trying to maintain it’s nice, cylindrical shape. Instead, she got a strange half-handle, half deformed blob. But as long as the other end was sharp enough… Alki placed her other hand on the other edge of the cone, as if making a knife. That's what she needed, if she wanted to cut out a floor board. The rotting wood by the stairs wasn't exactly stiff, now, was it? The Jigglypuff cut into the floor board with one hand, struggling to keep the knife formed in her hand. It was one thing to concentrate only on it, but keeping it in shape as she used it was quite a bit more difficult, it seemed. After only a few, careful, stressful seconds, the Jigglypuff's knife seemed to disappear from her hands, and no amount of cursing or whining saved it.

At least she had made enough cuts to loosen it. Alki grabbed the edge of the floor board, and began to lift it up. Or at least, give it her best shot. The tiny, round child was not exactly the strongest physical specimen, after all. After a few seconds of exertion, Alki gave up trying. “Can you come over to help me?” She called to Cecil, and after a moment's pause, she added: [color#ffccff] “This… this plank will work, right?” [/color]

"What's a rent?" Cecíl repeated in her mind incredulously. Had this pokemon lived a day outside of wherever she had been raised?! Then again, that was a bit presumptuous to think. The petlil knew that there were places that provided housing for no rent, particularly the guild... She chose to put it out of her mind and continue with her little experiment.

It wasn't hard to, either, with how quickly Alki caught on to the plan. For that matter, it was kind of amazing how quickly Alki accepted this haphazardly put together, and doubtless dangerous plan that Cecíl had presented her with. She was actually kind of impressed and shocked, enough to make her pause for a minute. "....Uh... I'm glad we could agree on a solution." Out of every single thing that the small grass type had been faced with so far, that had been the easiest without a doubt. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel about that, but there was a nagging sensation deep inside of her, partially lost to a massive headache, that was telling her it was something she should be terrified of. She was too busy being shocked to notice.

Granted, this idea only did them any good if they could actually find something to use as the board that would launch them, and this foyer just seemed devoid of everything useful didn't it? Cecíl would have taken a broom or a big piece of bark or damn near anything at this point. She frustration bubbled back to the surface and took over again. They really didn't have time to be letting themselves get hung up like this, or at least she definitely didn't -!

Alki suggested using a floorboard. Oh. Yeah, these old floors were hardwood, weren't they? "Yeah, that'll do alright," Cecíl confirmed, letting Alki take over the material gathering project for a bit. She didn't claim to know how the jigglypuff was cutting the board or with what move she was doing it, but it seemed to be working (albeit slowly). She spaced out for a moment while Alki was cutting. She had gotten to the point where she was disassembling an old house in order to haphazardly rocket herself up to a second-floor balcony ceiling. What did that say about her life? Was it sad? The inebriated part of her brain thought it was actually pretty cool, but it was still an absolutely moronic thing to be doing. Then again, there were worse things.....

She came back to when the Jigglypuff started asking for her help moving the floorboard. "Oh, shit. Right, let me grab this end," Cecíl agreed, almost half apologetically. They dragged the uprooted piece of floor over to the stool and after a bit of positioning, they had their makeshift catapult. The Petlil positioned herself on a pile of debris that was higher than the high end of the catapult, waiting for Alki to board the other side. "Okay, I'll send you up first. When you get up there, go and try to find something heavy enough to drop down onto the lever so that I can spring up too," she explained to the jigglypuff below. There was no turning back now, she was only thinking of getting up to the top floor.

"Alright, we'll go on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3." she exclaimed before holding her breath and jumping.

Crash.

The fatal flaw in Cecíl's plan was that she had assumed the floor was going to support their swan-diving shenanigans. Big surprise: it didn't. Cecíl crashed through the floor the second she made contact. Due to this extra push, Alki made it within just a few inches of the banister before falling through the hole that Cecíl had just made. The next few minutes were dedicated entirely to falling through spaces that seemed unreasonably disjointed. There was a bedroom, and then a parlor room, and then a kitchen, all with conveniently placed holes in the floor that allowed them to continue their decent (?) further into the house. That is, until they fell through a piano room and then into the sky. They fell there for a bit, able to see the mansion as well as the entire grounds. Cecíl could not comprehend it, the best she could do was stare at the everything that she was falling through and yell in a panic. Eventually, she just had to close her eyes and just wait for the end.

Finally, they crashed through the roof and landed in..... what appeared to be a cellar.

Spoiler:

Cecíl only heard the noise of the crash before she felt herself being planted firmly on the ground. She lay there for a moment, only able to work up a groan as she checked to make sure her body was still functioning. She could tell she was alive, the pain was already starting to bleed through the numbness she felt. "What the hell was that....?" She grunted, struggling to force her eyes to open. "Uh..... Alki...?" she called, searching for a reply from her equally ill-fated partner in this mistake of an endeavor.

Cecíl the Shiny Petlil - 2 energy

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 2 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

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Alki breathed a sigh of relief as the Petilil rushed over to help her. “Thanks...” She mumbled, clearly out of breath after her attempts to cut out, and lift out, the floorboard. It was hard work, especially since the board was significantly larger than Alki herself. She looked up at the Petilil, and found herself wondering when she’d meet someone who was shorter than her, for once. No matter how skilled she became, as a guild member, as a thief, or as anything, for that matter, she would always be one of the shortest Pokemon in the room. Between the two of them, the piece of wood scraped its way to the stool, leaving scratches on the wood below it, and a rather sharp, painful ringing in the jigglypuff’s ears.

“Alright! ” Alki said, pushing the many doubts in her mind back. Sure, it was a bit dangerous. Sure, this didn’t seem quite right, nor did it seem like something… well, something any of her friends would approve of, be it Synd’r or Darcy. There was no practical purpose to launching herself like a cannon ball onto the second floor of a haunted mansion. But she had the chance to launch herself like a cannonball onto the second floor of a haunted mansion! Who the hell would pass up an opportunity to do that? What happens in a mystery dungeon stays in the mystery dungeon, after all.

The jigglypuff helped Cecil place the bar on the stool, and balance it. So this was really happening. Alki grinned at the thought of this plan working. She nodded at the Petilil’s instructions, only half listening. Sure, she could find something heavy. After all, this was the Petilil’s idea, and she deserved to experience it much more than Alki. All she’d done was find the plank.

The plank felt rickety, and balancing herself on it was quite a task, but eventually, the jigglypuff found a way. She nodded at the Petilil, smiling widely as she chose to forget all of the potential ways this plan could go wrong. She was going to fly! For a few seconds, anyways. Alki watched with bated breath as Cecil climbed atop the debris, and waited for what seemed like countless seconds as the grass type fell onto the other side of the plank.

Alki went up, and as the small fairy type rose into the air, all she could hear was a loud crash from the things below. The jigglypuff’s laugh of triumph was quickly erased as she realized that the  angle she was going up at was not at all adequate. Too low, she wasn’t going to clear the bannister, and no matter how much Alki tried to reach, she could do nothing to prevent her face from being introduced to the balcony railing. The dust that rose around her was secondary to the burning of shame, and from a wooden pole just narrowly missing her eye.

And as her grip around the pole failed and slipped, she found herself falling again, not nearly as gracefully as her previous, short lived flight. Dazed, the jigglypuff didn’t pay much attention to her landing. Part of it was the pain, but the biggest reason that she did not pay attention was because she had yet to land. Kitchens, foyers, living rooms, bedrooms, countless rooms passed by her eyes, no two the same, and Alki began to wonder if the fall would ever end. It went on for so long that she could feel the adrenaline leaving her, and boredom replacing it. If she was going to be a splat on the hardwood floor she’d just vandalized, might as well get it over with, right? Did dying suck much? Was it quick? Was… wait, was that the same kitchen?

“Hey, Ceci--” She found her question interrupted by a sudden appearance of the sky . The whole entire sky was around them, clouds, even a couple of bird pokemon were visible. Alki found herself sputtering as she tried to explain this strange occurrence. If nothing else, it was a hell of a way to go, right? But she’d still wanted to do so much…

Alki’s shouts began to subside as she thought of this. She was an awful ways up, and even if she was sort of bouncy… well, she couldn’t fall forever, right? Alki swallowed, and found her shouts replaced with tears. She hadn’t even gotten to see a heist, or rank up as a team with Darcy… would Darcy find her? Shit… maybe she should’ve told her. The chateau warped around a lot… Alki hadn’t abandoned her! Not like that… she was going to come back!

Things after that got a bit blurry, perhaps from the wood rushing around them. But she was sure she was alive, and she was only sure of that because the pain in her arm felt so real. That wasn’t too important, though. She was alive. Even if she’d landed very awkwardly, and very painfully on her right arm, well, she was alive! And besides, she was a leftie anyways.

“Ah, shit...” Alki mumbled, rolling herself up onto her feet with her good arm. “That was a long way down, huh...” Alki tested her right arm, but she didn’t test it long. An undignified squeal later, and she was clutching it to her body tightly. It was broken. Alki let out a sob, one fourth pain, three fourths unimaginable relief. She wouldn’t hurt Darcy… she just needed to get out. Eventually. If they could find their way. Alki sniffed, trying to forget her arm for only a moment. Where was she? Where were they? Cecil was still there, thankfully. Company would be nice. “Um… Ow. Um, we’re in a cellar?” She choked out, slowly letting go of her arm. She could just count her blessings, and soon enough, they’d be out of there. “Are you alright?” Alki asked, turning to face Cecil, brushing off the dust from her fur. She was filthy. After a fall like that, that was to be expected, though, wasn’t it?

The jigglypuff searched around the cellar, wondering why they’d stopped here. The house clearly didn’t like them. Now they were in a cellar. Why here? “I… I liked your idea, for what it’s worth.” Alki called out, hoping to find something, anything useful. A heal seed would be nice… she held her arm tightly against her body, as she scoured the room, but never going out of sight of the Petilil. Safety in numbers, right?

“How are we going to get out, though?”

Energy: [23 - 16 = 7 ]

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Hearing Alki's response reassured Cecíl that things were at least as close to being alright as they could possibly be, making the bulb feel comfortable enough to justify resting her face on the ground a little while longer. She could still see the afterimages from everything flashing past her in her eyelids, only serving to fuel the problem of the nausea and the headache. She fought very hard to not get sick from all of the unwelcome stimulation; she was certainly at a low point in her life but she also wasn't looking to loose all her dignity and self-worth. Getting sick in front of someone completely new to her was not high on the priority list; she wasn't looking to have any derogatory labels slapped onto her person on top of being a failure- well any more, anyways. It was all she could do to preserve what little scrap of her felt worth doing things.

"You're telling me," the petilil mumbled into the floor boards. It was probably time to try moving herself, before she spent too much time looking like a bump on the floor. She tried to take her time accepting this fact, drawing out the inevitable, but this only served to irritate her more and eventually she just bit the bullet. She forced herself up, stopping for a second to ride out the head rush. Ugh, she wished she had seeds on her. Or a sandwich. Hell she probably should have eaten a sandwich before she even came here to help process the shit going through her body. Now that her logic was starting to function outside the haze, that made perfect sense. She never expected anything sane to come out of her mind when influenced, though. After the head rush died down, she made it back into a sitting position. Then she was back up and fully mobile again, despite how her body screamed at her.

"I'm fine, and...... I have no clue just yet. I don't even know what just happened or how we got here." she answered. Peering around, she could see a few tightly-wound hallways around that branched off different ways, implying a veritable labyrinth. Looking up, only yielded a stone ceiling. Cecíl was drawing a complete blank as to how they had even gotten in here. This wouldn't even make sense to a drunk person! How had they fallen through a completely solid ceiling??! "I still don't know if it was down or up or sideways or backwards... but if you saw what I saw, then that probably means it actually happened. What 'it' is, I have no clue." she glanced warily around at the stone walls, which seemed intimidating now solely because of their unpredictability. She went over and tried feeling one, confirming that it was indeed solid. "For now though, we should try to find a storage room or something. Somewhere we can find some supplies, some-"

"-Refreshments?~" A drifloon suddenly floated in out of seemingly nowhere in their peripheral vision, giving a cheery expression that almost looked coy. Cecíl whipped her head around to see the pokemon, and discovered he was holding- was that a tumbler? He gave it a knowing shake, as if he had read her thoughts. "I hear you are looking to recover from a rather unfortunate fall... I do hate to see people troubled,~" He hummed.

Something about this was off. Everything about it, actually. Cecíl knew the game; hospitality was a great tactic in that it was easier to sway people who were at ease with you. She wasn't convinced that the end goal of his ploy was to sell them something, however. Still, she couldn't tell him to fuck right off without opening up the opportunity to turn her into the asshole in the situation (well, more of the asshole since she already kind of was "the" asshole) to him. She had two obvious routes to go; either accept politely but in a detached manner and see what his deal was, or politely deny, deny, deny.

The prospect of alcohol was intriguing. On that same point, however, Cecíl did not give a fuck about this guy, or his business, OR his alcohol. She let her decisive lack of fucks take first priority.

"Thank you, but some directions would be more helpful to us," she interjected in her best "client soothing" tone of voice.

"Oh yes! I can give you directions while I grab you some refreshments. You'd be more fit to explore further if you weren't exhausted, wouldn't you agree?~" he countered pleasantly, addressing Alki. Drats, a more difficult point to argue with. Moreover he was now addressing Alki specifically in response to the petilil's awareness of his cues. She also looked at Alki, unsure of exactly how "socially aware" the round fairy would turn out to be.

Cecíl the Petilil - I dunno probably 0 energy

The jigglypuff cradled her broken arm, thinking that perhaps she should have objected to the plan. It had seemed like a good idea, but as the girl continued to see stars from her painful collision with the bannister, her nauseating fall from… somewhere, and her newly fractured bone, she could consider the plan a failure. They were not on the second story, after all. Hadn’t that been the whole point? Alki rubbed her eyes, or at least, as well as she could with only her left arm. She didn’t want her company to see she’d been crying. She was fine. Totally, one-hundred percent fine, and soon enough, she’d be with Darcy.

“Do you… um, do you by any chance know any moves that heal?” She called out, still searching the cellar for useful items, seeds or orbs or anything, but so far, that search did not bear fruit. The girl looked around herself, at the musty, dark walls that were only barely lit by candles, at the dusty floors, even the ceiling. There wasn’t anything, or anyone. Perhaps she’d been wandering too far away. “C-Cecil?” She called out, her voice tinged with just a bit of fear. Normally, she could be at least somewhat confident in her abilities, but her right arm was starting to hurt a bit more than before… the jigglypuff rounded a corner, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the Petilil, talking with a new companion. A ghost type. It didn’t seem to be dangerous, though, after all, the Petilil seemed to be having a rather nice conversation with it. Something about refreshments? It was holding a couple of fancy looking glasses, sorta like the ones she’d seen at Steamrise that time with Clovis. She hadn’t actually drank from them, though. Alki cocked her head at these curious cups, wondering what they were for.

Alki watched as the Drifloon turned to face her, shaking the glass at her. It’s words made sense, after all, water was important! Refreshments could even include sweeter drinks, like berry juices! Alki smiled, attempting to make it more happy than the grimace that she managed. Her arm felt more and more painful as the adrenaline wore off, and Alki found herself clutching it tightly to her body. “Y-Yes, sir, refreshments sound nice...” Alki mumbled, staring at the cups with newfound desperation. Maybe he even had something to help her arm! “I don't imagine you've got anything for… urgh… heal seeds? Or… medicine? I'll take the refreshments too!” She added hastily, staring up at the Drifloon. It probably wasn't in her best interest to accept a drink from a strange ghost Pokemon, especially one who lived in a house like this. As the pain in her arm came to a head, however, she found it increasingly difficult to bear. She cast an apologetic glance at Cecil. She'd rejected this offer, but then, she was the one who was mostly fine. Besides, what harm could it do?

“I'm… thank you, sir.” She said, nodding and grimacing at the Drifloon. Alki turned to face Cecil, hoping the Petilil would accept her half-apology. “Are you sure you don't want some? It… um, I don't know what it is, but maybe it could help?” the smaller Pokemon suggested, still cradling her arm. Maybe with a bit of prodding, Cecil would be willing to take some refreshments as well. It would certainly make her feel a lot less guilty. “W-We did take a nasty fall. Umm… anyways, Mr. Drifloon. I'd really appreciate some, ah, refreshments.” She mumbled, hoping the refreshments would make her pain go away.

[Energy is 0 hecking rip]

It was official. The Jigglypuff was completely ignorant to their current situation. Cecíl stared almost in wonder at her complete ignorance in the situation; or maybe it was more innocence. The kind of thing that got you kidnapped in an alleyway, and a best held at ransom. Had none of this crossed her mind??
Granted, upon closer inspection, she did look pretty tore up. She was holding her arm, and her forehead had a nasty mark... Maybe she hit her head too hard. Maybe that's why she couldn't discern the obvious dubiousness looming over the Drifloon's skeevy refreshments and his skeevy pleasantries. It wasn't as if Cecíl had anything other than self-healing moves, as the Jigglypuff's question made her realize. Still, were they really just going to throw caution to the wind? Not even consider any other options in their sorry state, like maybe something safer that didn't involve them taking mind-altering substances from some strange ghost???

Cecíl groaned as Alki gave her complete and total consent to go with the complete and total stranger. She raised a petal to her forehead and rubbed her aching bulb. Fuck it! What did she have to lose at this point? If she said no and the other two left, she would be alone and at the mercy of the other denizens of the house. If she said yes... well, there wasn't even any point considering it really because that's what she was going with now!! Whatever, at the very least she'd get some alcohol out of it.

"Sure, fine!!!" The petilil exclaimed, thoroughly fed up and upset. "What in the world could conceivably go wrong??? I can't think of a single thing wrong with this situation or what we are doing to handle it!" she exclaimed in a fit of exasperation, hoping that the Jigglypuff would realize the absurdity of what she was doing and take the opportunity to back out. Too bad the drifloon didn't give them the chance.

"Fantastic. Refreshments, supplies, everything this way,~" he chuckled, floating behind them and ushering them down a hall to their left. Cecíl went along in a very defeated manner, hunched over and in a generally bad mood. Her wounds felt more prominent now, as if reminding her that she was in no state to defend herself, let alone her clueless companion. As if she needed the reminder. She sighed. She didn't know how she could be expected to take care of all of these responsibilities that were out of her league. How was she supposed to conceivably handle all of this??

"Just be careful what you say to these types. We aren't exactly in friendly territory,
here," she muttered over to Alki, hoping to at least get her to realize some sense.

They soon arrived in what looked to be... a subterranean cafe of sorts. The drifloon led them to the main counter, where a sableye could be seen cleaning glasses. He turned around with a devilish grin, and set two little glasses down in front of them. He also pushed out a bowl of seeds and berries.

"Welcome to the club, mates," he chortled through his grin. "Fresh snacks and drinks on the house for the newcomers." The drifloon poured the contents of his tumbler into the glasses with a nod.

Cecíl just stared at the liquid, questioning if she had really let herself stoop to this level. She got her answer when she grabbed the glass and knocked it back. Gods did it burn. They were not kind about whatever they had mixed into that drink, no sirree. She coughed, but handled it without much of a problem. She had had alcohol much harder than that, though she could not deny the warm tingling it left in her throat.

"Geez, you got a death wish or somethin'? Throwing a customer something that strong?" When she saw the sableye's toothy grin she immediately regretted her phrasing.

"Perhaps," he hummed in response, followed by a chorus of giggles from himself and the drifloon.

The jigglypuff was well aware of the tactless Petilil that accompanied her. How could she not be? Groaning in frustration as she agreed to the refreshments that this ghost pokemon generously offered. Why did she have to be such a stick in the mud anyways? She was the one who got away with just a few scrapes. Did the Petilil even have bones to break? Alki now knew that jigglypuff did. Not to mention that she was starting to feel a bit light headed as well. What room did Cecil have to judge? Alki clutched her broken limb tighter to her body, struggling and failing to keep tears out of her eyes. All things considered, she was handling the sudden onslaught of pain rather well. She’d never had any experience with injuries of this kind! It was a small miracle in and of itself that she’d managed to keep her composure throughout all of this. That wasn’t to say that she wouldn’t very much appreciate some healing from somebody , but either the Petilil had no way to assist, or was too frustrated to offer assistance. The girl would’ve liked to believe it was the former. “R-Really? No healing moves? I know Copycat...” She managed to squeak out, her voice tiny, difficult to make out against the Drifloon's much louder voice. She walked alongside the Petilil, her eyes wet with the faint glimmer of tears that she’d tried so hard to hold back. Arceus, a broken arm hurt! What had Cecil said about these types? Alki dismissed it as paranoia. After all, they didn’t seem nearly as bad as she was making them out to be.

Alki found herself staring at the contents of a strange liquid, similar to the ones she’d seen at the Steamrise Inn. This place, however, had very little in common with the establishment in Rainfront. Whereas Rainfront’s inn was proper and fancy to a fault, this place made no effort to replicate such an atmosphere. The drinks at Steamrise had been colorful and attractive, while the strange, brown liquid was neither of the two. The small girl picked up the glass, inspected the liquid, turning it in her one good hand.

She shot a sideways glance at her companion’s glass, but to her shock, it had already disappeared. The jigglypuff shot the ghosts an uncomfortable glance. Was this really wise? They were in a mystery dungeon, after all. It wasn't exactly a safe place -- her right arm could testify to that. The Petilil had been so frustrated earlier too! She shook her head, closing her eyes as she brought the drink to her mouth, ever so slowly. Cecil had already drank hers, so really, it couldn't be that bad. Besides, she'd never had a drink like this! Who knew what it would be like? The jigglypuff poured the drink down her throat.

A decision she came to regret immediately. What the hell was that? The fiery liquid rushed down her throat, burning every millimeter it came into contact. That was it, they'd fed her liquid fire. What else could it be? Alki vaguely heard Cecil mention something about strength, and Alki would've wondered if, perhaps, she was familiar with these drinks. That is, if she were not busy gasping and choking on the liquid. The girl brought her hands up to her mouth, coughed into them, and tried her best to force the tears of surprise back into her eyes. That was strong. Now her arm hurt more. Why did her throat feel all warm and tingly? She would've figured that a drink like that would hurt more. The aftertaste was oddly pleasant, though! The pain in her arm seemed to be going down, too. She'd just have to remind herself to keep it still for now…

“What is that?” She asked. Her eyes widened in newfound curiosity and respect for the beverage. It wasn't really a refreshment, not in the way that Berry juices were, but it was good too. In it's own special way. “Can I have another? What's it called?” She asked the Drifloon excitedly, smiling as only a child could. She was a thief. Technically, she was going to be an outlaw soon as well. That didn't remove the fact that this strange new beverage made her feel warm, and by the legendaries, she needed to find out what this magical beverage was called!

The pain in her arm still made itself present. A tad bit numb, but still plenty painful enough to distract from the drink. Alki groaned, looking back at the Petilil. If there was nothing either of them could do, then so be it. Maybe if she drank enough of this beverage, it'd make her pain go away! Although she would much rather prefer tasting some more of it without the pain of a fragmented bone. Then again, she couldn't always get what she wanted, could she?

So be it. Another strange drink, at least, was something she could secure. “Look! I'll even pay for it.” She called, turning away from Cecil without bothering to ask her about the wisdom of this decision. She reached into her bag with her good arm, and extracted a couple of coins of poke, placing them on the bar before her with a small, expectant smile.

"Well, if you're ready to sit your ass down for a while, I can ingrain," Cecíl muttered in response to the jigglypuff's proposal of copycat. Sure, trap themselves in a room with a pair of dubious mofuckers who wanted them blasted out of their brains for some odd reason. It wasn't any more illogical than anything else they had been doing recently. In fact... maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. If they were rooted to the spot, the worst their new "friends" could do to them was beat them up, knock them out maybe. If the game was to steal their shit, it would be a bad gamble. But if it wasn't... well there sure wasn't shit they could do about two pokemon stuck fast in place. At the very least, they wouldn't wake up stranded in some deep corner of this logic-forsaken house. At least if they were here, they could get back to where they started.

She turned to bring this up to Alki. Before she could speak, however, the pink puff asked about what the drink was, making a currently borderline-sober Cecíl instantly concerned. "Wait, hold on, you haven't drank before? Or you haven't had hard alcohol before?" she asked, as it was kind of impossible to tell which out of the two she was implying. Neither was good, but one was particularly worse. There was no way this kid knew her limit on this stuff; which threatened to put them both in the very awkward situation of her becoming blackout drunk. How the hell was Cecíl supposed to deal with that?!?! She couldn't rightly leave the jigglypuff; well she could leave her, but it certainly wouldn't be right. The petilil had to keep at least some of her good character about her, at least if she wanted to claim to be anything other than a grouchy drunk. The cost of preserving that image was clearly going to be high.

The Sableye grinned at Alki's question. "Oh, it's a special kinda drink called 'mulling'. It's made from the grains that grow in the marsh way out yonder, but instead of distilling it they ferment it," he explained as he topped both Alki's and Cecíl's glasses off and then began wiping down the bar. The drifloon set up more stools at the bar and at the tables around the room, and then went back around the counter and into a doorway behind the Sableye. "Don't mind us by the way, we're just setting up for opening time. He's made up of a bunch of folks who don't speak much of the language, so he's a pretty quiet guy." As he wiped past the money, he chuckled and pushed it back at Alki.

"No need. What kind of host would I be if I took your money? There's plenty here; we've got all the time in the world to do it; not to mention plenty of hands." The way he said the last bit was rather ominous in the way it just barely slid through his teeth, almost as if it carried some kind of implication. Cecíl was instantly uncomfortable again, putting more stress on top of what she had already been dealing with over the whole uninitiated jigglypuff bit. She gave him a strange look, but she decided to avoid prying on the matter. She didn't want to give too much away to this character, nor did she want to receive any answers she wasn't sure she was ready for. At the very least, it was worth noting that this character didn't seem interested in their things. Or at least, he didn't yet. Cecíl's mind drifted back to her thoughts about ingraining for a while. With every second that passed, the idea seemed better and better. At the very least, it would buy them some energy and time to figure out what the hell they were going to do.

"Watch this stuff if you don't know your limits," she grunted at Alki, placing a cautionary leaf on the cup. "It can have a lot of effects that'll make you regret it if you pus it too hard. I heard you say you've got the ability to copy abilities? I'll go ahead and use ingrain then. Your arm's hurting you right? It'll speed up the healing." Well, it was do or die time. They were committing to this plan now, potentially, and unfortunately the Sableye knew about it at the very least. Hopefully the gamble panned out like she was hoping.

The Sableye didn't seem to react much to just knowledge. He had tuned in to something else instead. "Not to pry, but did I hear you say your arm was hurting...?" he asked, the grin on his face ever-present. "I have some stronger beverages back here, if that's the case. It may help to offset the pain..."

Cecíl was quick to interject on that suggestion. "I think that's a poor idea; numbing the pain will just make it easier for her to hurt herself more," she shot back at the Sableye curtly, but her instinctual "customer service" voice made it still sound polite somehow. "The offer is appreciated, but we can handle things here. I feel like we'd be better off taking it slow," she added, with the overwhelmingly subtle implication that he should kindly shove off. He put his hands up and shrugged, ending the exchange with "I'm just putting it out there." She only nodded in response.

Alki nodded at the Petilil’s suggestion, a large smile spreading across her face. A new move! She hadn’t used Copycat too much, yet, but that didn’t worry the slightly inebriated jigglypuff in the least. She could be like a plant! The small fairy seemed rather excited with the prospect of using a new move, especially one that she wouldn’t be able to use under normal conditions. Copycat was such a rush! She giggled, quite a bit more jovial than she normally would be. Her arm stung fiercely with the sudden movement, and her laughs soon turned into a short cry of pain. “I can stay still,” She managed to say. “I’ll do it!”

The girl watched as her cup was filled to the top with more of the same brownish liquid. The liquid that burned, but it left such a nice feeling afterwards! Alki ignored Cecil’s question for the time being, instead waiting for the nice, albeit strange Pokemon to finish filling her glass. She really needed to be more specific! Alki took the glass to her mouth as soon as they’d finished, bracing herself for the inevitable burning. She tilted her head backed, feeling the thin layer of fur she possessed bristle as it passed down her throat. This time, she avoided the embarrassing coughs and managed to get by with just a single, shocked sputter. Only a few seconds more.... Any second now. There! Alki closed her eyes, feeling the sweet, numbing sensation that the drink gave her. The girl smiled, waiting just a bit longer to answer the silly question that the Petilil had asked.

Couple of questions, actually. Alki tilted her head, staring at the glass in her hand as she considered her answer. Finally, she lifted her gaze up, clearly satisfied with her response. “Oh! I… I dunno what an alcohol is, exactly. But I’ve drank plenty before! I really like… um, Oran Berry juice. Yeah! That’s pretty good… although this is too!” Alki giggled, looking up at the coins that the nice ghost pokemon had decided they didn’t want. Why was that? Maybe her money wasn’t good enough for them… Alki frowned, pushing the Poke back into her bag, fumbling with a coin she’d missed. This was such a strange feeling, and while the girl knew that this wasn’t exactly normal, she knew she didn’t care either. These pokemon had been so nice! Her arm felt better too, so really, there wasn’t anything to worry about!

Alki lifted her eyes up as she heard Cecil address her. “Why do I need limits? It’s not like it’s poison...” She mumbled, her words slurring as she spoke. This Petilil worried too much. So did Alki, except now, she found it difficult to worry about much. She said something about regretful effects, but so far, she had yet to feel anything bad! Alki burped, taken aback by the suddenness of it. This was really strange… fun, rather pleasant, but still, strange. The girl nodded at the suggestion to use ingrain. Even if she was a bit inebriated, she still had the presence of mind to think for herself! It’s not like her arm would feel better forever… no drink could fix a broken bone! Or… maybe it could. Who knew with that stuff? When it came to her person, it’d be better to play it safe rather than sorry. After all, if she came back to the guild with a broken arm -- even if it was her right and not her left -- would worry Darcy out of her mind! “Sure! Just… you need ta go first...”

Alki smiled at the thought of even stronger versions of this drink. Sure, she was about to use a healing move, but what was wrong with doing both? Alki meant to request more, but found her words replaced by a high pitched hiccup. In that time, it seemed as if the Petilil was much quicker on the draw. She shot down the suggestion with a level of subtlety that the jigglypuff could only dream of. She was so good with words! Alki was filled with overwhelming awe, before she realized what those subtle words meant with her. That awe quickly turned to overwhelming sadness. She found the tears already reaching her eyes, and a low, long whimper escaped her. She had trouble articulating her troubles, as she watched the Sableye respond as well. Alki waited a few seconds, before leaning in to the Petilil. “W-Why can’t we have both?” She choked out, struggling and failing to stop the tears. She thought she was whispering, but her voice was, while slurred, very noticeable amidst all the other sounds in the room. Alki suddenly felt dizzy from so much leaning, and she stumbled back into her seat. Unfortunately for everyone involved, she found her arm smacking against the edge of the chair, prompting her to cry in earnest. The full weight of her life’s problems were not pleasant to bear, as she found out. She made no attempt to stop her crying, as the small girl thought about her problems: a broken arm, no more drinks, a grouchy and paranoid Petilil to deal with, and worst of all: no drink to share with Darcy. All other things forgotten, the jigglypuff could do little else but cry.

Cecíl stared at the Jigglypuff. How was she already out of her mind this way??! Good lord, Cecíl had far overestimated her. And she hadn't even been estimating that high. At this rate they were already under the table, swimming in their mistakes. The petilil huffed and irritated sigh. She had plenty of her own mistakes to deal with. She hadn't asked for this. ...Well, maybe indirectly she had, but this was not what she had had in mind. She had only wanted to get in and get out of this place. A quick trip. She didn't want to spend time here. She didn't want to risk liking anything about this place; doing that would just be another betrayal on top of the million others she had already committed. It didn't matter if the house was interesting in the way it worked, the way it twisted and turned.... no, it was just an obstacle. A confounding, strange obstacle that just wanted to wrap it's talons around her and drag her down into the pit, and just hold her there. She didn't want to be held. She wanted to be free. of all of this. She looked down at her one answer, sitting there in a glass in front of her.

How had it even gotten to this point? She had been better than this. She had been much better than indiscriminately chugging whatever made her feel numb to her problems. At home, her problems were solvable. Here.... they were titanic challenges she could never hope to figure out. It wasn't like she could go to her parents for advice anymore, either. They had warned her about this. They had forbade this, because they had known this would happen. Fuck them, then. This would have been FINE had she come here on her own volition. SHE could have handled this, had it been for herself. She'd.... she'd just have to get the money. Be rid of this. That's what she told herself every time she got to this point and needed to dismiss everything.

She fought herself back from downing the whole glass, just sipping at her drink while the childish Jigglypuff cried beside her. This was ridiculous. She was in no way at a point where she needed kids, and yet here she was dealing with the world's roundest tantrum machine. The fact that said tantrum machine was drunk and illogical did not make it any better. She refused to justify Alki's blubbering with even a glance. The pink thing didn't have to understand that someone was doing something good for her, it was still good for her. But the way she cried about it... Cecíl was gritting her teeth just to try and drown the sound out. Everything about what she had to say was completely illogical, and the fact that she was out of her mind due to the influence of the drink didn't save it from being completely intolerable in every way. How could she be so blatantly blind to every sign that something wasn't good for her???

She set her cup back down not-so gently and turned to look at the Jigglypuff.

"Does it look like Oran juice to you?" she asked flatly as she began planting her roots. "I'll tell you why: because it is poison, and you have to handle it responsibly. Everybody has to do that, at least everybody who wants to live," she frowned, turning back to her drink and taking another sip of her drink. The bartender..... this time he had nothing to say. He just poured more into Alki's glass in absolute silence.