Getting An Old One

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"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 stopped her crying as the Petilil set her glass down very, very harshly. Alki flattened her ears without quite realizing it, staring at the glass with wide eyes. The Petilil had no right to be angry! If anything, she should be upset! She was her own Pokemon! She could make responsible decisions and Cecil was being very, very overbearing! Alki felt her focus on her problems drifting away, and welcomed it. She’d never realized just how much they were weighing her down until now. Yet, despite the positives of this drink, Cecil had the audacity to claim that it was poison! She was a fairy type, if anyone should know about poison, it was her. This wasn’t poison! Alki would just have to show her, and she had just the right words for the situation!

“That’s… That’s not true-e-e!” She managed to slur out, waving the drink in front of her, the strange liquid sloshing out of its container. Still, even through the little girl’s clouded mind, she could recognize some truth in the Petilil’s words. This certainly wasn’t Oran juice. She didn’t know of any juices that made her feel so numb, either. Not to mention that the Pokemon who’d given them these drinks were very new acquaintances. They had no reason to be mean, but they had no reason to be nice either… it was their house, after all. Alki set the glass down in front of her, tilting her head to admire it.

She’d known plenty of Pokemon who would do that sort of thing to her. Alki hiccuped, forgetting her train of thought. Who cared? Why bring up those thoughts? Alki hiccuped again, trying to force the negative thoughts out of her head. It wasn’t difficult, not with the drink. Yet as much as she tried, the thoughts of the Petilil’s words wouldn’t leave as easily as memories of her childhood. The kids at the pond didn’t bother her anymore, but she had a glass full of… something immediately in front of her. “It doesn’t seem like poison...”

Alki tilted her head, staring at the brown liquid with a newfound nervousness. Were they trying to poison her. What had she ever done to them? Then again… it felt so nice! The jigglypuff stared at Cecil with what she hoped was a subtle glance (it wasn’t.) Why would the Petilil lie to her? She’d been friendly enough at the entrance. Maybe Alki should take her word for it. She felt a numbness spreading from her feet up to her body, sorta like her heal pulse. A lot more pleasant, though. She turned to stare at the bartenders with what she hoped passed as a neutral stare (it didn’t.) “Are… A-Are you tryin’ to poison me? She yelled at the bartenders, staring them up and down. If that was how they wanted to play it, then she’d just play right along! The jigglypuff shot out of her seat, glaring up at the bartenders in a drunken rage. Things were going great! Right up until the moment the jigglypuff tripped over her own feet, collapsing in a very ungraceful heap. She stared at the floor, too surprised to right herself. Maybe she should wait a bit. “M-Maybe I should just... ” She mumbled to herself, turning over to see what the Petilil was doing.

She was very far ahead of Alki. Already, her roots seemed to be planting themselves, and Alki figured that it would be appropriate to do the same. “I still don’t think it’s very nice to poison people...” She managed to slur, as she attempted to use Copycat on the Petilil. The first time didn’t work… oh well. The second time would! No? Third…? Alki breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the tell-tale sign of a success. She could heal herself now. Alki struggled to use Ingrain, but again, after a few attempts, she managed to get it started.

The girl giggled as she felt the roots wrap around her. She was still lying on the ground, and the roots made sure she stayed there. Like a blanket! A wooden blanket! She laughed innocently, waving at Cecil with her left arm, all anger about the poisoning forgotten. “I’M A PLANT!” She yelled out, the childish glee overwhelmingly evident in her voice. She felt the roots wrap around her arm, and her laughs soon turned into a squeal of pain. What was she to do, though? Soon enough, it would be less. Hopefully. Alki hiccuped, resigning herself to her fate as a temporarily immobile, pink plant. “How long’s this last?”

The grumpiness of the plant continued and all the same sulking continued on the Petilil's side of the bar. The deep melancholy was beginning to boil into frustration as the puff's voice grating on her fragile nerves made it incredibly hard for her to continue giving fucks. Cecíl took no joy in the thought of explaining the intricacies of alcohol and the finer points of being responsible with it. She had felt somewhat obligated to be gentle at the outset; she had gotten them into this situation after all and now she had ingrained them to their stools. The more incoherent the Jigglypuff became, the less desire the Petilil had to continue the conversation with the chucklefuck next to her. Of course it was impossible for the pink blob to understand simple logic after jumping headfirst into the proverbial sauce, and there wasn't anything Cecíl could do about it now. She stewed in the guilt of yet another shortcoming and the resulting frustration, burying it by kicking back another glass with a scowl on her face.

The Jigglypuff was off the topic mercifully quick once the roots were introduced and her impaired.... brain became thoroughly distracted.

Hmm, that was a thought.

Cecíl's head swiveled over to look at Alki in a muted fashion, the alcohol now making all her thoughts and actions fuzzy. She acknowledged behind the haze in her brain that this wasn't a thought that would normally bother her. It just wasn't something that she would think to waste brain matter on, but now that there were external substances loosening her mind...

...Where..... where was the brain in these things? She thought maybe they were just all skull, which was a disturbing but acceptable thought. That didn't account for how flexible they were though; how they had a nigh unmatched elasticity that allowed them to expanded and inflate. The idea of air pockets swelling up in the flesh around the central skull would explain it but it was also a disgustingly visceral image that Cecíl wouldn't allow herself to continue entertaining, lest she vomit. Not that her next string of thoughts were any better for her delicate pallete.

...Were they just... all brain? Was that why they were pink? She had been within touching distance of the orb earlier but... she didn't particularly remember Alki feeling slimey. Did she? Cecíl was beginning to doubt her recollection of things. Had that been a furry texture, or had it been something else? The small plant didn't know which was more disturbing to her. Her brain began to import textures onto the surface of the creature, or maybe that was the blurs from the alcohol on the edge of her vision. Anything was possible. As those big, endless eyes bored into her she began to regret the decisions that brought her to this point. What exactly was this thing made of? What in nature could it possibly be??? A fungus maybe? She had a deep distaste for that idea. All of this was certainly a possibility, and they were not appealing ones. She just stared at Alki with a deep concern on her face, barely registering that words had even been said to her until she really took the time to think about it.

"Uh... it'll..... pass with time..." she managed to blurt as she avoided the urge to look down at whatever tendrils were now anchoring the pink thing to the floor. How was that even possible??? What kind of fleshy monstrosities had been committed deep below the bar counter??? She winced and her eyelid developed a faint tick as horrid imagery ran through her mind, and she was suddenly very sorry she had suggested this plan.

Cecíl had never been so terrified to be drunk.

The Sableye watched these two on the fringe of the situation. He really had no idea what was going on here. This dynamic was... strange; it was unlike most of the others that turned themselves up at this bar. Sure, both had this undeniable air of depression and the usual melancholy of being absolute losers, but there was also this... newness about them, like they were still sizing each other up as well. There was an extremely strange aura coming from the plant, as if she was seeing horrible things... the younger one just seemed virgin drunk. New drunk. Hoplelessly lost drunk. He couldn't fathom why she had decided to come to a bar for her first time with a crusty plant.

"Well... you two seem to have an interesting story... what poison-laced gust blew you into this part of town?" he questioned as he wiped out a glass with a hand cloth.

“Oh.” Alki mumbled, unsure of what it was she’d asked in the first place. The hard, dusty floor provided as nice a bed as any, so long as she still had her blanket of roots to enjoy. The jigglypuff was about to fall asleep again, closing her eyes and curling up into a ball, when the Sableye spoke again, his scary, raspy voice ruining the illusion of a good rest for the drunken jigglypuff. The girl began to squirm uncomfortably again, before feeling a slow, rising something in her stomach, and she stopped as fast as she had started.

“I-I need another drink...” She mumbled again, closing her eyes as she tried to repress the sickening feeling that began to fester in her stomach. She stopped drinking, and then she began to feel sick. That was some coincidence! The Petilil was full of it! The drink really did make her feel better! Alki began to squirm under the plants that now covered her, repeating her request for a drink, over and over in her slurred voice. Soon enough, her right arm collided against her blanket, shutting up her obsession with a drink and instead prompting another shocked gasp of pain.


“I HATE PLANTS!” She yelled out, kicking at the blanket of plant-like material that she’d so willingly enveloped herself in only minutes ago. She smacked the wooden material, taking special caution to do so with her left hand. It didn’t dawn on the jigglypuff that her present company included one very plant-like pokemon, but even if she had remembered that Cecil was there, it was quite likely that she wouldn’t have cared. Why did the plant like drinking so much anyways?

“Is it liquefied sunlight?” She slurred, pronouncing every multisyllabic word dreadfully, but at the same time, not noticing and certainly not caring. “Make sense. That way plants can drink it...” She mumbled, feeling very satisfied with the amount of critical thought and raw intellect it had taken to draw such a conclusion but, at the same time, feeling too tired to expand on it. “Y’know?” She finished, flashing a cocky smile before burping very loudly, for everyone to hear. If they didn’t understand her logic, then that was their own fault!

After a moment’s pause - Or was it a nap? Even the Jigglypuff didn’t quite know -  Alki opened her eyes with a renewed passion for plants.

“Y’know, I take that back,” Alki mumbled, patting the plants around her very affectionately. “I love plants.” A small giggle escaped the girl, which blossomed into a very passionate speech. ”I swear, no one… NO ONE… loves plants more than me. Even  if they drink sunlight...” She pointed at the plant sitting on the stool. Or in her general direction. She couldn’t really see the Petilil from her position on the floor. Not that it mattered. “That plant is the best buddy I’ve ever dranken sunlight with!”

That didn’t sound right.

Whatever.

“Get the plant some more sunlight!” She yelled to the Sableye, choosing to ignore his question. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer. She would’ve if she could have. But to be completely honest, she couldn’t quite remember the answer.

The question itself was fading fast too.

Who was the Sableye again? Not that it mattered, she supposed...

The girl cursed in what she hoped was a soft voice, but her soft voice filled up the room without much difficulty. “And get me some more sunlight too...” She mumbled, not caring that she wasn’t exactly in a good position to be drinking anything at all. Another burp filled the room, but the Jigglypuff didn’t care at all. With everything she wanted to say off of her chest, Alki simply curled up beside her new best friend, the healing plant, and waited for it to pass with time, like the sunlight-drinking plant had said.

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

(OOC: I used my one and only Trawl Orb for this)

The Sableye chuckled. Clearly there were no coherent answers coming from the pink one any time soon, but that was fine. If anything it meant he had done his job extremely well, and so he continued to happily pour another glass of the frighteningly powerful drink as the Jigglypuff requested it. He politely chimed in on the conversation every now and again, contributing quips along the lines of, "We don't see many plants down here; well living ones anyways," and, "I suppose it's like sunshine in a way, but we don't appreciate the sun as much. Still, I have heard many refer to it as 'liquid warmth'." All useless observations, really; but ones aimed at provoking more nonsensical results. This job certainly had it's entertaining quirks.

Upon their next order he decided to switch the liquor up a bit to something more herbal in nature, filling their glasses with a more "eccentric" form of alcohol that he cut with just a bit of sugar water to taste. Though it was unlikely that they'd actually taste it. This was a particularly notorious substance for hitting quickly and hitting hard; some claiming it to be borderline hallucinogenic. Granted, it didn't stay in the body as long either, which meant he could keep giving it to them without blacking them out cold. Had to wait for that ingrain to loosen itself up before he could do anything, but it didn't bother him. He had the whole night, and the evening was still early. The bar wouldn't even open officially for a while, so he had time to work on these two. He hoped the plant would soon loosen up like her friend had.

Meanwhile, Cecíl was growing increasingly uncomfortable with both her unpleasant revelations about her puffball companion, as well as the whole ominous talk of dead plants and lack of sunshine that the bartender had been on about. None of it was particularly conducive to sinking into that all-encompassing melancholy stupor that she usually found so inviting when she was embracing the drink. Right now she was just feeling existentially attacked and unnerved. The roots were kind of making it impossible to do the usual thing of retreat and avoid the nuisance, however, so she was forced to sit there and face the very real probability that she was being heavily inebriated on purpose and that she was going to die next to an honest-to-Arceus living organ. Where had her life gone this wrong? Oh, wait, she could think of plenty of places, actually. The Petilil went back through and re-affirmed the major ones in her mind before the sheer absurdity of the act dawned on her. Why was it that she was stupid when she was sober and rational when she was descending into drunk? Not that there was anything she could do but accept it now that she was already rooted to the bar.

All these anxious thoughts (and perhaps just prolonged exposure in general) helped Cecíl tune out the tirade of nonsense spewing out of the Jigglypuff and spared her the exposure to the sudden burst of plant love-hate, for the most part. She instead took a moment to absorb the bar scene. It wasn't all that bad when discounting the fact that it was in the cavernous basement of an extremely haunted house. Little torches (or were they Litwicks? Her vision wasn't good enough at this point to tell the difference) shed comfortable light on the wood and stone that made up the place. There was only one entrance (and presumably one exit, by that logic), but it was as big as the entire wall so it wasn't exactly a claustrophobic affair, either. It seemed to be just another storage space, almost stable-like in its openness, that they had converted to accommodate the drinking folk of the mansion. If the smell of lemon and licorice hadn't yanked her back to the actual bar itself, she might have relaxed a little bit more in appreciation of the rustic enclosure.

"Uh.... what?" Cecíl mumbled as her head swiveled around just in time to catch the Jigglypuff showering her with praise for being a good mon to get drunk next to. The Petilil was just drunk enough to actually be half-flattered by the clumsily slurred praise. She didn't know how she felt about that; concerned was the most prominent answer. "Sure, thanks... and you're the best-" she had to stop herself from saying "organ pile," "-huh, marshmallow cat I've ever been circumstantially forced to drink with?" Was Alki blitzed enough to mistake that for a good compliment? Cecíl suspected she was. She turned back to the smell that had originally gotten her attention, and as the bartender pushed the new drinks forward she asked, "Is that.... the apothecary drink? Like, real aprisinthe?" She was a little excited to see it here; the last time she had even heard the name of the drink was back in her homeland.

"It certainly is," the Sableye beamed affirmatively, "We brew it in-house. Most everything is brewed in-house here; we have plenty of room and plenty of time and hands so we're very experimental and diverse."

The wheels in Cecíl's head began to turn. Now ghost spirits... this would be a souvenir worth bring home. This would make the uncomfortable bout with sobriety a worthy endeavor.

"Since you two seem to be a bit lost for conversation," the Sableye continued (even though Alki was quite clearly not lost for words in the slightest, though they didn't exactly make a conversation), "would you care to try your hand at a game or two?"

"Drinking games? Or like, card games?" she questioned. She was willing to buy into the idea if it meant an opportunity to get the bartender talking more on the ghost brewing facilities.

"Whatever you prefer. I could show you the bar favorites if you don't have a preference in mind."


((I will also risk a Trawl Orb since rolling has gone so well for me in this thread already /S H O T))

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 10 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

, , , , , , , , ,

Alki’s intelligence, clearly, was not lost on the bartender. He seemed to understand every part of her theory: the plants, the sunlight, the drinks, the… what else was there to it? That seemed about it. Well, it was clearly impressive enough for the Sableye, who continued to give constant affirmations and praise! She was a genius! The jigglypuff burst into a fit of crazed laughter at this revelation, which was only compounded by the Petilil’s praise.

She was a good Marshmallow Cat to get drunk with.

The Best Marshmallow Cat

“Thank you!” She yelled out, her voice reaching unnaturally high in her unfiltered glee. Vocal range wasn’t always a good thing, and ten octaves was certainly not a good range for a hopelessly drunk child to have. Did it hurt? Maybe. Probably. If Alki had known, she would have certainly felt horribly guilty. As it was, she had no way of knowing, and so the Jigglypuff’s heartfelt, horribly high pitched expressions of gratitude continued.

That is, until the Sableye mentioned games. What sort of games? She had no clue. But games sounded fun, and something that the drunken thief-to-be would very much enjoy.

“Wait, I want to play some games!” She yelled out in her similarly high pitched voice. Excitement seemed to bring out the worst in her, although Alki certainly didn’t see anything wrong with the situation. “What sorta games?” She slurred out again, blinking back splotches of darkness that seemed to border her vision. “And what’s an Apron… Absent… Abs-Sin… Ab-Sint...” She mumbled, trying to repeat the name of the fancy-sounding drink that the plant had mentioned. It was a mouthful, to be sure. She wondered what the difference was between forms of sunlight… maybe this one was more cloudy! Or sunnier? Alki burped again, and let out a small moan of discomfort. Her ears flattened against her head as she tried to observe the surroundings. The only thing that really seemed to sink in through her drug-addled brain was the presence of a few bright blue orbs in the corner. She should collect them! Start a blue-rock collection! That sounded like fun!

“I want some apronabsinthe” She finally said, as forcefully as she could muster. That sounded close enough. They’d understand her! Any words of caution that the Petilil might have issued to her earlier were all but forgotten. The only thing that she wanted to do anymore was drink!

Cecíl reached up to whatever the closest thing she had to an ear was and gently tried to stop the ringing that was now pulsing through it at the shrill sound of the Jigglypuff's gratitude. What had she said to her to elicit such a painful reaction again? It must have been offensive, or bad. She didn't think it had really warranted that kind of punishment, though. She would try to remember to stop giving compliments, which in hindsight shouldn't be too hard, but remembering things was typically the opposite of what the Petilil wanted to do when she was drunk. She turned back to the Sableye, who already had cups of the dastardly plant-based alcohol out on the counter. Cecíl eyed it with a hesitant awe. She had contended with this opponent before. A sly devil, it was.

"I suppose you've already gotten your wish," she commented in a half-slurred tone towards the Jigglypuff.

"Indeed," added the Sableye, "The cocktail isn't a hard one to produce. This particular mix is sourced locally; Roseli Berries are a natural occurrence in the walls of the establishment. We pick them and ferment them first, then stomp down the resulting mash to get the base for this particular mix." At this point he was just expressing his pride in their operation. The two were so far gone that anything he said wouldn't make a difference, but the mechanisms behind the drink were just so interesting to him. There were so many complexities.

As one might expect though, Cecíl was hardly aware. She was still squaring up her opponent, though her nose crinkled up at the mention of Roseli berries. Euh. That wasn't a note she particularly favored in the drinks she enjoyed. Roseli berries always had this... perfume-y air note in their flavor. They tasted like fairy types. It made sense and it was fitting, but it wasn't particularly her favorite thing to have on her palette. It was considered a staple in the making of this drink, though, so there wasn't much she could do about it. The taste tended to warp under the drink's extreme influence anyways, so it wasn't something she'd have to endure for long. Maybe for a minute or two.

"So, games?" The Sableye questioned after he finished rambling off his piece about the importance of the intricate timing of berry picking to the quality of good drink. "I was having so much fun I nearly forgot."

"Oh, uh, right," Cecíl coughed out of the roof of her mouth. Her voice was forced up three octaves by the potent liquid sliding down her throat, a physical manifestation of her throat struggling against the foreign substance it was presented with. The familiar sensations began with that strangeness at the top of her throat, where the liquid seemed to like to get stuck. Time slowed down as it moved past this zone, resulting in a seemingly long experience of a cool airy burn before suddenly the alcohol was just gone. It was almost as if it evaporated straight into your head, despite the definite feeling of liquid in your stomach. Or, whatever plants had. Maybe bulb was better terminology for her kind. "Uhhhhhhhh..." she exhaled raspily, "........yeah, I don't... I don't know what, to suggest, frankly; I know a lot of games..." She tried her best to make it seem like she was actually putting considerable consideration into this, even though she wasn't and there was clearly no reason to.

"How about 'Mon'?" the Sableye suggested as he pulled a few decks of cards up from behind the bar.

"Mon?" Cecíl echoed back, as if the proposal struck her as off. Mon was certainly a game that she enjoyed, but... the Jigglypuff almost certainly wasn't initiated. Unless she was, in which case, bravo to her for knowing an incredibly obscure card game. Unless... that was the whole reason the Sableye had suggested the game in the first place; was because she was uninitiated. Mon was typically more entertaining if there were new people around experiencing it for the first time. "Sure, I love playing Mon. It was really popular where I grew up."

"Excellent," he responded with a knowing smirk as he shuffled the decks up together. It was a little disappointing to hear she had played before, but perhaps the other one would provide the lack of knowledge he was looking for. "What about you, ma'am? Do you know how to play Mon?" he asked Alki.

Her wish? What about her wish? The jigglypuff tilted her head in confusion, suddenly not being able to recall anything about a wish. She wished she could. It would be very useful to see what wish had come true. She mumbled a string of words under her breath that barely made sense to her, and surely made even less sense to the people around her. Something about sleep. Yes, sleep would be very nice, but there were a lot of important matters that needed Alki’s attention, and she didn’t want to disappoint Cecil!

And now the Sableye was going on and on about berries. Who the hell cared about berries? They were just sort of there, and they weren’t even really that tasty… except Oran berries. Those were good. So sweet and they were pretty juicy too, and now Alki suddenly wished she had some Oran berries in front of her too and -

She was still on the floor. Alki had forgotten she was on the floor, and worst of all, she couldn’t seem to get up. And her feet were beginning to lose sensation. Scratch the Oran Berries. She wished she could move. She groaned a sound that vaguely resembled the word ‘No’ as she tried to move around. At least she could move her arms.

“Huh?” She mumbled, looking up as the topic of discussion changed from berries to ‘Mon’. “I’m a mon, y’know… I’m a pokemon!” She slurred out, a sloppy grin on her face as if this were the most exciting, revolutionary thing to have ever been said in the past… well, ever! To her it was. When was the last time she’d gotten to brag about being a Pokemon, after all?

“But, no...I don't know how to play 'Mon… I just know I am one… I'm a juggly… Piggly… um, Puff?” Alki began to feel a creeping sensation of dread. She should know this word. She just should! She closed her eyes and felt the world spinning around her as she finished her thought. “I'm a marshmallow cat…”

Yeah. That would do. Alki opened her eyes again and found a smile on her face, the previous moment’s worries forgotten.
“Can I have her drink? She asked, pointing again in Cecil's general direction. She felt as if she'd already asked that. But there was no harm in asking twice, was there? She nodded before continuing. “And can you tell me how to play man, or… no. Mon?”

Everything else took a back seat as soon as Alki reached over for Cecíl's drink the plant scowled and wrapped a leaf around it defensively, pulling it back towards her. "You have your own drink right there," she grumbled, the warning evident in her voice. "You don't need my drink, just finish your own and get a refill if you more that badly." What was so special about her drink? Not to mention she'd obviously want it if it was that special. She took a sip from the cup to wash down the non-existent bruise that the living organ had inflicted her with. She also began watching Alki a little more carefully; wary that the puffball might get the chutzpah to try and get what she wanted regardless of the Petilil's objection. If it came down to it, this would be war.

The Sableye monitored this awkward air forming around them with equally awkward amusement. These two certainly had... interesting personalities while inebriated, though he began to worry about the possibility of them getting too interesting on him. He wouldn't have the other patron walking in on a bar fight before the bar had even opened, and it was already a bit strange having their odd roots permeate his bar stools and floor. "Yes, I will be happy to provide refills whenever they are requested. Not to worry, there is plenty to go in everyone's cups," he assured them, hoping to pacify the tension spreading around the counter. He didn't doubt that he could handle two incoherent doofuses, in fact he had done it before. Quite frankly, he just didn't want to. The longer he kept things civil here, the longer he could enjoy this nonsense before the house finally claimed them.

"You will learn the rules," he smiled cryptically as he continued shuffling the three decks together. He performed a variety of sleight-of-hand tricks, all of which where met by the slow-clap of the Petilil's leaves. He knew that the praise was begrudging and likely a bit facetious, but it was what he was starting to expect from her and honestly he was pleasantly surprised that she had worked past the overwhelming dull of her ego to summon any kind of reaction at all. He took a little bow at the end of his set. "Shall I deal out the cards now?" he smiled.

Cecíl nodded wordlessly. Knowing what she knew about the rules of this game, she was wary of at what point this guy actually considered the game "started." As a general rule it was after the speech, but with this game the general rules meant hardly anything. She almost pitied Alki again; this was a hell of a game to be introduced to while under the influence. She found she couldn't even peek at the Jigglypuff comfortably though, not without her eyes being assaulted by sights that were growing more and more frightening by the second. She swore whenever she looked over at that thing that she could see the flesh crawling; little ripples of motion all over the pink ball's form. Her outline seemed to waver, expanding and contracting in a subtle yet disturbingly visceral manner. Every time Cecíl looked, the sight refreshed the horrifying visuals of living organs that her mind had first conjured when she had this disturbing realization about Alki. She would have to continue avoiding her gaze from that thing for the sake of retaining the contents of her stomach.

Granted, there was also a chance that this was all just due to the incredibly potent alcohol that both of them had been shoving down their throats, but Cecíl refused to take chances.

While Cecíl was having this internal crisis, the bartender began dealing out cards. They received seven each, which he placed face-down on the counter in front of them. He finished and set the extra pile to the side, before starting to give a speech about how "Mon is a game of rules," and "the goal is to stack cards of matching suits on top of each other." It was all more or less a formality.

Seeing as he hadn't picked his cards up off of the hardwood, Cecíl opted to leave hers as well. An early beginner's trap.

Alki withdrew her hand slowly, as the Petilil planted a leaf firmly between the jigglypuff and the drink she so coveted. The jigglypuff began to pout as the Petilil made a couple of upsetting, albeit valid, points. Alki’s eyes narrowed as she lifted up her hand towards the Petilil, trying very hard to be intimidating. That didn’t come naturally to the pink gumball, of course, but she still gave it her best effort. As she lay on the ground, the jigglypuff gave her fiercest growl before issuing the most serious threat she had ever issued in her life. “I swear to Arceus, you frickinuh blade of grass, if you don’t gimme that drink right now...” She punctuated the beginning of her threat with another loud belch before continuing. “Why, I’ll… I’ll...” Alki continued like this for a few seconds, trying her absolute best to come up with the scariest threat out there. Trying and failing. Her threat fizzled out into incoherent babbling, before falling silent altogether.

And now, with no threat to follow up on, the puffball was lost as to what to do. She decided to reach for her glass, which - wait, there was still drink in there! She observed it with one eye open and one eye shut, grumbling under her breath. “Oh, I don’t think so.” And in short order, every single drop in that cup was gone. And with her victory over the cup of drink came a surge of pride. And with pride came laughter, pure, childish, high pitched laughter. Unfortunately for her company, jigglypuff have a large vocal range. Very large, and when it’s high pitched… it’s really high pitched.

Or it would have been, if it hadn’t fizzled out into a coughing fit instead. Oh… that drink burned something fierce And now her eyes kinda burnt too. Alki rubbed at them, but that really didn’t seem to help matters. If anything, it worsened them. And the leaves that sat atop Cecil’s head seemed to be doing some very weird things…

“S-Stop that...” She mumbled, before turning towards the Sableye who busied himself explaining the rules. She could still hear whatever the Petilil was doing with her leaves. And a sideways cast towards them revealed a sight that was better left unseen. They seemed to almost be crumbling down, or away, and the sound that accompanied it was much less than pleasant…

“C-Cecil, p-please...” She mumbled, lowering her head towards the ground. She really didn’t want to see that any longer… “S-Stop that w-w-with your leaves...” The fear she felt was made apparent in her voice, and while she tried to refocus her attention on the Sableye and his rules, she found herself not quite knowing what was going on. Whether that was because of the booze, or because of her fear, she wasn’t quite sure, but did it really matter?

Hopefully, this game would take her mind off of whatever Cecil was doing with her leaves… They had been so pretty earlier!

“I mean… I don’t quite know the rules yet, but… I’ll play. Sure.” She said, assuming that she’d missed the explanation. The crumbling leaves had taken a bit of glee out of her voice, and now, Alki wasn’t sure if she had much appetite for more of the drink anymore...

What. Was happening.

The brains were trying to intimidate her into forking over her drink. Something that asinine bears repeating. The furry, amorphous brains were trying to intimidate Cecíl out of her booze. Cecíl could only stare blankly into the abyss of Alki's big dumb eyes as she rolled around in the roots and made a fool of herself. Despite being utterly flabbergasted, there was a small part of the petlil that wished that she could be that happy when she was drunk again. That didn't make her any less annoyed with the ridiculous behavior.

"Hey, HEY. Cool it with the noises, bagpipe. You're gonna give us both a migraine. ...And stop rolling on the ground, you're going to get ectoplasm or something all over you. At least sit in a chair, christ's sake." Cecíl had a deep sigh as she reached up to rub her head with her leaves incoherently. Her vision was frayed at the edges, both from alcohol and from pain. She had completely missed that brief moment of euphoria that she normally got from drinking under the duress of this whole shitshow. Was she supposed to feel good about any of this? How was anybody meant to feel happy while babysitting a brain and being tied to the damn ground? Ughh. At least the ingrain wouldn't last much longer. She could feel the roots beginning to weaken and die off beneath her. The energy that had been being mainlined into her body was also beginning to die off.

Good.

Because she was done with this place.

There was nothing left for her to see here. She felt terrible. She LOOKED terrible. This place was terrible, and the jigglypuff screeching was equally terrible. The ingrain would wear off, and she'd be free with just enough energy to make it home before she clocked out. Some things never change, no matter how hard you try to change them.

Cecíl passed her cards back to the bartender. "On second thought, I'm really just not feeling it. Sorry. I'd rather just finish my drink and go home." She was sure there was something she could grab on the way out that she could present to the bar as a peace offering. A dusty old lamp maybe, or a dusty pillow off a dusty couch. Maybe the jigglypuff would count. Speaking of which,  supposed she would have to put up with the jigglypuff just long enough to get her to the inn. Not only for the puff's sake, but also so that there would be a credible witness to this hellish adventure. She deserved to have something take off of her tab for putting up with this.

The sableye cocked his head as he pulled her cards back over the bar and shuffled them into the deck. "Oh, that's too bad. I'm sorry," he quipped. He grabbed Alki's cards and returned them to the deck as well.

Cecíl didn't like the tone that Sableye was using. Something was up, she could tell. "What... exactly are you sorry about?" She asked pensively.

The sableye looked back at her like it was obvious. He had a coy and unnerving smile beginning to spread across his face. "Oh, that you want to go home. It's too bad, really. You can't get back out of this place; you can only got deeper."

…

What.

What the hell was ectoplasm? The plant had actually said a lot of strange, strange words: Ectoplasm, Bagpipe, Migraine. None of these had any meaning whatsoever to the girl on the floor. But she could assign these words meaning, do her best to figure them out on her own? Sure she could! It couldn't be that hard, could it? She twisted around on the floor, refusing to get up and into a chair. She was so comfy! Anywho... deduction time!

The Jigglypuff let out a long, exaggerated "Hmmmm   as she reflected long and hard on what the meaning of these mysterious words could possibly mean. She closed her eyes, deep in thought as she reflected on the deeper meaning of the Pokemon language.

Bagpipe - Well, clearly, it was something noisy. And, well, she knew both of the words  that made up this one word (Which was rather pointless, by the way. Why just jam two words together to make a new one? What was the point?). Bag was something you put other stuff in! And pipe was... well, something. What did pipes do again? She wasn't quite sure. But they had a funny shape! And they were heavy, and if you swung it around and bumped it against another pipe it made a really funny noise! So... it was like the noise of a bag full of pipes? Or... Pipes filled with bags? Pipes had holes, right?

Well, that was one word down!

NEXT UP! MIGRAINE!

Well, the word started off with that other word: My . So grain belonged to the Petilil? Why was she giving Alki her grain? "I dun't really want yer grain..." She mumbled, opening her eyes and glaring straight at the Petilil. She was a bit strange, wasn't she? Alki turned her head yet again, this time facing down towards the ground. It'd help her focus better if she didn't have to look at anyone.

And she didn't at all care what everyone else was talking about. In one ear and out the other, that's all that was happening to their words. She briefly registered that her cards were gone, but she neither cared enough, or was ina healthy enough state of mind to really care. She didn't even know what they were gonna play anyways!

Ectoplasm. Focus! That word was the most important thing! Ecto. What did that sound like? Octo? Eto

Who knew. Really! There wasn't any word that sound like Ecto! The jigglypuff let out a long, drawn out groan, before turning her thoughts towards the second part: Plasm. Plaster? Plastic? Pleh... none of those really made sense! Alki hobbled up towards her feet, not caring at all whatsoever how much of a fool she was making of herself.

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?! She yelled out, before promptly retiring back to the ground, onto her face, and almost immediately, falling asleep.

Cecíl stared at the Sableye's wide grin in shock and horror.

Of course it was a trap. Wasn't it always a trap? She should have seen this coming. Granted, the Sableye wasn't making any attempt to advance on her or anything... He was just staring with this eerie smile plastered onto his face. She looked down to her lower section... The roots weren't dying fast enough for her to tear them up and run. Neither were Alki's, she noted. The Jigglypuff seemed to be fighting them alright as she floundered aimlessly in her stupor, but those roots just were not letting up.

Cecíl had to think of a way to stall. She was depressed and drunk, sure, but she was not eager to die. Especially not in this shitty old house. Even through the toxins and vapors in her body she could feel a great spark of defiance building up. She had to get out... had to identify exits. The only apparent one was the entrance they had come in through, and while there weren't many pokemon in this bar there were enough to make that prospect a challenging one. The door behind the bar presumably led to a tap room or even more likely a torture chamber, both of which might have led to an unpleasant dead end. A cold bead of sweat rolled down the back of the Petlil's neck. She would pretty much have to rely on the ability to get them out through that front entrance with zero items and only a vague grasp on reality.

Brilliant. Well, hopefully the brain would stay conscious long enough to-

Aaaaaand with a blood-curdling wail that hope was dashed too. Fucking great. They were going to die. Cecíl had no confidence in her ability to get out while dragging a flesh balloon behind her. The roots were still an obstacle to contend with anyways, so she guessed it was back to plan stalling until something decided to actually work out in her favor.

"Uh. Excuse me, what?" she asked, sounding exactly as incredulous as she felt.

The Sableye's grin deepened. "Well, you know what they say about this house. There is no exit until you go deeper." His voice rang with a certain unnerving glee that chilled Cecíl down to her core. She really did not like how happy this made him. Also, she had not paid that much attention to the lore surrounding this place. She just wanted her booze back. In the throws of her regret, the Sableye continued - "It is a house where the miserable wander permanently, and only few persevere. I think we both know which category you two fall under."


Bitch. Uncalled for. Even if it was a true statement, he knew what he was doing. Cecíl shot him a glare. "That's a little presumptuous for someone who spends his life holed up in a basement bar. Aren't you also one of the miserable ones if you're here full time?" Her bitter was clearly leaking through. The Sableye chuckled.

"The difference between us is that I live here - this is our territory. You and your friend there are the ones who showed up unannounced." The petlil could feel many stares on her now, be it alcohol-induced paranoia or the intrusive glares of the other bar-goers. She could feel some level of influence being pressed upon her from somewhere (again, assuming that it wasn't just the alcohol making her feel heavy), but she had no idea what it was or where it was coming from.

"I will give you one thing - you are incredibly tolerant to alcohol. You've held your drinks well," the bartender smirked. "It's okay though - I can wait."

The bed pillows were very comfortable. Alki felt smothered by the sheets, but that was ok. It was probably cold outside anyways, and the comfort of her guild's room was something she did not want to leave behind. Darcy would be here soon. She'd been pretty happy earlier, talking to her over dinner about... well, nothing in particular. All she'd said was that she wanted to see her later. And, well, here she was! Although she wished that she could just go to sleep. She had a nasty headache and everything around her felt so strange, almost dream like.

The jigglypuff tried to pull the sheets around her closer up to her eyes, tighter and tighter. Her limbs wouldn't budge though. She was so tired... Alki yawned, closed her eyes. She was so, so tired, and the sounds of rain outside (Was that rain? It sounded kinda like water, but things felt so strange, and she wasn't quite sure what was what anymore. They sounded almost like voices, but that was crazy. Absolutely crazy.)

Her headache wouldn't go away, and she still couldn't seem to move her limbs enough to move up her blankets. She was actually kinda cold. The front of her especially. Her eyes drifted towards their bookshelf, but she couldn't quite make out the titles on the spine.

Her attention turned towards the door as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. The faint Squeaaaaak that the rusty hinges on their door made rang out through out the silent room. Darcy usually let out a warning when she was walking in.

Not that she particularly cared. But she was acting weird. It didn't feel like Darcy at all, and to be completely honest? Something just felt off  about all of this.

"H-Hey, Darcy?" Alki finally felt a tad bit of movement, but even this didn't feel quite right. Her limbs felt much more... rigid? Than they usually were. Maybe she was just tired... still. Even she didn't feel quite right. "I-I don't feel so well can we please just... just do this tomorrow?"

Alki pulled the blanket over herself ever so slowly, but as soonshe made eye contact with the Skitty, she couldn't quite break it. It was Darcy, for sure. It was her sister. But... something just seemed different. Was it the ears? The tail was shorter? Or... no, she was identical. But something just seemed different. What it was, she couldn't quite put a finger on it...

"Alki..." The Skitty seemed shaken. Upset, but that wasn't the end of it, she almost seemed angry.

"Y-Yes?"

"I..." The Skitty turned away, facing the books without their titles. "I know about your... your job."

She was crying. Silent tears streamed down her face and drip-drip-dripped onto the floor.

Alki didn't know what to say. She felt the blood draining from her face and her headache felt even worse, so much worse and so painful, and her hands were white and her face was probably pale but she couldn't exactly see her own face so how would she know? And how did Darcy know? She wasn't supposed to know!

She felt tears streaming down her own face. This wasn't supposed to happen. "D-Darcy, I'm not.. I don't have..." She was sweating. Crying and sweating and now she felt so, so cold as she stood up and backed away from the Skitty,

"Alki, you're an outlaw. And you became one behind my back." Alki shook her head, flattening her ears as she told herself that she should run, should fight back, but for all her reasoning she just couldn't quite make herself. It wasn't right.

She was her sister!

"And you became one behind my back..."

Alki opened her mouth, tried to defend herself, but she found herself unable to. She just shook her head, more and more and the Skitty, still shuddering, still shaking, approached her. "Why would you do that? I loved you, Alki, I really did..."

No. Come on, not like this, this wasn't right, none of this felt right, it couldn't be real, and Darcy would never say that, she'd always love her because she was the first one who ever had and maybe she was the only one who ever did, certainly the only one who'd ever proven it and she was using past tense so no, this couldn't be how it happened. This couldn't be happening, it was impossible! How did she even find out?

"But that's over now, isn't it? You're just a criminal. A criminal and a liar and a traitor. Traitor to all your friends, Alki."

Alki was crying in earnest now. But still, she couldn't talk.

"I hope it was worth it."

Alki heard a soft voice, filled with anger and pain but no sign of regret ring out through their rooms. Dream like, and before she even recognized that she was being attacked, Alki was asleep.

The blackness was so cold...

It was true. If there was one thing in the world Cecíl could handle, it was her alcohol. She had tossed back at least three or so of the blue back at the Steamrise Inn and she had also tangled with the Dandy on quite a few occasions, so she was no stranger to absolutely inane amounts of alcohol... granted, she never remembered the end of those encounters, but she wasn't dead or crippled yet either so that was something at least. Still, absinthe... it was a completely different monster entirely, given it's herbal nature. The effects varied slightly depending on what ingredients it was brewed with. She distinctly remembered her mother and father having reasonable portions of the liquid at the end of the day to ease themselves into a state of relaxation. Cecíl was experiencing something similar to this currently, which was not a great sign. It seemed this concoction definitely had a sedative effect.

Damn it. Why the hell was she only remembering this now!

Alki had already passed out. The only things keeping Cecíl from the same fate at this point were will, adrenaline, but most of all, the energy from her ingrained roots. They were fading much faster now, the ground beneath them now being sufficiently devoid of the necessary nutrients to maintain them. She only had a few left anchoring her there, keeping her awake, before a dark sleep enveloped her and whatever grim fate awaited Cecíl by the end of this. The Sableye's persistent smirk seemed to imply that he was very aware of this. She could still feel the piercing gazes of the pokemon behind her. There was nothing she could do.

First, this made her pretty pissed. She hated the condescending attitude this guy was so keen to be showing off now, and she hated his glee at her demise. He deserved to get hit... and she needed energy to maintain herself as the last of her roots began to wither away... time to kill two birds with one stone.

In desperation and frustration, Cecíl released a rough grunt and summoned her own abilities. She focused on the ass in front of her, zeroed in on his lifeblood. She began to glow as she forcefully willed that energy to exit the system and re-directed it back into her own form. The Sableye staggered, breaking his façade for a moment as the action genuinely stunned him. The energy being drained from him wasn't exactly a lot, however, and he quickly recovered from the feeling and swatted Cecil's grip away easily. She really felt the defeat. She knew this wasn't the kind of energy that could replace the direct main line of energy that ingrain provided, and she couldn't keep enough of a grip to use any of her abilities effectively. The Sableye remained unphased and still smirked dismissively despite the aggression, implying that he could also see the inevitability of where the Petlil was headed.

"Rather futile, wasn't it? Perhaps you're beginning to understand," he remarked calmly. More salt in the wound.

It was a cold realization. Cecíl was actually facing death. She had always spoke rather morbidly about her indifference towards whether she lived or died, but now... now she was actually here. Her determination began to ebb as she assessed the situation in her head. She... had already lost, long before this. She had given up on the reason for being here. She had only come her in the first place on a whim that she hated. In the end, she was suffering the penalty of a choice she had consciously made. She knew that working on an idea that wasn't hers would have been hard and thankless work that she would most likely never get off the ground, and yet she had still made the choice to come here and make her life worth absolutely nothing. She had done nothing. Her disappearance from this world meant nothing.

She had thought about this plenty of times. Now, she was facing it. Even though she hadn't exactly desired this kind of end for herself, she also couldn't deny that the end really meant nothing to her. Her defiance went out in a fizzle of begrudging acknowledgement. Her vision grew several large blotches and the fatigue hit her like a Gigalith in the absence of the motivation to keep going. She let the last of her roots fall away. So much for anything she had set out to achieve in life.

"What is even the point?" she grumbled incoherently before falling out of her chair. She lay limply on the ground, slowly slipping into the nothing she had earned herself. Above her, she could hear the snide voice of the Sableye offering her one last remark.

"The point of life is to confront death, and ultimately embrace it."

The last thing that she saw was the blur of Alki laying next to her, still rooted to the ground via a fading support system.

Cecíl the Petlil - 8 energy + 3 energy (absorb) = 11 energy
Ingrain end

It was so dark and she was still so cold but now it felt as though Alki were moving, but not because she wanted to. No, she certainly didn't want to, she wanted to stay in the bed and stay in the guild forever. It was still dark. But she could hear voices too. Faint, distant voices that didn't sound like Darcy or anyone she knew. It took the jigglypuff a while to figure out what they were saying. And no, she was wrong earlier, they did sound familiar, vaguely. She couldn't quite figure it out though…

“What are we gonna do with them?”

Them? Who else? Synd'r? What a shame… they hadn't even gotten to do anything yet! Alki felt her headache clearing just a bit and she felt relieved except she remembered everything that had just happened and she opened her eyes and sat up straight up upright and held herself up until the blood rushed to her head and now the headache was back but different now.

She felt tears coming down again and through her wet, blurry vision she could see where she was and although it was dark she could see that she was in a cell and there was no them, no other person to look to for help. Just her, all alone. No Darcy.

“What are we gonna do with her?”

Alki stared at the cold metal bars and cried freely for what felt like an eternity and the bars shimmered like a mirage between the tears. A conversation was going on somewhere away from her new room but it didn't matter because she was too busy thinking about what she'd done.

She'd lost the first person who loved her. Her adoptive sister, and their… Darcy's parents. Siblings. She'd had a family. She'd had a good one, and it was gone now.

The conversation stopped for a good long while. Alki tried to stop her crying, listen for a moment but even this was difficult but she did manage to hear what ended it.

“...Ok. I'll do it.”

Darcy! That was Darcy! Alki picked herself up and did her best to wipe away the tears. She'd explain everything and get her back! Darcy would love her again and here she was now! Angry, of course, but it was ok!

The cell door shut with a clank.

Alki opened her mouth to explain herself but again, she couldn’t. But Darcy couldn’t know that, she couldn’t possibly know that and so she went ahead talking just like normal.

“Where are your buddies.”

Alki shook her head. She couldn’t talk and Darcy was quickly losing patience. Blood seemed to rush to her face, it was red now, so so red and her eyes narrowed even more, anger, so much anger directed towards her and she couldn’t do anything, couldn’t possibly do anything and Darcy was stepping forward, closer and closer.

“Where are they?”

Shaking head. Alki looked down and saw claws on the Skitty’s paws.
“Where are they?”


She couldn’t answer, but even if she could, Alki didn’t know if she would.  She wouldn’t. She didn’t have it in her, she couldn’t even force herself to imagine saying those words and now  Darcy’s paw was on her stomach and Alki felt something sharp and painful and she looked down and saw red so much red against pink and she was --

Screaming screaming against the darkness and there was a heap of green besides her but that didn’t matter because she’d just lost Darcy and Darcy had hurt her and Alki was screaming alone, all alone and crying, still. The jigglypuff scrambled away, staring into the darkness wildly, terrified, not because of the haunted house or because she didn’t know what the green thing on the floor beside her was and not even because she didn’t know how she’d gotten there.

She’d been found out. Found out and it was all over and that was why she was here, although she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten here but it didn’t matter. Alki pulled her feet up close to her body, closed her eyes and cried silently, terrified but in no condition to confront anything that was scaring her.

It was a dream. But it’d felt so real...