Cuffing Season

First topic message reminder :

Last Time on "Two Children go Huff Paint Thinner and Die"-:

Lucky for Kye, she did indeed have a home. It was right where she had said it would be; straight through the really-dark-compensating-for something forest. She had a den plunked right underneath a stack of colorless rocks in the middle of a colorless cavern containing a seemingly infinite collection of colorless AND dubious ancient ruins, all located conveniently behind a colorless waterfall surrounded by a colorless clearing full of large shelves of colorless rock, colorless trees with a canopy so thick they only allowed thin streamers of light to trickle their way in during the day, and a colorless lake fed by the colorless waterfall. Even the rainbow on the prismic spray generated by the churning waters was colorless. In short: it was everything Kye had asked for in a place for his colorless ass to live. A place where even he could lose himself in the scenery if he wasn't careful. They had only had to navigate a forest full of creatures to get there, but also luckily for Kye Merc had shortcuts.

Mercury had felt... off ever since she and Kye had found their way to her den from that gross place full of purple unhappiness. That wasn't to say that she hadn't been bursting at the seams when she had introduced Kye to her cave-y home of wonder, or when she made him a bed and they performed the official welcome-home ceremony (food and games; that was basically it. Merc had imagined that she was a pirate. Then she acted out a violent acquisition of the King's crown trader ships with various doodads from her ever-growing pile of shiny things, forcing the royal traders to either join her or have a viking-style burial at sea aboard her least favorite dingies. Kye got to be her best mate and fire aaaalllllll of the cannons). When the excitement died down and all that ended, though... the little fox woke up feeling like something just wasn't... right.  Not to mention the brain sickness she had experienced at the purple unhappiness land was only getting worse. She had gotten sick at least twice a day for the past several days, the red blood water had been coming out of her nose at least once during the day and once during the night, she was constantly having her head bashed with big invisible rocks so hard that sometimes she couldn't even make herself move, and she would leave her body every now and then and fuzzily watch Kye and herself walking around outside from way up high or behind a rock. Oh, and sometimes more things than usual would float around her and rocks would explode. All normal brain flu symptoms that Merc was sure were standard despite only just now having them for the first time.

Her weird brain flu wasn't jack compared to what was really bothering her, though. No, the whole time she was more concerned that Kye seemed to be... not Kye. Not that he wasn't Kye! He was still super floofy and hug-able an he was still her best friend in the history of forever, but... the situation was just...

weird.

For once, Mercury had no words for it. Not that she hadn't had words for things before, but this was too important for Mercury to just ignore, or forget about as she typically would. This was Kye. There was some unspoken strangeness that just hadn't seemed to work itself out like Mercury had unconsciously expected them to, and it just kept bothering her. It made her feel low and heavy, like a rock under water. Was this...

THE SA- the uh, THE SD- the, the....
THE SAD?

THE TERRIBLE S WORD???

Because of this, Mercury hadn't stopped being worried since she had woken up after their first day home. What if Kye was also having... THE S WORD??? She didn't want that, but she also didn't know what she could do. She was afraid to ask him about it; maybe he would hate her for having THE S WORD. She knew THE S WORD was a very sensitive subject, and that many friends were uncomfortable when she said or did anything remotely close to THE S WORD around them. She didn't want to scare Kye off, or worse, make him have more of THE S WORD!!! She became determined to save him; she HAD to stop Kye from having any more of THE SCARY, VILE, HORRIBLE, CORRUPTING S WORD!!! She had to figure out a way to make things right between them again. She wracked her brain for ideas on what Kye would like... games, obviously, but were games enough to combat the ssuughhahh? Food... but food was too obvious. Maybe... it was the place. Maybe they just had to find the right place to have food and games, and then he'd be happy...

AHA, of course! The fuzzy grass place with really slow shooting stars!! That place was super pretty; it was nice and slow and there was NOBODY who appreciated nice and slow things more than Kye. It would be perfect for him! She wondered if he'd ever been? Sharp intake of air, maybe it would even be his first time going there!!! That would be double perfect, he'd be waaaaay too amazed and excited to explore, and he'd forget everything about having the suueeeaaaaandals. It was perfect. Mercury immediately set to work, making a card for Kye to ask him if he would go to the place with her. Kye would never see it coming, except his bed was right next to hers and he could obviously see her working on something. But she sat with her back to him, so he didn't know what it was!!!

Luckily Mercury had an absolutely obscene amount of berries to draw with, although she had trouble drawing the whole field of fuzzy grass on the paper so she and Kye just ended up being a few toe prints against a massive landscape with stars and bigger floating stars. That was okay though. She signed the card with a message that read "Will u go see the slow stars with me?" put her pawprint on it, and slipped it onto his bed while he was off doing doing private Kye things.

How that went down:

ANDSOTHEYWENTANDTHEYWEREGOING YE S S S S S

---

Mercury and Kye arrived on the scene with Mercury stuffed full of berries and other medicinal implements in a desperate attempt to cull her brain flu during the walk to get here that had unfortunately been much longer than Merc had remembered. She had also unfortunately forgotten how wet the fuzzy grass place was. And muddy. It was a sludge mud pit full of sticky, sticky goo that turned light and clumpy when it touched her fur. For the fire type, it was thoroughy unpleasant and made her face curl up a bit with disgust. But hey, the grass was fuzzy, just like she had said!! And tall. She had forgotten how tall it really was, actually. She watched it bend and sway in the breeze in awe as it towered over them in some places.

"Isn't it really soft and nice Kye??" Mercury exclaimed jovially as she hopped onto a patch, bending it down so he could touch it.

Mercury promptly learned that she could partially dry the sludgy mud out by setting the grass on fire, because she accidentally caught the grass on fire. She ignited it by being a fire type and laying on patch of grass that she promptly began rubbing her face on, getting her super-heated ears way too close to the fibrous stalks and scorching them dry until they caught flame. Granted, it didn't burn very long in the wet environment. But it was awesome.

She stood proudly on her newly-created mud cake and grinned at Kye. "Well, it'll be a while until the sun goes down, Kye! We've got lots of sandwiches though, so we can have a picnic now and a picnic later!" she reported happily. "What do you want to do until the sun leaves? Pick anything, you like; today's your day!!!" Her tail waggled happily behind her. "Don't worry Kye! We'll have so much fun it'll kill the seeesessaaaaeeuuh right out of you! And then maybe my brain flu will go away!! And..... I dunno, maybe ice cream will get invented. Nothing else would really make this better." she thought all to herself, secretly, while she waited.

Mercury the Fennekin - 20 Energy

"Oh, hi Kye," Mercury pipped in response to a question that hadn't even been directed at her. She relaxed and unfurled in the blink of an eye, looking up at her bestie with round, sparkly red eyes as if nothing had even happened. Everything from the past 10 minutes was just gone. Poof. Brain cell burned. No explosions, no PURPLE, just games, happy sandwiches and Kye. The hair on her back drifted back down into it's usual supple poof and her tail gave a happy little swish as it relaxed. She put her paws back out in front of her, becoming the image of content. With just a few simple words, Kye completely overwrote her short term memory and left only the ghosts of what had leaked into her subconscious. Why had she been nervous again? She still felt somewhat nervous, but she hadn't the foggiest idea of why. Maybe it was just the symptoms of brain flu. She lay there and stared at Kye expectantly as if they had been floating in peaceful silence the entire time, and now she suddenly expected him to come out with some profound Kye-ness.

The voice that answered Mercury was definitely not Kye.

Mercury swiveled her head around to see the source of the words that were not Kye's words and suddenly SWEET CHRISTMAS CRACKERS WAS THAT A FROGGY FRIEND?!?! A REAL- no we're not going through that again. Mercury managed to avoid nearly exploding a second time as her magical new-friend mind-blow was interrupted by her brain processing the new friend's talking. His words bounced around in her head a bunch, trying and failing to make some kind of sense in her marshmallow organ. They came after a greeting, but they sure didn't sound like any kind of greeting she had heard.
Also, froggy friend had said one of the papa's naught no-no words. Yikes. What was so serious? What was so weird? The only things here were Kye, Mercury, and sandwiches. And a log, but a log was just a log.

...oh, was it Kye and Mercury that the froggy friend thought were weird? The small fox couldn’t imagine anything else that could possibly be weird. The only explanation was that the froggy friend’s daddy hadn’t had the talk with him like her papa had. Yes, that was the only explanation. Somebody would have to explain it to him! Mercury looked around for the proper authority figure to ask for help; a froggy daddy or a froggy mom... but that was hard because Merc knew that froggy parents didn’t have to be froggy at all. Also, there was no one else around. That could only mean... *gasp* Mercury herself was going to have to do it!!! She would explain to the froggy friend why this wasn’t weird at all and then everything would be fine. Froggy would understand and maybe go eat food with a special friend of his own, and the two small vulpy kids would be on their way!

“No, no no no, it’s not weird!” Mercury exclaimed, getting up and walking down the log a few steps to talk to froggy friend better. “It’s completely normal! Girls eat food with boys they like sometimes. It’s a special moment, you know? Kye is my bestest friend, and I’m- hum,” Mercury paused as she thought back to the purple death place and how Kye had been debating about how much friends he was with her, and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing and step on his toes again, “-well I’m sure there’s something he likes about me cause he came all the way out here with me!!! And when boys and girls like each other they go out together and they eat food and travel and sometimes do other things together! It’s not weird at all!” Mercury looked back at Kye with a certain look in her eye as she contemplated telling froggy friend about Kye’s condition. She turned back around and tiptoed closer to froggy friend so she could whispering  into his ear. She wanted him to understand the absolutely crucial reason why this sandwich trip was so important, but she still didn’t want Kye to find out she was worried about him. She wanted him to think everything was fine still so he would relax and they could be happy.

”Well, uhm, also... my special friend Kye also has some problems...” Mercury fiddled her toe beans around together as she tried to work her words around this incredibly serious problem. It was clearly something that this small, impressionable fox child felt very uncomfortable and unsure about addressing, and she was sure to be extra quiet to make sure that Kye couldn’t hear how troubled this was making her. “He’s, uhm, he’s having an awful serious lot of the......... uh, the... the ‘BAD S WORD.’ And I don’t want him to have that, you know? I just don’t want him to have the ‘BAD S WORD’ anymore. It’s bad for him, you know? He’s very sensitive, and all of that ‘BAD S WORD’ he’s having is making him act different. I want him to feel good with me again, you know?.” And yes, she did whisper every single word of that clearly into the frog’s head.

Mercury stepped back and wagged her tail happily. “See? It’s not weird, it’s important! Kye is important to me, and we’re going to have a nice day together and everything will be fine!”

Mercury the Fennekin - 5 Wish Energy + 1 New Page Energy

The thing was definitely not hurt.

Normally, the next step in Goro's thought process would be to assume the little curled up ball of fluff was afraid of him and that was why it was acting that way. But this was obviously not the case either. It relaxed and unfurled, turning from a curled up grey and blue mess of fur into a little grey and blue fox - the two trespassers had matching fur colors. This would not help him at all with remembering their names, one of which was definitely Kye, because this little twat was suddenly talking and the name Kye was pouring out of her big stupid mouth every other second.

It occurred to him to reach out and close her loud, chattering face hole by force on several occasions during her explanation, but the sheer ridiculousness of the shit pouring out of her mouth stunned him into inactivity. Girls and boys and the things they do together, Kye this and Kye that. All he could do was draw back slightly and stare at the little fox incredulously. Was it socially retarded or just a smart ass? For her sake, she should hope it was the former. Broken hand or no, he was not going to tolerate another condescending vixen hanging around in his mystery dungeon and speaking to him that way. Nope, fuck no, not happening, the last time he failed to put a stop to that he wound up taking a trip to hell.

In the midst of her mouth diarrhea, the fox stole a glance at her friend and then scooted further down the log. Away from him. Toward Goro. Without realizing it, the croagunk leaned forward so the little fox could tell him her secret. She proceeded to whisper about her special friend and his problems. Particularly the... the bad S word. And how she didn't want him to have the bad S word anymore, how bad it was, and... feeling good. With her. God. What.

There was only one bad S word that came to his mind as she whispered to him and when she drew away from him in satisfaction, he drew away from her in shock, confusion, and disgust. This was not what he expected to deal with when he saw two fuzzballs floating by his house on a log. Goro looked back and forth between this stupid girl and this Kye over and over again as he attempted to process what he was just told.

The real question here was this: Did he give a shit what two ornery kids with no sense of propriety got up to in their free time?

Well, yeah, kinda. It didn't take a genius to see that this little fox girl was probably dropped on her head a few times as a baby. Maybe a couple times. Probably consistently often. To take advantage of someone like that, in that way... Despite the morally-questionable things that he got up to on a daily basis nowadays, even evil had standards. Plus they were like, in seeing and hearing distance from his front yard. Goro didn't want to hear that shit going on, much less see it. So.

The croagunk strode forward into the murky pond a few paces, coming right up to the log. He lost a little bit of height as he submerged himself into the water, but he still stood a good deal taller than both the foxes even on their floater. "Well there ain't gonna be none of that bad S word shit goin' on around here. Not around my house.

"You hear me, kid?" The poison type crossed his arms - taking great care with his broken left hand - and stared down the shiny eevee with naked disgust and judgment in his eyes. "Y'all can move right along with that. Don't let me hear you - or, legendaries forbid, catch you. Ugh. Gross."

(+1 energy 'cos new page so that makes 13 for the froggo)

the sunset hero carried out 10 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

, , , , , , , , ,

Of course the frog had to respond and try to sustain a conversation instead of just leaving, because something fortunate could never befall the likes of Velikye.  At least the guy was more interested in talking than attacking, though, which was already more than the eevee could have hoped for.  Mercury, of course, had found a way to be a catalyst for this conversation, so now she was what the frog was interested in.  He wanted to know if she was... alright?  Well, this was pretty normal for her, but it was weird.  She was... very weird by nature.  The situation seemed to be under control, but of course she had something to say about that when the frog started talking about her.  Leave it to Mercury to completely misunderstand someone and go off on a delusional tangent about... what was she even talking about?  She thought he was talking about the picnic he had no way of even knowing about?  Or... that was what she meant, right?

Kye's ears drooped ever so slightly as the fennekin shifted the topic from food to... well, him?  Specifically, how he felt about her, which she still seemed to be sensitive about.  That was his fault, but there wasn't anything more he could do about it now than what he was already doing.  More importantly, the semi-coherent ramblings of Mercury were devolving and she was running the risk of confusing their... guest.  What "other things" was she even talking about??  Apparently something worth whispering about, because she suddenly decided whatever she had to say to this total stranger had to be kept a secret from her friend.  Well, it wasn't as if he had earned friend privileges in the first place, so he couldn't complain... and he didn't really care.  It was getting hard to worry about Mercury's idiocy after what she had just said.  No, not the part about doing unspecified mystery things; Kye was hung up on the reminder that Mercury didn't even know what he liked about her, because he had made it look like the answer was nothing.

Velikye hung his head and stared down at the murky water as he tried not to listen in on the conversation.  Mercury realized eevee had big ears, right?  Not to mention she was on the same log as him.  Fortunately, it wasn't hard to resist any faint desire to listen in, what with the presence of all-encompassing depression.  Kye managed to zone out staring at his own reflection, almost forgetting where he was until an impurity in the mirror image caught his attention.  A wave of ripples pulsed through the water, tearing through the reflection... and then another... then there was a shadow.  It was a fitting analogy for his own self-compromising behavior, but it was also a very unhappy-looking frogman.  Kye heard the voice, but it took him a moment to realize it was talking to him.  His gaze jerked up from the frog's waistline sticking out of the water to its face as he realized he was being addressed, and he couldn't help but shudder the second he realized he was being threatened.

But why was he being threatened?  He froze for a moment as the gears turned in his head, then it started to click.  His gaze switched frantically to Mercury then back to the frog as he tried to piece together what she had said to him.  "W-what?  We're just looking for a nice spot to have a picnic!  Mer-" he had to restrain himself from saying Mercury's name aloud.  She wasn't bright enough to think not to use their real names around strangers, but he was.  "We're not here to do anything wrong..." he continued, feeling increasingly defeated and struggling to find the slightest ounce of bravery to speak defiantly to this very aggressive-looking swamp guy.  He honestly, genuinely just wanted to have a quiet day with his only friend and try to make up for mistreating her.  Times like this, he wished he was someone brave and powerful so he could be... different.  Alas, that wasn't him, but he could at least speak up for Mercury's sake.

We don't want trouble.  We just want to see the lights, he rehearsed in his head before trying to say it out loud.

"We... I-I..."

His gaze fell back to the water and he locked eyes with himself once more.  He couldn't do it.  He was too afraid of being attacked for trying to speak.  He felt like he should have been embarrassed in this situation, maybe even humiliated, but he was just afraid... for himself.

(Oh boy a whole extra one energy.  Swiggity swog time to roll in the bog.)

Lord E V carried out 1 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

As you may have guessed, Mercury was barely aware of the situation as it existed. Faaaaaar from it; her eyes only grew wide and sparkly as she perceived the croagunk's exasperation as a common kinship against the horrible, terrible, no-good s-word. In an instant, all of Mercury's faith was in this frog.

"*GASSSSP,* You hate the S-WORD too??! Oh, OH!! That's GREATnews!!" Mercury began to jump up and down with a deep enthusiasm. She hadn't come here expecting to find THE CURE TO ALL OF KYE'S PROBLEMS, but now here they were and here it was. Mercury could hardly contain the adrenaline coursing through her body. "Maybe you can help us then?? Do you know how to cure the S-WORD??? Can you make Kye better??? Ohboy!!!" She turned around, feeling super-extra proud of herself as she went to relay the super good news to Kye-

But she stopped.

Kye's face was the same regular Kye face, maybe even a little moreso. Not even a hint of happiness at their good fortune. Why? Mercury's face visually fell as she stared at him. The energy melted from her demeanor. What was wrong? How could she do better than finding the person who could fix his S??? She stared at him, her mind going blank as she desperately tried to rationalize the situation in her head.

Maybe he wanted her to do it.

Mercury blinked.

Maybe Kye just... wanted Mercury to fix things. Like they had come here to do. But Mercury wasn't very good at fixing things... but also, they were friends. Friends were supposed to be helping each other! What if... what if Kye thought she was just trying to pass his problem off to someone else because she didn't want to do it?!?! NO!!! THAT WASN'T TRUE!!! In an instant, Mercury's interests completely shifted. "Uh, well... nevermind, Kye. Maybe we should go. It's gonna get dark soon!"

"Excuse me..." a small voice squeaked to Goro's left while Mercury had her considerations. A small family of Lotad was approaching him there timidly; keeping juuuuust enough distance between them and him. One of the Lotads was sliiiightly closer than the rest were, identifying him as the speaker. He shook slightly in his place, betraying the nervousness he felt over being this close to a predator with his family. The other older Lotad also looked nervous, but the youngest of the bunch seemed tense like they didn't understand what was going on. One could easily deduce that this was a child.

The speaker Lotad cleared his throat, creating a pause within which he could work up his nerves enough to speak again. He clearly was unsure of himself around the rough-looking poison type, likely intimidated by his voice and the way that he spoke with such venom. "Y-yes, hello... I'm hope I'm not bothering you too much, but could you please keep your conversation down a bit? I don't... know what you're talking about, but I don't imagine it's very good for children's ears." He turned around to look at his kid behind him, and then looked back to the croagunk in a show of making his point. He looked back to the croagunk, clearly having grown a bit of confidence while talking. "If you would consider it, I'd appreciate it." He looked shocked afterword, as if he hadn't completely registered what he had done just yet.

Mercury took this as a good cue to usher herself and Kye out. "Well, uh, yeah, I'm causing trouble aren't I? I don't want to cause friends trouble. Sorry! I'll try harder next time!" She looked back at Kye again. " We probably go now. Don't wanna miss the floaty stars or anything!" Mercury jumped off the log to the driest point she could find. She tried to shoo Kye off with her, and began to walk around the Lotad family and away from the scene. It almost worked. It ALMOST WORKED. But of course, Mercury had to have an ability.

"Hey, my lunch!!" the younger Lotad cried out in distress as an item suddenly drifted out of it's hands and over towards Mercury.

"Oh no, fur; now's not a good time for keep-away!!!" Mercury mumbled as the item stuck itself to her. She tried to kick it off with her hind leg, but it wouldn't budge. She started to get frustrated. This was NO TIME to be good at KEEP-AWAY!!!

Mercury the Fennekin - 6 energy (one more roll for shits and wiggles)

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 6 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

, , , , ,

Oh fuck. Now the little happy one was excited. She lit up like a beacon and was suddenly bouncing all over the log. It was concerning how the girl became happy at the revelation that he wouldn't tolerate any... s word. And how she asked him to help cure it, make her friend stop having the s word. It was kind of the exact opposite reaction that he had been expecting and hoping for. Ideally, the two shits would've gotten scared and run away. Never to return again, they'd leave the Marsh forever and tell all their little friends to never go there because of the big bad croagunk and then he could live his days in relative peace.

Goro sighed as the grey and blue one turned back to her friend, suddenly weary of the two already. He supposed he could just pick them up by the scruff of their necks and march them away. Well, no, actually, he only had one fucking good hand. Maybe he could pick up just one of them and the other would follow. They seemed relatively close, voluntarily spending time with one another and all that. He perked up though when the fox pokemon mentioned just leaving instead. Great! They would go do things that Goro would rather not think about, and he could spend some time watching the fireflies before going back to town. Everyone wins and no one has to get hurt. He loved happy endings.

But then they were interrupted by a family of lotads. Lotads. The croagunk turned, absolutely baffled. They were like right next to his house. The words pouring out of the speaking lotad's mouth went in one ear and right out the other as Goro was too busy processing the fact that there was like at least five people in his front yard. He didn't know these people, he didn't like these people, he usually spent ridiculous amounts of time and effort to ensure that nothing ever came near his house.

The poison type clenched his good fist and internally weighed the pros and cons of just earthquake-ing everything around him to hell. The pros would be that everything would either die or very clearly get the message that he did not want them here. The cons would be that he'd probably destroy his front yard, his house, and anything of value he had inside. He was pretty sure it was nothing but he didn't exactly have an eye for that kind of thing. In the end, he liked his home more than he liked corpses.

"Fuck off, you're trespassing on private property." Goro took a few big wet stomps toward the lotad, closing the distance that the coward put between them. He pointed with a big finger back toward the direction of his shack. The sudden frustration with the situation he felt at large was leaking through his voice resulting in a very vexed sounding croagunk. "I'll make all the noise I want in my territory. And you don't belong, so. Get. Lost.

"Also, fuck you, that's my lunch now." Goro glared at the child lotad whining about the thing that was just stolen from it. Honestly, that was pretty great timing because he was feeling hungry anyway. He hadn't looked to see what the little fox just stole, but if she had any protests about him claiming the food then he'd handle that too. He turned away from the family of lotads and stomped his way back onto dry land, properly pissed off. "Beat it, or I'll have all of you for lunch instead."

If not for his bad hand he'd probably have been swinging like hell by now. But he didn't want to hurt it any worse before it at least got looked at. Plus he didn't want to risk getting his bindle all wet - he just came back to get it. The last thing he wanted was for it to get dropped and spill his good shit everywhere.

As Mercury continued in her pursuit to cure "the S-word," Kye could do nothing but sit silently and watch, listen. Someone brave would have explained what Mercury meant, for the dignity and well-being of the both of them, but this eevee was a coward. Instead of trying to help diffuse the situation, he simply sat there, avoiding eye contact with the croagunk and hoping this would all somehow work itself out. He had never been so lucky before, but for once it seemed luck might actually have been in his favor as a trio of lotad made their way over to the scene. Well, it seemed they were here with the same concerns as the frog, but they were something else for him to focus on and that was all that mattered. Even Mercury seemed to gather that now was the perfect time to just... leave, urging Kye to follow her as she hopped off of the log. It took a moment for his body to unlock and let him move again, still overwhelmed with fear.

When Velikye's legs finally started working, he pursued Mercury and ran straight to her side... or at least... that was the plan. Then he heard one of the lotad cry out as its "lunch" was taken from it... by Mercury... Suddenly, after only a single step, before even making his way off the log, the eevee was paralyzed once more. This wasn't good. Everything was so close to working out fine, but then Mercury just had to go and be Mercury and somehow mess it all up. It wasn't her fault she couldn't control her ability, but... who else was Kye supposed to blame? No, blame didn't matter right now; all that mattered was figuring out how to quickly resolve this situation, then... actually doing it. That last part was always hard for him, as evidenced by his tendency to simply freeze up or lash out under stress, but he would have to try. It surely wouldn't be too hard to pry the item out of the fennekin's fur and apologize to the family of lotad, and it wasn't like a lotad was going to be a big threat in the first place, so everything was still fine.

...And then the croagunk said something that made the little eevee's heart sink. "That's my lunch now," the brute stated, and Kye suddenly felt ill.

Mercury couldn't control it. She couldn't just choose when something would stick to her and when it wouldn't. What would happen when the croagunk tried to take "his" lunch and was met with resistance? Would he be understanding of the fact that Mercury wasn't trying to keep it from him and simply couldn't control it? Based on his behavior thus far, that seemed doubtful, especially if she was the one doing the explaining. Velikye knew he needed to do something fast to make sure this didn't happen, but what was he supposed to do? He still couldn't even move, and he didn't even want to try to talk, leaving him with no options but to sit on the log and wait for something bad to happen. Yep, that was pretty much him in a nutshell. Based on his own past experience with himself, he figured the most likely outcome of this was that he would silently watch this guy attack Mercury over someone else's food... then run while he was distracted with her. The eevee's body would move just long enough for him to get out of sight so he could live to hate himself another day.

"Mercury, give it to him," came the sound of his voice, quiet but unusually firm.

Velikye was surprised to hear himself talking. It was almost as if someone else was doing it for him, but it was definitely him. Things were already deviating from what he'd predicted, and it was him choosing to make it so. Why? He was just drawing attention to himself in a situation that was already tense, knowing Mercury wouldn't be able to drop the item just because he was telling her to. He hoped she would, but control was a skill Mercury just didn't have, and he knew that...

...So why was he even trying?

The lotad father shrunk back in fear at Goro's foul attitude and crude language. This was clearly not a safe place for them to be around, and he was quick to mumble a quiet "I see, I'm sorry," before quickly turning around and ushering his family members away from the area. There was nothing he could do here, it seemed. He felt terrible for the other two young children being accosted by the brute, but there was nothing he could do about it. He would absolutely be risking his life and his family's life if he stayed any longer. He would, anyways. The seedless child wailed loudly as they left, but the father didn't stop leading them away for a moment. They seemed very eager to leave.

Meanwhile, Mercury could only half-hear Kye over her internal and external struggle to get the stupid seed out of her crusty fur. It had gotten stuck good!!! And that was bad!!! Mercury wanted nothing more than to get it out now; seeds were not meant to go in fur!!!! Mercury planted her butt down on the log as she struggled to puuuuuuush and paw at the seed with her hind leg, but there was nothing happening!!! A burst of hot air escaped her ears in frustration and she huffed in distress.

"The seed is big stuck, Kye!!! I can't get it off!!!" she exclaimed with great melancholy. At this point, the heat being produced by her panic had more than likely toasted the seed onto her fur, but the dumb little hairball had no concept of such logical things. "It won't leave me be... I'm not even trying to play keep-away right now!!! The seed just won't leave!!! I told you; I'm super good at games!!" Hidden inside that little humblebrag was the underlying message that, at the very least, Mercury understood that she could not help this. She couldn't un-stick the seed, she couldn't stop them from floating to her... She just couldn't!!! Internally, this posed her another dilemma: Kye wanted her to share the seed, but she couldn't. Kye wanted something from her, but she couldn't do it. She was failing him, directly.

Panic ensued.

She kicked her leg harder against the seed, yelping a bit as it tore at her fur. The air around her began to grow hotter. "I- I- I will share the seed, Kye!!! Don't be.... you know!!!" she wailed. Her brow furrowed while the coalescing anxiety in her chest turned her pupils into pinpricks. Another kick. Another yelp. Nasty burning wetness began to form in her eyes. She could see all her plans for this trip being stripped away... Everything she thought it would be, it wasn't. Everything she had hoped for was already absent. Just like the purple. She had done the purple again!!! This wouldn't save Kye from anything. She was loosing her chance.

The feelings that this began to envoke within her only made her panic more. Another kick. Another yelp. Fur was beginning to come up from her body. To her credit, though, the seed was looser.

"Oh no... oh no, I CAN'T be catching it!!!" she howled in devastation. "Who will save us if we [i]both have it?!?! I didn't- I don't want-!!!" The headache returned as the pressure built inside and outside of her body. It skewed her senses for a moment, making her bob and duck her head as the pain took over. It ebbed enough that she could raise her head back up, but the hysteria still remained behind the blanket of shock from the sudden onset of the affliction. A few of the now fattened blobs of burning liquid broke free and rolled down her face.

"I don't wanna go back..." Mercury nearly whispered as blurry memories of sounds and sensations flooded her mind. Where had she felt this feeling before...? Where had she been this sticky...? It was... familiar. I made her want to throw up. It made her want to run away. "I don't want to go back! I don't WANT to go BACK!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK!!!" With one more panic-fueled kick, Mercury sent the fur-covered seed flying. It whizzed past Goro like a bullet, speeding into the bushed and pelleting some unknowing Volbeat as it glided towards the center of the Marsh. It began to totter around in delirium as the seed's effects took hold on it.

At the same time, another wave of pressure was released from Mercury's body. This one... wasn't explosive. It didn't bead up in the air like little dew drops and explode outward violently. Instead, an invisible force spread out like a veil and settled over all the bodies present. It could be felt by anyone around... and given the chance, the contents within it could easily coalesce within anyone's mind. As Mercury's rampant emotions poured out from her body, she calmed down. Physically. Internally, she was completely seized up in shock by the overwhelming flow of things she barely remembered back into her mind. Suddenly, she remembered she was running. Running from this. Running from this feeling.

"M-Mama... papa....."

And then she started running away. No clear direction, no destination. She was back to that moment... she wanted to get away.

-1 Totter Seed from inventory

Important note enclosed:

This was kind of awkward.

Goro had been hoping to just scare the lotads away; they had no business here, and he wasn't hungry enough to eat all of them anyway. So when the oldest of them took its crying brat and the rest of its family off to wherever the fuck, he felt a thread of satisfaction. He still had it, even a month and a half after leaving the marsh... or however long it had been. The longest time he'd been away from home, at least, and he was still able to intimidate a bunch of losers. Hooray.

But then the weird little fox pokemon started mewling and freaking the hell out. Goro thought he even spotted a few wafts of steam rise up from wherever the fuck this fox was producing them, and at that the croagunk took a wary step back. He hadn't wanted to scare the foxes, really. These two were the most interesting thing he'd found on his trip back home. As crude as he was with them, he still kinda wanted to see what they could do. But this wasn't what he signed up for. Goro didn't do tantrums. Especially not freaky ass magic tantrums.

He stood there helplessly while she wailed and howled, and he actually jumped, visibly startled when the little shit kicked the seed so hard it went flying past his face. The croagunk took a few more healthy steps back, equal parts confused and unnerved. Why did all this weird shit happen around him?

A split-second later and he audibly grunted as an indiscernible something washed over him, curling around him and sinking in deep. His vision doubled, and for a moment he wondered if he'd grown eyes in the back of his head. Goro saw two different angles of everything in front of him, a second perspective mingling with his own. His stomach twisted and flopped, and suddenly he felt like he was reliving that same night he and his boss fought the monster in Pricklemist Hill. Except now the fear he felt was different, his frustration and anger twisting themselves into harsh grief and sorrow. He felt like he'd lost that night, like he failed his duty and almost lost his leader. It wasn't the same, though. This was bone-deep despair that was totally alien to him, much more intense than any terror he'd felt.

The confusion he felt at all of this felt like it was totally swallowed up in the whirlwind of negative emotions coursing through him, and Goro experienced the queerest urge to just... run. Following that, the second, hazy perspective that was haunting his own shot off like a bullet, and if it weren't for the wet soil Goro could feel his toes digging into, he would have sworn he had just taken off running. Cattail plants, bushes, and trees swept past him as he bolted away, fleeing for his life, but Goro was still standing there, confused and afraid. The curling in his stomach suddenly felt like it had nothing to do with the sudden emotional trauma he was going through, and Goro toppled backward onto his ass. His conflicting sight had caused him to lose his balance, he realized, and he felt lightheaded.

Helpless, he noticed he could still see one of the foxes next to him. The quiet, shiny, timid one - Kye. He had to know something about this. "What'd she just-" he cut himself off roughly, uncomfortable with how tremulous his tone was. He sounded afraid, his voice quivering. Goro cleared his throat with a rough sounding croak, shaking his head lightly before trying again, his voice slightly more stable. "What the hell did she just do to me?"

Goro had fallen prey to status moves before. Moves that messed with his head, made him feel lost or confused or even fall in love, but this was... different. This hurt in a different way, and he hated it immediately. He had to end it by any means necessary.

Velikye was too conflicted over the lotad bunch leaving to decide how he felt about it; he was glad they would be safe, but having the crowd made him feel more safe... In the end he was glad he had no say in the decision, just like everything else in his life. He was glad the situation resolved itself without him so that he could just sit and sulk in a mix of embarrassment and fear. He doubted he would have been able to do anything to intervene anyway. He probably would have just stood by and watched the croagunk maul them, then waited for his turn.

Mercury, on the other hand, was having perhaps the opposite problem and being too reactive to outside stimuli. Kye stared as she began trying to kick and scratch the seed off of herself, quickly devolving to a state of frantically mauling herself. He wanted to tell her to stop before she really lost her mind, but it seemed to happen so fast... and he honestly wanted to see the seed separated from her so the croagunk would be less inclined to attack them. Was it selfish if he was thinking about both their safety and not just his own?

Selfish or not, he came to regret his decision when the fennekin lost her marbles and began raving about "going back" and...

...Kye didn't need to feel her emotions to empathize. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but there were a lot of places he didn't want to "go back" to either. When the aura hit him, he was reminded of his parents, and of the moment he learned they were gone. Feeling so alone and scared, the only thing he could think to do in that situation was to run, and that had become his life. Running, hiding, and trying not to think about things like this were what defined him... and now he was being forced to think about it. But unlike Mercury, he didn't cry. He'd already done far too much crying, and by now there were no tears left to give.

He hardly even noticed Mercury running off as he shrunk in on himself, but her last words managed to get into his head on some level. "Mom... dad..." he muttered weakly as he hung his head and tried to push the thoughts away.

He felt scared.

He turned to look for Mercury, hoping to seek some mutual comfort, and only then did he realize that her running off meant she was no longer here. "N-no..." he spoke, then turned to the croagunk with more fear in his eyes. Now, however, he intimidation was not the source of fear.

Kye leaped off the log and trudged closer to the aggressive frog in a state of panic, ignoring the question he'd just been asked. "Help me catch her, please!!" he pleaded, suddenly having totally forgotten all the reasons he'd been given to be scared of and avoid this guy. All he could focus on right now was that Mercury had run off and he had no idea where because he was too stuck inside himself to care. All he could think about was the fear that he would lose track of her, and then he'd never see her again... or worse.

Everything... everything was dissolving into disconnected pieces. Mercury's paws... the sensation of them hitting the mud floated up and over her head, and then back under her. Big, grey trees looked down at her, and they wouldn't help her call for help no matter what she shouted at them!!! They just stood there, watching her!!! This didn't feel like a game. This did NOT feel like a game. Mercury had to get back. She had to get back. She shouldn't have left mama, she shouldn't have left papa... where were they?!? They floated up around her too, as they laid there on the ground. They were together, and then they were apart. And then they looked like Kye. Kye, best friend Kye, laying around in red, pink, and blue spots...

A bad feeling. A feeling like ROAR. So done, so done, no more games. Mercury felt like she never wanted to play games again. ...no, WHY?!?! That was all she was good at!!!! Games are why everyone LIKED her!!! But they were dumb. What a waste. Mercury started to feel not much at all. So dumb, Mercury felt like she had to scream.

Barely more than a gurgle came out of the mud. Mercury hadn't even noticed she had fallen, because everything was too busy spinning. Make it stop!!! Get it OUT!!! Her brow furrowed and her pointy little teeth clenched into into the gritty silt as she tried to force the bad sensations away, she didn't want to be like this again!!! All the swirling feelings began to climb up and up and away... And so did Mercury.

She looked down at herself in her mind, planted in the mud. She was forgetting... just looking down at herself. What was she doing? Why was she like that? Where even was this, and why was she here? It looked goopy and gross, and she didn't want any part of it. She was safe out here, just watching. It was nice, like a game of spot the difference, right?!? She saw grass, she saw trees... hey! A glow!!! There was a glowy bug in the distance!!! Oh, Oh, Kye do you see -

...Kye?

...Kye wasn't around. Where had he gone?? Had he gotten lost?!?!? If he missed the lights... HE'D STILL HAVE THE S- WORD!!!

NOTHING ELSE BUT THIS MATTERS.

Mercury sputtered in the mud again. She was back on the ground now, her face had sunk deep into the sludge to where she couldn't see and it felt gross. She began struggling immediately to force herself out. Where had Kye gone?!?! He was missing a shiny thing!!! She looked around. Nothing looked familiar here... but she could see a small group of pink goo friends looking at her in the distance. Pink goo friends mig- wait, no. Kye wanted to be alone. Friends were over there, so... logically Kye would be in the OPPOSITE direction, right??? Yeah!!! Of course. Mercury turned around and started running that way immediately, completely forgetting the horrors that she had just been through (presumably). She just couldn't let Kye miss the lights!!! She just couldn't!!!

Far in the distance, Mercury saw... a lot of fluffy white. Kye was fulffy and white. Maybe... he had gone there?? Maybe he had wandered off to looke! That had to be it!!! "KYE!!! KYE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?!" she screamed as she began running. "DON'T GO TO THE WHITE FLUFFY - THE LIGHTS!!! Don't worry, I'M COMING!!"

Goro blinked stupidly and drew his head back when the silver eevee trotted up to him. He'd been expecting the little twit to roll over and tell him everything he knew, not to have the audacity to try bossing him around. It'd be a cold day in hell before he took orders from some wimpy little sad sack of waste in his own backyard. He wanted to smack the brat upside the head to remind him who was in charge here, but even more than that he just wanted these new feelings and sensations dominating him to stop.

The croagunk took a deep, stabilizing breath before wrenching himself up to stand. He had to focus specifically on his own field of vision, the one where he could see his own hands and feet. It wasn't that hard, he told himself. He just had to ignore the second set of eyes that seemed to be overlapping with his own. But the emotions flooding through him—there was no ignoring those.

"No," Goro snapped back at Kye angrily. "You are gonna help me catch her. Then get her to stop doing... this." he said, gesturing at both himself and the silver fox who had been crying for his mommy and daddy a moment ago. Despite there being no visible sign of the fennekin's handiwork on them, he felt like it got the point across.

With that said, the croagunk turned away from the eevee. He stared in the direction that Mercury had taken off in, squinting to make sure it was what he was seeing and not the second field of vision. He took off at a brisk march, intent on getting a hold of the girl as soon as possible. The poison type didn't think she would be hard to track down at all, considering how loud she seemed to constantly be. That, and the fact that she took off like a bat out of hell. He just had to follow the tracks left behind and keep an ear out.

"Keep up," he ordered the fox behind him. "If you fall behind and get lost, I ain't turning around for you."

...No? At first, Velikye assumed the intimidating croagunk was going to simply refuse to help him, but to his surprise... it seemed the guy just wanted to be the one in charge. Not that he cared all that much; all he wanted was to find Mercury, and it wasn't like he was brave enough to talk back anyway. Instead of trying to fight or even question the antagonistic attitude, he simply fell silent and took what he considered to be a win. As the croagunk got moving, the little eevee followed quietly behind him, choosing again not to say anything when he was implied to be slow.

Then his ears twitched as he heard the distinct sound of Mercury's voice in the distance. Big ears had their perks... and so did the manic fennekin's general loudness. "You keep up," he responded without considering the potential consequences as he bolted off in the direction of the voice as fast as he could.

He needed to find Mercury and that was all there was to it. Maybe whatever she'd done was still affecting him, or maybe he just didn't want to be left alone in this place, but the end result was the same. For once, he found himself more immediately invested in someone else's safety than his own... It was odd. He wasn't even thinking about how odd it was, but for him, it was very out of the ordinary. He was currently with a clearly aggressive pokémon who'd already not-so-subtly threatened to hurt him for less than what he'd just done, and now he found himself running carelessly through the marsh in search of Mercury. Every moment apart from her reminded him of what it felt like to be lonely, how long he'd had to be alone... and he did not want to go back to that.

So, this frog would just have to deal or hit him later. For some reason the guy actually seemed interested in finding Mercury too, which was concerning in and of itself, but at least that meant he would maybe be invested in actually finding her instead of fighting over something petty. Or not, but then he'd still have to catch the eevee who had no intention of stopping. From Kye's perspective, his odds of at least getting to Merc before being attacked were looking pretty good... and then hopefully she could protect him from there.

(We could end the thread around here and start the mire thread with them looking for each other, or we could go for the page. Whatchu think?)

Mercury ran mindlessly towards the big white with raging pace. She passed pokemon, knocked over pokemon, probably pissed off a few pokemon - all of which were gathering to watch the evening event that was now drawing near. The very thing Mercury had come here to see. It didn't matter, though. None of it mattered without Kye there. Why? Whay was that? It wasn't really something she questioned. She didn't have to question it, because it felt right. She felt like she belonged with Kye, regardless of what that reason was.

The feelings she was broadcasting began to shift. Something hopeful, something... warm. Something confusing, but worth clinging to more than anything else in the world. Panic that it was out of site. A weird buzzing in the back of her skull. A weird buzzing...? Wait, what?


A... voice. A very familiar voice. Mama, mama's voice!!! Mercury haulted dead in her tracks and began circling, looking for the source of the call. "Mama??? Mama, where are you?!? Are you awake mama???" No response. Mercury's feelings grow tense, tight enough to snap. Hopeful. ...desparate? Things one might not think her capable of. The feelings were... actively expanding.


Mercury grew more excitable, but equally panicked. "Poppa?!?! Are you here too??? Papa, mama?!?!" Still no reply. Mercury was beginning to understand now...? This was like the rocks calling her, right?! She felt the tug again. The tug. She looked pensively at the big white. She had to find Kye... oh, but maybe this was her gamer's intuition!!! Maybe it was a hint to find Kye!!!! Meanwhile, the feelings shifted once again. Now they were aimless, listening. Pounding at the walls. Mercury's small nose began to bleed again, and the tingle in the back of her skull began to crawl up to the front.


Wait...

Mercury... remembered this?! Just the feeling maybe. She sat down, slack-jawed. Immersing herself in something she didn't really understand, but it felt so... amazing. For a moment, she was still.


.....soon blonde?!?! Who is, mama????


...Something about this... Mercury's mind throbbed, and she staggered from the pulse of another headache. Craters were forming in the muck all around her, up to 15 feet away, as a mounting power began to crystalize inside her. The now intense crawling under her skin made her sneeze. Her blood spattered all over the plants around her, as well as in her fur. Her body began to ache.

Yes. She needed to find Kye. NOW. The once still silver figure in the distance took off again with blistering speed, this time with no definite direction chosen.

"KYYYYEEEE!!!" the little fox screamed, this time sounding more urgent Panicked. Delirious. Her pupils were two different sizes; the world only registered as a soft blur of many colors punctuated by a disorienting, blazing orange from the sun going down. "KYE, HELP, THE ROCKS ARE TALKING!!!!" She felt another tug, down in the ground, stronger this time. She tripped over herself trying to catch it with her paws. "KYE I NEED TO GO- GO!!!"

OOC:

Why, this uppity little twerp... Goro must have been losing his touch, because it seemed like everything that wasn't a mere fraction of his size was giving him backtalk lately. He didn't think he looked or seemed like much of a pushover, especially not in this instance. He was bigger than the eevee, the stretch of land was technically his, and doubtlessly he was tougher. Maybe the little guy just hadn't clued in to those things yet. He seemed a little slow in the head, now that Goro thought about it.

The croagunk would just to do the nice thing and teach him how the world worked once the situation was a tad more stable. Like when he wasn't scrambling after the shiny prick, trying to keep his legs under control and make sense of where he was going. The overlapping surroundings made it difficult to get from point A to point B, but the more he moved around the easier it seemed to get.

He'd wait to knock some sense into the eevee until they found his little friend, though. With the way he was feeling (fucking awful), he didn't want to leave any chance for the twit to scramble between his legs and make a run for it. If you were gonna do something, do it right, as they said. "You better know where the fuck you're goin', kid!" Goro called after the eevee, lagging behind considerably but still able to see Kye. "You lead me on some wild goose chase and I'll box yer ears in, don't you doubt it." he grumbled further, doing his best to ignore the queasy sensation in his stomach or panicky stirrings in his heart that couldn't be his. Stupid weird fox thing...

(Mire could be fun yeah, or they could just run straight back to Rainfront. Merc and Kye were going to play with Krikka and the others, right?)

Kye could hear the brute yelling threats from behind him, which only served to make him run faster. He would have preferred to simply lose the frog on his way to Mercury, but he had faith everything would be fine once they were back together. Surely, this croagunk wouldn't want to get into a 2-on-1 fight... and even if he did, Merc would probably be able to handle him. Hopefully. Velikye was far too much of a coward to be of any real use in a fight, not to mention he was weak.

Fortunately, the fennekin was smart enough to keep calling out for him, making it easy to track her down. The next time he heard her voice, it sounded closer, making it easier to pinpoint the exact direction it was coming from. He slid to a stop along the muddy ground so he could turn a bit, then took off again without hesitation, straight through muddy water and shrubbery. There could have been something dangerous waiting on the other side of every bush he leapt over or ran through, but he wasn't thinking about that at the moment. He was only concerned with getting to Mercury as fast as possible.

Poor Merc sounded terrified... and very lost in her own mind. Something about rocks talking? It was hard to tell what anything she said was supposed to mean, but it was clear that she was scared and wanted to be reunited with Kye just as much as vice versa. "Mercury!" he called out as he ran, hoping to lead her in the direction of his voice and perhaps calm her down a bit, "I'm over he- !"

Suddenly, the eevee was cut off as he rushed through a patch of tall grass and straight into Mercury.

(Alright well momma ain't raise no bitch so we're at least gonna get the page. And yeah we could use this to move to Rainfront if y'all want.)