Mischief Managed [Halloween S4 2019]

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Tonight was going to be fun, Chance thought to himself with a snicker. He spent quite a fair amount of time on just collecting data about the kill-joys of the evening, now was the time to act against them! He couldn't do this alone, however, fortunately, he knew exactly who to ask along with him. It took him all day to put together the note for Osiris, even more just to sneak it into the dratini's room without his mother noticing.

...That was probably very illegal to do, but what did he care? He was gonna be the world's best outlaw! The zorua donned his cape and flash emblem, slapped on his false-oversized fangs, and picked up the pumpkin shaped basket. The innards of the carrier was empty, however, so he flipped the object up onto his head-effectively transforming it into a hat.

He sneaked out of the house and into town square, a careful and cautious eye looked to and fro. This was a Top! Secret! Meeting! He had to make sure nobody was following him...Once he was satisified with his three second search, he slipped into the alleyway he told Osiris about. He searched around the boxes and barrels briefly before he located the one he scouted out several days before. A grin stretched across his expression, the "X" he marked on the crate still ready. He reached his fore-paws up onto the edge. With a keen and careful eye, he made a move to jump in...

Of course, he failed. The box flipped over with the wrong move and trapped him inside. A surprised cry escaped him as he dashed forward in a blind panic. He rammed into the side of the box and sent it flying with him across the alleyway. the box struck another barrel. The rumbling sound of wood struck fear into him as he heard something heavy drop on top of his box.

...

uh-oh.

That wasn't really an answer to his question, Osiris felt. Maybe some things were eating at Kiba? Like the things they went through in that dungeon, or things with his parents? Although it didn't seem like he was lashing out at the skiddo as much as just covering their tracks.

"Yeah, I uh... I heard," Osiris replied, keeping pace with his friend and keeping his gaze on him. "But, I thought we both thought we went too far tricking him. The poor guy's probably really freaking out right now." And Iris was selfishly glad that they weren't there to witness it anymore, but it still made him feel guilty, even just by association.

He wasn't quite sure what point he was trying to make. Maybe he was just fishing for some kind of explanation beyond the justification of how it kept them from getting tattled on.

Kiba stopped suddenly as the dratini pointed out some very relevant information. It wasn't the fact that he and Chance agreed that it was a bit too much to scare him like that, it was that the Dratini witnessed it in the first place. "Oh...you saw that," he spoke as he dropped the sack of seeds. It didn't really catch on to him that the dratini completely misinterpreted what he meant.

"...You weren't supposed to see that. Pretend you didn't see that..." he paused for a second, "Forever." It was a simple instruction that the dratini could surely manage. It worried him a little. Chance wouldn't have wanted Osiris to see that. The smile grew back on his expression, "Okay?" he looked to the dratini for confirmation, seemingly not disturbed by this.

Osiris stopped a moment after Kiba did, his snout scrunching up in confusion. The words that the zorua spoke took time to fully register with him, and when they did, it still took him a moment to truly process what he was being asked to do. Did Kiba think he was going to tattle? He deserved more credit than that, on so many levels! They'd risked their lives for each other, and fought side by side, and they got yelled at by his mom right next to each other. Kiba was the one who asked him to come out here with him tonight!

"... Why?" he managed, in disbelief. Kiba had to be messing with him or playing at something. "I mean, yeah, it was kind of messed up, but I get it. You were looking out for us, but I just think maybe we could have been nicer about it. Like we agreed to be," Iris said, nodding with resolution as he spoke. His words came together and represented how he actually felt once he started speaking, and for that, he was glad. As weird as it was to be in a sort-of confrontation with Kiba, he didn't want to fudge it up.

This dice is not existing.

Oookay asking didn't work. When did asking ever work at this point? That's two times now he's asked someone to do something and they didn't do it. Was he going to have to be concerned over the skiddo as well? Kiba paused to think about this situation for a moment. He wondered if he should come clean to the dratini about how he wasn't Chance, but he didn't exactly want Chance to know he existed. That'd kind of ruin things for the both of them. He would much rather have things be strangely convenient than to know that some other guy is going out of their way to make their life easier. He...supposed if it came down to it he could take a third swing at just asking? Three strikes and you're out is how it goes, right?

"...First of all, I didn't agree to that," he spoke confidently, "You and Ch-I mean Kiba did. Second, that skiddo wasn't listening to a single thing you were saying. Being nice wasn't cutting it. He was far too wrapped up in what he thought was going on, it would have taken ages to talk him down. It was easier to just go with it and move on. Now he knows that there's absolutely nothing to fear so long as he doesn't talk about us. It's a win-win. He'll live."

This dice is not existing.

It was really weird to hear someone talk about themselves in third person on the spot, especially in the middle of what Osiris considered to be kind of an argument. The dratini coiled up in on himself, content to just sit on the road while they paused and he collected his thoughts. He didn't want to argue - he wanted to spend the night with this guy who was shaping up to a really good friend, but now he was acting really weird.

At that moment, Osiris just wanted to know why. And then fix it, and go back to having a good time messing with mean sour old people. At the same time, though, it was a little chafing how Kiba was going about this. Usually, he was a lot cooler. "If you don't feel that way about not scaring the guy anymore, you don't have to pretend to be a different person." he went with, pouting a little bit under his diglett helmet. "Or pretend to agree with me when I brought it up just to go behind my back right after."

It was perhaps a bit childish of him, but he didn't even realize that he was abandoning his point to pout about Kiba's wishy-washy attitude and weird remark. It's just what naturally came out of his mouth as he talked to his friend, torn between defending himself and getting to the bottom of this weird conflict.

The dratini's words...kind of felt like a slap in the face. He wasn't sure if he felt offended for himself or on the behalf of Chance. He could hear the dratini's pout behind the words, but his reaction leaned more towards a direction that was far from guilt. What kind of reaction was that? How could Chance's friend immediately jump to that kind of conclusion? Alright then. Fine.

His fur bristled as the smile faded away into a more disapproving sneer. "Excuse me?" he huffed, clearly offended, "That's what you assume?" It was honestly a reasonable assumption to make, but the fact that this dratini had declared Chance a liar bothered him. What kind of friend did that? "Even if you don't know, since when has Chance ever lied to you like that?"

He definitely wasn't going to let Chance out now. Not when he'd discovered another problem in their life-Osiris.

It was weird to see that look on Kiba's face. Even in the face of actual, real danger, Osiris hadn't seen that kind of sneer present on him - an impish grin and a silly taunt would fit a lot better, he thought. The zorua's challenging tone panicked him a little, though. If this wasn't an argument before, it definitely was now, and that made Osiris uncomfortable.

"Even if I don't know what? Who's Chance?!" Osiris burst out, exasperated and lost. He felt like a lot was flying over his head right now, and it was evident in his tone. "You've never lied, but I don't know what else to assume! You said one thing earlier and then did the total opposite, so I don't know - I just - you're acting weird, and I don't know why!" he gushed, scrambling for the root of the issue and casting it at Kiba's feet, hoping for some kind of explanation.

He hadn't meant to use Chance's real name, but too little too late. He'd have to explain it to Osiris now, "Chance is Kiba. It's a nickname." His entire attitude changed once again. Once friendly and upbeat, his words were now venomous and threatening. "I told you why. I'm not him."

"And I honestly can't believe you'd just jump to that conclusion and accuse him of it, even though you have no reason to think he'd do that to you. There were so many points where he could have lied to you that would have benefited him more and this is where you think he'd do it?" He faced the Dratini and began to walk closer, his eyes focused on the little peepholes through the janky diglett costume. Why did this loser even choose a diglett of all things? Why not something more impressive? Something someone actually wanted to be?

If it were up to him, he'd just get rid of the dratini, but then that'd just make Chance sad. So, he'd just have to fix this dragon's attitude. "You could have asked but no, you flew over all of Grassveil right into that." When he got close to the dratini, he would keep walking, even if it brought him nose-to-nose with the dratini or if Osiris had the wise decision to try to avoid him.

Osiris absolutely did not back down from his confrontational maybe-friend. The dratini was too stupid not to go traipsing in mystery dungeons left and right, downright seeking out lethally dangerous trouble for fun. So when conflict presented itself and he had a personal investment in the outcome, it should have come as no surprise that he dug his metaphorical heels in for a fight.

The serpentine dragon stood his ground and reared himself up dramatically, positioning his head to be eye-level with the zorua suddenly in his face. "I did ask, you creepy secret not-Kiba weirdo! You're the one who neglected to mention you took him over or whatever and just pretended to be my friend!" he shot back, scowling viciously underneath his diglett helmet. "Alright, and that's just dumb, okay? It's dumb to expect me to expect that you're secretly someone else in disguise and not assume you're just pretending!"

Whether or not the zorua in front of him kept his course up, Osiris was going to stay in his face. If he diverted his course, the dratini planned to cut him off and stick with him, determined to get to the root of this fantastical nonsense.

The bag crinkled as his nose pushed up against it. He tried to stare right into the dratini's eyes. This just wouldn't do. While he appreciated the dratini's ability to stand for what they believed in, it didn't help that they stood for something that was wrong.

"This is how the conversation went: Kiba, are you okay? He's fine, don't worry about him. I saw what you did with that guy. Okay, pretend you didn't see that. But we agreed that we would be nice to him. No, you two agreed to that. Stop pretending like you're someone else. Now, we're here. Not once did you ask. The only "asking" you did was why I told you to pretend not to see that. Do not lie to us."

"And not once did I pretend to be him. I just went about my business and did my job. It's understandable that you weren't paying attention and didn't notice anything. My problem here is that you went straight into accusing someone who you thought was Kiba, of all people, of lying."

It was good that the dratini was showing strength, but he still needed correcting. Who knew what other correcting this dragon type needed? He'd have to test Kiba's friends out a bit more if this was the kind of pokemon he hung out with. The questionable taste could be tolerated, but this blatant betrayal was definitely something that needed to be snuffed.

"No, I asked you - I asked Kiba at the start if he was okay. That would have been the time for you to explain whatever the heck is going on with you. Not to speak on his behalf and expect me to just catch on to the fact that you're talking about my friend who's replaced by you all of the sudden! I thought you were talking about the shop guy when you said that!" Osiris fired back. "If you'd have done that, we could have avoided all this stuff. Not doing that and just letting me think you're Kiba pretty much is pretending to be him."

At least as far as he was concerned, anyway. It rankled him that this guy seemed to think that Osiris should have expected the 'double identity card' before the 'pretending to have a double identity' card. The latter was just way more likely! And the former was so weird and out of left field that he wasn't sure if he really, really believed it.

"And yeah, okay, maybe it's a bad friend move for me to think Kiba would lie. But you're wrong, saying it like that. I spent the whole conversation trying to get an answer out of you, and all you wanted to do was let me flounder around without a clue because - because why, exactly?" the dratini asked, practically vibrating with hostility and energy. He had the 'what' answer to his question, and now he wanted the 'why.' As far as he was concerned, this new Kiba was just wrong - he wanted to know why he was showing up and ruining their Halloween.

He was silent as Osiris gave him their perspective. Every movement and tone of the dratini was noted down as he stared right on through the holes and into the dratini within. As the dratini spoke, his fur continued to bristle. His brow furrowed as a shine reflected across his eyes, despite the presence of any real light to reflect. The only lights around the two were the little street-torches that lit the way for the occasional trick-or-treaters that actively skirted around the spat rather than take part in it. Despite how hostile the duo sounded, it was a little difficult to take a vampire with a bucket on his head and a strange handmade ghost-diglett as a serious threat.

"Because-" he started up with a passion only for him to cut himself off. He paused there with his mouth open for a half a second before a curt exhale followed by an ever so slight pivot of his ears away from the dratini. Just as quickly as it happened, he took in a breath again and stepped forward, "When you said you saw what happened to the shopkeep, you needed to be told that you didn't see it right away. You asked why and then I immediately said that I didn't make the promise and made it clear that I was not Kiba. You then jumped to the conclusion that he was pretending to be a different person." He pushed his nose against the costume as he moved forward. He stood above the dratini and pressed down on him, still focused through the tiny holes.

"And it's not a 'maybe' bad friend move, it's a 'definitely' bad friend move. You're supposed to be Osiris, the friend who has his back through thick and thin. He actually values you more than any random pokemon off the street...but then you turn around and point at him when one tiny little thing seemed fishy instead of asking about it." His nose scrunched up again as he pulled his nose away from the dratini, recoiling a few inches. "Consider yourself lucky he's wasn't around to hear that," he finished with a huff.

He stepped away from the dratini at last. His pace the same as before, he started to walk in the same direction they headed before. "Come on. He'll be disappointed if we're too late."

"That's not making anything clear," Osiris went on petulantly after the zorua finished, following along slowly. The protest was mostly just because he didn't want to lose the spat without putting up a fight to the bitter end, and it was evident in his tone. "People normally don't just—share bodies, or whatever this is. You gotta be clearer."

The dratini was content to let the rest of those comments slide - both because the guy was kind of correct, even if Osiris hadn't meant to call him a liar in the heat of the moment, it just kind of happened. But also because he really wasn't keen on arguing, especially here and now. Osiris wanted to know what exactly was going on with his friend, and if he really wasn't pretending, then the only alternative was some weird stuff.

Maybe it was just a zorua thing? A lot of pokemon species had strange dynamics about them, like alakazams and their... spoons. A second personality in the brain was a little bit more dramatic, but he'd believe it. "What's your deal, anyway?" he went out and asked, eyeballing his friend(?) skeptically. "You're really a different guy in Kiba's body?"

He looked back to the dratini as he walked, the disapproving stare still clear in his eyes. "Well, excuse me for that then, this is only my second time being out and about like this!" he responded with a voice laced with sarcasm. With a quick and sharp turn, he went back to looking ahead of them. His ears stood forward with his head held high.

"Yes, I'm a different guy in this body," he began, "The fact that you have to question whether it's real or not despite my total difference in how I act from him is both sad and infurryating. You weren't this questioning of Kiba when he talked about breaking into someone's house and stealing their stuff you know?"

The streets around them became less and less populated the more they moved along. His pace did not speed up nor slow down as he moved along. His eyes scanned the area for a moment before locking onto a fenced area between two buildings just up ahead. Grass and shrubbery poked out of the dilapidated fence and he could spot a little gap in the fence where he could certainly fit right in if he wiggled a little. He made a bee-line for the spot and took a quick glance through the hole from the safety of the other side.

Shrubs, weeds, bushes, and trashed furniture populated the yard. There wasn't a light to see with in there, but he could see just fine. He paused to stare at the spot for a few brief seconds, before he crawled right in. It was a tight fit, but he managed to get through just fine. Now to wait for the dratini.

This other guy was kind of really snooty. It was evident enough during the argument, but now that it seemed to be mostly over, he still kept his voice all dry and mocking and whatnot. Iris decided almost instantly that he liked Kiba better than this guy, whoever and whatever he was.

As different as he seemed at a glance, though, some things seemed to stay the same; this guy was a sneaker, Iris deduced, watching him crawl through a fence. Was this a shortcut to where they were going, or did he just feel like going the scenic route? He followed automatically, his body moving on autopilot while his mind wrestled with the implications of the information he'd been given.

"Hey, give me a break here - this is kind of a big pill to swallow, okay?" Osiris shot back, "Say what you want about us playing tricks on people, that seems pretty regular for Kiba! This? I've never heard of there being two people in one person!" he exclaimed, trading volume for emphasis as he mock-whispered in a half-hearted attempt to be quiet.