Exciting Things to Sea

The libraries at Windrose had been surprisingly bare when it came to the oceans. That was only natural, she supposed; they were difficult to explore. But the urge to see a niche filled had tugged Robin towards the Coral Forests, where she sat perched on a large, white piece of dead coral. She sat with her paws tucked under her body, sketching a rough picture of the world below - at least, as best as she could glean it underneath the rippling water. Drawing with only your mouth wasn't a fate she would wish upon most pokemon.

The end result... wasn't anything impressive. Especially since she only had her single pencil, leaving her to roughly label the pieces as 'red' or 'yellow', shattering any lingering illusion. Oh, well. She hoped she could express in words what she clearly couldn't through pictures. Her pawprint in the lower right corner and a hastily scrawled 'Robin P.' might have even implied she was proud of her work, that childish mess of squiggles and unrecognizable shapes. No, it was just a reminder for later, nothing more.

It was no sooner than she thought of how humiliating it would have been if anyone saw the blasted thing then, as she turned to tuck her pencil back into her bag, a sudden gust of wind swept it away into the sky. Oh, no. Oh, no. It would either fall into the water and get ruined, leaving her to re-draw the coral - which was unacceptable, that had taken so long - or, worse, someone would find it. And trace it back to her.

"Oh, no, no no no no no, come back!" Robin plunged into the water before she could think, following blindly after her picture, even as the wind held it tauntingly out of her reach, fluttering dangerously above the water.

Oh, this was not her day.

Robin's Energy: 6

Alki readjusted the red feather between her curl and ear for what must have been the fiftieth time that day. She'd already misplaced... How many had it been? Three...? Four? She'd lost track... But she'd misplaced a lot of them, and she didn't want to drop another one in some mystery dungeon or lose it along the way... She sighed carefully, looking around at her surroundings nervously. She needed to find something for Darcy for Christmas, and she was sort of hoping that she could find a nice item or memento to give her older sister.

And this place was also the least likely to have any electric types, right...? If there was one thing she knew, it was that she never wanted to deal with electric attacks again... The girl sighed softly, kicking up a stray piece of coral, and watching it plunge into the water. She shook her head lightly, focusing instead on the sight before her. It was pretty. The ocean, and the coral islands, and the sea itself was clear enough that she could somewhat make out what was going on beneath them.

The girl lightly dipped one of her feet into the water, enjoying the relative warmth of the ocean. It'd... been quite a while, actually, since she'd been in the water. And the ocean...? Was... Was this her first time?

Alki put a hand to her mouth in thought, before concluding that it was, in fact, her first time. If she had ever seen anything like this, she surely would've remembered! It was... peaceful. She couldn't hear anyone, or anything, and it felt nice to just have time to herself. Think about things, maybe... She closed her eyes and sighed, kicking up her feet, sending droplets flying deeper towards the ocean.

Any thoughts she might have had, however, were interrupted by the distant sound of someone's cries for... Something to come back? Alki fixed her gaze on the source of the sound, unable to find it. Except... Wait, she could see something floating lazily through the sky. Her gaze remained fixed on it, even as the opportunity to see the Pokemon crying out presented itself. If she had turned to look, she would've seen it as a snow-colored Vulpix, but all she could think about was the paper. Why was a sheet of paper out here...? Alki grabbed her own shadow, watching it as it lazily floated towards her. It was fairly far, but... well, a few more seconds and maybe she could reach it...? It'd be good practice...

The black, inky shadow narrowed and elongated, forming into something that vaguely resembled a whip. It was just a sheet of paper, and she'd probably damage it when she grabbed it, but... She wanted to see what was on it! Just a bit longer...

Enter Robin: utterly drenched after paddling for minutes in pursuit of her picture, with a look of abject horror on her face. Like something straight from a horror show, a stranger's shadow twisting and weaving through the air, snaking it's way towards Robin. She flinched, expecting to be struck, when she realized the dark flare of power wasn't aimed at her-

No, it was much, much worse.

It was trying to grab her picture.

Robin's objective shifted very swiftly from recovering her picture to making sure the Jigglypuff never saw that atrocious, shameful thing. It would take all her willpower, her finest manipulation and lies, to keep that embarrassing secret locked away. Now, Robin was swift, and clever; that was how she had stayed alive. She was masterful at thinking on her feet.

"No, please, you can't touch that paper! It's cursed!" And, in the game of life: she had just rolled a natural one. No one could win every time, and this was very, very far from her finest moment. She collapsed next to the stranger, pretending to gasp for breath for a while longer than she needed to in order to give herself the time to think on how she was going to defend that particular lie.

Just as Alki was about to reach out to nab the strange piece of Paper, she finally became aware of the strange Fox Pokemon. She was snow-white, and really wet, and was panting for breath... She seemed alright though. At least, she didn't seem like a threat. Alki stole a glance at the Sheet of Paper. It was lazily drifting down, nearer to the water. It'd get ruined if that happened! Alki reached out once more to grab it, balancing carefully on the edges of the Coral Platform. She could just barely reach it, it seemed... But it was possible! Her shadow closed around it, stopping its descent, and she giggled softly to herself, before she heard the stranger cry out beside her.

Alki jumped as she cried out loudly. She seemed desperate... Alki let out her own cry of fear at the scary loud noise. She struggled to balance herself given this new development, waving her hands around wildly, and the shadow around with it, before diving into the water.

"Eeeeeeeep!" She cried out, sinking momentarily below the waterline as she plunged, before re-emerging. The water was... warm? Actually, it was kind of pleasant... The girl still held her shadow, and the paper along with it, although it's opacity seemed to fade slightly as she lost interest in it. The water felt really nice... Although she was lucky that her species seemed to float naturally. She'd never really learned how to swim...

The jigglypuff turned to the Vulpix, her ears twitching curiously as she took in the site. She seemed quite... dejected. That was the right word, right? She seemed quite worried about something, anyways... "W-W-Whaddya mean, c-cursed? M-My s-sister said there's n-no such thing..." She glanced at the paper, before looking back at the Vulpix. Her voice was quiet, and carried very little authority to it. "P-Please d-don't yell like that, b-by the way... I-It s-scared me..." The jigglypuff bobbed and waved with the ocean, simply enjoying the water. There was no need to go back onto land immediately. The water was so nice!

Robin audibly sighed in relief as she finished hacking up water. She was... honestly, shocked that her bluff had worked as well as it had; she hadn't expected the stranger reaching for her paper to be so young. Poor thing. She felt a burst of guilt over startling her, an apologetic frown creasing her face. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Please forgive me. I was just worried about you getting hurt." She added, her gaze flickering back to the paper.

Now, how to get it back?

"My name is Robin, and I... sort of need that paper, if you wouldn't mind? If you could just put it down on the coral here so I could grab it?" Oh, she was in deep. Her shoulders sunk, and she half admitted just owning up and telling the truth. That certainly would be the easiest way to get her drawing back. But the little Jigglypuff would be angry with her for lying, and so that was out of the picture.

She added on a "Please?" rather lamely, cringing at how, well, pathetic she sounded in that moment. But this was a child, so perhaps politeness was her best bet after all. She thought she hit her flinch quite well when Alki glanced at the paper, hopefully not absorbing it's contents. Though, knowing her luck today, she wasn't as confident as she would have liked to be.

Alki sunk slightly into the ocean, the Vulpix's apology making her feel quite guilty. She'd been pretty rude, hadn't she? Being so direct about things... She sunk lower and lower, unsure of what to say, and wishing she could hide deeper into the ocean. Even now, only her eyes, curl and ears peeked out from above the sea line. She didn't need to apologize! Alki was the one who'd done something wrong... What was she supposed to say? Not that it mattered anymore... The Vulpix was introducing herself as Robin. That was a pretty name!

And she needed the paper... Alki retracted her shadow, her eyes guilty like a little child with her hands caught in the cookie jar. She lowered the paper onto the coral, precisely as instructed, without raising much of a fuss. She... needed the paper...? Alki was just about to steal it... Alki wished she could sink. She felt horrible, and she didn't want to be there anymore.

"I-I'm Alki. H-Hi." She managed to squeak out meekly. The 'please' the White Vulpix added at the end was hardly necessary, she'd done enough to convince the jigglypuff. Her eyes seemed quite worried, as she bobbed up and down with the waves, the water still hiding her horrified expression beneath the water. What was Robin going to say after she'd tried to take the paper...? Oh, this was bad...

Her voice was soft and meek, which made a pang of concern ring from deep in Robin's chest. First things first, she pinned her picture securely under her bag, her shoulders slumping in relief as the blasted thing was finally safe and securely out of sight. That had almost been terrible. Though, as she turned back towards the Jigglypuff, her eyes wide, the crystal-clear water doing little to hide her look of horror.

The sight made her heart ache. She swallowed hard, feeling all too small for her skin, in that moment, knowing that her drawing hadn't been worth the grief at all. She saw far too much of herself, in that heartbeat, and she couldn't help but wonder who had drilled it into her mind that such a slight offense was worth such fear. Some people were simply easily frightened.

Others had learned that they had cause to be. Perhaps it was only projection, that sparked that odd feeling of kinship.

"Hey, it's alright." She knelled down next to the water, her smile gentle and reassuring. It was all too easy to pretend, in that moment, that those wide blue eyes were her own, when she was younger and smaller and beaten. This was the easiest mask of all. She simply had to say what she wished she could have heard. "I'm not mad, I promise, okay? Thank you for catching it for me."

She half considered confessing, even as she awkwardly tucked the paper into her bag. Cursed? There was no such thing as curses, and she felt oddly guilty that such a childish bluff had worked so effectively. It had been a low blow, intentionally or not. "It's nice to meet you, Alki."

Please don't cry.

Venusian carried out 6 launched of one Coral Forest :

, , , , ,

Alki sunk lower and lower as the Vulpix spoke. Robin was really nice... And as much as she wished she could feel happy with the forgiveness directed at her, it only made her feel more and more guilty for having done something wrong in the first place. It wasn't nice to meet her! She was a screw-up... Alki's ears flattened as she tried to figure out what to say in response, but nothing came to mind. Her feet waved back and forth beneath the water lazily, before she finally managed to say something.

"I-It's nice to meet you too, R-Robin... I-I'm sorry..." She said, apologizing once more for the transgression that the snowy Vulpix had already forgiven. She didn't feel good about catching the sheet of paper for her, considering how important it seemed to her. It probably wasn't cursed, those sorts of things weren't real. But the fact she'd made up a fib like that just told her that it was important enough for the Vulpix to lie about it.

She let herself float up, her eyes just as frightened as they had been before. "W-Why a-are you w-white...? I-I-I k-know you're a vulpix, o-one of my friends is a Vulpix, but she's more... B-Brownish. Orange-Brownish, I-I.... It... It just caught my eye... " The girl said, even a benign question like that becoming stressful for her to say. What if that was rude...?

She should probably just shut up... "S-Sorry..."

Oh, this poor girl. It hurt her heart, seeing her sink like that, tripping over her words. She tucked her legs under her body, musing on the question. "Why? Well, you're right, I am a Vulpix. But I'm a different kind of Vulpix." She answered, swirling a gust of snowy wind around her head, as if to prove a point. "I don't really know why I was born like this. My father was the same way I am - he's a Ninetales, but instead of a fire pokemon, he's an ice and fairy type." Her life certainly would have been easier if she was born a normal Vulpix, she thought to herself with a tinge of bitterness before shaking her head.

"Some people think that our ancestors were normal Vulpix and Ninetales, and they traveled to a new environment. Over a long time, they adapted to better fit their new home. But I don't really know about that, to be honest with you." She admitted with a brief shrug of her shoulders, tilting her head. "I just know I was born this way. It wasn't too uncommon where I was born." It was unintentional, to call that little village where she was born instead of home. It was some small rebellion, visible to no one except herself.

Robin stared for a moment longer, trying to figure out how she could lift the poor girl's spirits. Reassurances hardly seemed to get through to her, no matter how soft her voice and subtle her movements. She wasn't afraid anymore; that much was clear, she was guilty. Hmm. She thought on a long moment about how to solve that before finally accepting defeat, picking up her now slightly crumpled drawing and holding it out to Alki.

"I, ah... need to apologize. I lied. It isn't cursed." She admitted, half expecting the child's demeanor to shift, for her to scream and lash out in Robin's direction - but perhaps that would be acceptable, if only it would keep her from looking so terribly sad. "I was just embarrassed. It's a drawing I made. You can look at it, if you'd like, but ah- just please don't expect it to be any good." And for once, she wasn't downplaying herself: The drawing was truly, objectively, honest to Arceus awful.

She was second guessing her judgement, now, but it was too late to back down. She only pushed the paper forward sheepishly, her head dipped. "I'm really, very sorry."

Robin's Energy: 0

Alki listened carefully as the Vulpix spoke, her face betraying a bit of childlike curiousity, even with all the guilt it currently displayed. A different kind...? That was actually kinda cool. Alki idly wondered if there was a different kind of jigglypuff out there too, but for some reason, she doubted that. This kind of Vulpix was very pretty though... But Alki thought it best to not say anything more than was required of her. She swished her arms in the water, still listening, but with no idea as to how to respond. She nodded along, until the Vulpix seemed to stare off into space.

Movement caught her attention as the Vulpix held out her paper to her. She said that she had lied, that it wasn't cursed. Just... embarrassment...? About a drawing...? When she held it out, Alki regarded it, unsure of how to respond. She didn't really care too much about the lie. It was pretty benign, not to mention Alki was used to lying about various... activities she partook in. This was nothing compared to do that! Finally, she nodded, pushing the paper back. It was... honestly, it was pretty bad. But she wasn't about to say it! That was really rude, and she might get punished for something like that...

"I-It's not that bad..." She managed meekly, before finding it in herself to teleport out of the water. Being wet was nice and all, but now her fur was all wet and she was probably going to be cold when she was out... But what was she to do? She turned to look at the Vulpix once more, shivering, before managing a small, fake smile. "Y-You don't have to apologize. I was the one who grabbed it without p-permission! B-But... U-Um, if you n-need to d-draw stuff, m-maybe I could help you...? I-I mean... n-not to be rude, but I-I think h-hands are better f-for drawing than p-paws, a-and I'm..." Not bad at it...? But that'd imply that Robin was bad! And that was rude... She paused for a few seconds, a look of panic visibly flashing across her face before the small smile returned. "O-Ok at d-drawing, s-so... I-I c-can help...!"

A flicker of amusement crossed Robin's face. It was polite of her to try, but the fact that she couldn't find a single nice thing to say about it, well, that spoke for itself. She supposed she could hardly judge. While Robin expected herself to be able to lie a bit more convincingly, that was hardly much of a virtue. They seemed to be birds of a feather after all. She decided to let that particular thread of conversation lie - at least until that look of panic flickered across her face, sharp as a blade, and Robin tilted her head ever so slightly.

Not that bad was certainly damned by faint praise. Still, her offer made her eyes light up with genuine interest. "Oh, really? Mine was just meant to be a reference for later, so I could remember what everything looked like, but an actual drawing would be wonderful. I'm sure everyone would be thrilled." Now, that would certainly set her report apart, she mused. Though perhaps her motives weren't entirely selfish, this time - giving Alki some way to feel useful, well, it usually made Robin feel better, and they seemed to be much the same.

"I'm writing a report on the Coral Forest, you see, so having a picture reference I could add to it would... be a bit perfect, truth be told." She hummed in contentment, brandishing a fresh piece of paper to offer Alki. "And I'll give you credit, of course." She was about to offer to pay the Jigglypuff, before realizing that she would surely turn down such an offer. Hmm. She'd have to be a bit more sly about that, then. It wasn't her proudest thought, as her mind spun while trying to sort out how to make the girl accept payment for her work.

She could do it, she was sure. She had her moments. "Besides. Drawing with your paws and mouth isn't something I'd wish on my worst enemies. Why don't we try to find some nice scenery you can draw?"

...A report? Like for school...? Wasn't that a thing? School reports? Alki kicked at the coral ground nervously, droplets of water dripping off of her limbs and ears. Giving her credit...? Alki... wasn't really sure she wanted to be credited. What if Robin got in trouble for cheating on her homework or something...? Weren't there teachers like that out there...? Oh, maybe this hadn't been such a good idea...

But she kept quiet, at least until the Vulpix was done talking, and truthfully... Alki sorta wanted to draw something! She... well, she hadn't drawn much at all these last few weeks. Not much since... well, since she'd met Synd'r, truth be told. Between wanting to spend time and work on... stuff with the other Vulpix, and spending time with her sister, she could never find time to be alone to draw. And she had to be alone! Else, other Pokemon would see her drawings and they'd probably laugh and tear it up and throw it away and tell her she was garbage which... Well, she was. But it didn't mean it was nice to hear from other people.

"I-I'd love to draw, R-Robin! R-Really! But..." She hesitated, unsure whether to bring her reservations up or not. Her excitement was evident in her voice, but as she trailed off, she broke eye contact with Robin. This was not the best idea, perhaps, but... Here goes nothing... "I-If it's a r-report f-for l-like, s-school or something, I... I d-don't know if I should help you... W-What i-if you get in t-trouble f-for it...? O-Or we both get into trouble...?"

Her concern was... a bit endearing, truth be told. The corner of Robin's mouth upturned in a slight smile as she shook her head. "Ah. No, it isn't a school report." She mused on how much to tell her. Windrose wasn't exactly common knowledge, and of course some secrecy was due. It wouldn't do to betray the trust they had put in her, but saying she was part of a secret organization... now, that just sounded like a lie. So what to say?

"It's more of a scientific paper." She settled on, her ears perked with a clear interest written on her face. "That's why I came here, actually. Mystery dungeons may change every time you enter them, but certain things stay the same. The items, the pokemon, the environment... those are all things that can be, well, documented. I'm part of a group that does things like that, so that one day, we might be able to understand just what makes mystery dungeons tick."

Whether or not it was of personal interest to her could remain unsaid. And truth be told, it wasn't - but when faced with an opportunity like this, where she could be part of a group, where she could be supported and praised, in what world would she have been able to say no? "And, when you frame it like that... after we leave, the world here will have shifted. It will never exist again, not like this. So by drawing it... it sort of keeps it alive?" The words came out much more sentimental than she had meant, catching even Robin off guard. She half expected Alki to laugh at her, and she would have snickered along at her own moment of sentimentality.

"Heh. I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from."

Alki shifted uncomfortably at the revelation that this Robin person was a scientist of all things! The girl barely even knew what science as a concept was! It was like... studying stuff, right? There were a lot of different kinds of scientists, but she didn't really know what any of them were, exactly. And the fact that there was someone so smart in front of her... It made her feel stupid by comparison. An actual, honest to gosh Scientist! Alki stared up at the taller Pokemon in stupefied awe, only managing to mumble softly: "T-That's so cool..." She sure wished she could be smart enough to be a scientist herself, but that was never going to happen.

It was what Robin said afterwards, though, that really impressed the jigglypuff. Drawing it would keep it alive...? And she was the only one who could draw it...? It was... a very pretty thought, honestly. That she could immortalize something as pretty as this coral structure, and the ocean beyond it with a piece of graphite and some paper, but truth be told... It also felt somewhat overwhelming. Alki rubbed one arm with the other, shifting her feet uncomfortably as her ears twitched. Her eyes were downcast, obviously worried, and she began to shake more violently.

Finally, she found herself capable of speaking, and her voice seemed quieter and more timid than usual. "I-I d-don't know if I'm g-good e-enough, R-Robin... T-That seems like an a-awfully big responsibility, and t-this place is really pretty... I-I don't w-want to mess it up..." Alki said, finally standing still as she stared up at Robin, her gaze obviously frightened. It was hard to have faith in herself to do a good job when she had such a long history of disaster...

Hmm, was that so? Her moment of poetry had been a double edged sword, it seemed. Robin frowned deeply for a moment, her expression twisted into one of deep thought. She could understand the concern, in all honesty. When she framed it like that, the stakes were suddenly very high, and the girl before her clearly didn’t have much confidence in herself. It took a long moment before an idea she was satisfied with finally sparked in her mind, lighting up with a faint “I’ve got it.”. She rummaged around in her bag for a moment before pulling out another sheet of paper, spilling her drawing utensils in a little divot in the coral.

She couldn’t help but feel a burst of guilt as she met Alki’s incredulous eyes, clearly thinking she was far smarter, and more capable, and selfless, then she actually was. Praise usually made her feel accomplished, yes, but something about this just made her feel... cold. She felt a pang of regret that she clearly wasn’t the kind of person that this girl thought she was – her motives for joining Windrose had been completely and utterly selfish, after all – but she swallowed that down, finding she wasn’t quite brave enough to say it. Besides, Alki probably wouldn’t even think any less of her, and that would only make Robin feel worse.

(The seeds tossed carelessly on the ground offered a convenient reason to avoid meeting her eyes as she scooped them into her bag.)

Still, her idea – it was a good one, she thought. Or at least, she suspected it would work on Robin, had their roles been reversed, which made it seem not unlikely that it would get through to Alki.

“Why don’t we both try, then?” She chimed, grabbing a piece of charcoal from where she had spilled her makeshift drawing utensils. She was beginning to wish she’d brought better tools, now – they really had only been intended to make a reference – but perhaps Alki had brought some of her own? Hmm, she’d need to find a way to ask without making it seem like Alki would be insulting her, saying that Robin’s tools weren’t good enough.

Which, honestly? They weren’t.

“We can share each other’s supplies, if you happen to have any. Otherwise, we can use mine.” She offered lightly, the faintest spark of mischief in her eye. “With the two of us, we’ll be up to the task, so we can just relax and have fun.” Drawing was never an interest of hers, but if a white lie could ease her anxiety a touch... it was worth a try, wasn’t it?