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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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May 15, 2024 21:00:37 GMT
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Post by Robot on Nov 15, 2023 9:56:54 GMT
Giratina bellows, and the space warps around it and Muku.
HEAR ME CHILD. YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME IN ANY WAY THAT MATTERS. I GRANTED YOU A BOON, IN LETTING YOUR COMPANION LEAVE MY REALM. HAVE BEEN VERY PATIENT WITH YOUR INCURSION NOW. IF YOU PERSIST, I WILL REVOKE HIS LEAVE, AND HE WILL BE MINE. TAKE HIM AS HE IS. COMFORT HIM AS YOU CAN. THE DEAD IN YOUR WORLD ARE ALL RESTLESS, HIS CASE IS NO DIFFERENT.
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Apr 27, 2024 14:22:13 GMT
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Post by birdy51 on Nov 15, 2023 20:05:01 GMT
"He is not restless. Mentor is in pain." Muku counters, turning all of her focus and mortal frustration towards Giratina. Her body fights to continue to be between Giratina and Mentor, hand outstretched as if it might somehow hold back the darkening passage from this vale to the next. Stil. For a such a frail, temporal creature, she handles the space well as she faces down the antithesis of her own mortal existence. "I didn't come here to fight you. I came because my friend who has given so much to me needs my help to feel better. He is my flock, and if I have to keep fighting to protect him, I will do so till my last breath."
Muku pauses a moment, casting her eyes down and shutting them. A disruptive thought creeps in. An astonishing one. Her eyes flash with a calculus beyond her years and she says,
"Take a bit of me. If I'm denying you of blood and spirit earned, then take a bit of me as a price. Mentor is worth that price."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Nov 17, 2023 21:17:56 GMT
The grand dragon takes a tentative step forward, darkness drawing in around it with each step, tighter and smaller, until it stood before Muku the negative imprint of a man with wings behind it, two pinpoints of light defining the eyes and somewhat framing the face. "You would take on his burdens as your own then? No longer know what it is to be Starly. Lose sight of the life before and be left with a feeling of loss and estrangement that you can never quite place. And even when explained, never feels quite real. A dreamer without a dream. A Seer without Sight?"
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Post by birdy51 on Nov 18, 2023 14:18:45 GMT
"If that's what it takes, I will."
Stretching back her foot, she gently brushes away part of the salt circle partitioning Giratina from Mentor. From Morty. From her.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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May 15, 2024 21:00:37 GMT
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Post by Robot on Nov 26, 2023 17:14:09 GMT
Giratina reached through the gap in the salt with a clawed hand, and took Muku's hand.
"Then I will make him whole, and you will know loss and longing. The price of life must be paid." A sharp pain in Muku's chest a ripple of confusion, uncertainty about who, or what she was. The constantly nettling feeling that something was off. Wrong. Looking down at her still shaking hands as though they were an alien thing. The distortion world faded from view, from memory. Morty woke.
The girl's eyes had gone from their original shade to the palest silver, and her hair lay flat and snow white against a skin tone with only the slightest hint of underlying pinks. Her breathing came with slow infrequency, coupled with the new complexion, one might confuse her for the dead.
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Post by birdy51 on Nov 26, 2023 20:22:26 GMT
Starly are not born alone.
From birth, they are fed by the worms of the earth and the berries of the trees, their lullaby the rustling leaves and the chirp of familiar birdsong. One flock, one family. They grow older, evolving into protecters, teachers, Staravia who protect and guide with a steely eye. Few Staravia evolve. Most will grow old and die without knowing separation from the flock. Only a few become Staraptors; birds of prey, apex predators, distant guardians. Distant guardians.
Muku, unnamed, member of the flock, wanted to be a Staraptor. Perhaps there were worlds where she could ascend to such heights. Perhaps in others she fell ill and perished surrounded by loved ones, a Staravia, but no less for it. This destiny, this pattern; she clutched onto it still, even though she was long past the point where she could ever return to feathered form.
This was no longer that world. This was no longer her body.
The threads of fate were long unwound. Creeping darkness clutches at the very core of her, identify, feeling, connection. With a word, a scattering of sacred salt, it shatters as she allows being to fly away to parts unknown to be replaced by a creeping, all-consuming emptiness. A ghastly void forms where her heart would be leaving behind the bereft desolation of mooring and purpose. The girl is at once unbound as her heart spasms in the corpse she deigns to call a body. Muku is carried away by Giratina, what remains is someone different.
She had to be different, she had to evolve. Panicked synapses clutch at what remain, seasoned panic of a mind going mad. This could not be. This shouldn't be. This cannot be. This won't be. There is not here. What is naught? How can she-
Enough.
Her hand clutches as some fragment left behind cleaves through the panic and disorder. This is. Therefore, I am. Order of operations. She was no longer breathing. That's a bad start. Loss of bodily function could be considered a catastrophic result. The condition of the heart was an additionally worry. The rhythmic beating organ in her chest was still. That needed to be working. How does that get back to working? She needed her heart to live, she needed to- No. She didn't need it beat. This could live fine without a heartbeat while her body existed in this transitory- ah.
Like tensing a muscle, she forces herself back into existence. The lungs gasp for air as she wheezes. Her heart mercifully returns to the task of pressing blood through her veins, though it was slower than it had ever been before, even in this heightened state. Giratina still had a thread on this body, pulling it ever towards the darkening hour. Her eyes flash about to see that she was back in the gym, back in her own skin. Back in reality, as it were, though unreality seemed to be more fitting for her current... Circumstances. Her her gaze flits downwards to those hands of hers. Those cold, pale hands. She could acknowledge the fact that her hair was now on her shoulders as well, her fingers tracing through some fragment of a lingering blood red amongst the white. She was in fact, still alive after a fashion, though to what end that might look like was beyond her in this moment. The more she thought about it, the more everything was beginning to get beyond her.
Right now, she needed a purpose. A reason. Something to do. She couldn't exist here right now, right here in her own, alien flesh. The body turns to face Morty and Mentor. Mentor. The reason for all of this. He was why this sacrifice was given, the purpose for becoming this husk. Was it worth it? The sacrifice had to be worth it. It could not be anything but worth it.
"Speak. Is Mentor stable?" The corpse asks, eyes staring at the pair with alarming focus. "Tell me he is stable. I need Mentor to be in stable condition."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Dec 4, 2023 0:29:50 GMT
"Muku..." Morty's usually impassive face was troubled, but Mentor looked at her. Truly saw both the moment and his trainer. Something he had never managed in the life or unlife they had shared together. Perching on her shoulders, he opened his wings and let out a joyous cry, and then a mournful one. They were together, properly. At the cost to his trainer, but she had felt the sacrifice worthy. He saw, past, present, and future in a way few other beings were so privileged .
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Post by birdy51 on Dec 5, 2023 1:24:59 GMT
Her eyes glance up dispassionately towards Mentor. She was never great at reading the intentions things that were not Starly even before she became a not Starly. A creature overwhelmed with passion, rendered cool as water with an undertow of guilt. She's caused this one joy. She's caused this one pain. Neither of these emotions held weight in the abscess of where she might have held a spirit. The only truth she needed was that Mentor was acting according to his nature. Which is to say, appropriately. Correctly. Not broken. Not hurting. The objective was complete and in that small task being accomplished, she could relax a little.
Could, of course, being the operative word.
She felt restless, not relief. There will still too much to do, always something that needed to be done. People to be kept safe. Territories to protect. If not Mentor, then something else, someone else. Someone else. Right.
A good half minute and fourteen seconds pass by before she quite literally snaps out of her musings, turning all the full force of those abyssal eyes towards Morty. She strides forward imposingly, as if to strike, but of course, she wouldn't. She had absolutely no intention of harming Morty. But where there was once a ghost of frivolity, hesitation, trepidation, there was now a void. She needed to approach Morty. She approaches him with intention because she intends to speak clearly without having to yell. "This is what Muku had to do." She says firmly. "Muku had no intention to deceive you. This is not your fault. What needed to happen changed while Muku was fighting Giratina. Muku made a choice. I am what remains."
Her eyes narrow ever so pointedly, her voice poised like a dagger to the throat. "If you are feeling undue distress about this decision, do not. You were a bridge, and you took me where I needed to go. Your role in this is over. Thank you for your cooperation."
And thus, without any other words needing to be said, Muku moves to leave the Gym and find Falkner's Staraptor.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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May 15, 2024 21:00:37 GMT
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Post by Robot on Dec 16, 2023 19:28:54 GMT
Morty stared after Muku in a solemn sort of silence, and as she left through the gyms big double doors, the gym leader lit a single candle and shielded it against the gust from the doors slamming as the girl slipped out into the world. Airrazor settled on the sign for Mahogany town and considered Mentor and the human. The two crooned back and forth, and she cocked her head at the human, brow settled heavily. A little, soft shriek.
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Post by birdy51 on Dec 16, 2023 21:42:20 GMT
Her throat catches. Why? Her eyes behold a ------ and yet... Nothing. There was a void there now where once she could have acknowledged a feeling. Admiration? Fear? Something? Nothing. She didn't feel anything about Airrazor anymore and the thought chilled her to the bone. She wants to feel something but there are times one reaches for something and finds nothing, ------ grasping empty. The sensation of falling into a void from which no ---- outstretched could save you, falling unexpected.
Precipitously. Endlessly.
It takes great effort to pull herself back from the abyss. She stands up straight, taller, biting herself on the inside of her mouth in a sincere reminder that right now she is here and not there. The creature before her needed some kind of answer; the revenant provides direction. "We will return to Violet city and retrieve my partner. Understood?"
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Dec 25, 2023 12:59:15 GMT
Airrazor and Mentor exchange cries once more, the large predator's brow furrowing before she turned and offered Muku her back to mount. Before long, they were off. The flight to Violet was quiet and uneventful, but Mentor soaring as the girl had never seen before was in some ways heartening despite how empty she felt. Returning with the dawn, Falkner met the trio on the lawns at a casual sprint.
"He looks good! You... don't. Muku?" The gym leader looked the girl over, a little of the color leaving his cheeks.
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Post by birdy51 on Dec 25, 2023 22:07:08 GMT
The trainer shook her head in a daze quizzically. ------ was uneventful but also empty? She existed in the sky riding on a Pokémon's back for a set period of time until she was no longer in the sky and in a completely different place. Some part of her could acknowledge... Joy. No. Satisfaction? Satisfaction, that Mentor was able to ---. It was good to see him happy. That made it worth it. The experience was worth it. Her lips curl pleasantly at the truth of the matter. She did good. This was a necessary thing to be done and she executed the task as it needed to happen. Correct decisions were made.
"I'm fine." She says untruthfully, sidestepping the fact that the very name "----" didn't really feel like it suited her. It was a name, yes, but it wasn't her name. Maybe in a sense it was never her name? The name always felt like a bit of a spare name, deliberately open-ended because her identity was that of a- Of a...
She clucks her tongue noisily, unable to catch thought of what experience she was attempting to draw upon which was awkward because now Falkner was staring at her with those handsome eyes of his. Did she think he was handsome? Eh. No, not really. Sure, there WAS a crush and she was expecting to feel something seeing him, but now he was as human as any other. Not really sure what she saw in him but- ah she's still not speaking. There's a silence building. He's still staring. Worried. Falkner needed to be comforted before he panicked.
Lie.
"The ritual was more taxing than expected. But it's over now. Everything is resolved." She says smoothly, putting on an air of falsified authority. "I wouldn't contact Morty however. He'll need a couple of days to sort himself out."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 1, 2024 19:12:08 GMT
"Hmm." Was all Falkner managed, as he took Airrazor back from Muku and returned Monolith in kind. "The big guy is all better, fully rehabilitated. Do you know where you're headed, or what you'll be doing now?" A short pause, before quirking an eyebrow. "Any unfinished business?"
The phrase nettled at something. Fights to be fought. Something... to protect.
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Post by birdy51 on Jan 1, 2024 21:05:07 GMT
"I traveled with a -----... A group before. People who were; are not traditionally human." She says formally, her tongue dancing clumsily where there used to be a word. "Thel, Terra. Big bug guy who I last remember being in Goldenrod. Thel in particular is weak boned and fragile; he needs someone to keep him safe."
She pauses, thinks a moment. "He's with the pink haired Gym Leader, Whitney. The one who cries noisily whenever something goes wrong. Call her while I attend to my partner. She will know where I need to go."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 11, 2024 22:06:44 GMT
"Sure Muku, I can get ahold of Whitney for you." Falkner gave the girl an odd look and slowly withdrew from the conversation and her presence. Presumably to make that call. Airrazor returned to her perch amidst the Aerie and watched the girl with a distant sense of pity. She and Mentor again exchanged cries.
The Xatu folded his wings around himself and took a few small steps towards the north and cocked his head. The Bug That Flew Without Wings, The Marching Fortress, The Sharpest Blade, The Tallest Tower. Things alien and powerful were converging out of normal sight. The kind of thing Muku would have leapt on if she was still herself. So, he did what she would have done.
Thunk thunk thunk a dull beak rapped against the side of her skull in admonition. "XAAAATU!"
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Post by birdy51 on Jan 11, 2024 22:37:58 GMT
Denser than a bag of rocks, the husk trainer stares dead eye and dead assed at Mentor for entirely too long as visions of violence danced in her head. This was about- yes. No? Yes. That. Ok. Getting somewhere. Warmer. Cold. No! YES! Ah. Got it.
"Chuck didn't kill the bug. The one that shouldn't do the thing. The muscled one." She says finally after a truly herculean effort of understanding. "I had forgotten about their cursed existence. I was also unaware that there were others like it. This is pertinent information. Good."
Well. This did change everything.
She marches into the Gym with a purpose till she could find Falkner, phone in hand as the weird talky face thing began to glow with the face of the one who cries when she loses. No. Awful. She was no longer needed. With a prescient jab of her finger, she hits the little knobby things that ends the call and wheels on Falkner with a passion that could be mistaken for fury, but could only really just be called common bloodlust. "I was mistaken." She says dispassionately, her body a coiled mass of nerves of killing intent. "My companion has kindly reminded me that there are alien beings that simply must die as soon as possible. Where has the nearest outworld creature been spotted and how long will it take me to get there?"
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 14, 2024 9:57:48 GMT
"There's been sightings all over the region, they mostly moved into the deep wilds towards the heart of the region but I guess that'd send them northwards, all in all. Muku, it doesn't have to be a crusade, and you don't have to do it by yourself. You never did, you know?" Falkner's usually sharp tone and expressions softened and warmed as he squeezed at the girl's shoulder.
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Post by birdy51 on Jan 14, 2024 15:38:30 GMT
"I've always done it alone." The trainer replies decisively, pulling her shoulder away as if his hand could have burned her. What was this emotion? Anger? Annoyance? No. Agitation. She was letting her wailsome emotions get away from herself. Unsightly, unwanted emotions. Calm. Like a ---- beginning to cease. Quiet. Like a ---- at night. Centered, with her ------ clutched tightly to a branch.
None of it worked.
She hisses as she turns her gaze away and down to the side, holding her hand up in a 'please don't speak or I swear I will choke you kind of motion.' She imagined herself in the midst of a maelstrom, fighting, bloodied, summoning otherworld upon this world. Striking. Clawing. Beautiful destruction. Smelling crimson, screams screeching through the night air. She could summon peace from that. Yes. There could be found stillness in the midst of death. She clutches tightly to that stillness, making it her branch and embraces the storm before-
Calm.
Her eyes look up to Falkners, unchanged through all of this, though her body at least pretended to be less coiled, less thirsty for the call of battle. "Refrain from using that name. I'm no longer the person who bore it. But since you must call me something, call me Passe; for I have passed on and still yet remain."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 18, 2024 0:36:57 GMT
"I... I see. Passe then. Safe hunting." Falkner's tone was sufficiently admonished and underscored with a hint of fear. He withdrew with a sense of confusion and great sorrow, leaving Muku to begin her exodus north across the untamed wilderness astride Monolith. Sweeping across Bugsy's territory, Muku's sharp eyes swept north seeking the things unnatural that had invaded. (Perception, and Poke Edu please.)
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Post by birdy51 on Jan 19, 2024 22:30:24 GMT
Passe nods, turning her maleficent presence elsewhere. Her unbothered gaze swept the landscape about her until she at last alighted Monolith. Her hand twitched. She'd be doing the traveling thing. Again. The thing with the word that escaped her. No, she couldn't think about the thing that she'd be doing but not actively acknowledging. That would simply not be fine. She was going to alight from one location and be in another. Simple as blinking her eyes. Simple as a making a quaint analogy about her past life where she was doing things with memorable appendages. That. And so, rather than focus on the sensation that is at hand, she chose to rely on her Arceus given tasks. Vision. Looking down from so high up was a suddenly novel sensation, her eyes alighting on upon every branch and bush, every little thing in likesome shadow hiding. If it could be hunted, it could be found. If they could be found, they could be killed. Their foreign souls would feed the cycle... Rolled a slightly disappointing 17 on Perception, 7 on Pokemon Edumacations.
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