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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 Mar 2, 2019 11:55:51 GMT
Of the three, Omega's keen hunter instincts win the day out over Hope's tiny bright eyed bugness. Prey liked to eat flowers, why wouldn't a Mightyena know where the flowers were. Shut up!
He finds them in several neat, convenient rows in a spot that smells liked dirt and wet, tall, bright yellow flowers with brown centers, nearly as tall as he is. Near the base of the burned tower. The and Muku's results are a bit less impressive, but in a town devoted to memory and history, these odd 'beds' of flowers litter the town. Bluebells, violets, and azaleas being the popular choice for their cool colors.
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Post by DataNinja on Mar 2, 2019 18:57:51 GMT
"Oh, thank you, Hope," Thel says, looking at the flowers before him. "Hopefully she likes them..." He carefully selects two or three of each kind before making his way back to the Center. Maybe she'll be there... if not, though, should he wait for her there? Or try and find her? But... what if she doesn't want him to find her, he should probably wait... Oh, things are so complicated as a human.
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Post by Breakthelevee on Mar 2, 2019 21:58:03 GMT
Omega pops up beside Thel with a flower as large as he was, quickly thrusting it into the other boys hands "Here. You helped me. I will help you. The larger flower is better. It shows you can find the biggest prey and a a strong hunter and gatherer"
He smiles and nods in satisfaction before turning around and starting to walk away before Thel can object
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Post by birdy51 on Mar 2, 2019 22:59:59 GMT
Muku pops her head around a corner, showcasing a polite, but sad collection of dandelions and other not-so fantastic flowers. "Muku also found these too, but these look really bad, and Omega was a lot better than Muku at this. Also, if you think Em would like Honey, Em can have honey too. Muku isn't sure what she wanted it for anyways."
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Post by DataNinja on Mar 2, 2019 23:04:18 GMT
"Oh, uh...." Thel doesn't know how he should respond to all this. "Uh... thank you. I appreciate it, but... those are your things. Especially that honey, Muku. Didn't you want it so that you could make some more friends? I imagine that she would love it, but are you sure you don't want it? Why are you doing this?"
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Post by birdy51 on Mar 2, 2019 23:15:58 GMT
"Oh friends! Right. Muku didn't get it so she could get friends, she got it so Thel could get friends! Muku can be so silly sometimes." She chirps, clasping her head in self-exasperation. She strides forward and puts two pieces of Honey into Thel's now overflowing hands, as well as the bouquet of dandelions. "These are Thel's things now. Not Muku's or Omega's. What Thel wants to do with them is Thel's choice! And Muku won't take them back!"
She pauses. "Well. Muku can take them back for a little bit if Thel needs a hand carrying them. Muku still doesn't understand hands..."
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Post by DataNinja on Mar 2, 2019 23:31:18 GMT
"Oh... thank you," he says again, struggling to manage to hold everything, but managing to find something that worked. "And if you insist on me choosing what to do with it, I won't go against that." It's a new feeling, really. Though, it's not much of a choice of what to do, since he'd gone out to get everything for Em.
So, nervously, he waits in the Center for her to return. He'd rather not have to go back to that dancing place alone, especially so soon. What if he just caused more trouble there...?
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Post by birdy51 on Mar 2, 2019 23:35:04 GMT
Muku nods firmly, then bounces back after Omega. "He took it." She says. "Muku made him take it."
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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 Mar 9, 2019 10:11:56 GMT
Em returns to the Pokemon Center as afternoon creeps on towards evening, to find Thel waiting with a small armload of flowers, roots and dirt still attached. Her expression is a mix of confusion, amusement, and uncertainty. It is clearly meant to be some form of courting gesture, she had seen humans do it before, but Thel was not a human. She smells pleasant now, spicy but floral, and her hair is held up behind her head by a pair of sticks like the Kimono Girls had done.
"Thank you Thel... they are very nice." The girl began softly, uncertainty in her voice. "Why... did you pull up flowers to show them to me though? They'll die... we could have gone together to look at them where they were growing." She explained with patience, careful to keep disappointment from her tone. Thel put a lot of stock on her feelings and opinions. She had enough bad news for him now, without making it worse.
Kursz tromped up beside Muku and Omega. "You were going to go to the building with all the char and the holes in it? I followed the Morty around today, out of sight. He went there and talked to the building on his knees. Lit wax sticks. Dark shapes moved about in the building while he was talking, and I heard Pokemon and other noises that scared me. I stopped following him after that."
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Post by DataNinja on Mar 9, 2019 18:39:05 GMT
"Oh..." Thel says, his face falling. The smell coming off from her is nice, and reminds him a lot of home. Which causes him to shrink a little, because he feels like he screwed up, now, and home is not a place to be after screwing up. "I asked Lady Joy how a human would apologize to a lady, and... well, this is what she said. I didn't really understand it, but, I can tell that you're not happy about it. I'm sorry. I should have just asked you, but I didn't want to trouble you more. I just... I just wanted to make it up to you, because you were off fixing the mistakes that I made. And... you should never have to do that." He sighs. "And all I'm doing now is making you unhappier." He peers up at her. "Please, Lady Em. Tell me how I can fix my mistakes. How I can make you happy?"
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Post by birdy51 on Mar 9, 2019 21:32:10 GMT
Muku scans Kursz curiously. "What kind of dark things? Were they, angry bird shadow dark things, or dark things that just sort of exist alongside other things, because Muku doesn't believe in one of those."
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Post by Breakthelevee on Mar 9, 2019 21:48:17 GMT
Omega had forgotten about going to the burned up tower, being too quickly distracted by the bee attack. But now. Now he was excited.
"Shadows are good. I can bite them" He could no longer bite them "Ghosts are nothing to a Dark type after all. We should find one. Most things have problems with Ghosts. Or get scared by them."
"We could even get Kursz a ghost and then people wouldn't be able to scare him. He could scare THEM"
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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 Mar 10, 2019 1:15:38 GMT
"...Take a walk with me Thel." Em slid in close beside the boy, her hand finding his, flowers and all. Her fingers were slight, but warm, hands still soft despite the day's work. "I can't be upset with you, the same as I can't be upset with Joy. You asked for advice, and she gave it to you, but human advice isn't for us. The things they hold dear, a lot of the reasons they do what they do... these are foreign to us." She explained, guiding him slowly northeast, where a second tower loomed over Ecruteak, whole and intact.
"Before any of this happened, I would just know. I would *feel* that your heart was in the right place. It was a sixth sense, good intentions bringing the same pleasant feeling as a smile or a laugh. Bad ones came as a distant thunder in an overcast sky. The time we spent trapped together, it was both. I still don't... understand it." They entered the building before them, and began to ascend, higher and higher above Ecruteak, when at last they reached the top, which housed a single silver bell and a view of the surrounding countryside.
"The people that did this to us, they didn't do it out of any form of malfeasence. They genuinely believed they were in the right to do as they did, we were just not... of any concern to them. Sort of like you, and the flowers." She laid one at the base of the bell and had a seat on the steps leading up to it, to look out at the sun setting over the horizon. "The things I want to understand... the answers I need from back then? I won't find them battling. I won't find them adventuring. I didn't go to the Kimono Girls to cover for your loss, I went to learn. Learn about being a human. Learn about... people. How to understand them without just *knowing*. The uncertainty, it... it claws at me. Eats away so much I can't describe it."
Kursz brightened at the announcement of HIM being the terrorizer instead of the terrorizee! "Many of the shapes had no legs. How does something move with no legs? I don't like it. Minimum two legs. Minimum." He drew his hood tight around his face, until he looked like a Shellgon. "If I was big and scary then nobody would be able to frighten me, and I would be the greatest! A-After Omega... Maybe I will try tonight. If Omega is there it will be okay, like with the bees."
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Post by birdy51 on Mar 10, 2019 1:48:08 GMT
"Muku isn't sure she wants to out tonight, but Ghosts aren't real and Muku is willing to go with you to prove that." She says with a firm nod. Ghosts. Pah! Only silly creatures believe in Ghosts. Not even Pidgeys and Rattata are that stupid.
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Post by DataNinja on Mar 10, 2019 2:20:56 GMT
"I... I'm sorry, Em," he says, after she finishes speaking. "I got so caught up in it all... I... I think I prefer being human, and that's why I was trying to learn about their ways. I lament the loss of my fire, and the certainty of purpose... but, well… before now, I was never able to eat without feeling still hungry at the end. Usually had to spend all day hunting, just to get almost nothing at the end. The Ladies surely had their reasons, and... the thought of trying to return is always strong... but, I... I don't mind it while it lasts."
"I understand the desire to not battle," he adds. "It is... an uncomfortable thing for me, too. I know what it's like being one of them, after all, and things like Omega forcing Pokémon to come with him... I do not understand that at all. If I'm being honest, I'd just as rather spend time just... enjoying myself, and the Pokémon I meet. But, I can't. The world here doesn't work that way... and so, if those who travel with me are agreeable, might as well do the one thing that I know about that transfers over..." It's very hard for him to talk to Em like this - he would never have been even allowed to open up to anyone back in his lounge like this.
"I feel in parts the same way that you do," he says, squeezing her hand. "for me, there's always been a certainty in my life, a task, someone to tell me what to do. I... don't have that properly anymore. The world out here is strange. There doesn't seem to be the same type of hierarchy. Males and females seem to be different, but also sometimes the same, in how they act and interact? I... don't understand it at all. I can only do things the best I can. I just... need to find where I belong in this world."
"If you want me to stay with you, I can," he continues. "I said that I'd protect you, and I meant that. But... I don't deserve to have someone as good as you in my life. Even when I screwed up, you've been nothing but kind and patient with me. Even when there were chances to punish me, you never took them. So, I understand if you want nothing to do with me anymore. I've done nothing but cause problems for you, and everyone else this entire time."
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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 Mar 10, 2019 10:12:33 GMT
Em quietly looked out across the brilliant oranges and sunset pinks across the whispy clouds along the horizon, the fading vestiges of day sliding away along the treetops and touching on the falls in the distance. "You deserve every kindness. Thoughtful, polite, dutiful. You have many qualities a gallade would possess, minus the pride." A little giggle escaped the girl at that. "Which you could do with a little more of. Not as much as Omega, but enough to know that you are loved. That you matter."
She gathered his hand up in both of hers and holds it to her middle. "I want to stay here in Ecruteak. Not because you have disappointed, or offended me, but because many rumors pass through the tea house. I will be well taken care of and find a way to be comfortable with this new me. After that, maybe I will join you again someday. I need you to look after Muku and the boys in the meanwhile. You are very smart and controlled. Less given to impulse. It won't be easy, but if you promise me they will be safe, I know they are in your capable hands."
The burned tower stood tall, groaning and swaying like a dying beast in the evening winds. Low dull creaking of aged timbers was the only thing that punctuated the otherwise silent evening. As before, Ecruteak was a ghost town come sundown. Not a single human out on the streets.
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Post by birdy51 on Mar 10, 2019 14:07:33 GMT
Muku shivers against the night air, but rest assured that she was in hands of something. Capable hands? Maybe? Probably not. The hands of fate were a fickle mistress and Muku didn't dare question the idea of what was going to come next because it was getting late and she was getting maybe a bit tired and when she got tired she tended to ramble even when making flavor paragraphs in her brain, which are private thoughts, but do well to indicate the mild to excessive amounts of stress she was feeling at any given point and time. Which is to say, she was a little stressed now, but was trying to hide it.
As far as partners go, only her new friend the Wooper was ready for a fight. Hopefully it wouldn't come down to one, but it was in the back of her mind nonetheless. A remnant of bird thought. Knowing when to fight. Knowing when to fly. That was natural, easy. Not so easy now, but enough that she didn't have to worry. Not that it would stop her from worrying. This was some high-grade spooky shit, what with all the loud dying noises this building seemed fond of making.
"Muku thinks we should go inside so Muku can stop worrying about going inside." She whispers, hiding behind Kursz and Omega. The streets were already a bad enough at this hour. Maybe inside would be less bad?
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Post by DataNinja on Mar 10, 2019 18:37:01 GMT
Thel blushes at Em's compliments, and the close, almost tender, proximity. "Thank you, Em… I'll try and live up to your expectations. I... don't think I can promise to keep them safe, though. I'll do my best, but I'd be lying if I said that I could do it. I haven't been able to keep even Omega from doing anything reckless so far, let alone the three of them."
"You do whatever you need to be comfortable," he says. "I will do what I can to be strong for you in the meantime, and find a place for me in the world. And... I will try and make sure to come back and visit when I can. Even over the last few days, you have been a light in my life in this trying time. You've helped to show me that there are those who care, so... thank you. It's meant a lot. It's been a world apart from my prior life... but, I've felt closer to you in the short time being human, than any others in my whole life so far. IT's been... an experience. A good one."
He rummages around in his pockets, where he'd put the two pieces of congealed honey Muku'd gave him, after wrapping it in a papery covering that had been next to the water dispenser in the food area that he'd used to get all the twigs and leaves and non-delicious gunk off of the honey, in order to keep it from being sticky. "I meant to give you this all before, with the flowers. Honey was always an incredibly special treat for us, and Muku managed to find some. So... if you want to have it, you can. It's for you, anyways."
He gazes out at the sunset. "It's beautiful out here. I never watched the sunset much before, but, the fire in the sky... I appreciate it more. The world is more than just surviving. You need to be able to find some beauty in it, too."
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Post by Breakthelevee on Mar 10, 2019 23:57:54 GMT
Omega cracked his knuckles and pushed his way into the building. He ain't afraid of no ghosts. He should be, since he no longer has his Dark Typing to protect himself, but alas pride has overtaken sense in his brain. Hopefully it wouldn't end as poorly as it should.
Once he was inside he had a horrible realization. He could no longer see. The night was his home and the dark his friend. He should have remembered from the cave, but alas, he wasn't thinking straight. He wanted to grow more powerful and that was his only thought.
"I can't see" He says with a deadpan seriousness not befitting such a sentence.
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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 Mar 11, 2019 13:36:38 GMT
A soft click to Omega's flank, and a beam of light penetrated the murk of the tower, revealing a ragged hole in the floor some eight steps ahead, splintered and cracked boards their edges charred and blackened by some ancient fire hanging like teeth round a gaping maw. Kursz had produced a flashlight from inside that coat he insisted on wearing everywhere. "After I was done following the Morty, I went to the store. They had many useful things, too many, so I took some of them when the human behind the counter wasn't looking. They won't be missed. This stick makes light, it is good for dark places so they are less scary."
The inside of the tower itself goes in both directions. A ladder, clearly brought in after the building had burned by look of the color and material, rests to the left heading to the ground floor. To the right, another, heading upwards towards the tower's peak. Faint, distant noises prickle along the silence, catching the ear just long enough to startle or raise the hackles of those present. Never long enough to be identified.
"I'm glad. More than anything, I want all of my friends to be happy, and comfortable." Em replied as she graciously took the piece of honey from him, chewing on it with a thoughtful smile on her face as they watched the sunset together. "Thel, if you could do anything. Anything you could have ever wanted, without fear of judgement or reprisal, what would it be?"
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