ITT: We Have All Become Pokémon

Holstown, Inn

Once Mila has led Autumn to her room, she slips back out the door, and takes careful but quick-paced steps back downstairs, looking for... something, though she's not really sure what. She's certainly willing to eat, though it doesn't appear that anyone else is currently hungry, and she's not exactly in the mood for discussing their next steps after her recent altercation, if that's even the right word. Eventually, as she mills about in the background, feeling an all-too-familiar experience from her days as a human as she slips by others by walking next to the walls, not making eye contact, she comes across the door to the bath house. The relative humidity strikes her as soon as she approaches the door, and reminds her that she should really take better care of herself despite the chaos.

Slipping inside the room, Mila freezes as she sees Dana and Eliot already inside, not wanting to intrude and honestly feeling like she'd rather not make a scene for the rest of today, given how much she's already messed up. Perhaps they wouldn't notice her? Hopefully they would, and wouldn't mind her appearance. Either way, she remains in the entryway, her bag dropped and pushed over into a corner for storage.

Holstown, Bath

Dana's ears twitch at the slight noise and she turns to see who's coming in.

"?"

"Oh, hi Mila."

Holstown, Bath

"Uh, h-hi. Is it okay if I... join you, I guess? Sorry, I'm feeling a bit high-strung after today..."

Mila stammers on her words, eventually stopping to take a breath and recollect her thoughts before she manages to get out even that simple idea. As she does so, she steps forwards slightly, just enough to be easily visible but still close enough to the wall that she could slink back behind it if necessary for whatever reason. She really has no idea why she's so concerned, since neither of the two had seen her argument, but perhaps its her own actions here and now that are creating a feedback loop of self-consciousness.

If only recognizing that were enough to fix it.

Holstown, Inn Bathhouse

[I grumble...she's just languishing there. I can see the cogs turning in her head...it's like looking at a recursion error. Guess I'll be the error prompt.]

"Hey." [I wave her over.] "Why'n'cha come on in? Water's fine...trust me, it'll pu'cha at ease. Worked for me." [She should noticed I've changed...and that I'm not feeling all shitty after it...I'm gonna be riding that high for a while, aren't I.]

Holstown, Baths

At the comment, Mila approaches the baths, hesitating to put her paws in only a moment before realizing that Eliot is back in his normal, furred state and that she probably won't catch a cold from being covered in wet fur, despite what her parents might have warned her of back in her early years.

"So, I'm guessing the water's fine if you're doing this as a smeargle, huh? I was always told 'don't go outside with wet hair!', so we'll see how this goes."

As she speaks, Mila cautiously enters the pool, deliberately leaving her tail hooked over the edge and hanging down over the side, as well as keeping her face well above water. She's not had electricity accidentally get dispersed through the water yet, but it's not something she even wants to begin to risk.

Holstown, Bath

"It's probably fine as long as we dry off soon after we leave.." Dana sinks lower into the water. The water further disperses the blood on her (she hoped it wouldn't spread all the way over to the others, that'd be awkward..) and relaxes her body. The wound on her belly, now not much more than a pale scar, was especially sensitive to the warm water.

It was somewhat comforting.

... Now that I think about it, I'm an ice type, right? Shouldn't this feel worse?..

Holstown

Huh... (Marsha is unsure what to tell Marlon.) Well...could have just been a weird dream or somethin', ya never know. Aside from everythin' else ya mentioned...if ya think it means somethin' and ya wanna do somethin' about it, though, den ya know I'm gonna be with yas all da way.

Inn

Heh heh, I know you would.

I lean over and give her a brief kiss before looking back over at Nori.

What say you, Nori?

No no, the apprentice is perfectly fine...see, the Tyranitar has some kind of curse that turns anyone he touches into a copy of him for like, 10 minutes or something. Actually, there's a whole bunch of these mons who went to Danjor Island to heal their curses, and I think Goobert accompanied them there.

He looks over toward Phil.

You're following this stuff, right?

Edited by Team42Larson on Aug 16th 2018 at 8:26:52 AM

It's obvious that Phil was not paying attention at all. He shakes his head and snaps back to reality.

"Sorry, I completely zoned out. You were saying something about a Tyranitar?"

Holstown Inn

(All this talk about being a hero. Personally, I'm not a believer of good or evil, don't wanna worry about that can of worms. We've all got jobs to do and ways to do them and I have mine. When Marlon talked about a vision of himself-as-a-Swampert, I couldn't help but notice. Because of that, I decided to chime in.) I'm not sure what I can say about all this, but I'm sure you'll make the right choice.

Edited by Ore-O on Aug 16th 2018 at 9:36:03 AM

[Inigo's Inn]

"Hm...", Noriaki contemplated before answering, "I would say improving on your behavior and approaches to certain situations as you see fit should work well. As for the vision you see and what it suggests... Well, that would be up to you, and your decision would be respected and supported by us, I assure you."

[L'Arachel's Manor]

"Damn, sounds like your old group gave you third wheel a few too many times", said Zelgius, "But it sounds like we're about similar in our relationship with power; We've tasted what not having enough of it is, and now we got it in spades along with a place to belong."

Montresor and Notte approach the balcony themselves.

"Excuse me..."

"Hm? What is it?"

Holstown (Inn)

Yeahs, Marly. (I nod.)

( Feeling more restless than ever over all of this, including realizing that I was this close to the Haunter that essentially saved my life, I can't find myself able to go to sleep. Maybe I should...perhaps I should take a trip to the bathhouse like everyone else did? Perhaps the warm water would enable me to relax...)

( I leave mine and Eliot's room (leaving my blouse behind) and head that way.)

( And it's there that I find Eliot (in his normal form), Mila, and the now awake Dana when I enter.) Oh...hello everyone...I'm happy to see you doing better, Dana. Is it a bad time for me to be coming in here?

I was previously just staring up into the sky, but am snapped back into full awareness of my surroundings when Mont and Notte show up, too. I turn around to face them. "…?"

Inn

Thanks for the advice guys. Now..I think we should take up Soten's advice and rest up for the night, eh?

I start to stand up.

Guess if you guys don't see us again tonight, goodnight.

Holstown Inn

I might as well head off to rest as well. Night. (With all being said and done, I make my way down the hall, hopefully to rest.)

[Inigo's Inn]

Noriaki follows Grigori.

[L'Arachel's Manor]

"There is a... Guest of many restrictions within the tower closer to the center of the manor", Montresor explained, "Normally we would deliver food to them ourselves around this time, but..."

Notte spoke up, "We have to assist our liege with something at this time. It would be greatly appreciated if one or both of you could handle the task for us, the platter with a dome covering is in the kitchen."

And with that, the other two vassals made their exit.

"… Who? What?"

Holstown, Inn Bathhouse

"Well, it didn't start off that way, I just...needed t'clean myself off, and then I just felt so...very relaxed, and I had this...dream of a crossroads. I took the widest road, and lo and behold, I was...back like this."

[I stretch out my arms...oh, Dinah's wanting to join in.] "No, it's fine...we're just...sittin' here, mostly." [I sit back, that calmness again coming over me, even despite my excitement...maybe I could demonstrate what I had done just a moment ago?]

Holstown, Front Room

Woodruff nods along, breathing a sigh of relief, though he's still a little on-edge. "So, uhh, Phil," Woodruff interjects, looking back to the Elctrode's machine, "what all can that thing do?"

Blissparce, Arriving at the Station

Finally, after a long, grueling walk that felt like ages, the police station comes into view.

"Is it me," Taylor A blurts out, "Or did that seem like forever?"

"Uhh, T-Taylor, that took t-two minutes." "It did?" Taylor A looks at her partner strangely before opening the door and letting the others in.

"Now," she addresses the group, "I'll need to get permission from the captain to let you offer your assistance to this case, strictly! for confidentiality, in case there's any sort of...'interested parties' wanting to get involved." She winks at Sunny and Marah, who she realizes would likely not get clearance considering the personal stakes in this particular case. And with that, she shuttles off.

Meanwhile, Taylor B is still giving Dieter that look. What is he thinking about? "P-Pardon...I was w-wondering if you could..." He looks to his left, then to his right, then leans in closer to the now-Girafarig. "I-if you could tell me about the, uhh, 'u-'unkind' thing you d-did. I-I don't mean to b-be nosy, but..."

Holstown Inn, Bath

Dana murmurs something vaguely assentive in response to what Eliot said, then sinks even lower into the bath. The water closes over her head.

Maybe I can just wash all the shitty feelings away, along with the rest of me..

Holstown, Bath house

"So, I guess you're getting more control of your powers? I wish it was that easy for me..."

Mila considers demonstrating to some degree, but given the humidity and general wateriness of the area she quickly decides against it, instead sinking herself slightly deeper into the pool until the liquid comes up to her chin, hoping that the experience of just sitting there will manage to take her mind off of things. At the least, it does manage to make her forget that Dinah has showed up as well, and she makes no audible response to her question despite her ears having twitched over to listen to it just shortly beforehand.

Holstown (Inn; Main Lobby)

Welp...night, fellas. (Marsha says to those still in the main part of the inn. She prepares to turn in.)

Holstown (Inn; Bath house)

Oh, I see... ( I nod, climbing into the water. Wow, it feels amazing right now. I can feel myself starting to relax already.) I have just been completely restless all evening and thought that this might help...there's just been so much on my mind... ( I sigh.)

( I look over to Dana and then to Mila in concern.) I guess I'm not the only one who is feeling restless tonight...

Blissparce

(Oddly, the walk didn't feel like it took all that long to me, but I figure I could blame that on my mind being pretty occupied with this whole thing. What's going on here? Are we going to have to look at dead bodies? Just what'll end up happening?)

You comin' in, Scales? (Cortez's voice brings me back to earth and I hurriedly run in after everybody else.)

(Going in, we get debriefed.)

Okay... (I say, sitting down on the ground (not wanting to ruin any furniture that might be in here). The others take seats as well.)

Well...time to wait and see what happens, I guess. (Mia says.)

Yeah...do you think all of us will get clearance? (I ask.)

I know one thing for sure. (Cortez says.) I'm not going to be just because I look like I'm six-years-old...

I really couldn't tell you, bzz... (Maran says.)

Edited by kablammin45 on Aug 17th 2018 at 8:43:18 AM

Inn

Yeah, night guys.

And with that I peel off with Marsha to our room, open the door, and then head in and plunk down onto the bed.

——————————

I mean, it’d be kinda obvious, but this thing could have something cooler in it. What '’does'' it have?

Blissparce

Hope we do...it’ll be really cool to be like the characters from all those novels I read.

"It rolls right fast and it's got grappling hooks."

Phil sees that others are turning in.

"Looks like we got a big day tomorrow. Anybody want to join me while I hunt down a drink?"

Holstown, Inigo's Inn

Woodruff looks to Kevin for a second. Hunting for a drink...he means alcohol, right? He's never had it himself, he's still underage, they're pretty strict about it in the slums...all he knows is that it makes you woozy, can make you real sick to your stomach, and all your inhibitions get released. You could end up in a fistfight with some other ne'er-do-well where you wrap the whole bar into it until either the bartender kicks you out, the police show up, or either of you gets knocked out. You could end up in some random place with a bajillion shopping bags full of random knickknacks, one of them you spent an hour crying at the sight of before you bought it. You could end up with...someone under your arm after a night of passionate, drunken love-making.

"...do ya have a place in mind?"

Holstown, Inn Bathhouse

[Again, I slip into half-consciousness...I can only half-register the half-words half-coming to half-me...too many halves? I only need two...anywho, the crossroad returns...I see three more roads fade in, one which quickly fades, one looking like it's about to, and the other spiking up...I decide to take that second road before it quickly fades...I'm curious as to where it leads. Maybe it's like those dreams of running I have...I always get into a fight, or end up with something chasing after me, or me chasing after something, but I'm always running, always...]

Meanwhile, back in the waking world, Eliot is starting to look a lot like Mila...

[Inigo's Inn]

Coming back to their room, Noriaki plops down to sit on his bed.

"So, Grigori...", said Noriaki, "... We have finally been face-to-face with her in this world. And for you and the others, it was your first time seeing and meeting her."

[L'Arachel's Manor]

"Hm, I think I remember mention of this "guest", so to say", said Zelgius, getting up and already beginning to head to the kitchen, "Apparently they're more of a prisoner with some weird circumstances. I heard they have a talent with Heal Pulse and that's sort of a function they have here... But reading between the lines of what I was told, I think there's another reason they get kept locked up in that tower. You're curious too, aren't you?"