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 Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:35 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
Sorry Air, questions about home just didn't matter when you were talking about the fact that Killian could fly. That was a hell of a lot more interesting, especially if you were drunk. There was nothing about what they were talking about that was anything less than absurdly interesting, that was simply a fact. Jeremiah was fully engaged as he watched, or as engaged as he could be since things all seemed to be just a little strange and sudden at times, and he held his tongue until the full explanation had come through. "Fire?" He didn't really have any idea of what was really being said because the complicated aspects of thermodynamics were often lost on drunk Sableye who lived in caves so the whole idea was completely off the wall to him. Killian just somehow shot fire out of his arms and legs and flew around. That was crazy. Possibly everything was crazy. "That's nuts! Where does the fire even come from!?" Killian's hands were up there, so... fire... where? How?
Ah. It had been something of a pitfall. That had been a possibility from the start, of course, but that was an inherent part of any first meeting. When you saw a door you had no way to know whether it was open or locked, or what lay on the other side. She could have refrained from opening any doors at all if she truly wished to but a more candid approach was the type she preferred. When things were left out, it was a difficult thing to know if it was purposeful or what the purpose was. An unspoken fact was just as often a warning as an invitation, which is why she had given Lux the out that he had readily taken. She felt a bit bad, and a bit awkward, that it had apparently been something so terrible that he felt the need to speak of it at some length rather than simply dismissing it. But that was one of the risks of trying to get to know somebody so it would hardly strike at her core. Lux handled it well enough, anyways. "No no, it's fine. Lots of us have things we don't want to talk about," That certainly seemed to be the case so far, at least. "I'm just sorry if I asked too much." It was equal parts sincere and diplomatic. She couldn't feel bad for asking a simple question that offered a simple deflection, but there was the recognition that she had dug up something unpleasant without meaning to.
So she took hold of the chance to take the conversation to better places. "I didn't actually come here looking for a new path. It was getting harder to find good work because of the disturbances so I relocated in order to secure steadier jobs. It's hard to find jobs that have decent pay and decent requests when nobody wants to pull up their roots and move around, at least not when you're one person." For her, it had really been nothing more but an extension of what she had already been doing. But in spite of what may have seemed like a dismissal, she smiled. "But I found it anyways, and I'm not complaining. Its been hard, its been exhausting and its been stressful. It took a hell of a long time to figure out Tobias and settle in comfortable after Balerd," Jessica hardly had any reservations speaking as such since even a blind man would realize how Tobias was, "But the work is much brighter for it all." A bit more dangerous too, so far, but that's how it was sometimes. "I haven't been here long at all, but I'm glad I came. Things are going well for me, for the guild, and for a lot of other people because of it. It's much easier to take pride in that than just a good payment." It wasn't a sentiment she expressed often, partially because there was nothing to prompt it, but it did feel good to do good things. What had happened in the Frozen Wastelands had been beyond dangerous, but it had come out with them having done a lot and gotten paid wonderfully. It had added a little headache to her life, but it was hard to feel anything but pleased about what she had accomplished.
"Oh~? That sounds helpful." Some tasks really were much better suited to having two feet and two hands, not that such things were too much of a barrier. At least most of the time. When a lot of pokemon were on four legs instead of two, everything adapted around them since the more nimble bipeds had an easier time adjusting than the other way around. Not that it made it easy, but there were ways. "Is that how you learned~? I'd love to be able to cook things like this~" The feast that had been put before her was indeed very impressive and to be able to cook like that was not at all a small boon, for herself or others. Whatever it was that Nyx had done to learn to do this, she wanted to do it. Cooking seemed fun.
"It sounds as if you have a most wonderful family, Neo." It was a simple comment that didn't really mean a whole lot. Tobias didn't speak it to pacify Neo, but rather simply because it seemed apt to say something even if he didn't have deep feelings on it. The subject of family, at least as Neo spoke of it, did not and would never resonate with Tobias. He could not speak of it properly. There was a slight pause and a slip of uneasiness in him that quickly passed as Neo prompted his question. "I do not have such people, no."
Joshua answered a little more frankly. "Nah. Jer' was here before I was and there's nobody else from the caves that I'd keep in touch with." Joshua had always been the type for casual friendships over deep ones; Jeremiah being the sole exception. "There's James, but he'll find out where I went and show up here in a few weeks at four in the morning." Joshua, like Tobias, couldn't really weigh in on the family life that Neo had experienced. It was something foreign to him, something he couldn't really talk about. He had only ever had one family member and he'd done a s**t job of acting like it, not that Joshua minded too much. It was a good relationship in its own ways. There was some saying for that, something about spilled milk.
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2016 2:58 pm
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru What kind of a question was that? "From here, silly!" Air patted Killian's chest, where the scar in his metal body allowed a glimpse into the intense spiritual energy that filled the Golurk and kept him running. The same thing that made it so Killian didn't need to eat, the same thing that caused the giant's eyes to flash when he acknowledged orders--that same energy could be directed to his limbs and send fire bursting out, propelling him into the air. It was an exhilarating feeling, and one that Air had quite enjoyed experiencing for herself when she'd done her own experiments with the Golurk's form, but it was also a telling sign of just how volatile Killian could be. "I mean, why would Golurk have all that energy stored up if they couldn't use it for anything, that'd be weird!" About as nonsensical as asking where a Pokemon who was made of energy got his energy.
But Jeremiah still had this kind of blank look in his eyes, so Air hopped down to his side. "Okay, look, it's like this." The Ditto shimmered and shifted and when the light cleared Air wore Killian's body, but miniaturized. For the sake of demonstrating something so dangerous, it was important to minimize the impact as much as possible, so the Ditto-Golurk stood shorter than Jeremiah himself, his total height about one tenth of his original's. The miniature Golurk grinned up at Jeremiah, his voice adopting the same odd echoing quality as Killian's. "Now watch closely." Air held up his right hand and retracted the hand inside it, holding it straight toward Jeremiah for a moment so he could see the inversion that it made. "Okay." Air glanced around himself curiously, trying to find a surface he wouldn't singe in take-off. The solution presented itself in his larger double. "Killian, pick me up."
The giant did as he was told, marveling at the tiny recreation of himself, at least as much as he marveled at anything. It was somewhat surreal to hold a copy of oneself in one's palm--even a soulless creature could experience that. "When I tell you, I want you to throw me." Air's voice was confident, perhaps moreso than it should have been. "Ready? Throw me straight up...now!" Killian's eyes flashed and he tossed the Ditto-Golurk up, up--oh dear.
"Too hard, too hard!" Air's voice rang with panic as he was sent rocketing toward ceiling much faster than he had anticipated. He hadn't thought to tell the giant to throw him gently, and now it was too late. Fighting against his upward momentum, Air struggled to turn his body, angling his head away from the inevitable impact and then. Clang. "...Ow." The Ditto-Golurk hit the ceiling squarely on his back, and felt a wave of dizziness come over him. It was only when he started to fall that Air realized he still hadn't done what he set out to do. With a moan, he tapped into the wild energy that boiled in his chest and his descent was suddenly altered as the promised fire shot out of his arms, and the space where his legs had been (he'd remembered to tuck them in on the way up, despite his panic). Feeling slightly sick, and more than a little light-headed from the energy rush, the impact, and the alcohol, Air straightened and lowered himself so he hovered a foot or so from Jeremiah, so the heat wouldn't trouble the Sableye. "Now do you see?" His voice was a little impatient, but that was mostly because he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up before he had to change form. This method of flying was a little too shaky and heady to pair well with the light-headedness he'd been having already. He needed a drink.
Lux nodded, quietly regarding the small fluctuations in Jessica's aura in response to his reaction. His mood was irreparably dampened by the prodding of a pain he'd had no means but time to heal, but the stirrings of regret in the Charmander's aura made him determined to gloss over the situation best he could. First meetings could be difficult, but it was worth his time to carry on for Neo's sake.
He listened to Jessica's story attentively, though it was far more succinct than his own. She'd missed his meaning about a new path as well, but the rest of the story gave him a better idea of the Charmander before him. What she said was perhaps less important than what she neglected to say, at least at points, and by the time she was through the Lucario wore a slight smile on his face. She was young, but clever, tactful to the point of excess, particularly in this context: it was no wonder she and Nyx had gotten along at the start. "I'm glad you've been able to find what you were looking for here," he said warmly, "It's a good feeling to see the way the world improves thanks to your presence, isn't it?" He took a sip of his drink, staring down at the glass's contents without seeing anything. "The ripples we make are a sight to behold."
Whatever line of thought Lux was pursuing, he was torn from it by the sound of Air colliding with the ceiling, turning on his heel at eerie speed to spot the source of the sound, eyes quickly locking on vanilla-turquoise. The Lucario raised a paw, eyes shining faintly with the preparation of his aura, but Air's decent was already slowing, and Lux allowed the power to dissipate as quickly as it came. Releasing a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, Lux turned back to Jessica after he saw Air's aura reach a steady hover in midair. "Trouble always manages to find that Ditto," he said, smiling apologetically. Fortunately Air was quite capable of handling that trouble when he put his mind to it, but it took some coaxing to get him to realize that fact. Of course, Lux himself had little idea of what had happened this time, or how, but the important thing was that the Ditto was apparently unhurt. "All of us do our part to look after Air," he elaborated, "He's still young, and doesn't always realize what he's capable of." The Lucario smiled. "Of course, you have a few members of your own Team who need tending to, don't you?" Her remarks about Tobias and Balerd confirmed that, and with the palatte of personalities her other Teammates had, it seemed like it would be a full-time job for a Captain just to keep them in line.
Nyx was, as would be expected, the only member of his Team utterly apathetic to Air's antics. A slight roll of the eyes was the Vulpix's only response, once his eyes lifted to the tiny Golurk that had crashed into the ceiling. He silently watched the Ditto detach and stared hard at the ceiling, eyes searching for damages, but fortunately it didn't seem to be anything major. What he was able to see, Air would be repairing come the next day, and that was that. Taking a long sip of his wine, Nyx held it in his mouth for a moment before swallowing, and only then turned his gaze back to Madeline, now that the appropriate time for gawking at his Ditto Team member had passed.
"I used it for reference mostly," he replied, picking up the conversation after its interruption. "Most of its contents were things that I had already learned." The thought of Madeline cooking things like this was mildly amusing, and that was even before her illness was taken into account. Imagine the feasts she could make, and how many lives would be lost in the process; Nyx appreciated the marvelous irony of it all. "It's a good start though, for those who are trying to learn fresh. If it's not a skill you were raised with, it can be difficult to wrap the body and mind around the concepts." Quadrupedal cooking required an agility and flexibility that could only be developed over time--the necessity of mixing gymnastics with simple to complex tasks if you lacked the specialized equipment meant that its practitioners were not to be taken lightly. "If you're willing to put in the work, you're certain to manage it one day," Nyx said idly, "but it will take a good deal of practice to cook things like this. You work up to these sorts of things gradually. There's no point in advancing to complicated things if you haven't perfected the basics--then you'll have more food than you could ask for and no one who wants to eat it." These things were just common sense really. If Madeline even attempted to make macarons anytime in the next few years she'd be moving too quickly; of course, that meant that she would almost definitely do it, based on what he'd seen of her thus far--that, or she'd quit before she reached the right point. Even good students grew tired of fruitless efforts, hopefully Madeline would as well; that is, if she was in fact the avid knowledge-seeker she claimed to be.
Neo was disappointed, admittedly, but even through slightly wine-clouded vision he could see that his attempt at prompting a discussion had fallen through. It was a shame really, Tobias seemed like he could have had a really interesting family, what with his quirks. Joshua was less surprising, since he and Jeremiah seemed family enough for each other, but still, he was a bit thrown by the utter dismissal of the whole thing. Tucking away the anecdotes he'd planned to share for another time and audience, the Meowstic followed up on what Joshua did end up saying. "James, huh?" he said, "Sounds like someone who wants to keep in touch with you rather than the other way around." He smiled slightly, "Still, you must know each other pretty well if he'd show up in the early morning like that, so that's nice." It really didn't seem like this was going anywhere, but Neo would listen to whatever Joshua had to say, at least until the sound of the clang cut through the room.
The Meowstic inhaled sharply, eyes closing in pain at the sound; beside him, Alexandru flinched as well, the bat's ears swiveling about in alarm as he regained his bearings after the sound shock. "Neo, what is...?"
Peering up as he rubbed his ears gingerly, Neo nearly jumped to his feet at what he saw. "Air." He more breathed the name than said it, and as he pressed his paws on the table to push himself to his feet, he watched the little Ditto-Golurk right himself and begin to descend, fire slowing his flight. With a soft sound of relief, Neo dropped back into his sheet, pressing a paw to his head, then changed his mind and took a long drink."I think he's showing Jeremiah something about Killian, but he crashed into the ceiling...?" Who really knew with that Ditto.
"I...see." Alexandru looked puzzled, still new to Air's antics himself, but settled for the explanation he was given. Neo still seemed to be nursing a bit of an aftershock, so the Zubat stepped up to fill his captain's silence. "This sort of thing is common," he assured Tobias and Joshua, "Air often tries new shapes and doesn't quite adjust to them perfectly. Occasionally it leads to unexpected results." No doubt the alcohol had played a part in this one though--it wasn't entirely unexpected tonight.
Neo poured himself another glass of wine, shaking his head. "A little warning is just nice, that's all," he said, a bit sheepishly. "I don't do so well with loud noises, and neither does Dru," he confided to the others. "Sorry about that guys."
Clara looked up from her kaleidoscope at the sound of Air's crash, eyes wide and nervous as she watched the miniature-Killian-Ditto fall. She knew she wouldn't be able to catch him--he'd be too heavy--and she felt helpless. Eliot paused too, providing an easy opportunity to tag him in, but the Growlithe's fur stood on end at the loud, unexpected noise. When Air was flying again and the tension in the room had died down though, Eliot continued to stare at Uncle Air delightedly. "Cool!" He'd never seen Uncle Air make a small version of a big Pokémon like Killian before. Clara said nothing but took advantage of her brother's stillness to grab hold of his gently wagging tail, leaving the kaleidoscope behind; it made her feel safe to hold onto him, and it involved her in the game at last, at least a little bit.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 1:11 am
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
Well of course the energy came from inside but Air where did the fire actually come from? There are hands in those arms, Air. Jeremiah watched what unfolded with bated breath, the whole experience being entirely too much for him. All of it was beyond surreal. All of it. Everything from Killian in general, to the premise of flying, to the energy, to the miniature Golurk transformation, to... everything. Jeremiah was an accepting guy but it was his first meeting with a Ditto and... a lot of things.
Thankfully (or sadly) the whole struggling thought process was blown away as Air was tossed right into the ceiling. Air's whole floating, fire thing was really cool and all that but that was a distant second to what was at hand. Jeremiah half-rushed forward, trying not to shove himself into the fire, and put his hands on Air to check the poor Ditto over. "Are you okay!?" It was at this point that anyone who was sober might have noted that Golurk don't have actual facial expressions and actually always look very slightly sad. "Are you hurt?" Air had been tossed into the ceiling. That had to hurt! Being thrown into things typically hurt. "Killian, why'd you throw Air into the ceiling!?" Obviously Air hadn't wanted to get thrown directly into the ceiling. Throwing him into it was such a mean thing to do! He couldn't understand why Killian had done such a mean thing.
Jeremiah didn't understand a lot of things. Like how drinking worked, that was a big one.
"They are. I haven't really had a chance yet to see them all through but just having the opportunity to be a part of the splash is something special." The ripples, as they were, took time to see through. Lots of it. She wouldn't truly see the subtler bits of things until she started revisiting older areas. The small changes would show themselves in the coming months and she would be glad to witness them, whatever they were. To see the good and right the wrongs and all that. "Doing good isn't its own reward, but it's a damn nice bon--" Similarly to Lux, her train of thought was thoroughly derailed and she would never even bother to pick it back up. Alcohol, even in modest amounts, made such things a great deal more difficult. That was especially true when she had to stop and marvel at the fact that Air was capable of controlling himself at all; he didn't seem to know what alcohol was and he had drunk quite a bit of it. The fact that he hadn't gone careening off to the side was a certain sort of impressive.
"Well, sometimes that's handy in our line of work." It was a joke, of course; this particular kind of trouble was never handy. But there was no harm done, and no need for Lux to be apologetic over it. Things like that were bound to happen sooner or later. "Not yet, thankfully." But of course Lux meant that question much more broadly than the night itself, a fact that elicited a short pause. Words were easy, using them right could be hard. "I have no idea where Tobias used to live but I wonder. Wherever it was, it wasn't anything like here... He didn't really know how to act when he showed up. I had to talk him through a bunch of weird things for a bit. Honestly I only stuck with him at first because I thought he was capable, but he proved that in spades and eventually he got a bit more normal." It might have seemed crude to say, but to anyone who had had even a small amount of contact with Tobias it was very comprehensible. It wasn't insulting, it was true. To say anything else would be to tell an obvious lie. 'Sticking it out was the right choice and he showed that to me." On more than a few occasions. Tobias was a blessing cloaked in less desirable things. "Otherwise, things have been fine so far. A bit chaotic in the day-to-day but nothing I can't manage." Which implicitly confirmed Lux's assertion that she was keeping them in line. "Joshua has only been with us a very short time but aside from being a bit of a free spirit," which wasn't a good thing in the given context, "he's not any trouble. Jeremiah's a saint, he wants nothing more than to be friends with everyone. He'd probably sit down with the devil if he got a chance." She said it jokingly and laughed a bit before slipping into a soft sip of her wine, but she meant it. In retrospect, it was pretty obvious that Jeremiah had been trying to heal someone very dangerous. Niceness was a virtue, but excessive virtue was a hazard at times.
The more objective truth was simply that she was the captain and a lot of the control she exerted was a result of her own nature. If she wasn't always trying to keep people in line, then she likely wouldn't have seen the need to do so at all. But she liked to keep a tight ship, and that meant addressing Jeremiah and Joshua in certain ways here and there. And Madeline now as well, though she was more a complicated houseguest than anything else.
Madeline looked back towards Air somewhat slowly before casting her attention back towards Nyx rather smoothly. Of the entirety of Robin, she was the least perturbed by it next to Tobias; whether that spoke of her having a strong will, her being strange or her being drunk was hard to say. Nobody was truly sober at that point, of course, and everyone showed it differently.
"Oh~? That sounds a bit inconvenient, doesn't it~?" Concepts that were difficult to wrap both the mind and the body around were... well, difficult ones! That was how it was by the most literal definition. "That's fine though, I have nothing but time~" Which was, certainly, true. She wasn't coming with Robin on their missions and she was very much limited in how she could help out around their team room due to her poison. Really there wasn't a whole lot she could do at all so she was basically a freeloader. She did feel a little bit bad about it, though not as bad as she might've since she did understand it was the cheapest and easiest option, but it gave her a whole load of free time in which she had nothing to do. So hobbies would be good, certainly. Whether or not she was too flighty a person to stick to it would be something that would only be known in time. "But where'd you learn then, hm~? It's a bit boring to not have something you shoot for, you know."
"Right, right, sorry. James is--" Bang. James wasn't bang but Air was, a fact that visibly startled Joshua. He didn't jump to his feet or prepare for an attack but the noise rippled through his body as it clenched in surprise for a brief moment before turning to look towards Air. "Jesus christ." He hadn't seen what had happened but there was Air, being a weird tiny rock thing, and Jeremiah who was being very emotive but not atypically so. If anyone wore their heart on their sleeve, it was Jer'.
"What a strange little ditto." Tobias had been surprised as well, though less visibly so. "And a very drunk ditto, I believe it would be wise to cut him off should he seek more."
"Anyways..." Weirdness aside. Whatever. "James is my dad. I just call him James." It had slipped his mind to introduce James "properly", but whatever. It wasn't like it mattered anyways. "He kept an eye on me in the caves when I was younger but once I was old enough to manage he went off on his own. He was never really the 'daddy' type." Joshua wore a wry smile, but it wasn't bitter. Joshua was his own man and so was James. James had kept an eye on him until he could manage on his own, which didn't take long, at which point James went off and did his own thing. He was a s**t father, but that didn't really matter. As a friend he had earned his own place in Joshua's life. At the very least, it was hard to be bitter about missing out on something he had never known. "He usually shows up in the middle of the night or whatever to say hi, sticks around for a week and then disappears for a couple months. Even if I wanted to track him down I'd have no idea where to look, so I'll just wait it out. He'll show up at the caves soon, find out I left and then he'll show up here when he breaks in at 4 AM or whatever to say hi." That was just sort of how James was and it wasn't really something to question. He would show up, they'd chat for a while, get something to eat, and then he'd disappear again for a while.
Tobias was well aware of Neo's passive disappointment, but he was also in a place that left him poorly equipped to handle it. The subject of Tobias's family was poorly suited for pleasant post-dinner conversation, if indeed any kind of conversation at all, but at times such as this it was difficult to know if one should voice such things. It was, at times, the case that some things were better left unspoken.
Balerd, in a feat of amazing growth, opted not to attack Eliot for having so foolishly stopped. This was because eventually the comprehension of "stop" means "stop" would eventually kick in, rendering Balerd capable of not talon-poking someone in the butt just because they stopped to look at something. The game was effectively on pause while weird things happened. It could resume after.
Or it could be completely obliterated by the very interesting thing that was happening in front of Balerd. The very, very interesting thing that would lead to Balerd quickly hopping up and onto Killian's hand before quickly rolling up and waiting for it to happen again. No, it wasn't Air flying or whatever. Who the heck cared about that?
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 10:04 am
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru "Gah!"
Of all the things Air was expecting, being lunged for was not one of them. In a moment of panic he cut himself off from the flames that spouted from him the moment he felt the Sableye's hands on him, leaving his metal body to fall helplessly to the ground. Even if Jeremiah tried to catch him, he was just too heavy for it to be helped, and they both would topple: either way, none of the well-meaning Ghost's questions would be answered in the commotion, except for Killian's. As the Golurk watched the great stir being made by the pair, his eyes flashed dully. "I was told to throw him. I did as I was told."
Fortunately for himself and Jeremiah both, when Air hit the ground, rather than another loud clang, a different peculiarity occurred. The Golurk body that fell was pushed flat as a pancake, melted into a decently-sized Golurk puddle, which began to shimmer shortly after and change until Air was back in his Ditto shape, looking more than a little ill. "Oh my head..." he moaned softly, thoughts of Jeremiah only catching up to him after a long, hazy moment.
"J-Jeremiah!" Air's blobular body swiveled about until his eyes focused on the Sableye, wherever he'd ended up. When he found him, Air hurried to look him over fretfully, grabbing each of his hands to examine them specifically. "I didn't burn you, did I? Why did you run up to grab me? I told you those flames were dangerous!" A moment later, the Ditto had shifted forms again, to that of a very concerned Audino, kneeling at Jeremiah's side. Reaching up to grab the feeler at his ear, Air clumsily took the appendage in his hand and pressed it to Jeremiah, listening for the vibrations that would confirm his friend's wellbeing. When he was satisfied, Air dropped the feeler again and pulled the Sableye close in a hug, tears in his eyes from the relief that he hadn't hurt the one Pokemon who he was getting along with so well or maybe from the alcohol. "Please be careful next time," he said, leaning back and holding the Sableye by the shoulders as he stared him in the eyes with wide, blue eyes. "I-It's really hard to get me hurt, but it's not hard for me to hurt other people by accident sometimes, and I wouldn't forgive myself if somebody got hurt because of me. Especially my friends." He really was tearful by this point. Maybe Air was an emotional drunk?
Meanwhile, Killian was surprised to find the Colorful Feathered One Friend jump up on him and change his shape to the Ball. This was a very peculiar situation, and one that had no precedent. He hadn't been given any orders, and he had been instructed to allow the Small Ones to climb on him before, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Just because the Colorful Feathered One Friend hadn't done it before didn't make it entirely unusual, he supposed. Of course, not having a command, the Golurk wasn't about to do anything. That interesting thing that had happened before had a specific trigger after all.
Eliot watched Balerd clamber onto Killian curiously, then gave a canine shrug and followed suit. He'd climbed all over Daddy's big friend before, but Balerd hadn't, had he? The puppy, oblivious to what the bird was after, prodded the ball slightly. "W-Why'd you st-stop?" he nodded up toward Killian's head. "It's betterrrr up th-therrrre." To show what he meant, Eliot clambered up Killian's legs and crouched down, pulling off an impressive leap that landed him on the giant's shoulder, beside his head. Peering down from above, the Growlithe stared at his friend eagerly, waiting for him to follow.
Clara, of course, knew exactly what Balerd wanted, but kept her mouth shut out of childish spite for being ignored for so long. That's what you get when you neglect your friend's sister, Balerd. Instead of contributing to that situation, the Drifloon continued to watch Air and Jeremiah, biting her lip with concern. Was Uncle Air really alright? ...Was Uncle Jeremiah?
Jessica's quip would get a genuine laugh from Lux, who'd hardly been expecting that sort of dry humor. "I suppose it is, to a certain extent," he said, his amusement evident in his tone.
Hearing Jessica's opinions on her Teammates was a most compelling thing, and one that held Lux's attention easily. He knew so little about Team Robin generally, aside from Tobias and Balerd who popped up with some frequency, that it was helpful to hear the perspective of someone who'd had a regular experience with them. He dipped his head. "Your partner is quite the individual, there's no doubt. I've never met someone quite like him." He was a puzzle, on that, everyone was agreed. "I'm glad you're helping him to adapt though. The customs of some Pokemon don't translate well to this sort of society, so it's to everyone's benefit if the gap can be bridged, even slightly." If this was Tobias after some disciplining, it was somewhat baffling to imagine what he was like before. "I often find that skill shows itself in many shades. For his sake and yours, and Neo's as well, I'm glad you were able to see his potential from the start."
His gaze flitted across the room, finding the auras of those who Jessica had named before settling back on the Charmander's with a vague smile. "I hope your Team continues to do as well by you as you've done by them," he said, raising his glass slightly to his companion before taking another sip. Her salty aura did leave the tongue wanting. "I think they will though," he said, voice filled with assurance. "Your companions are all vibrant individuals, and that makes them strong. The hardest trial with the independently minded is learning how to keep them from straying beyond themselves." His golden eyes settled on Jessica's, unseeing but sure. "And knowing when they're straying just far enough." The Lucario's voice softened. "There's nothing quite like it," though what "it" was, was a little uncertain. "Remember to take a bit of time for yourself as well, Jessica. If there's ever a time you need to get away from it for a while, I can recommend a few good places." The offer was made lightly, yet quite seriously. Lux knew Jessica's type and those sorts often neglected themselves without meaning to; if there ever came a time when she needed a break, he wanted her to know that she had someone to turn to as well. He'd been in her place before, he knew how these things could be.
"I'm afraid it can't be helped." It was just the way it was. Nyx was growing tired of Madeline's constant prodding, especially because the art of cooking was so very clearly not something she should be filling her time with considering her ailment. Neo would be upset if Team Robin was found dead in their room with a remorseful Madeline staring balefully at her half-eaten attempts at a meal, and that wouldn't do, however gratifying it would be to see his point proven. "Where I learned doesn't really impact your goals, does it?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "I learned after a lot of time, effort, and experimentation. Books were some of my teachers, but I learned more by watching while I worked." He'd had actual teachers of course, but they were few and far between, and nothing Madeline needed to know about.
"If you need something to shoot for, aim to learn every recipe in that book by memory. If a recipe is named, you should be able to make it within the day with the right ingredients; likewise, if a set of ingredients is set before you, you should know exactly what they can make and how to do it. The best way to know you're improving is to have others sample your work as you go. Your first goal should be to have someone actually ask you to make something for them--that's when you know you've proven yourself a decent cook." He hated this. Giving advice to someone who couldn't be expected to do anything with it was like talking to a wall.
"Air will not be having any more alcohol this evening." Alexandru spoke softly, as though pained by his own words, and he certainly was. It was remarkably similar how the Zubat and the Meowstic had responded to the sound, and even as Neo rubbed woefully at his ears Alexandru's ears swiveled slowly and carefully, trying to reconstruct his sonar vision now that the terrible crash that had shattered it was over. "I don't believe anyone would benefit from that." Of course, the Ditto had taken his glass with him--well, her when she left--so that was matter that couldn't be helped, but they could easily keep him from having further access to the bottle that rested between Neo and Alexandru.
"Gotcha." Neo was fully committed to Joshua's contribution, focusing hard on the Poochyena's words to keep the ringing in his ears at bay. "Well, that sort of thing is good too," the Meowstic said, offering a smile. "Sounds like things are well enough as they are for you two, so I'm glad you found a way to work it out." Bad parents could be good people, and it sounded like James was if he kept an eye on his son despite his preference for hands-off parenting. The idea was foreign to Neo of course, and sounded pretty lonely, but everyone worked a little differently; it seemed like peace had been made with the subject and that was a good thing in and of itself.
Neo turned his wine glass by the stem, watching the liquid spin lazily in the glass. His ears felt a little better now, and things were slowing down again, aside from the dramatic scene playing out between Air and Jeremiah a ways away. So where could he go from here... He popped a chocolate truffle into his mouth and sucked on it for a moment before he came to an answer. "Mm! Speaking of 4 in the morning, did you know that there's a high chance of shooting stars tonight?" The Meowstic wore a smile of childlike excitement, eyes glistening brightly. "I overheard a Lunatone talking about it the other day. Apparently the full moon this month is accompanied by a meteor shower in some regions. Here's not really the prime place for viewing it, but during the later hours it's possible we could find one or two if we were looking." Neo grinned. "Pretty neat, huh?"
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 1:04 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
Jeremiah's head was going through a scrambler, or so it felt. Things didn't seem to make sense and they were all a bit sudden and worrisome in odd ways. Of course, not nearly as much of that was the alcohol as one might expect to begin with; even a particularly clever fellow would have had a hard time keeping up with the events that were unfolding and Jeremiah was not particularly clever. He did, just barely, have enough time to refute Killian. "But you threw him too hard! He could've really been hurt!" Really, Killian should have known better! He was told to throw Air up, not to put him through the ceiling! That was just common sense!
Thankfully Jeremiah hadn't so much lunged at Air as he had stepped forward too quickly; well enough to send Air off-balance, but not enough to pull Jeremiah with him. And then Air would in turn find his own questions largely ignored as Jeremiah nearly fainted at the sight. It was his first time seeing Air's gooey form unless Cy forgot something, in which case Darky would assuredly tell him and it was a bit panic inducing for it to happen so suddenly and so... splooshily. Anything Air said after that really wouldn't matter, because Air had turned into an actual puddle and then he turned into an Audino and then he started crying so Jeremiah started crying too. The "conversation" would surely turn into a crying mess of incoherent, sob-filled babbling that nobody could understand, least of all Jeremiah or Air. At the very least, Jeremiah was already there; it had all been a little too shocking and a little too overwhelming, especially today of all days for some reason, and the catharsis of tears was a necessary remedy. He had been careful, or careful-ish, and much like Air he was made of something that was hard to hurt. But Air probably wouldn't hear any of that, would he?
Meanwhile not even ten feet away from the pair of crying, hugging adults was the trio of children that were largely ignoring them. Balerd wanted one thing, a very obvious thing to any creature with any intuition: Balerd wanted to bounce. Of course, this meant diddly to Killian who responded only to explicit orders. Not that that would stop Balerd from unfurling at Eliot's prompting and bouncing slightly in place while sitting. "Bounce. Bounce! Like..." Balerd would begin to point towards Air, only for a terrible problem to become apparent. There was an awful lot of crying over there. Emotions as defined concepts and putting words to them were still foreign to Balerd, at least for the most part, due to the narrowly defined range of experiences that the team had had. But the idea of crying transcended social conditioning. So many things were built into the body and heart as much as they were learned by the mind. Crying was ubiquitously terrible. A carnivore might have felt less for it but absent any adult context it plucked at Balerd's heart, leading the bird to hop off of Killian with a surprising softness in order to go over to the pair, climb up on them slightly and spread out to hug them from above. This was the right thing to do, the thing that took questions and problems away.
"Customs" wasn't quite the way Jessica would put it. It didn't feel like Tobias simply came from a village that was a bit different... But she couldn't put her finger on what it was. In truth, she didn't really know much at all about Tobias's history; a sort of strange sense of comfort had settled in over their partnership before she had had the chance. Much of it earlier had been spent addressing the problems themselves, rather than their far-off and intangible origin, and by the time that phase had passed he had earned her trust. In hindsight, she regretted it a little bit. It would've been helpful to know what his history was. She would have to make sure to ask him sometime soon, maybe over the next few days. It didn't really "matter", but the information would have satiated her curiousity at the least. "He's one hell of a co-captain, regardless of how you mean it."
Jessica drank lightly with Lux, taking the gesture in kind and with a smile. She listened to what he said, mulling it over lightly without breaking his gaze. "Keep them from straying beyond themselves". It was one of those fickle things to say, both very meaningful and very meaningless. It seemed so much more profound than it really was; in the end it wasn't much more than "don't let them do dumb s**t". As long as they were kept in situations in which their personalities and capabilities aligned with what was demanded of them, they would never really have a problem. The idea itself wasn't a particularly valuable or novel one, it was just one of those things that sort of went without saying. The real value, she decided, wasn't in the idea itself but rather the method of thinking. Putting things in terms of the norm had its own value.
But of course she was quick to dismiss the idea that she was straying herself. "Nah, don't worry. I enjoy my spare time plenty, it's one of the perks of the job. I wouldn't be doing dangerous work if I didn't enjoy the downtime." Whether or not she actually took care of herself was another thing, but she was very much self-assured that she was. Dangerous work meant big money and lots of rest and she didn't mind the rest. "But thanks. I might take you up on that sometime, maybe a peaceful lunch when things get a bit hectic?" It was half a musing, half an offering. Lux was easy to talk to and if things really did get bad, he seemed like a good third party to casually chat over things with. "Though if it's managing a team of vibrant people it seems like Neo has his work cut out for himself more than I do. He's clearly doing a stellar job of it, but I imagine more days are adventures than not in this home." She didn't envy Neo in any sense of the word, but she certainly respected his ability to draw together a group of very different and very awkward people. Jessica had a relatively easy job in comparison, Tobias's oddities aside; Jeremiah's warm personality limited personal conflict and made it easy enough to be the leader. On the other hand even at a glance it was easy to see that most of the team likely had, or did have, various conflicts of personality that Neo had had to smooth out. With two kids and such a variety of people, that couldn't have been easy for him to accomplish.
"Boo~ You don't need to be so coy about it Nyxy, everyone needs a few secrets after all~" Nyx could keep a few cards close to his chest if he wanted to; secrets were a thing that could go unspoken beyond naming them as such. There wasn't a reason to be nimble about it, everyone has a few secrets here and there. Even Madeline. "But that's an idea, isn't it~? Maybe I'll try to make something that even you would ask for, hm~?" There was certainly a "goal" in that, after all. Nyx was the cook who put things together, he was the one who gave her the knowledge to work with. To make him ask for seconds would mean having made something that compares to his own cooking, which indeed was something rather lofty to shoot for.
"Mmm, yes that is most likely the case. Although it is good to see Air enjoying himself there does remain such a possibility as too much of a good thing, or so I have heard." Air was just a little too drunk. He was quickly moving from "fun" drunk to "burn the house down" drunk which was entirely possible if he opted to transform into a fire type, so it would be well suited to the purposes of both teams if he weren't to receive more. Thankfully he had chosen a sufficiently modest form, otherwise he could have drained the bottle on his own. Or perhaps not. The metabolism of a Ditto was a mystery to most. It was entirely possible that Air's tolerance was the same regardless of how large they became... supposedly, underneath the scaley hides they took, they were still just pink and gooey. They really were very strange creatures.
"It works out yeah." Joshua didn't really have strong feelings on it, but he liked it. It wouldn't shatter his life if it changed somehow, but at the same time he didn't want it to change. It was fine just the way it was. "We're both like it this way." It wouldn't shatter his life, but he couldn't imagine James doing... dad things. Grooming him or trying to give him life advice or something like that. Although he was still a bit young to be considered as such, he was a grown a** man as far as he was concerned. Likewise, he knew that James enjoyed the freedom and the option to do his own thing. James would never be the type to settle down, not even if he got older than hell itself, and the wandering was a part of him. They'd never really talked about the "why" of it, it was just how it was.
But the conversation shifted and, thought or word, matters of parenthood were abandoned. Neo had once more broached a conversation that neither of his partners could address in the slightest. Joshua had lived much of his life in a cave, for which there was not a vast, dark sky dotted with stars but rather a solid ceiling dotted with gemstones. Tobias's life had not had such environmental restrictions, but all the same he hadn't the slightest clue as to what Neo was talking about. Fortunately enough for Neo, however, neither of them were averse to the subject or awkward to speak on it. Instead Neo would simply receive two blank stares, which Tobias would be the one to explain after a quick glance at Joshua. "Neo, I am afraid that I do not know what that is. Would you be able to explain it?" Strange though it might have seemed, strange was Tobias. He sincerely didn't know the term.
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:30 am
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru Nope, Air didn't understand a word of the Sableye's tearful blubbering. He was sure Jeremiah was saying things, but he couldn't figure out what they were through the sobs. The Ditto hadn't been going to cry--at least, he was going to try really really hard not to--but then Jeremiah started crying and the sight of those blue gemstones tearing up was too much. "Aw no..." Air positively wilted, slouching over in defeat and exhaustion as tears spilled forth from his own bright blue gaze. "I-I-I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say since he could only make out snippets of words like "careful" and "hurt," and Jeremiah seemed physically fine but apparently not emotionally. Arceus, it was so hard to understand everybody. Why couldn't they all just understand what you wanted them to? There was nothing else for it, so Air sat down on the ground and pulled Jeremiah back into a hug, and bit his lip hard, trying to keep the shakiness of his own body to a minimum. The pair would be joined shortly after by Balerd, but Air at least was so caught up in his tears he hardly noticed the small bird that draped himself over them.
Eliot and Clara, on the other hand, were acutely aware of the exchange going on between the three, and the puppy turned his head back to look at his sister, a frown on his face. "Wha--W-W-What's...?"
Clara pursed her lips, swaying slightly back and forth as she looked below with concern. "I...don't know," Her voice was troubled, like she was on the verge of understanding but was missing the last, crucial piece of information to connect it all. "They aren't hurt. And I don't think they're sad..." Something was upsetting them, but whatever that was had gone by too fast for the girl to process it all.
"W-What do we do?"
Clara frowned, looking all around the room as she considered the problem. The best thing to do when something like this happened was to get Daddy--Daddy made everything better. But Daddy was talking to Uncle Tobias and Joshua and Uncle Dru... "We should probably get Daddy," she murmured, worried about interrupting him but moreso about leaving Uncle Air and Uncle Jeremiah as they were.
"Good idea." Eliot sprang down from Killian's shoulders to the ground, and the pair began to amble over to the cluster of adults at end of the table.
Killian watched all of this silently, the words of the Jewel-Eyed One Friend resonating with him. Hurt. That was something one simply didn't do to a master, but how was he to know what would or would not hurt them? It seemed quite clear that there was something true in Jeremiah's words: an action requested by a master should not be carried out if it would harm the master, because the master was to be protected from harm at all costs, even from himself. Though it would go unnoticed by perhaps everyone, Killian's eyes flashed and for a moment the energy in his chest flared up, threatening to push through the patch on his chest. The next minute it was gone, and everything was as before--the only difference was something inside the Golurk, but that wasn't something that could be seen with the naked eye.
"I believe it." Lux hardly meant any offense to Tobias unlike some individuals in the room, there simply wasn't another way to explain the natural reaction to the odd Linoone. There was no one like him and that was neither good or bad, it simply was. It had its pros, it had many cons, and Lux didn't know enough on the subject to determine which outweighed which at this point. All he knew was that Tobias was very strange, strange enough to be either off-putting or intriguing, depending on your viewpoint, and the Lucario himself fell into the latter category rather than the former.
Then came that confidence, which was precisely the thing that had prompted his comment from the start, and he smiled wryly, but it quickly softened when an invitation was extended. "I'd be happy to," he replied, "A quiet conversation is such a rarity nowadays." As was evidenced by the many loud things going on around them. Lux wasn't concerned about Air and Jeremiah's tears, aware of what was causing them and how easily it would pass, but it was excess noise on top of the general murmur of the other conversations in the room.
The humor came back into his gaze when she brought up Neo's rather impossible task, and he chuckled softly. "Oh, you have no idea," he told her, shaking his head in a sort of tired amusement. "I doubt our 'normal' days are anything like the average Team's." Lux's gaze drifted around the room, searching for something he couldn't see. "If these walls could talk they would tell incredible stories. Fortunately, those of us who live within them are perfectly willing to share them."
He gestured vaguely to the wall across from the room's entrance, where, high up the wall (higher than most of the Team members were tall), a shelf jutted out with a single, massive book laid on its side on top of it. "Here's one for you: the book that shelf is one of our Team's prized possessions. It's an Encyclopaedia Pokemonstra, there aren't many copies found outside of scholarly institutions, but Nyx managed to obtain one. It's kept very high up, so it won't meet any harm from careless hands, but naturally this spawns curiosity in the children. Clara has gone to look at it a number of times but never touched it, and Eliot must have picked up on her interest. The day after Neo gave him the Bounce TM, Eliot tried to get his paws on it for her. No one had expected he'd be able to reach it, or even be interested in it, so no one thought to warn him not to touch it." Lux chuckled. "I was worried our good vice captain might have a heart attack." Of course, it was easy to make light of the situation after the fact, but when it had happened it had been trying for everyone involved. Eliot had ended up stuck on the shelf atop the book, uncertain how to get down: everyone had been concerned about the expensive, old tome and the puppy alike. Fortunately it had a resilient cover, and when Killian had retrieved both precious items, there were only a few scratch marks where the puppy's had shuffled on top of it nervously, once he realized the book was far too big for him to hold (it looked a lot smaller from so far below).
And there was that Nyxname nickname again. Marvelous. "There you have it." What was he responding to? It could have been just about anything she'd said, and he didn't contribute to it further because of a certain situation that was arising. "Oh, for the love of--" The Vulpix rolled his eyes when the sobbing started reaching intolerable levels. "Excuse me, there's something I have to attend to." Nyx stood and headed over to the mess of Pokemon on the floor, sparing a brief parting nod for Madeline.
Neo was once again baffled by his inability to hit on a topic of conversation that his audience could relate to. Good grief, you'd think something like the sky was a safe bet, but apparently not. The Meowstic shot a particularly quizzical look at Tobias, who had given him a book on astrology to read to Balerd before bed when the boy had spent the night the first time, but shrugged it off after a moment. "Well, let me see..." he rubbed his arm thoughtfully, considering the best way to describe it. "Well you know the stars, right?" It sounded like a weird question but they'd asked a weird question to prompt it. "The little lights in the night sky that form constellations--er, patterns in the sky, don't worry about it too much, I'll explain it in a minute if you want. Most of the time the stars stay still, just twinkling in place, but sometimes things get a bit more exciting." Boy, this was a hard thing to describe. "Meteor showers happen when fragments of rock fall down to the ground from up in space, where the stars are. They're not exactly the same as stars, but when they fall they look like stars flying across the sky. It's...really cool to look at." There was more to be said on it, a lot more, and Neo had more to say about it, but just then he was interrupted by a soft nudge at his side.
"Dad?" Eliot peered up at him with Clara clutching his tail. "U-Uncle Air and Uncle J-J-Jeremiiiah..."
Neo glanced up to see what Eliot was looking at and balked at the sight, embarrassment rushing to his face. "Oh dear." And Nyx was already on the way over. Oh dear. Neo patted his son on the head and stood up. "Don't worry, Daddy will take care of it." He dipped his head apologetically to Tobias and Joshua. "I'll just be a minute." Hopefully.
As their father hurried off, Eliot shuffled his paws, looking up at the adults with a curious gaze. Uncle Dru and Uncle Tobi and...the other one's name he forgot. "Hi," he said quietly, a little unsure what he was supposed to be doing while he waited.
Fortunately for the group of crying Pokemon, Neo and Nyx reached them at the same time, the pair exchanging a silent conversation through their eyes before either did anything. Neo clearly favored a gentle approach, while Nyx was ready to scold the pair for their indecent behavior; apparently they came to some sort of agreement because Neo gently reached his paws up to gently pluck Balerd from the sobbing duo. "That was very nice of you Balerd," he said, smiling at the bird as he placed him on the ground. "Why don't you go see Papa for a minute." The Meowstic gave the small Hawlucha a gentle nudge in the right direction and waited for him to go before turning back to Jeremiah and Air, who were already being tended to by Nyx.
"Kindly pull yourselves together," the Vulpix said, sounding much like he was scolding disobedient children. With one paw, he pushed on Air's shoulder to get his attention. "Let go of Jeremiah." The Ditto sniffled and did as he was told, letting his hands fall to his sides. "Now. Are we feeling better?" From the sounds of it, there was one right answer to that question.
But Neo was there too, and his expression was much softer and sympathetic, since he wasn't quite as quick to attribute the situation to over-indulgence in alcohol. "Are you both okay?"
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 11:14 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
"Oh? That sounds most interesting, we must be sure to catch it tonight should we be able to." Neo's description didn't really invoke the most specific of images. Tobias knew much of stars, but many superfluous things were beyond his ken. He could navigate from the stars and he knew what their light meant upon a night-cloaked field, but things such as meteor showers were never of his concern. But while Neo's explanation was a tad drab, really he had just said "it looks cool" and "rocks falling out of the sky", he spoke of it with a passion that befit a much more interesting activity. So Tobias simply assumed that there was more to it than the description, something that perhaps defied conventional words. That, in and of itself, was something rather interesting. "I would certainly be pleased should we be able to witness it."
"Sounds alright." Joshua wasn't quite as pro-meteor as Tobias was, but it was a positive-leaning statement. "Can't say I'm sure I'll be up at four but I'll watch it if I am." Joshua was sincerely and legitimately skeptical he'd be awake at the time. Things were working fine upstairs but, even as slow as he drank, he was feeling it a bit. The relaxation and the slow desire to take a nap. They were going to claim him sooner or later, he was sure.
"We'll have a good chance to trade stories then." Lux was sure to have a mass of them, but she had a few of her own. Balerd was a strange child and an excellent source of such tales from time to time. Robin has less... "character" and less time to amass such stories, but at the very least they could share a laugh over the kids they were both indirectly responsible for. "I'll be looking forward to it." Unfortunately for Lux, the rest of his story would go heard but only partially paid attention to. Jessica had been content to let Air and Jeremiah do their own thing, but it was becoming abundantly apparent that it was becoming a source of disruption. Something like this was well in line with expectations for the evening, but this was pushing it and that was well apparent by the determined pace of both Neo and Nyx. She did listen to the story, she really did; it even ticked across her mind that a proper encyclopedia was a rarity and that she would have to ask to view it sometime, but it was becoming readily apparent they would have to return to that story later. "I'm sorry Lux, but..." She looked over towards the distressed quartet before looking back at Lux apologetically. "I think I'm going to have to help with those two. We'll talk some more, okay?"
"That I do~" She did indeed have it, among other things.
And then the positions within the room were disrupted quickly and with a surprising smoothness. Neo and Nyx left the table to deal with the crying duo, shortly after which Jessica departed her conversation as well. Joshua was the next to move, albeit after a somewhat awkward standstill.
"Hey." Joshua returned the greeting, but was left with an obvious issue. He needed to leave, but now he had a seemingly expectant child. "Hey uh, Tobias, you mind?" Joshua jerked his head slightly towards the kids in a "save me" gesture.
"I believe I can be of help, yes. Allow me to do so." Tobias began to move from his seat, but not before Joshua could.
"Sorry little buddies but I gotta deal with uh, mister Jeremiah, alright? Tobias will take care of you." He hopped off down his seat, gently rubbed past Eliot in a friendly gesture, and turned back slightly towards Alexandru. "I'll need to borrow you later 'Dru. Gimme a minute or two." Joshua and him were having a talk regardless of how Alexandru really felt about things, because Joshua had been put in an awkward spot and you better believe he was gonna deal with it.
Jessica, of course, was the first member of the team to be at the "scene" in order to rectify it. Her position was somewhat less tender than Neo's, but certainly much less forceful and blunt than Nyx's. Much as Nyx did, she assumed that it was the result of an alcohol-fueled breakdown. A negative emotional spiral that sometimes hit people who drunk a bit too much and put themselves in a bad place. But the best thing they could do for that wasn't simply to pull them apart or ask them questions, but to prompt them with a course of action; so though it wasn't necessarily her place to do so, she would step between the two and put a gentle hand on Air to guide him in the proper direction. "Hey there, alright, how about we go get a drink of water?" A drink of water would do a lot in a lot of ways, the least of which would be to give Air a "blank" moment to calm down and forced control over his breathing. She gently shifted in under Air's arm, provided he was at least some degree of compliant, and then motioned towards Neo. "Lets all go get a drink of water, alright?" Air didn't need to be made to calm down, he just needed to relax for a moment. She was a bit concerned about Jeremiah, but it was easy enough to see as she maneuvered herself around Air that she wasn't the one to tend to him.
"You okay?" Jeremiah stiffly nodded, obviously being not at all okay but not really in any trouble. He had only barely parted ways from Air against Nyx's pressure, and now he was crying without really understanding why. There was just so many things going on and it was all too much, but expecting him to comprehend that in his given state was simply too much. "How about we take a break in the bathroom for a minute, alright?"
Jeremiah nodded again, this time somewhat less stiffly. A barely coherent, "Yeah," would make it out past everything else and Joshua would walk up beside him.
"You lean on me and lets go, alright?" Jeremiah would nod again and the two would depart, pausing only briefly for Joshua to gesture towards 'Dru. If the bat was going to come, this was apparently his invitation. Joshua would come and extend it again more forcefully if 'Dru didn't feel like complying, but the second invitation wouldn't come until later on. Jeremiah did need a moment to calm down, after all.
And it was during this time that Tobias sprung into action and did what Tobias did best: Tobias. More specifically he rectified the first issue by picking up Eliot and stuffing the little growlithe under his shoulder with Clara in tow. On the way to his target destination he picked up Balerd who had begun walking towards him reluctantly and looking very much defeated. (Balerd could do anything, or so Balerd thought, but sometimes what to do wasn't something Balerd knew.) With all three children in hand, Tobias would quickly trot over towards the kitchen,if cy is remembering where the baskets are correctly shove his head inside one of them and withdraw it with the rubik's cube between his jaws. With that complete, he would go towards the only fully available member of the room and proceed to drop/put down all three kids. "Clara, this is a gift from our team to you. I have heard that you found it most enjoyable so I obtained one for you to keep." That dealt with Clara, leaving the obvious issue: Eliot. Balerd was easy to distract, indeed even without toys Tobias had many ways, but for Eliot this was more troublesome. "Lux," which is what brought him to Lux. "Would you happen to know where Eliot's toys have been stored? I believe it would be ideal if we were to retrieve some, but I am not sure where they are."
Tobias could hazard some guesses, but it was much faster to simply ask Lux. Blindness didn't seem to be an impediment for the Lucario, after all. This way he could keep all three children entertained until such a time as things had calmed down, at which point he could resume his conversation of interest with Neo. Lux could join in too, if he so wished.
Balerd, of course, was simply being Balerd. Which for the time being meant chirping lightly and not really understanding what was going on, since suddenly a lot of things had started to happen and papa was involved.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 11:39 am
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru "Not at all." Lux waved Jessica's apology off, smiling. "Do what you need to, I understand." If she wasn't tending to them he would be, so it was fine other way. Fortunately, he felt the crackle of Nyx's aura and the waves of Neo's already present in the area Jessica wandered off to, so getting himself involved would be excessive. The Lucario wasn't particularly concerned by this of all things, though all the captains appeared to be joining together to save face, but from what he could tell no one in the room was truly bothered by the event--there was just a good deal of embarrassment and some confusion on behalf of the children. Left to his own devices, Lux sipped his glass thoughtfully and stood on his own for the moment, watching the flurry of auras that bustled about. Keeping out of the way of the rest of them would be his most useful function at the moment.
"Oh...bye." Eliot watched the bigger dog leave, looking a little crestfallen. He seemed like he was in a hurry, but the puppy recognized the canine gesture of familiarity he'd left in his wake. It stirred a small tail way from the Growlithe, but he hadn't been given a chance to say anything back, so he returned to staring at his paws. Normally he would've been happy for a chance to talk to Uncle Tobi, but it didn't feel quite right to do that with everything else that was going on.
"Oh? Alright, we will talk later then." Alexandru was just as surprised by Joshua's sudden burst of action, but he handled it with the poise granted to an adult by age and experience. That said, nothing could really prepare him for the unprecedented experience of a Linoone vaulting past him and landing gently on his paws on the other side of the table before snatching up the pair of children who'd been standing beside him moments prior. Tobias didn't even say a word as he went back the way he came, the soft sound of his paws and the muffled coo of his son as he was grabbed, the only farewell the Zubat received. The bat's brow furrowed, clicking after Tobias to witness his departure into the kitchen, and he frowned. This was all very strange. Had everyone had a little too much to drink? Preoccupied as he was, Alexandru didn't think to expect anything from Joshua and therefore missed the Poochyena's subtle gesture entirely. It took time and focus to pick up on body language through sound, and Alexandru didn't have the luxury of either of those.
Eliot, meanwhile, was both surprised and delighted to find himself scooped up by Uncle Tobias, giving a soft yip of surprise both when the Linoone jumped over his head and when the actual scooping happened. He loved it when they jumped back over the table though--Uncle Tobi was pretty good at jumping too. By the time Balerd had joined them as well, the Growlithe shot his friend a smile, delighted by this odd change in events and content to be carried wherever by his most favorite Uncle from outside the Team.
Clara was surprised, but delight certainly wasn't the thing that fueled it. Instead the girl wore a look of something like horror as she spun around to see Uncle Tobias land behind them on four paws. "Uh--Um!" She knew the rules were different for adults than they were for kids, but she was pretty sure nobody was supposed to be allowed to jump over the table, especially when it still had food and drink on it. But before she could voice her protests Tobias had grabbed Eliot by the scruff and all three of them were flying through the air, only to land on the ground on the other side of the table, leaving the young Drifloon a bit shellshocked. Her brother laughed as Uncle Tobias transferred him to a different hold, under his arm, but Clara was simply unable to process the whole thing: it had all happened so fast and it was all so...against the rules!
Regardless of what Eliot or Clara thought however, they ended up in the kitchen--where Tobias grabbed something in his mouth--and then they were back in the outer room with everyone else, and soon had tumbled in front of Uncle Lux. Clara let go of Eliot when he was dropped, keeping herself from following her brother into his floppy somersault that landed him on his stomach at Lux's feet, and she bit her lip with concern, looking from face to face. Fortunately there was suddenly something very unique, and very appealing being offered to her. "Oh!" The girl's cheeks reddened and she took the colorful cube with surprise. That was...really nice of Uncle Tobias. "Th-thank you," she said, plucking the marvelous toy from his paw warily, as though worried it would disappear. She looked at the cube hungrily, eager to shift the colors around, but something in her heart still troubled her. "A-Are you sure it's alright?" she asked, looking at the Linoone nervously, eyes straying to the moving figures on the other side of the room. "Is everything okay?"
A gentle pat on the head caused her to turn around, and she found the paw belonged to Uncle Lux. "Everything will be just fine, my dear." The Lucario moved his paw down, raising the cube that rested in her hands to her eye level. "Uncle Air and Uncle Jeremiah are in good hands. They're just feeling a bit anxious. Your father and the others will have them feeling better soon." He smiled. "The best thing we can do is leave them alone for a while. Uncle Tobias just gave you a lovely present, why don't you play with that for a while?"
Clara nodded, biting her lip. If Uncle Lux said so, then it was probably fine. She just wished she could do something. "Alright." The girl hovered to the side, shooting another glance at the action before she gave a closer look at the cube in front of her. Well, the colors weren't going to rearrange themselves. Soon she was immersed in the activity, and the adults were able to deal with the other problem at hand.
"So, you wanted to know about Eliot's toys?" Lux tapped his chin thoughtfully. "There are some kept over there." He gestured to a bookshelf in the corner filled with a number of peculiar objects. The higher shelves didn't look like they had anything intended for a child, but the bottom two had a number of delightful toys scattered between them. It was where Clara had pulled her kaleidoscope from before, though that particular toy lay forgotten on the floor. "Although..." The Lucario looked down at the ball of orange aura in front of him, noting the way that it spiked and flared uncertainly. "No, you should check the children's room." He nodded, satisfied with his conclusion. "You'll recall it from before. There's a plush toy on Eliot's bed that would be helpful for this occasion."
The little Growlithe, who had picked himself up off the ground by now, and was feeling a bit uneasy to see his sister so worked up, perked up at the mention of his prized possession. "Aegi?
Lux chuckled. "Yes Eliot. Wouldn't it be nice for Uncle Tobias to meet Aegi?"
The puppy's tail wagged delightedly, and he spun in a quick circle. "Yeah! Let's go get Aegi!" Aegi was almost as good as Daddy at making things better. Almost.
"I...uh..." Air struggled to form words as he was overwhelmed with questions. His head was still spinning, but it was remarkably sobering to have your vice captain staring at you the way Nyx was. The Ditto knew the consequences of a wrong answer and he wasn't drunk enough to ignore the Vulpix. "Um...I'm..."
He glanced at Neo, who took a step forward, extending a paw to hold Air's hand. The Meowstic squeezed his friend's hand comfortingly. "It's alright. Tell me what's wrong."
Air stared at Neo, feeling jittery as he looked back at Nyx's piercing gaze. "M-My head," he said weakly. "It feels fuzzy." Was that a real thing? He didn't know how to describe it better. "I-I'm fine but J-Jeremiah." He glanced at the Sableye, "I almost hurt J-J-Jeremiah!" The Ditto's breathing grew rapid again, and tears threatened to spill over again as he looked at Neo helplessly, trying not to lose it completely since Nyx was, in fact, still there.
"Hey, hey..." Neo said, shooting a quick glance over at the Sableye to assess his physical state. The Ghost looked overwhelmed and tearful, but he didn't show any signs of injury. "But you didn't, right? Nobody's hurt." The Meowstic moved his paw upward, rubbing the Ditto-Audino's arm in a soothing, rhythmic motion. "There, there. Nobody's hurt."
Neo's attentions to Air left Nyx rather disgruntled and displeased. Drunk Pokemon were not to be coddled, they were to be dealt with firmly and kept from embarrassing themselves and everyone else any more than they already had. Never mind inexperience with alcohol, anyone could be sobered up if given the right reasons. The Vulpix turned to the Sableye and regarded him with appraisal, looking him up and down like he were a mildly interesting piece of artwork. He didn't much like what he saw, but that was no matter--he was a guest, which meant he was to be treated as such. "You look alright." The Vulpix moved in closer, circling the Sableye to examine him from all sides, then sat down in front of him. "It's Air, isn't it." It wasn't a question. "Don't think about it too much, you'll only make things worse for yourself. If it still bothers you in the morning, ask him then."
It was about that time that Joshua and Jessica showed up, each stepping in to tend to one of the pair. Nyx backed off when Joshua stepped in, doing the polite thing and letting someone more appropriate handle the situation. The fox's eyes would follow the duo as they slipped off to the back room Joshua had been shown before, but he wouldn't move, only turning his gaze back to the nearby group when the pair had vanished from sight. The Vulpix looked like he was thinking about something intently as he watched them go, but the expression left his face shortly after, and his mouth shifted into a frown again.
When Jessica stepped in Neo pulled back, letting his paw fall to his side as the Charmander took up his place at Air's side. Air's eyes were dull as he looked from Neo to Jessica, confused by the change in contact enough that it took him a painfully long moment to register her suggestion. "W-Water?" The word was so filled with befuddlement it was like he'd never heard the term before. The Ditto blinked, closing his eyes slowly and squeezing them shut for another moment before opening them again, blinking several times to clear the blurriness from his vision. "Alright." Shaking his head as if he were clearing water from his ears, Air pushed himself to his feet unsteadily and began to toddle in the direction of the kitchen at Jessica's prompting. Noting the Charmander's gesture, Neo followed behind, sparing a glance for Nyx as he left. His partner met his eyes and offered a terse smile before standing and walking off, headed back toward the table with his eyes set on Alexandru.
"Perhaps we should have cut them off earlier." Nyx took a seat at the end of the table, where Killian had been before, eyes fixed on the crimson bat.
"Ah, Nyx." He hadn't seen what Tobias had done then. Well perhaps that was for the best but perhaps he should say something... "Yes, I should've realized how much he'd had already." The frown was audible in the bat's voice.
Nyx raised a brow, surprised at the self-chastising in the bat's voice. Alexandru was still very much unknown to all of them, but his self-discipline was gratifying for the Vulpix to hear. "You can't be blamed for it," the Vulpix said, "You and Lux are hardly well-equipped for dealing with something like that." Unless Air was announcing every time he poured a drink, it would be difficult to tell exactly who was getting a new drink when.
The Zubat clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Four times."
"Pardon?"
"He summoned Neo four times. I should have stopped him after the first. At least the second."
Nyx found himself caught off guard, surprised by the bat's astuteness. The look of surprise that came over him was quickly tucked away (despite the fact that his conversation partner couldn't see it) and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Forgive me for making assumptions."
The Zubat shook his head, sighing. "No, forgive me. I'm a bit on edge this evening."
Nyx felt a wave of gratification come over him. Usually anyone who made him feel uncomfortable was quickly discarded as not worth his time, but something about Alexandru's peculiar tones and the emotion behind his remarks made up for any carelessness they possessed. The edge of the Vulpix's mouth turned up in a smile. "Don't be concerned Alexandru. I'm much the same."
Which left the trio headed toward the kitchen. Now that Tobias and the children had vacated it, Neo, Jessica, and Air would make their way inside. Air wandered ahead of the other two, his walk rather dream-like, as though he were walking on clouds. Neo walked beside Jessica, who had been left behind by her patient, glancing back over his shoulder to keep tabs on what was happening with everyone else. "It was a good idea to split them up," he murmured under his breath for Jessica's benefit, not that there was really any risk of Air overhearing. "This will help him cool down I think." As they made their way into the kitchen, Air came to a stop and looked around, blinking as though he'd just registered the change in his surroundings. "Take a seat Air." Neo pulled the Ditto-Audino by his arm and led him to the much smaller kitchen table, patting a pad for him to sit on and nodding for Jessica to do the same. "I'll be right back with that water."
The Meowstic bustled off, heading over to a tall cabinet and plucking three glasses with his Psychic. They were all bipeds here so his job was relatively easy. He headed over to the fountain and filled the glasses with water before returning to the counter to add a few more things. Ice for all of them, to chill the temperature, then some citrus. A bit of lemon zest, a bit of lime, mix it together, allow it to cool, stir again, and a few minutes later he was back with a trio of refreshing drinks to place before himself and his companions. Air would watch Neo work, looking a little lost unless Jessica happened to say something, in which case he would tend to her...as best he could.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 7:05 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
Tobias did as Tobias does, which of course involved having a very finite appreciation for social norms and a great deal of swiftness with which to both analyze his situation and act. Eliot was pleased and this was excellent. Clara was also pleased, which was also excellent. Much as Lux did, he gently patted Clara and added in his own words of simple explanation. "Air and Jeremiah are simply confused and worried that the other is hurt. They will be given time to think and things will be most well, do not worry." To simply say that they were drunk was the simplest option, but that would necessitate a lot of explanation that Tobias didn't have the time to give. The children, he knew, ought to be occupied though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. Perhaps it was Neo's attempt to distance the children. But it didn't matter. What mattered was Lux's explanation and the brief exchange Lux shared with Eliot. He did remember where the room was but, even if he didn't it didn't matter. He had a much better idea. "Yes we shall go to Neo's room and we shall retrieve Aegi. But Eliot, Balerd. It shall be a race."
Balerd, of course, would begin running immediately. "Race!" The little bird had been nothing short of enthusiastic since being picked up by Tobias as, much like Eliot, the obvious reinforcement of a figure that was beloved, trusted and exciting overrode previous feelings. The awareness was still there in the back of Balerd's infantile mind, but having been pushed aside it would do little to dictate actions for the time being. Aegi, too, sounded interesting. Sort of. Eliot certainly seemed to like it and there was an obvious excitement in his voice and posture that had quickly infected Balerd's own pace and actions. Child rearing may have been complicated but being a child was not.
And Tobias would be right behind them both, with a smile on his face as he watched them go, in order to open up the door once they arrived so that the three of them could slip in and Eliot could retrieve Aegi.
Of course, while the children were being tended to the rest of the room was far from idle. Jessica had caught Nyx's words and she disapproved of them well enough as little more than pointless confrontation, but speaking on them would do little more than pick a fight and Air was more pressing at the time. She let Neo handle Air verbally, there was no need to confuse the poor drunk by giving him multiple people to listen to at once, at least until they managed to get him into the kitchen. She just focused on keeping him well enough supported and mobile enough in whatever sense he needed it to get him seated in the kitchen. Thankfully it didn't seem like there was a lot of need for that, she supposed that perhaps Ditto were hard to make trip due to how flexible they were with their physiology, so she instead kept slightly back with Neo in order to avoid tripping Air by accident. She nodded in response to Neo at first. "They just need a second to calm down, we've all been there." She shrugged her shoulders ever-so-slightly and let on a friendly smile. Air's shenanigans weren't the most endearing, but they weren't harmful either. He was just drunk.
She sat down next to Air at Neo's prompting and her mind quickly shuffled through topics as fast as it could. Her arm moved mechanically, gently patting Air while it raced through ideas as fast as possible. She didn't know a lot about Air and unfortunately most of the topics she could pick up on were poor ones. Air needed a mental break, not a recall of what had happened. She couldn't talk about the party, that was right out. So was the "event", of course. Air's transformations were a poor idea, due to the prior issue. But she didn't really have any other information to work off of, which was a problem. She had only spoken to Air very briefly and Tobias's summaries weren't that complicated. They were brief and nuanced descriptions of the personality of the person in question, which wasn't much help here. Jessica quickly abandoned the idea of a personalized topic and instead tried to cast her mind towards generic topics. Something that would make Air think, but not something that could bring up stressful thoughts.
"What's your favourite place, Air?" She spoke slowly, trying to clearly enunciate each word in order to avoid losing Air's focus. "That you've been with your team, I mean. I think mine has to be the Fluorescent Forest. It's a wonderful place where the trees light up, even during the day. It's very bright, but really pretty. Have you ever been?" If there was any measure of success, she'd try to keep the conversation going with easy comments and questions until Neo arrived with the water. If it failed, she'd move on to other similarly simple and relatable questions. What was his favourite book? What was his favourite game? Had he ever been to the Miltank Cafe in the city? Things would have been well enough fine if she had said nothing, but she had no way of knowing that. She figured that Air likely couldn't hold more than a single thought in his head at a time, so as long as she could shove something new in things would be fine.
Madeline, on the other hand, was a bit bored. There had been a brief temptation to move in on Alexandru and have a chat with him but that opportunity had been removed by Nyx's presence. Talking to Nyx had been plenty of fun for plenty of reasons, but she'd had enough of that for the night. Lux was the only one available due to the social debacle that was alcohol and while he seemed like a good guy, he didn't really seem like someone that was fun to talk to. Satisfying, maybe, but probably not fun. Too serious, too straightforward. Maddie cast her glance around looking for something to do and she settled on the only available option which led her to quickly strut over to Killian and poke his leg with a cloth-covered paw. "Hey big guy. Does your skin absorb poison?"
"No, Air was... I was... uh..." Jeremiah tried to give some kind of sensible response. Some kind of argument against Nyx's overwhelmingly accusatory claims. Something about them just seemed so... so wrong. Like something needed to be said, something needed to be disagreed with. But Jeremiah wasn't sure what, just that it was something. He gave up on the notion when Joshua slipped in and he ended up leaning on the Poochyena just a little too hard. His spare hand went to his head, which seemed to have started hurting at some point and he wasn't really sure when. A slow walk and a stumbling effort to open the door took the two of them into the washroom and Joshua began slowly issuing commands.
"Stick your hands in the water and then wash your face off." Joshua slowly stepped back, letting Jeremiah stand on his own feet, and then lowered his hindquarters to the ground. Jeremiah stepped forward slowly and did as he was told. "Alright now take a couple of deep breaths." Deep breath in, deep breath out. In, out. He wasn't sure why he was being told to do it. He didn't even think about that uncertainty on its own, he just did it; Joshua was a smart guy and he always knew what to do. So Jeremiah just did it. "Count to twenty." Jeremiah began counting upwards, slowly and unevenly. Certain numbers seemed to catch in his throat. "Now how do you feel?"
"Well everything was fine and Air was showing me his transformations but then Killian threw him--" Smack. Joshua had leaned forward and lightly whapped Jeremiah on the head after he had started speaking entirely too fast about things entirely too likely to get him riled up again. "Hey! What was that for!?"
Joshua lowered his head slightly and sighed. "I asked you how you're doing."
"Oh. Well..." Jeremiah seemed to reflect on it for a moment as he stared at Joshua and then down at himself. "Everything is... hard. Why is everything so hard?" Everything. Counting, talking, thinking, understanding. Things seemed to go by so fast and when he thought he had the slightest understanding of what was going on it shattered. He had the feeling that something was wrong, that he wasn't thinking right, but he didn't understand why. Things just... didn't seem to work. How long had he been like this? When did it start?
"You're both drunk."
"Drunk?" Jeremiah stared at Joshua in obvious confusion. Drunk? "What's drunk?"
"It means you're both idiots until tomorrow morning."
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:23 pm
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru A race--what an inspired idea! Eliot seemed just as pleased with the idea as his smaller friend, crouching down in a play bow toward the bird, allowing Balerd to make the first move toward the door. The Growlithe was off in a flash the moment Balerd's legs began to move, fueled by the thrill of competition and--more importantly--by the thought of Aegi waiting for him up ahead. It was that added motivation which would find Eliot at the door to his room first of the three, tail wagging furiously as he tagged it proudly with his paw. If Tobias and Balerd weren't so close behind the puppy would have hurried ahead, but Tobias was already opening the door in the time it took Eliot to look back for Balerd and him. Pathway clear, the Growlithe yipped eagerly and charged ahead to the nest of pillows and blankets that made his bed. After a moment of rummaging, Eliot trotted back to Tobias and Balerd, wherever they'd ended up, a plush toy clutched tenderly between his jaws, and placed it on the ground before them proudly. "Uncle Tobi, Balerd, meet Aegi."
The toy Eliot had brought was certainly less impressive than Balerd may have been expecting, especially given the build-up it had been given. The most noticeable thing about it was that it was well-loved, its fabric far from pristine thanks to the many places it had been taken and the number of gentle teething sessions that it had been the subject of. The second, more obvious thing, was that it was a stuffed Aegislash plush, thus explaining the unusual name Eliot had given it. One might surmise, like with Tobias's name, he had abbreviated the word to make it easier to say, which revealed, to the astute, just how often this toy in particular was asked for. The plush was extremely soft to the touch, and its stitching was apparently quite durable since there were only a couple of places where holes had been sewn up immaculately with Joltik thread; Aegi was about ten inches in length and rested in Shield Forme, and with the way Eliot stared down at the sword and back up at Tobias and Balerd anxiously, it was easy to tell that it was the puupy's most prized possession and he really wanted them to like it.
Back outside, Lux turned from watching Tobias and the boys' auras hurry off toward the children's room to regard Clara again. The girl seemed to have relaxed considerably, her aura charged with focus as she hovered in place, her hands fiddling with the cube she'd been given. With a soft sigh of contentment, Lux found his way to the nearby couch and settled into it, placing his half-finished glass of wine on the ground in front of him.
"Clara, dear?"
"Yes, Uncle Lux?" The girl looked up in surprise to see the Lucario watching her, and she clutched her cube uncertainly.
"Would you show me how your cube works? I've been curious about it for a while now." And, more importantly, it would keep Clara from being on her own while everyone else was preoccupied.
Clara frowned, mind working furiously as she considered how she could explain this to her blind uncle, but drifted toward him nevertheless. "I can try." she said softly, settling down to hover close to him. "You see, it's all about arranging the colors..."
"Here." With gentle paws, Lux took Clara's hands that still clutched the cube. "Now go ahead. Keep playing like you were before. I'd just like to feel what it's like."
"O-Okay..." Sometimes Uncle Lux asked for really strange things.
It was weird at first, and Clara wasn't sure she liked it. Having Uncle Lux's hands on top of hers made it harder to turn the sides of the cube, and she kept glancing up at him from where she hovered in his lap, feeling like he was staring her down and critiquing the way she played with the toy. After a while though, she caught a faint smile on the Lucario's face when she looked back, his head leaned back against the couch and his eyes closed. The sight of her uncle's contentment brought a smile to Clara's face, and she went back to the cube feeling much more relaxed than before. Uncle Lux was enjoying himself, and that helped Clara to enjoy herself too. In a little more time, she was turning the colors with her original vigor, an expression of pure, unadulterated pleasure on the Drifloon's face.
Across the room, Killian found himself faced with yet another different One. There were so many to keep track of, he'd yet to pay this Cloth-Footed One much attention, but his head slowly turned to face the Umbreon who'd prodded him so unceremoniously. "No. It does not absorb poison." Golurk were constructs of clay, molded strong like metal. While he could feel things as though he had skin, his body certainly didn't have skin like his Teammates' bodies did. He wouldn't have acknowledged her question as reference to his body (since he clearly didn't have skin) if it weren't for the Floating One Friend, who would be said to have skin although hers too was different, with a rubbery texture. Looking at the Cloth-Footed One Friend, she seemed interested in him for some reason. Which undoubtedly meant more questions. He truly did prefer to be left to his post; these guests were very difficult to please.
Air was in the middle of contemplating the way Neo's tail swished when he walked, oblivious to Jessica's hand on his arm until she spoke up. "Whuh?" The word sounded a little strange, like he hadn't really said it, but his mouth had moved so he had, right? "F-Favorite...?" Legends, that question required thinking, and thinking was so hard right now. But still Jessica was waiting for an answer. Wait, but to which question? There was suddenly so much to think about and his head really hurt.
"I...I've never...no, that's not right." Air shook his head, trying again. "I think that place, with the light-up trees, I think I've been there, but not with my Team." He'd been a lot of places, but places he'd been with his Team really limited the options. Well unless... "Th--There was this place Nyx and I went one time. It was really nice." The Ditto-Audino's eyes glossed over as the memory played out before his eyes. "There were these crazy rocks that could fly there, and a place where it looked like stars. Not a lot of Pokemon though. Normally I like places with more Pokemon because I like to watch them and talk to them and copy them." That wasn't one of the places he wasn't supposed to mention, was it? Oh well, it probably wasn't important. It wasn't like he'd mentioned how Nyx would disappear sometimes and leave him all alone only to show up again without warning. He wasn't supposed to mention that no matter what, though Air didn't really know why. He liked the breaks, it gave him a chance to look at the weird places Nyx took him.
Even as Air contemplated secrets, his focus was broken by a cup of water put in front of him by a familiar white paw. "Drink up, Air." Neo said, handing Jessica her glass before he took a seat himself. He laughed lightly as Air took a full gulp, only to splutter in surprise at the zest of the drink. "It's kinda surprising at first, huh? That's to help get your head back on straight." Citrus was always helpful to sharpen your focus, especially when you mixed it with the crispness of icy water. Neo sipped his own water, enjoying the taste as his eyes slid over to Jessica. "So, what were we talking about? I thought I heard you mention trees that glow during the day?"
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:07 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
"I'm not an idiot!" Jeremiah responded in the most indignant voice he could muster, but his expression slowly fell into uncertainty. "Am I an idiot?"
Joshua lightly patted Jeremiah on the forehead. "Just until the morning." Jeremiah was never exactly the sharpest tool in the shed but alcohol tended to dull even the rustiest of minds, something well evident in Jeremiah. "Lets take a breather and then head back out and see how Air is doing, alright?" They could head out in a minute or so once it seemed like Jeremiah could at least breathe properly, make sure things were fine and then... whatever. Something or other. They could deal with it when they left.
Jeremiah nodded slowly. "Alright."
"Great!" Madeline dropped down slightly, her hindquarters shaking lightly back and forth for a moment as she settled into position before suddenly springing upwards and landing on top of Killian. He seemed nice and smooth and if he couldn't absorb poison, then there was no reason for her not to indulge. She felt along his shoulders lightly with her paws before lying down on his shoulder with one of her back paws lazily hanging off the side. "I'm going to rest for a bit then~ Feel free to wake me up if you need me." Killian didn't seem like he'd mind and she was getting a little sleepy. Maybe when she woke up, things would be a little bit more interesting.
"Oh? That sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe we can visit sometime." It was somewhat of a feigned offer; she would follow through but she fully expected Air to be too drunk to remember it. But it did have the benefit of perhaps giving Air something positive to think about for the moment, which would hopefully help him calm down some. She took the glass and smiled alongside Neo as she took a small, cautious sip of her own. She quickly picked up with the question he asked to carry the conversation along. "It's an odd forest out a ways east. I didn't spend a lot of time there, but I took a delivery there once back before Balerd had settled in and we could do proper missions. Nobody there could quite tell me why it was, but the trees there glowed even in the day. The leaves above were so thick that the sunlight barely came through, so the trees were necessary to see everything properly. It was a beautiful place and the people there seemed friendly enough. If you ever get a bit of wanderlust, it's a great place to visit." Areas with friendly enough people weren't uncommon, but not every area was friendly. It was a virtuous quality in a travel destination.
The only thing that maintained Balerd's interest was Eliot's own; the exciting, bubbly race towards and into the room had been enough to make Balerd simply too happy to feel sad. Balerd was not particularly much for toys of the plush variety. They lacked the roundness and shininess that was so very adored and as a result Eliot's toy was simply just a thing. But it was a thing that Eliot was very excited about, and while Balerd may not have developed complex empathetic skills it was still enough to justify an examination. complete with lots of darting motions and soft chirping. It would never properly pass the bar of interest for Balerd, but for the sake of the two of them something compelled Tobias to be proactively interactive. "Hohoho, how wonderful." Tobias leaned down, having been standing from when he opened the door, and picked Aegi up carefully. The result, from there, involved a great deal of spinning and turning over as he examined the toy in depth more for the show of it than for anything in particular; those details that were so terribly important to analyze had been apparent from the start. "He is a wonderful companion."
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Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 6:07 pm
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru Air blinked, a bit dazed by Jessica's offer. "Visit...?" He stared at his hands for a moment, as if the words he couldn't form were written on them, and then he nodded without warning. "Sure. Yeah. We can visit. If I remember how to get there..." He might have to ask Nyx to remind him, and to do that he'd have to come up with some clever excuse that, drunk as he was, Air knew he wouldn't be coming to in a single sitting. The Ditto-Audino held his cup with both hands after the shock of the first drink, watching the way the liquid swirled inside it curiously while he half-listened to Neo and Jessica's conversation.
"Wow, it sounds beautiful!" Neo said, approvingly. "I'll definitely have to check it out sometime, even if it's not for work." He tapped his claws against his glass thoughtfully, considering his options. "Of course, I can probably fit work into it somehow," he said with a chuckle. "I don't know about your Team, but when we don't have any big assignments we do a lot of reconnaissance." Nyx had been the one who started it, but the habit grew quickly. Don't have a specific job today? Pick a direction and explore. Fill in the blank spaces on the map, make connections, learn what there is to know about the places accessible to you. "I imagine, collectively, we've seen a lot of the central continent by this point. Comparatively speaking."
"Not just the central continent!" Air piped up, nodding vigorously. "I go out pretty far sometimes. Because I can travel more easily than everybody else, you know? I sometimes make a game out of it. How far can I go while still making it home in time for dinner. I think the farthest I got so far was to about the middle of the mountains, but something distracted me so I don't know how good of an estimate that is." What form had he even taken that day? Arcanine? Dragonite?
"W-wonderrrrful!" Eliot yipped, nodding excitedly. They liked Aegi! They really liked him! The puppy was pleased enough to run in a few excited circles before waiting expectantly for his companion to be returned to him. "Aegi is my b-beeest frrriend. Aside from Clara. And Balerd. And Uncle Tobi. And--" The puppy would keep going if he weren't stopped. Now that they were in the children's room though, there were many wondrous toys and games to be sampled, just as Lux had promised, were any of the room's occupants inclined to indulge. The toy basket was filled with treasures, including objects of a rounder variety that were more to their guests' persuasion.
The rest of Team Essence were preoccupied with their previous engagements in one way or another.
Killian now had an Umbreon on his head and that was certainly a change. He didn't have any particular feelings about it, except for the consideration that this was not something anyone other than the Small Ones had done before. The Cloth-Footed One was small, but not a Small One. Peculiar. Right, he was being "nice" to these strangers. ...Rest well." The words were a little too late to be anything more than an obvious afterthought, but the idea was there at least. Good try, Killian!
Nyx and Alexandru sat together at the end of the table. The pairing was both odd and somehow fitting: the reclusive eccentrics sitting together at a party and hardly talking to one another. Alexandru nursed the dregs of his drink thoughtfully, while Nyx stared down the table with an inscrutable expression. It didn't take much longer for him to excuse himself from the Zubat's side and begin collecting dessert dishes. He couldn't take them to the kitchen while Neo, Jessica, and Air were cluttering it, but he could compile them in one area so that they'd be easily transferred when the time was right. Also, he hated to leave the table looking cluttered when it was utterly unnecessary.
Lux and Clara, of course, were still very busy with the wonderful cube. ((Right, things are winding down here and I discovered from backreading we have a meteor shower to catch up to soon. Yay, purpose!))
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:52 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
"We don't travel much individually for the sake of traveling." Jessica was business oriented to the core. "Joshua is a somewhat recent recruit, Madeline is an even more recent guest, Jeremiah has no inclination to travel and Tobias stays with Balerd for the most part. When we first started out, I traveled a lot, not so much for reconnaissance but for work. There's a lot of simple work out there that falls below the level of typical guild missions that's still helpful to do and it let me be productive while Balerd was still settling in." Of course, she mostly visited areas that weren't a part of the broad "outlands". There were some, here and there, that broadly recognized and accepted the tenuous rule of the Eclipse family and did well. Many of them sat on the edge of those guild areas. The areas themselves often leaned towards hostile in some fashion, hence the necessity for teams. That thought pricked at her slightly now that she considered it; it was odd that the forest had been so peaceful in spite of being a designated area.
Well, whatever. Neo didn't seem a fool, and Lux certainly wasn't, so she hardly needed to explain the risks of the job to them.
"Being able to travel for the sake of traveling, being able to climb the mountains and seeing from the top of them, sounds like a lot of fun. But for me, that's a plan for retirement." She had listened to what Air said the level of care necessary to ensure she could engage him. "I'm not as free as a bird, not yet anyways. Maybe once I get my wings?" She laughed and swirled her water before drinking a bit. That would be a long way away, she was sure, but it would be nice. She had been to the sky a few times when she was young, but Charizard lacked the wing span for passenger-laden flights. They were faint, but precious memories.
"Can do~"" Madeline lazily traced a half-cocked claw across Killian's shoulder, fully aware that the act wouldn't hurt him. A nap sounded great.
Tobias wouldn't make any effort to stop Eliot, but Balerd would quickly get bored and seek out more interesting and adventuresome things to do. The room was a familiar one, but never one that had been fully and completely explored in the past and it was very much the case that Balerd would do so now. This would inevitably, of course, drag Eliot into it as well and consume them for the rest of the likely soon-to-end stay; it was well evident that at least a few members of both teams needed rest, and after the splitting of conversations it was too late to strike up more than strange smalltalk.
This would immediately cast the narrative focus onto the only unresolved issue of the evening, namely Air and Jeremiah. The latter would leave the washroom well enough, his steps methodical in nature but functional given his lack of sobriety. Joshua stayed nearby to offer support but it would go unneeded, aside from Joshua pointing out which one Air was, as Jeremiah would walk towards the Ditto-dino and give him a hug. Words were a little too much right now.
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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 8:13 am
Neo & Nyx & Air & Eliot & Clara & Lux & Killian & Alexandru "Wow, you're really dedicated, huh?" Neo smiled warmly at the Charmander across the table, nodding at her reply. "I'm sure you're doing a lot of good work, and the people you're helping really appreciate it." Even workaholics could use affirmation now and again; it was no easy thing to devote your whole life to doing tasks for others, even if you were paid for it. "I hope you get the chance to experience that kind of freedom someday," he continued, a little sheepishly, "before you get your wings, even. Some day soon." He'd never considered it before, but maybe he was pretty lucky, being able to give his Team the freedom he did. He assumed everybody got paid similarly, so his Team's lifestyle would be commonplace, but apparently it wasn't so easy for Jessica. The thought worried him, making the Meowstic wonder if he was being too lax, or perhaps if Jessica had some additional something she was working towards that required her to do so much. "I'd be happy to help, if there was any way I could, if you ever wanted to take some time for yourself," he added, the words tentative, but sincere. The last thing he wanted was to offend her, but he firmly believed that everyone should be allowed to have time off, even if it was a rare event.
"Jessica, you need to live a little." Neo almost choked on his water in surprise at Air's bluntness, eyes turning to the Ditto-Audino who was staring directly at the Charmander through alcohol-heavy eyes. "It's super amazing how serious you are about all this, but that's no excuse!" Air raised a paw as if to hush any objections. "See, you can't say 'I'll have fun when I retire,' because there's no guarantee of that in a world like this." He gestured about the area dismissively, almost knocking over his drink in the process. "Sure you say that, but you're really smart, so you know that not many people get to retire anymore. S'just the way of the world. And!" Air banged his fist down on the table to accentuate the conjunct, jumping at the sound before he went back to his speech. "Because that's the truth--the real truth of doing what we do--you have to take the chance to live life whenever you can. If you don't do it now, you probably never will--so just do it!"
"Air!" Neo was two parts bewildered and mortified. Much as there was truth to what his teammate was saying, it wasn't at all like the Ditto to reprimand someone, particularly a guest or friend. And with a comment so grim, too. It wasn't like Air at all. "What's gotten into you, huh? That wasn't very nice."
Air shook his head, the feelers extending from his ears whipping forward to hit his cheeks from the fierceness of the action. "It's important," he said, his voice quavering just a little. "A lot of people don't realize they're using work as an excuse until it's too late! Jessica is nice--I won't let that happen to her." He turned back to the Charmander and grabbed her paws in his. "Wings are great, and they'll look great on you, but you don't need them to do fun things. You have to prioritize time outside of work, too, even if work is really important, because otherwise you'll end up missing something important without even knowing. Please trust me on this." Air was incredibly adamant about this, anxious and searching Jessica's eyes for honesty in any answer she'd give. Moments later, his hands would drop and he'd teeter forward, upper body dropping to the table as the Ditto's eyes closed in a sudden, overwhelming exhaustion. The drunk Ditto had reached his limit in that last, passionate display.
Neo steadied the three glasses on the table with his Psychic, to ensure none fell from the impact of Air's body. The Meowstic's neck felt hot with embarrassment at his team member's behavior, and he bit his lip with a sigh. "I suppose it's better that way," he remarked, mostly to himself. "If he were smaller, I could've carried him to bed, but..." Oh well, he could be roused enough to be tucked in properly. "I'm sorry if he came on too strong just then," the Meowstic said politely, looking up at Jessica. "If it helps at all, I think it's because he really cares. I can't imagine he'd lecture someone out of malice: it's not in his nature." Neo stood up, absently stroking a paw down the side of his face. "I think that's probably our cue to wind things down though, don't you?" he said with a smile. "I'm sorry things got a bit hectic at the end, but I truly had a nice time. I hope we can do this again, maybe with less alcohol." He chuckled softly. "I'll round up my lot and you can collect yours, and we'll see you off properly."
Neo would turn to Air when the conversation resolved, leaving Jessica to go ahead if she chose, and gently rubbed the Ditto-Audino's shoulder, shaking him with a quiet firmness. "Air! Air! Wake up! It's time to go to bed." The words were gentle, uttered in a low whisper and almost cooed into the Ditto's ear, as one would rouse a child or a lover; quite unlike Jessica, Neo liked to coddle the more sensitive members of his Team.
After a few moments, Air blinked his eyes open, looking surprised to find himself staring at a table. "Hnnnn..."
"Shhh." Neo helped the Ditto-Audino to shaky paws, smiling at him. "You're sleepy, I know. We just have to say goodbye to our friends, then we can all go to bed, okay?" Air nodded, numbly, and Neo took him by the paw to lead him back to the main room. They didn't make it far before a dull-eyed Jeremiah lumbered up to them, eyes set on Air, and wrapped his arms around the Ditto's round torso. Surprised out of his stupor--enough to respond, anyway--Air let go of Neo's hand to return the gesture, kneeling down so he was closer to Jeremiah's height. The Ditto-Audino buried his head in the Sableye's shoulder, also saying nothing. Words were definitely too much right now.
When it was clear the pair wouldn't be separating anytime soon, Neo stole over to Nyx's side, where the Vulpix was sorting utensils at the edge of the table, and whispered a few words in his ear. The vupine nodded briskly toward the room Neo and the children shared, then stole off to the other end of the table, where he exchanged a few words with Alexandru before leaving the bat to speak with Lux and Clara. His partner stepped into the back room where he would find Tobias, Eliot, and Balerd happily at play. "Some people are falling asleep on their paws out there," Neo informed his friend with a grin. "And it's about Eliot and Clara's bedtime, so Jessica and I are winding things down." When he returned to the main room, he'd bring the trio with him, and by that point the rest of the group would be assembled.
Goodbyes would be exchanged and the adults would exchange formal handshakes or familiar waves, depending on person. And Neo and Nyx would see their guests out the door before returning to deal with the afterparty chores. Killian would resume his post at the door, happy with the quiet of normalcy; Neo would collect his children and begin the bedtime rituals; Lux would see to Air, helping the Ditto back to bed with a concerned Alexandru hovering nearby; and Nyx would see to the table and dishes and other miscellany. Eventually, Neo would return to help his partner with the last parts of the clean-up, and the pair would exchange words for some time about Team Robin, even after all the chores were done. The captains, too, would head for bed in the end, splitting off to their separate rooms; leaving the Golurk guard at his post and the common room vacant of the signs of frivolity from mere hours before.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 10:04 pm
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Balerd & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
Air's blunt proclamations and accusations met nicely with Neo's own confusion. Calling Jessica a workaholic wasn't too far off the mark; she took great value in the purpose of her work and the sense of accomplishment that came with it. She certainly was saving up for something--retirement, stable ownership, and connections. If you asked her, she would adamantly disagree with the notion that she was a workaholic. She was dedicated. She had a good work ethic. She was saving up and had a practical, beneficial way to both look at and live her life. She was very much the picture of it, in those senses. She didn't really have solid longterm plans, having long since figured that she would figure them out when she reached them. On the other hand, working in the present to invest in the future was not a bad thing. Everyone did it to one extent or another. She certainly couldn't be called strange, and whether the wishy-washy nature of her future's plans justified the claim of "workaholic" was probably in the eye of the beholder.
The meeting between the two teams simply served to solidify both claims. She sized everyone up, figured out who was in charge, and whether or not they could be trusted and for what. On the other hand, she was also there making friends and helping to secure the leisure she would seek whether it was in the immediacy or the far future. Where did one begin and the other end? Could they really even be pulled apart from one another, or was socialization and pleasure simply the twin side of progress? Truly, it was a matter of debate.
What was certain, however, is that if you asked her she would deny the claim vehemently. Normally, at least. Her typically sharp tongue and mind were somewhat blunted not by alcohol's common stupor but the sheer oddity of what was happening. In any other time, place, or situation, or talking to anyone other than a half-drunken often puddle that had crashed himself into the ceiling and then nearly started a fire was something else entirely. Responses were easier to formulate in... well, just about any other combination of anything. It was incontestable that it was surreal to have Air lay into her so heavily with accusations and any sort of anger was drained entirely by how incredibly emotional and desperate he was about it. He had taken a few things out of context to boot, leaving it all just... a little hard to respond to. She let him take her hands, more out of an uncertainty as to how to act than anything, and received the implicit burden of the almost necessity driven Ditto.
Rather than deepseated honesty, her gaze would reflect mainly confusion when she responded with a deep nod.
"No no, it's fine. I'm sure he's just feeling a bit of passion and alcohol." She waved a hand to dismiss Neo's concerns. The whole situation had been beyond bizarre and no less than a little shocking at times, but that was because Air was simply beyond her expectations. Neo, on the other hand, was very much "her" kind of person in a lot of senses. He had a rhythm to him not dissimilar to her own, though for different enough reasons, and when things came back to being between the two of them it was easy to find that rhythm again. "But you're right. We should be winding down. It was a wonderful time." She smiled readily in return. "We'll have to get together for lunch sometime." She was quick to agree with Neo that the two would be best off rounding up their respective members, a task she set about by prioritizing Madeline first and then the rest. Joshua retrieved himself, for the most part, and took care of the Sableye who Jessica's gaze lingered on while she was coaxing the sleepy Umbreon to the ground. Tobias would quickly enough appear with Balerd after having given Eliot the required affection and the teams would say their full goodbyes.
Tobias, curiously, would zip off ahead of the rest. Joshua would leave, passively regretting his inability to tend to Alexandru's anxieties. But little did he, or indeed really anyone else at all, known that it wouldn't be their last meeting of the night. Only Tobias knew that Tobias was going to walk back into the room at 2:45 in the morning. Neo had talked about meteor showers, you see. Tobias would wave to Killian upon entry and, surely, go on to do other things--though not before Killian could have a chance to react.
((Pardon the fuzziness of this but at one point I lost a great deal of the post and it left me somewhat tapped by the end of it.))
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