⚔ // once upon a dream

[discutio]

[You all know the drill by now. Ignis and Camilla have taken over the nearest kitchen, and there's going to be food in the Pokemon Center soon enough; a warm and comforting vegetable curry. Highwind's even out now, welcoming any and all who might need a large cloud bird to hug after everything that was.]

[It's been a long night. Everyone needs a good meal and a long rest, and luckily one of those things is being seen to immediately.]

Comments

[discutio]

[Ignis was used to having vision in dreams and dreams alone, but this had been a special case. No subconscious sleeping mind could manufacture all of that, and it was as real as the world they were in now, the one he saw only through every other sense.]

[A small sacrifice in the greater battle.]

[That was alright. He had been this way for a decade, and Ignis was hardly going to lament the matter after this long. Once he'd finally left the kitchen he took a slow breath, closed his less damaged eye, and slid his silver visor back into place over the scars burned into his skin. Even though Ignis was keeping to himself as the night wore on, he didn't look upset or downcast about the evening's events. He'd be concentrating in silence for a long time, Hemera curled up at his side.]

[...There was a lot that had happened, and so much he needed to make sure he kept in his memory with total clarity.]

[eudaimonikos]

Need a hand?

[No worries, Ignis, you seem okay enough right now that Michael isn't actually attempting to banish you from the kitchen again.]

[nightcure]

[ And here's Noctis, as usual. He takes his seat at Ignis's side, before placing a kiss to his cheek. ]

Hey.

[gekkaju]

[Atsushi has left all of this feeling...strangely fulfilled yet hollowed out at the same time. Darkrai's nightmares took it out of him, especially seeing everyone from the Agency again. But the uplifting feeling of being with and talking to Cresselia, knowing that they had both her and Darkrai on their side...it made all of that feel worth it, somehow.

Atsushi will gladly help himself to a bowl of curry before finding someplace on the Center floor to sit and eat it, letting out all three of his Pokemon to enjoy some of it with him. People might notice him paying special attention to his newest addition, a Buizel seated in his lap who clearly has no spirit at all...he feeds him with his own spoon, talking to him gently.]

We're going to help you out too, Mizu. I promise. I can't wait to see what your personality is like, you know...maybe you can help me keep these two in line.

[Said jokingly to Chazuke and Natto, who have already eaten their fill and are snoozing next to him.

...also, hopefully Highwind doesn't mind but he might...actually take up that offer for a cloud bird hug, leaning on him for a short while to just enjoy his softness.]

[discutio]

[bird loves naps and hugs and is here for either]

[Ignis, still without his glasses, would approach the affectionate bird with a spare plate of curry. Which in turn got the Altaria to lift her head up and peck at it. Hell yeah, food.]

How are you feeling, Atsushi?

[...how does he DO that.]

[anythingforyou]

[Oh no...Camilla walks over to see Atsushi to check on him after all of that, but when she sets her sights on him and that Buizel, she can't help but smile? That's so heckin' cute, what the fuck.]

I'm sure their personality is going to be wonderfully bright. Why, I bet they'll love you to bits, with how much you're taking care of them!

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

Fuaaaah...

[Sinking into one of the long benches/chairs/whatever at the local Pokemon Center with a steaming hot bowl of soup is pretty much the extent of what Sena feels like he can do right now. Even eating the soup feels like it'll take too much energy at the moment, so holding it in is hands, feeling the warmth and enjoying its rich scent is enough.

He's in such a lax mood that even Monta coming up and irately quizzing him through annoyed monkey noises doesn't bring up the usual exasperation and resigned sighs. Instead he smiles wanly and just kind of nods the monkey's concerns off - it is kinda justified, after all. After all, they'd all just kinda dropped asleep and their Pokemon couldn't wake them up, and then suddenly they're back in the creepy inn and there's Yet Another Legendary Interrogating Them? You're not supposed to have these weird adventures without him, Sena!]

Yes...Yes, Monta, I know, I'm sorry for worrying you...

[Then Vee bites his tail and drags him off, and all Sena can do is laugh. At least his other Pokemon are a little more considerate - Portus is teleporting the bowls of Pokemon food to their appropriate places, and Nin and Shell are helping herd the food around as best as they can.

Even if they're, um...maybe pouring out a little too much, Sena, shouldn't you stop that? Sena, they're making a mess.]

[niceoppai]

Uh... thanks, guys, but that's a little much --

[NO, it is FINE. So says Sunflower, anyway. The Munchlax inhales an overflowing portion of soup proudly. Chelsea just sighs.]

Guess that works. Hey, Sena, you doing okay?

[perfectselfie]

[Aya is absolutely exhausted after all of that. She can't quite let go of the thought of the girls in Pastel*Palettes replacing her, and it still stings a little. She'll push that thought down for now, instead just taking her team out of their balls and sitting with them, having curry. Ichigo is sitting right next to Aya, and she is not going to leave her side tonight.

That said, she might go for a cloud bird hug, just a brief one.]

[gekkaju]

[Hey, Aya. Hopefully you don't mind Atsushi coming to sit with you, a Buizel in his arms while his Wimpod and Stunky follow so they can sit down with him.]

Hi, Aya-chan.

[greydients]

[It's taken Rey a while to come down from the sheer intensity of the emotions Darkrai's nightmare stirred in her; she's seated herself near the others with a bowl of curry, but can't quite bring herself to taste it. The lack of appetite is odd in itself - she's used to food being so scarce that any available had to be eaten immediately, regardless of her feelings at that moment. The curry smells delicious, but she can't seem to get her fingers to curl around the spoon.

It's been a while since she was reminded of the situation back on the Millennium Falcon. For a time, it had been easy to think of her friends as safe, protected, escaping the First Order and disappearing into hyper space. She hadn't considered the possibility that their enemies could hunt them down, locate them...

someone was here, and people have died as a result of it-

The nightmare didn't need to provide visuals of just what that meant, and who that someone was. The images fly into her head without warning, flashes of red and black, and Rey can't help but wince sharply, spilling some of the curry onto her pants.

If you have to seek revenge for what I've done, she thinks, bitterly, confine it to me alone.

Finally forcing herself to pick up the spoon, Rey begins to eat, the food turning to ash in her mouth.]

[gekkaju]

[It's hard for Atsushi not to notice how quiet Rey is, looking like she's still trapped in the world that Darkrai put them in. ...he knows how that feels, or at least he thinks he does.

Eventually he comes her way and sits down beside her with his little menagerie of Pokemon in tow, but thankfully they're either too full or too spiritless to be too rambunctious right now.]

You okay, Rey?

[bloodspent]

Hey.

[Jake will come over and sit nearby if she'll let him; it's been a long day, really, and he doesn't blame her for being kind of...this. If she needs to be this for a while, she can, it's not like he's going to judge.

He's got Hlača out with him for the time being, resettling the Scrafty in his lap while he gets himself sorted out; god only knows where Albert wandered off to, but it's not like this area is less safe than anywhere else.]

You look like you're having a hard time. You gonna be okay?

[hyruglyphics]

Rey.

[ They did that whole hugging and sad thing, back in the dream. The desperation of that moment does and did linger with Zelda. She has her own trauma, of course, but she can't help but be concerned with the state of the other girl. And so it's with her own curry in hand (and Saber the Lickilicky behind her, holding three bowls for itself it may or may not have stolen...) Zelda is sort of silently asking if she can sit next to Rey. ]

[anythingforyou]

[Camilla's still sort of in the process of processing all that's happened; that dream was the first time she'd seen home in all of these months, and after all that had happened before she arrived, it was both a terrifying and bittersweet sight. It's...certainly giving her much to think about, but she doesn't want to be too glum about it. Ruminating on it for too long is bound to get some of that anger in the mix again, and the less that happens, the better.

Once she leaves the kitchen herself, she'll be around the Center for a while and mostly just kind of walking around and making sure people are eating. She's a big sis, okay, it's what she do. And god if people don't seem like they need it, really. Arion's kind of walking in tow and she can be seen going to pet him sometimes, because honestly, he's still a good fluffy dragon. If a shit, sometimes. It's...nice, really.

Later on, however, she'll be making herself scarce and going elsewhere; she can be found more toward Route 218 promptly training herself up. She wants to get some of that aggression from the day out, since she'd firmly put a lid on it when Ignis told her to do so. It sees her movements very, very erratic and forceful, straining her current stick very much.

It's...been a day, really.]

route 218

[discutio]

[Eventually, after their work in the kitchen Ignis sought Camilla out--he had a promise to keep and a pair of sticks in his hand, Hemera beside him as usual.]

...I'm sorry, if I was short with you back there. I think I owe you a match as apology, don't I?

[greydients]

[It won't take long before Camilla finds herself with another companion out on Route 218; Rey watches her a silence for a while, before-]

...can I ask you a favour?

[semistableman]

[The fact that Darkrai had given him such an awful nightmare is... something. Of all the dreams he could have, it was walking outside of his hut and seeing his goats and neighbors not acting right. Well. At least it wasn't about Steve, he can be thankful for that. He wouldn't have acted as rationally as he had if it had been him.

He's happy to have the gang out of their Pokeballs, all four of them.]

I'm all right. Sorry to keep you guys waiting.

[Even Donny finally seems to have enough enough personality of his own to snort in what Bucky is pretty sure is an acceptance of his apology. He sighs, a big bowl of food in his lap as he tries to relax.

It takes him a while before he addresses the group. Or at least the people still in the Center.]

I think that went about as well as it could, with both of them.

[discutio]

[did you think he wouldn't check in with you the minute he's done cooking because you're super wrong bucky buddy boy.]

Bucky. How are you feeling?

[hyruglyphics]

[ Link.

... Link was safe, Link had to be safe. But it's been months since she's seen him. Months since she had been in Hyrule in general. It would be a lie to say she wasn't shaken by the vision of what they saw back then. It's something that is going to haunt her dreams, she's sure of it.

But... well, for now, she has two little objectives. The first is that she's appeasing the needs of her Pokémon. That involves, first and foremost, to walk around with Vah Daroh the Porygon behind her and going up to people to ask - ]

Do any of you have ... I suppose it would be called an electronic? Something like my Sheikah Slate. They wise to experience another one than the ones in the Center.

[ . . . But then, other than that, she's sighing and taking up a careful seat with as a sad look at the sad clown in her hands. Namely, the Shiny Mime Jr that she caught back on Iron Island. As a result, Zelda ends up taking up her spot in a corner of the Center, looking pensive, if not actively troubled. ... No, she's definitely a little (a lot) troubled. ]

corner

[niceoppai]

Hey, Zel. Little guy's still not improving, huh?

[niceoppai]

[Chelsea and her Pokémon start eating right away, though the trainer herself seems distracted enough not to notice that Sunflower has inhaled his soup and moved on to eating hers. She just pats him and shakes her head.]

Least that's over with. I gotta wonder, though, what are they gonna do now?

[greydients]

[Rey is sitting near Chelsea, silently watching Sunflower eat - there's something amusing about it, and it brings a small smile to her face.]

You should probably watch your food, or it'll disappear.

[bloodspent]

[So that could've been worse. A lot worse, actually, in that it could have been not just a dream.

Jake isn't really up for talking much about what happened with him and Yuri and Riley while everything was going to shit for everyone else as well; he'll hang back outside the inn for a while instead of going to the Center immediately, just...taking some time to get his bearings and fresh air all at the same time.

He hasn't let his Pokémon out of the damn balls in something like two weeks; he can be seen kind of tossing one of them up in the air and catching them again before finally just opening the thing and releasing Hlača.

...Whose first act as someone that hasn't been outside since the world ended is to tackle Jake to the ground, utilizing his entire face as a weapon of very targeted destruction, and then he's just going to sit on his trainer's chest like an asshole because this is what today looks like.]

Okay, okay - never for that long again, I get it!

[He deserves it, probably.

That said, he can be found in the Center eventually; he's going to be trying to reintegrate his other Pokémon to the land of the dubiously living gradually, for now he's just got Hlača being carried around like a spoiled five-year-old and Albert wandering around after them in all his...lime green vine-tentacled glory. He seems reasonably okay today, despite everything; still not really here to talk about what happened today, but a little more willing to stick near the group as a whole if anyone wants to talk to him as opposed to skulking off to the nearest corner to keep an eye on everyone.]

Outside the Inn

[anythingforyou]

[...God damn, she's gotta get back to the Center eventually but the sight of this is just making her snicker like hell? She's doing her best to be lady-like about it, but by the gods, Hlača certainly knows how to get his revenge, doesn't he?]

...I take it you might need a hand or two, Jake?

[Like. She's kind of giving Hlača a small smile just for what he's done, because holy shit, but the guy's gotta get off eventually...right...]

[eudaimonikos]

[Considering how he fell apart after his first encounter with Darkrai, Michael seems pretty darn okay right now. If he took the time to really dwell on the second encounter, maybe he wouldn't be, but it ended well enough, and Cresselia took a lot of the edge off. He's fine!

He lets his Pokemon out and, after taking the time to reassure them, spends more time pacing around the Center to see that everyone else is present and eating and all that. It's not an anxious pace; if anything, he seems a little bit excited. Dreams! Humans talk about them all the time! Michael does like getting to experience human things, and this is all the better for being something he actually asked for. Not like a surprise nightmare, or anything.

Later in the evening, he vanishes into the kitchen. Follow him if you want to taste-test any of the batches of chocolate-chip cookies he's making. There's not a ton of noticeable difference between them, but he has labeled the different plates: "A", "B", and so on. He'd only gotten through the theoretical stages of this before they left Canalave, and now it's time to go practical.]

center

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

[Someone being fidgety after all this? Not so weird.

Someone being excited? That's weird. But then again, this is Michael, so being weird is like...his forte or something. He thinks. Sena's not really giving a lot of thought to things in the outside world right now. Not because he wants to avoid it, or ignore it, it's just...

Everything is just so much.

So while he's technically kinda fine, he doesn't look like it, because Sena's got this vague thoughtful expression on his face and hasn't touched his food. Kinda worrying.]

[takestheblame]

[Kiryu hangs around the Pokecenter, hugging Daigo rather tightly. It's extremely unusual, seeing this grown, tough and fearsome man, giving his panda a rather sincere hug. The rest of the team are around him, waiting for their turn, except Skorupi, who is clinging to Kiryu's head. Kiryu has never been someone to give such overt displays of affection, so they know something rather unusual must have happened.

Kiryu himself is surprised he's doing this. He guesses he's trying to ascertain this is reality. Daigo sure feels warm, fuzzy and real. That fills him with relief.

Once he's done making sure he's awake and not about to walk into another nightmare, he walks around, approaching people and asking]

Are you okay? I'm aware the nightmares could be rather traumatizing.

[To say the least]

[eudaimonikos]

Mine actually wasn't that bad.

[Knowing Michael, he's probably lying at least a little. But only a little.]

I figured out it wasn't real pretty fast, so after that it didn't matter as much. The first time I met it was worse. How about you?

[enjoymyatelier]

[It was just a dream. Kayneth shouldn't be worked up about it, because it was just a dream. He should be fine. Everything should be alright. So, well, he tries to eat at the Pokemon Center for a bit, but he just kind of finds himself poking at his food...

So after a bit of time spent in the corner there, he heads outside to sit by the canal with his Pokemon and finish his curry. It's... well, it's nice out tonight. Sometimes, you just want to be able to look up at the sky... even if it's a different one. The wrong one.

...

He sighs a bit.]

Hopefully no one's gotten enough of their emotions back yet to bother me about sleeping in the library.

Pokemon Center

[takestheblame]

You look better than you did right after your nightmare.

[And that says a lot, because you don't look in emotional top shape right now. Hey, Kayneth, how are you faring?]

[divinedescendant]

[Emmeryn, mom friend queen of fussing, is...not in the Pokémon Center.

Her things are, so she must have been here at some point—she likely hasn't just gone off and died, and who could be blamed for assuming that's the only thing that could keep Emmeryn from her typical busy doting. But while everyone reconvenes and catches their bearings, she's out in the city, taking a walk under the streetlights. Granted, with the whole team in tow, she's making no effort to be stealthy; Latona helpfully pulls Audhulma and Togepi in their wagon, Duma toddles at Emmeryn's side.

Now and then she stops, starts, finds herself walking too slow or too fast and has to weave sharply around Duma. Her hands fold and unfold in front of her, fingers laced then pulled apart; all this fidgeting when her every movement is normally so controlled. No, she is no use to them like this. Just a quick walk, and she can return.

Ylisstol could full well be burning a world away; she can chart any number of ways the war might proceed without her, now, but with the image of her ruined city refusing to leave her, finding paths that end in peace only becomes harder. Something has become of Chrom and Lissa, and—The ruined city she keeps seeing doesn't belong to her anymore. She would be a stranger and a liar, to return. How stupid and selfish, she thinks of the ache in her chest that comes with the thought that she may never know for herself. No, she is no use to anyone like this at all.

For now, though, Duma is easy to fuss over, and she coos at him the same soft, fond way she always does, in between occasional stumbles around him when he stops or tries to change directions. He isn't helping (what else is new) and sometimes turns and nudges his whole face-body-front against her legs, but her hands stay at rest in front of her, moved up to her chest, folded and unfolded, fingers laced then pulled apart.

Of course she will return to the Pokémon Center soon, but—not for just a few moments longer.]

angst? you want some angst?

[radiantflame]

[Morag is no stranger to nightmares, but none had been so vivid before. The negative emotions are still washing over her, so she heads outside under the pretense of keeping watch. In reality, she's hoping the fresh air will help clear her head.

But she also can't be rude and just ignore Emmeryn, so.]

...Ah, good evening.