⚔ // 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]

[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.]

[gekkaju]

[At this point Atsushi isn't fully convinced that it isn't magic of some sort. He's stopped questioning it by now.]

A little...weird. I'm not sure that's a good answer though, because I honestly don't know how I feel right now.

[He doesn't want to say bad, because that's not entirely true...weird is a good, happy medium, he thinks.]

[discutio]

[ignis scientia is powerful and terrible and not to be questioned]

I think that's a fair assessment of the situation. 'Weird' is still better than things could be.

[gekkaju]

[Atsushi exhales slowly, reaching a hand back to gently pet Highwind's feathers as he eats.]

Were you separated with a group of the others while we were dreaming too? It was just me, Michael-san, Aya-chan, Keith-kun, and Sena-kun before. I never saw anyone else until Darkrai let us go, so we figured we'd gotten apart somehow.

[discutio]

[yessss highwind is having a nice evening]

Yes. It was myself, Noctis, Bucky, Camilla, and Chelsea. I thought it was possible the rest of us had been split up similarly.

[gekkaju]

[He considers that for a moment, looking down into his lap.]

Do you mind if I ask you what you saw? Not...you don't have to tell me specifics if it is too personal, of course...I'm just wondering because everyone I was with all had similar nightmares.

We'd all been replaced by someone else...by people we care about.

[discutio]

No, it's alright. I don't mind talking about it. What we saw-...well, what Noctis and I saw, it sounded similar for the others--it was our hometown. The capital city of Insomnia, with all its people devoid of spirit and life.

...I'm sorry. It sounds as if you had a rougher time of it than we did.

[gekkaju]

It's okay. I can't say seeing my home with all the people spiritless would have been much easier to swallow. My friends are some of the most spirited people I know, so...it definitely would have been hard.

[The thought of Cyrus winning in that manner is also not something he wants to think about.]

It sounds like Darkrai dredged up our worst fears to see how we'd react.

[discutio]

Seems that way. Luckily it wasn't all for nothing in the end; they seemed satisfied enough with our intent.

[gekkaju]

I hate that we all had to go through that, but for once it feels like it was worth doing. You know?

[He sinks back against Highwind some more, looking at the ceiling.]

Of course...now that Darkrai and Cresselia are on our side, I'm not sure where we'll go from here.

[discutio]

...I'm not either, come to think of it. Back to the guardians, perhaps--just to make sure they're not too drained after exerting themselves with Cyrus. Cynthia or Riley may have a better idea--preferably Riley, if I'm to be honest.

[gekkaju]

Riley seems to know what he's talking about. He certainly gets a plan and sticks to it, that's for sure.

[He's rough, but Atsushi admires him for that.]

And that thing he can do, with auras...that's an invaluable ability with everything messed up like it is.

[Atsushi is...a little jealous, actually. If Riley could do that with Mizushi...maybe he'd start getting better.]

[discutio]

It sounded highly impressive, not to mention incredibly useful. I'm almost a bit jealous, really.

[gekkaju]

I guess it's too unrealistic to think that alone could be used to help all of the Pokemon though, huh.

[And he's not sure how much that kind of thing might work on people, either.]