azume | ⚔ // once upon a dream

[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.]

[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.]

[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.]

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.]

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

[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.

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

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.

Edited 2018-09-16 02:17 (UTC)

[There's the man of the hour. Camilla seems to turn on her heel easily enough, and her voice, while a little jittery, is full of energy.]

Well, if you're offering, then I would be hard pressed to tell you no. Let's get this started~

[She'll deal with the other bit in...a while, really--if anything, she owes him an apology, but that can wait. For right now, she's...probably going to give him couple seconds to get into position to fight, but after that, there's little preamble from her; she's going to start by attempting to rush him down as fast as she can, using that anger as a catalyst.

However, she doesn't raise her stick in the air--she attempts to go right for his legs, to start with, as fast as she can manage.]

[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?

...it certainly could have gone worse.

[If they'd had to endure those nightmares and not end up befriending the two legendary Pokemon, that...would have not been good.]

Although I'm a bit concerned about how Cresselia said she didn't know how they could help.

[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?

[ 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. ]

[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.

[Ah, Rey...Camilla stops herself for a moment, turning to the girl with an intrigued expression.]

Of course, dear--anything you ask of me is yours. What do you need?

[Well--that was fine, actually. Ignis was on guard the moment he heard her rush forward, taking the hit to his legs and recovering with the same acrobatic flip as in their last match. He landed a couple feet back, tossing one makeshift dagger to his other hand and answering in kind by closing that small distance with a charge of his own. One hand lashed out to her hand to try disarming her, the other held closer defensively.]

[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?

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.

⚔ // once upon a dream

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route 218

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