with knowledge comes great responsibility

[anythingforyou]

[What an absolute ordeal all of that was.

Today was certainly one hell of a day, that's for sure; they've managed to take care of another Guardian and gain it's trust (or at the very least, something resembling it), they managed to find Candice and manage to...well, maybe not get her back in a state that's altogether wanted, but ensure they managed to get her at least into a place where she could possibly regain herself. It will likely be a process, as such things are, but they've done their best, and they should have no regrets.

The center is definitely going to be a welcome reprieve for all of their suffering, at the very least. The Kompot is certainly more than enough to likely get everyone warmed back up and in a stable condition, along with the copious amount of blankets the locals have provided. They've got the time to rest and get ready for their next adventure.

Rest well, ye merry band of travelers. You've earned it.]

Comments

[heritrix]

[Other than to have one cup of kompot, Rin won't be around. Once they've found someone to rehabilitate Candice (her family, perhaps, if they live in this town?), whether they stay in the Center or leave for a residence, Rin chooses to spends time with them and the former gym leader wherever they go. Both to explain what happened, and to answer questions and offer as much advice as she can on how to care for Candice's needs.

Way up in the boonies like this, there has to be a doctor or something too, but Rin is still strangely insistent on helping with this.

Because of that, other than to seek out Zelda at some point and properly thank Bosphoramus for his help in the cave, Rin is only available to chat as they first arrive at the center, when she accepts a cup of kompot that's been offered to them. After she's finished speaking with Candice and her caretakers, she seems to slip off unannounced.

...if for some reason you venture outside the Pokemon Center later in the day, though, you might hear a strange sound. It's faint and hard to hear, but the wind helps carry it. It sounds like it's coming from behind the building.]

Outside the Center

[anythingforyou]

[Camilla's general foggy mind results in her wandering outside eventually. It's likely a bad idea, in her condition; she should be resting, and she doesn't have any of her Pokemon with her, but she's never been good at sitting still.

...What is that sound, though? Camilla registers it after a moment or so, and starts to walk toward the back of the building; is it a little bit clearer, the closer she gets to it...?]

[heritrix]

[Only slightly.

It's hard to make out partially because it's quiet, but mostly because it's erratic. As Camilla gets closer though, if she strains her ears she'll sometimes be able to make out a sharp hiss of air too quick to be the wind, and a faint rustle of plastic.]

[anythingforyou]

[...Hmm. Camilla purses her lips a bit at that--she really isn't sure what to make of the plastic noise, but the hiss of air gets her protective measures to go up, if only slightly.

Her steps become...quieter, as she goes further in. They're more careful, as to try and mix with the wind and not alert whatever is going on. It might not be the best, but she's going to try to get closer, to see if she can make more out.]

[heritrix]

[Well once she gets close enough to peer around the back of the building, the source of the noise will be obvious. The rustling noises are coming from a plastic grocery bag propped against the building, weighted down by whatever's inside it but its handles left to flutter in the wind.

The other noise, however, is coming from a person, and that person is (1) one sobbing teenager. Rin is crouched along the bushes on the backside of the building here, with her face in her hands. She makes little noise but her shoulders are visibly shaking, and her hands don't obscure the fat teardrops dripping from her chin.

...gold star for good instincts?]

[anythingforyou]

[...Yeah, guess it is a good thing that the big sister instincts override all else. For once in her gods forsaken life, anyway.

There's...a bit of contemplation, there, once she finds the source. Rin's always been a little standoffish, if a touch prickly, maybe. But at the same time...well, she came out all this way...

Camilla takes a step forward.]

Rin...?

[heritrix]

[Rin visibly startles, like she didn't hear Camilla coming, but doesn't lower her hand. Instead she ducks her head with a harsh breath, probably trying to hide the rest of her face.]

Don't.

[Don't what...? Talk to me? Come closer? Maybe all of the above and then some, it's hard to say. That single word is choked out, and the best she could manage without her voice shaking.]

[anythingforyou]

[...Rin, that's only going to make her more worried. You just went and played yourself, you realize that, right.

Camilla takes a step closer.]

...You look terrible, dear. I can't simply just leave you here.

[She could, but she's not fucking cruel.]

[heritrix]

It's fine.

[It is definitely not fine, and her voice cracks saying that, but at least she's not telling Camilla to go. Probably hoping for that, but she seems to have decided the best way of getting out of this situation is pull herself together as quickly as she can.]

I'll be— [Her voice cracks again, but she disguises it with a harsh sniff, swiping at her nose.] I'll be inside in a minute. You're sick; you shouldn't stay out here.

[She just needs to stop crying. Dammit, why can't she stop crying?]

[hyruglyphics]

[ I MEAN.

ZELDA'S JUST SULKING IN THE CORNER WITH SABER MOST OF THE NIGHT? Miphanus is around too, but they're also going around poking at the PC and drifting around the area? But the point is she's not really hard to find or anything. You can totally find that life of her. ]

[heritrix]

[Welp! Rin will come looking for her then sometime later in the day, after she's returned to the pokecenter. That ended up being a longer trip for... uh. Reasons. She had to clean up afterwards, but originally she'd gone out to get something at the PokeMart to thank Zelda and Bosphoramus for their help earlier. So with her present in hand, she approaches the princess at the PC.]

Zelda? How are you holding up?

[hyruglyphics]

[ Miphanus urged her over to look at the screen, so that they could find a video or something on Poke-youtube or something. Who knows if you can actually do that here, but it saw something interesting on the monitor earlier. Right now, Zelda's just idly getting a feel for using the mouse. ]

... I will manage.

[ Hello Rin. She smiles. ]

Hello, Rin.

[heritrix]

[Rin manages a smile back. "I'll manage" is an answer she's given herself plenty of times. It's what you say when you're not okay yet at all, but you will be.]

I wanted to thank you and Bosphoramus for your help in the cavern earlier, with the fire. We're alive thanks to him. So here; take this.

[So she offers Zelda the bag she got from the PokeMart. Inside there's some snacks meant for pokemon, and medicine Rin has made herself. For Bosphoramus in particular, there's also a fetching, cream-colored scarf big enough for even a giant rock snake to wear.

How does one-size-fits-all make any kind of sense in the pokemon world? We don't know, we just don't know.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ A gift...? She's actually genuinely surprised enough that she looks away from Rin down to the bag as she takes it, her somewhat bloodshot green eyes widening. She pulls up the bag, opening it. And Miphanus behind her floats for an angle to lean in and try to see it! As for her though, rummaging in here she... huh. Snacks and - oh. Oh, a big... this is a big scarf, isn't it? She smiles at it.

Miphanus wonders if it should do that clothing thing?

But... ] Monta and Lobanja are just as responsible. And your own quick thinking.

[ Even if they thought of it pretty much at the same time. ]

[heritrix]

[—oh, that's a good point. Rin brings her hand up to her chin.

She'd remembered Bosphoramus, and that's because the Onix had had to endure that cramped space and buffet them from those freezing temperatures for so long. She knows Onix are a species of Rock Type pokemon, and therefore weak against Ice, so while that wasn't a full-on attack from Froslass, she imagined it was difficult for him.

Monta and Lobanja helped just as much, though. She's not surprised she spaced thinking of them— she hasn't been thinking very clearly since she went out to the store—but it's definitely a mistake on her part.]

You're right. [She nods easily, and smiles again.] I'll get something to thank them as well, after we're done chatting.

But still—you caught on to what I was thinking right away. That saved us precious seconds, and I'm sure you were about to do the same thing yourself if I hadn't taken the lead. So thank you again.

[hyruglyphics]

It was only... well, it was only logical.

[ But yes, Bosphoramus wasn't happy about the whole cold there. He was keeping himself in good spirits because that's just sort of his nature, but the cold and the ice and the threat to him (more as a Ground than a Rock type) was No Bueno. Zelda though, softly nods at Rin.

logical...

Honestly, after today she does feel a little bit the worse for how she normally likes to see the world, so scientifically. ]

But thank you for actually doing it.

[heritrix]

[...hmm. She can't help teasing the other girl, if only to try to insert some levity here.]

Can I expect a present from you in turn, then?

outside

[fatalstrikes]

[Yuri doesn't want to be in the Pokémon Center. He doesn't want to be surrounded by people who are doing their best to handle what happened and doing their best to help everyone else. He just wants to stop thinking about it, which is why he's out wandering the city despite the cold. He's got his ghost sword with him, and the Pokémon picks up on the sound before he does. They both follow it; Yuri's curious as to what's causing it and the sword... well, the sword goes where Yuri goes.

So what's making the sound behind the building, huh?]

[heritrix]

[WELL, UH. Not something that's much better than the scene inside the building that he was so eager to get away from, unfortunately. It's a sobbing teenager with her face in her hands, shoulders shaking from the force of her distress but trying as hard as she can not to be loud. What the fuck, hey, no one asked for this. Put it back.

Them's the breaks though, sorry Yuri. But now that you've seen her, what will you do?

A) Approach
B) Leave and/or check on her later
C) Throw a rock
D) Summon a mariachi band
E) Pretend you saw nothing
F) [Insert you own option]

THE CHOICES ARE YOURS, AND YOURS ALONE.]

[fatalstrikes]

[i can't believe >FIGHT >PKMN >ITEM >RUN aren't options smh

This is not exactly what he signed up for, but Yuri can't just leave her here. He hesitates for a moment, looking at the sword like maybe it'll have some kind of advice on what the hell he should do here, but as usual the sword just stares at him. Thanks buddy, you're real helpful.

He approaches, then; he's not trying to be sneaky about it or anything so she can probably hear him before he speaks up.]

...I'd tell you to head inside, but I'm guessing you don't want to deal with everyone else right now.

[that probably includes you too, yuri?? but okay. sure.]

[heritrix]

[Oh god you're right, I had one job and I failed. TIME TO CAST MYSELF INTO THE OCEAN AS PENANCE.

But yes, Yuri's hit the nail on the head. She didn't exactly mean to break down sobbing like this, but now that she is she doesn't want anyone to see her, and that includes Yuri too. That she could hear him approaching gave her a little time to prepare herself. It's not enough to stop the uncontrollable waterworks, but she can at least get out an intelligible sentence, even if her voice is wobbly.]

Don't worry about me. [She sniffs, and swipes hard at her nose, peeking at him from where she's dropped her head against her knees.] I'll—I'll head back inside in a minute.

[fatalstrikes]

Yeah. I know you will.

[She'll head inside once she's ready to be seen again, no matter how long that takes.

Yuri moves after a moment, not to touch Rin or anything, but to sit down nearby. He's not looking at her, just staring up at the sky.]

...If you want to talk, I'll listen.

[heritrix]

[She wants to tell him to leave already, but that's her misery talking, and the hot shame of not being able to pull herself together. It's nothing against him. Does she want to talk, though? It's kind of hard to through the tears, but putting that aside she doesn't even know where to begin.

It takes several seconds for her to speak up, voice small, but encouraged by his presence. He's not looking at her, so she's... She's grateful for that; for allowing her to keep even a little of her dignity.]

...I don't know what to say. I don't even know why I'm crying like this.

[fatalstrikes]

[Yeah, he thought she might appreciate that much.]

Today was really hard on everyone. Seeing the people and Pokémon frozen like that, nearly being frozen... and then Candice and Uxie... I don't think anyone's handling it well.

[He's quiet for a moment.]

It's all bad, but is there some part of it that's bothering you more than the rest?

[heritrix]

[There is, and she's quiet again for the space of a few breaths.

...]

Candice. [Fingers trembling, Rin runs them over the fabric of her pants, brushing snow from her knees.] Or rather, her condition... Seeing her like that brought back some uncomfortable memories.