[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Nathan winces at Shiva's surprisingly icy criticisms.  She wasn't going to let this slide, was she?

He just gives her a tired look for a moment...nope, she wasn't going to let this slide...he's pretty quick to look away again...and he quickly sees Kirlia is giving him much the same look as Shiva...*sigh*...

The first part of what he says is a mostly inaudible, slightly annoyed mumble.  "...nowhere near...without...Dawn..."

The second is a rather tired sounding mumble by contrast.  "...nothing funny...being laughed at..."

He looks rather uncomfortable right now...but at least he's sort of talking?  Kirlia's doing his best to encourage him to solve this now rather than later now that things have progressed more definitively...

Oh, Nathan's right on this, she's kinda stubborn on this issue. Like, they haven't traveled that much of the region so far, but how shall they continue and enjoy their journey together if they are in spats every now and then that lead to not speaking with one another? When SHE had those issues with the others concerning the secret Daycare-Mission and some unfortunate phrasing which led to a misunderstanding (and to a pleasant dinner by the sea), she took efforts to solve it before lasting damage has been inflicted, and successfully brought the group back together. Why not...this time?

However, his first mumble was impossible for her to understand. She only noticed that he didn't enjoyed the situation, but he has to go through this now.

At his second, hard to understanding words though, she gave him an exhausted expression, yet she displayed compassion. Yes, she nevertheless did, and even lighted her crossed arms a little whil facing him. "Nathan... Nate... My, did all those years of growing up and living on a farm not prepared you for the social life? Interacions with people, building friendships and having good times with one another? Or...can't you understand how some things work in real life? Like, listen, NEVER EVER were we directly laughing about you. Why should we? It indeed would be rude."

"Listen...No, LOOK.AT.ME. Listen there, we were just enjoying the situation. Well, mostly Ven was, but I see nothing wrong here. We were not laughing about you, I gladly repeat that, we were laughing with you, as dumb as it may sound. We were not 'humilating' you. Never would, never want to." At this point, she looked over to Ventus, and gave him an expression that clearly said 'Right? You wouldn't want that, right? You better agree.'

"However... " her expession lightened, was that a dear smile on her face? "We cannot know that it has hurt you if you're not telling. A simple 'Please delete those pictures' would be enough, if you're really uncomfortable with it. Avoiding us is one way to cope with things, too, but it's the harder path to walk. And it gives US a bad feeling. We should be sticking together despite our differences, shouldn't we?"

[Lord Windos]

The researcher was jolted out of his sedative state by both Shiva's vocal and emotional outburst, nearly tripping forward on his feet as he straighted at the tone. 'By Zekrom's lightning, I don't believe I have EVER seen her this inflamed over our conflicts, not even in the past Incident I had experienced with her or Nathan! My detachedness was to sustain this quiet, if frigid, atmosphere between us, not cause SHIVA of all people to explode in a annoyed fueled wrath!' Ventus thought, feeling the waves of cold anger and frustration emminating from the young lass, and was growing concerned not only her outburst, but also her mental wellbeing! Constantly going up and down in emotional state is not good for anyone's health, no matter how resilient they may be!

Lucifer was also startled by the sudden uproar, dropping his apple in surprises and pitching forward and off Ventus' shoulder, forcing the devil bat to rapidly flap his wings to prevent himself from colliding into the ground with a "*SPLAT* . Extremely quick to pick up on his master's distress and connecting it with fairy lady once more, the young drake let out an loud, enraged Screech at them, before they swooped over to her and began to harass them, landing on their head and began to tug and pull on it to get her to knock it off and stop being so mean and scary to everyone here! She also owed him a Apple for the one they forced him to drop, and he wants recompense for this as well, skreeech!

Ventus was a bit too disoriented to respond properly to Shiva inquiries (Or react to Lucifer angrily fussing at her hair) , but he still managed to dumbly nod at her, not desiring another burst of that icy cold temper. Kyurem would be impressed indeed by the cold she raidiated at the moment!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

When Lucifer landed on her head (Noibat default weight: 17 lbs!), Shiva had to take good care not to fall over both of the suprise and the constant bugging the draconic bat was giving. However, she managed to stay rather chill. It's not like she had to be afraid of Dragon Types with her Fairies, and she was familiar with that Noibat to that point to know that it wouldn't hurt her seriously. Neither would Ven allow this. Right...?

She reached out and, offering a hand full of dried berries from the strorage she had, encouraged Noibat to land on her arm instead where it was way more comfortable. "Lucifer, please stop that, unless you want to mess up my hair even more than it already is?"

[Lord Windos]

Lucifer, while rather unhappy with the way Shiva treated his master, did love tasty fruit of all kinds, and since she was not yelling at either him or his master before, the drake did as requested. He hopped down from her head and onto her arm, and began to devour the dried berries right out of the palm of their hand. Niobats prefer fresh, juicy fruits to dried, sweeter versions, but fruity treats are fruity treats, and he was not going to turn his nose up at them!

Once he had a minute to proper get a hold of their wits, the researcher felt quite embarrassed and remorseful for his own behavior AND his bat's, quickly shouted a command : "LUCIFER, NO! You are not allowed to harass Shiva like that, do you hear me? Did I not tell you that the last time this happened? I do appreciate you coming to my defense, but that is not the appropreiate way to voice or demonstrate you disapproval of someone's actions! I am quite disappointed in your behavior, my little devil, as I hoped this would not happen again. Come back to my side." The empath said all of this in a remonstrative tone of voice, looking irritated and unhappy with his own Pokémon's behavior. He raised them better than this, and they know it!

The devil bat shrunk away from the negativity directed by his master, letting out a remorseful croon in response to his anger, before they did as he said, springing off Shiva's arm and flapping back over to his shoulder. When the little dragon look to their master for their approval, Ven ignored him, causing them to drup their had in abject sorrow. He only wanted to protect their master, not make him mad at him...

Once that small situation was delt with, Ventus turned his attention towards Shiva and Nathan, let out an tired, tired sigh, before he gave his opinion of this 'Silence' between all of them. "Its as Shiva said, Nate. It was my intention that all of us would enjoy that hilarious moment in the gym together, not cause you great discomfort or distress. I knew something had caused your mood to dive into depressive lonliness, but since I has had not a clue what caused it and wish not to incite another explosive spat between us from my nosiness, I decided to leave you to your own devices after you continued to ignore me. *Sigh* I apologize for the pictures, my friend. I didn't mean to rip open old wounds with my actions, only to create positive memories between us. I'll delete the pictures right now, if you wish," the empath said, looking tired, worried, and upset at himself over this whole fiasco. 'All of this over a simple picture....I should have been able to forsee this, given the now obvious signs. Why do I have to be so remarkably dense at times....'

[Dragonstrike]

He's still rather quiet, but what he says next is more audible at least.  He can't bring himself to look at anyone right now, though, opting to look at the ground instead.

"Please...been laughed at to many times...for to many reasons...hard to be social if nobody else wants to be...and it's not a farm, it's a ranch...big difference..."

Seems Shiva hit a couple sensitive points with her comments.  Nathan doesn't sound angry, though.  Just...really tired and sad.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Unwillingly happy that the Noibat wasn't on her arm anymore - she greatly enjoyed the draconic bat as he was helping himself on the offered treats, but my, he was heavy... - Shiva resumed to face Nathan. Seeing how quiet and stuff he is, it must be hard for him to handle... harder than expected, that is. Oh well.

She didn't quite understand why HE of all costs would have been laughed at and even less for what reasons, but she decided to let that be and not dig into it. Never. Her icy attidue was constantly melting as well, and she spoke to him in a soft compassionate tone. "Well, RANCH then, I'm sorry for that." Actually, was that the reason he became skilled in Battle, to show it to all these that laughed?

"Listen, WE will not laugh at you, I repeat that again. We should stick together after all, and why should we ever hurt you on purpose when we care for you and want your company and friendship because we enjoy it? None of us will do that, alright?" After that words, she also VERY carefully enveloped him into a hug, expressing that it'll be fine and that he's valued as a party member. Shiva may be just freshly on the to recovery, but seeing/feeling how sad and tired he expressed himself... "Now... Feeling a little better? And, you feel okay enough to continue to Wineberry?"

[Lord Windos]

Not wanting his word to ring hollow and seeing Shiva renew her efforts in cheering the sullen and numb feeling Nathan, Ventus dug into his bag and brought out his camera, fiddled with it a bit that caused a couple of small *beeps!*, then turned it around and showed the screen to Nathan, which had these words boldly displayed on it: (2) Photos deleted. Putting his camera away, the empath crossed the distance between the to of them, and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. He wanted to hug him as well, but want to comfort the young trainer, no suffocate him with gentle affection; Shiva already had that job covered.

"They are gone, Nathan. All gone. I know this won't repair the damage I unknowingly inflicted upon you, but I hope it is at least a step in the right direction. Being alone....its a horrible, horrible existence, and I never want you to feel like you are trapped in such a state. So listen to me when I say this: We will always be by your side, Nate, and never abandon you. No matter what disasters might waylays us, and no matter what problems you may cause us. We will stand by you side, as you will do the same for us. I promise you this, my friend..."

[Dragonstrike]

"I'll be fine in a little bit...let's keep going...if there's still a little time before nightfall when we get to town, there's some reading and research I'd like to do at the library there...I need a little time to process this..."

The encouraging words and deletion of the photos helps a lot.  He's still not fully recovered, but it won't be long until Nathan's mostly back to a relatively happier state.  Kirlia's looking notably less concerned now.

[Lord Windos]

"Very well, my friend. If you are ready to move on, then let us make haste to Winesberry, and began preparations. Take all the time you need to fully recover from this...ordel, while Shiva and I be close at hand, ready to assist you in whatever you need. Once we enter town, though, we shouldn't separate, as the Scimitars will most likely remember us from our previous encounters with them, and would be eager to find us alone to do whatever fell acts they wish. We need to stand together now, more than any other time, to endure the upcoming events..."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

At 'we shouldn't seperate' Shiva remembered something. Something...important...well, personally and emotionally important.

She gently nudged Ven on the shoulder to catch his attention, and looked rather coy. "That reminds me on something... I wanted to visit that spot I found my magical fox when we're in Wineberry anyway... But, if we shouldn't seperate, maybe one of you want to join?" ... "NO, Ven, there is no active magic on that spot. It's more a quiet and somewhat elusive spot hidden away a little East of town, filled with energy and looking rather enjoyable at dark." While speaking, a smile formed on her face.