[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Music: None.  Dead silence seems most appropriate to me right now.

Nathan's stunned.  He hadn't heard anything of fairies behaving like that.  Ever.  Nothing he had ever read could have prepared him for what he had just heard.  "I...I don't know what to say...that's..."  He trails off, unable to find words to describe it...instead, all he can say is, "Yes, I...I...understand now.  Surely, most fairies aren't like that, though...right?"  

The question rings in the absolute silence...Nathan can barely stammer the next part.  "I'm...sniffle...I'm so...so sorry for your losses, Ventus.  You...you've experienced what I'm afraid of...and...sob...before I wrap this up, I think it's only fair that I tell you that I can empathize with that situation...partially.  Yes, not sympathize.  Empathize."  Sob

With great care, Nathan pulls the dull Premier Ball out.  "Remember...when I said I registered Ralts to the only pokeball I had?  I wasn't even registered as a trainer until we met at Mallorn's lab.  This pokeball...it's mine, but it wasn't always..."  

Nathan has to pause here.  He's taking deep breaths, trying to not bust the dams open.  "There's...only one...event that brings me more pain than the memories of the day I found Ralts a year ago.  Three years ago...my father...he disappeared...without a trace...nobody was able to find out where he had gone, nor why he had left..."

Another pause.  The dam's close to breaking, but doesn't yet.  He's visibly shaking again.

"He was...once known as a spectacular trainer in this region.  Even...got to face part of the Elite 4...he'd tell me stories about his travels among other tales...and the night before he vanished, he gave me a Premier Ball he'd never been able to bring himself to use.  He'd always tell me...life was the most precious gift you could give and receive as an aspiring pokemon trainer, and even as a person in general.  That every life...was worth something to someone...that a life was as precious as Premier Balls are among trainers and collectors alike.  He never...intentionally inflicted fatal wounds on anyone he faced..."

More sobbing.

"I never had aspirations to be a trainer...I never desired to be a rancher, either...I still don't think I'd particularly excel at either role...and yet here I was, stuck between one of the region's most well known ponyta ranches...and a trainer who had almost made it to legendary fame that would forever be recorded in the history books...with a dreary old town with no other alternatives as the setting...I know all to well what Larry feels, standing in the shadows of those who came before you...my father was the person I was closest to, though, and for him to just vanish like that..."

The dam breaks.  Ralts is looking incredibly gloomy again.  He'd heard this tale once or twice before, but it didn't make it any less sad.  Combee is even looking a little depressed now.

Nathan tries to pull himself together.  "I'm..I'm sorry.  I shouldn't be doing this right now.  It's just...these memories...they're haunting...it's a ghost that will always be with me, no matter how well I hide it..."  Nathan's head drops into his arms, and he just keeps sobbing.  He's passed the breaking point, and it was going to be difficult to snap him out of it.  He still had two more things to ask Ventus, and plans for stuff to do around town, but he wasn't thinking about any of it right now.  (With a little prodding, Ventus might be able to snap Nathan out of it.  Maybe.  He'll have to choose his next words carefully.)

As Nathan began to breakdown, both from Ventus' backstory of DOOM AND DESPAIR (Yes, its deserves capitalization!), the poor man went over to hug the child in front of him. He hummed soothingly, rubbing his back as the young boy cried on his shoulder. 'So Nathan shares the same burdens as I do. I would never have guessed it, but then again, neither would he had been able to know my past. It seems we are both good at burying our pain, hiding it far away from others, and just trying to live life the best we could.'

Slowly, in the most comforting tone of voice, he tried to assuage Nathan's sadness. "No. Not all Fairies are like those things. Only a small minority are; something to keep in mind, but not dominate it. So don't fret about them, please. Leave the paranioa to a professional, one that has had ample experience in the matter!" Ventus says, with the last bit in a jovial manner. Making light of his pain is something he's always done, so no need for others to wallow in it as well. 'Be strong, Ventus. For both you and the boy in your arms.'

"Nathan... I appreciate you concern, but there is no need to cry for me. Enough tears have been shed over that tragedy, and I've moved on. It was long, anguishing time, but in the end I got through, and learned how to survive just fine," Ventus said, turning his head to face Nathan. Using his free hand, he tilted Nathan's face up to meet his eye. Even though he was still crying, and there was a painful glimmer in his those green orbs of his, what filled them the most was not despair, but kindness. He listened to the boy's story, and completely empathized with him as well, and it was clearly show in those eyes of his.

'He lost his father, Nathan lost his father. Together they mourned their passing, but it seems only one of them has learned to let go of that pain. 'It may not be my place to do so, but I must try and help him. I don't him to suffer like me. No one should,' he thought, before he spoke directly to Nathan again in that some comforting voice.

"Life must seem terrible, with all these horrible things happening to us. No happy ending, only painful conclusion; just having to role with the punches thrown our way. Its so easy to forgot, in the midst of all the negatively imaginable, that life is not so cruel. Perhaps it doesn't care, or have an opinion on our lives, but it never is actively against us. Bad things happen, yes, but the only thing that's keeping us down is ourselves," Ventus told the young trainer, smiling at him brilliantly.

"People and circumstance might try to keep pressuring us to give in, but it can't make us! We can rise above the pain, the suffering, and see just how precious life truly is! Its a miraculous thing, feel of wonderful and loving people like us, who have transcended their dark past and made a great life for themselves! My past taught me how important it was to be kind and caring to others, as they may have problem I can't see, can't help unless they let me. I never want someone else to be the same position I was in, so I do my best to be there, help them when I can. Like I'm doing right now with you, Nate," he says, his own tears starting to already dry up.

"We've lost our fathers, yes, but I believe their loss does not define us. No, its what we do because of it that really matter. I became the man of my house, even at my extreme age. You? You overcame your grief and saved a life in need using your father's gift. He would be so proud of you, no matter whether you follow in his footsteps or settle down and be a rancher. You saved a life Nathan! A life! And now you are on a quest to save others like dear Ralts, to prevent the likes of Almanac and others from ruthlessly exploiting Pokémon lives! So don't mourn yours or mine lose; rejoice! Rejoice that you are doing something not everyone could do, because you have the strength of will and experience to see you goal through to the end! At least, that is what I can see."

Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out a clean rag, and handed it to Nate. "So dry those tears of yours, Nate. Our past will always haunt us, but it will never destroy us. We just have to live our live the best we can. Now, what do you say we go out to the festival, and enjoy ourselves?"