[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Nathan still doesn't look up from his notes when he responds to Ventus again.  Still with not much but indifference.  "And I still need to talk to you about that, if you're actually going to listen to me this time."  No time for Ventus to respond to that, though, as Kirlia and Shiva are here!

(Insert Information about Dagny, Sheldon, and Astronite here!)

It's pretty clear he's talking to Shiva now, but he's not necessarily excluding Ventus either.  In fact, if Ventus tries to slip away for some reason, Kirlia will end up just Teleporting in front of him to keep him there.  And failing that, he'll just Teleport Ventus back to the table directly.  Ventus isn't going anywhere until Nathan's done with him for the night!

Despite his own irritation/bitterness towards the headstrong boy and wishing nothing more than for them to just leave so he could continue to spend this wonderful day with Shiva without them tainting it, Ventus tempered his feelings of resentment and stayed by his dear friend's side. Kirlia giving him the stink eye also contributed to keeping them in place, as the last thing he wanted to do was cause a scene by 'politely' remove the dancer from his path of escape! 'As loathesome is Nathan's company right now, abandoning him now would only cause Shiva to voice her concerns about the status of our 'friendship', which could invariably lead to severely damaged or outright eviscerating his own friendship with her. While he certainly doesn't deserve my care and compassion for his bullish, hurtful insensitivity, that does not mean I should deprive him of the good will and happiness he share with her out of spite. Even he is justified to possessing a friend that isn't blindly loyal or dependent on him to rely upon....if just barely so,' the researcher thought, silently taking in all the information the young trainer provided about his own daytime excersions through the city. Admitidly he DID find news about Sheldon and the Astronite line to be highly intriguing, but the empath didn't show or broadcast such emotions towards Nathan, as the last thing he wanted to do was give him positive reinforcement when he deserves NONE.

Nathan's expression resets to neutral when Dagny is brought up.

"Eh.  City's okay.  Dagny's nice.  She's not JUST a gym leader, though, Shiva.  She's the innovative, forward thinking, former warrior, leader of Creshire.  Well, one of the two.  Tanuki in Cress City is the other one.  Yes, she uses Steel (she's known as the Steel Wonder).  No, I didn't see any of her pokemon.  She's not accepting any challenges until those vines are dealt with.  They're a very, very real danger that we need to take seriously.  I've had to spend the entire day trying to figure out how to stop them, and I'm still nowhere near the answer I need.  Only conclusion I've reached so far is how to delay them..."

"Oh, uh, right.  While I'm thinking about it, there's something REALLY important you need to know about Dagny when you eventually meet her.  And this goes double for you, Ventus.  Don't.  Talk.  About.  The wheelchair.  At all.  Period.  It's a sensitive topic, and her temper is rather legendary.  You'll be plastered against a wall in seconds just for bringing it up."

Kirlia's a little less forward in his intent once he's satisfied that Ventus isn't going anywhere.  In fact, now he's doing something completely different!  Now he's indicating to both Ventus and Nathan that they should head to the back room again.  And he's not taking no for an answer!

"Kirlia, what are you...oh, you think now is a good time?"

Kirlia nods.

"...*sigh*...alright, alright...Ventus, back room."

The researcher tiled his head in contemplation as Nathan gave a further in depth description of The Steel Wonder Dagny herself - 'Such a description reminds me of Clay from Driftvil City, though it sounded that she have severe temper issues and is far more grave than the cowboy is even capable of being...-, and filed away her EXTREME sensitivity towards her handicap for potential use later with a curt nod and the words "Duly noted."

He DID, however, give the boy a rather impressive glower despite still politely smiling, as the very last thing he wanted to do right now was have another 'heart to heart' with them, especially after they so viscously tried to poke gapping holes into it! However, he knew by look at both his and Kirlia's face that this was not just something he could calmly decline and avoid without causing a major commotion in the lobby and worrying/distressing Shiva greatly (well, more than she already is, anyway), so Ventus just let out a tired, frustrated sigh and nodded his head.

"Lead the way, Nathan."

Shiva didn't reply about Nathan's warning about not to mention that wheelchair, neither towards anything concerning the vines, as she was lost in these thoughts... However, she surely looked up at 'you think now is a good time' with a raised eyebrow, and that suspicious feeling only grew stronger as Nathan asked Ven to head to a backroom.

Of course something happened again, my dear.
Dear Reshiram...
Let them handle it on their own this time, okay?
Sounds good for me, as I'm busy enough, actually...

Sighing impercible, she looked away from Nathan and faced Ventus beside her. Her gaze seemed to say something like 'Really? What happened again?', but she didn't spoke out any of these thoughts. Instead, she gave the sociologist a dear and comforting squeeze of the hand (much like he did already), trying to show confidence to him. She also spoke in a lower voice to him. "I'll wait for you to return here in the Lobby... Please come back soon, okay? And please don't power yourself out too much, you know, as I STILL want you beside me when I call home tonight."

The fae lass' own questioning stare and feelings of reservation/unease caused the empath sullen discontent to ease off somewhat as he returned her hand squeeze with one of his own. "I promise you I won't. We still have a meeting with your father than needs be conducted, and I would not want to disappoint either of you by the exclusion of my presence during the call, so I won't get too worked up during my talk with Nathan and return ASAP. So please, don't worry about us, dear...."