[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Terra looked almost taken aback by the mere mention that the Skull Ruins could and was FAR more odious and treacherous than he first expect/was informed, his eyebrows fully raised and sense of disbelief + greater apprehension around him, before eventually he nods his head. He didn't know much about history or legends - heck, he barely had had a basic understand of his home region's mythos/timeline period, let alone anything on Cheshire (Portfollio/Ven info excluded) - but he trusted both Ven's and Nathan's word/expertise implicitly. If one says that dead place is just plain bad news, and the other says its a horrifically grim from top to bottom, he'll believe them.

"....Ven didn't say much about history of Skull Ruin and Cheshire, so you will have to teach me more about them later. *Turns towards Nathan, and looks him in the eye* Know now that I won't ever go their again. Not without the group, or without telling anyone else. Promise. *Glances off to the side* …Sorry...…"

Yanmask's identity being revealed would have served to alleviate his gloom a bit, as 'new' Pokémon always managed to pique his interests.....

…Were it not for the repeated mention of Sableye and that incident . Every time the gem eating fiends were brought up, it never failed to cause all the muscular fibers of his being to seize up like he'd be jolted by Melly, followed by faint but real spikes of dread lancing through him.

"...Hm, should have caught them too, then. Might have been able to sell them to buy more supplies or battle Items. *Shrugs* Oh well."

He did his best to conceal his reaction, though. Terrifically so - he was naturally stoic and had an EXCELLENT physical control over himself, which combined with his distracting comment made it all too easy.

Why?

Simple: He didn't want to visibly cower/be aggravated about just talking about them (He was tougher than that!), and he didn't want to cause Nathan to worry anymore than he done so already.

Sadly or not, even the best poker face in the world couldn't hide everything, least of all from an empathetic and Psychic Pokémon such as a Gallade. When they (via their trainer) gave him away, the mountain of a man was caught off guard, fully tensing and grimaced openly for several moments, until he got a hold of himself and did a full 180 turn away from them both. A couple of deep breaths could be heard, before he went silent, with only the sound of rain and from the Pokémon out being heard.

Speaking of which, Melly was now sitting down next to her master, pressing herself against their leg and letting out a comforting hum. Genie, meanwhile, gave Nathan the equivalent of a single eyebrow raised deadpan + sassy look the clearly conveyed (via Gallade 'translation') 'Real smooth and clever there, half pint,' before twist mid-air to reach over and pat her master comfortingly on his shoulder.

It wasn't until several minutes passed that Terra finally spoke up in a quiet, subdued tone.

"....Long story. …Don't really want to talk about it......but. .....But I will, if you want. You trust me. Showed and gave respect and.....guidance many times. Even though you don't know me, or have a reason to. *Nods* ….So I will return such goodness to you in part, by telling you about why I....don't like Sableye. *Tilts his head down*...If that is want you want.

Clear as day, he truly was reluctant to speak about it, but he both enough kinship with the boy to offer to share that personal story of his. 

Question now is, will they ask?

"...it's usually pretty hard to barter when the deal involves a Ghost from the Skull Ruins.  Tends to reduce the value of the pokemon a boatload since very, very few locals don't mind having some kind of direct connection to that dreaded place, however distant. Doesn't mean they're worth nothing, but...superstitous locals aren't the best people to trade 'em to.  But yeah, I can give you a quick rundown on the history later.  That subject's kinda my thing."

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Of course, Nathan can't really see Genie's expression.  Gallade can sense it and communicates it, obviously, as mentioned already.  Nathan just shrugs in Genie's general direction.  He's being blunt for a reason here.  Multiple ones, in fact.  Smooth isn't the name of the game right now.

Notably, Gallade isn't even looking in either trainers' direction right now, btw.  There's not much of an indication that Gallade is directly communicating much of anything to Nathan...maybe a subtle peripheral peep at Nathan every so often, but nothing Terra would be likely to notice.

"...not gonna lie, it would be nice to know a little bit more about you.  Good and bad both."

So...yes. Kinda.

"...maybe we should save this for when we get back to the Center and can find a nice, dry, quiet room, though. We've been out her for a little while, and we should probably be getting back soon...and I'd definitely like to be able to see stuff again..."