[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Well, it wasn't hard to find some meat (contained in well sealed bags) that a Houndour might like.  Really cheap stuff too.  Looks like he wouldn't have to worry about Orthros not getting enough protein.  Well, he assumed the hound wouldn't object...and he has to try and keep the others from finding out he has meat on him now if he wants to keep Orthros a secret for now...mission accomplished though, Nathan heads back to the Center to go do his daily chat with his mom.

When asked if he'd won his gym battle, he simply said it hadn't happened.  Stuff came up, delayed it again.  He'd definitely be attempting it tomorrow, though.  He wasn't going to let anything delay it further.  Aside from that, it was just some really nice, relaxing, general talk.  He told her Shiva was fine, things were improving a little, he'd gotten some good training in today instead of the gym battle...it was short, but sweet, just like most other days.

"Well, time to turn in.  Come on, Kirlia."  The two of them head to their room in the Center.

On the way there, he passes by the door to Shiva's room...he looks at it for a moment...sighs...maybe he should have handled things differently...Shiva had appreciated his promise for support at the campsite...maybe not intending to check on her in the morning had been a bad idea...not that it mattered too much considering what had kept him from doing so anyways, but...he knew what it felt like to feel alone.  They all did now, apparently...

He shakes his head.  No, he can't be thinking like that now.  What matters is what they'll do in the future. He couldn't keep grasping at the past like that.  And he planned to be there for Shiva.  Whenever she needed it.  Show her that she was indeed strong.  Maybe not in the same way, but there were other ways she could take center stage, like the main actor in the example she'd used.  He wasn't going to abandon her, like both she and Ventus had suggested...that wasn't at all what he'd intended to do...not after everything they'd been through in almost three weeks...and he wouldn't be able to be there for her if he was hung up on what could have been...

Take center stage?  Wait a second...hmmm...now that he thought about it...but would she be interested in that?

He'd have to think about it.  Observe her battle style a little more...if she had just the right flair in it, then maybe...

He shakes his head again.  He'd ponder it more later.  Kirlia looks at him, practically beaming.  Nathan might not be sure, but Kirlia thinks it's a spectacular idea!

"Well, enough reminiscing for now.  Let's just return to our room, shall we?"

Two doors down, and they're in their room for the night, the door locked behind them.  Before turning in, Nathan gets out a plate and empties the contents of one of those bags of meat onto it.  If he was going to treat Orthros like a proper member of the team, he might as well start now...

Upon being summoned, Orthros looks around.  No Starmie in sight.  He sniffs, hoping to pinpoint its location if its hiding.

Something smells good...he looks down...

"Thought I'd get ya a treat as a little thank you for joining me, Orthros.  I know we're on shaky terms right now, but...well, I don't want that to mean I can't show some semblance of trust.  I don't want to use Starmie if I don't have to, and if you're choosing to stay, I think I can trust you if it's just me and Kirlia for now.  So, enjoy.  Know that I appreciate the chance you've given me, and there's more where that came from that I'm saving for later."

(So, does Orthros start snacking, @Iron?  If not, Nathan will put the meat away and save it for later)

Regardless of what happens next, he recalls the hound afterwards and calls it a night.  Time to see if it's now possible to get a good night's sleep in Corsage...

[Nylon]

Gastly gives a ghastly grin and stretches out his ephemeral power. He urges the shadows along until the light is extinguished. Valder thinks he sees a large form skittering away as the light dies, and reforming near another lamppost before fading.

(Great description of how Shadow Ball might be tested!)

 (that'a a welcome compliment! thx!)

 Valder walks to the other lamppost and asks Ghastly to do the same thing there. "If you realize something weird, tell me. And try to see how fast you can extinguish the light". He himself also has his eyes peered.

 Valder is officially suspicious.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

The ragamuffin spits in his hand and offers it to Shiva to shake. He brings out a crumpled piece of paper, a portion of a letter. It just says, "Dear Sienna," and nothing more. He points to himself, then at the word "Sienna." (or more accurately, at the entire phrase, because it's obvious he can't actually read. He just knows this portion applied to him.)

Eh.... There is no way Shiva would touch his hand if he...spit into it... Sorry, no 'we're dear friends'-handshakes here. Ugh... Instead, she pretended to be too busy with packing away all the items he gave her, too 'busy' to even notice his extended hand. Most of all that Machoke in still blinking Pokeball confused her a little. He seemingly was not its owner, but how did it came here at all and why was it contained in a Pokeball?

Anyway, looks like she now collected more than enough items down in this ship! Time to leave and head back to the surface. ... Before that boy hold her up just as she waved him goodbye and turned to leave.

He showed her what seemed to be a piece of a letter. "Oh... OH! Is that your name? "Sienna"? How melodic~ Shiva is what they call me. Besides... thank you for the battle and stuff! Never thought I'd meet a person down here, it was quite a suprise." He received a slight smile from her. Right, she might hate what has happened to dear Azu, but that does not mean she hates the one who caused it.

Next, she points in the direction of that emergency trapdoor Fellman mentioned earlier. "I'll retreat then. This way is a trapdoor which you could use to eventually get to the docks. I won't tell anyone that you live here, but if you wish..." She hands him both that rope and the package of pirsif-berry cookies she still had. "... you can survive here a little longer and use the rope to escape, if you'd wish. I bet you'll find a use. That's food from the surface, yes." ... "So, farewell then!~"


-------------
Mechanics:
Time to retreat and gather my reward for the items. If asked, I think I'd like to keep that Apricorn nut. I'll also hesitantly ask if any of the crew is missing a Machoke - if so, hand it to the rightful owner. If not, I'll keep it for myself.

[Iron]

Orthros happily eats the meat, and seems content with this as a source of sustenance. He runs around the room a bit for exercise. He's quite light on his feet here in the waking world, just as in the dream world. He does seem to have a bit of the herding instinct.

Nathan sleeps, and finds only the typical dreams! Hooray!

[Iron]

Gastly practices Shadow Ball again. Before he can extinguish the lamp, Valder glimpses that form again - it is squat and almost mansized, and suspiciously low to the ground. Valder can't quite follow where it goes. When a cold chill makes Valder shudder, he catches a glimpse over his shoulder of that same shape, which quickly coalesces into the shape of his own shadow!

[Iron]

Sienna accepts the rope with some gratitude. And the food! He did win part of the battle, afterall, so he accepts this as his due.

Shiva works her way back around to Fellman, which is much easier when using that emergency door to drop into the cargo hold proper and walk back through the galley.

"Excellent, you found fifteen items! Hm, this Apricorn nut is from a shipment long ago. You can keep that for free if you wish. I'll count it in your total as if it's a Berry. And - oh! This Machoke! I know exactly who it belongs to; he'll be overjoyed! He lost it at sea. Poor Pokemon, trapped in its ball for almost a week!"

Fellman hands Shiva a significant amount of money! I came up with 575$ including the Apricorn as a berry. "Great work down there."

The owner of the Machoke comes to personally thank Shiva. "This Machoke is my oldest pal! Pokeballs are not easily dropped, but I got in a bit of a brawl and this Pokeball wasn't the only thing knocked loose." He grins, showing a mouthful of teeth.

"Hey! That gives me a great idea for a reward. I have a very rare Dragon Scale! Fallen from a Kingdra, lord of oceans. You take this! It's not as useful as a rare Dragon's Fang, if you have a dragon type, but Horsea can be obtained around here on Murkrow Cove if you have an interest in owning a Kingdra some day. Thanks again!"

[Iron]

Shiva takes Azurill back to the Pokemon Center and gets her all healed up. The flashing colors of the machine are a hypnotizing whirl. Nurse Joy is happy to report that Azurill will recover in record time, at least enough for an outing or for careful use of moves. It will still be 8 hours before she's ready to battle.

Azurill gains 1 happiness. Shiva gains 2XP as a capstone on her ship adventure.

Ventus and Shiva walk along the docks to the restaurant. The boardwalks are a happier place than they were yesterday, though of course they still have their share of forlorn women waiting for men to return from sea. A few men wait for women, as well, but that's rarer. Most bear flowers, telling a portion of their story. The fishermen, brightly-appareled sailors, and busy tradesmen are a more positive note, and the sign of a great economy for Creshire.

Ventus passed this restaurant earlier at Murkrow Cove - it's called "Carvanha Nirvana." Here, trainers and their Pokemon are welcome to eat, sheltered from the sea spray by a colorful dockside construction. It's varnished against the sea, so every surface shines with a pleasant lacquer. You can get tables on little floating docks, or behind wide windows offering a great view of the ocean.

The restaurant is an upper class one, serving the finest seafood and also steaks. The waitstaff all wear dark dark blue uniforms, almost like tuxedos and fancy dress mixed with naval uniforms. You can borrow a fine thick cloak to wear as you await your food, because it can get a bit chilly in the sea breeze. There are candles at each table, smelling of the beach (coconut, seabreeze, or Mai Tai.) Lanturn in the sea under the docks also provide warm light and oceanbound grins.

The smiling maitre d' provides Spheal and other ocean Pokemon, who waddle around interacting with guests, and going to fetch their order fresh caught from the ocean!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Aww, that 'Great work down there' was surely encouraging! It whipped off any bad thoughts and numbness from before for a short sweet while. Shiva also thankfully accepted the rewards, which were the money - yay, finally gathered enough! - as well as the Aprikorn. Is she remembers correctly, that Berry Vendour mentioned they are more decorative, but some Pokemon enjoy to hold them... Hmm. And they're rare. What a treasure~

As for that Machoke... Well, now she knew how it ended down there. It must have been a horrible time for both Pokemon and owner, being seperated for so long, especially if it's this Sailor's oldest pal... Somehwat, Shiva could relate to this a little. Being seperated from her fluffball - it'd break her heart.

After thanking twice for the opportunity to both help out, spend a productive afternoon and even receive a reward for it, she teleported away to the Pokemon Center using her Abra's powers. Well, Confusion didn't worked, but it looks like we just have to work a little harder to reach that point. Azurill has been handed to Nurse Joy's care after assuring that she'll do whatever possible to retrieve the blue mouse, before ...


(And this is where the Timeline connects.)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

As she walked around there following ventus wherever he led her to now, she realised that the atmosphere in Corsage ash INDEED changed... Somewhat, it was 'happier'. Even with there were still women waiting for their husbands and sons returning from the dark sea. Some of them surely will wait forever...

However, Shiva was absolutely not sure what has caused this change. Only thing she assumed that it has to do with the mysterious creature that looked like Houndour, why else should it be enraged of her Dream Catcher and burn it up? Or it was the Espurr....

Speaking of it, Shiva needed both arms to hold Kyuu close to her - she decided to take the gray cat with her to bond a little - so Ven is out of luck if he wanted to hold hands along the way.

He didn't exagurrated however, since this restaurant looked rather fancy, both from the outside and inside. Noble, graceful and with a spectacular view, actually it was quite much to Shiva's taste when it came to dinning. It's been a while since the last time.

However, now she couldn't deny anymore that she was somewhat puzzled about what they were actually doing here. Strengthen their friendship? Or he wanted to make up for her. Or both.

[Lord Windos]

Ventus was happy to both see and feel that the town was recording from those dream demon 's attacks , but there was still that ever present aura of melancholy that saturated the town . '

I would have thought that vanquishing those fiends would have completely dispelled the negativity surrounding the town , but it seems that Corsage will always be a dreay local . I ' m not going to let the atmosphere get Shiva 's or my own spirits down , however ; tonight is for fine dinning , not dismal eating ! ' He thought , steering both of them clear of the forlorn people awaiting thier partners to return to safe harbor . Even an empath doesn't need his senses to tell them that thier sadness would just kill thier good mood entirely !

Arriving at the restaurant , the researcher took out $400 and reserved a table for 2 + thier Pokemon on one of the floating dock tables , and took one of the offered cloacks and wrapped around his ' date ' . "Well , I do hope seafood is of your liking , for Nirvanha specialty is fish and crustaceans, freshly caught and delicately seasoned. The lLanteurn does provide the restaurant with a comfortable mood lighting as well , don't you agree ? " Ventus said , leading his close friend to their table on the sea . He though that Shiva would appreciate the opportunity to get to see the aquatic Pokemon up close , and thier would be plenty of space for thier Pokemon as well !

"What are you planning to order , my friend ? I believe I will have a Swordfish steak with Jasmine Rice and Steamed Broccoli , if they have it , or Bouliobase if not. I also plan on ordering some exotic fruit for Lucifer and Raphael as well. After all , our Pokemon deserve to enjoy this lovely night with us as well ."