Crusader Lord

Pokemon: Dream

Clarissa Ryte

Camphor's Lab, Byjerfal City

The psychic girl had been in some amount of what a normal human being might call 'shock' during the trip to the lab. Silent, quiet, and keeping up a stoic front despite holding Sir Lopsalot close to her chest at the same time with one arm as the other drug along her wheeled suitcase. The Buneary seemed to curiously regard her at first for it, though silently settled in for the ride in the end as the duo walked along with the others and followed Ms. Freida (and her apperently rude Impidimp) to their destination. At the same time, the pass sitting in her pocket was safe and sound....almost burning a hole through it if the girl's own anxieties alone were to describe the sensation.

It was enough to hold her cool and try to calm down, something she'd been trained for at least, but at the same time the entire affair back at the airport had been a bit jarring in its own way. She'd already thought to encounter crowds of some kind in a big and busy city like Byjerfal, but then to get stuck in a press of thirsty fans and pressured to meet a contest star and gym leader later?! That much had come so far out of left field it went around the world and hit her in the back of the head! Enough so that even Sir Lopsalot had been made to worry a fair bit....which wasn't fair of her to do, at least with regard to Clarissa's own thoughts on the matter.

At the same time, however, the walk was in some capacity 'soothing' as it were. As much as she didn't like the crowds, she had her 'bubble' of people to go along with to focus on. The big city wasn't something she was most accustomed to either still, but likewise it seemed to have a certain familiarity to it in turn. A certain sense of having to be aware of one's surroundings, lots of alleyways and paths and roads all over the shop, and the potential danger to get run over or run into. In a way that felt strange yet somehow almost welcoming, it was like a small slice of her family's former region of residence in a sort of 'opposite end of the spectrum' sort of way. Did that make sense?

It was a surprisingly inconspicuous building, situated down a street, built seemingly right in the middle of some large skyscrapers. The only sign that it was a lab, was the large ‘Camphor Laboratories’ sign hanging right over the sliding glass doors that led inside. A small pond was in front, along with a small geometric sculpture and some benches. The building itself seemed more clinical in construction, square with pristinely clean white walls.

“Here we are.” Frieda said, turning to the group. “The labs exterior is a little...boring but Camphor thought it’d stop people from bothering her if it looked like this. The interior is a lot more cozy…well, aside from the labs. Lets see…the others should be arriving soon…ah, here we are! Camilia!”

...So people would leave her alone? Strange for a professor, and yet in some capacity she felt a sense of respect for it. Not that she respected someone wanting to turn her into a likely sensor-laden experimental subject for money, she'd already turned that prospect down, but she at least could understand someone wanting to look into something peculiar. She herself wanted to see more of the Eidda Region itself for personal reasons, including wanting to perhaps adjust more to her new home region if she could, though her parents had encouraged her to go as well once she'd told them about the offer as well. 'Go and see things, and people, and grow as a trainer!' Such is what they'd told her anyway.

Once everyone was inside, the doors would slide shut and lock behind the group. The reception area was much better decorated and gave off a casual business feeling than the sleek clinical outer walls of the building. A large desk ran across the long rectangular, carpeted room. The walls seemed to be made of wooden paneling. A few tables were off to the right where a few snacks had been laid out and a little further down was a TV broadcast and…three other people sitting around a table.

"Yes, everyone. We have a few snacks if you're feeling a small bit peckish and feel free to ask me any questions." She seemed ready to answer questions at the least. For her own part, she went over and grabbed a cookie, happily eating it. "It's good."

Ah, now that was better! Inside a nice and smaller building, which had a seemingly nice enough reception area as well. Reminded her more of the lab back in Orre when she'd gone to see her father sometimes back in Orre. Albeit her gaze would be drawn over the three people who seemed to already be in the reception area already, as well as their rather strange Pokemon! One of them seemed to be some kind of grass type cat, another looked like a fluffy ball of fluff, and the last seemed to be rather...lazy? Tired? Both? It was a curious little thing, and out of the three it seemed to draw Clarissa's attention most as she looked at it briefly before-

_{*rumble rumble*}

Oh. She hadn't eaten since before the flight, and it had been quite a flight. Enough to make her a bit hungry at least, n-not that she was too hungry right now.

"Bun."

The Buneary held in her one arm spoke up as it tried to glance at her face. He'd heard it, as quiet as the little stomach grumbling was she supposed. Hopefully no one else had heard, but he likely was wondering somewhat if they'd be getting food soon then. Not that they could subsist purely on a diet of free snacks and drinks, though her mother had commented a few times that her father had proven that one 'techincally' could do so for a time. Somehow. While overburdened with work and staying up late nights.

With his luggage still firmly in his grasp, Richard simply moved towards the other group and flagged down their attention—however briefly—with a wave instead.

"I suppose we're apt to be coworkers—er, co-assistants?—from here on out. Name's Richard Evans; it's a pleasure to meet you."

Oh! Someone from the other group was waving to them and wanted to talk? It was certainly a more polite manner she appreciated personally, and as one of her group from the airport seemed to be forwar enough to approach the other three as well as she was able to take notice of. Well, if nothing else it meant getting to do something else as she cooled down from the whole airport fiasco. Then again it felt like second nature to try to stay observant of her surroundings, she supposed, even now.

At the same time, the Buneary held in her arm would wiggle out of her grasp before landing softly on the floor on his fluffy behind. Even so, Sir Lopsalot would stand back up promptly, stretching his little bunny legs, before leaping up and onto Clarissa's shoulder without his trainer so much as batting an eye. It was something that, at least, the duo had become accustomed to doing for the most part when walking around or traveling. Albeit on particularly long walks or such she'd sometimes have to get him to switch shoulders once in a while if he wanted to ride along for more than a little bit...

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Richard. I'm Clarissa Ryte."

@PKMNB0Y

My Isekai Costumed Adventures

@Xaltwind Charlotte attacked the wounded Ratman to finish him off, she wasn't trying to splatter the burned one that's already dead.

My Isekai Costumed Adventures

Charlotte

With their ambush(?) dealt with, the only thing left now was the bigger, black-furred ratman. Lying near the tree which Sayu had knocked it into, the creature was injured. It began to stir and try and make an effort to move, but either it was too hurt or too dazed to be able to stand back up. The girls now had a new challenge ahead of them: What to do next?

Since they already slew the other two, would they kill this one as well? Or did they try to communicate with it? Perhaps they should think about the possibility of more of these things showing up, given the noise and ruckus that was just caused? If they did decide to put this one down, it was so weak and defenseless that basically anyone could do it - it wasn't able to offer any sort of resistance at this point.

Aria turned her gaze back toward her companions, her expression reflecting the uncertainty that clouded her thoughts.

"What...should we do with it?"

A True Super Sailor

Sayu stopped in her tracks, turning to face Aria.

"Isn't it obvious? We should finish the job. Unless it decides to run away or surrender, I say we should strike it down while it's weakened."

She turned back to face the ratman, placing her hands on her hips. "What will it be? Can you even understand our language?"

....That one rat she'd attacked had been caught on fire. Not exactly her plan, but it seemed she couldn't choose what 'element' seemed to be infused into her spell there. It was, unironically, a 'gamble'. A 'crapshoot'. She'd have almost chuckled at that if not for having watched the thing curl up and die from being on fire until it was naught but crispy rat cracklings on the ground. To watch that had been ultimately a fair bit disturbing, sending a small chill down the teen's spine in turn as she recalled it for a moment there in the aftermath and took pause.

She'd seen a suffering rat before at home, and true to form her dad had shown her the...dark side of things. One brick or heavy chunk of wood, and one solid throw to kill it instantly. End the suffering. It had been a life lesson that day, as the rat had been crippled by some bored outdoor cat in the neighborhood in their own backyard without the cat finishing the job. It was violent. Bloody. Unseemly. Yet at the same time, it was...life. Death. A reality.

But what should she do right now? Was this a similar sort of situation where she needed to finish the job, or should she try to backpedal?

Slowly the girl would approach the downed ratman, pointing a one-handed finger-gun at its head as her eyes focused on it and-

"Jeez, this forest is so thick! I can't believe I lost sight of 'em...!"

A ... woman, no, a girl's voice?

And so, out of the shrubs stepped just that. A girl. Around the same age as Aria and Charlotte, a pretty young thing with short black hair, and some kind of armor. She also carried a long sword in a scabbard on her hip. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked to be a bit out of breath, as if she'd been running... However, once she emerged from the undergrowth, and stood in the clearing with the scene before her... Well, there was a brief pause.

A very long, drawn out brief pause.

"... Eh...?"

???

The bunnyygirl's gaze turned primarily toward the new arrival, though kept the ratman in her peripheral vision without moving her extended finger gun.

Eh? EH?!

Another human being! Perhaps that would be a good thing, perhaps not. But she seemed friendly enough, despite being dressed for some kind of combat in her own right, though with her more fitting looking attire it would perhaps be safe to assume this person wasn't also from Earth. Not unless her clothes got really sketchy really fast, though Charlotte didn't wish such a fate on anyone else right now either. No, perhaps it was more likely this person was a local given she mentioned a place name that was entirely unfamiliar and seemed more than a bit surprised by how they appeared in turn. Etc.

"I forgot to iuntrdduce myself, huh? Hi, my name's LAynea. I'm an adventurer from Krosana. Nice to meet you all, ladies." Her vocie was chipper and full of friendly, unbiased and just plain old nice cheerfulness. "So, uh... If you don't mind me asking... Are you a group of travelling entertainrs or soemthing? Did you... Get lost in the woods? Oh, and did you all beat up these ratlings by yourselves?"

Aynea

As Sayu and Aria seemed to take up answering the stranger first, Charlotte still-wordlessly returned her gaze back to the ratman. For another second she took pause, taking a drawn out breath, and then mentally pulled the metaphorical trigger. She cast Crapshoot again at nearly point-blank at the back of the wounded ratman's head, with the conjured dice appearing brown and greyish like rocks before blasting off hard into the target. Earth element, perhaps? Either way she was somewhat glad it wasn't fire this time.

If the spell didn't kill the ratman, she would try another cast of the spell at the back of its head (for OOC purposes, it would use the water element in this case).

If her spell killed the ratman, she'd move on to walk over to the stranger where the others were while still remaining silent. Not as if Sayu hadn't said the one thing she wanted to for the moment, but she still had to soak in the thought of having killed some things for the moment even so.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Post made!

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Lazash

The scorch marks were evident, but neither Vola nor Lazash looked like their insides had liquidfied, and their limbs were certainly in place, so the explosion must have been more a firework than a proper bomb. Esfir hid what flicker of relief she felt though, and instead focused on the presence.

"Explain what happened. Was that your magic, or a creature?"

Esfir

Glancing between Lazash and the bug’s final resting place, Vola responded, a very small laugh escaping with the words before she could stop it and she quickly tried to put a serious expression on her face. She really hopes that she’ll outgrow the stress-laughing at some point, the last thing she wants is to look like she doesn’t take things seriously because of it… ”I guess you could say that it was a bit of both?”

Vola

Laughter in the face of stress....yes, she could understand that well enough. The joy of catching her first fish after being stranded. The day that they finally came back for her, and got her off of that forsaken little islet years ago. Could remember it all like it was yesterday, recall it as if it was just a fresh as a pizza just coming out of the ovens of Napoli. She wouldn't comment about things, but would let out a long but mostly quiet sigh before doing anything else.

"A creature called a Flint Beetle. It likely contains explosive gases of some kind, as-"

Esfir and Akeno both called after the two of them to investigate, but as the party of orcs hung near the entrance of the cave, a sound drifted to them from within the tunnel depths. However, this sound didn't seem like it came out of the ground. Rather, it felt like it was reverberating through the roof above them---from somewhere inside the caves, and yet, further UP the mountainside.

It was a roar.

Lazash's voice cut off abruptly and in a heartbeat after hearing the monstrous roaring, catching in her throat. It sounded like something straight out of a cartoon or film, and yet it was more than that right now. It was real. Yet the echo of it spoke to a different location, somewhere higher up and back into the mountain yet connected enough to be audible this far down into the caves as well. It was something that no doubt came from a predator of some sort, one that had been awakened from wherever it slept by the din of the explosion that had echoed through the caves perhaps.

...The Head Warrior had been correct. There was a reason some of these things only came out at night. And they'd been foolish enough to wake it from its slumber.

She drew her line in the sand and treated it as a groove in concrete.

"Leave if you don't have anything else to give. Hide or run; I'll keep whatever's inside busy enough for you three to do so."

Stupid way to reclaim her youth, ambushing something that sounded like it was ten times her size. But all it took was a satchel of peppers to chase off a beast. How much more could a monster take?

Esfir

The female orc runt tightened her grip on her pointy stick, makeshift spear as it was, and sloowly stood up once more to get into a defensive sort of stance. Adrenaline began to flow through her veins, a peculiarly nostalgic sensation, as the beginnings of the visceral instinct to 'fight or flight' started to kick in with a vengeance. It was as if the soreness and explosion and such hadn't happened, but there was one thought that came to mind otherwise. Something important.

"Normally I would accept the offer, but if we run outside into the open we could be picked off. If we stay here, at least we have a choke point to use for defense."

She also had a skill for identifying creatures at that, admittedly, which could be helpful in potentially sighting a weakness. But that statement of hers, at least, summed up her thoughts on the matter well enough. She didn't want to die stuck in a corner, but running in the open from a larger predator was usually not a good idea in her mind. Especially when the passage before them was still small enough that anything too big wouldn't be able to squeeze through easily unless it burst through the thing.

Besides, she'd already volunteered as bait for this operation. Might as well see the hunt through, if she ultimately survived that long, to get back to the camp with a kill if possible.

@ERode@Zeroth@Unkown58@King Cosmos

Pokemon: Dream

Clarissa Ryte

Byjerfal Airport, Commerical District, Byjerfal City

“...for the love of...”

“Hey hey hey, what have we here? A cute little trainer falling right into my lap?” A smirk that could only be described in some manner as smugly malicious appeared on Valarie’s lips as she’d look down at Clarissa. “And a cute little bunny, too! Your boss would love this lady, wouldn’t she?”

“...Miss Kiera does like Bunearies, yes…” The suit wearing woman would help Clarissa to her feet. “You alright miss? If so, move on. Neither of us have time to entertain fans-”

The psychic trainer accepted the help up as she listened to the two women talk in front of her, grabbing the nearby handle of her suitcase as she did so before she forgot, before trying to dust herself off a small bit. At least her suitcase was ok, and she was in one piece, though Sir Lopsalot visibly scrambled in a hurry to get back up onto his little Buneary legs before walking over to Clarissa and look up at her with a concerned expression.

"Bun?"

But it wasn't as if she had the chance to respond, as a moment later-

“Heey, don’t listen to that dummy. I make the rules here so I can do whatever I want, including entertaining a cute little fan like yourself.” Valarie interjected, taking a few steps towards Clarissa, earning a frown and a quiet grumble from the suited woman. “So how about it? A once in a lifetime chance to have some alone time with me. I’ll even give you a first class ticket to the contest. VIP seat, back stage access, autographs.”

Eh? EH?! What was this all of a sudden! She'd just been grabbed by a press from the crowd, and...a-ah, wasn't this the Valerie the crowd was trying to get toward?

The suited woman was glaring at Clarissa now. The word ‘Menacing’ certainly came to mind. Many of the people in the crowd were complaining about how it should have been them.

The glare from the seemingly stoic suited woman just to the side. The smug the smugly malicious smirk of this Valerie who had gotten basically in her face and whose eyes seemed to stare into her soul. The dissapointed mumbling of the dissipating crowd behind her as Sir Lopsalot jumped up into the psychic girl's arms and looked at her with worry about how she was feeling. Her head, reeling from the fall and trying to grasp the situation in front of her on a dime. She. Umm. But. It. Maybe. Aaaaah....

"O-O-Ok!"

The word left her lips in a slightly panicked stutter, but one that accepted the smug woman's offer nonetheless. All as Sir Lopsalot was being held in her arms, and her suitcase stood up next to her once more.

Frankly, once this sudden matter was wrapped up one way or another, Clarissa knew she was going to bolt for wherever Sir Lopsalot had been guiding her to. Hopefully that would be someone holding a sign or something, so she could finally make her way to the Professor's Lab. Anything to escape the awkward situation and get herself back under control before her power took the chance to pop out and do something funny. Luckily for her, she had just enough of a thumb on it to at least avoid that worst-case scenario for the moment being.

@Rune_Alchemist

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Lillianna

"One....two....three...."

She had found herself sleeping somewhat better after a late night conversation with Adam, though perhaps it had been in part that she'd been up too late as it was before going to bed that assisted in her falling asleep more quickly. Whatever the case, her dreams had been filled with images of the face of that peculiar ghost who had assisted them back in the Labyrinth. Then had come images of rushing wolves, the sound of a roar from afar, and then the flash of that shiny metallic helmet staring eyelessly back at her. That damned robotics, metal, ninja, something...whatever it was! She could still see that helmeted face so clearly, so distinctly, before the ghost of coursing pain and hot lightning pouring through her flesh and bone kicked her back awake again in the wee hours of the morning in a sudden cold sweat.

"Sixty five, sixty six, sixty seven-"

Whatever the case, she'd fallen back to sleep and then ultimaetly gotten up at her usually early time out of habit. Hmm. Habit. Yeah. A regular morning habit at that, minus the smell of late night chili-infused something or another having climbed up from downstairs to get to her room on the second floor ove the course of the night. Nor was there the sound of her uncle watching TV downstairs as he cooked breakfast, or him shouting 'rise and shine' after her alarm went off and he could even hear it downstairs. For more than a moment it made her take pause, though soon she shook her head and got out of bed before trying to clear just enough space for herself to move. Wood floor wasn't too rough or threatening to put a splinter in her either. Good.

Because habits would help her get by at this point. Habits would allow her something familiar, but also to perhaps better handle the new days and weeks and so forth ahead of her to some extent as well. Hopefully.

"And-one, and-two, and-three, and-four-"

Exercise was that habit, perhaps, that she could take in no matter where she was. She'd liked to swim, but keeping genrally fit had been something she did back home. Something to keep her happy by taking it all in on those special mornings where the weather was just perfect, feeling better some amount in her mind by making her body feel better, helping herself to live a longer live, etc. Whatever the reasons, it was something and certainly better than nothing to do in her book.

And so she'd gotten up earlier in the morning, moving her body with sit-ups, push-ups, and after testing the sturdiness of her staff and some finagling of the window sill had even done some good pull-ups without breaking anything. Then she'd put on some of her most casual new purchases before heading out of the Mended Drum to take a run around Valheim's streets. Or, well, the paths she was somewhat intially familiar with thus far. Up the hill, down the hill. Feel the burn, rest where needed. Control her breathing, and control her pacing. Focus, and remain aware of her surroundings. Rinse. Repeat. Few people at all seemed to be going and moving about as she did this, but it didn't matter. Wave and say hi to those who greeted her, but beyond that focus on what she was doing.

...Though for a moment, near the end of her exercise routine, for a moment Lillianna thought she saw the familiar head of hair of MacKensie moving a ways off from her. Or was it Zell? Eh, she wasn't too focused on other things. Back to her exercise it was!

After finishing, the mage would return to the Mended Drum with a long shower and getting her clothes washed in-mind after getting some water to drink. Once again the soothing of the hot water would run over her body, and for a moment she could just close her eyes and imagine being back in the shower at her uncle's place. Well, home rather. Yes. Not just her uncle's place, but she had been living there as well. He'd taken some time to drill that it was her home too now, really....but she felt grateful all the same for it too. Albeit such memories did bring on a small cry from the mage before she stepped out of the shower, though she felt a bit better for it as she pulled on cleaned clothes and went to the bar to get something to eat. Albeit she did still have a small towel around her neck due to her drying hair, but by the time she walked over it had become over half dry at least.

Didn't seem to be many people in there yet to eat or anything, but as she scanned the tables for a familiar face-

She asked Frederick for a meal and he told her he was busy making a big order, but he promised her he'd bring her a portion of the ham, egg and cheese toasted sandwich and a cup of tea when this was done with the rest of it.

Fenna the Good Friend

Fenna!

Lillianna would let a small smile come to her face as she walked over to the other woman's table, tying to wave at her a little before stopping at the edge of the table. She still felt nervous about it all to enough of a degree, but at the same time the other woman had been there with her for something admittedly a bit nerve-wracking for her. Somewhat the mage wished MacKensie or any of the others had been able to come the rest of the way as well, but having been worried enough about the Frenchwoman at the time they parted she didn't feel like pushing to ask MacKensie about it all later either. Though in truth she hadn't properly seen anyone else other than Adam since ther conversation the prior night, nor even so much as had been able to meet the new member of the group that had been brought in for that matter. So, really, it did feel a bit comforting just to find someone else familiar to be around after her morning routine if nothing else.

"Fenna! I was hoping to find someone else here this morning. Ah....would it be ok if I sat with you here for breakfast?"

Honestly she'd order whatever Fredrick could make more simply and wasn't too expensive this morning, and hopefully that in and of itself would be filling enough. But until he came along, she was content to ask Fenna if she could sit with her and such. Certainly felt better than being....well....alone for breakfast. Somehow that thought hit her worse in her mind than when she'd been exercising alone, though that matter had been something she wanted to be alone for usually back home. Breakfast? Usually wasn't alone for that, and it was more of a comfort to not be alone for it than perhaps she'd actively thought about back then.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Post coming Thursday or Friday. Been working as well as having to get other irl things done, and had a lot on my plate from that. Apologies. (@_@)

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

MacKensie: I'll never use my grappling hook again
MacKensie like an hour later: I'll grapple our way across the universe!

@Zapdos

My Brain: "Spider MacKensie, Spider MacKensie, does whatever a Spider MacKensie does~"

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Lillianna

"I hope you find the peace you looking for. Best of luck to you."

The mage began to turn her head back to speak for a moment, holding the list tightly in her hands, speaking as she did so.

"Thank you, sister, and have a-"

But the nun was already gone, and the front door shut. Whether it meant they were busy, or someting else was going on, Lillianna had no idea. At the same time, however, she would let out a quiet sigh and turn her head back toward Fenna and give the other woman a small nod. Success. They had managed to get something of a sort to look at, even if...well, it was just the two of them. It was just something the mage herself had wanted to do at that, and she hadn't even the time to explain things further before they'd even come here so they could maybe get it done earlier and more quickly. It was...a mess, and all due to her hesitation and nerves about the matter.

"Thank you for coming with me, Fenna. I wish I had said something more about all of this business earlier. But, ah, let's head back to the Mended Drum....yes."

A twinge of regret seeped into the tone of Lillianna's voice as she spoke, though she didn't seem to elaborate beyond it or say more. She was at least happy that someone else had come with her to do this, or had been able to at least, but even so she still felt bad enough for dragging someone along for such a selfish reason all the same. Not that anything about this new world business, and getting yanked away, and all of that was normal. She was trying to look into the past of a ghost who had helped them out back there, for pity's sake! Ghosts, monsters, magi-tech hospitals, lightning shooting from her hands, none of this was anything like that!

So why had her attention been caught up in this particular matter, of all things? Perhaps she was still figuing it all out, really, but it was at least...at least something to focus on for the time being.

With all of this in mind, the mage would pull up the list and take a look over it.

The shortlist was only five names long. Sister Irdil had managed to strike out a great deal of possible locations. Once Lillianna and Fenna cross-referenced the names with a map of Central Mytheria, they would see that the villages were spread quite far to the north, west and south of Valhiem. One village however would be the obvious place to look first:

Cherrad - It was right next door to the big city. And it just so happened to be on the way to the Temple of Hades.

Cherrad. It sounded like a small village, had a nice ring to the name and all of that. It was also located along the way toward their mission! Perhaps, well, perhaps she could convince the group to try to look into this matter along the way. A little detour for something she was interested in, even if it was as selfish as she was feeling it to be in her mind right now. She did want to bring it up to the whole of the group, though, rather than say nothing about it. Everyone seemed friendly enough thus far, and they'd be getting a new member to the group to boot, so perhaps it woudl bode well for her chances.

Whatever the case, she'd walk with Fenna back to the Mended Drum and get herself winding down and ready to sleep. Another shower, making sure her things were in order back in her room, making octuple sure the maid she'd nearly fried was still ok, etc. But she'd have to go have a think about things for the time being, perhaps....at least before trying to get some rest.