Loksfjoer

RPGC #30 - Celestial Lights (Prompt and discussion)

We have our first entry and still 18 days left in the contest.

The insane asylum

"That does sound like a book they would put on their forbidden list," Benjamin commented with a chuckle. "It's not a theme I usually read, but I'm willing to give it a try. I'd like to read something well-written instead of this garbage." He showed the book about the dancer he was reading. "I like to read drama's, but better-written ones. This could have been a good story if it was written by someone else." He checked the back cover. "But this person is a journalist for a few good newspapers and it probably got published because of that. It just shows that fiction and journalism are two very different things and I'm sure there are people who are good at both, but that isn't true for everyone."

He glanced at a nurse that walked to another patient, talk with her for a moment and then the two of them left. Therapy probably. Or the weekly overview of their progress. He still needed to get his first; he was in his first week here and already hated the place. This didn't bode well.

Paranormal Activities [SporkoBug and Calle]

"If she shows she is dangerous," Mike said, "if it can be proven she was dangerous to humans, the agency will have a valid reason to go after her. They are there to protect humans against dangers humans can't protect themselves against. We saw her before going through that gate; she looked nothing like her old self. If they..." Mike paused as he thought about it. "What if this wasn't about Steph and Gaia? What if the plan that was set in motion is to push Harriet in becoming a danger to the agency, so they have a reason to take her down?"

---

"We haven't planned a whole lot yet," Benjamin said. "We just had the idea to break into a high-security facility to free some people."

Mitch made a derogatory sound. "As if you could pull that off," he said, glaring at Benjamin. "If this Gaia is as strong as you guys told me, she'll have more chances of breaking out by herself than you have of breaking in. And Steph is probably also more capable of saving herself. She is a fucking Succubus with wings. All she needs to do is bide her time, charm a man or lesbian, whatever she prefers. And if they will only let straight women guard her, she's still stronger than you'll ever be. All they need is a bit of patience, waiting for the right time, and they are out. Going into that building is a foolish idea." He turned to Dante and Lydral. "Unless either of you has some special abilities that could come in useful. Now would be a perfect moment to share, or this plan of storming the high-security facility will end here and now."

---

"Oh honey," Lily said as she walked to Rose's cage. "What would you like to eat? Do you still eat human food, or do I need to bring in some bugs for you? Tell my assistant please, she will bring you whatever you desire and show you to your new room as well." She gestured to a guard to open the cage of Rose.
The guard opened the door and the assistant waited for Rose to join her; she didn't seem overly happy with the appointed task, but she did as she was told without complaint.

Only Gaia's cage remained closed for now.

Lily joined Steph, watching Gaia for a moment with a sly smile. This lovely creature would have to have a little more patience. "You still need to wake up, dear. I will come to get you after I showed Steph where she can stay. You will be able to cocoon as much as you like in your new room."

She turned to Steph, now closer to her than ever before. Within arms reach. The guards around them looked worried, but Lily ignored them and reached out to stroke Steph's horn. "I love your horns," she commented, "they are so beautiful."

---

The agents that remained outside watched in horror as the figure crawled out and looked like he was about to die, but didn't. In fact, he seemed to heal...
"Careful now," the leader spoke. "We don't shoot unless attacked," he reminded everyone.
He searched the sky; the other that had thrown this one down must be around somewhere too. Where was she?

Nobody Will Believe It [SporkoBug and Calle]

At the enthusiastic greeting, Benjamin felt his spirit lift. When she went through him he turned around to look at her and had a smile on his face. "I did, thank you."
"Don't forget to take your medication today," a voice sounded and Benjamin cringed. He had forgotten to check if they were alone before replying to her.
"Damn it," he muttered to himself as he glared at the nurse who had emerged from the room next to his. Without a word he turned around and walked away, although he did lock eyes with Ari first and made the smallest of gestures with his head to ask her to come along.

The insane asylum

"I'm sure you'll get there," Benjamin said. "Isn't that the whole reason we have to therapy here?"

He showed the book as she asked about the book he was reading. "It's not that good, actually. It's a rather boring story about a young man who wants to be dancer and then breaks his leg. I like the theme, but the execution is terrible. But since I don't have much else to do I slog through it, in the hopes it will get more exciting later on."

He bent forward to pick up the Petals of the Rose, a book he hadn't read yet, but the title had caught his eye. He examined the blurb on the back. "I don't think this is much better. The Petals Of The Rose looks like a romantic horror story with vampires, probably not the most original book in the pile, but people who like the genre will probably enjoy it." He put it down again. "Most of the books seem to have come from library sales, and I think the libraries had a reason to take them out of their collection."

A Trainers Ambition [SporkoBug and Calle]

"Let him go first," Andy said as he put an arm around Frosiien. "I'm sure Arceus is smart enough to see what is going on here anyway. What I want to know is if this party involves food and drink, maybe even alcohol? And if we have to wait until everyone gets here."
Priories, life was full of priorities. And there would be plenty of time to catch up with the creator of all Pokémon later in the day.

"It's hard to explain, really," Benny said as Mitch asked what it was like to be captured. "Merlin is the only one of us who was captured without prior consent. Bear, Kim and me were all asked and we wanted to come along. The Pokéball is weird, but it's not bad. You go in a kind of resting state, somewhere between being awake and sleeping. But you hear what's going on in the outside world and you can leave the Pokéball when you want to. If you're not claustrofobic the Pokéball isn't a bad place to rest. It's warm, dry, dark."

Then Merlin took over. "Wild Pokémon, like me, know about humans and their desire to catch Pokémon, who then want prove who is the best by letting us fight for them. I guess we are competitive in nature, as some of us like that and even come out of hiding when a human comes. Antony, Michaels Fletchling, said he wanted to be caught, as he saw it as a way to get stronger, so he always made sure to be in sight when a human showed up." Merlin ruffled his feather and tilted his head as he looked where the small Fletchling was, but he seemed to be in company of the Talonflame.
"I assure you," Merlin continued as he returned his attention to Mitch. "A Pokémon that doesn't want to be captured, won't be captured. All we need to do is target the human instead of the Pokémon they send out - humans are so weak. And if a Pokémon is rendered unconsious, it really isn't difficult to escape. Once let out of our Pokéball we can run away, - Pokeballs have a range and if you are out of range before the human can attempt to pull you back in the ball, you are free to go where-ever you want. If one were to injure or kill the captor they won't be able to catch us again. And because the Pokémon was captured once, it can't be caught in another Pokéball, so they would be free from humans for ever. Merlin glanced to Andy. "I did not care to fight for a human, but I was curious about humans. When Andy tried to capture me, I decided to play along and fight Benny for a bit, to see how he was as a human." He sighed. "I wasn't impressed."
Benny giggled.
"Benny did manage to distract me enough for a Pokéball to hit me - his second attempt at doing so I might add."
Benny was really laughing now. "He hit the tree the first time he threw a Pokéball at Merlin!" He managed to say between his laughs.
"And so I was captured," Merlin continued. "Later he called me to the field for a battle, but I had no desire to fight for him, so I flew away to observe the battle and how he handled it. Then he showed he wasn't as bad as I had first assessed, so I did help him win the fight in the end."

"Boyfriend," Michael confirmed. "It's an honour to meet you. I'm Michael Bansing, from the Rorie Islands." While he wanted to ask what was going on - Gavin had confronted Arceus about being responsible for making Niccia how she was now - he decided it would probably give a bad impression if he would impose now, as it was something between them.

"I read about that," Mindy said. "The comet only comes every 1000 years. That is a long time to be sleeping. And he looks so sad too... I wish he wouldn't have to sleep if he doesn't want to..."
"A wish..." Penalopy said. "A Wish!" She floated to Chifferi and yanked on one of his tags.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, carefull, they are attached to me!" Chifferi complained.
"Write it down! Maybe it will come through! Chifferi can grant wishes after all, just not for himself. And StarFall is powerful energy, more powerful than the comet. I'm sure his wishing capabilities are much stronger now! Just make sure to word it right. If you'd wish he won't sleep anymore he may die of exhaustion!"
Mindy looked from Penalopy, to the Jirachi and then quickly opened her yellow handbag and rummaged through it until she found her pencil. "Can I?" she asked.
Chifferi nodded with a hopeful look in his eyes. He wasn't sure if it could work, but if it did, how amazing would it be? No-one had ever whished something for him. "People usually don't ask for permission. One time I was just pushed down and scribbled on which forced me to grant the wish..."
"He says it's okay," Penalopy translated very losely.
Mindy wrote down the wish 'let Jirachi choose his sleep-cycle', giving Jirachi the freedom to decide for himself what he considered the best sleepcycle.
A white light engulfed Jirachi and then it faded. "It is done," he said and then wrapped his stubby arms around Mindy's neck. "Thank you~"

Hyachu nodded to Yalgai and when he heard Illias he nodded to her too. "I see you made it too," he stated as he glanced at Yalgai, before looking around to see who was here. "Who are the humans?"
Humans at starfall again, he grumbled a bit to himself. Why some of his fellow legendary and mythical Pokémon insisted on bringing human companions was something he still didn't understand.

Tanter shook his head. "The last time we spoke he said he'd be waiting for us here, which implied he'd be here before us. I don't know where he is." He walked to mother of the birds. "Nygari, did Netherlu say anything about when he would come to StarFall?"

Nobody Will Believe It [SporkoBug and Calle]

Benjamin woke up early in the morning. He drank a bit of water in the small bathroom, took a shower and got dressed. Every movement was slow, his expression jaded. How many days was it now? Five? It felt like an eternity already. He cringed when a buzzer sounded; it was their way to wake everyone up. It meant breakfast would begin in half an hour. He was dressed already, others would now start to wake up and get dressed. Which meant it would be very calm in the facility now.

He went to the door, wondering if Ari was still around. Probably not; why would she stay outside his room all night? While she had promised she would be around when he would wake up, he expected she would have returned to Ray by now.

Paranormal Activities [SporkoBug and Calle]

"If they are planning to capture Harriet," Mike answered, as he walked toward the bathroom, "I haven't heard about those plans. The only thing I had to study were demons and all I heard is that Harriet is considered an ally." He paused as he opened a door for Duncan. "But..." he continued, "I did hear someone say the plan was set in motion. There is an ulterior motive for bringing them to the facility, but I don't know what it is." He had a thoughtful expression on his face as he turned to Duncan. "They had made a plan for capturing Gaia and Steph before today, but that was kept for the moment they proved they were dangerous, and that hasn't happened yet. Neither Steph nor Gaia had made any casualties and that would have been point the plan of their capture would have been set in motion. I don't know why they were captured now, I was just informed it had started."

---

Benjamin listened to the introduction and nodded a greeting to Lydral, and continued to listen as Dante and Lydral talked amongst themselves. He noticed Mitch moving closer to him, but his eyes were glued on Lydral. It seemed Mitch didn't trust this situation, but he didn't understand why; Lydral didn't seem hostile, although he was a bit condescending towards humans.

"What brings you here, Lydral?" he asked. Duncan and two of people related to Harriet were here. Maybe a coincidence, but that didn't seem likely.
Something was wrong with Harriet; she had seemed so unlike herself. Unless that was her true form and the gentle behaviour had been a disguise. It was hard to assess as he didn't know her that long.

---

"I would never allow anyone to manhandle someone here," Lily said, looking at the guards, who quickly nodded. She took the tablet from her assistant and tapped a few times on it. "You will be perfectly safe here, honey," she said without looking up from it. "And I have the perfect room for you. You will love it." She handed the tablet back to her assistant and smiled at Steph. "Of course if guards are attacked they have the right to defend themselves, so as long as you behave, they will behave."

She looked to the other cages. "Gaia, dear, you heard that? I have a perfect place for you as well, lots of room."

When she heard Rose she craned her neck to look at her. "Rose, darling, what's wrong?"

---

"G, Are you getting this on camera?" the leader asked in the radio.
"Yes sir, all our security camera's are still operational and the live-feed is established."
"We've never seen anything like this, not even the demons we battled showed this kind of power. Send word to Jay that he'll stand by to evacuate the nearby cities in case they will go there. It looks like they will remain here for the time being."

The figure in mr Johnsson's office could be seen in through the window. Although the curtains were closed, the light was on and his shadow was cast on the fabric.

Paranormal Activities [SporkoBug and Calle]

That's okay ^_^

And it's nice to meet them :)

The insane asylum

"It's okay," Benjamin said as he watched her shake and hold her own arms. "You don't have to feel bad because that startled you and I don't mind you took my arm. In fact, if it will make you feel better, I will give you permission to do so in the future. If something happens and you need to hold on to something, you can hold on to me. Okay?"

He watched Artemis for a moment longer to see if she was okay again. This place, it was taxing. He felt it too, although his limits were tested in a different way.