Goddamn it, @Rethel34 , he's standing over my shoulder and has just deafened me with laughter =P
Personally, I hope you get better soon =P
Personally, I hope you get better soon =P
- Last Seen: 4 yrs ago
- Joined: 11 yrs ago
- Posts: 699 (0.18 / day)
- VMs: 1
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Username history
- Sickle-cell 11 yrs ago
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Latest 10 profile visitors:
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PlatinumSkink
Status
Recent Statuses
7 yrs ago
Current
How's about no?
2
likes
7 yrs ago
When you go from walking around at 5am like a half shut knife to bouncing out your bed 10 minutes before the alarm goes off within a month of early starts at work. Self-improvement, ho!
4
likes
7 yrs ago
Celebrating the one-month anniversary of my RP starting! 135 IC posts already and still growing. Also still accepting players, so hop on over if you are interested in gritty superheroes. All welcome!
5
likes
7 yrs ago
How to know when your day as a home shopper will be busy - when your boss can't be arsed counting all the orders to pick so he logs the official total as 'mental' :-P
4
likes
7 yrs ago
Best feelings as a GM #1 - Sitting at work cackling because a player has literally set up an amazing plot hook without realising it. *evil chuckle*
11
likes
Bio
Well, where to begin?
I found my love of roleplays through a brief block of sessions of D&D when I screwed up enough and brought an class from an entirely different plane to join the main party. After following the plot to the end - which involved our dwarven pilot flying a gunship while simultaneously controlling 4 cannons by tying string around them - we ended up crashing through a portal onto a different plane. When attempting to formulate a plan, one of the PCs delivered a line that has stayed with me ever since.
"Ask the artificer, he's already done it once."
Since then, I've done a 3+ year RP between two players - using the FATE system - in which we created an entire city through creating mentally unstable characters and callus cold-blooded killers. One particularly nasty NPC came about by a sheer accident, when the melee-build character out-snarked the diplomat. Which was much more fun than it sounds. Had a bad experience with this site before, in which the GM didn't plan far enough ahead to include any NPCs whatsoever, and the other characters had no interest in Player-to-Player interactions outside of their own 2-man group. Needless to say, it died with incredible speed, which was a shame.
But I was tempted back by a friend to play a Pokemon RP despite having no knowledge whatsoever of the topic outside of Gen 1 stuff, and even that was years ago. Despite everything, I've not only been holding my own, but coming up with a completely separate sub-plot from the main plot, and making the GM's life a misery. (Sorry Zan!)
My writing style draws heavily from the likes of Worm and The Dresden Files, which means I can do a great deal of two things. Snark and Escalation. Outside of that, I like to think i'm a dynamic roleplayer, but I prefer sticking to High Fantasy sort of settings. Anything Slice of Life-y doesn't do it for me. Unless i'm slinging magic, psuedo-magic or demons (while snarking at whoever is unlucky enough to warrant it) I feel as though I could be doing something more entertaining with my time. When it comes to RP systems, I enjoy FATE or narrative based things.
My first RP which I am GMing on this site is themed around Dragon Age as carried on from the far superior (in my humble opinion) plot of the first game.
That's pretty much all there is to know about me that people would actually care about. I'll update it as I do with important changes or epic moments. Until then, feel free to PM me if you have questions or invites to stuff, and i'll respond as soon as I can. ^.^
I found my love of roleplays through a brief block of sessions of D&D when I screwed up enough and brought an class from an entirely different plane to join the main party. After following the plot to the end - which involved our dwarven pilot flying a gunship while simultaneously controlling 4 cannons by tying string around them - we ended up crashing through a portal onto a different plane. When attempting to formulate a plan, one of the PCs delivered a line that has stayed with me ever since.
"Ask the artificer, he's already done it once."
Since then, I've done a 3+ year RP between two players - using the FATE system - in which we created an entire city through creating mentally unstable characters and callus cold-blooded killers. One particularly nasty NPC came about by a sheer accident, when the melee-build character out-snarked the diplomat. Which was much more fun than it sounds. Had a bad experience with this site before, in which the GM didn't plan far enough ahead to include any NPCs whatsoever, and the other characters had no interest in Player-to-Player interactions outside of their own 2-man group. Needless to say, it died with incredible speed, which was a shame.
But I was tempted back by a friend to play a Pokemon RP despite having no knowledge whatsoever of the topic outside of Gen 1 stuff, and even that was years ago. Despite everything, I've not only been holding my own, but coming up with a completely separate sub-plot from the main plot, and making the GM's life a misery. (Sorry Zan!)
My writing style draws heavily from the likes of Worm and The Dresden Files, which means I can do a great deal of two things. Snark and Escalation. Outside of that, I like to think i'm a dynamic roleplayer, but I prefer sticking to High Fantasy sort of settings. Anything Slice of Life-y doesn't do it for me. Unless i'm slinging magic, psuedo-magic or demons (while snarking at whoever is unlucky enough to warrant it) I feel as though I could be doing something more entertaining with my time. When it comes to RP systems, I enjoy FATE or narrative based things.
My first RP which I am GMing on this site is themed around Dragon Age as carried on from the far superior (in my humble opinion) plot of the first game.
That's pretty much all there is to know about me that people would actually care about. I'll update it as I do with important changes or epic moments. Until then, feel free to PM me if you have questions or invites to stuff, and i'll respond as soon as I can. ^.^
Most Recent Posts
“He’s good,” Drystan noted to his Legend. “Either through deliberate effort or simple lack of focus, our newfound friend is giving nothing away.”
“Forget that,” the voice inside his head murmured. “Maybe you should try this ‘honesty’ lark more often. Did he really just agree to help?”
The answer came in the form of a widening smile across the lips of his host. “That you are even willing to hear me out is a relief. So many people clam up at the mention of Giratina, especially with recent events. Although, they can hardly be blamed for that, I suppose, as anyone with sense would be worried.” Taking a final draw of the cigarette, he gestured at himself. “Case in point.”
Crumpling the last of the cigarette into a cloud of burning embers in his palm, Drystan allowed them to fall and scatter across the floor, carried by the slight breeze generated from the people walking past, cursing the lack of genuine fresh air. “As Dialga’s Avatar, I am in a unique position to comment on the fact that time is short. If Giratina has begun to rampage, then the outcomes are few. He will either die, or will kill countless more.”
“If the Orb falls into the wrong hands, be they malicious or simply ignorant, then finding it may be impossible. Should my counterpart get her hands on it, or someone like her, then you can replace the ‘may’ in that sentence with ‘will’.” Drystan removed his hat briefly, to wipe a line of sweat from his brow due to heat in the room, reminding him that one of his opponents for the next round would be Groudon’s scar-ridden broad.
Swallowing down that uncomfortable feeling, he returned to the task at hand. “I have employed many eyes to search for the Orb, in many places, and have turned up countless fakes and replicas, but never the real thing. My small band was drawn to this city in the hopes of it turning up, but my attempts to track it down with Dialga have proved fruitless - apparently a result of the void opening last night.”
“If you wish to know more, you need only ask, and I will answer what I can in the remaining time before my next bout. If this proves insufficient, we could always speak more over a meal later, if you’d prefer.” Throughout the entire time, Drystan’s curiosity kept poking it’s head up, desperate to ask about Vuduin’s Legend. He smiled, and berated it once again, keeping the friendly tone going. Everything is going fine, he thought, no need to ruin it now.
Dialga chuckled, as though it was only a matter of time.
“Forget that,” the voice inside his head murmured. “Maybe you should try this ‘honesty’ lark more often. Did he really just agree to help?”
The answer came in the form of a widening smile across the lips of his host. “That you are even willing to hear me out is a relief. So many people clam up at the mention of Giratina, especially with recent events. Although, they can hardly be blamed for that, I suppose, as anyone with sense would be worried.” Taking a final draw of the cigarette, he gestured at himself. “Case in point.”
Crumpling the last of the cigarette into a cloud of burning embers in his palm, Drystan allowed them to fall and scatter across the floor, carried by the slight breeze generated from the people walking past, cursing the lack of genuine fresh air. “As Dialga’s Avatar, I am in a unique position to comment on the fact that time is short. If Giratina has begun to rampage, then the outcomes are few. He will either die, or will kill countless more.”
“If the Orb falls into the wrong hands, be they malicious or simply ignorant, then finding it may be impossible. Should my counterpart get her hands on it, or someone like her, then you can replace the ‘may’ in that sentence with ‘will’.” Drystan removed his hat briefly, to wipe a line of sweat from his brow due to heat in the room, reminding him that one of his opponents for the next round would be Groudon’s scar-ridden broad.
Swallowing down that uncomfortable feeling, he returned to the task at hand. “I have employed many eyes to search for the Orb, in many places, and have turned up countless fakes and replicas, but never the real thing. My small band was drawn to this city in the hopes of it turning up, but my attempts to track it down with Dialga have proved fruitless - apparently a result of the void opening last night.”
“If you wish to know more, you need only ask, and I will answer what I can in the remaining time before my next bout. If this proves insufficient, we could always speak more over a meal later, if you’d prefer.” Throughout the entire time, Drystan’s curiosity kept poking it’s head up, desperate to ask about Vuduin’s Legend. He smiled, and berated it once again, keeping the friendly tone going. Everything is going fine, he thought, no need to ruin it now.
Dialga chuckled, as though it was only a matter of time.
“This one asks too many questions, host.”
“Hush, you. I like him.”
Dialga snorted, so much as an entity dwelling entirely within someone’s head could, and returned to stoic silence. When his host grasped hold of an idea, even Arceus couldn’t convince him to let go. Meanwhile, Drystan took stock of this man - Vuduin - properly for the first time. The introduction as the Avatar of Dialga was not simply for show, no mere act of pride. As Vuduin had answered the introduction with merely his own name, it was safe to say that the two were entirely separate beings. Whatever Legend this man embodied was likely sleeping somewhere far under the surface, then, or perhaps it had been completely gobbled up by the human psyche.
Meetings with other Avatars had shown him that could happen.
Vuduin had taken the gift without the intent to use it, he thought, out of politeness perhaps? Or obligation? Drystan carefully eyed Shade the Ghastly, who until now had remained unnoticed by him. The question had been a very direct one, straight to the point without being pointed. It smacked of curiosity and intrigue, not accusation. Even the evaluation of his own character had been right on the mark, even if this was the one exception to the rule.
Drystan flicked some ash onto the floor, before crushing it into a neat little pile with the sole of a shoe. “Our meeting is a mix of chance, and my overly inquisitive nature. Originally, I wished to see if it would be possible to guess which of the Legends you embody, but as it is, Dialga and I are entirely stumped on that front, and I was only in this area in the first place as a result of some rather… disappointing news.”
Looking Vuduin in the eye for a second, he carefully weighed up just how much information he wanted to divulge about the artifact - ergo his intentions. Following his inclination, Drystan decided to continue with the brutal honesty, albeit mixed with his trademark misdirection, and would see how far it helped. “To answer your original question, Vuduin, would require dwelling on the events of last night,” he said, taking a drag of the cigarette. Upon blowing the smoke out, it fell heavily around him. “A terrible thing, as I’m sure we can both agree, and while Giratina and Dialga have never quite seen eye-to-eye, we can’t help but feel a slight guilt over the needless carnage.”
“Excuse me?” Dialga demanded, drawing a lazy smile from his host.
“I heard that he was incarcerated as a result of the fighting, but from the snippets I have seen, he couldn’t have been in complete control of his actions. Xerneas’s dead was tragic to be sure, but I can’t sit back and let Giratina rot - again - in a cell.” Drystan looked at the floor for a second, in silence, before raising his pleading eyes to meet those of Vuduin. “Perhaps you could help me, since so few others seem willing to.” Leaning in close, he lowered his voice several notches, so that the question would go unheard by the medics and other attendants around them.
“What do you know of the Griseous Orb?”
“Hush, you. I like him.”
Dialga snorted, so much as an entity dwelling entirely within someone’s head could, and returned to stoic silence. When his host grasped hold of an idea, even Arceus couldn’t convince him to let go. Meanwhile, Drystan took stock of this man - Vuduin - properly for the first time. The introduction as the Avatar of Dialga was not simply for show, no mere act of pride. As Vuduin had answered the introduction with merely his own name, it was safe to say that the two were entirely separate beings. Whatever Legend this man embodied was likely sleeping somewhere far under the surface, then, or perhaps it had been completely gobbled up by the human psyche.
Meetings with other Avatars had shown him that could happen.
Vuduin had taken the gift without the intent to use it, he thought, out of politeness perhaps? Or obligation? Drystan carefully eyed Shade the Ghastly, who until now had remained unnoticed by him. The question had been a very direct one, straight to the point without being pointed. It smacked of curiosity and intrigue, not accusation. Even the evaluation of his own character had been right on the mark, even if this was the one exception to the rule.
Drystan flicked some ash onto the floor, before crushing it into a neat little pile with the sole of a shoe. “Our meeting is a mix of chance, and my overly inquisitive nature. Originally, I wished to see if it would be possible to guess which of the Legends you embody, but as it is, Dialga and I are entirely stumped on that front, and I was only in this area in the first place as a result of some rather… disappointing news.”
Looking Vuduin in the eye for a second, he carefully weighed up just how much information he wanted to divulge about the artifact - ergo his intentions. Following his inclination, Drystan decided to continue with the brutal honesty, albeit mixed with his trademark misdirection, and would see how far it helped. “To answer your original question, Vuduin, would require dwelling on the events of last night,” he said, taking a drag of the cigarette. Upon blowing the smoke out, it fell heavily around him. “A terrible thing, as I’m sure we can both agree, and while Giratina and Dialga have never quite seen eye-to-eye, we can’t help but feel a slight guilt over the needless carnage.”
“Excuse me?” Dialga demanded, drawing a lazy smile from his host.
“I heard that he was incarcerated as a result of the fighting, but from the snippets I have seen, he couldn’t have been in complete control of his actions. Xerneas’s dead was tragic to be sure, but I can’t sit back and let Giratina rot - again - in a cell.” Drystan looked at the floor for a second, in silence, before raising his pleading eyes to meet those of Vuduin. “Perhaps you could help me, since so few others seem willing to.” Leaning in close, he lowered his voice several notches, so that the question would go unheard by the medics and other attendants around them.
“What do you know of the Griseous Orb?”
Taking the pair of glasses, the Avatar focused on channeling Dialga’s power into them, sensing that familiar thrum spread forward, warming him inside. A blue glare later, and the object was as new as the day it was purchased. Drystan held them up to his face, staring through them towards the black-robed man, and giving a single nod of approval at the handiwork.
“Handier than one might think,” he said, folding the legs of the glasses before reaching out to hand them back. “It cuts down massively on costs in pretty much any way you can imagine - and this is only a fraction of what it can really do.”
Drystan pondered the question for a moment. His newfound companion didn’t appear to have any ulterior motive for asking, but he had picked up on the raw desire there. Essence tugged at the corner of his awareness, before a faint ethereal whisper spoke. “Careful. He may be more than he appears.”
Deep down, Drystan believed that wasn’t the case.
“No, you are definitely not mistaken,” he said, carefully scanning the fellow Avatar’s eyes. “I am simply in the market for a certain magical macguffin, and believed - perhaps foolishly - that I may find such a trinket at a gathering of Avatars.” Taking a drag of the cigarette in his mouth, his face suddenly contorted into something resembling disgust for a mere moment, before he quickly blew out the smoke.
“Forgive me, I’m yet to introduce myself. Drystan Graye, Avatar of Dialga, and that there is Deladriss.” Another small pause between words followed, before he spoke again. “They both wish me to offer greetings on their behalf as well. May I offer you a cigarette? Many of the guests here do not seem to smoke, but I find it impolite not to at least offer.”
“Handier than one might think,” he said, folding the legs of the glasses before reaching out to hand them back. “It cuts down massively on costs in pretty much any way you can imagine - and this is only a fraction of what it can really do.”
Drystan pondered the question for a moment. His newfound companion didn’t appear to have any ulterior motive for asking, but he had picked up on the raw desire there. Essence tugged at the corner of his awareness, before a faint ethereal whisper spoke. “Careful. He may be more than he appears.”
Deep down, Drystan believed that wasn’t the case.
“No, you are definitely not mistaken,” he said, carefully scanning the fellow Avatar’s eyes. “I am simply in the market for a certain magical macguffin, and believed - perhaps foolishly - that I may find such a trinket at a gathering of Avatars.” Taking a drag of the cigarette in his mouth, his face suddenly contorted into something resembling disgust for a mere moment, before he quickly blew out the smoke.
“Forgive me, I’m yet to introduce myself. Drystan Graye, Avatar of Dialga, and that there is Deladriss.” Another small pause between words followed, before he spoke again. “They both wish me to offer greetings on their behalf as well. May I offer you a cigarette? Many of the guests here do not seem to smoke, but I find it impolite not to at least offer.”
@EklispeApologies for the wait, once again. I'll be around more solidly in a few days time.
Having recently concluded the first round in the tournament, Drystan found himself growing a little peckish. Deciding to skip out on a shower - skin still damp from the veritable downpour Kaze had generated - he found that one of the nearby underground caverns had been taken over by some entrepreneurial types exploiting the niche provided by all of the present attendants, officials and Avatars. Saying that, the prices were fair and the food did look tasty.
Glancing down the menu, he ordered a Tauros steak with salad, alongside a flask of warming tea. Not forgetting about Deladriss, however, a plate of berries was also added to the tab - alongside a pokepuff for her sweet tooth, much to her delight. Paying the man, and collecting his food, Drystan found an empty table a few rows from the back of the room able to seat four, and set to relaxing. Ever-vigilant, the scizor stood watch over the table while leaning against the adjacent wall, stealing a berry from the piled plate every now and again.
The trio - Drystan, Deladriss and Dialga - talked telepathically over the meal, discussing the events earlier, the events yesterday and the plan of action for dealing with the present threat of this so-called ‘Alliance of Justice’. Security around the tournament arena were clearly on edge, nervously scanning the crowd for any shifty characters, their loyal Arcanine’s waiting patiently for any commands.
Naturally, that’s when a sound like a thunderclap split the air, reverberating around the underground storage room turned dining hall. The room was filled suddenly with the acrid reek of smouldered ozone, as though singed by plasma. Nearby the food stands, at the opposite end of the room, a large violet portal hovered where a section of the wall once did. Through it stood a female figure dressed in torn clothing, a shock of neon pink hair contrasting entirely against the bleary and unfocused look in her eyes. Blinking several times, she began to stumble - since it couldn’t be accurately called a walk - into the large room. At her side, a gorgeously vibrant Milotic surveyed the audience staring at them, before gracefully slithering after her owner.
Moving like a zombie, the girl drew some startled reactions from the various people in the eating hall as security tracked her with hooded eyes and slitted gazes, calling into their radios about a potential threat. The Milotic took a chair at the side of the table beside Deladriss. Drystan had just cut another succulent slice of steak as the figure collapsed into the seat opposite him and her head promptly slammed down onto the table amid a tangle of arms and hair. Freshly burnt air was replaced by a new but not entirely unpleasant smell - Prinap Brandy.
It took all the self control Drystan had to not simply burst out laughing at the lump’s plight, so he settled for sarcastic witticisms instead. Chewing over the piece of steak recently departing his fork, he smirked, before swallowing. “Back to the land of the living? That’s certainly the question that springs to mind, although I get the impression the phrase not might apply here.”
A grunt was the only response from the pile of girl, who remained completely still. “Have you gone monosyllabic on me? Great Arceus, we need a half-gallon of black coffee, stat.” As if to underline the point, he took a swig from the flask of tea. “Seriously, my dear, at least try to stay on this side of the abyss. There are corpses more lively than you, and that is discounting Xerneas.”
Her head swiveled a tad, a single piercing green eye glared out through the gap between her arm and the table, before she pushed herself up with several grumbles, finally settling upright by resting her cheek on a knuckle. By this point, another several security guards were present in various places around the room, several of whom began to approach the Avatars. Drystan raised an arm to dismiss them. “Relax, she’s with me,” he said, before lowering his voice. “Although if you could shut the portal again, it might make them more at ease.”
Turning, she gave a snort, before clicking her fingers, and returning to her slump. As quickly as it had appeared, the portal snapped shut back into a solid wall. Security looked warily at each other before nodding and move back, remaining close enough to intervene should anything happen. Drystan simply sat, staring at her expectantly. “So… Need I ask?”
Palkia’s Avatar rubbed her eyes with her free hand, before speaking softly with a hoarse and breaking voice. “Couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided to see what the city had to offer, maybe meet some people and get some leads of the Alliance.”
This made her counterpart chuckle. “Oh, really? How did that go, then?”
With a glare capable of turning men to stone, she allowed the silence to drag out longer than was comfortable. “Just so happens there is a nice bar - a really nice bar - on the first floor. No leads, a pounding headache and a missed opportunity to join the tournament is all I have to show for it, outside a good time.”
“I appreciate you letting me know in advance, so we didn’t hang around waiting on you.”
A small smile appeared for a brief moment on the girl’s lips. “My pleasure, after all, I know you’d do the same.” The two Avatar’s locked eyes. “Anyhow, stop stalling. Did you go to see him?”
Drystan gained those adorable, large puppy-dog eyes as he raised his arms in a “Who, me?” expression, unable to answer verbally due to eating. “Well, you’ve had plenty of time. Rumours are swirling round that you beat up a kid,” she replied, almost instantly.
Sighing, the man swallowed his mouthful of food, before smirking. “Claudia, darling,” he drawled, pronouncing the latter word with an additional ‘h’. “What I do with my time is most certainly my busine-”
“Don’t bullshit me Drystan. He is dangerous.”
Hand clenching the fork until it hurt, his voice rippled forth with a cold, quiet and directionless fury. “I am perfectly capable of telling danger for myself. I was doing it long before you came along.”
And I’ll be doing it long after you are gone. He hadn’t said it, but Claudia knew that it was implied.
After cutting another piece of steak, Drystan stared at it on his fork for an overlong second, before dropping it to the plate and pushing the whole lot into the center of the table. “And suddenly, I’ve lost my appetite.” The girl’s eyes glanced repeatedly at the plate, several times in as many seconds, before she snatched it up, cutting the steak rapidly into tiny pieces with such ferocity one would assume she hadn’t eaten in weeks, before the entire plate of food began steadily disappearing. “Did you have breakfast this morning?”
Claudia’s head rapidly moved from side to side, the words “No time” struggling to appear through the food. Taking a £10 note from his wallet, Drystan folded it in half, then half again, carefully tearing along the folds. With a flare of cobalt blue light, each of the four torn quarters became a full £10 once more. One returned inside the wallet, and the other three were slid over to the ravenously hungry girl. “Here. Grab yourself something to eat. I, on the other hand, have a match to prepare for.”
As Drystan glanced over to Deladriss - who had given some berries to the Milotic and fiercely wolfed down the Pokepuff - began to move in step with her master. Claudia looked up, giving her counterpart a thumbs up. “Awesome. Would root for you once I’ve finished eating, but I don’t plan to stick around.”
This comment caused Dialga’s Avatar to stop dead in his tracks. “Excuse me?” he said, in a voice that held a deeper meaning, an edge of anxiety. “And why not?”
She shrugged. “Stuff to do back home. Apparently a few Pokemon there have contracted the plague. I’m heading back to make sure the Alliance don’t try to kick them while they are down.” Smiling, she looked towards Drystan. “Besides, you are a big boy and i’m positive you’ll be fine on your own.”
He scanned her face for any hidden intent, but found nothing. Whether that meant it wasn’t there or was simply behind whatever mask she had donned today wasn’t clear. “Shame. I figured you’d want to pick over Mauville with a fine comb. Nevermind, I suppose.” Walking towards the door, he called back, “Best of luck.”
“You too.”
Departing the room, Drystan’s phone was in his hand within 10 seconds, the number already punched in and trying to connect. The reassuring click of success sounded, before a man on the other end of the line spoke. “Boss. What’s up?”
“Palkia’s returning home early. According to her, it’s nothing but a harmless visit - a preventative measure to put the Alliance off the scent, but i’m not convinced she doesn’t know more than she is letting on.”
The line was quiet for a moment. “How should I proceed?”
Drystan leaned against the wall to finish the call before entering the main area again. “Tone down the search and do not let her find out what we have been doing.”
“Got it, Boss,” the voice said, before a harsh laugh echoed down the line and it went dead.
He was too far from Fuchsia to return, and doing so would alert Palkia to some kind of problem - and would undermine the work already ongoing in Mauville. The only option was to trust his men to handle the situation correctly.
That didn’t fill him with a great deal of hope.
With the next round not for a little while - and having a good amount of stress to work off when it came around - Drystan found the only thing which would calm the nerves was pacing. Several loops of the room later, he began to wonder if a striding Avatar looking like the personification of thunder might have been spooking the attendants, who gave him looks that didn’t worry so much for him but instead feared their own hides might bear the brunt of whatever upset him.
Dialga slowly but surely talked his host around, and the two eventually settled down with a cigarette next to the medical tent with Deladriss close behind. A small distance away sat another Avatar, and curiosity was one of the reasons he allowed himself to be won round. Which Pokemon the man embodied wasn’t clear, and his own Legend didn’t have much idea, but the fact he was an Avatar was painfully obvious due to the rather… eclectic dress sense.
Noticing the rather battered pair of glasses on the man’s face, Drystan stretched out a hand towards him, palm upturned and flat. “I think glasses only work when they are in one piece. Give them here a second, and i’ll have them right as rain.” Smiling, he looked at the flowing robe once more. “Unless they are an accessory to compliment that very gothic-y look you have going on.”
Glancing down the menu, he ordered a Tauros steak with salad, alongside a flask of warming tea. Not forgetting about Deladriss, however, a plate of berries was also added to the tab - alongside a pokepuff for her sweet tooth, much to her delight. Paying the man, and collecting his food, Drystan found an empty table a few rows from the back of the room able to seat four, and set to relaxing. Ever-vigilant, the scizor stood watch over the table while leaning against the adjacent wall, stealing a berry from the piled plate every now and again.
The trio - Drystan, Deladriss and Dialga - talked telepathically over the meal, discussing the events earlier, the events yesterday and the plan of action for dealing with the present threat of this so-called ‘Alliance of Justice’. Security around the tournament arena were clearly on edge, nervously scanning the crowd for any shifty characters, their loyal Arcanine’s waiting patiently for any commands.
Naturally, that’s when a sound like a thunderclap split the air, reverberating around the underground storage room turned dining hall. The room was filled suddenly with the acrid reek of smouldered ozone, as though singed by plasma. Nearby the food stands, at the opposite end of the room, a large violet portal hovered where a section of the wall once did. Through it stood a female figure dressed in torn clothing, a shock of neon pink hair contrasting entirely against the bleary and unfocused look in her eyes. Blinking several times, she began to stumble - since it couldn’t be accurately called a walk - into the large room. At her side, a gorgeously vibrant Milotic surveyed the audience staring at them, before gracefully slithering after her owner.
Moving like a zombie, the girl drew some startled reactions from the various people in the eating hall as security tracked her with hooded eyes and slitted gazes, calling into their radios about a potential threat. The Milotic took a chair at the side of the table beside Deladriss. Drystan had just cut another succulent slice of steak as the figure collapsed into the seat opposite him and her head promptly slammed down onto the table amid a tangle of arms and hair. Freshly burnt air was replaced by a new but not entirely unpleasant smell - Prinap Brandy.
It took all the self control Drystan had to not simply burst out laughing at the lump’s plight, so he settled for sarcastic witticisms instead. Chewing over the piece of steak recently departing his fork, he smirked, before swallowing. “Back to the land of the living? That’s certainly the question that springs to mind, although I get the impression the phrase not might apply here.”
A grunt was the only response from the pile of girl, who remained completely still. “Have you gone monosyllabic on me? Great Arceus, we need a half-gallon of black coffee, stat.” As if to underline the point, he took a swig from the flask of tea. “Seriously, my dear, at least try to stay on this side of the abyss. There are corpses more lively than you, and that is discounting Xerneas.”
Her head swiveled a tad, a single piercing green eye glared out through the gap between her arm and the table, before she pushed herself up with several grumbles, finally settling upright by resting her cheek on a knuckle. By this point, another several security guards were present in various places around the room, several of whom began to approach the Avatars. Drystan raised an arm to dismiss them. “Relax, she’s with me,” he said, before lowering his voice. “Although if you could shut the portal again, it might make them more at ease.”
Turning, she gave a snort, before clicking her fingers, and returning to her slump. As quickly as it had appeared, the portal snapped shut back into a solid wall. Security looked warily at each other before nodding and move back, remaining close enough to intervene should anything happen. Drystan simply sat, staring at her expectantly. “So… Need I ask?”
Palkia’s Avatar rubbed her eyes with her free hand, before speaking softly with a hoarse and breaking voice. “Couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided to see what the city had to offer, maybe meet some people and get some leads of the Alliance.”
This made her counterpart chuckle. “Oh, really? How did that go, then?”
With a glare capable of turning men to stone, she allowed the silence to drag out longer than was comfortable. “Just so happens there is a nice bar - a really nice bar - on the first floor. No leads, a pounding headache and a missed opportunity to join the tournament is all I have to show for it, outside a good time.”
“I appreciate you letting me know in advance, so we didn’t hang around waiting on you.”
A small smile appeared for a brief moment on the girl’s lips. “My pleasure, after all, I know you’d do the same.” The two Avatar’s locked eyes. “Anyhow, stop stalling. Did you go to see him?”
Drystan gained those adorable, large puppy-dog eyes as he raised his arms in a “Who, me?” expression, unable to answer verbally due to eating. “Well, you’ve had plenty of time. Rumours are swirling round that you beat up a kid,” she replied, almost instantly.
Sighing, the man swallowed his mouthful of food, before smirking. “Claudia, darling,” he drawled, pronouncing the latter word with an additional ‘h’. “What I do with my time is most certainly my busine-”
“Don’t bullshit me Drystan. He is dangerous.”
Hand clenching the fork until it hurt, his voice rippled forth with a cold, quiet and directionless fury. “I am perfectly capable of telling danger for myself. I was doing it long before you came along.”
And I’ll be doing it long after you are gone. He hadn’t said it, but Claudia knew that it was implied.
After cutting another piece of steak, Drystan stared at it on his fork for an overlong second, before dropping it to the plate and pushing the whole lot into the center of the table. “And suddenly, I’ve lost my appetite.” The girl’s eyes glanced repeatedly at the plate, several times in as many seconds, before she snatched it up, cutting the steak rapidly into tiny pieces with such ferocity one would assume she hadn’t eaten in weeks, before the entire plate of food began steadily disappearing. “Did you have breakfast this morning?”
Claudia’s head rapidly moved from side to side, the words “No time” struggling to appear through the food. Taking a £10 note from his wallet, Drystan folded it in half, then half again, carefully tearing along the folds. With a flare of cobalt blue light, each of the four torn quarters became a full £10 once more. One returned inside the wallet, and the other three were slid over to the ravenously hungry girl. “Here. Grab yourself something to eat. I, on the other hand, have a match to prepare for.”
As Drystan glanced over to Deladriss - who had given some berries to the Milotic and fiercely wolfed down the Pokepuff - began to move in step with her master. Claudia looked up, giving her counterpart a thumbs up. “Awesome. Would root for you once I’ve finished eating, but I don’t plan to stick around.”
This comment caused Dialga’s Avatar to stop dead in his tracks. “Excuse me?” he said, in a voice that held a deeper meaning, an edge of anxiety. “And why not?”
She shrugged. “Stuff to do back home. Apparently a few Pokemon there have contracted the plague. I’m heading back to make sure the Alliance don’t try to kick them while they are down.” Smiling, she looked towards Drystan. “Besides, you are a big boy and i’m positive you’ll be fine on your own.”
He scanned her face for any hidden intent, but found nothing. Whether that meant it wasn’t there or was simply behind whatever mask she had donned today wasn’t clear. “Shame. I figured you’d want to pick over Mauville with a fine comb. Nevermind, I suppose.” Walking towards the door, he called back, “Best of luck.”
“You too.”
Departing the room, Drystan’s phone was in his hand within 10 seconds, the number already punched in and trying to connect. The reassuring click of success sounded, before a man on the other end of the line spoke. “Boss. What’s up?”
“Palkia’s returning home early. According to her, it’s nothing but a harmless visit - a preventative measure to put the Alliance off the scent, but i’m not convinced she doesn’t know more than she is letting on.”
The line was quiet for a moment. “How should I proceed?”
Drystan leaned against the wall to finish the call before entering the main area again. “Tone down the search and do not let her find out what we have been doing.”
“Got it, Boss,” the voice said, before a harsh laugh echoed down the line and it went dead.
He was too far from Fuchsia to return, and doing so would alert Palkia to some kind of problem - and would undermine the work already ongoing in Mauville. The only option was to trust his men to handle the situation correctly.
That didn’t fill him with a great deal of hope.
With the next round not for a little while - and having a good amount of stress to work off when it came around - Drystan found the only thing which would calm the nerves was pacing. Several loops of the room later, he began to wonder if a striding Avatar looking like the personification of thunder might have been spooking the attendants, who gave him looks that didn’t worry so much for him but instead feared their own hides might bear the brunt of whatever upset him.
Dialga slowly but surely talked his host around, and the two eventually settled down with a cigarette next to the medical tent with Deladriss close behind. A small distance away sat another Avatar, and curiosity was one of the reasons he allowed himself to be won round. Which Pokemon the man embodied wasn’t clear, and his own Legend didn’t have much idea, but the fact he was an Avatar was painfully obvious due to the rather… eclectic dress sense.
Noticing the rather battered pair of glasses on the man’s face, Drystan stretched out a hand towards him, palm upturned and flat. “I think glasses only work when they are in one piece. Give them here a second, and i’ll have them right as rain.” Smiling, he looked at the flowing robe once more. “Unless they are an accessory to compliment that very gothic-y look you have going on.”
@EklispeMy bad, Eclipse. Working on a post as we speak(And have been for days) but haven't had the time to finish it lately. Lots going on and not enough hours to take care of it all xD
@EklispeFeel free to, will be posting tomorrow either way and will steer drystan in your direction ^.^
@EklispeWhere is Vuduin at this point in time?
Apologies, but i'm without solid internet until Friday, so i'll try to get something up ASAP after that and I get a response from Zan about a question.
Apologies, but i'm without solid internet until Friday, so i'll try to get something up ASAP after that and I get a response from Zan about a question.
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