3rd Quest [Video, after completing Heads or Tails]

[bladeofnymeia]

[It's finally a sunny, warm day, hot but not terribly humid, and perfect for laying out bolts of felt to dry after May's deluge of rain. Or, well, to let them dry after being cleaned to ensure there's no mold or mildew or anything gross trying to grow on the fabric Firoza has worked so hard to make. And as she sits in the middle of this fabric drying in the sun, her mind wanders towards her efforts with Laios and Emmett to locate a missing Pokemon. The eerie feeling, the thought that came unbidden, the state that Zweilous was found in...

She has to talk about this. She has to express this. And when she comes in over the Grumpearls, you can get that sense of concern and confusion settling around her, making the sunny day a bit dimmer as a result.]

I don't recall Zweilous having gone missing before our arrival here. Has this Pokemon wandered off before?

[She hums, little Nidoran brow furrowed. It's important to note that she's finally started to keep her bandana pulled down again, and her right cheek (her right) has a wispy scar trailing across it, like tendrils of flame licking out. It's all healed, it doesn't look grotesque, but wow it sure is there!]

There's just...a feeling I had. "No, no, not again"...and I couldn't shake how familiar it was, to know you are missing a name and face, but you cannot put it together. Though how it can be familiar I'm not sure...

[Tap tap tap goes a paw, impatient as she thinks.]

Have any of you felt something similar, from a mission? Or am I overthinking this?

Comments

[loopsiedaisy]

[...huh? They can feel from the tone of her message that Firoza is talking about a Zweilous she brought in, but:]

A.B.A and I also brought Zweilous back. I thought they were too sick to be leaving bed... [Let alone wandering off again.]

Is there... more than one Zweilous?

[Bad feeling BAD FEELING especially with Firoza mentioning the bit about missing a memory being familiar. They thought that was just them!! That's normal for them!!]

[bladeofnymeia]

Mayhap they are sleepwalking?

[Which is also concerning. Please put people on watch for this Pokemon! Gently guide them back to bed!]

I don't see why there couldn't be more than one, but...mm. This one was the first of its kind I've ever met. I'm sure of it. They are very unique.

[Emo hair two headed guy...like you'd remember if you saw more of them.]

Something just isn't fitting correctly in my mind about the whole situation.

[loopsiedaisy]

Maybe...? [Sleepwalking all the way out into the ocean, though? Not waking up even when they're floating in it? It's a miracle Zweilous didn't drown. And, something about them not being seen for a while, based on the quest listing and Stunky's reaction, but brought back at least twice in short succession...]

[...]

Um. When we were trying to track down where they went, I kept thinking... "They're going to leave me behind."

[Siffrin assumed until now it was their own thought, especially after the Rain Incident with Shoka. That it was some memory they hadn't quite recalled. But now, in retrospect... it's weird, right? Because:]

But I'm not even sure who "they" were.

[seacub]

Oh....

[why is his pearl radiating TIRED]

No, that's... I'm pretty sure it's been the same Zweilous each time.

This uh...

Happened with another pokemon...

[No matter how quietly he mutters that last bit, the image of a slumbering phantump is impossible to ignore.]

not here

[loopsiedaisy]

[time loop(???) trauma activated]

[bladeofnymeia]

Emmett told us of another Pokemon it happened to - where the same thought came to him unbidden as well. If they aren't our thoughts...what exactly happened to the Pokemon of Bottlecap Bay that they aren't admitting to? Or - what might they not remember?

[She's providing these hypotheses but there's a bit of unease to it...as if Firoza's not sure she should be the one putting forth the smart ideas. Maybe a little trepidation that she's probably wrong and leading everyone in circles for nothing.]

[seacub]

I think it's probably more the latter... But also...maybe the fog?

It got into the rain this last month. If that kind of thing can happen, just about anyone who wanders out there could end up a real mess...

...and the fog definitely plays with who you think you are...

[He's trying not to think about the idea that he could, somehow, not be himself. Please, not that.]

voice;

[outbounds]

Not the exact same thought, actually.

Just the fact that the quest showed up multiple times, and the strange sleeping ... sickness. Maybe.

[offtracks]

[Ingo doesn't even respond to this; there's just a massive psychic wave of fuckor.]

[bladeofnymeia]

[Just gets ass over teakettle'd with that, holy shit]

voice;

[outbounds]

"Are we who we think we are."

[ the thought doesn't come through the telepathic link in Emmet's own voice, instead more like an echo of a mumbled, sleepy, distant tone, with an oddly staticky, distorted quality to it.

he is relaying it as precisely and objectively as he can manage, none of his own thoughts or sentiment on the statement included.

(look, it was zalgotext'd in the original thread. so.) ]

[bladeofnymeia]

Of course we are, who else could we be?

[Reincarnation and multiple selves from one huge dense soul aside, it's what she believes, and what she answers when the message comes through.]

[outbounds]

That was not my thought. Just what came to us on the previous of these odd rescues. We had to go into the forest for it, but it was not foggy at the time.

The fact that all three of us heard it rules out any individually targeted hallucination or illusion, at least.

UPDATE SOME TIME LATER IN THE DAY, RE: THE CLINIC AND SLEEPING POKÉMON

[outbounds]

[ Emmet said he had something to check on over here and, well, check on it he sure did. ]

They are no longer at the clinic! So either the illness is verrrry short-lived, or it is not the same as what has happened to certain others here. There is also definitely only one Zweilous!

The clinic staff are also confused though. No one I talked to remembers ever seeing the patient leaving their bed. It is like they woke up and were there one moment, and then the next just disappeared when no one was looking, as far as anyone knows. It is the same with Phantump— I asked if anyone remembered what happened with them too.

[ cool now there's MORE stuff he wants to follow up on??? even more questions??? ]

[bladeofnymeia]

[There's a stifled mental squeak of "nophica's fucking tits, the hells is going on in this town" at the revelation.

Firoza's got more fucking questions too!!!!!]

[truthdecided]

[Well, that's worrisome.

A strong wave of confusion ripples through the pearl, while Akechi attempts to make sense of all the disparate threads.]

There's Vivillon to consider as well. I believe multiple teams had to retrieve the Silver Powder. It's not quite the same, but it does warrant some careful observation...

Something is awry here. The fog may be a part of it, but regardless, we may want to take it up with our guild leaders.

video

[wolfcut]

[ No, no, not again — again? ]

Shoka and I... we felt the same thing. [ A beat. ] Where exactly did you find Zweilous?

[bladeofnymeia]

They were stuck in the sand, asleep. Where did you and Shoka find them?

[She answers pretty promptly even without knowing who this is, mostly because if they know Shoka, they must be okay. Shoka's good people.]

[wolfcut]

[ Throwing Shoka's name around is an easy in with people, he's found. ]

In the sand, asleep. Looked half-dead, if I'm honest. [ His brow furrows. ] I'm assuming Stunky didn't mention anything about that? They sure didn't say anything to us if your group found them there the first time.

Video;

[quirkynote]

Oh? You thought things, too? How strange...

[She means...thought out of place things, but...it's A.B.A.]

As mentioned, the thought of abandonment did come up, but...it's a thought I have quite often, so it didn't seem too peculiar at the time. Thinking about it now... I guess it did feel different than usual.

[bladeofnymeia]

[Weh!!!!! A.B.A.!!!!]

Because it comes unbidden, yes? But not like...mm. What is it called..."intrusive thoughts"? Where your mind immediately leaps to some conclusion without any prompting. This is as if such a thing pressed in from the outside without bothering to pretend it didn't.

[It makes sense to Firoza, which means it's just kind of nonsensical anyway.]

[quirkynote]

Unintended telekinesis...?

[What else could a stray thought from an outside source be?]

It makes sense... With how often we open our minds with these pearls, I'm not surprised there could be side effects...

[truthdecided]

[Something important is... missing.

The thought carries through the pearl, even before Akechi responds, his expression solemn and feathers slightly ruffled.]

We found him sleeping in a tree, and no matter how much we jostled him, he wouldn't wake. There were physical signs of illness as well.

[bladeofnymeia]

Yes! They were ill! I don't know how they continue to venture out in such a state without anyone noticing.

[Firoza not everyone loses their collective shit when someone sick decides to fuck off into the night(?), that's just your friends. Towards you.]

Much less climb a bloody tree...

[truthdecided]

It may be something akin to sleepwalking, but that doesn't explain how they've managed to stray so far, let alone how the clinic has lost sight of them so many times.

[He sighs, shaking his head. Honestly...]