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

[bladeofnymeia]

Mm...I could try. It is still a bit difficult for me to read things here.

[You just. You don't get the best education when you're of few means and learning at an older age at home. At least if she were in Eorzea she could read, say, a small book without a lot of trouble. Here, her eyes still swim with the strange understanding of symbols she shouldn't know.

But she is intrigued by Emmet the moment he explains just what her barbs are doing. So - so it's not on purpose, it really is accidental? Her body flattens them on instinct, but she keeps listening.]

So it is innate to ourselves...based on what kind of creature we are. Does...do creatures like me only have this Ability, or is there something else I could have...

[outbounds]

Poison Point is most common. Natural defense mechanism of the species. Some Nidoran will have, hmm, Rivalry instead I think. Competitive but only with others of the same gender. Show more strength in battle when trying to win against another of the same, the opposite if they are not.

Technically there are Hidden Abilities too. Used to be just from the Pokemon one would meet in the Dream World and Entree Forest, but there are other ways of finding them popping up now. Still, it is very rare in comparison. Nidoran's is... Hustle? Boosts strength but at the cost of becoming more inaccurate with attacks. [ He's more familiar with what they get at final evolution, which is... ] Becomes Sheer Force eventually.

Anyway. There are special treatments to switch abilities where I come from, yup. But I do not know if equivalents exist here.

[ me, mouthing at the mainline games: what the hell kind of medicine is the ability capsule, gene therapy??? is the ability patch some sort of secret forbidden transdermal hormone therapy to switch ability phenotype or something????? anyway it's this kind of stuff that floats to mind passively for Emmet, though he's not actively trying to send it because, well, it's probably close to information overload for someone who isn't neck deep in competitive battling and Pokemon breeding like he is? Firoza's free to get echoes of it, though, since it's pretty near to the front of the psychic link. ]

[bladeofnymeia]

[She might get some of that? But the most feedback Emmet get is just

It's frustration.]

So I - I could have been different. If we were in your world, I could yet be...

[She. She doesn't...want to hurt people like this. Not like this. Not with poison of all things.]

[outbounds]

[ Wait, wait, this is not what he meant to do, the public network is a terrible place to accidentally push someone into these kinds of feelings, ]

Wait. Please wait. Apply the brakes before you become derailed. I said I do not know. That is not the same as them not existing here.

If you have questions. Do you want to continue this conversation elsewhere?

[bladeofnymeia]

I...

[Does she?

Would it matter when it's not something they could change here?]

...No. I apologize. This...let me think on it on my own.

[Just stuff it down into the furthest corner of her brain and ignore it as it festers and rots, that's fine.]

[outbounds]

[ Oh. Okay. Probably if this were physical space there'd be a faint whine in the back of his throat, his ears pinning back.

Since it isn't, there's just going to be a long delay before a faint, subdued last message comes through the link. ]

... Sorry. Let me know. If you need something.

[bladeofnymeia]

I shall.

[A pause.]

Apologies. Again.