Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Dragonfree]

Dave and Brisa settled at a corner table with relative privacy and ordered their drinks. Dave picked out some fancy home-brewed beer for kicks, since it was all going on the God Squad's tab anyway. It arrived swiftly, in a generously sized glass; he tried a sip. Not bad.

"So," he began when the waiter was gone. "What's the deal with your dad?"

 

[Negrek]

It was a crisp evening in Destiny Village, with sundown come early and the streetlamps lit. The streets near the colosseum were packed with people out in search of dinner. It was homey, almost, except for the fact that all the people out and about were pokémon, and a good number of them were big enough that they might step on Nate by accident, and they certainly blocked the view.

Nate stuck to the edge of the street where he could, trying to skirt his way around the throng. Grab something quick from one of the street vendors, or head to a bar and sit down for a while? It wasn't exactly going to get any warmer out here, so maybe grabbing something to take back now, avoid that long, cold late-night trip from the bar.

He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, lost in humdrum thoughts, until a booming laugh brought him back to the moment. Fucking loud. Who the hell--?

It was hard to see through the legs of the pokémon coming and going on the street, but there were dark fronds hovering over their heads, perhaps the tattered tips of--wings?

Nate scowled and took off across the street, dodging pedestrians, but was rewarded on the far side by a clear view of the hydreigon floating in front of a food stall, inspecting a sweet-smelling pile of taiyaki. After wrapping up some conversation with the stall's owner, it looked like the dragon was ready to float away. Nate put on a burst of speed and yelled, "Hey! Hydreigon! Are you the... the Voice of Life guy?"

 

[Virgil134]

A few days after the rematch against Shield at Destiny Colosseum, Cabot and Pleo were walking through the streets of Destiny Village. The sun had almost set as they looked around for a place to eat, much to Cabot's shivering dismay.

"Why did we go out here again?" Cabot complained. "I thought you liked the food they serve at the guild."

"I do, but we eat there every day!" Pleo insisted. "And all the buildings here have pretty lights!"

Cabot let out a small sigh as he looked at some the neon lights around them, a cold gust of wind making him tense up and cross his arms. Walking around in cold weather like this sure made him miss having Berecien around.

"I mean, they don't look bad, but it's not like we'd see these lights when insi- Huh?"

The Cranidos blinked out of surprise when he saw another Lugia enter a bar up ahead, one with silvery feathers and that couldn't be taller than a Garchomp...

"Oh! There's another Lugia!" Pleo exclaimed.

"I think that was Meringue," Cabot murmured.

The two went up to the bar, Cabot noticing a sign with 'X-eye Cauldron' on it. He'd heard from his teammates that it was apparently fairly luxurious for a bar and the food served here was supposed to be really good.

"I guess we might as well eat something here."

Eager to get out of the cold, Cabot quickly went inside, Pleo following after.

 

[Namohysip]

Something about the bar seemed gloomier than usual. It was the same high-end food, the same good drinks, the same quiet buzz of a less-rowdy crowd, but there was a new aura of bitterness in the air. Unease. Stress. It was probably the news that was spreading across town and the whole world--that Giovanni had attacked Poppin' Arms, and won. The retreat was voluntary, not by force...

Sitting alone at one of the tables in the far corner of the bar was Soda. His illusion was back up again, at least partially, and his fur was back to looking sleek and groomed.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

<><><><><>​

The X-Eye Cauldron wasn't exactly Brisa's usual haunt, particularly after the glass-throwing incident, but the management hadn't decided to ban her and it was the best nearby drinking space. And gods, but she needed a drink. She spotted a free booth and approached the bar.

"Howdy. Table seven, God Squad's tab by way of Team Spectrum. I'll have a double whiskey and ginger, thanks." She turned to Starr. "What can I getcha? Don't gotta have anythin' hard, I ain't like that."

 

[Dragonfree]

The other Poochyena didn't go away.

It'd been a challenge to get back to drinks in the first place; Dave'd been turned away from the bar at first, politely informed if not in so many words that he looked like seven kinds of shit, and pointed to a bathhouse. He'd scrubbed the blood out of his fur, eaten an Oran Berry, and only then finally, finally made his way back to the Cauldron and ordered a goddamn whisky. But now he was on his second one and Mia had been munching on a steak sandwich for a while (apparently familiars couldn't really eat, but she just did it anyway, chunks of food murkily visible floating inside the goop of her chest), and still, still, the Shadow was lying curled up against Mia, shivering. Just the best part of this fucking evening.

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"Ooh," Seyka mumbled, looking at the floor in disappointment. "I drink and I drink, but nothing happens. I heard getting drunk was supposed to be fun, but I guess I just can't do it."

The Skarmory looked around, surreptitiously watching the other patrons. "Maybe there's a secret to it that I'm missing." He began to closely examine his cup.

 

[Cresselia92]

The X-Eye Cauldron was buzzing with activity at that time of the day. Pleasant scents swirled around the place, with various regular clients chatting among themselves and enjoying some good drinks.

However, there was one silver fox who was sitting by himself, downing the umpteenth cup of black tea. He felt like he needed to drown his demons. His fiery, persistent demons.

‘Stronger… I need to be stronger…’

Do not fool thyself! Thou shall never be stronger!

‘I must! For my friends!’

Must… As if thou could! But thy blood is marred and impure. Thou art a freak that isn’t meant to exist.

‘Why won’t thou… just hush?’

I am tired of being ignored, thou foolish lad! Respect the elders and the voice of knowledge! Thou art worthless and this cannot be changed!

‘I’m not useless! I’m—’

Worthless.

‘No—’

Weak.

‘Stop—’

Irrelevant.

“I said stop!”

Icetales breathed harshly and took a look around. The other Pokémon were staring at him, wary and cautious.

“A-apologies, everyone,” he muttered, showing an apologetic stare. “All is swell. Resume what you were doing.”

After not too long, everyone restarted chatting and drinking. Icetales sighed and looked at his empty cup.

“…Why am I here?”

He poured himself some more tea. He felt so thirsty.

“I reckon my siblings would have been a better choice. Faster, stronger, smarter… so why me?”

 

[Adamhuarts]

A craving for some high quality water brought Cynthian back to the cauldron bar for the second time that day. It wasn't as if the poppin arms facilities had bad water, but had too much chlorine for her tastes.

When she went in, a vaguely familiar face caught her eye: a zoroark enjoying a drink at a table. Pushed on by her curiosity, she approached the God Squad member and climbed up the seat opposite him.

"I hope you don't mind me welcoming myself here. How goes the day... Koba?" Cynthian asked. Ah, was Koba his name? Or was it Doba?... "Oh, sorry. It's Cola, right?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave'd been at the Cauldron for a while, a couple drinks in. The fight was tomorrow, but for the moment he was doing his best to forget about that. He'd been having an extended discussion with Mia about exactly how Pokémon metabolism might work in this world and it was exactly the sort of nonsense he could use right now.

Shadow was there, too, on the opposite side of the table, quiet, shivering. Dave tried to ignore him entirely, save for glaring at him if he ever looked like he might say something.

 

[Fusion]

Funny how someone could go from wanting to evolve to immediately going to a bar, restaurant, thing. But Puddle had a reason, and a very good one at that...

It wanted to go there, fuck you.

That and it wanted to try out food and whatever and see what happened. Specifically, Puddle really wanted to know if drinking enough fizzy drinks would make it explode. Maybe the explosion will let it actually evolve? Anything could happen, really.

The wobbly Scraggy climbed onto a chair, and arduous task indeed, and waved over a bartender. "One, uh, Soda? The fizziest you got!" it beamed. With the order taken care of, Puddle took out its badge and dabbled a message in it. It'd be fun to explode with someone else. And for some reason, Astrid came to mind. Strange.

 

[TheGOAT]

The week marched on, reminding a weary Astrid there were still things to be done. In the Pines, she’d become grumpy for all of five minutes when the consensus had shifted mostly towards healing Arceus instead of Diyem, though she hadn’t shown it. Maybe Diyem had felt her feelings? Either way, at least they were going to save their friends. No matter what, that wasn’t a concession they could afford to make.

And so she’d trained and trained, twice warping to the Air Continent to practice her explosions in remoteness and privacy. But she’d had enough of that. It was time to do something else, like drink and temporarily forget her struggles. She’d told herself that as a joke and nothing more, and believed as much right up until her forepaw made contact with the Cauldron’s squeaky door.

Looking around and walking the aisle, she cracked a small grin. Nobody immediately recognized her, which meant no alien celebrity treatment. Thank goodness.

She eyed the bar and began to approach… until she froze, seeing someone who would indeed recognize her.

She squinted. Diyem? Off by the far wall, he was sitting at a booth adjacent to a Crawdaunt with its head down on the table. ‘Diyem. To your right, it’s Astrid.’

She began approaching. ‘…Any reason you’re sitting so close to that guy when this entire wall is lined with vacant booths? Not judging, I’d just have thought you’d want to distance yourself.’

 

[Namohysip]

As usual, Soda had gone to destress at the bar. At this point he was a regular, ordering the same drink with the same snack and took a table by the far side of the bar. At least he was honest about what table he was sitting in. And after setting an order in, he leaned back in his chair and flipped through something on his badge leisurely.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

[Brisket > Nazo]: hey Celeste, do you want to get that drink we talked about tonight? I'm free all evening technically - Brisa

[Nazo > Brisket]: Ah, sure. I take it that would be at the X-Eye Cauldron?

[Brisket > Naxo]: yeah, that's my regular - see you at 8?

[Nazo > Brisket]: I will see you there, then.

Brisa got to the Cauldron early and was halfway through a brandy before Celeste arrived at the entrance. She cracked a small smile at the appearance of her serious, concerned absol friend. Had she shared a drink with him before? She didn't think so. It was about time.

 

[Namohysip]

Once again, Soda found himself at the bar, feeling something between irritable and relieved and maybe even a little fired up. He ordered his usual drink and decided to get fancy this time, grabbing some expensive wings and a burger. Feeling generous, he even offered to grab something for Dave as well, mentioning something about a bigger appetite now that he'd evolved. Not that it meant anything--it all went to the same tab.

"God, what a day," Soda muttered, slouching in his cushioned seat in the quiet corner of the bar.

 

[Fusion]

Here they were! The, uh, cauldron whatever! With all the drinks and the soda and... probably more stuff but those were what Puddle wanted to show off! It was a shame, though, it was starting to get dark so this would have to be the one and only stop for today. Which wasn't all that bad, honestly.

"This is one of my favorite places to hang out!" Puddle said, a big ol' smile on its face. "Once, I drank so much soda that I exploded, then I tasted like pineapple for a while. It was awesome!"

 

[Disco]

That evening in the X-Eye Cauldron, a new face had settled in with the regulars. She didn't speak very much but was enjoying the atmosphere all the same. They must have been at least a little familiar with Shades, because there was no hesitation at serving her food and drinks, which Raven gladly ordered. As high quality as things usually were in this region everything must be good!

It made up for the fact that they still hadn't found the haze that antagonized them recently. Or any other information or leads to discovering much else...Save for what came up with the Mew-Two and the Lunala. Maybe, if they found out who did that to them... The Charizard nibbled on her fries as she recounted what had happened while thinking of what their next move would be...

 

[Namohysip]

It was a quieter point during the day for X-Eye, which usually saw most of its customers as the sun set. During the afternoon, things were calmer. Pokemon weren't quite done with their work and weren't quite out to lunch, leaving only the few on vacation or on odd schedules to populate the tables. Among them was Puff, sitting across from Dave, with plates of food for both of them.

"Well," Puff said, "I guess that takes care of the formal pleasantries. This'll be part of that whole Dark Warrior series we're running, so you ready to start?"

 

[Fusion]

That lil trip to Shaymin Village went a whole lot better than Puddle expected it too. It was actually feeling refreshed for once, and, like, relaxed. But there was more to do, siblings to check on, sodas to drink, all that fun stuff. Ayla and Kindle pretty much drank all of Puddle's supply, which was a fun little excuse to go to X-Eye as soon as possible.

Drinking alone wasn't all that fun, though, so this was also the perfect time to see how Luz was doing. It was smart, sending a text to Luz as soon as it could, asking if she wanted to catch up over drinks, and headed on over to its favorite restaurant, store, thing, whatever. Puddle ordered one of every soda, as usual, and waited, sipping away at a lemon soda.

Luz'd get here when she got here, so there wasn't anything to worry about. Yeah. She'd be here fine.

 

[Navar]

Shiron had made an habit of hanging out on the bar, ordering drinks and, sometimes, getting blackout drunk.

Not this time, though. He just ordered a soda and sipped it down while mumbling some nonsense to himself.