Destiny Village ~ Hot Cocoa Therapy Offices

[Namohysip]

Brisa's Overcharged Facade dealt 268 damage to Fugu!
Brisa's Facade dealt 148 damage to Fugu!

"Innocents who claim what you do isn't enough!" Fugu countered, reeling back to grab her scalchop before bursting back for another ramming strike. "Heroes who blindly strain their spirits because they fall for a great pitfall--placing their value so heavily in how others think!"

Fugu called Brisa!
Fugu used Aqua Jet on Brisa, dealing 40 damage total!
Fugu used Razor Shell on Brisa, dealing 50 damage!

"If you have nobody," Fugu said as her blade shined with watery energy, "what is left of you?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I got nobody either way," snarled Brisa. "And if I gotta be lonesome, then I gotta be a protector! I gotta turn my power to the common good! 'Cause without that, I'm just a violent goddamn animal!"

Brisa darted between Fugu's strikes in battle-trance, and for a moment, the noble burden of duty was forgotten, and there was nothing underneath but lighting, Shadow, teeth, claws, and violence.

Don't leave me. Don't hate me.

Don't be kind to me.

Brisa called out to Fugu!
Brisa used Thunder Fang, and struck to flinch! It's Super Effective! Fugu flinched!
(+3, STAB, Guts, SE, +50 prlz, +150 flinch)
Brisa used Shadow Maul, and struck viciously! It's Super Effective!
(+3, STAB, Guts, SE)
Brisa was hurt by her Burn for 25 HP...
Brisa's Gusto kept her going!
-46 STM
+14 SHD

 

[Namohysip]

Brisa's Thunder Fang dealt 60 damage to Fugu!
Brisa's Shadow Maul dealt 142 damage to Fugu!

"And yet," Fugu said, hissing as some of Brisa's onslaught of attacks started to wear on her hide. Her body was solid and muscular and unwavering, but even the greatest of mountains could be eroded by a persistent enough storm, "you are left with so much pain because you are trapped in this cycle. Trapped in a cycle of protecting for those who do not understand. For those who do not appreciate. You are already alone. Is this how they already see you? Who are you trying to prove yourself to? Why? To what end? To whom is your value based on?"

Fugu called Brisa!
Fugu used Swords Dance!

"Speak on why they matter!" Fugu declared. "Why must you matter to them?" She drew her second scalchop.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yeah, they know I'm alone, I know I'm alone, I'm always gonna end up alone!" wailed Brisa, the darkness brimming up around her to the point where perhaps even an uncorrupted viewer might perceive her as resembling her own Shadow, manacled and anguished. Her paws blurred in the air as she blocked Fugu's blows without thought or hesitation, feeling less pain than ever as they struck her. "I don't know what else I can even be! I belong to nowhere an' nobody if I don't belong to my parents' goddamn legacy!"

The tethers again, rippling with searing light and burning anger.

If I let go of all that, I don't know what I'll become. I only know how to be this. I only know how to be the daughter of Jesse Stranger and Sierra Escarpa.

Brisa called out to Fugu!
Brisa used Thunder Fang and struck to paralyse! It's Super Effective!
(+3, STAB, Guts, SE, +150 prlz/+50 flinch)
Brisa entered Void Stance! Her Defence rose! Brisa is taking less damage!
Brisa used Shining Whiplash, and showed her heart to Fugu! It's Super Effective!
(+3, STAB, Guts, SE)
Brisa was hurt by her Burn for 25 HP...
Brisa's Gusto kept her going!
-70 stm
+28 RAD, +40 SHD

 

[Namohysip]

Brisa's Thunder Fang dealt 62 damage to Fugu!
Brisa's Shining Whiplash dealt 118 damage to Fugu!

"And that," Fugu said, parrying the final strike with a forceful push. "And that is the shadow of your Shadow. The legacy you did not ask for, but instead fell into! You are seeking a place to go... but have you found it? Or are you afraid and unsure?"

Fugu entered a Lithe Stance!
Fugu called Brisa!
Fugu used Aqua Jet! The first strike dealt a grazing 12 damage!

"Sometimes, when you are in such a situation for so long, you grow blind to how bad it has slowly become."

The second strike dealt 23 damage!

"And yet!"

Fugu used Aqua Jet, dealing 23 damage on the first strike!

"When you are given another perspective... when you see your own words said back at you... when you are truly laying bare your heart..."

The second strike dealt 22 damage!

"Your eyes can open to the truth!"

She smashed her scalchops into the ground and a bright, ringing sound vibrated the whole room. Bright, white light shined from her scalchops, and for a moment her horn shined a mystical pink at the tip. Brisa's own words, her own thoughts, suddenly bombarded back to her, one after the other. They felt like she was seeing someone else... and yet, they were definitely her. All of the pain and instability, every single cry for help hidden beneath that defiant, determined power...

Brisa was now seeing it for herself, in something even more revealing than a mirror.

Fugu used Divine Recognition!
All of Brisa's words were sent back to her!

Fugu withdrew her weapons...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa heard someone else – not quite a stranger, not quite kin – speaking, then. The voice... It sounded familiar. It belonged to some gal who sounded for all the world like she was about to crumble into dust from the effort of living. She sounded so sad. So tired. ...So guilty.

The thrill, the exertion, even the pain. Doin' what I'm goddamn good at. I didn't hold back, and it scared folk. I was ashamed of bein' violent. Spent years fearin' that I weren't safe around other people.

I told myself I could get by on carryin' out my duty. Just kept workin' harder. Wishin' fer things I couldn't have. Figured if I could just be goddamn perfect that maybe they'd trust me, want me, love me.

I'm strivin' fer somethin' outta reach, never able to escape, fuckin' chained t'my duty, trapped by it. Knowin' that if I abandon my post, innocents'll suffer fer my negligence.

I ain't got anythin' else.

If I gotta be lonesome, then I gotta turn my power to the common good. Without that, I'm just a violent goddamn animal.

I'm always gonna end up alone. I belong to nowhere an' nobody if I don't belong to my parents' goddamn legacy. If I let go of all that, I don't know what I'll become.

Gods, this poor thing. The sorry fucker sounded like she was drowning in misery. Someone had to reach her, give her a way out, for the love of the world, please. Please. Please, someone comfort her.

I only know how to be the daughter of Jesse Stranger and Sierra Escarpa.

Brisa's chest ached. Her throat clenched up, and words abandoned her. There was no pulse of Blacklight, no plasma burn running through her fur, to keep the fury lit. She just felt tired.

Brisa toughed it out to show her best side to Fugu! She clung on with 2 HP out of sheer determination!

She dug her claws into the floor. She could still fight. She could still prove her strength. She could still show she wasn't a liability.

Don't cry, please, no, no, don't fucking cry.

 

[Namohysip]

Fugu approached Brisa during her stunned state and brought a foreleg out, pulling her in. "The battle is over," she told her. "You can relax. You don't need to keep fighting." There seemed to be more weight behind her words with that last statement.

Slowly, she guided Brisa to one of the seats and pressed a hind leg against a button that pulled the desk out of the wall and to its original position. Fugu didn't sit on the opposite side just yet, though. She instead took a simple Oran Berry from the desk and offered it to Brisa.

"...I suppose there was one thing misleading about me," Fugu commented. "I, too, have a boon from one of the Legends of Cibus. My patron is Mesprit, the being of emotion. What you saw... was your own emotions, detached, and faced back at you to observe.

"What did you see, Brisa? Take your time."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

You don't need to keep fighting.

Y'gotta stop fightin'.

Brisa keened softly to herself, and let Fugu guide her to her seat. She breathed heavily, barely aware of her own body in relation to herself, feeling pins and needles in her limbs and in her head. It was a struggle to think.

But Fugu let her take her time to focus, nibble on the proffered oran, and learn to be a person again.

When she looked up, Sombra was sat offset from herself and Fugu, staring at her with those blank, golden eyes.

"Tell her," said the Shadow.

Brisa nodded. Okay. Yeah.

"Nothin' I ain't already aware of. Just... All at once. Without so much as a careful word to smooth the edge off. I... I guess I don't know how I'd name it all. There was a lot, y'know."

Sombra gave Brisa a tired, pained smile. "I'll help ya. Start with anger."

Brisa swallowed, finding it hard with how dry her mouth had become.

"Sombra's tellin' me t'start with anger. I s'pose I got anger in me. Yeah."

 

[Namohysip]

"Anger," Fugu said, nodding. "Yes. There was a lot of anger in the way you spoke about your situation. We can begin there."

It was clear that begin, too, held a lot of weight. Somehow, some way, Fugu had become the one that Brisa had signed up for. She was confident that this would not be the only session they had, as nobody could help themselves out of such a rut over only one meeting. But it was a start, and they all had to start somewhere.

"I'm here to listen," Fugu said. "What is giving you this anger?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa bit her lip, glanced at Sombra. The Shadow blinked slowly. It meant 'trust'. Her innermost emotions, animated by the void, were . . . trusting her to express them.

"We give too much; get too little," whispered Sombra, in that voice like night air. "We can't rest without worry. It ain't fair."

Brisa looked at Fugu, head bowed a touch.

"I don't get what I hope fer, no matter how much effort I put in to what I do," she said, ever so quietly, as if it were a sin to admit that she had hopes and expectations of her own. "And I can't relax. I got this sense that if I ever drop my guard, if ever I ain't vigilant enough, then I'm lettin' things get worse. Bein' selfish. And I know that ain't right, I just can't stop feeling that way. I hate it. I hate feeling like I can't have anythin' 'cause it's wrong to be a goddamn livin' soul and want stuff fer myself."

She closed her eyes and held her head in her paws, and breathed.

"Thank you," whispered her Shadow.

 

[Namohysip]

"You've been raised to be careful of everything," Fugu said. "Perhaps you haven't learned how to truly relax. I wonder if there is a way to learn that after all..." She let the silence fill the air. Then, leaning forward as it seemed that the last of the charge of the fighting atmosphere had left the room, Fugu breathed. "Let's try to explore some of that now."

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, hello, Owen. Did you bring a guest this time?"

"Yeah, uh, kinda," the Charizard replied, glancing back at Dave, then back at the receptionist. "Is Bean available right now? This isn't really for a therapy thing or anything yet, just a talk about something else. But it needs to be somewhere private, so his office seemed like the best place."

"Sure, let me see..." She talked into a speaker, waited for a reply, and then said, "Yes, you can go right on in."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave looked suspiciously around the therapists' offices and the friendly, reassuring decor. He'd had no plans to visit this place, but apparently it was a convenient location to talk to Cibus's main Overseer representative.

Owen sure talked to the receptionist like an old friend, which was almost unsettling. Dave nodded vaguely to the Kommo-o as she let them in and stepped into the office, rolling his eyes at the motivational-poster-esque paintings on the wall. Frankly the idea of a therapist who could be in many places at once and also was part of an interdimensional organization of super-gods was creepy as hell. If you had to have a fucking therapist, it should be some resolutely boring guy with a day job that you never meet at any other point in your life, who knows exactly what you personally choose to tell him and nothing else.

 

[Namohysip]

The Zygarde sat on the other side of a large desk that had a great booster seat so he would be able to sit properly on it. "Owen! Welcome, good to see you," Bean said, friendly as ever. "Today isn't your usual session day, though, is it?"

"No, it isn't. We actually wanted to ask you a few things, if that's alright?" Owen glanced at Dave, nodding.

"Oh! Hello!" Bean's eyes flickered. "Mmmm... Dave, right?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. Been keeping tabs on Team Spectrum?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I have!" Bean nodded cheerfully. "Well, not thoroughly, at least, though I have been trying to keep track of things. It is part of my job, after all."

"Right..." Owen shifted awkwardly, not sure if he should lead or follow Dave's questioning.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Yeah, so I've gathered. Soda was telling me you're something called an 'Overseer'?" How much to reveal of what he knew already? Better to start off slow, probably, see how much Bean was willing to tell them.

 

[Namohysip]

"Yes, I am," Bean replied. "Bit of a junior one, since I'm still mostly local to Cibus, of course, but an Overseer nonetheless. How much do you know about us, anyway?"

It seemed to have been asked innocuously, but the way Owen kept hearing about them being spoken of, he wasn't sure how much they should reveal--or how much Bean already knew, and how much this was a test. Owen was having trouble getting a read on him. It seemed to be nothing but friendliness and curiosity...

 

[Dragonfree]

Not falling for that, apparently. "I mean, not too much. You're some kind of interdimensional accountability organization that's supposed to step in when gods go wrong and the like." Not bringing up the Diyem bit. Wasn't exactly a thing he knew about them, was it? "And catch world-hopping criminals. Supposedly."

 

[Namohysip]

"Yes, that does more or less describe what we do! In simple terms, at least. Though, I'm not in any particularly high ranking." Bean nodded. "I am... more like a local scout. Just for this world, for now. Perhaps when I retire and a new Zygarde takes me place, I will graduate to higher Overseer business. But for now, I only report to them about things happening here, like practice!"

"So you've told them... How much?"

"Oh, as much as I could!" Bean nodded cheerily. "They're trying to search now for ways to help, but it can be a bit slow, especially with how strange the circumstances are."