Treasure Town ~ Main Square

[Tanuki]

Mate? Zane decided to kill the rumor spreading poochyena next time they crossed paths. It completely ruined his plans. Now, he had to think on the fly—and he didn't even have wings! Dave would pay for this.

"Ma'am, please," he begged, pushing up to his knees and clasping his claws together. "Please, give me a chance." He looked up with those same pitiful eyes. "I'd never known love. I didn't know what to do. I was terrified, confused, lost. Desperate." He dropped his gaze to the ground, hiding his search for an answer. "I wasn't there to steal, but when that beast showed up, I didn't know what to do."

He paused, ostensibly to take a breath, really to come up with a good idea. A terrible one came in its place, but he lacked the know-how to tell. He looked up again, terrified, embarrassed, guilty most of all. "I wasn't there for your shop. I wasn't there for anything in it. I was there...," his claw reached out for her pointed paw, "for you."

 

[Namohysip]

"Don't give me that! I know the timeline, you, you, you..." Floatzel pointed at Celeste. "Deceiver! He wasn't running at the time, he was breaking in and what frightened him was the alarm! And then only after he left did the assailant get him! Pah! He's standing here, isn't he? Seems to me that there was no trouble at all in fighting that creature. And YOU!"

She then batted Zane's claws away. "You just got here! My mate is dead and buried and my spirit is bound to his, not some miscreant who puts on the Fake Tears the moment they're caught! I'm old! I know the way around, I know all the tricks, same tricks that gave me my first egg, and I'm not about to have my fourth from you!"

She spun around, her tails whipping the air. "Cowardly. Face your punishments like a real mon so you'll impress someone else! Don't you only have a day left?"

 

[Tanuki]

Zane winced at her words. An absolute lie, and she still managed to feel rejected. He dashed in front of her, trying to grab her shoulders.

“I don’t care about the community service!” he lied with surprising conviction. “I’d do it a thousand times more! It’s no punishment!” He was getting disturbingly into this role. “The guilt, your ire, are more a burden than any construction work. More punishment than I can bear. I’d do anything to make it up to you.” He could barely tell if he was lying and did everything to avoid thinking about that.

 

[Namohysip]

"Then that means it's working," Floatzel said harshly, tilting her nose up. "I hope this guilt will be enough that you won't do something like stealing again. Otherwise, I doubt Officer Magnezone will be so merciful!"

Still, she seemed satisfied with what Zane was doing to make up for it, and it didn't look like she would be holding it further against him.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste tried not to let his amusement show on his face. Luckily for him, Zane was playing along.

“Oh, I’m sure we won’t have any repeat incidents. One has been enough of a headache.”

 

[Tanuki]

"It's not enough!" Zane cried. "I can't stop at your forgiveness! I can't stop at a neutral!" He dropped to his knees again with surprising zealotry. "I need a positive! I need you!" He shuffled forward to grab her paw. "I want to make it up to you! I want to be a part of you!" This was too much. "You're my life. I want to be part of yours. I don't want to spend another day without you."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste blinked. Slowly. He wasn’t so sure Zane was acting anymore.

“Zane... Maybe tone it down a little? These things... take time.”

 

[Namohysip]

And then, the helpless old lady blasted Zane with a torrent of water--a Hydro Pump that flooded the square and soaked the packed earth. With Zane so prone and on his knees, he was a trivial target.

Floatzel huffed. "Some Pokemon don't know how to take no for an answer without some action," she muttered. Then, glaring at Celeste, she said, "You keep him in line before he causes more trouble."

 

[Tanuki]

The blast knocked just enough sense into Zane to bring him back to reality. "You're... rejecting me?" Unfortunately, it was not quite enough to get common sense in there. "You're rejecting me?" He leapt to his feet. Fur soaked, he stomped over to her, dripping with equal parts water and rage.

"What gives you the right?" he asked, in lack of any right to his current actions. "Me? You won't even give me a chance?! You don't even know me!" Nor did he know her. "I pour my heart out, and I don't get even a chance to learn the contents of yours?!" Contents to which he had no claim. "No decent person would put me through that pain!" This might be Zane's best claim: one-sided relationships are notorious for their suffering, so none-sided relationships could only be worse.

"I'm entitled at least—" nothing, "—a day with you!" Neither years of therapy or centuries of cutting edge psychological study, take your pick, could determine Zane's motives.

 

[Namohysip]

Floatzel stepped back. "Get away from me, you, you, you... If you don't leave me alone right this instant, I'll have another word with the Guild about your behavior. This very well could extend your punishment! Or worse!" She glared at Celeste, expecting him to do something to tow him down before she'd be forced to Hydro Pump him away again. The way her tails were flicking, she seemed to be distressed at how close Zane was getting to her.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Ick. If Celeste had known Zane had been planning to make a cringeworthy attempt to seduce the first local he met, then Celeste would’ve handled the opening to that conversation differently.

“Bloody... Zane! What Giratina’s wyrd has come over you! Cut this out, now!”

He placed himself between the two of them and leveled his horn in Zane’s direction.

 

[Tanuki]

Zane shoved Celeste right back. "How dare you?" He went to grab Celeste's horn and bring his face up to his level. "What right do you have to stand in the way of true love?" He levied his gaze back to the floatzel with a sneer. "Have you ever cherished someone? Have you ever wanted the best for them at the expense of your worst?"

Disgust took its place as he shook his head. "Of course not. You're a lonely old hag selling symbols, empty shells of the emotion you gave up the courage to have. You're as empty a husk as the merchandise you sell." He finally narrowed his eyes directly into hers. "You have no heart. All I stole was the illusion you had one." A card as well, but nobody'd mentioned that yet, so he hoped they hadn't noticed.

 

[Namohysip]

Floatzel narrowed her eyes. "You don't even listen to me, do you?" she said. "I've already said to you minutes ago that I have a lovely mate waiting for my across the cosmos. Not only that, but three wonderful children who help run the shop!" She brought her nose up, growling. "Now, leave, you, you, you... horrible listener! Absol, take him away and maybe I'll reconsider sending another complaint about him to the Guild!"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Zane shoved Celeste right back. "How dare you?" He went to grab Celeste's horn and bring his face up to his level. "What right do you have to stand in the way of true love?" He levied his gaze back to the floatzel with a sneer. "Have you ever cherished someone? Have you ever wanted the best for them at the expense of your worst?"

When Zane grabbed Celeste’s horn, he shoved back, freeing himself. “Yes. I have. And I did it without pining after them like a feral in heat. When I was turned down, I handled it like an adult... Listen, I had previously that thought some of our teammates were a bit harsh with you, but this? This is pathetic. I’m humiliated just to have witnessed it.”

He sighed, feeling somewhat defeated. “If you want to shove your own reputation off a cliff... I don’t even care anymore. Just... try not to drag the rest of us down with you.”

 

[Namohysip]

Looking satisfied with the outcome, Floatzel huffed and spun around to leave, muttering something about obsessive lovers. On one hand, it made her feel young again, like she was back at school. On the other, she hated school.

Down the road she went and, to Zane's fortune, it was not toward the Guild.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste huffed. “I think we’re done here.”

He still didn’t really have anywhere to go, but anywhere that wasn’t here worked for him.

 

[Adamhuarts]

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[Adamhuarts]

"That should be everything... but I don't even know if this'll be enough," Cynthian muttered to himself, hauling along a bag almost as large as he was.

The dull and sharp edges of iron thorns tried to escape from beneath the flap, whereas a few sleep seeds dropped out as he walked. A passersby stopped to help him pick it up and Cynthian answered with a thanks.

Ever since that 'Whitedark' showed up among them like that, Cynthian couldn't feel at ease. She had the playfulness the self proclaimed protector of his village back home but in a much more twisted way. How the hell did some of them survived an encounter with that thing. Zane should be lucky he's even still alive...

Cynthian shook himself out of his thoughts and resumed his walk towards the dojo, even if the bag looked like it was about to flatten him at any moment.

 

[NebulaDreams]

Curio wandered to the main square after waking up from an inordinately long food coma. She was pleased to not have nightmares for once about Magikarp bones. Instead, she dreamt of swimming through a never-ending sea of curry. So that was nice. But she needed to catch up with what was going on, and she needed to stock up too. Or at least, she had to pretend to look busy. So Curio went window shopping until she bumped into Cynthian.

"Oh, hey, rosy palms." She wanted to have a chat with Cynthian ever since Starr tore into him. "How's it going?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian jolted at the mention of Rosy Palms. Did she just call him Rosy Palms? She did just call him Rosy Palms. "Oh, C-Curio! What a surprise running into you here. I was just doing shopping."

A blast seed fell out when Cynthian jostled his bag. He didn't even notice, but luckily the seed didn't explode.

"I was rounding up supplies and such, typical explorers stuff. Things that are helpful. We never know what we might be facing next and I'd rather be prepared for the worst," Cynthian said with a sheepish smile.