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[~~It was a vent, wasn't it.~~

He stills immediately, aside from tucking in his wings, both to avoid injury and but mostly because he felt immediately safe in Touya's grip otherwise. He settled calmly, fluffy chesr puffing up, but he would change back once brought in and given room to place his feet.]

Have you considered a fire escape? [A teasing tone.]

Edited 2017-03-11 10:10 (UTC)

Maybe, but then this place wouldn't look as secret..!

[And inside they go into the comfortably lush living space. Touya lets Shootie down from his arms and Squirt chirps a greeting.]

[Shootie transforms back, touching softly on the packed earth.

A few feathers are torn from his wing, but only one patch. The damage isn't as widespread as the last time, just. One little patch.

He smiles back at Squirt.] Hey there.

[He pats him on the head and even tries to scratch a little under his ears. He actually stay close to the ground so he can bend down and stay near Squirt, quite uncharacteristic for the proud harpy. But it's nice to be around a Pokemon again... and he doesn't really feel so proud and lofty, right now.]

Touya... is it alright if I stay a while?

[The question is softly voiced, without facing the older boy.]

Maybe just for tonight. I can try and find somewhere else to stay tomorrow, if it's too much trouble.

[It's clear of how pleased it makes Squirt to be petted. How cute.]

Sure you can, it's no trouble at all for me! Though I don't really have a kitchen here, so you'd have to go out or borrow my key to Dyster for regular food...

Not that I don't still eat cooked things...! But your monster probably didn't give you a taste for.. you know... wild stuff out in the woods... or something.

[Well, instincts are certainly one way to break past typical dietary habits from home.]

[He smiles at Squirt, then rises.]

... I've wanted to eat small birds and those weird fluffy-tailed mouse animals too.

It's alright. I can manage. What's good enough for you is fine for me.

[He looks back over his shoulder at Touya.

He absolutely won't be any more of a burden than he already is. He's got to be better. Downsize, keep things simple. He does need to hunt too...]

How much should I tell you?

You can... start by telling me who that person you're living with, Mitsuhide, is. And then who his friends are.

[But if the explanation is brief, Shootie's free to go on properly about the situation. Touya gestures a choice between sitting on one of the cushions or the couch before having a seat himself on said couch.]

[He winces as if he's been burned, but turns to face Touya fully, hand gripping his wing where he tore out feathers.]

... he's not that bad a person. I like him, he's strong. He cares, in his own way, he's just— not all there. His lord was really cruel. Don't blame him for any of this, please, he's my responsibility.

[... he's eleven.]

Did you see that post Susan made? About the gross guy she killed? [He didn't look at the picture because he couldn't stomach it, but from what he read...] With the hands?

... did you happen to go into a dream that was like, an art gallery, last time? With lots of women's hands and the Mona Lisa?

[A quick and silent exchange goes on between Touya and Squirt, since they both see entirely how much the other trainer seems to be favoring that wing. So as the otter scurries into a different room for the medical kit-]

... Just because you've been on your journey for some time back in Unova doesn't mean you're ready to look after someone else. No matter how you feel about it, you're still a kid too.

[And there's Squirt with the first-aid kit, such a good boy as always.]

I don't really go on the network much now... and I also haven't been in that dream either.

[He normally would pitch a fit or go out of his way to prove his adulthood, but instead, he just looks. Deeply saddened.] Yeah? Yeah.

... he says stuff like that too. [He seems really torn up over him, he's getting a little choked up, so he has to swallow, avert his gaze, and move on:]

Serial murderer, that Yoshikage Kira guy. He targets women and he's got, a... well, a hand fetish.

I met him as a little boy, sort of. In that dream. He calls those women his "girlfriends."

I don't know what happened to Susan, exactly, her dream was a lot more— abstract, but I think some bad men hurt her, so she must have taken it personally and killed the guy.

... but. [He lifts his head up, eyes wide, searching Touya's expression for any sign of judgement.] She had nothing to do with Kira. But Mitsuhide-san... Mitsuhide-san considers him a friend, so he was really torn up over him.

When I found out Kira had never targeted her, I let Mitsuhide-san go, because I only forbid him from shedding innocent blood. Justified retaliation was okay. I thought that, if someone killed one of my friends, I'd want to be able to avenge them too... never mind that I think Kira's vile and deserves to be thrown in the garbage, he's still Mitsuhide-san's friend.

Was it— wrong?

I already know she shouldn't have to die just for this, I did my best to give her and her friends a head start, to balance the scales...

[Touya frowns, which is left up for Shootie to interpret. Little does the harpy know of what occurred not too long ago in late February, before the end of the newcomers' first month in Ryslig.]

We shouldn't be killing each other, no matter what. So yes it's wrong. Someone like Kira who would do that, especially if he didn't feel sorry for it at all... that's not the kind of friend anyone should have.

... [He felt. Condemned. But in a strangely detached sort of way, like it hurt less than he expected it to. Largely because he had expected it. His expression settled very calmly into a mask of indifference or... maybe it wasn't a mask at all.

Of course, Touya would say that.
Of course, any normal person would say that.

The fact that this made sense to him, even if it made him sick to his stomach, the fact that he could understand that logic at all... was because he was a monster. Touya had been too kind, before.

He missed Mitsuhide.]

I don't understand how he can consider him a friend either.

[Stiffly. He'd have to be careful what he says to Touya, then. He couldn't really rely on him that much, he couldn't understand this.]

The last I've seen of Mitsuhide-san, he went to get revenge.

... hey, Touya? What do you think should've been done? Do you think anyone was in the right? Or do you think this should've gone to law enforcement? [... er, well, in so much as Ryslig had a law system...]

I don't think anyone was in the right either. But most of Ryslig seems settled on monsters being left to their own problems between each other.

[The harpy should feel condemned then. He should. As much as Touya wants Shootie to understand he's a child, there's some things even he should know better.]

But since you're so set on looking after this Mitsuhide guy, why didn't you stop him? You didn't think of it? You let him go just like that? To go murder someone in revenge without a second thought?

It doesn't matter that people come back from death! That just means a cycle can keep going! Since when did you start believing that kind of payback was okay? [~~Besides the relevant Pokemon moves, that's fine.~~] We're supposed to be from the same world, so you must've learned something about what's right and wrong!

[Hey what is that as Touya rises, running across his fur? Blue sparks? That's both strange and alarming, werewolves don't get electric powers...! And he doesn't seem to notice or care.]

I get it- that this world is horrible and cruel and forcing us into decisions we never saw coming! But the HOME I know, the world of Pokemon that I know, doesn't compare to HERE...!

Edited 2017-03-13 21:14 (UTC)

[He watched the steadily mounting anger with undisturbed calm. Touya was casting out accusations and presumptions that completely failed to hit their mark. Did he really think he came to that decision so easily and thoughtlessly? That it didn't tear him up inside? That he didn't immediately regret it? It was almost sad, but he had made the decision not to let it get to him anymore than it already has. He'd opted to go cold, he'd have to find someone else to stay with.

For now, he'd just have to take this lashing. He watched detachedly for sometime, then closed his eyes for a time. When he opened them again, he gave Touya a half-lidded, disinterested look as if to say, "You're still not done?" But that expression was VERY short-lived, quickly replaced by a series of fast, reactionary blinks, and a raised wing to point at him.]

L— lightning! Blue electricity, it looks almost like— like Zekrom!

[Yes, that definitely earns a genuine reaction.]

[At that, Touya spares a glance at himself, but h doesn't show much reaction to it. Obviously it's not much of a distraction from his anger if his hackles still bristling is any sign.]

Hm.

"... seriously, is that normal or what?" he asked, sounding both frightened and annoyed by the lack of response.

If Touya won't simply answer, he'll just come very close to inspect him himself, which is a bit uncalled for and probably unwanted right now...

[If Shootie gets too close, enough to touch him, then a few of the small sparks will jump to give the harpy a weak static shock just before Touya takes a deep breath to try and calm down.]

I'm fine... it just happens whenever I get really worked up.

[There comes a knock.

Shootie has probably not been unaware of the fact that entering Touya's home feels more like going in through someone's garden. A penthouse sits right beside it, and altogether the entire set up is sitting on top of a fairly tall building surrounded by mirrored glass. If the penthouse is staying hidden, Touya is MORE hidden...

But with the knock, the door opens regardless of an answer, and a seeming child wearing glasses frowns inside.] Touya, what's going on down here, the lights started to fl-

[Ah.] ....You have a visitor I see.

Right. An unwanted one. [Moodily, as he turnedaway, transforming into his Unfezant-like travelling form and fanning out his wings, forgetting the patch of missing feathets now made readily apparent.

If you'll excuse me, I was just leaving.

I never said anything about not wanting you here.

[Especially with how that wing looks without that patch of feathers. It's said very firmly, but Touya's not sparking anymore at least.]

I can see that. [Annnnnd aaaahpahpahpahpahp- Birdy's being grabbed.] Don't leave just yet....

First off, it's a bit rude to fly away before properly greeting the landlord after the shouting match I was so close to ignoring... [Now then.] Second, this is hardly the way to leave anyone's home.

[That whole thing about being okay with being touched while covered in feathers? That... doesn't apply to people he barely knows.

He's very, very still and rigid for a few seconds, then it's a frenzy of feathers and panicked wingbeats like cornered prey, he even pecks!]

Let. Me. GO!!

Right, sorry about that I...

[And then there goes his apology for shouting when Shootie starts flailing about in Noa's loose and harmless grip.]

Whoa hey...! Calm down...!

FFNMMNH-

[Loose and harmless isn't so loose and harmless once Shootie attacks, though it is certainly not much at the fault of Noa himself. He bites back a muffled scream and fights the urge to smack what is now stuck in his hand against the wall, instead seething and holding his wrist with his free hand. His coils, conveniently, cover the 'travel form entrance'...the only other one now easily blocked if Touya so chooses. Still-Noa hisses, barely containing his anger.]

Get your beak...Out of my hand... BEFORE I SWALLOW YOU RIGHT HERE!!

[This sensation is incredibly alien and unpleasant. As soon as he broke through the scales, the flesh provided no further resistance to his beak and he was trapped! He could be breathing in blood or fluids or something...! He does, initially, try to crack open his mouth, but he can't manage it without blood getting in his mouth and ugh.

That loud voice was enough to frighten him even without the detailed threat, but it isn't so bad that he flaps around irrationally this time— he manages to tug his head out of the hand and falls gracelessly on his feathery bottom, legs kicking uselessly, before he started trying to shake off the blood and clean his face, spitting and sneezing.

This tiny gamebird is the worst houseguest.]

[Well that happened. Squirt tentatively nudges at Noa since well... the kit's already out, bandages and all. Touya starts to go over to the hurt naga, but then considering who started it-]

What's wrong with you Shootie...?!

[Frowning frowning, lots of judging.]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, TOUYA. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 003.06.020.11 * Unovaliance has joined 003.06.020.11 <Unovaliance>** Hey~ If I'm not around, just leave a message!

[sorryyyy phone-tagging and confusing keywords]

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