o1. audio / action

[ladyofluminosity]

[Voice]

Hello, can anyone hear me? I believe I'm still in the signal area. In any case, I believe that I may have found something interesting! A community of Spearows, so close to the city! I thought that they were solitary Pokémon, and yet there must be at least half a dozen of them nesting here, in close proximity. While I have not been able to get too close, I have been able to construct quite a few interesting ske--

Camille, what are you doing there? Camille, sto--

[The feed abruptly cuts off.]

[Action]

[The Verdant Forest, early morning, the trees covered in a new layer of fluffy white snow. The ratata are slowly crawling out from their hidey-holes to find their first meal of the day; pidgey cooing gently, welcoming in the day; the sweet, dulcimer cry of an errant Enlightened screaming--wait, what?!]

Comments

[action]

[indy_wannabe]

Never better!

[action]

[thewindything]

Peachy.

[He wasn't exactly out of breath, but he was also mostly incorporeal. Yay, for being a ghost!]

That was close.

[action]

[ladyofluminosity]

That was...

[She catches her breath, standing up finally. She's beaming.]

That was invigorating!

[action]

[sixwholeplates]

I could live without the running for my life part, but it was sort of fun...

[She smooths her coat out, then she stands back up, looks around, and smiles.]

I'm Cecilia.

[action]

[indy_wannabe]

Ezreal. Nice to not be getting murdered by Spearow with you all.

[action]

[thewindything]

[Okay, he really can't help but laugh. Lux, plz. Oh, introductions, huh? John snickers and then- what is going on there? That Gastly just went poof in a lot of blue smoke.]

[And now there's a kid there. He grins at the others.]

John, nice to meet you. Heh.

[action]

[ladyofluminosity]

[John, you should know her better than this by now.]

My name is Lux, and this is my companion, Camille. [She gestures toward the Dratini, who stands upright and bows gracefully.]

Thank you for helping me. I did not expect them to attack. I was able to get quite a few good sketches at le--

[Wait a second, where was her sketch pad? She had it under her arm when she got cornered, then...]

...Oh. Oh dear.

[action] 1/2

[sixwholeplates]

Nice to meet you, Lux. Maybe--

[She takes a second to process everything. The missing sketchpad. The Gastly that just turned into a boy. Ez. Raftina, swishing her tail next to her. THE GASTLY THAT JUST TURNED INTO A BOY.]

[That one wins.]

[She turns and gawks at John, just staring for a long moment.]

[action] 2/2

[sixwholeplates]

[Then she bolts forward, holds her hand over the top of John's head, and starts literally measuring him by spacing her hands apart.]

How do you work!

[indy_wannabe]

[Ezreal is fairly unperturbed]

Shifter huh? Nice.

[thewindything]

Lux? What's wrong, did you lose your- [Whoa, hello person getting up in his business.]

Uh, yeah. What he said. I'm a shifter.

[ladyofluminosity]

My sketchbook, while we were running away.

[sixwholeplates]

I-I didn't know that was possible. Can you--

[Oh, wait. She's being insane. She coughs and looks to the side, embarrassed, and shuffles her feet.]

...we could double back and look for the sketchbook.

[indy_wannabe]

Do you think the Spearow have left the area yet?

[thewindything]

[John cringes.] Weren't they nesting over there? Unless it got dropped between here and where they were all hanging out. I dunno. Birds are kind of assholes. It's going to be hard to get close.

We need a plan.

[ladyofluminosity]

[Wow, John, language.]

They were nesting, and would have stayed that way had Camille not chosen to jostle one of their nests.

[Camille lets out a haughty "Niii~". She was curious.]

[sixwholeplates]

[Raftina gives Camille a look. A sassy look.]

[Cecilia, conversely, just taps her finger against her chin and looks thoughtful, before she looks between them.]

It should be safe, if we go slowly and carefully. We don't want to startle them.

[indy_wannabe]

Even if we're careful, Spearow are little assholes. They might attack us as soon as they know we're there.

[thewindything]

[Thoughtful pause.]

If I go first, do you think they'll be less likely to attack a pokemon?

[ladyofluminosity]

[Lux pauses, thinking for a moment.]

The possibility exists. I would not want to see you hurt, so perhaps if the rest of us were to hide and act as backup, in case things go...

[Well, you know.]

Eeeek notifications did noooot work. D:

[sixwholeplates]

I think that's a good idea. [She nods at John.] We could hide--ah, if it goes wrong, we can extract you that way.

[Hopefully, at least!]

[indy_wannabe]

If nothing else they shouldn't be able to do too much to you while you're in ghost form. We can back you up, I think that's probably the best plan.

[thewindything]

[He nods. He kind of was the one best to go after it. He takes a few steps back and shifts back into his Gastly form.]

Alright, let's backtrack.

[And off he goes!]

[ladyofluminosity]

If you're sure--wait, John!

[She gives John a concerned look. They were kind of giving him the short end of the stick. But before she could get a proper answer, off he went; she bolted after him.

Sure enough, they were still there, and there was a nice--well, once nice, now being picked apart by sharp beaks--leather sketchbook in the snow, surrounded by the small flock of spearow. Pulling at the pages, pecking at some of the pictures, papers were strewn about.

There was a small, upset whimper from behind one of the trees. Yup, she saw it. All her work...]

[sixwholeplates]

[Cecilia made a face, keeping her groan in, because that wouldn't do at all. She still reached a hand over and patted Lux on the shoulder, then shook her head.]

[That sketchbook... was for the birds.]