Ranger HQ Pueblo Quarters

[Jackie Cat]

The Soja's cultures had many ways of life, and many environments that shaped them – perhaps the harshest of these were the most arid parts of the desert scrubland, where shelter was scarce under the baking sun, and it might rain only a few days a year. Small wonder, then, that the homes built out here were cosy, concealed, and comfortable above all else.

The living spaces of Ranger HQ were an interlocking series of rooms, connected by doorways and short corridors on each level, and by ladders and steep stairs between levels. Externally, they were largely regular cuboids of adobe clay, largely unadorned except for rooftop gardens and simple seating. The interiors were more textured, with brickwork and timber supports visible here and there, the bare clay painted white, and furnished with everything from cushioned seats and squat, stone tables, to framed sepia photographs, mirrors, and musical instruments atop shelves and cabinets. In many rooms there was a fireplace in one corner, shielded by a shallow brick dividing wall.

Not every room seemed to have an obvious purpose, but visitors could easily find lounges, beds, and a sort of mess hall with a quaint ironwork kitchen, if they were to look around a little. The quarters weren't well-lit, but they were as homely as one could possibly want.

<><><><><>​

 

[Jackie Cat]

Though some of the Wayfarers may have hoped to meet 'Chief' Sinopa at once, the hour had grown late and fatigue had set in. Those who could even keep themselves awake after finding a bed to collapse into, if they were to call out to Sinopa as suggested, would be answered only with a soothing sort of humming, as if they had summoned a lullaby...

...When they woke, there was one extra pokémon in the quarters with them. A pale, mulberry-furred feline was also in the room, curled up atop a low clay wardrobe, and purring deeply. Small gold bands around her forelimbs and piercing one ear indicated this was no feral.

The room's windows, though small and meant more for ventilation, let golden light flow in. It felt like late morning.

 

[JFought]

The sneasel stirred from her slightly curled position, her brain taking a few moments to get working properly. How long...? Had she just slept through the entire night? She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes, still feeling lethargic. She could sense the rest of the group still here. What time is it...? I- We can't be late...

Her ear twitched at the sound of purring, and her head immediately turned to the wardrobe. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. What? Someone had been sleeping with them? She took a moment to analyze the intruder, trying to recognize what species she was. Her mind was still waking up, but soon something clicked. Is that...?

Tentatively, Isidora called out. "Hello?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Mrrrrpp!"

The Espeon shifted, stood, turned to look at Isidora. Her eyes opened.

Espeon had odd, ethereal eyes at the best of times – no whites, deep indigo sclera, bright spots where one might expect to see pupils. Sinopa – for this could only be her – had nothing of the sort. Instead, when her eyelids parted, there were only rippling swirls of soft, warm light where eyes should be.

It was like looking at clouds lit by the setting sun.

"Hello!" said the spirit of the rift. "You slept well."

 

[JFought]

Isidora found herself lost in the espeon's eyes. "Uh..." She wrenched her gaze away and reflexively glanced at her bag by the wall: still there. "Yeah. I guess I did."

If Sinopa was some weird dungeon ghost who knew everything going on and could appear at any time, Isidora supposed it wasn't that off for her to be here. Except...

She turned back to her with a deadpan, slightly annoyed look. "Sooo, is there somethin' you're curious about, or do you just like watching pokémon while they sleep?" Maybe I should wake everyone up for this...

 

[Tetra]

Koa opened his eyes at the sound of voices, blinking wearily. Normally he preferred to get up early, but he'd been so tired.

Stifling a yawn he glanced around. Isidora was awake already, talking too... His eyes widened with curiosity. That had to be her. Sinopa. Why did Isidora look so annoyed?

Blinking away the last of his sleepiness, he grinned, his earlier excitement returning at the sight of the strange Espeon. "Good morning! Are you Sinopa?"

 

[Shadow Serenity]

The sound of voices roused her from a somewhat restless sleep, reminding Kimiko why she preferred sleeping in her own room. She groaned quietly and was about to roll over when...

"Good morning! Are you Sinopa?"

...Her eyes cracked open, and sure enough, their little slumber party had been crashed.

Espeon had odd, ethereal eyes at the best of times – no whites, deep indigo sclera, bright spots where one might expect to see pupils. Sinopa – for this could only be her – had nothing of the sort. Instead, when her eyelids parted, there were only rippling swirls of soft, warm light where eyes should be.

Very much not Olivia. Well, there was no question who this was... which meant it was time for business. Kimiko tried to blink herself awake, following suit with the others, and was unable to stifle a yawn. "Mmmmorning... sorry, I'm a late sleeper." She offered Sinopa a sleepy bow. "Pleasure to meet you!"

She considered poking Betel, but... well, surely they were awake, right? ...Did Betel sleep? Maybe she'd ask later.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I am Sinopa!" replied the Espeon, smiling warmly. "Good morning! I've been waiting for one of you to waken – I heard you talk last night about wishing to speak with me. I like to get to know new people – and I don't mind questions! So you may ask whatever you like."

She got to her feet and moved as if to jump from the wardrobe, only to vanish in a blink, and reappear by the doorway.

"Perhaps you'd like to get some breakfast while we talk?" added Sinopa, tail raised and quivering in feline friendliness.

The ranger spirit's voice, at least, sounded more or less mortal. Only, if one closed their eyes, they may get the distinct impression the voice wasn't coming from any direction in particular at all. Was the Espeon body only an illusion created by the dungeon?

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf had, in fact, slept quite well. The double-time hike yesterday had left her so tired she hadn't dreamed about anything, even. (Why bother when what happened while you were awake in a place like this was so much better anyway?) Doing and thinking nothing had been so nice that she'd just sort of kept lying there with her eyes closed even after she'd woken up, enjoying her spot of sunlight and the soft, pleasant little something-sound in the background, but then people started talking and probably that meant she had to actually get up now. Oh, well.

Hm. That espeon hadn't been in here before. That explained the purring, didn't it. Sinopa looked a lot less... ghostly than Leaf had been expecting, though the popping from one spot to another thing was pretty cool.

"M... m'name's Leaf," she said, catching a little bit of Kimiko's yawn but shaking it off and floating her bags over to her—yeah, sure, if they had to go, breakfast sounded almost as good as more napping. "Nice to meet you, Chief Sinopa! Can't say I've ever met someone like you before." The ponyta gave her a curious smile. "Why'd you end up becoming part of this dungeon?"

 

[JFought]

Good, looks like everyone's awake. This wasn't what Isidora had expected to wake up to, but she couldn't really complain too much. They needed to talk to Sinopa anyway; perhaps they could make up for any time lost this morning. "Sure, breakfast sounds good."

She got up from bed and went for her bag to slip it over her shoulder. "If it's not a secret, I'm curious about how this place works."

 

[Tetra]

Koa planted his paws and stretched deeply, then nodded. Leaf had already asked the first question on his mind. He wanted to ask about aura readers, but maybe he'd wait for a better moment...

"Food sounds good." Now that Sinopa mentioned it, he was starving. "Can you... eat?" he asked hesitant yet sincerely curious. Was that rude? He really hoped not, he hadn't meant to be, but he had a thousand questions to ask and he had no idea how much he should ask.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Sinopa laughed – it was a disarmingly normal laugh. Almost a giggle, with a slightly cheeky energy to it.

"I can eat, but I don't need to. It can be fun to do it anyway, though – like most things!"

She lead her drowsy guests through to the next room which was now a dining room with a kitchenette. It had been an indoor gym last night. There was a stone-scraping sound and a series of dull thuds as nearby rooms aligned themselves in a new configuration.

"I'm not a secret to anyone in the Union," Sinopa continued, answering each question in reverse order of their asking. "Just not widely advertised outside it. I wouldn't mind the attention, but the Rangers need a working environment without hosting a continual circus! Of course you can tell who you want about me, but I'm supposed to ask you to show discretion."

Sinopa's mischievous grin suggested she didn't particularly care, personally. She wandered over to an iron cooker, skipping half the distance with another blink-and-miss-it teleport – if it was one. A flick of her tail and a flash of her cranial gem, and the hobs roared to life, pans levitating to take their places on the flames and ingredients for breakfast hovering into them in turn.

"Today, I'll be serving fried eggs, beans, potato-onion-Chesto hash, and sausages to suit both carn' and herb' diets. On the house, but you have to wash up. That's the rule!"

Already, the pans were sizzling and the smell of frying butter was drifting into the air. The Espeon inclined her head towards a table by the opposite wall, where stools and chairs to suit different anatomies were available.

"...And you asked why I merged with the rift, didn't you?" she said, glancing at Leaf. "Well, I like to make people guess, first. You can guess now, or you can wait until you have a better idea! Everyone gets a guess, and I'll tell you if one of you is right~"

A slight smirk played on the spirit's muzzle as she continued cooking by telekinesis.

"Won't be long~!"

 

[Shadow Serenity]

I heard you talk last night about wishing to speak with me. I like to get to know new people – and I don't mind questions! So you may ask whatever you like."

At first, Kimiko was a bit unnerved that Sinopa had been apparently eavesdropping... and then quickly realized that, no, that wasn't correct at all. If Sinopa was the dungeon, then she should be treated more like... a silent participant in any conversation. Always there, always listening, even if not being addressed directly.

She nodded along at the idea of food, following the crowd. She had no real interest in the guessing game, not this early in the morning, so she let the others have their fun with that. In the meantime, she had something else to discuss. "I hope this isn't too forward of me, but... we have a request to make of you."

She paused a moment to gather her thoughts. There really was no easy way to go about this. "I don't know how much you know about our group, us off-worlders, but we have this friend..." she offered a quick summary of how Betel summoned them all here, in case Sinopa was unaware. "...and to make their connection stronger and more wide-spread, we can set up anchor points within dungeons. I am unsure of the exact details, but the last one required taking something from the heart of the dungeon. So, among other things, we wondered if you might allow us to set up one of those anchors here."

 

[Tetra]

Burning with curiosity, Koa followed as they entered the gy- the kitchen?! Last night it led somewhere else...

Shrugging it off, he watched as Sinopa set about cooking, wondering if she was a good cook, and if she would ever be willing to teach him. As the scent of food filled the room, his mouth began to water. It smelled kind of like Kitto's cooking. Somehow he thought Kitto might like Sinopa.

He glanced at Kimiko, grateful she'd remembered to ask about that. The whole 'anchor' thing was still unfamiliar to him.

Turning his attention back to Sinopa, he studied her for a moment, considering what Leaf had asked. Why had she done it? was she simlar to him? "I think you wanted to do something new. Something incredible, impossible that nobody else had ever done. Because you wanted to see if you could do it." Ducking his head, he casually shifted his gaze away from her, trying to diguise the sudden rush of awkwardness. Hopefully nobody thought it was a stupid answer.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Sinopa listened attentively, mmm-ing and hmm-ing as Kimiko explained.

"How fascinating!" she remarked, glancing back over her shoulder. "I did think there was something peculiar about your auras... but that was never a particular expertise of mine."

She smiled at Koa, and said as an aside, "Oh, I like that guess. That would be very in-character for me~ Maybe you're right!"

The Espeon hummed to herself as she turned the sausages and moved a spoon to stir the beans.

"So, this friend of yours – are they able to join us? In spirit and in conversation, at least."

...Hello! Can you hear me, rift spirit of Pueblo Hideout?
​

"Perfectly~" trilled Sinopa. "Betel, wasn't it? A pleasure."

Yes – it is a diminutive for Betelgeuse. It is... a chosen name.

It is a pleasure to meet you, Espeon Sinopa. I was not sure if you would be able to hear me. Typically only those heroic spirits I am connected to are able to hear me, and I could not be certain that your connection with this rift would suffice to enable communication.

Please, pardon my failure to introduce myself earlier.​

"Oh, not at all. You were just shy! You sound young, sweetie. Precocious, but young. So, this anchorpoint of yours... We would become connected, perhaps indefinitely, in a most unusual manner. Tell me more – what will happen to my MD, partner?"

Well... I am not entirely sure. I am... very new to this. As you say.

Networked Mystery Dungeons with anchorpoints allow me to perceive and interact with the region of the Astral Plains that corresponds to the material realm around the rift. In natural dungeons, I am able to influence the distortion to allow passage to my heroic spirits, but... not here. The will of your consciousness takes precedent, it would seem. I do not expect an anchorpoint to change that – only to allow me to more easily monitor the nearby region and communicate with those in my network.​

Sinopa considered this as she continued to mind the food. Eventually she seemed to reach a verdict.

"I'm not opposed in principle, but what's in it for me? Fair play means fair trade."

Saying this, she turned and flashed her gemstone again, gesturing with her twin tail-tips for her kitchen implements to begin dishing up food.

 

[Tetra]

Koa found himself wishing she'd answer, but held himself back. She'd have to answer at her own time, curiosity aside.

His ears perked as he 'listened' to Betel and Sinopa. What would be in it? Maybe the greater good or 'convenience' wasn't enough. It wasn't as if Sinopa knew them very well, and forging a connection might be weird for Sinopa.

"How does the connection work?" he mused out loud. "Betel, if it lets you see around this area better, would it work the same for Sinopa? Can she explore the dungeons you're connected to? Or even the uhm... Astral Plains? I mean, if you'd want that," he added quickly to Sinopa. "Or maybe we can do you some kind of favor?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

Yeah, Leaf had definitely been picturing something more grand and weighty and mysterious, and not so much the scene with the dancing kitchenware from that movie with the lady and the luxray monster guy. This version of Sinopa came with delicious-smelling breakfast and fun conversation, though, so it was better anyway. (Only one guess, huh... she'd have to think hard about it, then. Or just blurt it out later the second something came to her, whichever.)

"Well, we don't really know what you want or what'd be helpful to you personally, on account of we only just met and also we're not up on the usual needs of friendly dungeon spirits yet. But if there's anything you need we're happy to look into it!" She glanced around, wondering if she'd see any others around looking for a late breakfast, or maybe going about their day outside in the canyon. "Overall, though, what we want to do is help the Rangers! Maybe you've heard stuff about... 'demons' or 'witching beasts' or things like that, and people disappearing? Beetle brought us here to help solve problems like those. We're here because we wanted to talk to Chief Ayda about joining up, and about plans that the other Wayfarers—that's our group, all the people Beetle brought here—want to start working on alongside the Escarpa.

"Anyway, I dunno if more help's something you're interested in, but I hope it's a start! ...man that hash smells good..."

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Thank the gods Bee stepped in to explain all that to Sinopa. Kimiko wasn't sure she understood half of it herself, nevermind trying to explain it to someone else.

She nodded at Leaf and Koa. "What they said. We figured learning from the best, like the Rangers and the Escarpa, was the smartest way to go about getting stronger ourselves, and in exchange, offer our services to them. So... what would you want in exchange, Sinopa?"

 

[JFought]

Isidora's ears flattened a little. She didn't really answer my question... 'Eccentric' couldn't even begin to describe Sinopa. But if one thing could be said, it was that she sure knew how welcome guests. The sneasel's mouth started to water. Such a wide spread. She's going all out. And who was Isidora to deny?

As for business, everyone else had already said basically everything. "Don't have much to add myself. Just that we always intended for this to be a mutual thing. We didn't even know about you until the way here, so the anchorpoint is more of a side thing to help us out with."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Both ways, huh...?"

The Espeon spirit brought plates floating through the air to the breakfast table and landed them in front of each guest with a feline chirp.

"Could it work like that, my new friend?"

I cannot be sure. There is no precedent I am aware of. I would not discount the possibility that you would gain access to my network yourself in some capacity... If it were so, is that be something you would value, Espeon Sinopa?
​

Sinopa hummed, blinked out of view, and reappeared on the other side of the table, sat on a small stool as if she were joining the meal herself.

"Yes," she said. "It would. I would be happy to see the world outside this place again... But if it does not resolve that way, I will simply charge you charming young cadets to bring the world to me instead. Photos, souvenirs, stories. That would be enough."

There was a stone-scraping rasp from not far away, and a thunk of rooms realigning themselves in space.

"...You may go to my heart, when you've had your fill of food," she said, softly. "I have opened a way. ...And wash your paws first."