Sojaveña Wilds Brisa's Cabin

[windskull]

Nip let out a loud yip as he hit the ground, the breath driven out of him as he tumbled to a stop. He lay there for a moment, dazed, before pushing himself to his feet, ignoring his body's aching protests.

As he started to take in his surroundings (an overgrown path, an old rundown building similar to those he'd seen in Theran Village, a sloping hill leading towards a wide s stretch of scraggly shrubs), he noticed how warm he felt with the sun beating down overhead. Instinctually, he tried to flash freeze the air around him hoping to accumulate ice on his fur as a means of cooling.

But nothing happened.

He tried again. But again, nothing happened.

He let out a growl, flexing his claws, only to freeze and stare at them. Once white, now they were stained deep purple and seemed to excrete a thin, filmy substance. Narrowing his eyes, he flexed them again, turning his attention to his fur. A darker patch decorated his chest, but he otherwise looked the same. He was still a Sneasel. Still himself, but something had changed.

And he didn't like it one bit.

With a frustrated hiss, he turned his attention back to his surroundings. As far as he could tell at the moment, he was alone. Weren't they all supposed to land together? He walked back to the top of the knoll, scanning the surroundings for any signs of movement. Then he sniffed the air in hopes of picking up a familiar scent. Failing that, against his better judgement as a hunter, he called out, "Hello? Anyone out there?"

 

[Butterfree]

Dr. Drungfield wasn't thrilled with the shape any of them were in, or with the Petilil who was already there when they arrived, looking like she'd been in a bar fight against a fucking truck. But she did mutter something about how if Jesse or Brisa were still around they'd have made short work of the beast. At which point Dave's ears perked.

He'd been meaning to head out to check on that Brisa person, see if she knew anything, but the cabin was apparently a ways out of Frontier Town and the person he asked at the library had made it sound like they just hadn't seen her around in a while so she might not even be home. Drungfield, though, indicated that both of them had just up and disappeared, not like they'd just gone on a trip, like something had happened. That was suspect.

And Wes had mentioned he worked for this Galvantula called Alejandro who could take them there. Well, then why the fuck not. After they'd had a day or two to feel less like death, anyway.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Laura had been the one to suggest Brisa's cabin, and as the group approached the lonely structure out in the scrubland, it certainly seemed like the ideal spot. A way for the ARK Unit to stay sheltered and have some privacy, while still close enough to town to get food, and easy for the team to reach.

"So, this is Brisa's cabin," Jade said, tail swishing idly in the autumn breeze. "I only knew her for a little bit, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind you using it while she's not here."

Not here... Jade winced internally. Now that Terminal Two had been destroyed and the trains were running again, she'd been itching to head east and hunt for leads. But that wasn't the focus right this second.

The ARK Unit padded around the cabin's perimeter, inspecting it. Seemingly satisfied, it turned to the others and said, "I see. This place is where I will stay, then. For how long?"

Jade shrugged. "Uh... as long as you like, I guess? There's not anywhere you need to be or anything. So you can take your time and get used to being outside the lab before deciding what to do next."

It felt weird thinking of the chimera as the ARK Unit. Same way that it would've been awkward to keep using Experiment 009 to refer to Nine. Maybe just... Ark? Did it have a name? Did it want a name? Jade was used to Pokemon culture on Earth where names were optional, but then, Ark wasn't exactly a normal representative of Forlasan Pokemon culture.

 

[Weazel]

The cabin, Archie was happy to find, was no where near as distant as he’d originally feared. Isolated, yes, the Dewott might even go so far as to call this area desolate. But, he was pleasantly surprised to find, as he paused midway up the weed covered hill he was presently lugging a decently large covered basket up, that as he turned to look back towards the west, he could still make out Frontier Town, Silver River, and even the ravine from here! So as least the Graydians he was coming along to visit hadn’t gone too far away from the rest of them.

Archie hadn’t sent word ahead that he was coming. He also hadn’t thought to send a telepathic message – actually, he often forgot that was a skill he had until someone else suddenly burst into his thoughts. What he did bring, however, was gifts! It has been market day in town again, and once again the Dewott had not been able to prevent himself from overspending. And so, the basket he was carrying rattled, clinked, and made plenty of other such noises as contents bumped into one another, as the mustelid somewhat haphazardly resumed his climb.

Before much longer, he crested the hill, and the cabin soon came into view...

 

[Chibi Pika]

A gentle breeze swept through the hills. Desert lavender plants swayed, and though their blooming season had passed, the clearing was still a favorite of Sage's. The chimera was presently seated low to the ground with limbs held close and eyes closed. Every so often, tiny blips of light escaped from their helmet.

It was a quiet, peaceful spot. Good for meditating.

This is the time to look inward, make careful choices. Remember – hold the flame steady, protect it. It's a candle in a dark room: don't let it go out; don't set fire t'the house.

The first voice to break the silence for a long while was Sage's: "For you, how it feels to use the light... I want to know."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova wished he could've found the return to the Soja's wide open spaces refreshing after all the big buildings and crowded city streets. But the Comb had... certainly made things uncomfortable. And now there was apparently some sort of election thingamajig that the Wayfarers were involving themselves in to various degrees.

Of course Nova knew what elections were. But it wasn't like he'd ever witnessed them. Or any politicking, for that matter.

Not to mention that the cat they'd rescued just so happened to be the person whose cabin he and Sage had been squatting in. Nova wasn't sure if they'd both have to leave.

All he could bring himself to do was put his Water Memory in, head outside, and try to tend to the plants and shrubs scattered around the cabin. Sloshing water around his legs and sprinkling it around him.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Home sure didn't feel the same. 'Course, it hadn't been home for a number of years now, but still, he'd not been expecting all these... renovations. He didn't recall giving anyone but his daughter permission to stay under this roof, but it sure smlled of someone other than her, and he'd bet a good dollar that it weren't Brisa who'd cleaned up the place, swept away the dust and webs. Nor would Brisa have been the one to plant a little garden of herbs and vegetables round the front. His kid had many interests, but a green paw she was not. If that didn't cinch it, the hammock in the main living area surely did.

He ignored that thing and trudged upstairs to the master room. He'd slept in sleeping sacks, in barn lofts, motels, alleyways, a goddamn cell in the ground – it felt almost like a fake concept to come home to a bed of his own. There'd been a time he'd have fussed over it still being his and hers, but he was too tired for that.

Sleep came easily. Dreams not so much. Fitful and fierce, something hazy about fire doused in ice-water and damp earth.

He woke halfway through the morning, thought it strange he'd slept so late, then realised it was stranger he'd woken up any kind of time at all given the profound addlement of his miserable brain. It's not as if he had any appointments to make, or errands to run. Still, he needed something to occupy his time while he waited on the breeze to come home – he found himself wandering automatically to his study, where half his projects from before he set out were still as he'd left them. Stale intelligence on outlaws, a wand design he'd lost interest in, a daily planner years out of date, and so on.

He sat down and drummed his digits on his desk for a good minute, his eyes glazing over his abandoned work, settling on nothing. He wanted something he couldn't find in this ancient dust. There was a ghost in here with him, the ghost of a sheriff, and its cold touch was enough to make him stand, seize a pile of his forgotten things, throw open his door and hurl them onto the dirt path.

By the time Brisa arrived, he'd made a fierce little bonfire of waste paper and wasted years.

He looked up at her.

"Always took it as given that I'd be the one comin' home to you," he said, not even bothering to reach for pride or shame. He didn't rightly know how 'Jesse Stranger' ought to feel right now. The ghost of the sheriff would be looking at his successor right now, seeing the clanner warrior in her, and the law 'mon he'd taught. The Delphox standing at his door just saw his kid, grown bigger now than he was. His kid, safe and well.

"Took a lotta things as givens," said Brisa Escarpa, carefully. "Though I got reason t'think maybe they ain't. I'm the one wearin' a badge now, fer starters."

Jesse's mouth broke into a wavering smile, the whole of him crumbling behind his tired face.

"Yeah. You are. And I— I'm goddamn proud of you, kid."

---

Home sure didn't feel the same. Not like she'd left it, nor like before. Some of it was that she was twice her old size, and everyplace felt different in the body of a Luxray, but there had to be some accounting for her pa behaving like another 'mon entirely. She'd had enough fake arguments in her head with the Jesse Stranger she remembered that she plain didn't recognise that fox anywhere here. When had that guy ever looked like he was 'bout to shed a tear or several over her without it bein' from sheer frustration? And outta pride no less? She could scarce remember a day since she was a Shinx cub that he'd been happy to be her father, nor even happy to be him.

But here he was, sitting on the porch with her, talking. They were a few branches deep, and she was hardly following the actual conversation for want of attention, hers being wholly focused on the quiet calm in his voice, the brittle way he held himself, the warmth that radiated from his fur she'd never rightly noticed before.

There was a pause, and the sound of breath and wind. Hesitant, apprehensive despite it all, she gave voice to the question she'd carried up the hill road back home.

"I won't be stayin'. I'm set on trackin' down Starr, and bringin' her back with me. I don't know if you have any earthly idea how to go about that task, nor inclination to bend yerself to it alongside me, but—"

"I'll help."

"'Yer pardon?"

Jesse looked at her, and for once, it felt like he saw her, and not some feral animal.

"Consider me at your service, kid. Come hell or high water."

He broke with her gaze to gesture with a nod down the hillside.

"Looks like you've got some friends as might say the same."

Brisa looked down after him to see a certain few Wayfarers all on their way.

She smiled to herself. She'd be damned. Coming right to her was a dream made real.