Frontier Town The Wanderin' Zera

[Ambyssin]

Nova's white belly fur steadily appeared -- though it had a dark tan tint to it from all the previous dirt that had built up -- highlighting that, even by graydian standards, his body was weird.

"His Dragon Rages stung more." Nova clicked his tongue. "It's like... the meteor was someone tugging on your ear. The Dragon Rages were a flick to the groin."

He blinked several times. "... I think that metaphor would've landed better if you were a guy. And had ears."

 

[Namohysip]

"I think I know the analogy well enough," Mhynt said. With a final sigh, she stepped off of Nova and said, "I think that's as good as it'll get with one washing session, but maybe later we can try another go for the rest."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova rolled back over. Of course, his fur being damp meant that there was now some dirt clinging to it. But that was, at least, better than void ash. And many of the clumps came off when he shook himself out.

"Thanks," he said. "Sorry about this."

 

[Namohysip]

"It's no problem," Mhynt said. "I needed a little extra sun anyway. Every time I go into that Dungeon, I feel like I need twice as much light to make up for it..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova leaned over so the golden tip of his crest was close enough for Mhynt to bump with her claws.

"Then let's make sure the next trip's the last one. By kicking that asshole out of Forlas."

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt smirked, but it was soft and friendly. She bumped her claw-knuckle against Nova's beak. "To removing our shackles," she said, "one battle at a time."

Just a few days ago, the thought of going against Alexander and Owen felt like a trauma-fueled fantasy. But now... it felt possible. And for the first time in a long while, Mhynt felt hope for a day where she could walk free again.

<><><>​

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Compared to what the people who went to Whisperwind went through, Gladion figured the museum couldn't have been so bad. So why, then, was he so drained? Hmph. He took the easier route, and he still didn't have it in him to get the job done. He wasn't strong enough. But at least the others had kept Matthias busy for enough time for the other group to save Brisa. That counted for something.

He made his way into The Wanderin' Zera. He wasn't about to turn to alcohol over his frustrations, but it'd at least let him find something else to quench his thirst, while he buried his sorrow in the crowd.

There was a Luxio there. Brisa? He was pretty sure that was Brisa. He'd been going back and forth on whether or not to leave the cabin problem to Nova or not. Nova'd been staying there, after all. But he also didn't know that he could let Nova sort out housing on his own, given he hadn't done so at all until Sage had forced his hand. Gladion would be better at it dealing with the situation, and Nova'd just been through Whisperwind. If he wanted to do his friend a favour, this was his shot.

He took a moment to paper over his emotions as best he could for the sake of the coming conversation, and thought of how best to frame the problem to Brisa.

"You are fluent in spin – I doubt you are even lying to me in this moment. You could be a politician, with a tongue like yours."

He shoved that particular recollection aside. He wasn't trying to be manipulative or anything, he just wanted to... whatever. It didn't matter. He'd have to bury this train of thought, too, for the moment. There was a problem to solve. He had to focus. He sat down by the Luxio, hoping he didn't seem creepy.

"You're Brisa, yes? I'm Gladion, Wayfarers. I, uhh... That is your cabin on the hill at past the edge of town, right?"

As soon as he said that, he realized how weird being that vague would sound, but he also didn't know how to bring up Sage right off the bat. Augh. He'd already stuck a foot in it. Maybe he could still unfuck the conversation before it got too awkward? He was committed to trying at this point, at least.

 

[Jackie Cat]

It had been a long ride – back from Novelux, all the way to Frontier Town. As high-rises passed, then fields of corn, then badlands and Blaguarro, and finally the lush desert of home, Brisa had stared out of the window. Thinking.

She'd left with Starr, full of hope, and now she'd returned alone, her paws weighed down with dread. Her eyes heavy from lack of sleep. Her brain soaking in whiskey. Another.

Loose ends. She had... loose ends to tie up. And then she was going back. And she'd bring Starr home, or she wouldn't come home at all.

"You're Brisa, yes? I'm Gladion, Wayfarers. I, uhh... That is your cabin on the hill at past the edge of town, right?"

She blinked away the thought, and turned to look at the stranger speaking to her, paw lifting her glass for another mouthful of whiskey.

Right. The Wayfarers all dropped into the world outta nowhere, same as Starr had. And judging by this boy's tone of voice and shifty beak... they'd used her cabin.

"Yep," she said, dry as dust.

She sipped her whiskey, and considered leaving it at that. Words, ugh. Why say 'em?

Sigh.

'Cause you had to be decent to folks, no matter that the world was indecent. Especially 'cause of that.

"At yer ease, fella. I'm sure y'had a fair reason fer usin' it. Jus' tell me you didn't break anythin'."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Nah.” (Hopefully, Nova’d kept an eye on Sage and made sure nothing broke unexpectedly.) “Just had… Forlas’ member of my species. When we saved them in Blaguarro, they were too shadowed to keep around people, and it was far enough from town. They’re doing a lot better now, though.”

So they were off the hook for that. Probably. He’d see how Brisa felt sober, and have to hope nothing actually broke.

Technically, that was all he really needed. But he felt like he couldn’t just leave, not when Brisa… didn’t seem to be taking current events all that well. Didn’t blame her. He figured he probably shouldn’t leave her alone right now. Sitting there stewing in your own misery sucked, and hell, not doing that was kinda why he showed up here in the first place.

So, he order a beer. He wasn’t a drinker but he was a giant chimera that weighed several humans and was meant to be resilient against poisons so it probably wasn’t gonna do anything. And it would be a lot less weird than him sitting there watching Brisa drink whiskey to make sure she was alright.

“Last few seasons have been a hell of a thing…”

He figured that was the kind of statement that’d let her brush the whole thing off if she wanted to and stop talking, talk about what’d happened to her, ask him what the hell he even was. He just didn’t want to bug her. Any more than he already was, at least.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The last few seasons. Brisa had spent those walking east, through lonely plains and cities big and loud enough to deafen her. Back home, judging from what she'd learned so far, the town had come under attack from other offworlders, demons, outlaws, all sorts. If she'd been there...

"I shoulda been here," she muttered. "I coulda stopped all that."

If she'd known. If she'd made the right calls. If, if, if...

She drank again.

"Gladion Wayfarer. Y'sound young, smart – maybe like an overthinker, am I right?" She judged his expression for a moment. "Yeah, y'are. Look, put yer drink on my tab. We can talk, if'n you drop yer guard a li'l. ...If you can."

She looked him over more carefully. He'd see piercing amber eyes – tired, but sharp, and a little... wild.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Mohn,” Gladion whispered at the misnomer. But quietly enough that it wasn’t clear whether or not he wanted her to hear it.

“But, well.” Was she blaming herself for what had happened in her absence? “Doubt you could’ve double-teamed as half of Ignatius’ security and also busted into his stuff with Sonora’s gang before we got here. Dunno how strong you are, maybe you could rip through all of Terminal Two, But it really took a group to even get there.”

Maybe it was naive of him, but he trusted Brisa in that moment. He met her eyes, irrepressible emotionality burning beneath his gaze. “But I can respect that you’d give it everything you could. It’s a deal. I’ll drop as much guard as I can.”

He couldn’t entirely put his guard down, wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to. But he’d do what he could, and his gut told him it’d be worth it.

 

[Jackie Cat]

'Mohn'. Like... 'mon? Whatever the boy's family name, if he was an offworlder, the Wayfarers were his clan now, such as they were. But that wasn't for Brisa to tell him, not when they'd barely made an acquaintance... though meeting her eye and speaking honestly put him closer to friendship than she had with most townies, that was for sure.

"Well, I dare say I'm kinda strong," she said, one corner of her mouth cracking a narrow grin from the sheer understatement.

She sipped her whiskey, savouring the burn as she savoured the rare experience of someone not fearing her strength. Wind and weather, but she missed Starr.

"I heard y'all Wayfarers put paid to Ignatius. Pleased t'hear it."

She sent her gaze elsewhere, to spare Gladion the edge of her bitter feeling.

"What's eatin' me about is, I'm surprised it went over so well with townie folks. See, that's why I let that bastard alone fer so long – it weren't the feasibility – I coulda put him through a brick wall any time I cared to – it were knowin' that doin' so would send the whole town into conniptions over it. Pitchforks an' torches an' all that."

She skewed her mouth and looked back at Gladion, curiosity being less serrated than envy.

"How come folks... trust you?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion had to stop and think about that one for a moment. He hadn’t really stopped to think much about since after he saw the Gazette coverage of Ignatius’ gala. Explaining why in and of itself wouldn’t be too hard, but there was another half to the question. She wasn’t worried about getting arrested but about pitchforks and torches. That was what they did when they saw a monster.

Back on Teardrop, he’d been told why the humans and their descendants there sought each other’s company. What it could be like for them outside. He’d… largely ignored it. It hadn’t lined up with what he’d seen. He couldn’t ignore this, though. She was asking what they had that she was never given.

He didn’t have an answer for that. Wasn’t sure if there was one he’d consider acceptable.

“Don’t think there’s a fair answer. We just got lucky, could’ve been that if we didn’t cut so clean we’d all be outlaws.” (He shrugged, like that possibility didn’t phase him as much as it should’ve.)

“There was a lot of uncertainty about us, at first, but Ignatius welcomed us because… Well, what kind of delusional megalomaniac wouldn’t want to get their hands on an opportunity like that? He was holding a gala to try to court… I think it was some of the Coven, don’t know if we ever really found out for sure. Had to go just right.”

Gladion tilted his head. “Do you know— Yeah, you know Sonora, don’t you? It was her that decided that gala would be the end of him. Ignatius was scared shitless when word reached him, so he tried to call in his new pet humans as part of the security detail. Only, Sonora got us on her side, so that went real poorly for him.”

Mirth crossed Gladion’s face at the memory. It was a shame, really, that he hadn’t gotten in on it. “When she showed, and announced to the gala that she was gonna drop an exposé on him live, Ignatius proceeded to make a few key public relations fuckups that’d legitimize the attack on him. First one, when he heard that he tried to stop everyone outside from listening, and went so far as to tell his guards to attack the civilians outside who didn’t leave. We got to put a stop to that, which certainly helped appearances. Second: He failed to stop Las Picaras and the Wayfarers with them from getting their hands on his documentation of all the fraud, racketeering, blackmail, and kidnapping people to send to Terminal Two that he did and reading some of the less sensitive parts of that out to the croud. And third: He let all that go down right in front of the press, which ruined any shot at putting his own spin on what happened. That article was around the time opinion on us started settling decidedly in the positive. If it had’ve read ‘band of raving weirdos deposed democratically elected mayor’ I’d probably be telling you a very different story.”

Gladion’d gradually started smiling more over the course of that explanation. He’d almost lost track of the question in the telling of it, but he remembered and the levity drained from him as he returned to it.

“But, seriously. I’m damn lucky to able to show my face around here. We all are.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

No reflexive answer. Not dumbfounded, just considering. Good. More folks ought to think before they spoke.

She did the same before she replied. There was enough to think about, at least. Ignatius, in touch with Covenites?

"What I'm hearin' is, you gave 'em a good enough reason to put a stamp on what happened," she replied, after due consideration. "And that 't'were in their best interests to, besides, what with him turnin' on his guests in a panic. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised that given the opportunity, Lucien would go against his pa. That'd sure make it easier f'the great an' good of town go along with the change."

Brisa bit her cheek, grappling with an unwieldy thought, with jagged feelings behind it.

"Sounds like Sonora made it possible. Holdin' up hard proof, sellin' it as such to the crowd. Not somethin' in my skillset, I'll tell ya..."

Sonora.

Brisa sighed through her nose, and pawed at her tired eyes. She didn't talk about this stuff. Just to Starr, and Starr was—

"You know we used to be close?" she said. Kindof a question, kindof an assumption acknowledged. He could very well be nudging her to speak of the gal, so it wasn't unthinkable that he knew something of this already.

She turned to Gladion, watched his eyes, read his face. Yeah, there was something.

"We were pals as kits. Had all sorts a' li'l adventures, scrapes and scraps. We didn't get to stay joined at the flank or nothin' – I had my trainin', she had her ma t'look after. Thing is, she ended up catchin' the ire of the law in town, and I was soon becomin' the law in town. Y'can see how that might not be the safest guarantee of lastin' cameraderie, yeah?"

He was going to misunderstand. He was going to think Law 'Mon Brisa couldn't but hunt down the Outlaw.

She shook her head.

"It wasn't like y'might think. I knew she weren't harmin' none as couldn't afford it, I knew she was just a gal in a bad place. Ignatius and his sorry lot of rent-a-posse private security were never too interested in justice anyhow. Thing is... I wanted to help her out above-board. She wanted me to quit my post an' join her all wild an' free. Find some way to humble that 'king bird' and make everything right. Figured it was always a mad dream, just her way of copin'... That it'd never happen."

But it did happen.

"An' I wasn't here to help her pull it off."

Brisa pulled her paw away from her whiskey glass before she shattered it in her grip.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

If I were you, I would’ve gone wild and free while I had the chance…

“Ah. I see. Didn’t know what your history was…” Gladion had, however, suspected it hadn’t been ideal given their respective positions. Could’ve been worse.

After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he continued. Felt important to get this right, but he wasn’t sure if he was capable of it. “On a practical level, might’ve been a problem for you to outright refuse to go after her during his whole bender trying to get her beforehand. But… That’s doesn’t make it feel any better, does it?”

He stared into his reflection in his glass, his new face twisted and mirrored back at him.

“Can’t change the past. You’re here now, and it worked out fine. Only thing left is to decide what you wanna do from here. Once you’re rested up, at least.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Brisa nodded, huffed through her nose. Moisture misted her glass. She traced a line through it with the tip of a claw, like a river, or a route on a map, or the stroke of a pen on paper. The moisture would disappear, the line would fade – but the path she'd taken was permanent, now. Part of history. There were just more choices to make ahead of her. More chances to make mistakes.

Only thing left is to decide what you wanna do from here.

Or chances to get things right.

"Yeah. Never been too good at restin' up, myself. As fer what I wanna do next..."

Round up all the goddamn bandits? Ask Voclain Jr. for a badge, or just quit for good? Talk to her ma? Brisa closed her eyes and took a long breath.

"I gotta go see Sonora," she said. Speaking the words aloud felt like dragging her claws across her own skin, but it was a cleaner pain than bottling up the feeling. "Before anythin' else – of which there's plenty – I gotta talk to her. It's only right. She deserves the closure, if nothin' more'n that."

Nothing more?

She clenched her paw. Imagined shattering a boulder with it, the catharsis of that. Easier than imagining Sonora chewing her out, asking where were you, telling her all those years of standing by principle hadn't fucking mattered after all, that she'd walked out just as soon as Starr showed up, anyway. Why not for her?

"Feel like I should eat crow fer leavin' her out on a limb all those years," she muttered. "Maybe nothin' good could'a come of takin' her side, maybe it would've worked out... I can never know. It's just eatin' my goddamn guts that I didn't try, seein' how things went. And it's eatin' me that anythin' I can think of t'say to her jus' rings hollow. What if it's too late to say I'm sorry?"

She turned to Gladion, something in her twisting unpleasantly at the recogition that she was saying all this heavy shit to a kid, albeit one old enough to drink. So, probably at least fourteen, right? She'd started drinking at fourteen, she was pretty sure. He seemed older than that, though, and not exactly sheltered, either.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion sighed, and appeared to deflate somewhat. Even if he tried not to show it, he still couldn't bring himself to look Brisa's way. What was he supposed to say to that? 'Oh, Brisa, it's never too late to say make amends!' His gut twisted at the thought of being so disingenuously hypocritical. Wasn't like he was ever planning to talk to Lillie again if she hadn't forced his hand. And now, this 'version' of him would never have to at all.

"Well. You're both still here. Maybe you're too late, maybe you're not. But at least, for this, you still have the chance to try it. Even if she brushes you off, at least this time you'll know whether or not it would've made a difference when you look back."

He blinked slowly, and allowed himself to look back at Brisa. "Between you and me, though? She knows you better than I do, and even I can tell you're pretty bent outta shape about it. I reckon that even if you can't think of the first damn word to say, she'll probably get the idea."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Brisa groaned voicelessly, and dragged her carpals over her face. The kid had nothing in the way of reassurance – to their mutual discomfort – but he was right.

"Fair enough," she replied, low-voiced.

What would she say..?

"I guess... I'd tell her I wish I'd been here when she played her hand, so's I could'a doubled down on it. That doin' my 'duty' all those years was livin' purgatory; that in partin' paths with her I was only hurtin' us both. That I hope— hope she can forgive me, 'cause I... I'd start over in a second, if she wanted that. That I'd understand if she don't... An' that if there's some way t'repay those wretched years, just say th' word."

"You could start by buyin' me a drink," purred a new voice at the table.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion had forgotten that Sonora had become a bouncer for Gerome.

"Ohbythewayshealsoworksherenow."

He laughed awkwardly, getting a strong impression that he was about to become a third party or mediator or whatever for a painful reunion if he stuck around. If someone here could be expected to stay composed, it was going to be him. So he'd better do his damn job there.

"Hey, Sonora. Never really ended up on the same squad as you for any of our work. Gladion, if you don't recall me."

He looked back and forth between the two felines.

"I can get out of your way, if you want me to. Not that I'm bothered by being here, just figure you two might want some room."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Ohbythewayshealsoworksherenow."

Brisa flashed Gladion a look of afgast disbelief, her ears burning pink.

"Ya might'a mentioned that earlier," she hissed. "Sky an' stars, I damn near jumped outta my fuckin' fur!"

Sonora laughed into one paw, openly revelling in flustering her former friend.

"Hey, Sonora. Never really ended up on the same squad as you for any of our work, Gladion, if you don't recall me. I can get out of your way, if you want me to. Not that I'm bothered by being here, just figure you two might want some room."

The Floragato shook her head and tipped her hat at Gladion with a wink. "Naw, partner – you're good. I recall ya well enough, you're pretty difficult to forget!" She gestured with a glance to his crest. "Don't worry, I won't steal her from ya jus' yet. I only figured I'd get the jump on Spring Breeze here and spare her the usual five-mile pace afore she can come say howdy. Maybe we'll get a room later, eh?"

Brisa buried her muzzle in her paws and muttered something deeply profane.

"Is that a 'no' on the drink?" asked Sonora, still teasing, now with a touch of actual concern.

"I'll buy you as many fuckin' drinks as won't kill ya."

"Is that a promise, or a threat?"

"Oh, you'll find out," growled Brisa, though there was a playful tinge to her voice, too.