Frontier Town Traveller's Haus - Lobby

[UnknownUser55]

Eco gave Archie a puzzled look as soon as the Oshawott had mentioned something about alternative selves. The same kind of look that you would give someone who had just made a claim of a ridiculous, yet believable, concept to you, which was exactly what this was.

That look went to the side, as Eco softly sighed. She wasn't in the mood for a headache. "...Let's talk about this sometime later, yeah?" Eco proposed. "Maybe we could have some drinks at it, too. Yeah, that would be good."

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[Inkedust]

Frontier Town dreamed beneath a sky clustered with stars. A cool desert breeze blew past the buildings, caressing the latches of doors and windows with a gentle rattle unheard by anyone.

All but Bellatrix who couldn't find sleep this night after being promptly jolted awake by a nightmare, watching the stars to soothe out the edge she'd been left on. A frown, deeper than normal, was affixed to her features. She shouldn't be having those nightmares, they just memories, echoes. They weren't real, they couldn't hurt her, nor had it ever appeared out of the corner of her eye in the waking world since her arrival to Forlas. The rationale alone should've been enough to put her at ease.

So why was she so afraid?

It didn't make sense and it frustrated her. While she was more than used to the world around her doing what it pleased by now, at the very least she had been make sense of herself. Spirits knew that she needed to keep her wits about her now more than ever and not having that would do nothing but lead to the worst-case scenario.

With a sigh, Bellatrix tapped her paws on the edge of the wooden crate she was lying on. With little else to do but think, she patiently waited to grow tired again.

 

[Jackie Cat]

As Laura crept from the jailhouse back to the Haus, she wished again – again, yet again – that she had her goddamn phone. Or a connection to the cloud-voice-entity. Or something. She was so used to the ability to stay in contact at all times that being here without it felt like losing the ability to speak. Why couldn't she have been a Psychic-type with long-range telepathy or something? A Meowstic, maybe. Whatever.

It was a lot easier to mope about that feel when no rotomphone than it was to contemplate the dread that she'd just sent nearly a fifth of the party on a mission to an unknown location, poorly prepared and hastily planned, and what if they didn't come back? Or they made things worse, somehow. Or they—

"Bellatrix."

Had the Zorua noticed her? Most people didn't. Soft paws, small stature, poor posture. Dark-typing, maybe – she knew some Meowth had it. Maybe she did, too.

"Good evening. Um. Waiting for someone?"

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix's ears perked towards the voice, the Galarian accent immediately giving away its source as Laura. She cocked her head slightly at the meowth.

"Can't sleep," she answered honestly. "So I am stargazing to help calm my thoughts." She tucked her paws into her ruff to keep the pads warm from the night chill. "What brings you out at this hour? Have the tabs at Sun Stone become that much more generous?" she asked. She never took Laura as one for late nights at saloons, nor did she smell any lingering trace of alcohol that would follow such an excursion.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Stargazing sounds good."

Laura wasn't one for memorising constellations or anything back home – couldn't see most of them when you grew up in a city, although she'd certainly been tempted by the beautiful nights out in the wild areas. She hadn't checked whether the stars over Forlas looked anything like the stars over her Earth.

"Not Sun Stone," she answered, after a moment to fight off her own awkwardness. "Helping out with the Terminal Two scouting mission. I was the only one who could bluff the wagon driver, so."

How much was Bellatrix filled in, anyway? Howls, she'd kill for a groupchat.

"The mayor's private notes had dates for a monthly pickup to take prisoners to someplace near Blaguarro. They were the wagons Sonora kept targeting."

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix nodded at the comment, though any hope of this being a peaceful conversation was immediately dashed after hearing what followed.

"The what?"

Suddenly, Bellatrix's gaze was fixed on the meowth, cold and analytical. "You do not mean to tell me that you went ahead with such a plan? Knowing the risks full well and no definitive location?" Eyes narrowing, she demanded, "Names. Give me names. Of who went along with whoever else organised it."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Her stomach twisted as a cold and dismal anxiety slowly closed its grip on it.

"I can't begin to tell you how disappointed in you we are. How could you be so irresponsible?"

"Yes," Laura said, dull-voiced. "Yes, I went ahead with such a plan. Because if we didn't, we might never find the definitive location."

"Because I actually give a shit! I care about things— Do you really think I didn't think about this? That I'm just stupid?"

"Are you gonna talk to me about this like a reasonable person, or do you just wanna give me a lecture? 'Cause I don't remember enrolling for one."

Anxiety, shame, and only miserable emotions were familiar enough. Anger was new, though. Anger was something she was still discovering.

{Show conviction, girl. Show conviction, or go home.}

 

[Inkedust]

"Do you think putting others at risk is reasonable?" Bellatrix replied coolly. Though her voice was even, it was impossible to keep the cold fury that coursed through her out.

Her tail wrapped around her paws to prevent it from lashing. "And what do you think would happen after they reached Terminal Two?" she pressed. "No consideration on the potential power of the personnel, any direction to go if an escape was successful. How did you even expect them to get back?" She shook her head. "'Near Blaguarro' could mean anywhere from right next door to several kilometres out. Didn't you even think to ask anyone who landed there if they even saw such a facility?"

Bellatrix paused for a moment. "Again, I ask, who was put on that wagon? With any luck, we might be able to get a search party sent out."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Of course I considered it. I didn't tell them to do it. You put others at risk already. I would've gone myself. Of course there's a plan. We did just fine against Ignatius and we're even stronger now. Of course I asked. Of course there's a contingency. Of course I'm not fucking stupid.

Every possible response congealed into a thick buzzing in Laura's head.

"You didn't even ask what the plan was before deciding I must have fucked it up," she said, flat-voiced. "Cool. All these assumptions and rhetorical questions are really helpful. Being told off like I'm your kid is really making me feel cooperative and respectful."

Laura probably was a Dark-type. She could use Dark moves at least, she was very sure of that. She saw how Bellatrix moved in a fight. She could picture in her mind how the ghostly fox would go for an attack. How she'd dodge. Feint. Pounce. Sink her teeth in.

Anger was new to Laura, but not unprecedented. This feeling, though? This must be what pokémon felt before a battle. Was it just adrenaline, or did it go deeper than that?

She forced her hackles down.

"I spoke to Sonora. The facility is hidden. They're not restrained – I tricked the driver. They know to flee once they know the location. This was our one chance. There's a backup plan if it goes wrong. And a search party wouldn't fucking find them now anyway. I've thought about this more than you have, so lay off, already."

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix showed no response to Laura, just a cold disappointment. Though the zorua looked and sounded hardly older than a pup, the cold disappointment in her eyes held decades behind them. "No. You don't know," she said bluntly. "If you did, you would have been able to answer me."

The zorua was poised, eyes remaining firm on Laura as she recalled the night of the gala. Recalled who was the one who suggested it in the first place...

"We have to try and do something," Koa said wearily. "What if we pretended to be one of these mons being taken away?" It was the first suggestion his tired brain could come up with, but it made sense, right? Infiltrate whatever this was by pretending to be part of all this.

"The electrike." she stated, matter of factly. "A hasty plan thought up by a teenager and you claim that you thought about it in a single day? More than me who could point out the flaws from the outset?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

The buzzing grew louder. Loud enough to start drowning out her thoughts. Don't get flustered; just say why she's wrong.

"Yeah. Koa was the first to suggest infiltrating the wagon," she growled, tail thrashing from side to side. "So what."

Did Bellatrix actually think that because the first person to suggest something was a teenager, that meant there was no possible version of the plan that could be worthwhile? Her ears flattened back.

"You aren't listening to me," she hissed. You never listen. "You still haven't heard the plan we're actually using. I worked for hours poring over that book, thinking over the possible problems. Longer than you spent considering Voclain's offer to be hired muscle, by the way. I talked to more than half a dozen other people, and they can all decide for themselves – last I checked, you aren't the team's fucking leader."

Laura looked past the Zorua to the Haus. If she just walked inside, would Bellatrix just follow her? Goddamnit. She should just walk off into the night and fade into the shadows. It would be easy. She said she would only talk reasonably and not listen to a lecture, and here she was. Listening to a goddamn lecture.

But she shouldn't have to. She shouldn't have to take this bullshit.

 

[Inkedust]

"And instead of telling me that plan you insist is foolproof, you hold it over my head as proof of ignorance to act as if you have some kind of high ground," Bellatrix stated bluntly.

Bellatrix was now starting to bristle, fur wavering in the breeze. "A decision made from a similar amount of time and knowledge," she said, narrowing her eyes. If looks could kill, Laura would be dead on the spot. "You aren't making yourself seem clever with these claims, you just make yourself look reckless and arrogant."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura's lip twitched, one corner curling back over a fang.

"Yeah, you really sound like you want me to tell you the plan. That's why you keep insulting me and assuming the worst, right? Because you're trying to talk to me about this like a reasonable person, like I asked? Howls afar, you want everyone to fucking consult you on their plans after your shitty track record and you're calling me arrogant. Are you for fucking real right now?"

She took a breath, and her hackles raised as Bellatrix made to start another retort.

"Don't. I'm not holding it over your head. Just listen. The fucking plan is for Las Picaras to trail the goddamn wagon. Sonora's pulled off dozens of successful hits on these wagons, and the only reason she's never followed them as far as their destination is because the prisoners are always restrained, confused civilians. This time there're half a dozen of us, expecting to be on a mission. Unless this 'Terminal Two' turns out to be two guards in a shack, the team knows they're only supposed to get within sight of it and then make a break for it, with Las Picaras staging another rescue hit. They have wonder orbs and smoke bombs and they know the territory. And as I keep fucking telling you, if this wagon had left without passengers, that would have given the pricks on the other end of this scheme a whole month to get wise that Ignatius isn't running the show anymore. This was time sensitive. For fuck's sake."

It was the weirdest thing. The whole walk back from the drop-off meeting, she'd been asking herself if she was doing the right thing. But right now? After laying it all out like that? Yeah. She really did believe in this.

 

[Inkedust]

"You should have told me from the outset if you didn't want me questioning what you had in mind," Bellatrix responded firmly. "For Valour's sake, do I look like a psychic-type to you? If I was able to read minds, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

The zorua huffed a bit. Having it outlined like that was a little better, that she could concede, but many of the finer details were still up for question at the back of her mind. "And I never implied that my own plan was flawless or foolproof," she then rebuked. Her claws tapped against the side of the crate. "I am aware that my actions then were hasty and poorly thought out given the breadth of time and knowledge that was available, which is why I'm questioning yours now in fear of them falling into the same pitfalls. Do you think I'm so opposed to this because I don't care?" she then demanded.

 

[Jackie Cat]

If you were a Psychic-type, you still wouldn't be able to read my fucking mind, because I'm a fucking Dark-type, Laura thought, biting her tongue. And you wouldn't need to read my fucking mind if you'd just listened.

"If I wasn't on a time crunch, I'd have run it by more people," muttered Laura. Howls, what did it take. And this whole goddamn time the fox was literally looking down on her from on top of that fucking crate. It could hardly be less subtle. "And no, I don't think you don't care. I think you care so much you wanna micromanage everyone else. Maybe consider this evidence of how well that approach will go."

She was still high on anger and the buzzing had spread across her skull in waves of prickly heat, but the tension had diffused, if only a little. Maybe just enough. Maybe not as much as if you'd battled, said something in her blood.

"It's late, and they're already a long way out. Half a dozen Las Picaras will rendezvous with them a few hours from now. It's out of our hands. I trust them – and the Voice – to handle themselves, but if Terminal Two turns out to be a fortress and they all get captured, you can chew me out about it tomorrow."

 

[Inkedust]

"I don't care for 'micromanaging', nor do I lack faith in the capabilities of some of our members," Bellatrix spat. "What I care about is being realistic and working as a team which includes their well-beings." Too late now, they're already at risk and people like her are to blame. "You prattle on about listening only to outright refuse to explain yourself until I berate you for it all the while making bad-faith assumptions about me. I can only hope that you ran it by more people than those who are currently on that wagon."

Her gaze finally ripped itself away from Laura to look out towards the town's outskirts. "Underestimating your foe is the gravest mistake you could make," she then said coolly. "But you're right. All that can be done now is to pray to the spirits and hope that whoever is stationed at Terminal Two is as incompetent as that mayor. You should have realised that the amount of prisoners it sees makes it no small matter if you studied that book so intently."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The buzzing in Laura's head roared louder until it was a continuous thundering, a waterfall of anger.

I'd have told you immediately if you hadn't started laying into me.

You couldn't more obviously lack faith in us.

Fucking hypocrite.

Laura huffed. "Do you have any stats I don't, Bellatrix? 'Cause I actually have the tally of how many pokémon we're trying to free. If you want me to give a shit about what you think, maybe start with evidence and end with reasonable conclusions."

You should fight. Pokémon battle each other. That's how this goes.

"You heard the plan. If you want to grill someone about it, ask Steven. I'm going to bed."

She forced her claws to retract, and trudged towards rest, wondering if it would be anger or anxiety that kept her from sleep tonight.

 

[Inkedust]

Not looking back at Laura, Bellatrix finally allowed her tail to twitch. By the time she looked back to where Laura had been, the meowth was long gone. "All assuming you didn't just add several more to that tally," she said to the empty air.

She growled beneath her breath, glaring at the ground. A slew of words to describe her current feelings on the meowth raced to the forefront of her mind. Hasty. Irritable. Braggart...

"...Reckless... Shortsighted... Disappointment," Bellatrix listed, facing the wall as she drummed the counter in time with her words. But when she looked over her shoulder, she frowned. She had been speaking to herself. Again.

The coward.

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[AdamArtDraws]

There indeed was a sword on the wall. After gladly retrieving the sword from Ignatius' vault, Felin had lugged the heavy thing all the way back to her room in the Haus. It wasn't theft when the item itself was probably stolen. At least that's what Felin told herself. Ignatius had to have got it through other underhanded means.

Felin had not spent much time tending to the sword since getting it. Once she had quenched her initial appetite for dungeon exploration with Silver however, she finally diverted her mind to other interests.

"What's your story, fella?" Felin asked the sword as if it was capable of granting her an answer. "Where did you come from?"

The sword had been propped up against the wall opposite her bed and she sat before it, twirling fingers around her cheek fur and an idle purr reverberating in her throat. Her door had been left ajar and anyone walking by would see the sprigatito talking to the inanimate thing.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

The Haus was peaceful, not much bustle from the guests or the maus. Which was how Steven heard a quiet, yet familiar voice drifting through one of the open doors.

"What's your story, fella? Where did you come from?"

Curious that perhaps there was another of their group he hadn't met, Steven floated towards the door and peered around the frame.

At first, Steven thought the sprigatito he recognized was talking to Tyrfing, but as he poked into the room to say hello to the familiar sword, he realized that it wasn't actually a honedge the grass cat was talking to.

Too late to slip out unnoticed by the sprigatito, Steven gave a small chime of greeting and his eye winked into a smile. Hopefully she remembered him as well.

"Ah, I'm glad to see you and your sword are safe and sound after the other night."

He chuckled lightly, still baffled as to what she was planning to do with a sword almost twice her size. Though, perhaps she was hanging onto it for a larger member of her bandit crew.

"I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to introduce myself earlier. The circumstances were a bit, uh, rushed."

He dipped into a small bow. "My name is Steven. I didn't realize you were staying at the Haus with our group."