route_1065 | Team White Hair, ASSEMBLE! (AKA: the kidnapping of prince pantsless.)

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Team White Hair, ASSEMBLE! (AKA: the kidnapping of prince pantsless.)

Who: Ritz Malheur, Kuja, Mytho
Where: Around the Breeding Centre
When: Sometime not too long after paintball
Summary: Kuja and Ritz clearly need a third travel buddy.
Rating: ...I don't even know, not too bad. XD
Log:

Ritz was unusually blessed, sometimes, in terms of how well-behaved her team was. The only complaints she ever really had generally had to do with Brenda trying to preen her hair. Bijou, however, seemed to live to surprise her trainer- she had expected the Eevee to be a bit spoiled as the obvious 'baby' of the team (especially since she lacked intimidating fangs or other sharp edges) and she hadn't been.

However, as Ritz had discovered the hard way, the small fox-like pokemon was intensely curious about everything, having developed a habit of watching Ritz do next to everything, from packing to bathing. She was wary of wild pokemon without her trainer nearby, possibly the biggest saving grace Ritz had encountered with her small companion.

Goldenrod City and its surrounding areas however, were clearly another matter entirely, and Ritz was debating actually sending Brenda out just so she could keep up with her pokemon. Nothing with legs that short should be able to move that fast. "Bijou!" Ritz shouted for possibly the seventh time in ten minutes. At least she'd stopped, finally.

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The thing that may have attracted the attention of the curious pokemon was a sight that wasn't very unusual anymore to those who lived near the breeding centre: a lithe young teen with short white hair dancing ballet to the background music, seemingly oblivious to the world around him. Every moment was smooth and practiced and almost automatic, devoid of any emotion. It was almost like watching a doll, only instead of any strings to directing his movements, it was the inner echo of who he once was.

Dance for Mytho was like a compulsion. Every step, every leap, every action bringing him closer to something he no longer could feel or touch; that lost memory of the Prince who Loved.

That was what got Bijou to stop, fortunately for Ritz. The Eevee was staring at Mytho, making a soft, pleased sound. She had never seen a human do that before! Even without emotion behind it, it amazed the Eevee. Her trainer paused on her way to retrieve her wayward fox-creature-thing, also staring at Mytho.

Not many people in Saint Ivalice were even interested in ballet, and those that were tended to have a bit of hard luck. With as isolated as the town was, the best anyone could hope for would be a seasonal ballet near the middle of winter, on TV.

The way he moved was, much to Ritz's private shame, more graceful than the way Ritz moved in a fight. She shook that thought off- dance was supposed to exist just for the grace and elegance of it, right? Her fighting style was meant for actual fighting, for all that it was more graceful and fluid than a Soldier or a Fighter.

Ritz shook herself a little- she was staring, and that just wasn't polite. "Bijou, get over here!" Ritz hissed, earning herself a shake of the head from Bijou.

Mytho's dance slowly stilled as he turned to blink at the newcomer, expression still the same blank mask, only now seeming lacking that small bit of something that dancing lent him. Seeing the eevee, he gracefully knelt down, reaching out a hand to her.

That was... moderately disappointing, actually. Ritz had been trying to be quiet, hoping she could retrieve Bijou without interrupting him. Bijou let out a happy trill and headbutted his hand happily. "Sorry about that... I guess she's not used to cities yet, and she kind of ran off..." Ritz walked over from where she had stopped. "That was amazing. I've never seen anyone dance like that before." His expression did worry her- and she was pretty sure she was babbling to try and cover it.

Mytho gently rubbed behind the pokemon's ears with a gentleness that was almost kind. "People here don't dance..." His voice was soft and as empty as his dancing and expression, lacking any force or emotion behind it. There was almost a touch of... something in his expression. A bit of tiredness that wasn't properly manifesting, as if he had been awake far too long but just hadn't realized it, but it was so faint and ethereal to be an illusion.

Bijou made another pleased noise, pressing her head into his hand. "...People back home didn't exactly dance either. There was nobody in my home town who taught it, and we were kind of in the middle of nowhere. I learned how to fight with a sword, but it's not half as graceful as you were." Much as she preferred to spar in private, if it was something that would get Mytho to change his expression at all, Ritz would do it. The blank expression and empty tone worried her for reasons she couldn't put a finger on.

"Dance and swordsmanship are very similar once the sword is part of yourself..." The tone still was unchanged, his attention seemingly taken up by the pokemon. He could be talk about about the weather with how his tone was unchanged. "The more you practice, the better you become..."

"I've been at it for about a year, but I think I learned faster than a lot of people... Sort of happens when you end up fighting monsters, I guess." Most people would react to that some way or another. Some people reacted with a weird sense of camaraderie or understanding, some were horrified that she did that, some didn't believe her. "Say, what's your name? I'm Ritz, and that's Bijou."

"Fakir calls me Mytho..." It was a strange way to answer, but Mytho didn't know what his name had been before he had shattered his heart. The story had only ever called him 'The Prince' never referring to him by name.

Ritz's eyes narrowed a little at that- that was a very... different answer. "Who's Fakir?" Ritz asked, tone dipping into suspicion. There was something not right here... Ritz shoved some of her hair behind an ear, lips pressed into a thin line.

"My Knight." The capital letter was almost audible. If Mytho had been able to recognize the suspicion, he would have said something to calm it.

But as he couldn't, he didn't.

"...Why do you have a knight? Is he here?" Maybe if this Fakir was around, Ritz could get some of her questions answered. She frowned a little, hand almost absently going to Brenda's pokeball at her hip. If she had been in the dream Ivalice, this kind of feeling would have had her drawing Femme Fatale first- the distinct feeling that there was something not right that she hadn't figured out just yet.

"Because I'm a Prince..." Mytho returned in a flat, matter of fact voice. "A Prince always has a Knight..."

The heebie-jeebies were officially justified. In a way, this was worse than what she'd heard about Mewt. At least if he was deluded, he was deluded in ways where he was still acting like he had some kind of personality. "And is Fakir here?" She moved her hand from Brenda's pokeball to Madeline's- she was fastest, and it seemed silly to use the pokegear to talk to Kuja when they were in the same city.

"I don't know..." He hadn't heard from Fakir since leaving Cherrygrove. Normally Fakir would have found him by now....

Ritz made a disgruntled noise. "Sometimes people just vanish from Johto. I wonder if that's what happened." She threw Madeline's pokeball in the air, looking up at the Crobat. "Hey, Madeline? Can you go get Kuja and bring him here?" Ritz sighed a little as the large bat tried- and failed- to land on her shoulder. "I'll carry you later if you do it." At least it was easy to bribe the essentially lazy bat.

"I wonder..." Though the tone of his voice didn't back that up. It seemed almost just a routine response.

He looked up at the newly released pokemon, blinking once, but otherwise didn't react, still very gently petting and rubbing behind the ears of the Eevee at his fingertips.

Kuja hadn't been far away; it didn't take more than a minute for the bat to find him and lead him there, Bahamut in tow; the singing sound of the Vibrava's was probably heard a bit before they caught up.

He glanced between Ritz and Mytho, not quite sure what was going on just yet. "You wanted something?"

Ritz glanced at Mytho briefly, wondering if he'd even mind her dragging Kuja off to the side. Bijou seemed happy enough getting attention from him, at least. She moved closer, making a face at the full foot of difference in their heights, grabbing Kuja's arm and tugging so they could move out of easy earshot.

Mytho just turned his attention more fully to the pokemon. By all gauges, he wasn't paying a bit of attention to the other two.

That gesture he understands, and he's going along with it, leaning down to hear her better; meanwhile, Bahamut goes to hover over Mytho, still quietly "singing".

"There's... something wrong with him," Ritz hissed. "It's... weird. He doesn't really react to anything- I can talk to him and it makes sense, but the way he talks and the look on his face..." Yeah, Ritz is just a little bit unsettled- and mostly worried for Mytho.

Mytho glanced over at the new pokemon, but mostly just kept feeding the eevee attention, even if he did seem possibly a touched entranced by the new sound, listening to how it contrasted with the background music and thinking about how to adjust his dance routine for it.

For a moment, there is quite possibly the flattest, most unsettled lineface that has crossed Kuja's face in Johto since he heard what the Shedinja were doing to people, and a quiet shift in posture about like a cat with tinfoil on its paws. Well, more than a moment, since it actually does take him some effort to drag back the skeeve into trying to act vaguely normal. "That's ... unusual." At-least-he-doesn't-look-like-a-Genome. At-least-he-doesn't-look-like-a-Genome.

Meanwhile, Bahamut has noticed the attention, and is - trying to vary the humming into more of a melody, although it's not so easy as a Vibrava.

Bijou let out a noise that could only have easy comparison to a pleased purr, nuzzling closer to Mytho.

Ritz's expression shifted to one of deeper worry- something about this had clearly upset Kuja, though she wasn't completely sure what. It was something she'd think about later. "I think we should take him with us. It doesn't really seem like anyone else is keeping an eye on him, and I don't really want him to get hurt..." Even if he was a little bit unsettling, she was pretty sure it wasn't Mytho's fault. "I know my team and yours are more than strong and smart enough to help look after him..."

Still petting Bijou, Mytho's head tilts just a little as he listens to the attempt at melody. If there weren't a pokemon to pet, he would be starting to dance again... but small things were more important to care for than dancing...

Kuja nods slowly; it's less a 'happy to agree no really you're right' and more that the little voice in his head that has a vague clue how Zidane would react is informing him that shutting this idea down and going to the next town in a hurry would ...

Really not accomplish much other than probably get Ritz annoyed with him, as tempting of an idea as it is.

"I'm sure we could manage." It's not really lessening the undertones of "cat wrapped in tinfoil", and he's quietly planning on keeping distance and letting Bahamut, Miranda, and Iago provide his part of "help" for this as much as possible; although at least there's some signs of reaction in his interactions with Bahamut.

The Vibrava, meanwhile, has noticed the interest and perked up; the attempt is still flat - and it's becoming further incentive to try to evolve, to actually be able to "sing" properly.

Something about Kuja's reactions was... off. She didn't exactly expect him to be overjoyed at having a new person, a stranger, in their group, but... Ritz couldn't put her finger on it, couldn't place why, but she certainly did catch the "cat wrapped in tinfoil" undertones. "...Kuja. If you're not comfortable letting him into the- letting him travel with us, just say it." As much as she'd be annoyed and worried about Mytho, but she had seen what recruiting people who honestly bothered the rest of the Clan could do to a group.

"I know what happens if you try to get people to live together who aren't comfortable with each other, especially when the living situation can be... kind of rough going." Ritz glanced down, raising her eyebrows a little as Bijou walked away from Mytho and over to Kuja, obviously very intent on something.

The strange vulpine pokemon sat down right in front of Kuja and reached out a paw to touch Kuja's foot. Her ears were down, and she certainly had the most pathetic, pleading look in her eyes Ritz had ever seen. "Vuiiii." Look at the giant wibbly Eevee eyes, Kuja.

Mytho blinked once as the Eevee slipped away, then turned his attention fully to the Vivrava, listening intently.

Moments later he was on his feet, eyes closing a moment as he gathered himself, standing in a starting pose before beginning to dance, matching the change in music that the new addition posed. Like dancing ballet to the music of a bagpipe, yet somehow still elegant and flowing.

He was mulling it over; whatever was wrong, it was - so close to Bran Bal...

Bijou did help somewhat, and he was pretty sure Iago and Karma would've been joining in if they were out.

Mytho breaking into dance with Bahamut threw a monkey wrench into a little of the sudden freeze-up; it was a weird, clashing juxtaposition - the arts were what he'd latched onto as a way to get AWAY from the soulless emptiness of Bran Bal, that ...probably broke his poker face a bit yet again in a sort of momentary confused blink as some of it broke, for at least a while.

"...I'll live, I think."

"If you're sure." Ritz reached up to hug her long-time travel partner. Ritz looked down at Bijou, raising an eyebrow and getting a pleased noise from the small pokemon. Bijou decided this was a good time to nuzzle Kuja's shin, and Ritz started walking over to Mytho, very clearly waiting at what she thought was a safe distance to not interrupt his dancing. When he was done, she was going to ask if he wanted to come with them.

...This would be a fun conversation.

The trouble with waiting until he was done is that Mytho could-- and often would-- keep dancing until one of two things happened: either the music stopped, or someone interrupted him.

With the never ending background music....

There is, at least, that Bahamut notices Ritz walking over, and flies over to hover near her, toning down the hum a little; trying to draw attention, while Kuja is ... opting to stay in the background while he's trying to make sense of this one.

At the change, Mytho slowed to a stop, turning to face the approaching person, the faint glimmer of something more cohesive fading as he stilled.

There was no expectation, no curiosity, just blank, empty waiting.

If it were Fakir there, Mytho could have guessed what would be next. 'Idiot' or 'I told you not to run off' or something similar. Fakir was always easy to predict, the motions between them like a rehearsed dance of their own.

But this wasn't Fakir.

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Team White Hair, ASSEMBLE! (AKA: the kidnapping of prince pantsless.)

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