Ghostly goings-on

[dreamsofahero]

Who: Sion and "Marian"
Where: Azalea Town
When: October 25-27 (backdated)
Summary: Possession antics!
Rating: PG
Log: In the comments

Comments

[Cooking Dinner]

[tearsofademon]

Sion, have you all had dinner yet?

Re: [Cooking Dinner]

[dreamsofahero]

Ah, no, not yet...

[Cooking Dinner]

[tearsofademon]

What would you like? We can cook it together.

Re: [Cooking Dinner]

[dreamsofahero]

Anything would be fine, really, but you really don't need...

[Going to bed!]

[tearsofademon]

[x amount of time later, upstairs]

This is the guest bedroom. Please, make yourselves at home.

Re: [Going to bed!]

[dreamsofahero]

Ah, thank you. My apologies again for imposing so much...

[Going to bed!]

[tearsofademon]

It really isn't imposing at all. It's the least I can do to help you.

Re: [Going to bed!]

[dreamsofahero]

But even so...

a brief interlude 1/3

[tearsofademon]

Showering was uneventful as it always was, but oh, it felt so good to have that water streaming down her body. She never paid all that much attention while in the shower, preferring to let her mind wander and think over the events of the day. And today had been such a good day~ She'd gotten to come home for the first time in what seemed like forever, she'd gotten to bake all sorts of desserts that she could give her parents when they got back from whichever business trip they were on this time, and then there was Sion Astal.

Oh, Sion was so dreamy~ She'd never experienced being in love before, so she couldn't be sure what these feelings were, but he was handsome, charming, kind, exactly the kind of person she'd always dreamed might be the one for her... Maybe she'd be able to convince him to take a walk through town tomorrow together. No one would have to call it a date, right? Of course the purpose would be to look for clues about his friend. Getting to spend time with him would be just a bonus.

(And on the border of sleep and consciousness, he wondered in dismay just how dense this girl was that she didn't notice the obvious physical differences that the body she was currently inhabiting had compared to the one she was used to. He was a man, for crying out loud!)

Her nightclothes weren't quite where she thought she'd left them, and her bedroom was perhaps tidier than she could have sworn she'd left it, but that wasn't anything to be concerned about, surely. Her nightclothes also fit somewhat tighter than she was accustomed to - had they shrunk in the wash or something? That must be it.

(And on the border of sleep and consciousness, he dryly noted how skilled she was at completely avoiding glancing for even the briefest of seconds in any mirror.)

"Ahh~" she sighed as she flopped onto her bed. "It feels so nice to be able to sleep in my own bed again!"

...in my own...

...for the first time in forever...

...a half-recalled scene, just on the tip of remembering, a dark night, a loud buzz, running, falling...

and then it was gone, but the damage was done, and tears had welled up in her eyes.

"...Tears?" she wondered aloud, touching her now-wet cheeks. "I wonder why I'm crying..."

(And on the border of sleep and consciousness, he watched on in solemn silence, because he thought he had an idea of the answer.)

a brief interlude 2/3

[tearsofademon]

It wasn't a very elaborate dream, but then, it didn't really have to be. A metal table stood in a grassy field dotted with tiny flowers, by the side of a still lake. At that table sat two metal chairs, and one of those chairs sat a pretty young woman with red hair. She was drinking coffee while watching the water.

"Excuse me, uh... Marian, right?" A male voice came up from behind the girl, and she turned to see a young man with dark hair and eyes that from one angle appeared a natural dark hue but from another still reflected a shade of red. She'd seen this man before, but where... oh!

"That's me," she said. "You're Sion's friend, right? The one who went missing."

He scratched a little at the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, missing, right. About that... The reason you can't find me is because you're kind of possessing my body. Not sure how you haven't noticed yet, honestly..."

"I'm... what?" She blinked as she tried to comprehend his words. That couldn't be the case... right? And yet...

running, tripping, falling...

falling...

f a l l i n g . . .

he's telling the truth...

She gasped a little in shock as it hit her. "I... I..."

He sighed and sat down in the other chair. "I'm sorry. Being dead, being a ghost... It's gotta be hard to come to terms with. That's probably why you keep blocking it out, right? Just a little longer, just a little more time..."

She shook her head. "No, no I should be the one apologizing. It's your body, after all. I shouldn't have..."

"It's not your fault you're in here, either," he interrupted. "I don't think so, anyway, that part's kind of blurry... And I don't blame you, even if it was. But honestly, if you could get out, that'd be great..."

"I don't know how," she admitted. "I don't even know how I got in in the first place. If I knew how to leave, I would, but..."

He leaned his elbow on the table lazily and put his chin in his hand. "Ahh, of course you wouldn't know how. That'd be too easy, wouldn't it..."

She stared down at her coffee. "I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault. I'll just have to keep trying to find some other way to fix this then, or something." He picked up his cup of tea (had that been there the whole time? did that really matter in a dreamscape?) and took a sip. "Ahh, Sion's never gonna let me live this down, is he... what a pain..."

"You two must be really good friends."

"We've known each other a while, yeah. Don't let him fool you, though. Beneath that smile of his, he's really a terrible demon who uses underhanded tactics to get what he wants and works his best friend to the bone without any rest." He said this with a completely straight face, too.

She couldn't help but giggle a little. "He can't possibly be that bad..."

"You'll see if you spend too much time with the guy. Ah, that reminds me, too. Would you stop hitting on him already?"

"Hitting on him? All we've been doing is talking."

"Sure, right. I can tell what you're thinking about when we're like this, y'know. You're definitely planning on trying to get him to go out on a date with you."

"Even if that's the case, what's the problem?"

"It's my body!"

"But it's me, not you, so it should be fine, right?"

"He'll never stop teasing me if you try something like that in my body!"

Her free hand came up to twirl the end of her hair. "I guess it wouldn't really be fair of me to do that kind of thing, would it..."

He sighed with relief. "Thanks."

"But I'm not sure I'll remember all of this when I wake up, you know? Since this is a dream, and all."

"You'd better not try anything with him!"

"I can't help it! He's so handsome and kind... Any girl would be enchanted by his charm, you know?"

"I'm not seeing it."

And all she could do was giggle.

He let out a breath of frustration. "This really sucks... Ahh, whatever. There's something I need to try."

"What is it?"

"Need to see if I can do anything while my body's sleeping. Sleep talking, hand motions, anything to let Rose know my consciousness isn't completely gone. She's probably worried sick. Wouldn't be surprised if she beats the crap out of me for this later..."

"The Clefairy, right? She's adorable. You take such good care of her. All of your Pokemon, for that matter. They're all so healthy."

"You think so?"

She nodded cheerfully. "And they all must love you a lot, too. They care so much about you."

He rubbed the back of his head out of slight discomfort. "Ahh, well, I try to make sure they're happy, anyway... Are you really that afraid of bugs, by the way? Glen isn't gonna hurt you."

She squeaked a little and instinctively tried to make herself a little smaller. "I-I know Sion told me that! But they're creepy and really huge and I don't like them."

"...I'm really glad for Rey's sake she isn't out to see this, then..."

"...You have more bugs?"

"Yeah. Aran is a Paras, Rey is a Yanma. Both of them are more gentle than even Glen. But, well, Rey has some issues, and while she's been getting better, if 'I' was to run away from her scared like that, that would probably hurt the progress she's made..."

"...How can you stand so many bugs?" she asked in a small voice.

"Oh come on, they're not that bad. They're really friendly, and honestly Rey especially is definitely more scared of you than you are of her."

"But..."

"At least try to get along with Glen, okay?"

"...I'll try..."

"...Well, anyway. Can you try to stay out of the way while I try this?"

She nodded. "I'll do my best."

"And whether it works or not, tell Sion I'm still in here and trying to figure out a way to set things right, okay?"

"If I remember to."

He stood up and started walking toward the pond, but briefly stopped for a moment to turn and look back toward her with an attempt at a small smile. "Oh, and... The circumstances suck, but it's nice to meet you, anyway, Marian."

"Same to you, Ryner," she replied with her own attempted smile.

And with that, he walked toward the water, hoping that this idea would work.

a brief interlude 3/3

[tearsofademon]

Rose couldn't sleep.

It wasn't exactly for lack of trying or anything. The main reason for ever skipping out on sleeping in the first place when she was still but a Cleffa had been to sneak out and train, since her dear partner hadn't yet decided to compromise on the matter, but they had time for that almost every day now, even if only an hour or two, so she could concede that sleeping at night in order to remain healthy and able to be in top condition was a worthwhile thing.

But tonight, she was far too upset to sleep. Her dear partner was in trouble, possessed by something that called itself Marian and pretended that it was her own body that she was going around in and not his even though it was his and made him act all weird and not recognize any of them at all, and Rose couldn't do a thing to stop it! All she could do was make sure that the fake didn't do anything more horrible than she was already doing just by stealing his body in the first place, and frankly, that didn't sit well with her.

...That, and maybe she was a little, tiny bit worried. Baseless, of course, she tried to convince herself - there was nothing to worry about, her dear partner was fine, even if this stupid fake wasn't letting him come out right now, he was still somewhere in there, and this was all going to fix itself soon and he would be her dear partner again and there was no way that he wasn't coming back.

...Right?

This had never happened before, after all. ...Well, something like it had happened in the dream Lafra had helped her have a while back, but he could hear her, back then. He could fight back, and had! But this time, he hadn't shown himself yet, despite everyone being there, not just her. And if everyone together couldn't bring him out...

No no no no no! She shook her head to try to get those thoughts out. Her dear partner was just having a little difficulty with an unknown foe, that's all it was. He was fine, he was fine, he was fine! He had to be.

Of course, looking at him right now, one would be hard-pressed to tell that anything was off about him, since he was currently sleeping. In a stranger's bed and in a stranger's clothes, but sleep was one of her dear partner's favorite activities. And the fact that he was turning from one side to the other in his sleep was hardly new, either - sure, most of the time his naps were fairly peaceful, when she let him have them of course, but he had nightmares too sometimes, and he'd toss and turn occasionally, even if he never ever woke up screaming. If she hadn't known better, she would have just assumed that her dear partner was having one of his worse nightmares tonight.

But it was probably the fake's nightmare, not her dear partner's. And that's what was keeping Rose awake, watching her dear partner's sleep with suspicion and worry, occasionally standing up and pacing back and forth along the side of the room a couple of times when she got the overwhelming urge to just do something, useless or not.

"...Rose..."

Her ear twitched at the sudden sound, and slightly startled, she turned toward the bed. Was she hearing things? She could have sworn that she just heard her dear partner's voice - her actual dear partner's voice, not the weird higher one that the fake had been using.

A few moments passed where nothing happened, but then he rolled over in bed with a groan. "...'m here..." he mumbled in his own voice. Quietly, and probably done with a considerable amount of effort, and definitely with a slight sleep-talking slur to it, but it was unmistakable. "...still here..."

"Fairy!" Rose gasped, though she tried to stay quiet about it, and ran over to the side of the bed. In his rolling over, one of his arms had managed to drape over the side, and she lightly grasped one of his fingers, to tell him that she was here too, that his calling out wasn't in vain, to please tell her that this was fixed or he had found a way to fix it.

In a slow motion that was somewhat jerky and felt like he was forced to make considerable effort just to do this much, he managed to reach his hand up and pet Rose behind the ear a little - unmistakably her dear partner's touch, there was no one else who petted her exactly that way. The sleep-mumblings continued, with time between each one, and never more than a word or three at once, but she listened to every word.

"...trying..."

"...can't wake up..."

"...don't know..."

"...don't want..."

"...to worry... you..."

Rose hugged his hand. "Fairy..." Just knowing that he was still in there made her so much less worried, but that didn't mean she didn't want her dear partner back for real.

"...sorry... Rose..." With these last couple of words, his arm completely relaxed, and he fell once again into a calm, deep slumber, no more of that restlessness or sleep-talking. He even snored, once.

But Rose still hugged his hand, almost clung to it. He was still in there. He'd spoken to her, even if he could only do so while his body was otherwise sleeping. Even if he wasn't fixed, even if she still had no idea how to fix him, even if the fake would probably still be there in the morning... that was enough, for now, that he wasn't gone.

And before she knew it, Rose was fast asleep by the side of the bed, using her dear partner's hand as a pillow.

[Morning]

[tearsofademon]

[Whenever you get downstairs, Marian is already up, cheerfully cooking pancakes for breakfast.

No, it didn't wear off overnight, if you were hoping it would.]

Re: [Morning]

[dreamsofahero]

*....he's just more amazed at the fact that you somehow managed to wake up that much before him, here*

[Morning]

[tearsofademon]

[Marian is very much a morning person. Ryner will suffer from sleep deprivation later.]

Good morning! Did you sleep well?

[still with the falsetto, too]

Re: [Morning]

[dreamsofahero]

*Ryner's lived through worse...*

Ah, I did, yes.

[Around Azalea]

[tearsofademon]

Excuse me, sir, did you see anything unusual happen outside your store yesterday?

[sure, Marian, ask the shopkeeper directly when you're the strange thing that happened yesterday]

Re: [Around Azalea]

[dreamsofahero]

Ah, that's a rather vague way of putting it, you know...

[Around Azalea]

[tearsofademon]

There isn't really a better way, though...

Re: [Around Azalea]

[dreamsofahero]

Well, perhaps we could see if any of the pokemon in the area know something...

[Dinner the Second]

[tearsofademon]

[So back at Marian's house, fish is now in the process of being prepared.

How is her fridge so stocked when the kitchen is so barely used? Who knows.]

Re: [Dinner the Second]

[dreamsofahero]

*well, Sion certainly isn't going to ask, especially since he's taking the time to check up on both his and Ryner's teams...*

[Dinner the Second]

[tearsofademon]

[Jiji and Jiru will come over seeking attention pretty quickly. ...Well, it's mostly Jiji seeking attention because he's Jiji, Jiru is just sticking with her dad.

Elfy has kind of blobbily flopped on the stairs and may or may not be snoozing.

Glen is chilling inside the curtain of the window on the opposite side of the room from where anything is (mostly because he doesn't want Marian to freak out again because it makes him sad). He spent the day making a lovely web out in the branches of a tree in back of the house, and is kind of sleepy but content because of it. (No this wasn't a stress web, why would this be a stress web.)

Rose is just sitting on the table, staring at Marian with an annoyed stare. Except when Marian turns at all in her direction, then Rose pretends that the actual target of her staring (which is definitely not annoyed) is totally the ceiling.

Jehra has returned to the corner of gloom.]

[The next morning]

[tearsofademon]

[So I hope you weren't expecting it to wear off yet, because...

...well...

...Marian's up bright and early cooking breakfast again.

Though, it's barely noticeable if you're looking and really good at seeing these things, but something about her this morning seems almost... agitated?]

Re: [The next morning]

[dreamsofahero]

*...well, the fact that you're up and awake alone proves that you're still not Ryner alone, yes, although something does seem a bit off....*

[The next morning]

[tearsofademon]

[Whatever it is, it's questionable whether she's even aware of it herself...]

Good morning, Sion! Did you sleep well?