Step one: You say, 'We need to talk.'

[callbacks]

Who: Dave Strider callbacks, Jade Harley eclectictype, mingle threads with Dipper Pines sneezelikeakitten and Penny in4apounding possible
Where: Ruins of Alph
When: December 19th, 2015
Summary: Reunited at last, Dave and Jade have a much-needed feelings jam. Because Unown-infested ruins are obviously the place for that.
Rating: PG-13, kids talking about death within
Log:

[The actual reunion went off fine--hugs were had, greetings shared around, heights compared (very important)--but now Dave's nervous. He picked the Ruins as the place to talk because they're private, especially this time of year when not too many people are spelunking, and because he likes them. He figured Jade might think they're cool, too, and the statues and carvings are something to look at when the conversation gets hard. In a way, it's like being back at the Frog Temple. Almost homey.

But no amount of familiarity is going to make this discussion any more comfortable. Dave sighs, glances down the corridor where he's letting his Murkrow hop around as a deterrent to the Psychic Pokémon who live here, and looks back at Jade in the lantern light, hands in his pockets.]

Okay. So, I guess I should just. Start talking?

[Or maybe they could just, you know, not, and go back to pretending everything is and has always been one hundred percent totally okay. Dave would be fine with that plan of action.]

Comments

[eclectictype]

[The original games she played sure as heck didn't have these ruins, and any other day she'd be marveling over them, eager to explore and try to find SECRETS.

For right now, though, Jade is quiet, watching her friend thoughtfully in the dim light. Her Froakie friend and eggs had been left behind at the hotel, so there's no worry there, allll the focus can be placed on this talk.

No need to worry at all.

Part of her is really tempted to just say forget about it and pretend everything's fine, but that's all it would be, pretending.]

Slam some story jams my way, Dave, I'm ready.

[callbacks]

[His head dips a little. This is how it's got to be after all. God dammit.]

All right, Jade, here comes the big storytelling man, all tearing up the paint on his way downtown with the deets in his sweaty hands, ready to dump some information all over this court.

[He pulls his hands out of his pockets for a moment to illustrate, then crosses them over his chest instead. Right. All right.]

So, like. You said the last thing you remember is meeting your teen grandparents, and then stuff...kind of went blank, right? That's, um. ...That's probably because your brain got psychically hijacked by the troll empress at that point. She's around for some reason.

[eclectictype]

...Fuck.

[Her. The goddamned empress of trolls. The thought of her worming her way into Jade's consciousness and taking over makes her feel sick, and the reflexive covering of her mouth with her hand speaks that in volumes.

That's what's coming next, she used her to fuck everything up. There was nothing Jade could have done about it, not to prevent it, not to fight it. Nothing.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.]

...What did she do to you.

[callbacks]

[Dave blinks and his shoulders come down a bit.]

Me? No, nothing--I mean, nothing directly. [He looks down again.] Okay, so, my memory of this part's sort of existentially fucked up, I think because of the glitchy shit, but she just used you to scatter us through the Medium temporarily while you tried to chase John down. At most, we, uh.

[This is more awkward than painful.]

You and I--evil you, I mean--got in sort of an argument because you wanted me to fight Lord English and I was being intractable about it. And we both probably said things we didn't mean. ...And I guess you kicked the Mayor off the roof of my house, but you knew I'd catch him, so. Yeah. That part wasn't so bad. You actually sucked pretty abominably at being evil.

[But he's ducking into his shoulders more, looking further away.]

[eclectictype]

Dave.

[Glitches aside, chasing John around aside (why?), there's way more to it than her sucking at being evil (of course she would, she's the hero it's her).]

Remember that part about you being really obvious? It is still persisting.

[callbacks]

[He makes a face and lets a breath out slowly through his nose.]

It was a stupid argument for stupid babies. ...Some things got said about Davesprite, is all, and some of them were dickish, and a lot of them got said by me and I really don't want to repeat them.

[And that's all there really is to say on the matter. But that's probably not what was stressing him out, since he's still not looking at her.]

Anyway, after I rescued the Mayor, I didn't...see you again until I got to LOFAF. Except.

[The 'except' seems to trip him up. Dave struggles with the words for a moment before he reaches up to rub at the inner corners of his eyes.]

...I don't know what happened, okay? I really don't, I wasn't there, I'd tell you if I could but no one was even listening to me when I tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. I just got there and you were already--

[...]

A house fell on you.

[eclectictype]

[Ugh, what about Davesprite? Was the empress seriously fabricating shipping bullshit for drama? Who even DOES that?!]

[She doesn't say anything else until he's finished, but even then there's a long pause.

A house fell on her.

A house.

It takes a moment, but she smiles slightly. Then lets out a laugh. But it's not an amused laugh, it sounds more like a cracked laugh trying to hide something else.]

Of--of course it did. [Jade's voice wavers--don't do it Harley--tears spring to her eyes and she can't swipe them away fast enough before they start pouring down.] That's--that's funny isn't it? A house fell on me! Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead!

[Apparently someone in the cosmos thought it was funny, but that person certainly wasn't named Jade Harley or Dave Strider.]

Oh god...I'm sorry...this happened way sooner than I thought it would.

[callbacks]

[Dave stands up straight when she starts to cry, hands held up like he can stop her tears by gesture alone.]

Oh--uh--

[Asdlkf;gkllkk STRIDER, DO SOMETHING. JESUS. He hovers there uselessly for a second before patting various pockets. When he can't find anything, he unwinds the janky scarf from around his neck and offers it to her.]

Here. You can blow your nose in it, it's cool.

[eclectictype]

Fuck.

[Jade won't actually blow her nose in it because that's gross, but she does cover her face with the scarf. Covering her face turns to crouching on the floor, just balled up in a little bundle of teenage misery.]

[Eventually she shakes her head and stands up again, eyes turned to the ground and very soggy, but nonetheless not crying anymore.]

So that's what it was, huh. I got dragged into plot twist hell and you got caught up in the empress's bullshit.

[It's upsetting, but after the initial slap of emotions Jade feels...actually quite angry at the whole thing. How dare that fishbitch go around using her to try and hurt people?]

...What do you mean nobody was listening to you?

weeeee OTA

[sneezelikeakitten]

[Dipper had enough sense to see that Jade and Dave needed alone time, and so he took off. Which, come on, it's ruins. He would have done it anyways. With his little Cyndaquil Hephaestus at his side to serve as a light and the rest of his brood right behind, he plunges further into the depths until he gets smacked in the face with something.

He falls back with a yelp before looking at-]

..... Is that the letter S?

[Quick! He scrambles to get his journal out and write down his findings.]

A Pokémon that looks like a letter. This must be one of those Unnown!

[Dipper's going to be talking out loud to himself.]

[in4apounding]

Oh, it really does look like a letter.

[Are you used to girls appearing beside you out of nowhere yet, Dipper? Because apparently it keeps happening.]

Do you think the different letters learn different types of attacks?

[sneezelikeakitten]

[If you've never heard a boy scream at almost a soprano, well, you'll hear it now, Penny. Of course that is going to reverberate all over the cave.

Of course you're going to have an angry sheep bleating at you, and a terrified fire weasel going full blast with the fire on its back.]

D-Don't do that!

[Wait till this boy's heart stops pounding out of his chest.]

[in4apounding]

[And of course this sets off a chain reaction involving a short shriek on Penny's part, and a now-terrified Vulpix jumping up her back to burrow frantically into the scarf around her neck.]

SORRY! Sorry! Sorry!

[One paranormal investigator and one professional monster-hunter, ladies and gentlemen.]

I'm sorry! Are you all right?!

[sneezelikeakitten]

[Deep breaths, Dipper. Deep breaths.

Okay, now he can think with the echo finally dying down.]

F-Fine.

[Time to make sure everything was alright, like his journal, and more importantly, his pants. Okay. No unusual wetness. Great.]

How are girls so sneaky? Never mind. You were asking about the Unnown having different abilities depending on their shape?

[in4apounding]

I wasn't trying to sneak! Sorry!

[Comes from combat training, in her case.]

Yes! If they're all different shapes, it would make sense for their powers to be different, wouldn't it?

[Is- is that how things work here? Appearance does seem to be kind of an indicator of ability, at least a little. Not that she'd know what kind of power an 'S' would have, though.]

[sneezelikeakitten]

[He waves off the apology, not trying to be rude, but there's other matters at hand.]

I don't know... If they're all the same Pokémon, just with different shapes, it'd make more sense if they were the same in every aspect except shape. They might just be letters come to life, the letters of a language that used to be spoken and written in this place before modern civilization.

[Of course this is just a theory.]

[in4apounding]

...can that happen? Letters just coming to life?

[That seems not true.]

[sneezelikeakitten]

... After everything I've seen back home, I have no doubt that it might happen.

[Gravity Falls. Seriously. One eyed triangle dream demon is proof of that.]

[in4apounding]

[So as security systems go, sliding tiles aren't actually much good at keeping people out. If your goal is getting people to drop down into a trap chamber with no obvious exit, though? Then it's pretty good at what it does.]

...That just seems a bit rude, really.

[And gingerly picking herself up from the unexpected landing, Penny dusts herself off and checks her Vulpix for any kind of injury. Apparently satisfied, she pulls out a flashlight and begins inspecting the dimly lit chamber in greater detail.]

[It's dark, but fortunately no signs of any grue.]

[The most immediately obvious thing? The strange writing in the floor in giant letters.]

Is that... ..."escape"? ...That seems a little- what's the word. Ominous? Ominous!

[eclectictype]

Pennyyyyyy!

[That's definitely Jade's voice calling from up above.]

Penny, how did you get down there?! Do you need an Escape Rope?

[in4apounding]

Hello Jade! Um, not yet, I don't think?

[There's probably a way out from down here, isn't there? Besides death. There would be skeletons or something down here if that were the case, wouldn't there?]

I think it's a puzzle, but it's very vague.

Meanwhile at the hotel: BABIES EVERYWHERE

[eclectictype]

[When all's said and done and younger more vulnerable party members are rescued from the Ruins, our heroes head back to the city to rest.

Jade then remembers, of course, she left her eggs with Dave's Larvesta and the pile of other eggs. He said Elliot is very warm so it's safe to leave the eggs with her.

Now, none of them were aware of the fact that Elliot's Flame Body ability speeds up the time it takes for eggs to hatch. Where Jade expected at least two to hatch tomorrow and a few more in four days or so...they all hatched right then at there.

So when she opens the door, Jade sees nothing but BABY POKEMON ALL OVER THE HOTEL ROOM.

And the cry of a distressed kid comes from down the hall:]

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[in4apounding]

Jade? What's wro- oh.

[Well, that sure is a lot of babies.]

Oh, oh no! ...What an adorable mess!

[eclectictype]

They were not supposed to hatch today! This is entirely more eggs hatching in one sitting than I was expecting!

[It...it is a very adorable mess. Some of these are Pokemon Jade doesn't recognize in the slightest and had to read up on, but the Eevee are familiar at least, so is Growlithe--oh, they're...playing. Oh no, that's cute. Siblingvees.]

I didn't think that Missy Elliott was that warm!

[in4apounding]

Maybe it was- oh.

[Play-wrestling Eeevees is the cutest thing ever.]

Should we put them into Pokéballs? They seem like they're having so much fun...

['How much damage could they possibly do?' is probably a bad thing to ask.]