victory_road | THICK AS THIEVULS

[ it was the sea breeze and the promise of so much water that drew foo to the beach. once she got close enough though she saw a familiar sight, stone free first and of course the most important person around.

she didn't think about how quietly she was approaching the other, instead just slipping down to sit next to jolyne as she looked at stone free² ]

I'm jealous though, I want to be the one in Stone Free's lap.

[Good thing her mind is wandering to ten million different places at once and doesn't let her really... notice the distressingly familiar person sitting down next to her. Or, well, normally would be the case except it's hard to ignore a presence at your side and even more so when she speaks.

Sorry, Foo, she's jolting out of her thoughts and bolting to sit upright. Eyes wide and heart pounding in her chest.

What the fuck is going on anymore?]

Wait, waitwaitwait. When the hell did you get here?

I'm not sure! I woke up here, got this guy...

[ with that she pulls up the pokeball and lets a magikarp out to splash into the water excitedly ]

And then just started walking. I came this way because I could smell the water, but I got something much better!

[ foo beamed so proudly before pointing at magikarp ]

Hey you, splash me!

[Why is she somehow not surprised that she has a magikarp of all things? Her attention shifts to watch the fish for a moment or two before returning to her decidedly not dead friend, which is... probably the more interesting and concerning part of all of this.]

So you just woke up here. Did you... wake up in a house or just kind of in the middle of nowhere? [There's a lot going on right now, but the entry method would still be the same for everyone even now, right? Right. She's shifting a little as she eyes the water, the top part of an anchor covered in what seems to be algae poking just barely out of the water near the magikarp.

Eh, that should be fine.]

Came at a fine time, at least. Usually this place negates any Stand shit, or, well, anything that's decidedly not human or normal. ... Dunno how that'd effect you, come to think of it. [Would she just have a human body? Or just be plankton...? Weird.]

[ she was so proud of herself, but more than that she was content enough to lean against jolyne comfortably with a sigh ]

In a house...? Some woman claimed to be my mom, shoved a bag in my hands and sent me away.

[ as the other explained things she looked down at her own hand and flexed her fingers. she wasn't sure about that, or anything really if she had to be honest. there was the look out to the ocean ]

What is this place?

[It's just kind of nice to relax a bit and not have to worry about someone or something trying to kill you for a second. One of the bonuses of it all, as far as she's concerned. And Foo being one of the very few people she'd willingly let lean against her like that.]

Sounds 'bout right. Most people that's how they end up around here, there's... a subset that don't, but that's not really important. [Most of the Rockets seem to either not give a shit about being this evil character or they're just real good at hiding. She'd be an utter liar if she said she remotely cared about what they did. Doesn't bother her none, so why worry?]

Uhhh, well, I'm not entirely sure which one of the... continents, I guess, we're on? Could either be Kanto or Johto for all I know, or some part of the Sevii Islands I'm not familiar with. [That's where she had been before the whole weekend exploded, after all.] But this place is pretty chill, no violence or whatever unless it's in the form of a Pokemon battle, that's the name of these weird-ass creatures in general. But they don't really do any lasting damage that can't be healed pretty quickly.

[She's motioning to the leavanny for a moment who's decided to leave actual Stone Free's lap to wander over to Foo and sit in front of her with her head tilted. Don't question it.]

The whole point is what you make of it. Some people are trainers, who... train their creatures, fight gyms, that kinda thing to become champion of the regions or whatever. Breeders who... do what it says on the tin. But really you can do whatever the hell you want if you find a niche for it. [Says the woman who destroyed all the gyms and took on the Elite Four, it's whatever.]

If nothing else, this place has let me meet extended family I never would have seen otherwise, so it's kinda cool? [As well as be living and breathing again. And see people who are living and breathing again. ~~Like Foo here, but that's beside the point.~~]

[ there was so much going on, jolyne's response sealed the deals on her not being able to answer a very important question.

but wait, she's having a galaxy brain moment and it shows. slowly leaning back more she's looking up to the sky. there was something very important here, something amazing and important ]

... It's a whole Jolyne colony... I can't wait to study them...

[All that and she gets... what.

What the hell does that even mean, Foo?

She's blinking slowly and just sort of staring at her with a bit of side-eye, not... quite sure what just happened here. Or what she's talking about.]

What. [That's about as much as she's going to get of an answer here.]

They all have a little bit of you, and what it all comes down to is that they contributed to making something so perfect.

You.

[ look, she looks so proud of herself, behold as she beams with so much knowledge on this ]

[Give her a moment while she opens her mouth before closing it again. She's not necessarily wrong, but kind of in the wrong direction. Also how dare you say this kind of nice things! Wow! Rude!

Just hide your face in your hands for a moment to hide the red cheeks until she can regain herself. Yep.

That's the answer, clearly.]

Ohhhh my god. I guess, kind of? Like, one's my great-great-great grandfather and grandmother. The other's, uh, related in some distant weird-ass way that I can't really explain? I dunno, man.

See? Perfect evolution, we should meet the old one so that I can touch his shoulder in congratulations.

[ an assured nod like this is clearly the way to go about it ]

And then we will give our respect to the true hero of this, the grandmother. She clearly embodies the strength.

[FOO, NO. FOO, PLEASE.]

Oh my god, can we actually not? I don't...

[Inwardly she's screaming and has no idea how to really handle this, this seems about the normal level of things. On one hand she missed it, on the other hand she really didn't.]

That's awkward as fuck and all that. You don't just say that kind of shit to someone.

Why?

It's because of her decision to allow him to mate that your creation was streamlined.

[ she didn't understand it, not at all. there was the lean in ]

It's okay, perfection takes time.

[FOO. FOO, PLEASE. You are going to absolutely kill her at this rate, but it's good that no one actually dies here, huh.]

You don't just talk about this kind of shit with people, that's just weird! [At least she's hissing that back at her instead of yelling it, little mercies at this point. And just lightly shoving at her, though there's no real force at all behind it.]

Also stop that. No perfection, not at all. Oh my god.

Humans sure do get embarrassed easily.

[ she says it with a laugh as jolyne lightly shoves at her and foo shoves back in much the same way ]

You are to me, nobody else can possibly come close to being as amazing as you.

Sometimes! Sometimes there's things you just don't talk about in public! [This isn't even really public, there's literally no one else around other than them and idiot Pokemon. But that's beside the point when you want to crawl under a rock and scream into the void.

At least she... mostly seems to have calmed down, given the light huff as she's shoved back.]

You need to get some better taste, dude. I'm a trash fire, y'know. Totally and utterly. [That's only mostly a lie.]

Nah, you're not.

[ there's the look to the little leavanny, holding her finger out to play with it idly ]

Nobody else would've had the same amount of mercy or allowed me to grow as much as you did... and it's something you're still doing here.

Oh come on, I was a shithead that suddenly decided it was a good idea to try and fix shit. Nothin' noble 'bout it.

[Besides. It... didn't work and it didn't come down to anything she really did, when she thinks about it. She'd died. Everyone had died. Or, well, almost everyone.

For the longest moment she remains silent, watching the leavanny try and grab at her finger with both weird leafy blade hands and then giving up to go with strings instead.]

Sure wasn't good enough to save everyone, was I. [If she even hears that, the words soft and barely above a whisper. What good had it really done, in the end?]

[ oh, this is interesting. this creature jolyne had been taking care of displayed the same abilities as she did. she didn't fight against it though when those strings shot out to wrap around her digits.

foo did hear those words, and for a moment stays silent. ]

... I was wondering why you were alone out here.

[Other than the fact the strings are coming from her mouth, but that's just details at this point. At least she's not doing it out of a sense of fighting, given that happy little noise the ridiculous bug is making.

Shit, she heard that, huh?]

Only other person we know that ended up here was Emporio, so I got... most of the story outta him about what happened afterward. [Which she's not terribly keen on passing along, knowing full well how the whole thing comes off as.]

Dunno how we're alive here, but the fact it's calm and safe 'round here kind of makes me wonder if there's a reason for all of it? Shit's nice, guess it's a second chance of some sort. [Fighting isn't really allowed here, after all. And her Pokemon are all... extremely solid and easy enough to count on. It's nice.]

[ happy noises is something foo could understand, bringing her hand closer she pets stone free before actually physically draping on jolyne. she knew that physical contact usually people feel better, including herself. ]

If one person made it then it's worth it, especially if it's someone you care about.

And if Emporio and I made it here... then maybe the others will too, and we can be together again.

[Oh! Pets! The ridiculous bug does like pets, this is totally fine and dandy by her.

As for Jolyne, well, Foo's not wrong given her posture seems to somewhat relax as she's draped upon. She can't go anywhere, this is all real, right. Right right right. Something to ground everything.]

Mm, it's possible? Seems people keep showing up after I end up nicknaming one of these creatures after 'em, so maybe it's a good idea to keep doing that. [She won't mention more than that unless pressed, oops. It's not important, really!]

THICK AS THIEVULS

stone free

Oh nooooo

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