changeling sinnoh meet-up shenanigans

[fingersandteeth]

Who: Steven Durante, Tyler Huang, Shinobu Tsukuyomi, and Jules Thibault... plus Lydia eventually
Where: the restort hotel, the Eterna Forest, and the Old Chateau
When: midway through the Sinnoh trip
Summary: The resident changelings all finally meet each other face-to-face... and then head out to the old Chateau with Tyler's not-girlfriend
Rating: T for Teen (probably?)

It's almost the lead-in to a joke: 'four changelings walk into a bar...' Only it's not a bar, it's a restaurant, and they end up arriving one-by-one, tucked into a corner booth in the Eterna City Resort Hotel restaurant. They're meeting over brunch, it turns out--a compromise for the two Darklings, who're otherwise inclined to sleep in. And afterwards? Well, that's the vaguely defined tourist shit that Steven had made noises about.

But first? First they get to know each other. Possibly over mimosas.

--

As it turns out, 'tourist shit' ends up being 'wandering through Eterna forest on the way to the Old Chateau,' with the addition of Tyler's definitely-not-his-girlfried Lydia, because she's very much a fan of Ghost-types and there's evidently a shitton of them at the Old Chateau.

Of course, they need to find it in Eterna Forest first and the whole place is... well, pretty much a maze. A beautiful foggy maze.

--

Eventually, however, they find it, rising out of the mists of the forest: a once beautiful manor now reduced to a stately, crumbling ruin. The entry doors are open, just a crack, and there's a distinct chill in the air...

... and maybe, just maybe, the far-off cry of a gogoat?

Comments

Resort Hotel Restaurant (Brunch)

[fingersandteeth]

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Well, the other Changelings might be drinking mimosas. Shinobu is drinking water for the time being, because he doesn't have a lot of money and he needs to save as much as he can. He's sure it's not endearing him to the restaurant's staff, but he's not going to ask the others to pay for his drinks.

(He freely admits that this is a him thing. After his Durance, he can't help but be leery about Owing Things even now.)

Right now, he's poring over the menu in hopes of finding something he can order that's relatively cheap so he's not a complete loser here. Assuming this isn't meant as an entirely liquid lunch, anyway. "How is the food here, generally speaking?"

[fingersandteeth]

"Delicious," Steven says--and he is definitely drinking a mimosa. He'll probably only have one, but if you can't day drink the day after you asked your boyfriend to marry you, when can you? "And-- don't worry about cost. Really. I just got a raise at work, I don't pay rent and Jack insists on paying groceries and utilities, so I don't have a lot of bills that my money goes to. Combine that with the prize money that Tyler and I got for beating all the Johto Gyms and the two of us are pretty flush with cash. I don't mind buying you brunch, considering everything you've done for Charley. I owe you."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Shinobu would like to not worry about cost, but it's hard to stop himself from doing so. He feels distinctly shabby here. Plus he still doesn't know this version of Steven that well. Still, he doesn't want to antagonize him (again) over something like this, so he shoves his qualms aside for now. "All right. Thanks."

[fingersandteeth]

"No problem," Steven says. "Do you want something to drink? It doesn't have to be a mimosa if you're teetotal. Some people are. I mean, you should have seen Dirk Strider's face last time I offered him a drink."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

"Depending on how busy this afternoon's going to be, I think I want to save any alcohol for the end," Shinobu says wryly, then grimaces. "Which isn't to say I don't think any of you should; that's just me."

[fingersandteeth]

"I figure I'll have metabolized it all once we reach the chateau," Steven says cheerfully. "Especially if I switch to plain orange juice after this one."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

"That's right - this is a working vacation for you, isn't it?"

[fingersandteeth]

"It is," Steven says, just a tad smug, "because I am very clever at talking my bosses 'round."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

"A useful talent to have," Shinobu says. One he should probably cultivate more, since he's a Fairest and Fairest are supposed to be good at that sort of thing, but his social skills even before his Durance were mostly tailored towards ghosts and animals.

[fingersandteeth]

Steven grins at him. "I've always thought so, yeah. It's good to know that even after all those years away, I still have the knack of it."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

"I was always better at dealing with ghosts, spirits, and animals."

[fingersandteeth]

"Well," Steven says, taking a sip of his mimosa, "that probably comes in handy here."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

"Mm, true, especially in the beginning."

Eterna Forest (Afternoon)

[fingersandteeth]

Old Chateau (Evening)

[fingersandteeth]

[failgoyle]

"Y'all, are y'all really sure this is a good idea?" Jules absolutely is not thrilled with the idea of going into a haunted house in the middle of the woods. "I'm pretty sure there's a horror movie in here somewhere."

Rust, his Scraggy, is not paying a bit of attention to Jules and is eagerly charging on ahead, leading Jules to automatically reach out and grab her tail before she can rush in first. There's a lot of crouching involved there; it's uncomfortable. "We can wait out here."

[fingersandteeth]

"Of course it's a good idea," Steven says. "I love Ghosts. Lydia loves Ghosts. Shinobu... has to like Ghosts to some degree, because otherwise he wouldn't keep summoning my baby sister back home. And Tyler's chill with Ghosts. Besides--if I'm doing this piece on my impressions of Sinnoh, I'm not coming all this way just to turn back. I want to see the inside of the Old Chateau. Hell, I want to see if there's any of the Old Gateau I've heard about lying around."

[asmywitness]

Tyler gives Steven a crinkled-nose look. Don't eat the haunted house cake, Steven, come on.

Isis is sitting perched on his shoulder, content as anything, but she's not looking at the other Changelings around them: while she's focused on their minds, so Tyler can make himself sufficiently heard and maybe enjoying Jules' startling whenever it catches him off-guard a little much, she's keeping a sharp eye on the surrounding forest in case anything tries to sneak up on her deaf trainer.

[fingersandteeth]

I'm not going to eat it, he signs back quickly. I'm going to feed it to one of my pokemon later.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Shinobu, meanwhile, has been conversing with one of the local ghost pokemon. "You know I can tell you're lying, don't you?" he asks it, giving it a reproving look. The Gastly has the decently to look (slightly) abashed.

[wonderland_vogue]

"They're not used to people not falling for their tricks." Lydia's musing softly to herself as she's keeping not too far from Tyler, actually wearing something that is actually not ridiculous for this little outing. Just too short shorts with leggings underneath and a long sleeved shirt.

Allure, her Alakazam is trotting along next to her trainer as well as a mostly floating about Gengar that is giggling to herself as the Gastly seems to not have realized what's going on. Of course she should have probably consulted someone about the good or bad about bringing a ghost pokemon along, but Eclipse wasn't quite happy to be left behind while Allure got to go.

There's a hierarchy, after all. "Hopefully there's something interesting out here, otherwise I'm going to personally make sure this haunted house nonsense is redacted from everything."

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

"I just wish I could still communicate with human ghosts," Shinobu says quietly. "Depending on their mood, it might not help much, if there are any here, but still."