Aromatherapy

[collectyourfriends]

The gardens are growing again.

Frisk decides to leave their secret base for more than just food, for once. They'd had some Berries planted since before...the de-aging incident.

Predictably, there's not much left on their plots. A few of the Aspear plants have sprouts peeking out of the newly exposed dirt, but nothing else managed to resist the sudden icy weather. Hoenn doesn't have that kind of thing.

Sparks and Needles loiter around them when they set to their task--first, dig up the ruined berries that haven't entirely disintegrated, toss them into a box they brought out, that can be used for making mulch later. Then, just plant what they have left, which is a lot. (More than they should be able to fit into that bag, in fact.)

They're in a relatively secluded area, but it's still out in the gardens, and the claimed space they've got to fix up is huge. They won't exactly welcome visitors, but they've have their time to be angry and upset with their team...they probably won't chase anyone away.

Comments

yus. pfft, no '!' for this one

[itstheend]

People lie, and moreover, people can be mistaken. Chara's suspicions concerning others tend to lie towards that side of things, the latter somewhat more charitably.

There's a certain appeal of a controllable battle. One on their terms, and yet one that hasn't been hunted down, either. While they've been learning the art of the spare, it is mostly on sufferance. Running and fighting are more their speed.

...someone smiling at one of their patented Chara smiles like that is not really something that happens very often - similarly bladed or nervously mollific, usually - and it does throw them for a small loop.

Their eyes flick to the others on the mention of eye contact, red meeting red. They've met more with that colour here than they ever did on the surface, and maybe it's something about this place that attracts demons - maybe it's a flavour of hell.

"Eye contact," they say with the same flatness that occurs in many of their questions, and to avoid seeming like they have no clue why eye contact would be part of it they follow it up with: "would make it rather hard to set a place and time prior, would it not? As I said, I will notify you, and him, when."

Which is Chara speak for they have no effin idea when. The Castle's whims are infuriatingly unpredictable.

the Red thing isn't official cannon but whatever

[collectyourfriends]

By now, Needles has her head and entire front half deep in the dirt. She'll need a bath later.

"Yes. It--mm." Frisk stares at their face, lost for a split-second until the reality of the situation catches up. No Pokémon means no battles where they're from. Which means Chara's got no idea what they're talking about.

They tap beneath their eye. "That's usually how battles happen. Not in cities usually, but outside. The first time you meet another Trainer, if you look at each other, you fight. It's..." They pause, glancing at the trees, trying to think of a word. "...disrespectful, if you don't. So you do it 'less you can't." As in, nobody has even a sliver of ability or desire to battle left.

"But we've met already, so that isn't...needed. Any time's fine. He'll be glad to." They wouldn't be if Chara came to fight at midnight, but Frisk's 'room' is well-hidden. It won't be a problem.

Chara's got the same eye color as Frisk, they notice again. It's not the most common color out there--they've only met a handful with the same, though everyone knows about Red. The Trainer that took down a massive gang and conquered his region in an impossible amount of time, and disappeared. Everyone's seen his face on TV or on a magazine, even someone who doesn't spend time looking at either of those. Like Frisk.

Hush passed several things along with Frisk--other-Frisk's apology, and it included a word they've never heard. They've been telling Chara about their world, so maybe they can get a fact back. With a small hum, only a few seconds after their last statement, they look back and ask. "What's a demon?"

[itstheend]

People staring at their face is something Chara didn't realise hadn't been happening as much as they remember until this Frisk does it. It's been a while since someone caught glimpse of circles of red and then double-taked, searching for it as if Chara was more a poster than a person, and inevitably not liking what they saw. They didn't miss it.

It does, however, appear to be a demonstration in this case.

And alright, okay. People fight each other every time they make eye contact outside a town. That seems very similar to how things were Underground, from a certain point of view. Only without the use of proxies.

(If they knew, they might suggest midnight just to be a gremlin. As someone whose predilections tend towards the nocturnal by habit, it doesn't occur to them.)

That last sentence captures their full attention - their reflexive thought is they're being led on. They smile and press finger-pads together, and speak, almost as if reciting or reading aloud from a textbook - that sort of bored-cheerful singsong.

"A demon is a malevolent entity that tempts and tricks people towards being as evil as it is. They are creatures with supernatural abilities and no remorse and their only goal is to cause as much harm as they can before they are sent back to Hell."

And because they have a dramatic steak a mile wide, they pause for the kicker.

"They are often said to have red eyes."

There might be one in this very garden right now.

[collectyourfriends]

Tempting and tricking, evil. Frisk looks...a mixture of amused and bemused. "Sounds Dark. That's a Type," they add, before they forget.

They're interrupted by Needles suddenly flying their way, something shining in her mouth. Look look look! Frisk crouches and takes a glittering stone from her jaws, heedless of the mud.

Needles allows them to admire it for about three seconds before snatching it back and zagging over to Chara. Look look look lookit!

They stand again. "I don't think I'm that. I've never trained a Dark-type. I don't think I have a connection. I'm not from 'Hell'." Frisk is completely earnest here, with the word 'hell' said a touch slowly as another word they've never heard. They wipe their muddy hand on their thigh. "Just Mauville. Are you a demon?"

[itstheend]

Chara can Hear the Capitalisation, but that doesn't give much indication as to what exactly is meant by it. Well yes, it is dark. And 'Type' isn't said with the same sneering backhand venom as they remember certain adults using it, but still puts them in mind of that.

*It's an element, Frisk says and starts to fax over some of the relevant information before a chagrined Chara tells them to stop. Their face has barely any chance to (apparently non-sensically) redden further, before Needles is zigging towards them - the pattern of movement actually trips off less threat-radar than rushing in a straight line would have done, and they automatically glance down at the shine, hands staying by their sides. Look, don't touch.

"Did you know that was there?" It's a somewhat half-baffled, off-guard question. Gems in the food, they know about, but they never thought that might extend to elsewhere in the Castle. Do they just spontaneously form, or did someone drop one?

*Maybe there's more.

They can feel Frisk's curious urge to find out itch at their fingers. Maybe later. Their attention quickly snaps back to the trainer as they start speaking, and their lips tighten upwards - they have to bite back a barking laugh at the way the other says 'hell' as if it's a town... they assume Mauville is a town. It ends up coming out anyway at the final question.

"Boy, am I!"

Shouldn't it be obvious?

[collectyourfriends]

"She's got Pickup. It's an Ability." Should they be telling Chara this? They try not to give advantages in battle--but they're going to fight Sparks, not Needles. It's not like they're going to know what alternate Abilities she could have instead. "Means she's really good at finding things."

Needles is slightly displeased, excitement quieting. She's showing them a thing! And she rears up to plant her small, filthy paws on Chara's leg in an effort to reach their hand. Look! It's the same as touching! (Except with food.) It's a purplish geode! (Not a Geodude. She couldn't pick one of those up.)

Frisk accepts this with a nod, and a quiet, confused hum at their laugh. "You don't seem evil or tempting," they say with a shrug. Dark-types usually aren't, just tricksters with especially unappealing moves and abilities (not just Abilities), so it's natural to them to follow up with "Should I prepare for pranks?"

[itstheend]

Puts them in mind of Nifflers.

Their trousers now mud-covered, they acquiesce and bend down for a closer look, and curl their fingers over it - a flash of dirt-coated purple. An amethyst, they think, wiping across it with their thumb to expose more of the colour.

"Did you know," they tell Needles, "they used to say that stones like this could ward off poisons? Kings and queens tested their food with them." And died anyway, if there genuinely was poison. "A good find." The praise is somewhat awkward - they don't have much cause to give it, but genuine. There's those capitals again, but it is a skill they can acknowledge.

This does somewhat ruin their apparent evil cred, they realise when the bandanna'd one speaks. The mention of pranks somewhat comes out of left field, but they take hold of that too.

"If I were to tell you it would spoil any element of surprise, would it not? That would defeat the purpose."

There. That does it nicely.

[collectyourfriends]

Needles makes a short, sharp noise of surprise. She doesn't care about kings or queens--she's heard it from humans in passing, not commonly--but 'poison' is a word she definitely knows.

She looks at it, back over her shoulder, back to it. Antidote? This?

Frisk is just as fascinated, staring at the gleam in Chara's hand. "Does it work?" A rock that keeps Poison away would be a great hold item, but they noticed their phrasing was unusual.

...they've got a point, Frisk concedes with another quiet nod. They'll be ready if they try anything, probably. They're not particularly worried--they can handle pranks, and they avoid people enough that they're sure anything actually dangerous that's might happen (like the headache-inducing resonance and extreme privacy invasions around human Psychics, or the strange enchantments of Fairy Tale Girls) isn't going to have long stretches of time to effect them.