united_one | Fourth Century - On the Matter of Exhaustion

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Fourth Century - On the Matter of Exhaustion

Now back in Nimbasa, and free of the bird/dragon swarm that was on prior, Jack seems to have toned down from his particularly... Odd. Mood from before.

He's lucky that Yuusei didn't see that really, but either way.

"Oii oiiii...." He's ~~perched~~ sitting on a bench not far from the contest hall at the moment, looking his pokemon over. "You got big too fast," he grumbles somewhat, looking to his now Solosis. "All of you."

The crowd of pokemon merely chitter or rumble in amusement, and as a few of them gravitate toward the Contest entrance he stiffens. "AH- OIII OIII, WHERE ARE YOU GOING-!"

If it's all good with them, he'd rather not go in there. Lots of people in there. Just because he's finally come to grips with 'this', doesn't mean he enjoys getting stared at.

[[Note: any threads not involving Ryoji and Hazel will come BEFORE THEM in terms of Chronology, as the end of that thread is going to involve Jack passing out. YAY.]]

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Hazel was heading into the contest hall. Honestly she didn't have to be there right this moment but, she hadn't stopped to look at the pictures they had up of the contest winners before and she wanted to do so before she forgot.

Of course she sees Jack before she gets inside. Even if he didn't stick out so much her attention would have been drawn by his yelling.

A moment of debate because what is being social before approaching out of curiosity. "Is everything okay?" It seemed better than saying 'why are you yelling?' to her for some reason.

[[Some of the winners could have been 'announced' and posted though.]]

He turns, blinking, before jabbing a thumb toward those who attempted to slip inside. (Namely the Emboar and the Krookodile)

"These two want to go in, but..." He trails off; it's rather clear that he doesn't want to say why this is an issue.

"I guess they want to see the contests. You aren't interested in them at all?" She has an idea that there might be other reasons but, she's trying to be polite by not saying so.

"There might be a problem if they go in without you though." She's not sure if there are rules against it but, it doesn't hurt to play it safe. Her own Pokémon tend to be kept in their Poké balls outside of the dressing room or the stage when she was here. Aside from maybe an Eevee hiding in her shirt lately anyway.

Hn. Of course not!

[Gosh Jack that sounds a little bit like denial. Oh well.]

And that's why I'm telling them not to go in!

"A shame. The performances can be really exciting." She likes watching those a lot more than the Beauty contests despite preferring to participate in the latter. Mentioning it could be seen as an attempt to make him stop with the denial... Except she didn't actually notice.

"Hn! I don't care!"

HE'D PROBABLY JUST GLOW IN THE DARK ANYWAY...

"...Okay. No need to be so... vehement about it." Okay, now she's suspicious and not hiding it well.

Oi oi you sound a bit like Yuusei, saying that-

~~defensive, him? NAHHH.~~ "...I don't go inside too many places." There's a bit of a bitter sting in his tone, though at least it's lost the more self-deprecating sound it gained through earlier weeks.

"Huh? Why not?" Of course she couldn't think of that it's probably because of an issue he'd rather not talk about until after asking. "Err..." Awkward. Cue nervous fidgeting.

Hn. His expression would say you're right.

Nonetheless he looks away and gives an answer- evidently he's feeling 'charitable'. "It's one thing to go through crowds, it's another to go somewhere my markings glow."

She really wants to ask if he'd feel better about going in if someone else was glowing too. But even though she sort of knows how to do something like that, she wouldn't be able to keep it up for more than a minute or so and that was rather useless.

"Maybe no one would really notice?" She is trying to think of a subject change and kind of hoping for something to interrupt. Just something to disrupt the awkward sad direction the conversation went.

Have a dry frown. A very dry frown.

He is not a subtle man. "Hn! I'll just find something else for them!" Well, a few of them are perking up at least...

Evidently Jack spoils his pokemon.

He stands, though he seems somewhat more subdued... Perhaps he's been sitting in the sun too long?

Hazel has an idea for a way to let the couple of Jack's Pokémon that seem most interested to see a contest do so even if he insists on staying outside himself. But she wants to be sure it wouldn't be against any rules in the contest hall before bringing it up.

"Um... I'll be right back." And without waiting she dashes into the contest hall to ask if it'd be alright for him to let some of his Pokémon go watch if she was there to watch them.

"Hn." He merely continues to sit there, the pokemon staring after.

[Hey, that voice certainly sounds familiar! Ryoji rushes over from his spot enjoying the contests, looking around.]

Hm? Jack-san?

[When he hears the Pokemon's twittering, he looks down and... resists the urge to laugh.]

Hey! Need a hand?

Edited 2013-02-18 16:07 (UTC)

"Hm?" He just turns from the bench for his part. "You again?"

Hazel is back after only a few minutes. But she hesitates when she sees that Jack isn't alone.

"Oh! Um... hi." What was his name again? Ryo-something?

Ryoji waves a bit, sitting on the bench beside Jack. He isn't hesitant at all. He knows both of them, so there's no reason for him to worry about anything.

"Hazel-chan! You know Jack-san as well?"

"Mn-!" Hey hey now, what are you doing-

Nonetheless. "You two know each other?" Jack, that really shouldn't be surprising.

"Yeah, kind of." Well she didn't know either of them particularly well so, that was an answer to both of their questions.

And now she's not sure it's a good time to ask about taking a couple of Jack's Pokémon to see a contest... Eh, she'll get around to that in a minute.

"Sorry about running off on you a few minutes ago," she says, turning to Jack and looking up at him sheepishly. "I just wanted to make sure of something."

"Oh, did I interrupt something? I can leave if you need to talk or something."

Ryoji tries to backtrack a bit. He doesn't want to annoy them if he's in the way, and it's not like he can't find anyone else to talk to at the contest if they don't want him around. Honestly, why would they want him around? He's such an idiot...

"Mn!? Of course you're not interrupting!"

He seems to grumble a bit nonetheless, standing up. "I was going to leave anyway- they keep trying to get inside..." Not to mention, he appears to have been sitting in the sun a while; not likely good for a mostly black entity of 'darkness'.

"It's okay."

Looks like she should at least ask before Jack leaves.

"Um... I was wondering. If your Pokémon really want to see a contest and you still really don't want to go in with them um... Maybe not right now..." Now she notices that Jack doesn't seem entirely okay so, maybe right now wasn't a good time to do more than ask. "If you don't think it's a bad idea, I could take a couple of them to see a contest sometime."

Hmm, does she really want to ask if he's feeling sick or something? She expects him to deny it if she does.

"Hm? Why don't you want to see the contest, Jack-san? Are you feeling alright?"

Don't worry, Hazel, Ryoji will ask, and he expects to get the truth out of him one way or another. Remember the last time you lied to him, Jack?

~~not~~ casually skirting around that question- "I don't like going inside crowded buildings," he grumbles, already starting to walk away. Perhaps it could have been left at that but-

"Nnnh-"

He stumbles somewhat, despite attempting to move as though nothing happened. His pokemon noticed of course- worried yips and cries are already meeting the air, and his footing seems to be going off...

Hazel didn't really like crowded places either. Nothing really like the problem Jack had though. But it looked like she didn't have much time to think about that.

"Jack!?" She takes a step closer and reaches a hand out to him even though she's not quite sure what's happening.

"Jack-san!"

Ryoji comes forward too, already holding Jack's arm so he hopefully stays on his feet.

"Hey, be careful! Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine!" No you're not.

He stumbles despite this, and the continued protest as his vision swims- "I'm..."

"I'm..."

He appears to be shrinking- not a typical reaction at all, that's for sure. He'd normally be flustered and feathered in that case wouldn't he? "Fine..." Yet this time it seems tied to his exhaustion instead. This time-

-fwwmp!-

His body hits the ground at a foot tall in height, doll like form pulsing and glowing in his unconsciousness.

Hazel stares as he begins to shrink. She's never seen it happen before so, she's rather surprised. It's not until he hits the ground that she actually reacts though.

"Eep!" she squeaks and hastily kneels next to him. "Jack?" She reaches out to him again but, hesitates before actually touching. The pulsing and glowing actually worries her a bit more than the shrinking.

Ryoji quickly kneels beside Hazel, also more concerned about the glowing, but not enough for him to think before acting. He reaches out to try to shake Jack awake.

No response. The pokemon are frantically grouping around as well (which is a tad awkward given size), but aside from the glow and pulse, there's absolutely no movement in the little guy.

She doesn't stop Ryoji from shaking Jack right away. Trying not to get shoved aside by the worried Pokémon distracts her from that for a moment.

"I'm not sure shaking him will do anything." But it definitely didn't seem like something a normal doctor could help with either. And she probably wasn't skilled enough at healing to even figure out what was going on. Maybe she'd try anyway... after she was sure she wouldn't get squished by Pokémon.

"I-I was hoping I could wake him up, but it looks like he's out cold. What are we going to do?"

Thanatos doesn't have any healing spells, not that he'd expect Death to be granted a power that had anything to do with maintaining life.

"Do you think there's a doctor around? They have to have someone on hand for the contests..."

Jack's pokemon are panicking quite a lot, oh dear- something about what happened the last time Jack was injured?

Well, it's only sleeping, they suppose...

"I don't really know. I kind of avoid doctors if I can..." Not going to explain that unless he asks.

She's hesitant but, moves her hand so it's hovering over Jack's chest. There's a faint glow as she tries to feel out the problem with her power. It feels odd but, that doesn't really help her identify the issue. At least it doesn't seem like he's dying as far as she can tell... Not that she's confident in that.

"Hmm..." She's not sure whether she's reluctant to bring him to a doctor because she doesn't think one could help or because of her own issues with them.

Ryoji watches with an awed look, trying to keep quiet and still so as not to disturb her. If she wants to avoid doctors, he won't pressure her, and besides, that magic looks more impressive than anything a medical professional could accomplish, at least to him.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him?" he asks after a few tense moments.

"Well um, I don't think he's dying but..." Hazel pauses briefly to consider how much to say and decides there's no real reason to hide it. "...I'm not very skilled yet and it's even harder here." There is obvious uncertainty in her voice.

"Do you think a doctor could do anything?" An opinion from someone not creeped out by doctors can't hurt, right? The thought occurs that they should at least get him somewhere random people won't be staring at him.

"Well, if your magic can't figure it out, even if you aren't an expert, I don't know if a normal doctor will be able to tell." He sighs and gives the tiny Jack a worried look.

"At least he's still breathing. I think all we can do is keep him safe until he wakes up."

"I guess that makes sense." Still not confident but, at least sure this isn't a normal thing a doctor would know anything about. "Should probably get him somewhere more comfortable." Not that she has any good ideas for where to take him. She somehow expects he'd take offense to being taken inside after he went and told her he'd rather not be inside. Even if the reason had only been because of glowing and the stares it would attract.

"Right..."

Though that just brings up the question of not only where to move him, but how to move him. He's tiny, so it shouldn't be too difficult, but he's also glowing. Ryoji's worried he might have some sort of defensive power on him in this state.

Very carefully, he picks Jack up, leaning him against his shoulder and standing. So far so good...

"So where do we move him?"

Hazel's gaze shifts to Jack's worried Pokémon.

"Somewhere there's room for them to stay with him." She doesn't really think the Pokémon center was the best place. And it was probably silly to worry so much about what she thought he'd want while he was comatose but, she wanted it to not be inside. "Um... camping? There's a good spot close to the city..." That she uses just as often as staying at the Pokémon center.

Ryoji turns to look at the Pokemon and nods.

"They really are worried for him... If there's a nice campground nearby, it should be good. The fresh air will help, right?"

Ryoji doesn't know Jack that well, but he still is trying not to do too much that would annoy or embarrass the guy. Carrying him would probably be humiliating enough.

"It can't hurt." Hazel would be very surprised if fresh air was bad for someone. "Um, it's out on Route 5," she says, motioning towards that exit. "Have you been there yet?"

Just gonna try to pretend she doesn't feel awkward about them taking tiny, glowy Jack and all his Pokémon through the city. Maybe no one will notice any oddness?

"I haven't, actually. Would you mind leading the way?"

Ryoji smiles politely, trying to keep his voice low. If they're quiet and subtle in their movements, they shouldn't draw too much attention.

"Um, okay." And she'll lead the way. Hurrying would probably draw extra attention so, she doesn't rush. At least while they're still in town.

She distracts herself from the unavoidable attention Jack's Pokémon drew by thinking of how she'd set up camp differently with them there. The silly idea to make Jack a nest crosses her mind but, the thought that he'd probably be angry keeps her from seriously considering it.

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Fourth Century - On the Matter of Exhaustion

Action - Aah. Is it supposed to be before, after or during the contests for this month?

Technically the contests run the entire month of February; Hazel could be done hers, or not.

Okay

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Should we be trying to merge the threads?

I'd say so; if you like, go ahead and thread-jack the one with Ryoji uwu

Action-Wasn't sure whether or not to join Hazel? I can delete if I was supposed to.

EH I sent a PM so...

Hii

Sorry again ;;

It's fine! The fluster icon can be confusing aha...

.

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laaaate because stupid flu

AHAHHAHA MY ICONS ARE ALREADY SWAPPED OVER-

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augh illness you are the greatest

This will be my last tag; everything else is between you guys!

*makes stuff up*

As long as it sounds legit!

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makes stuff up