♕ 001 // Action for Route 29

[lackingbeauty]

What the 'ell is goin' on 'ere? Use this damn thing fer wha-

[The video feed flicks on to show a woman's face far too close up, brow furrowed, looking quite disturbed.]

ndklanadfnkla

[Switching from text to video, she apparently doesn't know what the hell to do with the Pokegear either.]

Dagger? Wendy? Peter? Jumbo-

[The video is shaky, and only shows... a rather ponderous bosom.]

Doll? Snake?

- Joker?

[She waits, as if for a response. But the only sound is wind rustling through the trees and grass.

Another minute, before the video feed moves too fast for the feed to really pick up- grass, grass real close, black.]

... I'm goin' mad.

Comments

[pipers_son]

[There's a grimace, and he looks away.]

...Yer not gonna believe me, but nothin' is gonna move on without us.

[lackingbeauty]

[He was right.

She didn't. More like- she couldn't.]

Stop talkin' nonsense, Joker-

[Beast looked at him like she'd just realized she might be the last sane person on the Earth.]

Please-

[pipers_son]

[His fingers are digging into the bench, but that's okay, that's good. He needs something to hold onto.]

It's either truthful nonsense, or I lie ta yer face. Which would ya prefer?

[lackingbeauty]

[Lie, part of her wanted to beg. Lie so maybe I can pretend to believe you. But he was right. Even if she wanted to ignore what she was seeing in this place... No matter how hard she tried certain parts of it were undeniable. The weird animals. The weird jug of water between her hands. Her expression crumpled, slowly; before she averted her gaze. Tried to pretend to be looking at something but it was a ridiculous act, so her eyes dropped to the ground, to her knees (knee and one ball-joint).]

So.

[What could she even say? When even the nonsense things he said weren't anything she could wrap her head around? How could time even work like that?]

We're 'ere until maybe we're not. An' while we're 'ere not a soul 'r second moves back where we came from?

[She wanted to choke herself silent rather than say such foolish things.]

[pipers_son]

Yeah.

[He glances at her from the corner of his eye, not sure what more he can do. You got used to this place, but it took time. It wasn't pleasant, but what could you do?]

...It makes about as much sense ta me, too.

[lackingbeauty]

[There was a long moment before she spoke again, when she just stared at the ground and wondered if it really was that someone had gone mad, and maybe that person was her.]

- then what do we do?

[Here. In this place. It couldn't actually be about..... Those weird animals....

Right???]

[pipers_son]

[To be fair, the weird animals have a lot to do with just about anything. Joker caught onto that relatively quickly.]

...Started up another circus. Over in town- y'probably heard a it already if ya were talkin' ta other folks.

I figured... Well, ain't like any a us know much else. When the others come- [When, always when, he can't let himself get swallowed up by the despair if brings with it] -I figured... Make it known enough, and they'd head right over ta it.

[lackingbeauty]

Might a 'eard somethin' from an awful off fella.

[Shot a look his way, trying to muster some effort, some ability to talk as if this was okay. Somehow. Even when it obviously wasn't.

Jus' been hirin' anyone ye see fit, then? They really professionals at all?

[pipers_son]

Now y'know me better than that! [He gives a chuckle, finally looking at her proper. They're not completely alright, but... They can make it, he thinks.] I got some talent. There's me and Snake, so we've been doin' well on that front. Jim's our greenest, but he's eager ta learn, so I let 'im do a few side acts ta keep folks entertained.

There's a lass who knows her songs, and we have a strongman the size a you won't believe. Can lift- well, a mighty lot. [A dragon, in fact. But he probably shouldn't mention that.] Gonna teach 'im how ta juggle since he's interested in how.

Might have found us someone good with knives, too, but still have ta meet 'im proper before anythin'.

[lackingbeauty]

[Even if she could manage a little, Beast couldn't manage a smile or a laugh. Not yet. But she could scowl, and arch her brows. It was close enough to what she wanted to do naturally in that moment anyway.]

An' yer clowns?

[Because ngl she found one of them quite offputting]

[pipers_son]

Well, there's... a lad who wants ta be but he's a bit... Well.

[And, delicately as he can put it, he taps one finger to his temple.]

Off. Think he's puttin' things in his mouth he ain't supposed ta.

[lackingbeauty]

Well that explains it. Shouldn' let people like that run about with yer circus name attached.

[She let out a breath, and maybe it could be taken as a sigh when really it was a shuddering release of nerves. Attempt at release. Before she stared down at the water bottle and tried to pull the top off like a stopper. Which didn't work so well and it was only a second of effort before she handed it to Joker with a frown. Could she figure it put with a little more effort? Certainly? Did she want anyone to see her struggling with it? No.]

[pipers_son]

Well, he hasn't done anyone harm yet. Suppose we'll have ta see if he's too much trouble.

[He tries not to smile too much when she hands him the bottle, just places it between his knees for a decent grip as he fiddles about with his hand. Usually there's always Angel to help him with mundane things like this which, for him, means another set of hands... But he'll bring her out in good time.]

They can be a bit tricky, eh?

[lackingbeauty]

[She blanched with embarrassment the second she handed the bottle over. Once, on the streets, she'd never had done that. But years under the Baron's "care" had made her forget. But she didn't try and take it back, or say anything- though her expression betrayed her as usual.

She'd gotten used to him having two hands. To her having two legs.]

... What's that noisy coat on it all about, anyway?

[obviously a distraction to cover her blunder but]

[pipers_son]

[He does his best to ignore the look she makes- loss of an arm ain't gonna make some sorta invalid. Well, much a one. He just nudges her arm with it, chuckling.]

Know what? I still ain't sure, but it's a bit a silly business. Lotta things in this country seem ta be.

[lackingbeauty]

S'it all magic, then?

[Considering there were dragons that seemed the logical explanation for plastic, good electricity, and... Everything else.]

[pipers_son]

Nah, it's just... Most a it seems ta be just machines fancier than anythin' I know of.

[It's still jarring sometimes in the morning when he wakes up and there's hot water in the inn or the set up in Goldenrod, whenever he likes it.]

[lackingbeauty]

Machines...

[If she kept talking about that sort of thing... Maybe she wouldn't have to think about the rest. About how they could be here but not be missed back home, how Doll could have come here but never have left. How she'd been so weak as to-]

I don' rightly understand it.

[But it wasn't surprising that she didn't. And it wasn't a call for explanation, either. Even if he could... She wouldn't get it.

But it felt a bit better to mutter complaints about it.]

[pipers_son]

Like any of us would! [Another laugh. This is better- this is more believable for both of them.] But I have a few hired who know how ta deal with it all so I don't have ta think of it at all.

[lackingbeauty]

S'a decent enough way t'go about it.

[Though she'd be interrogating everyone at the circus the second she had the opportunity.

... After Smile and Black, what little trust for outsiders she'd had had shriveled, then died.

Beast lapsed in to silence once more, but afraid that she might say something she'd regret, instead reached in to the pocket of her jacket and pulled out...

A pokeball.]

Don' suppose ye can explain this thing, then?

[pipers_son]

...Ah.

[Right, he really should have thought about that. About what starting Pokemon she might get. But he'd been so- excited, to put it lightly and positively, that he'd forgotten all about it.]

[This is something that could go wrong very quickly, and he's not sure if he wants to touch that potential hornet's nest right now. But she did ask...]

It's- well, 'nother unbelievable thing. They say it's a science sorta thing, so... Well, wonder how I can cart around two big cats like I've been doin'?

[Along with other, much larger things.]

[lackingbeauty]

... Reckoned ye 'adn' been, really.

[The idea of Joker carrying those cats in any way, shape, or form hadn't occurred to her so much as... they just followed him about, perhaps? Even as unbelievable as that in itself was, large cats like that meekly following someone...

It seemed the best option to think at the time.]

[pipers_son]

[There is no honest to goodness logical way to put this.]

...They fit in those things.

[lackingbeauty]

[Beast was doing a lot of blank, disbelieving staring recently.

She just.

Slides the pokeball back in to her pocket.]

- Right. 'Course they do, I ought a figured that one.

[pipers_son]

[A bit helplessly, Joker gives a "I didn't make the rules" shrug.]

This place is fulla surprises. [Wait until she reads the date on one of the newspapers.] I only found out myself 'cuz I was fiddlin' about with things without a clue ta what I was doin'.