[RP] Spiritwater – Tides of Witchcraft

[Noblejanobii]

Avery Miller & Abital Ecke
Tide Song Hotel Lobby
Affected RP'ers: N/A

Abital tapped his foot impatiently as he and Avery waited in the lobby of the Tide Song Hotel. Abital had been up since the sun rose, his impatience and anxiety over fixing Avery's condition causing him to not sleep very well. Avery, on the other hand, had managed to sleep for a few more hours. Being a centaur was apparently rather exhausting for them. They probably needed more energy to work the larger body and extra legs, Abital supposed. It explained why Avery's appetite was so much larger today too, the coordinator having devoured several meals' worth of food from the small kiosk near the hotel that was still running for some inexplicable reason.

Abital checked his watch again and frowned. 8 AM. The Ladies had said they'd be here first thing in the morning, but perhaps this was a bit too early. "They're going to be late," he signed to Avery.

Avery rolled their eyes. "I don't think punctuality is their main concern in the middle of a Shadowcraft apocalypse, honey." Abital huffed and leveled a glare at Avery. "Look, I'm just saying, don't get so stressed out about it. Daybreak and the others coached me all afternoon yesterday. I can at least walk, trot, and canter effectively. I can stand to wait a while before they change me back." Sure, being a centaur wasn't their ideal form, but obviously the Diamond Ladies had to be here on some serious business if they came out of hiding for this. It didn't make sense to waste their time and energy on curing them. That could be saved for later as far as Avery was concerned.

Abital searched Avery's face for any sort of indication that their spouse was lying, but quickly found none. Still, just because Avery was okay with it, that didn't mean Abital's fears were alleviated. "Is it spreading?" they signed.

Avery's face scrunched up a little and they looked at their hooves. That was their only hesitancy around waiting too long. The curse was still slowly spreading. It had just barely reach above their hips yesterday, but now up to their mid-stomach was transformed. It was slow, but it was still growing, meaning they were operating on a limited time table. "It's nothing to worry about," Avery said, earning another glare from Abital. "Don't give me that look. Let's just go find the witch that did this and then I can stomp them to death with my hooves!" Avery added as they slammed their fist into their palm.

Abital rolled his eyes but signing, "If you insist."

"You said you had a plan, right? With tracking that Haunter you caught before?" Avery asked as they messed with their green and purple hair.

Abital nodded and pull up the status again for Avery to see. "They like to use ghost types. That Haunter has since returned to the Thrifty Megamart on the other side of Paniola. If we make our way in that direction, we might be able to find them and find the witch that did this to you. But..." Abital paused before continuing to sign, "it's dangerous. They could also catch us first and do a lot worse to us if they find us."

"Yeah I'm well aware," Avery said grimly, thinking about the goo piles and rubble littered outside the hotel, all former humans. "But, if no one else is going to help us, or keep us in the loop about what they know, we might as well take matters into our own hands. It's obvious the League is up to something to stop Agatha, so we'll just chip in where we can."

Abital quirked an eyebrow at Avery. "You're not upset because you weren't kept in the loop, are you?"

"I mean it's not like I was an operative during the last big Shadowcraft operation. It wouldn't kill the Ladies, Jimmy, or Jon to throw me a bone of some kind, especially since at least the former two know I'm here, and I'm pretty sure the latter does as well," Avery responded in a bitter tone. "I guess four years just isn't enough time to deem me trustworthy, even though we invited both Jimmy and Jon to our wedding. The Ladies didn't even bother to send a sign that they were alive, something I apparently was the last person in our little ragtag crew from four years ago to find out. I guess the battle I had with Cassandra didn't mean as much as I thought." Avery let out a sharp huff before saying, "It'd just be nice to be included, since it feels like I am horribly out of the loop and have been left behind."

Abital pat Avery's side and signed, "I wouldn't be too hard on them. There's probably a good reason why they didn't invite us into whatever is going on. I doubt they just neglected to bring us up at all despite our offers to assist how we could. That'd just be stupid."

Avery clicked their tongue and shrugged. "I suppose that's true." Avery looked at the door to the outside before saying, "So first stop, Paniola Town, right? We probably shouldn't wait too much longer then. We'll be wasting daylight."

The two made their way outside of the hotel and headed towards Route 4. As they reached the entrance to the route, Avery bent down to allow Abital and Meir to climb onto their back. Since their practice with their Pokemon, Avery was able to move quicker than either their husband or the Raichu, It made more sense for them to carry the other two than for all three of them to try and walk together. Once they were secure, Avery began to trot down Route 4, doing their best to keep to the shadows as they moved closer towards Paniola Town. A soft breeze blew through the otherwise quiet route on the crisp early morning. It was unnerving how quiet the island had become in a matter of days, but Avery supposed that the apocalypse would do that. And it was only get worse, they assumed. They had no idea what dangers awaited them as they traveled further towards the belly of the beast, but they had to be prepared for whatever hexes and other evil machinations were thrown their way.