"Nine, eight, seven, six, five," Scampi neared the end of counting down for five minutes, sitting in the corner of the lounge with her eyes closed and her head towards the walls. "four, three, two, one.
Ready or not, here I come!"
After shouting those final six words as loud as her lungs would allow, she turned around and began searching the empty lounge, checking behind every piece of furniture she could find. "Come out, come out, wherever you are~" Scampi sang while searching, she couldn't help but wave her tail as well.
She quickly scanned over the lounge, checking under and around every possible piece of furniture for any living thing. Once she had checked through all of that without finding a single soul, she turned to go down one of the basement hallways and began looking elsewhere in the basement for hiding guild members. She had to find two-dozen pokemon in the sprawling basement of the guild, yet she didn't have a moment of self-doubt.
The rockruff was forced to search with just her eyes and ears, as at the time she was under the effect of rhimti seeds, which elimited her sense of smell similar to how having a cold would. The seeds were typically reserved for guild members that were going into areas with gag inducing scents, but she was under the effects as there was no way the competition could be fair without it. Nevertheless, Scampi was ecstatic while playing hide-and-seek on such a scale. Many days she had wanted to do it, but couldn't properly set it up before.
It was the third day of being snowed inside of the guild at that point. Three days of the entire guild being together, and three days of them not having much else to do besides granting a rockruff this dream of hers.
Nidorino was the first one Scampi found, it wasn't difficult for her to spot him under a canvas cloth on the edge of a semi-packed room. He knew he could only hide his rather large body so much, so he had expected he would be noticed early, just not quite that early. Scampi had her morale boosted from her first find, and Nidorino walked over to the lounge to wait for the event to cease.
Dewott was also spotted rather early on, as he left his hiding spot to run towards the bathroom. Getting spotted didn't mean much anyways as him moving around automatically disqualified him anyways. He made it to the bathroom on an uncomfortably close call.
Likewise, Olivia also got disqualified as she seemingly lost the plot on what her role was, wandering through the halls to look for where Locke was hiding. She was spotted in the open hallways, but didn't go without also incidentally revealing Locke's hiding spot prematurely to Scampi before she was sent back.
Scampi was gleeful about every last one she found. The larger pokemon or the ones that simply didn't care like Max and Armin were found early on, whilst pokemon like Mienfoo and Ludicolo were found partway through.
Most didn't think they would be found as quickly as those first few did, as they thought the hiding places they chose were quite good. But they had underestimated the force of someone with a child's imagination and creativity who also had much practice in this particular game.
Over the course of the event, Tamin waited by herself alone in a secluded room. She found unfinished walls where she squeezed behind some wooden boards. It was a tight fit to get into that area and even tighter to avoid splinters, but her body and soft fur was able to jostle into it. Not even she fully knew where she was, as she had just run down random rooms and halls in the basement until she found one that spot. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes counted up to being over an hour. Unable to leave without forfeiting her position in the game and making Scampi unhappy, all she could do was wait and think.
As she was there, the shadows of her past creeped up on her. It felt like a halo of black thorns piercing into her consciousness. Her mind was a smaller confine to be trapped in then the narrow space between the rickety wood board and hard earth. At times she'd even forget she was playing hide-and-seek with a friend, thinking it was another one of the times she would hide from her parents and hope for them to calm down. There were no sounds, yet Tamin could hear her parents screaming to her from the silence. There were no marks on her skin, yet she could feel the trained pain of a being pummeled.
But as she waited for what felt like many hours to her in dark lonesomeness, a friendly voice finally called out to her.
"There you are, Tamin!" Scampi declared.
The minccino turned, and saw the rockruff peering at her from the small opening she had climbed into the space from. Scampi's eyes were more eager and innocent then Tamin had ever seen from her before, they were like floodlights dispelling the darkness that her mind was being clouded with.
"Oh, well it appears I have," Tamin said. She began climbing out after speaking.
"You're a really good hider, Tamin!" Scampi said whilst taking a step back to give Tamin room to get out.
"Thanks," Tamin said with a wide smile. While it didn't look much different from how she usually smiled, this one was genuinely bright. Being complimented still hadn't been something she felt she could expect on a consistent basis at that point, so it did feel exceedingly nice to hear.
"You hid longer than anyone else!" Scampi proclaimed.
"I-I did?" Tamin asked in confusion.
"Yeah!" she affirmed. "It took me like ten minutes or like something like that to find you after the last one! You won hide-n-seek!"
"Well that's… pleasantly surprising, I suppose," Tamin said, feeling mixed as she was glad to win, but also wanted to have a layer of ambiguity and to blend in with the guild- an objective that didn't mesh well with being the best in the guild at something.
"It's very pleasant!" Scampi said. "C'mon now, let's head back!"
"You lead, I'll follow," Tamin said.
The rockruff ran out of the obscure room, and Tamin got on all-fours to run after. Though the minccino had no idea where she was in the basement, Scampi could easily navigate through all of it and guide Tamin the whole way. Soon enough, they were back in the lounge where many of the guild members were waiting. It was everyone that Scampi had found from Armin the lucario to Yuki the vulpix, but also had Espeon present there.
"Ah, Tamin! That makes for everyone now," Espeon said as the two entered the room. "With all heads counted for now, that makes Tamin the minccino the one who remained hidden the longest, and the winner today. Congratulations!"
The room hollered and cheered for Tamin, but that only served to make her feel more awkward and blushy. Having the center of attention on her in specific wasn't the opposite of her intention, she wanted nothing more than to have a simple game with Scampi and remain ambiguous. Yet in a moment of absolute irony, it was that very skill of being hidden that resulted in a figurative spotlight being shined on her.
"Thanks everyone," she said nervously.
"Have you played hide and seek before? You seem like you know what you're doing," Scampi asked.
"You could say that, yeah," Tamin said, somewhat dodging the question so she wouldn't have to say the truth behind how her skills developed.
"The next game will be in two hours, do you want to be the next seeker for that? You have first dibs," Espeon told Tamin.
"I think I'll pass on that, but thanks," she replied.
"That's fine then, I'll ask around to see who wants to do it then," Espeon assured. He then turned his head towards Scampi. "This was a really great idea, I think everyone liked it. Perfect for when everyone is cooped up like this."
"Thank you!" she replied.
"Already everyone, that's it. Take some time to stretch your legs, the next game's in one-hundred and twenty minutes."
Some more chatter and light cheering happened, but for the most part they just nodded in agreement to what he said. Most of the group dispersed and went up the stairs in an orderly fashion, Tamin being among them.
The minccino journeyed back to her bedroom where she went inside and closed the door. She then leaned against the back of the door, closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and took a few deep breaths to relieve the built up tension.
After a few seconds of rhythmic breathing, Tamin felt ready to face the world again. Once more she turned around and opened the chamber door. "Two hours, that's how much time I've got while everyone is still upstairs," Tamin thought to herself. But even with knowledge on how much time she had to spend, that did nothing to tell her what she could do in that time period.
Normally that would have been the time she went off on an easy mission, but that wasn't an option for her this time. For the frozen season, Espeon had changed up how the guilds does missions, focusing only on the more dire missions, and having those missions reserved for the more hardy and experienced members. For the newly recruited minccino, she didn't have any missions to do. She was trapped at that time by the banks of snow in all directions, not much better off then Locke was.
As she walked around the halls for what felt like the twentieth time just that day, she heard some chatter emitting from other rooms. It was just simple talk about the hide-and-seek game that had just finished and who should be the next seeker or seekers, not topics that were interesting to Tamin specifically. However, it did serve as a good reminder on what Tamin could do to kill time. In lieu of other things to do, Tamin perked her ears up to begin listening in on conversations again.
First few conversations she heard didn't tell very interesting tales. Aside from the hide-and-seek discussion, many were only talking about how they were worried about their families and how they fared in the storm.
But during one patrol on the guild's upper floor, where Tamin walked near the chamber doors to listen for voices therein, she heard a voice that seemed out of place.
"It's been a few days now, do you have any additional notes on Locke?" It was Sylveon's voice. "Or Tamin as well, since you have said you're making a profile on her too."
Tamin had come to know the layout of the guildhouse well enough to know that Sylveon's bedroom wasn't on the second floor, so she stopped in her place and continued to listen in on the room. She assumed a pose of casually leaning against the wall with her paws behind her head, making it appear like she was just simply resting.
"Ah yes. Although the lack of missions slows progress down greatly, the harness on him should still be of great help," Mawile replied. "It's purpose is two-fold, it both allows him to be better controlled, and it will serve as removal therapy as he will want to correct his behavior to have it be taken off and to avoid the humiliation it brings. From his perspective, he likely views it as an unnecessary tortue method that he wants to get out of as fast as possible."
Hearing Mawile's works served to both spark Tamin's interest further and caused emotions of anger to brew within her. Even still, she held her same casual position to make her come across as unassuming.
"I am aware, but how is that going for him so far?" Sylveon inquired.
"From what I have picked up on it seems to have been successful in keeping him from wandering off on the miasma cave mission and the mountain rescue mission of days before, so thus far it has had a one hundred percent success rate. But that rate comes from a sample size so miniscule that the correct course of action (as per the scientific method) would be to ignore it until we can gain a larger sample size. But still, things are looking good so far, I'd say. He doesn't appear to have any indications of being traumatized."
"So have I asked too early?" Sylveon asked.
"Perhaps not. Seeing his immediate reactions to things has been quite fascinating to witness first hand. I'm almost disappointed I'm not allowed to stalk him to see all of it, it's given me far more meterial for that profile I am building then the first week he was here provided," Mawile explained.
"Can I hear what your current theories are then?"
"Of all the things I have seen and heard occur, ultimately the fact that has got me hooked up the most is that according to Sebastien, he is able to recall events that happen in these ferocity ticks. I initially theorized he had some kind of multiple personality disorder with a highly aggressive personality behind him, but individuals with that typically do not remember what happened during periods where their other personality has taken hold. So while it cannot be dismissed completely, if Sebastien's story is true then that gives strong evidence that he doesn't have that disorder.
However, considering life conditions, I think he has potential to develop that disorder if we do not treat him correctly. Standard conditioning is to be employed, but anything that is potentially traumatizing should be kept as only an absolute last resort. Consider him as being one horrendous day away from us having a pokemon with a mental condition to manage.
In regards to what he is in the present: I have read into instincts and what it is. I believe it's not some other person and mind in us that sometimes takes control (even though that's often what it is depicted as). It is just a part of us. It's not some other thought process we possess, it is a part of our thought process, it's just us.
It's like an insanity in and of the fact that when it takes control, it is completely normal from your perspective. Even when looking back on it, it doesn't seem like much was different about you then. When how you view the world changes, you cannot feel those changes.
If that makes any sense. Apologies if I can't really think of any good analogies for this."
"If it's anything like your theory says it is then it sounds quite… horrifying, really," Sylveon expressed while his mind was dazzled by all the different implications.
"It is what it is, even if that's not a very good thing. Either way, the lesson I believe you should take away is that you shouldn't view him in his ferocious state and him in his typical demeanor as they aren't two different people. But at the same time, make sure nothing truly traumatizing happens to him."
"I will handle him like one handles a glass cup that is about to fall down from a shelf," Sylveon told her.
"Excellent plan, I hope your execution will be equally refined," Mawile stated.
"Worry not,"
Tamin could tell that the conversation between them was wrapping up. Not just from their words, but from the shifting tones in their voices were a subtle indication of how things were changing that the subconscious could pick up on. She left the position she was in to begin walking down the walkway again, for a moment she looked back at the door, but then turned away to avoid looking suspicious. "They won't know any better," she thought. But as she continued walking away and didn't notice any sounds of a door opening, a thought went across her head.
"Wait a second, didn't Sylveon ask about what Mawile knew about me as well? They're probably talking about that right now," she pondered. "Should I go back to hear that? No, that would be too risky. Drat, I really regret moving away now. Dang it that was stupid of me."
Tamin went down onto the main floor of the guildhouse and began walking around again, doing another patrol around in hopes that would pass the time. At that point, she wasn't sure how long she'd spend indoors, she could only hope she wouldn't have many more moments like that in the days to come.
It took twenty-six minutes of randomly pacing around before anything of note happened again; the time counted closer to the next hide-and-seek event happening. This time she passed by the door to Mienfoo's room, where she heard a conversion transpire from within. As before, she leaned against the wall in a casual position to hear in.
"So whatd'ya want to talk to me about?" She heard Dewott ask.
"Well, now that it's winter and there's hardly any missions going on, there's something of importance that I wanted to discuss with you," she heard Mienfoo reply with.
"What is it?" Dewott asked.
Mienfoo took a moment to inhale a strong breath, and then give a deep exhale to set herself to the right mood.
"Since there's not much for me over here, I'm thinking about going back to my family for the winter," Mienfoo explained.
"Wait, really?" Dewott said, not raising his voice too much, but still sounding concerned.
"Yeah," Mienfoo said. "I know what my family's like, so I think it would be best."
"So would you rather be them with me?" Dewott asked.
"Oh, no. That's not the case," Mienfoo quickly said. "It's just that I know the kind of people they're like, and they'd be worried about me."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to sound jealous," Dewott apologized, realizing how he came off. "It- it's just I would rather be with you."
"I know you would. Hmm, tell you what, you can come with me and I'll get a guest room arranged for you to stay in." Mienfoo explained. "Yeah, we have a whole wing for some small guest chambers, and most of them aren't occupied. I can pay for you if necessary."
"Well, I'd certainly love if I could stay in a castle like that with you, but you heard about what happened during that hide-n-seek game, it's not going to work out," Dewott said. "If I'm staying at some different place where I don't know where all the bathrooms are or the best ways to get to them, that's not going to end in a close call like it did today. And then I'm just going to embarrass you as well since they know I'm your boyfriend."
"Oh, I see your point..." Mienfoo said, her head lowering down.
"Yeah… I think I'm just going to have to stay here no mat'r what. So if you leave, you're on your own," Dewott said, sharing emotions and mannerisms.
"I hope you won't be too lonely out here if I go then," Mienfoo stated.
"I think'll be fine, I have Locke to keep me company."
"That's good… I guess I will stay. But if they send a letter over here summoning me, then I do have to go. That's just part of being a scion from a house,"
"Yeah, yeah, I understand that. They're important. And the guildhouse isn't the nicest of places to be at right now. A noble castle would be better to stay at," Dewott said, still thinking things over with his paw on his chin.
"Mhm. Honestly, they're probably more necessary than the guild is. But I still want my recess from politics from time to time," Mienfoo said, beginning to lean back where she was. "I'm also guessing that they're wanting to keep me entirely within their county. Since the guildhouse is built on a place where three counties meet, so I'm not really in their domain right now. At least not fully."
"Makes sense, I'm pretty sure a lot of people here forgot about that county thing. Heh, except Niot. He has a lot of confusing stuff to deal with."
"Oh yes. I have no idea how he just manages taxes without pulling his feathers out, much less everything else this causes with legal conflictions. I'll be perfectly honest and tell you that my family has tried to do a few illegal actions with the guild that Niot called out."
"Haha, yeah," Dewott said, his tone indicating he was now longer thinking to himself and back to full awareness around him. "Look, I don't want to demand you stay here, I really don't. I just… want to make sure you've thought this out."
"I understand."
"I guess… I guess my main concern is that I'm not going to be able to see you evolve."
"Oooh, I hadn't realized that. That is a good point."
"Mhm… You're getting really close to the age where it's 'spose to happen, and I was looking forward to that."
"Hmm… I'll tell you what, I don't need to make this decision today. It would take me some time to move out anyways," Mienfoo reassured. "Until then, I'm still here, anything you want to do with me?"
"...Well, we haven't done a snowball fight or anything else in the snow this season yet," Dewott said after a moment of thinking.
"Great idea! I'd be happy to do that with you. Anything else?"
Dewott didn't really have anything else beyond that, but that didn't stop them from talking on and on for an exorbitant amount of time. When Tamin realized that not much more was going on, she got off of the wall and wandered off, the important parts of the conversation remaining in her mind.
"It must be nice to know you have another warm, safe place to go to and not just the guildhouse. I'd certainly like to have somewhere else to be," Tamin thought as she walked off. "Although if Mienfoo is going to be gone soon, should I try to get in another training session with her like I did with her a little while ago? Hmm… nah, we don't have much area to train in anyways and I don't think I really need it."
While Tamin walked away from that room, Crystal the weavile was on her own way across the guildhouse. She counted the rooms she passed by, until he stopped in front of the door to Locke's chamber. She approached the door and lifted her claw to knock on it a few times, waiting for an answer. It was at a time they had planned out in advance, so she was confident there would be a response.
"Locke? You in there?" Crystal asked while knocking.
"One minute!" Locke responded through the door, "I'm trying to make myself be look a little nicer!"
"Oh, then I can't wait to see how you look when you're done!" Crystal responded.
Locke looked at himself in a mirror he had while he tried to make himself look the best he could. He had gotten a makeup kit yesterday, and was making good use of it.
He had been spending most of his life in the wild and had only seriously been engaging with society after joining the guild less than two weeks ago. Because of this: he didn't exactly know what was considered to be good looking and what wasn't in society's etiquette. So he just tried his best, copied what his friends were doing and what he saw from that other shinx at the ice cream store.
Although the limited dexterity provided by his paws certainly made things more difficult, Locke still had the determination to get it all done.
Once he was done, Locke closed up the kit he was using, headed over to his room's door and opened it up to greet Crystal on the other side.
"Alright, I'm done!" Locke said to Crystal.
"Alright, Let's go-" Crystal spoke. She was not interrupted by another, but instead paused her own speech when he looked at Locke's current looks.
"So, I spent the last hour and a half working on myself." Locke said while optimistically smiling, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, "How do I look"?
"Uhh…"
Locke had all of his fur combed through and brushed up, complete with artificial highlights added (which Locke assumed would automatically make him look better by virtue of having it alone). Some products also were applied to make his tail cleaner and shinier. But by far the most notable thing was that Locke's eyelashes were now greatly extended and given a black highlight to make them more noticable.
"...What's up with the eyelashes?" Was the first thing Crystal asked after studying Locke for a few seconds.
"What? Isn't it just something you do to make yourself look nicer?" Locke asked, confused. "You have those strong eyelashes, and I also saw a shinx in town that looked like this. Then there's Tamin, Yuki-"
"It's really only something girls do," Crystal explained. "I hate to say it, but you kinda look very feminine right now."
Locke stopped for a moment to think what he just did, thinking about all the pokemon he has seen with long eyelashes and the fact he was basing his looks after a female shinx he saw in town.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I did not know about that," Locke spoke. "It's almost all my friends have long eyelashes, so I it was just a thing everyone did and that-"
"Wow, you really do not know much about what looks good and what you should do to yourself."
"Yeah..." Locke lowered his head in shame. What he thought would be a moment to show off his new looks to impress his girlfriend quickly turned into a deeply embarrassing moment. There was nothing he would have liked more than for Crystal to just laugh it all off at that time.
"Uh, can I ask how many male friends you have?" Crystal inquired, taking note of what he said.
"There's Dewott and… Huh, I guess that's it," Locke answered.
"Okay. Yeah. Th-this is a thing," Crystal said.
"Wait, this doesn't make sense. Tamin specifically said that this was what I should've done to look prettier when she let me borrow her makeup kit yester-..."
Locke raised his head back up as he had a moment of revelation, interrupting himself while the pieces clicked together in his head.
"Oh my gosh I think that was Hunter," he realized aloud.
"Wow. You really messed up here," Crystal said bluntly.
Locke applied his paw to his forehead as he continued talking:
"And he probably handed me what was Yuki's stuff right then and there."
The two both gave a deep sigh, getting rid of the stress within themselves and accepting what was currently going. Locke also lowered his paw from his head, which once again revealed the extended and highlighted eyelashes he now possessed.
"Alright… so I look like a girl now." Locke said, reminding himself more than anything else.
"Yeah. Welp, at the very least, I'm glad you picked a day where you didn't go outside to do this," Crystal said.
Locke raised his paw up to his eyes and felt the eyelashes for a little bit, still ashamed of himself.
"By any chance, do you know of a way to get these off?"
"I wouldn't bring any objects close to your eye to get them off," Crystal responded, "Just be rinsing them under water a few times a day. They'll loosen off eventually."
"Alright. So… What do you want to do?" Locke asked.
"I don't know. Let's just start with getting over to my room first."
"Sure," Locke said while he finally stepped out of the door frame to his room, closing the door just afterwards.
"Follow," Crystal gave as a one-word command.
"Yes," Locke replied, unquestioning.
Crystal started going towards the nearest stairway room to get upstairs and to her room, with Locke following close behind her.
Along the way there, Crystal examined her Weavile claws. She looked at the top of them before flipping her hands over to look at the bottom, scrutinizing the sharpness of them.
Finding them to be in unsatisfactory quality, she began sharpening her claws against each other to make them better and refining them as she walked forward.
They went up the stairs, turned west, going along the indoor balcony fence and getting up to one of the rooms. Crystal led Locke to her room and opened the door up to get him in.
Even though Locke had been in Crystal's room before, entering it was still a moment of awe that hadn't yet lost its charm. The whole room was a studio of fine design.
Her bed and miscellaneous belongings were relegated to the corner of it while the artwork dominated the room.
"I see your calligraphy is going good like always," Locke said.
"Thanks," Crystal responded, "It's nice to have something to do when you're stuck inside."
"Honestly, I'm just happy that I can spend a winter being warm." Locke said, "Although I can see how having a nice hobby is certainly a bonus."
"Yeah."
Crystal grabbed one of the brushes that she had in the room while searching for some ink to put on it afterwards.
"So are you the only artist in the guild?" Locke asked while he seated himself in Crystal's room.
"Armin is also an artist," Crystal explained, "He does pencil drawings. Although I'm not sure he's made any new pieces as of late. I'm really not sure what's going around with that lucario in general."
"'Kay," Locke said, already getting a satisfactory answer.
"He's really quite odd," Crystal continued. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but he just seems distant. Not just that his head is somewhere else, but like he can't really mingle with others. I have even seen other lucarios before, and he's just...different."
Just then, Crystal spotted the supplies she needed. She grabbed them out of the cabinet, undid their seals, and set them near the canvas. She started drawing some art with Locke there to watch her.
"Hey, is it okay if you give me a try at this?" Locke asked.
"Umm… I'll say no. I don't think that's a great idea," Crystal responded.
"Aww, why not? You showed me how to write my name awhile ago, why can't you show me how to do some calligraphy?"
"I said no, Locke," Crystal said, sharply getting much colder in tone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, It's alright," Locke said, taking himself back.
"You can't even stand on two legs, I don't want you ruining my stuff by knocking ink over or something," Crystal told Locke, "If you do, I swear I'll cut you."
"I understand," Locke responded,
For the next half-hour, Crystal made art with Locke silently watching. It was far from the first time they had done something like this, but there was still enjoyment to be found. Crystal got to do her hobby and Locke got to spend some time with his only real childhood friend, and now girlfriend.
During the same time period where Locke was in Crystal's room, Tamin was still on her own while going around the guildhouse.
She'd finished pacing around the upper floor and main floor multiple times over, so the only place left for her was below in the guild's basement. She still didn't like the place; the designs were still frustratingly uneven and the acoustics were terrible, and those weren't things that would suddenly change when the snow fell in. Her reason for descending was because she knew the guild members would be re-gathering there soon enough for the next game, and she might as well be early about it. She'd been building up tolerance against the uneven designs.
This time around she made sure to not journey too far away from the lounge and to keep track of the route she used. She still wasn't very well versed in pathfinding, but was slowly improving.
There were a few pokemon there, some already chatting. But as she got off the bottom step and onto the subterranean floor, she was suddenly struck with a different idea.
The minccino recalled where she originally heard Hunter talking to Yuki in, the one where she heard them tell of their plans to provoke Locke. It would have been risky to head there and there was a chance that they left the room behind due to believing its privacy was compromised, those were all facts that Tamin was aware of and considered. But at the same time, were there any guild members that would be more interesting to listen in on then them?
"Well now that everyone's together, this is exactly the time where they'd be talking in private inside the guildhouse," Tamin thought to herself. "It's risky, but if it works out, I can have a better idea on who I'm dealing with, and that's invaluable. Hmm, I just need to remember the path I took, and I should be alright."
She set off for that area again. As she traveled, it was not only a walk down the unfurnished hallways, but a walk down memory lane. She remembered her failure in warning Locke and how his humiliation might've been preventable had she been less passive. "It's not going to be like last time, Tamin. Please stop worrying… But what if I screw something else up?" were her thoughts. Nevertheless, she kept pushing forward.
As light on her paws as she could, she silently moved across the hall to the old door. Once there, she readied her ears to check for any noise. To her surprise, she heard speaking come from within. She got into a hiding position so those two couldn't notice her.
"So, how's your plans for those rockets going?" Yuki was heard asking.
"Oh, they're doing alright. I'm still working out some specifics, but I think I figured out how to make those," Hunter was heard replying.
"Lov-al-ly. Although are you still sure that alcohol-based bottle rockets are a good idea?"
"Look, that's not the point. There's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh?" Yuki said, her voice raising in tone like a child's voice.
"You've told me a bit about what's been going on between you and her, plus I've been able to pick up on somethings here and there myself," Hunter said. There was no cheeriness in his voice. This was the most serious Tamin had heard him. "So I just wanted to say that… I'd like it if you stayed away from Tamin."
"Wait, what?" the vulpix responded.
She was startled, but managed to remain silent. She only had a vague idea on what they could have been talking about, but that idea had just been shattered. "Hunter? What's he doing here? Are they talking about me?" Tamin thought to herself. Right off the bat, she had no idea where this conversation was going. She focused her hearing further.
"I just don't want you tormenting her like you did with Braixen," Tamin heard Hunter say.
"Why not? Why are you protective of her all of a sudden?" Yuki asked.
"I don't know," Hunter admitted, "Something about her… I like. I don't want to see her go through your stuff."
Every second, every word, it made Tamin more confused. This behavior seemed impossible in more ways than one from the mental image she'd constructed of the zorua. She began second-guessing herself, "is this a trick? Wouldn't be the first trick Hunter's pulled. But who is he tricking? And why?"
"Are you sure that spending two days locked up in that one room didn't screw up your head a bit?" Yuki asked Hunter.
"I don't know, possibly," Hunter responded. "But something about her I like. I have some emotions for her. I just… I think she's cute."
Tamin could hear Yuki give a sigh after hearing what Hunter said.
"Look, I don't want to give her up. It's been a while until I've had a proper pokemon to 'play' with. As much as I want you to be happy, I don't want this to go to waste."
"Then I'll be the one to 'play' with you." Hunter proposed, "I'll take her place in this. You get what you want on getting a replacement for Braixen, and I get what I want on her being okay.
It's mutually beneficial as we both get what we want. Please."
"Hmm..." Yuki spent a moment thinking about the deal Hunter proposed, "I'll accept that for now, but you wil-ling-ly doing this and knowing me really does defeat the purpose."
"Alright. Thank you," Hunter said solemnly.
"Let's get things arranged. Come, let's go to my room."
"Umm, okay," Hunter said.
"This is getting too weird and creepy, I need to get out of here," Tamin thought to herself.
Using her soft paws to avoid making noise, Tamin discreetly ran off on all fours in the opposite direction of them.
"So out of all the people in the guild, Hunter is the one standing out for me?" Tamin wondered to herself, trying to process the current situation going down. It did seem like quite the far cry from what she previously knew Hunter for.
Off and away, Tamin retraced her steps to get back to the lounge, and through there got back to the main floor of the guildhouse.
Meanwhile, Locke was still with Crystal in her room. She observed her brush strokes and would occasionally make comments, but for the most part he just stayed quiet. After almost half an hour of this, Crystal finished a piece and turned to talk to him directly.
"So, are you liking what I have so far?" she asked, starting off innocently.
"As nice as it's always been," Locke replied.
"Good, that's very good," Crystal said as she began packing up her drawing supplies.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah," Crystal said once she got done setting down the supplies, and then picked up a metal nail file. She began tending to her claws.
"Oh, okay then… anything else you want us to do today?" Locke asked.
"In a sense," Crystal replied, her tone getting colder as she kept sharpening her claws.
"Uh, what is it?" Locke said, starting to shift a bit uncomfortable where he was laying down.
"There's something we need to talk about," Crystal said as she finished refining the sharpness on her claws.
The weavile arose from where she was and marched over to Locke, getting there before he was able to get up and move his location. She positioned herself to be sitting right next to him with an arm over him, looming over.
"Don't worry, if you don't have anything to hide, you don't have anything to fear. It's the reason I wanted you here."
"Uh, o-okay, what is this about?" Locke said as he tried to lean away from Crystal.
In a swift motion, Crystal put one of her recently sharpened claws right up to Locke's neck, slightly pressing against his fur.
"I heard from Yuki that while you were in that absol colony, you were hugging Tamin closely and sleeping with her. Is that true?" she asked in a tone of condemnation.
"Well, um-" Locke stuttered out.
"Is that true, Locke? Were you doing that with her?" she asked again, this time even colder.
"I…"
Not waiting any longer for a response, Crystal pressed one of her claws down into Locke skin and slowly dragged it. She made sure the process was slow so it would be as excruciating as possible, with blood leaking out of the wound being steadily opened up and the flesh becoming frostbitten. The shinx gritted his teeth and cringed at the pain.
"I hope that gives you a message, I never want you to be trying to cheat on me again with Tamin," Crystal said.
"I-I wasn't cheating with her, we were just wanting to stay warm and-"
Crystal put her claw back to his flesh and made another similar wound at a different place in his neck. Once again, the pain rushed, the blood flowed, and the frostbite spreaded.
"What, do you take me for some idiot? Is that what I am to you? I know full well what you were intending with her. And if you ever do anything like that again, expect to get much worse cuts," Crystal said to him while finally pulling away, Locke's blood slowly sliding down her claw. "Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, I understand," Locke said while trying to put pressure to his wound to make it feel better.
"You're really an awful boyfriend, you know that right? I used my own money I earned to buy a desk you wanted, and this is how you treat me? By being with another girl who has given you nothing?" Crystal berated. "You're disgusting."
"I'm sorry!" Locke pleaded, a fear present in his voice that wasn't usual for him. "I'll be better."
"You'd certainly better be!" Crystal shouted back at him. "I hope you do your best to avoid that minccino after this. She's done nothing for you, whereas I've been kind enough to buy that desk for you."
"Got it," Locke whimpered.
Crystal looked down on Locke again, by multiple senses of the term. She noticed that his red blood was bleeding onto his purple scarf, and leaving behind a rather unsavory stain in the garment that would be noticeable by others. She let out a tired sigh, knowing she'd have to deal with that so others would not know of what transpired.
She dug around her cabinets for what she could use, and found a bottle of stain remover she had purchased weeks earlier. The bottle was already half used and meant for oils, paints, and ink, but she figured it would have to do the job with blood stains as well. It had proven effective with the first half of it already.
Crystal walked back over to Locke, holding just the stain remover without any medical supplies in sight. She put her hand down on him to keep him from moving again, and then focused on the scarf around his neck. She began applying caps full of the substance to the cloth, fur and harness to purge it of the red stains. A few drops of it haphazardly fell into his frostbitten wounds which caused a sting comparable to a knife being twisted.
She took her sweet time removing the stains. Only after she was done did she grab a few old bandages to haphazardly apply to the wound. She didn't even use anything to remove the sting or the frostbite. It was a far cry from the delicacy he had put to his clothing. Before even being done to any stretch of imagination, she stepped back.
"Leave me now," Crystal commanded. "Leave the room. I hope you'll be better when I next see you."
"Okay…" he muttered.
Locke picked himself up, receiving no help from Crystal as he walked out with his tail between his legs. He opened the room door and walked out of it again, out into the guildhouse that saw him as a feral beast and he would have to spend the coming months in to avoid freezing to death.
As he left, he had to remind myself about what he loved about the weavile. "She has done lots of other good things to me as well, I can't forget about those," he thought to himself. "She won't be hurting me forever, I just need to bear through it. She's still the same pokemon I remembered, after all. And I guess I did do wrong.
Well, I guess she just gave me one of her artistic touches, heh. Started with her claws, refine it with some stain remover and brush off the bad ends with cloth."
By happenchance, Tamin was walking up the stairs to the upper floor of the guildhouse at the same time as Locke was walking away from Crystal's chamber door. After getting the information she wanted from Hunter and Yuki, she was putting as much distance as she could between herself and them. The two had their eyes meet.
"Oh, hi Locke. How have you been?" Tamin asked, realizing she hadn't talked to them that day.
"Umm… hey Tamin," Locke said, feeling awkward as he recalled what Crystal said about Tamin.
"Is everything okay with you?" she asked, knowing Locke well enough to see that something was wrong.
"Yes, everything's alright," Locke said as he began walking forward again, his trajectory making it so he would walk right past the minccino.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Tamin, I'm fine."
"Do you think you'll be coming to the next hide-and-seek game? Should only be like a half-hour off from now or something like that."
"Maybe, maybe not. I've got somewhere to go," Locke said dismissively.
"Where? We're still snowed in," Tamin said. She could tell that Locke was acting odd. Her skills at lying also allowed her to spot a liar.
"Bye-a," Locke said without answering her question and passing by her. His movement shifted from being a simple walk to a run.
In the brief moment where Locke was passing by Tamin's side, the minccino got a look at him. At that time frame, Tamin got to see the bandages located under his scarf. The moment was long enough that she could see it plain as day and not question if she truly saw it or not, but short enough that she could not point it out.
As Locke dashed to the staircase and headed downwards, Tamin was left looking behind her on the space Locke used to occupy.
"Just what the heck is going on with him?" Tamin pondered as her mind's gears started turning to make theories on a mental assembly line.
End of chapter 17.