[X] My Assistant

[Kamaitachi]

Arasam nightlife had been so highly spoken of by fellow travelers that Tag knew immediately that he was going to be let down. He wasn't much of a drinker, really, and he didn't like making a fool of himself. Most places, he felt, required a certain level of inebriation or temerity to enjoy, and that was something he didn't have a stomach for. Dinner with Raven had been a wholeheartedly simple affair. Tag didn't really enjoy fancy joints, or even restaurants in general, so he had suggested finding a food court or some off-the-beaten-path sandwich shop. He found one simply called "Patisserie Arasam", and while it was more of a patisserie than a deli (The name should've been a dead give-away), they had some pretty delicious sandwiches.

Tag had awkwardly attempted to strike up a conversation with the sandwich maker. The man would've been Moroccan if Morocco existed in the universe, and had the name of Marouane. Tag inquired as to where he got such a pretty name, but it came out kind of like he was hitting on the guy. The guy likewise simply stated that his parents had named him that, in the same way that Taggarty's parents had named him Taggarty. It was pretty awkward. The sandwich maker then proceeded to mostly ignore Tag and flirt with Raven, which seemed to further incense the former Dragon Trainer.

It is interesting to note the voracity with which Tag ate. He did not particularly relish the flavours of things the way gourmands or hedonists did, but he did enjoy them to the extent that he enjoyed anything that wasn't pokemon battle. The speed at which he ate was not dictated by taste. After many years of travel, Tag took opportunities to eat good, tasty food as they came, and would usually devour it rather swiftly. This was ultimately because he rarely ate such good food while on the road all the time, and he tended to eat it quickly mostly because he wasn't sure of the next time he'd eat that well in the future. This voracity likewise gave him a proclivity towards over-eating. After having eaten two and a half sandwiches of varying ingredients, he felt really quite full. So instead of continuing to bum around Arasam with Raven, as was his plan, he opted to go to the Pokemon Center and turn in for the night. He didn't drag Raven along, he just felt something of a food coma approaching.

Unlike Raven, who'd spent the better part of a day unconscious, Tag hadn't really slept since the ordeal in and on Mount Carello. Between exhaustion of running through a cave all day, then not sleeping very well due to worry, he found that the sandman came for him quite quickly, drifting him off to sleep on one of the benches on which he'd grown so accustomed to sleeping.

Usually, he preferred to keep his pokemon in their pokeballs, but for whatever reason, he opted to leave them out. Kyoko, his gloom, seemed to have her stink under control, so he didn't really mind leaving her out with the rest of the lot. On top of it, he was really too tired to worry too much about it.

* * *

Later in the night, Tag stirred awake. Slowly, almost grouchily, he opened one eye. Instead of the expected sunlight, he noticed that it was still really quite dark out. The Pokemon Center had dimmed its lobby lights. Despite the fact that like all Pokemon Centers, it was 24 hours, it had opted to lower the intensity so that the few travelers could get some rest. Tag slowly scanned the pile of his sleeping pokemon, noting with a smile that Suzu and Bachi had curled up together (Suzu somehow avoiding the poisonous spikes even in her sleep. It only stood to sense; Suzu and Bachi had spent a lot of time together). Orin had nestled down by her lonesome, slightly apart from the rest of the group. Tobi had gently laid down opposite Suzu near Bachi, but had done so in a fairly prim manner, retaining his attempted regality even in sleep.

What worried Tag was that Kyoko was nowhere in sight.

Rising slowly and throwing his jacket over his tank top, he moved slowly and quietly about the dim lobby, looking for signs (and more honestly, smelling the air), to see if he could find any trace of his now missing pokemon. After some time, he felt that he had exhausted his options looking for his pokemon indoors, and chose to step outside to search.

Naturally, the first thing he saw was Kyoko.

Arasam was a city essentially carved into the side of a mountain, and that left it with a fairly impressive view. The moon hung at a middling height in the sky (Rather than far off in a corner), and appeared to be quite full. The glowing disc floated with an eerie silence in the night sky, shining a chill, blue glow on the surrounding buildings.

However, in a particularly crepuscular moonbeam, he saw his pokemon, Kyoko, standing almost perfectly still. She was up on what should've been tiptoes, had she possessed toes, and was leaning slightly towards the low moon. Tag stopped dead in his tracks, staring at his pokemon as she stared out at the moon. Her eyes were closed, sure, but it seemed like she was really trying to listen to the light in front of her.

Then she began to sing, slowly. While the only word was "gloom", her mezzo-soprano voice filled the air with a soothing, soft melody. It flowed gently in the night air, almost like a trickle of sound wafting around on the breeze. Several little stars formed around her and seemed to orbit in a little rotation around the Weed Pokemon, floating around Kyoko in a warm little pattern. Kyoko, while singing to the moon, had evidently also used lucky chant, creating a beautiful image against the backdrop of the cold velvet sky with its giant glowing moon. Idly, Tag joked that he was sure the moon wasn't about to land any critical hits anyways, but outwardly, he just watched his pokemon in a little bit of an awed silence. He had no idea Kyoko, much less any gloom could sing like that at all. He remained there in stunned silence, listening and watching intently.

This post has been edited by Kamaitachi: Jan 20 2011, 03:30 AM