Post by seiren on Jul 14, 2012 2:52:44 GMT -5
Whilst the shade provided by the leaves of the trees was patchy at best, it provided more than adequate protection from the harshness of the Sun’s rays for Althea, as she made her way down the path that, the sign had told her earlier, was Route One. That was an interesting name for a place; direct and to the point, it told her a lot about it. It had another, of course, but she had been unable to pronounce it, much less figure out what it meant. No doubt it was something that suited the natural beauty and tranquility of the area, though…after all, names were genuinely suited to the ones that had them. Her own name meant “Healer”, which suited her chosen way of life perfectly, at least to her own mind: after all, she was a Channeller, and her job was to heal the pain of departed souls, so they could pass on peacefully to the next life.
The sound of running water alerted her to the presence of a stream somewhere nearby. Perhaps she ought to see if she could find it; cool drink and maybe even a quick swim or a bath wouldn't go amiss in this weather…although she didn’t really want to pass through the trees. Tall, foreboding sentinels standing in an almost perfectly straight line, they clearly did not invite straying from the small dirt path she was on; like a strict teacher, there to see that she didn’t break the rules and get into trouble. She could always ask them nicely if she could pass, of course, although trees didn’t generally move when people asked, and she was a strange to Cheyenne, so they’d probably be even less inclined to move for her, or even let her walk amongst them. No, it was probably for the best that she stick to the path for the moment. Perhaps later, once they’d had time to grow accustomed to her presence, she could move about them more freely. For now, she was a guest – or even an intruder – and it was best that she mind her manners, as her grandfather had been wont to say more than once. He had always emphasized the importance of manners amongst strangers, and she was on an entirely different continent, so there was no more apt situation. At least, not one that she had discovered thus far. Maybe on another planet, manners might be more apt, for example.
There were many strange things about Cheyenne; it was almost too much to process. One thing that she was having difficulty adjusting to was the time zone difference. Time had always been at a constant before; to find that it had turned back upon itself by a few hours in Cheyenne was…interesting. But then, she imagined, time would get bored if it just ran at the same pace everywhere; it was probably doing things a little differently in Cheyenne for the sake of variety…or perhaps there was more than one time, and this one’s personality liked to take things a little more slowly than that of Kanto’s. Or perhaps she had traveled backwards through time? Technically, she had: she had already experienced this time before, only back in Kanto. Was there another Althea back in Kanto, doing what she had been doing earlier? What if she decided to do something else? There could be another Althea on her way to Unova right now…or even Sinnoh. There could be hundreds of different Altheas across the world. The thought put a smile on her face; she had always wanted to meet herself. With luck, maybe she would before this journey was over.
If she had traveled a little further, would she have gone back years, instead of a few hours? It would have been nice to see her grandfather again, although he would have been terribly annoyed at being returned to life; he had always been adamant that the dead needed to stay dead; that “life was for the living” as he used to say. She had never really understood that saying, because there were dead that had life as well, and if you were dead, you weren’t living, so evidently life was for the dead as much as the living. She had asked him about it more than once, although he hadn’t explained it very clearly.
The climate was noticeably different from Kanto, as well. It was much, much warmer in Cheyenne, even for summer, and whilst she wasn’t sweating – she didn’t seem to be capable of that; water only came out of her in one not-to-be-talked-about place – the air didn’t seem to want to be breathed, forcing her to take deep, ragged gasps, as she sought to grasp at what oxygen she could before it was sucked away from the air by the heat. She could understand it not wanting to share, but she couldn’t really stop breathing altogether, and really it was quite greedy; there was plenty to go around. Having to focus on her breathing, as always, was a strange experience, as quite often she seemed to forget to as her mind wandered back to more interesting matters, like the colour of her surroundings. Everything was so bright here! Lavender Town was a beautiful village, but it was positively bleak by comparison; this entire route was teeming with life. It was silent, save for her own ragged breathing and echoing footsteps, and the background noise of running water, but it was a comfortable silence; the kind of silence that comes between two old friends when they run out of things to say, or lovers where nothing needed to be said. She couldn’t see anything moving, but she knew it was there, and found it comforting, rather than intimidating.
From the shadows cast by the trees, invisible to the eye, Mao watched her amble down the dirt path, her meandering making her look very much as though she were drunk…ah, if only it were that simple. Then he wouldn’t have any problem with tormenting her. Although the thought of a drunken Althea was terrifying; heavens knew what she would be like. Or if he would even notice a difference; it was difficult to imagine her being any more insane than she already was. Sighing to himself, he reappeared in front of her, a piece of shadow breaking away from the main body to form into a ghost with purple and yellow eyes that seemed to be far too big for his small, spherical body.
“Not that I care or anything, but the lab is back that way.” he said lazily, floating next to his trainer’s ear…no, his target, not his trainer. She was NOT his trainer, no matter what she thought…Arceus himself only knew what this girl thought. “Shouldn’t you go back and get a Pokémon before you go…wherever it is you’re going?”
“I already have a Pokémon; silly.” she smiled absently at him, sending a chill rippling through his smoky body. How could anyone be that oblivious? It was like she wasn’t even aware of reality most of the time. How this girl had managed to become a Channeller was beyond him. Hell, how she managed to dress herself in the morning was beyond him.
It was going to be very, very interesting when she came across a wild Pokémon. He sure as hell wasn’t going to do any fighting, and he doubted that they’d be anything but hostile; after all, that was what wild Pokémon were like. There was plenty of negative energy in the air, of the kind that was territorial, almost primal; practically a banquet for the little Shuppet. Oh yes, he liked it here a great deal…and anywhere he liked was surely going to be bad news for the human he was haunting. See how oblivious she was when she was under attack!
Oh well. That was her problem, not his. He faded from sight, content to hide within the shadows and see where the girl’s aimless wandering would take her. Hopefully to somewhere unpleasant. If something else finished her off, so much the better: that was his work done; he could move on and do something else with his afterlife…
The sound of running water alerted her to the presence of a stream somewhere nearby. Perhaps she ought to see if she could find it; cool drink and maybe even a quick swim or a bath wouldn't go amiss in this weather…although she didn’t really want to pass through the trees. Tall, foreboding sentinels standing in an almost perfectly straight line, they clearly did not invite straying from the small dirt path she was on; like a strict teacher, there to see that she didn’t break the rules and get into trouble. She could always ask them nicely if she could pass, of course, although trees didn’t generally move when people asked, and she was a strange to Cheyenne, so they’d probably be even less inclined to move for her, or even let her walk amongst them. No, it was probably for the best that she stick to the path for the moment. Perhaps later, once they’d had time to grow accustomed to her presence, she could move about them more freely. For now, she was a guest – or even an intruder – and it was best that she mind her manners, as her grandfather had been wont to say more than once. He had always emphasized the importance of manners amongst strangers, and she was on an entirely different continent, so there was no more apt situation. At least, not one that she had discovered thus far. Maybe on another planet, manners might be more apt, for example.
There were many strange things about Cheyenne; it was almost too much to process. One thing that she was having difficulty adjusting to was the time zone difference. Time had always been at a constant before; to find that it had turned back upon itself by a few hours in Cheyenne was…interesting. But then, she imagined, time would get bored if it just ran at the same pace everywhere; it was probably doing things a little differently in Cheyenne for the sake of variety…or perhaps there was more than one time, and this one’s personality liked to take things a little more slowly than that of Kanto’s. Or perhaps she had traveled backwards through time? Technically, she had: she had already experienced this time before, only back in Kanto. Was there another Althea back in Kanto, doing what she had been doing earlier? What if she decided to do something else? There could be another Althea on her way to Unova right now…or even Sinnoh. There could be hundreds of different Altheas across the world. The thought put a smile on her face; she had always wanted to meet herself. With luck, maybe she would before this journey was over.
If she had traveled a little further, would she have gone back years, instead of a few hours? It would have been nice to see her grandfather again, although he would have been terribly annoyed at being returned to life; he had always been adamant that the dead needed to stay dead; that “life was for the living” as he used to say. She had never really understood that saying, because there were dead that had life as well, and if you were dead, you weren’t living, so evidently life was for the dead as much as the living. She had asked him about it more than once, although he hadn’t explained it very clearly.
The climate was noticeably different from Kanto, as well. It was much, much warmer in Cheyenne, even for summer, and whilst she wasn’t sweating – she didn’t seem to be capable of that; water only came out of her in one not-to-be-talked-about place – the air didn’t seem to want to be breathed, forcing her to take deep, ragged gasps, as she sought to grasp at what oxygen she could before it was sucked away from the air by the heat. She could understand it not wanting to share, but she couldn’t really stop breathing altogether, and really it was quite greedy; there was plenty to go around. Having to focus on her breathing, as always, was a strange experience, as quite often she seemed to forget to as her mind wandered back to more interesting matters, like the colour of her surroundings. Everything was so bright here! Lavender Town was a beautiful village, but it was positively bleak by comparison; this entire route was teeming with life. It was silent, save for her own ragged breathing and echoing footsteps, and the background noise of running water, but it was a comfortable silence; the kind of silence that comes between two old friends when they run out of things to say, or lovers where nothing needed to be said. She couldn’t see anything moving, but she knew it was there, and found it comforting, rather than intimidating.
From the shadows cast by the trees, invisible to the eye, Mao watched her amble down the dirt path, her meandering making her look very much as though she were drunk…ah, if only it were that simple. Then he wouldn’t have any problem with tormenting her. Although the thought of a drunken Althea was terrifying; heavens knew what she would be like. Or if he would even notice a difference; it was difficult to imagine her being any more insane than she already was. Sighing to himself, he reappeared in front of her, a piece of shadow breaking away from the main body to form into a ghost with purple and yellow eyes that seemed to be far too big for his small, spherical body.
“Not that I care or anything, but the lab is back that way.” he said lazily, floating next to his trainer’s ear…no, his target, not his trainer. She was NOT his trainer, no matter what she thought…Arceus himself only knew what this girl thought. “Shouldn’t you go back and get a Pokémon before you go…wherever it is you’re going?”
“I already have a Pokémon; silly.” she smiled absently at him, sending a chill rippling through his smoky body. How could anyone be that oblivious? It was like she wasn’t even aware of reality most of the time. How this girl had managed to become a Channeller was beyond him. Hell, how she managed to dress herself in the morning was beyond him.
It was going to be very, very interesting when she came across a wild Pokémon. He sure as hell wasn’t going to do any fighting, and he doubted that they’d be anything but hostile; after all, that was what wild Pokémon were like. There was plenty of negative energy in the air, of the kind that was territorial, almost primal; practically a banquet for the little Shuppet. Oh yes, he liked it here a great deal…and anywhere he liked was surely going to be bad news for the human he was haunting. See how oblivious she was when she was under attack!
Oh well. That was her problem, not his. He faded from sight, content to hide within the shadows and see where the girl’s aimless wandering would take her. Hopefully to somewhere unpleasant. If something else finished her off, so much the better: that was his work done; he could move on and do something else with his afterlife…