bottlecaplogs | Noelle's September Quest Ho-ho-home [Catch-All]

Just a girl, her platonic gal pal, fluffy soft snowfall, and... a hovering ghost-sword looming over their every move. Well, at least the scholar- Aegislash- is quiet and unobtrusive. She honestly doesn't know why something so powerful-looking needs her as a bodyguard, but if it means getting to earn favor with the guild- and spend time with Shoka- then she'll proceed without complaint.

She's always loved the cold. In fact, as soon as they cross the threshold to Icefall Lake, she does a little prancing in the snow and shakes the accumulated snowflakes off her head, looking back at Shoka with a wide grin (revealing slightly more prominent than usual front teeth for a Deerling).

With that said, it's already starting to get to her after just a little walking, and she tries to hide the fact that she's shivering. She wishes she had her scarf or her coat from home. Aegislash seems completely unbothered, and Shoka... well, Noelle is curious if that disguise keeps her warm. Does she even get cold? A part of her wishes she knew more about what Shoka looked like under that disguise, but the thought makes her blush (for some reason????????) and look away.

Based on what she'd heard about Noelle's dream, Shoka might have guessed that she would have more of a dislike for the cold. Instead, it's just the opposite; Noelle is in her element in the snow, prancing around without a care in the world. But maybe Shoka shouldn't be so surprised. After all, her name is Noelle Holiday.

Watching her, Shoka can't help but laugh. "Dork..."

She and Noelle make for a rather unprofessional-looking pair of bodyguards, especially beside the silent, serious sentinel that is Aegislash, but Aegislash doesn't seem to mind, and Shoka wouldn't have it any other way.

Eventually, however, the cold worsens—to the point that Shoka notices Noelle shivering, try as she might to hide it.

"Aw, what's this?" teases Shoka, shuffling over the surface of the snow toward Noelle. "No more frolicking left in you?"

She's drawn something out of her satchel: a length of thick, white fabric. With a free hand, she motions for Noelle to approach her.

"C'mere for a sec."

"Huh? I, um..."

Noelle steps closer, agreeable as ever. She feels nervous standing close to Shoka... which is normal, she thinks, considering the other girl is a scary ghost under a cute disguise. Noelle still remembers how it felt having those shadows coil around her.

Unthinkingly, Shoka tosses the bolt of fabric (which might have been originally intended for use as a blanket for a small Pokémon) up onto Noelle's back, drawing it loosely around her like a shawl—and then, seeing (what she mistakes for) fear in Noelle's posture, stiffens.

Oh—right. Noelle is an easily spooked deer and Shoka is an accursed, killer ghost. Obviously she should be keeping her distance and especially keeping her claws to herself. Her bad.

"What?" she hisses, suddenly defensive. "I—just know you're still getting used to the whole no hands thing, so..." Her eyes briefly dart away... and then return to the blanket. "Ugh, just stay still, okay?"

After a moment of fiddling with the fabric, she manages to tie it off around Noelle's neck, comfortably warm and snug. With that done, she shuffles backward in a huff and scans their vicinity for Aegislash—more for an excuse to look at something other than Noelle than out of worry. Fortunately, Aegislash is taking notes of some kind and is paying them no mind.

"There. How's that?"

Uh-oh, she made her upset. She backpedals for a minute, sputtering "I didn't--" but gives up the attempt to explain herself. Shoka still makes her nervous, but it isn't a bad kind of nervous. She... isn't sure how to explain it. Not yet.

Even when Shoka is being abrasive, though, she's still nice. The makeshift scarf is warm around her neck, and more than just being practical, it's something Shoka gave to her. Her face feels especially warm.

"Thanks, Shoka," she says. "It's really nice, but... what about you? Aren't you cold at all?"

Shoka seems pleased with that answer, judging by the way her tone softens (and also the way that her wooden tail gives a single, subtle wag from left to right, then back again).

"Eh, the cold doesn't really bother me much... Just a Ghost thing, I guess. Nothing colder than the grave, am I right, Aegislash?"

"Hm?" says the other Ghost-type, lifting their single eye from their notes. There's a soft, tinny chuckle. "Ah, yes, quite right. However, mine own Steel-typing does also shield me from these conditions."

"Oh. Right..." Shoka's not Steel-typing might explain why she isn't completely immune to being cold, then (as evidenced by that one time Noelle nearly froze her over). "Anyways, I'm good for now, thanks. I've got another on standby in case it gets worse. I brought that one for you."

They'll both need to be bundled up soon, if the weather is anything like it was the last time Shoka ventured through this area.

"I... kinda thought the snow would freak you out a bit more," Shoka says as they continue onward. "I mean, considering..."

Considering that dream Noelle kept talking about. Sensing that might be pushing a boundary, however, Shoka trails off without saying it.

"Never mind."

Did she just wag her tail???

Noelle suppresses a squeal. That was so cute. It reminds her of how she used to think mice were scary, but now she thinks they're cute, because of... some reason she can't remember.

She doesn't have time to ponder it, because a second cute comment hits Noelle's brain. Shoka brought the scarf for her. It's a minor consideration, but...

... Noelle is the type of girl who stood outside the gate to her house for hours until her mom came home so she wouldn't have to call her at work and bother her. She nuzzles into the scarf a little more, happy. The fact that Shoka has another one on standby means they could maybe match.

"... the dream, right?"

That's like a cold snowball to the face, alright. She doesn't look her in the eye.

"... I used to love snow days. I remember getting up and pressing my face to the window and it would leave a mark, fahaha. Seeing the entire world blanketed in snow before anyone came and messed it up... the stars still faintly twinkling in the sky... it took the ordinary and made it magical."

She seems wistful as she continues. "I'd run to my sister's room and jump on the bed until she'd get up. She... did not get to bed before 3 AM most days, haha. But she always played along. She was just happy to have an excuse to skip school... but she played along with me, anyway. We'd get all dressed up, and we'd run out into the snow together. It felt like... a blank canvas, y'know? We had the entire day ahead of us. Anything could happen."

Noelle goes silent for several moments.

"... one day, I had my last snow day with my sister. I didn't know it at the time. But I still think about that." Even though she sounds uncertain in her next words, she says them anyway. "You... can't let one bad dream distract you from what really matters."

Because maybe, even though she feels further away from ever, there's some clue to her sister here. Maybe if she gets strong enough, she can find it. That has to be why she came here, she's decided.

"Sorry, I rambled a lot, didn't I? Haha... You can just forget everything I said if you want."

Shoka is quiet as Noelle speaks. She isn't expecting nearly so detailed or serious an answer (Okay, I didn't ask for your life story, she might have joked, if she didn't immediately sense that this was something important), but she figures she should appreciate it after springing a question like that on Noelle, whether she told Noelle to ignore her afterward or not.

The words last snow day make her heart sink. She... really shouldn't have asked that, should she? Her and her big mouth.

When she's finished, as she often does, Noelle immediately tries to diminish it. Shoka scoffs.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," she counters before adding, more gently, "Thanks. For telling me."

It feels like she understands Noelle a little more now. Still she has to grapple around her mind for a moment to find something helpful to say.

"I'm glad it doesn't. Freak you out, I mean..." She breathes out a laugh, willing the atmosphere to lighten. "If it did, then getting this quest done would be a hell of a lot harder."

She's glad for that and definitely no other reason. Definitely not because seeing Noelle frolic around in the snow like that made her laugh. Not at all.

Snow swirls between them; the cold is growing more biting by the minute. Shoka considers getting out her own cloak, but opts to put it off a bit longer in favor of asking another brazen question.

"What... happened to her? Your sister." Quickly, she adds, "If it's okay to ask."

Edited 2025-09-15 16:29 (UTC)

"Fahaha, that's true," she says, grateful for a reprieve. And then Shoka gets right back into it.

Noelle is tempted to play it off, divert the question... but she did start all this. She takes a shaky breath.

"I... I don't know."

She closes her eyes. She can still feel her feet snapping twigs and tearing through grass as she ran. Screams still ring in her ears. And then everything goes blank.

"We were... exploring. Me, my sister, my neighbor Kris, and their older brother Asriel. We did that a lot. Kris liked seeing creepy stuff in the woods. I was scared, but it was okay if we were with our siblings. We... found something. And..."

She's shivering again, but not because of the cold.

"... the next thing I remember, I was sitting there with a blanket wrapped around me. The night was lit up red and blue with police lights. They kept asking me what happened, but I didn't know. Dess was gone. And, Kris..."

That's when they stopped talking. Not just in the sense that their friendship fell apart-- they literally stopped talking. Nobody- the police, their family, even Noelle herself- could get a word out of them.

"... sorry. This is so much... haha. I just... trust you to talk about this, Shoka. I guess."

It's been so long since she had to explain it. Everyone in Hometown knew. She sensed they were stepping on eggshells around her, even now. She bites back tears, putting her smile back on.

Far from a tactile person, Shoka doesn't dare reach out to Noelle, but she does shuffle a little closer, watching the changes in her expression and posture carefully. Noelle's still trying to smile, of course, even after all that.

"Geez," Shoka eventually manages. "That's... a lot."

A short silence, then, occupied only by the whistling of the wind.

"I'm... glad you do. Trust me, I mean." Whether that's a good choice or not. "But—seriously, don't feel like you have to talk about it, if it's too much. It's... really none of my business. I probably shouldn't've even asked..."

It's not like she can offer any actual help, after all, but she still wanted to know anyway—to understand Noelle a bit better, maybe, or because she got the feeling that this is one of those things Noelle keeps bottled up, lest it make anyone uncomfortable or upset. She wonders if there was anyone else Noelle also trusted enough to talk about it with.

"But if you think it would help, to talk about it..." she rambles on, trying to be gentle. "I don't mind listening. Whenever." Doesn't have to be now, is the unsaid. They're out on a quest in the cold, after all, and accompanied by a third who could overhear them at any moment (although, if Aegislash has heard any of this, they've kept that fact politely to themself). "Sounds like you haven't really been able to talk about it much."

"I'm the one who started all this to begin with. I could've just said I'm not afraid at the snow and left it at that. I guess I really am a motormouth, haha..."

She used to do most of the talking when she was around Kris, too. But they hadn't really talked about all of this... besides in her dreams, at least.

"... but thank you, Shoka. Really. I can't help but think, maybe... maybe I'll find some clue about her in this world. Even if that sounds crazy, it's not bad to hope, right?"

"Honestly? Nothing really sounds crazy to me anymore."

It sounds like those in Noelle's world had absolutely nothing to go off of. Maybe the chances are slim, but if she, Noelle, and so many others found themselves suddenly dragged away from their homes and into an entirely different world, why not Dess, too?

"If you think there might be a chance, then I believe you. And I'll help you look, obviously."

Even if she has no idea where to start yet. But Noelle said they found something that day, didn't she?

"Anything specific I should be... I dunno, keeping an eye out for?"

The prospect of Shoka helping her look cheers her up considerably, even if the chances are still slim. After all, it means she's not alone.

"Um... well, she'd probably also be a deer Pokemon in this world. I could describe physical traits, but I'm not sure how many carry over... she's really self-assured and a bit of a troublemaker."

A little like Shoka, really. Though, Noelle feels like Shoka only acts self-assured.

"You're really nice to me."

"Y'know, there's a difference between 'really nice' and 'not completely heartless'... Did you already forget that we're on the same team? You don't have to deal with this on your own—and I kinda owe you anyways. I'm with you, whatever happens."

Really nice or not, she seems to realize belatedly how soft and earnest her voice sounds, saying that last part. To hide any show of embarrassment, she draws her own cloak out of her satchel and ducks under it (never mind that she suddenly feels more warm than cold in this moment).

(It's made from the same white material as the one she gave Noelle. They do match after all.)

"A-anyways... You said before that you found something, on the day it happened. What was it?"

"I'm with you, whatever happens..."

She turns this over in her mind so long that she doesn't realize for a moment that Shoka asked her another question. There's not much to really think about, though. "I... I'm sorry. I can't remember. I think it was something in the forest. Something... dark. Like, literally. I can't remember the stars, or my hands in front of my face..."

No matter how hard she tries, she just can't remember. "Maybe now, I'll never know."

Noelle's September Quest Ho-ho-home [Catch-All]

Scholastic Decisions

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1/2

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deltarune spoilers but there's so many unanswered questions its probably not much

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