For destruction, ice is also great [Noelle November Catch-All]

[holidaygirl1225]

Who: Noelle & A.B.A, Umemiya, Bigby, Parvati
What: Quests, recovering from her crashout
Where: Heavy Downmoor, the Coast, and the Spire's low-tier housing
When: Throughout November
Warnings: Pokemon battling (violence/injury), flooding, themes of unreality and death/murder, others TBA

Comments

[fromsprouts]

"Pale desaturated brown. Like, greyer than the lighter color you see on a Furret, but similar lightness." Thank you, Tsubaki and Momose, for teaching this boy how to talk about colors. What he doesn't have the terminology to explain is that Endo was shiny.

"The accent fur had a blue tone. The overall look was kind of pretty. Or would have been, if it hadn't come with his attitude. Though...the fact that he was here and Takiishi wasn't accounted for some of that. They're close like Ren and Akechi are."

[wolfcut]

"Muted colors can be harder to spot over a distance. We'll need to keep our eyes open."

While attentive to Umemiya's description, he can't help but slowly glance over at Noelle. There's a stark contrast between the two, enough to warrant a soft sigh before he goes back to focusing ahead. A measured approach then.

"... It's a good sign that his scent is still around. Likely means he's been here more recently after showing up the first time." Despite this, a part of him also knows some rules simply don't apply here. A few months should be more than enough time to wash away any trace of their mark, but with everything else that's happened, would some kind of temporal displacement be out of the question? Who's to say this trail isn't from another Thievul either.

"Maybe he's been on a rescue mission of his own."

At some point, some paces ahead, Bigby does eventually find a small tuft of fur caught in the sand. It's close enough in color to leave little room for doubt.

"Umemiya, try to hone in with this. Your nose is probably the strongest between the three of us, so it should be easier for you to pick up the trail now." Again, he looks over at Noelle, this time with something to say. His ears flick before he addresses her. "As for us, it'll be easier to focus on sound. Rustling, walking, sniffing. Anything that gives you the feeling that we're not alone the further ahead we go."

A very prey-like approach, but he's leaning into it for now.

[holidaygirl1225]

Noelle just nods, unsure if she'll notice anything. Though, when she focuses, she can hone in on Sandyghast shifting about along the beach. She points them out to Bigby so they can question them later. She only faintly remembers the boy she talked to-- the one from her dream, who looked so much like Kris's brother.

As they walk along the coast, Endo's scent gets stronger, but eventually they seem to wind up where they started.

"Um... sorry, but, aren't we going in circles?"

[fromsprouts]

"We can't be. The scent's getting thicker, I'm absolutely sure it's him." It actually reminds him of Endo's cologne, the scent he's getting, which isn't quite right for here, is it? But the association's clear in his mind, a strand of red yarn pinned to an imaginary cork board.

[wolfcut]

He immediately breaks focus.

"No, that's—" Impossible, he wants to say, but all it takes is one quick look around to see Noelle is exactly right. Even after taking the backseat, Bigby had made sure to stay on the scent just in case. His nose twitches. Umemiya is also exactly right; the scent is just as strong as it was before. "... How did we even get back here?"

If Endo's scent is actively moving, then he has to be close, but the light-colored Thievul is still nowhere to be spotted. The fact that they got this turned around with nothing to show for it is completely jarring.

"Alright, change of plans. Those... those sand castles we saw. Maybe they caught something we missed."

[holidaygirl1225]

"M-maybe he also came in a circle?" she tries to offer. It doesn't really make sense, but she feels bad not having an answer for Umemiya. It doesn't feel like they went in a circle. It's more like... the trail didn't make sense to begin with. Like he just disappeared.

"Right. Um, good idea." She's glad Bigby's taken the lead. She feels completely lost.

It's not hard for her to find a weirdly-colored Sandyghast. "Excuse me, but, um..."

"You're the one who made me this weird color!" cries the Sandyghast. "What did you do?"

This puts her immediately on the backfoot. "I... I don't know. I was hoping you did."

The Sandyghast seems a little agitated; it's been dealing with months of confusion, after all.

[fromsprouts]

Ume is immediately braced to put himself between Noelle and the Sandyghast if this seems like it's going to get out of hand. Is he weak to ground types? Yes! So is Bigby, for that matter. But still, no one makes Noelle uncomfortable without getting the side-eye from the dog-guy.

[wolfcut]

Make that two dog-guys giving them the side-eye. One just happens to be a hamster.

"Hey." The Sandyghast probably wouldn't pay him much mind if he didn't have the voice he does. They shoot each other a glare before Bigby, surprisingly, drops it first. "We're just as confused as you are, alright? We've been trying to track someone that might've come through here. A Thievul."

Their witness hardly seems willing to talk about anything unrelated to their predicament. The Morpeko huffs before an idea hits. "Actually, his fur's an off-color too. Maybe he might know something about what happened to you."

That seems to do the trick, but admittedly, the Sandyghast hadn't seen Endo go past in either direction. Paw to forehead, Bigby sighs, turning to Umemiya apolegitically, before the Sandyghast suddenly pipes up again: "But I remember there was a weird looking Umbreon a while back too. You think he might know anything about what's going on with me?"

[holidaygirl1225]

"That's him! That's--"

Admittedly, it takes her a minute to remember his name. They only met briefly back home, and the fog that afflicts so many others here has been eating away her memories of their meeting here. "-- Ralsei. That was it. He has to know something!"

"He went into town," the Sandyghast says, "but he never came out. I think he went with a weird seed into a cafe!"

Noelle exchanges a look with her team members. The only 'weird seed' she knows about in town is Flowey, who she has been pointedly but politely avoiding ever since hearing about his cruelty and many wicked deeds. What if something happened?

"Thank you," she says, bowing her head to the Sandyghast. "We'll follow up on this. I know you and your friends must want to go back to normal soon."

The Sandyghast seems to calm down from being understood. (Or maybe it's the two dog-guys who stood protectively over Noelle, or a combination of the two.) After a little more mollifying, it becomes apparent that it doesn't know anything else about their mission. Noelle politely excuses the three of them and heads into town with the others.