mist on the grass

[offtracks]

Who: Ingo and Emmet
What: Exploration of the Middle Forest
When: Late April
Where: Middle Forest
Warnings: Hallucinations, dissociation, minor injury

[The middle forest, much like the time they explored the northern end, is blanketed with fog almost as soon as they enter the shadows of the trees. Ingo ignites his flames, as usual, but it's little use. Purple light refracts off the thick mist, as well as the faint red glow of Emmet's eyes and markings.

It's a little spooky. Ingo tries to keep his eyes off them. Telling Emmet about his experiences with Zoroark was probably, overall, a good thing to do. He's not longer lying to him, even if only by omission. But it probably makes some of his less-than-kind responses a little more obvious...]

I am sure any marks we leave will simply change again, but we could make an attempt anyhow.

[Today's another scouting mission, more than anything. Ingo's more relaxed about that than about rescue missions, but their strange experience in the forest last time still has him keeping a sharp eye out, as well as he can.]

Comments

[outbounds]

[ Emmet lets out another sigh of his own, and... ]

... Huh. You are right. I am very ready to be out of here. [ Is that just the adrenaline crash talking. ] We haven't been here that long though, have we?

[offtracks]

[Ingo glances up at the sky, but even without really checking the sun...]

I don't believe so. It simply feels like it has been a very long time!

[outbounds]

Strange.

[ What a weird way to suddenly miss your Xtrans. Part of Emmet wonders what the time display on it would read if he checked it, how much passed since they entered the woods, if it still theoretically had a charge.

Taking a different way back means they don't pass by any of their previous markers, just some fallen branches ... but the dense trees do begin to thin. There's a brighter spot not too far ahead of them now. ]

[offtracks]

[Ingo lets out a relieved sigh at seeing sunlight. It feels a bit like their mission was a total failure, but it certainly could have been worse - it's not as though they required rescue themselves, in the end.]

I...think I may just go back to our room after this.

[outbounds]

[ Wow that's bright after adjusting to the dark of the forest. Emmet takes a moment to try to shake off whatever pins and needles still linger from the ominous atmosphere of the foggy forest before blinking over at Ingo. ]

Okay. Before or after the debrief?

Want me to grab you anything from the supply rooms?

[offtracks]

Oh... [Ingo shakes his head as well, Growlithe-like.] Yes, of course. The debriefing. I suppose we had best do that first.

[As to the rest, well, he might as well fetch anything he wants himself if he has to go debrief anyway! He's already thinking about what they ought to say - at the very least, it should be quick enough to explain.]

I wonder if it would have seemed familiar to anyone who went in...? [It muddies things, somewhat, that it was only the two of them. What's familiar to Emmet ought to be familiar to Ingo...even if this is maybe the first time that's ever really worked correctly.]

[outbounds]

I wonder too. If the forest was just making the idea of 'familiar'. And letting us fill in, make up the rest.

[ Emmet did consider that, when he couldn't pinpoint a specific forest— but to a degree many forests can look pretty similar if you're deep enough in them. Hard to say when it's just the two of them. If there was a third, from somewhere else entirely, and they also thought it was familiar... well!

(Well, at least he doesn't have to try to guess at what Ingo was experiencing to explain it at the debrief.) ]

... if you thought it was familiar too, then it probably wasn't Ilex.

[offtracks]

It only really struck me that way after you said something.

[Perhaps if Emmet had stayed quiet, Ingo wouldn't have noticed? Which sort of lends credence to the idea that it is actually similar to a place Emmet knows. But, then, the fog obviously affects people differently; maybe that effect just hadn't hooked into him until then.]

[outbounds]

Hmmm.

[ It's a thoughtful, held note as they start heading back towards— presumably, the questboard... or is it the Spire? Wherever they normally report in after. ]

... Are you okay? If you really want to head back first. I can do the debrief, if you want. Maybe can't... exactly explain what it was that you felt or heard but the rest should be fine.

[ You know, watching it secondhand and explaining what Ingo said he thought. If he stops and lingers on it he's weirdly exhausted for what feels like it was a relatively short trip, and he didn't even go through whatever that was Ingo did. ]

[offtracks]

Ah, no, I am fine!

[He, too, is exhausted. Mostly he wants to lie down and take a nap, even if it is really only midday and they have barely done anything. But Ingo is hardly just going to let Emmet take over everything! It's his responsibility to report!]

Let us just get it over with quickly.

[outbounds]

Okaaay.

[ Well, they both know where they're going and want to get it out of the way sooner rather than later, so it doesn't take them all that long to get back and report in, Emmet letting Ingo say his part and only chipping in his own when prompted or it seems important to add. He's not expecting much given what happened, but...

Wait. Successful? 300 points? He is not complaining but his surprise or confusion must show at least a little on his features because i don't know who they're reporting to because i can't find who the quest giver was anymore please mentally insert an appropriate npc here his unasked question gets addressed as the Pokémon handling clerical duties summarizes what's been discussed so far without batting an eye. "You got back safely, didn't need to have a rescue sent after you, and have valuable observations to bring back. The guild leaders will review this and other reports to determine how the city will proceed in the future."

Well. Okay. He's not complaining... but that does kind of imply a lot about what might have happened with others being sent into the forest previously? ]

[offtracks]

[Ingo doesn't react outwardly at all, of course. Emmet's probably the only person who might be able to pick up on his own surprise and confusion. He doesn't realize it, though; he still hasn't picked up on quite how well Emmet may be able to read his lack of facial expression. So, as they depart, he remarks in what passes as an undertone for him:]

I did not realize the mission results had been quite so dire. Have many of us needed to be retrieved?

[He's seen the lost Pokemon missions, of course, but those are civilians. He hasn't heard about any of their own needing rescue!]

[outbounds]

Not that I know of. But it is not just us in the guilds ... Maybe it is handled internally and not on the board?

Or maybe. It is just that other groups are getting to those missions first. Before we see them.

[ Like Lum, who basically lives right there in front of the board.

And then of course they'll hear all about Akechi's misadventures eventually via network and sweater jail, the way he acts like he was the only one on that team. ]

[offtracks]

I suppose so. You would probably want to choose such rescue teams very carefully. If it were open to anyone, that may just lead to more Pokemon in need of rescue.

[Often enough, inexperienced rescuers are far more a hindrance than a help! Ingo's obviously more worn out after that debrief, though; his voice is rather flat.]

[outbounds]

A chain of would-be rescuers getting in over their heads.

[ Like trying to save someone from drowning only to be dragged under yourself, or a cave diver trying to recover someone, and... well. ]

Bet that's probably happened before.

[ Would be a good reason for them to put off exploration as a priority, and all. But either way, that's the past, and wondering about it won't change the present. Ingo's obviously flagging at this point and honestly Emmet isn't that much better off ... detour for fuel and or something sweet, maybe? ... No, maybe not. Home station— what is currently acting as it here, anyway— first. They can pick things up from the kitchens and supply rooms at the Spire if they really want.

Honestly, if Emmet could help them get back faster he would. For now though, all he can really do is stick close and keep an eye on Ingo, just in case he's needed? Support and all. Doesn't have to be physical either. ]

[offtracks]

Probably so.

[There's not really any reason for him to be so tired. It's only been an hour or two at most, certainly not the extended exploration they planned for. That berry maybe didn't fully heal his injury, or else it's some lingering fog effect. Either way, Ingo didn't really expect Emmet to be along for the ride. Is he really that tired, too?]

...you do not have to look after me, you know. I'll be quite alright.

[outbounds]

[ Emmet is, a strange sort of disproportionate lassitude that doesn't completely seem appropriate for what they did go through clinging to him (or maybe the adrenaline crash is just that tiring, after the sustained heightened alert from the fog?), but that's really neither here nor there right now. He blinks a little at Ingo, wrong-footed, unsure. ]

It is not a matter of have to.

[ He ... just thought Ingo wouldn't want to be alone after that? ]

Do you want me to go?

[offtracks]

Ah - well, no.

[He doesn't want to be alone at all. It doesn't mean he'd have asked Emmet to stay, had he other business to attend to. Ingo's very accustomed to dealing with such matters himself; usually, it is just him and his Pokemon unless he gets very hurt indeed.]

But I do not think I will be the best of company.

[outbounds]

That is fine. I am not expecting you to be.

[ Blunt, perhaps, in his usual fashion, but it's the truth. He doesn't need Ingo to try to host or entertain him, after all. ]

[offtracks]

...very well then.

[Is he still worried about him? Ingo supposes trying to wander off into the fog like that did not exactly instill confidence. On one hand, he is not at all used to being the one that people worry about, at least not since shortly after his arrival in Hisui. Usually it is him guiding and protecting others. The difference in tracks leaves him a bit unsure.

But, on the other, it's not exactly unwelcome. This is probably what having a family ought to be like, right?

So he doesn't say anything else. It's not as if he would ask Emmet to leave in any case! When they reach their current quarters, none of the others are around. Expected, at this time of day, but still something of a relief. Ingo goes to curl up in his usual spot.]

I do not know why I am so tired at all.

[outbounds]

[ Emmet has to stifle a bit of a yawn— tiredness is catching— before replying, glancing back the way they came for a moment. ]

It did feel like it was longer than it was ... right? Maybe that is related.

[offtracks]

Perhaps.

[He sighs, settling in, and then cracks an eye open to peer up at Emmet.]

...are you feeling any better? [He still isn't sure he wants to broach...whatever that was before, but he certainly hasn't forgotten it.]

[outbounds]

Nothing happened. So I'm— should be fine. Just unsettled.

[ He lets out a short, huffed sigh of his own before folding himself neatly into a loaf near Ingo. An ear flicks restlessly. ]

Hard to relax. You know. Think it was partly the fog, but it was not all the fog.

[ Emmet will lay his head down, though, untucking his paws just enough to rest it upon them. ]

... That could have gone worse.

[ In a double battle, if you misread one thing, the rest will be totally different. ]

[offtracks]

It could have.

[Ingo agrees readily. He knows full well how much worse it could have gone! There's generally no mental manipulation, but he knows about people getting lured off by illusions perfectly well.

...it doesn't seem like Emmet really wants to talk about it. Ingo doesn't say anything else.]

[outbounds]

[ Should be, should be. Isn't, though.

'Lost in spirit, but present in body.' It's not the same, but for a moment, that falter in his steps... there was a thought that occurred to him unbidden then, underlying the more immediate, obvious one. It's a horrible thing to think, though. Switch tracks for now, run on parallel tracks for a bit. It's all snarled and tangled together anyway but as long as he doesn't acknowledge it and give it more weight or notice than it deserves, it'll vanish back into the aether it deserves to rot away in.

Emmet doesn't think of himself as good at leading conversations. Oftentimes the straight line from point A to point B he favors tends to kill them, or otherwise leave people floundering in awkward silence for a response. And that's fine with him. Or at least it was, before, when the people who needed to understood him and the ones who didn't were inconsequential.

These days it is something he has had to try to soften, but all the same... he did say earlier he would talk about it, if Ingo wanted. And Ingo asked, so. The silence stretches out for a bit as Emmet sorts his thoughts before he says, staring at somewhere on the wall: ]

... I almost didn't stop you. Sort of. Passing thought, entertained. Discarded, but. Wouldn't have left you alone, would have followed because I was worried, but still.

[ He probably would have pulled Ingo away regardless, but still. 'But still' seems to be what he keeps returning to here. They don't know that the forest is filled with the remnants of those who have fallen there before yet. That comes later. But even so, it's not hard to imagine something happening with one of them compromised and the other fighting back panic out of will and grit and not much more. ]

It's not you. It's not anything, really. I'm unhappy with myself for what I was thinking then. That's all.

[ He is talking in circles around it. Uncharacteristic, maybe. But it's a horrible thing to think. It's greedy and selfish. It's not something he wants to voice in front of Ingo, irrational, fleeting thought or not, because Emmet is certain that voicing it would only hurt, that Ingo would take it to heart, take it in entirely the wrong way, if he said he almost let Ingo wander towards the fog because maybe it might knock a memory loose, if the phrasing Ingo had used, 'that they may be lost in spirit, but very present in body' did not only make Emmet fear for what might have happened if Ingo really had wandered off into the mists but also let creep in the insidious, poisonous thread of, isn't that kind of like how it is now?

It's a horrible thing to think. Ingo is still Ingo. What Emmet said when they first found each other is still true. He isn't lost anywhere, spirit or otherwise, he's right here. He might not be entirely the same as he was, but, well.

Neither is Emmet. ]