[attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"]

The search for Umlaut's missing thing continues! Cass has hastily let out the Mr Rime after capturing it by accident, but he seems to be happy enough - that is, until he frowns slightly by being called Mr Rime, when they're figuring out a name ... "How about Jody then? I think that's neutral?" Cass suggests, then squints slightly.

"It's kind of strange that pokémon kinda are binary or nothing, huh. Or is that just because we humans are stupid and categorise?" she ponders, wondering if there's layers.

There's a thought almost about herself, but she turns to Umlaut too quickly for her to notice it.

"So, Umlaut, got any leads?"

[attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][newclass=".emapokemonteam"]height:40px;width:40px;background:#2b2b2b;border-radius:100%;margin:0 5px;[/newclass]

Upon seeing her tears pool in the inside of her mask, Cass feels more of them well up inside her eyes. She can only look at them from the corner of her eyes, squinting awkwardly, but they're so clear. Beautiful. There's light still, even in this murky madness, reflected in the brillant surface of der gathered tears.

Like jewels.

And then. A vision.

FREE ME ... BELOW OUR LAKE.

It's the pokémon in the tank again. Her tears scatter as she jolts upwards, turning to Thea and Knight. "Thea- Knight-" Cass tells them about what she's seen, and it returns in dreaming, too. A message, as she strains herself to her it- and she feels herself almost relaxing. As she awakes, she significantly feels herself being calmer, even if the despair is inside her still - it feels like there's something to be done about it, something that rises to fight against it.

It's the last day, it seems.

As the signal sounds, Cass feels one more comfort - the familiar smell of garbage (though others might be lucky enough to only catch floral notes.) It is another push, another presence and reminder for those lost. In tune with her vision, the Toxic Chain actually grants her more peace of mind than anything else by giving her presences she's been apart from for too long.

(Don't break here.)

"Let's go," she urges her best friends, not wanting to stick around for the fight much at the moment - she just wants to escape, she focuses on the goal that she's been following. (She'd stick around though, if her righteous friends [affectionately] would stick around to fight, even fi she'd continue to urge them to move on.)

In faint illusion, a trash bag seems to wrap around her hand, a floral crown rests lopsidedly, momentarily on her head. A fiery hammer nudges away an attacking guard as she dodges, and she seems faster than usual - her feet crackling with flaming electricity briefly. But it's all just imagery that fades quickly as Cass weaves herself onwards, towards below the pit.

She finds her gaze straying, too - the tubes. Now, she takes another close look at them now that she's closer. She also tries to see- does this whole thing have an effect on the creature? She tries to see if she can spot anything, before moving on, ignoring the aching pains from untreated wounds, the tiredness in her bones. There's only one direction:

Down, down.

Knight Naito Thea Naito
tl;dr dummy ward
- tells knight and thea about the azelf vision she's seen with her tears
- as the prison break starts, she tries to urge knight and thea to keep moving without bothering to fight
- takes a look at the tubes again now from close-up, also tries to see stuff abt ogerpon, before moving onwards

toxic chain ability: with you to cass smells like a trash bag (lol) close-up and floral hues farther away. there's faint, flickering illusions around her, mirroring the her team before this happened. while still fighting against physical and mental exhaustion and despair, persevering's a tad bit easier on herself at the moment as she has a smelly reminder of herself and who she still is missing, giving her a clear goal. she is more nimble and speedier, allowing her to progress faster.
if allowed, she feels a pull into "the right direction" - either to azelf to help (or even her pokémon).

0mectVQ2

[attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"]

And it seems like Umlaut would not find what he's looking for anytime soon. The duo stumbled upon a Mr Rime here in the chilly caves, tap dancing away on the slippery ice, seemingly without problem.

He also notices them, and quickly waves his hand and cane, seemingly inviting them to join him for a moment. "Hmm, I think we should focus on the se-" Cass says, but Umlaut has other plans. He already joined the Mr Rime (on not frozen-frozen ground), imitating the dancing of the ice pokémon.

Cass sighs, smiling faintly. "I really should've brought Eira, huh?" she murmurs, before speaking louder, "Alright, show me the moves!"

She focuses on the dance, not noticing that one of her empty pokéballs slip out of her pocket- huh! It rolls over the ice, just under Mr Rime's foot, who promptly triggers the button as he steps down. Cass and the pokémon stare at each other, slightly perplexed, before he disappears in a beam of red light.

"Uhm- I usually ask that a bit later, but do you wanna come with us?"

capturing mr rime!

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"Cian then- and, ah, think we'll do that another day ... maybe next month," Cass says, trailing off, regaining her composure, but ...

Next month, why does it sound so ambitious?

"I, uhm. I noticed there's ... more training going on than usual- I think?" There's a question in her eyes, one that she ... she really didn't want to ask. And one that could be so short ... War?

CIAN MAHER

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The relief about having dealt with one situation peacefully is quickly replaced by a feeling of dread. Another Toedscruel comes up, and now- "That's your sister?!" Cass exclaims. Normally, she'd be curious. However, right now, her mental thoughts are all occupied by how freakin' mad she looks. "What the hell did you-"

She can't finish her sentence before two things happen simultaneously:

Umlaut and his sister charge at each other, filling the air with Spores.

Her phone rings.

Looking at the name, she throws hands helplessly, "I'll have to take that-! You guys sort it out!" she calls, but isn't sure if Umlaut even hears her as she's retreating to a safer distance. "Hey, Rika- sorry, now is not really a good time- but ah, I see, mh-hm..."

The phone call takes her another five minutes, during which she has no idea what's happening with the two Toedscruel. "Umlaut, I'm ba-" she says, then ... He's still standing, but there's no sign of his sister. "Uh. Do I wanna know more or ... did you find what you were looking for, anyway?"

The answer, unfortunately, is no. He has not yet found whatever he's searching.

skipping toedscruel

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Cass passes by the Rustboro Gym - stands there for a moment, contemplating, with the Trubbish in her arms fixating on the Gym sign. "Hey, let's ... go, for now, hm?" she says to Jon, who nods, his plastic bag arms flapping as they continue.

The mood is solemn, pensive - and she only welcomes a distraction as she hears unexpected noises. She approaches, curious - then tense. "Oh, hello, Sir- uh, Mr Maher." She spots the Gym Leader of Rustboro nearby, too, and suddenly feels a bit awkward, even if she contemplated challenging him mere seconds ago.

CIAN MAHER

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Cass follows her pokémon further into the cave, looking around. "You know, if you'd just tell me what you're looking for," she murmurs. She knows Umlaut's also been staring at Pic when he's drawing - there should be some basic drawing ability.

But nope, they have to be here, with only Umlaut looking. And also drawing the fury of some wild pokémon, it seems. A Marowak charges forward, maybe feeling threatened by the Toedscruel sudden appearance, using Mud Slap with her mud-covered bone. "Don't! Spore!" Cass commands, before covering her mouth with her sleeve as Umlaut releases sleep-inducing spores.

skipping marowak

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"Are you sure you lost it here?" Cass asks, shivering. It's the end of may now, and it's warm. And she really didn't really want to get to the cold again, but well.

Umlaut got his ways to be quite convincing.

The Toedscruel nods affirmatively, looking around with incredible focus. It's odd how he hasn't brought it up before, either ... is he bluffing? Why did he want to come back?

[attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][newclass=".emapokemonteam"]height:40px;width:40px;background:#2b2b2b;border-radius:100%;margin:0 5px;[/newclass]

After seeing this vision in the chamber of desires, Cass finds herself shaken, believing. In dreams, she continues to try and live in another reality, tries to remember who she is while everything is urging her to forget, forget, forget.

Don't.

She sees other people allying, exchanging information, and, whenever she isn't with Thea or Knight in her dreams, she approaches, sidelines. Listens, but leaves again - filing away information, but also ... what's the point? She's not even sure if she's truly afraid - if she ever has not been, frankly (it's like white noise in her mind, an ever-present weariness that lives with her soul) - but the situation ...

(Don't lose it.)

Upon awakening this time, she finds tears in her eyes. As if waking up from a nightmare, from re-living a sad memory. (It's like the dreams she has of her father, sometimes. She'd wake up, her hand in the air, tears in her eyes.)

These tears are important.

She can't tell why, but she has to collect them, somehow - they're important. But how? Their clothes are changed regularly, there's nothing, nothing ... ... except the mask. Stirring Thea and Knight awake, she murmurs apologies as she detangles herself from the pile, facing the ground. Trying to let the tears fill crevices, maybe, in her mask, as it's the only thing that doesn't change. She carefully tries to jab a finger beneath the mask, too, holding a bit of the liquid on her fingertips.

For a moment, she looks at it, sniffs it - wonders what might be the reason she feels so strongly about them. (Should she ... drink them?)

Knight Naito Thea Naito
tl;dr dummy ward
MAIN ACTION collect tears (trying to do it with the mask somehow)
- in dream: eavesdrop on alliances/information sharing a bit, but mostly spends her dreams to re-find herself and remember who she is beyond the prison
- wakes up with tears in eyes, shuffles to get in position to try and catch them in her mask
- ponders about drinking the tears
wDbQ0TS5

Cassandra Kubrick rogue-coded, maybe even bard (animal handling expertise either way)
STR 8
DEX 15
CON 13
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 12

Lutgarde Dijkstra paladin-coded. if we had an oaths of the ancients for cities ...
STR 15
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 12
CHA 13

Fenelle Miller artificer-coded. probably battle smith; lowkey hates being alone lol
STR 10
DEX 12
CON 13
INT 15
WIS 14
CHA 8

link name of the post proof will have who the reward goes to, not who completed it! probably.

[XXX] (3x pokéballs) make an ic-post within may.
[XXX] (shard) complete a thread within the event period.
[XXX] (rainbow shard) participate in any forum game thread.
[XXX] (type 1 evo) involve a ground-type move in an ic-post.
[] (type 2 evo) utilize or involve entry hazards in an ic-post.

[] (type 3 evo) teach your pokemon a ground-type move.
[] (sparkling dust) involve one of the following pokemon abilities in a post: earth eater, arena trap, sand force, sand stream, levitate. can be a NPC/wild pokemon.
[XXX] (level tutor) capture/defeat/redeem a ground-type pokemon in a wild, safari, gacha (no trades/gifts).
[XXX] (tm/tr) complete a solo/duo wild or safari thread.
[] (move tutotr) participate in 1 imminent instability swarm or distortion.

[XXX] (move tutor) publish an ic-post in your exhibit or garden.
[XXX] (egg tutor) reference another character by tagging them in an ic-post.
[] (egg tutor) use a gif or image that features a ground-type pokemon in your post.
[] (tm/tr) include music in an ic-post (link or the player code).
[XXX] (incense) use one of these names in a post in any capacity: giovanni, bertha, clay, hapu, rika.

[XXX] (ability capsule) use one of the following words in an ic-post: firmament, demesne, dregs, balance.
[F] (starf berry) use the idiomatic noun "run (something/someone) to the ground" in an ic-post.
[] (gacha) complete 1 imminent instability mission.
[] (gacha) complete 2 imminent instability missions.
[] (prem gacha) complete 3 imminent instability missions.

[] (level tutor) post in a communication thread or comment on an HNN article.
[] (ability capsule) post in a plotter or wanted ad thread with a genuine plotting idea, affirmation of a relationship, or a compliment (minimum 100 WORD COUNT).
[] (form change) sell a pokemon to the black market.
[XXX] (ability capsule) buy a pokemon from the black market.
[] (mega shard) reference any of the organizations listed in the local hoenn guidebook thread, or any on-site player-led business.

[] (mega shard) reference information from the hoenn dragonology document created by Crow.
[] (salac berry) complete a thread that features a conflict of any kind with a character in the opposite faction.
[] (devo stone) use mega evolution, terastallization, or dynamax in an ic-post.
[] (honey) use a z-move in an ic-post.
[] (tm/tr) use a sygna suit in an ic-post.

[XXX] (sparkling dust) incorporate a sandstorm (weather) in your post or thread.
[XXX] (level tutor) incorporate a character or a pokemon falling/tripping in your post.
[] (type 1 evo) terastallize a pokemon into the ground tera type.
[] (3x pokéballs) reference or involve a heavy ball in your post.
[XXX] (incense) involve the emotion of fear in your post or thread.

[XXX] (tablets of lutum (mud bomb)) complete 3 total endeavors.
[XXX] (ground tera shard) complete 5 total endeavors.
[F] (legendary candy) complete 10 total endeavors.
[XXX] (mega stone) complete 15 total endeavors.
[] (dynamax candy) complete 20 total endeavors.