At the very least, they were in agreement about the fundamentals. That was decent. Enough to forgive the lack of communication in the past. For now, at least. Violet reserved the right to herself to potentially get grumpy about this at some point in the future. For now, this was good enough. For now, they had a riddle to solve. Or for someone else to solve. At least that was how it worked this time. She had been right that just asking helped, only the help came in the form of another riddle. Initially, she was a bit too distracted by their conversation to notice the noise, but eventually it did come back.
[break][break]
Those were things she had heard in her youth, back in the mountains. Though Elaine was quicker, making a connection and coming to a conclusion. Violet, for her part, just observed, bemused, finding these antics actually kind of cute. This one certainly was worth her attention, even if she probably might have to prod her a little more. “North, yes, I do remember that part,” she noted, halfway to herself, while the people around them came to similar conclusions – or just latched onto theirs.
[break][break]
…which included a voice that she still had not forgotten, but did not care for too much. Though, admittedly, Vio had gotten a lot more chill in that regard. Her lips just briefly curled into a bit of a mischievous smile as she remembered just what water type she had brought for this. Maybe skyler dross would at least appreciate seeing that Jellicent once more.
[break][break]
However, Violet quickly moved on from that. Someone so gallantly offering her a hand and a team-up proper kind of did that to her. “Right, right, we should not dally. It seems like everyone else is probably just going to follow down that rabbit-pool anyway, so this won’t be much of a gate-keeping event. Probably best not to be the last,” she replied, taking that hand offered to her with a delicate one of her own.
With the other, she released the oversized Jellicent, towering over others of its kind. It certainly was big enough to potentially threaten small vessels by itself. Vio knew that quite well. But she had taken a liking to the thing anyway, even though it had tried to kill her, once. “It’s probably best if we ride together. That pool might also serve to split people up or such. With Whirlpool, we should be able to dive safely.”
[break][break]

+ Listens to Elaine Highland, comes to a similar Nosepass conclusion. North is chosen and she brings out XXL Jellicent to whirlpool down there.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she looks... confused.

riddles are, unfortunately, not exactly her strong suit. hell, she got the first riddle wrong and now she has to figure this one out? save her now...

her mouth opens to ask jayden cross , annalise henderson , mint frost , and MATIAS SILPH what they thought of the riddle when she hears it: a question echoing over and over until she's lost in the familiar voice.

"why are you so determined to find them?"

it stops her long enough for the group to continue talking. her eyes dart around, looking for Felix Gallagher . his voice sounds so close yet so far, here yet not. for a moment, she's back in a space-time distortion searching and searching. she comes up empty handed, just as she did then. and somewhere in the search, she manages to find the familiar face of Greyson Connors . he's busy, springing into action. and after a moment, her group begins to move as well.

they follow MATIAS SILPH 's lead, calling out pokemon and heading for the northern whirlpool. she's quiet as she calls out her salamence, the dragon letting out an annoyed huff as claws dig into sand. climbing onto the dragon is easy, simple, a practiced movement taught by the ghost of someone important. and flying out to the whirlpool is just as simple, perhaps, but a look of anxiousness flashes before they're diving in.

the last time she had been in so much water... she was cut down from behind like a wounded animal. hopefully it doesn't happen again.

cyberchase conundrum.

tl;dr |
- hears a word
- confused?
- joins map group
- calls out salamence
- flies toward north whirlpool on salamence & dives into it

If it weren’t for the crowd of people and the lingering feeling of certain doom, it would’ve been a great toes-in-the-sand kind of lazy day. Memo leaned out over Gabriel’s neck, palms flattened between the Salamence’s shoulder blades, peering down at the churning water below.

Ruh-roh. That wasn’t good.

He shifts back in his seat, feeling the comforting weight of Alexei Ivanov behind him; he had originally scooched forward enough so they wouldn’t be touching but the minute the ocean became a bigger player in this comedy of errors, Alex had locked an arm viciously around his waist and was holding on for dear life.

Memo had hitched a ride with Alex on the latter’s Salamence for convenience reasons, and also because Alex needed to hold onto someone whilst he lost his shit. He didn’t really do water all that well.

The gentle murmur of human voices was everywhere, mostly from people approaching and gauging the situation amongst themselves-- but there was something different, something just barely a whisper, and yet growing louder still. It was familiar-- uncomfortably so.

“¡Estás muerto para mí! ¿Me oyes? From now on I have one son, and one son only!”

Despite the roll of nausea that snapped in his gut like a whip, and the latent numbness drifting down his limbs at remembering… then, he found himself chuckling. Nothing could convince him to run into dangerous and potentially deadly situations headfirst like the perk of hearing his very disappointed mother.

He slid one hand down the arm currently vicegripped around his waist and, somehow, threaded his fingers with Alex’s-- though it took some doing to pry the white-knuckled clench fisted in the clothes at his hip.

“How you holding up?” he asked over his shoulder. By now he’d seen enough shocked faces to realize that other people were also, probably, hearing less savory things from their past. Which meant Alex was, too; so he wanted to make sure the taller man didn’t faint out of fear or stress-- which had happened at LEAST twice in the short time they’d been… involved-- and fall straight off the dragon.

"It looks like we might have to dive in," he said, after watching a number of other people do just that. There was a giddy hitch to his voice as Gabriel circled the northernmost whirlpool, waiting for the acquiescence of his second passenger.

---

tl ; dr
- memo and alex arrive on alex's salamence
- they're out circling the whirlpools giving alex some time to come to terms with diving straight in
- will choose the northernmost pool to go into c:

Alexei Ivanov et all c:

☉

don't stare too hard at it, you'll be dizzy.
a nosedive into it is needed to pass safely.
but which one? you can ask for help,
but do be careful and discard your skelp!

It's clear as day in the golden sand before you; the words that brought you here have only given you -and many others- a new message to follow. The other? Disappeared between the waves, or so you've heard. Yvaine sighs softly and closes her eyes, focusing on the fickle wind carrying the scent of sea and salt with it. It settles on her skin, with the sun burdening it further. A whisper teases her ear, and as the mercenary focuses more it becomes a word. And that word becomes two when she takes a step towards the water.

Yvaine's instincts tell her to proceed. Proceed across the waves and towards the torrents far beyond the safety of shallow waters. If just a single step makes the sea-breeze speak more, what would soaring among the winds grant her? Gliscor's out within seconds, staring down at his trainer until she gives the wordless order to descent. The next moment they are airborne, their focus on the northern whirlpool as it picks up speed. Nearing its chosen target, the Gliscor comes to a standstill, floating in place only meters above the watery cesspool below.

The winds... no, the water whisper anew.

"You decide the ending..."

Peering down at the whirlpool's center, she cannot help but smile. "Very well... let's go down." Yvaine whispers underneath her breath, patting the Gliscor's head. "Free-fall into the center, buddy, and hold your breath!" Gliscor obeys and aims for the whirlpool's midst, clasping its wings against its side as it torpedo's down dead center into the swirling water.

@

☉

being here had potentially been the stupidest decision of lethe’s life, they decide. it’s not because of the riddles, or the strangeness of the situation. the place is simply crowded already, and lethe tends to have a short social battery. crowds have always been more than slightly intimidating to them. they’ll try to stick to themselves for a moment, they decide, then perhaps approach another (or wait to be approached; frankly, they’d feel overwhelmed by the choice of whom to approach.)

they shift their attention to the words on the sand, mulling over the words in their mind, looking between the whirlpools and the riddle. they think most people appear as lost as them on the riddle. there’s only one real solution they can consider with it, but they’re not much liking the sound of diving into a whirlpool. especially not one out of four, trying to figure out the right one.

they can just barely make out a sound; they think they hear human voices, though they sound far. they step closer to the water in hopes of hearing something more. they think any words might just be indistinguishable, and are able to give up on listening, when they’re suddenly struck by a phrase, and their blood runs cold for a moment.

“we’ll miss you.”

quickly looking around to see who had said it, they determine no one had been close enough to have done so. it had to have been those voices, surely, it sounded like none of the people they could see talking on the beach around them. wonderful.

o great mysterious, talking ocean, tell me your ways, they think, and whatever the hell is it you want, a tinge of sarcasm in the address.

they’re stuck by a cry from the waters, and almost do a double-take. that cry… they try to think back to where they had heard it before. it takes them a moment before they realize it was the call of a nosepass. they think harder on it. nosedive… nose. specific. they had to assume every word was chosen for a reason here. and skelp. metal, they knew that much from their brief time hired on to help a blacksmith. they hadn’t been good at it, but they remembered the words used, at least.

something about nosepasses. they try to think back to the few they’d met, who they’d learned to recognize the calls from. distinguishing features… they always face north, that’s about all they can remember. but it’s something. it’s more than something, actually; there appears to be a northern whirlpool. and others are heading towards it, now, appearing to have come to the same conclusion.

they take out chive’s pokeball, throwing it so the kingler could come out. they climb onboard, preparing themself for the dive into the northern whirlpool. they look back at the beach for a brief moment. then, they set off.

---

tldr:

- lethe is unsure and they try to look around and get ideas from others

- they decide they're too intimidated by the crowd to go up to the others, and resign themself to figuring things out alone (for now), and hope that someone else approaches

- they hear their phrase

- they hear the call and decide to go to the northern whirlpool based of what little they know and what they observe others doing

---

☉

was she really going to follow her brothers to a very likely mutual demise, again?[break][break]
she stood amongst the crowd, arms crossed and amber eyes sharp. she wasn’t sure why she was surprised they were both here, especially Rowan Wrynn , but it was enough of a distraction to have her lagging at the rear.[break][break]
should she stay behind this time? the last quinn, sole survivor of the noble galarian family? or were her parents not dead yet?[break][break]
her inner conflict and considerations were interrupted by a voice of unknown origin, soft, and ambiguous.[break][break]

”i don't want to hurt anyone.”[break][break]

her brow furrowed as she tried to place it, quickly surmising from those in her vicinity that she wasn't alone with the strange phenomenon. meanwhile, many were beginning to leave shore, headed for the northernmost whirlpool. her brothers were among them, and as she watched the last tip of Cillian Quinn ’s red dhelmise disappear, she took a decisive step towards the closest remaining carpool. [break][break]
by luck or by fate, it was jayden cross ’s samurott.[break][break]
”guess i’ll take you up on that,” she responded, nodding towards him with a flat smile, and cutting the distance to take hold of the pokémon.[break][break] as they left the shore into crowded, violent waves, she looked back once, only to glimpse FERNANDO SILPH there at the water's edge. quickly, she reoriented. had he seen her? unlikely, she supposed, considering... there was so much going on. still, a somewhat troubling possibility.[break][break]
as they sped past skyler dross  and her companions, lulu gave a two-fingered salute, though her focus remained ahead. if no one else, she’d absolutely expected the captain to be here.[break][break]
finally, as they disappeared into the whirlpool, the voice in her head became just clear enough.[break][break]
it belonged to Chu-e Choi . (x)

[attr="class","ooc"]

tldr:[break]
• is surprised bros are here[break]
• hears voice (belongs to Chu-e Choi from the day they met)[break]
• tags along w jayden cross on samurott to north whirlpool, spotting friends along the way[break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poipole"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-alakazam"][attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"]