[attr="class","samknox2"]

[attr="class","samknoxw"]Kepler was an academic but even more than that he was a scientist. There were so many weird fucking things that happened in the world that had bizarre but entirely plausible explanations-- there was no room in the world for fucking ghosts.

“Like, yes, they exist,” he said, voice taking on a slightly manic tone as he sank into his rant, “they are real. But they’re not-- kidnapping people or stealing souls or whatever the fuck else back-country mumbo-jumbo likes to say about them.”

He didn’t realize that Jayden had agreed with him and already moved the fuck on so he wisely shut the fuck up and tried to hide his blush by staring hard at the ground.

The sunset was turning the sky purple around them.

"Why would the League care about the dregs of society?" he asked, eventually, when the silence got to be too much.

[attr="class","samknoxt"]jayden cross - mission: we all float

[attr="class","samknoxc"]☉

[attr="class","samknox2"]

[attr="class","samknoxw"]Kepler makes a noise in the back of his throat, something between a laugh and a scoff. “You got me there,” he allows, listening as Jayden continues his tirade about the League.

And Kepler didn’t not agree but he also wasn’t, like, the type to crawl out from under Dahlia’s bed and murder her in the night. Rocket was a means to an end, and if he had to learn the gang signs and secret club passwords along the way, so be it.

Phobos hums a note and bumps along beside them, as innocent as ever. Kepler’d hoped bringing her along might make the other ghosts more willing to appear. From his research, the Drif line of Pokemon didn’t do so much in the way of thinking.

As if by magic, a few purple orbs began to materialize out of the dark, floating amongst the trees.

Kepler snaked a hand up to wrap his fingers comfortingly around Hagakure’s hilt.

“So I’m gonna use myself as bait. If they start stealing my soul, please intervene.”

And he stepped forward.

[attr="class","samknoxt"]jayden cross - mission: we all float

[attr="class","samknoxc"]☉

[attr="class","samknox2"]

[attr="class","samknoxw"]One hand around Hagakure’s hilt, Kepler steps forward and is quickly surrounded by a small swarm of Drifloon. The little purple orbs make their cooing noises at him, which sound like a helium balloon getting twisted into the shape of a small animal.

The rumors say Drifloon like to kidnap small children and Kepler is certainly small enough to be perceived as a child… but he’s a child holding onto swords, he reminds himself, and so he doesn’t jump at the first touch. He’s used Phobos’ lines to pull himself up enough he’s certain it’s not going to curse him as the Drifloon drag their little heart-shaped feelers over him. Like pulling on a Ninetails’ tail: just another myth.

“They’re kinda cute,” he says, half a giggle, as his vision is completely blocked out by burbling purple balloons. And he doesn’t even notice that anything is changing until there’s a horrible shrieking sound and all the Drifloon scatter; and he’s staring off into the fog-shrouded hellscape that haunts his nightmares:

The Borderlands.

“Oh, fuck…”

[attr="class","samknoxt"]jayden cross - mission: we all float

[attr="class","samknoxc"]☉