Private/Closed The Dream (RP)

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

You are a pokemon gijinka, living in a beautiful little town. The streets are lined with sweetshops and boutiques and music and dancers. Your only task here is to fritter your days away in decadence, eating, playing, and having fun. It's perfect here... Too perfect. It's merely a dream. Question it, and it will become a nightmare. So you will attempt to wake up, but the thing is, you have no idea who or what will be waiting for you when you wake up...


Grand jete, then steps, pirouette, and finally, finish. And wait for the applause of the audience. That was Rue's routine. And it had been for the last... She didn't really know. But it didn't matter. Ballet was the kirlia gijinka's passion, and she got to dance every night. How many gijinka can say that they do what they love for a living?

She finally got up, bowing to the audience before she walked off of the stage, over to the team of other pokemon who were there to perform as well

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen watched Rue as she finished her performance as the audience applauded. Inwardly, she sighed as she continued to put a smile on her face. Kathleen nodded toward Rue's direction as she started on stage. Using a form of razor leaf, She made the leaves circle around her as she did her electro lights performance using the spotlights to reflect the different colors of the leaves. When she was finished Kathleen bowed as the audience applauded, She had done for many more nights then she can remember. Kathleen got off stage and headed over to Rue. "how long have we been doing this?" She asked to Pokémon twisting her ribbon on her arm.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

The kirlia placed a contemplative hand on her chin, as if to feign deep thought... But she took it away quickly and instead, clapped her hands together in front of her chest.

"I'd say about an hour and half. There's three more performers to go on until we close for the night!" Rue simply answered, re-tying the ribbons on her pointes, "After that, I was gonna go and get pokepuffs at Lex's."

Lex's Bakery was but one of the many places to eat in the little town, owned by a blind and mute braixen named Lex. Disabilities aside, he could make better pokepuffs than most of the able-bodied pokemon, and the only one in town who could even come close to his skill in the kitchen was Sophie, a vaporeon gijinka who owned Keep On Muffin'.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen avoided her gaze. She was not sure if the pokemon even mnew what she ment or was advoiding the question. "Yea..." Kathleen replied. "I think i might join you. I am getting hungry myself." She put on her smile again with saying the 2nd part. Truthfully she has had these thoughts about it more recently but was not sure if the other or anyone else knew. So she had kept these things to herself and kept a smile on.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Without taking any notice of her leafeon companion's tone, Rue diverted her eyes towards the stage. A jynx was doing her stand-up routine, as always. Seriously, though, she did the same routine every night. And though it had been funny the first few times, it was starting to bore Rue. But it always got the audience wetting themselves with laughter.

"That jynx really ought to write some new material. Doesn't it bother anyone that she tells the same jokes every night?" The kirlia mused.

 

[Geno Gala]

Quietly siting somewhere in the back putting Geno's hoodie swinging Geno's katakana staring straight at the Kirlia and Leafeon watching there every movement hoping not to get detected , starting to double kick the chair next to Geno slowly going to a stop thinking why Geno's here in the first place. @Prince Noir @Shadowgirl1234

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Come to think of it, Rue, along with Kathleen and some of the other performers were the only ones who ever changed their acts, night by night. Everyone else always did the same thing. And it wasn't like any of the performers had rules about their performances to abide by. They simply put on whatever kind of show that they wanted. So why did none of the other performers ever change their acts...?

The jynx strutted confidently off stage, over to Rue and Kathleen, and asked, for the hundredth time, "So, how was my routine tonight?"

"Uh, yeah, great," Rue assured her, "But maybe you should tell some different jokes tomorrow night"--

"What's that supposed to mean? Were they not funny? Oh, I knew it, I'm terrible at this! I should just give up on comedy and go back to"--

Rue frantically shook her hands. "Oh, n-no, what I meant was, uh...uh..." The kirlia fumbled awkwardly about for a suitable answer, "Help me out, somebody!" she hissed.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen looked at jynx start in the eyes. "Go back to where?" She asked to jinx. Truthfully she did now know the jinx very well and wanted to know were she came from.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Y'know what, I... Actually don't have a clue!" the jynx returned quickly, thinly veiling the second part of her answer, "Silly me, can't even remember what I was doing before I came to this town!"

"That makes two of us, at least," Rue added, "Y'know, I can't remember anything about what I did before I moved into this town either. As in, I can't even remember who my friends, or even my family were..."

 

[Meepy]

Ivan clapped as the performers finshed there acts. He took a glance at his seemingly broken watch, it wasnt all broken, maybe an hour or two off. He sighed, and dozed off minutes later, the few scales on his arms and legs, and the crest on his head, changed to a dark grey color soon after.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore watched the show from the sidelines, a fat cigar burning away in between his middle and index finger. He took another drag and blew a ring of smoke from his mouth, relishing the vile flavour it coated his mouth with.
Those closest to him gave him sidelong glances with weary eyes. It was uncommon to see a guy his age smoking. Or, perhaps, it was uncommon to see his species smoking. He recalled that the burning of tobacco was more so a featureless Gijinka's tradition.
Not that he, nor anyone else, remembered the featureless Gijinka. Salvatore had been having dreams about them for days now. They looked like Gijinka, but were without tails and claws and scales and fur. They were, as the name entailed, featureless.
Tore scratched beneath his hat with his yellowing nails and dropped the ignited roll, crushing it into embers with the heel of his shoes. He trudged past the crowd with a grimace, feeling as though he were missing something.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

"Same..." Kathleen said quietly before looking around. All the performers seem to have finished as they were leaving now. kathleen used a harmless razor leaf on ivan after she caught him sleeping. "Dont sleep in the theater!" She called angry before turning back to the pair. "Its weird though isnt it? I mean we dont remember anything from before this plus the smiles are giving be creeps" Kathleen said and added the last part quickly as a smiling sandslash walked past.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"I think that you're both being crazy," the jynx interjected, tossing her cheaply-dyed hair, "Ain't nothing wrong with making the audience laugh! And I suppose that your families mustn't care about you very much if they never visit!"

"You've got a point there," Rue agreed, turning back to Kathleen.

The jynx observed her fellow performers carefully, as a rough smile spread across her plush lips.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore kept the brim of his hat down as he streamlined towards the exit, eyes flashing a malicious red. He couldn't remember what had drawn him to the crowded theatre, but he regretted entering. Everyone was much too jovial for the marauder's liking.
Generally, the town was taking a toll on Salvatore's patience. He rarely got a chance to himself, as if some divine entity were forcing him to wander the streets aimlessly. Whenever a thought of sin or debauchery drifted through his head, it was immediately plucked from his brain by an omnipotent hand.
He may have been losing his mind, perchance. Or maybe something more sinister was taking place behind the seams.
Lost in his head, he roughly shouldered past a Kirlia gijinka who had obviously preformed sometime during the night.
"'Scuse me, doll face," he muttered gruffly.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen just stared at the two no emotion showing on her face just as a murkrow bumped into rue. "Scuse me, doll face" He muttered to Rue. Kathleen just looked at the two one more time before saying, "i have a feeling" She muttered almost to herself. "I am heading tword Lex's bakery." She said a bit louder to make sure they heard her as she left. Outside she started heading tword the bakery thinking. 'How can you no remember family?' Kathleen though as she walked down the street.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue peered over at a murky murkrow gijinka, surprised by his unshaven appearance. His breath reeked, presumably of tobacco, which too, was quite the sight. In such a squeaky clean town as this, Rue had to wonder what he was doing here. Oh, judging by his choice of words, he was here to ogle her and the other performers. He probably fantasized about sticking his grubby hands down her pants the entire time that she was on stage.

"It's not doll face, thank you very much, my name is Rue," the kirlia gijinka snapped, "And what do you want?"

 

[Cicada]

The outlier paused in the middle of his lumbering step, raising his narrow face over his shoulder. Unsurprisingly, it was the girl he had brushed by. He repositioned himself so that he stood before her with his chin up.
"Didn't mean no disrespect, Ms. Rue," he assured her, tipping his hat in an almost mocking sign of respect. "Ballerina, right?"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Indeed I am," Rue answered, rising up en pointe so that she could sneer down at him, "Been working here since... I don't remember, not that it's any of your business, of course. I saw the way that you were looking at that Lopunny."

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore was taken aback for several seconds after her accusation. He gave her a sleazy grin, brow softening. He lowered his head so that their eyes were on level with each other.
"Listen, doll," he went on, making a dismissive gesture with his hand, "it's not like I'm here to make any wrong moves, so you can rest that pretty head of yours easy, aight? I was going to compliment you on your work, but you don't seem to be the type to listen to an underclassman, am I right?"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Underclassman, you say? As if I'd make a judgement like that, when I have barely a pokedollar to my name myself," Rue scoffed, "Some of the townsfolk appreciate my work, but it's not as if there are any other theatre companies out there who want to take me on. As nice as this town is, I'm basically stuck here."

Her heels lowered to the ground again, and she leaned in close, so that none of the passing gijinka would hear, "Y'know, if there's even anything beyond this town. I'm quite certain that none of us could leave this place, even if we wanted to."

 

[Cicada]

Although sympathetic throughout her spiel, droplets of sweat beaded on his forehead at her last ballad. He glance to either side of himself anxiously and lowered his hat inconspicuously.
"I've noticed that myself," he said softly, all charisma drained from his voice. His tone was urgent, afraid of some unbeknownst punishment for his words. "I hate this town. I've seen my fair share of crime, so I have a good sense of atmosphere. This place is coloured all kinds of wrong."
His breath caught, wondering if he had said too much. The change in him was astronomical; he had completely collapsed in on himself.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Wrong. Rue really did have to wonder about that assumption. The loveliest rose could hide the sharpest thorns, or so they said. And never had such a saying been more true up until now. This town was perfect. Nobody ever stepped out of line. Everyone was always smiling, always happy, no matter what they busied themselves with, day to day. The entire place had a routine, which they followed down to the letter, not much unlike the other performers in the theatre, who did the exact same act every night. Truth be told, it was creepy.

"Something's definitely up," the kirlia agreed, lowering her voice to a soft whisper, even though most of the other gijinkas had left by now, "The way everyone just does the same thing, every day... It's like they think that they're being watched."

 

[Cicada]

He nodded curtly, eyes lingering on her face as if he were seeing her for the first time. He had thought he was the only one who had noticed the town's eeriness in the entirety of its chipper population. Now knowing this ballerina of all people, too, saw the world through his eyes took an enormous relief off his slouched shoulders.
"Say, before," he said, wetting his chapped lips, "you said you didn't remember how long you've worked here. Do you remember... Well, anything at all? Before town, that is? No matter how insignificant?"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Not one thing," Rue said matter-of-factly, "I didn't really care about that, at first, but as they days have gone by, I've found myself asking questions about my family and friends. I definitely had a family, that's for sure. Are they perhaps dead, or do they just not love me?" the kirlia mused aloud.

She'd asked some of the others living in the town about their lives before moving here, but most of them had either avoided the subject, or started weeping and wailing about how they couldn't remember, either.

"What about you?" Rue finally enquired, reaching for a whiskey bottle on her vanity table. It had no alcohol in it, just sweet pecha berry juice, but she'd never tell the other performers that.

 

[Cicada]

Her account only confirmed his fears.
"Nothing upright," he admitted, feeling like he needed another cigar despite having smoked one minutes before. He scratched at his jawbone with a single finger contemplatively. "Things come and go in my dreams, but I can't make heads or tails of the stuff. I haven't really been thinking of friends or family - which says something about me, I guess - but I feel like I'm missing something important. Who's to say my name is even my real name?"

 

[shiguregure]

Noelle walked past the Murkrow and Kirlia gijinka in conversation about something and right out of the theater and down the street, into Lex's bakery.
"Hey, Lex!"
"Hi, Noelle."
It seemed to be the same routine for the entire town every single night. At around nine, everyone would file out of the theater and some would come into Lex's Bakery. Also, the bakery had almost the exact same customers every single night for the past few...can't remember. Never mind. Today there was a new customer, a Leafeon gijinka.
"Hi! Would you mind if I sit here?"

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen opened to door the bakery usinger her head. She walked up to the counder to be greated by a smiling pokemon. "Um just a pecha berry ball for me Lex." The leafeon said in her fake cheerful voice and the pokemon nodded still smiling. Kathleen sivered when the pokemon smiled at her. For some reason the brainex's smile always creeped her out. Personality, she did not mind the fact that the pokemon was blind but just the smile freaked her out as she went to sit at one of the tables and thought. Kathleen looked outside to see smiling and laughing pokemon. 'It seems so off' She though just as she tried to concentrate on per past. "Nothing..." She sighed quietly as lex came up with her dessert. "Here" The pokemon said as the brainex turned back to behind the counter. Kathleen began to eat the food just as an idea came to her head. sudenly, a glaceon came up and asked to sit. "Sure!" The leafeon said with a smile. "My name is Kathleen by the way." She replied trying to brush away her bloody idea. 'I cant be that way' she though as she kept her smile on.

 

[shiguregure]

"Okay, thanks! My name's Noelle. Seems quite obvious for an ice type, and I have no idea what my mom was thinking when she named me that. Come to think of it, I don't even remember anything about her, but whatever. That'll have to wait." Then she noticed Kathleen's expression. She could read people well enough to know when they were troubled. "Hey...you alright?"
Noelle thought it may have been something about this town. Sure, it was awesome, but it seemed to be a little, well, strange. Sinister, even. Well, this place was slightly too perfect. She remembered that in her old town, it was slightly chaotic, but that made it slightly more lively.
Hang on a second, I remember my old town?
She blinked hard twice, tried to hide the panicked expression that was forming on her face, and decided to focus on her dessert instead.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

The murkrow's speech rung a bell in Rue's head, reminding her of her earlier conversation with Kathleen. She'd been oblivious to why the leafeon gijinka had dared to question the sameness of everything here before, but... Now, she knew.

"I don't think that we're the only ones who've noticed that something's up," the kirlia added, "You remember Kathleen the leafeon, right? She was on just after me, and I have reason to believe that she knows something about this town that we don't."

The kirlia headed towards the door, stuffing her whiskey bottle in her back pocket, "She's at Lex's right now. Maybe she could help us figure out what's going on in this town, if we can get her to talk."

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore hesitated, lifting his hat in order to slick his unruly hair back. He vaguely evoked the Leafeon's performance, but hadn't remembered her name. His heart sang in anticipation of the next piece of evidence that would take him a step closer to solving this mystery.
"Right," he agreed, nodding mostly to himself. He rubbed the fatigue from the right of his hooded eyes and straightened his back, glancing about the theatre suspiciously for any signs that someone had overheard their conversation. "If you would."
He gestured for her to lead the way with a sweeping motion of his arms.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue lead the murkrow out through the back door without bothering to change back into her street shoes. Her pointe shoes were a killer on her toes, but they were light and easy to run in, should a situation arise in which she needed to run.

Lex's Bakery was as packed as it always was; every seat on every table was occupied by gijinkas, laughing and joking and stuffing themselves with an array of desserts. Rue side stepped an expressionless Lex as he walked past with a tray of poffins, checking behind herself to check that the murkrow was still there.

She found Kathleen and a glaceon sat at the back, and she bent down, so that only Kathleen would hear as she hissed, "My place. Now. I need you to discuss what you said earlier with me and, uh...." Rue had only just realised that even though she had shared so many of her suspicions with this murkrow, she had completely forgotten to ask for his name.

She turned to face the murkrow again, keeping her voice low, "What's your name?"

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

"I am fine" Kathleen said quickly just as a slight look of panic entered noelles face. Kathleen did not notise as Rue and a murkrow went up to them. "My place. Now. I need you to what you said earlier with me and, uh...." Rue said as she turned to the murkrow asking for his name. Kathleen couldn't hide a sinker at the pokemon before turning back to noelles. Kathleen gave a minute before saying somthing to her. "We want to come with us to Rues place?" She asked the glaceon. From first glance at the way the short conversation went and the way she acted Kathleen knew somthing was off. Kathleen glanced around to see a few hard glaces from some pokemon and others acting like nother wrong. 'Now they know' She though.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb amid the bright and colourful shop and customers. The scent of baked goods made his stomach churn, as he had never been much for sweets. He wanted to leave its vibrant atmosphere as soon as he could.
He kept his head down and hid the lower portion of his face in the collar of his cloak. He sneaked glances at the equally bright interrogator and their suspect. The tin of tobacco felt heavy in his pocket.
"Salvatore," he murmured to his accomplice, the "r" rolling off his tongue. He felt the shop's patrons resting their apprehensive eyes on his back.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Salvatore," Rue repeated. If this were one of her ballets, she'd have begun a pas de deux with this man right about now, complete with mimes about a sinister plot, while an ominous string orchestra played. Ballet aside, what was to say that they didn't have a sinister plot in the works? Sinister, at least, in the eyes of this squeaky clean town.

Having noticed the suspicious glances of the surrounding customers, Rue turned around, to face the pokemon she was after. She rose up en pointe, and fluttered her eyelashes at Kathleen, hands clasped together as she giggled, "You absolutely must come to my place, and join Salvatore and I for some tea. I've got this blend that's simply perfect for cleansing the palate after eating sweets."

It was perfect. A jovial façade, which would arouse absolutely no suspicion from the surrounding gijinkas. Who may or may not be after them.

And it worked. Almost all of the gijinkas went back to their desserts.

 

[Cicada]

The coffee-drinker would not dare to drink such glorified leaf water in the entirety of his pitiful life. Still, he tried to lighten his brow and nod as if this were completely his plan. As a thief, he had never been much for the dramatic arts as was required for assassination or secret service. He was trained to stick to the shadows and keep from seeming too conspicuous.
Perhaps, however, the best way to stay undercover was to put on a facade of his own.
He removed his hat and dusted it off, corners of his mouth upturning in a gentle grin. Salvatore held the hat to his chest, a strand of greasy hair falling into his malicious eyes.
"Please," he insisted in a strikingly bright tone, "call me Tore."
The tension in the shop, which had been thick enough to slice with a knife, dispersed respectfully. He let out a restful sigh.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue wasted no time at all in making her next move. Continuing on from Salvatore's cue, she leant over, and trilled, "Oh, and you have to come with us!" To the glaceon. Now, all of her bases were covered. Her psychic was pretty powerful, so she could lose the glaceon, or silence her, if need be. Kathleen wasn't stupid. She wouldn't have dared to share her knowledge of this world with someone whom she barely knew.

"Well," Rue continued, "Let's ring up the bill for you guys, and get going!"

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

'I hate this part of me so much' She though angrily. "Oh course" Kathleen purred. "I would love some tea." Kathleen finished her dessert just as the mute owner stopped by. "Hey lex can you ring us up, please." She called to her.

 

[shiguregure]

"Alright. I'll finish up and we can leave." Noelle paused to take a bite. The Pecha berries tasted less like her favorite berries and more like sawdust mixed with cream and syrup. She wondered if Lex had been trying out a new recipe or if it was just her nerves about the town.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore stood with his hands in his pocket, cloak enclosing him like a protective barrier, and waited. He scratched at his shallow cheek with his jagged nails, leaving thin, white blemishes in their wake.
"Maybe it'd be better if I waited outside," he voiced aloud to his companion, already sickened by the scent of sugar and cheery atmosphere. "I need to roll another cigar, anyway."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue's leg twitched anxiously as she watched Salvatore leave, and then switched backed to Kathleen and the glaceon. Her left shoe was tremendously loud against the hard wooden floor, due to its thick and heavy toe box. If this kept up, she'd have to use psychic just to hold her leg still.

She watched intently as the glaceon finished her dessert. Now that she was aware of how... Sinister this town seemed, she too was rather eager to get away from the prying eyes of Lex's clientele.