Saryx Learns to Respect the Re-Dead(?)

With all of the everyboat piled up one next to the other, Saryx starts his preparation for goast funeral... By attempting to enlist the help of someone who actually has some experience in the field. A short walk over to the Lunar Blessing is all it takes for Saryx to reach Annette, wherever she may be on her boat. "... Hey, Annette?" He asks once he's got her in visual. "You mind me asking for your time any? I remember you saying you were involved with ghosts and the sort, so I figured you'd be the one to ask about this kind of thing."

He waits for Annette to give him permission before continuing with his story. "So, not all too long ago I was in the forests around Darkfeather, looking to find materials to use in a commission I got; while I was out there, though, I came across a ghost being hunted down by a pack of Mightyena. And I... Well, it's not like I couldn't have taken them all out on my own, I don't think, but... Well, you remember how at the beach party how bad I freaked out when that one ghost popped out of the sand? (She probably doesn't since she was the only one that got completely laid out by that, but maybe she caught Saryx screaming into Lil's tits.) It's like that with -all- ghosts. Or, well... It -was- like that when this happened. Up until now I'd just assumed all ghosts were awful and wanted to kill me. So when I saw -that- ghost I thought the same thing of it, and I... Well..." Around here's the part, at the absolute latest, that Annette would realize how much Saryx reeks of shame and self-loathing, complete with those 'Oh God I can't even say it' type pauses. "When the Mightyena turned on me, I convinced them all to just... go back to attacking the ghost like they were before. ... And they killed it... right then and there." (... I figure this would be a good point to pause as Annette would probably recoil in horror?)

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Annette looks absolutely terrified that Saryx was capable of this and is having a hard time making words come out

= = = = =

"It was already hurt, and cowering for its life up in a tree the same way a Skitty would. But I was... I was dumb. -Real- dumb at that, and let my fear of ghosts convince me that even if I -did- help it, the second those Mightyena were gone it would just jump on me."

A particularly long pause follows. "... The worst part is... I didn't even -realize- how completely stupid and ignorant and -wrong- I was until yesterday... I was too consumed by my fear and hatred of them to realize it was... Just like any other Pokémon. That's why... That's why I want to go back to the forest; to have, like... A funeral or something of the sort, Annette. Which is why I came to you about this, Annette. You're more familiar with ghosts than I am, so, well... There anything special I need to do for a -ghost- funeral that's different than the normal? Like, a prayer or ritual, specific materials...?"

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"The best I can suggest is to bring white rum with you, and two coins.  At least you can see why it was wrong now but...well...the damage has been done. I don't suppose there will be remains by now.  Leave them as an offering, like flowers on a grave."

= = = = =

"Yeah... It's a bit too late for 'sorry' -now-." He's quite reluctant to admit it. "... But it doesn't mean I shouldn't anyways. The remains are definitely gone by now, though. Thanks a bunch, Annette!"

If Annette has nothing else to say, either related to the ghosts or anything else, Saryx would work on rounding up those things (I imagine just coins, unless they're some kind of special coins, wouldn't require any effort, at least) and set off into the forests for that snapped tree.

= = = = =

Saryx treks through the woods with minimal issues - just a bunch of pissed off Nuzleafs that harassed him a bit.  It takes him a while to find the exact location that this occured, though.  None of the remains were left, so it was guess work for a good while until he stumbled upon a bead of a necklace next to a tiny snapped tree base.  On closer look there are a few bird bones scattered around here too, but nothing else persists.  Time and nature has wiped away the evidense of what happened here, but you're sure it's the right place.

= = = = =

Saryx, after wandering around the jungle and finding it, picks up the Misdreavus' bead. "... Well... This is the place..." He takes up a spot near the base of the tree, kneeling in front of it as one-by-one the contents of a bag, two small bottles of white rum (contents poured out from a single larger bottle) and several coins, are laid out on the forest floor. Saryx takes a bit with figuring out just -what- he's doing with the stuff he got before settling upon something: after setting the coins somewhere around where he thinks the Misdreavus had fallen, he pops one of the bottles open and starts sprinkling the ground around the area with it. "Maaan, I'm -really- hoping I'm doing this right. Should've asked Annette what exactly I was supposed to do with these..." he comments aloud, though particularly to himself, before setting the other bottle down between the two coins.

From his cooler, Saryx next removes a hastily constructed wooden signpost and a small container of blue paint, the kind he'd been using to add detail to some of his little wooden carvings. Upon the signpost, following a bit of deliberation he writes something down upon it, a quote he recalled from one of his animus, most likely taken neither from Pomf nor Mighty Moe Meduka. "It only takes but the ignorance of a single man to forever change the world for the worse." A more traditional 'Rest in Peace' message is soon inscribed upon the signpost beneath it afterwards.

After Saryx waits a bit for the paint to dry, Saryx picks the sign up and stamps it into the ground between the two coins; the other bottle is set down before the sign. Not really sure what to do next, Saryx resumes his kneeling position and starts reflecting upon what transpired that day; Saryx' terrible choices and how he'd coerced the Mightyena into resuming their attack on the poor Misdreavus. The expressions upon both its and Lysa's faces the whole time through. The latter's whimpering, her desperate pleas for Saryx' assistance. How the former cried out in such horror and pain once the tree snapped, and how the Mightyena pounced upon it relentlessly, tearing it to shreds in a matter of seconds...

Frankly, when Saryx had first come to his realization that ghosts weren't all eldritch murderterrors, after first a reluctant admission to the tune of 'I guess they're not all that terrible' followed by a quite jubilant 'They're not all bad... They're not all bad! :D' gleeful response, recalling the Misdreavus promptly elicited another repetition to the tune of 'Oh God what have I -done-?!?,' causing him to lose it right then and there and run off elsewhere within the library to break down into a regret-filled, sobbing mess. (As a side note, it was kind of because I imagined his reaction would be more or less this that I was so damned 'Nnnnngh...' in a bad way about just saying that he had the realization offscreen.)

It wasn't all too different this time; while it might've felt like an eternity for Saryx, it wasn't all -too- long before the waterworks started up again. Slowly at first, but by the end of it two tiny mixtures of the rum and his own tears would've likely formed two tiny pools of liquid on the ground beneath him. "I'm so, -so- sorry...," are the words he chooses to break the silence with. "I was stupid. A complete moron. I was too wrapped up in my own childish fears to realize you even had feelings like me or anyone else. That you were scared, and suffering, and needed help, and... And..." At this point, he can't hold his breath long enough to get full sentences. "You didn't have to die that day... I could have saved you! And I... I..." If there was an end to that sentence, well... Saryx never got to it. He'd just stay there, repeating one choked up "I'm sorry" after another until either something big enough happened to divert his attention substantially, or he just burnt himself out there on the forest floor.

= = = = =

As Saryx begins to weep, he notices a shadow crawl out of the brush and toward him.  It stops next to the rum and coins and seems to...absorb them.  The shadow expands, and for the faintest of seconds, you feel as if this is the scene before you, http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=820237 ...and then the shadow solidifies and http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=807221 is sitting on top of the little tombstone, staring at you silently. what do.

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Okay, sooo... The initial part of that, the shadow expanding all "Aaaarghlblaaaarghl!!!" ... I think a -lot- of people would shit themselves (figuratively, at least, anyways) when that kind of thing just up and happens right in front of them, morbid fear of ghosts or not. When Kal'fu's sequence starts up, Saryx tries to jump back, but ends up just falling backwards flat on his ass. Still in "Limbo Crab" position, he starts inching back, his whole body shaking... At least... Until he sees what actually emerges is Kal'fu. ... Admittedly, he's still quite unnerved, half because of the entrance and half because while it's true Saryx -did- just go all "They're not so terrible!" about 24 hours back, a phobia doesn't just magically disappear -completely- overnight. Regardless, Saryx puts on a brave face as he pulls himself back to his feet and prepares to possibly confront the babbytina. "H-h-hey!" Between being a bit terrified and having just been crying, his voice is quite shaky. "Those weren't... I didn't set those out for you!" ... He -might- be having a slow moment here; since he wasn't quite expecting a Giratina to jump out of the forest and snatch up the offering he laid out for the Misdreavus, if that was what was -supposed- to happen, two and two aren't quite adding up yet.

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The little dragon giggles. Or at least, the voice you hear does.  'Yes you did. Coins for the fewwyman and rum for safe passage.' Its a very primal sensation. Not like Aura, or Telepathy.  Its very much like your experience at storm with gabriella.

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Saryx is just plain confused at this point; he was inching backwards so that if a fight did break out between him and the Babbytina he could just grab his pickaxe and start swinging (... Not that he has any raw capabilities to combat a ghost, but that's besides the point), but once it starts speaking, he stops doing so. Still a bit fearful and voice still shaky, but at least not in combat mode. "Iiiii don't think you and me are on the same page here. I was just holding a funeral out here for a Pokemon that died not too long ago. What are you doing here?"

= = = = =

'I know.  That is why I am hew too.  It is my dooty to oversee these cewemonies. You wanna make a pwact wit me?'

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This would be a terribly inconvenient time for someone to point out he said 'duty,' wouldn't it? :B Buuut that's not -actually- going to happen, Saryx bursting into a fit of laughter over the baby saying -duty.- "Overseeing? ... You mean you... Saw the whole...?!?" Saryx' face turns flush red; he closes his eyes and covers the bottom half of his face with one hand. "-Maaaan,- that's embarassing! That was a -real- personal moment!" He looses his grip upon his face and looses a sigh shortly after. "And... a pact?!?" Blink blink. ... Yeah, he knows his Megucas well enough to see -exactly- where this is going. "Oh, no! I am -not- making a pact! Or a contract! Or -anything!- I've watched enough anime to know those -always- backfire on you!"

= = = = =

The little dragon is silent for a bit, then sniffles. 'uuuuu. No one wants to make a pwact wit me anymow. it droops its crowned head a bit and worms down the grave marker. 'What if I wower the cost? I can do wayaway too. Wow intewest woans...'

= = = = =

The Giratina's crying gets Saryx alarmed in a different way than before. He wasn't trying to make the poor thing -cry,- nor was he expecting it to! He moves forward to the Giratina, dropping to one knee. "Aaauuuuu... Come on, don't be upset, little guy! I didn't mean to make you cry! Ummm... Ummmmm..." He starts thinking, and a small flash of a lightbulb goes off in his head. "Tell me more about this pact, alright? I mean, it's just cartoons, right? What's that got on real life, anyways?!?" He puts on a smile for the little Giratina, and starts rubbing its back spines some. "Low-interest rates on layaway, too? It sounds like you've got yourself a good sales pitch! I'm all ears now, little guy!"

= = = = =

You dont quite touch it, Saryx. As your hand gets close you can feel just how cold this thing is. itd be like sticking your hand into artic waters.  Not really liquid nitrogen tier cold, but it eould have to be a very deliberate action. It does, however, wipe away the little tears. 'You ask fow something or I offew something, and then I name a pwice.  If we agwee the pwact is sealed!'

= = = = =

... Does the Heater Capability from the Beartic Cloak do anything to remedy that? Like, if he still can't touch it raw could he wrap his hand in the cloak to do so?

Yes. Now its like fresh snow cold.

Just the way he likes it :D And 'something,' hunh? Saryx is admittedly curious. "... What kinds of things can 'something' be? Like... What kinds of pacts have people agreed to before? Do you gotta ask for something material?" Alongside other questions that basically sum up to 'What can I and can't I ask for in a pact?'

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'Thewe isnt muvh you cant ask for! I cant tell you things mowtals wewe not meant to know though. But the gweater the weqwest the gweater the pwice'

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"Not much I can't ask for, hunh..." Saryx looks to the grave with a smile upon his face, then holds out the one pearl that he'd picked up off the Misdreavus' necklace. "... Could you... Could you bring it back to life?" A second's length pause before he goes to add on "... Not the pearl itself. The Pokemon that it belonged to."

= = = = =

'I couwd, but she bewongs to me now.  I would need a wepwacement for her.'

= = = = =

And with that, his hopeful expression's instantly shattered. "A... replacement?" Saryx bites on his lip and tugs at his shirt's collar. "... You don't mean..." The finger that was tugging on his collar looses its grip, and its direction's soon pointed in a direction he's really hoping it doesn't need to be. "... Me? ... Do you?"

= = = = =

'You would work.'  The little creature nodnods.

= = = = =

Saryx' response begins with weak, feeble laughter. "... This isn't... One of those things you offer layaway or 'Bill Me Later' packages on, is it?" His attempt to make humor's quite a transparent 'Do I really have to?!?' "I mean, it's not like it's not a fair trade, but...Well... Even if I do agree to that, I've got someone I need to make sure I help through all her problems before I... Well... You know..." Considering DC and 1NO just told him yesterday that the soul is what provides the body with the will to live, the thought really scares him shitless.

= = = = =

The little dragon tilts its head. 'You would become my possession fow aww etewnity and the ghost wiw wetuwn as she was. Is this not alwight? A sacwifice of a woved one would suffice.'

Can Kal'fu clarify what he means by 'becoming his possession?' Like, does that mean like a servant or something of the sort? Or something entirely different?

'Wife, death and beyond. I would own aww of you. Mind, body and souw. If this is too much we can discuss other options.'

= = = = =

Saryx really has to think hard on this, asking Kal'fu for a couple of minutes to think this over. Before long, though, after a good bit of deliberation, he returns to Kal'fu with his decision. "I thought about it, and, well... I goofed up -bad- that day, and I came here to apologize for what I did. To make up for that, well... It's probably the fairest way, my life for hers." For how he was freaking out just moments before, Saryx seems eerily calm now, as if committed to this fate. "However... I still have things here on this earth I need to do. And I need -all- the help I can get to accomplish that."

= = = = =

The tiny creature tilts its head in a curious manner. 'What do you want exactly, then?'

= = = = =

Saryx goes on to explain to Kal'fu the situation with Alice, in a way not too dissimilar to how he would later explain it to Beatrice, though with far less emphasis on love, sexytimes, relationships, and other mushy stuff of the sort. "I messed up bad there, too, and I already promised to myself I'd do everything I possibly can to make things right with her. Knowledge, strength... I don't care how. I just want all the help I can get to save her. ... And you're her friend, too, aren't you? Thinking about it like that, it's just as much in your interest as it is in mine to help Alice out."

"If that alone's not enough to get your help..." Saryx would start after but a brief pause of gauging the Giratina's initial reaction to that if it didn't seem like that on its own would be enough, "I heard yesterday that you got chased out of your home. It would be -real- nice having someone to help you claim it back, wouldn't it?"