ToT Chap2 - Something New Pt3

Back in Rivercross, Sonya sits before a small fire. Staring at the flames while her ears shift every often to catch any noise nearby.

She and a few others who volunteered tonight had been split up in to sections of the fields. Sonya by herself of course since without Yang beside her, she wouldn’t trust anyone else. She had taken a nap before her shift so she's not tired and can remain alert.

She’s not distracted enough to not remain alert, but she does have different thoughts racing through her head as she keeps watch. Wondering if Yang is alright. If she's upset she made her go to Mosswood first without her. If she got there safely.

Then they drift suddenly to the shiny male Eevee she ran in to and a frown comes to her face.

Why she's suddenly thinking of him she doesn't know. Was it because she's still suspicious of him? Their spar making her uncomfortable around him every time they meet and for some reason it seems they tend to meet often.

Her frown deepens as she can't seem to figure why she gets nervous or irritated at the mention of the male Eevee. Perhaps it was because he beat her so she's upset at losing. Then why does she feel nervous deep down. Was there something he was hiding?
Was he following her? Was that why they always seem to bump in to each other?

Her eyes narrow at that thought.

No. If he was following her he wouldn't act so strange when they meet. And if he was from her clan he would know who she is due to her sister.

Her sister......

Sonya looks to the side angry. Thoughts of her past now returning next and she starts to grow irritated.

All these random thoughts she's rather not focus on making her stand up and start to pace in front of the fire. Trying desperately to clear her head or find a distraction to keep her away from her thoughts.

Suddenly her ear twitches as she catches the sound of footsteps crunching on the ground. Turning quickly in the direction it came from.

"Come out." She says crouching ready incase of an attack. "I heard you."

More footsteps sound before soon a Frogadier appears. Sonya observing them, and looks a bit surprised seeing it's a female, then gets ready just incase.

Sonya narrows her eyes on the female Frogadier in front of her. The said pokemon just staring st her passively.

"Sorry no bandits allowed." Sonya says to the quiet Pokemon. Starting to get a bit uneasy at how she's just standing there. Making her a little on edge. "Just go back the way you came."

"You assume much to call me a bandit." The unknown female says finally taking a few steps forward. Sonya growing tense. "Usually my kind would find that an insult. Yet I am not one to act out on personal feelings so I will let this pass for now."

Sonya looks confused to the female. "If your not a bandit, why are you here?"

"Searching." Is all the Frogadier says as she looks around. "And observing. And perhaps doing suspicious things. Who knows."

Sonya's eyes narrow in irritation. "You better not be playing me by thinking you can distract me while other bandits try for the crops."

She looks back to Sonya with slightly narrowed eyes. Sonya crouched in a defensive stance now at the look. "I've already said I am not a bandit. Insult me once more and I will prove my skills are far superior than any lowlife bandit."

Sonya looks alert bit confused still. "Then what are you here for?"

"I just told you. Searching and observing." She looks around again. "This area is very quant. And there's quite a few good hearted Pokemon like yourself to lend this place a hand."

Sonya relaxes just a bit. Not feeling any ill intent from the female as she just seems to want to strike a conversation.

"I wouldn't know. I'm not from here." Sonya says to her.

"Of course your not. You don't give off the feeling of a local. Otherwise you'd know I wasn't a bandit." She replies looking back to Sonya. "You or your partner."

Sonya looks shocked hen alert glaring.

The female holding a hand up to stop her from doing anything. "Relax. I don't mean any harm to you or your partner."

"How do you know about us."

"As I said I was observing. Have you not been listening?"

Sonya makes a face realizing this female must of been here earlier watching Yang and the others as they tended the fields. Which also meant she saw them talking before.

The Frogadier sighs then turns around. "Anyway, I've observed everything I wanted so I'm satisfied. I'll take my leave."

"Wait!" Sonya cries taking a step forward. "Why exactly are you observing us?"

"It's my job to observe things I've been hired to do." She says to Sonya. "Whether it be passing information, studying someone, giving a message, or simply observing things and seeing how they turn out. That's my job."

Sonya looks suspicious at the female. "Guess you won't tell me what it is."

"Correct." She answers calmly. Then suddenly her eyes narrow seriously, making Sonya tense up ready. "Your partner. She carries with her a heavy weight. As do you."

Sonya looks shocked then her eyes narrow harshly. But before she can demand anything from the Frogader she just continues to speak.

"With her is a curse that has followed her since she escaped from the confines of her prison." The Frogadier says almost like she's reprimanding Sonya. "Yet even if she's 'free' she is still a prisoner of that curse and of her mind. Much like you with your own weighted chains of regret."

Sonya flinches at the last part. "How do you-"

"Never mind the fact you ignore your chains holding you back and try to focus on releasing the chains of your partner instead. How can you hope to help her when you yourself are being held back by your regrets?" She says sternly. Making Sonya grow nervous and dare she say it, scared.

The Frogadier remains quiet after that, looking as Sonya with narrowed red eyes. Soon the female sighs and goes back to passive. "Well, message passed. My jobs done."

Sonya gasps softly then looks confused. The female waves to Sonya with a small smile, "Try to think hard on what I said but don't let it get to you too badly. You and your partner have a long way to go and distractions can be bad. Just mull it over when you can. And don't worry, you'll see me again. Perhaps. Bye~"

She suddenly leaps off in to the nights shadows. Sonya alert and runs forward to try to catch her. "Wait!!"

Yet as she starts she stops. The female words ringing in her head, but Sonya is still concious of the fact she's still on duty. She can't leave her post or risk failing the task or having bandits make off with the crops.

She looks out to the darkness of the night and can't even see a thing. She sighs out in frustration.

Even if I try to follow her, their species are even faster and stealthier than me. And I can't leave until dawn. she thinks and tsks in frustration returning back to her campfire.

She still remains alert for any more surprises, yet for the first time in a long while, Sonya looks worried.

--

Back in Mosswood, Yang grows a bit restless in her sleep. The feeling of Nox's aura gone and slowly it starts to make itself known to Yang. Even in her sleep.

She makes a troubled face then gasps as her eyes widen and she sits up quickly.
"S-Sonya...."
She says out of instinct. Yet looking around she recalls where's she's at and the fact she's with Nox currently.

"N-Nox?"

Looking to his bed she gasps seeing he's not there. Realizing that is why she woke up. She looks around concerned and a little frightened. Part of her scared he left her.

Yet as she gets up from the bed and wakes up a bit more, she realizes she can still feel his aura far but close by.

Curious to why he left; she carefully follows where she can sense his aura coming from. Leaving the room and heading in the same direction he walked to.

She keeps her paws close to her chest in fear as she walks out in the night. Looking scared as she jumps or quickly looks in every direction and at every little noise she catches.

Subconsciously she follows the feeling of Nox's aura even thought she's quite frighten at being alone. The darkness around making her think she sees things. She jumps as she thought she hears laughter.

Her eyes widening in fear as she's not sure if she's imagining it or if it's real. The thought of the laughter making her start to shake.

"N-Not again...." She whispers as she hugs herself. Her shoulders starting to shake as the darkness and laughter begin to close in on her.

Yet before she takes another step, something cuts through the darkness.

She gasps softly as she is broken out of her fear and possible hallucinations by a voice.

A singing voice.

A deep singing voice she hasn't heard yet somehow it broke her out of her fears.

She quickly follows where she hears the voice coming from. Being like her golden light to help her get away from the laughter.

Anything she'll be glad to take to get away from the mocking voices.

She is light on her feet as she tries not to step on anything or make too much noise. Her fear of the laughter returning or losing the voice makes her try hard to not make too much noise.

She does make one mistake in her rush of not seeing a rock and trips over it. Falling forward in to a brush.

She winces softly, then sits up. Yet she stops realizing that she can hear the voice loud and clear.

Slowly, she parts some of the brush and looks through. Looking shocked as she comes across Nox on a hilltop.

And looks more shocked as she realizes the voice that helped her break through her darkness was Nox.

Before Nox continued to sing the last verse of the song he was singing did his ears twitched as he picked up the sound of someone falling into a brush and wince from it. He stopped singing as he turned his head towards the direction looking rather embarrassed. "W-Who's there? A-and are you okay?"

Yang flinches when Nox caught her in the brush. Quickly standing up with a few leaves on her head and a small twig in her pulled back bangs.

She looks nervous while sweating and stuttering out incoherent things. Not sure what to say or how to explain as she really enjoyed his singing, yet from how things are he could say she was stalking him when that wasn't the case.

He looks quite surprised seeing her as his ears leaned down onto his head and his face starts turning red out of embarrassment. Yang noticing how embarrassment he is as she grows quiet and look to him confused.

"W-w-what are you doing here Y-Yang? C-couldn't you s-sleep?" he quickly stood up and started move, but tripped over his own paw that caused him to roll down the hill into the little sea that was nearby with a loud splash.

Yang watches with wide eyes as he stumbles over his paws and rolls down the hill. She flinches when she hears the splash.

Shortly after that did his head resurfaced with a very, very embarrassed look by now. She continues to watch quietly as he resurfaced with a very bright red face.

She stares at him for a second, then suddenly a snicker escapes her mouth. She brings up her paw to try to hide her smile and her laughter building up in her chest.

Though try as she did, soon the giggles start to come and then erupt in to a full blown laughter. Yang holding her stomach while laughing in her hand with a smile.

Her laughter being true and honest while also being the loudest she's ever been in a long time.

Nox, though embarrassed before, now looks surprised hearing Yang laugh. Her laughter seeming to help break the tension they had in the beginning.

"Come on in, the water's surprisingly warm!" The grey furred Eevee said to her in his current situation before giving a silly remark of him without really noticing it. "I'd be a Glaceon by now if it wasn't!"

She starts to get tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. Nox making it hard to stop as he only continues adding to the amusement with what he said while walking out of the water.

Yang stumbling out of the brush in a fit of giggles. She lightly brushes off the twig and leaves off her while walking to him.

Both his fur and the worn-out blue scarf were drenched in water, and a moment later was he shaking his body like a dog to get himself sorta dry before taking off the scarf for the first time around Yang to wrench the water out of it. Despite the embarrassed blush on his face did he actually had a smile too, mainly because of Yang but he didn't really noticed it nor was he denying it.

She wipes her eyes once she's in front of him. Crying from her laughing fit and still smiling amused.

She calms down after some time. Then can't help but smile apologetically.
"I'm sorry Nox. I wasnt spying on you I promise." She says normally.

Then she looks to the side embarrassed. "I-I just.... you left the room and I didn't feel your aura anymore. It scared me so I came to look for you. I-I think I got s bit lost along the way and stumbled here."

She leaves out the fact she almost had another freak out. Not wanting to reveal yet that she too is haunted by things from her past.

"O-oh, my bad. I uhhh... I didn't told you that I sometimes tend to be awake during nights and that I sometimes go and take some fresh air during such nights." He told her with an undertone of apology while placing his scarf back around his neck.

She shakes her head, showing it was alright. She didn’t really explain to him why exactly she can’t sleep by herself so it was also her fault.

She then perks up excitedly. The fact she heard his voice and she sings herself perking her interests. "You have a wonderful voice by the way."

Suddenly she gasps then looks down ashamed. "I-I wasn't stalking or trying to make fun of you. Just I followed the voice I heard and it lead me here. I-It was lovely."

As soon as she confirmed him that she actually heard his singing voice and that she's found it wonderful and lovely did his head turned red again. "P-p-please stop, I-I'm n-nowhere n-near a-an a-actual s-singer..." Despite denying the praise and trying to hide his face in embarrassment, his grey tail still wagged side to side.

Nox appearing to open up to Yang now thanks to their little laughing session.

She is also internally grateful that he sang. Usually Sonya's bell is what helps her clear from her delusions. Nox's singing voice acted like a bell to clear them away this time.

She won't yet reveal this to Nox even though she truly wants to tell him thank you. Her fears still to strong to explain to him why. She makes a mental note that should she truly learn to trust Nox, she promises to remember this night and tell him thank you.

Yang looks excited to Nox. Still a hint of nervousness in her but she can't help but talk about Nox's singing.

"Y-You really are amazing Nox. D-Don't downgrade your gift." She says with a smile. Then looks down bashfully. "I-I can sing too.... b-but I can't be in front of others when I sing. I-I get nervous and my voice squeaks."

“You might be suffering from stage fright then.”

Yang looks down when Nox says she has stage fright. He was right.

She can sing in front of Sonya just fine, and deep down loves to dance and sing. Yet when in front of others she doesn't know she freezes or her voice squeaks.

She then giggles softly. "Sonya is trying to teach me to be more confident and to perform for the Artisans since I can sing and kinda dance. I-I would like to but I'm not ready yet to be in front of others."
She looks back up to him. "A-Are you considering singing for the Artisans? W-Would you be willing to give me some lessons? Y-Your very good."

Nox bashfully looked a bit away from Yang with a sweatdropped when she continued to talk about his singing voice.

Yang excited about something, a trait she doesn't always show unless with Sonya is with her, tends to ramble with questions. Eager to learn new things yet doesn't realize she is. Sonya usually stops her but unfortunately Sonya isn't there this time.

"Err... the thing is that I don't like to be in the spotlight at all... so I won't interact so much with the Artisans Guild if you were asking that. As for singing..." he shrugs his shoulders a moment after thinking about it.

"To be honest with you... is it a talent my mother had... she passed it down to me but I rarely singjust to calm myself down from thoughs that are bothering me." a calm sigh escaped him since he felt that he can trust Yang by now.

She does look curious as he now talks about his mom. Finding it sweet that he got something from his mother that's quite lovely.
Recalling he said his father was of military origins. Apart of her wondering where Nox is from.
Yet she knows to keep quiet with those questions since he too comes from a troubled past. She doesn't want to taint the good vibe they have going with unwanted questions.

"So I can't really give you any lessons in that... oh wait, I can give you a tip though... close your eyes whenever you sing and focus on your voice. At least did my mother told me that."

She looks interested when he gives her a tip. Keeping it in mind so she can practice later.

She smiles bashfully. "I-I'll try that next time. I...." She looks nervous with a small smile. "I-I would like to be a performer for the Artisans someday. O-Or even a dancing trainer...."

She shakes her head and smiles bashfully. "B-But we'll see. I-I have a long way to go." She then gives Nox a soft determined look. "W-Whatever path we decide to take, I know we'll get there someday. I-I wish us both luck."

A soft chuckle escapes Nox's mouth once the shiny Mienfoo told him her dreams.

"Yep, we all have a long way ahead of us despite our young ages. But giving up is not an option, not for me at least." was the male responding to her with a rather calm smile

She looks up to the sky and a happy smile comes as she sees all the stars above them. After talking with Nox so casually and easily, she finally can relax around him to not be as nervous anymore. Before she realizes it, she can feel her eyelids getting heavy and she rubs one of them sleepily. She then gasps in realization and looks back to Nox.

"A-Ah! I-It must be so late. A-and I'm making such a rukus with your singing. I-I'm sorry." She rubs her paws together nervously. "I-I can't sleep without someone nearby. I-If you wish to remain out here.... may I join you?"

The grey furred Eevee frowned for a moment from that though before seeing the eyelids of Yang starting to close down, making him realise what time it might be by now "A-ah... i-it might be midnight by now and we can walk back to the building if you want to. A-and don't worry about it, it was bound to be happen sooner or later that you might have heared me sing."

She yawns out while rubbing her eyes again. "I-If you don't mind going back then ok."

She can only imagine what Sonya's reaction would be if she ever finds out what she's all done after leaving Rivercross. Having the company of a stranger she doesn't trust completely. Almost having a freak out again only to be saved by said strangers singing. And even considering the thought of they being friends in the future.

Yet as Yang yawns again she realizes something. They've both told at least small things about each other. Their interests, a little of their fears, even a small portion of their pasts they don't mind to speak of.

In a way, they weren't really strangers anymore. They were..

"Aquantances...." Yang mumbles sleepily out loud with a smile. Though it wasn't friendship exactly, it was a start and that in a small way makes Yang happy. She giggles softly, not realizing she said that out loud since she's so sleepy.

Yang sleepily walked with Nox and as soon as they head back to the building and she sees the bed she fall right on it.
She curls up in her pillow and sighs out softly with a content smile and immediately falls to sleep after that.