.tomatorade
Stories
1
Chapters
11
Words
70.1 K
Comments
3
Reading
5 h, 50 m
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“Vol?” Volaphomet took in the sky. A big, open hole let it in through the guild’s square. Here, it got a perfect frame between the cliffs, a perfect rocky line surrounding her. Some mailbirds passed above, squabbling and loud. They cut through low clouds and vanished, but left strips of white fluff trailing after. They reminded her of prison. “Vol? Hey, Volaphomet?” Images of cells played across Volaphomet’s mind. Repetitive stripes of bars and repetitive bricks making walls that led…-
70.1 K • Ongoing
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Larcen had something to prove. He spent a couple days happening, as he did. Mostly he watched—Solder somewhere in his peripheral, sweltering beside a trail of Larcen’s own muddy pawprints. He focused on those. Something had to happen here. They had to stop thinking about the guild—separate themselves from it entirely. Not forever. Just a day or two. Solder got a little control back after his breakdown. It helped a bit, but he didn’t talk as much as before, happy to communicate in…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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Routine was good in Larcen’s book. Kinda boring, but hey, not everything had to be a battle—though that would make life more exciting. The mornings where he could follow a script and not think about it at all were, unfortunately, the best ones. The ones he functioned best. It rained the day after team weasels’ excursion with Landy. The meowstic had holed himself in the basement, with the cells and his feral. He’d thrown all the junk from down there back up into the lobby, but Larcen didn’t…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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“We’re going to the entrance plains.” It was the first thing Landy said as Team Weasels met him at the guild. It can’t have taken them more than a half hour, but he still scowled and shook his head as if they were late. Before either of them could respond, he sauntered off down the path. Landy was as eager to follow as he was to do anything, but a stray thought struck Solder as he watched the meowstic’s tails sway behind him. That thought pinned him to the ground. Landy had it easy. He…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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Some days passed after Solder’s breakdown. Luckily, few cared. Or, if they did, didn’t think to mention it. He and Larcen hung around the guild, mostly. To recover and relax. Solder still struggled with his thoughts on Klefki, but in some sense they also released him. He didn’t have to worry about her anymore. Or town. Turns out Seafolk might be cursed because with just a couple days away from it and absolutely no plans to return, Solder had a new energy he hadn’t felt before. He held himself…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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Seafolk’s alleys were almost a relief compared to the docks. Cramped, piled with nets and traps and other old fishing equipment, lurking under the shade of the buildings and towering platforms jutting from the roofs, really, they weren’t that inviting. But the bay wasn’t getting another visit from Solder if he could help it. He must have looked like a lunatic walking around the docks, sidling alongside the seafront buildings and sending nervous looks out to sea whenever a wave crested the dock…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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The guild lobby lay empty as Solder and Larcen woke up and went through Larcen’s morning routine. Food? Check. Bags? Check. Grooming? Well, Solder had had enough of that yesterday. He could stand to look a little scruffy. Sure, Larcen tried to tease, but the buizel couldn’t get his fur to cooperate no matter how hard he tried. Even after an hour of preening in a half-broken mirror leaning against a stack of crates, he managed to look worse than Solder, who just rolled out of bed and decided that was…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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While it would be fun to ignore all the warning signs, Solder felt awkward sitting on a pin as obvious as Larcen’s theft. They hadn’t known each other long, but it seemed like they’d be sticking together and Solder wasn’t excited to get pinned as an accomplice because it turned out the buizel was a master thief or something. Sure, Larcen reassured him he wasn’t, but he did it clumsily. A simple: “Why do you steal?” got something like: “ Well, uh… stealing’s not a super big deal…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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By the time Solder and Larcen got back to the guild it was late, the dusky grey sky melting into a pure black. Larcen had shuffled back onto his couch. He’d conked out the second he sank into the cushions, kicking up a cloud of dust that Solder watched settle back onto the floor. Meanwhile, Solder couldn’t sleep. He stretched out into his blankets, stared at the ceiling, hummed a little tune, turned over, then went back to stretching. Over and over again, watching other guild members slowly trickle…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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Solder didn’t know what to expect when he entered the innards of the guild; he could only imagine as he squinted through the transition from the darkness of the hallway into the brightly lit main room. Luckily, he didn’t have to imagine for very long. The room was large, a space carved in the mountain that could potentially hold a hundred standing pokemon. Unfortunately, scattered furniture arranged in random circles closed everything in. Couches, chairs, and tables all gathered in their own…
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70.1 K • Ongoing
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