A warm fire on a cool autumn night

[planking]

Who: Flint and errybody
What: A bonfire!?
Where: Somewhere on campus
When: Today??
Warnings: Stuff on fire

Despite the moon looming in the sky and the campus in shambles, Flint insisted on keeping up some semblance of normalcy. So, in between the rubble, he raked the fall leaves from the campus grounds, gathering them all into a large pile in an empty clearing. There, now the grounds were... still mostly in ruins, but he could see the grass again.

As for what to do with the leaves? Well, nobody seemed much in the mood to jump in them, so he does the next best thing: sets them on fire!

Once the bonfire is roaring, He sits on the ground near it and just sort of. Contemplates.

Comments

[feelings_of]

Mesprit was drawn to the flames for reasons she didn't quite understand. Ever since her traumatic encounter with Cyrus, she was experiencing feelings she didn't recognize. Or like, for that matter. They were much more negative than she was used to. This roaring fire seemed to mirror her emotions as of late.

She floated near it, but kept her distance. She was sensitive to the heat, and the gap gave her a better view of the billowing flames.

[kumagypsy]

"Whoops, comin' though!" A voice exclaimed from behind a giant stack of hot dogs.

Kumatora dumped the skewers and food on the ground, then turned around to see who she almost ran into. "Sorry, my bad!... Hey, you okay?"

[feelings_of]

Mesprit flailed and scampered to the side to avoid the oncoming human and her load. After the foodstuffs hit the ground, she floated back over to her spot on the ground, growling.

"I'm fine. What do you want? Have you come to share your repulsive human food?"

[kumagypsy]

Kumatora's eyebrow nearly went into orbit at the sight of the cute floating Pokemon being so angry.

"Whoa, hey, who pissed in your Cheerios today?"

[feelings_of]

Mesprit had no idea what Cheerios were. She really didn't care to ask for clarification. She was just so... MAD right now!

"No one's 'pissed' in my anything. I'm tired of this cruel planet, its stressors, and its guise as being a world of anything other than pessimism. What do you want?" she repeated grumpily.

[punchtheflute]

"Hiiii!"

Prepare for an incoming burst of Pure Cheerful.

"I haven't seen you around much, Mesprit! How are you?"

[feelings_of]

((Oh guh, Sonny Moe, RUN. RUN AWAY FAST.))

Mesprit turned her head and glowered at him. His cheerfulness used to be refreshing to her, but now it rubbed her the wrong way. She wasn't sure why, but she was irritated nonetheless.

"Oh. You." She turned back to the fire. "I've been... around. And I've felt better. Things have changed since I last saw you. You may not find me very fun to be around." She was serious. She hoped he'd take the hint to leave her the hell alone.

[punchtheflute]

Wow! That was a really different sort of reaction than he had been expecting.

"Oh! OK! I'm sorry that you're not doing so well!"

He was notoriously bad at taking hints, however. He walked a little closer and leaned in a little.

"Is there anything I can do to help? I still have a whole pile of Halloween candy if you want some? Or I could play you a song! I've been learning new ones. Or you could try to play my Ukulele again if you want? I know you had fun with that - maybe that would make you feel better?"

He's trying!

[feelings_of]

Mesprit leaned away from him with disgust.

"No. I don't want your food or your noise. I just want to be left alone!"

She felt odd. She felt bad somehow after saying those things. What were these strong feelings? Guilt? Is this what remorse feels like? She couldn't help herself and gave in...

"...Sorry. As I said, things have changed. I'm dealing with a lot right now." She wanted to tell him to leave her alone once more, but this guilt thing was preventing her from doing so.

[punchtheflute]

"Hmmm." Sonny replied, leaning back a little. So weird! It was almost like she was a completely different Pokémon!

"Well, if you really don't want any company, I can go? But just remember something - we're friends! So, even if something has changed or something bad has happened, I'm here if you need to talk about it!"

He did his best to keep smiling for her. Even if he felt a little stung by her wanting to be left alone, that wasn't the point. She was the one dealing with... whatever it was she was dealing with. He had to respect that and be supportive anyway!

[feelings_of]

Ugh. Things were so much simpler when Mesprit barely understood what was going on with people. She'd gotten by by just assuming everyone had good intentions. It kept her happily ignorant, at least. But now... people had hurt feelings. Sensitivity. Complexity. Clearly it would take a while before she could understand them better. She'd have to understand her own feelings first.

She rubbed the back of her head, now feeling not just guilt but embarrassment. Embarrassment for being hostile when he wanted nothing more than to be a source of positivity.

"Um... you don't have to go." She was having a hard time stringing two words together, let alone analyzing whether or not she wanted to talk about anything. She couldn't tell if she wanted to feel these bad feelings by herself or to let it out while risking possibly hurting someone in the process.

She wriggled with obvious discomfort. "S-something bad did happen."

[punchtheflute]

"Aw, I'm really sorry to hear that." he replied, his smile disappearing completely. He meant it, too. Mesprit was usually such a relentless little ball of positivity - he felt she was an even more cheerful person on the whole than even he was and that was saying a lot! To know that something bad had happened to her hurt. Especially because, as a friend, he wanted to be there to keep his friends safe and happy always.

"You can talk to me about it? If that would help? Or if you don't want to, you don't have to, and we can talk about something else to maybe take your mind off of it?"

Distraction didn't often solve problems, but it could be a good stop-gap when you just weren't feeling up to facing those problems. Give you a break and a rest until you were able to take on whatever it was that needed fixing.

[feelings_of]

Mesprit was surprised her foul mood hadn't driven her friend away yet. The trust in friends to be there for you sort of evaporated after ... the incident.

"I guess I could talk about it. Um... where do I start?" She took a moment to sift through her thoughts and figure out a way to put her ordeal into words.

"A long time ago, my brothers and I were captured and ... um, we were sort of... electricuted, I think? But I know it made me forget a lot of things and stunted my ability to... just... feel. I forgot I ever went through it. Now it's happened again, and I remember it this time. I remember what happened, and it made me feel bad all over again. Maybe that's why I forgot in the first place." She turned and looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes. "It hurts, and I don't know what to do."

[punchtheflute]

To Sonny, friendship wasn't just a fair-weather affair. It meant dealing with rough spots too.

"Oh, Mesprit... I'm so sorry something like that happened to you." Sonny replied, his own eyes sparkling a little bit with sadness for his friend. "I don't... I don't know what to suggest? All I can say is that hurts heal over time. And with support. You've got my support, as much or as little as you need of it, OK? I'm sorry I wasn't around when you needed help, too. If I'd known something was happening, I would of helped."

[feelings_of]

Wow, he was responding with... such sympathy. For her overemotional self-pity. Mesprit was aware of self-pity now and greatly disliked it. She lower her gaze to the ground as she spoke again.

"Thank you, Sonny Moe. Your kindness is welcome. I doubt there was anything you could have done. My brothers were there, and none of us could stop it." She paused and sighed. She missed her brothers but understood why they left the way they did.

"I love my brothers. They came from far away to help me, but they ran away after we escaped. I don't know where they went, but I'm sure it's far away from here. I didn't go with them because...... this is my home. I like my friends." She turned back to him and smiled slightly, showing a hint of relief in speaking about her stresses.

[punchtheflute]

Sonny was tempted to point out that her brothers sounded awful. Showing up to help her was nice! But then leaving her afterwards? What kind of Brother would do that? Hey, Sonny knew a thing or two about being a Brother, OK. He worked hard to be the very best one of those he could be.

"I like you too! And don't worry - I'm not going anywhere. I'm sticking around this place for the same reason. My friends are here, and some of my family, and they need me, now. I need them, too."

[kumagypsy]

Oh crap, something was on fire! That wasn't really a rare occurrence these days, but this time it was something that was supposed to be on fire, so that made it okay.

After yelling "GET TO THE FIRE WE'RE ROASIN' WEENIES" down the dorm halls, Kumatora headed to the bonfire with skewers and hot dogs in order to make the most of this opportunity.