002 ☄ "the only way out is up," she whispered. "a leap of faith." ☄ ᴏᴘᴇɴ

[dusknoir]

Characters: Morty, Froslass, and YOU.
Setting: Summertime in the cafeteria.
Format: Whichever!
Summary: One very uncomfortable Morty and an even more uncomfortable Froslass try to be decent human beings.
Warnings: Nothing.

[It's summer in the Tower cafeteria, and Morty does not like that one bit. This warm weather is not what he's used to at all. As a result, he's dressed rather oddly, like he doesn't exactly know how to Deal with warm weather in the clothes he had been given; the scarf and headband were gone, his hair was tied up, and the sleeves of his sweater had been rolled up to above his elbows. (He kept brushing his fingers over them as if he felt they needed to be pulled down.) Attempting to keep some degree of composure even in these... unusual circumstances, Morty is sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, staring rather numbly at the floor, the table, anything. Eventually he takes out Froslass' Pokéball and starts rolling it around. So thirsty... so thirsty. So thirsty, oh, for the love of Lu--]

[Morty's head snaps up.]

[He grabs the Pokéball and gets up, only staggering a little bit from the oncoming headache, and rushes over to the kitchen door behind the cafeteria. He filters with a loud clamor throughout the room and eventually gets to the back, which turns out to be what he was looking for all along... the freezer. Considerably warmer than it should be in light of the fact that it's a freezer, but there was still some lingering cold... a little bit.]

[Shortly afterward, the freezer was filled with huge buckets of ice, provided by darling Froslass -- who looked about to faint when she went back into the Pokéball -- and a truly staggering amount of plastic cups were sitting around on some of the nearest cafeteria tables. Shortly afterward, a peculiar Fire-type looking like a chandelier was flying around the cafeteria, moving said buckets of ice into the main room as well; Morty was reasonably sure that everyone would get the idea that they could help themselves. The ice was melting quickly. Sure, the water was a bit warm, but he certainly wasn't complaining.]

Comments

Action cafeteria; it is time

[hero_of_smiles]

[Cross had gone to the cafeteria, if only the possible salvation that it's the lowest floor on the tower and might be the coolest.

He was wrong. Everything was burning death and he just wanted to go crawl in a hole and die. How could the Administrators do this to anyone? How could anyone even live in heat like this.

Coming into the cafeteria he can barely stand as he slouches in, his face hanging in a look of agony brought on by the heat.]

Oh God...just kill mee. Just kill meeeeeeeee...

[He can't go much further before he lands face first on the table that Morty is sitting at. He's just lying there sprawled out.]

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki was still in his pajamas, though his robes had dried out they were made for the constant cold winds of Tai, not for this heat. He at least had his shoes on again, even if they were a bit warped from all the rain.

He fought dizziness as he made his way to the kitchen, bloodsickness and dehydration mixing with hunger making him feel light headed. Still he refused to call Sanshi out of his shadow and struggled on alone.

His thought was actually to find the freezers, even if they weren't working there might be water there...

So he was quite surprised to see a strange creature flying with a bucket of ice and he rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating.]

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos wasn't really affected by the heat, just as he hadn't been affected by the cold back in December. However, when he saw a small, fiery creature carrying buckets of half-melted ice over to tables full of plastic cups, he got the idea.]

This is a good idea, little one.

[He spoke to the creature before walking into the freezer. He sensed someone there..and sure enough, there was.]

I would be more than happy to assist you in your project.

[dusknoir]

[HE DOESN'T WANT TO KILL YOU, CROSS. He doesn't want to kill anybody. ;A;]

[Morty just kind of stares at the kid who had melodramatically flown in, and then cautiously reached out a hand to shake his shoulder.]

Are you alright?

[dusknoir]

[The creature turned around when it noticed Taiki staring, but the bucket continued to fly; being a chandelier, this Ghost-type had no arms, but it could psychically move the objects independently.]

[It chirped as a form of greeting, but did not offer that Taiki take one of the buckets and drink out of it; in fact, the little guy didn't seem to be aware that other people were suffering in this heat at all, because it certainly wasn't. This was actually much nicer than it was back in Ecruteak. So cold out there. Idly, the Chandelure wondered if it couldn't be like this all the time...]

[dusknoir]

[The Chandelure made a small trilling noise as a thank-you and, seeing that its new friend was headed for the freezer, continued about its business. Morty, who was shuffling around boxes in search of more buckets, looked up when he saw someone else's shadow on the floor.]

Would you? Oh, thank you very much.

[He stood up.]

My name's Morty. Really, right now I'm just looking for more buckets to dump all this ice into. [He gestured to the barricade of ice behind him; it was already melting quickly, but was easily chipped off into the large containers.] Should probably close the freezer door afterward, I don't want to ruin all of the food...

[hero_of_smiles]

[He doesn't want to die either, he's just being dramatic. Ignore him.]

[Cross however remains immovable, even as he is being shook. The question makes him slowly turn his head up to look at the other boy. It takes all his energy to even sputter out the next thing:]

It's tooo hooooooooot...

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos listened to Morty and, upon seeing all the ice, nodded. So his services in one area weren't required..that was good.]

Do not mention it. I enjoy helping others. It is a pleasure to meet you, Morty. I am..chaos. Where have you been finding these buckets?

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki grinned at the chirping, there were lots of strange creatures here and many of them were friendly. Like the one Dave had.] Hello...

[forgetbeam]

[Ishimaru had found out the hard way once before that he was not cut out to endure extreme heat for extended periods of time. It was a time before even coming to the Tower, and it had nothing on the scorching weather going on now.

He was dizzy, dehydrated, and too lethargic to keep himself busy with anything but finding the coolest spot he possibly could - which right now seemed to be a corner of the cafeteria. Or at least he'd pretend it was, because there was no way he was going to get up and look for someplace else. And now he was even going as far as hallucinating. Elegant chandeliers floating around with buckets of ice? Weren't people just supposed to imagine regular pools of water or something? Ugh, he didn't need to think about how thirsty he was.

He frowned at it with all the focus he could muster, as though he could just banish it from existing like that.]

[dusknoir]

[Morty sighs quietly, not really sure what to make of this kid and his problem -- if he had a solution to the total lack of anything under eighty degrees Fahrenheit, he would be doing it himself. So instead he just kind of... shrugs.]

Well, walking around and warming yourself up more isn't the way to get through it...

[hero_of_smiles]

Guess not...think if I lie here the heat will ignore me?

[He knows it sounds like the dumbest thing to ask in the world but, you know. Talking was the only thing keeping his attention off the heat...mostly.]

[dusknoir]

If you lie somewhere in the shade it will.

[TRYING TO BE HELPFUL.]

[dusknoir]

[Chandelure made another one of those noises. It... didn't seem to be able to speak a language Taiki was familiar with. Whoops!]

[Meanwhile, a wild Morty appears, walking up from behind the two of them. He wanted to ask initially why Chandelure had stopped with the moving of ice, but changed that plan when he realized that the little guy had made a friend.]

Hello there.

[dusknoir]

A pleasure, chaos. [Weird name, but Morty didn't dare pointing that out.] In various boxes in the freezer... I was in there earlier, but I didn't want to leave it open for too long in case the ice within melted faster.

[Morty logic.]

[dusknoir]

[Ishimaru would surely be pleased to find, when the chandelier turned around, that it had a face. A face now staring right back at it, with a bucket of water still hovering in the psychic grip. It had noticed that for some reason people had been acting kind of strange lately; maybe it was just because this was a new place and the people were strange all the time, but then again, that seemed like a kind of miserable way to live. Vaguely, Chandelure hoped that the people weren't so grumpy all the time.]

[It trilled quietly at the teenager sitting in the corner now, unsure of what else to do. Why was he in such a bad mood?]

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki smiled at the creature again, not minding that he couldn't understand it, and opened his mouth to talk again when there was a second voice and Taiki snapped his mouth shut.] Sorry... um... hello...

[lightofhumanity]

[Not that chaos would have minded if Morty pointed it out. Most people did.]

I see..I shall go in and grab more buckets then. If the ice starts to melt, I shall take care of it.

[forgetbeam]

[Good, now he was imagining faces on it.

...Wait a second, didn't John have some kind of pet candle that had a similar-looking face? It floated just like this thing, and Ishimaru knew he hadn't been hallucinating when he saw it for the first time. Could there be some kind of connection?

Probably not. The heat was definitely getting to him. Still, there was a small part of him that held the faintest shred of hope that the bucket and its contents were real at the very least. Most likely setting himself up for disappointment...]

Are you...

[Speaking was kind of difficult with a dry and swollen tongue.]

...Real?

[dusknoir]

[This poor kid didn't look too comfortable with Chandelure, so Morty beckoned the creature back over with a flick of his wrist. It returned to orbiting somewhere around his general area. Meanwhile, Morty smiled in what he hoped was a comforting manner at the child; he was beginning to realize that, like back in his world, there were some people who just didn't take to his beloved Ghost-types.] It's quite alright, my friend. Was Chandelure here causing trouble again?

[dusknoir]

[OOH.]

Do you... have power over ice?

[lightofhumanity]

Among other things, yes.

[And chaos would just open the freezer and walk in carefully.]

[notagiraffe]

[Actually it's you he's nervous of Morty, not your pokemon, he likes strange creatures, humans scare him.] No... sorry... he's nice...

[dusknoir]

[The Chandelure looked a little confused at his comment, but answered with what passed for a nod when one's body looked like an octopus. It floated down a little bit closer to Ishimaru, and thankfully, the fire on its candles didn't seem to give off any heat, or else it would just be causing the boy more misery. (Not that it knew that the heat was causing him problems, of course! Why didn't everyone love warmth like Fire-types?) Uneasily, it set the water bucket down onto the ground to give Ishimaru a closer look, and as it did, some of the water splashed onto his face.]

[Still with absolutely no idea what was wrong with this guy, Chandelure trilled again, slightly worried for the person's health. Should it go get Morty...?]

[dusknoir]

[Fascinating! Morty wants to watch this, so he just stands back and lets chaos do his thing.]