'cause i'm havin' a [not-so-great] time [capture.]

Things were almost peaceful – despite the crowded nature of the city and the noise. A part of Blaire was beginning to tune out the incessant noise, and it would have almost been an enjoyable stroll if not for the Sandile. In fairness, one of them should have been paying more attention to where they were going – Zenzi would undoubtedly blame Blaire later, since he was supposedly in charge of all of this. If she’d been paying better attention, however, she certainly wouldn’t have tripped over the sunbasking reptile, and she wouldn’t have had to scramble away at the irritated hiss and the sudden, threatening snap of jaws.

Her jaws opened in a soundless yip as she scrabbled back and behind Blaire, flashing long, sharp teeth of her own at the menacing crocodile. Blaire resisted the urge to facepalm as people stopped to stare at the stand-off; anything that drew this sort of attention certainly wasn’t something he enjoyed, even on one of his best days.

Today? The kinder side of him had to fight to not just kick Zenzi into the jaws of the offended Ground-type. He was by no means a cruel man – callous, yet, but certainly not someone who’d wish pain on any of his Pokemon – but a part of him thought that, if Zenzi had gotten into this mess, it was her duty to get out of it.

Starting a potentially bloody, drawn-out scuffle in the middle of Vega City wasn’t on his to-do list, however, and he sighed, pausing for a moment to project a stern command into the Fennekin’s head. … You started it. Finish it, without causing a scene.

Hackles still raised, the Fennekin shifted into a more defensive stance, egging the Sandile on with a snap of sharp teeth. As the dual-type shambled forward, hissing again, the Fennekin leered intently at him, eyes keeping his firmly locked. In fact, as the Fennekin’s eyes began to glow an eerie, unnatural gold, it was hard for him to consider looking anywhere else. Something in that gaze kept him rooted, and, oddly enough, began to drone the same, quiet command into his head, steadily more insistent.

Sleep…. Sleep… Sleep. Sleep.

He tried to fight the tiredness tugging at his senses, but eventually sank into a laying position, hiss sputtering out as he drifted off into slumber. The Fennekin straightened up with a smirk, shooting a cocky glance back at Blaire. He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

So your Hypnosis worked. We need to keep moving, before it wakes up and decides it wants some revenge.
The Fennekin huffed wordlessly at his reply, scowling as she followed after the man and the Inkay who, to her great disdain, had done nothing but curiously watch throughout the entire altercation.

NOTES ; blaire is gonna PASS on this!

As they left the encounter with the slumbering Sandile behind, Blaire felt an overwhelming sense of relief as the crowds around them seemed to lose interest in the traveling trio as well. There was something about being the center of attention, especially in a large, bustling city like this, that made the hair on the back of his neck prickle. Crowds in generally tended to very quickly overwhelm and rattle him, but knowing those crowds were watching you, and watching your every move?

… Well, that sort of feeling just made him want to dive off a cliff. It was probably a good thing that Vega City didn’t have any readily available.

Despite his personal preferences for obscurity, he couldn’t help the curiosity he felt as he approached an area with a larger, more idle congregation of people – people that murmured and pointed at something ahead that he couldn’t quite make out. Relieved that the attention was on something else, rather than himself, he still found himself insatiably drawn towards whatever scene had gathered such a crowd. A crime of some sort, perhaps? Or maybe a more innocuous sort of gathering based around some strange street performer.

The latter turned out to be more accurate than his first assumption – thankfully, he supposed – as he scooted his way through the crowd, aware of Zenzi close at his heels. Whatever street performance was going on seemed to have taken quite the left turn, however – a young man, who was juggling long, dangerously-sharp swords, seemed to be having quite the time with one sword in particular, which seemed to rattle and shift freely of the performer’s intents (and the laws of gravity and physics, more curiously).

There was the slightest chill in the air, and, as Blaire squinted at the offending sword – which, to the gasps of the crowd, rose fully out of its intend arc and began swinging and thrusting through thin air as though fighting some invisible target – he noted a strange, oddly-familiar energy shadowing the blade. Wispy, purple energy that left his hair standing on end. … So it’s a spirit of some kind. I suppose I’d probably have some fun at peoples’ expense if I could make myself invisible, too.

The sword juggler seemed less amused and more upset at the rogue sword, ceasing his actions and frowning rather severely at the floating sword. He looked less startled and more aggravated, and Blaire suspected that this wasn’t the first time he’d had to deal with this particular stunt. The eerie, unearthly cackle that sounded from the possessed blade – a noise that had unsuspecting crowd members screaming and gasping in shock and fear – didn’t even seem to rattle the man, and Blaire watched as the performer’s hand shifted to grasp a Pokeball from his belt.

In a flash of red light, a Delphox appeared – Blaire felt Zenzi straighten up, looking astonished at the large, powerful Pokemon that flourished its wand in a twirl of fire and psychic energy as it emerged into the square. Clearly, this particular Delphox had a knack for performance, just like its trainer. And, much like the trainer, it seemed rather irate at the display before them.

As the Delphox pointed its wand at the hovering, battling sword, the cackling died rather abruptly, and, at a flick of the Delphox’s wrist and a tiny, threatening burst of flame, the sword dropped to the ground with a sharp clatter of steel. The air seemed to shimmer faintly as a Gastly materialized from what seemed to be nowhere, though Blaire knew that the spirit was more than capable of making itself invisible at will.

To a strong, psychic creature like the Delphox, that likely didn’t matter, of course.

The laughter that stemmed from the Gastly this time seemed to be trying a little too hard to maintain the creepy, sinister feel from before; Blaire was no expert when it came to emotions, but he thought he could definitely detect a nervousness behind the Ghost-type as she spoke in a loud, ‘commanding’ tone, aiming to sound as fierce as possible.

+You’ve unmasked me, mortal! I’m impressed! Now begone, before I strike you with the most dreadful of curses!+ she commanded, to the gasps of those watching. Despite her best efforts, however, she seemed to falter as the man and his Delphox didn’t so much as bat an eye. The laugh she offered this time was certainly a nervous one as she hovered back a bit, beginning to look a bit panicked as the fire fox strolled forward to close the created distance.

+N-not another step! Do you really want to tempt fate?!+

Blaire’s brows furrowed – he’d encountered a number of spirits before, some of them Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar, and the energy he got from this one suggested that she was far weaker than the Delphox staring her down, despite the act she was putting on. A single blast of fire would have likely been catastrophic for her, and, from the way her gaze darted around, she seemed to be looking for a way out of the tense situation.

Blaire didn’t consider himself a hero, but even uncaring, apathetic assholes had to have a heart now and again. And that heart didn’t want to see a Gastly that’d been having harmless fun utterly torched by a less-than-amused victim.

“Ah, there you are!” he exclaimed suddenly, trying not to flinch as the attention suddenly shifted to him. “I’ve been looking all over for you, you know—what have I told you about trying to steal the spotlight?” He put on his most stern “disappointed dad” expression, frowning at the Gastly whose confused expression seemed to be shifting to an ashamed one as she rapidly read the situation.

+I just wanted to give the people of Vega City a show,+ she shot back, sounding just the right touch of embarrassed. Gaze still darting suspiciously between the Delphox and the man that had, somehow, become her way out of this mess, the Gastly hovered quickly over to Blaire, taking up a position that put the tall stranger in between herself and fiery doom.

“That doesn’t give you the right to disturb a performance that probably took quite a while to perfect,” he retorted, still sounding stern. “I’m… deeply sorry about the intrusion, sir. It won’t happen again, I promise.” His golden gaze shifted to the man scowling at him, and he forced himself into an awkward, apologetic smile so wide that it made his cheeks hurt. After a long, tense moment, the other man seemed to decide that causing a bigger scene was more trouble than it was worth, returning his Delphox and shooting an annoyed final glance at Blaire.

“… It’d better not. Get the hell away from my show with that… thing.”

Nodding quickly, Blaire shot a meaningful glance at the Gastly and a whistle towards Zenzi, hurrying off from the scene and only relaxing when he turned down an out-of-sight alleyway well away from the crowd. He found himself face-to-face with the Gastly, who was eying him incredulously with more than a bit of confusion.

+ … You stuck your neck out for me. Why?+ she asked rather plainly, large eyes narrowing.

“You seemed to be in a bit of a situation there. … And, even if you were the one that caused it, I don’t think the punishment in that case would have suited the crime,” he responded quietly, sounding a touch sheepish now that he wasn’t putting on some act. “I’m, uh. Quite the fan of ghosts and spirits, so a part of me appreciated the show. Very scary.”

+You think so?+ The Ghost-type paused, looking quite pleased with herself. +I mean, I don’t always go around scaring people – there’s too much to do half the time, you wouldn’t even believe it – but, when I do, it’s good to have the effort appreciated.+

“… Clearly not everyone appreciates it, though.”

+Well, no, but…+ The Gastly paused, eying Blaire as though seeing him for the first time. +If I had you around, just in case things got hairy…+

Blaire squinted back at the Gastly, sounding a hair incredulous. “… You want me to bail you out of those sorts of situations,” he stated flatly, sounding rather unimpressed.

Sheepishly, the Gastly tried to sound sincere and endearing. +… Please?+

“… If you expect me to protect you, you’re going to need to offer something. … I could give you a spot on my team, if you’re willing to work with us. … I can’t promise it won’t be dangerous, though. We’re investigating some pretty intense, scary stuff. But I think it’d be worth your while, in the end. Would you be… okay with that?”

NOTES ; attempting to catch!