From the Vast

Chapter 8: Secret

The gunshot suddenly ringing out from inside the the rundown building had the few nearby passersby glance over in confusion, but considering the family that lived there and what had recently happened to them, most of them dismissed it soon after as the father of the household having yet another aggressive episode and using it for intimidation- far from the first time this had happened after all. Especially since Mrs. Graham had left the building looking aghast not long afterwards, obviously not having been shot herself.

The ambulance getting called helped Leo and Luxie cool back down following the display of violent force they'd just witnessed, the Ribombee in particular unsure about whether such a harm was right to inflict on anyone else. The more she thought about what she'd seen of Anne though, the bruises and scars the girl tried her hardest to hide day in and out, the less empathy she had left for the girl's father, eventually hiding back inside Leo's mane at just feeling cold about the whole mess.

Lumi and Aria alike were mostly just surprised that the Gardevoir was even capable of something like that, the bloodthirst so unlike her- though the Luxray in particular wasn't gonna object to an awful human getting put in their place, no matter how cruel or unexpected the delivery of their justice.

"Where are you leading us to now? Is this not everything the girl had?"

The translated barks made the old woman flinch as she was slightly startled out of her own trance at what she'd just witnessed, trying to push it aside with a light shake of her head before answering the question-

"~It is, yes- but I want to add something from myself too. If she's gonna live away from other humans, she'll need... a few things sooner or later, and some books she particularly liked wouldn't hurt either.~"

"Things? Such as?"

"~Personal hygiene. Knowing what's gonna be happening to her body in the next couple years and afterwards.~"

The latter mention got the leonine hound particularly confused, his vocalizations catching the attention of a couple bystanders as they headed further into the town, the buildings surrounding the central round growing denser and taller-

"I thought humans didn't evolve."

"~No, no we don't, this is something else.~"

That aside explained precious nothing, the little spare brainpower Aria had that wasn't devoted to keeping herself hidden growing a bit concerned at hearing that- hopefully whatever that mysterious process is, she'd be able to help the poor girl out through it, assuming Anne would be allowed to stay in the village that long. Alternatively, having Olive relatively on hand in a nearby town like this to help answer any further questions would help greatly as well, but... that wasn't gonna be an option, unfortunately.

Aria found herself putting in more and more effort with every step, the growing number of onlookers straining her psychics as she kept her visual appearance hidden from all of them at the same time, her breathing growing loud enough to where a couple passersby glanced over their shoulder as they walked past in confusion, before shrugging it off right afterwards. Lumi wasn't a fan of the increased human presence either, keeping himself close to the more acclimatized half of the group as they walked on the stone road, the metal monstrosities whizzing past them every once in a while, startling him less and less every time.

The town center was at least slightly less drab, though much of the color it had was in form of visibly flaking paint or weathered storefront decorations, some of the promotional posters eroded down to just cyan and white as they proudly advertised a music festival from seven years ago. The Luxray had no idea what any of it meant- only that it all looked either tacky, or just... wrong. Though, there was one thing that was somewhat recognizable to him that he did notice all over the place, keeping his voice down as he asked-