“Welp,” Crow stretched an arm over his head as he spoke to Cherry and Bracken, ”now that you two are together I’m gonna bail.”
“Huh? Are you sure Crow,” Cherry gave a small frown but still held out her hand, helping the small gimmighoul get down from her shoulder. “You know neither of us mind you being there?”
“Yeah small stuff. I ain’t got no problem with you third wheeling,” Braken said, “how else am I supposed to get your A plus commentary on the local shmucks?”
Crow made a small huff of amusement, “thanks but no thanks. You might not mind me being the third wheel but I do! I do not need to see more of you two freaks being all mushy with each other.” He stuck his tongue out in disgust, “blech.”
“Ha!” The cyclizard barked out a laugh, “you’re such a little prude! Don’t worry me and my little cotton ball will keep it pg on the streets. But all bets are off in the sh-“
“BRAKEN!” Cherry grabbed Braken’s snout, cutting her off. The flaafy’s face was a deeper red than usual as her girlfriend doubled over in laughter. But even as she scolded the other girl Crow could see the smile Cherry was holding back.
“Gross,” Crow simply rolled his eyes at the display.
“Ignoring her,” Cherry playfully elbowed Braken in the side, getting an oof from her, “are you sure you wanna split off on your own Crow?”
He could hear the concern creeping into her voice behind the smile. “Cmon Chers, you know I love hanging with yah! But this is my night! What kinda ghost would I be if I didn’t spend at least a little time messing with some idiots during this whole gig?”
“Hey he’s a full grown thingamawhatzit,” Braken said as she placed a hand on Cherry’s shoulder. “I’m sure he’s figured out how to avoid being trampled by now!”
“Alright,” Cherry sighed. She looked back at Crow as she gently placed him on a wall, “just remember if you get lonely you can always come and join us again.”
“Thanks Chers,” Crow gave her a smile before turning to hop off the wall. “I’ll see you again later,” he called out as he scurried into the night.
~~~
After separating from the couple Crow spent the night playing pranks and spooking the festival goers. Screams and yelps were a common sound from the crowds as the ghosts had their fun.
Crow stood from where he was watching the fallout of his latest shenanigan of the night. He stretched his arms, trying to shake off the creeping mood. This was a night typically spent with his siblings… “Fuck,” Crow muttered, flicking his tail, “Guess it’s time for a drink huh.”
~~~
It didn’t take long for Crow to weave his way through the crowds of costumed party goers. He’s long since learned how to dance past the rushing paws and duck into pathways that only the smallest of Pokemon could make use of. Sometimes hitching rides off of trailing capes and tails, shortening his trip further as the unsuspecting Pokemon carried him closer to his destination.
He hopped off his latest ride and darted across the street towards an outdoors bar. Festival garlands were strung from the rafters, spooky shaped lights giving the pavilion and comfortable light. The seats were full of Pokemon, chatter and laughter rang through the night almost smothering the sounds of the festival around them.
Crow made his way to the side of the bar that was built to accommodate shorter Pokemon. Though of course even then it was still far too tall for him. With quick paws he climbed up the side to jump onto the counter top, ignoring the other patrons as he waved down the bar tender.
The pawmot walked over, raising an eyebrow at Crow. “Now why am I not surprised to see you here,” the bartender huffed as they slid a drink to a customer.
“Yeah yeah,” Crow rolled his eyes as he leaned against an abandoned glass, “I know you missed my face but I’m not here for chatter. Give me something strong wontcha?”
“If you weren’t already a ghost I would have stopped serving you ages ago,” they shook their head but prepared the small drink regardless, placing it and a second in front of Crow before turning to help another customer.
Crow tossed back the first drink, barely cringing at the burn of alcohol. He sat on the counter and emptied the glass quickly, dropping it next to him before picking up the second. Crow sipped at it, taking his time with it unlike the first as he stared at the festival going on around him. The sounds of Pokemon talking, laughing, screaming, rides clattering while stall owner tried to sell their wares. It was all just noise that made his antennae twitch and fold back while the glint and shine of lights on the moving crowds costumes kept catching his eyes.
He spent some time just watching the crowds move by, letting the drink drown out the thoughts in his mind until a familiar voice caught his attention. A certain riolu had sat down a few chairs away from him, drinking some sort of pumpkaboo themed drink. Well might as well go say hello to his old ‘teammate’. Standing with only a slight stumble, crow finished off his drink and crossed the counter.
“Yknow, I didn’t really see you as the type to celebrate the mirror moon,” Crow called as he approached.
Lupin jumped in his seat, choking on his drink. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting Crow to show up. “What-ack,” Lupin coughed into his arm, “what are you doing here.”
“Having a fun time like everyone else here,” Crow smirked, “what are you gonna call the guild on me blueberry?”
Shooting the gimmighoul a small glare, Lupin took another sip of his drink. “As long as you’re not hurting people or getting into trouble I don’t have any reason to bring the guild into this.”
“I’m a ghost on the night of the mirror moon, it should be criminal to ask me not to get up to trouble,” Crow smirked as he leaned on a nearby candy bowl, “but don’t get your fur in a twist I know not to go too far.”
“Of course you’d know all about crimes,” Lupin muttered under his breath, looking away from crow as he took another sip.
Crows eyes narrowed and his grin grew sharper. “Well sorry not all of us could have a nice pampered childhood.”
“You could have left,” the riolu growled, “with your size and the fact that you lot were always left on your own to guard those dungeons I’m sure you could have easily just run away and hidden! Instead you chose to stay with that monster until you couldn’t hide behind him anymore. Only then did you cry for pity!”
“Shut the FUCK up,” crow snarled, his antenna pinned back, shaking with anger. “You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Oh? If was so hard to leave then what happened to the sixth one of you? Why couldn’t you just follow her example and get the hell out of there?! My dad spent enough times fighting you and your lot so I know one of you left!”
Silence stretched between the two, each second feeling like an hour. Lupin seemed to shrink in on himself, slouching in in his seat while Crow glared at him.
“Just-“ Crow managed to grit out after a beat and dragged a paw down his face. The anger seemed to leach out of his body as his antenna hung limply. “Just forget it. Fucking forget any of this shit happened, I’m going-“
“I’m sorry.”
Crow froze.
“I’m sorry,” Lupin spoke again in a soft voice. His eyes stared into his drink as he traced the rim with a finger. Shame was written across his face when Crow bothered to glance back at him. “I didn’t know… but I still shouldn’t have said that,” he spoke in a stilted and awkward tone like he had know idea how to apologize. Or more likely he had never thought he would be apologizing to someone like Crow. “And I shouldn’t have provoked you about your past. You… haven’t done anything too wrong since the arrest. So it was rude to bring that up and judge you for things I’m not judging other ghosts for on this night.”
Lupin fell silent once more, still refusing to look up at Crow. The silence stretched as Crow stood there, a dull look on his face as he stared at the riolu. No one other than Cherry or his siblings have ever bothered to apologize to him before. It looked and sounded like Lupin was being held at claw point to spit those measly words. Crow looked away from him, staring at the table for a second.
“Tch, I said to forget about it blueberry,” Crow huffed. He crossed his arms and smirked, “but if you really wanna apologize why don’t you buy me another drink and I’ll show you how a ghost has fun at this party.”
“Wha-,” Lupin startled at the change in tone, looking up to meet Crow’s eyes again. “I mean sure, I’ll get you a drink but I’m not sure-“
“Cmon furball! A ghost just invited you to have fun on the night of the mirror moon and you’re just gonna turn that down?” Crow goaded, “I know your a buzzkill but seriously? Have some fun!”
“I’m not a buzzkill!” Lupin protested, an offended look on his face, “fine! I’ll see what this fuss you’re making is about.”
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Lupin groaned, bringing a paw to cover his eyes. The massive headache made it hard to focus on the words coming from the cyclizard standing over him. Honestly he just wanted to go back to sleep but the chatter of whoever was around him and the loud snoring next to his ear made it hard. Instead he simply laid there on the edge of consciousness vaguely noting the conversation happening near him.
~~~
“Oh arceus,” Cherry sighed as she walked over to Braken, “who did he manage to rope in this time?”
“Dunno, some riolu,” she gestured at the hungover heap of a Pokemon, “thought he was a kid at first till I got closer.”
“Oh! I recognize him,” Cherry tilted her head as she looked down at the two, “his name was Lupin I think. He joined the guild the same time as Crow. Actually they were teammates for their entrance test. I guess it’s nice to see they’re getting along. Though can’t say I’m happy that it led to the two of them passed out on the edge of town.”
“Hah,” Braken gave a harsh bark of laughter, “bet the fool tried to out drink a ghost. Little guy can handle his alcohol surprisingly well for his size, I always pity the idiots who try to match him.”
“Tch,” Cherry shook her head with an annoyed frown, “sometimes I wonder if I should tell Pawforth to stop serving him, but I know he’ll just find some other place.”
“Well it ain’t gonna kill him so I don’t see too much of a problem,” Braken shrugged, “not like he does this too often either right?”
“No, but I do wish he wouldn’t go so far the times he does.”
“Yeah but that’s between the stubborn roach and his non existent therapist.” Braken nudged Lupin as she spoke, getting a groan from the pokemon. “So what do we do with this one?”
“Just bring him back with us to my room,” cherry suggested, “I don’t actually know where he lives. And he kept Crow company last night so I might as well help him with the hangover that came from that.”
“Alright blue boy you’re coming with us,” Braken barked another laugh as she easy picked up Lupin, hoisting the groaning riolu over her shoulder. “Barf on me and it’s coming out of your hide.”
Girlfriend eh? How long have you and Cherry known each other, Braken? You two bounce off each other pretty cutely!
“The little menace is the one who introduced us actually,” Braken gave a shrug as she stretched out on the bed, “the little bug got bored on princess duty back in the old Pyrite days and knew I was in the area so he snuck her out of the dungeon so we could all go for a joyride before any ‘heros’ popped up to get her back.”
The cylcizard spared a lazy glance towards the riolu still sitting in the corner of the room. She smirked at the uncomfortable expression he was trying to hide. She propped her head on one of her hands while Lupin refused to make eye contact. “Had a lot of real fun with her, so I took to swinging by whenever I was in the area. Ain’t that right Chers?”
“Oh yes!,” Cherry piped up from her own cushion, she had a drawing pad open but glanced up when Braken called her. “It was always so much fun when you visited! I mean Crow kept things from being too boring whenever we were stuck together but there’s only so much you can do stuck in a dungeon. But with her speed we could usually get in and out without anyone realizing.”
