Violet Aurora . Late Night Guest

What do you do when you can't sleep? Well, in Amber's case the answer had turned to 'Find a place to get a decent drink'. While the smeargle had always been one of those weird mons who needed only half the amount of sleep everyone else needed to function normally, finding a bar was often low on her list of ways to kill a night.

Often instead it would just be wandering around the city streets if the weather was decent, or stay in her room and read. Her roommate regularly disagreed with the first option, but he never caused too much of a fuss. It wasn't like he could join her either, Noah was the kinda guy who needed his sleep. If he didn't he was in a half dead state the next day. Not an enjoyable mon to live with like that. Considering the ditto was still recovering from the chaos that was their first dungeon exploration, he needed the sleep more then ever.

To be fair, given Amber's state she really shouldn't have been out this late either, and she knew it well. Despite this she couldn't stay in the house all night, sleeping with the still sensitive burns on her body was difficult. But even worse, the silence that covered the house after dark was uncomfortable, no more then that, it was unbearable and it gave her mind too much of a chance to wander to areas she didn't want to relive.

That's how she'd ended up where she was, staring down at what was her third drink of the night. While there weren’t too many in the bar at this time, there was still enough movement that the silence Amber had been wanting to avoid was gone. Instead of her mind turning to an unwanted subject she instead remembered the dungeon that her and Noah had gone through the day before.

Why had they been so reckless? Well, okay they weren’t too bad until the end, but still! They shouldn't have ended up the way they had with their first dungeon. The guild leaders had said it should be easy, but they ended up a wreak. What would that mean for them in the next one? What would happen if they were faced with a dungeon that was labelled a challenge? Would they be alright? Now she wasn't so sure.

A quiet sigh escaped the smeargle as she took another sip of her drink before setting the glass softly back on the bar. Staring at the drink for a long moment, her gaze slowly shifted to a glare. Why hadn't she been better in that dungeon? Damn it, why did she still feel so useless when it came to actual fights?! Why could she never-

"Well. Didn't expect to see you here."

The familiar voice snapped Amber out of the mess of thoughts that filled her head. Instead she turned her head just enough to focus on the zangoose leaning against the bar towards her, the same typical half smirk half smile she'd expected on his face.

"What the hell do you want Izaak?" Amber muttered, trying to give the taller mon a glare that said 'Get Lost' but if the zangoose noticed it, he ignored it.

"I just thought I should come say hello." Izaak admitted, giving a shrug. "Whats so wrong with that? I haven't seen you in so long, I missed you." His voice was as smooth as ever, making it hard to tell just how serious he was. The smirk didn't help.

"Well get lost. Not in the mood to talk." Amber shot back, turning her head so she didn't have to look at the idiot anymore. Seriously, of all nights it had to be this one that someone she knew showed up? How was her luck that awful?

The zangoose watched her for a moment, silent before he moved to walk around Amber and sit on the stool beside hers. "Seriously. What happened?" He asked, voice softer now as he looked her up and down. His eyes stopped on the burns for one moment, the bandages the next, then her tail paint for a split second before focusing back on her face. "I haven't seen you this beat up since your old man-"

"-Finish that sentence and I'm walking away right now." Amber spat, glaring daggers at him now. That was not the subject she wanted to think about right now. That was the subject she was trying to keep her mind from going to!

"Fine." He agreed, bringing up his paws in a defensive motion before resting them back on his knees. "But what did happen then? Cause shit. Amber, those look pretty nasty."

She gave a sigh at the question, bringing a hand up to brush through her hair. "It looks worse then it feels really." Insisting that she was fine didn't seem to pass as an explanation though and when she looked at Izaak again his gold eyes were staring intently. Oh what the hell, she didn't loose anything from talking to him.

"We went to a dungeon." As she started Amber brought her hand back down to wrap around her glass, focusing on it instead of the zangoose for the moment. "Things were... decent until the end. Then things got explody and shit went down and..." Sighing again she shook her head. "I fucked up. Big time."

Izaak listened beside her, letting the silence hang between them for a long moment. "What about that idiot shape shifter?" He finally asked, earning him a glare from Amber.

"Damn it Izaak. Stop calling him that. What is your big deal with Noah?" She snapped, a little louder then she'd intended but she wasn't going to back down.

"You mean besides convincing my girlfriend to break up with me and go live with him?" He snapped right back, resting an elbow on the bar and resting his head on his paw.

"I told you. I was done with the shit we pulled and wanted something different. Nothing was going to change for me if we kept dating. You're stubborn like that." Amber explained before taking another sip of her drink. "Noah had nothing to do with it besides showing me what I'd already wanted for a while."

"Right, and moving in him was just-"

"-Just my only option. We broke up so I couldn't stay with you anymore and my fam-" She cut her explanation off mid sentence, instead glaring down at her drink and gripping the glass tighter then before.

Izaak's eyes followed her glare before looking to Amber's paint, which was going darker, before back to her. "Yeah. I get that." He said softly.

"He offered, so I accepted. That's it." Amber insisted, still not looking at him again. "Then we joined the explorers and-"

"That's another thing." Izaak said, finally cutting her off for once. "You. You I know are decent about taking care of yourself. But that shape shifter pal of yours is useless. Everyone knows his species is. Sure changing shapes is alright but he's still a weakling who goes down after one or two hits. You need better muscle for a team then that." He pointed out, waving a single claw at her.

"He's not that bad." Amber argued, though she remembered when that trap had been set off. Neither of them had known that poison would keep him from transforming, but after that happened there really hadn't been much he could do besides watch her back. He shouldn't have even set off that thing in the first place! If he'd just been a little less reckless he would have noticed it. Probably.

"Looks like you don't believe that." Izaak pointed out, voice again softer and maybe just a little concerned? No she was probably imagining that. When she didn't respond the zangoose let out a small sigh and moved a paw towards Amber's hand. It was a slow movement, he was making sure she saw the hand before contact was made. He was letting her choose to move away, but she didn't and instead it rested softly on hers. "You know, I still worry about you right? Hell I worry about you more since you joined a guild with a guy I don't think can really watch out for you if shit hits the fan."

Amber's eyes focused on his paw as he spoke but when he went quiet her gaze shifted to look him in the eyes. "Shit kept hitting the fan even before I joined a guild or met Noah you know."

"Yeah. But Ulrik and I were good at making sure none of us ended up covered in burns and bandages." Izaak countered. "And, you normally wouldn't be caught in a place that was dangerous on purpose."

That, yeah that was very true. It had been Noah's idea to join a guild in the first place. It made sense, it was an easy way for them both to make money. Noah might have had his part time job before but a normal working environment? Amber didn't think she could handle that well. It also gave them a way to get stronger. To get better. That's what she'd wanted out of the guilds. But what had she gotten out of it so far? Just hurt and feeling pathetic for letting her imagination get the better of her. But still...

"What do you want me to do, Izaak?" Amber asked, no demanded. The grip on her drink grew tighter, enough that his paw twitched at the sudden movement under it. "I wasn't doing anything of use when I was with you guys before. All we did was stupid shit cause we were stupid. Stupid and angry and-" Her whole body was shaking now, this conversation was just frustrating now and she couldn't stop talking.

"-And I was tired of it! I was tired of hiding behind you and Ulrik cause that's all I could do. That's all you would ever let me do after I finally ran away from home. I wanted to do more. I wanted to stop being the pathetic kid who hid when ever she heard footsteps down the hall. And damn it, you wouldn't let me!" Her voice had risen the more she spoke.

"But Noah would! Sure we do things that are risky and a little over our head but that's what you have to do to get stronger right? I might have gotten hurt sure, but this is nothing compared to before. Next time I'll know better, next time I'll be stronger. And maybe-" A soft sob cut her off as her head lowered, tears now freely running down her face. "Maybe I'll stop seeing him in every corner and shadow. Or hearing him every time it gets too quiet. Or feeling sick and hating myself hours later cause I can't just forget."

Izaak had remained quiet as Amber continued to speak. A patient, concerned and pained expression on his face. He didn't speak after she finally stopped speaking and was instead just crying quietly. Instead he just moved his free paw to Amber's face, despite going slowly she did flinch when his hand moved close to her head but after the initial reaction she didn't move away. The paw then moved to wipe away the tears slowly and carefully.

After her face was clear he moved again to wrap his arms around her in a hug. His hold wasn't strong, it was light enough to pull back from if she'd wanted to. But instead Amber just rested her face against his shoulder and cried more.

"I'm sorry Amber." He finally said, voice just above a whisper but with his head so close to her ear it was still easy to hear. "I didn't realize you felt that way. I was just trying to protect you cause I was tired of seeing you hurt and angry I didn't do anything to stop it. You coulda told me all this before though. I woulda-"

"Heh. No you wouldn't have. Cause you're a stubborn idiot like that." Amber muttered into his shoulder. As she spoke her arms moved to wrap around his body, finally returning the hug. "You've always been a stubborn idiot like that."

A soft chuckle escaped him at the half insult. "Maybe. But I woulda tried to listen and change. Or... at least I'd be willing to now." He admitted, resting his cheek on top of her head.

"Mnn... I'd kinda like that." Amber admitted, closing her eyes as her body relaxed against his and the crying stopped.

He was silent for a moment, looking down at the smeargle in his arms. "Amber. How much have you had to drink tonight?"

"... Not much." Amber answered after far too long of a hesitation.

"Right." He laughed with a slight shake of his head. "Lets get you home. You'll tell me how to get to that Noah guy's place right?"

"Sure." She agreed, finally moving back from the hug, looking at the zangoose with a small smile finally on her face.

"And Izaak? Thank you."

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Just a little event that happens after Violet Aurora's dungeon exploration. We're also introduced to a new character. Sorry for the wall of text.