Kurt
*There it is*
 *A lovely shop*
*One that toils and broils and fumes with rancid smoke*

*And there she is*
 *There* She *Is*

 Stella.
*She's leaning against the front counter, at the back of the store, so not much of a front counter but perhaps the only one there. The only place to finalize a transaction or to buy something or to just talk with her if she's got nothing better to do.*

*On the walls, you could find things like tacky paintings or wooden ornaments or maybe even someone's severed paw, a sign of good luck to those blind to the misfortune of its owner.*

*And then*
 *There was*
 *That strange feeling*
*That came from the air. A tingling psionic resonation.*
 *Stella was thinking.*
Laura
We still think it's not a good idea. Yet, here we are. Why is it we feel trepidation? It isn't as if we haven't dabbled in the occult. We *Are* The occult, even. Are we sure that our fleshier component does not fear another deal? Do we think this seer holds any answers we seek? No, we don't. We're wasting time? Well, we don't have anything to do with our time but to waste it. To offer our strength until we are fat with coin and now, to waste it once we have it... Enough philosophy, you're just confusing us.

Oskar had come to Wisterwood seeking this seer but now they stood before her place they felt... Both nervous but at the same time ultimately underwhelmed. The smell curled their nose, even from outside it. They were still never going to get used to the smell of smoke - the smell of fire was perhaps a little hard for them still.

Oskar pulls the empty cross-guard from their back, holding it close like a prized possession as they decide to enter, finally, eyes side-to-side and analysing this... Menagerie of crap. Without saying anything yet, their eyes trace over all of what they had expected to be something supernatural, not simply an arrangement of superstition. Still, it was beyond them to be just blanket rude to those although their tone could not hide the disappointment, turning to address the Xatu. At least she matched the description the symbiote had heard. "You are Stella? We've heard many things about you, if you'll entertain our curiosity."
Kurt
"Oskar." *The seer coddled a brand-new pipe in her hand, an ornate one with a purple and brown color, and a strange duvet and many awkward spirals.*

*She'd been holding this puff in her lungs for a while, only releasing them after she spoke- two clouds barreling from either nostril.*

"Sometimes, when I say someone's name, 
 I feel a little strange.
A little scared.
 If you try to both see and change the future, then you can hardly see clearly.
 Change the future, and what you see will be wrong. It would be a paradox.
 So if you're looking for a very direct answer,
 you're out of luck,
 but.
I say people's names before they tell me and I tell them things I shouldn't, sometimes,
 because,
It won't change the outcome. Not by a lot.
 I try and reclaim myself from these bindings,
 To... Hmmm..."

*She turned her head to the side, hand extending out.* "Oh. I don't do this for free. Not much... 500 will suffice."
Laura
It isn't hard to know who we are. We *Have* A reputation in spite of our own efforts. Not that great of one, though... We should believe her for now or not.

They seemed to be less taken aback and more amused that the bird knew their name. "Well, we'll find that useful since we don't exactly have direct questions and we have nothing but time to think with." They admit, placing a small coinsack on the counter. "Feel free to count it if you like, we understand you've got no reason to believe we're of a trustworthy kind yet. Unless, perhaps you do?" Oskar asked, their voice rising with a curious lilt to it, letting just a brush of their skepticism filter into their voice.
Kurt
*Stella's head shook, her pipe leaving her beak as she oh-so-gently placed it on the counter.* "Mm." *She didn't bother counting- placing the coins inside her register-safe, a sort of standard thing for someone wary of Pokémon sneaking about and taking stuff. For a world so versatile as to have ghosts that can phase through walls, you can never be too careful.*

"Come with me," *She muttered, gesturing the two towards a back room blocked only by a beaded curtain.* "Back here."

*Through the doorway, the mystique of the shop was instead substituted with an array of boxes, bags and stowed goods. Through the halls, up a short flight of stairs, and...*

*An overgrown terrace, vines stretched into the streets below. The ledge overlooked the city, lights gracing the cloud bellies.*

"It's easier for me to think, here," *She states, her eyes distant.* "Not as much smoke.

"Ask away."
Laura
"We can't say we enjoy smoke either."

Are we surprised she is normal? We are. Do we not think she has to eat? We are abnormal but we still have the same needs as anyone around us. Maybe it isn't so strange.

*They did find this place more pleasant though, hopping down, setting themselves comfortably, watching the world go by, people about their days.*

"They just aren't like us." *They thought aloud, still struggling to word the questions that actually plagued them, settling on a question that sort of sounded correct?* "We have strange questions, if you'll find it within your capabilities. Would you be able to see us at home when the future comes?"
Kurt
*Stella took a deep breath in- without the constant smoke, she felt jittery, deep down- like she* Needed it, *On a primal level- but beyond that, she was free.*

"It seems like a lot of Pokémon nowadays are asking about home." *Eyes fluttered to the sun, the patterns on her feathers holding still for once.*

"If you're asking if it's possible, then yes. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. 

Although, 

When Pokémon ask that sort of question, they really mean 'how do I get home?'. 

But that doesn't sound like the way you phrased it." *She locked eyes with the duo of Oskar.* 

"If I tell you the future, then the future changes. That's the nature of a paradox. But if you're looking for advice, to be nudged to a future that's better, then I can help. We tend to have a path set before us, but we can change that path. That is what it is to be a Pokémon."
Laura
"That very much seems to be our problem, seer." *Oskar meets her eyes, just a flash of pink behind the black, showing just a flash of dissapointment.* "For the last few centuries, we haven't had a path before us. For one brief moment we saw it and then we were lost again. Whatever future you're hoping to change doesn't matter. The way things stand we don't have one to alter."
Kurt
"Of course you have a path," *She uttered, a bit irked by his assertion.* "You have a path until you die. Maybe you just have a boring one."

*She held her pipe up to her beak, for a moment, but chewed on the lip and let it sit back down at her side. Ash fell to the tiled floor, but she didn't bother stomping it out.*

"You two aren't going to die for a while. That's for certain. But I'm going to take a guess. Ahem... You want to know what's next, right?

"Well, most Pokemon want to live enjoy able lives. But... The difference between happy and enjoyable
Is a large one. A happy life is one where you're sitting around all day, eating chocolates and reading books and being generally uninterested in the world around you.

"But I can see a more intriguing path for you." *She sits her head back and looks to the sky. Despite how slow clouds move, you can still get a sense that you'd never catch up to them...* "If you want, of course. I can't write your fate.

"They call her Anonymous. I've never met her, but I've heard good things about her. A real pillar of the community." *Finally, per pipe rises to beak, a huff of smoke tainting the patio for once.* "She's a bit different nowadays, but it's still her.

Hm." *She lets out a puff. Purple...* "I'll have to be a bit vague here. If I told you what happened next, it can't possibly happen. Not in a way that's good for you.

"Ahem...

"She is a Cacturne. She's quite a bit like you. 
 And yet
She's so incomprehensibly different.
 Not like you at all.
You've probably never met your match. Not really. Not in combat, not like this. Or, if you have, those matches are few and far between.
 And 
 yet
What you need to do will be challenging.
 A kind of fight that you might not swing your sword at
 and yet
Your swords will be vital for this exchange.

I cannot say why." *She puffs a cloud right over Oskar's head.* "But, once you see her, it should be pretty obvious why.

 However

You aren't ready for this yet. And you will need to hold yourself back from this path as much as you can.
It's a kind of personal growth ordeal. You can start to track her down, but you can't find her quite yet.

Take your time. Enjoy the path ahead.

That is all." *She smirks fron behind the pipe.*
Laura
*Oskar sat and listened patiently, igniting Ypsilon's blade in their hands as soon as they were mentioned, that very symbol of their two powers toget- **Gack!***

*They nearly fell straight back off their perch, waving the smoke out of their face as quick as they could. One downside of not being an inert ghost anymore - the unpleasantness of standard senses.*

"We never planned on dying - we would hope that wasn't what we had told you but we were looking for a destiny - not to be told not to chase it. Forgive us if we follow a path that leads to a future, whatever your warnings might be." *They explained, flourishing the water-blade in their hand briefly as they took back to their feet.* "Perhaps though, we think you might be on to something. I have spoken to many with these blades. Perhaps it may be time we find this person and exchange a few ideas."

We wish to go head-first into a nature creature that would hold an advantage? We could. We may not be victorious but we need not win to speak.
Kurt
"Follow the future too closely,
 and you'll have no control over your own path.
Destiny is not very eventful. 
 Not for you, at least.
That is to say,
 you might have peaked early.
No offense."

*She took another huff of the smoke, pipe glimmering near the end.* "It's difficult reading your future. You have many paths ahead of you.
And yet
 sometimes
 it feels like
You don't choose any of the good ones.
Reading one's future and one path is very intimate, you know. You get to know a person's most vulnerable moments. What mistakes they *Will* Make and how they justify them.
But you don't bother to make a lot of mistakes. You stick to fighting and you never really move on from that. You look for something more but it just never happens. For so long, in fact, that I can't even see your death.
But.
That's just a fraction of what *Could* Happen.
 This future reading is difficult that way."
*The smoke puffed out to the city.* "Every time I tell you more of what could happen, it changes. Futures split and split. The farther out you read, the more you have to account for.
 But,
 if you focus on one end point, 
 like pulling a thread through the eye of a needle, 
You'll reach it.

Oh, I'm getting something." *She tapped her head, staring out into the city more intensely.* "Oh. Hm. Well! 

I also have this. It's another future, not one mutually exclusive to what I described to you.

You might learn to love yourself. To most, that's a simple thing to comprehend, but you'll find it much more interesting.
 But not just yourself. All of yourself. For every strength and flaw and quirk you embody."

*She paused once more, honing in on a particular thought- straining the weaving threads of destiny to isolate a single string.*

"At a point in time, in a moment of weakness, you will learn something about yourself that you didn't want to know.

"But, that's just a possibility. A small one. Something improbable. Maybe it has to do with personality, perhaps history.

"But it's guaranteed if you pursue it." *She tapped her head.* "I can't really say what it is, though. It's so obscured by chance that I barely noticed it."