Week 2.

[azumods]

WEEK 2. The new week begins with new surroundings. The city you've been growing accustomed to over the past week is now well behind you as you set out on your journey proper; the terrain still seems rocky and steep here as you move downhill and to the south, dotted here and there with small ponds to the east and rocky outcroppings that you can climb on to the west. There are also large expanses of tall grass here, and the entire route is flanked with tall trees leading off into the forest a short ways. You're more than welcome to explore; just don't stray too far from the group - you wouldn't want to be left behind out here, for any reason. Wild Pokémon are abundant here, as anyone venturing into the tall grass will discover; they aren't inclined to attack you, however, simply watching with dull, dead eyes as you stumble through the area they've come to call home. The trip is difficult, and it's a lot of walking, but it's not unmanageable; fortunately enough, the route you're on should lead you directly to Valor Lakefront, assuming there are no complications along the way. From Thursday and beyond, the route takes a sharp turn west; in front of you lies what's clearly the ocean, large rocks jutting out just offshore tempering the waves. It's safe to go in the water if you so choose - assuming you can swim, that is - and the forested terrain has given way to a large beach with patches of tall grass here and there. Interestingly, there's a house located on the beach; whether it's inhabited or not is difficult to tell. Of course, exploring slightly north of the beach will reveal a path. Maybe it leads somewhere important... CURRENT LOCATION: ROUTE 213 POKEMON AVAILABLE: NEAR WATER SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY [OOC: Welcome to week two of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget that a write-up is due next weekend!]

Comments

[bloodspent]

[He's not pleased to see the ocean.

Jake's energy today is restless, alternating between unfocused and uneasy; he's doing a lot of pacing in place, a lot of fist-clenching and other tics with his hands when the group isn't explicitly walking anywhere, and he's staying far, far away from the water even when the others go nearer to it.

Maybe his Pokémon is picking up on his nervous energy, maybe it's something else entirely. Maybe something has finally clicked into place in Hlača's head, maybe he's just got sand in his goddamn pants. Either way, he seems to have decided something, and that thing is that he does not like Lobanja.

This becomes entirely clear when he's let out of the ball during one of Jake's pacing sessions sometime in the early afternoon, the intention being to see if he cares about the damn water (because god knows Lobanja doesn't) and the Scraggy's reaction is to headbutt the Houndour instead.]

Hey-!

[Hlača goes to do it again before Jake intercepts, something that's fairly easy to do when the Scraggy is about the size of an errant toddler and weighs about as much; as soon as he's holding him, Hlača settles immediately.]

Holy shit, what got into you? Don't beat up your sister.

[Hlača doesn't respond, because of course he doesn't, but he seems content to just be carried around, even while Jake finds one of those damn healing potions among his stuff and uses it in the most awkward way possible on his dog, who doesn't seem to care one way or another.

He seems reasonably all right for most of the day, if a bit on-edge; late that night, though, he can be found sitting reasonably close to the water as the waves roll in. He's holding Hlača in his lap, perhaps a bit tighter than he really needs to; from the look of it, he'd been trying to sleep earlier, but it seems that isn't going to happen, not now. So he's just...staring, and he seems pretty up in his head, though he won't be entirely opposed to company if any presents itself.]

late at night

[fatalstrikes]

[Yuri's spent pretty much the whole day in the water. Sure, he'll move whenever the group does, but he's been sticking to the shore, only occasionally leaving to check on Roc, who absolutely refuses to get near the water.

That doesn't mean he's been oblivious to how the rest of the group's doing, though. He's definitely seen Jake staying pretty far away from the water, and while he's certainly curious about it, it's not really something he's going to go out of his way to ask about.

Yuri ends up unable to sleep tonight, and eventually the restless energy drives him to the water again. Roc's out following him, but she stops just shy of where Jake's sitting, like she knows her trainer's going to join him anyway. She's right, and Yuri takes a seat nearby.]

Hey. You doing okay?

[bloodspent]

[Jake shrugs a bit at that; he doesn't mind that Yuri's here, nor does he seem started despite seeming so off in his head. Just...thinking, sorta.]

Couldn't sleep. Weird dreams tonight, I guess.

[fatalstrikes]

[Once Yuri's settled he motions for Roc to join him. She does after some hesitation and he reaches out to pat her on the head.]

Yeah, same here. I haven't had much trouble sleeping, so I guess it's finally catching up to me.

[Or maybe it's the fact that we weren't traveling as much today and he didn't wear himself out enough. Who knows.]

[bloodspent]

That makes one of us, I guess.

[Sleep has been sucking so bad, Yuri.]

[fatalstrikes]

Hopefully you'll be able to catch up on your sleep when we hit Pastoria.

[Being in a city will probably help, right...? There are at least beds there that you can probably borrow.]

You're not doing too bad otherwise though, are you?

Afternoon

[eudaimonikos]

Sibling rivalry? That's -

[Well his first instinct was to make a snide comment, but on second thought. Michael leans down to get a closer look at the Scraggy.]

That's new...

[bloodspent]

"New" is one word for it. No idea what got up his ass and died, but here we are.

[Hey, Michael. He can think of about eighty snide things to say about this, don't worry.]

[eudaimonikos]

[He stares closely at the Scraggy for a minute...but it's not like there's any revelations to be found here, screw it.]

Well, I wouldn't be shocked if pettiness could survive even this. At least in humans. Not sure how pants-lizards work normally.

[You just know he knows what a Scraggy is and just isn't gonna call it that.]

[bloodspent]

[...he literally named it pants

he understands]

It is the one thing tying us together, and all. The willingness and desire to be a complete and utter dick to people who may or may not deserve it.

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, Jake.

[Michael presses a hand over his heart.]

That is heartwarming.

Early Afternoon

[takestheblame]

[Your lizard sure seems to like to headbutt things, Jake]

It just wants to fight. I think.

[Either that or his first sign of personality is to try to break a teammate's nose with his head, and that'd be very worrying, haha]

[bloodspent]

Yeah, hopefully that's all it is? Like he'd better just be reckless, though I'd hope he's not going to try to punch her in the face with his face again as soon as I put him down, Jesus.

[He doesn't...entirely mind this, but at the same time, why.]

[takestheblame]

What about her? She reacting to anything yet?

[He sure hopes so, because she got headbutted on the face. That's guaranteed to get a reaction out of any normal person]

[bloodspent]

...No, which is kind of weirding me out now that you've mentioned it.

[Lobanja, your face...]

[takestheblame]

[Kiryu stares at Lobanja. Hello there]

It could be she hasn't gotten the right stimuli yet. Mine seems to be interested in making sure he's looking good, for some reason.

[Not really what Kiryu expected from Daigo -- a vain bear? Who has heard about that?]

Noon

[anythingforyou]

[...holy actual shit, what the hell is that little pantslizard's damage. Once the little demon spawn is safely picked up, Camilla's just gonna walk over with a slightly perplexed expression--]

I see you're dealing with a rather unruly partner...? [Like, what the shit.] It's certainly a shock to see him attack one of your own. What's gotten into him?

[bloodspent]

No idea. He doesn't usually get shitty with her like this.

[Pantslizard usually has some fucking tact, what the hell.]

[anythingforyou]

[Fuckin' rude. Camilla winds up crossing her arms a bit.]

How dreadful. Do make sure he's told not to do such things again; perhaps it's simply some sort of emotion getting into him, for better or for worse.

[bloodspent]

Jesus Christ. What the hell kinda feeling...

[like of all things, you had to get "sibling rivalry" or something, what the fuck.]

[anythingforyou]

Perhaps he simply wants a monopoly on your time. An older child jealous of the attention a younger sibling is getting.

[Like. They clearly aren't related or anything like that, but she supposes that jealousy is a viable emotion or something?]

early afternoon

[divinedescendant]

[well. this is a little bewildering to see, but not enough for her to forget her manners.]

Good afternoon, Jake. [now the important stuff:] My, is this to become a trend now? Your friend isn't the only one trying to pick fights, as it would turn out...

[she says it lightly, though, as good natured as ever. at least there's some initiative to them...]

Re: early afternoon

[bloodspent]

Yours too?

[he is almost sorry for you if that's the case, lady diplomacy.]

Maybe they're just getting themselves sorted out. They are fighting animals normally, I guess.

[divinedescendant]

[if she could raise chrom she can do this but STILL]

A wild creature stood in his path and he did not like that at all. It went about the same way, even the headbutting.

[She sounds so fond as she says it, though, despite the light chiding in her tone... Duma, at her feet, doesn't care much either way.]

But it does seem that they're starting to come back to themselves, in some way.

[she's not the "i told you so" type but like, she could be]

[bloodspent]

Yeah, a bit. Better than they were, anyway, even if they're needing to be rude as fuck about it.

[in fairness, he never said they wouldn't, just not to assume they would]