INTPs pride themselves on their inventiveness and creativity, their unique perspective and vigorous intellect. Usually known as the philosopher, the architect, or the dreamy professor, INTPs have been responsible for many scientific discoveries throughout history. They are known for their brilliant theories and unrelenting logic - in fact, they are considered the most logically precise of all the personality types.
How nice to offer her some food! But Touko didn’t feel like eating at all. “Thanks, but I’m not very hungry. Some water would be great though!!”
She took her hand and tried to stand up slowly and cautiously. Her legs still were a little shaky, but she had enough power to stand eventually.
“I guess so. Runa, you say? Nice to meet you! My name is Touko!”
The young girl was way too glad that there was someone who helped her up. Actually, nothing is worse than loneliness. But she wasn’t alone any longer! That moment, she was assailed by sudden happiness.
“This probably sounds weird, but have you seen a wild Riolu running around with some sort of key? It took it away from me and I need to get it back!”
“It is nice to meet you as well, Touko. You say a Riolu took your key?” She asked as she extracted her water bottle, pouring some water into the cup-shaped lid and handing it to Touko. Well, she didn’t say ‘my key’, but ‘some sort’, not exactly implying ownership. Was she a newcomer? Everyone she met so far had been settled in for a while already. Kiri jangled in interest at the mention of a key, the Klefki floating closer to the brunette. “There are mischievous Pokémon everywhere, are there not? My Swanna had snatched my lunch right out of my hand the first time we met! Actually, wait——”
Rummaging through her bag once more, she soon had the shiny silver key Kiri found earlier in her hand. “Was the key like this one? They open up one of the cabins in the clearing, unless someone wants to stay in a treehouse. Have you found a place to stay yet?”
If the Riolu had taken her cabin key, that would have been very troublesome. But if Touko was yet to find a place to stay, personally Runa would have just stopped while she was ahead, and just locate another key. It was more practical than trying to find a small, fast moving Pokémon in the vast Forest, but to each their own.
“If you had not chosen a cabin or treehouse, you are welcome to this key,” she offered. “Of course, if you already have, I will ask my Pokémon to help us search for your missing key.”
Your native langue is
pretension, noun
‘the use of affection to impress;
ostentatiousness’.
When you’re half asleep you use words like ‘voracious’, like ‘hypophora’;
you speak in learnt languages in your sleep,
posing riddles that no one can understand.
You compare your lover to the dark wine dripping off her chin,
to the sunlight streaming through the blinds,
to the terrifying inevitability of the void.
When she leaves, you compare her to an hourglass,
to sparkling sand spinning, spinning, spinning,
deeper and deeper into the night.
The fatal affliction of poets is that we don’t know where it ends. (r.a.)
“Mago... berries?” That was the only ‘mago’ she could think of. “They can be found in the Forest.” Actually, speaking of berries, she should probably plant some of the ones she found in the Forest in the fields. It would make it easier to procure them than trekking through the Forest each time.
Being ripped out of her slumber and slowly regaining consciousness, Touko started to open her eyes. Indeed, there was a girl standing in front of her. Who could she be?
“Ah…? Are you talking to me?” It seemed like she worried about her. But why? Lost in her sorrows, she didn’t even realise she had passed out a while ago. She sat up and wiped away the dirt which got on her clothes. “I guess I’m alright, really… I’m just a little dizzy.”
Of course, that was not what she felt like. This was not what she wanted - not at all. This was not Unova. Why wasn’t she back home? Why wouldn’t this nightmare end already? That moment, Touko just felt like crying. But she didn’t even think of losing a single tear.
This was not the right time to be weak. She remembered that Pokémon stealing her key. Maybe that girl would be able to help her, if she was that kind.
“I, um… Would you maybe mind to help me with something?”
A little dizzy? That wasn’t very good at all, considering that she was just passed out on the Forest floor. “Yes”, she replied, still concerned. “Do you need water, or food?” Dehydration and hunger could be factors that lead to her collapse, but so could emotional distress. There wasn’t any way to tell just from looking at her.
But at least the brunette wasn’t dead like she feared. Now that would have been a very distressing encounter. Of course, fainting randomly wasn’t very good, and who knew how long she would have been there if she hadn’t been found. “Yes, of course, I am happy to help you,” she agreed, hoping it was something she could help with. “My name is Runa. What can I help you with?” Smiling, she offered the girl a hand to pull her up. “Can you stand?”
As calmly as she could, she started to move out of the pond, not particularly toward the other girl, but out of the pond so she didn’t accidentally kick up more water on the girl. There’s a small sigh that escapes her lips, mostly due to the fact she completely forgot she was wearing her normal clothing.
Great, now the clothing that made her look somewhat normal was all wet. Absolutely fantastic. Ah well, hopefully the sun would dry them out.
“ But it’s really my fault, so I’m really sorry ! !
–Am I okay… ? ? “
That was surprising, was it really that noticeable? That was a little worrying, she didn’t want people to notice she wasn’t as childish and upbeat as she always was.
Thus, she pulled the sides of her lips up into a smile with her pointer fingers. A childish gestures, but that was the exact point of it. She wasn’t unhappy.
“ I dunno what’cha talkin’ about ~ ~ ! !
I feel great today, no doubts about that ! ! “
Ume had noticed the girl’s had noticed the girl’s body language, though she hadn’t spent enough time ‘people-watching’ –unlike a member of her idol unit – to know why she was doing that. But it didn’t matter.
What did matter was that her own body language was still readable. People could tell if she was frustrated or upset, and that wasn’t good for her image, even while she was in some sort of forest that she had no idea whether escape was possible or not.
“Really, it is quite alright. I doubt that you are someone who would deliberately kick water at another person,” she replied wryly. Besides, the other girl had apologized immediately, and it was genuine. “A little water has never hurt anyone!”
The girl’s sudden change to lively cheer only served to emphasize her earlier state, but Runa could take a hint. It never hurt to offer help, but to push and pry when it wasn’t wanted? They were strangers, and if the other was having emotional or mental troubles, she probably wouldn’t have been comfortable enough to discuss it with her anyway.
In any case, her childish way of propping up the corner of her lips into a smile was rather cute. It wasn’t a gesture she would have done herself, but the other seemed comfortable doing so. “That is good to hear! I am sorry to have disturbed you from your thoughts though.” But if she was worried about something, maybe a distraction would help giver her a break.
Actually, she should probably introduce herself now. Hopefully she would be able to get along with the other girl, but supposed that it wasn’t a big deal if that didn’t happen. “Oh! My name is Runa- it is good to meet someone else here.”
bc theory and reality are two different rodeos. will be updating her about page when i have time.
reactive, rather than active. her default setting is usually personable pleasantness, geared towards navigating social interactions with the least hassle. she gauges what the other wants; how they behave; how they respond to her; and reacts accordingly. if they are pleasant, so is she, easy peasy lemon squeezy. if they are unpleasant, she'll decide to: remove herself from the situation; attempt diplomacy; match them and be an asshole right back.
her behaviour is, as a consequence, very mutable, seeing as she constructs it around the other person. she settles once a relationship has progressed far enough that she does not (subconsciously) feel the need to construct each response, and the rest of her personality comes through. this song and dance is pretty much engrained into her, that she almost doesn't even notice that she's doing it most of the time. her behaviour is a little bland and forgettable in the beginning but she’s never felt the need to make an impression for fleeting transactions.
she’s actually rather petty and vindictive when she feels like she’s been wronged. she’ll forgive, but she doesn’t forget.
runs cold rather than hot. shuts down, words toneless, bland and crisp; deliberate stillness and motion, is patient enough to ignore you for however long it takes. may rapidly shift her behavioural patterns.
deliberate: her word choice and diction are definitely deliberate choices that she made. sure, she could speak “”normally“” with no problem, but her speech style also serves as a bit of a test for others, to see how they react, if they react at all. nts: list of physical quirks, deliberate and not.
speaking of speech: the speed at which she talks is a touch fast normally, and she enunciates each word clearly. tone is consciously controlled unless relaxed. when it's lilting, she's talking a little slower (amusement, anger, mockery). in (happiness, fear, surprise) the pitch rises higher. (vocal range: mezzo-soprano?) her singing voice is rather soothing, though she is highly embarrassed if anyone other than her parents or shouhi were to hear.
re: emotions. the way she deals with her own notwithstanding, she is really rather empathetic to others and external situations. unless she consciously decides not to engage with something/someone, it will definitely be affecting her. while travelling with shouhi, he acted as a buffer that she would focus on rather than whatever was distressing her. even if she can’t personally understand why someone would be feeling a certain way, she can still recognize and acknowledge that feeling.
mercurial: if a situation doesn't require a specific reaction, her emotions would sway between interest, disinterest, and amusement, sometimes all three even in the space of ten minutes.
when it comes to negative emotions, she doesn't like to dwell on them. sitting there and wallowing in anger, sadness, spite, changes nothing — she might give herself five minutes, but turns those feelings into doing something. when she's feeling down, she'll look towards her head for a logical explanation of why, and to construct a plan to do something about it. simply put, she will volley her not inconsiderable stores of anger towards the next goal. looks towards the future rather than reminiscing about the past.
critical; she is not without her own arrogance — seeing others struggle with their emotions/problems, she may think of a pragmatic, logical solution for it, and wonder why they could not simply deal with it. of course she recognizes that different people deal with different things in different ways, and is able to empathize with them, but that does not negate the spark of superiority/impatience, no matter how small and fleeting she feels it.
control: esp. in an uncomfortable/hostile situation, if she can't control that, she can control herself.
re: shouhi; it’s not that he’s not a great friend or anything, but: confident to the point of cockiness, painfully honest and blunt, extremely driven to achieve his goals, has a sociable and charismatic aura that he definitely uses to his advantage. a highly intense individual. wormed his way into her heart very quickly, and is the one person runa feels like she can depend on without question. four year age difference. she looks at him and it’s like looking into the goddamn sun.
independent: she’s used to taking care of herself, and while she’s quick to extend help to those who ask, is stubborn about accepting help, especially when she believes that she could handle it on her own.
re: dianne, solani, lunis: the three pokémon that had been with her since the very beginning. they are quite protective of her, and they share the deepest bond. solani+lunis were actually caught by her mother when she went back to hoenn for a family reunion, dianne given as an egg by a travelling trainer.
dianne is sort of a lab pokémon; purebred from a long line of umbreons, leading to her rather distinct markings and an ability to transport things other than herself through the shadows (distortion world). it’s quite an unpleasant trip, and runa has only done it a handful of times. years back, not long after dianne evolved into an umbreon, they were actually tracked down by the researchers who wanted dianne for their study. although the egg was taken from a breeding company, they were cooperating with the study, and the trainer may or may not have had permission to take the egg. runa and dianne refused to be separated, and in the end they settled on a compromise: dianne would participate in the study, and runa would receive one of her eggs (serian).
daiki’s thin nose turns up at the furisode girl’s sugarless sarcasm; her lack of respect around aristocratic superiors. disdain dances on her tongue. the male’s hand retreats to his heart, eliciting a gasp as she speaks of him so bluntly.
between her palms, she cradles a familiar red and white capsule, revealing the motive for her ticking wrists. she welcomes her lunatone, most likely out of spite. the crimson glow of the pokemon’s eye slices through the sunlight. every movement she makes is a tease, and although he rather be finding a way back to lumiose, daiki submits to her little game. she wants his attention, his participation. though they just met, she’s a few steps ahead of him. her hands fold theatrically, prominently showcasing how effortless this all is to her.
“hey, don’t say it like that.” he peers around the floating moon, unamused. “of course i have a mansion. my last name’s kanemoto.” daiki taps his temple with an index finger as if to say ring a bell?
“wait, clearing?” daiki’s visage reads as suspicion. as each syllable grows more frantic, daiki notes the lunatone’s tensing. the other trainer pivots, pulling daiki with invisible strings–her marionette. “thought you said there’s no exit. if you’re going to play a game, at least keep the rules consistent.”
she starts on her way, and his fear of being lost quickly conquers his stubborn pride. with a short grunt, the male takes off after her. “hey, wait up!”
Ah, so she was wrong. Or rather, not wholly correct. The kid had pride, but it was not yet stiff and unyielding. Fear in tandem, perhaps. After all, he was alone in an unknown location, told that he could not leave, and she was a readily available source of information, if nothing else. Even as he continued to talk, she had already started to move away. She heard every word of course, it wasn’t as if he was trying to be quiet, and contemplated on her next actions. Interest, disinterest, amusement; she could ignore him with ease, but that was likely just going to spur him on. In the end, she settled on vague amusement. And, well, she did offer her assistance, though if you split hairs it would have been available when she was in the clearing.
Her steps don’t slow down, but neither did she begin to walk faster, and he caught up easily. Slanting her gaze to the side, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Good heavens, was Shouhi ever this annoying? In the beginning, he was, but the unlikely pair had learned to read each other fairly quickly, settling into a comfortable rhythm. In this situation, she doubted that would be the case.
Lunis wasn’t very happy with the boy, she could feel. Dutifully, it kept its body between them, forcing the boy to keep his distance from her. Smiling faintly, she sent her thanks mentally. He had already gotten close enough, and the next time she wouldn’t be hesitant about introducing him to her elbow. Lunis’ eyes glowed brighter whenever the boy drew closer to it, fading in intensity when he fell back. She wondered if he noticed that — antagonizing a Pokémon already displaying warning signs was never the best course of action. Lunis was more than adequate protection right now, though she kept Solani in hand anyway.
Though his family name was laden with expectation, Runa definitely wouldn’t have been able to place it. Even if they were based in Lumiose, she had only been there for a few days, hardly enough time to even explore the city. “Negative. The last name of Kanemoto is of no consequence to me.” It did explain his appalling behaviour, if he’d been born with a silver spoon.
“The central clearing,” she starts again, crisp and flat, “also referred to as the town. Residential housing is found in the vicinity, as well as the Pokémon Center.” Changing course slightly, she began to make her way towards the clearing. Mapping out new parts of the Forest could wait until she no longer had a hanger on. “Cabins and treehouses are available, and are furnished with basic amenities. Wild Pokémon may appear in the area on occasion, and I would advise you to treat them with respect.” He was smarter than that, wasn’t he? She hadn’t missed how he had danced around her earlier questions, so he did have a sense of self-preservation.
The clearing wasn’t very far from here— Kanemoto had ran into her while they were still relatively near the Forest’s edge. Stopping abruptly, she swivelled around to face him. “Of course, I could be lying.” Amusement creeps back into her voice slowly. “After all, we are strangers. You only have my word that you may not leave. If we are playing a game,” and she wasn’t before, not intentionally so, but now? “I have the advantage, do I not?” If that was a little mean, well, she never said she wasn’t vindictive.
the female drones on in what flows like riddles–melodic, yet offbeat. “there is no exit…you find yourself back where you have started.” and daiki finds this disquieting, since he’s usually the one to speak in fluent mischief. the stranger–the embodiment of pastel innocence–fidgets before the male. although he lacks skill in observation of human behavior, he pairs the movement with a nervous tick. pensive wrists cross–for some reason.
Oho. That he repeats her words is unexpected. Interesting, but unexpected. Already different than the others she had met. If anything, he made her think of Shouhi. Her hand closes around Lunis’ pokéball.
Widening her eyes deliberately in response to his narrowing, she tilts her head to the side as she answers. “Of course. It is not safe to sleep in the Forest at night, after all. It does no one favours to run afoul of the Kabutops.” His sudden invasion into her personal space — close too close — is jarring, but she schools her reaction to a slight sway back and a few blinks. She is uncomfortable by the lack of space, but annoyance outstrips that by far. If Shouhi was here, this boy would never have gotten so near her. They are still far too close together, but she is unwilling to cede any ground. Of course, she could remedy the situation quite quickly with a well placed knee or elbow, but while the Forest was large, it was small enough that she would no doubt run into him in the future. Diplomacy first, then violence when necessary.
But back to the situation at hand. She smiled at him, almost warmly, though it did not touch her eyes. “A mansion, in Lumiose?” Lilting, singsong, definitely aiming to irritate. “How grand. I am afraid that housing here shall be far less opulent.” Spoiled rich kid, she thought with disdain. “Mmm, had I known a way back, I doubt that you would be speaking to me now.” In one smooth motion, she took two long strides backwards, hand snapping out to release Lunis in the newly made space between them. Even in the afternoon sunlight, the deep red glow from it’s eyes was easily visible. Hold, she thought at it, not wanting Lunis to attack someone who hadn’t really done anything to her. She clasped her hands together with exaggerated ease, Solani’s pokéball cradled in the middle.
Tilting her head to the side once more, she studied him with a placid expression. “It is dangerous to wander the Forest alone. Nesting Kabutops are particularly vicious.” This time her words were stripped bare, bland and toneless. "Should you require further assistance, I may be found in the center clearing.” Doubtful — the kid looked like he had pride (arrogance), but as they say, any port in a storm. It cost little to help another, and discomfort aside, she did find him interesting. Not very pleasant, but still, interesting. Turning — she was confident that Lunis would stop any sort of underhanded attack while her back was turned — she started off, intending to continue exploring another section of the forest, as she was before she got interrupted.
The shriek of a pokemon unknown to him woke Sir Aaron in a small state of panic before looking around and seeing Lucario and Pidgeot nestled a few feet away in the tree house. “ We have to find out where we are,” he whispered to himself.
Deciding his faithful friends needed their rest he went out into the forest to try and find any clue as to where he had wound up and why he couldn’t seem to remember anything after he left the palace.
Having walked for almost an hour Aaron found himself along the shores of a beach. Never before had he seen the beauty of water so clear as he could see the tentacruel and remoraids swimming around. But as he gazed upon the lake he was met with the despair as the thought dawned on him that there was no end to the lake in sight. “All lakes lead to somewhere, i’ll have to get Pidgeot to fly me over it when i get back” he said to no one in particular.
Aaron, proud of his discovery of the lake, went back on his way to the tree house but along the way realized that he had not come in contact nor seen traces of any other people since he had been there. He pondered if he was truly alone here with his team or if others were here and if so did they know how he had gotten there?
But before he could plan out anything else he caught the feeling of a strong aura, not that of a pokemon but that of another trainer. “It appears im not alone here after all”. He might finally figure out what happened to him and his group to bring them here.
Dozing off against a tree, with Dianne napping on her lap, Runa was counting on Lunis and Solani to watch over the rest of her Pokémon (especially her resident troublemaker, Cherubi). The sounds of playing Pokémon didn’t disturb her state of suspended sleep, though the sudden mental nudge from Solani certainly did. “Hmmhmm,” she hummed sleepily, turning the impression over in her mind. So there was someone new in the forest… Currently coming towards the residential area, so she might as well wait here for them to arrive. They probably wouldn’t miss each other, anyway.
Though Solani didn’t give her the impression that the stranger had untrustworthy intentions, the meteorite pair began drifting nearer, and Dianne had opened one ruby red eye before going back to feigning sleep. Smiling, she began petting the warm Umbreon in her lap, amused and touched by her Pokémons’ protectiveness.
Before long, the anticipated stranger came into the clearing. He had a confident face, and was wearing strange, old fashioned clothing… an actor, maybe? His gloves were certainly interesting, what with the large crystal on the back of his hands. The wild Pokémon continued to play with Lynne, Kiri, and Cherubi, so they weren’t threatened by his presence at all. Hmm. Wide awake now, she tilted her head to the side curiously, waiting for the strange man to notice her.
It almost felt like eternity. Step by step, the young trainer lingered through the coppice, closely followed by her Zorua. What was this place? How could it be that every path she took brought her back to exactly where she started? Instead of being worried, Touko got more annoyed with every step.
“This definitely isn’t funny. Could this be a wild Pokémon’s illusion?”
Unfortunately, it was not. It was real. She heard a soft whimpering behind her. It seemed like Zorua was very exhausted. “Heh, I guess you need a break, do you?” The girl bowed down to her beloved Pokémon and reached inside her bag, pulling out a few Pecha berries which immediately were eaten by it. “You can rest now, just get back inside your Pokéball.”
As wanting to sit down in front of a tree, Touko got distracted by a shimmering thing she spotted on the ground. She looked closer and saw that it was a key which she picked up afterwards. But where could it fit? There were just trees and greenery around her, no buildings at all. Her head was buried in endless thoughts. Suddenly, something really fast grabbed the key out of her hand and ran away with it. “Hey! Give it back!!” she screamed angrily, looking at the wild Riolu getting away with that precious and kind of strange item. After all, it could have been good for nothing, but the girl had a feeling that she was dependant of that key - and that was why she ran after that sneaky Pokémon.
However, it was too fast. She probably followed it for half an hour without success. She didn’t have any power left to continue. Her anger slowly turned into desperation.
It didn’t take too long and she collapsed of exhaustion. The ground was very uncomfortable to rest on, but she had no other choice. Her legs didn’t want to carry her anymore. With that, she just stared into the nothingness. It was time to give up. The environment of the forest was consuming her, as well as all her sorrows.
What if she would never be able to leave this forest? Neither she would never be with her friends again, nor some day reunite with him. What a frightening thought. After all the years she had spent outside her home region she finally realised how homesick she was.
“This can’t be real. It just can’t. This all must be a dream, nothing more than a dream… I surely will wake up soon. Back home in Unova…”
“Oh? What is this?” Kiri’s collection of keys jingled musically as he presented her with a shiny silver key. “Ah, thank you, Kiri.” Accepting the proffered item, she tucked it into the side pocket of her shoulder bag. It was probably one of the many keys scattered around the clearing, so later she’d go match it with a house. Save someone a bit of trouble, at least. Pushing off the ground, she gestured towards the forest. “Come one, let’s go find some herbs, shall we?”
The afternoon’s plans of foraging was quickly abandoned, however, when she stumbled across a body. Stars above—! “Please do not be dead, please do not be dead...” she muttered under her breath, running towards the fallen girl. Was she injured? Was she breathing? Her clothing was a little dirty and some leaves stuck to her, but Runa couldn’t see any visible injuries. “Miss? Miss, are you alright? Can you hear me, do you require assistance?” Oh please let her be alive... Kiri jingled by her ear, and she felt a little calmer knowing that she wasn’t alone.
he steps with more curiosity than timidity; heel-toe neatly across grass, dewdrops visible. he suggests early morning–yet the ethereal brightness of his surroundings counters that the time teeters toward the afternoon. running his fingers through his hair, daiki combs out stray blades.
as he paces, daiki runs his fingers along passing trees. and how the bark scrapes his fingertips proves he currently wanders reality. how did i get here? is so useless of a question, daiki merely scoffs. he accepts this matrix; this exquisite forest that resonates better than his father’s office.
a short distance away from him, a figure lingers between trees. although daiki preferred this location to himself, he is intrigued. perhaps their circumstances coincide with his. either way, at his lumiose mansion, the male never leaves a door unopened.
“excuse me, do you know just where the hell we are?”
The blades of grass beneath her feet were wet with dew; odd, being that it was early afternoon. It could be the fog — although she wouldn’t have thought it was thick enough to maintain such an abundance of dew drops in the bright sunshine. Further in, with the thicker fog, it would have been more plausible, but she disliked going so far when nothing ever came out of it. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched either, when walking alone as your surroundings dissolved into a wall of white was creepy enough. But the edges of the forest was pleasant enough.
Runa stiffened up at the sudden, unknown voice. Turning swiftly, in a move she hoped didn’t look panicked or scared, she was faced with a strange boy. He was tall — very tall, compared to her short stature, she noted with slight irritation. If he were to stand closer, she’d be forced to tilt her head up just to see his face. Though his eyes were rather pretty, an uncommon shade of clear gold. “The Forest. A forest.” Forest, forest, she personally capitalized it in her head, as it wasn’t as if there was a sign telling them what this place was called. This place felt too… something, to not have a proper name.
“There is no exit,” she informs him, with faint humour. His question was fairly indicative of a new arrival. Has he tried going further in? If not, she might as well save him the trouble. “No matter which way you try to leave, the fog will only grow thicker, and you find yourself back where you have started. Have you found a place to stay?” Even as she talked, she crossed her wrists, covering her hands with her long sleeves. Her right hand stroked the curve of Lunis’ pokéball; better safe than sorry.
With that, the two on the ground began to shout words of encouragement to Runa up in the tree—well, cries of encouragement was more accurate if you were talking about Aori in particular. But nevertheless the large Mud Fish moved closer towards the base of the tree in case the pinkette really did fall off. There was a close call when the other slipped while trying to maneuver herself down, but she managed to grab the tree just in time.
Eventually the other made her way to the ground, which elicited an ebullient response from both Miyuki and Aori. The two went over to Runa who was now lying in the grass, exhausted from the adrenaline rush she just experienced while climbing down from the tree.
“ You did just fine! ” she said, encouraging the other even though it wasn’t exactly needed anymore. Aori echoed her trainer’s thoughts, nudging the girl gently with her head in an act of support. Miyuki couldn’t help the fact that Aori was naturally open with expressing her happiness and affections, so she hoped that Runa wouldn’t mind the sudden contact too much.
Smiling giddily, she tried to regulate her breathing to something a little calmer. The shaking, unfortunately, would have to be waited out. Miyuccha’s cheerful and encouraging presence really did help very much; it probably would have taken her twice as long to get down from the tree and calm down. Still, she wasn’t going to try standing up for a while longer. Aori’s own brand of encouragement was welcomed — if she could control her limbs with certainty, she would definitely have patted the large Mud Fish on the head. As it was ——
“It is good to see you, Miyuccha and Aori!” The words, while a little quieter than normal, came out without her having to gasp for breath in the middle. “It is so strange- I have looked, but did not find anybody else here, for the past three days.” Strange indeed — although she had met Miyuccha, Tadashi, Kazuki, and Keith, she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the others when she searched. She had even tried the treehouses, a few of which refused her entry, proof that they were inhabited, although the occupants were nowhere in sight. Runa was fairly she she wouldn’t hallucinate one person, let alone four, and while it was completely possible to have missed them during the day, they wouldn’t be sleeping the the Forest at night, would they? Honestly, at this point, she’d be chalking up any oddities to the Forest itself, lacking another explanation. “The treehouses were still occupied, more than the people who I know live in one, but there was no one there. Has that happened to you, Miyuccha, or…?” If Miyuccha mentioned not seeing Runa for the last three days, then she probably wasn’t being delusional.
Mibo’s ears perk up, but still stayed curled into us, looking at her as if she had grown an extra head. We chuckled at his expression and turned our attention, for the briefest moment, to the passing girl to answer her questions. Our tone is somewhat chipper as we reply, and the words that drip from our mouth are kind in their nature, “Ah, it’s okay. It’s easy to spook Mibo–but he seems pretty interested in who you are. Maybe he’ll warm up to you!”
The Vaporeon made a noise very akin to embarrassment and pushed his head against our chest. We laugh and wrap our arms around him in a hug, our laughter taking a good natured tone. Mibo pushes his head against our chest, as if to make us stop. Our laughter begins to fade and we speak, still a bit humored, “Sorry, Sorry. You know what I meant, Mibo.” The pokemon looks away, a bit embarrassed, but it seemed as though he calmed down. Which was good–making him mad would do us no good. He is our companion and our friend. We would rather not lose him. A sadness swells in our chest, but we smile it off, trying to put off thoughts that we would rather not think of. Or feeling that we don’t want to feel.
It’s something about loss, but our wide smile pushes that feeling away, as though it was taboo. It seems to be familiar, for some reason, but smiles always help–well, sometimes. But smiling helps. Hugging helps. Mibo nudges us and a smile appears, wider and happier, as we try to think of other things. We hug the pokemon again and look to the girl that is still..apparently…there. We don’t know what to say..now. So we stay quiet and look at her for some kind of conversation.
Runa giggled softly in response to his kind words. “Heehee! That would be lovely.” He had a nice feeling around him, nothing scary at all. Solani seemed to like him — rather swiftly for the oft stoic Pokémon.
Watching the pair interact, it was easy to see their bond. “The two of you have a good relationship,” she noted with good cheer. He and his Vaporeon- MIbo- responded to each other easily. Someone who so obviously cared for their Pokémon, to notice their individual quirks, always helped set her at ease.
The silence stretched on, though Runa didn’t quite notice it. The boy was watching her now, so she stared back, even as she fiddled with her long sleeves. He seemed to be… expectant? Hesitant? Solani, being able to sense the emotions and thoughts of others, would be able to tell her for sure, but she had long decided that it was a breach of privacy to do so in regular situations. Ordinarily she would only know if a person had good or bad intentions, and only with the latter would Solani share more.
With a small smile, she decided to pick up the conversation again. “Have you been here for long? I had not seen you around before.” She had already been in the Forest for a month already, and met a handful of others, all who’ve arrived at varying times. “Ah! I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Runa, and this is Solani,” she said, gesturing to the Solrock floating by her head. “It is nice to meet you two!”
A certain pinkette’s kicking her feet in a pond again, it seems. She’s only doing it to buy time, but lately all that’s been on Ume’s mind is how her friends and her brother have been doing. It’s stupid, to worry about a pair of eighteen year olds and a twenty four year old, but she couldn’t help it, she missed them dearly.
Maybe it was because nothing was familiar to her, she’d never gone into the woods before, she’d never, ever left Hearthome before on foot, every time she left for concerts she was in a plane or a car. This was all new.
She had to look after herself. That frightened her.
She kicks up more water.
… Oops.
The idol wasn’t planning on kicking that water all up on that girl, she honestly wasn’t. She’s unable to even keep up her persona today, so a quiet, apologetic look forms on her face and she bows her head.
“Sorry about that miss. I didn’t see you there.” The words were uncharacteristically quiet, even for little miss ‘Sakucchi’. She was feeling fairly sombre and the poor girl across from her had to feel the brunt of it.
…Though, were pastel pink pigtails really a thing now? She may have to cut or change her hair..
How long has it been since she’d found herself in the Forest? If it weren’t for the lunar cycle, she’d probably have lost track of the days already. It wasn’t too bad living here — it certainly could have been worse. If she had left her bags in the room she rented before she went of her ill-timed jaunt through the woods, she’d been stuck here without the majority of her possessions. Food was readily available and not hard to produce, and the weather was fairly temperate. Aside from wondering about an exit, there wasn’t much to worry about at all.
Well, there wasn’t much to worry about when it came to taking care of herself, but was anybody worrying about her? With her parents, they usually scheduled their calls for every month or so, and with Shouhi they emailed every two weeks, but it wasn’t uncommon for communications to grow slow as she travelled around. They would start to worry soon, if they hadn’t already. Although electronics continued to work, there was simply no way of getting a signal to the outside world. Sighing, she decided to stop thinking about it. There was nothing she could do currently to change it, so no use wasting time.
Sudden wetness on her legs made her flinch to the side. What in the…? Looking up, she saw a pink haired girl by the pond. Someone new — she definitely would have remembered seeing another person with pink hair around. The stranger’s hair looked rather pretty, and was far longer than her own, although they both had it in pigtails. Self-consciously, she brought a hand up to her neck, twisting a lock of hair around her fingers. Actually, speaking of pink hair, it wasn’t the most common of hair colours. It would be rather amusing if they turned out to be long lost relatives or something. Oh, but she could think about that later.
”Oh, no, I was not watching where I was going either,” she replied easily, no hint of annoyance in her voice. The weather was fine as usual, and her slightly damp tights would dry out quickly. “Are you alright, miss?” The girl seemed to be rather down, going by her body language. Runa hoped she wasn’t prying in where she wasn’t wanted, but her mother had always said a problem shared was a problem halved, and here where the surroundings were unfamiliar, it only made sense to get along and help each other, right?
"This is a strange question but... is there a reason why your Cherubi won't get off Solis? I'm afraid I can't control her for much longer..."
“Solis… will not bite me if I get close, would she?” Actually, maybe she shouldn’t tempt fate like that. The spider Pokémon was visibly annoyed, what with Cherubi clambering all over her, and Runa winced again. The small, cherry-like pokemon was surprisingly fast despite his stubby feet, having leapt out of of her arms earlier, racing towards Solis. Honestly, he was such a troublemaker… Sighing, Runa released Solani, the sun-like Pokémon easily taking care of the situation by levitating Cherubi out of the danger zone, and back into Runa’s arms. Honestly, this situation had happened enough that they already had a routine for it, no extra words or thoughts needed. She had hoped that this one time, she could look after her mischievous Pokémon without another pair of eyes, but today was not the day.
“Sorry about that,” she apologized sheepishly. “Cherubi is the resident troublemaker in my team. Did Solis eat something sweet earlier?” Sweet things were like a magnet to the small Pokémon. At least now he settled some, content to stay in her arms now that some energy had been exerted.