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 Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 10:22 am
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Serenade
Serenade calmly took to clean her fur now that a silence had fallen over them. She paid no mind to the Persian's curious glances while he went to chewing briars out of her pelts. The Umbreon hadn't realized how many had gotten caught in her fur during her initial run through the woods, they were a pain to get out but she was patient. She wasn't particularly vain, but she did look a mess and the briars tended to pull on her fur when she moved. Wasn't painful, mostly just annoying.
Serenade lifted her head slowly as the feline poke again and nodded along to his statement with a frown. Yeah, she knew that. Didn't stop her from making mistakes though. She had a tendency to overthink some problems and so it became harder to catch prey. That last Pidgey should have been an easy kill but she got distracted with her thoughts and lost it. So careless.
The Umbreon shifted so that while she was still laying down she could watch Cedric who continued to glance at her curiously. She knew what he wanted to ask before he'd even done so, but that didn't make it any easier to answer.
Still, the Persian had pretty much saved her hide. She owed him at least an explaination as to why she'd nearly died of starvation.
Total stranger or not, Serenade wasn't one to just let such a thing slip by without a thank you. She'd find a way to do so proper after she told he tale.
"I've been better. A week ago I was a perfectly content Eevee with my clan and then I evolved..." The Umbreon felt the urge to cry but it never came, she'd done enough of that before. Spilt milk. Get over it.
"My clan is located up north in a mountainous area. It's primarily all Eevee and Espeon with a few other Psychic type thrown into the mix." That explained a lot without really explaining a lot. A Dark Type in a clan of Psychics? That screamed trouble.
"My parents were set on perfection. Everything had to be done without mistakes. They expected no less than a saint from me, but I couldn't give such. My father and I continuously bumped heads until I'd had enough. Anger spurned my evolution, they say Eevee can only evolve from happiness but they are wrong. Any emotion strong enough will do. I made a terrible mistake and I ran before they could punish me for it."
She glanced around in silence for a moment. Any further details weren't necessary. Cedric seemed nice, but she refused to tell anyone of what she'd done.
"I ran and I ended up here. I'm not sure where to go next, or what to do." She was lost in more ways than a simple error in direction.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 12:46 pm
Cedric
The silence having overtaken the conversation, Cedric resigned himself to finishing off his meal. He still had a fair bit to go... When Serenade had interrupted him he had stopped eating entirely since, all things considered, it was a little hard to eat in front of the ravenous display. When one saw something like that it became a little hard to focus on anything else.
He stripped what meat was left as he periodically glanced up to the Umbreon, half-worried that she would bolt the moment he took his eyes off her. She really did seem to be a mess. When she finally spoke, however, he was all ears. And then he was surprise.
"Ah..." Well, that was a great deal more personal than what he had been expecting. He was surprised the Umbreon had told him at all, but... "I can relate."
He wasn't particularly sure why he was going to tell her this. Maybe it was because she'd shared something with him? Was that it? Either way...
"I used to live in a forest to the west." Cedric began uncertainly, as if he wasn't sure how to phrase what had happened. "My parents died before I can remember. My uncle took care of me when I was growing up... he was my only family and my only friend. When he died, they forced me out. So I can understand, a little."
Well, there was a little more to it than that. He hadn't understood at first... he'd never understood. He had wanted to stay, so his clan forced him out the only way pokemon could. With violence.
It wasn't among the most fond of his memories but thankfully enough he had stumbled upon Gabriel and everyone else... they had taken him in. Otherwise he would've starved.
"For the time being, how about we head that way?" Cedric pointed off to his right. There was the faint sound of running water some distance away. "There's a river not too far from here."
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:09 pm
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Serenade
She may have said too much, but in all honestly she'd only scraped the surface of the events and hadn't even spoken of what had driven her to leave at all. She probably would keep that to herself for a long time.
When he replied that he'd had the same troubles she allowed the surprise to reach her face. She hadn't expected him to share his own story with her. It was similar to hers too, what were the chances. Both of them driven out of their respective homes due to the death of a family member.
Though his had not been his fault, it seemed. They way he phrased it lead to her understanding that he'd only been a victim of the circumstances.
The Umbreon wasn't sure what to say in response. 'I'm sorry' was foolish sentiments that meant nothing and did nothing so she never bothered with the words unless she was the one at fault.
She was almost thankful for the subject change, her own thoughts were becoming tiresome again and she still didn't know how to respond. She stood slowly, so as not to send her head spinning again from the sudden vertigo.
She was still hungry, but it was manageable now and something to drink sounded nice, it would help remove the fluffy feather taste of her meal.
Might help to wash out the dirt from her fur too. Feeling clean again would be wonderful.
"Sounds like a plan to me." She answered, voice a bit more enthusiastic than it'd been before.
Serenade waited for him to stand as well and lead the way, she could hear the river just fine but he was the one who had pointed it out so he could take the lead. She would follow along at her own pace, which was horribly slow lately.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:38 pm
Cedric
Cedric got up and stretched a little bit before he started slowly walking in the direction he had pointed. He didn't need to say anything, so he didn't. It wasn't as if he was ignoring the Umbreon though, he was quick to find that she was slow-moving so he periodically adjusted his pace to match hers. He used the sound of her steps as much as he could, though he glanced back now and then just to make sure he wasn't racing ahead of her without meaning to. She seemed better and he was glad for that, but he remembered quite well how he had felt back then. Being considerate came naturally.
What normally would've been a fairly short walk stretched on well beyond the normal time, but if Cedric minded at all he didn't show it.
He simply maintained his pace so that it would fall in step and length with Serenade's until they finally reached the river. The Persian took a few bounding steps and ended up at the river just a little bit sooner than he would have otherwise.
He was rather thirsty and the water was clear. It was deep enough that either of them could get into it and splash around if they wanted. Cleaning themselves thoroughly might be a bit of a challenge as the river wasn't "fast-moving" by any creature's definition but it was more than enough to get the dust and dirt out of one's coat.
Cedric leaned over and started drinking lightly from the river. It was nice. It was refreshing, at least.
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 5:23 pm
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Serenade
The Umbreon took her time,making sure each pawstep fell smoothly on the ground as she advanced forward. Rushing made her stomach clench in anger at her and after eating so quickly she wanted to avoid the exertion that would lead to her losing what little food she had in her.
It was surprising when the Persian fell in step at her side rather than head onwards as she'd thought. Nice, but not necessary.
Upon reaching the side of the river she took a moment to watch it flow steadily along with a mixed feeling of anxiety.
She was thirsty, but she waited until Cedric had finished drinking before stepping up herself. It was mostly out of an understanding that was forced into her mind at a young age. The males of her clan had first dibs on everything which is why she'd asked for leftovers from the Persian rather than sharing. Once she was sure he'd stopped for a moment she dipped her head to the water and lapped up at it quickly as though afraid the water would drain out at any minute. Thirst quenched she eyed the middle of the little river. It seemed deep enough, she wasn't all that large to begin with, and so with little hesitation Serenade hopped right in. She made sure to be downstream from the Persian in case he started drining again. She didn't want the dirt from her fur getting into the water he would be ingesting. That wasn't healthy at all.
It only took her a moment to lose any self-conscious about flailing about in the water in front of the Persian before she was splashing about in utter bliss. This was so refreshing~
"I should have been a Vaporeon!" The dark type mused out loud.
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:58 pm
Cedric
Cedric noticed the pause, the uncertainty. He wasn't sure exactly what it meant, though. Cedric's clan had been, to a fair extent, always the opposite of Serenade's in at least one regard. The women had first call for the resources. The women were always the last line of defense for the children, the last set of hunters and the last set of caregivers. If something happened, the women were the last resort and the back-up plan... they were always well cared for, always defended. Well, it didn't really matter. It was odd but unimportant.
He couldn't help but smile as he saw Serenade splash about. She seemed happy now... it was a vast improvement.
There wasn't much at all he could say in response. It felt like anything he said would simply bring up painful memories. It seemed like evolution had been the critical, painful event in her past... there really wasn't any way to step around it. It was a minefield. Really even acknowledging the question was likely enough to remind her of the pain she had only so recently gone through.
So Cedric did the very, very adult thing of avoiding it entirely and changing the subject.
"You said you're not sure what you're going to do next, right? Do you have any ideas?"
He... believed that's what she had said. She wasn't certain... not that she had no idea.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:23 pm
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Serenade
Serenade dipped her head under the water, eyes open to peer around at the tiny swarm of Barboach that swam by in alarm. Lifting her head from the water, and convinced she was clean now for the most part, the Dark type turned and made her way back to the river bank to climb out.
The Umbreon shook, droplets of water flying from her pelt as she continued to whip her head around to unclog her ears from her earlier splashing.
Once she was certain she was relatively dry she settled down with her legs folded under her and her tail curled up against her side.
It was only then she acknowledged the question despite Cedric having asked it a few moments ago. Honestly, she had to think on it for a moment.
It as a tough decision, she'd never really lived on her own before and so she wanted to make sure she made the right choices. It was nice to have bumped into someone, a second opinion was always welcomed.
"I'm not entirely positive what to do, but I can't live like..." She raised a paw to gesture around her. "...like this. In the wild. I need Pokemon around me, I hate the loneliness out here. So I was heading to where all the Pokemon are at, in this guild place nearby."
It sounded silly now that she'd said it out loud and she glanced down sheepishly. Arceus knows what these guilds were like and she was only going for the socialization. How ridiculous. She hadn't thought this through at all.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:56 pm
Cedric
Cedric waited patiently for an answer to his question. The wait didn't really bother him at all, far from it in fact. It wasn't any skin off of his teeth if he was kept waiting a little bit before he got an answer... after all, he was there by his own choice and it wasn't as if he had a strict schedule to adhere to. Time was only precious when you needed to make use of it, but for the somewhat lazy and independent Persian there was very little he needed to do.
More than that, he could understand that she had a lot to think about. So he merely sat on his behind as he waited and watched.
He wasn't the slightest bit surprised at her answer. He had been planning to suggest the Guilds himself.
"It's not a bad idea. The guilds will take in just about anyone able-bodied. Even if you don't want to do mercenary work, there's plenty to do with the guilds or in the city near it. If you can do just about anything useful chances are you can find some kind of work."
Not all work was pleasant though. If it came down to it she'd end up taking a pretty poor job, but he could understand well enough why she would do that. Sort of, at least... He couldn't really empathize, but James and Gabriel had both made the choice to stay behind and live in the city. So there was an understanding of sorts.
"Most people get a partner and do exploration work though. Well... it's called that but really you're nothing more than a sanctioned mercenary. A lot of the jobs are requests to deal with dangerous people or people who are causing trouble. A lot of the rest is stuff like getting protection or clearing out an area. There's even a list of wanted criminals that can be caught for a reward."
Cedric had mostly done the former... bounties were a lot more fun than "go here, protect me from the local wildlife bluh bluh bluh".
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:18 pm
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Serenade
He seemed to know quite a bit about these guilds, that was good, she had a few questions but they could be dealt with in a moment.
It didn't really surprise her that you had to work to be inthe guilds. Of course they wouldn't let you live there for free, but now that she considered it they paid you for some of these missions too, didn't they?
Money was important, her clan preferred bartering but she knew about PD and it's purpose. She'd seen a few of the golden coins, though they were mostly useless trinkets back home.
She stopped at the thought. Home. The Umbreon frowned at the realization she needed to stop calling it that. She had to find a new home and this guild seemed as good as anything...if they accepted her.
Serenade wasn't much of a fighter as it were. She wasn't much of a hunter either clearly. The Umbreon glanced down to the ground, lost.
"The guilds probably don't need a Pokemon than can barely take care of herself, let alone them and-and partners. I was-I was unaware you needed a partner to join..." Did they force assign you one? What if she got someone unfriendly or a Pokemon that didn't like her at all. What if-ohgod-what if it was an Espeon? Type advantage or not she couldn't face another Espeon. Not after what happened before.
Or did she need to bring a Pokemon on her own to be her partner? She didn't know anyone! This was a stupid idea, why did she have to go and evolve like an idiot and get chased from her clan?!
"I-I wanna go homeeee!" The Umbreon wailed suddenly, the sudden shift from nervous to despair coming right the ********> out of nowhere appearance wise.
"I can't fight, I can't hunt, no Pokemon is going to want to be my partner, I won't be able to get into the guilds, I don't know what to do!" Any maturity that Serenade had displayed was gone in an instance at the understanding that she was screwed.
gj Ceddy
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:45 pm
Cedric
Cedric was more than a little surprised. He was wary the moment she started saying how bad she was but it quickly went into a full on panic attack before he could do anything.
Er... uh... what did he do? He wasn't any good with this kind of thing. He'd never had to deal with it back in the clan and everyone else after that was always so calm. No one ever had any problems... everything was nice and simple no one ever freaked the hell out. What did you do with pokemon in this kind of situation!? You... You would usually try to calm them down, right? Tell them everything's going to be alright?
Well how the hell did you do that? If it had been a guy it would've been easy... just tell them to calm the hell down or something but he couldn't say that to a girl.
Er... right... he would have to tell her how it would be fine and explain why. She was an Umbreon... at the very least there was that. Cedric's thoughts showed clearly in his voice, though whether or not the Umbreon would actually notice was another thing entirely. He was nervous, he was anxious... he didn't know how to deal with this!
"I... I'm sure it'll be fine. The guild lets lots of young, unevolved pokemon join all the time. As long as you start with simple requests, it should be fine."
Thank Arceus he at least knew what the hell he was talking about or else this would've been completely unmanageable.
God forbid she had wanted to join an actual mercenary troupe or something... he would have been completely helpless.
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:20 pm
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Serenade
Her clan didn't train fighters and hunters until final evolution, but when she had evolved there was no training involved. Only fear and running.
The Umbreon lifted her head in response to his words. Calming only slightly in the sense that here was someone who clearly knew more about the guilds than she did. Serenade raised a paw to her face and quickly wiped it free of any tears that clung to her fur before ducking her head back down and waiting for the wave of anxiety to pass. The Darky type's small form trembled from the fit before she slowly, but surely composed herself enough to address the Persian.
"You...you know a lot about these things." It was phrased as a statement but lingered like a question for a moment before she added, "Do you have your own team?" That was more question-like, though she didn't even pause to allow Cedric a chance to answer that before her eyes grew wide and pleading. "Could I join yours? You...you seem nice." She didn't know him THAT wel, but any Pokemon who helped another who was in need of it had to be a decent guy. It was a childish manner she was behaving in, trusting a complete stranger so wholey with no hesitation. Warning bells chimed in her head and informed her not to be so reckless but desperation took over instead. She was terrified to enter the unknown on her own, but she couldn't stay here.
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:42 pm
Cedric
Cedric waited as Serenade calmed down with a mixture of impatience and relief. His weight shifted back and forth between his front paws, causing him to sway ever so slightly in place as he occupied his mind rather than actually thinking about what was in front of him. The Umbreon's... outburst hadn't exactly been expected and thinking any further down the road would just run him in circles. Or at least that's what he told himself as an excuse to avoid thinking about it, whether or not it made sense.
As the onslaught of questions arrived, the Persian blinked a few times as he quickly tried to make sense of it all. He definitely didn't want to stop to think at all... the Umbreon was obviously losing her marbles and giving her a chance to do so seemed bad.
Instead of the acceptance and invitation she hoped for, however, all he could offer was an apologetic smile.
"I used to be a part of a team, but they broke up a while ago. I'm not a member of the guilds anymore."
He had the information because he WAS a guild member, not because he still was.
That part of his life had ended very suddenly and very sadly for everyone involved.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:19 pm
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Serenade
The Umbreon's ears flattened in dismay at that. He wasn't on a team. He wasn't a member of one. She was out of luck.
If she entered the guilds now she'd be stuck with a total stranger and they might be horrible, the fear of that kept her mind flipping back and forth between decisions.
"I'm sorry." She finally said out of nowhere. This guy had just been eating lunch when she'd come and ruined his day. The Umbreon realized she'd done such and felt horrible for it, but all in all it was nice to have someone to speak to.
She'd been out in the wild for a week or so now, time seemed to slip by so quickly, and no company was horribly lonely. She was use to Pokemon always being there.
"I shouldn't have dumped all this on you." She clarified before standing and stretching out her paws. "I can go if you like." Serenade added, though her tone held the sense she'd prefer not to be alone.
She had to rethink her plans now. She knew the guild was her best bet but she was still afraid of it. It was unknown to her and she had reason to fear after what had happened. On the other hand it was that or remain here and she knew better than to think her luck with hunting will have improved over such a short time.
Her ears remained flattened, dejected. She as torn and miserable, but she kept a smile on her face for appearances sake. No need to be a wet blanket, she'd already made Cedric's day depressing as is.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 7:21 pm
Cedric
This... this was worse than it was before. Before she was freaking out a little bit and he could try to help her make sense of it, but now she was just... depressed.
This was harder to deal with. How did you deal with depressed people? Depressed people weren't so simple to deal with why couldn't they be so simple to deal with?
"No, no, it's fine... don't worry about it..."
There really wasn't any clear way to deal with this. There wasn't any magical way to solve her problems and there didn't seem to be anything he could really do.
It wasn't like he was permanently attached to her, but all the same he didn't really want to leave her out on her own as it was. She didn't seem to want to be alone either.
More than that, she was absolutely and obviously completely miserable.
"I could..." Cedric paused for a moment mid way through his sentence before continuing. "I could take you to the guilds. You don't know the way, do you?"
She had seemed pretty lost before... chances are she didn't know where hse was going to begin with.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:44 pm
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Serenade
He didn't seem to mind, she supposed that was good. She couldn't tell if it was pity or sincerety but she wasn't being particularly picky.
When he mentioned escorting her to the guilds she blinked in surprise.
Serenade lifted her head, brightening considerably at that. She honestly had only the slightest idea which direction to go. Her clan disliked outside contact and so she only knew of the guilds from stories from the occasional merchant who was permitted passage.
"That would..." She paused as well, but mostly in a pleasant shock. "That would be nice, thank you very much."
Her tail flicked to the side in a faint wag of delight though she refused to indulge the urge to let it whip about like a pendulumn of joy.
There was still the matter of joining the guild to worry about as well as her curiousity upon realizing Cedric was once a member of a team. Why did they break up? She wanted to ask but felt it might be a touchy subject.
She wondered, also, how against joining another team he'd be. It was a lonely life in the wilderness. Maybe they could both rejoin and-oh, hold on. Idea. Maybe it was a good one, she wasn't sure. Regardless she'd ask when they got to the guilds. She didn't want to scare him off after all.
The Umbreon took a few steps closer to follow along after him when he decided to lead the way.
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