「Frivolity」
A day in living levity


Bright blue eyes peeked out from a collection of stones, gathered at the threshold of sandy beach and mountainous rock face. Carefully, reptilian fingers pulled the small ornamental lizard into the open air, paneled ears reaching out to taste the temperature. There didn't seem to be a soul about, no movement in the light fog of the morning, nothing to grab the attention of one so alert despite the time of day: everything was safe.

With a giddy grin, the helioptile hopped off the small-statured boulder, aiming himself toward the dew-laden grass nearer the forest. The sun wasn't out yet, so his movements were more sluggish than normal, but Cardice preferred the twilight hours of the morning. It wasn't dark, and it was still cold from the overnight chill. Sure, that meant that it still made him a little sleepy, being cold-blooded, but the anticipation of the hunt was enough to keep him going, enough to instigate that familiar wired feeling.

He had been through the area countless times before, in a multitude of ways -- across the ground, through the trees, from a distant perch -- and it always seemed like there was no end to what could be discovered. Even the smallest bit of overlooked detail was entrancing.

Especially if it was something that could be collected.

Cardice would pause every so often in his skittering to take a glance about the area, deciding what his next course of action was to be. He would dig his nose into the grass curiously, once or twice sneezing from the action but undeterred to try it again. At one point he caught sight of some young sprigs of honeysuckle, immediately snapping the new growth at the base and carrying it around in his mouth as he continued along his way.

The young helioptile considered on a whim to try climbing up a tree he hadn't touched the base of before. Holding onto it with his forelegs to prop him, standing upright, he almost dismissed scanning the area again for any potential threats. It wasn't until he caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye that he nearly thought he made the most foolish mistake he could have. The one time he didn't check!?

Before even checking what it was that he saw, Cardice ducked his head down, ears and body flattened to the ground as he dove for the nearest source of cover -- a shrub that could barely get away with being called a bush at all. Once he was sure he was fully concealed, he inched to the outer boundaries of the inner foliage structure to get a better grasp on what it was that startled him.

<<Hey!>> Cardice spouted, his head popping out from between flimsy branches and attempting to tote an irritated frown. He wasn't the best at looking intimidating, however, especially when it was more or less a front. Nevertheless, he hopped out of the confines of his hiding place, staring up at and trying to catch the cabbage butterfly that fluttered just out of reach. <<Hey, get back here! Y-You scared me, you know!>> he scolded, though the frown had all but vanished, leaving behind a bright smile.

He hadn't even noticed he had dropped the honeysuckle when he was startled, and didn't think twice about it, even when the butterfly had long flown out of sight. While he may have been known for hoarding things he found -- nearly anything he found -- he was similarly not known for his ability to remember the things he had in his possession. No, as long as he had them, that was good enough. Maybe they could be useful later? Cardice hadn't really had a need to remember anything, to counter a course of actions, aside from the use of a Super Potion he had found stranded. That was not something that one tended to forget they had, though. It wasn't every day the small helioptile came across something that wasn't more native to the area!

With a wave of his tail, he turned attention back to scaling the trees. There wasn't much scrutiny given to which tree it was this time, grabbing the nearest one and scrambling up to the lowest branch, but it hadn't really mattered too much in the first place. Once more with a solid structure under his claws horizontally, Cardice thought to test how well the lower canopy was at holding his weight. With a cattish grin, eyes trained on the tip of the branch, he took ginger, calculated steps forward, moving at a slow pace to avoid injury.

It looked large enough around to support the young pokémon, but the edge, not so much. Once the branch started swaying more, threatening to knock Cardice off and bending forward, he knew that it was too dangerous to hazard anymore progression. Before he reversed direction, he popped his head up, gauging how far he had gotten from the trunk and then seeing how far he would need to jump to another branch.

His head sank back to rest above his forepaws, wiggling his back end in the air as he trained his eyes on the nearest landing spot, one tree over. He lowered his tail to prepare to jump, only to have his current perch descend at the momentum. <<Ah!>> the helioptile slipped, his back legs dangling over the edge of the branch as his forelegs hugged it in a death-grip.

Even though helioptile were desert-faring pokémon, his delicate claws made finding the niches in tree bark a breeze. Despite this, it didn't lessen the fear factor of plummeting six feet down. It took him a moment to catch his breath enough to peer down, imagining the dangers such a height posed.

After another spanned interim, he backed up a few paces, the branch rising to a decreased decline... and tried it again. Perhaps it was just because he wasn't afraid of heights, but there was no doubt that he was a glutton for punishment when it came to seeing imagination through, as stubborn as it might be. Where there was a will, there was a way, wasn't there? He still had options!

Scampering down the length, the reptilian pokémon tried to see if he couldn't use the flexible limb as a diving board onto the other side. It didn't work... quite as planned, but that was to be expected -- it wasn't as though he had tried this sort of thing before! It was an awkward leap, nearly toppling into another slip, but he maintained his composure long enough for slightly-proper footing.

It was only three inches, but it was an accomplishment nonetheless! Once more, Cardice found himself prey to gravity and rescued by his reflexes. He glanced over his shoulder to the ground below, adjusting his grip on the new branch before daring to pull himself up. This one seemed slightly higher than the last, but sturdier.

He was used to climbing across the higher limbs when he traveled by tree, where the thicker branches crisscrossed and made jumping unnecessary. Today, though... today was a day of taking a chance. Why not, every once in a while? It shook things up a bit, made them less monotonous without making them scary to boot. Nobody had been around, after all! Except for that butterfly...

Curiously, he glanced around the surrounding area, evaluating whether or not he could see where that winged piece of parchment flew off to, to no avail. It was no matter, though: he had quite the view up here!

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