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 Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 7:21 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
"Yes, it is good to meet you as well." Tobias suddenly shifted forward and got quite close to Neo. Perhaps a little too close, in fact, as he reared up on his back legs in order to both bring himself to eye-level with and to shake hands with the much taller and much more bipedal Meowstic. It was a very vigorous shake that used both of his hands, though the exact reason why was hard to tell in a precise manner. Though Tobias seemed to have good enough control of himself, he was on an angle from the ground and it couldn't be easy to maintain any kind of subtle control while shaking hands. The somewhat forceful shake could have been either a product of his personality or his biology. You couldn't really tell. "I am Tobias of team Robin. The precious little one is named Balerd." Tobias would complete his introduction and carefully step back as he released Neo's hand and shifted back down onto the ground. He would stare at Nyx for a moment, seemingly wordless, but he would speak after the moment had passed. "And you as well, Nyx, partner of Neo. It is good to meet you also."
Balerd, on the other hand, was already up to mischief. Such was the nature of a child. Balerd was quite quick to, upon the lowering of Eliot's tail, begin to attempt to pull down on Clara by the string. It was (un)fortunately a fruitless effort though it did have a somewhat unexpected side-effect. Balerd was very small and very light, both due to the aforementioned and the inherent biology of an avian. Balerd was so light, in fact, that attempting to pull down on Clara had instead resulted in Balerd going up. There was seemingly little concern however as the precocious little Hawlucha simply paused for a moment and then continued climbing with the apparent desire to grab Clara and hold onto her. This might have seemed dangerous, but Balerd's talon-like fingers were still underdeveloped and incapable of poking or stabbing anything. Clara wasn't at any risk.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 8:42 pm
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara Neo drew back slightly when Tobias rushed forward, hardly expecting to have the Linoone draw so close to him for a handshake. Sensing his partner bristle beside him at the breach in his personal space however, the Meowstic was quick to offer a smile and shake Tobias's hand in return, though he couldn't quite match the warmth of the Normal Type's double-pawed handshake simply because his whole body wasn't involved in the action. Despite the hurried nature of the action, it was quite genuine--he'd only rushed things for Nyx's benefit. "Yes, it's great to meet you as well!" he said cheerily, "And I'm sure Eliot and Clara are happy to have a new playmate too."
Contrary to Neo's comment however, Clara was far from happy with the Hawlucha that had grabbed hold of her arm and proceeded to come upward along with her when she'd attempted to float away from him. The Drifloon's arms were far from strong when it came to anything more than lifting objects, so she couldn't dislodge him by her own strength, and Eliot was too intrigued by the creature floating just above his back to realize that his sister was staring at him in distress. The girl quivered as Balerd drew closer to her head, staring down at him nervously. She glanced over at Daddy helplessly, but he didn't see her stare, so she began to uncoil her arms from around Eliot's tail carefully, still unsure what exactly she should do. Her brother yipped in confusion when he felt her grip loosening, but she didn't stop until both arms were free and she was floating on her own; a process which only took a matter of seconds. As soon as she was free, Clara floated up several feet into the air in the hopes that it might disorient the strange Pokemon that wouldn't let go of her; she had no good means of rapid motion at her disposal, otherwise she would have tried that instead. The child hoped that it would stop the bird before he got to her head--she didn't like the thought of being scratched by its claw-like hands.
Nyx watched all of this quietly, his expression revealing nothing but a quiet seriousness. As soon as Neo saw what Clara was up to the Meowstic would fret, but Nyx was well aware that the girl could handle things herself--if the Hawlucha posed any sort of threat to her, he would have intervened before she could get out of reach. What concerned him far more was Tobias's proximity to Neo, which he had looked away from even before his partner had covered up for the other Pokemon, doing his best to ignore the desire to force the other two apart. Feeling the Linoone's eyes on him, the Vulpix shifted his gaze back down, meeting the Normal Type's look with an idle stare of his own; he was grimly pleased to realize that he'd stepped back from Neo. "The pleasure is mine," Nyx replied, each word chosen carefully, as he was aware of the attitude Neo expected of him here. His words carried no malice but rather a sense of distant courtesy: it was, after all, the Vulpix's default method for dealing with those who irked him, provided they didn't press their luck by straining his patience to its breaking point.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 9:41 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
"Yes, I hope so as well. Balerd is still very very young and in need of friends so it would be quite good to find some so soon." They would be Balerd's first friends and Neo seemed to be quite a friendly person so Tobias had no problem with this. It was unconditionally important for a young child to have friends to play with, to talk with and to grow up with and as Tobias's very important young child it was the case that such a thing would come to pass. He would make sure Balerd had friends no matter how he had to search the guild though it did quite seem he did not need to search long. He cast a glance in the direction of Nyx as the Vulpix spoke and, for a time, he didn't respond. There was simply a blank stare as if Tobias were completely and utterly devoid of any kind of higher function. After a period of time that could only be called "mildly uncomfortable", Tobias finally spoke. "Hmm... Yes." Unlike Nyx's words, there was no implicit dislike or any kind of vague and off-putting courtesy. It was simply and completely honest and straightforward to a point that it could have been called painfully blunt if it had any apparent meaning at all. The words didn't seem to "click" with the conversation in the slightest.
He was, of course, aware of Clara's plight but unsure of whether or not to interfere. It was a hard decision to make. He did not feel it necessary to interrupt as there was no chance of Balerd actually hurting Clara but he was fairly certain that Neo would be quite displeased by the course of action. The two would bond in their own way but establishing a good enough rapport with Neo was important... Hm... decisions, decisions. Well, if it became an actual problem it would be a trivial matter for him to simply spring into the air, land on top of the pair in a somersault and then land with his back to the ground and both held very carefully in his paws. He wouldn't do such a silly thing as feigning ignorance of what was happening if it came to that but he could quite easily and quite gracefully pluck the pair out of the sky should Neo feel it desirable while being incapable of doing so himself.
Of course, for Balerd none of this mattered. Balerd simply chirped happily, apparently thrilled to be up so high in the air. One who enjoyed the height so much would, of course, want to go even higher so that was what Balerd did. It was rough-goings to actually climb so high because once you got to the end of the string the smooth material above was much harder to climb but, in time, the potential for failure was squashed under the heels of effort and success. Balerd was now wrapped around the upper part of Clara's "back" and was very happy to be there.
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 7:42 am
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara Neo shot an odd look at the staring contest Tobias and Nyx were slipping in and out of, wondering just what was going on between them. From what he could surmise, their Linoone companion wasn't quite sure what to make of his partner's unresponsiveness--at least, the bluntness of their acquaintance's words was enough to suggest as much. The Meowstic refrained from sighing, looking over at Eliot rather than wasting too much thought on the issue. He silently continued to remind himself that it was his fault Nyx was in a bad mood at the moment, so he couldn't fault the Vulpix for being less than enthused about making friends on this particular occasion; his partner was extremely skilled socially speaking, but Neo was beginning to realize that Nyx was not one to practice such skills when something rubbed him the wrong way. The Vulpix was terribly difficult to understand, but also a very concerned and generous friend to have; whatever he'd done to deserve the Fire Type's consideration, Neo found himself glad of it--he'd hate to be on the receiving end of Nyx's scorn. Of course, right now, the Vulpix didn't seem particularly upset, more disinterested. Neo decided after a moment that this as a step up from the disaster with Gilded before, and any progress was worthy of note in this situation.
Eliot was jumping up and down, and it caught Neo's eye after a moment, breaking him out of his introspection. The Growlithe liked to bound around of course, as most children do, but he was staying in one spot and jumping, like he was trying to reach something. Curious, Neo looked up, and immediately his eyes widened in concern. Little Clara had gotten pretty high up by this point, certainly out of the Meowstic's reach, and--even worse--she'd spirited young Balerd up with her. Having not seen the struggle going up, Neo assumed it was some sort of game between the two of them, but they were so high by this point that the Hawlucha could get seriously hurt if he fell from such a height; the hawk-like child's partial Flying Type was irrelevant here, since it was quite unlikely that he'd learned to fly already, particularly with a Linoone as a parent. "Clara!" he called up, struggling to keep the concern out of his voice, "Clara, sweetheart, can you come back down to Daddy?" Provided he didn't show signs that anything was wrong, she should be able to get back down without a problem: a child's concern could easily be more a product of their parent's worrying than her own.
Clara let out an airy sigh of discontent when she heard her passenger's cheerful chirp, utterly crushed by the fact that she'd done nothing to dissuade the little bird. She didn't know what else to do! She didn't like being touched when she didn't want to be, and she definitely didn't want to be touched by the greedy feathered hands that held her now. The claws clinging to her rubbery skin gave her a dull aching sensation in her head, as her "back" was essentially the back of her skull, and she was not meant to be held there. Somewhere in her mind she knew that something bad would happen if she was squeezed too tightly or touched on her head by any object that was too sharp, and she didn't feel safe knowing that there was something on top of her, testing to see just how much stress her delicate head could take. "Please...No..." she murmured, in a voice that could easily be swept away on the breeze. That was when she heard Daddy's voice calling her back down, and she quickly complied with a sigh of relief: Daddy would be able to fix it--he could make anything better.
Neo watched as the Drifloon came back down to earth, only feeling truly comfortable when he could reach up and grab on to her hand, pulling her closer to him. "There we go," he said soothingly, "Don't go up so high again, okay? Daddy can't reach you up there." Seeing the distressed look on the girl's face (and its source immediately after) Neo pulled the Drifloon down to him carefully, so she hovered only inches above the ground, and plucked the small Hawlucha off of Clara with gentle paws. "You too Balerd," he said with a smile, placing the child on the ground carefully. "And be sure if you want to play with Clara, you hold her like this," taking hold of the Drifloon's hand when she floated back up, he demonstrated before shifting Clara's hand over to the young Hawlucha's own. "You see?" he asked the child, watching Balerd closely to make certain he didn't make any efforts to climb up again.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 10:13 am
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
Balerd responded just about the way you would expect a tiny infant to respond. Neo's removal of Balerd from Clara's backside was met with fruitless efforts to hold onto the round and a somewhat distressed squawk. When back on the ground, Balerd was quick to rush to take a hold of Clara again and to begin attempting to climb which was an effort that was only thwarted so thoroughly because of Tobias's firm paw. "No. No. No..." Every time Tobias took his paw away, Balerd tried to climb again and Tobias responded with a firm "no". Eventually, Tobias solved the problem the only way he knew how. He manually placed one of Balerd's hands around one of Clara's each and said "Balerd, ball." before stepping back and watching for a moment.
Balerd seemed to stare back for a moment before chirping happily. The transformation was instantaneous. The Hawlucha's little body curled up. The white and green patterning disappeared as the wings were wrapped around and in very short order the red, white and green bird transformed into a red ball that was suspended from Clara's hands.
"My apologies. Balerd is still much too young to know anything beyond desire."
He didn't really see Balerd climbing Clara as that much of a problem though he did quite suppose that it would be bad for the future relationships of everyone involved if they were to distress one another. It simply wasn't prudent to so quickly ruin what was blossoming into a wonderful friendship. Truth be told, were it not for that he would be tempted to grab a hold of Clara himself. She was so very round and so very, very shiny.
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 2:42 pm
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara Neo was about to grab Balerd's talons again when he saw the child snatch at Clara with disregard for his former instruction, but drew back when Tobias beat him to it. The Meowstic stood back to allow the Linoone the opportunity to do his own parenting, though he too saw that the efforts were proving to be fruitless. Looking up at Clara, he saw the desire to get away in the child's eyes and he felt a surge of sympathy for her, though he knew it was better for her to be exposed to other Pokemon than it would be to keep her away from them. Unfortunately for the girl, youthful hands would almost always prove to be a problem with her--Neo couldn't think of any child who could resist the delight of a balloon, and Clara's species made her just as irresistible. Of course, he didn't intend to let anyone play too roughly with her, but fortunately Tobias seemed to understand his concern. Thus, instead of interfering in any way, he smiled comfortingly at the Drifloon, sending a touch of positive energy her way to put her at ease.
When Balerd's transformation took place Neo and Nyx both stared at the small bird, neither one having expected such a strange occurrence. The Vulpix raised a skeptic eyebrow, wondering how such a thing could be natural, while the Meowstic watched it with an expression of pure astonishment, briefly worrying that the action might hurt the little bird in some way. When he recovered his voice enough to respond to Tobias, Neo continued to stare at the feathery ball in Clara's hands with wide eyes. "No, no I get it," he said, the Meowstic's surprise evident in his voice, "I don't mind it--he's too young for his talons to do any hard just yet--it's just Clara doesn't like to be touched on her head. It's a pretty sensitive part of her body, and any amount of extended pressure on it seems to make her nervous..." The comment was somewhat sidelong, as he continued to watch Balerd while speaking, and he only paused a moment after before voicing the thought that was really on his mind. "Is he...alright? I've never seen a Hawlucha do that before." Tobias had said "ball" beforehand of course, so it was clearly something the Linoone had intended for the child to do, but it left Neo utterly baffled.
Meanwhile Eliot was growing depressed. Clara and Balerd were getting all the attention and he was being ignored because of it. He couldn't even play the game that the bird and his sister were playing because he was too big; he kept Clara from floating up too high when they played together because she couldn't lift him, so the Growlithe was feeling terribly left out of the fun after watching his sister give the feathery stranger a ride. Whining, the Growlithe stepped forward and batted at the ball in Clara's hands with his paw, looking up at her with a pleading expression on his face. The girl hesitated before shaking her head, unable to drop the bird even if she tried because he was holding on so tightly. She didn't intend to leave Eliot out but she also didn't intend to have a ball attached to her hands so she couldn't move them; in truth, she considered him the lucky one, since he could still move about as he pleased. Her brother, however, didn't see things that way, and proceeded to lay down on the ground, whining and staring at the ball with mournful eyes. He wanted to roll the feathery round thing around, but Clara wouldn't let go of it--this wasn't any fun at all.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 3:31 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
"Oh yes yes, Balerd is most alright." Tobias was quite confident of that. Very much confident. So confident in fact that he stepped forward to Balerd, stood up on his back legs and carefully plucked the Hawlucha from Clara's hands before turning back to face Nyx and Neo. "Just watch." Tobias looked down at the little ball in his hands and said only one word, "Bounce~" before suddenly dropping Balerd onto the ground. Though it wasn't fortunate for Neo's heart rate, there wouldn't be a burden on his conscience as Balerd would simply bounce back up, fall back down and continue bouncing slowly higher and higher. In just a few short bounces, the apex of Balerd's bounces were the same height as Clara and they were set to very quickly surpass the balloon.
"This is how Balerd acted shortly after being born." Tobias's voice was filled with a certain sense of obvious pride as he was little more than a father showing off their child. In his mind there was nothing more precious than a child that acted this was and he was suitably pleased and proud of the fact that it had been something present from birth rather than something that had to be taught. Balerd was, to him, rather perfect. "There is no need to worry."
He had noticed how both Eliot and Clara felt, it simply wasn't his place or his care to interfere.((Meanwhile, still thinking on that Jessica post))
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 8:27 pm
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara All four of the members of Team Essence present had drastically different reactions to Tobias's bouncing of his child, but all of their reactions were abrupt and clearly visible responses to the peculiar situation they'd been faced with.
Neo had watched the Linoone take Balerd in his paws with wary eyes, never shifting his eyes for a second as he wondered just what Tobias planned on doing with the boy. When he dropped the Hawlucha, the Meowstic's expression immediately turned to one of abject horror, and he lunged forward just a moment too late to catch the child before he hit the ground. Unable to watch, Neo closed his eyes tightly, ears ready for the sound of the inevitable collision that could break the poor child's delicate bones, and would almost definitely lead to terrible bruising. He heard a soft thud and winced, still not daring to look down at the child for fear of what he would see: then he heard a second thud. Cracking one eye open just slightly, he immediately straightened up and proceeded to stare again, doubting his own eyes as he watched the child bounce higher and higher, like a rubber ball. "That's...that's...incredible," he said weakly, his heart still racing from anxiety. Neo meant it in the most literal sense of the word: he couldn't believe that he was witnessing the child perform such a feat without it doing any harm to him--it was practically too absurd to be true.
Nyx, on the other hand, did nothing to aid the child but turned his gaze on Tobias, eyes narrowing ever so slightly; it was unbelievable how much disregard the Linoone displayed toward his partner. Once Balerd began bouncing it became clear that Tobias had some sort of regard for his child at least, but it was painfully clear how much this was upsetting Neo and their companion hardly seemed to care. The Vulpix's mind was stirred by the reminder of the Carbink incident from the moment the Hawlucha had shifted to his ball shape, particularly when he saw the gleam in the Linoone's eyes when he looked at the creature. Clearly Tobias had an obsession that was cause enough for concern, and Nyx had little desire to be involved someone like that, especially when said fascination led to a lack of proper respect towards others involved. Shooting a glance toward Neo, Nyx watched him closely, searching his face and hoping to find an indication that Tobias had gone too far.
Relieved of her passenger, Clara immediately backed up to give Tobias space, young eyes watching as the red-feathered ball began to bounce up to heights that matched her own. Keeping her eyes fixated on Balerd, she floated back a bit further, so that she hovered above Eliot, and then proceeded to float up higher so that she was out of easy reach of everyone present. She didn't want to trouble Daddy, but if she was this high up then the Hawlucha wouldn't be able to grab her once he changed back from this ball that he'd become. If she was able, she would've wrapped her arms around herself to make sure they couldn't be grabbed, but she wasn't strong enough to lift them yet, so they continued to dangle, though it would take quite the leap to grab onto her now.
Eliot was the only one of the group who seemed to share Tobias's joy at the sight of Balerd's bouncing. The Growlithe puppy barked delightedly, springing to his feet at the sight of the bouncing ball. He didn't really understand how the other Pokemon could do that, but it was great fun to watch. The puppy's tail wagged cheerfully, and his head bobbed up and down as he followed Balerd's form higher and higher. He wondered if the bird would ever have to stop, or if he could just keep going and going until he touched the sky. Eliot thought it would be wonderful to touch the sky, but he couldn't jump as high as Balerd could; maybe when he was bigger he could jump higher, but for now he was quite content to watch. If he could have chased the ball he would have, but as it was he settled for jumping each time Balerd hit the ground. It led to a comical back and forth between the two bouncing children, though Eliot only ever managed to match the Hawlucha's height for the first foot or so.((Do you need me to add to it a bit? If I can assume Jessica says nothing for a significant period of time then maybe I can prompt something out of Erinn for her to work with.))
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 9:53 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
"Yes, yes, it is most incredible!" Tobias was filled with an undeniable and unmistakable sense of pride as he loudly mirrored Neo's own comment but with a much greater and much more common sincerity. "Balerd rolled up into a wonderful little ball and bounced all over after hatching. I do not know why but it is wonderful nonetheless!" If Tobias was aware of Neo's strong anxiety and spike of terror, he didn't show it, nor did he particularly show any reaction at all to anyone else's disposition. There was a brief flit of the eyes, a locked stare that lasted perhaps a fifth of a second, but aside from that very short glance at Nyx he never took his eyes off of Balerd. Between the time spent speaking, the time spent panicking (on Neo's part) and the relatively short period of time between bounces Balerd had achieved the maximum height of about fourteen feet. "Balerd does not go any higher than that. I think it is instinct." Still, maximum height or no, Tobias continued to happily watch Balerd bounce up and down. For him it was little more than the icing on the cake of his already wonderful(ly round) child, but what was a cake without icing?
Fortunately for Clara, Balerd's bounce was almost a perfect up-and-down. Height didn't matter so long as a certain amount of distance was maintained.
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Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 10:59 am
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara "Y-You don't say..." Neo said in response to Tobias's boasting. Balerd had done this right after hatching? If Eliot or Clara had done such a thing when they'd hatched the Meowstic didn't know if he'd have been able to handle it; even now that he'd been watching for a good minute or so he still couldn't block the thought that Hawlucha shouldn't be able to do that sort of thing. Still, it really didn't seem like Balerd was being hurt in any way--perhaps it was the sort of thing that contortionists did? Neo had never been particularly fond of the idea of contortionism, what with all the risk involved, and seeing it now only solidified that feeling further. It made him anxious to see limbs bent to their limit, particularly when they were the vulnerable limbs of a child, and the impact every few seconds didn't help anything either. However, Tobias was clearly pleased by the whole thing, so Neo decided to do his best to be supportive. "It's still pretty high up there," the Meowstic remarked, looking up to spot Clara had risen up to match Balerd's highest point. He wanted to call her back down, but she was a safe enough distance that the bird wouldn't hit her, so he bit his tongue: he had to let her have some freedom out here, as hard as it was to do so. "It must have been quite a surprise for you," the feline said after a moment, returning to his conversation, "Does he always bounce this...nicely?" There wasn't a better word Neo could think of for it. Most balls tended to ricochet fairly easily when they were bounced, but Balerd's trajectory was surprisingly uniform--then again he hadn't had anything to disturb his pattern...yet.
Eliot, growing tired from his bouncing, sat back and watched the ball for a few moments with a somber look on his face. He really wanted to play with it, but no one else was touching it. Maybe they just needed someone to get the game started. The little Growlithe didn't fully understand the distinction between the Hawlucha-ball and any normal ball, but he could hardly be expected to given his age: as far as Eliot was concerned he could play with this ball just as he could play with any other kind of ball. As such, the next time Balerd came falling down, Eliot stuck his nose forward to intercept the ball with a careful touch, more reserved than usual because the small Pokemon was already in motion: the action sent Balard arcing in the direction of Daddy and Tobias. The puppy wagged his tail cheerfully and barked delightedly as he watched the ball fly, hoping that one of the two he'd sent it towards would indulge him in a game of catch.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 11:07 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
"I do say!" Tobias was sincerely and unabashedly proud. He was quite happy and quite proud about the child he had come to call his own and he had no reason to withdraw from that fact. To him, Balerd was perfect. Round by nature, shiny due to good care, inquisitive and fun... there was nothing to dislike about the little creature. He gave a small, similarly proud comment towards the notion of Balerd being "pretty high up there", though he spoke at greater length not all that long after. "Hm... At first, Balerd bounced quite chaotically. It was a wonderful surprise but improving took time. At first there was no control but that changed quickly after... stern words from my captain. It took much more time for it to be this perfect." Although Balerd wasn't that old, bouncing was what Balerd did; it was not at all wrong to say it had taken a great amount of practice to achieve that degree of steadiness.
Tobias, of course, reacted very much in the way one would expect Tobias to react when someone touched his precious: defensively. The moment he realized what was happening, which itself only took one or two bounces, Tobias bolted, flipped over onto his backside and waited with his paws at the ready. A moment later Balerd landed on Tobias's stomach and the Linoone quickly set to work by chittering gently while stroking Balerd's body. The Hawlucha unfurled slowly in his hands and eventually came unwrapped only to become entangled in Tobias himself in the form of a hug.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 8:06 pm
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara Neo listened to Tobias's explanation with quiet interest, and even Nyx seemed to be intrigued by tale--at least, the Vulpix nodded after Tobias finished, indicating that he was listening rather than ignoring the conversation. In actuality the topic had been more appealing to the Fire Type than anything else Tobias had said, since it involved something other than the Linoone's child for a change, but it quickly diverted back to lesser topics before dying out completely. Nyx looked away, stomach churning with displeasure, when their companion snuggled with his baby after preventing him from bouncing out of control. Looking up at Clara so as to conceal his true motives for turning away from the scene, the Vulpix silently watched the Drifloon drift down closer to the group, apparently to get a better look at what was going on. Arceus, he didn't know how much more of this he could take.
When Tobias bolted backward to rescue his child, Neo and Eliot both watched him move: the former with concern and the latter with excitement. The Growlithe watched with hopeful eyes and wagging tail, up until the stranger started to make strange sounds and the ball turned back into Balerd. The boy gave a soft huff of disappointment, unhappy to see that his game wouldn't be continued, and turned his gaze on Daddy sulkily. Neo, meanwhile, was uncertain what to do now that his companion had settled into babying young Balerd. Naturally he was glad that the child hadn't bounced out of control or anything, but the feline wasn't about to interrupt such an intimate scene and so was left in a rather awkward position. Shifting his gaze to his own children, Neo smiled slightly at them, and beckoned Eliot closer to pat the child on the head. "Remember not to play too rough Eliot," he murmured to the child, "We wouldn't want to lose Balerd, would we?" The child gave a low back of consent, mirroring his father's volume, and nuzzled his head into Daddy's side; he didn't really understand what he was being told, since he still didn't totally register that Balerd and the feathery ball were the same, but at least Daddy was paying attention to him now, even if he didn't get to play catch.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 2:16 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
Neo wouldn't have much time to rest. Tobias wouldn't allow it, not out of some sense of malevolence or anything but simply because Tobias's driving force was his own very questionable personality. Before Neo knew what hit him, he would find Balerd saddled on the back of his head (a fact Balerd did not seem to mind at all) and Tobias would disappear only with the words that, "I will be back momentarily."
Momentarily may have been a bit of an exaggeration but Tobias would return quite quickly in perhaps slightly more than a minute's time. Wherever he had gone, he had clearly run there and run back, for he was breathing quite heavily and quite obviously. When he returned, Balerd's eyes would light up and the little bird would struggle free (regardless of what Neo had done) at the sight of what spilled out of the bag that Tobias was holding. It was filled with balls. Lots of them. Hard ones, soft ones, shiny ones, dull ones, the flexible sort that you could kick or bump around and the rigid sort that was best tapped lightly. Some of them even made noises when moved. "I thought that this would be more suitable for our purposes."
It was, if nothing else, an accurate assessment. It was certainly a much more pleasant alternative to attempting to bump Balerd around.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 8:51 am
Neo & Nyx & Eliot & Clara Neo straightened up and blinked with surprise to find the small passenger placed on his shoulders, glancing around at Tobias with a slight nod before the Linoone took off, going at his task in full force, whatever it was he was doing. Neo felt a sense of pride to be entrusted with his acquaintance's child, pleased that he had apparently proven himself capable of looking after something so precious. Reaching back, the Meowstic picked up his young charge and moved him to the front of him, cradling the bird in his arms. Eliot and Clara watched closely as he began to entertain the little fellow by holding him out and spinning him around--playing "airplane", as it was known by some. Both of the Meowstic's own children were delighted to watch, being quite familiar with this particular game, and Clara even dared to come down to her Daddy's height (though she was still several feet away), since Balerd couldn't be all bad if Daddy was playing with him. When Tobias returned, Neo ceased his spinning, though he still held onto the Hawlucha gently. "Looks like your Daddy's brought us something Balerd," he said cheerfully, staring at the bag the Linoone held with interest, much like his own two children; it seemed Tobias had gone as fast as he could to retrieve whatever this was.
Neo chuckled easily and lowered Balerd to the ground when the boy began to struggle at the sight of the balls that tumbled out of the bag, releasing him without hesitation now that Tobias had returned. Considering the way that Balerd raced toward the toys, it was clear that balls were his toy of choice--no wonder he'd been so interested in Clara. "I think they're perfect," Neo said delightedly, pleased with the results. Glancing over at Eliot and Clara, who were staring at the round toys longingly, Neo nodded to them with a smile. "Go on--Tobias brought them for us to play with."
Eliot yipped happily, bounding over to the pile of round things before Neo had finished. The Growlithe had never seen so many round things in one place, and they were all so colorful and different from one another that it was impossible to choose which one to play with first. Fortunately, there were more than enough to go around, so he didn't really have to: instead, Eliot approached a set of balls that had rolled into a small cluster and sniffed at them eagerly, finding that they smelled like the Pokemon that was talking to Daddy, and a little like Balerd too. Tail wagging rapidly, Eliot began to bat the round objects around, finding to his surprise that they didn't all roll the same distance even when he hit them all at the same time. Some of them he'd have to chase for a while, others would hardly move at all, and best of all there was one that jingled when he touched it. This was much more fun than just watching a ball bounce up and down.
Clara stared at the balls when her brother began to play with them, still nervous about getting too close, but eager to see what she could do with them. Spotting one that had rolled a bit further away from the others, the Drifloon hovered down and picked it up gingerly between her two hands. It was resistant to the touch, and when she pushed on it the ball yielded to the pressure. This type of ball should... Hovering up a bit, Clara dropped her ball straight down, and found--to her delight--that it bounced back up to her again. The girl repeated the process, giggling slightly when she had to sway her body to the side in order to catch the ball this time--this was a type of fun that she much preferred to whatever game Balerd had been trying to play before.
Nyx hazarded a glance at the contents of the bag when Tobias returned and bit his tongue disdainfully as he saw the sheer number of balls the Linoone had brought. Normal people brought one ball for children to play with--maybe more if they had more than one child--because normal people had a number of toys that corresponded with the number of children they had. The sheer quantity of balls that their companion had retrieved was ridiculous, and some of them could hardly be called toys; considering also that Tobias had said Balerd was hatched relatively recently, it was clear to Nyx that the balls weren't just there for the child's sake. This obsession of the Linoone's was utterly out of hand.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Crew
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 11:35 pm
Robin
Tobias & Balerd
"Oh yes, most certainly." Was Tobias saying that they were perfect or that they had been brought to be played with? No one would really know for certain. If Tobias was really anything at all, he was an enigma(?).
Well, regardless of the certainty of the former principle it was most certainly the case that Tobias was more than fine with the balls being played with. The way that balls rolled was certainly an aspect of their perfection that he adored so very much and he was quite pleased to see the children so readily engaging in it. He himself engaged in it in an extremely earnest and almost childlike glee that was only disrupted by the rare flit of his eyes towards Neo and, much more frequently, Nyx. He choose to passively entangle himself in Eliot's play not directly but instead by batting balls so that they would collide with the ones the Growlithe was observing or so that they would otherwise cross his path. Tobias, as strange as he was, had at least the good sense to allow the children to establish the terms of play.
Balerd couldn't be said to be acting much differently. The natural-born flier had enjoyed what Neo had done well enough but it had all paled in comparison to the wonderful pile of balls. Balerd loved balls for reasons not readily apparent which unfortunately extended strongly towards Clara who, though imperfect, was still quite smooth and quite shiny. Fortunately for Clara, Balerd had plans that didn't involve physical harassment. Instead, a ball that was somewhat aesthetically similar to the one Clara was using was grabbed and Balerd confidently walked over to Clara with the ball held in both hands. And, with one solid chirp, the ball was dropped. The reaction wasn't quite what one would expect; in Tobias's vast collection there were balls that looked superficially similar but acted differently. Balerd, unable to distinguish between two "fairly similar" looking balls, had stumbled across such a pair. Although the ball that Clara held was suitably bouncy, the one that Balerd had held was not. It wasn't going anywhere.
How hawkward.
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