Welcome to Gaia! ::

Today was going to be a good day, Alistair could feel it. The sunlight that shone dimly through the trees was warm on his back, and, being blind, the relative shade of the woods was no more difficult for him to navigate through than anything else. With his plush teddiursain his mouth, the deino bounced around in circles and wagged his tail, occasionally turning back in the direction of his trainer-mama to listen for her and make sure she was following him.

"Nooo! Deino dei dei!"

His trainer, a slim young pokémon researcher by the name of Mariana, took her time in following her baby Deino, taking vigorous notes as she walked andoccasionally glancing up at the trees around them. "Patience, Alistair, patience. I'm coming!"

The pair were headed towards Alistair's favorite play spot, a small clearing in the woods close enough to the river that they could hear the water, but not see it without re-entering the woods for a short walk. It was a great place to lounge in the sunshine and play, and one of Alistair's favorite places in the whole wide world. Considering how young he was, though, he didn't have a very long list of places he liked (or disliked) yet.

Neither pokémon nor trainer, however, was being particularly quiet as they walked, and their crashing through the woods was likely to attract attention - some of which was likely to be hostile. But neither one of them really cared. Mariana had other things on her mind, and Alistair... well, Alistair just wanted to play!

Mariana gasped with surprise, having not expected (as if anybody would expect!) a vanillite to show up and start talking to her and her Deino. "Oh, hello there little guy," the human chirped, fishing around in a pocket for a poffin. Meanwhile Alistair stopped and sniffed at the air, wondering who was making that noise, and why did they smell cold?

"Deiii? Nono?" He asked, then shivered as the ice type hugged and cuddled him. "Deeeei?" Tilting his head, he sniffed the vanillite, then set down his plushie and gave the ice type a great big lick.

When the ice type licked him in return, Alistair fell over with a cry that sounded more like a giggle. His wagging tail, however, dispelled any appearance of him being hurt or upset in the least. And while he was on the ground, he might as well pick his plushie back up, so he did so. "Dei? Deeeeei noooo!" he complained, wanting to know where his new icy friend hadgone. Did he leave? But Alistair had wanted to play with him!

For her part, Mariana slid her notebook under one arm and her pen behind her ear. "Hello again, Vanillite! Don't you want to play with Alistair?" she asked, holding out her poffin to the ice-type with a smile. "Or would you prefer a snack? ...Or a hug?" She held out her arm even as Alistair caught the scent of poffin in the air and turned in place, charging straight at the duo with a joyous cry of "Deeeeinooooo!"

Mariana giggled and patted the vanillite on the head, quickly offering another poffin to Alistair before he could knock her over in his excitement. Once the dragon was happily munching away, the human peered at the little vanillite and tilted her head. "You're just a little fellow, aren't you? Do you have a home, little guy?"

Alistair didn't take long to finish his poffin, and started nosing about looking for more. He couldn't find any at first, though, so he lifted his head into the air to sniff at it, and ended up bumping his nose against the bottom of the vanillite's 'cone'. Yelping from the sudden cold, Alistair fell over and sniffed. "Deeeeei!"

"Oh," Mariana said, blinking owlishly as she processed what the vanillite was trying to tell her. "Well.... would you like to stay with me and Alistair for a while? I won't make you stay if you don't want to, but I can show you where our house is and you can come and go as you please?' She suggested, offering each pogey another poffin apiece, which kept Alistair placated.

The deino tilted his head, listening as his trainer spoke even while he munched on his poffin. Was he going to get a playmate? He rather liked that idea, even if the newcomer was chilly to the touch. Someone to play catch-the-toy, and hide and seek, and raid-the-poffin-jar with! Oh yes, he could think of many things to do with a playmate! "Deino deino deino!"

Giggling, Mariana brushed the top of the vanillite's head again as Alistair turned his head to give him a long lick, to celebrate having a new brother. "Hehe, well, we were going to go to the clearing to play, but since you came, little one, perhaps we should take you back to the house to show you your new home!" Mariana smiled and clapped her hands together. "Come on, Alistair, let's show our new family member back to the house!"

New family member, huh? Alistair wasn't quite sure what to think about that, but he had no problems with picking up his teddi again and trotting back in the direction they came from. "Dei dei no no!"