Welcome to Gaia! ::

Days were quickly dwindling, becoming shorter as the year dragged on. With the creeping darkness always around the corner, Calcifer had stumbled across fewer people during the night -- the longest part of the day now. It was a bit difficult for people to notice that there was a way across the river in the dark when they weren't aware of the passage that the young hybrid-child offered to them, and no way to see either her or her raft. Due to this, the girl had spent the majority of her time these past two days making her way into town and back again, toting something that might solve that issue: an oil lantern. Being a fire type, perhaps she could even find a way to light it herself, one of these days!

However, this detour had taken time out of her self-proclaimed job as a ferryman. Not only that, but the lantern itself had proven to take a bit of that profit away. It didn't help that she preferred to acquire non-monetary gains... but there was a good possibility that she didn't need to buy anything more for a good long while yet, anyway. It was a good thing she was a fairly decent forager, and had plenty of clothing. Yes, she didn't see herself needing to go into town again unless it struck her fancy.

Tugging the raft along to the river she frequented, walking the fire-scarred trail she created as a pokémon, she spotted the large figure of someone kneeling at the water's edge. What was he planning? Did he want to try fishing? He... wasn't trying to cross on his own, was he? "I wouldn't recommend taking a dip, it's been pretty frosty lately," she commented, just in case her suspicions proved true. Pulling on the rope of the raft, she slid it into the water with a well-placed boot to guide it and avoid the splashing that may have otherwise occurred. She readjusted her grip on the pole she used as both oar and anchor, tying the end of the rope to a section of it before stepping onto the swaying platform, stabbing the branch into the water and leaning on it. At this point, she decided to get a better look at this strange character by the water. It seemed he was some sort of water-type pokémon, but she was unable to identify which one, which struck her as just a bit strange... "Need a lift?" she pondered aloud; the water was still going to be a bit on the dangerous side, even for a water-type, so why not offer anyway?

Oh... oh boy. Okay, Calcifer was expecting Quinn to be more on the big side, considering the shell and all, but he was tall! Her initial expression may have appeared more on the intimidated end of the spectrum, but she felt quite the contrary, about which she vocalized after a brief interim, "I can't say I've run into anyone anywhere as tall as you before. What's it like up there?" She snickered, rocking back on her feet as she stood; there was still a tarrying feeling that the girl had to keep herself moving, even if it would no longer kill her to stop. She offered a skeptical smirk in response to the older hybrid's comment about the cold, "Well... even if you're used to it doesn't mean you like it." She'd heard of hypothermia, and didn't consider the affliction to be high on her list of things she wanted to experience...

Quinn's grin was contagious now that the friendly atmosphere had been established, and Calcifer stepped to the side to allow the teenager room to hop aboard with his stuff. "You'd be surprised how much a few healthy logs can hold, mister," she confirmed, a boot heel smacking down on the raft in emphasis, "I can get a whole family across on this thing, so just as long as you don't weigh more than they did!" Maybe if he was a steel type, but he didn't look it.

At the posed question, Calcifer started deliberating the most adequate payment for a ride across the river. He seemed to be used to traveling, so monetary expense was probably something he could handle easily enough, out of necessity. However, that train of thought also led to something that intrigued the slugma-hybrid even further... "Do you do a lot of traveling? Have any interesting stories to tell that I probably haven't heard before?" Answering a question with another question, especially to such an extreme, was probably not the best of manners... but how could she say what she wanted as payment if she wasn't absolutely sure yet?

Calcifer's grin grew at the older hybrid's answer, a flickering imagination at what one could do with so much height advantage. He could probably pluck something off the branches of some of the deciduous trees higher up than the overly-terrorized lower branches. How much taller did he need to be to be able to do the same with the stars in the sky? She knew they were a great distance out, but it was an interesting thought to consider nonetheless. "Pretty far, too, I bet!" she added, kicking the oar out a bit from its lodging in the rocks at the bottom of the river.

"Ice type, too?" the girl gaped; well that would definitely help out matters, that was for sure! However, she didn't want to lose this one... there hadn't been too many customers lately, and Quinn looked like a pretty interesting fellow! Calcifer scuffed a shoe, "Well yeah, I suppose that really would help. Doesn't help with your clothes and items getting drenched, though."

The slugma-girl giggled at the teasing Quinn gave to himself, but she was less eager to agree with the sentiment. "Oh come now, it should be fine. This thing is strong!" she declared, indicating it with a flexed muscle, even though the action wasn't the most convincing. She visibly dismissed the statement after that, though, turning to get ready for take-off -- further insistence that it was absolutely no problem. She had faith in the raft her and her papa made!

Calcifer's eyes went wide at the teen's explanation as to what he was doing out here. Okay, sure, that was a cause for worry, to have a criminal out and about like that, but Quinn was a bounty hunter? Not only that, but currently in pursuit!? Well that settled it! "Then that's your payment. We cross the river, and you tell me one that will last the distance across. Or two, if they're on the shorter side," Calci decreed, "It sounds like you've got quite the illustrious history there! Never gets boring for you, I bet!" She grinned, now even more eager to set sail. How cool!

It took a little effort on the petite girl's part to maneuver the raft outside it's niche in the riverbed, but starting off was always one of the more difficult steps. One had to be conscious of where the weight was placed, both on and outside the raft, and move the bulk accordingly. Her attention was not fully diverted, however, and response came quickly, "You're a mix, too?" That would explain why she couldn't tell which pokémon he was! Once they were pushed far enough away from the edge, a couple of feet from shore, she turned back with a smile, "That's right, I am! Mix of my momma and papa. I was born a slugma, but the star I found that changed me pulled out the gastrodon DNA." She was focused, expectantly anticipating a return explanation; she'd never met another hybrid before! "Oh! And the name's Calcifer!" the girl pegged on quickly.

Calcifer mused a bit longer on the idea of the height advantage. She had always been short, even for regular pokémon-kind, so it was an intriguing bit of imagination being exercised on that front! "Ever been snuck up on, then?" the girl asked curiously. It didn't seem possible, but she was almost tempted to test the theory if given the opportunity. Wide-eyed, she scanned the teen's appearance more closely, tilting herself slightly from side-to-side to get a better idea of where she was seeing snorlax and where she was seeing lapras. It was true, though -- the coloration scheme was throwing her off at times, and it didn't help that she had never seen either full-blooded pokémon that made up his DNA structure! "It most certainly explains it," she confirmed, glancing back up to him with a wide grin, "Well I like it! I think it gives you character."

She tried to keep her excitement at bay when Quinn acknowledged that it would be best to cross the river by raft, but even her constant movement seemed to be a little bouncier after that. "That's what I'm hear for, mister. Gotta help people across when they need. I like the water anyway, so it's really more of a win-win situation, as far as that is concerned," the girl explained with a firm nod.

The hybrid-girl was still carefully observing the sway of the river and how well the raft was moving along its surface as the teen tried to narrow his choices of story down. The more he went filing through his mind, the more her smile seemed to grow. Once Quinn had seemed to hit one, only to contract it and decide on something else, Calcifer decided the makeshift boat was on track and sat herself down, cross-legged with the branch serving as the oar across her lap. "Sounds like, if you ever needed to cross the river again, you'd be set for life!" she snickered. So many stories, and she wanted to hear as many as possible!

Calcifer was quiet while she listened, immersing herself in the tale and taking in all the small details. She didn't want to interrupt, the flow of it moving so naturally along that it was easy enough for her to get caught up in it. It was all the more fascinating to note that it seemed so similar, so parallel to today, which caused the hook to the tale to be that much stronger. "Were you ever able to help out any?" she asked, trying to squeeze all the information out that she could, "How long did you have to wait before you were allowed to try it yourself? Were you ever worried you were getting in over your head at all? Or, come to think of it, are the bounties usually really dangerous or more mundane crimes?" It really did sound like an incredibly cool job, though definitely not something she could ever see herself being any good at. Regardless, the idea of helping out some, to catch a bad guy, was intriguing. Blinking at another thought, after a pause, she tilted her head a bit, "...You have two dads?" That actually sounded pretty cool, too.

Ahh, with the way that Quinn had worded that one, it sounded like it wouldn't really do much to sneak up on the large hybridized teen. Regardless, Calci hadn't necessarily been asking by way of taking him off-guard to literally take him out. "If someone did that, would you act by reaction, then? What if someone snuck up on you for a hug?" she asked. Maybe it was because she hadn't necessarily met anyone that could be considered a bad egg at all that she hadn't considered fully that, in Quinn's line of work, sneaking up on him was often a bad idea, at least before the previous question had been asked. Whoops!

Calcifer's eyes widened at the explanation of the strange coloring. While it was still an unusual pattern that decorated the teen's skin, it was nonetheless a miraculous trait, and not one that the slugma-girl thought was possible, "So... you're a shiny of both!? Wow! And I thought even meeting a shiny of one of those would be rare!"

She grinned at the acknowledgement that it was a good thing that she liked the job that she set herself up to do. "It probably would!" the girl agreed with a chuckle, steadying the raft along despite the lack of a need to do so at the moment. Pausing at her thoughts, she let her mind drift a little, golden eyes at the water before she turned back to her passenger, "I suppose a fire-type would have to really like this job to do it, though. You can meet such interesting people when you ferry them across!" And today was no exception!

While it was only after the questions sprouted from her mouth that Calci became aware of how difficult to follow they might have been -- and, by extension, how annoying it might have been -- she was relieved to discover that Quinn was more than happy to answer. She still held her breath a bit at the explanations, just in case, but her attention was piqued and tuned. Three years seemed like forever for a pokémon so young, but it was obvious that he, like herself, greatly enjoyed his line of work to be at it for such a length of time. "Hard to get used to these bodies, isn't it?" she asked, holding her hands out and in front of her for indication, elbows holding the oar in place at her thighs as she gave a stifled giggle, "Sounds to me like you were the perfect sidekick and student, though!" He was willing to learn, and he managed to help with capture early on... at least in his own unique way. She hugged the branch to her chest as the teen recalled all he had to learn in such a brief amount of time, obviously awed. True, maybe it was easier when he was living it, immersed in the job from day to day and for all that time, but it was still a lot for any pokémon to process! "Wow that's amazing. Quick study?" she inquired with a slight tilt of the head, "I don't know if I'd have been able to do the same so fast, if I was in your boots!"

The hybrid-girl's expression immediately softened as Quinn relayed the more painful part of his story, her face turning more towards a concerned frown. True, it was probably a while ago that this had happened, but it was hard to get over something so devastating, she knew! "I'm sorry to hear that..." Calcifer spoke softly, sincerely, "She was like a parent to you, too, wasn't she?" Blinking, she thought about the implications for a moment before rising back to her feet to make sure they were still on course. "It wasn't completely in vain, though," she noted, the sadness still there but trying to be optimistic about it, "She managed to teach you one last lesson, and an important one at that." Never take anyone lightly; it was a good lesson for Calcifer to learn as well.

However, the smile re-emerged when he moved on to the subject of his true parents. He seemed so proud of them, it was very uplifting! She giggled as she pictured his parents -- quite the strange family indeed! "Well they sound like a very odd couple, I'll give them that! So they adopted you? Is being adopted any different, growing up, than it would be with your birth parents?" she asked curiously. It hadn't come to mind that, maybe, Quinn wouldn't know what it was like with those he shared blood with. Odd or not, though, it was very fascinating!

"Hmm, I see I see..." Calcifer mulled it over thoughtfully. She knew it could work to someone's advantage to put up a false facade, to seem more inept than one actually was, but never had she actually met someone that used such strengths to their advantage. "People just don't know that it's always best to overestimate their enemies than it is to underestimate!" she pointed out with a giggle and a shake of her head, "But that's really cool! So you can move just as quick as anybody else, huh?" She grew more serious -- or at least, feigned serious -- and concluded with a single, stern nod, "Well then if I were to ever hug you, I'd just have to make sure that you knew that's what I was doing." No, she wasn't really into the habit of hugging people, but it was still a good tidbit of information to know!

It was kind of adorable, seeing such a towering young man speak so fondly of his parents in the manner he was. "Only thing that could come from telling a white lie about something like that is problems down the road, it would seem," she considered, "I don't think they would have lied, either. I'm sure there are plenty of people that ask you what you are, though!" Besides, surprises were fun, as guessing games probably were.

The girl hadn't really considered that most others probably wouldn't enjoy being a ferryman as much as Calcifer had, but it made sense. After all, she hadn't really seen anyone else attempting to do the same, she just couldn't imagine why. Perhaps others just got bored too easily, waiting for their next customer? Or maybe they just didn't like interacting with others? She snickered, "Yeah, I'll blame it on my papa. Interesting thing about that, it wasn't until recently that I found out I was part gastrodon. Funny how things work out that way, sometimes, isn't it?"

Picking from her memory of what she had learned of how a snorlax looked, Calcifer could see what her passenger meant about it not being too different from when he was a pokémon. "I'm sure some things were quite a bit different regardless, yeah. Fingers, too!" she exclaimed, wiggling her own. Man, was it ever difficult to get used to limbs! It was difficult not to join in the laughter over the whole ordeal; at least that lesson was in the past, more or less. However, speech was indeed an oddity out of everything else, "I didn't think it would be so easy to learn a new language!" True, it wasn't all that new, but humans could actually understand them now!

With a grin, Calcifer nodded, understanding what Quinn meant in reference to learning certain things. "Motivation certainly helps, that's for sure. I suppose that's what you meant, that it helps to like what it is you do; it makes learning it easier to get a grasp on," she agreed brightly, "Once you get started on the harder subjects and gain momentum, it does get easier, doesn't it?" But of course, she could agree with the love for books, that was easy enough common ground!

Mentor... sure, Calcifer had heard that word before, but she never seemed to attribute it to a person before. Her head bobbed in agreement, still unsure of what she could really say to such a depressing subject. It was obvious how much he had looked up to her, even before he had said as much, and to lose someone so close... she understood completely! "No words can really comfort a person in instances like that. Losing someone that was there for you all the time is really rough... Was there anyone you could go to, after that? Even just to talk?" she asked, concerned. The death of a loved one, the depression it caused, could act much like a mortal disease. It could eat away at a person, unless their willpower was strong enough. Maybe just carrying out what his mentor could no longer was enough of a drive for Quinn.

"Oooh, so they have jobs, too, do they?" she pried a little further, interested. Not many pokémon placed work on their shoulders to such effect, at least any that she had met, so it was interesting to hear about how well they worked as a family unit. No, a community. Calcifer grinned at that, finding the mismatched pokémon species all working together towards similar goals quite captivating. Thinking on what she had gathered of Quinn's family thus far, she came to a conclusion herself with a light hum, "Well... it sounds like it would be just the same. They're supportive, took care of you, kept you safe, and they love you. That's everything a family should be."

Blinking at the thought, Calcifer pondered how long it normally took others to catch onto the benefits of falsely presenting oneself. She herself only knew of it from the books she encountered, but what about the average individual? Or was it just something that some people were better at understanding than others? She focused her golden eyes back to the teenaged hybrid before her for the next question that ran through her head, "Was that something that you caught on to pretty quickly as well?" It would have been amusing if being of pokémon heritage attuned one toward such mindset, though she knew well enough it was a shot in the dark; they were remarkably like the humans they borrowed the forms of, after all. Grinning at the mention of how much quicker Quinn was than his size suggested, Calcifer offered a comparison, "Turbo boost? Or can you keep moving real fast?"

While she found it quite unusual to run into a person of Quinn's character -- a hybrid, a bounty hunter, and a person with a sense of humor! -- she was nonetheless greatly enjoying the ride. Too often had she ferried those less talkative, those less approachable, and those just downright mean; every time Calcifer got to take someone across that was just the opposite, she was sure to relish it! Her enthusiasm at being a part of the playful storytelling and her smile were enough to get that across as she nodded her head in understanding.

"Hmm, you don't make many friends in your line of work, do you?" the girl noted with another row of the battered oar. Thinking on that a moment, she asked, "Do you live by the quote 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'?" She wasn't sure she fully understood that one, and thought it the perfect time for clarification -- she had seen it written so many times!

She thought about the change of language, how off it seemed despite it feeling the same as it ever had, "I didn't think I was speaking any different than how I spoke as a slugma, but suddenly both humans and other pokémon could both understand me, and I them." She frowned; she didn't get it, not one bit, but she wasn't going to complain! It sure made things a lot easier than they would have been otherwise.

The smile had turned more soft now, less earnest but more contemplative. "It helps when you can focus on it, so there are less distractions as you practice. It's a bit similar to venting, I think. Both you have to learn to live with, and it doesn't always click right away, as much as we'd want it to," she said, linking the two ideas; it was apparent she was no newcomer to the feeling, either. Despite the line of work that Quinn had chosen, in all its dangerous unpredictability, Calcifer was glad to note that he still seemed more gentle, or at least much more level-headed than she thought a bounty hunter might be!

Calcifer tried to imagine this unlikely duo that Quinn called his parents. How tall was a tropius, anyway? "Well, anything they can to make the place safe! Sounds like they were made for one another," she said, giggling a bit at the end. They really did sound like quite the odd little family, but they also seemed to work to strengthen what the other members lacked, appearing quite strong on the whole. If one measure of enforcement didn't work, then another would. Maybe all families, communities, worked in such a manner. It was at least an interesting thought to consider, even if she had next to no experience on such frontier.

Toting the raft along a bit further, she made sure they were on course before seating herself again for another one of Quinn's fascinating tales. "You can fake something like that?" she asked. She almost asked why someone would even want to do such a thing, but decided that would likely be answered as the story went on. Leaning forward slightly, intently, she asked, "What did he say was stolen?" Oooh, she could already tell this was going to be a good one.