Night Time Trot (Open)

Iserora learned the hard way that Swablu and coffee didn't mix.

For someone who rarely spoke, the bitter-scented Pokemon could hardly keep herself contained. From a long day picking Berries and handling exploration documents, Iserora decided that she'd try to enjoy the entire day, and all twenty-four hours of it. While the option remained available to Iserora, she rarely seized the opportunity. The Swablu, good at grounding herself, oft reminded herself that she had work in the morning. Tired birds weren't exactly happy birds, either, and when in a small town like Elysia, leaving home without would be a terrible misgiving.

So, she pushed away stigma to buy coffee.
The quiet bird could hardly stop jumping.
For a few hours, the Swablu hid in a large tree to find her footing. She hoped no one saw her stumble about. Iserora was pretty sure someone thought she drank too heavily

When the effects of the beverage partially subsided, the Swablu carried wings behind her rump as she bounced across a gentle street. The vibrant clouds of outer-space and the clouds of the torches intermingled and formed ephemeral shapes; with her vision, she struggled to tell the two apart. A silent reminder of quieter times, when the sky was the biggest thing looming over the people's heads instead of the mystery dungeons.

Silence, once again, temporary.

Iserora heard a voice. Before Iserora could see who, she couldn't tell if it were a song or a prayer. She minded neither. People did what they needed to do to keep their spirits high. The vocalist themselves, a soft-looking Vulpix, looked up at something. Something that seemed vague until they deliberated.

...wonder which star is mine ...

A fun topic, to say the least. The guiding-stars brought her to the town. No use just sitting there, Iserora decided. With a glint of the eye, Iserora hopped closer, and tilted her head with a, Hm?

astroth

With the Vulpix's surprised jump, Iserora jumped as well. Iserora knew that her introductions rarely lasted longer than a single word. Two, sometimes, to include the title. However, she didn't guess someone jumping as the result of one, positioning or otherwise. The blue bird figured the Vulpix would be calmer than she, although stereotypes came and went with Pokemon. Slowly, she rose a wing, and like a cirrus cloud upon a mountain, let it softly drop to suggest that hi and it's alright. Her face seemed pallid as his.

To the Vulpix's inquiry, she bowed forward, and shook her head with a light hum. "Soul-searching in the starlights...and yeah. That's about it." The whole of the earlier tune, Iserora heard, though she had no clue if he had more. She put a talon forward. Truthfully, she wanted to hear more. Could tell immediately that the Vulpix had been conflicted with soething. But she refused to judge. Even if it wasn't a highest quality, Iserora believed a strange song to be worth more than one of her own boring ones. Most people could hardly pay mind to them.

Spent long enough criticizing herself, Iserora did, that she almost missed the figure introducing himself. This Astroth had a celestial feel to it. Even if Astroth himself didn't seem particularly devout at a glance, the name had the same flow. It worked. "Iserora. Isa, for short. Nice to meet you." Some people would have flashed an Explorer's badge, one that Isa tucked beneath her wing. If he asked, Isa would provide it. No need to flash your credentials around to everyone you met, Isa decided.

In the midst of a quiet pause, Isa decided to draw straws and pose a question. She started the conversation, so she may as well fulfill it. Wings opened some as Isa asked: "Soul-searching, too?" Isa wouldn't stay up the entire night without learning more about herself.

Even if that knowledge was as little as steering clear from dark beverages.

astroth

A little spiritual self-reflection couldn't hurt anyone. The little bird decided that some time ago, a time she ironically wished to speak least of all.

In her dismissal, Astroth said something that rose her tuft a degree. That Astroth came from the forest caught her attention, as Iserora tapped a talon. What kind of forest? While she was, for all intents and purposes, a little town bird, she'd been kept within a Zebstrika's jog of the town. The wilds were something she read about and extrapolated upon, rarely something to venture out of. She remembered well:

Not her call to go out.

So of course, she was going to ask: "Woah. Haven't been out of the town much, but I'd imagine. Forgive me for being ignorant, but, which forest are you from?" The guide tried to avoid using the clinical tone she applied to charting areas. An excited mix of both vocalized, although Isa didn't seem to notice.

Funny enough, for the man, he went right to flattery. The night wasn't too bad, Isa figured, if she remained in more areas. Som Isa decided to humor Astroth. Plus, it seemed this Vulpix needed the uplifting energy more than she did. As such, Isa passed a small chuckle, before sighing to the Earth. "Drank too much. So now, I'm restless."

She qietly followed: "...I'm heading out to the mountains for the next few days. Figured I'd get used to seeing the moon in the meantime." She didn't disclose her job but, well, she figured Astroth could figure it out.

astroth
wc: 259

Perhaps her comment about drinking had been rather on-the-nose for Astroth. Or, perhaps, on-the-beak? In any case she decided to switch that subject. He wasn't wrong about the terrain, however. If she couldn't hop away in time, she'd be subject to the terrors of the mountain. She nodded, and with a whistle, said, "Hardly budges against wind, too. Hopefully, I'll be able to reap the rewards of my ancestry before then." Dragon typing didn't seem the descent into terror some decried it as. It just marked a more potent source of power.

Isa also hoped to keep her head together. Which would be truth, but as far as her execution went, was in shambles. Here before the traveler, Isa seemed more clueless than he. Even with the coffee, she should've held together better than that! Who knew if the man was involved in her profession. It did lead to an obvious question, however: "You travel often. What do you do?"

Even as a chick, Isa heard many a tale about the city. Some, she knew, were just vehicles for social norms. Others were far more intriguing, playing the best of her emotions. That of the Shifting Forest seemed. "Nifty. Must have had a fair share of visitors, with a claim like that." A faint smile. She figured she'd go ahead. "As for me? Lived almost my whole life in Elysia. Hardly got a chance to leave." Isa looked over her wing before she continued. "Lot to talk about for a village this size. Even ignoring the, well, the Outlaw bulletin." She chirped. "Ever since the Mystery Dungeons started grabbing headlines and bad weather became prevalent, some of the townsfolk offer small change to the sea, to be showered in gold on another rainy day." While not truly impossible, it required knowledge of phenomena beyond Isa's areas expertise.

But, she played to the legend itself: "...maybe I shouldn't call that a legend, because I've seen it work. Ocean only pays in sand dollars, though."

Bad.


WC: 338
astroth

As Astroth found happiness, Isa joined him. Life was too short, after all, to meander in judgement. It seemed Astroth went by a similar philosophy, or at least mirrored hers for now. She did admit clearly how limited she felt within the gates and how excited she was to meet the foreign Pokemon, so perhaps it came naturally as explorers to this forest. "And so the dead live on." A hum. It certainly made for an interesting folktale, and a region to explore in due time.

Soft hum and a, "Thank you, and to you too." followed a comment about ancestry. Isa had to be fair, since her ancestry wasn't much to begin with. She hardly knew her father, who'd always been out working. Her mother hardly exercised her Dragon typing.

She didn't take Astroth as a hunter-type, although it seemed more and more clear as time passed. He spoke clearly enough. His focus was on-point. Perhaps the surprise earlier got to him. "Not easy work. I wouldn't mind occasionally, but chasing criminals sounds hard to judge. Good luck" She didn't have much need to head-hunt, though she certainly knew there were times one had to use their claws, talons, and teeth to end a dispute.

She just didn't like when those times came up. Messy.

As for her own job? Well, she paused and looked away for a moment. "Explorer, but more specialized I guesss." A pause and a tap of the foot followed. "I survey for the Guild. I'd call it cartography, except it's never the same. Keeps you on your feet, since you never know how it's going to turn out. Now that I'm on field missions it's..."

She didn't quite finish her sentence. A fairly chipper attitude could have written it for her.


WC: 300
astroth

From this sense of adventure, of seeing the face of a Mystery Dungeon, Isa felt a connection form. The fact that the two's jobs were very, very different didn't mean the fear of the unknown garnered a different response. The stairs that took people anywhere, certainly earned the mystery adjective.

But as to the defeatist inquiry, Isa posed a general solution:"There's a lot of theory floating around, but from what I guess, there's a pattern. It just has less to do with the space itself, and more with what's actually within the area. Flora, Pokemon, treasure. That kind of stuff." Isa looked up. Should she start with the Badge? The methods and writing? The long list of dangers that waited within? She instead tried to wrap herself up. "I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that, but..." Wings shrugged.

Never had Isa met someone so keen on roughing up with the Dungeon Pokemon or themselves. Her distance from violent conflict led her to pose a curious question: "Had to fight a lot in the Outer Reaches?" Anything Iserora said would be disingenuous to her relatively peaceful lifestyle. There were scuffles here and there with locals, but nothing to knock someone out. Death was practically unheard of, besides the debt she spent so long working off. Having the spite of angry Pokemon made that a lot harder to bear. Perhaps she should have taken an approach like Astroth's, and simply done her job. Find out what the Pokemon want later. Ignore the possibility of her work going hay-wire.

Given the legends surrounding the angry Pokemon, and Isa might just have to. Images of bloodied wings made for a more distant songbird.

WC: 283

astroth

Isa got about the answer she expected. To fight, to enter combat, marked a touchy subject in her family tree. Turns out Grandpa Lydel came to Elysia after razing property, and the guilt hung around his neck like an obese Skarmory. Should she have looked back further, and years of quarrel likely followed her bloodline. To fight involved an emotional disturbance that she didn't desire to tap into, even if it may well have been necessary to finish the job. Wild Pokemon, no matter how much she tried to avoid stereotypes, weren't exactly well-known for their civility.

To Astroth's point, Isa hummed in agreement. Astroth didn't provide much she could disagree on.

But perhaps one thing she didn't expect to agree on, involved Astroth's point on self-image. No kidding, Who knows how many greats fell to the wayside because they simply didn't market themselves enough. Such an image proved taxing to the mind, heart, and soul. She hummed more gently than the last, as if conceding to that fact.

Still, she smiled. Recognition is nice. "Yeah. Being recognized is a nice feeling." Distant speech left Isa speaking distantly, as if reaching for the moon. She didn't live to turn heads. She woke up in the early morning, worked, ate, worked more and slept. While her work as a surveyor internally fulfilled her curiosities, she would've liked to build a fun character for herself. She would've wanted to look into the dungeons. And until she got her license to delve, she would've been bound to mundanity, forever.

Big-headed Pokemon? Astroth probably meant that metaphorically, though her curiosity still piqued her. While typically averse to stories of battle, the kind of person that'd get hunted always offered an interesting story. So, she agreed, and then asked: "Definitely. That balance can't be easy to upkeep."

Indirectly asked, but nonetheless.


WC: 309
astroth