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Post by Atticus on Mar 20, 2014 22:29:51 GMT -5
"You think he would have listened to me?" the canine responded with an idle smirk, looking back to the Umbreon by the water. She crossed her forepaws, lowering her head until her chin was rested upon them, her fur soaking in the moonlight. "Plus, you looked so ready to get back to bed. How could I just let that happen, hmm?"
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 20, 2014 22:38:05 GMT -5
"You dark types are all the same," Chance scoffed, rolling his. "Pains in my ass." Inevitably, he ended up looking at the female again. Arceus, he would never let get know that he felt that way, but she was gorgeous. He hoped it was something that he quickly got used to.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 20, 2014 22:52:51 GMT -5
At his comment, the Houndyena's sly smile only grew. "Like you're any easier to deal with," she shot back, huffing and shaking her head lightly. Were all Psychic types like this? She hadn't had the opportunity of meeting many, but if they were, she was seriously grateful for the type advantage she had over them.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 20, 2014 23:02:26 GMT -5
"Well I'd be a lot easier to deal with if I wasn't always being woken up in the middle of the night," he pointed out, smirking back at her. "This is why I'm mad that I ended up an Espeon. I have to deal with you lunatics when I want to be asleep." As the words came out he hoped that she didn't read too much into them. No one every talked about Chance's evolution, do it a bit of a secret that it was a mistake. He had wanted to be an umbreon; he had done everything he could to become one. And in the end his timing just wasn't right. It had caused more than just him some bitterness, though he had never learned fully why Vivian couldn't look him in the eye for so long after he evolved. It was not an incredibly sore subject for him, but it was one he tended to shy away from.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 20, 2014 23:13:03 GMT -5
"You had one job," she shrugged, followed by something of a snort that, if one listened closely enough, could have been laughter.
Admittedly, Chris had been rather jealous of Eevees and their intricate evolution line when she was younger, after she had heard the other ranch Pokémon gossiping about whether or not she could evolve. She had thought, bitterly, that she might never get to experience evolution, while Eevees had the chance at several different ones. To her, it had just been unfair.
Now that she had properly evolved, however, she wasn't as fazed. In fact, she felt rather bad for them; those who did not know what they were going to evolve into, or made a mistake like Chance. There was no going back once you had evolved, either. Chance would be an Espeon for the rest of his life.
She found herself looking at him for once, and not glaring. It lasted only a heartbeat, though, as she turned her head back to Austin to make sure he hadn't drowned yet.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 21, 2014 9:04:27 GMT -5
Chance responded to her crude laugh with a grimace, but he was glad that she didn't push the issue further. Making a joke... well, he couldn't really complain about that. He stretched his front paws in front of him, spreading his toes before loosening up and resting his head on his paws. Chris could see Austin better in the dark anyway. He could probably get in a couple z's while he waited.
But as he spared a glance toward the dock he did not see the Umbreon's glowing yellow rings, and his head shot up again. Before he could muster up any real worry, he saw him standing in the grass, but... what was he doing?
~~
Austin came to a slow stop at the end of the dock and crouched, tangling his paws off the edge. He tried to peer through the water, but now it was inky and black, giving nothing away. "Hey," he murmured. "Are you there? It's me again."
He watched the water intently, following the soft ripples that his breath made periodically on the surface.
"Please be there," he murmured, weakly. He added with a bit of a smile, "My friends will be really mad at me if I dragged you out here and don't get to see you."
For several minutes he waited, occasionally speaking as if someone was still there. He was beginning to fear that he had been too brash to come out here. She wasn't coming... she was probably asleep and he was silly to come out here.
And that was when in the water materialized the little blue eevelution. She poked her head out of the water and smiled at him shyly, rubbing her eye softly.
Austin's eyes widened in delight. "Hello!" he said, his voice raising a volume a bit. He flinched at the sound of it and spoke more softly as he asked, "Did I wake you up?"
"No." Her voice was as soft and delicate as her features. "I was awake."
"I'm glad I get to see you again," Austin said, smiling at her widely. "I'm sorry I scared you earlier."
She lowered her eyes and hesitated before looking back at him. "It's alright. I was just surprised is all."
Austin's tail beat against the dock; he could stop the wagging motion, and he hardly noticed it at all. "Well, it's only us here on the dock now. I mean, I had some help getting here, but they're over there now." He spared a glance over his shoulder where his companions were barely visible on the shore. "I was wondering if I could know your name. I'm Austin."
"Hello, Austin." She smiled at him. "That's a different name. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too," he said cheerfully. "So... Do you have a name?"
She shook her head and shrugged. "No. I'm just Vaporeon."
"Oh." He was silent for a minute, his head cocked to the side. "...Well, that's a name," he decided. "At least until you get another one. Unless you want another one."
Again, she shrugged. "I never really thought about it. None of us have names here. But I like your name."
He smiled, gushing. "Well, maybe you could have a name, too, if you wanted one."
She smiled, but made no reply. Austin just smiled back at her. In the silence she glided forward a bit and with a little hop planted her front paws on the dock. Austin scooted back a little to make room for her, and she rested her head on the wood.
"Thank you for saving my mum," the Umbreon said, resting his head on his paws shyly. "And also kind of helping me."
The vaporeon giggled; the sound made Austin's tail wag faster. "You're welcome. It's just nice to watch them be happy after they can breathe."
"Yeah, that is a pretty happy feeling," Austin chuckled, looking away. "Um, so, how is it living in the lake?"
The vaporeon smiled, amused, and, unable to tell what had amused her, he was suddenly very conscious. "It's nice," she replied. "But sometimes not everyone gets along."
"Oh, every place is like that," Austin said reassuringly. "Have you lived in the lake your while life?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I've been here my while life. It's nice, but kind of boring. It's just... Kind of scary out there."
Austin frowned and looked around the lake. Everyone talked about how the Pokémon in the Lake of Rage could be so tough, but never had he thought about what it would be like to watch everyone come and go. "It's not that scary as long as you're not alone... Maybe I could show you."
"Show me?" Her paws started to slide off the dock as if the idea would scare her back into the water.
"Oh, no! I mean..." He tripped over his own words, trying desperately to get her to stay. "We won't go far. I'll stay with you. You can trust me."
She stated at him, wide-eyed and nervous. Her face shifted to the shore, and Austin saw her thinking it over.
"We could just walk. We don't have to go far if you don't want to."
"I'd like to," she replied. I just...have'nt been our of the water since I was little."
"Like I said, I'll help you."
She was silent for a while, staring at the shore, but then she looked at him and smiled. "Okay."
She slid back into the water, and they met by the shore as she walked our of the water and shook herself off. Her scales shined brilliantly in the moonlight, and she filed down her fins, shivering at the chill of the breeze. Out of the water she looked even smaller than she had in it-she was barely half Austin's size, with a compact, petite little body ecstatically gives for swimming. Austin could tell that the shaking in her short legs was not just from the cold.
"Gosh, forgot how heavy I was," vaporeon said, smiling weakly as she worked to stay on get paws. As she stumbled Austin hurried to help get up. His head caught hers, and she wobbled before staying standing.
"Geez, you're really cold," Austin murmured,a but guiltily. He hadn't thought that this would be any trouble for her. As an idea struck him, he smiled. "Holds on. I have an idea. Holds still." With a little maneuvering, which admittedly proved to be a bit awkward, he managed to her the vaporeon laying across his back. She wrapped her front paws around his broad shoulders.
"Okay, this is much better!"
Austin beamed. "We can walk around easier this way! I'm nice and warm, right? And I can carry you, no problem. You're so light."
Vaporeon giggled. "I'm not that little."
Tail wagging, he turned in the opposite direction of his friends, deciding to avoid him for the time being. Hew just hoped that they didn't call him and spook his passenger. He was so ecstatic to get get put of the water that he couldn't bare the thought of anything varying her away.
~
"What is he... doing?" Chance said slowly, cocking his head to the side as the Umbreon headed off around the lake with the little -eon on his back.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 21, 2014 16:25:47 GMT -5
Chris narrowed her eyes, watching the ordeal and straining her ears, trying to listen. All she caught was some mumbling from the Umbreon, and then... another softer, feminine voice. She lifted her head quickly, perking her diamond-shaped ears.
He didn't know that the Vaporeon they were looking for was a female. From the goo-goo look in Austin's eyes though, she should have probably guessed it. "He has her on his back... He's walking the other way." The canine got to her paws and narrowed her eyes, tail lashing behind her.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 21, 2014 18:53:21 GMT -5
Chance's ears perked as Chris hopped up, and with a soft grunt he scrambled to his feet to tail her. "What do you think you're doing?" He whispered hoarsely. "Chris, stop!"
The vaporeon gave a start and glanced over her shoulder. "Who..."
"Huh? Oh, nobody, nothing to worry about." He tried to keep his muscles from clenching. He didn't even dare look over his shoulder to see if his friends were following him.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 21, 2014 19:03:39 GMT -5
"What do you mean 'stop'?" she shot back, whirling around to face the Espeon. "Where's he going with her? Is he too embarrassed of his friends to bring her... over here...?" The canine paused, staring after the Umbreon with her ears falling flat. Why was he walking away? She looked down at her paws, moonlight shining off her white, protruding claws.
Suddenly, she pushed past Chance and back towards the fence. "You were right; coming here was dumb."
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 21, 2014 19:45:57 GMT -5
Chance stood for a minute, stunned at the outburst. As the mutant brushed past him and headed away, the surprise slowly sunk in and gave way to the fact that Chris had taken this all too personally. After glancing back at Austin he hurried after Chris, but fearing that she would beat him to the fence, mid-stride he teleported in front of her, cutting her off.
"Hey," he said, meeting her eyes, "this isn't about you. Will you stop being a baby? He probably just doesn't want us spying on him. He's never been embarrassed of us." It was a half-assed attempt at a condolence; he thought that Chris' insecurities were so ridiculous that he could only try so hard to pacify them. Did Chris really not know what she meant to Austin? The last thing he was was embarrassed of her. Some of the other Pokémon might be intimidated or made uncomfortable by the Houndyena, but Austin had never thought anything but the world of her. So this was all a huge overreaction.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 21, 2014 19:57:21 GMT -5
Chris let out an audible huff as the Espeon told her not to be a baby. The Houndyena had never been chastised for that. It was always about her being a hot-head or impulsive or something of a similar sort, and it caused a visible reaction on her dusk-coloured face.
She knew Chance was right. She and Austin had grown up together, and the Umbreon had never given her that look, or made her feel like she was something that wasn't supposed to exist. But she couldn't push away self-doubt from its new nest in her gut... Perhaps it came from her new evolution; another mutation for those around her to get used to. She was usually better at hiding her unrest. Maybe it was just because she was tired.
The hurt in her eyes wavered for a second as he looked at her, but hardened just moments after. "Don't call me that," was all she growled in response, continuing her trek towards the fence. She wouldn't hop over it, she would just wait for the Umbreon there, whenever he decided to stop fooling around with his new friend.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 21, 2014 20:18:00 GMT -5
Watching the emotions flash across the Houndyena's face was a surprise. He stayed silent as she returned to the fence. "Fine," he muttered, turning slowly to head back to the lake. "Sit here and sulk. But you're worrying about nothing." And with that he returned to the lake.
Austin was about halfway around the lake when Chance returned to his spot and laid down. Chris' reaction to everything was offputting. It was immature and irritating to see such her- usually so strong -fall apart just because Austin wanted to spend time with someone else. And this was all because of her anyway. He closed his eyes and sighed, trying to relax and maybe doze, but he couldn't get Chris's disgruntled expressions out of his mind. With a sigh he opened his eyes and stared ahead idly.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 21, 2014 20:20:45 GMT -5
"I'm not sulking," she muttered to herself out of earshot, curling up into a ball by the fence, tucking her paws and by her chest and settling into the long grass. However, she couldn't help but wonder about Austin and the Vaporeon. She'd just have to wait and see what he had to say when they returned to the fence... With that, she grudgingly closed her crimson eyes.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Mar 21, 2014 20:28:49 GMT -5
In the several minutes that it took for the duo to round the lake and say their goodbyes, Chance had nearly managed to fall into a light sleep. So when Austin approached him and poked his orb, he awoke with a start.
"Where's Chris?" the Umbreon asked immediately.
Chance ran a paw over his face and squeezed his eyes shut. "Are you finally done?"
"Did she go back to the ranch?"
He sounded a little discouraged. Chance opened his eyes and sighed. "She's waiting by the fence. She didn't like that you walked away with your friend."
"...Oh..." Austin looked toward the fence, and his glowing eyes creased with worry. "We... We can head back now... Can you take us back?"
Without a word the Espeon rose, stretched, and headed for the fence. Austin padded after him, the worry on his face static.
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Post by Atticus on Mar 21, 2014 20:33:47 GMT -5
The Houndyena was more tired than she had anticipated. In her moments by the fence, she had nodded off -- not into any deep, serious slumber, but she wasn't as aware of her surroundings as she'd have liked to be. The slight breeze and grass tickled her nose, but she wasn't as aware of it in her rest.
She only faintly registered the sound of paws hitting the ground, approaching, and shifted slightly in her sleep.
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