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Post by Atticus on Feb 17, 2016 2:24:32 GMT -5
Winter's ears flattened through the fluff and she nodded. What if I get hungry? she thought, but decided not to voice her concerns.
Angelo side-eyed the mutant and their cub before finally closing them and letting out a sigh. Tomorrow they'd be rid of this place. They'd go home, Winter will have learned her lesson, and everything would be back to the way it was.
He laid is tail gently across Vivian's and drifted off to sleep.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 17, 2016 20:25:47 GMT -5
Dawn hit the little village with a wave of warm moist air that made it difficult to breathe. The village was slow to wake up, and not only because of the oppressive weather. As much as the ranch family did not want to be at the village, the villagers were just as perturbed to find the family occupying one of their nests in the morning.
Vivian woke up feeling better than she had felt the night before, despite the wet heat. Her paw had fallen asleep, curled around her daughter, and as she lifted her head she straightened it out. The pins and needles kept her from being able to tell if Winter had heeded her warning, or had decided that sleep and a muggy morning was enough permission to wander off. As she tried to find some sign of the Eevee in her mane, she looked up and noticed that the space beside Austin, who was still snoring softly, was vacant. Chance had gone.
Arceus damn it, was that boy touched?
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Post by Atticus on Feb 17, 2016 20:52:20 GMT -5
A garbled roar emitted from within the mutant's mane, to which Winter placed her paw on her stomach. It had been grumbling all morning, loud enough that Angelo was just returning from the berry den. He didn't need an invitation to breakfast. These Pokémon owed him.
He placed a few down by Vivian's mane, and then some by her paws. The brown kit snapped up the berries like a bird and retreated into the depths of her mother's fluff. "Good morning," he greeted his mate, casting a glance towards Austin.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 17, 2016 21:14:23 GMT -5
"Where is Chance?" Vivian asked. Her voice was raspy from sleep and sounded even more gravely than usual. It was a good thing Winter hadn't snatched up all the berries; she plucked one up and ate it from her claw. The citrusy moisture hit her throat and both soothed and burned. But she wasn't complaining. It helped her sharpen her senses, and if she had to hunt down her son, she would need them sharp.
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Post by Atticus on Feb 17, 2016 21:19:33 GMT -5
"I don't know," Angelo confessed, his brows furrowed as he stared at the empty space beside his son. Austin was sound asleep, he likely hadn't even noticed. Best to not disturb him before they found the Espeon, if he didn't wake on his own.
He straightened his back and cast a look over the field to see if he could spot him anywhere. Arceus, what was with these cubs and running off? Was he with Lemondrop? They ought to start looking for paralyzed Pokémon or bolts of lightning in that case.
The Umbreon looked back at Vivian, his frustration setting in. She knew him better than he did. "Any idea where he is? He wasn't with the food, so I'm out of ideas."
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 17, 2016 22:07:16 GMT -5
"No. With Lemondrop?" She couldn't imagine where else he could have gone, except home. And Chance wasn't quite that foolhardy.
But looking around, he knew that wouldn't be enough to find him. They didn't know the first thing about this place. Where would they start looking? She wasn't about to ask for help either.
"Winter, out." She gave her mane a shake, and once the kit emerged she stood and stretched. She shuffled a step forward and prodded Austin in the back.
The Umbreon woke up slowly, as if coming out of sleep completely naturally. He lifted his head and his greeting was marred by a soft yawn. "Maaawwwning, Mum. What's up?"
"We're going to look for Chance. Watch your sister." She scooted the Eevee to his side.
Austin's gaze shifted to her, and he nodded dutifully. "Yes'm. Won't leave my sight!"
"Good boy." She limped out of the nest and motioned for Angelo to follow. "Come on."
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Post by Atticus on Feb 17, 2016 22:14:10 GMT -5
Angelo watched her wake their son, ear twitching. Well, better the two of them stick together. Austin didn't seem as swayed by Chance's disappearance as he'd anticipated, but that was good. The Espeon couldn't be far, and it was clear, now more than ever, that they needed to keep a reliable pair of eyes on Winter. Was Austin reliable? Probably. Better than asking that vixen or the mutt.
Wordlessly, he padded after Vivian, keeping his groggy eyes peeled for the pale feline or the sparking mouse. Was it worth calling his name, and possible attracting the attention of the villagers? He passed the mutant a glance, ready to follow her lead on this one.
Winter, meanwhile, watched her parents go off, and sat by Austin's flank. A familiar, cream-coloured head poked up through the flowers, small black ears erect. The Eevee straightened, excitedly, but slumped back down when she realised she was pretty much grounded. Her mother hadn't said anything, but she knew well enough not to go and do anything that would get her in bigger trouble.
"Winter?" the Meowth peeped, undeterred by her Umbreon guard. The cub blinked back. "Didja' have breakfast?"
"Mhm!" she nodded, but turned to her brother and placed a paw on his shoulder. "Do you want to eat?"
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 17, 2016 22:25:19 GMT -5
Austin's ears perked at the voice coming from outside their little hut. He peered at the Meowth curiously, and his attention only came back to Winter when she touched his shoulder. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks." He got slowly up, stretched, and rolled a berry toward him; the gesture mimicked Vivian's characteristic claw-prod, but without claws he was left to paw it to him. He laid down with the berry between his paws and took a bite as he looked back at the Meowth. A thoughtful pause, and looking again at Winter he asked, "You know you can't go over there, right?" There was little authority in his tone; only knowing. He had never commanded any air of authority. The respect offered to him was done so out of kindness, not a sense that he would retaliate if he didn't get it. No, he certainly wasn't a leader, or even a hell raiser like his parents. It was a good thing he was easy to like, or he could easily become a door mat.
But if he couldn't be the leader, it meant he could certainly listen to one, and Mum had been clear that Winter was going nowhere. She didn't have to spell it out for Austin to know. He hoped that Winter had taken the hint as well, since it wasn't subtle. He didn't want to have to sit on her.
The villagers, as they had the night before, gave the couple a wide berth. It was extremely refreshing to Vivian to be feared, even if it clashed with her recent turn for the domestic. And if made searching the area for Chance much easier. His pink pelt, even with it being dingier and darker than an average Espeon's, didn't camouflage him well among the browns and greens of the village. They soon found him curled in a ball under a hut at the edge of the village. His back was to them, and at first Viv thought that he might be laying alone, but as they grew nearer she heard Lemondrop's unmistakable voice, and a flash of purple scales caught a bit of the morning light.
The Serviper caught sight of Vivian and Angelo before the others did, and his eyes widened in a strange mixture of surprise and delight. He raised his head from the ground, reaching eye-level, before opening his mouth to let out what could only be described as a delighted hiss. The sound made Vivian stop in her tracks, and though she knew she was not being threatened, her fur prickled. She cocked her head to the side. The snake seemed as if he was going to speak, but this hiss was the only noise he uttered.
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Post by Atticus on Feb 17, 2016 23:51:21 GMT -5
"I-I know," she mumbled, shuffling her paws bashfully. "Chillian could have gotten more..." She passed a look back to her friend, who nodded his head, his slightly damaged ears flopping strangely. From the corner of her eye, she could see Tzerua with a Furret and Leafeon, and decided that even though they were adults she didn't get to spend a lot of time with, she'd miss them a lot. With an unusual bitterness, she hoped her family's entrance didn't ruin any potential friendship with the other villagers. She wanted to be able to visit... maybe when she was older, and Vivian wouldn't eat her tail.
To Angelo, hisses didn't carry any tone. Instinctively, the fox shivered, and the fur along his spine began to prickle. He readied his paw, raised and ready to bat, until he caught sight of the slithery Pokémon and recognised who he was, and who he was with. His paw flopped to the ground, and he stared at the trio, head cocked. It looked like their party home was really growing. They weren't going to adopt the whole village, were they?
Regardless of his inner monologue, he nodded a polite greeting to the Seviper.
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 18, 2016 0:40:01 GMT -5
Austin peered out at the villagers again, and regarded his sister's dispirited expression. He smiled encouragingly and licking the berry juice off his lips, lowered his head to try to catch her gaze. "Did you come here to make friends?"
Chance's gaze followed the Halloween's, and Lemondrop bounced out from around him to see the couple. She let out a frustrated sigh and turned to Chance. "See, I told you they'd wake up, you stupid runt!" she chided, smacking his paw.
He jumped back at the shock with a tiny squeak, and looked ready to argue until he looked up and saw that Vivian's irritation was not so playful. He lowered his ears apologetially. "...I thought you would sleep longer."
"We didn't." Her gaze shifted to Halloween, who had closed his mouth but seemed to be waiting for something. And with nothing to give him, she was at a loss. "What are you doing?" she demanded of Chance.
"Don't give him a hard time, I brought him over here," Lemondrop huffed, sitting down where she stood.
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Post by Atticus on Feb 18, 2016 1:23:29 GMT -5
Winter jumped a bit, surprised by the sudden interruption to her woe. Big brown eyes looked to Austin's green, and then to her forepaws shyly. She already couldn't remember her motivations for adventuring out, but despite her parents' disappointment, she didn't regret it. She had gotten to see more of the world, like she had wanted. Maybe she had also satiated a need she didn't even know she had. Austin and Chance were good company, but...
Chillian came up to her side, and cocked his head at the Umbreon.
"I... I guess a little..." she confessed, while the Meowth bumped her side nonchalantly.
"Well, we're leaving soon. Yesterday it looked like you wanted to join us." Angelo stood beside his mate, less irritated but visibly mentally exhausted. He just wanted to grab his family and get out of here. He eyed Chance, a little disappointed that he would think to wander off when they had journeyed all the way here just to retriever another cub who had done so. Was there no training these louts?
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 18, 2016 13:08:20 GMT -5
Austin smiled sympathetically. Win wouldn't know, of course, but he knew what it was like to be young and lonely. He could remember the long days of his childhood, before he had a clear idea of who his mother was and his father was his only constant companion. Chris had seen so much older than him then; she was a good friend, of course, but not quite the same as having someone his own age. And nobody was ignorant to his friend-search journey.
"Yeah, I get it," he murmured, nuzzling her reassuringly. "It gets lonely being the youngest."
Lemondrop sighed and rolled her eyes. Did he really think she didn't remember that. "Yeah, I know." Her voice lost some of its hardness as her gaze shifted from Chance to Angelo again. "Halloween doesn't want to come."
Vivian raised a brow, and her gaze shifted to the snake, who had curled up and was watching the exchange idly. Unlike Lemondrop, he didn't look injured from whatever happened. Wat reason could he possibly have for wanting to stay here? "Why not?"
"He doesn't think he'd have anything to do."
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Post by Atticus on Feb 22, 2016 11:07:40 GMT -5
Winter smiled as her brother nuzzled her, and she hugged his muzzle. "I wish maybe we had been twins," she chirped suddenly, gently pawing at a tuft of hair between his eyes. Then they would have both had a same-age playmate growing up, and Win liked him enough.
Angelo cocked a brow. "Yeah? Why not?" he asked, before he realised what he was saying. He had no emotional attachment to the snake, who would likely only drag them down on the return home. But, Arceus, he wasn't cruel. Even in this baby-snatching village in the woods, he was less safe than he was with Tunes. "Well, he'd see his trainer again? And their new baby?"
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Post by subtleAssiduities on Feb 22, 2016 14:57:20 GMT -5
The statement warmed Austin's heart, and his tail tip wiggled. "Me too. That would be pretty great," he murmured. With a bit of a chuckle, he added, "Then again, I don't think Mum would have known what to do with the two of us at the same time!"
"We told him everything, he doesn't want to come," Lemondrop replied, spreading her tiny hands. She found that she was hoping that the couple would have something more to offer than she and Chance had, but she also knew that that was far-fetched. Halloween's mind was made up, and even if it hadn't been, he could only get the gist of what they were trying to say anyway; he had never mastered reading lips.
Vivian's gaze was on the Serviper; they narrowed, perturbed at how little he seemed to be reacting to the conversation. Did he really not care anymore?... She could understand it. She had for so long, afterall. But Tunes' Pokémon didn't seem like the type to be driven away from her just because they felt "useless". So something else was probably going on.
And even as she came to the conclusion, she wasn't so sure she could muster up the energy to care. Halloween was not a cub. He could make his own decisions. This little side mission was holding them up, and she wanted to go home. "If he doesn't want to go, we can't force him," she declared. She realized that her voice was harder than she had intended only when Chance's face fell. Softening it a bit, she added, "We need to leave now if we're going to make it back before dark."
Chance's lavender eyes lingered on the couple before trailing back to Halloween. Even with limited words and no sense of hearing, his posture said it all: he was decided. An unmovable coil planted by guilt and anchored by stubbornness. If nobody was going to make him go, he wasn't going anywhere. And that made his heart ache. Halloween was no less important to him and Tunes than Lemondrop. The fact that he really believed that he could just stop being important to them was audacious. But he and Lemondrop had been at it for an hour trying to convince him otherwise, and they had made no visible progress. Lemondrop had promised to go with or without him. He was left to cling to that for comfort.
With a small nod he rose to his paws, and he lightly pressed his forehead against the Serviper's in an affectionate gesture. "You can always come back," he murmured, assuring that his mouth fell within the snake's line of sight. Then he backed up.
Lemondrop stayed where she was, looking torn between leaving Halloween and fighting to bring him. But Vivian didn't look keen on giving her time, and she didn't want to risk her chances of a way home. "Halloween..." She waddled toward him and tapped his snout, making him recoil with a hiss. "You're stupid. She wouldn't think you're useless..." If he caught her words, he didn't respond to them. Her ears drooped, and with a despondent sigh she turned and followed Chance.
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Post by Atticus on Feb 22, 2016 15:06:29 GMT -5
"She'd be fine," Winter assured him, "'cause then we wouldn't need to go and find friends elsewhere!" Saying out-loud made her stomach harden, however. It sounded a little brutal. "I mean, you and Chance are still my friends. I love you guys." Another boop on the nose.
Angelo watched the exchange with little to contribute. It was a shame, really, that much he could decide. Tunes was a delightful person and she would be delighted to see both Pokémon return safely. Having only Lemondrop return would be exciting, but would raise questions about the status of Halloween. There was a chance it could rekindle some hope in her that he was alive; she might even go out looking for him. Well... maybe. He didn't know her well enough. What he did know was that it was time to go.
"Your parents are coming back," Chillian squeaked, gnawing on a berry stem.
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