Daphne noticed the stack of firewood growing every time she was busy with the food. She laughed as she saw her Squirtle looking in amazement at the hulking Slaking. Slowly stirring the stew, she noticed that Kirie was talking to Taidana, who had been lying on the ground the last time she had looked. Of course, Kirie had said that she would be going to look for firewood earlier. "Kirie, thanks for the wood. I think it will be able to last us." Seeing that the small Swablu that belonged to Aurik was bringing her twigs too, Daphne had to shake her head. So many helpful people, that was a rarity for the girl from Johto.
Monroe glided from the treetops and dropped a few branches into the pile as well. Cinder, who was on Monroe's head, threw in the bunch of twigs she had collected. Arno was the last of the three to arrive, with quite a bit of wood in his arms. He dropped them into the pile, almost collapsing in the process. He was clearly tired. Between breaths he said, "Look ..... I love to help and all ..... but I am not a very strong person ..... I'm built to last long on a stage ..... not carry stuff ....." He went to a tree and sat down against it. Monroe sat down next to him and Cinder climbed into Arno's lap.
"Well that's what I call perfect timing. The fire needed more wood." Tamariel as he watched Kirie, Arno and the Pokémon come back with firewood. They should have more than to make it through the evening. Now that the campfire was taken care of he decided to go back to his tent since he still needed to set it up. He decided he'd prepare the Pokémon's food after setting up the tent he also needed to make some proper food for Bruce but that would have to wait till they arrived in the next town. Mortis was vary as Lucina came over to introduce herself to him. Although he was still curious so like with the other humans and Pokémon he kept a distance of 3 feet while getting a good sniff at the around the ninetales while tilting his head curiously.
(The tension in the Tarots RP is hella high. About time I gave my two cents over here.) Kirie smiled in relief, that he was okay. "He does seem the tough sort when it cpmes to affections...Alright, the food should be ready soon. I hope." The Chikorita happily nuzzled into Taidana's touch whilst the Nidorina gave a happy yelp, as though amused that the Slaking had turned away from them. Once Kirie made a move, the two Pokémon waved at Taidana before catching up with their trainer. She moved back to the fireplace, before noticing the Squirtle which had been wounded by the Night slash from earlier. Looking at Quinzel, she took the Fresh Water from her and asked Daphne. "Um. Pardon if I may intrude. Daphne was it? Your Squirtle is hurt. I would like to treat him, if you don't mind? I have some Pokémon medicated drinks at the ready if necessary..."
"Yes, I am Daphne, nice to meet you. You mean Virion? He just had a few scratches from falling off Lucina's back when I checked him over. It was nothing to be worried about." Daphne paused with stirring to look at her Squirtle. The turtle was happily running around looking at everything. It seemed like everything was alright. "Virion, could you come here, please? Kirie wants to check you over real quick." She called over the Squirtle, laying her spoon down to deal with her Squirtle. He came rushing over immediatly and almost jumped in her lap. She quickly gave him a pat on the head and showed him to the other girl. "Here ya go, just let him go and play after you are done, alright?" Daphne gave a small smile before returning to the food. "I am almost done with cooking." She called out. Lucina gave a series of yips, before tilting her head to the same side as Mortis was doing. She invited him to get a bit closer so he could smell her better. She was used to Houndoom, having a friendly pack close by was really nice when she wanted to stretch her legs for a bit.
Lightly pushing Reiji on the shoulder to get the Slaking's attention, Taidana stepped back in time to avoid a large fist being swung half-heartily at him. Rolling his eyes, the professor took a seat beside the Pokémon and just gave him a dry stare, "Come on you big lug, go socialize." In return to this, Reiji gave his trainer a questioning look before raising himself to his feet. Now towering over Taidana, Slaking gave out a slight growl of annoyance before speaking to him in his own tongue. Now with a twitching eyebrow, Taidana gritted his teeth and responded to his Pokémon, "Are you calling me a hypocrite? I'll have you know I already did enough today, anymore would just be troublesome." It was at that moment, Pyro who had been forgotten leaped onto Reiji's back and gave out a cry as it began to clobber the larger Pokémon on the back. Despite not feeling the pain, Reiji still got irritated by the smaller creature enough to knock him off his back before moving away. Not giving up, Pyro followed Reiji while taunting him in his own tongue.
Monroe noticed the large primate Pokémon and the smaller Fire-type one chasing it and decided to join. He ran up to Pyro and put him on his back, then climbed up a tree and glided after Reiji. "Gli!" he yelled as a sort of battle-cry.
Hearing the call of food being nearly done, Aurik raised his head up quickly with hunger in his eyes. Spaghetti sounded really good right now. Cloud 9 watched as all the smaller Pokémon followed the Slaking, with Chimchar being really annoying behind it. She knew that this was somehow gonna end badly... but still decided to fly and join the others anyways, and in fact, land on top of Reiji's head, chirping curiously at him. Ganjo wasn't paying attention, though. He was more focused on the food being cooked at the moment. He looked into the pot to see what was going on. He was paying SO much attention to the pot, however, that he lost his balance and almost fell in. Luckily he used his vines to catch himself on a nearby bush. "Cheeesss...." He sighed to himself as he puts himself back in balance.
Kirie knelt close to the Squirtle. "Don't worry, it'll take a while, hold still, alright?" She fished out the necessary items--bandages, antiseptics and fresh water, while getting to work. Taking out a sterile cotton ball, she dabbed slowly at the wounds--water first, before antiseptic, before patching it up with a bandage. Fortunately there are no wounds near his eyes or face. The shell certainly helped its defenses. While this was going on, Phyllis proceeded to fan Virion with her leaf, as Quinzel peeped over the pot. At the sight of the Ninetales however, she became instantly besotted at the Ninetales' beauty. "Alright, there. Now off you go, be careful now!" Kirie let the Squirtle go, before turning to see what Quinzel was so excited about. Upon laying eyes on the silver coat of the Ninetales, she marvelled at the sight of it, before catching a glimpse of the Houndoom. The proximity was enough to make her shiver, but she quickly averted her focus onto the Ninetales. "Your Ninetales is absolutely beautiful, Daphne. May I ask, how comes the silver coat? I don't think it is much seen even back in Kanto."
Daphne first shooed the little Chespin away from the fire, before turning to Kirie. "Thanks for looking at Virion. As for your question, Lucina is a so-called alternately colored Pokémon. I worked at a breeding center in Johto for nine years and I hatched her there. As a freshly hatched Vulpix, her coat was a weird yellow golden color. When she finally evolved she turned this beautiful silvery color. I have never seen another Ninetales with the same coat as Lucina, and I have gotten offers from people that want to buy her. Mostly Pokémon Showers, but I always reject them." Daphne smiled at her partner Pokémon and pulled the sauce of the fire. She quickly made a food station with the pasta sauce, the spaghetti noodles, some seasonings, and made her own plate before everyone else would probably storm at it. She placed her plate down in her tent before pulling out the food for her Pokémon. She refused to let her own Pokémon eat human food, seeing as it was actually quite bad for them. Even if it tasted pretty good. Lucina gave a yip to Mortis before bounding to her trainer to get some food. When Daphne was done feeding her own Pokémon, she grabbed her plate again and called out to all the others. "Food is done, go and get it." There should be enough for everyone if they weren't very big eaters.
Mortis approached the ninetales to get a closer look when one of his trainer's new traveling companions called that the food was done and the ninetales was of after giving him a yip. Slightly disappointed Mortis went over to his trainer that'd finished setting up the tent. Tamariel put a bowl of food down in front of Mortis when he came over "Eat you Mortis or Bruce might eat it, he's a hungry little fella never seen anything eat so fast before." Tamariel reminded himself that he needed to make some food specifically for the totodile when they arrived at the next town. Having to make a new type of food was not gonna be easy even if he was good and making food for his Pokémon it was still quite troublesome at times since it needed to suit that Pokémon's specific needs. With his Pokémon fed it was now time to feed himself since he'd heard Daphne call that the food was done and he was starving now. Grabbing a plate he went over to the food station she'd made. "That smells good." He said as he helped himself to the food and returned to his Pokémon.
Arno pulled himself up and walked to the food station to get himself some food as well. He served himself, then went back to the tree he was sitting against. He opened hos backpack, which he had taken off and placed next to him, and ruffled through for the pack of food he had for Monroe, as well as one pf the extras for Cinder. As he pulled them out, he noticed something else in his bag. "Oh, I completely forgot about these!" he said. He reached his arms in again and oulled out a pack of marshmellows, several king-size chocolate bars and two boxes of ghrame crackers. "Anyone want s'mores for dessert?" Monroe glided back to the tree as well, and started opening one of the packs of Pokémon food. Cinder hopped of his back and was nipping at the bag of marshmellows. "Hey no!" Arno said to the Torchic. "You need to eat your dinner first. And you can't even have these anyway. I have come Pokepuffs in my bag as well if you want those for dessert, but they're made to Monroe's liking, so you might not like them." Cinder just nodded to all of this and started trying to tear the bag open with her beak. Monroe saw her struggling and cut it open for her. (By the way, I'm probably not going to be on Discord for a while. My laptop charger decided to quit working and I can't get it on the iPad I'm using now because it's owned mby my school. I'm saying this here because Discord didn't want to load before the laptop died... Please spread the word to everyone in Tarots as I don't really have a good opportunity to reply to that at the moment.)
(Don't worry, I'll be the hero of this story by replying to this) Daphne had shooed Ganjo away, but he just came when Daphne was gone, looking at the glorious food that she had called 'spaa-ge-tee'. Just having a taste wouldn't hurt, right...? Unfortunatly for Ganjo, his trainer was standing right behind him. "Gaaaaanjooooo... you can't eat that." He looked behind him, hoping it was just some random person so that he wouldn't have to listen... but it was Aurik, with his laptop closed on his side. Ganjo begged him for some, and Aurik would have given him some otherwise out of pity, but he didn't want to look bad in front of everyone else. "Sorry, but no can do. I have some food for you and Cloud 9, but you and her will have to..." He could already see Ganjo scurrying over to his spot. "...wait....." Aurik grabbed a plate and could see why his Pokémon was practically drooling over it. It didn't look like there was a whole lot to go around, but he was especially hungry, and gave himself a somewhat big helping before he returned to his Pokémon. He saw Ganjo try to reach for the spaghetti, but Aurik still wouldn't let him have any. " Relax, relax. I've got some food in my bag." Ganjo looked like he could eat anything, so he hoped that the food he had for Cloud 9 would do for now as he poured it out onto another plate for Ganjo. Speaking of Cloud 9... he saw her on top of the Slaking again. Annoyed that she would continue to bother him, he called out to her. "Hey, C9! Ya hungry? I'm feeding our new companion right now." She turned her whole body at Aurik, and shook her head before turning back the other way. "Suit yourself, I guess." Aurik said to himself as he put the food away... and discovered that Ganjo was already halfway done. "Oh boy, you're gonna be a bothersome one to feed..." he said in a low voice before digging in to the spaghetti himself.
(I read the message late. Sorry!!) "Thanks for the food. If you need any assistance, feel free to ask me." Kirie smiled before going to take her food before Quinzel nudged her. As the Nidorina gave a nudge, it took a few seconds for Kirie to remember why. "Oh. Your food too. I'll get it." The woman went to her bag, only to find that she had not brought her Pokémon's food... "Oh...oh no...I swore I packed just enough!" She cried aloud as she kept frantically rummaging her bag. There was only one pack of Pokémon food, and it only was enough for one. Quinzel looked decidedly displeased, whilst Phyllis looked more concerned. However, Quinzel merely gobbled onto the spare biscuit packet before tearing it apart and eating it. Phyllis however, nudged for Kirie to open the packet for her. As Kirie opened the pack, she beckoned for both her Pokémon to share. Phyllis and Quinzel looked back at their trainer, slightly disappointed, but shared nonetheless. "Sorry about that, Phyllis. I'll get more food when we get to the next town. I didn't expect a new friend--no not that you aren't welcome or anything--just---" Kirie punctuated her rambling with a sigh, eating at her own food half-heartedly.
"Smores sound good." Daphne gave a smile small at Arno trying to burn the hatchet. She took a bite of her food and smiled, it was better than she had suspected. Overhearing Kirie, she stood up and walked over to see what was happening. "I have some extra food for the little one," Daphne offered to the other girl. She would't let any Pokémon go hungery if she could avoid it. So she didn't wait and put down her food to grab some food for the little grass type. She trusted that Lucina would guard her food for her. "Here you go little one. I hope it tastes good, let me know if you would like some other taste to it." She smiled at the Chikorita, before going back to her food. It was exactly as she had left it.
Smelling the food, Taidana broke out of his faze he accidentally went into when he was watching his two Pokémon argue, joined by a Swablu that seemed to take enjoyment from bothering Reiji even more much to his own secret amusement. Stretching a bit as he yawned, Taidana dragged himself over to where the smell's coming from and grabbed a plate. Taking a small portion for himself, Taidana gave a small thanks to the cook before returning to his original sitting position and starting to dig in, savoring the taste. He would readily admit that this food was far superior to anything he could make, years on the road taught him just how bad his cooking really was to anyone not use to it, and he could see why traveling in a group seemed so popular. 'Hell, if I had someone who could cook during my time in Hoenn it would've made things far easier' Taidana thought to himself with a small smirk, his thoughts getting stuck on past adventures.
Tamariel hadn't noticed how hungry he was until Daphne had started making dinner for them all. He made short work of the spaghetti since he'd forgotten to eat lunch in his haste to reach Juniper's lab. Looking at his Pokémon he saw that Bruce were already done with his food and was lying on his back with a content look on his face while Mortis had a little more self-control and didn't throw down his food as fast as he could. Standing up he stretched and looked around the camp it appeared that people were about done eating as well. Arno said something about s'mores, it'd never been for him but he guessed just having one for the sake of enjoying it with the group wouldn't hurt. "That sounds good." Tamariel said as he sat down at the campfire after putting away his plate and utensils. "Well since people are more or less done with their dinner now I guess now is a good time to start that introduction round and like promised I'll start." He settled down in a comfortable position before starting. "Let's see.....My name is Tamariel Reimer, I'm 23. I'm from Ecruteak City in Johto but I've lived the past 7 years in Black City here in Unova. My goal is to become a police officer but I've already failed the academy's entrance exam twice sadly. I'm hoping this journey will help me find my place in the world, somehow." He didn't tell any he was playing with the thought of becoming a ranger since he wasn't sure yet if it was really something he wanted but it was something his aunt had suggested after he failed the entrance exam the second time. "And this is my partner Mortis; he was given to me on my 11th birthday by my parents. They bought him from the daycare and breeding center near Goldenrod City. Despite him being a houndoom that are known to be rather vicious you have nothing to fear he won't do anything unprovoked, just saying since I noticed some being a little nervous around him. He's trained to keep a distance of 3 feet if that distance is possible. I guess that pretty much covers it." That seemed like a decent introduction to him at least.
Arno finished up his spaghetti, cleaned off his plate with a cloth he had in his pack, and put everything away. He then moved up and sat next to Tamariel" "Well I guess I'll go next." he said. "I am Arno Calarten, age 19, from Slateport City in Hoenn. My parents were both performers in contests, so I was raised with a lot of that around me. I've been performing in contests myself ever since I was nine, but I started out simply using my father's Sceptile, Trey. Then my tenth birthday came around, and the very last present I opened was an egg apparently sent from my aunt who was and is currently living in Sunnyshore City in Sinnoh. I was so excited to have my own Pokémon that I would never let that egg out of my site. It stayed in it's little incubator either in my arms, in my backpack, or just off stage. When it finally hatched, I was greeted by a newborn Gligar, who I named Monroe." In response, Monroe hopped over and sat in Arno's lap. "Gli!" Laughing lightly at the Gligar, Arno continued. "Monroe and I trained together whenever we had free time. Eventually, I was finally able to go back to the contests with my own Pokémon, and Monroe and I won our first one together, with very few losses in between then and our most recent one from last month. I decided to come here to Unova as I remember loving it when I visited here when I was little, and although I will always love contests, I've wanted to become part of the Musicals in Nimbasa ever since. Plus, I figured it be cool to win at least ONE league, and I've already seen all there is in Hoenn. Hey, maybe if I enjoy this journey enough, I'll head over to Sinnoh. Try out some of those Super Contests and visit my aunt." Cinder ran up and tried to jump in Arno's lap too, but endd up missing and tripping over Monroe's tail instead. Arno picked him up and put him in front of Monroe. "Wait I just realized; I've lived in Hoenn my whole life, and yet my only Pokémon was a Gligar, who isn't native to Hoenn. Then when I finally go out to a different region, the first Pokémon I get there is one of the starters from Hoenn, which isn't native to any other region."
(Really long post incoming. Brace yourselves.) This was the most delicious spaghetti Aurik had ever had. Even his mom didn't make it quite like Daphne did. Ganjo, who already finished his food, kept trying to reach for some from his plate, but every time, Aurik would turn around and continue to eat, until he had at last finished his plate. He overheard Arno and Tamariel officially introducing themselves. Tamariel seemed to be some kind of police officer drop out, and Arno wants to do a lot of contests... at least, that's the gist of what they said about themselves. He was more interested in the stories of their Pokémon. Tamariel managed to train his Houndoom to give people their personal space, which, from what he knows, is not an easy task. Arno raised his Pokémon from an egg to be a contest and musical star, as well. Gligar, of all Pokémon, seemed like an unusual Pokémon to do such things, but he was in no place to judge. Once they got done, he set his plate aside and scooted a bit closer to the group. Little did he know that Ganjo snuck off behind the tree with the plate and started to lick it off. "IIIIII guess I'll take the initiative and go next." "My name's Aurik Tallon. I'm 21 years old, and I was born and raised here in Unova, with my home town being Undella Town. Before this, I never went out and REALLY socialized, though. It was always because I was researching about Pokémon, finding out fascinating facts about many of them. So this is my first experience with traveling with a group." "I've already mentioned my goals for this, but I guess I could sa them again. Ever since meeting Professor Juniper, and after doing loads of Pokémon research, I wanted to be a world-renowned Professor, and that has been my goal for the longest time... but I had been watching stories about the Battle Frontier, and especially the Frontier Brains... they're a pretty inspiring lot. The problem is that I can't do both at the same time. That's the main purpose of this journey. And there's no better way to get better in both fields than taking on the League Challenge, I think." He explains, still patting on his laptop in an annoying fashion. Cloud 9 flies off of Reiji's head, and lands on his shoulder. "Oh yeah, I guess I should tell you the story about how I met you, huh?" Cloud 9 nodded her head, as even she didn't know the story behind her. "All right, so I was with this professor, and-" Aurik had suddenly stopped himself and begins to zone off. He remembered what happened... he can't tell people he's just met that he took the Swablu away from her home, even if it was an accident. What would they even think of him? He looks at Cloud 9, whose tilting her head as to why Aurik stopped telling the story. He needed to just... stretch the truth a little. "...and I found an egg that just seemed out of place... we took it home, and as it turned out, it was this girl right here. We searched for her parents, but... we couldn't find them. So I was trusted to take care of her, heh heh..." He was really hoping people would buy the story. Cloud 9 wasn't stupid, though. She's seen her parents lots of times. "...anyways, ever since I started to take care of her, she's shown some interest in other Pokémon, too. She likes to sometimes sit with me when I research, which I thought was strange at first, but... I guess she has the same sort of curiosity I do." Aurik lightly chuckled. "When she meets a Pokémon she doesn't know... she can be a bit annoying. She doesn't mean any harm, though." "I guess that's the basics of my story?" Aurik said, ending off his turn of the little introduction cycle they had going. He felt bad for lying to C9's face about part of her story, but he didn't want the others to know what he had done.
