[PRP] In Winters Fashion

[Blood_Goddess]

Ah winter, the toughest time of the year not just for pokemon trainer and travelers, but for juuust about anyone who had to live in a climate that had a habit of dumping snow down the front of anyone living in it.
Not that it always got the people down, in fact, some people loved it. Either for the snow to play in, they liked the cold weather the holiday or.... the fashion!

It was hard to pick for Ray herself, though the though of busting out the winter clothes was an exciting thought.
due to some recent unexpected expenses Ray didn't have the luxury of adding new attire to her closet this year, but that didn't make her previous years coats any less awesome.

Heavily shadowed eyes blinked lightly from beneath the tall collar of a black button up jacket, the shoulders sharply shaped and broadened, over black thick skinny pants and loosely tied boots.
Her gray hair was pulled up over her eyes, one again draping loosely in front of one to block the snow from getting on her face, while the other studied the people who passed by in silence.

Double Stripe was not at all pleased with this arrangement, being both a grass type and a snake, he had to learn how to suck it up, especially since he had no more pokeball. But after a while the snake had ended up burying his head up in Ray's coat, giving the women a building front while the majority of the pokemon's body still coiled out in the sidewalk.

Camphoreon was as busy as ever, it was nice to be around such activity again, She had gotten a cheap hotel room in the meantime, staying for a few days after they had gotten back from Sagestone, and Ray had inevitably heard the news about the death of Lance.
It was on her mind as she sat on a sidewalk bench, waiting for the bus to take her across town.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With winter had come shortened store hours, and that meant Abel had fewer hours or shifts at work. This left him with more time off, and while he appreciated the increased amount of time to bum around or do whatever, it unfortunately also meant a smaller income on which to live. This meant that, to conserve his money and spend as little as possible, walking was the preferred mode of transport for the time being, despite the snow and cold temperatures.

A coat was all he needed, and scarves were completely unnecessary - that was what Isaac was for. The colorful Espeon had eagerly draped himself around his friend's shoulders, both to keep him warm and also to keep himself warm; his thin, fine fur did little to keep out the cold of the season. Abel's other companions had little trouble keeping the chill out, either through thick fur, due to their type, or a mix of the two. A Zoroark, Growlithe, and Charmeleon walked along behind him, the last two of the three the most intrigued by the snow around them than the first two. Given their slightly awed or immensely curious behavior, this winter was probably their first. Or at least, the first time they'd seen snow. As they all approached a woman on a bench with a Serperior, the Espeon and Zoroark showed at least a passing interest, while the Growlithe and Charmeleon remained wholly entranced by the white fluffy snow on the ground and in the air. Abel instead chose to focus on where he was walking, so as to avoid tripping or running into anyone.  

[Blood_Goddess]

A whistle escaped the women as he passed, one might think she was cat calling the man who just past, though as her head dipped up from under the coats collar a broad smile with brown painted lips.
"Niiiice pokemon."

Her eyes were settled on the small group, leaning forward from where she sat, her arms around the lump under her coat shifting as to now squish the pokemon inside.
"You all are a pretty nice looking team. To you train?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While cat calls weren't entirely new to him, he was still extremely unused to receiving them, but was quite pleased to hear the whistle was in regards to his pokemon instead. He paused and turned to the woman, an amused smile that turned into a half-grin on his face as he regarded her and her Serperior partially hidden in her coat. Poor thing might suffocate if it stayed like that too long, he couldn't help but think. "Thanks," he said, "I'm sure they appreciate it."

Indeed, all four of them looked various degrees of pleased, though most of them responded mildly. The Charmeleon was the only one to react more enthusiastically, raising one clawed paw to her hip while the other raised to inspect her claws in an obviously pleased manner. "Chaaaar," she said, her tones not hiding her self-importance.

"Nah, we don't," the young man replied with a shake of his blonde head as he slipped his hands into his pockets, and the Espeon curled around his shoulders watched the woman and her pokemon curiously. "Do you? Ah, my name's Abel, by the way. What's yours?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her mossy eye shifted up from behind the dark lids, there the older women adressed the humans who was joined with the pokemon, and a wide grin spread across her lips.
"Of sorts" She replied to his question about being a trainer. "Enough to give me a vast appreciation for those amazing little critters." She winked at the pokemon "Big critters too."

A hand was unfolded from the coat front and held out to the blond. "I'm Ray, R.A.Y, nice to meet you Abel."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Zoroark, quite obviously the biggest pokemon amongst the small group, snorted lightly at Ray's comment and her wink. She didn't seem too sure what to think of this woman, but decided to err on the side of caution for the time being.

"They are amazing," the blonde agreed readily, "pokemon in general as well as these guys - but then, I suppose I'm biased." He chuckled lightly at his own comment, then extended a hand to clasp her offered one. "Nice to meet you too, Ray." When his hand was free again, he gestured to each of his pokemon in turn, "This is Isaac, Sonia, Juliet, and Elizabeth." When gestured to and their names announced, the respective pokemon either nodded lightly or made a quiet noise of greeting, except for the slightly egotistical Charmeleon.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Isaac, Sonia, Juliet and Elizabeth" Ray repeated, looking to each of the pokemon in turn and nodding in greeting.
"Nice to meet you, I would introduce you to this candy cane, but I'm afraid he's quite stubornly not moving for the time being." She chuckled deeply, patting the side of the snake's body. "This is Double Stripe."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel laughed a little at the Serperior's behavior, his teeth showing in a wide grin. "Aww, poor guy. The cold isn't any fun for some, huh?"

Unfortunately for Double Stripe, his label as 'stubborn' would earn him a curious and firm poke in the side from a mischievous Elizabeth, whose trouble-making streak had been instigated by the thought of bugging someone.  

[Blood_Goddess]

the poked scales would give an involuntary twitch of a reaction, but otherwise would lay there as it had, making no real notice that he had been poked at all.
It was too freakin' cold.

Ray however grinned at the Charmeleon that poked Double Stripe,
"Doesn't he look like candy? I swear." her hand patted the striped pokemon's side before she returned her gaze back up to Abel "Sorry for stopping you if you were heading somewhere, but like I said I appreciate seeing pokemon around, winter time they're usually snug in the balls. Thats never fun."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Elizabeth was momentarily visibly disappointed in the snake's lack of a reaction, but, not one to be deterred, she gave him another firm poke. Juliet moved to sit down in the snow, her bushy tail swaying a bit and displacing the snow beneath it, though a few stubborn flakes clung to her tail.

"He looks like a living candy cane to me," Abel noted with a light laugh, his hands still hidden away in his pockets to keep them warm. "And nah, I wasn't really going anywhere." As if to affirm this, he moved to seat himself on the bench as well. While it was cold out, it wasn't so cold as to prevent him from wanting to spend a little bit chatting with someone. "Mine aren't usually in their balls, to be honest," he said with a shrug, leaning back against the bench and raising one leg to rest the ankle on the opposite knee, his hands still in his pockets. Isaac adjusted a little bit to remain on his shoulders, but otherwise stayed still. "They usually come with me or stick around at home. Isaac hasn't been in his ball for a few years now, I don't think, unless it was a necessary thing, but I can't think of any examples off the top of my head." If he ever thought he was going somewhere unpleasant that posed a threat to either himself or his Espeon, he simply left said Espeon at home where he would be safe. "What about your guy there? I'm guessing something similar." It honestly seemed as though the grass-type would've much preferred to be snug and warm in a pokeball.  

[Blood_Goddess]

A more firm twitch reacted to the poking.
"Watch out." Ray warned the charmeleon with a grin, feeling the light hissing of the pokemon under her shirt.

"Yeah, I always saw balls as more of a convinced anyway, bit of the soft side if you ask me." She chuckled lifting her hand and shaking a finger. "Though honestly, most useful tool I can think of when it comes to pokemon."
One last flash of her almost uncomfortably wide grin and half of her face once again ducked down into the neck of her coat.
"DS doesn't have a ball, hasn't for a few months now actually." She tilted her head toward the man "bit it into pieces, not that I ever recommend you ever let your pokemon do that.."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A mischievous grin spread across the fire-type's face as she heard the faint hissing of the snake. She took up a ready stance, prepared to jump away at the first sign of retaliation, then reached a claw out to prod Double Stripe's side again. This time, though, the claw stayed firmly in place to incite the snake into actually reacting.

"She'll learn," Abel said with a nod towards his Charmeleon. "She's a troublemaker for sure; has to learn everything the hard way. Sorry she's bugging Double Stripe, but she's got a mind of her own. Doesn't have a ball yet, now that I think about it," the blonde said with a thoughtful expression. He'd just happened to come across her one day while out with Sonia, and the fire-type had poked and prodded and instigated his Zoroark relentlessly until she was driven to retaliate, and then the Charmeleon had just sort of kept following them after. He'd forgotten all about pokeballs - not that he was trying to acquire more pokemon, anyway. "But, how'd he manage to break that? They're such durable things, pokeballs. And duly noted," he said with a nod and a wry smile. Oh yes, mental note: Don't let a pokemon try to bite its pokeball and break it. It seemed like a common sense sort of thing, but if one of them got the idea into their head to bite it, he didn't know if he would be able to do much about it. Pokemon had minds of their own, after all, and sometimes there was no reasoning with them, like Elizabeth, while others he could reason with all day long, like Isaac.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Mmmm hum." Ray hummed, the sound itself translating a smile that was hidden under her coat.
She didn't take her half lidded eye off of the two pokemon, as if waiting for something to happen.
None of them would be let down either, with a snap of movement the tail end of the Serperior whirled out toward Elizabeth in an attempt to wrap around her.

"Up, yup, I told you."
Ray laughed, looking back at the man who sat down on the bench as well. "Eh you know, the wonders of pokemon, breaking pokeballs isn't even the height of their abilities."

"So, you're not a trainer huh? What do you do? Do you and your pokemon work together?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At the first flicker of movement, Elizabeth darted away, quickly strafing to the side to avoid being caught in the Serperior's coils. She began to bounce on her feet from side to side, fully prepared and even expecting to have to dodge again, but instead of focusing on the chance of retaliation, she raised her clawed hands to her head and stuck her tongue out at the snake, wiggling her claws as she made a sound that sounded like a warbling cackle in a strange taunt.

Watching the fire-type with some amusement - while Sonia and Juliet immediately moved to the opposite side of the bench to avoid being targeted accidentally - Abel debated Ray's question, his expression thoughtful. "Well, sort of? I work with Sonia and her illusions and stuff, but I work at a gun range here in the city. My pokemon are my buddies, we don't train or battle or anything like that." He hadn't even considered such a lifestyle, to be honest - though he couldn't help but recall his childhood ambitions of being a police officer, working side by side with a Growlithe or similar pokemon to apprehend criminals. Such memories were almost embarrassing now, and thus he avoided voicing them. "What about you?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Though he missed the snake continued the curl his body around itself, clutching against the cold and letting out another warning hiss His muffled voice spoke from under his partners coat.

Ray herself muttered something under her coat, a hushed deep tone who's words drowned in the wind, and were clearly intended for the Serperior.

Eyes never leaving the man she chuckled and shook her head "Ah you misunderstand, I mean do you work with your pokemon in the sense of occupation." She tilted her head "Though if you work at a gun range then I'm curious what their job is.
As for me, In the warmer seasons I'm a tour guide up in the mines at Sagestone.I live there actually."