[PRP] Babe in the Woods

[Sao Kasai]

Something had startled Gerty, the small brown and pink Zorua, and sent her running into the woods just outside of Sagestone Town. By the time the pokemon's blue haired trainer had caught up to her, the pair were fairly far into the woods.

Holding the small brown fox pokemon in her arms, Izumi tried to head back the way they came... But she wasn't certain which way that was. She'd thought it had been the way she'd been heading, but she didn't recognize any of the tree stumps or bushes that they'd passed... Though she didn't recognize anything when she'd turned back to try and go the other way... Everything was just so green and plant-y and unfamiliar.

"Gerty..." The girl looked down at the trembling pokemon, "I...I think we're lost..." They'd been walking for a while, too. Enough time for the little mechanic to need to take a rest. She found a stump somewhere in the woods to sit on, where she began mumbling to herself and her Zorua about how they were going to be fine and they could figure out how to get out of the woods. They just had to keep walking straight and they'd eventually pop out on some side or another... Right?  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi had a vague idea of where he was, which was all he needed really and had sort of been the plan to start with. With everything being - ugh - like it was right now he'd felt like he needed to sort of lose himself for a while, and literally losing himself in a woodland he hadn't visited before seemed like a good way to start.

So far it was working out pretty well, he'd got Valour to drop him in a clearing a few hours ago now and he was definitely feeling less stressed out than when he'd left the apartment. The air was cold but he was dressed for the weather so it was refreshing rather than unpleasant, it felt good to be out and about again. Swift seemed to be having fun too; as far as he could tell the little gray Vulpix had never set paw outside a city before, the fire type was trotting around with his ears perked up sniffing absolutely everything. Every so often Swift would pause as he caught an especially interesting scent and veer off along its trail, and seen as he had no destination in mind Taavi followed along after him.

Up until now the Vulpix's exploring hadn't led them to anything much of interest that Taavi could see, but that had been up until now. As he followed his fire type friend up a bank Taavi caught the sound of a voice, though he didn't hear the words, and as surprising people by appearing from below a bank seemed pretty rude he called; "Uh, hello there?" at just about the same moment that Swift reached the top of the bank, squirmed through some bracken, and appeared in Izumi's field of view.  

[Sao Kasai]

There was a startled squeek after Taavi called out. The owner of the voice and her pokemon had not expected to run into other people...

"H-hello?" She called back hesitantly, looking around for the person who had called out. Izumi spotted the Vulpix first. She yelled. When Taavi would eventually make his way into the clearing, he would spot a petite young woman with bright blue hair cowering against the trunk of a tree, shrinking away from his fire-type pokemon and clutching a Zorua close to her chest.  

[TawnyAngel]

People yelling kind of tended to bypass Taavi's conscious mind, it sent a jolt into his muscles which had him scrambling up the steep incline at speed before he'd had time to think anything at all other than trouble. When he made it into the clearing he hadn't any idea of what was going on but training took over, prompting him to assess the situation quickly. He then assessed it again because he had absolutely no idea - at first glance - what could be the matter.

There was a woman, pale blue hair and carrying a unique Zorua - he was getting used to unique coloured pokemon - and she was pressed back against a tree because.... Reasons? Taavi looked down at Swift who seemed to be puzzled and than at the woman again. Was she afraid of him? "Um, Swift, could you... back off a bit please?"

Swift, who hadn't been too keen on the yelling, gave a little nod and moved behind his human friend.

Taavi offered the stranger and small smile that he hoped looked reassuring and took a few steps towards her, watching carefully for her reaction. "Are you alright ma'am? We didn't mean to startle you."  

[Sao Kasai]

The girl relaxed very slightly when the fire type went behind its trainer. Only slightly.

"U-um... I... Y-yes? I mean... No? No..." She looked around at the trees. "We... um... we're lost..." It was embarrassing to admit, but necessary, and also very obvious based on the girl's appearance. Her coat was one that was made in and for the city, almost for style only. She wore mismatched gloves; One was a tight shining metal color, the other was cheap cotton. The only things on the small woman that looked somewhat okay for hiking were a pair of bright orange work boots and some thick looking, if not a little worn in the knees, jeans.  

[TawnyAngel]

...She had either paint or tattoos on her face, and her one of her hands was....? Had he run into a cosplayer or something? Well it didn't really matter, the fact that she was lost was all that did. He was pretty sure now that she was uncomfortable with Swift for whatever reason and so that needed dealing with first. "Could you hang on a second ma'am?" he asked, his tones warm and calm. Once the question was asked he turned to Swift and knelt down. "Hey, would you mind going off on your own for a bit, or going in your pokeball?" Taavi took the white and red sphere from his belt and held it out questioningly. "We'll come here again, so don't worry you''d be missing out," he added.

Swift looked thoughtful for a moment before reaching up to tap the pokeball with a forepaw; Taavi nodded and recalled the little fire type, clipping the ball back to his belt once that was done.

Straightening up again he then turned back to the rather odd looking woman and offered another smile. "So, hi! I can help you get un-lost I'm sure. Are you cold or anything? I've got a space blanket in my bag, and soup and coffee actually. Oh and I'm Taavi, hi!... I said hi already, but hi. Um. Who're you, and who's your friend?"  

[Sao Kasai]

"I'm... um... a little chilly..." She stood up a bit straighter and took a few tentative steps towards Taavi. "I'm Izumi... And this is Gerty..." The little brown pokemon looked at the other human with wide eyes and, deciding he looked scary, or that she was cold, began trying to bury her way into Izumi's coat.  

[TawnyAngel]

Sao Kasai

Taavi wasn't used to anything thinking he was all that scary but he was aware that he was a lot bigger than the Zorua so he avoided making any sudden movements as he dug out his space blanket and then proffered it to Izumi with a smile. "Nice to meet you both, even if it's not under the best circumstances for the two of you! Um, do you like tomato soup? Because that's what the soup is, and the coffee has milk in it.... Would you like some of either? Where did you come from? I mean today, before you were lost, not in the general sense of meet and greet hi who are you, right?" He was rambling a bit but under the circumstances he didn't think that Izumi or Gerty were going to mind all that much. "We actually came in from Camphoreon today, my friend Valour dropped us off a ways to the... south I think? Yeah, I guess we've been moving more or less northish."  

[Sao Kasai]

Izumi noticed that Gerty seemed chilled. "S-sorry, Gerty..." She apologized for not thinking of it sooner, and retired the pokemon to its ball.

"U-um... We came from Sagestone... Gerty got spooked and ran into the woods... I followed her and, well... H-here we are..."

Izumi nodded slightly. "C-coffee, please... I-if you don't mind... Thanks... U-um... F-for the blanket..." She stammered out, both from the shivers and her nerves, and wrapped herself tightly in said blanket.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Sagestone?" Taavi echoed, his eyebrows raising slightly. "You've come quite a ways! No wonder you're tired out. Here," he dug out his flask of coffee and handed it over, "the lid is a cup! Help yourself, and you're welcome."

Seen as he was stopping for a while Taavi fetched out the flask of soup too and poured some into the lid for himself. Now though what was going to be the easiest way of getting her back to Sagestone? Flying sounded like the best bet unless she was scared of heights or something, if so then it was going to be a bit of a long walk back but they'd manage.

"How long have you guys been out here?" Taavi asked in between sips of the soup, which steamed in the cold air. "Oh and, um, is anyone else going to be looking for you?" Sometimes when somebody got lost in the woods, somebody else then also got lost while looking for them.  

[Sao Kasai]

"N-no. I'm by myself. I don't even really know anyone in town." Izumi kind of shrugged. Anyone who would bother looking for her were miles away, and wouldn't even know to start looking in the woods. Actually that would be the last place someone would look for her.

"I-I'm not sure how long we've been out here... A few hours?" Honestly, they were lucky that no wild pokemon had attacked them, and the cold was the worst they'd had to manage. "H-how far are we from town?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi gave Izumi a sympathetic smile and nodded. "I know how that feels! Though I'm lucky, I've got a couple of good friends in Camphoreon now." Abel and Sasha thought putting Sasha under 'friend' was a bit misleading he didn't need to go into his life story for a stranger.

"Uh, let's take a look see where we are then." Still sipping at his soup Taavi fetched his pokegear out of one of the many little pouches on his belt, unlocked it and pulled up the GPS. "Ah, here we are," he moved around to stand beside Izumi. "We're here, the dot in the middle of the screen and...." He zoomed out a little until Sagestone appeared. "We're about ten miles out of town," he concluded, which made sense for a few hours of wandering in unfamiliar terrain. "It wouldn't take as long to walk back as it did for you to end up here but um, if you like I can give you a ride back with my friend Valour. If you don't mind heights, because he's a bird."  

[Sao Kasai]

"Wow..." Izumi said, amazed, "I didn't think we'd walked that far..."

Izumi considered the two options that this Taavi character was giving her. Hours of walking in the cold, or a quicker journey on a flying pokemon... She wouldn't consider herself scared of heights--Though she'd never flown on a pokemon before. It would definitely be frightening, but maybe it would be in a thrilling sort of way. Anything was better than freezing in the woods.

"O-okay... Um... He's not a f-fire type, is he? A-and... is there enough room for both of us?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Heh, yeah, you've certainly got your cardio in for the day hu?" Taavi replied to Izumi's exclamation of surprise at the distance she'd come. "I guess your mind was more on being lost than on the actual walking? And, nope, Valour is a Braviary; normal and flying. There's plenty of room for two, and he's plenty strong enough to take us both as well! One person can ride on his back and he'll carry the other one in his," don't say talons, talons was not a reassuring word, "feet. I'm good either way, so if you'd like to do that you can choose which position you'd prefer."  

[Sao Kasai]

"O-okay... Um... I-I've never ridden on a flying pokemon before..." Izumi looked a bit apprehensive about the idea. "I... Um... Guess I could ride on his back?" Then she could cover her eyes if things got too scary when you were high in the sky and not standing at the top of a tall building.