[PRP] An Unexpected Guest [fin]

[wasluxy]

January was coming to an end, and that meant one more month of winter was almost over. To say Jace was eager for spring would be the understatement of the century. After all, his passion was berries, and berries didn't grow in the winter! Too cold for berries, too cold for Jace. So, once again, he found himself out and about, a little ways from his home in a hill, gathering fallen branches and low foliage to keep him and Butch from becoming icicles.

Of course, Butch wasn't the only Pokemon he had. Before winter had hit, he'd added the most annoying Butterfree ever and a shy little Flabebe to his team, and during a blizzard towards the start of the month he'd rescued a Meowth. The first two of that list he'd kept in their 'balls unless his cave-home-thing was sufficiently warm enough for them, but the Meowth had a winter coat of fur and was currently bouncing along beside him and Butch. Swiper wasn't the biggest fan of snow and cold, but he didn't mind it, and so sometimes Jace let him out to blow off energy and to have more company.

That was something he didn't have often: company. At least, human company. Sure, he'd sometimes go into Sandalwood or explore out to the other cities around Kodo, but mostly even when in social settings he kept to himself. It's not that he didn't like people, it's just that he was a bit of an extroverted introvert in that his tolerance for human company was quite random. Sometimes he wanted to be in a crowd, sometimes he wanted to be alone. He never really knew what he was feeling up for until he really thought about it for a minute, and that feeling could change at any time. For now, though, he was content to have two Pokemon at his side instead of his usual one~  

[Sao Kasai]

It was a busy week at the shop, too busy for Izumi to take more than one day off in a row. A few years ago it wouldn't have mattered much, having a busy work week. Izumi had plenty of room to let her pokemon out to entertain themselves, stretch their legs, or do whatever. Now she barely had room for herself and some pieces of furniture. The situation was bearable, but her pokemon still needed to be let out once in a while. When Izumi could get a couple of days off in a row, she and her pokemon would go to the near by trainer center for some training and relaxing time together; One evening wasn't enough, though.

So Izumi sometimes had to resort to just going to the outskirts of Sandalwood and letting her pokemon out for fresh air that way. She had a full team now. Beldum, Metagross, Aron, Rilou, Dratini... and Wooper. A Wooper who had not been entirely wanted, who had followed the girl an impossible distance from a little island north of Kodo all the way back to her home in Sandalwood. A Wooper who decided that, after sitting peacefully and staring at its trainer for an unnerving amount of time, it was time to run off on its own.

"B-Buddy! Hey!" Izumi yelled after the Wooper as it ran.

"Woo... paaaaah!" It stopped briefly and waved its tail at Izumi, turned around, and continued running. Izumi sighed and gave an apologetic look to the others on her team before calling them all back to their balls.

Izumi followed the Wooper through the snow, the pokemon pausing long enough to let Izumi catch sight of him again before resuming on his path. He kept this pattern up until finally the Wooper ducked behind a hill.

When the trainer rounded that same hill, Buddy was gone. The snow trail was gone too, ending at the hill.

"B-Buddy?" Izumi looked around. There was nothing but the side off the hill, some moss, shrubs, trees, a bunch of sticks standing up-right in the ground, and a hole in said hill. Aha. "Buddy..." Izumi sighed, and plodded through the snow, easing herself through the hole in the hill.

Inside wasn't just a cave as she was expecting, but shelves, a fire pit and kettle, a bed... It looked like someone lived here... In a hill? Was it a wild pokemon's home? And there was the Wooper, hopped up on a shelf and gorging himself on poffins.

"Buddy! Hey!" She walked hastily over to the pokemon, grabbing him up and starting towards the hole in the hill. "No! Don't just go into peoples... hill... hole... things. Ugh..." And he'd eaten something belonging to who or whatever lived here. What to do? Stay and apologize? Run before anyone came back? She could leave some money... Did whatever lived here use money?
 

[wasluxy]

"That should be enough for now..."

Jace loaded up Butch with a bit more firewood and then grabbed his own load. "Let's head back before it gets too late. Later it is, the colder it is..." He grumbled. Swiper lead the way as they followed their own tracks back. Jace had to admit, that was one good thing about going out during the winter months: when there was snow on the ground, it was so much easier to wander off a fair ways and find your way back to where you started. During the summer months, Jace had had Butch mark the trees they passed with small scratches in the bark. Not enough to damage the tree, but enough for Jace to see the marks and follow them home. In the fall months, when the leaves started falling, as long as the day wasn't windy he'd have Bugger blow leaves from their path, so there was a clear 'trail' of sorts to follow. Now, he didn't have to do anything but follow his own footprints. Certainly made things easy, but it was about the one and only thing he liked about winter.

A short distance from the house... hill... home thing, Swiper suddenly stopped and started growling. "Huh? What's up Swiper?" Jace slowly put the branches down, as he could come back for them later, and Butch did the same. About the time he did, though, Swiper took off flying across the snow. Jace and Butch took off after him, and once closer they realized there were other tracks, tracks they didn't make.

Those tracks led straight into Jace's hill, and Swiper did, too.

The little cat burst through the door and nearly slammed right into a pair of legs. Coming to a quick stop, his back arched and tail poofed and he let out the most menacing growl he could manage... Which, honestly, wasn't very menacing. He tried, though, and continued growling after Jace came up to the door way behind him, with Butch behind him.

What the... There was a person in his hill! A woman person! That didn't ever happen... Jace crossed his arms and leaned to the side, putting his weight on one leg, and lowered his head to the girl. His tone was anything but friendly and his eyes narrowed when he greeted, "Hellooo..."  

[Sao Kasai]

Apparently Swiper's growl was menacing enough, because the girl screamed and ran further back into the hole-home, tripping over one of the log chairs, tossing her wooper across the room and onto the bed where-as she just hit the ground.

"Ahh! I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The owners were back and they weren't happy and they were going to kill her and eat her and oh Arceus. Tears welled at the edges of Izumi's eyes, which were shut tight as she cowered on the floor. "Please don't eat me!"

The wooper hit the bed and bounced lightly once before coming to a stop. "Woop." He stared at the scene unfolding and tilt his head. "Pahh."
 

[wasluxy]

As the girl wigged out, Swiper became more amused than guard-cat-y. "Meow?" With his owner trying hard not to laugh behind him -and failing miserably-, the cat picked it's way across the room and over the log to where the girl cowered. "Meow-owth?" No one had quite reacted like that to him before... Almost apologetically -he'd save that for when he was sure he wasn't supposed to still be mad- he put a gentle paw on the girls leg, then looked at the Wooper on his bed. <> He caught a strange scent then, and added, <>

Jace couldn't help it. He saw Swiper as about as scary as the berries he grew, and just as harmless. Now, he hadn't tested that theory, but still. So, when this stranger flipped out like he was the most frightening thing on the planet, it took all of his self control not to laugh... Which wasn't enough, as he quickly ended up sputtering and then straight up laughing at the whole thing. What he found funnier still was her thinking they were going to eat her, and then his own Meowth suddenly not acting so tough and more apologetic instead. For one so quick to try to be intimidating, he was just as quick to apologize when he actually achieved the desired effect. Butch, on the other hand, stood dutifully by the door, eyes carefully watching every single movement of every single occupant of the hill.

Still chuckling, Jace picked his way over the log as well and offered out a hand to the fallen girl. "You can open your eyes, love, we're not /that/ hungry."  

[Sao Kasai]

The girl flinched at the Meowth's touch at first, but then when nothing bad happened she slowly opened her eyes and looked up.

The Wooper responded and then went back to staring at the scene with his beady black little eyes and no expression on his face.

"I-I-I'm sorry..." She whimpered, wincing when the hand was held out to her. Again nothing happened, and it dawned on her what the gesture was. Izumi reached up and grabbed Jace's hand unusually firmly for someone of her build. After she was on her feet, the intruder's face turned beet red as she became acutely aware of how ridiculous her reaction must have seemed. "I-I...U-um..." She looked down at her boots. "S-sorry..." She muttered again.
 

[wasluxy]

Swiper just stared at the Wooper for a second, then turned back to the girl as Jace reached out his hand for her. Quickly, he backed up a few steps so he would be stepped on, just in case.

Jace couldn't help but laugh again, though this time he did it while shaking his hand a little as if her grip had hurt a little. It didn't but she did have a nice grip for someone of her size. "Nice grip you got... May I ask what you're doing in my home?" He supposed she'd merely stumbled upon it, which would be easier to do now that there was such little -if any- foliage on the trees that usually hid his place a bit better. Still, what reason would she have had for coming inside? Merely curiosity? He hoped it was a better reason than that, so he wouldn't have to think the stuttering girl as rude.

Figuring the situation under control, Butch went outside again to gather up the wood they'd left behind, and set to work piling most of it by the hill and chopping some up into little pieces to use on the fire.  

[Sao Kasai]

"I..um... Buddy--M-my Wooper--H-he took off running a-and he came in here a-and then he started eating p-poffins a-and I'm very sorry! I-I can pay you for them!" Izumi began rifling through her pockets, looking for some form of payment.
 

[wasluxy]

Again, Jace had to laugh. The little Wooper had smelled his poffins? Well, he was flattered. After all, he did make them to be quite desirable, so the critter sorta-breaking-into his home for them was a compliment.

At the girl's pocket digging, Jace waved his hand. "No no, I make poffins. It's what I do. If your little Buddy here chased the scent of them down then I'm flattered." He walked over to the shelf where half-eaten treats were a bit scattered, picked a couple up, and offered them to the Wooper. "You're not going to let these go to waste, are you?" He smiled. Swiper let out a little noise of disapproval, as he wasn't one to share, but Jace quickly gave him a look. "Swiper, play nice." The little Meowth huffed and went to sit in a corner of the room, not about to sit on his bed with the poffin-thief on it.

Jace then turned to the girl and smiled as warmly as he could. "My name is Jace, by the way. You are...?"  

[Sao Kasai]

"U-um... O-okay..." She stopped digging in her pockets and folded her hands meekly in front of her body. "I...um. I'm I-Izumi..."

"Woopahh!" The pokemon opened his mouth wide and gobbled up what was left of the poffins. Did he even chew? Rude.
 

[wasluxy]

"Izumi..." Jace repeated. "Nice to meet you, despite the circumstances. She sure seems timid... That thought was quickly out of his head as the Wooper suddenly /inhaled/ the poffins Jace offered it. "Easy there, little one! You don't wanna choke!" This was, by far, the most entertainment he'd had in a while.

Butch came in about that time, gave a half puzzled, have uncaring look to Jace giving poffins away, them moved to put wood under the pot.

"Thank you, Butch." Jace nodded, then motioned towards the pot and the logs around it. "I planned on making Pecha Tea, you and Buddy are welcome to join me~"  

[Sao Kasai]

"Oh--Um..." So she intrudes into someone's home and they invite her to stay for tea? It'd be rude not to, but also it was really weird. Or at least Izumi thought it was; Maybe this was one of those social conventions she hadn't been aware of yet? "O-okay... Y-yes, t-thank you..." She accepted and proceeded to just stand there with her hands folded in front of her, eyes wide with nervousness.
 

[wasluxy]

"I don't usually have guests... And, for the record, I'm not in the habit of being kind to those who break into my home. However..." Jace handed another poffin bit to Buddy, then moved on to start the tea, "I can't hold it against someone when they were merely chasing down a run-a-way Pokemon." He offered the Wooper a pat on the head, then went over to his wooden trunk by the bed to retrieve the berries. It was better to keep them in there than on the shelves like the poffins, as the fruit was more likely to spoil as he wasn't able to keep a steady temperature in a home dug from a hill. The trunk helped to keep the berries cool until he was ready to eat them, or in this case, boil them.

"So, Izumi..." He gave her a smile as he sat in front of the pot and added the berries. "May I ask what brings you out to the woods today? It's awfully cold out there..." Heck, if the boy was living in a proper house he wouldn't dare go in the woods during the winter. Perhaps, though, she was more used to it than he?  

[Sao Kasai]

"Um..." Izumi remained standing. " W-well... I-I live in the city, a-and we don't have e-enough room in my apartment f-for all of my pokemon... S-so s-sometimes we come out here to... um... get out f-for a bit." There did appear to be about six pokeballs hanging at the girl's waist, the bottoms barely sticking out from under her coat.
 

[wasluxy]

Jace nodded at the girls explanation. It made sense, and was about the only good reason he could imagine for willingly going out in the snow. The thought made him frown a bit, and he realized the girl was still stuttering and still standing. Was she freezing?

"You cold? This fire should warm the place up a little better in a second..." He himself was still wearing his white military-camo coat, one of two he obtained over the course of his years. The other, a green one, was stashed under his bed with his other clothes, and not worn since he'd left Sinnoh. The island was much too hot to wear the coat during the months it would blend in, and by the time the temperature dropped enough for it there was snow on the ground. His gloves, however, were black, and he'd taken them off right before helping Izumi up. Still, he kept his hands busy, and her's weren't, so it would make sense if she were colder than he was. Unfortunately, he didn't have any fire Pokemon to let out to help her warm up... Instead, he added more wood to the fire and blew on it a little to get it going.

"Might be warmer if you sat down by the fire... I promise I won't bite!" Jace laughed.