[ORP] Winter Diversions

[TawnyAngel]

Seen as entertainment was apparently not forthcoming Aulus shrugged and continued on his way, motioning for Tortie to join him. Maybe once they'd poked around here a bit he'd head up the slopes, see if any of the others were around. There was a hot spring too which was tempting; he'd brought shorts and a t-shirt too, the number of scars on his torso would probably raise questions and while he had lies prepared he preferred not to have to use them if he could avoid it.

While her trainer pondered Tortie kept alert for anything that might be trying to sneak up on them, somebody ought to.

[Nature trail]  

[Gwennythe]

TawnyAngel

A Swinub was found!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While the hot springs sounded quite wonderful and tempting, Seraphine was much too self-conscious to go near them this time. Something about her missing hand and having a scar or two - not that they were actually that large or noticeable - and feeling really uncomfortable at the thought of what she thought was essentially showing those off in a bikini to total strangers. The thought didn't really sit too well with her, and though she did head off to the mountains for the day, she pointedly avoided the spring and anything remotely cold, and instead headed right inside the lodge itself.

A strange man - for that was the most polite word she could think of right away - greeted her with an almost too-wide grin plastered on his face above a brightly colored shirt that could only be described as garish before he hurried off to bother his employees, and Sera could only be thankful as soon as he left. She didn't particularly care for people with such poor taste in clothing; she liked to think she wasn't as shallow and awful a person as she used to be a few years ago, but something about such atrocious-looking (in her opinion) clothing really rubbed her the wrong way. She pulled a ball from under her coat with a sigh and released her Umbreon, who happily trotted alongside her trainer as the brunette headed towards the lodge's bar, probably with the hope she could try to get a drink from someone despite being underage.  

[wasluxy]

Why why why why why???

Luxury was NOT a fan of the cold, and a quick glance to her side showed her little sister, Calico, wasn't either. So why did the two decide to go out and venture up to the Range?

"Nothing like sister-sister bonding over frost-bitten noses, eh, Luxury?"

Yeah, that.

Trae, however, was perfectly fine. The little fire type was skipping along happily, melting the snow with her her paw prints just because she could. Chevy wasn't quite so pleased with the snow, but was pleased with having another Eeveelution around. She skipped about from time to time as well, keeping her paws in the melted spots that Trae made, and trying to forget the biting wind. The rest of the girls' Pokemon were curled up nice and toasty in their balls, all for various reasons.

After a bit of trying -and failing- to snowboard, with them actually bonding over laughing at each other, the girls wandered down to the lodge to warm up.

"Oooo, L, hot springs!" Calico pointed happily, as she'd been itching to jump in them since they arrived. Luxury, on the other hand, wasn't so keen. "Splashing around steamy water while *men* are around? No thanks..." She'd practically snarled the word 'men', making Cali giggle. "Aw, sis, they ain't all that bad~" "If you say so. Tell you what, you go dip your pretty little toes in the hot springs, I'm going to go set my pretty little butt on a bar stool, and we can warm up together that way~" A warm and hard apple cider with a splash of whiskey was calling her name, and she wasn't about to tell it 'no'. Calico frowned, but then laughed and waved her off. "Fine, fine~ One drink! Then we can find something else we can both do!" For the time, Calico was still too young to drink… legally, at least. No one said Calico followed the rules when she didn't have to...

So, the girls parted ways; Luxury shed her giant coat and melted into the cozy bar, and Calico took the Eeveelutions to the hot springs and melted into the water. "Ahhh~" She'd been dying to wear her new monokini that Luxury had given her! Well, some girl named Rayna bought it for Luxury, Luxury never wore it, and the sisters were dang near the same size so it transferred ownership nicely~ After the initial 'ahh' moment, Calico looked around and smiled at the other occupants. Maybe she could make friends while she was at it?  

[Gwennythe]

lux_rayne13

A Swinub was found!  

[TawnyAngel]

lux_rayne13

For Luxury if you're up for interaction! If not I will shove him at somebody else.

The bar contained, among other things, a very very large man with a scarred face and a patch covering his right eye. In deference to the season the patch was white and adorned with a Christmas pudding design in felt. The giant also had his mass of golden hair pulled back with a festive holly-themed toggle and a sweater with a pattern of winter Sawsbuck on it. He was carrying a drink and, as was typical of him, not paying too much attention to where he was walking.

Luckily the spotted Espeon trotting along on his blind side was paying attention and gave an insistent 'chirp!' which brought the behemoth up just short of walking smack into a small young woman. "Oh, sorry!" Dith turned his head to her and offered an apologetic smile. "I did not see you down there and on that side, you okay?"  

[The Time Vortex]

Arriving at the Ski Lodge, Meredith looked around, taking in the beautiful alpine scenery. The slopes, and nature trail, looked interesting, but right now she figured that Ziracuny and Gosheven would have more fun relaxing in the warmth of the hot springs.  

[Gwennythe]

The Time Vortex

A Swinub was found!  

[The Time Vortex]

As she sits by the edge of the hot springs, soaking her feet and watching Ziracuny hop right in and splash around happily under Gosheven's protective eye, she smiles softly. Leaning back, she rests against a rock, her pack on her lap, and closes her eyes. She is startled out of her relaxation by a sudden snuffling and something trying to scrabble into her bag.

She opens her eyes to see a small, striped, pig-like creature investigating her backpack, and Gosheven looking her way, torn between watching the frolicking Mudkip and coming after this strange Swinub. "It's all right," she reassures the Buneary. "This little one is just hungry, I'd say." She pulls out a couple juicy berries, and the hungry Swinub squeals with glee as she feeds it the berries. When it's satisfied, it goes right to sleep next to her, clearly not afraid of humans at all.  

[staplemylips]

The sneasel had jumped down from the tree and slowly approached the girl. It obviously saw her as a weakling. It came closer and snabbed the sandwhich out of her hand, and then slapped her face! "Ow!" Ivy exclaimed angrily. The sneasel just cocked its head at her. Ivy retaliated by slapping the Sneasel's hand. The sneasel then slapped back. This went back and forth for five minutes. The two were playing red hands. Eventually Ivy was fed up, probably because she was losing. She took out a pokeball and threw it at the pokemon. The pokemon was absorbed by it, and surprisngly it clicked! Ivy was expecting the pokeball to release the pokemon, and for the sneasel to run away. Huh, guess she had a new friend now.

Ivy stood up eating her half of the sandwhich and staring at the pokeball. She dragged her feet slowly, not looking as to where she was going now down the nature trail.  

[wasluxy]

TawnyAngel

Sure! Luxury /hates/ men though, stems from fear but don't tell her I said that, so this will be interesting... XD She doesn't /act/ scared, just... mean or avoid-y... But with Dith being a big father-looking dude... I have no idea how this is going to turn out. XD

Luxury had noticed the giant blonde man, and had decided to ignore his presence along with any other male in the bar. Which, to her distaste but not surprise, there were many of. What she didn't notice, though, was his eyepatch and the fact that in passing, she was on the wrong side of it. "Oh!" Luxury jerked back, nearly trampled, and was just about to spat something when she finally saw the eyepatch, and he beat her to the punch anyway.

"Y-yeah... fine..." She quickly looked the man up and down with just a fleeting movement of her eyes, and nearly laughed at his attire. Well, he was certainly decked out for the holidays, wasn't he? Despite the man's size, he didn't seem to be the bully type... And his tone was surprisingly gentle, though since he looked about a father's age she figured it appropriate. Taking a deep and barely shaky breath, she stuck a grin on her face. "Nice sweater~"

---

Calico had just sunk to her chin in happiness when the two critters bouncing around beside her suddenly chirped and became alert. "Huh? Oh come on, you two..." Calico sighed and pulled herself half out of the water, wrapping a towel around her and keeping her legs nice and toasty in the bubbling spring. Chevy trotted over to her trainer, still fixated on something Cali couldn't see, but then Trae took off. "Trae!" Cali leapt up and jammed her feet into her boots before taking off after the Flareon, still in just a wet swim suit and damp towel.

Luckily, though, she didn't have to chase Trae far. The critter had her butt in the air, tail wagging, and was pawing at a lump of snow. "Trae, seriously..." Calico was just about to scold her, when suddenly a Swinub popped out of the snow! "Woah, hey, hold on!" Calico about fell over backwards, and Trae jumped up and back as well. "Chevy, Attract it and Tackle it, Trae, move your butt!" Trae hopped out of the way, recognizing Calico's intentions, and Chevy sprung into action. The battle didn't take long, but by the time Calico had dug a spare 'ball out of her boot and caught the Swinub, she was burrowed in Trae's thick warm fur. "G-g-good j-job, Ch-chev-vy!" She chattered. Chevy happily picked up the 'ball and trotted back to Calico, who took it gently, then made a mad dash for the springs. "I sw-swear if y'all make me g-get out again, one of y-y'all is gonna be sorry!"

The Eeveelutions just grinned at her, and happily nosed the 'ball of their new plaything friend~  

[staplemylips]

TawnyAngel

For Aulus

Ivy stuffed the pokeball into her pocket, glancing at her scratched up hands as she did so. This would be a pokemon to bond with later, much much later. Perhaps when she didn't need to worry about freezing to death as well. Ivy took out her pack of cigarette. Her slender fingers pulled out of one of a very few left. She placed it between her lips and began searching for her lighter. She became more panicked with every pocket she searched. Soon her backpack was in front of her, and she was digging to the bottom. Nothing, no lighter at all. These were the times she wished she had a fire pokemon.

Ivy spotted a gruff looking man walking ahead of her. "Tall, dark, and brooding. No way he doesn't smoke." Ivy muttered. Combat boots carried her across the snowy path and up to the man. He looked like he had seen some wars. "Excuse me. Do you happen to have a lighter on you?" Ivy asked, tilting her cigarette in her hand.

Her eyes went to the unique Absol that was walking alongside him. Ivy had never seen so many interesting pokemon before. This island was filled with pokemon of all sorts of colors and patterns. She was fairly shocked that more researchers didn't come to the island.  

[TawnyAngel]

lux_rayne13

Oh good, no harm done. She seemed... mildly perturbed? Maybe, he wasn't actually sure, but it was only for a moment and she was smiling now, she was probably just startled by his size as many people were. Dith grinned in response and raised his glass of mulled wine to her in a toast. "Well thank you, I thought I would bring the holiday spirit while I drink my holiday spirits. Oh, my name is Dimitry by the way but you can call me Dima or Dith if you want to, most people do! Are you a regular up here, or just taking advantage of the day? Oh!" Dith waved a hand down at the golden Espeon beside him. "And this is Viktor."

Viktor blinked peaceably at the human girl and sat down with his tail curled around his paws, he would probably be here a while now his trainer had somebody to talk to.  

[TawnyAngel]

staplemylips

For Ivy! =D

Aulus turned, brows raising high over his scarred face. "Oh, you didn't get your face torn off then. Well done." A cigarette. Aulus looked at it, unable to help recalling the time he'd tried to learn to smoke and nearly been sick. Why was it always embarrassing s**t you remembered best from childhood?

"Sure," he said after a short pause, taking a pokeball from his belt and releasing its occupant. The pokemon that manifested was a tall wiry Charizard, who looked around with interest. Aulus waved his hand at the woman's death-stick. "Give the lady a light Char." He didn't see any gain in being an arsehole and refusing, though a couple of years ago he might have.

Char bowed his head politely to his master and held his tail flame out towards the stranger, marshaling the very tip of it into a neat cool flame such as would be suitable for lighting a cigarette from.