[ORP] Winter Diversions

[Akira Midoriyama]

Akira had been dreaming. Someone was holding him, gently touching his neck. He frowned a bit, confused. Who was it? He wanted to open his eyes, but not enough to actually do so. It was nice, just lying peacefully in the snow...and so he was completely oblivious to the man playing with his balls.

Though it had a fancier ball, the Serperior looked no less normal than the Leafeon Adam had called out briefly. As Adam was regarding it, though, it was regarding Adam, and it didn't seem pleased with what it saw.

Without so much as a warning, the serpentine pokemon darted forward and wrapped the clueless-looking, defenseless human in its coils, ready to squeeze the life out of him if he could. Or at least until he passed out. How dare this plain peasant make the mistake of calling him out of his comfy, nice luxury ball? And in the middle of all this cold for no apparent reason, no less! Didn't he know that Grass-types hated ice?!

For once, Silly decided, there might have been someone he hated more than his actual trainer. Even Akira wouldn't have been stupid enough to disturb his slumber in a situation this pointless.  

[Magician Arcana]

It was a maxed level pokemon, but it didn't seem too important. Aulus had taught him that much during his first mission: Shiny were good or rare, but odd colored or max leveled were pointless. Sighing, Adam reached to grab the ball and return the Serperior.

Until, of course, the Serperior decided to coil tightly round him. Crying out in shock, Adam fell forward and on top of Akira. His body was being squeazed tightly. Gasping sharply, Adam fought to quell the panic rising in himself. "********! ******** the danger, Izaya's voice rang out in his mind: This is what you got for playing with some stranger's balls!  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Having anticipated Adam's attempt to wake Akira, the Serperior had tightened his hold on the teen to keep him from falling on his sleeping trainer. Unfortunately he hadn't yet managed to squeeze the air out of Adam's windpipes.

Akira, who awoke sharply due to Adam's cries of panicked profanity, sat up with an aching head and groaned. As his sight adjusted, he realized quickly what was going on, having been in Adam's position one too many times before.

"Silly! Silly, please - ah-CHOO! - let him go! You want to go back in your ball, don't you? Ah-CHOO!"

The Serperior's eyes narrowed, but otherwise didn't even look at his trainer to acknowledge he'd heard him. He was too busy trying to cut off Adam's air supply.

Akira spoke more forcefully. "Supercilious, let that man go at once."

With a thoughtful stare and a hiss of reluctance, Silly released the man before returning to the luxury ball that Akira held out to him. That insignificant creep wasn't worth his freezing his tail off.

"I'm so sorry; are you alright?" Akira asked, putting the ball in his pocket before rushing to tend to the blonde stranger. He could ask about what he'd been doing with his pokemon later.

Meanwhile, the swinub who had been keeping watch over Akira had taken cover behind a tree when Adam had shown up. It now peeked out curiously to watch the humans.

The brunet noticed. "Is that - ah-CHOO! - your pokemon?" he sniffed. "Would you - ah-CHOO! - mind calling it - ah-ah-CHOO! - back, please? I'm - ah-CHOO! - allergic to pokemon fur."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Lural

Jerome and Citrine
Ahhh, sorry! I missed Lural's response!

Zacharie felt a pang of sympathy as Citrine informed them that she didn't have any friends to hang out with.
...Though he did wonder why she had come up in the first place if she were so intent on being with people at all.
That was beside the point though and that one, little admission had gained her a spot in Zacharie's little club of people that looked like they wouldn't ever actually hang out.

"I'd be happy to teach you along with Jerome." The teen offered with a small smile. "Though you'll have to excuse me if I don't do well, I've never taught anyone to ski before." He was fairly certain that he'd be able to make sure the two knew the basics. He'd never taught anyone to ski but he was, in fact, a rather decent teacher.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Jerome and Citrine

The moment that Citrine admitted that she was alone up here Andre knew his fate was sealed.
He knew Zacharie wouldn't just leave someone to fend for themselves...especially if they'd already proven that they couldn't particularly manage on their own.
This was proving to be more troublesome than he had originally expected.

"Of course I'll be happy to help you teach them, Zacharie." He offered, hugging the smaller male close to his side. While he didn't want to interact with the two interlopers...he was always willing to help his baby brother. "We really should go acquire some skis though." He pointed over to the rental hut. "Otherwise we won't be doing much skiing at all." He smiled at the amused huff this earned him from Zacharie and began steering their growing group over to said hut.  

[TawnyAngel]

Blood_Goddess

(Sorry for the delay!)

[Rose, Nicolette, Lex]

KO grinned as he stepped into the warm water, sighing in contentment as he sunk up to his neck. "That's right, you're Rosie right? It's Kirk." Oh look and there was Lex! KO waved a lazy greeting to his friend. "So how has the year treated you?" he continued to the pair of women, privately wondering if they were thanking their lucky stars for the reduction in Rocket activity.

staplemylips

Sorry this took so long!

Aulus happened to agree about the temperature thing, the cold tended to make the scar on his face prickle and time had been that it had made him limp too but his leg had improved a lot over the last few years. Ha, just in time for him to lose an arm. Story of his life, right? Oh well.

"Yeah." Aulus shrugged and accepted the flask because why not? "I wanted to see what was up here though, looks like it's been a worthwhile trip now. Might go to the springs in a bit, or the bar." He handed the flask back. "Either should be good for warming up." He was still seriously undecided on the hot springs though, it might be nice but then again it might be crowded and horrible forever.  

[Blood_Goddess]

[Citrine, Zacharie, Andre]

Jerome's brow furrowed at her response, it was clear she didn't really understand what he had meant. Though she seemed pretty adamant about hanging out with someone, Jerome just felt she was lucky enough to bump into people who wouldn't take advantage of that and had no intention of hurting her.
Still, she if trusted someone like him so quickly, He had to wonder about how much longer it would be till she got herself into some serious trouble.

"Don't look hard t'pick up." Jerome said, looking over at Zacharie, then jerking his head over toward the hut at Andre's request that they get Ski's before making his way over himself.  

[Blood_Goddess]

[KO, Nicolette, Lex]

"Kirk" Rosie repeated, and smiled "Yes, Kirk." She always felt bad when she couldn't remember his name, butt he moment he said it it came back to her.
She hadn't spoken to the man all that much, so the blond couldn't say that she knew him very well. He seemed to know the other person in the spring however, as he offered him a wave, Rosie looked over to Lex, offering him a polite smile as well.

At the question about how her year was Rosie had to pause and think of a proper response. It had been a difficult year, a lot of bad stuff had happened, despite a recent calm, it made her worried for what was going to happen next, along with her lingering self doubt.
"I can't complain." Rosie replied honestly, "In the end everyone I care about is safe, and that's all I can ask for." She said with a brighter smile.
"What about you? Have you had a good year?"  

[Tymiko]

Blinking at Nord, Tymiko suddenly laughed. "I don't know if I've ever been told that before," she said, scratching her head. "Usually it's the opposite. And yeah, friends help friends. But kids can still be kids and take care of themselves without being too mature, so don't worry about me! You should have fun, too."

Scooping up a handful of the powdery substance in a gloved hand, the girl compacted it into a sphere. Then she grinned at the young man. "Thanks for being my friend, Nord. You don't know how much it means to me. And I don't think it'd be half as fun being here if you weren't here, too." She tossed the snowball at him. "Otherwise I'd have no one to target." Turning, the girl made a run for it, half-sliding, half-stomping as she made her way down a small slope laughing all the way.

"Oh, no! The wild Nord evaded capture! Time to run in case it decides to charge! Will it give chase? Better get a head-start!"  

[Magician Arcana]

Adam choked happily, which until that very moment the blonde was unaware such a thing was possible. Struggling to push up against the snow, Adam shook his head roughly. "NOT.. mine.. not yours?"

After a few more wheezes the light headedness passed. "I almost died... s**t."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The brunet laughed dryly at Adam's remark. "I guess tha - ah-CHOO! - that makes two of us. Ex-excuse me, just a minute." He rubbed at the painful bump on his head before grabbing his other pokeball and releasing the creature inside.

"Sorry, Happa, but I need you right now," he apologized the the Leafeon, bundling the Grass-type inside his jacket and cradling him against the cold. Sniffling, he sighed in relief as the allergens in the air were cleared by his pokemon's ability. At last he could breathe without his sinuses being agitated with every inhale. "That's better."

He turned back to the blonde young man while Happa adjusted himself to the sudden new enviornment, all the while keeping an eye on the evidently-wild Swinub. "I...thought I felt someone checking my pulse, though. Was that you?" Akira asked the stranger. It might have explained why he had been going through his things. Perhaps he had been searching for some form of identification and accidentally opened Silly's ball instead.  

[Magician Arcana]

Grunting, Adam stood and brushed off his clothes. Snow clung to them from having been dropped by that pokekon. The dude called it silly. More like shitty. A chill was starting to form. Shuddering against iy, he watched with open curiosity as the trainer unleashed the leafeon. So it was an air filter? Whistling in admiration, Adam grinned.

"YUP! You were passed out. It looked like you were dead at first, so I checked your pulse. Then I felt how cold you were. I was hoping one of your pokemon was a fire type to warm you up. Too bad I left my Growling at home. Least you're okay and I am tooo. That's what matters, right bro? I'm Adam by the by. What's your name?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I very well could have been dead if it weren't for you," Akira answered, automatically bowing at the waist. "I am so sorry about Sill - er, Supercilious, my Serperior. I call him Silly for short. I'm still working on training him. Even though he was my first and only pokemon for a long time, we've never really been on the best of terms."

Face somewhat ruddy with the cold and embarrassment, the brunet looked back up. "The only other pokemon I have is Happa, here, unfortunately. It's a shame you left your Growlithe at home. And yes, of course you're right." He adjusted Happa in his arms. "Oh! I'm Akira. It's a pleasure to meet you, Adam."

Akira glanced around at their surroundings somewhat nervously. He couldn't recall the way he'd come from. "You, uh...you wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you? Or have any pokemon that know the way back?"  

[Magician Arcana]

Pausing, the rocket nodded, "Yeah I'm pretty sure I know where we're at. C'mon, let's get out of here and get warmed up. We can chat along the way."

Motioning for Akira to follow, Adam went back on the path he had been walking, content that even though he hadn't stolen a pokemon (yet) he had made a friend. "It's cool. My Roomy's mons are a handful too. I'm kinda used to it, but still... Getting nearly strangled isn't exactly the best."

Was that little swinub still following them? Looking over his shoulder Adam tried to spot if it was still waddling about. Poor thing seemed to really like Akira.