[FIN] In Over Your Head

[Suudonym]

Mikleo wasn't really used to being shown humanlike courtesy from people other than Sorey, but he was fairly adaptable; he raised a sleek paw to the extended hand and returned the gesture.

"I love it!" Sorey confirmed, unabashed. "Mikleo's a huge fan too, but he likes to act all cool about so he can pretend he's more mature than me."

Mikleo gave his human companion a deadpan look.

Disregarding the Vaporeon, Sorey continued, "Actually, I wanted to ask if you could point me in the direction of someplace that would be good to camp out at for a few days. I had someplace in mind, but that was where the Rockets showed up, so..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Gon's expression brightened when the Vaporeon shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Mikleo."

Treecko asked, hopping off of Gon's shoulder

"Oh yeah there are lots of places." Ray replied, shifting her weight. "I've got a map inside you can look at if you want to make a choice, Though since its starting to get pretty late, why don't I extend the invitation that you stay here till morning. we've got enough food to feed everyone if you haven't eaten anything yet." Ray offered making a gesture toward the fire pit.

She let out a light sigh "We don't get a lot of trouble here, but we'll get a heads up if there is any trouble heading our way." She explained, looking around at the wild Pokemon in the area "I can't say its completely safe, but more of less."  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo replied.

"That's true," Sorey considered. "I was sort of planning on having my setup well underway by now... All right, if our staying won't be a problem, then I think we'll accept your kind offer. That okay with you, Mikleo?"



Sorey nodded, satisfied. "So, is safety a really big issue, then? Everything's seemed pretty par for course so far, but maybe we've just been lucky...?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Treecko explained, tilting his head an crouching down a little Treecko pushed himself back to his feet

Heracross thrust his horn higher into the air he finished with a grin.

"Uhhhh yes," Ray replied "I've been all over different League regions, and by far this is the most dangerous place I've visited." she said very bluntly "and its probably why I'm still here." she held a hand out "Though I'm not really saying that you can expect something bad to happen every day, but for people who stick their necks out enough they tend to get the worse of it." she lifted her gaze over to Rosie "wouldn't you say."

Rosie gave a nervous smile to show that she wasn't sure how to answer at first. quietly nodding as she pat Grealhorn's side. "Kodo's not a bad place." She reassured, a little surprised that Ray was being so open about this so suddenly. But that's how Ray has always been, she took things as they were and told it as they were.
Maybe it was better not to sugar coat anything, Where as Rosie usually tried to find the time and the place for everything, or it might just be that while things were good she tried to avoid turning them into something unpleasant... something that was recently so easy to do.

"No, its not... again a reason why I'm still here." Ray concluded.
"so!" she said clapping her hands together "Who don't I give you two a tour! and then we can sit down at eat! You hungry?"  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo said. It seemed that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, so he took the liberty of seating himself.

Sorey crossed his arms thoughtfully, not at all seeming put off by the answer. "I see. Makes sense." Dangerous and pleasant times were to be expected anywhere, especially if one were to live outside the reaches of mainstream society. This region, as much as any other, had its own culture that he would need to learn; this was only a taste.

"Oh, sure! I'd appreciate it," he said, picking up on the change in atmosphere and reflecting it in his own tone. "Are you okay on food, though? I don't mind doing some hunting - you know, pull my own weight and all."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"We'll see. I do like it when people pull their own weight." Ray replied, crossing her arms as she made her way toward the tree house "Hey! Emith!"

A dark form from around the corner of the balcony shifted, leaning over the railing to look down at the humans below.
bright neon eyes shifted between then before settling on ray

"Will you keep an eye on the food while I get them settled?" She asked, jabbing a thumb toward the two guests.

The Scizor buzzed on down by the others, tilting her head as she watched the humans, one she didn't recognize.

"Now I should let you know before I let you get too comfortable." She said, leading the way up to latter toward the tree house "If you see a big black Rapidash, don't try and touch or approach him. alright? He is not friendly, and no amount of pokemon friendly magic someone might have is going to change that. alright? If you do I am not responsible for lost fingers."

She stepped to the side to let them join her, then made her way to the bridge on the left, leading them to one of the smaller huts. "Sorey you can stay in this one with Gon, If you want to put your stuff down go ahead and get comfortable. Rosie, you'll be with me."  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo blinked up at the Scizor, mildly surprised. he remarked, not speaking to anyone in particular.

Sorey moved to follow as Ray led, looking up into the heights of the tree before embarking on the ladder. "Whoa, okay, thanks for the warning," he said, committing it to memory. "I'll keep my distance. I know better than to push an unfriendly pokemon." He'd learned that lesson from a certain Zoroark ages ago.

When they reached the summit, Sorey took a moment to appreciate the structures once more, this time from a much closer proximity. "I bet this'll be great when the snow starts moving in," he said, shrugging his bag off of his shoulder and setting it down as instructed.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Treecko snickered, looking to Emith and then back at Mikleo He added, before turning and running after Gon who had decided to make his way up the tree the hard way to the tree house. Leaving Mikleo to stand somewhat hesitantly tilting his long horn from side to side before he spoke again

"Yeah that was the thought." Ray admitted, looking around the structure with something like pride on her face. "Slanted roof should help keep the snow from breaking it apart, but it is going to be its first winter, we'll see how well she works out for us."  

[Suudonym]

"It looks pretty sturdy!" Sorey said, looking over the construction. "I mean, not that I know anything about this kind of thing. And it's a good location, so it shouldn't be too hard to build a back-up shelter on the fly if the worst comes to pass." He really did prefer sleeping in open places, but around this time of year, it got less and less practical to do so. Sorey was already looking forward to spring.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Yeah, we all have back up plans in case something does happen. So we're not by any means dependent on this shelter."

"Sometimes we wake up in the morning and Dyace is asleep in the trees." Gon added in, the small boy having climbed up the tree and ended up on the room of the smaller tree house that he usually stayed in on cold nights.

"Yeeeaah. He does that." Ray chimed, with mild amusement watching Gon slide down the roof and land on the bridge with them, being careful not to land hard.

"Well, alright, Gon, go show Sorey where he's staying. and Rosie, come on with me."
She said, reaching a hand to put it on Rosie's shoulder, while Gon opened the door to the hut.

It was a nice space though definitely not luxurious, it was practical and simple if nothing else, with two nooks built in for the purpose of beds, though there wasn't much in the way of cushions. Gon had his sleeping bag in his, already made up with a few of his belonging strewn around. a fishing pole leaned up against the wall, and a backpack at the foot of his bed.
In the center by the wall was a small aria for a fire place, surrounded by stone and a screen placed around it to keep the fire from spitting. A small opening up the side allowed the smoke to escape safely, Though at the moment there was no fire burning. and a stack of logs off to the side of it, ready for use.

"You can put your stuff there if you like." Gon said, pointing to the other nook, making his way over to stand over by his. though he stood and wtched Sorey with his hands folded behind his back.
Treecko dropped himself onto the bed.
"So, did you really see someone from Team Rocket?" Gon asked, with innocent and genuine curiosity.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The main hut was much larger, as it was build on a much larger tree then the others. It was much more then a sleeping aria as well.
As Ray opened the door, Rosie felt the residual warmth from a fire that had previously been burning in the room, helped along by the insulation the huts had built into them.

The trunk of the tree was growing up through the middle of the room, as Ray and Lin had build the hut to practically hug the trunk. At the back corner of the room sat a few nooks for sleeping, and a small fire place. The rest of the room seemed to have areas for sitting and gathering, It was a bit tight but it could still fit everyone in the camp right now.
Ray lead her to where the sleeping area was, and Rosie was pleased to see Double Stripe curled up in the center of the space enjoying the warmth as much as he could.

"Hi Double Stripe" Rosie said, smiling and lowering her bag an empty nook while the snake lifted himself up and slithered over to her.

"Thanks for coming" Ray said "It sucks that the trip here wasn't all that smooth. Sorry about that."

"Its not your fault, And really I'm just thankful no one was hurt... I'm kind of worried about Sorey though." Rosie admitted, her hands placed under Double Stripe's chin as he flicked his tongue out at her in greeting.

"Everyone has to face that at some point if they come to this island," Ray offered "At least now he knows so we won't fall into it blind again."

Rosie didn't say anything to that, only gave a small nod. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?" Rosie continued, there was after all a reason that she had been summoned here. A reason Ray didn't want to discuss over the phone.

She watched as the women made her way over to the her own cot, across from Rosie's and sat down. "I was hoping we could talk about it after we got something to eat, Its been a long day, and honestly I think you should probably focus on settling your nerves before I start asking you favors."

Rosie blushed at the observation folding her hands in her lap "I'm fine, It just took me by surprise."

"Yeah well, when sometimes turns up in my camp white as paper after an encounter like that, I tend to want to put food in their face and let them get color back. Just take it easy for a while, we'll talk tonight... Or in the morning if we have to!"
Ray stood up, looking down as Rosie who looked up at her with large blue eyes. "Go ahead and get settled in, and feel free to let out whatever pokemon you want around here. I don't in fact encourage the use of pokeballs in the camp." Ray finished with a smirk and a wink.

Rosie smiled back "Alright, I will. thank you Ray."  

[Suudonym]

"They've got the right idea!" Sorey said. "If you can find just the right position, trees are super comfortable." Said the boy who had never slept on a proper bed before.

Sorey followed his appointed guide, ducking into the room carefully and curiously. He always felt somewhat out of place within a set of walls, but the feeling usually faded in time as long as there was a decent connection back to the outside.

"Thanks for letting me stay," Sorey said, crossing the room to where Gon had pointed and setting down his belongings. He turned to give his full attention in response to the question asked of him. "I guess so," he replied. "I'm not really sure how you'd go about identifying them, but one of them didn't deny being involved, and it was pretty obvious they were associates."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Hmm yeah I guess that's true." Gon admitted thoughtfully "If they don't wear their uniforms they would look just like normal people."
He shifted his hands to his sides, eyes only growing wider "What was it like?" He asked still every curious.  

[Suudonym]

"I... don't really know, exactly," he said, fumbling with his words as he tried to place his thoughts. "It's been all go since then, so I haven't really had much of a chance to think about it. If I had to say, I guess... intimidating? He was very sure of himself." The girl was, eehh... probably not really a good representative.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Gon waited eagerly for a response, hanging on every word that Sorey was saying. "Oooh..."
Though it was a somewhat unsatisfying response for someone who was as curious as Gon was.
"I'm going to face them myself someday." He explained with a very matter of fact look on his face. "I'm going to become part of the KSO, and its what they do. But becasue I'm not sixteen they won't let me join, I won't let that stop me though. I'm going to train hard with Ray, I'll become strong so that Team Rocket can't intimidate me... they're just people after all."