[PRP] Up A Tree

[BlackFireKitsune]

He hadn't done this in a long time. It was sad, really. A travesty, almost. Something he decided, after securing a couple of days off during a rather unseasonable warm front, he would have to fix. So it was that he packed his bags, checked out a vehicle for the next several days, had gone on a several hour trip and parked said vehicle - with most of his stuff - in a quaint little dirt lot next to the woods. He had a camping fix to satiate.

Later, though - for now, a hike. After slinging a smaller backpack over one shoulder, he locked the SUV, shoved the keys in his pocket and started trekking through the dense foliage.

While he'd brought all his pokemon, he didn't let them out just yet. For some reason, he just wanted to.. to savor it. When had he been here last for more than just a little excursion? Far too long. At one point, he knew the whole forest - or at least a vast part of it close to Sandalwood - like the back of his brown hand. He was both saddened and delighted to notice this was no longer the case - the former because he missed it dearly, and the latter because now he had the opportunity to relearn it. It was a nice feeling, something akin to finally seeing an old friend again and catching up.

After good, long hike of somewhere around an hour or two, Inigo found himself back at his vehicle, from which he pulled his larger bag and a few other things. Sonata was let out to help carry some of it, and after re-locking the SUV the pair headed back off into the forest.

The spot they finally stopped at could only make Inigo smile while he started putting his stuff down, as he recalled the last time he'd been here. Ohh, what an interesting day that was.  

[Catzandbirdz]

(( Picking up sometime after events in Just Keep Swimming ))

Rouge was sore. And wobbly. And a bit whoozy. And sore. Very sore. Very much sore. But for all that sore, the definite sense of victory was still pumping strong through the clown's veins. Ha ha! -Oh, ow...

One definite downside to the sore was that Rouge made more noise in moving through the brush than what could ever be considered normal. And really, right then, Rouge didn't much care. All the clown cared about was reaching a certain hidey hole, getting some supplies, and laying low for a few days. Camphoreon was going to be a bit "Off Limits" for a time. But ooooohhhhh, was it worth it.

The jester grinned despite the migraine that had started the day before while passing the base of the mountains. So, so worth it.

"Zor?" Zero paused in walking at Rouge's side to sniff at the air. He recognized that scent... Yup! Definitely knew that one! "Zor! Zor!" Running ahead, the excited Zorua left Rouge to follow behind at an unsteady pace. Zero sprinted into the familiar area and came to a bouncing halt next to Inigo's bags. "Zor!" The timing may have been bizarre, but oh, was he happy for it!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo had pulled the bags off Sonata's back and was kneeling beside them to pull out some of his own supplies when the sound of something approaching gave him pause, and he turned his gaze towards the woods. He wasn't quite sure what it was until a Zorua suddenly bounded out of the underbrush and came to an abrupt stop next to his bags. The grunt gave the dark-type a friendly grin as he reached down to pet it. "Hola, mi amigo," he greeted the small canine, "what are you doing here?" The thought of whether it was wild or owned didn't even cross his mind.

While her trainer was distracted by the Zorua, Sonata noticed that the sounds were still approaching, and she perked her ears forward as she watched the line of trees, attempting to see what was coming. Hopefully nothing bad; she really didn't feel like battling today.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Zero perked his ears and sniffed curiously at Inigo's hand before nudging into it. He was lucky Zero wasn't uniquely colored, or else the small Pokemon might have taken offense to not being recognized.

Sonata was right to think something else was coming. "If memory serves, there's a song for something like this." If Inigo looked up, he'd see Rouge leaning with a shoulder against a tree and arms crossed. The pose was meant to look casual, but there was something... off... about it. It wasn't Rouge's usual level of balance. Rouge merely smirked as though all was well. "Somethin' 'bout small worlds." There was just the faintest slur between the words.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo did indeed look up when he heard the voice, and a grin quickly spread across his face at the sight of the jester. "Rouge!" He said enthusiastically before he stood. He had intended to jog over and hug his friend immediately, but the strange speech and posture gave him pause. Rouge usually spoke more clearly than that, and approached much more quietly. These thoughts caused his brow to furrow a bit as he studied the clown, but he couldn't immediately see anything that would cause such things. "You okay..?"  

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge waved a hand at him. "Psshh!" The clown nudged off from the tree-- "Aren't I alwaaaays woah!" -- and continued that momentum past vertical and back on the descent before stumbling to grab another trunk. The clown quickly scrambled for a grip and brought itself back up to mostly standing. "'Course m'fine. M'grate."

Despite the (wrongly worded) claim, the jester shook its head and pressed a palm to one masked eye. The right side of the white face had a darker gray patch that crept down from the mask and across the painted cheekbone, and every so often a tremble would shake through the stick-like form.

Zero just stood in his place by Inigo, giving his owner an unimpressed look. This was why Mini had told Rouge to just move one or two towns over for a few weeks. But nooooooo. The clown just had to go and push the limits as per usual by traveling halfway across the entire Kodo island...  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He inhaled sharply as the clown started to fall and he suddenly found without realizing it happened that he had closed the distance between them by half when Rouge steadied again. Despite that, he continued before he halted by the jester's side, where the darker area of the face showed much more clearly than from several feet away. "Qué pasó...?" Inigo frowned at it before he raised his hand, gently slipping it under Rouge's arm. "C'mon, come sit down," he suggested while simultaneously nudging the clown towards where the two pokemon were with his bags. "I was just about to set up camp and stuff. I've got food too," he finished.

Sonata stood next to Zero, looking equally unimpressed.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge choked back what sounded oddly like a pained hiss at being touched around the arms, or anywhere else really, but otherwise squared the jaw and straightened to walk with Spanish more easily. That was when the clown spotted the matching looks from the Pokemon. "Whaaaaaat?" Rouge whined like a kid just caught causing trouble. Not that this wasn't the case here, but no way the pouting Rouge would admit it.

Instead, Rouge deployed the regular distraction tactics. "Sooooo... Come here often?" The food statement seemed to take a few seconds extra to process, and then, "And what foods ya got today?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The strange sound made Inigo quickly remove his hand from Rouge's arm, and it left him extremely unsure if the clown just didn't want to be touched or if there was an injury that Inigo just couldn't see. Either way, he hovered next to Rouge regardless, ready to help should the jester fall or stumble again. It didn't take long to reach the spot though, so Inigo gestured, "Sit down. I'll check," he added as an afterthought. "Some sandwiches for sure, at least."

Sonata simply snorted at the clown. Silly human.

Inigo knelt down and started rummaging through a different bag than he had been originally.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge gladly took the offered seat, the clown trying to not be too slow in lowering itself to the ground. Honestly, the thought of food suddenly wasn't all that grand. But that would be more out of character than toppling over sideways!

"Ooh! Yum yums!" Rouge gave a cheeky grin. The jester was keeping its arms crossed now that Spanish was so close, again acting as though everything was honky dory. And it was! It was just a very achy honky dory, was all.

"Zoooorrrr..." Zero growled low in disapproval. Rouge simply met the matching glare evenly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A bag of big, puffy marshmallows was removed and tossed aside before Inigo found the sandwiches. He pulled out several, followed by a few plastic bags of other snacks like cookies, crackers, and chips. After that was a lunchbox for cold things (inside of which, should Rouge choose to open it, were some plastic containers of salad ingredients and dressing), and finally a few bottles of water. The assortment was left out for Rouge to pick or choose whatever the clown saw fit. "Help yourself," the grunt said amiably before he stood and pulled out a bundle of something large from one of his other bags.

That something appeared to be a tent, which became obvious as he brought it over to a spot several feet away and deftly began to set it up. "So what happened?" He asked as he did so, focusing on the tent as he posed his question.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Ignoring any of the usual loud declarations of praise for foodstuffs, Rouge simply observed quietly as the assortment was taken from the bag. When Inigo moved away to set up the tent, Rouge picked through at some of the items. "Mmmmmwhat what happened?" It wasn't so slurred as before, now more for the sake of posing distractions. The clown picked up a bag of saltines and a bottle of water. This was going to seriously throw off the balance of Rouge's exchange policy, but right then Rouge really didn't quite care. Balancing could come later.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo paused briefly in his tent preparations to purse his lips and frown a bit. The darker spot on Rouge's face, the sound that he could only assume had been from pain, and how the clown had stumbled and approached so noisily. Everything was just off. Wrong, even.

"The fight you got into," he clarified as he continued working on pitching the tent. "And don't even try to tell me you didn't get in one." He couldn't even pass off Rouge's behavior as drunk, since that would only cover half of the behaviors thus far.  

[Catzandbirdz]

For a brief moment, the clown didn't make any other sound other than small nibbles on a cracker. Like whatever Inigo had said had gone unheard. Then Rouge swallowed and grinned. "Aww! Spanish, you really do care!" Rouge started to laugh, but let up with a yelp as Zero headbutted the shin of a raised booted leg. Even sitting on the ground, the blow was almost enough to send the clown over backwards.

"Now why would you think I'd been in some fight?" The tone used made it sound like such a silly idea. "I maaaaaay have paid a small visit to a little local group. Tell 'em what's what, is all. No big." The clown went back to nibbling on the cracker.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Educated guess," the grunt replied with a noncommittal shrug. The yelp made him turn quickly to look, but it seemed everything was fine... So he went back to focusing on the tent. He was almost done, anyway.

"So you had a nice chat with them, huh?" He could only guess Rouge had gone to look for those punks that had tossed him over the pier; nothing else he tried to think of would fit, unless they all just ganged up on the poor jester somehow. "What'd they have to say?" Or maybe they'd just let their fists do all the talking. The thought made him frown at the innocent tent.