[PRP] It Came From The Woods

[Gwennythe]

Supply run! Lin kind of liked supply runs!

Of course, the boy did love his outdoor life- to live in a town, or a city was something he couldn't imagine doing permanently, but it sure was nice to visit!

It put a bit of a whistle on his lips, which put a Spring in Moriko the Sawsbuck's step. At least until they arrived at the forest edge.

"Thanks 'Riko!" Lin said as he patted his 'steed' before dismounting.
Winter-wear consisted of thick grey socks and a warm brown hoody added to his usual green and brown, patchy outfit of shows, t-shirt and short trousers.

"I'll be back later but don't worry about waiting around. We can meet up whenever. I know my way back, you know I do."

Moriko snorted and stamped on leg; she did slink back into the trees, but remained where she could watch the boy until he entered the town proper.

Jeeves, the Snivy, took up his usual position of the boy's right shoulder, silently enduring Lin's attempts at whistling a tune.
Together they made for Sagestone, crossing the outskirts between town and forest.  

[Sao Kasai]

It was a cool, crisp, early winter afternoon. Izumi had been working, going to her tiny apartment, sleeping, and then going to work again, over and over all week, but finally she had a day off. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy working--she enjoyed working on machines--But it was much different being employed than it was when she owned her own shop. Now that it was her day off, sitting around in her cramped apartment was depressing, and her pokemon didn't all fit inside.

That is how the outskirts of Sagestone ended up with a petite blue haired woman having a picnic with a handful of pokemon; A Beldum, Zorua, Aron, and an enormous Metagross were spread about in a field while their trainer ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a blanket.  

[Gwennythe]

Jeeves noticed the group first. He might have paid it no mind except he realized the human among the pokémon was female. He tried to position himself so that Lin wouldn't see the woman, the Snivy knowing full well exactly how Lin would react and how /that/ would play out all over again...

Unfortunately for Jeeves, his subtlety wasn't subtle to someone who had spent most of their life with him.
"What are you trying to hi- Oh! Oh! Hi!" Lin glanced, and pushed Jeeves slightly aside to see the group that the grass type had been trying to hide.

His focus, despite first lingering on the pokémon all around, had quickly zeroed on the blue haired trainer among them, and he called his greeting as his legs seemed automate their change of path with barely a thought. So fluid was the movement, it might look as though the little gathering was his target destination all along.  

[Sao Kasai]

The little zorua's ears perked up first as the new human approached. She squeaked and ran to her pokeball, tapping her nose against the button and retreating inside. The Beldum and Metagross' eyes snapped to attention on the approaching human, beeping and whirring warily.

Izumi was caught somewhat off-guard; She hadn't been expecting anyone to bother her, especially not out in the middle of a field on the edge of town. The girl stared at the approaching Lin with wide silvery eyes.

"U-um... H-hi?" She eked out a tiny greeting in return.  

[Gwennythe]

The Snivy on the boy's shoulder sighed, especially upon glimpsing the Zorua making her escape; great now Lin was not only going to embarrass himself and make everyone uncomfortable, he'd even scared one of the poor girl's pokémon away.

The boy stopped a short distance away, apparently indifferent to the beeping pokémon, though Jeeves offered them an apologetic look, and decided to hop down from Lin's shoulder. He was still next to the boy, but he felt like he'd made a symbolic distancing.

"Well now, hello there!" Lin's smile was a failed attempt at suave, and he bent at the waist in an unnecessary bow. "I was not expecting to come across a beauty upon my journey! It is very much my pleasure to meet you!"  

[Sao Kasai]

"U-um.... h-hello?" She responded to his second greeting. "T-thank you? U-um..." The blue haired girl rubbed her arm nervously, looking around to see if there were any other strangers waiting to greet her.

The Metagross took a few steps closer, indicating with her body language that if the boy tried anything stupid she would take care of him.

"I-its... N-nice... t-to meet you too...?"  

[Gwennythe]

<> Jeeve's piped up toward the Metagross but made no effort to look at all like he intended to defend his trainer beyond that.

Lin appeared to take the return of 'it's nice to meet you' as an invitation to sit down.
There was a tinge of red growing into his cheeks, yet, despite his embarrassment, Lin carried on as he sat cross legged across from Izumi.

"Ah, a picnic among pokémon friends? Why, it's like the tales of princesses of old! A radiant beauty surrounded by her non-human friends! Pray tell, does the princess have a name?" He seemed to either be ignoring, or having not noticed, the body language of the Metagross.  

[Sao Kasai]

Princess? Izumi quirked a brow at the male as he took a seat and started talking. Oh good... he was staying. Izumi's cheeks reddened and she shrank back a bit, not having prepared herself for socializing today. It was an hours long process.

"I-I...I-Izumi..." She squeaked out barely above a whisper.  

[Gwennythe]

Lin seemed to be grinding to a halt, red in the face a little, as though he wasn't sure where to go next, or whether he should keep talking, though he did so anyway. Some stubbornness, and some encouragement but from her lack of 'leave me alone' or similar, pushing him onward.

"Izumi? Izumi! That /is/ a very pretty name- elegant to say! My name, sadly, pales in comparison to such, but it is Lin."  

[Sao Kasai]

"U-um... T-thank you?" Compliments were awkward, she never quite knew how to respond to them. Prepared or not, however, it seemed socializing was going to be her activity for the day.

The remaining pokemon, all steel types, sat motionless, watching the new human for any signs of danger. Or sleeping... One of them was sleeping--The aron. Wheatley, the white Beldum, whirred angrily at the human, but was easily ignored, and seemed unwilling, or unable, to do anything physically about the situation.

"I... um..." Izumi rubbed her arm with a hand covered in a metal-looking glove that poked out from under the sweater and coat the girl was wearing. "I-its nice to meet you... Lin..." It wasn't, really. It would have been, if she'd had been prepared to meet strangers; But this was a pleasantry that was exchanged between people, honest or not. Luckily Izumi had enough practice that she could pull a few memorized conversational phrases from the depths of her panic.  

[Gwennythe]

The boy was definitely going red in the face. But also beaming; he wasn't really sure what was different but somehow Izumi seemed, to his ignorance of her actual feelings, receptive to the weird compliments.

And now he was running out of steam on them... His eyes flicked to the whirring... whatever those things were called again? Beldum? That sounded right, for just a moment, but dismissed it. It sounded like a small Beedrill or something.
He did ignore it and was gratified to find something else to comment on.

"Oh! That's shiny. Er. Pretty. That shines prettily." He meant the 'glove', of course. "Matches your," What did one call the tattoos and the glove? A look? "style."

Jeeves smirked, especially at the angry buzzing going on.  

[Sao Kasai]

The girl looked confused for a moment, then realized what he was referring to. Her cheeks flushed and she lowered her gaze away from Lin.

"U-um... T-thank you." She flexed her metal hand a few times, a nervous habit whenever anyone took notice of it. She was grateful that the comments were that it was pretty and matched her style and not 'what happened to your hand? Is that real? Why are you so weird?' or any of the other lines of questioning or comments that she normally received. As a result, a small smile appeared on her face, despite her embarrassment. "I... I like it..."  

[Gwennythe]

Ooh! Well, that was a good reaction then.

"Yeah, it's really nice. Really cool!" Either he hadn't realized it wasn't a glove or was very very accepting of the idea that someone might just have a metal arm, and very uncurious. It was likely the former option.

He frowned and tried to think of something else to say, to compliment her on, but he was getting a bit flustered; finally, Lin followed with.

"So. Do you come out here an picnic, ah, a lot?" Great, his brain told him, and flooded his face with a little more red pigment, you just used 'do ya come here often'...  

[Sao Kasai]

Apparently that was not an overused cliche' with this girl, who gave a small, earnest nod.

"Y-yeah... T-there isn't enough room at home for my friends... S-so we come out here on my days off so they can get out of their pokeballs..." Determined to win at social interaction for the week, Izumi mustered up all of her courage to ask a question in return. "D-do... Do you come out here a lot, too?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Ah. The Bigfella." Lin finally acknowledged the Metagross properly with a pointed nod. It was... almost disturbingly easy to talk to someone who didn't seem to be too much averse to his habit of strange compliments and 'flirtation'.
"That's definitely kind."

He was still quite red, but seemed very pleased to be asked a question in return and also a bit surprised.

"Oh! All the time! I kinda live in the woods; a wandering knight of the forest, if you will!" Jeeves rolled his eyes and snorted at that.
"And this place is part of my route sometimes when I need to, ah, resupply."