[FIN] In Over Your Head

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie liked Ray, she respected her abilities and considered the women to be trustworthy. She was eccentric, and seemed to function of a different plane then anyone else, but the younger blond trainer had every reason to answer when Ray had called.

It was a bit of a rarity to bump into Ray, purposely or by accident, Though recently Rosie was seeing the young boy she had taken on for training a little more often in the training centers.
He was an energetic and determined youth, and through the month she had known him she was noticing him making rapid progress.
This of course she saw a little more of Ray, though oddly enough never at the trainers center.
It made Rosie very sure that it was the reason Ray was contacting her now, having asked her and Northern to meet them at a set of coordinates in the forest.
Where this would take her, Rosie had no idea, she also didn't really know why Ray wanted to see her... just that Ray wanted to see her, and that was enough.

A large handsome gray painted Rapidash pawed lightly at the soil ground of the forest path, waiting patiently as his trainer stripped the jacket from her shoulders.
They had been making good time on the path through Cypress forest, but Rosie requested a stop. It was cold out, but sitting within the mane of fire was certainly a good way of keeping warm, and with a Jirachi tucked into it as well Rosie was quickly starting to overheat.

"How much longer do we have to go?" Northern asked, sitting herself behind Rosie with her back pressed to the trainer, sitting ontop of the pink skirt that laid over the Rapidash's haunches.

Rosie tilted her head, folding her jacket and putting it into her bag as she considered the question. "We're about half way there." She explained, reaching for the gear on her hip that she lifted for reference. "Yeah, we've still got a while to go, and it looked like it takes us through the forest." With that Rosie leaned forward and patted Pastin on the side of his neck "That means Greal will probably need to take us the rest of the way."

Pastin dipped his head with a loud snort, Though he knew the benefits of having a grass type navigate the heavy wood. He didn't know how the Sawsbuck did it, but Grealhorn would be able to get them through much quicker then Pastin would. It didn't mean he was pleased about it


"I know" Rosie said with a sheepish smile, seeing the disappointment in his posture. "But not yet, you've gotten us so far already." She patted him again.  

[Suudonym]

"Aha!" The triumphant cry came from the foliage bordering the path, and in the next moment, Sorey stood from where he had concealed himself amongst the leaves. "You see? I told you they were too wide to be a Sawsbuck."

The sound of a Vaporeon's voice joined in, though even after abandoning stealth the pokemon remained hidden due to its stature,

"Well--" Sorey's gaze drifted towards the Rapidash and its companions, and he abandoned the thought that had been on the tip of his tongue. "Oh! Rosie, hi!" He stepped out from the underbrush, and Mikleo did the same. "Wow, sure wasn't expecting to run into I knew out here."

Especially considering he knew like, two people total throughout the entirety of the region.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Northern opened her mouth to say something else, leaning forward out of the way as Rosie put her bag back onto her back. though something else caught her attention only a few moments before two others came out of the bushes.
She felt no hostility from them, only a sense of curiosity, thus had no intention of shying away.

Rosie and Pastin however did not expect to be joined so suddenly by a trainer and his Pokemon, and reacted with greater surprise. the chances of running into someone on the path wasn't as large as if they were in the middle of the forest, but it was still a large spread of space, meaning there was a measure of excitement whenever you did happen to pass someone. Still, in Kodo one had to be careful, it wasn't always obvious if you would be running into a Rocket or not.
"Sorey!" This time, it seemed to be okay.
The blond looked pleased to see him, then surprised "yeah really what are the odds!"

Pastin shifted and walked the three of them closer to the boy and his Vaporeon.
"Are you still on your way to the ruins?"  

[Suudonym]

"Coming from there, actually," Sorey replied. "Man, it was so cool! I can't believe more people don't go out to visit. I mean I guess I understand, since most of the artifacts have already been extracted, but it's still awesome seeing where everything was in situ. What I thought was really cool was that there were a lot of different species of berries growing there that I didn't see in any of the surrounding area, which would imply that the residents intentionally carried them over from other places for agricultural purposes."

Mikleo interrupted.

"Oh!" Sorey raised a hand to the back of his neck, embarrassed by his overexcitement. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie had never met someone this excited about ruins before, let alone the ones that they had in Kodo. She beamed as she watched him talk to enthusiastically, wondering herself why she had never thought to stop and pay a visit to the islands heritage.
It was odd to think, While she was born on the island and considered herself a Kodoan, she couldn't really claim the ruins as her own heritage, seeing as she was the first of her family line to be born on the island.

"It tends to be out of the way for a lot of people too." she pointed out, glancing up to the mountains. "It is a shame, though I hope Jinko museum gives a good idea of what its like." She explained with a smile on her face "I'm glad you enjoyed it, you seemed really eager to get to it." when he apologized she just held a hand up and shook her head "Not at all, its one of the best things listening to someone talk about something they clearly care about. you're okay."

Pastin tilted his head looking down at the Vaporeon with an amused look  

[Suudonym]

Rosie's response was mildly surprising, and after just a moment, Sorey lowered his hand back to his side and gave his straightforward observation, "You're really kind."

Mikleo responded to the Rapidash with a skeptical look. ...said the pokemon who was at least half the reason Sorey's rants could go on as long as they did.  

[Blood_Goddess]

What came next caught her by surprise she was sure he was going to talk more about the ruins he cared so much about. Instead she paused, surprised as well. "O oh- that's very sweet of you to say, thank you!" She returned, though she wasn't sure where it was coming from.
"I can tell you are too though, what you did back at the shop was something most people wouldn't do. So, Thank you really."

Pastin nickered back

"We can't though, we have to meet Ray." Northern added into the Pokemon's conversation drifting around Rosie to float up next to Pastin.

Rosie, who had of course been let in on what Northern had said looked to the Jirachi, then down at her gear "Yes we do, hopefully before dark..." She looked over to Sorey "Where if your journey taking you now?"  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo said, feigning horror,

"Hey, are you talking about something rude down there?" Sorey accused, catching the tail end of Mikleo's words.

The Vaporeon shrugged.

Sorey was unconvinced but let the matter go without further comment nonetheless. "We'll head towards Jinko sometime soon," he answered. "Probably not for at least several days, though - I'd like to do a little more preparation for winter, and the forest has more resources than the plains. What about you? Are we holding you up?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie blinked, looking from Sorey to the two pokemon who were chatting, smiling lightly at Sorey's reaction he had to something the Vaporeon was saying.

Pastin himself gave a nicker of a chuckle, lifting his head up a little higher He noted.

"Oh wow, you're planning on doing winter training?" Rosie sounded impressed "Its alright, I've been making good time, A friend of mine asked me to meet her somewhere in the woods, She didn't tell me why, but I assume its to train or something." She explained.  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo agreed,

"Not so much training," Sorey said, "more like... Well, for example, I'd really like to make a warm cloak, and I could use another bag too. So hunting and stuff. Those kinds of things."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Pastin arched an eyebrow though he nodded, glancing back over to Rosie before turning his attention back over to the Vaporeon He explained with a dip of a disappointed smile.

He pointed out, looking to the Jirachi who raised her tiny hand in silent greeting.

"Oh I see." Rosie said, leaning forward against Pastin's neck "So you do a lot of living off the land stuff then, don't you?" she asked intrigued "Ray does a lot of that too, the trainer we're going to meet up with. You can really make your own cloak and bags?"  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo nodded in understanding.

"Yup," Sorey replied with a nod. "Growing up, there was a town sort of nearby, and my Gramps would buy stuff every now and then if we really needed it. But usually it was more convenient to just make the things we wanted ourselves, since we didn't need to worry about money that way. It's a lot of work and can take a long time, but it's a lot of fun too!"  

[Blood_Goddess]

He replied with a bit of a grin. He looked over at Northern who blinked back at him
He paused here when the question finally caught up with him and he jerked his head to the side with a confused look of his face.

"that's really interesting." Rosie admitted "And I really useful skill I bet too! I'm not trained to do anything like that." she admitted "I see how useful it would be to know though."

Northern floated back over, the glittering jewels and light jingle joining her causing Rosie's attention to shift to her.
"Rosie... it'll be dark"

"Oh... oh right, sorry." Rosie said, reaching out to take Northern "I guess if I keep sitting here talking then all that good time we've made will slip away." She said with a smile "I'm sorry."  

[Suudonym]

Mikleo considered. In response to Pastin's follow-up query, he shook his head,

"Definitely!" Sorey agreed. He was somewhat relieved that she wasn't the kind of person who would act horrified over the idea of using pokemon for resources - not that she gave the impression that she was that sort, but he had met many a trainer who was. Perhaps the fact that she had a friend who did the same sorts of things meant that people of the Kodo region were more open to it.

"Oh, it's fine!" Sorey said. "I'll let you get going, then."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Pastin let out a soft snort, dipping his head down again

It seemed that an answer was going to have to wait, as it seemed the humans were choosing to part ways here.
pawing the ground lightly as Rosie gave a light touch to his side with her knee, and the rope he had pulled around his broad chest was lifted once again into one of her hands.
the blames along the Rapidash's neck billowed more brightly as he seemed not ready to continue on down the path.

"It was nice seeing you again." Rosie said "Have a safe Journey, next time we meet I would like to hear more about what you think of ancient Kodo."