Forum Thread

Al was already gone before they noticed the intruder. He had volunteered to ring firewood to get away from the others. Once he felt there was a large brought distance from the camp that nobody would hear him, he slumped down against a tree with a sigh. "I hate having to talk to humans," he muttered. Al was never good at talking to people. He always felt distant from others, even at the orphanage, and human interaction was often awkward. If being with these people was going to be a long-term thing, he wasn't going to have a fun time.

Al remained sitting for a bit, before finally standing. Firewood may have been an excuse for leaving the group, but they truly did need it if they were to be camping. Before setting out, Al stood still for a moment, and simply listened to the sounds of the forest. The kricketune, the noctowl, as well as many other nocturnal pokemon had finally begun to wake up. He could hear a symphony of kricketune in the distance, performing to their young and others who delighted in listening. All of these new things, but at least the forest hadn't changed.

"Hey, I got some firewood," Nyx said as Al snapped out of his daydream. "Oh! Thank you..." Al said. He didn't know how long he had been listening to the music, but it felt like awhile. "Yeah. It looked like you needed some time to think or something," Nyx explained, "So I just went and got what we would need." He gestured to his tail, which was carrying a large bundle of wood. "It took a few more minutes, but it hasn't been that long."

Al grabbed the bundle of firewood from Nyx. He had probably kept the group waiting long enough. He didn't want them even more upset with him. "You okay?" Nyx asked. Al paused for a moment, and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's go." There was a pleasant smile on his face. As they walked, Al began to hum the tune the cricketer had performed.

---

Aurora jumped slightly as one of the people in the clearing turned in her general direction and called out at her. She allowed her green eyes to flicker over at Ekans and then to Amber, who was trembling a bit herself. A small, yet deep breath, was drawn in and out of Aurora before she allowed herself to step out from behind the darkness and cover the undergrowth gave her.

With her cover blown, Aurora took advantage of the cleared viewpoint to give each member of the party a once-over, her chin slightly raised in a fashion that could be seen as slightly condescending, but in reality, Aurora was just trying to size up the ones she could only assume would be her traveling partners.

Not normally being one for beating around the bush, Aurora allowed her ivy-hued gaze to give the clearing and those in it one last thought-filled glance before she spoke. "I take it you also had the dream then?" questioned the girl, her voice still a tad suspicious of those around her, but she tried hard to hide any lingering worry or doubt that might have been able to escape on the tone of her tongue.

Amber stayed by Auroras ankles, still giving slight worried tremors that pulsated throughout her body every now and then as her nerves seemed to be going a hundred miles a minute. Her large brown eyes orbited their surroundings and the people and pokemon that inhabited it. Her head was slightly lowered and her tails dragged on the ground behind her as her large dark brown orbs flickered from one person to the next. She glanced slightly upwards towards Ekans, whose own eyes were narrowed and studying each person as well, his features portraying his feelings about the situation.

---

Lithy pulled out a thermos that had hot water already in it, putting the tea bag in a mug and letting the water steam over as she poured it in. Not really bothering or paying attention to the girls rudeness, she just smiled and spoke as she sat down on her bag and sipped her tea. "Suit yourself." As she placed the bowls of the food for the Pokemon down, she had her eye on Shadowfax and the new girl that revealed herself. Her eyes caught the Ekans and her demeanor changed slightly. She was on alert not because of the new girl and her Pokemon, but how Shadowfax was going to react. The little on gladly without noticing anything new, started to eat his food happily.

Shadowfax walked forward and stood behind Lithy, his ears focused on the Ekans. Not many of them that they have come across in there travels and his nerves tensed. He was just relieved that it was on the girls shoulders and not in the grass beneath his hooves. The little one finally lifted his head from his bowl and leaped in front of Lithy, curious as to who the new comers were as well. His silver tail flicked as he finished the last little bite he had left. Lithy finally patted Shadowfax and picked up the little one in her arms and smiled at the new girl. "I guess we all have so far. Seems the common reason why we all are coming together here on this night."

---

Evanna nodded as the girl stepped into the clearing, revealing herself and her Pokemon, one of which was a poison type. Evanna ran her finger through Pyro's fur, feeling him relax under her palm.
She didn't give a verbal reply to the new girl, leaving that to to Lithy, the nicer one, and instead moved back to her tree and settled beneath it, Pyro curling up beside her with his head in her lap and looked across distance at the newest members of their group.
Pyro watched the human as she continued to inspect them, before flicking his gaze from the snake pokemon, Ekans to the fox pokemon, Vulpix. I have to stay extra alert, it isn't just the two of us anymore... He thought, If Eva becomes close to these humans, then they will become 'pack'.

As Al was returning to the clearing. He heard the two speaking, loudly. He sighed. The clearly didn't know that the quieter they were, the better. This was going to be an annoying night. "People just can't seem to enjoy the silence." He muttered.
Suddenly, he realized there was a third voice. Someone else was there. He quickly rushed to the clearing to see what was happening. There was another person there! However, it looked like nobody was acting aggressive,so there was at least that. "I brought firewood," he said to announce his prescence.

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(Wow we've been inactive...)

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Evanna frowned as the boy and his Pokemon returned, 'Why did he seem so familiar? Had she met him before?'
She curled her arms around Pyro and stood up.
"Is this all of us? Great." she continued without pausing for an answer, "What are we even supposed to do?"
She made her way to the middle of the clearing, digging the soles of her shoes into the soft ground, she made a small fire pit, Pyro jumped down to help her before padding off towards the far right of the clearing.
'Probably to find some stones to circle the pit...' She thought, glancing at his retreating form and then at the firewood.

(Honestly)

Al shrugged at Evanna's question as he began to dig a small hole for the fire pit. "Maybe nothing will happen." He suggested. The fact that nothing had happened, even though the supposed three others were here, only increased his suspicion in nothing happening at all.
Al continued to prep the fire pit. "Will I need to start the fire, or can one of your friends help me out?" He asked. He was very deliberate in not saying "your pokemon" to the group. To him, that made them sound like tools.

---

Evanna sighed as her best friend padded back towards them, nudging a few stones towards them with his paws. Pyro lifted his head as she knelt beside him to pick up the stones he had brought, and growled lightly as she rubbed her knuckles over his ear affectionately.
She placed the stones around their make-shift fire pit.
"Pyro, if you would..."
The young growlithe dipped his head and opened his mouth, a small, controlled ball of fire appeared in his gaping jaws, licking at his sharp fangs,
"Fire fang."
He bit one of the dry sticks of wood and it immediately lit up with the warm orange embers of fire, Pyro dropped it into the little pit where the flames spread to the other pieces of firewood.

Al Sat down by the fire, and beckoned Evanna and the rest to do the same. Despite it only being fall, the nights often got very cold, and Al could already feel the cutting winds begin to blow. Despite his general distrust and disliking of these people, he didn't want anyone catching a cold. That would just be more of an inconvenience.
Moments passed without Al saying a single word. He simply listened to the crackle of fire and the faint noises of other pokemon in the forest. To him, it was one of the most relaxing things in the world, and it certainly helped him unwind a bit after all that had happened so far tonight.
"So," Al finally asked, "How long have you known each other?" He looked to Evanna and Pyro.

---

Evanna ran her fingers through her hair distractedly, as she crossed her feet and dropped into a lotus position.
"Six years? Yeah... What about you?"
She didn't really know why she was talking, socializing, with these people... Maybe someone had used confuse ray on her. She ran her fingers through Pyro's fur,
"Hmm, Eva you seem- calmer..." He grumbled, turning his head towards her, he blinked up at her, licking her hand affectionately.
She scrunched up her nose at him, sticking her tongue out playfully, before turning back to the boy besides her, waiting for his answer.

[c]Six years. That's a long time to know someone. Al felt like he could relax more knowing that. Evanna seemed decent enough. Her pokemon liked her, and the two seemed to know each other for a long time. For the moment, Al decided they were probably alright.
Al sighed, and relaxed a bit more. "How long has it been... Wow. I can't really remember-" He looked over to Nyx, who was currently using his tail to swing back and forth from a tree not too far from the campfire. "You're better at remembering stuff than I am. How long's it been... Seven years?"
Nyx shook his head. "Ten." he said. "At least when we met for the fist time."
That almost surprised Al. He had known Nyx for over half of his life. That hadn't even occurred to him.

(Holy karp I thought everyone was gone. Lucky I checked the site today)

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(yeah, I've been super busy, with school and stuff...)

Evanna raised her eyebrows in surprise, 'Ten years? That's pretty long...'
"So,uh, Al was it? What are, um... you're dislikes?" She cursed mentally as soon as the words had left her mouth, 'What is wrong with me? Why the hell did I say that?! I sound like a robot!'

(Understandable. School can get difficult.)
Al just stared Into the fire pit. "Probably people," he said very nonchalantly, "I mean- as a collective, not individually." He paused for a moment to collect his reasoning for what most people thought of as an outrageous and weird thing to say. "There's a lot of things that would be better in this world if people didn't feel the obligation to interfere with every small bit of the world."

---

(And once again we are inactive... I'll have no time next year too...)

Evanna nodded, surprising herself by laughing softly, "Not a fan of humanity either?" She paused, "It's true isn't it... If humans weren't such selfish, terrible creatures the world would definitely be a better place..."
Her gaze grew distant and her fingers clenched in Pyro's fur. Pyro whined softly, arching against her hand. He turned and licked her arm comfortingly.
"Evanna..."
She blinked away the memories, and hesitated, "I... I hate water... Not like just water! I mean... Water bodies, like... Rivers..." She shuddered slightly, suddenly feeling cold.