015 // action - forest shrine, verdant forest

[actsmagnificent]

[ action - forest shrine ]

Let's get to it.

[ Haruka is in one of her Rhyhorn racing jumpsuits with the sleeves rolled up (though not quite to the scar she got botching her portion of the Sanctuary liberation efforts). She's facing down a member of the Divine Defense Force, light on her feet and ready for anything. If they're going to keep splitting up for missions, she needs an accurate assessment of her whole team's abilities. She can't respect what she hasn't seen in person.

So she's going to try to beat the crap out of them. All of them. One by one.

Passersby are welcome to stay to observe or challenge her, though responses to the latter may vary. The Divine Defense Force, however? Had better not hold back.

Haruka won't, either. ]

[ away from the sparring ]

[ Close enough to reach Trainer telepathically but far enough that the sparring shouldn't disrupt their afternoon, Sky the Beartic has spread a (leaf-embroidered) tablecloth across a tree stump and outfitted it with a variety of goodies for an outdoor tea party. There's plates of Poffins and PokéPuffs, as well as piping hot Berry tea from a fancy china teapot - Passion the Vulpix has accompanied them, and deigned to heat some water for their tea. There's also plenty of teacups, so anyone stumbling upon Sky, Passion, and a very confused World Shaking the Rhyperior is welcome to join their quaint assembly.

A word of advice, however: the teacups (and teapot) are sized for Beartic paws. Come thirsty. ]

[ later - throughout verdant forest ]

[ As the sun sets and the cool evening air wafts in, Haruka can be found on World Shaking's back, eyes half-closed as she navigates the Rhyperior through the trees. They haven't gone on one of these runs in a while, and after the scare she gave him in the caves, he deserved a treat. And she deserves to cool her head, too. They're all right. They passed another test. A respite's been earned.

The fact that she heard a god was spotted in this area from Snor-Lord and his human friends is utter coincidence. ]

Comments

[wishingalone]

Of course. It wouldn't be fair, if I misled you, would it?

[For all of her bravado, though, Mami is being careful. She hasn't done this with anything quite the size of a Rhyperior before. She reinforces the bridge here and there; it sags a bit with the first steps, so she quickly adds more ribbons to the lattice to make it safer.]

[Then she builds it higher, winding in a circle around the tree's trunk, and using it as a side as she makes it higher up.]

I'd thought of seeing if I could just lift him off the ground, but I thought World Shaking might have more fun this way.

[actsmagnificent]

He'll want to keep something beneath his feet. [ Rhyperior are not that adventurous. This seems to be going all right, though: he understands the concept of "bridges", and this is just a bridge that goes up.

And up. And up. World Shaking keeps his eyes straight ahead, and Haruka lets her instincts cast out all around them to make up for his narrow focus. If they work in tandem, they can't fail. ]

[wishingalone]

Ah, I see. He is a Ground type. [She takes stock of the tree, and decides to build their route down now. If she goes too high, the weight could tip the tree to one side. She doesn't want to test that with a Pokemon. She can do it with rocks or something. ]

[So at a point, the bridge begins to wind around the tree and then back down. They're getting a pretty good view, though.] Hmm. That forest does stretch on, doesn't it? I see why it took Union a long time to reach beyond it.

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka's watching the forest, too, letting her unconscious handle her part of this procedure. FORWARD, she sends World Shaking. She is not having him look over the sides (assuming he'd even get what he was seeing). ] It's funny.

[ Stomp, stomp, stomp. Funny indeed. She Bonded with World Shaking to become the wind, on their own, and now they're both above the treetops with someone from a different civilization. The whole world has gone funny in the past few years. ] We still think we're the center of the world, sometimes.

[ She shrugs self-depreciatingly. Union tends to be incredibly good-natured about its self-centrism - but, good grief, what even is their foreign policy. At this rate they might as well hire an Engineer or a Medic to run the country: the default is always "we can fix that".

A bunch of well-meaning, nosy, short-sighted, endearing children. ]

[wishingalone]

Hmm. I can see what you mean. When this was the entire world... it would probably be hard to feel differently. [She glances around the forest, then she looks back at Haruka. She considers, before she nods.]

It has its advantages, of course. There is something more honest about Union than some civilizations. We've had to worry about invaders -- or other tribes -- or Gigas. We became hardened. We turned inward, sometimes.

[She lets out a long breath, thinking of Kyouko Sakura and the other Valkyries. And the Matriarch.]

That can have a cost, too.

[actsmagnificent]

[ So that's it, huh? Haruka watches Mami carefully, then exhales. Whether she's just learned anything about the Citadel - or about Mami herself - she won't say. But she does nod, slowly, calmly. ] People would.

[ Is that - ahead - is that the ground? World Shaking starts to rush, causing Haruka to need to focus on reining him in. Her attention snaps to the Rhyperior, and while she doesn't move, he slows - a mighty tank holding back its momentum for now. ]

[wishingalone]

Mm. Different circumstances lead to different outcomes. [That's downplaying it, to say the least, but... Mami nods. She glances sideways at Haruka for a moment and wonders--ah, but then World Shaking speeds up.]

I see that he sees the ground. He handled this well, I must say! [She waits until the Rhyperior is on the ground, and firmly so, before she dispels the ribbons. It does take some juice to keep them all up, after all.]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka just smiles sends some of those complimentary feelings along to World Shaking through their Bonded connection. The Rhyperior rumbles in what, in more feline Pokémon, might be construed as a purr.

She lets him run as fast as he'd like now that they're down on the ground, but it's not a good idea to completely exhaust him. Soon they'll have to call it a day. For now, however, she's happy to just let him go at the pace he'd like. Underbrush be darned. ] Should we drop you back at the city?

[ Or are you going to keep god hunting? ]

[wishingalone]

[Mami reaches a hand down and pats the Rhyperior on the side. She's not bonded to him -- not really used to Union's style of bonding, either. Warp Bands are still a little new. But a pat's pretty clear.]

Mm, I think so. I think there will not be any gods today. I can't say it was an unproductive outing, though.

[actsmagnificent]

[ Haruka looks pleased enough that it might have been her receiving the pat. Coolly, though. She can look pleased and be cool at the same time. It's not impossible. ] It wasn't.

[ Back they go, then. ]