(no subject)

[rydiaofmist]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The newly discovered island
What: After recent events, the people of Union could use a bit of R&R. What better place than a tropical island?
Warnings: Drinks with little umbrellas in them, swimsuits, idek



An island paradise, discovered just off the southern coast, less than a day's travel from the city. A strong enough Pokemon could easily carry their partner and others out there. It was hard to say just who sent the original message, but pictures surfaced, with the tagline "Don't you wish you were here," came over the warp bands' feeds, and, like Venomoths to the flame, people began clamoring toward this new found tropical get-away. Those who wanted to go would find it easy enough--with so many people making their way to investigate, for whatever reason they claimed (but let's be honest, it was probably the beach), one could just hitch a ride.

The island itself appeared untouched by human contact. The Pokemon were strange and different compared to the fare immediately around Union. A warm breeze blew through palm trees, carrying the scent of hibiscus flowers. The water, blue as the summer sky, was warm and inviting.

This truly was a paradise.

Comments

[tinytactician]

This should be so exciting for Armin but. Well. Recent events.

He's peaceful, at least, standing at the edge of the water with it lapping at his bare toes and little Meredith-the-Ralts cuddled to his chest. And look, he's even brought a (rather old and battered) straw hat to keep off the sun, how nice.

[90sbangs]

"Saviors grace, Gungnir! That is not how you play volleyball!" running after his mischievous Honedge after the Pokemon tried 'playing' with the ball. More so poking it wide open, there goes that activity. Cress would be more open to forgiving him if he knew it wasn't on purpose.

This Honedge, let Cress tell you a thing.

The Island was a great escape for him and his best friend, Chester. Happy to see them both getting some time away from the house after all the resent drama, his new Magikarp enjoying the cool ocean water (he thinks??) The Honedge flies past Armin at remarkable speeds, the Pokemon having gotten amazing at such after bonding with Cress. "Wait.. you.. little--!" He's out of breath, for now victory was one by Gungnir. He stops almost right in front of Armin, looking up to see a sad face.

"Oh.. I'm sorry! Did my Honedge nick you?"

[tinytactician]

Ahhhhh, sudden Honedge is sudden! Armin manages to lean out of the way, which doesn't stop Meredith (also completely unharmed) from yelling angry insults after the speedy Pokemon.

Smiling a little awkwardly, Armin shakes his head and speaks over the high-pitched peeping sounds of his Ralts. "No, no, I'm fine. It just startled me."

[90sbangs]

"He's rude, sorry.." Cress sits next to him, giving up on the Honedge for now.. After all, the bastard just wanted Cress to chance him, so he'll come back over eventually. "He'll get his, just look at this wreckage." Showing Armin the destroyed volleyball.

[tinytactician]

Armin eyes the ball with something between shock and curiosity. "How interesting. It seems Honedge don't care for games -- or was he simply unaware of the damage he was causing?"

[90sbangs]

"Oh, he knows what he's done..." Cress looks over in his honegde's view, the pokemon just giving him that creepy death stare back.

"--But I can always get another one, by the way, my names Cress Albane. What's yours...? You having a good time, the weathers great out here." Such a friendly guy, the protag levels are high in this one.

[tinytactician]

Armin gives the Honedge an uneasy smile. "I-I don't really know much about...those types..."

Augh, protag shounen is over 9000. Armin waits until he can get a word in edgewise, having fortunately been trained by Eren's sheer shounen-ness. "I'm Armin. It's nice to meet you, Cress. Yes, I'm enjoying myself very much."

[90sbangs]

Cress could tell you far to much about Honedges Armin, please save yourself by not asking, "Armin, huh? Cool. Yeah, I keep telling myself I need to get out more so I'm doing just that.

I'm here with my friend Chester if you see him around, he recently lost his little sister.. it's been rough on everyone but I'm sure you can imagine.." Have some random information stranger, it's not personal or anything. Course, the young man doesn't see anything wrong about other people knowing.. never know who's willing to help.

[tinytactician]

"...oh. I'm...sorry." Armin has no clue how to react to that, augh. So instead he'll just smile a little awkwardly. Fortunately he has the two baby Pokemon -- a shiny Espurr and a Mareep -- who crawl out of their little sandcastle nearby and onto Cress's feet. Hello, new person!

"-- ah, and this is Famke and Nim. Say hello, girls."

[stahlflugel]

Eren comes and stands next to his bestest best friend, saying nothing for a long while. Just watching the waves eat away at the sand around his feet. It was warm here, so Eren had stripped down to a tank top and his boxer shorts. He's alone, having sent Victor away with Fig for a while.

"Well, is it everything you'd dreamed it would be, Armin?"

[tinytactician]

Armin's off in his own little world, so he startles a little when Eren speaks. But he's smiling, albeit a little shakily, when he turns, toes curling into the wet sand.

"It's better."

[stahlflugel]

Eren gives that bright smile of his and crouches down in the sand, watching the water swash back and forth.

"Yeah. I agree. There's some things books just can't describe. Like the smell of the water, and the texture of the sand!"

He dips a finger in the water and puts it in his mouth, making a face before grinning. "And it's so salty!"

[tinytactician]

That gets a gasp that's somewhere between amused and horrified, as Armin dissolves into giggles and very nearly drops Meredith into the ocean. "Eren! Don't taste the water! That's so unsanitary!"

Catching his breath and in a much much better mood, Armin crouches down as well, letting Meredith climb onto his back to stay away from the water. "Some places of the ocean have such a high saline content that you can float on them! Or maybe it's some lakes. I don't remember. Look, a Krabby."

[stahlflugel]

"I don't care man!! It was just a little bit anyway. Don't be such a worry-wart," He smiles brightly and splashes some water at Armin.

"Float, huh... Well I'm definitely gonna go for a swim. ... Ah, Krabby?"

Eren sees the little orange pokémon in the water and reaches for it--

--and is pinched for his effort. He squawks despite being in human form and falls back on his butt, waving his hand wildly.

"AAAHHH! LEGGO!!"

The krabby just makes an angry "ko-kee!" noise and blows bubbles while definitively not letting go.

[tinytactician]

"I'm not-- ahhhh, don't!" Armin laughs, wiping the water off his face and barely managing to stifle the wild giggles as Eren is attacked by a ferocious tiny Krabby. "Oh, Eren! You know these pinch, I've told you at least twenty times..."

Shaking his head at Eren's antics, Armin reaches out, gently grasping his friend's arm and attempting to emotionally reason the Krabby into setting him free. "Come on, now, he wasn't going to hurt you..."

[stahlflugel]

"I FORGOTTTT!!"

Eren shakes his hand vigorously, but to no avail. And Armin's psychic reasoning doesn't help either. The krabby is too wild and frankly, too pissed off. It burbles and bubbles and makes more angry "Ko-KEE" noises.

"Like hell I'm not gonna hurt him! I'm gonna EAT HIM!!"

Finally all the wild flailing of arms becomes too much for the krabby and it flies off back into the water. Eren whines and puts his finger in his mouth.

[tinytactician]

Armin isn't laughing at you, Eren, he's laughing near you. And he'll dig through the bag he brought along for a bandaid, because he's well-prepared like that. "Are you all right? Not bleeding? Give me your hand."

A heavy sigh and the application of some antibiotic cream comes next. "Just...try to avoid things with claws, okay?"

[all_onis_are_true]

Hiroshi, still for whatever reason dressed in black with a scarf despite being on a beach, continued following the shoreline. He saw Armin as he was looking for a place to sit down and read for a while. Ah, yes, he'd promised to fill him in on things, right?

Hiroshi approached, and only as he got close did he begin to get an inkling that something else was going on. He hesitated; this wasn't something he wanted to get involved in, he suspected. To become invested. Still, he looked upset about something, and he HAD helped him out.

He looked out at the water, then sighed a bit and moved towards him, settling down. Takuro set a basket down next to them, and a small Klink started shifting around Armin curiously. "Hello again," he said, feeling awkward.

[tinytactician]

Armin startles a little, pushing his hat back and wiping not-so-surreptitiously at his eyes, which are decidedly red. But he manages a little smile, and his Ralts buddy waves her little tiny arms at both Hiroshi and the Klink.

"Hello. It's nice to see you again. How are you finding the trip?" Very polite, if a bit rushed in the delivery.

[all_onis_are_true]

He pushed his glasses up. "Well enough. Webster was a pleasant enough ride, but I had to agree to let him fish around in the water for a few hours. I hope nobody's TOO attached to Water Pokemon." He sighed. "And you? How are you doing?"

Takuro waddled over to the water to start messing around himself. Spur, meanwhile, settled on Armin's head, looking down at him. "Ah, I guess that means he likes you," he commented.

[tinytactician]

"I'm sure they aren't. Everyone needs to eat, after all." Armin's very quiet for a moment after the question, staring out at the water, unseeing. Then he replies, softly: "I've had some better days..."

The settling of the Pokemon onto his head gets a small smile, though. "I like him too. What's his name?" This is accompanied by some gently-sent-out welcoming emotional vibes, which greatly improve the somewhat somber atmosphere.

[all_onis_are_true]

Spur feels the vibes and grinds cheerfully, rolling around a bit on his head. "Spur," Hiroshi replies. "I received him from an egg. Well, technically he has no gender, but it just feels odd referring to him as an 'it.'"

He cocks his head a bit at Armin. "Did something happen? You don't need to tell me the specifics if you don't want to," he asks softly.

[tinytactician]

Armin giggles a little, because the knobby bits tickle on top of his head, sitting with very admirable posture so he doesn't knock Spur off. "Hello, Spur. It's nice to meet you. Was he this size when he hatched? I haven't seen very many hatchings, you know."

The question catches him off-guard enough that he doesn't have time to disguise his expression. After a moment of wordless gaping, he swallows tightly, saying the words he's been practicing: "A death in the family."

[all_onis_are_true]

He ponders. "He has grown a little bit since birth, but he's otherwise been pretty small. No doubt he will grow with time." Spur, meanwhile, floats down a bit to look at Armin directly.

Armin's response causes Hiroshi to blink a bit. Certainly, he could understand that on a logical level. Although considering his own relationship with certain family members... "I am truly sorry to hear that. I can only imagine how hard it must be for you."

Lies, of course. But the others hadn't been FAMILY, right? Maybe a half truth. "Will you be all right?"

[tinytactician]

Armin nods seriously, but puts on a smile when Spur floats to look at him face-to-face. "I'm sure he will. He's a very good hover-er, for being so young."

It's fortunate that he has Spur to look at, so he doesn't have to make eye contact as he states the facts. "It's my grandfather. He's the only family member I had, so I'll likely have to enter the city institution -- unless I can find someplace else to stay and hold it off."

A pause, then, softer: "I'll be fine. I have to be."