As the strange blonde struggled forward, something like a shadow followed it. The shadows on the ground occasionally twisted and flickered as if circling Wren like a vulture. This unnatural phenomenon seemed to have gone unnoticed for a few minutes. A single, red eye trailing his prey as they trudged forward, in the terrible heat. As Wren slows down the temperature began to drop as a rather large creature manifested out of her shadows before placing a single hand on her shoulder, only disappear the minute she turned to look. [break][break]

Lana does not see this. He does not see his missing friend at all. Instead, what great him and his pair of snow cones is a mewling litten, cuddling around his legs before pawing at his feet and rushing off. While Lana watched it ran back towards him, pawing at his shoes before rushing off again. By the third time Lana began to follow wondering if someone had thought their cat tag. Oddly dedicate, the little stray tugs him farther away from the snow cone stand and he vaguely hoped his Dusclops wouldn’t have too much trouble tracking him down. "I hope you're not gonna get me jumped...." he muttered as the cat continued to lead him while his ghost poked and prodded Wren from his own shadow.

[break][break]

+ wren rourke [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

He took a bite out of his snowcone as the Litten slowed it pace and turned to make sure he was following. It had gotten into a habit of doing that every 10 feet or so after the boy had gotten distracted thinking he’d seen his companion somewhere. Finally, he more less understood what the little cat was doing as they rounded a corner and he could see his Dusclops harassing another person. He could see the bulbous, red eyes bulging out behind him in a shadow while ghostly hands occasionally reached to poke and pinch the poor blonde. “Hey!” he called out, as he got closer before offering a nod in greeting. [break][break]

“Fuck off them.” He said frowning slightly at the Dusclops as it froze in its mischief before retreating form Wren’s shadows. Though, not before rudely ruffling Wren’s head with both his hands and letting out the strange echoes of a laugh. He circled Wren once revealing his true form rather proudly before reaching towards the second snowcone in Lana’s hands. The boy however quickly pulled away the sweet treat. “No, I know you’ve been picking on them and I have to scold you for it since you got caught.” He said. He quite didn’t care what his ghosts did to others. They were ghosts…sometimes they got bored. Didn’t everyone. But he understood the social expectations of scolding a naughty pokemon. He forgot about keeping that understanding quiet so he could appear more genuine. His eyes run over the other figure, dressed oddly even in this heat. “Actually…maybe you were right to.” He said earning him another happy laugh from his partner. The Litten meowed in protest looking up at Lana almost annoyed at the moment. Desptie the odd clothing choices and the mused hair…he could tell the fair skinned stranger was still looking a little…overheated. Glistening with sweat and flushed. [break][break]

“Hey….do you want this?” he asked offering up his Dusclops’ snowcone.


[break][break]

+ wren rourke [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Lana flinched a little as she snapped at him and almost took a step back, ready to book it. But it didn’t go further beyond that thankfully. “S-Shouldn’t you have worn s-something….less…?” He trailed off there unsure how to finish that sentence and still make it sound polite. He doesn’t resist when she snatched away the extra snowcone. Instead, simply watched before turning around as the Litten began to paw at his feet and begin to make its way towards a couple of large trees with plenty of free shade right now. His partner is close behind the cat pokemon. [break][break]

Lana waited, awkwardly gathering the courage to speak up and gesture at there the pokemon went. “C-C’mon then, lets get y-you out of t-the shade.” He said struggling to keep his voice normal. “Sun! s-Sun!” he corrected quickly, turning away from Wren and moving robotically to join the other pokemon. Under the canopy of leaves, the world was 10 degrees cooler. Coupled with half melted frozen cice and syrup, he was feeling better already. As Wren approached, he set his dessert down, eyeing the Litten and Dusclops with a warning before checking his small bag and pulling out a half empty bottle sunscreen. Yes, he had totally stolen it from a family on his way in. However, he had to protect himself form the heat and this was one way to do it. “D-Do you need some, maybe? You look…d-damp.” [break][break]
[break][break]

“Hey….do you want this?” he asked offering up his Dusclops’ snowcone. [break][break]


[break][break]

+ wren rourke [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

At least Wren doesn’t snap at him again, but they do look annoyed when he looked over their outfit. At least they were listening to him. After a minute or two, Lana slide to sit down by the tree roots, looking up at the blonde quietly, and trying to catch up with the melt of his snow cone. He crunched through cherry flavored ice in silence. The Litten settled itself between the two, licking at its paws and trying its best to keep cool as well. When Lana’s dessert dwindled to mostly cold juice, he set the little plastic bowl in front of the Litten letting them have it. [break][break]

Lana frowned a little, before beginning to carefully reapply sunscreen on what already looked like a developing sunburn. “No p-problem…” he replied, dark red eyes on his arms and legs as he rubbed in sunscreen on anything exposed to the sun. “T-The Litten…is it y-yours?” he asked, looking over that the happy cat and then up at the blonde once more. “T-They led me t-to you.”
[break][break]


[break][break]

+ wren rourke [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Lana shrugged, watching at the Litten lapped up its rewards for saving someone from heat stroke. “I-It’s not…go ahead i-if you want.” He said as he hovered a hand over the cat. It didn’t seem to move away or even aggressive and so he stroked it from the head down to its back a couple of times before letting it get back to drinking. [break][break]

He shook his head once more, finding that easier than replying. There’s a long silence, and Mikey settled in the shadows of the tree they were resting under. “A-Are you….um….a-are you s-sure you’re feeling o-ok?” he asked after a moment, looking up at the other for a moment before averting his eyes. Wren’s face didn’t seem as flushed but he was worried she might faint if he just let her head back out into the heat like this. He dind’t want to after all the effort Litten had put into saving them. “I…I can g-get you some w-water for the road too?” he offered. He shouldn’t, but if worse came to worse Mikey could always steal a couple of bottles for them. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some crumpled bills and spare change, counting quietly to make sure he had enough.


[break][break]

+ wren rourke [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

In the midst of his counting his companion had already caught the wild Litten that had helped save her. He looked back up, pocketing his bit of change, and clapping softly for Wren. “Congrats!” he chirped before standing up quickly as she pocketed her prize. “I-I think the s-s-strays a-are just t-tamer here because o-of guests s-s-spoiling t-them.” He said to her. “Oh! Y-yeah, mhmm.” Lana said as Wren asserted that she was feeling better now and didn’t need his charity. He felt bad that he felt relieved, but he was counting pennies to afford a water bottle, he couldn’t afford it right now. He then realized he hadn’t introduced himself. “Um…I-…” she’s already leaving, and he’s half tempted to give up on his voice, but he forced himself through it anyway. “I-I’m…I-‘M LANA!” he shouted with her back to him, trembling a little at the force of his shout. His rosy skin seemed to grow brighter as she carried on.

[break][break]

+ wren rourke [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]