ah yes, cemeteries. no.[break]
and no. [break]
and most definitely no.[break][break]

she's okay with going to the grave, and she's okay with paying her respects in this barren, quiet land. time moves slower here, she thinks it's because the departed wish for their rest - or their time has been suspended - but she doesn't know, and she'll never know. she only wanted to kneel and pray in front of one of the stones, hands clasped together (there's a chill she can't quite pinpoint, and she wonders such a thing would be up here, in a mountain consumed by pyre). [break][break]

she's come with the intention to leave a gift for the dearly departed, after abruptly leaving hoenn in the sorry state that she was (and approaching his grave was so hard, and it was so difficult to work up the courage. today, she felt like maybe it would be okay). daphne appears with flowers for the late stone, approaching the grave and kneeling. pay her respects, have a soft chat with the spirit she's sure isn't present, and leave; that was the plan. that was the plan. [break][break]

and she finds a tyrunt running around, biting stones without a care in the world. it's distracting. the bagon at her side waddles to the little runt, and begins to scold it in a body too small for its head. and it scolds, and she doesn't understand what the cries mean, but she sees it starting to rear its head and--[break][break]

"w-whoa, wait--"

Calix Nikolau

☉

Damage control. By the love of Arceus, damage control. From the moment the little runt seemed to practically stick himself to the gravestone, Calix had given a low, wheezing groan of exasperation under his breath before beginning to reach for the Pokemon’s respective Pokeball. He’d actually managed to roll it into the palm of his hand and expanded it in preparation to recall his little, beloved son back, all before he found himself staring in confusion at the sudden entrance of...another little dragon. He furrowed his brows and blinked, and his face scrunch lightly in confusion as he began glancing around with a soft, ”Where the fuck-...?” leaving his lips.[break][break]

And then everything else moved quickly afterwards.[break][break]

He spotted the other little one’s trainer. He recognized her. He blinked again, he waved with a brief smile, and then he gave a glance back down at the sound of Drakon absolutely screaming at none other than the poor woman’s Pokemon. His confusion and defensive look shifted to one of panic between seeing the latter rear back, only for the former to begin prepping a quick Dragon Tail in preemptive retaliation. Thankfully, though, that was cut short.[break][break]

At the expense of the other two Pokemon, who he...honestly hadn’t wanted to bother questioning where they’d come from. Instead, at the sight of the newcomers (namely the Spoink, bless its soul), the sheen of the Tyrunt’s tail quickly diminished as he perked up, immediately ran over; something that the man, himself, began to respond promptly with, ”DRAKON, FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS, DO NOT--”[break][break]

Too late. The runt sprinted over, opened his jaws, and gave the Spoink a big old Crunch from absolutely left field.[break]
Oh, and another one, too, right after.[break]
Just to kick it while it was down. Bye bye, Spoink.[break][break]


(tl;dr note: we skippin, bois)

DAPHNE STONE

☉

there was no time for pleasantries; not when she knows what was brewing in the tiny bagon's rock hard, numbskull head. there's the saying that trainers know their pokemon best and - with experience did she learn - there's no lie. there's a soft sheen of pink glowing from the petite dragon's head, with its chin tucked in and its stubby arms trying to lower to the ground, revving a zen-headbutt in all its pinkish glory. she doesn't know what the exchange involved, but she already knows - is already prepared - to apologize, profusely, to the trainer who seemed to stand not too far away. [break][break]

a lone sinistea is her saviour. [break][break]

and her scapegoat. there's pity, knowing that the little ghost pokemon had floated aimlessly and into the path of the two tyrant, ready and rearing to reenact godzilla. then there's relief, knowing that her bagon would most likely be more pre-occupied with the floating ghost pokemon than th-- oh arceus almighty, not that pre-occupied![break][break]

"apatite!" she calls out, in a tone that's emphasized as she carries herself onto her feet. usually, it would stop the bagon in its tracks (but you can't stop a bullet from firing after you pull the trigger, can you?) and her attempt is fruitless. the sinistea lets out a soft, pained cry as the petite dragon follows up with its own crunch. the sinistea can barely float away and shake off its iron maw, but not without another chip lodged between the bagon's lips. [break][break]

"apatite, come here! right now!" it's a cemetery and she doesn't want to raise her voice, but there's nothing she can do when the bagon has tasted metaphorical blood (she dreads to think of what is in that accursed teacup's tea) but snap it out of its daze. "goodness.." trekking her way closer to the pokemon, she then kneels down to pick up the little dragon who flails so violently in her hands. "i am.. so very sorry for my pokemon."[break][break]

she hasn't recognized him.[break]
but there's a certain degree of dread that overshadows her when she raises her gaze, and sees his face. [break]
where has she seen him before?

Calix Nikolau

☉

Damage control on aisle seven.[break]
For the love of all things good, there’s a desperate need of damage control.[break][break]

There was more or a less a limited time to react accordingly (the realization and panic of such swift to surface upon his face as he noted the arrival of even more pokemon), so he’d driven himself to act hastily in the form of lunging towards his little companion; catching him just in the nick of time as he’d began to make his way over towards the newcomers with such vigor that it practically warranted the thrashing that would have surely come to follow. For the first several moments, the tiny dragon flailed rather aggressively within his hands, but after a sudden, yet swift series of gentle flicks upon the nose, he seemed to calm down a faint amount (even if it was followed by a small, whining whimper in response). He inhaled deeply and sighed, turning his attention towards the neighboring woman as he continuously gave his attempts at restraining the creature within his arms from partaking within a frenzied feast upon innocent passerbys.[break][break]

”No, no, it’s-... It’s honestly fine~...” he spoke with a touch of amused exasperation, narrowing his eyes as he gave the (still flailing) runt within his grasp a soft, side eyed glare. It continued to thrash about for a short while, though seemed to freeze up upon making eye contact before suddenly chiming with an innocent noise, swaying its tail gently. Calix scrunched his face slightly- though not without a gently affectionate smile, despite the fiasco he’d just evaded. ”It’s hard dealing with a handful, I get it~,” he continued on, loosely raising his gaze to trail after the Pokemon afar with a slight wariness, as if worried that the brief display from his own may have garnered some attention. ”That’s just how it is~. ...All you can really do is hold ‘em back as best as you can…”[break][break]

tl;dr note: skipping both

DAPHNE STONE

☉

daphne was plenty calm about this. sadly, apatite was not. though he succeeded in scaring off the sinistea (we don't talk about what that tyrunt had done to brutally rob the spoink), there was still the possibility of him directing his attention back to the little dinosaur with the urge to fight it. but of course, he's always had the desire to fight. sometimes it'll give her a migraine, specifically at how it looks at other pokemon like eyeing a full feast for one. [break][break]

at least the other trainer was understanding. "i hope we hadn't interrupted you" she narrows her eyes at the bagon that's swiftly swept into her arms, thenher finger raises to lightly flick upon the numbskull's head "i told you to settle down while we visited the grave.." she voices in a soft, scolding whisper at the dragon. it groans, and she moves away from the innocently wandering pokemon to spare them the strife. [break][break]

another glance up at the man, and something in her head clicks again. where has she seen him before? [break][break]

"excuse me--" she starts, arms instinctively tighten around the bagon "but have we met?"

Calix Nikolau

☉

”No, really, it’s no--”[break]

He never got to finish that response.[break][break]

A sympathetic and empathetic display had been the initial thing to be offered to her as he’d begun to speak, but alas, it had been cut terribly short as the creature shifting and whining within his arms had decided to try his hand at escaping, once more; that time bursting with with such energy and passion within his attempts that his trainer had little choice than to be caught amiss by the sudden, obscure means of movement occurring within his arms. One moment, he had been confident within his thoughts of having the situation under control, only to have such thoughts so brutally wrested from his control as he watched the runt scurry along the path in front of them. A quick, ”DRAKON--” had been all that was able to leave his lips before he bore witness to the absolute destruction of yet another, innocent Pokemon as the small, rocky creature sprinted with such gusto before biting down with another Crunch upon the...Palossand.[break][break]

Seeing a literal sand castle get bitten into was an odd sight, to say the least.[break]
There they were, though.[break][break]

In the midst of the aforementioned destruction, the trainer merely kept staring at what had just occurred; briefly gathering his thoughts and mustering a sigh as he straightened his stance and inhaled deeply. As a reflection of his exasperation, as well as his brief loss of words, he held the breath before slowly sighing outwards, shaking his head and rubbing his face gently. ”Just-... Ah, damn it.” he murmured, pursing his lips following the words and seemingly giving up as he opened his eyes and turned towards the woman, once more.[break][break]

”Uh...yeah, though. We have~,” he went on, scratching his neck. He gave his Pokemon a cursory (wary) glance as he seemed intent with frolicking some ways away. ”...Small world~. I was actually wondering if I should’ve brought it up~...”[break][break]

(tl;dr note: skipping both)

DAPHNE STONE

☉

no pokemon have the mercy of the tyrunt apparently. [break][break]

hadn't she known any better, she'd think that the pokemon was out on a hunt, specifically for anything that dared to move in the peripheral of its gaze. worrying, and slightly concerning, but sadly understandable and expected from a small and young fledgling. its spontaneous nature reminds her of someone. a certain someone who is currently struggling in her arms, especially after watching the display of strength. [break][break]

in a moment of weakness (and in hindsight, a mistake), her grip is weakened around the bagon and she finds it running off with short legs towards another, brightly coloured pokemon. there's little time for her to recall the bagon before it lands a heavy crunch on the poor kadabra, an "apatite! get back here!" following the cry of the poor psychic pokemon. as such, she pulls out an empty pokeball and throws it at the psychic pokemon. she hopes that the red glow calling it into the ball was enough to force the bagon to let go, and fall face first into the ground. [break][break]

we avert our gaze from the sand castle that was brutally run over by the tiny rock dinosaur. [break][break]

after all, there are more pressing matters to attend to. like the fact that his familiar face was starting to clear up the foggy memories of the other night. a hue of red begins to form over her face, and rosy skin becomes more prominent than she'd like them to be. she's embarrassed herself. [break][break]

"i-i see.." she wish she hadn't brought it up, and she'll wish she hadn't asked [break][break]

"did we.. happen to meet at a bar?"

Calix Nikolau

☉

Oh, so she did remember.[break][break]

At her words, he merely blinked quietly as he processed the question directed towards him, and before long, he nodded slightly in affirmation as a smaller, amused smile returned to his lips. He peered out towards the corner of his eye for but a moment, noting how the Tyrunt seemed to be about to cause yet another massacre at the sight of even more Pokemon. He sighed. ”Yeah, actually~,” he started off in response, a corner of his lip tugging up a faint bit more. ”It was a little while ago, so I honestly wasn’t sure you remembered…”[break][break]

He glanced towards his little, troublesome son as he sprinted around for a little while (though not without yelling a few cries of what he could only assume to be challenge at the other dragon), and after some debate at the sight of him running full force towards the Munna, the man inhaled deeply before sighing, reaching towards his belt for one of the vacant capsules clipped onto it. ”I dunno if you remember, but I actually did give you my number, just in case you remembered the night~,” he went on, chuckling upon reflection of the memory. ”Also passed our bartender buddy a little note asking him to look after you when I left. ...I’m glad it worked out~.”[break][break]

Pausing, he gave another glance towards the distance, just in time to see the tyrannical little dinosaur rip off yet another Crunch on the dream eater Pokemon. Before it could stand to give it another bite in the name of the hunt, Calix quickly wound up, throwing the Pokeball within his hand out and hitting it just in the nick of time. He watched as the creature warped into the capsule, though turned his attention back towards the woman as the ball fell back to the ground to rustle about.[break][break]

”...Your name was Daphne, though, right? I’m not mixing up names?”[break][break]

(tl;dr: catch attempt on munna)

DAPHNE STONE

☉

poor ghost never stood a chance. [break][break]

what did stand a chance was a ghost that had decided to float over to her bagon, and scare the living crap out of him from one of the leaf piles. that time, the crunch was justified. this time however, it winds up a nightmare for the poor bagon, and daphne is already throwing a pokeball at the ghost to stop it from possibly hurting the poor bagon. [break][break]

with the haunter stuffed into the ball, the woman lets out a soft sigh of relief. onto the other source of her anxiety. [break][break]

.. he gave her his number? when? she can't seem to remember it, but a quick search through her memory has her recall that he pressed a piece of paper into her hand. which.. mean he put a paper. in her hand. it means he held her hand. oh my--[break][break]

her cheeks go pinkish as she recalls, and her gaze is averted as she clears her throat. yes. that happened. "i--.. yes, my name is daphne" she tucks into herself "i apologize for the trouble i caused that night.."

Calix Nikolau [break]
catch attempt @ haunter

☉