The ocean air wasn't quite the same here as it was back home, but it was still a small comfort to Jason as he wandered down the coastal path. [break][break]

The damp mist clung to the layers draped across his body and hung low in the air above the grass. It wasn't eerie, exactly, even as the graveyard of Mt. Pyre watched him in the distance. It was serene, and quiet, and something about that just didn't sit right with Jason. If he had too much space to think about his present circumstances, being so far away from home and having lost damn near everything in the process, the melancholy would swallow him whole. Jason was not a mopey bitch, he decided adamantly, so his eyes desperately scanned the route for some kind of distraction as the Dragonair next to him slithered through the grass. [break][break]

As luck would have it, a distraction presented itself not long after, and Jason's lips curled into a smile as the back of a distant figure came into view. The guy practically exuded the same ennui that was so perilously close to seizing Jason, and something about that was a little comforting, too. Maybe something about the atmosphere of this place just drew that out of people. Maybe the poor guy had his own baggage he was sorting through. Either way, Jason hoped that he'd find his company agreeable as he approached. [break][break]

He made no effort to muffle the sound of his boots stomping through the dew-slick grass; even at this distance, he could tell that the stranger was tantalizingly tall and muscled. It wouldn't do to sneak up on a guy that had almost a foot on him, especially if he was mired in his own miasma of troubling thoughts,[break][break]

“Sulking all by yourself, handsome?” [break][break]

The statement was deliberate and thoughtfully constructed. Jason was careful to keep his tone light and playful so that the greeting could be easily played off as a joke if the stranger took offense to a little flirtation. And if not... well, maybe this would be a more interesting outing than Jason had originally anticipated.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cain Toman

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Ooo, a Galarian accent. It was music to Jason's ears; there was a rough quality to it that was undoubtedly appealing, but it was also a little funny how something so small could give away something so specific about a person. Dark eyes slunk from the man eyeing him to his Aegislash and back again; Jason had the pleasure of gaining a tiny crumb of insight into the stranger, and it wouldn't do to leave such a transaction one-sided, [break][break]

“Name's Jason,” he replied easily, “Not sure what else you'd call staring off into the distance like that, but hey, I don't judge.” [break][break]

Jason paused, considering something for a moment, [break][break]

“And yours? Your name, I mean.” [break][break]

The Dragonair at Jason's side slunk away, having noticed the other of the two Pokemon lurking at the boundaries of her trainer's awareness. He recognized the violent crack of a Dragon Tail, but only bothered looking over long enough to toss a Poke Ball of his own in the direction of the sound. Yonah was a capable girl, and Jason had no doubt that she could handle whatever was transpiring just out of his line of sight.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cain Toman [break]
catching jellicent!

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Oh, you flatter me,” Jason practically purred. [break][break]

But it was funny just how wrong this Cain's assumption was. Beyond the demands of his professional life - which, by design, were rather all-consuming - Jason was often completely alone. Maybe his cohorts could smell that desperation on him to please. Maybe, for all of his efforts to tailor himself to the tastes of others, people could tell how artificial all that fake sugary sweetness was. Maybe that's why, after contracts were filled and the work day was done, none lingered in Jason's presence. [break][break]

Cain didn't need to know that, though. Why spoil such comfortable pleasantries with something so dour? [break][break]

“Sometimes you've got to get away from the crowds to enjoy the little things. Scenery, I find, is one of them.” [break][break]

Which wasn't a lie, even if there were no particular crowds for Jason to evade, [break][break]

“There's something nostalgic about the smell of ocean air, isn't there?” [break][break]

His eyes carefully followed the movement of the parchment being stowed away. It was probably nothing, Jason thought, but you didn't get by as long as he had without paying attention to the little things.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cain Toman [break]
skipping!

[attr="class","pokeclass"]