who would've thought that his sleight of hand skills he picked up when learning magic would come in useful? count his blessings.

"hello everyone."

he greets the dealer along with the rest of the table, waving a hand that doesn't have a few cards up his sleeve. looking over at the dealer, he nods, ready for the round to begin as he tosses in the opening bet.

Nia Acadia

☉

"no, we wouldn't."

not like anything bad's going to happen, right?

unless...

shrugging off the thought, he swings his leg over and up onto the mudsdale, mounting it once again. he tugs on its reins, following after the ghostie horsie.

"so, uh, what have you been up to recently?"

small talk to pass the time, and to distract himself.

Katherine Fairburne
mission

☉

sensing danny's obvious hesitance and problems, ivysaur shifts closer, nudging itself into his side in an attempt to help coax it out of him.

"i'm, uh..."

he blinks, sighing.

"things have changed, saur saur. we're with rocket now, which means the battles we'll have to face are going to be much tougher."

more violent. deadly.

"i kinda need you on my team but it's okay if you don't want to. grimster's fought the most but it sucks to see him get hurt all the time, you know?"

at that, ivysaur seems to perk up, shrugging danny off before approaching a wild ferroseed. a tornado of RAZOR LEAVES wrap around the ferroseed, eventually suffocating it enough to faint it.

and then, ivysaur starts glowing.

"..."

and what was once an ivysaur has now become a venusaur. it stomps back over, nudging its head into danny.

"...thanks, bud. i love you."

@solowild
skipping!

☉

the ivysaur blinks, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the bright lighting. it's apparent that the grass-type hasn't left its pokeball for ages.

"it's been a while, huh?"

danny moves to sit beside ivysaur, sighing as he settles onto the ground. his arm remains draped over its back.

"how've you been?"

the ivysaur meows (?), purring as it leans against danny. that means 'good', apparently.

"good, good."

it feels difficult to say what he wants to say. even after clearing his throat, the words just don't escape.

@solowild
skipping!

☉

scared? he almost puffs out his chest in response but doesn't because, yeah, he was pretty scared.

so, he admits it with a chuckle, returning her smile with ease.

"in my defense, this forest is pretty creepy."

and it's dark as shit. where's the way out, again?

"maybe we can stick together. you know, strength in numbers and all that."

Katherine Fairburne
mission

☉

like all things, growth is inevitable, and no matter how long danny tries to prolong it, he knows his ivysaur's due to evolve soon enough.

in fact, he hasn't even called him out ever since joining rocket. he hasn't called any of his pre-rocket pokemon out besides his grimmsnarl.

it's guilt that always stops him.

but today, he finds it in him to pop open the familiar pokeball.

"hey, saur saur."

@solowild

☉

mudsdale takes a moment to eye the two strangers suspiciously, remaining on edge even as the humans make their introductions.

"oh. we're actually out here for a ride. muddy's afraid of loud noises, and of people, so at night's really the only time we can do this."

danny reaches a hand out for his mudsdale, smoothing against its long neck to help soothe it.

"what about you? your horse looks like it's searching for something."

what is her horse, anyway? he doesn't ask.

Katherine Fairburne
mission

☉

like a true fanboy, danny recognizes the familiar face of one of hoenn's elite four members. it's just a shame he doesn't know what happened in sootopolis, so without that information in hand, of course he'll gush over her.

"oh, shit! you're katherine fairburne."

he coughs, shifting off the ground before reaching for his mudsdale. he tugs on its saddle, using it to help him back up.

"i'm, uh, danny. big fan of your work."

Katherine Fairburne
mission

☉

the real reason?

"i know things were kinda awkward at the soiree..."

awkward isn't the right word to use but it's what he decides on anyways. honestly, since the soiree, he's had plenty of time to think about what happened. about Greyson Connors punching him. about the bitter pain of losing a friend forever.

sighing, he meets her gaze.

"i dunno. i guess i just wanted to apologize as well. for snapping at you. you didn't deserve that."

Serena Malcolm

☉