[attr="class","izrigidw"]

The first ride hadn't started quite as smooth as Izzy might have wanted it to. His only real experience with horse pokémon had been with Martín del Mar just recently, at the very same place, though admittedly he only had to focus on holding onto Mars at the time and not falling off. Now, though, he was in control - he had to hold the reigns, guide the ghostly pokémon, and... also still hold on and not fall off. That part was still pretty important, admittedly.[break][break]

But then again, maybe it wasn't, because he might actually be dead right now? All of this whole thing was... weird as fuck.[break][break]

"C'mon, kolego, nie martw się" He takes one hand off of the reigns to gently pet the side of the horse's neck. "It's alright. Just... take it easy"

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

When he next sees the horse, the air feels different. Less like it's watching him and testing him, more like it's beckoning him. Blindly trusting a wild beast, Izzy approaches and promptly gets it's hooves in his chest. For someone who'd only very recently broken their ribs, he felt that jolt of fear as he slammed down onto the floor, but felt no pain.[break][break]

In fact, when he stood up again, he didn't feel much of anything at all. He looks down at his lifeless body and pushes down the rising panic - in the background, the image of the horse still possessed some calming influence, otherwise he would have been freaking the fuck out right now. Instead of kneeling down and trying hard to grab his own self, do anything to re-join with it, he finds himself still beckoned to the horse. It wants him to ride it, to guide it - to befriend it, perhaps?[break][break]

It's surprisingly easy to get on the thing, though Izzy rides with all the lack of competence of a man who'd lived in the big city all his life. He grips the ghostly reigns and holds on tight, the horse seeing fit to finally start moving once it's rider had gotten comfortable.

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

BARNABY FINCH 's touch is brief as he walks past, taking Izzy by surprise for only a moment. After then, he realises it's not that crazy that Bee would be here for the same reasons Izzy was: to prove himself, to get stronger. Though after seeing what his apartment looked like, he was pretty sure Bee didn't need any extra money from this, at least. The look he gets says 'what are you doing here?', but Izzy can't bring himself to reply, even nonverbally. No matter what they had or were, Bee had to understand that Izzy couldn't give in to himself when it came to work, else he risked fading away entirely. He had to be in a specific headspace for this kind of thing.[break][break]

Just before he can shake it off, though, he's approached by a woman he recognises somewhat from odd jobs here and there. An electrician, he's pretty sure - so makes sense why he might have seen her around briefly, considering some of his own roles on the sub. He appreciates her checking in on him, but with everyone around and the hot heat of stares on the back of his head from the upper stands, Izzy can't tell her the exact truth right now.[break][break]

"Yeah, nah, I'm fine. No puking here" He raises a brow at her. "...What about you?" The situation was no-doubt stressful for almost everyone here.[break]
He says almost because, as ana fell then points out, some people seemed to be really anticipating today's events. Fuckers wandered in looking like they were ready for a league raid or something, and it made Izzy's pulse quicken. He had to try and match up against assholes like that?[break][break]

Talking about assholes, a newbie enters the fray that Izzy's never seen before. Some sweet-looking girl, and by the look of her, Izzy couldn't help but wonder if she was some fancy science-type who'd never done hard work in her life. She announces the rules of what was happening, and then a quadrillion Porygon-2 enter. A band is gifted, which Izzy holds awkwardly in his hand for a moment.[break][break]

If he wanted to grow in rocket and not live his life mission paycheck-to-mission paycheck, he would have to take risks. [break][break]

Izzy hands the band back to the Porygon-2, which gives him a tilt of the head. If the assholes upstairs wanted to watch a show, he could be a show.[break][break]

The next step of the exams was right on the horizon, and they were just about to dip into it, he could feel it. He releases his SKARMORY from her ball pre-emptively - might be best to have something out in case they get dumped right into the fray.[break][break]

As for teaming up... he glances back at ana fell . "...You... staying here? If you've got other people to see, don't let me stop you"

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

Izzy raises a brow at her laughter. "Pft. I doubt you're that bad" He says. I mean, she was cute, popular, a talented trainer and also literally famous - how could being with someone like Melody be a punishment in any form?[break][break]

"Yeah, that makes sense. I... feel the same I guess." He clears his throat a little "Uh, but... I'm also not famous, so... different situations, I guess" Izzy holds the Corsola in his arms dutifully as they continue to chat, though he wasn't sure she'd be getting too much high ground from him, considering he was also 5'6". At the very least, she seemed to be having fun.[break][break]

"I bet you'd-" He starts, only to be interrupted by the ding that rings out across the room. "-oh. Gotta go, I guess. Eh-- it's been nice to seeya again, though." He pops the little blue Corsola gently down on the table - much to her chagrin - and pops his now-free hands back in his hoodie pockets.[break][break]

"See y'around, Mel. Hope you find some, uh, hot guy or something."

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

"Mm". He thinks for a second, wringing his hands a little. "Yeah, if he wasn't there, I probably would've gotten way more fucked up." The thought wasn't one he'd let himself explore in too much detail while he'd been healing up, mostly because thinking about your own mortality wasn't really helpful when you already had some issues going on.[break][break]

He can't help but roll his eyes at her joke, but in the kind of way one might at their mum trying to poke a smile from their sullen teen kid. It was the kind of thing Izzy had never experienced, and it felt nice, even if it felt a little unusual.[break][break]

Izzy looks up at her once more, giving a gentle nod in response to her words. She spoke like the kind of person who thought a lot, and was intelligent. In a way, it intimidated him - Izzy had never thought much about himself in general, but especially not that he was educated. Speaking with people like Elisabeth always made him feel a little bit like a kid, but at the very least she didn't seem to be looking down her nose at him.[break][break]

"You're really embracing life here" He says, looking around. Everything was alive, each green beating heart around him blooming and flowering. You could practically smell the life in every pot, every planter. "It's crazy different to the big city, being here. It's... nice."[break][break]

He takes a gentle, slow breath. As busy as everything had been recently, what with kissing and broken ribs and general anxiety that never faded, Izzy couldn't bear to show too much emotion right now. Elisabeth was treating him like an equal, the last thing he needed was to seem upset in front of a fellow Rocket and be judged as too weak.[break][break]

"...Man, fuck the Hoenn news" He grumbles. "I'm sick n' tired of hearing about a bunch of rich league fucks having fun and doing good, while I gotta deal with all the bullshit. Fuckin' wormholes and meteors."

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

"Like the..." He frowns a little - was this just some game to her? Sure, the ghosts were probably harmless, but if some great Gengar leapt at out them, Izzy wasn't too sure he'd be as excited as Jessie seems to be. "...sure, like the movies, yeah."[break][break]

She leads the way, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along like a little kid. "You don't-" He begins to protest, but follows along anyways as she leads him off. The room she pulled them to seemed quiet. Almost... suspiciously so. "Hm..." He glances around the room.[break][break]

"I'm gonna look around. Let me know if you find anything weird, or get possessed."

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

"Ugh. I can't imagine having a manager - do they just tell you what to do all the time?" He leans his cheek against one hand, propping his elbow on the table. He could see in Melody's eyes that she was telling the truth, and it was honestly cute that she just wanted to find people to chat to. Izzy was too used to lying all the time, it was almost disarming to meet someone as genuine as Melody was. "Well, hope you've met some cool people tonight, at least"[break][break]

He takes a sip of one of the drinks on the table - might as well take advantage of the free alcohol - but promptly almost sputters it out when she asks so bluntly about his love life. Right, he thinks to himself, that's what most people are here for..[break][break]

"It's, eh-- it's going. It sure is going. Never been good at that, uh, kind of thing..." He clears his throat a little, and then notices the little blue baby by his side requesting, desperately, for uppies. Izzy may not like interaction with other humans too much, but he was damned if he wouldn't coddle a cute pokemon, and so up into his arms she went.[break][break]

"What about yours?" He deflects, holding the sweet lump of coral in his arms.

[attr="class","izrigidw"]

Another troubled night, another half-dream of the horse on the mountain. Part of it worried him - if the beast on Mt. Pyre didn't see fit to leave him alone soon, would he ever sleep again? Izzy doesn't feel too comfortable around a creature with this level of effect on him, but nonetheless is drawn to the graveyard mountain once more the next night.[break][break]

The horse waits again, watching over his shoulder until he finds it. The wisps that flutter around it seem less agile today, and a closer look reveals that they've been entangled with some other energy. Quick work, he assumes, for the Scyther clipped into a ball at his side to take care of, and then the Shedinja clipped beside it to house. What better use for an animated husk than to fill it up, after all?[break][break]

The balls are thrown, the Scyther sucks in the wayward soul with a VACUUM WAVE, and the Shedinja keeps it safe. The wisps around the horse begin to tremble a little, and then drift around as comfortably as they had before. Izzy sighs softly, relieved.[break][break]

"Bet that feels better, huh?"