"a deep breath in," hands on his hips, his chest puffs up after he says the words. his minccino follows his every movement in the sand beside him; hands on her hips and chest puffing out.

"and exhale." the words are strained through a high pitch, but both release their breath, the blue in their face fading as they take a few relaxing breaths.

memphis begins walking along the shoreline, taking a few of the items in his hands to help him clean. a sand sifter, which he pushed in the sand a few steps, stopped, and let mink empty into the trash bag he had at his side.

despite the fact that he is working in the sun, he had a smile on his face. he likes dressing for the beach, a loose short sleeve button up and a pair of shorts that reach just above his knees. mink loves the sand too, showing as much by how she plays with it while memphis sifts some more sand.

only once he stops does she bound through his footsteps until she reaches the sifter and starts to help him empty it out to start the process all over again.

"when we're finished with our stretch, we'll get into the ocean for a little bit." he promises, loving how mink turns in excited circles and trills at him in response.

[attr="class","membr"] OPEN LIFE'S A BEACH MISSION

"terastallizing changes a pokémon's type to its 'tera type' for the remainder of the battle and increases the damage dealt by moves matching that type." memphis mumbles the information off as he reads it, standing at the entrance to mt. chimney's long trek up.

"i mean, it sounds cool for people who need an edge in battle..." he glances up at the area before them, then looks at his drampa. he's feeling might intimidated by the idea of exploration.

"i would kinda want it to be more like, a defensive thing though. so you're not weak against dragon or whatever..."

'or whatever' because memphis isn't the best at battling. his losing streak is far higher than his winning streak in the realm of pokémon battle. most of his wins were because his drampa has a stubborn attitude.

the drampa gives a small grunt before beginning to move forward up the mountain, as if to say that they wouldn't find anything if they just sat there talking about it.

"okay, okay." mink gets a few scratches of hesitation. which only causes the impatient drampa to snort. this motivates memphis to start moving. "coMInG MoM."

the mockery makes mink giggle and memphis keeps his eyes peeled for little shiny shards of tera joy.

[attr="class","membr"] OPEN TERA TEST MISSION

pokémon

[break]

items

pokeballs

misc. items

evo. items

expedition items

pkmn storage

up for trade

-

"okay." the reflection across from him mimics his every word, his ever breath. makes it easy to pick apart all of the things wrong with it. "you're gonna do fine. you're not gonna blow it...."

after a few silent moments, he lets out a strained, "haaaaaaaaaa or so you hope anywaaaaaaay."

a few more strained syllables and some incoherent grumbling pass the moments by that lead to leaving the house. he allows mink to hop off the couch onto his shoulder, curling her tail around him in a way that helps her to keep balance. he smiles her way, always smiles her way, and gives her scratches where she likes them while heading out of their room at the pokémon center.

he checks out with the front desk, grabs some breakfast for the two of them, and heads into the upper district. he's right on time and tries not to be impressed with himself. because intrusive thoughts spiral through his mind like untamed swellows.

should have been five minutes earlier. shouldn't have stopped for breakfast. what if i have crumbs on my shirt?

after checking with the front desk, he looks over the front of his shirt and is quickly reminded that he's spiraling when mink gives his head a small pat. a polite smile moves onto his face as he sits and waits, relieved that he managed to get there on time, not to early, but hopefully not too late either...

was i supposed to be early? was that a test?

mink makes circles in his lap to try and find comfort, which pulls him from his own self-destruction.

[attr="class","membr"]GIDEON GRAVES → employment act: i