mar nodded at what trinity said, bending to pick up a sizable rock. "yea, let's just screw with it and tie it up. easy subject for study, then." the absol's premonition wasn't omniscient, but it seemed to experience a spike of stress about incoming danger. it flicked its head towards them and the ghost type approaching. while trinity's pokemon started making moves, mar threw the rock at the pokemon to give it more streams of activity to stress over. absol swung with a sucker punch.

mar yawned, then tossed her pokeball over at the duo, releasing clobbopus right into the battle. "hold that thing for trin, yeah?" clobbopus made a battle cry, then wrapped up the absol with bind to make it easier for polchageist to upset the absol.

she turned to trinity and conversationally added, "i don't much see the appeal of a pokemon that stresses itself out like that. i think its a bunch of hocus pocus. them and those psychic type pokemon that allegedly know what ye should eat fer breakfast fer maximum success."

trinity beckman

☉

looking at the pack of mabostiff inspired mar. hoenn had such strange pokemon swarms, another sign that the region was so unusual and powerful. she loved finding small events that reinforced her belief that she needed to be here. and, hell, she also loved looking at dark-type pokemon; they tended to inspire reactions in civilians that she favored.

of course, these guys were also a little cute, but her point stood. she wasn't expecting to see so many mabostiff together since her understanding was that they were boss-hog kinda pokemon and didn't answer to well to a lot of other authorities, but maybe she was mistaken. in any case, if she introduced herself to the swarm, she was sure she'd feel like a low-level grunt next to these bosses. "and yet... i want to take one home." screw it. she headed down to greet the dogs.

5qsPp01B

☉

mar couldn't help but notice the way the electricity flying all around impacted k's hair -- anything that altered the impeccably refined and dignified image of the other woman was out of the norm. just a glance would have you thinking kaelyn was a refined rocket. mar, on the other hand, seemed a little wild, too willing to get her hands dirty, and maybe a little feral altogether. but the things the two of them accomplished together? magic.

mar was pleased to hear k was still settling in. "it's good yer still gettin yer legs. we can save each other some time learnin this region by splitting the work." she kicked a dazed pikachu from meandering into her path, then turned back to the conversation. "aye, there's somethin special about hoenn. so many weird happenins lately, lots of legendary pokemon activity. and i know there's lots of treasure, too."

she looked over to the horizon, pensive about the secrets that rested at the peak of every mountain, at the bottom of its oceans, in the depths of its caves. "there's somethin special about this land. something powerful. and i want it." she'd gotten very intense as she said all this, almost possessed in the desire to seek treasure, but the moment passed from one second to the next, and mar was back to being totally loose and carefree.

"lots o' money to be made here. i've been getting involved in a couple of different rings. lotta folks need a trafficker like me, but that means i gotta be inland to get those connections set up." if she had it her way, she'd stay at sea 24/7. 

☉

information always came at a cost, but aurelie gave it only in return for an expedition, which could not guarantee success but certainly had good chances. she liked a woman that loved adventure and a little risk. "ye sound like a mighty fine explorer," mar said, more eager than ever. "i got navigation down, and i got this map memorized. i'm not the strongest trainer either, but me pokemon are mighty fierce. they take care o' problems for me."

she was thrilled that the woman before her was so experienced with weapons. that learned skill would complement mar's natural affinity for combat, which lacked finesse but leaned on instinct for survival. "i heard there's a lot of haunted pokemon there, honedge and its line. golettes and golurks. it used to be a military outpost that many died fighting for, so it draws a lot of ghosts, even without the ghost-communin' artifact."

she could feel the satisfaction that rested on her face. "i'm in if ye are. and if ye are, we can meet at this location when the cutlass is complete. we'll be ready for the trials of the treasure, then." on the back of the map, she wrote down the address to a cabana in the jungle. she drew a picture and added the coordinates, but it was one of the only buildings in the area, so it would ideally be easy to find even if aurelie had directional challenges.

Aurelie Lefevre

☉

mar bowed to the audience, mostly facetiously, but she did enjoy the attention. "marguerite and capsakid, here to deliver some bubble tea and entertainment." the supplies at hand covered a wild variety of flavors. she didn't know what to prioritize. she felt like brown sugar or honey would be a good start, but something herbal would make use of capsakid's talents.

hm. she chose the rose syrup and added it to the milk, adding a pump of vanilla to liven it up. capsakid poured tapioca pearls into a cup, choosing far more than mar would've used, but she preferred straight milk tea over boba. she raised a brow at her pokemon as she started munching on excess pearls, but the grass type was undeterred by her gaze.

"long as we enjoy ourselves," she relinquished, pouring her rose-vanilla milk over the pearls to create a soft pink drink. "this is almost pushing into too-sweet -- by my taste, anyways -- but it looks gorgeous."

MesUoPP3

☉

rough terrain wasn't mar's cup of tea. the environment was ugly and the paths were treacherous. she preferred the motion of the ocean to the tiny pebbles making their way into her shoes. "see that?" down the path, absol stood with a glowing horn and distressed body language, eyes scrunched shut as she processed the negativity and doom flooding her senses.

"the researchers were right. absols everywhere are struggling under the weight of the region's unrest. this thing would be so easy to catch right now." it wasn't the mission given to them, but still. they were supposed to calm the absol down. she frowned as the absol shook itself as if to clear the vibes it was receiving. "i think we should just let it freak out and sedate it afterwards." skrelp could poison it. mar didn't have any sleep powder with her, but the poison would slow it down just the same. she didn't have a fairy type to otherwise soothe it.

trinity beckman

☉

mar nodded her agreement. "better to catch a toxtricity in the wild if ye can fight it." she didn't have the patience for babies. capsakid was a force of nature and quite vicious, so she wasn't some little defenseless baby. she listened to mika's story with a warm, almost nostalgic look on her face. she had met dhelmise the same way, and it was her core pokemon, though it rarely stayed with her as it needed to protect her ship.

"that's sweet. the fur color is gorgeous. but i think i'd be nervous. special pokemon like that, they get targeted for the black market." she shouldn't have mentioned it, as a literal trafficker for the market, but she couldn't help but feel concern for mika's pokemon. there was clearly a bond there, and lycanroc weren't the easiest to get along with.

she turned to her clobbopus at mika's comment. "aye, he loves a fight. i've been very fortunate to find such motivated, aggressive pokemon. i don't do a lot of battles. no interest in those, ye know? but my pokemon are so motivated to get stronger, they train themselves. i get to watch and celebrate their wins." clobbopus would fight anything that moved. she loved the little guy. his feisty behavior inspired her to be unafraid of picking a fight.

"personality is more important to me than the type of pokemon. i need teammates who work well with who i have already. i don't have the patience for anything else. think i'm not so cut out for this trainer thing..." she wasn't very traditional in that sense. she ambushed instead of fighting normally. she acted from the shadows. but she needed more strength to appeal to the legendaries in the region, to search hoenn's depths for treasure.

skipping

Mika Nakayama

☉

"trainin them to be stronger is one thing. i have no interest in teachin discipline. some pokemon have too much of a conscience, too. them fairy and psychic types can be empathic as hell." she had yet to see a fairy-reliant rocket. those pokemon were typically good healers and excellent against brunt-force dragon trainers, but their dispositions tended to be too soft. ground types tended to be hard-headed but simple. pokemon behaviors were easily grouped, though there were lots of exceptions.

mar raised a brow at trinity's new encounter and choice of teammate. "that thing looks crazy." then she considered it further. "might be good for scarin others, though. i can see that thing at night creepin up on someone." she laughed. she didn't have a strong sadistic bone, but she did enjoy a scare or two. she didn't feel too strongly about bugs, since they were largely weak in her eyes. "we gotta find a cute pokemon for ye now that ye have so many weird ones."

she stopped walking to lean against a tree, but as she did, a grubbin crawled around it and walked onto her shoulder like he owned the place. "pft - knock off!" she patted it off her shoulder, but the grubbin was fast and hopped down to her waist. "stupid thing!" she went to grab the thing to toss it away, but it knocked against the empty pokeball at her waist, triggering the capture mechanism.

catching grubbin

trinity beckman

☉

her compatriot's irritation was expected. in the face of it, mar couldn't help but laugh good-naturedly. "nothing good comes to those who sit around, ye know." she was pleased to sicc her pokemon on the bees, letting clobbopus, capsakid, and skrelp all off their reigns and free to beef with any flying pokemon.

"isn't it a relief to be surrounded by the chaos? i feel like i can think. it's nice." something about all the external craziness made the internal craziness quiet and serene. she loved the trouble that came from criminality and pirating and this. absolute glee was plastered on her face as she pushed a combee out of her way. it flickered back to attack her and was met with a sucker punch from clobbopus. "ye know, i don't see a lot of flowers out here. why are there so many of these guys? it's kind of an unusual swarm, right?"

Calliope Alvara

☉