this is gonna be an open thread!

not.. a man of many words. this was going to be uncomfortable, and she could already feel it from the tone of his voice. but that's okay. that's okay, because she just needed a little bit of time to adjust. she just needed a little bit of time to properly get a feel of any sort of conversation. yeah. it was usually the beginning that would be a speed bump, she tells herself.

probably the only thing that helps occupy her mind, at least for the meantime. enough for her to stave the anxiety that came with approaching new people away.

she could hear the clicking sounds of crystallized ice from afar, up until an ice-cream pokemon decided to show its face in the form of reflecting the dark type pokemon's light. she could hear the noivern groan, almost snarl at the dreaded ice pokemon it hated so. daphne only gently taps the bat pokemon, trying to pull its attention away while offering a small smile.

"leave it be. it won't hurt you." she says, knowing the wyvern. it was timid at heart since evolving, trying to put a strong front in spite of the trainer's protests. daphne only glances away from her pokemon to face her temporary companion. "ah.. erm.." she begins, instinctively taking a blue lock from her ponytail to begin gently twirling her finger around. a nervous tick.

"i've actually been looking for some more ice pokemon. some that look.. less like ice pokemon. my noivern is a bit antsy with them."

exposure therapy would definitely help it, right? a glance at the houndoom and umbreon made it obvious that they were well cared for and groomed, and that brought a smile to her face. "it's a pleasure to meet you three. my name is daphne, and this is amethyst." she motions to the noivern, who snuffs and kept a hold onto the trainer.

"what brings you to the cave?"

skipping
maverick noah ryder

it's been a while.

it's been a while since she's gone pokemon hunting in hoenn, after doing her fair amount of soul searching elsewhere. it was nice coming back, even more so to see that things haven't really changed, at all, for better or for worse.

unfortunately, she didn't have any pokemon that could help provide any kind of light. so she was a bit.. stuck in the dark, there. the only one in her arsenal was a noivern, which stood at her side glaring into the darkness. "could you lead me through?" she asks the bat dragon, with the fluffy pokemon grinning up with a somewhat cheerful hiss. somehow.

so it was a good sign, she thinks.

thankfully, she doesn't have to go too far without light. just up ahead, she finds the soft glow of an umbreon's rings illuminating the nearby ground. "ah--" she starts, with the words immediately forming a lump in her throat seeing the trainer nearby.

... you can do this, daphne. it was just a person. it shouldn't be too difficult speaking up, right?

"excuse me?" she starts, slowly pulling her noivern along with her. "i don't have any pokemon who can light up the way, so would it.. be okay for me to follow along?"
maverick noah ryder

the mood has lifted, and thank arceus for that.

lest she feel suffocated and choked up by her own awkwardness. her response was a smile after pulling her hand back, eyes gleaming between the mix of blue and yellow. "mmn. lets~" she chimes, and starts by taking a few steps forwards, ahead of him and up the path that only sloped that much more with each trudge up the mountain.

it doesn't take too long for her climbing, before she instinctively glances over her shoulder to glance at the man accompanying her. on one hand, she was very much grateful that he was willing to help her out. on the other hand..

her cheeks flush the tiniest bit red. she couldn't help but to recall the prior events, but she hadn't the heart to bring it up, or make it obvious. it was already hellish enough trying to deal with people, - nevermind men apart from her brother - so she was at.. a bit of a crossroads.

daphne catches herself eyeing him, for just a bit longer than usual. "a-ah.." the words stutter from her lips, as she raises her hands to gently fumble with a lock of her hair in the midst of her anxiety. "s-so.." she starts, twirling a lock "what brings you out here? it's not often i run into someone on my way up.."

@matthew

pleasant, it was just a pokemon. her garchomp gradually relaxed as it scuttled around, back into the trashbin in hopes to find some kind of food it could munch on. by the time a man had come out, she pulls a pokeball from her side with the intention to call her garchomp back.

"thank you." she says to the employee, offering a smile before turning back to lucas. daphne takes his hand into a firm shake, offering that same smile to him. "it was nice seeing you again, too. i'd love to hear more about your gym battles another time."

and with those words, she lowers her arm and took off.

little does he know, she was looking away for a different reason.

well, two reasons. one was because he was shirtless. second, because arceus smite her were she not a holy woman and tried to keep her eyes off a snack right there and then- not that she'd admit it, of course.

she'd even go as far as to vehemently deny it if the question were ever brought up. god forbid the day where alex decided to ask her about her love life, what with him already having a girlfriend and, probably, being eager to learn about hers.

god forbid.

and bless that he'd put a shirt back on, too. at least now, she could look at him properly without things getting too awkward, and recover from that.. accidental walk-in. her own nervous tick leaked through the seems, in the form of her fingers gently twirling a lock of blue hair between her fingers. she needs a moment to compose herself.

"that's.. good to hear." at least her words came out as.. less shaken, now. it was rude to keep her anxiety on her sleeve, especially seeing that he was more than willing to escort her up the mountain.

the pinkish hue doesn't leave her face, but she powers through it by offering a small, but warm smile, in addition to extending her hand out to shake his.

"my name is daphne. it's a pleasure."

@matthew

ah, hopefully she wasn't disturbing anything.

it didn't help that the man she came to was, very clearly, shirtless. the sight itself was enough to put a hue of red across the woman's cheeks, then prompts her to quickly turn her gaze away to give him the privacy. "i-i apologize for barging over, out of the blue--" she stammers over her words, a hand over her eyes as quickly as she tried to turn.

"y-yes," she starts, almost choked up as still recovering from what she'd seen "there have been reports of thieves and.. i was a bit concerned." something about them taking advantage of tired individuals that travelled up the mountain, unable to fight back to their full extent due to fatigue.

deep breaths, daphne. it wasn't easy talking to people, even less so when they weren't.. fully clothed. given a few moments after his words, she slowly lowers her hand back to her side, paired with a soft sigh, hoping that it can help with regaining her composure.

"i was hoping to reach somewhere close to the top, to pay my respects. i-.. erm.. i hope you don't mind."

@matthew
mission

"an entire year? arceus, that sounds terrible."

she shudders at the thought; she can't imagine waiting that long for a battle, but it was reasonable considering the amount of trainers that ran around - between the adults trying to become stronger or using this as a hobby, or the fresh trainers trying to finish their shiny scavenger hunt to climb to the top.

"we have when we were younger" a soft sigh escapes her lips, briefly recalling the older days where the siblings would train their pokemon together. the times were rare, but she always found it amusing even when she lost. "but i could only rarely beat him. granted, i don't think battling is much of my for--"

she's cut of, only by her garchomp softly growling as he glared off into a connecting alleyway; the same of which the earlier men had entered into. "is something wrong, cinnabar?" she asks, only for the dragon to let out another low growl.

Lucas Lane

ahhh..

she didn't want to do this. she really didn't want to do this. she was accustomed to office work, being a lawyer, and being swamped with papers and documents to sift through. though there were the occasional times where she would have to leave and try to attend to some.. things, with the company, the most physical activity she would get is walking her way down to the devon headquarters to chat in person. what couldn't be said through starly mail or the phone, at least.

mt. pyre was every bit intimidating as she remembers it to be; overbearing with the craggy surface and the slopes that left her winded and out of breath at just a glance. at least cinnabar, her garchomp, stood by her long enough to use one of his fins to shade the trainer.

they hike just a little bit, until she spots the figure of a man walking along and up the mountain. usually, she would have left someone be and kept on walking. usually, she would have walked right on past without a word (solely because she did poorly with talking to strangers, coming off as cold). but.. she wasn't going to get more sociable by hiding in her shell, was she?

yeah, she wasn't.

"excuse me?" daphne raises her voice, enough for the man to hopefully hear her. "erm.. i know this is sudden but may i accompany you?" she starts, trying to push down whatever initial butterflies may have threatened to stretch their wings "there's been word of thieves, and the path isn't completely safe, so.."

she trails off, tenting her fingers against her stomach. her eyes are directed downwards, the slightest bit, only peeking up to see the man's reaction.

@matthew
mission

she didn't.. exactly know what to think of the garb that was provided for the tower, but she didn't say anything as to not disrespect the custom. unfortunately, the outfit wasn't the only thing she wasn't prepared for; the sudden chuck into battle knocked her off for a moment, before she could properly process what was happening. luckily, one person in the group was already ahead with using wide guard to shield the party, to which she gave a small smile to the trainer in gratitude, and reached to pull her own pokeball.
[break][break]


a meganium makes itself known, craning its long neck and gently ruffling the petals at the bade by its body. from this distance, she assumes, she should be able to hit it. "peridot," she starts, glancing at the meganium that seemed a bit taken with the joltik, shooting out its electroweb. "to the wailmer, and use petal dance." with those orders, the pokemon began to conjure a flurry of pink petals, similar to those around its neck, and they are shot towards the water type in an attempt to ensnare it.


[break]

---

[break]

tl;dr: meganium uses petal dance
[break]
DEREK HOFFMAN @daisuke @billie

ALEXANDER STONE & daphne

where's my sibling thread :angrypepe:-- OKAY BUT LIKE real talk. we only touched on it briefly in the dms so i wanted to see if we can flesh it out here too? basically, daphne would have taken a a few months off to recompose herself, since she wasn't built to take over the company for as long as she did. thankfully, she didn't drive it to the ground while she was there, but she knows that some people still found her incompetent. 

that said, i'd love to see them like, confide in each other? big sister helping little brother out with things he needs, and listens to his problems when he needs it. and little brother helping his sister, since they're pretty much the only family that have on hoenn. she'll definitely congratulate alex once he becomes a gym leader too :uwu:

and tease him about illeana ofc

@gray & wendy

here's a rocket wth a heart. kind of. half a heart tbh.

wendy usually keeps to herself when it comes to rocket, and tends to most wounds and stuff when people come back in hurt. she's mainly in rocket due to her dad feeding into that innate bloodlust she's developed growing up (even though she doesn't exactly remember what happens, and when she does she feels horrible about it and beats herself over it rip).

ANYWAYS. GOING OFF THE RAIL-- i can see the two of them possibly getting along? bottom line: she's a good person who's being played by bad people, so i think that'd be a reason for gray to trust her? that and he could be someone that wendy can let loose around and calm down from being a stuttering mess 24/7 lmao

that, and a reason to make him conflicted to use violence against her when she goes off the deep end :blurryeyes:

lemme know o/