smash_logs | Smash vs. Wild

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Smash vs. Wild

Who: Flint and YOU!
What: The manliest camping trip ever
Where: The green stuff in the northeast corner of the map
When: The weekend of September 7-9
Warnings: Poison ivy.

Ah, camping. The great outdoors! Nature! Wind in the trees and rivers flowing down the mountain. Far, far, far away from civilization. And science. Especially science. Flint loved the outdoors. A little fresh air always did wonders for his mood. And when things got really stressful? Well, on those occasions, he needed an extra dose of the outdoors.

This was one of those occasions.

Two times running mazes for homicidal robots was two times too many, and as much as he could at least tolerate all the wonders of modern invention in FDC, all of the recent science had set him a little on edge. He needed to unwind, and he finally found himself with a free weekend to do it. And he thought, why not bring everyone else along for the ride? Surely some fresh air would do them good, too. Yep, this was gonna be a good weekend.

((OOC: There will be some general threads but please feel free to go nuts and make your own threads for stuff!))

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Water meant different things for different people. When Blue was younger, the sound of thunder or even just the onset of a small shower was enough to throw her into a mild panic. Something like this would have had her heart pounding in no time. Things were different with a fire starter. They had both learned since then, the do's and the don'ts. But even still, sometimes Blue couldn't help the slight leap in her chest when she felt the light patters of water on her hands.

Admittedly, this was nothing compared to the rains that had fallen last month. Her dragon was already safely tucked away. There was no reason to freak out.

... Actually it was quite difficult to freak out. There was a very calming, sweet scent in the air. It was soothing. Blue could already guess where it came from before she even got back to camp. She ran over over, clutching her hat to her head, to say hello.

Meanwhile, Vinnie had situated himself under a large tree - as a shield from the rain it was less than complete, as water still trickled readily through the leaves, but he was really there more for the company than shelter. Thankfully, the previous few days had been kind in the sunshine department, so the onset of fatigue was slow. But unless he had to, the Venusaur was just going to relax for now.

Hearing the splatter of footsteps on wet soil headed his way, his ears twitched to attention and he sat his large, warty body up in the mud. A low rumble was voiced in greeting of the trainer, somewhat surprised to see her outside and getting soaked instead of under a tent.

At least she had the good sense to have packed her raincoat. She had even better sense to actually have it on. Blue came to a stop near him, sidling up next to his tree to take advantage of the slight cover it did provide.

There was a moment where her gaze lingered on the mismatched appearance of his leaves and her smile faltered. Him too, huh. She had been a little nibby and had been able to gather from some of the network activities that something had happened, but she hadn't known what. It was one more mystery with visible consequences to add to the pile. It would seat neatly amongst bullet wounds and scarred faces. He had warned her, she recalled.

But it was just for a moment. Her smile rekindled itself and she lifted her hand to give him a small wave as she greeted him. "Hello! It's really coming down, huh?"

The slight skip in her smile didn't go unnoticed by Vinnie, but regardless, he nodded his broad head and sat up. He shifted his back slightly, shaking water droplets off the edge of his ragged petals - considering how tall the evolved Pokemon was, there was enough room underneath the expanse of his flower for Blue to fit under, if she wanted.

Having people - strangers especially - around his leaves had been a nervous point for quite a while. The fear was lessened now, with all the time spent in Erika's gym and the over-friendly girls who doted on Grass Types there, at least enough to offer an old acquaintance some solace from the rain.

It was an offer she wasn't about to refuse. Blue scooched up next to his warty side. It was already a bit dryer. "Thank you."

Gently, she leaned her hand against his leg as she rifled through the large pockets of her coat.

"I didn't expect it to get here so fast. I was out looking for some berries. You liked the uh... mmmm." Blue scrunched her nose up as she sorted them out. Some of them liked sweet, some of them like spicy, at least one liked dry... "Was it the sour ones or the bitter ones?"

"Saur," was the answer. Well, 'sour.' Close enough.

In case the language barrier was still an issue, a vine unfurled from beneath his flower trunk and pointed to the Berries in question.

The combined message was pretty clear. Blue giggled and separated some of the sour berries (mostly aspears) from the rest of the bunch.

"Consider yourself the lucky fellow with first dibs," she told him as she held one out.

There was a growl of thanks as the extended vine picked an Aspear out of Blue's hand. Vinnie had never been one for being hand fed, even as an Ivysaur, but considering that currently, his mouth was larger than Blue's torso... well, eating delicately out of someone's palms wasn't super feasible.

Oh, delicious Aspears. How many times have you saved him from being frozen solid on that ice mountain he called home.

There was another brief giggle. The trainer greatly appreciated the fact that the Venusaur was not about to inhale her hand. This was good. One berry consumed and enjoyed. Blue stowed the rest back away on her person so she could share the rest later that night or tomorrow. There was a decent amount of Pokemon on the trip, and they were pretty tasty to people too. (Or maybe that was just Blue...)

Blue leaned back against him, looking up at the leaves that stretched out near her. Two were broad and nicked, already tested by time but still green with health. The others had been different. She couldn't quite see them where she was at, but their presence did not go unforgotten.

Her smile remained, but it had taken on a softer look. Her eyes were a bit sadder. "Those were the important things you were going to show him, huh? Your leaves."

Vinnie didn't bring his eyes to meet hers - he didn't feel he needed to. From the tone of her voice, he could already see her face in his mind's eye. Funny, those old wounds should've been old news, something that no longer fazed him. That was what all his training was supposed to achieve, after all. Acceptance. Patience. Growth.

He'd worked so hard to stay strong enough for his team, but Red wasn't even here.

Pushing away the faint ache in his chest, he wanted so much to keep the ugliness out of Blue's sight. The Venusaur glanced away from her, occupying himself with watching the serene static of the rain. His ears, however, still flattened backwards dejectedly, giving away his mood even in his silence.

The silence was telling.

Blue joined Vinnie in watching the rain. Under the right circumstances, it had the potential of having soothing effects. It lended well to thinking. Blue mused as she watched the pattering against fallen leaves.

"Trainers are very privledged," she spoke up after a while of contemlative silence. "I think a lot of them forget about that. It's an honor to be able to have a team. You're blessed when they become like your family." Her smile came and went as she spoke, varying with the thoughts flicking through her mind. "Not every team is quite that fortunate though."

Blue paused, glancing over at Vinnie. The back of her hand rested against his side with a little pat. "Sometimes I have to wonder if he realizes just how damn lucky he is to have you."

The Venusaur flared his nostrils and huffed, breathing out a light stream of fog into the open air. The condensation dissolved as quickly as it came, becoming a memory in the steady downpour around them. How brief it all was. The world just happily carried on, regardless of what with lost.

His heart wanted to defend Red - they were a family, his absence didn't change that. As a trainer he trusted his Pokemon, relied on them, and he wanted to grow stronger for their sake. He had such difficulty connecting to most other people that his team was everything: a last tether to prevent him from hermiting away forever. It wasn't something he conveyed easily, but the sentiment remained.

But then there were times like this, when Red did forsake the world to isolate himself utterly. When his Pokemon needed him and he was absent, either in body or mind, expression and emotion. Just be here, Vinnie had told him once - that was all they wanted.

The Venusaur had always pursued strength for his own reasons. To protect the things he wanted to protect. There was a time when he simply wanted to carry on that burden alone, weighed by shame and responsibility - so he knew how separation could weaken the spirit. That lesson, however, was one he had come to understand at a price, paid for in part by the people most dear to him. What Red was doing... perhaps it'd come to its own resolution as well.

But he couldn't know how costly it would be.

Vinnie grumbled, ears flicking off a small trickle of rain. He could understand the why, so he would bear the absence. It made him no happier to do so, but that's simply what he had to do as a man.

Blue was good at guessing the body language of other Pokemon that she couldn't call hers, but she was incredibly far from perfect. There were cases where she would have to grasp for things and hope that she was reading them correctly, lest they end up in an unfavorable outcome. This was one such situation, and it was already delicate enough without messing things up. Agitation was evident enough in the Venusaur, but Blue couldn't begin to guess who it existed for. That was assuming it was actually for anyone at all. It was definitely possible that it was just for the whole situation in general.

Blue sighed and leaned her head back against him. She was the one that had started bringing things up, so she went along with that.

"I'm sorry. I've been away for too long, so I really don't have any room to say anything... and it's a little selfish on my part. I miss him a lot too."

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Smash vs. Wild

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