let me find oasis [open]

[white]

I'VE CRASHED TO EARTH BUT I'D
FALLEN FOR SO LONG IT WAS JUST RELIEF ―

She wasn't a little kid anymore. She knew that now, she knew that other people saw it like that too. When she adjusted the cap on her forehead, blocking out the sun - it seemed childish, but it was the sort of small things that reminded her of before that she held onto. 

She was training now, it was one of those things she did consistently. On the back roads of the routes she had traveled so many times before, that the numbers didn't stick out anymore but the roads blended together. From her original team she had Lapis Lazuli, who bore the scars down the left of his face, whose muzzle never seemed to lift itself from her shoulders nowadays. Sugilite who was always quiet, always faithful and trained harder, pushed longer - the weight of the others still resting heavily on their shoulders. Malachite who still tried it's best to be optimistic, who floated and read and still hated the rain. 

But there was holes where the others used to be. A flying type and a pokemon a little girl had entrusted her to take care of was now lying unmarked on another route somewhere and suddenly, white was choking on sawdust and she could feel Lapis' breathe on her neck as her fingers trembled again. "Good job Obsidian." She remarked, the tree in which they had been practicing on now shredded. Obsidian, who was so eager to please and so merciless that it didn't worry her but it should. What worried her was how much she didn't care about Obsidian's teeth and lust for battle. 

Her voice was so much stronger when she was still trembling and she motioned for Zircon to take Obsidian's place who bounced by her side as if nothing was wrong. But there was something missing, something more physical than ghosts. "Beryl?" She called and when the chatter from the joltik didn't come almost instantly she faltered. "Beryl?" The joltik that was barely larger than her hand and who liked daisies and flower crowns was gone and White felt her heart stop and the blood in her veins was all that much more colder. She glanced around, eyes wide and voice not yet trembling. "Beryl come out right now!"

lots of words. @open.

by sixsmith.

[william]

maybe one day we'll tire and simply drift away -- but that day is not today

maybe he could have flown. maybe he could have teleported; he and anne and garm and everyone else in his small team had traveled the world enough that shortcuts through dimensions and flights above the regions would have been a piece of cake. but for all that they could have done, william preferred walking. preferred feeling the solid ground beneath his feet, the passage of the surrounding land as he made his way through the world, each step something that had presence. perhaps he was odd that way, but he was one among many. he had good company. unova was lengths different from hoenn. the air was different, the people were different. anne told him that even the psychic imprints left on the earth was different. it was just another thing that set the regions apart, and william breathed in. the dirt beneath his shoes were solid. he was present; he wasn't dreaming. anne was at his shoulder, seeming to drift above the ground in her white robes. he needed the reassurance, sometimes, and she was always more than happy to give it. (and unlike some of the others on his team, she didn't mind walking. she understood why he needed to, sometimes.) his head jerked from where he'd been watching the clouds when a voice further down the route shouted -- for a person, probably. maybe he should have kept walking. maybe he should have turned around, gone another way. he picked up his pace and stuffed his hands back inside his pockets, anne still hovering by his side. the caller turned out to be a young woman, not quite frantic yet, with pokemon by her sides as well. "are you looking for someone?" he called out. william was closer, now, but he wouldn't get any closer; not yet. unova was part of a war, the same as hoenn. he knew better. anne, by his side, was observing with a pale rose-red gaze and judging reactions. they both waited. white

[white]

I'VE CRASHED TO EARTH BUT I'D
FALLEN FOR SO LONG IT WAS JUST RELIEF ―

She spun on her heels, practically ripping Lapis' head from her shoulder as she faced the stranger. She was conflicted with emotions, she was hoping to see Beryl hopping near the stranger's feet but also relieved. Perhaps it meant Beryl just wandered off somewhere as the adventurous joltik was known to do.

Sugilite merely narrowed her eyes, taking a hesitant step forward as if that alone would tell them to watch their step. White paused, careful to show not how flustered she was. Wasn't easy to do with her heart racing in her chest and the only thing she can taste on her tongue is sawdust. "Yes, I'm looking for my joltik," She said smoothly, glancing down at Zircon who had appeared by her side in curiosity. 

"Her name is Beryl, she's quite tiny, Very friendly." She answered, desperately wanting to ring her hands together in frustration, but refusing to show any weakness. All the regions were troubled by war nowadays and the only friends White had were her team. Allies were those in Zemina only and it's not like their enemies wore giant b's on their breast. 

Of course this wasn't the first she had lost the joltik. The bug type pokemon was the closest thing to a pacifist she had seen, hating to fight but rather enjoying adventures and the smell of sweet flowers. It was a snuggle-bug too, as mushy as that sounded, sweeter than honey. 

"Have you seen one around here?" She's hoping for a yes, even if she won't admit it. She should buy a leash for the damn joltik now that she thought about it. 

lots of words. william

by sixsmith.

[william]

maybe one day we'll tire and simply drift away -- but that day is not today

neither pokemon nor trainer reacted to the mienshao, more concerned with the trainer than their pokemon. it wasn't the first time that they'd been met with hostility. it didn't matter, and it never would. william payed attention instead, noting anne's movement out of the corner of his eye when she shifted to better take in the mienshao and the deerling that had appeared. a joltik would be... hard to find, especially on the road, where getting lost meant a difficult time finding a way back. not as hard as getting lost in a town or a city, maybe, but being on a route meant that the joltik could have gone further down the path without realizing it. and he'd come in the direction of one of the cities; if she'd gone down his way, he would have seen it by now. william shrugged as an answer, moving only his shoulders. "i haven't," he said, and paused. a stranger on the road was nothing new, and even expected in the world they lived in. he already had anne with him, and as he turned towards her, the gardevoir gave a shrug of her own. it was his choice, to help search or not. he turned back to the trainer, taking in her pokemon. they looked war-torn and weary -- like many people these days. they probably couldn't afford to lose a member of their own this far into the war, and this far away from any city. "i can help look, though," he offered, and drew a hand out of his pocket to gesture toward his gardevoir partner. "anne can probably do a psychic scan of the area to search for your joltik, if you don't mind the slight intrusion." many people didn't like the touch of a psychic on their minds; this woman could be one of them. white psychic scans are totally a thing, btw. checked it with caed and everything. <3