So many worries... (Solana Almaten)

[Cresselia]

A young child that appeared to be about four to six years of age was standing in the center of a grassy clearing in the park, his eyes were sealed shut and bright tears rolling down his cheeks as he cried. He stood out against the green, his curly black hair and his slightly tan skin contrasting sharply with his surroundings. It was as if he had been walking and suddenly realized something was wrong, instantly stopping as he began to weep in distress. Suddenly, he stopped crying as he heard a voice as soft as the wind enter his hearing.

Shhhh...everything is okay…

A young woman suddenly appeared next to the child, her powder blue eyes soothing and peaceful as she looked at his tear-stained face. The golden tresses of Cresselia's long blonde hair slipped over her shoulders as she leaned forward to unravel the whitish-pink silk of her scarf from her neck, crouching next to the juvenile who had just now ceased sobbing. His small hands were clenched tightly at his sides as he seemed to blink away his tears at the unexpected arrival. She had been several blocks away when she sensed his small, frightened aura from inside the bounds of the park, and had been drawn to her current position by his atmosphere of suffering.

Now at eye level with the young boy, Cresselia lightly dabbed at his drenched cheeks with the almost white pink-colored silk, drying the worst of his tears with the soft material. At first he seemed a bit disoriented and disturbed; his sense of pride that had reawakened when he realized that someone had found him crying. However, now with his crying quieted, he appeared significantly better now that Cresselia smiled warmly at him.

The lunar swan looked at him in a friendly way, as if asking him what he were doing out here looking so sad. The young child seemed to barely notice the unasked question before pouring out his story.

“I took the wrong turn! I should have kept walking down the path, but I heard one of those birds that mom likes. One of the brown ones with white feathers that make a ‘cheep cheep’ sound. I found it, and then I saw it eating. I tried to catch it to bring it with me, but then it flew away, and I got lost…” The child did not seem to be begging her to believe him; he could sense that she did anyway. There was no need to invent any story to explain it, he was just telling her like he would explain to a friend he didn’t need to impress. He looked slightly downcast that he had missed the bird, but otherwise seemed fine.

“Can you help me?” The boy asked her, looking at her questioningly. Cresselia stood in answer with a small smile, outstretching her hand towards him in an invitation for him to take it.

“No! I have to get out on my own. If you could give me directions, I can find my way!” The boy’s reply was stately and matter-of-fact. Cresselia did not need to read his mind to see that he clearly considered it a test, and something to make restitution for his lost pride. The young woman nodded seriously and then gracefully extended a hand, pointing the way toward the road from which she came, which was little more than a few meters behind a nearby treeline. “Thank you very much!” The curly-haired boy spoke in a straight-forward manner, marching in the direction she had indicated. She waited until she could feel his aura disappear from her limited range of sensing, then looked about her surroundings. She knew she was close to the road, but did not remember this part of the park being so close. The grass was a greenish-straw color, the blades dried from the climate and slightly stiff from the cold. The trees had leaves, but they were stiff and appeared to be dry. Not nearly so beautiful as the Flower Fields in the west part of Remoor.

Cresselia stepped slowly around a large oak tree nearby, still moving parallel to the road through the park. She came upon a clearing still larger, but with more trees scattered around, and came into view of the park. She could see the square and the line of shops nearby from the park, and a few of the people passing and going here and there through the street. This was by far the friendliest part of the region that was habitable towards humans, but it was still plagued by people’s worries and abstract concerns. For the most part, they seemed busy and the concerns less worrying than simply being everyday life, but every so often, Cresselia could sense some things that were more pressing.

Cresselia stood beneath the shade of one of the trees in the park, her bright eyes glittering as she gazed at the distant people. People were admirable in the fact that despite all their troubles many managed to persevere, but also sadly ignorant in how they allowed themselves to be locked in such a cycle of constant need and want that hardly ever granted them any true happiness.

The only refuge that some of them ever seemed to be granted was in the dreams she gave them, and while these could bestow a deep sense of serenity and bliss, they could also leave some people bitterly disappointed at the world they woke up to...

Why do they so infrequently change if they realize this? The lunar swan mused silently as she gazed sadly at the few humans in her range of vision...

[Solana]

The hustle and bustle of the city irritated Sol's foreign ears. She didn't have to deal with all this nonsense noise back at home. Heck, the rainforest and a storm put together was quieter that this place. The beeping of angry drivers and the yelling of salesmen were something anyone could get annoyed about. But why isn’t anyone annoyed?

Solana came to a stop when she reached the curve and a red car zoomed past. The car was just about to make a turn when a police car, with its lights flashing and siren, blared past. Sol just shook her head, but not because of the crazy speeder. Beside her foot, a very excited Fuego bounced back and forth, his yellow chest fur bouncing along with him. His ears perked at every noise and quickly moved his head toward the source as if he were about to do battle with it.

She sighed, "Fuego, no one in this town is going to sneak attack you. So calm down already, you’re embarrassing me." Sol can see from the corner of her eye that several people were giving her strange looks. This wasn't for her caramel skin or how tightly she grabbed on to her black jacket. It was to the bouncing fur ball by her feet. “How can I be calm?!” Fuego began to spin around in circles then unexpectedly jumped onto his trainer’s right shoulder, “The sights, live and sound are calling to me!” This action caught Sol off guard and she slowly started to fall toward the busy street. Luckily, her quick reflexes pushed her body back onto the safety of the sidewalk. She glared at the young pokemon but he continued, “Not only is it calling to me, it is screaming for me to be alert, aware, and,” the flareon covers its head with Sol’s tightly curled brown hair as if it were jungle vines, “ready for the danger that lie ahead!” “FUEGO! Get out of my hair!” Solana quickly untangled her crazed pokemon out of her hair, but she was too tired to take him off her shoulder. Fuego ruffled his fur and looked somewhere else, acting as if nothing had happened.

The signal light turned green and the whole herd of people beside them walked forward, unconsciously moving to wherever they were programmed to go. Yet, Sol knew exactly when she was going, to one of the few places she feels at home, the park. As she passes halfway down the street, a boy with curly black pointed to Sol, “Mom, mom look at the cute, fluffy kitty!” Sol had to giggle because she knew who he was talking about, and so did Fuego. “Hey you stupid kid! I am not cute! I am a strong and fearless pokemon that will someday- oaf!” Sol had enough of his yelling and pulled him off of her shoulder and held him in front of her chest, “Now, now, he is just a kid. Of course he is going to think you’re cute.” The flareon growled, upset because it was true but he hated it, “Stupid kids.” No, he is smarter that you thing. She laughed in her head but a smile managed to escaped as she walked into the woods of the park.

Deeper in the forest, Solana was looking for her favorite training spot, a small clearing just a small walk away from the street. At this point, she could barely hear the rushing cars and noise from the city. All she could hear is the crunching of the grass underneath her feet and the wind rushing past the leaves. It took her a little longer to get there but she finally did.

The trees opened up to a clearing, shaded by the branches of large oak trees. There wasn’t any flowers or mushrooms or bushes in this clearing, just short, green grass. Sol took a deep breath, this one of the few times she can enjoy nature. She had learned by the time that she bought the apartment that this land was now becoming a wasteland, after the many years of war. Sol signed; she will never understand these people. Why fight? Why do they have to hurt others?

Sol shook her head. She had a job to do, and right now the most important thing to do is train her pokemon. After searching through her jacket, she picked out one pokeball and tossed it into the air. The ball clicked and with a flash of white light a large tree like pokemon appeared. It shook its large head and turned to Sol, “It is nice to see you again Solana. You doing well?” Platano slowly walked over to his trainer and nuzzled her, “Has that mean Fuego been nice to you?” Fuego jerked up from his spot a few feet away, “What you mean by mean! You baby her like she is your own kid!” Platano turned his head to face the loud pokemon, “At least I don’t hurt her like you did earlier on the street, you cutie kitty you.” Platano can’t help but grin. Fuego’s eyes grew, “How dare you, you-you walking fruit stand!!” Now Platano was completely facing the flareon, “Now, at least-“

Sol watched, from afar, her pokemon go at it. She had seen this millions of times so she just waited by the sidelines until things had calmed down.

(occ: I hope this is okay >.<)

[Cresselia]

(ooc: Perfectly fine, dear, I see no reason why it wouldn’t be. ^^)

While Cresselia watched the various paths of the people passing through the main square of Nada Citadel, her mind was active and musing over the lives of many of the people she came to every evening. It was then that she caught sight of a young woman with her flareon walking down the street. She was tan, a skin tone uncommon in this area due to the climate. Her hair was long and curled attractively and her outfit was different than what she was used to seeing, but it was not these but her personality that drew Cresselia's gaze; her aura was strong.

The young woman held the flareon in front of her as she walked, as if the pokemon was either being troublesome, or perhaps it simply couldn't walk. The disgruntled aura settled around it made Cresselia inclined to think the former of the two options. She watched the pair with faint amusement, though there was a hint about the young woman besides her personality and what appeared to be something similar to embarrassment that caught the lunar swan’s attention. As Cresselia watched, the young woman turned and began to walk into the park.

Pausing briefly yet finding herself learn more about the girl’s problems, Cresselia stepped out from the shadow of her oak tree and walked in the direction the girl had passed. It wasn’t far before she caught the traces of voices ahead of her. Slowly, the sounds of traffic and the urgent steps of the people of Remoor were washed away by the quiet of the forest within the treeline encompassing the area.

Cresselia stood some distance from the edge of a small clearing that she was aware that the young woman stood.

“It is nice to see you again Solana. You doing well?” The voice was that of a Tropicus, for Cresselia had seen enough of them in her centuries of experience to recognize the distinct tones that only the leaf-winged pokémon could make.

Solana…a fitting name. Cresselia smiled inwardly as she stepped closer to the edge of the trees without a noise, in order to catch sight of the trainer and her partners. The small fiery pokemon was on the ground now, and seemed to be engaging the tropicus into a lively little argument that consisted entirely of the flareon adding offensive insults as an attempted defense to what seemed like the tropicus’s easy-going or at least more mature personality. In the meantime, the young woman waited to the side slightly, observing her pokémon’s small spat. She seemed more uninterested than anything else, but mostly resigned to the facts of the situation, as she made no attempt to stop them. Cresselia was given the distinct impression from her attitude that these disagreements weren’t exactly a very unique occurrence.

Cresselia stood silently at the edge of the clearing, within the shade of a wide-trunked tree. It would be impolite to disturb Solana and her pokémon. Besides, what intrigued her was what seemed to trouble the young woman. Cresselia pondered what might be the problem, making several conjectures as to what might be the cause and what caused her dissatisfaction. She presumed that it was likely some worldly trouble, as anything more emotional or more deeply problematic would be more evident from her disposition. Perhaps it was a boyfriend…or a job of some sort.

Well-enough concealed that the girls was unlikely to see her unless she were looking, Cresselia would hopefully see in time.
Besides, if worst came to worst, she could always ask later...

[Solana]

After about five minutes, the two stubborn pokemon were still at it. This ticked off Sol a bit. Really, her pokemon were so opposite, in not just view but in personalities as well, that they could argue for hours on end.

The flareon started to fluff up again, attempting another tackle. She slapped her forehead, Really Fuego? Fine, I am going to start the training now then. She walked to where she was midway between the two pokemon, having a good view of both of them. It only was a second later that the fur ball rushed at the large grass pokemon. Platano watched him closely. He knew that Solana was going to be training Fuego this time. It seemed as if he could almost read her thoughts sometimes, this is most common when training.

As Fuego was about three feet away from him, he lifted his large feet off the ground, waiting for the pokemon to get close enough to stomp on. Solana saw this coming and warned the flareon, “Fuego, watch it!” Fuego looked up and realized what was about to happen. He tried to slow down or move out of the way but he was too close. Solana quickly came up with an idea, “Fuego use a powerful ember attack now!”

Fuego opened his mouth, allowed his inner heat to rise and a fury of ember sparks sprayed out onto Platano. This was just enough force to push Fuego away from the tropius large feet before they slammed onto the floor, creating a crater around them. Fuego jumped twice backwards before signing, “That was a close one.” I agree. . . .

This singed Platano a bit, “Not too bad I must say. . .” He shook his large head, the fruit under his head move vigorously. Then, he shook his body to remove the ash created by the ember. He stood up tall and majestically, “But, that won’t be enough to slow me down.”

Solana had no time to think of another attack as Platano suddenly flapped his enormous, leafy wings and rose up into the air. Fuego shook a bit, he never liked it that Platano could fly; he felt that he would always be at a disadvantage. Platano rose up about three more feet before diving toward the little, nervous flareon. The large pokemon was pretty fast for his size, which didn’t give Sol or Fuego much time to think. Fuego could only think on one attack to do that might help him, sand attack. He turned around, tail facing the large pokemon coming straight at him, and kicked up as much dust as he can. Yet, he had forgotten that flying pokemon were immune to ground attacks, including sand attack.

Platano slammed onto the defenseless pokemon, right on the rear. That sent Fuego flying toward a nearby tree. His back crashed onto the tree trunk, and the tree trembled from the large impact. He stuck onto the bark for a few second before falling onto the floor. Solana started to walk quickly toward Fuego, to make sure that he didn’t get too hurt.

((ps. it is sing it is suppose to be singe but both seem to have the same past tense >.<))

[Cresselia]

Cresselia watched the small practice session, feeling the tension of the air and the changing auras of the woman and her participating pokemon. Each exchange was unique to the pokemon's personalities, and their levels of skill seemed on different planes.

The Flareon already had a disadvantage in terms of size, though it held a partial advantage in terms of type. To top it off, the fiery pokemon seemed younger than the Tropicus, if not less experienced. From the beginning he seemed doom to fail. Cresselia gazed out, watching as the Tropicus took advantage of the smooth and lush green leaves bent out from its back, lifting off the ground with a grace that seemed difficult to imagine from the large pokemon.

Not long after he had taken to the air, he took an unexpected dive at the small bundle of fire, who resorted to creating a vague screen of scattered particles of the surrounding dirt that did nothing to the flying tree pokemon. The impact was powerful, and the flareon flew across the area, its furry back slamming into the tree. A few leaves detached themselves in the shudder, drifting down to the ground as the flareon sank to the ground in a small heap.

Oh my... The lunar swan did not think twice, but quickly bridged the gap between her and the treeline, stopping before she emerged from the leafy undergrowth. She glanced to her left, a few feet away and saw the small pokemon a couple meters away, and then saw the young woman who was its trainer approaching from the right side. Cresselia watched the large pokemon who was at the moment still in the clearing, then hesitated before emerging completely from the trees.

The pokemon may have sustained quite a bit of damage, but as Cresselia was now, she could do nothing to help him. If the trainer did not notice her as she approached her pokemon, Cresselia would walk up next to her to see what was the matter, but if Solana did notice that she was not alone, she would remain standing unobtrusively out of the way.

(ooc: I apologize for the short post, I'm just not quite feeling entirely up to potential today.)