Welcome to Shadow |Open|

It was dim as the fire type wandered through the forest. While Natural was wandering she had an idea in her head. A small little hideaway. She was planning on hiding herself away, but she was willing to find some friends! She was hoping to at least find someone to help her out with the heavy lifting to get some wood and such. Her paws were leading her somewhere but she was oblivious to the fact it was dark until she looked up and noticed the dimming sky and rushed off

She did return with some objects to make a makeshift shelter for the night. As it grew on the night began eating away at the bright blue skies, and hiding clouds in it's domain like a secret. Then came the crickets and the stars slowly moving on as she worked. It was finally moonrise and her time to figure out how to not burn everything down
With a frown she set to work.

Equipped with a tattered, crinkled map and a lack of direction, it was quite inevitable that Tom might accidentally veer off course. He was anticipating that he might be able to relax in the Coral Forest his afternoon and enjoy a well-earned vacation, but apparently the universe had decided otherwise for him. His vision was blocked by the thin paper, and this same parchment concealed his face and mandible. His claws had hooked into the thin layer of existence that it held, scrunching up at the location of where he held it as it became more and more obvious that his frustration at being lost was being redirected into that piece of paper. Occasionally, one might be able to observe the crocodile poke his head up above the map so that he might analyze his surroundings, but such instances became less and less frequent.

Tom's gait was equivalent to that of a spritely, spirited march: he was doing his best to make the most of his day. As it became increasingly clear that he might not be able to see his beloved Coral Forest, he became more agitated and enraged. Damn his sense of direction! He would eventually yield to this conclusion of never being able to reach his vacation spot, and would fling the paper over his shoulder and up into the air after crumpling it up into a ball. Looks like he was taking the long way again.

Natural sighed as she began to paw away at the grass to make a fire nearly cursing at the ground for it's stubborn actions to stay put and was close too yelling at it when she heard a sound. A paper was torn on something! There was some wind but not much, though it was enough to put the paper into the bush. A thorn bush really...I'm amazed that i didn't lose my tails skirting around it Natural thought as she moved along hoping to find who did it

          "Hello? Shhhhow your ssself!" She murmered to the wind. Who ever was out here was out here for a reason. Her mind was nearly begging the gods for her not to be trapped in any robbery or anything dangerous! Please please pleasee! Let this thing have good intentions! I don't want to have to run for my life.. She quietly went around the the small area without bumping into anything, well Natural thought she almost tripped over a root a few times. She was making herself look larger and more fluffier than normal. That is what normal pokemon do right? Her brain was ready for a meeting with a pokemon hopefully getting to the use the ember she has reading.

If anything would make Tom exceedingly noticeable, it was the fact that he now realized that the map was probably best used and not nonchalantly cast aside as if it were the equivalent of trash. Understanding his less than stellar sense of direction, he was, without a doubt, going to become more lost if he didn't exploit its utility. It was as if he were a boyfriend in a romantic comedy who had just dumped his girlfriend and realized that she was, in fact, the one: his feet would stop moving, and he would promptly do a 180 degree turn to chase after his prized one. Arms outstretched, Tom would witness his map rebuking him like a scorned lover and allowing itself to be blown away. Persistence was his middle name, however, and he would give chase.

Some time seemed to pass before his map came to a stop. Trapped upon a bush, the Totodile was ignorant to the fact that the sole thing holding it there were thorns - and lots of them. He would barrel into the plant, and swiftly realize his mistake as dozens of barbed processes bore into his leathery-scaled hide. Some managed to find the individual cracks that dashed about each scale and dug themselves into his unprotected flesh. Needless to say, he was promptly howling with pain.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!" was all he could manage to exclaim as his claws hooked up the parchment and his feet flung him desperately out into the clearing face first. His rounded snout would make contact with the hardened soil, and cause his belly to smack into the earth. This day was not turning out like he was imagining!

She stopped moving as Natural looked at the pokemon. She froze for a moment and rushed over to Tom   looking at him

"Oh my..." was the only words she could stutter as she was nearly frozen by the quick movement and the loud sound he made added with the fact he rushed through the thorns. The totodile was clearly in pain, that didn't help her shyness at all. She was a few feet away staring at him as she slowly rushed around him, though fear was setting in. What is he doing here, Who is he. Also, What cause him to- Her thoughts paused as she looked at the map. The map was crumpled , almost torn, and was upside down... Seriously, who holds a map upside down?

"Ohhh...Are you alright sir? You know your.....map is....upside down...Right?" she had to pause to puzzle her self over this. Who would be in a dark forest in night running around like there's no tomorrow! Her thoughts went in circles until memory stopped it and she sat down slowly moving closer like a small child, purely confused about...well everything... It did make sense.. Right?

Tom would automatically right himself as soon as he heard a voice. Though it would be quite awkward looking - considering how he swung himself about in a fashion akin to a turtle attempting to get off of its back - he would find his feet and ready himself for a confrontation. He was sporting several black thorns that had embedded themselves in the cracks in between his scales, and allowed his hands to raise in preparation. To his - much needed - relief, it would appear that such aggression would not be necessary. A Vulpix that looked as sweet and shy as a blooming flower was before him and interrogating him about his well-being.

His jaw and hands would relax, and the Totodile did his best to look as approachable as possible.

"Oh yes, quite fine!" he would exclaim, allowing his lips to curl into a friendly smile, "Nothing that a half hour or so of pulling and tweezing can't handle!" Gosh, those thorns were stung!

A look of confusion came over his face as she mentioned the state of his map. He would question, "Upside down?" He would swiftly examine his map. Lo and behold, he had mixed up the compass rose on the corner, and was instead heading West when he should have been heading East. "Oh," a sullen look exchanged that of confusion, "no wonder why I haven't been able to get to my destination. Thanks for pointing that out."

She decided that he was...alright and she had nothing to worry about and nodded

"So...Uhh... Would you mind if you help me..set up a little base over there?" Her 1st tail pointed towards the little makeshift roof "I...kinda don't wanna....burn this all down you see.....Since it might be cold? Also if you like i could help...with the thorns and all....." Natural was, alas, being timid again. He did just 'poof' in here, and also his claws seemed to be better equipped than her paws..Well they weren't claws. They were pointier though and hopefully that would help. She almost gagged though, for some reason nearly putting fire in her closed mouth as that really only happened during day for some reason.

"Hopefully you don't mind me asking....Uhh...I should've asked this before though......whats...Whats your name? I'm... natural.." She let her name out in a slight squeak showing that Natural was still slightly "scared" and her tails were wrapping around her like caterpie's evolution shell. She wasn't really familiar with the outlaws and all of that and she was stuck between worried, scared, and frozen.
After his reply she went towards the little firepit she was gonna make and began trying not to fail pulling grass.

Already, Tom began to pull at the thorns that plagued and clogged the cracks along his flesh. They were painful to pull at - some of them had barbed tips! - but came loose with a simple pluck. He would wince every time he managed to rip one out, though he would do his best to maintain an air of toughness. He simply could not allow it to appear that he was in pain - even if he had yelped as he leaped out of the thorn bush just awhile ago. When the Vulpix mentioned an exchange of services, he would leap at the opportunity.

"Sure," he would say with a nod, pulling out a rather stubborn thorn and flicking it back towards the thorn bush it had originated from, "I suppose some manual labor would be a good exchange!" It would also be an opportunity to investigate this little fox. He was quite friendly with strangers, but was only willing to trust them as far as he could throw them at first. If he did some poking around, he might be able to judge her character.

It was time for an exchange of names! Tom would pause what he was doing and allow a friendly smile to dawn upon his face, "I'm Tom. Pleasure to meet you, Natural! Where should we start?"

"Uhh....I kinda.... well....-squeak- can't...Pull out grass.....Hopefully you wouldn't mind?" she sighed as she washed her face for the dozenth time. She was hoping to get rid of the dirt on her face when she was pulling it with her mouth. Paws are terrible at pulling slick grass. Noted. She remembered and began trying to pull out the grass again, once in a while pulling a thorn out carefully.

"So..Tom....Uhh...Hows it going.....Since i think we got your thorn problem out of the way...Hopefully.. It's nice night.....for being in a dark forest...Right?" Natural stopped talking hoping that she wouldn't bother him. She was slightly stuttering now that she knew the area she knew was fine and began to return to her old self. Timid, quiet, and "anti-social". She looked to him and slowly began pulling out most of the thorns and putting them in a pile to burn later.
Hopefully they could burn

A nod was given in acknowledgement to her request. It was his obligation to help those who needed it - and he simply couldn't help but be nosy as to why this perfectly decent Vulpix wanted to set up shop here! "Sure thing," he would say, a chipper note audible in his tone, "I'll happily help pull up grass for you!" It was a reasonable request: he had hands, she had paws. Thumbs and fingers undoubtedly trumped paws and toes when it came to uprooting things. He would waddle over to where some long, slick grass grew and promptly began digging his hands into the long stems before yanking out handfuls of grass. Their roots, still attached to their leaves, would dangle dirt and debris over the ground.

He would begin to make a pile nearby so that Natural might be able to sort through the desired reeds. He was quite concentrated on doing a good job - it was important to leave a good impression on a newcomer! She seemed to be focused on making small chat, and thus he would humor her. "Yeah, it feels like we got the thorns out of the way - and it certainly is a nice night. What brings you to these woods, Natural? I can't imagine that it was a first choice or anything... of course, then again, I'm more used to Grassveil Town."

"It's.....It's.......- i just.. it's...hard to...explain without....-murmur-" Natural wasn't really ready for the question. Why? Why.. Her brain also not ready to cry in front of Tom. The memory was pretty hard to shake off. She knew enough about her kind, and that... Don't think of it. Just move on...Their fine Natural....Their fine.

"It's just....Sorry....." She trailed off. She sighed as she noted that the area was clear and began making a small fire for the night. The thorns did burn to her amazement. And the grass did after some drying. She swore she heard something and looked around hopefully not bothering the totodile

-Energy 5-

The member 'Goldberry' has done the following action : Dices Roll

'Shadowhue Forest' :

Tom had stopped his fervent pulling on the grass so that he might be able to catch her reply. She was so quiet that it seemed like the forest itself was attempting to drown out her voice! Though perhaps over-exuberant friendliness had been the main vibe he had been portraying, it would fade slightly into one of expectancy: his eyes would become round, his brow would rise, and his mouth would curl into an inquisitive frown. She murmured and mumbled about something before apologizing.

A simple, nonchalant voice was given to acknowledge her apology, "Alright then; don't worry about it." He resolved to try again later.

The Totodile would return to work as he began to rip up grass and set in a stack, of which the Vulpix had begun igniting. He wasn't entirely sure as to why she was destroying the compiled materials, but Fire-types were a peculiar bunch. His definition of shelter might be quite different from hers, and thus he simply continued to be as helpful as he possibly could. When Natural appeared to hear something in the bushes, Tom would assume the masculine posture of a bodyguard. Straightening up, he would walk proudly over to the location that the noise had originated from. What he found was quite the opposite of harmful: an Oran Berry.

"Oh look!" he would exclaim, lifting up the small, sphere-like fruit up from behind the lush vegetation, "Just an Oran Berry. You keep it." He would toss it to her, hoping that she would catch it. Then again, there might have been something rustling in the bushes...

ares carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

She nabbed the berry from the air and placed it by the base of the small fire and looked around hearing pretty much nothing.

"I guess it fell..... So, Tom, were where you going? If....you don't...mind me asking.." She paused for a second and went on "I can't say anything about where I'm going though...I prefer being....'Alone' " But i'm not alone... I know it. Her mind went on for a moment after what she said, then began weaving a small little bed of the leftover grass. All of the thorns after a bit of tending to the fire between stops, were burnt to a crisp. Natural the began pulling down on some branches to get some sticks and twigs and began weaving again

After awhile she stopped and growled about a cleaner and some "jewel stones" and began making something. She wasn't even half tired. Only a tad cold. Really fire? Your gonna burn everything down! Hopefully it won't..- Hey! What is Tom holding anyway! Her thoughts again became a jumbled mess

-Sorry for lateness /shot because my mind has no ideas-

A strange stone, rough and coarse as if it had just been sliced out of the ground itself, lay just a foot away from where Tom had located the Oran Berry underneath some roots of a large bush. As the Totodile lifted it up to investigate its strange surface, he couldn't help but feel its coarse edges and feel instantly enchanted by it. A leaf had been crudely etched onto the rock's surface, and, if one were to ignore the harsh corners and edges that came together to create the stone, it was oval like in shape. With such a peculiar find, he would pocket it and swiftly return to the campfire scene occurring backat where Natural was. 

When she made an inquiry as to where his ill-fated journey had been headed, he would instantly respond, "Well, I-" 

It appeared that she would interrupt him, for she only stopped talking for a mere moment and talking about how she defined herself as being alone. A sympathetic look crossed his features as he waddled closer to her, and friendly smile lining his lips, "I guess sometimes folks work better alone than they do working with others. That's fine in my book." Natural was apparently a gifted weaver, for she successfully created a bed that anyone in the Guild would envy. When she began to growl, however, he lost his calm edge and quickly searched about. What was the threat?

(Energy: 26 -> 16 -> 15)