First thread!

[metaltree]

Roxy pulled her arm out of her flustered cousin's grasp, glad that she had drained her martini (both for flirting purposes and because she would have spilled it all over Rose if it were full) when she had the chance. However, the pull caused Jaspers to be flung unceremoniously to the ground where he landed nimbly on his feet and padded a few feet away, glaring at his owner somewhat.

The now thoroughly inebriated girl took a few steps forward as well, wiggling her hips slightly as she strode forward. Passing the empty glass from one hand to the other, she said, only about half a foot seperating them now, "The name's Roxy, and I can do a lot more then be charming, you know." She supplied another hearty "wonk". One could never have too many wonks! An abundance of wonks is like an abundance of attractive, tall, seadwelling trolls - it's rather quite a positive thing.

Roxy wonked once more, just for good measure.

[OLDDIRK]

Rose rolled her eyes. She could already tell there wasn't anything she could do to keep Eridan and Roxy off of each other at the moment. Nevertheless, she had to get a snark in.

"Whatever. You two lovebirds can continue your nauseating flirtations. I'm going to find someone else to talk to."

Rose looked in the direction where the unknown seadweller came from, and saw John with a long-haired female troll. She had a feeling that it was Vriska, perhaps because she subconsciously picked up on John's conversation with her in the background. She quickly strode towards the pair.

"Hey John! Who's that hipster flirting with Roxy? He comes off as a total douche."

[orangealley]

Eridan barely resisted the urge to step back. It wasn't that he was at all hung up on personal space, but... well, if he was going to be honest with himself, he wasn't exactly used to it with anyone but Feferi - and even then with no intentions quite like these. Still, he swallowed his discomfort and tried not to focus on the way this girl was giving him a really weird set of winks.

At least at this short of a distance he could pick up the alcohol on her breath. That would explain a lot. (Not that he intended on letting it factor in to his opinion of why she was approaching him so readily, nope.) The problem arose when the little Pokemon in his arms picked up on it, too. The Horsea shrank back against the crook of his arm, looking rather put out. This probably should have been a warning signal, but Eridan didn't pick up on it.

"I'm - sure you can. But let's stop bein' retarded for a minute; the real question here is, wwho are you plannin' on travvelin' wwith?" Eridan surreptitiously swept his free hand through the purple streak in his hair, self-consciously making sure his appearance was in order. "Surely a lady a' your stature doesn't plan on makin' the trip alone." He wasn't really sure if he'd meant that in an insulting way or not. Probably. But it all depended on how she took it, really.

That was about the last straw for his Pokemon, on the other hand. Did he think it was stupid? No way was it planning on having this chemical-smelling too-close girl tag along with them, not a chance - and to vent its frustration on the matter, the Horsea proceeded to blow a colourful handful of bubbles up in the general direction of her face.

Being fresh out of the lab, however, a Bubble attack at that level would hardly do more than leave a slight stinging sensation on contact - or less, to someone a little alcohol-numbed. Nevertheless, Eridan jumped slightly in shock, and almost dropped his Pokemon. "Shit!"

[Kat]

“Oh, Rose! When did you get here?” Oh good, he was glad she’d managed to make it, (he wanted a chance to say hi to all of his best friends, after all) and gave her a brief hug, turning his attention away from Vriska for a moment. “He’s flirting with Roxy now? Oh man. That’s Eridan. I don’t know him all that well, but yeah, he pretty much is a total douche, haha. He’s really troll-racist and everything! Though I think he’s probably an okay sort of guy, in a way?” John watched him and Roxy interact sceptically, but oh shit, even he could tell Roxy was flirting with him pretty hard. Huh.

“Anyway, never mind that! How was the journey? I was a little worried you weren’t gonna make it in time. And did you get a Pokémon? It’s not some creepy goth Pokémon, right? Oh, this is Casey, by the way.” Casey actually seemed a little less timid around Rose, stepping out from behind him at last.

[OLDDIRK]

"Ah, so that's his name. I've heard all about the seadwellers' "troll-racism" from Kanaya."

Rose was glad to hear that John could see a good side in Eridan, even if John basically got along with everybody and his opinion on the matter was probably tainted by his optimism.

"It was a mess, but I made it here on time. I got this package from Mom that supposedly contains the Squirtle I wanted. Key word: supposedly. I haven't opened it yet."

"Hi Casey!" Rose whispered.

She bent down and held out her hand to Casey, and surprisingly Casey walked right into the palm of her hand. Rose pet Casey for about a minute and a half before getting up to face John.

"You have a very companionable Charmander, John."

[Kat]

"Yeah, troll-racism is so laaame. Like, I really don’t get what the deal is with trolls and blood color. It sucks!” Sure, he didn’t totally understand all that stuff (the others had told him he just "didn't get it" plenty of times), but Feferi had the right idea as far as he was concerned. Aradia was pretty cool, after all, and she was a “lowblood”. Buuuh, trolls. Even Vriska seemed to place some stock in the whole blood hierarchy thing.

“Aww, it looks like she likes you! And heh, that’s cool. Maybe Casey and your mystery maybe-a-Squirtle will be buddies. That’d be pretty sweet!” He looked at his “daughter” fondly. Casey was being surprisingly friendly towards Rose actually, which he was happy to see. She’d been kind of shy around most of the people he’d met so far, so it was definitely encouraging!

“So, when’re you going to open it? I kinda want to meet this Pokemon of yours.”

[tealdragon]

She stayed in silence while Karkat was talking, but wasn't really paying attention to him, she had better things to be paying attention to, like the weird noises all other pokemons were doing arround there and the new smells on this place. However, when he finally finished talking, she had to answer about the few things she had listened to. "Whatever Karkles, you are just jelous cause Dave is obviously cooler than you don't even have a change against him" She laughed at him "Second-in-command? You don't even have a traveling team! Or at least you don't seem to have one yet" She hugged her bagon once again "We don't need you, so dont worry about us, but if you really really want us to be in your inexistent supossed future team be the senconds-in-command, commanding nothing... I guess we can consider the idea, thanks for your proposal" She talked with some sarcasm and laughed a little louder when was done talking.

[OLDDIRK]

"I was just about to open it. Hold on a second."

Rose got out one of her knitting needles and used it to tear the packing tape. Sitting inside the package was a pokeball and a letter addressed to Rose from "Mon". [sic]

"Hiiii Rose!

Oh my god, I was at this lab party and this creep goes up to me and he's all like "hey babe wats up" and I'm like "ew" and he's like "are you interested in Pokemon resurection" and I say "uuuuhh what" and...

well anyways he ended up givin me this turtle thing! And I know you love Squirtles and yur goin on a pokemon journey so I decided to give it to you!!!

Luv you <3

-Mom

Atrocious spelling and grammar as per usual. Good job, Mom.

Rose looked upwards at John. "I'm done reading. Let's see what "surprise" dear mother has left for me."

Rose poked the button on the ball and it flipped open, releasing a Pokemon in a bright light.

It was small. It was blue. It was a turtle. But it wasn't a fucking Squirtle. She grunted angrily and opened her newly-obtained pokedex.

"Tirtouga, the sea turtle Pokemon. About 100 million years ago, these Pokémon swam in oceans. It is thought they also went on land to attack prey. This Pokémon can dive to depths beyond half a mile."

How was she supposed to win a contest with this ugly thing?

"Augh. John, what do you think? Drunken mistake or act of passive aggression?" She handed the letter to John so he could comprehend the situation.

[metaltree]

Roxy's hand fiddled with the handle of the glass in her hand thoughtfully, her mind turned inward for a moment, thinking about who she would travel with. She had had three martinis that day, only one of them diluted with some potion. That being said, she was quite thoroughly not sober. This was normal for her, so she didn't feel any discomfort or fogginess. It was like a base level, a neutral state of mind where most of her thoughts take place. That was probably the reason for most of her rather inhibition-lacking personality.

Of course, she had only started drinking a few years back at eleven or twelve, when she had found her mother's drinking cabinet. She had already met Jane by then (online, of course), and was a rather depressing child. Roxy was emotionally neglected by her mother, and tended to do things with her cat as her only companion. Other kids left her be, because whenever anyone tried to be nice to her she either snobbishly turned them away or acted extremely shy.

The day she found the cabinet was an awful one. She had gotten a good grade on a test at school and ran home from the schoolhouse near the safari in Fuchsia City, excited for her mother to be proud of her. Roxy found her mom on the phone when she returned, and had been shushed by a single finger raised in the air. After the phone call, her mother patted Roxy on the head once, still not letting her speak and left the house to take care of whatever business she had. Her mother was a famous author and was constantly meeting people about sequels, publishing, royalties, blah blah blah.

Roxy had run to her room, sobbing, and bumped into the cabinet on her way there. It was full of alcohol. Without a second thought, half a bottle of gin was down the child's throat, some on the carpet underneath her as well. Needless to say, there were many hangovers and headaches to be had the next day. However, once the hangover dissipated and Roxy drank a little bit more, she felt relieved. Worry, stress, and sadness were all lifted off her shoulders and she felt like she was finally free from her own thoughts. Her mother didn't notice the alcohol missing - she never drank a drop - and if after a while she noticed her daughters daily inebriation she made no move to stop it.

Roxy snapped out of her thoughts and moved her martini glass from one hand to the other, twisting around to store the glass in her backpack carefully along with the bottle of vodka, near the top. No more drinks for a few hours - she needed to pick who she was travelling with more of a clear head then usual, because she would be with them for a long time. Roxy's head was not very clear. Looking at the handsome troll in front of her, she decided he was better then some of the other - weird - trolls she had talked to online and was rather unfamiliar with. This one was cute. And he was holding a seahorse. What a cute seahorse.

The girl opened her mouth with another smirk to ask him to travel with her in a seductive way, but was cut off by a stream of multicolored bubbles popping in her face with a bop, pop, and a sting.

The first thing that registered in her mind was the slight, tingling pain. It wasn't anything bad at all but it was surprising. Cute seahorses don't go around attacking people. Especially not cute seahorses held by charming young men.

Roxy turned to the side and slapped a hand over her nose and mouth, where most of the bubbles had hit. As her clouded brain caught up with events and the pain receded slightly, she thought over what had just happened and let out a little drunken giggle. It grew a little bit, and now she was laughing quietly, shoulders shaking a bit. "Oww... ehehe... That kind of... hehe, hurt...,"

With her hand clamped over her face and her shoulders shaking, any onlookers, and maybe Eridan as well, it would have probably looked as if she had started sobbing. Even little Jaspers came up and wrapped his curled tail around her ankle and mew'd up at her comfortingly.

[orangealley]

Eridan flashed an angry scowl down at his Pokemon, which for the first time looked at him with something like cowed respect. Eridan's well-practised disdainful glances may not have worked on other people (though he didn't care to admit it), but they apparently did wonders for a Pokemon whose sole purpose was to find a way to coexist with him for the rest of its life. The Horsea shrank back nervously between his arm and his torso, and the sea dweller promptly lifted a Pokeball and zapped it inside.

"Fuckin' amateur professors must not havve trained it yet," he remarked, perhaps a little sheepishly. "I'll get right on that wwhen I leavve Pallet." It wasn't as though he needed any help making a bad impression. In fact, he was kind of hoping in secret that getting a Pokemon might actually solve that problem somehow, but apparently it just exacerbated the issue, much like everything else he'd tried so far.

Eridan turned his attention back to the girl in front of him, and it took him a few moments to register that she didn't look exactly happy. When it dawned on him that this was likely his fault (or at the very least his Pokemon's) he blinked awkwardly and glanced around, checking to see if anyone had been watching. "Hey - it wwas just a couple a' bubbles, no need to get in a fuckin' state ovver it..."

Still, this reminded him of something. A long time ago, just on the edge of his memory - the image of Feferi, exploring the ocean and giggling, until she had disturbed a Lanturn and taken a Bubble to the face. She'd cried, a little, and there wasn't much he'd been able to do about it except insist that she'd be okay. He'd always felt a little ridiculous saying that sort of thing, even as a kid, but... well, Feferi had always been a kind of raw subject for him.

Cursing his mind for bringing her up, Eridan cleared his throat. "It wwill wwear off." A beat. "Sorry," he said, lamely. Eridan glanced skywards, apparently unable to meet her eyes. This was a land dwelling human he was apologising to. They weren't even the same species. Eridan didn't know what he was thinking, but what was done was done.

[metaltree]

After his apology, which the girl didn't even seemed to have heard, her giggles grew louder until it was apparent that she was not at all crying, but rather laughing. Drunkenly and cutely, and pretty loudly. Eventually, Roxy's shoulders stop shaking and she took the hand off of her mouth, but she was still giggling a bit, trying to suppress it by slamming her lips closed.

She forgot all about the long flashback she had just had to her youth, and put a hand up to rub her nose a little bit, wondering why the Horsea hated her so much. It was such an adorable creature, maybe it was just shy? Yes, that had to be the answer. Cute little seahorses like that weren't the type to hate anyone. Roxy cleared her head of the seahorse thoughts and knelt down carefully to pick up Jaspers, who had realized she was completely fine, and taken to licking his paw clean.

It took a moment for Roxy's brain to register that Eridan had said something while she was talking. Her clouded mind struggled to remember the words that had been spoken during her silly fit of shenanigans, but she couldn't drudge up anything except a "Sorry". She hung on to that and turned back to Eridan, still suppressing a few leftover giggles, and opened her eyes in wide, naive sort of way (she learned this move by studying Jane closely), and tilting her head to the side.

She pursed her lips for a moment, then opened them with a confused - if still flirty and giggly - look, and said, "Sorry for what? And where'd the little bubbly guy go? He was adorbs." She lay extra emphasis on the last, shortened words and gave the tall troll another flirty smile as she did so.

[orangealley]

It seemed to dawn on Eridan very slowly that he'd gotten the wrong end of the stick, and as he realised he slowly started to scowl again and flush purple. But he couldn't very well take it back, not without making a fool of himself. Better to play along.

"Nevver mind," he grumbled, aiming a sullen glare at the nearest other group. Briefly, he wondered if the other girl was planning on coming back. At the very least then he wouldn't be the sole centre of Roxy's focus. She was intense. "I put it back in its Pokeball - wwhere it belongs," he added, suddenly remembering to clip it onto the specialised belt he'd bought recently just for the occasion. It was a pity Pokeballs didn't go with his preferred colour scheme, but maybe he could find a way to compromise later.

Back to the matter at hand, though, as edgy as he suddenly felt Eridan did not plan on losing the headway he'd made (if he could count it as such) with this girl. He'd managed to get through the better part of five minutes without her walking away - though the same could not be said for her similar-looking friend. So, with a degree of trepidation, he attempted to steer the topic back onto something that he still felt a need to clarify.

"So... I'm goin' to challenge the league an' ace some contests on the wway," he ventured, running a hand nervously through his hair. "Do you havve plans already, or... I guess wwhat I'm sayin' is, you ain't too bad - for a land dwweller. So I guess I don't mind if you tag along. If you get the hint." Why did he add that last part. Now he just sounded clingy! Eridan gave himself a mental jab in the ribs.

[Kat]

“Oh shit, that’s no Squirtle! That’s one of those fossil Pokémon they bring back to life, right? That’s pretty cool. I mean, loads of people start with Squirtles. And this thing’s pretty cute, in a way.” It did have its own charm, John personally thought. Though it wasn’t all big eyed adorableness like a Squirtle was. Casey was getting all nervous again though, John observed, taking a few hesitant steps away from the turtle Pokémon. He was definitely going to have to teach her some social skills!

John read the letter uncertainly, wondering whether to laugh at the silly spellings or give Rose a pat on the back or something. He kind of knew Rose and her mom had a lot of issues and she wasn’t really happy with how much her mom drank, but he wasn’t all that certain how much she minded. Rose could be so difficult to read, what with all her sarcasm.

“I dunno Rose, maybe it really was just a mistake! Or maybe she was being super-nice and thought-” he put on a high-pitched 'motherly' voice, “-and thought: ‘oh I know Rose likes Squirtles so I’ll give her this Tirtouga, since that’s like a Squirtle but from one hundred million years ago and therefore one hundred million times COOLER!’ It’s possible, right?” Rose definitely thought of her mom as a passive aggressive person, but John had always hoped maybe she was just mis-reading the situation. What kind of mother would treat her own daughter like that?

[doorlord]

Well, this was boring. Vriska felt pretty ignored and maybe a little desperate for attention – except not, because she wasn’t the kind of girl who felt desperate, that’s completely preposterous – now that John had turned his attention to Rose. She couldn’t just go bother Kanaya again, considering that she’d just ditched her; nor could she start talking to John again, that would just be pathetic on her part. Everyone else seemed to be talking to someone, and her only other option would be to just stand around by herself and look like a complete loser. It was a no-win situation.

She sighed, grabbed Spinneret, and leaned up against a wall. Ugh, it was like entering Pallet Town all over again.

[/blockquote]

[paranormalships]

":33 < they sure are!" she commented make to feferi. Smiling she shoke john's hand.

She turned about around noticing her 'meowrail' was finally here, oh man was he slow it seems.

":33 < it took you long enough,slowpoke "