[IC] Journey of a Thousand Miles

[tobiax]

"Jin," Tobias repeated, pausing as though testing the name.
With a nod, he reached out his hand, holding it out and waiting for her to take it.
"Nice to meet you," he added.
He then turned his gaze curiously to the device in his hand. He had been sure it was a map, but couldn't figure out exactly how to open it.. Running his hands over it, he soon found a button much like one that often releases clasps on other things. As he pushed it, the device opened, and a bright screen showed a picture webbed with lines and shaded with various colors. One side of the device had an empty space, and beside it was a pointer device. The screen had a small circle on it, which he then tapped with the pointer. The empty box then filled with text, reading "Route 5".
"Oh," he remarked, "That's neat."

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin hesitated, before gently shaking his hand. Her hands were small and rough, and she let go fairly quickly. Then she too, looked toward the device in his hand. "...oh. Wow." She recognized the markings, and the number, and took a guess at what it could be. "...so... it's some kind of map, then?" Interesting. She always had been curious about technology- this map was something she'd never seen before and she was instantly desperate to know how it functioned. "That's cool." Was all she said to that effect, but her eyes were riveted on the tiny screen.

[tobiax]

Tobias nodded, and tilted the device so she could see it better.
"Yeah," he replied directly.
Harvey began to waddle around, inspecting the area as his trainer and the girl talked. Tobias then began to become curious. She could have easily gone back to where she was before, or headed in a different direction.
"So... what're you doing out here?" he asked.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Blaze left Luna's side and sniffed around at the gate. He barked cheerily at Harvey, and licked his face.

Jin raised her eyebrows to Tobias' question. "Uhm... I'm leaving. I figure I'll see the world before the city eats me alive." She smiled very slightly. "I mean, now I have the energy to actually make it, and a spare Pokemon to back me when Luna gets tired, so..." She shrugged her thin shoulders. "This is the time. If I don't do it now, I probably never will. Besides." She looked down at their two playing Pokemon. "Little Blaze doesn't look tough enough to be a street Pokemon."

[tobiax]

Tobias lowered his brow a bit and scrunched his mouth a bit.
"No, I meant like... here specifically," he answered, "Are you following me?"
But he paused, letting her continue. He listened intently, not having any first hand experience with what she was saying mostly, but it made sense to him. The bark from Blaze had startled the Chespin, making him stumble a bit behind Tobias's leg. Of course, this only made him indignant, and Harvey stood again, holding out his arms and extending his chest to look tough. He shook his head as his face was licked, flailing his arms a bit, which almost made him loose his balance again. This time, however, he smiled a bit, taking a playful leap forward before beginning to chase the Fennekin about.
Tobias nodded, looking down then to see the playing Pokemon.
"I guess not," he remarked.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin smiled slightly down at the little Pokemon. Again, she seemed very different than before. Less tough, more gentle and looking closer to the young girl she actually was. "Yeah... Luna's a tough girl, but Blaze... he's too soft. I couldn't make him go hungry, I couldn't make him hurt." She looked up again at Tobias, the tough woman clearly back. "So I'm leaving. If I fail, I fail, but I can't not try." There was something like steel in her dark eyes. "As far as following you goes..." A tiny smile curved up the corners of her mouth, but combined with the sharpness of her gaze, it made her look mildly scary. "I prefer to say we're just heading in the same direction at the same time."

[tobiax]

For the moment, Tobias only listened. The contrast with how she had acted before was rather jarring. He nodded to her but drew back slightly at the sudden change in tone and posture.
"Um... I guess so..." he replied, mildly spooked.
It seemed now that Harvey had grown bored with simply running, and a slight, muffled scratching sound could be heard. Tobias turned around, and saw Harvey attempting to dig through the stone walls of the gate.
"C'mon," he said with a slight grunt, leaning down and lifting the Pokemon in his arms, holding him by his chest.
Then, he turned to Jin, before looking around the gate one last time.
"Alright, let's go."

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin nodded, pursed her lips, and whistled twice in rhythm, a slight high pitch. Luna's ears perked, and she got up and went to Jin's side. Blaze was scratching at one of his large ears with a back paw, and did not notice until Luna growled at him. Then he jumped up and raced to Jin's side, his ears and tail drooping in a clear show of submission. Jin reached down and gently rubbed his ears. "It's ok, little guy. I'll teach you the signals. Don't worry!" Then she reached down and scooped him up into her arms.

"We're going on a trip, you know? So don't be sad, be excited!" Jin said, as if trying to pep up all of them for the journey they would take. Blaze barked and licked her face vigorously, and Jin giggled. "That's more like it!" Then she turned, and looked toward the gate.

"...alright then." She stepped through, into the brilliant light of the day. Immediately she was assailed with so many different things. The brilliant white sunlight outside, the warmth on her skin. The scent of the grass and faint perfume of flowers. Distant noises, of wild Pokemon, people, and even local insects reached her ears. Under her feet, instead of concrete, was a dirt path. She moved her foot and ran her toe in it, leaving a little rivet of crumbly dirt. "...wow..." The wonder on her face matched the childlike awe in her voice, and she stepped forward slowly, as if unsure of what she was seeing.

[tobiax]

Tobias watched for a moment before turning towards his own business. Placing the map now more securely in his backpack pocket, he allowed Harvey to climb upon his shoulder. Turning to the Pokemon, he brought a slightly more serious expression to his face.
"Okay, now I don't want you to wander off too far, okay?" he cautioned.
Harvey chirped in response, bobbing his quilled head before sitting on the boy's shoulder. They went outside together, and Tobias stopped, taking a whiff of the fresh air. It felt nice, and he was about to keep walking, when he noticed Jin just standing there. Harvey turned his head, before Tobias turned around on his heels and stopped.
"Jin... you alright?" he wondered aloud.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin didn't respond, still looking around at what she felt was the glorious beauty of nature. A soft laugh escaped her lips, as she did a slow turn to look at everything. Luna sniffed at everything nearby, and then took up a mouthful of grass. She chewed, and then quickly spit it away. Then she yowled at her trainer and batted her hand with a paw.

Jin blinked a few times, seeming to come back to the world. "Oh... I'm sorry. It's just so amazing." She started to walk then, still looking around. "Isn't it beautiful? Tell me this isn't beautiful..."

[tobiax]

"Yeah, it's..." Tobias began, placing his hand to the back of his head.
He had never really thought about it before. It had always just been,,, there. It was nice, though. A good change of pace at least. He looked over to the Leipard, acting in a peculiar way with the grass. He smiled slightly, then turned back to Jin. He had never met anyone quite like her before... it was puzzling.
Harvey turned slightly and slid on his back down Tobias's arm and landed with a soft thump on the dusty path. Slowly, he trundled over and reached up, tugging down on the girl's hand gently. The Pokemon looked up at her curiously, wondering if something happened.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin reacted to the Pokemon finally, looking down and smiling faintly. "Hey. Sorry. I've just never seen such color before that wasn't on a TV." She rubbed Harvey's spines fondly, petting Luna, and scooping up Blaze, who licked her nose.

"Ahaha! Don't do that, little guy. I'm dirty." With that, she caught up to Tobias. There was a small, hesitant smile on her face, as if her happiness were afraid to show fully.

"So... where do we go?"

[tobiax]

Tobias glanced back at Harvey, just in time to see him scurry back over on all fours and stop at his new trainer's ankle. The boy's gaze became more whistful and distant, as he drew a Pokeball from his backpack pocket and held it in his hand. The hard, smooth surface clutched in his hand, he stared into the vague reflection it gave as his mind began to wander. He thought about his mom and Slowbro. They had been together for such a long time- long before he was even born, but he realized now, that he didn't even know the half of it. Did that mean his mom went on an adventure too? Where are her other Pokemon? Did she even have any?
He was so lost in thought that he barely noticed Jin coming near. The seemingly sudden question made him jolt, causing him to drop the ball from his hand. With barely a second thought, he reached down and picked it up, dusting it off against his leg before sticking it back in his pocket. Turning to Jin now, he withdrew the map and opened it carefully, examining the blinking yellow dot that showed their location.
"Well..." he began, "It looks like there's a town out that way," Tobias noted, pointing vaguely down the route, "But I mean... pretty much we can go where-ever."

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin looked over the map as well, trying not to show how confused she was about it. "A town. Okay... That sounds nice." She didn't sound very enthused about it, though. She had just left the city, and she didn't want to go back into one anytime soon. Her dark eyes roamed the beautiful countryside, greedy for the wealth of color and scent. One hand dug around in a grubby pocket and she pulled out one of the Pokeballs in it's smaller form. She rolled it and played with it, her nimble fingers making a flashy game out of the exercise. "Honestly, I kinda want to stay out here for a while. I... I've never seen so many trees that weren't surrounded by concrete."

[tobiax]

As he heard her less-than-genuine response, Tobias couldn't help but give her a sideways look.
"Really?" he replied in a low voice.
Then, he took a slight step away. With Harvey in tow, he tossed a Pokeball into the air, catching it quickly, but being surprised by the bite its hardness had. This would take some getting used to.
"Well... you do what you want," he replied, "I don't feel like staying in the same place for too long."
And with that, he ventured forward, entering a patch of tall purple flowers, under which he could barely see Harvey's quills poking out amongst the petals. The sight almost made him laugh.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin looked around a bit more, before trailing after Tobias in an ambling way. "Lay off, dude. I haven't been out of Lumiose in... well..." She blinked several times, because she had no idea. "A long time. Man... even the air tastes different." She spun in a circle in the purple flowers, sending up a wave of scent and pollen. Luna sniffed the air, sneezed a few times, and then settled into the flowers.

"...you know... I don't think I've ever caught a Pokemon before."