World Tree MUSH

     Suiren is at a Pokemon center on Akala Island, which happens to be pretty empty of other trainers apart from herself at the moment. She is looking at a field guide for the area on her Rotom Phone while her Pokemon get a quick checkup before she heads off exploring. She glances upward briefly when she hears a phone ringing, and sees Nurse Joy answer it. She goes back to reading but soon is distracted once more when she overhears the word poachers. She begins to listen in more closely and from what she can piece together it would seem that Nurse Joy is talking to Officer Jenny, and these poachers are after some rare Pokemon that have been sighted in the area recently but have also attacked a few trainers who crossed their path, stealing any more valuable Pokemon they had. 

     Moments after the phone call is over, Suiren gets a notification that her Pokemon are ready to go, and picks up three Pokeballs from Nurse Joy at the counter, who warns her to be careful out there. Suiren stretches a bit and lets Aria out of her Pokeball, the Popplio taking a perch on her shoulder as she walks through the automatic doors and heads out onto Route 5, making her way north.

    The grassy winding paths and rocky outcroppings of Route 5 make for a potentially confusing hike, if not challenging, for those particularly unfamiliar with the area. Unassisted, some of the rocky ledges and overhangs and stony hills can take quite a bit of effort to climb if one isn't wanting to simply go around. It's not just the tall grasses that hide potential threats or strange faces. The weather seems almost cheerfully plain, although the air is a little more humid than usual for the time of day, with the skies threatening to change at a moment's notice. Maybe it's the way the wind blows in off the ocean from the direction it does, but it might even feel somewhat ominous...although most adults might hand-wave it off as being rather typical. 

    It's almost as if the land itself is aware that there is wrong-doing afoot.

     Suiren originally came here in search of a certain Pokemon that likes very damp places, places like the jungle area to the north, but she couldn't stop thinking about the report of poachers being around. It really made her angry at the thought that they might be taking large numbers of rare Pokemon to sell on the black market, or worse, ones of legendary power which could be put to terrible uses in the wrong hands. 

     "Hmm, what could they really be after..." She mutters to herself, Aria tilts her head curiously and lets out a soft cry, noticing something was bothering Suiren, she gently nuzzles Suiren on the side of her head. At this, Suiren reaches out to gently pat Aria on her big round head before pulling out her phone again and starting to look up any information on rare Pokemon sightings in the area recently. One should really teach her not to walk around with her nose buried in her phone, never know what you might trip over, or which strange person you might bump into.

    "Heads up," says a voice from atop a rocky outcropping to the side overlooking the well-trod path below. There's no more explanation or warning than that. The figure up there, sitting on a chunk of stone, uses a knife in one hand to slice off a piece of food -- likely a dried sausage of some variety -- before chewing on it. Of course, the appearance of the grizzled wolfman might be more distracting than helpful, which really puts to bare the hazards of 'pot holes' in the path. It's not a road for vehicles under normal circumstances, so why would there be a hole in the path? Seems dug out, yet shallow enough to not be too harmful. 

    A purple eye stares down at the youth. The beast person's other eye is obscured by a patch. Perhaps he's waiting to see what happens next.

     Suiren is indeed heading straight for that small hole and has not noticed it. Aria is distracted by the strange wolf-man on the rock and is eyeing him warily. Suiren does look up when she hears 'Head's up' but still fails to see the hole before she steps into it, tripping and starting to fall. Aria acts quickly and forms a bubble to cushion Suiren's fall, and she falls into it with a loud pop as the bubble bursts, while Aria lands on her flippers nearby. 

     Now between the water from the bubble and the turned up dirt around the hole, the pair are a bit muddy as Suiren gets back on her feet. "Thanks Aria, now a gentle water gun might be nice. I guess I need to pay more attention to where I'm going..." She comments, finally taking note of Wolf while Aria rinses the mud off of both herself and her trainer. "Uh, hello there. Thanks for the warning, even if I still didn't quite react fast enough..."

    "Least you didn't completely eat dirt, kiddo." The stare remains, although there's a subtle change in focus from the girl to her companion and back, even as the lupine fellow carves off another slice of food to munch on. He chews as the girl and her friend see about some damp cleanliness. He doesn't look like a local, that's for sure. At his side, in a messy pile, are a number of assorted Pokeballs just sitting there haphazardly stacked. 

    "Not safe to be out here right now, kitten," comes a follow-up after a few seconds. "Might be best if you and your buddy head back south before you stumble across something worse than a hole in the road." The wolf shifts his weight, leaning forward, arms coming to rest atop his knees as if to pointedly give the girl his direct attention in making a point, although he does use the knife in his hand to lazily gesture from the south to the north as he speaks.

     Suiren nods in agreement, if it wasn't for her partner she almost certainly would have. "True, could have been worse..." Though she has to admit the hole certainly looks like it didn't happen naturally, and she doesn't see markings to indicate that a Pokemon made it. As the man mentions that it isn't safe to be out here, Suiren reguards the wolfman with more scrutiny than before, and it occurs to her that outsiders from other worlds could be getting involved in these poaching operations. It would make sense, as Pokemon would probably be quite valuable exported to other worlds, as most of them can be literal living weapons with the right training. 

     "So I heard at the Pokemon Center, but I'm not going anwhere." She says as she eyes the pile of Pokeballs. "Where did those come from?"

    The wolf guy doesn't even look to the pile at his side. "Probably the same place yours came from," is the reply given. Not a deflection, but not exactly informative. 'Probably'? One last piece of sausage is carved before the guy wipes the blade off on his pants, both sides, before sliding it back into its sheathe. "Let me guess: is this one of those 'make eye contact, must battle' sort of things that you kids enjoy doing so much?" What remains of the sausage is tucked away and the fresh slice is waved in Suiren's direction. 

    "Well, too bad, kiddo. I don't use critters to fight my battles for me." The slice is pointed south, much like the knife was a moment ago. "Best head home. That's where I saw most of the people went that did that kind of thing." As if one eye could stare so keenly, it remains fixed in place as the punk biker-looking stranger puts that last piece of food into his well-scarred elongated muzzle.

     Suiren rolls her eyes slightly at the rather obvious answer given to her question which she realizes she could have made a bit more pointed. At the comment of having 'critters' fight her battles, she gives Wolf a slight glare. "I can fight too, I've been training with a close friend who's a really amazing fighter. And... if you're with the poachers, I'm not afraid of getting hurt if it means helping to put a stop to your horrible operation. But..." She calms a bit as her mind comes to reason and she decides this isn't adding up quite right. 

    "If you stole all those Pokeballs why would you be casually sitting here in public with them laying around in a pile instead of whisking them away to some buyer somewhere... Did you... fight the poachers?"

    "You sure are trying to figure out a lot about somebody you just met, kitten. You make a habit of this?" 

    The lupine shakes his head. "Besides, you shouldn't wear your ability on your sleeve like that. Play your cards close to your chest and only reveal what you need when the time comes. Tsk." O'Donnell cracks his knuckles on one hand, then the other, before slowly standing. He's...tall, at least compared to average people. The perspective of being higher in elevation likely adds to the potentially strong image. Chains rattle as he dusts off his pants and vest. 

    "What's it matter to you how I got them, anyway? They aren't yours one way or the other."

     The tall lupine towers over Suiren, who is only eleven, but she does her best to swallow her fear and not show outwardly that she is intimidated by him. She frowns though at the comment Wolf made, agreeing that she should have kept her fighting ability to herself, as given her size the element of surprise is a valuable thing to give away. "I don't generally, but no offense, you sort of stick out here, and I got a bit suspicious..." She says as she bends down to pick up Aria, holding the sea-lion-like Pokemon against her chest. 

    "As for the Pokeballs, they may not be mine, but they do belong to lots of other people I'd imagine, other people who are dearly missing the creatures held inside them if they're anything like me. If you're not with the poachers, I suggest you drop them off at a Pokemon Center so they can be returned to whoever they were taken from in the first place."

    "Ha! What a nosy brat. You think just because you have some critter friends that'll fight with you that you have to go around playing hero? Come on, now. Don't back down. Going to make passive suggestions now when you were so ready to bloody my nose? What, then." 

    Thick boots leave the stony ground only to smash down against the pathside grass some feet below and the wolf man is suddenly that much closer. "You want to go around picking fights and trying to solve problems like wordpuzzles?" Thick arms cross over the fellow's chest and his head tips to one side for a moment of reflection and observation. "Some people might take great offense to such prying, but you've got my attention now. So. What. If. I. Don't. Wanna."

     Suiren shakes her head a bit. "Maybe I am a little too nosy for my own good... I jumped to the wrong conclusions at first, for that I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so quick to judge strangers whether they're from here or not." She responds as she looks up to Wolf as he gets even closer. Suiren may be putting on a brave face here but Aria doesn't like how close he's getting and squirms out of Suiren's arms and climbs back up to her shoulders, eyeing Wolf worriedly. 

     Suiren considers her next words carefully, seeing how much bigger Wolf is, and that he apparently wasn't bluffing when he said he could fight his own battles. "If you refuse then... I won't try to force you, as much as I'd like to. You've made it pretty clear that fighting you by myself would be foolish." She looks into Wolf's eyes still, curious how he'll respond to that.

    "What; is that it?" A single eye rolls in response. "Oh, please. You have no idea if you're correct or not in your assumptions and now you're just trying to placate me." Wolf's arms unfold and his hands find his hips. "What does any of it change? What if I am one of these so-called poachers after all? You wanted to do something, so how about you do it? Bring it, kitten. Show your claws." 

    The tough guy just can't be bothered to keep going. "Eh, nevermind. You're like all the rest." He begins to turn away, waving a hand dismissively as he exhales, sounding almost bored and looking it, too.

     Suiren glares angrily as Wolf talks down to her because of her refusal to take action against him. She shakes her head exasperatedly as he turns away from her. "I was hoping that if you weren't one of them that you would say so, why is that so hard? At this point you're right, I don't know if you're involved with them or not. If you're looking for a fight you're sure doing fine work getting under my nerves. What exactly does that mean, I'm just like all the rest?"

    "You kids," Wolf begins as he walks up to the stony ledge and reaches out to place a hand upon it, "only seem to understand your own rules about how to tackle problems and then back down the moment you realize your opponent doesn't play by the same rules. Have you ever even fought somebody yourself, kiddo? I was in plenty of scraps at your age." 

    O'Donnell looks back over his shoulder. "Go home. There's danger blowing in the wind up north where the plants grow thicker. Some animal trainers made it past here, but not all of them. They might be trapped. Or caught. If you're scared of me, how are you going to deal with multiple adults? I'm not sure you really want to help." He turns his head away to half-hide his own grin.

     Suiren frowns and shakes her head again. "Things would be a lot simpler if you at least told us what those rules are, but I guess life isn't that simple, and I have been in a few fights, even ones off this world where it wasn't just a battle between our critters as you called them. In any case, it just so happens that my 'home' is not even on this island, and I have plans to the north, so I'm not going to just go home. Will fighting you prove that I want to help?"

    "I'm not your papa, kitten. You go do what you want." There's a grab, a hop, a kick against the earthy wall, and then the big guy is up where he came from. A clawed finger points at the pile on the ground. "But these, for now, are my property. If you want me to hand these over it's going to take more than a fight. Make it worth my while. A trade. You kids do that, right?" 

    Wolf turns around and sits back down where he was. "If you do find something worth swapping, then we'll talk. It'll take more than suspicions and apologies to earn something like that where you're apparently heading." There's a glance upward. "Better hop to it. Wind feels ready to shift." He's gone back to staring already.

     Suiren is annoyed by how this has turned out, but it does seem she'll have to play by his rules as she seriously doubts the local police here will be able to handle this guy any more than she would be able to on her own. She shrugs and shakes her head, nothing to do but head north and hope these 'adults' haven't ruined the area she was about to go hunting for a new Pokemon in, or snatched all who lived there. "Fine, we'll do it your way. I'd ask what you would like for a trade but I'm getting the impression you don't tend to give information away. So what would I need to trade for that then?"

    A clawtip moves to search the sharp teeth lining the wolf's mouth to pick at a bit of caught fat from his snack. With a flick to the side to rid himself of it once freed, the guy looks back to the girl. "What, you're still here? How am I supposed to know what it is you'll find that's worthwhile to trade? Just keep it in mind, kid. I have no doubt that we'll bump into each other again soon." 

    Wolf rolls his shoulders backward with a soft grunt. "Mmh, tell you what. You're so damned nosy and persistent, I'll answer one question you have. Just one. But pick your words carefully, kitten, because I'll only answer to the degree of what precisely you ask." Apparently this is some kind of game. Maybe he really is bored? But what should be asked? Is he a poacher? Did he dig the hole in the path? What's his name? So many options. Of course, not giving him the satisfaction of asking is an option, too, but then how would one learn anything?

     Suiren had was about to turn away and start walking north when Wolf comments on the fact that she's still here and answers her question on what to look for with another non-answer. As he offers to answer one question because she's so nosy and persistent, she grins a bit, but stops to consider her options. Asking the same question she had before probably still isn't going to go anywhere, so what else should she ask. She ponders a moment before coming up with something. "What is your ultimate goal in life?"

    Out of all the things that the girl could have asked to actually help out, instead she has to come up with something so irrelevant that it's almost insulting. This is what he gets, really, talking with children. Wolf visibly sighs and lifts a hand to press fingers against the bridge of his snout. He mutters something, likely obscene, before looking tiredly down at the girl. He just stares for a moment before answering: 

    "I want a pup to teach what I know from living life, but that can't happen until a great wrong is made right. Instead of a wolf pup, though I-" What he says after that trails off into a volume so low as to be purely beneath his breath as punctuations of exhalations. It couldn't possibly have been something about getting stuck with a fox. Animal people are strange. 

    "All right, all right, that's enough, girl. I gave you a warning and an offer and I didn't even charge you for them. Get going before I change my mind." Grunt.

     Suiren blinks once, not exactly the answer she expected from the gruff-looking wolfman, but she smiles and nods, find it acceptable. What was she really going for with the question? Maybe Wolf will have to ask her sometime. For now, she offers a wave, Aria even waves a flipper as well, then she turns northward and walks down the path. 

     "See you around Mr. Lycanroc." She offers with a glance back as she winks, then hurries along without waiting to see how he'd respond.