Levinia was snoozing quietly in the forest that she had deemed would be her temporary home. It wasn't far from a small human settlement in the human kingdom of Ayero. She hadn't bothered to learn its name on her way through. Something like that was just a triviality that she didn't care for. Perhaps if it was a morph settlement, she'd make a mental note of it, but a human one? She could care less about the name - or if it was suddenly engulfed in flame and burned to the ground. The humans would deserve such a fate, for their actions against the morphs. In any case, she should probably get her business there done. She didn't venture into human towns much, those creatures had nothing to offer her in their cities, but she did like to at least keep herself aware of current events.

Rousing herself from her half asleep state, the Luxray morph gave a loud yawn and stretched her front paws out on the branch she had decided made a good bed. It was [i]much[/i] to bright out for her liking. Oh sure, the sun was nice and all, but she prferred to be nocturnal. Much easier to hunt at night, not to mention easier to move about undetected by those humans. But, humans were less suspicious of someone if they visited the town during the day. Besides, she wouldn't be visiting for long. Just long enough to to gather some information about the current events and possibly...get some food. She was feeling rather hungry after all.

She nimbly jumped from the low-hanging branch, hitting the ground with a low thud, leaving a paw print in the dry grass as she did so. It was warm, but it was always hot in Ayero compared to Lugere, where she was born. Not that it bothered her much, she usually slept during the days. With another yawn, she set off into the forest, she should probably get her bearings first so she could easily find her way back to this comfortable little tree.

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[b]"Alright boy, lets take a quick break. You've been walking since morning."[/b] Claire said, giving the red pokemon's head a friendly pat. In response, the massive pokemon let out a pleased, somewhat tired growl. She doubted the ancient pokemon was actually tired just from walking from their campsite last night to their current location, but Groudon got cranky when he didn't have enough time to himself during the day to have a small nap or so, even if he would never show it directly to her. [b]"Don't get comfortable though, if we want to make it there today we need to get moving. Just a few more hours of walking and we'll be there."[/b] With that, Groudon gave her a somewhat playfully annoyed look as she started to climb down from her resting place on his head. [b]"Oh don't give me that you big lummox. If you didn't stop to eat so much, we would already be at the capital."[/b] With that, the massive pokemon suddenly lurched forward, letting itself fall forward with just the force of gravity.

[b]"Oi! Hey, I'm not off yet you-!"[/b] And with that, Claire was flung off of his head from where she had been attempting to climb down. Groudon landed on his stomach with a massive thud, causing the entire area around him to generate a small earthquake as his one-ton body hit the ground. Claire landed on her back a few feet away, a bit winded and surprised but otherwise uninjured. She laid there momentarily, simply starting up at the cloudless sky. Maybe she should take a quick nap too. It's not like it would hurt anything....No. She couldn't. She had a job to do.

Claire was going to reprimand Groudon for his behavior, but when she tilted her head towards him from where she lay on her back, she was greeted with a rather amusing sight. One of the bags on his harness that carried their food supplies had been knocked upon, and a few chunks of meat had fallen onto the ground. Groudon, was attempting to reach one of the fallen chunks of dried meet with just his tongue, which she was sure required more effort than just picking it up normally. Any small amount of anger she felt, immediately vanished and was replaced with amusement. She let out a quiet laugh. She could never stay angry at this big oaf.

[b]"Alright, alright, don't hurt yourself."[/b] She jokingly teased, rolling over. At the sound of her voice, Groudon turned his attention from the meat to her, and began giving her what could only be described as the best puppy-dog eyes he could manage. She gave an amused sigh and stood, brushing off a bit of dirt that had gotten on her armor. She walked over to the beast, it's eyes immediately lighting up as she did so, raising it's head off the ground. She let his head rest on her hand as she began to give him a scratch just above his eyes. [b]"Alright. You can have two. You hear me? Only [i]two[/i] So don't get any bright ideas."[/b] With that, Groudon gave a happy sounding growl. Claire walked over and picked up two of the fallen pieces of meat and tossed them towards Groudon's head. With unexpected dexterity and swiftness, he reached out and caught the both of them at once, almost swallowing them in the same turn.

[b]"Hah...imagine what the other nobles would say if they saw me now."[/b] She wistfully sighed, placing the rest of the fallen rations back where they belong. Groudon simply munched absentmindedly on his snack, not really caring to reply. She suspected he had heard, but didn't think it needed a reply. He was funny like that. He never commented on the little things, but if something actually concerned her, it was hard to get him to leave her side. She climbed onto the pokemon's back, and stood up to survey the current area. Plains and grassy hills as far as the eye could see with small forests dotting the landscape in the distance. Claire laid down on her pokemon and stared up at the cloudless sky again. Maybe...just maybe, a small nap wouldn't hurt. Not like it would matter if she was a little late to the capital...

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It was a cold, windy day at the Keirnan estate. The clouds darkened the sky with their dark grey beauty, threatening to unleash a beautiful but freezing cascade of frozen water upon the land. Indeed, it was days like this Cyrus quite liked in a sort of macabre way. Snow landscapes were always a pleasure to paint, especially if he could capture it while it was freshly fallen, or still falling. Even more entertaining was taking a walk in his gardens, which were well taken care of and always in bloom, even in the frozen north by his servants. His favorite maid, a pretty little thing by the name of Chloe and her Florges saw to that. Indeed, painting blooming flowers that were threatening to be killed due to snow and freezing temperatures elicited a...dark, enjoyment from the man known as Cyrus Keirnan. But now was not the time nor the place to think about his painting preferences, or the fact he was going to track down Chloe for a bit of fun later. Now, he had to figure out which of his servants had tried to poison him.

[b]"Chloe, there has been a bit of a problem..."[/b] He said to the red-headed maid as he approached her. [b]"Oooh, Cyrus. Your just in time. I just finished cleaning this hallway. Care to join me in the garden for some quality time with the flowers?"[/b] She giggled playfully, obviously thinking his visit had meant something else entirely. Chloe was only a year younger than he was, and a peasant for that matter, but such things didn't matter to him. She had been a poor girl in a place a few towns over, but she had the fortune, or misfortune as some might say, to catch his eye. He had then invited her and her parents both to live in the small village surrounding his estate. A small, cold, little village, but one that was incredibly well off compared to most other places. The city didn't formally have a name, but most locals referred to it as Snow Crest, and his estate as Snow Crest Manor. Made sense to some, since it was situated on the side of a mountain that always had snow [i]somewhere[/i], and was the only civilization around for quite some ways.

Taxes were low, and as the Lord of the village, taxes were not something he liked collecting and always kept them as low as he could. Work was also easy to come by, especially for the women. Cyrus could always use another maid. The men, on days the weather was nice went into the large forest nearby and cut down trees for building logs, firewood, and other things. Of course, if they were less scrupulous types and didn't mind getting their hands dirty, he could always find other...work, for them, if they were so inclined.

[b]"In this weather? Please, Chloe. We'd freeze before we could even do anything."[/b] He replied with a smile. [b]"And I don't even think you can keep going for [i]that[/i] long"[/b]

[b]"Is that a challenge?"[/b] She replying, standing almost uncomfortably close to him. Well, what most would consider uncomfortably close. [b]"I do so love a good challenge"[/b] She playfully ran a finger down his shirt, eliciting a sigh from him. 

[b]"As much as I love to, I can not. There is something I need to speak to you about."[/b] Chloe took a step back with a sigh, and folded her arms.

[b]"Well, this sounds serious. Alrighty then. Lets go somewhere more...private."[/b] With that, the two of them set off down the hallway and towards Cyrus's room. No one would question their activities. It was quite common for the both of them to spend time...alone, together. Whether it was just reading, talking over tea, or other things. Of course, he made a habit of at least spending some time with all of his servants. More often than not, a servant who disliked their lord was more likely to poison them. He liked to make sure that wouldn't happen. Or at least, not happen as often. As such, unlike most other lords, he tried to remain friendly and treat all of them as equals. It didn't take long for them to reach his room, where he had Lucine pour some tea and set a table with some snacks to eat while they discussed the matter at hand.

[b]"So. Someone tried to poison you. Again."[/b] Chloe sighed, as she sipped her tea. [b]"One of these days, Lucine isn't going to be there and you're going to drink poison and choke. And then I'll be left without anyone to keep up with me."[/b] She playfully added. Chloe was referring to the fact that he had Lucine use her abilities to look at anything he ate or drank to make sure it wasn't dangerous or poisonous. A bit of a trump card, if you will. The only ones who knew she could do that, was himself and Chloe. 

[b]"Hah, Indeed."[/b] He chuckled. [b]"Can't have that, now can we?"[/b] His face suddenly turned more serious as he sat his teacup down. [b]"But the problem is, I do not believe it to be one of the servants."[/b] He didn't elaborate on his thought, but Chloe didn't seem surprised and simply sighed again. [b]"Alright, I'll ask if the others have seen anything suspicious."[/b] She said, standing up. [b]"Alright then. I'm off to the garden! Got to keep those flowers all nice and pretty. Try not to die, Cyrus."[/b] she said with a playful wink as she exited his room. Cyrus simply shook his head with an amused sight before turning to Lucine.

[b]"Well, I suppose we might as well get on with business as usual. No sense in letting an attempted murder get our spirits down, hmm?"[/b] Lucine said nothing, but simply gave a small bow before following Cyrus as he left.