[centre][h3][b][u][color=orange]Avery Garfield: New Bark Town :Prologue[/color][/u][/b][/h3] A young man sleeping soundly on the soft grass under the tall tree began to stir. The shade from the tree had shifted slightly, and now the sun had unrestricted access to his face. It was abusing the privilege. The lad rose to a sitting position, chasing away the remaining slumber sadly. He scooted backwards, entering the protection of the tree once more. He could have sat in that shade all day. It felt good. He still had the sun on his skin, but he wasn’t sweating and it wasn’t directly on his eyes. And the breeze… AHH… It was going to be a good day. Maybe he would go for a walk. He could go down around the forest, maybe catch sight of some of the Sentret out on 29. Wait. Was he supposed to do something today? There was napping...but he already did that. Then...no, napping was pretty much all he had planned. Oh well. Probably wasn’t that important. A yawn escaped him. He pulled out an old notepad from his pocket, along with a pen, and flipped it open, searching for a blank piece of paper to doodle on.. He passed a few pages full of scribbles, doodles, the occasional note, a crudely drawn map of the town, a to-do list, then finally the blank page. Well, mostly blank. It had something written at the top. [quote] FUTURE AVERY, BE AT ELM’S [u]TODAY[/u] YOURS TRULY, PAST AVERY [/quote] Oh. Oh yeah, that was today, wasn’t it. He was going to… OH SNAP! The lad named Avery shot up to his feet, dropping the pen and pad in the process. He bent, picking up both and slamming them into his pockets. Today was the day! How could he have forgot?! He was so excited the night before! He grabbed the backpack he had been using as a pillow. A little smile crawled its way to his face. That’d explain why he had so much stuff crammed into his pack. Good call, Avery of Days Past. Now he just had to… Had to go to… Elm’s Lab. But… When? [color=coral]“Heeey.”[/color] Avery, hearing the sound, looked over to his right. And smiled. [hr] [h3][b][u][color=coral] Gwen King: New Bark Town :Prologue[/color][/u][/b][/h3] Tap. Tap. Taptap. The annoyed tapping continued, growing louder and more frequent. The source? The tiny girl standing at the door to the bathroom in her parents’ home. Waiting for her big brother to finish up and vacate the damn thing. Seriously, if he was taking this long, he might have a problem. See a doctor, see a shrink, hell see anybody as long as it meant getting the fuck off the toilet. [color=coral] “C’mon already, dude. You’ve been in there for an hour![/color] There was no response to her whining. So she tried again. [color=coral] “I just need in for like, five minutes. Then you can go back to, uh, whatever you’re doing.[/color] Still no response. That...was not quite like Avery. He was a bit dense, yeah, but he’d have said SOMETHING by now. Gwen tried the doorknob. The door swung wide open. The tiny girl frowned deeply, looking into the empty bathroom. Not going to lie, she felt pretty stupid. Good thing nobody saw that. [b]“Heh. Priceless.”[/b] Gwen quickly turned to see the hulking beast of a man known to the world as Avery Victor Garfield XXVII. Nearly seven feet of bulging muscle, moustache, and meaniness. He flashed her a toothless smile then continued on to the next room. Gwen sighed. At least she was going away for a bit. That was one way to dodge Papa Garfield’s teasing...but damn, that man never did forget a thing. She entered the bathroom and finished getting ready. Shortly later, Gwen returned to her room. She checked her bags again to make sure she had everything she wanted to bring with her. She got a glimpse of herself in the mirror. With her bag and her guitar case both on her back, she looked a little bit silly. Especially with the Own Tempo tank top she was sporting. It was like she was about to embark on a woefully unprepared camping trip. Which...wasn’t too far off the mark. Huh. She said goodbye to Papa Garfield and Little Mama before heading off to meet with Elm. Avery was supposed to be going with her but...well...Avery was Avery. Dude probably saw a butterfly and chased it until he passed out. … Gwen sighed again. Maybe she should look for him...big guy was pretty much useless without her. As she closed the door to her house, Gwen spotted a purple haired girl she hadn’t seen before looking at a map. She was at the entrance to town...Eh, it didn’t really matter, did it? Gwen went on her way, following a roundabout path to the lab. It took a bit longer, but it went right past a tree that was an infamous Avery napping spot. She was right. The big lug was all sprawled out as she came strolling on past him. She waited for a moment, and eventually he began to stir. He sat up, let out a yawn, and pulled out his notebook. He turned to a page and a confused look seemed to creep across his face. Gwen smiled for a moment before dropping it. [color=coral]“Heeey.”[/color] Avery looked up at her and smiled without saying anything. Dude was such a goober. Oh well. Avery was Avery. [color=coral]“People usually reply when a cute girl says hello, dude.”[/color] Avery blinked and waited for a moment. If she had to guess, he had gotten off on some weird tangent. [color=orange]“Oh. Hi then.”[/color] She sighed and walked over to him. She ‘gently nudged’ him with her foot. The kick seemed to spur Avery into actually getting up. Gwen would never understand how the hell the Garfield guys got so tall. They didn’t exactly eat any more wheaties than she did. It wasn’t fair... He waited for a moment before bending back down to pick up his backpack. [color=coral]“...you’re hopeless.”[/color] She ended with a laugh. Avery joined in too. He probably didn’t get why she was laughing. Didn’t matter to him. Laughing was laughing. [color=coral]“C’mon dork. We need to be at the lab uhm…”[/color] Gwen paused as she checked her PokeGear. She sharply inhaled when she saw the time. [color=coral]“Uh...yeah, let’s just go.”[/color] Avery just nodded and the two headed off towards the lab. The tiny chick lead as the slow giant followed. [/centre]