KillamriX88

The Heart of the Mountain - Interest Check for Dragon Rider RP

I like dragons, so I'll keep my eye on this. No promises though.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: @all y'all
Location: Around

---

---

Of course. Of course the moment Felix's mood had made a slight upswing, Ferris had had to speak up again. Venus cringed, seeing Felix's expression immediately darken.

Was he doing this on purpose? If he was so insistent that letting the wind guide them was fine, then why did he care enough to argue? The only conclusion Felix could come to at the moment was that it was out of spite. Suddenly Ferris cared to discuss things only when it meant contradicting him.

Whether it was real or just a cynical assumption made in the heat of the moment wasn't something Felix currently had the emotional capacity to consider. It was too late, and he was already incensed.

"Oh look who suddenly wants to discuss things ahead of time!" He snapped back at the man. If he was gonna complain about Felix "lashing out" regardless, then Felix might as well just speak his mind. He wasn't exactly yelling, yet, but he was clearly past the point of polite conversation. "So what is it, huh? You want to wander in circles or play it safe? I'm getting sick of your wishy-washy crap!" It was hard not to take it personally when he repeatedly vetoed all of Felix's ideas and the one time he'd made a concrete decision... it was STILL vetoing one of Felix's ideas. "Because I know what I'm doing! I'm trying to take this seriously! If you want to screw around, do it on your own time!"

"People like you are how-" Felix looked like his next order of business was to get right in Ferris's face, but he never made it. He tried to take one step, but was halted. He looked down to see his mawile blocking his path, arms outstretched to hold him back. The concerned pout on his pokemon's face immediately gave him pause. The anger in Felix's eyes cooled, but his expression was still overtly hostile. "I'll be waiting outside the camp." It was a whiplash inducing change of pace, but perhaps it was one for the better.

He turned on his heel and marched away, Venus remining behind to bow her head apologetically at the rest of the group a few times before scurrying off after him. When her stubby legs caught up to her trainer, she found him sitting at the base of a tree, knees tucked up against his chest, with his bag dropped on the ground beside him.

The mawile quietly patted him on the shoulder until he finally spoke, "I did it again, didn't I?" She nodded. "Not my finest moment, I suppose." She nodded again. "I'm not apologizing to him. I don't care if he does either." Venus averted her eyes at that. "What? You think I'm the one in the wrong?"

The mawile could only shrug. The intricacies of what they'd been discussing were lost on the pokemon, but what she fully understood is that Felix had seemed to be doing better up until Ferris's latest remarks. She also fully understood that Felix's response hadn't been pleasant to witness, and likely seemed twice as bad to a stranger. Right and wrong weren't something Venus felt comfortable judging.

"I'm just... gonna ignore him as much as I can." So far the common denominator to everything unpleasant had been Ferris. Maybe Felix was part of the problem, but at the end of the day if interacting with the man caused problems, he'd just remove himself from the situation, then neither of them could cause an issue.

It was an inelegant plan, but the best he could promise to uphold for the time being.

. . . Back at Camp . . .

"Well... that was ugly." Isla watched Felix storm away with a pout. They'd not even begun and already the group was threatening to fracture to pieces. In that case... she'd have no choice but to hold it together herself!

"Excuse me! Are you Professor Isla Gavins?!" An out of breath man skidded to a halt next to her.

"Err, the title might be a wee bit much, but... yes?" she blinked in confusion.

"Oh thank gosh, I'd already gotten it wrong twice."

"Was the red hair that hard to pick out of a crowd?" Isla had to raise an eyebrow at that one.

"Y-you'd be surprised." He stood up straight and cleared his throat. "I'll just get straight to the point. The research team is short-handed, so we're hoping to pull talent from the exploration groups."

"What, and work in an actual field lab?" Isla glanced between her group and the man. "Do... do you have soil analyzers?"

"Errr, p-probably?"

"Good enough for me!" She spun the man around before glancing back at the rest of her former group. "Sorry, but you understand right? Can't pass up somethin' like this!" She then pushed the man into the distance. "Just know if there aren't any analyzers, I'll sic my slowbrow on you! Galarian ones are poison types, you realize."

. . . "Bruh?" About 10 seconds later, said slowbro registered the departure of his trainer and quickly trundled off after her.

And just like that, Isla had left the group.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: @all y'all
Location: Around

---

---

"Exactly! We're on an uncharted island, that's why we-!" Felix had to bite his lip to keep himself from blowing up on Ferris again. He ran a hand down his face, taking a deep breath as Isla took over the conversation, the revelation of her partner pokemon, one he'd actually never seen before, helping to distract from the near loss of his cool.

"Sure, yeah, that could work," Felix mumbled, pulling up the "map" on his pokedex. "That means we're leaving here entirely, which means we need to keep an eye on the sun so we know when to start looking for a place to set up camp. I don't need a 12-step plan, I ju-" And suddenly he was having some strange device shoved into his hands that could apparently call for supplies if it became necessary. That made sense, actually, since even Jarvis couldn't carry an endless supply of food and they could be here a while. With that distraction, Arlo took the chance to suggest the North coast, in other words, that they should just cut across to the entire other side of the island. It was extreme idea, but technically in line with Isla's idea.

To be fair, he doubted many others would be so bold as to go to the entire opposite end of the island so soon. Felix glanced back at the map, trying to wedge the radio thing under one arm, but in the end opting to drop it into Venus's arms who fumbled slightly, but managed to keep it from hitting the ground, letting out a sigh of relief as the device settled in her grasp.

"We could... and if we veer just a little east, by then we could call in supplies and maybe hop over to explore some of the smaller islands if we've found a pokemon that can carry us, or maybe we can just call for an inflatable boat or something..." Felix mused, but then paused. Was... he getting into this? Whatever, he was already here and he'd promised Venus he'd "give it a go" after all. If he was going to do this, he might as well make it worthwhile. "We can worry about that last bit once we get there, but for now that's a good enough plan for me." He couldn't help but shoot a sideways look at Ferris as he spoke, though he did his best to keep his expression neutral. "Unless anyone objects?" Ferris hadn't offered anything helpful, and thus hadn't given an opinion, and Botan hadn't had a chance to chime in yet.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: @all y'all
Location: Around

---

---

Venus almost looked startled at the pokedex's description of her, as if she'd never heard it before.

She had.

She folded her hands, looking as innocent as possible, horns tucked away behind her. Exactly what she'd done after dragging Felix across the ship earlier.

"You are literally proving it right," Felix spoke, deadpan. Venus just averted her eyes. "Well I assume they'll want us to catch pokemon in order to get more information, so they must be handing out pokeballs around here somewhere. If not, I have a few spares. It's really not all that hard if you have a half-decent throwing arm..." Felix tried not to actually look at her arms.

If she really was the pampered rich girl she came across as, he feared her arms might be a bit more on the noodle-y side.

"They sort of lock on as long as you don't completely miss. Only tricky part is if the pokemon is too stubborn you'll have to fight it first. Well, your pokemon will. I don't recommend trying to fight a pokemon yourself." Felix hoped that last bit hadn't actually been necessary to say. Might have been funny to watch, though.

If they did stop to get pokeballs though, they'd have to do it fast. He wanted their group to head out quickly and actually choose where they were going, rather than get their options whittled down to anything too... inhospitable. Looking at the map, he had to imagine they were all linked to some degree, and as each group headed out the map would fill in.

If so, hopefully it would be easy to avoid people. Too many groups in one place would just scare off the pokemon... or attract the angry ones.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: @all y'all
Location: Around

---

---

While Felix waited for everyone else to update their pokedex, he decided to look at his own.

"That's... a lot of island to cover." He blinked, already feeling tired just thinking about it. Reality was starting to sink in. There wouldn't be any towns to stop at along the way. It didn't seem like much more than the immediate area had been thoroughly mapped. They didn't know for sure what they were walking into and, without civilization, would have no clear destination to head toward.

Well it wasn't like they had to map everything with just them, there were other groups, but still. He really didn't fancy wandering aimlessly across an uninhabited island.

These were the thoughts occupying his mind as the group once more began to reassemble, "Huh?" he looked up from the transparent screen of his pokedex as they began speaking. "Oh... yeah, sure, whatever." Sadly he was still pretending to "get along" with Ferris, so he would have to register even his contact info.

"Heading out is great and all, but we need a plan. If we just wanna roam around this area aimlessly, fine, but if we're gonna head out farther, we should pick a landmark or something and have a goal." It was the most he'd spoken the group all at once since meeting them, one might note. What else could he do though? At this point he was past accepting his fate or not. If he was doing this, he wasn't getting strung along mindlessly.

'Mrr!' His mawile let out an excited warble, pointing into the distance.

". . . we are not climbing the mountain." Felix frowned. Of course his pokemon would pick the tallest, most imposing destination possible. Mind you, it was also one of the only landmarks clearly visible in the distance from where they were standing, but that didn't make it any better of an idea in his mind.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: @y'all
Location: The Office

---

---

It wasn't hard to find where they needed to go considering there weren't a lot of options, and plenty of other people had started forming lines. His first priority was to find the office where he could update his pokedex. It was a little amusing waiting in line seeing those who had one already pull them out.

They were all so... big and clunky. He pulled out his own which was barely half the size of most of them, and even more so smaller than others.

He had to wonder what kind of information was actually going to be uploaded. Wasn't the whole point of them being there to help explore? Was it just what little they'd already discovered? Map data? Well he supposed he'd find out soon enough. That said, while the update itself didn't take long, he wasn't really going to sift through all the information now. He'd worry about that later.

While there, he was also told his group had already been signed in and so he was off the hook in that regard. That settled that then. He was stuck with them.

All that was left to do was to regroup with them. Most of them were currently huddled up nearby, which made his job easy in that regard.

"I guess Botan already got us signed up." She seemed like the de facto leader of the group in his mind, so that was what he'd assumed. He never even spared Arlo a glance. "Pokedex line is over there," he told them, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: EVERYONE
Location: M.S Marlow

---

---

It was a pretty decent apology, even Felix had to admit it. Perhaps it was even sincere. It sounded like it probably was. One would be hard pressed to hold a grudge after such a well spoken and timely apology.

Unfortunately, Felix was talented and more than just a little cynical.

Ferris could apologize all he wanted now, but Felix expected him to be a continual annoyance, so why bother getting chummy now only for it to lead to disappointment later? That said, Felix knew the only saving grace he had after his little tantrum was the fact that he'd been the victim in the situation, so if he was accepting being part of this group, he couldn't very well go and throw the apology back in the man's face.

"Mhm..." Felix shrugged before Ferris walked off. It was the best he had to offer in the moment. He'd just mind his own business as much as he could until he had no other options. He let out a weary sigh, "Once you have the rest of the group figured out, I'll see you at the exit ramp." With that, he trailed after Isla at a lagging pace.

He too thought about what he was going to do on the island, though he spent far less time pondering the dirt. In reality, he really didn't have a plan. He was sort of along for the ride.

"What do you think?" he asked his pokemon. Venus struck a thinking pose for a moment but then smiled and patted his hip, or more specifically his belt. Felix let out a bemused puff of air, "Of course you do. Fine. We'll see what we run into. Just try not to be a bad influence this time."

At this the pokemon crossed her arms indignantly.

"Relax, you know I'm kidding." Felix cracked a rare smile, however small it was. "We'll... both give it a go I figure, right?"

The mawile put her hands on her hips and nodded confidently.

"But seriously, I'm in charge." This went unacknowledged. How troubling.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: EVERYONE
Location: M.S Marlow

---

---

Why had he blown up like that? Felix wondered as he stood there, replaying the last few seconds over in his head. He was in a bad mood, he knew that much, but a simple misunderstanding shouldn't have gotten to him like that. No, but the other comments certainly had. Two barbs in one breath. OK, now he was just getting even angrier thinking about it.

One could see it happen in real time. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, practically boiling over and seething with anger. His mawile's pupils shrank to pinpoints in trepidation. She could feel the rage vibrating through him and into her.

However, no further outbursts followed. He pulled his hand away and opened his eyes again, though he didn't look exactly calm. If anything, he looked even madder than before.

"I... have no problem being part of your group," he finally spoke, looking at Botan, the emphasis put on his words making his meaning clear. She hadn't done anything wrong. If anything, somehow he almost felt like the bad guy at this point. "But don't expect me to pose for any of his photos." Oh, he was sure he was here to photograph the island more than anything else, but that wasn't the point. Felix hadn't even said two words to the man before getting needled at. Ferris had put his worst possible foot forward and Felix wasn't going to forget it any time soon.

As for Arlo and Isla? Arlo might've started this with his careless words, but... it wasn't much of a crime in hindsight. Isla was as innocent as Botan. Fine, just one bad apple he could deal with. With that settled, he simply focused on calming his nerves. He might have been blaming someone else, but he still knew his little tantrum wasn't a good look.

Meanwhile, Venus finally let out a long sigh of relief and let go of her trainer's leg. Disaster averted... barely.

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: EVERYONE
Location: M.S Marlow

---

---

Venus might have celebrated a hair too early. Her victory could totally be taken from her, and she feared it was happening before her eyes. For, as the newcomers spoke...

Felix wasn't one to get flustered all that easily, but he was already a little out of sorts, and now totally caught off guard. His face flushed ten different shades of scarlet in about two seconds before he finally snapped.

"Wh-who the hell are you marrying me off to!? I only met her ten seconds before you did!" Felix shouted back at the presumptuous gaggle of strangers. So furiously flustered was he in general, he never even bothered to hone in on Ferris for his remark about Felix's height. "Ugh, I didn't even want to be here in the first place!" He took a sizeable step away from Botan and then crossed his arms while averting his eyes from everyone else.

Venus's actual mouth hung open in dismay before she managed to gather her courage to approach her flustered trainer. Shorter than average or not, the poor mawile was even shorter, so the best she could do was cling to his leg while frantically patting his knee in vain in the hopes her presence would calm him down before he abandoned the group entirely...

Pokémon: New Horizons

Felix

Mentions: EVERYONE
Location: M.S Marlow

---

---

There was no way this girl was going to go for it, not with the half-hearted greeting he'd given. He almost felt bad for his pokemon, but that's what she got for being so stubborn.

"See, she doesn't eve-" Felix's eyes went wide as the girl suddenly approached him and went so far as to grab his hand. "Wh-" Apparently this girl had a very different concept of personal space. It wasn't the handshake, so much as the fact that she'd just forced one that hadn't been offered. Great, he now had a group.

L-o-v-e-l-y.

One of these days his pokemon wasn't going to get her way, but that day was not today.

"Great. That's great. Thanks." Felix's lips formed a tight line as he fought to keep a straight face and not let too many of his tumultuous inner feelings leak to the surface. This wasn't her fault, it was his pokemon's fault, and since he'd already decided not to tie a lead brick to her pokeball and leave her at the bottom of the ocean to think about what she'd done... he had no one left to vent at.

He'd simply have to endure.

And then suddenly an above average height Machoke stomped over with more people. Well at least it looked like the whole group thing was going to be taken care of quickly, though he wondered why she was talking like this was his idea.

"Yep... that's us... grouping up." Felix did try to smile again. His face threatened to split open, not because of how wide it was, but because of hoe hard his cheeks seemed to resist the action. "So exciting."

'Arcues please send this ship into an Avalugg.' Never mind the fact that they were approaching a tropical island and were so close they could probably swim the rest of the way anyway...

All the while, Venus maintained her innocent facade, soaking up Botan's praise and completely ignoring Jarvis giving her the side-eye. At this point, no one could take her victory from her.