#weisskunig

for the people that liked the post!! In order: @livingshinycharm @murmursdraconic @cataleyatakahashi @haematophiliac @silverfates

@punkbites @aelirus @weisskunig @skullkxd

. . . One thing was for certain, he certainly had not remembered a forest being involved. In fairness, the Rangers had determined that the tunnel Nata used to reach the surface had long since collapsed. He could have traversed underground past the miles of lush forest well before he found the exit into the desert, but the very fact that Orre had an established, stable woodland within the boundaries of its seemingly hostile mountain range was astounding to the people of Blueberry Academy.

A land that had gone untouched after all this time . . . perhaps the disruption on most electronic devices had something to do with it? Alma and the others discovered that once they crossed into the boundaries of the territory Nata had been found. Signals were reputably weak, with electrical devices often short circuiting as they went deeper into the Forbidden Lands.

Thankfully, this didn't hinder the Expedition's expansive team, made of researchers and rangers and the like collaborating to study the supposed wasteland. What could not be written on a laptop or phone, could be recorded with simple pen and paper, for instance.

As for Nata . . . well, even without the outside world's strange devices, he still found ways to satiate his curiosity. They'd been directed to these woods—surprisingly, by locals, who insisted that a village might provide better luck with locating the Keepers. In the meantime, they were investigating their surroundings.

. . . His digits were planted firmly against the thick gouges of a tree, left behind by something that had to have been big. One's imagination tends to run wild with these kinds of things, and he pondered what could have been responsible for such marks . . . perhaps for too long.

He glances over his shoulder, realizing that the others have gone quiet. In fact, none of them were there. Did they leave him behind? "Alma?" He calls softly, and is met with nothing but silence.

. . . The ferns rustle, and he tenses.

@weisskunig sent: thank you for taking care of me.

"DON'T THANK ME YET." She teases, giving the pestle in her hand another turn. She'd make light of the situation, despite the other's irritating wounds. Mari had already bandaged them, and was now grinding a combination of herbs in a mortar bowl.

"I salted the broth as best I could, but it probably still won't be enough to mask the bitterness." It was a playful little joke, teasing that he might rescind the thanks after having to take the homemade medicine. Though it was not by mere fortune that she had these herbs on hand, Mari was grateful to have come prepared—especially when she had stumbled upon this unfortunate soul lost and struggling in the Wendwood.

Eventually, the herbs have been ground into small flakes, and the chlorophyll inside makes them stick and clump together just slightly. Carefully she takes a wooden bowl, and scoops some bone broth into it before adding the herbal mixture.

"Here," Mari offers the bowl. "Drink it slowly. You can sip some water between it if you gotta." And then she sits back, and stirs the small cooking fire that she had crafted. The massive roots of a tree had made for a comfortable shelter for them to hide in.

“Lady of Destruction! She’s my ace. She helped me win the championship, an’ I’ve been raisin’ her since she was an egg.”

They’re laying on the floor. It’s hot. Ree doesn’t like being sticky and hot. The floor is at least a little cooler.

"It is simple. Speak only those things that are true." He leaned down further, staring thoughtfully at the small child –Zorua's illusion, very well done for one so young. "Then, all pokemon will be your friend."

There was no lie to this one, young as it was. Cute, though.

The situation would've looked dire to the outsiders who could see all the pieces in play: a villain stuck in his ways on one side, and someone trying to move on with their life on the other side.

Neither of the men were as privy.

(The villain a little more so, perhaps.)

So, who could have expected such an easy dispelling of tension when the smaller man spoke next?

"That is understandable," He noted the Purrloin (cat-like Pokemon were familiar to him, how could he not?) before properly maintaining eye contact with N, "I only ask so I know I'm not mistaken. If you are "N" Harmonia, I would appreciate any information on the weaknesses of Ghetsis Harmonia."

That was rather to-the-point, wasn't it? Despite the odd, odd energy of him, he spoke completely genuine.

His hands folded behind his back.

swerve isn't stupid!!!

he was, literally, one of the foremost metallurgy experts of their society prior to the war (and in my hc, he worked on hotspots but that's never confirmed as canon), and it was his translations of pharma's notes on the rust plague that allowed ratchet to create a cure for said plague. he chose to run a bar on the lost light bc it was his dream, and he's a very friendly guy (hiding severe!!! depression!!! there was a literal entire comic about his depression nearly killing him!) and a lot of people tend to see the character's friendly, kind of goofy behavior and decide that means swerve is stupid.