a breath of frost and sunlight [Sasha]

[sunflower]

His fingers creep like a web of verglas, cresting over the surface of his - and his very first, at that - new Pokeball. Glee is evident on an otherwise uncharacteristically quiet expression, eyes filled to the brim with a hushed excitement and focused on the item. Within it is housed his equally first Pokemon, a Bulbasaur received from the good professor whom he had known for all of his life. He was still wrapping his head around this sequence. He sits curled up in the cold air; trapping the heat of a young boy's excitement in scrawny, tangled limbs, pocketed away at the back of a bench on the borders of the small town. A tree greets him with shade for the mist-like sunlight that spills between its leaves, dappling the tool rolled between his hands.

"Mint ...," a voice mumbles, irreverent. His, touched and lilting. It's what he had chosen to name his Bulbasaur ... who he hadn't yet met, reserving the moment for a more personal environment than among the gifter and his assistants. Rowan was a big fan of Professor Elm (he was a fan of most everybody he met, fairly, but especially Elm had always been a good family friend to his mother and him) but some things - some small, sacred things - deserved a bit of ceremony to them. Rowan was never at a loss for dramatics. He pulled his fingers taut over the shiny red as if tugging the bow that hung from his chest straight, and he took another breath. He giggled to himself, pulling his legs up and wobbling at the edge of the bench. His first Pokemon ... his first Pokemon! First, first -- this Bulbasaur, and a performance. He could do it. This ball, held up in open palms, was proof of the start of his journey.

He had to meet it. This flower sprouting through concrete steps. "You & I ...," he started, his voice picking up volume with the cracks of pubescence. "We're going to shine, friend."

It dawdles at his fingertips, teetering, and his heart hammers with an eagerness restrained only by his nerves. C-c'mon, Rowan! Release it!

[shinshaa]

The crisp sputtering of a flame-tipped tail whipping side to side with every eager step, excited to venture forth into the world. The air was cold and the lingering remnants of snow sizzled and melted under the Charmander's wagging tail. Jack was an inquisitive soul, courageous - bold, not too dissimilar from his trainer. He wandered off, ever so slightly, in as daring of an expedition as his little legs could teeter all by his lonesome. The sights of people and Pokemon alike, excited the little lizard, soft babbles pouring from his flapping jaws. Jack carries himself with a delusional sense of independence, carrying himself with gallantry as he pesters the people around him with his nonsensical sounds, leaving just as aimlessly as he arrived.

Jack waddles towards the outskirts of town, enthralled by the sight of a Pidgey flapping through the air, teasing him by soaring just out of reach. Unless? He can't resist. He gives chase! Arms outstretched and wiggling with enough force that mirrors the bird and hops, only for his fantasy to be crushed like the twig beneath his feet. He stumbles, spins, and crashes forward after his emergency landing, sulking with grumbly whines as his nose scrunches and he focuses his attention upward. A boy, but not his own, sitting on a bench mumbling to himself. A little sprout that flourishes - blooms with resolve and catches the nosy Charmander's attention. He picks himself up and quickly scuttles over, peering up with a tilted head, flapping his arm at the boy. "Char- Charmander!" 

---

Sasha realized quickly that his partner had journeyed off on his own, a wave of anxiety and frustration hitting the boy immediately. He was there just a second ago! "Where did he go...?" He mumbles under his breath, letting out an exasperated sigh. The stall owner he was talking with had noticed Jack's disappearance and pointed out the direction he went; the outskirts of town. "Please, please... This can't be happening..." His mind can't help but assume the worst. What if Jack had wandered out into the wilds? He'd be in danger! I'm a failure of a trainer! Sasha whines, quickening his pace until he breaks into a full jog.

His heart skips a beat, the pressure of the anchor threatening to plunge to unfathomable depths liberated with the sight of a waving ember guiding the boy towards solace. "Jack!" Sasha shouts, skipping a step with his elated hop towards the creature, his mouth agape with a smile that twinkled profusely with a tranquil radiance. Relief washed over him and he forgets his place, and his surroundings and eventually notices the boy sitting on the bench - the target of Jack's mischief, clenching a Pokeball in his tiny hands.

"I hope Jack didn't cause you any trouble! It's all my fault. I took my eyes off him for a moment and he went and wandered off on his own little adventure!" Sasha stares down at the creature and tuts, furrowing his brow to show his displeasure. "So stressed!" He slinks down onto the bench, whipping his head back with a groan that evaporates when he sees the wide-eyed Pokemon wobbling in place. Sasha scoops his Charmander up, balancing him on his lap and wiggling his arms, as he turns towards the boy with a toothy grin.

"My name is Sasha. What's yours?"

[sunflower]

A distraction from the pall of his thoughts; and like the clouds breaking, something new shines in his little scene of contemplation. The flicker of flame wicking an orange, courageous tail, burning with a childish brightness in both fire and face. Rowan blinks, awestricken and growing by the second of his eyes widening. "Oh my gosh," he stumbles over his words, his Pokeball momentarily dipping with his fingers between his knees as he scurries up a little on the bench and leans to meet the entrant. It, too, was propelled by its own curiosity - and if Rowan was a bit more aware, he could draw a line of kinship between himself and the energetic creature. Alas, alack. He was far too taken with his new little friend.

"What have we here?" He coo'd, releasing one hand to prop up the right of his head while the other dawdled with his Pokeball. He'd be beaming, swaying a little between the crook of his feet on the edge of this bench, and would babble along with the Charmander in a conversation between like individuals. A love at first sight any child could share with strange stray animals. "You got something you're getting up to too, buddy?" His fingers would fan out from under his chin to hold out to the other, meeting inquisition with merry eyes and a laugh on his lips. "Are you someone's friend? Or are we just wanderers today?"

He'd play with the Charmander a little, wiggling his fingers, only to cast his eyes back to the orb he still held dangling from the tips of his other hand. He'd let it pendulum as he hum'd, remaining animated. "This is amazing." It was all he could think to say, reeling with a flare in his chest at all the raw joy that burst through it. It flushed his cheeks as if a gust blew up and over his face, fanning his hair with rapid shakes of his head until each braid was a tail wagging in enthusiasm. "If my friend is anything like you, Charmander, I think I really could do this! Isn't that great? You know, if you don't got anywhere else to be, maybe you and them could meet and be friends, too! Doesn't that sound cool? We could all --"

A voice calls - a boy, for his Charmander - and it reaches the intended target, falling also on unsuspecting ears until they burn a red to rival the Pokemon's shade. "Oh!" Not the most intelligent of responses, caught red-handed in a gibbered conversation with a stranger's wayward Pokemon, but it was all he could muster until explanations were doled: and when the other boy found a seat next to him, Rowan's ball slipped from shocked fingers as he tried to explain himself in kind. "I - the, uh - Jack, but - R-Rowan? - and --"

The loosed Pokeball taps the grass and pops, releasing a stream of light to solidify in a new shape for the three. The image shimmers, then shakes, as if a wettened dog, freeing itself from its opulence and standing with a blank expression - which would stare back at the boys. A relatively average Bulbasaur, at first glance. Round, empty eyes. Then its mouth falls open, almost as if unlatched. "Ba."

"Wow!"

[shinshaa]

A hand lifts to part his bangs, ebbing away from the teetering Charmander joyfully chittering at the poor boy that had intrigued him, balanced still atop his trainer's lap with the other. Sasha giggles, tapping along Jack's leathery skin with each wiggle of his body. Thank goodness! The joy behind their smiles, brimming with innocence and genuine wonder - a tap dance at a tempo shared only with the other. Sasha blinks awake - an ode to a nightmare, replaced with a rhapsody shared in the way their faces ignite and brighten. A glint of amber reflected in the fanged smile of a Charmander, shifting to a kaleidoscopic blue. A splash of summer in endless azure. 

Sasha's eyes closely inspect the boy, quick to notice the saturated red that was burning hotter than little Jack's tail, a dimpled smirk trying to contain his laughter at the incoherent babbling. He was cute, and not just his appearance. The startled Deerling caught in the headlights act was obnoxiously adorable. Sasha's heart fluttered and vibrated - trapped in the warm tempest of whatever this creature was. His lips part, an eyebrow raised as he leans in, inching closer as his face contorts into the very image of impish smugness. He wants to tease - he wants to play with this oddly mousey boy. An interrogation of sorts. "So~ Rowan was it~? What's gotcha so-" A thud, a light that basks the trio in its luminescence before materializing into the shape of a Pokemon. Sasha's eyes widen, his fingers ceasing their steady rhythmic tapping and his jaw remains slacked - stunned. 

"Ba."

Jack swivels in place immediately, a hop in his step, tail swishing excitedly as he pulls himself from his trainer's lessening grip. "Cha! Char!" The Charmander slopes down into the newly freed Bulbasaur, then bounces back up with his arms stretched wide, gibbering. Sasha snaps from his stupor, a heavy palpitation, his words caught in his throat and as if pilfered entirely, spill from the boy beside him. "W-Wow!" He says the only thing he can think of regardless of whether the words belonged to him now or not, drifting closer to Rowan, a tiny scoot, and then another to close the distance fully. A full-scale invasion of his personal space, hands clutched against his chest with a smile that expands, swells like an infinitely expanding galaxy. Unquenchable even for ocean blue; unfathomable in its thirst for new experiences.

"Oh my god, Rowan! Is that your Bulbasaur!? It's so adorable~" He stares at the Bulbasaur and then back to Rowan, body vibrating, tiny movements that reflect his feverish excitement in the trill intonations singing his praises. He pauses, reflects in the briefest of moments, and arrives at an epiphany, flopping backward to his claimed dominion atop the bench. "Wait, does that mean you're a Pokemon trainer, too?"

[sunflower]

Too close. Rowan swallowed down the flare of panic that burned like a blush across his features, cheeks tight with the purse of his lips inward; chewing on their curl, his hands frozen where they were and his shoulders lifted. A bird about to take flight, the breeze picking up a lock of black & green until it shimmers like a feather. Wide, azure eyes take in the explosion of a firework in this proximity, lighting the pool that observes it with a startled sparkle. He had to fight not to squeak, a typical anxiety reeling in little stutters through his head as he tried to settle on the most appropriate response. Did he gave his name right? So much was happening. Did he need to know his age? That he lived here? That he was leaving in mere hours on his first adventure?

"I like your Charmander!" He yelps, flinching back from the face in its smug contortion invading even closer. "He's really cool!" A neutral topic: success! People loved Pokemon, and they love talking about their own! The delivery in a voice cracking from pitch wasn't the important part. Jack was a valuable distraction from the race of his heart until he could make enough distance and time to figure out how to talk to someone new. His hands lifted in front of him, the loss of its Pokeball momentarily forgotten, and he waved them palm-forward from side to side. "J-Jack, right?"

Then the Bulbasaur - his Bulbasaur, his Mint - takes all of his attention, all tension in his body momentarily forgotten and lost in the coming sanctuary of this thoughtful garden. He picks up a floral scent, expression melting from this lit deerling to gaped enamoration. "Mint ..." He calls out to the creature, the effect of the name showing in slow, considerable moments until the Bulbasaur's wide eyes shift fully to Rowan. It stares back. Flowers practically bloom across Rowan's vision, an excited squeal bursting out of his lips and meeting a crescendo in his limbs: he launches off the bench and runs with his arms airplaning around his new best friend, laughing out loud. "Mint! Mint!" He continues, excitably, another passing moment before the Bulbasaur attempts to keep up with him with slow, tromping movements. A leg would fully lift then fall again, passing to the next, and the Bulbasaur would turn on its side in the time it took Rowan to make two rotations. They both seemed happy with this arrangement. "Ba!"

Ah, right. A voice cuts through and freezes Rowan completely in place. He stops mid-prance - one arm lifted, a leg out - and after three comical beats Mint freezes too: mirroring its trainer without other purpose. The creature wobbles. Color drains from Rowan's face, only to be filled like magma in a pot until steam whistles out his little ears. "I - I -"

He jumps back, making a grandoise sweep with his arm, and he shouts despite the red that refuses to leave the framing of his cheeks. "That's right! 'Tis I, Rowan the Indomitable, Ace Pokemon Trainer and Lord of Johto!" They come without further thought, just words spilling out of his mouth until he's panting, an out-stretched hand trembling while the other pulls up to push through his hair and shade one of his narrowed eyes. He strikes an imperial pose. "My name will soon be known throughout all the land! Y-you're lucky to have met me now! I ... I left my 16 Dragonites behind out of sympathy for the new trainers here!"

He swallows, reeling back his arm only to point directly at Sasha. "But ...! I & and the Dastardly Mint are more than a match!" Mint had all but fallen over during this conversation, only unthawing now to let its foot tamp softly down again. It turns, clunky movements, until it's facing Rowan with a lame smile. Some urging directs it to tromp slowly in the other direction, eventually making Sasha & Jack the victims of its smile instead. "Ba?" Rowan puffs out his chest.

[shinshaa]

A chilly gale fizzles out against kindling cheeks, flushed red - staring as inquisitively as he was swarmy, his smirk twisting into something gleefully captivated. The stammering and stuttering, the tiny wriggles of a butterfly afraid of attention or spotlight, but destined to seize it nonetheless with such a darling little squeak. None of these thoughts were present within Sasha, left speechless only to the rushing waves; wretched impulses to poke and prod, tease the boy. First impressions were important. A journey is always better with friends and so, the excitable boy would restrain his paws and muzzle his yearnings to tease the poor boy.  Soft giggles emanate, a hand covering his mouth. "Mhm~ That's Jack alright!" Jack responds in kind, nubby little palms mirroring the waving motion, chittering the entire time with snapping jaws. "Cha! Char!" The moment shifts, the limelight shifted to a new actor on stage; the Bulbasaur, and just like the creature that burst onto the scene; Rowan would bloom. 

Sasha leans forward, hands lifted to cradle his cheeks, elbows resting atop his thighs, gazing dotingly at Rowan prancing around his Bulbasaur. Flowers in his eyes, dancing with the wind and even Jack would find himself dizzied, standing in place as his head swivels, clapping his clawed hands together merrily in rhythm with the Mint-tinged melody. A perfect fragrance and an even more refreshing sight. The boy's heart would beat too heavily, a strain in how he tried to choke down all the uninhibited compliments that swirled in his head. A glimpse of something so precious, so pure.

And so it goes... For the briefest, transient moment. And then... A fracture splitting the atmosphere, an explosion of something just as bright as it was loud. Flamboyant and too haughty; completely betrayed by his scarlet-stained face. Too cute. Sasha struggles to focus and take the boy seriously in the slightest, but Jack lurches backward - stunned when confronted with the melodrama as it were. An unbelievable tale even for someone as trusting and naive as Sasha and so, a nefarious plot is hatched, rotten as the sly smirk creasing his lips. 

His hands clap together, again and again in raucous applause. The Charmander looks at his trainer, confused, but soon mimics the gesture, a happy little click of fangs as he babbles. "My humblest apologies, m'lord. I had no idea I was in the presence of someone so noble and experienced. Sixteen Dragonites? Boy, that sure is a lot..." Sasha hops from the bench, hands entwined behind his back as he invades Rowan's space. A steady beat, louder now, and close still. "And judging from how adorable you are- I'm sure everyone will know your name, Ro-wan~" Mischievous goading in the way his tenor drags with each word and lingers on the boy's name. He twists, and spins in place, a full circle before taking a step behind his partner in response to the pointed provocation. 

Sasha's arms bend, and flex to entangle together behind his neck, stretching with a hushed simper that stirs into a gentle smile. "You're right though. I do feel like I'm lucky to have met you." Jack takes the opportunity to waddle up to Mint and Rowan, tail swishing, and the tiniest wisps drifting in the wind as it stares upward, jaw slack and stunned with the lightest "A," slipping out. "We can battle if you wanna~! It'd be my first one ever." Sasha swivels, his limbs unraveling to relax at his sides while his smile widens, and rises to settle on heavenly delusion and the hope of new friends. "If you'd be so gracious... maybe we could travel together and you could teach me?" It was fun to tease and just as fun to play in his space. It was fun to be with him.

And at the end of the day; a journey should always be fun.