[Game Thread] Lord Windos’ PokeRole Adventure 2: The Wild Lands

[Iron]

"Evening, Ma'am. Sorry to bother you; do you have a moment? I've recently found myself getting into raising a variety of aquatic Pokemon, including one that requires careful boating knowledge. Might you have any advice for me? I can do a little work in exchange, and some of my Pokemon can work as well. I'll take stories of derring-do, I'll take being shown around a boat, I'll take meeting salty Pokemon! Got any tales of surviving the wild storms of Sutalor?"

The old woman stares you down, glancing over you with an almost inscrutable grey gaze. Your Gut, though, tells you that she's is being particularly thorough and analytic, despite the seemingly relaxed and stoic manner she held herself too.

".....Depends. Is one of them a Cruferrophant? Sounds like one."

She puffs out another cloud of smoke before speaking again, not letting you confirm or deny her question.

"....A question for you: Why do you care? To learn The Trade? Hear the Stories of the Seas?"

A quiet, contemplative mood falls between you two - you see the salty dog's gaze go cloudy as she was remembering something, before snapping back into crystal clear focus as she resumed her staring.

"That was an insightful guess," says Vernon when he feels a moment of silence has served its purpose, and his thoughts have organized themselves. He's starting to realize he got himself in deeper with Cruz than he thought. "Sounds like you might have experience?"

"All I want is to hear some of those experiences, and learn from them. Why?" He marshals his thoughts again, careful not to misstep. "Honestly, I could say something deep to justify it. Maybe there's more lurking beneath my surface, like the draft of a ship, but that isn't how I make decisions. I've always liked big Pokemon - felt a bond with them - ever since a certain experience I had on my farm as a child. It's that bonding that drives me in all my journeys with Pokemon. I like to watch them grow, literally and metaphorically. And I like to watch how they handle themselves on their literal journeys. To me, riding a Pokemon is as intimate as cuddling or battling. I see how they shoulder burdens, handle adrenaline and I share in that adrenaline, how they care for their rider, how the two become one."

"So at first I asked for help finding a Cufant, to watch it grow into a Copperajah, and I had an Oversized Lotad already, but when that became an opportunity to obtain a Cruferrophant..." Vernon stopped himself from telling the whole life story to someone he sensed understood the value of every singular word. "...Well, it's probably obvious why I jumped at the opportunity. And it's actually been wonderful so far, for all the reasons I expected and more, but I need to learn to mitigate the danger."

He let the words fall into the sea and be absorbed by them. Then, "Why do I care? In a word... Trust."

Vernon enters the calm state he feels when riding a Pokemon, and it lets his urge to fidget fall away. He's found the same comfort in stillness that the salty woman is accustomed to.