Contents:
Aurora
Obvious exits:
North <N> leads to Overgrown Lands - Route 11: Off the Route.

Chilling rain pours from thick grey clouds, driven by a furious northeast wind. In the forest, gusts of wind tear through the tree limbs and howl around rocks. Red, orange and gold leaves swirl past you on the wind. While at the coast, the grey ocean lashes at the coast angrily as the autumn storm pelts the waves.

Another one of those miserable days that seem to be all too common this season. Indeed, the weather's been often for the past weeks, and the only solitude one can take is in the fact that it's not quite -snowing-, which isn't very comforting at all, seeing as how winter is right around the corner. For once in his life, Peppy is actually doing what he should be doing on a day like this. Sleeping. The Growlithe seems to be taking the day off (or maybe he's resting up to go out hunting later? ... Yeah, right) as he's curled up into himself, his left cheek lying on his paws. He looks very cozy, a further indication being a content, almost goofy little smile on his face as he growls gently with every exhale. Who knows what he's thinking about? With Peppy, you never really can tell...

Lying next to Peppy is his mate, Aurora, who's sprawled out on the soft straw of the barn rather than being curled up. Well, with the size of her belly at the moment, sprawling's probably a more comfortable position. Aurora's not quite asleep - her eyes are half-closed and staring into space, but every now and then she moves with a little jolt, her eyes opening fully before almost closing again. Judging by her low mutter of, <Oh, he's kicking again...> after the most recent jolt, this has been going on for a while, and the female Growlithe is beginning to look distinctly unhappy about it.

Despite how comfortable he looks dreaming about -whatever- he's dreaming out, Peppy's not entirely unconcious, as is suggested by his left ear perking up a bit. A moment or two later, the pup blinks open one sleepy eye, growling softly as he realizes that he everything's all blurry. He can still make out his mate's (very fuzzy) form, and he can place the voice as Aurora's. With a somewhat lazy yawn, Peppy lifts up one of his paws (still keeping his cheek on the other one), swiping aimlessly at the air before bringing it down upon one of his eyes. <Well,> he half-mumbles, stifling a yawn. His legs now extend as he rolls over onto his side, stretching his skin taught. <If e's doin' that to you, then kick him back.> His eyes close once again, though maybe he's just waiting for a reply. He's obviously not quite entirely awake or he'd actually, you know, put some thought into his suggestion.

Peppy's suggestion actually makes Aurora give a little grin, before replying, <I can't kick him back. He's inside my- Ow!> She winces as the offending puppy gives another particularly accurate kick, and then rolls over from her side until she's almost resting on her back. <I hope they come out soon,> she says quietly. <My belly hurts from being kicked sometimes.> She's quiet for a few moments, then adds, sounding happier, <I wonder who they'll look like.>

Peppy brings his paw down a little, peering at Aurora with sleepy eyes, his tail giving a little wag of amusement despite his awkward position on his side. <Why can't...> Peppy just stops talking all of a sudden, jaw slack, and it's pretty obvious that he just now realizes - duh! - what Aurora was just talking about. "Lithe!" he woofs suddenly, something of a surprised "<Oh!>". The pup procees to roll back onto his tummy, bringing him a little closer to his mate, whom he looks at with concern in his sleepy eyes. His eyes go down her side and to her belly, which Peppy sort of cocks his head at. He wonders why pups would be so mean as to kick their own mom. That's kind of mean. He opens his mouth as if to ask this question, but Aurora poses a question of her own - one whiches causes Peppy's mouth to snap back shut as he turns his head to look at her. He's silent for a few moments, lost in thought briefly before setting his chin down upon his paws, glancing at Aurora out of the side of his eyes. <Pups can't be born with scars, right? I hope they look like you if they can...> ... Um, is that his idea of a compliment? Awfully awkwardly phrased, if so.

<Scars?> Aurora looks over at Peppy, and her gaze falls on his muzzle, and the particularly good example of one such scar. After a few moments, she looks away, shaking her head a little as she rolls back over onto her side. <I think that scars are things you get when something hurts you. So if the pups aren't the ones who've been hurt by something, they won't have scars when they're born.> She pauses for a few moments, thinking, then adds, <Do you have any more ideas for what we should call them? We've got two names for males, but I'm not sure what to call them if they're female...>

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Peppy looks visibly nervous as Aurora looks at his scar, shifting his eyes to the floor, appearing more and more uncomfortable by the second as the female Growlithe is silent. Even after all these months, looks like he still hasn't learned to accept the slash down his muzzle. Thankfully, Aurora's voice doesn't seem to be full of disgust when she speaks, and, in fact, what she says is actually quite relieving. <Really?> Peppy asks rhetorically, his tail wagging back and forth. The pup, perhaps following Aurora's example of getting more comfortable, once again stretches his back limbs out, this time meeting with more success as he's not lying on his side. He seems visibly relieved as a slight grin picks up the corners of his mouth. <I'm glad to hear that.> A moment's hesitation. <Names for females?> It's not that he hasn't given it any thought, he just... hasn't come up with anything. In about a week. He glances at the floor for a moment before his grin widens a bit - though this time a little more uncertainly - and he inquires, <... Uh, did you think of any?> All he can think of is 'Burgeria'. Knowing Peppy, he's going to end up suggesting it, too...

Aurora shakes her head. <I thought of a few, but I'm not sure about them. See, I remembered how my brother and I were named after fire, and I thought that we could name some of the pups like that. But I can't think of anything other than Flame as a name, and we've already chosen that, so...> She sighs, and bows her head a little. <Maybe we could name them after the people who cared for us for some time. You know, our trainers. To show them that we're thankful to them... I don't know if that makes sense.>

Peppy is silent for a few moments, sinking further into his paws and into the floor as he stares ahead at the fall, not quite blankly - but he's definitely lost in thought. After remaining silent for a decent period of time, Peppy rotates his head to glance over at Aurora, nuzzling his chin and cheek along his paws as he does so. <Maybe... Maybe Karen,> he suggests softly, <But I don't think we should name one Patch. It would just... ... I'd rather not.> A little reason explaining his opinion would be nice, but it doesn't seem to come. He moves right into his next point, maybe because he wants to change the topic. <But I do have a name!> Wag, wag. There's our more cheerful Peppy. <Back in my...> Pause. <Once I knew another Growlithe, and she was older, but wasn't my mom or anything, and her name was Dakota. She said a trainer gave it to her, and she said it means... it means...> Cue bewilderment. Peppy scrunches up his furry face a bit, a very light frown evident. <I... don't remember.> Hey, it's been a good two years. ... Or maybe Peppy's just forgetful.

Giving a nod, Aurora then rolls over onto her other side, the straw beneath her rustling as she tries to get more comfortable. <Dakota sounds like a nice name, and...> She grins shyly, and says, <Karen would be proud of me if she knew I was naming one of our puppies after her. And I'm sure Patch would be, too, but we don't have to if you don't want to.> Slowly, and not very gracefully, Aurora rolls over onto her belly, then gets to her feet. <Do you think it's really wet outside? It sounds like water's running off the top of the barn...> she asks Peppy as she takes a few steps towards the door.

Dakota sounds like a nice name? Peppy closes his eyes and cheerfully wags his tail, proud of himself for suggesting a name they both like (despite the fact that he didn't exactly think it up using his own mind or anything). That makes... how many names? Peppy has to pause for a moment or so as he adds two and two, presently arriving at the conclusion of four. Wow, he's so smart! As Aurora gets off of the floor and approaches the exit, Peppy's head lifts a little as he does a half-push up, though he doesn't quite stand up on all four paws quite yet. <It was earlier this morning,> he states, presuming it's not even still morning. Hey, you lose all sense of time when you sleep, after all. Peppy does, at least. <Are you hungry? I'll go out and find a Rattata, if you are!> Even though no Growlithe alive would be -happy- to walk out into the rain to hunt, Peppy at least does a good job of covering up this fact. Or maybe he just loves Aurora that much. Or maybe he himself is hungry. ... Yeah, that seems pretty likely.

Aurora glances back at Peppy and shakes her head. <I'm not hungry. I think the pups have fallen asleep, even the one who likes to kick me sometimes. And it's really wet outside, so it's not nice weather to be hunting in...> She turns back to look at the door. <I think I saw that man who lives here come into the barn the other day. Do you think he left any food around here?>

October means Kats come out to 'play', save the data! Right away! (Saving)

Chilling rain pours from thick grey clouds, driven by a furious northeast wind.

The pups have fallen asleep? Peppy almost wants to suggest that they should follow their example, but he realizes that he's not really all that sleepy anyway. Not anymore, at least. <I could still, if you w-> He's cut off as Aurora suggests a much better method for obtaining food - food that could be in the barn at this very moment. Peppy blinks. <He did?> He blinks again. <Really?> Again. Now looking a little more excited, the Growlithe's head rises a little further, and, his big bushy tail wagging back and forth almost uncontrollably, it becomes obvious that the pup is hungry. As usual - 'Peppy' and 'hungry' go hand in hand. <Did he leave burgers? I really hope so!> He doesn't have the sense to ask his -nose- that, so he instead asks Aurora - she is the smart one, after all.

<I think I saw him a few hours ago - I was almost asleep, though, so I don't remember when he came in,> Aurora replies, nodding and then looking around, sniffing the air. <He came in, and he walked a bit closer to us, and then he put down a pot of something... oh, here it is.> She prods with a forepaw at a ceramic pot that's almost hidden underneath the straw on the floor. Sniffing the air above it, she then peers into the pot, and adds, <It smells like meat, I think. It's quite cold, but it smells nice.>

Peppy visibly expresses slight discomfort as Aurora speaks, presumably because he doesn't like the fact that somebody came near him and his mate while he was asleep, and he didn't wake up or anything. (Maybe he still doesn't realize that usually, a stampede of wild Tauros couldn't wake him up - Aurora just got lucky when she mentioned the pup kicking her!) Aurora doesn't sound overly fearful, however, so Peppy sort of shrugs it off, bobbling his head a little bit in hesitant agreement. <Maybe...> Peppy pushes himself up a little bit more, though his lower torso still lines the floor. He really just does not want to get up! <Maybe you can Ember it.> Yeah. The pot is covered in straw, and Peppy's suggesting they light it on fire. Brilliant! Try as he might, Peppy can't keep his mouth from salivating a bit - he doesn't know why it is, but now that Aurora has revealed the food, he can't help but smell it. Why he didn't catch it before she uncovered it is a mystery, but lots of things are with this pokemon.

Aurora manages to push almost all of the straw off the pot it's covering, though quite a few strands fall into the food. She bends over the pot, sniffs it a few times, then slurps up a mouthful - when she raises her head again, she's got gravy staining the fur around her muzzle. <Mmm, 's good,> she comments, her mouth full, and she chews for a few seconds before swallowing and grinning widely. <It's really nice,> she says happily. <Come over here and try some of it. It's cold, but it's yummy.>

This could be the greatest test of willpower Peppy will ever have to face. What does he do? Does he go over there and just *scarf down the stew* like nobody's business, or does he let his very pregnant (not just a little pregnant, very pregnant!) mate eat her fill before even entertaining the *thought* of filling himself up? The pup actually gives an uncertain whimper here, submissively dropping his head a little as he realizes that he can't -decide- what to do! In the end, hunger wins (as it often does with Peppy), and the Growlithe pops up to all four paws, strolling over to the pot. It's a very awkward walk - it looks like he's struggling to keep himself from *diving* towards the food and jamming his head inside and munching away. <You, uh, you eat as much as you want to first.> He nods to the female, eyes bouncing from her face to the pot to her face again. The more he thinks about it, the hungrier he gets.

Aurora looks doubtful for a moment, then nods and ducks her head back into the pot, munching away for a minute or so, and making rather loud slurping sounds as she eats. Finally, she lifts her head up, and takes a few steps backwards, licking at the gravy that's mixed into her fur. <You have some now,> she tells Peppy. <There's lots left for both of us.>

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-Man-, poor Peppy feels guilty. In fact, if he wasn't as hungry as he is (well, if he was less hungry than usual, at least), he'd probably definitely let his mate eat her fill first - including herself, she's feeding for three or four or five or maybe even... um... whatever number comes after five (Peppy can't really count much higher than that). Still, she seems quite inclined to let him have a little, and so, taking a step forward (cracking a small smile at Aurora, who admittedly looks sort of funny - in a good way! - with the gravy 'moustache'), Peppy inserts his head into the pot, taking one very, very tiny little lick. ... ... Which is followed by nearly ravenous munching as Peppy actually puts a paw on the pot, leaning up a bit as if he's going to crawl into the pot. Huh, boy.

Aurora grins as she watches Peppy stuff himself, and walks slowly back towards the patch where she and Peppy had been sleeping. <You have the rest, and I'll try to get to sleep,> she tells him. <I'm full now, and the puppies are sleeping.> And, rather surprisingly, she appears not to be exaggerating - her stomach doesn't rumble, she doesn't look hungrily at the pot as she lies down carefully, and her eyes start to droop shut as she lies down on her side. <If the weather's good enough to go outside and hunt, could you wake me, please?> she asks Peppy, sounding drowsy already, and resting her head on her paws she starts to drift off to sleep.

Peppy only stops munching away when he lifts his head to take a breath. He's even sloppier than Aurora - somehow, he managed to get a little of the stew in the tuft of fur on his forehead. How can somebody eat so messily? Peppy finds a way. He's about to dive right back into the cold-but-still-great soup, but the moment Aurora starts speaking, Peppy's head just freezes in place, and he glances over at Aurora out of the corner of his eyes. Once she's finished with her meek little request, Peppy smiles softly, giving his mate a little nod. <Sure... I'll wake you.> Then, a little more quiet. <Good night.> And he stands then, leaning on the pot, face all smeared with gravy, just watching his sleeping mate for a couple moments, just kind of thinking about her and what she's done for him. His hungry stomach snaps him out of it, however, and directing his attention back to the food, he dunks his head into the food and begins to munch away, his tail once again wagging. Heh - maybe staying at home on rainy days is better than hunting frivolously in the pouring rain, after all.