Contents:
Aurora
Obvious exits:
Northeast <NE> leads to Commerce Road - Route 7: Trader Way.
Southwest <SW> leads to Celadon City: Eastern Entrance.

Everything is grey, veiled by mist. It's chilly and the air feels damp. There is no wind. In the forest, only the nearest tree branches, half-bereft of leaves, show their full color; more distant trees and branches are colorless and indistinct in the pallid grey fog, looking ghostly and not quite real. While at the coast, the sea is sluggish and grey as fog lays on its surface like a thick wet blanket.

It's another one of those 'Eh' days. Actually, the arrow's a little more tilted to the left - it's cold, it's misty, and it's just all around damp. Wispy water remains hovering in the air, as there's no wind to at least offer a little relief. There's a relief - that it's not raining - but the air is wet enough that it's still pretty yucky. But that's no excuse to just lie there all day, snoozing your life away! Indeed, Peppy's outside of his den right now, probably getting himself lost in the fog in his attempts to - what else? - hunt a little more. As proud as he may be of that Rattata (the one he did a very poor job of taking down with), he knows it can't last much longer; it was a little small, and with two hungry Growlithes in the den...

Well, Peppy's outside trying to provide for the family, and Aurora's doing her bit by... sleeping. The female is dozing inside the den, lying on her side with her paws twitching occasionally as she dreams. She mutters something quietly as she sleeps, but the words can't be made out, although it sounds slightly sad in tone. Only the words, <No, wait for me...> can be made out before it sinks back into incoherent babble. As she continues to doze, the mumbling rises and falls a little in volume, and stops after some time as Aurora's slumber becomes deeper.

Bump, thump, stomp. Peppy blusters his way through the fog, almost stumbling on this rock, almost plunging right into that tree. He's carrying food in his mouth, but it doesn't seem to be anything special - berries, yet again. This time it's not even plentiful with the fruit or anything. There's only a halfway decent amount, and judging by Peppy's slouch and his slow lumber, he doesn't seem overly impressed with himself. By some kind of miracle, the pup eventually plods his way up to the den, coming to a gradual stop. He simply peers at it for a couple of moments, his grip on the branch tightening, almost as if he's too ashamed to go inside without something better than simple berries. With an almost inaudible whimper, the Growlithe strolls up to the den, puts the food down at the entrance to the den and, in a very quiet voice (Aurora might not hear it, seeing as how she's so fast asleep), woofs, <Aurora, I'm home.> His voice is, expectedly, disappointed.

<Mmmmbrf... where did you go?> Aurora mumbles, still dozing. A few more seconds pass, then she opens her eyes, blinking a few times as she sees Peppy much closer - well, much more here - than she'd expected. <Oh, how did it go?> she asks eagerly, getting slowly to her feet. <Maybe there aren't any other Rattatas around here, but did you find food?> Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

Everything is grey, veiled by mist. It's chilly and the air feels damp. There is no wind.

After announcing that he's home, Peppy's next reaction is to... well, to smile. His tail perks up a little and sways back and forth as he watches his mate sleeping there; it seems that just watching her fast asleep all serene and comfortable cheers him up a bit. She starts to stir, and, trying not to grin even wider at the still half-snoozing female, Peppy makes a gesture to the branch with his head. <It's...> And now his voice drops back to the somewhat depressed one. <I didn't really find anything.> Half of him wants to blame it on the weather, but he doesn't audibly do so. He's looking over at the berries when he parts his jaws to speak... then closes them. Opens them... closes them. ... Well, while Peppy's stumbling over what to say, maybe it's Aurora's turn to speak.

Aurora looks over at the branch that Peppy's brought home, and for a short while her face falls as she stares at the branch, then up at Peppy, then down at the ground. Shaking her head a little, she then smiles back at Peppy and replies, <It's good, don't worry! Do you want to come in and eat? I'll go and carry back some more - you didn't bring many because you couldn't carry lots of branches in your jaws, I bet. It's hard to fit more than one between your teeth...> Maybe she's started to babble - she is speaking a little more quickly than she was before, and she takes a few steps out of the den, leaving room for Peppy to enter and shivering a bit as droplets of water from the fog start to condense on her fur.

Peppy does catch the lack of excitement on Aurora's face, and, if anything, it sort of makes him feel even more gloomy inside. When Aurora moves out of the den, Peppy doesn't walk in - instead, he takes a couple of steps back to give her a little more room. <I'll try again tomorrow,> the pup offers softly, though something about his tone of voice suggests that he's not overly hopeful. Maybe he's decided that the Rattata from a few days ago was just luck (and Aurora undoubtedly knows that it wasn't luck at all). His tail gives a tiny little wag, and, his pitch picking up just a tad, he adds, <You shouldn't have to go and get anything, not anymore. I mean, not right now. I mean...> His voice sort of trails off, and his head declines down very slowly until it finally settles upon... Aurora's tummy. He glances up at Aurora's eyes, and his tail once again twitches. He's still quiet, however.

Aurora shakes her head, and looks over at the patch of bushes where Peppy was searching before. <No, I ought to go out and get food too. I'm always hungry, but that means we should both go out and look for food...> She winces a little and then grins. <I think I just felt one of them move,> she says quietly, then takes another step out of the den. <Anyway, I'm going to get more food. If you come along, we can get even more, and then there'll be lots for the... um... more than two of us?>

Peppy's smile flickers very slightly as Aurora speaks, and he blinks once more twice as he glances back down at Aurora's stomach. Guess it comes as something of a surprise to the canine that she can actually feel the puppies inside - maybe he thought they just kind of stayed asleep until they were born. He opens his mouth to ask about that, decides against it, and instead barks a gentle, <If... if you're sure you want to.> He steps back twice, his paws splashing the mud slightly, his body giving just a tiny little shake. The cold's really not that bad - he's a fire-type with a big fur coat on, of course - but it's giving him painful memories about the -snow-, and if there's one thing worse than rain, it's snow. This, of course, brings back another memory, and he glances at Aurora for a second, apparently thinking something over.

The fog is grey-white in the light of mid-day.

The female Growlithe nods, and turns to look back at the patch of bushes, a frown on her face. <I wonder how long they'll last?> she says quietly, almost to herself, and then turns to look at Peppy, her frown more apparent. <Were there many berries left on the bushes when you went to get those? I remember in winter there were never many berries growing...>

Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

Peppy also sets his thoughts aside for a moment, taking a glance towards the bushes, though they're not very easy to see through the fog. <Not during... winter.> Oh, right. That's the name for that time where there's all the snow. Peppy, taking a glance at Aurora out of the corner of his left eye, woofs a gentle, <Not around here, at least. If the berries had been growing, I probably wouldn't have left here in the first place.> Peppy's tail gives a little swish-swish. <But, uh,> the pup adds gently, unless Aurora speaks up to reply to his last statement. <But I am going to try really hard to find more Rattatas, though.> He turns his head to her and nods, scrunching up his fuzzy face slightly. He's just got to bring it up again, hasn't he?

<Maybe... maybe there's somewhere where we could find more...> Aurora looks at the bushes one last time, then back over at Peppy. <If there aren't going to be many berries at all when it gets cold, then the Rattatas eat... well, they can't eat smaller pokemon, because there aren't any, so...> There's a pause, during which Aurora seems to be thinking, and thinking quite hard. <...Oh.> Her face falls, and she continues quietly, <Maybe the Rattatas eat berries too, and then there won't be many of them when it gets cold.> Even with such a display of deductive thought, Aurora doesn't look at all happy - her tail's drooping, hardly wagging at all, and her smile's gone.

Peppy listens to his mate with his full attention - he knows that when it comes to intelligence, Aurora comes out on top of *anybody*, maybe even that long thing who uses her tail that he sees sometimes. Needless to say, her conclusions somewhat baffle Peppy. Even if there are a lot of berries, the Rattatas will keep eating them. Not a very good thing. <You're right,> the pup woofs, partially depressed, partially in simple awe. <And the path...> Peppy turns his head to the human's road, glancing at it for a moment, before taking a couple steps in that direction - not enough to leave Aurora behind, but enough to enforce his point. <Sometimes I see these really big and fast things coming by,> the pup woofs, still glancing in that direction. He plops down on his haunches, though he knows he's probably going to have to get up again very soon. <And the humans...> He turns his head, glancing through the fog at the slightly cloudy image of his mate. <You and I can handle humans and we don't get in the way of the big moving things... but I sort of worry about...> Gulp. Peppy reddens beneath his fur a little, and to hide his embarrassment, he turns back to the road to peer at it a little longer. <About them.> This is actually a nice observation on the Growlithe's part - of course, it's the product of about two weeks of thinking, so it's actually not some kind of terrific achievement, even for Peppy.

Everything is grey, veiled by mist. It's chilly and the air feels damp. There is no wind.

Aurora nods. <Yeah, I've seen them before, too... I think I even travelled in one when I was... before I left my trainer.> She takes a few steps towards Peppy, and continues speaking. <They go very fast, and although we can dodge them, when you're just a young pup it's hard to be fast on your feet... I was never very fast or good at running when I was young. I used to fall over my paws a lot,> she adds with a grin. <So maybe, er...> Glancing back at the den, Aurora lowers her head and shakes it a little. <I don't really want to leave the den. But like you said, maybe this isn't the best place to bring up... to bring up a family. At least, not when they're still young.>

Peppy nods slowly, still glancing at the road, not glancing back at the female but knowing she's getting closer by the sound of her voice. Peppy nods very softly, still looking ahead - well, it looks like it. His head is inclined, but his eyes are more or less looking at the ground. <Right. I like to avoid it because I don't even want to risk it. And the humans...> The corners of Peppy's mouth perk up a bit, and half of him *wants* to reply with '<I still trip over my paws sometimes>', but thankfully he decides not to. <Maybe we should, though. We can come back if we like, but...> Peppy's eyes widen a bit, and he turns his head to the side. <You... um, you told me once that you were a little scared to trade your freedom to be mates. If you do want to go...> He sort of trails off, but Aurora should probably pick up on the unspoken words - '<Maybe we won't be getting rid of our freedom and be able to explore even as mates.>'

Aurora takes another few steps forward, until she's almost level with Peppy. The unspoken words are evidentally understood, as she nods again and replies, <Maybe it's the last exploring we'll get to do for a while. But... ah.> Then she grins, a wide grin which shows that, though her plan may be full of holes, she's thought of something.

Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

Peppy's right ear perks up a little as Aurora makes a little bark, and he turns his head to glance at her, his green eyes looking at her from her bushy tail to her slowly expanding tummy to her own bright eyes. <Aurora?> Peppy questions softly, his face quickly turning perplexed, his tail giving a quick twitch of interest. <What's... what happened?> She doesn't seem -worried- or anything, it just looks like something's up.

<Do you remember the last winter? When you were with that noisy Pikachu?> Aurora asks eagerly. <And the place I found then, and then you two came along later on...> She grins again, her tail wagging furiously. <That was nice and warm! And there was a man there who came and brought food even when it was cold and wet, and... do you think we could make it to that place?>

Peppy's tail flicks up a bit as Aurora speaks, and for perhaps the first time ever, Peppy and Aurora are on the completely same mental track together. <I was...> the pup woofs, a gentle smile also creeping up onto his face. <I was thinking of the same place.> Turning his head back to the road, the pup's head sort of bobbles a little left, a little right. <We couldn't... um, we shouldn't get food from that human the entire time... We... I...> A pause. <The pups should be taught how to hunt, right?> Wag, wag. <But it'll be warm there, and there won't be as many humans...> He turns his head to Aurora to give her a soft grin, showing a few of his teeth in the process, as he growls, <I think we should.>

Aurora nods and smiles. <I knew you'd remember it,> she murmurs, then turns her head to look back at the den. <Maybe we should start to head there tomorrow. We can decide when to teach the pups how to hunt while we're getting there. But tonight...> She leans down, and moves to nuzzle her cheek against Peppy's. <If we're going to go there, we should get some rest.>

Peppy opens his mouth to speak, but he really doesn't get the chance - Aurora catches him off-guard with a gentle nuzzle. Peppy's initial reaction is to blink in surprise, but he quickly presses his cheek back into Aurora's own, growling very, very softly (though contentedly) as he does. <I'm glad,> he woofs very softly, glancing at the den but not wanting to get up until Aurora does. Hey, he's enjoying this nuzzle. <But...> Still trying to keep his cheek on Aurora's own, he glances over into her eyes, his own eyes appearing a tad concerned. <Are you, um... sure you don't want me to go first? Maybe I could, um, find a short route, make sure it's still there, or... um.> Peppy sort of trails off, his attention gradually turning down... down... down to the ground. He looks a little tired - he's halfway hoping Aurora will just offer to sleep on it. Right now he could really use a nap.

<It's okay, we can both go in the morning...> Aurora glances at her mate, and grins a little before adding, <Let's get some sleep first. If we're going to walk a lot, we'll need it.> Straightening up, she steps back towards the den, walking slowly enough for Peppy to follow her by sight, even through this fog.

Though he does appear a little nervous about the idea of Aurora making the trek in her condition, Peppy's gears do click and logic does step in - it'll only be -harder- for her as time wears on. Peppy glances to the side for a second, pondering that. Before Aurora can vanish from sight, however, he shakes free of his thoughts, and bounds off after her. Tomorrow's going to bring some surprises and maybe some problems, but for right now, Peppy's going to do what Peppy does best - and that's snooze the night away.