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

Aurora has connected.

A light rain falls from a grey sky. It's warm and there's a slight wind from the southeast. In the forest, raindrops patter against the leaves, and glisten like silver beads on their deep green surfaces. The wet tree trunks have darkened from grey to brown. While at the coast, the rain dances on the surface of the playful blue ocean gently.

Saving the data is only the beginning... (Saving!)

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon at the Assisi Farm. Stuffy, hot, and rainy outside - could the weather be any better for a nap? Pokemon across the entire island are writing this day off, preferring to sleep over anything else. The weather is a blanket, and the wetness of the air and rain work to make the vision blurry and the eyes hang. It's a wonder Peppy, member of the Growlithe pack inhabiting the barn, managed to get off of his lethargic rear this morning to go out and do the hunting before his son, frightened of the outside, could stop him. After taking considerably longer than usual (probably fell asleep on his walk, the lazybones) on his trip, he's brought home a Rattata corpse for anybody who wants it. So far it's gone untouched by Peppy himself, who is more content to just lie there, bopping in and out of sleep, making a half-attempt to make sure the kids don't cause mischief. He's not going to be very much help.

A light rain falls from a grey sky. It's warm and there's a slight wind from the southeast.

Meanwhile, Aurora isn't faring much better than her mate in terms of desire to take a nap, though she's managing to limit herself to the occasional yawn as she sits and watches the pups eating their lunch. Still, her eyes are heavy, and she's not alert as she might usually be - if any of the pups decide to play tricks on their parents, it'll be some time before their mother notices, for one. A few of the pups have decided to leave the Rattata for later and follow their dad's lead - Flame and Dakota are curled asleep, Flame in his usual corner and Dakota by her father's side.

Well, Briska couldn't stop Poppa, but that doesn't mean he's going to let anyone else go outside! The normally social little pup is taking his meal away from the family today; he munches on the slab of Rattata he's secured, sitting near the doorway. When he swallows a piece of meat, Briska will peer about the barn with narrowed, suspicious eyes - more often, he'll look backwards at the outside and growl softly and dangerously. The fuzzy pup always goes back to eating, but the feeling of tenseness and watchfulness he exudes never abates. It hasn't abated for a good number of days. Quite simply, Briska is stressed.

Gravity is just not a force to resist on a day like this. Lying there on his stomach, his mouth hidden behind his paws, Peppy looks more like a furry pancake than a Growlithe daddy. His eyes are currently closed, and when Briska growls, his ear flickers, but he doesn't look in his son's direction. That would involve some bit of effort. Besides, somebody has to be a snuggle buddy to Dakota and her sisters, right? Presently the fluffy blob stretches his neck as far as it can go into the air, pointing his muzzle at the ceiling. He yawns loudly, his entire body tensing up as he does so before collapsing back into its lazy state as the yawn comes to a conclusion. Besides the occasional hindpaw twitch, ear perk, and yawn, Peppy is practically a statue. If only breathing didn't take so much effort.

In her normal state, Aurora would have noticed Briska's stress, his tense demeanour, and would have gone over to him to ask him what's wrong. Alas, with weather like today's, that sort of perceptiveness is out of the question for Aurora. She glances over at Dusk and Karen as they tear away at the Rattata, then over at Briska by the door, then back at the pups around the Rattata corpse. It takes a few seconds for Briska's position to register on her tired mind before she looks back at him with a puzzled expression, and woofs gently, <What's wrong, Briska? Why aren't you eating with Karen and Dusk?>

Briska snaps up another mouthful with fast, harried actions. The outside is making its bad noises. Briska has to be on extra alert. He swallows his barely chewed mouthful, his eyes squeezing shut and head tilting upwards as his esophagus slowly pushes it down his throat. It seems all that happy has been drained out of the puppy after he discovered the cruelness of the outdoors. After he finishes, he turns back to growl at the pitter-pattering world, but his mother's question interrupts him. <Huh?> he asks, head tilting. <Oh..> he says slowly, after a pause for thought. Perhaps mom hasn't heard? <Outside bad,> Briska woofs gravely. He turns back to the door and gives it a snarl, ears pulling back against his head.

Sound! Aurora's voice draws Peppy away from the Abyss of No Return (or sleep). Pricking up both ears, Peppy blinks open both eyes, squeezes them shut, then opens them once more, peering up at the ceiling. He lifts his head up only to set it back down, though this time he places his chin on his paws to allow for an easier time watching Aurora and Briska as they converse. After listening to little Briska's reply, Peppy sighs (quietly, at least, so he keeps it to himself), his head sinking off his paws and down to the floor. He hits the wood with a thump, and proceeds to cover his eyes with his paws. Looks like he's not in the mood to deal with this right how. How mean can one father get?

<The outside is... bad?> Aurora blinks a few times, then frowns, her heat-fuddled brain not working too fast, it seems. <What's wrong with it, Briska? Is there anything I can do to help you, so it's not bad?> She gets slowly to her feet, and once she's on all four paws, she stretches for a few seconds, presumably to get the tiredness out of her muscles.

Briska once again turns back to his food, but his mother's words stop him. His muzzle wrinkles and his brow furrows as he tries to comprehend the words. The pup tilts his head from side to side, shaping a few of the more complicated words (such "anything" and "help") with his mouth. Briska then opens his white muzzle and closes it, rolling his eyes upwards as he tries to think. Suddenly, his ears perk forward and his eyes widen. <Ahhhhh,> he rumbles slowly as he figures something out. <Bad...clooouuud,> he mutters, sounding out the word he's heard a few times. <Bad,> he points his nose upwards, gesturing to the roof, and then looks at his mother with wide, imploring eyes. <Bad bad.>

Having stretched, Aurora pads over towards her son, stopping and sitting down a foot or so from Briska, and looking at him curiously, then glancing through the small gap in the door that shows a sliver of the outside world. <Why are the clouds bad, Briska?> she asks, her voice curious. <Can you tell me?> She looks at Briska again as she says this, and the chunk of Rattata that he still hasn't finished catches her eye, prompting her stomach to comment loudly on her lack of food for the last few hours.

Briska's large tail wags slightly as his mother comes to talk to him. He smiles softly, but it's a smile that dies quickly. He gives what he can see of the door another growl before he turns back to Aurora. Briska's expression falters, and he stares at his feet as he dredges up words from that small organ that is his brain. The pup's ear flicks to Aurora as her stomach rumbles, but for all intents it is as if Briska didn't hear it. <Uh. Cl..Cloud no bad. Hurt from cloud. Big cloud is hurt.> He looks up at his mother, and then glances at his meat. His face looks the most cheerful it's been all week. He noses the piece of Rattata meat towards his mother; he can help her! Isn't that great? And, ooo, look - little Briska paid attention to two things at once!

Saving the data is only the beginning... (Saving!)

<Um...> Aurora replies to Briska's words, confusion fairly clear on her face. Luckily, the puppy's action of pushing food towards his mother seems to save the situation - Aurora smiles at Briska, and says, <Thanks, Briska. Can I eat it?>, waiting to hear his answer before she starts to eat it. As she waits for the reply, she glances through the crack in the door again and looks out to the outside world, her expression contemplative.

Briska's bushy tail wags a bit harder from side to side, and Briska nods his head a few times at Aurora's question. Once his mother starts eating, he'll look around at the other inhabitants of the barn, with a vaguely interested gaze. Quickly, he turns back to the outside and growls at it as if he just knows whatever it is outside can come in and get him. Only his surprisingly adult growls (or Growls, though he's not perfoming any now) are keeping this evil force at bay.

Aurora glances over at Briska as he growls at the outside world, then nods and says quietly but enthusiastically, <Let me help, too!> And having said this, she too growls - it's not a full Growl attack, and nor is it the loud growl of an adult Growlithe, but it's loud enough for anything or anyone just outside the barn door to hear it. For ten full seconds, she growls at the outside world, then turns to Briska and smiles. <Was that a good growl?> she asks, sounding a little bashful. <Should I keep the bad things away with you?>

Briska looks up at his mother with empty little eyes. There's that help word again. Someday he'll figure it out. And then mom growls. Briska blinks quite a few times, looking from his mother to the door in confusion. Eventually (at around the tenth second) he figures it out, and his jaw drops and mouth lifts in a smile. <Good!> he says, nodding enthusiastically. He gets to his four paws, and spins back to the door. <Mom no like hurt cloud?> he asks. He doesn't wait for an answer. Instead, he growls at the outside again, tail up and teeth bared. It doesn't last as long as his mother's, but this time he looks up at her and smiles.

Peppy's eyes remains hidden behind his paws, but that doesn't stop him from hearing the conversation. Aurora's friendly voice as she speaks to their son is enough to put a little smile on Peppy's face, as does her growling at the outside. Who knows? Maybe Peppy can get a couple hints or two from his mate on how to be more caring around the kids. Well, whatever the case, he's not going to get much sleep with all this talking and growling going on, and so, with a rather loud (and rude) grunt, the male Growlithe sets all four of his paws on the wood and pushes up to a standing position, stretching his neck to get the kinks out. Crick, crack, crick. Slowly - very slowly, he doesn't want to disturb the conversation if Aurora starts to confide something personal to her son - he makes his way towards the two.

A light rain falls from a grey sky. It's warm and there's a slight wind from the southeast.

<Good!> Aurora says to her son when he looks at her after he's finished growling. <That's a good growl. Very loud, and very strong.> She grins at him, then turns to the door and growls at it again, this time for a few seconds longer than before. As she turns back to look at Briska, movement catches her eye, and she turns her head to see Peppy moving towards her. Dropping her head a little, Aurora blushes and whispers, <Sorry, Peppy. Did we wake you up?>

Briska gives a light yip of enjoyment at his mother's praise, his chest puffing out and his teeth bared at the corner of his mouth in a grin. He's Briska, he's strong and he's a defender and he's gonna growl again! And he does, too, long and loud. But now, there's a bit more of a sense of fun about the whole thing. The pup's ear flicks toward his father at the grunt, and Briska turns to look at his pop. <Poppa!> he greets...before his expression falls. <Poppa go outside...> he mutters, ears lowering sadly.

Uh oh. Aurora noticed Peppy. And she's drooping her head. And she's quiet. She's having a private chat with her son, and Peppy had no right to intrude! The only thing keeping Peppy from whirling right around and pretending he's still asleep is the fact that Aurora is talking to him. His ears flop as he freezes in place, and, with taking a submissive stance, he woofs, <No, no, I, uh... no, you didn't.> There's a light pause for Briska to bark his hello to dad, and the little Growlithe receives a warm fatherly smile as a response. His next comment, however, causes Peppy's smile to flop as quickly as his son's, and, unable to stand those sad little eyes, Peppy turns to Aurora. <I... um, am I interrupting something?> He seems a little more quiet and more reserved that usual. Maybe it's the weather. Or maybe he just doesn't want to be a bother.

Saving the data is only the beginning... (Saving!)

Aurora glances from Peppy, to Briska, and back to Peppy again for a good few moments before she turns to Briska and woofs quietly, <Poppa's inside, and he's not going outside. He's safe here now.> With that hopefully sorted out, she turns to Peppy and grins apologetically. <It's okay, he's trying to protect us from the, um... he said something about "bad cloud", but then "cloud no bad". And then he said "hurt from cloud". Do you know what he's worried about?> she asks quietly but quickly, trying to pitch her voice so that Briska doesn't hear too much of what she's saying.

Briska looks to his mother, his gaze confused (it always seems to be) and worried. Her words are carefully considered by the pup, and he gives his mother a short nod as he accepts them. <Good Poppa,> he praises his dad, with a light smile. His ears flick towards his mother as she repeats his words, but he doesn't seem terribly interested in this part of the conversation. Instead, he looks back and gives a light growl. Perhaps he doesn't feel the need to growl so much now that the two adults of the pack are here. They can guard the den from the outside well enough.

When Aurora speaks to Briska about being inside and not going outside, Peppy nods to the younger pup, as though asserting her point. His nodding stops, however, when Aurora tells him precisely what Briska is scared of - a cloud. <A cloud?> Peppy repeats, cocking his head slightly as he peers over at his mate. In a rather loud whisper, he asks her, <Why would he be scared of a cloud? They're so high in the sky!> He turns back to Briska, grinning uneasily at the pup's approval. <Um, Briska,> the adult dog arfs, shifting eyes from the door to the pup to the door again to the pup again. <Why are y...> He pauses for a second. Double takes to the door. Peers hard at the crack. Turns to Aurora. <Rain comes from clouds...> he woofs pointedly, tilting his head slightly in a you-catch-my-drift sort of way. Wow, is Peppy actually thinking? Let's hope he doesn't strain anything.

Peppy's observation is an intelligent one, and one that, rather surprisingly, Aurora hadn't yet made herself. She nods to Peppy, and then turns to ask Briska, <Are clouds bad? Is it because wet stuff comes from clouds?> As she waits for his reply, she mutters partly to herself, and partly to Peppy, <I should have thought of that... I'm not the only one who doesn't like rain.>

Briska opens his mouth in a large yawn. Snarling at the outside all day is a rather tedious way to spend one's time. He smacks his jaws a few times, looking idly at his father and mother, simply watching them converse without bothering to understand them. Aurora's words force him to listen to all the babble going on around him. <...Uh?> he asks, orange brows furrowed. <Hurt from cloud...> he murmurs, shifting uncertainly. Is that what she meant?

Aurora's words make Peppy pause for a moment, and before long his tail is wagging back and forth very happily. To have used his brain to help Aurora out - that's the absolute best feeling in the entire world. Briska's reply is less than helpful, and no bit of understanding comes out; the little pup is still just as cryptic as ever. Positioning himself in a half crouched position to be able to talk to and look at his son easier, Peppy leans forward towards Briska, trying to get some more clues out of the smaller pokemon. <Is it because it's rainy outside? The, uh, the wet stuff? Water? Is it because of the water? The cold stuff from the sky? The... uh... uh... that stuff?> And he gestures to the door - more specifically to one of its many cracks. Certainly Briska must know at least *one* word for it!

As Peppy begins to ask questions directly of Briska, rather than through Aurora, the female Growlithe herself takes a few steps back so that Peppy can move a little closer to Briska to talk to him, if he should so wish. She doesn't ask the puppy any questions herself at the moment - from past experience, doing so would only confuse Briska. Instead, she glances back at the Rattata, which has almost been reduced to a pile of bone and entrails by Dusk and Karen. The two pups have joined their sister in snoozing near where Peppy was lying, leaving a few scraps of meat on the Rattata's rather bare corpse.

That one word that Briska understands is 'stuff'. Briska peers up at his father, his white jaw getting slacker and slacker as he tries to absorb all the words. Eventually a light brightens in his emerald eyes as he comes up with words of his own. <Briska go outside,> he begins to tell a tale he told Peppy once before (as if Peppy can remember it!), <and cloud-bad-stuff hurt Briska. Dusk mad, Briska sad. Then Dusk no mad, Dusk happy, and Briska happy. And Poppa sleep. Briska say outside bad.> It would help if Briska had mastered the past tense. The fluffy puppy gives a light sigh, as if even now he knows that his parents won't understand him. Briska no say good. The large pup looks outside once again, snorting at the evil out there.

Oh, stuff. That's going to help. Peppy really tries his very best to piece together anything at all in Briska's little story, but he can't draw a single bit of definite information. So heck with it. <Outside no bad. Briska s...> He pauses for a second, before squeezing his eyes shut, blushing fiercely. Huh, boy. <I mean, Briska, you have to go outside. Outside isn't a bad place. It's a good place. If you don't go outside, you can't have any Rattata.> And he point-point-points with his muzzle towards the corpse. <And you can't hunt, and you won't be kept inside this place! Outside is *good*!> Please, please, please, just let Briska absorb a couple words to get the point across...

Once again, to stop Briska's brain from overloading from the torrent of words he's getting from Peppy, Aurora stays quiet, backing up Peppy's words silently with an emphatic nod to Briska and a grin, and then looking round to see how Dakota and Flame are. Dakota's still asleep, her two sisters now leaning on her, also snoozing. Meanwhile, Flame's woken up from his after-dinner nap, and is now lying in his usual corner, head resting on paws as he observes the inhabitants of the barn.

Briska listens to Peppy, nodding his head up and down and up and down and up and...until he just gives another sigh, this one longer. The pointing to the Rattata is noted, but it doesn't seem all that special to Briska. After all, Peppy brings home the Rattata, not puppies. <Outside bad, Poppa,> he repeats, sad that he has to contradict his alpha. And with that, Briska decides to prove his point. He turns to the door again and takes a deep, steadying breath. His jaw clenches, head head lowers, and he rushes towards the sliver of doorway that's open. The pup tries to push at the door, and it squeaks open an inch or so. <Outside hurt,> Briska babbles as he works, his tone rather frustrated at his inability to communicate. <Big cloud hurt - hurt from cloud hurt. Hurt cloud, outside hurt, bad bad bad. And Poppa go outside, get hurt. Poppa no careful, no careful if Poppa go outside, or mom go outside.> He's slowly but surely trying to get that door open. What's he gonna do? Rush out into the rain?

Saving the data is only the beginning... (Saving!)

Peppy is faced with a decision here. His son is trying to get out of the barn and run out into the rain. Under what circumstances is this -remotely- a good idea? What if Briska gets lost or sick or something? ... But then, the solution to the Mystery of the Big Cloud just may unfold. So what does one dumb Growlithe do when he can't decide? He turns to his mate. <Aurora,> he woofs to her, turning to face her. <I... think we should go see what it is. Or just me, if you want to watch the puppies.> He tilts his head very slightly towards them. <... Do you think that's a good idea?>

A light rain falls from a grey sky. It's warm and there's a slight wind from the southeast.

For a few moments Aurora hesitates, then she nods to Peppy. <If you both go together, you'll be fine. Take care of him,> she says to Peppy quietly, then turns to Briska. <Stick with poppa, and keep him safe, okay?> she asks the puppy, and smiles confidently at him. <You are careful, so both of you will be safe together. Stay with poppa, remember.> With that, she adds to Peppy, <I'll go and keep an eye on the other pups,> and pads off quietly towards the pile of sleeping puppies.

Briska looks back at his mother when she speaks to him. At the sight of her confident smile, the puppy smiles back, tail perking up. Unfortunately, Briska ends the warm-happy moment by working at the door again, his little paws scrabbling and churning as he pushes the door open with his head and shoulders. Soon enough, Briska finds he can get outside and does so, disappearing into the outside world with a quick dash. He galumps a good few paces from the barn, but still remains quite close to it. Briska's attention is soon taken with scaring up at the evil sky, the evil rain, and those evil rain clouds. He's waiting with gritted teeth and blinking eyes for the pain to come...

Okay. Responsibility. Peppy can handle responsibility. It's just taking a puppy outside. Into a rainstorm. As it's turning dark. All alone. Peppy swallows heavily, but by the time he can even consider backing out of this idea, Briska is already halfway out the door. <Th-thanks! I'll be right back!> He takes two steps towards the door, skids to a halt, turns to Aurora, and woofs, <I... I love you, Aurora!> before scampering out the door. Just in case these are his last words, in case there really *is* danger outside. Weird dog. Anyway, he meets the rain with a growl of discomfort, a chill sprinting down his back the moment that first raindrop hits his fur coat. He continues to splash down the path, eyes locked on the damp form in front of him. He almost trips over his front paws when he comes upon Briska, and looks up at the sky, not quite sure what he's expecting.

This isn't the vicious storm that Briska inadvertantly went out in once before. And Briska has that big thick coat of his. So Briska just stares upwards for a good...oh, at least a good three minutes. Just stands and stares. Eventually, the little guy decides that's boring, and begins to look around. It's weird. Like he's seeing the outside, what little there is to see of it, with new eyes. "Owli," he woofs softly and begins to sniff around. Strange, he frowns, no smells. He takes a few small steps forward, tentatively exploring the outside that he's...missed. His tail begins to wag before he remembers what he's been saying for weeks on end - that whole "outside bad" bit. And pretty soon (four minutes, five minutes, six...) he begins to wince as the water penetrates his fur into his more sensitive skin. He whines softly, looking around warily.

Peppy is not exactly a super water repellant Growlithe, capable of withstanding rain without so much as a flinch. He is, however, rather used to journeys in the rain, so when he plops down to wait patiently for his son to determine this "bright hole", he doesn't rush Briska. Even after the pup stares at the sky for two minutes. Three. Then starts to move. Four. Five. Peppy is starting to get a little irritated. Six. Peppy is now drenched, the big white tuft on his forehead tumbling over his eyes and obscuring his vision. All of his fur has now attached itself to his skin. This is very uncomfortable. <Do you see it yet, Briska?> Peppy asks. The Growlithe is trying his very best to remain calm and understanding. It's not working.

Briska gives another whine and shakes his damp, soggy fur. That doesn't seem to work out well. His whine increases in volume. <Outside hurt!> he repeats, looking up at his father with wide emerald eyes. There's no mention of what he does or doesn't see - likely Briska didn't even bother to process the question. Can't Peppy see? Can't Peppy feel the stinging of the water? Briska's been saying this ever since he learned about rain, yet nobody seems to understand. Or care. <Outside bad, Poppa?> he asks, searching for agreement.

Ah ha! Maybe it was the rain, after all. <Briska, son,> he woofs, whipping his head up to remove the big furry tuft from his sight. It droops right back down in front of his head again anyway, and, with a half-snarl, he shake-shake-shakes until it finally stays out of the way. He resumes speaking. <What's coming from the sky is called rain, Briska. Rain. It's wet. When it's on the ground, it's called water. So rain is water coming from the sky.> Specific enough? Peppy can only hope. Despite being a soaking rag, Peppy does speak with a calm sense of instruction, as though this is important. <When it's raining, then yes, outside is bad. If there is rain, you only want to go outside when you have to. But when there is no rain,> and he shakes his head vigorously here, to suggest 'No! No! No!', <Then outside is *good* and won't hurt you if you're careful. Okay?>

Briska narrows his eyes in thought as he tries to absorb the words. Again. Does this attempt work any better than the last one? <..Ruh.aaaayne,> he sounds out slowly. He glances up at the falling substance, and then around him at the soggy terrain. Briska mutters something underneath his breath and heaves a sigh in and out. <Come, Poppa?> he requests in a mutter, ears lowered, and he starts towards the barn. Maybe Briska just needs some time and a bit more instruction to figure out this wide world. It doesn't look like he wants to learn anything else today.

Saving the data is only the beginning... (Saving!)

Close enough. <Right, rain!> he woofs, his tail wagging back and forth, drooping slightly from the weight of the water. Okay, that's going to be Peppy's goal for the week. To get Briska to understand rain, snow, sun, wet, dry, and water! Needless to say, the Growlithe's really got his work cut out for him. Giving one last look up at the sky, squinting heavily as the rain trickles into his eyes, Peppy whirls around on the mud, careful to not fall, and scampers off after his son to escort him back into the barn - and, thankfully, back into safety. This has been an awfully stressful lazy Sunday.