victory_road | [closed] March Catch All

With all that’s happened recently, there’s no doubt in Grant’s mind that Chip is going to be in desperate need of some kind of reassurance, probably from multiple sources. The most he can do as far as the others is ask them to make sure to talk to them, if they don’t do so of their own volition anyway - which wouldn’t surprise him. Words really can’t express his appreciation for how many of the others have worked to get along with Chip, even if some don’t seem all that confident in their relationships with them.

In his own case, though… well, spending some time with his kid isn’t exactly a daunting task. So, almost as soon as they’ve got their lodgings for their time in Olivine sorted out, he picks up some supplies and arranges for himself and Chip to take a day to head out to the beach - just the two of them, and whatever Pokemon they opt to bring along.

It’s still too cool out for swimming, of course, but there’s still the sand and the scurrying Water Pokemon and the smell of the ocean. Socks and the Breloom who Grant is still struggling to name go darting off ahead almost immediately, largely ignoring Grant’s calls for them to stay nearby. “--Alright, just stay where I can see you guys! They’ll come back for lunch, at least, that’s for sure.”

He honestly can’t even sound too mad, he already knew he was bringing a pair of goofuses along.

Chip is still pretty nervous overall--with their secret 'out' things are even more liable to go nuclear at a moment's notice, and they've been trying their hardest to be on the best behavior. They feel bad for pulling Grant away from his boyfriends like this, but...at the same time, they're glad to get to have time with their dad like this.

While Grant lets out his Pokemon, Chip runs forward and hurls two particular Pokeballs as far as they can toward the water's edge. The massive splash of Red and Nessie hitting the water might be a bit startling to any other beachgoers, but they do at least definitely not land on top of anyone.

"Don't get too far, okay?" Chip waves to their very happy water-types before turning back to Grant. "Do you think we can find pearls here?"

Grant finds himself laughing quietly as the two gigantic Pokemon splash into the water. He guesses people around here must be... mostly pretty used to that kind of thing, right? It's probably fine.

"Hm... that's a good question. There are oyster Pokemon, right?" He feels like a Pokemon might be more able to just... harmlessly spit up a pearl than a normal oyster would, probably.

"Paliens, Dad!!" UGH, GOSH. "'N yeah, 'course there is! Plus there's always like, stuff buried at the beach, too!!"

...look, in fairness to Chip, they did spend like all of January finding random potions and such all over.

You hear that... faint but increasing whistling sound?

It's the sound of this heartwarming father-child moment being unceremoniously disrupted.

There's a loud CRASH of leaves and creak of bending wood as a young, springy palm tree behind them and just slightly to the side comes arcing down to the sand. The catalyst of this nature-defying phenomenon? A scruffy, vaguely-familiar trainer, who is now grimly holding onto a rock (which she was apparently lucky enough not to bash her face in on), ankle suspended upwards where one of her bootstraps is caught on a protruding chunk of bark.

If she lets go, she will surely be catapulted straight back in the direction she came from.

Help her.

"Right, my bad." Jeez, he thinks Dimitri might be better at remembering the Paliens thing than he is at this point.

And then there is zero time left to contemplate that because oh god what was that sound oh god a woman just fell into that tree.

"Oh sh--" He catches himself and jogs over to the tree in question, holding up his hands in a kind of... vaguely, wobbly gesture as if that's going to help him work out how to help. "Are you alright?! Wh-what happened?"

Chip nearly jumps right out of their skin when Heather crashes down, and they're just as quick as Grant to go running over. They grab onto her shirt, holding on tight as if that...would at all stop the sling-shotting from happening.

"I got you!!"

Amazingly, Heather herself hadn't made so much as a peep during either the fall OR the landing-- mostly because it happened too fast for her lungs to even do anything.

It's only once she's sure that she's not immediately about to return to the sky that she lets out a shaky breath. Not one of relief though, not quite yet. With clear difficulty she peers out at the two bystanders from under one arm, most of her hair hanging in her face.

"Uh... technical difficulties," she finally forces out, voice gruff with exertion.

Meanwhile, a couple trees away, there is another, less violent crash and creak. A small Charizard has landed there, the trunk bending under its weight but not coming down all the way to the ground like Heather's velocity had brought her. There's what looks like a saddle on it, but its slid so far back that it looks more like a fancy belt.

The Charizard lashes its tail and looks down at the three trainers with a face like this:

8D

From this ungainly angle, Heather cannot even come close to twisting far enough to actually see her faithful steed, so she just groans.

"He's making the face, isn't he. No, actually, don't tell me. Hey, can you like... get my boot loose? If my grip slips, me and the kid are both gonna go blasting off again."

For a moment, Grant has a few questions about... what that means in this instance? Aaand then the Obvious Culprit arrives.

Grant is fully about to tell her that yes, in fact, he is making The Face, until she retracts that request. So he just nods mutely and goes to reach up and unhook that strap before this all goes even more horribly wrong.

"Okay, I think... I've about got it... uh, Chip, might wanna step back for now. Ma'am, when I get this loose, d'you want me to lower you down or do you wanna catch yourself?"

Chip is hanging onto Heather like, the best. Just super keeping a grip on her and 100% tethering her to Terra Firma and totally saving her from a horrible fate--

o hay that's a wyrm

Chip is a bit distracted looking over at the big old Charizard looking like a complete doofus, but Grant's request jolts them out of it. They look from him to Heather and back before...very carefully letting go and taking exactly three (3) steps backward.

Ma'am?

Ugh, does she really look like a 'ma'am'?

She shakes her head, still facing the ground. Twisting to look anywhere else is hell on the neck.

"I'll be fine. Just get me loose."

Hell, maybe if the boot comes all the way off it'll go flying and hit her idiot mount.

Sorry, Heather, he's... well, he was raised in the South is the problem.

He gives a brief nod, and confirms that Chip is safe from, you know, falling people or slingshotting palm trees. Aaand with a final pull to combat the tension between boot and tree, he'll get that detached and step back himself. "--There we go."

Once Heather has been detatched (and presumably not lost a tooth faceplanting on the rock) Chip thumps down in front of her with wide eyes.

"How'd you fall off??"

Heather (and her boot) hit the ground with a resounding WHUMP, and the tree snaps back into place with alarming springiness. But SHE IS SAFE!

Groaning and raising herself up on one elbow, she swipes her hair out of her eyes.

"Thanks, ugh... The orange moron you see over there decided it was a great time to get fancy and try a loop-the-loop. He's new to being... flown."

She should have known better. Every Charizard she's ever met has been a speed demon.

"Probably would've helped if I wasn't using gear made with bird Pokemon in mind..."

Grant is just gonna... kinda crouch down and watch for any sign that she's injured. She seems fine, though. That's a relief.

He looks back over to the Charizard, raising his eyebrows. "I see. No respect for the fact that someone was trying to stay on his back, huh?"

Chip frowns, looking bewteen Heather and the Charizard and back again.

"...you shoulda held on tighter."

...thank you, Chip.

Heather snorts audibly at Chip's suggestion.

"Yeah, that definitely would have been easier than what I was doing, which was letting go and hoping for the best."

(She hadn't done that.)

"Rodan doesn't have respect for anything."

She probably should have known better, considering he was the spawn of Riku's infamous murderzard, but... after all this time, she hadn't been able to resist the curiosity. At least he was more mischievous than malicious.

As if on cue, the Charizard throws his head back and chitters out a creaky reptilian cackle.

"HEY, cut that out! You're not cute! You're the worst!"

There's a moment where Grant looks to be trying to figure out whether he should gently tell Chip that she was most likely doing her best, but Heather doesn't seem too bothered. So he lets out a breath of relief and laughs quietly at Heather's confirmation of her nightmare animal's sheer disrespect for absolutely everything.

"Guess you don't have to if you can... fly and breathe fire and all that." He looks up at Rodan, shielding his eye from the sun with one hand. "Sorry to tell you, though, that he is also cute, in addition to being the worst."

Edited 2021-04-16 02:10 (UTC)

Chip giggles to Heather's response, clearly not actually getting the joke there (or maybe they are? an enigma,) but frowns and shakes their head firmly at Grant.

"He's not cute, he's tough!!"

[closed] March Catch All

FOR CHIP backdated to 3/8

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CHIP IS HELPING

they're the BEST helper

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