Into the Woods (Closed to Nina)

Nina hummed to herself as she started to explore the Misty Timberland. She had checked out the Asper Questline and looked over the pokemon that had been turned in by other players so far. The Birchwild seemed like a lot of grass types. Steppes looked like it was shaping up to be steel types. What was the Timberland, though? She couldn't really say.

So, Nina had set out from the Lab, skipping over the tutorials like a fool, with just a Froakie and a dream.

She'd let her pokemon out as soon as they left the Lab. The Froakie was at her side, hopping along beside her. Neither of them were very talkative after the quick introduction. That was okay, though. Nina appreciated being able have a comfortable silence.

It was broken as they noticed orioncayge and his pokemon up the trail.

"Oh! Is that a Sneasel?" Nina rushed forward, kneeling down to try and give the ice type a pat on the head. It was only after she did so that she remembered her manners and pulled away. She glanced away, sheepish, before looking back up at the other player. "Oh, uh... sorry. Sneasel are just really cute."

For her part, Nina just seemed more concerned than frightened or weirded out. Her Froakie, though, made a pointed effort to stand between his trainer and the strange pair. The frog eyed the two of them with both curiosity and concern, frowning.

"Are the pokemon here that scary?" There wasn't any real concern there. Nina didn't believe in ghosts, even in a game where they were technically real. She just didn't find stuff like that very scary. Real stuff, like getting benched or hurting your ankle, were real bone chillers.

"I was. I'm hoping to catch a pokemon." Or at least just explore and see what kind of stuff was hanging around the area. Nina already had an idea of the kind of stuff she wanted even before starting the game. She was about to move on and wave 'goodbye' to orioncayge, but then she really thought about it. She was a new player about to wander into a dangerous area on her own... she didn't know how long this guy had been playing, but he did have at least two pokemon as evidenced by the Sneasel!

"Do you want to come with me?"

Froakie hummed from his spot, glancing up and back at Nine with a deeper frown.

< Are you sure? These guys seem kind of... weird > The frog stage whispered the last part, as if Orion and Sneasel weren't standing right there.

"The tutorials seem boring. I read stuff online before I started playing." That was basically the same thing, right? Right?

Nina was otherwise delighted to have found a more experienced player to show her the ropes, though! A smile stretched across her face, pleasant and polite. Leaning over, she scooped her Froakie into her arms and made to start walking down the path.

"Horror will be fun! I'd like to see what the Devs made for us."

The Froakie just continued to frown at orioncayge and the Sneasel. He was watching then both very, very closely.

< Just don't try anything with my Trainer! She's a delicate flower! >

In reply, Froakie just stuck his tongue out at the Sneasel. That would surely show them!

Nina nodded but just gave a soft puff of laughter. "I think it's funny how the pokemon talk with each other." She gave a pat the Froakie's head, which caused her Starter to look up. "Be nice." Was gently scolded, making the Froakie pout and snuggle down more in her arms.

"A haunted place is really interesting as a starting area to choose from. Wasn't all of this picked by players?" Nina was, slowly, falling behind. Being new to the game and all she found a lot of things just very interesting. She'd only started playing recently, so the events of Beta island and even the poll were just things she had read about online. It seemed very interesting, though!

Stopping under a large tree, Nina leaned in to examine the bark. It seemed different than a lot of the other trees here. It looked like a bunch of tally marks was carved into the tree, cross crossing. Some message was scrawled there too. Squinting, she leaned in further to get a better look.

"'Got you'. Hm? Hey, Orion, do you know- ah!"

When orioncayge would turn around, he'd see the tail end of Nina being pulled up into the branches of the tree, obscured by the dense leaves.