"Birchwild Grove, hello again." Derek teases as he approaches a familiar area, the Birchwild Grove. It's a place that he knows will house a beautiful array of grass babies. His goal?

He's not sure. Maybe discovering something that hasn't been discovered before. Or possibly helping somebody in need. That's always a plus.

As always, Apollo is with him, out and about. What was becoming more a 'usual' for Apollo the rowlet was how he sat between Derek's long ears, head turning in circles and keeping an eye out for Derek. Speaking of, with a wing, Apollo pointed toward an area, where he could tell there was a wild pokémon.

"Oh yeah?" Derek bounced in a near skip toward where Apollo pointed, seeing a head of ... green hair?

While Derek looked to the trainer and the pokémon with them, Apollo's head was swiveling around and giving small trills, feathers puffing. Derek pretty well ignored Apollo until there was a familiar 'danger' moment or warning.

"Yep! Looking for grass mons mostly. I'm a gardener. Although, I've come to gather a few ghosties as well. So I'm pretty sure I might subclass as a specter..." it is about this moment that Derek realizes he's rambling and shuts himself up.

"But I can see you're a rambler too—" no, that was a mouth typo. "Shit, I meant gardener." Derek laughs, trying to cover up how embarrassed he is, and luckily for him Apollo sinks into his shadow and appears next to a wild foongus, using a shadow sneak attack against it.

Startled, Derek turns to look at the battle and smiles.

"Oh look!" A distraction from his idiocy! "A cute little foongus!"

Derek laughs, beaming because why wouldn't he? They're whooping up on a Foongus, which Derek's never seen before. Having one of every grass type seemed excessive but he liked having his options open. Y'know?

Apollo waits for an opening and when he finds it, he strikes the wild foogus with a peck as well. Nothing like a duo hit with an attack to really make a shroom wanna blow it's top.

"Charmer makes sense. There are a few good fairy mons out there too. I know it's a favored type, even though it has a pretty good set of weaknesses. Much like the ghost type."

He's happy to find somebody who will ramble with him while their pokémon attack a wild mon. It stood no chance, and Derek idly throws a ball to capture the unconscious little shroom.

"Well, I've always kinda been a sucker for grass types, but my true love his ghost types. The fact that I got rowlet as a starter really settled into my brain that I clearly need to have the Specter class at some point. Then, like, right as I had joined, they were running this Halloween Speed Date Event. I participated and got the Specter class switch for free!"

Derek's happy to yap at anybody who breathes and doesn't seem annoyed. Unless somebody outright tells him to shut up or logs off right in front of him, he'll talk their ears off. Because he's kind and friendly and actually cares about people.

Even if they are typically jerks by default most of the time. He has a kind heart and he wears it on his sleeve. It makes him oblivious to social cues and often gets his heart broken more than it allows for a hard shell to grow.

"I plan on getting it as a sub-class as soon as I max out Gardener, which I've come to fall in love with. Might change my mind in the future. Y'never know, y'know?"

His last few words are an oxymoron and he hopes to Christ this guy doesn't notice because he'll feel like an idiot.