[Goldenrod City - Action/Text]
((ooc - Badge was mod-approved))
One may not have immediately noticed anything wrong with Belphe outwardly over the last week or so, aside from the fact she seemed a bit 'off'. And if one were to ask her directly why that was, she wouldn't have an answer for them. A listless night here, a frustratingly-long shift there, would be her best guess. And truthfully? She had no IDEA why she'd been irritable as of late...which only compounded the frustration of things and made her feel like she was slipping in her day-to-day tasks. So the logical thing to do, she felt, had been to start systematically eliminating the things that might have been a source of stress for her.
Taking up extra shifts at work had been the first thing to go...followed closely by cutting a couple of hours off of the time she devoted to training in the evenings. The late-night conversations with Ryuzaki over the pokegear had been next. It seemed he often came up with reasonable questions and musings while burning the midnight oil on the Team Rocket issue, and wanted to run them past someone. She hadn't minded answering...not even when conversations had trit-trotted off into the realm of personal on occasion. They -had-, however, begun to eat into her sleep...so for the last few days, she had turned her gear off before laying down for the night, and answered any texts he might have left her in the morning.
It had all helped a bit, but not enough. And it didn't stop him from occasionally dropping in to catch her after work or tapping her on the shoulder if he happened to run across her at the pokemart. It was not something that should bother her, she knew...they'd made decent enough friends with one another over the weeks, and he'd certainly given her no reason to -resent- him. ...yet every time he got too near her, stared at her too long, or happened to ask the wrong sort of question, for some damned reason, she felt like arching her back and hissing like a cat. Not out of anger, but an irrational need to escape. He had not done anything, he had not -said- anything, and that was the most aggravating part of all. For as increasingly sure as she'd become that he was, if not the source, a large factor of her moodiness, there was nothing to blame him for.
And not seeing the point in addressing something that made no sense, she instead willed it to go away on it's own and sought alternate venues of venting her ire. Today, Whitney happened to be an appealing target.
"Use Defense Curl, Miltank!"
"Ankou, Vacuum Wave."
The scyther immediately dove at its adversary, his chest swelling as he took in as much air as he could accomodate before letting it out in an explosive hiss and push of blades. The shockwave met the tightly-curled body of the miltank with jarring force, dislodging it from it's protective ball and sending it careening backwards across the gym mat to collapse in a dazed heap.
"Ahhh...!! Oh no, Mil mil!!" the young girl wailed, turning reproachful eyes on Belphegor immediately. "Y-You're MEAN!!" she cried, bursting into tears. "You shouldn't be so serious, you--you child!"
For her part, Belphe stared at the tearful girl on the other edge of the mat in stoic disbelief. ....THIS was a gym leader? Her whining was nearly as envious as Leviathan's, and twice as loud. If they all lost this gracelessly, she wondered how it was that the people who'd happily shown off their badges in the past over the feed could even be remotely proud of their victory over such dissatisfying prey. As Ankou landed, she wordlessly recalled him to his ball and turned, beginning to head toward the exit.
"Hey wait...!" the strawberry-haired girl's voice called after her, halting her mid-step. "Don't you want your badge? You DID win, after all...*sniff* Even if you -were- mean about it."
"I assure you....you've not begun to see mean." Belphe said quietly. If she'd heard it, Whitney didn't acknowledge the brunette's statement as she crossed the mat to hand over what looked to be a small yellow diamond pin, framed in silver.
"And I guess you should have these too." she added, handing over a couple of what looked to be discs and an odd contraption molded in the shape of an open-mouthed squirtle. "Maybe watering berry trees will help you and your pokemon learn to be more gentle!" she smiled, wiping away the last of her tears.
".........thank you." the middle sister murmured, not quite sure HOW she ought to feel about that.
Twenty minutes later found her back outside, perched on the upper rail of a fence that surrounded one of the stores, and watching the sun make it's steady journey toward the horizon. This was time that she ordinarily put to use for training, though she wondered if it wouldn't just be a waste of both her effort and her team's today for as scattered as her thoughts were. At length, she unzipped her backpack and withdrew her pokegear.
[Text to Asmodeus]
If you have any doubts about challenging the Goldenrod Gym, I wouldn't worry if I were you. She cries easily.
One may not have immediately noticed anything wrong with Belphe outwardly over the last week or so, aside from the fact she seemed a bit 'off'. And if one were to ask her directly why that was, she wouldn't have an answer for them. A listless night here, a frustratingly-long shift there, would be her best guess. And truthfully? She had no IDEA why she'd been irritable as of late...which only compounded the frustration of things and made her feel like she was slipping in her day-to-day tasks. So the logical thing to do, she felt, had been to start systematically eliminating the things that might have been a source of stress for her.
Taking up extra shifts at work had been the first thing to go...followed closely by cutting a couple of hours off of the time she devoted to training in the evenings. The late-night conversations with Ryuzaki over the pokegear had been next. It seemed he often came up with reasonable questions and musings while burning the midnight oil on the Team Rocket issue, and wanted to run them past someone. She hadn't minded answering...not even when conversations had trit-trotted off into the realm of personal on occasion. They -had-, however, begun to eat into her sleep...so for the last few days, she had turned her gear off before laying down for the night, and answered any texts he might have left her in the morning.
It had all helped a bit, but not enough. And it didn't stop him from occasionally dropping in to catch her after work or tapping her on the shoulder if he happened to run across her at the pokemart. It was not something that should bother her, she knew...they'd made decent enough friends with one another over the weeks, and he'd certainly given her no reason to -resent- him. ...yet every time he got too near her, stared at her too long, or happened to ask the wrong sort of question, for some damned reason, she felt like arching her back and hissing like a cat. Not out of anger, but an irrational need to escape. He had not done anything, he had not -said- anything, and that was the most aggravating part of all. For as increasingly sure as she'd become that he was, if not the source, a large factor of her moodiness, there was nothing to blame him for.
And not seeing the point in addressing something that made no sense, she instead willed it to go away on it's own and sought alternate venues of venting her ire. Today, Whitney happened to be an appealing target.
"Use Defense Curl, Miltank!"
"Ankou, Vacuum Wave."
The scyther immediately dove at its adversary, his chest swelling as he took in as much air as he could accomodate before letting it out in an explosive hiss and push of blades. The shockwave met the tightly-curled body of the miltank with jarring force, dislodging it from it's protective ball and sending it careening backwards across the gym mat to collapse in a dazed heap.
"Ahhh...!! Oh no, Mil mil!!" the young girl wailed, turning reproachful eyes on Belphegor immediately. "Y-You're MEAN!!" she cried, bursting into tears. "You shouldn't be so serious, you--you child!"
For her part, Belphe stared at the tearful girl on the other edge of the mat in stoic disbelief. ....THIS was a gym leader? Her whining was nearly as envious as Leviathan's, and twice as loud. If they all lost this gracelessly, she wondered how it was that the people who'd happily shown off their badges in the past over the feed could even be remotely proud of their victory over such dissatisfying prey. As Ankou landed, she wordlessly recalled him to his ball and turned, beginning to head toward the exit.
"Hey wait...!" the strawberry-haired girl's voice called after her, halting her mid-step. "Don't you want your badge? You DID win, after all...*sniff* Even if you -were- mean about it."
"I assure you....you've not begun to see mean." Belphe said quietly. If she'd heard it, Whitney didn't acknowledge the brunette's statement as she crossed the mat to hand over what looked to be a small yellow diamond pin, framed in silver.
"And I guess you should have these too." she added, handing over a couple of what looked to be discs and an odd contraption molded in the shape of an open-mouthed squirtle. "Maybe watering berry trees will help you and your pokemon learn to be more gentle!" she smiled, wiping away the last of her tears.
".........thank you." the middle sister murmured, not quite sure HOW she ought to feel about that.
Twenty minutes later found her back outside, perched on the upper rail of a fence that surrounded one of the stores, and watching the sun make it's steady journey toward the horizon. This was time that she ordinarily put to use for training, though she wondered if it wouldn't just be a waste of both her effort and her team's today for as scattered as her thoughts were. At length, she unzipped her backpack and withdrew her pokegear.
[Text to Asmodeus]
If you have any doubts about challenging the Goldenrod Gym, I wouldn't worry if I were you. She cries easily.