[Closed]

[braavado]

Who: Korra (braavado) & Steven (geophile)
When: IC 5/2-5/6; OOC 1/4-1/13
Where: Outside the colony
What: Finding suspicious shrines and exploring caves in the jungle
Rating/Warning: None


[It doesn't take that long to pack for the trip, with Korra certain that they'd only be gone for a few days. Her bag, slung over her shoulder as she waits just outside of Steven's apartment building. Though his presence guarantees she'll have an easier time breathing outside the walls this time, leaving the colony for an extended amount of time still makes her antsy.

Part of it's due to the metal scraping sounds she can still hear from the area they'd sealed off not too long ago, she figures. Korra turns her staff in her hands, occasionally frowning in the metro's direction as she waits for her friend to arrive. It's not until she sees Steven approaching her that she finally stops fidgeting.]

Ready to go when you are.

Comments

[geophile]

[ it doesn't take steven long to pack, either. he's been on expeditions longer than this before, holing himself up in caves sometimes for weeks. this isn't his first time at the rodeo - the only difference is the unknown that waits for them beyond the wall, but he's decided to channel his uncertainty into curiousity.

with beldum staying behind in the hands of someone he can trust, he has his team on his belt and his pack on his back. contrast to how well-dressed he usually is, his attire fits the situation - he's dropped the suit and is ready for some caving. but before then, he takes note of her expression. ]

I am... Though you look a bit troubled. Are you all right?

[braavado]

It's just the sound. [Korra shakes her head as she hears it again.] I don't like that we can still hear it, but at least the illness from before is gone now.

[After casting one more suspicious look toward the metro, Korra manages to muster up a smile and some enthusiasm. They're going exploring, after all. It's something she's been thinking about for a while.]

Alright! Let's head out. I couldn't sense anything spiritual in the jungle right outside, so we can just pick a direction once we're over the wall.

[geophile]

It's quite ominous, isn't it? We'll have to keep our guards up.

[ he's noticed it as well, but dwelling on dangers will only impede progress. he'll meet her smile with a small one of his own and a nod, picking skarmory's poké ball from his belt. ]

Skarmory!

[ he throws the ball into he air, releasing the metal bird from its capsule. he flies above them, ready to swoop down and grab his trainer at the ready. ]

Let's stay close. We don't know what we'll find in the air once we cross the wall.

[braavado]

[Personally, she's hoping the sound will eventually fade away, just like the symptoms did once the hole was sealed up. She's not holding her breath, though. Instead, she watches the pokemon appear from the sphere with the same fascination as before.]

Hey, I remember this one. [Korra watches the sunlight catching on Skarmory's wings with a smile before turning back to his trainer.] Yeah. I'm hoping we'll avoid most of the monsters by flying, but we might still run into a few things. [The winged creatures that had appeared during the flood immediately come to mind. Korra flicks her staff, releasing the glider wings.] We'll just have to watch each other's backs while we're out there.

[And with that, Korra takes a few steps back, then propels herself into the air with a twist of air beneath her feet. She circles in the air, waiting for Steven to join her.]

[geophile]

[ he watches skarmory circle, looking down to meet her eyes with a proud smile. he loves his steel bird baby, okay. ]

He's the most reliable Pokémon I have for air travel. You can't get much better than strength and speed for outings like this.

[ but the casual conversation is short lived, and he nods once again as he watches her take off. he whistles for skarmory to descend and pick him up, hopping onto his back with seasoned practice. ]

We'll keep an eye out for you. [ and off they go! ]

[braavado]

[Korra adjusts her grip on the staff and picks up the speed until she's flying beside him. It doesn't take long for her to notice the change in the air, most likely because she's expecting it this time. With them still fairly close to the colony, though, it's just a faint tickle of awareness, and not an overwhelming sense of discomfort each time she breathes in.

She'll shoot him a smile if he turns his head to look at her.]

So far so good. [Though no one's seen the winged creatures since the colony flooded, it's still a relief to see the sky clear of them.]

[geophile]

[ steven on the other hand is feeling perfectly fine, but is still keeping an eye on korra to make sure she isn't having trouble breathing yet. her words reassure him enough to meet her smile with a small one of his own, but he isn't about to let his guard down. ]

Don't hesitate to speak up if you start having trouble breathing.

[braavado]

Trust me, I'm definitely not planning to keep quiet. [Suffocating out in the jungle isn't exactly the way that she wants to go, even if CERES restores her code.]

I'm not sensing anything so far... you said you saw a bunch of caves scattered around the jungle, right?

SHRINE

[braavado]

[Once they start splitting up to scout out the area, Korra alternates between finding a quiet area to land and then trying really hard to spread out her senses and picking out anything spiritual in the area. After several tries, she finally senses something, though what she finds leaves her feeling a little uneasy. She flies back to the camp she and Steven had set up on the first day, brows pinched together in worry as she lands beside him.]

Steven? I...found something. You should take a look.

[There's nothing resembling a smile on her face right now, and that doesn't bode well for what she's about to show him.]

[geophile]

[ steven may have the expertise in finding stones, but he's the one taking a secondary role when it comes to finding the shrines. korra had a fine-tuned sense for the spiritual, and he knows that she'd be able to lead and find something in this jungle.

he's tending to skarmory's armour at camp when korra lands, an eyebrow raising. she doesn't look happy, and that's concerning. ]

Is it close by?

[braavado]

[That makes her pause, eyes narrowed as she tries to pin down the distance she'd flown.]

Ten minutes by air, I think. I went out a little further today.

[geophile]

Lead the way. We'll follow.

[ sorry skarmory, preening your feathers will have to wait for another time. when she's ready, he'll be following on skarmory's back. ]

[braavado]

[With a sharp nod, Korra takes a few running steps and lifts herself into the air with some help from her airbending. She angles her glider staff in the direction she'd come from, leading Steven toward the shrine she'd found.

Their luck doesn't hold, though. Just after a few minutes of flying, they hear a roar from somewhere above them, and the sound of wings beating at the air. Though they don't see anything at first, a distant form begins to approach them quickly with another sharp cry.]

Oh, come on! [Korra's grip on her staff tightens when she sees the incoming danger. This has got to be the worst timing ever.]

[geophile]

[ oh good grief. if the roar isn't enough to give a picture of how big this monster is, seeing it only confirms it. it's much more menacing than anything they've faced up until now, but running can't be an option. skarmory won't cut it this time - he needs to break out the big guns.

he reaches to his belt for a poké ball, head turning to korra. ]

Head back to camp. I'll take care of it.

[braavado]

Not a chance. [Korra's expression tightens as she immediately shoots down the suggestion.]

We came out here as a team, we're facing this thing together. [Before he can protest, she barrels on.] Should we stay in the air or lead him down into the trees?

/2

[geophile]

But-

[ he cuts himself off. she was right - they were a team, and korra is capable and reliable. playing hero would only get them both into trouble.

this would take planning. his brow furrows in thought as he thinks - they don't have much time. ]

[geophile]

We'll do both. I'll take the air and try to weaken it, then you lead it into the trees. The close quarters will put it at a disadvantage.

[ it's not his best plan, but one that they'll have to work with. it plays to their strengths, and the proper coordination might just do it. ]

OOPS

[geophile]

[ while steven is grateful for korra's help in the caves they've explored, he can't help but feel like he's dragging her along while he completely geeks out over his hobby. he's not unaware of people not holding the same amount of passion he does - may had given him strange looks about his waxing poetic about mega stones, and wallace just thought it was plain silly.

it's for that reason that he wills himself to wake up early one morning, leaving korra to sleep as he treks out with metagross and aron to do some solo exploring. he leaves aggron out of his ball as lookout, along with a note:

I've gone to do some collecting. I should be back by high noon.
- Steven

but high noon passes... and there's no sign of him right away. just as korra might begin to worry, she'll hear the sounds of quadruped footsteps approaching on the jungle floor. they belong to metagross, but it's not the thing that she'll be focused on first - steven is on its head, a sleeve of his shirt torn off at the shoulder. the fabric is tied tightly around his forearm, but there's an unmistakable trail of red seeping through it and down his skin. he's trying to tighten the knot when he spots korra, and he looks just a bit pale. ]

We ran into a bit of trouble.

oops is right

[braavado]

[After finding the shrine and thinking on its not-so-pleasant implications, Korra's been feeling antsy herself. Waking up and finding the camp already empty isn't unusual on its own; they've been splitting up to conduct their own investigations anyway. That doesn't stop Korra from worrying when she returns the camp hours later and finds it still empty.

She jumps up when the pokemon reaches the camp, worry tripling when she sees the blood. Healer-mode kicks in immediately. Korra reaches up to help him down.]

I'll take a look at it. Was it a monster?

i felt like that was the only appropriate subject line

[geophile]

[ while getting rid of the monster with metagross once he had spotted it was no problem, he wasn't expecting the sneak attack that gave him the wound. it was fast - neither of them could have avoided it.

he stumbles a little when she helps him down, but manages to keep himself upright. the wound is deep enough to make him cringe, but not serious. at her question, he nods. ]

We were able to drive it off, but it caught us off guard.

[braavado]

[Though she lets go of him once he looks steady enough to keep going on his own, she keeps close just in case the injury gives him more trouble.]

At least you both made it back. [Her words come out as a weird mix of relieved and grim.] Good thing you have a healer around, huh? [After waving him toward an outcropping of rock to sit, Korra reaches for the water skin at her side.]

Okay, let's see how bad it is.

[geophile]

I would have been in much deeper trouble if Metagross wasn't with me. [ he pauses, followed with a tired smile. ] And you, of course.

[ even with korra keeping an eye on him, both metagross and aggron stay on standby. as gruff as they may act as the strongest members of steven's team, it's impossible to not be concerned for their trainer. they'll keep their distances, but watch her carefully.

he sits where she asks him to, using his other arm to untie the bloodstained fabric covering the wound. it's long and deep enough to leave a scar, but definitely not fatal. ]

Is it manageable?

[braavado]

[Korra draws the water out of the water skin as soon as he unwraps the fabric, pressing the bubble to the injury immediately. As she channels the energy through the water and scans him, the water begins to glow softly.]

It's not too bad. [She finally tells him, voice a soft murmur with her attention divided. Even as she speaks, the pain seems to fade from injury.] Kind of deep, but it didn't hit anything important.

[geophile]

[ as the water begins to glow, his shoulders visibly begin to lose their tension. he didn't realize he was holding his breath until now, but the relaxing, cooling sensation of the water helps him remember to exhale. ]

I'll consider myself lucky, then.

[ it's not said lightly - he knows he could have lost an arm, or worse. ]

[braavado]

Pretty lucky. [Now that she's got a good grasp of the injury she's patching up, Korra manages to spare some attention to smile slightly at him.]

It's still going to be sensitive for a little while, but I should be able to close it up no problem.