Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Gabe fumbled with Rep’s Pokeball, very briefly pulling out Liz’s despite his own realization seconds ago, only to pocket it again. Tossing it out, he spoke quickly to Rep. “Just wanna get up high somewhere… on one of the roofs! Don’t gimme that look c’mon!” Gabe egged. Rep grimaced a little and looked from Gabe to…. This new person and then back again. Ugh. He lowered one wing, and Gabe helped Shea on.
Rep took to the air quickly. One second, he was on the ground, the next, he was scaling up just higher than the buildings. Gabe, meanwhile, was so used to this motion even when drunk that he just sorta leaned forward a little more until he was comfortable to sit upright again.
Rep was the one to pick out the spot. It was one of the higher building rooftops that was notably not the highest but was clear on the top. Landing down on it again, he very briefly seemed hesitant before lowering again and letting Gabe and Shea off. “Hey! Yeah this is perfect!” Gabe turned around a little on the rooftop before looking back at Shea again holding the bottle he’d had clasped in one hand the whole way and grinning. Rep snorted softly and walked about before slowly laying down, his eye focused on Gabe.
Gabe, though, was already pulling out a Pokeball and releasing Liz right after. The Charmeleon that broke free was notably huge comparison to her counterparts. She stood a whole seven foot tall and looked down even on Shea at that point. Shea… whom she was very much staring at now with a questionable look on her face. “Liz! Liz sit down! We’re gonna watch the fireworks!” Gabe was saying tugging on her arm a little. She finally snorted and slowly let herself be pulled over and sat down. Folding her tail around some, she managed to complete Rep’s circle of warmth on her own.
[attr="class","shea"] Oh WHOA! Shea clung a little tighter as a sense of vertigo came over them when Rep ascended so quickly. Whoa whoa whoa this was wild! They were a little afraid they'd fall, but soon enough they were landing, and breathing out in relief. They were a bit shaky as they got down, but it wasn't too bad. Not too bad at all now that their feet were on the ground.
Lizbeth was released, and Shea visibly startled. "Oh SHIT." Rep was big, but he was a Charizard. Lizbeth was enormous for a Charmeleon, holy cow! "She's amazing," they breathed out. As the two big lizards formed a circle around them, Shea smiled lopsidedly. "Oh, oh this is nice~" They should stay plenty toasty between the two tail flames and the subtler heat radiating off the fire-types' bodies.
Shea sat with Gabe in the circle. They stretched their legs out and sat back, resting propped by their palms on the ground, looking up at the sky as another small set of fireworks went off, one after another. "Aaaahhh, this is so nice!" they repeated a little more emphatically. The fireworks were so pretty, and it was surprisingly warm. But of course, the company was the best part. "...Oh! Here~" They leaned a bit and dug in their pocket to produce a PokeBall of their own, and released their small Shiny Spritzee. "Prince, this is Gabe and Rep and Lizbeth. You should watch the fireworks with us~" The Spritzee cooed questioningly as he tilted his head back and forth, then chirped happily and floated over to land on Shea's head, earning a giggle from his trainer.
Gabe had laughed at Shea’s exclamation. “She is,” he agreed. Lizbeth felt a little more at ease on hearing this strange human’s voice and relaxed a little more after. The compliment didn’t hurt. Gabe sat down next to Shea and absently pat Liz as well. She eyed him a little before closing both eyes. She wasn’t too interested in whatever light show humans decided to put on when her own fire was much more impressive. Rep, at least, had the decency to look up and watch.
As the Spritzee was released, Gabe’s attention flicked from the fire in the sky to it. “Ohcute…” It kind of reminded him of cotton candy— birdly cotton candy. As it floated and landed on Shea’s head, Gabe reached up and pet it. Liz grunted and earned a pat with Gabe’s free hand. Rep rolled his eyes. “It’s hard to tell but…. is it shiny?” In the darkness, it was hard enough just seeing the full outlines of things, but he was pretty sure that was a sparkle in its coat.
[attr="class","shea"] Shea ducked their head a bit to make it easier for Gabe to pet the fluffy little birb. "Hm? Oh, yeah!" they answered. They guessed it was pretty dark, but they did have the light of two small fires to go by. "The normal ones are lighter and pink, and have darker red eyes instead of this light yellow." They couldn't see just how clear any of those colors would be with Prince atop their head, but whatever.
"But hey mister, you should find somewhere else to perch, okay?" Prince chirped questioningly, fidgeting around a bit. "Yes you, who else would I be talking to?" Prince chirped once in protest, then floated up and over to land on Gabe's head instead. Shea snorted. "HEY, no not there either you goof." They leaned over to shoo the little bird off, only for the hand supporting them to slip a bit. They felt the tip of their nose bump against Gabe's, and violet eyes shot up to meet gold for just a brief second as their face flushed. A moment later, they'd righted themself and were laughing nervously, a hand rubbing the back of their neck. "S-sorry."
At least Prince had listened and shooed, going to rest on one of Rep's horns instead. Shea was fine with that if the Charizard would tolerate it.
Gabe squinted a little trying to see a little more of the purple and yellow a bit more clearly. It kind of had this other shade to it which he guessed had to be from Rep and Liz’s tails, but ah huh. Yeah he saw tha— Oh look at that, he had a fluffy hat now. Gabe snickered. “I need to look up you know…” he reached up briefly to poke the bird only to find a face right in his face.
Yellow eyes blinked at purple ones. Oh hello there— And then Shea was pulling back quickly enough. The weight (if you could call it that) on Gabe’s head had fluttered away, and Gabe found himself leaning forward and sideways. “Hey now… that’s… not very nice….” he shifted a little leaning right up face to face with Shea. “You can’t just get in that close and not steal a kiss….” and with that he kissed their cheek once and sat back snickering to himself.
Rep would indeed tolerate the perching and almost seemed not to even notice. Perhaps he didn’t. Liz, however, was rolling her eyes a little at Gabe. From the corner of her eye, she saw the bottle of alcohol he’d set down on the ground, and distantly, she thought… actually. You know what. She would get up slowly and grab it by the neck.
[attr="class","shea"] Huh? Not very nice? Wh-- Oh hello??? Shea's face continued to flush as Gabe explained his 'problem'. "Huh?" Did he want them to-- Shea let out a tiny squeak as their cheek was kissed. "H-hey," they protested. "Now who's not playing fair?" This was starting to feel like a silly game, and Shea was more than happy to play.
Before immediately retaliating, though, they mused, "The fire's awfully hot this close, huh?" And with that, they took off their jacket, revealing a low-cut crop top underneath. This was definitely because of the heat of the fire and not a flimsy excuse to show some skin or anything.
Now, hm... Smirking, they leaned over toward Gabe and opened their mouth to say something coy and flirty, probably, but instead they noticed Liz moving and-- "Dbpfdf-- Hey! She's stealing our drink!"
Gabe snickered a little harder at being ‘accused’ of not playing fair. But oh hmmm?? It was still awfully cold to him— Oh, well then. A toothy smile pulled onto Gabe’s features, and he had been about to say something back but—
“What???” Gabe twisted around to see that sure enough Liz bit the cap right off the bottle and proceeded to chug it. “Lizzy Liz! LIZARD!” Gabe scrambled a little awkwardly as he seized first her tail and then her leg and then arm. “Don’t drink it!” It came off like a whine more than a command.
Liz, however, wouldn’t lower the bottle from her maw until half the bottle was gone. “Hey!” Gabe swatted at her arm only for the Charmeleon to look back at him and— immediately spit all she’d downed right at him. “Lasjdlakjsdlaksjdlasdkj….”
[attr="class","shea"] Shea watched helplessly as the bottle Gabe had paid so generously for was chugged by the greedy Pokemon. Alcohol was really bad for Pokemon, what was she doing? They wanted to help stop her, but knew with their puny lack of strength they'd only be in Gabe's way, and instead just whined, "Please don't???"
And then, just like that, all that alcohol came back out and all over Gabe. Shea held their breath to try to suppress a harsh snort, but ultimately lost as it came out followed by a loud laugh. "Sorry," they sputtered even through still laughing at him. "Are... are you okay?" He looked soaked. Why had Lizbeth even done that? Was she mad at him? Or just generally a little shit?
Having a realization, though, Shea asked, "..Do you need to get out of that wet shirt?" They flashed a wolfish smirk. "I could offer my jacket to wear instead... or I could just help keep you warm~"
Oh fuck, oh gross, oh fuck, oh gross. Gabe could have dealt with being drenched in alcohol but Charmeleon spit too was just blehhhhh. “Liiiiizzzzzzzzz….” he whined at her. Liz’s lips pulled back in this vicious grin right after.
Gabe rubbed one side of his face and looked sideways at Shea instead. Of course, he was being laughed at. It would have been hysterical to Gabe if it hadn’t happened to him. “Yeah I’m fine, just soaked…” he grumbled a little looking pointedly at Liz again. She smirked a little back. Gabe glanced sideways at Shea again instead. “Pretty sure I was just told not to drink any more though…” He swiped the bottle from her anyways. Liz huffed a little.
Ugh….He probably did need to get out of this wet sweater, but the questionably dry tank top he had on underneath was going to be freezing to be in. His lips quirked a little at the last comment, and he finally smiled, shrugged, and slowly pulled off the sweater. It would be evident in the light of the flaming tails then that while rail thin, Gabe had muscle to spare. He was someone who lived a good portion of his life outside and still did in more ways than one. He’d never be as muscular as Michael (how did he even gain that much..) but Gabe liked it enough on himself. “Warm me up….” he snorted sitting down right against Shea again.
[attr="class","shea"] Shea chuckled a bit more softly. "What, is she your mother now?" Shea teased. "I'll still drink after her, just watch me," they threatened, but wouldn't follow up on it as they were quickly distracted by taking in Gabe's features. Mmmmm, ooh, very nice~ They licked their lips.
When Gabe sat and demanded warmth, Shea debated for just a moment before deciding to be nice, first taking their jacket and draping it around his shoulders. Then they leaned over and pressed against him, arms wrapping around and rubbing up and down in a genuine effort to help warm him up. Nuzzling against the side of his face, they asked quietly in his ear, "How's this?"
Violet eyes shifted over to Liz briefly with a small spark to them, almost as if to say, 'ha, this still works out, Lizard Breath'.
Gabe huffed softly. “Apparently.” Liz rolled her eyes. Shea’s assertion that they’d drink after her, though, had Gabe and Liz making the same vaguely grossed out expression back at them.
As the jacket was draped over his shoulders, Gabe hummed a little. Not bad— Oh that was better, a little less frigid. Gabe snuggled back comfortably. Rep actually moved his tail a little one way to try and increase the heat exposure too (without catching Gabe on fire from that extra alcohol lol). An easier breath drew in and out of Gabe after. “Mmmmm better…”
Lizbeth, meanwhile, squinted at Shea— but immediately fidgeted to look forward and upwards as the first crackle of a bigger firework went off in a flurry of fire engine red.
“Looks like we’re right on time….” Gabe hummed a little. He kind of wanted to fish for his phone to check for exact time but also didn’t want to move, heh.
[attr="class","shea"] Honestly, being able to gross out both Gabe and Liz had been nothing if not amusing, but yeah.
Having Gabe cuddle against them was really nice, and Rep's tail moving a little closer helped keep them both plenty warm. Or at least Shea was warm, and they hoped the chill from getting soaked would wear off Gabe soon enough. It was a little strange, in that they could still feel the chill in the air while also being warm, but they supposed that was normal for sitting by a fire in winter. At least it had stopped snowing earlier and hadn't stuck too much yet.
Shea's attention was drawn by the sound of the firework before the light of it, but then they looked up and watched with sparkling eyes. "Oooh~" It was followed by a bright blue one of similar size, then a white and green mixed one. "I'll say," they agreed with Gabe. Their pocket was a bit more accessible than his, so they did pull out their phone to check. "Eleven fifty," they announced. Then they pulled up a timer and set for nine minutes before setting the phone down nearby and cuddling back up to Gabe.
They watched as the fireworks show proper played out. Mostly it was just big bursts every 5-10 seconds, but occasionally there'd be a slightly longer pause before a more interesting pattern. There were some zigzags and some spiraling ones. "Ooooh..." Toward the end, they started doing fireworks shaped like Pokemon and a few related things like PokeBalls. There was a Pikachu, a Jigglypuff, and so-on.
Shea's timer went off, and they picked up the phone. "Thirty-five seconds to go!" They kept the phone in one hand and looked between it and the sky as the climax of the show burst out. Fireworks went off every few seconds if not more often than that in a rapidfire pattern. "Ten.. nine.. eight..." Finally, there was a giant Bidoof face with an Oran Berry on either side, and a rainbow over the top, all symbols of Arciel to herald in the new year. "Ahhh!" Shea giggled briefly before resuming, "Three... two..." Rather than count the one, they quickly leaned in to finally steal that kiss from Gabe.
Eleven fifty. Ten more minutes, and they’d escape the year finally. Gabe stared up at the sky lit up with fire and couldn’t be more pleased with this if he wanted to be. Between the warmth of two blazing tails and one warm body up close to his, Gabe couldn’t ask for more. Well, he could have, but that wasn’t the point.
The goofy national symbols looked downright amazing as feats of fire, and Gabe tried very hard to commit them to memory— Oh. Lips were on his own, and Gabe’s eyes closed as he kissed back.
Lizbeth looked from the humans to Rep, and Rep made a face. Liz made a face back.
As the fireworks started dying out, Gabe finally pulled back, his eyes locked on Shea’s. “Happy New Year~!” he mused rubbing their noses together right after in a secondary kiss.
[attr="class","shea"] As Rep and Liz made faces at each other, Prince tilted on Rep's horn. He didn't understand the weird face smooshing ritual humans did, but he knew his trainer seemed to like it, so that was all that really mattered, right? Good for Shea! And the other human whose name he couldn't bother remembering.
Shea was positively elated to have Gabe return the kiss, and tried to linger a little longer, leaning with Gabe's movements a little as he pulled away, but ultimately letting him break the kiss. The kiss itself was nice, but weirdly it was the simple nuzzling of noses after that brought a blush to their face. O-oh, that was cute... oh no. "H-happy New Year," they repeated, breathing out a quiet little laugh.
But now that the threshold had passed, the fireworks show was over, so there was no more reason to stay on the roof. Well, besides the fact that they were already here, heh. Shea's hands snaked around Gabe's neck, one working its way into his hair, the other slipping back forward a bit to rub his shoulder. "I'm... really glad we ran into each other.." they said quietly. "Tonight was really fun." Gabe was fun to be around in general. He seemed so cool but so silly, and so strong but so chill and froendly. It was just a great combo.
Well, they guessed... it was time to ask, even at the risk of getting rejected. "You ah... up for having a little more fun together~? Maybe... getting a hotel?" Violet eyes plead as they gave a sheepish grin.
Mmmm this was nice. Gabe’s gaze flicked to Shea’s as the latter adjusted their grip on him. The fingers in his hair and the hand on his shoulder were incredibly soothing. Had the wind not occasionally still sent chills through him, he would have been content to lay out there all night, heh.
The question that came back to him hit Gabe a little differently than it had before. He was buzzed. That practical, logical piece of him that still insisted he didn’t want to touch anything Rae (let alone Ara) had touched had quieted a lot. Shea was cute and fun…. and probably fun in more ways than one…. Eh, what the hell. Gabe leaned forward kissing them again harder this time and holding it there for a while before slowly breaking it. “I’ve got a hotel not too far away already…. Let’s go have some fun.”
Lizbeth immediately rolled her eyes but made no comment, none what so ever. Rep slowly leaned up kind of sort of knowing he was going to be expected to carry them back down again but not trying to disturb that Spritzee too much.
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