Swimming (OPEN)

[Ylva Mandara]

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    Ylva gave him a smile and shook her head, laughing. "No.. I don't think the teachers would let me. Mining is very dangerous, very expensive and if I understand right, it's illegal for people my age to do what I did growing up. Me and my brother spent our lives in and outside of the mines. I don't think anyone under 18 is allowed to mine... unless you mean study mining.. then it's not very fun that way.... it's certainly funner if you dig everything up instead of reading how to dig stuff up.... I mean, even the older miners were even requir...to.." The girl began to drift off again, going into her own little world, rambling to herself about mining. She was getting hungry, so her mind wasn't functioning very well.. At.. ALL... With another grumble, she poked her growling tummy and looked over at her Pokemon.

    Lariat laughed at the Mantyke and lifted him up, placing him on his belly. "Ya found me! Your turn to hide. I'll count to 20 for you, give you plenty of time." Turning around, he stuck his butt into the air and stuck his head down, hiding his face.

    Ylva smiled at her Aggron. The large Pokemon was surprisingly friendly for his size, and a lot of people were normally taken off guard by that. Frowning, she rubbed her chin at the thought of an orphanage. "When there was a parent-less child in our town, it just roamed around and worked with us... other miners would feed the kiddo or would give the little butt head a place to sleep.. but I guess the outside world is even more different than I thought it was...." Perking up some, she bounced a little in her heavy hiking boots. "Awh sweet! Making necklaces is way to hard, but I'd love to rock climb with someone again... my brother has been a little to busy to find me so we could have some time together...."

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Word Count: 333

[Azreal Sinbad]

She smiled at the idea, but shook her head. Mining was dangerous, expensive, and apparently, required others to be over the age of 18 to mine. It also wasn't legal for her to do it at her age. It seemed like she went all into a world of her own. "Well, when I go pro, I'll try and visit and you can teach me about mining. I mean, I am old enough, but I don't think there are any places around or near the campus to mine: but I'm also not a miner, so..." He shrugged a bit. He then heard something of a grumble. He could recognize that all too well as hunger. It was not a common issue in the orphanage, but when there wasn't enough money, someone would go starving. "I have some snacks in my bag: Not much, though. Or we could go to the dining hall; no doubt there will be food there."

Fins heard laughing of the other, and was soon flipped onto his belly again, flailing. "Okay! Be careful, though; I'm a good hider!" Fins waited for his friend to close his eyes before beginning to roll again. He looked for another rock, and he found one he could climb on top of. He threw the sand all over himself, only his two antennas sticking out. He could blend in with the rock really well, since he had sand all over him, but his antennas were a dead give-away. He waited for his friend to try and find him.

Azreal looked at the two, then back at Ylva again. Apparently, any child would work with the miners, and given places to sleep. "Well, they're usually crowded and under-funded. The only reason I have Pokemon at all is because I've had Bane since he was in his egg, and Fins because I won him at a festival. But there's usually no Pokemon there at all." She seemed to get excited when he mentioned rock-climbing with her, mentioning that she hadn't seen her brother in a while to do something with him. "You have a brother?" He had seen brother and sisters in the orphanage, but he did not have any of his own.

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Word Count: 369
Tags: Ylva, Lariat, Bane, Fins
Notes: Fins: on top of a rock covered in sand and his antennas sticking up.

[Ylva Mandara]

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    Staring up at the sky, she rubbed her brow and shrugged some. "Well, any place with dirt and rock is a place to mine." Laughing some, she got a kick out of the blatantly obvious statement of him not being a miner. She still wasn't used to people of the outside world and has heard of all kinds of strange professions. Every time someone says they're not a miner, she laughs to herself with her mind back in the mountains she lived in, where if you said that you weren't a miner, you were either drunk or stupid.

    Shaking her head, the girl pulled her mind out of the mountains and put it back where it belonged... in her head.. somewhere. Stopping, she looked at him when he mentioned food and belched, quite powerfully. "Geez, the foods place sounds freaking awesome... of course, last time I was there, I almost got into a fight with some scrawny punk.... but that's another story for another time... Let's go get food!" Ylva bounced a bit and stopped again. "Wait.. yea.. I do.. he's my twin.. but I'm older.. and a better battler... he's.. just.. smarter... by a lot, a whole lot...... and that sounds terrible, I hate crowded areas with a burning passion, and why don't people just take them in?"

    "19..20! Ready or not, Here I come!" Lifting his self out of a head-tucked position, Lariat walked around on all four legs for a bit, digging in the sand, pretending he couldn't see the antennae. "Ffff... Where are you Fins??? wait a minute..." Creeping over, he dug in the sand and picked the Mantyke out of the sand, placing him above ground. "I found you!... what now? Wanna go bug our masters?" Lifting up some, he came to a bi-pedal standing position, swishing his tail from side to side.

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Word Count: 311

[Azreal Sinbad]

Well, he seemed to make her laugh. That was always a good sign, he found. She shook her head at the thought of snacks. It seemed that she was interested in going to the dining hall, and Azreal wouldn't lie when he noticed that he was hungry as well. All that swimming took a lot out of him, and food sounded really good about now. She could hear he say that it sounded good, and something about...he almost getting into a fight with someone? Well, it wasn't any of his business. She seemed to have a bounce in her step, but stopped when he asked about her sibling. Apparently, her brother was a terrible battler, but exceptionally smart. He looked at Bane and returned the Pokemon back to his Pokeball, and putting the Pokeball along his waist. "Well, the problem with just taking in a random kid or Pokemon is...they only want "certain" kids or Pokemon. Most end up staying in the Orphanage for their whole lives...like me. Then, we can do whatever we want and pretty much get kicked out and have to support ourselves."

Fins tried not to move, hearing the Lariat walk around, digging up the sand. He held in his bubbles, as he wanted to laugh. But finally, Lariat dug him up and picked Fins up. Fins blew bubbles, shaking all the sand off of him. "Yay! You found me! And sure! Let's go bug them cause I'm starving!" He looked at Lariat and flailed around happily.

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Word Count: 255
Tags: Lariat, Fins, Ylva, Bane
Notes: Food sounds goooooooooooood

[Ylva Mandara]

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    Ylva scratched her chin and shook her head. "Can't be picky with kids, but I guess you can. I dunno." Shrugging, the short girl looked over to her behemoth of a Pokemon, who seemed to be enjoying his self. But a powerful grumble came from him and she narrowed her eyes. Ylva knew what that meant and that meant that he was hungry, of course, what was new.
    
    Lariat grumbled and picked up the Mantyke, setting him next to his master, and moving to stand next to Ylva. "Yea, my stomach is killing me.. I may have to go digging for some Iron..." Scratching his belly, the large Pokemon shook his self and freed the sand from his armor and made him feel better instantly.
    
    Ylva smiled and chuckled at Lariat. "Hey, Azreal, if I have to, I may have to run Lariat out to the caves and try to dig up some Iron with him. It's the only thing his metabolism can handle. Minerals are the best for Steel types." Reaching over, she gave her Pokemon a solid pat on it's knee and pushed him some to get him moving. He had already caused an indentation in the sand and it wouldn't have taken much longer for him to get stuck in that position.

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Word Count: 217

[Azreal Sinbad]

She seemed to give a nonchalant answer, shrugging and looking at her Pokemon. He looked at his Pokemon as she did and he heard a powerful grumble. Yep, some Pokemon sounded hungry. The Aggron put Fins right next to him, and returned Fins to his Pokeball. He listened to Ylva talk, saying that she would probably need to get some Iron for her Aggron. "Alright. Well, I'm heading to the dining hall. If you wanna come, we'd like to have ya. But if you're gonna go feed your Aggron first, here." He took out a piece of paper and wrote a phone number on it, that handed it to Ylva. "Don't know if you have a cell phone or not, but here. This is my cell phone number: If you wanna go rock-climbing, look to the water or call my cell; it's the best way to reach me." He smiled; it didn't really matter so much if Ylva followed him or not, but he found that Pokemon came first, and he would feed them before himself occasionally. If Ylva went off to get minerals for her Aggron, he would wave and leave to the dining hall. But if she joined him, he would let her catch up to him and walk together to the dining hall.

*Azreal exits either way*

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Word Count: 220
Tags: Ylva, Lariat, Fins
Notes: If Ylva goes with him, then they can thread again in the dining hall. If not, he'll exit here and we can claim points.