Obvious exits:
South <S> leads to Pokemon Haven: Assisi Farm.
North <N> leads to Field and Streams - Route 11: Farmlands.

Aurora has arrived.

Towering white clouds drift slowly through the blue sky. It's hazy and hot, and the glare of the sun seems to drain the color from the landscape. In the forest, the shade under the deep green leaves of the trees is welcome relief from the hot glare of the sun. While at the coast, the sea sparkles in the brilliant sunlight, the waves rolling merrily against the shore.

The day is muggy, hot, blinding, and breathtakingly beautiful. As far as the eye can see, the ocean of grass waves in an invisible wind, meeting up with the blue and white sky at the horizon. If one can manage to shield one's eyes from the sun, whether by arm or by tree, one can appreciate the rolling farmlands of route 11, bushes, flowers, weeds, and all. It really is a hit-or-miss day; some creatures of the world consider it too humid and roasting to dare do something, while the more energetic ones have taken advantage of a considerably good day of warmth and sunny skies and spend the day out and about. Peppy the Growlithe is apparently one of the latter, but for once, he's not out on the hunt for a Rattata; this time, he's with somebody else. <I walk by this way -every- day!> he woofs excitedly to his companion, Aurora, gesturing quickly to the path they walk on. <Sometimes it's hard to walk on because it's snowing, or it's slippery because it's raining, but now it's really hot outside so it's easy to walk on!> He sounds more like an excited child than the fully grown adult he is, but can you blame him? This is the first time he and Aurora have been totally alone since the pups were born. Having a babysitter rocks.

It's the first time Aurora has actually be outside the barn in a long time, and like her mate she's acting more like an enthusiastic pup than a parent. But then, that's one of the advantages of not having the children around for once... <I came out here once to hunt, too,> she replies eagerly to her mate. Never mind that he'll probably remember that hunting trip - the hot weather and the open sky are a wonderful treat after the functional but plain surroundings of the barn, and she's enjoying every minute. <So, where do the Rattatas live? I tried looking in some of the bushes closer to the barn, and that worked, but you have a lot more success than I did when I went hunting...>

Peppy, as has been determined time and time again, is not exactly the brightest bulb in the box, and his pricked ears drop slightly at Aurora's next comment. His prancing walk comes to a halt for a moment as he struggles to recall his mate ever coming outside to hunt, but sadly can't recall it. Likely he would have remember were he not so hyper right now. Shaking his head briskly to snap himself back into reality, he picks up the pace to resume his place right beside his mate. <Do you see the flowers? Look! Look, there's a lot of them!> And sure enough, right alongside the path is a small (not exactly "a lot of them") patch of freshly sprouted flowers that would probably not greatly interest the average passerby. Peppy, of course, is not exactly average. He wags his tail frantically as he walks by, looking at the flowers the whole time. <Huh? Ra... oh, um.> He hops back into the conversation. <They're never in the same place, really. You just keep walking and sniffing and looking until you find or see or smell or hear one, then you go and catch it!> Brilliant.

Watt? July already? You must be 'lion! Bingo! (Saving!)

Compared to her mate, Aurora is usually fairly good at figuring out what someone's talking about, but Peppy's comment has her rather confused. She blinks at Peppy for a few moment, then looks at the clump of flowers, staring hard at them as if she's examining them to see if they're what they seem. <The... flowers can move? And you can catch them?> she asks, sounding very puzzled, and she slows her walking pace, padding towards the patch of flowers and stopping a short distance away, crouching down as if about to pounce. <They didn't move when I saw them before...> she whispers, her eyes on the flowers and her tail waving slowly from side to side as she readies herself to attack. Attack the flowers. It's not just Peppy who gets odd ideas sometimes...

If Aurora is considered confused, Peppy has got a step below that. "... Rowli?" he woofs in response to her question, his ears folding tight against his head, face scrunching up and nose twitching slightly in a fit of lack of comprehension. And poor Peppy can only watch helplessly as Aurora makes her way over to the flowers, scrutenizing them, waiting for them to move. Peppy approaches Aurora from the side rather timidly, shifting his attention back and forth between garden and Growlithe, back and forth, back and forth. <I don't think they move,> he whimpers softly, trying to think back to what he last said to figure out where in the heck Aurora drew that inference from. <Although!> Ah ha! Maybe this is it! <When it's really windy outside, sometimes they move! See? Watch! Watch!> And, his passion reinvoked, Peppy stomps forward a step or two, leans over one of the flowers, and blows on it. Hard. Needless to say, the plant wobbles back and forth uneasily, before eventually slowing back into its original stiff state. And Peppy looks so proud of himself.

Keeping her gaze on the flowers, Aurora sees Peppy approach them out of the corner of her eye, and breathes in sharply as he leans over one. She crouches lower, and as the flower moves under the impetus of Peppy's breath she waits until his muzzle is out of the way, then pounces on the flower. The poor thing wobbles for a few moments, then the stem breaks with a rather sad squish. Meanwhile, Aurora's managed to trample most of the other flowers in the small patch. But hey, that's one flower patch that won't bother anyone else again...

And Peppy can only watch in... well, it's not quite amusement, nor is it shock, nor is it awe, but it's kind of a mixture of the three. In any case, he cocks his head slightly to the side when Aurora's fury is unleashed upon the world. The flower never stood a chance. Instead of standing up in the defense of beauty, he just kind of watches while Aurora rumbles with the little flower, the uncertain emotion still evident on his face. Apprehensively he leans over once again, looking down at his mate kind of curiously. So much for his secret plan to surprise Aurora one of these days with a little boquet of flowers. He hesitates for a moment longer, before lowering his head all the way to the ground, taking one of the smushed flowers in his mouth... and chewing on it, peering up at his forehead thoughtfully. <Hey...> he woofs after a moment, chewing with a little more excitement now. <They really don't taste that bad!>

Well, Aurora has thwarted the evil ambitions of these flowers, and a quick inspection shows that they're not in any state to move and attack her, so the female Growlithe climbs out of the mess she's made of the inoffensive plants, and then looks at Peppy with interest. <Really? Are they nice to eat?> she asks, and without waiting for a reply, she leans over and picks up one of the squashed flowers in her jaws, crunching it between her teeth, and then swallowing with a slightly pained look on her face. <It's not bad, but I think it's too bitter for me...>

Watt? July already? You must be 'lion! Bingo! (Saving!)

Peppy seems a little surprised when Aurora doesn't like the taste of the flower, and he sort of peers at her thoughtfully while he chews away. Peppy, of course, can eat (and enjoy) virtually anything; it's hardly a surprise that he enjoys the taste of flowers. Crunch, crunch, swallow. <Well, even if you don't like to eat them, they are nice to look at.> Crunch, crunch, swallow. <Though I think Rattata tastes better. Plus, it's more fun to hunt! Flowers just kind of... sit there and look pretty.> Peppy's attention span is starting to wane, and he begins to peer about the area, no longer interested in the mangled mess of magnolias. Every tree, every shrub, every hill makes Peppy pause for a second to look at it, so that his motions are jerky and jittery.

<Still...> Aurora swallows again, presumably to try to remove the taste of the flowers, though it's unlikely to do any good. <It's nice to be outside on a sunny day, just looking around and talking. The pups are growing up fast, and they're well behaved now, but it's a bit tiring looking after then all the time. It's nice to have some time with you on my own,> she says, finishing with a shy smile. Moving away from the ruined flowers a little more, Aurora sits down on her haunches, and watches Peppy with quiet enjoyment as he looks around. <It's fun out here, isn't it?> she says softly, almost to herself.

Wow! A tree! ... Eh, it's boring now. ! Whoa! Another tree! ... ... boring. Oo! Tree! It must be so much fun to be Peppy. He does pause for longer than a couple seconds when Aurora speaks up, and he nods slowly at her first comment. Her statement about enjoying this time with him causes Peppy to turn his head and look at her, smiling right back. <You're right,> he replies, trotting his way over to her and adopting a spot right beside her. <It's a lot more fun to be out here when you're with somebody you love than just going alone on a hunt,> he tells her, though (perhaps due to shyness) he continues looking around in his unsettled manner, eyes bouncing from tree to tree with a kind of simple delight. Perhaps being out here every day has made him forget how beautiful it really is.

Aurora blushes a little when Peppy makes his comment to her, but soon recovers, and replies with a nod and a shy <I'm glad to be out here with you, after spending so long looking after the pups... I know it sounds a bit silly, but I've spent so long being a mother to them that I've almost forgotten what it was like just being your mate. When there were only two of us, and you only had to hunt for two rather than seven...> She grins, and adds, <I'll miss the pups when they grow up, but it'll be nice to be back to before, just the two of us, don't you think?>

Surprisingly, Peppy nods as though he follows, even though under normal circumstances he would wonder why Aurora feels that way when they've been mates the whole time anyway. <I understand,> he woofs, his voice softer than usual. <I love the puppies as much as I can. They're well-behaved and you can see they're growing up strong. But I... understand what you mean. Now there's always a little voice barking...> And he grins softly here, his voice raising a bit. <'<Daddy, daddy, come look at this!>' or '<Mommy, tell Dakota to stop tugging me!>'. It's hard to just... sit down and talk, and... you know, look at this.> He lifts his muzzle up slightly, gesturing to the plains that lay sprawled out before them. His eyes twinkle in the sun, and he sniggers slightly, canting his head to the side. <You know what I mean?>

Aurora nods in agreement, then leans her head towards Peppy's in an attempt to nuzzle her mate on the cheek. <I hope Soki doesn't mind looking after the pups,> she says quietly. <I think it'd be quite a relief to have time to ourselves...> Still, despite what she's just said, she flicks her eyes back to look towards the barn, though her head doesn't move, and then she smiles ruefully. <I wonder how the pups are behaving at the moment?> she muses.

Peppy doesn't even have to look over at his mate to know that she's leaning close to him for a nuzzle; he's already leaning over himself, and he meets her halfway, rubbing his cheek into hers affectionately. Usually he can't help but whisper a soft 'I love you' when he nuzzles her, but surprisingly, this time he doesn't. He must suspect she knows it as well as he does. <Oh, I don't know,> he woofs happily enough, erecting his position once again. <He seemed eager enough to start. You know, he doesn't have a mate himself, so maybe he...> He kind of trails off into nothingness here, shrugging his shoulders as well as he can. Her next comment forces a little snicker out of him, and the male Growlithe woofs in reply, <We spent all morning telling them to behave themselves. I'm sure they're just fine.> He resists the urge to add '<Even Flame>'.