New Life (King's Pride E6)

For | Application
Event 6: Temporal Terraforming

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Lorrin sat cross legged upon the roof of the new residence she shared with her friends, a turf home built into a small hillside. Staring out towards the village through the trees of Tao Woods, the deep blue Meditite watched the rays of morning light shift through the foliage with the slightest breeze. She eventually let out a small sigh and flopped onto her back. It seemed meditation was not going well for the girl this day.

It had been two months since she joined Lear and Sirene’s team. Two months of watching the life in the land slowly slip away. Her arrival came in the wake of the rampage of the massive ice dragon, Sorbet, and while he had long since gone, the damage he had caused seemed irreversible. Nature, unable to handle the sudden and intense winter that befell the village, was dying. This being the reason they had to move in the first place with a tree forming the foundation of their former home. Luckily for Lorrin, the woods had been far enough away to escape most of the damage, but every time she and her companions had to venture into the village she felt sick. That lack of life. The cold emptiness it left. It reminded her too much of him. Of the way his eyes looked when-

“Lorrin!”

Startled, the Meditite immediately shot up, looking at the ground for the source of the cheerful, but authoritative voice. Of course it was none other than Sirene, the muscular Eevee girl. Behind her stood a slightly groggy Lear, the Nidorino who had evolved into such not long after Lorrin joined. Was it that late in the morning already? Where the girls were early risers, their larger friend enjoyed sleeping in.

“Lorrin, we gotta get going!” cried Sirene as she ran circles around Lear. “Someone showed up who’s gonna help us fix the forest!”

“Oh heck yeah!” Lorrin shouted as she slid off the roof, face beaming. How could they possibly help? No clue. But doing something, anything, was better than watching everything waste away. Finally there was a chance for life.

-----

Within the village, all the guild leaders were outside handing out plant seeds, saplings and supplies to their members. Alongside Fresnel was a Charmander in a cowboy hat and scarf. Most likely Mike whom Lorrin had heard about from Sirene and Lear. He had been missing the entire time the Meditite had been in Tao. Normally she would not even consider taking orders from someone who would simply ditch their job like that, but these were special circumstances.

As Lorrin piled their load onto Lear’s back and into Sirene’s prized Banette-themed bag (which the girl called Borio), the group was approached by Rollie of Team Rush. Lorrin had been listening intently up until the Sandslash mentioned meeting up with Fancy. While she respected the Kangaskhan, Lorrin dreaded meeting up with her. Wherever Fancy was, her cousins were sure to be near and today was not a day to be around those boys. The Meditite had already been thinking enough about him. She did not want any other reminders today.

As Rollie finished explaining, she began walking away with Sirene and Lear following her. Noticing that her other partner was not following, the Eevee turned back, concern in her eyes.

“Lorrin, is everything okay? I thought you were excited about planting.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Just the heat I guess,” Lorrin replied as she jogged ahead to walk beside Lear.

Lorrin really had no problems with the heat, but it served as an excuse to stay in Lear’s shadow. His large form blocked out more than the sun and Lorrin was grateful for that.

I just need to focus on our work. Everything will be fine soon. I just need to make it through today.

-----

It had been hours since everyone dispersed into the forest to set about their work. Lorrin was seated on a stump watching as Sirene and Lear continued digging holes. Where heat was no issue for her, hunger was. Being a Meditite meant having an extremely restricted diet of one berry a day... At best. She had not eaten that morning and in her excitement to do something good for the scenery of the village, she had forgotten to do so at all. Even so, she had been moving logs out of the way and helping plant the entire time. It was just finally starting to wear on her.

“Lunch break!” Sirene suddenly called out as she fetched a lunch box from Lear’s back. Food and water had been handed out as part of their supplies but Lorrin did not want to interrupt their work for her small needs.

The fighting type slowly ate her sitrus berry, the largest one that she was generously allowed to have. Listening to the rustling of the leaves, she could hear teams off in the distance. She giggled softly at Lear’s large, twitching ears. He was probably hearing more than he ever wanted.

“Lorrin, what was it like in Mossy Village?” Sirene asked.

Lorrin noticed Lear rolling his eyes. At one point, Lorrin had mentioned being from Mossy Village originally. Since then the subject had come up multiple times, but Lorrin had always managed to avoid it. Apparently the Nidorino did not expect a different outcome.

“It was nice enough. Lots of treehouses.” The usual response.

And just as it seemed to be coming to its usual ending of silence, Sirene spoke up. “What was your family like?”

“I, ah, never really had a family. I never met my parents or anything,” Lorrin answered, eyes turned away as she scratched the back of her head.

Sirene’s eyes grew wide, looking almost frightened. “Ah, I’m so sorry! I had no idea-”

“Hey, it’s not like I grew up on my own or anything,” the Meditite reassured as she placed her hand on her partner’s head. She knew family meant a lot to the Eevee as she would speak of her parents, aunts and uncles quite often. “I mean, I was raised by a Furret, Willis, and he was alright.”

Sirene immediately settled down upon hearing those words, a relieved smile crossing her face. “So was Willis like your dad?”

Lorrin paused, drawing her hand away from her friend. She could not exactly end the conversation here, but she also did not know how much she would have to explain.

“Not exactly... I mean, he never really called me his daughter, so I never saw him as a father. He was more like the nice boss that let me do whatever I wanted.”

“Boss?” Lear interjected. He had finally taken some interest with the conversation taking a different turn from the norm.

“Oh, yeah, he owned his own little store near the village. I was kinda raised as his shop assistant, but he always nice about it since I was a kid and all. It’s nice to not be working every day of my life though,” Lorrin explained as she stretched her arms back.

Sirene looked thoughtful for a moment, obviously picking her next question carefully while her newer partner was finally being talkative. “Did... anyone else live with you?”

“No!” Lorrin shouted, startling her companions. Glancing up at their worried expressions she continued on far more softly, “No. There was no one else.”

No one important.

They sat there in an awkward silence before Lear finally got up saying, “I think we’ve rested long enough. We should probably get back to work.”

The girls agreed and did just that. After some time Sirene finally spoke up again.

“Hey Lorrin? When we get back to the house, do you wanna help me plant some cornn berries? We need to plant lots of them if they’re gonna grow big.”

Lorrin stopped for a moment before turning to her with a smile. “Yeah... yeah I’d like that.”

It was a simple offer, but one that lightened the mood considerably. Soon, Lorrin was back to her energetic self, talking about any random thoughts that happened to cross her mind. Sure her day had a few bumps here and there, but once all the planting was done, there was going to be a festival. One to celebrate new life to the area. And maybe... she could celebrate a new life for herself.

---

I had a love-hate relationship with drawing and coloring all those stumps. u_u

Sadly with Lear's evolution, I didn't have time for a comic for this event. This was something I was always aware of and so the event made itself fit better for writing. XD

But yeah... some interesting things going on in the life of Lorrin. Let's see how things develop with her from here. :0

Also Included:
*LynionPoe's Team Rush
*Aredubsi's Team Bayou


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Light brushes used can be found here.