Tea is Best Served Hot

Marcus couldn't believe his eyes...You have got to be kidding me. Sofa had noticed the smell before the man entered the building, but didn't know how to react, looking to his friend for guidance. Holding up his hand, Marcus let Sofa know they should wait before jumping to any conclusions.

As zandrophin attempted to lay on the charm, Marcus inwardly chuckled at him falling flat on his face, at least until he referenced Marcus directly, then a tight snarl started to curl his upper lip. As quickly as possible, he uncurled it and put on a smile as he turned around to address his acquaintances, "And what brings you to these parts, Zandrophin? Did your thumbs start itching when you realized there were some controllable small town folk that you haven't swindled out of house and home yet?"

Turning to Maya, Marcus slightly frowned, "I'm sorry, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you to come with me." At this, Sofa spoke out, "Vigoroth! Vig vigor."
"I can't promise her safety, Sofa. I can't even promise ours, how am I supposed to look after her? We don't now exactly where we're going, just that it's near a lake, to the east and it's in a forest. So we're going to ask around for directions and basically just head north into a blizzard until we find the one village in all of Eirlys. It sounds like we're going out there to die. Do you want to subject her to that? She's inexperienced in battling and her Pokemon haven't been through a lot of fights, what if a Sealeo herd attacks us? Do you really think you could defend both of us while fighting off freezing to death?" To this, Sofa bowed his head.

"I'm sorry, but if you were to go with me, you'd have to have more experience as a trainer, because I can't promise your safety if you come with us. My friend said that members of her village come down every now and then to guide people and rescue lost explorers, you might look into that. To be honest, you'd have more luck convincing this guy to teleport you there than if you headed up with us."

"Wait, I didn't mean... -sigh- This is what I get for trying to think of others.." Marcus got up and ran after Maya. As he went off, he pointed at Sofa, "You stay here so they don't think we ran off without paying." Pointing at Lex, "You, follow me." Smiling big, Lex hopped after Marcus playfully as they tried to catch up to Maya.

"WAIT! Hey, wait." Marcus ran up to catch the girl. "Look, I'm sorry about insulting you. Just wait for a second, okay?"

"I don't really feel comfortable with you going out there by yourself either. I didn't say those things trying to insult you. Even if you have experience with cold weather, people die every year thinking they can handle the hazards up there because they used to live in the cold. There are rolling herds of Piloswine going across the tundra, no 2 maps of the area are the same and the fact that no one knows about Silvertree village despite it being there for over half a decade should tell you something. Don't go expecting it to be easy. That's how people die. I have a Pokemon that I've been with for 10 years and I'm afraid for our safety. Don't put your and your Pokemon's lives at risk because of an assumption or because I insulted your ability to survive in the cold."

Lex caught up with Marcus and saw Dororo for the first time, fascinated by the blue frog with the same color as him. Leaning to his side, Lex waved his long arm happily at the Froakie from behind Marcus' leg.

Lex bounced at making a new friend, tapping softly all over Dororo with his arms, "Wy!" he marveled at how his skin felt, his own body being a thick balloon-like substance. Marcus looked down at the two of them and sighed.

"I wasn't...I don't feel comfortable-how do I put this? I don't think you could make it there alone. I'm reluctant to think I could either, I'm banking on my Vigoroth's amazing smelling to guide us there. That on top of the wild Pokemon that claim that land as their own; I doubt that there are no Beartics in the forests of Eirlys, I think we have our work cut out for us, even if it wasn't cold as a Vanilluxe up there. So yes, I would see myself as your bodyguard because if something were to happen, I'd want to protect you, and I don't know if I could." Marcus paused and twisted his face. "And I've insulted you again. Can we go back a bit? Why do you need to go to Silvertree?"

Lex's body wobbled at the poke, he paused, and then hugged Dororo tight, squeezing him. "Wynaut."

"Alright. You don't know where she, who she is, what she looks like or that she even knows you're looking for her; but you know her last name and that she likes the cold...and this is the best chance you have at finding her." Shaking his head, Marcus looked down, put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath.
"Do you need to find her? You just said you've no problem of taking care of yourself and you seem to do well enough, you've got money to buy tea." Marcus attempted to smile, but it came out as a sad sort of half smile. "You're my age, and we're much older than kids who go live on their own for their Pokemon journey."

Looking up at the sky, Marcus stared at the clouds as they rolled by, he let out a low sigh. "Too much drama...would you please come with me to Silvertree? If you're going to go whether you're with me or not, I'd prefer it be with me."

Hearing this, Lex bounced up and down excitedly, still holding Dororo.

"Yeah, Lex, let him go." Wagging his tail sadly, Lex let go of Dororo, patting him on the head. "Alright, so shall we head back into the tea house, I've yet to pay for my tea and haven't had the chance to eat any breakfast yet. I'll need to order for Sofa so he doesn't freak out from hunger." -sigh- What did I just do? I'm not sure about this having her along, but if she's going to go there anyway, it's better that she doesn't go by herself...why do these things happen to me? It's like I put myself into these situations. And now I'm about to have to deal with another situation back in the tea house....