seaside fairytale, c

[citrus]

When she'd asked about the best place to visit in Proserpina city, there were mixed responses. A shady looking man had suggested the warehouse for untold treasures, a elderly woman, the gym, and a young biker who she'd caught as he was making his rounds past Juno had told her to simply walk around, enjoy the scenery, or just 'follow her heart'. Lacey took down all of their answers with a sort of childish fascination, awed at the amount of variety such a simple little question could produce.

In the end, she'd opted for neither of the options - Rattata was more keen on the warehouse when they'd gone to check it out, but the dusty and gloomy interior seemed too similar to hespera for her liking, and so they'd passed. Now, they were at what was considered to be the 'star' of the city itself, only further spurring her curiosity by the fact that nobody she talked to had mentioned it. Later, she passed it as an assumption that she'd already visited somewhere so famous.

It was a beautiful place, the weak rays of the sun illuminated against the wide expanse of water in front of her. Lacey grinned, then leaned down and poked Rattata in the ear, shocking a squeak of disapproval from the pokemon. "Hey, bet you can't catch a fish with just your tail!" It stared at her for a moment, then puffed out its chest and scurried to the edge of the dock to prove her wrong.

She laughed, but only for a moment, then pondered the difficult decision of whether to watch the sun, or Rattata's progress.

king

[king]

it was going to be one of those days wasn't it.

ionis was perfectly behaved, hooves slowly clopping alongside grayson. meanwhile, nana was climbing all over his head and shoulders, mewing excitedly. "you are such a weirdo." he muttered, mildly flustered at the somewhat heavy pokemon moving all about his upper regions. nana stood her hind paws on his shoulders, body loping over his head and face peeking down at his from above. mew mew mew mew.

"ionis, i'm so glad you're old. not like this baby here." grayson grumbled, walking along the edge of the dock. ionis walked closer to the edge, occasionally nudging grayson with his flank to keep him from tipping them both over.

great guy, ionis. great guy. thanks horace.

citrus

[citrus]

Lacey heard the sound of clipping hooves and thought it was a prank, of some sort. After all, horse pokemon had much better things to do than watch something as silly as a sunset! She lifted up the hem of her dress, got up, and strolled over to rattata, startling the pokemon out of what looked to be a potential catch. It squeaked, twisted around and glared at her like a moody teenager. Lacey grinned.

"Turn around, turn around! There's somebody here, c'mon, let's check it out!" Rattata perked up, then started to protest about its challenge before Lacey shook her head and picked it up by its tail, settling the creature in a bed of hair. She could see him now, this mysterious man that brought a horse pokemon to the the docks, and she was curious as to why.

"Heeeey! Hey Mister!" She called, waving both of her hands and walking towards him at the same time. "Nice pokemon! What are you doing out here?"

king

[king]

what the--

oh no.

a person.

that meant human socialization...!!!

grayson was about to run when nana grabbed his hair with her paw, steering him very forcefully towards the girl walking toward him. "stop it, nana, no--!"

it was a face to face encounter. grayson seemed to freeze up for a moment, before forcing his body to relax. "hello. i was just taking a walk, letting ionis out here for a little exercise." the gogoat turned himself around, looking up at the female with his scarred face. there were still a few long lines of stitches across his face, expression unwelcoming. "he's still recovering, and the fresh air is good for him."

good job, grayson. just be cool. be nice. nana's voice rang in his head, and grayson's lip twitched. he could do that.

citrus

[citrus]

"Oh wow, that's so nice of you!" Lacey clapped her hands together, then reached out to brush at the horse pokemon's fur, her free hand digging into the pocket of her dress that surfaced to reveal a pokedex. "Ionis, I'm Lacey, it's nice to meet you! Get well soon, okay? I'd like to see how you look galloping across some grassy field, or plain, or something!" Rattata rolled its eyes, peering over Lacey's head as she raised the device up and tapped a few keys.

"Nice to meet you, as well!" The other pokemon that seemed to be half-draped over the man's shoulders was the most curious shade of green, and Lacey couldn't help but direct the pokedex in its direction as well, the device clicking and whirring into life, recording two entries in quick succession. Lacey then turned her attention to Grayson - half of her attention, anyways, the other half was still mesmerized by the green pokemon(espeon, the pokedex corrected). "Does she have a name as well?"

king

[king]

grayson eyed nana, who was practically preening over the attention. she had always loved people admiring her, and kept her fur pristine and shining for that reason. grayson tended to give her a little bit of extra vitamins to keep her coat clean, and would often bathe her. (she whined otherwise)

"her name is nana." grayson said, glancing at ionis. he picked up nana and held her out for the girl to take, before turning his attention to his gogoat. "a hiker in mount aurae gave me ionis. he was gravely wounded, and can't battle yet. he's a fine specimen though, has a lot of potential." grayson ran his hands across the gogoat's fur. "i don't know if he'll want to. he has a feisty personality, but after what he's been to and at his age... i'm not so sure."

that was a lot of backstory that she certainly did not ask for.

citrus

[citrus]

Lacey was absolutely thrilled when Grayson handed the green pokemon - nana(espeon, the pokedex helpfully corrected, again) - to her, spreading her hands in an effort to make it as comfortable as possible. Up above, Rattata stayed silent - if it were anything but a smarter-than-average rattata , it would've chattered, made a fuss, but now it only brooded in silence, partly curious.

"Well, it sounds like you've been through quite a lot!" Ionis's fur was a strange blend of tough and gentle textures, prickly grass roots overlaying an undercoat of white fur. Now that she looked, actually looked past the pokemon for the first time, Lacey could also make out everything that the pokemon had been through from the wear and tear on his body alone.

"Why don't you ask him yourself, then? It's simple!" Saying so, she leaned over, face to face with the gogoat, eyes flickering all over his face, then settling on his own eyes. "Well, Ionis? Do you think you'll be able to fight those scourge with your trainer when you're fit again?" She looked down at the espeon in her arms, lifting it up to face the pokemon as well. "Nana, what do you think, huh?" She rolled her eyes upwards. "And what about you, mister?"

Rattata squeaked, almost fell off Lacey's hair as she gave it a purposeful toss, then settled back down without answering, looking thoroughly more disgruntled than before.

king

[king]

ionis shook his head, stomping and snorting. he looked ready to go all right. nana squeaked, happily waving her paws around. she loved the attention. grayson watched with a smile. this girl was such a chirpy girl, it was amazing. she was so... sociable. it made grayson almost uncomfortable.

"i don't think i'm going to let ionis fight scourge until i can find a researcher to vaccinate him, or buy a vaccine myself for him. i don't want to fall victim." grayson shuddered to think of any of his pokemon becoming scourge. "so whenever i come across a researcher, i let them scan all my pokemon."

speaking of which. "if you're a researcher, you can see my pokemon. i guess." he sent out zim, who roared to life. he stretched his wings, happy to be out of the pokeball.

:scharizard:

citrus

[citrus]

"Oh, but he needs some time to recover! I'm sure that by the time he gets better, he'll be vaccinated and ready to go!" Lacey nodded, idly petting Nana and grinning at Ionis, she loved it when pokemon showed so much energy, it was quite inspiring. "Losing a pokemon to the scourge would be an awful thing, I can't imagine how trainers who have manage to cope." She shook her head as she said it, but didn't seem too down-put by the thought.

The pokedex was still in her left hand, dangling precariously between her index and middle finger. At the sight of a new, powerful pokemon it sprang to life, clicking and whirring even before Lacey held it in front of her, to do its thing. "Thanks a lot!" She grinned at Grayson and held a hand out, admiring the charizard's wings. "Does he have a name, too? You must have a lot of badges already, having such powerful pokemon by your side."

king

[king]

"me? no, i'm not a trainer. but this big fella's name is zim. i started out with him, he was a gift from the breeder guild." zim was proud that he was getting some attention, some girl fawning over his wings. he puffed his chest out a bit. "he has a bit of an ego."

he took out his next pokemon. "her name is arja."

:sflygon:
citrus

[citrus]

The pokedex finished recording the entry, whirring happily afterwards. "Oh, you're a breeder, then?" Lacey commented idly, looking from her pokedex to zim and back, thinking how much better the pokemon looked, vaccinated. "That's really interesting! I haven't met too many breeders before, actually. Is it a lot of hard work? Are you and your pokemon really close friends?"

"Arja, Zim, it's great to meet you both!" Lacey held up the pokedex and let it do its thing, wondering if all pokemon in the world looked better vaccinated, or if she'd just been lucky so far.

king

[king]

"um. it's not too much hard work. just a lot of keeping track of attacks and vaccination." he sent out his next pokemon, one that would appreciate the winter cold. "this is lock. she's the calmest of my group."

:slapras:

citrus

[citrus]

At the mention of vaccines Lacey nodded, vigorously. "I know how that feels. Though I guess keeping track of vaccines is easier when you're making them from scratch. I'm sure I remembered seeing them for sale somewhere, though." How much had the price been again? One thousand? Two thousand? She wrinkled up her nose and tried to remember, but found that she couldn't. Then again, she hardly needed to visit the pokemart for anything, these days.

"I think it's really nice of you to give nicknames to your pokemon, mister. You and your pokemon must be very close." The pokedex scanned lock with ease and accuracy, no doubt just as fascinated with the pokemon's shell as she was.

king

[king]

"i'm waiting for the day i run out of names. it's fast approaching. but for now, here's meer."

:sbanette:

citrus

[citrus]

"Well, that's no good." Lacey frowned, tilting her head. "Maybe there's a theme that you can keep going off of. Giving some of your pokemon a name and not others doesn't seem fair, don't you think?" Rattata didn't want a name, so the rest of her team didn't get names, either. That was just the way it worked, sometimes, and it wasn't always fair.

She shrugged and scanned the banette, grinning idly at it and wondering if she could touch something that was technically corporeal.

king