the stars my destination [o]

[hook ¿]

Serenity ordered a pizza for her and her pokemon, to be delivered to the warehouse. They'd had some pretty significant problems trying to agree on what toppings they wanted, so she ended up getting two pizzas.

Two pizzas for one person and one pokemon. They were large pizzas. In her defense, there was a coupon. Two large pizzas came with a 2-liter soda. (It was orange soda.)

One pizza was meat lovers with extra extra bacon, and the other was mushroom-swiss.

They'd each had one slice each before Serenity posted up a sign stuck onto the wall next to them. It read: FREE PIZZA.

--open for anybody

[CAEDMON]

oh god, rhea smelled pizza. with bacon. and it was a very appetizing aroma, especially when she hadn't eaten much over the past few days. she barely had any money. pinpuku also smelled the pizza-- it smelled very yummy to her as well. she was actually the first of the pair to wander off. the happiny needed that pizza.

rhea trailed a bit behind, so her partner arrived at the pizza stand first. she squealed in delight and climbed up to the pizzas, grabbing a slice of the meat lover's. she started eating as rhea arrived, staring at the free pizza sign. she grabbed a slice as well as the happiny attempted to socialize with the chikorita.

rhea started to gobble down her slice without saying a word. hook ¿

[?Lyrical]

Nemona Taiski had no idea what was going on. One moment, she was walking along with her Sandshrew by her side- the next, she was standing inside a warehouse while Colonel stuffed his face with pizza. Free pizza, to be exact.

Recounting the events in her head, the girl remembered loitering around in Prosperina City. What was she supposed to do, anyways? Stop a random stranger and socialize? Not happening. Near an abandoned warehouse, though, the Sandshrew had stopped and sniffed the air before scurrying to the door with rusty hinges that led to the inside of the small structure. Before she knew it, Colonel had forced his way inside, and Nema had no choice but to follow him. So here she was.

Who would give out free pizza in here, out of all places? she was thinking when she sighted another woman near her. Nema hadn't planned on socializing, but now that someone else was just a few paces away from her, what choice did she have? "Uh, hello." she awkwardly greeted the woman.
hook ¿ CAEDMON

[hook ¿]

It was apparently a quiet night in town, because the pizza hadn't all disappeared in one minute flat, like free food was wont to do. It didn't occur to Serenity that an old, abandoned warehouse wouldn't be the most popular spot for people to pick up free food.

"Hi!" Serenity greeted, with the good cheer of anybody enjoying food and soda. "Thanks so much for showing up. I was really afraid I'd have to throw all the extra food away."

The pizza boy (who had been very confused) had given her a generous number of plates and cups--as well as a lot of plastic spoons, for some reason. Serenity offered everyone a plate for their pizza, as well as a cup of orange soda. And a spoon. Because if the pizza came with spoons, surely the spoons were meant for something right?

She noticed that everyone's pokemon were vaccinated. Maybe it was jumping to conclusions, but it seemed like a safe guess that everyone here was with Eos. "I'm Serenity. I'm a ranger. And this is Tiz," she said, gesturing to the chikorita at her side.

The chikorita was chattering enthusiastically away with the happiny, but he stopped to wave his ahoge leaf around to say hello to everyone around.

CAEDMON

[CAEDMON]

so serenity was her name, but she seemed far from it. the girl was so...bubbly. why did she even order so much pizza anyway? rhea sighed and blew a piece of hair out of her face, before stuffing her face with more pizza crust. she chewed and stated her name. "i'm rhea." and that was the end of it.

pinpuku was a different story, however. she waddled in front of the crowd and curtseyed. "hapinyyyy." she squeaked elegantly, scanning everyone in the area. and then she offered a stubby hand to shake towards nemona hook ¿

[hook ¿]

"Nice to meet you, Rhea," Serenity said with a bright smile. That was about the extent of her knowledge of manners. After this, she was just running on enthusiasm and good cheer. She could play the friendly woodsman selling lumber and stone from the mountains. That extended her repertoire of social skills to hawking goods and thanking people for their purchases.

Not knowing exactly what to say to Rhea now (she could ask her about her pokemon--yeah, she should totally do that next!), Serenity turned to the other girl, gesturing for her to take another slice of pizza. Because jesus, there was a lot of pizza. "And you are...?"

She tried giving Nemona an empty plate and a cup of soda. "Go on, get some food. It's actually really good, you know. Well, maybe you do know. I didn't know. I've never had pizza before, just heard of it."

?Lyrical
--is there a post order I should be following here?

[?Lyrical]

OOC: i don't think it really matters

Nodding to the Chikorita and Serenity (and wondering how she got such a cool name), Nemona grabbed a plate and a slice of pizza, more out of politeness rather than hunger. Ah, well, pizza is nice anyways. She left the spoons where they were, not knowing if she was supposed to take one or not. Allowing a small smile towards the group and giving a little wave to the Happiny, the girl took a bite out of her pizza.

"Oh, my name? Um, Nemona. But call me Nema," she introduced herself. "And that's Colonel." The Sandshrew glanced up when the girl pointed at him, but then continued to fill his chubby little cheeks with pizza. "You haven't had pizza before? I don't know, I thought everybody had it at least a few times in their lives..." She giggled a little nervously, wondering if that sounded offensive. Oh dear.
CAEDMON

[CAEDMON]

rhea snatched another piece of pizza and poured herself a cup of orange soda. she chugged it, then went to work on the pizza. "pizza is literally sold everywhere in the world," she mumbled, mouth full.

she hasn't eaten pizza very often either, though. living on the streets, she basically survived on soup. and her mother and father weren't the type to buy pizza. they made whatever they had at home, that was the rule. once she moved to kohaku though, she had been introduced. it was actually a good food for rhea to eat. cheap. and a bonus: it tasted good. hook ¿

[hook ¿]

It wasn't offensive to Serenity. Very little was, and what was didn't bring out her pretty side. This was nothing though. She laughed herself when Nema giggled.

"I've seen it," she offered, because she had. "There's one place in Cura Village, but I never stopped to eat there. I always wanted to, but you know, it keeps slipping your mind, or you spot the noodle place first, or you already ate a dozen cup cakes and maybe it's not the best time for another meal."

She looked at Nema and then to Rhea. It was hard to tell where anyone was from at a glance, and Serenity sure couldn't guess where either of the other two girls called home. "I'm from Mt. Aurae. We don't have many restaurants there."

In fact, they had no restaurants. There was an inn and scattered homes willing to offer hospitality to travelers, but you'd expect a hearty goulash or roasted game before brick-oven pizza.

?Lyrical CAEDMON

[?Lyrical]

Nibbling on her slice of mushroom-swiss, Nemona nodded in agreement with Rhea's mumbled statement. Pizza was everywhere, anywhere. In fact, she was surprised that it wasn't proclaimed as the national food of Kohaku. Watching the pink-haired girl chug her cup of orange soda, the trainer reached over to pour herself some of that stuff. Watching others drink always made her thirsty for some inexplicable reason. Colonel chomped on the last of his pizza crust and reached for another slice of bacon pizza as the girl took a sip from her paper cup. The fizzy drink bubbled pleasantly inside of her.

Well, of course she had seen it. Who hasn't? Nema herself hadn't been to Cura Village before, but wasn't there a pizzeria in pretty much every community in every region? She laughs a little at the cupcake and noodle place examples. True, very true. It happened more than once to herself. Except she had eaten pizza so many times before, since there was at least twenty pizza places here in Prosperina City, where she had been born and raised. She had walked all the way to Juno City and back, since her parents didn't think her responsible enough to handle driving one of their luxurious cars.

Blinking at the mention of Mt. Aurae, the trainer sought her mind for any piece of information she knew about the highest point in Kohaku. Nothing. It didn't ring a bell. When she thought of "mountains", "pizza places" didn't exactly come to mind. No wonder she never had this common food before. "I'm not really sure what Mt. Aurae is, so..." she helplessly told her. "I'm from here. Good ol' Prosperina City." She didn't admit that she had never been anywhere else in her life except for Juno City, and that was two days ago.
CAEDMON

[CAEDMON]

does she want to tell them she's from veilstone? juturna? proserpina? she doesn't really know which is which now, it was all blurred. the only mildly nice place she remembers living was juturna-- and that was only because she had proper food and shelter. so that would probably be most appropriate, seeing as she considers it home.

but on the other hand, veilstone was home. that's where she was born. that's where she was raised most of her life. that's where everything went down, that's why she came to kohaku, that credit card she found was the thing that brought her here. rhea hated it there, that was even an understatement, but it was where she came from.

and then there's proserpina. the easy answer. because she didn't really feel any emotions towards proserpina. it was just a city with an apartment, and it happened to be her apartment. so she shrugged and muttered out "proserpina." hook ¿

[hook ¿]

"It's, umm," Serenity hesitated, trying to remember which way the sun had been before she entered the warehouse. To her left? Then that'd be west. She pointed to the direction of Mt. Aurae, not really noticing that it was pretty useless to point to a distant mountain. "It's that way. If you go to Hespera City, you can sort of see in in the distance past the desert."

Serenity was smart enough to notice the time it took for Rhea to answer, and her terse response. New subject time! ...Except she wasn't smart enough to think of a new subject that wouldn't be something along the lines of 'so why are YOU fighting the scourge?'

She chewed thoughtfully on another slice of pizza. "Proserpina seems like a nice place. It's so big. And the pizza's good!"

...That was a little inane. Oh, well.

?Lyrical

[?Lyrical]

Was it just her overreacting imagination, or did the pink-haired girl hesitate before blurring her word in a mumble? Nemona was barely able to catch the name of her hometown (homecity?). She blinked several times while that registered in her mind. She was from Prosperina City as well? Of course, there was a slim chance that the trainer would have met her or even seen her before this encounter, since Prosperina is home to so many people, being the capital city of this region and all. "You were born here, too?" she addressed Rhea, although she just said she was. That means she was born here. Right?

Tuning into Serenity's words, the girl found herself confused again. Hespera City? Desert? See, this is one of the reasons why she joined the Eos Program. To get out and explore the big wide world. "Oh, I see." she murmured, although she really didn't see at all. If only she had a map in her hands at the moment. Nema nodded in an awkward, stiff motion that gave away her small knowledge capacity. Colonel, oblivious to anything else but the food he was eating, finished off his second slice and reached for a third. "Colonel, that's enough." she scolded the Sandshrew with a stomach the size of a Wailord. Sulking, Colonel flopped onto the floor and stared longingly at the pizza.

Yes, Prosperina City was a wonderful place. Being such a big city, there was always something to do here. It wasn't enough, though, happily living her life and pretending that the Scourge didn't exist, never existed. "Yeah, it's big." Nema agreed, not speaking all of her mind. "Lots of things to do here." The trainer smiled at her next comment. "Mhmm, there's a ton of restaurants here. Especially pizza places with really good food."
CAEDMON

[CAEDMON]

rhea sighed. oh well. if nemona was going to pry and ask any more questions, she might as well answer with the truth. "no," she admits quietly, gulping down some orange soda, "i was born in veilstone city. in sinnoh." she shrugged, then looked at serenity.

"you're not really missing that much. this food is no better than anything you could make at home." hook ¿

[hook ¿]

The walk from Mt. Aurae to Juno City had been the first time she'd gone any further than Cura Village. Serenity only knew about the view of the mountain from the desert oasis because she'd hiked through it herself. She hadn't stopped to see the sights though. It'd been more important to rush to the Ranger Union.

(Serenity didn't know that hiking from Mt. Aurae to Juno City was a ridiculous endeavor. It sounded perfectly sane to her. That's why she did it.)

"Oh, no, have all you want, Mr. Colonol Sandshrew. No one else is going to eat it." Well, the rest of them would eat it eventually, but Serenity had certainly had her fill--her final slice of bacon goodness would be her last--and it seemed like everyone else had satiated their appetites too.

"Maybe... well, probably not since I don't know how to make pizza. It's new and exciting! But I guess you're right. I think at the end of the day, I still like a good furret stew best, but that's because it tastes, you know, like home--where the heart is."

?Lyrical