Can't Blend In

[MorriganFearn]

"Y'know, that Nurse gave me a really funny look," Robin said, looking up, in case she could see Mahogany's beak.

<Now I wonder why?> Ebony chucked. <I don't think that green is considered a natural color here.>

"It's natural everywhere," Robin contradicted. "I should go back and explain that I dye my skin to blend into my surroundings."

<I wouldn't bother,> Mahogany clicked his beak. <After all, it's your words against the evidence of the eyes, and green does not blend in with the burgundy wall paper.>

"Oh, quiet, you. I'll cover you with my hat," Robin threatened, waving the floppy purple-black cone at Mahogany.

<You'll need to take another shower, then,> Mahogany clicked his beak smugly.

[Nyaa-Neko]

((Hey, you still wanna do this? ))

Lucy yawned, walking along the convention center path in a sort of meandering manner. Both Kevin and Drago were in their Pokeballs, so it wasn't as if she had anyone to talk to. Of course, they were both absent from the talking-sphere due to different reasons: Kevin due to the fact that he was huge and spouting sand constantly, and Drago because he was two scales short of insane.

Though he had his moments. Sometimes. Very rarely.

Then she realized she was staring at a green-skinned person just a foot or two ahead of her (they would have collided if Lucy hadn't looked up sooner). One of her brown eyebrows shot up as she gave Robin a very strange look. "Y'know your skin is green, right?" she asked as she stepped to the side, giving both the trainer and her two Pokemon a once-over. "That isn't natural, izzit?"

[MorriganFearn]

"Of course it's natural. It's the color of the trees!" Robin declared, turning to face Lucy. On her head Mahogany sighed.

<It's as natural as hair die that comes out of a bottle, is what my trainer really wants to say,> the hoothoot told the other girl. <So what are you doing here? We're on a mandate from our school, getting practical experience for our exams in various regions. You don't appear to be a student, however.>

[Nyaa-Neko]

Lucy crossed her arms. "I'm a student, too, y'know," she shot, glaring half-heartedly at the hoothoot. "My school burned down, so they made next semester be online-only. We had to go on journeys, and they stuck me here. I have two Pokemon, but they're a little problematic for this kind of area. Once I get to go outside, I can let 'em out." She then peered closer at Robin's skin. "Okay, so the green skin is a little freaky, but why would you dye your skin? Hair, I can understand, but skin?"

[MorriganFearn]

"To blend in! Like the nincada," Roblin struck a sneaky pose, "I hide in the shadows!"

<Only to fail like the magikarp because the shadows are out of the water,> Mahogany observed.

"Feh," Robin straightened. "I suppose he's right, but I like my greenness. All three of my pokemon are nocturnal -- or at least are supposed to be, Mahogany," she tried to glare up at her head ornament. "He just likes making sarcastic comments too much to let a little thing like lack of sleep bother him."

<Insomnia is not a special ability that should be mocked,> the hoothoot hooted angrily.

"And yet you make it so easy for me," Robin replied, grinning. "Anyway, both my nuzleaf and my nincada can deal with the indoors -- although Walnut is a little skittish around strangers -- but I'm all for the fresh outdoors. Wanna team up for school credited wanderings? I know we're not eleven any more or anything, but it's always good to have someone watch your back, if your planning on going somewhere you don't know."

[Nyaa-Neko]

Lucy shrugged. "Yeah, sure. As long as you're not some creeper who's gonna do bad things to me at night, we should be fine. By the way," she began, looking at Robin. "What's your name? I'm Lucy. My hippowdon is named Kevin and my really strange gible is Drago, or Dragonsaur, or even Saur, I guess...but they're not out right now. But if you ever see them, which I guess you will, that's who they are."

She looked around the convention center. "So, where do you want to go after this? I have, like, no idea what I should be doing here. This place seems kinda boring..."

((I vote we create a subboard for ourselves, seeing as Ruin is MIA and Jason...yeah...))

[Jason-Kun]

Jason walked along the area idoly, Sandra perched on his head. "Why did you drag me over here?"he muttered. He really didn't want to be here but he'd make due with it. Sandra glared as he moved around on top of his head, clicking her tongue in a proud manner.

<We're here because you need to make friends ad I'm sicking of you crying in your sleep.> she muttered. Taking a look around, she spotted a hoothoot as well as a couple of other people. <And those two unsuspecting people seem like good targets. Come on!> she napped, bouncing over to Lucy and the others. Jason groaned as he trudged after her.

"Sorry about Sandra. She likes to run off..."

[MorriganFearn]

"Well, I'm Robin, Hex Maniac at your service," Robin flourished her hat. "The fine specimen on my head is Mahogany, my nincada goes by Walnut, and my Nuzley-leaf is called Ebony. I may be colored like a creeper, but calling me one is in vine--"

"Sorry about Sandra. She likes to run off..."

Robin looked at the younger boy who had butted into their conversation with a completely random comment about someone she didn't know. She rolled her eyes. One good thing about being green was that weird people didn't bug you. Therefore the kid must have been attracted by Lucy.

"You, girl, are obviously a babe magnet," Robin observed, chuckling, before turning to Jason, not unkindly (although Mahogany was muttering about the fact that Lucy couldn't be a babe magnent because that would mean that random girls were coming up to her, which wasn't the case). "Hey kid. If you're lost, I'm sure registration can do something for you. They're right over there." She waved her hand at the desk.

[Nyaa-Neko]

Lucy's mouth twitched at the "babe magnet" comment. "Yeah, the, uh, girls just can't leave me alone," she mumbled back, her hand drifting over to Drago's pokeball. And who the heck is this guy? If he's just apologizing...

On the other hand, there were people who had their pokemon become "unruly" so they could then distract you...and steal you. And although she didn't really get along with him all that well, she did have a rather valuable pokemon with her. Even Kevin could probably fetch a fair price in many a non-Sinnoh-native region, but she couldn't exactly use him to fight with in a densly-packed indoor convention center.

But Drago could do some damage if needed.

Of course, if he is a thief, sending him out might be a bad idea, Lucy thought as she removed the pokeball and gave it an extra squeeze.

Then she remembered something.

Lucy stared at the supposedly male newcomer. "You realize she just called you a girl, right?"

[MorriganFearn]

"I did not call him a girl!" Robin protested. "I called you a babe magnet, as in a magnetic babe."

<Robin, that's not what the phrase means!> Mahogany exclaimed. <I know that you went to school, how does normal slang completely fail to register?>

"I totally registered, and disregarded it," Robin replied coolly, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She'd been inside too long, and she wanted to get going. They could have been outside in the fresh air if this kid hadn't butted in. Why on earth had he been talking about a random Sandra? Unless --, "Oh, Sandra must be your girlfriend!" Robin laughed. "They're so cute at that age, don't you think, Lucy? I remember when I was twelve. My best friend had the biggest crush on the girl down the street. He bought her a big bunch of roses for Valentine's Day."

<Either you are deliberately misconstruing what is going on, or you really are as crazy as you look,> Mahogany commented, clicking his beak. <The pokemon at your feet is Sandra.>

"Oh!" Robin looked down for the first time. "Yeah, sorry about that. Here," she bent down and picked up Jason's companion and handed it to him. "There you go. Lucy and I have to get going now, I hope you find your girlfriend."

Robin linked elbows with Lucy, and headed for the doors, with her hoothoot sighing: <This is why people say you have the social graces of a dead floatzel, Robin. Don't you pay attention to anything? I'm terribly sorry, Miss Lucy.>

[Jason-Kun]

Jason stared as the pair walked away. "That was...awkward. come on let's go." he muttered to the Sandshrew.Sandra spat on the floor of the building in impateince.

<No...we're gunna keep trying. Follow me.> she ordered, grabbing Jason by the shirt and pulling him after her, neglecting to care about his stunned face.

[Nyaa-Neko]

Lucy's mouth still sorta twitched as she was slammed against Robin's side, her arm pinned down by the other girls'. Well, she's very...forceful, she noted mentally.

It took all her focus to not let go of Drago's pokeball as she was dragged towards the doors of the convention center.

"So, um, where're we going?" she asked as the doors drew near. At least then they would be outside, in a nice desert environment with absolutely nothing worth looking at. Perfect for letting out Kevin, at least. Drago...was there ever a good time to let Drago out?

Nope. But if she didn't let him out often, he'd get restless...and that was bad...very, very bad...

[MorriganFearn]

"Wherever the wind takes us," Robin replied airily, stepping out into the sunshine, and letting go of Lucy's arm. "Y'see, if we all act like seeds we can go to some interesting places." Robin stretched out her arms and turned her face to the sun, causing Mahogany to fly from his perch in disgruntlement. The young woman took a breath of fresh, sun dry air. "Feel that Lucy? That is the beauty of the out doors calling to you. To wander. To go free! If we were but seeds, we could relax and photosynthesize."

<But we're not, and this isn't good terrain for either Ebony or Walnut,> Mahogany interrupted. <We should look into finding a different area.>

"Wuwei, Mahogany, wuwei. If we follow the wind we'll discover the best way to go."

<I knew I shouldn't have let you read the Tao Te Ching.> The bird grumbled. <I was thinking of following the wind to Celendel City. I want to see what's so great about having a steel bridge made out of metal that they think it needs to be stated in the brochures.>

"Well, what does Lucy's inner wind feel? Is Celendel Bridge a good idea for you? Or perhaps your way would be better served by wandering in the desert." Robin inquired.

[Nyaa-Neko]

"Desert's always better," Lucy mumbled, wiping her forehead. It was really hot outside, and all that surrounded them was dirt. Not exactly desert, and she wasn't even sure if it would be good for Kevin or Drago because there was nothing there...just overturned dirt as far as the eye could see.

A bus pulled up in front of them, and the doors opened with a woosh. A small pack of trainers jumped out and dashed for the doors of the convention center, eager to get out of the heat and into a large air-conditioned room. The driver looked down at the two girls. "Want to go somewhere, ladies?"

"Um, you going to Celendel Bridge?" Lucy asked, unsure of what else to say. She really hadn't read the brochure all that heavily - she figured that once she got to the convention center, she could figure out her first stop.

"Sure am! Third stop from here. You two getting on?"

"Are there buses leaving Celendel Bridge, too?"

"Oh yeah," the driver replied, though he looked a little disgruntled about leaving the doors open for so long in the sweltering heat. "You might have to wait an hour or so, but leaving and getting around in Mokenpo is pretty easy with the bus system."

Lucy looked at her new acquaintance. "I guess we should get on, huh, if we wanna stop by Celendel Bridge. If we don't like it once we get there, we can always take another bus somewhere else." She stepped up, feeling the pleasing rush of air conditioning when she stepped in and found her seat. She made sure to choose a window seat with an empty aisle seat for Robin, if only just to be polite. Her new "friend" was sort of strange...

[MorriganFearn]

"On we shall get, then," Robin grinned to her pokemon. Mahogany rolled his impressive eyes. <Yes, yes, let's just get on.>

"Right!" She gripped the hand rail, and jumped up the steps. "Oh, hey, look, it's my friend Lucy!" the Hex Maniac waved, and trotted up the aisle, her hoothoot hopping along after her, muttering: <Of course it is. She didn't have time to do the sensible thing and hide herself from you.>

"Ha! That's what you think. I am the queen of disguise," Robin replied, sitting down with a "flump."

<She'll be like this all the way to Celendel, you know,> the owl pokemon sighed to Lucy as he perched on the back of the seat in front of the girls, and the bus began to move.

[Nyaa-Neko]

Lucy smiled politely, unsure of what to do. This green-skinned girl was strange, though she seemed pretty nice...and hey, she was a lot better than dealing with Drago all the time.

That, and she was a girl, which would make Drago very annoyed the next time she let him out of his pokeball. Lucy, although she attempted to respect Drago's opinions, always loved it when she could make his life just a little more annoying. Hey - it was his choice to become part of her and Kevin's team, after all. He did just start following them around in Nga when they went, they didn't actually go looking for a gible to add to their team.

And then the bus was moving, and they were on their way to Celendel.

((So should we make a new thread in the Celendel board, then?))

[MorriganFearn]

((I guess so -- problem is, we're both feeling lazeh...))