The Heights of Londo [IC 4: Turnabout Trainers]

[Comissar]

Leah blinks at the unexpected request, letting her arm drop back to her side. "Ah, umm, s-sure..?"

Setting her drink down beside her, she scoots forward off the cushion again and stands. Turning to Juno, she offers a hand to help get her up to her feet.

[Hazuki]

Juno notices Leah's offered hand and, with a head-tilt of amusement, accepts its aid to stand. Then she holds her arms out, inviting a hug.

[Comissar]

Leah steps into the hug, holding the hug until Juno seemed ready to release it.

[Hazuki]

Juno holds Leah not tightly, but firm enough that it's obvious she's not wary about hugging her. It lasts for a few, appropriate-length moments, and then she releases Leah.

"Good hug. Nine out of ten," she says with a nod as she sits back down on her cushion.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa

"Then those people should think harder, in my opinion," Utha says, then flashes a smile. "It was lovely, which I suppose was the point. It looks like Maggie hasn't quite finished hers..." she says, which is true, as the much smaller creature has only so big a mouth to nom through her meal. She does seem to be enjoying it, at least. "Is there anything you'd like to do while you're here? Talk some more? Oh, or you could start sketching something!"

Alyssa smiles. She nods as she looks over at Maggie. "I guess we should let her finish." At the suggestion, Utha looks around for her bag and pulls her sketchbook out. "Yeah, um, I could try. What should I draw?" Tapping her chin with her pencil, she looks over at Utha, uncertain.

[Comissar]

Leah tucks her hair away from her face, grinning as she sits back on her own cushion, "Heh, a, uh, a nine is pretty good." She's quiet a moment, looking away as she picks her drink back up. "Thanks... I, uh, I feel better for it."

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

"Well...there's not much of interest in here, to be honest; I wasn't expecting a long visit initially so I mostly brought essentials," Utha explains, "and the things I've bought since, obviously. I could wear one of my fancier robes?"

~

Leah

"Good." Juno nods her approval. "Lucky you, having a girlfriend to hug whenever you want. I don't even have a Pokemon for that. I've started giving longing looks to dakimakuras..." she says with evident humor.

[Comissar]

Leah gives an embarrassed grin at Juno's joking comment, "Heh, yeah, umm, Alyssa's, uh, Alyssa's really supportive. It's been... It's been really nice, I've never really been in, uh, in a relationship before. Umm, I don't know that she always gets it when I'm feeling homesick, though..." Leah gives a small shrug, "She's from Vibrost originally, but she can go home a lot easier than, uh, than I can."

Shuffling a little on her cushion to turn and face Juno a bit more, Leah tilts her head, "But, uh, for real..? Did, uh, did you not want a starter as a kid..?"

[Hazuki]

"I wasn't really eligible for a starter. Your parents probably applied for you to get yours, right?" Juno asks, crossing her legs underneath her. "I hear there's some kind of paperwork involved and I didn't mind that much at the time. Seemed like a lot of responsibility, you know? I'd like the companionship now, though I'd have to feed them, or keep them in their ball the whole time, which isn't fair to them."

[Comissar]

Leah tilts her head a little as Juno talks about not being eligible for a starter, giving a silent nod of her head at the question about her application for Saura. She pulls one of her knees up to her chest as Juno continues, resting her cheek against the top of her knee. She nods again as Juno finishes, "I... Guess I can understand why you, uh, you wouldn't want to chance that, uh, that responsibility."

She's quiet a few moments. After a few seconds, she continues, "I, uh, I'm not too sure what, uh, what the solution is. It, uh, it feels a bit like a catch 22. Umm... I think, uh, I think I said it back at the arcade and, uh, and I know it's not really a, uh, a permanent solution... But, uh, but I'd be up for hanging out more often." She smiles, "I guess, uh, I guess we could see about finding you a grass type or something, a pokémon that, uh, that doesn't need much normal food and can, uh, can photosynthesise or something."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa

"Well...there's not much of interest in here, to be honest; I wasn't expecting a long visit initially so I mostly brought essentials," Utha explains, "and the things I've bought since, obviously. I could wear one of my fancier robes?"

Alyssa smiles. "That's okay, it's just a sketch." She turns over to Maggie and starts sketching her enjoying her food. "Where are you going after you get better?"

[Hazuki]

Leah

"And I'd like to hang out with you more often," Juno replies. "But...photosynthesis? That's...something to do with sunlight, isn't it? They can just lay out in the sun and they don't need food or water or anything?"

~

Alyssa

"I'm going to challenge the Dusk," Utha says with some confidence. "And if I do well, I'll visit my sponsor for her approval and then...I believe I'll have to meet one of the tutors who'll train me to be a Knight proper."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods. "Sorry, I forgot about that. Do you know how long you're gonna be resting for? You seem at least in a good mood." She looks up from her sketch of Maggie to Utha. "I guess arms don't heal as quickly as moods can." Looking back, she draws for a moment, then asks, "How does someone become a Knight? I know you need to be good at fighting and you need a Lord or something to take you on, but is there like a specific test, or do you sort of try out for it, or do you just get to be friendly with a noble or something?"

[Comissar]

Leah simply smiles as Juno affirms wanting to hang out more in future. She then nods at the, admittedly basic, explanation of photosynthesis, "Yeah. Most Grass-types can do it to a degree, but not all of them can get by just by photosynthesising. Like, my, uh, my Bulbasaur enjoys sunbathing a lot, and she gets energy from it, but she's active enough that she needs other food too. But something smaller with proportionally bigger leaves, like a Bellsprout, would be able to go much longer without needing food directly."

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

"I have good company and good food, I don't see why I wouldn't be in a mood that matches," Utha replies, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Becoming a Knight is about the will to serve your sovereign and thus their people. In theory, that's the case, though you'll sometimes find Knights who are simply skilled at fighting, which is what it requires most of the time. There are of course some who are more suited to the sorts of issues you'll find in civilized areas, which is becoming more common, seeing as we're in peacetime. But the training...is, well, there's whatever you did to become good at fighting, then an aptitude test, then you're in training, which may require a sponsor or special dispensation from your Lord or Lady, not directly, obviously, in order to travel, get equipment, and so on. And then there's another aptitude test, for becoming a proper Knight-in-training, where you'll learn all the precise things required of a Knight. And at the end of that, you ought to be a Knight proper."

~

Leah

"You really know your stuff, huh?" Juno remarks, her eyebrows rising in a manner most impressed. "I don't think I've seen any Bellsprouts around here, though. And they're kind of...goofy."

[Comissar]

Leah feels her ears heat as she gives an embarrassed grin, "I, uh, I enjoy, uh, I enjoy botany..." She finds her gaze falling down to her lap as she shrugs, a smile still on her face, "And, uh, it, uh, it doesn't need to be a Bellsprout. Umm, that was, uh, was just an example. Any small Grass-type should, uh, should be fairly easy to care for."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa continues to sketch, moving her gaze between Maggie and her sketchbook, but she nods at all the appropriate times as Utha explains. "So it's a lot of training for tests so you can train for more tests. Kel never told me about all the tests." She pauses, looking down at her sketch book. "I, um, I guess I never really thought about all the stuff Knights have to do to be what they are. Or, um, I guess, to be good at what they are."

[Hazuki]

Leah

"Botany's cool." Juno nods. "You must know a few good grass types, right? What small ones are good?" she asks, glancing around at her own small living space.

~

Alyssa

"It is very difficult, though I suppose most things involve tests. One would hardly be invited to apprentice to a baker without them testing your skill. But even moreso when people's lives depend on you being good enough," Utha explains. "If you're not quick enough or strong enough, there are some very strong Pokemon that can cause real havoc."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods. "I had to take tests to be an artist, too. Though I think my tests were less, um, fighting-based than yours?" She laughs. "I had to show I knew things like colors and stuff. Very different test."

[Comissar]

"Good for, uh, for living with, you mean..?" Leah tilts her head back a little as she thinks, raising her hands and counting out the pokémon that come to her mind on her fingers, "U-umm... Cherubi, Petilil, and Oddish are all pretty low maintenance. If, uh, if you don't mind bug-types, Sewaddle is pretty easy to handle too..." Leah lets her hands drop back down to her lap, looking back to Juno with a smile, "I, uh, I don't know which of those are native to this area, but I'm sure it'd be easy enough to, uh, to find out."

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

Utha giggles at Alyssa's joke. "I'd hope there wouldn't be any fighting, or it would become awfully messy and be a dreadful waste of paint. You mean knowing how to put colors together to compose a pleasing scene, don't you?"

~

Leah

"Bug-types are, they're fine, but I wouldn't want one crawling around and their...hard...skin isn't very easy to cuddle with, is it?" Juno asks with genuine uncertainty inn her voice. "I don't know what a Cherubi is, but I know there are Petilils. They have those at all the Pokecenters here."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa laughs. "There was definitely some fighting, but not a lot of dangerous fighting. Though I wouldn't recommend getting between two people trying to get the same award in an art contest."

She nods at Utha's question, still sketching. "Yeah, learning how to combine colors in a scene or what colors mean for moods and complementing and contrasting colors and stuff. There's also some practical stuff, like how to make a particular color."

[Comissar]

Leah gives a nod as Juno voices her thought processes, "Sounds like a, uh, a Petilil would be best for you, then. Cherubi's kinda look like, uh, like berries, but I doubt they're around here if, uh, if you've not seen any pokémon that look like that."

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

Utha nods thoughtfully and, in that moment, Maggie taps the bowl her food came in with a utensil, making a faint pinging noise. It seems that the Gothorita has finished her meal.

"Could she not deliver the dishes back herself? I seem to recall Gothorita having the ability to move things with their minds," Utha says with an amused tone to her voice.

Maggie looks to Alyssa, apparently ignoring that comment.

~

Leah

"I don't really know that many Pokemon," Juno admits with a shrug. "Not as many as a Professor's assistant for sure. Just the ones that were around Lavender Town, or on TV, and the ones that are around here, and I don't go into the Dusk or anything like that. Too dangerous for me, thanks."

[Comissar]

Leah gives a small shrug of her own, "I've just, uh, I've just always enjoyed learning about, uh, about different pokémon. It, uh, it felt like there were new discoveries all the time for, uh, for a while. I've kinda lost touch since coming out to, uh, to Londo though." She gives a nod at Juno's comment on the Dusk, "Yeah, uh, I don't think I'd be up for going into the Dusk. Just travelling from town to town here can be scary enough sometimes."

[tgva8889]

The tapping alerts Alyssa, who looks up from her sketch to see Maggie done with eating. She looks over at Utha as she comments, laughing, before she gets up and sits close to Maggie. "You wanna see what I drew?" She shows the Gothorita her rough sketch, a pretty good depiction of Maggie enjoying her food out of the bowl.

[Hazuki]

Leah

"That's the kind of thing someone says when they have something in mind," Juno points out, taking a sip of her water. "Or the kind of thing someone says when they don't want to talk about something because it's too scary. Got any stories, or...?"

~

Alyssa

Maggie regards the art for a few long moments, then nods her approval and gives Alyssa a quick hug.

[Comissar]

Leah gives an uncomfortable shrug, "Th-there was... A, uh, a group of bandits o-outside town. Quite a few of them, umm..." She frowns, "All of them..?" She shakes her head, "A lot of them are, uh, are Elementals. I... Didn't realise the, uh, the kind of people they were at first. They were, uh, they were kinda friendly, and I thought they were, uh, they were the type who only went after bad people. Like... Robbing from, uh, from the rich, give to the poor, from, uh, from old stories." She gives Juno a wry smile, "When, uh, when I realised they weren't and, uh, and told their leader I wasn't going to help her figure out how a, uh, a Holocaster worked, she snapped. All but threw me out."

Leah pauses, recalling Inoir's unnatural strength and her sudden turn to anger, "... I, uh, I was really scared they'd, uh, they'd hurt us. If, uh, i-if it was just me o-on my own maybe they, uh, they would've." She lets out a breath, "S-still, at least I, uh, I can avoid going past that way again."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa returns her hug with one arm, smiling. Looking over at Utha, she chuckles. "Um, where should we put the dish?" She sets her sketchbook down and lifts up the bowl.

[Hazuki]

Leah

"Hey...wh..." Juno's eyes only got wider through Leah's explanation, and now they're rivaling a Sableye's. "A whole gang of elementals? Did you tell anyone? Are you okay? That's...insane. Just Psychics give me the creeps!"

~

Alyssa

"Just in the little kitchen area, if you would be so kind," Utha replies. "You're quite welcome to clean it as well, since it is a little difficult for me..."