Heading for the Hills

Alki sat at the base of the hill, staring up at the mound. Darcy was visiting their sister in town, but now that it was later in the day, they'd let her wander off to explore on her own. She wasn't in Rainfront often, but the city had already worn off some of it's charm. It was pretty, honestly! The building's looked different than those in Grassveil, and the rainy mood was rather pleasant! She liked the rain. She'd even taken some time to splash in stray puddles on the way here.

But at the end of the day, Rainfront was a city, just like Grassveil. Cities implied people, and a lot of them, too. The jigglypuff's ear quivered at the thought of it. People were way too scary for her to deal with, especially in a strange, foreign town. Alki hugged her bag closer to her chest, exhaling a long, somewhat shaky breath.

She was away from the town now. And she had a whole evening to herself. While she hadn't really planned to spend it in a mystery dungeon, it was as good a place as any, right?

"The view oughtta be nice f-from the t-top, huh?" The girl murmured to herself, under her breath. She'd brought a little sketch book. Maybe she could draw the view, if she got to the top? That'd be nice! Darcy always liked seeing her drawings. Maybe she could even show it to other people too, like Robin!

Assuming it didn't turn out to be a garbage drawing...

But what else was she going to do? She was already here, at the hills, and she had hours to kill! Besides, she had to get into the habit of actually exploring these mystery dungeons. She was in the guild, but she barely ever did...

[Energy: 42 - 10 = 32]

"Hm. The means to search, b-but no sustainability. He's c-crazy if he thinks s-someone like me can find a backseat job," came the quiet mutterings of a troubled little fishy swimming his way along from the outskirts of Rainfront. Lucas had just finished talking with his father, who continued to offer his signature brand of cryptically "helpful" advice. He loved him to death and wanted to accomplish something with his talents (no matter how few and far between they may be). Even so, missing the ability of self-sufficiency in terms of combat and communication made applying those passions feel like scaling a mountain with only a bag of potato chips. He was surprised that he subconsciously refused to give in at this rate: for being "weak", there were a lot of mixed emotions with the employment business. It felt like denying a truth he knew couldn't be bent in any shape or form.

Returning his focus back on his leisurely "walk", he came across a Jigglypuff writing in a notebook. The instinctual impulse to turn tail was silenced by the sight of the stranger writing something down: at the very least, they looked civil enough. His first thought when it came to bandits or wild Pokemon wasn't that of taking a journal or drawing a sketch. Maybe they were a Rainfront resident that he hadn't met yet? For sure they weren't a regular of the pharmacy when it was open, so that approach was a bust. Unless... Yep, that was it. Abel did say that he needed to at least attempt to initiate first contact with someone new if he wanted any chance at helping out, and what better way than someone who probably lived in the same town that he did?

Taking one shaky deep breath and mentally repeating "pretend they're a customer" over and over, Lucas steeled himself and slowed his approach to the Jigglypuff. The gentle float up to them dragged on in his mind as if it were a mile trek, and just getting closer exhausted him. By the time he was right in front of them, that planned introduction went out the window and before he knew it he was practically right in front of them. Frozen stiff. Staring off into the great beyond in a zoned out trance.

"A-Ah, um... H-Hi? M-My, uh... M-My name is Lucas, a-and I'm, ah..." the fragile eel began to introduce himself, sounding like a rookie youth scouts member doing his first door-to-door cookie sale. He paused, and rather than continue on he just kept staring straight ahead at the book in the stranger's hands."I-I, uh... Urk. C-Can I start over...?" the Electric type cringed, his face flushing red with a crushing embarrassment. The real question was what he would start over with, considering he really didn't say anything to begin with.

Alki closed her sketchbook in a rush, ears perking up in surprise at the sound of a foreign voice. She turned around, hands trembling with a small blush on her face. Had he seen it? She'd just been sketching out the hill, but the idea that someone had gotten a glimpse of her drawings was enough to make her nervous. She dropped her pencil on the ground, and hardly saw fit to reach down for it. She had to say something, right? He was just as nervous as she was. If not even more... Alki stared at the ground, too anxious to actually look the other pokemon in his eyes.

"E-Erm, hi, It's... Erm... y-yeah, you c-can start over. I'm... Er. It's no big d-deal. I m-mean..." Alki paused, the other Pokemon's nervousness only increasing her own. "M-My n-name's A-Alki, I'm... e-er..." The girl fidgeted with her sketchbook, before crouching down to pick up her pencil. "Y-You... d-didn't s-see anything, d-did you...?" She asked tepidly, shaking her notebook in her hand.

As she finally, for the first time, glanced up at the Pokemon in question, she could see who the voice belonged to. A tynamo, maybe her age, maybe a bit older. He was... levitating? Alki's eyes widened. She'd never seen a pokemon like him before. He seemed like a fish, but there was no water around at all. Furthermore, since when could fish fly? He gave off the faint sense of electricity, but then again, maybe she was imagining it. She'd never seen anyone like him before.

"H-How are you... d-doing that...?" Alki mumbled, ears folding down as she cocked her head, her earlier anxiousness being mixed with some newfound curiosity. At the very least, it was hard to be scared of him, given what Lucas actually sounded like.

The fish was grateful that Alki was gracious enough to at least attempt to forego that awkward attempt to greet her. The presence of her own stammering gave him the subtle comfort that he might not be the only one not very proficient at speaking to others, but even so, it didn't cover up the fact that he was doing what he dreaded the most. Lucas was taken aback by the question, prompting to shake his head with a slightly panicked gambit at saving face. "Huh? O-Oh, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to intrude, I didn't s-see anything! Wh-Whatever you were writing, I couldn't make it out from here! S-Sorry, I should have m-minded your p-privacy more. Ah ha..." he chuckled nervously, shifting uncomfortably back and forth.

Her observation about his floating, though, brought confusion to the forefront. "Uh... D-Doing what? Wait, don't tell me- I did something wrong, d-didn't I? I-I'm sorry, so so sorry! I-It's just my first time trying this on my own, a-and it's not like at the ph-pharmacy, and it doesn't help I l-looked at your book, a-and... Just a big sorry, I'm not g-good at this!" he exclaimed, bowing his head (and by extension his entire body) still levitating above the ground. The movement prompted very subtle, barely noticeable sparks to jump from his body to the ground, as well as from places on him to other parts of his body. From the looks of things, such a feat was capable via electromagnetism. The Tynamo's entire body repelled the ground, and gave him the free movement of being in water while still on land: an astounding development in how aquatic Pokemon could interact with those without gills.

"But, ah... Y-Yeah. I'm Lucas, b-but I guess you know that already. I, ah... I-I'm trying to get better at talking to other P-Pokemon on my own. Th-That being said, um... Thanks? Y-You know, for not... L-Laughing at me. I know that was a bad first t-try, eh heh..."

Alki found it difficult to stay particularly anxious around Lucas. Not only was he just as stammery and nervous as she was, but he was also a lot smaller. And the more she said, the more his anxiety seemed to increase. The jigglypuff's ears flattened as a small frown appeared on her face, which she quickly forced into a smile. If she seemed sad, it'd only foul his mood even more, and he seemed like a rather... sensitive type.

It was like looking in a mirror, honestly. At least... an emotional one.

"E-Erm, n-no! It's no problem, I m-mean. I was just... d-doodling, it's not a b-big... deal. Y-You didn't do anything wrong, it's just... I'm nervous too. And I-I'm n-not very good at t-talking to other Pokemon either, s-so..." Alki trailed off, unsure of how to continue her thought, only able to offer (what she hoped was) a comforting smile.

"But... Erm... I-If you're trying to get b-better at t-talking to other Pokemon... W-Why are you o-out here? Isn't town b-back... that way...?" Alki asked, pointing in the Rainfront's direction. She was wincing as she spoke. Curiousity had gotten the best of her, but that didn't mean she didn't still feel like the question was a bit too blunt. "N-Not that t-there's anything w-wrong, I d-don't m-mind. Y-You seem nice... S-S-Sorry..." She stammered, her voice quivering. She took that as her cue to fall silent, only looking up anxiously at the Tynamo every now and again. Should she apologize again? Maybe that'd be a bit much...

"A-Actually, um... Th-That's a funny story. I... D-Didn't really plan on speaking to anyone, th-this was just a s-spontaneous decision," the tiny fish began to explain himself. "I like to go on w-walks to think, a-and to clear my head. Usually this way doesn't have any other P-Pokemon, so it's nice... Gah! N-Not to say that you're intruding or anything! It's a nice change of p-pace to see someone else here! A-And you can come here again, d-don't take that as me implying you're n-not allowed to come this way!" His frantic apologies were starting to become more and more of the norm, even for very little comments or abstract slips of the tongue.

Ouch: hitting a wall with the conversation again. There were limitless possibilities for what to bring up next, but Lucas couldn't focus on any particular thing that would be even remotely considered "interesting". That was what one does when meeting someone new, right? Spark interest in them as an individual? He wasn't certain on what would be "socially typical", given that the "social" part may as well have been a foreign language. "...Y-Yeah. I, uh... Wanted to try and see if I could try to enter P-Pricklemist Hill for some new scenery, but... Eh heh. I-I'd probably just end up as an appetizer for something. I can't fight, e-even if I tried to," the Tynamo bashfully admitted, gently waving from side to side in his stationary hover. "Um... H-Have you been there? How is it? I-I've always been a little curious, t-to be honest, but never went in."

Lucas had stood in front of the road to Pricklemist Hill many a time, but never entered. Most that noticed him there would note his particularly empty, almost hypnotized stare into the abyss as he was paralyzed by apprehension and trying to imagine the many different ways he'd be attacked if he entered. The thought of it was almost pathetic, and while he neither asked for nor responded to sympathy, he had little luck giving himself the push to get going.