Why is he staring at the water like that?

Aoi stared at the water intently, disregarding his reflection and only paying attention to the clearness of the pond. He dipped his paw in the crystal liquid, swaying it back and forth to study the ripples coming from the movement.
Mmhmm, nice, the espurr thought, standing up and nodding his head. If only he can find a bottle to capture the water and drink it on his travels. Still, all he did was stare, standing there for quite awhile. He didn't think about looking silly compared to others... However, what others think is the least of his concern, anyways.

Lapis slugged her way into the Pond again. She was losing hope in the team she thought she would've been able to form. She wanted to give up on them, but she just didn't have the heart to tell them that. She would've seemed mean. They had met in this very spot with the exciting thought of creating a team to explore the world with.

Saddened by the sudden change in ability to form this union, Lapis decided to slip into the lake to keep herself nice and cool and wet. The sun was hot this morning, and it threatened to dry the Goomy up. The body of water was just what she needed to keep herself well and healthy.

Izumi the Absol strode away from the guild one morning, tired after an all-nighter of taking stock and managing expenses. She was really feeling the need to get away from the hustle and bustle of rescue teams passing her by, going on missions, and then coming back and chucking boxes at her face for her to open. Sometimes they literally chucked the boxes. That wasn't a pleasant experience. Izumi found it hard to complain, though; she had chosen the line of work after all. The strangely-colored Absol couldn't explain her strange affinity for boxes, nor did she care to try to. That didn't change the fact that life at the guild could really take a toll on one's senses. The Absol decided she would take part of the day off and open the shop later; she couldn't remember the last time she had taken an actual break.

Once traveling the road that led out of Grassveil, Izumi began to ponder over where she wanted to go. She really didn't have the time nor the energy to go off to a dungeon. Plus, going to a dungeon wouldn't do her any good; she wasn't exactly in the mood for going to look for stock. No, breakfast by the water sounded like a much better idea.

Upon arriving at the Small Pond, Izumi encountered two pokemon who had beaten her to the punch. One was an Espurr, who seemed to be... staring. Izumi knew that the species was prone to doing so, but she had never actually met one before so this was the first time she had actually seen one in action. The other pokemon was a familiar-looking Goomy, one that Izumi could have sworn she had seen around the guild. The shiny Absol walked up to the others and made herself comfortable in some grass nearby, acknowledging the others with a simple "Hello."

Aoi stared at the water just a bit more before turning to the absol. It looked like a strong Pokémon, a very strong one - maybe it belonged to a guild? Ah, whatever.
"Hello," He replied, bowing his head and looking back up to the stranger. The small espurr allowed a faint smile to creep onto his face before staring back at the water. Aoi was unaware that there was a Goomy nearby, and he had thought it was only the two of them standing around the spot.
"Don't you find the water here nice?" The small Pokémon inquired, looking back to the tiny rippling waves of the pond and admiring how clean it looks compared to other water from other places.

The blue-dyed Goomy turned around from her approach to the water and looked to the Pokemon that spoke. It was much larger, and was mainly coated in white fur. The parts of skin that were showing were an odd shade of red, even its claws. The only thing more bizarre about it was its slashing tail and single horn that hooked out from the side to the back of the head. Lapis was from a town consisting of only one species, so every new one she got to experience for the first time was surely something.
"Greetings, stranger. I don't suppose you came here to relax and ponder as well?"

Another vocal emanation was brought to her attention, and just then did she realize a cat-like Pokemon was present as well. Although its eyes surprised Lapis at first, it wasn't kind for her to judge like that. A few thought that her cheek spots were her eyes once, even though the black pupils were.

The purple-grey feline made a small commentary on the feeling of the pond, which the Goomy would've added to if she weren't focused on the newcomer. Hopefully soon she would get out of them what their species and types were, because the curiosity was eating at her.

Izumi had been peering over the edge of the water and into the pond's cool water when the Espurr made an observation of the water's purity. The Absol nodded to the Espurr in agreement and responded to his statement with, "Mmm, yeah it is. It's one of the highlights in this area; I mean it doesn't quite have the notoriety that the dungeons do, but it has its own perks. It's a good place to unwind." She considered meditating for a bit, toying with the idea until the Goomy greeted her and snapped her out of her thoughts. The oddly-winged pokemon asked her about the intentions of her visit, but Izumi held off on answering for a moment. She was observing it's wings and color, both highly abnormal for a Goomy. Or at least, Izumi thought so. The Goomy she had met before hadn't had any wings, as far as she remembered. It was interesting.

"Mhmm, I'm taking a break from my job today," Izumi responded. She paused to stretch out her limbs, then continued, "I run the Swap-Shop in Grassveil Guild. I love my job, but the Guild is so hectic sometimes it's hard to find peace, even when nobody's getting appraisals done."

Aoi, with a soft, pleasant giggle, agreed with the absol. He was just about to cup his paws together and scoop some water up until a Goomy came out of no where! The espurr stepped back a bit, face showing astonishment. That surprise wiped off his face immediately seeing it was just a Pokémon and not some weird glob thing.
"Do you have bottles?" Aoi asked, turning to the absol with a delightful gaze, holding his two little paws to his cheeks. "I would love to have one..." He added, humbly looking down to the grassy terrain and seeing the absol's large, tired white paws. Aoi tried to be socially charming, normally he doesn't have Pokémon come up to him and speak out of no where. Of course, he wouldn't mind if the Pokémon said no - working at the guild must be tiring.

The largest of the three Pokemon surprised Lapis with her thoughtful explanation of the pond's significance. It made the Goomy look towards the lake again. She stared out to the reflective surface, which accurately matched the sky and surrounding objects. Its only mirroring flaw was caused by the wind, sending ripples through the painting made by the immense amount of water molecules that gathered and stuck together in the same area, ending up there most likely after rains in the long planet's past, or a spring that bubbled up water from below the visible surface of the earth.

The wolf-like Pokemon responded to Lapis's question, revealing that she owned a "Swap-shop" and worked with few breaks.
"I only could know some of what you feel. You, I presume, are doing this in your own desire and will, while I was put under commands for my entire longevity by my adopted parents. Not that I minded so, but the work could be redundant and exhausting."

Then, an odd question came from the bubbly Espurr.
"Bottles? You mean some kind of containment vessels, or some kind of slang I do not comprehend? Your sentence structure seemed odd and misleading... However, I do know of a shop that may be opening up soon that sells vases, much like flasks used in laboratories. I hope that's what you were asking about."

With a tired smile, Izumi nodded at the Goomy. "Yeah... founding the swap-shop was the second choice I ever made by myself; leaving my narrow-minded tribe was the first. It's been a while now since then; things are much better now that I'm working the shop. I don't get discriminated against due to my color here; it's a much nicer setting than where I was originally." She let out a sigh. The hard memories were stressful, but... at the same time, they were a treasure.

At the mention of a battle, Izumi looked over at the Espurr curiously. She'd had a lot of battles in the past, but none of them had been battles by invitation thus far... this was the first time that she had been challenged by a civilian, as a civilian. She was intrigued, and pushed herself up off the ground and into a sitting position.

"I believe he said 'battle,' if my ears aren't mistaking me..." Izumi mused. "I'll be honest; though I've been in lots of fights, I've never been 'challenged' to a battle before. I'm not opposed, but I feel like I should warn you; if I don't hold back; I have rather great type advantage over you. I'm all for a battle if you want to try you hand, though."

Aoi put his two little paws to his side and sat down again, dipping his furry mitt into the water once more.
"No, I said 'bottle'," The small espurr redressed kindly. He gave a magnanimous smile, demonstrating an expression of princely manners. Aoi wiped away dirt that matted down his well-groomed fur and suddenly lacked expression once more, as if he suddenly disregarded there were Pokémon talking to him. Of course, this wasn't the case, for it was just his nature not to express feelings openly for a period of time.
There was a faint breeze blowing around leaves and pieces of grass, and Aoi couldn't help but to adjust his settled ears differently so it wouldn't tickle the hairs on his head. The faint sound of the wind's whistling also reminded him about Pokeflutes, and he wanted one badly. Ever since he was young his parents applauded his musical capabilities.
...Lost in thought again, Aoi thought before breaking his endless staring at the water. The espurr looked over to the goomy for a moment, explaining what bottle was.
"A bottle is like a flask I suppose," He calmly stated, hoping his smile wasn't too faint or smirk-like. "It's a bit wider in diameter, really."

Lapis smiled with a sigh resting in the back of her throat, suppressing it with thought being her priority. It was revealed that the mountain mammal once lived in a tribe. The Goomy was honestly a little curious about life there, but she didn't want to intrude with her past. After all, "the past was in the past", and that's the way it should always be. One must live in the present if they wanted to live in happiness. The slug-like Pokemon tried not to think about her original family too often, because she was afraid the memories would warp her.

After the moment of confusion, the nameless, unknown-to-be-Absol defined that what the cat said must have been a vocal typo. It wasn't too uncommon that someone would mix up their words, especially when one was tired, so Lapis momentarily believed it. However, the speaker insisted he did, in fact, mean what the Goomy had originally thought he did. She expected him to go on, perhaps about why he needed one, but perhaps that would remain a mystery for a while. The wide-eyed Pokemon brushed off dirt, almost as if he were brushing off the topic of conversation, and continued staring with his ever-so-large optics. Only after then did he continue.
"Well, yes, the bottom's diameter is far different, making a flask's shape quite like a rounded triangular, square-based tetrahedron, coming in thinner around the middle. Although it has an odd shape in comparison to a common liquid container, it's still fully functional."
Lapis was quickly embarrassed about how smart she sounded. It wasn't usually like her, especially to correct someone else.

Izumi blinked. How had she misconstrued such a simple word? "Err... I'm very sorry about that... I must be more tired than I thought..." The befuddled Absol reached up and cleaned an ear with her claw; had she forgotten to do so this morning or something. She shook the mistake off and focused on answering the question that the Espurr had ACTUALLY asked. "Well, no, I don't really have any bottles to my knowledge.... I mostly handle boxes; Exclusive items are my area of expertise." Izumi looked apologetically at the Espurr, feeling bad about not being able to help. "I'm sure there must be a place where you can find one though... perhaps a shop in town has what you're looking for?" She laid back down onto her stomach as she spoke, reclining in the soft grass once again.

"It's okay," the espurr simpered empathetically, looking at the absol with a kittenish gaze. His mouth no longer advertised his emotion, but rather is large light-purple eyes. The two Pokémon were quite interesting, not only in looks but the aura that emitted from them. Sure, Aoi isn't a Pokemon who can sense the feelings and tendencies of another, but it was quite apparent they both were good-hearted. Or seemed so, anyways.
Aoi continued to study the absol and gloomy especially, the thought of the water in the back of his mind. Despite the dark-type's swarthy figure, she came off to him as a Pokémon with good integrity. The goomy, on the other hand, looked like it had good morals and was one to think logically. Aoi, on the inside, felt a bit warm towards them. It wasn't a "blossoming friendship" type of thing, but more like he would remember them for some time on his aimless wandering.
The continuing whistling of the wind made the young espurr lose his track of thought. The trees surrounding the clearing danced with the wind, and the ripples in the pond weren't so subtle. It was a good day for him to go to that autumn-like wood, but he had all of the time in the world to leave. Aoi relaxed and got comfortable, sitting on his rear end in a polite way and leaning against the rock behind him.

The Absol recognized her mistake, and became embarrassed with that. Lapis wanted to say something along the lines of "everyone makes mistakes," but the kind kitten had already gotten to an answer to her. The shiny must have felt so sheepish, especially being so clearly intelligent, from the Goomy's first impression. Finishing up the question, the dark-type explained that she had nothing of the sort that the psychic-type was asking for.

The cat, he was curious. Both meanings, in that way. It was hard to determine what he was like, simply from the shell of his view-able personality. From what she could tell, he was an intuitive learner, and his curiosities is what he used to learn. The weak dragon-type trusted him, and hoped to befriend every trustworthy Pokemon she met to have some alliances in the cruel world, and maybe would be able to survive for once. Being alone only ever made things harder on one.

Then, something finally crossed the mind of the little slug Pokemon. She knew no one's names, and they didn't know hers.
"Oh, how rude of me. I've yet to introduce myself. I am Lapis. Who might you two be? And if you don't mind, I'd also like to know what species each of you are. I came from a town without much diversity, and I therefore don't know much..."

Izumi reached up with her hind leg to scratch an annoying itch that had erupted just behind her horn, trying to play off the earlier embarrasment. The Goomy introduced herself as "Lapis," which definitely rang a bell of familiarity in Izumi's mind. "Hmm... Lapis is your name? I think I've heard that name floating around the guild before. Maybe it's just me," the Absol remarked. She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "My name is Izumi; it's a pleasure to meet you both."