11:45 am - Buffet Area Lobby
Before Shuna even appeared in the room, in fact, Poppy had left her comfortable resting position and had started to fly around the room, the petals of her flower flapping around as she twirled in the air and blew some Fairy wind to move her tiny body around. Avril was still fully focused on reading the flyer she held in her hands - but also, on holding back the tears - and therefore, she didn't notice anything at all.
The Flabébé knew that was the case and, tired of not getting any attention from her trainer (or at least, that's what she thought), decided that exploring was the best thing left to do. And, in order to do so, she floated above and beside the heads of many passengers. That is, until she found one that she thought could help Avril out: blue eyes, green hair, an encouraging smile, and a Solosis to top it all off!
She flapped around some more, spinning around their head and jumping on their arms in hopes to get their attention… and got the hang of it. It was fun! She even bounced on Solosis's head a few times, but always in a delicate way.
The green haired trainer caught the small Flabébé, trying not to put too much strength on their hand. Their Solosis just looked at Poppy with a bit of annoyance but it didn't complain.
"Oh, hello there, little one!" they exclaimed, excited. Jordie didn't think Flabébé could be found in Hoenn, and that was definitely not the case here; but they weren't even native to Unova so the excitement of seeing one for the first time was genuine. "Are you lost? Do you have a trainer?"
Poppy, slightly disappointed that she was caught, at first tried to escape the trainer's grip but soon gave up, seeing as they weren't holding her tightly. She nodded in approval at the trainer's questions though, and tried to point in the general direction of her trainer before attempting once again to set off.
Jo wasn't really sure about what to do now. Was the Pokémon trying to take them with it? The Flabébé seemed to be asking for their attention before, but it didn't seem to like being held by them either.
They opted to let it free, since they seemed to have a trainer, and just waited for the Pokémon's reaction to decide whether to follow it or not.
Glad to have been let go, Poppy started once again to float around and twirl in the air, going through the crowd gracefully and gazing back at the green haired trainer every once in a while. She was actually surprised to see that someone else was already talking with her trainer, though!
A pink haired girl and a Marshtomp were already standing close to her beloved Avril, but that didn't stop Poppy from continuing to lead the other trainer to the blonde girl. The more, the merrier, she thought.
Jordie didn't mind meeting new people so early at all, but it didn't really seem that exciting. There were two girls in front of them now (both of them small compared to Jo) and while one of them
looked like a trainer and had an already evolved Pokémon with her, the other one didn't give that Pokémon trainer vibe they would expect..
Gabby was still shy about the whole thing, though, and prefered to stay back. After Jordie told her that there was nothing to be afraid of, she just shook her head and looked back at them with a concerned look. It took Jordie to be more insistent with her for Gabby to finally accede to follow them.
Meanwhile, Avril's attention was all for Poppy, whose Fairy Wind propelled her right onto the side of the girl's head. She elegantly perched herself close to the headband, and waved at both Shuna and Jo as her trainer turned around herself. Her now curious eyes settled on the green haired person who had followed her Flabébé. "Well, hello to you as well. I'm sorry my Pokémon bothered you…"
"Oh, is it yours? Don't worry about it! If anything, Gabby seems to be more bothered than me, and I'm always up to meet new trainers."
"Yeah, she's my partner!" Avril nodded, slowly getting more at ease with the two trainers. If anything, that conversation was distracting her from her musings about being a trainer or partaking in fights.
"So this is your partner, she's cute!" Shuna smiled as she watched the interaction between the girl and the Flabebe, they looked very close and she was glad, seeing people and pokemon get along. She mentally frowned when she remembered the way her grandparents talked about her cousins, but shook the thought away. Not the time for that!
She turned to greet the new arrival, "Hello! It's nice to meet you! Is that a Solosis?" Shuna noticed that said pokemon was beside the green haired trainer, wasn't that pokemon from Unova? "My name is Shuna Kamado! If it's alright, what are your names again?" Shuna turned to the blonde, then back to the green haired trainer sheepishly.
"Jordie. Jo is good!" they answered. "And this shy girl over here is Gabby. We were going to the buffet area when your Flabébé over there found us, you see?"
"Let's try this again then! My name is Avril Reese, and she is my partner Poppy." the girl introduced herself again to Jo. "Your Pokémon are very nice too… and, Gabby right? I'm sorry on behalf of Poppy, she can be very playful."
Gabby looked at Avril, then back at Poppy and then at Jo once more. She shook her head at her trainer and hid behind them. Jo chuckled at that reaction and smiled at the other trainer's Marshtomp. "And who is this guy over here?"
"Oh, you mean Finn?" Shuna looked down at her partner, who was looking at the new pokemon, chirping curiously. "He's one of my pokemon, my very first pokemon actually." She pet his head as the mudfish pokemon raised a hand and waved once he caught eye with the two pokemon. "Sorry if he's too friendly, he likes to meet new people and is curious about everything."
Jo nodded and smiled. "I see. I'm guessing you are here for the gym challenge then?"
"Pretty much! Are you here for the same thing?" Shuna asked, she had a feeling it was the same, but she had to be sure.
And here was the question that Avril had hoped not to receive, but that was almost guaranteed to come up. She was still reluctant to say yes, because of her own distaste for battling and underwhelming preparation. But saying no also didn't sound right, for herself, for her parents, and for Poppy.
Not knowing what to say, she kept quiet for a moment and tried to find an answer. She rattled her pendant for a bit before just muttering something - anything. "I'm just not sure. I don't know if I can do this."
"Hmm… Maybe you're right." Jo said. "No offense, but you don't look like a trainer to me. You see, this is, in some way, a competition between ourselves. Taking this challenge implies that you're up to give it your all and sacrifice everything to win, and you don't strike me as someone who is up to something like that."
"I-I… I know." Avril nodded slightly and bowed her head, thinking of a better reply. It was Poppy who knew exactly how to react, instead. Just like before, she jumped out of Avril's head and floated towards Jo, visibly pouting before blowing another Fairy Wind in their face - nothing too worrisome for a person, coming from a small Flabébé, but strong enough to let Jo realize her stance on the matter.
"No, Poppy! Come back here!" Avril tried to grab her friend with her hands, missing her a couple times before succeeding. "Ok, uhm…"
"I like Pokémon, they're amazing creatures. But it pains my heart to see them hurt, especially in Pokémon battles. My love for Pokémon made me heal this wounded Flabébé and befriend her, and we're now really close friends! But since this happened…" Avril took some heavy breaths, and tried once again to contain her emotions. "Since this happened I've been told I had potential to be a trainer. I've been sent to a trainer school and now, on a journey. But… Poppy, listen well here! I don't wanna put m-my dearest friend through all this. It's even worse of a feeling." she explained, her voice growing more unsteady. She turned to her Pokémon. "I-it's my love for you that makes me so conflicted, Poppy!" she pleaded, unable to keep the tears at bay anymore.
Jordie stared at Poppy, not really paying attention to how Avril was feeling. "Your Pokémon is a different story, though. She seems to like the idea of battling, I don't think she would react that way if that wasn't the case. Interesting."
Shuna waited a bit before putting her two cents in."Jo is right, you don't look like a trainer. But we can't judge a book by its cover, you could be a great trainer in disguise and just have a unique clothing style." Commented Shuna, nodding as she watched Poppy and Jo, then turned back to Avril. "Hoenn isn't just a place for battling tough, someone could be here to just explore or do contests. Sorry if my question was a bit insensitive." Shuna gave a sad smile, "I know, we know what you mean. Pokemon are wonderful creatures, they are a part of our family. Don't stress yourself out, you'll find the solution."
"I-I hope so too! We'll find a meeting point eventually… isn't it right Poppy?" Avril declared, more as an attempt to reassure herself, as she turned towards her Pokémon once again and smiled as she nodded in approval. "I-I guess we can give battling one more try. Or this Contests thing. Thanks, both of you."
She pulled a tissue from her backpack, then cleaned her glasses and dried her tears. "B-but now I have more questions. You look like proper trainers. You know, like this one." she gestured towards the shelf, where the various flyers about a journey in Hoenn were sitting. "But you said it before… I don't. I feel unprepared. Just look at my bag." Avril looked at the two trainers standing beside her with hopeful eyes, expecting a more positive and reassuring reply at least this time.
"Maybe a bit too big, but you can carry a lot of stuff there." Jo answered. "I think it's fine enough if you're comfortable with it. What about you, Shuna?"
Shuna looked over the bag, seeing the size, then looked at the others and shrugged. "I don't see anything wrong with the bag. If she feels comfortable having it like that, then it's fine to me. But she might need another bag or a bigger one to carry more stuff, you're bound to get more stuff on this journey."
"Ok, but this has wheels and… usually trainers don't use t-this kind of bag…" Avril muttered, but at this point all she was doing was blow off steam. She really was just letting her anxiety out and, admittedly, the two trainers she had in front seemed good enough at helping her cope with it. "And if it wasn't enough, I'm the only trainer with this kind of bag, this kind of pendant, this dress…"
"Girl, I think you're giving a lot of thought to this whole thing." Jo quickly replied, a bit annoyed at Avril's behavior. "The kind of bag you use isn't too troublesome, you know? The clothes can be a problem if you decide to keep traveling, though. As for the pendant… I don't think it matters. Why would you even carry something like that?"
Shuna perked up at Jo's last sentence, noticing the pendant and gave Avril a kind smile. "I agree with them, but the last part, you don't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable. I used to carry a pendant around, but the remains of it are moved to this bracelet." The female lifted her wrist, showing her right wrist, where the silver bracelet rested, the light from above reflected off of the small stones. "I think it's nice to have a piece of jewelry on you, makes me feel girly since during this journey, there won't be too much time to be girly and getting dirty is going to be a norm."
"O-Ok, uhm…" the blonde girl took some time to calm down and breathed heavily, as Poppy chanted a little song for her just like she did some time before. "First, I can agree with you Shuna, plus your bracelet looks really nice! As for why I wear this…" Avril rattled her pendant once again, the sound of the chime inside fighting against the background noise to reach the other two trainers' ears. "This was my mother's pendant, which she gave to me to… cope with anxiety, she said, but also to remind me that she's always looking after me no matter where I am. And… it actually works, this sound is very calming."
She turned towards Jo and seemed to notice the annoyance written on their face. "I-I'm sorry for being so bothersome, you probably had never expected to have to deal with this. But… thanks for listening to me! At least I'm not keeping my worries bottled up anymore."
Jordie put a hand over the other girl's shoulder and smiled at her. "It's fine, girl. Don't worry about it. Sorry if I said something harsh before, but see, I don't like keeping things to myself and…"
Jo stopped talking after they were interrupted by their stomach growling. They looked at the two girls for a second and then looked back at Gabby who was hiding behind her trainer, then remembered what they were doing before this meeting took place. "You see, Gabby and I are a bit hungry right now, so if you'll excuse us… we'll be going now."
"Oh, it's time to eat? We could all eat together, if that's fine with you guys." suggested the pinkette, smiling sheepishly at the two trainers. She was also hungry, but making new friends was fun and she hoped they could talk more before the ferry landed, and landing meant splitting up.
That… actually wasn't that bad of an idea for Avril. Sure, Jo didn't sugarcoat things for her or made her more at ease, but still felt like they didn't have bad intentions and were still trying to be helpful. And Shuna still acted kind and understanding after all. In the end, sticking with them some more would've been fine. "Alright, I'm coming! H-how does this buffet work?" the blonde girl announced, her words being met with a grin on Poppy's little face.
"We can eat whatever we want." Jo answered. "We just go take a seat, and whenever we want to eat we get up and grab our food. I'm pretty sure this is covered with the ferry ticket."
"Sounds amazing!" Avril replied, as she got up from her seat and gathered her stuff. "I'm feeling better now, I'm ready to come with you."
