[PRP] Seeing Red

[Suudonym]

Luke had a feeling that maybe the Special Ops department took advantage of its recruits from time to time. They couldn't help with investigations, missions, or other official duties, but apparently they could go off to other towns to make simple deliveries. Feeling only slightly exploited, Luke emerged from the Sagestone pokemon center with a light sigh, relieved that it had gone well - though his body seemed to remember it, he wasn't sure he was mentally accustomed yet to depending on his Pidgeot for transportation. "Well," he said, leaning to pick up the Zorua running around at his feet, "with that, we're done for the day, so I guess we can take our time going back."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Aahhh well I guess that's what I get for not stretching in the morning." Ray's voice, thick with strain as she rolled out her neck slowly.
Long legs stretched out in front of her, while the rest of her body draped unceremoniously over the rest of the bench she plopped on.

It was back to work as the weather warmed up, and this time with a new spark of interest from new trainers, mostly here to learn about the rare gems that could be found in the mountains.
Ray had just finished up another tour, her gear still hanging off of her utility harness, and her hair pulled back to keep it functionally out of her half lidded eyes, that today sported none of the black makeup she was usually in the habit of applying.

"PI-ka..." Breeze, her trusty companion in the dark of the caves suddenly announced sharply with a leap up onto the bench, perking up with the ears around his sweeping hood held high.

"Hm?" Ray hummed, glancing over to the Pikachu right as the smaller pokemon leaped off of the bench and sprinted across the dusty ground.

Luke would soot find a small yellow mouse pokemon with a long dratini hat bounce off of his leg flip around and land directly in front of him standing tall and holding a finger up to point at him.
"PIKA!"  

[Suudonym]

The sudden appearance of the... strangely-garbed Pikachu was difficult to ignore, and Luke blinked at the incriminating paw in surprise and confusion. "Uh..." He nearly spoke to greet the pokemon, but a sense of foreboding stopped him. Was this dangerous? He felt endangered. It didn't look dangerous...  

[Blood_Goddess]

Breeze flattened his ears the long he stared back up at Luke, squinting one eye lightly as the mark-less Pikachu was getting a look from the man that he didn't expect to get.
"Pika?" he grunted almost pointedly.

"You come all the way to Sagestone and you don't even give me a call?" A voice behind Luke spoke, approaching the younger trainer.
"You're not embarrassed or anything are you? I promise I won't tell anyone you don't know winter survival."
the tall person approaching Luke, with a large white and red striped serpent by her side wore an uncomfortably wide smirk on her face, pausing just before Luke and putting her hands on her hips with a wink and joking tone.  

[Suudonym]

He tilted his head slightly at the Pikachu, taking a cautious step to the side to leave. He was startled from this course of action by the sound of someone speaking behind him, and he turned to meet whomever it was. He couldn't help the dumb-founded expression he wore in response, brief as it was, though when he recovered his bearings he managed to bring up a smile that, hopefully, wasn't as awkward as he felt. "Sorry... It was short notice and I figured you'd be busy," he hazarded. It felt like a safe response... He hoped it was a safe response.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The notched eyebrow over the women's eye arched slightly at the look that she was met with, though the constant grin never once faltered as her eyes in returned glanced him over.
"Well I'm hurt." She said in an unconvincing tone.
"Naw- it has been a busy week so far, still don't let that stop you from stopping by. Ah but look at you, I haven't seen one of those jackets in a while! since when did you get all fancy schmancy Pokemon League officer?"
She stepped over and smirked, plucking at the sleeve of his jacket "And since when did you get a Zorua!" she exclaimed with a lot more excitement, leaning down "Awe She's so young too."  

[Suudonym]

It was always somewhat unnerving to encounter someone who knew him - forget walking on eggshells; he was swimming in them. It didn't seem that he had messed up so far, though, and so he cautiously stayed on course.

"Not that long ago," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm still in training, really. Playing errand boy today." He looked to Sephira as the stranger took an interest in her, the Zorua squirming to find a position in which she could face the person and staring with wide, pale eyes. "Also not long ago. She was just outside Camphoreon for about a week... It looked like she'd been abandoned."

Though the rest of his team were all skilled fighters, he thought that he preferred the company of the little dark-type. She was a pokemon that he had caught; she only knew him as he was. No expectations, no obligations, no disappointment. Perhaps it was a selfish reason to favor her, but still.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"In training huh? bottom rung for now, but not for long am I right?" She chuckled, nudging him lightly with an elbow.
"Specials ops is pretty intense, I tell you they're on top of things when it comes to pokemon." She said with an air of impressed knowing, though her attention went back to the Zorua.
"Abandoned? Well that isn't right, you're such a good looking strong little lady. Though between you and me-" Ray said in more of a low tone to address the Zorua "You're better off now with this kid." giving the Zorua a wink and straightening back up to address the shorter man.

"So hey, its been kind of a quiet winter from you, what happened? I got the redacted invitation, whats up?"  

[Suudonym]

"Only for about another month," he clarified. One about another month... then he would have achieved something above his former self. Maybe it was petty, but an accomplishment was an accomplishment. The idea helped him to feel more like a real person.

The Zorua tilted her head to a side, feeling bold enough with her trainer's protection to give a bark in response. Of course she was better off! Food was put in front of her when she was hungry, she didn't have to suffer through nighttime chills, and larger pokemon no longer treated her like prey - though she was still getting used to the last one.

"Uh..." Invitation-- Invitation? "Which invitation?" If there weren't multiple invitations, he could at least play it off like there were, right...?  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I better start behaving around you then." Ray said with a bit of an exasperation, though it was chuckled off.
Ray wasn't at all unfamiliar with the Special Ops, she had had a few run ins with them in the past, and ultimately they were the ones who brought Ray's transgressions to the League's attention.
Though she was sure that the Special ops in Kodo would have a lot more on their plate, what with Team Rocket.

Double Stripe, hovering next to the tall women, the longer they talked the higher his head seemed to lift, flicking his tongue out at the Zorua to get used to her new small.
Slowly he slithered around to her other side, though Ray didn't take notice of his movements.

There was a moment of pause at Luke's question on witch invitation, an undoubtedly perplexted looked crossed over her face.
Okay, well, there was already something a bit off about Luke today, something she could throw up to a number of things, but this just seemed to take the cake.
"... Uh..." She watched him, giving him a few seconds to remember himself.
He would remember very suddenly and it would be good for a hard laugh.
Already her smile was broadening as if preparing for it.  

[Suudonym]

He responded to the laugh with a quiet smile, unsure of how to take the words. From the delivery, it was likely just a harmless joke anyway.

Her second response wasn't quite as affable, and he was left in the awkward silence of hoping she would speak. He was supposed to know - of course he was supposed to know; he was always supposed to know - and apparently it was amusing that it didn't immediately come to mind. He stiffened but nonetheless tried to play into the charade, "O-Oh, right! That invitation. Haha..." His gaze was drawn reflexively to his feet. "Uh... Well, you know... A lot of things happened..."

No one could say he didn't try, at least.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray's smile, instead of growing seemed to actually falter, the half lidded eyes now a little more attentive as she searched Luke's face.
That was not at all a convincing response, Ray was too proud of her learned ability to observe behaviors to know that there was something really off about Luke, and the longer she spoke to him the more apparent it was becoming.

"Is everything okay?"  

[Suudonym]

It was kind of embarrassing, almost humiliating even. He couldn't always expect it to go well; he knew that. What counted was that he tried until the end and did his best, even if didn't go well.

"Everything but my conversational skills?" he replied with a shrug, hoping against all logic that he could somehow make it less awkward by calling attention to how awkward it was.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Double Stripe dipped his head back sharing a look with his partner before lowering himself back down to a more appropriate level.

"Well, you've always been the more shy type, so I wouldn't say that's too alarming. I think I would be more surprised that you don't remember your wedding that got canceled." she squinted an eye at him showing that she wasn't at all fooled by him trying to play off that he remembered.
She crossed her arms tilting her head. "Are you and Rosie doing okay?"

No reason was given in the note she had gotten, and the way Luke was acting it wouldn't be beyond reason to think that maybe they called it off because they decided against it.  

[Suudonym]

"It's not like I forgot," he openly lied. "I just thought-- I thought Rosie told you, so I thought you must have been asking about something else." He blurted the words without considering them and immediately felt guilty for the excuse. Of course Rosie wouldn't have told anyone; he specifically told her not to. What a convenient scapegoat.

"Yeah," he responded, furrowing his brow and choosing his words more carefully. "It's just... like I said. A lot of things happened."