[PRP] Looking Ahead

[Suudonym]

"I mean you yourself," he said, gesturing with a hand. "Parliament makes the final decisions on things, but they're not the only people who have a say in anything, so even if you're not the head of your house you could still contribute." He shrugged, wearing a smile in encouragement. "I mean hey, if you wanted to, you could even form and lead the committee advocating the introduction of pokemon training."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Such a thought hadn't occurred to her, and the girl's eyebrows raised a bit in surprise, her cheeks gaining a pink tinge as well at the thought of creating and leading any sort of committee. "Oh, no, I don't think I could do that," she replied hastily, shaking her head to emphasize that she couldn't do such a thing. There were a variety of reasons why that wouldn't be possible, though she wasn't sure if it was appropriate to enumerate them. "I mean, I would love to join such a committee and help it as much as I'm able, but I wouldn't form one myself."  

[Suudonym]

He nodded, "Fair enough." That kind of complicated bureaucracy wasn't suited to just anyone, after all, and Nicolette's sweet, passive demeanor probably wasn't ideal for a position of aggressive leadership. "I wonder if having that kind of committee wouldn't be useful," he said, the thought lingering. "I'm sure the League would want to see that there's some interest in training before setting up facilities… At the very least, you could teach people about training, right?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Luke was entirely correct; Nicolette was not even remotely suited to be in any sort of leadership position. But still, there was merit in considering such a committee - just so long as she wasn't in charge of it. "It sounds like such a thing would be useful in multiple ways," she mused aloud, tilting her head a little. "Though I've no idea how one could be started... Would the Pokemon League need to be consulted beforehand, do you think?" She'd never entertained these thoughts about anything else before, let alone acted on them, and thus she had no idea where they could even begin. It presented an excellent opportunity to go research and learn, though.  

[Suudonym]

He hummed thoughtfully, "I don't think so - not as a matter of obligation, at least. It might be good in the long run to let them know beforehand what we're trying to accomplish, though, just so they're aware. Or… it might be better not to bring it to their attention until pokemon training has already gained some momentum… I'm not sure." All he was sure of was that it seemed like way too complicated a situation for a single person to try to puzzle out.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well, if nothing else, it was exceedingly obvious that Luke was almost as clueless about this as Nicolette was, which made her both happy and disappointed. At least she wasn't the only one that had no idea how to start any of this. "It sounds like a good opportunity to learn more about how to start committees, and look into what causes the Pokemon League to become active in a particular region," she suggested with a smile. Could they find out any of that in the library? She certainly hoped they could; she loved the library.  

[Suudonym]

"It sounds like an awful lot of work," he countered with a laugh. "I guess that's why there aren't a whole lot of politicians, huh?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His laugh was met with a giggle of her own, and she nodded her head a little. "Yes, it does," she agreed, "and that very well could be. But, it would be an excellent learning opportunity!"  

[Suudonym]

She may not have been ideal for a position of leadership, but she was at least earnest and diligent, and those seemed like valuable traits for anyone pursuing anything related to politics - though he wasn't sure yet whether that was indeed a field she was expressing interest in or if he had just led her into it with his own thoughts. "That much is true," he said, shrugging lightly. "You never know what kind of information might come in handy." Not that he was particularly fond of learning for the sake of learning himself, but he wasn't about to dampen her enthusiasm because of that.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette opened her mouth to reply but the oven timer sounded, startling the girl and making her jump. "Oh!" What was.. "Oh, the poffins must be finished!" The words had scarcely left her lips before she hastily stood, disturbing Agnes in the process, but the Swablu simply fluttered down to rest on the back of the chair again. The girl spoke as she carefully retrieved the baked goods from the oven, "I would love to go to the library sometime to see what information I can find about such things. I can let you know if I find anything," she added brightly, already beginning to make plans to do so immediately. Well, not right now immediately, since right now she was removing poffins so they could cool, but maybe later that day or tomorrow. Yes, that sounded good.

A small gasp announced either she'd hurt herself or thought of an idea, and her following statement gave evidence that it was merely the latter, "I wonder if they have any books on baking poffins!"  

[Suudonym]

Curiosity compelled Luke to stand and move to join Nicolette, resting a hand on the counter, to check and see if the recipe had panned out properly. "I'd appreciate it," he replied in answer to her suggestion. "Once we have some more information maybe we can talk to the League and see where it goes from there." Even if the League wouldn't consider installing itself in Grande Ile, he still wanted to try to introduce training. It felt like there was so much to be gained.

"Probably," he said, a smile responding to her enthusiasm. "If not, you can always copy the recipes you like from the book I have. As for these," he looked to the tray of pastry breads, "they look like they turned out all right. Do you want to try one?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Luke stood to join her at the counter, the girl was suddenly both absolutely elated and close to tears. The action of standing and walking just a couple feet was normally overlooked, but it was but a short time ago that Luke couldn't even do that. The sacrifice he made in order to protect Rosie, to save her life, had rendered him paralyzed - a fact which had driven the young noble to tears quite a few times both because of his noble actions and because of the terrible price he paid. Now, though, the paralysis had worn off, a thought which never occurred to Nicolette until she'd heard the news, and since then her tears had gone from forlorn to joyful; thankfully now, though, she didn't cry about it anymore. Or, well, as much.

"Ah, yes," she said at length, bringing herself back to the present as she finished transferring the poffins to a cooling rack, "that sounds like a wonderful plan." She'd have to go to the library to look into things as much as she could, preferably soon.

"Oh!" She lifted her face to him, her eyes wide and hopeful. "Can I? That would be absolutely wonderful, and I would greatly appreciate it!" While she preferred to have the books themselves, having the recipes from a book was the next best thing, especially from Luke. The poffins they made using one of the recipes from his book had, she agreed, turned out wonderfully. Or, at least, they looked like it. "Try one?" She echoed uncertainly, looking down to the pastries again. They were specifically labeled as treats for pokemon, after all. "Can we...? I mean, aren't they for pokemon?" But then, all the ingredients were berries or various other ingredients used in other baked goods for people, so perhaps they were fine for them to eat...  

[Suudonym]

"Sure," he said, wearing encouragement in his features. "They're pretty much just normal sweet rolls, but they use berries instead of fruit or sweeteners." Or that was the impression he had of them, at least. From his experience, they were as edible to people as they were to pokemon.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

That was more than enough encouragement for her; she fully trusted Luke's judgement and logic, so with a nod she gingerly tested the temperature of the rolls by hovering one small hand above them. They were still quite warm, possibly too warm to eat just yet... She peered up at Luke (and attempted not to be too excited again about the fact that he was standing) to ask, "Would you like to try one too? I can tear one in half," she suggested.

Pascal had at some point latched himself onto Nicolette's leg, trying and failing to yank on any article of her clothing to get her attention - tights were difficult to get a firm grip on, especially with paws - so instead he settled on pressing his forehead to her leg and shaking his head back and forth. A quiet, elongated wail escaped him, and though he tried for it to sound demanding and upset, it mostly sounded like a pathetic, begging whine because holy Arceus there were baked goods and they smelled so delicious and why were they not in his mouth yet?

Agnes was much more patient than the Buneary, though in her excitement she'd hopped over to the chair closest to the counter to perch on, and leaned forward as far as she could, her green eyes wide as she stared at the treats.  

[Suudonym]

"Sure," he agreed with a nod, noticing the hovering way she evaluated the temperature. "Maybe wait just a minute for them to cool off, though. No sense in burning our hands. Right, Pascal?" His tone took on a slightly accusatory characteristic as he looked down at the impatient Buneary with a knowing smile.