[Fin] Fresh Inspiration

[BlackFireKitsune]

"A priority?" She echoed, her eyebrows raising in curiosity. Why was moving to Kodo a priority? Either way she followed his gaze and his look to the free table, and in response she smiled, nodded, and began heading in that direction, and sat herself down upon arriving. Cassandra busied herself under the table, and the sound of chair legs scraping against flooring floated up from beneath as one of the chairs moved backwards a bit, then scooted back a bit more - and suddenly the Sylveon had slipped up and sat herself quite gracefully atop the chair, looking for all the world as if there was no better place for the fairy-type to sit.

"Nope, not just you," Alice replied with a light giggle, continuing on without commenting on her Sylveon's behavior. Such behavior was, for her, quite normal. "I think it's quite interesting! To be fair though, we've only, ah, been in Camphoreon so far," she admitted a tad sheepishly. "It's smaller than Lumiose, though it seems... Busier, I think?" The girl frowned as she tried to find the right words. "More alive, almost. Lumiose is more picturesque, if, um, that makes sense," she ended, figuring it better to quit while she was ahead rather than try to keep limping along that train of thought she couldn't finish. "So let me turn that around - what do you think of Kodo so far?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Heh. Taavi smiled at Cassandra; look at her sitting like a proper little lady, adorable! "Um, ah, priority, yeah," Taavi carefully swung his bag down onto the ground and then sat down at the table. "It uh.... Well I came to see the Egg of Arceus to be honest, but from what you're saying it sounds like a nice city to live in! I like busy cities, so long as I can get out of them for a break from all the bustle too. As to what I think...." Taavi trailed off and had a proper look around at their surroundings before continuing with; "Well it has at least one nice cafe! And the island looks beautiful from out in the ocean, I'd love to go and visit those mountains sometime soon! And Sandalwood City, it sounds a lot like a scaled up version of Fortree City in Hoenn. I spent quite a bit of time around there, and I always loved the atmosphere.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Cassandra was a proper little lady, thank you very much! Almost to prove that point - or perhaps to show off to a stranger how well mannered and civilized she was, as was more likely - the Sylveon reached a feeler forward to pull one of the table menus over to her to study it. She had absolutely no idea what any of the words said, but she pretended to pore over it nonetheless. At least there were a few pictures.

Taking a cue from her fairy-type, Alice reached for two menus as well, one for herself and one she passed to Taavi. "Did you really?" She asked as she opened it, looking at him in interest rather than looking at the menu now that he'd broached that particular subject. "That's the reason my father wanted to come here, too! He's been so excited about it ever since he heard about it," she said with a warm, amused smile as she turned her focus to the menu in her hands. "It is a nice cafe - I almost forgot, we have to go order food ourselves at the counter and then seat ourselves, but that obviously doesn't need to be done in order - and from what I saw of the island from the ocean when I arrived, it does look beautiful! Mountains aren't really my cup of tea," the girl admitted rather sheepishly, "but Sandalwood seems like it would be so pretty to see! I've never been to Hoenn or Fortree City, but it sounds like they're similar? Is Fortree built in trees as well?" She hazarded; it sounded like it, but it would be nice to receive clarification on it.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, really? Cool!" Taavi grinned and shrugged. "Heh, yeah, chalk me up as nerding out as much as your Dad is then. And yeah, it is. Heh. There's a lot of going up and down ladders in Fortree, I don't know if Sandalwood is the same or if they've built it to be a bit more ah... access friendly? Humm." Taavi looked at the menu thoughtfully, scanning for something that checked all the boxes of 'cheap' 'filling' and 'tasty'. Reasonably healthy would be nice as well but that was kind of wishful thinking there. "Um, you've eaten here before?" he asked with a glance up at Alice. "Is there anything that's especially good?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Alice beamed. "It's a cool thing to nerd out about though! He's a little disappointed he hasn't felt any of its effects yet - none of us have - but he's still holding out hope he'll get the ability sometime soon. Ladders and homes in trees... It sounds so lovely," the girl said brightly, and her gaze unfocused - or rather, she focused on a spot across the cafe that held absolutely nothing in particular - as her mind wandered and her words continued. "Like a tree fort town! And Sandalwood is similar; we really should go sometime, it must be beautiful, especially in spring or summer when all the trees have leaves, and the flowers..." What she wouldn't give to go there and take pictures to paint from! She'd have to convince her father to let her borrow his Pidgeot - or have him take the both of them there - for a quick trip of something. The location, all the nature they surely lived in, all the flowers they must have, and the pokemon...! During spring or early summer would probably be best, but fall probably had its charms too; especially during midday with the sun shining through the trees with spots of light dancing across the grass! And the pokemon, too, it would be such a beautiful picture to paint, and the possibilities were endless! She'd need more green paint first, of course, but--

"Syl," Cassie interjected suddenly, stretching a feeler out and wiggling it in front of her trainer's face.

The girl came back to the present - back to the city, back to the cafe and the table they were sitting at - with a visible start. "Oh!" She said, "oh, sorry, I was daydreaming again." Alice smiled at Cassandra and looked to Taavi as she tried desperately to recall what he had said while she'd been daydreaming. Unfortunately, she'd been too distracted and hadn't heard him at all, but fortunately Cassandra had, so the Sylveon rolled her eyes and tapped at Alice's menu with a feeler. "Oh! The menu? Is that what you asked, about the menu? I'm sorry, I -- I'm afraid I, um, distracted myself a bit," the girl admitted as her face reddened considerably.

Cassandra dropped her face into a feeler in her own version of a facepalm.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aww. Yes, he liked Alice! While she was off in her own little world - it looked like a happy place from her expression - Taavi scanned the menu a bit more and then worked a braid into his thick hair. People always looked best when they were talking or thinking about something that made them happy, it was like there was a light that went on inside them that made anyone look lovely and Alice was pretty to start with.

When the white-haired young woman returned to reality Taavi grinned and shook his head. "Oh don't apologise! It looked like a good daydream. I hope I get the ability soon too, and if it's anything like Fortree Sandalwood must be beautiful in any season! Like, you're walking down a busy boardwalk but the sun is dappled through the leaves of trees and everything smells alive? There's no sound of traffic, just people and pokemon and sometimes bicycle bells!" Taavi was still beaming and gesturing lightly to illustrate as he spoke. "In the spring you get blossom falling all around you, then in the summer the leaves shelter you from the harshness of the sun. When it comes to autumn everything bursts into colour and you can catch the smell of hot apple cider from the little stalls, and then in the winter everything looks like a greetings card! Heh. Yeah, forest cities are pretty great; if not for The Egg being here I'd probably want to settle there. Much as I like the coast, a city that connected to nature just has a lot of appeal for me."

Woah, enough ramble Taavi! "Ahaha, sorry, now I'm distracting myself! Yeah, I asked if you knew anything on the menu that was really good? But not too expensive. Ehehe. I've got to get a place to live and a job and all here."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Taavi went on, the blush in her cheeks slowly vanished and her eyes eventually grew to the size of saucers, and at one point she clenched her hands into fists over her menu. "Yes! Oh, yes, that sounds absolutely beautiful and heavenly, and oh! There must be so many flowers blooming everywhere in the spring; flowering bushes around the trees, vines curling around the trees, flowers growing around the houses and in pots along the walkways, and ohh I bet it's gorgeous!" Her hands clenched again in her excitement. Oh, they had to go. Absolutely had to, at least once in every season and for several days each so she could get good shots at all times of day.

"Oh, um, sorry," her cheeks reddened again, "I guess I'm not helping to, uh, not distract you. Oh! But yes, the menu," she agreed with a nod, scooted her chair closer to his and began pointing out various things on it that were both cheap and delicious, though obviously biased towards her own personal preferences in flavors.