[FIN] Welcome to the Jungle

[Suudonym]

Huh. He would have expected to have heard about this from his father, but apparently they still weren't on speaking terms. Good thing he hadn't gone back to Grande Ile after all, then. It seemed a little strange that she had specifically been encouraged to find Luke and Natalia, but he supposed they were simply names her father would know and trust. "I guess this probably wasn't a great introduction to the region, huh?" he said, frowning slightly. "Kodo's a great place, but the city can be a little dangerous. Be careful where you follow people, okay? Especially at night; stay near well-lit places with people around." It sounded like common sense now, but he hadn't been much more knowledgable when he had first arrived in the region.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She hesitated a bit, then shook her head as she lowered her gaze to her hands clasped firmly in her lap. "..no, no it wasn't," she admitted. Quite honestly, it was a terrible first introduction that left her with a strong desire to turn around and return to Grande Ile immediately, but she refrained from voicing that for now. Even now, despite the fact he had saved her and was waiting with her, being in the same building continued to be a steady cause of stress that greatly unnerved her.

Thoroughly chastised by his words, whether or not that was his intention, she nodded her head, gaze still lowered. "Thank you; I will." With his advice that seemed a little obvious now, it was slowly dawning on her that her actions and behavior in following a stranger like a lamb all around the city, even to its worse parts, had been quite foolish. When touring cities before, she'd normally been given a guide, so it had seemed quite obvious that she should have one here, too, and he had seemed so nice and friendly at first... She'd thought she had found herself a guide without anyone else's aid, and had initially been quite proud of herself for it. Now, all she could do was regret it.

Another realization struck her, and she looked up at him again with some distress, "I'm sorry you were hurt because of my foolishness." So, so sorry -- but the damage had been done, quite literally, and no amount of apologizing would undo it. She could only hope the injury wasn't too bad, and he would recover quickly.  

[Suudonym]

"There are a lot of good people here, though," he assured, hoping the words wouldn't fall too flat. "I'll introduce you if you want. I'm sorry your first experience with Kodo had to be something like this." He couldn't blame her if she wanted to go back on the next ship, but the thought of a Grande Insulaire leaving Kodo with such a bad impression of it didn't sit well.

Her apology received an emphatic shake of his head, "No, it's… I'm glad it was me and not you." If ever someone had to be hurt, he could only hope it was him. He was more than happy to suffer anything if it meant no one else would suffer the same.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Actually, one of the questions floating through her mind was if all people in Kodo were like these, and when he answered otherwise without her even asking, it helped ease her fears a little. Moreso, in fact, when he offered introductions. She brightened considerably, mouth opening slightly before she nodded her head. "Oh, yes please, and thank you; I would greatly appreciate that." She knew for a fact (because her parents had both told her, so it had to be true) that she could trust Lucien - Luke - without hesitation, and indeed planned to do so.


The police arrived soon after that, and arrested the two men upstairs as well as the one on the couch, and the one beneath Tartarus. The one downstairs, with his escaped Raichu and unconscious Pidgeotto, had awoken at some point before their arrival and beat a hasty retreat. Nicolette and Luke were asked a number of questions; the former treated to some uncomfortable ones while the latter was physically treated enough to ensure his continuing health before it was advised he board an ambulance to the hospital. Nicolette had wanted very much to go too, and had received a ride in a separate vehicle, and it was there, in one of the waiting rooms, that she anxiously awaited Luke's return.  

[Suudonym]

Camphoreon's hospital was almost too familiar by now, though it wasn't often that Luke visited the emergency room, let alone while conscious. Though it was only by chance that he passed his cardiologist, the exasperated woman still spared a few moments to deride him as reckless and express her hopes for his recovery. Nicolette wouldn't have to wait too terribly long before Luke was released from care, wearing a long gauze strip taped carefully over stitches - he was also without his jacket, the poor thing having had to be thrown out with the fabric all torn and bloody. Local anesthetic and general painkillers dulled the worst of the pain, though the smile with which he greeted her was weary. "Good as new, right?" he said, demonstrating the range of motion he had in the arm.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once Luke entered the waiting room, Nicolette stood immediately and moved to greet him, her expression similarly weary, but also a little anxious and uncomfortable. While she didn't know the exact condition or status of his arm and its range of motion before, she had no reason to think it wasn't fine and when he demonstrated, she nodded several times in agreement, looking quite relieved that he was, indeed, good as new. "Yes," she agreed simply, and a little eagerly. It was good to see that he would be fine, especially after such a frightening and bloody experience. One that was, she realized again, entirely her fault.

"I apologize again," she said once the thought struck her, and she folded her hands in front of her as she ducked her head again. "I put myself in danger because of my own foolishness, and endangered you as well. You didn't have to come to my aid, but you did regardless, and I... Thank you. Thank you so much," she ended as she looked up at him again, hoping her words conveyed how sincerely grateful she was that he had saved her, even at the cost of his own well-being. It moved her even more than it did just an hour or so previously, mostly because the police were happy to inform her of all the horrible things that her assailants could have done to her if Luke hadn't shown up - or could have done if Luke hadn't managed to overpower them and instead fell victim to them too. She was quite sure she'd be having nightmares tonight after all of this.  

[Suudonym]

He raised a hand to dissuade her, "You don't have to apologize. You're not responsible for what those people chose to do, or for what I chose to do." Simple words, though ones he could never manage to use to convince himself. He couldn't so easily dismiss her gratitude now, though. He had a rough understanding of what could have happened if he hadn't acted and clearly understood the source of her words. It was also kind of nice to have not messed up for once; hell, if he'd been armed, he might have even been able to prevent injury to himself. That wasn't really what was important, though.

"Anyway," he continued, preempting any argument she might have made against his rejection of her fault, "you must be tired, right? Do you want me to walk you back to where you're staying?" He wasn't comfortable with the idea of turning her loose into the night, and he couldn't imagine she would like the thought much more.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She shook her head, not to be so easily dissuaded from her apology, "No, I know that, but I'm responsible for my own choices and decisions, and if I had made different ones then this could have been avoided altogether," the girl persisted with another bow of her head. If she hadn't been quite so easily taken in, if she had even an ounce of skepticism for the motives of others... But she didn't, and hadn't even thought to. She'd grown up so used to trusting everyone in her home, family or staff or visitors, that it seemed quite natural to trust others in different places. While traveling Grande Ile, she'd been with servants who decided where to go and who to talk to. Here, while sightseeing, she had no such support.

Pushing the thoughts aside for now, she quickly latched onto his offer, and nodded her head. "Please, if you could." No, she did not want to walk around alone at night in the middle of an incredibly unfamiliar city in which she had no idea how to navigate. One hand raised to her cheek however, as she added, "I don't, um, know exactly where I'm staying.. They told me the address, of course, and some vague directions, but those were from the dock and I don't really... know this city at all, so..." She trailed off, her cheeks flushing as she realized how awful that sounded - moving to a new city, getting in such an awful situation on the first day and not even knowing where she was going to live. "Ah, sorry..."  

[Suudonym]

He breathed a light sigh, his features taking on some seriousness. "Don't blame yourself for things that can't be changed. It's a mental trap you really don't want to get caught in. If you regret what happened, learn from it so you can prevent it from happening again." There was a weight to his tone that suggested the words came from a very personal origin.

He nodded in response to her request, "I know the city pretty well. I can probably figure it out from the directions." As long as it wasn't too deep in the suburban residential area, he would probably be able to find at least the general area. He'd been exploring the city for a couple years, after all. He shrugged, offering an amiable smile, "Don't worry about it. When I first came here, I didn't have a place to stay or know how to get one, I didn't know how to order food in restaurants, I wandered around and got lost a lot, and I still survived all the way up to this point. You'll be fine."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At the seriousness of his tone, she bowed her head again and nodded, refraining from continuing the argument. "Alright. I will," she said, then added after a short pause, "thank you." She definitely wanted to learn from it, and hopefully prevent anything like it from happening again.

"You do?" She asked, brightening considerably. But of course he did - he'd been here for a couple of years now, it made perfect sense for him to know his way around the city, especially if he lived here. Thus, she imparted to him her address that had previously been drilled into her head, and whatever vague directions had been given to her before she'd been left to her own devices.

Once out of the hospital and onto the sidewalks, Nicolette happily followed Luke's lead and picked up the conversation again. "I don't know that I'd be able to figure out how to get housing - Father made all the preparations for everything when I was still home in Grande Ile. I'm to stay here for about six months, I believe," she informed him with a single, brief nod as if to affirm her own words, then her cheeks flushed lightly as she admitted, "And I will more than likely get lost at least quite a bit, but thank you so very much; I greatly appreciate your help," the young noble said, her tones sincere and full of gratitude. Without him as her guide, she might have wandered around lost all night, at best. At worst, a situation similar to the one she'd just gotten out of (also with Luke's help) could happen.

Her thoughts unintentionally drifted back to that, and instead of focusing on the negatives, she instead latched onto another point. "Hey," she began, turning an inquiring look at her company, "you have quite a few pokemon." Granted she'd only seen a couple for sure, but she'd heard others, and that was a lot more than most people had in Grande Ile. "Why do you have so many?"  

[Suudonym]

He more or less understood the intent of the directions - it helped that he was aware of the locations of most of the residential areas - and lead at a leisurely pace towards the listed destination. For now he still had his mobility, but he dreaded trying to remove himself from bed the next day. He doubted all that kicking in doors would be terribly kind to his joints.

"Just until winter, huh?" he concluded, mildly surprised. That seemed like an awfully short length of time to justify moving to another country, but apparently it was something her father had decided. "That's not a whole lot of time even just to get familiar with the city… I guess it would be fine if you had a map, though." Luke had not had a map at his disposal in his early days residing in Kodo. He had relied exclusively on instinct, luck, and the kindness of strangers. It hadn't worked out well very often.

The question about his pokemon was unexpected, and he answered with a shrug, "Well, they're useful. For most of my life I only had my Flareon, Mieu, but pokemon training is much more common here than in Grande Ile. I guess I just kind of started to accumulate a team without realizing it, and, well…" A moment's hesitation. "Sometimes things are dangerous, and having a trained pokemon as a companion to help out can make all the difference."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yes, and then I'll return home for the winter holidays, and the parties." Holiday parties full of politics and not much else. Mention of how short a time it was made her hesitate before she nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is a short time for that, but I don't know that I'd move here for good. I've been traveling a little, you see, and this is part of that. Or it's supposed to be, I think." In which case, six months to tour an island seemed a little long to her, but not by much. She assumed, for all intents and purposes, that after the new year she would move to another region. "Ooh! A map would be most helpful. Do you know where I could acquire one?" While it might be a little annoying to carry everywhere, having a map to reference would make a great deal of difference, and would hopefully help her learn the city better while she was here.

While she wasn't sure what a Flareon was, she nodded all the same. "I just have a Rapidash, Epona. Father got her years ago from a breeder in Fleuraison, and she's a trained companion, definitely," the young noble supplied quite readily, "but I don't think training her for riding is really the same thing as pokemon training..." How Luke's pokemon had acted earlier was definitely quite different than how Epona acted, but she'd never behaved in such a way towards people or other pokemon. Then again, she'd never really had to, either. But now, after having been in the middle of a dangerous situation herself and found herself entirely helpless, she couldn't deny the fact that his trained pokemon had been infinitely useful even if she wanted to.  

[Suudonym]

He made a face. "Yeah, I'll have to go back too," because he had no doubt he would be hearing from his father about it eventually, "though calling those little political get-togethers parties is kind of a stretch." He nodded at her furthered explanation, "Makes sense. Kodo and Grande Ile seem to have a pretty strong relationship these days." Strong enough that boats ran between them daily, at least. The question of the map drew a thoughtful hum, "Maybe a bookstore? Or someplace by the pier, at the dock for arrivals. The Grande Insulaire embassy might be able to set you up too, but I'm not as sure of that…" They probably had better things to do than pass out maps to tourists.

"A Rapidash," he repeated. "I have some friends who train Rapidash. Riding and battling are pretty different, but… I'm not sure, maybe the training overlaps in places…" He frowned in contemplation. "If you're interested, I can ask and see if she'd talk to you about it. I've never owned a Rapidash, so there's not a lot I can say about it myself." It was likely obvious from his conclusions that Luke strongly advocated training pokemon for battle. A Rapidash would have made for a powerful ally in the earlier predicament, but only if it was ready and willing to attack and defend.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, yes - House Fabre has its annual Christmas party, doesn't it? 'Party' I suppose," she amended, putting emphasis and mild air quotes on the word. "I understand though, Father does the same to our shared birthday party in spring every year," the young noble said in jokingly conspiratorial tones. The list of places at which she could acquire a map were eagerly committed to memory, and she even went so far as to repeat them so she wouldn't forget. "Bookstore, pier, embassy - alright." A map was definitely important.

"Oh! Do you?" Friends who trained Rapidash here... "Do you mean friends from Kodo? Are they commoners?" She wasn't exactly sure what her father would say or think if she were to regularly interact or even befriend commoners, but as far as she could tell, Kodo's government was entirely different and appeared to lack nobility like Grande Ile had, so... "Oh, oh yes! I would love to meet her," Nicolette said brightly. If this girl rode and trained, then perhaps she'd be the best one to speak to. "What do you know of training?" This topic was very much preferred over brooding over the events earlier in the evening, and Nicolette was therefore determined to stick to it as long as possible.  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah," he affirmed, though he'd gotten out of attending that annual party for the past couple of years, thankfully. "All that political stuff gets so old, though. It's a shame you weren't here for the city's spring festival. That was way more of a party than anything Parliament put on."

He nodded, though her question caught him entirely off guard, and his expression was temporarily baffled. "Common-- Uh, they're… not nobility, if that's what you mean? Being from a noble house here doesn't really mean anything, though." That was something he had quickly learned, after having his full name go perfectly without reaction time and again. Her enthusiasm for meeting Rosie was something he could respond to more surely, though, "Okay, I'll get in touch with her. Are you busy tomorrow?"

As someone who had been training pokemon for a while, had gone to Hoenn and won a badge, and had signed up for a battle competition intending to compete in as many matches as possible, Luke was completely unprepared to give any kind of coherent answer to such a broad answer. "It's like… training pokemon to be able to fight, I guess. They have a selection of moves, and you work with them to get better at using those moves, and there's strategy involved too, and they compete against each other to get stronger…" This was not really coming out right at all, was it? "Sorry, for being a trainer myself, I can't really explain it very well. Rosie would probably be able to tell you a lot more; she's been training for a long time." He hoped she would feel up to meeting Nicolette, though. If it was Rosie, she would probably agree even if she didn't feel like it…