[PRP]

[Suudonym]

It was important to be aware of one's surroundings, and so it was important to familiarize oneself with those surroundings when encountering a new place. That was one thing Corinne always appreciated about navigating cities: The most important messages were always committed to signs hung in highly visible locations. She moved at a leisurely pace as she took in the sights, a burgandy-vested Growlithe pup walking alongside her with its ears flicked forward and its eyes attentive. Sandalwood was large and beautiful; it almost felt more like a nature reserve than a city. It was peculiar traversing a town suspended from the ground, though - peculiar, and a little uncomfortable - so she started in search of some way to reach the city's ground level. Ten minutes later, this endeavor found far not only from her destination and her own home but also from any landmark she could have recognized. The girl pursed her lips and looked around critically to no avail. The Growlithe pawed at her questioningly, and she replied in a few quick gestures,  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sandalwood will always have a constant battle with visibility, except perhaps, Abigail thought to herself as she walked along the city's bridges and suspended walkways above its sparse streets, a Buneary bouncing along after her excitedly while a much calmer Lopunny followed after its offspring to ensure it didn't accidentally tumble over an edge, except perhaps in winter. I think a good many of these trees will lose their leaves in winter. I wonder how that would look?

As she walked, the woman was attempting to memorize where she was going and which buildings were where, and where everything was and if she were to look in any particular direction, could she spot anything else of note -- basically, she was also trying to familiarize herself with the maze of natural and man-made wooden structures. It would be foolish not to, considering her recent acquisition of such a nice apartment within the city limits. It was, at least, rather close to the heart of the city, and she therefore had a great deal of landmarks with which to remember its exact location. The map of Sandalwood she'd gotten was also helpful. She didn't need it constantly though, not for wandering around the city and attempting to learn landmarks, so it typically remained in her purse. Once in a while she'd stop, pull it out along with a pen, make a note of some sort, then replace both before continuing on her way.

It was immediately after one such stop that she saw a small girl - the back of one that had on a very familiar style of dress, to be precise - looking around as if she were trying to find something before making some unseen gesture at the Growlithe beside her. Her mind swiftly made up, Abigail approached the pair, although she paid significantly less attention to the Growlithe than she otherwise might have. "Hello there," she said warmly, "are you lost?"  

[Suudonym]

The Growlithe noticed the stranger's approach before its trainer, who continued to survey the surrounding area's various street signs, and acquired the girl's attention by raising a paw to her leg. Corinne followed her pokemon's indications to notice the woman as she finished saying something. From her perception of the only word she managed to glean, "lost," alongside the stranger's kind expression and the fact that she went out of her way to approach, she assumed she was being offered assistance for her rather conspicuous out-of-placeness. She reached a hand up to tap her ear, her other hand drawing a sleek phone from her pocket and deftly thumbing out a message. Her brief task complete, she turned the device to display the screen, offering a warm smile as she did, 'I'm deaf, but I can read your lips as long as you face me. If you're offering help in finding my way around this place, I would certainly appreciate it. I'm a bit new around here.' It was always a bit of a struggle figuring out how much to say in that critical first message, and she hoped she wasn't speaking with one of those people who would see the word "deaf" and immediately bolt in the opposite direction.

The Growlithe, meanwhile, stood dutifully nearby, sizing up the unfamiliar woman and her pokemon. None looked or felt especially malicious, but one could never be too careful, especially in a new environment...  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Any confusion she might have had at the girl's lack of initial response was cleared up quite effectively by several things in quick succession, namely: The Growlithe's actions to get her attention, her tap at one ear, typing a message on her phone (during which Abigail's eyes traveled over the fire-type and its vest which she wondered how she missed it before), and finally the message that eliminated any residual confusion or wonderings. She leaned in slightly to read it better, squinting very slightly as she did so - possibly because the sun hit it at the wrong angle and made it difficult to read, or possibly because her eyesight was getting poor. Either way, once finished, a look of realization and understanding transformed her countenance from one of uncertainty, and she straightened up and offered her a smile again.

As she opened her mouth to speak again, she frowned and rethought the decision, instead opting to fish around in her purse briefly for the pen she'd had previously and a small pad of paper. The top sheet had various notes on it, but she flipped it over and quickly wrote a response instead. It'd probably be a lot easier than reading lips for the poor girl - that and she felt it'd feel just plain odd to have a conversation in which only one of the participants communicated verbally.

While the Lopunny stopped obediently behind his owner, the young Buneary did not, and instead hopped between his owner's legs (and out of reach of the frustrated Lopunny's paws) and landed in front of the Growlithe and the new girl. He tilted his head, peering up at both curiously, and his small nose twitched as he sniffed at the fire-type. His posture and behavior spoke absolutely nothing of hostile or any other threatening intentions - indeed, he was much too curious to even passingly consider such a foreign behavior.

Her note written, she turned the paper towards the girl for her to read. 'I did ask if you were lost. I'm still new here too; I moved to Kodo ~2 weeks ago. I can try and help, but the map I got last week would probably help more, if you'd like to see it.'  

[Suudonym]

The squinting didn't go unnoticed, and when she retracted the device, she promptly turned up the screen's backlighting and contrast to better stand up to the sunlight. As convenient as it was to type into her phone, it was hardly without flaws. There wasn't much to be done about that, though, but to adapt as much as possible and tolerate the remaining inconveniences. She at least wasn't being brushed off, so that was a huge plus. Even better when the woman conveyed her response to pen and paper; it was certainly easier to read writing than lips, though Corinne understood little of the idiosyncrasy of being the only person vocalizing in a conversation.

The Growlithe continued to watch the other pokemon as their owner wrote, especially the Buneary that pressed forward to investigate. She extended her muzzle slightly to acquaint herself with the normal-type, finding its behavior adequately harmless.

A slight, lingering hesitation faded as Corinne read the words that were conveyed, and she quickly keyed out her response, smiling, 'A map would be a clever idea, wouldn't it? Not sure why I didn't think to pick up one of those for myself. I'm looking for my way to ground level, if you and/or your map could help.'  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When the screen was presented to her once again, she was pleasantly surprised to find she could read it much easier than before, although she still had to lean in a bit so the words wouldn't look quite so small. While text size could also be changed, making it larger would result in having to scroll through messages of similar length and that would be just another inconvenience. When finished, Abigail straightened up with a smile and began to write on her notepad again. Partway through her response she paused as a third person walked by them, and she was quickly reminded that they were, in fact, standing smack dab in the middle of a walkway. She resumed her writing with a small frown, began to offer it to the girl, thought better and retracted, hastily adding something to the end of the message before turning it towards her again with a smile. 'Mine's been invaluable, especially because I can mark it or make notes' there is a clear break here, likely where the person walked by, 'when necessary. I think I know how to get down from here; it'd be better than standing in the middle of this walkway.'

'Oh, my name is Abigail. What's yours?'

The Buneary seemed delighted when the Growlithe reacted in kind, so he stood on his toes to get a better whiff of the fire-type. The Lopunny, however, seemed anxious, likely mostly because the Buneary was out of reach and he couldn't move around his trainer in that direction.  

[Suudonym]

First encounters always made her sort of nervous. Taking the time to stop and read or write messages or wait for a message to be written wasn't something people seemed to be used to in conversation, and it was hard not to feel like an inconvenience to them. It didn't seem to be too much of a bother so far, though.

She nodded ambiently at the appraisal of the usefulness of maps and nodded again, more clearly and enthusiastically at the suggestion to head down and out of the middle of the thoroughfare, lesser used though it seemed to be. Her eyes traced out the name recorded to the paper, her hand moving quietly though the appropriate letters of the alphabet to spell it out for herself and better commit it to memory. This done, she returned her gaze to Abigail's, smiling brightly. She raised her hand, forming what could be presumed to be two letters in an arc that brought her thumb to her chest. Her other hand prepared a message as she did so, and she displayed it for her company to read, 'Corinne. A pleasure to meet you!'

The Growlithe arched her neck around the Buneary as it stretched to have a better look. She'd never seen one of the little rabbit pokemon before. She took a moment to duck her head and have a look at the Lopunny as well; she didn't detect any hostility in its behavior, but it seemed overtly nervous. The fire-type tilted her head quizzically.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While Abigail was not, like most, used to stopping and having conversations in person via writing or typing, she did not seem bothered in the least. The only thing that did bother her about the whole thing was that they'd stopped to have such a conversation in the middle of a walkway. She didn't miss the girl's hand moving while she read what she'd written, and she watched the hand gesturing very carefully - although she had no idea what it meant - but that was soon rectified with the short message. "Corinne," she said aloud as she read it, then beamed as she studied the girl's face briefly to commit both her name and face to memory. Saying things aloud tended to help remember them better. It also helped that it was a French name she'd heard occasionally whilst going through school in Grand Ile, so she knew how it was supposed to be pronounced. Making a mental note to bring that up later - as well as her Growlithe - Abigail made a half-pointing, half come-this-way gesture back the way she came, then turned to head that way. Stopping to write out 'we need to go this way' would only take time when a simple (sort of) gesture would do.

As soon as Abigail moved, the Buneary turned to watch and before he could move, the Lopunny had scooped him up into his paws and seemed infinitely calmer. This lasted all of two steps before the small pokemon wriggled free and bounded off on all fours after his trainer. The Lopunny started slightly before jogging to try and catch up.

Abigail seemed to pay no mind to the bunnies following her, although she did pause briefly a couple times to make sure Corinne and her Growlithe were following. She almost attempted to start spoken idle conversation while they were walking, but caught herself at the last minute and refrained. Whoops.

The way Abigail was headed took them down one or two walkways and around several buildings, but closer to one of the larger structures was a staircase leading down to the ground below. The woman was very glad she'd remembered where it was, but it would've been hard not to - they were actually fairly close to where her apartment was located. She paused at the top of the stairs to make sure Corinne was still there, then descended. The Buneary paused there too, and the Lopunny caught up and scooped him up again, but this time the small rabbit pokemon refrained from escaping, instead allowing his evolution to carry him down the stairs. The Lopunny did so quite readily, carrying him in one arm while the other was outstretched, a paw on the railing to steady himself.  

[Suudonym]

She nodded at the gesture and followed dutifully, watching the rabbits' antics with some amusement - if not a small sense of pity for the obviously stressed out Lopunny. She proceeded at a pace that carried her just slightly behind Abigail, her Growlithe walking alertly beside her with its ears twitching at each sound with the efficiency of a Zubat. The temperature cooled as they descended below the city's more prominent architecture, the lowermost level only occasionally dappled with filtered sunlight. Corinne noted the Lopunny's continued protective efforts as well as the Buneary's eventual compliance. It certainly seemed they were closer than just at the evolutionary level.

The area that eventually opened up seemed to primarily useful to those traveling; a wide road to connect it with other towns ran along the ground as well as a parking garage for the city's driving residents and visitors. A sign indicated that the hospital was a ways further into the infrastructure, and a few other basics such as convenience stores and a police box were scattered around. It was a very useful place to be aware of, to be certain. It also had, however, the distinctive air of a place that would be nice to be alone.

Still taking in what she could see of the area, Corinne wrote into the empty air, Remembering that her company was not versed in the language, she converted her thoughts into legible writing, 'Do you know if there's some kind of park down here? It seems like a good place for one.'  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The motion of Corinne's hands caught her attention, although she felt rather bad that she hadn't an inkling of what the girl was trying to say. Thankfully though, the offered phone spelled it out for her perfectly. A look of realization passed over her features, and she silently began to dig around in her purse for the map she'd gotten. A park had been one of her first things to look up - apart from a grocery store and other obvious necessities, of course - and she remembered seeing it on the map and making a more prominent mark on it, but couldn't remember where either were in regards to their current position. She spread the map out and held it in such a way that Corinne would easily be able to see it as well. The park was a large green shape, which on normal maps would easily stand out, but on this one, practically everything was green. Abigail had taken a black marker to it though, and circled the area labeled 'park' so that it stood out quite readily. She found it almost immediately, but she was more looking for where they were currently in regards to the map. It was all well and good to know where the park was, but they kind of needed to know where they were before they could make any progress towards their probable destination - she wasn't sure if Corinne meant she wanted to go there now or just know there was one.  

[Suudonym]

Corinne leaned forward and studied the map closely, observing the various marks that had been added to its surface as well as the labels that existed as a part of its design. On paper, Sandalwood looked much bigger than it felt. Maybe she just hadn't explored properly, though. It was said to be Kodo's biggest city, after all.

Noting the indication of the park, Corinne surveyed the surrounding landmarks on the map and turned her violet eyes to their surroundings, her gaze darting around searchingly for a point of reference. The infrastructure, at least, seemed logical once one had some objective impression of it. She at least felt a little more confident in her ability to navigate on her own - which reminded her that Abigail had stopped and gone out of her way to help and probably had other places to be. She translated her thoughts into text, daring to be a little bit forward, 'Thank you. I'm feeling much better about getting around now.' A line break to separate the thoughts. 'Are you busy right now? I'm curious about Sandalwood and Kodo, and I would appreciate any insight you have.' She remembered that Abigail was still fairly new herself, but she was at least less new than Corinne. Any evaluations that could be offered would be useful.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Abigail read the text, her countenance brightened considerably at the prospect of possibly exploring, or at the very least discussing, the layout of Sandalwood and its various points of interest. Perhaps they could begin in the park? She folded the map in half and held it in one hand while she dug out her notepad and pen again, holding the pad in the same hand as the map and the pen in the other. It was still held in such a way that Corinne could very easily see what she was writing as she wrote it.

'I'm very glad to have been helpful to you.' She paused briefly to think of her next few words before continuing on beneath the previous sentence, 'I have no definite plans for today, if that's what you mean - I would love to talk more with you.' Another, fairly longer pause before she added underneath all of the words thus far, 'Did you want to head to the park?' Parks had benches and picnic tables anyway, which would be much more conducive to conversations being held on paper.  

[Suudonym]

Corinne raised her hands to clap once - gently, out of acknowledgment for the phone that was still in one of those hands - and communicated her response, 'That would be excellent! I would love to.' She stole another searching glance at the map and its marks, noting the approximate course they would need to take in order to reach the park. This accomplished, she nodded, turned on her heel, and started towards their destination at a pace that would not separate her from her company's side. After being so alienated from her... what should she even call them, exactly? hosts?, it was refreshing to meet someone who was willing to be a little inconvenienced in conversation with her. The Growlithe, easily picking up on her trainer's high spirits, trotted alongside the group in a similar mood.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The ex-breeder smiled brightly at Corinne's silent display of excitement - or she assumed it was excitement, it was, at the very least, a great eagerness - and at the girl's typed words she simply nodded. It wouldn't be prudent to write a response when they were to shortly head towards the park, and so she settled for a much easier, quicker form of response. When Corinne looked at the map again, however briefly, Abigail quickly caught the glance and hastened to open it again for her ease of perusal. It seemed she didn't need to see it long at all before setting off in a specific direction, and the older woman followed her quite readily, although she quickly replaced all her things in her purse while they walked.

Bounding along beside them was Finn, quite happy to pause long enough for Duncan to try and pounce him, only to suddenly jump out of reach at the last second. The Buneary appeared to possess a quick reaction time that the Lopunny quite obviously lacked, though that could also be due to the age of the latter. He wasn't nearly as young as he used to be, and he didn't look young by any means, not at all like the small, energetic Buneary. Abigail didn't watch the zigzagging pair, instead preferring, when not focusing on where they were going, to study the Growlithe. It looked very well trained, for one thing - which was to be expected, considering the circumstances - and very well bred, also, though that particular fire-type hadn't been part of breeding stock.

As they traveled, strategic but partially obscured signs indicated they were getting nearer to the park, which verified Corinne's chosen path as the correct one. Abigail could only tell - minus the signs - that they had entered the park because the potential road gave way to small winding paths, and the large buildings built into the trees gave way to pure, untouched foliage that allowed light in much better than the large structures usually built into the city. That and a number of benches, picnic tables, and various play things for smaller children were pretty good hints, as well. Abigail studied the park briefly - she'd been here once or twice before, so it wasn't brand new to her - before she focused on Corinne. She offered the young girl a one-handed gesture that usually meant 'after you,' hoping that she would recognize it as such and go first, therefore deciding where they should go. This was, after all, more for Corinne's benefit than her own.  

[Suudonym]

Corinne moved with a slight bounce to her step, a stride that indicated more confidence than one might expect from a girl her size. The signs indicating the approach of the park were a good reinforcement on her sense of direction, as were the widening spaces and thickening foliage. The area opened up into Sandalwood's central park, and Corinne spun on her heel with a bright expression that asked of Abigail if she had anything in mind for the area. She nodded at the gesture she found in response and patted her knee gently, calling her Growlithe's attention. She wrote a few words into the air, a suggestion that the canine pokemon have a look around the park since they would probably visit fairly frequently, and then directed herself towards one of the colorful landscape arrangements decorating the entrance gates. The fire-type took off at a clip to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the area but did not wander too far at any given time.

This is a lovely place, Corinne would have signed and indeed raised her hands to sign, but it was a pointless endeavor, and the words in her thoughts were too ineffectual to put to text for presentation. This was the sort of sight she would share with Olivier. Her expression softened into a slight loneliness at the thought. It was difficult enough to move to a completely new place and lose contact with everything that was familiar, but to permanently lose one of the painfully few people in the world who could truly understand and converse with her was nothing less than pitiful.