[PRP] Gaining a Foothold

[Blood_Goddess]

There was a light gust of wind as the sliding glass doors to the pokemon center opened, and a trainer dressed in pink shuffled in from the cold, pulling her hands out of her pockets and stomping her boots on the rug by the entrance so she wouldn't track any snow into the building.

Rosie looked up as she shook the off the cold, the doors thankfully sliding closed behind her and cutting off the air from getting in anymore.
At her side, a young Growlithe bound forward in facination, but stopped dead before he got too much further in, Shrinking back toward the girl as he looked around in awe.
Thankfully by now he had learned that he should stick close to Rosie, to keep from getting into things he shouldn't.
With her to help make sure the Growlithe didn't get into trouble was the older Vaporeon, who smiled gratefully when the fire type returned.

"Alright- lets go get you a check up." Rosie told the Growlithe, starting further into the building.  

[Suudonym]

Around this time of year, it wasn't really efficient to hang around a pool or equivalent body of water; it was essentially unavoidable that time would have to be passed indoors. Atticus made the most of it, taking to opportunity to spend a couple hours a day in the pokemon center's interior, working with his notebook as he eavesdropped on the trainers that came and went. Thus far he wasn't doing particularly well with his secondary assignment, prioritizing his programming work over it, but the pokecenter seemed like a decent place to try and improve.

Most of the voices he heard in the building were transient, coming and going without leaving much of an impact, but a curiously familiar female tone drew his attention upward, looking across the floor at the trainer standing near the entrance. Ah, he knew her - the one from before. Well, how about that. He watched her a while longer, wondering if he could catch her eye.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie had approached the counter to speak to one of the nurses briefly, before she moved around to greet the Growlithe and take him to the back. The curious pokemon following without so much as a glance back to Rosie.

With that done, Rosie though she might kill some time picking up some supplies from the store, or pick a booth and do some research or studying. Either one sounded nice.

She was making her way back to the seating aria when she caught the glimpse of someone looking at her, doing a double take Rosie blinked back at the man with glasses, before she opened her mouth upon recognizing him.
"We've met before." She said with a smile. "I'm sorry I don't remember your name-"  

[Suudonym]

Ah, success. He had her attention; now it was just a matter of using it effectively.

"Atticus," he offered. "Rosie, correct? It's been a while."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie perked up, smiling as he remembered her name. "Yeah." She confirmed, walking over to him. "It has, how has the programing job been going?"  

[Suudonym]

If he had the person he thought he did, Atticus felt he had the opportunity before him to make his job a fair bit easier. The Rosie on the training forums seemed to have a lot of connections, and when he had last spoken to this girl, she had seemed more than willing to tell him whatever he asked. He adjusted his glasses slightly, resting the edge of his jaw on the heel of his hand.

"The job itself isn't something I can really complain about," he said. "The environment, though, is... Well, admittedly, it's a bit lonely." The expression he wore was one of resignation, a faint melancholy in his eyes. He wasn't terribly good at manipulating his facial features.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie didn't pretend to know a whole lot about what business he was in, but she knew the basics, he was not a Kodo native, he came here for work, and now she was hearing that he was having trouble with being lonely.
"Oh- are you having a hard time making friends?" Rosie asked, "It must be hard coming to someplace completely new."
the blond tilted her head, then pointed to the seat by him "Do you mind if I sit down?"  

[Suudonym]

"Not at all; go ahead," he responded, sitting up straighter. He felt ridiculous playing the 'poor lonely me' card, but at least he had successfully hooked a conversation.

"I seem to have trouble relating to others," he explained. "I suppose I come off as somewhat distant. I'm finding it difficult even to meet people." None of it was untrue, but it was deceptive of him to imply that it bothered him much. He shook his head slightly, "My apologies, this is hardly something I should be confiding in an acquaintance..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

She smiled when he said it was okay for her to take the seat, as she removed her coat from her shoulder and draping it onto the back of the seat, she took a seat, eyes looking over at Atticus as he spoke.

"No, I don't mind." Rosie reasured "And really, I think you have the right idea anyway, talking to people would be the first step in getting to know them better, right?"  

[Suudonym]

"I suppose that's true," he ceded. "I think I likely haven't invested as much effort as I should. The only other individual I interacted with more than passingly, apart from clients, was a young woman whom I believe has left the region by now." It wasn't entirely inaccurate to liken the Rockets to clients; they were professional relations, at least.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie found it pretty easy to interact with people, she enjoyed doing so anyway, hearing the different stories and learning about who they were, it always made her happy. But she understood that this kind of thing didn't come easy to some people. This was probably the case for Atticus, who seemed like a nice guy, very quiet kind of distant, but nice.

"Well." Rosie started, glancing around the room. "You have pokemon right? Are you a trainer at all?"  

[Suudonym]

"Yes and no," he said. "I hold a license, but I haven't participated in any League events since before college - although from my understanding, Kodo doesn't typically hold many League events, does it?" No gyms, no competitions... What did the trainers around these parts do to keep active and interested in their sport?  

[Blood_Goddess]

"No usually no. When we do they tend to be interrupted anyway..." She admitted with a furrow of her brow.
"But with the new Trainer centers opening its a good place to be around others who train pokemon. My friend and I meet up sometimes to do training, and meet other trainers too. Have you been there yet?"  

[Suudonym]

"Rocket interference?" He wasn't sure exactly what League affairs Team Rocket involved itself in, but it seemed a safe assumption.

"I've read about them," he said, tapping idly at his notepad, "but I haven't made the trip. I'll admit that the water training rooms sound compelling, but I'm not certain they'd take kindly to trainers swimming in the battle pool." Stingy.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Yeah, Team Rocket." She confirmed "Not... all the time, but enough to make people worried."

"Mm, I'm sure they won't mind, sometime working with your pokemon is part of the training process." Rosie looked down at Vahy'n her fanned her fins out a little, glancing from the man up to Rosie with a kindly smile.

"I've had Vahy'n try the pools out, they're really nice." Rosie perked up, looking back at him "Do you have a lot of water types?"