[FIN] Can't Catch a Break

[Suudonym]

A day off from the embassy was a day that could be spent in any number of more productive and fulfilling ways, and though he made a point of finding a bit of time daily to put in the effort keeping up with training his pokemon, it was refreshing to have an entire day at his disposal to invest some more significant time with his team. As a bonus, Rosie had come as well; not only did he get to pass some time with his fiancee, but it gave him access to a skilled trainer with a well-trained team.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie's own training schedule had not changed much at all, Though the location varied from time to time. She tried every day to keep up training, either battling other trainers at the new center, or focusing on conditioning training.
She always loved it when Luke got to join her though, and didn't mind working her schedule around to spend time with him when he had a day off.

Today they had decided not to wander too far from home, they could have gone to the trainer center, but it was sunny today and much warmer then it had been in the past weeks, so instead Rosie suggested they talk a walk to the park, and let the pokemon do some training there.

Pop and Kiss were already into their warm ups, battle cries from the shiny rabbit could be heard as she managed to dodge another strike of electricity from Kiss' cheeks, the Lopunny trying to close the distance and pitting her natural speed against Kiss'.
Pastin stood by Rosie who had Ballet under her arm, watching the other two passively while a few of her other pokemon lingered around the park, either watching, sociolizing or warming up from being just let out of their pokeballs.  

[Suudonym]

Luke's pokemon seemed to appreciate being in the park again; the facilities offered by the trainer center were certainly nice, but they were accustomed to the park after training in it for years and seemed most at home in the familiar landscape. Rem especially was fond of the openness of it, and she spent the time allotted for warming up running in wide circles around the area. Luke's attention was pulled from his idle conversation by the sight, just within his peripheral vision, of the electric-type colliding with the legs of stranger who was in just the wrong place at just the wrong time.

"Rem!" The individual staggered to a side but fortunately managed to remain upright; Luke still thought it polite to apologize properly and scold the Jolteon for not being more careful, though as he moved to do so, he realized that the person in question wasn't as much of a stranger as he thought. He stopped short on reflex, suddenly unsure of what to say.

"I was under the impression that training was about pokemon attacking other pokemon," the man said, a mild humor in his tone.

"Ah..." Luke ducked his head down slightly, uncomfortable. "It... It's supposed to be, usually. Sorry."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie had not realized something had happened until Luke had called out Rem's name. Tearing her concentration away from monitoring her own pokemon and looking over in time to gather that Rem might have accidentally run into someone.

Arching her eyebrows with an expression of 'oops' on her face.
"She must have thought you were a worthy opponent." Rosie added to the humor, a kind smile on her face when it was clear that the men was okay, and Luke apologized.  

[Suudonym]

"Well no," Luke immediately followed, "they don't usually attack people, except under certain circumstances... These aren't them-- I mean, this was an accident. Sorry again, also." He didn't know how much the man knew about pokemon and training, but he had to assume that it wasn't much. "Uh, sorry, Rosie, this is Ambassador Victor Beaumont; I work with him at the embassy. Ambassador, this is my fiancee, Rosie."

The man's eyebrows rose slightly, a pleasant smile in his features. "Oh, is that so? We spoke the other day, I believe - though very briefly. It is a pleasure to meet you. I can't say I was expecting such an encounter today, but I'm all the more fortunate for it."

Luke shifted slightly, all but holding his breath. He knew very well that Beaumont didn't like him; the last thing he needed was to somehow give him more reasons for it.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Luke’s continued reply to the man, further explaining, but in a much more apprehensive way. Rosie glanced to Luke, wondering what must be wrong, and why it justified a further apology and explanation then he had already provided. The man certainly didn’t seem like he was upset to really make Luke that nervous.

It wasn’t left a mystery for much longer, as Luke then introduced the man, Rosie’s eyes widened as she did in fact recognize the man, confirmed by his own conclusion of how they had spoken before.
“Oh- yes!” Rosie burst with her sudden realization as to who this man must be. He had been the one that had gotten a hold a Rosie when Luke had not been answering his phone or more… when someone else was. Meaning this was probably Luke’s boss, or some of his co-workers? From the way he was acting she would say his boss.
“Well it’s nice to meet you too, and under much better circumstances this time.” She said with a kind smile back, holding her hand out to shake his.
“You really never know what to expect when you life a life with pokemon.”  

[Suudonym]

Beaumont accepted the handshake with a firm grip, responding with a light laugh, "It certainly seems like a dangerous pastime. I not sure I could ever manage it myself, but to each their own." He withdrew his hand after a polite length of time, folding both behind his back and surveying the various pokemon scattered around the area, his eyes eventually falling to the Jolteon as it got bored of waiting and trotted off to resume its run. "This is quite a variety. You wouldn't see most of these in Grande Ile."

"That will probably change as time goes by," Luke suggested mildly. "Trainers will find their way to Grande Ile, and their pokemon will go with them..." That was why he felt it important to being teaching the country about training, but he doubted the proposal would be well-received at this point.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Mmm" Rosie hummed thoughtfully at his assessment of a dangerous pastime, looking over at the pokemon herself. Pastin let out a light knicker at the comment and an amused expression.
"I guess it can be," she agreed, though not entirely with the man's assessment.

As Luke and Boumont continued a conversation about Pokemon's presence on Grand Ile Rosie smiled and Luke and nodded in agreement.  

[Suudonym]

"Well," Beaumont said, his tone pleasant, "that's one reason we have the military, after all." He left no room for interjection before continuing, "At any rate, I hate to cut our conversation short all of a sudden, but I was actually on my way to a meeting with someone. So, if I may take my leave." He dipped his head in a casual bow, offered a cordial smile, and proceeded at his original trajectory, mindful of any nearby pokemon as he went.

Of course, leave it to the military. They could just forcibly keep all pokemon from approaching the towns, and if their numbers grew too large, they could round them up, cage them, and ship them off somewhere. A perfect solution. Luke held his tongue, returning the smile uncomfortable and giving a passing farewell. He watched until he was certain Beaumont was out of earshot and breathed a long, tired sigh.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie listened quietly, glancing between Luke and Beaumont, before she gave him a last smile as he took his leave.

There was a great sigh from next to her as Beaumont was not longer close enough to hear them. Rosie turned to look at Luke with arched eyebrows.
"You seemed really nervous about him being here, is he your boss or something?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke shook his head lightly, "Technically we're equals, but we're in the same department and he knows the job better than I do, so he's more like a supervisor. ...He doesn't really like me at all, though."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Oh-" Rosie said, surprised by the way Luke was acting she would have honestly guessed that this was his boss.
a more confused look crossed her face as he continued though. "So then he's the one who's helping teach you the job then. Why do you think he doesn't like you? He seemed friendly."  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head again, more definitively this time, wearing a quiet frown. "It's not really a matter of thinking it. I heard him clearly - or overheard him talking to someone else." He raised a hand uncomfortably to the back of his neck. "I don't know how to do a lot of things that are apparently really easy and straightforward, and I guess it's starting to drive him crazy. All he sees is this young, clueless, irresponsible lord who was given an important position as a birthday present despite not knowing anything about it." The was a heavy reluctance in his tone that suggested his agreement with the criticism.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She looked surprised at first, not just hearing that Luke knew for certain that this guy didn't like him, but that he got it because this man was talking behind his back.
again her brow furrowed in confusion, blinking a couple of times as she turned to face him.
"Its not hard to see that you're not that," she pointed out "You've been trying hard for a long time to learn this, isn't he teaching you?"  

[Suudonym]

"Just about everything I studied before is different from what the embassy does," he said with a resigned shrug. "He answers questions when I ask, but it's not the kind of thing I could be trained to do in a week, or even a month. Most people have years and years of experience before they're even considered for a nomination. There isn't anyone there with enough free time to slowly teach me everything I need to know to be able to perform efficiently."