[PRP] Temporary Tour Guide

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine wasn't exactly sure what drove her to go to the pier that day. It was chilly out and she didn't like the cold, and yet she went out anyway. Why? She didn't even know. Probably because it was her mother's day off, and she didn't particularly want to spend that much time with her mother, so she'd grabbed her purse and left. It wasn't that she disliked her mother or didn't want to spend any time with her, of course, she just... didn't want to spend that much time with her. There was a difference.

The brunette huffed lightly as she walked along the pier, her one hand and the empty sleeve on her other arm both tucked carefully into the front pocket of her hoodie to keep up the illusion that she had both arms. At this point she wondered why she continued the charade, but banished the thought with a light shake of her head. Anastasia peered up at her trainer curiously before focusing ahead of her, trotting right alongside the teen.  

[Venti Mico]

Really. This hadn't been one of his best choices, but Naau wasn't known for good choices and he hadn't yet been to Kodo. It was far too cold for his liking here, and the journey itself hadn't been exactly warm. The last island he'd passed, Naau had picked up a coat along with the permit to pass through the waters. Now, the islander was tucked into that very coat, a simple black parka, finishing docking his boat and heading down the pier. A wobbling Totodile followed behind him, struggling to adjust to the strange environment of being on land again. Ugh. Land.

Naau wasn't doing too well on it himself. Every few moments he'd over- or under-step, tilt the wrong way, or just look completely dizzy. When he'd walked far enough up the pier, Naau stopped, his Totodile Neptune stopping too, and leaned against a post. "Yeah, buddy, I know... gonna take a while to get your land legs back. Well, you've got land-stubs, more like..." Naau laughed, Neptune falling back on his butt to protest being on land. "Oh, come on. I'll buy you somethin' delicious, you just gotta keep walkin'!"

But Neptune had firmly decided: No. No adventuring right now. Naau sighed, rolling his eyes and deciding to look around. It didn't take long for him to spot a girl in a hoodie, and he looked down at Neptune and grinned. "C'mon. I'll get us a tour guide, she doesn't look like a tourist." He said, nudging Neptune(who ignored him and stayed where he was). Naau rolled his eyes and approached the girl, tucking his hands into his pockets to ward against the cold. He hoped his stumbling hadn't been too obvious when he walked up.

"G'd'afternoon, miss, you from around here?" He asked, flashing her a bright smile. "I just got in not to long ago," he tilted his head back at his boat, "And was hoping I could find someone kind enough to show me around. That lazy Totodile back there is mine; we're not big on gettin' lost in the city when we haven't gotten our land-legs back."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Unfortunately for Naau, Sera had noticed him shortly after his arrival, and had decided that he was obviously drunk - so early too, the lucky jerk - but didn't think anything else of it and had even continued on her way before she noticed the same guy heading right towards her. He still looked kind of drunk.

Whoa that was a lot of words right off the bat. The brunette blinked and raised her brows - usually people weren't so verbose upon first meeting - but whatever. "'Course I am," she responded with a light frown, as if that should've been obvious. "I've lived here my whole life." She paused and tilted her head a bit. Just got in - land-legs... Oh, maybe he wasn't drunk after all. He wasn't lucky anymore then. "Did you just come in off a boat?" Seraphine wholly ignored the Totodile, but Anastasia peered around the stranger's legs to get a glimpse at the small water-type. She didn't normally see too many of them.  

[Venti Mico]

"All your life, huh? Well, seems like a great place t'be," he said, nodding and looking across the city. Yeah. He definitely didn't want to explore the entire thing, but if he could find a restaurant or two, a market... that'd be good for his first couple of days.

"I did, in fact," he nodded, thrusting a thumb behind him in the direction of his boat, the Maremoto. "Been at sea for a few days, now I'm here. Oi, Neptune!" Naaur turned, calling over to his Totodile. The poor thing slowly got to its feet, wobbling over reluctant. He was incredibly unhappy; he'd rather swim, but this awful place was just so cold! Neptune stayed behind Naau's legs, peeking between them to stare at Anastasia in return. He'd never seen such a strange looking pokemon... it didn't look like it could swim. Hm.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She hesitated a moment to look around the city and to think before replying with a resounding, "Usually." It wasn't always so great, but it usually was. It was where she'd met her best friends, after all. And Nate.

When he gestured behind him, Seraphine leaned to one side to better view where he was pointing. There was only one boat in the general vicinity of where he pointed, so she assumed that one was his. Huh. Generally the only people she knew that owned boats were rich. Was he rich? He didn't exactly look it, but looks could be deceiving. Setting that line of thought aside, she switched tracks back to actually paying attention to the conversation. "At sea, huh? Where did you sail from?" Obviously somewhere that wasn't Kodo, given the various phrasing he used indicated the island region was new to him.

Anastasia perked up her ears, watching the Totodile with wide blue eyes. Poor thing looked either tired or hungry... Maybe both? Or maybe it was cold - it didn't have any fur to keep warm like she did. she greeted it gently, not sure if it would be averse to conversation at the moment or not but willing to try anyway.  

[Venti Mico]

"Oh, only 'bout every region southeast of here!" He laughed, though he was beginning to feel travel wary. Normally he spent at least a couple of months everywhere he docked, but recently he'd been on the move far more frequently than his usual. It wasn't that he didn't like living in his boat; that was actually one of his favourite things. But it was the moving around that was starting to wear him down; even people like Naau needed a rest once in a while.

At least he never had to pay for a hotel. "I haven't had anything but fish and dried fruit for... uh..." How long was it? Two weeks? Three? "A while! So, would you be kind enough to show me somewhere nice to grab a bite t'eat, and maybe a drink? You're welcome to join me, if you'd like. My treat!" Naau offered, giving her the most charming smile a person who looked like he might stumble and fall into the water could.

Neptune poked his head around one of Naau's legs, giving Anastasia a curious look before he waddled out and sat down in front of her. [Hullo. Is that your person? It doesn't look like it can swim. Can you swim? I don't like the water here, it's cold...] He chittered, head tilted to the side.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Her brows raised again. "That's a lot of places," she noted, but then he had his own boat, so it made sense that he could go to so many places. What was that? A tiny pang of jealousy? Certainly not. Of course not, nope.

The thought of only eating fish and dried fruit for more than one day made her wrinkle her nose a little, and she clicked her tongue piercing against her teeth once or twice. "That sounds kinda gross.." Show him around? What? What did she look like, some sort of tour guide? Oh no. A cute guy was tempting enough - even if he did have some weird scars - and the promise of food would have been tempting too, but she frowned and gave him a slightly wary glance before she shook her head, 'both hands' still hidden away in her hoodie pocket. "No thanks, I'm good."

The Umbreon's ears perked up as the water-type approached, and she moved to sit in front of him. She hesitated a bit and looked up at her trainer, then back at Neptune,  

[Venti Mico]

Naau let a sad pout fall on his face, tilting his head to side when she turned him down. "Aw, come on. Doesn't have to be nothin' fancy! I mean, unless you want fancy... I'm not really dressed for the occasion, and I kinda smell like I've been sleepin' with the fishing- which I have-" He paused, taking a breath, "But, I s'pose I'd be under-dressed anywhere I went with a cute girl like you, huh?"

Smooth.

The Totodile got a mighty concerned look on his face and looked up at Sera. [Lost? Where did she lose it? We can find it. My person finds stuff all the time! We can ask him to look for it!] Neptune stood up, wobbling over and patting Sera on the leg, reassuringly. [We will find your hand, person. Don't worry!].  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The sad pout did absolutely nothing - she was immune to being guilted by sad faces, or at least from people she didn't know - and so she frowned again and once more shook her head. Fancy? Please. She hadn't hardly been to anything fancy, nor felt even remotely fancy in forever; another consequence of losing her hand. She opened her mouth to tell him no again but the compliment caught her completely off-guard, and her cheeks turned pink. It was only because he didn't know she only had one hand though - she was convinced that, once he did find out, he would regret that comment. Obviously, in her mind, no one could ever think a one-handed girl was even remotely attractive. The sudden touch to her leg startled her a bit and she glanced down to the unfamiliar Totodile, but largely ignored it. Pushing the matter of Totodiles and compliments aside for a moment, she regained her composure that she briefly lost and shook her head again. "No, sorry."

Anya said hesitantly, her ears flicking backwards as she tried to think of a better way to explain it so he'd understand.  

[Venti Mico]

Naau sighed, feeling like wow, his people skills must be rusty. Clearly he needed to spend more time on land and around other walking, talking people. Meh. Maybe she just didn't think he was cute enough to bother showing him somewhere. He hadn't combed his hair in a while... but, hey. She did blush! That was something at least.

Oh, wait, getting distracted. Naau looked down at Neptune, "Hey, you stop that. Don't be bothering this nice young lady, Neptune," he said, sighing and crouching down, patting the Totodile on the head and picking him up. Neptune flailed his arms, then accepted his fate and just tried to swat at Naau's face to put him down. [Oh, that kind of lost. That's too bad,] Neptune paused, swatting more, [Can't she get a new one?] He asked, then let out a noise of complaint as Naau shifted him under his arm. Naau reached his hand out to Anastasia, patting her head.

"Well, can't blame me for tryin'," Naau said, resignedly. "This one's a cutie, too. What's your name, doll?" He asked the pokemon gently, maneuvering Neptune around to set him back down on the dock, and stood up.

Or, he tried to.

But next thing he knew, he was flailing his arms in a frantic circle and tilting off the edge of the pier. "Criminy-!" He yelped, managing to grab hold of the post he'd been leaning on before he took an unfortunate dip.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

It was so strange still, how she felt bad for letting people down when she told them 'no'. She never used to feel bad about anything at all, but now she felt bad about everything. Couldn't there be some sort of middleground? Maybe? Please? Oh, and there he went, complimenting her again... It was nice to be complimented though, but it still felt really weird.

Anya replied, somewhat confused, but made a soft, happy cooing noise when the young man began to pet her. She did so love being petted.

"That's Anastasia," Sera supplied helpfully, watching as he put his Totodile and stood--

--and promptly swung right over the edge. She found herself sucking in a breath suddenly, expecting to hear a splash any second, but no - he was just sort of hanging there, looking like he could fall any second. That was probably her cue... "Uh, you uh... look like you could use some help," she pointed out as she moved forward and removed her right hand from her hoodie, keeping the left side still safely hidden in her hoodie pocket, though she wasn't entirely sure... She wasn't going to fall in if she tried to help him, right? Well, she better not... Hoping for the best, she leaned forward to offer her hand to try and help him back up. Going for a swim in january was never a good idea.  

[Venti Mico]

Okay. He had to maneuver this one carefully because otherwise, he was going to plop right into a very unwelcoming ocean. Naau first wrapped his legs around the post, sighing as he gained a bit more stability.

"Help would be appreciated," he said, looking at Sera's hand, then at his post and trying to figure out how he wanted to do this without sending them both into the water. "Alright, um, okay- lets see," he said, wiggling to try and get himself closer to the side of the pier with a solid ground. Once he'd moved a bit, he reached out and took Sera's hand, pulling himself back to safety. In return, he did yank Sera a bit closer to the edge as he tried to get back on, but he kept a firm hold on her wrist and pulled her right back to him, catching her with one arm around her waist and essentially French dipping her.

But hey, at least he didn't let her fall in! Naau gave her a grin, "Looks like you saved me from my watery doom. My hero~" he said playfully.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

No matter how much he struggled, he would only get one hand to help him up - it wasn't like she had two to offer anyway - but it seemed that one would be enou--

Some sort of pull was to be expected, but not this much. It caught her completely off-guard, and she inhaled sharply as she found herself whisked around. Instinctively her other arm flailed around - since he still had a hold of her right hand, otherwise that one would've flailed as well - though it failed to help her regain any semblance of balance, but luckily she stopped... And was now staring right into the face of this guy she'd just met and was only a few inches away, whose name she didn't even know. A few years ago, this would have been an amazing situation and she would've loved it. Now? Now she had no idea how to handle it.

The first thing she did - besides stare at him wide-eyed - was pause a moment to register the fact that, despite being at a very uncomfortable angle, she wasn't about to fall anywhere or take an early swim in the ocean in January. Good. The next thing she did was try to figure out how to stand up straight again, but that seemed like it would be difficult to do in her current position. "Don't do that," she said with some exasperation, her cheeks pink again - or maybe even still - and her pulse a little quicker than it was a few moments ago. She had yet to realize she'd broken her own illusion about having both hands due to her flailing.

Anya's ears perked up and she jumped up during all of the struggling and movement, afraid her trainer would be hurt or fall in the water, but she relaxed a little when she realized Sera was fine.  

[Venti Mico]

Hey! She didn't slap him, so that must've meant it hadn't been that she wasn't too incredibly mad at him! And... well, yeah, he could've kept her from falling differently, but this seemed more fun. Naau glanced over at her one flailing arm and- oh. Well, he'd seen similar, working with fishermen all his life. He decided not to comment on it, the grin returning to his face as he tried to not look like he'd even noticed the hand thing. He pulled her back up onto her feet and brushed a bit of hair out of her face. "And there we are, both of us back up and dry!" He took a step back to give Sera her space, even if he did like making her blush.

"I won't do it again, sorry, sorry! Thought it might be fun to tease," he said, giving her a quick wink. An idea popped up and he tapped his chin, "Hey! I know y'said you're not interested in food, but you gave me a fun time at least. Hold up, alright? I'll be right back!"

Naau took off running back towards his boat, though he slowed down after another incident of almost falling off the pier. Neptune stayed behind, sitting down by Anastasia again, muttering to her about people being weird. Naau returned quickly with something in his hands- a twine bracelet with three stones on it. Two were pale and semi-clear, but the middle one was green. Naau held it out to her, "M'name's Naau, by the way. I make these. You can have this one! The green kinda matches your eyes, I thought it'd be pretty on you. If anyone asks where it came from, point out my boat to 'em, huh?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He was so close, and then he was touching her hair -- but then he moved away and she felt like she could breathe again, if only a little. What was with this guy? She was about to comment, but he was off towards his boat - stumbling towards his boat actually; maybe he was a little drunk actually - and she heaved a sigh. Seriously, what was with this guy? At least she had the space to breathe again, and she put her hand - and short arm - on her hip, looking rather uneven as she glanced down at her Umbreon who peered right back up at her, head tilted. All she could do was offer the dark-type a single shrug. She had nooo idea.

...and what kind of bullshit was this, she'd always been the one to tease, not the other way around. What was up with this? Not like she'd been doing much teasing at all since she lost her hand, but still. But still.

Her blushing had disappeared by the time he came back, and as he approached again she lowered both arms - she didn't want to bother hiding her missing hand anymore, given there wasn't a point to the charade any longer - but she hadn't expected anything... Hesitantly, she accepted the necklace he held out to her, studying the few stones it had. It was definitely very simple, but it was pretty nonetheless and had a sort of... elegance to it almost. "You make jewelry?" She asked, looking back up at him - she was almost too hesitant to look into his face again but she did it anyway - before she processed the fact he'd offered his name. "Oh, I'm Sera."