[PRP] The Beautiful People

[TawnyAngel]

It was a glorious summer day in Camphoreon City, which meant that Dith was keeping out of the sun lest he burn to a crisp. The shade of a large tree in the central park was currently providing him with shelter from the midday sun and with a light breeze stirring the air it was just the perfect setting for a picnic lunch.

Technically it was a picnic breakfast not lunch, because shifts so sleep patterns being set forward about eight hours, but who was counting? With the blanket spread out Dith started to unpack some of the food, much to the interest of the three pokemon accompanying him. Teazer kept trying to shove her head into the bag, of course, while Viktor waited patiently and Luna pretended not to be interested at all but kept peeking over her shoulder to see if her favourite treat had been fetched out yet.

"No no," Dith shoved Teazer back again, "you are going to wait patiently miss, Вон!"

The Liepard huffed and flicked her tail but settled back from her trainer seen as there was apparently no chance of sneaking past his big hands today. <> she grumbled.  

[Suudonym]

It was hot. It wasn't as though it was much hotter than Rustboro, but Robin hadn't much liked summers over in Hoenn either. Plus, maybe it was just her imagination, but wasn't the sea breeze making things more humid than usual? (Of course it had to be her imagination; Rustboro was right beside the sea as well.)

"Well, what do you say, Matcha?" the young woman said, looking to the dainty Leafeon following at her heel. "Do you want to take a rest somewhere and then find someplace to have lunch? I think I'm more worn out from the boat than I am hungry."

The Leafeon chirruped a little "fiii" in agreement and bounced forward a bit, stopping to look back towards her trainer with a paw raised meaningfully in the direction of the pleasant-looking park.

"Oh, that's an excellent idea," Robin said, clapping her hands together lightly. With their destination decided, the pair proceeded towards the grassy, tree-dappled park. Robin gave a smile and nod to each of the visitors whose gaze she met as she searched for a nice, shaded, unoccupied place to take a break, but her intentions were forgotten when her eyes fell upon a group of pokemon. From their shapes, she could identify the species, but their colors were completely different from anything she had ever seen. Her lips parted and her eyes widened in her growing excitement, and she quickened her pace slightly to approach.

"Um, excuse me," Robin leaned down just slightly, her hands folded at the hem of her skirt, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but your pokemon are so beautiful! May I ask where you got them?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, hi there!" Dith looked up with a warm smile, usually a reasonably antidote to his somewhat scary visage. "And of course you can," he nodded and gestured to Viktor to start off with; the spotted Espeon was regarding the strangers with polite interest. "This is Viktor, I've had him since I was little but I couldn't honestly say where he came from, I found him. Luna there," he nodded to the more standoffish Espeon who was watching the strangers coolly, "I got her in a trade in another region but I was told she's native to Kodo, she was bought from a specialist who breeds unusual colours. Teazer," the Liepard had padded over to Robin and was purring at her, "I caught here in Kodo when she tried to steal my sandwich!"

<> Viktor said with a small bow of his head to the unfamiliar Leafeon. <>

"Oh, and I should introduce myself," Dith added after a moment, putting down the tupperware box he had been holding an extending a huge hand to the stranger. "My name is Dima, but a lot of people around here call me Dith; either is fine!"  

[Suudonym]

Robin did her best to suppress her surprise in reaction to the rather jarring-looking face; her startled expression lasted for only a moment before she replaced it with a smile returned in kind. She looked to the pokemon as they were introduced and knelt down to hold her hand out in greeting to the Liepard that approached her, "Hello, Viktor, Luna, and Teazer! You all have such marvelous coats!"

The Leafon dipped her head in reply to Viktor, her brown eyes bright and amicable. "" the grass-type replied. ""

Robin extended her significantly smaller hand to return the handshake, "It's lovely to meet you and your pokemon, Dith! My name is Robin, and this is Matcha." Her attention drifted back to the nearby Liepard, wonder in her expression. "I heard that Kodo is just full of amazing pokemon like these, but it's still surprising to see them in person! You really just caught Teazer in the wild, like any normal pokemon?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Teazer purred louder and rubbed her face against Robin's hand; see, wasn't she a good girl who should get all the fish? Obviously she was.

<> he nodded to the humans to indicate he was referencing their conversation.

Was there a bit of a flinch there? Dith wasn't quite sure and that was quite a surprise, most people on first meeting him these days either flinched or started quite obviously but this girl - Robin - only looked faintly surprised for a moment, and even then he wasn't entirely sure that she had looked surprised. It was a pleasant change he had to admit, he might be full of 'look at me, the bond villain' jokes but it was nice not to feel like an exhibit at a freak show for once.

"Very glad to meet you," he replied with a nod, gesturing to the picnic blanket. "Would you like to join us? If you're new to Kodo I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have. As for Teazer though, yes I did! You often see strange coloured pokemon in the wild around here, Volga is another one of mine who I caught wild. Here, I'll let her out." As he spoke Dith reached to his belt, selected the right pokeball, and let out the bright blue, shiny-shelled Blastoise.

Volga glanced around to get her bearings and then gave a cheerful wave to Robin and Matcha. <>  

[Suudonym]

Robin smiled warmly at the Liepard's affectionate behavior and stroked her head gently. She responded to Dith's offer with an enthusiastic nod, "Oh, I would love to, if you don't mind my intrusion! I just arrived in this region today, so I'm a little bit lost..." She moved to a spot upon the blanket and folded her legs to a side, patting her lap to call her Leafeon to her. "I'm afraid I got a bit ahead of myself in coming here from Hoenn; I'm not even sure where I'm going to stay tonight. But once I learned about the kinds of pokemon that are here, I just had to come!"

"" Matcha replied to Viktor's question, responding to her trainer's summons as she did. ""

Robin looked on in curiosity as the pokemon was released, and once the Blastoise's form was realized, her features illuminated in awe at the pokemon's appearance. "This pokemon was wild? She looks like a jewel!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"" Matcha greeted the recent arrival. ""  

[TawnyAngel]

"Not at all," Dith replied with a smile and a shake of his head, "I'm happy to help! Humm, well as for where to stay tonight there are all sorts of hotels and things around depending on your budget and what you want. There is also the Trainer Centre a little way out of the city where trainers can stay for free for a few days."

<> Volga replied cheerfully, shifting so that her shell caught the light differently. <>

As Volga spoke up and Robin referenced her Dith nodded. "That's right! I was pretty amazed when she wandered out of the ocean and helped herself to stuff from my barbecue. I mean I've seen some pretty pokemon in the wild around here but nothing quite like her. Though," he shrugged, "Kodo is a pretty amazing place in general! With all that's happened lately I suppose strangely coloured poekmon are not to strange after all."  

[Suudonym]

"Trainer center?" Robin echoed, curious. "What kind of place is that?"

The young woman looked on in fascination as the light danced on the Blastoise's shell, and she giggled in response to Dith's story of the pokemon's capture. "Barbecue for Volga, a sandwich for Teazer... It's beginning to sound like the best way to find a stunning pokemon is to spend time outside with delicious food!" She tilted her head in polite interest, "What other sorts of things have happened?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh, yes, they didn't have them in other regions did they? Dith wasn't massively familiar with the other league regions and that fact had slipped his mind. "Ah, trainer centres are," he waved a hand as he looked for the right words, "they are league facilities in the region, as Kodo is too small for a gym circuit. The league built them after all the trouble there was with Team Rocket here, they're for... err, well for training; staff there can help with all aspects of training. There are two in Kodo, the Eastern centre - the one a bit outside the city - and the Northern centre. Eastern is more focused on traditional training, for those who want to go abroad to do gym challenges and such, but the Northern centre focuses on preparing trainers and Pokémon for... eh, for more dangerous situations. People wishing to become Rangers or to work for the Kodo Special Ops go there. As well as that they both have dorm-type accommodation for trainers to stay over a few nights if they wish, and cafeterias too."

Phew, that had been a lot of talking! Dith paused for a swig of water. "And as if I didn't just talk your ear off enough, other things!" Dith grinned at Robin. "The big thing would be the egg of Arceus, and its effects. Have you heard news of that Hoenn? As for the food," still grinning he shrugged, "well I eat a lot, it's not much of a surprise I suppose that I meet a lot of people and pokemon while I'm doing it.... Like now for example. Are you hungry? I have a lot of food... if that's not too weird an offer." It was potentially a weird offer but hey, a 'no' would be fine.