what a long time [tane]

[elle & nora]

It was almost as if the population doubled every time she came back here. Walking down the street without bumping into people used to be an unheard of worry but now you were lucky if you could keep your personal space bubble inflated. It was hard for the two girls to walk side by side down the main street, and after a few minutes, Elle remembered how to walk through crowds and dropped back behind Nora a bit.

Which didn’t really help, since Nora was left in front and had no idea where to go. Soon the two were standing in the doorway of an almost empty shop where they wouldn’t be shoved, pushed or bumped into for not moving with the flow.

“Where are we even going?” Nora asked, sounding as impatient and against the world as ever.

Elle held back a sigh. It was a silly question really. “We’re going that way.”She pointed in the direction they had been walking, but her answer was hardly received as a helpful one. Nora gave her an all too common look – it certainly wasn’t the first time she had received an answer like that – but managed to hold her tongue this time and peered down the street instead.

Elle’s eyes followed for a second, but it didn’t take long before something else caught her attention. She would have stared, if Nora hadn’t started up with the impatient questions again. “Well, how far are we going? To the end?” Elle barely heard and didn’t respond, which only annoyed her friend. “Are you even listening?”

“Um. Of course.” Elle’s attention was still obviously elsewhere; her eyes were still fixed on something else. “We take a right at near the end of this street.”

“Who is it?”

Elle waved at something before turning back to Nora, smiling slightly. “Maybe you’ll find out.”

(ooc: sorry that this took forever to get up :/)

[Cobalt]

It was difficult for Tane, combing through the crowds to gather some supplies for his short stay in his old home. There was the pushing and the shoving and the delay and the noise that came along with crowds, yes, but there was also having to guess which was a person, and which was ... not quite. Had he time to study each individual he could probably guess which would pass right through him and chill him despite the crowd and natural heat, but with the rush of daily life that was more difficult.

Tane was very lucky, however. The bright side to being flagged as legally blind is that you get a license that allows aid pokemon. Of course, some Lux cities were just too paranoid to allow that sort of thing, but for now the Kadabra stood at his side, trying to draw as little attention to himself as he could. His eyes flashed now and again, cutting through Tane's sight and slimming the crowd down to the living. The difference was smaller than one might expect, but still important for the young medium.

Perhaps the Kadabra would find a means to teach him how to control the gift on his own, in place of Tane's mother.

Really, the trip was multipurpose. Catch up on a closer look at what's been happening in Hoenn, make sure the house is safe and hasn't been looted, and get some rest. Or rather, whatever he can get while in that house. For the moment, though, the task at hand was simply picking up some simple supplies for his stay - preferably things that can easily be donated if not everything is used.

He hadn't expected to see someone he recognized. The wave caught his eye, but at first he had discounted it as meant for someone else. Thankfully, the memory stirred, and a smile came to his lips. He raised his hand, but paused. It could be awkward to make it across to them just to have to move again, as that probably wasn't their set destination. No matter. He gently touched Tempero on the head and started weaving through the crowd, making way for the small bag of groceries. The Kadabra was slightly less agile, simply giving a cry loud enough to draw the attention of those who otherwise wouldn't look down and might step on him as he followed his trainer. Better to spend the energy focused on keeping Tane's sight "intact."

By the time Tane reached Elle, the usual bright grin meant for company had found him. "Elle? Is that you?"

elle & nora ooc: I'm so sorry this is so very late I feel terrible ;o;

[elle & nora]

It wasn’t until there was an odd movement in the crowd that Nora picked up on someone moving towards them. Someone with a Pokemon out behind him, which immediately spelled suspicious as far as Nora was concerned. It had even let out a cry – “Hey, look at me! I’m right here!” Her hand went defensively to her belt and she was already running through the situation in her head. That Pokemon was form the Abra line and was psychic, right? Nora didn’t have anything that had a natural advantage over that type, but maybe if—

“Ow—hey.” Elle had elbowed her and was now trying to stare her down or something; it wasn’t a real stare, but a look that only older people could pull off. It didn’t look right on Elle’s face, but together with the elbowing Nora understood the basic message: “Stop it.” And her response to that was to narrow her eyes at her senior. Anything else would have been too much now that the stranger and his Pokemon were within earshot.

For a moment Elle didn’t say anything even though she kept smiling. She had almost forgotten how to talk to normal people – that is, people who she didn’t have to share a school with, or people she met under less-than-ideal circumstances. But the moment quickly passed and she finally said something. “Oh! You! You’re outside!” She sounded surprised, excited, as if a person being ‘outside’ was some startling revelation, and if this was how Elle was going to start a conversation, Nora didn’t really want to be around to hear the rest of it. She could do without ground-breakingly obvious revelations. What was next? “Your Pokemon’s holding a spoon!”?

“Is that your Pokemon? It’s…” Elle frowned, and Nora immediately assumed she had jinxed herself. Dammit. “It’s got a moustache?”

The comment hadn’t been about a spoon, but Nora thought that it might as well have been since the moustache comment had been just as bad. She was not willing to endure anymore comments, and neither was she willing to take charge of, or even participate in, this conversation herself. So, instead, before Elle had a chance to say anything else, Nora hooked her arm around her friend’s and said, “Hey dopey, let’s get go—”

“Nora.” Elle wasn’t going to budge, and she wasn’t going to let Nora walk off easily either. She had locked their elbows tight enough to make sure of that. “This is Tane,” she continued, lazily gesturing to the blonde. “He’s from here too. And Tane, this is Nora. We went to school together.

So what are you doing out here, Tane?”

[Cobalt]

“Oh! You! You’re outside!” The smile on Tane's lips didn't falter, he was still in control, but for a moment still he was taken back to rooms that were a little too clean and the eyes of pokemon that didn't belong to him, didn't care for him. "So that really is you, Elle." The words were softly spoken, gentle. Part of that was self-control; carefully implemented body language, tone, and pitch ... and yet, at the same time Tane wasn't sure he would express himself any differently toward Elle had he felt less ... watched.

Tempero only peered up at the girls when he knew he was being talked about, respecting their privacy rather than reaching out to them psychically. Tane relaxed some, "Ah, yeah, this is a kadabra. He's my service pokemon." He didn't explain any further, wasn't interested in doling out well versed and documented lies to an old friend.

Tane watched this new girl for a moment, the one who seemed to want very little to do with him. He didn't mind; a friend of Elle's couldn't be too bad, after all. "It's good to meet you, Nora." He paused at the question from Elle, and shrugged. "There was business in Mauville, and Nerva preferred I take the time to make sure the home hadn't been ransacked now rather than make a second trip. Lavaridge security seems to be doing pretty well, considering." He paused, not wanting to steamroll Elle with a monologue she wasn't interested in. All the same, he tried to slip in a question, the answer to which holding genuine interest for him for once. "Have you been well?"

[elle & nora]

“What a cool Pokemon,” Elle cooed, won over by the moustache. She wondered how many other Pokemon had facial hair.

Nora scowled at Elle and wouldn’t make eye contact with Tane. She managed a quick “Nice to meet you too,” but it was automatic and rehearsed. It was obvious she didn’t really mean it. “Hey.” Elle nudged her and looked like she was going to say something else, but her attention was stolen back by Tane and what he was saying. If there was one good thing about having to meet all these strangers, Nora thought, it was that they saved her from being chided.

Elle nodded slowly Tane’s words, and took a few seconds too long to remember who “Nerva” was. Even then she was quicker to recognise him for his previous involvement with Lux than his relationship to her friend, which was a little embarrassing really, but how were you supposed to know if someone was a father when they were hardly ever called that in the first place?

“Why would your house be ransacked?” Elle asked, confused and doubtful that any of the locals she knew would do such a thing. As for the others… “And what do you mean considering? Considering what?” Worry started to show in her voice. Nerva used to be high up in Lux and surely still had powerful connections – had he told Tane something nobody else knew? What was it? She was already drawing unlikely conclusions, mostly about food and Nox.

“Considering this place is packed, probably,” Nora answered, surprised Elle hadn’t concluded that herself. “It’s not like anything else is happening here.”

“Oh. Right. Of course.” Time to sweep that little embarrassment under the carpet and change topic. “We’re fine. Everyone’s doing well. But what about you? Have you been up to any adventures?” Anything had to be more interesting than tales of hanging around Lavaridge Town.