In the end, Skyler did not collide with the countertop, though it was a close call when she turned on the ball of her feet and misjudged her sense of balance, hand reaching out to steady herself before she fell ass over tea kettle. One of her pans fell noisily to the kitchen floor, swiftly followed by a bout of foul cursing any sailor would be proud of. "'m good!" Came the immediately response, carried over in slightly slurred speech.

A couple of minutes later, a head of chaotic blonde curls popped out of the kitchen's doorway along with a bucket of... popcorn? For some unexplainable reason there were some in Skyler's hair, though the sailor herself seemed unaware of their presence. "I'm a big ol' fan of water races myself. Never really liked the traditional pokemon battle... Jus' kinda standing around barking out orders? Pfff, you need to spice it up." 

The ship captain eventually made it back to the couch, unabashedly shoving the bucket onto Alexei's lap after taking some for herself. "How's your Salamence, by the way? I remember seeing it in the Lilycove warfront. Hardy beast. Mine got out with a few scars, but otherwise I think she did okay." There was a strange kind of pride in her voice. Atalanta had taken the brunt of the damage, though none of her pokemon had come out of the war completely unscathed. 

Alexei Ivanov

"Tsareena?" If Captain Dross had selective hearing at the best of times, the alcoholic daze that was starting to blur the edges of her vision certainly didn't help matters. Silver eyes blinked slowly, the thought processes in her head plain for all to see - or, for Alexei Ivanov  to see in this case.

So when her eyes brightened with something akin to giddy enthusiasm, it was a safe bet that whatever plan she was cooking up would inevitably spell out trouble for someone. "Sounds like I should get one of those. You don't happen to know anyone who'd be willin' to part with one, do ya?"

The amount of popcorn Skyler managed to grab in a single handful was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Then again, her fingers had always been greedy.  And while about half of them were immediately shoved into her mouth, the remaining joined Alexei and his small game of 'catch the popcorn'.

"Watch this." Despite the utterly confident tone in which the words had been spoken, when the captain threw the popcorn it bounced harmlessly off of her forehead instead and went to join its brethren in the mess of blonde curls.

"Yeah, I'd bet Sirena would have a few choice words for me..." To be fair, the Lapras didn't need words. She'd had to deal with Skyler's shenanigans for years - by now they knew how to annoy each other perfectly. 

A popcorn hit Skyler in the eye and she cursed with gusto, though it didn't deter her from continuing her attempt to catch popcorn kernels with her mouth.

This was a competition now.

"Nautilus? Yeah, you might have some trauma when you land on top of a building-sized Ultra Beast and nearly die. He's okay though." A pause. "I did give him the option of being released back into the ocean. He Hydro Pumped me overboard. It was great."

Alexei Ivanov

"Yeah, that- How do you tell one tree from another? They all look the same to me." Captain Dross was an expert when it came to getting lost whenever she wandered inland. Maybe it was due to the fact that she spent almost all of her days on or by the sea. Either way, her compass just went haywire anytime she ventured away from the ocean.

Frustration leaked into her voice as she continued. "And then there's hills and crevices and- it's annoying." Another popcorn kernel failed its target, nestling comfortably in her cleavage instead. Skyler didn't seem to notice it.

A look of surprise briefly flickered over silver eyes, seemingly flabbergasted at the fact that there were popcorn kernels caught in her chaotic mess of blonde hair. Her calloused fingers dug into the light curls, bringing back a couple of popcorn kernels - which the captain promptly shoved into her mouth. "Awesome."

"I have two Wailord now." Competition burned hot in her veins, so when Alexei went to reach for a shot glass, Captain Dross did the same. Common sense had never been one of her strong suits, and it certainly wouldn't start to be one now. "One for each side of the ship. Just need two more." The idea had been on her mind since a conversation with a certain uncle Jonathan (Valerio Dachev). She'd have to show him her Wailord collection once it was complete.

The alcohol tasted harsh mixed with the popcorn when she downed the shot glass, but Skyler didn't show any distaste in her expression.

Keep a straight face, keep a straight face.

"Oh-hey, that's a waste!" A hand reached out to snatch a popcorn from Alexei's hand, quickly popping it into her mouth before it could be flicked onto the table. "Wait, I think-" A sudden frown of concentration crossed her features. "I think I have some caramel topping for the popcorns. You're getting up this time though." No, it wasn't because her infamous sea legs were betraying her. Not at all.

Alexei Ivanov

"Is there?!" Skyler sounded entirely too excited by the prospect of popcorn in her cleavage, hazy silver eyes immediately falling down to the aforementioned area. Searching. It didn't take long for a victorious 'hah!' to escape her lips as she plucked the popcorn kernel from between her breasts to pop it into her mouth with the look of utmost satisfaction. "Thanks, that woulda been a waste." And uncomfortable, once the alcohol left her system.

"First shelf!" The sailor called out, stretching her long legs and resting them on the coffee table - promptly knocking a bottle to the ground in the process. "Ah, fuck, shit!" The ship captain scrambled to catch the bottle, wrapping alcohol numbed fingers around the glass before it could spill most of its contents onto her nice wooden floor. 

"Everythin's okay!"

When Alexei eventually made his way back to the living room, he'd find Skyler lounging on the couch and licking the remnants of vodka off of the back of her hand. "Why flying pokemon?" The question came out nowhere, yet it had been spoken with genuine curiosity reflected in a silvery gaze. 

Alexei Ivanov

A hilariously smug expression immediately overtook Skyler's face at Alex's comment about her reflexes. She peered at him from over the couch, brandishing the bottle in her hand triumphantly. "Ya gotta have good reflexes when you havta dodge harpoons bein' shot at ya." Ah, and her speech was going now too... Great. Still, she didn't seem overly bothered about it, especially not when she downed another shot with no hesitation whatsoever.

"They're in the drawer!" Honestly, where did Alexei keep his own spoons? The only possible, logical place was a drawer. The fact that there were multiple of them didn't even occur to her as being an issue. How difficult was it to find a spoon, anyway? The guy was a gym leader for Arceus' sake! She was sure he'd find one. Eventually.

The captain let out a loud, boisterous peal of laughter at Alex's answer to her question. "Ye're right, why not flying types! I have a couple of them... But I like water types best. Lapras bestest." To absolutely no one's surprise.

Sighing, Skyler let her head fall back against the couch, silver eyes peering up at nothing in particular. She did perk up at the mention of Unova though. "Unova? I've been there once. Castelia I think? But I was kicked out, kind of."

Now that was a story. And also illegal, so she should probably keep her mouth shut.

Alexei Ivanov

"Thanks!" Greedy fingers wrapped themselves around the offered shot, a lopsided grin peeking up at Alexei, even as one of Skyler's cheeks was squished against the sofa. By now the Captain sported a faint blush on her sun-kissed cheeks that she would vehemently deny having. Fortunately, it seemed no more popcorn kernels had found their way into her cleavage. She was taking only a couple from the container - likely waiting for the caramel.

"S'a long story," mumbled Captain Dross, moving the shot one way and another, seemingly studying its contents or stumbling upon some sort of life-changing epiphany. Of course, the truth was neither of the two - Skyler was trying to wrack her brains for a story that wouldn't incriminate her, especially given Alexei's status as a Gym Leader.

In the end she gave up and threw caution to the wind - along with the alcohol that soon burned its way down her throat.

"I was drunk." Obviously. "Started drinking in Lilycove, ended up in Unova. Don' ask, no idea how it happened." To this day, most of that night's details remained fuzzy around the edges. Sometimes she had a flash of something, but without the proper context it was difficult to piece things together.

"'nyway," She gesticulated with her arms, almost hitting Alexei in the face, "wound up ina public garden. Called Wailord. Destroyed the whole shebang. Boom. Now I'm banned." 

Skyler grinned at Alexei like she'd just told him she'd won a nobel prize, except for the hint of mischief at the edges. "Caramel?"

Alexei Ivanov