Truth be told, this was a significant step out of her comfort zone.

But public figures and the press insisted it would be 'motivational' and 'inspiring' to see one of Hoenn's finest participating in a charity event and 'putting herself out there.' She had to keep her head above water and keep telling herself and telling the region that nothing had changed. That in spite of life's lemons, she was still making lemonade.

Fortunately, Stormy appears to genuinely be in good spirits this evening for the first round of speed dates. She's dressed nice, her hair is done, and her manicured fingernails draw against a menu of drinks and desserts. Her knee idly jumps beneath the table, disturbing the thin white tablecloth. She doesn't look up until a voice speaks up to introduce themself.

Stormy pulls her gaze away from the menu to greet Felix with a warm smile.

"Hi, Felix," she offers her hand to him for a handshake. "I'm Stormy."

Felix Gallagher

☉

There is something undeniably interesting about how quickly ones face changes when they hear her introduce herself. With him, she can feel it in his firm handshake. She doesn't know this man from moses, but she can sense that she's instilled some level of unease.

Tot hat, she offers a warm smile as a means to lessen the tension. Beneath the table, the woman's Charmander mistakes her dress skirt for the tablecloth. He pulls, and pulls hard, and Stormy's knee drives up into the table in surprise. The glasses rattle and shake and she blushes, glancing beneath the table briefly to chastise her Pokemon.

"Oh, is that right? Well I hope I don't disappoint." Stormy chuckles awkwardly, offering a small smile in response to his question. "A bit of everything, I suppose. This is sort of like a charity event, I was told, and I enjoy helping the community. It's nice too to meet new faces and get to know the community."

Her attention never wavers from him, even in spite of his glance around the room. Those whose eyes fall on her to steal glimpses aren't really important-- he is.

Felix Gallagher

☉

Briefly, she escapes his gaze to chastise the Charmander under the table. She fishes him out discreetly to set him upon her lap. But, in the span of seconds, both she and her Pokemon have dramatically shifted in emotional energy. There is something particularly tense, worse than it had been a moment ago.

Stormy frowns, pulls her shoulders back, and stares across the table at him with a look that is far from kind.

"Excuse me?" she's genuinely agitated, blown away, appalled. His brutal honesty, if it could be called that, felt more like an attack. An intentional inflection meant to insult and offend. If that was the case, it was working. If it wasn't, well.. she was certainly taking it as such anyway.

"'Despises' us? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Anger bubbles, easily left unchecked. More eyes fall on her as a result of her loud outburst. She rises to her feet abruptly, holding her Charmander to her chest. The baby feeds off of her negative emotion and her outrage, hissing and burping out a little tiny flame. She glances down at the Pokemon before returning her molten blue gaze to Felix.

"What have you done? 'Work is work'. Fuck you."

Felix Gallagher

☉

If it meant anything, it was probably a relief to see Stormy so riled up. It was a window back into the real her, the her before her world came crashing down and her Moltres had left and nothing had been the same. The her who spoke with fire in her lungs and determination in her veins.

The flashing cameras and the murmurs do nothing to faze her. She scoffs and begins to storm off, walking away at the same time Felix apologizes. Hopefully, whoever her next date would be would help her settle. But so far, the opening scene was not looking too hot.

Felix Gallagher

☉