rasha had heard small mentions of elias's ability to be a bit 'creepy' or 'off-putting', but she hadn't heard much in the way of him being a rather chatty and fairly chipper person. he had a small slew of followers in terms of eyes watching over him as if he were a coveted bachelor and she wanted to know exactly why due to having a ring of middle aged women to entertain with gossip, but never had she imagined she would find something so familiar and easy to talk about to begin with.[break]
"cortondo ..." the nanny's voice trailed off as she eyed a pokeball now in her hand. pressing upon the middle button, it spilled open its contents - a little smoliv that stood at attention, looking quite dapper and polite with the little black bowtie around its 'neck'. "i, too, come from there. so does he." giving the smoliv a small brush of her hand atop its crown, it stubbornly tried not to coo out its pleasure as he closed his eyes and donned an off-green blush. "he's smoliver. he has a sister, smolivia. i have been looking to reunite them sometime soon." in other words, she was looking for her sister here and there, but it wasn't a priority. rasha missed her home, so mentions of it put her at ease - even forgetting the way he had discarded the option of wine altogether though she focused on her duties on being a proper host by starting to split apart a large baguette-like loaf of bread and start stacking it with ingredients in proper paldean fashion.[break]
"i have ingredients from artisan bakery from paldea. i have them shipped in for special occasions - or when i want a taste from home. i believe this occasion to be fit for that. it's hard to come by fellow paldeans, i fear." when she was trickling some olive oil over the bread as a base, it seemed that some hungry eyes made themselves known in the form of two floating individuals.[break]
smoliver seemed to stand at attention but rasha held up a hand as to tell the little grass type to relax while she pulled out more bread, patiently going about making another sandwich which she would split in half to offer the two pokemon. of course, she was devious enough to fit in a small, inactive pokeball into the slice offered to the duskull. as it gulped down its half, the familiar 'click! hsss--' of the pokeball inflating, activating, and then popping the sated duskull into it came to be. rasha stared at the pokeball expectantly while looking to the lunatone that stared on curiously as if not used to this interaction.[break]
"what are you hoping to find, mister holbrook?" this question was vague and she looked back at the man with a faint smile now. "in this place and in this upcoming year, respectively?"[break]

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

@eli

fascinating. elias wasn't someone who was just the center of some gossip circles due to his appearance and line of work, but he had actual substance to him. admittedly, that was a rarity in a world filled with boys who played at being men and praying that their good looks got them far.[break]
"i quite like stories. don't think you are sparing me anything when you are instead doing me a disservice by holding back any details." regardless, rasha stared at the psychologist with something that hinted at hunger of her own. her stomach wasn't grumbling, but her mind was whirring - yearning to learn more. after all, she had been the one to invite him. to leave without having at least figured out her company in some capacity would be a horrible waste of time.[break]
butter was applied to another baguette as she started to pile it with a more meat-centric and heavy array of food items. this one was split in half as well as she offered another piece to the morpeko, a charmed smile on her face - maybe even a dash of a faint blush that showed her finding the pokemon to be rather adorable.[break]
-- especially after it had its little tantrum and effectively murked another pokemon.[break]
"to extract fear out of people would likely take some pokemon's efforts. it reminds me of the tales of darkrai being able to essentially take different essences out of people's minds for its own purpose." her hands failed to stop working - a sign of her usual habits at her 'home' which was equally her work station. peeling and coring an apple in a rhythmic manner, her eyes fell upon the fruit as she mulled the question reflected back at her. the new pokemon brought her enough time to finish her task and come up with an answer with the way that smoliver took to a grassy terrain to help enhance the picnic scene - soft grass now under the large blanket rasha had provided and then he seemed to throw a terrain pulse at the wobbuffet who was followed up with a lightly apple-scented pokeball on its body shortly after.[break]
"i wish something similar to you, mister holbrook. i wish to be stronger - it is always what i am looking for. self improvement never stops, so i fear i may never meet the end of this goal. regardless, i am happy to continue pursuing it so i may defend those close to me." maybe this may seem honorable, but there was selfish undertones to this thought - showing the league member had little interest in those outside her sphere of interest. [break]
a polite smile. "making powerful allies in different rings of society helps, don't you think?"[break]

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

@eli

"you come off very strong." a warning? perhaps just an observation, seeing as how rasha says this coolly - her gaze focused on elias's own with a perked brow as if to say she is to deny him without having outwardly done so just yet.[break]
"i just met you - so no, i do not trust you." regardless, she left the apple in his hand and she had been the one to ask him out in the first place. her suggestion of friendship was an honest one, so she didn't reel back fully. instead, the brunette woman turned her head just faintly to look upon the new specters on the scene. it seemed the older sibling of the litwick did not quite enjoy having its baby counterpart being chewed upon by the morpeko so rasha moved in to intercept with a pop open of a pokeball. honedge in her hand, she flung it at the lampent as the honedge prepped a night slash. empty pokeball following, rasha wondered out loud:[break]
"i wonder if this is perhaps an omen that our meeting should come to a premature end." 'premature' in the sense that she wasn't quite ready to bare herself before a stranger, though she had the intention to have them converse further. the wild pokemon of the region seemed to have other ideas, though, and she picked up on these social cues for their combined comfort.[break]
"we can work towards a better understanding of what we can do for one another, though, if you'd be comfortable with exchanging numbers." having reached out to him through formal mail, she now opened up her cellphone to offer it to him - her contact list open for him to skim through if he desired. it was evident she was asking for him to put in his own number and name while she stroked smoliver with one hand as the small bundle of nerves seemed to look up at the blue man as if to apologize for his trainer's bluntness. as if sensing his disease, rasha sighed out a low: "i do not think you wouldn't be able to help me, after all. i imagine you to be a capable man and i am not unwilling to see where you may be able to take me."[break]

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

@eli