andromeda holds onto the treasure, admiring it. julian hears her defeated opponent speak, and she turns her head, blinking pink eyes. "uh, yeah, duh," is the first thing that escapes her lips. the other girl probably doesn't deserve such an acerbic retort, but as usual julian's faith in humanity, and herself, is at a flat zero. it's easy to imagine all sorts of reasons to not bother with social niceties. she could be with rocket, or she could be like those girls who bullied you in high school, or...

andromeda the morpeko is a little kinder. she hears the compliments and perks right up, waving her little paw in thea's direction. julian quickly shoves their card into the card reader to pay for the charm and turns around. "i-- i spent a lot of time training her," they mutter under their breath. they don't volunteer any more information than that.

[ Thea Naito ]

julian, at first, is looking for a way out of this conversation. she doesn't much care for the sort of extroverted person who'd confront someone in public and start babbling about how cute their pokemon is, even if it's a correct observation. when she doesn't have her mask on hand, people tend to frighten her.

then thea asks how their morpeko's fur stays so shiny, and unknowingly hits upon julian's extreme love for talking about the art of being a trainer. "you can't use the same products because they don't have the same type of fur!" they blurt out, unable to stop themself. "a minccino's fur is so thick it can't let water through! that's why you give them dust baths instead of regular baths. morpeko can have dust baths, but it's not really beneficial to them. what's really, really important is to make sure their diet is properly varied and they're getting all the right nutrients. morpeko and other rodent pokemon will typically groom themselves just fine, but you can use dry shampoo to--"

her gaze goes down for a brief moment, and she notices thea's hoodie, with heidi hemlock's trademark mask on it. shocked, she bites her tongue and stops talking.

[ Thea Naito ]

she's trying to think of how to make a quick getaway so she isn't discovered when thea starts pleading with her. julian can't help babbling out a few nonsense syllables, still distracted by seeing her own merchandise out in the wild. say you're busy! say you left the oven on! say you have to go visit your sick grandma in the hospital! it's one thing to interact with your fans while in costume, but to interact with them here? if this girl discovers just how lame "heidi hemlock" is in real life, she's gonna go around... spreading rumors or something!

while julian is catastrophizing, her morpeko is watching thea curiously. she doesn't really understand what's going on, but she does hear a mention of food and eating, which makes her squeak excitedly and starts bapping julian on the cheek, trying to urge her to go. being slapped by a tiny paw is enough to bring julian out of their stupor. "o-okay," they agree uneasily. "if... you're treating us..."

andromeda lets out a cheer. julian sighs. this sucks... why did i agree...?

[ Thea Naito ]

julian follows silently, hunched over slightly, fiddling with the bow tied in her shirt. she bemoans her misfortune at running into one of her own fans, something that most people would probably be ecstatic about. julian simply isn't like most people, which is why she feels the need to hide behind a mask whenever she puts herself on camera.

at least the diner looks nice, she thinks. and free food is nothing to sneeze at... she squeezes herself into the booth opposite thea, and her morpeko hops down onto the table itself. "julian," they mumble. and my friends would call me julie, if i HAD any friends. they look over at the one pokemon they have out right now. "and this is... andromeda." thank goodness she always uses nicknames on her channel, so hopefully just this won't raise any suspicion.

it would be a problem if they brought out their other pokemon and they all matched up to heidi's, though, so for now they're just going to lie. "my... other pokemon are at home. it's just me and andromeda right now." the morpeko's ears twitch, unused to hearing her full name.

[ Thea Naito ]
(belated outfit ref)

andromeda loves the attention she's been getting. she soaks up the praise, unlike her trainer, who feels like sinking deeper and deeper into the earth with every nice thing thea says about her. her voice gets low as she mumbles that she wants the four cheese flatbread with a strawberry milkshake, just barely audible enough to be heard. when their waiter comes by, she repeats her order, and asks for a glass of water as well. next thea's order is taken, and then they're left at the table with their pokemon.

julian tries to muster up the confidence necessary to speak. "s-so..." they mutter, looking at the table instead of thea. "you, um... like heidi hemlock...?" andromeda hears the name and immediately perks up again. "shh, shhh," julian hastily whispers to their pokemon. the morpeko looks away, trying to pretend she's not interested now.

[ Thea Naito ]

julian tries to keep her face from turning red as thea explains what she likes about her persona. it's weird to hear such nice things coming from someone in-person. usually she has a computer screen to filter it out, and she's never really engaged with a fan face to face before. sure, she's seen people walking around in her merchandise once or twice, but she's always skittered away quickly from them because she was afraid she'd be recognized.

not that it's likely... she wears a mask and a wig, and puts on a more high-pitched voice for her role as heidi. it's all a result of her time as a theatre kid in school, wanting to act out without being seen. "i... i guess you could say i'm a... c-casual fan," julian mumbles, rubbing one of andromeda's ears between her thumb and forefinger. "you don't think it's, uh, a little weird that she... hides behind a mask, though...? i mean, she could be anybody..."

[ Thea Naito ]