“Thanks,” she replied at first, swiftly making her way over there. That girl looked somewhat familiar, but as someone who met so many people over the years and travelled a lot, Eve got that a lot of time. She knew that she had not made the acquaintance of many Hoenn shopkeepers, so she did not make that connection right away. Especially not with the other looking rather dull and sullen. Not that she minded, of course. She had heard of the woes of retail. It wasn’t something she could relate to much, given her own backstory, but she had heard of it at least. Which was enough to make her not want to be a burden.
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After all, not everyone was waiting for the day a pretty singer waltzed into their lives with a bright smile to lift them up. That wasn’t how humans worked. Eve had learned that after a few attempts. Most people who felt in a rut did take that as condescending, so she did not try unless prompted.
But she did take the hook to a conversation when it was offered. Even when it was taken as she briefly crouched down to get herself toothpaste from the bottom rung. One could not neglect dental care even when flying a Noivern, after all. And hers had run out not too long ago.
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“Oui. From Kalos, indeed. I do try to not let the accent shine through too much. People think it overdone for some reason,” she replied, lackadaisically before turning back towards the other, now equipped with something to buy. “I am travelling through Hoenn right now, but I was born and raised in Kalos, yes. Have you been there? You must be rather perceptive, most who see me peg me for being from Unova or Alola. Though come to think of it, you do seem a bit familiar on second glance. Have we met before?” It wasn't the other's fault that Eve hadn't had human contact for several days and thus a bit of a drive to share. But she had asked a question, so the girl could not blame anyone but herself for it.


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+ @celestine

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Phew. Made it in time. Or so she thought, at least. This clearly was after opening hours for most stores, that much was for sure. The cities were still rather well-lit, certainly, but she could tell that most places had already closed by the time they had reached Slateport Fortunately, from atop Noivern she had managed to spot one of those smaller convenience stores. Those usually were open for longer, perfect for the weary traveller arriving in town after sundown. Touching down on the not-so busy street, she briefly patted the bat-like dragonid on the head before recalling it. Not like he could follow inside.
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Eve instead made the final approach on foot. However, instead of immediately entering, the Kalosian briefly stopped at the window. Using its reflection, she briefly did her best to straighten her hair out. Flying at reasonably high speeds and altitude did serve to bring disarray to it, after all, so she wanted to ensure looking somewhat presentable at least. There was no time to switch out of the black riding leathers, much akin to biking gear that she wore during flight. That would just have to do for the time being.
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Wasting no more time she entered and immediately headed straight for the bored-looking one at the counter, her step and gait clearly purposeful. “Good evening madame. I know it is late, so I don’t want to bother you too much. Could you direct me towards the toiletries?” Her voice was as cheerful and melodious as always. It had been a long day, yes, but she wasn’t quite that tired. Hence, she gave the lass a bright smile instead of a weary one.


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“Sounds to me like there won’t be a loser, then,” she replied with a smirk. Honestly, even if it cost money, she would appreciating dinner with this girl. Heck, she would just invite her over for its own sake if that was an option. Yet, the two of them were keeping this a bit more low-brow this way, giving one another a kind of plausible deniability in a way. That was not a date just for the sake of having a date but compensating a bet lost or won. That certainly had a special kind of ring to it. Showed a bit more effort than just asking another out, so she would take it regardless.
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But she was not going to lose, either. Her opponent, too, sent out a rather strong-looking Pokemon. It was still pretty and cute, but that was par for the course for Luka. She seemed like the kind of person who would only put a Pokemon on her team if she liked its looks, no matter how strong or weak it might be.[break][break]
She could appreciate that, to an extent. As long as the girl didn’t do anything foolish just because of that. For now, she seemed to go with the conservative, cautious move.
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But that was fine. Anything that went up had to come down, eventually. “That one’s more of a close-ranged fighter anyway. Don’t try to get it up there, it is coming down, so wait, dodge and hit it in Close Combat right away,” she ordered, fully foregoing any kind of mercy in this. Her opponent would not have it any other way, she figured.


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Absol, in general were rare. Seeing a veritable avalanche of white and black fur like this certainly was something special. She had never seen anything like this before. But Eve decided that she most certainly liked the sight itself. They managed to combine fluffiness with elegance, which was quite rare and quite to her liking.
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But wading into them was tantamount to trying to face a tsunami head-on. Evette wanted to catch one, but with the approach of dusk she instead decided to wait patiently near the edge of the path, ready to throw a ball at a straggler. Certainly not the bravest of ways to catch a new Pokemon, but she didn’t want to be bitten, either. This seemed like a nice compromise to her in the end.


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[break][break]
Naturally, it was time for the villains to be defeated. Fortunately, Noivern did not have to act it much. That Hydropump did have some oomph behind it, after all – and it pushed the nocturnal Pokemon straight back, down the alley and even out of the set, sending some poor stagehand to scurry out of the way before there could be an accident.
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Intended or not, it was a good cue – one that coincided with a strike hitting the mask on the pressure point that would cause it to crack right down the middle. The hit itself wasn’t bad or hurt, fortunately, but Eve still pretended to be struck rather strongly, briefly staggering back a few steps as the white material fell from her face.
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Some hair fell into its place, fortunately. That would make for an even better picture in the light rain. “Heh. If you wanted to see my face that badly, you’d only have asked, my dear~,” she replied, trying to sound as half-crazed as she potentially could. Then, she lifted her head, making sure that the other could see. “There, take a good, long look. You don’t do that much anymore lately, don’t you? At least not since you have found your lineage. Heh. But it is fitting, is it not? For you to be you and me to be me. We could be so much more, together, but it is clear that you’d prefer to stay an enemy. Well, so be it. Next we meet, I will not play around anymore.”
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Using the obvious shocked freeze of her opponent at the reveal, Eve would simply exit the stage down the ledge on the other side, hopping onto the cushions place there to get out of sight.

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Noivern definitely was the worst actor on the field here. Especially now that it noticed that the other was putting more oomph into its actions, taking this fight more seriously. That meant it could do the same, right? If it wanted to pressure Noivern like this, then the Totodile better be able to take what it was dishing out, alright. Invigorated by that thought, it lashed out with another Moonlight – and it definitely tried to hit this time around. If Totodile wanted an actual fight here, than that was what it got!
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Eve, however, was fully focused on her fight with the other woman. “What? No snappy quips? No proclamations of righteousness? Guess I am forcing you to take this seriously, finally.” Granted, the other had not exactly been quipping all over the place so far. But her character wasn’t exactly written to be consistent all the time. In fact, she knew that this wasn’t exactly true. It was just something said to rile the other up. Still, Eve forced herself to smile under the mask, which was supposed to come off soon. Even though she found it still silly that said princess could not tell that one of her friends was hiding beneath it. As far as she could tell, she had quite the striking appearance, after all.


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[break][break]
Phew. So far, they managed to not hurt one another. That was the biggest danger for amateurs acting out a fight scene, as far as she knew. Though granted, she wasn’t exactly a complete amateur in acting herself. The other seemed to also have some kind of training in the arts. Maybe she was in the business as well, just not as an actress, much as herself. Certainly had the nice looks to be an actress. Her voice was neat as well, but Eve was reasonably certain that she was not a trained singer. As one herself, she could usually tell. Granted, she could be wrong still. But Eve was nothing but a little bit conceited in that regard.
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Which was good, since it helped with playing this role. “Face judgment? Oh no, how terrifying! I wonder what they will do? Put me in a cosy little cell and feed me until one of my sisters and brothers breaks me out? Such a terrible fate that could befall me!” She laughed again, half maniacally. Catching the blow with a grin, she leaned in, trying to get their faces close just to put emphasis on, well, that grin.
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The Noivern, in the meantime, had the opposite problem than the Totodile. It was frustrated to not really be fighting, sure. But it knew it had to lose in the end. Which only made the fake fighting more tedious. It still slashed with its wing, but with a lot less ambition than before. Its natural speed made it still seem like a proper fight, but the Totodile certainly would notice.

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The two Pokemon were soon locked in a fierce melee combat, wings and legs and kicks, oh my. Naturally, neither of them would be allowed to score a decisive blow until their trainers were done with their own dance.
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Though, admittedly, Cathrine was doing most of the dancing there. Eve had the longer reach, so she was focused on attacking, trying to almost hit as best as she could – which wasn’t very, given that she only had a two-hour instruction on the matter. Granted, this was a cheap prop that really should not hurt too much. It was still best not to hit, really.
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Which was difficult, especially when trying to keep to her role too. The mask fortunately hid her face as she grimaced slightly in concentration. It was only when the other closed in enough to make the whip useless for its intended purpose. That would call for a punch or kick of sorts, one that she planned to catch with her hands. “You sure like getting up close and personally with me, darling. But what are you planning to do, exactly? Are you going to kill me, join me on this path of mine that way?” She snickered after, seemingly revelling in that little conundrum she’d posed to the other.


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“Hmm,” she sounded, looking at the two Noivern in front of her, shivering lightly. Sadly, on this chilly evening, neither of them had Flame Body or Magma Armor to warm her up. But one of them had the ability Illusion, which it was still trying to master still. Eve leaned in, inspecting both of the Pokemon a bit more closely. One reacted by cocking its head to the side, while the other seemed to start dozing a little.
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Which obviously settled it. “This is fairly good. Though I guess you can’t keep up with Noivern’s disinterest in this exercise,” she noted, laughing. It wasn’t exactly Zorua’s fault, of course. It could pass as a Noivern, just not her noivern.
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Well, at least until it broke the illusion and hopped into her arms for some petting. Which it did get. “Good, good, you did well today,” she praised while laughing.

+ ooc notes

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For a moment, she was lightly distracted trying to figure out if she had actually hit the other there. That was way too close for comfort. Fortunately though, it appeared from the way the other held her arm that she had not actually been hit. That, ironically, would probably have led to a louder scream anyhow. So she probably could pass that off as working as intended, instead focusing on her own part in this little farce first. The ball was briefly in the other’s court, as they went through the darkest moment only to then rise again. As villains, they simply had to give them time for that. Such was movie law.
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Noivern was not great at playing surprised, but it could pretend to be hit by the Superpower, staggering back before rebounding from the alley’s grimy wall and rushed towards the Totodile with a Wing Attack. The melee continued likewise between the two women as Evette tried and purposefully failed to hit the princess with her whip on the way up to her. Pretend-startled, she moved a bit sideways, towards the other end of the wall. The not-camera-facing side had cushions for them to fall onto if there was an issue, but they had to be careful towards the other, with the trash bins.
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But, hopefully, neither of them would fall today. Well, not unstaged, at least. “Seems like you have some fight in you after all, mon cheri. Let us dance the night away until one falls, one rises~.” And with that, she would try to whip the other again at close range.


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“Stay calm, stay calm,” Eve tried to hold her Noivern back. The Dragon Type was getting rather angry at the Exeguttor standing on the other side of the fence. Which was odd since she had gotten egg on her face, not the draconic bat. But it was clearly getting mad on her behalf, believing that its trainer had been assaulted by another Pokemon.
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But starting a fight now would be a bad idea, so she tried to wave it down before it could take to the skies for an assault. “Listen, it didn’t try to hit me, just threw eggs all over the place,” she explained, wiping some yolk off her face. “You will have to learn to live with neighbours here, okay? Just as long as you are alone here. Can you do that, for me?” That did the trick, calming down the Noivern, which eventually decided to rather nuzzle against her hand. That was much better, really, and she briefly sighed in relief. This was sometimes rather difficult, wasn’t it?


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“If there’s one thing you can count on me to do,” she started, then left a slight, dramatic little pause. The line afterwards was to be delivered with some gusto, after all, and nothing emphasized that better than a bit of silence beforehand, even as Noivern stalked closer towards those two on its arms. “It is for me to amuse myself as much as I can, hahaha” saying that, she would uncoil the whip and crack it against the ground. It produced a nice little snap, but not a good enough one. Ah, well, they would add that in post.
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For now, they had to continue on. Even though she was wearing a mask, Eve gave the best evil smirk she could, just in case that was reflected in her eyes as she spoke. The next line was supposed to be spoken more quietly, softly, which probably would also have to be dubbed over. But she was still going to do her best. “I will have you begging at my feet before dawn….” Then, with her voice raised, she would give a command. “Show them your Dark Moonlight!” The Noivern obeyed, though it just used the normal move. In the meantime, Eve would carefully whip in Sapphire’s general direction, hopefully not hurting the woman. This was just pretend, after all. They would add in special effects or something later. This was all about acting out being hit, not actually being hit.


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