[attr="class","main"]




"Hey there!... Huh..."
[break][break]
The little girl in the dunk tank seems a bit familiar, but Lia can't pinpoint exactly from where. Disguises are silly like that.
[break][break]
Anyway, little girl or not, Lia still throws with a smile. Maybe she'll actually dunk Eris Halla.

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




It's surprisingly easy for her to imagine @marshall's hometown; to imagine all those people who had known him since he was a child gathering to celebrate his victory, being genuinely proud of him. It makes her happy for him.
[break][break]
"They must all be really proud of you, Marshall. It's kind of sweet, isn't it?" She smiles at him and honestly, even she feels kind of proud. She knows what it's like, after all, even if to a much lesser degree: to put all that effort and dedication into something you love and then be rewarded with the title of champion. While calmly having her sandwich, Lia decides to tell him about it:
[break][break]
"Back when I was in junior high and started winning Archery competitions, it was all everyone I knew would talk about when seeing me. Though, granted, that was also probably because my mom looooves to brag about it still."
[break][break]
She laughs lightly at that, taking a moment to reel in a Remoraid and then throw it back. Surprisingly, she hasn't seen a lot of particularly small fish. Shouldn't there be some fry around or something? Lia had heard catching one of those earned would earn her a crown..
[break][break]
"I actually only have like one Water type. Most my pokémon are birds." She admits with a smile, because she loves every single one of them. "Maybe that big Barraskewda from earlier? They have some nice abilities... What about you? Keeping one of your twenty Mantine?"
[break][break]
How could she resist teasing him about it?

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




Who would've thought diving would be the silver lining of her Splashfest experience? Well, this and some of the people she has met, but when it comes to diving...
[break][break]
Honestly, Lia had never even liked it all that much.
[break][break]
Apparently she's pretty decent at it, though, and it always feels nice to be good at things. She'll sure take it, and she'll specially take whatever cool thing she finds today.

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




"Ugh. Probably not." Who'd want to Mantine Surf after this? With how much they've struggled? Lia is many things, but she's not a masochist. She wouldn't put it beneath angelo vestri, though, considering he keeps failing at a trick he already did...
[break][break]
"Evolving my Mantyke would probably be good for ranger work, though." She adds then, right before he goes and fails yet again. Directing the Mantine towards the spot where he had unceremoniously landed, Lia raises a brow, offering him a hand. "What about you? How does a surfing carrier sound?"
[break][break]
She smirks, and with that, she goes give the OVER-THE-GYARADOS trick another try.

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




To be completely honest here, she had half expected the clearly skilled swimmer to flop around on the boat once out of the water – like a literal fish out of water. She doesn’t, however. In fact, she looks glorious, and for a moment there, Lia finds herself distracted wondering if she’d ever be able to pull that vibe off. You know the one: that of adrenaline and dauntlessness and sheer joie de vivre.
[break][break]

[break]
Oh, right. They have a Sharpedo to deal with.
[break][break]
”Or bigger arrows.” Is her immediate response, a smirk being spared for her new companion before reaching for the awaiting compound bow. She takes one of the arrows, tapping the metallic cylinder by its thin tip. They don’t look like much, but the goal here isn’t to have Sharpedo fin soup for dinner.
[break][break]
”Fair warning: it might jump onto the boat.” That much is probably obvious given the Brutal Pokémon’s fast approach, soon circling around the small motorboat as if it really had some serious grudge against this particular blonde. The thought, fleeting as it is, amuses Lia while she readies the arrow, adjusting to the bow’s shift in weight now that only four are in the quiver.
[break][break]
She has no intention of waiting for the Sharpedo to strike, but shooting the fin could easily result in failure.
[break][break]
”Spirit Shackle.”
[break][break]
The command is no more than a whisper spoken while looking at the waters through the bow’s sight, but she knows that with its sensitive hearing, the bird-of-prey now circling up above will answer as dutifully as he always has. The Decidueye’s arrow is shot first, striking true and pulling the Sharpedo out of the water. Lia’s is shot second, breaking through ROUGH SKIN to inject sedative.
[break][break]
Loudly, the murderous fish falls onto the boat, right on an awaiting net, but sedatives take a moment to come to full effect, and even out of water a Sharpedo can be dangerous.
[break][break]
”Woah! Might wanna take a step back.”
[break][break]
It’s not like the Sharpedo can move much right now, and she knows Juniper will attack if needed, but, you know… jaws and all.



[break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




It's a shame she hadn't gotten another chance to try to dunk @marshall, but nina larson is here again, and surely she'll do, no? Especially after she had been the one dunked Marshall instead. Lia would never say as much, of course.
[break][break]
"Hi again!" She greets Nina with the sweetest of smiles, taking the ball. "No hard feelings, yeah?"
[break][break]
Winking, she throws.

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




"That sounds amazing. I bet your hometown is really lovely. Petalburg isn't the smallest city out here, but growing up it always felt like everyone knew everyone."
[break][break]
It's nice to get to know more about him, and honestly, if it were up Lia, she'd just sit on this boat and chat with @marshall for hours upon hours. But, they had come here to fish, there's a competition going on for the Splashfest, and she has their own little contest to win.
[break][break]
"Ha! What happened to calling it beginner's luck? I could give you those tips after all, if you want." Lia teases him, gaze meeting his while giving him the brightest of grins. Her line is cast once more, and it's only then that she remembers her sandwich. Had she accidentally dropped it into the water while dealing with the Gyarados?! No, Marshall had actually managed to rescue it.
[break][break]
"Thanks for saving that one for me. My hero." She adds with a soft laugh, ignoring the fact that the words make her blush. Her next catch is a pretty large Horsea, and its soon released without any incidents.




[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




A level tutor sure isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but it is useful, and Lia will take useful.
[break][break]
Plus, in the end, just seeing what she'll find is like half the fun, and she has found plenty of exciting things already.
[break][break]
Would be nice to have more, though.
[break][break]
Sometimes, even someone like Lia can be greedy.

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




The Mantine jumps off the crest of the wave, going up in to the skies. It turns, it flips, it flaps its pectoral fins, and then... then it lands perfectly back onto the surface of the ocean.
[break][break]
Oh my god. They'd really done it! A Magikarp Splash!
[break][break]
"HELL YEAH!" Lia finds herself shouting in utter glee, the sound of her laugher being carried away by the sea breeze. Shame angelo vestri falls off his Mantine when she's on the way to give him a high-five.
[break][break]
"Come on, flyboy. Let's get those OVER-THE-GYARADOS."
[break][break]
Oh yes, she totally aims to ride this high, and with her luck, it'll probably go terribly. But hey, at least she'll try!

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




There's a cute girl in the dunk tank, and it almost makes Lia feel bad about grabbing the ball. Almost. This is just how the game goes, after all.
[break][break]
"Hey." She smiles at nina larson, ever so sweet. "Might wanna hold your breath, yeah?"
[break][break]
We'll see.

[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




Once, back when Lia was only fifteen, she had slaved away in the kitchen for hours making Valentine’s Day chocolates for a boy she had a crush on. Back then, the nervous expectant feeling that had washed over her while waiting for him to try them had been much like how she feels while watching @marshall take a bite from the sandwich she made for him. Yet, that feeling is also immediately replaced by relief once he makes it clear that he likes it.
[break][break]
Things had gone much differently back then.
[break][break]
”I did, yeah. They’re pretty easy to make, I could show you sometime.” The words come without much thought, a smile lingering at her lips. Setting her fishing rod down, she calmly begins to unwrap her own sandwich, for eating with care is something that’s almost as if ingrained into her system.
[break][break]
”My favourites? Hmm… that’s a good question. I like all sorts of things.” Traditional foods immediately come to mind, but that’s mostly because of her family’s ryokan. They had been a main aspect of her upbringing, and they’re foods that bring comfort to her even now. ”Guess I mostly like simple things. There’s nothing like some ramen, you know? Ah, but I also love pizza, and there’s this food truck that always parks by the beach near my place in Lilycove? The tacos are to die f–”
[break][break]
Just as Lia starts thinking that she probably is talking too much, the boat begins to lean starboard, and realisation comes that something heavy and strong is pulling at her fishing rod.
[break][break]
”Seriously?!” She didn’t even get to take a bite from her sandwich before she had to put it aside, quickly standing and reaching for the rod. The thought of cutting the line comes to mind, fearing that whatever this is will actually manage to flip over the boat, but then there’s a resounding roar, and an enormous Gyarados breaks out of the water, looking down upon them.




[break][break][break][break]

[attr="class","main"]




Lia is not sure what all these blue shards are for, but true to the nature of a historian, she'll about keeping trinkets. Maybe she'll look more into them later, do some research and what not.
[break][break]
For now, it's time to dive, and here's to hoping she'll find something fun.

[break][break][break][break]