nina refocused on her book, but mudkip was in the mood to play. when nina shied away, the little axolotl skipped off behind her to investigate a slurpuff that had been following a few meters off.

a WATER GUN shot from its mouth to hit the fae between its pink jellybean eyes. 'kip!'

nina kept walking, blissfully unaware and looking out towards the horizon.

passing

she wrinkled her brow at him. was he messing with her?

after a chuckle, she looked over at the bartender, who gazed back at them before scooping ice into two glasses with a smile.

nina turned towards niko again, and after a moment, she decided to ask, ”how old are you?”

NIKO MANNER

nina looked toward the delphox in question and smiled. he looked… wise, maybe. ’old man’. she could see it.

”fennekin are so cute.” her eyes followed as they were off. FLAME CHARGE built around her scorbunny as he tore in a blur, having to jog in place in increments to not pass them up.

”is that where you got the name? ‘fennekin’?”

@jessica

nina smiled down at her hopping scorbunny. it was a good-looking pokémon—the most expensive she owned, by far.

”thanks!” she chirped, shoulders pinching with momentary joy at a compliment. ”hear that, saffron?”

scor!

they’d be on their way, and nina didn’t seem in too great a hurry after the speeding bunny, who left a trail of melted snow in his wake.

”he has a lot of energy.” nina noted, stuffing her hands back into her pockets.

@jessica

king might’ve saved her, and she might’ve felt some obligation to show him respect—but she was quickly feeling cornered by insecurities, and emotions rose.

she stared, feeling uncomfortably transparent.

her eyes narrowed the smallest bit and she shook her head with the smallest scoff. ”you think i don’t know that?”

she stressed about it nightly. it was a lonely fear, too.

”it’s not like i can just change my mind now.”

KING WAYLAND

fire-types were a good idea. she found arcanine to be intimidating, but maybe this would be good exposure therapy or something.

”sounds good to me.” she shrugged and reached into her bag. ”i have a scorbunny.” unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any others that might be of use to them immediately.

a shiny luxury ball appeared, and the uniquely creamsicle-colored rabbit followed, hopping from one foot to the other energetically. what snow collected on the stone floor melted under its jog in place.

”he just has to warm up a sec.”

@jessica

her lavender windbreaker crinkled, and the waves lapped lightly towards her sneakers, but she heard neither over the suspenseful drone of cinematic background music. dreary storytelling played in her ears—barry by keithen sting, the classic horror novel.

mudkip hopped along at her feet, closer to the water. occasionally, it would go to splash around, sending drops onto the side of nina’s pantleg.

”hey, watch it! that’s cold.”

solo wild — water / fairy

she found herself smiling a little, flashing an odd look, as though she hadn’t expected him to take her suggestion.

something sweet, he said.

”okay. um…” she looked down the bar, spotting bottles, but not quite familiar enough to get too specific. ”have you had an amaretto sour before?”

NIKO MANNER

”sorry.”

her hands remained stuffed in the pockets of her hoodie as she walked over. when jessie extended a stiff arm to shake, nina glanced down at it with a sort of look, and then back up.

”yup. that’s me.” an elbow lazily twisted in to tap jessie's fingers before swinging back again. ”you too.”

she looked out ahead at the expanse of ice and snow, and wiggled fingers down at the snorunt near her feet. ”so… how do we do this?”

@jessica

rocket was nefarious like that.

once upon a time, nina had worked solely with people. this could explain why her battling skills were so sorely lacking. thank goodness she had jessica to carry her, whoever that was.

”i know, right?”

the voice would come from behind, from a done-up fuzzy-hooded woman, who looked just as offended by the temperature.

”hi.”

she approached further. by a brief description, she was confident that this was her partner.

a grimacing snorunt followed at her heel.

@jessica

”of course not.” she believed whole-heartedly in luck.
after a won hand, nina’s eyes left the table and back to the designer diva beside her, casting a smile from beneath a convincing lilac wig.

”just lucky, i guess.”


her togepi trilled again, agreeing maybe.

she wasn’t counting cards. she didn’t need to, with the dealer’s aid. trust was building between them, gradually, despite hardly any words having been shared.

attention remained on the woman.

”usually people ask me about myself over a drink,” lashes batted once. ”my name’s kyla.”

Amber Lenoir