Whew! It stayed in! Hazel can't help but breathe a sigh of relief as the pokeball stops rattling back and forth and gives a telltale click. 

Hazel lets Xye lick her hand before giving him a few scritches behind one of his ears, part in thanks and part in apology. "Sorry about that," she says as she stands and makes her way over to pick up her pokeball, "I'll try to be a bit more careful in the future."

It's hard to tell whether she's talking to Pluto or his granbull. Possibly both. She hadn't meant for anyone to have to come out and rescue her. Of course, she hadn't been expecting to spend quite so much time in this cave either...

"Is the path you came from still clear?" she asks hopefully. If only she'd brought Carmen along instead of leaving the abra to guard the shop, they could have just teleported out. "I tried the way I came, but the water had risen over most of the path and it's freezing." All it had taken was testing the water with her fingertips for Hazel to decide that swimming back was a really bad idea. She couldn't afford to catch pneumonia or something worse. Who would check on Nana? Who would run the shop?

Edgar's flame flickers and bobs as he moves away from the group again, the sound of his hops echoing off the stone. Where's he going? "Edgar wait! Where are you going? Pluto hasn't told us where the exit is yet!" she calls after the wayward Litwick. But it's no good, his light is still getting further away, further, and further until it stops and she hears a cry of alarm. 

Heedless of the danger that she might once again be plunging into, Hazel rushes to his side only to find a dazed gible blinking furiously at the sudden illumination. 'Oh no!' Had Edgar blinded it?

While it's only a temporary condition, that doesn't mean that Hazel doesn't feel bad about it. "Edgar step back, she's not used to the light." But the damage is done, the gible charges, narrowly missing Edgar in its impairment and charging headfirst into a large rock instead. It roars its fury, but all Hazel hears is its pain. That had to hurt. 

"I'm sorry, I'm really really sorry," she says as it turns and stumbles back toward them even more dazed than before. "I'll make it up to you late, okay?" 

Understanding what she's about to do, Edgar lights up the cave, trapping the gible in place with a brilliant gout of blame in the form of a fire spin. It doesn't even see the pokeball coming. 

[Catch Attempt - Gible]

Pluto Fürst
ice/ground

☉

Carmen seems to be of a similar mind. The Abra huffs at the idea of playing and remains seated on the far edge of Hazel's blanket, far more content to meditate than exert herself for no reason. Finn, on the other hand, seems pretty disappointed that Sunny's pokemon don't want to play with him.

"I don't know about cool, but it is a lot of fun! And don't worry, Finn will get over it. Watch." All Hazel has to do is toss the ball and the Eevee's disappointment is all but forgotten. He charges back toward the lake in pursuit., more water spraying up onto the blanket in his wake. 'Oops.'

"Sorry about that, my aim is pretty terrible." It's why she'd aimed for the lake. That way, she didn't accidentally hit anyone, buuuut she probably should have tried to throw it a little further away.  

Hazel shakes her head and laughs, watching for a moment as Finn paddles around, pushing at the ball with his nose, trying to get the other pokemon to engage with him. Let it never be said that he isn't determined. And, oh! It looks like he found another friend. Not that the Walrein looks pleased to have someone interrupting it while it's trying to sun itself.  Finn darts around it before diving back into the lake, trying to convince it to give chase.

Hazel frowns at the commotion but, thankfully, the Walrein seems to prefer sunning itself and stays put. 

But it seems that the Walrein isn't their only new friend. The rustling bushes reveal a Hoppip, who tries to scuttle over to the blanket and snag what's left of Hazel's sandwich while she's talking with Sunny abut the shop.

"We're open most days from noon to 10pm unless I have to be away on business, but I always leave a sign on the door so people will know when the shop will be open again and---hey!" Hazel snatches her sandwich away from the little thief in the nick of time. "You need to ask first," she informs the wild Hoppip.

For a moment it just stares at her, then it hops from foot to foot letting out a high pitched chirrup. Hazel grins, rips off a chunk, and holds it out. 

Delighted, the Hoppip toddles forward and snatches up its prize before retreating to the far end of the blanket to munch. Back before it even finishes chewing the last bite, it does another little dance, trying to earn more food for its trouble. 

"Oh, are you still hungry little one?" Hazel rips off another chunk of her sandwich, this time holding it just out of reach and ---it looks like it's not afraid of her! Or maybe it's just food motivated --- The next thing Hazel knows, the Hoppip has hopped up onto her lap to snatch at the piece of sandwich. This time, it doesn't retreat.

"Aww, I think she likes me! That or she really likes turkey sandwiches." Hmm, it could be useful to have a Hoppip around, she remembered her Nana saying that they were good at finding certain herbs. Maybe she could bribe it to come home with her! At least that way it wouldn't be so hungry. 

(Catch Attempt - bribing with food)

sunny clark
flying/water

☉

A performance, huh? Neat! Hazel's already looking forward to seeing it! She loves watching people throw themselves into their work. Maybe that's just because she loves her own work, but still. And while his wink doesn't quite fluster her, her cheeks do look a little pinker than they did before, though that could just be from the warmth from the tea.

Either way, Hazel finds herself fighting back a wave of disappointment when Pluto announces that it's time for him to head back to Mossdeep. Where had the time gone? Oh well, maybe next time she can convince him to do a reading for her (because there will be a next time, right? She really hopes there will). It's been years since someone has done a pull for her. She does pulls for herself and her pokemon from time to time, of course, to keep her skills sharp, but it isn't quite the same.

If she's being honest with herself, she misses the days when her Nana would read for her. Lilliana Klein had a way of making each reading feel like a secret truth, a mystery that unraveled itself right before your eyes and declared itself true, that resonated. Hazel feels like her own readings pale in comparison. 

"I'm glad you stopped by today," she tells him, ever one to wear her feelings out in the open, "hope you do it again soon. And you'll have to tell me when your next performance is so I can stop by and see you in your element!" It's official, despite the very obvious hints, Hazel still has absolutely no idea what Pluto does for a living. 

Hazel's gaze drifts to the two pokemon turned would be statues. Had they moved? "I think don't so. I almost feel bad breaking it up before they're done, but..." She trails off as she makes her way over to one of the shelves and plucks a vibrant purple crystal off of it. She doesn't want Pluto to miss his ferry.

"Hey little guy, look at this nice shiny crystal! Do you wanna take it home?" She waves the crystal back and forth in front of Smudge, trying to draw the Sableye's attention away from Carmen. 

Pluto Fürst

☉

Ooooh, Sunny had come here to fish! Hazel nods. Hopefully, the sandwich and tea will give Sunny all the energy she needs to wait for a good catch. That's how it went, right? A whole lot of waiting around before something finally decided to nibble on your bait? Maybe Sunny would get lucky and the fish would be hungry too! Though Hazel isn't entirely sure that she wants to root for the fish to get themselves caught. Won't getting a hook in the mouth hurt?

Hmm. Maybe she can distract Sunny for a bit instead. Give the fish a fighting chance!

Hazel nods again when Sunny asks if she likes ghost pokemon. "I do! Ghosts tend to have a bad reputation, but they're always really great once you get to know them! And it's not their fault that some people get scared easily."

"I actually grew up with a lot of ghost pokemon. They used to follow my nana home from jobs, and now they follow me sometimes too."

"Oh, right, the shop," she says, realizing that Sunny had asked about the shop earlier. "I probably should have explained that first, huh? I run a psychic shop on the west side of Petalburg. We specialize in tarot readings, charms, and occasionally take calls to go negotiate with ghosts on behalf of people who are starting to get tired things flying across the room or someone crying in their attics." But it isn't really we anymore is it? It's been 2 years since Nana has been able to run the shop. Since she moved to the nursing home on the other side of the city and Hazel found herself trying to make the most of things, trying to single-handedly keeping the shop open and the money coming in.

That's part of why it's so nice to have company, to have someone else join her by the lake so that she has other memories of this spot, not just the ones that are going to hurt in a few years' time. 

The appearance of Sunny's pokemon pulls Hazel from her rapidly darkening thoughts, causing her expression to brighten once more. 'Aww, they're so cute!'

"Hello everyone," the little witch greets with no small amount of enthusiasm, "nice to meet you!" Maybe they'll be up for playing with Carmen and Finn. They could both use some new friends!

sunny clark
flying/water

☉

The epic staring contest rages on as Hazel and Pluto talk about his reading. The Abra, eyes still as unblinking as ever, seems to be staring into the middle distance, almost as if she's meditating.

Hazel nods as Pluto tells her about the business that he runs with his husband in Mossdeep. So he is a fellow business owner! And the casino, bar, and restaurant that his boyfriend owns, offering them as potential places to visit. Wait, husband and boyfriend? Did she hear him right?

It's not that Hazel has anything against people with multiple partners, it's just that it honestly hasn't occurred to her until just now that that could be a thing. It must be wonderful to have multiple people to share that kind of love with! Probably difficult too. Did they ever get jealous of each other? Were all three of them dating, or were both of them just dating Pluto? How did that even work? Hazel figures that it's probably rude to ask, so she settles for another nod.

"I'm really glad you enjoyed the reading. I don't usually get to read for people who know how to do their own readings, so it was a treat for me too! And I'd love to come see where you work. The business you and your husband own, that is. And don't worry, I don't mind exotic." Of course, she says this, but she's not entirely sure what to expect. Calling it exotic makes it sound really exciting! But the way he said it leaves her pretty sure that it's the kind of place that her nana would tell her not to visit. Oh well, what nana doesn't know can't get her an earful, right? She'll just leave that part out the next time she brings tea over to the nursing home.

Pluto Fürst

☉

Smudge to the rescue! Hazel winces at the resounding thud that echoes through the cave as the Sableye headbutts the irate Graveler into the nearest wall. And...are the walls shaking a little bit? That can't be good, but Hazel can focus on that problem later. Right now, she only has eyes for the poor Graveler, who doesn't seem to be getting back up, and she doesn't think it's because there are two pokemon growling at it. 

"Wait," Hazel calls to Pluto's pokemon as they advance on the downed not-a-bolder. "I think it's stuck." It doesn't occur to Hazel that maybe she should stay put or, at the very least, that she shouldn't go over and touch the downed Graveler.

Frowning, Hazel pushes past her would be protectors and lays her palm against the Graveler's side as it thrashes and cries out, trying to right itself. It sounds like it's in pain. Probably best not to leave it here like this, not when other pokemon might come along and attack it while it's down. 

Decision made (she's gonna help the Graveler as best she can!), Hazel steps back, takes out a pokeball, and tosses it at the flailing Graveler.

With the Graveler safely out of harm's way (unless it decides to pop back out of the ball), Hazel turns to Pluto's pokemon, kneeling so that she's at their level and offering her hand for head scritches (if they want them). "Thank you both for protecting me," she tells them as Pluto steps into view. She glances up at him, offering him a shaky smile that says she's not quite as okay as she's pretending to be. 

"Sorry about that. I've heard stories about Shoal Cave and I thought I'd be able to get in and out in time, but the tide seems to have come in and flooded the way back, and my flashlight ran out of battery, and--" She's babbling and she knows it, still caught up in the shock and adrenaline of nearly being attacked in the dark. 

Speaking of the dark, it looks like Edgar managed to successfully scare off the Cloyster. The Litwick cries out in triumph as it hops back to Hazel's side.

[Catch Attempt - Graveler]

Pluto Fürst
ice/ground

☉

A sudden splash sends drops of water cascading over the blanket and its occupants as Finn dives into the lake. She should have known it wouldn't take long for him to go for a swim. Sitting still has never been his strong suit. 

"Sorry about that. He's got a lot of energy and he was cooped up in the shop all morning." As if to prove her points, the eevee in question swims back to shore, turns around, and promptly throws himself back into the lake. Hazel shifts back toward the edge to the blanket to avoid getting splashed again before turning her full attention back to Sunny.

Did the thermos come with the stickers? Hazel wishes she could say that it had, but those had been one of her own additions. "Nope, but I might have a few left back at the shop if you want some. I didn't use the whole pack." 

Hazel smiles and shakes Sunny's hand. Sunny may have been joking about fate bringing them together, but Hazel wasn't so sure. Fate did have a way of bringing people together when they needed it most, and she had just been lamenting the fact that she had no one to go on a picnic with. If not fate, than at least coincidence, which was basically the same thing with a fancier and easier to accept name. 

"Nice to meet you, Sunny. And thanks for sharing my picnic." Oh, she probably introduce herself too. "I'm Hazel!" Beside her, Carmen turns to give Hazel a pointed look. Hazel gestures to the abra. "And this is Carmen, she says she's also glad that you decided to join us."

sunny clark
flying/water

☉

One sheep. Two sheep. Wait...sheep? 

Hazel finds herself drawn to the shop window, watching as two more mareep wander by. Huh. That's odd. She doesn't see many mareep in the city, and she hasn't seen this many in one place since she visited Errol's farm out on Route 102. Wait, these aren't Errol's mareep are they?

Sure, enough, Hazel catches sight of another one as it wanders toward the alley across the way, it sports a telltale pink splotch just above its tail. They are Errol's mareep. Oh no! They must have gotten scared and broken out during the storm. It had been a pretty bad one. Even Finn, who was usually the bravest of Hazel's pokemon, had curled up under the comforter on her bed and refused to come out as booming thunder heralded bright flashes of lightning. 

Snagging her coat from the hook near the door, Hazel flips the sign on the front door to closed and hurries outside, hoping to catch sight of at least a few of the wayward sheep pokemon before they scatter and end up lost all over the city. 

Thankfully, the storm has mostly petered out and the young witch only has to contend with a bit of light drizzle as she makes her way over to the nearest mareep. The escaped sheep pokemon has stopped to try and headbutt one of the trash barrels at the mouth of the alley onto its side. Could it be hungry? That might make it easier to lure back to the farm, but where did the other ones go? 

"Yep, I'm really just a glorified interpreter of the will of the cards. No need to tell me anything." No, that isn't quite right.

Now that she thinks about it, Hazel's never really tried to explain it before. Nana had always done the explaining, leaving Hazel to do the reading.

Hazel finds herself grasping for the right words and coming up short. Oh well, she's trying her best!

"It's sort of like reading a story told by the universe! The cards show what was, or is, or will be. Sometimes they give advice, and sometimes they like to warn people about things. Give them a chance to choose a different path, you know?" Nothing is set in stone, the cards simply reveal the most likely outcome based on someone's current path. What might be if things remain as they are. If nothing changes. 

There are a few different spreads she could do, but Hazel has resolved to do a simple three spread for everyone that visits tonight, just in case someone else wanders in and she has to do several readings back to back. 

Hazel laughs when Isaac has to restrain his Totodile from slicing through the deck with his claws. Yeah, okay, that may have been a poor choice of words with so many little "helpers" running about. "Oh, do you want to help?" she asks the enthusiastic little dinosaur pokemon. "Do you think you could hand out candy and berries for me if anyone knocks?" Her own pokemon have taught her that the best way to distract them from wanton acts of destruction is to give them something to do. A job. A way that they can help rather than just the ways that they shouldn't. 

Ambrose, still hovering by the baskets with his little plastic scythe like a silent sentinel seems to take offense at having his job offered to someone else. With a huff, the duskull turns and vanishes through the wall. 'Oh Ambrose.' "He'll be fine," she assures Isaac and his crew. "He's still getting used to the idea of sharing." And people. She's surprised he didn't split the second Isaac and his team wandered in. 

"Anyway, without further ado. Your fate!" the little witch announces with entirely too much cheer. She grins at him as she turns over the first card.

Seven goblets in various states of disrepair litter the card, many toppled over, with clear streams of liquid running from them. A totodile is shown walking away on the right-hand side, tossing another goblet behind it. The Eight of Cups. "There was someone or something in your life that didn't measure up to what you wanted or maybe what you deserved. Something disappointing. So you walked away from that disappointment hoping to find something better." 

Hazel takes a breath and turns over the next card. She isn't grinning anymore. The second card shows a lopunny suspended upside down over the edge of a cliff, its legs entrapped by vines. Though its position is precarious, its eyes are closed, expression calm, and one of its hands is reaching toward the drop. Accepting the fall. The Hanged Man. "You're going to have to give something up soon, if you haven't already." 

"The Hanged Man usually alludes to a sacrifice of some kind," she explains, then hurries to add, "but it's not all bad. It's also the card of new beginnings." Good ones, or bad ones? That remains to be seen. Hazel flips the final card. 'Ouch.' The Hanged Man had definitely meant sacrifice she thinks as she looks down at the Five of Cups now sitting beside it, and not the easy to bounce back from kind either. 

A roselia bends forward over a table laden with five simple wooden cups. Its tears fall into the cups, filling them until they run over. The Five of Cups - loss, grief, self-pity. For several too-long moments, Hazel doesn't say a word. Instead, she just stares at the cards and runs her hands through patch's leaves, rubbing soothing little circles on the top of his head.

Uh-oh, it looks like Patch isn't quite all the way awake after all. The oddish is struggling to keep his eyes open now that he's found himself a nice warm lap to sit on and someone to pet his head.

"I'm sorry. I probably should have picked a different deck." But it isn't the deck. This was the right one. The one that felt the most like Isaac in the moment, but---

"We can try another one if you want. Oh, and we should probably drink our tea before it gets cold!"

The final card remains unread.

Isaac Merlo

☉

"Pluto?" If Pluto's voice echoing in the darkness is a surprise (and it is!) the cloyster that Hazel practically walks into while trying to find him is even more starling. Crying out in surprise, Hazel stumbles backward into a large rock - the cave wall? - a large rock that begins to shift and rise behind her. Not the cave wall!

As Edgar hops closer to shine his light on the very much not a rock, which is, in actuality, a very nonplussed looking graveler who clearly didn't enjoy having a random trainer bump into him while he was napping, Hazel's eyes widen, an apology already falling from her lips. "Oh. Oh no! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there."

She should probably find a way to get closer to Pluto before this gets any worse, but the graveler's narrowing its eyes and the cloyster isn't exactly going away either.

Uh oh.

"Pluto?" she calls out again, hoping that he'll be able to follow the sound of her voice. This is really really not good. "I...I think I might need some help." Hazel's voice wavers, fear creeping in at the edges. Edgar might be able to scare off the cloyster with an Inferno, but he'll have to be careful about where he aims it. She really doesn't want to hurt anybody if she can help it. 

"Edgar, let's light things up so Pluto can find us." And hope for the best. 

Flames roar to life around the cloyster as the litwick jumps into action. Hopefully it will be enough to scare him off. That just leaves...the graveler. 

Pluto Fürst
ice/ground

☉

As long as nothing breaks (and they'd be hard-pressed to break much of anything in the front room) Hazel is content to let the baby cyclone do its worst until they run out of energy. Who knows, maybe she'll get really lucky and Finn will be tired enough to actually get some sleep tonight, instead of chasing shadows around her bedroom until the wee hours of the morning.

She misses the days when she'd been able to run around with him for most of her waking hours and he would spend his nights curled against her chest or tucked into a soft ball just above her head (even if it did mean that she lost half her pillow to him). Now, the demands of the shop keep her tied down, more often than not, and the eevee is practically nocturnal, napping throughout the day and knocking over piles of books during the night as he scampers after things that only he seems to be able to see. Not ghosts. Hazel would know if there were other ghosts in the shop. But definitely something weird that she's yet to catch a glimpse of for herself. That, or he's got a really good imagination. 

Speaking of pokemon who spend a surprising amount of asleep, Hazel is surprised to see Patch make his way out from the back room. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been napping between two piles of books.

The oddish shuffles in with a dazed expression, eyes blinking away the last remnants of sleep as he takes in the chaos unfolding in the middle of the room.

"Hi Patch!" Hazel calls to the oddish, waving him over. It takes him a solid minute of blinking and shaking his leaves before he stumbles in the direction of the table and hops up onto Hazel's lap while she's preparing a deck of tarot cards, whose backs are emblazoned with fluffy white clouds, for Isaac's reading.

If one were to look closely, they might be able to make out the shape of a semi-transparent castform in its sun form partially hidden behind one of the smaller clouds. It's not a deck that she uses often, but Isaac's joke about having bad luck had her considering it for his reading almost immediately. It's always been a tricky one. Not unlucky, exactly, just complicated. 

"Readings are easy. All you have to do is cut the deck somewhere when I'm done shuffling it, and think of a question while you do it. You don't even have to tell me what it is!" It's always way more fun to see the looks on people's face when the cards provide insight on something that Hazel herself knows nothing about. Like a magic trick, only spookier. Perfect for a first time reading on All Hallow's Eve! 

Isaac Merlo

☉