There must be something out here… the mawile beside her suddenly tenses and moments later, she feels a tug on the hem of her jacket. Looking down, she discovers that it’s a small riolu. It shivers violent as it clings to her cost like a lifeline. “Oh, are you cold?”[break][break]

Her heart melts entirely when the poor little thing nods.[break][break]

All her ideas of gift hunting and catching fly out the window as large, sad eyes stare up at her. The riolu’s arms lift, and like a child, Calla scoops her up and props her on her hip. “There, there,” she consoles in a way that is both immediate but also a degree awkward because now she’s gotta take the poor thing home. Maybe she’ll offer her to Kieran, but by time they reach the little apartment, Cal will find that the riolu has imprinted on her like a baby duck following its mama.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] we gift huntin’ | fighting/flying | catching riolu! [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-mawile"]

[attr="class","icon"]

How did this happen again? Calla can’t claim to know. For all of the thinking and re-thinking and re-re-thinking she is prone to doing, she still comes up blank. But there isn’t really any sense in picking it apart to ascertain an answer now, because she’s here (they’re all here, which is…nerve wracking,) and the only option is to move forward.[break][break]

If she feels self-conscious for being the only girl there, she doesn’t show it. One time, when she and Kieran were kids, some other boy on their street said that she couldn’t come in his crew’s super secret hideout because she was a girl, and because he was with her neither could Kier. She kicked him in the shin, pushed him in the creek, and walked inside, with her brother in tow.[break][break]

And that was the end of that.[break][break]

If anything, she’s a little more breakable now, but that’s hidden away too. As Uriah speaks, her attention pivots away from him and over to Greyson. She’s never met him before, and she likes to lead (read: she’s bossy,) but Calla is sorely out of her element here in a place where everything seems to be a ratcheted up a notch on the intensity scale. So she’ll relent, keeping quiet for the time being in simple observation. “…”

“Vesper, do you hear that?” she asks, and the mawile looks up at her with a nod. If she were more savvy, she’d recognize the soft clanging of a hakamo-o’s scales. But she doesn’t know any better, and it wouldn’t be quite what she’s looking for exactly. Though…what does he like most?[break][break]

Her brows furrow as she continues to wander the path, rather than follow the sound. Maybe something a little more traditionally fighting type?? Something old school. But then…he’s got the super cute mudkip and octillery too. Maybe his tastes are eclectic and she could’ve gotten literally anything from the gacha slots, or at a trade station. Oh well. The fact that she’s looking for it and trying to catch for herself is way more sentimental, right?[break][break]

Sentimental is good, even if it’s sort of a foreign concept to her.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] we gift huntin’ | fighting/flying | skip! [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-mawile"]

“Yep! Sure do,” she replied with a short nod of her head. Just basic clearance. Not as much as an actual intern might, but it was at least enough to get in the door to make the occasional delivery.[break][break]

Calla waved a hand at the misunderstanding. “No worries. Easy to do.” Her head tilted, smile turning a hair mischievous. “I’m a comms major. Journalism.” In a word– excessive curiosity. “Though, stability sounds nice too. My current job does at least offer that for now.”[break][break]

It helped get her through what schooling she had left. Even if looming student debt was still something she was inevitably bound to deal with.[break][break]

Her smile is small, but she nods all the same, though there was a coy twist to the corners of her mouth. “Noble, yeah. Change can happen in so many ways. It’s just a matter of how you choose to go about it.”

[break][break]

+ paxton concordas [break][break]


[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

[attr="class","icon"]

Verdanturf seems a little out of the way for a first date (and on New Years Eve at that,) but at the same time, Calla doesn’t try to dwell on that fact. Actually, it’s sort of relieving in a roundabout way. The further away they are from Slateport, and Akura moreso, the more at ease she feels.[break][break]

After all, it’s not Uriah who makes her feel awkward. It’s the circumstance.[break][break]

The last thing she wants, though, is to get all up in her head about it. There’s a winter’s kiss settled in her hand– the beer’s warm notes soothing some of the jitters that threaten to crawl back out. Fat, fluffy snowflakes fall outside the windows of the brewery, but she doesn’t pay much attention to the increasing steadiness of that snowfall.[break][break]

Instead, she sidles up to the bar again, finding her way back to Uriah after having wandered off to admire some of the holiday decor.[break][break]

“You come here often?” she deadpans (poorly concealing a laugh,) lips turning up in a coy smile as her blue-eyed glance flits up to his over the rim of her glass.

She can’t remember the last time she’s done something as silly as confess her feelings like this. It’s so cliche– like it’s straight out of a romcom with they way they float in the middle of the rink. Further emphasized by the shenanigans of Uriah’s octillery.[break][break]

It’s actually a little emboldening. “We can do that,” says with a nod, lips twisting mischievously, “but first..” Her fingers curl into the front of his jacket and she tugs him down closer– craning up as best as she can on skates to press a kiss against his lips as her heart lurches. A few other skaters randomly clap.[break][break]

A little embarrassing, but she doesn’t care.[break][break]

“Yeah, let’s do that!” she replies as she pulls back slightly, before her eyes brighten with a sudden thought, “Could just go back to my place and order a couple pizzas? Watch a Christmas movie or something.” She shrugs, lighthearted. Kieran Roth ’s out tonight anyway, and honestly, if he turns up, Calla finds that she really wouldn’t mind if he were to meet Uriah.[break][break]

It’d actually be sorta nice.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] URIAH BLACK | m: festive flirts [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-cubchoo color-shiny"]

Calla isn’t much of a trainer by any stretch or means. Working with Pokémon is by and large her brother, Kieran Roth’s, talent. Very much including catching Pokémon. She’s only got a select handful at home and in her PC, and that’s good enough for her. But she can…try, right? If it’s to give a nice gift for someone…maybe sorta kinda special, then it’ll be worth it.[break][break]

Besides…how hard can it be?[break][break]

This is one of the few routes she’s actually familiar with, though it all looks a little different with a layer of snow covering it all. Hopefully all the pokemon haven’t gone into hiding because of the cold. At least her mawile is willing to walk alongside her rather than waiting to be called out from her pokeball. 
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] we gift huntin’ | fighting/flying [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-mawile"]

From the edge of the rink, she thinks she might hear her cubchoo let out a growly cheer. But her attention is all on him. And it’s almost a relief that he admits he doesn’t have the immediate answer, either. It makes her feel more okay with the confused feelings that have been tumbling around inside of her all this time.[break][break]

It’s just a little bit clearer. A shaft of guiding light through the fog.[break][break]

Her smile widens and she bites down on her bottom lip, though it does little to disguise how bright it turns.[break][break]

“Yeah, I think maybe I’d like that a lot, Uri.”[break][break]

There’s details that should be worked out. The looming problem of the whole work aspect to untangle and address.[break][break]

But surely it’s okay to just be the twenty-one year old girl that she is. Just for a little bit. She’s twenty-one and a guy likes her too. A date won’t ruin things. It won’t be the end of the world, surely.[break][break]

“Yeah,” she repeats, almost more to herself on a breath of laughter, “let’s go on a date.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] URIAH BLACK | m: festive flirts [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-cubchoo color-shiny"]