A helioptile, startled by the crashing of the tyranitar, scuttled out of her lucario's range. Oddly, it decides to take cover behind her ankles.[break][break]

Frowning, Blue looks down at it, but rather than shoo it off, she stoops to lift the little lizard up. Always better with pokemon than people, she supposes. She understands that wildness.[break][break]

Her head tilts, eyes narrowing at Theo over his suggestion. "Why would you wanna do that?" As far as Rocket goes, Blue is at the bottom of the pool. The very last rung on the hierarchal ladder.[break][break]

It doesn't make much sense to her that he'd be interested in knowing her, is all.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT | befriending helioptile! [break]


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

In the still of the streets, she can hear herself think more clearly. This, in Blue’s book, is a distinct problem. So the distractions are welcome ones, even if she behaves as if they are inconvenient.[break][break]

When had all these Pokémon decided to crawl out of the woodwork. An incineroar lurches from the darkness to be illuminated by a nearby street lamp. Butch isn’t having any of it. The poochyena departs from his trainer’s side as Cassidy returns.[break][break]

Circling the much larger feline, he snaps and snarls. Then finally darts in under the swipe of claws to CRUNCH at its back feet so that the yowling cat is felled and topples like an old oak tree.[break][break]

Blue watches mutely, then whistles to call Butch back as she throws a pokeball out at the incineroar in his wake. She speaks as she does so, not looking over at the man. “Ah, I appreciate it.”[break][break]

It is only after a pause that her glance flicks back to him. “If that’s so, did the bets fall in your favor?”


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Martín del Mar   | catching incineroar! [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndour"] [attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poochyena"]

Her go-to is quiet observation. In the wake of her remarks, she watches Callie add it all together in her head without offering any supplementary info. But that’s par for the course with Blue.[break][break]

“Uh, yeah?” She blinks rapidly, “I mean, yeah. Yes. Fortree PD, just over a few months now.”[break][break]

But just as quickly, it’s her turn for surprise. “Oh? That’s you? Well shit.” Her head quirks to the side as if she can’t quite believe it, because she can’t, of course. Who would’ve predicted this turn of events?[break][break]

Suddenly, she remembers what she actually is, though, and any enthusiasm she felt quickly sours in her stomach, though she does her best to continue mirroring the excitement she sees in Callie—in her own, terser way, of course. Callie can’t know that the actuality of her job is a sham.[break][break]

She’s no more than fraud, and suddenly this whole gig just got a whole lot harder. It’s easier to be removed about handing confidential information away when she’s not tied to the people she works with.[break][break]

Though she asked the question, the sudden turn in her thoughts makes her tune out some of Callie’s answers. She’s scrambling. But rose eyes snap back to her old friend at the mention of the orphanage. “Oh, uh. Yeah, maybe. Are you sure about that?” She combats the uneasy feeling with a dry laugh. She never did make it easy for the directors there.[break][break]

“We should actually get to the shrine then, yeah?”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] CALLISTA MOON     | m: sanctuary safeguarding[break]


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

She couldn’t help but wonder what Toni’s purpose in doing this was. Was Blue really all that interesting of a case to her? It felt odd to find that sort of laser-focus on her, she’d almost forgotten what it was like. Though this was…different? The outcomes were, at least. Enjoyment, rather than work or an end goal. She was still skeptical of her capacity for it.[break][break]

She’d already said yes, though. And Blue wasn’t really the sort to go back on her word. Usually, anyway. And Toni was right—there was definite appeal in a hot shower. “Yeah. I feel pretty gross.” She just hadn’t thought of it until attention was called to it. Her nose wrinkled in immediate distaste over the following question, “No way. I couldn’t the vegetarian thing.” Give her steak any day.[break][break]

Blue nodded along, not offering much. It wasn’t as if ordering a cab was a topic for debate. As Toni handled everything on her phone, she sat there in silence. Nursed her drink until she decided to knock it back in one fell swoop. No use prolonging the inevitable. The burn eased down her throat, and fuzzed the fringes of her mind. It numbed the ache in her limbs and in her injuries, and it numbed some of her typical reservations as well.[break][break]

When a hand was offered for assistance, Blue didn’t flinch back from it as she normally might’ve. Touch and contact wasn’t the most comfortable thing for her and she shied away from even the most simple formalities. But right then, she simply stared down at Toni’s hand for a moment, and then reached her own out. She watched the connection in hazy slow motion, and then she allowed Toni to help her hop up out of the booth with muttered thanks.[break][break]

“Yep,” she said, once she was on her feet again. Her hands found her jacket pockets. “Time for…fun.” She let the other woman lead the way, uncertain of how exactly this would shake out.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Antoinette Spina | m: putting on a front[break]





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

Blue nods in approval as Fang quickly subdues his opponent, which is swiftly collected into a pokeball. Her focus shifts away again, and back to the admin when he speaks.[break][break]

A tyranitar lumbers out in the wake of the honchkrow. Her lucario finds this a much more formidable opponent and charges— attempting to level it with METEOR MASH so that Blue might be able to obtain this one after failing to do so when they came upon that wild swarm recently.[break][break]

Her eyes are still on Theo, though.[break][break]

“Uh, yeah. I guess so. Is there a particular reason why you’d want to do that?”
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT | catching tyranitar! [break]


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

“Huh?” Her nose wrinkles. A grave keeper..? “No, I’m patrolling.” Her head shakes side to side. You couldn’t pay her to do something boring like tending to a resting place day in and day out. Though maybe there was a peace in the act that she was sorely lacking.[break][break]

“Fortree PD.” She jerks her thumb back over her shoulder down the route that eventually leads to the city at the other end in simple explanation. “I’m just on shrine duty.” As punishment, she doesn’t add aloud.[break][break]

Her brows pinch together as she takes her friend’s questioning seriously, “But I didn’t know..” A nervous laugh follows, embarrassment flaring in her cheeks at the addition, “Oh, haha.”[break][break]

She feels way more stilted and awkward than she was as a child, though she’s always had rough edges. She lacks her old, childish innocence about the world now, though.[break][break]

Callie turns away, and Blue thinks that maybe she should repeat herself, but suddenly she finds herself shaking her head, “Nothing important. Do you like it here?” More than where we came from?


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] CALLISTA MOON     | m: sanctuary safeguarding[break]


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

Something pleased and happy filters over Callie’s expression, and it confuses her. Her brows furrow slightly, as if not understanding because really, she doesn’t. Was she missed all this time? Was that even a possibility? Blue had never thought so.[break][break]

To her, that childhood had been something she left in the past even though the truth is that she carries it with her every day, along with the rest of the awful baggage accumulated on her shoulders. And so, she had thought that Callie had done much the same— left her behind. Because after all, Blue is always the one left behind.[break][break]

Before she can process it, Callie throws her arms around her and Blue flinches under the sudden contact before going stock still. She’s grown to loathe touch in most capacities. The rigidity in her limbs forces a fight or flight instinct that itched under her skin to break loose.[break][break]

But because this is Callie, she finds herself slumping into the contact. The ache is equally as relieved as it is nervous. She’s missed her friend. When people touch her, she lashes out. But when it’s Callie, her eyes feel like they’re starting to fuzz and burn.[break][break]

What is she doing here? “Uhm, working?” she says feebly, like that response really fills in all the blanks.[break][break]

When the other woman retreats, Blue frowns and confusion lights her face again. “Ah…I guess so. Well. Slateport until Recently.” Not that Callie needs to know all of the messes she’s tangled herself in.[break][break]

“I…didn’t think I’d see you again.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] CALLISTA MOON     | m: sanctuary safeguarding[break]


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

Suddenly, she’s faced with free time now that the matches have concluded. What’s she supposed to do with that? Relax? She doesn’t really know the word. Two things seem to happen at once: a crowbat swoops down over them at random, wide, leering grin on its face. And when she looks back ahead of them, a man and his persian have crossed her path.[break][break]

Maybe his face is familiar, maybe it’s not. She’s a bit too worn out to discern just then.[break][break]

While Cassidy is distracted by bringing down the crobat—first, by TAUNTING it until it draws close enough for her to chomp down on one fluttering wing with FIRE FANG, Butch remains steadfastly at Blue’s side. He watches the Persian with equally wary eyes, a low rumbling in the back of his throat.[break][break]

Her hand falls down to rest between two cinder gray ears. For a moment, Blue looks away. Only to toss a pokeball in the direction of the crobat before the houndour makes a chew toy of it. Then her attention returns to Mars. “Yeah. And?”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Martín del Mar   | catching crobat! [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndour"] [attr="class","pkspr pkmn-poochyena"]

Of course, it’s not difficult to spot the man when he wanders closer. Obviously. It seems like no one else is really out on 120 today.[break][break]

She’s not met THEO BECKETT personally. But she’d be an idiot to not at least familiarize herself with her superiors when they crop up. She never knows who she might end up working under at any given point in time.[break][break]

Still, her gaze is reserved as she watches him. “Hello, sir. I am, yes. Though there’s not much to patrol.” As she says this, a honchkrow swoops down, looking to ASTONISH them.[break][break]

A wave of her hand sends Fang springing up, fists curled in CLOSE COMBAT to drive the bird down to the ground.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT | catching honchkrow! [break]


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