She considers Josh, and her heart floods with emotion.

Honoré holds her palm out to the Raikou. Her face creases in sympathy, tears welling in her eyes for both Josh and Swift. The Raikou must feel as pained as Josh to lose its original trainer, she imagines. "I'm so sorry, both of you."

Honoré looks at Cinder, her most cherished friend. Ninetales were pokemon with a longevity that outlasted humans; one day, Cinder will be without her. The thought pains her, and she shakes her head as if to dislodge it. She drags a hand across her eyes, dispelling the tears.

When the conversation shifts, Honore perks up.

"Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that," she replies, waving her hand. "Cinder and I have been traveling around Hoenn, not really doing much of anything, but learning a lot!"

She tips her head. "I've heard a lot of talk about Rocket, and it worries me," she admits. "I'm not a strong trainer..."

Her eyes dart nervously to an approaching Lokix, but it disappears back into the tall grass. She sighs, relieved that the humanoid pokemon retreated.



// wc: 188 // occ notes: passing on both spawns // Josh Devlin

Honoré smiles, her face sweet and serene despite its floridness from the heat. Twirling her hair into a bun, she muses, "Oh, that's alright." She pauses for a moment, savoring the feeling of her hair being off the back of her neck. "Famous people can't remember everyone they meet, I bet." 

She draws a hair pin from her dress pocket, working on her hair while listening to Josh. Cinder growls at a curious pair of bug pokemon; the lingering psychic energy of her last move coupled with her warning sends them skittering away.

The direction of the conversation turns dour. Honoré secures her pink locks and then is silent for a moment. Her hands fall to her lap. "Yes," she replies quietly.  "It's terrible."

Honoré had overheard it on the news when she had stopped at a restaurant to have lunch with Cinder. She didn't know the exact details, but she didn't really want to know, either. It was obvious to her that Josh was deeply troubled by it - why else would he have brought it up?

She leans over and picks up the Shuckle's pokeball. 

"Were you friends?" she ventures.



// wc: 191 // occ notes: passing on both spawns // Josh Devlin

Honoré's eyes widen as she gazes at Josh's pokemon. Cinder sniffs at the Rapidash, seeking to acquaint.

The young trainer blinks as she considers Josh, atop his Galarian steed. She smiles. "I do suppose it's been awhile," she chimes. "I'm Honoré Nara - we met at your gym, remember? At first I didn't know you were the gym leader, and I had so so so many questions. And then you showed me around a bit, and I remember a picture of you on a Raikou, but it wasn't your own. Oh! And your Manectric was there! And I saw this HUMONGOUS Espeon, and you explained why it was so big and--" 

She tosses her head back and laughs. "Well, our meeting was a lot like this! Oh I'm just so happy you were able to get your own Raikou, Josh! It was a dream of yours, wasn't it?"

A Shuckle appears from the flowers nearby, and Honoré calls on Cinder. "Use Extrasensory!" As Cinder makes her move, Honoré throws a pokeball at the Bug/Rock-type.

Turning back to Josh, she registers his expression. The excited anticipation she holds in her shoulders sinks. "Heyyy, why so glum?" she asks. "If it's because of this hot weather, then I don't blame you one bit!"



// wc: 210 // occ notes: n/a // Josh Devlin

Honore jumps at the sudden thunderous purring, accidentally yanking Cinder's fur. Her Ninetales yelps.

"S-sorry, Cinder!" she yelps back, throwing her arms around her pokemon. Cinder huffs in response, but nuzzles her owner's pink hair. The trainer lifts her face from her Ninetales' fur, remembering the sudden and unusual sound. "Huh, I wonder what-"

She turns and sees Josh Devlin approaching, riding his Galadian Rapidash. A Raikou follows.

The young adult blinks her eyes, unable to register what she is seeing. In a sudden emotional eruption, she waves her arms over her head and shouts, "JOSH! OH WOW JOSH, YOU HAVE A RAIKOU!!!!"



// wc: 103 // occ notes: she's such a simple girl lol // Josh Devlin

She pushed a lock of her pink hair behind her ear. "Oh, yes, I understand. Sometimes we just have to do what we can on our own - even if it's reeeaaally hard." She nodded vigorously at her own statement. Whether because one doesn't want to inconvenience others or because one doesn't have a choice - sometimes it was simply the way it was. It was the first lesson Honoré had learned on her journey. Whether she was learning it well as the elders had intended was another matter entirely.

After a moment, she added, "But, it's okay to rely on others sometimes." She ventured that Shinobu felt similarly to herself; it was both hard to be on your own, and it was hard to let others help you.

Honoré tipped her head as she thought, looking quite like a pokemon who wasn't yet used to human speech. "Hey! Kinda like how you need Manectric sometimes and how a restaurant needs more than one person to make it work, yeah? Maybe you could hire more staff; then you could focus on making yummy food!"



// wc: 182 // occ notes: x // shinobu fujimori

Honoré plops down in the meadow alongside Route 117. "Cinder," she pants, "let's take a break here. I'm so tired, and I think the rubber on my shoes is starting to melt!"

She takes a draught of water from her bottle and offers some to her Ninetales, who laps at the refreshing liquid. Honore wipes her pink baby bangs, wet with her sweat, off her forehead as she catches her breath. Her attention is snagged by the pretty white clover flowers that carpet the grass around her, and she plucks a few.

"Hey Cinder, sit here and I'll get your mane off your neck; it'll help you cool down." The fox pokemon obliges, and Honore plaits her cream fur into petite braids, pulling tufts of fur into neat rows and leaving gaps to expose the shorter fur underneath. She incorporates the flowers as she works, smiling to herself.



// wc: 148 // occ notes: n/a // Josh Devlin

Just as Cinder was about to let off a flamethrower at the Slurpuff for a one-hit KO, Honoré jumped in front of it with her arms spread. "Cinder, no!"

Cinder nearly choked on the flames rising in her throat, but she obeyed her trainer and extinguished them. She breathed out a cloud of smoke and ash, fixing Honoré with a stern glare. "Cinder, it's just too cute! You can't hurt it," she whined. The Slurpuff peered at the two curiously while sniffing the air. 
 
Mystified, Cinder snorted and stalked off back to the edge of the tall grass. She was supposed to be training, not dealing with the pink-haired teen's antics.

Honoré looked at the Slurpuff. "Well, won't you join us, Slurpuff? I promise my Ninetales won't trouble you."

She fished out a pokeball from her bag and dropped it onto the cute fairy-type pokemon. 


// wc: 145 // occ notes: normal/fairy/ghost - mauville hills //

“I would say you’re hospitable, too,” she replied warmly. “If what you say is true, then not many people would be willing to share a table with a stranger.” She grinned, proud of herself for having learned something of the world beyond Lavaridge Town. Every little tidbit of information seemed  She was glad, too, that she had found someone like herself, willing to be friendly and chat. “But, since you own a restaurant, you kind of have to be hospitable, no?” she teasingly pointed out.

While it hadn’t been apparent to her initially, she knew what he had meant by saying he could feel his Serperior’s glare rather than see it. Blindness was something she had much second hand experience with; many of the elders in her town had varying degrees of vision impairment, and she knew how many of them had felt about it. And she wasn’t going to treat the chef any different.

She tapped the table while she thought. “Hey, don’t you have any family or friends who could help you at your restaurant? Then you wouldn’t have to do it all by yourself.”

“Oh, and you definitely look like a Shinobu,” she blurted, clapping her hands together.

// wc: 201 // occ notes: so sorry!! I thought I had sent this ;( // shinobu fujimori

Honoré led Cinder out onto Mauville Hills. Despite having been scared almost to death the last time she ventured here, Honoré was forever the optimist; she wagered that there wouldn’t be any scary pokemon this time. She pounded the air as she shrilled, “Alright, Cinder, let’s toughen up!”

The ninetales rolled her eyes, but a grin on her maw betrayed her true feelings. She trotted into the tall grass, looking for an opponent to singe.


// wc: 75 // occ notes: normal/fairy/ghost - mauville hills //

Honoré followed the man into the office, blissfully happy to hang around in the meantime. It wasn't like they had anywhere to be. Cinder yawned as she brought up the rear.

When Honoré saw the photograph, her jaw fell open and she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Forgetting that they were inside, she screeched, "Woah, is that you riding Raikou?!" She didn't understand why his photograph would be on the wall in the first place, but she didn't really consider it, either. All she knew is that this man must be a pretty big deal. Clasping her hand over her mouth, she mumbled an apology for screaming indoors, and obediently followed him outside.

The bright light caused her to squint. Once her eyes readjusted, a grin bloomed on Honoré's face as she observed his team; they all were magnificent, and each had their own riding gear. All together, it was an impressive sight. She could see two pokemon running on a track further afield, and it filled her with delight and awe.

"Oh! Uh, yes! I'm Honoré Nara," she pipped cheerfully with a bow. She took a deep breath, drawing her arms to her chest, before leaning into her quick-paced spew, "So who are you, exactly? What is this racing track? Why was that that lady’s Espeon so big? Why is Mauville so big? Do you know of a good place to stay around here? Does your Manectric have a nickname? Do you ride all of your pokemon? Who makes all of their riding gear? How did you meet Raikou? That was you in the photograph, right? -- oh, there I go again!" She fell back onto her heels with a giggle. “Sorry, that was a lot, wasn’t it? And I haven’t even asked for your name!”


// wc: 296 // occ notes: sorry she's such a spacecase lol // Josh Devlin

Honoré wearily headed back into the grass and stood opposite of Cloud. "O-okay Cloud, dazzle them with mist!"

Cloud used mist, but held back so it wasn't a true fog like in battle. Instead, the air was lightly misty, and the fine water droplets reflected the sunlight. The effect made the air look like it was full of tiny diamonds. It was enchanting, and Honoré forgot her recent wild pokemon-induced trauma. She clapped her hands and twirled with Cloud in the translucent mist. "Perfect, Cloud! Absolutely perfect!"

A wild Lillipup skittered from the grass and jumped playfully, swatting the mist. "Oh? Lillipup, do you like the mist?" The pokemon cried happily. "Then you should be our friend, and we can work on some super cute contest moves for you, too!"

Pulling a pokeball from her pouch, she dropped it onto the waiting Lillipup.


// wc: 143 // occ notes: x //

Arms folded neatly behind her back, Honoré rocked on her heels while she waited. She hummed something unrecognizable, but Cinder seemed to relax as she twitched her ears to the rising and falling tones. Neither were concerned with the private conversation between the two people, but Honoré jumped when the sylveon squeaked suddenly. Deciding instantly it was no cause for alarm, she went back to humming her song.

Her eyes flicked to the super cute sylveon once or twice more as the two spoke, but she stayed by her pokemon's side. She gently stroked Cinder's fur rhythmically to her humming, and her eyelids fluttered while she fought sleep.

She jolted upright when the man addressed her again. "Oh, huh? Sure! Let's!" she chirped, snapping back to wakefulness. She had no idea what he meant by "racing grounds," but she was sure excited to find out.


// wc: 145 // occ notes: n/a // Josh Devlin

Honoré shrieked when the Gardevoir popped up. She threw herself to the ground, her butt sticking up in the air while she pitifully covered her head and cowered. 

Through her torrent of snot and tears, she managed to shrill, "C-CINDER, C-C-CLOOOD!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Cloud used dragon breath at the feral pokemon, and Cinder complimented it with a brilliant flamethrower. The Gardevoir was dispatched, and Cloud floated over to land on Honoré's back in a gesture of comfort. Through her sniffles, she rose to her knees before standing. She wiped her dirty face and smiled weakly at her pokemon. "T-thanks, g-guys," she blubbered. She looked a mess, and her chest was heaving from the frightening encounter. If she had thought Dusknoir was bad, Gardevoir, a humanoid pokemon, was much, much worse.

Cloud nuzzled her cheek, and she giggled. "O-okay, one more try..."


// wc: 140 // occ notes: x //