when reese heard there was going to be a mermaid show at the aquarium in mauville, he'd hesitated for a moment. attending such things always filled him with a longing for his past life, and that nostalgia ached worse than any physical injury he'd endured during his time as a coordinator. he'd participated in a contest in hoenn, sure, but it had been very different from the ones he usually attended back in sinnoh... it was less a performance, and more a challenge.

now they're here, trying to push their way through the throng of people to reach their assigned seat. everyone is standing around chatting, not paying any attention to them, but being near so many people still makes their heart beat fast. they try to make themself as small as possible as they make their way through, hoping nobody notices them.

once he's reached the arena, he flops down into his chair with a sigh. his elbow brushes against somebody else's, and he turns. "s-sorry--!"

they bite their tongue, realizing they sort of actually know the person sitting next to them. it's a small world, isn't it?

taking with Remiel Calcifet and REESE RHODES !

• player/ooc name: newt
• character tags: NIKOLA SAMSA MAKI YUKIMURA STERLING WARDEN REESE RHODES
• dropped characters' tags (if applicable): VELVET ASCH
• ic posts for characters: nikola sterling maki reese
• are characters in directories?: Y
• any notes/comments: bogos binted

he tries not to stare too much as aubre works, and tries to follow her lead in talking soothingly to the injured marill. "d-do you have a family...?" he asks, hoping to keep the pokemon's attention on him. it probably doesn't have the strength to thrash about, but better safe than sorry. "my family's back in sinnoh... ah, but you probably don't know what that is, huh..." he flushes. "my name's reese rhodes."

they flinch, then, anxiety suddenly striking them. they try not to give their full name to people these days unless they have to-- they worry far too much about whether they'll be recognized. their dream of becoming a contest star has been crushed thoroughly by the reality that comes with fame, and their poor heart can't take people knowing about them anymore. they used to love being up on stage, but now if they even think about performing in a standard contest they start to shake.

if aubre knows his name... his hands start trembling, right then and there, as his eyes meet the marill's equally anxious ones. then he swallows, and remembers to breathe. "once you're all better, we'll get you back to your family, okay? it won't be long until you're out of here." he wisheshe could find some way to use his contest expertise to comfort the poor thing. it's probably not a good thing to bring out his pokemon here, though.

[ Aubre McKenna-Settentrione ]

reese flinches at the suggestion, eyes wide. sure, he talks to his own pokemon, but the task of trying to communicate with another seems rather daunting. for a moment he considers calling out one of his own pokemon to give himself a confidence boost, but he determines that bringing another grass type into the area might not be the best idea. if the marill is conscious enough to realize it, it might feel threatened by the super effective type matchup. who knows what happened to it before this? his roserade and his lurantis both are a little too... sharp-looking for that to be comfortable for a creature with gashes on its belly.

"wh-what should i say, exactly...?" they fret, wringing their hands out. they're leaning anxiously over the operating table, though they're trying not to crowd aubre. they've been to a pokemon center plenty of times, but this is different. this is something those machines can't fix, nor could a potion or a berry. suffice to say they're afraid they might already be too late.

[ Aubre McKenna-Settentrione ]

IM FINALLY HOME AND TYSM FOR THE NEW BABY! Remiel Calcifet I WILL LOVE AND CHERISH IT

REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X tm/tr (00 PD) (teaching grassy terrain to arboliva)

TOTAL

do come again!

00 PD

reese stares. he doesn't dare utter a word, as his body tries to decide between fight or flight. let's see... if they get caught having broken one of the machines, they'll probably be asked to pay for it, and there's no way in hell reese can afford to replace part of an arcade cabinet on his meager salary working at the cafe. but on the other hand, if they don't own up to it and there's a security camera that outs them, they could be in even more trouble...

they let out a low groan and shake their head. finally, they make their decision, and they grab damian by the wrist and promptly drag him away. "we are gonna be in so much trouble," they mutter. "i'll have to empty out my savings..." their fault in the first place for thinking damian could literally pull his punches.

reese drains the rest of his glass and looks around. "now what do we do?" they have no idea what sort of things a person should do at a club, aside from dance and drink.

[ Damian Belle ]

claiming drifloon!

it's time to take a little bit more of a risk, since this is the final round. he's been playing it safe so far, but this final concoction could make it or break it. "for my final trick, i'm going to make..." he pulls his ingredients out, putting them on the counter so the audience can see. "...eggnog bubble tea!" because everyone loves eggnog, right?

the first thing to do is, of course, to start brewing the tea. they chose a simple darjeeling tea for this. while that's being done, they whisk together the mixture for the eggnog; milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and whipped egg whites. they give it a generous helping of nutmeg and a dash of vanilla and cinnamon.

once the tea is ready, he pours it over some ice to cool it down. next comes the boba, and once the tea is cool enough they combine the tea and the eggnog, gently mixing it together in the glass. on top he sprinkles another generous helping of spices. now that it's ready, he presents it to the judges nervously, hoping it might be enough to win them over completely.

"...my family's from kalos, so we usually celebrate this season by opening gifts," they say, just to fill the silence. "if it were up to me, there'd be some rum in this, eheh... they always let me have a little bit of spiked eggnog even when i was younger-- oops, should i have said that out loud...?"

Sal7Jijd

claiming this on reese!! tysm!!!

REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X gacha ticket (from boba tea brewing showdown participation) (00 PD) (link to gacha)

TOTAL

do come again!

00 PD