"You do?" she replied, genuinely surprised as she pushed the aforementioned glasses up her nose. "I keep meaning to save up for LASIK or something, but I don't know, they're just familiar at this point I guess."[break][break]

It was hard to even imagine how she'd look without them anymore, honestly. Take the darn things off and everything gets blurry and impossible to see.[break][break]

"Oh, hey! You're someone famous, aren't you?" She bit her lip in concentration, trying to remember where she'd heard of this guy. 'Hoenn Hotshot' or whatever didn't ring a bell, but she did feel like she'd seen his face before... "Are you in that band Teravolt?" she asked tentatively. Didn't they have an Elite Four or something? Or used to?[break][break]

Meanwhile Marianne's Klefki squared up for her opponent, who peered down at the little Froakie suspiciously.[break][break]

TAGS – CIAN MAHER[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Cian vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Being mistaken as younger than she was, well, wasn't exactly an unusual thing for Marianne Lovelace. She was petite, her frazzled anxiety made her seem constantly a few years short of the maturity that approaching thirty supposedly endowed on a person, and enmeshment with an overbearing mother had taught her to be a little too yielding for a grown woman.[break][break]

Which is to say that when nabi park patted her on the head, the sentiment wasn't a wholly surprising one, though it was still surprising. And flattering? Being cute was flattering, usually.[break][break]

"That's nice of you to say..." She blinked, the rest of the introduction slowly registering. "...pardon, what was that about destroying things?"[break][break]

Her Klefki swerved onto the field, droplets of rainwater shimmering off her metallic rings as she prepared for battle!

TAGS – nabi park[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Nabi vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I guess my hunk of tin could learn a lot from your hunk of tin!" Marianne said, attempting to... wait, was she making finger guns? Yeah, oh god, she was making finger guns, why. Anyway, the retort had sounded way wittier in her head, but it sounded really, really dumb when said aloud.[break][break]

Did she mention she hated cameras? She super duper hated cameras.[break][break]

"Anyway, thank you so much for the battle, Lynch!" she said, moving to shake his hand. "You're such an impressive battler, my mom will be so excited to hear all about it. She thinks you can basically do no wrong, so this will make her day."[break][break]

Maybe babbling compliments would distract him from how very embarrassing this entire encounter had been.[break][break]

Hopefully stupider things would be circulating on Poketube than this...[break][break]

TAGS – BARNABY FINCH[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Barnaby vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Oh, an officer!" Marianne exclaimed with sudden understanding, though she had always, funnily enough, assumed that being a League officer was something like police work. She'd never really thought about it much, come to think of it.[break][break]

But surely every day people were putting their lives and their Pokemon's lives on the line for her and other civilians, defending them against Rockets and the like. It was a noble calling, actually.[break][break]

Noel Parker was a very noble person.[break][break]

"Me? Oh. Hah. Yeah." She rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed at how obviously she stood out in the crowd, and attempted a weak smile. "I'm not the most adept battler, no! I work as a museum coordinator at the National Museum of Natural History in Slateport. My name is Marianne, though my friends call me Annie."[break][break]

Did that make them friends now? She wasn't opposed to it, really.[break][break]

The ENERGY BALL careened towards her Klefki, who sought to absorb its pulsing energy to push back a FLASH CANNON at the enemy Shaymin!

[break][break]

TAGS – Noel Parker[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Noel vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Marianne bit her lip, rocking back and forth on her heels as she watched her early advantage level out. They were neck and neck! A tiny bit of the excitement of the events had caught up to her, and she realized she wanted to win, suddenly.[break][break]

This was new. Had she ever felt that eager before? Maybe the advice from aaron faust and Noel Parker was beginning to rub off on her.[break][break]

Pew pew pew! The ELECTRO BALLS zoomed in and around the Klefki at dizzying speeds, firing one after the other. The Steel-type bristled indignantly, seeming to absorb the staticky energy only to push it back in a FLASH CANNON that blasted towards the Zeraora with full force![break][break]

TAGS – Josh Devlin[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Josh vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Oh." Well. She'd gone and done it now, hadn't she? "I'm so sorry, Nenet. I didn't know..."[break][break]

Didn't know Nenet had been seeing someone seriously? Didn't know that they'd even broken up? Hadn't put two-and-two together that Nenet hadn't just become overly fond of alcohol overnight, but frequented a bar because her boyfriend worked there?[break][break]

What kind of friend was Marianne, to not see the rise and fall of this emotional arc that Nenet had undoubtedly been experiencing during the holiday season, of all times?! Oh, she could just kick herself.[break][break]

What a time to put her foot in her mouth.[break][break]

For all her wrongfootedness, Nenet was taking the faux pas remarkably well, even scolding Jupiter the Yamper as if Marianne hadn't admitted the depths of her own poor friendship-maintenance.[break][break]

"Are you doing okay?" Marianne asked her earnestly. "Really, Nenet. Do you need anything?"[break][break]

Maybe a casserole? For some reason when people struggled you always were supposed to get them a casserole, but Nenet seemed too elegant for that.[break][break]

Meanwhile her Phanpy tugged on her skirt irritably with his trunk, upset that the rude Yamper got offered the Pecha Tart but not him, who had been on his very best behavior. Truly they lived in a cruel, unjust world.

TAGS – Neffatari Nzingha[break]
NOTES – Mission: Bond Bridge (January).

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"A bunch of cards can tell you all that?" Marianne asked. She hoped the skepticism in her tone sounded more like curiosity, or maybe, genuine interest. It was interest, technically! If only interest in understanding what kind of hooey she had gotten herself wrapped up in this time.[break][break]

Although the tea that the Dusclops was brewing smelled absolutely lovely. Who knew Ghost-types could be so handy in the kitchen? Maybe she'd have to teach her Golurk a trick like that.[break][break]

Then Marianne realized that Lady Crane was still staring at her intently, conical hat pointed at the guest's direction with almost threatening intent, and she fumbled to explain herself further.[break][break]

"I just, um, I always figured people did special readings. Like readings about love, or readings about fortune, things like that. Are yours just broader, then? Do the cards just... tell you what they feel like telling you?"[break][break]

Not that cards could really tell anyone anything. That would be patently ridiculous, of course.[break][break]

Although a teensy itty bitty part of herself was desperately curious about what those cards intended to say. It could be funny, like a good story to share with Neffatari Nzingha or even entertain GIDEON GRAVES with later! Or it could be horribly, painfully accurate, in which case she would never ever breathe a word of this to anyone ever, especially her mother.[break][break]

"But other than that, no, I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she finished awkwardly, doing her best to appear nonchalant. As if she was the sort of person who did these things all the time, and totally didn't feel any kind of way about it, not at all.[break][break]

Definitely not nervous. Definitely, definitely not sweaty and nervous.

TAGS – Mitsuru Kagami[break]
NOTES – Mission: Employment I

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"They must be very generous, to give you such a special Pokemon."[break][break]

Marianne winced despite herself as the two Pokemon collided, peeking an eye open to notice with some surprise that her Klefki had scored a clean hit on the larger, feline Pokemon.[break][break]

"Great job, Angel!" she cheered towards her Klefki, visibly surprised and delighted by the early lead despite the disadvantage of the FIRE PUNCH against its Steel-typing. "Let's keep going!"[break][break]

They wouldn't win any contests of speed, but that was okay! A shift in tactics led from ROUGH PLAY to FOUL PLAY, an impish Dark-type energy infusing the Klefki's movements as she spun about wildly.[break][break]

TAGS – Josh Devlin[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Josh vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"You think? He didn't seem very open to comm--waah!" Marianne exclaimed, shocked and dumbfounded at the way the otherwise-totally-normal-and-cute Pikachu ballooned to gigantic size before her. She'd heard about this new-fangled Dynamax thing, but this was her first time seeing it in person. She coughed in an attempt to mask her clear surprise, though all attempts at being 'cool' seemed doomed to fail at this point.[break][break]

Not that it stopped Angel from trying to fight back regardless! Her Klefki glistened as she fought back with a blindingly bright FLASH CANNON.[break][break]

"Whoa. Uh. Is this how you beat up Dahlia?"[break][break]

It explained a lot.[break][break]

TAGS – aaron faust[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Aaron vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Do you work for the police or something?" Marianne asked, curious despite herself. He sounded so very serious about it. Whatever his job was, he had to have seen some unpleasant things.[break][break]

It made her feel a little bad for prying, when he probably didn't want to dwell on things like that during an event like this one. It might even be a nice change of pace for him, really.[break][break]

"I'll definitely learn a lot from fighting you though, I think!" she said quickly, offering a change in subject if he wanted one.[break][break]

The SEED FLARE scattered roots around her Klefki's metal rings, and she bristled with an indignant METAL SOUND, hoping to lower its guard.

[break][break]

TAGS – Noel Parker[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Noel vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Competitive spirit was pretty common out here in the Vital City Tournament, and she tried at least to match it with a smile of her own, though it was far from a confidence that she felt.[break][break]

"Oh, gosh," she breathed out softly at the sight of the Zeraora, eyes opened wide. "Aren't those, um, a bit rare?"[break][break]

Don't overthink it, Marianne. It's a Pokemon. Just a Pokemon. Like any other Pokemon![break][break]

Her Klefki kicked things off with PLAY ROUGH, hoping to rattle her opponent![break][break]

TAGS – Josh Devlin[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Josh vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Fortunately, her Klefki did seem prepared to battle -- and excited to battle, even! That made Marianne's nerves abate somewhat, and she couldn't help but think there might be some truth to what Noel said, that it did Pokemon good to exercise like this every once in awhile.[break][break]

"Do you do this often? Battling, I mean," she asked, fidgeting nervously as she watched her Klefki weather the Shaymin's ENERGY BALL. Her own answer seemed obvious enough: she didn't.[break][break]

But her Klefki remained undaunted by the blow, striking back with a blinding FLASH CANNON as its keys spun in a wide, bright circle on impact!

[break][break]

TAGS – Noel Parker[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Noel vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Oh, gosh. Oh, no. How embarrassing. Marianne's face colored a particularly soft shade of pink as her hands knotted together, mortified at making such a faux paus not only in front of Barney -- Barnaby? Yes, that's right, Barnaby -- but also filmed on camera.[break][break]

She desperately wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and die.[break][break]

"I have a bit of a less-than-perfect memory," she said sheepishly, although if you'd seen her give a tour of the museum, that seem very untrue. Her brain was just a bit particular on the things it chose to remember, that's all. And celebrities weren't rated especially high in her memory banks.[break][break]

Which would be a rude thing to say, she figured, so she didn't.[break][break]

Struggling on the precipice of defeat, her Klefki valiantly pushed back with FAIRY WIND, hoping to buffet the Melmetal with a gust of pink wind.[break][break]

"I'm sure, uh, your fans will be very impressed by your Melmetal," she said instead, hoping to make up for the tactless opening with a compliment. "You fight really well!"[break][break]

TAGS – BARNABY FINCH[break]
NOTES – Vital City Tournament: Barnaby vs Marianne!

[attr="class","pkmn"]