She chuckled, briefly. It was a more muted, ladylike reaction, yes. But even displaying it like that was technically bad form. A true person of grand repute would have enjoyed this quietly or not at all. But Violet was letting that particular mask slip, if only a little. She was quite bemused by Skyler’s reaction and made no secret of that at all. And then she chuckled again when the so-called pirate of hearts took the whole concept and ran with it. “Nice recovery, captain,” she noted, playfully. They both knew that this was all in good fun. At least in her opinion, they also both knew what kind of, well, relationship this was. Violet had not come here today thinking they would cement something that would last for decades. If she would have, then she would probably leave disappointed in the end.

At the end of the day, Skyler was right when she said hearts were not safe with her. That was the estimate Vi made on the fly here. She nettled a bit more against the other’s side. “I know it wouldn’t be. But don’t worry, my heart is capable of taking this. I wouldn’t be here at all if I didn’t understand about sailors and the sea at least a little bit.” Namely, how someone like Skyler probably loved the sea first and foremost. No human could compare to that. Vi was well aware that Sky had just been looking for a fling, a summer romance in that club. And that was fine. She was pretty much the same. Though, admittedly, this was nice too.
“You should guard yours too, though. I mean, I already got you to treat me to all this. I do have my ways, too~.”



- passes

No answer was needed, sure. But it was a good question regardless. Who was she, really? Violet had taken so many shifts to who she was and who she wanted to be, it was hard to tell. The closest to an answer she could be, in that regard, was ironically the one that Skyler had already offered indirectly. In the end, she was Vi. That was who she wanted to be. The person she had constructed to be and enjoy. It wasn’t all perfect yet, but she was still happy with who she had become, really.
Plus, this girl whose warmth she was enjoying now was making it a lot better, too. Violet felt cosy and content for the first time in a long time. Sure, this technically was a bit of a scam still regardless, but at this point, it really took no effort to keep it up. Heck, she was mostly honest at this point, only minding a few minor details. There really was no reason to lie, so aside from what came to her naturally, she simply remained truthful to a point.

“Hmm, I guess I do, really. Besides, I might not know you too well, but I can gauge a few things about you at least.” Just what those were, she left a secret for a few more moments. Inwardly, that was because she chose not to line out why she was so certain of that. After all, that would be something she herself might have done in the other’s shoes to a hapless victim. Yet, if she had been, she would have done this whole thing a bit differently to ensure her success and safety. No, this definitely wouldn’t be the smart way to do this ploy.
Before she could reply though, Cloyster threw yet another Pokemon on board, though once more a half drowned one from the looks of it. Looked very cute, but most definitely not the kind that could and would swim freely out here on the open ocean. Was there some kind of capsized boat somewhere that these guys came from?

She couldn’t tell. And honestly, in Skyler’s arms like this, she didn’t much care, either. It just was what it was. Vi flicked another ball at it, in the hopes to catch it without that much distraction, and instead turned towards her current girl once more. “You aren’t the kind to just leave people stranded like that. At least people you care about in some way. If you are a pirate, Sky, you’d be the kind who’d want to steal my heart and have me, not steal my things and leave me.”



- tries to catch the Togepi

Heh. That was a nice reaction. She could feel the light shudder she’d caused with her actions, but there was also approval and appreciation. Some had called her needy in these kinds of regards. Though honestly, she just enjoyed companionship in general. She did not exactly regret running away from home. This way, she had finally freed herself from the suffocation of expectation. Yet, she did miss being close to others sometimes. It was actually best like this. Kind of knowing the person you were with, but not to the point where things got super serious all of the sudden. An embrace at arm’s length was something she deeply enjoyed, really.

“I can never become who others want me to be. I realized that by now.” Her voice sounded a bit more serious than normal as she said that, though she soon broke that up with a chuckle. “Though I like to think that I don’t want or need to become anyone, anyway. I already am who I am. If you ask me, it is never about ‘becoming’ one thing or another. It’s about how you live your life. And in my case, I am happy to live my life how I want to, really.” It was still surprisingly deep, really. But unlike talk of the past, this talk of the present and future came easily to her lips. Somehow, this felt different. It wasn’t quite clear how, though.

In the meantime, her Cloyster had watched what the Starmie had been doing and gotten rather competitive with the toned down violence. Not wanting to be shown up by some Pokemon it did not know, the Cloyster sought to fight something too. Though, somehow, it ended up punting a non-water Pokemon from the water. Violet was not sure whether or not her protector had knocked it out as much as it had been dragged here by the current, but she threw a Pokeball at the Igglpuff anyway. It was kind of cure, after all.
“Though, who said that I followed you ‘blindly’, dear? Maybe I just got a good enough look at you last time to know all is well with you around.”


- tries to ccatch the Igly

“Hmm,” she hummed, thinking. Naturally, Vio took a bit longer to eat her sandwich in this more proper and measured way, so she gave herself some more time to think while nibbling on it once more. In fact, she did finish what she had for the time being, before really attempting to answer that question. It was a bit of a tough one, after all. Truth be told, she did not want to lie too much to this girl. Seemed unfair, really. But at this point, she couldn’t exactly just give the full truth either. Not without making it seem like she’d lied before, at least.

As such, she took care with this, even deciding to first take her seat next to the other proper. Despite her attitude, she was being a bit forward about this, even leaning against Skyler somewhat to join in on the drowsiness. “Well, you asked for it. Can’t say it is not your fault~.” A bit teasing, maybe, but she figured that the other would not be too thrilled with the story she had in mind. Not her problem, though.
During the brief pause, she noticed a Ralts riding a Piplup in the distance. But she already had one of each, so she did not pay too much heed to that. “Growing up, I had this brother who was always better than I was. At just about anything my family valued. But he did not like the right disposition and attitude. A real trainer, but also someone who was quite unbecoming towards father. So, everyone wanted me, the more agreeable one, to instead become the hope of the family. But I was terrible at it. One day, I tried to prove myself and headed out at night to some ruins to show that I am strong and fearless. Had me crying and about to give up a bit after midnight, really. But that was when I met my Dreepy. It scared me at least but it came to me anyway, trying to console me. It probably allowed itself to be captured more than I really did much. But together we did get Golett and the two of them were with me ever since. Though, admittedly, I let the whole catching business slide until I came to port, years later. It is actually surprisingly fun, I have to admit.”

- passes

A towel was welcome, even if it certainly wasn’t enough. Violet had absolutely no illusions. She was not going to get dry just with that, not after being so completely submerged in water. Then again, she didn’t have to. Not really. Instead, she simply used the cloth to get any water out of the vicinity of her eyes, as well as dry her hands a bit. That way, she could at least grab things without them slipping through them, or even some of the food on offer without immediately giving it a nice dose of salt.

Speaking of, she found herself slightly surprised by the amount of effort and care that the other had clearly put into all of this. Some others would have probably just pre-made some sandwiches or something, but this clearly was going to be a proper date of sorts. “Some people would have their datee choose between the beach and a picknick. Few would simply combine the two in such a way,” she announced with a brief chuckle. This was more care than most people had put into entertaining her for quite a while. The least she could do was acknowledge it.
Naturally, she swiftly joined the other. Not needing to make too much of a fuss, she sat down in a very proper manner, yet went for a sandwich anyway. Just because she liked to be a bit of a lady did not mean that her tastes had completely kept up with that perception of self.

“To be clear. I quite appreciate your efforts and am grateful. This has been a rather fun endeavour so far.” Her eyes briefly caught some Pokemon skidding over the wave, but Cloyster was busy inspecting the foodstuffs, while she made a salad and meat sandwich. Food always took priority over catching things.


- passes

This was a whole new world she had never experienced before. No other way to put it. Diving briefly after jumping into a lake before coming up to get water was one thing. But allowing herself to fall so deep, being entirely surrounded by the depths and seeing a very different ecosystem altogether? That was incredibly different. Sure, she had seen depictions of what was below the waves relatively often as a child. Even as a toddler, it had been father’s ideal to turn her into another ranger too, so he’d mostly given her nature-related picture books from a young age. Experiencing it was quite something, though. She honestly liked this a lot more than what she had been shown before. It felt exciting, it felt different. And she could get used to new experiences like this.

Especially with someone who seemed to adore her, despite all the ghost business. Vio did her very best to not get left behind, even though there was next to no chance of that actually happening. Her guide was taking good care of her. Yet, she wanted to prove herself just a little bit, so she ensured to not fall back too much and to describe a bow of sorts when being given a little pearl. Didn’t quite know what to do with it, but she took it anyway. Gifts were always welcome.

In the meantime – and it was mean, since her pokemon did have quite the aggressive streak as it floated about – the latter was making new acquaintances. The Cloyster briefly followed the school of Goldeen for a bit, as if to chase them away. Once they’d left, it all but huffed victoriously, before suddenly turning around angrily when something bumped into it from behind. The Piplup responsible did look just as befuddled, but narrowed its gaze as well when the bigger mon simply glared at it. After a good minute of glaring and angry posturing, Cloyster broke the stalemate first, simply smacking the other mon with one of its spikes. It was more an act of marking one’s territory or such than an attack, really.
But a brief fight erupted anyway, both pokemon exchanging some attacks. But ultimately, the Piplup got hit square by another Ice Spear and just drifted around dazed. The Cloyster then proceeded to push it around, towards its master, presenting it ultimately like a cat might present a caught mouse.

Vi, surprised and a little confused, decided to just accept that this had happened, logging an underwater pokeball at the mon just in case and deciding to more closely monitor Cloyster.
However, soon Skyler approached her and distracted her once more. Violet allowed herself to be drawn to the surface once more, eventually breaking it and greedily inhaling proper air, once the apparatus was temporarily suspended. “Yeah, it is certainly something else,” she replied, slightly short on breath, only now feeling the first vestiges of exhaustion. Maybe a little break was in order, after all. Hence she followed quickly and decidedly.


- attempts to catch Piplup

It made some sense, yes. But somehow, in her ears, it just sounded like ‘I don’t like ghosts’ and little more. Maybe Vio was being a bit childish about this in particular. But it wasn’t like she could help it anyway. That was just how she took it when someone seemingly insulted her mons. Sure, she didn’t treat them all that well herself. But that was her prerogative. Others would have to first earn that right.
Did that mean Skyler hadn’t yet? Violet briefly blinked, wondering that to herself. It was the logical conclusion, wasn’t it? If she still felt like that, it probably meant that Sky had not yet reached that point, that she wasn’t part in this family. Then again, Vio had severe issues in that regard anyway and wouldn’t let any of her family members do that either.

She sighed, then decided to let it go. It was probably horribly unfair to expect her feelings to be catered for all the time, anyway. Or to judge relative strangers by such harsh standards. Instead, she gave a slight smile while listening to the instructions following, trying to handle the device for the time being. It was faintly familiar to her. One of those ranger exercises father had taken her to had been about this, hadn’t it?
Whilst sorting that out, she noticed a brief encounter with a Feebas, along with a Seel swimming nearby as well. Recalling her own Gardevoir – since it couldn’t dive with them – she still pulled out another ball anyway. Best to have someone under her control down there. Well, supposedly at least. She hadn’t actually tried this one out yet. But it had seemed useful for a trip like this, so she had packed the Cloyster, which she called forth now. Conducting a brief field test, she had him send an Ice Spear at the Seel and, since it seemed wounded after, threw one of her remaining balls at it too. This was a cute looking one, after all. Not as ugly as that Feebas thing.

Though the one who’d potentially caught that was far from ugly, of course. Once more finding herself close and face to face with Skyler, Violet briefly blushed, then nodded, before closing her eyes and trying to follow. This would be tough, after all. To hit the water and keep going, instead of returning to the surface. But she felt safe enough with this woman. She could risk it, this time.

- attempts to catch Seel

Phew. That was a problem sorted out immediately. Or so she thought. Two pairs of confused eyes - one icy set with a hint of bemusement, the other utterly life- and emotionless would turn towards the dear sailor. Her sudden departure had been rather surprising, after all. Granted, it was not the first time that someone had reacted in such a way to her Golett. Lots of people were super superstitious for some reason. Vio really didn't get that. She'd spent most of her life with ghost Pokemon, having had her Dreepy and Golett for years now. They were a little bit different from most 'mons, yes, but not massively so. In fact, some of those beings were made of ice or living ice, which was much more dangerous. Golett though was very huggable.
Thus, she had not at all expected someone this strong and dependable to outright run from it, even if she should know quite well that one of Vi's team would never cause her harm. Though it was good to know that she could capitalize on this in a pinch. Good enough.

Still though, in that very moment, de-escalation was probably better. With something somewhere between a pout and a sigh, she raised the ball once more. "Come back for now," she told the little golem, who was intently watching the other woman with a slightly angled, curious face. For now though, it vanished. Instead, she fished for another ball on the belt and brought out her Gardevoir. It was probably best to have a Pokemon out. “Didn’t tell me there would be this many Pokemon appearing here….” She muttered to herself – right before she had to jump backwards for a small freakin’ whale suddenly landed on deck. “What the…! I don’t know about you, but I think these sorts of things happen if ghosts are about or not!”

It was really weird after all. Not the epitome of weirdness, though. Mostly because, well, as the whale-mon landed hard there, it happened to spit out what was at least halfway in its mouth, possibly even in its belly. A whole other Pokemon. How did it get there? Well, how did a bipedal fairy get into the middle of the ocean, anyway? It seemed most likely that the other one had either been actively trying to eat it or….no, she wasn’t going to think too hard on that. The little doggy was on deck now, clearly being weakened as it stumbled about without any sense of balance. Gardevoir, being a bit mischievous, just decided to float over and give the little one a push, causing it to fall over. Probably had been hit by the psychic, too. Well, and almost potentially half eaten. Poor thing.
Despite running relatively low on balls, Vio threw one at the mon anyway. She could always release it later, but it was cute and hurt, the inside of a ball was safe and had some sort of healing properties she never truly understood. It was better than just…scrubbing it off the deck? That would have been terrible, even for her.

That being tried, she would sigh once more. “You really hate ghosts that much, though?”

- attempts to catch Snubbull

“You hunt and fight pirates?” That did surprise her, actually. Granted, she did not exactly know what a sailor really did for a living, but she had not expected that. More something related to ferrying goods or fishing. Though the suspicious lack of nets and rods should have tipped her off in that regard. However, hunting pirates was still somewhat outlandish. She hadn’t even known that pirates still existed. Hadn’t they all been made extinct by changing climate or something? A guy she’d taken for a ride had talked about that, once. However, it seemed like they still existed. Her question had been poised with some incredulity, yes, but she did not actually think that Skyler would actually lie to her. The woman was prone to pranks, yes, but no serious lies.

And speaking of pranks, Vi shot her a confused glance when she was pulled in, though she certainly did not mind it at all. Then the boat suddenly lunged forwards, drawing a surprised yelp from her lips as she held onto the other a bit more strongly. Clearly, that had been the point of this tactic.
It was well played though. Still clinging to the other, eyes squinting to shield herself a bit from water coming at them in unusual ways, she found herself laughing a little, too. It was quite a ride indeed, something she would not get any other day. The only small problem was that, in doing so suddenly, they kind of put Frosmoth in a tight spot. The Pokemon had to follow somehow, not having been secured on top of the boat right away. And thanks to its overuse of that ability during the Pokeathlon, it simply reacted as it always did, conjuring up a Tailwind that kicked up behind them.

That way, it was able to follow along – but as always, the ability was indiscriminate, causing it to also boost a nearby Frillish just minding its business. Having just dodged the boat bruising along, the Frillish was agitated already. Now it was suddenly pushed towards said boat again, ultimately ending up crashing into the two girls, while a confused Frosmoth ended up overshooting and confusedly flapping about. Fortunately, the boat had already stopped by then and, assumedly, Skyler would still hold onto them, even if the sudden appearance of a oddly-feeling ghost would most likely rattle her cage substantially.
Hearing the confused cry of her Frosmoth, in addition to being caught flat-footed herself, Violet acted on impulse, putting the lessons of her father to use. She was only really able to do that when she didn’t have time to think, really. Usually, she was much too stubborn and uncaring to swap out pokemon. But, wriggling her hands free, she would recall Frosmoth and instead tap the ball with her Golett. “Shadow Punch it!” she called out, not really knowing if that thing was an actual threat.

But it had attacked them, so she instinctively attacked back, the ghostly golem landing on the boat with a thud and immediately going into a punching motion towards the Frillish. Vio wasn’t really thinking far ahead, just wanting to scare that thing off. However, the attack connected, hitting the befuddled ghost in the jellyface. Smelling an opportunity once more, the girl simply threw one of her remaining balls at it anyway, hoping to hit the right ghost in the fray.

- Attacks the Frillish and attempts to catch

Now that was a compliment she didn’t get often. A very different blush briefly showed up on her face, but she managed to overcome that rather quickly, trying to downplay all of it. “I’m not a good trainer at all. Frosmoth is just very strong and knows what to do. I really don’t do much more than throw Fros at things and hope I can catch them, so I can sort them out later.” The unembellished truth for once. Honestly, it had always been that way with her. Father had always lamented that. She had little intuition about the strengths and weaknesses of Pokémon and little interest to properly learn them by heart. She just often got lucky that her first and strongest Pokémon was, well, fairly strong. In many ways, it was the boss there, not she.

That brief moment of vulnerability over, she did get on her feet again and reciprocated the playful bow with one of her own. The small boat wasn’t all that much. It was more than she had, honestly. But it was still rather small. Someone like Skyler should have a bigger, more impressive vehicle, really. “My, it is certainly impressive in a way.” Well, one way at least. Just not every. “Though I just have to ask: if this is Mariner 2, what happened to Mariner 1? You probably get asked that a lot, but there’s a story behind every number. We did make quite the story during the math lesson I gave you too, after all.”
She laughed before cautiously moving up to the top with Skyler. Truth be told, Vi was a little bit shaky on her feet like that. But with almost a challenge being given to her in such a way? She could not possibly refuse, couldn’t not try.

Though she does have to briefly reach for Skyler to gain support when the boat suddenly starts like that.



- passes

At least there was a knight in shining armour now. Well, more like no armour at all. A bikini didn’t exactly count for much in that regard. But whatever one might want to call her, Skyler was swiftly by her side, pulling her away from the perceived threat. The snarky part of her wanted to comment on how said threat had already been taken care of by the Pokémon at hand, but she shut that up quickly. It kind of did feel good that someone cared, after all. Didn’t happen too often these days, after all. That blush from earlier was back – also because Vio struggled a bit threading water properly with another person this close to her.
It was fairly evident that she could indeed deal with the wettest of elements, but she certainly was not at home in it. Probably the lack of regular exercise and exposure, really. Still, she was able to cope with what had happened rather well.

“I…I kind of ran into a Pokémon, I think….” Once more, Frosmoth dutifully returned with the ball and the little monster captured inside. Vi really would have to check that one out later on. But for now, she was kind of cross with it, so it could rot in a ball for the time being. Still, she somehow managed to fidget that one onto her belt as well while she watched Skyler dealing with another thing.
For the time being, she really just wants to get onto the boat so they can sort things out for a few moments. Vio often liked things proceeding in an orderly fashion, especially when she doesn’t expect any troubles at all. “Are there always so many Pokémon out on the water? I never knew.” She watched another one pass by, but let it go for the time being.


- passes