Zac Ramsay

Ethel smiled at the anecdote that Zac provided, but didn't comment otherwise. It was more or less what she'd expected from what he'd said about bringing his Pokemon to libraries, and from the way that waiter was eyeing them. Plus, the conversation was moving quickly. More quickly than she'd expected when she'd expected this invitation.

She nodded at Zac's owning up to his slip-up. "That's exactly what I mean," she said. "It's hard to change your mind on things like this, especially when it's sometimes not something people see as bad at all. But it's still important that people take steps to change, and the first step is recognizing it when it happens." She smiled at him. "Thank you for taking that step, incidentally."

And then the interview immediately went to shit.

No, it wasn't that bad. She was overreacting. After all, it wasn't a pointed question, and the way Zac had phrased it, there was a lot of wiggle room for her to escape saying the whole truth.

On the outside, she didn't show any of this, her face schooled into a practiced expression of solemnity. "Who wasn't involved? I haven't encountered a Poipole or Naganadel myself, but the events that led up to their... introduction to Hoenn have colored everyone's view of them-- and the whole situation-- badly. And that's why what I mentioned earlier is so hard to achieve. It isn't easy to forget a terrible thing you saw someone do when someone else, who might look and act the exact same, is right in front of you."

The other topic was much lighter, if still serious, and Ethel responded animatedly. Of course she did. This was a line of discussion that had been absolutely trained into her, even if she had since realized that she had been extreme.

"This is important to think about, as well. Pokemon can live in manmade places, and the spread of urban landscapes mean that many have turned to doing so. Similarly, humans can live in the wilderness, and surely, if our cities and towns were getting overrun by forest or desert, a few of us would be forced to turn to doing so as well. That doesn't mean that we should, or that Pokemon should. As urbanization continues, we should be careful to plan for Pokemon and their habitats as we continue to build. It's certainly not impossible," she added. "There have been places in the world where humans and wild Pokemon live in harmony. Fortree City, here on Hoenn's own soil, is an example of how we can build, and leave wild habitats intact."

Ethel caught someone looking at them as they sat and talked about Rally. The waiter glowered at them, as if they were doing something terribly wrong by being here.

Ethel had only been here a couple of times before, and she'd always been relatively quiet. Zac, though, was more enthusiastic, so it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine...

"Hm, is there some history between you and this cafe?" she asked. "You seem... familiar to this place."

Anyways, there were other topics to cover that were more pressing. When Zac addressed Rally and mentioned that electric types must have had pent-up energy, she pursed her lips, and thought a little before replying.

"I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it," she began, "but I do have to object to that. This instance is relatively harmless, but firstly, it's not true. I have a Vikavolt as well, who's a lot more calm and collected. And, second of all, a stretch of that same logic is what allows people to say that all dark types are evil, or that all poison types are sneaky and underhanded. And that leads to abuse."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry for being a downer. I know you had good intentions, but...

"And I actually caught Rally when exploring Mauville's power plant! It's a great place to find electric types, and it's interesting to me that Pokemon like to settle in manmade places such as that."

Oh, dear Arceus. Why was she even here?

It was impossible to say no to this guy Zac, though. He was just so nice and earnest and upbeat, that she'd agreed to his "interview" without a second thought. 

Well, now she was certainly having second thoughts, especially once she'd realized that there would be a camera. Of course there would be a camera. This was an interview. She wasn't stupid, and she really should have thought of that before...

Oh well. It was too late to do anything about that now. So, she'd dyed her hair reddish blonde rather than the golden blonde she normally sported, and piled it up into a bun as opposed to letting it fall freely down her back. Long hair was a truly versatile method of disguise.

"This place is perfect," said Ethel, smiling. She'd have to pretend she knew anything about the place, now. Ugh, what was it called again? Jumpluff's Java, or something? No, that didn't sound right. Hopefully the topic wouldn't come up again.

"That's a good question," she noted, thinking for a second.

"I like to visit libraries, often. If they allow for my Pokemon, then that's an added bonus. The atmosphere of a library is just nice and calm, even if I don't always go there to read something."

Rally peeked his head out from Ethel's bag, the Minun's eyes and long floppy blue ears visible. Ethel smiled.

"This is Rally," said Ethel. "He looks cute, but he can be a little rascal."

Rally squeaked in indignation, and Ethel laughed quietly.

The man she'd addressed turned around, and Ethel's heart jumped into her throat.

"Oh," she said faintly. This was bad. This was really, really bad. She cleared her throat, trying to recover. "I... helping with the recovery efforts," she repeated. "Like I said. Um, please don't tell people I'm here."

Oh, Arceus, save her.

Magic placed a hand on Ethel's shoulder. God, she was so thankful for Magic. He always knew when she was stressed out, and was always there to help her calm down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She opened her eyes once again, and barely fought down another wave of panic at the sight of Benoit's surprised face, literally right there, not five feet away from her.

"Thank you, Magic," she said, years of practice keeping the tremble out of her voice. Then she turned back to Thomas. Even if he was an unpleasant reminder of her old life... it wasn't him she'd run from. She wasn't being fair.

"Sorry. Um, what are you doing here?"

Thomas Benoit

There would be plenty of ice in Shoal Cave, of course. Ethel thought that, and then immediately felt like a jerk. She was just trying to do her job!

"I can imagine the rest of Hoenn is too hot for them." She glanced at Magic, who was enjoying the cold and the atmosphere. "I figured that Magic would enjoy the atmosphere, you know?"

That was only partially true. While Magic seemed to be fine with the cold, he seemed to generally be okay with warm temperatures too. But still, this was probably good for him, and a few other of her ice-types who she wasn't willing to release just yet.

A Sandshrew interrupted her musings, rolling towards her at a breakneck pace. She yelped and leaped out of the way, and Magic was on the case. It only took a warning Freeze-dry in the general direction of the ground-type to send it fleeing.

"I do wonder why ground types live in a place known for ice-types and the cold," remarked Ethel as she watched the Sandshrew scurry back into a burrow. She nodded at McFlurry's concern.

Ethel still had no idea how to bring up the topic of Rocket. How would she say that in a way that wouldn't immediately drive this lady off? Was there any way at all?

She continued to think on that topic as they advanced further into the cave.

mclaren mcflurry

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