Fandom Adrift and Afloat, a Pokémon Adventure

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia laughed at Jun's mimicry as she knelt down and watched Agatha interact with one of the Teddiursa, a look of profound relief on her face now that she and her friends were no longer in any danger. "I'd have to agree with you on that one, Jun." She said with a laugh as a Teddiursa snuck up behind Jun and hugged her leg in greeting.

When she got tired of being on her feet, she sat down on a nearby mossy stump and stretched her arms. She was starting to feel exhaustion from their busy day set in, but didn't have the willpower needed to say goodbye to the Teddiursa and their mother yet. "It's crazy that a place like this is just a few kilometers away from the city." She mused, reaching into her pack for a juice box which she promptly pierced with a straw before offering Jun a second one.

 

[Darkmaster006]

"Waaah!" Jun—who was engrossed in her notes—let out a short cry of surprise before turning back and watching as the Teddiursa hugged her leg. "Ah, it was you, you little precious thing," she said endearingly, and pat the Teddiursa's head.

Shui had been the first to try and go play with the Teddiursa, promptly followed by Raijin—a bit hesitant—but Corsola had decided to stay back near Jun. Corsola tugged at the same leg as the Teddiursa, apparently jealous that it wasn't her that was getting Jun's attention. Thankfully, Jun was very attentive now, and let her notepad in the ground to hold Corsola in the air with her two hands and gave her a kiss on the forehead, which made Corsola very happy. "Don't be jealous, I love you very very much, a'right?" Then Jun lay with her back on the ground carefully, and Corsola was on top of her chest, basking in her affection. "Well, it's rather fun, isn't it? And some juice won't do any bad, thanks, Olivia!" She seemed to be enjoying herself to the fullest.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia quickly drank her juice box in a single gulp exhaled a bit loudly once she'd finished it off. "Here, catch. And it's definitely super fun. It's stuff like this that really makes travelling worth it." She said with a grin as she lobbed a juice at Jun's hand with a decent amount of precision. Agatha had decided to get comfortable in her lap as did one of the Teddiursas, their heads gently resting against one another as they dozed off.

Though she was doing a pretty decent job of staying awake and alert, Olivia found her tiredness to be more and more omnipresent with each passing moment. She yawned once again before looking over at Jun, hating that their time with the Teddiursa was going to come to a close soon. "Hey, Jun, you wanna start heading back?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes with a knuckle, not yet wanting to disrupt Agatha's sleep or the Teddiursa's (who seemed to be strangely fond of her from the looks of it)

 

[Darkmaster006]

Olivia managed to catch the juice just fine and sat with her legs to the side so that she could drink. Corsola stayed in her lap, and the Teddiursa was now having fun with Shui and the others. She drank her juice as she looked at Olivia and the two Pokemon sitting on her lap, she thought it was very cute.

"Ah, surely we should. It should be around 8 pm, time to eat and rest, right?" she said. "Plus, I am a tad tired, and you seem tired, too! So let's go," she stated, and stood up, holding Corsola in her arms.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Once she'd finally worked up the nerve to disturb the slumber of the Pokemon that were snoozing against her, she slowly rose to her feet and stretched. "I'm starving. Should we grab some dinner or find a hotel first?" She asked as she handed the Teddiursa what remained of her berry before picking up her bag and putting it back on her shoulders.

She waved goodbye to the Ursaring and her young ones before nestling her hands in the pockets of her shorts and starting to make her way towards the entrance of the woods with Jun. Neither of them were aware of the fact that the Teddiursa had sat down on top of Olivia's pack and was waving goodbye to her family as she hitchhiked along with her new friends.

 

[Darkmaster006]

"Both are fine with me, but if you're starving maybe we should go for the food first," she told Olivia as she went back to pack up the Berry's outer shells she had collected. She waved goodbye to the shiny Ursaring, who had behaved very amicably, she hoped to meet her again later if they went to that forest. She waved off all the little Teddiursa too, and hoped they grew well.

She followed beside Olivia, with her Corsola, Shui and Raijin following close beside. She was about to tell Olivia about the dish she'd make tomorrow with the Berry's shells, but she chose to keep it a secret, maybe it'd be more fun that way. "So, how did I do in my first night-field trip? I sure got lots of cool info in my notepad now, about the forest and Ursaring and Teddiursa."

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia looked over at Jun with a beaming grin, her pride in her friend's performance clearly visible on her face. "You did awesome, Jun! I think you've really got a knack for field work." She said as she stepped over a root before she pulled out her PokeNav to check the time, the weather report, and any urgent news updates. "You've gotta show me your notes once we're done exploring every single region of the world!"

Eventually, the pair stepped out of the woods and back onto an asphalt walkway, the cityscape now clearly visible from the Cianwood Forest's entrance. "What kind of food's good here, Jun? You're the Johto expert, right?" She asked curiously as the group started making their way down the path towards the city center. Again, none of them had yet noticed the Teddiursa seated on Olivia's pack with its legs dangling off the edge.

 

[Darkmaster006]

Jun jumped up excitedly at Olivia's answer. She was tired, sure, but being with Olivia and being praised like that by her got her spirits up. "I'm glad you think so. I'll lend you my notes whenver you want, Olivia!" she chirped. Such an overflowing of emotion, she hadn't had such fun and felt such sense of adventure in ages.

The mostly blocky, cycladic, white-and-blue architecture coupled with new, modern buildings and temples made of Cianwood city a very multi-cultural city. "Well, from where I come from, Olivine City, seafood is very popular. You know, there's a special takoyaki called akashiyaki that we should totally eat when we get there; also the beef is world-renowned! Alto Mare also has a love for seafood, but pasta, too, is very popular, Gnocchi, Sarde in Saor, Polenta, and Baccala Mantecata. So, every city has its different take on food, Cianwood should also have a love for seafood, right?" she pondered for a bit, and then continued on with her talking about food, she did love food too, after all, as her mothers had taught her a lot, "Ah! I think my mom, Xiu, told me about the Naruto Sea Bream there, as well as something called Sawachi Ryori, a mixture of seafood. Such a myriad of options, don't you think? It's hard to decide." she told Olivia with an inquiring expression after naming all those dishes.

Shui, Corsola, and Raijin followed behind. They seemed eager to listen to Jun's food-speech. Shui and Corsola hopped every now and then, while Raijin marched steadily.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Oliva was considerably staggered upon hearing Jun's long list of the local foods native to this part of Johto. Myriad of options was absolutely right, as decision paralysis was profoundly impacting the purple-haired drifter. "So many choices..." Once she'd managed to process most of what Jun had told her, she started pondering their options before reaching a conclusion.

"Pasta sounds pretty great, what do you think?" She asked, her attention commanded by Agatha who gently booped her leg as if she wanted to tell her something. "What up, Ag?" She asked, to which her Aron responded by hopping up and down and chirping a bit. She then looked over her shoulder to see what her companion was alerting her about. "Holy shit! You decided to come with us, huh?"

The Teddiursa was laying on her stomach on top of Olivia's pack, her arms and legs dangling off of either side. The bear Pokemon was lazing about and seemed to be daydreaming, her lax nature a far cry from Olivia's adamant dragon or her careful reptile.

 

[Darkmaster006]

Jun was about to speak up about the food when she heard Olivia's exclamation at the Teddiursa that they had noticed just now, iw was practically hanging from Olivia's rucksack. She proceeded to gently play with the Teddiursa's dangling arms and legs, she poked at them every few seconds as they went up and down. The Teddiursa didn't seem to mind at all. The image of Olivia's dangling coils of purple hair was spontaneously conjured up in Jun's mind.

"It's great to have a new friend... seems like this Teddiursa couldn't resist your sporty charm either!" Jun said, looking at Olivia, placing her palm on Olivia's shoulder as she kept playing with the Teddirusa, and chuckling. By now, her attention had totally shifted from what food to eat to Olivia and the Teddiursa. Still, she knew she didn't want to eat pasta: that was her everyday meal in Alto Mare!

 

[PerilousAbyss]

She laughed and softly nuzzled the Teddiursa's head with her own, and soon after the bear started slowly crawling down her bag. Teddiursa's arm got caught in one of the buckled straps on Olivia's bag, but she seemed completely unfazed as she just dangled with one arm like a keychain. "Can't say I blame them. Is it normal for Teddiursa to be like this though?" She asked as she reached back and picked up her extremely lazy partner, resolving to hold her in her arms for the time being.

The pair soon arrived at the Cianwood shopping district, with various illuminated signs indicating different places they could potentially stop at for dinner. As if seemingly revitalized by the wafting smell of noodles and seafood, Garland started rumbling about in his Pokeball which Olivia soon released him from. "Hungry?" She asked with a chuckle, crouching down to rub the Dragon-type's head (making sure to go with the grain of his rough scales, of course)

 

[Darkmaster006]

Jun giggled at this scene. It was really cute! The Teddiursa just loved lazing around, completely opposite to her friend's adventurous nature. "Well, this is your special Teddiursa, and the Dex does say they're cute—which is right—I think you'll get along great!" she patted Olivia light on the back. She scribbled some thoughts on her notepad and put it back on her pocket.

Jun decided Olivia shouldn't be the only one carrying her babies, and so she picked Corsola up and held her tight in her arms for now, to which Corsola happily agreed, squeaking. Raijin kept walking on the ground next to Jun's leg, but Shui returned to its usual position, that is, perched atop Jun's head. "Woop, woop!" "We are all hungry, Shui, for sure," Jun said. Suddently, she halted, and grabbed Olivia by her right arm. She pointed to a restaurant just a few meters ahead, just in the corner of the block. "What do you think about that one, Olivia?" The restaurant stretched over the corener of he block with big picture windows. A big blue sign read 'The Long Fish' at the entrance. Inside, the walls were brown and purple, and there weren't that many people inside.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

As soon as Jun called Olivia's attention to the restaurant she saw, her gaze was ripped from looking at her companions in order to check the place out. "You're the one who knows what's up in Johto, so if you think it looks good, I'm definitely down to give it a try!" She beamed as she took a few sidesteps away from Jun, seeking the ideal streetlamp lighting for a photo of the quaint restaurant.

Her Pokemon also seemed to be in agreement with Jun's recommendation, Agatha already slowly plodding over towards the entrance alongside Garland. Her Teddiursa seemed content with just snoozing on top of Olivia's bag and wasn't in much of a rush at all. "I think the choice is unanimous!" She laughed as she started jogging over to her partners, not wanting them to get into any trouble without her.

 

[Darkmaster006]

Jun followed behind Olivia. "I'm glad it is so, Olivia! I hope the food is good here, too." Shui hopped up and down in Jun's head as she approached the door. She opened the door and went inside as did Olivia, Jun looked out for a table, moving her hands around. "What do you think, should we go near the window panes?" she asked Olivia. Corsola chirped with enthusiasm.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia pondered her question for a little while, her eyes scanning the interior of the restaurant for any potentially premium spots to sit in. "Window seats look pretty good to me! I think Pokemon tend to prefer booths anyway." She said as she walked over to the area Jun pointed out earlier.

Upon taking a seat, she helped Garland and Agatha up before doing the same for Teddiursa when she finally expressed an interest in getting off of Olivia's bag. "So what do you think I should get?" She asked Jun, looking over the menu as she gently bounced Garland up and down in her lap.

 

[Darkmaster006]

She sat in front of Olivia, with Corsola in her lap and Shui still atop her head. She grabbed Raijin and helped her up. She looked at the menu for a while and finally decided for what she had already decided beforehand: Sawachi Ryori. "Uhm... we could share Sawachi Ryori, it's a mixture of seafood and stuff, and maybe some other thing like Gnocchi or Polenta or whatever you wish to choose, what do you think Olivia?" she asked grinning. The last time she'd eaten out with someone, it'd been a long while! It was real fun! Shui hopped off from Jun's head and pointed at the big picture of the Sawachi Riori with enthusiasm. "But, if you don't want to, it's okay of course!"

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia shook her head at Jun's telling her that she could always just pick something else, a warm smile on her face as she stopped looking at any other menu item. "That stuff looks and sounds great! Haven't had really good seafood since I was back home." While what she said was definitely true, the main thing that won her over was Jun's overwhelming approval and enthusiasm about the dish in question.

She slumped back in her booth as she sipped from the glass of ice water that was set at their table when they arrived. "I'll get us something tasty for desert after we're done eating." She offered, figuring that everyone could use a sweet, carbohydrate-rich treat after such a long, physically taxing day.

 

[Darkmaster006]

"I'm so glad!! Ah, that you agreed, and that we're eating the two of us and, y'know, it's just, it's been a while since I've eaten out with someone and stuff, it's nice," Jun said in a enthusiastic way. She tended to blabber on when she was excited, and her vocabulary turned more colloquial without her even noticing, deviating from her usually lofty tone. She laughed, genuinely happy, "I'm totally waiting to be surprised with that desert, too!"

Shui hopped around the table, while Raijin walked across the table and snuggled against Olivia. Corsola hopped up and down lightly on Jun's lap. Everyone seemed to have gotten happy because of Jun and Olivia's disposition. If Jun was happy, for sure their Pokemon would be happy for her too. It was especially remarkable that Raijin had moved around too.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

"Food always tastes better with friends!" Olivia beamed, having the most enjoyable night out she'd had in a long while. Jun and her Pokemon had such a fun and interesting energy to them, and they always seemed to make even mundane things like a ferry ride or a late dinner interesting. "I'll make certain not to let you down, Jun. I think I know something that everyone'll like."

As the adventurers had their noisy, enthused conversation, a person across the restaurant from them took notice, and decided to walk over and introduce herself alongside another woman.

"It's refreshing to see people keeping their Pokemon outside of their Pokeballs." She said with a soft smile, her voice smooth and composed. The woman appeared to be in her late twenties and carried herself incredibly elegantly. She was tall and wore her wavy, bright chartreuse hair to her shoulders and swooped over to her left side, with the sides neatly shaved. Her skin was a tan olive in color, and she was adorned with a long, dark gray trenchcoat accented with bright green, as well as dark jeans paired with boots.

Crawling on either of her arms were a Grubbin or a Wurmple, and a Sewaddle sat on her right shoulder. Peculiarly enough, all of her bug-type companions were differently colored and glittered in the dim restuarant lighting.

 

[Darkmaster006]

"I'm sure you will, Olivia!" answered Jun as she kept playing with her Poke-friends, waiting for the waitress to come over. She didn't notice the woman walking up to them; only when the woman spoke, smoothly and elegantly, did Jun realise there was someone there, next to their table.

Jun was slightly surprised. She never considered someone would approach them just randomly! And she was very elegant too. Jun also noticed she seemed to be very in conjunction with her Pokemon... quite literally. "Oh, I love being with my friends all the time, so it's only natural, isn't it? I thought most people enjoyed that." Jun replied to the bug-clad woman, with an air of innocence and naivety. She caressed Corsola, who stood on her lap still.

A woman stepped forward from behind the woman wearing the dark-grey trenchcoat. She looked serious for a moment, but then smiled lightly, genuinely, and introduced herself: "Don't be so blunt, Nat!" she joked, and wrapped her arm around her companion in the trenchcoat. A Petilil stood on her left shoulder, smiling softly. A Maractus and a Fomantis completed her team, standing on the ground next to her. Her attire consisted of a long-sleeved blouse, with frills towards the end of it. It was a shade of green, much as Petilil's body's, and it was pink-flower patterned. The pink was much akin to Fomantis' face colour [x]. Upon it, she also wore a trenchcoat, but hers was yellow, much as Maractus's little horns. Her gabardine pants were also green, but green like that of Petilil's leaves. She wore flower-patterned, pink trainers [x]. Her hair was cut very short and styled messily, with little flicks falling all over her head [x]. "Din't I tell ye' to introduce yerself first?" she tightened softly her arm around Nat's, and spoke up again, "Excuse our rudeness," she bowed a little, "Ah'm Jin, and this elegant yet uncouth woman here is Natascha," she chuckled lightly. Despite her insincere words and apprehensions, she looked with respect and admiration towards her friend; anyone who looked closely would notice so. Her accent was quite noticeable, and Jun wanted to ask her where she was from, but she wasn't brave enough yet, maybe it'd be quite rude to ask so early in the conversation.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia, though certainly quite stunned by the sheer energy of the pair of women before her, was far from intimidated by them. "It's nice to meet you two!" She responded with a bright grin, her excitement for meeting new people displaying prominently for the first time since she met Jun.

Natascha cracked a soft smile at the presence of her partner by her side and laughed softly at her admonishment. Self-admittedly, she wasn't exactly incredible at making first impressions or small talk for that matter. "What are your names?" She asked and continued the conversation, relieved that Jin was taking care of most of the heavy conversational lifting like she usually relied on her to do with strangers. Her tone was just about as far from sing-song as possible, and she seemed to have power and authority behind every word.

As she spoke up again, a curious gold-shelled Nincada peeked out from behind her ankle. An orange Venipede did the same just a little bit higher up, and a sky blue Spinarak surveilled the four from an even higher vantage point on her leg. "I'm Olivia and this here's Jun. We've just started travelling together." She said as she looked at her bookish friend, figuring that she was no doubt analyzing the strangers in depth.

 

[Darkmaster006]

Jun listened carefully to the chartreuse-haired woman, that she now knew as Natascha. Her words, how she phrased her utterances, rather, and her tone of voice seemed to Jun to give off a very confident and somewhat stoic way of being, she couldn't quite grasp her way of being. But she grasped it better in contrast with whom she now knew as Jin. Natascha's behaviour came off as impenetrable, indescribable, puzzling, obscure; Jin's was in stark contrast to it: from her words you could feel her heart pour out, her tone exuded cheerfulness and friendliness, you could tell how much she and Natascha knew each other. Jin's words were vivid. Natascha's were arcane. Or so it seemed to Jun, who wondered how Natascha behaved, so to speak, behind the scenes. Natascha's conversation was plagued with fillers and just friendly words used to continue the conversation, while Natascha's went straight to the point. And the contrast she felt that there was between the two of them was further exarcebated by their ways of dressing: where Natascha showcased black, grey, and chartreuse, with only sprinkles of a bright green, Jin showed vivid, pastel colors, and complex patterns. But one thing they did share, though Jun, was their love for Pokemon. Yes, coming out of the two of them, around them, on top of them, and most extremely on Natascha, who had Pokemon coming out of her legs as if they were part of her body. From behind Jin Jun could now glimpse at a new Pokemon that she hadn't seen ever before: it stood just behind Jin, curling its 'leaf-legs' around her leg, it was a dark, rather dull green which seemed to blend more with Natascha's aesthetic than Jin's, and atop its head, or rather a part of it, maybe? was a big ball of cotton fur, resembling a Whimsicott, or so thought Jun, who couldn't quite make up the form of this new Pokemon. But of one thing she was sure: it was definitely cute! Definitely, the contradiction between Jin and Natascha's was in no way something that kept them apart, but something that glued them together, they complemented each other.

When Olivia spoke up, Jun raised her hand awkwardly, as if saying 'yep, that's me'. She was still too deep in her train of thoughts. The next thing she noticed was that all of Jin's Pokemon were mostly green coloured, and certainly Grass-Type (safe to assume ball-of-cotton-head was Grass-Type too), and that all of Natascha's Pokemon were Bug-Types! A Grubbin and a Wurmple clambering on her arms, a Sewaddle resting on her shoulder, a seemingly shy Nincada behind her ankle, and the Venipide and Spinarak along her leg, watching as if from a watchtower. What amazed Jun the most, though, was that all of Natascha's Pokemon were, somehow, differently-coloured, which is to mean, Shiny Pokemon. The first thing she did was, as a reflex, take out her notepad and scribble some of the things that her train of thoughts descended and delved into, just quick notes: Jin's accent, Jin and Natascha's contrast, their complementation, their Pokemon, the new Pokemon she didn't know about. "Ah, they're all Shiny, that's, that's so cool!" she couldn't help but shout randomly. She wasn't one to talk much, rather she mused about. So why had she shouted that? It seemed as if, for a moment, her kid-self had interceded in the present, showing all her excitement about the subject. Jun looked to Olivia, wondering if she that had been a bother or wrong, maybe mentioning that would bother the couple of women that had walked up to them, just, randombly bursting that out. But Jin, after a moment of surprise, before anyone could say anything, simply eased Jun's words into the conversation flow. She started: "Very observant of you, blue!" And if anyone was paying any heed to her words now and before, they'd notice how she now said 'you', especially so as to make it rhyme with 'blue', who was, of course, a nickname for Jun, cue to her hair. "Ye' are indeed correct. That's because Nat here, she's the biggest Bug-Lover in the whole world, oh, probably the whole universe," and Jin seemed to go for a kiss, but she just pinched Nat's cheek as she smiled, "and," she lowered her voice—speaking in a false murmur—and leaned a bit towards the table, "legend says, every Bug Type that appears before her... shall be Shiny," she leaned back and squeezed her friend's arm again, "that's how great she is, isn't that true Nat?" She looked at Nat, holding her chuckle. She knew exactly how much Nat loved Bug Pokemon, and she knew exactly how she had be-friended each of her Pokemon. Jun and Olivia, well, they were missing most of the background for the joke, it was just playful towards Natascha's on Jin's part, after all.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Upon seeing Jun's look of mild embarrassment after her verbal outburst of fascination, Olivia did her best to reassure her with a smile. If anything, it seemed like the pair before them were having a ton of fun chatting and getting excited with her and Jun.

Natascha let out a soft chuckle and nestled her hands in the pockets of her coat before issuing her response. "That's essentially correct, though I'm not so sure about the whole 'greatness' thing." She looked over at Jin with a subtle, though decidedly warm smile as her three wormy companion crawled down her body in order to join the rest of their friends on the ground. "I'm just someone who wants a better world for our Pokemon companions, that's all."

As the humans chatted, Natascha's bugs seemed to have gotten a little more comfortable with the other Pokemon on that half of the restaurant. Wurmple had inched its way up one of the table legs and onto the tabletop, where it kind of just blankly stared at Jun. Grubbin was gently nibbling at Olivia's ankle with its mandibles, and Sewaddle was making its acquaintance with Rajin and Shui beneath the table. Venipede and Spinarak were spending some time with Agatha, who had no fear of the Bugs whatsoever thanks to her typing. Nincada was still too skittish to want to interact with strangers, so they just hid behind Nat and Jin.

"Oh, neat! I kinda want to do some conservation work myself!" Olivia said with a beaming grin as she leaned down to rub Grubbin's head with her thumb. Given how she loved being outside, hiking, and exploring, it only followed that she wanted to help preserve those environments for other prospective explorers.

 

[Darkmaster006]

Olivia's smile reassured her, and Jun now turned her gaze downwards to check on her two friends that were not on her lap as Corsola was. Raijin and Shui—especially Shui, it must be said—were welcoming the Sewaddle to play under the table. While Raijin stood firm on her place, probing at Sewaddle's big umbrella-like leaf with her tail's orb-end; Shui hopped around the newly-found friend and wigged her tail, pronouncing some 'Woops' every now and then, to check if the Sewaddle was talkative or not. Maractus also seemed to be joining the under-the-table crew now, Jun noticed, as it was the only one of Jin's Pokemon that moved around to gather around with her Pokemon; the other seemed to be sticking around Jin for the moment. Jun's gaze now moved upwards: on the table stood three Bug-type Pokemon: Venipede and Spinarak, who played with Agatha, and Wurmple. Jun focused her gaze almost immediately in the Wurmple that faced her, solemnly still and staring at her intensely. Jun observed it as well, so much that the two of them seemed to be in a trance. Jun couldn't take her eyes off this Wurmple: it was purple! And it was a purple she had never seen before. It seemed light and it seemed dark at the same time. Or rather, it changed in tone and in hue with every passing second. Or so it seemed to Jun, who attentively seeked for any other difference, comparing it with other Wurmples she had seen and remembered. There didn't seem to be any apparent different apart from the striking violet colour. This went on for a while, where, of course, Jun couldn't help but scribble some more things, in this case about this Wurmple.

Jin just chuckled at Nat's reactions. What she wanted to do most of all was make her smile and see her just relax, which was going very well so far!

So entranced had Jun been by her new discovery that the conversation around her didn't seem to be processed in her mind. When she broke her gaze to look at Corsola and pet her, and now, she didn't seem to find a way to enter the conversation again. She had never been good at conversations with strangers and this wasn't the exception. Thankfully, the resourceful Jin seemed to pick up on this and seemed to break off the conversation in order to include Jun. "Oh! So ye' said ye' wanted to do conservation work, right Olivia? It's always better to do it in pairs, it's more fun... wouln't ye' think, blue?" she said as she looked towards Jun. "Assuredly! And I would, I'll follow Olivia anywhere--I mean, I'd love to do some conservation work with Olivia if she wanted! As an aspiring Pokemon Scientist-Professor-Biologist..." Even though they had been, what, half a day? together, Jun was already feeling very attached to Olivia, needless to say because of her general demeanor and her overall lack of connection with other people before her. "and if that's okay with you, Olivia, of course!" Jun added a bit nervous. Honestly, sometimes she did not know if she was handling things well or not, since she lacked experience and all. Not that anything seemed to be going wrong, in fact it was going maybe too well.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Olivia was needless to say thrilled that Jun had expressed interest in conservation work as well. She was relieved that she and her friend's disparate interests had at least one thing for sure in common. "Definitely! When we get to Hoenn, let's talk to my mom about work opportunities!" She said with an excited grin as she looked back at Jun, though her attention was soon captivated by the assortment of friends that had congregated beneath their table. Her attention was especially focusing on the red and white Grubbin which was chewing at her, the sensation quite ticklish rather than uncomfortable.

She notably didn't say 'if' when talking about her and Jun's future plans, and that definitely wasn't an accident. She had a feeling that she and Jun were gonna be drifters together for a long time.

Sewaddle had spun a bit of thread on the floor in a cone shape, which they then picked up with their tiny mandibles and gingerly placed on top of Shui's head. The Wooper looked kind of like a wizard in that moment. Sewaddle made an almost skittering noise with its mouth and smiled as it stood upright and wiggled a bit, clearly very satisfied with its handiwork. Wurmple had wormed its way closer to Jun, where it proceeded to lean forward and boop its nose to her shoulder.

Natascha's other Pokemon partners were having a great time play-fighting with Olivia's more active Pokemon, and even Nincada had worked up the guts to slowly creep its way over to Teddiursa. The golden bug wasn't really saying much, but neither was Teddiursa and as such it helped them feel a bit more at ease.

"It's moments like these that make me wonder why anyone would ever keep their friends captive in a Pokeball." Natascha mused with a soft chuckle as she took a sip from her drink, her eyes gleaming bright with appreciation for the friendship on display before her. This was the ideal future that Team Verdant was striving for. "They all seem so happy together, don't you think?" She asked as she turned to face her partner, a rather rare, incredibly warm smile on her face.