The Heights of Londo [IC 3: For The Love of the Lady]

[Comissar]

Leah hesitates, then rubs behind her neck, "Well... A lot of kids get starters but, uh, but don't go on to, uh, to travel. Or, uh, train. I wanted to, uh, to keep studying, so I didn't leave school."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa, not having much to add to Leah's story or Clayr's questions, watches the conversation carefully while she slowly eats away at the cake in her hand.

[Hazuki]

"How many starters are there?" Clayr asks, as she leans against the counter and keeps her eyes on Leah.

[Comissar]

Leah begins to fidget under Clayr's attention. "Umm, three. There's, uh, there's Bulbasaur like, uh, like Saura. Umm, then there's, uh, there's Squirtle. They're water types. Umm, and, uh, and then there's Charmander. They're fire types and, uh, and I think they're maybe the most popular..?" She gives an uncertain shrug, "But, umm, most regions have, uh, have starters and, umm, and there's pretty much always a choice of three."

[Hazuki]

"Charmander?" Clayr asks. "I don't know what that is, but it sounds disappointing. Does that mean everyone has one of those three, if people who don't become trainers get one of them?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa looks thoughtfully between the two of Clayr and Leah. "Isn't there, um, a starter thing happening now in Londo? They give away Eevees, right?"

[Comissar]

Leah breaks into a grin as Clayr dismisses Charmander's. She nods at her follow-up question, "For the most part, yeah. There are, uh, there are times when someone misses out. Sometimes a lab will, uh, will run out of starters, so new trainers end up with a local pokémon instead." She turns to look at Alyssa, giving her a smile and a nod, "Yeah, that's right. The professor liked the idea of the starter program, and she wanted to introduce it to Londo. Devon got a lot of it set up, and, uh, I helped her out with it, too. With raising the Eevee's, that is."

[Hazuki]

Clayr's expression doesn't change for a few seconds, then she smiles. "I remember seeing one of those. The girl who beat Lord Bastille had one, didn't she?"

[Comissar]

Leah nods with a smile, "Sass. Yeah, she's from Sorland as well. She, uh, she came by a lot when we were raising the Eevee's. Umm, I was really impressed by her battling."

[Hazuki]

"How does she compare to your Kanto trainers?" Clayr asks.

[Comissar]

Leah hesitates before responding, opting for a diplomatic answer. "It's... Tricky to say... She's, uh, she's only just starting and, umm, and I've, uh, I've not watched many battles of people just, uh, just starting in Kanto. The battles I have watched were, uh, were much more experienced trainers. Umm, either going for a, uh, a late badge or at the league. So, umm, they use pretty, uh, pretty advanced tactics." She rubs at her arm as she continues, "I do think she's good, though! I think she can definitely, uh, definitely go all the way."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa pipes in. "I, um, thought she was pretty good, but, um, Lord Bastille was... um, he was totally different. He was amazing and, um, I still thought he wasn't going all out. But I thought Sass was really good. She hasn't been going long so she learns fast."

[Hazuki]

Clayr nods slowly. "I hope she does well. It will be good to have a good local joining in with all the foreigners on the League thing."

[Comissar]

Leah glances at Alyssa, nodding her agreement. "Yeah, umm, he reminded me of the gym leaders back in Kanto. They really knew their stuff, too."

She finds herself hesitating at Clayr's off-hand comment. She'd never thought of Sass as being anything other than 'another kid', she hadn't thought about how her success might be viewed by others. "Yeah, umm, I, uh, I hope she does well." Casting about for a change in topic, she found herself glancing to where Maddy was taken away by Parkin, "So, uh, how do you know Maddy..?"

[Hazuki]

"I don't." Clayr shrugs. "This is the first time I've met him."

[Comissar]

"Oh, sorry, I just, uh, just assumed..." Leah trails off, struggling to think of another topic. She glances briefly at Alyssa, a thought occurring to her as she does, then back to Clayr, "Umm... I've, uh, I've not had much of a chance to, uh, to explore Thundercrag yet. Umm, is there, uh, is there anywhere you'd recommend visiting..? Umm, somewhere open in the evenings, ideally?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa looks thoughtfully. "How much do you know about the league in Londo? I didn't think there were people from other places competing, I though it was just people from here."

[Hazuki]

"Like, for dinner?" Clayr asks Leah. "There are a few good places. Spicy food you can find by the docks, where they get their berries from, place called The Stunfisk's Sting. There's this place that mostly serves Knights, lots of healthy food, near the waterfall. It's called...Aspear's Rest, I think? If you prefer something quiet, there's Pecha Hut just inside the walls. You get your own hut to eat in, it's almost soundproof, but it doesn't seat a lot of people, so you'd have to split up into multiple huts if there's more than two or three of you."

Her eyes flick to Alyssa. "Isn't the point of the giveaway to get foreigners competing?"

[Comissar]

Leah gives Clayr a hesitant nod as she asks for clarification, hoping Alyssa would be up for her idea. "Those all sound, uh, pretty nice." She tucks a strand of hair away from her face, glancing between the other two as they discuss the starter giveaway, "Umm, it's just meant to, uh, to help people just starting out. Umm, I don't think the professor's plan was to, uh, to give advantages to natives or, uh, or foreigners specifically..."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa listens carefully to Clayr's suggestions, not offering any response to Clayr but smiling at Leah and winking.

She shrugs when Clayr responds to her question. "I guess, but, um, I thought they wanted people from here to compete. It seemed like, um, a way to try and make good with people here. They must have talked to the lords about it, right? I guess people from far away would want the prize, but, um, I didn't think that was what they wanted when they made it."

[Comissar]

Leah breaks into a grin, blushing slightly, as Alyssa appeared to agree to her implied suggestion. At Alyssa's question about the Lords, Leah asked "Well, uh, the Lords act as the, uh, the ones to beat before you can take on the, uh, the league, right..? I can't imagine they weren't asked..."

[Hazuki]

"Whatever the case, I've been thinking about helping a trainer once I'm a little better at healing." Clayr says. "I think they'd be grateful to have a healer with them, and I'd actually get to use this stuff in the wild."

[Comissar]

Leah nods, "That sounds like a good idea. Umm, nothing really beats, uh, practical experience, too. So, uh, so it'd help you improve as well."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods. "Yeah! I've, um, done some reading about healing but it's nothing like actually doing it. You'd learn a lot traveling with a trainer! Though you do want to go with people you, um, like to be with. It can be bad if you travel with people you don't like." She glances at Leah and smiles.

[Hazuki]

Clayr leans back against the counter and tilts her head at the two girls. "So, uh. Why do you two keep looking at each other and smiling and winking? Have I got something on my face...?"

[Comissar]

Leah feels herself turn bright red as Clayr comments on the looks she'd been sharing with Alyssa. She shakes her head, an embarrassed expression written plainly across her face as she sat up a bit straighter. "N-n-no, that's not- we weren't..." She shoots Alyssa a worried glance, then looks back at Clayr, "I-I-It's just, uh, we, uh, recently, that is, we, uh..." Struggling to find the words she wanted to use, she looked over to Alyssa with a pleading expression.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa smiles awkwardly and laughs a bit. "Oh, um, no, it's nothing like that. We're, um. We're together?" She takes Leah's hand as if to try and show it and also because of her desperation. "Sorry we, um, made it seem like we were keeping a secret or something. We're just, um, new at it and, um, not sure how much stuff we want to do out in the open." She gives Leah a reassuring look.

[Hazuki]

"Oh. Okay." Clayr smiles. "Kind of obvious, but it works, I suppose. You're cute together. And if you're new...you probably want me to get out of your hair,
don't you?"

[Comissar]

Leah feels her nerves settle somewhat as Alyssa clarifies, gratefully taking her hand. She returns her look with a relieved smile. As Clayr comments on them being cute together, she finds herself reddening further. When she asks if she should leave, Leah gives a hurried shake of her head, "Y-you don't have to! I-I-I..." She swallows as she tries to figure out what she wanted to say, "Y-you... I-I don't want to, umm, to, uh, to force you to, uh, to leave."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa smiles and puts her other hand over Leah's to help give her some support. To Clayr she says, "It's okay. You, um, don't have to run off. Though we wouldn't mind being your excuse if you, um, really didn't want to stay. But that was why...I was guessing when Leah asked you about the, um, dinner and things she was saying she wanted to go out for dinner." She looks to Leah for some confirmation, then back to Clayr. "It's been nice talking to someone besides Parkin, to be honest."