“Pleased to meet your acquaintance. I am Enora, and my partner is—“
She tried to gesture to Odette, but found that the voluntary wallflower of a human had navigated toward the outer corner of the circle. Despite the fact she wore a neutral expression and stood normally, Enora could feel the tense awkwardness wafting off of her. This was clearly a much bigger crowd than she was anticipating.
She chuckled nervously. “Ah, my partners are Odette and Odile,” she said quickly, not pointing to anybody in particular. “I’m pleased to see that so many of us were willing to—“
"It's a pleasure to meet you too—"
“̷A̶Y̴E̴ ̴Y̴O̸,̶”̶ ̶Odile suddenly yelled, hovering up over Odette’s head and landing on it. It caused Enora to cringe.
"Jeepers!" Hazel leapt back as the moss-Pokémon shouted. Once she saw she was just saying hello, she relaxed her stance.
"Well... nice to meet you. You're a fascinating one."
Violet rose back up to her usual stance as she placed a hand on her hip and smirked, "Another talking Pokémon, now isn't that a pleasant surprise—"
“̵W̶h̷y̷ ̸t̷h̵e̸ ̸f̵u̷c̸k̸ ̵d̴i̴d̷ ̷y̵o̵u̸ ̶s̴a̷y̷ ̷‘̶m̶i̵n̷e̸ ̴n̸a̸m̶e̷’̶?̶ ̶I̴s̴n̶’̴t̶ ̵t̷h̷e̸ ̵c̷o̶r̵r̷e̸c̸t̸ ̷v̵e̸r̷b̷i̷a̵g̷e̶ ̷‘̸M̸Y̵ ̸n̶a̴m̷e̵’̵?̸ ̷D̴o̸ ̸y̴o̴u̸ ̴k̴n̶o̵w̷ ̸h̷o̶w̴ ̷t̶o̷ ̷t̴a̶l̵k̸?̸”̵ ̵ she asked.
Her smirk twitched as her eyes widened. "...I beg your pardon?"
Odette reached up to swat at her, and Odile was quick to go airborne again to avoid contact. She landed again, something of a more thoughtful glint coming to her eyes.
“̴O̸h̵.̵ ̷W̵a̴i̸t̷.̸ ̵I̵’̶m̷ ̸s̵o̵r̶r̴y̷.̴ ̴Y̷o̸u̵ ̸m̴i̸g̵h̸t̵ ̷j̵u̵s̶t̵ ̷b̶e̵ ̴l̶e̴a̸r̶n̸i̶n̷g̶ ̵h̴o̴w̸ ̶t̴o̶ ̷s̷p̸e̸a̴k̴,̵ ̵I̵ ̵s̴h̸o̴u̷l̸d̵n̵’̵t̶ ̵j̷u̵d̸g̶e̵.̷”̷ she corrected herself. ̴“̵B̵u̷t̸ ̴i̵t̸’̶s̸ ̸‘̴m̶y̷ ̵n̶a̶m̸e̸,̸’̵ ̷f̶o̴r̷ ̵f̷u̵t̵u̴r̸e̵ ̸r̷e̸f̷e̴r̴e̶n̵c̴e̷,̵ ̷s̶o̶ ̴y̸o̸u̶ ̶d̴o̴n̷’̸t̷ ̴s̷o̸u̷n̸d̵ ̴l̵i̴k̷e̸ ̴a̴ ̶f̵u̸c̷k̵i̶n̸g̵ ̴i̸d̷i̷o̵t̶ ̵a̷g̷a̸i̷n̷.̵”̵
"I beg your pardon?" Violet's teeth clenched as she balled her hand into a fist. Her lack of sleep was not helping with her judgment. She didn't care that it was suicidal to try to take on a Pokémon. She just wanted justice.
“I hate to break it to you champ, but you’re not being nice,” Odette groused.
“̶B̷e̴c̷a̵u̶s̸e̴ ̸y̸o̶u̵’̶l̶l̵ ̷k̷e̷e̸p̵ ̴s̴o̶u̸n̷d̷i̶n̷g̸ ̴l̵i̶k̶e̸ ̸a̸ ̶f̷u̷c̵k̶i̶n̴g̴ ̴i̴d̵i̸o̸t̴ ̷i̶f̷ ̴y̶o̸u̴ ̶k̴e̴e̸p̷ ̵t̷a̵l̵k̷i̷n̷g̷ ̵l̶i̶k̷e̸ ̴t̵h̵a̶t̴.̷”̷Odile reiterated, sounding extremely polite despite the words coming out of her mouth. See, that was better.
“You’re gonna have a date with a lead pipe very shortly,” Odette added through grit teeth.
“̴W̵e̴l̵l̷ ̵I̶ ̶w̸a̵n̸t̴e̷d̸ ̴a̷ ̶d̸a̸t̵e̶ ̴w̴i̵t̷h̴ ̵f̴u̷c̷k̶i̶n̷’̵ ̷J̷i̸r̶a̸c̴h̷i̵ ̶i̷n̶s̵t̶e̸a̴d̴,̴ ̷b̵u̴t̵ ̸i̵f̵ ̵y̴o̴u̵ ̶I̸N̴S̷I̵S̴T̸.̸”̵Odile whined in response, waving her wings in front of Odette’s face.
Violet's eye twitched as her forced smile morphed into a sneer. Had the trainer not stepped in, she was certain that should've started something then and there. By the Almighty Sinnoh's grace, it gave Hazel enough time to clutch onto Violet's hand and give her a pleading look — begging her to
relax. When Violet looked down and saw her Pokémon's eyes so wide and watery like that, she couldn't help but acquiesce to whatever she demanded.
She slammed her eyes shut, inhaling before letting out her irritation in a sigh. One of her cheeks puckered as though she were chewing on gum as she eyed the two Pokémon and the trainer. To her surprise, she was ever-so-slightly taller than the older girl — no more than an inch or two — but it was certainly a far cry from having to crane her neck every time she spoke to a person.
"
Thine Pokémon
hath quite the nerve," Violet commented, intentionally using more of her era's manner of speech as a matter of pride, "Though it seems you hath matters under control." Her eyes closed as she took another deep breath, and she fluttered them open once more and her expression turned neutral. "
My name is Violet, and I would appreciate it if I were not insulted for being right proper. Nevertheless, for the purposes of politeness, I feel it necessary to ask for your own names. Care to share?"
Hazel, meanwhile, frowned at the behavior of the moss-Pokémon. Wouldn't it be just her luck that the newest most interesting Pokémon was the most uncooperative? At least Enora seemed polite.
"Er... Violet is a Faller... she can't help it. That's just how they spoke in her home." Hazel remarked, trying to provide some balance to the conversation,
"But it's... um... nice to meet you Enora and Odette. And... uh, Odile." She tugged on the sleeve of her lab coat, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness that hung in the air.
With her other claw, she put an emoji of a handshake [🤝] on her phone to show to Odette.
Thankfully, an angel descended from the heavens and graced her presence onto the world. At least that's what Hazel had believed at first. She put her phone back in her coat and rubbed her eyes with her claw as realized it was a Milotic, not an angel. Angels were unscientific, anyways. Victoria was more of a glistening prism scale that shimmered in the afternoon sunlight thanks to their lustrous properties.
"O-Oh! Hi, Victoria!" Hazel greeted, letting go of her coat as she looked up and smiled at the Milotic's glowing face.
"I see you've brought your trainer with you as well! Would you like to introduce us?" Despite her words, her eyes only gave Wallace a passing glance as she admired the graceful serpent in front of her.
Wait a moment.
"P-pretty...?" Hazel stammered as her cheeks reddened. Her heartbeat resonated in her ears —
oh, oh dear, oh my. "T-thank you! And may I propose, that, as a hypothesis, though with the evidence I suppose it is more of a theory, that, er, yes, you... may hold that same trait...?" She stammered on and on, trying to find a way to compliment her back without being weird about it.
Violet would have taken every opportunity to have a bit of fun with Hazel in this situation, but between Nate and now Odile, her want to quip had far faded. Instead, she simply bowed to Wallace in silent greeting, hoping that would suffice while she tried to
politely deal with the moss Pokémon's slight.
