farawayplace | Suddenly in the midst of a Summer Festival--

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Suddenly in the midst of a Summer Festival--

There's a distinct sound of waves, and bustling of people nearby.

In the coastal city of Turnbloom the sun is bright and warm, and the scent of the sea wafts through with the cool gentle breeze that makes the glittering pinwheels spin, and the leaves on the palm tree dance.

Today the streets are extra decorated with these cute, colorful and floral shaped pinwheels. It seemed the people who were out in the streets were dressed in colorful summer attire--either casual, or the more traditional yukata. It seemed like with the booths were set out for both food and games for festival of some kind that was currently underway.

Just how did you get here, and why? A mystery, and it seemed the people in the streets didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary as they go about enjoying their time out on this bright sunny day.

(🌺Please don't forget to check out the OOC post for those who haven't yet!🌺)

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"A Wailord? I dunno what that is... But I bet my Pokedex knows!"

Gold brings out his old Johto Pokedex that has never been updated and checks it.

"...My Pokedex doesn't know!"

He puts it away. Then, now that he has permission, he brings out all his Pokemon. Carn the Meganium heads straight for the food with a cheerful noise, followed by Nerica the Togetic. Elena the Furret goes to politely greet Kannai with a bow, and Mateo the Umbreon follows her like a sulky duckling. And finally, Umbar, the Lugia, takes a look around the beach, then lifts a hand/wing and waves at the Swimmer with a pleasant smile.

"Hello," Umbar says in human language, not with telepathy. His voice is smooth, ethereal, and ambiguously masculine, and he sounds mildly amused. "I'm afraid I'm not a water-type, nor as big as a Wailord, but I hope I will suffice."

(OOC: yeah he has both an Umbreon and a different Pokemon nicknamed Umbar, I didn't think about how confusing it'd be when I named them years and years ago ^^;)

"Ohhh!" The Swimmer looked in amazement when Gold had pulled out a Pokedex. "I've never seen a Pokedex like that before!"

But before she could ask anything else about Gold's Pokedex, he had put it away and out came his Pokemon. She watched his team with a smile, especially when Elena greeted Kannai who gave a happy wave in response.

At the sight of Umbar however, the Swimmer gasped. While she had never seen a Lugia before she knew well enough about the silver bird to become speechless. Plus it could talk! Who knew Lugia could talk?!

"Pi-ka!" Kannai greeted with a wave snapping the Swimmer out of it.

"Oh, that's right! Ulsai!" She giggled and waved to Umbar. "Even if you're not a Wailord, it's still really nice to meet you!"

Shen then turned back to Gold with a sunny smile still on her face.

"Wow, you're amazing! Not everyone can call Lugia one of their Pokemon! How did you two become friends?"

(ooc: No worries! I think it's a nice nickname! I'm not so good giving names to my Pokemon but I do it anyway lol)

Huh, Gold never knew his Pokedex was anything special.

Umbar responds with an "Ulsai!" of his own, slightly bemused, but, when in Ultern you do as the Ulternians do. He then turns back to the other Pokemon and talks to them in the Pokemon language. Nerica responds by scoffing and tossing a piece of Pokemon food at him, which Umbar catches in his mouth. The rest of the team lets out impressed noises, and Carn gets a gleam in his eye like he's about to try and throw food too. Elena makes some scolding noises at them all.

Meanwhile, Gold responds to the Swimmer's question, slightly embarrassed at the praise.

"Well, I was fishing at the sea with a Lure Ball attached to the hook. And when I reeled it up, Umbar was inside!" He pauses, frowning. "That's how we met, but I guess it's not how we became friends... I think that happened later, when he defended me from Team Rocket!"

(ooc: Same here! I usually just name my Pokemon the first thing that comes to mind haha)

Kannai watched Gold's team curiously. Jumping onto the table he'll lift one of the berries his trainer had set out into his mouth before trotting over to join them.

He'll cheerfully wave to them with his tail.

"Oh wow..." The Swimmer meanwhile gasped amazed by the story behind how he caught Umbar, and how they got along. Although at the mention of Team Rocket she frowned. "What's Team Rocket? Are they bad people if Umbar protected you from them?"

Elena waves back to Kannai, and chitters something along the lines of 'sorry if my family gets rowdy sometimes.' The other Pokemon smile and aww in response to being called 'family', and greet Kannai as well, before joining him around or on the table to eat. (Umbar, however, may be stealthily glancing at Kannai to encourage him to throw a berry at him, because he loves a bit of chaos.)

Gold, meanwhile, pops some food in his mouth as the Swimmer is talking, and thinks over the question carefully as he's chewing. He swallows.

"They're like... an evil team, I guess? But I dunno about 'bad people'. The Team is bad, they do a bunch of evil things, but the people in the team are just... normal people? Some of them are kinda bullies, but others are alright." Gold shrugs, then gets serious. "But the ones Umbar protected me from, they were total bullies. They tried to steal my money!" Gold sounds personally offended by this.

Kannai setting the berry down gave Elena a happy wave. He didn't mind the rowdiness, more the merrier! Plus he glanced over to his trainer, he was happy that she was having fun. Facing Umbar, Kannai shook his head and clutched the berry.

No!!! Nami told him not to play with food like that!

Kannai's pouting while holding the berry close.

Meanwhile the Swimmer, Nami, completely oblivious to the shenanigans between Pokemon kept her attention to Gold.

"An evil team..." That sounded a little scary, actually. She couldn't help but frown. "So they're a group of people in an unfortunate circumstance? That's so sad..."

But the frown doesn't last upon Gold's last comment about them. She gave a soft laugh.

"Well, I'm glad Umbar was there to protect you. It wouldn't have been good if you had your money taken from you, or gotten hurt! Of course you don't have to worry about any of that here!"

Elena blinks at Kannai's pouting, then levels Umbar with A Look. She's not angry, just disappointed. And on that day, Lugia, the guardian of the seas, is seen looking embarrassed and chastised at a beach party.

Gold nods at Nami's first comment. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he relates to Team Rocket Grunts too much to ever really hate the Team, no matter what crimes they commit. At the second comment, however, he frowns in confusion.

"No need to worry about it here?" he echoes. "You mean there's nobody in the entire region who steals or hurts people? That's kinda hard to believe." He assumes it's just naivety talking, but if it's true? He can't decide if it's a dream come true, or scarily unnatural.

As an aside, he adds, "By the way, did I ever say my name? Hi, I'm Gold."

Poor Umbar, but Kannai wasn't about to give in on this. Still a party is a party so he will at least hold the berry up for Umbar to take. He won't throw it, but this should be fine right?

"Well..." Nami gave a little laugh, and a frown. Immediately the thought of having seen some rowdy people came to mind, but she shook her head. "No place is perfect of course, and we can't all get along but..."

She glanced over to their Pokemon with a faint smile.

"Even Pokemon fight one another, don't they? People are the same, but I like to think we can all try and reach out to help one another." She idly kicked at some of the sand. "...that and not everyone who drift into Ultern happen to be so nice, but there has to be a reason for that right?"

Naive? Maybe, but she couldn't imagine what it was like to be home one moment and then in a brand new place with no way home. She pushed those thoughts aside to face Gold with a huge grin.

"I'm Nami! You know, Gold if anyone does cause you any problems you should come right to me! Kannai and I will protect you!"

Umbar smiles to Kannai and politely accepts the berry. Grabbing it would be unwieldy due to his large hands, so Umbar leans in to pick the berry from Kannai with his mouth.

Gold nods along as Nami speaks, politely. She had an optimistic worldview Gold couldn't share even if he wanted to. Though... even as there were always people who hurt each other, there were always people who reached out to help each other as well. He knows that, and he's even tried his best to be one of the people helping, at times. Was it good enough? No, it never could be.

And then Nami says those words, 'I will protect you' and Gold stills, an instinctual petrified smile taking over his face. Had he ever heard someone tell him that and mean it, other than his Pokemon? Nami was a kind person, so maybe she meant it, but... Gold couldn't trust that. He had only shown Nami good sides of himself so far. Surely if Nami saw his true self, she'd take it back. He can't do this. He can't let himself believe.

And so, Gold masks his feelings behind a wide smile. "Thanks, Nami! I'll be sure to do that!" he lies with a laugh. "But now, I'm gonna eat!" And he starts shoveling food into his mouth.

Kannai let's a happily cheer when Umbar took the berry. Yay, new friend!

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately Nami seemed oblivious to what Gold truly felt. If she knew what was under his mask, or what he was hiding perhaps things may be different between the two, but there was no way of knowing unless Gold was brave enough to take that step.

Currently however, Nami gave him a smile while stretching her arms.

"I'm so grateful for how sunny it is today." She commented while gazing out to the sea. "Perfect festival weather, y'know? And also for a beach party."

"Chuu!" Kannai turned and spoke up in agreement. It seemed he was far more excited about the beach party.

Gold is grateful that Nami doesn't notice he's masking. He hides his feelings for a reason, and he definitely doesn't want to unload all his secrets to someone he's just met.

He takes a moment to appreciate the weather too, feeling the gentle sea breeze that keeps the sunlight from being oppressively hot. Yeah, it's a lovely day, probably perfect for a party. Though the reminder of the beach party has him feeling a bit anxious.

"Is the party starting soon? I kinda wanna leave before it starts. I wanna go explore the festival over there," he points at it. "It looks like fun."

He doesn't want to be rude, so he keeps his main reason for wanting to leave to himself: he doesn't want to get stuck awkwardly eating in the corner of a party, or meeting all of Nami's friends, however many there might be.

"Oh! It's going to start once one of my friends are here." Nami nodded to herself. She was tempted to insist that Gold stuck around, but he did seem eager to check out the festival. Who was she to stop him from exploring? Idly kicking at the sparkling sand, she turned her gaze to Gold. "That's right!"

Nami perked up while walking over the table to pick up one of the paper plates. She's placing some skewers, and berries onto it before carefully covering it with foil. Once done she turned right back around to hold the plate out to Gold.

"Here, take this! You can save it for later or eat it along the way. Who knows all that walking might make you hungry!"

Gold watches curiously as Nami gathers food. In the meantime, Gold's Pokemon, who also realized they'd be leaving, start stuffing food into their cheeks like hamsters, and also hiding some berries between Carn's flower petals as a team.

When Nami hands Gold the foil-covered plate, he's quite touched, somehow not having expected that at all. He takes the tinfoil-covered, slightly warm plate like it's fragile, and smiles.

"Thanks, Nami," he says softly.

He turns to his Pokemon, nods in approval as he sees them hoarding food, then gives Kannai a quick pet if he's allowed before waving to Nami.

"Hope we meet again!" he says, with a big, genuine smile. "Bye-bye!"

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Suddenly in the midst of a Summer Festival--

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