Phantom Prince

The sky was prettiest when the sun was beginning to set, they thought. Above them was a pleasant mixing of soft blues and pinks, though it was hard to tell what was a cloud and what was the sky at this point.

Nymph was sitting just outside of Mauville by the west gate, set up on a bench with their camping pack and pokemon scattered about. Nami had wandered off to find berries that trainers left behind on their bushes and Clay hanging to her with long arms around her neck as if she were his mother, though the Slakoth (probably) knew better.

Tempest was just zipping around as she did, using the hoop that Nymph held up as a prop and trying to better her speed and accuracy through that (and then perhaps she would be used in one of their shows in the contest halls). The Masquerain nearly ran into the Grovyle sitting nearby but Genista simply dodged when able or otherwise remained where he was.

As he approached the gate, he spotted a person seated just outside with a group of Pokemon playing with various toys nearby. It appeared to be a girl and her team. Perhaps she would be interested. And if she was, it would be a nice chance to sit and rest.

“It… it r-really was a good reading, though…! I-I think…. I mean I know it was, b-but I… I don’t… know about this s-sort of thing, haha…” She shouldn’t have opened her mouth that time. She wasn’t good at conversation. He’d probably worked that out by that point.

Irina had found the time to shuffle closer during the reading, as she was sat with her chin resting against the end of the bench. It was how she hoped to comfort her timid companion; Irina wasn’t entirely aware of the human concepts of good and evil, and couldn’t help her Trainer with her little internal crisis, or with her poor judgement. All she knew was that Leah was nice to her and kept her belly full and her coat shiny, even though her evolution had frightened the poor girl immensely. That meant Leah was a “good” person, didn’t it? Irina would think so if she understood things a bit better.

At that moment, he finally stopped his mindless shuffling and fiddling with the cards, and turned the deck over in his hand, looking at it fondly. His smile shrank to a mildly puzzled look, though, when he saw the card on the top of the deck: the Moon card, facing him. It seemed that it really wouldn't stop bugging him...

Having made a decision, he took the card from the deck and held it out to Leah. "This card... I want you to keep it." He looked up at her, the smile returning once again to his face. "It's... it suits you." His eyes had turned upward in thought when he paused, then went back to her. After a moment, he quickly added, "Before you ask--it's okay. I have extras of these decks, to be honest... so it's no big deal."

That first one. Due comfort? Huh. Did she deserve comfort? Did something, somewhere, think she deserved that? She didn’t think that. Huh? Huh? That one was surprising. But hey, Cian was right, she was at the onsen. Anyway. She didn’t really know what to say about any of it, so she just nodded as he continued talking. Hierophant. It more than likely went unnoticed, but her face paled ever so slightly as Cian spoke about the card. Terror filled her mind as she assumed an impossible worst-case scenario. He knows. Somehow, he knows. A group, a mentor, he knows. He’s going to hate me he’s going to think I’m a bad person he’s - No. No, no. It was impossible. She was overthinking things and that would be more of a giveaway than anything else. Move on.

The next was representative of her fears, apparently. Oh dear. Though for an accurate representation of said fears the card would have to be about a hundred times bigger. And what he said after that… well, he wasn’t wrong. Leah found herself grimacing at the accuracy, in fact. She tried to shift it to at least some sort of smile whenever Cian glanced up at her. Oh, the following one though… Well. She wasn’t so sure what to think about that, and so she just nodded and waited for him to move on. Perhaps she simply didn’t want to think about what she’d freed herself from recently.

Ah. What wasn’t going well. She sighed and nodded again; her luck sucked, that was all there was to it. “I dunno… M-My luck’s always been ab… about the same, t-to be honest…” She spoke in a small voice, not wanting to interrupt Cian’s thoughts with her whining.

She couldn’t help but stare at the final card as he explained it. Her life was always uncertain. She was always anxious and afraid. Held back by fear from the past? Yep, that was her. Never had she been anything but lost and frightened, not since she was young. Did she have reason to be the way she was? Not really, no. And that was why she hated it. She didn’t have the right to be so pathetic. There was nothing wrong with her life, nothing at all. She could have anything she wanted, and instead she spent her time wallowing in self pity. What a disgusting creature she was. But finding her way? Perhaps she’d done that in recent times. Or perhaps she’d made everything worse. Leah didn’t know, and so she sat in silence, looking over the cards again and processing what had been said to her.

He picked up the cards and added them back to the deck, shuffling it in his hands as he spoke with a polite smile. "My pleasure. Thank you for opening your heart." For many people, it took courage to accept a reading, after all. "Did it sound about right to you? Was there anything else you wanted to know?"

Quietly, with an unsurprisingly shaky hand, she took the cards when prompted. She stared at them, occasionally glancing up at Cian with a worried look on her face. Relax. Relax. …Relax? Oh no. Could she relax? She wasn’t very good at it. Oh no, oh no, oh no oh no she wouldn’t be able to relax and she’d ruin everything like always and she’d upset this poor man who was just trying to be nice and -

…Was she panicking about being asked to relax? Unbelievable.

Leah took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. It almost seemed to work for a moment. Her hands even stopped shaking for the briefest of spells, steady for once in her life. She may not have been a perfect model of relaxation, but she was significantly less panicky than usual.

Next, he set out a simple spread of six cards, face up. He took a moment to glance them over, mapping out the results in his mind. This particular deck depicted the major arcana represented by various Pokemon, with heavily symbolic motifs. “Alright then… I’ll explain.”

He pointed to the first card. “The Empress. This card is about you, your current state. The Empress is a motherly card. It’s about nurturing and creating. Maybe you’re due for some comfort, and to get in touch with nature. The onsen is a great opportunity, then.” He flashed her a small smile, then continued. “This card is what you want right now: The Heirophant. This one is about order and tradition. It may mean that you feel the need to stay within socially acceptable bounds, or conform to be part of a group. It could also signify the desire for a mentor, someone who will share wisdom and guide you.” Cian’s voice became a little more solemn. “This next one represents your fears. Temperance indicates balance, moderation, patience. In this case, you might worry that your current peaceful equilibrium will be broken, that you may be struck by chaos.”

He glanced up from the cards to check on her reaction now and then. Sometimes the things he said in these readings struck a nerve in people… He moved on to the next card. “This is something that’s going well for you. The Devil has to do with addiction and feelings of imprisonment, self-imposed. Maybe you’re doing a good job of freeing yourself from what binds you from within. Like breaking a bad habit.” He tapped the edge of the fifth card. “This is what’s not going so well for you. It’s the Wheel of Fortune, the cycle of life. It seems you’re not having such good luck lately. You can’t control it, but the wheel is always turning; it can always change.” When it came to luck, he liked to be optimistic.

"…F-Fortune…?" She certainly hadn’t been expecting that. But then again, when did one expect to hear an offer like that? It surely wasn’t often. "I… Um, okay then, if… if you really, um, really d-don’t mind…" Leah was interested, to say the least. It seemed Cian, as well as being kind, was quite a curious individual. The Gastly he had with him hadn’t been a hint to that, apparently. …Although she kept mainly Dark-types herself, so someone with a ghost didn’t really strike Leah as odd.

Cian unhooked the toggle closure on his card pouch and removed the deck. At the top of the stack, the back of a card featured an artistic Pokeball insignia depicted in blue. He smiled at the familiar feeling of the cards in his hands, taking a moment to get into his tarot reading mood.

((this started out as emmet but somehow became cian whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It seemed Leah couldn’t even hold herself together enough to leave him alone, though. “I… Um, no, I mean…. Uh, I’ll… I’m sure I’ll… I’ll b-be fine, please… don’t worry… um, don’t worry ab-about, uh, someone l-like me…” Ah yes, the stumbling over words would surely convince him she was fine, of course. As well as stamina, she needed to work on getting her stutter in check. Trying to do that never worked out well for her, though.

Instead, though, his fingertips brushed against a familiar leather case--and an idea sprouted. With newfound confidence, he was able to reply, "Come on, I don't want you to collapse again." He pulled lightly on the hand he had been about to let go of, intending to help her to the bench. "And, since you're here..." He took the case from his pocket and held it out for her to see. The phrase respice, adspice, prospice, was imprinted on its smooth matte surface. Within the case was his tarot card deck. "How about I read your fortune?" he offered. "Just to kill time while you catch your breath."

"Y-Yes, I… I’m pretty sure I’ll be, um, be fine… S-Sorry, please don’t… don’t worry, I’m… uh, I’m r-really sorry…" How dare she make someone worry about her of all people, it was ridiculous. She didn’t deserve that sort of concern, did she? “Oh, um… Those are, um, n-nice names…  Yes, um, she’s Irina, and I’m… I’m L-Leah…”

Irina barked again, offering her own formal greeting. The strangers seemed nice. At least they were trying to help her friend. Plus the human, Cian, liked petting her. That was always a good thing.

Cian's eyes went back to Desi's when he inquired about the previous night's marathon. "Oh... It was awesome." His gaze wandered once again to a piece of glitter on Desi's cheek that was at just the right angle to be persistently sparkly from Cian's point of view. "The witch fights were the best... and the music." Staring at the glitter, he recalled the anime's story, which had admittedly been a lot to take in all in one night. "...But why was it so sad?" He had felt enough emotional attachment to the characters to actually tear up once or twice--something that was rather rare for him.

Oh. She fell. She did that sometimes. Irina wasn’t overly concerned since she was usually fine, but felt it might be necessary to go check on the girl just in case. It seemed the stranger had had the same idea, as he was already up off the bench to go check on her. The Mightyena barked once to confirm she knew the collapsed girl, then made her way over to the girl in question and sat down by her side.

Down on the ground, Leah was struggling to pull herself back from the brink of unconsciousness. If nothing else, this was proof she really needed to start doing exercise more regularly. When the world around her eventually stopped blurring and shaking, she sort of noticed the unfamiliar person at her side - enough to register their existence but not enough to panic about it - and forced herself into a sitting position in response.

"…I’m… I’m just fine, d…. don’t… don’t worry about, um, don’t worry about m-me… Ah, u-um… Irina, please d-don’t, uh, run away like that…" Her shaky voice, barely louder than a whisper, held the slightest tone of authority as she addressed the Pokemon. Irina just barked again and licked her Trainer’s face.

Finally getting closer to her runaway Pokemon, Leah looked as though she was on the verge of passing out when she caught sight of Irina again. Luckily the Mightyena was a little preoccupied by… whoever it was that was petting her. Leah could only hope her Pokemon wasn’t causing that person any trouble.

Spectre glanced back and forth between Cian and the girl who was running toward them so tiredly that it really couldn't be described as running anymore. Hoping to get Cian's attention, he attempted to nudge his elbow, but Cian could be quite the airhead. Spectre felt panicked when she came closer to them.

While the glitter bath bomb event had been loads of fun, Desi found himself not quite liking the outcome, since it meant he was covered in glitter.  It looked kinda cool, yeah, but it irritated his skin in spots and when he went to shower, he couldn’t get it out.  He didn’t want Aya to ask him question and possibly rat him out, so getting it all washed off was of utmost importance.

As soon as he left the bath, he retreated to the room and took the longest shower he’d ever taken, except that it still didn’t get all of the glitter out.  That, and— wait, was that glitter in his hair?  How had that gotten there!?

By the time he walked out of the shower, he had a look of mild shame on his face, flecks of glitter still pasted to his body.  He was so preoccupied, in fact, that he hardly noticed the other occupant of the room until he happened to look straight at him.

The thought crossed Cian’s mind as he stretched luxuriously. He’d just been taking quite the nap, but he mentally shrugged it off. He was on vacation, so it was alright to relax and sleep. Plus, it wasn’t like he had anything very important to do—except eat. He slowly sat up to find room 203 otherwise empty. Not even his Pokemon were here, but he wasn’t too concerned. The two ghosts weren’t exactly “his” to begin with, but they always came back.

He supposed now that he was up, he should look somewhat presentable even if the day was mostly gone. Taking some accessories from his bag, he twisted up the length of his hair into a simple bun. To secure it, he pushed a hair stick through it, with a spirit-sealing paper talisman hanging from the stick’s left side, and a white chrysanthemum clip for that traditional festival look with a hint of my-only-friends-are-ghosts. Hopefully it was sufficiently pretty to conceal the bed head.