Astraea raises an eyebrow at the telepathic tirade coming from the small psychic type, unimpressed. She's heard worse from petty noble girls seeking to make her lose her composure before.
"And what gives you the right to judge if people are worth talking to or not?" She asks cooly. "You know nothing of me or my intentions. And while I can respect someone who speaks their mind (pun unintended) without restraint, not everyone does. I wonder, what do you expect will happen if your words get your trainer into trouble you're not able to handle?"
She chuckles. "Your dislike of me is noted, as is your... apparent disdain for your partner, Edelweiss. For one bearing such a name, I see little that is noble about you so far."
Her eyes turn to Esther, softening at the girl's body language. "And Esther, please do not apologize. I do not blame you for her attitude and neither should you."
Edel snickers, slightly doubling over in laughter even without a physical sound. Believe me, this one couldn't get in trouble even with me tugging on Drake himself's beard. She's allergic to the concept. And I didn't get my name for the nobility part of that meaning. Her eyes gleam in the shade of her cap, and she seems to look at Astraea with very, very slight interest for actually biting back, although still not taking her words seriously. She completely ignores Roger.
Esther awkwardly holds her own arms and looks down under Astraea's gaze, with a slight pink tinge to her cheeks. Not having a proper verbal response for her comment, though, she instead responds to Roger, her voice only barely loud enough for him to hear. "Since I was ten."
Astraea quirks another eyebrow at Edelweiss' response. Consider my curiosity piqued.
Seeing Esther holding her own arms, obviously still uncomfortable, she locks eyes with Titania and discretely nods toward the ginger girl. With a quiet snort, the Ponyta trots around Astraea and softly nuzzles Esther's cheek on the side opposite of Edelweiss.
Leaving it to her partner to comfort the girl, Astraea turns to Claudia. "So. I've been hearing you use words I've never read outside of books about the Volumo Empire. Are you a student of history?"
After everyone holds their conversation regarding the Carvanha in Ralt’s skin, they arrive at the PokeMart. The door opens to reveal a harried and overworked looking man adjusting shelves who side eyes you as you enter. ”Tiffany, customers! Handle them.” At his yell, a young girl in a blue apron around your own age appears from the back in a sprint, sliding to a stop alongside the register. Lagging behind her a zigzagoon zips back and forth, before attempting to leap onto the counter. The little normal type frantically scrambles its paws trying to climb up, before the girl discreetly bumps it onto the countertop with her hip. As it sits panting, tongue lolled to the side, the girl gives you an exhausted smile. ”Hey, I’m Tiff. How can we help you?”
Finally noticing the Ponyta "Oh arent you a gorgeous Ponyta? Astraea was it? You take very good care of her"
Astraea turns to Roger. "Aye, that is indeed my name. She chuckles. "And thank you, Roger, I do try my best. It's the least I can do. Her eyes glance down to the egg still held within the boy's arms. "Unexpected for a rookie just starting their journey to be trusted with an egg. Then again, I did not expect the Cranidos either. May I know which Pokemon resides inside? Also, shouldn't you have an incubator for this?"
Giving Esther a quick calculating look as the mental gears turn, he concludes
thats she's just shy and gives her some space after giving Edelweiss another appraising glance.
Finally noticing the Ponyta "Oh arent you a gorgeous Ponyta? Astraea was it? You take very good care of her"Astraea turns to Roger. "Aye, that is indeed my name. She chuckles. "And thank you, Roger, I do try my best. It's the least I can do. Her eyes glance down to the egg still held within the boy's arms. "Unexpected for a rookie just starting their journey to be trusted with an egg. Then again, I did not expect the Cranidos either. May I know which Pokemon resides inside? Also, shouldn't you have an incubator for this?"
"Mom said it was her family's tradition, and wouldn't answer when I asked. Something along the lines of its a suprise. And the egg has an incubator that I did not grab on the way out in haste. Cranidos? the blue thing ...Preston has? Im not the most knowledgeable of pokemon native to outside kanto and johto. Thats all I knew my parents have for pokemon."
Claudia happily nods in satisfaction at the two fellow Seafarers who decided to join them. The group of four making their way to the Poke Mart. The moment Astraea releases her pokemon, everything shifts.
The girl feels her pulse accelerating, her eyes dilating as her breathing becomes ragged, her previously pristine skin now blemished with sweat as the girl looks upon the Fire type that was just released. Without a second thought, the girl throws her body towards the being, although being careful enough to go around its flames. In a girlish, completely out of character voice she screams.
"She is sooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!" Eyes sparkling, she begins to caress the Ponyta's neck.
Her knowledge for handling Fire types allows her to comfortable touch the pokemon, her eyes gleaming and her mind filtering out everything else for a while. By the time her senses return, she finds herself staring at a flustered Astraea, apparently having been a victim of Edel's... "charm". The ponyta now nuzzling itself against Esther to comfort her, Claudia lets go and adjusts her cap, which had gotten disheveled after her display.
As her focus returns, she hears Astraea's question.
Can this day possibly get any better!? The girl is now positively beaming, her energy radiating to all present. A wide smile caressed her features as she jumps in front of the red head and coughs into her hand for attention.
"Umu! Although I am much more than that, my dear fire type enjoyer!. Putting her hand on her chest, Claudia does a dramatic pose, her chest filling up with air as her features soften in delight.
"My name is Claudea Miraculum Viancelicus!" She says in pristine classic Voluman, before rapidly switching to Hoennian. "And I am a daughter of Volumo itself! Carrier of the flame of its passion and glory, from the beautiful village of Reliquiaium!"
"Alright so what supplies are we getting in the mart outside of our free kit?" Roger asks the assorted women he is traveling with, before blinking at Claudia's declaration
"Where is Reliquiaium located Claudia?" Roger asks, not willing to touch the Volumo button at this time despite her... exuberance over it
Astraea's eyes gleam with interest at Claudia's passionate response. "Ah, I see. Indeed, more than a student of history, you are a follower of the ancient ways." She recalls the name Viancelicus being related to various feats. "And with quite the legacy too, if I remember my history books correctly."
As they approach the PokeMart, with Titania trotting at the head of the pack, she openly snorts at Edelweiss' comment. "If Titania truly was offended by your words, trust me you'd know." The Ponyta is perfectly content to ignore the Ralts so long as she doesn't start serious trouble, she knows. Battles of wits, the fire type leaves up to her trainer.
As they enter the building and the clerk greets them, Astraea finds herself blinking at the exhausted expressions of both workers. "Yes, we are here to collect a few things that, we were told, were left for us and to buy some supplies." She answers, drawing her pokedex out of her vest's inner pocket, before giving Tiffany a concerned frown. "Is everything alright? You two are looking just about dead on your feet."
Esther startles sharply at the sudden touch of Titania's nose to her skin, but after a moment to get used to it, hesitantly reaches out to offer her a pet. A little too skittish to get close to the Pontya's flames, she stops after a few touches, but she does seem ever so slightly less anxious. She stifles a giggle at Claudia's classic response to any question about Volumo, and ignores Edel's groan of boredom at hearing the spiel again.
Preston steps aside while Lionel takes the call with his father.
He sits down and takes a breather after an exciting morning. He'll call his mom later when they get to another Pokemon Center, right now they need to catch up with the rest of the group at the mart.
Preston doesn't mean to pry but can't help but pick up some of Lionel's conversation with his father. Sounded a bit harsh, hopefully he's not too hard on Lionel, he seems like a great guy so far.
After Lionel hangs up they chat, waiting for their Pokemon to get healed up.
When the buzzer goes off with a jarring BZZZZT Preston pops up to grab Spike and bring him out of his Pokeball.
"Feeling better now bud?"
Spike gives a little roar of approval and Preston gives him a rub on his big hard noggin.
Lionel says they should get going, Preston nods in agreement and the two start making a jog towards the mart in order to catch up with the rest of the group.
Preston will start with a Dungoneering pack since he's used to being in caves and tunnels.
Claudia spins arounds and resumes her trot, each step now more confident than the last. Her amber eyes meet Roger's first.
"Reliquiaium is located to the north west of Lilicove city. It is a splendid town, with green fields that extend from north to south. Passionate and honest people walk its streets and the food is excellent! I could go on and on, but it is better if you visit one day. I'll give you a tour." She ponders for a second about his first question, her left hand finding its way to underneath her chin.
She was honestly decently prepared for her travels, she already owned an Explorer's Pack. But there may a couple of things she could get. "I myself will be getting healing items. Hurts me to admit that my medical capabilities are not the most refined." She chuckled wryly, her cheeks gaining a slight red tinge.
Her gaze then focuses on Astraea.
"Umu, umu!" She happily nods, her hands firmly placed on her hips. "My ancestors were impressive warriors. I aim to surpass them someday!" She declared without the slightest hint of hesitation, one of her hands shooting into the sky with enthusiasm.
After this, Claudia takes out her Pokedex and turns it on with the help of Esther. She shows her ID to the attendant, as the praetor instructed, wishing to get her items and head for route 102 as soon as possible.
** spoiler omitted **
Once Claudia notices the state the girl is in, she shoots her a sympathetic look of concern. From what stories her mom told, working in service jobs tended to be tiring. She decided to take things a little slower.
Roger nods at what Claudia said about her home's location, and then remembering that Esther also came with Claudia on the same teleporter. However recalling that he concluded that Esther is very shy, and refrains from asking her about where she is from. Nodding in understanding to the cashier, he pulls out his pokedex from his pocket and shows his ID to her. His explorer's pack suddenly heavier as Treecko hides inside.
"Astraea? Where are you from, you don't sound like you're from Hoenn but I can't place where. It's fine if you don't want to share." he asks the ponyta trainer in the pokemart.
Peering back at the screen, she squints before smiling. Turning to her partner, she gently shakes the small normal type awake. ”Looks like we found the owner of those custom jobs. Zip, go snag them pretty please.” Trilling a chirp, Zip jumps off the counter and shoots to the backroom, zipping and zagging as his species tends to. Sporting a grin that masks the exhausted look from earlier, she leans forward over the table. ”Now I hope you don’t mind humoring a girl, cause me and Zip were both wondering what the deal with those custom parcels we ordered were. The price ranges basically means you’re rich, or a one helluva trainer, and no offense but you look as new as I was when I met Zip. So, spill the deets.”
The question into Astraea’s origin prompts a raising of her left eyebrow, but she politely doesn’t inquire, tilting her head in sympathy to the girl.
"Astraea? Where are you from, you don't sound like you're from Hoenn but I can't place where. It's fine if you don't want to share." he asks the ponyta trainer in the pokemart.
"Picked up on that, have you? I guess someone was bound to ask." Astraea replies. "I'm from a small place called Galar. You wouldn't know about it, I think."
Claudia blinks a couple of times at the mention of the city's Consul.
"How long ago did the Consu- err, Gym Leader begin stocking up on medical goods? She asks, her curiosity getting the better of her.
At the girl and her companion's question, Claudia beams with a smile, her belly feeling funny from the pride of her position.
"Well, you see." Twirling her arm, she motions to her and her Seafarer's. "We were chosen for a special League program, consider us the next prospects for this year's Conference." She playfully blinks at the girl, attempting to impress her and also answer truthfully.
To Astrea's response, her mouth turns into a "o" shape. For she is the first Galarian she has ever met. This does beg the question...
"That means you've heard of a Pokemon called Coalossal?! I have only seen pictures, but their might is simply splendid! Ah, how I wish I could prevail over one and make them my companion." She sighs blissfully. Any other worry in her heart being replaced by thoughts of Fire and Lava.
Astraea looks at Claudia with surprise. "Well, I stand corrected. And no, I'm afraid I haven't seen a Coalossal up close and personal, Claudia. Only a couple news reports and documentaries." She smiles. "I'll admit I'm impressed you even know about that Pokemon at all. Galar is quite isolationist and I know not much information about the Pokemon from there gets out to other regions."
She turns back to Tiffany. "It's as my companion said. We four;" Astraea gestures to herself and the three other trainers. "are part of a new League program for aspiring trainers called the Seafarer Program. So while we are by no means 'helluva trainer' yet, that is one of the program's goals." She quirks an eyebrow, her smile still on her lips. "Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
"Astraea? Where are you from, you don't sound like you're from Hoenn but I can't place where. It's fine if you don't want to share." he asks the ponyta trainer in the pokemart."Picked up on that, have you? I guess someone was bound to ask." Astraea replies. [dice=Deception]1d20 + 3 "I'm from a small place called Galar. You wouldn't know about it, I think."
Trusting his new companion at her word he nods and pets the Treecko slowly exiting the pack on his back, curiously playing with some rope he found in there.
"I haven't heard of Galar before, or a coalossal. What are they?" Roger asks Claudia and Astraea before noticing Zip and asking Tiffany
"May I pet Zip? He looks very well behaved."
Grinning Claudia's little performance, Tiffany gives a playful wink back. "Guess I know who I'll be cheering for. Don't let me down." Pausing for a second at the league question, she groans before laying on the counter. "I was hoping you could give me more info. They rolled through like three days ago, it was such a pain to organize it all into nice kits."
As Zip returned, pulling a small trolley loaded with packages, Tiff picked up her Pokemon and playfully nuzzled him, before setting him down on the counter. Heaving the packages up, she sorts them before presenting the packages. Her eyes dart over the screen near her as she speaks, "These packages contain five Pokeballs and more importantly, custom pokeball belts with a specialized storage system built in. Something about enhanced and sortable storage only a click away?" Sporting an inquisitive look, she gestured for you to open the parcels. "Come on. Lemme see these 50,000 Poke belts!"
As Zip lounged on the counter, Tiffany shrugged at Roger's request. "Feel free, origin knows he's always eager for more attention." The dark mask around Zip scrunches as he rolls onto his back, eager for pets.
Roger takes his rather bland looking brown faux-leather trainer belt with rough designs of each type detailed around the belt. The 6 slots are placed under the type designs, with a storage area on the left hip and puts it around his waist.
Roger scratches Zip's belly and does an ok job, not making the zigzagoon extremely thrilled but he's happy.
"Tiffany you said that the medical supplies here were decimated, what about the other things here like pokeballs or other travel supplies fine though? Because I have a list."
He slides her a list he quickly wrote down
On their way to the Pokemart, Leo strikes up conversation again with Preston, the topic shifting from the battle to the Pokemon itself.
"I've never seen anything quite like Spike before." He takes out the Pokedex Malakai handed out and flicks through its entries. "It says its a rock type, which seems legit, because that dome of his is as hard as one. Is he one of those rare "fossil pokemon?"
He pauses. "I don't mean to pry, I'm just curious. I just heard about fossils once on that Kalosian History Channel, and I thought they were awesome The Amaura line documentary was amazing. I wish I could have the opportunity to train an Aurorus someday."
He pets his starter. "Wouldn't you want a buddy from millions of years ago, Akhlut?"
The little water type croaks and wags its tail in agreement.
Preston perks up at getting the chance to talk fossils.
"Yeah, Spike is a fossil pokemon native to my home of Sinnoh. Well, sort of. Cranidos is revived from a Skull fossil normally, but Spike here is the child of my Dads Rampardos, Crusher. That cranium is so hard you'd think it's steel!"
Spike gives a little roar, looking proud to be descended from such a powerful pokemon.
"Crusher was revived from a fossil though. My Dad got the chance to dig up so much stuff and tell me about it growing up. It's what led me to want to become a trainer and researcher, so I could try to learn more about these Pokemon of the ancient past."
Preston starts to get caught up reminiscing before snapping back to reality.
"And yes! Amaura are so graceful, I hope I get to see one in person some day. Most of my knowledge on actual fossil Pokemon comes from books and documentaries, considering their rarity, but I'm hoping we can change that on this journey. Tyrunt, the other fossil Pokemon from Kalos, intrigues me as well, supposedly being part Dragon. Sounds like a challenge for a real trainer to overcome."
Preston catches himself before going on too hard of a nerd rant, and instead pivots the conversation back to Lionel.
"So in that regards I'm leaning towards specializing in rock and fossil pokemon. Are you interested in focusing on becoming a master in any one type of pokemon?"
Leo deadpans at the horde of fans. "Babooze groupies. Geez.
"For real. What's with people around here?"
Astraea shrugs. "Apologies but, well, we are rookies. Bottom of the totem pole and all that. We don't know much." She says as she takes the package labeled with her name before freezing at the price mentioned by Tiffany. "50,000?!" She chokes out. That means this thing is at least an ASTRE grade item. And they're giving these to rookies?!
Gingerly, Astraea takes out the belt from the package and lays it out between her hands. In pretty much every way, it's a replica of the one she currently wears. A wide belt made of faux brown leather with silver-colored engravings of the four elements. The only differences are the multiple slots for pokeballs, all ten of them, along with an additional slot that, she knows, is for a storage device.
On one hand, that they've managed to reproduce her belt down to the small details is very impressive. On the other, it's oh-so-very creepy. Torn between amazement and horror, Astraea elects to not dwell on it and looks back at Tiffany.
"As my other companion here said, we would be interested in what items you still have in stock, both healing-wise and regarding traveling supplies."
Esther takes her package and pulls out a belt that's a mix between traditional leather and a gold-colored chain, with the Altamura family's Xatu-and-laurel-crown symbol in one of the loops. Tightening it around the waistline of her skirt, she carefully tests whether or not it'll stay up. After a split moment without it falling, she taps Edel's empty Pokeball onto one of the magnetized holding spots.
The Ralts sends her a mental appreciative whistle. It's a little disturbing that the League went to the full effort of recreating their family crest, but Alfonso, if he knew, would probably appreciate the effort. Esther mentally scratches out a reminder to mention it to him whenever she calls him next.
Only keeping half an ear open to the byplay about Astraea's origin, she scoots back to Claudia's side and quietly tells her "...we need camping equipment. And potions. For the camping equipment it's 2900 for everything we need, and if we got 4 potions for each of us it's 1600. 4500, 2250 from each of us?"
Claudia decides to look at what her fellow Seafarers got. Her eyes light up at the picturesque design of Esther's belt, and she nods in approval at Roger's more practical approach. It is a little uncanny how the League completely recreated Astraea's belt, but she ends up shrugging it off, her gaze now firmly set on her own package.
As she tears apart the paper packaging, her eyes gleam with expectation. After she finally takes out what seems to be like classic silver Voluman belt, decorated with royal reds and eye-catching goldens, the girl smiles, a fierce looking Aggron staring her back, the symbol of Volumo. She quickly lifts up her sports hoodie, revealing her lower belly without a hint of embarrasment, Claudia then adjusts the belt slightly below her waist, letting it loose enough to be comfortable, but secure enough to were she feels confident it won't fall. After this, she clips a handful of empty pokeballs on the magnetic sockets and drops her hoodie again, completely covering the belt. She nods and mutters a hearty "Umu!" at herself in satisfaction.
After this, she notices Esther approaching her with the corner of her vision. Recognizing what her friend wants, she leans in to listen, and after doing some quick maths in her head, she speaks at Astraea to raise a question.
"Pardon my intrusion, Astraea, but I was wondering if you wished to divide the costs of equipment with Esther and myself. Traveling in groups of three is commonly adviced to rookies, as you call us." She briefly repeats Esther's estimations of costs. The total betweem the three of them now being roughly 5900 poke. So around around 1960 each.
Astraea smiles at Claudia's proposition. "It would be my honor and pleasure." She replies.
The shared order between all three of them includes the following :
A solar lantern, a multi-tool, a rebreather with five filters, a pair of binoculars, a solar charger, a camping kettle and stove, 2 canteens, a large tent, 12 potions, a burn heal, an antidote, and finally a paralyze heal.
"And I believe that accounts for everything." Astraea says, finishing jotting down their shopping list on a piece of paper and presenting it to Tiffany. "If you still have those items in stock, that is?"
...
Preston is impressed by Lionel's fishing tale
"Sure, never gone fishing before but sounds fun! Couldn't hurt to round out my team a bit for now and see more of the world. And you said a ... gold magikarp?"
"Was it a shiny Pokemon by any chance? I remember reading about them in an old textbook one time, about rare colorations of Pokemon. Never seen one myself. I wonder what Spike or Ahklut would look like if they were shiny."
Preston bumps into a another wave of rowdy fans
He tries to push through the wall of people but can't find an opening
"Jeez how many people can fit between the pokemon center and the mart? is there some sort of celebrity in town?"
Lionel shrugs helplessly.
"I honestly got nothing. I heard them yelling something about Shirona?" He pauses, as if trying to remember something. "Surely the Sinnoh champion isn't here right now, is she?"
He turns to the Sinnoan boy. "You'd know better, but wouldn't a champion have more of a reception then a bunch of..." He trails off, trying to put it in an inoffensive way, but in the end defaulting to his habit of accurate bluntness, "...neckbeard groupies?"
Seeing Preston struggle, he tries to help him and get through the crowd. "Let's see if we can get through..."
[dice=athletics]1d20+1
But despite his attempts, the crowd is bigger than he realized, and no matter how much he tries to push through, he is unable to.
"Shirona, in Hoenn? I've got no idea what she'd be doing all the way out here. She seems like the type to always be doing something though so maybe something important is happening? But I can't imagine what could pull her away from her league duties.
Either way, have you seen her battle? She's a master of the battlefield with that Garchomp of hers. I hope someday Spike and I can dominate a battlefield like that. Plus she's crazy pretty too, who wouldn't be a fan?"
Preston gets a bit flustered.
Trying to get his mind off Shirona, Preston tries to look for a path through the crowd rather than just shove.
After scanning for a couple seconds he sees a path through the crowd that can hopefully lead them towards the Pokemon mart.
"Lionel I think I see a path out, follow me!"
Preston begins to weave his way through the crowd based on the path he spotted.
Preston follows Leo in, noting the Jenny's everywhere but deciding they've taken too long already.
"Heyo everyone! Sorry for the delay but Spike and Ahklut are all healed up. You guys buy anything cool?"
Preston takes a glance around the shop, eyeing the various goods for sale.
Claudia places her hands on her hips, swaying in discomfort as she hears Tiffany's words. "Three potions for each, then..." A small frown appears on her features, but she ultimately sighs it off. Her easy smile returns.
"We'll take them." As she moves in to grab and store the potions in her bag, she sees Leon and Preston make their way into the mart. She nods to greet them.
"We have been well, thank you for asking. The League issued special belts for us." Claudia points to Esther's and Roger's before briefly lifting her hoodie to show hers."You should find your own in those two parcels over there.
After showing them, she walks back to her friend and new travel companion. Claudia hands them their potions, she then clears he throat and points at the exit. "Do you two think we are ready to go? Or perhaps you wish to do something else in the city? If the crowds are as rambunctious are Lionel mentions, then maybe we should take an alternative route to the eastern exit?"
Her eyes narrow as she ponders, trying to recall the layout of Petalburg.
The tip of her ears slowly turn red as she quietly turns to Esther, nudging her and whispering in her ear to use that PokeNav of hers to find a way out of the city.
Esther purses her lips in a way that's clearly hiding a smile at the classic Claudia moment, before duly doing as she asks and indicating the quickest route with a trace of her fingertip. Her grip is a little shaky, which is distracting, but it's not exactly difficult directions. "I don't need anything else. The Gym Leader here doesn't take challengers until they have at least four badges. Pay and go works for me."
Once she's sure Claudia has the gist of the correct way to get out, she rifles through her wallet for her portion of the supplies money. Folding the bills in half, she presses them into her friend's hands and goes back to anxiously fidgeting, this time with the loops on her new belt. The whole journey thing has felt very regrettably real the whole day, but actually leaving Petalburg was just the cherry on top of anxiety mountain.
Astraea turns at the arrival of the last two Seafarers. "Hello again, boys. We've just about finished buying the necessities for the journey ahead. Sadly, it would seem they are out of potions. There was only nine left and we just bought them all." She puts two of her three potions in her bag and leaves the last one on the counter. "As an apology, I am giving you this one, free of charge. Feel free to decide between yourselves who gets it."
That said, she hands Claudia her part of the payment and quickly switches her belt for the one provided by the League, still not quite believing such an item could cost 50k P$.
Clipping Titania's pokeball to it, she gives the other girls a nod. "Ready when you are."
Roger thanks Tiffany and pays the required amount, before removing a potion from his bundle and putting it next to Astaea's. "Here, one for both of you" He says with a quick nod to Astraea as he does so.
"Ive only got Treecko and the egg so far, so i hopefully shouldn't need 3 potions from here to our destination. We can also look for medical berries on the way of we do run out of healing supplies id imagine." he says while retrieving Treecko's pokeball from his left side front jean pocket and clips it to the open slot above his right side jean pocket.
Roger tries to think of any notable local towns in between petalburg and where Birch's lab is and cant quite pick out one that would help here.
Turning to the girls he asks "Do we wait a few more minutes for Leo and Preston to finish up their shoppong and head out together or should we head out first? Leo does know the way, so i believe we should wait until they're done"
Claudia finds herself smiling happily, if embarrassedly at the two Seafarer's that helped her. First, she turns to Leo. "Thank you kindly, and my condolences, I know how, err, uncomfortable it is to move through crowds." She shivers, memories of the tragedies that happened to Imperators in crowds many a time in the past.
After checking what Lionel said matches with Esther's apparatus, she nods to herself in satisfaction. She then turns to Roger, her messy head of blonde hair fluttering as she does. He left index fingers finds her cheek and starts drawing circles around it as she deliberates on what he said. Finally, she opens her mouth to respond.
"I would personally prefer leave for route 102 as soon as possible. I would be lying if I said I haven't been imagining the prospect of testing Theodora's might against the local wildlife for some time now!" Claudia chuckles to herself, her eyes seething with excitement, very much contrary to her dear friend Esther. Dropping her hands to her side, she continues.
"Furthermore, I think it adequate that we make way towards Littleroot. The sooner we complete the Praetor's request, the sooner we shall finally be free to explore our region to our hearts content." The Voluman twirls in place, dramatizing a quick pose before recomposing herself. "I am confident the others shall find their way to us in due time".
"And yes, if the situation gets dire, we shall do as the great Legions of the past and forage for medicinal herbs or berries. Although I myself are not great at identifying them, Esther is much more capable in that regard!" She says, chuckling and patting Esther's back enthusiastically, her soft palms not really causing any real discomfort to her friend.
Lastly, he turns to the group. "Without further ado, we march!" Before she exited the store, however, she looks back. "I expect you to come see us in the Conference, dearest Tiffany! You shall rejoice to have made our acquaintance! Farewell to you and Zig!"
She makes her way out, the humid, but pleasent air filling her lungs once more.
Tiffany returns with a cart laden with supplies that she heaves onto the counter, Zig doing his best to push the packages into distinct piles for each of the purchasers. As the kids mention an alternative route the clerk pipes up. "Ifyou're talking about Fisherman's Alley that path doesn't work anymore. Someone put in some new tech company, Scoria Solutions or something, and they ended up building a pretty big building that dead-ends the route." Tiffany's voice loses some of the warmth when she discusses the tech firm, but it quickly returns as she continues. "I'd say keep going North until you hit Linoone Lane, then just follow that Eastward until you hit Bakery Street then head south if you don't want to take the main thoroughfare. Should spit you out not too far from the East entrance. Also lets you enjoy some fine Petalburg baked goods before you hit the road, the Drake's Double Chocolate muffins are to die for!"
As she finishes putting all the goods on the counter she asks the new arrivals, "Anything you boys would like? Your friends cleared out the last of the potions we had in stock but we still have general road supplies. Though I do need to see your trainer ID or PokeDex in order to make sure, they're kinda picky about custom orders." She smiles apologetically even as Zip gives an exaggerated sigh and hops off the counter to go find the boys' belts.
During the squabble about potions Preston is grabbing things off the shelves and bringing them to the counter.
"That's a mess kit, a rebreather and 4 filters, a solar charger, a pocket knife, and 5 pokeballs. Should be 3150 correct?"
Preston whips out his dex to view his balance and proceeds to pay for his goods.
"Thank you, err, Tiffany was it? Oh also I think I'm supposed to get a belt or some sort courtesy of the league?"
Preston receives his belt. A rugged and sturdy belt. Tan, with embroidered pictures of mining tools and fossils. Many pockets and pouches for holding a variety of things, and a sturdy blue and grey clip that resembles the top down view of a rampardos skull to hold it all together.
"oh man this is awesome!"
He hears a commotion behind him and spins around to see the others going on about a potion something or other. Preston pitches after Lionel's episode.
"Uhh That's very kind of you two. I don't think I could accept without paying though, how much do I owe you?"