Pokémon with a twist?

[millenia]

Just outside of the city, on top of a hill that used to be the best natural playground for children, a young woman stands beneath the shade of a group of trees. With a thoughtful frown on her face and her arms rather stiffly against her sides, she almost looks like a soldier placed there to watch over the area, and with a view like the one she has, it would almost be a logical assumption.

She brushes a strand of long, black hair out of her eyes, but goes back to her original stance as soon as it's taken care of. She may be waiting on others to show, but for now, she is alone. And that means, she can think without being teased into awareness of her surroundings. Best to take advantage of that while she can...

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[daluci.livejournal.com]

Tace didn't consider himself late so much as just taking his time. They weren't likely to do anything exciting before he got there, and if they did, he would probably find out about it anyway. He covered a yawn with one hand before tugging on his bandanna to make sure it hadn't fallen off when he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't super attached to it, but that didn't mean he felt like finding a replacement.

Headgear successfully accounted for, and the hill finally mounted, he turned his attention to finding one or both of the people he was meeting. Spotting one, he headed in her direction, humming under his breath.

[whitelighter]

While better late than never wasn't normally one of Marcel's mottos, it seemed that he would have to adopt it for this particular meeting. He hadn't meant to stay in the city so long; his 'appointment' had run long. The silver lining being, of course, that the longer the appointment, the more cash was eventually made.

With that in mind, he jogged his jovial way up the hill, not even very annoyed at the wind whipping the redbrown strands of hair everywhere. Once at the top, he cracked open his can of coffade (a delicious mixture of coffee and lemonade that only a select few cast-iron stomachs could handle, doomed to drop off the market due to lack of sales) and took a drink before giving his friends a wink.

"Oh, you guys got here early?"

[millenia]

Anelya said nothing in response to Marcel, only wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Though at the sight of the drink in his hand, she visibly grimaced.

Still, she greeted them both with a single, firm nod and a small, gentle smile. Whatever was going on today, it would at least be interesting - it always was.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

"What kept you?" he asked, somewhat amused that he'd been late and not latest as expected. He knew better by now than to ask about the drink.

[whitelighter]

Marcel replied to Anelya's smile with a smirk of his own. He knew how gross the others thought coffade was (even though he thought they were crazy for it). Thus, he took a long, appreciative drink before answering.

"The meeting lasted longer than I anticipated," he answered. Using his free hand, he pulled the tied-back pieces of hair over his shoulder to run his fingers through it. It was still slightly wet from the shower he had snuck in afterward, but was drying quickly.

[millenia]

She nodded. She knew not what he ever did in the meetings he kept mentioning, but they did often run a little later than he always seemed to say they would. Still, in spite of herself, she was curious. "How come?"

She stepped out from under the tree, reaching inside of her jacket to find her blackglasses - the sun wasn't harmful, of course, she just didn't particularly like it.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

Conversation was continuing, so why stop a good thing? Tace moved so that he could lean against a tree — he didn't much want to be in the shade, but the support was nice.

[whitelighter]

Anelya had moved first, so Marcel took that as his cue to step forward and sling an arm around her shoulders. He patted her shoulder while he explained, "You wouldn't believe how badly some of those guys deal with disagreements." The tone was conversational, but the oily smile he gave belied the simplicity of the story.

[millenia]

The second his arm came close to Anelya shoulders - let alone touched them - she tensed. Considerably. If it were anyone else doing so, she would have made them regret it on contact (or preferably, before contact), but she'd almost grown used to this over the years. Almost. That didn't mean she had to enjoy it.

She raised an eyebrow at his creepster smile and obviously baiting comment, before finally finding her blackglasses and slipping them on over her eyes. If he wanted to continue his story, she was pretty sure he'd do so without her prompting him for more.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

Tace shook his head — some things never change. "Weren't we going somewhere?" he asked, hoping to distract at least one of them from the usual song and dance.

[whitelighter]

Instead of regaling her with boring 'business' details, Marcel simply planted a quick kiss on her cheek, then quickly whirled around and made his way to Tace. Cue more arm-slinging and oily smiling. "Yes, we were, weren't we! It's this way, come along now," he invited, turning the other toward the other side of the hill while adjusting his already-loosened tie.

[millenia]

If anything could illicit a more defined response out of Anelya, it was that. She let out a muffled, slightly high-pitched squeak, her eyes went a little wide, and cursed be her pale skin for its inability to hide the little tinge of red in her cheeks. She knew he'd be amused, and that made it all the more annoying. Dammit! With an indignant-sounding "Hmph," she followed the boys. At least she wasn't being touched anymore...

"How many people?" She asked, her voice still quiet even though her mind was jokingly plotting ways to freeze Marcel, or something similar, and such was evident from the agitated look on her face.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

Unlike Anelya, Tace was used to Marcel's ways. Or, well, that particular way, at least. He followed the verbal and physical direction, perfectly willing to be led.

[whitelighter]

"Ehhh," Marcel wheedled, swaying in temporary lieu of answering (while bringing Tace with him). "Not many. It's an itsy-meeting sort of thing. And I'm not exaggerating, before you say anything!" he added quickly. "Well... all right, maybe a little, but not by much. There really won't be that many at all."

After a moment, he suddenly continued with, "Maybe twenty, all said?"

[millenia]

She made another face. "Twenty." Well, it could be worse, she supposed. Still, she wasn't all too happy at the prospect of being somewhere with a bunch of people. Oh well...

[daluci.livejournal.com]

"What's it for?" Tace had a feeling he had been told already, but he definitely didn't remember now. It was a better conversation track than narrowing exactly how many people were going to be at this mysterious meeting, at least. He gave Marcel's tie a quick 'calm down' jerk. He wasn't expecting the other to listen, but it hardly hurt to try.

[whitelighter]

"Yes, twenty," Marcel confirmed with a quick glance back to Anelya. "But don't worry, it's not like we're guests of honor or anything, it's more like—gurk!"

The unexpected tie-jerk garnered an overreaction from Marcel while he gave Tace a mock-venomous look. Readjusting the tie, he did calm down. Slightly. "It's for hanging out. Chilling. Or I guess smoldering, in your case, Tace. There will be other Transits there, along with regular Pokémon. It's a relaxing getaway, see?"

[millenia]

The yank of the tie made Anelya smirk, and she moved to walk beside her cousin instead of behind both of the boys. Relaxing, hm? She'd reserve her judgment until they actually arrived. She liked the sound of going somewhere outside of the city to just chill, to just... exist, really, but she had this sinking feeling that it was going to be a little wilder and crazier than Marcel was advertising. Oh well, she'd just have to get him back for it later somehow.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

Look or no look, the tug had had its intended effect. All was right with the situation. "You don't relax," Tace said, more as a teasing remark than to contradict what Marcel was saying. He smiled at Anelya, glad she'd moved up to their level instead of staying behind.

[whitelighter]

"I do relax!" Marcel refuted. Then, after a small moment of confused consideration... "When do I not relax? Maybe I just do it differently than you two. Ever thought of that?"

[millenia]

"Relaxation implies calm," Anelya answered, shaking her head. Calm was not exactly a Marcel strength.

Suddenly, she frowned. "How far is this... gathering?" The sun was already getting on her nerves. This didn't bode well.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

He nodded in Anelya's direction. He was very much enjoying the sun, so it was probably a good thing that she hadn't fully explained her reasoning. He wouldn't mind getting there and (hopefully) giving Marcel something else to pester.

[whitelighter]

"I can be calm," Marcel said, contemplative underneath an affronted tone. Shaking his head, he used the hand still occupied by the coffade can to point ahead and slightly off the beaten path. "See that forest up there? It's in there."

[millenia]

Anelya breathed a very small smile of relief. Shade! Good! Though, her cousin probably wouldn't be very pleased by this. She glanced at him, curious to see his reaction.

[daluci.livejournal.com]

Tace just frowned, giving the trees a disappointed look. He would much rather be stay in the sun, but he could hardly argue when they had already agreed on where they were going.