The Best and the Brightest [Luke]

[LILITH ALRAUNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][cs=2][atrb=style, background:#FFFFFF; width: 300px; height: 300px; border: 20px solid #000000; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 300px, bTable; ] [atrb=style, width: 30px; vertical-align: top;][style= border: 8px solid #000000; width: 100px; opacity: 0.9; margin-left: -30px; margin-top: -55px; -moz-transform: rotate(-10deg); -webkit-transform: rotate(-10deg); float:left;][/style][tr][style=font-family: georgia; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -3; margin-top: -30px; line-height: 80%; text-transform: lowercase; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: right;]Daylight come and we don't wanna go home. Yeah so, we losin' control, Turn the lights low 'cause we about to get blown. [/style] [tr][atrb=style, background: #000000; padding: 8px; border-top: 3px solid #000000; width: 20px; border-bottom: 3px solid #000000; ][style=height: 400px; font: 10px Tahoma; padding-right: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 250px; color: FFFFFF; overflow: auto; margin-top:-10px;]The main street was bustling, as it always was around lunchtime. The street had been blocked off to road traffic, allowing foot traffic to take over the road, allowing people to travel freely from street to street. Taking up a good portion of the sidewalk, however, was a massive Nidoking, with a much smaller girl escorting a strange-looking man toward the familiar red-roofed building nestled in the first floor of a large skyscraper. As she approached the door, Lili watched the automatic doors slide open, feeling a cool gust of air pass over her body from the air-conditioned interior of the Pokemon Center. Turning her gaze toward her companion, she smiled and stepped inside, Nero right behind her. The nurse, with her Audino Soulmate, looked shocked at the girl who had stepped into the Pokemon Center. A girl from the Elite Four, in her Pokemon Center? And who was she with? Pushing the thought out of her mind, the nurse only curtsied at the two, saying, "A-ah, welcome to the Pokemon Center! How can I serve you this morning?" Lilith produced her two Pokeballs, containing Julius and Hadrian, and placed them on the counter. "My friend and I need our Pokemon treated, if you would," she said sweetly, smiling. With that, she glanced at Luke, signaling him to give his Skarmory's Pokeball over to the nurse. "It shouldn't take too long," the nurse said sweetly, nodding toward the arrangement of couches and armchairs around a large glass table in one corner. "I'll call you over whenever your Pokemon are all healed!" "Thank you~!" Lilith replied sweetly, turning on her heel, Nero leading her over to the little corner, where she sat down on one of the large, plush couches, Nero leaning on the back, staring at the nurse as she took Hadrian and Julius back into the back of the Pokemon Center. "So, Luke~" she spoke, crossing her legs, smiling at her newfound friend, "What are you in the mood for? Anything in particular?" She knew Utoron fairly well, and knew just what places were good and which ones left a lot to be desired. /I don't know about you,/ she heard Nero speak, /But I'm in the mood for some stir-fry. Farfetch'd, perhaps? Or maybe some Corphish?/ /If you were treating, I would gladly get stir-fry with you~/ Lili replied sweetly, her gaze flicking upward toward her Soulmate, /But Luke is treating, so he chooses~/[/style]

[style=width: 200px; margin-right: 30px; text-align: right; font-size: 9px; margin-top: -20px; color: #757575;]made by prism of ote and sgo~[/style]

[LUKE DESTRO]

The bustling main street of Utoron City. Crowded at the best of times and downright hectic at the worst, this street was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Aniferna. Restaurants, theater, expensive shops, and even an elaborate contest hall bordered this strip. People of all classes often brushed shoulders here, if only for the fact that the place was so crowded!

If it weren't for Lili's Soulmate, it actually might have been quite easy for the pair to get separated. As it happened, however, with Nidoking escorting the Elite Four member, people tended to get out of the way, some out of respect for the Elite, but most trying not to end up underfoot of the purple giant. Keeping a steady pace, the trio walked into the Pokemon Center, Luke stepping briefly off to the side as Lilith handed her Pokemon to the doctor. As directed, Luke stepped forward and handed his Pokeball to the lady. As before, without a Soulmate and looking like one who was just dragged out of the office, Luke earned an interesting look from the nurse. Still, he was just another face in town.

"Thank you," Luke followed Lili's politeness with his own, nodding towards the nurse before following after Lili. Falling back on the sofa a 'respectable' distance away from Lili, Luke answered Lili's question:

"Well, Its been a while since I've been at the coast... if you know any good places for seafood, I'm open for it!" Luke nodded, looking back towards Lili... again, she was 'thinking' with her Soulmate, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, something that intrigued Luke.

"Um, pardon me for asking, but when you look over at Nidoking... are you two 'speaking' to eachother?"

To an outsider, such a ritual seemed bizarre. Perhaps it was normal in Aniferna to have such conversations, but Luke had absolutely no idea that they were even capable of such communication!

[LILITH ALRAUNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][cs=2][atrb=style, background:#FFFFFF; width: 300px; height: 300px; border: 20px solid #000000; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 300px, bTable; ] [atrb=style, width: 30px; vertical-align: top;][style= border: 8px solid #000000; width: 100px; opacity: 0.9; margin-left: -30px; margin-top: -55px; -moz-transform: rotate(-10deg); -webkit-transform: rotate(-10deg); float:left;][/style][tr][style=font-family: georgia; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -3; margin-top: -30px; line-height: 80%; text-transform: lowercase; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: right;]Daylight come and we don't wanna go home. Yeah so, we losin' control, Turn the lights low 'cause we about to get blown. [/style] [tr][atrb=style, background: #000000; padding: 8px; border-top: 3px solid #000000; width: 20px; border-bottom: 3px solid #000000; ][style=height: 400px; font: 10px Tahoma; padding-right: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 250px; color: FFFFFF; overflow: auto; margin-top:-10px;]Seafood? Lilith searched her mind, drawing out her mental map of Utoron, highlighting all of the places that were good to eat. /Hmm...no, that's no good...No, they don't have seafood.../ mentally sorting out the places that had good seafood was a task in itself, but finally, her mind centered in on one of the little restaurants at the top of one of the large skyscrapers. /Ah, that should work!/ /Where?/ Nero asked, obviously interested in the place his human had chosen for them to eat lunch. /Somewhere good, I hope./ /No, of course not~/ Lili responded sarcastically, smiling slightly at her Soulmate's eagerness. But she didn't say anything else to her Soulmate, instead turning her attention to the human sitting beside her. "Tell me, Luke," she started, while fishing through her small purse to find her phone. "Have you ever heard of Team Aqua? A few years ago, they caused all sorts of havoc over in Hoenn?" With that, she pulled her phone out of her bag, flipping it open. "Well, the best seafood place in town is sorta themed off of them. They have old Aqua uniforms and all sorts of plunder from when the police raided their old base a few years back." With that, she said, "It might be hard to get a table if we just walk in, but I can pull some strings~" With that, she dialed a number, sitting back, listening to the phone ring. As soon as someone picked up on the other line, she brightened up, "Ah, Jean! Yes, it's Lilith~" A short pause, "Yes, I wanted to take one of my new friends up to the Hideout for lunch. Is it crowded?" Another pause, "Well, could you reserve us a table? We'll probably be a few minutes, since we're at the Pokemon Center--huh? Oh, I was in a hot battle earlier. Nothing major." Her face lit up with a grin then, "Oh, you will~? Thank you so much~! We'll be over there right as soon as the nurse brings our Pokemon back~" Snapping the phone shut, Lilith put it back into her purse, looking rather satisfied with herself. "The owner's going to reserve a table for us on the ocean view side." However, when Luke inquired about her communicating with Nero, Lilith looked confused, wondering why he was asking, when she remembered that he was, in fact, a foreigner, and probably had no clue about Soulmates. "Well, yes. We are speaking, I guess you could say." she shrugged, "It's really second-nature to most Anifernans. We all can communicate with our Soulmates like that. So Nero and I often have conversations without moving our mouths." She shrugged, and Nero shrugged in what seemed to be perfect sync with her. "Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but that's the only way Nero and I can talk to one another." /Well, at least he's making it obvious that he's not from here,/ Nero grunted, rolling his eyes. /Next he'll try asking what Soulmates are, I bet./ /Well, he is a foreigner. He's probably just curious. I may as well answer his questions now while he's still eager to learn./ Leaning back, she crossed her legs, taking a deep breath, /After all, one bad run-in with Unifi could spell disaster for someone like him, especially if Unifi thinks he's a shifter.../[/style]

[style=width: 200px; margin-right: 30px; text-align: right; font-size: 9px; margin-top: -20px; color: #757575;]made by prism of ote and sgo~[/style]

[LUKE DESTRO]

Once more, there was that moment of silence between Luke's suggestion and Lilith's answer, but, soon enough, Lili came up with an interesting idea. A themed restaurant after a failed criminal organization? "Well, I can't say I know much about Aqua, other than that they were responsible for the entire mess with Kyogre," Luke started, "but the restaurant sounds interesting. If you can get a table..."

As Lilith dialed the number, Luke stayed quiet for the time, leaning back in his chair as he took a glance at Lilith, to Nidoking, before absentmindedly staring out at the counter, the Audino connected to the nurse of this place. Indeed, the existence of these Soulmates intrigued Luke, and he intended to learn a lot more about them for his research. For the moment, though, Luke wanted to enjoy his first day in Aniferna.

As Lilith shut the phone and said that they got a table, Luke gave a grin. "Well, that's handy," Luke chuckled. She has quite the influence...

[/color]

As the topic moved onto how Lilith spoke with Nero, Luke listened with absolute intrigue... so all Anifernians did this? That probably had some interesting impact on conversations, both parties being able to hide a scheme or at least have a referral to confer with... as Lili apologized if it made Luke uncomfortable, the Orre Researcher gave a small smile. Wow, he'd barely introduced himself at all, hadn't he?

"Oh, no, that's quite alright," Luke interjected, looking at Nero, back over at Lilith. "Actually, I'm a Pokemon Researcher, so these kinds of things interest me... I looked up a little bit about Soulmates before I came here, but its really a lot of unbroken ground. Though..."

Luke sighed, looking over at Nero: "I have to say, until just recently - Nero, is it? - was looking at me as if I was trying to do something... was it something about me, or are Soulmates naturally that defensive?"




[/blockquote]

[LILITH ALRAUNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][cs=2][atrb=style, background:#FFFFFF; width: 300px; height: 300px; border: 20px solid #000000; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 300px, bTable; ] [atrb=style, width: 30px; vertical-align: top;][style= border: 8px solid #000000; width: 100px; opacity: 0.9; margin-left: -30px; margin-top: -55px; -moz-transform: rotate(-10deg); -webkit-transform: rotate(-10deg); float:left;][/style][tr][style=font-family: georgia; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -3; margin-top: -30px; line-height: 80%; text-transform: lowercase; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: right;]Daylight come and we don't wanna go home. Yeah so, we losin' control, Turn the lights low 'cause we about to get blown. [/style] [tr][atrb=style, background: #000000; padding: 8px; border-top: 3px solid #000000; width: 20px; border-bottom: 3px solid #000000; ][style=height: 400px; font: 10px Tahoma; padding-right: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 250px; color: FFFFFF; overflow: auto; margin-top:-10px;]Lilith could see the look of intrigue on Luke's face as she explained the whole idea of communicating with Soulmates. She found it second nature to her, so she didn't see what was so interesting, but she assumed that, since he was from somewhere else, that something like this wouldn't be so obvious. /Well, now I know what fascinates him,/ she thought, /Just start talking about Soulmates~/ However, when Luke asked about why Nero had been acting so aggressive earlier, Lili looked up at Nero, who only shrugged. The girl then looked back down at Luke, smiling apologetically. "Well part of it is just Nero's nature. He's a little possessive~" she said, hearing her Soulmate snort behind her, obviously not appreciating the statement. "But at the same time, people see someone without a Soulmate and immediately assume one of two things:" She held up one finger, "One, that you're a Shifter. Or two..." She held up a second finger, "That you're one of Team Unifi." She glanced up at Nero again, continuing, "Now, if it were the former, that wouldn't be that big of a deal. Shifters are uncommon here in Aniferna, but they're really no different--they just shift into their Soulmate instead of having it sit right next to you." At that point, she shrugged her shoulders. "But another interesting fact about Soulmates is that they can sense one another. They can tell just what kind of Soulmates are around them, even those within Shifters. So when Nero saw you, and couldn't sense a Soulmate, he immediately assumed the latter, that you were part of Unifi." /Be sure to tell him what Unifi is, otherwise he'll just give you a blank stare,/ Nero said, obviously amused by the researcher's enthusiasm. /...I swear, this is like a drug to him. He looks like he's getting a high just from all of this information./ "And before you can ask, Unifi is a criminal organization that's cropped up here in Aniferna within the past couple years. Their ultimate goal is to, as they say, 'unite' body and soul." She glanced up at Nero again, this time a little nervous, "And they do that by killing the Soulmate. It can be in any method--gun, Pokemon, even masking it to make it look accidental. But they claim that unites body and soul, even if researchers have stated that such a thing only causes pain to an individual and turns them into a shadow of who they were." Trying to get off of the depressing topic, she turned toward Luke, a smile forming on her lips, "So, do you have anything else you want to know?"[/style]

[style=width: 200px; margin-right: 30px; text-align: right; font-size: 9px; margin-top: -20px; color: #757575;]made by prism of ote and sgo~[/style]

[LUKE DESTRO]

Interesting...

[/color]

To Luke, the concept of shifters was something he had never heard of before. As Lilith went on about how some souls just don't 'split' from the body and instead reside within the human, a hundred curious questions sprouted within Luke's head. Were Anifernians able to enhance something inside the human to awaken an inner force, and if so, create an embodiment of their very soul? Or was it simpler, a flux of emotion that causes a Soulmate to instead reside within the human?

Luke's flurry of thoughts, observed by Nero, was cut off as Lilith explained just why Nero was uneasy around him. Being without a Soulmate was trademark of being part of Team Unifi, according to Lilith. That name...[/color] Luke's focus fell back on the conversation at hand, listening intently to what the Elite Four member had to say about Team Unifi.

A team dedicated to unify the body and the soul... the thought was interesting, but ultimately a nuisance. Luke was hired in thought of Team Unifi, and now Luke could see why: the need of an unbiased outsider to look in on the situation. "To think that any team could throw around their own way of life on top of others with so little thought..." Luke sighed, his mind once more going a mile a minute.

At a rather good time, Lilith offered a change of subject to the conversation. With these basics and what he could receive later in briefing, there was little purpose to keep asking about Soulmates, so Luke put a grin on his face, looking over at 'Lili'. "Well, sure; why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

I wouldn't mind getting to know you better, anyway,[/color] Luke mentally added on, keeping his smirk.



[/blockquote]

[LILITH ALRAUNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][cs=2][atrb=style, background:#FFFFFF; width: 300px; height: 300px; border: 20px solid #000000; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 300px, bTable; ] [atrb=style, width: 30px; vertical-align: top;][style= border: 8px solid #000000; width: 100px; opacity: 0.9; margin-left: -30px; margin-top: -55px; -moz-transform: rotate(-10deg); -webkit-transform: rotate(-10deg); float:left;][/style][tr][style=font-family: georgia; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -3; margin-top: -30px; line-height: 80%; text-transform: lowercase; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: right;]Daylight come and we don't wanna go home. Yeah so, we losin' control, Turn the lights low 'cause we about to get blown. [/style] [tr][atrb=style, background: #000000; padding: 8px; border-top: 3px solid #000000; width: 20px; border-bottom: 3px solid #000000; ][style=height: 400px; font: 10px Tahoma; padding-right: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 250px; color: FFFFFF; overflow: auto; margin-top:-10px;]He wanted to know about her, now? Lilith almost wanted to roll her eyes, wondering sarcastically if he could be any more subtle in his advances. She heard Nero chuckling in her head and, giving the Nidoking a cursory glance upward, saw how amused he looked at the researcher's question. "Well, I'm usually not so good about telling people about myself when put on the spot like this, but I'll try," she said calmly, resting her cheek in the palm of one hand, attempting to formulate something that would sound interesting, yet wouldn't be so overblown that the researcher would immediately call Tauros crap on her. "Actually, why don't you ask me questions on wh--" "Miss Alraune!" Looking up at the sound of her name, Lilith and Nero turned their heads in perfect sync, facing the nurse, who was bringing out the three Pokeballs that contained Hadrian, Julius, and Luke's Skarmory. Standing up, Lilith smiled apologetically and shrugged at Luke. "We can continue this over lunch~" she said sweetly, before turning around and walking toward the counter. "Thank you so much," she said, picking up Hadrian and Julius' Pokeballs before tucking them away at her hip, where she always kept them. She nodded toward Luke then, signaling for him to take his Skarmory's Pokeball. With that, she turned on her heel, walking to the door to the Pokemon Center, turning in the doorway to make sure Luke was right behind her. "Luckily the restaurant we're going to isn't too far from here," she said, nodding to an office building a short distance away. With that, she looked up to Nero. /Would you make sure we can cross through without getting separated?/ The Nidoking needn't say anything. Giving a snort, he watched as several people, seeing the much larger Pokemon towering above them, stepped aside, clearing a path for the two. People stopped or walked a little quicker to allow the Elite Four member and her companion to cross over to the office building. /Good enough?/ Nero asked, feeling proud that he was still intimidating even off the battlefield. /Satisfactory~/ Lili replied sweetly, staring up the front of the building to make sure it was, in fact, the right one. Recognizing the name of the company etched on a brass plate by the door, she knew that the owner of the restaurant had ties to one of the higher-ups, probably explaining how he managed to get the whole top floor of the building for his restaurant. "I do hope you're hungry, Luke~" Lilith purred, stepping inside the building, immediately walking toward the elevators that would lead up to Aqua's Hideout, probably the best seafood restaurant in Utoron, if not all of Aniferna.[/style]

[style=width: 200px; margin-right: 30px; text-align: right; font-size: 9px; margin-top: -20px; color: #757575;]made by prism of ote and sgo~[/style]