[PRP] It's a date! No, not the calendar.. no, nor the fruit.

[Lady Mist]

After all the hubbub and travel, Motterossa seemed like the perfect place to put up her feet for a while. With a languid motion, Lumina stretched her arms above her head and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. Motterossa was a smaller town with a decidedly more relaxed aura to it.

Lumina looked around at the unfamiliar settings, considering what steps to take next to begin her weekend of relaxation. There was a daycare nearby, perhaps she could leave Chai there for her to have some playtime as well.

Lumina's eyes lit up when, amidst the unknown, she caught sight of a figure that was quite familiar.

"Lore!" The watcher waved her arms fanatically, running towards the fluff of grey hair, "What brings you here?"  

[Mythee]

It had been 8 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes and 21 seconds since a young academic associate by the name of Lore had received the phone call. The contents of that phone call had come in this order: Firstly, her grant application had gotten through, secondly, they had been late in informing her of this, and third, that the materials requested would be shipped to her lab in two weeks.

This meant that she would soon be diving into her research and it would be a good few months before she'd have the time for long expeditions out of her hermit's den. That meant her three pokemon would be stranded inside a house in the middle of nowhere instead of getting their regular doses of nature and adventure- and one of the three, ironically the only pokemon Lore had ever actually captured, was practically undomesticated. None of them liked the prospect of being cooped up with each other for that long much.

It only made sense, then, that Lore would bring them on an extended vacation. The location of choice: Motterossa. Many trainers who frequently partook in battling their pokemon sang the praises of such "R&R" parks as wellsprings of wellbeing for their companions. It was like daycare, except with a hundred thousand acres of wilderness. The pokemon were essentially camping. The entry and exit fees were for satellite tracking, shelter maintenance, and paying the various park nurses and rangers to keep it safe and take care of any illness or injuries should it occur during the pokemon's stay.

This was presently being explained to Lore.
"It's quite sad really, but there's nothing in this system keeping trainers from simply dropping off their pokemon with a fake HoloCaster number- sign here- and address and never coming back for them. Some of the park's wild population have actually been abandoned- sign here too- that's right, thank you- ah, you want to check that little box there. Now where was I?"
The bubbly receptionist tapped her chin, trying to remember what she'd been talking about.
"Yeah, um, that's pretty bad." Lore offered, helpfully, as she put down her pen. "There are worse ways to abandon pokemon, but is'still irresponsible. I hope the pokemon were able to find new family here."

"Riiight?" The receptionist gave the gray-haired trained a complicit, wide-eyed nod, brows cocked for additional emphasis.

Unsure if that had been a rhetorical question, Lore could still not shake off the feeling that the girl was expecting an answer. Between going on a rant about the ethics of abandoning pokemon and simply finishing up with her payment, however, Lore chose the latter. She was quite eager to be off and exploring the town in her last bits of vacation time, herself.

"Welp, looks like that's it, er," -she'd forgotten the person's name already. "-it's been nice talking to you. I'm sure the Mawile Recreational PokePark will take good care of my buds. Be back in a couple weeks!"

Already having parted ways (albeit temporarily) with her three pokemon earlier, Lore gave a weird little salute of goodbye to the lady and headed out.

"Bye then! We hope to See you in Mawile!" She piped the company motto after the traveler cheerfully, waving quickly. Once outside on the streets, Lore had to stop and consider that for a moment, expression turning to amusement. The image conjured wasn't quite pokemon frolicking in the valleys. It was somewhat more gory. Who was coming up with the puns for these businesses?

Suddenly, she heard her name in a voice she'd recognize anywhere, and turned to face a most welcome sight. What were the odds? Then again, nothing could beat the circumstances of their first real meeting, if one were to mention coincidence. "Heyyyy! Lumina!" She brightened up and waved back, enthusiastically jogging towards the other trainer with her arms outstretched for a hug.

"Fancy meeting you here! I just... just dropped off my pokemon there for a vacation of their own." She pointed a thumb backwards, indicating the PokePark's reception building's gate. Upon it were the wood-carved letters of its name, as well as the company's mascot, a Mawile adorned with a flower crown and wielding a mini-sausage stuck on the end of stick. Even to the citizens of this country town, it was unsure where they had been trying to go with such a design.

Stepping back from the hug, Lore felt somehow blinded by Lumina. She was glad to see her, yet her pupils probably went real small, just now. Was it the name? Was her brain classifying this entire person as light because of it? Okay, no, that was dumb. Somewhat disoriented, she blinked back the stars in her vision and proceeded to ask the obvious question.
"And you? What've you been up to?"  

[Lady Mist]

The sudden hug caught Lumina by surprise, but she was quick to (ahem) embrace the opportunity, beaming ear to ear all the while. "We apparently have the strange ability to meet in the most outreached places." She laughed, tingling with unbridled energy, "I was planning on setting Chai up at the daycare, but I actually haven't heard of the--" She tilted her body sideways to peer over Lore's shoulder, "PokePark? Think that'd be better? I don't recall seeing one of those back home." Despite having chosen her vacation destination, she had clearly not done full research of the town. The thought process went more along the lines of: Oh this looks quaint and peaceful. Good enough! She had planned to utilize her observatory habits to learn along the way so as to have it all more of a surprise.

Chai peered curiously forward, giving a quiet trill but otherwise behaving herself. Which was a little weird for the playful ball of energy. Likely tired from bounding all over on the trip over. "I'm here for a vacation of my own, actually! A break from my research. It's just a couple days, but I plan to make the most of it by seeing the sights and eating all the food. How long are you in town for?"  

[Mythee]

Lore chuckled, giving Lumina's observation about their ability to find each other a pleased nod. She turned to look at the Mawile Recreational PokePark's sign when Lumina peered at it, for no particular reason, because she already knew that it was there. Funny how that happens. "It's probably Zatao's first pokepark," she mused. "But they're well-equipped, I like 'em. Hello Chai!" Lore crouched and waved at the Eevee when she heard him trill, smiling.

"Do you remember Donut and Potatobi? I'm sure they would find you soon enough if you go to the park. Potatobi evolved into a Breloom, though." Lumina's companion pokemon hadn't yet met Parn, but Donut was sure to fly over like an annoying old friend- and Potatobi would approach a familiar face out of sheer curiosity. She didn't like loose ends.

A fingerless-gloved hand came to place itself under Lore's chin as she was informed of Lumina's timely vacation. "What a happy coincidence! You're on vacation, I'm on vacation... you're here, I'm here... we're both hungry... y'see what I'm getting at? Not that I'm getting at anything, if you, er, uh, just don't think I'd be getting at anything. Unless I am. You... know what I'm saying?" She'd wanted to be smooth, really she had. But, in the interests of not embarrassing herself, she'd gone from smooth to a rather more gravelled surface in no time flat.  

[Lady Mist]

Chai seemed to have renewed her energy much too abruptly, for she gave another happy trill and bounded about in a circle around Lore's feet, eager to meet her playmates who were most certainly not her victims of boundless energy.

Lumina laughed again, giving a shrug of defeat, "PokePark it is, apparently!" She turned her attention back to the figure before her, still basking in a glow of happy. "Congratulations on your Breloom! That's wonderful. They all have such a great trainer to guide them."

Lore's next words registered in a quick secession of reactions:
Haha, that's awesome that our vacations lined up.
Oh hey, I am pretty hungry now huh.
Wait, were we getting at something specific?
What're we not getting at now?
Are we saying things?

Baffled and intrigued, it took only a few seconds for it to properly register a flush on her cheeks. Not one to shy down, Lumina couldn't help but beam another smile. Lore was a lovely person who she was always curious about, after all. With the subtly and tact of a wailord, she rounded up Lore's fluttering words with, "Say, want to go on a date? I'll get Chai set up at the park and we can scout out the area for food."

It did occur to her that she was being presumptuous, but might as well get it out of the way before she became too invested. Lumina idly realized that she hadn't even noticed the investment taking place, but now that she had identified that foreign feeling, she wanted to approach it head on with confidence! Well, okay, more like false bravado. She didn't realize how nervous she had become after her words. She wanted to keep talking to drown out her nervousness and perhaps prevent Lore from responding, but Chai had leaped onto her shoulder and was gently headbutting her cheek out of eagerness to get to the park.  

[Mythee]

Lady Mist

Lore locked eyes with on Lumina's in frozen shock as she struggled with the words spoken. A d-date! Surely she had meant it just as a manner of speech, and not in the romantic sense. OR DID SHE. The trainer swallowed hard. Better laugh off her nervousness and maintain plausible deniability, in case she had it wrong. "Hahaha, yeah! NICE! Let's." Pumping a fist in enthusiasm, she then swerved to motion dramatically toward the gates of Mawile Recreational Pokepark. "After you then!"  

[Lady Mist]

Oblivious to her presumptuous motion, Lumina grinned and flounced ahead. One PokePark stop later, the watcher was now pokemon-less as Chai bounded merrily off to explore. "Food! Anything you're interested in?" Purple eyes scouted the area, eyeballing the myriad of shops. It had a slight touristy vibe to it, perhaps a side effect of the PokePark? Or were there other monuments to observe here? Curiosity piqued, but the tummy argued otherwise. One thing at a time, then.

"My vote is somewhere with shade." She declared, holding up her pale hands as evidence. "Wasn't the food you had with you on our last chance meeting handmade?" How could any food store compare to cooking prowess such as that! Though Lumina's idea of cooking was pouring a bowl of cereal, so her judgement was likely lacking some.  

[Mythee]

Lady Mist

THE EATING OF FOODSTUFFS! Now this was her element! Lore looked around the shops with excitement in her eyes (and stomach), absorbing information from the shop windows and signs to decide where she'd probably like to go. At Lumina's question, she wondered if this meant she wanted to eat something similar to the hiker's picnic food, and folded her arms pensively.

"Hmm, yea but I don't know if there's anything like that here."
That's when a man and woman dressed in a matching set of brown suits (uniforms, by the looks of it) approached the two visitors, waving hello before the lady spoke.
"Hi! Are you two free and looking for a meal right now?"
Lore looked at Lumina and then back, confused.
"Uh, yea why?"
The man spoke up to explain.
"We work for the recently opened branch of Terra's Torte Resort, which serves our famous Terra Torte!"
-"We're looking for charming couples such as yourselves to shoot a series of promotional images. In return, you'll get a free meal with us!"

Charming... couples... as nice as it was to be called charming, and as funny as it was to be seen as a couple, Lore shot a look at Lumina that was full of determination. The flame of free food was burning passionately in her eyes.

"That'd be cool with me, what about you, love?"
That's right.
Couple or not, free famous torte sounded pretty good right now.