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 Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 7:25 pm
The days were cooling off a little too quickly for Citrine. Soon it would be getting to cold to run around in shorts and she didn't like the idea of having to bundle up like a marshmallow in the cold.
With a shake of her head, she banished the thought. It was still warm today, and it might be the last day she would get to have a picnic before the cold season set in. She wasn't the only person who thought that way apparently. The park was PACKED. And here, Citrine thought Ambergris would have been pretty empty. It seemed like such a backwater place to be.
Oh well. She had a basket on one arm packed with goodies she had bought and- what was that? There was an empty table! Good, because Citrine hadn't brought a blanket to sit in the grass. She skipped over to the table. She had to get it before someone else did! And she set the basket down.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 7:54 pm
It was the perfect day for a day off. A cloudless sky, a cool breeze, and the rest of her day all to herself, Aila felt it would be prudent to utilize this rare treasure for some genuine relaxation. Normally she would have defaulted to Camphoreon, but on recalling her visit to Ambergris with Faleen, she decided she would investigate the town's daytime appearance, perhaps locating a park and enjoying a small picnic in the early autumn sunshine.
The residents of Ambergris had other plans, however. The town was inhabited only by a small population of stubborn individuals, and so the parks too were much smaller than those of Camphoreon and other cities, but each of the tables there was occupied by some couple or family. Except that one! She started towards it only for a small girl - smaller than herself, even - to scamper over to it and stake her claim at the last minute.
Aila frowned.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:12 pm
Citrine was about to open her basket when she saw another girl a few steps away from her. She looked about her age- she thought. So she waved at her. "Hi there. I'm sorry, did you want this table too?" She half gestured to it. "I uh... Well, I obviously can't take up the whole table by myself. Would you like to join me?" She asked hopefully. This was her first time to Ambergris, and she wanted it to be pleasant. And hopefully not make the towns folks mad at her. So inviting this girl to join her seemed like a good plan, yes indeed.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:25 pm
She would have preferred not to accept the invitation. She really, truly, genuinely, and with all her heart would have liked to just walk away - maybe seek out a different park or commandeer a chair at an open-air cafe's seating arrangement - but even Aila was beginning to understand just how poorly she performed in social situations, and she felt it might be a good idea to practice with this girl whom she was likely to never see again.
"If I may be so forward--" She stopped herself. This was also an excellent opportunity to practice speaking outside of the formal speech the people around her seemed to dislike so passionately. "I mean... Sure."
She moved to take a seat at the opposite side of the opposite end of the table, her face flushing red in embarrassment at having used such a graceless word. How did people say such things so naturally, so nonchalantly?
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:34 pm
Citrine smiled wildly at the girl. "I hope you don't mind if I let my pokemon out. I wanted to have a picnic with them because they've been working so hard for me lately." She was just about to take her seat when she stopped and extended her hand. "My name is Citrine."
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:42 pm
"Yes, that would be... fine," Aila agreed. Oh, it really was difficult to use such casual words... She gave a passing thought to her own pokemon before deciding against it. Fleur's eating habits were deplorable, and Revenant... Well, she was Revenant. The girl rose slightly to accept and return the handshake, questioning how to introduce herself as Citrine gave her own name. Should she use a pseudonym or simply bank on not being the only Aila in the world? She had no time to decide on a false name before the time came to give her own, however, and so was forced to default to the latter, "And I am Aila. A pleasure to meet you."
Wait, that was wrong, wasn't it? How did people usually introduce themselves...
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 9:21 pm
"The pleasure's all mine!" She replied, giving Aila's hand an eager, but dainty shake. "Aila's a really pretty name." She finally sat down and opened up her picnic basket and took out a few neatly made sandwiches and a couple cans of fruit juice. With the few items placed on the table, she moved the basket to the ground and unclipped a couple pokeballs from her belt. "Please allow me to introduce Nornsteen and Bingo to you." The white haunter, upon being released spotted Aila and reached out to try and give the girl a hug. "Nornsteen!" She tried to stop her before the ghost wrapped her dismembered hands around Aila in a hug.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 9:47 pm
Aila had little time to react before the Haunter was upon her. Such a boorish display of affection, and towards a stranger! She was offended less by the gesture itself and more by its timing, but it would be unbecoming to offer such a critique. The girl refrained, instead sitting with her elbows drawn tight against her body, her forearms raised defensively and a sour expression on her face. She could find no words to facilitate her breaking free, and so she sat there, as if petrified, and looked to either the Haunter's trainer or the blue Pidgey for some semblance of assistance.
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:08 pm
Citrine was on her feet as fast as she could be as she scolded the haunter who very quickly let go and looked sheepishly apologetic.
"Haunter haunt haunt." she looked down at the grass as she floated back, then looked up at Aila again and offered her ghostly hand to Aila. "Haunt?" She tried to make up for her social faux pas.
"I'm really really sorry about that. Nornsteen... she really likes to hug people when she meets them." She shot the haunter a glare, remembering when, as a gastly, Nornsteen practically suffocated her. "Are you alright?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:34 am
"I am-- I'm fine." Cautiously she extended her own hand to accept the gesture. "I've had similar experiences with disobedience from my own pokemon." She turned her slightly in thought. "Perhaps 'disobedience' is not a proper description, actually... An over-eagerness? An absence of common etiquette? Ah, please excuse me; I am merely thinking aloud." Aloud and in the formal speech to which she was so accustomed. Aila berated herself internally.
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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:33 pm
Citrine smiled warmly. "I don't think it is disobediance. But just the personality. Nornsteen gets lonely pretty easily. I think that's why she tries to make everyone feel loved and happy when she meets them." Nornsteen bobbed her head as she was shaking Aila's hand. When the ghost let go and settled back beside Citrine and the pidgy, Bingo, Citrine looked at Aila's basket. "What kind of food did you bring?" She asked curiously.
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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:51 pm
"Hmm..." Aila considered the words quietly. Personality certainly had a fair bit to do with it, actually. It would behoove her, she decided, to make more of an attempt to learn about Revenant before judging her so harshly.
The sudden question redirected her attention, and she sifted through her basket to remind herself of the answer, "Little of interest... Ah - I mean, nothing special. A pasta salad, I believe." She drew the named tupperware container out and cracked the lid. It was indeed pasta salad. The premise was vaguely exciting, actually.
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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:18 pm
Citrine smiled. "Pasta salad is pretty good. It beats convenience store sandwiches." She giggled, poking at the wrapped sandwiches she had. "Aila, you always seem to restart your sentences. Why is that?" She asked. The girl had done it several times now.
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:14 am
She sifted around in search of the silverware she had packed, freezing at the question. She had hoped it wasn't noticeable. Perhaps that had been a bit much to wish for. Aila hesitated momentarily, weighing the pros and cons of speaking frankly against lying or pretending she had no idea what Citrine meant. She decided the latter would be wholly unbecoming and the former would present little harm.
"I was raised to speak with a degree of formality. Because of this, there are those who have accused me of being snobbish or having a 'fancy act.' I thought that perhaps I should practice speaking more casually to quell the animosity harbored against me by these individuals." A pause as she evaluated what she had just said. "It is more difficult than I had imagined..."
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:13 am
Citrine idly scratched her cheek as she listened to Aila. "I think that's nice that you speak like that. It's so different." she gave Aila a warm smile. "Though I can see how people might take it as condescending if you use "fancy" words or try talking down to them. No one wants to be talked to as if the other person is better than them. I think some people, probably a lot of adults, would feel that if you had a nice upbringing, then you're talking to them like you're better off than them." She shrugged. The idea of grownups being threatened by a child of a higher class kind of amused her.
"Well, at least you're trying. And if nothing else, people should be proud of you for making an effort. Though in a way it's not totally fair to you because they want you to change who you are..." She had to think about it a moment more. "But maybe as you get comfortable around people, your speech will become more casual. Or they'll all start to appreciate how you speak normally." It seemed logical to her at least.
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