Welcome to Gaia! ::

He remembered the work expected of trainees. It was tiring, horribly so, and generally went on longer than the sunlight. For the sake of allowing Alba some peace and quiet, Lucas had taken his guitar practice out of the room, finding a relatively out-of-the way corridor warmed by the mercy of a few windows and seating himself against the wall with the instrument in his lap. Merry was curled up atop a small stack of tabs at her human's side as though she were a living paperweight, and a Charmander kept himself out of trouble by gazing through the nearest window. The two listened, lulled into a dreamlike state by the music that surrounded them. Lucas had become quite skilled with the guitar since he had first purchased one on arriving in Kodo, and he was far from perfection, he played with a true love for the art. Finishing his current recital, he tugged a new piece from the pile Merry inadvertently guarded and began anew.

"Hm?" Lucas's hands paused when he noticed the Pikachu approach him and seat itself. It had an interesting coloration, he observed. He resumed his song when he became aware of the interested way in which it stared at his guitar. "Hey there, buddy. You like music?"

The Charmander, at his human's voice, turned and noticed the Pikachu. His large eyes wandered further down the hall until he spotted the indication of a woman just around the corner. "Char!" He dropped to all fours and started towards her, excited at the opportunity to meet more humans.

"Snow, stay put," Lucas commanded, the warmth with which he addressed the Pikachu gone from his voice. The addressed froze in place, seating itself and casting a sad glance over its shoulder. He turned back towards the woman with a wistful expression. Why was his trainer always so stern...?

Lucas laughed as the Pikachu waved its little arms. "Right, right," he agreed, completely unsure of what it was talking about but amused nonetheless. He looked up when he heard the sound of nearing footsteps and smiled in greeting. "No need to apologize. Energetic little guy, this one." Her human's voice woke Merry, and she was at his shoulder in an instant, deeply distraught that she had allowed her charged to be approached by an unknown pokemon and human without her knowledge. Lucas tilted his head toward her slightly to assure her that all was well. "Name's Lucas. A pleasure to- Snow!"

The Charmander had crept over to Claire to sniff at her boot, and he flinched at sudden shout. He turned and retreated back to his previous post beside the window.

Noting the Pikachu's expectant expression, Lucas began to strum idly at the guitar. He eyed Snow warily, the Charmander returning the gaze with his own doleful rendition, before returning his attention to the guitar and the tabs he had laid out in front of himself.

Snow perked up at the offered hand, moving over to the woman and nuzzling his snout into her palm with a happy little "char!" His flaming tail waved back and forth amiably, but Lucas continued to regard him with suspicion out of the corner of his eye. "Don't trouble her, Snow," he warned.

Snow started to shake his head 'no,' then stopped and looked back at his human in mild confusion. He wasn't a trouble-maker, right? He was a good boy, right?

Lucas's brow furrowed in thought. "He's not-- I mean..." Why was that such a hard question to answer? Fortunately Zeus provided for a convenient change of topic. "You wanna give it a try, pal?" Lucas offered, removing his hand from the strings and shifting the guitar so the Pikachu could reach. "Just be careful not to scratch it, all right?"

Snow's tail drooped slightly. It didn't seem as though he would be getting any praise...

Lucas couldn't help but laugh at Zeus's reaction. He watched in sheer amusement as the Pikachu plucked away. "Bet you could be a regular Jimi Hendrix if you practiced enough," he encouraged. Not that expected the pokemon to know who Jimi Hendrix was, but hey, it was a nice sentiment at least.

Snow wiggled his tail happily, a bright smile on his face. He hadn't been expecting the approval, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise.

The waving flame of the Charmander's tail caught Lucas's eye, and though the smile faltered for a moment, he said nothing.

"Aha, sorry..." Lucas offered an apologetic wave of his hand at Zeus before returning the guitar to his lap. "Gotta admire his enthusiasm, though, right?" A guitar-playing Pikachu would probably hit it big in no time flat, he considered idly as he leaned forward slightly to glance at his tabs. The tiny little paws would probably be a huge hindrance in learning to play, though...

"Just these two," he said, nodding towards the Chimecho on his shoulder. "Merry was assigned to me when I joined in. She's been with me for, jeez... almost thirty years." A quiet jingle from Lucas's shoulder affirmed his estimate. "Snow's a recent addition." The Charmander, who had taken up a place beside Claire to maximize the pettings, blinked at mention of his name.

"Is that the only reason?" He turned to the Pikachu in mock surprise. "Come on, guy, your trainer's counting on you! You don't wanna get stronger for her sake?" It was a motivational speech given in jest, though, and he hardly expected the pokemon to take it seriously.

Lucas nodded as Claire named her pokemon, absently repeating the same phrase on his guitar in an effort to minimize errors. He hit a terribly sour note as his company's question called to light the horrible error he had made. He fumbled with a recovery, "Ah, well, I mean--" s**t. "...Yes?" Nice save, Lucas.