Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
After the eventful day of speed-dating she'd had, Faolan decided it was probably best to wind down and so confined herself to within the pokecenter hostel for some time. There was only so much socializing she could do before it became physically draining, after all; part of the reason why she'd disliked attending all the fancy parties her mother had thrown when she was still in Galar. Conversation was tiring when it revolved around the same few topics ("her husband's cheating on her with another man", "that dress is so five years ago", "stocks") and eventually she'd been worn down so much that most any conversation tended to drain her. Especially with strangers, that was just a little too much socializing for her.
Well, she thought, remembering the big bear of a man she'd started her speed dating out with. Perhaps not all of it was bad.
By the third day she felt recharged enough to actually get out and enjoy some air, and found herself navigating to the nearest coffee shop with three newly-acquired eggs, one of which she gave to Fembra to hold. Fembra and her newly-christened Reddy - since he was always ready to go - made sure to barge in first to the coffee shop and immediately went to occupy a corner of the cozy store all by themselves while Faolan went to place an order. Thankfully, there were few people there, so the pokemon could set up and get comfortable without disturbing too many people.
By the time Faolan had come over with three cups of steaming liquid - a coffee for herself and hot chocolates for each of her pokemon - they had acquired a few cushions from the nearby chairs and had made sure to set them up beside each other so Fembra's egg could rest on it. Faolan carefully set down her bag, making sure not to jostle the two eggs that were inside, and set the individual cups on the table in front of her pokemon to drink. After realizing that Torchic didn't have arms, or wings, Fembra was patient enough to help tilt the cup so the bird could drink it down in one go.
As Faolan turned to crowd-watch and take a sip of her coffee she realized belatedly that it was hot chocolate. By the time she turned around to figure out which of her pokemon had the coffee, Reddy was already gone. The caffeinated bird ran out, weaving and bobbing between the few customers in wide, frantic circles, before running straight towards the entrance and --
-- SMACK.
Faolan should be more concerned, really, but she caught sight of blond hair, tanned skin and a giant of a man and realized with a jolt that Lionel had just walked back into her life. What were the chances?
When those speed-dates were done, Lionel was left rather drained. He'd just come off of the ferry earlier that morning, and meeting so many people was... hard. So, he'd hid away in a hotel room himself - thought not within the confines of a PokeCenter, because that'd have been too easy. No, he stayed in one of those fancy ones, with free breakfast and comfy sheets, because, look.
Sometimes, you gotta treat yourself.
And sometimes, there's no better way to do that than get a coffee. While the woman behind the counter clearly thought he was going to order something rugged, like a black coffee, he instead, sheepishly, points out the sweetest thing on the menu, as well as a puppacino (for Samson, who sat contentedly by his side, just one of those little cups of whipped cream.) Surprised she may be, she fills the sugary-caramel-disaster and hands it off - and Lionel's kind enough to leave a tip in the jar as he goes.
Turning around, he's about three sips into his drink when he catches sight of vaguely familiar hair, though it's lost in the crowd and he reprimands himself for being so foolish. Looking down to Samson, the Growlithe wearing a satchel with space for eggs (there's a few in it and everything,) he leans down to hold the cup of cream out to him, letting the puppy Pokemon lap it up happily.
It's then that that Torchic - an absurdly large Torchic no less, comes skittering through the crowd at such a speed that it slams directly into Lionel's legs. "Oh!" By the way it jittered, it seems like.. it's had coffee? Oh, jeez. Staring at it, Lionel looks about in wonder as to whose it was, and is answered pretty quickly with the fact that it was, indeed, Faolan who seemed aghast that her Torchic was wreaking some kind of havoc. Despite the awkwardness of the moment, he can't deny himself the smile that crosses his features.
Straightening his posture out, as Samson gives Reddy a few good sniffs.
"This your little guy?" He asks, pointing to the vibrating bird.
Fembra, who'd seemed to take on the role of honorary caretaker to Reddy, is already running forward with concerned "chaaaar"s as Faolan sits back in her seat and sighs enough it ruffles her bangs a little. As pleased as she is to see Lionel again, she hopes that the Torchic hadn't done too much damage to him and watches as Fembra drags the bird back to their corner by its little leg. The brief caffeine high Torchic had experienced seemed to have already ended in a crash, and it let itself be dragged across the floor limply; perhaps it secretly enjoyed being fussed over.
Once both her pokemon were back at her side she turns her gaze toward Lionel and the Growlithe beside him. He had said he was a former police officer, hadn't he? Somehow she's not surprised he's got a Growlithe as his partner, and she looks from it to him with a knowing smile.
"I suppose I should have taken you more seriously when you said you'd try to catch my eye somewhere." Fembra struggles to get Torchic back up onto the seat beside her; the bird has gone completely dead weight and its head flops about from side to side, eyes wide open and watching her. This is all clearly just a game to him. Faolan eases the Charmander's burden and reaches down to pick the bird up, and once she's got him in her hold he immediately starts kicking his little legs like he wants to be put down again. When she does set him back down on the floor he immediately goes limp as a poke doll again and rolls his head under the table. Well then.
"... But I hadn't expected it'd be so soon. Yes, Reddy's mine." She gestures to the pair of little bird feet sticking out from under the table. "And so is Fembra here." Fembra, suddenly shy in the face of a strange giant man and his giant Growlithe, tries to focus all her attention on the eggs beside them.
"And I can only assume that happy puppy beside you is your partner?" She looks at the puppy with interest, and her gaze slides back to Lionel after a moment. "It's nice to see you again."
Over comes that Charmander, dragging the limp noodle of a Torchic away by its leg, and Lionel doesn't think he's seen a more comical act unfold before him in his entire life, especially as it both throws a fit over being held and lays limp upon the floor as if it'd expended all its energy through its short little legs. It was not unlike a child in its behavior, and it takes the former officer only a few moments to reckon it'd probably gotten its beak into a cup of coffee. Or two. Who knew.
"To be fair, I didn't think it'd be so easy to do it. It's like I didn't even have to try." Lionel quips in amusement, his eyes moving from the fool of a Torchic back to the woman. In contrast to his appearance at the event, he was far more casual, wearing a flannel long-sleeve, unbuttoned, a t-shirt beneath that. He appeared a bit more like a mountain man than anything, something added to by the fact he hadn't shaved since their last met; he scratches at the growing beard, before moving to point at an empty chair adjacent to her, as if questioning if it was available or not.
Looking down to Samson, who stayed hot on his heels through it all, though careful not to bump into any bystanders for the sake of the eggs, he smiles. "Ah, yeah. He was a gift from the precinct I worked in when I came out here. Nephew or some such of the mother of my last partner Pokemon," he seems to be connecting the dots in his mind, before shrugging, "All in all, yes. I've a Houndour, too, but she was being a bit fussy today."
A moment passes, as his brain catches up to what she said last, before he'd rambled, and he smiles wide, and rather happy.
"Yeah, it's, uh, it's a pleasant surprise. How're you?"
"I'm doing good," She answers, gently nudging the chair out with her foot. Fembra hops down and helps pull it out further, helpful at least in being a host to the giant man, before returning to gaze at the eggs, all of which have started to twitch subtly with movement inside.
This didn't escape Faolan's notice, but she trusted her Charmander to look after them especially with Torchic momentarily out of commission. She thought she could even hear faint snores from where the pokemon was laying on the floor under her. Go figure. "You look a lot more comfortable than before. Is that what I should expect everytime I see you?" Because she had a feeling this might not be the last time they saw each other, especially if they ran into one another so soon after their date.
Running a finger over the rim of her cup, she gazes up at him in mild amusement. "So how did the rest of your dates go that day? Take anyone home or get any numbers?"
As Faolan and Fembra work in tandem to pull the chair out, Lionel responds by slowly lowering himself into the seat, sighing out as he does so. Patting his leg briefly, he's distracted with rubbing at his thigh, before his attention inevitably finds itself back upon the girl. "I'd reckon when I'm not so out of my element, yeah, you'll see me looking better. I'm really not sure why I went, truth be told, but..."
Vaguely, he gestures in her direction, as his other hand moves to swipe his coffee up where he'd set it upon the table. "I met you, so it wasn't so bad." A few moments more pass, and the man clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth, sounding almost shy. "Not really. Closest I got was you saying maybe we'd see each other again, and," he makes another vague motion, "Here you are."
"Not that it's so bad. Took it more like a chance to meet people rather than actually expect anything out of it - lot less disappointment that way. Not sure my mom'd agree, but, whatever works, right?" Samson nudges his snout into Lionel's palm as it lowers against the table, turning his attention to his eggs, which, too, had begun to wriggle and shake in their pouches.
He makes a note to say, "I guess we've got a few guests who wanted to join us, too."
Faolan chooses at that moment to take a sip of the leftover hot chocolate in order to hide the smile that she can't seem to get rid of. Lionel is refreshingly honest, and awkward, and it's something that she finds herself enjoying the longer she spends in his company. Again she finds herself surprised by how small he can make himself seem just by being himself, and it's more endearing than ever.
"I'm sure you'd look even better behind closed doors, but I might be biased. Are you staying in the city, then?"
She's about to make a comment on the veritable lack of disappointment on her end when he takes note of his own eggs, and she turns her attention to Fembra to see how she's doing. Out of one of the eggs comes a Swirlix, its tongue flopping this way and that as it immediately shies away from Fembra and, actually, the entire world as a whole. Faolan relegates that little one to a pokeball so it can save face and it lets out a grateful sound as it disappears in a flash of light.
The second is one she's more familiar with, having seen several Farfetch'd in Galar and their second forms. The bird emerges holding a leek and Torchic immediately springs to life and clamps down on one end with its tiny beak. An impromptu tug of war starts up as the two yank back and forth until eventually Farfetch'd yanks the leek violently back and Torchic rolls back onto the floor like a bowling ball. The one-browed bird gives a huff of indignation and Faolan tucks that one away into another pokeball, too.
The third is... an interesting specimen. It's basically a rock with feet, and a soulless hole indented in its middle. She's only seen a handful of Roggenrola in Galar, and this one was far larger than the ones she'd encountered in person. It didn't say anything, just swayed back and forth where it sat, and after a moment's hesitation she decided to tuck it away as well. Didn't need Reddy getting any ideas about sticking things into its mouth.
Speaking of Reddy... She turns to where she'd seen him bowl over and isn't all that surprised to see that he's gone, again. When she searches around the table she discovers he's returned to his spot tucked under it, only he's lying flat on his stomach and got his little bird feet stretched out behind him. With a soft sigh, she turns her attention back to Lionel to see how he and the eggs are hatching.
Her question prompts a nod, though he shrugs lightly. "For a bit, yeah. I stay in Plum right now, since it's so similar to New Tork; guess I didn't want to move too far from home after all." Adjusting his position in his seat, he seems to have had something else to say, but he gets distracted by the sounds nearby, as Fembra worked to care for the hatching eggs.
With all the curiosity of a child in school, Lionel watches as Faolan's eggs start to crack and open themselves, revealing to the world a small bounty of young Pokemon - each one more interesting than the last. The Swirlix is cute, and apparently shy - where the Farfetch'd isn't afraid to start a fight with Reddy, the coffee-addled Torchic, and the final... a Roggenrola. "Interesting Pokemon, that. We've got lots of them back home in Unova. They're really tough, like.. tough as steel."
Leaning back, he says, "Suits you, I think." Nodding, as if sure of himself, he looks back down to Samson, who's nudging his snout against the bobbling head of a young Toxel - where the other egg, a shiny, silver thing, simply sports hairline fractures, but has quieted down. It looks like it isn't ready yet. Toxel doesn't seem to quite enjoy the sensation of having someone's wet nose rubbed onto it, but doesn't otherwise react, simply frowning lightly.
Lionel seems pleased though, letting a rough hand come down to slightly rub at one of his horns. "Nice to meet you, little fella. I'm sure you'll fit right in with us." The Toxel starts at first, but then rubs his head against the hand, prompting Lionel to smile. He looks back to Faolan then, questioning, "Neat, that we both hatched our eggs at the same time."
"Is it? I haven't quite made my way up there yet. Is that where you've got your home base?" She inquires, before Torchic's squawking is accompanied by a squealing noise she hadn't heard before. Glancing into her bag again she realizes that there had been another compartment for a fourth egg, one which she'd completely forgotten about when she'd seen Lionel. She ducks her head under the table and finds Reddy trying to chew on the tail of a Stufful that was currently beating on his large head with a paw to try and get him away.
Reaching down, she picks the Stufful up out of Torchic's grasping beak and holds him up in one arm, the other plucking a pokeball out and holding it out to her naughty bird. As soon as he sees it Reddy deflates noticeably and rolls over onto the floor, stretching his body long in a sulking manner and looking up at Faolan with the most pathetic expression on his face. With a sly smile, she turns to look at Lionel just in time to see his Growlithe interact with the newly-hatched Toxel. She's a little surprised to see a Galar pokemon this far out - how did it even get here? - but seeing it with Lionel seemed fitting. The evolved form of it even more so, depending on its nature.
She looks at the Stufful in her arms who even now was peering warily about the small shop as though expecting another Reddy to come out of nowhere and go for its tail. This one wasn't particularly suited to her; she didn't doubt its battle prowess, but it was pink and more like a stuffed animal than a pokemon. Like a stuffed bear... Come to think of it, she'd seen enough Stufful to know what they evolved into, and ... well actually, they reminded her a lot like Lionel. If somehow this was the last time they saw each other, it would be nice to leave him with a memento of her, right?
... and besides, the mental image of him standing next to a Bewear was too endearing to pass up.
"I think you should have this one," She says, lifting the Stufful up and setting it on the table. It looks first at Lionel, then at her, questioning... but not entirely against getting away from the crazy Torchic, who's turned eyes up at the interaction going on above his head. Hungry eyes, tail-searching eyes.
A moment passes and she continues, a little teasing, "It reminds me of you. Think of it as... something to remember me by, if this ends up being the last time we see each other."
Last Edit: Feb 15, 2020 12:25:48 GMT by Faolan Byrne
"Home base," Lionel chuckles, almost turning into a full laugh - but he contains it, instead just smiling and humming in amusement for a moment, "Yeah, yeah. That's where my home base is." He wasn't quite sure why he found it an adorable question, but he did, and it keeps the smile on his features for as long as it takes them both to realize there was an unanticipated guest. The upset squealing of the Stufful has him leaning over, catching sight of its furry tail locked in the chompy-beak of that caffeine-addled Torchic. Oh dear.
Luckily, Faolan gets the thing out of Reddy's grasp, setting the poor Pokemon upon the table where it seems happy, relieved even, to be free of the stress it'd endured upon open entering the new world - and Lionel reaches out to greet it, rubbing a curled index finger against its jaw. He's distracted, though, with Faolan suggesting that he take the Stufful.
Admittedly, it was pretty different from his usual fare - cute and fluffy as it was, but he knew it to be a formidable opponent if raised properly and... then she says it, that it reminds her of him. Staring at the thing, he releases a huff of a laugh and nods. "... Yeah, alright, I can take her. She's pretty cute, after all."
Was he turning red? It seemed a faint pink dusted beneath that tan skin as he reaches out to draw the Stufful in closer, who, at first, wriggles and complains, batting at the man's face, before it realizes he's simply resting her against his chest - at which point, she relaxes considerably, curling that furry tail around his arm.
"I'm sure we'll see each other again." A pause, and he suggests, "I mean, why don't we, uh, guarantee it? We can... exchange those numbers you keep talking about, maybe." He looks bashful again, his ears feeling warm as he looks away from Faolan, and back down to the Stufful. So distracted is he by the moment, that he barely seems to notice the egg crackling open at his side, Samson looking almost nervous.
Faolan's pleased that Lionel looks ready to give the new girl a home, and even reaches out to mimic his earlier movements of stroking the Stufful under her chin. But before she can his next words make her pause, and look up at him, a curious expression on her face that shifts into mild surprise. Even moreso when she realizes that he's outright asking for her number but he's not being gross about it, just that same shy, bashful man she'd met during speed-dating.
There's a number of different ways she can handle this. She could turn him down, say that he was too old, or that she wasn't looking for anything like what it seemed he was offering (but even then maybe she's looking too much into it; friends exchange numbers all the time, right?) but then... she didn't want to turn him down. Maybe he did just want to make friends. Maybe she was overthinking things. But she had been flirting pretty hard last time to try and lighten up the mood, and he'd responded in kind, so...
Fembra lets out a soft "chaaa" from where she's standing looking at the egg cracking open beside the pair, her eyes following the zigzagging cracks over its surface with curiosity. Faolan doesn't think about the implications of not responding to his request and instead focuses her attention on the egg gratefully, thankful for the distraction.
With his attention turning toward the Stufful to save face and embarrassment, he rubs the Pokemon atop her head, and his thumb against the velvety fur of one of her ears. "You're pretty soft, huh?" Drawing his fingers against the small Pokemon's side, his hand finds her tail, and he pats it a few times. "Puff. Puff's a good name, I think."
Nodding to himself, he makes a name for the Toxel in his head, and just as he tunes back into the moment - or the fact that Faolan had yet to respond to his suggestion that they exchange numbers - he's distracted again by Fembra calling attention to the last egg. What hatches from the egg is a quickly growing figure, that ends up a huge, shiny bird - a Skarmory. "Oh, I-- I wasn't expecting it to be that big." Reaching into his pocket, he finds some of his extra Pokeballs, drawing both Toxel and Skarmory into them for the time being - and leaving Samson (perhaps expected,) and the newly christened Puff behind.
Samson, for his part, seems interested in Fembra now, closing a little distance between them now that the eggs were all taken care of, sniffing awfully close to her face. The whole while, his tail wags; maybe he wants to be friends.
"Uh, sorry - if that was too forward, the number thing." He mentions, scratching at his chin - only for Puff to start smacking her paws at his hand playfully. "Don't worry about it, even." He felt rather foolish now that he thought about it; not only had she seemed thrown off by the question, but she hadn't even answered. What else could he think, other than that it was probably a stupid question? He was probably stupid, actually.
Faolan's attention is drawn to the slowly growing shape of the emerging bird with wonder, and when it takes shape into something familiar she hums in recognition. They weren't native to her region, but she'd seen enough of them on television and online to know the basic facts about them. Type weaknesses, strengths, things like that in case she ever came across one during the gym challenge in Arciel. Lionel's comment does make her laugh a bit tho; if he was that surprised over the Skarmory, what would his reaction be like to "Puff" when it inevitably evolved?
Once it's tucked away, they can return to the question he'd asked previously, and she does so while turning her now cold hot chocolate around in her hands. It's an obvious nervous habit, but her face does a good enough job at not betraying the turmoil of feelings going on beneath her cool facade. His apology does prompt some reaction in the form of her eyes flicking back up to his and a shake of her head. It's some time more before she speaks, and her gaze is fixated on Fembra and Samson interacting with each other beside them, Reddy pushing himself out from under the table inch worm style to intrude like an obnoxious child.
"It's not," She interjects, and there's such earnestness in her tone that it would be hard to believe she was anything but. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot. But..." And her trailing off is probably telling before she even continues, the look in her eyes probably the first real hint of shyness she's shown since they've met. This is new to her, in a lot of different ways. Would he be able to pick up on that at all? And if he did... would it make him reconsider? She could tell him the truth - but despite having known this man for all of what, a day or two? She's convinced it might make him change his mind. That's how it went back in Galar, at least, anytime any girl showed any kind of interest in a boy back home. It was a game she wasn't really equipped to play and, besides that, one she didn't really want to play in the first place. "..I'm a terrible texter," She eventually settles with as an explanation.
In truth, Lionel just hadn't been around too many infantile, so to speak, Pokemon in a long time - or, ever, now that he thought about it - and while he knew Skarmory to be a large bird, he hadn't quite expected it to grow that large all at once, least of all amidst a coffee shop. Clearing his throat, he finally gives up on trying to keep Puff from pawing at his face, and she instead climbs up atop his shoulder, flopping over it so she could pat her paws against his back slowly, watching the people come and go behind them, her tail occasionally thwacking the man in the face.
Faolan's laugh seems to confuse him, but he wears a faint smile in response, the curious sort, as if to ask 'what's so funny?' Though, he doesn't in the end, because the topic's back on texting and how it was probably a mistake he even asked for her number and -- and she says she'd like that, a response that draws his brows up high upon his face. "A bad texter?" It's his turn to laugh then, a deep, handsome sound that stops only as he shakes his head. "No, my mom's a bad texter. I'm sure you're fine; but, uh... I wouldn't want to put you in an uncomfortable spot."
All the same, he leans in, lacing his fingers together over the tabletop as he seems rather interested in her; partially he wonders if he ought to back off, but he wasn't so good at this anymore, either. He'd had a few flings the past few years, but... nothing concrete. She didn't strike him as the flinging type, though, and he didn't really want her to be.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a small sticky-note pad, which is kind of amusing to know he carries with him, but... well, everyone's got their quirks, right? Scribbling out his phone number upon it, he reaches across the table to take one of Faolan's hand in his, the other holding the note to smooth it out upon her skin so it stuck to her. "There. That way you can say hi if you want. But I wouldn't hold it against you, I am kinda old and boring."
It strikes her, again, just how nice he is, and she knows in that moment that she doesn't have to worry about trusting him. There's all those movies about bad cops and all that, but Lionel doesn't seem like that sort of person at all; despite his size, he's really just a big, endearing bear (or lion) of a man. He's a good guy. It looks a lot like he means what he says, a far cry from the other men she'd ever encountered in her life and he's honest about it, on top of that.
With Reddy now trying to perform the odd feat of trying to touch both Fembra and Samson with his head and feet, respectively, Faolan draws her hand back to look at the note stuck to her skin and the number written on there. "Well... I'm not so sure about old, but you're certainly not boring," She eventually says, tone shifting from uncertainty to teasing in increments. Slipping her phone out, she thumbs through it casually with the ease of someone who's had it glued to their hand for most of their life and inputs the number he's given her.
Should he have his phone set to sound alerts for text messages, he'd receive a text from an unknown number - her number - with 'hi' contained within. Faolan goes back to drinking her hot chocolate, composure completely calm as she slides her phone shut. It's cold, but she doesn't mind. There's a lot of things she doesn't particularly mind at this exact moment.
Reddy's feet manage to crawl their way into Samson's snout; with great restraint and a strong disposition does he keep himself from munching on him, though the furrow of his brow suggests he's thinking very hard about it. The Growlithe snorts and all but spits the bird's toesies out of his mouth, taking a few steps back and plopping his fluffy butt right onto the floor, staring almost indignantly at the little bird (or, huge bird, considering.)
Lionel lets out a faint laugh despite himself as she says she couldn't absolve him of old age, but takes her phone out to put her number in all the same. It eases him, that maybe she didn't think him too old - though there were likely plenty who'd argue that he was. Thirty-eight wasn't old old, but it was enough to make someone think twice - even he would. So, should he even be pursuing this?
... But he liked her, he found. He'd be plenty content to remain her friend, should she deem it so, but... as she puts her number in and sends him that simple, little hello, he feels pretty content in the thought that he wouldn't mind taking her on an actual date. An actual one! Was he old fashioned? Did she even go on dates?
Was he getting ahead of himself? He responds to her text with a short and sweet smiley face, though it has a nose, which is probably because he wanted to make it more personable and clearly missed the memo that that was an odd thing to do to a smiley face. Nobody wanted those things to have noses.
"Yeah? I guess I can look forward to some fun training, then. Never did have much of it, at least, not since I was a kid." Tucking his phone into a pocket of his vest, he looks awfully happy, with a smile spread across his stubbled face, far too honest to ever be a liar; it just might make sense why he picked law enforcement to go into. One of those guys that actually, truly wanted to do right by people, why wouldn't he?
"I dunno, do you think puzzles are boring? I kind of like them."
The chime on her phone makes her a little more excited than she thought it would, even though she'd been sitting right there when Lionel had typed it out. And he looks so happy, with the biggest grin on his face that she can't help but feel was because of her. Is that too arrogant of her to say? Regardless... it makes her shift a little in her seat, a combination of nerves and a little joy and also the fact that he's quite attractive, even now when he's beaming at her from across a table that simultaneously seems too big and too small between them.
As she checks her phone to catch the smiley faced emoji plus nose, she also catches sight of Samson spitting Torchic's toesies out of his mouth and the bird moving to do it again. She makes a clicking noise to get the bird's attention and raises an eyebrow at him and, sulking, the bird inchworms back under the table to start chewing on the legs of her chair instead. Not the best thing, but it got him out of the way for a bit; at least until he's turning so he can prop his feet up on her knees instead, wanting to be vertical for some strange, bizarre reason. Fembra looks a little relieved that the bird is under some kind of control, and goes back to making bashful eyes at Samson, though her confidence is quickly growing the longer they spend talking.
"You didn't have much what? Training?" Her attention returns to the matter at hand and she laces her fingers together, propping her chin atop them and gazing at Lionel in interest. Her gaze wanders for a bit, taking in his bulk, the broadness of his shoulders and just how... big he is before continuing. "So you were an unruly child or were you just... naturally gifted? You should count yourself lucky," She says, offering him a bit of a half-smile. "My days were filled with a lot of lessons on a lot of things I didn't much care about. Hair, makeup, the right way to hold a conversation. I'm glad to be free of them, all the way out here."
And then she realizes that she may have said a little too much, and her demeanor changes to something more guarded, more withdrawn; her hands unfold and she leans back in her chair, like she's trying to grow the distance between them, her eyes finding the cafe counter suddenly rather interesting.
"... I do like puzzles." She says, eventually. "They keep things interesting - keeps your mind fresh and sharp."
"No, no, uh... fun, I guess. Life got real serious once I became an officer, y'know? You had to be the pinnacle of good behavior." Lionel chuckles, clasping his hands together idly, rubbing a thumb upon the side of his opposite hand. Noticing she wasn't just looking at him, but looking him over, he rather consciously shifts posture so he sits a little more upright, fixing that slouch he'd acquired over the last few years. "As for, uh, my size? My dad's a pretty big fellow, and I, uh, not gonna say unruly, but I got up to trouble - beyond that, I've always liked keeping in shape. Working out, and the like."
It felt almost shallow to say it, or boring even; of course he liked working out, he didn't skimp on the look, not really. Sure, he wouldn't keep up with, say, a bodybuilder, but he wasn't skinny, by any means. Faolan could tell as much, he knew, with the way she was eyeing him. But he tries not to let it affect him more than it already had, focusing instead on that she shared herself with him, even a bit - even if she withdrew, right after.
Patiently, he nods. "Sometimes, the place we grow up in isn't the best for who we end up wanting to be as a person. While I can count myself pretty lucky in that respect, the line of work I was in had me see a lot of people whose circumstances didn't befit them." Shifting, he supposes it's a rather sad topic for such early hours of the day, but still, "It's good that you're glad about it, though. This kinda place, you can really carve a spot for yourself out. I'm sure you will."
Smiling at her earnestly, he briefly looks to Samson, who seems uncertain as to how to approach the situation he's found himself in - what with Fembra making eyes at him now that they were free of Reddy's torment. He wags his tail slowly, sniffing idly in her direction - as if trying to play it off. Amused, Lionel looks back as Faolan mentions liking puzzles, and says something he's pretty sure he's said himself before. His grin is telling.
"Yeah? I love 'em," he admits, giving away that he'd been trying to play it down himself, "I like crosswords mostly, and those... really big, hard to do jigsaws that you're supposed to frame? I've got tons of those." Wait, that made him sound boring. Like, actually boring. Like he didn't do anything. Lionel curses at himself inwardly, and says, "I mean, I haven't done all of them, but I've got a bunch of them for... when I'm ready."
An not-unruly kid that got into trouble turned cop? That's not unheard of, but coming from Lionel it's a little surprising. She tries to imagine him being a stoic, serious police officer and has a hard time visualizing that from the awkward man in front of her. Trying to picture him working out just goes down a route she doesn't want to go down in public, and so she banishes that particular line of thought from her mind quickly and looks at him again when he actually starts... giving some pretty sound advice. His words bounce around in her head and she subconsciously finds herself committing this moment, this second with Lionel, to memory.
The hot chocolate hasn't gotten any warmer when she lifts it to her lips again, but she needs that moment to herself to put some warring thoughts in her head to rest. To consider what Lionel's said to her and to let it all sink in before she can answer, because if she doesn't she feels like she'll end up revealing more about herself than she would like. It's not like she isn't afraid to trust him; on the contrary, she's a little wary that she trusts him too much. Maybe it's some kind of weird effect he has on people leftover from his time as a policeman. That was probably it.
Beside them Fembra has sort of shied away a little from Samson, but her tail has started to wag a bit in mimicry. Whether consciously or not, she's starting to imitate him a little. Reddy has given up on achieving full vertical status and the sounds of snores can be heard drifting up from the ground.
When she looks back up at him, she doesn't say thank you but there's a set to her mouth, a look in her eyes that shows her gratefulness all the same. Not wanting to ruin the mood dwelling on those sorts of things, she instead takes interest in what he's saying now - in the way that he's describing crosswords and jigsaws of all things, and her face blossoms into the sort of smile that she only seems to get around him. Arceus, he's so awkward.
"If you haven't done all of them yet, you either have an incredible, monstrous amount or you're slacking. I'm sure it's obvious to both of us what the real answer is," She continues, her eyes sparkling with a certain mischief. "Clearly you, retired police man and overall fit individual, are a slacker." She has half a feeling he wouldn't get her sarcasm - but hopefully the teasing tone of her voice would curb any kind of doubt he had. "So spill it; just how many puzzles do you have, Lionel? Do I have to stage an intervention?"
Samson, upon realizing he may be scaring her away, slowly lowers himself to the ground, his big paws stretching out across the floor until they're just a few inches away from Fembra; apparently, he feels guilty, and shows it in a small display of submission, though... he was still far larger than her, so whether or not it worked is uncertain. Either way, he still wags his tail.
Lionel, meanwhile, seems curious as to Faolan's silence, the way it extends and she seems introspective, thoughtful. It strikes him to inquire as to a pen for her thoughts, but as much as he would like to, he's sure he'd rightfully pegged her for the withdrawn type. Besides, they hadn't known each other long - it was not his place to probe her mind, least of all somewhere like where they were now. So, he waits patiently for her to speak again, and when she does, he's amused.
"Yeah, that's gotta be it. I'm too busy, uh," he pauses, scratching at a stain on the table, as if it would come off, "talking to pretty women, I guess."
It was cheesy, but earnest, as most things he said tended to be. After a moment, be rather bashfully admits, "I've got a whole shelf of them, their boxes? All stacked and stuff. I buy them when I see ones I don't have yet, and I mostly do them on rainy days. Hasn't really been rainy lately."
Besides, he was always out of the apartment these days, traveling. Case in point, he sat across the water, in Bass City; a fair distance from his 'home base,' as Faolan had put it.
"Maybe you can help me get a few of them done sometime."
06
04
00
