don't steal my towel while i'm in the hot springs [ open ]

Ladies and Gents,

It had been too long of a day. Earlier that day, Rosabella had been making her way up the road from a small training session with Sweetheat, working on wild Pokemon to beautify his Revenge move: adding flair and more punch that she would certainly be using in the juggling set. Due to his stubby legs though, Sweety had quite a time striking up strong poses until the concept of handstands came to mind. Unfortunately, the Ariados that had been practice traveled with friends. Twenty or so String Shots and tripping through the mud left her, Sweetheart, and her second best gym outfit strung out and grimy.

Shuffling back home to the Lavaridge Pokemon Center, the nurse gave her a knowing, sympathetic smile, holding out her cupped hands for the pokeball.

“At least you didn’t come back Stun Spored, huh Bella?”

Rosa let out a somewhat mocking laugh, before drooping her eyebrows in apology. The nurse simply smiled and gently patted her head. There was a tense silence as she struggled to release her hand from the thick silk.

“It’s good to have you back, dear, but you really should relax. I’ll send for your clothes to get washed, so get your keister in the spring before I call your mother.” That glassy tone cut enough of the Baker’s ego to straight her back up. Her jaw set hard though, as she could still remember her paultry runner-up prize pool from her most-recent (unofficial) contest. Something was missing, no matter how hard she tried to find what it was the judges were looking for. She had enough to split with Mom, but as she was dressing down, she wondered if she should even see her today. Maybe she could just in and out this time, come back for real when she won.

A small crowd of people came through while she was in the changing room, muttering and grumbling as old folks are want to do. She didn’t make out much of what it was they were muttering and grumbling about though, as she was continuing to find more and more silk under her tracksuit, like a melted mummys’ bandages. When she appeared out of her top to look for a towel, there was none.

She sighed, snapped her jacket with a quick jerk, and as if from nowhere, forcibly pulled a technicolor scarf foot by foot from it. The scarf slowly turned into a spiral patterned cape, and she quickly secured it around herself. She removed none of her various glitzy jewels as they too would need cleaning. The cape stayed on right until she got to the stairs of the spring, from which she saw a nice-enough looking woman enjoying the rowdy yet comfy atmosphere.

“Hiya hiya, there.” She stuffed the cape tail into one fist and pulled the other fist apart from it. The colors appeared to be being pulled, but no cape was being pulled through until finally it disappeared. Opening her hands, nothing was there. She turned a small spin before animatedly stepping down into that burning cauldron, face going up in blush. Figure that one out, missy, she thought. Doing her tricks always sent her spirits shooting, especially if the reaction was good. She was already relaxing before she’d taken that first step.

“I’ve been working on that for awhile, but I only get to do it here.” Her giggles drowned, quite literally, as she dipped beneath the water. Silk rapidly began dissolving out of lush, shoulder-length chocolaty locks as she came up.

“You certainly look new, whatsya name? I’m Rosabella!” Her voice bounced off the rocks in her practice staged projection, sweet and curious.

Ladies and Gents,

Try as she liked, Rosa saw that glint. Somewhere in there was a child, trying to be...aloof, strong, independent? Her books on misdirection hadn’t really given her the tools to figure out what others hid, only that it was being hidden. Hopefully she wasn’t actually this stuffy, otherwise how did she stand the splash battles that, she guessed, occurred whenever water was about. She didn’t sink down, but rather standing in water up to her stomach. She managed to stay lean, all the dance routines and hiking and such. She walked a few steps to cover ground, toying with her own words

“Ara-ara, you don’t sound relaxed at all. Sorry if’n I interrupted,” she mewed, “but I had a nasty run in with some very clingy Ariados. You made for a nice captive audien-AH!” She managed to block some of the water splashed up at her face by literally the cutest Mudkip she’d ever seen. Mouth all open like a big doofus, she came down to submerge and opened her mouth, waving her hands and…

“Mu-Mudkip!” Out from behind Nathaniel’s headfin came a bright, trillion-cut, citrine earring as she mimicked the little darling. (In)coincidentally, the one that had been dangling from her ear no longer dangled. As she stood, the Wingull that escaped her notice swooped in and caused her to curl up and spin away, making a little yelp as a wing swiped her face. She fell back into the water with a solid ker-splash and a not-insubstantial scream. By the time she was done with her little trick and came up, the poor bird look like it had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Ara looked quite miffed.

“Oh, poor thing, its in your nature, it’s okaaaay…” She sounded motherly, but that smirk could be nothing but devilish. She laid her hand at the corner of her mouth and nodded her head towards the Mudkip, who was noticeably more bedecked in glass jewelry.

“I don’t think it’s you I’ve got to worry ‘bout, love.”

Thunk. Thunk. Cri-CRACK!

“Sweetheart, you stop being silly and get down from there, now.” Atop the wooden fencing, which was beginning to splinter in a sharpened grasp was a rather large lad of a Zangoose. He’d been up there since that first yelp of her, watching like he normally had. Zangoose were, however, protective by nature.

“They’re tourists, honey. Come say hello.” Slowly, hind legs first, it shuffled down the fence with a sulky ‘Zaaaang’ before rolling across the stone onto his rear. Rosa was frowning, shuffling over in a huff and muttering about ‘blind groomers’ as she managed to pick and peck almost invisible silk strands out of his shimmering fur.

“So where ya from, if’n you don’t mind my askin’?”

Ladies and Gents,

Over the next few moments, the Baker girl had gotten the groove of tracing the silk strands through touch, finally being able to split her needlework attention for just a few spare moments. All she really noticed wasn’t the Mudkip delighting in being fancy, but the trainer revelling in that ill-practiced priss. So unexpectedly cagey for a tourist; one would wonder why she even ventured outside the house if she loathed people this much. Rosa effortlessly held her smile up and permanent, eyes glancing over to focus on the young miss’ mumblings.

“Ya keep forcin’ frowns like that and you’ll look like my gran. You’re here on vacay, right?” She sighed, hand gently clutched around her Zangoose’s elbow to ease him in. Sweetheart gave a few hissing clicks before that disappeared into gentle purrs.

“I’ve been t’Pacifidlog Town before,” she sighed, scritching her assistant’s ear, “we quite enjoyed it, but the water’s a tad cold to my liking. Dries me right out.” The smile only got wider as she turned on Ara, but the warmth slightly dimmed in her eyes.

“I’m amazed people can live just floating on wood out there; Sweety almost put a paw through the floor.” At least her ‘dump’ of a home had stable footing. The steam brought her blush back up and she giggled into her free fist. “But as luck would have it there was some coral under there I needed for my precious gems. Mix it into the glass and the color is loads better, but you’ve got quite the eye.”

She was looking right through Ara, seemingly to barely notice where her eyes were. It was bad form for a performer, but if satisfaction would not be had for her tricks, no satisfaction would be had for her superiority complex. She too was a bit stubborn, but with Sweetheart under thumb she felt like she was on stage, 5 feet above this girl.

“Luckily the judges in Slateport weren’t so judgemental,” she mused, hand trailing to scratch Sweethearts back, “a girl like me needs her shinies to keep eyes off her.”

Suddenly, a Master Ball-sized clump of sticky silk came tumbling down with a marvelous splash in front of Ara. Rosa felt her spine go stiff and sink to her shoulders, turning with a whip of her hair and frantically looking towards the mountainous crags. Gouging rock, the Zangoose scrambled up to stable footing, back arching then standing upright, growling.