#2 Pokemon Contest Club Meeting - Tanya

[Tanya Christianson]

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While some could argue the extent to which the first meeting was successful, Tanya felt that it went along well enough. While Aurora did have to leave for reasons that weren't told to her, there was a brief moment where Tanya was stressing out, trying to think of a teacher that could replace the Warden as an adviser. Admittedly, the teacher she ended up recruiting didn't have contest experience to her knowledge, but she asked Ms. Brennan mostly because out of all the teachers, she was the least intimidating.

Since she accepted, all that was left was to organize the next meeting. Having sent a letter to her mum about starting up a Contest Club, she wrote back eagerly and sent an entire box filled with contest gear. I guess having a mum whose profession was in Pokemon Contests had some perks after all. Thinking about which pokemon to dress up for, she had a very rudimentary plan for what was to come today. While she probably should plan more, she still wanted to have a little bit of freedom.

The classroom was similar to how it was the last time they were there. Everything was pushed away so that there was a large space in the center of the classroom. The streamers were still there, but the balloons were gone, Tanya not wanting to have to deal with popping and then cleaning up balloons. On the board was the words "Pokemon Contest Club Meeting #2" emblazoned in chalk and the same table was in front, with a few papers on it.

Getting out her pokeballs, she released Christian and Christopher. Christopher had a similar outfit to what Daniel had in his first meeeting, wearing a black waistcoat and white shirt with no sleeves. On top of that was a tailcoat that reached half of his body before flicking upwards and onn his right eye he wore a monocle. Tanya had a bit more problems with Christian and coming up with an idea for what he could wear. For now, the pokemon only wore a pair of black sunglasses.

The two pokemon glared at each other for a moment before Tanya shot a warning look towards both of them. "Behave yourselves while the others are around." Tanya scolded, the two pokemon looking angrily at each other before huffing. Tanya let out a small, exasperated sigh.

[Vivienne Montmarche]

She’d gotten everything in order ahead of time that day, making sure the Budew was fed and placated; Vivienne didn’t want to show up late to the meeting, not after she’d only managed to make the tail end of the first one. Her classes seemed to be going well enough, and the girl had managed to curb some of her bad habits by keeping herself occupied by preparing. A run-in with the club’s president, Tanya, had led Vivienne to start really considering what she was going to do in the event they ever hosted an actual contest. Her tips on finding balance between beauty, functionality, and power had served Vivienne good as well.

The biggest difficulty she’d had, of course, was figuring out what to prepare and who to bring. She considered herself lucky that she actually had to ponder which Pokemon would serve best; at the last meeting, she’d barely had the beginnings of a team. Now? Vivienne found herself weighing the options of who better served what scenario in a battle, or in this case, an appeals. She ultimately had decided to bring her starter, Praline, as the main attraction. It only made sense, considering how much time she’d spent making the Flabebe’s accessory.

Fully costuming a Pokemon was a part of Contests that some disagreed with; it was too close to Pokestylists, not Pokemon Coordinators, but in the end wasn’t the goal of both to show off their Pokemon? Some Pokemon presented unique challenges based on their shapes, while others simply had issues because they, you know, were coated in fire. (Or in the case of a la Mode, fluff) The difficulty in costuming a Flabebe? Her size! The tiniest Pokemon out there, a hair bow on one Pokemon would probably completely cover a Flabebe. Vivienne had spent days sketching the Flabebe, trying to figure out what would fit, until it struck her when she was doing her laundry of all things.

For the time being though, she kept Praline in her Pokeball. Instead, her Cottonee, Éclair, was perched on top of her head like some sort of super fluffy hat. The over-affectionate fluff ball wasn’t adorned with any ornamentation, considering Vivienne planned on using other Pokemon for any sort of Contest practice. She wondered if they would get down to practicing or showing some moves that day; she’d been working with Praline not only on the outfit, but also on an appeals round performance. It wasn’t exactly perfect yet, but Vivienne felt confident it was good. Hell, she’d been impressed that they’d put it together in the first place.

Entering the room, noting the streamers, the girl paused in the doorway when she spotted Tanya and her Pokemon; the Serperior and Rapidash she’d been using in the clearing during their last meeting. Steeling herself for a moment, she entered. To her dismay, she seemed to be the first one there besides for the President.

“Uh….hello Tanya.” She waved lightly, the Cottonee-turned-hat making a slight whistling noise hello. Éclair flapped her tiny little leaf-wings, causing Vivienne to sneeze slightly from the cotton fluff falling, before brushing off her shirt. Who knew what her hair looked like with the Cottonee perched on her head?

[Alice Geissler]

She hadn't had the time to actually go over her appeal last time since apparently, Tanya had ended the first meeting, but she was ready to do her first appeal with her Aron who was apparently walking beside her, curiously looking at where the empty rooms were. Since day one, Tidus had been adapting well to his new environment and also had a cheerful demeanor. And she had wondered if he would change his personality once he evolved into a Aggron, but it seemed unlikely. And that blonde-haired teacher from the first meeting had to leave for reasons unknown. Perhaps, the teacher had no experience with contests, but she wouldn't know anyway. They arrived at the club room where all the desks had been pushed away to make more room and there was also somebody there which was that pink-haired girl she saw at the first meeting. The Aron glanced up at the girl's head where a Cottonee was sitting which looked like a hat. And it seemed like Tanya had planned for the Pokemon to wear costumes in order to look appealing for today's meeting.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid pushed the door open and quickly walked into the club room. She didn't seem to be late today, but she was still later than she had hoped. She was a founding member for crying out loud, she couldn't just keep running in at the last minute. ...Well, maybe she could, but it didn't make for a good impression. "Hi Tanya. Hope I'm not too close to the wire," she said casually, trying to hide how short of breath she was from, yes, running all the way there from her dorm again. None of her Pokemon were out, but it was clear from the bags in her hands that she was carrying more outfits and costume pieces. The ones she brought last time were still in the club room's closet, of course, but she'd stopped in town for more earlier in the week.

[Amethyst Sinclaire]

"Wait...they have a Contest Club...?"
"..."
"Alright!"

Amy was pumped the night before the meeting. A little bird (or princess what have you) told the beanie wearing girl that there was to be club meeting. Amy wasted no time. She had dashed back to Mana Dorm and started to work on her Pokemon's costumes. She drew out some sketches. Margaret was to wear a headpiece. A sort of a purple veil was to be donned onto the Misdreavus's head, with fake jewels dangling all around. A piece of thin fabric would cover the little ghost's face like a veil. The point was to accentuate the necklace the ghost naturally had. Margaret was going to look like an adorable, spectral belly dancer. Helena's piece took a little more thought. Perhaps the best part of the Spritzee's body to show off were her cute, little, pink wings. Amy sketched up a shawl that was to be pinned to the tips of Helena's wing, and back. It would be a delicate pink with lace trim and would flow gracefully. And of course, a cute, gold tiara to wear as well. After the sketches, Amy cracked her fingers and began to work.

The next day had Amy rather sleep deprived. She had pulled an all nighter and there were visible bags under her eyes. The girl was running on caffeine alone. Admittedly she was grumpy and didn't want to let on that the sleep deprivation had gotten to her. It wasn't so much that Amy cared what other people really thought of her, she just wanted people to talk. The bag of outfits felt heavy as Amy trudged on to the club rooms. She was far too tired to care if she was late or not, but she wanted to make a good first impression. Her own way. She walked in and headed straight for a chair with no eye contact to anyone. As she was doing this she proclaimed, "Hello. I'm Amethyst, but call me Amy. I came here to fuck bitches and win contests..." She plopped down into a chair with a cat-like grin. "And I'm all out of bitches." Her sight was a little blurry without any shut eye, but Amy squinted and saw that her partner in crime was in the same room. She snapped her finger and made a gun shape with her hand, pointing towards the girl. "Hey there, Princess." Amy was totally oblivious that the president of this club was in the same room, but odds are her introduction wouldn't have necessarily been modified even with that knowledge.

[Tanya Christianson]

People started to come into the classroom and with each person that came in, she gave them a friendly wave. She smiled warmly at Vivienne and giggled when she sneezed due to her Cottonee hat. Then Alice came in and Tanya couldn't help but think about the mission they went on together. That was something all right.

"Don't worry Astrid, I was going to wait a bit longer to see if anyone else was coming." Tanya comforted her friend, giving her a pat on the back just as a girl she hadn't seen before bursted into the scene. Tanya let out an exasperated sigh to herself at how dramatic the girl's introduction was. She noticed the bags, hoping that maybe it was just exhaustion that was causing her to act this way. Hoping that she wasn't going to be a nuisance, she gave Vivi a somewhat concerned look, gesturing subtly towards the new girl before addressing the rest of the group.

"Hello there everyone! Welcome to the Second Pokemon Contest Club Meeting!" Tanya declared, standing in between her Rapidash and Serperior as she addressed the group of girls who had gathered. "Since there's someone new here, I'm going to introduce myself. I'm Tanya Christianson, President of the Contest Club. While there may be more coming, I think we have enough to start."

She took a moment to pause, trying to gather her thoughts before addressng the crowd. "First order of business, our former adviser, Aurora Beauregard, had to leave the academy. While it did take some time for me to decide who would want to advise our meetings, I've asked Ms. Brennan to act as our new adviser. I don't think she knows too much about meetings, but we probably need an adviser just to allow us to continue our meetings. I'm sure we can introduce the contest world to her."

"Second order of business is the itinerary for this meeting." Tanya began, showing a little discomfort. "I decided for today we look at one of the aspects of the appeal, the costume. How your pokemon looks and how that influences the amount of points that you can get in an appeal." She looked towards Christopher and Christian, taking comfort in their presence before asking the group of girls.

"Now then, can someone tell me what are some of the things that judges look for in a costume. Like, what conditions tend to be displayed in contests?"

[Vivienne Montmarche]

More girls shuffled in, two of which she didn't recognize, but the third? Vivienne giggled slightly at Amy's entrance, "Oh Amy." She walked over to the other pink haired girl and took one of the open seats next to her, crossing her legs at the ankle. The Cottonee whistled hello to the newcomer. The pair had only met the day prior, when Vivienne had been on a small trip to town in celebration of finishing up Praline's costume, but they'd clicked due to....shared interests. Most worthy of note for that day was the fact Amethyst had been pumped to hear about the contest club, promising to show up.

Tanya reintroduced herself and informed the gathered members their advisor had been switched around; the former one, who had contest experience and even a Grand Festival win under her belt if Vivienne recalled what little information she'd scrounged at the end of last meeting, had to leave. Tanya had found...Ms. Brennan? The Breeding teacher? That was going to be interesting, but at least they still got to have meetings. When she announced their focal point, standing between the tuxedo'd serpent and shade-wearing unicorn, Vivienne considered for a moment. She wondered if they'd get to work on their appeals and show them off yet, but in any event she produced an Academy Ball from her messenger bag and released it with a click.

Praline popped out, and she was in costume, unlike Eclair. Draped over her flower was a small net-like construction that Vivienne had spent hours on crafting; from each petal hung a small expanse of it, and between them a longer strand. It was made of a transparent wire and beaded, somewhat sporadically, with a variety of small jewels and beads that were predominantly clear. A handful were a similar yellow to the flower stamen the Flabebe held onto, most notably the tips near the end of the petals. The only other colored stones were a soft blue that stood out against the red flower, forming the ends of the longest strings between petals. The Flabebe herself, as tiny as she was, only sported a little loop of wire that held a single clear stone on it around her neck. When she moved, the ensemble shook slightly, catching the light and sparkling slightly. It might've been a necklace, or maybe a head piece, on some Pokemon going for certain looks, but on the Flabebe and her flower it was a bit more unique.

"I always thought the point of the costuming was to accentuate a Pokemon's dominant features?" Vivienne asked, motioning towards Tanya's Serperior, "Like Christopher's regal bearing in his tux, or Praline's dainty size with the jewels." She stopped talking for a moment when she realized that everyone was liable to look at her, and blushed, "And...it couldn't hurt if the costume helped with the appeal itself, right?"

There was a reason the Flabebe was decked out in a skirt of gems and wire apparently, with the majority being clear...

[Alice Geissler]

Seems like there was a new girl that had burst in the scene and that Bolt Dormer she had saw at the last meeting. Tanya went on to explain that this was the second meeting and that it would focus on the costumes for appeal. Lastly, she had explained that the former advisor had to leave for unknown reasons and that Ms. Brennan was the new advisor of the club. She never actually knew that the Breeding teacher would have experience with contests, but she was sure that she would learn from the students in the club. The serpent in a tux and the fire unicorn in shades was a bit odd, but then she realized that they were wearing full costumes for an appeal. With a click of the Academy Ball, her Servine had come out, dressed in an extravagant black vest, black tie, and a white collar shirt. Even though he loved to be dressed as royalty, his outfit was just as fabulous. ”I believe that costumes would have to meet the criteria of appeal and maybe make it look dazzling for the audience to see.” The Aron beside her had no interest in dressing up and plus, he had a small size, so some outfits wouldn’t fit him for that matter.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Thankfully, Tanya was pretty understanding. And Astrid hadn't been too late. And even if she had been, all attention that might have been directed at her was quickly shifted towards someone who arrived just after her. A...rather strange girl who gave a loud and colorful introduction. Astrid couldn't help but be amused by it, but chose not to let it show. As a senior member, she had to at least hope that the girl wouldn't cause any problems.

Fortunately, the meeting then began without much more interruption. The first thing mentioned, Astrid had already been informed about, since it had fallen to her to help Tanya with finding a new adviser. Her contribution had mostly amounted to finding several people who wouldn't work for it, though. And while Ms. Brennan probably wasn't an ideal choice, she would at least (hopefully) be okay. It wasn't like the adviser needed to do anything for the club, but Astrid had hoped for someone else like Aurora.

After that, she posed a question that Astrid didn't really have a good answer to. Having only seen contests as an audience member and announced for a couple before shows, she knew the scripts without having a solid grasp of what went into them. "They covered most of what I know," she admitted. Or thought she knew. They could have all been wrong. "Although Sinnoh's contests also occasionally have you try to fit a theme given by the judges as well."

[Amethyst Sinclaire]

Amy smiled when Vivienne came to sit next to her. Most likely than not, Vivienne was probably the only person in there she was okay with. The other's faces when she walked in put a little more pep in her step. Amy was getting a headache from all the coffee she had consumed prior to coming to the meeting. So much in fact, that she couldn't (or maybe didn't want to) listen to most of what the supposed president of the club had to say. She was able to catch the question at the end of...was it it Tammy? Tammy's speech. Amy listened to the others answers, giving a thumbs up to Vivi's answer. She decided to chime in. "I mean, you could just slap on a fancy costume and call it a day, but there's gotta be purpose." Amy reminisced about the days she would watch coordinator's on the TV, but it was a shame that the Unova Region didn't partake in contests. A wave of pain from her head made the girl rub her temples. She grunted lightly and winced.

[Tanya Christianson]

"Vivienne's correct about the purpose of the costume, but Alice also has the right idea." Tanya informed the gaggle of girls. "Some time ago, costumes and appeals in general would be split into 5 different types in Hoenn. These conditions were Cool, Beauty, Smart, Tough and Cute. As time has gone on though, those notions have fallen out of practice since some pokemon fell out of these conditions. Nowadays, costumes are used to highlight certain features of the pokemon that you want to put on display. Of course, you could also use props that are suitable for your pokemon in their appeals and creatively doing so will normally get you extra points."

At this point, Tanya gestured towards her pokemon. "As Vivienne said, when it comes to costumes, I normally like to find certain traits of my pokemon and emphasize them. Additionally, since you have two pokemon for an appeal, I normally like to have a coherent theme that I can go with throughout or sometimes even juxtapose the two costumes in order to flush out their own features. It really depends on how you want to approach it. Ideally, costumes that go well together tend to score higher."

Looking at Christian, she smiled sadly. Being a flaming horse was totally awesome and everything, but at the same time it made it hard for her to think of a costume that wouldn't spontaneously combust. Maybe they had some flame retardant costumes specifically for pokemon like Christian. Tanya was probably going to ask her mother about that.

"Ideally, I would've gone with an aristocrat and bodyguard combination, showcasing my Serperior, Christopher's sophistication and regalness and my Rapidash, Christian's strength and coolness. Unfortunately, I realized that none of the costumes that I have are resistant to fire, so for now, all I can really do is put sunglasses on him." Tanya shrugged as she finished talking, letting out a soft sigh and making a mental note to check with her mother. Looking at Vivi's pokemon though, she instantly perked up.

"I see some people have already made costumes for their pokemon. I guess as a group thing, I'd like to ask those who have costumes what was their mentality behind designing their costume and what they aimed to achieve with the finer details. For those that don't have a costume, try to come up with a costume for one or both of your pokemon and describe them to the group. Try thinking about the things I've said and hopefully that should give you some ideas!"

[Vivienne Montmarche]

The other responses seemed to be in line with her train of thought, and Tanya agreed before relaying some more information on the history of Contests and costuming in them. Vivienne had to wonder slightly if Unova's Pokemon Musicals had any impact on the rise in popularity of their usage. Tanya would go on to describe the way the two Pokemon costumes were supposed to support each other, and Vivienne did have to admit in those regards it made sense. Unfortunately, Tanya was stuck trying to make an outfit for a horse wreathed in flame. That couldn't be easy.

Her cheeks and ears colored slightly when Tanya finally asked the group to explain their costuming choices. She'd only worked on a single costume since that first meeting, re-sketching it and watching online video clips of net-making, jewelry making, and knitting techniques to get the look she was after. She paused for a moment before opening her mouth with a small in take of breath.

"For Praline, I had a bit of trouble." She began to explain, "Flabebe are one of the smallest Pokemon known to humankind, y'know? She's only about four inches tall, and weighs less than a Gastly!" The Flabebe cooed slightly at the information. "So I knew I couldn't go overboard with a costume on her frame, if only for the fact she needed to move in it. Her flower's such a dominant part of her features that I figured I'd build from there. I found a doily pattern of all things and modified it into a jewelry net." Realizing how much she'd been talking, the girl stopped and glanced down for a minute. "I guess I wanted it to kind of look like dew glistening on her with the clear gems. The colored ones helped even out the pattern and play against her red flower and yellow stalk, y'know?"

[Alice Geissler]

”Well, I went with a waiter’s outfit for Claude. Since I figure that the Snivy line had the sophisticated looks of nobles, I just went with some kind of fancy outfit for a regal Pokemon like him. I wanted his costume to look fancy, so I kind of went with what waiters would wear at a restaurant.” Well, Claude seemed to like his costume, judging by how he held his head high while she explained the meaning behind his costume. The Aron beside her yawned, but nodded at her statement as he did not want to look bored in front of his trainer. She actually thought that the pink-haired girl’s explanation about the costume she chose for her Flabebe was good too and now had some information that contests had costumes for appeal too. The Rapidash with shades looked pretty good despite the fire horse looked silly wearing those sunglasses. It did not seem that the Aron could not fit into a costume due to his size, but she would have to find some costume that fits him.

[Tanya Christianson]

Well it didn't seem like everyone was up for talking about the costume, with only Vivi and Alice contributing to the conversation. That wasn't too much of a problem. Tanya kept a keen ear on the conversation, nodding her head and letting the other girls give their say on costumes. Once the two had finished speaking, giving time for others to speak, she eventually clasped her hands together.

"Really interesting ideas from the both of you!" Tanya exclaimed, moving towards the door and ushering Christopher and Christian to follow behind her. "Finally, time to showcase some appeals. If you have an idea of an appeal you want to do, feel free to try it out now! We're going to go outside so that we don't completely ruin the classroom. I think we'd lose the club if that happened." With that, Tanya lead the rest of the girls to the open space they went to last time. Remnants of Daniel's Jump Kick still remained, though they had done their best to fill in the ground where the bunny had attacked before.

"Ok then, I'll go first." Tanya said, giving a stern look towards Christopher and Christian. Getting the message, the two pokemon looked at each other and nodded. "Let's go for something simple, Christopher, use Sunny Day! Follow up with a Fire Blast to the sky Christian!" Tanya shouted.

Christopher started to spiral quickly around the arena, gradually moving to the center as he did so. Once he reached the center, he propelled his body like a spring into the air, letting out a cry as he did so and shooting a bright yellow light into the sky. Intense sunlight appeared on the battlefield and as quickly as he was in the air, he darted down towards the floor while Christian appeared, ran rapidly right to the center and jumping just as he was a few meters away. Christopher reached the floor and ducked just as Christian flew over him, having gathered flames in his mouth during the run and shooting the attack upwards, causing a gigantic symbol of fire to fly up into the air and burst, changing into little droplets of fire and creating an effect that was similar to rain.

The appeal wasn't over as Christian ran around the perimeter, gathering up all the little droplets and not taking any damage due to his Flash Fire. He moved so quickly that by the time he had reached the center, none of the flames had reached the Serperior. At the end, the Rapidash stood triumphantly and let out a loud neigh while the Serperior turned away from the Rapidash, displaying his elegance and letting out a huff.

"Awesome job guys!" Tanya shouted, running towards them and giving them both pats, which they appreciated. "So, who wants to go next?"

[Vivienne Montmarche]

Tanya agreed with their thoughts and proceeded to announce her intention to show off an Appeal. Vivienne grinned to herself. She'd been working so long on her costume specifically to augment the beauty of her appeal and show Flabebe in a slightly different light. The president led the club outside and followed with the appeal that she'd been practicing in the meadow that morning they'd bumped into eachother. She seemed to have perfected it somewhat, though at the end the Serperior and the Rapidash didn't really look at each other so much as turn away. Vivienne was clapping following the performance; the Rapidash's finishing trot to collect the flames was a nice touch and way to prevent things from getting damaged while showcasing his ability to boot!

Vivienne walked forward, her Flabebe floating by her side. "We....we'd like to go next." She said, clenching her hands. She wasn't from a family of Coordinators like Tanya; her mother was an innkeeper, not a Top Coordinator. Vivienne had studied videos, books, and magazines and spent hours sketching costume options. Maybe for just a school club she'd gone a little overboard, but the girl really wanted to prove to herself more than anyone else she was capable.

"Just like we practiced, okay Praline?" She whispered to the Flabebe, who cooed as she moved forward. In lieu of a Tag appeal, she'd opted for a classic solo performance; it meant they had two moves to work with for the lone Flabebe.

"Let's open with your Misty Terrain!" Vivienne called. Under normal circumstances, the Flabebe might've produced a small ball of mist and tossed it to the ground to create the field effect, but not for the performance. Praline spun on her flower, tilting around the field; where she moved, the thick cotton-candy of clouds and mist formed beneath in her spirals and sparkles. Fairy magic was glinting beneath her as she spun, the jewelry net occasionally glinted from the power she was exuding. The observant eye would notice she made a rough circle and was moving back towards the center when Vivienne called, "now let's wrap this up with your Moonblast!" Vivienne called.

The Flabebe, at the center of the swirling misty field, spun on her flower once more as she began collecting fairy energy around the top of the stamen. Floating a little higher, a little higher, the ball of magic was causing the gems in her outfit to throw sparkles and glints of light that echoed the ones the field was giving off. It was launched, though not at full power, and erupted in the air over her head. With the release of light, the gems weren't simply sparkling or glinting from the fairy magic beneath. They were practically glowing from the fairy magic hitting them from above and below, and the Flabebe merely floated midair for a moment. It looked like a scene out of some fairy story, and as the mist faded and the light began to weaken, Vivienne was clenching her hands together. Was it any good? It had seemed good to her when they practiced. Were they going to like it?