Motivation [ALICE]

[Nia Mckelleigh]

It was a fine scenery, truly. Lotsa stuff to see from all the way up here. Thinking about painting it all made her smile brightly. She held a piece of paper in her mouth. A phone number. She should call him again at some point, definitely. Tell him all about what's been going on in her life. Like that time she drew on the walls after he had left. Maybe about how her mother had almost had a heart attack.

She shook her head. No, no. He was gone, his phone number was changed and his email was gone. Best to forget, and to just try and paint. Paint, paint, paint. 

[Alice Geissler]

The edge of the academy was a place she hadn't seen before, but it was a good start to actually do something relaxing for once. The bug dragon flew overhead and she was happy to be outside in the air. Though, her size might be a bit large for a bug dragon that lived in a desert. The Flygon had a desire to fly freely in the air, but others might see her. Still, she did not care about all that attention and she just wanted to protect her trainer. After a while, the female Mana Dormer saw a girl with two stumps for her arms and she was vaguely upset about something. Might as well try to see how she's doing. She stood next to where the brown-haired girl was and spoke. "Hello Nia. How are things going for you?' The Flygon stopped at where her trainer was and slowly drifted down into the ground, careful not to blow away anything in her path.

[Nia Mckelleigh]

Nia dropped the paper from her mouth as Alice appeared next to her. She, be it with no real case of trying, lifted her stump towards the paper before turning her head up to Alice, smiling slightly. "Oh. Going as good as always, I guess." She shrugged slightly, turning her head to watch the paper fall, fall, and fall down even more until it was out of her sight.

"Painted a few more things. Did all kinds of interesting stuff, got a call from home and all. Mom's been doing fine, she got some new pills. Dad's still off at his work."

[Alice Geissler]

"Oh, that's good. I've been training and evolving some of my Pokemon. Sekhmet just evolved recently actually." The Flygon looked over the edge of the cliff and was listening in on the conversation. The others might need a bit of training before they could evolve to their final forms. And the Pokemon that she had caught on the first week of the academy had all evolved to their final forms which made her proud to own them. She still needed to train the Dratini for evolving into a Dragonair though as pseudos were often hard to train. Some of them could be used for contests and for a future participation in some of the contest battles held in the club that she joined in. Come to think of it, she had not seen Vivenne in the past few weeks, but it was probably because she was busy. And the contest club had been moving slower than usual.

[Nia Mckelleigh]

Nia nodded a bit, letting her feet dangle off the cliff as she just looked on, still having her faint smile. She curled up her toes, repeating the motion constantly. "So, uh... Have you ever thought about what you're doing here?" She raised her eyebrow a bit. That was a bad question to ask, especially from the wrong person.

"I mean... Well. I should have asked this from someone else. Someone who was not that satisfied with being here and all, y'know." She bit her lip. Alice was clearly someone who was satisfied with her lot in life here. She WAS someone willing, of course.

[Alice Geissler]

"It's okay. I think everyone might have their doubts about the academy. It's just that it might not be a good question to ask." The cliff's view was breathtaking, but there were some people that really liked to catch Pokemon near their area. It was clear that she should probably go to new areas that she hadn't been to. The bug dragon seemed to enjoy the view and the edge of the academy might make a good painting. Speaking of which, the new Pokemon that she had caught were good painting material, but it'll probably be saved for another time. Maybe they would need some more training in order to get stronger, so some of the fully evolved Pokemon would provide assistance if they need it. At least, they had more experience than the newbies and it looked like they were mentors to them too.

[Nia Mckelleigh]

"I guess it won't. Most of the people here wanted to come here. Most probably had their parent's support for it too. Some might have even begged for their parent's support to it, so it might be insulting to ask them if they wanted to come here and all, and if they're satisfied with it too." She rubbed her cheek against her shoulder for a moment.

"I just... Want something to justify this anger I'm feeling." She furrowed her brows. She didn't really seem this angry though. "I hate this place. Not for it's meaning or anything. Just because I was forced into it."

[Alice Geissler]

I see. I understand that you don't like the academy. I pretty much like it here and every teacher I had was a bit friendly except for the PE teacher. He's kind of rough around the edges, but I do respect him of course." It was probable that Nia felt some kind of anger for being dragged here by her parents. Maybe the other girl felt something against her parents too, but it was impolite to ask about it. The bug dragon seemed to listen in on the conversation since she had gotten bored at looking at the view of the academy. The academy seemed to be a place where students would learn to bond with their Pokemon and battle with them in one of the designated areas. For some reason, she had thought that there were some people who did not like the academy and seemed like they were forced to be here.

[Nia Mckelleigh]

"I've not gone to any of the classes. PE I have justification for due to the hands thing, same for Exploration, and I have no interest for the other two classes. I'll bomb these years of studying harder than... Uh... Surge bombed stuff during the war." She nodded at the absurd reference. Expect if Alice was from Kanto, then she would get it. Maybe.

She then turned her eyes down to the Academy grounds. "And I can't even go back to my little room back in Pallet and paint. They wouldn't take me 'till the time here is done." She frowned.

[Alice Geissler]

"Interesting reference. I don't think I live into Kanto, but I do know about them. I always thought of the Kanto region as Johto's neighbor." Oddly, she didn't think that gym leaders would exist, but it was probably some kind of alternate timeline that got the reference. She could tell that Nia missed painting at home, but the academy was there for the students to learn stuff. Still, being homesick was a natural feeling for anyone who was far away from their region. Ecruteak would be different in a few years, but the old-fashioned aspect would stick on for generations. It was like her hometown hasn't changed during the past few years. "Ah, I get that feeling. Sometimes, I just want to go home back to Ecruteak since I probably miss my family. On the other hand, I do miss the days where I would visit some of the old-fashioned buildings back home too."

[Nia Mckelleigh]

"It isn't that great at home either, though. Mom's always there, bragging about bro's achievements, and dad's never home anyways... Uncles are too busy drinkin' to really care, so eh." She kicked her feet slightly, gritting her teeth together as she tried to think about what to say next. To try and discuss some of her problems a bit more... Clearly.

But she got nothing. She had no words on how to try and describe her situation a bit more. Did she have anything to say, honestly? Maybe she was being overdramatic. Yeah, she was probably being very overdramatic right now.

[Alice Geissler]

"I guess you have your problems at home. I guess I shouldn't prod further, but I could change the subject." It made sense that Nia had some problems at home. Even some kids had some kind of conflict going on in their lives, but hers seemed to be a bit dramatic. She had no problems back home that she could think of, but the other girl's problems made her want to sympathize just a little bit. "So, do you paint when you want to avoid that situation going on at home?" Moving the subject along, the conversation just seemed to get a bit darker when Nia had told her of her problems, but maybe there might be some light. She hadn't met anyone who had problems at home, but there was bound to be someone else that had a troubled past. The bug dragon seemed to enjoy the view while listening to what the other girl had to say.

[Nia Mckelleigh]

"I paint because it's one of the only things I can honestly do okay-ish at." She shrugged her shoulders. "I was taught by someone when I was young. My tutor, actually. The person who taught me all other subjects too." She smiled to herself. "He taught me everything I know. He taught me the world is round. He taught me all about pokemon. He taught me about so many things. Painting, too. He taught me how to paint with my feet. He taught... He taught me on how to not be just a monster with no limbs." She continued smiling, some tears rolling down her eyes. "I loved him. And still do. I love him so much..." She sighed.

"But he is gone."

[Alice Geissler]

"Wait, what happened to your tutor? Does that mean what I think it means..." There seemed to be some sort of happiness coming from Nia, but also a strange feeling of sadness. When she talked about her tutor, she seemed to evoke some happiness from being around him. The female Mana Dormer was quite taken aback by the sudden response that Nia's tutor was actually gone. She hadn't lost anyone dear to her yet, but she did feel some sadness from hearing about the other girl's praise of him. Not only was this person a really nice person, but he actually taught the other girl some things that her parents wouldn't tell their daughter. Maybe there was some way to comfort Nia about it, so that she might feel better. All she could feel from the other girl's explanation was just sadness. It actually felt like Nia's world was coming apart when the tutor wasn't here anymore.

[Nia Mckelleigh]

"He moved." She sighed a bit, a large aura of frustration and tension releasing from her as she then returned to looking forwards, smiling. "He moved far away, out of my reach. He wasn't that old. Seventeen when we started out the tutoring thing... Maybe twenty when he moved away." She sighed a bit, longing clear in her voice.

"I could have confessed. Sure. It would have not worked, there was a ten year age gap between us. But at the very least he would have known the love and respect I had for him..." She shook her head, smiling still.

"But he is gone."