Live While We're Still Young (Astrid/Seria)

[Tanya Christianson]

Thankfully, it seemed like the girls didn't notice how Tanya was with relationships. Comfortable about shifting the topic onto something else, Tanya stretched her body and started to feel a little more natural. This was something she could deal with. In retrospect, she was glad she watched the match between Astrid and Seria. It gave her an understanding of what she was talking about when she said she might've gone a little bit overboard. Unfortunately, she thought that Astrid was wrong with apologizing.

"I dunno. I personally think I would've done the same thing in that situation. After all, it's a pokemon battle. You can't show mercy, otherwise you're just going to get surprised by the tricks they have up their sleeve." Tanya commented bluntly, frowning a little at the thought of them not giving it their full effort. If they were not willing to give it their full effort in battles, they might as well not have bothered in the first place.

She almost looked visibly annoyed that Astrid was apologizing for something like that. It wasn't like Oleg, who was making fun of Seria during their battle. Astrid came in with the desire to do her best and she shouldn't need to apologize for that. Why should she apologize?

[Seria Floria]

Seria blinked as Astrid began to apologize to her, to which Seria shook her head. And then Tanya looked visibly annoyed after the fact, explaining that it wasn't a good idea to show any mercy. Seria face-faulted a little bit. "It's okay... There's no need to apologize... There's no way I would have known that it would end that way. It's my own fault for being weak..." Seria smiled, stretching out and trying to make the general atmosphere more calm and casual, though with her choice of words it might have done the direct opposite. "I'm still trying to get better. The way that ended was fine, so don't worry about it, Astrid. It wasn't like that last battle I had where I was being treated like trash..." Seria scratched her head as she recalled that random Explosion when a normal attack would have sufficed, and the switching out of the Pawniard when a Metal Claw from him would have already finished the battle.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Oh...maybe it wasn't a good idea to apologize. Astrid still felt like she'd gotten carried away. Even a Thunderbolt or Flash Cannon probably would have finished the Purrloin, or at least come very close. Then again, there was something to be said for being certain of victory. Astrid knew as well as anyone that Purrloin were devious little assholes that could really mess someone up if given any room to. And when Astrid thought of it like that, she'd definitely done the right thing.

"Heh, I guess you're right. Don't worry though, you're not weak. I mean, even if it ended like that you still pushed me that far." She gave Seria a lighthearted smile, which immediately faded when she continued. "Wait, he did what?! Who was this?!" No. That did not happen. Astrid didn't care if it was Seria, Tanya, or just some random guy on the street. No one should be treated like trash in a Pokemon battle.

[Tanya Christianson]

"The only way to go is up." Tanya said in support of Astrid, hoping to encourage the girl. She knew she didn't have the best confidence in the world, but at the same time, she knew that she wasn't going to give up. That was something she learned about Seria and probably one of the reasons why she was good friends with her.

Then she mentioned the Oleg incident. Welp. So much for staying out of topics that could put a damper on her mood. Astrid was obviously outraged at the insinuation that someone would treat Seria like trash in a battle. To be honest, Tanya was a bit disgusted that it happened as well. That was the problem with power though.

"It was Oleg Kirrlov, from the same dorm as you." Tanya informed Astrid, her face turning into steel as she recounted what she knew of the incident. "He said the power got to his head so he decided to play around with Seria and her pokemon. From the sounds of it, it was a humiliating process."

She knew Oleg. He was her friend. However, he let the power of pokemon get to him and dictate his actions. It was like that kid who attacked Annie when she was young. Pokemon had the capacity to influence trainers in a way that they might not even recognize. Would Tanya fall into that trap? It made her shake a little as she frowned at her thoughts.

[Seria Floria]

Seria sighed and nodded as Tanya generally explained. "It's not a very happy topic so I won't get into the details, but it's pretty much what Tanya said. That said, I'm glad it hasn't happened again so far." Seria sighed with relief and nodded. "They say power corrupts, you know? That just reminds me, you know, about how much I want to see a legendary Pokemon. Don't they have those stories and games where they imagine a character commanding the power of such a thing? Wouldn't that be scary and amazing at the same time?" Seria spoke, shifting the topic to one that she was much more comfortable with talking about.

Indeed, Seria enjoyed the prospect of merely seeing one, but some may have taken it further, desiring to catch one. And of course, it was a common trope in fantasy and other such Pokemon stories.

[Astrid Sherinian]

"I see..." Astrid said. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to remember if she'd met the guy Tanya named. For the life of her, though, she wasn't coming up with anything. Oh well. At Seria's unspoken (probable) request, though, Astrid let the subject drop, and listened with interest as Seria changed it to stories where someone commanded a legendary Pokemon. She'd heard a few stories like that. Her home region even had a legend about being created then nearly destroyed by a pair of dragons and their chosen heroes. But as she thought about that, her mind immediately shifted gears to an experience of her own.

"Oh. Oh!" Astrid said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a clipboard with a pen and a blank music sheet attached to it. Taking the pen, she hastily scribbled out a vaguely humanoid shape, black with a white face and legs, and hair that looked like a musical staff had been peeled off a page. She finished off the admittedly poor drawing with a circle with a curled tail, which was supposed to look like a headpiece microphone. But, looking at it again, Astrid was pretty sure it just like a J with a large dot on top. "Have either of you seen anything like this before?"

[Tanya Christianson]

"Of course power corrupts." Tanya pipped in, obviously feeling more uncomfortable with the conversation as time went on. "It would not be amazing Seria. If someone had control over a legendary pokemon, it would be fucking terrifying. They'd probably be able to rule the world with power like that. They could easily kill thousands of people. People would get hurt."

Tanya crossed her arms and stared at the floor. Hearing Annie's story had caused her to think a lot about things. It was getting in the way of everyday life and it was making it hard to not lash out at people when it came to topics like this. If Oleg wasn't careful, he could've easily hurt Seria. 

Tanya resolutely stared at the floor while Astrid began drawing something. She only looked up when she saw what she was trying to draw. Raising an eyebrow, she took a good look for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

"I have no idea what that is." 

[Seria Floria]

Seria winced and flinched a little as Tanya responded... not in the way that she expected. Uttering a soft and weak, barely audible apology ("Um... Sorry...") before shying away in her spot on her stump, she sighed and shook her head. After a few moments, she took a look at what Astrid started to draw. It wasn't exactly the best drawing in the world, but the body shape was somewhat recognizable and it wasn't until Seria made out the musical-themed hair that she realized the thing that Astrid was trying to draw. She had heard stories about this Pokemon from her parents, who had met a guitarist at a bar in Unova. It was a Pokemon said to thrive upon music, and was said to be an inspiration to artists the land over because of the beautiful music and dance it was able to create.

Seria didn't know the intricacies of the Pokemon exactly, other than the some of the folk tales that involved it. She only remembered the name of the Pokemon. "That hair is undeniably Meloetta's," Seria nodded. "My parents told me that the Pokemon was said to be a great inspiration to artists everywhere, from those who created paintings to those well-versed in song and dance."

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Um..." Astrid started. That was certainly stronger than what Astrid had expected from Tanya. Maybe it was best to get off of this subject. Astrid wasn't going to let her own interest in the current conversation pass right away, though, especially not after Seria's response. "Melo...etta," she said, repeating the name. Melo- as in "melody", most likely. Now she wanted to find it again and catch it even more. Whether as a muse, or just a Pokemon iconic of her chosen career, she still wasn't sure. All she knew is that they would go together wonderfully. "So that's what it was called. I saw it back home, before I left to come here. I wasn't sure if I was seeing things or not, but if you recognize it then it has to be real, right?"

She glanced back at Tanya, then decided against mentioning her dreams to catch it. "I really want to see it again, and properly meet it this time. If not as a trainer, then as a musician."

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya nodded her head, interested in the conversation they were having. So it seemed that there was a legendary pokemon for a lot of things. Meloetta sounded like a really interesting pokemon. Being able to provide a muse to artists everywhere. That sounded pretty amazing.

"Wow, that's pretty awesome, seeing a Meloetta and all." Tanya commented, stretching her body. So it seemed it was possible to see legendary pokemon after all. Maybe if pokemon like Meloetta existed, there could be a possibility that pokemon like Groudon and Rayquaza exist as well. While it would be awesome to see them in person, if someone could harness that power, Tanya didn't even want to think of the ramifications.

"If Meloetta exists, there's a possibility that others do as well." Tanya stated, clicking her tongue. "If so, I'd probably like to meet them. Then again, a part of me would want to make sure no one would get their hands on them. Legendary Pokemon are not things that we should mess with."

Tanya crossed her arms and let out a soft sigh. She was being so serious lately. Maybe it was the thoughts of home messing with her. Whatever it was, she could feel it was having an effect on everyday life.

[Seria Floria]

Seria blinked as Astrid said she saw one. "Wowe, that's cool... I'd like to meet a Pokemon like that some day too..." Seria said with awe and admiration, she'd never seen such a Pokemon before. She'd really want to see one some day. Tanya, meanwhile, said that if Meloetta exists, there's a possibility that others did too, and she exclaimed with some trepidation that if a trainer got their hands on such a legendary Pokemon, the amount of potential destruction that would cause was great. Seria had really never thought about that potential conclusion before, because most of the time, the stories she read had positive resolutions. Even if a bad guy did get their hands on the Pokemon, they would usually be stopped. Seria sighed, Tanya was quite oddly serious. She wasn't usually THIS serious about things, even if she was serious about battling. It came as a surprise to Seria, and it worried her.

"Tanya..." Seria looked at Tanya with legitimate concern. "I'm sorry... But if you think about it, it must be very difficult to see a legendary Pokemon. I talked about it with a Mana Warden. Miss Karin, I think her name was. She told me that you'd have to try really hard to even see one, and even then, you'd have to get really lucky. Could you imagine the likelihood of someone even being able to catch one? I don't think the mighty legendary Pokemon would let themselves get caught by a trainer..." Seria scratched her head.

"That's why I'd be content with just seeing one!"

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid frowned at Tanya's and Seria's words. "Hey, I can dream, can't I," she said. At this point, it really was little more than a dream, too. And the serious, heavy mood that had fallen over them was not helping her learned optimism. "But I guess you're right. I didn't even see this one for more than a second, then it was gone again. Like it just...disappeared into thin air. I'm not even sure how I'm going to find it again." She could just imagine another 'I told you so' coming from her dad after years of failed searching. Damn it, this was not the mood she'd wanted this hangout to take.

[Tanya Christianson]

Even though Seria reassured Tanya that it was practically impossible for a legendary pokemon to be caught by a trainer, she still looked down at the floor and frowned. Why was she acting like this now? Maybe the thought of her family back at home was weighing on her mind. Was it really worth chasing her dream to leave them behind?

The conversation seemed to be taking a turn for the serious. Was her attitude really having such an impact on the mood? Maybe it was. If it was her fault that the mood was turning like this, she needed to find a way to get it out of this avenue.

"So, what do you think of our teachers?" Tanya asked, looking up at the other girls and turning her lips upwards into a smile. "Personally, I think Miss. Eisenberg is totally awesome, if not a little scary. As for Ms. Brennan, I think she's ok. Not as cool as Miss. Eisenberg though."

Please pick up on the topic and shift it away from the serious stuff. Tanya felt like she was trying to psychically tell the girls to follow her lead. She could only hope that this didn't turn serious as well.

[Seria Floria]

Seria blinked as the air began to get a little tense - things were getting a bit too serious for her liking right now given the initial circumstances of their hangout. Indeed, it looked like everybody had things weighing heavily in their mind. It looked to be that in an attempt to at least salvage the mood, Tanya decided to bring up their teachers. Fair enough, that seemed to be a decent change of pace and topic. "I think both of our teachers are wonderful, but I can see why people wouldn't really like Ms. Brennan as much as Ms. Eisenberg, if only because of what she's teaching," Seria scratched her head and tilted her head.

"I think people value battling more than breeding, but breeding can be important too, I think." Seria nodded as she smiled and played along with Tanya's attempt to lighten the mood. Seria didn't want everyone feeling sad or upset or too serious after today.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Thankfully, the subject change Astrid needed came pretty quickly. Tanya asked about their classes so far, expressing opinions that Astrid could relate to. "I'm not gonna lie, I kinda drifted off a bit in Ms. Brennan's class. I mean, I didn't sleep through it or anything, and I can probably remember most of what she said, but I kinda feel like I wasn't a hundred percent there either. Hopefully it'll pick up more in later classes though." That wasn't quite a perfect mood lightener, but Astrid would take it. She had better things to say about the rest, at least. "As for Ms. Eisenberg, there's something strange about her. Good strange, to me at least. Xanadu was a bit on edge through the whole class. I like her, though.

"Hey, what do you think our other teachers will be like?" Astrid suddenly asked, recalling her own interest in the subject. Interest that was met with not a lot of answers, since she hadn't actually gone directly to the teachers themselves yet. "I've asked around a bit, but apparently the ones we're likely to get are pretty new. I wonder if we'll get anyone really out there."