Appeals and Mischief (Vivi)

[Tanya Christianson]

"Come on guys, lets try that again!" Tanya exclaimed, looking towards her pokemon that she had out. Wanting to provide some more demonstrations for her fellow contest club members, she decided to head towards the clearing she had found before and train some of her pokemon to do appeals. At the moment though, Christian and Christopher were busy glaring at each other, their personalities clashing while Daniella, Dani and Natalie watched from the distance, both of them seeming unamused by the situation.

Tanya let out a soft sigh to herself. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to use Christian for pokemon contests. He really wasn't the type to try and make things pretty, preferring the brute force method. On the other hand though, she felt that Christopher and Christian had the ability to synergize extremely well and while their personalities were clashing, she felt it was something she could work on with time.

Evidence of their practice could be seen around the area, with bits of charred grass and small spots of soot on trees around the area. Dani was mostly there to make sure that they didn't accidentally burn the forest down. While there probably were better places for her to practice, but she really liked the clearing.

"Come on guys, you're doing well." Tanya encouraged, hoping to settle their abrasive personalities. The two pokemon looked at her and then towards each other. Christopher let out a huff before nodding his head at Tanya. Christian seemed to look mildly displeased, but consented, bowing his head to Tanya as well.

"Now then. One more time! Christopher, use Sunny Day! Christian, follow up with a Fire Blast to the sky!" Tanya shouted, spinning in a circle on the spot. Looking up to the sky, Christopher let out a loud cry, a bright beam of light shooting up into the sun and causing it to burn with increasing intensity. Meanwhile, Christian pawed at the ground, gathering energy before throwing his head upwards and shooting out a symbol shaped flame. Due to the sunlight, a gigantic flame bursted out of Christian and soared high in the sky, reaching high above the trees before dissipating, causing a small rain of fire to be left behind.

"Dani! Water Pulse the rain before it hits the ground!" Tanya commanded, the Dragalge responding quickly as she shot multiple pulses of water at the flames, putting them out before they could damage the forest floor.

[Vivienne Montmarche]

Mother Edea's Forest was a bit of an interesting place. Though relatively new to the Academy, Vivienne had been taking her time to get to know the lay of the land around her dormitory, and the Lifebringer's massive root system was responsible for the forest she found herself trekking in. She had to wonder how many trees were little more than offshoots, cloned babies grown from the roots of the main parent tree, and how many had managed to hang on to life in the unhospitable shade and cramped root space of such a massive tree as the Lifebringer.

Though she'd initially been on the look out for Pokemon that day, she'd given up her hunt for more friends to focus on the ones she had. Praline had handled herself nicely when they'd caught Mille-feuille the other day, but that didn't mean the young Kalosian could slouch too much. She needed to practice not only her battle skills (considering the match was won largely due in part to Mille-feuille's overprotective nature causing her to use a Dragon move on a Fairy) but also her contest ones. She'd shown up late to the contest club, right as it had been calling the meeting to a close. The President had passed around the roster, which she had signed before slinking away with practiced ease and avoiding any conversation.

"Maybe I'm not as cut out for this as I thought?" She asked to the Budew she was carrying; most people who had spied her out of class, or even in it, knew that Vivi had a habit of carrying the grass baby more often than not. The Budew didn't reply so much as simply giggle. The girl had to wonder if she was raising a moron at times, or perhaps a monster. Letting her breath escape in a protracted sigh, the Kalosian was about to turn back to her own dorm until she heard sounds, human sounds, and Pokemon noises to boot. Sneaking was a bit of an old hat for the girl, and she found herself standing at the edge of the clearing, just within the tree line and out of sight , as the fire types executed an appeal and the Dragalge put the flames out. "Wow...." she whispered at the combination, so as not to draw attention to herself. Truthfully, she was a little entranced by it; so much so, she didn't register quickly enough what Marmalade was up to.

The Budew bounced out of her arms, into the clearing, either with the intent of making friends or enemies...well, Arceus only knew. The girl darted out, doing her best to snag the little scamp.

"Marmalade, come back here!" She huffed, leaping and actually managing to snag the green imp before it would get itself killed. She let out a sigh of relief as she glanced up from her near faceplant, right into the eyes of the nearest Pokemon, a somewhat angry looking snake monster she wasn't super familiar with, but vaguely resembled Snivy.

"Uhhhhhh.....uhhhhhh...." She was half frozen. Getting attacked by that was NOT what she'd planned for her little excursion.

[Tanya Christianson]

At the sight of the Budew entering the clearing, her pokemon instantly flicked their heads towards the intruder, preparing themselves to battle. While Tanya thought that they were overreacting to the threat, she was surprised to see a girl running after the pokemon, probably calling out her name. While the sunlight made it hard to see for a second, the pink hair was pretty much all she needed to realize that the girl was the same girl who came late to the contest meeting, just as it was about to finish.

Vivienne Montmarche. That was the name on the roster. Tanya watched as Christopher loomed over the girl and her Budew, looking unamused by the sudden interruption. Dani looked like she wanted to intervene as well, glaring at Vivienne as if scaring her away from the prospect of harming her trainer. While it all was a little bit ridiculous, Tanya recognized she probably had to intervene or the girl would probably be terrified for her life.

"At ease guys, she's not a threat." Tanya addressed the clearing, her pokemon staying rigid for a moment before resuming their usual positions. Christopher let out an indignant huff, turning away from the two intruders and slithering over towards Tanya's right side. Christian trotted over towards Tanya's left, not wanting to be outdone by the Serperior and leering at him as he took his position. Dani kept a look over Natalie, who was now scrutinizing the newcomers, trying to form an impression of them. On the other hand, Daniella started drifting lazily around the area, spinning occasionally in the air and seemingly carefree about anything going on around her.

"Sorry about that, my pokemon have been trained to be aware of intruders." Tanya sheepishly called out, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked towards Vivienne. At first, Christopher and Christian followed along either side of her, Christian in particular looking ready for a fight. When they were a short distance away, Tanya held out her hands, gesturing to her pokemon to stop following her. Though both of them look mildly displeased, they both listened to Tanya's orders as the girl walked over next to Vivienne and held out a hand.

"You're Vivienne, right? We met at the Contest Club. I'm the president, but feel free to call me Tanya." She casually said, hoping to use her hand to help the Nature Dorm girl up. "You probably should be more careful with that Budew. You never know what you're going to run into around here. I guess it's pretty lucky that you only ran into me, huh?" She remarked, chuckling softly to herself.

[Vivienne Montmarche]

When the other girl called her Pokemon off, Vivi breathed a small sigh of relief. Her hair was slightly tousled, a few blades of grass in it, and there was the threat of a stain on her creme colored uniform, but Marmalade was safe, and so was she. When Tanya formally introduced herself and offered her a hand up. Vivienne accepted it with a slightly resigned laugh. "Thanks." She mumbled slightly. How could she have been so careless as to let Marmalade wriggle out of her hands like that? Now she looked like an idiot in front of the President of the only club on campus she even had a passing interest in.

"Uh....yeah. You're right." She agreed, giving Marmalade a look that conveyed equal parts annoyance and concern. "She's a bit of a hellion.....too bad no one warned me." Her voice was a little softer than normal conversation dictated it should be, but she still gave another quick giggle. The Budew didn't even seem to care that she'd nearly gotten herself and her trainer seriously maimed by bull-rushing a group of strange Pokemon; she lived in a bubble of willful neglect when it came to those kinds of thoughts in the end.

"We were just on a little walk, and I caught a glimpse of your appeals through some of the trees." Vivienne latched upon something, anything, that could take the conversation away from her lack of skill as a trainer at that point. "It was good. I'd never think to use a fire-type move like that, even if I had one." For the first time since running into the clearing after the bud pokemon, Vivienne offered the other girl a smile. It wasn't the sort of bright, beaming thing you'd spot on a movie-star or the sultry confident smirk of a glamazon, but a slightly coy twist of the lips.

After a moment, the Nature Dorm girl took a minute to appraise the other girl's Pokemon, "You've got a lot of strong Pokemon too. I haven't even seen the big snakey one before. Is that Snivy's final evolution, Serperior?" Though Vivi could be disingenuous with the best of them, she actually was sincere in her question. Even if she could pull out her Pokedex then and there, she figured the other girl would probably like to talk about her Pokemon instead.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya listened as the girl talked about her pokemon, giggling along with Vivienne. While she could think about a certain water pokemon that acted like that at times, she made sure to keep her on a relatively tight leash to prevent her from doing anything too rash. Looking at the Budew, she didn't even recognize how much danger she was in. She wasn't sure if the pokemon was brave or just plain stupid. Then again, maybe she shouldn't be the one to make judgments like that.

"Thanks." Tanya responded, laughing in an embarrassed tone. She didn't really expect to have anyone watching her practice her contest appeals. She didn't really know what to say for a moment, blushing and looking down to the floor before finally spurting something out of her mouth. "I was actually practicing for the next Contest Club Meeting, making sure I had some good appeals to show off and whatnot."

When she moved on towards her pokemon, Tanya nodded her head and looked towards Christopher. Hearing his species get mentioned, he stood proudly, trying to show off his elegance while Christian bristled angrily next to him. "Yep. I got him as a Snivy in this forest as well. He's the first pokemon I caught here." Tanya mentioned, laughing at the thought of how she captured him. That was certainly a fun memory, if not a bit traumatizing towards Christopher.

"I've been here for some time so I've been able to build up my team a little. What about you, what pokemon do you have?" Tanya asked.

[Vivienne Montmarche]

So she was out here practicing for the next club meeting? Made sense, Vivienne supposed. Nobody got through in life resting on their laurels, right? Besides, the pink haired girl had to wonder how many people would actually follow a president who didn't know what she was doing in the first place. At least she'd seen proof Tanya just wasn't some talentless hack.

The first Pokemon she'd caught had already grown from it's base form to it's final form? Vivienne whistled slightly at the news, though when Tanya turned the line of questioning to her own Pokemon, the Nature Dorm girl let out a slightly embarrassed chuckle. "Well, I've got Marmalade here," at mention of her name, the little Budew cooed slightly, "and my other starter's Praline, the Flabebe I brought to the meeting." She paused for a moment, half contemplating pulling out the Pokeball, but deciding against for caution's sake, "Oh, and then there's our first catch from a couple days ago. A Kangaskhan, Mille-Feuille." The memory brought another small, dark chuckle from the soft-spoken girl. "She kind of tried to kill us.....for a good reason, of course. But we're all good now...I think."

The Kangaskhan was the Pokemon she used the least so far, but that was also for a practical reason too; Mille-feuille was her largest Pokemon physically, where the other two were tiny enough one could fit in her arms and the other the palm of her hand. It was easier getting about the place with small Pokemon, or at least that was her opinion so far. Not to mention maybe, just maybe, she was still dealing with the smallest smidge of unease when it came to her Mille-feuille; she didn't want to give the Kangaskhan reason to go Def-Con I again anytime soon on her, after all.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya crossed her arms, nodding her head as Vivienne went through the pokemon she started out with. She remembered how another girl from Nature Dorm started out with a Budew. Maybe Roserades were more popular than she thought. They were a pretty strong pokemon and she certainly wouldn't be completely against having one on her team. Then again, there were a lot of pokemon out there that she wanted.

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me too much." Tanya admitted when Vivienne was talking about the Kangaskhan. "On a mission once, a Haxorus tried to rip apart our team. Honestly, he could've probably easily done that but we managed to make it through. In fact, he's one of the pokemon in my team now, but he's really irritable and I need some time with him before I properly utilize him."

Tanya let out a sigh before rubbing the back of her head. It was going to take some time to get the Haxorus to be like her other pokemon. She thought about how he only seemed to get along with Dani at the moment. Even then, it was more of a begrudging respect than anything else. With enough training, she should be able to control him over time. Hopefully.

"When the Flabebe evolves, it would probably easily defeat something like a Haxorus. Then again, I heard that the pokemon has abilities that work well with grass types. Guess it's a good thing you have Budew, huh?" Tanya said, looking at Vivienne cheerfully. She didn't seem to be a bad person. Plus she enjoyed contests, which was a good thing in her books. "Hey, Vivienne's a bit of a tongue twister. Mind if I call you Vivi?" Tanya asked, sticking out her tongue in an embarrassed manner.

[Vivienne Montmarche]

As Tanya relayed her own story about a wild Pokemon trying to kill her, a Haxorus by her description, she whistled slightly. The dragon type was native to Kalos, though like most dragons fairly rare and hard to find. As a kid, a dragon trainer had been passing through the family's inn and she gotten to seen a Fraxure, it's pre-evolved form, in action during a sparring match. "Wow......" Vivienne was impressed she'd managed to catch a fully evolved dragon-type.

When Tanya pointed out Flabebe's potential to beat a Haxorus, the other girl just blushed. "I-I think we might be a long way off from taking down dragons. At least, the big ones." Vivienne's confidence with Pokemon had been jostled; when she and Lockpick had been together back home, she could've counted on the little Klefki for a lot. Training a baby Pokemon and a tiny fairy in his place was...a challenge. Not that she'd ever really captured Lockpick in a pokeball, but they'd bonded over a shared love of mischief. "You're right......about Flabebe's powers with grass types. Her ability stops people from weakening them if they're in battle together and some of her moves work well with them."

When Tanya asked to call her Vivi, the Kalosian hesitated for a moment. It had been a nickname with some of her friends back home, but when her extracurricular activities had become public knowledge, they'd dropped her like a sack of bricks. No one wanted to associate with a delinquent. She wondered if she should say something, anything, to warn the other girl, but decided against it. This was her chance to make a friend, a new start; the fact having friends in (relatively) high places in the school couldn't hurt her either registered with parts of Vivienne's mind, especially when she considered how powerful Tanya's pokemon were.

"Um. Sure, I guess." She said before laughing slightly, "Some of my friends back home used to call me it. Brings up old memories." It was true, though not entirely revealing of her and the connotations connected. Maybe she didn't want to outright lie to her friends, but experience taught her holding back some of the truth could never hurt. "So....would you want to be one? A friend?" Their was a vulnerability in her voice, and maybe this meant a little more to her than she even realized. It was hard, being one of the new girls on campus and spending most of her time with just her Pokemon. Hell, the only reason she'd heard about the Contest Club was because she'd eavesdropped the information in the bathroom.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya chuckled when Vivi blushed, enjoying how the girl was acting around her. While she did put herself down, she did have a point in that she wouldn't be able to take down creatures like that for quite some time. Still, there was potential and the Fairy Type was one that Tanya had not really had a chance to exploit. The only Fairy move she even had was used by Daniella and she was Psychic.

"That's pretty awesome." Tanya stated, hearing about Flabebe's possible abilities. "You know, I reckon that having Flabebe alongside a grass type pokemon would be great for contests, especially in the battle round. Teamwork is one of the things that are judged in a contest and I reckon if you tap into the abilities that pokemon has, there is the potential for a great contest team."

Since the girl was a member of the contest club, she felt obliged to give her advice. She was glad that she had a mother like hers since it showed her avenues that she might not have considered otherwise. While she was waiting for a response from Vivi, Tanya checked on her pokemon. They all seemed to be doing fine, except for Christopher and Christian who were having a glaring contest with each other. Deciding not to intervene, Tanya turned towards Vivi as she started to speak.

"Why not? It's not like you're a member of Team Origin or something." Tanya said, shrugging her shoulders. Was it really a thing that needed to be asked? She did hear the vulnerability in her voice, so she put a reassuring hand on Vivi's shoulder, smiling warmly.

"Things will be fine here, don't worry, kay?"

[Vivienne Montmarche]

"You sure seem to know a lot about Contests. All my experience with them is watching videos online. We don't even have Contest halls in my home region.....yet." Vivienne said, shifting her weight slightly to be a little more comfortable. She hoped maybe a Kalos Grand Festival would happen one day, but she wasn't exactly holding her breath yet.

When the girl said it wasn't like she was a member of Team Origin, even going so far as to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, Vivi felt something akin to shame tinge her cheeks. She was probably closer to the criminals than anyone else, even if all she'd done was some harmless mischief here or there.

"Were you there? During the attack, I mean? I was just getting settled when it happened....I think I locked myself in my room for a day after I heard." She looked to the ground again. There was no way she'd have been able to help, even if she wanted. "My parents wanted to withdraw me when they found out, but....well...." what she didn't say was that her Gramps had footed the bill, and wouldn't allow it. She needed to tough it out, to build character. He was putting her life on the line to make a point. Needless to say, the minute she saw the old bastard, he was going to get a piece of her mind. "Here I am." She left the part about it being an island war zone out, but it didn't need to be said.

"What was the point of it....of anything those guys do?" She nearly whispered this, almost sadly. She didn't have any experience with Team Origin herself, but she'd heard their public declaration. Some students were already rallying for a war to defend themselves. Vivienne wasn't always the most wholesome of person, but at least everything she'd done had a reason behind it. Maybe it was just her own satisfaction, but still, it was something.

[Tanya Christianson]

"Well it helps that my mum is a contest judge. Heck, she even won a grand festival herself. Having that sort of upbringing sorta makes you knowledgable about that stuff." Tanya admitted, seeing no shame in telling the girl. She was curious if there were videos of her mum winning her grand festival. She would've loved to see her Zangoose in her hayday, but it was some time ago, even her mother would admit that much.

While she did notice the blush in her cheeks, she got curious. Maybe the girl was embarrassed about having a person touch her shoulder like that. Or could it be that they were connected to Team Origin? Tanya doubted that last one, more out of a personal belief that the academy was better than that. Still, a part of her wanted to ask her about it. Before she got the chance though, she asked about the Marvo City Attack.

"Oh yeah I was there, kinda a hard thing for me to avoid at the time. Not that I would've wanted to avoid it in the first place." Tanya said, all of the pokemon in the area except for Natalie steeling their expressions. "Town was destroyed and we had tough fights. The guy I was up against had some interesting tactics, but I somehow managed to get through."

On the thought of leaving the academy, her parents' response to the event flickered through her mind as she began to voice her thoughts in response to the topic. "My parents were more worried than anything else, but once I sent them letters saying I was ok, they lightened up on the issue. Still, it was pretty shocking."

On Vivi's next question, all Tanya could do was shrug awkwardly. "If only we knew. Would make everyone's lives easier." There really wasn't any other response Tanya could think of. The Marvo City attack was a wakeup call to the kids in the academy. It was like a warning that this stuff can and will happen and that they needed to be careful about it. Still, Tanya had a niggling thought in the back of her mind.

"You ok Vivi? You seemed a little odd when I put my hand on your shoulder."

[Vivienne Montmarche]

"My Mom and Dad ran an inn, so if you need tips on hospitality, I might be able to help with that." She giggled slightly.

As Tanya relayed her story about the attack, Vivienne's face settled into a slight tweak of the eyebrows and a thin line for her mouth. The other girl was strong, and not just as a trainer. It took a kind of strength to walk away from something like that and keep rolling generally the same as before. A strength of character, or will perhaps? Vivi half wondered if she would've been able to keep going on as before, maybe just a little more cautious, or if she might've plunged into despair. Knowing herself as well as she did though, the girl could only guess she would've been plotting a counter-strike. Though that would've been hard to do, knowing next to nothing about her target.

It confirmed her suspicions when Tanya said no one really knew what they were after. She'd heard about this sort of thing before, from the news, even from her own Gramps once. Before sending her off, he'd told her it was her last chance before winding up in a reform school; he'd come down hard, harder than her parents had intended. Why? Because he'd been surprised she hadn't wound up involved with some criminal organization already. As the police chief of the region's biggest trade city, he'd dealt with more than his share of groups operating under the title of "Team."

Would she do it, hunt down Team Origin and join them? Hardly. A bunch of freaks flat out attacking people in the streets were most definitely not her style. If she was going to get one over on the old man, she was going to do it by helping take them down in some manner. The teenage grifter helping topple some criminal organization? He'd eat his words about her, and her hobbies. Of course, her train of thought was derailed when Tanya asked about her. She'd noticed the slight shift in her face; smarter than she looked too? If she hadn't been out to make friends, Vivi might've considered Tanya a bit threatening, in a light.

She didn't immediately jump to speaking, instead choosing her words carefully. Either way, Tanya was getting suspicious. Vivienne's mouth trembled slightly, her eyes growing wet with tears, "It's just....this...it reminds me of something back home. The kind of thing....I'd rather forget." There was remorse in her voice, tears in her eyes. How much of it was genuine? Not even Vivi was sure. She had her regrets for things she'd done, but she also knew a part of her had enjoyed the pranks, the petty thefts. Tricking people had turned from a hobby into an art for her, vandalism just one of those skills you needed in your set.

[Tanya Christianson]

"Oh, umm, I'm sorry." Tanya awkwardly stuttered out, feeling bad in how she made her feel even worse. She probably should learn to get some tact. She probably could've approached the situation better, but her curiosity compelled her to ask flat out. Now she was struggling to find a way to dig out of this mess that she got herself in.

"Well, umm, I guess we're here for a fresh start. Like, I mean, we have lives back home and umm stuff like that, but like we shouldn't worry about those things too much here." Tanya offered encouragingly, not really sure what else to say to Vivi. She wanted her to cheer up though. She didn't like making or being around sad people.

"Hey, what do you want to do now?" Tanya asked, waiting to see how Vivienne responded.

[Vivienne Montmarche]

After making Tanya feel like a piece of crap, Vivienne could breathe easier, internally at least. The funny thing was, she really did feel a little bad she couldn't come clean with the other girl, but only an idiot went around broadcasting the sort of past she had. She was just fine building up a reputation as a sweetheart in lieu of a criminal around campus. Besides, Tanya had a point. The past was the past, and as much as she missed parts of it, there were perks to being in a new place. No one looked at her like last night's garbage when she entered a store around these parts, for starters, and getting to raise whatever Pokemon she wanted was a plus.

"Um....well...if you wouldn't mind that is...." The girl's blush had returned, and her heartbeat had amped up slightly, "would...you maybe give me a few pointers?" Vivienne looked back up, her grip on the Budew tightening just slightly. "I haven't really had the chance to work on my appeals, let alone contest battles....to be honest, I'm still not even that good at regular battling. But I figured if I got better at one, I'd get better at the other."

[Tanya Christianson]

"Pokemon contest pointers?" Tanya asked in slight surprise, tapping her chin and racking her brains to find some advice she could give the young girl. Trying to find some general advice to give at first, she looked towards Vivienne and gave her a friendly grin.

"Well, this is just general advice, try to see what strengths your pokemon have and try to find ways to take advantage of them. Like if a pokemon is more suited for offense than defense, try to capitalize with a wide variety of offensive moves. On the flip side, some pokemon are really good at supporting so keep that in mind as well." Tanya advised, trying to think of more things she could use to help out the other trainer.

"Also, try to complement your pokemons strengths and weaknesses with each other. Like right now, I'm trying to work on Christian and Christopher's teamwork, since Christian's strength is supported by Christopher's ability to support. Plus their types complement each other pretty well." Tanya chimed, gesturing over towards Christopher and Christian, who by now went to different parts of the clearing to glare at each other.

"Unfortunately, I'm encountering some problems." Tanya whispered to Vivi, shooting a glance over towards the two and giggling softly. "As for appeals, just try and be creative! Try to think about how you can use the moves your pokemon have in a way different from attacking your foes. Try it out. In the end, there's a lot of trail and error that comes to it, but you'll eventually find something though."