Watching Decorations Go Up [open]

[haspokemon]

Characters: Red and anyone else
Date/Time: December 15, late morning
Location: Celadon City fountain plaza
Warnings: None
Summary/Notes: Red is monitoring the decorations outside of Celadon Department Store.

Comments

[lux_lucis_lucas]

The biting cold was familiar to Lucas, who was used to Sinnoh's lower temperatures. He tugged a little at his scarf and leaned his head back to catch a glimpse of the top of the ornamented tree, holding onto his hat with his other hand to keep it firmly in place. He was in Kanto for a very specific reason; he needed a gift for Dawn, but he didn't want it to be something she would have seen in Veilstone. Since he was going to research in Kanto anyway, he might as well go ahead and shop in Celadon, right?

Froslass drifted along beside him, enjoying the cold weather. Her distracted Trainer wasn't exactly watching where he was going, however, and she tugged on his sleeve just in time to save him from tripping on the ropes. He gave her a thankful pat on the head, and looked back up to spot Red, standing a little ways off. Well, that was a coincidence-- last time he had seen him had also been in Celadon.

"Hey, R--" he began to call, then realized he might not want his name to be shouted over a large crowd and stopped himself. He moved closer, Froslass at his heels, and waved when he was close enough. "Hi, Red," he tried again, hoping he would remember him.

[haspokemon]

Red almost missed his name being called while he was staring at two of the workers who had no idea how to install the air pump for the inflatable Santa. He blinked then turned around, hoping he didn't miss whoever it was. His eyes fell on a waving figure; it wasn't until the person was closer that Red remembered meeting him before. In fact, wasn't it near here?

"Oh..." he recognized the boy who was with the blond trainer who ran into Leaf. This one was the polite one. "Lucas, right? Hey." Red raised his free arm up in a short wave. "What brings you here?"

[lux_lucis_lucas]

Red remembered his name! Lucas tried not to look too obviously pleased and nodded. "Yeah, that's me."

He blinked at the question, and gave a short embarrassed laugh, readjusting his scarf again. "I'm shopping for a present for someone. I was in Kanto to visit the libraries, but since the holidays are coming soon, I figured I'd go ahead and shop here." He looked past Red to watch the workers struggle with the rapidly deflating Santa, curious. "So what are you doing? You work for the League, don't you?"

[haspokemon]

Red turned to follow Lucas' gaze just in case something happened (or to see if anything was flying at his head), then turned back to the young trainer. "Yeah. The League pays for part of the display, so they want someone to make sure it's done right. I got the job this time." He flipped through the pages on his clipboard to the sheet showing the placement of all the pieces and held it towards Lucas to see. "The tree's in the middle and everything goes around it, so it looks the same wherever you're standing."

He placed the clipboard back under one arm. "Well... almost the same." He scratched his head through his hat while looking back at the flat Santa. "How's shopping?" He gave Lucas a sympathetic smile.

[lux_lucis_lucas]

Lucas peered curiously at the sheet, then laughed. "In theory," he agreed. "But at least they're trying, I guess."

He blinked at the change in conversation, however, and scuffed his shoe on the sidewalk self-consciously. "Well, it's not so bad. I'm not shopping for too many people, but I'm not really sure what to get one person." Patting Froslass on the head, he avoided eye contact for a moment. "I'm hoping to get a better idea once I go inside the store, though."

[haspokemon]

Red peered at the massive crowd going in and out of the department store then back at the other trainer. He thought about taking his hand out of his pocket to pat Lucas' shoulder for luck, but that may look strange if not more discouraging than helpful. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other while thinking of any advice he could share; he had a similar experience looking for a Mother's Day present the very morning of that holiday. (He thought he would be allergic to pink forever.)

"It'll help a lot if you narrow it down," he responded, then leaned in a little closer. "Uh, be careful at the perfume counter. The sales ladies have really good aim." He frowned at the memory of his mother accepting his gift then making him stand outside for an hour to get rid of the pungent floral-candy-fruit smells. It had rained that day.

"Just watch your stuff, too," he added. "Pikachu bit this guy who was trying to take my wallet. It... kinda turned into a mess." Red made a short pause to think of anything else. "That's it."

PFFF LMAO RED

[lux_lucis_lucas]

Good thing he didn't give Lucas a pat; Red was already seeming a little ominous as it was. You could practically see Lucas's pupils dilate when Red leaned closer. "Oh," he managed. Perfume sales ladies? He wrinkled his nose at the mere thought of braving that area of the store. If it was anything like when his mother brought him shopping with her once, he wasn't about to waltz in there. Unfortunately, he might have to. "Well, it's for Dawn, so... Um, I'll do my best."

He nodded at the second piece of advice, however, and checked to make sure he still had his wallet. Yep, still in his left pocket; Froslass probably helped to discourage pickpockets by clinging onto that side of him, anyway. "Is that why Pikachu isn't out?" he asked, curious. Having usually seen Red(whether on TV or in public) with Pikachu nearby, it had struck Lucas as odd that he hadn't seen the electric mouse.

[haspokemon]

Red said nothing, but his expression did scrunch a little as he worked his memory to be sure. Oh, right, Dawn was the other girl with Lucas and the blond guy from before. Sinnoh champ too. It sounds like Lucas had quite a bit of a challenge before him, and it had nothing to do with a Pokémon battle. "Okay. Good luck." Red tried to smile but it must have looked awkward, so he was glad he could move onto Lucas' question.

"Yeah. The crowd makes Pikachu nervous." He looked around for good measure. "And people would recognize me. It's still with me though." Red lifted the bottom of his jacket just enough to show Lucas his pokéballs, then covered them again. "It doesn't like being in a ball, but it didn't want to stay behind in a Pokécenter either." He scratched his head through his hat. "Your Pokémon would probably understand. Is this one from Sinnoh?" Red tilted his head to look at Froslass.

[lux_lucis_lucas]

"I see," Lucas responded, nodding. It would follow that Red would be recognized by more people if he had Pikachu out, and Lucas knew what that was like-- he had to be careful with Lopunny out at Hearthome during a contest season.

"Oh, yeah! This is Froslass," he went on, nudging the timid Pokémon forward a bit. "She doesn't like crowds much either, but when it's winter she likes to be out of her Pokéball, so I brought her with me."

Froslass looked up to Red and murmured a soft greeting, hand still latched onto her Trainer's coat. Lucas patted her head encouragingly, looking more like a doting parent than a Trainer.