Really, this was all uncomfortable for him. There were a lot of people around, more-so than he was used to, and that alone sort of bothered him. Eryk wasn't a people person. Everyone knew that, and yet here he was, in the middle of a festival with two of his coworkers, and the subject of interest, Ana. She'd never been to a festival, either, but she seemed more inclined to go to one, than he was. He couldn't quite understand why, though. It was strange, and foreign, and he was probably thinking way too much on the subject. He'd managed, so far, to be civil, but he could feel eyes glancing at them every now and then. He wasn't a shallow-minded person, and he highly doubted they were looking at him. It didn't mean he didn't like it any less.
He tried to focus on something else, though, and he managed to allow his gaze to fall onto Cyrilla and Ana. They were still linked at the arms, but he did notice the lack of glancing. Cyrilla always had a habit of at least staring at Kas for a second, even if she wasn't talking to him. He'd noticed that almost immediately. That, and she hadn't directly talked to him. He wondered why that was, but he didn't want to dwell on that. He had other things to worry about. Like attending this arceus-forsaken festival. He pushed a light sigh from his lips, and shifted in his yukata. It was rather comfortable, perhaps he should wear them more often? Immediately the thought was banished. He didn't want to turn out like Kas.
"If we are attending all of the events, perhaps we should choose one to do first?" he finally spoke, allowing his gaze to shift to the other three. Cyrilla seemed to contemplate his suggestion, and shrugged her shoulders lightly.
"It's a bit hard to pick which one to do first. But if we eat first, we might be too tired to do anything else. Maybe we should check out the games?" she suggested, turning towards Kas and Ana for their input. She had a bit of a point, but as she'd mentioned earlier, Eryk had a bottomless pit. He didn't have to worry about food slowing him down.
Kas seemed content to let the others decide what to do; that made some sense if he’d been to these things in the past. It wasn’t a new experience for him. Ana, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t mind trying out some games,” she said with a glance towards the line of stalls coming into view as they approached downtown. All the shops had been closed down and these stalls built over the course of the day. Most of them were festooned with lanterns and steamers—that sort of thing. It had a slightly chaotic, very joyous atmosphere to it.
“How about that one?” she pointed to one of the closest; the object of the game seemed to be to toss plastic rings over the necks of bottles, which were placed in staggered formation with different-colored glass for each tier.
Eryk blinked at her choice. It seemed easy enough, but that was partly because he was raised as a Koga. Koga's clan were shinobi, and they were used to throwing things to hit their mark. He glanced at Cy to gauge her reaction, but she seemed just as excited. Perhaps he could play without actually trying to win. That wouldn't be so bad, right? "Alright," he spoke, walking towards the stall. The man who occupied it, seemed a little hesitant to give Eryk the plastic rings, perhaps because Eryk was slightly glaring at him. He felt an elbow in his side, soft though, and glanced towards the source.
"You can't glare at people, Ryk. It's not nice," Cyrilla whispered as she smiled up at him. She paid for her rings, and smiled at the man. Eryk could almost see his demeanor change and relax when she did that. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, though, and watched as she paid for another set. "Here you go, Ana, first one is on me! You should try it first," she stated, handing Ana the second set of rings. Eryk pursed his lips together. Why didn't he think of that?
Ana smiled brightly at Cyrilla. “Okay,” she said counting her rings and eyeing the setup. “Thanks, Cy.” She pursed her lips and approached the counter, where the man running the game had stepped aside to give them room to throw the rings. She twirled one on on her index finger, tilting her head to the side.
When she tossed, the ring flew steadily straight forward, but fell just short, pinging off the body of one of the bottles instead of landing over the neck. “Oops.”
“If you have any pointers to give, I suggest asking if she wants one,” Kas said from beside Eryk, carefully enough that only he could hear. “But don’t just tell her what to do without asking—that’s called mansplaining, and it’s rude.” He grinned and gave Eryk’s shoulder a light shove, as if urging him forward.
Unfortunately, the shove caught Eryk off guard, and he almost tipped forward. He shot Kas a glare, but it softened just slightly. He did have a point, but Eryk wasn't exactly good at explaining things without actually doing it himself. Still, he supposed he ought to try. "Do you need assistance?" he asked, cringing just slightly at the way he said it. It almost sounded like he was asking if she needed help in something other than the ring toss. He sighed, and cleared his throat.
"What... I meant was if you wanted assistance on how to toss properly," he corrected himself. Somewhere behind him, he could almost hear Cyrilla saying something like it's adorable. He could feel his eye wanting to twitch.
Ana actually looked relieved. “I’d really appreciate it,” she said with a soft smile. “The only thing I’ve ever really had to throw in my life is a pokéball, and I’ve only done that once or twice, really. Um… maybe you could demonstrate with one of yours?” She glanced down at the rings in his hand. “I don’t mind taking turns, and yours are a different color, so there shouldn’t be any problem with the score.”
He glanced at her for a moment longer before stepping in front of her. If she didn't mind, then there was no harm in at least showing her with his rings. "There... isn't much difference between the two. It's more about weights and distance," he began, lifting one of the rings in his hands and showing it to her. He laid it so that it was flat against his palm, and gently lifted it up and down. "You should get a feel for the weight, first, and then try and gauge the distance between you and the neck you want it on," he continued, moving the ring so that he grasped it gently between his thumb and forefinger.
"You don't want to toss it like a pokéball, though. Throwing it that way will only end badly," he stated. And to demonstrate, he tossed the ring in the way one would toss a pokéball. It clinked off of the neck of the bottle, and fell in between the rest of them. "You want to toss it with enough force to make it to the bottles, but gently enough so that it doesn't spin," he continued, giving another ring a careless toss. It wobbled in the air, and managed to catch the tip of the neck, but bounced off of it.
"This might be a better way," he stated, this time, glancing at the bottle neck he wanted to hit. He gave the ring a toss, watching as it flew and landed almost dead center. The neck slipped through the hole rather easily, and the only sound it gave was the sound of the ring landing without twirling.
Ana’s eyes stayed glued to his hands throughout the explanation, only flicking away when he tossed one of the rings. She looked like she was seriously attempting to take his advice, and after the last toss, she palmed one of the rings just as he’d done, weighing it in her hand and glancing down to the bottle display. Her mouth pulled into a frown of concentration, and she adjusted the way she was standing to mimic his posture as well.
Her first toss had a little too much spin on it, and though it landed in the right place, it skittered off the neck of the bottle. Her third one, though, had almost no spin at all; she lobbed it through the air with a bit more force to make up the difference and wound up overbalancing, letting out a small ‘eep’ as she lurched forward. She caught herself on the edge of the counter, pulling herself up immediately to look for the ring. When she saw that it had landed right over the neck of a bottle, she beamed at him.
“I did it!”
"Way to go, Ana!" Cyrilla chimed in, and Eryk could hear her hands clasping together. Not quite in a clap, though. His expression softened for just a fraction when she beamed at him. A soft breath of pride escaped Eryk, and he blinked a little confusedly. Where did that come from? So, he shook his head from the strange thought, and instead, offered Ana the rest of his rings. He could hear Cy snickering behind him.
"If you'd like to try again, or practice," he explained. It wasn't like he needed to practice, anyway. He'd make them all on there, and he was fairly certain Cy would too. "If you'd rather not," he continued, still leaving his hand out that held the rings. If she didn't want to, she didn't have to. It wasn't like she needed his rings. He should probably get her more, instead.
She looked for a second like she was halfway through deciding to refuse, but then her eyes caught his and her expression changed. It was hard to pin down exactly what changed about it—it was almost like she’d figured something out, or learned something new, but neither of those really applied to a situation like this, did they? Her smile dimmed but did not disappear, and Ana reached forward to take the rings he offered.
Their fingers brushed together for just a moment. “Sorry,” she murmured, stepping back again once she’d taken them. “I guess I’m buying both you and Cyrilla something to eat, now. What do they have that’s good, Kas?”
“Tons of stuff,” Kas replied. Even though he couldn’t see it, Eryk could easily detect the smile in his voice. “Looks like the closest snack stand has grilled pineapple. You should definitely all try that.”
Ana nodded. “Grilled pineapple then. But first…” She realigned herself with the throwing area and tossed all the remaining rings. Her throws got a lot smoother as she went, and by the end she was landing almost all of them. She won herself a decent amount of tickets, which she then divided, offering about a third of them to Eryk.
“For the lesson,” she said.
Eryk was a little confused by the gesture. She didn't need to give him a share of tickets just because he helped her. He narrowed his eyes just slightly, but not out of anything in particular. He was just contemplating what he was going to do. Instead, he pushed her hand, gently, back towards her. "Keep them. I have no use for them, and there might be something you'll see that you might want," he spoke, feeling just a bit awkward by the whole thing. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Cyrilla snickering softly, and knew she was shaking her head at him.
"It's okay, Ana. He'll probably win his own tickets later on. Besides, there might be something you want that you might not have enough tickets for," Cyrilla spoke, but there was something teasing about the way she said it. He sighed. She had a point though. Even if there were other games, Eryk could probably win them all, and that would help out just slightly if she was, indeed, short any tickets.
"I could help with that. But first, we should go try those grilled pineapples," he spoke, still feeling slightly awkward.
Ana nodded a bit reluctantly and tucked all the tickets away inside her obi. The four of them headed away from the ring-toss game to a stall with a grill set into it. The smell of cooking food wafted over the area, though some of it had an unexpectedly-sweet tinge to it. She approached the vendor, who was apparently someone she knew, from the way he grinned at her.
“Well hey there, Miss Ana. Good to see you could make it this year.” The man must have been in his late thirties or so, from the grey just coming in at his temples and the creases around his eyes.
“Hello, Mr. Scheffler. How are Maria and Toby?” she replied, tipping her head to the side and fishing around in her sleeve for something.
He flipped a skewer around on the grill, producing a hissing sizzle. “Good, good,” he replied. “Toby starts third grade this year, but all he can talk about is how excited he is for his journey next summer. He was going on about how he wanted to make friends with one of yours, and start with them.” The man shook his head, flipping several more. “I told him I’d have to talk to you about that; I know a lot of yours aren’t really in the right kind of shape to be battling, you know?”
Ana smiled softly. “I appreciate that. It’s true that most of them aren’t really suited for a life of travel and battle, but Toby’s got a good heart. Once he gets his license, feel free to bring him by. I’m sure one of the healthier ones will take a shine to him. And it’s very good of him to want to start with one of them.” She finally found what she was looking for, pulling a small purse from the sleeve of her yukata. “Could I get a few orders of grilled pineapple, please?”
“Of course!” The man—Scheffler—threw several large pineapple rings on the grill. “Not to take business away from myself, but you’ve really got to try Ms. Julie’s funnel cake—she’s about half a mile down the street, I think.” He glanced up and smiled at the group at large. “Nice to see you’ve come with friends! I’ve already met Kasimir there—how are you?”
“I’m fantastic, thank you, Mr. Scheffler.”
The man’s eyes sparked with amusement. “Really, the both of you can just call me Robert. So can your friends, actually. I don’t think we’ve met, though; Robert Scheffler. I run the Pokémart on the corner.” Still minding his grill, he tipped his head down the street, where indeed there was a blue-roofed store with the distinctive logo.
Eryk stared at Robert for a moment before tipping his head just slightly in acknowledgement. "Eryk," he simply spoke, stating nothing else. It wasn't like this man would remember him, anyway. Or at least that was Eryk's assumption. That, and Eryk wasn't too sure he wanted to get to know the man any more than this. He ran the mart, that was it.
"Nice to meet you, Robert! I'm Cyrilla Niav," she introduced herself. Of course, she didn't have as much reserve as Eryk did, but he supposed that was because she didn't have the same problem he did. She made friends with just about everyone she met, and Eryk... well he either intimidated them or scared them off. People didn't just stick around, though Kas and Ana were an exception. He blinked softly at that realization.
"Cyrilla and I both work with Kas," he finally stated, trying to be as polite as possible. He was still new to this, despite the past weeks Kas had tried to teach him otherwise. He also wasn't too sure how much Mr. Scheffler knew about who they worked for. Team Rocket was known, but they were still not well-liked. Add to that that Mr. Scheffler's son would be applying for a license soon. Team Rocket issued those out now, and ultimately, they decided who received one or not. Perhaps... he could put in a good word for this Toby.
If Robert was at all put-off by Eryk’s demeanor, he certainly didn’t show it. “Nice to meet you two. Any friend of Miss Ana’s is a friend of mine.” He dipped his chin in an amiable nod, turning the pineapple over on the grill to sear the other side for just a few seconds before placing each thick slice in a small paper dish. Setting them on the counter at the edge of the stall, he waved his hand dismissively when Anastasia started to count out payment for it.
“No need to worry yourself, Miss Ana. It’s on the house.”
“I couldn’t,” she insisted. At least it wasn’t only something she did with Eryk.
But Robert was insistent. “I don’t work the festival for the money, m’dear, and a few slices of pineapple isn’t going to put me out. I hope you and your friends enjoy it, and don’t forget what I said about that funnel cake.” He smiled and nudged the food a little closer.
“Thank you, then,” Ana replied, picking up the paper dishes. She handed one to Eryk, one to Kas, and the last to Cyrilla. “I think we can split this in half?”
"Yes!" Cyrilla stated cheerfully. Eryk resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, however; he managed not to. He simply stared at his grilled pineapple, unsure of what to do with it until he watched the others take a bite out of theirs. Hesitantly, he took a slow bite out of his, chewing it a little too thoughtfully. He wasn't too sure what to expect. It was a pineapple that had been grilled. Maybe he was expecting a smokey flavor to it, or something to that nature, however; what met his taste buds wasn't quite either. It was good.
"These, are good," he stated out loud, blinking a bit surprised. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, and if Cyrilla's light laugh was anything to go by, his face was probably showing the same reaction. Almost immediately, he frowned slightly, furrowing his brows.
"There's nothing wrong with saying something is good if you find it so, Ryk. Really, now," she stated, smiling at him all the same. He scoffed and took another bite from his pineapple. "It's a compliment, really," she spoke towards Robert. "Should we go try Ms. Julie's funnel cake next?" she asked. Eryk swore he could see a small twinkle behind her eyes. She liked sweets, that much he knew. But how much she actually liked them wasn't something he knew. He, personally, didn't like sweets, but maybe Kas and Ana did.
"Do you?" he asked, glancing towards the two others.
“Well, it’s a ways down the road,” Ana said. “But we can certainly head in that direction and see what we find, right?” Kas agreed, and the four of them headed further down the way.
At this time of night, lots of people were around, but by far the majority of the people were there as families, most of them with children between the ages of four and fourteen in tow. It was a little noisy for that reason alone, with people calling out to each other or fighting over what to eat or which games to play, but for all the yelling, everything seemed mostly… happy. It was chaos, but not the angry kind. Most people were colorfully-dressed, too; they would have stood out a lot if they weren’t in yukata.
As it was, they still tended to attract attention, mostly just people calling out to say hello to Ana or Kas, or occasionally even Cy. There were a few more introductions, though no one kept them for long. They passed by a few more games, some other food stalls selling substantial dinner-type foods; Kas insisted on trying at least most of them; before long they had a lot more to carry than they really had space for.
“Should we find somewhere to sit down for a while?” Ana asked, trying to juggle takoyaki, a veggie skewer, several types of tempura and a fruit smoothie. And that was only half of the food she and Cy were trying to get through together. “I know they have benches and things around, or we could sit on that fountain over there?”
Eryk probably had the most food, though. He was juggling at least four or five different plates. When Ana spoke, though, he agreed. Sitting down would probably be best, that way they could sort through all the items they had. And they could probably start working on some of the food. It all smelled so good. It wasn't quite the smell Cy's food had, whenever she cooked for him, but it still smelled good all the same. He managed to find a small table, and made for it before one of the other families could take it. It was large enough for a family, but that didn't seem to matter to Eryk.
"This will do," he stated, setting his plates down and helping Ana and Cy with theirs. Once everything was set, he took a seat. "We should rest for a moment, and try to free up space," he stated. Cy laughed.
"I think what he means to say is, 'Let's eat this food so we can go get more things,'" she stated, trying to immitate his voice. It sounded... gruff. Did he really talk like that? "I will agree on that, though. I don't know if we could keep carrying any more things without making some room," she added.
Kas took the seat next to Cy, leaving Ana to fold herself into the bench beside Eryk. The angle made her relative lack of height all the more obvious—the top of her head barely reached halfway up his bicep—but she didn’t seem uncomfortable in the slightest. Since she was across from Cy, she arranged their shared food in between them, picking out a bit of tempura with one of the plastic forks they’d been given.
“What’d I tell you? Festival food is great,” Kas said, working his way through his own pile, which was nearly the size of Eryk’s.
“Is there a Camilla Festival on the Orange Islands?” Ana asked between bites, tilting her head at him.
Kas chewed for several more seconds, then swallowed, shaking his head and chasing his bite with what looked like a bright purple soda or something. “Not exactly. Ours is called the Palm Festival—it’s got a lot of the same features, but there’s also a bit more… I dunno, I guess you’d call it spiritualism. The old folks on the island spend the whole first half the day meditating, and the ceremony at the end is a bigger deal. Here, lots of people will skip the lantern-lighting, which is supposed to be the main event. You don’t skip the palm-boat release where I’m from, unless you’re a tourist.”
Ana nodded. “That’s really interesting, though. What does the Palm Festival celebrate? The Camilla Festival is supposed to be for the beginning of summer, and I heard it used to be a way of guiding the spirits of that year’s dead or lost to the next world—that’s what the lanterns are for.”
He nodded. “Summer on the islands is kind of a mixed thing. It’s peak tourist season, so we all do pretty well for ourselves in that industry. But it’s also kind of the time when we have to worry most about storms—so we send the palm boats out to sea to placate the pokémon that controls the ocean.” He shrugged. “Most people don’t believe it helps anymore; they do it because it’s something the whole community does together.”
It seemed that most of it was still the same, at least to Eryk. Why did they sound so interesting, though? Maybe because he'd never really been to one, and didn't know the first thing about festivals. Different festivals, different meanings, but they still seemed to hold the same sentimentality for everyone around. Tradition or not, it was important to some people. He paused momentarily, chewing on a piece of meat before he swallowed. He wasn't entirely sure what to say. He didn't have any knowledge to offer about festivals, and he didn't quite know what to ask. He was, for once, at a loss.
"That sounds nice, doing something like that as a whole rather than individually," Cyrilla spoke, saving him from his own thoughts. He could hear it, though, the slight solemn tone to her voice. He could understand just slightly. Their community wasn't quite the same. Growing up in such a large family, training for just one purpose, he supposed he could understand that solemnness. He sighed softly, pushing the thoughts from his mind. He didn't need them, not now at least.
"Do you want to attend the lantern-lighting?" he asked, the question directed towards Ana. "Since... you and I have never been to a festival," he added, unsure as to why, though. He'd never been to a festival, and neither had she. Perhaps she wanted to see that part through, too. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but it would be nice to see the festival through to the end. It would give him a new insight to the islanders, how they did things, and most of all, it would hopefully give a little more insight to her.
For the sake of the mission... or at least that was what he was telling himself.
She smiled. “I think… that would be really nice.”
He tried to focus on something else, though, and he managed to allow his gaze to fall onto Cyrilla and Ana. They were still linked at the arms, but he did notice the lack of glancing. Cyrilla always had a habit of at least staring at Kas for a second, even if she wasn't talking to him. He'd noticed that almost immediately. That, and she hadn't directly talked to him. He wondered why that was, but he didn't want to dwell on that. He had other things to worry about. Like attending this arceus-forsaken festival. He pushed a light sigh from his lips, and shifted in his yukata. It was rather comfortable, perhaps he should wear them more often? Immediately the thought was banished. He didn't want to turn out like Kas.
"If we are attending all of the events, perhaps we should choose one to do first?" he finally spoke, allowing his gaze to shift to the other three. Cyrilla seemed to contemplate his suggestion, and shrugged her shoulders lightly.
"It's a bit hard to pick which one to do first. But if we eat first, we might be too tired to do anything else. Maybe we should check out the games?" she suggested, turning towards Kas and Ana for their input. She had a bit of a point, but as she'd mentioned earlier, Eryk had a bottomless pit. He didn't have to worry about food slowing him down.
Kas seemed content to let the others decide what to do; that made some sense if he’d been to these things in the past. It wasn’t a new experience for him. Ana, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t mind trying out some games,” she said with a glance towards the line of stalls coming into view as they approached downtown. All the shops had been closed down and these stalls built over the course of the day. Most of them were festooned with lanterns and steamers—that sort of thing. It had a slightly chaotic, very joyous atmosphere to it.
“How about that one?” she pointed to one of the closest; the object of the game seemed to be to toss plastic rings over the necks of bottles, which were placed in staggered formation with different-colored glass for each tier.
Eryk blinked at her choice. It seemed easy enough, but that was partly because he was raised as a Koga. Koga's clan were shinobi, and they were used to throwing things to hit their mark. He glanced at Cy to gauge her reaction, but she seemed just as excited. Perhaps he could play without actually trying to win. That wouldn't be so bad, right? "Alright," he spoke, walking towards the stall. The man who occupied it, seemed a little hesitant to give Eryk the plastic rings, perhaps because Eryk was slightly glaring at him. He felt an elbow in his side, soft though, and glanced towards the source.
"You can't glare at people, Ryk. It's not nice," Cyrilla whispered as she smiled up at him. She paid for her rings, and smiled at the man. Eryk could almost see his demeanor change and relax when she did that. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, though, and watched as she paid for another set. "Here you go, Ana, first one is on me! You should try it first," she stated, handing Ana the second set of rings. Eryk pursed his lips together. Why didn't he think of that?
Ana smiled brightly at Cyrilla. “Okay,” she said counting her rings and eyeing the setup. “Thanks, Cy.” She pursed her lips and approached the counter, where the man running the game had stepped aside to give them room to throw the rings. She twirled one on on her index finger, tilting her head to the side.
When she tossed, the ring flew steadily straight forward, but fell just short, pinging off the body of one of the bottles instead of landing over the neck. “Oops.”
“If you have any pointers to give, I suggest asking if she wants one,” Kas said from beside Eryk, carefully enough that only he could hear. “But don’t just tell her what to do without asking—that’s called mansplaining, and it’s rude.” He grinned and gave Eryk’s shoulder a light shove, as if urging him forward.
Unfortunately, the shove caught Eryk off guard, and he almost tipped forward. He shot Kas a glare, but it softened just slightly. He did have a point, but Eryk wasn't exactly good at explaining things without actually doing it himself. Still, he supposed he ought to try. "Do you need assistance?" he asked, cringing just slightly at the way he said it. It almost sounded like he was asking if she needed help in something other than the ring toss. He sighed, and cleared his throat.
"What... I meant was if you wanted assistance on how to toss properly," he corrected himself. Somewhere behind him, he could almost hear Cyrilla saying something like it's adorable. He could feel his eye wanting to twitch.
Ana actually looked relieved. “I’d really appreciate it,” she said with a soft smile. “The only thing I’ve ever really had to throw in my life is a pokéball, and I’ve only done that once or twice, really. Um… maybe you could demonstrate with one of yours?” She glanced down at the rings in his hand. “I don’t mind taking turns, and yours are a different color, so there shouldn’t be any problem with the score.”
He glanced at her for a moment longer before stepping in front of her. If she didn't mind, then there was no harm in at least showing her with his rings. "There... isn't much difference between the two. It's more about weights and distance," he began, lifting one of the rings in his hands and showing it to her. He laid it so that it was flat against his palm, and gently lifted it up and down. "You should get a feel for the weight, first, and then try and gauge the distance between you and the neck you want it on," he continued, moving the ring so that he grasped it gently between his thumb and forefinger.
"You don't want to toss it like a pokéball, though. Throwing it that way will only end badly," he stated. And to demonstrate, he tossed the ring in the way one would toss a pokéball. It clinked off of the neck of the bottle, and fell in between the rest of them. "You want to toss it with enough force to make it to the bottles, but gently enough so that it doesn't spin," he continued, giving another ring a careless toss. It wobbled in the air, and managed to catch the tip of the neck, but bounced off of it.
"This might be a better way," he stated, this time, glancing at the bottle neck he wanted to hit. He gave the ring a toss, watching as it flew and landed almost dead center. The neck slipped through the hole rather easily, and the only sound it gave was the sound of the ring landing without twirling.
Ana’s eyes stayed glued to his hands throughout the explanation, only flicking away when he tossed one of the rings. She looked like she was seriously attempting to take his advice, and after the last toss, she palmed one of the rings just as he’d done, weighing it in her hand and glancing down to the bottle display. Her mouth pulled into a frown of concentration, and she adjusted the way she was standing to mimic his posture as well.
Her first toss had a little too much spin on it, and though it landed in the right place, it skittered off the neck of the bottle. Her third one, though, had almost no spin at all; she lobbed it through the air with a bit more force to make up the difference and wound up overbalancing, letting out a small ‘eep’ as she lurched forward. She caught herself on the edge of the counter, pulling herself up immediately to look for the ring. When she saw that it had landed right over the neck of a bottle, she beamed at him.
“I did it!”
"Way to go, Ana!" Cyrilla chimed in, and Eryk could hear her hands clasping together. Not quite in a clap, though. His expression softened for just a fraction when she beamed at him. A soft breath of pride escaped Eryk, and he blinked a little confusedly. Where did that come from? So, he shook his head from the strange thought, and instead, offered Ana the rest of his rings. He could hear Cy snickering behind him.
"If you'd like to try again, or practice," he explained. It wasn't like he needed to practice, anyway. He'd make them all on there, and he was fairly certain Cy would too. "If you'd rather not," he continued, still leaving his hand out that held the rings. If she didn't want to, she didn't have to. It wasn't like she needed his rings. He should probably get her more, instead.
She looked for a second like she was halfway through deciding to refuse, but then her eyes caught his and her expression changed. It was hard to pin down exactly what changed about it—it was almost like she’d figured something out, or learned something new, but neither of those really applied to a situation like this, did they? Her smile dimmed but did not disappear, and Ana reached forward to take the rings he offered.
Their fingers brushed together for just a moment. “Sorry,” she murmured, stepping back again once she’d taken them. “I guess I’m buying both you and Cyrilla something to eat, now. What do they have that’s good, Kas?”
“Tons of stuff,” Kas replied. Even though he couldn’t see it, Eryk could easily detect the smile in his voice. “Looks like the closest snack stand has grilled pineapple. You should definitely all try that.”
Ana nodded. “Grilled pineapple then. But first…” She realigned herself with the throwing area and tossed all the remaining rings. Her throws got a lot smoother as she went, and by the end she was landing almost all of them. She won herself a decent amount of tickets, which she then divided, offering about a third of them to Eryk.
“For the lesson,” she said.
Eryk was a little confused by the gesture. She didn't need to give him a share of tickets just because he helped her. He narrowed his eyes just slightly, but not out of anything in particular. He was just contemplating what he was going to do. Instead, he pushed her hand, gently, back towards her. "Keep them. I have no use for them, and there might be something you'll see that you might want," he spoke, feeling just a bit awkward by the whole thing. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Cyrilla snickering softly, and knew she was shaking her head at him.
"It's okay, Ana. He'll probably win his own tickets later on. Besides, there might be something you want that you might not have enough tickets for," Cyrilla spoke, but there was something teasing about the way she said it. He sighed. She had a point though. Even if there were other games, Eryk could probably win them all, and that would help out just slightly if she was, indeed, short any tickets.
"I could help with that. But first, we should go try those grilled pineapples," he spoke, still feeling slightly awkward.
Ana nodded a bit reluctantly and tucked all the tickets away inside her obi. The four of them headed away from the ring-toss game to a stall with a grill set into it. The smell of cooking food wafted over the area, though some of it had an unexpectedly-sweet tinge to it. She approached the vendor, who was apparently someone she knew, from the way he grinned at her.
“Well hey there, Miss Ana. Good to see you could make it this year.” The man must have been in his late thirties or so, from the grey just coming in at his temples and the creases around his eyes.
“Hello, Mr. Scheffler. How are Maria and Toby?” she replied, tipping her head to the side and fishing around in her sleeve for something.
He flipped a skewer around on the grill, producing a hissing sizzle. “Good, good,” he replied. “Toby starts third grade this year, but all he can talk about is how excited he is for his journey next summer. He was going on about how he wanted to make friends with one of yours, and start with them.” The man shook his head, flipping several more. “I told him I’d have to talk to you about that; I know a lot of yours aren’t really in the right kind of shape to be battling, you know?”
Ana smiled softly. “I appreciate that. It’s true that most of them aren’t really suited for a life of travel and battle, but Toby’s got a good heart. Once he gets his license, feel free to bring him by. I’m sure one of the healthier ones will take a shine to him. And it’s very good of him to want to start with one of them.” She finally found what she was looking for, pulling a small purse from the sleeve of her yukata. “Could I get a few orders of grilled pineapple, please?”
“Of course!” The man—Scheffler—threw several large pineapple rings on the grill. “Not to take business away from myself, but you’ve really got to try Ms. Julie’s funnel cake—she’s about half a mile down the street, I think.” He glanced up and smiled at the group at large. “Nice to see you’ve come with friends! I’ve already met Kasimir there—how are you?”
“I’m fantastic, thank you, Mr. Scheffler.”
The man’s eyes sparked with amusement. “Really, the both of you can just call me Robert. So can your friends, actually. I don’t think we’ve met, though; Robert Scheffler. I run the Pokémart on the corner.” Still minding his grill, he tipped his head down the street, where indeed there was a blue-roofed store with the distinctive logo.
Eryk stared at Robert for a moment before tipping his head just slightly in acknowledgement. "Eryk," he simply spoke, stating nothing else. It wasn't like this man would remember him, anyway. Or at least that was Eryk's assumption. That, and Eryk wasn't too sure he wanted to get to know the man any more than this. He ran the mart, that was it.
"Nice to meet you, Robert! I'm Cyrilla Niav," she introduced herself. Of course, she didn't have as much reserve as Eryk did, but he supposed that was because she didn't have the same problem he did. She made friends with just about everyone she met, and Eryk... well he either intimidated them or scared them off. People didn't just stick around, though Kas and Ana were an exception. He blinked softly at that realization.
"Cyrilla and I both work with Kas," he finally stated, trying to be as polite as possible. He was still new to this, despite the past weeks Kas had tried to teach him otherwise. He also wasn't too sure how much Mr. Scheffler knew about who they worked for. Team Rocket was known, but they were still not well-liked. Add to that that Mr. Scheffler's son would be applying for a license soon. Team Rocket issued those out now, and ultimately, they decided who received one or not. Perhaps... he could put in a good word for this Toby.
If Robert was at all put-off by Eryk’s demeanor, he certainly didn’t show it. “Nice to meet you two. Any friend of Miss Ana’s is a friend of mine.” He dipped his chin in an amiable nod, turning the pineapple over on the grill to sear the other side for just a few seconds before placing each thick slice in a small paper dish. Setting them on the counter at the edge of the stall, he waved his hand dismissively when Anastasia started to count out payment for it.
“No need to worry yourself, Miss Ana. It’s on the house.”
“I couldn’t,” she insisted. At least it wasn’t only something she did with Eryk.
But Robert was insistent. “I don’t work the festival for the money, m’dear, and a few slices of pineapple isn’t going to put me out. I hope you and your friends enjoy it, and don’t forget what I said about that funnel cake.” He smiled and nudged the food a little closer.
“Thank you, then,” Ana replied, picking up the paper dishes. She handed one to Eryk, one to Kas, and the last to Cyrilla. “I think we can split this in half?”
"Yes!" Cyrilla stated cheerfully. Eryk resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, however; he managed not to. He simply stared at his grilled pineapple, unsure of what to do with it until he watched the others take a bite out of theirs. Hesitantly, he took a slow bite out of his, chewing it a little too thoughtfully. He wasn't too sure what to expect. It was a pineapple that had been grilled. Maybe he was expecting a smokey flavor to it, or something to that nature, however; what met his taste buds wasn't quite either. It was good.
"These, are good," he stated out loud, blinking a bit surprised. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, and if Cyrilla's light laugh was anything to go by, his face was probably showing the same reaction. Almost immediately, he frowned slightly, furrowing his brows.
"There's nothing wrong with saying something is good if you find it so, Ryk. Really, now," she stated, smiling at him all the same. He scoffed and took another bite from his pineapple. "It's a compliment, really," she spoke towards Robert. "Should we go try Ms. Julie's funnel cake next?" she asked. Eryk swore he could see a small twinkle behind her eyes. She liked sweets, that much he knew. But how much she actually liked them wasn't something he knew. He, personally, didn't like sweets, but maybe Kas and Ana did.
"Do you?" he asked, glancing towards the two others.
“Well, it’s a ways down the road,” Ana said. “But we can certainly head in that direction and see what we find, right?” Kas agreed, and the four of them headed further down the way.
At this time of night, lots of people were around, but by far the majority of the people were there as families, most of them with children between the ages of four and fourteen in tow. It was a little noisy for that reason alone, with people calling out to each other or fighting over what to eat or which games to play, but for all the yelling, everything seemed mostly… happy. It was chaos, but not the angry kind. Most people were colorfully-dressed, too; they would have stood out a lot if they weren’t in yukata.
As it was, they still tended to attract attention, mostly just people calling out to say hello to Ana or Kas, or occasionally even Cy. There were a few more introductions, though no one kept them for long. They passed by a few more games, some other food stalls selling substantial dinner-type foods; Kas insisted on trying at least most of them; before long they had a lot more to carry than they really had space for.
“Should we find somewhere to sit down for a while?” Ana asked, trying to juggle takoyaki, a veggie skewer, several types of tempura and a fruit smoothie. And that was only half of the food she and Cy were trying to get through together. “I know they have benches and things around, or we could sit on that fountain over there?”
Eryk probably had the most food, though. He was juggling at least four or five different plates. When Ana spoke, though, he agreed. Sitting down would probably be best, that way they could sort through all the items they had. And they could probably start working on some of the food. It all smelled so good. It wasn't quite the smell Cy's food had, whenever she cooked for him, but it still smelled good all the same. He managed to find a small table, and made for it before one of the other families could take it. It was large enough for a family, but that didn't seem to matter to Eryk.
"This will do," he stated, setting his plates down and helping Ana and Cy with theirs. Once everything was set, he took a seat. "We should rest for a moment, and try to free up space," he stated. Cy laughed.
"I think what he means to say is, 'Let's eat this food so we can go get more things,'" she stated, trying to immitate his voice. It sounded... gruff. Did he really talk like that? "I will agree on that, though. I don't know if we could keep carrying any more things without making some room," she added.
Kas took the seat next to Cy, leaving Ana to fold herself into the bench beside Eryk. The angle made her relative lack of height all the more obvious—the top of her head barely reached halfway up his bicep—but she didn’t seem uncomfortable in the slightest. Since she was across from Cy, she arranged their shared food in between them, picking out a bit of tempura with one of the plastic forks they’d been given.
“What’d I tell you? Festival food is great,” Kas said, working his way through his own pile, which was nearly the size of Eryk’s.
“Is there a Camilla Festival on the Orange Islands?” Ana asked between bites, tilting her head at him.
Kas chewed for several more seconds, then swallowed, shaking his head and chasing his bite with what looked like a bright purple soda or something. “Not exactly. Ours is called the Palm Festival—it’s got a lot of the same features, but there’s also a bit more… I dunno, I guess you’d call it spiritualism. The old folks on the island spend the whole first half the day meditating, and the ceremony at the end is a bigger deal. Here, lots of people will skip the lantern-lighting, which is supposed to be the main event. You don’t skip the palm-boat release where I’m from, unless you’re a tourist.”
Ana nodded. “That’s really interesting, though. What does the Palm Festival celebrate? The Camilla Festival is supposed to be for the beginning of summer, and I heard it used to be a way of guiding the spirits of that year’s dead or lost to the next world—that’s what the lanterns are for.”
He nodded. “Summer on the islands is kind of a mixed thing. It’s peak tourist season, so we all do pretty well for ourselves in that industry. But it’s also kind of the time when we have to worry most about storms—so we send the palm boats out to sea to placate the pokémon that controls the ocean.” He shrugged. “Most people don’t believe it helps anymore; they do it because it’s something the whole community does together.”
It seemed that most of it was still the same, at least to Eryk. Why did they sound so interesting, though? Maybe because he'd never really been to one, and didn't know the first thing about festivals. Different festivals, different meanings, but they still seemed to hold the same sentimentality for everyone around. Tradition or not, it was important to some people. He paused momentarily, chewing on a piece of meat before he swallowed. He wasn't entirely sure what to say. He didn't have any knowledge to offer about festivals, and he didn't quite know what to ask. He was, for once, at a loss.
"That sounds nice, doing something like that as a whole rather than individually," Cyrilla spoke, saving him from his own thoughts. He could hear it, though, the slight solemn tone to her voice. He could understand just slightly. Their community wasn't quite the same. Growing up in such a large family, training for just one purpose, he supposed he could understand that solemnness. He sighed softly, pushing the thoughts from his mind. He didn't need them, not now at least.
"Do you want to attend the lantern-lighting?" he asked, the question directed towards Ana. "Since... you and I have never been to a festival," he added, unsure as to why, though. He'd never been to a festival, and neither had she. Perhaps she wanted to see that part through, too. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but it would be nice to see the festival through to the end. It would give him a new insight to the islanders, how they did things, and most of all, it would hopefully give a little more insight to her.
For the sake of the mission... or at least that was what he was telling himself.
She smiled. “I think… that would be really nice.”