Back Tracking (Night Picnic 2)

[wardnpendragn]

((continued from: link))

Lecce led the way back toward Cerulean, Serena behind him. He didn't speak much, keeping an eye out for any more stray Rockets, but had yet to see any. He automatically sped his steps, hoping to hurry out again and not lose an entire day. The picnic basket was still hefted under his arm, holding it with an absent sort of care; his free hand gripped the basket's rim to hold it closed.

As an afterthought, he hoped he didn't seem rude to his companion. In an effort to break the overall quiet--too used to the city sounds to think of them as noise--he spoke to her, slowing his steps to fall beside hers.

"...Do you want to take the basket with us? Will any of the food spoil?" He added after glancing around, realizing that he had no idea where she lived, "...Do you need to pack much?"

[DarkChaos44]

Serena quietly followed Lecce as they hurried into town. Although Serena had to pick up the pace or else she would be left behind given at how fast Lecce was walking.

She had her head looking downwards but just high enough to see Lecce's feet moving. Although it was quiet thoughout the whole way here, at least the sounds of the city made Serena feel like the town was welcoming her back.

Serena nearly jumped at Lecce's voice and noticed that he was slowing down until he was right beside her. She looked to him and answered back. "I don't usually carry a basket with me to carry food. But the food in the basket probably won't last for another day." Serena had to think for a second for what she needed and added. "Just a few things. Like another set of clothes, some food, and I guess my tent with a pillow and a cover. I also have a spare tent if you need one."

[wardnpendragn]

Lecce gave a slight nod in acknowedgement of the reasoning, and let the movement reply to the offer of the tent as well. He was not really concerned with all of that himself, having taken the trip back to Viridian enough times to be used to the two-day trip, with the occasional nap in the grass before he reached the next city.

However, when he considered it, he wasn't sure if his companion traveled very often. He decided to keep going along with it; if it made Serena more comfortable, on top of being a good back up plan in case anything happened--who knew, perhaps a few more stray rockets would show up--then it wasn't his place to complain about it.

He hesitated to follow her any more as they neared what he assumed was her home, though. Lece wasn't one to 'visit' with the other officers often, if ever; finding it rather uncomfortable how they tried to be overly friendly with him, or pry into his private life with curious questions.

Lecce said, "..Just get what you think you can carry." He didn't outrightly offer to help, knowing people that took advantage of an extra back and pair of arms, and hoped it was a subtle enough way to see what sort of traveler Serena was.

((OMG I AM SORRY. I had a long work week and wasn't feeling well and then on top of that we were cleaning house and given a bunch of furniture and had to go get it and move everything around. orz))

[DarkChaos44]

(Its perfectly fine. During one day, I thought that I my response was that bad and you didn't want to continue. o.o;)

Serena nodded to the statement. Of course she wouldn't get too much stuff to take on such a small trip but you couldn't ever know what could happen on trips like this. Especially if Chaos was at the end.

Serena began to lead Lecce to her home. Soon they reached the apartment complex where Serena had lived. It was probably one of the nicer, cleaner complexs than the one down the street.

And finally, they reached to the front door to Serena's apartment. Serena pulled her bag around and started to dig into it. "First, I just have to find my key to the door and we're in..." But soon after seconds of looking, she began to worry as she couldn't find the key. "Oh... I hope I didn't lose it again. Maybe I should have have one of my Pokemon hold it next time. Just give me one minute Lecce and I should have it."

[wardnpendragn]

Lecce watched with a half smile, formed in disbelief. He was starting to get an idea of what sort of person she was most of the time.

Without the tact most people would offer, he said, "...You're a little scattered, aren't you."

He considered the prospect of leaving the safety of his team in the hands of this person; it wasn't entirely a comforting feeling. 'I'll just be sure not to get my team injured,' he thought to himself. 'Better not risk her misplacing or switching medicinces...'

He added, as a thought occurred to him, "...Please tell me you didn't leave it on the mountain."

[DarkChaos44]

"I'm sure I didn't leave it behind. And I'm not scattered. Its just keys and certain items like TMs and HMs." Serena said as she looked into her bag. "I know I always keep it in one place in this bag and never take it out until I'm standing right..."

Just then, the lights in her apartment turned on and the doorknob began to turn. At first, the door slowly creaked open before opening all the way, reveiling a Kirla. Kirla looked like it was tired as it yawned before staring at Serena then gave Lecce a somewhat cold stare.

"Oh hi Kirla. I didn't mean to wake you up." Serena said before introducing Kirla to Lecce. "Um, Kirla, this is Lecce. Hes a fellow co-worker so don't think hes here to cause any harm." Kirla smiled before turning to the table near the door to grab something then turned back to show Serena that would make her look like a fool in front of Lecce. Serena's key to the door.

Serena just stood there, feeling very stupid. At last, she said. "I can't believe that I forgot my key here... again."

[wardnpendragn]

Lecce didn't respond to Serena's explanation, having neither a reason to agree nor disagree with it. He stayed quiet while she looked through her things, occasionally switching hands to hold the picnic basket with, and turned to face the door some as it opened inward.

He raised an eyebrow at the pokemon's expression. He'd heard that this was one of those emotion-eating pokemon; it made him wonder just how much of whose energy it was using now for such a face. 'Then again,' he added mentally, 'my pokemon are all on the energetic side.'

Lecce blinked at the key, mouth beginning to twitch into a humorful smirk. "...Have you considered a key ring...." he questioned in a deadpan tone.

[DarkChaos44]

Serena could only sigh at the question. "I guess I could. I bet Chaos' savings that I'll just lose my key again even with the key ring." But the two of them were forgeting that the door was wide open and Serena could be getting her stuff together. "But anyway, lets go inside. Oh, and just to let you know, Kirlia is kinda cranky when she gets woken up during the night so I wouldn't disturb her if she tries to go back to sleep if I was you."

And with that, Serena walked into the apartment with the door open so Lecce could come in if he wanted to. The inside of the apartment was designed like it was a manison with all of the rich furnature, paintings and the plasma tv that was mounted to a wall. Kirlia had when back to the sofa that it was sleeping before being rudely awakened and started to go back to its peaceful sleep. Serena turned around to Lecce and said. "If your wondering why I have a place like this despite having a low position at the station, my family is... very rich."

[wardnpendragn]

Lecce hesitated at the doorway, slowly taking a step inside. He looked around the entranceway as he closed the door, and a careful eye on the moody pokemon as it lay back down.

The decor mattered little to him; he never really visited other people, save a few friends in different cities, so there wasn't many homes to compare it with, style-wise. In fact, he wondered more how the typical-looking apartments could hold so many wide, space-requiring things. (Admittedly, though, his taste in design was much more spartan.)

He a gave the entrance area a second glance over, raising an eyebrow at Serena's statement, a bit surprised, bewildered even. Several questions welled up to his mind. Why would she be in Cerulean, of all cities, was one of the first. It wasn't exactly a 'rich' city, unlike many of the neighboring ones.

Another question that came quickly was, "Then why are you an officer?" Why would a rich girl be allowed to become an officer of all things? Let alone, allow her to remain at such a low rank for this amount of time.

"Surely your parents had picked a much..." He hesitated, rewording his statement; it was too late now to not finish it. "I'm surprised they didn't want you to become a doctor or a Gym Leader, something a little more... rewarding."

[DarkChaos44]

Serena just smiled like she was expecting these questions. It wasn't like the questions would discourge her, no matter of what Lecce thought about her. "Being a docter would be great, being very good at taking care of both people and Pokemon. Now being a Gym Leader is not a good path for me. I'm not very good at battling like them. But..."

Serena walked over to a picture on the wall that had her standing beside Chaos with his Blaziken, Hellfire, right next to him. The setting was Vermillion City during sunset. "The reason that I became a officer is in this picture. Chaos was my sole reason for becoming a defender of justice until I also thought that the protection of others came first before getting Chaos back. I know talking to him won't be enough but if I can somehow beat him, I might get through to him." But she knew that wouldn't happen knowing Chaos.

"But I'll get back to the parents thing in a few. Right now, I might want to get my stuff now before I waste your time or do you want me to continue?"

[wardnpendragn]

Lecce shook his head, meaning for her to go ahead and get things ready as she wished. In the meantime he would ponder what she had told him.

He strode passed the sleeping pokemon, careful not to wake it, and headed toward what at first glance was the kitchen. Looking for a glass, he sadi, "We need to head out before it gets too much later... We can talk more on the way as well."

((derp. work is wreaking havoc on my rp reply time. ._.))

[DarkChaos44]

Serena nodded as she headed towards her room. Before entering into the room, she pointing out. "The cups are above the sink in the cabnet. And theres tea, lemonade, and soda to drink if you want any." And with that, she went into her room and closed the door. After a minute, sounds of stuff being moving around and a few things falling down hard on to the floor.

[wardnpendragn]

He found the glass as she directed, nodding lightly at the suggestions even as he filled the glass from the tap.

Lecce sighed slightly as he heard the thumps from the closed off bedroom. He wasn't sure anymore if this was a good idea or not; sure, Serena said she knew a thing or two about medicine, but he'd already lost a lot of time.

Not that he minded a little lateness on its own. More that, he couldn't help but wonder what they would do if Chaos didn't show up at all? From all that he'd heard about the young man, he wasn't quite the type to do as expected--or follow the rules. There was a definite chance that they would finally reach the forest, only to find themselves alone. Then what; another long trip back?

He shook his head faintly, setting the glass down with a bit more force than necessary. He would worry about that later if it happened at all. For now, though, he thought it at least a reasonable thing to check on his companion.

Once making his way down the hall, Lecce gave a small rap on the wall, keeping a fair distance from the bedroom door itself-- he wasn't about to just barge in like some other more-or-less well intentioned people he knew.

"...Serena?" he said, leaving the obvious question unasked.

[DarkChaos44]

"Just a minute! I almost got everything I just need to find- Ah ha, found it!~" As soon as she said that, everything seemed to quiet down in her room.

After a few minutes, she came out of her room with a outfit identical to an Aroma Lady's (or whatever the type of trainer is called.) outfit and her hair was colored brown so that she did look like one. She also had two bags with her and they them looked like they was full of items and other things.

"Sorry about the wait. I had to find this outfit and get everything ready." She took the bags and went to the front door. "And just to be sure..." Serena picked up the apartment key and placed it into one of the bags. "And thats everything I guess. Don't worry about the food, we can always get some later."

(Found a computer to use. I don't think I can borrow it again though.)

[DarkChaos44]

"Just a minute! I almost got everything I just need to find- Ah ha, found it!~" As soon as she said that, everything seemed to quiet down in her room.

After a few minutes, she came out of her room with a outfit identical to an Aroma Lady's (or whatever the type of trainer is called.) outfit and her hair was colored brown so that she did look like one. She also had two bags with her and they them looked like they was full of items and other things.

"Sorry about the wait. I had to find this outfit and get everything ready." She took the bags and went to the front door. "And just to be sure..." Serena picked up the apartment key and placed it into one of the bags. "And thats everything I guess. Don't worry about the food, we can always get some later."

(Found a computer to use. I don't think I can borrow it again though.)

[wardnpendragn]

Lecce raised an eyebrow at the outfit changed, but shrugged it off. If she wouldn't have trouble walking through caves and forests in a dress, then it was none of his concern. He couldn't help a small, amused smirk at the key, though.

He headed toward the front door, since she seemed to have everything on her person, now. Opening and holding the door open, he ask, Shall we be on our way, then?

(I see. o.o lol is okay, we'll just continue this as you can. and I think with just a last closing thing, in case Serena wants to take her Kirlia on the trip and wahtnot, that we can link this to the next part )