[indent] [/indent][h3][hr][color=Orchid]Ilsa Waters[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]The Shoal | Tavern | [@Kuro][/i][/sup][indent] [/indent] Spotting Kelvin with a group of fellow divers, Ilsa grinned, making for their table and pushing in between the middle two people on one side. [color=Orchid]“Scooch, Ilsa’s arrived,”[/color] she said, plopping herself down when the two sides of the bench parted for her. “Ils, heya, you sober?” Kelvin asked, sniffing at her. [color=Orchid]“Yeah, and it sucks,”[/color] she said, snagging his drink. [color=Orchid]“I can’t be sober and pretend like you don’t smell.”[/color] “Oh, man, ouch,” another diver said, toasting Ilsa. “Basculin bites again!” “Wimpod evolves and beats Basculin, but no one cares about that,” Kelvin muttered under his breath. “Lotta guts there, implying you’ve evolved!” The conversation devolved from there, Kelvin fending off character attacks, bouncing between helping and hurting his case. “Point is, I’ll be better than Ilsa at some point. Doesn’t have to be now,” he finished, crossing his arms. [color=Orchid]“Someday, but not today,”[/color] Ilsa said, slamming down Kelvin’s now-drained mug. [color=Orchid]“Who wants to hear what I found today?”[/color] That got everyone’s attention, if she didn’t have it before, and for a moment Ilsa wondered if she should have kept her mouth shut. After all, she’d shushed Murphy, her appraiser, about it, but now, with the bright eyes and attention her, why not? What was the harm? She was proud of her abilities, and hey, she deserved to brag a little, with what she’d fished up. “Not another Poke?” “Gold bars? I thought the metal hunters got all of them for sure!” [color=Orchid]“No no no.”[/color] Ilsa raised her hand, shaking her head. [color=Orchid]“None of that. Today, I found this.”[/color] Onto the table came the red ball she’d found, designs and all. There was a brief pause at the table, and Ilsa waited for the reply with a wide grin. “It’s… a ball?” “A relic? From when?” After the magic word, “relic,” had been uttered, the table was abuzz again as the ball was passed around, going through hands as people theorized about what it might be and contain. “Man, making my Clamperl pearls look bad again,” Kelvin said, sighing as he stood from his seat. “Need another drink to handle this.” [color=Orchid]“Get one for me too,”[/color] Ilsa said as a wave of orders were sent Kelvin’s way. “Someone get up and help me carry this all,” he said, swinging his arm over the selfless volunteer as they walked away. “What do you think this is, Ilsa?” The question brought Ilsa’s attention back to the orb and the divers, who were again focused on her, and she paused, staring at the orb. [color=Orchid]“Huh, dunno. Some sort of relic.”[/color] She shrugged, hand on her neck. It wasn’t like she could figure out what the thing was on her own, after all. Lacking the knowledge wasn’t her only problem here; she also lacked the skills to gain more knowledge because, well, she’d never learned to read. So yeah, she wasn’t proud of it, but to her defense she never used it, and it wasn’t really [i]rare[/i] for someone her age to be illiterate. The older folks loved to talk smack about it, but she wasn’t too bothered by it. Sure she could probably use the skill, but she spoke fine, and she understood some basic letter combinations, and words just didn’t come that often in her life. It wasn’t like Ilsa was idling around for so long she could easily find time to pick up a skill. “What kind of relic though?” “Where’d you find it? Some cave or museum?” Ilsa shrugged. “Can’t share my diving secrets, but it looks like it’s worth some money.” A hand on her shoulder nearly had Ilsa jump out of her skin, and she flinched away to see Murphy behind her, looking almost… scared? He seized her shoulders, practically shaking her as he spoke, his voice hushed. “Ilsa, take that and run. Run.” Ilsa stood, frozen even after he stopped shaking her, and she almost fell over when he pushed the ball into her hands, thrusting her towards the door. Then, as the rabble of the tavern rushed back to her, she blinked, confused, then glanced at the ball in her hands, which remained the dull red and blue it always was. When she looked back up, eyes scouring the tavern to try and locate Murphy, he was nowhere to be seen, which unsettled her further. What had he meant by that, telling her to run? Was there something she should be running from? Almost as if answering her question, the tavern door burst open, rebounding off the wall with a loud bang as a harried-looking individual burst in, pale and wide-eyed. “Team Aqua. Team Aqua is here!” There was a flurry of movement as people scrambled around, and the tavern devolved into a hectic scramble for the door, of which Ilsa was a part of. If buying off the Rill was a crime, selling on it was even worse, and Ilsa wasn’t looking to get her loot confiscated. Out she ran, stumbling over and around other tavern patrons, Shoal inhabitants, and just about everyone who’d heard the news. From above came a shrill cry, which quieted the street enough that heavy wingbeats could be heard, and Ilsa looked back to see a large flying Pokemon in the sky that she couldn’t put a name to. On its back was a person dressed in blue—a Team Aqua member. “Team Aqua here. Sorry to break this party up, but we’re taking the town,” they called. “Thank you for your cooperation!” The street regained its previous noise, and Ilsa took this chance to duck behind a shanty, intending to cut through and make for the ocean when she came face to face with a girl in a cloak. It took her a moment to place the face, but she did: Miriam, another diver, and somewhat of a social pariah if Ilsa remembered correctly. Her problem was that she’d been too [i]good[/i] of a diver, and that exact fact had encouraged Ilsa to avoid her as well. That and the rumors that she was somewhat of a wimp when it comes to diving; Kelvin had been enough of a Wimpod for her liking, but he still grit his teeth and took a risk every now and then. For someone to not want to take risks at all, Ilsa couldn’t imagine understanding. What kind of rainbow fantasy world were they living in, trying to be a diver without wanting to take risky dives? A crash from behind her sent her deeper into the shanty, towing Miriam along with her if the girl didn’t beat her to the punch. While their diving ideologies might conflict, Miriam had always been a good diver, and that Ilsa could respect. [color=Orchid]“Hey, Miriam, right? Ilsa. I’m gonna make a run for the ocean, you in?”[/color] She grinned, grabbing a piece of scuba gear off the wall of the shack. Finders keepers.