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Blackbird raised an eyebrow. Clearly he had made her uncomfortable, and he was sorry for that. But he couldn't help but think more about the fact that she had been on a date with a girl. Possible lesbian? That's pretty cool.

He cleared his throat. "No no, I didn't mean it like that. I meant like were your melodies both in the same key? Or do your tunes not mix together? Oh, but now I'm just sticking my nose into your business. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, please forgive me!" Blackbird smiled up at her and gave her a wave.

"Well, as long as you're okay then you should go do what you gotta do. Take care, now! And look out for wandering fools like me, we tend to bump into things as we please! Zeraaaa~shashashashaaaa!"

[FLASHBACK/DREAM THING]

Eunmi's grandmother's house smelled like a mixture of incense and wood. The home was extremely traditional, and even had a small courtyard. Eunmi would usually play in the courtyard where there was a small garden and a pond full of Magikarp while her parent's talked with her grandmother.

Grandmother Sung was a severe looking woman not to be crossed. Even in her old age, the woman kept her long, now graying hair, tied in a tight bun. Eunmi could not recall ever seeing her wear anything but traditional clothing. To top it off, the woman didn't like to speak english, and so when Eunmi was younger, they didn't speak much.

It was the summer after her second year of high school, and her parents had sent her to stay with her grandmother for two weeks in the middle of July. The teen stood in the courtyard, stooped over the pond and flicking tiny pebbles at the Magikarp.

Eunmi's grandmother said, too angry to even look at Eunmi's father.

Mr. Sung insisted.

Grandmother Sung said, smacking her hand on the table.

"It's the twenty first century," Eunmi said from the doorway. A wooden house with paper doors didn't allow for conversations to be kept very secret. "I am allowed to date who I want, regardless of the color of their skin."

"Eunmi, don't speak to your grandmother that way," Mrs. Sung said, looking cautiously between the two. Her eyes seemed to be pleading for the teenager to stay out of the conversation.

Grandmother Sung said angrily.

Eunmi said, informally and rather rudely.

the girl's father said, turning to glare at her.

Eunmi frowned, still leaning against the door frame, arms crossed. She rolled her eyes and turned to leave.

Eunmi murmured before storming off. The three adults sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Grandmother Sung rose her hand to her brow, rubbing along the bridge of her nose.

she muttered.

Eunmi's mother tried to justify her daughter's actions.

our culture?> the grandmother would reply. Jejudo Singut next year!>

Eunmi's mother exchanged a nervous glance with Mr. Sung.

Mr. Sung said.

Grandmother Sung shouted.

Mrs. Sung insisted.


Out in the hallway, Eunmi stood, her back against a wooden support beam. She could hear her grandmother shouting about honor and respect of her elders and such. She shoved her hand in her pocket and retrieved a flip phone, texting Sam.

Eunmi: they're arguing again.
Sam: Is this about the Judo Seegut thing again?
Eunmi: Jujudo Singut. No. It's about you.
Sam: Oh.

Eunmi stared at her phone for a while, slowly tapping the keys.

Eunmi: I'm sorry.

Eunmi didn't get a reply for a while. By the time her cell phone buzzed to notify her of the text, her parents were getting ready to leave.

Sam: It's not your fault. some people are just set in their ways.
Try not to be so hard on her, she's from a different generation.

"Eunmi," her father called. "We're leaving now." The man's mother shot him a glare, and even he couldn't help but sigh. Luckily, this went unnoticed as he gave his daughter a hug at the same time.

"Do I have to stay?" Eunmi whispered.

"It's only two weeks," he said, stepping back, his hands on her shoulders.

* * * * *

A few days later, Eunmi sat opposite her grandmother in a fairly unfurnished room, save for the table between them. Grandmother Sung was quietly sipping her tea, while Eunmi was trying her hardest to avoid jumping up because her leg was cramping. It was raining, and the doors to the room opened up to view the courtyard.

Immediately after Eunmi's parents had left, the teenager's grandmother had explained to her a strict set of rules - everything from when she would wake up to how long she was allowed to have time on her own. She had one hour a day to do what she wanted, but she was given no time to practice Tae kwon do either. Grandmother Sung insisted it was a 'beastly' sport, and that 'no granddaughter of hers would partake in such boyish mannerisms.'

Instead, she was assigned books to read, poems to memorize, and had calligraphy and violin lessons to attend to. She would have had gayageum lessons instead, but Eunmi had carefully insisted on the violin by explaining how major korean orchestras had been utilizing them for years.

Grandmother Sung smiled pleasantly. Eunmi quietly nodded her head while biting her tongue.

After the first day, Eunmi had tried to rebel against her Grandmother's rules, and had received a …more traditional form of punishment for it. She was forced to hold up buckets of water for a given amount of time. Any time she spilled the water, the time was reset. She only endured the punishment because her grandmother had taken her cell phone and threatened to snap it in half. It was her only life line out of this place.

Ever since, Eunmi was quiet and barely said anything to her grandmother.

Grandmother Sung replied.

Eunmi looked down at herself. She was wearing baggy jeans and an oversized hoodie that belonged to Sam. Her hair was barely held back in a messy pony tail.

she said nervously.



Eunmi nodded.

Grandmother Sung shook her head and tutted.

Eunmi nodded obediently. Her grandmother set her cup of tea down and glanced at the clock.



Eunmi looked up at the clock and cautiously rose to her feet.

Eunmi replied. She backed up to the door, not daring to turn her back to Grandmother Sung, and left. The old woman smiled, pleased by the fear she had instilled in her disobedient granddaughter.

* * * * *

On the first day of classes...

"Woah," Sam said. He semi-circled around the teenager. "I thought I saw my girlfriend over here. But hey, since she's not here… would you like to go out some time?"

"Shut up, Sam," Eunmi said, flushing. Her vacation in Lavender Town had been extended to the rest of the summer after Grandmother Sung had confiscated her phone and found out she'd been planning on sneaking to Saffron City to take a Bullet Train to Johto. It probably wouldn't have been that bad, but her plans involved meeting up with Sam while he was there on vacation. Again using the phone, and this time her actions, as blackmail, Eunmi was forced to call her parents and request to stay longer. Of course, her parents were overjoyed.

Finally escaping her Grandmother's grasp, Eunmi had returned only the day before, quite jet lagged, and appearing completely different. The girl who had never worn make-up a day in her life was now sporting an entirely new wardrobe. Her hair was straightened, chemically of course, and clipped up in a messy, but stylish bun. She was wearing skinny jeans and heeled shoes, and the bag she was using to hold her books in was probably the most expensive thing she'd ever owned.

"What's with the new… everything?" Sam asked.

"My grandmother," Eunmi sighed.

"How are you gonna kick someone's butt in those?" he laughed, gesturing to her shoes. "You're back in Unova now, you don't have to wear what your grandmother forced you to wear."

Eunmi turned and bat her eyes at her boyfriend.

"You don't like it?" she asked sweetly. "I can go back to just wearing jeans and your old t-shirts…"

"N-no, that's cool, no, you look great," he said, flashing a smile.

And so it began - what Sam would later call the 'change' in Eunmi that would later be part of the reason they would break up.




Eunmi slowly opened her eyes, her face buried in a fluffy pillow. She rose, resting on her elbow as she twisted to look around the room. She got to her feet, realizing too late that she had done so too quickly and stumbled forward, slamming into the small dresser. She cursed in korean, staggering into the bathroom. She couldn't believe two daiquiris had made her such a mess. She knew she was a lightweight, but she didn't account for not eating all day. She felt awful, but not so much that she had to throw up. She grabbed the plastic cup on the counter and filled it with water, quickly drinking to calm the churning in her stomach.

She sat down on the closed toilet seat, begrudgingly looking at her wrist for the time. It wasn't as late as she thought it was, but late enough for it to be strange that Henrietta hadn't come back yet. But the teenager wasn't quite ready to go off looking for her just yet.

Her dream was still plaguing her mind, which wouldn't be so annoying if she didn't also have a headache from the alcohol. Eunmi's aspirations had switched in her junior year of high school to become a fashion designer - before that she had always wanted to be a graphic designer or an illustrator. Even though she had loathed every minute she spent that summer with her Grandmother, she had been influenced by it enough to be consumed by appearances. She didn't realize it yet, but her Grandmother had inadvertently created the cause for her failing grades and her dreams to be left unrealized.

But Grandmother Sung had won in the end - Eunmi had ended her relationship with Sam. Although the teenager didn't regret leaving the boy, she sat alone in the bathroom of a crappy hotel wondering if she had what it took to try and get back on her feet.

"Sounds like a plan," Bill said. "Whatcha got?"

Bill took the spot on the curb when Blackbird moved over. Now in the night time of Nacrene City, dark clouds still overhead, Bill smirked. An instrument? He looked it over, he could feel the palpable compassion this man had for it, and his confidence in his music, in his ability. In his words.

Or so, that's how it seemed. As Blackbird had spoken of music or worded his dialogue around musical lingo in the past. Now it was Bill's turn. "Alright, what the hell, play a tune."

Robert was sound asleep in his bed, though it wasn't late night yet. Freya got up in order to go use the bathroom. As she headed towards the connecting door, she noticed the calender. Tomorrow was more than just the tournament and a gym battle. It was also a day humans called White Day.He often gave her and Garnet some sort of special treatment on that day, whether it was making their favorite meal of pineapple-terriyaki glazed Sitris Berry slices with sushi, or taking them out to a famous attraction and spending the entire day there. However, with the tournament, he probably forgot about what day tomorrow was. That, and the more she thought about it, she never really gave him anything in return.

After Freya did her business in the bathroom, she headed out of the room quietly, so she wouldn't wake Robert or the other two up and made sure to keep the door unlocked so she could get back inside. She headed to the front desk where Nurse Joy was stationed. There was no one else around, or if there was it was only a few people and none of them needed to have their Pokemon treated.

"Hello there. What can I do for you?" The nurse asked the lone Lucario. Freya used her aura version of telepathy to comunicate with the nurse. she asked in an uncharacteristically shy tone of voice.

The nurse seemed a bit surprised that the Pokemon could actually speak into her mind, and a bit confused by the request. "Sure I can teach you, but why?" the nurse asked. she replied.

The nurse didn't know just how much about White Day the Lucario knew, but she was more partial to helping Pokemon, and she didn't have anything better to do. "You must really care about him. Alright, come with me into the kitchen. I'll help you make some chocolates." Joy replied as she lead Freya into the kitchen.

There she laid out all of the ingredients on the table. "First we'll use criollo beans to make the cocoa powder." she said before taking the beans and pouring them into a pan. She then placed the pan on the stove and let them roast until they cracked open. she'd then pour the beans into a bowl and remove the husks, leaving the insides of the beans in the bowl before breaking out a mortar and pestle and handing them to Freya, along with an empty bowl and pouring some of the beans into the mortar. "Now, just use that to grind the beans into a powder and pour the powder into the empty bowl there." Joy said. Freya followed the nurse's instructions and began grinding the beans into a fine powder until all of the beans were done.

The nurse then grabbed some powdered sugar and added it to the cocoa powder. She then placed a pot on the stove and poured some milk in it. Freya, spotting a pecha berry, pointed to it. she asked. The nurse nodded and smiled. "It can. If anything it'll make the chocolates sweeter and give it a nice, smoother flavor." Joy explained. Taking the berry, Joy tossed it into a blender to puree it and then poured the puree into the pot., followed by the cocoa powder.

She then handed the Lucario a whisk and placed a full-body apron on Freya. "Now then, just stir it all up until it looks nice and smooth." Joy replied as she took out a glass container and set it to the side, along with some wax paper and a small box. Freya did as Joy said, whipping the concoction until it was completely smooth and velvety. She could smell the aroma as she stirred, and it was absolutely delicious. Part of her wanted to eat the finished product, but she wasn't making it for herself. Once done, Joy took the pot and poured it into the glass container, setting it aside to cool.

"Now then, I'll have to refrigerate it to cool it completely. I'll put it in a box and gift wrap it and you can pick it up in the morning, alright?" Joy asked. Freya nodded vigorously before returning the apron. With her task complete, she quickly and quietly made her was back into the room. As she locked the door, Beatrix would tap into Freya's mind. Beatrix asked, opening one eye to look at Freya. Busted. She was gone for a good hour and a half, but if everything went as planned, it would be worth it. Freya replied telepathically. Beatrix sighed and shook her head. Beatrix asked.

Freya replied. Beatrix smirked a bit. Beatrix replied.

With that, Freya went back to sleeping alongside Robert on his bed and went to sleep.

((Next RP day.))

Bill laughed as the song came to an end. "Bravo," he said. It wasn't that instrumental was Bill's thing, but he did enjoy his melodies. He was a Pink Floyd type of guy, after all, if the instrumental could match the tone it'd take him back to the battlefield. While it wasn't a good place normally, the bond he shared out there, that meant something.

The bond of two people who survived hell went deeper than any bond a Pokemon trainer could ever hope to build with their Pokemon, after all.

"Alright," Bill said as he reached into his pocket and produced a slight bit of cash, "this is for the tune." He'd hold it out to Blackbird then. "And don't say no, I know how hard it is for musicians to find music these days."

((No hard feelings. Setting this character up to antagonize as much as possible.))

"My oh my," Amber said with a bright smile. There she stood, in front of the refrigerator door. "So, you're telling me that she left her post to use supplies from the Center to make food for just one person?"

"Yes ma'am," said Nurse Stevens, or Joy as the damn brats called her.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Doesn't she know that the government has been cutting out funding? We have to be able to make food last around here and we certainly can't risk it to keep someone employed if they're going to leave the desk on a whim. This is just bad, a no no," she said, her voice sweet, loving, the entire time.

She turned to the nurse with her bright smile and said, "please, show Ms. Evans the door, let her know we'll no longer need her employment here at the Pokemon Center."

"And what about the chocolates, ma'am?" asked Stevens.

Amber looked overjoyed, "why, we'll just have to pass them out to everyone here, there are certainly enough people." With that, she took the tray of chocolates and started to go room to room, giving each trainer one chocolate until she was out, one door before she reached Robert's room.

"My, I must have miscalculated, oh well~" With that, she went back to her duties as head nurse.

Blackbird put away Aphrodite and looked at the cash in Bill's hand. "Oh, you've got it wrong! I don't play for my job. Well, not usually, I take odd jobs here and there to fund traveling. But I wasn't expecting any money or anything!" he told Bill, holding up his hands apologetically. "I'm sorry if I took you for a spin there!"

He paused. "...then again, if you insist, I really can't refuse. Zeraaa~shasha!" he laughed heartily while pocketing Bill's offered cash. "Much obliged! I hope you found my melody to be satisfying! And if you don't mind me saying, sir, you really should quit smoking. There are plenty of better ways to get that buzz. Trust me on this one."