Pairing: Hilda/Waitress Aurora
Prompt: "(i just found this pairing, and it's completely adorable! and it doesn't get enough love, either)
one of the two decides to take their date off the ferris wheel, to a location of anon's choice. from there...fluff? sexiness? dysfunctionality? ghetsis tries crashing the date? idunno you're the boss ?_?"
URL: thread=6010636#t6010636
Format for the URL is pokanon[dot]livejournal[dot]com[slash]1548[dot]html[question mark], followed by the above thread equals etc.
A/N: :3
The café was bustling with activity that day, as the streets outside were playing host to the Nimbasa Arts Festival. Snatches of live music could be heard drifting in through the windows and perpetually open door along with the floods of people looking for a meal, making it even more impossible to hear anything over the hubbub of conversation. The service was prompt and the food was delicious, but it was simply too l—
"What?" interrupted Aurora, raising her voice. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you!"
"I said it's too loud!" Hilda threw up her hands in frustration as the sound of a server yelling an order to kitchen obscured her words yet again. Grabbing the pen left for thie rbill, she scrawled 'TOO LOUD' on a napkin and held it up.
"I thought that's what you said," Aurora laughed. "So, um... Should we leave?"
Hilda reached across the table to take Aurora's hand and stood, chivalrously and unnecessarily helping the other girl rise as well. They weaved their way through the tables and exited the restaurant onto the bustling street.
"Yikes," said aurora with only half-joking nervousness. "There are even more people now..."
Hilda grinned. "Don't worry, I won't let you get lost."
"I mean, for moving around..."
"Then we'll just go with the flow!"
Aurora smiled. Hilda was good at that, just going with the flow. She...well, she wasn't.
They moved with the crowd, passing endless kiosks, booths, and tents. As they went, Hilda remarked, "I really like fairs, and parades and stuff like that. We never had any back home...no Ferris wheels, either," she finished with a wink.
"Nimbasa really is a huge city." Aurora glanced around. "I think there are more people on this street than there are in Accumula..."
Hilda looked questioningly at her. "But Accumula's not that small, right?"
"I guess not. It's just..." She half-shrugged. "I didn't meet a whole lot of people growing up."
Hilda gave her hand a squeeze. "Well, this is the best place to meet people."
"I know," said Aurora, meeting her eyes and smiling.
Hilda could never be accused of blushing, but she felt her face warm. "Like I said, though, I love fairs. There's food, music, art, games...something for everyone. Even you," she teased.
Aurora did blush. "That is totally not fair. Just because—"
"Sorry, sorry. After all"—she playfully bumped shoulders with the girl—"it was you who suggested we head out on this date!"
"I just didn't want you to get bored always riding the Ferris wheel," she said, unable to keep from smiling at the word date.
"I told you to stop worrying about that!" Hilda shook her head. "I could never get bored when you're around, Aurora."
Aurora snorted a laugh. "I've gotta remember that the next time you fall asleep."
"H-hey! I get tired, okay? And besides," she pouted, "you like it when I fall asleep against you."
Guilty as charged, but there was no admitting that. "I'm not a pillow, hey?"
"But you're all soft and squishy and comfortable..." Hilda made deliberately exaggerated doe eyes, and then she smirked. "But I guess pillows don't feel up the people who sleep on them."
She flushed crimson. "Hilda! I do not!"
"Hmmhmm. You only do it when I'm awake."
Aurora made a shushing noise. "If you don't stop, I'll, I'll..."
"You won't let me sleep on you anymore?"
"You-!"
On they walked until they reached one of the many stages set up, where a band was playing a catchy song. Hilda tugged on Aurora's arm. "C'mon, let's listen for a while!" They sat on two of the chairs laid out in rows there, and Hilda bobbed her head to the music.
"That guy's pretty good," she said, indicating the guitarist. "That's a cool riff, too."
"Riff?" Aurora furrowed her brow, looking the band member over to try and discern what on his person was a riff and whether or not she should be jealous.
"You know, a guitar lick. A little bit of the music that's not just rhythm or chords or whatever." She wiggled the digits of her left hand. "Hey, know what the way you make notes on a guitar is called?"
She shook her head.
"Fingering."
"Haah?"
Hilda grinned and turned back to the stage, leaving a very flustered Aurora trying to look anywhere but at the Trainer's fingers. "You really are in one those moods, huh?" she muttered.
"Yup." Hilda gave her another wink.
One song later, at Aurora's request that they motor, they got up and left to again melt into the crowd. Along the way, Aurora asked the obvious question: "Do you play guitar?"
Hilda nodded. "I have since I was nine. My parents got me one for my birthday, since I'd been asking for one. I don't even know where they got it. It was kind of a three-birthday thing, actually..."
In the silence that followed, Aurora said, "I'd love to hear you play sometime."
"Mmm, wailing guitar solos are very romantic," chuckled Hilda.
"I never said it had to be romantic; I just want to hear it."
"Well...maybe you could come home with me?" Hilda looked at her hopefully.
"I wish." She smiled sadly. "With work and all, you know, it's still hard to... Maybe next time I've got a break." They both knew that meant the next autumn.
Hilda resisted a sigh. "Well, you'll come someday. Anyway—"
She was interrupted by a man in a nearby booth who called out to them. "Excuse me, young ladies! Would you spare a moment of your time to have your fortunes told?"
Hilda glanced at Aurora, who gave her a well-what-do-want-from-me face, and they walked over to the booth. "For you," the fortune teller (a rather ordinary-looking man) said, "a two-for-one deal! Now, whose fortune shall I read first?"
"Don't you want money?" asked Hilda, pausing in the act of rummaging in her bag.
"You only pay if you are satisfied with my prediction!" the man proclaimed. "I mustn't be accused of being vague."
"Aurora, you first," said Hilda, stepping back.
"Step right up here," said the teller. "Yes, that's it. Now, may I please see one of your Pokémon?"
That surprised them both. "What for?" asked Aurora.
"I do not read palms or tea leaves or silly things like that. Rather, the best way to see a fortune is by 'reading' a Pokémon."
"All right." Aurora held out a Poké Ball, and in a flash of light her Swadloon appeared. The bug shuffled its feet and adjusted the leafy covering it wore, and squeaked impassively.
"Let us see..." The mean leaned forward and put his palms out toward Swadloon, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. He stayed that way for a moment before opening his eyes and proceeding to examine Swadloon from all angles. Swadloon tolerated the scrutiny with its usual grumpy expression, occasionally glancing back at Aurora and mellowing somewhat in demeanor (well, probably not really).
At last the fortune teller leaned back, saying, "I have seen! Your future is thus: Expect a great turn of happiness in at least one aspect of your life, likely something you thought was impossible indeed happening. If you don't allow setbacks to discourages you, you should come out of any forthcoming scrapes no worse for the wear. I'd like to point out that—and don't quote me on this"—the lapse in character was forgivable—"you may be in a major scrape rather soon. Lastly, judging by the aura that's rubbed off on this Pokémon, you are and will continue to be lucky in love." He paused. "Oh, yes, and watch out for highly-strung Carnivine."
"Um...wow." Aurora wasn't sure what to say.
"Oh, one more thing! Swadloon likes sweet food, correct?"
"Huh? Oh. Yeah, she does."
The teller leaned in, saying in a conspiratorial whisper, "Try giving her a chocolate truffle."
He sat back and turned to Hilda, who had already put the modest sum owed on the table. "For you, which Pokémon shall I read?"
"Him." Hilda released her Serperior, and Swadloon chittered something upon seeing the familiar face.
The fortune teller nodded. "Very good! Now, allow-"
"Citizens of Nimbasa! Give your attention now!" An insistent voice on a megaphone interrupted him. Hilda looked up, peering over the crowd, and a frown suddenly darkened her features. "Oh, no. Not again."
"Hilda, what is it?" Aurora looked worriedly at her grim expression.
"Team Plasma," she said, and then she was striding in the direction of the megaphone's sound, Serperior slithering after her. Aurora hefted Swadloon, apologized to the bemused man, and followed.
She caught up to Hilda as they rounded the wall of people that had amassed and saw a group of men and women dressed like knights, one with the megaphone just finishing a speech about the tyranny of capturing and training Pokémon. The waitress could see Hilda's frowned deepen with every word the Plasma member spoke, and by the time a robed man with green hair stepped forward, she thought she could see storm clouds in Hilda's eyes.
"I don't believe these creeps are at it again," she said angrily. "I saw them do a rally like this when I was just leaving, my very first day. Then they were causing trouble in Nacrene and Castelia, and over in Driftveil..."
When the man with green hair was finished speaking, the crowd's reactions created a mass of chaos. Some people seemed confused, a few were apparently stepping forward to challenge the rhetoric, and some were simply leaving, but the disorder made them into a thick swarm. Aurora couldn't let go of Swadloon to take Hilda's hand, and before she knew it a wall of bodies separated them.
Hilda noticed Aurora was gone immediately. "Aurora?" she shouted, spinning on the spot and searching among the throngs of people with her eyes. Serperior's tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and it pointed with its head. Instantly Hilda began moving in that direction, and Serperior followed.
It took her minutes to finally get out of the thick of the crowd, and when she did, the Trainer still could not see Aurora anywhere. But Serperior pointed again, and she went the way the Regal Pokémon indicated without hesitation. She was silently berating herself for letting Aurora out of her sight. How can I joke about not letting her get lost if I really do? She sped up.
Several blocks later, she found Aurora, and her heart nearly shut down at the sight. The waitress was slumped on the cobblestone, crying, and Swadloon was nowhere to be seen. She rushed over as fast as her legs would carry her and knelt beside Aurora. "What happened?"
"One of them grabbed Swadloon," she replied, her voice choked. "I ran after them, but then they sh-shoved me over here and now they're gone and..." She bit her lip. "Oh, oh, oh! I'm so stupid; now I don't know if I'll ever see Swadloon again..." She rubbed her bruised knee and laughed shakily. "And...ow."
Hilda did not think she had ever found anything less funny in her life.
She stood. Serperior was already pointing the way, and she ran in it with mounting fury, her feet hitting the stone beneath her as hard as her heart was pounding.
How dare they?
She didn't have another meaningful thought until she saw them, three of them, one holding Swadloon, and at that point her thoughts were overridden by rage. The grunts, who had managed to find the closest thing to a dead end along the fair route, started to say something, but she cut him off in a low, seething voice. "Give my girlfriend's Pokémon back, now."
The first of the three sent out a Patrat and commanded it to attack, but the Pokémon was sent flying by a single strike of Serperior's tail. Several more similar Pokémon were released dispatched in a similar manner, without Hilda having to speak a word, until finally nothing stood between the great snake, its livid Trainer, and the grunts. "So," said Hilda, Serperior hissing while its burning red eyes swept over the men. "You can give me Swadloon right now, or Serperior can break every bone in your bodies."
Following a moment's stillness, the grunt holding Swadloon set the Bug Pokémon on the ground and fled without a word, his companions hot on his heels. "Serperior!" Hilda shouted. "Te-"
"Hilda!"
The Trainer turned to find Aurora approaching her, limping slightly. Swadloon made a happy sound and dashed into her waiting arms, where it managed to cuddle affectionately against her while retaining its grumpy expression. "You can let them go, Hilda. You got Swadloon back, and thank you so much..."
Hilda appeared caught between happiness at seeing her and anger. "They hurt you, Aurora."
"Now you need to stop worrying." Aurora smiled, brushing the tears from her eyes. "It's just a bruise, yeah?"
Hilda was quiet for a moment, then she sighed. "You did great, Serperior." She recalled the Pokémon to its Ball. "I guess I kinda lost it, huh?" she said sheepishly.
"Just a little," giggled Aurora.
Hilda bent down and kissed her knee. "You think that fortune guy really knew about this."
"Nah," said Aurora, giving Swadloon a snuggle. "Just a lucky guess." She smiled. "I kinda liked seeing you all fired up like whoa! You're my knight in shining armor, Hilda."
"Mmph." Hilda budged Swadloon over for some room to lean against Aurora as they sat on the grassy side of the street. "I'm exhausted... Look, I'd love to go lots of places with you, but next time, can we just go on the Ferris wheel?" She glanced up. "Please?"
Aurora laughed. "Okay."
They were silent for a while, each quietly absorbing each other's presence, and they dreamed of a time that was not so far away, after all, when they could go home, and really spend all their time together.
That is, until a cough of Hilda's startled a Carnivine in a clump of bushes behind them, but perhaps it's best to save that story and end things on a high note:
Hilda and Aurora would be going places together for a long, long time.
