It's backstage of Azalea Theater where the day just won't end. Maggie tugs at the collar of her all-black stagehand outfit, thrown together from whatever dark clothes she had. They'd already done two amateur performances of Ho-Oh and the Burned Tower which by itself is enough for Maggie to want to give up, much less deal with the endless sweat sticking to her skin.
Even Sparky looks tired. The theater's luxray lies on his paws and shrugs his shoulders, twitching the giant purple cape tied under his neck. His black fur is sticking up in kinks, a sure sign to not touch or to get a jolt of static electricity.
Maggie looks away and sighs. The offer of being here - being so close to some of the most talented and exotic pokémon Azalea had to offer - is running thin. Yeah, the two minutes where she gets to move a wooden frame painted to look like Lugia around to see Raikou thunderbolting the heavens? Those are great! But beyond that... Sparky is always a grouchy diva except when performing. The mimikyu brought in for costume design was always busy and certainly didn't have any business to do with a lowly stagehand like her. And unlike Raikou, the pokémon that plays Suicune is just a boring vaporeon.
Four days into the season and Maggie was already sick of the legend that she'd loved as a child. Even performing, there were enough stagehands that they had to rotate out playing Lugia, meaning she had only actually been on stage for two performances. And there were still two hours left of this one, with nothing for her to do but to stare at a luxray just as bored as she is and wait for someone.
Maggie thinks that she'd be better off hanging around the gym for glimpses of battles.
A pichu runs up to her hand, sniffing. Probably someone's, meant to be used to recharge Sparky. Maggie touches its ear and it pulls at her wrist with tiny paws. Did it want treats or pets? She rubs its ears gently, the fur like thin velvet pulled over cartilage, and yelps as her fingers cramp up. The pichu snickers as Maggie's hand falls away.
"Pichu!" a girl cries, giggles filling her voice. The evil little bastard runs over to her.
"Sorry about her," the girl says as means of greeting. But by the laughing, she doesn't sound very sorry.
"Whatever," Maggie says. She eyes the girl. She's dressed in stagehand black. Maggie tries to remember a name. "Lucy, right?" Out of all the stagehands, Lucy looks maybe the most comfortable in her black beanie, shirt, and slacks. Her black socks have thin yellow stripes on them. Maggie tugs at her own scratchy turtleneck.
"Lucy, yes. Are you a trainer here as well?"
No. Maggie's here because she's going to boring regular school and this is the closest thing to pokemon training she gets to do. She sizes up the stranger girl again, noticing the black and yellow ball on her belt. Suddenly the cheerful demeanor makes sense. She probably saw the poster, decided to stop by for a few days, and then she'll set off again on a new adventure.
Not that that was entirely on her. With a short bark of laughter, Maggie asks, "Did they lure you in with the promise of being an actor?"
Because - despite being a gym town, Azalea Town is not known for very much at all. Their biggest traveler's attraction among charcoal kilns and Slowpoke Well is a failing theater. Myla'd put up posters to lure over trainers with the promise of a part in the show, which is to say, their pokémon having a part in the show. They hadn't even said they'd pay! Maggie wouldn't call her dumb to her face but... did she know that in Ecruteak City they had an actual theater, put on maps and everything, full of very traditional, very professional pokémon?
Lucy only shakes her head. "So, this is some kind of second-rate theater? I guess I don't have any compunctions about playing a role, but it doesn't bother me too much. A quaint place like Azalea Theater... this was a way I thought I'd spend a few days off."
Well, alright. Whatever. "Yeah, that's great for you. You'll even get to take a bow at the end, with your pichu with the magnemite and behind Sparky."
"I don't know," Lucy drawls, "Honestly, that sounds kind of boring. Why don't we go do something more fun?" The girl smiles deviously.
"We-" Maggie breaks off. The suggestion is so sudden that it catches Maggie off guard. "What? The play."
"Guess they'll have to find someone else to stand next to a piece of wood."
And that was all it was, wasn't it? A boring hot play on a boring hot day while anyone who cared about real adventures was off on journeys.
Maggie frowns. "We'd definitely get kicked out if we did."
Lucy's reaction to this is to pull off her black beanie, shaking out the blonde hair stuffed beneath it. "How terrible."
In the scratchy hot sweater, Lucy's gaze is like the blue sky right through her.
"Alright," Maggie says, holding out her hand to help Lucy up. Her fingers are warmer than Maggie expects.
Lucy's grin grows, and she pulls herself up to her feet.
Maggie turns to the back door but stops when Lucy says, "Hold on," and gives her a wink. She watches as Lucy sneaks over to the luxray and holds out her arm, the pichu hopping onto her hand. Then, all at once, runs her hands down the long black tufts of hair. At the touch, Sparky wakes up and hisses, sparking all over, but Lucy's pichu is buzzing with diverted electricity and giggling too as they run for the back door.