A Simple Walk [Open]

Ah, the courtyard. Claret had been at this school for years and she never gotten tired of being in such a beautiful area. Her brown eyes glimmered as she held her beloved Pumpkaboo to her chest, feeling the rumble of its purr as she strolled down the courtyard. All of her Pokemon were out, her Hoothoot resting sleepily on her shoulder while her Espurr followed quietly without a sound. She smiled as she looked down at her purring Pumpkaboo. "How are you feeling, Nyx?" she asked with a faint smile. There was no response, simply a louder purr causing her to smile as she leaned down to nuzzle the top of her head. Her Nyx had fallen sick and she felt relieved that she was feeling so much better.

OOC: Claret is an older character, having been at the school for about two years (making her 15) which is why she has three Pokemon among another reason.

Entering the courtyard for the first time, Caroline was pleasantly surprised at how nice it looked. Then again, she shouldn't really have been surprised, considering how luxurious the school was in general. Certainly everything would be as nice-looking. It was just so grand, a far cry from the simpler town she grew up in. Hopefully there would be lots of flowers that maybe she'd be allowed to tend to.

Her Wooper was waddling next to her. She didn't know the full protocols of the school. Was her Pokémon supposed to stay in his ball the whole time, or was she supposed to carry him? She wasn't sure, but if she was doing it wrong, someone would surely tell her. Goofy didn't seem to mind, as he looked up at her with that big, silly grin that put a smile on her face.

It was then that she noticed the other girl there. All of her Pokémon were out, so it was probably okay what she was doing. She wasn't an anti-social person by any means, but this was not the town she had grown up in. None of these faces were familiar, so she couldn't assume anything about them. Still, it couldn't hurt to be friendly, right? She waved at the girl, not coming so close to be seen as intrusive, but not so far away as to seem distant.

Claret hadn't taken notice of the other girl, instead whispering silly things to Nyx in a baby-ish voice as the Pumpkaboo purred happily in her grasp. But when there was a sudden tug on her pants, her voice quickly died as she glanced down at her leg with a frown. "Hm?" Her Espurr stared up at her with his large, emotionless eyes before he silently dipped his head in the direction of the girl, drawing Claret's attention to her. For a second, her expression seemed a little guarded and wary but upon seeing the girl wave at her, her expression quickly changed into a bright smile."Hello!" she call over warmly as she quickly spun and headed toward the girl without a second thought, holding her Pumpkaboo close to her chest as her Hoothoot gently woke up, starting to rock its body back and forth in a steady rhythm as he blinked open his eyes. "My name is Claret, what is yours?" Her tone was brisk, cheerful and oh-so bubbly as she reached the girl. But even as she came to a stop, her body was contently in motion much like Horace's body was. Her weight shifted between her foot, giving her a little bounce as she let her gaze sweep down the girl. Her gaze focused on the Wooper for a second, mirroring its goofy smile with one of her own before she focused on the younger student. A new member perhaps? There was a glint in her eye at this thought but it quickly disappeared.

Ah yes, she had nearly forgotten about this part: saying her name. She frowned slightly, but quickly perked up as she also remembered her solution. Stepping a bit closer to Claret, she rolled up her left sleeve and held out her arm in the other girl's view. Around her wrist was a pale blue wristband. On it, in black letters, was the name 'Caroline'. She pointed at it for emphasis, smiling. Her Wooper had no idea what was going on, so he just waddled next to his trainer's feet and bobbed his head up and down. If there had been a glint in Claret's eyes, it disappeared too quickly for Caroline to notice. She was just happy to be meeting new people.

Claret's movement ceased when the girl stepped forward as she rolled up her sleeve, staring in a moment of confusion of the pale wristband that was strapped onto her wrist with a simple name in black letters on it. Her eyes studied the wristband for a few moments, understanding the words on it but failed to see why the girl - Caroline if the wristband was to be believed - was showing it to her...Unless. Her eyes widen as her gaze flickered up, her lips parted in a small 'oh.'

"Are you mute?" she asked, awe flooding her voice as the bounce returned. She had never met a mute person before and she couldn't deny the excitement to talking to one...Or well, rattling off to a mute person while they listened. There was a flicker of doubt of how hard it would be to talk to her but she was sure she could do it - the challenge itself was rather tantalizing as well. And Claret was never one to turn down an opportunity when it was before her - it was how she had gotten so far in the Academy.

Caroline nodded, her smile widening as Claret understood rather quickly. It'd been tough to live like this, since communication was much more difficult and tedious. Everybody in her town had been understanding, of course, but she still found it more of a chore to either point at what she wanted, or to try and write it down on a piece of paper. Everybody else was able to communicate so effortlessly, and she was being left several steps behind. She tried not to let it get her down though. Her life wasn't bad, and there was a lot of happiness in it, so that helped her stay positive.

As for the Pokémon Claret had, Caroline only recognized the bobbing owl known as Hoothoot. The other two, she had never seen before. Wanting to know what they were, she pointed at the Pokémon in the other girl's arms, contorting her expression into a questioning look.

A smirked flash on Claret's face as the girl's head nodded her head in conformation - she was indeed mute. She opened her mouth, ready to say something but the voice died when she saw the girl point at Nyx with a confused expression. it wasn't hard to figure out what she was trying to ask and Claret's smile flashed widely as she hugged her starter to her chest. "Oh! Oh! This is Nyx! She is my beloved little Pumpkaboo! She is a little love-bug! Isn't that right?" There was a loud purr from Nyx in agreement. Her gaze flickered to Horace as he swayed from side to side. "This is Horace the Hoothoot, my little lookout and finally we have my Espurr, Ade!" Her gaze flickered down to her stone-faced Espurr who watched the two of them with no emotion. "He keeps me on track when I get distracted," she said with a giggle before her gaze flickered to the Wooper at Caroline's side. Oh how she wished she could ask for her Pokemon's name. "And look at your adorable little Wooper!" she cooed. "I've never seen one in person before but they are just so cute!"

A Pumpkaboo, eh? Boo... It must've been a ghost type, then. The Espurr kind of freaked her out, but she recognized the Hoothoot, and she smiled at the familiar face. When Claret mentioned Goofy, Caroline picked him up and held the Wooper close, his smile never fading as he nodded up and down at the other student. He was indeed cute, wasn't he? She frowned slightly after that, though. What were they supposed to talk about next? Well, Claret would be doing the talking. She couldn't speak, and she didn't think Claret knew sign language. Darn, she really needed to get a new notepad to write in. Her old one was in her bag, but it was pretty much filled up from her time back home.

There was a moment of silence as Claret leaned backwards to study the girl, but held her wide, ditzy smile on. The girl, she was new wasn't she? Claret hadn't seen her around before and she felt she would of heard about a mute student from one of her good friends...She was left with little idea what to do - there was no easy way to learn about Caroline when there was no means of communication. So yes and no questions it was, she supposed. "You are a new student here...Yes?" she asked in a cool tone, a bit of her upbeat personality fading as instead a calculating glint flashed in her eyes. "If you ever need somebody to..." she paused, frowning as she tried to think of the right word to say. She wanted to say 'talk to' but that seemed insensitive. But what other word could she use? So, she sighed softly. "Uh...Well...Talk to, feel free to come find me. Always happy to help a new student."

Caroline nodded, getting the feeling that Claret was, in turn, not a new student. Well, that was a bit obvious by the three Pokémon she had. She hadn't expected to meet an older student, but that was fine. This girl likely knew a lot, plenty more than she herself did, so that was a good thing. She smiled as the older girl tried to be nice in an insensitive way. She understood that it was hard to mention speaking without saying 'talk', but it didn't bother her. After all, she could 'talk', but her voice was a pad and pencil, or her hands. It made her happy that she already had someone she could talk to if she had any questions or just wanted to be around someone.

They'd need some way to communicate though, right? Otherwise they'd have to just bump into each other randomly. Cradling Goofy in one arm, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, trying to indicate to it with her other hand. It was a bit awkward with her Wooper in her arm, but maybe the point would come across.