All Alone on the Beach [Akira]

[Akira Mikan]

Now that Karin was dressed, Akira could finally look at her. And, in doing so, she was able to confirm that she was indeed quite attractive on top of having a very nice body. And, at the very least, she seemed to be taking this whole thing in stride. Though it did perplex her a bit that someone could be so casual about being seen in the nude by a total stranger, but there was probably no point in dwelling on that. Right now, she was just relieved that she could look at the girl without her brain feeling like it was about to implode. Needless to say, it was kinda nice.

When she heard the question, she blinked a bit, as she was so distracted by the whole thing that it took her a moment to remember that she did indeed come through a rain forest to get here. "Oh...right. Well, I couldn't sleep, so I just started wandering through the town near here for a bit. But when I heard about the black sand beach, I couldn't resist checking it out. Even now, I'm amazed that there's such a thing."

[Karin Norling]

"Oh? Is that a kindred spirit I hear?" Karin asked, teasing. "I can never sleep at a decent time." Not that she really tried, most of the time. Most places were more interesting at night, anyway. Just so long as she could still actually see to get there. Which...admittedly was a lot harder here than in Sinnoh, with so few man-made light sources outside of the major cities west of here. Not to mention the dense forest canopy she'd had to walk under.

The beach though, this was better than having a bunch of people around and possibly burning her feet on the sand.

"It looks great, doesn't it?" Karin said, referring to the beach. She looked out over the beach and surrounding volcanic rock cliffs. She briefly caught sight of Shiranui riding on top of Skull Kid and the both of them floating around one of the cliffs and smiled. Always good to know her Pokemon weren't getting into any trouble, so she could focus on the cute girl she'd run into. "It comes from lava hitting the water here, I think. Still amazing to see, especially if you're not from the area."

[Akira Mikan]

"Eh? Oh...well, usually, I'm asleep by now. Just...for some reason I was really restless tonight." Indeed, it was somewhat rare for Akira to be up this late. She was usually more the "early to bed; early to rise" type, so for her to be out at this hour something that almost never happened. Not that she wasn't capable of staying up late and/or sleeping in every now and then. It's just how her body naturally worked most of them time. Either way, she certainly wasn't regretting the fact that she was up right now. Setting all of the awkwardness aside, she was having a rather nice time with Karin.

As Karin went on to talk about the sand, Akira nodded. "Ah...I see. Admittedly, this is all a bit over my head. Of course, I grew up in a somewhat small village in the mountains. Honestly, it's not just the black sand that's amazing me about this region. There's a lot of things I've seen that I never thought possible. Like that tree in the Moana Seafront. Um...crap...what was it called? Started with a 'B'..." Letting out a sigh and choosing not to dwell on the lost word, she looked to Karin "Anyway...um...if you don't mind my asking, where are you from?"

[Karin Norling]

"Well, I'm happy that you were restless, as odd as that sounds. I do appreciate the company," Karin said. She made a point of clarifying, just in case that could be taken the wrong way. Like 'you not being able to sleep is a good thing, don't ever sleep' or something like that. She scooted over to the nearest rocky outcropping, taking a second to find the least uncomfortable spot along it before leaning back. On the way, she scooped up her bag and fished out the travel guide she'd bought in the airport.

"If you want some more ideas, I can give you some recommendations," Karin said, casually waving the guidebook. "I haven't been here too long, but it helps to have a guide and do a bit of initial exploring." She smiled, offering Akira the book (and silently hoping that if Akira took it, she'd give it back when she was done). Then, the girl asked where she was from. "Snowpoint City, Sinnoh," Karin said. "So, also a somewhat small village in the mountains. You?"

[Akira Mikan]

Luckily, Akira more or less knew what she meant even before she felt compelled to clarify, so even if she hadn't, there would have been no harm done. She was usually, pretty good at translating most things people say when they aren't worded particularly well. Helping her mother out with customers had a lot to do with that. A lot of people tended to give vague or seemingly-contradictory instructions, and, after a while, she was able to start picking their words apart to figure out what they meant. Whether she herself was able to clearly say what she meant without it sounding wrong or awkward was an entirely different matter.

Either way, she blinked and looked through the travel guide and quietly started skimming through it. Though she was still listening, as she perked up when she heard Karin mention Snowpoint. "No kidding? That's where Misaki grew up. Though, apparently, she and her family moved to Hoenn when she was around my age." She remembered this detail quite well, as her adoptive mother was quite fond of telling Akira about all of the mischief she got into when she was little. However, it quickly occurred to her that Karin probably had no idea what she was talking about, so she was quick to clarify.

"Oh! Misaki is one of my mothers. Apparently, my real parents died shortly after I was born, so she and Eriko adopted me. It got kinda confusion to call both of them "mom", so they just let me call them by their first name." She had a soft smile on her face; one that made it rather easy to tell that she cared deeply about her mothers. At the point, she blinked as she realized she had more or less ignored Karin's question. "Oh! Sorry...anyway, I grew up in Blackthorn City, in the Johto Region. From what Misaki tells me, it's a lot like Snowpoint, only without the snow."

[Karin Norling]

"Oh really?" Karin asked, hearing Akira mentioning someone who grew up in Snowpoint. She couldn't tell who this person was from just the name, though. Friend? Relative? Girlfriend? Then Akira explained. Karin quickly latched on to what she said: 'one of' her mothers. So she was raised by two women, huh? Karin had started to wonder if assuming that Akira liked girls (admittedly based on how the girl was reacting to her naked body) was jumping to conclusions, but there was real evidence for the possibility now. If that was the sort of way she was raised...

Well, Karin was still getting ahead of herself. "Mm, I'm trying to imagine calling my parents by name. They'd never hear of it," she said. Her father would probably play along while wondering what she was up to, but she couldn't imagine calling her mother 'Joanne' without being told off. It just didn't happen. "It sounds like you're a close family, though." Then, Akira finally got back to her question. "Snowpoint without the snow hardly sounds like Snowpoint at all," she responded. "Did it at least have an ancient frozen temple nearby, or rumors of hauntings along the route out of town?"

[Akira Mikan]

She couldn't help but chuckle when Karin commented on her own parents and how they'd likely respond to her using their real names "Yeah I can imagine...still. We weren't exactly the most "normal" family, but you're right. We were really close." She let out a soft sigh, then blinked at the following question. "I don't know about any temples or haunted routes...oh! But there is the Dragon's Den. From what I hear, it's a huge cave filled with water. Apparently, there are a lot of wild Dratini and Dragonair inside, and there's a holy shrine of some sort. But without the Rising Badge, they won't even let you peek inside."

Letting out another soft sigh, she decided to add one last note to her previous statement. "When I was little, my friends and I used to make a game out of trying to see who could be the first to sneak past the guards and see what it was like inside...as you might guess, that one ended always ended without any winners."