World Tree MUSH

After everything with getting Miwa found, making sure she wasn't hurt beyond what a little rest would heal, and Ash leaving his warframe with Ordis to patch up after it tanked several hits that did varying degrees of superficial damage as well as affect systems that would grow worse if left untreated...

Ash showed up at Miwa's hotel room wearing a black double brested tunic trimmed with browns and silver metallics. It wasn't formal, but it was the closest he had to formal and random strawpole from passers by in the hotel lobby confirmed it would serve as something classy. So he waited for Miwa. Nevermind he had a key card and if one wishedto be technical he had spent the night so it wasn't as if he couldn't just let himself in or wasn't outright invited. However this would be the first time Miwa has been 'out', so far as he was aware anyway, since her rescue. It felt appropriate to preserve a sense of occasion for the matter.

     Miwa had insisted on splurging a bit and opting for a suite with a water-bed and an in room hot tub. It was expensive sure, but after what she'd just been through, she felt like she deserved some time to relax and be pampered a bit. She was relaxing in the hot tub when she heard the knock at her. "That you Ash? Come in, if not, I'll be at the door in a moment." She called, but listened for an answer before moving.

"ALright," Ash called out then glanced about the hall before stepping inside and shutting the door. This suite was in fact lrger than the areas of his ship he had access to, which made the whole thing absurde feeling. He whistled as he slowly walked towards the hot tub, smiling. "Just confirmed our reservations." Sure technically it was all on Miwa's 'dime' but Ash had done a lot of the calling and legwork since, like it or not, there were many traditionalists that were hindbound in how they delt with pokemon directly.

Then again Miwa seemed to be a rare exception to a lot of normals, so perhaps these folk should be given some leeway.

"I get the feeling a lot of folk here saw your concerts.... and the dance number I gave at your last one." He gave a weak chuckle and again reminded himself to come up with better one-liners when dropping in from on high to rescue. "I'm a bit weary of all the fuss, but you did say this place is alright... right?"

     Miwa stretches a bit and smiles as she sees Ash come through the door, glad that it was him and thus she didn't have to get out of the warm water just yet, as it felt like the hot springs back home, only with water jets, was certainly something a girl could get used to. She nods as he says he made the reservations, and about her feelings about this place. 

     "Well, alright? I don't know, I mean it is still the location of Team Rocket's secret base, somewhere around here anyway, but I don't think they'd try anything, particularly with you around. News has spread, even if they used a different region, they wouldn't be able to force me to perform like they did before. So, we're probably safe. Besides, I gave officer Jenny the heads up, so she's been checking on me every so often."

Ash nodded slowly and sat at the edge of the hot tub, letting his hand trial in the water, playing along the jets. "By the way Ordis wanted to let you know he's happy you're well." He smiled as Miwa lounged in the hot tub. "Had any well wishers and or fans show up while I was out?" His curiosity demanded he ask.

     Miwa smiles as Ash mentions that Ordis was happy she was OK. "Aww, nice to know he cares too. As for fans, I don't think word has gotten out that I'm staying here just yet, so no. However more than likely if we go anywhere with a fair amount of people, I'm going to get noticed. It'd been a while since I last came here with the theatre troupe, but now with my forced concerts, things have been stirred up and people remember who I am. I'm not sure if I should be happy or not about it, but it seems that most of the fans who were at my last concert, have kept quiet about exactly what happened, so as far as most people are concerned, I'm just taking a break from performing in the area, or moving on to a new spot."

As Ash continued to play with the water jets he looked to Miwa and smiled, "Well let's be fair. I seriously doubt most of those people, or really anyone, knew you were being forced into anything." He'd done a little sniffing thanks to the fact his warframe was at the concert so nobody would associate him with what went on, and right until then nobody seemed to have a clue. "Curious that Me, Mirage, and everyone else shwoing up didnt't make more of a splash."

How much pull did Team Rocket have anyway? Did they manage a media blackout? Questions for later.

"On the one hand I keep fearing you'll be insulted at the idea of sushi and feel like I'd be making fun of you... but at the same time?" He smiled, "The local stuff is actually pretty good. Hope the place we've got reservations for aren't charging prime prices for a fancy plate and little else." A soft laugh, "Then again places can't stay popular purely because'that is where wealthy go' if the food sucks. Right?"

     "I'm not sure if I should take it as a blessing if word isn't spreading about what actually happened, or if I should let some reporters interview me and set the record straight." Miwa ponders as she gets out of the hot tub and dries herself off a bit with a towel, only because she feels like dressing up a bit if they're going somewhere nice. She heads for the hotel room closet and pulls a dress off a hanger, it's one Ash likely has seen Miwa wearing at least once, white with a pattern of hibiscus flowers and palm fronds across it in royal blue. She drapes it over her shoulder and makes her way back toward Ash as she answers about the resteraunt choice. 

     "Well, I am a carnivorious pokemon, so if wild I would be eating fish every day. Sushi sounds delicious actually, haven't had that since my last time in Kanto, or was it Johto, don't remember. In any case, I'm hungry so hopefully the portions are decent." She offers before holding up the dress between her flippers. "Think you can help me slip into this?" She asks, if Ash takes the dress she will hold her flippers upward so that they can slip into the arm straps of the dress, and the rest over her head and body.

Ash smiled as he was asked to help, so obliged by holding the dress for Miwa to slide into. "I sen Mirage a message, not sure if she'll still be in town or if she's already gone but given she's the one that got the collar off I figured invite her too." He'd have invited Kakyoin if he knew how to get in contact with the guy. He proved helpful after all.

As Miwa would get the dress on Ash would continue talking. "Well I do plan on working more in the general area. Nothing major, but it's surprising hwo many people seem to want someone to act as a courier considering all the local options avalible." Not like he'd complain since it gave him a handy excuse to be in the general vacinity, and it gave hom money. Fine pokedollars wouldn't get new things for his ship, but one would be amazed at what money can get if you're inventive about what you ask for.

     "Oh, it would be great if Mirage could make it, it's been too long since we've been able to just do something nice together, rather than meeting during some sort of conflict, though she was at the concert, and I suppose we did talk a bit then, even if she was busy playfully giving Kakyoin a hard time." Miwa responds, grinning and laughing in the end. Once she's slipped into the dress, she smiles up at Ash and nods at his talk of finding work in the area. "Does this mean that dinner is your treat?" She asks with a playful chuckle, fully willing and able to help pay if needed. She would wait for Ash to respond, and then add. "In any case, shall we be off then?" She then starts heading for the door.

"For once yes. I have enough to spend," Granted he cheated a bit in that he didn't have to spend any of this money on living expenses or usual luxuries. He shared Miwa's smile as hee ran his fingers along Miwa's neck before they headed out into the world.

Where did they go exactly? Somewhere classy. Granted Cerelean didn't have the same sort of size to support something obscenely fancy, but Ash felt it was a step up from the usual sort of noodle place or food truck he would normally stop by if he were just out and about. In short? Fancy enough 'dressing up' wasn't seen as weird, but you still had the occasional tht would show up in a t-shirt without too much commentary.

     Miwa nods and follows Ash out of the hotel room and down to the main entrance. "Alright, if you're covering dinner, I'll pay for the ride." She says with a smile, having already called in a taxi, and it was waiting outside when they left the hotel. She would wait for Ash to open the door, as she wasn't going to embarras herself trying to open a car door with her flippers, once inside, the taxi would quickly take them to the restaraunt that Ash had made reservations for. Miwa smiles as she looks at the place from the outside. "Looks like a nice place, but not too fancy, so hopefully isn't the sort of place to charge a fortune for a few bites of food."

Ash did gentlemanly things like handle door handles, and after a short cab ride Ash nodded at Miwa's appraisal of the place. "There was a place that felt nicer, but..." He made a face, "the owner seemed less than easy to work with, so I figure here is plenty fancy and hey." 

The server quirked an eyebrow at Miwa then lead both parties to a table. Once seated Ash held a hand up, "We may be expecting a third." He held up a picture of Mirage, "She might not show but-"

"I understand sir." The man sat menues on the tablefor both Ash and miwa. "If either of you need anything..." Granted when he was where Ash coudln't see the man rolled his eyes, but he staunchly /WOULD/ remain professional in front of the paying customers.

Ash held the menue up for Miwa. "Lemme know if anything looks interesting."

     Miwa follows as she and Ash are taken to a table, where she promptly hops up into the booth side of the table, where she had plenty of room to stretch out a bit with her tail. She looks at the menu for a while before finally looking back up at Ash. "You want to get a couple sampler platters? That way we can try various different kinds. For drink I'd like some hot green tea." She states, and wonders if Ash should order for her as the server seemed wierded out enough that a Pokemon not native to Kanto was joining a man for dinner, and figured ordering her own food would likely just push him over the edge.

Ash did not have the same level of tact or stratagy when dealing with problems. He smiled to Miwa and nodded, "If that's what you want, but people are going to have to get used to the fact you do n fact speak and it's not me with a hand shoved up your tail doing it." He tried to keep his tone light, but a touch of crossness crept in anyway.

Before more conrosation could be had their server returned with two waters and ash offered the man a smile. "Two seafood samplers." He then looked thoughtfully at the menue, "A bowl of fried dumplings and... Hm. What're you thinking. Sweet and sour or soy sauce?" 

The server looked obliginlgly at Miwa, even though internally he was growing more annoyed at this customer treating his pokemon like people. Fine he had a machop that helped out around the house and was good to spar with, ut this was taking it a bit much wasn't it?

     Miwa nods to Ash's comment about people learning to deal with the fact that she can talk, going back on her feelings that letting him do the talking with the server was the best idea, but too late to stop him from ordering for her, and something about the way the server looked at her gave her the impression that he was annoyed with her but trying his best to remain cordial and professional. Once he leaves, she turns back to Ash. "Sorry, you're right, I think he may be getting the wrong impression about you and me, and that probably only made it worse..."

Poor kid. He's had to deal ith soccor moms, mothers of would-be-world-sbest trainers, and other middle aged sorts that ask, nay DEMAND, their wittle babby precious be treated like People. And now here he stood with a Primarina all but apologizing for how uncomfortable she made him feel. His mouth opened. CLosed.

Deep breath.

"I'm sorry miss it's just..." Almost as if on cue someone a dozen tables over was making a minor spectle of themselves. 

Ash took a deep breath and shrugged. "I'm sorry but I'm kinda new to this world. I don't know what pushes people's buttons overly, However since the lad there is starting a solo career I felt like treating her to dinner."

     When the server leaves and returns a short time later with their drinks, Miwa smiles at him. "Thank you very much." She offers kindly, only for his jaw to drop a bit for a moment, before he remembers himself and his eyes widen in surprise. "Wait... you must be that singing Primarina, I never caught one of your shows, the recent ones or the ones years back, but I remember a friend of mine talking about it now." 

     Miwa nods, still smiling at him. "That's me! Sorry for any misunderstanding." Then Ash further apologizes and says he's taking Miwa out, to which the man nods. "Of course, I'll go check on your food order." He offers before swiftly leaving again, probably thinking Ash is one of Miwa's handler or something to that effect. Oh well. Miwa turns back to Ash now that they're alone again. "Ash, I really am thankful for everything you've done for me. You've been a loyal friend and have really helped me to grow a lot as a person, as well as helping me grow stronger in the context of fighting to defend myself and others who need help. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't met you."

Ash shook his head and took a drink of his water before responding. "You're a strong woman and you have a good enough judge to find friends to help shore up your faults." He wouldn't say he or Mirage were 'good' by any means, but both helped Miwa get around the fact she's not naturally a fighter.

Ash then looked to where the minor commotion was coming from and facepalmed in spite of himself before turning around to Miwa. "I'm just glad I found you when I did because. Well. turns out making friends after usinga shotgun as your main problem solver is... Hard." Yet he still checked in on that one team skull kid whenever he was on the islands. Seemed like a decent kid that wanted some excitement in life.

"Speaking of. You remember that one kid that brought you flowers?"

     Miwa nods. "Shotgun, that's the one that shoots lots of little pellets that spread out and hit a big area rather than one bullet right? Forgive me if I messed it up, guns aren't really seen much anymore in my world, except with really bad criminals. Anyway, I'm glad you have been able to learn that there are better ways of solving some problems than shooting them. Anyway the former Skull kid? What about him? Seen him around in the market some days, but he avoids even looking at me most of the time." She offers before humming softly, using her aquakinesis to funnel the tea from her cup into the air and up to her mouth for a good sized sip.

"I was thinking since he doesn't exactly know what I look like out of the suit to try hiring him to do some background work for your island shows. Give him a chance to make some decent money, work with the support cast. Hey ifnothing else him sparring with you with his team would be good right?" Ash reached over to unwrap a pair of chopsticks and noted the forks and other cutlary on the table. "Hm, seems they are a believer in options." A headshake then, "Anyway I've been shopping around for a more formalized mercenary outfit to work with for a time so i can get an idea of what I need to lear beyond the actual 'going in and doing the job' bits so I can find my feet."

Miwa nods after swallowing her sip of tea. "Well, I guess I can try to reach out to him. Maybe it'll help him truly move past his old life and thinking about what he did too. I mean, I don't want him to go through the rest of the hopefully long life he has ahead of him, feeling awful every time he sees a primarina..." 

As Miwa is about to change subjects to Ash looking for a formal group to work with, their food comes, two complete with the dumplings and sweet and sour soy sauce Ash requested. Miwa smiles and takes a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the food, before looking back at Ash. "Sounds good, I mean, you always have my support if you need or want it, but having an organized group to work with sounds like it would be extremely helpful considering the kind of work you do."

Ash's eyes closed as he took the moment to let the smell of the food drift over him. This? This smelled good. As his eyes opened he gently took a dumpling with his chopsticks and lightly dunked it. "My problem is I'm a bit... Iffy o nthe whole morality thing." He knew right from wrong, it was the more subtle aspects that left him struggling. Like... why did people frown at him for trying to end a kidnapping attempt by trying to blow the responsible party's legs off? He saw that as fair nd proper. The offender would live to stand trial, and he was ating to protect people. 

"SO I'm sorta wanting help making sure what I think is a solid group to work with isn't... well... little better than highwaymen moving from paycheck to paycheck." He then popped the dumpling in his mouth ad smiled. "Delicious."

Miwa takes a moment to try some of the food herself, starting with a dumpling and moving on to a few bits from the platter in front of her, finding it all pretty delicious. "Wow, this is really good, and coming from me, that's quite the compliment." She says with a chuckle. "Anyway, as for these mercenaries, what kind of help do you want? I'm guessing you can't just go find a list of the jobs they've done and tell them to a friend whose moral judgment you trust and see what they have to say... But you're getting to meet them at some point before you go working with them I'm assuming?"

Ash nodded, eating more to buy himself time. "I've gotten a small list of likelies put together. THe problem is most of these people will wnat a face toface meeting and..." He paused to collect himself. "Well from what i know most of these places are in the rougher ends of wherever there happens to be so I don't want ot drag you into trouble just on sheer 'look we're doing this because i say so' y'know?"

Miwa nods back, eating more of the food on her plate as she listens to Ash. "Well, as much as I'd like to say that after living through the experience of visiting Mirage's neighborhood, I'm ready for anything, I do certainly appreciate the fact that I'm not a trained and experienced fighter like you, and despite my ability to mitigate it somewhat, I'm at a disadvantage in areas not near water. So I appreciate that you don't want to knowingly drag me into a dangerous situation, but if that's what it takes to figure out if these people are horrible scumbags or not, I guess I'm willing to take the risk."

Ash smiled before picking up a piece of sushy and reached over so Miwa coul take it from his chopsticks. "I really do appreciate the help.Too much to learn on how people work." THere was something cosmicly funny about the pokemon knowing people better than an actual person. Still, that is why Ash liked her.

Miwa grins and happily snaps up the sushi roll from Ash's chopsticks, chewing slowly in order to savor the flavors, and finally swallowing. "Mmm, delicious." She comments before chasing it with some more tea. "You sure I'm your best bet for this though? I mean, sure as a performer I've been around a lot of people, but most of them were adoring fans which the worst thing they might do is hug me to death." She says with a laugh. "Of course, some took things a bit too far, stalkers and the like, and a couple were even disgruntled human performers who felt I was helping to kill their business, which honestly was probably at least partially true, as we were pretty popular, but wanting to do me harm just because our show was more popular than theirs is seriously taking it to extreme measures."

Ash nodded slowly as Miwa waid out why she might not be the most qualified. "All of this is true, but the trueth of it is I trust you to call me out if i do something dumb. Which admittedly with hindsight. I do... a lot." His head shook as he took a bite of sushi and nodded in affirmation at the quality. "I value friends willing to outright tell me when I'm being dumb. You aren't afrade of doing that. If you don't want to go then I can find another I'm just laying out why I'd like you to go with me."

Miwa works on finishing her food and tea while Ash agrees with her points about why she might not be the best judge of character, at least if someone is trying to act like they are good but they aren't, and goes into explaining why he wants her to go with him despite all that. She takes a moment to think about it, and finally nods. "Well, if you think I will be a help to you, and you want me to go, I will go. Honestly, I'd go with you pretty much anywhere. I... really like you a lot."