Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Jubilife City
Team: Dartrix (25/25) Staravia (17/17) Prinlup (25/25) Wingull (25/25) Bibarel (15/15) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (15/15) Eevee -shiny (25/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot
Posts to hatch egg: Trash Burmy (7/20)
Items: 8x Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Pokedex, Journal, Sketchpad, Poketch Plus
Points: 33 (+1 from posting) Posts: 45

Palila did a funny looking dance move that she might have learned from street punks in Alola, waving her hands a little.
"Good with scissors? Dude, I always make the CUT."
She nodded towards the Pokecentre bathrooms.
"Let's go, Yeah? I'm pretty wiped out And I bet it'll be a sunrise start tomo--today."

"Yeah that's fine. Whatever works for you." They went to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom Palila put the supplies down by the edge of the sink, and shuffled Sophie over towards it, dragging a chair.

"So you've done this before... Right?"

"I'm gonna cut first then colour so we don't need so much dye- we can use the rest later"
"Dude how do you think I changed my hair today!"

"I mean the cutting part."

"Oh right. " Palila hadn't cut her hair.
"Eh, look, it can't be that hard. You've got plenty of hair, and I'm just taking off a few inches."
She shrugged and brushed Sophies hair out straight, sitting her down.

"Well, I'll leave it in your hands."
Sophie takes a seat, opening her Poketch to Snowtree, the Sinnoh marketplace website, and starts looking at motorbike jackets.

Snip. Snip. Snip. Sssssnip.
Brush brush brush.
Snip. Snip.
"Okay just close your eyes I'm gonna do the front."

Closes eyes

"So what did you do, you know, before all this **** happened?"

"Eh, mostly chores? Surfing, skating, beating up my brothers. You?"
A fairly worrying amount of hair had fallen to the ground, but that was always the way with haircuts.

"Mostly school. I go out riding when I can, but most of my weekends I am stuck training...."

"Ooh! Tauros? Or those stupid big dog things?" Palila was oblivious to the idea of a motorcycle ride being a hobby.

Sophie laughs at the thought of riding a Tauros.
"Nah, a motorbike. In Johto, you can get your learners license at 15 and my aunt works as a riding instructor on the side. She managed to convince my dad to let me ride, surprisingly."


"Ooooh. Here I was imagining you piloting a Stoutland. I guess different regions have different transport, huh."
She snipped at a few more things and then put the scissors down.
"So what's all your training about then? You in the army? Little young for that, aren't we?"
She pursed her lips and mumbled something that sounded like it included the words 'army style buzzcut'

"If you saw it, you'd think that, but I have no plans of joining the military." I explained, "My dad is... unique. He takes overprotective to a new level."
I tried to think of how to explain this, and chuckled as Palila made the army buzzcut comment, though hoping she was kidding.

"I think when he was my age, something really bad happened, but he refuses to tell me anything. And because of that, every Saturday since I turned thirteen has been a mixture of battling practise with his Pokemon, unarmed and armed fighting and survival." I explained, "It annoyed the **** out of me because I hated most of it and he refused to tell me why, but I have to say it has become useful in the last few days..."

Palila looked down at Sophies arm.
"Yeah I guess things could have been worse." She sat silent for a few seconds, mind blank- or trapped in a bad feeling.
...

Upon hearing that, Sophie goes quiet, before speaking up
"I called the Professor before to tell him what happened. To us, and to William..."

"Cool. Um. Anyway~ it's time to do dyi--- c-colouring. Colouring."

She busied herself with the task of wetting down Sophies (quite a lot less, especially at the back) hair, and forming the dye into a mousse
"Do you want it all just one flat colour?"

"I think so. Just the red is fine."
"I'm hoping between this, some new clothes, and the fake IDs that Neith is cooking up for us, we might not be found so easily."

Palila frowned a little.
"Huh, so I guess I WON'T have to wait until I see the professor." She seemed to feel a mix of emotions.
"Soph, are we even going to see him at all?"

"He said he is going to find the trainer who appeared in the wormhole this afternoon, then leave as soon as he can and meet us in Celestic Town." Sophie replies, "I get it's awkward and difficult that we talk about him and he is a stranger to you and all, but I do trust him."

"....Yeah, awkward is right." Palila agreed, nodding slightly.
She pulled the dye through Sophies hair strip by strip, laying them down on each other gently and setting a timer.
"I wanna leave you a strip of blonde down one side, it looks cool."

"You don't think it would stand out too much?" Sophie asks, "Like I get that this colour isn't exactly normal, but do you think it will be okay?"

Palila shrugged.
"Your hair is gonna grow out unless we keep dying it, I dunno. Blondes just hold colour so well it feels weird to waste it on doing all red and nothing else...." Palila seemed to be mostly mumbling to herself about it.
"What about a half dye- an orange strip and a blonde strip"

"I guess I had hoped we wouldn't be here long enough that it growing out would be an issue." Sophie says sheepishly, "Nah, go with just the blonde strip."

"Then you'll have flames like your personali-- uh quilava did"
Palila laughed a little.

Sophie chuckles to herself.
"Believe me, you haven't seen nothing yet..."

Palila looked a little dark.
"I've seen more than I wanted to, recently." She blinked, realizing what she said.
"Oh, but not of you, dude!"

"I get it. I haven't been the most pleasant person at times." Sophie says, "It is just really tricky. Rowan asked me to lead this group, and now I feel like if any of them don't get home, that's my fault..."
"Then **** happens, mostly with Renny, and I feel like he doesn't even care if he, or the rest of us go home or are stuck here."

"Well, maybe he doesn't care." Palila offered, finishing up the cut and dye. It was probably shorter than Sophie intended, but Palila thought it looked way cool.
"Some people might not have a good world to go back to."

She lightened the mood and smirked
"Also honestly Renny seems a little... wierd. "

"He knows my name is Sophie, but he keeps calling me Allison Parks or something?"

"Yeah, eh. Hey, maybe that should be your alias! At least someones already used to calling you it."

"I was actually thinking that. New ID can be Ally or something"

She tilted her head "I could see you as an Allison, I guess?"

"Not Parks though. not if what Amy said was true."
"I guess I will think of another surname."

Palila planted her hands on her hips, taking a strong stance behind Sophie in the mirror. "What about me? What name do you reckon?"

"I reckon Booker for a family name- cos it's like Reeds." She poked her tongue out.

"Reckon you could be a Chloe?" Sophie asked, as Palila mentioned the surname.

"Truth is, I think that once we get these fake IDs, we only tell each other our first names." she explained, "Dash found us using the trainer card system, and if one of us gets captured or something, knowing the others aliases could put us in danger. If Amy gets captured, or Renny sells us out for an interview, its better they only know me as Ally, and nothing else that can be used to find us, you know?"

Sophie frowned slightly.

"I hate saying all this, but after what happened today, our first priority is survival, and if this gives us a chance, I think we should take it..."

Palila looked disgusted at the idea of being called Chloe, but let Sophie finish her thought.
It was a really.... a very not cool name.
A very not fun name. A name hard to make nicknames with.
A boring studious girls name. A very not-alolan name.
Palila shook her head to clear the thoughts away.
"Sure, survival. But Neith is gonna have to know of something so she can program em. Better pick something, or she'll have to choose!"

"Maybe she could set it up so can fill in our own cards?" Sophie suggests, "I dunno, I'm just spitballing here."

"... Maybe she'll have a better idea for me." Palila considered, and screwed the lid on the leftover dye, kicking the hair into a pile.
"Anyway I'm all done - you should probs get a fire Pokemon to incinerate that hair on the floor. And here's the leftover dye."

Sophie gets up and looks in the mirror. Whilst it wasn't what she wanted at the start, she was happy with the outcome.

"Thanks for this. I really do appreciate it."

Spoiler:


"Its all good, Thanks for trying it out! Fresh looks are fun, man."
With that, Palila was off to find anyone to suggest her a name-- or to go to bed, whichever was easier and more agreeable.