<div align="center"><strong>Ilex Forest</strong></div><div align="center"><strong>Lusa and Julian</strong></div><br/>Lusa's face was as red as a tomato from embarrassment as she reached out to retrieve Spinarak from the stranger's hands. She petted and cooed at her Pokemon, checking his delicate spidery legs for injury, avoiding making eye contact with Julian. She was impressed and grateful at how easily he had caught Spinarak in mid-air, saving him from possible harm, but she had never done well in the human interaction department. It was normal for her to stutter when speaking to someone that she had known for a while, and it was worse with strangers, but she was not an antisocial girl, just not well versed in social graces.<br/><br/>"Ah, th-thanks. For catching him." She said, probably a little bit too loudly for how close they were, but slight anxiety made her voice rise. She listened as he remarked that the forest wasn't a safe place to be alone, and nodded. The action slid her glasses down her nose a bit, and she pushed them back up with a slim finger as she replied.<br/><br/>"Y-yes, I had read that the forest might be filled with dangerous wild Pokemon. That's why I have Spinarak here with me! She smiled at her Pokemon, who trilled back, already recovered from his brief flight. That was when she noticed that he seemed to be alone, himself. Why was he traveling alone in this forest if he knew that it wasn't safe?<br/><br/>By the way, my name...it's Lusa. Uh, I hope it isn't rude of me, but...if you know that it's not safe in here, why are you traveling alone...?" She reached out her hand for a shake, until she noticed that sleeve of her maroon jacket was covered in forest litter from her near-collision. Blushing even harder, she quickly withdrew her hand to remove her jacket and shake the debris from it.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>