[Cleo Salvatore]

It was a pretty bad day or so Cleo thought. First she was late for class, second she bought the wrong sandwich, third she spilled juice over her favorite book and when she thought the day couldn't get any worse it started raining... while she was acquainting herself with the Academy premises. She didn't have any umbrella-- who would even do that when the sun was shining bright enough to potentially blind anyone who made the mistake of looking at it?

However, she did find shelter right away which saved her from a lot of trouble. Cleo thought it was a good thing but considering the time she'd be spending inside, she was beginning to think that she made the wrong choice. again. The place was big, dark and somehow spooky and the longer she stayed around, the more things were becoming creepier. The occasional roaring of thunder was making things much harder for the girl, too.

Cleo sat in a corner as she shivered softly. She had her hands on the opposite arms as if hugging herself. Her face was buried on her knees while her eyes were shut tight, occasionally whispering to herself that whatever sound she would hear were only wild pokemon. It wasn't all comforting to be honest, knowing that she couldn't and wouldn't put up a fight. But at least, they weren't something else.

As the young brunette was comforting herself, a sound echoed, and quite loudly, amidst the silence. For a second, Cleo's heart stopped, her whole body frozen. There were rumors about a certain place around the Mana Dorms that was haunted... not only by pokemon but by other entities as well. The fourteen-year-old tried filling her head with happy thoughts but the sound was getting louder and much clearer- footsteps- and they were getting closer. What kind of pokemon make such heavy footsteps? Was that even a pokemon? A part of Cleo wished it was but another was hoping otherwise. But whatever was approaching, it was coming at her.

Frightened and anxious, the brunette closed her eyes shut and began hoping that everything was just a bad dream.

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

The floor creaked as Santos walked on it. He had often used the mansion as a sort of a private reading area. He even was behind one of the rumors with candle light flickering in the window that would vanish whenever some went to investigate it. It had been his then litwick providing him reading light. He cleared up the rumor with a note to the Mana Dorm Warden and every so often he would return to the mansion to do some reading. However tonight the mansion had decided it likes rainy weather and Santos had been chased in by the storm barely able to avoid getting seriously wet thanks to his Lampent, Candle using Psychic to shield him from the rain but it still got her wet

"man," he muttered to his ghost and fire type "Candle remind me to tell the ghosts in the house to turn off the rain storm. They are wasting water."

His Lampent made a slight wail as it turned up the heat using heat wave and turned the rain water that was on her into steam. She was not pleased with having to go through that storm. She made a comment of agreement then made a curious growl.

Santos hummed "what is it Candle."

His lampent made a noise as she lit up and shined light revealing that hidden in the corner was a female student in a cream colored uniform. She was cowering like she was afraid of something.

Santos hummed as he took slight pity on her. Seeing her reminded him on how he was once like that around humans shying away and being hidden in the shadows. "easy there Candle, it seems like we're not the only ones who got chased in by the storm. Hey, it's alright, there nothing and no one here that can hurt you."

[Cleo Salvatore]

A wave of impractical and unreasonable what-ifs drowned all Cleo's senses and judgement, leaving her with nothing but assumptions and childish fears. Vivid images of those horror and gore movies she had watched before flashed in her mind like crazy as her heart pounded so hard that she felt it was going to fall of her chest. Everything felt exactly just like that time when she sneaked out the house after her given bedtime so she could watch the meteor shower but got lost on her way. Heart-stopping, breath-taking in the most unpleasant way.

Just as she thought she'd pass out, a sound- more like a high-pitched moan- broke into her consciousness. Last time she checked the manor was pitch black but why were there rays of light struggling to penetrate her the small spaces of her eyelids? She would have felt more irrational and scared if such mysterious light wasn't followed by a comforting statement. Out of the silence, a deep and somewhat reassuring voice had melted a part of the student's fear.

Slowly, she raised her head and a set of deep orbs met her doubting eyes. Everything seemed to stop-- he didn't look like a ghost and, for Cleo, didn't certainly looked like a mad surgeon looking for 'patients' to participate in his inhumane experiments. He looked normal; not more, not less-- perhaps older than her and may be a tad bit good-looking too. Little Cleo remained staring at the newcomer as his words and his sudden appearance sunk in her brain. It wasn't also that long til the brunette took notice of the floating Lampent... which kind of gave her a small scare as she let out a yelp before actually realizing that it was just a pokemon.

Cleo was a bit unsure of what to say but she took action and stood up once everything was processed. Her face was even covered in a shade of red upon discerning her previous actions and reactions-- childish and it may had came a bit rude. Although, she was very grateful that someone else that wasn't pokemon, a ghost or a crazy serial killer that had found her. Internally, she had let out a relieved sigh. "Um... I--" Just when she finally had something to say, the sky decided to let out a loud roar of thunder. Not very fond of loud sounds and storms and thunders, Cleo was very startled and her first instinct was to find someone to grab on. Without very much thinking, the brunette's feet quickly brought her towards the purple-haired, a hand extended as she reached for his arm and by the time her mind actually caught up with her actions, she found herself clinging into him.

Upon realizing this, the fourteen-year-old quickly untangled herself from the man and bowed at exactly 90 degrees "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" It was almost a yell as she tried to defend herself. Her face burned like a Magmar as it was covered with a dark red color from double embarrassment.

---

tag: Santos "Shadow" Almaz
note: thanks for joining! i kinda of got carried away with this one so if you feel like it's too much, feel free to tell me so i can edit! You also don't have to match this one so yeah >w<

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Santos made a slight surprised face as Cleo latched onto him when she was scared by the thundering storm and his expression was slightly unreadable as she detangled herself from him and apologized for clinging to him when the storm scared her.

Santos paused for a moment but then just gently smiled "It's okay... I know of many who have various fears of things including loud noises like thunder and such."

~~~

Tag: Cleo Salvatore

Note: Nah it's cool, after I posted my first post, I had the thought that I should have involved my Bolt Warden instead of my Team Origin Member but Santos has been recorded coming to the mansion on a regular basis for private reading.

[Cleo Salvatore]

When those words left his lips, Cleo felt a bit of relief. He was really nice and he had a gentle voice... or he could just be really polite but then again, knowing that somebody could relate or have knowledge about what she was feeling made things less awkward and scary. A small smile slipped the lips of the once frightened girl though her head was tilted sideward and eyes averted from the guy.

Cleo wasn't exactly sure what to say but the Lampent floating next to him was indeed fascinating. When her senses came back and that embarrassment had sunken, she noticed the glowing pokemon and couldn't help but to marvel at it. It was her first time seeing one, at least, personally. So, for the sake of her curiosity and for a good change of topic, she decided to speak "S-So, that's a Lampent, right?" While she's not good with speaking in crowds, she did okay when talking to a single person or in a smaller group "It's really pretty in person, unlike in books." She flashed a smile at the pokemon, thinking how convenient it was to own a living lamp.

---

tag: Santos "Shadow" Almaz
note: santos seems great for Cleo, though And sorry for the super late reply. My laptop's charger died unexpectedly >n<

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Candle made a slight surprise murmur as if she was surprised that someone called her pretty.

Santos chuckled "yeah, you'll be surprised how pictures of certain pokemon get their bad side but Candle isn't without her flaws. She often gets jealous over prettier pokemon especially of those in her egg group. She was burning with envy when I first caught my Female Ralts Hope and when she Evolved into Kirila but now the two get along."

Candle made a slight annoyed hiss as if Santos was embarrassing her

Santos chuckled at his first pokemon but then hummed and decided to change the subject "what are you doing in here may I ask, I know there's a storm outside but you don't look like you belong in the Mana Dorm..."

---

Tag: Cleo Salvatore
OOC: no worries, take your time on posting

[Cleo Salvatore]

Cleo slightly tilted her head when the man mentioned something about Candle getting jealous over prettier pokemon-- she thought that the Lampent was charming in its own way. But then, a Kirlia was really beautiful in all aspects; tough competition for anyone actually, even Cleo, herself, would have a hard time appearing cuter.

A soft chuckle escaped the brunette's lips when the floating pokemon reacted towards her trainer. Though at the man's inquiry, Cleo turned her head towards his direction and let out an almost inaudible hum. The reason behind her unexpected venture in the manor was quite embarrassing and thinking about it made the student a bit conscious of herself. "I... I was walking around when it started raining," She began explaining; her gaze lowering, her smile shrinking into an awkward-looking one "I guess I didn't put too much thoughts into where I'm going, I was desperate for shelter." It was kind of really embarrassing to admit.

"I'm from the Nature Dorm--" Abruptly stopping in mid-sentence, realizing that she hadn't given him any identification. Her mother always said never talk to strangers but... this stranger was also her hero- kind of- so perhaps he could be an exemption? The brunette shrugged the thought off in the end though "I'm Cleo, by the way," She smiled meekly "A-Are you from the Mana Dorm?"

---

tag: Santos "Shadow" Almaz
note: ^w^)d

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Santos hummed as he paused as he processed what he should tell the story. He decided to stick to the story he told another youth that met him around the Hot Springs "I'm Santos... I'm a local of the island, I once was assigned to the Mana Dorm when I went to school here but I decided to take a different path then what people expected me to do. I now support myself with a job in the city but on my days off I come back to my old haunts when I want some quiet time with a good book." He chuckled then frowned "but I should have looked at the weather reports..." He muttered


Cleo Salvatore