After changing his own clothes, Finn pulled a dark grey hoodie and a pair of shorts he hadn't touched since he was fifteen for Ciri. She took them. She looked at them, which made her raise her brow. She put them on anyway.
The hem came down past her hips and the sleeves covered her hands entirely, so she had to push them up to find her fingers. The shorts, once visible beneath it, were short enough that she stood for a moment looking down at herself with an expression of uncomfortableness.
"I feel strange," she said. "It feels wrong." She pulled at the hem of the shorts. "And these are too short."
"They fit fine."
"My thighs are entirely exposed, Finn."
"People dress like this here. It's normal."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Is it? Or are you just taking advantage of the situation to see some of my skin?"
Finn scoffed and picked up his bag. "I gave you the least interesting clothes I own. If I wanted to take advantage of something I'd have done considerably better than a fifteen-year-old's shorts." He started walking. "Come on."
Ciri pushed the sleeves up again and followed.
—
The first thing they saw was a sign at the edge of town that read in clean painted letters: Welcome to Solaceon Town — Free of Worry!
The town opened up around them gradually, the streets were wide, the buildings had clean lines and large windows and none of the particular grimness of the medieval world. Beside most of the people walking, or trailing behind them, or perched on their shoulders or trotting underfoot, were creatures. Of all shapes and sizes, some that Finn recognised immediately and some that took him a moment. A woman passed with a Clefairy holding her hand. Two children ran by followed by a Bidoof that was extremely committed to keeping up. Outside a shop, a Ponyta stood at a hitching post with patience.
Ciri walked with her eyes moving constantly, extremely curious and a bit overwhelmed. She watched a man crouch down to feed something to a small pink creature. She watched a big bird land on a rooftop and fold its wings. She watched all of it without saying anything, enjoying every moment of it.
She did glance down at herself once, taking in the clothing of the people around them, then at the hoodie and the shorts.
"Your selection is terrible," she said.
"I know."
"Theirs is considerably nicer."
"Also true."
The street opened into a small square with a fountain at the centre, with a Seel sitting in the basin looking entirely satisfied with its situation. Finn stopped and took in the layout of the town, the direction of the streets, what looked like a Pokemon Centre down the far end.
"We need money first," he said. "Then we need to find clothes for us. And somewhere to stay, there'll probably be a hotel or an inn of some kind."
"And food," Ciri said. "I'm hungry."
Finn chuckled. "And food."
—
Finn stood at the counter and set two gold coins down in front of the employee, a young man with a red vest.
The employee picked up one of the coins. He turned it over. He reached under the counter and took out a magnifying glass and a small testing kit, and spent the next minute examining it carefully.
"We do accept gold nuggets," he said, not looking up. "Trainers find them in the field sometimes. But this is a coin, a strange one at that." He held it up to the light. "Where did you get it?"
"Scavenging near the ruins," Finn said. "Found those in the ground."
The employee set it down and looked at him. "We can take it. But I'd have to process it at a reduced rate. If it's an artifact, it goes to the relevant authorities." He paused. "There's quite a lot of gold here in these two coins."
"Reduced rate is fine," Finn said. "Cash only, please."
The employee nodded and disappeared into the back.
Finn waited. He looked at a rack of Repels. He looked at a poster advertising the Hearthome Contest. He waited some more.
When the employee came back, he counted out the notes.
A hundred and fifty thousand Pokedollars, roughly. Give or take.
Finn pocketed it and thanked the man and walked out into the sunshine.
—
The clothing shop was small but well-stocked. Finn found what he needed in ten minutes, a plain shirt, dark trousers, and a jacket that didn't look out of place. He paid, changed in the back, and came out to find a chair near the dressing rooms.
He sat down and waited.
The curtain opened.
Ciri had found a white fitted long sleeve top, dark slim trousers that tucked into ankle boots, and a short deep green jacket over the top of it. She stood in the gap of the curtain and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well?"
"It looks great," Finn said.
She considered this. "Then I'll take it."
"Really? Not going to try anymore stuff?"
"You said it looks great." She went back behind the curtain. "That's enough."
—
The restaurant that they were sitting in had no walls on the south side, just some low railing and then there is open air, with the meadow spreading out below the town as the scenery that they could see. The field of reeds is swaying from the wind. A windmill turned in the distance. Pokemon grazed the grass in loose groups.
The food then arrived on wide ceramic plates.
The cuisine of Solaceon Town, which is located in Sinnoh according to the brochure of the pokemart, leaned toward the hearty kind, and the dish in front of each of them was exactly that. Thick slices of slow-cooked Miltank roast over a bed of root vegetables glazed with something sweet and dark, a small crock of steaming barley soup on the side, and a flat bread that came out of the kitchen still warm, with a dish of herb butter alongside it. The smell alone was enough to make the last several days worth it.
Ciri stared at the plate for approximately one second before she started devouring it.
Finn watched her work through half of it in the time it took him to unfold his napkin.
"Slow down," he said.
"I'm starving," she said, through a mouthful of roast.
"You haven't eaten in half a day not several weeks. Slow down."
"Half a day is a long time."
"A princess should—"
She pointed her fork at him. "Don't."
"I was going to say a princess should at least chew."
"I'm not a princess." She set the fork down briefly. "Stop calling me that. I mean it."
Finn smiled and said nothing and picked up his own fork.
They ordered more after the first round was finished. Ciri ordered most of it. Another plate of the roast, a bowl of something the menu described as Poffin-glazed root stew, and a drink that turned out to be mildly carbonated and berry-based and which she finished in four swallows and ordered another of immediately. Finn had a second bowl of the barley soup and left it at that.
When the table was finally cleared and there was nothing left to eat, Ciri sat back and let out a long breath through her nose. "That was bloody good."
She looked out at the meadow, at the grain moving in slow green waves and the windmill turning. Her expression had gone somewhat calmer.
After a while she said, "So, what is this world, exactly?"
"Pokemon," Finn said. "That's what the creatures are called. All of them, every shape and size. People here live alongside them. They work with them, travel with them, fight alongside them. The whole society is built around it." He nodded at a sign across the street, a red and white sphere printed on it. "You catch them in the wild using those. Pokeballs. About this big." He made a fist. "Throw it at one, it goes inside, you keep it."
Ciri looked at his fist. "How does something the size of that pony we saw earlier fit inside something the size of your fist?"
"No idea," Finn said. "At some point in world travel you stop needing every little thing to make sense. I'll be gone by next week anyway."
She looked at him sideways. "And is this another world from a fictional story of your world?"
"Every single one so far, this one is no exception." Finn said. "I keep waiting for one. Well, apart from all the dead worlds of course."
She turned back to the meadow. A Budew was sitting in the grass just below the railing, doing nothing in particular with great commitment. She watched it for a moment, something turning over behind her eyes.
"So they're just animals," she said slowly. "Animals that are easier to carry around, and that can fight for you."
"More or less."
She was quiet for a moment. Then: "So we could get a horse. One that we could actually bring through the portals without much fuss."
Finn looked at her. Then he laughed.
"We can do considerably better than a horse," he said.