Ioane had returned to the Alola Region just a week ago from his study abroad in the Orange Islands alongside Professor Philena Ivy. He was gone for eight years studying the regional variations of Pokemon found in the Orange Islands compared to that of his home region of Alola. The environment and habitat of the Pokemon were similar for the fact that it was in a more tropical location compared to other regions on the main land, but the regional differences of the Pokemon were vast. Io was astounded by just how many variations and differences there were in the Pokemon from the two regions, and it blew his mind when he was able to see even more during his four month stay in Johto.

As he had only been back for a week, the young researcher wasted no time and threw himself into field work, comparing and contrasting all the things he had seen and researched outside of Alola about the regional variations to what he could see in front of him once again. His mentor, Samson Oak, allowed him freedom and access to his laboratory and notes to help his own selfish desires. The two worked closely with Ioane's Orange Island mentor, Professor Ivy, in collaborating and creating a new thesis on the origin of regional variations and such.

On the outskirts of Hau'oli City, near a hidden part of the beach that Io and many other locals deemed Pearlei Cove sat the youthful researcher. Under the shade of the palm trees away from the ocean, on the edge of where the grass met the sand, Io sat, burying his feet into the warming grains and minerals. With a pen in hand he scribbled line after line everything he could about the flying seagull Pokemon that inhabited the shoreline, pecking at the ground.

"Non-violent, easy-going..." Io muttered, "No distinct differences..." He paused for a second and bit the end of his pen, thinking about the time he ran into a krabby on a beach in the Orange Islands, as if it was yesterday. "Now that would be something to see, the differences in the size of the claw on Krabby's from here to there."

As Ioane was talking nonsense to himself under the protection of the palm tree's blades, the wingull's that he had first taken noticed of chirped and scattered away as splashes from the water's edge intensified. There were loud roars coming from the direction of the splashes near the shoreline, but as Io rose from his spot to where he thought the commotion was the splashing went deeper into the waters. "What the..."

The roaring continued as the fury of splashes intensified. Io was intrigued yet knew better than to get into the water to check out what was causing all the buzz. Hopefully he wasn't the only one who knew as he noticed a few more bodies around him also checking out the commotion in the water.

She had to admit, as nice as the Tide Song Hotel and Heahea city were Hau'oli was breathtaking. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. Not to mention the city itself had its own unique charm. A perfect blend of urban life and natural habitation. Perhaps she should see if there was a place she could move into? Wouldn't be too entirely difficult, though money might be a problem...hmm...Eh, details. She'd worry about such things later. For now, beach.

The lapping of the waves against the coast. A gentle breeze. The warm sun. It was all very charmant. Really, she should have visited Melemele sooner, rather than spend a months exploring Akala. Not that Akala didn't have its own charms, - the view from atop Wela Volcano was absolutely breathtaking in a number of ways - this beach was some place she was going to frequent in the future. Lazza was probably enjoying herself, too.

Speaking of that little lizard...

Lucille sat up from where she was laying on her back. Her black one-piece covering most of her body nicely. She took a sip of the lemonade that She had brought earlier. It was still ice cold - perfect for the beach. Now...where had that impish lizard gone off too? It didn't take her long to find out at least.

Not five feet away, she spotted the pokemon...who was currently rolling around in the sand like a puppy in a pile of leaves. Lucille couldn't help but to smile faintly at that, softly laughing as she watched the lizard make a small localized sandstorm from its playing. She stood, walking over to the lizards little play area, softly smiling down at her.

"Having fun, dear?" She asked, taking a sip of the lemonade. Lucilles voice seemed to startle Lazza, who ended up running face first into her leg, earning another chuckle from the white haired girl. The lizard sneezed, clawing at the end of its nose before shaking its head and looking up at her trainer, tilting its head to the side.

"What? Don't stop on my account, darling." The lizard shook its head, tilting its head in a vigorous manner towards the drink. "Oh? Thirsty?" A small nod of confirmation from Lazza as Lucille picked the lizard up who quickly found a perch on her shoulder. At first, Lucille simply took a drink of the lemonade again, but a small nuzzle on her neck from Lazza seemed enough to sway her. "Alright alright, fine. You can have some." Lucille held the drink up for Lazza to have, walking back over to her little spot on the beach.

It was then, Lucille took notice at the edge of the beach. Roars, loud splashes and all manner of noises that broke the otherwise peaceful silence of the beach.

"...Well I've certainly heard and made my fair share of noises before, but I don't think I can even be that loud." She mused to herself, standing up as Lazza made an effort to chug the lemonade. "Lets go see, shall we Lazza?" Setting the cup on the ground with the rest of her things, Lucille walked towards the edge of the beach. She was quite curious as to who or what could be making such noise. She wasn't going to get into the water of course, just close enough to observe.

Maybe make a pervy joke or two.

She arrived at the location of the commotion, curiously looking on.

Valerie could hear the soft sounds of the oceans and bickering of seabound birds as she slowly came to, her eyes blinking open, staring at the foliage above, a few rays of sun piercing through and into her eyes depending on where she moved her head “Too… Bright,” she muttered, as the light hurt her eyes, shifting to move from the sun only to find her body feeling as stale as week old bread, making her utter a pained groan. Guess going back to sleep was out of the question. She wasn’t quite sure this was where she had laid down to begin with, but gave it little mind.

The island had treated her well enough so far, save for the one incident that left her near penniless. Plenty of berries and fruits around (only a few which had ended up poisoning her) to try, and it wasn’t too expensive to buy what she couldn’t find. She’d even managed to wash her clothes now and then in a waterfall. Long term hiking isn’t that hard!

Eventually, she struggled herself up to sit, stretching in a drawn out yawn as she stared at the water visible from her point at the very edge of the beach, in the treeline “It’s pretty though,” she couldn’t help but smile at the sight before getting herself onto her feet and starting to fold down the blanket she used to sleep on, stuffing it into her bag.

She then let her Goomy out of his ball, yawning a second time along with him before smiling “Good morning, Smoothie,” she hummed out softly as she tossed a few pieces of food for him, her own breakfast consisting on a mixed bag of nuts, dried fruit, a small handful of lavender flowers, and some juice, at least juice seemed to be cheap here. After a short brushing down of her hair, what little could be called a morning ritual was done for now, even though the hair would inevitably floof up in due time.

Before she could do much more, her attention was grabbed by a whole lot of ruckus, the woman staring out towards the ocean for a bit before finally stepping onto the beach, Smoothie in tow. She looked incredibly out of place on a beach with her dark purple colours, not to mention the warm looking turtleneck hugging her torso and neck, getting quite close to the water to observe but not close enough to get her shoes wet, paying little attention to anything but the sounds and thrashings of the water, dragontype hiding behind her legs.

Lorenzo Amoré
Hau'oli city, Beach

The beach was one of Lorenzo's favorite places to hang out. It was the best place to stare at hot shirtless guys. He laid on a beach towel, soaking up the Alola sun, and admiring the hot guys in swimsuits that occasionally passed by, while sipping on a glass of lemonade. "Bella vita!" The boy exclaimed. He was grateful he remembered to bring his favorite pair of pink swim trunks.

Sure, Undella Town had it's own beach, but this one was just as good too, if not better than the one back home. It was only his second day in the Alola region, and so far, he liked it here. The guys were hot, the beaches are fabulous, and the local professor walks around shirtless all the time. Shame he was married. Probably for the best, that man was probably too old for him anyway. He did get his own cute Pokemon from him. She wasn't a Fairy type, but based on his findings, she would eventually become one.

Feeling like his newly obtained Popplio should have a beach day herself, Lorenzo sat up, took out Sirena's Poke Ball from his bag, and released the blue sea lion from the confines of her ball. Upon appearing next to her trainer, she clapped her fins excitedly, then started gesturing to the water, and barked.

Lorenzo giggled. "Of course you want to go swimming. You're a Water type!" The boy set his lemonade down, stood up, kicked off his sandals, took off his hat and sunglasses, and started running towards the ocean. "Last one in is a rotten Exeggcute!" When Lorenzo jumped into the water with a big splash, he couldn't help noticing how warm the water was. Usually it was cold when you get into the water, and you have to gradually warm up to it, but this wasn't the case here.

As Sirena and Lorenzo were playfully splashing one another, Lorenzo suddenly heard a lot of noise coming from the beach, and he knew he wasn't the one making it. Several people had stopped and stared at whatever was going on. "You wanna go see what all the fuss is about?"

The Popplio barked in agreement, and together the trainer and his Pokemon swam closer to the source of all the ruckus.

A very small crowd began forming around Io as he was the first to rush towards the roars and cries coming from the waters edge. Shadowy figures underneath the shallow water began squirming around as it looked like a black cloud moving left and right in a frantic state. Squinting and focusing as hard as he could, Io peered into the darkness before something bright blue caught his eye. Turning towards the crowd he shouted, "Get back!" He knew exactly what they were dealing with now and it wasn't good.

The black clouds were a school of Wishiwashi and when a school gathered it meant only one thing, a gigantic mess was going to happen. With his arms wide open along with instincts and adrenaline kicking in he grabbed whoever was near him and ushered them back as the shadowy, black figures began piling up. "Something must have riled up the Wishiwashi's! We have to calm them down somehow!"

Not knowing what else to do, his hand went straight to his waist, and in an instant after a bright flash of crimson lightning, appeared Auggie, Ioane's trouble-making yet dependable partner. "If you guys... uhh... have any suggestions, I'd gladly take them!"

Lorenzo Amoré
Hau'oli city, Beach

From what Lorenzo could see, there ominous black clouds looming in the distance. Then, he heard someone from the shore shout, "Get back!" As Lorenzo got closer to the noise, it became clearer what it was that was causing the noise. It was bunch of tiny blue fish, getting together to form one giant, monster blue fish.

Lorenzo and Sirena's eyes widened, they let out a yelp, and they headed back to the shore as fast as they possibly could. That thing was unlike any Pokemon he had seen before. He was sure they didn't have anything like that back in Unova.

When he made it back to shore, he saw a really attractive brown haired guy who was standing in front of the crowd of people gathering who didn't go swimming. "Something must have riled up the Wishiwashi's! We have to calm them down somehow!" Wishiwashi? Is that what they were called? That was hilarious in Lorenzo's opinion, and he couldn't help laughing at such a silly name. The guy then took out a Pokeball, and sent out an Aipom. "If you guys... uhh... have any suggestions, I'd gladly take them!"

Lorenzo looked at his Popplio, then ran to stand next to the guy. "Sirena, try using Baby-Doll Eyes!"

The little blue sea lion then made her eyes big and cute. and started staring and the giant monster fish. He was hoping this would calm it down. At the very least, it should reduce it's attack power, so it won't do as much damage.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo decided to take advantage of this opportunity to do some harmless flirting. He was standing next to a good looking guy, and it couldn't hurt to get to know the locals. "Ciao! I'm Lorenzo Amoré!" The blonde boy said with a big toothy grin on his face as he took the guy's hand, shook it, and then kissed it. "Gosh, you're tall! Really handsome too! You must get that a lot though, haha!"

It didn't take long for Lucille to arrive at the site of the commotion. Despite the warning to get back, Lucy couldn't help but to be curious and completely disregard the warning. This was too fun of an opportunity to pass up, though...two men on the shore seemed intent on battling it out. How boring. She wasn't really a fan of battling - making love not war was something she greatly invested in. That said...the Salandit on her shoulder looked on eagerly. Lazza tilted her head, the grinning lizard watching with rapt attention. Lucille sighed. Well, she might as well let Lazza have her fun.

"Tsk...always with men and their silly fighting...oh alright dear." She said to the lizard with a huff. "Do what you do best, but try not to become fish food." Besides, who knows? Riling it up a bit with a well placed attack could lead to some...interesting developments. The Salandit laughed in the pokemons typical way, hopping off of Lucilles shoulder and onto the beach. The lizard didn't even need to be ordered to attack.

It lowered its body close to the ground, tail swishing high in the air as flames danced on it. She opened her mouth towards the fish from behind the two boys. Realizing what was about to happen, Lucille held back a laugh. Lazza wouldn't, would she? It'd certainly give the two boys a heart attack probably, but that's what made it funny.

The only warning the two of them would have, would be another laugh form the Salandit as a bright orange ball of energy formed in Lazza's mouth, a stream of energy blasting towards the Wishiwashi. The powerful beam of energy barely missing Io and Lorenzo, grazing right between their heads and intended to slam into the Wishiwashi. Dragon Rage was not a particularly strong attack against higher level pokemon, but against lower leveled ones? Well, it could do more than a little damage.

Valerie Mayern

Valerie stared a bit at the mass of pokemon, how curious, she'd never seen something like that before, it almost looked like they were all becoming one big pokemon instead of a bunch of small ones, too caught up to really listen to anyone before she was suddenly grabbed and moved, letting out a bit of a squeak as she stumbled over her slimeball of a pokemon, nearly tripping but managing to stabilize herself, turning around to complain before just starting to giggle "W- Wishiwashi?" she uttered before having a light fit of giggles, the name was simply too adorable for her to take seriously.

A concerned sound from her Goomy snapped her out of it with a twitch "What? Help? Maybe a bit much," she uttered, there were so many other trainer pokemon out all ready, she wasn't sure she should cause more chaos. Then again, her Goomy did have Absorb, a grass type attack. Fish were usually weak to that, right? "See if you can't absorb some of their energy to calm them down, Smoothie!" she suggested, Smoothie shortly after making an agreeing sound before a red beam launched from his mouth, targeted at the stream of adorably named fish.

The moment Io moved the crowd back his hand was taken by another boy. He was given a handshake and a kiss to the back of his hand, causing him to blush and stutter, attempting to respond to the boy's questions. But before anything could come out, a ball of energy zoomed passed their heads and clashed with the Wishiwashi. Not only was there what Ioane figured was a Dragon Rage coming from a girl and her Salandit, but the command of another trainer and her Goomy, assisting in the helping of calming the gigantic fish down.

"Sorry!" Io said, taking his hand back. He turned to his Aipom and nodded, "Auggie, give him a Power-Up Punch!" His little lavender monkey threw a fist into the air as it jumped, giving his trainer a wink and smile. The Aipom's tail curled into a fist and began glowing as it neared the Wishiwashi. The fisted tail made contact with the school of Wishiwashi, knocking off a few of the small fish, but in retaliation Auggie and whoever was nearby was gifted with a direct his of a Hydro Pump.

The massive water attack sent Auggie flying, crashing into this trainer, knocking them both a few feet away, further from the shoreline. "Probably wasn't the best idea to make that thing even more angry..." Io said, not really thinking before doing, a habit that had returned to him since coming back home. Being home made him a little nervous, and when he felt nervous he did things he wouldn't usually do. Like... fighting a school of Wishiwashi when he knew better. But things were already getting to be a little too late.

The Wishiwashi school let out a roar, which shocked Io. The deep and low roar of the school of fish was something new to the researcher. He had seen Wishiwashi before, but it was mostly just them alone, not angered, usually calm. That's when it hit him, they were angry at something, and maybe if Ioane could figure out just what then maybe they could calm them down once again.

"If you guys can distract him again, I think I know what to do!" Io shouted to those around him. He didn't know what else to do, but he had to hope for the best right now.

Lorenzo Amoré
Hau'oli city, Beach

The other boy blushed and stammered at Lorenzo's gesture, which made the boy grin. People usually reacted angrily and violently when he tried that sort of thing with other guys who weren't gay. It was nice that this wasn't the case now, and the other boy was so cute when he got flustered. He enjoyed it, Lorenzo could tell.

Before the guy could respond, a ball of energy zoomed passed their heads and hit the Wishiwashi. Lorenzo breathed a sigh of relief that attack had missed him. This was one of those times where Lorenzo thought being short was actually helpful. If he had been taller, that attack likely would have burned some hair on his head, or worse. The attack came from a girl and her lizard that Lorenzo had never seen before. Must have been another Alolan native Pokemon. There was also a girl with a Goomy attacking the giant swarm of fishes with a Goomy. That he had seen before.

The boy with the Aipom apologized to Lorenzo, then attacked the Wishiwashi with his Pokemon. The giant fish attacked with a Hydro Pump that knocked both the purple monkey, and his trainer a few feet back, away from the shoreline. Lorenzo wanted to make sure he was ok, but the other guy quickly shouted "If you guys can distract him again, I think I know what to do!" Which was pretty much confirmation that he was in fact ok. Which is good, because he didn't want his potential new guy friend to get hurt on his first day of meeting him. What kind of way is that to start a relationship?

Lorenzo nodded. "Alright, distraction it is. Sirena, use Disarming Voice!"

At her trainer's command, the Popplio let out a cute cry, and released pink sound waves from her mouth aimed at the Wishiwashi.

Distract? Well, Lazza wasn't particularly good at that, though she supposed she could get a little creative. That said, there still wasn't much she could do with a water type, but she could weaken it a bit more.

"Distraction? Well, I doubt the thing wants to see my assets." She chuckled lightly with a smirk. The way she said that, made it sound like she had very well used such a thing as a distraction before. "Very well...Lazza, give it something to be angry about then, hmm?" With a laugh and a grin, the lizard puffed its cheeks, before belching out a noxious gas in the direction of the Wishiwashi. The thick, foul smelling gas filled the area with an almost impossibly strong smell. Any pokemon that so happened to breathe it in...well, they'd be poisoned. Thankfully none of the other trainers were close enough to the Wishiwashi to suffer any bad effects from it...and it rendered the Wishiwashi poisoned.

Valerie Mayern

Valerie flinched a bit in empathy as she saw the two go down into the sand, frowning a bit before perking right back up again "Oh! Smoothie!" she crouched down to get more level with him as she talked "Head on up and use protect next time they attack, so no one gets more hurt!" she commanded as she stood back up, her purple ball of slime quickly enough moving to action, interposing himself between the school of wishiwashi and the other trainers, a light green barrier appearing between his antenna, ready to interrupt whatever attack the school of wish intended to go for next, determination in it's beady eyes, same as his trainer as her frown had turned to a smile instead.

The other trainers around him complied with his request, which made Io's idea and plan to figure out what kind of mess they were in much easier. As the trainers distracted the massive, blue fish blob Io sprinted a few yards away. That's when he took a breather and took a moment to examine behind the Wishiwashi's. He noticed a few more splashes that weren't coming from the gigantic school of fish and two fins circling about.

"Those Sharpedos must be what's making the Wishiwashi so angry!" Io shouted to himself. He threw a fist into the air proudly as if he achieved something great, but then came out pretty empty handed when he figured he didn't have a real plan now as he wasn't expecting more Pokemon to be the problem. "What if I get the Sharpedos to move away from the Wishiwashi, then the school would be able to freely swim away without any real danger!"

His idea sounded good to him and it didn't put any real harm into either Pokemon, so he went with it. Taking off his shirt and tossing it aside on the beach, Io dove into the chilly Alolan waters and began swimming away. Being born and raised in Alola he had learned how to be a pretty proficient swimmer and it helped that in the Orange Island it was practically the same with beaches and an ocean everywhere. Auggie had jumped onto his trainer's back and held onto his shoulders as the two drifted off into the ocean, nearing the circling Sharpedos.

As he stopped a few feet away from the pair of shark Pokemon Io had a chance to see what they were circling. It was three small Wishiwashi's which were probably a part of the larger school who were in major trouble with the sharks. "Auggie, we gotta make some commotion so the Sharpedos come over here!"

His partner Aipom rose an eyebrow and nodded his head, knowing full well that his trainer was going crazy. "This will work!" The monkey nodded his head in disbelief and sighed before splashing about with his tail. "That's it!" Io took a deep breath and dove underwater, flailing his arms about in an attempt to gain the attention of the sharks.

The researcher was always a guy with book smarts, never street smarts, but somehow things always seemed to flow his way.

Lucille gave Io a rather bored look. Playing hero, still? Not only that, sharpedos...that made this whole thing a lot more difficult for her and Lazza. Water pokemon in general were not something she liked to mess with for obvious reasons. She wasn't too keen on battling to begin with, and against a water pokemon she could be bothered if Lazza really wanted too. But against something like a Sharpedo? yeah, no, she wasn't going to mess with that. The wishi-washi could get eaten for all she cared.

Instead of helping Io, Lucille ran a hand through her hair, sighing in boredom.

"Hmm, I think we'll let the boys handle this, Lazza." Lucille said, clearly not interested in the turn of events. Lazza seemed to agree, at least for the most part. Not that she had any qualms against battling, but that was clearly a losing battle for them and she wasn't interested in losing. Losing was annoying, and not something befitting of her. She walked back over to Lucille who decided to take a seat on the beach, instead electing to watch the rest of the events unfold. The salamander pokemon crawled its way back onto Lucille's shoulder, watching with mild interest. She hoped they got beat hard, so she could laugh.

Valerie Mayern

Valerie paused for a moment, watching Io run off for a bit before starting to shout about sharpedoes and a plan, causing her to blink and mull it over. Those things were dangerous, she knew, fast as a speedboat, and so full of teeth even their skin had tiny abrasive teeth on them! She couldn't help but find it a terrible idea to get anywhere near close to that, but she wasn't one to really raise her voice around strangers. Or raise her voice at all, really. No she'd be quite content keeping that protect barrier up, even though it now only shielded a Popplio, as the other two had gone other ways, the out of place girl taking a moment to look at the respective trainers, ending up staring some at Lucille last, something felt rather familiar with that one. She couldn't quite place her yet.
Her attention snapped back to the water again "I do hope he knows what he's doing. Bothering a shark in water doesn't sound too bright," she muttered to no one, giving her Smoothie a reassuring smile that he was doing good with his protection so far.

Lorenzo Amoré
Hau'oli city, Beach

Lorenzo got excited when he saw the guy take his shirt off, only for that to go away when he saw him jump into the water, saying something about getting the Sharpedoes to move away.

"There are Sharpedoes involved?" Lorenzo wondered out loud. He knew he was impulsive himself at times, but he wasn't the type to jump into the water when there were Pokemon with lots of sharp teeth in there. The other guy didn't even have a Water type.

But then Lorenzo remembered, he did have a Water type. He certainly wasn't going to jump into the water himself, but Sirena could deal with a bunch of sharks. Sharpedo were part Dark type, and Sirena knew Fairy type moves. Lorenzo looked at his Pokemon. "You go take care of those things with a Disarming Voice." He commanded.

The Popplio gave a salute with her fin, then dived into the water, swam towards the sharks, then jumped out of the water, and delivered a Disarming Voice directed at the Sharpedo like she was putting on a show.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo stayed on land, where it was safe. "I do hope he knows what he's doing. Bothering a shark in water doesn't sound too bright," He heard a girl mutter who was standing behind a Goomy using Protect.

"No kidding!" Lorenzo answered, even though she wasn't necessarily talking to him. "I wouldn't want my potential boyfriend to get hurt, when I just met the guy."

As the sharpedos charged forward, rushing straight towards Io and Auggie, the young man began panicking. His plan wasn't as thought out as he had expected of course as his mind went blank from the threat of the charging sharks. Thankfully one of the trainers on shore had sent out their Popplio to use their Disarming Voice to stun the sharks for a few seconds. That was enough time for Ioane to think of something as he and his monkey partner were now in sync. With whatever force he could muster up, Io threw Auggie into the air towards the direction of the shark Pokemon, ordering him to strike them with punches. "Power-Up Punch the both of them!"

The lavender monkey landed onto one of the sharks, pounding it down with his tail before using the impact and force from his first punch to launch himself into the air towards the other sharpedo, delivering another powered punch. The two punches were even more effective with the help of the Disarming Voices that were thrown at them too, causing them to shake and re-route their attention back into the deeper waters away from people. Io sighed with relief as he watched the fins of the shark dart away, knowing full well that what he did was stupid and idiotic, and that in some strange miracle he had made it out without a scratch to his body.

Ioane and his partner Pokemon swam back to shore as the gigantic school of Wishiwashi had calmed down at the sight of their three friend's returning. The rampaging Pokemon were now all back into their solo forms as they skipped and swam away. Noticing that the trainers were still around, Io, without hesitation for once, bowed as he neared them, still shirtless. "Thank you all for helping out." Auggie jumped onto his trainer's shoulder as he just smiled, glancing at each trainer.

Valerie Mayern
As the school finally broke apart, her goomy returned to her, the woman crouching down to pet over it's slimy head and smile "Oh, you did very well, Smoothie," she praised him, the literal slimeball replying in turn with happy sounds and some jiggling, causing her to giggle gently as she stood up, wiping off her hand on a piece of cloth from her bag before she noticed Io having come out of the water, her smile still frozen on her face, strangely enough not seeming too warm despite the rather warm clothing in the tropic weather. In fact, she was completely dry, having remained on the beach, and out of the water attacks' way.

"Couldn't let you get yourself hurt. Or anyone else. Of course," she replied, bowing herself in a highly traditional manner, hands folded and near 90 degrees before she finally stood up straight again "But you did then jump to the sharks..." she added in a murmur, her smile making it hard to tell if it was worry or annoyance.