[Earlier in the month, Shoka shows up to a meeting for the cooking club for the first time. She's late—so much so that most of the members are already finishing the session and starting to clear out—and she's hiding in the shadows at the fringes, almost like she's trying not to be noticed (and if your name is Noelle, she is trying extra hard not to be noticed by you specifically)... But she's there!

Instead of getting involved in any group activity, however, she's waiting to grab the attention of just one individual. Not any one individual in particular—just anyone she can get to look her way without alerting the entire club. Maybe it's you, whether she knows you or not.]

H—hey. You.

[In case it was unclear, she's pointing a claw directly at you now. Her eyes are strangely intense.]

Don't freak out. Do you know how to make chocolate? Like, from scratch...

[Later in the month, she also shows up to the music club (not for the first time, in this case). In previous meetings, she'd done more observing than singing or trying out any of the instruments, but today is different. Today, there is a violin.

She's not sure what kind of Pokémon it was originally designed for, but when she hesitantly picks it up, she finds that it might just be her size. After spending some time familiarizing herself with the placement of its strings, her muscle-memory instinct is to bring the instrument's body against her collarbone and secure it with her chin... But she doesn't have either of those things now, of course. The body winds up jabbed uncomfortably under her eyes, only just barely held up by a flaring motion of the shadows she uses to walk. Trying to play it in that position is even worse with the violin slanting so awkwardly, its neck tilting dangerously ground-ward.

With a huff of frustration, she tries holding the violin up against the neck of her disguise instead. That keeps the instrument more secure, at least... even if her first attempt at actually playing the thing is horribly clumsy and sounds a little like a Kricketune being stabbed to death—a sharp, discordant twang followed by a long, high-pitched keen. It makes her cringe and pull in a sharp breath, as if anticipating pain—but it never comes, and at least a sound is being produced!

Time passes, and eventually she manages to get accustomed enough to the instrument that she's able to pull off a shaky rendition of Hot Cross Buns (hell yeah).

More time passes, and she gains enough confidence to manage the opening of something more complex. Clear, mournful strains of music drift through the streets of the Bay. Now, it's finally obvious that she's done this before (even if only in another life).

She never takes center stage, instead staying on the fringes to practice on her own. If she manages to gain an audience—or any kind of accompaniment—it would be an unexpected one.]

[Like so many others, Shoka is eventually enlisted to help with finding those unfortunate Pokémon that have gotten buried in the snow. It's clear to her then that the rescue team is truly desperate, because the only real advantages she has to offer are a ghostly resistance to the cold and her Will-O-Wisp move.

Or so she thought. After a muted, psychic cry reaches her through the layers of snow, and she's spent so long shoveling through the ice with her claws that even she feels like she's going to freeze, she wishes she could just Telewarp back to safety... and somehow, miraculously, she does.

In a beam of golden light, she Teleports, and lands in a crumpled heap at the feet of some other Pokémon. She's clearly disoriented, lying flat on her back and blinking unevenly up at the shape looming above her. Clinging to her disguise is a crust of snow, along with a tiny, shivering Gothita.]

What—the hell...?