Chapter Text
“How should I know? I don’t have time to type in some random person’s name into Porygoogle.” Cynthia shook her head, exasperated. Celebrity gossip wasn’t something she was generally interested in. Something her friends actually new. And considering the amount of gossip she hadn’t been able to avoid throughout her life, she was sure that most of the things she could find were lies and exaggerations anyway. “So you do know the name?”, Wallace asked, leaning forward, grinning into the camera.
Looking up from her suitcase, Cynthia nodded in the direction of her Rotom Phone. “Yeah, why do you ask?” The teal-haired man tapped his chin, tilting his head slightly. “You never mentioned that before, Cynnie! I am offended that you wouldn’t tell us until now.” Her grey eyes narrowed – she absolutely loathed this nickname Wallace only used when he wanted to rile her up. “Well, Wally, it’s not as if you or Steven have asked me.” He seemed to contemplate this for a moment before raising his hands dramatically.
“Noooo. How could we have made such a grave error?” Steven appeared behind Wallace on the screen, a bemused smile on his face. “What has happened? This is quite dramatic, even for you, Wallace.” Putting away the t-shirt she had just folded, Cynthia looked up again. “Wallace was annoying me and then I reminded him that you two never asked about my co-star, so we never spoke about it.”
Steven Stone was the person Cynthia would consider to be her closest friend. They had crossed paths during their time at university – Steven was from Hoenn, but spent two semesters in Sinnoh as an exchange student. Unlike what most people assumed, they had not met on a campus party, but rather during an excavation. Studying archaeology meant a lot of field work, and Cynthia had been surprised to find a man in a hand-tailored suit stumbling across the area just after sunrise one day.
It turned out that this man was obsessed with any kind of rocks and had headed to the excavation area in the hope of finding a Pokémon fossil. “Even if you did find one, it would belong to the university”, Cynthia had told him, bemused by his antics. He then showed her two of his prized Pokémon, a Cradily and an Armaldo. “Worked on the fossils to restore them, myself”, he had proudly claimed. “Still, you’re not part of the team, so you better leave before you get your suit dirty.” Unfortunately, Steven had found out in that moment that his Hoennian charm didn’t work on the blonde Sinnohan woman.
It went surprisingly uphill from there, with Steven showing up multiple times throughout the excavation, whenever his own courses allowed him the amount of leisure time needed to do so. Over time, they started talking more, about their Pokémon, their homes, their ambitions for life after university. In the end, Cynthia was unable to decide whether she envied the man, or pitied him. Heir to a huge, multinational company, his path in life was already set. Never needing to worry about precarious working conditions – but also lacking the freedom to pursue a different career, should he have wanted that.
Seeing Steven more often meant that she had met Wallace during the semester holidays. The two men had known each other for years, and the teal-haired man wanted to see university life in Jubilife City. Not that there was much to see, the city paled in comparison to Castelia City in Unova or Lumiose City in Kalos. It was a rare occurrence to see people on the streets after midnight, but Wallace had insisted, dragging Steven and Cynthia through every single club he found on Porygoogle Maps.
While Steven was friendly, but always a bit reserved until he fully trusted another person, Wallace was the definition of out-going. Wild, unrestrained, a menace to deal with. Yet also the most patient and kind-hearted man whenever his niece Lisia was concerned. Throughout the years, Cynthia had grown fond of the man, his sometimes eccentric behaviour aside. Like today. When he simply couldn’t stop pestering her about this horrible movie shooting situation she had somehow gotten involved with.
He lifted his hands up, bowing his head. “Alright, Cynthia, my dearest Sinnohan friend, would you be kind enough to tell us the name of your co-star? Pretty please? Pinky promise we won’t tell anyone!” Rolling her eyes at his antics, the archaeologist sighed, defeated, noting the smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Unfortunately, she didn’t quite remember the name, having it heard only in passing during a phone call. Diana…Carson, or something like that. Chester? But one thing she was certain of, the woman was Kalosian. So perhaps that would be enough to satisfy the Hoennian duo.
“She’s from Kalos. Diana…something with C. Haven’t read the name, only heard it in passing. Charon maybe”, Cynthia explained, trailing off. On the phone screen, Wallace was blinking at her in shock and even Steven looked as if he was shell-shocked. Worry flooded her, whatever this would mean, she doubted it was pleasant. “Cynthia”, Wallace began, shaking his head as if to collect himself. “You don’t happen to mean Diantha, instead of Diana?”
The way he carefully pronounced the name gave Cynthia pause. As did the way he seemed to imply that it was a name that should ring a bell. Well, it actually did, once she thought about it. She hadn’t been absolutely sure about Diana, but hearing the name again brought the memory of the conversation back. “Actually, yes, that’s her name! I knew it was something close enough to Diana.” Wallace eyes widened comically, his mouth opening for a scream.
“You are filming with Diantha Chevalier of all people and haven’t said a single word about that yet?!” Steven lifted his hand, rubbing his ear – hopefully Wallace hadn’t ruptured his eardrum with that outburst. Biting her lip, Cynthia decided to tread carefully here. “The way you say this suggest I should know who that is?”
“Even after knowing you for years, I sometimes wonder if you’re living under a rock, Doctor Cynthia Jenness. And no, Steven, no rock puns. Please. I mean, what shall we do with her? It’s hopeless. And by it, I mean Cynthia.” Rolling her own eyes, Cynthia sighed. “Why exactly am I hopeless again? Do you care to enlighten me?” She still had to continue packing and this phone call was turning out way longer than she had anticipated it to be. With an over-exaggerated sigh, Wallace continued.
“For your information, Diantha Chevalier is simply the most decorated Kalosian actress. Two Oricorios, a Chatot, a Meowscarada and a Mr. Mime.” Judging from the pitying look Wallace was giving her, he already understood that she had not a single idea what he was talking about. “These are the most important awards in show-biz. And she has a complete COMM set, as well as a lot of smaller awards. She’s insanely versatile and really good at her job. Theatre, musicals, movies, a TV series – the whole nine yards.” He then began a rant, listing off some projects she had been involved in, but none of the titles sounded familiar to her.
Cynthia shrugged nonchalantly. She didn't watch TV that often. “I guess she needs to be good in her job if that movie should not be a total flop. I’m her co-star after all, and as we all know, I am an archaeologist, not an actress.” And damn, just thinking about this made her angry again at the fact that Professor Kenneth Rowan, whom she trusted deeply, had somehow gotten her into this mess.
Steven smiled softly, shaking his head, while Wallace buried his face in his hands. Thankfully, Steven was way less obnoxious than their friend. “Well, congratulations Cynthia, you’ll be kissing someone who’s considered to be the most beautiful woman in all of Kalos. Gotta be your lucky day.” He winked but suddenly started laughing at her bewildered expression. “You really don’t know her, Cynthia, do you? Not even reacting right now. Do you have the slightest idea how she looks?”
Again, Cynthia shrugged. “No. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t search on Porygoogle for her and I’m going to keep that promise. I’ll know soon enough.” The expression on Steven’s face was soft. “Well, I suppose then there isn’t much to say besides break a leg. Let us know if anything comes up or you need us, Cynthia. I’m going to end this call before Wallace starts to show you pictures. Have fun.” The Devon heir was laughing again, apparently finding the whole situation very amusing.
With that, the screen went black again. Cynthia sighed. If there was one thing she was sure of, then it was the fact that she should not be involved with this project in the first place. Alas, it was too late to turn back. Sighing, she reached to her belt, touching the Pokéball that contained her closest partner Pokémon, Garchomp, who would accompany her to Almia. Sitting down on her bed, she buried her head in her hands. “What have I gotten myself into?”
"What do you mean?", Diantha looked up, surprised. "Apparently", her assistant replied, without looking up from her tablet, "they liked her so much that they convinced her to be your co-star as well as the scientific advisor. She didn't want to, but Professor Rowan joined forces with the director to talk her into it." Kathi Lee made sure to use air quotes when she said ‘convinced’. "Hmm." This was a surprise for Diantha. Most people would have likely jumped for joy at the opportunity to become a movie star. But apparently, Doctor Cynthia Jenness was not 'most people'.
She should have known better, but Diantha couldn't help herself. At least she managed to resist the temptation while Kathi Lee was still around. Pulling out her own tablet, lying on her couch, she opened Porygoogle. "She's not a celebrity, so perhaps I won't even find anything", she murmured, typing 'Cynthia Jenness' in the search field, before pressing the return button. The first hit was a page of Jubilife University, and Diantha clicked on that.
It appeared to be an official page, featuring the woman's curriculum vitae. She was definitely part of Professor Rowan's research group, something Kathi Lee had already told her. Her own research included only a little of ancient Human-Pokémon interactions, but rather consisted of classical Sinnohan and Johtonian mythology and obviously archaeological excavations that touched this field. A list of her publications was included. Some of her papers were open-source, and Diantha quickly read the abstracts.
There wasn't much use in trying to understand the finer details for the actress, but no matter what, Doctor Jenness seemed to really know her subject. Judging from the citations, she was well-known in her field, or at least Diantha assumed as much. Archaeology had never been something she had been interested in, so she couldn't be sure. Not that this mattered, she wasn’t paid to be a scientific advisor after all. Shrugging, the brunette returned to Porygoogle.
The next hit was a Sinnohan newspaper, featuring a video. And for the first time, Diantha had a face to match the name. From what she gathered, the woman had organized a festival to promote the ancient history of Sinnoh, and she had even dressed that part, wearing an outfit based on Hisuian period clothing. But Diantha barely paid attention to her voice, only noticing that is was laced with a slight Sinnohan drawl. Which was unsurprising, considering that she was from Sinnoh.
But looking at her, Diantha knew immediately why the director had been so insistent on casting her for the role of Doctor Ellie Jameson, all expertise on the subject of archaeology aside. Tall, blonde, with a soft, but winning smile. The charismatic way in which she spoke to the reporter - not an actress, but someone unafraid of public speaking. Her obvious enthusiasm about the history of her native region, Sinnoh, and of her chosen subject. Expressive grey eyes - if Diantha hadn't known better, she would have assumed they had written Ellie with this woman in mind.
"Have you finished packing, Cynthia?" The blonde woman looked up from her desk, startled by the voice. "Almost. I'll be done in time for my flight to Pueltown." Professor Rowan entered the small office, not bothering to close the door behind him. The only people currently working on this corridor were his and Cynthia's doctoral students, and all three of them were already gone. He regarded his postdoc with a pensive look.
"I don't need to remind you about what is at stake here, do I, Cynthia?" She leaned back in her chair, her visible grey eye closing for a second. "No, you don't. I know exactly what you mean, Kenneth, and I promise I won't forget it." Crossing his arms, he wondered whether she would say something else. "I just wish I could have simply been the scientific advisor. Not…having to act and stuff."
A sly smile crossed Rowan's face. "You have held enough lectures and spoken at more conferences than I can count. I am sure you'll do fine with this as well." A one-armed shrug was the only reply he got. "Unless you're too afraid to kiss your co-star? But I never had the feeling that you'd be afraid to kiss a beautiful woman." He met her eyes, enduring the glare even as Cynthia started blushing. "While I don't have any trouble kissing another person, I generally don't enjoy doing so in front of a camera. Thankfully, the movie is going to be PG-13, so it won't be anything too bad. I rather have people associating my name with my research - and not with kissing some Kalosian actress on screen."
"You will thank me for all of this one day, Cynthia, even if you'd rather strangle me right now. The distance will do you some good, I think. And you won't have to worry about the money for a while." It was a topic she really didn't want to talk about – even less than kissing her co-star, and Cynthia simply looked at her notebook again. "I will always worry about that. And of course, about Dawn, Lucas and Rosa. With me gone for the filming, you'll have to do everything on your own."
Rowan shook his head, amused that she still tried to argue with him, no matter the situation they were currently in. "I have held all the lectures before you joined my research group, this won't be a problem. It’s just two more before the break, anyway. And from what Lucas told me, you already reassured them you would be available via mail to help them with their respective thesis', if necessary." "That's true, but…" He shook his head. "No but, Cynthia. Finish whatever you are writing and then finish packing. Almia awaits you."