10 Facts About Hymnia Montfort

1. She was conceived during an extremely low period in Grimsley’s life where he had gotten involved with illegal gambling rings and criminals and was just barely toeing the line between his E4 job and his more dangerous hobbies, often falling into debt and in general in both a bad place mentally and in situation. During a particularly intense poker game with a criminal organization, Grimsley, with nothing left to bet, wagered his firstborn child. He lost. Hymnia was conceived to fulfill that bet (Grimsley was already kind of hooking up with Shauntal on the side so he had a mother in mind for his wagered baby, not to mention mages tend to be more valuable on the black market so he was hoping to pay off more of his debt than originally planned by giving the criminals a more valuable baby.) However, during the pregnancy, he realized that he’d made a horrible decision and sought help from his family. In the end, Champion Iris became involved and while the situation was sorted out and the offending parties apprehended, following Hymnia’s birth, Grimsley quietly retired from his E4 position and took a much needed vacation in Alola, leaving his daughter with his sister Diana.
2. Hymnia’s parents were married when she was about three years old, and her younger brothers were born about a year later. She is generally nonchalant about her unconventional origins and gets annoyed when people question her family life based on gossip.
3. She takes very strongly after her grandmother, Calliope, who was one of the first members of Unova’s Elite Four back when the region had first joined the Pokémon League. Her hair has a straighter texture like Shauntal’s however (aside from her ‘spikes’ that are on the side of her head).
4. Her starter, like all members of the Montfort family, was a Deino given to her when she was very young by her father. She named her Deino Astor, which then later causes a bit of confusion when her first cousin once-removed is born a few years later and is named Aster. Hymnia doesn’t see the issue though, since the two names are spelled differently.
5. Hymnia is very logical and extremely intelligent, skilled at problem solving and observations. However, she’s also not very good at socializing, being especially bad at holding a coherent conversation as she tends to just jump to the topics she finds most important rather than wait for the other person to try and catch up to her train of thought. Talking to her is often like listening to someone brainstorm out loud rather than having a conversation.
6. Grimsley taught Hymnia some basic card games when she was young and now cards are one of her favorite hobbies. As a sort of … private detective/information specialist/PI type of person, she finds card games and gambling are a wonderful way to loosen tongues and make quick friends (or enemies, but that’s the thrill of games of chance after all). One of her preferred ways of gathering information from stubborn targets is by making a bet. She often wins since she’s observant enough to purposefully set the terms in her favor, even if the other person doesn’t realize this.
7. Hymnia can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie, often taking the high-risk high-reward route rather than the safer but less promising one. She generally assumes that she’ll be able to think her way out of any trouble she gets into, but her overconfidence has landed her in sticky situations more than once. Luckily, she has her sidekick Penelope to help her out whenever things go south.
8. Being the descendant of a more mischief-inclined sort of fae on her mother’s side, Hymnia’s magic has a strong focus on illusions and trickery, something she finds very useful in her work as it comes in handy for disguises, gathering information, and being stealthy when the need arises.
9. She specializes in dark-type pokémon like her father. She considers dark-types to be the most ‘useful’ kind of pokémon, being both clever and sneaky (much like herself). Aside from Astor, I know she has an Absol, though the rest of her team is still under construction.
10. One of her main rivals is Cicely, Cress’ daughter (raised by her other father) who is deeply involved with the Castelia mob. Having a teasing personality, Cicely often likes to provoke Hymnia then cover her tracks, usually infuriating the younger woman. At the same time, Hymnia loves the the thrill of the chase and finds her ‘games of cat and mouse’ with Cicely to be some of her most enjoyable cases. Penelope is just tired of all the shenanigans her friend and sort-of-boss gets up to and wishes they could go back to straightforward and more importantly safe jobs from now on, pretty please?