IC CONTACT

[blueser]

"Hello... Whatever... Don't worry about me. I'm doing peachy over here! I was just looking for something to do! Wanna battle me again?"

[telepathy | Pidgeot-mail]

Comments

its mine again

[broceanic]

[so here's the thing. archie is not looking for blue-- he figures the kid needs some space to settle in and it's not actually his business to go looking for him. he's concerned, sure, but blue is fully capable of looking after himself.

archie's just wandering around in the forest about half a mile away from where jill's place is, where's he's currently staying and... well.

this island is finite. it was inevitable that they'd bump into each other again. though this time, archie sees exeggutor standing near some bushes. he wanders over, crouches by the bushes and checks over the berries. not edible.]

Ahhh, nothing good to eat here. [he says to himself-- none of his pokémon are actually out with him, for a change. they're resting in their balls after the morning training session.] Good thing the environment is so nice, at least! Look at this handsome tree!

awful

[blueser]

[Unfortunately for Exeggutor, who has been standing motionless since the human's presence became known to him (--which is a long time, being that he could sense him telepathically!), the comment puts him off-guard, the previously-motionless tree jumping in place with a surprised E-Egg...!]

[What's he doing just standing around out here, anyway? Soon enough a voice becomes audible through the thick forest, calling out.]

Exeggutoooorr!! Hey, where'd you go!? [Rustle rustle... soon Blue's fuzzy orange head is visible meandering through the trees, and it's when he spots an incongruent Archie nearby that he wanders over to investigate, sighing with relief when he sees Exeggutor with him. Not that he pays the other human mind, at first.] There you are. [He pauses a moment as Exeggutor's heads rabble loudly, looking between them... like they're in conversation?] --Hide and seek? It's not safe to play games like that around here. Don't run off anymore, got it?

[Finally he glances with disinterest at the other human, frowning with recognition.] Especially with people like him wandering around. What were you trying to do to my Pokémon?

[broceanic]

[archie grins, delighted. exeggutor is delightful! he doesn't seem too bothered by blue's assertion, just snorts.]

He's alright, don't worry. [blue's right, though, and archie's glad that his warning was heeded. that said... he'd assume exeggutor could just psychically incapacitate anyone stupid enough to try and hurt him.] I wasn't doin' anything. I'm past that-- even if I was still trying to complete that plan I had, stealing or hurting Pokémon had never been part of it.

[he takes a few steps back from exeggutor as something of a show of goodwill; as much has he likes the pokémon, blue is clearly uncomfortable with him being close. so he won't be close anymore. simple shit.]

Gettin' to know the island, huh? None of the berries that grow around here are edible, just so you know.

[blueser]

That's for me to decide. [Blue cuts Archie off sharply, eyes narrowing. Yeah, right; like he was going to just trust a criminal on his word. He steps forward, resting a hand on Exeggutor's trunk. Archie steps off, though, so his point is across either way.]

[The air between them cools, just slightly.]

[Blue spares a glance towards the bush between them, and scoffs quietly.] I figured that out already. Exeggutor's been surveying the area for things like that. Doesn't matter, we'll plant our own berries, and there's that farm anyway.

What're you doing wandering around out here, anyway? [Blue looks him over again, suspicious.] It doesn't seem like these forests are uninhabited, but I haven't seen people often.

[broceanic]

[he offers no challenge to that; archie knows blue is right. lip service is all too easy to give and archie's all too good at it. he'll let his actions prove that he's no longer a danger-- and even then, if blue decides to hold what he did against him for the duration of their time here, then he's well within his rights to do so. archie just shrugs it off, leaning against a tree.]

How good to have both a grass and psychic type...! Oh, Exeggutor, we'd be lost without you. [said offering a grin to the pokémon.] Or eatin' poison berries like the idiot humans of old...

Ah-- I live near here. About half a mile away. All my work starts again tomorrow, so I'm just wandering around today. S'not like there's any TV or anything to watch, right?

[blueser]

[Exeggutor's heads bobble and nod, no no, he's just following his master's orders! The Modest-natured Pokémon takes the comments in stride, even if Blue seems to be progressively put-upon, rolling his eyes.] Whatever...

[Blue glances off in the distance, as if he'd be able to spot where he means, and makes another face. Hmn... so people did live around here.] It's boring around here. Well, I have my hands full getting settled into this place anyway, but I get what you mean. [His eyes flutter in a roll.] What do people even do for fun around here?

[broceanic]

[he continues to beam at exeggutor. eat shit, emo!]

Ah-- there's plenty of recreational activities to do in the city. Learn new skills, meet new people, all that crap. [he waves a hand.] Nothing close to anythin' like Pokémon battling...

[SIGH]

Well, you know about that taskboard, aye?

[blueser]

[Blue's face scrunches up. 'New skills'? 'New people'? Didn't sound very appealing to him, not without more detail, anyway... But the lack of Pokémon battling was really the worst part of it all.]

[How was he supposed to just adjust to living without the only thing he was good at?]

Taskboard...? Oh. Yeah, I guess. [He rubs a hand in his spikes.] It's like job postings, right? I heard about it, I looked at them a little, but most of them sounded pretty boring to me. I guess there was a few of them I think I could do.

Is that what most people do for a living? Just odd-jobs?

[broceanic]

Or get a job like normal or start their own business...

[the way he sats it-- it's clear there's something there for him. archie's hardly used to normal life even though he's capable of mostly just bullshitting his way through it.]

Exeggutor could certainly likely make a lot of money tending to the gardens of the rich and lazy. Fortunately, most of the city stuff is about the same, just with no tech. Like going to a place like Fortree or, ah... those mountains in Kanto. No signal!

[he thinks for a moment, trying to focus more on what blue himself might be good at. no good for an ex-champ gym leader, huh...]

Hmm... Oak is still working on the Pokédex, isn't he?

[blueser]

Just cuz I'm a Gym Leader, that doesn't mean I'm old enough to get a normal sort of job, you understand? [Blue frowns] League officials are sort of a special case. It isn't as if just any children are given these roles. I don't know how it is in Hoenn, but I'm Kanto's only Gym Leader under high-school age. And I'm certainly not lending my Pokémon out to people that don't understand their abilities. Didn't you say people weren't respectful of them around here?

[He pauses with a moment of thought, but reluctantly draws out his Pokédex from his back pocket.] It's been almost 4 years. We've about finished the whole national Pokédex, by now. Sinnoh through Hoenn... But, overseas professors were a bit slower to sign on for the project, I guess. I don't have any data for regions outside of the country, yet.

--Of course, I've studied reports and seen plenty of battle broadcasts from overseas, though. Why?

[broceanic]

Less about how it is in Hoenn and more about how it is here. Arceus only knows if some ass-backwards place that barely knows electricity has child labour laws. I'm pretty sure I've seen people younger than you working in cafés... well, anyway. People like that? Not so bad, when you're there to supervise.

[he listens, putting a hand on his beard in thought.]

Maybe try goin' to one of them universities that study biology and offer your experience there as an intern? If they're smart, they'll look at ya for your brain, not your age.

[blueser]

A university, huh.

[Blue heaves a sigh that's deeper internally. Of course everyone expected him to follow in gramps' footsteps... But he'd never really felt like that was his path. He liked the research, sure, and of course he was good at it. But compared to battling, compared to traveling around with his Pokémon... Every time he'd thought about it, all it did was reinforce a melancholy in him.]

[But it was nothing new, so he takes it in stride, just like he does every other time it comes up.] I guess I could do something like that. I've already started looking into some of the non-Pokémon species that live in this place, and I was thinking I would pass time by adding them to the dex.

--That reminds me, did you hear anything about those eggs people've been finding around? No one seems to know what kind of creature is inside.

[broceanic]

It's up to you, at the end of the day. [said with a shrug.] There ain't no League here to breathe down your back about gettin' them badge quotas.

[he's not fond of the league, though it's a bit of kneejerk reaction that he's still trying to leave behind him, now him and steven are on slightly better terms.]

Ah! Yes, I saw those. I'm gonna help the guy that did that egg-cellent broadcast look into 'em. He was a detective back home, and it seems like it might be a laugh. [...] Assumin' those eggs don't have, like, some angry god shit inside them?

[blueser]

[Archie's quip earns a sudden break of a nasty grin for Blue, and a bit of a scoffing laugh.] Badge quotas, huh...? Lancey-boy can go ahead and try to tell me how to run my Gym. I'll whip him on my home turf, too!

[A dismissive hand wave, and he turns to another eyeroll.] Oh, you mean that lame old gramps.... You for real? Like, a legendary? [Blue's expression turns serious] He seemed suspicious about them, but... You think it could be something like that?

[broceanic]

Oh, and I'd pay any amount of Pokédollars to see that...!

[he barks a light laugh, almost surprised at his own reaction. archie'd thought blue's over-confidence would be grating like silver's was, but it's weirdly endearing. maybe because blue doesn't treat his team like trash.]

The last thing that came out an egg here in a big event was Thras, far as I know. Y'know, not countin' the chicken eggs that hatch every day. Last thing that mattered, I guess. [he silently apologises to all chickens everywhere. you're all queens.] Though... somethin' like that out of multiple of them? I don't think so. Maybe they're not even real. Arceus only knows with the magic here. All we can do is blindly guess 'til one of them hatches.

[blueser]

[Anymore....]

[Blue only looks at Archie with confusion at 'Thras', head tilting. What's a Thras...? (What's a chicken...???)] What do you mean, 'mattered'? What's 'Thras'?

[He looks doubtful at the last assertion- about magic, but then again there were a lot of things in this world he still felt in disbelief about.] "Magic", huh? Like, real magic? Well, whatever... I found one, so we've been caring for it... But I didn't think it would be a problem until that old gramps said something.

[broceanic]

One of the Arehtei, big bird type fella. He was reincarnated recently after the time span of his old body, ah... expired.

[MOVING SWIFTLY ONWARDS:] Magic like the type of stuff you'd see a type like Delphox use.

[archie rubs his chin with a shrug.]

You wouldn't mind tellin' me if anything happens with it, right? It'd probably be worth passin' on any info to their investigation no matter what, even if it turns out these things are completely harmless.

[blueser]

So you do mean like a legendary. [Blue follows. That's basically what the Arehtei were, right? That was his understanding of it, certainly.] A legendary that reincarnates and hatches from an egg... I feel like there was a story like that in some region.

Hmm... [Blue idly wracks his brain on that one as Archie goes on.] The egg? ...Whatever, I guess I would need to anyway. I'll need to know how to care for it, and I don't know if the creatures here would need the same things as baby Pokémon.

Let me ask you something. [He asks after another moment of thought, hands stuffed in his pockets.] Do you think this is a dangerous place?

[broceanic]

Yeah, like that. Sounds like a familiar story, right? Maybe Jirachi...

[he shakes his head, dispelling that particular line near immediately.]

Maybe go talk to some wyvern breeders in the meantime. They're the most like Pokémon and even if whatever's inside those eggs ain't like 'em, it's still good to know wyvern stuff.

[archie goes quiet at the question, thinking it over. he watches exeggutor do whatever it's doing while he considers it.]

Yes, but-- it's a certain type of danger. It's like a Victory Road but with slightly less regulation. There are creatures like powerful Pokémon that will attack if you go to the wrong places, but the city and populated areas are like Indigo Plateau. You're familiar with that, right? Full of powerful people and a place that can test you, but certainly nothing that'll cause too much trouble if you're capable of dealing with what lies within.

[blueser]

Jirachi... That's the myth of a Pokémon that grants wishes, right?

Anyway, someone else mentioned wyverns, too. So they must be a pretty common species around here, huh? Any idea where I can find them? [Does Blue want to catch one, probably, don't ask him that question]

[Exeggutor is communing with the trees, of course. Just kidding, he got bored and wandered off again to find a nice sunny patch in the forest to sit under. Blue listens in on Archie's thoughts- who better to ask about dangerous elements than a criminal, after all? He must have some insights into it.]

[Victory Road is nothing Blue can't handle... in fact, the way he describes it is almost like the routes beyond the road, the base of that mountain......]

[Blue's nerves always got the best of him, whenever he tried to venture up it. But that, just like here, had nothing to do with the natural dangers so much as the human element.]

[After thinking it over a little more, he shrugs. It wasn't what he was expecting after some of the other things he had heard, but it does put him a little more at ease. If someone like the leader of Team Aqua didn't think things were very sketchy around here, then maybe it had just been blown out of proportion.] It doesn't sound like that much of a problem to me. I guess I was worried about nothing...

If they're no scarier than you, anyway. [Blue lets out a sharp bark of laughter.]

[broceanic]

Yeah. It grants wishes then goes away for a thousand years, then comes back. Maybe it's reborn? [archie may have met jirachi, but that doesn't mean he knows anything about it. he shrugs.] Scrooge... that Psyduck lookin' guy? Have you seen him around? He knows about chocobos and wyverns, I think.

[he just snorts.]

Cute, but there's genuinely scarier things than me out there. I don't think being here means we're in constant danger, but you still gotta be careful and smart about what you do. It's not the same world. The people here are sometimes crueler and more self-serving, but very few are actively malicious. You'll be alright, especially with the others around.

[blueser]

Oh, that guy!? Yeah, and he scolded me for calling him that. Sheesh! [Blue shakes his head indignantly.] I met him... I think he said the same thing, but he said to ask at somewhere in town. Umm... at the Welcome Center, I guess. That they'd be able to tell me who else to ask.

[Blue digs his toe at the grass, suddenly more hyperaware of their surroundings.] I just haven't gotten around to it, yet....

[Become a cryptid instead. Especially rather than deal with people like Archie's describing. Blue makes a face.] Well, I can take care of myself. [MMKAY]

[broceanic]

...He really does look like a mutated Psyduck though, don't he?

[said with a light snort.]

Hmm, guess that's the way, then. Seems everything comes back to just go to the welcome centre. [huff. it's clear archie doesn't like that, though who would?] There's no real rush, or anythin'. That place ain't going anywhere. Did you find a place to stay?

misfire

[broceanic]

[there's a bright little tune that enters blue's head-- it fades in and out where archie can't quite remember the lyrics, but you know.]

Lilycove de-part-ment store!
Down by the cove!
Do you need a new stooooove?
Go to Lily-cove!

Sale tonight, sale every night!
We care for you with all our might!
Lilycoooove!

[blueser]

[Huh? ...What? Blue stops where he is and looks around, as if someone with a radio would appear in the middle of the forest to be playing that jingle... then he looks down to his Pokégear. Still off.]

What the heck was that lame commercial, just now...?