generalflirt | Appointments Post ( II )

[ Soren does not actually know the deep and mystical answers to Ikki's ball questions, and she hasn't actually stopped coming up with further questions about this practice, and probably will never stop wondering about it. Ikki's that cute little hyper girl he'd been happy to see again - one day she'd just stopped showing up for lunch, and then a while later she'd been back, like nothing happened - and her expressions are animated enough that it's clear she's half-distracted.

She's also started talking fast enough that anyone but Jinora might be hard pressed to tell what she's actually on about, an obvious sign of nerves.

Ikki's treated to another playful blast of "airbending". She shuts up, sputtering, and then laughs and pushes back, like she did the first time she'd met them back in the fountain. Oh! So he's an airbender, too!

She drops her hands back to her lap after a second, though. ] So he's really, really gone, huh?

[ She'd kind of half hoped Masaomi would magically say Chien wasn't, although Soren obviously knew otherwise and she couldn't contact him at all.

This time Ikki translates the sad tone to Soren's reply without missing a beat; they're both missing the same person, after all. ] ...Mm, well, I have two beds, you know. Do you sleep in a bed? I guess maybe Uncle Sokka could make the top bed into a nest. Uncle Sokka can make anything! ...You've never met him, actually, but you'll get to when we go back home, 'cause you'll have to meet everyone - there's Uncle Sokka and Aunt Toph and Uncle Roku, and then grandpa and Katara - and you met Momo but there's also Appa and Hawky and Petunia! We've got a really, really big family.

[ Talking to her hands is less than productive, but Soren's at her knee and bumping into her, and Ikki does look up. There's another onslaught of chirping she thinks she might catch the meaning of - amused, comforting, and he'd definitely come to find her and hadn't left since. So it's probably, maybe okay to assume what she's assuming. For once in her life she's actually quiet and just grins back. ]

Thought so... [Masaomi mutters that to himself as he comes back, Soren's ball in hand. And now he holds it out. He taps the button's edges to recall Soren. In a red flash of light, he'll turn into a beam and come back in the ball.

...Unless he resists, of course. He's your NPC. But he's doing this to prove a point once he's back in front of him and Ikki, and hoping the bird will follow his lead]

Hmmm? [ Ikki glances up to see Masaomi tap the ball. Aaaaaaand there goes Soren, who knows what they're trying to show to Ikki.

She's more than a little startled, but isn't actively worried; she trusts Masaomi, even when she's confused by the things he talks about. ] Hey! [ Not a complaint, just pointing at the spot where Soren isn't and the ball, and surprised amazement. Yep, that was pretty cool. ]

[He winks, and then tosses the ball at her, to catch it]

Not everyone uses these - like I said, Chien didn't, so Soren might not be all that used to them - but these are a pretty important tool for a trainer. Right now, you're holding Soren in your hands.

[ Ikki catches it easily enough; she's got good reflexes, and doesn't have to resort to airbending trickery.

She cradles the pokeball gently and eyes Masaomi, working it out aloud. ]

So the reason to throw him is to let him out?

To determine where to let him out. You can let him out at any time using the button, but if you throw it, you can determine where he comes out of the ball, because he'll come out right where the ball opens. In a fight or something, sometimes the ability to so easily relocate someone is very important.

[He says this in Lecture Mode]

[ Lecture Mode works well with Ikki, and she nods, although the way people always assume she's going to be in fights in Luceti is sort of weird.

Testing it out, she presses the button. There's the same light from before, and Soren looking pleased with himself, and Ikki eyes the pokeball again, fascinated. ]

But it only works on Pokemon?

It only works on one pokemon. Each ball's unique, and once it houses one pokemon in it, it can't take another one in it. So that ball is Soren's, and Linda's ball is Linda's.

[A beat]

But if Soren here is holding anything, say in his talons, that can go in with him.

...What if he's holding a pokeball? [ this is clearly an important line of questioning ]

Dunno, maybe? He can't be holding his ball either way. And without consulting my comrades, who actually know more than me, I wouldn't want to try that with Linda's.

Your comrades are the people from the same world as Soren and Linda, right? [ obviously she's not putting her grandmother or Shikamaru into this equation. ]

Two of them do, anyway. They were the ones I meant - Gold and Silver... but it would be more accurate to say the same world as these two's ancestors. They were born in this world.

He gave me lemonade! [ She points at Masaomi when she says it, more of an ah-ha! moment than anything else. ] Ah, I knew Linda was born here, but I didn't know that 'bout Soren. Chien never said. But he knows Luceti really well, so that makes sense!

There were four babies born in Luceti - Linda here, Soren who was the only boy, Kyle, and Skarmy. These four babies were inherited by four trainers... but then Soren lost his.

[Masaomi crouches down now. He doesn't dare touch Soren, in case the bird he knows has some amount of pride holds anything against him for being Linda's partner. But he does try to look him in the eye to confirm something]

But then Soren lost his original one. She went home... and he sought out someone new. He found Chien, and they then became partners. And now Chien is gone too...

[Ikki may or may not know where he's driving, but he hopes Soren understands. He tries to ask Soren with just his eyes if he's right. He knows the bird probably is too raw from the loss of his trainer to pick immediately, but a Pokemon Chooses His Partner. And given he's experienced the loss once before, it might be easier for Soren to understand how a Pokemon will grow stronger with a trainer. ...He wonders, now, if Ikki is who he has Chosen]

Edited 2012-10-06 03:13 (UTC)

[ Masaomi isn't talking about Chien. Ikki doesn't really get what he's talking about; she does notice he's addressing Soren more than he is her, and she's watching with a confused, concerned sort of expression. She's spent very little time talking to anyone from Soren's world - or the world his parents came from - and she doesn't totally understand the Pokemon and human partner connection. She'd always assumed Chien and Soren were best friends, although a lot of what Masaomi had told her before sort of shifted that into best friends who battle together because of romance(?) and passion(?????). It hadn't had anything to do with how she treated either of them.

Soren is a lot less confused than the little girl sitting behind him, though. He seems to be considering Masaomi more than the question he's not asking, but then he hops backwards just once, pressed up against one of Ikki's knees where it comes off the bench. There's a decidedly defensive look to his stance, which Ikki doesn't notice, just reaching down absently and hugging Soren because he'd lost someone else, too, and she's sad for him.

Her voice is fairly firm, and she answers what she thought she heard rather than whatever is actually going on. ] I said they could come to me if they needed. It was a promise!

[ Soren chirps, looking at Masaomi rather than the seven year old child clinging to him, because Ikki's definitely not in this loop. ]

[...Ah, Soren, so that's your choice. Maaomi nods, solemnly, at the bird. He then crouches down to face Ikki more directly. He's not trying to freak her out or anything, but what comes next is gravely important. It's not something super serious, per se, but it is something that she ought to understand]

Ikki-chan, Soren came to you for a reason, I'm now certain. And I'm sure he has something to ask of you - something deeply instinctual to him, a question ["will you be my Partner?"] that he knew he might one day ask of a human since the moment he was born. However... like me, you're not from the world of his ancestors. Like me, you don't instinctually understand the question he's asking. I learned it by trial and error, but as humans are creatures of words, I'd like to try to explain it to you with words first. Would you like to hear me out?

[ Ikki blinks at Masaomi for a second, but nods. ] Of course!

[ She came to him for help with what they were supposed to be doing, and this sounds like the part where he does that. Although he's already been helping since he got there, and she's still got the pokeball in her lap, and she never knew it was as important as it is. ]

Alright.

[Inhale, exhale and...] Pokemon are creatures of battle. They fight, all the time, gaining in power and strength. But these fights aren't for the reasons humans attribute to fighting. The goal isn't to cause violence, and it isn't to conquest territory or even to dominate other people. Sure, in the wild, all animals fight for their survival, but - and here's the thing that took me so long to get - pokemon fight for far more than that. To survive is simply to eat, but to battle is to put your honor at stake, and advance to the next level. To grow stronger all the time, and to achieve your greatest potential.

On some level, all Pokemon want this. They want to grow, to learn new attacks and to strengthen their existing ones. They want to defeat strong opponents, and they want to evolve as well. [Does she know about evolution? there's a two second pause, but he can't let up in his speech] But there's another secret to this... pokemon can't reach this potential alone. Pokemon choose humans, trainers to help them in their quest for honor and strength. They choose partners, a deeply instinctual bond for them, in which they choose someone to live and fight beside them. To push them to their limits, and to run, or in this case fly, right along with them are they strive to be the best they can be.

And Ikki-chan, Soren has chosen you to be his new trainer.

[ Creatures of battle, huh? Pretty much the opposite of everything she's ever learned in airbending training, in history lessons about their culture, in all the things she'd done since she was a child, day in and day out. The goal isn't to cause violence eases the idea, and she'd had the notion for some time that Pokemon were something like probenders. The phrases honor at stake and advance to the next level only emphasize that idea, and Ikki thinks for a second that Korra would probably love this.

She's suddenly a little worried. She trains daily, but she's not certain she's the best choice for a partner in battle when there's always at least one voice in the back of her head telling her to find a different path. Then again, she's fought before, or at least has defended her home, for what little good that did.

I know how to airbend, though. Like Soren did(n't). And she knew a few things more than that, since coming here, and Soren was kind of looking at her now like Masaomi was, and, well, she could always at least learn. That was always an option. And he was one of her best friends. And she didn't want to say no. She'd always done everything she could to help the people she cared about before, and even if this seems so much heavier than anything else, she nods, slowly, trying to remember everything anyone has ever said to her about pokemon, and trying to think about Chien and Soren and what she's seen of Masaomi and Linda, and even if she's nervous about somehow doing something wrong, she thinks she does understand it.

Ikki has a million and one questions about all of this, but somehow she feels like Masaomi's saying something too serious and important to disrupt it. It's a new feeling. ]

...I'll work really, really hard to learn whatever I need to learn, if you'll both help teach me, then. Um. That is, if you'll help?

Ikki-chan-

[...No. It's polite, but then he remembers Katara's assertion about -chan, ages ago. "If it doesn't make you feel too uncomfortable, then I'd really rather you just call me Katara." He wonders if Ikki feels the same way... either way,]

Or rather, Ikki. It would be my honor to start you off on the path, and to tutor you with what Linda and I have learned. Naturally, only you can walk it, but I'm sure you know that.

[And then he nods in Soren's direction. Go on, confirm it to him]

[ Ikki has more or less gotten used to the "-chan" some people add to the end of her name. She classifies it as "weird Earth custom" but has never actually given it more thought than that. It's more a nickname in her mind than anything else, and she actually gives Masaomi a startled look when he drops the "-chan", because that just hasn't happened before. ]

I do! But if you can teach me the things I need to know 'bout, like...the things like the pokeball and what it does. [ About the world, and wow, she's going to have to start talking to all the people from that world a lot more to see what they can tell her. ] ...I'd like to learn!

[ The nod to Soren reminds her that she hadn't said yes or no, just asked immediately to be taught, because she's probably in over her head. Ikki giggles at the almost affronted look she's getting from Soren - she'd talked to Masaomi first - and slips off the bench to crouch on the ground looking Soren in the eye like she'd done many weeks ago when they'd first met. ] Sorry, sorry! I just need to know a lot, lot more than I do right now if I'm gonna do any of what Masaomi just said. [ I don't want to disappoint you. ]

I'll definitely absolutely be your partner, silly. You're already one of my best friends. So, we'll figure out the rest of it, too. [ She's not certain if that works for a yes or not - seriously, she'd be better equipped to deal with a suddenly piratical situation than a suddenly pokemon one - but Ikki hugs Soren anyway, knowing that if she lavishes enough attention on him she'll probably eventually be able to make him stop sulking about replying to Masaomi before Soren himself.

Compliments to his "airbending" and talking about how much she adores him had yet to fail in their history together. ]

Mmmmhm. Glad to hear it. [This is with a smile at the first part, and the then stands from his crouch to go collect Chien's pokedex while her and Soren hash out their first moments as partners. He flips through a few things... Chien had made a few notes, and it's a shame he'll need to delete this in order to reset the data to make the pokedex Ikki's. He actually found the number chain on accident though Mirphy's Law in his first week of ownership. He doesn't bother to question Ikki if she agrees to him deleting Chien's data though. He doesn't want to have the undo complication.

But he's fiddling with it and hitting the button sequence. It starts to beep now, having confirmed the reformatting command]

[ Ikki only starts paying attention to Masaomi again at the beeping. Ah, it is the square beep-y thing-y whose purpose she...still isn't clear on. Soren's obviously less interested in the pokedex, nudging her shoulder again, and she giggles, but has to ask. ] What's it doing that for?

I'm getting it set up so you can register your name in it to claim it as yours. Once you do, you'll be able to add your own notes, use it as a diary, or other things like that.

[ Huh. So it does things other than

no okay she's never had the slightest idea what it did. ]

...But we have journals!

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october 4th; idc if you do things with my npc i trust you /soaring music /yep

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