February Prompts

[symbolofstrength]

Who: Samuel Oak + OPEN
What: February prompts. Science, mostly. Let me know if you want to do something else with Sam, I can start something else for you!
Where: Various
When: February -- can be before the overgrowth event, or happen during, as Sam has not been affected by it.
Content Warnings: Innocent slimeberry deaths! Will add others as needed.

Comments

A Friend Returns (Kichijoji + Various)

[symbolofstrength]

Samuel is clearing out one of the empty shops in Kichijoji to use as a lab when he catches a flurry of wings and feathers out of the corner of his eye. He's not sure why he looks up, there are plenty of those odd Pidgey-chimeras around here, but look up he does. At first, he thinks that the winged animal headed straight for him is one of the chimeras -- but his face lights up, despite his confusion, when he realizes that it's an actual Pidgey. And what's more, as it comes even closer, he recognizes that Pidgey!

As the Pidgey closes the final feet between them, a collapsed Pokeball held carefully in its beak, he instinctively holds out his arm as a perch; the Pidgey lands on it, spits out the Pokeball into his waiting hand, and gives him an affectionate coo.

"Pidgey! I didn't expect to see you here, how are you?" Samuel deposits the Pokeball into his labcoat pocket with the others, and reaches his free hand over to return Pidgey's affection with a wing scratch. But then Rinoa got her 'dog'-creature back, didn't she? Angelo? So it's not the first time something like this has happened.

"Come on, I have to introduce you to everyone!" The cleaning can wait, as he gestures for Pidgey to hop onto his shoulder.

And as he walks around showing off his 'new' friend, one might spot the pair -- perhaps like Samuel, others might mistake Pidgey for one of the chimeric natives too, at least until they get closer and realize that it's all bird. (If they're familiar with Pidgey, either through personal experience or his drawings, they might even recognize the species!)

[pinwheels]

Sure enough, when Rinoa - in the middle of a walk with Angelo and Felix - sees the Professor and his friend, she thinks at first that the creature is one of Felix's little mixed-species friends; it's not until she gets closer that she sees the differences between the creature and Felix, and hurries to the Professor's side. Come to think of it, she thinks she recalls hearing that the Felix creatures, as she tends to think of them, are part Pokémon, although that's hardly a surprise - many of the creatures around here seem to have taken their influence from the trainers' world. The Moomba-like creatures are part Pokémon too, aren't they...?

"Professor Oak!" she calls, waving to get his attention before hurrying over to him, Angelo and Felix close behind, the latter chirping away in his own excitement.

"Is this a friend of yours from home?" The unspoken second half of the question wonders if one of the mixed creatures was just somehow more bird than the others - after all, she's never seen a Pidgey before to know if this one is the real thing!

[symbolofstrength]

He looks up at the familiar voice, smiling as she approaches. Pidgey, on his shoulder, squawks nervously, observing the stranger approaching. Humans it's familiar enough with, but what are those strange creatures at her feet? And why does one of them look so much like a Pidgey, but clearly isn't?

"Rinoa!" Samuel calls out in return, answering with a wave at his own -- using the arm connected to the shoulder Pidgey isn't sitting on so as to not disturb its perch, don't worry. "Yes, this is Pidgey. They just... appeared out of nowhere, recently."

He crouches down to greet and pet Angelo and Felix, inadvertently allowing all of the non-human companions to get a closer look at each other. Glancing back up at Rinoa as he does so, he adds:

"Was it the same with you and Angelo? Did she just... show up, one day?" It was some time ago when they met on that trash pile, but he's pretty sure Angelo wasn't with her then.

[pinwheels]

There's a part of her itching to greet Pidgey properly, with pats and headfluffs, but she can hear the nervousness in its tone, so similar to Felix's, and so opts not to do so for now; she has no way of knowing whether it's her or her companions who are causing it to feel so, after all. So she just smiles, offering it a small smile. "Hi, Pidgey."

Turning her attention back to the professor after the fact, she nods. "She did, yes. When we first arrived, I looked for her for ages, so I know for a fact she wasn't here. Then one day... I whistled for Felix, and both of them came."

It was the happiest she's been so far in this place. The Void for Rinoa has become a lot into something more than the strange, constant homesickness, but nothing matches the moment Angelo barreled into her, leaving her winded and crying with elation.