2023-12-29: An Un-egg-spected Discovery
- Log: An Un-egg-spected Discovery
- Cast: Damian Tamaoka, Anne Aomori
- Where: Viridian City - Emerald Way
- Date: December 29, 2023
- Summary: Damian has an unexpected egg that needs examining, and takes it to Doctor Aomori. She, in turn, offers him an important thing regarding what to do with it.
=======================<* Viridian City - Emerald Way *>======================== Viridian City is a city of many importances; it is the major commerce and logistics hub within the Emerald Cape province, providing primary access to the western reaches of the Kanto region. It's of no surprise, then, that it sports an expansive and well-developed commercial district, with Market Way providing a wide variety of shops and goods for all walks of life. Lush and adorned with nature, Viridian's residents enjoy a spacious and relaxed environment, with most living in medium-density apartment blocks three to four stories high. The market is most recently memorably featured in the hit single by sensational Nedean-pop band 2BA, "I'm on the Road to Viridian City." BGM: Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee & Pikachu! - Pewter City - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGrGjO5F6ZM
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
This Pokemon Journey... had not turned out how Damian had pictured it.
Okay, to be fair he wasn't sure what he had been expecting, exactly, but maybe that made sense, in some weird way. Since, being utterly honest with himself, he wasn't terribly interested in the journey itself.
It was just... an excuse, to get away from a situation he wasn't sure he could tolerate anymore. The thing he really wanted was to find his friends.
That didn't mean he wasn't finding some other interesting things, however. Or that they weren't finding him, to be more precise.
Like an inexplicable egg in his backpack when waking up after a night of camping.
LATER
After asking around a bit, Damian was directed to a lab on the outskirts of Viridian City, and then further to an office. He gives the door a considerate knock. "Doctor Aomori? Hi, it's Damian Tamaoka? The receptionist said you'd be expecting me...?"
He's a bit quiet and soft-spoken, and he looks a bit younger than his age would suggest. Short purple hair that's a bit long and shaggy. Sneakers, baggy shorts and a dark purple hoodie. A Purrloin is padding along side him, and she honestly looks better kempt than Damian himself is, with her fur immaculately brushed and cared for. She nuzzles up affectionately at Damian's leg when he comes to a stop to knock on the door and announce himself.
Damian glances down and has a small, soft smile for Purrloin, like he's feeling reassured... though that fades again when he looks back up. He looks tired... or maybe sad. Or possibly a bit of both.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
A Pokemon journey is its own; no one is quite like another, for all that they've been going on for many thousands of years now. ...Though maybe most of them don't go quite like Damian's has, with the Egg and all.
"Come in," Anne says, turning around in her rolling chair to face the door. She regards the boy coming in thoughtfully; she heard what was happening, after all, and she wants to get as good a feel as she can for him and how he interacts with his Pokemon.
Purrloin's condition compared to his own is a data point.
"Welcome, Damian." He's young; she uses his first name. "That's a very nice Purrloin you have there."
She's dressed in her usual kind of clothes--casual, but feminine--with a labcoat overtop, and sensible shoes, because this is a lab.
Her glasses are wide and round.
"Come on in, and take a seat." She gestures at a chair nearby. "And tell me about this Egg you've found."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian's own glasses are rectangular, and there's a moment where he pauses to take in the professor, then nods and steps inside. There's no objection to being addressed by first name, at least.
A brief smile, again, as he does his best to be genuinely polite and mind his manners. "Th-thanks for seeing me on such short notice, I hope I'm not... interrupting anything too important." But he perks up a little when Purrloin is complimented. And there's a bit more genuine cheer in his voice, for a moment. "Oh! Thanks! I do my best to take care of her."
Purrloin, meanwhile, stands up primly with a pleased purr.
"Oh, sure." Damian approaches the chair, but before sitting he very gingerly takes his backpack off, setting it on the desk. With all the care and consideration one might treat with an egg, really. "S-so, I, um... woke up this morning, and found..." Open up the backpack, and then careully, oh so delicately, he lefts an egg out and places it on the desk. "... this egg."
Only after making sure the egg won't wobble or fall over does he put the backpack down on the ground and take a seat. Purrloin hops into his lap right away, and Damian begins to absently pet her.
"I wasn't sure what to do, so... I asked around and someone pointed me here."
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
Polite! Well, that's not a bad thing in and of itself. Anne inclines her head. "You're welcome," she says. "A Pokemon Egg is itself important," she says by way of excusing his interruption, and then smiles at his reaction to the praise for his Pokemon.
rYes, that's good.
"You just found it in your backpack?" she confirms. Once he's said that that's the case, she nods, and considers it.
"You did the right thing," she says. "I'll do some tests to make sure it's healthy and intact," she says. "However..."
She looks to Damian, and says, "Once I do, there's something I'll have to ask of you, in turn. It's a big responsibility."
"But a Pokemon egg does best around Pokemon, while traveling. Are you prepared to take care of this Egg on your journey?"
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian seems to relax a bit more when Anne has smiles for him. He nods. "Y-yeah... woke up in the morning and it was there. I, um... thought maybe some pokemon confused it for a nest or something? It did fit pretty snugly, and it's insulated so..."
He's trying to come up with a hypothesis, at least!
He looks very relieved when Anne says he did the right thing, relaxing even more. "I'm g-glad. I tried to be very careful once I discovered it was there."
He blinks at 'However'. And again when she lays it out for him. "... Oh! W-well..." He looks down to Purrloin as he scritches gently behind her ears as he thinks.
Purrloin is perfectly happy with this arrangement, purring steadily.
He hasn't been very active with catching Pokemon, but he hasn't been on his journey long, either. It seems to take him a few moments to think this through. "... I'm used to taking care of Purrloin, but... I haven't raised an egg from scratch before. I always thought it might be fun..."
There's some clear conflict that he isn't expressing fully.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
"Good hypothesis. That is soemthing some pokemon might do... But I suspect we'll know more of the answer once we see what's inside that egg!"
She is approving as he mentions how careful he was. She notices, that Purrloin seems fine with it. However...
"But?" she wonders.
She could supply any number of excuses for him. He's young; he's not captured many Pokemon of his own yet...
But he thought it'd be fun. He's thought of it before at all.
"Do tell."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
There is a brief, grateful smile as Anne praises his hypothesis. But he nods when she says they'll find more once they figure out what the egg is. That makes perfect sense.
He's a bit stuck for a response. He knows the real reason he's uncertain about this. But 'I had to get away from my overbearing parents' is a really tough thing to open up about to a stranger.
But he also knows he's got to say something...
He settles for a half-truth. His voice is quiet as he admits, "... it's not the type of thing my parents would've wanted me spending my time on back home..." He tries to put on a brave smile as he looks up from Purrloin to Anne. "B-but hey, they aren't here to tell me how to spend my time right now, right...?"
There is so much he's hiding, but even what little he's said, perhaps, says much more than he intended.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
Anne is fully aware that Damian seems a little stuck. It would be kind, in some senses, to give him an 'out'. But there are two reasons she doesn't. The first, of course, is that if she doesn't discover what's really on his mind, that's not good for him or the Pokemon in that Egg.
...The second is that she knows how to get information, and it's not by letting up while the heat's on.
When she gets what is at least a partial truth, she smiles gently. "That's true," she says. "Part of the point of a Pokemon journey is to find yourself, away from your parents. For better or worse, it's your turn to discover your own 'self', the way you want to live your life."
"...My daughter is doing the same right now," she says, deciding to give him a little more encouragement. "Maybe you'll meet her on your journey."
"But in that case, I'll leave it up to you. Will you do as you think your parents prefer, and focus on something else? ...Or will you try something that 'seems like fun', and raise the Egg?"
"There's not a wrong answer. Your parents will have to learn to appreciate who you are, in time, either way."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
To find yourself... Damian nods, but in the back of his ind he knows it's not himself that he's out to find. But rather, someone else.
"My own self..." he repeats to himself contemplatively. "... right."
That's too big a question to consider right now. He still doesn't know how to answer it.
"O-oh, she is? Cool..." Maybe they'll meet? Damian nods softly to that.
When he's offered the option of doing as his parents would prefer, he tenses, looking down at Purrloin in his lap. The feline pokemon sits up when the petting stops, and then gently rubs her forehead at his belly to get his attention. This finally gets Damian to move, scooping up Purrloin to give her a hug. Purrloin reciprocates with a nuzle to his cheek and a purr.
It's very quiet, but very firm, for the first time in their conversation. "No."
He looks up again. "I wanna take care of the egg."
His parents will have to learn to accept... he looks away. "... that would be nice," he says, his voice back to the quiet and timidity of before. He doesn't sound hopeful of that.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
Maybe Damian's not ready to hear it yet, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. He'll be ready for it eventually.
"Mm-hm," Anne answers. And then she waits. She waits, as the petting stops, and as Purrloin and Damian make their decision.
Anne smiles. "Good," she says. "Then stick around, and you'll have it again before you leave."
Anne rises from her seat, moving to take the Egg, and looks to Damian, suddenly quiet and timid again.
"Maybe before we worry about them we see about you, hm? Come on, I'll show you how the machine works."
What's the story with this boy and his parents? They seem estranged, to say the least. Maybe there's something to be done, but...
Only if he can stand on his own, first.
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian hugs Purrloin a moment longer, seeming to need to take a moment with his pokemon after working up that brief moment of determination. Purrloin is all too happy to oblige. But he sighs in relief as Anne says he'll get the egg back. Seems he managed to convince her, at least.
But he blinks and looks up to Anne. "M-me? I-I'm fine..." No, no he is not. But he gets an invitation to see how the machine works and is eager for that. "O-okay!" He lets Purrloin go, and she hops onto the desk as Damian puts his backpack back on... then Purrloin jumps to his shoulder and perches there with impeccable balance as she gives Damian's cheek a nuzzle.
"Purrrr..."
But Damian follows along, and at least seems interested to see this machine.