Earning her keep

[arceusstansme]

Who: Akari and any poor sod who crosses her path.
What: Akari is here to prove her worth to Bottlecap Bay. Whether you like it or not.
Where: Bottlecap Bay
When: Sometime during April (all of it)
Warnings: Swearing, the traumas:tm:



Some people (or, well, Pokémon) would take a day or two to adjust to having their bodies shaped into something new and thrown into a new location. Maybe take a moment to adjust to any weird dysmorphia about suddenly having no fingers or being a sentient bag of garbage (which, let's be real, isn't a change for some people.)

Akari on the other hand started to work. Someone needed a berry delivered from point A to point B without being eaten somewhere in the middle? Akari was on it. Needed someone to go tell their kid who was playing dangerously close to a ledge to stop it? Akari was already there. It didn't matter; it seemed like the moment someone looked mildly uncomfortable, the Cyndaquil was already there trying to fix an ill or find something.

It would be impressive if it seemed like she took a break. Or if she didn't seem like she was just sitting in traffic waiting for a light to turn as she listened to whatever someone needed. It was also obvious she was also trying to make sure the task was done 100 percent, even if she checked back in with the person like she was throwing a cigarette butt at them when she was done.

That was just the nature of her. Sometimes you might see her resting her feet for a second or two; other times you might see her waiting for someone or something to appear to give a message or deliver something. Or sometimes, she might stop and stare at you for a moment before asking if you needed help.

Comments

[seacub]

To that, Emporio shrugs- while also shedding the clothes that landed on him so far.

"Well, no one else was there to give me one...and I couldn't remember what my mom called me. So...I just came up with something using the sounds I remembered from her."

That's.....................SUPER DEPRESSING!

[arceusstansme]

"Well, that sucks. Surprised you could think of a name like that, considering you're like what? Nine? Doubt I could've done that when I was nine."

She didn't remember what she was like when she was nine. She never had reason to think on how she was to be honest.

[seacub]

"....I'm 12 now but...I mean, I was probably closer to 3 at the time..?"

There's a lot being said with those words and Emporio might not have caught what.

[arceusstansme]

"..."

She stares at the Cubone for a long moment.

"Excuse me, what? Who did you have watching over you? Why didn't they name you?"

Akari meeting Anasui later like 'i see, i see,'

[seacub]

The cubone scratches his bare head, oblivious to the growing proof that he was really always a cubone, he just didn't look like one.

For after all, his answer is-

"Well... ...there wasn't. After my mom was killed, there was no one. ...Not like that anyway."

[arceusstansme]

"..."

[Akari is trying to process that.]

"What? Were you just a free-roaming toddler. People going around like, 'Yup, that isn't a literal infant running around. It will feed and potty-train itself.'"

[Oh. Oh. Akari is going to have to go to wherever the Cubone came from and slap some bitches.]

[seacub]

He can't help it.

He laughs. "PFfhfh...Hehehehe...HEH...N...No, I mean...I guess free-roaming is right, but I made it pretty hard for anyone to comment," Emporio wheezes, arms around his middle as he fights a grin.

It does sober though, if only because he knows this next part tends to bring the mood down no matter what he wants to do.

"...It's like I said, but I had to stay hidden," he explains more carefully. "...I had to. It was too dangerous otherwise. I was born in, and grew up in a prison. ...it's where I lived until I came here."

Unfortunately for Akari, the bitches have all been annihilated, and there is no one to slap.

(Fortunately, one could argue Emporio did the slapping??)

[arceusstansme]

"So like what, if a prison guard saw you, they would be like 'Yes, this toddler has committed a crime, obviously'"

She was trying to process this and it was obvious she was thinking all the adults in Emporio's life must have been pants-on-head stupid.

"Yup, this child, this infant, this thing that can't string a sentence together but can somehow make a multi-syllable name obviously must have committed a prison worthy crime of like, taking a cookie from the cookie jar."

I should maybe say CW talking about murder in here huh,

[seacub]

"PffhfhfHFhfhfhf..."

Akari's nature makes this a lot easier to talk about, honestly.

Even if it's about the worst moment of his tiny tiny life, it just...makes it easier. "N..no. Not like that, it's more..."

"...someone killed my mom. ...I didn't want to find the one who did it, in case they decided I had to die too."

[arceusstansme]

"Give me a moment to process everything you just said."

She said, holding up one of her nubs, as if asking for a pause.

"So, your mom ended up in prison, you were already baking or about to start being baked, had no medical care during this time, you were born and like...none of the guards or anything noticed this?"

Sorry, she is mildly hung up.

"What sort of underfunded prison was this? Or was this like a prison where they were hoping everyone would just...go feral on each other? Throw a loaf of bread at everyone and go 'Alright guys, kill for it.'"

[seacub]

"Hahahah! I can explain the part where I was hidden at least..! I don't fully understand it, but..."

Mmmm. "Well, I have...had, anyway, what was called a 'Stand'. For most people, those manifested as their own entities- things with incredible powers, and strength... ...for me though, mine just kind of was a thing I could do. And in this case, that was accessing 'ghost rooms'."

The cubone pauses- he has to explain ghost rooms now. "A ghost room is... ...if I say, 'A memory of a place', does that make sense? Part of the prison burned down in the 80s, and I've been able to access that room that was destroyed for as long as I remember. Most likely...even when I wasn't born. When I was baking," he adds with a snort, "...Most likely, my mom found that room because of me, and used it to keep me hidden."

With a shrug, he adds, "...from there I just stayed hidden. I would use ghost objects to blend in, learn the guard patterns, the camera locations...honestly, Green Dolphin is top security. It's...one of the most intense prisons in the USA actually."

Emporio winces. "...it also had a lot of Stand users, thanks to the one who killed my mom..."

[arceusstansme]

"1.) What is the USA? Never heard of it."

Unova, but without Pokémon. But also chances are any Unovan would be insulted if they were confused for a Poke-Floridian.

"2.) That still doesn't explain the guards, like, we're they evil or something. I am just trying to wrap my head around a baby in prison and like...no one trusting a guard or whatever to help."

Then they will move onto Stands. But right now, as someone with a decently functioning sense of empathy and morals, she is really hung up on this.

Well now we gotta CW for the American Prison System. And Police Brutality. :'|

[seacub]

"Oh." Hm.

"...It's...a country? I'm not really sure how best to explain it...it's a really big country though, divided into states...Mine was one of the southernmost ones. A...anyway, I..."

...

He's not really sure how to explain this either.

He's not sure he wants to.

"...Sometimes people aren't put in jail because they belong there. ...often times, the people chosen to guard those places don't care," he finally says quietly. "...Maybe they weren't evil. ...But they were still happy to have power over something, and I couldn't risk trusting someone like that. ...especially not if they might have reported to her murderer."

[arceusstansme]

Oh, she knew those vibes.

"Yeah, some people just suck. And due to their innate suckiness deserve to have someone break into their house, eat all their food and mess up their hair."

Her expression was carefully schooled, but she had done it plenty of times, keeping a devil-may-care smile on her face.

"Sucks that you had to deal with that."

[seacub]

Another laugh. A somewhat pained smile, as well.

"That's...basically how it goes with law enforcement in Florida, is all. And I mean, I still avoided most of it! ...I just couldn't really go anywhere because of how successful that was."

A look around the place. "It's been a pretty big change in experience, coming here!"

[arceusstansme]

"Oh yeah, Pokémon are great. Like, so happy to be a Cyndaquil, like, they are adorable. Like me."

Most humble girl in the world.

"Like, I found out some people come from places without Pokémon and I can't help but to feel sorry for them."

[seacub]

"It definitely makes it more of a learning curve... ...but not a bad one?"

Most humblest and adorablest, there she is huh.

"And I'm learning a lot in the archives. ...e...even if I still haven't figured out everything about myself..."

[arceusstansme]

"Pokémon are mysterious creatures, bask in being cool and mysterious."

[seacub]

"It does seem neat to be cool and mysterious..."

He's very much saying that to join in on the bit, but considering what Akari sounds like at the best of times, that's probably the best way to go about it.

[arceusstansme]

She laughs a little, it doesn't seem to fit her. It sounds almost girlish, not like a teenager who would be willing to burn a man.

"There we go, it is. Like- you don't know all your moves yet, and like, how do we evolve, will it feel weird?"

[seacub]

"Uh-huh, uh-huh..."

Actually, that last comment made him realize- "Oh...a few others mentioned that, 'evolving'. It sounds more...sudden than what it normally means at home? Do you know what normally happens?"

[arceusstansme]

"A Pokémon when it gets stronger will suddenly change shape or form. Some don't want to evolve, some do, you can also, like, shout at them when they are evolving to make them stop."

She shrugs, "But they can try again later. Sometimes there is a good reason to not want to evolve just yet."

[seacub]

"Like...spooking them out of..."

Right not the point. "Well that's definitely different here...Evolution normally explains the process a species takes over thousands of years to do that... ...so it's just a part of growing up a pokemon then?"

[arceusstansme]

"A lot of Pokémon choose not to evolve, and it is weird to think evolution needing thousands of years to work."

[seacub]

"I think it might help to think of them as two different things. ...Which, they are, but still. ...Though you definitely can't just 'decide' not to 'grow up'..."