Treasure Town ~ Crossroads

[Chibi Pika]

Oh my GOD, for how nervous these two were, they sure didn't know when the hell to lay off. But no, Cuicatl was sitting there like Starr had kicked her puppy, and the Vul... no, enough of that... Astrid was putting on some kind of stupid fake puzzled act.

And Starr really, really wanted to just say "screw them and their questions" and leave, but the idea of doing that bothered her, and she couldn't even tell why, and ugh.

"Okay, look, can you both just... stop with all of this," Starr muttered, putting a paw to her forehead. "Yeah, I took off out of nowhere the day we first met like a moron. There's some stuff from back home I'm still dealing with, alright? You happy now?" She sat down with a huff, glaring at nothing in particular.

 

[Persephone]

“Oh.” Cuicatl was also dealing with a lot back home. Except, now she had a chance to not deal with that. So she was taking it for everything it was worth. But comforting people... without her powers (or hands to make food with) she wasn’t coming up with much. Always Coco and Pixie’s approach, now that she was a Pokemon. “If you don’t want to talk about it, do you want cuddles, then? I’m not very warm, but I can try.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gaped at the Deino, utterly baffled. "What."

Was it normal for Pokemon to ask that to people they barely even--Cuicatl was human(????)

"Yeah, I dunno if that's a normal thing to ask where you're from, but..." She lost her train of thought. It wasn't even like she didn't want... It was just weird as hell to ask someone you barely... Dammit, she missed her team.

 

[Persephone]

“Err, not super normal, no. But Pokémon cuddle each other and their people a lot so.” If deino didn’t have pitch black scales, she would be furiously blushing. “I thought, maybe... I was raised by a hydreigon.” Sort of. Also by her dad. She didn’t like giving him too much credit for that. “She liked to hug me when I was down. And I worked with a vulpix, beldum, and tyrunt before and that was how they tried to make me feel better.”

Or, tell her that she were better off with her brother dead, spy on her as she peed, and bite her, respectively. None of those seemed like good ideas.

“Nevermind. Just forget it.”

 

[TheGOAT]

"Okay, look, can you both just... stop with all of this," Starr muttered, putting a paw to her forehead. "Yeah, I took off out of nowhere the day we first met like a moron. There's some stuff from back home I'm still dealing with, alright? You happy now?" She sat down with a huff, glaring at nothing in particular.

Astrid recoiled. With ears flattened against her head, she spoke in an uneven tone, “I-I apologize. I wasn’t trying to pressure you about it.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Oh my god, did this girl ever stop apologizing for things. How did she manage to look so pathetic. It was aggravating. Starr wanted to make it stop immediately.

Starr walked over to Cuicatl. "Look, it's... it's whatever," she said, awkwardly patting the dragon's fluffy shoulder. "I get it. Being a Pokemon is weird."

--And then Astrid was apologizing too and come on!!

"Oh my god, stop it, you didn't even do anything. Both of you. What the hell."

 

[TheGOAT]

Starr’s efforts were commendable, yes, but Astrid was already backpedaling.

“Oh. W-well, thanks. It’s just, the way you reacted, it kinda, it seemed like you were a little…” Astrid visibly cringed before she even got the word out. “—volatile?”

 

[Persephone]

Pat was good! Like Pixie’s, if she was giant and warm. So not much like Pixie’s at all. But the touch was welcome. She hadn’t really had much since she got here and left her team behind.


“So. Other stuff. Um. Did you work with any Pokémon, back home?” Maybe Starr has set that last time. She couldn’t really remember. But Cuicatl liked talking about her Pokémon way more than she liked talking about herself and maybe it was the same for Starr.

 

[Chibi Pika]

“Oh. W-well, thanks. It’s just, the way you reacted, it kinda, it seemed like you were a little…” Astrid visibly cringed before she even got the word out. “—volatile?”

Okay, there was no way she was not trying to make this worse, what the actual hell. She wanted to sit there and look all miserable like she was the one with the problem here? Fine.

And Starr was about two seconds away from from saying all that when Cuicatl spoke up--

“So. Other stuff. Um. Did you work with any Pokémon, back home?” Maybe Starr has set that last time. She couldn’t really remember. But Cuicatl liked talking about her Pokémon way more than she liked talking about herself and maybe it was the same for Starr.

Thank god Cuicatl could actually take a hint. Finally. Goddamn. Her team, easy, she could talk about them for hours.

"Yeah, I was a trainer," Starr said, rather too quickly. "Been training for six years, so my team and I, we're pretty tight. Feraligatr was my starter so she's the best, but don't let the others know that. Even if she can be a stubborn pain in the ass sometimes. But she's a good listener and she's pretty great at keeping the others in line, and she knows when to call out bullshit, and--" Starr paused.

"...And I miss her. All of them. Especially her."

 

[Persephone]

“That’s a long time. And feraligatr is... a water type from Japan, right? Sounds cool. And... yeah. I miss my mom’s team. And mine. They were troublemakers, mostly, but they were adorable in their own ways and made me feel better. And Coco, the tyrunt, imprinted on me. So she’s sort of my daughter. And I miss her, too.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr relaxed slightly. Right... Cuicatl was a trainer too. That was one thing they had in common at least. "Yeah, water-type. As a kid, I wanted to be a water-type specialist. Didn't really work out, but I'm glad I chose her." There was a pause. "Glad she chose me too."

Starr pawed at the ground, thinking of something to say. "Got a favorite type?"

 

[Persephone]

"Dragons, definitely! They're powerful, sure, but they're also super smart. They have their own languages and culture and religion that Alice, my, um, sister, taught me. And people can't really hurt you when you're with a giant fuckoff dragon."

Unless, of course, they take your giant fuckoff dragon away.

 

[TheGOAT]

Ah. So Starr missed home too. Among these two humans, Astrid felt like an Oddish among Slugma—different on some fundamental level that she couldn’t parse. But it was nice to know she wasn’t alone in how she felt, and it piqued her interest enough to simply listen along to their chat. Humans were simply fascinating! They would indirectly, perhaps unintentionally refer to their Pokémon as subordinates, and yet there was always love and appreciation hidden behind their tone. Sometimes it wasn’t hidden at all.

"And people can't really hurt you when you're with a giant fuckoff dragon."

This wouldn’t be the first time Astrid burst into a fit of giggles from something Cuicatl said. Probably wouldn’t be the last, either. But it was definitely one of them.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Cuicatl had noticeably brightened with that one. Though there was an odd twinge of sadness at the end that Starr couldn't quite place.

Now Astrid was laughing too. Thank god, she did know how to chill the fuck out.

"Your sis taught you dragonspeak? Pretty badass. Also I feel like I should point out that you're gonna be a giant fuckoff dragon, so there's that," Starr added, smirking.

 

[Persephone]

"Yeah! I know! Although I'm not sure how much our enemies are scared of hydreigon. Last time was two gods and... I haven't really been following who we're fighting next and why, but that's a lot. Even for dragons."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr shrugged. "Well if they're not scared, then they better be. We've been winning these fights on sheer numbers alone. Imagine once we get some real firepower." There was a comforting simplicity to their missions here. Beat down the problems until they go away. Easy.

She hadn't really been too pleased with getting turned into such a small, weak Pokemon, but they'd grown that much stronger in just over two weeks. "And I'll be some kinda giant fuckoff tiger, right? Can't pretend that's not cool," she added, forcing a grin.

 

[TheGOAT]

“Heh. And I’m gonna be—!” Astrid paused. “…a Ninetales.” Not very ferocious at all. Oh well.

God, she felt awkward. Talking to Cuicatl alone was easy enough, but with Starr here, everything she said felt so… off. Those two being humans, discussing their Pokémon, their time being something else entirely… they were nothing like Sage. Astrid was well out of her element in this conversation.

With bated breath, she collected herself. For once, her words were steady.

“Hey, I’ve gotta get going,” she fibbed. A wayward glance was cast Starr’s way, brief enough to not make things weird. “But I’ll catch you gals on the battlefield.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

Yeah, Astrid wasn't even trying to pretend that she didn't feel totally awkward. Served her right for sticking her nose into obviously uncomfortable shit. She made up some BS excuse to get out of there as soon as possible, and Starr felt a weird mixture of self-satisfaction and frustration at her leaving.

She sighed. So much for that. She still wasn't sure what she was hoping for there, but.

Well, Cuicatl was still here. She'd lightened up somewhat, but god, it was like no one had shown this girl a lick of decency in her life.

"Come on," Starr mumbled. "This is kind of a dumb place to talk. Let's head back and grab something from the cafe."

 

[Persephone]

Food was always touchy for Cuicatl. Still was, sort of, even if her body was perfect now. Just some lingering guilt and fear that she’d fuck this one up, too. But... it was like Starr said. Fighting gods was a numbers game. And she was getting lonely.

“Okay. I’ll follow you.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

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