of days gone // [vertigo]

[king]

walking through prosperina, nana in her usual spot on his head, grayson stepped into a pokemon supply shop. the inside was packed, much to his chagrin. nana had no problem, mewling at everyone who even looked at her. "maybe i should try new food..." grayson murmured.

for each package he picked up, he held it up before nana and waited for some noise of approval or diapproval. eventually, he came to one new brand and carefully read over the label. "can i help you?"

ah, what he was looking forward to the least. "i don't think you could help me, but kudos for the effort." without a glance, grayson turned away to a random other section. nana waved goodbye to the clerk.

vertigo

[vertigo]

clavier sighed, watching the boy peruse the box of candies he had just bought from a shop. the candies were moulded in the shape of various pokémon, and as clavier watched isaac hum a tune to himself while reading, it reclined on the bench, sighing.

pokémon partnered to rangers were made for heavy-duty work; they weren't meant as companion pokémon. and this -- this ranger! he read the labels on candy boxes as if they were crucial to missions. they had to get to nerio, and what was isaac doing?

isaac turned to clavier, offering it a candy. the boy was smiling; clavier found it repulsive, and turned away.

"... what's wrong?" someone with an eevee passed by; isaac glanced at him, then back at clavier. "it'd be nice if we can get along, really."

[king]

in the general social standard, trainers were in charge of the pokemon and that was how it worked. for grayson, it was almost laughable. he was on his way to a corner of the store to purchase some sweets (in hopes of bribing nero to behave) but alas, nana had different plans. as soon as he walked past a male with an axew, the eevee suddenly shrieked and nearly propelled off his head in her haste.

needless to say, grayson let out an ungodly shriek. "what are you DOING?" he cried, nana planting her feet in his face and diving into his hood. the eevee yanked him backwards, paws outstretched for the axew. "WHY." grayson wrestled nana out of his hood into his arms, turning to face axew with a trainer. trainer? assumably.

"is this axew yours?" he asked impatiently, holding a wildly wiggling eevee.

[vertigo]

"so i -- huh?" isaac turned around, only to face an overly-exuberant eevee and a trainer (?) trying to subdue it, but to no avail.

"yes, why?"

[king]

"do you mind if my eevee gets to know him, her?" nana was vehemently wiggling in his arms, making excited squealing noises at the axew. "she's er, rather excited easily. and nana's a stubborn thing when it comes to what she wants."

ah, right. introductions? that's what people usually did. right? "the name's grayson, by the way. who the--" people should be nice when asking for things. yes, mother. "er, who're you?" maybe grayson should be concerned he could hear his mother's voice in his head all the time scolding him.

perhaps another day.

[vertigo]

"him. his name's clavier," isaac replied cheerfully. he had no issue with the squealing, excited eevee; pokémon of all sorts excited isaac, and he loved seeing new species, most of all, people who worked alongside pokémon. "nana, right?"

he watched the eevee, eyes bright. clavier reluctantly gave the duo a wave, unamused by the misbehaving eevee. it supposed that it wasn't a ranger's pokémon -- such a creature would not be fit for the front lines of combat.

"i'm isaac, it's nice to meet you, nana and grayson!"

clavier remained unexcited, but gave a polite nod anyway.

[king]

what was the interest with this axew really that sent nana into such a frenzy. she practically chirped when isaac said her name, wiggling towards him. grayson held her out to isaac, and she pawed at him. "hm. she likes you." that makes one of them.

"a pleasure to meet you." his tone of voice indicated that it was anything but, looking annoyed if anything. he was more partial to clavier, honestly. perhaps they could swap. "hey there, clavier." grayson inspected the axew, a small approving noise when he saw that he was well taken care of. "he looks good. what're you feeding him?" wow grayson can you be any more awkward.

[vertigo]

she likes you.

the thought of it made isaac smile; pokémon almost always weren't fond of him. those that allowed him to approach, shivered under his touch for some odd reason. he reached out for the eevee, and took her in his arms. he ruffled her fur happily.

the axew's gaze shifted to grayson upon being spoken to; it had been well-trained as a partner. pokémon for trainers and other humans traded hands easily, but partners were for life. or at least, until the ranger got other pokémon -- things would be different then, clavier was sure of it.

"i -- hm?" isaac glanced at the axew, gaze curious and wondering. what did rangers feed their pokémon? "i cook, but i'm not very good at it." isaac scratched nana's ears in thought. "clavier likes berries though, so i think they're good for him. they're good for all pokémon, actually."

he beamed.

[king]

wow nana was just eating up the affection she was getting. grayson almost felt a little miffed, really. he ignored the traitorous eevee. "... hm." come on grayson it was for the good of the pokemon not the person. "i could teach you, or help you out i suppose. i'm sure clavier would appreciate well cooked food."

he would regret this ohhhh he would regret this. social interaction? what was he doing?

"what do you think, clavier?" nana seemed on board, snuggled right up to isaac. traitor. grayson extended a hand, having never seen an axew before. he wasn't sure if he was one of the pokemon that liked to familiarize himself with smell first. eh, might as well give it a go.

[vertigo]

clavier glanced at grayson, and tilted its head. whether isaac liked an eevee better than an axew did not matter. what mattered was that the ranger knew who his real partner was -- and that was itself. isaac glanced at grayson from behind nana's ears.

"do you cook, grayson?" isaac asked, setting nana down next to him. "are you good at it?"

upon seeing the eevee set down on the bench, clavier turned to it, watching it for any signs of more squealing.

[king]

"i do." nana moved to brush her head against grayson as he spoke. "it's a stress reliever, so i tend to cook a lot. also a breeder, so i can help you take care of clavier if you'd like." it was the longest streak of nice words strung together that grayson ever said before. "all you need are some fresh ingredients and a fire to cook on."

well, it was a little more complicated than that, but eh it's close enough. he extended his arm towards nana, who climbed up and settled back on top of his head. no one had pointed out that it was weird, so he just... let it go.

[vertigo]

"take ... care of?" isaac glanced at the man, wondering. "but clavier's my pokémon -- don't i take care of my own?"

he didn't know; he never had a pokémon before. his siblings, had though, but they were gone now -- maybe they had more pokémon, more friends, maybe a family of their own. he was all alone now, all a-lone. except for clavier, and isaac wondered what grayson was up to.

at the end of the day, he trusted pokémon more than he did humans.

"where do you get ingredients -- maybe we can cook together, some-times!"

[king]

"erm." grayson raised an eyebrow, immediately judging isaac. who was this kid who didn't even know that you can help other people with pokemon? he better not be a researcher, arceus knows what he would do. "you can help take care of other people's pokemon, it's kind of what i do. i'm a breeder." nana gave a soft 'eeveeeeee' in agreement, tail swishing behind his head. it was the main reason grayson's hair had any sort of direction, only in the back.

cooking together-- well this guy seemed like he talked a lot. bracing himself to hold in a cringe, grayson forced a smile to his face. "yeah, i guess. you get them at the supermarket. sometimes vendors sell things for pokemon food too. you can use berries and whatnot as well."

eugh. cooking and conversation. it completely defeated the point of cooking.

[vertigo]

isaac blinked, silent. "cool," he remarked. there was nothing special about being a breeder -- unlike researchers, his family already had a breeder. it didn't stop him from staring at the eevee as it chirped brightly, happily. the creature was indeed active and playful compared to the rest.

"i see -- do you have any recipes you're fond of?"

[king]

grayson thought about it for a moment. for pokemon he enjoyed making food for dragon types, it was interesting how much variety there was to their tastes. for people on the other hand... it was a mystery. "erm." he came up with a blank. "making crepes, crepe cake especially. it really takes my mind off thinsg with the concentration it requires. otherwise, for pokemon i like trying out new flavours for dragon types."

he'd be making crepes for a while as soon as he got the chance. lots of people had been interacting with him lately