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"Hi, I'm busy, I'll call you back!"

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Action - morning of 6/5

Date: 2020-06-08 06:06 pm (UTC)
worthallthis: (startled)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
The Soldier (Still not Winter... better get used to that, buddy.) is of two minds of having separate hotel rooms. While on the road, it'd been fine: sleeping under the stars, or under trees if it was wet out, across a fire from Entrapta, had been fine. He could keep track of her, and still get enough sleep. But walking into a room and expecting to sleep there with another person just... wasn't happening. The very thought made him want to lock himself in the bathroom and try to sleep in there, instead.

That seems like it probably shouldn't be normal.

So: separate hotel rooms, which thankfully wound up being right next to each other. It meant having to let her out of his sight for a whole night, which was also a little anxiety-provoking. He had to wake once to peek into her room to check on her. Thank fuck they're only staying one night, and things can go back to normal on the road. (Normal. Five days makes normal, apparently.)

He's a light sleeper, so it's something of a surprise when he wakes to find the Absol (Grace, her name is Grace, dammit.) on his bed staring at him, curled around four weird speckled objects. Those were clearly not there when he bedded down (the second time, after checking on Entrapta). He stares for a long minute before crawling off the bed around them, carefully, and getting his boots back on to go get Entrapta. The Absol watches him with what looks like mild amusement.

At her door, with Fuzzle at his feet chewing on one of his boot laces, the Soldier calls in, "Entrapta? Are you awake?"

Date: 2020-06-09 05:10 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (squint)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
She hadn't been asleep when he checked on he in the middle of the night, either. He gives her a brief, assessing look, then just settles on dealing with the problem at hand. She might be like him, and be able to go without sleep for a day or two, if there's a mission. (What kind of mission does she even have, Jesus. Papers?)

"She has eggs," he says bluntly, and with only a little air of bewilderment. "I think. On my bed."

The only "she" among them is the Absol. Grace. All the other pokemon are male, and Entrapta clearly doesn't have eggs.

Date: 2020-06-09 05:42 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (but i did it)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
"Got to be. Fuzzle's too young, Leslie and the Starly are different egg groups." He lingers by the door, giving Nancy plenty of room. Fuzzle follows the electric cat inside, swatting at his tail, and the Soldier doesn't want to be in the way when someone gets zapped. "They were there when I woke up."

The mother doesn't seem particularly attached to or affectionate with Nancy, but she does have her forelegs curled protectively around the four eggs, nudging them this way and that gently with her horn. She's not doing anything to ward Entrapta away, either, at least.

Date: 2020-06-09 06:20 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (skeptical)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
Fuzzle yowls and scampers over to hide behind the Soldier's feet. Grace gives Nancy a thwap on the rump with her tail, apparently not interested in his posturing or his possessiveness, but she does spread her forepaws and nudge one egg over for Entrapta to examine. So long as Entrapta is careful with it-- any sign of flailing it about will get a warning growl.

"I'm not sure she even laid them," the Soldier says, watching Entrapta carefully for signs of being less than safe with the egg, himself. "She wasn't. She didn't change. Wasn't. Bigger. Shouldn't she be bigger if she had eggs in her?" Eggs that big? Cuz they could fit in his palm, but only just barely.

Date: 2020-06-09 07:13 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (hand)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
Clearly there's something less than physical going on here, but the Soldier can't even imagine what it would be. He shakes his head, baffled, and picks up Fuzzle to let him chew on the metal thumb rather than growling at his boots. He edges around Entrapta and Nancy on the floor, both, to get to the Absol. "Why would they want to make eggs. Now."

Grace gives him a long-suffering kind of look and says, "Absol."

Not sure what that means, he just offers the flesh hand to Leslie for the egg. It looks big for the little guy's skinny hands.

Date: 2020-06-09 08:08 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (yikes)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
Yeah, there's no way the Absol had been carrying these inside her for the past four days. No way. They're too big. He takes the egg gently, suddenly glad for his normal strength being gone, and hefts it, holding the shell to his ear, wishing he did still have his stronger senses. Maybe he could hear a little heartbeat inside, if he did.

Then he twitches violently as Entrapta explains her theory, and only with deeply ingrained skill and carefulness does he not drop the damn egg. The Soldier's expressions are usually pretty subtle-- he has yet to smile, he certainly hasn't laughed, he never looks angry-- but in that moment, for the space of a question, he looks afraid. "We're not-- we're not going to hurt them. Are we?"

Date: 2020-06-09 08:58 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (Default)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
The problem isn't trying to hurt them. He'd never do that on purpose. It's hurting them on accident. The Soldier gingerly sets the egg back down in Grace's care, while she paws at his wrist to keep him next to her. At least she doesn't seem worried, but who knows if she's ever handled babies before. He absolutely never has. He's sure of it.

(He's wrong, of course, but how's he supposed to know that?)

There is one egg that seems a little smaller than the others-- not the one they'd been handling, one closer to the crook of the Absol's elbow. "Does it matter what each egg is going to be?" He's not even really sure what they're going to do with the offspring.

Date: 2020-06-09 09:43 pm (UTC)
worthallthis: (thinkingsad)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
Enjoy the couple weird little notes he's made in the margins of a couple pages, Entrapta. Most of them don't seem to be actually anything in relation to pokemon breeding, and they switch languages randomly.

The Soldier watches, idly stroking Grace's fluffy neck ruff, as Entrapta rambles. Grace makes a snorting noise then says firmly, "Absol."

Frowning at her, the Soldier asks, "More eggs before these hatch, you mean? Because that sounds like she thinks she's done. Are we selling them?" Grace doesn't seem particularly broken up about that idea, at least. She doesn't react at all, in fact, and he knows she understands him perfectly well.

Date: 2020-06-11 08:32 pm (UTC)
worthallthis: (Default)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
"I was trying to look for work. But." He looks down at his metal hand. "Not sure how much use my skillset has here. There's some scavenging we can do, but. Not enough for me and you and them. So I guess we'll have to."

The Absol-- Grace-- bumps his hand again, and he resumes petting. "Nancy won't mind, will he? The Absol. Grace. She doesn't seem to."

Date: 2020-06-12 07:13 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (thinking)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
He considers that a beat. That seems slightly wrong. Not the part about ripping up vehicles, but about her skills being useless. Like there's something he used to know about that. Fixing vehicles. (Well. Know how to fix the arm, so maybe it's that.)

"Maybe if you got their permission, first," he suggests hesitantly. "Eventually. When we're settled. People would need things fixed when they actually break, and would have to ask someone who knew how. Might pay you for that." There aren't a lot of vehicles around here, that he's seen, but there are other appliances.

Date: 2020-07-01 04:44 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (tactical)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
"That's why you get permission first. Make them come to you with their things to fix or improve." He tilts his head a little, trying to mentally prod at the feeling of knowing what that is, then gives up and suggests, "Or let me find work, and you can tinker on your own things without bothering anyone. Or sell pokemon eggs, I suppose," he adds, putting the flesh hand on the nearest egg on his bed, almost reverently. That's life, there. Weird, magical life. "And camp out as much as possible to save funds supply for food."

Date: 2020-07-08 04:11 am (UTC)
worthallthis: (smilesad)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
Yeah, he hasn't caught on just how compulsive her engineering problem really is, since she has in fact managed to restrain herself when it comes to the tech closest at hand-- that is, his arm. He'll figure it out eventually.

Instead, for now, he just relaxes a fraction more at her easy acceptance. He'll take care of her, they'll take care of pokemon, and they'll stick together so he can keep her safe. Right now, that's frankly all he wants. "I know less about. Biology. Than I do about engineering, too. By a whole lot. We'll have to learn together. Violet City's supposed to have libraries. Classes."

Date: 2020-07-08 08:19 pm (UTC)
worthallthis: (Default)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
Really, he's not that surprised. She's been careful when she needs to be, enthusiastic or not. She's kind that way. (Grace gives Entrapta's cheek a nuzzle when she leans over her, just to be friendly.)

He's also pretty sure he won't be doing much sleeping, but he can understand the sentiment, and maybe Entrapta can sleep, herself. So he nods, standing up, too, to get the door for her and Nancy. "Okay. That's probably a good idea." At the very least he can rest, and gently poke at the eggs until maybe he feels like he won't break them by trying to carry them around later.

Date: 2020-07-13 06:38 pm (UTC)
worthallthis: (friendly)
From: [personal profile] worthallthis
She does still surprise him, more perceptive than she seems sometimes. Or maybe just better at reading him than most people. (Also, pot, meet kettle, little miss I-never-fucking-sleep.) He even only twitches a little at the touch, especially since it's not on skin.

Still, that's very sweet. He doesn't smile, he's still not sure how to do that anymore, but his face does soften. "I will try," he promises, and his voice does manage gentle and even a little warm. "Good night, Entrapta."

early July

Date: 2020-07-20 07:44 pm (UTC)
fingersandteeth: (unsure)
From: [personal profile] fingersandteeth
Having learned her tastes and done his research on the way down, Steven takes Entrapta to a certain food truck not far from the Radio Tower on the morning after they overnight in Goldenrod. The truck itself sells mini donuts: in bulk with just cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them and in smaller paper food trays with all kinds of different toppings on offer. You can even peer in through the food truck window and watch the mini donut machine at work.

"So anyway," Steven says, digging into his own donuts, which have been drizzled with chocolate and raspberry sauce and topped with fresh strawberries, "usually people can't just come inside the Tower, given the trouble they had with Team Rockets years ago, but since I work there, I can just sign you in. It's the computer in my shared office I need you to look at? But, uh, also the phone at my desk and the pencil sharpener and... honestly, Entrapta, everything electrical on my side of the cubical wall refuses to work now. The very first day things started to go wrong, they wouldn't on my office mate's side either, but now it's just mine. Even the lights on my side won't switch on."

Date: 2020-07-21 03:30 pm (UTC)
fingersandteeth: (realization)
From: [personal profile] fingersandteeth
"We got tech support in the first day," Steven says, "but when they opened up the casing, they said there was nothing physically wrong with either the desktop or the work-issued laptop that I'd tried to use as a backup when the desktop failed, before that failed as well. And the next work-issued laptop I tried too. And we tried the change of location to see if it was the the office space at fault, but the person who I temp traded with was able to use their work-issued laptop just fine in my shared office and meanwhile I got less than an hour in their shared office before yet a third work-issued laptop spontaneously shut itself down."

Date: 2020-07-30 12:41 pm (UTC)
fingersandteeth: (realization)
From: [personal profile] fingersandteeth
"Right," Steven says. "Eventually my boss concluded sabotage and put me on unpaid leave until I could get it taken care of. Anyway, I was hoping if I brought you in, we could see what was up."

Date: 2020-07-31 01:44 am (UTC)
fingersandteeth: (Default)
From: [personal profile] fingersandteeth
"Yeah," Steven says. "They usually don't like strangers going past the first floor lobby, but I'll sign you in as my guest."

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Princess Entrapta

July 2020

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