ratherbelocky | .001 Δ [Video/Action for Cherrygrove]

[The feed flips on to show a man holding a brush in one hand and a young Shinx in his lap. Both of them appear to have been freshly bathed, with the damp Shinx swaddled in one of Cherrygrove Inn's warm, fluffy towels. When all of her wriggling and protesting comes to naught, she just lies there in her towel burrito and seethes. York, on the other hand, has found that shops in this world do, apparently, sell hair product for humans, and he couldn't be happier. He's fixed his hair for the first time in days. Life is wonderful.

Not that vanity's necessarily the reason he hasn't introduced himself to the PokéConnect community at large yet. It's just. You know. Coincidence.]

Good morning, people. And Pokémon, too, of course, can't forget you guys. For those of you I haven't spoken to yet, I'm York, I'm one of your more recent unwitting transplants to sunny Johto. Or, well, partially cloudy Johto, anyway. How about that weather, huh?

[The temperature has dropped literally twenty degrees in the five days since he got here, oh my god, why. Being caught out on the road in yesterday's rainstorm sucked. Now he's warm and dry and comfortable in a clean shirt a couple sizes too big for him (and he's not exactly a small man). Really, what could be better than being alive here and now?

He rubs the Shinx's fur drier, unwraps her, and then holds her still before she can escape so he can brush the tangles out. She mewls fussily, but his hands are steady, and eventually she relaxes--if mutinously--into the attention. He chuckles a little.]

But okay, I'm not actually here to make small talk. I got a question for you folks.

[He turns the PokéGear with the back of his brush to show another Pokémon, an Elgyem, bundled up in a blanket on the bed, fast asleep.]

Can someone tell me more about Psychic Pokémon? [He goes back to brushing.] I get that they read minds--Delta Two there communicates with me all the time--but she doesn't use words so it's hard to get more...complicated ideas across, sometimes. I was wondering, can you train them to talk? Or do other things? These guys are obviously a lot more intelligent than the animals back on my Earth, so I guess you could say I'm curious about what they can do.

[The Shinx's eyes are half-closed now as York brushes away. Someone's a sleepy baby.]

'Preciate your time. Over and out.

((Action also available for Cherrygrove, where he can be found at the inn or browsing the PokéMart stock.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It is. It's... not based in science that my world has, at least. I suppose I should ask if you come from a world that's more reliant on magic or technology. It'll let me know how to answer your questions.

[Alice just smiles and waves a little bit at York. Hello!]

[He tosses her a casual salute right back. Hello, hello.]

Technology, definitely. No magic involved. Though with some of the tech the aliens pack, their science might as well be magic as far as I'm concerned.

Sufficiently advanced science, and all that... all right. From what I can understand, it's essentially like them tapping into a private server or wifi network. It's not a channel that you mean to be hacked, but they can do it all the same.

... Which also means that strong emotions can set some of them off. When Alice first hatched, she couldn't stop crying around me.

[...Dude, is that really something you want to share. I mean, what does that say about your headspace?]

Gotcha. That's something I have questions about, actually. But--hold on, maybe later. I gotta check on something.

[But York doesn't actually sign off. He just locks the transmission as tightly as he can. Someone figured out how to do that pretty quickly after arriving here.]

Sorry about that. Some of this stuff can get kind of personal, you know?

[Eh. People know already.]

I know. I made a post about it a while ago so it's not exactly private information anymore.

He's not what I expected in a Trainer... but he's very kind even with what he's been through. I think many trainers are like that. I see a lot of troubled hearts in this place... but they seem to be calmer the longer they spend here.

[He just nudges her gently, smiling a tiny bit.]

You sound like you're from my cousin's favorite TV shows sometimes, you know that?

[York smiles a little at their exchange and rests his chin in his palm.]

Well, it's not just your intel I'm worried about leaking, no offense or anything. There's at least a couple other troubled hearts I'm looking out for, let's put it that way.

[He removes his head from his hand and scratches lightly at the back of his neck.]

Would you say it...helped at all, having that connection? It couldn't have been too much fun for you, either--[He nods to Alice.]--and I wouldn't want to burden my new buddies here with old war wounds. So that's something I'm concerned about, too, if it'd be too much.

You showed up with people you know? Interesting. That doesn't seem to happen very often.

[He thinks about it for a moment, and chuckles.]

I guess. I'm not the overly sharing type. And I don't think that our Pokemon will ever really understand our worlds, since this is the only one they've ever known. But they try. And it does help somewhat - the fact that they care. It depends on your Pokemon's personality, of course - I have a few that want little to do with me, two that see me as a source of energy, and one that seems to enjoy using my arms as chew toys. But if you're patient and a little lucky, I find that most of them are good enough company, which is sometimes all it takes.

I see. That makes sense. They're all pretty unique...

[He pets his Shinx idly.]

I guess I was specifically wondering how often people might train Psychic types in particular as--as a sort of therapy companion, or if that would hurt 'em or get you in trouble with society. Having a mental connection specifically might help in the case I'm thinking of, but I can also see why it could be a problem, if negative emotions affect them that much.

Well, it depends on the species too. Ralts - her first for - are especially sensitive to emotions. If you picked up another species, I'm sure it would be fine. And I have some... unexpected 'therapy' animals.

My Arbok, which is a massive snake larger than myself, seems to think he's a dog or something with the way he puts his head in my lap, for example. But Nekomata, my Espurr and my only other Psychic type is still a baby, so I haven't had much of a chance to train her yet. I'm sure she'll grow to be something along those lines, though. I train my team every day, but I'm not into the hardcore battling that other people are. I'm a Breeder, not a Trainer.

[York nods and leans to the side of the camera for a moment to scrawl a couple notes down in his notebook: "Ralts-->emotions," "Espurr," and things like that. Does North already have one of those? York will have to check later.]

Got it. I'm registered as a Breeder, too, technically. Not sure why.

[He settles back into frame again.]

You like the gig?

I do. It's somewhat more low stress than being a Trainer in my opinion because you're not expected to battle, and as long as you have a decent breeding pool and they don't hate each other, it's a steady source of income if you can't find any other work.

... Though I work at a bakery, so I'm not exactly hurting for money. Even less so since my travel companion has left.

Ahh. Expensive friend?

[York sort of knows how that goes.]

Not exactly. It's just more expensive to help support two teams rather than just one. Pokemon don't eat for free, after all.

True. I dunno, though--the guys I'm with, we've known each other long enough to share some things, cut expenses that way. Though I guess there's always been an expectation that we all pull our own weight.

Heh. He tried, though... I don't know. I like having my own space. ... Which begs the question as to why I ended up with so many Pokemon, I suppose. But it just ends up happening.

Well, too bad you can't put human roommates in a Pokéball sometimes, huh? Might be a little easier to negotiate boundaries with these guys.

That's true. I have a cousin who was basically a brother to me, and... well. I don't know if you have siblings, but sometimes I wished I could put him in a Pokeball.

Oh, dude, I had twins on my squad. Sometimes we wished we could put 'em both in a Pokéball.

The same one, or different ones?

Well, one of 'em's the best damn friend I ever had, so separate Pokéballs. For his sake.

I see. I don't know if you can even fit two creatures in the same Pokeball, anyway.

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