MARCH UPDATE

POSTED ON Jan 3, 2020 20:30:08 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]iris stares at the mudkip between her hands. it seems to smile back on her. she gives it a gentle shake, like a child playing with its bear.
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"i don't get it," she mumbles, "they said i couldn't just number it."
[break][break]when she thought about it, 'one' did count as a name, technically. who were they to judge her naming choices? she looks at adam.
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"what's your pokemon called?"
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[break]NOTES: mission

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 4, 2020 8:30:40 GMT

What in all hell were they thinking giving him all of people this assignment. Showing some rookie the ropes wasn’t something Adam was keen on doing in the first place but what made matters worse was this wasn’t any normal kind of rookie.

An ex-rocket brat, one that the league decided to take in like a stray poochyena, was the rookie in question’s last occupation. When told this, Adam immediately rejected the job but he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. What sort of sick twisted joke was this? A man who hated rocket now in charge of taking care of one?!

Well, here he was now, watching the girl with an ever so fun unenthusiastic look on his face. ”Hmm?” He’d look to the girl and then to the Pokémon that stood at his side, his Lucario. ”His name is Soul.” Adam answered.

”And be careful with that Mudkip, it’s not a toy.”

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POSTED ON Jan 4, 2020 23:15:12 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]her frown deepens. pokemon weren't fragile--and if they were, well, what was the point? despite her confusion, her hands freeze without second thought and her reply is instant. "sorry." he seems mad at her.
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she contemplates his answer with some consideration. that was a strange name, but she supposed she'd think the same of any name. names were for pets; pets were idle, lazy, and fell short in battle. it was probably a kindness, anyway. there wasn't much for a pokemon that couldn't do its job. besides, when you go through pokemon so quick you'd only lose track.
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"why?" why soul? why was a name so important? why was she even here?
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[break]NOTES: ...

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 4, 2020 23:34:28 GMT

He raised a brow at her, not a lot of people ask him the logic behind the names of his Pokémon. What sort of a question was that? Was there something weird about the name?

Adam scratched the back of his head followed by letting out a deep sigh. If he knew that he was going to have to play 20 questions with her he would have asked for a raise or something. Or maybe he should have brought something with him to either distract her or himself. Either way he didn’t really want to get into it but he supposed he will.

”Why?” He began, remembering the origin. ”A lot of reasons, I suppose.” Adam took a brief pause to pet the Lucario that stood next to him.

”Partly because I was a kid and I thought the name sounded cool. Also because of the Lucario species connection to aura, which aura to some is considered the life force of living beings. There “souls” if you will. And he’s a very patient and compassionate Pokémon, as a lot of heart….a lot of soul.” Explaining all of that got him a bit sentimentally, even going down memory lane which had distracted him.

He snapped out of it quickly, shook his head and then turned to the girl.

”Why do you ask?”

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POSTED ON Jan 4, 2020 23:46:59 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]"soul?" she echoes, "but they're pokemon..." her mudkip squirms in her hands, either bored or wanting to be let down. she does not respond, she does not want to encourage bad habits. the league wanted her to keep this one, they were very adamant about that. she did not mind they had high standards, she would train it perfectly as they asked.
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(even if they did make strange requests like these...)
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iris blinks at the question. "i don't know." she looks back her pokemon, only to avert her gaze. "i've never had to name a pokemon before, i guess i just want to get it right..."
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she couldn't risk displeasing the league, after all. rocket was no home now, if they were to turn their back on her she wasn't sure what she would do.
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[break]NOTES: ...

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 0:07:54 GMT

He blinked. Did she just suggest what he think she did? There was so much that Adam wanted to get into but for now he’d hold his tongue….they’ll get to it at another time. Her response to his question was a bit surprising but given how she, well, was he supposed it wasn’t that astonishing.

”Naming a Pokémon is something you should put some thought into, sure.” He began, walking closer to the girl to look down at the Mudkip.

”But don’t stress so hard over it, it’s not the end of the world.” He added, giving a wave and a smile to the little mudfish Pokémon.

”I dunno there are a lot of different ways or angles to approach when it comes to name-giving.” He walked away, stretching his arms as he did so.

”You could name it after its color. Something related to the Pokémon’s species so like you’ve got a Mudkip there so you could name it after something well known about the Pokémon.” His words stopped to give himself a moment to think about it.

”Like how they’re known for being quite strong for the small size and they’re water type so maybe something like Tsunami, Wave, Typhoon. Some shit like that. It ain’t rocket science you can really name it whatever just try and avoid something dumb like puppy or some crap.”

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 2:26:49 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]the ranger's reassurance seems to be enough. iris takes in his words carefully as she observes the pokemon before her. so names were meant to exhibit traits? she could do that, probably.
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she raises her arms, lifting the mudkip into the air. it gave a happy cry. iris' frown did not change. she continues to stare towards the backdrop of--
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"blue." she says, "i'll call it blue." she turns her head to adam, blue still wriggling in her grasp. "is that good enough?"
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[break]NOTES: ...

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 7:32:06 GMT

Well this one was definitely a bit strange, even considering the whole rocket thing. While it did raise some questions Adam didn’t dwell on it, he wasn’t here to get chummy with the girl just make sure she didn’t do anything stupid and stuck with what she was supposed to be doing.

Still it was a bit weird, watching her felt like watching someone who just got their very first Pokémon but that wasn’t the case with her. Though this was the first time she thought about really naming her Pokémon which was weird. He wondered how in the world she was referring to them before.

”Oh?” Her words pulled him out of his thoughts. ”Oh Yeah sure, Blue’s a fine name.” A bit on the simpler side but hey it still worked.

”What in the world were you calling your Pokémon before?” His curiosity got the better of him.

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 14:34:00 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]she shrugs. "when i started out i just called them by their species." feeling as if she'd drop the mudkip with all its moving, she places it on the ground for it to run circles around her. "easy for a kid to remember, and you don't have to go through the effort of teaching them a name."
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beginning to feel self-conscious without her pokemon to hold in front of her, she goes back to staring at the sky. "once i got older i numbered my pokemon from two onward. you get the element of surprise when your opponent doesn't know which one you're calling, and when they catch on they're always anxious to see where one is." she chuckles slightly at the last part.
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"it was efficient," she remarks, "i don't get why they're making me change it?" iris looks down at her feet as blue bumps into her leg. "is this a test?" did the league really think it was necessary to test the capabilities of her memory? she didn't think she'd done anything to make them question her.[break][break]

[break]NOTES: ...

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 16:24:40 GMT

Yeah something like that sounded about right for a child Adam had thought to himself as he watched the Mudkip. It was either that or coming up with really silly names like calling a feline Pokémon kitty or a Pidgey birdy. This girl though hadn’t ceased to put Adam in a perplexed state, she called them by numbers?

Despite this, he wasn’t sure which part bothered him more, the fact that it sounded like a cold way of dealing with your Pokémon or that she had a point. Both, both were equally annoying and were going to drive him crazy thinking about it.

She seemed sort of paranoid about something, and given her situation it wasn’t hard to think of what she might be worried about. Adam smirked thinking about it, it was funny in a sad sort of way.

”Probably.” He replied. ”From the sound of it you treated Pokémon more like a math equation than living creatures.”

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 18:59:48 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]iris stiffens. she can't help but sense some disapproval in his tone.
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"it's more complicated than that," she responds, "they're more like...parts. and it's not easy figuring out how to fit them!"[break][break]
she always had to think, how would the tools given to her work best for the task given to her? though iris was given a replacement as soon as one pokemon dropped, that wasn't to say rocket were happy to waste resources on her. nothing lasted forever, but a pokemon trained well could still be used time and time again.
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the league were certainly challenging her. relying on a single pokemon was unheard of, even she could sense she would struggle. if she didn't prove her worth, would they send her away? the mudkip they'd given her was suited for children, and it would be a while before it could come close to holding its own.
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"i can do better than this, you know," her gaze grows hard as she begins to argue her case, "i'd be a lot more useful if they gave me more than just...this!"
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[break]NOTES: ...

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 20:56:33 GMT

What the hell was she going on about with parts? The hell did that mean? Adam was being willingly stubborn, refusing to try and understand where the girl was coming from and instead was getting increasingly irritated by the whole situation.

This was a mistake. They should have gotten someone else for this, he wasn’t going to be able to keep his cool and this was the first day of dealing with her. Some part of him thought he could get past it, her past affiliations but maybe he was wrong. Maybe he hadn’t changed as much as he thought.

But what she said next sent him into a fit of blind anger.”Oh you can do better than this huh?!” Adam moved closer, eyes glaring down at her as if he was trying to crush her with his mind.

”And from what experience do you make this sort of assertion on, huh? You’re time being a Rocket dog?! And what did they have you doing? Stealing? Killing?” He clenched his fist, his Lucario now stepping in to prevent the man from doing anything stupid. Soul grabbing the man’s arm was enough to snap him out of his anger which the loss of control frustrated Adam.

”Ah fuck this! They should have got someone else to do this crap!” He stepped away from her, in an attempt to calm himself down. Adam was starting to think maybe this was more of a test for himself than her. He didn’t even realize that she had mentioned something about wanting to be useful.

"This isn't going to work out."

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2020 22:24:54 GMT

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[attr="class","thread"]his anger comes unexpected: her first mistake. she was a newcomer, it was obvious the league had coddled her. there was only so long this would last. iris can only stand frozen as the ranger towers over her, eyes trained toward. she does not respond to his tirade (she's learned they're never looking for an answer), nor does she when his pokemon holds him back (despite her surprise, how could he let it do that?).
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she only wishes the ground to swallow her whole.
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iris is well aware of rocket's reputation among these ranks. she can't blame them really, it isn't as if the feeling isn't mutual. she preferred to see herself as indifferent to it all, simply following her duty.
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blue scurries to hide behind her. she does not notice. iris moves in clockwork, her fingers clutching her skirt, white-knuckled, as she bows, mouth set in a grim line. she doesn't know if the league offers second chances, but she isn't about to test them. she can only imagine she's on thin ice already.
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"i'm sorry. please forget what i said, i can work with this. i'll be sure to train hard. she takes in a breath, her sentence having dragged longer than expected. "just let me show you."
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[break]NOTES: ...

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TAG:[attr="class","tag"]Adam Shepard

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POSTED ON Jan 6, 2020 4:10:22 GMT

Adam fucked up. He knew he fucked up and was fucking up but kept on running his stupid mouth. And this was even more evident when Soul walked up next to the man, placing a paw on his arm and giving him that god damn look that always made Adam feel like shit.

”Yeah, yeah. I know I screwed up.” He groaned, knowing that he was going to have to fix this. He took a deep sigh and told himself to swallow all that pent up anger he thought he let go of years ago, not to direct it at some kid.

And to make matters worse on the Adam is an asshole train the girl went and apologized. ”Oh don’t apologize.” Adam replied, turning around to face Iris.

”I should be the one apologizing.” He hung his head in shame. ”Yelling at you and overall being an ass was totally uncalled for. I’m deeply sorry for that.” Sheesh it was hard to stay mad at her when she acted like this.

”Anyone ever tell you that you’re annoyingly polite? Making me feel even worse for getting upset.” That probably came off as a bad thing but it wasn’t but it sure did make Adam feel worse and he should.

”Anyway we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. How about we have a restart and instead of standing around talking about names we can do something fun?” Anything to put this incident behind them.

"How's that sound?"

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