Brennan & Thaliawen's Journal

[Thaliawen]

This isn't a house, silly!  

[Thaliawen]

Reserved for finished RP with Lucy, Dea and Brenny

Hide n seek

Dea and #Teddy#

Lucinda was walking in the woods with her trainer, who was on crutches at the moment.

"How are you feeling?" Lucinda asked the woman.

"I am alright, you worry too much,"Dea laughed.


Brenny was playing in the woods that day, and looked up when he heard Lucinda's voice. That wasn't a familiar voice, he decided. Who was it? Maybe--maybe it was his sister? Maybe she'd found him!

He dashed out of the bush to see who the speaker was. He was disappointed. No, it wasn't his sibling. But maybe--maybe these people had seen her? Maybe they could tell him where she was! "Hi!" he greeted them. "Have you seen a pink celebi?"


Lucy looked over to Dea and Dea had a thoughtful look in her eyes. She thought of all the Pokemon or Poke children her group had seen. She gave a shake of her head to Lucy.

"I am sorry, we haven't encountered a pink Celebi before. I would ask my brother, but I do not think he has either,"Lucy spoke softly.

"Oh," Brenny said, disappointed. "I've been looking for her since February, and now it's almost summer..." he sighed. "But if you do see her, you'll tell me? She's my sister."

"Yes, of course we will. I know what it is like to be seperated from your loved ones. I admit mine was fairly short, but scary for me nonetheless,"Lucy explained.

"Yeah," Brenny said, with a nod. "But I've got Daddy, and he'll help me find her someday. I hope she wants to be found, we've been looking a long time..." he sighed. "Want to play with me instead? No more sad things!"

"Oh, you have a dad, that is wonderful. What is he like?"Lucy asked curiously. She tilted her head to the side, her blue pig-tails bobbing as she did so.

"He's the best!" Brenny said with a bright smile. "He lets me visit the forest whenever I want! We live in the city, but I came from here. He found me here when it was cold and snowy and he kept me warm! I'm going to buy him a video camera for his birthday! Maybe you can come for lemonade? I'm going to be selling some, so I can earn money to get Daddy the video camera."

"We live in the city too, but Dea needed some fresh air. Sometimes I come her to meditate or just relax. Sounds like a very nice dad you have,"Lucy smiled.

Brenny nodded in understanding. There were times he felt he needed fresh air. He had been born in the forest, and though he loved the city, it sometimes felt cramped and crowded. The air was thicker there, the sky wasn't as blue. "He's the best!" He assured Lucy with a smile. "Without him, i'd still be all alone. He means so much to me... so i'm going to get him a present!"

"Does your dad have a name? Like Dea is like my mom, but I usually call her Dea,"Lucy pointed out. Dea reached over as best as she could and ruffled Lucy's hair, causing the girl to giggle

"My daddy is Connie! But I don't like calling him Connie. Daddy is his real name. He just didn't know it until I told him!" Brenny explained excitedly, "He's a tauros, but he's a person too! Like me!"

Dea and Lucy exchanged looks, a small smile forming on Dea's lips.

"Actually, Dea and I have met your father,"Lucy explained to him, beaming herself.

"You know Daddy?" Brenny asked, tilting his head slightly. "When did you meet him? Isn't he nice? He's the best! Want to play now? Standing still too long makes me wiggle later."

"Yes, we know Connie, we met him when Dea's father wanted to talk to more Pokemon who have been changed. And yes, I found him to be quite pleasant,"Lucy replied brightly.

"Hm. Why did he want to talk to changed pokemon?" Brenny asked, blinking. "He didn't ask to see me, yet! Oooh! Maybe he'll want to! I can tell him all about the forest and trees, all the pokemon, the lakes..." the celebi boy rambled before beaming at Lucy. "Let's play! I'm full of endless energy and it never stops flowing, just like a river when its flooding! What games do you know?"

"Dea's father is a scientist, it is his job to ask questions. He wants to understand more about what is happening to all of the Pokemon. Maybe you will get to meet him. As for games, I know many of them,"Lucy explained.

"A scientist," Brenny mused, "Sounds..." Boring. Uninteresting. He supposed some humans couldn't comprehend the wonder of a good mystery. It seemed like a very unhappy life. "Intriguing. I know what's happening to all the pokemon," he teased. "Its called a mystery! And some mysteries are better off not being found out, because when they are, the wonder of them is lost. I think not knowing how many stars there are makes us keep looking up."

"Actually, I think Dea's dad really enjoys his job. Sometimes a little too much. Yes, mysteries are all well and good, but sometimes it is good to know. Does not mean the wonder is taken from them,"Lucy pointed out.

Brenny wrinkled his nose. "To know everything would destroy the very point of living," he sighed. "I don't think humans should get so involved in it. It must be a poke on causing this to happen. Poke on have survived generations without this happening, and now it is. I think it must be a legendary."

"Yes, my trainer thinks it is a Jirachi, actually. We all found stars or were hit by one before we were changed,"Lucy explained. She rubbed her head, remembering when she was hit by a star.

"Pick a game," Brenny insisted, "Let's play tag! Or how about hide n seek tag? Two at one! Yay!"

"I like Hide N Seek,"Lucy smiled.

Brenny beamed. "Okay, I'll hide, you'll be it!" he decided. "You can count to ten! I'll be hidden by then. When you find me, you'll have to say something! Your Mommy can play too, if she wants," he glanced at Dea. "Maybe she can keep score!" He wasn't sure if Dea would be very good at running and hiding, and didn't want to make the woman feel bad.

"If you count to a higher number, I think I can play too,"Dea spoke.

"You sure, Dea?"Lucy asked, the other nodding her head.

Brenny paused in thought, and then smiled. "Okay," he said. "Lucy, count to fifty! Okay? We can hide by then. Fifty's a very big number. I bet you're good at hide n seek," he beamed at Dea. "Okay, Lucy, you close your eyes and start counting! No peeking!"

"Alright,"Lucy spoke, then closed her eyes. She began to count to fifty, while Dea smiled to Brenny. Then she started to make her way to hide in a log nearby.

Brenny took off soon after Lucy began to count. He climbed up into the canopy of a tall tree. He loved the forest; he had been born there, after all. Though he had grown to love the city as his home, the forest would always be a part of him. He wondered how long it would take Lucy to find him.

Lucy has soon finished counting and looked around. Knowing Dea, she hid her crutches, so she couldn't use that to help her. She started to look behind some of the trees near her.

Brenny couldn't help but giggle. He was confident he'd win this game! The forest was one of the best places for hide and seek he could think of.

Dea had seen where Brenny hid and had to keep from laughing. That was where Eilam had hidden during the game he played with some other Pokemon turned people.

Lucy kept looking, trying to figure out where they had gone.

Brenny might have enjoyed hiding, but he hated the process in which one was found. It was a bothersome thing that mainly focused on the dreaded--waiting. The celebi boy, active as he was, hated sitting still.

"Hmmm, where could they be. So many god hiding places,"Lucy mused to herself, before checking some bushes.

Brenny was becoming impatient. He squirmed. He moved against the bark of the tree, attempting to scratch at a non-existant itch. Couldn't Lucy hurry and find him?

Lucy heard a creak of a branch and she looked up in one of the trees.

"Brenny, is that you up there?"Lucy called up. She knew it wasn't Dea, she wasn't back to normal enough for climbing.

Finally! "Yay!" Brenny called down to Lucy, "You found me! I'll come down and we can look for your Mommy!"

"Alright, sounds good to me,"she answered with a smile.

Brenny climbed down with ease, beaming at Lucy when he reached the ground. "You're good at this! I was getting bored waiting for you, but I did alright." Unless he counted the squirming; but Brenny didn't really count that. He took the girl's hand. "Come on," he said, "We have to find your Mommy. There are a lot of places to hide here! I wonder which one she chose?"

"Well, she is probably somewhere low to the ground, like a bush. Considering she is still getting better, she can't climb yet,"Lucy spoke.

"Dea, come out!" Brenny cried, searching through bushes. He frowned from time to time. He didn't like failure. Dea must have been a really good hider, he supposed. "Dea, where are you? I can't find you! Give us a hint?"

"She has to be somewhere, she can't just disappear,"Lucy reminded the other. She was starting to wonder if Dea climbed a tree.

"But I can't find her!" Brenny complained. "What if she got lost? Do you think she fell and drowned? What if she got hurt? We've got to find her!"

"Oh goodness, I certainly hope not. Though she could have called me if she had,"Lucy explained to the other.

"But... we've got to find her!" Brenny insisted, looking into a hollow log. "Dea, are you there?" he asked hopefully. "Dea, come out!"

"She isn't going to reply, she wants us to find her. That is how the game works,"the other reminded.

Brenny frowned, crossing his arms. "She's too good at hiding," he complained, "I just won't share any of the berries I found in the forest earlier. Nope! Dea won't get any berries, unless she comes out!"

A giggle could be heard from one of the hollow logs and Lucy smiled.

"I would say she is over there,"she motioned.

Brenny rushed to the hollow log in question. "Dea!" he said sternly, leaning down to catch sight of her. He shook a finger at her. "I was calling for you and you didn't answer. That's not good. You could have been left, or hurt, or lost."

"I would have telepathically called out to Lucy if it had been any of those,"Dea assured.

Brenny still looked concerned, but he turned to face Lucy instead. "Let's eat," he said. "I can bring berries if you brought a picnic. We can share!"

Dea crawled out of the tree carefully, Lucy helping her to stand up. Lucy picked up the crutches that lay within the hollow log and handed them to Dea.

"Sounds good,"she nodded.

Brenny took off to fetch the bucket of berries he'd collected earlier that afternoon. He returned quickly, and beamed at the two. "Look!" he said. "These are spring berries. They're really sweet! I think they'd be good in poffins and pies, but they're good by themselves too!"

"I am sure they would make wonderful pies. We can save some for that, if you want,"Dea spoke.

"You can if you want. I'm not allowed to go to stranger's houses without daddy's permission, and there's no ovens here in the forest. Nope, no ovens!"

"Well, we can always ask your dad,"Lucy spoke up.

"But he's not here," Brenny said, gesturing around them. "He's in the city. You could call him, but he might be working. He works a lot of the time."

"Yes, I know how that is,"Dea agreed.

Brenny blinked. Lucy and Dea seemed to disagree; and that confused him. Lucy had said they could ask him, and then Dea had said she understood how work was. He gave the two of them a puzzled expression before shrugging and plopping a berry into his mouth.

"What's the matter, Brenny?" Lucy asked.

 

[Thaliawen]

Discounted Tour

Catch 'Em All was having a slow day and Carwyn was enjoying walking around one of this dream places. He was rather glad to see a small lull for the day and he was also glad to know that his places were doing well.

Brenny walked into Catch 'Em All rather awkwardly. He had never been in a place like this before, but figured if he could find someone who had met his sister--someone who could possibly tell him where she was, or how she was doing--it would be worth it. He gazed about the building, blue eyes wide with wonder. "What is this place?"

Carwyn smiled as a pretty cute little youth walked in. It was clear enough that he was similar to himself being a pokemon and a human. He walked over. The tall adrogionous teen's insect lets making a gentle click on the ground though long billowing pants like a skirt covered his legs. His shirt had long sleeves that hung well over his hands bit left his shoulders exposed. "This place? It is a place for those like us to come and relax with friends."

"A place for people like us?" Brenny repeated, a small smile crossing his features. A place for pokemon. Maybe his sister would have come here. "Have you seen a pink celebi?" he asked. "She's been missing for a long while, but maybe if she found this place..." the boy's tone was hopeful. Even if she hadn't however, the boy could see the appeal of this place. It was a nice place, he decided. He would have to tell his father about it--and Mei, too! Maybe Mitja would come here with him. "Does it cost anything?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. "I've got a little money..." He dug his hand into his jean pocket, searching for change.

Carwyn reaches out with a covered hand to grasp the photo, "I am sorry I have not seen her. Though maybe when I was not working she might have come by. I am not here every day." he said softly his voice was gentle and sweet. He loved to see the light lighting up in the young one's eyes. He smiled and gently hands the photo back. "Yes it does cost money depending on what you want to do here. I can give you a short tour if you like."

"But if you do see her, you'll tell her I'm looking for her, right?" Brenny asked hopefully. "Maybe she'll find this place and--maybe she's looking for me too!" Maybe. Maybe. He hoped so. He really did. He pulled out two quarters and offered them to Carwyn. "Is this enough?" he asked. The celebi boy hadn't yet grasped the concept of expenses; he knew money was used to buy things. He didn't understand the concept that some things cost more than other things. If an icecream from the icecream man cost fifty cents--why shouldn't everything cost fifty cents? "Oooh, a tour? I like tours! ...What's a tour?"

Carwyn could not hep but smile. This little one was too cute. He laughed and nods, "Well that is not enough but for today I will give you a discount. And if I ever see the little on I will be sure to tell her you are looking for her. What is your name handsome?" He asked and laughed again, "Ah a tour means I will show you around here."

"My name's Brennen," Brenny beamed at Carwyn, "But you can call me Brenny! Everyone does. Yay! A discount! I like discounts!" He paused and nodded in understanding. A tour sounded exciting! He reached for Carwyn's hand. "Okay," he said, "Let's go on the tour! It'll be an adventure!"

Carwyn smiles, "A pleasure to meet you Brenny. I look forward to seeing you around often dear. My name is Carwyn. My dear Brenny do you know what a discount is?" he asked softly but nods. With his hand still covered he took up Brenny's hand and he lead him around to the dance floor and the skate rink. "These are the dance floor and skate rink. and you see the tall room in the center that is where the dj stays it is were the music comes from. There are two places you can make a request for songs at."

"A discount means less money?" Brenny asked, hopefully. If he didn't have enough today, he would have to bring enough another day. "Because it's my first day? And discounts are nice! I think Daddy likes discounts." He followed Carwyn with increasing wonder, blue eyes widening at the sight of the skating rink. "Ooooh," he said. "Music plays here? Yay! Dancing is fun!"

Carwyn smiles, "Your very smart too huh?" He smiles and looks at Brenny, "Yes because it is your first time. I am always kind to first timers. Discounts are nice things to have every now and then." He smiles and laughs gently, "Do you like to dance Brenny? Shall we Dance then or would you like to continue on the tour?"

"I do like to dance!" Brenny beamed at the question. "I like to dance, even when there's no music! Everything's like a dance. I like to draw, too. That's kind of like a dance; but for the hand. It dances across the page. He hesitated for a moment. He was sorely tempted to end the tour here and dance. "Let's keep going!" he decided. "We can dance after the tour! Yay!"

Carwyn gives a nod and smiles, " Alright then so next is the snack bar." he said and showed it to him you can get lots of snacks here. And there are restrooms around this way. Next we can head up stairs. Do you play video games or use the computer?" He asked softly as he led the way to the stairs. "OH ye we can dance afterwards."

"Oooh, snacks! Do you have berries? And poffins! What's video games? What is a computer?" Brenny asked, tilting his head and blinking. "Is it like the magic box my Daddy calls the television? I don't think I've played those before. Do you play video games?"
Carwyn laughed softly. "Well we have some fruits I don't know if berries are in season but I don't think we have any poffins? What are those dear?" He nods after listening to the younger male, "Yes it is simular to the television but more interactive. You can play games and look up things. You might be able to put an add on it to help find your sister. I don't play them often. I do use the comupter though." he led him up and showed him the arcade and made the way towards the computer ones.

"Really? I could put an ad up about my sister?" Brenny echoed, eyes widening. "Let's do that!" he said, excitedly. "Maybe someone who uses a computer would have seen her! And you can ask all your friends, too! We can put it everywhere! ...But how do I do it? I've never used a computer before..." He frowned, brows furrowing in confusion. "Can you do it for me?" he asked. "I'll pay you!" he held up his two quarters. "I'll pay. See? I want to find her!"

Carwyn reached over with his other covered hand and closed Brenny's hand around the coins, "You don't need to pay me. I will be glad to help if I can. Keep your money. I will show you how to put up the add. And you can come and check out the add and see if anyone has seen her. We can even set up an email for you so they can contact you. How about that dear?" He lead the way to the computers and pulled up two chairs near one of them. "Let us see what we can do shall we dear?" He asked and started to teach Brenny how to use the computer.

"Email?" Brenny repeated, blinking. "Oooh! So they can tell me if they've seen Cecily! Okay!" He beamed at the older boy. He sat in one of the chairs and waited for further prompting. "Maybe we'll find her this way! I hope so. I've been looking a very long time. Since Winter!"

Carwyn smiles, "Well they can if they have seen her. Do you think maybe she has changed like us? But if that is all you have then that is what we will use. So let me show you how an e-mail works and we will make one for you." he would set up a nice e-mail for Brenny and show how to check it before he scanned in Brenny's photo of his sister then set up a couple of adds and showed Brenny how to check those site as well just incase they would not e-mail him, "Hopefully it will help you find her. "

"I don't know if she's changed like us. When I last saw her, she hadn't. But it was several months ago... I don't know," the celebi boy gave Carwyn a troubled expression. "I don't know what she looks like, anymore. Maybe she's changed and has her own family. Maybe..." he wasn't so sure he wanted to do this. What if she didn't want to be found? Wouldn't she have told him? "Thank you," he said at last. "I'll tell Daddy about my email so he can write me, too! Want to finish our tour?"

Carwyn smiled and stroked the younger one's hair gently and careful of the small antenae with his over hand. "Don't worry even if she has changed you will find her one day. Just keep up the hope. Even if she does have a different family you can still be a part of it as she can be yours and your father's/" He smiled, "i guess you don't know your father's e-mail. But yes you can tell him . Maybe you should write it down before you forget?" He smiled and looked around, "Well that is it as far as the basic tour. Just these sections I have shown you. So I guess we can go and dance if you like dear."

Brenny quickly wrote down his email and password, tucking it into his pocket. "I'll keep it so I don't forget! Then Daddy will be able to write me on the computer! It'll be exciting! And maybe people can tell me if they've seen her, and if she's changed--and how she's doing! I'd like to know that she's okay." He paused, and then stood up. "Let's go dance!" he said, taking the older boy's hand. "Yay!"

Carwyn smiled. To be so young and innocent and hyper. He thought. He smiled and allowed the young man to lead him down to the dance floor. He smiled and started to dance with the other poke-human. This little dear was a doll for sure. "That is the spirit Brenny. Yes I am sure you will find her and get to know about her again and you have your dad until then And dancing."

 

[Thaliawen]

Forest Adventure

Sometimes, this training stuff sucked in his opinion. Oh sure, he'd met Petaya which had been a whole lot of fun, but most of the time his training was boring and lonely. He knew he needed to learn to get by on his own, in case something ever happened to Escher.... that thought was quickly chased away. It wasn't a good thought. It brought a frown to his lips and he kicked at a few scattered pine needles on the forest floor, unhappy about how...brown the ground was...and how green the trees. He missed his snow!

"What're you doing?" inquired a voice from just above Pyry. "You seem unhappy. Are you alright?" The voice became concerned, rather than the initial curious tone it had held. The voice in question was soon embodied, as the owner of that voice climbed down from one of the pine trees. "I'm Brennen," the celebi boy introduced himself with a smile. He was dressed in rumbled jeans and a t-shirt; rumpled, probably, from climbing the tree he had just come from. "Why are you so sad? Do you want to play with me?"

The sudden voice had Pyry pausing and looking around in confusion, bright blue eyes blinking in confusion as he looked for the source of the voice and finding no one...at first. When Brennen appeared he took a few steps back warily. He could sense something from the boy...a latent power maybe. He'd felt similar from Escher all the time so he was used to the feeling. But who was this boy! Pyry felt out of place, he was used to his heavier clothes meant for their snowy mountain top...not this forest stuff though he understood the need to have a diversity in his training areas. Not that he was doing much of that currently. His own clothes were in fairly good condition as he'd merely been wandering and not much else. Instead he stared at this Brennen, and tried to make sense of what he was being asked. Play? What was that?

"You're awfully quiet," Brenny chirped cheerfully, studying the boy. "You must be an ice pokemon! I've seen one of your kind before. He's a vanilite! But he's noisier than you. He's always complaining that poffins don't grow on trees, so I bring him some, sometimes." He paused and frowned slightly, "Hey, I didn't scare you, did I? I'm sorry if I did! I didn't mean to! I just thought you looked so unhappy you could use a friend."

Yes he was quiet, thank you very much! Not..that he said this. He was still studying Brennan closely, eyes narrowing a little trying to figure the child out. The question earned a nod however. Yes, he was an ice type. He took a deep breath and exhaled softly. "Pyry." his name was given as a sort of grunt. "Cryogonal." to further expand upon his nod of agreement. "No." to being scared. Lie! "Friend? What's that?" finally! More than one word!

"Hi, Pyry! I'm Brenny!" the celebi boy introduced himself again. Maybe this boy was newer to the world than he himself was? He didn't seem to talk much... Was it because he didn't know how to? Brenny was contemplating this when the other boy decided to expand, stating his species. "I'm a celebi," he chirped. "It's nice to meet you!" He hesitated at the cryogonal's next question. "...You don't know what friends are?" he asked, confused. Even as a pokemon, he had understood the concept of friends. "Well..." "Well, friends are... They're people you care about. They're like family. They're special to you, and you want to protect them and play with them. I have friends! We can be friends, now too."

"Brenny? But you said Brennen...." confused? Maybe a little. But he wasn't used to being told one name, then another by the same person. "Not Brenny...Brennen..." there was a firmness to the childs voice, a bob of his head to emphasis this point. He was Brennen. Not changing that fact, nope! The concept of friends being explained made him brighten then. Oh yeah...Fuzzy! "Ohhh....I have a Fuzzy...well no his names not Fuzzy...but I call him Fuzzy. He's a Joltik and my first ever friend. There's Escher, but he's sort of like my father/brother/guardian/mentor/friend." there was a note of deep awe when he spoke of Escher, his voice still on the quiet side. A part of him thinking dear Arceus this boy was bouncy! he wasn't used to such excitement! "Not sad...grumpy. No snow." well then.

"Well, my name is Brennen, but I like Brenny best. Everyone calls me that. You can too if you--Oh, you don't want to?" he nearly pouted. He'd never met anyone so against using nicknames. "A fuzzy?" he echoed, blinking in confusion. "Oh!" He brightened at the explanation, comprehending. So the boy wasn't against nicknames completely, it seemed. Maybe he only used them if he'd given them. "You must really like your Daddy," he beamed at the description of Escher. "My Daddy's name is Connie, and he's the best there ever was!"

"I don't know Fuzzy's real name...so I named him Fuzzy. He was looking for his mom and dad so they could tell him his name. I haven't seen him in awhile, so maybe he's found them and has a name now so I can call him it." well that explained that really. "Brennen." another firm nod, but there was a tiny hint of a smile to his lips then. "But...I guess Brenny....like Brennen more..." well then. Though he blinked and shook his head. "Escher isn't my dad....though he acts like one...he saved me when I was...well not like this... I was cornered and.." he shuddered and stopped talking. "Now, I serve Escher in thanks for saving me and taking me in. He's training me. It's what I'm supposed to be doing now, training. Learning how to adapt and survive in an en-vi-ron-ment I'm not used to..." the long word slowly sounded out. He leaned in and whispered almost confidentially. "Escher is royalty you know!" well it was how he viewed the Palkia really!

"If he acts like a Daddy, then he must be a Daddy," Brenny wasn't sure he liked the other boy's explanation. Serving someone? Connie had saved him from freezing and had brought him to live in the city, where he would no longer be alone--but he couldn't imagine Connie making him do anything that wasn't for his own good. He frowned at the thought. "Training?" he echoed, frown deepening. "Hn... But you're not a pokemon anymore, you're a person. And people don't need training, they need love. They need compassion, they need to be cared about. Not bossed around or forced into situations they're uncomfortable with." There was a long pause, and then with a decisive expression, Brenny straightened. "I am, too," he said. "I'm the voice of the forest," he explained. "I heard some people talking about celebi a while ago. I'm a legendary! I cause forests to florish. I bet your Daddy can't do that. It's something only I can do."

He was starting to think he didn't like this boy very much! "Escher doesn't make me. I do it because I want to. He teaches me so much! Manners, reading, writing, history, science, math...he wants me to be as smart as I can. So I have lessons almost every day. He wants me to be strong, and able to take care of myself. So I have training often." Pyry was sort of glaring at the other. "Escher is a Palkia. He's a legendary too which is why he's royalty, and he's not my daddy, as you keep insisting on calling him. He's my guardian, my mentor. But not my daddy." he wasn't being particularly mindful of his manners just then he was realizing but he couldn't help it. He didn't like this boy talking bad about Escher!

"My daddy teaches me things too. But he doesn't make me go where I don't want to. If I went to an icy place like where you come from, I'd freeze. I like the forest, that's where I belong. And the city. I live there, with my Daddy--that's sort of what you're doing, isn't it? The city is very different from the forest... Everything's different." This boy was certainly defensive. Brenny couldn't understand why. He blinked. "What's wrong with calling him your Daddy? He takes care of you and loves you, and teaches you--isn't that what a Daddy is? Doesn't that make someone a Daddy?"

"I may not like going other places, but it's good for me. Helps me to grow, and become strong. To be the best I can be. I can't learn if I stay where I'm most comfortable. Sometimes one has to learn to over come ad-ver-sar-ial conditions to become the best!" he nodded again firmly. "I prefer the snow and the cold...I miss my gloves, and scarf, and bells....but this is what I need to become strong. Escher says one day I'll be strong enough to leave and be on my own with my own family, but that I have to become strong enough to do that." He shook his head at the other then, this boy was dense! "Because he's not my daddy. My dad is dead. He was melted away into nothing by stupid fire Pokemon, and he and my mom and my siblings are all gone, and Escher saved me. He's not my daddy! Do you understand?!" this was a painful subject for him really. He loved Escher yes, and knew the Palkia cared in his own way...but was it a father and son way? It made him wonder a little and this wondering made him uncomfortable, and the uncomfortable feeling made him sort of angry and as he got more upset a cold wind started to blow around him though he took a few deep breaths and managed to calm back down. "I don't like you." the words were spoken flatly. "You can't seem to grasp the fact Escher, is Escher and not my daddy." this was likely not going to end well.

"...Dead?" Brenny repeated, lip trembling dangerously. "Melted away into nothing?" ...So this boy had been alone. He knew how that was. He had been alone, too. "I never met my parents," he said. "Celebi travel through time, and when they leave a forest, they leave an egg behind. They never come back. But with me, they left two eggs. My sister and I--we hatched only last autumn, and by the time it was Winter, we--" he winced, "she left me. I was alone. I didn't know what to do. The snow frightened me. I was cold, and hungry, and there wasn't anything to eat. That's when my Daddy came. I was cold enough I went to find warmth in something--a truck, he said? And he helped me. I found my star then, and he brought me home. I don't know if my sister's dead. I don't know if a human took her, or if fire pokemon burnt her to nothing--but I have a family, now. And it's important to move on! Everyone says it's important to see each day as it comes, and see the good things about every situation! If my sister hadn't left me, I might never had found my Daddy. Or made any of the friends I have." He frowned at the boy's next words. He didn't like him? Brenny didn't think he'd ever met someone who actively disliked him. He tended to make friends with everyone. "That's okay," he said, after a long pause.

"Dead. Gone. Poof. Nothing left." he hated to talk about this really. Tended to just lock it all up and away. Though this left him distant at times, and made it hard to get to know others once in awhile. But this was the first time he'd not grown to like someone after awhile. "Maybe you'll find her someday. Maybe she's traveling in time and leaving an egg of her own or something." well it was one idea, and better than thinking of her dead. "Well good. You have your daddy, and I have my Escher. He's all I need." well for now. Who knew about when he got older... he sighed a moment. "Maybe I like you. I don't know. You're kinda weird, and hyper...and you don't seem to understand that just 'cause Escher takes care of me, doesn't make him my daddy. But I guess I shouldn't get so mad that you don't understand that." Maybe.

"I've been looking for her since she left," for a moment, the celebi sounded uncharacteristically disheartened. "I've asked everyone I've met so far if they've seen her. I don't even know what she looks like now, though. She might have found a star of her own. She might have gone through time... But then, she'll never come back to this one," he sighed. She might as well have been dead, if she'd done that, he thought. He felt it was better to know what had happened--and have some closure, than to be left wondering. "I hope she would have told me if she did..." But maybe not. They had had a disagreement, he recalled. He had always had a curiosity about the world outside the forest. He had wanted to know about humans. "That's okay too," he said. "I think you're kind of weird too."

The sadness in the others voice...he knew that feeling well, and almost as if someone were pulling strings he moved a bit jerkily...and rested his hand on the other boys shoulder. Hugs? What were those? "You have your daddy though, so you're not all alone, and thats really good, because being all alone when you're little is scary stuff." He blinked at being called weird and actually laughed. That was a first for him! "Maybe I do like you...just we gotta agree to disagree and stuff right?"

At the touch, Brenny instinctively wrapped his arms around the other boy. "Right," he said, straightening as he pulled away. "Being with someone who cares about you is the best thing ever, I think. Even if Escher's not your Daddy--I think he must love you a lot to have saved you like that." Fire pokemon frightened him, too. "Agree to disagree? That sounds confusing," he said. "So are we agreeing to agree with me, or agreeing to disagree with me? Which is it?"

The hug startled him, and his eyes widened a bit while his own arms stayed at his sides. He finally reached up and gave a very awkward hug in return. "Well when he saved me he didn't know me...but you're probably right that he does." now anyhow. Though here he grinned. "Both? We both agree that we may not agree with what the other one has to say, but that we can accept that we don't see eye to eye on it." best explanation he had for it anyhow!

"He must be very brave. I think I would be very frightened if fire pokemon came into my forest..." He didn't like to think about that. What would happen if a fire started in the woods? Would he feel it? Would he know it? Would he get sick? What if his forest burnt down? He winced at the thought, and quickly shook it from his mind. "I still don't understand," he said, mulling the boy's words over. "Why are we agreeing, when we don't agree? Can't friends disagree about things without agreeing that they disagree? What's the point in agreeing if you disagree, because you're going to keep disagreeing until you agree."

"Escher is verrrrry big, and verrrry strong and verrrrry brave. Bravest Pokemon I know!" well, it was true! Brenny's words about agreeing, and disagreeing and why they shouldn't...and all it had his head spinning and he laughed. "You're confusing me! I don't even know what I was going to say anymore." he shook his head and smiled. "I should probably actually start training now...Escher could be watching and he wouldn't want me goofing off too long...." a wry smile was given. "It was nice meeting you though Brenny." he smiled at the other kid with a nod of his head.

"Come back and train in the forest again sometime! I'll teach you how to play games and move around the forest! It's a good place to hide, no one can ever find you, if you don't want them to. You can tell Escher that! I think he'd like that, if you train with another legendary too! And I can show you how to move fast in and out of the trees--and it'll be fun!" the celebi boy rambled. "I'll miss you," he said at last. "Bye!"

Pyry grinned at that idea and gave a nod. "That's a really good idea, I bet he'd like that a lot. I'll try to come back soon okay?" He beamed at the other boy a moment. "Good luck finding your sister! If I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her, okay?" he waved and he started back on his little journey, a little skip of sorts in his step. Maybe non-snowy covered forests weren't as bad as he thought....

 

[Thaliawen]

Sharpteeth! AHHH!

Today was one of those days where he had nothing to do. Kelsie was busy, Cotton was busy with some modeling gig for the day and he wasn't having much luck with holding down a job. Something about his tail being a hazard, and his ears kept catching on things. So...today was a wandering day. ...and he was bored. A sigh escaped the fluffy teen as he wandered rather aimlessly.

Brenny was bored. His Daddy was at work and he was pretty sure--but not positive, that Mei was sleeping. What a day to be bored on! Without a companion to keep him busy, Brennen turned to his small collection of dvds. There weren't many he could view without the comfort of an adult near by. He picked one up and went outside. He paused, beaming. There was someone now! Someone he didn't know, but it was someone! Brennen hadn't yet grasped that it was a bad idea to invite strangers in. "Hey! Come watch a movie with me!"

Mei was indeed very much asleep at that point, settled into her spot on the floor with a rather comfortable pillow she slept on, and a blanket. She was cozy and this was some of the best sleep she'd had in quite awhile. Traveling did make decent sleep difficult. So she was utterly unaware of what Brenny was up to. Which was why Cupcake found himself being hollered at, and blinked looking around. "Who me?" how puzzled he sounded. "Do I know you?" he sounded confused, but hey given they neither one were Pokemon anymore, it was possible he knew that they'd known one another...only to have shifted to these forms and not recognize one another.

"No, and I don't know you!" Brenny responded, brightly, "But we can be friends! I'm Brenny! Come watch Land Before Time with me, please? Its too scary to watch all by myself... Daddy's at work and my pet's sleeping, so...." he gave the older boy a hopeful expression. "I have popcorn!"

"I'm Cupcake, it's nice to meet you Brenny." he tilted his head curiously. "Land Before Time? What's that?" he'd never heard of it! He did hesitate a moment though. He knew going into peoples homes uninvited was bad...but then he had been invited and he was bored...so...why not? "Alright I'll come in and watch it. Hopefully your dad won't get mad I'm here though." well at least he was aware this might not be a good idea.

"Cupcake's a strange name," Brenny chirped cheerfully. "Its nice to meet you too! Ooh, its a movie about dinosaurs! There's plant eaters and sharpteeth and they go rawr rawr!" He demonstrated by holding his arms in front of him and showing his teeth. "Its very scary, but daddy says not to worry! He says they can't come out of the television." He paused, shaking his head. "My daddy never gets mad! Maybe you know him! His name is Connie!"

"My trainer named me that when I was still a pokemon, I really loved eating cupcakes." he still did, he just knew better than to gorge on them anymore. "Dinosaurs huh? Those are pretty cool." he chuckled at the kid. "It's true, stuff can't come out of the tv. Alright, I'll watch with you." he came up towards the door, but shook his head thoughtfully. "Can't say I know a Connie, nope."

Brenny took hold of Cupcake's hand and led him inside. "You sit down," he instructed, "I'll make popcorn! Maybe after, Daddy will come home and you can meet him too!" He was sure Connie would want to be Cupcake's friend, too. He went into the kitchen and started a bag of popcorn in the microwave. "Yay! Just two minutes!" He went to the dvd player and inserted the dvd. "We have to wait for it to beep."

Cupcake let the boy lead him inside, chuckling quietly to himself, the kid was adorable honestly. He sat down as instructed and looked over his shoulder at where the kid was going. "Need any help with the popcorn so you don't burn yourself?" well it was best to ask, really!

"I can do it!" Brenny assured Cupcake with a smile. "I know how to make popcorn, but not much else." He went back out into the kitchen when he heard the telltale beeping of the microwave. "Yay! Its done! Do you want it in the bag or a bowl? I like bowls best! Easier to share. "

"A bowl is probably better, less chance of fur getting all buttery like it would from inside a bag." he laughed some and shrugged. It was a fact though. He waited patiently like a good guest while Brenny got everything set up in the kitchen, the movie waiting to be played. "So if this is a cartoon about dinosaurs, why's it scary?" he could see the animation looked friendly enough...what could be so bad?

Brenny poured the popcorn into a bowl, bringing it out to the living room. He sat on the couch next to Cupcake. "It just is," he explained. "Its scary and I don't like scary things... But I like the rest of the movie, so I watch the scary parts too." He took the remote and pressed play. "You'll see!"

"Well if you say so. Never seen this before, so it should be interesting." Cupcake settled on the couch comfortably and waited while the movie was started. He heard noises from another room, but recalled being told of a pet, so didn't give it another thought, especially as the noises died down. Instead, he focused on the movie with interest.

Brenny positioned himself on Cupcake's lap. "It's going to be scary soon," he informed the older boy, "Then it gets sad! And then scary again... So you'll have to keep us both safe! I'll keep you safe, too. If you get scared, you can hug me." He leaned his head against the boy's shoulder to demonstrate. "See? I'm good at cuddling!"

Cupcake blinked down at the boy in his lap, a nod given with a serious look. "Alright Brenny, I'll keep us both safe then." the boy cuddling, it brought a smile to his face and an arm curled around him as he looked at the screen again, indeed jumping in slight surprise at the scary part.

"Told you!" Brenny said, hiding his face in Cupcake's chest. He gave a shiver. "I told you there was a scary part coming up!" He paused, glancing back at the screen. He turned around. "Okay, it's okay for a while. Then it gets sad!"

"You did tell me yes." Cupcake rested his free hand on the back of Brenny's head and hugged him close as he buried his face, letting him look when he moved his head to do so. "A sad part now..okay..." he kept watching and sure enough the sad part wasn't long off....and he sniffled some. "That is sad!"

"He's all alone now," Brenny frowned. He could relate to that. "I don't like this part," he hid his face in the older boy's chest. "It gets better after, though! promise! It does!"

Cupcake's arms curled and he hugged the boy close, resting his chin lightly on the top of his head for a few moments while the sad portion continued on. When it seemed to have passed though he smiled. "Better is a good thing."

"Yay!" Brenny beamed as the story continued. He took a handful of popcorn. "Look, he's making friends! He's not alone anymore!" The celebi boy pointed to the screen. "That's good! I don't like it when people are alone."

"I don't either, it's not good really. I hate being alone myself. Makes me glad I have Kelsie, and my girlfriend." it was a very good thing as far as he was concerned. "I don't think I like that one...whats her name? Sara? She's mean..."

Brenny nodded. "I was alone, too," he said. "My Daddy found me in the woods after my sister left. I've been looking for her ever since. I haven't been able to find her, though..." he sighed, leaning against Cupcake. "You have a girl friend?" he asked. "I have lots of girl friends."

"I'm sorry to hear your sister left. You're a Celebi right? I haven't seen any other Celebi's I hate to say." he hugged the boy with a smile. "You do huh? How many? And yeah my girlfriend is a model. I met her when I was still a Pokemon though." he smiled warmly.

"I am a celebi!" Brenny seemed delighted that the eevee teen had recognized his species. "You haven't? Oh. But maybe you will! Cecily's different than me, though. She's pink! I was green! Like my hair! See? But she's pink." He hesitated at the boy's question, then began to count on his fingers. "Let's see. Mitsuru, Mitja, Lucy, Dea-- Lots of girlfriends! And Mei's a girl. She's my pet-friend, though. Does she count?"

"If I see a pink Celebi, I'll be sure to let you know." he smiled and listened to all the girls being listed off. "Okay so you have friends that are girls...Cotton is the girl I love." he looked thoughtful. There were some awfully familiar names spoken, but figured there was others with the names Lucy and Dea, and not just the ones in Kelsie's family.

"Yay!" Brenny wrapped his arms around Cupcake and gave him a squeeze. "Thank you! I've asked everyone I know to look for her, and I'm sure if we all look together, we'll find her someday!" He wasn't sure whether she'd be particularly happy to see him again, with how they had argued before she had disappeared, but. He found that he didn't especially care about that. He wanted to know how she was doing. If she was safe. "And Fluff, too!" He paused, then beamed up at the boy. "Oooh, you love her! Cotton and Cupcake, yay! I love everyone. You too! I love you!"

"Well hopefully you find her one of these days Brenny." he nodded his head and hugged the boy, only to blink and laugh. "I think we know some of the same people! Does Dea also have an Arceus named Eilam?" what a small world! "If so, I know her! That would be my trainer Kelsie's big sister!" he gave a laugh then. "I do love her yes, a whole lot. You're adorable you know that? I hope when I have kids they're as sweet as you."

"Hm... Eilam? I think so. Lucy was talking about him." Wasn't Eilam that big, silent boy who tended to stay close to Dea at all times? Brenny thought he was a bit intimidating, really. "Yay, you know her, you know her! Maybe I can meet Kelsie and we can all be friends!" He snuggled into the boy's shoulder. "Yay, adorable! I hope so too! If you have kids, bring them here? I want to see them! I want to play with them, and I can be Cotton's friend too!"

"Yep same people how cool!" very cool really. "Maybe so, Kelsie is busy she's getting a bakery set up, and Cotton is really busy with her modeling. I spend plenty of time with her when she's not busy working though." which was good. He looked up in time to hear the roaring of the sharp teeth and blinked in surprise. "AHH!"

"My Daddy's busy a lot too. But maybe I can make him stop being busy long enough to play with us sometime! You could bring Cotton over when she's not busy! We can all play. It's always good to have time off work to play." He looked up when Cupcake did, and grasped at the older boy's shirt in surprise. His blue eyes widened. "Sharptooth!" he cried, hiding his face. "Are they going to get eaten?"

"Some time to play is a good thing. I don't know how much time Cotton and her roommates have for that though really." he worked around Cotton's schedule though. The child hanging onto his shirt was hugged tighter. "I don't know, I've never seen this!" he yelped lightly...and let out a louder cry of surprise as he felt something tapping his shoulder and a sleepy "Who are you...and why are you being so loud?"

"Mei!" Brenny exclaimed, moving so he could face the mienfoo. "Yay, you're awake! This is my new friend Cupcake! I invited him in so we could watch the Land Before Time, and we're at the part where they almost get eaten!"

She gave him a tired smile, and nodded her head. "Alright...well you two keep it down a little, and enjoy your movie." she was overly tired and didn't know why. She felt bad for not spending more time with Brenny, but was glad he had someone to watch a movie with.

"You can watch with us, Mei," Brenny suggested, reaching for the pokemon. "I'll hold you and you can sleep. We'll keep quiet! Really!"

Mei nodded and merely crawled up into the child's lap with a yawn and within moments was back asleep. "She seems awfully tired." Cupcakes voice low so as not to wake the now sleeping Mienfoo. He was rather content with the boy and Pokemon settled on him like they were. This was kind of nice."

"She is. Her trainer died a while ago and I found her in the park. She thought it was a house. I asked Daddy if we could keep her, and he said yes. But I don't think she's rested well since then..." the celebi boy seemed uncharacteristically concerned for the mienfoo in his lap. He gently ran a hand over her, stroking her back.

"Oooooh...that would do it." he nodded his head and hugged the boy gently. "Well hopefully she's catching up on all her lost sleep and won't be so tired after awhile." one would hope anyhow really. For her part, Mei was oblivious to her surroundings, but had relaxed fully in Brenny's lap, looking peaceful at least. Cupcake turned his attention back to the movie again and saw the happy scene of them all being reunited with family. "Awww...happy ending."

"Yay!" Brenny said, glancing at the screen. "Happy ending! I hope Cecily and I have an ending like that, where we're reunited. Do you think things happen like that, for real?" He petted Mei gently, so as to not wake her. "I wonder if Mei will find a star..."

"I think good things like that can happen yes. I don't know if they happen very often, but I'd like to think it can." he smiled softly at the boy. "Hmm...she could. But what would you do then? You call her your pet..she won't be a pet if she finds a star."


"If she finds a star, I'll grow up soon and I can be her Daddy," Brenny explained with a nod. "I'll take really good care of her. I love her."

"That sounds like a good idea. I'm sure she'll be happy knowing she has you looking out for her and loving her." he ruffled Brenny's hair gently. "Thank you for inviting me in for the movie it was really good." he smiled at the Celebi boy. "I should probably go so Mei here can sleep in peace. It was nice meeting you!" .

 

[Thaliawen]

Beach Day

Urban sighed. Why was he at the beach? Oh yes...because Cam had asked him to go to the beach with him...and seeing as he was working on that whole...friendship thing with Cam so there they were...sun, sand, blue water...and babes as far as the eye could see! He was knee deep in the water at the moment, Cam was out on a surfboard and he admitted it...he was admiring the other. He couldn't surf.

Not far off in the water was Phee, or Lyre as she was attempting today...and listening intently to the names people used for one another. Nothing was striking her fancy. A sigh escaped her and she dove under the water and swam deeper for a few moments to enjoy the cooler depths.

In the sand was Mei...who was staring at Brenny curiously. "And whats the point of sand? Its getting in my fur..." she was less than impressed by it really as she poked a foot at it.

"I don't know!" Brenny chirped cheerfully, "But it's fun! See? If I get it wet, it goes up like this!" The celebi boy demonstrated by patting sand down into his pail with his shovel, and turned it upside down. He waited ten seconds, ten pulled it up off of the molded sand. "Yay!" he exclaimed. "See, it's a sand castle! I made it for you, Mei! Now you have a castle and you can be a princess!" Girls liked to be princesses, didn't they?

Niall was not so far away from Phee. After his initial reaction to having been transformed, he had found that hands could be as useful as flippers. It had taken him several days to adjust, and now, for the first time he was exploring the beach in his new form. He had been watching the Manaphy carefully for a long while from the shore. What was she doing? She seemed kind of bored, he figured. Maybe she was? He waved her over. He'd never seen a manaphy before! What was she doing there?

Fun? This was fun? It was gritty and annoying... still she was semi fascinated by the sand keeping its shape when wet, and she settled in the shade being thrown by someone's large umbrella more than happy for it and tried to mimic what was done...but forgetting to wet the sand and it falling to a pile. "Guess it's a good thing one of us can build castles." she laughed in amusement.

Urban decided to swim and moved further into the water and ducked under enjoying the feel of the cool water. Cam for his part wiped out and came up laughing and swam back to shore to have another go of it.

Phee was surprised to see someone else under the water like she was...and at the motion to come closer she did, glad she'd left her boots, and other what not on shore in her backpack. They would have weighed her down a whole lot. She paused by the boy, looking at him curiously.

Brenny giggled at her attempt, shaking his head. "No no, silly," he said, "you have to get it wet first!" He went to the water and filled up his pail, bringing it back over to Mei. "I saw Cam, I think!" he told her excitedly. "The boy who gave me the money for icecream! He's swimming, just there!" he pointed towards the waves, but was surprised to find that the boy had come up onto the shore. "Cam, Cam!" he called to him, waving. "Come make sand castles with us! It's fun! I'm teaching Mei to make them!"

"Want to play?" Niall asked, tilting his head slightly. He wasn't used to playing with others; he had a habit of attempting to ignore that others existed, when his sister was around. But since she wasn't--and he lacked an alternative form of entertainment, he figured he might as well find someone to talk to. "We could look for shells," he said, gesturing to his empty pail. "My trainer likes to put them up on a shelf."

"Ohhh..." she sounded sheepish at that and was in the middle of getting up to get water in the small pail when Brenny got all excited and caused her to look where he was pointing...only to blink at the teen boy coming over towards them and jabbing his surfboard into the sand and settling. "Sandcastles huh? That looks like fun. Sure, I'll help for a little bit. Nice to meet you Mei, I'm Cam." "Hi Cam, Brenny's told me a lot about you."

"Play?" she looked at him blankly. "How do we play? I've not played since I changed..." she looked so lost at the idea! "Shells is a good thing to look for though. We can dive down and get some from the bottom!" well, why not?

"Yay! Good. I think Mei's learning well," he said, and then lowered his voice, leaning closer to the teen's ear, "She forgot water though. If you help me teach her, I think she'll be happy!" He paused and glanced to where he had first seen Cam. "Where's Urban?" he asked. "Is he with you? Maybe he'll want to make sandcastles too!"

"We play... well... I don't know. I don't think I've tried to play since I changed either. I didn't figure it would be so different. We can still play chasing games and have swimming races," Niall began thoughtfully. "We could do that!" he agreed immediately. "I'm not sure I can hold my breath that long now, though..." But maybe! Maybe he had kept that ability!


"Urban is here...somewhere. I went surfing..." he turned to look out towards the water. "Oh, there he is. Why don't we let him swim a bit, and then maybe he will." maybe. He didn't know. "You two going to go swimming?" "Swimming?" Mei didn't know how.

"I didn't think I could hold my breath that long either, but I still can, so maybe you can too. If nothing else I can always go down and find some for you. The prettiest ones are always down there." so much for her acting big and bad and tough. She was in her element, and in a happy mood really. "I'm Lyre...." and here she wrinkled her nose. "I really don't like that name. I'm Phee. For now. Till I find a really good name!"

"Oooh, he's swimming!" Brenny had caught sight of Urban when Cam had turned to look for him. He'd followed the older boy's gaze. "Okay, we can let him swim for a while," he agreed. He hesitated, before adding, "I can't swim." He had never gotten the chance to try. He had been hatched in the late autumn of the year before, and had only been just discovering the world outside his egg when winter had struck full force. "Can you teach me?" he asked, hopefully. "Mei, do you like swimming?"

"I just changed," Niall said, frowning slightly as he glanced at his hands. "I'm still not used to it," it had taken a while to get used to walking up right. And to having legs, hands; being so big. "You think I'd be able to?" he asked, smiling slightly. It was nice to think some things hadn't changed. "Alright, I'll try. We can find her some really nice ones." And if he couldn't, the manaphy was nice enough to help him. "I'm Niall," he said. "Lyre's a pretty name, but if you don't like it, I'll call you by the name you gave me. Nice to meet you, Phee!"

"I don't know how to swim either. Never had a place to swim where I lived." Cam listened to the two of them and smiled. "I sure can teach you to swim. Why don't I start with you Brenny? I bet I can get Urban to help you Mei." "No its okay. I can sit in the shallow water and watch." and cool down!

"I changed not that long ago. I've been traveling around but I missed the water and decided to come back today for awhile." and she was glad she had! She felt so much better being in the water, more energized. "Okay on three we'll go down, and you can see if you can stay down or not." she grinned began to count. "One, two, three!" under she went then, breathing just as easily underwater as above.

Brenny beamed at Cam and nodded. "Okay!" he agreed. "We can start with me! I want to be a good swimmer. Then I can surprise Daddy! He'll be so impressed," the boy was delighted at the prospect of learning something new. He looked forward to showing his father how much he'd learned today. "Can you teach me now, and we can make sandcastles after?" he asked. "It'll be fun!" He hesitated and glanced at Mei. "Don't you want to learn to swim?" he asked. "You can show Daddy after! I'm sure he'll be proud of you too!"

"I've never left the beach," Niall said, shaking his head slightly. "My trainer lives there," he pointed towards a small cottage. "With her mate and my sister. She changed too. We both did. We were looking for shells for Iona, she's my trainer, and we found stars instead. They were very pretty, so we picked them up to take them--" he hadn't noticed the manaphy girl begin to count, until she hit three. He took a breath and dived under, a second too late. He held his breath for a long moment, afraid of what would happen if he didn't. When he couldn't hold it any longer, he let it go and found he was breathing under water just as he had been able to before. He pointed to the sandy bottom. "There! I saw something!"

"Sure lets go into the water now and we can do sandcastles later." Cam eased to his feet and held his hand out to Brenny, looking back at Mei. "Maybe later. I dunno...the water is sorta...unnerving." she'd never been to an ocean before! "Alright Mei. You sit in the water and watch and maybe later we'll try."

"Ohhh how neat. I got tired of every one telling me I was cute, and sweet and helpful...I'm trying to prove I'm not!" and doing a poor job of it in this moment. She listened to him talking until she went under, and waited patiently for him to figure out if he could breathe under the water or not. Seeing he could, she grinned and swam deeper. "Where?"

Brenny took Cam's hand, beaming at the older boy. "You're so nice," he said. He meant it, too. Cam was almost as nice as his Daddy was! He was sure if they met, they would become friends. "Is it scary?" he asked, once they reached the water's edge. "You won't let me drown, will you?"

"You are cute," Niall said, flashing Phee a small smile. "But I won't call you sweet or helpful. I don't like being called those things either." Cute wasn't such a bad thing, though. His trainer called him cute regularly. "Cute, though," he began, "I think it's a way for people to say 'I like you'. My trainer tells me I'm cute. It means she loves me."

Cam squeezed that hand gently as he made it to the waters edge and watched Mei settle in the shallow water, looking like she was cooling down some, and spotted Urban and waved him over. "Hey, mind helping my new friend Mei learn to swim?" Urban looked down at the tiny (to him!) pokemon. "Sure, why not. Hey kid." he gave Brenny a smile and moved towards Mei then, while came gave a gentle laugh. "I won't let you drown, and it can be scary, but fun. When you get good at swimming you can do other things like diving, and surfboarding."

Phee looked ready to protest till Niall explained the sentiments behind it and she looked thoughtful. "Huh. I never thought of it like that before. I'm still learning about this sort of stuff. I never had a trainer after all." she gave him a bright smile, and found a pretty shell with some green inside. "How's this?"

"Yay, Urban!" was the celebi boy's response to Urban's greeting. "Mei gets to learn to swim too!" And even if the mienfoo seemed afraid now, Brenny was sure Urban could help. "Let's go!" Brenny was reassured by Cam's words. The water could be scary, but it would be fun? And fun was always a good thing. "You'll teach me how to dive and surfboard, too?" he asked. "If I get good enough? It might take a while, but I'll be good at it, and then you can teach me!"

Niall nodded in understanding "I'm learning too," he said. "I hadn't had a trainer until the week before I changed. Aoife and I were playing in the water, and I got caught in a net. So Iona saved me! She cut me out of it. I don't know what would've happened if she--" he paused, glancing at the shell. "Oooh, that's perfect!" he exclaimed, moving to the sand to hopefully uncover more.

Urban gave a smile to Brenny, and looked to Mei and after the other two walked off, sat down to talk to her a little so she relaxed. Wouldn't do to go rushing into this. Cam smiled at Brenny and nodded. "It'll take time, but once you're good enough yes I'll teach you, and your dad too if he'd like." well it didn't hurt to offer he knew. "Alright, into the water we go, I'm going to help you lay on your stomach in the water. My hands will be on your chest and stomach..." and Cam began to carefully explain the swimming process.

"Oooh...well thats good she saved you! I hate those nets." she huffed some, and handed him the shell while sweeping sand off of others, a few broken ones pushed away and a really pretty white one pulled up. "Looks like you! All pretty and white!" yes...she'd just called him pretty in a round about way.

"Oooh. Daddy might like that!" Brenny exclaimed, delighted. "I'll tell him you offered! I don't know if he can swim or not. I never asked him! Oooh, I can ask him tonight! I'll tell him you're teaching me!" He followed Cam into the water, and cautiously allowed him to help him lay onto his stomach. "You won't let me drown?" he asked, watching the waves move around them. "You promise?"

Niall flashed Phee a bright smile. "Thank you for helping me," he said. "I'll introduce you to my trainer sometime. I bet she'd let you visit. She's really nice!" He beamed. There were two things he truly loved to speak about. One was his sister. The other was his trainer. He was equally possessive of both of them, and loved them dearly. He blushed at the compliment, taking the shell. "I wonder if I'll find one cute and blue like you!"

"Well I can always teach him if he doesn't know how." he was used to teaching people things, and he was between jobs with that whole body guarding thing, and his school was lacking students at the moment. So his time was his own really. "I won't let you drown I promise." Cam was sooo patient!

"I'd really like that Niall. I like meeting new people...and hearing their names. Maybe one day I'll find a name I like. I named myself...and it's too similar to Manaphy." and she frowned some. Though there was a blink and a slight blush at his words, a sort of shy smile given. "Oh...well...uhm...I can help you find one." she didn't know anything about relationships...crushes...or any of that. So that she was blushing at him calling her cute was...unexpected! She didn't know how to react!

Brenny felt himself relax. Cam was really good at this, he thought. He was good at reassuring him that he would be safe, even when he was afraid. "Okay. What do I do now?" he asked, instinctively beginning to kick his legs to avoid being washed away by the waves.

"I can help name you, maybe!" Niall said, concentrating. He'd never named anyone before. It would be a new experience. "Maybe Laura? That's kind of like Lyre, though... I don't know. Something pretty. Something that suits you. I don't know if any name ever could, though. A name certainly couldn't hope to be as pretty as you are!" He moved to pick up a shell. His smile widened as he swept the sand off it. "Look, Phee! It is blue, just like you! It's a snail shell! See, it spirals. It's for you!"

"That's perfect Brenny, you kick your legs like that. You also need to move your arms which helps pull you through the water as well." he held the boy firmly so he wouldn't feel in danger of slipping and coached him. He noticed Urban now doing similar with Mei a little ways away and smiled at the Mienfoo listening to Urban's instructions, though it sounded like there might be some squabbling there too. Still, he'd let them work it out.

Oh was she ever a mass of mixed emotions...he was so sweet really, and made her feel things she hadn't ever before...but there was uncertainty too. Did she like him too? Maybe...she didn't know. He was so nice though, that maybe it wouldn't hurt to find out right? Right! If nothing else they could be friends... "Help would be really nice. I dunno...I've gone by Grant, Merit, Lyre, Lynx, Bob..." and she began to rattle off the names...only to blink in surprise at the shell and took it from him carefully. "Oh wow this is so pretty! Thank you Niall!" she would have hugged him, had she known about hugs!

Brenny followed Cam's instructions, moving his arms against the water awkwardly. "Like this?" he asked. "But we're not moving," he observed. He glanced over to Urban and Mei, and smiled brightly. So she had decided to learn how to swim, after all! He'd have to tell his Daddy about that, too!

"Bob?" Niall repeated, grinning. "Some of those are boys names, and you're much too pretty to wear any of those," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe Mary, or Hope," he began rattling off names he'd heard before, either on the beach or at home. "You need something pretty." He moved to hug her when she took the snail shell and admired it. "You're welcome!" he said, flashing the girl a smile. He wasn't usually generous--but she was pretty, and a girl. Like Aoife!


"No we're not. I'm standing still. In a moment I'll walk into slightly deeper water so you can kick and paddle against the water and feel it pulling at you. Don't worry if it's hard. It will get easier as you get better."

He saw Urban was already at that step with Mei, who was faring well enough, though he admitted it was probably difficult to learn to swim like a human as a pokemon. "Hey Urban, keep her shallow!" "Sure Cam."

"There's a difference?" she blinked in surprise. She didn't realize there was a difference in girls and boys names. This brought another frown to her face. But no one had ever told her before. The fact her clothing choice made her look like a boy didn't enter her mind. The hug was new and made her eyes widen in shock, a whisper coming from her. "What was that? That...that thing you did with your arms?" how stunned she was! The shell was looked at again and she carefully put it into a pocket of her shorts so she wouldn't lose it. She wanted to keep it! Maybe see if she couldn't make it into a necklace!

"I'll try," Brenny promised, continuing to kick and paddle. He wasn't sure if he understood the concept, but he would try! "Mei's older than me," he confided in Cam. "She's closer to Daddy's age, she said she remembers being young like me many, many, many years ago." The boy's eyes widened with each 'many', as if to prove his point. "She's very smart! She likes being my pet, I think."

"Older than you huh? That has to be sort of interesting for all of you." he smiled and moved into the water to let Brenny kick and paddle against it then, watching and Urban did move to more shallow water for Mei, an approving nod given before he looked back to Brenny. "I'm glad she's happy there with you both."

"Ohh...no ones ever told me there's a difference before. I've just listened to names and tried them out...none seem to fit though." she frowned some and let out a sigh one bare foot kicking at the sand and uncovering some more shells. "A hug? I didn't know...never seen one...or hand one...or done one." how puzzled she sounded! But she was smiling anyhow, and did hug him back, even if it was kind of awkwardly.

"It is! She's smaller than I am, so it's hard to remember she's all grown up. I tried to buy her a doll when we met a bully, but she said she was too old for dolls. So I told her she could get something else. She's very good at playing catch!" He kicked and paddled against the water, attempting to keep afloat. "Yay, I'm doing it!" he exclaimed. Apparently the celebi boy had forgotten that he was being supported by Cam's hands.

"Well, now you have," Niall said with a nod. He had a feeling there were many things the girl hadn't experienced yet. He was willing to teach her, he supposed--but there were many things he hadn't experienced, either. "We can learn together," he said with a smile. "We can learn all about everything." He thought for a long moment. "You could be named after a flower," he said. "Lilac or Daffodil--" he wrinkled his nose. "Nah, that's a weird name. "Maybe Rose or Juniper..."

"Well thats good she can play catch really well. I'm sure in time you'll remember she's older than she looks." he gave the boy an indulgent smile at his cheering and lowered his arms a little so Brenny was more in the water. "Turn your head to the side so you can breathe while swimming..."

"That sounds like a really good idea!" she beamed at Niall then, though look at her blink. "Really? After a flower? Flowers can be names?" as he listed some off her eyes widened. "Oh, that one! Rose! I love roses, they're so pretty! I didn't know that could be a name though. but maybe not for a first name...I dunno...is there something like a second name?" she didn't know about middle names!

Brenny turned his head to the side as instructed, kicking and padding against the water. He wasn't sure about this. It had been much easier when Cam had been supporting him more. This was...kind of scary.

"Yeah, flowers can be names," Niall assured his new friend. "They're used as names a lot. I've heard them on the beach, when I was a seel too." He hesitated, frowning in confusion. "I don't know about second names," he began. "I don't have one, I'm just Niall. But I think my trainers have second names... I don't know."

"You're doing really good Brenny!" Cam's voice was full of encouragement for the boy and he made sure to keep him afloat well as he continued to walk so he'd feel like he was swimming. Mei was coming back up from under the water looking furious and stomped out of the water and up onto the beach yelling at the Aggron, who was yelling back, which made Cam sigh. "Looks like they're not getting along. Shall we go see whats going on?"

"Well then I like Rose a lot...so that's an all the time name now yay!" she beamed a moment, looking thoughtful. "I saw some books the other day...and there was a name I kinda liked on one..." she looked thoughtful...and then pieced the two together. "Armitage Rose...?" she looked at him curiously, wondering his thoughts on the name choice.

"Uh-oh," Brenny said, following Cam's gaze. He winced at the sight. "Sometimes Mei can be bossy," he said, in vague defense of Urban. But he'd seen that Urban could be bossy and rude--and Mei didn't seem to like rude people. She certainly hadn't appreciated Zevian's behavior. "Let's go see. Maybe we can fix it!"

Niall struggled pronouncing the name Phee suggested, and eventually shook his head. The name defeated him. "I can't say that," he complained. "Ami--Am--Arm--ugh! I'll just call you Rosie," he beamed at her. "See, it's pretty and it's not hard to pronounce."

Cam moved back to shallower water with Brenny and helped him back to his feet. "Good idea on checking on them. Urban can be a jerk...and you'll learn older people can be bossy." he gave a light chuckle and got close enough to hear an exasperated ..."........dropped me, twice!" "Just once. The other time you slipped." "I so did not slip!" "Yeah what ever. Are you done now? Or are you still being a drama queen?" "I'm done. I don't want you near me." she huffed and coughed some more, spitting out more sea water looking very unhappy. "Oh boy..." Cam sighed.

Phee frowned. Oh how she frowned. It was too hard? There was a full fledged pout on her lips then, and she of all things sat on the ocean bottom with a sigh, looking lost in thought. "Okay...so I won't go by Armitage...I want people to be able to say my name...but I still like Rose..." she was trying hard to come up with a suitable name! She looked up at him with wide eyes, looking hopeful that this was a doable thing.

Brenny hurried to Mei's side. He scooped her up, frowning in concern. "He dropped you?" he demanded, glancing up at Urban. "You dropped my pet into the ocean?!" His frown became a scowl. "But I thought I could trust you. I thought you were good at protecting people. You can't even protect a little pokemon?" He cuddled Mei close to his chest. "I'll take care of you," he promised. "You don't have to learn to swim with him. You don't have to learn at all, if you don't want to."

"No, it's pretty!" Niall said, frowning slightly. He'd upset her? Oh, this was awful! He moved to sit down next to her, leaning over to put an arm around her shoulders. "Just because I can't say it yet doesn't mean I won't be able to," he said. "I'm still learning things, just like you. Maybe I'll learn to say it. But until then, can I call you Rose?"

"She shouldn't have bitten me!" "I didn't bite you." Mei was honestly really upset at this point. He'd been rough from the start, and she'd accidentally scratched him, but not bitten him. Of all things she struggled out of Brenny's arms...and took off running, looking like she might cry. The look on Cam's face spoke of bad, baaaad things to come for the Aggron and Urban knew it. He couldn't help a grin though. He always did manage to piss Cam off royally...to constantly make him lose his temper. That was one reason they couldn't date. Cam gave Urban a withering look. "You're such an enormous jerk words don't even begin to describe it. Come on Brenny, lets go find her."

She was surprised by the arm on her shoulder, but merely leaned against him and sniffled. She'd never been sad or upset before! It was possible she was crying though in the water like this it was impossible to tell. But there.....his words brought a soft smile to her lips and she gave a soft nod. "I'd like that Niall..."

Brenny was astonished when Mei lept from his arms. He was distressed further when she took off. He sent a glare Urban's way, and stalked over to him. He kicked him in the shin before taking off after Mei. How was he going to fix this one? He'd show Urban later. Failing to protect his pet. Endangering her. Dropping her in the ocean and making her so upset. He'd show Urban! Oh yes. "Mei, come back!" he called after her. "It's okay, I won't let him hurt you!"

Niall was relieved when Phee smiled. He returned the smile and swept a hand over the sand in front of them. He picked up a shell. "Here," he said, holding it up for her to see. "It'll remind you of today," he said. "It doesn't really look like a rose--and it's not blue like you, but I know it's as special as you are. Look!" he gasped, holding it up into a ray of sunshine that had trickled down beneath the surface of the water. "Look!" he said again, gesturing to the inside of the shell. It was shiny on the inside. "I knew it was special!" he declared. "Just like you!"

Cam watched them run and he couldn't help but follow Brenny's example and kicked Urban. "You are such an a*****e Urban!" Urban muttered and rubbed both shins watching as Cam took off after the other two. Mei had very simply run a short distance away and under a pier, hiding in the shaded area and behind a pylon and dropped to sit with a sigh looking dejected.

Well didn't she already have one shell to remind her of today? Maybe two was okay though...especially when it sparkled. "Oh wow Niall! How pretty!" she sounded so excited and she hugged him (and better than before!) before taking it. "Thank you I love it!" she was all smiled again now.

Brenny was having trouble finding Mei. He searched behind logs. He looked near the shore. He stuck his face in the water to see if she'd fallen in--only to yelp and realize his eyes were stinging from the salt. And realize that the ocean was possibly the worst tasting water ever. Why hadn't suicune visited here? The water definitely needed purified! Yuck! "Mei, Mei!" he called, hoping for an answer. Was this what it was like to lose a pet? Was Mei lost? Would she be gone forever? At the thought, the boy gave a sniffle. He had to find her! He just had to!

Finding the shell had been worth it, then, Niall decided, when he saw the girl smiling. "Let's go back to the surface," he said, gesturing upwards. "I'm getting tired--and my fingers are getting wrinkly," he wiggled his fingers in front of her.

It was too noisy to hear Brenny calling for her, too many people about making it impossible...and after a few minutes of calming down she looked out...only to realize she had no idea where anyone was anymore. Panic filled her as she realized that. Cam was keeping pace with Brenny, and they had moved away from the pier at this point. Urban was grumbling..mostly to himself...and making his way back to the car. He'd call a taxi maybe. He could see Cam and that brat in the distance...and he saw that damn pokemon looking around lost.

He couldn't help a small smirk. Until he noticed her wandering around lost...and someone kicking her and sending her flying. He heard a kid yell "Look! A pokemon! I'm gonna catch it!" and pull out one of those blasted balls. Urban dropped his gear and took off at a run, and scooped up the dazed Pokemon before the ball connected. "Heeeey! No fair give it back! That's mine!" "Like hell she is! She belongs to a kid I know." "WAAAH! Dad make him give it back!" the kids dad took one look at the glowering Aggron and shook his head. "No, no he's right...come along son..." "Smart move." the words were growled as he brought his fingers up to his lips and let out a loud, piercing whistle, and watched Cam's head shoot up and look around. "Brenny...c'mon I think Mei's been found."

Phee...or Rose as she was now going to be called by him giggled and nodded. "Wrinkly fingers!" she didn't have that problem really and wiggled her own webbed hands a bit before she was kicking for the surface, her head breaking the water and she breathing deep.

Brenny looked up. "Urban?" he asked, blinking. Urban had found Mei? Maybe he would forgive him for being mean, after all! The celebi boy ran towards the teenager. "Mei!" he cried, reaching his hands out to take her. "She's hurt?" he asked, fretting over the mienfoo. He studied her carefully, before his expression darkened. "What attacked her?" he demanded. "I'll--" he wasn't sure what he'd do. But he'd do something. They'd hurt his Mei. They'd hurt his pet! His friend! His--she was family! He glanced over at the kid with the pokeball. He scowled and sent--he wasn't sure what that was. Sparkling, rainbow hued leaves came from behind him and moved at a rapid pace towards the boy in question.

Niall followed Phee, grinning. It seemed she had the ability to stay under water for long periods of time without any wrinkly fingers. That was talent. He surfaced, glancing at the manaphy. "Race you to shore?" he asked.

"She was kicked as she went darting out. It stunned her. She'll be okay in a few minutes." Urban had been in the process of handing her off to the kid, when he let loose with his attack. Cam saw, and he did the only thing he could, he got between himself, and the human child arms thrown up to protect himself as best he could as the leaves attacked him instead. Mei came out of her daze about this time, and though she was still sort of stunned there was a clear "Brenny no, stop!" from her even as Cam held his ground against the leaves.

She grinned and nodded. "Okay race you!" she raced that way with a laugh, feet kicking as she started for the place she'd left her stuff. She knew he was bogged down with the pail though, so didn't want to make it too unfair to him.

Brenny stopped, eyes widening in horror. "I'm sorry!" he said at once. He hadn't meant to! He wouldn't have--he couldn't have--what had he done? "Urban, take care of Mei? I have to--" he didn't finish his sentence, hurrying to Cam instead. "Cam!" he cried, wrapping his arms around the teenager. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I never hurt people, I was just--Mei was hurt and that kid--and I just--" he sniffed. "I just--I just wanted to protect her!"

Niall chased after her, laughing as he swam. This was his element. He was momentarily distracted by noisy people--he wrinkled his nose at a particularly noisy bunch. Honestly, a kid with green hair? He'd have to tell Phee about that later. Green hair!

Urban kept a hold of Mei, who was sitting up a little and rubbing her head with a wince while Cam himself winced at the hug, and patted Brenny on the head. "It's okay Brenny...easy on the hugs though. That was some attack." he gave the boy a smile. "I think the day at the beach is about done. You two want a ride home?" he thought home sounded pretty good about then. "Urban, hand Mei to Brenny, and go get my things please?" Urban gave a nod, and uncharacteristically walked off without a word.

Phee was on the shore waiting while sitting in the shallow water, laughing some. "Yay you made it!" she'd missed the noisy group of people herself. She wiggled her feet and dug out her socks tugging them onto her wet feet, and then her boots. Before long she had her spiked bracelet back on, and the collar, and her chain back on her shorts...and looking very boyish.

"I don't know how I did it," Brenny said, frowning at the realization. "I don't know how I did it, I was just so upset... I wanted to protect Mei, and--" he concentrated, his forehead creasing as he did so. "I can't do it again," he complained. "I don't know. I was worried about Mei and--I didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

"It's okay Brenny...here in a few days you can come by my house, and we'll work on it together, see if you can't maybe do it again. If you did it once, you'll be able to do it again, it'll just take some practice is all. Like swimming." Cam watched Urban come back carrying the surfboard and his bag, stopping to get his own things. "Come on, my cars this way. I'll drive us all back." .

 

[Thaliawen]

Ice cream, bullies and swear words, oh my! Urban/Cam/Brenny

Urban had caught wind that an old friend was in town again...had set down some roots, and he decided he needed to investigate this rumor he'd heard. He was still healing from a recent mugging he'd dealt with, so he imagined the 'friend' he was looking into would pester him about it. Still it couldn't be helped, he had to know. He made his way to where he'd been told Cameron was living and leaned lightly against the gate post, watching the shiny Zebstrika teen doing yardwork, his back to him. Good. When Cam turned he smiled automatically...only to glower some upon seeing Urban. "What do you want." "So you really came back huh?" "Not for you if thats what you're thinking." Urban smirked a little as the quiet of the neighborhood was broken by his laughter.

A dollar! He had a whole dollar! A dollar was a lot of money, Brenny was sure of it. He was having a rather loud argument with the icecream man because of it. "But I want that one," he protested, pointing to the large red icecream with a gumball in the middle displayed on the truck. "It should be enough! Its enough for an icecream!" The man inside the truck was beginning to lose his patience. "You're twenty five cents short," he explained.

Urban and Cam had been in the middle of their little back and forth when they heard a loud arguing sound coming from not too far away. The ice cream truck had been droning on for a bit, and was starting to annoy both teens at this point. Urban looked over his shoulder at the truck. "Ugh wish it would go already!" the jangling was nerve jarring. Cam could hear a bit better what was happening and leaned the rake he'd been using against his tree, and stepped out from the yard, shirt being snagged and tugged on as he went, though it was left undone and approached the truck. "What's going on here? We can hear the arguing all the way over there." which was drowning out their own arguing darn it!

"He won't let me buy ice cream!" Brenny gave a sniffle, rubbing at one eye with his tightly clenched fist. "He says it isn't enough, but that's not fair! I got most of the money! I'm just twenty five cents short!" Didn't the ice cream man understand that he was used to getting what he wanted? And for free? "Can I borrow twenty five cents, please? I want this one!" He pointed to the ice cream in question. "I'll hug you, if you do!" His hugs were worth so much more than a quarter. Really.

Cam listened to the boy with a sympathetic smile, and looked at where he pointed. "Well kiddo they charge that much so they're able to keep in stock of ice cream. Wouldn't do any good if they charged less, then couldn't afford to restock and ran out entirely now would it?" he patted the boy on the head, and looked at the side of the truck. "We'll take one of those, and one of these for my friend over there." he pointed to the one Brenny wanted, and another, and fished out the money and paid the ice cream man. "You keep your dollar...and here's a quarter for next time too." he smiled at the boy as he handed him both his ice cream and the quarter.

Brenny's eyes widened at the older boy's kindness. He beamed at him, taking his ice cream and new quarter. "Thank you!" he said, moving to wrap his arms around Cam. "You're so nice! No one's ever bought me ice cream before! Yay! Now we're friends!" He pulled away. Maybe it was better to introduce himself after hugging? "My name's Brenny."

Cam couldn't help a low chuckle at the boys wide-eyed response. "You're very welcome." he gave a hug in return. "I'm Cam, it's nice to meet you Brenny. Do you want to come sit over here and eat? I have a bench under the tree in my yard, so it will be shady and your ice cream won't melt so quickly." he was walking back that way and as he neared Urban held out the ice cream. "I recall this being your favorite. You should sit down as well, you look like you need it." there was a snort as he took the ice cream and sat. "Thanks Cam." "Yep."

"Okay! I'll come sit, so it won't melt!" Brenny glanced towards Urban and offered him a smile, as well. "Hi!" he said, waving to him. "You're hurt. Maybe I can help..." he moved towards the boy, awkwardly. He had heard that celebi could heal injures with some sort of ability, but he wasn't sure what ability that was, or even if he knew how to use it. He sat onto the bench, looking up into the tree. "It's a nice tree," he commented, studying it. "What kind is it?"

The bench was more than big enough all three could have sat down, though Cam rebuttoned his shirt and picked his rake back up to continue his yard work. "The tree? It's a royal empress tree. It's a big tree isn't it?" Urban for his part looked at Brenny curiously. "Help how? and I'm Urban, nice to meetya kid."

"A royal empress tree," Brenny repeated. "Oooh. We didn't have any of those in my forest! I like them! Maybe I'll have to plant one there..." He opened the wrapper covering his icecream and removed it. He took a lick, and then glanced to Urban. "Well, I don't know if I can, really. I know I can fix up plants." He'd never needed to do more than fix tree wounds left by the teddiursa in the woods. They liked to mark trees with scratches--something Brenny didn't appreciate. "Nice to meet you too, Urban!"

"I liked it when I bought the house, I've planted a few more in the back but they're not as big as this one is since it's older." Urban was slowly eating his icecream and raised a brow. "You can fix plants?" "He's a Celebi you blind bat of an Aggron." Cam chuckled some. "Oh, so he is." "We'll excuse your lack of noticing to having only one eye uncovered." "Mighty generous of you." Cam was chuckling again as he went about finishing his work in the yard while those two ate their cold treats.

"They're pretty. Maybe Daddy will let me get one," he said with a nod. He paused, beaming at Urban. "I fix plants," he agreed. "I can make forests florish and dead plants come back to life." He paused again, and then said, "I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff you can do that I can't! We didn't have any aggron in the forest, I don't think."

"They're pretty easy to grow really. At least I've not had any problems with the ones I've been growing." and he wasn't even a plant type! Urban was looking at Brenny and gave a wry laugh. "Doubt you can fix me then kid, but thanks. I'll be fine before long. I looked a lot worse than this before." well he had!

"You shouldn't get hurt like that," Brenny said, shaking his head. He frowned, finishing his ice cream. "What happened? Did someone hit you?" he asked, fretting. Someone had hit Urban? But he seemed so nice! He couldn't imagine anyone hitting him. "You should tell someone, if they did. They'll get into big trouble."

"Not my plans to get hurt kid let me tell you, but yes someone hit me. A lot of someones." a lot, a lot. And stabbed, and kicked...he left it at hit though. Urban couldn't help but smile. "Trust me, I've told the police they're looking for the guys that did this. Hopefully they find them." Cam snorted. "Must've been a lot of them to take you down." "There was actually. Was some street gang that cornered me in an alley." Cam had the grace to look embarrassed at the dig he'd made at Urban not knowing the whole story. He'd get it later.

Brenny finished his ice cream and put the stick in his pocket. He moved to hug Urban. "I'm sorry bullies hit you," he said. "If you ever need help, my Daddy's very strong! And I can help too. I'm fast. I'm good at hiding and moving out of the way quickly. That could confuse them, so you could get away easier!" He looked up at the teenager fretfully. "You and Cam can protect each other too. That's what friends do. They take care of each other."

The kid was adorable, and it was that reason Urban's usual bout of swearing at all times hadn't yet surfaced. Cam was impressed, he didn't think Urban had it in him not to cuss his heart out. "I'll be fine, my lesson was learned. So don't you go worrying about me kid." he gave a smile and hugged him back. Cam looked at Urban, who returned the look. Were they friends? It was hard to say. Only time would really tell Cam supposed.

"Promise?" Brenny asked, tilting his head slightly. "You promise you'll be safe? Why were they after you? Were they just being bullies?" the boy frowned. He hated that thought, that someone would bully someone else just for the sake of bullying that someone. "I'll be your friend, Urban," he decided. "Then if they bully you, they have to bully me and my friends too! I saw on television that if you stand up to a bully, they go away. Because they're meanies, but they're really just scared and lonely and sad."

"I can't promise that kiddo. My job is to protect someone else at the cost of my own safety. I'm whats called a bodyguard. As for why, it was a large group of people, and they stole my money and phone and things. They did it to be mean, though I don't think they're scared and lonely. More like mean and angry." Cam crouched in front of Brenny. "As you get older, you'll learn that sometimes, people are mean just because they think it's fun, and thats the only reason. For now...stay innocent." it was sweet.

"That's not right," Brenny said, shaking his head. "You shouldn't endanger yourself for money like that. Maybe if you care about the person... I'd do that for my sister. But she's gone. She left me in the woods, and that's when my Daddy found me." He'd looked for her for months before Connie had appeared, but Brenny didn't like describing being cold, hungry, and alone. "Maybe find a safer job! You're too nice to get hurt often." He hesitated at Cam's words, frowning slightly. People were mean because they thought it was fun? But...how could being mean be fun? Wasn't being nice more fun? "But... Don't they know that if they were nice, they'd have a lot more fun?"

Cam couldn't help but laugh. "Urban's usually not very nice. He's also very big and good at his job. I've seen the person he guards, and Urban's being there is very necessary." "That and I do care about the kid, I look at him like a little brother. Sorry to hear about your sister though." "As for the whole nice/mean/fun thing, got me. Some people just suck."

He doesn't seem mean," Brenny said, shaking his head at Cam. "Maybe he just pretends to be! So he can seem tough! A lot of people do that. I saw it on television. ...You haven't seen a pink celebi, have you? Maybe she joined one of the bully groups! She got mad at me because I was interested in humans."

Cam smirked at Urban, the kid had figured him out pretty quick. "He can get very mean when he needs to, especially to keep safe the person he watches over." "Pink celebi? Nope...only pink anything I see is the dresses Jayme wears. but he's a teddiursa." "Neither have I sorry."

Brenny's eyes flew open wide. "A boy wears dresses?!" he demanded in disbelief. He wrinkled his nose. "Why would he do that? Dresses are for girls."

"Long story short, he grew up that way. He was abandoned by his parents when he found a star, and the only way he could survive was by wearing dresses. He's been in them so long that it's all he's comfortable in. If you saw him though, you'd think he was a girl. He looks and sounds like one." Urban's explanation was calm, and patient. He knew it was something the kid wasn't likely to understand.

"Abandoned?" Brenny repeated, a line creasing his forehead in his confusion. "But why?" How could someone abandon someone else? He supposed, in a way, that was what his sister had done. She had simply vanished one day. The celebi boy had assumed it was because she had gotten lost when it'd happened; he'd searched for her throughout the forest. Now he figured, she had been upset with him. He had, after all, shown a large amount of interest in the human who had provided him with that pencil and tablet. "Oh... That makes sense. I found my star after meeting with my Daddy, so he kept me warm and safe! But before then..." he winced at the memory. "That's sad. His parents should have still wanted him. No matter how he looks, he's still their baby."

"Yeah abandoned. He lived on the streets and was all alone, and hungry and scared. The only thing he could find to wear was a dress...and suddenly people started to give him food, and stuff. So he realized he'd be better off wearing it." he gave a sad sort of smile. "Apparently, he was too different...scary...and they didn't want him with them anymore. That's why I do my best to keep him safe, he's gone through enough in life without more bad things happening."

"So you're kind of like his Daddy," Brenny beamed, nodding in understanding. "You protect him and look after him! See Cam, I told you he wasn't mean. Only nice people do nice things for others. Mean people wouldn't care so much."

"Nope, not at all like his dad. He's a teenager too. I'm just a lot bigger and stronger than he is. I'm his friend." he looked ready to say something but Cam shut him up with a look. "Brenny, you'll learn that just because someone protects and looks after someone, doesn't make them their dad." "That's just ******** weird kid." and there went the swearing. Which had Cam reaching out and idly smacking Urban upside the back of his head. "Language around the kid." "Meh."

"But it's kind of like it," Brenny protested. "Or like being a big brother!" That was two people, he'd met then, that didn't like being compared to a daddy. He wondered, briefly, if not all daddies were as good or nice as his Daddy. Was a daddy a bad thing, sometimes? He wasn't sure. He'd have to ask Connie, later. "You don't have to be mean," he frowned up at Urban. "I'm not weird! I'm still learning stuff."

"Well you can't go around calling everyone a daddy. That is whats weird." Cam swatted Urban's knee. "Hush. Can't you see he's still young? You didn't know everything either I'm betting mister." Urban remained silent, amazingly. "He's sort of like a big brother though, yes. He's even said he views Jayme as a younger brother. Though we're all about the same age. Also...I wouldn't repeat that word he said. It's a naughty word, and will get you in trouble."

Brennen stuck his tongue out at Urban. He blew a raspberry. "I didn't say you were a daddy, I said you were kinda like one!" He nodded in understanding in Cam's direction. "There are a lot of naughty words," he observed. "I'm not allowed to say any of them. I think Mei would be very upset. She's my pet."

"And I'm saying you're so fu" "Urban! Drop it!" there was a slight sizzle sound from the shiny Zebstrika, a crackle of electricity down his mane, and the look he shot Urban was a very dark one. Cam took a very deep breath, and held it a moment, letting it out slowly. "Ignore him. He's a brat sometimes. As for Mei, it's probably best not to upset your pet." he could see both Brenny, and Urban were sort of a mess from the ice cream and he got to his feet them and turned the hose on bringing it back. "Now, go on and wash your hands and face. Both of you. You're a mess."

Brenny nodded, going over to the hose. He glanced at Urban. "So what were you going to say before you got mad?" he asked in a whisper. "Were you making fun of me?"

Urban glanced over his shoulder at Cam, who was standing there staring off into space, and he knew that look. It was the other teen trying to get his temper under control. "Doesn't matter kid. Lets just drop the subject, gets washed up and you head on your way home before either of us manage to really make him mad."

"Can we still be friends? I'm sorry I made you guys mad. I didn't mean to," Brenny said, washing his face. "Did I get it all?" he asked.

"You didn't make him mad, I did. and don't worry about huh? As for friends, sure why not." he smiled and reached out with a wet hand to wipe some ice cream off the other. "There, now it's all gone." he finished washing himself up, glad to see Cam moving again, taking their trash and putting it in his trash can for pick up another day.

"I think you guys are good friends. He must care about you, to buy you an ice cream! Maybe he even loves you!" the boy beamed at Urban, before wandering off towards home. Maybe they loved each other, but it didn't seem like they knew it yet. Or maybe they couldn't tell yet. Brenny was sure he could fix that. Someday.

"We used to date a long time ago kid. We're better off as just friends. I think he bought it to be nice." He watched Cam say goodbye to Brenny as he left and turned the hose off before wandering back towards the bench to continue their earlier conversation shaking his head some. That kid had a lot to learn about!

 

[Thaliawen]

Cam Teaches Brenny a Lesson

Cam had been recuperating for a few days at this point after the little fiasco at the beach. Urban had been scarce since that day, and Cam himself had taken it easy and just semi lazed about. Oh sure, he'd done things like watering his yard but he wasn't doing any of his martial arts or anything. Until today that is.

Brenny knocked on Cam's door. The older boy had invited him to learn how to control his attacks so he could use them again--or at least, keep himself from using them. It had been a surprise to him, when he'd sent that attack towards the boy who'd attempted to capture his mienfoo. He had been so worried for her. So angry. He couldn't remember having felt that way before. He'd wanted to protect Mei. "Hi Cam, I'm here!"

Cam heard the knock on his door, and got up from where he'd been sitting on the floor meditating and moved to answer it, a smile on his face. "Come on in Brenny, shoes off though please. Set them here with mine." he pointed to the spot he meant with a smile. "Once you do that, follow me and we'll go into the back where my little school is."

Brenny took off his shoes and set them aside where he was instructed. "Okay," he said, smiling up at the teenager. "Oooh, you have a school?" he asked. No wonder Cam had been so patient when he'd been teaching the celebi to swim. "So you are a teacher! I thought you were. I thought you were really good at teaching!" He took the older boy's hand, beaming at him. "So you'll teach me how to use my attack?"

Cam smiled and took the boys hand and nodded. "I have a small school where I teach martial arts and such. I figure learning back there is probably the best place. I can attempt teaching you how to learn your attack, and how to remain calm so you don't do it by accident again." Cam led the way through his home, and pushed open a door to the back and crossed a slight covered walkway and opened the door up. "In we go."

Brenny followed Cam cheerfully. He looked forward to learning to control his attack. He didn't want to attack someone on accident again. "I'm really sorry I hurt you," he apologized as he followed the teenager. "I don't want that to happen again."

"It's okay Brenny, it was my own fault for getting in the way. I'm okay now anyhow." he stepped into his little school, it was an enclosed room, though he pushed them open on one side to open it up more. "Alright try and use your attack move on me. Don't worry if you can't manage. I want you to try anyhow."

Brenny frowned slightly, but closed his eyes and attempted to concentrate. He didn't want to use the move on Cam again. It'd hurt him. "Cam... I can't," he said, shaking his head. "I don't want to!"

"Brenny it's okay if you injure me again. It's all part of the learning process. Now...remember how you felt at the beach when you used it? How upset and angry you were? Imagine that you're back there in that situation...and that the boy is trying to capture Mei...and try again." he was more than willing to take a hit if needed to help Brenny learn.

Brenny shook his head. He crossed his arms. "No," he said. "I'm not hurting you. Not again. The first time was a mistake! I don't want to hurt you on purpose!" He backed away from Cam. No. He couldn't do this. He wouldn't. He couldn't hurt Cam.

Cam sighed. He knew this would be hard for the boy. "You trust me right Brenny? Trust me to know what I'm doing right?" he gave a smile. "If so, then trust me on this. This time, I'm expecting it. I have my own moves after all." he winked and got back up to his feet.

Brenny wanted to trust that Cam knew what he was doing, but he struggled. He tried to concentrate, he tried to convince himself that he was back at the beach, facing off on the boy that had tried to capture Mei. "I don't think I can do it..." he began, apologetically. "I can't see the boy. Or the beach. I just see you..." he moved to hug the teenager. "I can't hurt you."

Cam hugged Brenny gently and smiled. "If I had any students, I'd have you practice sparring with them. For now, you have to deal with me." he smiled gently, and motioned a spot for him to sit. "Sit there...and let me show you some of my moves yes?"

Brenny sat as instructed, blinking up at the teenager. "Okay," he said. He felt like a failure, really. He hadn't been able to summon the attack, let alone controll it.

Cam smiled as Brenny settled and moved to a corner and found his practice dummy and set it in the middle, and then positioned himself so Brenny could see. Suddenly there was a flash of light as he used flash, to blind his "opponent", a blur of motion as he launched into his quick attack and crashed into the dummy. This was followed by shock wave, which he directed at the dummy and away from Brenny though it bounced back at him and he used protect to do just that.

Brenny watched, blinking in awe. He'd never seen an electric attack before! He clapped his hands. "Yay!" he exclaimed. "You're good!" No wonder Cam was a teacher, with moves like that! He briefly wondered if he'd ever be so strong.

Cam used that moment to turn onto Brenny and used quick attack to suddenly cross the room though he pulled up short of striking the boy, opting for flash instead so Brenny would be temporarily blinded from the light, the sound of a few strikes next to Brenny's head, the swoosh of air...but no connecting hits.

Brenny's eyes widened when Cam turned on him. He was expecting to be hit like he'd seen the dummy be. He was surprised when the teenager stopped and--he couldn't see. Everything around him had gone white. His earing seemed enhanced, however, and he sent an attack towards where he thought Cam would be. There were no immediate apologies this time. The celebi boy was too busy dodging attacks.

Cam was smiling in approval at Brenny's attack and he used protect to block the attack, dodging to the side as well as he used flash a second time to keep Brenny blinded. He wanted to keep him at the disadvantage to see what he could manage. Once again he quick attacked and there went the sound of fists flying around Brenny. Cam wasn't touching him, merely testing.

Brenny used a different attack this time; confusion. He was confused himself, blinded as he was. He wasn't sure why Cam was attacking him, or why he had been blinded. He sent the weak telekinetic force towards the older boy--or where he thought the boy was, seeing as he couldn't see.

Cam was pleased to see Brenny attacking back and said as much. "Good Brenny! Just like that. Your attacks are coming easier based on need...this is why I'm keeping you blind." well at least he was finally explaining his motives. He felt the attack hit him, and he grinned. It didn't cause any issues for him, but he was proud of Brenny for trying the move.

Brenny hesitated. Cam had planned this? He was keeping him blind because he wanted to see his attacks? Oh. Oh, so that was it. He thought he understood the older boy's movitives now. He had hoped to catch the celebi off guard. He moved away from sounds of attacks, and used heal bell.

Cam finally let his attacks stop, and he stood there catching his breath, waiting for the boys eyes to focus and regain proper sight. "You did wonderfully Brenny. How do you feel after using your abilities, and not hurting anyone?"

Brenny rubbed at his eyes in attempt to rid himself of the temporary blindness Cam's flash had caused. "I didn't hurt you?" he asked, moving towards Cam. He studied the older boy carefully. Once he was sure Cam was not injured, he beamed. "Yay! Can we do it again sometime?"

Cam ruffled Brenny's hair with a smile. "You didn't hurt me no. Of course we can do it again some time. Sorry for catching you off guard like that but it seemed the best way to get you to try, without panicking about hurting me. Making you focus on protecting yourself was the way to go. Come on, lets go back inside and I'll get us some water and we can rest a little."

 

[Thaliawen]

Lirilei

Mei Meets Connie (Not complete)
(Set directly after Brenny meets Mei at the park)

Mei walked along behind Brenny, looking around and every so often asking him a question. Though, as they drew closer, it was a soft, uncertain "You sure it's okay I'm coming with you?" she didn't want Brenny to possibly get into trouble, or to be a nuisance in the end.

"I'm sure," Brenny said, grinning at Mei. "Daddy will be happy I made a new friend, and you're so small you can live in my room without any trouble." He beamed at her. "Come on, Mei. He'll be happy. Plus I couldn't leave you all alone." He was sure Connie wouldn't mind!

Connie had come home earlier in the evening than he did most of the time. Work was considerably more lax this week compared to more recent preceding ones, and he chalked it up to the fact that the bug that had been going around seemed to have backed off. Employees were back at work, so there was less tension in the schedule, giving Connie the opportunity to head home early. But now that he was home... what was he suppose to be doing? It looked like Brenny was still out playing, and it was too early to start fixing dinner.

"Well okay Brenny if you're sure then." the Mienfoo relaxed a little at how sure Brenny seemed about the acceptance of her presence and all. "Buildings here are so tall....the tallest thing where I'm from was the trees." it was boggling to her mind. "Where do you live Brenny?" she was looking around all the buildings with wide eyes trying to make sense of the jumble. "How can you tell which is yours? They all look alike..." there was a low sigh from her. The city would take some getting used to.

"In an apartment," Brenny said, pointing towards the building. "I can tell it apart from the number on it. Don't worry! I won't get us lost. He scooped the mienfoo up, in case she would feel safer in his arms. "Look, there's daddy!" he pointed, beaming. "Daddy's home early! Daddy, daddy look! I found a pet for us!"

It was strange how Connie had never really felt the sense of boredom much in his past, but he was quickly finding that, while his patience was fully intact, waiting on anything was not the most fun way to pass the time. He almost forgot his deck of cards for a moment in the wait, more concerned over whether Brenny was alright or not. He might not have outright said so, but he knew that there were some concerning individuals that lived in the city. They were rare around here, but they existed, and it made him uneasy. So he was quick to his feet when he heard Brenny come calling, but the puzzled look on his face at the words were unmistakeable, especially once his eyes rested on the mienfoo in the boy's arms, "...Eh? Pet?"

Mei could hear the confusion in the voice she could hear, but didn't yet see the person it belonged to. There was some shifting about in Brenny's arms, and she was finally facing Connie, a sort of sheepish smile given, perhaps a lightly embarrassed one at that. "I'm Mei-Ling, or Mei if you prefer. It's an honor to meet you." she bowed her head politely, the best she could manage given her current location in the boys arms. "Brenny...found me in the...what was that place called? ...Oh the park." it had taken a second to remember the name.

"Yeah, Mei's our new pet!" Brenny exclaimed, beaming at Connie. "I found her all alone in the park, and she was going to get cold and hungry, and Daddy, she's all alone!" the celebi seemed rather displeased by the lack of smiling face he'd anticipated from his father upon Mei's arrival. "She needs a Daddy," he informed Connie, with a slight frown. "And a place to stay. Please, Daddy, please let her stay? She won't make any messes. I'll take really good care of her."

Connie perked when the mienfoo was the first to pipe up, unsure of what to expect... but it most likely was not what had happened. Very rarely did he come across anyone so chivalrous on a first encounter while he was in the city, so Mei's prompt politeness shattered any reservations he may have had at the setup. Blinking, he crouched down to be more at eye-level, considering his towering height may be more intimidating than he intended. He offered a gentle smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mei-Ling." There was a slight pause as he considered how everything was going to work out, but he knew that having nowhere to turn in a bustling place like this, unless it was what she wanted, was not acceptable, "Well... I suppose there's enough room. It's a two-bedroom apartment, but you're both pretty small..."

Mei seemed more than a little amused at Brenny's insistence on calling her a pet, and there was a gentle smile on her lips, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes even as Connie knelt down to level with her and she gave a warm smile to him. "Not to come across as rude or anything but...is there something other than daddy I can call you?" she wasn't going into her age at this point, but it had to be somewhat obvious to the teen she certainly wasn't a child like Brenny.

"I'll do my best to help out around here and not to cause any sort of problems. Thank you for allowing me to stay. Brenny's right, I've been traveling for some time now. My master passed away a short time ago of old age. I'd planned on living at the park, but Brenny informed me where I was going to live, wasn't a house." and here, she looked embarrassed but truly she hadn't known.

"See, she'll be good!" Brenny exclaimed, tightening his hold on Mei. "You'll let her stay, Daddy, won't you? She'll be good. She's very nice and I love her, Daddy. She'll be a good pet!" He gave Connie a hopeful expression. "She'll be the best pet ever."

Connie's grin became more sheepish with Mei-Ling's request as he held out his hand to her small paw, "Oh, I'm sorry! My name's Conrad, but I prefer the name Connie. Sorry about that, I guess I was just a bit confused for a moment there!" He would much prefer her call him Connie anyway, as the new term of 'Daddy' that Brenny had been using recently still sounded a bit strange to the teen; he was slowly getting used to it. Glancing around the small front room of the apartment, he tried to locate something the mienfoo could help with, considering her small stature and short reach, "Well, you could always help with some tasks with food preparation, maybe a little cleaning... but honestly, you don't have to worry about it. Any friend of Brenny's is a friend of mine, and any friend in need is welcome to stay." He almost felt bad about asking for any sort of help!

And with that, he nodded an affirmative to Brenny's question on the matter, "Yes, she can stay. I believe you, and I believe her. Sounds like Mei has had it rough... Well, hopefully we can change that now that you're here. Welcome to the family, Mei-Ling." 'Pet' still seemed like a strange title to give the pokemon, though, and offered her an apologetic smile as soon as the words left Brenny's mouth. Hopefully she was not taking offense!

 

[Thaliawen]

Lights, camera, action!

Zev had found himself on an errand for Urban of all people. Why Urban wanted him to deliver this movie he didn't know. He didn't even know where he was off to, but followed the directions he'd been given and walked up to a door and knocked on it waiting impatiently for someone to open it, turning away with his arms crossed. "Beauty and the Beast...the hell sort of movie is this anyhow...ugh."

Brenny opened the door. He stared at Zev for a long moment before beaming. He took hold of the teenager's hand and led him inside. "Come on!" he said excitedly. "I knew we'd be friends! You came over to play, didn't you? Look, I have toy cars! And we can play games or watch a movie or whatever you want to do!" he beamed up at the teen. He'd known it all along. Zevian wasn't as mean as he'd pretended as he'd pretendeed to be.

A mental groan...oh a loud mental groan he was surprised he managed to keep locked away. Urban had sent him here!? To this kids house? Really? Of all the luck...He held out the slightly wrapped gift and stepped inside with a slight mental shudder. He'd get even with Urban. "A...mutual friend of ours asked me to bring this to you...Urban?"

"A present?" Brenny beamed, unwrapping it. "A movie!" he exclaimed, hurrying to the dvd player and placing the dvd in it. "Want to watch it with me?" he asked hopefully, turning to face Zev with a tilt of his head. "I know you like pretty things. I'll buy you something pretty if you do. I'll make popcorn too! We can have fun! Please?"

"Urban thought you'd like it and asked me to bring it over.....and watch it with you yes." Urban's words hand been 'Take this to this address...and stay and watch it with the person you're giving it to or else' the or else being Ghede be told he was being a d**k again. "You don't need to buy me anything kid. Lets just watch this hm?”

"Really?" Brenny allowed the dvd to go through the previews as he stood, wrapping his arms around Zevian. He looked up at him with a bright smile. "You'll watch with me even if I don't get you something? I knew you were nice!" he exclaimed, letting Zev go and hurrying to the kitchen. "I'll make some popcorn!"

"Yes really." Zev blinked at the hug and hugged him back lightly. "So where's your pet rat at?" okay so not as nice as he should of been but still a valid question. "Alright popcorn is good." he settled on the couch comfortably, hoping this was a decent movie. His luck it wasn't!
"Mei's not a rat," Brenny protested, from in the kitchen. "She's a mienfoo. But she's out playing with my magikarp at the lake, I think. Daddy's at work so I'm all alone." He set the microwave for two minutes, coming to sit on the couch next to Zev. "I bet this is a really good movie!" he said excitedly. "Urban wouldn't have given it to me if it wasn't." He heard the timer go off and went to fetch it. He poured the popcorn into a bowl and brought it out to Zev. He leaned against the teen. "Do you think this movie has scary parts?" he asked.

"Could have fooled me." he rolled his eyes. "So she left and you stayed on your own? Why didn't you go with?" then he could have left the movie and gone back saying no one was home. "I've never seen it, but Urban seemed to think you'd like it...and I'm guessing there might be scary parts since he said I had to stay and watch it with you."

"Well, I gotta guard my money jar," Brenny held up his jar from his lemonade stand proudly. "If I don't, someone might come and steal it. I earned it! I'm going to buy Daddy a present. But I don't know if I have enough... I haven't counted it yet. Daddy told me when he comes home, he's going to help me count it." He beamed up at Zev. "I'm glad we're friends," he said, leaning against the teen. "You'll make the scary parts not so scary."

"What is it you're planning to buy your dad?" a raised brow given curiously. Urban had mentioned the stand, but he hadn't really cared. But...now he was sort of curious. "I could always help you count it if you wanted." a shrug given. "I'm not scary? I'm hurt!" but he was actually smiling. "Lets get this show on the road."

"A camera," Brenny said. "See, Daddy works a lot but we don't have much money... So we live here. It's really small and Daddy sleeps on the couch, but I wanted to buy him something he'd like. Maybe if I have enough, I can buy a bigger house for us. I think that would make him happy. Do you?" The celebi's eyes widened. "No, you're not scary," he assured him. "You're nice!" He pressed play, watching the opening credits with Zev. He leaned his head against the teenager, curling his legs so he fit comfortably on the couch. "Oooh. It's pretty."

"Well I doubt you made enough to get a bigger place to live but a camera is a nice thing." he looked thoughtful. "So he sleeps on the couch and where do you and your pet sleep?" he had no clue she'd changed. He had the jar in hand and was counting carefully.

"We have a bed," Brenny pointed to his room. "Mei's bigger now because she grew, but I don't mind sharing my bed, even if she is a girl." He wrinkled his nose. "Maybe I'll have another lemonade stand and earn enough for a bigger place next time!" he said hopefully. He was watching Zev count the money carefully. "It's a lot, isn't it?" he asked. "Nyx gave me a whole twenty! So I know I have more than that."

"That was very nice of that Nyx." words murmured quietly as he continued to count making neat stacks with it all in even amounts and began to count. "Twenty...forty...sixty...eighty...ninety...one hundred..." and here he reached into his pocket and fishes out a twenty and added it. "One hundred and twenty dollars since I wasn't here to buy lemonade from you. But you have it anyhow. I'll collect lemonade another time." why...who knew Zev could be so nice?

Brenny's eyes went wide. "You're giving me a whole twenty?" he asked, astonished. "Thank you!" he exclaimed, movie all but forgotten. He wrapped his arms around Zev's neck. "You're the best, Zev! I'll make you lemonade anytime you like!" He started to put the money back into the jar carefully. "Now I can tell Daddy I have one hundred and twenty dollars for his camera! ...Is that a lot of money, Zev? It is, isn't it? It's enough to buy a camera?"

"I am yes." he blinked and hugged Brenny back carefully, surprised by the reaction. "Want to put a hold on this movie and go buy that camera right now? Then if you're short, I can help by covering the difference." it was so hard to dislike this kid...even with his usual surly demeanor! Damn it!

Brenny's eyes widened. He was amazed by the older teen's kindness. "You'd really do that?" he asked. "For me?" Once recovered from the shock, the celebi boy paused the movie and took Zevian's hand. "Yay! Let's go buy a camera! We can surprise Daddy with it when he gets home!"

Zev nodded and eased to his feet. The movie could be watched later. He instead plucked the jar up and kept hold of it, people would be less likely to take it from him. "I would, now then lets go look and see what we can get for him alright?" the good thing about being him...is he had access to all his money unlike Jayme. So he had quite a bit more than he really ever needed. He could easily cover any difference if it was an issue.

"Let's go!" Brenny was thrilled. He was going to be able to surprise Connie with a camera. And Zev was so nice! Maybe the teen had had a bad day when he'd met him in near the toystore. "I think a camera that can take videos is best," he said. "What do you think he'd like best? You're around Daddy's age."
"Okay I know what sort you're talking about, I'll help you pick out a good one." it was definitely a change from his behavior the last time...those who knew about his and Ghede's little relationship would know Ghede's firm hand was keeping him well in line. "I think a video camera is good. We'll find lots to look at."

Brenny beamed. "Thank you!" he repeated. "Let's go! Do you know the way to a good store with video cameras?" he asked hopefully. "I don't. I usually only go to the toy store with Mei." He didn't like leaving the house without his father, or Mei. But Zev was trustworthy, he was sure of it! "We'll come back and watch the movie, won't we?" he asked.

"We certainly will. I'll help you get the camera set up and charging too so it's ready to be used. As for a good store you're not too far from one so we don't be gone long." he smiled at the kid. He supposed he wasn't too bad....but he sure didn't want a kid of his own...EVER! Too much of a cramp in his lifestyle.

"Really?" Brenny beamed. He was surprised Zevian could be so nice. This really was a huge difference from the day Zev followed them to the toystore and had called them names. "I'll tell Daddy and Mei how nice you are, Zev." He allowed the teenager to lead him to the store. "Maybe we can get icecream, too! Do you want icecream?"

"Yep really." Zev smiled some...and idly hoped news of his niceness reached Urban's ears and on back to Ghede. That was the more important thing! "I can buy you an ice cream. I'm on a strict diet so I don't make my clothes too small." and they were already pretty form fitting!

"And I'll tell Urban, and Cam, and Karpi, and Tristan--" Brenny began listing his friends. "Hm, no. We should get something we can both have, so it's fair! Do you like salad, Zev? I'm a vegetarian so I don't eat meat. But there's a good cafe with salads over that way." He pointed across the street. "We can do that after we buy the camera!"

Zev laughed some as Brenny all but bounced as he listed people off. However the mention of salad...not bad. "Alright kid you have yourself a deal on that salad." he stepped into the proper store then, and headed towards the electronics area, and waved away the sales clerk. "Alright...so video...and pictures too?"

"Yeah! Then Daddy can take videos and pictures! I think he'll like that," Brenny said, looking over at the cameras. "You know the best one, don't you, Zev?" He looked up at the teen hopefully. Zev seemed very smart; surely he knew the best camera. And they'd have salad afterward! Today just got better and better!

bag to Brenny. "Here you go."
[10:33] Lirilei: Zev looked over all the cameras and finally picked out a good one, as well as a memory card a case and a couple of other little necessities like a back up battery for it. Seemed safer. "Alright lets get these and go get that salad." he paid for the purchases, kicking in a little more and handed the bag to Brenny. "Here you go."

Brenny beamed up at Zev as he was handed the bag. "Thank you!" he said. "Now we can surprise Daddy! And I can tell him how you helped me pick it out! Are you sure it's a good one?" He took the teenager's hand. "Let's go get salads!" he said. "I like berries on mine."

"It's a good one I made sure, and I got other stuff you'd need for it too. So you're set." he smiled and let Brenny take his hand for the moment as they headed off for salads. Food was good he was starving. As was evident by a sudden ceasing in chirping and his jaws seemingly at work. Zev rolled his eyes. "Darn thing."

 

[Thaliawen]

MoogerMint

MoogerMint
Despite the random shifting of employee schedules to accomodate the sick days being taken by the others, Connie's day didn't go too badly while at work. The teen had expected some sort of repercussion throughout the week from leaving his post with the truck deliveries earlier that same week, but nothing seemed to have come of it. Maybe the truck driver hadn't ratted him out, or maybe there was no problem considering they had already been done with the deliveries by that point... Regardless, things seemed to have all worked out for the better. Hopefully Brenny didn't mind too terribly with how frequently he was being left to his own devices, either. As Connie opened the door to the small two-room apartment, he peered inside, scanning the front room for any sign of the tiny celebi-boy, "Brenny, I'm home! How about some dinner, eh?"

Thaliawen
"Yay!" Brenny exclaimed, hurrying to Connie's side. "Daddy's home!"he had learned the term at the park, and hd decided to use it. The description provided had certainly fit Connie. He enveloped the teenager in a hug. "I missed you, Daddy! Can I help with dinner?"

MoogerMint
Relieved to hear Brenny's voice emerge from the quiet apartment, Connie smiled and moved to close the front door. He froze slightly as Brenny proceeded to use his newly-discovered title for the teenaged tauros, causing the hint of perplexity to appear amidst his grin. Swiveling to tousle the child's green curls, he asked, "Daddy? Where'd you hear that?" He... didn't really consider himself as very good 'father' material... It was a bit awkward, but he couldn't help but think it a bit amusing.

Thaliawen
"At the park!" Brenny beamed, looking up at Connie. "A girl asked me where my Daddy was, and I said I didn't have one, I had a Connie, and I told her about you, and she said you are my Daddy." He gave the teenager another hug. "So you're Daddy, now. Okay? Let's make dinner!"

MoogerMint
Well that was unexpected. Connie wasn't sure what precisely to be more worried about, but he decided to go the more logical route, "You went to the park by yourself?" That could have been dangerous, especially considering how alien the city was to the forest-dwelling celebi! However, that was beside the point, at least right now. Connie shook his head in amusement at Brenny's assertion, but he couldn't very well call false claim to the statement, especially with how happy Brenny seemed to be at having someone to call 'father.' Another thing he'd have to address... Snickering, he moved toward the kitchen area, "Anything in particular you're in the mood for, or should we just wing it?" Creativity could be fun, too!

Thaliawen
"I did!" Brenny said, beaming at Cam. "I went to the park, but I wasn't alone. I came back! I was very brave. The park is like the forest! I don't get lost." He flashed another bright smile at the teenager, again wrapping Connie in a hug. He followed the teenager into the kitchen, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "Cake!" he exclaimed. "Let's make cake."

MoogerMint
"Well you just be careful when you're out there, some people are more dangerous than they appear," Connie tried to warn, though he was worried about frightening Brenny about it. Contemplating, he added, "Most are pretty harmless, though. Hrm, maybe you should have someone accompany you next time, though. Best to travel with someone, after all." Though this was considering Brenny would refrain from being TOO brave and shrug off his warning. And that smile was contagious, so Connie couldn't sound overly serious if he tried. The teen picked Brenny up by the waist and slung him under an arm as he walked toward the refrigerator, careful of the child's fae wings. "Brenny... cake is dessert food, not meal food," Connie snickered, "Maybe cake later. How about something we actually have?"

Thaliawen
"Okay, I'll be careful," Brenny said, blinking. Had his sister been right about people being frightening? "I've met only nice people so far," he said, with a smile. "That girl, and that nice lady with the pencils, and you! You're the nicest person I've met, though, Daddy. I'll go exploring with you! I can get a pet maybe, and they'll go with me." He paused, frowning slightly as he was picked up. "Cake's good food," he said. "But salad first?"

MoogerMint
"Well I've found that most people around here won't bother you, but you can never be too careful. It's the same with other pokemon, too, not just the humans!" he insisted quickly. There were always bad people, but the right wasn't reserved solely for the Gaians, either. Most of Connie's own blood relatives weren't that great to be around, for instance... "You probably won't run into the bad people, but we don't want anything to happen to you, even if it's a very slim chance. Then again, I doubt anyone would have the guts to harm you at all," he laughed; Brenny was too friendly for someone to willingly hurt! "We'll see about a pet, I suppose, and I'm always willing to go exploring with you, if that's what you want to do! As long as it's not during work," he agreed with a nod of his head, opening the front of the fridge and glancing inside. Brenny seemed to really like the idea of cake... he made a mental note of that for later as he shifted items around and pulled out the vegetable drawer, "I think that's a great idea! Want to grab the things you want on your salad first?"

Thaliawen
"You pick first," Brenny said, shifting to look into the vegetable drawer. "You pick," he insisted. "Then I'll pick! I like berries best though. Remember? So don't take my berries!" He was glad Connie had decided he would be safe around most people; he liked being able to wander around and meet other people. And he'd said we'll see, not no, about the pet! "Maybe a fish?" he asked hopefully. "A small one?"

MoogerMint
Connie laughed at Brenny's statement, setting the celebi down and shuffled things to the sides of the drawer, "Going to take all the berries, then? Can you share a few of them?" He grabbed a variety of vegetables, snatching up some berries for Brenny as well, and set them on the countertop to keep his hands from getting too full. As he grabbed some carrots, the teen mulled over the idea of a small fish as a pet, slowly nodding, "I think that idea is pretty feasible. We have room for a fish in here, I think. Would you be keeping it in your room, then?" Of course, Connie was thinking Brenny's idea of 'small' was a goldfish or betta... "Anything else we should grab out of here for salads?" he asked, tilting the drawer.

Thaliawen
"I'll share them, I'll share them!" Brenny demonstrated this by holding up a berry and pressing it to Connie's mouth. "See?" he said, "I'm sharing! Yay! You can have five, and I can have ten!" he beamed. Clearly that was a fair amount, wasn't it? He paused, before beaming. Daddy had agreed to a pet fish! "Maybe! Or the bath tub!" Would a magikarp fit in the bath tub? "Don't forget the forks, Daddy."

MoogerMint
Connie flinched when Brenny shoved a berry in his mouth, a trait he figured he needed to grow more accustomed to. He snickered, "Thank you! Well that ratio seems good enough for me, I'll just replace more berries with something else to go along with them." Connie liked the variety, and it seemed pretty fair, considering the berries were some of Brenny's favorites! "Bath tub?" Connie asked, "I don't think a fish would like a bath tub very well. What about a fish bowl?" Clearly, Connie wasn't putting two-and-two together here. "Oh! Yes, forks!" he exclaimed, grabbing them out of the designated utensil drawer, "Anything else you want on these? Maybe some almonds or something?"

Thaliawen
"But this fish won't fit in a bowl," Brenny explained with a shake of his head. "I saw them in the lake near by. They're called magikarp! Someone said they're magical. But all they do is splash. Sometimes they can flail, though. I want a magikarp! They're small!" Relatively, anyway. They were smaller than he was now, but they had been bigger than he was, before he'd changed. "Can we get a bowl big enough for one?" he asked. "I think it'd like the bath tub!"

MoogerMint
Connie blinked, assessing quickly what the word 'magikarp' entailed. "Aren't those kind of... large for a fish in general?" he asked, cringing slightly. How would one of those fit in a dinky little apartment? "Wait, you saw them at the lake?" he perked; maybe that could work after all. Snickering as he rinsed off the lettuce for the salad, he saw Brenny get considerably more animated, "Thinking about making a wish, are you?" He didn't like shaking his head, but the idea wouldn't work without tweaking a few things, "We need the bath tub for things other than holding a fish, unfortunately. If you adopted one of the magikarp, it will likely have to stay at the lake... I suppose it would be kind of like having an outdoor dog?"

Thaliawen
"I make wishes on stars," Brenny protested, sticking out his tongue. "Every night and it's always the same one. But I don't think it'll come true, no matter how many times I wish it." He moved to lean against Connie. "Do you think magikarp grant wishes better than stars do?" he asked. He paused, frowning slightly. "It'd have to stay at the lake?" he complained. "But it'll be our family. We'd have to visit every day!"

MoogerMint
Connie laughed at that, "Well stars certainly seem to be a lot more reliable to that extent. Just give it time, the stars are a long way away. It probably takes a while for them to hear your wish and grant it from so far away. You just gotta keep trying." Seemed logical, at least, even if people usually made their own luck that way. He thought about which would be a better proxy for a wish, but the teen really couldn't say, "Hm... maybe it depends on the type of wish, and how much you wish for it? I really don't know, to tell you the truth! Maybe we'll have to test that and see. But sure thing, if we adopt a magikarp, we will definitely visit every day. That's the least family could do, right?" He snickered, patting Brenny between the antennae as he walked back with a bowl housing the rinsed lettuce, "Now what size bowl do you want for your salad?"

Thaliawen
"Medium sized!" Brenny exclaimed, going to the cupboard with the bowls in it. He pulled two bowls out and offered one to Connie. "Here," he said. "You get the big bowl, because you're bigger!" He wasn't sure he understood the difference between wishing on one thing or wishing on another, but he'd nodded in feigned understanding. Maybe he would ask Mei more about this later. "Daddy, let's go fishing after our salad," he said. "Please?"

MoogerMint
Connie snickered at Brenny's enthusiasm, watching the child flutter over to the cupboards and making sure he didn't hurt himself. Maybe it was just because Brenny was so new to living in an apartment, or so Connie assumed, or maybe it was just because Brenny was so young that the teen felt he had to keep a cautious eye on him. "That was very generous of you, thank you, Brenny!" he accepted the bowl cheerfully, offering the salad tongs to the celebi-child so that he could go first. Brenny's excitement seemed to be getting the better of the boy, Connie noted, but he had to shake his head, "Its a little late to go fishing, most of them might already be sleeping by now. I've got work in the morning, too... How about this weekend? Then we can go early, and stay there all day!"

Thaliawen
"Late to go fishing?" Brenny whined, but took his salad with the tongs carefully. "Aww, Daddy..." he would have pouted, if Connie hadn't continued speaking. "Oooh, this weekend!" he agreed immediately, beaming at the teenager. "We can take a picnic and go fishing! Maybe we'll catch lots of them!"

MoogerMint
"Yeah, see, it's dinner time for the fish, too!" Connie attempted to explain, "Some of them go to bed early, too. Up with the sun, to bed with the moon." He could tell that Brenny was disappointed to hear a negative to his request, but hopefully the compromise was better than the initial request, as it seemed to be. Connie jabbed a finger in enthusiasm as well, "Ooh, picnic! That's a great idea! We should be sure to pack something for the magikarps, too!" That seemed like it would be a great day to spend the weekend, and it was suppose to be a nice day then as well. "Okay, that sounds like a plan. Let's do that!" he agreed, busying himself by slicing up some carrots and mushrooms.

 

[Thaliawen]

MoogerMint

MoogerMint
The weather report hadn't lied about the moderately warm temperature they were scheduled to receive this weekend, a welcome advent of a day that was sure to be an adventure. Connie led he and the eager celebi-boy Brenny toward the water's edge carrying a large lunchbox of assorted food items and a rolled up blanket. Within the folds of the blanket held the fishing rods they were to use to attempt to catch Brenny a pet of a magikarp. The lunchbox carried an array of items Connie wasn't sure they'd even use half of, including sandwiches, grapes, juice boxes, an orange, berries, nuts... and some partially-stale bread that he wanted to try using to catch a magikarp before resorting to the actual rods. There was a lot of space they could use to set up, so the teen offered to let the celebi pick the perfect spot, "Where should we set up camp?"

Thaliawen
"There!" Brenny pointed towards the edge of the lake. "We're sure to catch one there!" He ran over to the edge and sat, pulling his shoes and socks off. "Look Daddy, I know we'll catch one! Come on!" He beamed, hurrying back to Connie's side. He took the blanket and picnic basket from him and started spreading things out on the water's edge. "It'll be fun!"

MoogerMint
Connie almost tsked at Brenny for his quick removal of his shoes and socks once they arrived, but was too entertained by it to do so properly, "You probably should have waited until the blanket was... ah nevermind." Snickering, he shook his head in amusement before following suit. "Careful with those!" he called as Brenny took the picnic sets and began laying it all out himself. The teen paused to admire the child's handiwork and whistled, "I'm impressed; good job! Well now that that's out of the way, we can carry on getting that magikarp sooner than later!" If Brenny was so sure that they would catch one, Connie wasn't going to doubt it. After all, he always believed one made their own luck, and with how much attention Brenny was pouring over the day, he wasn't about to doubt it, "Where to start, then? Want to try to see if the bread works?"

Thaliawen
"Let's see if the bread works, let's see if the bread works!" Brenny agreed, pulling out a piece of semi stale bread from the sack. "But if it doesn't work, daddy, don't worry. I brought cookies too! And maybe fish like cookies!" He hoped they did. He had a cookie in his pocket so he could be prepared, if a fish came up and refused the bread. "Are you ready, Daddy?" he asked. He broke the bread in several pieces before tossing his piece into the water. He watched hopefully. Maybe one would come up!

MoogerMint
Connie wasn't so sure cookies would be very helpful, considering all the sugar content tended to be kind of bad for any living creature, but again he found that there was no use in ruling it out unless proven. He was fairly certain koi liked bread crumbs, and he knew that the ducks that visited the lake did as well, but magikarp? He hoped they were so predictable, because he didn't want to have to use a living worm to do the job... maybe they liked sandwiches? "We'll find out what they like to eat eventually, I'm sure of it," he laughed, "I'm ready whenever you are!" He walked slowly over to where Brenny was standing, trying to be careful not to scare any fish away with his larger bulk, watching eagerly. He'd never done this before, and it was actually quite exciting, he had to admit!

Thaliawen
Brenny sat again, sticking his legs in the water. He watched the bread crumbs intently, but nothing happened. For a long while, he sat there--and replaced the breadcrumbs whenever he felt they got too soggy. "Daddy, they're not coming," he complained, after a half an hour had passed. "And I'm hungry. Do you want to have our lunch now?"

MoogerMint
All the waiting had certainly cramped up the teen's muscles, attempting to stand stationary for so long. When Brenny's voice broke the silence with his dismay, Connie took the opportunity to stand upright once more and stretch out the muscles in his shoulders. Well that was kind of a let-down... "Yeah, maybe the bread was a little too stale... or maybe they don't actually like it after all," he huffed slightly. "We can eat, but not too much of it. This has to last all day, so that we can stay out here for as long as possible!" the tauros interjected with a nod, "And who knows? Maybe magikarp like something else we brought, too."

Thaliawen
Brenny took out a sandwich and began to eat it. "Here, Daddy," he said, offering the teen the basket. "You get your lunch out now. But don't eat too much. I think we packed enough for all day, though!" He was sure of it. He pulled out the cookie from his pocket and set it on his lap. He would use that in attempt to catch a magikarp next, after he finished his sandwich.

MoogerMint
Connie chuckled at Brenny's behavior with the food, as though he were acting more adult than his little body truly was. "Alright, I will try. You might have to keep an eye on me and make sure I behave myself, though," he teased, gripping onto the offered basket. Digging through the stuffed contents, he pulled out the orange and held it up for Brenny to see, "You let me know when you want to eat this, if you do. We can split it in half." He then placed the spherical produce back and snatched up a sandwich of his own, intent on only eating half of it. "So what's the next idea?" he asked before taking a bite, setting himself down on the blanket across from the boy.

Thaliawen
"I brought a cookie," Brenny held it up for Connie to see. "Maybe magikarp don't like bread, but maybe they like cookies! We can try that after lunch." He paused and looked over to the orange. "I packed two," he said, pointing to the basket. "So we can split that one, and then we have another to split later! So we both get one whole orange!" he beamed. "But not now, Daddy. That's for dessert."

MoogerMint
He was glad to note that it was not a chocolate chip cookie that Brenny was planning on using, for he wasn't sure if chocolate was dangerous to a fish... but almost anything was worth trying once. "It's possible," he mused, wondering if this would cause Brenny to catch a kid of a magikarp himself -- the younger ones were the ones that tended to go crazy over the sweets, at least in the human's world! Connie peered into the basket and spotted the second orange, realizing he wasn't just seeing things, considering he had only planned to pack the one large one; he wasn't sure Brenny could eat an entire one on his own! But it was true, better to be safe than sorry in the end. "That's a good idea. I don't think either one of us should eat a whole orange at once, but splitting two of them twice solves that problem!" he nodded sagely in agreement. However, he was still eager, and his expression showed it, "Almost done with your sandwich?"

Thaliawen
Brenny finished his sandwich and scooted closer to Connie. "It's nice out," he said, going silent only for a moment as he broke the cookie into two pieces. He kept one half on his lap and held out the other half over the water. He paused for a moment, before looking to Connie. "Daddy, you try to catch one too!" he said. He only turned back to the water when there was a splash! And a sudden weight in his lap. A magikarp had come for the cookie--only, the wrong half. Brenny dropped the half that had been in his hand, and wrapped both arms around the magikarp. "Daddy, look!" he cried. "I caught one!"

MoogerMint
"It is, I'm glad it's not too exceptionally warm out, too!" Connie agreed. Neither one of them were likely to get sunburned if they were out in this weather all day, as long as they were a bit mindful of it. Perking at the thought of trying to coax a magikarp out with something else, Connie reached his hands back into the picnic basket to search for anything else that may be of some use. As his hand snagged one of the bags, he jolted at the sound of a trademark magikarp move, wrenching his head to see past a stuck shoulder, only to be met with perhaps the most bizarre scene he had ever been witness to. Wide-eyed and speechless, it took the teen a moment to locate his voice, with which be promptly began laughing with, "Are you kidding me? That actually worked!" Taking back his hands from the basket, the tauros scooted closer, "What's its name?" He was asking the magikarp in a roundabout way, but figured Brenny should be the one to say it.

Thaliawen
"Karpi!" Brenny decided, beaming, he was oblivious to the magikarp chanting "Eliot! Eliot!" He beamed at Connie. "See, I told you cookies would work!" he said. "You try, Daddy! There are more cookies in the basket. I made sure we had enough to bring some for as many magikarp as we could catch!"

MoogerMint
Connie snickered at Brenny's quick response, seeing that the celebi was already intent on the nickname. He caught both that were voiced, however, so was not oblivious to the magikarp's true name. He waved his fingers at the aquatic pokemon in Brenny's arms in greeting, "Hi, I'm Conrad, but I tend to prefer Connie. It seems Brenny likes to call you Karpi; I hope that's alright with you, Eliot?" He liked the nickname, but he didn't want to use it if Eliot did not appreciate it -- he was a sentient being, after all. "Sorry for the intrusion, but... ah," well... now that they caught themselves a magikarp, Connie was finding it difficult to explain their motives to the fish, and glanced to Brenny for some help before even attempting to net himself any further of Eliot's brethren.

Thaliawen
"Hi Connie, I'm Eliot!" was the eager response. The magikarp paused, seemingly thinking. "I don't mind," he said. "Do you have any more of those things? I want more!" Brenny gave a giggle, looking to Connie for help. With both hands wrapped around his newest friend, he was unable to get another cookie from the picnic basket. "We have more," he promised. "You're going to be our baby!" he said. "So you're part of our family now."

MoogerMint
The tauros was relieved to find the magikarp taking everything so well, and he flashed a grin in response to the feeling. He knew that some pokemon would not much appreciate being taken from their home like this, out of the blue, and given a new one... but more domestic pokemon may have an easier time of adjusting. It seemed Eliot... or Karpi, was very adaptive, in this respect. Stroke of luck, especially as far as Brenny was concerned! "Sure thing, I'll go get you another. Brenny, don't squeeze too tightly!" Connie offered with a snicker, sliding the picnic basket over and retrieving another cookie from its maw, tucking it near Karpi's nose so he could easily snatch it up, "It's good to meet you!"

Thaliawen
Karpi took the cookie in his mouth and seemed to swallow it whole. Brenny giggled at the sight. "Daddy, Karpi likes us!" he exclaimed, loosening his hold on Eliot. "Karpi, we're going to take you to our home, and Daddy's going to try and catch one of your friends, okay? So you won't be lonely. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you!"

MoogerMint
Connie tried to hold back a snicker at the sight as well, forgetting that magikarp probably didn't have any teeth to chew a cookie with. The least he could have done was break it up for the poor guy a little! But he seemed eager enough to devour the sweet not to seem to care if he had to swallow it in one big gulp. He glanced at Brenny and snickered, "We can't bring him home, remember? There's nowhere to put him! Brenny, we're going to have to leave him here... but we're going to visit every day, right? Because that's what friends -- or family... that's the least we could do." He didn't like saying that, but... Connie really didn't have anywhere to put Karpi that would be feasible for someone that had to subsist on a constant source of water. As an added thought, he winked, "And bring a cookie a day?"

Thaliawen
Brenny's lip quavered. "No, Daddy," he said, shaking his head. "We can't leave him! He'll be lonely, or sad, or hungry, and he'll be alone!" He tightened his hold on Karpi. "I love him, Daddy," he continued to protest. "Can't we take him home? He needs us..." The magikarp pressed his fin to Brenny's hand. "I'll be alright," he assured him. "You can come visit me. Everyday."

MoogerMint
As much as he wanted to say otherwise, Connie just could not see any way what Brenny was asking for could work, not with the current living arrangements. "Brenny, we've already been through this..." he sighed; he hated to see the celebi upset, but there was nothing he could do to change it, "There's nowhere he could stay in that dinky apartment. There's not a fishbowl big enough that we could get our hands on, and we can't use the bath tub." Honestly, he had no idea how the people who smuggled crocodiles illegally into their own homes could deal with it... they must have reeked with their inability to shower! "Karpi's lived here his whole life, he knows how to handle himself," he stated with a small smile, relieved when the magikarp helped to ease the boy's sadness, "Yes, every day, that's a promise."