Page 2, Day 2: Habitat
Nurse Joy suggested that I 'put it in a familiar setting.'
Here's something helpful.
'Tribes of Delphox roam the sandy dunes of the Sahara and sections of the Middle East. The males hunt for food while the vixens continue to perfect their homes. Like the tunnels of Vietnam, every mother makes an astoundingly complex array of rooms, halls, and traps. Her kits will see her make dozens of such tunnels a year, for food is scarce in the desert.'
-From Professor Alba's 'Encyclopedia of Pokemon'.
I gave the Delphox the whole of last afternoon to make all the tunnels she wanted, alone, in the pokeball. Let's say that when she woke up, she didn't like being in a stranger's bathtub very much. My arms resembled an Incineroar's stripes but red.
You-will-only-make-it-worse.
I threw my arms behind my head and stretched. Snow whipped by the window next to my bed this morning, but the heater swaddled me in its warmth like a mother. Speaking of, it smelled like spicy musk and cloth. After that affair yesterday, I let the critter have the bed to itself. I slept on a beanbag near the closet. So, about seven feet ahead of me, she laid belly down on my comforter, her head hanging off the end of the mattress.
It was morning, like I said, so the soap operas I feel asleep to switched to children's programming. We lifted our eyes up to the 24 inch, soon taking in reds and blues. The speakers recited a choir of children and accordions. Curvy letters popped in to introduce season two, episode two of 'Blueberry Cherry', a harmless little piece of entertainment.
Here's the jist of the episode.
A 12-year-old girl named Blueberry knocked on a girl named Cherry's door. She embodied the word 'safari'. Meanwhile, Cherry wore her Ladyba onesie. A clock in the back read 4:00 am.
"Hey Cheery!"
The 16-year-old rubbed her eyes. Without any makeup, her face looked mopey under the moon light. "Blueberry, why are you here this early in the morning?"
"I wanted to have a sleepover!"
The next part involves turning your head towards a whining Delphox. She seemed to follow a stray particle of dust with her muzzle. I didn't see anything, and I cleaned everything in this room when she passed out yesterday. A bit odd, but it happens.
One laugh track later, the girls' conversation moves forward again.
"If you're gonna go so early, at least wear something a-lil more normal," Cherry says.
"My dad didn't think it was ab-normal."
"That's cauz' he is!"
"What's normal anyway Cherry?"
"Maybe waiting until daytime to tell me this?"
"No! You're always up at arms about 'normal' but you never tell me what it means!"
" 'Normal' means I won't say no to it, Blueberry."
"I wouldn't say no to Ladyba, but...I thought you would have a Cherubi onesie."
"I thought about that, but Ladyba got less of a no than Cherubi."
"Why?"
"That's life."
Then the rest of the episode covers that word, at the end the accordions come back, and bold white credits speed impossibly fast. Usually, the two were always running around taking jobs to earn enough money for a 'Build-A-Sect!' To this day it's disappointing to know that they never got it. I suppose it's because they never needed one, just wanted one, and back in my heyday I didn't understand how important the dollar...
It's not cold, is it? She's shivering so hard the bed is creaking. And her tail is twirling around like a helicopter blade. Part of me wanted to be concerned but the other half said 'cute!'
"You need some clothes."
At that word, 'clothes', the airy Delphox snapped out of her trance and shook her head violently. "Yes, you get clothes for Christmas, Trashy!" She flopped off the bed and thundered towards me, but her little foot slipped on a stray paper. She crashed through the slats of my closet doors then teleported away. Literally three seconds later, I know because that's how long it takes to get off this beanbag, it sounded like an entire football band dropped their instruments at once.
She hated copper pots, I suppose.
I fished my hand through the hole in the closet, grabbed my bathrobe, and ran out.
…
Trashy gulped down something from my trash can! With a care, I snuck up and pounced! For a single moment, I felt a lump become trapped in my bathrobe, then the whole kitchen lit up a hot orange! She's gone again!
``Cunt, that stuff in the can is MY food! MINE!``
Another voice! This one sounded like a whiny chain-smoker! My head was on a swivel, but she was no where to be seen!
"Ever heard of a fridge," half-shouting, "they have edible food!"
``Man what kinda foods ya can't even eat?``
"Garbage!"
``Kiss my ass!``
It was time to have a talk with that copper-warping closet-smashing squatter! She stomped around the bedroom! I banged my fist on the door! "Open up!"
If-she-forgets-her-name-so-easily-she-can-forget-this-too.
``No mercy in the canz! Creeps and robbers pull up, pretends to be yer best bud then nabs ya soon ya turn around! You a creep or a robber?``
"Neither!"
``Lying cunt, I'm giving you one single chance before I mangle your brain like play-dough! Prove to me that you're not a creep AND a robber!``
"Read my mind and tell me I'm a creep!"
``Already did humie! There's a load ah' nothin' going on!``
The lock clicked open, the door swung out, and there she was, in the flesh. Clearly, she had her arms all wide under the assumption that she'd get a hug, not realizing that she pulled her ashy skin all taut over her ribs doing that. Trashy also had an offsetting grin like a puppet's smile. And she had a snout-wrinkle for every scar I had on my arm.
``I understand mister. You hide behind yer thoughts like a two-timing bitch. You'll get your brain scrambled soon. Before I do that, I want to know somethin'. Why do you carry a girly robe?`` I brushed away her attempt to reach at my ear.
"It's a faded red. A dependable, fireproof, red. Nurse Joy said those five medications help keep you stay sane right?!"
I dipped into my pocket. Back in the ball she—when did it get behind my ear?!
``This house was made in the 70's, fireproof framework. Don't get ANY ideas! Same to ya HOMO-sapien! Yer the book I'm the eyes! I can skim, or I can reads ya up and down!``
She snapped my laptop into her hand, slipped it under her right arm, and shoved me aside!
I caught up just to see her do flip onto the couch, making some pillows hurl themselves onto the floor. Trashy sprawled over it all backwards and upside down, with my laptop bouncing to the staccato of her cackling stomach! She wiggled around until she sat straight all while telepathically typing.
"Where'd you learn to use a computer?"
``Same place I learn all my other shticks, peeps walking by! Come here!`` Like an instinct, I almost rejected, but this was the most interactive she had been. She scrolled through images of Serena's Braixen if that costume is to go by. There was another Delphox in the search result, too. It looked vaguely familiar.
``That Delphox is an actor on the live-action show! Just 25, and millions of peeps love her to bits all over every continent! I got told you used to be groomer. You will treat me well. And when you trim me up, make sure I look twice as fierce!``
"Grooming isn't a job, Trashy, it's a passion." I preferred to work with the lovely Ninetales, but a Delphox would do too. She must have read that thought because she caressed the non-existent fur on her bony legs.
``Takes care ma fur well ya gets good things. Maybe I'll consider being yer friend. Maybe…``
"Just say what you want."
``I wanna be a star!" She 'yelled'. ``I wanna influence peeps across the planet!``
"I'm sorry."
``Not in two months, fool! Takes time to grow in the trade! Do as you should and you'll age like a fine wine, or even me!``
Yours-is-too-viscious-I'm-taking-her-to-the-pokecentre-before-and-af-
Good riddance! I've taken her out of your head for the thousandth time, mother. I'm getting sick of this!
Suddenly, she slammed her hand onto her chest and fell over!
…
Do medical emergencies keep going on inside a pokeball? I didn't know, I didn't want to find out! Whilst I rushed to the front desk, Officer Jenny waited on her bike with a speeding ticket.
"Nurse Joy, she had a heart attack!"
The nurse didn't even flinch.
"Delphox does have a history of panic attacks. It stems from their childhood I suppose."
"What happened in her childhood?!"
She lowered her gaze. "That is for them to say when they are comfortable."
My head rushed. Nurse Joy could have told me about this and not in that well-here's-this-and-that-but-medically—
"Is there anything else for me to note?!"
"I don't believe so," with her words moseying into the mist. "I put all I could in the brochure."
I wish I could press her like the attorneys on TV. Demand she write everything all over again, and NEATLY! Stop myself from hopping all these damn hurdles, but she didn't have the time. Now Trashy had the whole night to herself, alone, in the Pokecenter.