lurrien
seg three
Well, so long as I was here anyway, figured may as well get to know the new faces. Pooch jumped on top of the table where Chick was eating her lunch, so I jumped up too. He respectfully kept his distance, not like lovey-dovey Wurmple. I resentfully kept mine.
"In a tiff, huh?" Chick said to us, not even looking up. "You guys aren't mates having a spat, are ya?"
We both growled at her fiercely.
She looked up at us and grinned. "Heh! I guess not. So...you need a name," she said, now looking only at me.
I didn't like the look in Chick's eyes, so I glanced over to Pooch. He had that same look. I flattened my ears. What was wrong with the name I already had?
_My name's Lady,_ I barked at her. Of course, she couldn't understand me. To her it sounded like, "Poochyena."
"You say you've already got one, huh?" she said.
What??
That really gave me a start. Surely she hadn't understood what I just said. No human could've. But here I was, all of a sudden finding myself stunned and baffled by this little pipsqueak of a human girl. I didn't know what to say or think, so I just froze.
"Well, I'd love to know what it is, but I could probably never pronounce it, what with me only having human vocal chords and all," she went on. "But I'd love to give you a name, from me. A human girl. How wouldja like that?"
I wouldn't have liked it at all, thank you. But I couldn't think of what to say. Still frozen.
"You're speechless, I see," she said, grinning again. "Well, I'll try to make it a good one. Lessee...um..."
And then she went into a voodoo trance for like, five minutes. Okay, not really voodoo. She just spaced out. And it wasn't really five minutes. It was just this eerie, uncomfortable silence while I waited for her to pronounce doom on me with the speaking of her human-given name for me. I'd already decided that she really hadn't heard me after all. Or she wouldn't have had to go through this picking-a-name crap. She'd just call me Lady.
"How about...Lurrien?"
I flattened my ears again. Loor-ee-inn??
"Yeah...Lurrien's good," she said to herself, looking me over. Apparently she didn't notice my flattened ears.
"Sorry, I know it's not your real name," she went on. "I don't think you'd like any name I picked, probably. You seem like that kind of a Pokemon." And she ended with a wink, but I heard a touch of sympathy in her vocal patterns. She was right. I wouldn't have liked any name she'd given me. I just didn't want her to "name" me, period.
And...somehow...she knew. She was even sorry about it--I heard it in her voice.
But...how did she know??
She'd done it again. Stunned me. Did she really know what I was thinking? Or was she just a really good guesser?
"Well Lurrien, I'm Kezhaly," Trainer Chick said. "Nice ta meetcha!"
Kezhaly, huh? I think I liked the name Chick better. Well, Chick offered out her paw--I guess you humans call 'em hands--and held it out to me like as if she wanted to shake. I just stared at her paw and didn't move. What'd she expect me to do? Shake back and then roll over for her and let her rub my belly? Psh, likely.
"Well I'll settle for a pat on the head then," she said at last, and just ran her paw through my forehead fur. With no warning at all! Startled me and pissed me off at the same time, but I didn't react. Didn't see any reason to...just yet.
"Anyway, you guys already know each other I know, but this is Kapquety," she said, indicating Pooch. Kap-kett-ee?? Sounded even dumber than Loor-ee-inn. Poor guy. I woulda laughed at him if I weren't stuck in the same boat with Miss Trainer Chick Of The Dumb Names.
"And that's Chadras," she continued, pointing to the cool as cream cheese Muddy Lieutenant on the table with us, "and Rondo," she said to the Wurmple on the floor, "and Jiyrelle!" she finished, introducing the Zigg. Zigg shot me a friendly look. I shot her a dirty look. Wish I coulda shot her with a grass spitball instead. No nearby grass in the "Center" to pluck off and chew.
And then, just when it seemed like she'd run out of junk to say, Chick said, "And that's my team. Welcome to it!" while wearing this slightly bemused smirk on her face, the kind that says, 'Don't take me too seriously'. So I didn't. But I did give her my best I-don't-care stare in return. Meanwhile, she kept going. "Someday we may be big and strong and famous and everything, and have lotsa money, and go on tours and show people our Pokemon moves on TV....pshhh! Yeah, right. Like as if that'll ever be me." She cut off a bite of food with her fork and scooped it up, then pushed it into her mouth and continued talking while she chewed. "I don't care, really, if we're famous or not. I just wanna have fun." Gulp. "I don't even like those famous people sometimes." She picked up a cup with a straw poking out the top and put the straw to her lips, then put the cup back down when she'd drank enough. "They're so snotty, and they treat their Pokemon all weird."
And that was all she said. Chick's little diatribe on her philosophy of being a trainer clone. Would've gone in my one ear and out my other, if I hadn't noticed something weird myself, about how quiet she'd gotten after she quit talking. Real quiet. Just sitting there staring out the window. I saw her eyes. They were focused on something far away, but I knew she wasn't looking at anything she could see out that window. 'Cause I knew that look. Same look I'd seen in Pooch's eyes while he was looking at the stars in the night sky, when I knew he wasn't stargazing. In spite of myself...I wondered what Trainer Chick was thinkin' about.
seg three
Well, so long as I was here anyway, figured may as well get to know the new faces. Pooch jumped on top of the table where Chick was eating her lunch, so I jumped up too. He respectfully kept his distance, not like lovey-dovey Wurmple. I resentfully kept mine.
"In a tiff, huh?" Chick said to us, not even looking up. "You guys aren't mates having a spat, are ya?"
We both growled at her fiercely.
She looked up at us and grinned. "Heh! I guess not. So...you need a name," she said, now looking only at me.
I didn't like the look in Chick's eyes, so I glanced over to Pooch. He had that same look. I flattened my ears. What was wrong with the name I already had?
_My name's Lady,_ I barked at her. Of course, she couldn't understand me. To her it sounded like, "Poochyena."
"You say you've already got one, huh?" she said.
What??
That really gave me a start. Surely she hadn't understood what I just said. No human could've. But here I was, all of a sudden finding myself stunned and baffled by this little pipsqueak of a human girl. I didn't know what to say or think, so I just froze.
"Well, I'd love to know what it is, but I could probably never pronounce it, what with me only having human vocal chords and all," she went on. "But I'd love to give you a name, from me. A human girl. How wouldja like that?"
I wouldn't have liked it at all, thank you. But I couldn't think of what to say. Still frozen.
"You're speechless, I see," she said, grinning again. "Well, I'll try to make it a good one. Lessee...um..."
And then she went into a voodoo trance for like, five minutes. Okay, not really voodoo. She just spaced out. And it wasn't really five minutes. It was just this eerie, uncomfortable silence while I waited for her to pronounce doom on me with the speaking of her human-given name for me. I'd already decided that she really hadn't heard me after all. Or she wouldn't have had to go through this picking-a-name crap. She'd just call me Lady.
"How about...Lurrien?"
I flattened my ears again. Loor-ee-inn??
"Yeah...Lurrien's good," she said to herself, looking me over. Apparently she didn't notice my flattened ears.
"Sorry, I know it's not your real name," she went on. "I don't think you'd like any name I picked, probably. You seem like that kind of a Pokemon." And she ended with a wink, but I heard a touch of sympathy in her vocal patterns. She was right. I wouldn't have liked any name she'd given me. I just didn't want her to "name" me, period.
And...somehow...she knew. She was even sorry about it--I heard it in her voice.
But...how did she know??
She'd done it again. Stunned me. Did she really know what I was thinking? Or was she just a really good guesser?
"Well Lurrien, I'm Kezhaly," Trainer Chick said. "Nice ta meetcha!"
Kezhaly, huh? I think I liked the name Chick better. Well, Chick offered out her paw--I guess you humans call 'em hands--and held it out to me like as if she wanted to shake. I just stared at her paw and didn't move. What'd she expect me to do? Shake back and then roll over for her and let her rub my belly? Psh, likely.
"Well I'll settle for a pat on the head then," she said at last, and just ran her paw through my forehead fur. With no warning at all! Startled me and pissed me off at the same time, but I didn't react. Didn't see any reason to...just yet.
"Anyway, you guys already know each other I know, but this is Kapquety," she said, indicating Pooch. Kap-kett-ee?? Sounded even dumber than Loor-ee-inn. Poor guy. I woulda laughed at him if I weren't stuck in the same boat with Miss Trainer Chick Of The Dumb Names.
"And that's Chadras," she continued, pointing to the cool as cream cheese Muddy Lieutenant on the table with us, "and Rondo," she said to the Wurmple on the floor, "and Jiyrelle!" she finished, introducing the Zigg. Zigg shot me a friendly look. I shot her a dirty look. Wish I coulda shot her with a grass spitball instead. No nearby grass in the "Center" to pluck off and chew.
And then, just when it seemed like she'd run out of junk to say, Chick said, "And that's my team. Welcome to it!" while wearing this slightly bemused smirk on her face, the kind that says, 'Don't take me too seriously'. So I didn't. But I did give her my best I-don't-care stare in return. Meanwhile, she kept going. "Someday we may be big and strong and famous and everything, and have lotsa money, and go on tours and show people our Pokemon moves on TV....pshhh! Yeah, right. Like as if that'll ever be me." She cut off a bite of food with her fork and scooped it up, then pushed it into her mouth and continued talking while she chewed. "I don't care, really, if we're famous or not. I just wanna have fun." Gulp. "I don't even like those famous people sometimes." She picked up a cup with a straw poking out the top and put the straw to her lips, then put the cup back down when she'd drank enough. "They're so snotty, and they treat their Pokemon all weird."
And that was all she said. Chick's little diatribe on her philosophy of being a trainer clone. Would've gone in my one ear and out my other, if I hadn't noticed something weird myself, about how quiet she'd gotten after she quit talking. Real quiet. Just sitting there staring out the window. I saw her eyes. They were focused on something far away, but I knew she wasn't looking at anything she could see out that window. 'Cause I knew that look. Same look I'd seen in Pooch's eyes while he was looking at the stars in the night sky, when I knew he wasn't stargazing. In spite of myself...I wondered what Trainer Chick was thinkin' about.