lurrien
seg 7
I peeked around the corner of the P.C. Little patch of light was on the ground in front of the glass doors. Dang, these Nurse Jokeys stay up late. Musta been past midnight by now. They must work in shifts or something, them and all their identical mutant clones. Just like trainers. It's a whole system, and it sucks.
Pooch was coming now. Little shadow crept up from the edge of the patch of light, gettin' bigger and eventually bounding out the doors. As he rounded over my way I ducked back behind my corner, pretending not to be anxiously waiting for him. Despite the fact that I missed him badly. I could feel it when I first saw him up in that window. But I wasn't about to let _him_ know that.
And don't _you_ go off gettin' the wrong idea either, Mister or Miss I-Smell-A-Sappy-Love-Story-Here Reader. I told you before, I have no interest in him as a mate. He's just my friend. My best one, though. And my only one.
"Hey Lady, long time no see!" Pooch said, grinning like a goof at his own joke.
I stuck my tongue out at him and spat him a raspberry. "You'd better not be making me come up there afterwards, Pooch. 'Cause I'm not goin'."
"Aw, c'mon, why not?" he whined. Dang, I hate whining.
"'Cause. I said so."
"You don't know what'cher missin'. It's really cool."
"How cool can it be?? It's just some dinky little crap-ass P.C. in a tiny podunk town in the middle of nowhere!"
"Crap-ass?" he smiled, giving me a funny look. "That's a new one."
"Shut up," I laughed. Yeah I just made that up, but so? I could've said worse things.
Then we greeted each other, formally. Touched noses and brushed across each others' flanks. Poochyena equivalent of a hug. 'Cept it means a little more coming from a pokie.
We horsed around for a bit. Play tussle fights, chasing after bugs with wings, racing around here and there. It was like we were burning up puppy energy or something. I dunno. I for one certainly felt glad to be hanging out with him tonight. But I could tell that he was looking a little tired before long. I could smell it.
"Long day?" I said, panting and somewhat breathless after all the running around.
"Yeah," Pooch replied, panting likewise. "Lotta training."
I felt my mood starting to sour. Reality was checking back in. Yeah, I probably could've just gone on with the rest of the night without saying anything, but it had been nagging at me all day, and I've never been one to put reality aside for the sake of pleasantries.
"Pooch, what're we gonna do?" I said, my voice lowering itself a little.
"Whaddya mean?"
"I mean are we gonna hafta say goodbye or what?" I stated, turning to look at him. I'd figured it all out in my head already. If he was gonna be so frickin' deadfast on staying with his Trainer Chick, there's no way we'd be able to keep up on our friendship. 'Cause she'll be gone and he'll be gone with her, but me, I wasn't going anywhere. And so the whole conclusion to all this crap would be, 'Goodbye, Pooch'. I was just being blunt about it. As usual.
Pooch just paused for a little, as if trying to figure out what the heyball I was talking about. Finally I think he got it. "I dunno. I guess. If you're still not willing to come with us."
Suddenly I felt myself about to strangle him. Just from the suggestion that I _might_ wanna go. But I kept my cool. Well mostly, anyway. My tongue sharpened itself a few notches. "Pooch, why're you even going along with this? Why're you..._humiliating_ yourself now? Bein' a pet puppy dog to some...half-grown Trainer Clone human girl?"
"Half-grown Trainer Clone," he said, smirking slightly. "You're a poet and didn't know it."
"Very funny." I wasn't smiling at all.
"Okay," he said, smirk fading. I think he knew he had bad timing with that one. "I knew you were gonna say something like that," he replied. "I dunno why, Lady. I wish I could explain. But..."
And then it was one of those 'buts' with a _long_ pause. I waited for him to finish. Very impatiently, I might add...because I wanted to smack him after he finished his sentence. 'Cause what kinda crappy excuse was that?? 'I dunno, I can't explain...'
"...I guess...it's just one of those things you hafta see for yourself," he said.
Okay, so I didn't smack him. But it was still a lame and predictable finish. "Well, hel-lo Pooch, I _have_ seen it for myself, remember? I spent about half an hour in the custody of your Trainer Chick!"
"But see, that was only half an hour."
"Well it was long enough for me."
"You haven't spent any real time with her. Any personal time."
"And what difference would that make??"
"Plenty."
So the magic formula was supposed to be, spend a little time with a Trainer Clone, and presto! Just like that, I'll wanna be a Pokeslave. I jumped to a counter-argument.
"And what if I just didn't like the bitch?" I shrugged.
Inside, I was laughing to myself. If this were on some TV show or fanfic story or something, I might've thought I was hilarious. But here in reality...well, sort of...and with no audience other than Pooch, I could see that I'd just spat some serious acid in his face.
His fur bristled, and his voice deepened. "You don't have to like her," he growled, "but if you'd even given her a chance, maybe you'd see things differently."
Suddenly all my sense of humor was gone too. "Fat chance," I spat.
"Fine then," he said.
Silence fell between us. Fuming, sullen silence. I tried to think of something else to say. If we kept quiet too long, the conversation would probably die right there. He'd go back to the stupid P.C., crawl in bed with his damned Trainer Chick, and that'd be it. And I may never see him again. Didn't want it to end like this.
seg 7
I peeked around the corner of the P.C. Little patch of light was on the ground in front of the glass doors. Dang, these Nurse Jokeys stay up late. Musta been past midnight by now. They must work in shifts or something, them and all their identical mutant clones. Just like trainers. It's a whole system, and it sucks.
Pooch was coming now. Little shadow crept up from the edge of the patch of light, gettin' bigger and eventually bounding out the doors. As he rounded over my way I ducked back behind my corner, pretending not to be anxiously waiting for him. Despite the fact that I missed him badly. I could feel it when I first saw him up in that window. But I wasn't about to let _him_ know that.
And don't _you_ go off gettin' the wrong idea either, Mister or Miss I-Smell-A-Sappy-Love-Story-Here Reader. I told you before, I have no interest in him as a mate. He's just my friend. My best one, though. And my only one.
"Hey Lady, long time no see!" Pooch said, grinning like a goof at his own joke.
I stuck my tongue out at him and spat him a raspberry. "You'd better not be making me come up there afterwards, Pooch. 'Cause I'm not goin'."
"Aw, c'mon, why not?" he whined. Dang, I hate whining.
"'Cause. I said so."
"You don't know what'cher missin'. It's really cool."
"How cool can it be?? It's just some dinky little crap-ass P.C. in a tiny podunk town in the middle of nowhere!"
"Crap-ass?" he smiled, giving me a funny look. "That's a new one."
"Shut up," I laughed. Yeah I just made that up, but so? I could've said worse things.
Then we greeted each other, formally. Touched noses and brushed across each others' flanks. Poochyena equivalent of a hug. 'Cept it means a little more coming from a pokie.
We horsed around for a bit. Play tussle fights, chasing after bugs with wings, racing around here and there. It was like we were burning up puppy energy or something. I dunno. I for one certainly felt glad to be hanging out with him tonight. But I could tell that he was looking a little tired before long. I could smell it.
"Long day?" I said, panting and somewhat breathless after all the running around.
"Yeah," Pooch replied, panting likewise. "Lotta training."
I felt my mood starting to sour. Reality was checking back in. Yeah, I probably could've just gone on with the rest of the night without saying anything, but it had been nagging at me all day, and I've never been one to put reality aside for the sake of pleasantries.
"Pooch, what're we gonna do?" I said, my voice lowering itself a little.
"Whaddya mean?"
"I mean are we gonna hafta say goodbye or what?" I stated, turning to look at him. I'd figured it all out in my head already. If he was gonna be so frickin' deadfast on staying with his Trainer Chick, there's no way we'd be able to keep up on our friendship. 'Cause she'll be gone and he'll be gone with her, but me, I wasn't going anywhere. And so the whole conclusion to all this crap would be, 'Goodbye, Pooch'. I was just being blunt about it. As usual.
Pooch just paused for a little, as if trying to figure out what the heyball I was talking about. Finally I think he got it. "I dunno. I guess. If you're still not willing to come with us."
Suddenly I felt myself about to strangle him. Just from the suggestion that I _might_ wanna go. But I kept my cool. Well mostly, anyway. My tongue sharpened itself a few notches. "Pooch, why're you even going along with this? Why're you..._humiliating_ yourself now? Bein' a pet puppy dog to some...half-grown Trainer Clone human girl?"
"Half-grown Trainer Clone," he said, smirking slightly. "You're a poet and didn't know it."
"Very funny." I wasn't smiling at all.
"Okay," he said, smirk fading. I think he knew he had bad timing with that one. "I knew you were gonna say something like that," he replied. "I dunno why, Lady. I wish I could explain. But..."
And then it was one of those 'buts' with a _long_ pause. I waited for him to finish. Very impatiently, I might add...because I wanted to smack him after he finished his sentence. 'Cause what kinda crappy excuse was that?? 'I dunno, I can't explain...'
"...I guess...it's just one of those things you hafta see for yourself," he said.
Okay, so I didn't smack him. But it was still a lame and predictable finish. "Well, hel-lo Pooch, I _have_ seen it for myself, remember? I spent about half an hour in the custody of your Trainer Chick!"
"But see, that was only half an hour."
"Well it was long enough for me."
"You haven't spent any real time with her. Any personal time."
"And what difference would that make??"
"Plenty."
So the magic formula was supposed to be, spend a little time with a Trainer Clone, and presto! Just like that, I'll wanna be a Pokeslave. I jumped to a counter-argument.
"And what if I just didn't like the bitch?" I shrugged.
Inside, I was laughing to myself. If this were on some TV show or fanfic story or something, I might've thought I was hilarious. But here in reality...well, sort of...and with no audience other than Pooch, I could see that I'd just spat some serious acid in his face.
His fur bristled, and his voice deepened. "You don't have to like her," he growled, "but if you'd even given her a chance, maybe you'd see things differently."
Suddenly all my sense of humor was gone too. "Fat chance," I spat.
"Fine then," he said.
Silence fell between us. Fuming, sullen silence. I tried to think of something else to say. If we kept quiet too long, the conversation would probably die right there. He'd go back to the stupid P.C., crawl in bed with his damned Trainer Chick, and that'd be it. And I may never see him again. Didn't want it to end like this.