Chapter 20.5: Fan Mail
- - - - - Amiri's Home, Circhester - - - - -
- - - - - Outside the front door. . . - - - - -
The doorbell rang, and Gabriel shouted from his room. "Sis! Get the door please!" Syra's brother was in his room studying to apply for Gym Challenges across the world, so his time was spent going over the basics in the hopes he may one day upend his older sister.
"Why? You're closer to the front door. You answer it." Not caring to take much approach of the morning without a swig of some coffee she brewed herself. Josef, her Intelleon, was there enjoying an iced coffee drink and leaning against the counter with her. There was no reply from her brother as the doorbell rang a second time. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she sat the mug down on the counter and called out to him while approaching the front door. "You're a real butt today you know that?"
"Uh huh." is her brother's only comeback.
Poking her head out while wearing one of her home-made 'Champion' outfits in an effort to boost her esteem and goal to take down Leon on the next run through of the Gym Challenge, Syra sees a mailman standing outside the front door.
"Syra, I take it?" the gentleman asked politely.
"Yes, that's me. What's this?" Syra asked, looking as she was looking at the mail carrier who stood in front of her home. Josef blinked as both he and his master were greeted with an unexpected arrival. The gentleman had come by and handed her a duo of large boxes that had labels on it in her name. It catches her off guard due to its weight but it wasn't anything she couldn't easily hold via her upper body strength. Tipping his cap forward, the postman explained.
"All registered Galar Pokemon Gym Challengers are free to open up a P.O. Box for any reason they wish, should they want a way to contact or receive gifts from fans, or vice versa. Yours, as it appears, had filled up to capacity, and was asked to deliver this on your mother's request. She was notified of it yesterday, so we delivered it posthaste." He explained, getting a stationary and then holding it forward for Syra to sign.
She felt a bead of sweat drip down her forehead while looking at the boxes. She met eyes with Josef before looking back at the postman. "Ah. So all of this...is from people who like me, followed my career, and wanted to have me read their thoughts and feelings huh."
The postman wrangled up his mailsack and began to return to his truck. "That, or love confessions, I'd wager! Hahah!" Hearing that caused Syra to twitch and grumble. As he left, she used her foot to open the front door back and head inside. Her brother was seen coming out from his room with a pair of headphones sat lightly around his neckline and looking up at her.
"Wow, is that all for you?" he asked.
She made her way slowly to the living room couch and laid them down slowly. "Turns out it is, yeah. These two boxes are supposed to be filled with letters from fans. At this point, I wasn't aware I'd have that many. Makes me wonder if Haru has to deal with this in any degree."
Her brother made an obnoxiously loud hum, fauxing interest. "Huh. You know something sis? There's something different about you today..." Using the back of her arm to get some of her long hair out of her eyes she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Gabriel pointed with a smug grin to her top. "Maybe it has something to do with that tacky, replica shirt of the Champion logo as if you already beat Leon. Yeah that's it: are you trying to 'hype' yourself up for Round 2 or something?"
It didn't even take a full second for her blood pressure to rise, and Syra grit her teeth. "If you're gonna come out of your cave to mess with me then just go back to it, prick! I got people who actually care about me wanting me to read what they have to say you know!" He walked away laughing while Syra growled at him.
He put on his headphones, gestured some finger-guns in her direction and waved. "Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't wanna get in the way of you reading love letters and getting a boyfriend now right? Oooooooooo~ Hahahah."
She leaned hard onto the couch cushion and eyed the two large boxes before her. /I said all that, but Haru probably doesn't get as much mail if only for the fact Nessa is a model and Gym Leader. Who knows what kind of mail she gets in a single day from fans, much less from what the fan knows about her. Does he have to sort through it?/ For some reason, the fact she was gaining popularity and was commented to 'be a looker' made her visibly wince. /Shit. I probably have a few creepy letters in here now that I think about it. Well, I suppose the only way to find out is to get some scissors and open it./
As the first box was opened she was greeted by what appeared to be a large assortment of variety of sizeable envelopes. Every single one was addressed to her, and, on first glance, appeared to be a simple letter. "Well...Josef?" Her Intelleon looked at her. "Can you get me my coffee mug? Think I'll need a refill to get through all of these."
Syra read through each one carefully and slowly to make sure she could absorb the contents therein. It hit her within going through some of the letters that, should she prepare herself to become an actual Pokemon Champion in Galar one day, she'd also have to get used to replying to fan letters. Kindly requesting her Pokemon to get her some envelopes from her mother's office and her book of regular and rare League Cards of herself, she'd pick and choose which ones to send a 'special' gift in return.
Some were letters of adoration, admiring that despite the circumstances that led her to the tournament, she turned her image around. Others laser focused on just decorating their feelings towards her as a person: the atypical love confession. These were many, and the majority came from guys. Syra's eyes glazed over eventually.
" '...blah blah...you're so hot'. Okay, This one's too horny..." She tossed the envelope to the side.
Grabbing another one, she sniffed and winced before holding it at arm's length. "This one sprayed his cologne on the letter too thick, so he's not getting a reply...but I will read this one. Eventually."
She grabbed another and opened it in silence. A vein in her forehead throbs. Her face goes sour before tossing an envelope to the side with a grimace. "This one only had a dick picture included. Ugh. As if that even works on women, idiot."
Picking up and reading another letter, she pursed her lips together and sighed. "This one sounded desperate...guy gave me his whole life story and then some. I don't know...Josef it's hard to get my perspective, I know, but trust me on that one." She looked to her Intelleon who was sitting on the floor helping to arrange the letters of which she'd reply and ignore. "Hey, do Pokemon ever act out of line like this? Like, do you have Pokemon that know how to woo mates, are jerks, or have shades like this? Cuz I can't imagine having to deal with another species that's like this at all, y'know?"
He sat on the floor and looked puzzled as he put a slender finger across his chin and his beady eyes narrowed. Syra sighed. "Right, you probably haven't met that many to make such a judgment call, huh?"
She eyed the back of an envelope from the stack. She spots the name. "From: 'Isaac'...hmm, okay." Opening the letter, she noticed it was written on plain notebook paper; torn apart from a binder and in black ink. Eyeing up at Josef, Syra perked up. "Well, here's one. Let's see what he has to say." She cleared her throat.
" 'Dear Syra, How are you doing? I hope that today finds you well. While we never met in person, I always do my best to watch every single one of your matches. The first time you did the Gym challenge I was unable to watch live, but upon visiting it in a recording, I wonder if it is too much to say that you captivated my heart.' "
Syra looked up to Josef and smirked, crossing one of her legs over the other. "This one's a smooth talker so far." She continued and held it up closer. " 'Your match with Haru was very exciting, to the point that you have inspired me to take a second glance at how we as humans view Pokemon and human relations. It has never bothered me what people have said about...'" For some reason Syra found herself slowing down in the letter. She shook her head, and did a double-take before continuing. "...never bothered me what people have said about you, because I have viewed you as angellic as a shiny legendary: something that people make urban myths about, but don't believe is true until...they see it.' Wow. Uhmn..."
She found herself getting her cheeks flushed as both turned pink red. She shook her head once again to 'shake off' the flustered feelings she was getting and continued. " 'It won't be for awhile until I can become a Gym Challenger, but even before then I hope to one day meet you. I am studying hard to see how technology can enhance our lives with Pokemon, and thank you for giving me inspiration to look past my own faults. Please have a wonderful day.' "
Putting the letter down, Syra looked at the pile of 'to send something back' and took a deep breath. "Wow. Uhm...okay. That guy definitely knows how to write better than a lot of these other fans." Glancing up, she noticed that her Pokemon had his mouth agape at his Master. "Hey don't read much into it! I'm a woman! I can appreciate when a man puts his good foot forward." Crossing her arms and nodding, she smirked. "Mister 'Isaac' was it? If he's inspired by me to write such kind words, then it's up to my responsibility to pay that back in kind!"
Reaching to her League Cards, she grabbed one of both her normal and 'rare' League Cards and inserted it into the envelope. Writing a small, but short 'Thank you' note back, she used an adhesive to seal it shut before then leaving a kiss mark on it. "I think that'll do it." /Nobody ever said anything as nice to me as that letter did. You'd think I was still a simple girl to let that get to me...but if I'm going to be a Champion one day I shouldn't allow myself to get attached so easily./
She took a glance at the letters she had yet to open up. /Being a strong Champion doesn't just mean being good enough to beat Leon and Haru, it also means not having a heart that sways so easily when it's convenient./ Her eyes closed and she thought back to the other day before a smile crept up on her face. As if her monologue had no more internal voice, she finished it audibly before taking another envelope happily. "Then again, being able to have others melt before my voice, appearance, or actions, does sound like an attractive skillset to obtain! It could work in my favor!"
Going through the rest of the letters would take up the rest of the day into the evening and upon finishing, she thought back to the idea of becoming Champion. Her image would be far more pronounced than it was at that moment. Could she be ready one day to tackle this on a much larger scale? Staring outside into the backyard of her home, she watched as a Corviknight and its Air Taxi cab flew by, heading towards Hulbury where Haru lived. It was probably him coming back from his trip to the Isle of Armor. "I should ask Haru for tips on how to deal with fan mail...he probably has a much better idea how to handle this. Who knows how many girls flirt with him in letters. Tch. Can already see Nessa tossing them out like 'Nah!' and him doing the same to letters she gets."
Her eyes narrow onto a star that seemed to fall through the skies of Circhester and followed it past the trees. /Isaac, huh. I'll have to remember that name./
- - - - - End Chapter 20.5 - - - - -