A/N: New artworks of this story's version of Scarlet Koito as well as a group shot of the main four have been made! Can't link them here on FF but if you check out the fic on AO3 they'll be shared there. Or you can check out my twitter D3stiny_Sm4sher and I've uploaded them, as well as on DeviantArt (Destiny-Smasher). More artworks are on the way!
PRESENT DAY
Chapter 3
The First Night Home
(Part 1)
"-... just... a lot. Isn't it?" Nemona finished her ramble, running her long-haired Pokémon brush along her Lycanroc's tail. She sighed tiredly for a few seconds as she continued fur maintenance duty. She lamented in a soft moan, "I never thought... adult-ing would be this complicated..."
"... Brrr-uff," Lyla replied with a soft, intimate bark. She nudged her snout into Nemona's left armpit, the puffs of dog breath tickling Nemona's pit hairs and causing her to flinch back and giggle, which devolved into a few seconds of cuddling and the smallest of licks against Nemona's nose. And for those few seconds, all of Nemona's fears about the future vanished, lost in the sensory comfort of fur and warmth and empathy that only a Pokémon could convey to their human companion.
Lyla seemed to have a knack for that – getting Nemona to physically react in ways that she needed. They'd known each other for over 5 years now, and Nemona's heart swelled with pride at how far Lyla had come. She sure wasn't that little, bitey, rowdy Rockruff anymore...
"... Wwwowff," Lyla uttered, gently smacking Nemona's arm with her tail as it wagged.
"Heh. Yeah," Nemona murmured warmly. "I agree..." she said, to nothing in particular, just the vibes.
She scooped the brush back up and resumed tidying Lyla's fur. Down to the tail at this point, so, almost done.
The sounds of pokéballs releasing their creatures reverberated from outside the flat's front door, and the utterances of a familiar assortment of pets could be heard, including paws padding at the wood from outside.
"Buff-buff!"
"Sounds like they're back, Lyla," Nemona noted, giving her 'mon a tender scratching behind the ear.
Lyla's pointed ears flicked a bit, but her eyes closed and her lips loosed open. Nemona seized the opportunity, placing her brush down and going all-in on administering head scratches from skull to chin.
The yips and yops of Penny's Pokémon flooded into the flat as the door was unlocked and the lot of them scrambled inside.
"Gwah-!" Penny yelped, a sting of Jolteon-juiced static electricity spiking up her leg. Her hands tightly gripped a couple paper bags of the food, but the small stumble she recovered from quickly, though her glasses tilted against her nose.
"Vivi, vivv!" "Vee~" "Vrr-rrrr..."
"Brrrufff!"
Nemona chuckled with a bit of wariness as the cacophony of critter calls quickly ignited the flat into a frenzy of hungry noise. She was a little concerned for the folks downstairs, but it was a salon shop beneath them, so it likely wasn't much to worry about, much less at this evening hour. Furthermore, while Nemona could focus and drown out the noise (she was used to doing so when workers at the family manor were buzzing about), it still could be overwhelming when she was ready for a quiet evening, especially the first in her new home.
Nemona could see Lyla's excitement light up on her face at the prospect of playing with Penny's Veevees. And yet, while the obedient dog trembled beneath Nemona's hands, eyes darting around, she did not budge from her spot. A well trained pup, Lyla was. Nemona couldn't help but admire that disciplined patience for a few seconds, her heart beaming with pride at her dog daughter.
"OK, OK," Nemona at last cooed, planting a small kiss against the side of Lyla's snout. "Good girl. You can go," she permitted. She held her palm out to feel the rush of fur slide against her skin as her Pokémon scampered into the kitchen, which was quite close by.
"Ruff-ruff!"
"Veee~" "VvvvVVVvvv..." "Vaaahh..."
"Hey," Nemona greeted her girlfriend, lifting her voice to eke through the monster barking. She watched as Penny loosed the laces on her canvas sneakers, kicking them off.
"VREE!"
"Hey, Nem-Oh-my-Arc," Penny suddenly sighed at the noise, gawping at their pets causing a ruckus as she hung up her jacket. The stack of empty food bowls was getting messed about. They clearly knew what was coming.
Nemona got up and walked over to where her broken down boxes lay, at Penny's side in front of the door. They watched the situation in the kitchen as Lyla play fought with a small army of Eeveelutions, pretending to be felled by their mass.
Nemona stole a side glance at Penny, admiring the way the woman's face settled into a warm glow at the sight of her beloved rascals. Unable to contain a small grin, Nemona wriggled an arm around Penny's waist, slipping her fingers up the back of Penny's shirt to gently scratch at her back.
"Welcome home," Nemona said into Penny's ear. It felt nice to say it and have it carry proper context.
This was home now. She had un amor-... a lovely girlfriend to welcome back home...
Nemona shuffled her way behind Penny, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist, pressing her chest into Penny's back, pushing her face into Penny's tangled braids, and breathing in deep the trickling vapors of seafood, human sweat, Pokémon stink, and a trace of espresso.
"I feel welcomed," Penny chuckled lightly, leaning into Nemona and clasping her squishy fingers over Nemona's calloused ones. Penny's hands were dry and delicate against the backs of Nemona's knuckles. The pair found their eyes sliding closed amidst the bustle of seven different Pokémon yipping and padding around just in front of them. Her head pitched against the left side of Nemona's face, Penny Nemona caressed her girlfriend's face with the floppy green set of bangs she had grown out on her left side. Their cheeks pressed together, the warm—
Penny coughed suddenly, sputtering on some kind of strong smell.
"Gugh-?! You did it again," she grunted unpleasantly, pinching her nose as she nudged herself forward, loosely breaking Nemona's hold on her.
"Did...-?!" Nemona was baffled at first, scanning her surroundings and unable to identity what could be producing an unpleasant scent. "Did what?" she eked out in a half-whimper of confusion. She lifted her armpits, wondering how on earth that could've been the problem when she'd just...-
"Dee-odez," Penny bemoaned, her voice funny from her closed nostrils. "You put on too much dee-odez..."
Gahhh. Seemed like Nemona had overdid it again with the deodorant... She slapped the fat of her palm against her forehead.
"Mierda. Lo siento, Cariña, yo-..." Nemona caught herself, instantly paralyzed by the pinprick of Cordia's voice ringing in her ear. She recovered quickly. "I-I'm sorry, Penn, I was starting to feel gross, and... and I'm just too beat to take a shower tonight, and-..."
"It's fiiiine," Penny eased, her tone turning into melted wax as she coddled her girlfriend, now facing her directly. She buried her face in the crevice of Nemona's bosom, rubbing her nose left and right. This caused Nemona to giggle, and Penny stifled a few coughs, which only made the pair of them self aware of their own exhaustion.
Just before Nemona was going to start playing with Penny's hair, the woman pulled her head upright and puffed a snort of air out of her nostrils, as if to dispel the overpowering scent of Nemona's deodorant.
They both smirked sheepishly at one another, and Lyla growled – a small, questioning growl that Nemona understood all too well.
"In a minute, guys," Nemona assured over Penny's shoulder to the hungry 'mons.
The couple resumed their tender eye contact, both seemingly eager to dig into one another to satisfy hunger. And it gave Nemona the smallest pang of unease. Of guilt. But she dispelled it, knowing the matter wasn't a concern right in that moment.
Penny tousled her fingers through Nemona's side bangs of green – much thicker and more plentiful than they had been when they'd met. Nemona absorbed the tender touching with some relief. She needed some comforting after the talk she'd just had – the day she had just had...
"Can't bloody believe you finally moved out," Penny murmured. Her gray eyes were like cracked concrete, her head shaking slightly.
"Same," Nemona mumbled back, not really wanting to dwell on any of that in the moment, given the phone call she'd just endured not long ago... "You mind if we, uhh-...?" She bobbed her head toward the bags of hopefully-still-warm food on the wooden floor.
"Oh! Groudon's quakes, you must be well hungry, Luv..."
"Y-Yeah," Nemona admitted, and her stomach grumbled on the spot, right on cue. She palmed her abdomen to play up her hunger, though part of her had kind of lost her appetite, if she was being honest... She hoped she'd work it back up by sitting down and shoving food into her face.
"Let's get you fed," Penny insisted with a firm nod and a wink, giving Nemona a peck on the cheek as she bent down to get the food bags.
Nemona reached out her arms feebly in an attempt to help carry things, but Penny had it covered.
"Mind getting food and water out for the 'mons while I sort this stuff?" Penny asked, grunting as she weaved around hungry 'mons. "There should be some pokéblocks in bags on the shelf there, I give them two each with dinner."
"Oh, totally. You got it, mi tero-..." But Nemona stopped herself from finishing her sentence.
"Huh?" Penny checked, giving Nemona a puzzled glance as Lyla eased Veevee's off of their owner.
"Mm?" Nemona hummed back, trying to play off her verbal stumble as she pushed some of her fluffy bangs behind her ear.
"What'd you say?" Penny double-checked.
'Damn, she's too thorough...! Can't believe she noticed that slip up...'
"N-Nothing, just... mumbling." Nemona grabbed a few of the bowls and brought them to the sink.
But she could feel Penny's sneaky side eye burning the back of her skull with concern. Damnit, she hadn't even gone a full five minutes without some of her gloom coming across...
As Nemona filled some bowls with water (hoping Penny would write off their awkward moment), Penny unloaded packages of freshly cooked seafood, retrieving cutlery from the proper drawer before clicking on the electric kettle.
'Can't have tea without tea,' Penny would insist. Apparently, in Galar, tea was such a big thing, it was the word they used to describe their evening meal, instead of 'dinner.' As such, Penny seemed to always have evening tea with 'tea,' though she seemed more of a coffee person during the day. Nemona found it adorable, all the same – maybe it was like a way of bringing a bit of Galar with her, like a little piece of her identity. Kind of like-...
'Agh. Cordia did have a point about that stuff, though... It probably makes me sound childish, huh...?'
"Did... something happen while I was gone?" Penny inquired as she washed her hands, watching Nemona place water bowls on the floor.
Some hair slipping over her shoulder as she knelt, Nemona was careful not to let any fall into the drinking water she was placing. As soon as the bowls touched the tiling, they had thirsty Pokémon customers. Nemona used the task to buy time to think of what to say. She really didn't want to get into the subject right then...
But after placing the rest of the water bowls onto the floor, she had nothing. Her mind was too tired to be formulating social excuses.
"'Mona?" Penny insisted dryly, drying her hands off on the Eevee-patterned hand towel hanging above the sink.
Penny then stood frozen, tapping her foot against the thick kitchen tiles and sticking impatient wrists against her hips.
Nemona stood back up, flicking her hair back, and made an effort to lift her brows, widen her eyes, and shrug.
"Oh, just-..." Ah, right. She decided to shake her head a little, too. "Nah, nothing, really. I'm just tired. I guess."
Penny's eyes narrowed, and Nemona knew she'd been found out.
Penny hissed coldly, "... Cordia."
'HOW CAN SHE TELL?'
Nemona froze on the spot, probably looking not unlike an Eevee who'd just wet the carpet and been caught in the act.
"Umm...-?" Nemona was speechless at the startling accuracy of Penny's precision rage, her face grimacing a bit at the unwanted direction this would lead things.
"What bullocks did she say this time?" Penny huffed, keeping her voice to a low, rumbling growl. She paced in the tiny bit of kitchen space she had to pace within, weaving around Nemona and water-consuming 'mons as she waggled fingers and tapped fists into palms. "Hm? She... complain about my work attire again? Or... Or how we ought to not hold hands when in the presence of League officials? Ah, or maybe she's just giving you a hard time about finally moving in with me? That must be it. Assuming she's even aware today's the day..."
"Y-Yeah, that last one," Nemona sheepishly replied, wary of seeing Penny spiral deeper into rage over the subject. Penny and Cordia had never gotten along, much to Nemona's dismay... It was especially frustrating because Nemona and Penny's big sister got along just fine, on the rare occasions they interacted.
"Hmph." Penny crossed her arms and closed her eyes, her lower lip propping up tartly. "And? What bountiful wisdom did Miss Cordia burden you with this time?"
"Erh, just, like-..." Nemona interlocked her fingers in front of her waist to prevent her hands from fidgeting. "Trying to convince me to change my mind – which I made sure she knew is totally not gonna happen, heh – and, uh, also, umm-..." Nemona found her palms latched against her elbows, arms crossed over her abdomen. She let her thought freeze over with reluctance, clearing her throat and sifting hair back over her shoulders as she gawped at the Pokémon fussing around below.
Penny had her thumb pressed over her lips, almost like she was holding back her retorting for Nemona's sake.
"Mm?" Penny hummed with a curious and intent nod, knowing there was something else.
So, Nemona tried to fumble into the sticking point she knew Penny was picking up on having been metaphorically shot into Nemona's chest.
"W-Well, so-... She kinda called me out on my, like... Paldean-isms...?"
"...Huh?" Penny's head tipped to her right a little, her long braid sliding across her back as she did so.
Nemona felt her jaws clench as her hands retracted from her elbows, balled into fists, and her knuckles pressed together awkwardly in front of her waist.
"So, like," Nemona mumbled, swallowing. Her gaze drifted toward the floor, her eyelids slowly blinking between the movement. She watched Lyla lapping up water beside Joltey, letting the live image of cute Pokémon ease her mind at least a little bit. "You know how I like to, well... inject a bit of Paldean into my... vocabulary?"
Penny's brow lifted, and her harsh expression softened a little. As she smirked from the corner of her mouth, she murmured, "¿En serio? I hadn't noticed..." She lowered her eyelids mischievously.
Nemona's own eyes went half-closed with dry defense at the sarcasm, her fists sticking onto her hips as she cocked her head with an amused smirk.
"Well," Nemona puffed, going to set down empty food bowls, "Cordia made me realize that it's... maybe a harmful... stereotype, kind of... thing."
"Oh, of course, she did," Penny sighed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head with knowing skepticism. "Look, I mean, I guess I get where she's coming from? Hugh. For instance, with me, right, on my Dad's side, I'm half-... Well, there can definitely be times when-... Gah. Galarians also bloody well have plenty of stereotypes about 'em, and...-" She sighed, the tangle of social complexities apparently too much to explain on the fly.
"Like saying 'bloody' a lot?" Nemona cheekily teased, countering the earlier jab Penny had made, and eliciting the same reaction in reverse.
"I can switch to 'fucking' if that's what you prefer," Penny snorted teasingly, crossing around the edge of the kitchen to reach for the containers of pokéblocks and Pokémon food on the pantry shelves.
"Nah, I'm good," chuckled Nemona softly, going to retrieve the still empty bowls to be filled with grub.
"Right, then," Penny smarmily left it at that. Filling food into the bowls Nemona had placed down, she cited, "My point is, literally anything you do is gonna be offensive to somebody. It's up to you to work that out with the folks around you, not your posh sister up in her ivory tower..."
"I mean, I'm sure she was just... in her bedroom, same as-"
"She's gonna be in a tower soon enough, you know what I mean..."
"... Good point. I think she starts that new job... in a month? Or two?"
"Good for her. Good for your parents. Both of their kids, getting big promotions so close together. I'm sure they're very proud..."
The pair of them watched as the wave of multicolored, four-legged friends swept across their ankles and dug into dinner. Nemona picked out a bag of specific protein-rich food – the premium stuff she'd brought with her – and headed over with it to hand feed Lyla.
She admitted about her parents, "Ugh, I don't even know... how they're feeling about things, these days..."
"Probably for the best..." dismissed Penny callously.
It ached at Nemona's insides, the tension between her family and her girlfriend. At least earlier on, she'd managed to contain the issue, keeping it like this... silent, hidden thing in the background. But over three years of dating later, it had burned through into her day-to-day existence.
Picking up on her mood, Lyla nuzzled her nose up against Nemona's arm. The Pokémon knew some pets would do them both some good. So Nemona ran one hand with and against the grain of Lyla's fur, feeding her with the other hand. That blend of hairs that were bristly and rough yet simutaneously fluffy and soft was a comforting contradiction against her palms and fingers, and she found herself stimming a little – running her palms against the fur tips just to be tickled by them. With the other hand, she fed her big pup all the while. Despite what a big doggo she was, Lyla was good about not biting Nemona's fingers, but even more so, took care to try to not get too much saliva on her trainer's skin, besides.
"Look, uh-..." Penny decided to drop the conversation, to Nemona's relief. "I'll get dinner set up for us, eh?"
"Sure," Nemona agreed distantly.
Penny went about rummaging the human food around.
"Rrrrnnn..." Lyla whimpered quietly.
"It's OK, girl," Nemona whispered. "We've all had a long week, huh?"
Penny administered some onigiri from the restaurant to each of her 'mons, struggling to get them to be orderly and take their turn. After a few moments of finagling, she just kind of dropped them into the food dishes.
"One for each of you," she explained to them tartly. "I'd better not see anyone stealing someone else's, got it?"
Nemona had finished feeding Lyla a couple handfuls of dry food by that point, and she saw the way Lyla's eyes were transfixed on the onigiri. But the Lycanroc didn't budge.
"Hey, Penn?" Nemona called from her spot knelt on the kitchen floor. "Mind handing me one of those?"
"Oh, these?" Penny tipped up the container, which had a few left. "I didn't... get any for your 'mons, you always say how you don't want them eating this kind of-"
"It's fine, I'm just gonna give Lyla one of mine."
At this, Lyla's tail thumped against the tile floor a couple times before settling down, and she sat upright politely.
"You sure?" Penny checked, smiling warmly at Lyla's mannerisms while she lowered the container.
"Yeah," Nemona confirmed. She wiped her Lyla-petting hand on her pants and carefully plucked an onigiri from the container Penny was holding aloft.
"Here ya go, girl, eat up." And Nemona's chest swelled with glee at the sight of her loyal 'mon nibbling away at what was effectively a treat for her. She even took her time with it, only 1/3 through hers by the time Penny's Veevee's had all gobbled their own. After this bit of hand-feeding, Nemona topped up the final empty food dish, placed the rest of the onigiri on top of it, and gestured Lyla to have at it with a final bit of head scratching.
Nemona went about washing her hands clean to be ready to eat her own food, and she and her girlfriend loaded their meals onto plates and headed for the coffee table in the living room. As Penny looped back into the kitchen to fix drinks, Nemona reflected on the living room space.
The flat had no dedicated dining room, so this was... just where dinner was going to be had, it seemed. It felt... so weird to Nemona. She may as well have been eating cross legged on the floor... 'Uncivilized' was so not the word she'd use to describe the feeling, and yet... it was unmistakably similar to what she was feeling, deep inside. 'Pampered little princess' feelings... a phrase Penny had uttered years ago about Nemona's upbringing, one her friends would lob at her teasingly here and there and she'd take it on the chin. All the while a title she simply had never been able to let go of, a nagging little fear that would cling to her shoulder like a Weedle, unassuming yet ready to poison her with doubt if she let it. A feeling she wanted to shake off, for sure; however, as she had gradually been doing so over many nights in at this flat before that day. If anything, that metaphorical Weedle had just become a reminder of what she had a duty to avoid: letting money become more important than people or Pokémon.
Sat side by side at the coffee table after Penny returned with evening tea, Nemona and Penny surveyed their plates full of tasty seafood. Some seafood pasta with Krabby and Magikarp bits mixed in was going to hit just the spot. And was that Inkay ink dressing drizzled on top? With a handful of Hoenn style sushi rolls on the side? Penny had made good calls... Nemona had already downed what looked like a droopy Tatsugiri roll by the time Penny had sat her own skinny butt down to eat.
Rather than immediately negotiating what they'd watch with dinner, however, Penny seemed interested in striking up conversation, leaving the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall turned off.
"You know-..." Penny began. Nemona pulled her gaze toward Penny, though she could feel even her eyes lagging in their movement. Penny continued, "...Hm. My dad might not like me bringing it up, but... he's not here... so-..."
Nemona blinked, confused as to Penny's pause. Hanging on her girlfriend's words, Nemona dug into the seafood pasta. Thankfully, it was indeed still warm enough to be enjoyable, and it smelled so good. She could feel her mouth watering and appetite returning as she dug in, patiently waiting for Penny to get to where she was going.
"You know Macro Cosmos, right?" Penny asked.
A/N: The rest of this chapter will go up tomorrow!