victory_road | Eighth Sacrament: Birth

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Eighth Sacrament: Birth

[ The immediate scene on the screen is a very frozen Walter sitting on his bed, clearly trying to breathe very slowly, as a Flareon sits on him and is watching him very happily, wagging it's flame-like tail. It leans even closer and Walter tenses, hands curled up at his side. He doesn't relax even as the Flareon presses it's face against his chest, looking up at him with pitch black eyes.

On the floor is the remains of an egg and on the table is a Fire Stone.

Eileen chirps to him, signaling that the gear is on. She goes over and doesn't get the Flareon off him, simply smiling and checking the Flareon and clearly squeeing a little. Her first egg hatching! Walter swallows, clearly still locked up with nerves. He needs Help. Which is why Eileen was supposed to have called Manka... ]

Manaka. This isn't a Ponyta.

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Do you need me to come over and help?

[If he specifically called for her, then...]

...Please.

I know you have a Sylveon. I don't want to hurt it. [ She had dealt with an evolution about this one's size. He had initially wanted to call her to show her the newborn Ponyta but it didn't work out that way. ]

I'm sure you wouldn't hurt it just by pushing it off! But... If you're really worried about it, I'll be over as soon as I can.

[She'll hurry, even.]

It might bite. [ He frightened of everything to do with this Pokemon right now. The only thing that doesn't worry him is her warmth. He had craved the kind of warmth since he was a child, kept in cold cells or dormitories. And yet here it was, coming from a creature that reminded him of bites, long tongues and screams coming from soggy lumps of writhing fur-

Eileen chirped worriedly, noticing his growing distress. She patted his hand, squeezing and trying to get him to calm down. The Flareon noticed, flicking an ear and shaking herself over, radiating more warmth. Which...kind of helped. At least his breathing was slowing again. ]

True to her word, Manaka arrived as soon as she possibly could—though even with fast travel, it took a bit of time for her to make her way from Ecruteak's Pokémon Center to Walter's home. She let herself in when she arrived, calling out into the hallway, half to let Walter know she was there and half to get a better idea of where he was.

"Walter...?"

"I'm here."

By the time Manaka came, Walter had managed to get out from under the newborn Flareon, long enough to get to the sofa and try to collect himself. And while he had shut the door on the Flareon to keep her in his room, Eileen had heard her cry and opened the door. So the Flareon was pressed right up beside him, despite how obviously tense and nervous he was in it's presence.

Oh, dear. Manaka had intended to shut the Flareon outside the room, along with Cannoli, but that might not be an option if they had moved out to the couch... Still, she wouldn't abandon Walter now. Manaka crept closer to the couch with light steps, leaning down and trying to gather the Flareon into her arms. Her touch was careful—the last thing she wanted now was to cause any upset, lest she accidentally reinforce Walter's fears.

"Come on, you can sit in my lap," she said, her tone half-affectionate and half-doting. "Walter has had enough excitement, so you need to give him calm down!"

The Flareon remained calm - until she was pulled away from her trainer. Immediately her body temperature rose to scorching and she flailed, pawing at the air to get free. The moment she was let go she bundled up against Walter, giving Manaka a glare and puffing up angrily.

Walter flinched but thankfully she cooled herself down. He didn't seem more distressed, if that helped. Just uncomfortable. But he was worried about Manaka. "Oh- did she hurt you? I'm sorry-"

It didn't take long for Manaka to let go. Unexpected pain was still a strange thing to her, and she yelped at the suddenly searing heat, shaking her hands out as she took a step back. "I—"

Oh, now she was starting to feel cross with this thing. Setting her hands on her hips, she let a scowl cross her features. "I'm fine." Then, to the Flareon, she said, "Listen, you! I brought your brother to play and everything. I just can't let him out unless you agree to give Walter some space!"

The Flareon remained puffed up, pressing against Walter. He swallowed, turning to the Pokemon. "Jennifer. It's okay. Manaka is a friend. She gave me to you." Jennifer, the Flareon, only depuffed slightly at Walter's words. She looked up at him, wagging ehr tail and giving him the sweetest look a Pokemon could muster.

Sighing, Walter stood up. Jennifer immediately hopped by his feet. "She's...insistent."

Manaka deflated, too, her frown easing as her shoulders sagged. "I guess that makes sense... Chiffon and Cannoli are like that, too. Once they've decided on something, they don't like to give up."

And, of course, there was the other family resemblance... Manaka hummed and lowered herself into a crouch, setting her hands on her knees as she studied Jennifer more closely. After a second or two of thought, abruptly, she looked back up to Walter and said, "Oh, I have an idea! Do you think tea would help you calm down? I saw where you kept everything last time, so I could make you some!"

Jennifer looked ready to puff up again at Manaka's studying, but thankfully didn't. Whether it was because she was trying not to be bothered or because she was trying to be as good as she could be in front of Walter was up for debate.

"Tea would be good." He didn't often drink tea but he was incredibly grateful for the offer. He felt extremely guilty about all this.

"I do like her." He clarified, following Manaka to the kitchen. "I'm...impressed that she immediately took the Fire Stone. I'm just. Nervous."

Without another word, Manaka stood back to her feet, leading the way to the kitchen as though this were her home instead of Walter's. As she began to gather the kettle and tea leaves, she commented, "Actually... It's funny! The one I hatched seems to think he belongs with the Ponyta, so I bought a Fire Stone for him, too. I wonder if it's a coincidence, or if they took after their other parent somehow."

Glancing back over her shoulder, more towards Jennifer than him, she added, "I brought him with me, since I thought they could play together while you calmed down, but..." If she couldn't put them in a separate room, that wouldn't help much at all.

"I did close the door on her to try and have some space. She began to cry and Eileen let her out. She immediately bolted to me after that." And he had felt terrible, hearing her cry behind the door. It reminded him of being locked in a cell himself, crying...

"...I thought newborn Pokemon weren't like human children." Jennifer's behaviour was extremely concerning. Assumption had formed a bond with him due to their somewhat similar pasts and Assumption didn't outright see him as a parent, Walter thought. Jennifer was acting very much like a child determined to be with their parent, something Walter would know a lot about, especially how she glowed the moment he directed attention to her. He turned to her, getting another sweet look from the Flareon.

"Jennifer, I need to talk with Manaka. Will you play with her Pokemon while we talk?" Jennifer clearly pouted but nodded.

"I've said this to you before, but... I don't think there's really any way they're 'supposed' to be. You can find all kinds of outliers and oddballs, if you're lucky, just like you can with humans."

But at least Jennifer had begun to cooperate, even if her pout wasn't lost on Manaka. She turned around fully, setting her hands on her hips and smiling. "Okay! Why don't you two head out into the living room while Walter and I talk in here, then?" She didn't precisely give anyone room to agree or disagree, walking back out to the sitting room herself without waiting for an answer to release Cannoli from his ball. After all, she had to crouch down and whisper at him to behave himself, so that Walter didn't wind up any more upset than he already was.

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Eighth Sacrament: Birth

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