victory_road | Something tiny, something very small

Entry tags:

Something tiny, something very small

Who: Ryner and Sion
Where: their house near Ecruteak
When: backdated to the 20th I guess?
Summary: Ryner has an astonishingly appropriate mystery egg that's about to hatch. It's kind of about time, wouldn't you agree?
Rating: It should be pretty much G, but this is LOLH so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (also I guess if you don't like mimes then maybe don't look in here)

Log:
In all honesty, Ryner probably should have expected something to happen when he'd actually bothered to humor the book he'd received and mark the encounters he'd happened across. ...Then again, mystery eggs from nowhere usually showed up around holidays for no reason at all, not as low-tier prizes to be earned.

Nonetheless, for whatever reason, this egg had resulted from that. And, well, it wasn't like Ryner could just abandon it, right? One more mouth to feed wasn't going to cause any problems.

By this point, it had been a couple weeks since the egg had arrived, and it hadn't made any sign of hatching yet. But this morning, as he was bringing it with him downstairs to have breakfast... Now was the time that it decided to start shaking a little in his arms.

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Sion, of course, was already up and dressed, and was sitting reading something while he waited for breakfast to be served. (He'd do without, but certain individuals refused to let him...) And while he wasn't particularly watching the stairs, he did notice when Ryner's footsteps suddenly paused.

"What is it?"

The egg shook again in his arms, stronger this time. Yup, there was no denying it.

"I think it's hatching..." was Ryner's reply as he looked around, indecisively trying to decide on the best place to let everything happen. It would have been one thing if he knew what was inside the egg, but for all he knew, it could be a fish, or something that would make an immediate mess of the house. But if it wasn't, it'd be rude for its first sight to be a bathtub...

"Oh?"

Well, that was something definitely worthy of note and attention, so Sion got up to head over. Not so close as to crowd things, though, since you never did know just what would hatch.

...Well, to be honest, the sitting room was probably fine. So he grabbed a throw blanket off one of the chairs and arranged it on the floor into something of a nest-like structure, which he then placed the egg in so that it wouldn't have anywhere to fall if it shook too hard.

"It'd be great to know what to expect..." he said, a small hint of the complaints running through his head in his voice, but he'd already said his piece at length about how mystery eggs should at least come with a warning for what the Pokemon will need, so. He'd just be repeating himself, and that would take energy.

"I suppose it would, but it'd hardly be a surprise then, wouldn't it?"

Not that he disagreed, but he had to needle Ryner about it somehow.

"I, for one, would be fine with a little less surprise if it means not having to scramble to accommodate things. I bet the Pokemon would appreciate it too." One of those complaints with the understanding of preaching to the choir, but that had to be said anyway.

But now, all that was left to do was wait for the egg to hatch. It's not like there was any way to rush it or help it along, so Ryner just sat back to watch.

"I'm sure it will appreciate your effort anyway."

After all, it was hardly the trainer's fault if they weren't warned.

With that said, though, there really was little to do at this point but watch. And possibly hope that it wasn't an especially large pokemon after all.

"I guess..."

For now, the egg shook a few more times, before the top cracked a bit. Slowly, the crack got larger, making its way down the side, until eventually, it split the egg clean in two, and the shell fell away in a puff of light.

Thankfully, it would seem that today, Ryner was not to be saddled with a fish or an Onix. It was still somewhat bigger than the egg had suggested, but then, that was fairly typical.

Where the egg had been sat a Mime Jr., blinking at the light of day.

That... that was definitely a very interesting pokemon for Ryner of all people to end up with.

Not that there's anything wrong with Mime Jr's or their evolution, just. You know. Things.

"......."

For once, Sion didn't even have a teasing remark handy.

"......"

Ryner was also left speechless for a good half a minute.

...Honestly, it was almost past due, for this type of thing, if he thought about it? He'd been here nearly eight years. It had been a bit over two years since he'd last returned to Menoris and... things... had happened. And he still remembered the circumstances that had led to Lafra joining the team. If this was going to happen, in a way, you'd think it would have before now, right?

And yet, on the other hand.

Just.

Why this, really.

"...Hi," he eventually managed to eke out, as the tiny mime stared quizzically.

If Sion hadn't been similarly dumbfounded he'd probably have laugh at Ryner's reaction. Granted, he still probably would later (and proceed to tease him mercilessly over it) but for now, surprise took precedent.

Though, either way, this was still Ryner's pokemon, so for now Sion sat back to let his friend deal with it first.

Logically, Ryner knew what he should be saying right now. The usual welcome to the world speech, introductions, you're free to leave any time and nobody'll judge you for it, hold for a Pound from Rose, continue from there, everything as it should be.

But this.

"......"

Why this.

It was another good solid minute of staring before a questioning "Miiiime?" shook Ryner into finding words again.

"Ahh, sorry... sorry, I guess I didn't... get much sleep last night..." (It was a damn lie, as Sion would undoubtedly know, but as polite a way of saying 'I don't know how to deal with this' as he could muster.) "H-Hi, um..."

It was unfair to the Pokemon. And the part of Ryner that had actually managed to grow up a bit over these past few years hated that. It's not like the Mime Jr. had asked to be born from this egg. It wasn't to blame at all for all the bothersome crap from back home. It hadn't done anything wrong.

But the usual words just wouldn't come. Were they even what was needed here?

Sion knew that was a lie, and what's more, Ryner was a terrible liar. On the other hand, though, if Ryner was that determined to avoid making the newly hatched 'mon feel bad, and given Sion's own experience in the past...

"I think he's so overwhelmed with excitement, you've rendered him speechless," he remarked in a tone that was far more casual than he felt.

Ryner just... dumbly nodded at Sion's words, filing them away to figure out later whether it was more worth yelling at him for putting words in his mouth or thanking him for making an attempt to help. (Or both. Both might be right.)

The Mime Jr. just tilted its head even further. "Miiiiiiiiime?"

"Clef?"

But lo, a savior appeared in the doorway. Rose, wondering what was taking so long, decided to peek in, and, seeing that the egg had already hatched, started waving cheerfully. If she realized any of the thoughts that were going through her dear partner's head as she gazed upon the scene in front of her, she didn't show it.

Well, that was certainly good timing. Especially since the distraction of someone new entering the conversation gave Sion something a bit easier to focus on.

"Hello, Rose," he said cheerily. "It seems Ryner's latest egg finally hatched."

"Ahh... yeah." Rose was a welcome distraction indeed. "Rose, why don't you be the one to give the welcome and introductions this time? I... don't really think..."

Rose looked at Ryner, a little concerned at how strained he seemed. "Fairy?" If something was wrong, she should do something to help, right? Introductions could wait.

"Please..."

"It'll be fine," Sion reassured her. Though whether he meant her doing introductions or Ryner's state of mind, well, he didn't bother clarifying.

...Well, even Rose had grown some sense of reading the room over the years she'd been alive. She'd have to Pound her dear partner later for this, but for now, her task was clear.

With limited regard for personal space, she ran up to the Mime Jr. and took its hand, cheerfully chattering what was likely introductions and probably a jab at her dear partner always being lazy. The Mime Jr. brightened up considerably at this, and chattered back a little. And then Rose ran off, beckoning for the newborn to follow so she could introduce everybody else.

Which, once the Mime Jr. did so, left Ryner and Sion alone in the room.

And a few seconds after they were no longer visible from the doorway and the sound of their footsteps had faded, a quiet, mildly distressed groan started to escape Ryner's throat.

For his part, Sion just gives Ryner a long, evaluating look.

"... Are you going to be all right?"

Almost as if on instinct, he brought his hand up to lean his head on. Not even to nurse a headache, it wasn't as though he had one... just as support.

He took a moment to breathe. A slow breath out, a slow breath in. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Everything's fine. There are no problems here. It's fine.

(He was so tired. So, so tired.)

"...I will," he eventually said, though his meaning was more I have to be, don't I? "It's unfair if I don't."

Sion understands, he really does. He might not directly say as much because what is being straightforward about feelings, but he does.

"One has to wonder sometimes how this place so unerringly manages to do this sort of thing..."

What is being straightforward about feelings, indeed.

"...Why only now?" he asked semi-rhetorically, his tone somewhere between complaint and exhaustion.

Sion just shrugs at that, he doesn't have any good answer for it.

"Perhaps it may be better to ask, for all this place seems determined to keep us here, why bother with such reminders of home?"

Are the powers that be trying somehow to be nice in some horribly misguided way?

Ryner doesn't have an answer for that, either. He just sits there, fist that isn't holding his head clenching, as he works to detach from this, the way he always does.

...It would be one thing if it was just a reminder of all the crap waiting back in Menoris. Toy with him all you like if you must, world, Ryner's used to it. But you bring an innocent Pokemon into this, a newborn whose actual first memory is going to be its trainer trying - badly - to suppress flipping out just because of the unexpected reminder...

"...It's all such a pain," is all he can say.

"To put it mildly."

Sion knows first-hand what it's like to deal with this sort of situation, too. He's just glad that, so far, between the three of them they seem to be managing this one far better than the last time.

But at the same time, there's the question of why these sort of things keep happening. He's been able to mostly set matters from home aside here, to live in the moment and enjoy it while it lasts... Only for something like this to remind him of everything awaiting him.

"And they have to go and drag a newborn into this crap, on top of everything..."

Because ultimately, that's the biggest problem here. Better than the last time is easy enough when all parties involved are aware of what's going on, of what it means. (It had only dawned on Ryner exactly why Sion's reaction had been so poor that time after... well.)

If Sion didn't know... Well, then again, Sion has always known more than Ryner on these matters anyway, but if he somehow didn't know, or if he wasn't here...

(...He'll have to thank him, later, won't he. Just in a way that won't get him teased forever.)

Breathe. Breathe, and detach. Don't feel. Don't feel. Feelings can come later, once everything else is handled and everything is safe and hopefully feelings will be irrelevant by that point anyway.

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Something tiny, something very small

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