» video

[lordofthefries]

[The feed starts out dark, but not quiet, as there's Sasha's voice in the background, sounding as if she's reciting words that are unfamiliar to her. She's halting and pausing at certain times, usually right before she sounds out a word, taking it syllable by syllable. It's the clear tone of someone not very skilled in reading, much less doing so out loud, but trying their best anyway to learn in the privacy of their own home.

Only it's not private due to one one roly poly Togepi who is fussing with the 'gear until the camera catches a proper view, though upside down in those tiny hands. Sasha's sitting on her bedroom floor with a stack of books next to her with various titles like The Ugly Ducklett, The Phantump Tollbooth, The Tale of Peter Buneary and The Egg-Sitters Club. Along her other side is an Arcanine and an Eevee, watching her with expectant eyes because this is clearly story time and not just Sasha practicing her reading on a non-human, non-judgemental audience.

That's her story and she's sticking to it.]

Piplup had not for-got-ten her father. He was a sea captain who sailed on the great ocean, and Piplup had sailed with him in his ship until one day her father was blown oh-ve-board in a storm and dis.. dis-app-ear-ed. But Piplup was ab-so-lute-ly certain that he would come back. She would never believe that he had drowned; she was sure he had floated until he landed on an island in-hab... in-hab-eye-ted by cannibals. And she thought he had become the king of all the cannibals and went around with a golden crown on his head all day long.

[Sasha huffs and tosses the book (which turns out to be Piplup Longstocking) aside at the constant mention of cannibals--she got enough of that at home with the Titans, thank you very much--and picks up another one from the pile, The Wonderful Whismur of Oz.]

Doo-roo-thhhy lived in the mid-ths of the great Kan-sass prah-i-ries...

[No, this one has even more words she's unfamiliar with and on the first page too. What the hell is a Kan-sass anyway? Tossing that one away, she picks up something that looks a lot thinner with a whole lot more pictures in it and begins reading out loud again.]

One corphish, two corphish, red corphish, blue corphish. Black corphish, blue corphish, old corphish, new corphish...

[Much better. Easier too! Why doesn't everybody write books that don't give her a headache?]

Comments

Video;

[schachmeister]

[Armin has always known Sasha isn't the best reader. Neither had Connie been, for that matter. The army had needed warm, willing bodies to throw into the grinder through, so despite their lower marks for anything classroom related, they had been allowed to pass, their excellent physical skills more than compensating for poor reading and writing. And really, that Sasha is going through the effort of improving her reading is something to be commended. It's certainly not something he will make fun of her over.

But somehow he gets the feeling she didn't mean for this to be public.]

Uhm, Sasha?

Video;

[lordofthefries]

[No one is reading books on the battlefield anyway, so academics never truly mattered in the military. As long as these poor kids knew well enough to fold when their commanding officers told them to and how to stay alive as long as possible, no one cared if Sasha or Connie could count to ten and back and read reports on Titan activity.]

Armin?

[She looks startled, knowing that Armin is on a roadtrip and not in the house, but her ears tell her he's not on the Islands and the voice is coming from her 'gear. Which is supposed to be turned off. Not in the hands of one very busy Togepi.

How long has it been recording? How many people saw her reading to her Pokemon like they could understand? Why can Wall Rose just come and bury her shame right now.]

Omelette, put that down!

Video;

[schachmeister]

... it really makes you wish there was some way to lock these devices, doesn't it?

[Armin's seen enough of these accidental posts to watch over his own device like a hawlucha, but he is just one single guy and his pokemon are many. It seems inevitable that, at some point, this same thing is going to happen to him too.]

Uhm, I know you didn't mean for me or anyone else to see, so I know you might not want me commenting on this but... your reading is sounding a lot better.

Audio

[tookashirototheknee]

You are getting so much better, Sasha, that's awesome!

[There's bright pride in Matt's voice over the gear. He's so happy for her.]

Audio

[lordofthefries]

[She's convinced that pride is misdirected. Maybe even pity, though Matt's never seemed to be that kind of guy. It's just that she's deeply, painfully embarrassed to be put on center stage in a moment she couldn't fake.

The only thing worse was if she was using her real accent. At least Sasha had the foresight to keep that tucked back.]

No, I'm not. [Defensive? Yes. Who wouldn't be when they could barely get past the first page of a book in front of all and sundry.] I still need to get better.

Audio

[tookashirototheknee]

Reading's hard. Honestly it is, and the fact that you've done as much as you have in so short of time really is awesome.

By all means, get better, but don't underestimate what you have done.

I still want to help if there's anything that I can help with.

video;

[synchroswim]

_{[He has to flip his 'gear upside down to see it properly (and turning himself upside down in the process), but this was important! After a few moments his pokegear is jostled by something, and shortly after a Lotad walks across his chest to make itself comfortable in the crook of his neck and peer up at the video too.]}

Whoa, hey! The first one was just getting good! Tempo was getting into it!

video;

[lordofthefries]

[This face is new to Sasha and she's bracing for someone to laugh at her sad attempts at literacy, but none from from this guy. Or from his Pokemon. Just a Lotad with the same eyes as her own crew, wondering why storytime stopped so soon.]

But it's about cannibals. I don't want to hear about those. They're creepy.

[Damn you, Piplup Longstocking. Who wants to be related to the king of people eaters?]

video;

[synchroswim]

The whole thing can't be about 'em, can it? I don't know what a Piplup is yet, but if it's about some bigger one's kid it can't be all that bad, right?

_{[He shrugs his shoulder to try and get the Lotad to chime in, but all the little guy does is blep and blink one eye at a time. It's... still a work in progress with him, but at least he's not making weird noises as often anymore.]}

'sides, if she's related to a sea captain she could probably kick all their butts anyway! Do you know how tough and rugged captains like that are? Heck, I bet she could beat 'em all with her hands behind her back! Or... wings? Tentacles? Whatever they've got for arms!

Video

[icecastlemadonna]

[Oh, it's the girl who visited the rink last month. Yuuko gets the feeling that this was likely supposed to be private, but the recently-hatched shiny Minccino in her lap seems to be listening very intently to what Sasha is reading aloud, so she decides to listen in herself.]

Reading aloud to Pokemon is a good idea! I wish I'd thought of that. [Maybe it could calm down her rowdier Pokemon.]

Video

[lordofthefries]

[Ah, the skating lady. She's kind and nice and Sasha can't lie to her (or lie to save her life, period.) Besides, it seems like the whole entire world knows her dirty secret now.]

I was told I had to practice and I didn't have anybody else to practice with.

[Or anybody she felt like she trusted enough to really show how behind she is at age seventeen.]

[Video]

[agent3]

What's a cannibals?

[Sasha, you're doing such good reading, but it's interrupted by a child with a terrible question.]

[Video]

[lordofthefries]

Someone who eats people.

[Sasha says that so matter of factly, as if cannibals are just walking around outside like the rest of humanity, just chilling at the local Starmiebucks, shopping for groceries and what not.

Well, cross out the Starmiebucks and groceries and you pretty much have her world.]

[Like a human eating another human. Though Titans aren't exactly considered human, even if they look eerily like humans.]

text;

[shiro2hero]

Sasha, that was great.

Don't stop. Okay?

text;

[lordofthefries]

[Shiro. Sir. You see how hard of a time she was having reading and here you come with a text message? Granted, those are small and easy words, but the point still stands!]

i need to practice more

[She's her own worst judge. It's not great. Maybe not even good. The compliments don't do much until she can tackle the Whismur of Oz past the first page.]

im sorry about your friend going home

[She saw. She just didn't know what to say that would make it easier. It never gets easier when they leave, does it?]

[forsaintcecilia]

[Kazuki is surprised that Sasha, as made obvious by her stumbling speech, has a hard time reading. Illiteracy is no longer an issue in his world. But he is aware that she's sensitive about appearing stupid, so he knows to approach this gently.]

That's really good, Sasha. Did you tech yourself how to read?

[lordofthefries]

[Lucky for his world. In her disaster area, there are no school and if your parents know the bare basics enough to pass them on to you like her father did to her, then you got it better than the other supposed hicks.

She shakes her head. No way would she be able to get this far without a massive amount of outside help.]

Mr. Matt has been giving me lessons, but... I still need more.

audio;

[unabates]

[ oh, oh no. jack didn't know sasha didn't know how to read. this is getting filed away in things he'll try to help her with or subtly gift her with.

for now, though, he clears his throat. ]

Nice job, Sasha. I don't think your egg meant to broadcast this, though.

audio;

[lordofthefries]

He wasn't.

[She's angry over being shoved into the spotlight about one of her deepest insecurities. The embarrassment showed on her face in a frown and Sasha mumbling her response. No one has made fun of her yet, but she's just trying to brace for when it does happen.]

Don't worry. I'll put him in timeout.

[Fifteen minutes in your Pokeball, Omelette, and no Pokecakes for a week.]

video

[fuelthefire]

Embers, I think your egg baby stole your 'Gear.

video

[lordofthefries]

[Oh great. It's Meat Dad. Sure, he's scary and loud to some people, but having her two Pokemon World dads witness her shame is Too Much.]

He's being a very bad egg baby. That's why he's being grounded.

[Video]

[thenightsky]

[Noct looks really..really confused as he holds his 'gear up with one hand, the prince lying on his back with his other arm tucked behind his head while a shiny Clauncher dozes on his chest.]

That first story you were reading sounds really, uh, special....

[Video]

[lordofthefries]

[Sasha grimaces. It's anything but special.]

It's really bad. I don't know why someone would write a book like this. The library lady gave it to me, but I'm going to tell her it's not a good one.

[Video]

[maybeitsmabelline]

[Mabel is beaming brightly as she listens, chin propped in her hands as she lays on her stomach in the grass, legs kicking behind her in the air while Hambone the Meowstic sits beside her listening intently. Tabby Puss is curled up against Mabel sleeping and Bacchus the Shuckle is slowly making his way over to see what's going on.]

Oh I like that one! It's all rhyme-y!!!

[Video]

[lordofthefries]

[At least this is a face belonging to someone Sasha knows won't pick apart her reading, so Mabel gets a grin in return from both Sasha and Omelette.]

I didn't know corphish rhymed with corphish. I thought that was against the rules.