victory_road | 44th Recipe [Video, Goldenrod City]

[Y'all, it's been a Time.

It has just been...a lot, lately. Underwater temples, getting trapped in underwater temples, fighting off weird culty people who burst into underwater temples...Jane needs a break. It's September. No one can fault her for gearing up for spooky season a little early if it makes her feel better. So, while it may be a hot day, she's still in the kitchen of the Fletcher Gym, scraping out the insides of roasted kabocha squash.

Bet you didn't know that kitchen was functional, did you.]

I think there's another one of those swarms going on.

[It's said wearily, and with a sense of "I don't think it, I know it" to the words.]

Had to run from a whole darned squad of Teddiursa today...they wanted my pumpkins. Why is it always the goshdang pumpkins they want? [Her scraping becomes a little more forceful.] Or - squashes, sorry, these aren't the pumpkins I grew up with. But - but always the gourds! First at home, now here...

[Finished with this part of the rind, she sets it aside. A sparkly Grimer hand reaches into frame to take it. Yes, she brought Gertrude with her today.]

Ugh, maybe I'm looking into it too hard.

[She sighs. Rubs her face, her eyes.]

I'm. Making muffins with this stuff. So if you want some, and you're in the Goldenrod area, come by and you get a muffin. No strings attached. I'll be here until about four o'clock, and challenges are slow today, so...screw it, why not make muffins. Right? Or I can send them to you, it's no trouble. Really.

[A pause, and Jane picks up her 'gear to reveal a whole pile of squat, green pumpkins. At least two or three large tote bags' worth. Honey you ran from a pack of Teddiursa with all this???]

Seriously.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you don't mind sending some out to the Sevii Islands, I'd take some muffins.

[Gobo's not one to turn down free food-- But that isn't why he actually responded here. Jane looks so tired, and he's just hoping he can maybe, somehow, help.]

You alright, miss?

Oh! Sure, that's not a problem. I can pack some up and send them out.

[She's. Going to have so many.]

I'm fine, just tired. It's been...eventful, lately. Not that it usually isn't, but in this case I think I just bit off a bit more than I could chew.

Thank you. I'm staying on a beach, if you know Korra, I'm right by her place.

[He's quiet for a moment after that, before her nods with a soft hum.]

The attempted egg-napping was rough, assuming that's what you mean? At least it all worked out... But I get how just knowing people would want to separate a child Pokemon from their parent-- It's upsetting.

[He brushes a hand up through his hair, pulling a little at the end of the gesture in his frustration.]

Sorry, I guess that doesn't help much. It just really makes me mad, you know?

No problem.

[Korra's been around for a while, Jane likely at least knows her tangentally. It's how it happens sometimes. Pidgey Post, at least, never fails to get to where it needs to go, so she's not too worried about the muffins being lost in the mail.]

Mm, that's definitely part of it. [It's hard to think what her response to everyone's efforts leading towards an egg would be, had those weirdos not busted in to try and take it. Considering the temple's response to her trying to bring a breastplate back from its depths, she likely would have argued to leave it be if only so they wouldn't all be trapped inside.]

[Gobo sighs deeply, shaking his head again. This isn't about what upsets him right now, it's about her. He's learned to be the kind of friend who's there for others over the years, and now's a time to put that to use.]

Do you want to talk about it...? I know I'm a stranger, but sometimes it's easier to talk to someone new about rough things. If you wanted.

Mm...it's a little complicated, to be honest. I feel silly about the whole thing. But I appreciate the offer, thank you.

[She takes a moment to scrape out some more pumpkin.]

What about you?

Yeah, sure thing... And me? Uh. I don't know, I'm okay. It makes me angry that people would do that, but sometimes folks are more interested in helping themselves than how they're effected others. Best you can do is try and teach 'em the right way, I guess, but that won't always work.

No, not always. I can think of a good example of folks who don't ever seem to learn right from wrong, but they weren't the guys causing a fuss this time. It's kind of frustrating to realize there's other groups out there keen on causing trouble...

Are you talking about those Team Rocket guys I've heard about? Felix told me about them and they sure seem like bad news.

Oh, you know Felix?

[That's good, Felix is a good. A bit brusque, but good.]

Yeah, those are the guys I mean. It's kind of hard to reform an entrenched criminal organization? Especially when you're not native to the area. So all we can really do is meet them when they pop up and stop or mitigate their mischief.

[He nods at her question, taking a moment to consider the rest of her words. Crime's not much of a problem where he comes from, but he does understand her point.]

Right, all we can do is try and help out when we're needed... Which is no small thing, a'course. Even if it sometimes doesn't feel like much.

It may not be much, but it's better than doing nothing. Or worse, exacerbating the problem. There's not much of a point to making a big stink about things to the people who are from here when it's through no action or fault of their own that we've joined them.

Right. What else are we going to do without bein' jerks?

Although... You ever wonder about that? Like, I don't know. Why are we here?

I have wondered, yes. Can't quite settle on an answer that seems to fit for everyone, though. Just one for myself.

Hmm, I see.

[Based on the rest of the conversation, he can't help thinking that if she wanted to share that information, she would have. It seems to be A Thing with humans, they're not as open and quick to share as most fraggles he knows.]

Well, I guess that's really what's important, right? That you know the answer for you, because being in the dark about your own self isn't much fun.

[Well, if he wants to ask, she could share, but it's...it feels like a lot to dump on a person you've just met, you know?]

Mm...no, it isn't. If I didn't have something in mind that satisfied me, I'd surely go mad.

I hear ya. I hadn't really started thinking about it until recently, you know? It was easy to just have fun for a while, and I'm still enjoying myself-- But now that question's in the back of my mind.

That's not a bad thing to consider, though! It means you're conscious of it, and that's good. While the answers are likely not so easy to obtain, the fact that we're considering the questions shows that we're paying attention to the, um...the bigger picture, I suppose.

You know what? Yeah, you have a point there. Looking at the whole of things is a pretty important skill, I guess.

Exactly! If you can't, it's like "missing the forest for the trees", as they say - though the trees are important, too.

44th Recipe [Video, Goldenrod City]

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