Rei's First Birthday

[instrumentally]

Who: Rei Ayanami and friends!
Where: Azalea Town
When: March 30th
Summary: Louie Duck has thrown a birthday party for Rei. :D
Rating: PG

Picnic blankets and tables have been arranged in the garden near the Silver Horn Inn. People may bring their own food, so that it can be shared with others. Small cameras, too. Disposable, with film. So that people may make memories, and take them home with them. There is cake, bought from a grocery store, that says HAPPY BIRTHDAY in large, blue letters made of frosting. There are candles in it, which will be blown out.

Rei Ayanami is sitting at a picnic table, the cake laid in front of her. She examines the camera in her hands. She will take pictures of things that she sees, hoping that she might be able to capture the way that she feels.

Comments

[talkyourwayout]

There's something about Rei's inexperience with normal stuff that really endears her to Louie. She has no expectations for how anyone or anything should be, and it just works with where he is in life right now; figuring things out and all... And he helps her, too, that much he can read. So it just works.

Louie chuckles warmly as he sits down across from Rei. "Yeah, it is nice, huh? I'm glad you're liking it." Which is what he took away from 'not too loud', anyway. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Pokeball - a Great Ball, specifically. "Want your present from me now?"

[instrumentally]

"Yes. If you would like to give it."

She has a few presents now. Gifts she received at Christmas-time, mostly. Wooden carvings of her Duosion and her Dedenne, carved with skill and care by a hand trying too hard to be gentle. A flower, white and pale and pressed dry. A gift certificate, some of it spent. She keeps these in her room, on a little shelf just for them. It helps her to remember the people who gave them to her.

[talkyourwayout]

"Okay, cool," he says, unable to keep a little bit of giddy laughter out of his voice. "I think you'll like this."

A gentle underhand toss of the Pokeball, and when the glowing light fades there a Persian sitting there. She's looks very different from Louie's own Alolan Persian, but also a fair bit different from other Persian of her own kind. The difference in color is subtle, but there, and Louie looks so pleased to have given this to Rei; almost smug.

"She's a shiny Persian," Louie explains, hopping up the scratch the feline Pokemon under the chin. From there, he walks back not to where he'd been sitting but to stand beside Rei. His arm goes around her shoulders, but he's cautious about it, not sure she'll care for the casual affection. "So, I know breeders like you can breed more shiny Pokemon when you have one to start with, and I found her in Goldenrod. Isn't she cool? I didn't name her yet, I thought you'd want to do that."

[instrumentally]

It is a cat. She has a few varieties, but none like this. It is a slightly odd color, according to the pokedex. She likes that. She extends her hand, which the cat sniffs, and then goes back to its urgent business of scanning the grass for bugs and mice to torment. Eyes wide and excited, entranced.

"Yes. I would like to do that." It will take her a moment or two. What is a good name for a cat? "I will name them March." That is the name of the month, after all. The one where she has been given this gift.

"Thank you." She is still not sure how to react when she is touched, when people reach out to her. So she stiffens, briefly, but she continues to sit. Perhaps it is something that she will just have to get used to.

[talkyourwayout]

There's an awkward moment, at least within Louie's thoughts, when he feels her shoulders go rigid. But it passes, and his concern goes by with it; he chuckles.

"March? ...Huh. You know, I kinda like that." He withdraws his arm, and hands Rei the Great Ball. "Not that it matters, of course. She's all yours. Happy birthday, Rei."

[instrumentally]

"Thank you."

She has said it quite a few times now, and she is sure she will say it again. It is a useful phrase, to describe the gratitude she feels. Like a little flame inside her heart.

"When it is your birthday, you will receive a gift from me, as well."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie chuckles again, even more warmly this time, and nods.

"Yeah, I'm counting on it," he teases, though he knows Rei won't necessarily catch the playfulness-- It's okay, because he is expecting a gift, truth be told. "April 15th."

[instrumentally]

"What would you like to receive?"

It is an obvious question, but one she must ask.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie does have to think about this, because the things he'd want back home don't matter much here, if they're even available at all. But after a moment-

"You know, riding Lexington is kind of getting uncomfortable, and a saddle for her would be great. I've heard they make them for Pokemon like Rapidash, which I guess makes sense." He shrugs, then glances at Rei. "But I don't know how much something like that costs, you know?"

[instrumentally]

"I will investigate the costs of a saddle."

She will pay them, no matter the expense. Money is relatively meaningless for her. It is just something that you trade in order to relieve other things. Immaterial, unlike the things that are purchased and kept.

[talkyourwayout]

"Thanks, Rei," he says, before he walks around the table and sits back down across from here. He picks up the disposable camera at that table setting and turns it around in his hands a couple of times. "So, how have you been?"

He's not expecting a very personal or in-depth answer, but he'd like to know what he can.

[instrumentally]

She has to think about it for a moment. It is difficult to compare things as they are now to how they were before.

"I have been well. No injuries or illnesses to report."

[talkyourwayout]

Yeah, that's about what he expected to hear. He smiles at her all the same, because hey-- He wouldn't want her to have been ill or injured.

"Cool." There's a moment that's just and quiet, then he takes a picture of her and after that asks, "How long have you been here? In Johto, I mean, not Azalea Town."

[instrumentally]

"I arrived in May of last year, as far as I am aware."

[talkyourwayout]

"Yeah, I figured it couldn't be too far from when I got here, since we met up in Azalea Town." He taps at the button of the camera that's now resting on the table once again, never hard enough for a photo to be taken. "So it's not long before we've both been here a year. It's kind of weird to think about."