[Video]

[goingbythebook]

[The footage focuses on someone who looks extraordinarily like Louie, for those familiar with him, save this person is wearing red. He observes for a moment and then grins.]

Well well well, this is certainly a case of deja vu! I'm not sure how long I've been gone, and getting reacclimated to this environment certainly took a few moments more than if I'd been expecting it. But the point is, hello again Pokemon world! 'Tis I, Huey Duck! As new people may have surmised I've been here before, so I'm rather used to Pokemon, training, and the like.

[The astute may notice in his background is a Quaxly, meticulously grooming their feathers. Stop, look in the reflection from a puddle, back to work.]

But because there are surely people who weren't here the last time I was, I wanted to put an introduction out there. As per my ID I'm a breeder, so hopefully you can look to me in the future for aid with your Pokemon's care and general knowledge!

[He snorts and mutters to himself, however audibly still, "Research is definitely going to be a focus here!" Then he pauses and clears his throat.]

And Louie? If you're still out there, call me as soon as you see this. [Beat.] Huey out.

[End video.]

Comments

[goingbythebook]

[Okay, that got a good-natured eyeroll. Of course there were mixed remarks in there, he'd expect nothing less of someone's sibling, much less his own.

Still...]

Well, it's so much more than simply being a nerd, I'd like to put that out there. [He laughed, waving his hand.] It's gathering information! Of taking all the myths and legends our family has encountered and recording them down as proven fact!

It's going after that endless pursuit of knowledge, being simultaneously aware that you want to know everything yet how that very fact is impossible because of sheer scope and the eternal passage of time, but rather than being daunted by that fact instead using it to your advantage, to chase after every scrap of learning possible!

That is what I do, and who I am.

[schachmeister]

[Oh god, this kid is adorable. Armin can definitely see why Louie had compared them to one another. Armin had been far more withdrawn at the age, at least around virtual strangers --though, of course, the fact that he had been interested in heretical knowledge had complicated things there-- but there was a certain resemblance. He wonders if this is what he had looked like to Eren or Mikasa whenever he had talked about the outside world or the ocean.]

When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more than to explore the outside world so I could tell everybody what was out there. I knew I couldn't, of course, but I wanted to. I felt people had a right to know.

[goingbythebook]

[That touches his heart, that little ping that the like-minded get when they find each other. Huey immediately feels like he understands, nodding even before speaking.]

That's precisely how I've been ever since I was small! Especially with being unable to really explore like I'd wanted to. And then I discovered that there was so much more out there than I'd ever thought possible-!

It's humbling. But in a really fascinating, amazing sort of way. And the more people that I get to share that with, the better.

[schachmeister]

Right. I feel I could learn and discover something new every day here in this world, and still not know everything there is to know when I die.

[And not even just learn everything in general. Even when focused on just one particular subject, there is still so much to learn.]

And just... the idea that there have been people here researching things like the ocean for hundreds of years, and there is still new secrets and pokemon to be discovered. Nature is so incredible.

[goingbythebook]

Yes it is isn't it?

[This really was someone who could understand him, wasn't it? Not even Violet gave him the same sort of feedback, often preferring to read rather than discuss. Which wasn't a bad thing, of course! But sometimes you just wanted to talk about it.]

The only thing certain out there is how uncertain we can be about anything. Even things that people have considered irrefutable facts have been disproven, rewritten, and refreshed time and time again over the ages. There's always going to be something new to learn, even about something you think you already know everything about!

I know I could certainly while away the hours with a stack of library books, in my day, return them and check out a whole new stack. And this isn't even getting into the facts found in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, the repository of information in my world! For those who are Woodchucks, of course.

[schachmeister]

Woodchucks?

[Armin was under the impression they were ducks not woodchucks!]

And once Louie brings you here, you can borrow whatever you want from my library. Admittedly, it's a little limited in subject matter, but if there is anything there that interests you, feel free.

[goingbythebook]

The Woodchucks, a scouting- and woodlore-based organization with a long, long storied history. I've been in it ever since I was small.

And I will absolutely take you up on that offer! Even if the library is limited it's still bound to have plenty new for me to really dig into.

[He's so EXCITED just at that prospect.]

[schachmeister]

Scouting? What kind of scouting are we talking about?

[Cause Armin was in a scouting organisation of sorts. At least... that is more or less what the Survey Corps did. But even they didn't have such small children.

Of course, Louie had never mentioned anything that dangerous in his world. So... presumably this is something very different.]

[goingbythebook]

[He considers a moment, wanting to put everything the best, most clear way.]

The teaching of practical skills, for starters. First aid, wilderness survival, camping know-how, individual ingenuity, beginner's business sense, social interactions, that sort of thing. Additionally the Woodchucks teach seeking out information, fact checking and cataloguing it, and being open to the many mysteries of the world.

[schachmeister]

Sort of like military training then? Without the fighting that is.

[goingbythebook]

Well, I suppose it could be put that way, sort of... It's not nearly as regimented as military training is, though. While scouting has some of the same structures, rather than being taught how to survive in a lethal environment, you're learning more generally applicable life skills.

But at the same time you're not completely wrong, either. There's doing things on a schedule, preparation for disaster scenarios, and ranks to rise up in based on behavior and satisfactory task completion.

[schachmeister]

It sounds like the sort of organisation I might have joined if it had been available to me. Though, well, I did join the military when I was about your age, so I've had some of the same experiences.

[goingbythebook]

You joined the military when you were 13?

[He looks conflicted, both surprised and in a way, sad. What sort of circumstances, what sort of world would have someone going into the military at so young an age?]

[schachmeister]

Twelve.

[Just a murmured correction, because it doesn't really matter much. Twelve, thirteen, it's all so young, isn't it?]

The longer I'm in this world, the more horrendous it feels, though I never thought of it that way when I was a kid. For us, that was normal -- join the Training corps when you are twelve, and the army proper when you turn fifteen. The army needed soldiers and, well, in terms of stability and access to food, there were few better jobs out there.

I don't know if it is any sort of comfort but I did join the training corps out of my own free will. In fact, they really did try to get me to drop out. I wasn't exactly a great soldier.

[goingbythebook]

Wow. I can't imagine what must be going on in your world but I'm sorry you had to deal with something like that. Even with leaving on your own.

[He pauses, sighs after a moment.]

It's not nearly on the scope of being in an army, but because of my uncle's misadventures I've seen more fighting and danger than I ever thought I would have. There's definitely times I miss just being able to be a kid, y'know? Even though it has been really good, too! Don't get me wrong.

It's just been... a lot.

[schachmeister]

No, I understand.

[Honestly, this subject is all a little depressing, and Armin truly didn't mean to turn his first conversation with Louie's triplet into this. Luckily, Huey's words have given him an easy change of topic.]

Louie has told me a little about the adventures you've all been on. Though, I'm not certain I've always heard the full story. Louie tends to focus on, uh... very specific topics.

[Treasure. Armin is talking about treasure.]

[goingbythebook]

I'm sure he has, and I bet I can figure out what that focus was on, too.

[Noting that this was said with all the affection in the world, and that was including the eyeroll that'd come with it.]

Well, if you'd like to know more about them at any point, you have but to ask! I wasn't there for all of them, but I could easily spin a yarn or two.

[He laughed after a moment.]

I only wish our Uncle Scrooge were here! He could really host a little "tell all." Though, he wasn't aways like that; ironically it wasn't until our own little adventure that finally goaded him into opening up about past ones. Though I could understand- ["I suppose"] -why he was so reluctant to do it before then.