wing_attack | IC; Pokegear Contact Post

"Uh. It's Tobias. Leave a message."

I was mostly an English class kind of student... when I got a teacher that actually let us discuss stuff, at least. I guess maybe they do that more as you get older, but I never made it out of middle school.

Edited Date: 2016-04-24 09:41 pm (UTC)

[Yikes; she keeps herself from wincing, only just.]

Oh, well. Yeah, me too. English and classes like it, but cultural studies aren't that bad, you know?

Yeah. I just can't really keep math in my head that well. I'm not a numbers person, I'm more of a visual person, I guess.

[Ooh, burgers sound good...]

Oh, yeah, no, fuck math.

[...idle f-bomb over brunch, good job]

I'm okay at it? But I've gotta study really hard. I won't shed any tears once that requirement is out of my way.

Yeah I... college isn't an option for me, I guess? Some of those classes last more than two hours and I don't really want to have to take a break midway to demorph and remorph in the bathroom or something. I mean I could probably get whatever requirement waived now, but I don't... really want to.

[He shrugs. There's not really a lot he wants to do.]

My current game plan at home is to find a nice national park or something I can grab some territory in that people won't bug me too much. But hey, if we ever get interdimensional mail set up or something, you could tell me how classes are going at home for you?

[It's something. Half a joke. Maybe.]

What's college actually like, anyway? I mean, I guess most movies aren't... really accurate.

[The more he talks, the sadder she feels; he looks like a human to her, he is a human, so even though she knows he's been a bird, she can't help but picture this kid living out in the woods somewhere and...

Her eyes are on the menu. Her face behind it. When she sets it down, she's chased away the worried expression.]

Some of them are, a little. But we do not have near as much free time as it's made out. Um... I guess it depends for everyone. I'm not really super-involved in a lot of clubs or anything, but I have friends whose social lives are full up with them. Really, it's...

[A sigh.]

Kind of like here, in a way? In the hotels. Living on your own. Trying to be an adult. Obligations and business and... I don't know. I like it. It's tough sometimes...and I bite off more than I can chew with classes. But I like it.

[More than high school...? Hm. Things were simpler in high school though. Only due to the timing of events.]

[He said something depressing again, didn't he? He keeps putting his foot in his mouth. ... Or maybe his talon in his beak.]

... It... sounds nice. To have a place where you can be with people or on your own as much as you want. And when you're on your own you're not really alone. Like at college, there's people in the dorms or on campus, right? And it's kind of... halfway between being a kid and an adult.

Adults don't have classes and homework and social clubs in the same way, right? But you still have responsibilities, you're still figuring things out... like this place. Because it's safe, and you're never really alone since you have your Pokemon with you, but you still have to handle things like bills and travel and feeding too many mouths that are picky on which brand of Pokechow they like.

[Because Nacho, really? Why do you have to be such a picky bird? ... Though he can't blame him, he was picky about his meat at home, too, when he could afford to be.]

[She nods; to the dorms, to it being halfway.]

Like...this place. With less traveling and training and... [More ties to their homes...] A lot. Maybe it'll make good practice for when I've graduated.

I bet it will. It seems like this place is good practice for a lot of things.

[If we remember it--

But she won't say that.]

Are you ready to order? I can flag down a waiter.

Sure. Do you know what you want? Don't worry about the price.

[It's not like he buys all that much, anyway.]

[Raises eyebrows. (Where are her Pokémon? Her Snorunt's just on her lap but the others are kind of- oh, they'll be fine.)]

If you say so... Kind of have a hankering for something closer to breakfast, so... A crepe? Nothing too fancy, just one of their chicken ones.

Sounds good. I'm kind of in the mood for a burger...

[He waves over a waitress and the ordering thing happens which is boring so no point in RPing it. When the waitress leaves, he grins.]

I like eating other things, but... I dunno. I still like eating meat. ... Even though I've been a bull in a meatpacking plant.

[And thus comes the wince.] In a...yikes. How about we skip that story? I wanna be able to chow down on a hot dog sometime in the next week.

Yeah, okay.

[He shrugs at her reaction.]

It actually ended up okay? There's kind of a funny story for that one, actually. A few of our missions ended up with funny stories out of them. Like the time we got into Zone 91 to see what the 'alien technology' they'd found was. It was all secure and everything, and when we got there, we found that it was...

[He pauses, for dramatic effect.]

An Andalite toilet. They thought they had a weapon or something, but it was just a toilet.

[She wrinkles her nose and laughs.]

A what? Those are aliens, right? Wow, talk about a mistake.

Yeah. They're the ones who've been fighting the Yeerks the whole time. I think they might have found it when Ax's ship crashed? Either way, it was pretty hilarious.

... Oh yeah, that mission was the one where Cassie went horse and ran a race because the stablehands mixed her up with the real horse. She nearly blew our cover but it was kind of amazing in hindsight.

[Tobias' life sounds so...turbulent in every way possible, given how casually he's talking about this, but at least it's a more pleasant topic than previous, so Ashley just nods along, and listens.]

I'm sure you were happy for those...little moments.

You have to find something, right? Marco... Marco said something to me a few times. "If we're not laughing at this stuff, we're crying. And I don't know about you, but I don't think crying's gonna do much." Something like that. Even here, in those few times where it's been scary, I had to find something.

... Marco and I didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but I think he might have been right about that one.

...That...kind of reminds me of someone I know too. Chris, he's-

[Here comes the silly smile and the looking away and the playing with her hair.]

Well. He's my best friend. He loves making people laugh, cheering them up... That kind of attitude.

[... He's not one to pick up on crushes, given that he was oblivious to how he felt about Rachel for... a while... but he's not sure if that's a crush or just normal 'talking about best friend' behavior from a girl. Cassie and Rachel were the only female friends he had at home, and. Well.]

Sounds about right. Do you want to tell me about him?

[It'd be nice to hear her talk about her own stuff...]

Chris? Ah... [Ohhh she's all shy. How the hell did she keep her crush on him a secret for so long? (The answer is she didn't, he was the only one who didn't know.)]

He's just amazing. Funny and sweet and smart and very loyal to his friends. He's so smart too, all into technology to a scary degree. He wants to be an app designer- oh, that's a smart-phone thing. He's brave too- but in an understated way, like...he always tries to make sure you're okay even if he's uncomfortable too or...

[A gentle sigh.]

He's the kind of guy you want around. You want him to have your back, because if he does...everything's going to be okay. That's what it feels like.

You like him a lot, huh? ... It's good that you've got a friend like that. Sometimes it's hard to know where to turn... so if you have someone who you can trust, it makes things easier.

How long have you known him?