|4| [Video]

[wing_attack]

[The video clicks on, and there is... well. There's a Rufflet and an Ursaring in colorful party hats.]

[In an inn room. He finally sprung for one tonight, yeah. Tobias turns the camera around and grins, though it's a little bit of a crooked grin. His last birthday... didn't go so well. Or was that the birthday before? The last birthday he paid attention to the date on, at least. Anyway.]

What kind of stuff do you guys do for your birthday where you're from? I never really did much for mine, so I decided to get a room for the night. It's kind of nice here, though it's sort of expensive...

[... He's probably going to go back to sleeping outside tomorrow night. Oh well.]

... Maybe we'll go out to eat or somethi -

[Aaand the Ursaring tackles him, and Tobias is left flailing under a pile of brown fur.]

Rachel! You're too big now! Get off!

[The Ursaring just laughs and Tobias crawls out from under her, turning the video off as her party hat falls and bonks him on the head.]

Comments

[wing_attack]

[Regal chirps happily and Tobias gives him a fond little pet.]

It's not so bad. It's pretty easy to find shelter when it rains, and it's not like there's any real reason to sleep inside unless you have to.

[cawsforalarm]

Eh, yeah, I guess. It's just that I spent most of my nights in tents back home, so it's kind of weird not to -- sleeping outside, or just sleeping in a regular room. [He hasn't done that since he was back in school, and now he's chilling out as a Rocket Grunt with a stable shelter and source of income? Weird shit, man.]

Who's that little one?

[wing_attack]

Yeah, I understand that. I haven't really slept inside very much for years.

[Little one? Oh. Regal perks up and flaps his wings happily.]

This is Regal, a Rufflet. He was my first Pokemon.

[cawsforalarm]

N'aww. Hi, Regal! [Henry's voice moves pretty close to "doting pet owner" territory as he greets the Rufflet. Meanwhile, awoken by the noise, an extremely young-looking Murkrow digs her way out of Henry's robes and blinks confusedly at the Gear. Henry looks down at her.]

Did I wake you up? Sorry.

[And then back at Tobias and Regal:] This is Cawdia! She's... a Murkrow, I think?

[wing_attack]

Murkrow's right, I think. ... You like birds, too?

[He may or may not have gone through and studied every Flying type Pokedex entry he could find.]

[cawsforalarm]

Yeah, I love birds! [He scoops Cawdia up and cuddles her.] Well, more accurately, birds love me. I've had a flock of these guys following me around Goldenrod, but I got Cawdia when I got here!

But yeah, birds are great. I love them. All animals are great, really, but birds are the best~

[wing_attack]

Me too. I spend a lot of time watching them on the land behind my friend's house. I can even imitate some of them, though not all that well.

[He scratches Regal just above his wing and the little bird chirps happily again.]

[cawsforalarm]

I know how to imitate crows back home! Usually I don't have to, because I can just talk to them and they understand, but sometimes it helps to get someone's attention.

Here, I'm... not really sure, though. Cawdia's quiet, and I'm only just getting to know everyone else.

[wing_attack]

You can talk to animals?

[That's... pretty cool.]

[cawsforalarm]

Uh-huh! Ever since I was born.

I was pretty much raised by a wolf for a few years.

[wing_attack]

That's... that's pretty cool. I can... kind of understand some animals, but it's... different. It's not really verbal language as much as body language.

[cawsforalarm]

Do you spend a lot of time out in the woods? Or wherever animals are? Because that's pretty cool too! I'm super bad at body language.

[wing_attack]

Yeah, there's a field and it starts going out into the woods. I've lived out there for a while now.

[cawsforalarm]

That's cool, that's cool! I'm part of an army, so we spend most of our time sleeping out in the middle of nature too.

[wing_attack]

... Oh. Yeah, I'm... not.

[Guerrilla group, but yeah.]

[cawsforalarm]

So why'd you go out there? Just sick of towns?

[He doesn't seem affected at all by that awkward response.]

[wing_attack]

No, I just... it's better than other options.

[cawsforalarm]

Heh, yeah. I can relate.

[Well... partially. He probably would have gone and played around in the forest anyway if it wasn't better than his other options, but he definitely preferred Wolfmom over the town.]

So you like birds, huh? Did you have any back at home?

[wing_attack]

It's kind of hard to own a bird. I used to have a cat, but there were a bunch in the forest. A lot of hawks, actually.

[cawsforalarm]

Ah, is it? Admittedly I've never owned any... like I said, the birds just kinda came to me. I know some people do say they own their animals, though, so. [He shrugs.]

Ooh, hawks! They're actually really clever! I knew one back home, she was the funniest thing ever. She taught me puns!

[wing_attack]

I like hawks a lot. When I went to school I used to stare out the window and watch them dive for squirrels that were running across the parking lot.

[cawsforalarm]

Ah, that's so cool! Especially when they squeeze the squirrels too tight and you can see the blood dripping out... yeah, that's the best... mmm.

[wing_attack]

[... Um. His human instincts are horrified, but the remnants of his hawk instincts are intrigued.]

I... guess. Most people wouldn't really think that's a great sight to see, though.

[cawsforalarm]

Well I'm not most people, and I think it's awesome! [ n_n ]

What about you? Would you want to see that?

[wing_attack]

Not... usually, no.