wing_attack | |11| [Video]

[It's a good thing that Tobias lives in a house now, because the sight that greets the network right now is way too big for a tent. A Braviary is perched on the floor, eyes closed. A Noivern leans against him, a Noibat perched on his head. A Charizard flops next to them, tail burning low, and a Talonflame is perched next to him.]

[Five Spritzee huddle in a pile nearby, all asleep. An Empoleon is flopped over on his back next to them, beak clacking as he dreams. An Aerodactyl broods nearby, eyes closed, and a Scizor and Hawlucha rest next to him. And in the middle of it all is Tobias, curled up with a blanket, a pillow, and a Swablu, Emolga, Farfetch'd, and Pidgey all spread out on top of him.]

[And who's holding the camera? Well, if the quiet grumbling laughter wasn't enough, the big brown paw and bearish grin that suddenly appears is enough to identify Rachel the Ursaring as she shuts the video off.]

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[Okay, that's adorable.]

The comm devices don't come with child locks, huh.

[Excuse you, sir, who are you calling a child? When the video flicks on again, she has it on the floor, towering above it. She huffs in response, and that's enough to make some of the smaller Pokemon stir.]

[... Which sets off a chorus of yelps and squawks from the entire pile, and a faint cry of 'ow, get off me, Nacho!' before an actually human hand grabs onto the PokeGear. He's squinting and his hair is all mussed and there's a faint red mark on his cheek, but he's awake, at least.]

Sorry... did she call you by accident?

[Hey, okay, plenty of adults and probably adult Pokémon also find themselves stymied by child locks every day. Or locks that could be picked by a child. The right child, anyway.

Okay nah that was pretty rude of York. Sorry, Rachel.]

I think it went out to everybody, dude. Sorry to break up the nap pile, though. I didn't mean to disturb.

[An Elgyem peers over York's shoulder to see whom he's talking to this time.]

York, by the way. I'm kinda new here.

It's okay. Rachel should know better than to be playing with the Gear anyway.

[They've had a discussion about this before.]

I'm Tobias. I've been here about a year.

Huh.

[The kid is, what, sixteen, seventeen? Young enough that a year would be a significant fraction of his life.]

That's a pretty long time. The way folks around here've been talking about disappearances, I guess I didn't figure people usually stayed that long. That staying power common?

Sometimes. I've known people who have been here for three, four, five years. It's not super common, but there's enough people around for it to not be super unusual, either.

[He whistles long and low.]

Long time.

[York considers the pile of Pokémon Tobias was just sleeping in and shrugs with easy grace.]

Though I guess maybe that's not so bad, yeah?

Yeah. And I think some of us kind of need a break from our worlds. I know some people who were fighting some pretty bad stuff and... need a vacation.

...A year or more is a pretty big vacation.

You wanna go back?

|11| [Video]

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