Video 5: Now with Bonus Swablu Hat! (Action for Traveling Party or Azalea)

[justanexpression]

[For once, the feed clicks on and Jack looks, not happy or excited or even amused, but vaguely confused and unimpressed.

A large part of that may have to do with the Swablu cooing and preening his hair. It's wrapped itself over the top of his head like a hat, and while it looks a bit worn out like it's just reached the end of far too much traveling, it also looks supremely pleased with itself.]

So, uh... Akito? I think this is your fault?

[He tries to look up at the Swablu only for it to coo even more loudly and hunker down on top of his head, as if it knows he's thinking about trying to pry it off. He sighs, but it's offset by a tiny smile.]

I think I need some advice. Don't get me wrong, okay. It's cute. Like really cute. But...

It won't move. It hasn't moved, and it's been like an hour since it came out of nowhere and landed on me. It won't even go into a pokeball. Here, watch.

[He pulls out a pokeball, and the Swablu gets pulled in at first, but soon enough, the ball pops back open as if he'd tried and failed to catch a wild pokemon. The bird flutters straight back to his head, cooing an admonishment this time.]

So yeah. Advice.

Help?

Comments

[akito]

[ SORRY HE'S JUST GOING TO BURST OUT LAUGHING UNHELPFULLY. ]

[justanexpression]

[Of course he is. Sigh.]

[akito]

[ He'll recover quickly enough. Mostly. ]

She is a Swablu, and I got her from the Breeding Centre for you! Her move set is extensive, and she knows Fly already. She's a normal and flying combination, but her evolution will be flying and dragon!

[ DIRECTED TO THE SWABLU THIS TIME: ] Little Bird, you should get off of his head for just a little bit so that he can see you properly!

[justanexpression]

A Swablu, huh? Just for me?

[The Swablu makes an uncertain noise, hunkering down even more, wings nearly covering Jack's eyes this time.]

Whoa, hey, no, this is the opposite of helpful right now.

[akito]

Un! Who else would she be for?

[ fft, he'll just giggle some more sorry. ]

You don't want him to see what you look like, even after I put that pretty bow on you?

[neededlassie]

[Shaun looks relieved at this reprieve from his melancholy - and boy howdy has he been melancholic today. His smile doesn't quite light up his face, weak and a little tired as it is. But he's happy to see Jack.]

Maybe your hair reminds her of clouds! Have you asked her why she won't go in the ball?

Video

[dreamsofahero]

*oh, does that bring back memories of how he ended up with HIS swablu....*

They do seem rather fond of doing that, don't they?

[justanexpression]

I don't know. She coulda been for anybody and just ended up here. Maybe she's confused.

[He manages to get her to release her death grip, although it takes a bit of effort before she resettles herself.

This time, the Swablu hesitates. The bow is rather tattered now, showing that she's been through a bit of excitement on the way here. She preens it anyway.]

[justanexpression]

Ha ha. [He doesn't quite stick his tongue out at Shaun, but he's obviously thinking it. Maybe it's just Shaun's expression that stops him. They'll get around to what's going on eventually, he's sure, but waiting isn't exactly his strong point.]

Ask her, huh? [He does his best to look up at the Swablu again while holding a ball out where she can see it.] Why don't you wanna go in the ball? Everyone else manages it.

[Her coo is tiny and kind of sad, followed by a long string of 'talking' as she fluffs and resettles her wings. Any pokemon about would hear a sad tale of glitches and computers and traveling gone badly, but even without that, the overall effect is clear. She thinks they're scary.]

Video

[justanexpression]

Huh. So it's not just this one?

[That's both comforting and not. What happens if you get more than one? Do they stack?]

Re: Video

[dreamsofahero]

*nods*

Mine did that all the time before she evolved, and I've heard others have had similar experiences.

[akito]

Oh! Did she lose her note? I tied one up in her bow for you...

[ oh no it's so cute. and so is the swablu ]

[neededlassie]

Well, 'cause it's white and fluffy.

[He listens too as the Swablu fluffs and coos.]

She's scared of them. I wonder what happened to her...

You're her trainer now, right?

[Action]

[belphe]

[What's that, Jack? You like having your hair preened? Zodiac has been watching the proceedings for the last little while from his perch atop Belphe's luggage. Finally, he can't take it anymore as the Altaria glides over to alight on Jack's shoulder and join in.

Watch, young padawan, he will show you how a true Jedi arranges human hair.]

[video]

[trickyoutwice]

That's— Argh!

[Excuse Niou for a minute, he was going to laugh but then he got mobbed by a couple cat pokemon who thought using him as a perch to stare very intently at the screen showing that delectable looking bird on Jack's head was just the purrperfect idea. After he shoves a paw out of his mouth and pulls together what dignity he has left (very little), he gives the screen a sardonic little smirk. The effect is probably somewhat ruined by the way he's still got a Glameow and a Meowth effectively draped over his shoulders and practically licking their chops.

He knows it, too, so instead of the mocking comment he'd been planning, Niou opts to save a little face and actually try to be helpful. Kind of.]

Cute friend. Have you tried bird seed?

[yoctogram]

Huh.

[Sho watched the bird with an odd little light in his yellow-y eyes. Specifically the my other body is a feline light, although he knew better by now than to try to eat Pokemon.]

Looks like she likes you, arccot.

[justanexpression]

I think I got some of it, enough to know she was from you, anyway. It got torn, but I don't think it was her fault.

[She ruffles her wings, obviously offended. Of course it wasn't her fault. But she'd been lost a really long time.]

[justanexpression]

[Jack does too, so he's frowning just a bit when she finally settles back down. He hadn't thought it would be a bad thing, putting them in their balls. Now he wonders if any of his others don't like it.]

I am now, yeah. She was a gift, but she took the long way getting here, I guess.

...And my hair is not fluffy!

Video

[justanexpression]

...Great.

[He sounds slightly less put out than he could be about it, but really. How long is he going to have a fluffy hat?]

You, uh... know how to discourage it?

[Action]

[justanexpression]

[Of course he will.]

Hey...

[Jack doesn't have any more time than that to protest, though, as the Swablu trills in delight, shifting far enough to the side to give Zodiac plenty of room to work and nearly upsetting Jack's balance in the process.

See? See? She made all these parts nice and straight and it was all so white and soft-looking and doesn't she have a lovely boy? If only he would just hold still.]

Re: Video

[dreamsofahero]

Nothing that's proven very effective, unfortunately. Distracting her with training or other things only worked for so long, and the alternative would have been simply keeping her stored away...

[video]

[justanexpression]

[Jack would laugh, but... well... he's got a bird on his head. A bird that seems to want nothing to do with the cats onscreen, but of course, instead of, oh, flying away, it decides to just turn around and face backwards on Jack's head, instead.

Oh yeah, so much better.

They could just share their lack of dignity, huh?]

Uh... no? Should I?

[justanexpression]

[Probably for the best, really. Even if Jack isn't quite sure what to think of her, he's hardly about to let her get eaten, either.]

Yeah, I kind of noticed.

[By now, he's learned to stop asking what Sho's random nicknames mean. It's better for everyone this way.]

[akito]

I don't think so either... She left on Wednesday morning to go find you, but I think she must have gotten caught up by some of those, um, 'glitches'?

[ is now worried a little bit about her.. ]

Little Bird, you're not hurt at all are you?

[video]

[trickyoutwice]

[Making friends through having zero dignity. Sounds legit. And also like it's going to keep happening with the way Niou yelps as one of the cats launches itself at his Gear, helpfully using his face as a springboard. After a brief tussle where the cats reassure themselves that no, they can't actually turn themselves into binary to get at the bird, Niou finally wins back the Gear to answer.]

Uh, sorry about that. But it's a bird, isn't it? Unless you're tryin' a new style of hat or something. You can probably coax it down with food. Or I could lend you one of these fuckers.

[The last word is said with obvious affection, but it still seems accurate, especially with how the cats are now curled up and acting like their previous bout of bird-induced violence never happened.]