[Grant moves to pet the Spheal, and suddenly, Shiro's attention just zooms in on the little guy. Oh no. Oh no. That is an orb of friend. It is extremely difficult not to just hunker down and hug the Spheal on impulse.]
I - didn't know you had one.
[Be cool, Shiro. Be cool.]
[Pancake, the Mantyke, has no such compunctions, and squeals. Splashing water happily at the other pokemon. FRIEND!!]
[He hunkers down pretty quick, though, and offers a hand out to the Spheal. Pancake flops her way out of the bucket-backpack, somehow managing to move herself on land enough to come say hi.]
[The Spheal himself snuffles eagerly at Shiro's hand, and then at Pancake, as if not sure where to set his attention first. Grant kneels down with a quiet, amused snort to hold out a hand to Pancake, in turn.]
[The Spheal makes sort of a burbling, purring sound, and leans into those pets. He will gladly take those thank you!!!
Grant, meanwhile, gives a quiet, flustered laugh at Shiro's commentary while he gives Pancake some attention.] I could say the same over here - you been behaving for Shiro, sweetie? God, she's so cute.
[This absolute orb of a Pokemon gets NO less excited about the attention - and Grant can't help a quiet snort as Pancake flips over. Okay, well, how can he not reward that with tummy rubs?
He nods sympathetically at Shiro's comment, his smile going a little sad for a moment.] ...Yeah. Kinda sucks, being separated from all our other Pokemon. Um... is she named after the-- the moon, right?
Yeah... longest I've been away from Kuro in years. [His big Aggron buddy - his starter. It's like being away from family.]
She is! [But that gets a grin out of him, sincere and bright. Flashing it at Grant while continuing to scratch those little Spheal ears.] One of Jupiter's moons. The one that's famous for having liquid oceans. People used to think there might be some kind of space mermaids out there.
No kidding. [He already misses Truffle and his other Pokemon plenty, and he hasn't been here near as long as Shiro has.
That grin, and how Shiro launches into talking about his Pokemon's namesake, was exactly what he was after.] Man, really? The liquid oceans thing sounds familiar, but the space mermaid rumors are new.
[Of course he's going to worry about Chip, too. He's always going to worry about kids.]
It was pretty popular for a while. We ended up disproving it, unfortunately. Just microscopic life - which was a huge find - but it disappointed a lot of people anyway.
They're, uh... [He falters a bit, his smile fading for a moment.] They're not doing great. Losing contact with their team has... has really freaked them out.
[He manages a weak laugh.] That is still a pretty big deal, isn't it? I mean, where I'm from, people are still arguing about whether there's life elsewhere in space at all.
[Shiro's own smile falters too. He straightens up a bit from attending to the Spheal, concern all over his features.] Is there anything we can do? [Look, he knows Grant's probably doing all he can for them, but - it's Shiro, he has to ask.]
Oh, absolutely. It was amazing. One of the biggest finds ever - people were just disappointed there weren't mermaids.
[Grant appreciates it, honestly; even if there's not much to be done, it's always good to be reminded how many other people are looking out for Chip.] I'm not sure; I've been trying to talk them through their feelings on it, but... not like we can fix the problem itself.
Guess that's the danger in getting your hopes up, huh?
Yeah! That's... really cool, honestly. You should tell Chip about it. Though, they might also get the wrong idea when they first hear there's life on a moon.
[Man. Well, he manages an appreciative smile for that, at least, even if it takes some work.] ...Right. We will.
That would be great. They're bound to be really interested, even if I... doubt much of what they've seen about aliens in media is gonna be that accurate.
Never underestimate the power of two bored tech-heads. [He's honestly not that sure, but it was worth it to make Grant laugh.] Hunk and Pidge - I'm surprised they haven't re-invented computers here by now.
Aaah, yeah - I don't think I've talked to Hunk, actually, but I've seen him around on the network.
[Oh boy. He absolutely cannot keep a fond smile from creeping onto his face as he explains.] It's a kids' franchise back in our world that Chip absolutely loves - there's games, a cartoon, all that. It's about a kid who moves to a planet populated by these alien animals with psychic powers; they start befriending them, the aliens will battle for them, and... well, you probably see the similarities.
You think so? I'll try and talk to him if I get a chance.
[Admittedly, he's... nervous, given how hit-or-miss meeting Shiro's friends has been so far, but! He's willing to give it a shot, and he trusts that if Shiro thinks they'd get along well, there must be something to that.]
[Laughing is good!! Success!!] Sure did! And they sure were. I wish you could've seen them when we got here, they were practically bouncing off the walls while I was still trying to figure out if we'd been kidnapped.
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I - didn't know you had one.
[Be cool, Shiro. Be cool.]
[Pancake, the Mantyke, has no such compunctions, and squeals. Splashing water happily at the other pokemon. FRIEND!!]
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Not 'til getting here. [Now that that's out of his mouth, he guesses it's obvious.] He's pretty affectionate, if you want to say hi?
[Sure enough, the Spheal is bouncing over to investigate Shiro and Pancake, giving a curious burbling sound.]
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[He hunkers down pretty quick, though, and offers a hand out to the Spheal. Pancake flops her way out of the bucket-backpack, somehow managing to move herself on land enough to come say hi.]
[To both Grant and his Spheal.]
Hey buddy.
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[The Spheal himself snuffles eagerly at Shiro's hand, and then at Pancake, as if not sure where to set his attention first. Grant kneels down with a quiet, amused snort to hold out a hand to Pancake, in turn.]
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[Oh that Spheal is getting so many pets. So many scritches behind those adorable little ears. He wasn't kidding when he said he loved them.]
[Pancake flops herself over to Grant's hand, butting her head into the waiting pets.]
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Grant, meanwhile, gives a quiet, flustered laugh at Shiro's commentary while he gives Pancake some attention.] I could say the same over here - you been behaving for Shiro, sweetie? God, she's so cute.
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Wow, I... this makes me miss Europa... [But he's not stopping.] My Spheal.
[Pancake somehow manages to flip herself over for tummy rubs. Still squeaking in joy.]
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He nods sympathetically at Shiro's comment, his smile going a little sad for a moment.] ...Yeah. Kinda sucks, being separated from all our other Pokemon. Um... is she named after the-- the moon, right?
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She is! [But that gets a grin out of him, sincere and bright. Flashing it at Grant while continuing to scratch those little Spheal ears.] One of Jupiter's moons. The one that's famous for having liquid oceans. People used to think there might be some kind of space mermaids out there.
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That grin, and how Shiro launches into talking about his Pokemon's namesake, was exactly what he was after.] Man, really? The liquid oceans thing sounds familiar, but the space mermaid rumors are new.
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[Of course he's going to worry about Chip, too. He's always going to worry about kids.]
It was pretty popular for a while. We ended up disproving it, unfortunately. Just microscopic life - which was a huge find - but it disappointed a lot of people anyway.
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[He manages a weak laugh.] That is still a pretty big deal, isn't it? I mean, where I'm from, people are still arguing about whether there's life elsewhere in space at all.
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Oh, absolutely. It was amazing. One of the biggest finds ever - people were just disappointed there weren't mermaids.
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Guess that's the danger in getting your hopes up, huh?
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[And throwing brainy people at it. Despite what that quack Cara Liss says.]
Hah, yeah. But hey - we did find life out there, regardless.
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Yeah! That's... really cool, honestly. You should tell Chip about it. Though, they might also get the wrong idea when they first hear there's life on a moon.
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[It's as close to a promise as he can make without, you know, actually promising.]
I'd be happy to. I can even tell them about the sentient life we ran into out there. The good kinds.
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That would be great. They're bound to be really interested, even if I... doubt much of what they've seen about aliens in media is gonna be that accurate.
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[He doesn't know, honestly. But it's better than nothing, right?]
Oh man. No - alien media doesn't get half of it right...
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Yeah, that is... not at all surprising. ...Actually, have I ever told you why Chip's always calling Pokemon "Paliens"?
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[Now it's his turn to arch an eyebrow, confused.]
No, I really don't think you did. Paliens?
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[Oh boy. He absolutely cannot keep a fond smile from creeping onto his face as he explains.] It's a kids' franchise back in our world that Chip absolutely loves - there's games, a cartoon, all that. It's about a kid who moves to a planet populated by these alien animals with psychic powers; they start befriending them, the aliens will battle for them, and... well, you probably see the similarities.
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[Big hearts!! Good guys!! Kind of nerds in very specific areas.]
... No way. [Oh, good, he's laughing.] No way - you guys had a version of Pokemon in your world? And Chip was into it?
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[Admittedly, he's... nervous, given how hit-or-miss meeting Shiro's friends has been so far, but! He's willing to give it a shot, and he trusts that if Shiro thinks they'd get along well, there must be something to that.]
[Laughing is good!! Success!!] Sure did! And they sure were. I wish you could've seen them when we got here, they were practically bouncing off the walls while I was still trying to figure out if we'd been kidnapped.
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[See, Grant, Hunk is probably the opposite of Lance and Pidge - and that is, somehow, part of how they all get along.]
I wish I could have too. That's like - suddenly waking up and finding yourself in Star Wars kind of cool.
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