Video

[neededlassie]

[It's raining. It's raining pretty hard, actually, and the boy huddled in front of the camera looks about soaked through to the bone, and positively miserable. At least he seems to have found a safe place to sit, his Watchhog huddled up under one arm and his Musharna sprawled across his lap asleep.

But that doesn't help the sleepless circles under his eyes or the limp, wet hair sticking to his forehead almost down into his eyes.]

Who do you miss most? From back home. Or what, I guess, if you miss something more than somebody.

[He sniffles miserably and swipes the sleeve of his jacket (now too short for his arms, leaving about three inches of wrist visible at the end of each sleeve) across his nose, his other hand running along the smooth fur of the Musharna in his lap.]

...I miss my mom and dad...

Comments

[Video]

[codeforhope]

[Oh my gosh you poor thing. Chihiro's got an expression of excessive pity going on here with the saddest eyes imaginable. His first thought is to ask Shaun if he's okay, but that would be dumb because he is definitely not okay. Suddenly Chihiro feels bad that he's got a nice, dry house to stay in while it pours outside and poor Shaun is stuck in the rain. It doesn't seem fair, since he hasn't been here as long...

Looking just as concerned is the Leavanny sitting next to Chihiro on his bed, carefully pulling strands of silk between her leaf-bladed arms. Remember that little Sewaddle you rescued at prom, Shaun? She remembers, and now her mom-dar is going haywire.]

I...I miss my father too.

[neededlassie]

[He kind of did this to himself, but he got so wrapped up in how much he needed to get out of the city, to finish his pokemon adventure, that he forgot to...check the weather.

And he'd been doing so good, not panicking in the rain or anything!

Shaun wipes his wet hair off his forehead and bites his lip, hesitating before he asks:]

What's your dad like?

[codeforhope]

[Stay strong Shaun, stay strong. If he could help you, he would.

Chihiro looks down for a minute, playing with the edge of his skirt.]

Mm.....he worked with computers. He was busy with his job a lot, but he did get to stay home most of the time...

He's the reason I...I um....started doing programming. ..He was....very proud of what I could do. I...wanted to create things that would help him.

[He pauses, glancing back up at the camera, shyly.]

I haven't seen him in a long time.

[It's no doubt that the first motive that swept around had something to do with his father...and he's not entirely sure if he's still alive.]

[neededlassie]

Your dad sounds really cool. So you wanted to be a programmer like him when you grew up?

[He smiles sadly.]

My dad was an architect, so he stayed home and worked too... Sometimes he'd take me and my brother to see the buildings before they were all the way done.

I haven't seen my dad in a long time either.

[And his tone implies that there's not much hope of seeing him again.]

[codeforhope]

[Chihiro nods in confirmation.]

I did...your father sounds very nice as well, Shaun-kun.

[He falls quiet for a minute, sharing a brief glance with Shiruku.]

Sometimes my father and I would go out together. Nothing....too special or anything. Just to spend some time together. Did you and your father ever do anything like that?

[TIME TO SHARE SOME HAPPY MEMORIES.]

[neededlassie]

Yeah. When I was little, he took me and my brother camping once because Jason was a cub scout.

He taught me how to throw a boomerang at the park.

[He tries not to think about that visit to the park too much but he can't help but remember it because it was the closest he'd come to having his dad back, since Jason died.]

[codeforhope]

It sounds like you had a lot of fun together.

Lea! Leavanny!

[Shiruku nods with a bright grin for Shaun. ....if she could reach through the Gear and pull you into this room with her she could because poor baby you look miserable. :c]

[neededlassie]

Yeah, we did.

[He didn't always appreciate it at the time but now he knows how hard his dad was trying.]

Hey, is that your Sewaddle who wandered off at prom?

[LET'S TALK ABOUT POKEMON that's safe]

[codeforhope]

Mm? Oh...yes, she is.

[Shiruku waves at the screen again, even though her arms are still pretty tied up with her silk.]

She evolved into Swadloon not long after prom, but she didn't do much for a while...then one morning I woke up to a bright light, and she was a Leavanny.

[neededlassie]

That's neat! She looks really pretty.

[Shaun waves back at her. His Watchhog stares into the camera with intense headlight eyes.] What's she doing with all that thread?

[codeforhope]

[Shiruku ducks her head a little at the praise before going back to work.]

She's been learning how to make clothing. When she was still a Sewaddle she tried to make little scarves and wear them around..

[Though they....they were a hot mess.]

But now she's moving on to bigger things. ...such as...um. Shirts, pants....things like that.

[neededlassie]

Oh, I see. Does she make clothes for the rest of your pokemon, too?

[That's...really cute...]

It looks like she's getting pretty good at it.

[codeforhope]

She's been working on it. I think she's just been trying to create a silk that will actually stay in one piece.

[It's strong stuff, but she hasn't quite mastered how to weave it together so it doesn't just burst open if someone tries to put it on.]

[neededlassie]

Well, practice makes perfect, right? She'll get there.

[There's nothing Pokemon can't do!!!]

Do you know how to sew?

[codeforhope]

I...I don't, actually. It might be nice to learn, though.

[neededlassie]

I bet it's prolly useful to know. I mean, if your clothes like get ripped up or something on the routes.

[codeforhope]

[Shiruku seems to concur with this statement, nodding cheerfully.]

Mhm. Shiruku will probably be teaching me everything she knows, I'm sure.