fatealteration | Route 1

Route 1

Doppio didn't like to complain...even when he really wanted to. He felt like he had a lot things he could have complained about--he got headaches more than the others. He got tired more than the others. He got carsick more than the others. Still, he didn't like to dwell on the unfairness. He felt lucky he had nice people and a warm place to lay his head down at night. When he thought about that, it helped keep things in perspective.

But right now...he really, really, really wanted to complain about Reigen's driving. It felt like they were constantly swerving or stopping--when it wasn't a rock, it was a ledge. He couldn't even look out the windows to orient himself...not that it would have helped. There was tall grass everywhere. 'It's not the Captain's fault. The road ran out miles ago.' But then the van lurched as it came to another hard stop and Doppio couldn't fight a groan as he swallowed down a wave of nausea. After several failed attempts to rise from his bunk, he had given up. He buried his head in the pillow and took a few deep breaths.

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'Curry!?' When was the last time he had curry?! And it smelled exactly how his own mom used to make it, too. Reigen shot up to stand ramrod straight before anyone else could answer.

"Arataka Reigen, ma'am. We'd be honored to accept your gracious hospitality."

"If you're sure it's not an imposition."

Chid shook his head. "No, it's not at all. Let me show you to the dining room."

Soon enough, they were all settled around the table, mounds of curry in front of them. Hitomi had no idea how she would get through what was in front of her, but she wasn't about to protest such a nice-smelling meal, either. They rarely got to eat this good when they were on the road.

She felt bad Doppio wasn't here to enjoy it with them.

"How long have you been here, Chid?"

"A few months," he answered. "I was actually found by Chansey not far from here."

"Chansey?"

As much as Reigen wanted to scarf the entire bowl down, he made himself eat pretty slowly with plans to leave some aside to eat with Doppio later on. Truth be told, it wasn't too hard to eat slowly with the...person...sitting across from him that kept giving him a shifty look.

"Chansey is Daisy's Pokémon. She's a wonderful little soul, always looking out for others. She took off one day and Daisy and I looked everywhere for her, and then back she came with Chid. He's been living here with me ever since."

"Pokémon?"

"...Oh, you don't know what a Pokémon is either, huh?" Dahlia tilted her head. It made sense...after all, neither had Chid. But they were the only people she had met in her live that had never been around them. "Well, let me explain..."

As Reigen listened and slowly chewed his food, he couldn't help but feel like the explanation was familiar somehow. Like a game he played on his MobBoy back in the 90's.

"...So, that's what they are. They all live alongside us, like Mimey, here." Dahlia rubbed the Mr. Mime's head affectionately where he sat beside her.

"I wonder if Chansey is out looking for someone now," Max mused aloud, then took a bite of her curry.

"They're all friendly?" Hitomi asked. Mimey looked friendly enough.

"Most of them are," Chid answered. "All the ones that live in this town are."

"Pokemon are our companions. Of course, there are plenty of wild ones out there, but...a skilled trainer with a good team has nothing to fear." Dahlia looked at Hitomi and smiled. "I have a son who left on a quest to become a world-class trainer a few years ago. He'd be about your age right now."

"A fifteen year old son, huh?" Reigen gestured at her with his chopsticks in disbelief. "I don't believe it. I took you for twenty-one at most!"

Dahlia laughed and held her cheek, clearly flattered. Mimey shot Reigen a look.

"It's been a long time since I've had kids in the house..." Dahlia affectionately patted Chid's head. "Chid here has been a wonderful guest."

"You've been a great host, Ms. Dahlia." Chid smiled when he said it, but Hitomi got the sense that there was sadness behind it. He was going to miss her.

Hitomi could hardly blame him. She felt guilty at the prospect of pulling him away from the relative stability of this home. Was this really the right thing to do?

She wanted to talk to the others about it before they did anything.

"Is there an inn nearby that we can stay at?" Hitomi asked. The town wasn't especially big but they'd encountered smaller towns with an inn before.

“Oh, I’m afraid not…we’re not exactly a touristy town. But not to worry. The house may seem small, but there’s plenty of room for you all to stay for awhile. You seem like you’ve been on the road for awhile. I even added a guest bedroom upstairs. It used to be an old workspace, and there are a few things of mine in there, but I can store them easily.” She seemed quite proud of this.

“Are you sure? We’ve got one more with us. She’s helping out Miss Daisy at the moment, but…” Doppio was taking awhile. ‘Maybe I should have stayed with him. If he’s not around in the next few minutes I’ll just go back out.’

“If’s no bother at all.” She looked between Reigen and Max. “You both can take the upstairs. The bed is big enough for two.”

Distracted by his thoughts, it took Reigen a few beats longer than usual to catch the implication. “Oh. No, no, we’re not…”

"Definitely not my type," Max said, hands raised in front of her in surrender.

Reigen winced. ‘Well you didn’t have to say it like that to the nice lady.’

“Oh, sorry. You both seemed close.” Delilah laughed apologetically. “Please don’t worry about space, though. Mimey will help me prepare the futons right after dinner.”

“Anywhere on the floor will do for me, Miss.” Reigen set his chopsticks neatly to the edge of his plate of unfinished curry. “Please excuse me for a moment. I’d like to go check on our other friend.”

"So... what now?"

Doppio, Reigen, and Hitomi were all sitting in the guest room together. Chid was already asleep and Delilah was in the bath. This was about as private as it was going to get in the house right now.

"I was thinking..." Hitomi started, hesitating. "About Chid... is it really a good idea for him to come with us? He seems really happy here."

“I was going to say the same thing.” Doppio had to resist breathing a sigh of relief that Hitomi had been the first to bring it up. She was the one who was close to Chid, after all.

“You know…the person who the Chansey found…it was a child. A little girl. She’s from a town Daisy recognized but she got lost after wandering too far off. Her parents disappeared awhile ago.” Doppio was fiddling anxiously with the ends of his hair where it laid loose over his shoulder. “She wasn’t able to talk clearly about what happened before we found her, but…it was something bad. Really bad. And now I’m thinking…um….can we really keep a kid with us safe out there? I mean…”

‘I mean me.’

Reigen had been quiet since they’d returned—for him. He had only caught bits and pieces of the girl’s babbling but it was…disturbing.

Grinning people with no faces. Food made out of dark. It sounded like a bad dream. Whether it was real or not, Reigen couldn’t exactly probe her. The best they could do was do another scan of the area before Daisy made a meal for her and let her cry herself to sleep.

The world, such as it was now, was hard enough for him to understand. Could he, in good faith, expose a kid so young to even more of it? It’d have been one thing if they were saving from a cardboard box under a bridge, but…

“…Even so. How easy will it be to get back to him if we leave again? Even with your powers, Hitomi-chan. I’m not trying to put bad juju out into the universe, but…who’s to say what’ll happen between here and the next destination? Everyone who we’ve met on the road has never gone far from where they ended up. Even we haven’t tried backtracking anywhere yet.”

"I don't know," Hitomi admitted. "This world keeps changing. We've seen it change... we've felt it." Hitomi knitted her fingers together. "If we leave, this place might get further away. Even further than it was already."

This was really turning out to be way more stressful than Max thought it'd be. When she first joined up with the crew, she thought it'd be a simple pick-up and leave. But now, it was definitely a lot more complicated.

"I'm worried too, but I think we should ask Chid what he wants. It's not fair to just make this decision for him. And who's to say Delilah wants to be watching a kid indefinitely?" Delilah didn't seem like the sort of person to say no, but it was kinda a big imposition.

Delilah struck Reigen as a severe empty-nester, but it still wouldn't be right to make assumptions.

'Oh. And he's a prince.' So there was a whole state's affairs they had in their hands, too. 'I'm gonna end up with a hernia.'

"...One thing at a time. Hitomi-chan, will you talk with him tomorrow?"

"Sure," Hitomi said with a nod.

Doppio stood then, suddenly anxious about sitting still. "Hitomi, Max, you both should take the guest room."

"You sure? I'm sure Hitomi and I could find some other place to rest for the night."

"Girls should get more privacy. The Captain and I will sleep in the living room." He started backing up towards the door. "I'm gonna go brush my teeth."

Before Reigen could say good night, Doppio was out the door. The kid usually liked things in order right away, but...he seemed a little extra twitchy. 'Probably from the lost kid situation. I'll talk to him in the morning.'

"...Well, I guess that settles that." He stood with a grunt. "I'm gonna take a little walk. Grab some things from the van."

"You want any company?"

He did, actually. Max must’ve picked up on it.

“Sure. An extra pair of hands wouldn’t hurt.”

Reigen walked a ways away from the house before ‘unpacking’ the van in a patch of grass. The process was probably weird in more worlds than it wasn’t.

“…So!” Reigen tossed the back doors open. “I think I know what your type is.”

Edited 2024-12-30 16:44 (UTC)

"Oh really?" Max's interest was piqued. "What type is that?"

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