New Friends are Easy to Make

[socrowdedinhere]

Who: Zeran, Trevor Belmont, Clarence, and all the pokemon.
What: Clarence is bringing a certain yamask and phantum to meet some friends.
Where: Jae's house.
Warnings: Cute to melt your teeth.

Noemi was excited and it showed. She about bobbed in the air, mask held in tail as usual as she turned this way and that, taking in the sights. She was not only absolutely stoked to meet new people, as it had felt like forever since she'd known anyone outside of the hospital until Clarence showed up, but doubly so that her nervous little friend had agreed to come along too. The phantump was staying close to her, all but glued to her back and looking around with a more nervous, shy, and worried air than one of excitement. Noemi turned, petting at her friend, cooing comforts to him before turning to look out at the place again.

Today, she was sure, was going to be a great day.

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[grimm_and_gastly]

“If you were more ticklish, I would walk more carefully,” Diana explained. It was why she'd asked. Now that she knew, she'd settle where she was for a while... though, since where she was offered her a good view of the room, she'd wave to Buddy as he emerged, wanting the shyer pokemon to feel welcome---but not crowded in on. She'd slowly grown accustomed to the amount of attention she got from Zeran and Jendayi and Darnell and Mitham, but remembered how it had been overwhelming at times.

“I'll need input,” Clarence began, pointedly, tone still fond. He looked to Moriarty, who nodded; Marley, who offered an audible flap of shrug; Noemi, and Buddy. “Marlow will want to stay, unquestionably. Morticia won't care. Methuselah... won't be able to weigh in until he's arrived. He doesn't overheat as easily as Marlow, so he's out for a flight. He knows the way here, though.”

“He's very quiet, I think. I didn't hear him much on the trip that brought me here. I couldn't try talking to him myself 'cause I was being sneaky.” Knowing Noemi would translate, Diana offered her opinion---and admission---to the Unovans, and Trevor.

“You did a good job sneaking.” Moriarty's grin was an approving one. “I didn't notice you. Marley didn't notice you. Our boy didn't notice you. But you weren't cold in that bag?”

“No? I mean, we weren't ever anywhere very cold, and the side on Clarence was warmer, and he's got socks and stuff in there. It wasn't bad at all.”

Throughout this exchange, Clarence waited patiently, drank his drink, observed Noemi's body language, and glanced, now and then, to Trevor. When the pokemon had quieted, he admitted, “It's one idea, of several, but Timeran legend maintains the ghost-type pokemon who were once human, are chosen to become such by an entity that guards the underworld, or afterlife, or whatever you'd like to call it. Timero is a peaceful place--if you'll overlook noisy ghosts and Aaron Kelly---but it was once the nomansland of small, warring kingdoms, full of bloodshed and beleaguered native Timerans. It's... rich in resources, but these forces and those forces would be bottlenecked in waves. Drakogen, in legend, saw all that death as a waste when there's a good world to know, and determined the dead should remain long enough to know it for themselves. Some would have new forms for it, some more like life, but at the cost of being... shades? It wouldn't or couldn't grant life, but...” He motioned with one hand, frowning slightly and looking at nothing in particular on the floor.

“It's---vague enough to be difficult to articulate. If there is a river of passage, it is more like a marsh in Timero. Drakogen won't, or can't, grant life, but it is a patron of presence. That's one idea, and the one that has hold in my homeland. Others are more academic, or anecdotal, and, maybe, more widely applicable.”

[socrowdedinhere]

Buddy let out a soft "ooh" at being noticed... but gave Diana a tentative wave back, even as he sank down a bit again. Noemi was just glad to see her friend out, but wouldn't stress him further by drawing more attention to him.

Noemi was grinning behind the mask as Diana and Clarence's crew chatted for a moment, and she did indeed translate for everyone. Though, once she had, she added in her input. "I'd not mind staying, if Trevor is happy to have us."

(Or Jae.) Zeran added. This is Jae's house, Trevor is a current housemate.)

"Or Jae," Noemi added for the group.

Noemi and Zeran (as much as he could focus to) listened to Clarence's explanation. When he finished Noemi commented, musing, "You would think we would remember undergoing such a change, it sounds like it should be dramatic, dying and then becoming something new... but I don't think I've met any ghost type, that's talked to me anyway, that remembers the actual transition between human and pokemon after death. Heh, so I guess I can't help to confirm or debunk your theory there." She shrugged. Confirming or debunking hadn't really been her purpose, it was just a thought she'd had as he explained.

[cynicalwanderer]

"That is an interesting theory," Trevor said with a nod and quiet contemplation for a moment as he processed it what he knew from his own world. "Some of those that have transitioned don't seem or sound... pleased for a lack of a better word, although they aren't necessarily malevolent. Still, makes me wonder if it was a choice on their part or something done to them. If we were back home I'd say the transition was against will and unsuccessful. Ghosts that were once human are all very angry and not usually sane."

He looked at those who fit the description here and shrugged apologetically, hoping he hadn't inadvertently insulted anyone.

As an after thought, Trevor added, "And, uh, who is Aaron Kelly?"

[grimm_and_gastly]

“I suppose it's nearly settled, then. If those that know Jae better than I do, think she wouldn't much mind our staying for supper... I'd be happy to.” Clarence adjusted his glasses again, looking from Trevor to 'Zeran,' as he spoke, though it wasn't as if the possessed man could see; gesture was a hard habit to omit. “I'd also be happy to replace anything we use all up.”

Noemi's remark prompted a small shrug in turn. “I can't recall of any ghost-type on record admitting to a recollection, though... there are a handful of stories about unhappy ghosts denied a new form, on account of their misdeeds. I expect some skepticism, but there's at least once ghost Drakogen has pressed to public service. He's currently the gym leader off the coast of Lazuli.” Feeling that revelation deserved a little... space to land, Clarence finished his lemonade, and then turned back to Trevor.

“Aaron Kelly is a figure of some... notoriety, in Timeran folk stories. A thoroughly bothersome man who became more bothersome after he died, though he never was, or became, actually dangerous. The story goes that he died, was buried, and dug himself up the same day, going home to argue with his widow over where he ought to be. She said he was dead; he said he didn't feel dead, just cold, so he would set by the fire until he was warmed again. Unsurprisingly, he kept feeling cold... and while he didn't warm, he did dry out, so he creaked and cracked, complaining of the cold all the while. Eventually, a fiddler came to court Widow Kelly. He must have been a very charming fellow, as he was able to convince Aaron moving around would help him warm up again after all. Being jealous, Aaron declared the best way to move would be to dance with his wife, saying as much, and insisting the fiddler play. The fiddler acquiesced, and the Kellys danced, just as he had hoped; he played faster and faster as Aaron continued to crack, pop, and snap, and he stopped playing only when the Kellys fell. Widow Kelly fell down; Aaron Kelly fell apart. The fiddler helped the widow up, and they gathered Aaron's bones to bury, but in a jumble, so they'd have time to leave town together. To this day, you'll sometimes hear someone who's made a pest of his- or her-self told 'go ask Aaron,' instead of 'shush' or 'shoo.' It's so that the pest will be busied looking for his bones, and the bothered will know peace in the interim.”

[socrowdedinhere]

Noemi listened to all of that, processing, and realized she had two questions. "I have questions. What Aaron Kelly real, or is he just a story? And... are you saying there's a gym leader that is a ghost?"

Zeran would have laughed at her tone at the second question. She sounded every bit like a baffled teen who was sure she had to have heard something wrong. Honestly, though, he was wondering the last himself, and so listened for the answer, even as he considered what he might make for everyone to eat if Jae had what he needed...

[cynicalwanderer]

Trevor chuckled at the story of Aaron Kelly. He rather enjoyed stories and felt this was a good one!

Nodding to the questions, Trevor has one of his own... "And, who - or what, denies a ghost of a new form?" It's his understanding that there is no god here, something that he is deeply grateful for, but he can't help but wonder who would be powerful enough to stop a ghost transitioning if that's a possibility.

[grimm_and_gastly]

Despite the company he kept, Clarence was not one to tease.

"I have some answers, but at least as many questions as you, and you, and you," this with a smile and one hand (palm up, rather than pointing impolitely) indicating Noemi/Zeran, then Trevor, then Noemi/Zeran, "put together. It seems Aaron Kelly was real, as a man by that name died and was buried eighty-two years ago, but the grave is empty. Where Aaron Kelly is, and how talkative he is at present, that's more of a mystery. Lazuli's gym leader is something of a mystery as well, though there's no denying his existence---the uncertainty is regarding who he was in life. It seems public service is only part of his punishment, and the other part is anonymity; the nickname 'Greybeard' has stuck since we have to call him something, and the name of his ship is also unknown... though that doesn't really disrupt conversation on account of its being the only regularly-appearing ghost ship at the site."

As opposed to the erratically-appearing ghost ships.

Clarence turned to Trevor with a little shrug. "According to the legends, Drakogen? Though, if a spirit's been partially consumed but something like a lampent, there may not be... enough to come back, but it's plausible a, ah, depleted shade---and I'm sorry, there's so little in the way of established language for this sort of subject---could become part of an aggregate like drifloon but there's still so much we just don't know."

[socrowdedinhere]

Zeran was pushing to pay a bit more attention now. Things like this caught his interest. Mysteries, curiosities, things science just couldn't explain (yet) were things he lived for.

Noemi ends up relaying his thoughts more than her own, though truthfully her own mirror his closely enough that she won't really say she's sharing Zeran's thoughts this time. "It's interesting knowing there are at least kernels of truth at least. Stories can certainly turn into something of their own, but knowing it started on a truth makes it really interesting."

But with no other specific question to ask on that line, she went back to a previous comment. "What are your questions for us?"

Buddy was slowly starting to edge around the table, quietly moving to inspect the people, hopefully, at least mostly, unnoticed.