013; [video/action for Cherrygrove]

[keychained]

[if there's one thing Sora here is really good at, it's comfort-- whether it be an enthusiastic pep talk, or telling a silly joke or making a silly face to get a laugh out of whoever needs it, Sora can and does deliver! he's usually pretty successful at getting a smile, at least, though he's better at comforting when he has an experience of his own that he can relate to whatever's happening with a friend.]

[and... he's been trying his best with his friends this week. today, however, Sora will be marching into completely uncharted territory experience-wise when he turns on the feed-- it's so unfamiliar, in fact, that he doesn't even recognize it.]

... There's something wrong with Puddles.

[at least, he wouldn't be able to recognize it on a Pokémon. the feed turns to show the edge of Cherrygrove and Route 30, where the aforementioned Girafarig is standing. just standing there. and staring off down Route 30 longingly. maybe he missed a patch of grass on the way down here?]

I tried taking him to the Pokécenter, and they looked at him... Then Nurse Joy just kinda laughed and told me he's fine. But he's not! Ever since we got here, he's just been standing right there in the same spot like a zombie. Puddles! C'mere!

[Puddles bleats in acknowledgment, but does not move, nor does he refrain from staring off down Route 30 like there's a special Girafarigs-only treasure down that road or something. Sora sighs.]

I don't get it.

Comments

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[how midget are we talking? Sora's on the short side himself-- he pauses to glance over at the new guy, then back to Puddles.]

I'm not sure I know where Puddles' home is. he's been with me since I arrived.

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[4'4", and not getting any taller. Easily mistaken for a child.]

Down that route, perhaps. It might explain why he refuses to leave.

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[ah, Sora has him by a good seven or eight inches.]

I guess so. I never really thought much about it, but... maybe Puddles has a whole family back home.

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[He's used to it.]

He might. Most of us do, after all. Why would they be any different?

[newhero.livejournal.com]

Well... Puddles, if you really want to go home, we'll find your home for you together, okay?

[that gets half of a bleat out of Puddles, but that's good enough for Sora. he grins, and turns to walk toward his new friend-- yes, they're friends already, as far as he's concerned.]

So what's your name? Mine's Sora.

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[A look in Puddles direction at the half-bleat, then back to Sora as he walks over. Friends? Not even close, as far as Hitsugaya is concerned.]

Hitsugaya.

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[friends until shown otherwise!]

Nice to meet you, Hitsugaya. Have you been here long?

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[Stubborn boy.]

Nearly three weeks. ...And you?

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[pretty much how Sora functions.]

Um... Almost three months. I'm gonna be challenging Falkner once we get back to Violet. Are you traveling with anyone?

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[It does get the job done, at least.]

With someone from my home. [A sideways glance at the Inn. She'd better not be slacking off again.]

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[he's also very nosy.]

Really? What's your home like?

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[That's going to get him hurt very badly some day.]

It's...difficult to explain. It's very different from this place.

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[most likely.]

I can understand that. None of the other worlds I've visited have been anything like Johto.

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[Least he has plenty of friends to bail him out of trouble.]

Hmm. This place is...a world of its own, in more ways than one.

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[this is true! or at least they'd be there to stop him before he does something stupid.]

Seems that way. Johto probably has its own heart, too.

[yeah, Sora gave up on the "keep other worlds and how they work a secret" rule when he came to Johto. not that he was very good at obeying the rule in the first place.]

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[Not that it would work so well. Stubborn boy is stubborn.]

Heart?

[His own world is a two for one, but...he's never heard that term.]

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[... point. hey I think I'll stab myself despite my friends' protests! this is a good idea.]

Yup! Worlds have hearts just like we do. It kinda makes them the way they are.

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[It did accomplish something, but it was a baaaad idea.]

[A moment of silence, then...] ...Can a worlds heart become corrupt and affect its people?

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[it accomplished making things a big and complicated mess, definitely. that makes Sora frown, and definitely not in thought.]

A world's heart can be corrupted by darkness, yeah... but if that happens, it's usually lost to the darkness, and the world is destroyed.

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

[Well....it saved Kairi, so it's not all bad. And that makes him look away. Things hadn't gone that far. It really was just those three, and Momo's hopes were completely unfounded.]

I see. Thank you for telling me.

[newhero.livejournal.com]

... Hey, it's all right. Even if a world gets destroyed, it's not gone forever.

[that's what he's been told, anyway. what he's been banking on.]

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

I would hope so.

[His world is still intact, but who knows for how long.]

[newhero.livejournal.com]

Is something going on back home?

[freezetheskies.livejournal.com]

Things are...complicated at the moment. [Not telling a kid about this, nuh-uh.]

[newhero.livejournal.com]

[hey, he's positive that he's not a kid thank you very much.]

I'm sorry. It's... sort of the same at my home.

[well, by "complicated" Sora means "not even there anymore."]