bertall | Iɴʙᴏx ✉ Vɪᴄᴛᴏʀʏ Rᴏᴀᴅ

[The last few days have been... a lot, to say the least. Angel's departure, Jean's awakening and then Mr Newt's disappearance had all followed each other rapidly. And with Mr Newt's disappearance had come a new responsibility in the form of eight Laprasses.

Armin had been aware of Mr Newt's intentions for his pod; how he had wanted to use those individuals to help repopulate Laprasses pods in the wild. And he had considered it an admirable goal, something that really fitted Mr Newt's way of thinking. He had even been willing to help him out in his own small ways. But then Mr Newt had disappeared and the whole pod, all eight of them, had found their way into Armin's ownership.

At first, he hadn't known what to do with them. He wasn't a breeder. He didn't know the first thing about breeding. The only time his pokemon had ever had eggs was when they had decided to do so. Really, he had considered finding someone else to take over the herd. A proper breeder who would know what to do. But... this had been Mr Newt's dream. Even if he found another breeder willing to take them on, could he be certain they would do everything in their power to make Mr Newt's dream a reality? He might be gone, but his vision could still live on.

It had taken him several days of hemming and hawing, but finally, Armin had decided that perhaps, he could do this. Despite not being a breeder, maybe he could make Mr Newt's dream come true.

Though once he had decided that, the realisation that he would need to learn a lot more about breeding was a quick second.

Thankfully, for once there was actually an active, successful breeder only a floor down from his own attic room. When it seems Bertolt is not caught up in anything too important, Armin knocks on the post of his door, poking his head into his room.]

Bertolt? If you've got the time, could I ask you some questions?

_{[Luckily the only thing of importance that Bertolt is doing is, well...

He's currently sprawled out on the bed, one leg propped up and the other crossed over his knee where his Salandit sits perched on his shin. There's even a little pile of pecans square in the center of Bertolt's chest and he occasionally picks one up and flicks it to the Salandit's waiting mouth, and sometimes she simply catches it, roasts it with a short-lived Flame Burst, and chucks it back at her trainer's face. How long have they been doing this to get into this smooth of a routine? Who knows, But it may or may not have something to do with the disappearing stashes of pecans from the cupboards.

It's unfortunate that the knock and appearance of Armin distracts the both of them - Bertolt's toss ends up beaning her in the nose, and the Salandit ends up chucking her roasted one smack between his eyes.]}

A-Armin? I, ah... Y-Yeah. Just, uh... Watch your step.

_{[He'll drag the vacuum out to pick up any stray pecans later!]}

It's okay. I've got a lot of practice stepping around Jean's voltorbs.

[The ball horde has grown steadily, and much like their diminutive but terrifying overlord, Blitz's offspring don't particularly care about getting in anyone's way either. They'll roll where they want to go, and you better learn to step around them or be bowled over.

Armin has been bowled over a lot.

Stepping into the room, Armin moves carefully, trying not to step on anything or anyone.]

I-- [he hesitates.] I'm not sure where to start, if I'm honest.

_{[At least Marcel is sprawled out on his back on the other side of the bed, so that's one less thing to worry about. Though it'd be pretty easy to avoid stepping on him with how big he is. Someone wants to climb over him? It's fine. He's used to it.

Bertolt makes a soft 'oof' as the Salandit jumps off of his leg and onto his chest to grab a tiny handful of pecans, and he starts to sit up once she hops off the bed to scamper across the floor and up Armin's leg to make herself at home on his shoulder. She could easily evolve whenever she wanted to, but she wouldn't get to do this if she did! She'd be too big!]}

S-Sorry about her, uh... Is everything okay?

_{[Yes! Is everything okay? Can Pecan interest Armin in a lightly-toasted pecan?]}

[Armin jumps in surprise when she first skitters up his leg, but it is only for a moment. He's gotten used to pokemon climbing and perching on him. Honestly, he doesn't really mind. Just as long as she doesn't burn his eyebrows off!]

It's all right. All things considered, she is probably the best of your pokemon to sit on me. [You with your big pokemon, you. Still, he can't keep this conversation light. Not really.] It's--

[He can't say it is nothing. Because Mr Newt was gone and Armin is feeling the loss keenly. Stupid hormones put aside, Mr Newt had been like a role model and tutor. Someone who Armin had wanted to be like one day. And now he was gone.]

Uhm. Do you know Mr Newt? Newt Scamander, I mean.

We've talked a couple time before, yeah. And, uh...

_{[He crosses his legs as he sits up the rest of the way and turns on the bed, patting the space next to him in a silent invitation to take a load off. Standing around all the time can't be good, can it?]}

He's got Borf right now. And I've got one of his Pokemon to take her out to see the world while helping her build up confidence in battles. I haven't brought her to any gyms or into any serious fights yet, but she's been... She's been doing really great practicing with Galliard. She's the Archeops that you've probably seen around.

_{[Maybe he'll bring her along when he goes to have his rematch against Claire, too.]}

...Did you guys get in a fight? Usually you get this, er... You look different when you talk about him.

[Armin goes to perch on the edge of the bed, his hands automatically knotting together in his lap.

When Bertolt mentions he looks different when he talks about Newt, Armin almost wants to ask how. If it had been any other occasion, he probably would have. He had tried very hard to hide the dumb things he felt for Mr Newt, not wanting anyone, and especially not Mr Newt himself, to find out. But maybe he hadn't been as successful in that as he had hoped. Though... at the very least tell him he hadn't been as bad as Jean mooning over Mikasa.

But... not right now. Maybe he'll ask later sometime, but right now it actually just makes his chest sting as he swallows hard.]

No. No, it's not that. Mr Newt has-- [His hands tighten together on his lap.] He's gone. From this world, I mean. He's gone home.

_{[It was always the little things that stood out to Bertolt - he may not have been a social butterfly, but watching people was easy. He can't pin down the exact reason but it was at least clear that there was something about Newt that made Armin's voice change just a bit, or he'd smile a certain way. From his point of view Armin seemed genuinely happy when he'd come up.

Bertolt's brows furrow, his eyes wandering to Armin's hands for a moment before he looks up to meet Pecan's gaze. He's never been great at comforting people, but godsdamnit--]}

...Do you know when? I-I mean... How long ago was it?

Just- Just a few days, I think. That's when some of his pokemon suddenly showed up in my possession.

[It had been a rough blow, made rougher by the fact that it had come so closely on the heels of Angel disappearing. At least Jean had woken up, so that was not an additional load of stress on his mind.]

_{[Gods, so many people keep vanishing...]}

...I'll have to find a way to tell Gwenog.

_{[And that in itself will be heartbreaking]}

Which... Which ones did you end up with?

Edited (whoops my html) 2018-05-29 01:00 (UTC)

I don't know if you know, but before Mr Newt left, he started a new project. He wanted to build a pod of Lapras and use them to rebuild their numbers in the wild.

[A very noble and honorable goal, we can all agree.]

They are mine now. All eight of them.

[Armin glances at Bertolt.]

Which is why I am here.

That's...

_{[That's a big project.

Really big.]}

That's a lot of Lapras.

_{[Like. A lot. He knows how big they are!]}

How, uh... What do you need?

[Tell Armin about it. He's only barely starting to remember their names and be able to tell them apart --some are easier than others-- and the idea that he is now responsible for them is more than a bit daunting.]

Well. Uhm. At first, I thought about finding an experienced breeding and having them take on the pod. But then I realised if I'd do that, I'd have no influence over whether or not Mr Newt's intentions would be carried out and-- [a short inhale] He was important to me, Mr Newt, I mean. I admired him a lot. Even if he is gone here now, I still want to make sure that his dream becomes a reality. So I've decided to keep them but--

[He glances up, looking at Bertolt.]

I don't really know anything about breeding. I've read about it a bit, of course, but I've always focused on being a trainer.

[Do you see where he is going with this, Mr Professional Breeder Friend.]

_{[Even Bertolt would balk at the idea - while he may not have a lot of experience with water types or much of a desire for larger ones thanks to that darn sea sickness, he couldn't imagine passing them off to someone else if he were in Armin's position.

Still... Hoo boy. Let's think.]}

W-Well, uh... You'll need a space big enough to keep them without too much issue. Do you have somewhere in mind? I'm assuming that, uh... That he had a place he was doing all of this at before.

_{[Bertolt has his place up in Blackthorn for example and even though he hasn't had a good chance to practice breeding full-time up there, he knows the spots his Aggron has laid claim to in terms of territory which could easily come in handy for when those times roll around.]}

He did. But that was near Ilex forest, which is too far away.

[Armin lives on the islands, after all. And while he still has travel plans, he also likes his life here enough that he definitely wants to spend his time not-travelling right here.]

I've been looking for a new place for them. There are a lot of small bays and inlets along the coast here, so I am hoping to find someplace with some shelter so they can stay there safely. And of course, I want it to be near enough that I could easily visit them without needing to travel for hours.

Iɴʙᴏx ✉ Vɪᴄᴛᴏʀʏ Rᴏᴀᴅ

Action; Backdated to a few days after Armin got his Lapras herd

action 5ever

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