Catchall for Domestic Post-Airlocked AU Shenanigans w/Mini

[jesustapdancingchrist]

 wtf am I doing

Comments

[heartswapped]

[It's been a few days, perhaps a week, since Elaine got back from the hospital. Her energy seems to be returning slowly, like Oda had said, but between Aria, the twins, and the small army of Pokemon under her care, she still keeps finding herself exhausted.

Luckily, there should be plenty of things around to keep Oda busy, both within the house itself and in the utterly alien world he's found himself in.

Most nights, for the sake of her own convenience and sanity, Elaine has the baby sleep in her bedroom. During the day, however, Elaine is content to let Aria nap wherever Oda happens to be. It's a small thing to worry about, but Elaine wants to be sure that whenever Aria's more quiet than usual, Oda can check to see if she's still breathing.

Today is a little different. Elaine's found herself under the weather, and while Aria was born in perfect health, she's still a newborn. It's nothing serious, and part of it's because she also wants a little peace and quiet, but Elaine's decided that maybe being by herself is for the best right now, whenever she can manage it. So off Aria goes to the living room, in her surprisingly comfy laundry basket that Elaine had converted into a sorta-cradle. Aria's all tucked in and wearing one of those little blanket suit things that Elaine's dad had bought for her, as grandparents do.

Like always, she looks like a very adorable potato.

Elaine still kisses Aria on the forehead before she heads off, because why the hell wouldn't she? That's what moms are for.

...everything is quiet in the living room, Oda.

There's no one around, and the lights are off.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you spot it.

Something has apparently opened the window and has also managed to crawl in.]

[tenimuho]

[Oda is protective. Elaine knows his reasons for this and wouldn't scold him for worrying - he thinks he knows why she has Aria nap where he is instead of in a different room, without him having to ask her to do that.

Oda is protective and always on alert, and he knows that the window wasn't left open. He doesn't know what that flash of pink is, but he doesn't like it.

It might be impressive how quickly he gets a knife in his hand - where was he even keeping that? - and has it pointed at the Invader. It'd be more impressive if that Invader didn't have cause to fear for its life.]

Get out. Now.

[heartswapped]

[By now, Oda has probably seen a few Munna. They're pink, cheerful-looking things with flowers on their butts, and they seem pretty popular with young girls whenever he sees them while on errands. At least in those cases, though, they were always with a trainer

So of all the emotions he's feeling right now, at least "WTF is that thing" is probably not one of them.

In the time it takes to pull that knife out, the "invader" is already near where Aria's sleeping, just... watching. There's a thin haze of candy-pink mist surrounding her before the Munna turns around to spot Oda.

Its eyes grow wide as it sees the knife, and it freezes in its tracks.]

[tenimuho]

[As carefully and gently as Oda can manage with one hand, he picks up Aria's makeshift cradle and moves her out of the pink mist, onto the couch. Hopefully it was gentle enough not to wake her.

Then he turns his glare on the Munna again, still with a glare as sharp as his knife.]

Last chance to get out.

[heartswapped]

[Luckily, Aria stirs a bit, but seems unharmed and unaware of what's going on.

The Munna turns... and heads over towards the twins' room. Whoops.]

[tenimuho]

[Oda cannot catch up to a van on foot. He can absolutely catch up to a Munna.

Barring anything else happening in about one second, he's gonna stab that thing.]

[heartswapped]

[Looks like the Munna has anticipated this, as it casually dodges the knife.

...

It's already behind the door. There's a loud thump coming from that room. ]

[tenimuho]

[Yeah uh

he's throwing that door open. It might be loud, sorry to all the sleeping people.]

[heartswapped]

[It's loud enough that Aria's crying in the living room, although Elaine's going to check on and tend to her first before going to see what the hell is going on. You've got some time, Oda.

What you open the door to is a young girl sitting on a very large cardboard box, trying desperately to keep it from floating off the floor while the boy, still bleary eyed and batting away more of that pink mist, struggles to find his glasses.]

Ugh, Shae, you could really try to be a little faster here-

[The girl looks more annoyed than afraid for her life, but the boy doesn't pay her too much attention, instead finding his glasses and grabbing one of his Pokeballs from a nearby drawer.]

I said hold on a second!

[The tone of their voices is one of typical sibling annoyance, rather than fear. They're not reacting to the Munna's presence in any way that wouldn't be out of place if someone had found a spider or a small lizard in their house in Oda's world: unwanted, sure, but not exactly what you break out the knives for.

You might have seen this little fella before, but the boy releases a small red and black fox-thing from its ball.]

[tenimuho]

[Oh. Um. They don't seem scared or anything, just kind of annoyed.

Oda sticks his head in the doorway and keeps the knife behind his back, hopefully out of sight of the twins.]

Do you need any help?

[Is this a serious concern. Because he was seriously concerned.]

[heartswapped]

Uh, no?

We're good.

[The Munna, for what it's worth, has floated out of its box prison... only to get tackled by the Zorua before it's picked up by Shae and unceremoniously put back into the box. The girl - her name's Gwendolyn/Gwen/whatever you want to call her, by the way - opens the window in their room, and they both just sorta... lift the box and toss the poor thing out the window. It floats off, letting out a plaintive bloop as it disappears into the night.]

...bye.

[They both close the window. The mist that surrounded Aria was too blurry to make out much of anything, but in this cloud that's in the room Oda can make out an image of...teeth?

Look, having your teeth fall out is a common dream for some reason.

There's footsteps coming up from behind Oda, and while Aria's still crying, her fussing seems to be getting less intense while simultaneously...louder? Closer?]

[tenimuho]

[...

Okay, Oda can recognize when he's overreacted.

He's just gonna close the door and try to put his knife back inside his jacket before Elaine scolds him.]

[heartswapped]

[ It's been a little over a year.

During that time Aria's gotten so big it's hard for Elaine to believe she was a tiny little bean all those months ago. She's grown a healthy little head of red hair that Elaine usually just lets fall around her face in soft waves, since there's not enough to really do much of anything with yet. Elaine, meanwhile, is back to looking mostly like herself again, or at least the version of her that got stuck in space jail. (Except without the unitards; once Elaine mostly had her figure back she'd traded the sweatpants and oversized T-shirts for a style familiar to her, but that Oda had probably never seen her don before now.)

They're both healthy and thriving, and life has, pretty much, gone on. Oda and Hisae are living on their own in one of those little houses in the bridge village, so they can go back and forth for visits regularly. She does still miss his presence on the couch, sometimes, but it's not too bad.

Well, today's an important day. She knows that Oda probably hasn't gotten any real warning about this, and in the middle of November, it is just a touch chilly out in the evenings, but god damn it, this is urgent. So off Elaine goes, leaving the twins to fend for themselves for an evening at home while she bundles Aria up in a little jacket and carries her over to Oda's house.

...

...there's a knock at the door. ]

[tenimuho]

[The bridge village is quiet, and things have calmed down some. Oda's learned how to tell which Pokemon are worth making a big fuss over (Drifloon) and which aren't (basically anything else), and he's settled into life in Elaine's world. He works as a handyman - a broken pipe is a broken pipe and is fixed in about the same way in Unova as it would be anywhere else.

Oda sees Elaine and Aria frequently, but he's learned to not be quite so on edge if it's been a little longer since he's heard from them. They're fine even if they're out of his sight.

When Elaine knocks, Oda is quick to open the door, and blinks. It's a little late to be going for a walk, but-]

Come in.

[No need to ask why they're here, or at least not before they come in out of the cold.]

[heartswapped]

[ Aria is holding her mother's hand when they come in. She can walk pretty decently, as long as she's holding her mommy's hand or has some furniture or a wall for support. Lately, she's been trying to work on walking for realsies, without the supports. It's a work in progress.

...she's also a very active child, as evidenced by her trying to nyoom inside before Elaine stops her and tries to get her shoes off. It's a lot of wiggling. But it happens. Elaine takes her coat off next, but it's about one second after that happens that Aria is trying to climb Oda's couch, squealing in frustration as Elaine sits down and ruffles her hair.

She turns to look at Oda. PICK HER UP YOU MONSTER ]

Sorry I didn't tell you I'd show up this late, Saku.

[ She still calls him that, even though she knows by now any chance of them being a romantic couple is goneygone. Because she's going to care about him forever. ]

Buuuuuuut, Aria had a really big day today!

[ Aria hears her name, but she's just a little bit salty that Mom isn't actually paying attention to her right now. ]

[tenimuho]

[It's okay, Oda will pick Aria up almost as soon as she reaches his couch.]

It's alright, I don't mind.

[Elaine can come into his house at any hour of the night, especially if-]

What happened?

[She doesn't sound like it's a bad big day, so he doesn't tense, but he does want to know within the next two minutes.]

[heartswapped]

Well, I had Aria with me while doing some supply runs, today...

[ It's one of the benefits of working mostly from home, and Elaine wouldn't change it for the world. ]

She saw another trainer with an Absol when we got to the Pokemon center, and-

[ Aria has mostly just been babbling now, but she lets out a SQUEAL that sounds unmistakably like "Papa" about a minute after Oda picks her up.

Do you see the smile on Elaine's face, Oda?

She's absolutely ecstatic right now. She might actually be clapping a little.]

That's my girl!

1/2

[tenimuho]

[Oda's first reaction is shock. Of course he'd known that Aria would start talking eventually, all babies do - but for some reason he hadn't considered what her first word might be.]

Aria...

[tenimuho]

[And then. A huge smile breaks across Oda's face. He hugs Aria to his chest, though it does nothing to hide his delighted expression.]

Papa's here now, Aria.

[heartswapped]

[Elaine's happy whenever she gets to see that smile. Aria seems a bit excited too, going between saying "papa" a few more times and shrieks of delight.]

She's been calling for you all afternoon. How could I say no?

[She's just. Gonna ruffle that toddler's fluffy red hair.]

[tenimuho]

She's so sweet.

[And, to Aria rather than Elaine, though naturally she can still hear him:]

Mama brought you all the way here so we could see each other. Isn't your Mama wonderful?

[heartswapped]

[ Aria's still squirming around, but she slows a bit when Oda talks. Even if she's only really mastered saying one word right now, she still understands "mama", when someone else is talking.

Elaine's gonna boop her nose. Aria, like all toddlers, is going to do the thing toddlers do best and stick that finger in her mouth. ]

Shae's been reading to her almost every day. [ She pulls the finger out of Aria's mouth and wipes it, briefly, on her jeans. ] Who knows, maybe she'll be saying something else by this time next week?

[tenimuho]

If Papa was first, Mama can't be too far away.

[Elaine is the parent she spends more time with now, so he'd have expected Mama to be first... but he isn't complaining. Nothing could ruin this moment for him.]

[heartswapped]

I hope so.

[ The rest of the visit is pleasant enough. A few weeks pass. Aria learns a few more words: "mama", as Oda had said, along with, well...

Well, the next time Oda comes in for a visit, he's going to get an excited little "HI" and a wave as Aria gets telekinetically picked up and forehead-kissed by Elaine once sheer willpower deposits her into her mother's arms. ]

Oops! Watch the door, pumpkin!

[ She's saying that to Aria, not you, Oda. There's the tiniest "oooooh" in response. ]

[tenimuho]

['Hi' is a good word. Very useful. Oda smiles when he hears it.]

Hi, Aria. Hi, Elaine. When did she pick that one up?