ello_poppet | Catchall for Domestic Post-Airlocked AU Shenanigans w/Mini

[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.]

Edited 2017-10-29 11:32 (UTC)

[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.

[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.]

[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.

[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.]

[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.]

[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. ]

Edited 2017-10-29 19:04 (UTC)

[Yeah uh

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

[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.]

[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.]

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?]

[...

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.]

[Look at Aria's face, Oda. She's downright terrified right now, because noises and the fact that she's more or less helpless in this cruel, bleak world. Elaine's shooshing and rocking seems to help a little, but it might be a while before she can be properly calmed down.

Luckily, she doesn't see the knife, but she feels Oda's panic radiating from him and looks just a little concerned.

Concerned, but also very, very tired.]

...what happened?

A Pokemon broke into the house and started spewing pink mist at Aria. I didn't know what it was doing.

[So his first instinct was to threaten it, and then to try to stab it.]

...oh.

[That sounds a bit like...]

Pink thing, right? Flowers on its butt?

They do that.

[She understands why he's so protective, but at the same time...]

Yes.

...I thought it might be something that would hurt Aria.

[He doesn't know what's safe for his sleeping baby and what isn't. And he defaults to 'not safe'.]

...it was probably just trying to eat her dreams.

[ Said completely matter-of-factly. Aria's still making noises and fussing, but at least she's not screaming, so Elaine turns her over a bit to show her to Oda. Her voice heightens, taking on that sort of sing-songy quality it does when she's talking to Aria:]

Awww, don't cry, pumpkin. Look, Daddy was just worried about you.

[ ...anyway. Back to Oda:]

Nothing really happens if you get your dreams eaten, other than... you kind of just forget what you were dreaming about? They do kind of make a mess if you let them stick around too long, though; it's probably best that you got it out.

Just...try not to wake the whole house next time.

[She honestly thought it was a burglar or something actually dangerous for all of two seconds.]

Edited 2017-10-30 04:46 (UTC)

I'll try not to. I'm sorry, I overreacted.

[He doesn't know how to react at anything. He doesn't know what's dangerous or not. He definitely doesn't know if he should ever comment on Elaine calling him 'daddy' in front of their child.

But the most important thing is that he can't tell what's dangerous and what's not, and that's the part that frightens him the most.]

I hope you get some sleep.

You've only been here for a couple of weeks. You've got a lot to learn. And I mean... I did just kind of throw you in this world without any explanation of how it works?

[She didn't know what the fuck chickens even were, okay?

But she knows maybe she should help him more.]

I hope so too, honestly.

[Aria, she loves you, but she has not had a single unbroken night of sleep since you entered this planet.]

Do you have an encyclopedia of which Pokemon are dangerous and which aren't laying around...?

[He would memorize that in a day or two.]

I wish it was that easy. There's not really a way to do that?

[The rare wild Gyarados, for instance, will fucking kill you. But most Gyarados were evolved from Magikarp that belong to a trainer, and are a bit more well-behaved than that.

She shakes her head and chuckles softly. Aria is still awake and in a bit of a Mood, despite having quieted down.]

But... I could get you your own Pokemon. They're pretty good at being able to tell when another Pokemon means trouble.

Edited 2017-10-30 15:13 (UTC)

[His own Pokemon...]

I think that might help. -They're native, and probably smarter than humans in some ways.

[Animals usually are, especially when it comes to the basics: what you can eat and what you can't, what's a threat and what isn't.]

I'll see what I can do. You've got a lot of options...

[She kisses Aria's forehead again. Then she hands the baby, still squirming and quietly restless, to Oda and smiles weakly.]

Looks like she's calmed down a little.

[Oda rocks Aria gently in her arms, just enough to help calm her down some more.]

Everything's okay, honey. Everything's going to be just fine. ...Daddy's sorry he woke you up.

...you two are adorable together, you know that?

[They're bonding! Elaine is happy with this.]

Well, good night.

[Even though she knows she'll be out here in an hour or so when Aria's hungry.

...

Things are fairly uneventful for the next few days. Somehow, Elaine's managed to find out Oda's birthday, probably because she snooped over whatever documentation was needed for Oda to even live in an alternate universe. So he gets coffee and a simple cake with some interesting-looking berries he's probably never seen before, and the rest of the day goes as normal.

Until Elaine returns from the Pokemon center that evening, removing Aria from the little baby sling she's been hanging out in and reaching for something in her bag.]

I got you something.

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