Spotted! Trainer

[collectyourfriends]

There's a familiar voice echoing through the gardens--almost. After all, Frisk's voice hasn't been loud in a long while.

 "Papyrus! Papyrus? Papyrus!" What were those others called again--? "Dogs? Dogs? Papyrus! Where--are you?" 

The first visible difference one might notice is a massive dog-thing walking alongside them, ears flicking. Anyone who can tear their eyes away from him will notice that this Frisk is wearing a bandanna on their head, a pair of goggles and a bland-looking necklace hanging around their throat, a bag hoisted over their shoulder, and a black ball clutched tightly in their hand.

It's a Dusk Ball, and Papyrus was supposed to be inside of it. But he's not. It's empty. They hadn't seen him get out. Where is he?

Where are they? The sight of the sky goes against everything he'd told them, that Toriel had told them. If just walking back towards the Ruins to Snowdin ("IT'S A GOOD PLACE FOR 'TRAINING'!" Papyrus said) would somehow get them out--that doesn't make any sense. None of this does.

...Finding Papyrus is the most important thing right now. So they can ask him questions. Or to make sure he isn't in trouble with Sans, or that Captain he'd been going on about.

Their Manectric partner is the only reason they aren't completely panicking--and then he freezes and turns his head with a growl. They stop too, heart hammering, peering to see what he's looking at. "Sparks...?"

Or rather, who. Seems there's someone nearby. 

"Hello?"

Comments

[collectyourfriends]

"Out. Doesn't matter. Not gonna take anybody's room."

Frisk can't really remember the last time they've slept in a bed since they left home, outside of rare emergencies after a couple brutal losses. Then they spent the night at Pokémon Centers.

Sparks drops his head onto the grass. It's comfortable enough.

[lightofthestars]

"There are rooms to spare, and blankets as well. Would you like help finding them?" she asks, though she thinks she knows the answer already.

[collectyourfriends]

"We're good alone."

They always are.

[lightofthestars]

So they may say, but they are still a child. Leaving them alone does not sit well with her--and yet there seems little else to say.

"...What is the name of your companion?" she asks after a moment.

[collectyourfriends]

Ah--that gets their attention, and they actually look a hint more cheerful.

"Sparks. Named him when I was nine," they add from habit.

[lightofthestars]

A, indeed. Tauriel smiles. At last she has found a way to speak with them.

"Well met, Sparks," she says to the beast. It...is not fully true, but she does not wish to be rude.

[collectyourfriends]

Sparks and Frisk cock their heads in precisely the same way--though it looks puppyish on him, with his head still on the ground like that. They haven't heard that phrase before.

"Same back at you, I think."

Despite the knife thing.

[lightofthestars]

"Tell me, from where do you come? I have never seen one like Sparks before."

Maybe she will learn more of this Frisk through Sparks.

[collectyourfriends]

"He's a Manectric. A Pokémon. There aren't any of those here?" They tilt their head again in the opposite direction. "Just the animals. Birds. 'S cool, weird."

Wait, that wasn't her question. "Hoenn region."

...That wasn't very helpful. Sparks huffs, teeth flashing for a moment in a humanlike grin.

[lightofthestars]

...She is coming to wonder if "Sparks" is a beast as she first thought.

"What is a 'Pokeiman'?" she asks, speaking the strange word with care.

...i did not mean to say they got/named him when they were 9 exactly, whoops. just "young".

[collectyourfriends]

"Poh-key-mon," they repeat. "'S short for Pocket Monsters. Called magic monsters a long time ago." A fact that even Frisk didn't know until spending a bit of time at Miss Roxanne's school.

Beat, and then--right, even Frisk can realize that's not much of an explanation.

"Called that 'cause they can fit into your pocket." They tap the Pokéball that belongs to Sparks, a normal one hanging off their belt. There are a few similar-looking ones in their bag, a couple of which are visible where it's not quite zipped up all the way. "There's not lots of animals back home. Pokémon are tougher."

No worries!

[lightofthestars]

Tauriel's eye-brows rise as she listens, for this Frisk says much that is strange.

"But that ball is so small!" she says in wonder. "How is it that your...pocket monster friends fit inside?"

[collectyourfriends]

"...dunno how they work, exactly." They know it's super weird--and possibly terrifying--to people who aren't used to it, seeing their team appear and vanish without warning.

Frisk's slow in their movements, then, when they reach into their bag and pull out Prince's pokéball. "This is Prince. He's a Swablu," they announce, and toss it into the air.

The puffy bird bursts out and immediately starts wheeling above them both, twittering cheerfully at Tauriel and eyeing her head. Her hair looks incredibly comfortable--and groomed well already!

[lightofthestars]

Tauriel's mouth falls open. From almost nothing comes a bird, with--with wings of cloud?

"He--"

She looks from Prince to Frisk's hands, to the...ball they hold.

"...Is...is that a door?" she asks at last, when she finds her voice again.

[collectyourfriends]

A bird with wings that look like cloud that is now carefully touching down on her head. Hello new friend! He doesn't feel quite like cloud, since cloud feels like nothing but mist. He's like a crown of softest cotton.

"...door? I..." Hmm. "'S like a room."

[lightofthestars]

"A!"

Carefully, Tauriel reaches up; her hands float just short of touching Prince. She is not sure she is allowed.

"I-I greet you," she says, trying to look up without knocking Prince away.

She does not hear Frisk's answer.

[collectyourfriends]

They don't bother repeating themselves.

He chirps at her, moving to bap a single wing against her. It looks sort of like he's offering the world's gentlest handshake.

[lightofthestars]

She cannot help but laugh, and she reaches out a hand for Prince to touch.

[collectyourfriends]

Frisk laughs softly, too. It's nice to meet people enchanted by their team.

Prince leans forward and bumps his little white beak against her palm.

"Likes you," Frisk says. "Or at least your hair. Silly Swablu."

[lightofthestars]

She blushes and gently, with a finger, rubs his beak. "I like him, too."

After a moment, she remembers: "I did not hear what you said to answer me. Is that ball that you hold some kind of door?"

slings headcanon around

[collectyourfriends]

Prince fluffs up and twitters a tiny two-note tune. It carries the sense of thank you, somehow.

"Oh--no. Not a door, a room," they say again. They hold the ball up again. "Dunno how it works, exactly, but it turns them into...light, somehow, and makes them tiny, and makes it into a little...place they like, sort of, 'pending on their type."

Ooh shiny

[lightofthestars]

For the first time, her smile slips slightly. "'Sort of'? Is this...room only something to be endured?"

[collectyourfriends]

"My team likes them, I think. Sparks breaks out of his a lot to hang out with me, or to 'splore around, though. Don't worry if you see him around the--those--" they point towards the towers "--at nighttime, if we're stuck here that long." They sound resigned to that.

[lightofthestars]

Her sense of ease ebbs farther away as the child keeps speaking.

"Why must he 'break out'?" she asks. "Does he not choose to enter and leave his room of his own free will?"

this is connected to a different email so i keep missing alerts for it rip

[collectyourfriends]

Prince notices and starts gently pressing his fluffy wings against her forehead.

Frisk is staring at her oddly. "...he just does. I need to put him away when we're going on trains or in the bigger cities, and stuff."