#Tarran Ketchum

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22 and 24 for Tori

my baby girl

22. What is their relationship like with friends/acquaintances/rivals?

Friends

Bella: Tori’s best friend. They’re sort of childhood friends, as they’ve met when they were 8 and talked online until they day they both started travelling together. Bella’s 9 months older though, so she had to do some things on her own in Hoenn but as soon as Tori turned 10 she left for Kanto. Their personalities sometimes clash, as Tori is extremely energetic and reckless whereas Bella is (or considers herself to be) more mature and levelheaded, after all… after I wrote her I thought her voice would 100% be Pile/Maki’s. But most of their conflicts happen because they’re both too stubborn for their own good. Despite this, they’re both very supportive of each other and when they had to separate because their dreams were taking them in different directions they cried for hours.

Gabbi: they met while Serena and Shauna were visiting Kanto. Since they’re both energetic and loud, they get along very well. When Tori started her gym quest in Kalos however, they also began a rivalry while Gabbi was rechallenging the league.

Wade: close childhood friends and travelled together through Sinnoh. Tori compliments Wade’s shy personality well, by standing up for him when people are rude and often encouraging him to break out of his shell more. Wade has a crush on Tori, but she’s unaware.

Ebony: another very close friend of Tori’s. Despite Ash and Iris meeting often due to their champion roles, Tori and Ebony never got a chance to meet. It wasn’t until Tori first came to Unova when Iris suggested that they travel together and so they did. They get along well and they hardly argued, as Ebony is an excellent problem-solver and knows how to avoid conflict in most cases.

Jackie: since the Weisses and the Ketchums are family friends, they always visited the Veilstone gym to catch up. Tori and Jackie bonded quite well through teasing Tarran, and since Maylene was away when Tori wished to challenge the Veilstone gym, she actually had a battle with Jackie and won 3 vs 2. 

Acquaintances

Sierra: they have mutual respect but they never really got a chance to form a close friendship. Since she’s Tarran’s best friend she often visited the Ketchum residence but they mostly had awkward small-talk and resumed to doing their own things.

Brooke: similarly with Sierra, despite the Ketchums and Sketchits being family friends their personalities just don’t bounce off one another. 

Elijah: only met a few times while in Kalos when she met with Tarran.

plenty of other acquaintances she met by travelling.

Rivals

Tarran: wants to consider him a rival anyway. Despite the fact Tori is a better battler (makes sense since Tarran’s dream isn’t to be a trainer) she has huge amounts of respect and looks up to her older brother. In fact, she made him promise that one day they’ll meet in the finals of a league. Tarran wanted to keep her promise, but he’s never reached a high enough position in order to fight her in the finals. However, in the Sinnoh League (and Tarran’s final gym quest), they got a chance to battle against each other and Tarran felt like his promise was somewhat fulfilled and after the battle he told Tori about his actual goals.

Anthony: rivals in contests. Since Anthony’s an extremely passionate coordinator whereas Tori focuses on gyms a bit more, she has yet to surpass him. Though she can be a huge sore-loser, she sees him as motivation to improve. 

Amy: Tori’s biggest rival to date. Though Amy has a different approach to training than Paul did in his younger years, she’s just as skilled. Being four years older also meant she had a lot more experience, but she was impressed with how Tori came close to being equal to her. 

Elliot: became rivals in Sinnoh after Elliot teased Tori as being “daddy’s little girl” and “failed Ketchum”, mostly because he expected more of Ash’s daughter since he’s a big fan of his. Those accusations caused tension between the two and indirectly between him and Tarran despite never having formally met because if that’s what he thinks of Tori (the more successful sibling) then his opinions of him would’ve been harsher. Over time, they begin to be more friendly as Tori proved herself as being a competent trainer every time they met and taught Elliot to not judge someone from first impressions alone. (originally my ship for her but I think she deserves better.)

had other rivals that aren’t fankids of main protags. 

Other

Kedrick: never met, but saw him on TV. 

24. How do they get along with their parent(s)?

Very well! They all have a healthy relationship as a family overall. However, Tori bonded a lot more with Ash but she still loves Dawn, obviously. 

Dawn is able to give Tori more honest constructive criticism and she never misses any of her contests and calls after every gym battle so she knows the result. Ash and Tori have a more friend-like relationship (with inevitable cringy dad jokes though) but he’s often her biggest cheerleader too (you should’ve seen him at the Indigo&Sinnoh leagues…. the whole stadium could hear him when Tori and Tarran were on). I think I’ve made a more in-depth post about it, but after her first league loss, which she took incredibly hard, he’s the one who told her to see losses as chances to learn instead of feeling angry, etc. 

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Pearlshipping 1 2 3 4 5

Well, it’s an OC ask meme but i guess i’ll just do my pearl kids

TARRAN

1.  What is your character’s biggest fear?

Not living up to the Ketchum name and ultimately disappointing his family, especially Tori. He has huge anxiety problems and living with parents of such high regard has made him choose a career path that doesn’t sit well with him and isn’t what he wants to do: he chose to be a Trainer because it’s what he thinks everyone around him wanted him to be, when in fact he’s always been more interested to be a Breeder. Of course no one in his family would actually be upset with his decision, but anxiety is a bitch. Ultimately he does stop his gym quest about 5 years into his journey and pursues breeding, with whole support from his family and friends. 

2. What is your character’s favourite memory?

His very first winter spent in Sinnoh. They were visiting Johanna in Twinleaf for the holidays and boy oh boy, he’s never seen that much snow before. The piles of snow were twice the size of him! He didn’t even care how cold it was, he was building snowmen with Tori all day and pretending to have ice powers. The least enjoyable part was Dawn overdressing them with 100 layers so they’re not cold… she had her reasons though, she was used to the harsh winters of Sinnoh whereas they weren’t.

3. What is your character’s least favourite memory?

The Indigo League. It was definitely one of his breaking points, he lost to a very powerful trainer. As in he was hopeless. And what made the situation worse is that his battle was right after his sister’s, in which she was victorious. Then he saw Ash getting up from his seat and walking away, thinking his father was ashamed of him when in reality Ash couldn’t bear looking at his own child like that because he remembered his own experiences in the Indigo League and the infamous Charizard moment.

4. Does anyone have a crush on your character? Is your character aware of this?

100% Anthony, my contest kid. But it would be weird if Anthony didn’t have a crush on him or if Tarran wasn’t aware…. they’re boyfriends after all.

5. Describe your character’s dream date.

Since he doesn’t really like being seen in public that much, probably a nice picnic somewhere private, like a nice flower field in mid spring. 

TORI

1. What is your character’s biggest fear?

Other than drowning, her phobia, she doesn’t cope with failure that well. She’s extremely ambitious and winning-driven that when she loses at something it’s a huge shock for her. But after a few talks with her parents about it, she begins to understand that failure is necessary in order to improve and move forward, but subconsciously she still fears failing at something.

2. What is your character’s favourite memory?

Her first day as a trainer. She still remembers how giddy she was in the car on the way to the lab to get her starter: Chikorita. And as soon as they got back home near Viridian, off she went. She knew Tarran had plans to challenge the Indigo League after he came back from Johto, so she thought she was already ahead of him as she was already on her way to her first gym. She spent the whole day talking to Chikorita about her ambitions and dreams and the two were perfect partners, with a few issues here and there. 

3. What is your character’s least favourite memory?

When she was on a ship during a *slight* storm. She was holding onto Bella (contest kiddo) for dear life while she was sobbing thinking she’s gonna die. 

4. Does anyone have a crush on your character? Is your character aware of this?

Wade (orange kid) definitely does. He loves her enthusiasm and passion for all-things Pokemon.. but he’s way too shy to confess and doesn’t want to ruin their friendship in case she gets weirded out or doesn’t return the feelings. She seems unaware of the crush, as she’s always known him as very shy and easily flustered in social situations. Tori isn’t bothered about romance all that much anyway, she understands it and isn’t “oblivious”, but she doesn’t think she needs a relationship while she’s prioritising Pokemon over everything. But she’s weirdly good at relationship advice…

5. Describe your character’s dream date.

If she ever gets with someone (of any gender as she’s bi) she’d definitely love to go paintballing or an amusement park. She doesn’t have a huge criteria for a perfect date, just having fun really.

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Between Tarran and Tori, who takes the best school pictures?

To be honest… Tarran. Even though Tori is a lot more outgoing and worry-less than Tarran, he’s so photogenic?? He has like.. a few bad angles, but nonetheless he hardly ever looks awkward. Tori on the other hand… she’s pretty, but she always looks awkward in pictures? Like, her smile looks very forced and her eyes scream “I’m uncomfortable”, ever since her first school picture she hates being photographed (she had countless arguments with Brooke, one of my orange kids) and she had huge issues with contests/leagues being televised - contests and leagues are the only occasions when she wears makeup because she’s insecure around cameras. 

Dawn keeps all the pictures in the living room though, but she keeps Tori’s pictures higher for safety reasons because Tori warned her she was gonna burn the pictures of herself… 

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Talk to us about Tarran because Tori is stealing his spotlight :(

((lol tori stealing the spotlight is his daily life tbfh))

Tarran is probably… my most complex character so far? Like… he actually dislikes the fact Ash is champion sometimes… he wishes he was just an ordinary dad so people wouldn’t have to compare them all the time. “Oh surely you’ll be champion just like your father some day!” is something he hears from people everyday… although he had no intention of even challenging gyms. He still does due to feeling pressured by the public and even Tori, as she made him promise they’ll face off in a league someday. He secretly wishes he was a breeder and the only people who know this are Sierra (hence why she’s important to his story: she also challenged gyms even if she didn’t want to, but she does have less pressure from society and her dropping out wasn’t a huge deal) and Anthony (my contest kid and totally-for-sure-200%-not-his-crushTM…). He would tell his parents because he knows deep down they’ll accept his wishes but he’s terrified of breaking Tori’s promise.

It’s sad really, because he puts on an act that he’s constantly happy and therefore acts loud and confident around other people (he was extremely loud and a show off as a child, he still genuinely can be, so he wants to look like he’s never changed) even though he doesn’t feel that confident about his abilities or choices at all. One of his breaking points was during the Indigo League when he lost to a very powerful trainer. As in… he was hopeless. And what made the situation worse is that his battle was right after his sister’s, in which she was victorious. Tarran actually witnessed Ash getting up from his seat and walking away, thinking his father was ashamed of him when in reality Ash couldn’t bear looking at his own child like that because he remembered his own experiences in the Indigo League and that… incident. So the morning his battle (he didn’t come back home for the night) he just cried and cried while Dawn was comforting him, with Tori watching not knowing what to do. But Ash just approached him and told him they were gonna have a battle, to raise his spirits. Tarran did gain confidence and he felt a lot better, especially since he knows his family aren’t disappointed in him. The Indigo League was… a roller coaster of emotions, but it helped him develop.. majorly. His emotional state has been.. better since then but he’s still not happy with what he’s doing. And he won’t be until he gives up on gyms.

His relationship with Tori is a pretty cliche one… she looks up to him, they’re competitive against each other, they argue a lot, he’s v protective of her, they call each other mean names, etc. And he always clicked with Dawn a bit better because she understands emotions a lot, just like he does.

I’m actually thinking of mentally planning how he’ll eventually tell his fam that he’s not going to be a trainer anymore, but a breeder. Like, he’s travelling with Sierra in Kalos rn and he’s absolutely had it with gyms and he can’t eat it up anymore.

TARRAN IS AN ANGST FEST I AM SO SORRY MY LIL BBY BUT I PROMISE YOU’LL BE HAPPY SOON

(Appearance wise he has black hair and blue eyes!! he’s v tall and lanky. His team is: Feraligatr, Garchomp (mega), Tropius, Pyroar (f), Lairon and a Crobat. and remember how I said he doesn’t have a crush on Anthony? Oh but he dooooo)