#i probably will never go into like. actual detail bc honestly my brain goes staticky if i try to do that even in my own personal writing LOL

[dandyshucks]

piplups are typically proud pkmn that are difficult to bond with, so I've been thinking again about what it was like when Junebug first met Henry, their starter 'mon... (cw for vague-ish abuse mentions)

Junebug is incredibly patient and often gives people more grace than should ever be extended to a person (will put up with a lot of incredibly cruel behaviour from others and make excuses for them), so being patient with an initially stand-offish Henry would be not a problem at all. they are also big on researching so they'd have known what they were getting into, even as a young child, when they chose piplup to be their starter.

anyways Junebug quickly realized he didnt like being in a pokeball, so they stopped doing that and put the pokeball up on a high shelf where neither of them could reach it to show they weren't going to use it with him. and he slowly started to trust them more and open up to them more after that - it was a key moment that marked the beginning of Henry considering them to be a potential friend.

when they first received Henry from Rowan (who I imagine travels around the region with a bunch of starters to educate kids about how being a trainer works and get them started on their trainer path), they took him home in the pokeball as one does, and when they let him out once they got up into their room, he refused to even look at them for a good long while. oh the humiliation of being in a pokeball!

but the real bonding finally began once Henry had spent more time around Junebug's parents - they had tried to keep him away from their parents as much as possible to protect him, but ... hard to do when you are a young child living with them sbdjskl. it was a less than ideal way to grow close, but the two of them soon grew inseparable, supporting each other through the rougher times and cheering the other on as they both grew and learned, and covering for the other when someone slipped up. hiding or shredding journals, bandaging scrapes from forbidden ventures off the allowed paths, tucking away ill-gotten bits of food into hiding places, comforting each other after nightmares or after being reprimanded/punished, nudging the other if they're "misbehaving", standing look-out when the other needs to do something against the rules, etc etc etc.

making an intolerable situation somewhat bearable! bonding while stuck in an unsafe environment! growing up together while trapped under an abuser's thumb! the whole works !