#shut your meowth

[foamingatthemeowth]

If I had a nickel for every time my oshis have been bi, I’d have 2 nickels

Which is not a lot, but it’s fucking sick that it’s happened twice

[vaugarde]

I posted 12,368 times in 2022

That's 5,630 more posts than 2021!

2,671 posts created (22%)

9,697 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@levincias

@strangeauthor

@ghostgirls

@trixi3z

@beepathan

I tagged 7,045 of my posts in 2022

Only 43% of my posts had no tags

#echoed voice - 2,525 posts

#pkmn - 1,118 posts

#fav mons - 341 posts

#pokeani lb - 337 posts

#mail - 317 posts

#kirby - 252 posts

#pmd - 216 posts

#cc - 195 posts

#pkmn spoilers - 188 posts

#pmmm - 168 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#also it’s literally just ‘’hey i got ur dog’’ ‘’oh keep it im not half as good of a trainer as you are <3’’ ‘’k’’ in like a 2 minute convo

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

literal lesbian icon

943 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

#4

what’s everyone’s favorite starter trio in pokemon? like not the one with just your favorite starter in it (though ofc they usually overlap) but one where you like every single pokemon in the trio a lot and think they compliment each other really well or you just really like the games theyre from, etc. for me its the unova starters, i have so much nostalgia for every one of them and theyre all pretty special to me

1,099 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

#3

2,240 notes - Posted April 3, 2022

#2

2,254 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

guys

6,163 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[scientistservant]

"Delusional" "Actually insane" How about I punch your fucking faces in. Why should it matter if someone wants to be in a relationship with a fictional character, it's their life, not yours. If it makes them happy and gives them comfort, let them. You don't fucking know what this girl might have been through. Hell, I've gone through some shit in my life -- some not as crazy as others, but it certainly affected me.

I don't know what caused me to have a sexual orientation related to fictional characters. Maybe it was the fact my only boyfriend wanted things to happen too fast, maybe it was the time when I was around six years old and my mom's boyfriend at the time shut me in the bathroom with the lights off because I was annoying him with constant "I love yous" when I was getting ready to go to sleep. Maybe it's because my dad divorced my mom when I was a toddler and we've had a strained relationship. Maybe it was nothing at all and I always had these feelings.

Whatever the case, I love these "relationships" with my fictional blorpos. And before I found out I was ace/ficto I thought that stuff was weird and cringe! But it really hurts no one, and all I'm saying is that you don't know why someone would want to date Fizz, or Meowth, or fucking, idk, Darth Vader. And you don't need to know.

[running-with-the-feels]

Can we get birenacage and subscorp incorrect quotes pls?

indeed you may!

Bireencage:

Bi-Han: No we cannot get ice cream, we are on mission

Sareena, pouting: We'll be quick tho

Bi-Han: Your adorable expression no longer works on me, we must focus

Sareena: Johnny? Now.

Johnny: Yis!

Bi-Han: Wait, what is he-?

Johnny looks up at him with the cutest puppy dog eyes the world has ever seen

Bi-Han, sweating: I'm not looking at you

Johnny: You will

Bi-Han: I won't cave

Johnny: Yes you will

Sareena: He can do this all day

Bi-Han: Fuck

(They get ice cream)

---

Johnny: If I was a pokemon, what pokemon would I be?

Bi-Han, without looking up from his mission reports: Meowth, you're an attention whore

Johnny: See, I always thought I'd be a furfrou bc of the vanity, but that works

Bi-Han, who hasn't played pokemon since gen 1 due to being kidnapped: What the fuck is a furfrou?

Sareena: What's a pokemon?

Bi-Han and Johnny gasp in horror and stare at her like she's grown a third head

Sareena: What?

(They spend the rest of the day teaching her how to play)

(her favorite pokemon is a Beedril and her grin when she finds out it's three feet tall terrifies them both)

---

NSFW-Ish (it's implied)

Bi-Han, restless and frustrated: Why does everything always go wrong!

Johnny: Whoa there, you alright babe?

Bi-Han: I'm fine!

Sareena: No you're not

Bi-Han, not meeting her eyes: It's nothing to worry about

Johnny, hugging him from behind and kissing him on the neck: Do you want a distraction?

Bi-Han, blushing: Yes please

Sareena, walking up to hold his chin and grinning: Such good manners

(They don't end up leaving the room for several hours afterwards

---

Subscorp:

Kuai Liang, lying naked in the snow: This is so nice

Hanzo, wrapped in three parkas and a blanket: Babe, as much as I love the view, I can't feel my toes

---

Referenced NSFW

Kuai Liang: What happened to you?

Hanzo, covered in crayon marks and makeup: I babysat

Kuai Liang, trying not to laugh: Do you want some hot chocolate and cuddles

Hanzo: Yes, but fair warning, I think I died

Kuai Liang: Don't worry, we'll resurrect you as soon as you've had a nap

Hanzo:........I can't tell if that's a euphemism or not

Kuai Liang, chuckling as he makes the hot chocolate: It is if you want it to be

---

Kuai Liang, with a bouquet: Happy valentines day!

Hanzo, deathly allergic to that Exact flower: Thank you!

Three hours later

Kuai Liang, dragging Hanzo to the infirmary: WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE ALLERGIC!?!?!??!

Hanzo, eyes swollen shut: It was a nice gesture I didn't want to ruin it

Kuai Liang: You romantic bitch!

lemme know if y'all want more!

[pokepasta-fluffcanons]

Guess who it is ùwú (clue: it's Fairy Anon, hehe)

I had a little fun idea and I thought u may like it so here I am, like always LOL

Aparently fandom really likes to headcanon Glitchy Red being friends with Grey, like some sort of sibling dynamic, and I think that's really cute

SO... Reader being Grey's REAL older sibling. So yeah, let's imagine Grey wasn't the only poor soul being teleported to the game. Poor kid deserves some comfort from his past life

BUT Grey is not the focus point. The important thing is Reader and Glitchy interacting with each other (even if the only thing they have in common is Grey-)

I just thing it would be funny. Like, Glitchy being like "You are alone so I'll protect you Grey" and Grey is like "Actually-". And Reader is just in the background, playing with Shinto LOL

Again, you can choose if you want this to be platonic, romantic or whatever you want. Creative freedom!

And lastly, I was gonna tell you a pokemon pun, but most of them are bad, so I'll keep my big meowth shut (ba dum tsssss)

I LOVE YOUR MIND FAIRY ANON I NEED SOME OF THESE IDEAS FOR ONESHOTS AAAA

*Grey wasn’t the only one to be put into the bootleg game. You, his older sibling, have been transported into the game as well

*Unlike Grey, though, you actually became sort of friends with Shinto, which Grey didn’t really understand, but didn’t really mind as long as she wasn’t trying to kill the two of you

*Glitchy Red, who had stumbled upon Grey, noticed that he was by himself (or at least, he thought he was)

*”Since you’re alone, I’ll protect you, Grey.” He told him

*”Actually I’m not alone-“ he then pointed over to you playing with Shinto. Glitchy Red had to take a minute to process that you were his sibling.

*you looked over as you realized they were talking about you, and you introduced yourself, a smile on your face.

*…it was then Glitchy Red had taken upon himself to protect you both, especially you.

*you two got along surprisingly well, and spent a lot of time together

*What you didn’t know was that the glitch was developing feelings for you

*Grey had picked up on Glitchy Red’s feelings towards you rather quick, though. And of course asked him about it, which he denied (at first)

*…then realized “damn, I do have feelings for him/her/them.”

*Funny enough, it was Grey who had helped you two get together!

*though of course he gave the whole “hurt them and not only do you have to deal with me, but Shinto will also hurt you”

*which he understood, and definitely keeps in mind, but he would never hurt you, he loves you too much.

[luimagines]

Meowth!

Part 11 of Double Trouble! Twilight is smitten. XD

Masterlist

First Chapter/ Previous Chapter/ Next Chapter

Content Under the cut!

Twilight couldn’t take his eyes off the girl. Between their quiet conversations as they gathered the needed supplies, her seemingly soft demeanor and her ability to take down threats without blinking an eye made him want to stay by her side. He wanted to get to know her more. But he found that he was simply standing behind her, just watching. Like a weirdo.

Pinky sighed and put her hands on her hips. She shook her head. “I never got to apologize for the whole… kidnapping you either. For what it's worth, I tried to convince them otherwise… Even if I clearly didn’t succeed.”

Sky sighed in return. “I can’t even be mad about it anymore. I just want to go back to my group.”

She nodded in sympathy. “I wasn’t exactly planning on hopping onto a save the world mission any time soon but when friends ask for help-”

“Can’t say no?”

“Can’t say no.” She sighed again and deflated, folding herself in half. “I fear that without me it would be an even bigger mess.”

“Question.” Sky speaks up. “Maybe you can answer this since the other one kept avoiding me.”

“Sure.”

“If you all have the same goal that we have with stopping the shadow and sealing up the rips between space and time, why didn’t you just join our group? Granted, they said they couldn’t be seen but-”

“That’s just their social anxiety talking.” Pinky deadpans. “They try to not be seen as a rule of thumb but they suck at it.”

She gestures to herself and smiles. There’s a story there. Twilight bites his lip. He wants to ask so badly. How did she end up here? With them? Why did she call Wild the Champion that Survived? Where is she from?

Pinky keeps talking. “I wouldn’t be against it though. I would have to strong arm that fairy, but if push comes to shove  I can shove her a bottle again. I’ll never hear the end of it when she’s eventually out but I think I can live with that.”

Twilight snorts and it appears that she remembers that he’s there again. Her face lights up with such a charming and bright smile. It causes his heart to beat a little faster. 

“Oh yeah! I wanted to thank you for coming with me too! Speaking of strong arms- You travel with him right?” She looks to Sky and points to Twilight. It appears that Twilight had managed to get into her good graces. “Did you know this guy is insanely strong? He picked up a whole tree like it was nothing while I gathered the moss from under it. Very impressive.”

He’s a fool. Twilight stands a little straighter and moves his shoulder down and back to puff his chest out a little bit. A pretty girl hyping him up? Bragging about him? Well who is he to deny it?

He still finds himself bushing though.

Twilight coughs and scratches the back of his head. He manages to grow his own smile on his face and laughs a little. Should he feel this embarrassed? It‘s not like he wouldn’t do it again if she asked as sweetly as she did once more. “It was nothing. Honest.”

Sky sees right through him and sends him a knowing look. Twilight sends him a look of his own and tries to get him to shut up. Even if he hasn’t said anything.

Pinky giggles and shakes her head. “Don’t be so modest. I’m capable of a lot of things but I can’t do that.”

She pats his shoulder and winks. “Let me get the fairies then we can head back to your group, yeah? I’m tired of this place. There’s only bananas to eat. The jewels are nice though. Let’s just wait until the Lesser One is done with the sword and we can all go. I have a feeling that I’m going to have to strong arm them as well. Or at least drag them with us.”

Twilight giggles and nods, agreeing with her. Sky sends her off so she can get done whatever it is she needs to get done. Twilight watches her go with stars in his eyes. He knows it but can’t find the power within himself to turn them off.

Sky waits until she turns the corner to smack his friend on the shoulder. “It’s been six days.”

“Ok- yes, but she’s very cute. And I think she likes me.”

Sky deadpans. “She liked Wolfie.”

“Yeah, and?”

“She single handedly wiped out the entire Yiga Clan from their hideout.” Sky tries a different approach, pointing in the direction she went. “From what I’ve gathered she’s the tank of this group. She could kick your butt in a heartbeat.”

“I know. Isn’t she great?” Twilight smiles wider.

Sky facepalms and eventually walks away. “I give up. Good luck.”

Twilight grins and lets him walk away before smacking himself in the face a few times. He needs to get a grip. He knows he can get away with that here but once they’re back with the group he needs to put his leader face back on. He needs to take charge again. He can’t be distracted by some girl.

He walks deeper into the hideout and can hear sudden, loud and high pitched cursing and swears. Twilight’s winces and has half the mind to cover his ears. He hears Hyrule laughing in the middle of it all.

Suddenly the swears are cut off and muffled. Hyrule starts laughing harder.

Twilight walks a little faster towards the sound and finds an unamused Pinky with the fairy in a bottle. 

Hyrule is in hysterics.

Pinky frowns at the bottle as the fairy inside throws a fit. “I told you this would happen if you-.” She spots Twilight and holds up the bottle with another bright smile. “Got one of them! Let me just get the other one! Then we’ll go!”

Twilight nods and smiles. So cute~

[uncle-dusknoir]

SHIT I forgot I should do one of those pinned posts explaining who I am. i mean probably i kinda like the mystery but eh whatever.

im Basil. unovan. she/her. Hex Maniac "curse fanatic" by circumstance.

blog title source - personal curse tracker

I've got Toothpaste, he's a shiny Obstagoon and my baby boy; Thyme, that Dusknoir, my uncle; Jupetta, a Banette, Thyme's Pokemon before he turned into a Dusknoir.

There's also Skorna, the bone Runerigus. She's just a pest.

Deckard, a white-furred Zorua (NOT HISUIAN) i found in my backyard. He's baby

Mint, a Sneasel I got as a gift from a friend of mine 💜 she's very bity

I've also got a new Poryphone named Porypory. it speaks in pink, is very polite.

oh and the 19 shuppet from the halloween party

... And Bluebell! An Alolan Meowth I found in the dumpster in Alola. She's a million years old and the sweetest cat in the world

image of thyme here

image of skorna here

image of toothpaste here (also me)

image of jupetta (mostly toothpaste tho)

image of deckard (and also me)

image of mint (and my arm)

this weird breloom someone let loose outside my house??

> ooc notes under the cut

9/15/23 updated her 'main' image to be more in line with how i draw her

subscribed blogs only dash (I'm really just putting this here for myself but if y'all need it idm)

my other pokeirl blogs are @crossbones-n-skull and @nifuunbakufuun!

join the hex maniac discord server! more info (kinda) in linked tumblr post. if the link is dead lmk ill fix it (discord added a thirty day link cap)

basil's cousin, sage, is over at @sage-the-exorcist (run by my friend, statik!) she currently has him blocked (its not working)

additional facts for my own reference:

skorna speaks in orange.

thyme speaks in green.

porypory speaks in pink.

jupetta, toothpaste, and deckard don't speak through the blog. (however, if given voice through an event, their text will be colored as seen.)

two voice claims that i'm debating (but i take suggestions)

family bibliography (books)

loose timeline

view the blog in chronological order here! (bear in mind there is quite a lot. lol)

Basil is 25 (as of nov 1st 2023!). I'm (the mod) 20.

she lives in the woods around icirrus city, in an old house that she just... took. it was abandoned so what about it its hers now

thyme the dusknoir is her uncle. he did not die naturally.

jupetta the banette was her uncle's, but technically is hers now. she inexplicably knows Teleport.

skorna the runerigus isn't kept to a Pokeball, as she and Basil are literally bound to each other through possession bullshit.

back when thyme was alive, they did a LOT of travelling. she's primarily been to galar and kalos, but have stopped in every region at least once. only place they haven't been to is paldea, and that's because thyme isn't allowed in because he tried to go in the crater

thyme had a TV show.

mun is aromantic, but Basil is bisexual with a female lean

post detailing Basil and Skorna's connection

old ref image, for archival purposes:

if anyone ever wants to plot anything, feel free to dm me! I'm always down, could be fun. I just don't do "in-person" RP on Tumblr- this is strictly a social media site for the character. update- i will rarely do off-rotumblr RP, but it is not going to be frequent. all threads will be completely under readmores

note that, while Basil most likely won't be super active in high-stakes plotlines, i might have her react to some, especially if i find them interesting. she's no main character.

if you want your character to know basil out-of-rotumblr, feel free to DM me here on tumblr! my PMs, unless specified are an ooc-only zone and im always happy to chat about rp.

(however, please keep in mind that i'm really not one for small talk that doesn't have to do with rp; i have too many bad experiences with people befriending me in my PMs and then just offloading trauma. i don't shut the fuck up in discord servers where other people are though lmao.)

on that note, i do have a discord! if you wanna invite me to any servers feel free to pm me about that too!

[purplekoop]

For genuinely no reason I'm gonna be doing a couple lists of things I'm into. Was gonna be one single post but the list for even just games was getting pretty long so I'm splitting it in two: this one for just games, and another for just shows. Those are basically the two categories of things I really like so uh... yeah let's do those now.

Kirby: In terms of "has things I like versus things I dislike", Kirby has just about the perfect record, all happy feelings with no strings attached. It's a series that sparks thorough delight in just about every aspect, with incredible atmosphere, an extremely lovable cast, gameplay that scratches the perfect balance of "hard to lose but fun to master", GODLY soundtracks, fun background story to dig into, and probably one of the most naturally pleasant fanbases I've had the pleasure of being in contact with. Personal favorite is Return to Dreamland, which still ranks as one of my all-time favorite games ever, though Robobot, Forgotten Land, and Super Star rank pretty highly too. Favorite characters are Susie and Dedede, favorite abilities are Hammer, Ninja, Jet, and Beetle.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Not even gonna dignify the joyless losers who thoughtlessly make fun of the series with a disclaimer, this is the ultimate in "this is cool, shut up". I really don't know how to describe it besides "cool factor", the stylish character designs and inarguably banger music keep me invested in this series by themselves. Admittedly I'm not super hardcore when it comes to playing the games, still working my way through most of the series, but like. who cares, the Sonic Fandom IRS? Leaving a note on my doorstep that reads "fake fan lmao"? Not afraid of those guys. I'll spit in their lunch. And they'll like it. Favorite characters are Rouge, Omega, Vector, Metal Sonic and Eggman.

Pikmin: A series I have WAY too much extremely specific petty fandom history with that I have ultimately decided to ignore to accept that I still adore these games. Gorgeous atmosphere, delightful whimsical speculative evolution designs, and Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiincredibly satisfying real time management gameplay. I like 1 and 2 after playing/replaying both of them recently just about as equally, 3's still my favorite and I'm excited to at LONG last play 4 once I get my Switch's battery fixed.

Mario: It feels weird specifying I'm a Mario fan, it's not a series I'm that passionate about overall but with how much of the series I've played it feels weird not to mention, especially when it's technically the inspiration behind my username. No game opinions. Rosalina best girl but all the girls are great. Bowser is great too.

Zelda: Another one where it feels odd to specify but. yeah I like these too. hard not to. The one game in the series I'm exceptionally (though I do mean EXCEPTIONALLY) passionate about is Skyward Sword, another one of my favorite games of all time worthy of its own mega post eventually. I also love the BotW trilogy (yes, all three of them) and Link Between Worlds. Ravio gets a special Silly Little Guy Award.

Pokemon: Genuinely forgot to put this one because this is genuinely one of the most exhausting series in the most neutral way possible. Burnout from the newer releases aside (not even necessarily for quality they just keep HAPPENING) it's hard to say I'm not a fan anyways. It's a hard formula to truly make joyless despite PLA's best efforts to massacre the battle system. Even the worst main series games have the fun of planning out a team of little guys you wouldn't give the light of day if they didn't just happen to fit into your team plans (Hopsune Mikeru my beloved Seismitoad). Plus there's the fun of shiny hunting and challenge runs, my personal pick for the latter being monotype bug. Bug is my favorite type, and makes up most of my top ten favorites like Scizor, Vikavolt, and Heracross, but my all time favorite is Meowth for. More reasons than you might think.

Splatoon: Kind of like Sonic where I have that vague "fake fan" mindset just because I've never been that into the multiplayer and mostly just enjoy the aesthetic and narrative aspects. Difference though is that I have played the entire series in terms of single player content, which I do in fact love a pretty good bit. Thankfully just finished Side Order right as I noticed my Switch was looking kinda funny, because uh! yeah gay fish! My god these bitches gay! Good for them! I haven't interacted much with the wider Splatoon fandom yet, but this is the one game series in over half a decade I've made OCs for, and I think they're pretty fun even if they have a total disregard for the canon art style and bend the lore to whatever I think would be neat if it existed. So uh. yeah I hope they get looked at soon.

Overwatch: The reason I never really felt the need to play Splatoon multiplayer and that's all I'm going to say about it now.

Plants vs. Zombies and Insaniquarium: In my heart PvZ is a series of two games and one of them is about fish. Might try the shooter spinoffs at some point, no ill will to fans of those, I just haven't given them a try yet. These two are kind of the surviving remnants of that golden childhood purity of simple flash-like games, which have such a simple charm, and genuinely satisfying gameplay loop. Obviously PvZ is the overall better game that's stood the tests of time, but Insaniquarium Deluxe has an even more primal nostalgia embedded in my brain. Of all the obscure fish tank games I saw my dad play on his old computer (as some of my rare happy memories of the man) this is the only one that I ever reunited with. They're both fantastic and also collectively like 3 bucks on Steam during a sale, please play them.

Endless Ocean: Can't bring up the fish autism without mentioning this one too. Specifically referring to the second one with a different name depending on where you are, never played the first one and not necessarily in a hurry to remedy that. Very chill but also secretly insane diving game that profoundly itched the underwater-loving corners of my brain first tended to by Finding Nemo. The fish have Lore. Insanely excited for the third game, genuinely did NOT expect that happening.

Subnautica: The third and final horseman of the fish autism apocalypse, which is allegedly a horror game that I choose to play as a farming simulator because it didn't stop me. Gorgeous, insanely brilliant creature designs with intricate biological thought put behind them, fun exploration and base building, it's just great. Have only played up to the endgame myself but have seen the ending (thanks Mark, only got into this game thanks to you) and still haven't played Below Zero but I'm excited to get to it in spite of it apparently not being as good.

Spore: This one's like. Fish autism adjacent. Even if they CUT THE AQUATIC STAGE THOSE HEARTLESS BAST- anyways yeah this game's great. Not as like. A video game. That you're supposed to actually play. Going through the actual gameplay stages as intended, the only one that comes close to being interesting is Creature and that's entertaining for like an hour before you run out of stuff to do and are shoved into moving on. No, this is beloved to me because of it having the single most addictive character creator of all time. It's genuinely endlessly entertaining just making creatures of all shapes and sizes, pushing the creation tools to their limits. Even if the core gameplay was good I don't think my playtime would be that different. If there's any games that have similar creation mechanics then please tell me, I'd love to at least check them out.

Minecraft: it's uh. It's Minecraft. When my laptop works I stream it every saturday with friends. do I uh. have to say more.

Epic Mickey: Another nostalgic Wii classic, and the most excited I think just about anyone my age gets over the mouse. It's an incredible love letter to Disney history with such a unique art style and story that all work together to create something special and not just something tacky and aimlessly edgy. I'm honestly shocked there aren't more games that use a run down theme park as a setting, especially with how popular and neat urban exploring stuff like the Disney parks is, but I feel like it'd be easy to take that too far into grimdark, which EM neared as close as it could without going overboard by virtue of being a real Disney product. Oswald also gets the premium golden Silly Little Guy award, I love him dearly please let him do more things now. Also if you wanna get into the game without waiting on and/or paying for Rebrushed then I highly recommend the incredibly well-researched and very entertaining Let's Play of it by youtube user "theenglishman", it's so good for such a small channel I gotta shout him out where I can.

Shovel Knight: The NES throwback game that's so good you forget that was its marketing gimmick back in the early 2010s when people cared about that sort of thing. Obviously the gameplay is just more palatable with modern polish and... actually good game design, but even just the game being fun (and also an INCREDIBLE deal now if you bought in early and got the whole package of essentially 5 games for the price of the original release, and even if you only buy it now it's still worth it) doesn't cover all of why it's stuck with me. Again stop me if I've said this before, but fantastic visuals, incredible music, and great character designs that have a delightful style all their own rather than feeling limited to just what'd be accurate to the NES era. Genuinely great, got some underrated blorbos there. King Knight is my favorite of the treasure trove's collection to play but also Plague Knight is another Silly Little Guy honorable mention.

Undertale/Deltarune: you uh. gonna be surprised the tumblr user likes these games. I really don't need to say what's been said a thousand times about these games being so special, but I can say I have a weird angle on the series as a relative newcomer, only getting onboard with Deltarune chapter one when it came out at a VERY weird time in my life, and then going back to Undertale so much later it was shortly after Chapter 2 came out. But ever since falling in (no pun intended) it's been hard to get out of the theory brainrot, it's truly special when a game does things like that to your mind. also something something Mad Mew Mew.

Chrono Trigger: Adjacent to the last one and I SWEAR that's crucial guys. Feels weird mentioning this because I've only personally played through to the end of the first dungeon but I've seen a very comprehensive Let's Play of it by a uh... recently retroactively unfortunate source I don't wanna dwell on. But that can't taint this entire game, it's too good for that. Very much a classic for a reason, with its incredible story, great soundtrack, some of the most gorgeous sights on the SNES, and a phenomenal cast of characters. Excited to finish playing through it myself, maybe starting from the top to do a let's play of my own.

Fighting Games Lightning Round: Lumping these together because. Yeah.

Smash: Yes Ultimate's the best one. Unless you care that much about that one Subspace cutscene with the ships flying and the main theme kicking in. Which case I respect that. Mains: Ridley, Dedede, and Bowser. God I wish I could do things as Rosalina.

Rivals of Aether: Going in I was expecting Melee pandering but no it's genuinely the best platform fighter aside from Smash, even entirely ignoring the custom content. I'm EXTREMELY excited for 2 it looks so good oh my GOD it can't happen fast enough. In the meantime I uh... guess I can try and beat Dungeons? I guess? Mains: Kragg and Olympia. Almost certainly gonna do my best with Loxodont and Fleet when 2 happens.

Street Fighter: My first foray into traditional fighters and hey, SF2 is as good a place as any to start. Very fun series to learn the history of, and serves as a good basis to learn other fighting games. Only really played 2, Alpha, and 3 with my sibling. Played like an hour of 4 and am looking to get 6 at some point. Mains: (not as attached to these as my mains for other games) Sagat, Cammy, Makoto, Elena. I feel like I have a hunch who I'd main from 6.

Skullgirls: Unfortunately has the second most "baggage" out of any games mentioned here (not elaborating, go research and form your own opinions), but past that this game is goooooooooooooood. Gorgeous art style and soundtrack, and gameplay that takes a minute to get into (god the tutorial can take a minute) but feels great even if you just barely know the basics. So far my favorite traditional fighter even if I'm scared to fight anybody who's actually decent at it. Mains: Big Band, Eliza, Robo Fortune, Valentine.

Darkstalkers: Only played this one really briefly and casually but god it's worth a mention. Literally the evolutionary midpoint between the past two, and it's fun getting to see where certain ideas from the latter got their inspiration from. Plus it's also just incredibly fun and stylish in its own right, gotta love a good ol' monster mash...ing each others face in. Please let this series come back as more than just waifu statues and crossover appearances. Main: Huitzil/Phobos.

Aaaaaaand that's it! All the major games and game series that currently come to mind as things I'm super passionate about. Obviously not a comprehensive list of every game I like ever, but these are the most special to me or interesting to talk about. Will probably do the followup post about shows... later. Not sure exactly when.

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Day 2: Birthday/Surprise

For @moxiety-week

Word Count: 825

Rating: Teen

Pairings: Moxiety 💙💜 implied Logince and Dukeceit

Warnings: mildly suggestive flirting, a generous amount of Pokémon puns

~~~START~~~

Patton told Roman that he shouldn’t be the one to keep Virgil away from his surprise party, he told him that he was no good at keeping secrets and that Virgil would see right through him in two seconds flat, but Roman had insisted. Roman and logan couldn’t do it because they had to set up the party — Roman in charge of the festive stuff and Logan in charge of the logistical stuff; Remus couldn’t do it because he would either tell Virgil about the party without trying to hide it, or skip the party entirely for shits and giggles; Janus couldn’t do it because Virgil would accuse him of trying to kidnap him as soon as Janus tried to get him to go to the party; Remy couldn’t do it because he would get Virgil too jacked up on caffeine; and Emile couldn’t do it because he wouldn’t get off work until right before the party. 

Besides, Patton was Virgil’s boyfriend, it would look weird if Patton was avoiding him on his birthday. 

So far keeping Virgil out of their apartment was going pretty smoothly, he’d put up a little bit of a fuss when Patton had begged to go to the mall, but he’d given in once he was assured that they’d go to Hot Topic. Normally, Patton would just follow Virgil around the store and let him look at things at his leisure, but today he pointed out every little thing he saw in the hopes of keeping them in the store longer. 

“Oh! Look at this!” Patton said, grabbing a Poké ball necklace off the wall and showing it to Virgil. He pressed a small button and the Poké ball snapped open, revealing a small pikachu inside. “It’s a pika-boo!” 

Virgil smirked at the joke. “That was bad, Pat.” 

“You’re right, I should have just kept my meowth shut!” 

That elicited a snort. 

“Are you a-mew-sed?” Patton grinned. “Did my pun tickle your cubone?” 

“Call me cubone cuz I want to c u bone,” Virgil whispered just loud enough for Patton to hear him. 

Patton was struck dumb by the pun as he felt his face heat up. 

Flirting? With puns? As if he couldn’t love Virgil more. 

Virgil, shifting uncomfortably in the ever-expanding silence, opened his mouth to apologize, but Patton cut him off. 

“Are you a ninetales? Because you’re hot and foxy.” 

Both of them lost it at that, giggling up a storm in the middle of the Hot Topic. 

“Pat, why?” Virgil wheezed, tears streaming down his face. 

“Wynaut?” Patton giggled, setting Virgil off again. 

It was a while before they left the Hot Topic. 

“What should we do now?” Patton asked once they were back in the busy walkway of the mall. He had a few more hours before the others would be ready for him to bring Virgil back, he would have to fill the time doing more birthday activities with Virgil. 

“I kinda just want to go home,” Virgil shrugged. “Maybe cuddle for a few hours.” 

Literally any other time, Patton would love nothing more than to cuddle with Virgil in their home, but today he had a job to do. 

“We’re already out,” he insisted. “We should do things!” 

“Like?” Virgil asked expectantly, the faintest traces of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. 

“Like… like… get lunch! We should get lunch! At that Thai place you like!” 

“We could just get takeout,” Virgil pointed out. “Eat it at home in front of the tv.” 

“But then it’s not special!” Patton pouted, hoping that would be enough to convince his boyfriend to stay out a while longer. 

“Well, what if,” Virgil started, a smirk that Patton did not trust creeping across his face. “What if we get takeout and go to Ro and Lo’s? We haven’t hung out all four of us in weeks!” 

“Well, um…” Patton floundered. “They’re– uh, they’re busy today.” 

“They are?” 

“Y-yeah, Logan has that thing today. That, uh, engineering thing.” 

“Oh, right,” Virgil laughed. “‘That engineering thing’. Maybe we should see what Remus and Janus are doing then.” 

Patton opened his mouth to stutter through another excuse when he noticed the twinkle in Virgil’s eyes. 

“You’re messing with me!” He accused, pouting. 

“Maybe a little bit,” Virgil chuckled. “I couldn’t help it, you’re cute when you’re trying to be sneaky.” 

Patton pouted even more. “I thought I was doing a good job at distracting you.” 

“You were,” Virgil assured him, kissing his pout away. “But I saw the texts on Princey’s phone when I was over there last weekend. Don’t worry, I’ll still act surprised when we get to the party.” 

“You promise it wasn’t me who gave it away?” 

“I promise. Now, if I'm not mistaken, someone promised me Thai food, and I’m guessing we’ve got a few more hours to fill.” 

“Anything for the birthday boy!” Patton grinned, dragging Virgil out towards the Thai place. 

~~~END~~~

General taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @arsonic-knight @misunderstood-shadowling

[mlarayoukai]

Meowth has as many forms as Charizard, and is obtainable in around 9 more games than Charizard is. Why don’t you complain about it instead? Or do you just like seeing other people’s opinions and going with them because you’re too scared to form your own?

Hi person who doesn't follow me, charizard isn't going to fuck you. I've talked about for years how I dislike charizard. I've genuinely hated charizard since it got 2 mega evolutions. I've constantly complained how I hate Gen 1 favoritism in new forms. You can't tell me charizard isn't shoved into our faces especially in merchandise. Meowth isn't Leon's main pokemon. Meowth isn't on the box of red or firered version. Meowth doesn't have 2 goddamned mega evolutions. Meowth isn't everywhere in the fucking tcg. Meowth isn't in a playable character in smash brothers. Of course they're going to parade meowth because of team rocket. I'M scared, says the anonymous user

If anything more people like charizard....... What on earth are you talking about. I've been hanging around the tcg space recently and person won't shut the fuck up about charizard and that was my breaking point. If charizard is your favorite pokemon I'm just going to assume you're over 30 and have basic tastes. I hit you with rock slide

[spacefinch]

A complete list of all the Pokemon puns I can think of

(inspired by the puns I wrote in this post)

Be warned: there's an Oshawott of puns here, and some of them might be a bit Farfetch'd.

I've had all day to Panpour over my books to find these puns.

Personally, I think this one is Swellow.

Be careful what you wish for. You Magnemite get it.

Making puns about owl Pokemon is a real Hoothoot.

I was going to make a joke about cat Pokemon, but I guess I'll keep my Meowth shut.

Unova's grass starter Pokemon is really Servine good looks. It really is the Serperior starter.

But we don't have time to Dwebble on that.

I woke up feeling Krabby today. I'm also a bit Drowzee, too. Next time, I'll try to get some more sleep so my mind is completely Tranquill.

I've been discovering a lot of puns that were previously.... Unown.

But it hasn't been easy. In fact, you might say it's been Wigglytuff.

I've admired all of you since my first Pikachu (peek at you). I was going to Raichu a letter to show how much I appreciate you, but I think my appreciation is already Eevee-dent.

Still, there's no Shaymin having a little fun.

I hope someone has the same Salamence of humor as I do!

Well Donphan!

I don't think I'm the Kingler of puns, but I might be the Vespiqueen of them. If I find someone who knows more, I will bow to them, for they are the Machamp.

I hope you find these puns a-Mew-sing!

Omanyte like to write a few more, though....

Can you Bayleef how many Pokemon puns I've written in this post?

If you're going camping, don't forget your flashlight and your Lanturn!

Looks like you lost the foot race. Oh well-- you were too Slowbro!

I don't like doing homework for a long time, since I tend to Slakoth when I get bored.

I've got another pun, but I won't say it too Loudred. Instead, I'll Whismur it to you. Anyway, cute Pokemon are a real Plusle in my book.

Dance time! Drop the Volbeat, DJ! Let's Roggenrola to this music!

I got hungry, so I've been Gulpin a bunch of food.

Dark-type Pokemon are Absol-utely the best!

Some of these puns I've come up with myself, but I've had to Purrloin quite a few of them from other people on the internet.

I hope you don't find my puns too Unfezant. I have been trying to get Boldore with my jokes.

Personally, I think this one is the GoGOAT.

And this one is just Meowstic!

Bewear the Pokemon who are territorial. They're always on Zygarde when it comes to their home.

Well, this is all of them. I hope I’m not Leafeon anything out. If you guys come up with any more Pokemon puns, be sure to Sentret them my way!

[foamingatthemeowth]

Honestly so funny that it took me this long to realize I'm demi when both my previous and current relationships have gone as follows:

"Yeah, I really vibe with this person" -> "My pulse accelerates any time I get the chance to message them, but that's normal, right?" -> "Do I like them?" -> "Nah" -> "Wait a minute..." -> "Oh shit"

[yourbeginneranimator]

My brain: Is note important to rhythm heaven lore? Is q maou important to the lore? Are the demons from every game important to the lore? Were there any wars in the rhythm heaven world? Why is there so many humanoids and species that don’t exist in the real world in rhythm heaven? How did they exist? Is marshal basically a humanoid meowth? Are the trio in rhythm heaven fever somehow a humanoid version to Team Rocket? What would it feel like to live in rhythm heaven? If there’s three chorus kids on glee club, more must exist, what is the species called? Why are the frogs from frog hop sentient but the frog in the fever endless game isn’t? How far up is heaven world? Does Trey and their ancestors know about the lore? Were they ever involved? Did they help in any potential wars? Why do marchers exist in rhythm heaven? Why does note make so many cameos but doesn’t play a role? Does note also take part in the war? Does the species have other, more powerful, forms rather than taking form of a small ghost? Can they be powerful? How many notes are there left? Are there any continents or seas with names in rhythm heaven? Is there a huebird island with only huebirds? Do the space/ cosmic dancers perform on earth? Is the rhythm league important other than rating your performance in remixes? How do they get together for meetings and shit? Why do I look like all the rhythm girls ,like Yuka/tap girl, that one girl in DS and the girl in fever, if they were all one person?

The other side of my brain: SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW OML!

[ask-sarah-and-co]

part 3! (only abt 1200 words!)

1 / 2 / 3 (you’re here) / epilogue

It was a week until Chloe could catch up with Sarah again.

A full week of tailing the boys as they did many ridiculous things.

When she finally saw her again, she and Hugh were standing together at the Castelia docks, watching the sunset. She snuck closer to hear what they were saying, but she soon realized she wasn’t the only one watching them.

“What’s the twerp doing here?! I thought we were on vacation and getting away from him!” A nasally voice complained.

“That doesn’t matter. We could use this opportunity to get some powerful pokemon for the boss!” A female voice excitedly whispered.

“Isn’t that the twerpette from Sinnoh?” Another male voice pointed out.

The three voices drowned out anything Sarah and Hugh were saying.

She turned and glared at Team Rocket. “Can you guys shut up?! They’re on a date and I’m eavesdropping!”

The three immediately quieted and peeked at the duo, eyeing the spiky haired trainer. “The twerp is cheating? What happened to the red twerp?” Meowth glanced at the other two trainers. They then exchanged a few looks and collectively decided that they should jump out from behind the bench.

“PREPARE FOR TROUB- oh.”

(rewind to before chloe arrived)

“You have a younger sister?” Sarah and Hugh watched the sunset together, standing close to each other.

“Yeah.”

“Her purrloin was stolen right? By Team Plasma?” She winced when Hugh’s smile started to falter.

“Right…” He then turned to Sarah. “I told you about my goals, right?”

Sarah shook her head, gesturing for him to continue.

“I’m gonna stop Team Plasma from ever stealing another pokemon and save purrloin!” He clenched his fists tight. “I’ll never stop chasing them. I don’t care how long it takes.”

“I’ll help you.” Hugh turned to Sarah instinctively. “I want you to know that you can lean on me. I’ll lend you my strength anytime.” She smiled. “We’re rivals, friends, and partners right? We have to do this together.”

Hugh placed his hand on her shoulder, then hugged her out of nowhere. “We’ll find purrloin together. We’ll stop Team Plasma together. As a team. I’ll count on you, and you on me.” They stayed close for a few minutes before separating. 

They were both silent until Hugh suddenly asked, “I know you have a sister, what’s she like?”

“Well,” Sarah grinned. “She’s annoying, but she is caring and sweet. Sometimes. I guess…” Sarah shrugged, “She’s weird.”

“Does she have any pokemon yet?”

“Just a skitty I caught for her.” She was silent for a few seconds. “You know, I just realized how perfect skitty is for her.” When Hugh looked at her confused, she stifled a laugh. “Because of how catty she drives me.” She burst out laughing as Hugh chuckled.

“You’re so bad,” He soon was laughing with her. “Just shut up.” 

“Make me.” She didn’t seem to realize what she said until they both fell silent.

She then blushed bright scarlet and glanced at Hugh, who was pink.

“…Do you want me to?” His voice was so quiet, she thought that sentence was imagined.

She didn’t say anything right away. “…Yeah. I do…”  She stepped closer to him, as he cupped her face with his hands. Her hands were soon buried in his hair. He leaned closer and shut his eyes, Sarah following suit. She felt the slightest touch of their lips before a shout made them jump apart.

“PREPARE FOR TROUB- oh.”

The four trainers and meowth stared at each other awkwardly, as Chloe came out from behind the bench too.

“I’M SO SORRY, I tried to stop them and-”

She was interrupted by an actual growl from Hugh.

“Do you know these people Sarah?!”

“I know all of them, but Chloe’s mi amigo.” She pointed at the girl, who waved guiltily. Sarah then grinned wickedly. “I’ll help you beat Team Rocket.”

Sarah heard Hugh mutter “They’re going to feel my rage…” as he sent out his bouffalant. She tossed out her lucario, Anubis, and was prepared to mega evolve him.

“Come on, Team Rocket! Call down your weird gacha machine already!” 

James and Jessie shared a look. They seemed to be debating what to do telepathically, but their pelipper flew over dropped the machine anyways. They inserted meowth and called out their pokemon, tyranitar and hydreigon.

“You’re gonna use my own pokemon against me?” Sarah grinned. “Now you’re really in for a fight!” She unclipped the key stone from her bag and held it high. “Anubis, mega evolve!”

She then commanded her pokemon to use a drain punch on the hydreigon and knocked it out in one blow. “Tyranitar is all yours, Hugh!” The trainer in question grinned.

“Bouffalant, close combat! Give it all you’ve got!” His partner charged towards the opposing pokemon and knocked it out quickly. The two pokemon were recalled and Team Rocket looked really nervous now.

“Oh, would you look at the time,” James grabbed his two teammates, ignoring their protests, and started running away. “Neither of you are twerps so we’re gonna go, goodbye.”

Hugh almost chased after them, but Sarah stopped him. “They’re not worth your time.”

“You’re not going to do any of that to me, are you?” Chloe stepped back nervously.

When everything calmed down, Chloe said she was going to regroup with the boys. “I’ll leave you guys to what you were doing before.” She teased the two mercilessly, and seemed like she wanted to stay longer, but soon was gone too.

“So, what were we doing again?” Sarah returned Anubis to his pokeball, after a quick fist bump with the jackal pokemon.

“We were about to… y’know…” Hugh blushed, his face reddening even more when his bouffalant gave him a playful headbutt towards Sarah. “You too?” He scowled at the buffalo, who seemed to laugh, before returning the pokemon to his pokeball.

“So…” Sarah fidgeted awkwardly. “Do you want to continue… that… or was the moment ruined?”

“It was definitely ruined.” Hugh then took her hand (the gloveless one) and placed a gentle kiss on it. He was definitely contradicting his own statement.

“But I do owe you one,” He was fiddling with the collar of his jacket. “So how about we find purrloin, then work this out?”

Sarah took a minute to respond, stunned by his action. “Okay. Wow. Now you’re just motivating me to find purrloin faster.” 

Sarah then remembered something.

“Could you wait a second? I have something for you.” At his nod, she dug around in her bag pulling out a white disk, a pokemon box link. It separated in two and revealed rows of pokeballs. He watched her pick one and hold it in her hand as she closed the box link.

“Do you know the Galarian tradition?” Sarah didn’t look away from the pokeball, which he now noticed was a love ball. She then released the pokemon and held it out to him.

“I don’t.” He took the pokemon gently.

“You give an applin to someone you want to date. So, Hugh, do you want to-”

“Yes!” He immediately blurted his answer.

Sarah just laughed as his face burned, tossing him the pokeball for applin.

“Here, take this too.” She gave him a greenish apple. “If the little guy wants to evolve.” He returned applin to his pokeball and pocketed both.

“Thank you,” He smirked flirtatiously, “I really owe you now.”

She blushed furiously, “Just shut up.”

“All in good time.” 

[cyberwulf]

A Frosty Reception!

For @sugar-stories

Inspired by their work-in-progress, Here Comes the Bribe (which you should all read here ).

Summary: After the events of Here Comes the Bribe, Giovanni wants a word with our TRio and their continued wasting of company money.

Jessie glowered at the expensive carpet beneath her knees. Whenever she thought things couldn’t get any worse, they somehow did.They’d just been getting back to normal after their disastrous wedding trap and James’ subsequent abduction by that – that creature, and then a Delibird had shown up. The credit card statement in its wretched beak was the same one Giovanni was now reading aloud dispassionately while the three of them grovelled in front of his preposterously huge desk.

James’ audible whimpering only served to fuel Jessie’s fury. It wasn’t bad enough that everything had gone utterly sideways as usual, or that the only wedding she was ever likely to have had been completely ruined. Now the Boss and the Accounts Department would know what an absolute loser she was for concocting such a pathetic scheme, which meant that pretty soon everyone would know. Especially that Human Resources cow, Wendy, who’d smirked at them as they trudged reluctantly into the Boss’s office.

“Meowth, what were you thinking, charging everything to the company credit card?!” she hissed.

“You got any idea what a phony wedding costs?” Meowth hissed back. “It was supposed to be a big score!”

“…and this is my favourite part,” Giovanni finished with a mirthless chuckle. “All of this,” he tossed the statement on his desk, “resulted in zero Pokémon captured.”

“But Boss, it wasn’t our fault,” Meowth protested. “You see there were these pirates, and James’s crazy ex-fiancée –”

“Shut. Up.” Meowth wilted under Giovanni’s glower. “I know six Pokémon scientists who would pay top dollar to study a talking Meowth.”

Meowth pressed the tips of his paws together. “…Are they nice scientists?” he asked hopefully.

Giovanni’s mouth briefly twitched upwards into a cruel smirk. “No.”

Meowth cringed.

“Your incompetence has cost this company thousands with nothing to show for it,” their boss growled. He rose and the trio cowered, trying to make themselves as small as possible. “If you two idiots had actually gotten married, at least we’d pay less taxes.”

His words took all three of them by surprise.

“He… he ain’t sayin…?” Meowth murmured.

As neither of her teammates were about to speak up, and feeling a sudden, intense desire for clarity, Jessie asked, “What do you mean, sir?”

Giovanni turned to gaze out his office window (which conveniently overlooked a yard where several lithe muscular Grunts were exercising in very tight clothes). His Persian murred and rubbed its head against his leg.

“Merely observing,” he remarked, “that if you two financial black holes did want to enter a binding legal contract which would reduce the company’s overall tax burden… I’m the Viridian City gym leader. I could facilitate such an arrangement right now.”

He didn’t turn around. Giving us time to talk it over, Jessie realised distantly. The Boss couldn’t be serious. Did gym leaders even have that power? Did taxes even work that way? Not to mention –

“Ya know, James, if you was married to someone else then that crazy clam could never marry you,” Meowth declared.

That had never occurred to her, Jessie realised. She gazed vacantly at the desk in front of her. When she’d been tracking down that whip-wielding witch and those presumptuous pirates she’d felt something terrible, something almost masked by her fury but not quite, that sent icicles through her stomach and threatened to choke her. If they were married, nobody could ever lay claim to him again. Nobody could ever drag him away in the arrogant belief that he was their plaything to mould and abuse.

“…whaddya mean, you don’t know?! The Boss is giving us a way outta trouble! All you gotta do is sign a marriage licence! You get to be free from your crazy ex and I don’t get sold to not-nice scientists to pay off our debts!”

Meowth’s desperate shout-whispering snapped Jessie’s attention back to her two team-mates. The Scratch-Cat had fisted his paws in James’s shirt, anger and panic warring on his face. And James…

James looked green.

“Stop it, Meowth!” Jessie snarled, threatening the Pokemon with a backhand. Meowth released his hold on James and retreated away from her. Jessie lowered her hand and looked away, trying to ignore the sudden pang in her heart as she muttered, “James doesn’t want to get married.”

“And Jessie doesn’t want this either,” James whispered sharply.

“Don’t tell me what I don’t want!”

It came out louder than she meant it to. In fact, she hadn’t meant for it to come out at all. Jessie looked away quickly, folding her arms as her face burned.

“…Jessie?”

She heard James shuffling closer, felt him rest a hand on her shoulder.

“You don’t… you don’t really want to marry me… do you?”

Jessie looked at him then, at his worried frown and his big, stupid, beautiful green eyes. He was on his knees. He’d… he’d asked her.

“…I’ll sign a marriage licence to keep you out of that harpy’s claws,” she answered softly. She felt herself blush again, for an entirely different reason this time, and glanced away self-consciously. “It’s just a piece of paper.”

“Oh, Jessie.”

She found herself enveloped in a warm hug, and instinctively curled her arms around James’ back. So it wasn’t the proposal she’d always dreamed of. So it wasn’t the wedding she’d always envisioned. But she’d never been more certain that she was making the right decision.

All too soon, James pulled away, scooting forward slightly.

“Sir? We don’t want to get married.”

Jessie was almost sure she heard the sound of glass breaking.

Giovanni shrugged in response. “Merely a suggestion.” He turned from the window and sat back in his chair. “Wendy has details of your new assignment… along with the terms of your continued employment here.” He waved them off dismissively. “Get out.”

Jessie stood up slowly, her legs protesting after kneeling for so long. She felt as though she was at the bottom of a very deep well.

“You ain’t selling me then, Boss? …You’re too kind! You’re a gentleman, you know that? Is there anything I can get you or do for you-”

She barely heard Persian’s growl or Meowth’s scream as he charged past her like his tail was on fire. Everything else was fading out except the thump of her heartbeat and an overwhelming feeling of humiliation.

***

Perched on the top bunk of their new quarters, Jessie dragged a brush through her still-damp hair and decided it would have to do. This rotten day had had one silver lining, at least. Though that HR wench Wendy had smirked gleefully as she explained they’d be working twelve-hour shifts as janitors for room and board only until the Boss decided otherwise, she had no idea that their “punishment” was nowhere near as severe as she thought. Three meals a day, a bed to sleep in and (cold) running water was luxury compared to the months of rough living they’d endured in Johto and Hoenn.

She did her best to get comfortable on the narrow top bunk, just about wide enough for one person. The bottom bunk was bigger, able to (uncomfortably) sleep two, and if she was feeling more like herself she might have made a fuss about claiming it, but the truth was she didn’t feel like speaking to either of her team-mates right now. Meowth was the architect of all this, and as for James – making her think – and then pulling the rug out from under her – ooh, she could kill him for making a fool of her like that, in front of Meowth and the Boss –

“Jessie?”

And there he was, hovering next to her bunk in his shirt and boxers, with a fleck of toothpaste still on the corner of his mouth. She should slap him in the face right now. Except…

“Is something wrong?”

Great, he wanted to talk about it. Jessie sat up and pulled the thin blanket around herself. “Nothing’s wrong.”

James put a hand on his hip and lifted an eyebrow. “Jessie, I may not know much about women, but I know when a woman says that nothing’s wrong, it means there’s something wrong.”

Jessie growled in annoyance and lay down, turning to face the wall. “I’m just tired.”

“That’s what a man says when something’s wrong.”

“Forget it, Jimmy, she’s been mad all day,” Meowth’s voice drifted up from below. “I notice nobody’s asking how I’m doing. You know, the guy who almost got mauled this afternoon? At least I didn’t get sold, no thanks to you two!”

With an acceptable target for her wrath, Jessie whirled around and leaned out of the bunk to yell. “Well if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be in this mess, now would we?!”

“Me?!” Meowth unsheathed his claws, prepared for trouble. “The whole wedding stunt was your stinking idea! What was going through your so-called mind, huh?”

“Enough!” James yelled, startling both of them. “Meowth, wait for me in bed.”

“…Fine,” Meowth spat after a moment, putting his claws away. “I’m rubbing my butt all over your pillow. Enjoy.”

He clambered into the bottom bunk and disappeared from Jessie’s view, muttering about “two nutjobs” and “worst friends ever”. That left James still gazing at her with a question on his face. Jessie turned away from him quickly, huddling under her blanket. She closed her eyes, hoping he’d get the hint.

After what seemed like an eternity, she heard him sigh.

“Goodnight, Jessie,” he murmured.

“I wouldn’t have made you do anything,” she blurted out, because maybe that was why, and she couldn’t stand the idea that he thought being married to her would be worse than being married to her. “It’s just a piece of paper.”

“But Jessie, that’s why I couldn’t do it.”

At that, she rolled over to face him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the big wedding,” James explained in a hushed voice, mindful that furry ears were listening. “The beautiful white dress. Happy ever after.” He took her hand. “I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I let you give up your dreams for me.”

Jessie felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes and she blinked them away, pulling her fingers out of James’s grasp.

“It’s a stupid dream for little girls,” she answered roughly. “Besides, those fake wedding vows you wrote are the nicest thing anybody will ever say to or about me.”

“Don’t say that, Jess,” James pleaded. He took both her hands this time, pulling her closer. “One day you’re going to meet an absolute hunk who’s in awe of your terrifying glory and who worships you like a goddess, and when you do you’ll be so glad you didn’t marry me in the Boss’s office, because you’ll be able to marry him! And you’ll have your dream wedding and I’ll do your hair and wear the ugliest bridesmaid’s dress anyone’s ever seen so you’ll look even more stunning by comparison!”

Oh. For a moment Jessie thought she really would cry. She gazed at him, blinking rapidly. He wasn’t just telling her what she wanted to hear – he really believed in her silly, wishful fantasy. She swallowed hard.

“…Do you promise to wear an ugly bridesmaid’s dress?” she murmured.

James nodded. “It’ll be hideous.”

That drew a chuckle from her, in spite of everything. Jessie gazed down at their hands, idly stroking her thumb against James’ finger. She’d been honest with him before, despite her natural instincts. Maybe she could risk being partly honest again.

“Meowth was right, you know,” she remarked quietly. James looked at her quizzically and she explained. “The wedding was my idea. You ended up in her clutches because of me. And… I felt bad. I… wanted to keep that from ever happening again.”

“If it does, I’ll get away from her again,” James assured her. He smiled. “As long as you’re there to rescue me.”

Jessie gazed at him, opening her mouth to tell him that of course she’d be there, now and always, when abruptly the light snapped off, plunging the room into darkness. Jessie huffed in exasperation – another little clause in their new contracts stipulated that they only got so many units of electricity per day.

“Bedtime,” James sighed. He let go of Jessie’s hands. “Goodnight, Jessie.”

“Goodnight, James,” she murmured in return.

She huddled under her too-thin blanket, unable to stop a smile. So they were on the outs with the Boss, forced to do menial tasks, and earning no money for the foreseeable future – what else was new? Nothing had changed – at least, nothing between them. That meant there was time, time to pin down how she felt and decide what she wanted to do with those feelings.

And now that the air was clear between her and James, there was just one other person she had to talk to. Wrapping her blanket around herself, Jessie slid out of her bunk.

“Meowth?”

“…Yeah, what?” he hissed from the far side of the mattress.

“You know we’d never let the Boss sell you,” Jessie declared. “Especially to not-nice scientists.”

“That’s right!” James joined in. “We’d snatch you and go on the run! To the ends of the earth if we had to!”

“…You mean it?” Meowth replied, still unsure.

“Of course!” Jessie assured him, straining to see him in the dark. “We’d be lost without the brains of our outfit.”

“And our furry hot water bottle,” James added.

“And I know you only spent all that money to make the wedding look as convincing as possible,” Jessie continued. She paused for a moment, letting herself actually think about the first half of the ceremony for the first time in days. “…It really was a beautiful wedding.”

“Did you see the tall twerp crying?” James giggled. “He was totally fooled!”

“That’s all down to you, Meowth,” Jessie finished softly.

There was a sniffle from the darkness.

“…Move over, Jimmy.” Meowth leaped over James as the latter scooted towards the wall, and came into the sliver of moonlight illuminating the room. Tears shone in his eyes. “Get in here, Jess!”

With a smile, Jessie grabbed her pillow from her bunk and squeezed in next to James, Meowth settling in between them. Two blankets and their combined body heat made it warm enough to actually get some sleep. Not to mention that it was just nice to share a bed with both her boys. Jessie sighed and closed her eyes.

Tomorrow was a new day.

[ecliidse]

PUBLIC VS. NON-PUBLIC INFORMATION

PUBLIC INFO ( everyone knows, or it’s general common knowledge )

he’s the kahuna of ula’ula island, in alola, and the local cop living just outside po town, where he keeps an eye on team skull.

he really doesn’t like to be a kahuna, and if he manages to, he will avoid his duties. he won't do such for trainers attempting the trials, though: those are things he tends to respect as much as possible.

many people believe his trial to be the easiest, since he never wants to do it and openly complains about it.

his house is pretty much a shelter for stray meowths; as a consequence, he always has something to feed and cure pokémons. if you knock at his door, he can help your pokémon with base care, and help you bring them to the nearest pokécenter if something more is needed.

SEMI-PUBLIC INFO ( he might not talk about these openly, but he doesn’t hide the info either. people who are observant or look around his house can find clues to these, or can be heard from people who know nanu closely )

he was part of interpol until ten years ago. it is commonly believed he left it voluntarily, as he reached the age for retirement.

he has a long scar on a side of the back and part of the arm: he talks about it only if noticed from under the sleeve, but tends to not show it. he has also long scars running down his arms as well now; these last scars on the arms have been caused by a nihilego attack.

he put much more effort in his trial than he shows, and despite not liking his role, he takes the commitment seriously. his trial is very technical, evaluating the trainer’s ability to strategise and adapt quickly. the fact that he’s so often underestimated often plays a huge role in the trial itself.

he’s aware that po town if, at the core, full of kids, and tends to keep an eye on them mostly for that. team skull knows they can count on him if they’re in need of help.

his sleep pattern is pretty all over the place. he falls asleep often, but never sleeps more than four consecutive hours.

he has shot guzma in the shoulder once, but why is generally not known.

NON-PUBLIC INFO ( things nanu doesn’t talk about, and rarely holds clues that might lead to them. your muse knowing these requires us to plot )

his full name is nanu nisshoku. he tends to avoid telling his surname so to not have people trace back his past, and not having to talk about it; at the same time, it's not the world's biggest secret. between the non-public info, it's the one he keeps secret the least.

he is a faller.

he didn’t left the interpol for retirement, but because he had a mental breakdown. he was helped to get through it, but reputed not suitable for service ever since, and offered early retirement - and with offered, i mean pretty much forced to.

his breakdown was caused by an incident during an ultraworld mission, during which he was almost killed by a guzzlord that left the big scar on his back and arm, and one of his partners died. he feels responsible for it to this day.

when his breakdown started, before he could be brought to the hospital, he attempted to shoot himself. after he recovered, he was allowed to keep a gun again, but has always attempted to use it as little as possible.

his inability to show emotions and the apathy he shows so often are a defence mechanism of his mind since his breakdown. he could always control himself, but since the incident he has shut himself completely.

he can’t dream anymore. if he happens to dream, he knows it‘s just what makes him a faller reacting to something - meaning, trouble is coming.

he’s in contact with ultrabeasts researchers, and is updated on a weekly basis about every new information about them. this was prohibited to him by interpol, and he shouldn’t be doing this, but that isn't stopping him the slightest.

he has known giovanni since very young: they are old friends, but their opposite paths separated them long ago.