westbrook-writings

[westbrook-writings]

Catching Themselves

Mika and Niko are stood in front of a package containing various Poke Balls.

Alright Niko, you remember the thing I told you about earlier?

Niko nods, and scampers over to look at the contents.

Well, these are the things you do that with! Why don't you pick one out?

His attention flicks between the options being presented to him.

You don't need to rush this. Take all the time you need.

The Sentret thinks for a while longer, before lifting a Great Ball out of the box and placing it on the carpet.

Good choice! Think I'll go with... hmmmmmmm… one of these!

After a bit of a struggle, he manages to grab a Heal Ball, before immediately losing his grip. It starts to roll away, but is intercepted before it can get too far.

K, you ready?

Niko nods.

Okay. Three…

Their front paws hover over their balls' buttons.

Two…

Mika takes a deep breath, and...

One!

The balls open, making them disappear in a flash of bluish-white light.

Shake-shake. Shake-shake. Shake-shake... Click-click.

Gotcha! Mika and Niko were caught!

[westbrook-writings]

On The Nature Of Nightmares, or "At Least Before It Just Hurt"

Last time Lily had nightmares it was just because everything felt like poison.

These new nightmares are worse.

These new nightmares focus on the poisonous part of her that never left.

On a poison that now felt like it ought to be righteous. It was fueled by a 'good' desire, right?

Filling this disgusting desire.

At least before it was a poison she could know that she wholeheartedly wanted to reject.

Now it was something she wasn't certain she could ever get rid of.

At least before, when it was about her old body, it only hurt. At least before she just wanted to get rid of it.

Now that her nightmares are about violence, about the drive to protect her friends twisted to horrible horrible visions, there was also a desire she couldn't satisfy.

A bloodlust she couldn't sate.

... At least the nausea felt familiar.

[westbrook-writings]

On The Subject Of Strange Censors

Recent Groovle Search Terms:

Demon Exorcism Demon Exorcism -Ghost Demon Exorcism -Ghost -Spectre -Apparit[...] Priest expel demons Local priest Local priest -scandal Local priest dungeon world Local priest dungeon world -fanfic Phone Book Yellow Pages Communication Orb Yellow Pages Dungeon World Priest Dungeon World Churches Digital Priest Digital Priest App Digital Priest App -[REDACTED] Porygon Priest Porygon Priest -Movie Do ghost exorcism methods work on demons do ghost exorcism methods work on digital demons Do PNGs of Spell Tags work on digital demons

[westbrook-writings]

Perfection. A promise to stay is good, and maybe being small was going to be in her favor. The gesture Lily gives is... Well, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but only because she doesn't have thumbs. Still not as used to not having those as she thinks she is, with gestures like a Double Thumbs-Up still in her muscle memory.

The good news is that thanks to Agility, the buizel could get places rather quickly, even in a place as huge as this. The bad news is that the return trip is a little longer.

That stone-translated voice calls from the hall after what must feel like aeons pass, even if it's only a good few minutes,

🌸: I'm still here, I haven't forgotten, it just, gh! Took some figuring to, hnnh! Get it on wheels without dying!

The absolute slab of meat the buizel pushes to the doorway into the garden is massive. It's not cooked, and was likely meant to be properly butchered at some later time, to anyone whose vision wasn't completely clouded by such a deep hunger.

It was here. It was meat. And it was all for them.

┌ 🐉 ┘[Lily would hear a very loud roar from up above! It sounds like both a Salamence and a Hydreigon at the same time...]

Oh fuck guys I just heard something outside hold on

[westbrook-writings]

Lily stands a bit stunned, looking the room over.

"... I was. Expecting maybe the bed- Did you guys actually paint the room just for me? I mean, it's way more than I ever expected! Uh, I just need to test one thing to make sure it's perfect."

The buizel tugs the pink bag off of her cart towards the bed, and it doesn't take long for her to get... Well, the closest thing to something being "wrong":

The bed doesn't quite fit herself, her Sylveon plush, and her Togekiss plush. Lily finds an easy fix for this in keeping her wheelycart near the bed for 'overflow'. The wheels have a few lock-levers, so there's not much worry about it slipping unexpectedly. Another dip in to get comfy... and then, with her buizel snout peeking out from under her plushies, "Alright, perfection!"

(Closed Prompt w/ @benchspkmnirlwritings)

Hokay. Copy address, plug into maps, directions to, from pokecenter...

A humming bui, Lily wheels her cart out the doors after a little paw-wave to the nurse. Would be rude to sneak out without the nurse knowin', or more importantly, would cause undue panic.

Left on this walk, right two turns ahead, second door on the... er. Ah!

The buizel gently wheels up towards the door. If they're not already opening the door, she'll just hafta go up and tap-tap on the door with a paw. Not, quite enough power for a proper knock, and the doorbell's a little 'few feet above a buizel's head'.

[westbrook-writings]

It's Lily's turn to tense up for a moment, but once her friend doesn't immediately react to that sudden brushing, Lily also can relax. She wants to be careful about the parts of her friend that he feels most dysphoric about, but... Well, this is a lot happier than she's known him to be from his online presence. It'll be nice, seein' him feeling better.

A step forward, all-too-excited about getting into her room and relaxing after her trip... Before immediately pivoting on her paw and remembering to, actually bring in her cart and bags. Push push, bui bui, and into the home, towards...

What does the room they're prepped for her even look like, anyway?

(Closed Prompt w/ @benchspkmnirlwritings)

Hokay. Copy address, plug into maps, directions to, from pokecenter...

A humming bui, Lily wheels her cart out the doors after a little paw-wave to the nurse. Would be rude to sneak out without the nurse knowin', or more importantly, would cause undue panic.

Left on this walk, right two turns ahead, second door on the... er. Ah!

The buizel gently wheels up towards the door. If they're not already opening the door, she'll just hafta go up and tap-tap on the door with a paw. Not, quite enough power for a proper knock, and the doorbell's a little 'few feet above a buizel's head'.

[westbrook-writings]

Lily's motions the moment Gen gives any answer to the affirmative are almost too fast. Before the Wobble can quite realize what's happened, he's a good few inches in the air, with Lily's forelimbs against him. The buizel ends up squeezing at his sides a fair bit; she wants to be careful about accidentally brushing that tail, so her limbs don't wrap against his back much. A big ol' squeeze, "You are so TINY!"

Still, Lily doesn't wanna smother her friend too much, so once she hears the tell-tale sound of the photo being taken, she counts to two in her head, and slowly lets Gen back to the ground. "Hokay! I feel, so much better!"

(Closed Prompt w/ @benchspkmnirlwritings)

Hokay. Copy address, plug into maps, directions to, from pokecenter...

A humming bui, Lily wheels her cart out the doors after a little paw-wave to the nurse. Would be rude to sneak out without the nurse knowin', or more importantly, would cause undue panic.

Left on this walk, right two turns ahead, second door on the... er. Ah!

The buizel gently wheels up towards the door. If they're not already opening the door, she'll just hafta go up and tap-tap on the door with a paw. Not, quite enough power for a proper knock, and the doorbell's a little 'few feet above a buizel's head'.

[westbrook-writings]

Lily's response is... Well, for starters, she looks like she's struggling in the self-control department. Gen is like. Half her height, and she can't tell if that's before or after that cute head-fin.

When she realizes her turn's come to properly introduce herself, her little buizel-chitters are a touch stammered, and thanks to its more magic nature, the everstone-translator she wears readily includes such parts of her speech. "Wagh, r-right! Yes, hello, I'm Lily Westbrook! Thank you, very much kindly for allowing me to stay here! It is very nice to actually meet you both! In person! Uh. Permission to- Uh-"

It's almost a full two extra seconds of stumbling over her words before Lily finally manages: "Gen can I hug you!" ... Is that what she's been squirmin' about this whole time?

(Closed Prompt w/ @benchspkmnirlwritings)

Hokay. Copy address, plug into maps, directions to, from pokecenter...

A humming bui, Lily wheels her cart out the doors after a little paw-wave to the nurse. Would be rude to sneak out without the nurse knowin', or more importantly, would cause undue panic.

Left on this walk, right two turns ahead, second door on the... er. Ah!

The buizel gently wheels up towards the door. If they're not already opening the door, she'll just hafta go up and tap-tap on the door with a paw. Not, quite enough power for a proper knock, and the doorbell's a little 'few feet above a buizel's head'.

[westbrook-writings]

(Closed Prompt w/ @benchspkmnirlwritings)

Hokay. Copy address, plug into maps, directions to, from pokecenter...

A humming bui, Lily wheels her cart out the doors after a little paw-wave to the nurse. Would be rude to sneak out without the nurse knowin', or more importantly, would cause undue panic.

Left on this walk, right two turns ahead, second door on the... er. Ah!

The buizel gently wheels up towards the door. If they're not already opening the door, she'll just hafta go up and tap-tap on the door with a paw. Not, quite enough power for a proper knock, and the doorbell's a little 'few feet above a buizel's head'.

[westbrook-writings]

A Park Visit

Deep breath... Hokay. Big Gideon is here to help. It's just talking with people, you've done this before. It's fine! It's just. People you've never met in person before, and it's. It's fine!

A proper deep breath, pressed heavily through the buizel's nostrils. She's gotta be a brave girl! Just walk up to the door,

hide behind Big Gideon for a moment, walk up to the door again, jump nearly two feet straight in the air when the door suddenly opens on its own, scamper behind Big Gideon again with an embarrassing yelp, be utterly blessed by the patience of the park staff, slowwwly walk in,

and introduce herself. The everstone choker's magic translates as it always has, and the attendant is so kind and helpful. The first big step is the on-site pokeball. Lily even has the sour berry she wanted, cuz she knows she's going to panic.

It's not particularly long, thanks to the attendant's assistance, and Lily immediately bites the berry, to focus on its taste instead of letting a proper panic attack wrack her. A few deep breaths, some squirming, sour really is so hard to deal with sometimes, and then more deep breaths. Relax, bui, relax...

Some more walking, gentle chatter helping the buizel relax from that initial anxiety. Her own movements slowly get less tense, less poised to run at a moment's notice. And then the picnic table! Doing new things is hard, but doing them on an empty stomach is harder, and fixing thatis absolutely going to make bui feel so much better.

And of course, the tripod. The park visit wouldn't be complete without a selfie, now would it?

[westbrook-writings]

🌸: Wai-wai-wait, stop here for a sec!

Big Gideon slows to a stop, another noise of curiosity and mild worry.

🌸: No, it's fine, nothing's wrong, I just- gods, look at it...!

Lily slowly gets out of the plush-bag once her friend's stopped completely, and looks around the inside of Mt. Mortar in awe. The way the lights play off each other against the cave walls both from the provided lights inside and the sunlight scattered from the cave entrance, make the rocks glimmer and gleam. They're all a little damp, thanks to the real focus of Lily's awe: The large waterfall.

🌸: So beautiful... I-I gotta get a pic of this for the blog!

Another snort from Big Gideon as Lily scampers back to the bags to get the tripod prepared.

🌸: I know, I won't be long!

It wouldn't do to not chronicle breakfast. Even if she had forgotten until halfway through the meal. She'd packed the night before, as indicated by her wheelycart already next to the door out. It wasn't much longer to pound through the rest of breakfast, and the weasel zipped right over to that cart, to get it outside.

This would be the beginning of the venture... But she now had the help of Big Gideon, the Tauros that Laplace had rented for just this trip, and not only did Lily need to take some time hooking the cart up...

🌸: Yo, Gids, do you need me to get something for you to eat? I forget if you guys can just sorta...

A snort and a little sound from the bull.

🌸: Okay, but I'm still gonna zip in and get a few spare berries for ya.

It's a little longer than it probably has to be, Lily having to clamber her smaller buizel body a little extra to open cabinet doors and such, but a few extra berries for her trip-friend, a hop into her favorite plush-bag, and she is Ready! Now she can at least check her messages and rotomblr between here and Ecruteak. Ah... Let's just make sure, notifications are silenced. If Gideon decided it'd be easier going through Mt. Mortar, having her phone make noises would probably attract too much attention.

[westbrook-writings]

🌸: ... Hold on, am I making this more complicated than-

As Gideon trots along with the wheelcart in tow, Lily fidgets with a fair bit more focus on her phone.

C'mon, c'mon, surely...! Aha!

The phone's browser pulls up an invaluable asset: There's already maps online of Mt. Mortar? Now to parse them, and...

🌸: Gideon, how do you handle stairs and ramps?

Another snort from the Tauros.

🌸: Perfect, the route through Mt. Mortar is actually like. Absurdly simple. Most of that cave is really just for treasure huntin' or fishin'.

The buizel gives a happy sigh. Sure, it kind of invalidates some of her need to have practiced Surf so long, but it's better this way.

It wouldn't do to not chronicle breakfast. Even if she had forgotten until halfway through the meal. She'd packed the night before, as indicated by her wheelycart already next to the door out. It wasn't much longer to pound through the rest of breakfast, and the weasel zipped right over to that cart, to get it outside.

This would be the beginning of the venture... But she now had the help of Big Gideon, the Tauros that Laplace had rented for just this trip, and not only did Lily need to take some time hooking the cart up...

🌸: Yo, Gids, do you need me to get something for you to eat? I forget if you guys can just sorta...

A snort and a little sound from the bull.

🌸: Okay, but I'm still gonna zip in and get a few spare berries for ya.

It's a little longer than it probably has to be, Lily having to clamber her smaller buizel body a little extra to open cabinet doors and such, but a few extra berries for her trip-friend, a hop into her favorite plush-bag, and she is Ready! Now she can at least check her messages and rotomblr between here and Ecruteak. Ah... Let's just make sure, notifications are silenced. If Gideon decided it'd be easier going through Mt. Mortar, having her phone make noises would probably attract too much attention.

[westbrook-writings]

It wouldn't do to not chronicle breakfast. Even if she had forgotten until halfway through the meal. She'd packed the night before, as indicated by her wheelycart already next to the door out. It wasn't much longer to pound through the rest of breakfast, and the weasel zipped right over to that cart, to get it outside.

This would be the beginning of the venture... But she now had the help of Big Gideon, the Tauros that Laplace had rented for just this trip, and not only did Lily need to take some time hooking the cart up...

🌸: Yo, Gids, do you need me to get something for you to eat? I forget if you guys can just sorta...

A snort and a little sound from the bull.

🌸: Okay, but I'm still gonna zip in and get a few spare berries for ya.

It's a little longer than it probably has to be, Lily having to clamber her smaller buizel body a little extra to open cabinet doors and such, but a few extra berries for her trip-friend, a hop into her favorite plush-bag, and she is Ready! Now she can at least check her messages and rotomblr between here and Ecruteak. Ah... Let's just make sure, notifications are silenced. If Gideon decided it'd be easier going through Mt. Mortar, having her phone make noises would probably attract too much attention.

[westbrook-writings]

!!!

It spoke! That was new, and different, and an incredible sign! It was also enough hesitation to let Lily ready up a more valuable defense,

Lily used Agility!

and then step a little to one side herself. Okay, food, perfect. Food is such an understandable motivator.

🌸: Perfect! This is a really big place, and I'm so certain there's like. So much food in this place! Food that isn't me! Uh, I bet, you're not feeling good, but I promise, if you are patient, you will get LOTS of food, and also not murdered by the person who owns this place! If he finds out you're causing problems she might explode your brain? Or something.

A little step back and forth, as if trying to find an opening, but she wasn't going to try and take it unless she felt like this... Strange, possibly artificial beast was going to at least make the attempt,

🌸: So if you promise to stay here and stay calm, I will be as fast as I can and get you like. A BIG hunk o' meat, that's probably perfect for you!

┌ 🐉 ┘[Lily would hear a very loud roar from up above! It sounds like both a Salamence and a Hydreigon at the same time...]

Oh fuck guys I just heard something outside hold on

[westbrook-writings]

Okay no yeah that was the worst plan!

The buizel's body remained rather frozen in panic, eyes tightening with panic at every thundering footstep of the strange dragon. Even as she knew what needed to be done, that panic was going to cause her reaction time to come down to the wire.

The ground shook.

Its roar nearly knocked her back,

Its breath brushed her fur,

And in an instant, teeth met against a pale force-

Lily Used Protect!

🌸: Oi! Whoa! Hey, buddy! If you can understand me, wha- I dunno, stop the ground twice? I'm not food, c'mon!

The buizel's initial freezing is fading, though she's a little slow to start up on getting out of the way of any follow-up assault...!

┌ 🐉 ┘[Lily would hear a very loud roar from up above! It sounds like both a Salamence and a Hydreigon at the same time...]

Oh fuck guys I just heard something outside hold on

[westbrook-writings]

Okay so I didn't imagine that! That's. Not good news, but bright side, bright side, it's. Not actually, as big as I was expecting? Cool, I just have to...

Well. What the buizel 'has to' do, what she 'ought' to do, is quite different from what's happening. Even if logically, Lily knows what to do, her little buizel body has entered emergency mode.

And unfortunately, of the reactions her body could have had to panic, it's chosen being frozen.

A little twitch here and there of those paws, as if trying desperately to summon the willpower to run. Heartbeat pounding faster and faster in that little chest, eyes locked onto the... Odd almalgamation of 'mons she didn't recognize. It was certainly draconic, especially the way it growled like that.

At last, Lily found the one part of her still functioning enough to announce her presence. The everstone around her neck lit up and translated into human language, while her own pokemon voice chittered:

🌸: Ah, hello?

... Ah. Good. Announce my presence. Perfect.

┌ 🐉 ┘[Lily would hear a very loud roar from up above! It sounds like both a Salamence and a Hydreigon at the same time...]

Oh fuck guys I just heard something outside hold on

[westbrook-writings]

A much-needed hug (Gen)

Gen waddled through the living room on his way to the kitchen, his tail idly swaying behind him, his ears swiveling to catch even the slightest bit of noise. His fin itched, but he couldn’t reach it with his tiny arms.

He hated his body so much. Everything was so weird and uncomfortable and he hated it and—

Gen froze as his tail brushed against the couch, the nerves of something that should not be a part of him flooding his brain.

He hated this.

As he finally entered the kitchen, he spotted his dad preparing some sushi. He wished he could help, but…fur. And paws. And being so short.

Hearing his son’s pawsteps, the human turned around, and smiled. “Gen! How are you doing?”

“...n-not great,” Gen said, clutching onto the red hood he wore.

“Body stuff?” Gen’s dad asked.

“...y-yeah,” the Wobble replied, looking down at his far-from-human self.

“Need a hug?” the human suggested.

“P-please,” Gen said, and he was scooped up in his father’s arms.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t do much for your birthday, Gen,” the human said, hugging his son securely. “But we’ll celebrate twice as hard for your next one.”

“Thanks, dad,” Gen said, a tiny smile on his face.

As his dad held him, Gen didn’t even care that his tail was wagging.