Man EditionContinuing the 'I Woke up as a Pokemon, So What?' AUPrevious Thread: >>58772886
Ongoing Stories:>Transformed Into a Lucariohttps://pastebin.com/dNfCG4se>Herding Catshttps://rentry.org/HerdingCats>Copanon the PokeWhisperer and other storieshttps://rentry.co/PolicemanPokemonStory>Super Macho Monhttps://rentry.co/MachampStory>Professor Decidueye by ProfDhttps://rentry.co/ProfD>VetPhoxhttps://rentry.co/DelphoxStory>Serpent and Wyrm by Snivyanonhttps://rentry.co/SerpentAndWyrm>A Loser and a Very Lost Snowpix by Drifteranonhttps://rentry.org/tcab223e>The New Police Animals by Snivyanonhttps://rentry.co/larsonkurt>Kartanimatorhttps://rentry.co/kartanimator>The Pokemon Pit by ProfDhttps://rentry.co/r7aa9bzy>Churchanonhttps://rentry.org/cb24k1ti>Swiss Army Mienshaohttps://rentry.co/whipping-back-into-action/>The Human Wimpod Evolvedhttps://rentry.co/GolisopodStory>Sandslash and Ms. Gemstonehttps://rentry.co/h62h6eh7e>Drifteranon's one-shotshttps://pastebin.com/4K9M6uJ2>Other one-shotshttps://pastebin.com/UtXMsyyD>One-shots that were too spicy for pastebinhttps://rentry.co/wokeuponeshotsArchived stories:>0332https://pastebin.com/WMdqhP8H>Digigirlhttps://pastebin.com/rvUJh1Vd>Tinkanonhttps://rentry.co/TinkatonStory>Not a Pikachuhttps://rentry.co/notapikachu>Lopunanonhttps://pastebin.com/ecBem3sz
>>58841105Ninja'd me by eight seconds, lol
Missing the FAQ, but nevermind.
>>58841105>>58841166>FAQ>What is this?People are turning into Pokemon. Some are having the time of their lives, and some are struggling to survive. These are their stories.>How do I join?Just start posting.>What's the lore?People and animals (and at least one tree) are changing at random in their sleep, waking up still in the real world, but now as Pokemon, and nobody knows why (that includes you. Please don't try to explain it). Just enough transformations are occurring to notably change day-to-day life without collapsing civilization. This is not the apocalypse, even if it might feel like it to some characters in the moment. Some people are more in touch with their instincts than others, and some have lost more of their humanity than others. That's about it. Avoid legendaries if possible
>>58841169DAMMITI REALLY THOUGHT I GOT IT ALL RIGHT THIS TIME
>>58841180At this point it’s tradition!
Here is the “coda” to the last ProfD update.>That was a bad day.>Were you paralyzed with fear, or just fooling yourself into thinking that it didn’t happen if you didn’t move?>It must have been at least a day in self isolation just trying to sort your own thoughts>Sifting through memories and picking out intrusive ideas that didn’t fit with the rest, and reasoning with yourself to dispel them>There’s a classic psychology experiment where they surveyed a group of people about their life experiences>One of the questions is an imposter, referring to an event that never happened to them like going on a hot air balloon ride>Around 60% not only claimed to remember the event but would invent details about the event to describe it more vividly>For you, all of that was happening as you tried to figure out how to walk and talk and grab things>The rest, as they say, is history>But now is the time to look forward>You got through the first semester as a Decidueye>With the new semester coming up, it was time to move forward, not just get by>There was a growing pile of requests from graduate research teams asking for you that you couldn’t ignore much longer>There was your usual course load to teach>There was your research and the question of going on your own or joining a peer project to try to gain some authorship credits>There’s that mathematics educators conference in Las that the department was willing to pay for you to attend>And finally, there was your personal development>Your one year anniversary of being changed was coming up and you had yet to so much as glide, let alone take flight>These things take time, but deep down, you really did want to try to fly, even if it scared the rational part of your mind>Oh? An email?>”Notice of assignment”>”per your voluntary acceptance in the previous year”>iCourse? As in online?>As in recorded and reused for years?>One more thing for the list. Guess you get to be a video star now.
>>58841679The Professor arranged to teach online courses with recorded lectures? Those are gonna be a hit. Or at least the first one is going to get a grossly disproportionate audience and then tail off rapidly once the novelty guys are out.
>>58842285Imagine browsing the MIT Open Course Ware catalog and right next to a VHS quality video of a man crossing out the words Computer Science, you see a human sized owl in a bowtie explaining how to find the gradient vector.
>>58842447You understand it perfectly, kek
I am deeply upset that I did not get to posting this last thread, but that's what I get for not working on my chapter in over 15 days.For context, this skips ahead a bit to the first day of his first contract, because I couldn't figure out what to put in the town.
>>58841679Yeah I can understand taking a long period of time sorting through your own head in this situation, especially considering he’s dealing with those false memories. Lots of interesting plot points to go from here! I’d be interested in basically all of these things Sean listed. Also sounds like there might be an opportunity to visit Vegas? Will we get a Pokemon Pit crossover episode? That’d be cool. Also things about to be the most popular online math course in the history of online schooling lol.>>58843064Liking what I’m reading, don’t really understand coding but this was easy enough to follow. Poor elephant! I like little news bits like that, helps flesh out the world.
>You heard rustling from behind.>You didn't know what she was doing, and you were too consumed by your own thoughts to even look above the couch.>She returned wearing her swimsuit and bearing a roll of duct tape.>"Uhm... What are you doing?" you asked her in a moment of clarity and confusion.>"Taping the power sockets off," she replied to you like it was something normal to do.>Did she think you were suicidal?>At least she didn't want to see you dead, which was a plus.>"Why are you taping them off?" you forced out another question.>"Because you are the perfect height to accidentally shove your tail into one of them on accident," she replied while taping off another power socket.>You were once more in a state of brain paralysis, trying to discern if she at that moment said the truth or if she was sugarcoating her own thought process.>"Aaand all done..." you heard her say it from the room over.>In the time you were overthinking everything again, she managed to go through the entire house and tape everything shut.>She returned and sat next to you with a small plastic bag.>Before your brain could ruminate over its purpose, she put the TV remote in it, sucked out all the air, and tied it shut.>"Here you go. Something to help you keep your sanity while I'm gone," she said to you caringly.>You didn't know what to make of it.>"Can I ask you some questions? Are you OK with that?" she asked calmly and a bit timidly.>"Why are you even asking?" you replied with a question of your own, as her question felt off and out of character for her.>"Because I want you to ask some diagnostic questions, and I want to make sure you are comfortable with me asking them," she continued with that same tone.>"What type of questions are those?" you asked, feeling yourself shake.>"For Retrograde PIPS. Just some questions from your past. I ask a question, and you reply with the first thing that comes to your mind. Would you be OK with that?" she said before asking again.
>>58844070Cool to see more of this! Yeah toddler proofing the outlets is probably a good call, especially if the person living there can literally turn into water and they can’t quite control that yet. She is surprisingly ready for this situation. I know you mentioned that she’s been helping out with other turnees in a previous post, but it’s neat to see someone prepared to deal with the situation. And now time to see how bad the instincts have changed up his noggin. Roll the PIPS wheel!
>>58844613If she wanted to be extra sure she should seal the outlet covers to the wall. There's usually bare copper inside that can be shorted.
>>58844070Waterproofing the sockets is really smart, I would have never thought of that until I’d already been cooked.
>>58844070>"I guess... You are the expert here..." you replied, not exactly knowing how.>"Great. I'm gonna do the preliminary version. 10 questions. Answer them with the first thing that comes to your mind. Got it?" she explained.>"Yes..." you reluctantly replied.>"Ok. First question. What is your father's eye color?">"Green.">"And your mother's hair color?>"Black.">"Your father's height?">"6 feet.">"And your mother's skin color?">"White.">"Where was our 3rd date?">"Beach.">"Roughly how wide were the corridors in your high school before you graduated?">"12 feet. I think.">"What am I to you?">"Girlfriend.">"Parents and siblings?">"Family.">"Your favorite food?">"Pepperoni Pizza.">"What color were the walls at your old place?>"White.">That deluge of questions was tiring to you.>If this was the preliminary version, you feared what the real one would look like.>"So you scored a nice round zero on this test," she replied.>"Is it good or bad?" you muttered out.>"Oh it is the best score I've seen to this point. Even if it is the preliminary version. Turnees usually get a minimum of one or two points on this," she replied with some satisfaction in her tone.>"What was this test even supposed to test?" you asked her.>"It tests if your memories have been altered. I picked some random things I remembered about you or what your parents told me about you to compare," she explained.>"So... Am I all clear in those regards?" you asked with some concern.>"No. I might have just gotten unlucky and picked all the memories that weren't altered. Like I said, the lowest scores usually hover around one or two while you got zero," she explained.>"So now what?">"We'll repeat the test tomorrow just in case. But if you remember something that feels off to you, just tell me. The score will be raised by one in that case, but I'll at least have a reference point," she explained calmly.
>>58843064I like the details of the contract work, but you honestly lost me with the details and the debugging process – and I'm saying this as a programmer. I'm in favour of keeping it, but a few more allegories wouldn't hurt. Make us *feel* the frustrating debugging process, you know? I want to feel angry at the developer too!>[...] leaning back to look up at the ceiling. The pockmarks in the ceiling were [...]Double mention of ceiling reads weird.>5th paragraphI had to read the sentence with the headphone jack three times to understand it. Dunno if its just my mind refusing to work or if that sentence could be split up for a better flow.>Last paragraphPoor elephant indeed...It was a nice addition to loosen up the tension from debugging.>producing Raichu rubberThey're producing what?>electrocuting it to deathI've yet to see someone survive an electrocution."to death" can be removed, as electrocute already means "to kill with electricity".>>58844070Hey, our Milkeon with the keeper gf is back!And she immediately proofs to us again that she is, in fact, a keeper gf. Very wholesome read—good job, Anon!>>58845821Cursed image...Interesting that she checks for retrograde PIPS first, instead of the more immediate danger of anterograde PIPS. I do like the approach with the questions though, however the questionnaire would be standardised for a scoring like this. It doesn't really feel like a scientific thing to do – way too open ended. But I'm neither a doctor, nor a therapist, so fuck if I know.I guess it could be a help for situations like here, without actual medical merit, but just to help freshly turned people get a quick sanity check before they take the real test/examination at an actual facility.
>>58846216>I've yet to see someone survive an electrocution>injure OR kill someone by electric shock.A lightning strike is an electrocution, but it is very much survivable.>Raichu rubberAny excuse to post this.
Man, just... Imagine this but in the Pokemon world.You've gotta worry about your Wii being shattered by a Ariados.
>>58847399Lotta bug pokemon wouldn't make it, not gonna lie.I'd start blasting.
>>58847561.50 caliber salt gun>>58847399My skin is crawling
>>58847399This is vile and I really dislike you for posting it
>>58841679Very interesting perspective on PIPS. >>58843064Great to see you starting to make progress again."that this website was working at all" would be better as "that it was working at al".I thought the process was fairly followable as Snivy said."The pockmarks in the ceiling" would be better as "the pockmarks up there". The thought of him drawing the logic web in the ceiling seems to cut off before reaching its natural conclusion."like a gavel the windows key" -> "like a gavel on the windows key""when I'm surrounded" -> "when I was surrounded"I'd re-write the run-on part of paragraph five something like this:"I couldn't watch YouTube clips because of where I was, and my lack of earbuds. Not that it would've mattered if I'd had earbuds, because my phone also lacked a headphone jack - something I still found intensely galling. At least I could read the text articles.""on India" -> "in India"I too am uncertain what Raichu rubber is supposed to be."Well, I guess" would be better as just "Well," to remove the redundant "I guess".I agree with Snivy it's good to have the reality of the new world seep in frequently like this even when Val is lost in his own little worlds. This is particularly important if you're going to go into great detail about his projects and not just montage them.
>>58845821Guess you took my advice. Good to see you post again Copanon.Much ado has already been made about the autist and his wrangler having a good dynamic. I agree with Meinsha that one has to presume a more standardized version of this questionnaire exists for professional use. It's not a horrible approach in any event, although sourcing all the needed personal history to make it work might be tricky in many cases. Interesting also that our boy seems to be very instinct-low so far, similar to the PokePit crew. it'll be interesting to see whether that continues. Also seems like we're taking the concept in a more serious direction from its initial shitposty feel, which is probably for the best to be honest.>>58847399Keep in mind that bug Pokemon are enormous (and thusly energy and resource intensive) compared with actual bugs. Between that and how Pokemon reproduction is presented in the games and anime, they likely reproduce far slower than real life bugs do.
>>58845821Is your hand your hand?Do you remember the face of your mother?A big fat zero huh? No false memories or instincts (that we know of so far based on this very brief exam). Maybe there’s something about eeveelutions and having clear heads, given our large sample size of two so far! >>58847399This but a horrible scrabbling mass of Joltiks.Also this is awful lmao.
>Emma was in the middle of the perfect post-shift nap until it was ruined by a loud THUD that vibrated through the floorboards.>Emma jolted awake, her large ears snapping upright. She groaned and peeled one eye open to squint at her phone.>She tapped into the doorbell camera feed just in time to see the back of a brown delivery uniform disappearing down the hallway.>A delivery? She wasn’t expecting anything. She hadn't ordered anything since that bulk box of fabrics last week.>The Espeon sighed as she sat up on the couch, stretching her front legs forward and arching her back until her spine popped in three distinct places. >She considered ignoring it and going back to sleep, but the building had developed a bit of a "porch pirate" problem recently.>A local Murkrow had figured out that cardboard boxes often contained shiny things, or better yet, food, and had been wreaking havoc for the past few days.>If she left it out there, it would likely be confetti by dinner time.>With a grumble, Emma rolled off the couch and trotted to the door. The gem on her forehead pulsed with a faint, violet light, and the deadbolt turned with a click before the door swung open.>The package sitting on her doormat was heavy, featureless, and emitted a dull clunk when she nudged it with her nose.>Definitely not for her.>The label, printed in aggressive bold font, read: CONNOR HOPKINS - APT 1498.>Emma’s whiskers twitched. Apartment 1498 was across the hall and two doors down. She knew Connor only vaguely. Mostly just exchanged pleasantries if they passed each other in the hall. Seemed like a nice enough guy though.>Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen him at all since the transformations started sweeping through the city, even as a ‘mon. She had assumed he moved out, or perhaps holed up with family. >But apparently, he was still here, ordering… Whatever this is.>"Well," Emma muttered to herself. "Duty calls."
>>58849024>She reached out with her mind, wrapping the heavy box in a blue telekinetic aura. It lifted lazily into the air, floating just behind her right shoulder as she stepped into the hallway.>Her split tail swayed gently as she padded down the carpeted corridor, the ceiling lights humming overhead, and her nose twitched at the stale air of the hall.>She reached 1498 and set the package down on the welcome mat before giving the doorbell a poke.>There was a thud, the sound of scrambling claws on laminate flooring, and then the distinct crash of something ceramic shattering.>Emma blinked, her ears swiveling forward. “Uh…” She waited with a hint of growing concern.>Locks tumbled. One, two, three of them. The door cracked open a scant two inches, stopped by a chain, allowing a sliver of hallway light to pierce the gloom of the unlit apartment.>A long, striped snout poked out. Two beady, dark blue eyes peered at her from the shadows, wide with terror and scanning left and right before settling downward onto the purple cat sitting by the mat.>"Hello?" Emma started, putting on a friendly voice. "I think the-”>”Oh. You. What do YOU want?” the Linoone hissed with enough venom to break the lethal dose world record, his eyes narrowing on Emma.>Emma’s ears flattened against her skull. She leaned back, physically recoiling from the sheer intensity of the hostility.>"Uh, sorry," she stammered, tilting her head. "Is that you, Connor? I haven't seen you in forever. When did you turn?">His snout wrinkled, baring sharp little teeth. "What, not just plucking the answer straight from my skull? What do you want, Mind-Witch? Hmm? Here to steal my package since you haven’t managed to steal my free will yet?" he spat.>"What in the world? No!" Emma exclaimed, the accusation so absurd she almost laughed. "I was just returning it! Delivery guy dropped it at my place by accident. I just wanted to make sure you got it because, you know, the package thefts..."
>>58849032>"Likely story," Connor sneered. He shifted in the darkness, his long, badger-like body moving with a jerky uncoordination.>"Any more lies you want to spin? Gonna start rewriting my memories to make me believe what you want? That's all you and your kind do. You lie, and you steal, and you make people your personal meat-puppets. You things shouldn't exist. You violate the sanctity of the self just by breathing.">Emma sat frozen on the welcome mat. She’d heard stuff like this before, online mostly, but hearing it face-to-face with a neighbor she’d never wronged?>It stung. It stung a lot more than she wanted to admit.>"I'm not doing any of that, Connor, I can’t even do any of that!" she said, her voice trembling slightly. "All I have is basic telekinesis. I’m barely even a proper Pokemon!">”Liar,” he hissed. “We know your true nature. What? Haven’t noticed everyone here avoiding you like the plague you are?”>Avoiding? No, she didn’t notice anything like that? People here were still polite like usual to her. Did… Did they really think that about her?>He began to scrabble at the door chain, his new paws clumsy and unsuited for fine motor skills. Claws scraped against metal for a solid ten seconds before he managed to slide it free.>He shoved the door open, but only halfway, using his own long body to block the gap.>He looked terrible. His fur was matted and unkempt, sticking up in tufts as if he hadn't groomed in weeks.>"Don't think I don't know what you did," he growled.>Emma took a step back, her tail curling around her paws defensively. "What I did? What the hell are you talking about?">"THIS!" Connor shouted. He reared back on his haunches, gesturing wildly to his own body with a trembling claw.>”I did everything right! I followed the instructions perfectly! I was supposed to be a dark-type! I was supposed to be safe from YOU!” the Linoone shouted, baring his fangs.
>>58849036>He slammed his front paws back onto the floor, his eyes wild.>"But no," he whispered, the sound vibrating. "You interfered, didn't you? You sensed a threat. You knew I was trying to shield my mind, building a fortress you couldn't penetrate. Couldn’t bear that happening in your territory, huh?! You reached out while I was turning and you… Grah!">He gnashed his teeth, spit flying from his jowls.>"You messed it up! You sabotaged it! You made sure I came out as the normal-type! Vulnerable. Weak. Just another puppet to control. You wanted me under your thumb, just like you did those two cops!">Emma stared at him, stunned into silence. At this point her mind was screaming at her to get away from this lunatic, but she couldn’t move.>“Connor, that's… that is insane," she said, finding her voice. "Those two are my friends. I’m not mind-controlling them! You really tried to turn into a dark-type because of me? I don’t- You can’t even influence it! You’re what you turned into because that’s just what happened!”>”I don’t believe you. No one in their right mind would be ‘friends’ with a mind-slaver unless they were compromised,” he spat. “You ruined my god damn life.”>He lunged forward to grab the package, his movements jerky. He hooked his claws into the cardboard, dragging it violently across the threshold, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process.>"You wanted a victim, not a rival," he panted, wrestling the heavy box inside. "You want to keep us all open, all exposed, so you can pick through our heads whenever you got bored.">"I haven't done anything! I can't even read minds! I'm just trying to be a good neighbor and give you your stuff. I’m just-," Emma pleaded, her frustration mounting.>”Just a freak,” Connor interrupted.
>>58849043>He shoved the box inside with his shoulder, breathing hard. He turned back to look at her one last time.>His expression wasn't just angry anymore; it was filled with a profound pity. As if he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the monster under the bed she had become. >“Don’t pretend you have feelings. You gave those up when you became… that. Stay away from me. If I catch you snooping around here, or probing my head, you’ll regret it,” he said coldly.>"Wha- Are you threatening me!?" Emma stood up, her fur bristling. "Look, I’m sorry for whatever you think I did. I really am! But I’m not some evil mastermind plotting to take over the world. That’s ridiculous!">She let out a long, frustrated sigh, her ears drooping. The fight drained out of her. >"I was just trying to be helpful," she murmured, looking down at the carpet.>Connor sneered down at the little purple cat. “You wanna be helpful? Want to do good by everyone who lives here? Fuck off and kill yourself.”>He slammed the door shut. The locks clicked back into place, sealing him away from the monster.>Emma sat alone in the hallway. The stale air grew oppressive, heavy with the weight of his words.>She stared at the wood grain of the door for a long time. She took a deep breath, holding it until her lungs burned, and let it out slowly, trying to shake the cold feeling in her chest.>The fluorescent lights buzzing above were deafening.
>>58849046Wow, I felt that harder than I probably should have. Poor Emma needs a hug right now. :(However, I think she got off relatively lightly. In my unfortunate encounters with such people, they are usually much more personal and heinous with their words once they explode... It's probably better that they only knew each other fleetingly.I wonder what Connor tried in order to turn into a dark type. How many pentagrams did he draw? And what a cruel turn of events that he turned into a Linoone of all possible normal types. So close to Galarian Linoone, it's not even funny. Probably another reason why he is so spiteful.
>>58849046Jesus, dude.
>>58849046Holy smokes. I may be the resident anti-Psychic guy but I’d never tell someone to kys. If anything, I’d try to avoid contact with her as much as possible. Excellent work. Writing a character that people hate can be just as hard as writing one people love.
>”No! Absolutely not!” The zoroark yelled.>Catching himself, the engineer lowered his tone.>”Okay, I, I-“ >You sat opposite him at the picnic table.>“How did you even find me!?” Hal angrily whispered.>He picked up his sandwich wrap again.>It survived the startling.>Battered and squashed from the plunge, but held intact.>He looked over his shoulders.>His manic, insane expression would have been right at home in a horror movie. “C’mon.” You answered.>Tilting your head, you tapped the aura sensors dangling to your collarbones.>He knew what lucario were capable of.>He sought you out for it.>He also had no idea how much a zoroark’s unique aura stood out.>Disguises didn’t help.>You also knew his son hid in his mane, but you kept that to yourself.>”I’m.”>”Working.” Hal stated, as if you couldn’t tell.“You’re on lunch break.” You retorted.“And relax, no one’s coming. I can tell.>Your reassurance meant little.>Hyper-alert eyes darted back and forth.>Without bothering to explain, he rechecked the area.>You tapped and scratched the faded picnic table until he was comfortable enough to sit back down. >Hal considered scampering back to his truck.>It wouldn’t help him get away.>You knew where he lived, after all.“We’re alone.” You assured him again.>Everything he’d done was correct.>He’d parked out of sight and gotten a secluded, hidden table.>The only randomness he couldn’t account for was you.>It didn’t put him at ease.>In the blink of an eye, you changed.>Startled, you examined the alien illusion. “Woah…”>It was bizarre being “human” again.>Wrong skin tone, but you saw fingers instead of paws.>Seemed you were now a young, generic contractor.>The neon safety vest even moved when you patted your chest. “Nice work…” You complimented, toying with the illusion.>The highly strung engineer gingerly sat back down.>”Don’t move much. Still not great at it.” Hal reminded you.
>>58850416>Might as well get the hard part out of the way.>Letting out a long sigh, you looked directly at Hal.“Sorry.” You blurted, eager to smooth things over.“Didn’t know it’d make you all, uh… twitchy.” You added.>”Which is precisely why…” Hal chastised, pausing to bite his wrap.>Ham and turkey.>Swiss cheese.>Dijon mustard.>Your nose was as good as your aura reading.>”We should share numbers.”>The pit in your gut was instant.>”Use code words.”>You watched a distant squirrel climb higher, until impossible to see.“I really…”>Hal kept going.>”Keep things discrete.”“Still no.”>Hal took another bite and shook his head.>”Mmmkay… Thought I was the paranoid one.”“I don’t wanna be tracked or, you know, whatever.”>”Okay, please, spare me.” Hal rolled his illusory eyes. “We gave up privacy years ago.”>”If you cared about laying low you wouldn’t do what you’re doing.”>You huffed.>Hal chewed.>”This is the second time you wanted to see me, and you just popped up.”>”C’mon, okay? You know a phone’d be better.”“Yeah, yeah…” You grumbled, deep and annoyed.>You’d already given him so much leverage.>He was too intelligent not to know it.>”Surprise me again and I’m not helping with-“>”Papa!” A tiny voice interrupted.>Hal’s eyes widened. >You chuckled.>Saved you from getting chewed out.>”Papa.” The voice repeated.>A tuft of red-gray hair broke Hal’s illusion, popping out atop his head.>A tiny head, speckled with crimson dots and teal eyes, wiggled out.>”Food.” The little zorua impatiently commanded.“Heya, Harry.” You said, waving to the grade-schooler.>Seafoam eyes stared back.>Wide and unblinking>Slowly, you stopped waving.>The spark wasn’t quite there.>The zorua’s focus darted wildly between your slowing paw, to the tips of your ears, and your chest.“Uh… kid?”>A lump grew in your throat.>Hal slowly shook his head.
>>58850430>Harry batted the air, reaching for lunch in dad’s grasp.>His father digging a turkey slice from the wrap completely held the kit’s interest.>A disappointed Hal lifted the poultry between two pinched claws to his son.>Harry grabbed the flappy deli meat like a cat, cupping a paw around to pull it closer.>Once held between his teeth, he pulled back into his father’s mane.>The illusion healed.“I’m sorry.” You half-whispered.>You’ve said that a lot lately.>Hal took a moment to run fingers through his hair.>Muffled, but sloppy chewing came from his forehead.>”You didn’t know.” Hal said matter-of-factly.>The zoroark sighed, long and heavy, slumping his shoulders.“How bad is it?” You dared to ask.>If Hal took offense, he didn’t show it.>The disguised dark-type rested his heavy head on a hand.>”Kid’s not the same.” He began.>”Different.” >”It’s only, like...” Hal said, taking a solemn, smaller bite.>Hal rubbed his eyebrows. >”Okay, like, part-him?”>The illusion twinkled wrong.>You heard the uncertainty.>”He knows I’m dad, and…”>”Where Mom is…. >”Was.” >You nodded.>”But God, just… Years of schooling…”“Poof!” Hal half-shrieked, waving his hands for emphasis.>Hal checked his phone, noisily huffing through his nose.>”Okay, so-“>He interrupted himself with a large bite.>Most of his remaining lunch disappeared.“He hasn’t gone to school, has he?”>”Hellgh nough.” Hal answered, mouth full.>A tiny red-gray paw reached down, batting for the remaining wrap.>Hal gently pushed his son’s paw back into the hair.>”Had to dig those old board books for babies out.”>”Half the time he gnaws ‘em up mid-lesson.” The dark-type added, fixing his disguised hair.>Not knowing what to say, you kept silent.>“Lego.”>“Hide-and-seek.”>”Lego.”>”Lego with hide-and-seek.”>He aura roiled with colored frustration, exhaustion, worry, and fatherly love.>”Keep finding pieces in my hair.” >The briefest of smiles betrayed his dour speech for an instant.
>>58850432>”Plenty of parents keeping kids outta school now, with all the…” Hal wildly gestured. “You know, going on.” >”But…”>”I mean, I feel normal, so maybe as he grows...”“Yeah, yeah…” You chimed in.>He didn’t need to finish.>He was done opening up.>His aura wanted more.>The man did not.>”Okay, what did you want? Make it quick.”>Shoveling the rest of his turkey-wrap down signaled your turn to talk.>You’d wholly forgotten why you tracked the engineer down.“Got any electrical stuff? Something to teach beginners?”>The ‘human’ across you nodded, licking mustard off a finger.>”What for?”“There’s another pokémon like us, and she-“>”Oh, the cat-thing.” Hal interrupted, with no shortage of disgust.>”You’re really helping that, uh… it. It out?” Hal surmised, picking his teeth.“She talks. She’s not an animal.”>”Didn’t say animal…”>”Even if we are.” Hal matter-of-factly stated, breaking the illusion for a brief second.>Calculating, tired blue eyes with years more experience gazed into you.“She’s as human as you and me.” You said, waving your hands and hoping to avoid any argument.“Little weird, but she’s not some animal.”>”Wrecking a substation with a buncha little rats comes close, I’ll tell you that much.”>”Saw some security footage. And the aftermath.”“Well, you offering to help?” You shot back. “You’d be a better teacher.”>”Ugh.” Hal gurgled, looking up at the sky.>”It was totally you who cleared out the station, wasn’t it?”“Maybe.”>”Not playing superhero with you. I have a kid and a job, okay?”“I know, I know. I didn’t expect you to do that, alright? I just need some stuff.”>Hal crumpled his garbage into a ball, tossing it back and forth.
>>58850437>”Wait here. Lemme see what’s in the truck.”>”I’ll put it on the ground or something, okay?”“Thanks.”>Walking away, the dark-type slowed down and called back to you.>”You know, those electric monsters were zapped with kilojoules.”>”Be careful, okay?”“Promise.” You called back, watching Hal go.>Your ‘humanity’ flickered and faded.>Five minutes later, he pulled away.>You found a few tools in an old, black milk crate.>A well-used book. Looked complex.>Some tools – cutters and strippers. >Bits and strips of wire.>An old circuit board.>And a box.>Unopened.>’Happy 6th birthday’ written on the top in permanent marker.>A potato clock.Updated aurabin:https://pastebin.com/dNfCG4seWish I could write like I used to. MLK day tomorrow gave me some extra free time. Glad to see people still having fun and flexing their creative muscles.>>58841679Online class would keep my interest a little more if I knew a man-sized owl was teaching it.>>58844070>>58845821>Dad's eye colorDunno>Mom's hair colorDunno>How wide were your high school's hallwaysDunno, but that's a brutal question, lmao.I'd be failing that with flying colors.>>58849046>Uber-paranoid about psychics>Reee and stamp your little feetsies at the local psychicBro
>>58850464Henry losing himself to PIPS is a pretty dark turn. This whole thread's been heavy today.
