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| What's in a Name? | |||||||||||||
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| Topic Started: Dec 2 2012, 10:14 PM (167 Views) | |||||||||||||
| Kyozuki | Dec 2 2012, 10:14 PM Post #1 | ||||||||||||
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Articuno
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Freeform Details: “Alright, that's done,” Egrinain said, putting the socket wrench back into the toolbox. “That was the last one, right?” “Affirmative,” the computer replied. “The Glissando is now in peak operating condition.” Egrinain pulled herself out of the service gantry into the main corridor, flexing her shoulders. “Man, that jump start did a real number on the engines.” So, how's the situation? “Pretty good – our stores are running a little low, but as long as we don't get another scare like that whole mess, we'll be fine. I think we're all set to head north.” Anything in particular we're heading up there for? “I'm thinking of exploring the forest, there's a little snippet of info I found the other day that I want to check out.” “Meh, what's to check out?” Banjo the Rotom asked, pulling out of the light system and zipping up next to Egrinain. “Not like there's any power sockets in a forest.” There's more to life than power sockets Gardevoir said, giving Banjo a snooty look. “Now now, Gardevoir, he is an electric type, power sockets probably are the most important thing in life for him.” Gardevoir gave a petulant shrug. It's not like he's even alive to begin with. “s'not like you even have a name to begin,” Banjo retorted, blowing a raspberry and dashing off down the corridor. Hey, come back here you little- Gardevoir fumed and shook a fist after the poltergeist. Insufferable little gremlin... Gardevoir turned to leave – and paused as she caught sight of Egrinain's expression. She had a strange... concerned look on her face. Putting it down to the secretiveness she'd had to insist on after their encounter with Lex Cambridge, Gardevoir continued down the corridor, intending to find Farrell and wind down for a bit. -------------- “Do you mind that I haven't given you a name?” Egrinain asked suddenly. Gardevoir glanced back, looking up at the red couch Egrinain was curled up on. Gardevoir herself was a level down in the main living area, watching Absol and Jerome tussle on the lowest level, the glass coffee table having been pushed back against the bay window out of harm's way. What do you mean? Gardevoir asked. “Well, it's just when Banjo teased you about not having a real name, you seemed a bit upset.” Oh that? Gardevoir said, waving the question away That's just Banjo, we've never really got on, you know that. “All the same...” Egrinain tapped her thumb against her lip. “Don't you ever feel like, I dunno, I shortchanged you a little? I mean, with Absol, I've called him that since he was born, so that's his actual name, but with you I started off calling you Ralts, then Kirlia, and now Gardevoir.” It's alright, really Gardevoir replied. I've always known they were just nicknames, I didn't have an issue with them – it's not like some arbitrary name is any closer to my real one than just my species. “Real- wait, hold on, you have a real name?” Egrinain sat up in surprise. “Like, an actual, proper name? And you've never mentioned it? Why not?” Well I never really thought it was import- “Tell me!” Egrinain said, scrambling off the sofa and coming over to Gardevoir's, sitting next to her with a rapt expression on her face. “Then I can use that name!” Now hang on a sec, Gardevoir said, holding up her hands. It's not a name you can speak, you have to think it. “Then I'll think it instead of saying it,” Egrinain replied. “You can pick up when I think things at you anyway, it won't be a problem!” Look it's not that simple... Gardevoir began, but Egrinain's eager expression caused her to cave in. Well, alright, I'll tell you, but honestly, I don't know whether you'll be able to even 'hear' it properly. “We can try though, right?” Well okay, if you're sure... Gardevoir leaned in closer, taking Egrinain's head in her hands and touching foreheads. Ready? “Yes.” Alright. My name is... Egrinain jerked her head back, reeling as her mind tried to stretch itself around the concept. Are you alright? Gardevoir asked in concern. “Yes, I'm fine...” Egrinain pressed her head against the back of the couch, squeezing her eyes shut to stop her vision swimming. Did it... work? “...I'm not sure.” Egrinain said finally. She'd received the thought that Gardevoir had transferred. Only... it wasn't a thought. It wasn't a word, either. It was more like a feeling. “I got something, but... I don't know, I can't describe it. It was a feeling – I know what it is, I can still feel it – but I don't know what word to use.” I suspected as much. Gardevoir tapped her mouth, sitting down on the bed as she did. I should have explained that. “Explained what?” When Ralts are born in the wild, their names are given to them by their parents. Because we do most of their communicating by telepathy, there are a lot of complex concepts we can transfer without speaking. Names are one of those things – wild Gardevoirs don't have names you can speak. They're a specific blend of emotional feelings. “Okay, okay, so...” Egrinain rubbed her temples, trying to latch on to the complex tangle of emotions that Gardevoir had given her. “You 'say' your name... like this?” Gardevoir winced as she read Egrinain's mental state. Eeehh... no, not really. “What did I get wrong?” ...okay, you know how spoken names have syllables? “Yes...” Well, you just added about twelve syllables in the middle. “That many?” Gardevoirs have a sophisticated dialect. “I see...” Egrinain tried again. “How about now?” Not even close, sorry. Gardevoir gave a shrug. This is part of the reason I haven't brought the matter up before now. Honestly, I don't mind being called Gardevoir – it's a nickname after all, they don't need to be completely accurate- “No,” Egrinain said, shaking her head. “I want to start calling you by your actual name, or at least as close as I can get to it. Maybe I can think of a name that has the same connotations for me as your name, and use that?” Sure, if you like. “Alright then,” Egrinain said, giving Gardevoir a pat on the shoulder. “I'll go work on that.” -------------- The Glissando's engines thrummed as the airship drifted its way north. Inside, the pokemon were taking the opportunity to properly relax for the first time since Egrinain had arrived in Deepwood. It was doing wonders for everyone's stress levels. Egrinain had perked up considerably and was practically back to her old happy self. Something Gardevoir was very grateful for. “Gardevoir, out of curiosity – is there a history behind your name?” Egrinain asked, coming back through from the kitchen with a glass of water. “The emotions I got were mostly positve but there were a few negative ones mixed in. I can't imagine a parent would do that without a reason. Was there a reason?” Yes, actually, Gardevoir replied. My parents had been together for a few years but hadn't had any children. They were worried that they'd never have one – and then they had me. But just before I hatched, my mother was caught by a trainer. It took her a lot of frantic pleading to convince the trainer to let her go, and she got back just before I was born. That's where the negative parts of the emotion come from. “Hmm,” Egrinain mused. “I guess that explains why you had such a low opinion of me when we first met.” That was more to do with the fact that you had Jerome and Farrell ambush me from behind and knock me senseless. Gardevoir said with a smirk, aiming a playful swing at Egrinain's shoulder. Did you really think that would work in your favour? Egrinain gave an apologetic shrug. “To be completely honest, I was being a bit selfish. I got all wrapped up in this romanticised idea of having a Gardevoir as a companion. If nothing else, the experience told me I'm not cut out for the method most trainers use - catching the pokemon first and earning their respect afterwards.” Egrinain took a gulp of water. “So what happened to your parents?” They're still around – living somewhere in the north of the Radloff Farmlands. I'd left the nest well before I met you, so they probably don't even know I'm a humanized pokemon now. “Humanized?” Well, I suppose “tame” is the word humans would use, but for us Gardevoirs at least, the term doesn't make sense. It would be like calling humans who live in towns “domesticated”. Apart from anything else, living in towns is a human's natural habitat, so the term's redundant. “Never thought about it like that.” Egrinain sat for a little longer, drinking the glass of water, before she suddenly sat bolt upright. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “I haven't contacted mum since this whole thing started back in Radloff! Computer, can I call videophone numbers from here?” “Affirmative,” the computer replied. “The captain's chair in the cockpit has videophone functionality, and there is a conference room in the upper decks that can field video calls.” “Give me directions to the conference room, I want to make a call!” -------------- “Mum, phone's ringing!” “Could you get it, Edward?” Egrinain's mother called from the kitchen, “I'm just finishing off this salad.” “Eddie,” Eddie corrected automatically, before going to answer the phone. When his older sister appeared, he had to do a double-take to make sure he wasn't imagining things. “Hey mum, it's Egrinain!” Eddie called back. “What? Oh, hang on two seconds, I'll be right there!” Mrs Aldwiné came through to the phone, leaning in to the screen, “Egrinain dear, how are you!” “Oh, I'm great Mum,” Egrinain replied with a relieved smile. “How's things? How's Amalthea?” “Oh, she's been amazing,” Mrs Aldwiné replied. “She and Tacroy are getting along so well. How about your other pokemon?” “Well, see for yourself,” Egrinain replied, leaning to the side. Gardevoir came into view and waved a hello. “Oh wow, she was a Ralts last time you called, wasn't she? You've been keeping yourself busy, I see.” “Yeah, you could say that,” Egrinain replied, scatching behind her ear awkwardly. “Oooh, while you're on the phone, I just need to run a few things by you,” Mrs Aldwiné dashed off, now in full-blown doting parent mode. Eddie rolled his eyes at Egrinain, to which his sister gave a mock-long-suffering shrug. Their mother returned a few minutes later with a box in tow. “Now, I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of cleaning your wardrobe and sorting out the clothes that were all too small for you,” she said. “I want to check with you before I donate them, in case there was anything you wanted to save.” “I've still got my old clothes lying around in there?” Egrinain asked, raising an eyebrow. “Quite a lot, actually,” Mrs Aldwiné replied, taking out a small floral summer dress as an example. “I don't think you've worn this since you were about 8.” “...hey isn't that my old party dress?” “I think so, yes.” “...Mum, thanks, you're a lifesaver, you've just reminded me of something and it's perfect!” “Errr... you're welcome?” Mrs Aldwiné replied a little non-plussed. “So, should I keep them or?...” “Oh yeah, donate them all, that's fine, but I've just thought of something that needs to be taken care of, okay if I cut this call short? Talk to you soon mum, bye!” -------------- What's wrong? Gardevoir asked as Egrinain ended the call. “Nothing,” Egrinain replied, turning in the conference chair and looking at Gardevoir. “Quite the opposite. I know what to call you now. That conversation with my mum just reminded me of something, and now I know the perfect name.” What do you mean? Egrinain leaned back, looking up at the ceiling as she began to recall. “When I was about 8 years old,” she began “I was a very lonely girl. I didn't have any friends – well, there were some friends of family that I got on with, but no-one at school, no-one I interacted with on a regular basis. I told myself I was fine with that. I convinced myself that I was better off without them anyway, that Tacroy, our family Meowth, was all the friendship I needed. But really... I was lonely. And envious too, though I'd never have admitted that to myself at the time. So when a girl at school invited me to her birthday party, I didn't know how to respond. I knew I didn't need to waste time with people at school... but it was the first time I'd ever been invited to a party by anyone from school. And I feigned indifference, but inside I was getting quite excited.” So... you're going with the name of the girl? “No no, let me finish,” Egrinain said, wagging a finger at Gardevoir. “The day for the party came, and I set off at about five in the evening, like the invitation said. Little Hillmoss is a fairly small town, so I walked. When I got there it was getting dark, and lights were coming on. I was a little surprised that I couldn't hear any music or noise coming from the house, but I knocked on the door. The girl's mother answered the door. I said I was there for the birthday party. She gave me this... apologetic look, and said she was sorry, but the party had been yesterday. I'd got the dates mixed up and thought it was on a Saturday when it was actually a Friday. I said sorry and walked back down the path.” Gardevoir tensed up, folding her arms over her shoulders like she was cold. I can already tell how you took that news, she said soberly. “I'll bet you can,” Egrinain replied, nodding. “By the time I got to the end of the street, my eyes were misting up too much for me to see. I was mortified. My one chance at getting a real friend, and I'd ruined it. Sure, the girl was very understanding that I got the date wrong when I saw her at school on Monday, but I was a child, I wasn't using common sense at the time. I convinced myself that she'd think I'd missed the party deliberately, and that she'd hate me now. It was night by this point, and I took a wrong turn – I ended up outside the pokemon center. And that just made me even more upset. Then, when I got back on track, there was this rolling boom of thunder and the skies just opened up. It started bucketing down, and I was in my good summer dress, that my mother had cleaned and ironed especially for the party. I ran home as fast as I could, but by the time I got home I was soaked to the skin. “ A pretty rotten night then. “And that wasn't the end of it. You see, my mother wasn't expecting me back for several hours, so she'd gone out to run some errands, and the house was locked. I didn't have a key, so I was stuck outside in the rain. I went round the whole house, trying to find a window that was unlocked. I finally found one in the laundry, and I managed to wriggle through it and drop down to the floor – right onto Tacroy's food bowl. I scattered the food all over the floor, and it was the kind of cat food that's made of chunks of meat in gravy, so it made a dreadful mess. That ended up being the final straw. I sunk down into a heap on the lino, leaned against the washing machine and started sobbing my eyes out, alone in the dark. And it wasn't the good kind of crying that gets the emotional baggage out of your system. Oh no, it was wretched, self-pitying, wallowing in how incredibly unfair everything was. Plus I was certain I'd get told off when Mum got home for making a mess of my good dress.” And were you? Egrinain smiled. “My mother came in the front door, turned on the living room light, and then heard me crying in the laundry. I just curled up and shut my eyes, waiting to get told off and sent to my room, but instead, I felt her pick me up and lean my head against her shoulder. She walked back through to the living room and set me down on the couch, still dripping wet. She turned on the heater, then went and got one of the thick, fluffy beach towels from the basket in the corner. She came back, wrapped me up, then went through to the kitchen and put the kettle on. She didn't say anything, she didn't ask what had happened, she just made a cup of hot chocolate, then brought it through, sat me on her knees and gave me the cup. And only then did she ask me what was wrong. I told her the whole story, in between the occasional snivel, and when I'd finished, she just gave me a hug and said everything would be alright.” ...are you sure your mother's not telepathic or something? Egrinain laughed. “No no, she'd actually gone by the girl's house after her errands and found out I wasn't there, so when she got home and found me she knew exactly what was going on. I didn't notice at the time, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. But she let me calm down, got me all warm and dry and comfortable, and then, after I'd finished my hot chocolate, she held me in her arms, gently singing a lullabye to me until I drifted off to sleep.” There was a pause as Egrinain finished retelling the tale. For a while, she and Gardevoir sat there. Finally, Gardevoir 'broke' the silence. ...you haven't explained how this relates to your choice of name. “When I thought back on the whole incident, I realised that the emotions I got from you when you gave me your name were almost exactly what I went through – loneliness, then a sudden, unexpected chance at something better, only to have it snatched away because I made a stupid mistake. Everything going wrong, one thing after another, so that it seemed like the whole world was against me, and then, finally, when I'd given up and was wallowing in self-pity, a sudden warmth and security, and a sense of acceptance, that everything would work out. A sense of being home. And if I was going to condense the entire experience into a single word – a single thought that sums up everything that I felt... it would be the name of that lullaby that I was listening to as I fell asleep. A lullaby about the moon travelling across the night sky.” Egrinain looked down from the ceiling and locked eyes with Gardevoir. “How do you feel about the name... Moonlight?” Gardevoir thought for a moment, tapping her fingers together as she mulled it over. ...I think... that would be a very good name. Edited by Kyozuki, Dec 3 2012, 09:48 PM.
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Character Profiles![]() Egrinain Aldwiné (Click to Open) ![]() Jennifer Clavés (Click to Open)
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| Steel Cerberus | Dec 5 2012, 10:57 PM Post #2 | ||||||||||||
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Go for it, run towards it, dive in head first. Live life with no regrets!
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I feel tired and bleh so excuse me if this isn't the best grade in the world. Creativity: [3] It wasn't some dramatic story about anything grand or anything spectacular, but it kept me interested. Interestingly enough, when you first posted it, I skimmed it to see what gardevoir's name was going to be and when I found it, I felt disappointed. Because I hadn't actually read the damn thing! Actually knowing the story behind it was nice. But at the end of the day, it was more one of those 'things that happened' kinda freeforms then some epic tale. But I still read through it easily and enjoyed it. Believability: [4] What's not to believe? Having graded... one of the porygon FFs? I think? Man I haven't graded anything in so long... anyways. Character!Eggy and the psychic were just as I remember reading about them, and it was nice for the psychic to finally get a name. I remember thinking about that when I graded the thing before, so it's nice to have that resolved. I still think you should try to name your absol at some point... or at least be open to the idea? idk I'm weird, I like all of my pokemon to have nicknames. Technical Prowess: [3] Didn't notice anything that stuck out as incorrect, nothing particularly spectacular about the delivery, either. You can string words together in a way that works. Random note: I actually had to look up wtf 'lino' was. In hindsight, duh, but it's not a slang term we have here! I am confused about one tiny thing from the reward... are you going from Malral to Mayriver, or Misthenge to Mayriver? Or Malral to Misthenge, to Mayriver? Anyways. 71 +3 word count +4 summary shenans Which is 78. It's 2 LP to move landmarks, which is ...different then what I remember. So, if you're going Malral -> Mayriver then it's 3 landmarks, -6 LP Misthenge -> Mayriver then it's 4 landmarks, -8 LP Malral -> Misthenge -> Mayriver then it's... 6 landmarks? 12 LP. I honestly can't tell which one it is, with the parenthesis, so I trust you to deduct/post the correct one. And -3 LP for 1 for Moonlight because I said so. So post your landmarks and then you can take your LP and your shiny ass ship and GTFO. I'm taking my 4 LP, giving it to Khaos, and going to bed. Edited by Steel Cerberus, Dec 5 2012, 10:58 PM.
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| Kyozuki | Dec 6 2012, 04:41 AM Post #3 | ||||||||||||
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Articuno
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*looks over landmark map* aaaahh, now I see where I was going wrong... turns out I'd got my locations mixed up and I thought that Misthenge Village was where Malral is, and that Malral was the area and Misthenge was the village in that area. But nope, they're actually completely different places XD So, landmark travel will be from Misthenge -> Mayriver = -8 ![]() and -3 for ![]() Leaving me with 67 for Egrinain.Onwards to Fly HM! |
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Character Profiles![]() Egrinain Aldwiné (Click to Open) ![]() Jennifer Clavés (Click to Open)
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6:49 PM Jul 10
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for Moonlight because I said so. 



6:49 PM Jul 10