May 5th
Near Cinnabar Docks - Afternoon - Humid
Anastasia Asher
The Cinnabar sun beat down overhead, hot and unforgiving as the season slowly advanced towards summer. They arrived so much earlier in the year here than they did elsewhere. Frankly the biggest annoyance of island life was the short life of spring and fall.
It was that much worse dressed in black, though Anastasia wasn't about to change that much of herself, at least. She didn't know why she clung so stubbornly to an aesthetic that suited her surroundings so little, but she did. Maybe it was just the fact that she could. That of all the things in her life that were out of her control, how she dressed and presented herself to the world was one thing that was only and always her choice to make. Maybe it was just because she liked ruffles and ribbons and the color black, though; it was sort of hard to differentiate.
Her dress today was a knee-length thing, worn with stockings and a pair of rather practical, scuffed military-style boots and belted around her waist even though the tuck of the tailoring would have done that fine on its own. Her one concession to the environment was that it lacked sleeves despite the high neck, and she'd braided her lengths of rose colored hair in a coronet about her head, a practical hairstyle accessorized with nothing, because she did still have a job to do.
One which was currently a gigantic pain in her posterior. Ass, Ana. You can say ass.
She'd thought she was saving some time, getting her supplies directly from the late boat that came in that afternoon. As she was almost out of both feed and bedding, she hadn't wanted to wait for it to be delivered the usual way, which probably wouldn't have happened until the truck went out all over the island tomorrow morning. It would have been fine if the whole thing hadn't been delayed a week—she was a good enough planner to not ever accidentally leave herself out of stock, but delivering all the way out here wasn't always profitable, and so the special allergy formulas and hypoallergenic bedding that Ekans needed were not, in fact, as readily available as they were promised to be.
Greedy corporate jerks.
Bastards. What are you, twelve?
Unfortunately, hauling all of her new stock at once was a bit difficult, even with Luna and Nova's help. She was frail, and she knew it. More importantly, she was still in a crowded enough part of the island that she couldn't risk moving them the other way. Maybe she could pass it off as her pokémon moving the feed bags, too?
Suck it up, there's nothing else for it. As long as this stupid body can move, it's going to move. She sure as heck wasn't calling Drake or Carter for help. They had actual lives.
She managed to get one of the feed bags onto her shoulder without falling over, but the other one still lay on the ground, all fifty pounds of it taunting her. Arceus, the two together weighed more than she did, didn't they? Anastasia expelled a hard breath. "Okay. I guess we're going to have to do this in two trips." But how? She wasn't about to leave one of her pokémon alone, but leaving her stuff in the middle of the sidewalk was a nonstarter, too. The dock was about half a mile from her house, which was no big deal to walk but would take time.
A person cleared their voice, then, soft and gruff at the same time. When she turned to see who it was, a young man stood a polite distance from her, carmine red eyes staring intently at her. It didn't seem to be in a lecherous or uncomfortable way, but there was something about it. As if it were just how he looked at things: angry or intensely. It made more sense to her than lechery or discomfort, anyway. She didn't usually prompt those kinds of feeling in other people. She didn't usually make them angry, either, but she did know that some people just looked grumpy.
“Do you..." he paused, as if he were unsure of himself or how to actually speak to someone. His brows furrowed before he pushed a sigh through his nose. “It looks like you need help. May I be of assistance?" he spoke in a deadpan voice. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his dark grey trousers, but the sleeves to his dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows. Probably due to the heat, though the shirt he was wearing was a light grey color.
“It won't be any trouble and I'm not looking for any compensation. You just look like you could use some help," he stated, his brows furrowing as if he wasn't quite sure that was what he'd wanted to say.
Ana blinked slowly. Her fundamental mistrust of strangers warred with her need for the assistance, which so abruptly-offered left her a bit on the back foot. This fellow didn't look like the sort who routinely went about offering to help random people from the kindness of his heart, but then... she knew a thing or two about being misjudged based on appearance.
Her eyes found the scars on the side of his face, but it was neither fear nor pity that she felt. In fact, it was the dark slashes that broke the fairness of his complexion that decided it for her, in a way she'd be hard-pressed to explain.
"Just getting all the arguing out of the way up front, huh?" she said with a wry little smile, referring to the bit about no trouble and not wanting compensation. "Okay then. If you really don't mind, you could lift that bag for me?" She could carry the one she was already holding, and Luna and Nova had the bedding under control, so that was really all that was left. "I'm about half a mile up the road, Mr...?"
He stooped to pick up the bag with what looked to be relative ease, and glanced back at her. He shook his head, the shagginess of his hair becoming more prominent before he shifted the bag over his shoulder. “Eryk Nero. You can just call me Eryk if that is your preference," he stated in a rather casual manner, or about as casual as he seemed to try and make it. He probably wasn't very good at socializing from the way he seemed a bit tense.
That was fine by her. Ana wasn't really very good at it, either. She smiled a little, in case the cue that it was okay would help anything.
“And you are?" he questioned, arching a brow in her direction.
"Oh. Sorry." Case in point, when it came to her own lack of social skills. No matter how hard she tried to be the kind of cool, casual, aloof person she'd admired before, she always ended up bungling the simplest things. "I'm Anastasia Asher. Well. Ana really. Whole thing's kind of silly." She waved a hand at nothing in particular, then cleared her throat.
Remembering that they should probably be moving, she started up the sidewalk, Luna and Nova walking a little ahead of her and—Eryk.
She didn't know exactly what he'd meant by that. If that was her preference? It was a strange way of saying he didn't care. She wondered if he did. Maybe there was a wrong answer. Should she stick to Mr. Nero? That was kind of weird—he didn't look much older than twenty-five, if she had her guess, but she wasn't great at ages. Still it seemed too close to hers to just call him Mr. for no reason.
Ana flicked a glance at him out of the corner of her eye. He certainly wasn't having any trouble carrying the thing, which was good. She'd have felt bad if he started to struggle with it or something. She might be small and weak, but a year of doing this kind of thing had helped her get used to it, and she at least knew how to balance things, which helped a lot. She found herself wanting to say something, but not exactly sure what to say.
He shrugged and glanced at her from the corners of his eyes. They shifted towards the bag she was carrying, and there was a brief crease to his brows. “Anastasia is... a nice name," he stated, as if he were unsure if that was something to say in this context or not. He released a soft sigh, though, and nodded towards the bag.
“I can carry that one as well if you'd like. It won't be a burden and it might make it easier on your shoulders. I mean this in no way offensively, but your frame does not seem to be built for something of this weight. If you can handle it, then I apologize if what I said is offensive to you," he spoke, blinking once before he continued, “but if you would like to rest a moment, I can carry the bag."
He didn't try to take it from her, at least, and seemed to be interested in what she wanted to do.
Oh dear. He really was awkward too, wasn't he? Whether that was a good thing or a bad one, it made Ana smile, the warm expression blooming on her face for just the briefest moment before she remembered herself. Cool. She was trying to be collected and such.
"It's okay," she said, trying to keep that in mind. "I might not be built for it, but that's exactly why I need the practice. I have to lift things like this all the time, for my job."
He arched a brow in her direction, but shrugged. “If it gets too heavy before we reach your destination, let me know and I will carry it for you," he spoke, turning his attention back outwards. “Where is it that you work that requires... this," he stated, shifting the bag on his shoulder as if to motion towards it.
“Is there a farm or shelter on the island? I've just moved to here a few weeks ago and haven't been able to... see it," he continued as if to explain why he hadn't known about Ana's shelter, or anything in particular about the island.
It wasn't surprising that he didn't know about the shelter, of course, so she explained. "I run a pokémon shelter and hospice," she said, adjusting the bag a little as they walked. She could feel sweat tricking down her back; humid days like this were her least favorite, by far. It made all the difference in how bad heat actually was. "Normally my supplies are delivered, but some of them are harder to get, and not all the people who make them are great about being on time out to the island like this, so I had to come pick them up myself today."
She was sure it wasn't that interesting, though, so she tried not to ramble. "You might run into some of that yourself," she noted. "Depending on what you do. We don't have a proper airport, so a lot of things come in by boat, with only the occasional charter plane." She tilted her head, sort of hoping he'd explain what he did for a living, but not inclined to be pushy about it.
He hummed silently and nodded his head. “I don't think it'll be a problem for us. I work at the old mansion that was converted into a research facility. I'm..." he pursed his lips together as if he didn't know how to describe what he did, properly. “I'm just a clerk there, so I do a lot of the paperwork and the filing for them."
He remained quiet for a moment longer before he shook his head. “If you'd like," he began, shifting his attention towards her, “a couple of my colleagues and myself can help you with these deliveries, and at your shelter. From the looks of it, it seems that you don't have volunteers, if at all, to help you with things like this. We typically work most of the early mornings and are off by the afternoon. If you'd like, we could give you a hand on the days you need it."
The offer sounded genuine.
Honestly Ana was taken aback. He was right, of course, that she had very few volunteers. Carter helped out sometimes, and Drake when he could, but they were both very busy people. Then there were Mr. and Mrs. Lane, but they were elderly and not really able to do much of the physical work, so she just let them play with the pokémon sometimes and called it volunteering for enrichment, which it was.
"I—" she caught herself about to express some skepticism and paused, trying to properly consider her words. "That's very kind of you, truly. But... well, would you like to see the place first? Maybe meet everyone? I can hardly ask you to commit your time—and your friends'—sight unseen, after all." It was actually a little unnerving, but she couldn't put her finger on why except that people were not usually so solicitous to her. Especially not ten minutes after meeting her.
He blinked slowly, then shrugged. “I don't see why not," was his simple reply. “If it seems like a bit much, perhaps I will rescind my services, but..." he paused, glancing at her, “I don't think they would mind much. They like to do community service everywhere they send us. Our job requires us to move around a lot, but there are times where we stay in one place for a year or so. Doing community service makes them feel... necessary."
His eyes narrowed, then, as if he were thinking of something, before he shook his head.
Ana hesitated. That was... a very odd thing to say. She supposed it might be the same awkwardness she'd already noticed, so she tried not to think much of it, but she could feel her lips press together uncomfortably. "Um... well, regardless I think they should make sure they know what they're getting into. There are plenty of worthy causes to volunteer for on the island, after all."
At this point, they'd reached the front gate of her property, and she sets down the bag carefully with a little sound of relief. Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved her plain steel key ring, counting back to the gate key and fitting it to the wrought iron barred doors. It creaked a little as she pushed it open, holding it in place for both her pokémon and Eryk to enter. "You can just put that down anywhere; Luna and Nova can move it to the right shelf later."
He set the bag down against the side of the gate before glancing around. His brows were slightly furrowed, but he didn't seem upset about anything in particular. His attention went back to her, though, and he blinked slowly.
“What do you do, exactly?" he asked, his head tilting just slightly to the left as he waited for her reply, it seemed.
Ana's reply was interrupted by Rufus, who waddled out from his spot napping in the shade of the house. The wheezy old stoutland had more grey in his coat than brown, these days, but his stubby little tail wagged enthusiastically as he approached nonetheless. Ana crouched to greet him, running her fingers from the top of his head back behind his ear, and smiled softly when he leaned into the contact.
She still had a query to answer, though, so she stood, watching with some interest as the old pokémon, self-appointed warden of the shelter, approached the newcomer, sniffing at his feet and then his pant leg. "Well as the name might suggest, we take in pokémon who have been recovered from abusive or neglectful situations, or those voluntarily surrendered by their humans, and also those who need a place to live out the remainder of their lives in peace, should they have some kind of incurable condition that can be managed well enough for a good quality of life before passing. Most of those, we get from the Center; it's less common, but we are licensed to run as a hospice also. Our aim is always for rehabilitation and rerelease or adoption otherwise, but..." she gave a little shrug.
"With the present state of things, it's hard. Lots of people want to be a pokémon's first human. Others think of our residents as damaged, and many younger trainers especially want pokémon they think can be competitive in battles. We get a lot of those cast off for not being strong enough, or not having that kind of personality, so the adoption rate is fairly low. The island's small, too—I've been here about a year, but I've only adopted out about ten pokémon in that time."
She gestured to the large yard abutting the house. Its major feature was the big pool, equipped for both fully-aquatic species and those who swam sometimes. A pidgey roosted in the large dogwood tree towards the back of the house; ekans sunned himself on a big, flat rock she'd had put in when she moved. A few magikarp were the pool's only current occupants, and then there was Rufus, of course. "This is most everyone; a couple of those adoptions were last month, and a few of the hospice patients have died, so we're running kind of below capacity at the moment. All the supplies we carried are for ekans; he has food and bedding allergies that mean he has to be kept differently from everyone else. You should feel free to say hello; everyone's friendly."
He blinked mildly before glancing towards Rufus. He knelt a bit, offering his hand out so Rufus could sniff it before he scratched behind the stoutland's ear. There was a soft expression on his face, but he didn't smile. It didn't look easy if the way his eyes narrowed slightly was anything to go by. He stood, then, and glanced towards Ana.
“It must be difficult caring for hospice patients," he spoke, his voice oddly soft. “Seeing a pokémon through to the last moment of their life must be difficult," he spoke as if he had some experience with that, but he shook his head, and took in a soft breath. He glanced back towards ekans and his hand twitched slightly before he glanced back at Ana.
“I might know a person or two who are looking for a companion pokémon. I could recommend your shelter to them if you'd like," he stated. “It might help those who are adoptable find a home, at least."
"I'd appreciate that," Ana said sincerely, before huffing lightly and adding, "though I'm kind of the only game in town when it comes to that so I hope they'd end up here eventually." The quip was dry, but light, and she didn't mean anything bad by it.
She couldn't help but notice the reaction to ekans, though, and tilted her head faintly, a slightly more mischievous smile flickering across her features before she reached into her pocket, tossing a little homemade drawstring bag Eryk's way with a soft underhand lob. She had a feeling he'd be able to catch something a lot less softball than that. "Those are his favorite. Ekans's. I make them myself."
Approaching the sunning rock, she reached out and felt her mind connect to the pokémons, sending warmth and gentleness over the connection even as she spoke aloud. "Hey, buddy. Someone's here to meet you. Want to see?"
She always gave her charges a choice, but when she extended an arm down towards ekans, he rose towards it easily, twining up over her shoulders to lay his head down across her chest and loop the rest of himself several times around her body in the serpentine equivalent of a hug. She rubbed his head gently with a finger, noting that his scales seemed to be clearing up a little, and walked back over to Eryk. "He's in a good mood today. You want to feed him a snack?"
He glanced towards Ana before his attention shifted towards ekans. He opened the bag she'd tossed towards him and pulled one of the treats from it. He seemed a bit hesitant for a moment before he took a step forward, and held out the treat towards him.
“I know someone who would like an ekans," Eryk spoke, a small shift in his expression apparent. “I can see if she'd like to adopt him when he is available for adoption," he stated, glancing back towards Ana.
She wondered if this was one of the colleagues he'd mentioned. "Well by all means feel free to tell her, but she should keep in mind that his special dietary needs are a lifetime sort of thing. The reason I have him is that he's recovering from a bad case of scale rot, but eating normal pokémon food will just aggravate the condition again. It would be a bit more work than looking after the average ekans, but if she doesn't mind he should be perfectly adoptable in a couple of months from now."
She paused as the pokémon lifted his head from her sternum and regarded the food in front of him. Quite quickly, he darted out to take it from Eryk's hand, though as Ana knew he would he didn't so much as scrape the new person's fingers in the process. He swallowed the food whole, tongue flicking out into the air as he scented for more.
She huffed quietly, even as Luna and Nova passed by with the bags she and Eryk had carried, levitated in front of them with psychic power. Rubbing the side of his head, she tilted hers at Eryk. "I understand if you have somewhere else to be, but can I offer you something to eat or drink? I know you didn't plan to hold me indebted, but I'd feel better about it if I could... I dunno. Say thank you with more than just the words."
He seemed to contemplate her offer for a moment, feeding another treat to ekans as he hummed quietly. “I don't see why not," he finally stated. “And it doesn't seem to be a lot of work. If you'd be agreeable, my colleagues and I can come help you whenever you need it. Just let us know ahead of time of when you'd like help," he stated, pulling his wallet from his back pocket and digging through it. He produced a small business-like card from it, but it was very plain. There was his full name, a phone number, and another phone number with the word Cy next to it.
“That is my number, and one of my colleagues's number. You can reach me at either one," he stated, tilting his head in Ana's direction.
A card? Ana smiled a little. Her auntie had made her make cards of her own; she had yet to give away more than two of them. "I have one of these, too," she said, "with the shelter's number. I'll give it to you inside. I, um, don't usually carry them, which I guess kind of defeats the purpose." She shrugged a little sheepishly. "I don't usually have the kind of acquaintances who use them."
She wondered why a clerk needed business cards, but didn't think much of it. Maybe he was on his way up the ladder or something; it couldn't help to be prepared. Plus apparently he moved around a lot, something else she wouldn't have picked a clerk to do, but for all she knew that was perfectly normal. Ana wasn't really familiar with that sort of thing.
"Anyway, uh—do you like oatmeal cookies? I have some with raisins and some without, and tea? I could make coffee instead, if you prefer, or there's lemonade or water." She realized she was rambling and stopped, digging out her keys again since they'd be going inside her house this time.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Oatmeal cookies with raisins are fine," he spoke, his lips pursing into a fine line as he seemed lost in thought. “And water is also fine," he added. His brows furrowed though, when she approached the door to her home.
“I can stand outside and wait. I don't want to intrude in your home," he stated, his brows furrowing deeper.
Ana paused, uncertain. She wouldn't have thought of it as weird for a moment until he'd mentioned it. Now, well—it was a little weird, wasn't it? To invite someone into her home within half an hour of meeting them? But oddities aside, he did seem like a nice person, and she didn't really want to shut him out. "Oh," she said, unable to help the slight note of disappointment as she figured it out. He didn't want to come in. Of course; why would he?
"Erm. Well, there are garden seats out back if you'd like. I don't want to make you eat and run or anything. Unless you'd prefer I wrap up the cookies so you can go?" She wasn't sure what the right thing to do was, and a bit of fluster showed through, her collected persona crumbling like the papery thing it was until she was just a faint shade of embarrassed pink.
You idiot. He probably thinks you're coming onto him or something!
He shook his head softly. “I don't want to take up too much of your time," he spoke. “You don't... need to do either of those things, either. If you'd like to just give me your card, I'd consider it thanks enough," he stated, trying, it seemed, to smile in some awkward way, but it didn't quite reach even a small stretch of his lips. He just looked less grumpy, if anything.
Oh he totally thought she was coming onto him, didn't he? Ana's face flamed; she nodded awkwardly and hastily turned back to her door, fitting the key in with shaky fingers. Oh arceus I'm so stupid. Where did this go wrong? Am I creepy? I'm creepy.
The door came open, and she stepped into her house feeling entirely out of sorts, determined now not to make this any weirder than it already was. Swallowing, she fumbled through the drawer beneath her landline telephone, there only for the shelter, until she came up with the little metal case that held her business cards. Plucking one out, she hesitated a moment, eye catching on the plate of cookies on the kitchen island. If she didn't use tupperware, he wouldn't have to feel obligated to come back, right? That seemed like an acceptable compromise; she really felt terrible about this whole thing now and thought maybe it would help somehow.
So she wrapped the cookies up in a cloth napkin, tying a clumsy knot at the top and hurrying back outside. "Sorry," she mumbled, looking down at her feet and extending the whole thing towards him, card carefully tucked beneath the knot. "Um. You can just throw them away if you want but Drake says they're good so you might like them?"
He took the cloth from her, gently, and shook his head. “I'm sure they are... acceptable?" he questioned, almost as if he were asking her, but then he cleared his throat and furrowed his brows as if at himself. “Thank you, Anastasia," he stated, blinking slowly before turning his attention back towards the yard.
“If you need help tomorrow, we can return to help out. In the mean time, I can see if there are those at the field office if they are looking for companion pokémon, or other," he continued. “I'm certain we'll see you again," he stated, though he didn't explain what he meant by that. Perhaps because Cinnabar was such a small island to begin with, he meant that they'd see her in passing?
Acceptable. Oh arceus.
"Uh, you're welcome. More importantly, thank you for the help. I'm sure we're likely to, erm, run into each other again." She knew with great surety that she would not be calling to ask them to help her out, after the embarrassed hash she'd made of all of this.
All this effort to make herself a better person, and she was still getting everything so far wrong.
Finally dragging her eyes back to him, she met red with blue and tried to smile instead of grimace. "Have, um. Have a good rest of your day. And really, thank you."
“You as well, Ana. And... you're welcome."