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 Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 12:28 pm
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 1:05 pm
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Keiko smiled as Ulla tugged on her arm. With a nod, Keiko led Ulla to where she remembered the chieftan's tent was. Since the door wasn't made of a solid material, Keiko found and knocked on a wood post to hopefully get the chieftan's attention. The one that greeted her was someone else, however. 'Hey, Cake. She's waiting for ya," Bruce said as he made his way out. With a nod, Keiko stepped inside.
"Just in time," Toshiko said with a smirk as Keiko made her way in with Ulla in tow. "Don't worry about saying what happened. Bruno's already filled me in. You did good," the Delcatty hybrid smiled. "Look, it wasn't my intention to mislead you, but there's something else I need from you before I can train you."
"I'm supposed to spar with you, right?" Keiko asked, hoping that's what it was and Toshiko wasn't going outside the bounds of their agreement.
The chieftan smiled. "Oh, you already know. Good. Well, it's a little more complicated than that. I don't know if you've heard or if anyone's told you, but every three months, we have a festival. It's to celebrate the changing of the seasons, the hard work everyone's done for the good of the village, and so forth. It's a tradition that goes a long way back. The main event of the festival is a lottery. The winner gets to spar with me at the end of the festival. But, since I already agreed to train you, we're forgoing the lottery this time. I've already cleared it with the rest of the village - we usually only do the lottery if there is more than one volunteer or if there aren't any."
"Doesn't that mean the lottery is in place to make people do something they don't want to?" Keiko asked, concerned. "I'm not trying to question your tradition or anything, but-"
"You're not wrong, Sparkles," Toshiko sighed. "When I first became chieftan, I tried to change the main event so that it only took place if there were volunteers, but even people who didn't like the lottery voted to keep in in place. Our community places a lot of importance in tradition."
"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Keiko smiled.
"It can be," the Delcatty hybrid smirked. "Well, unless either of you have any questions, you should probably get going. Festival's gonna start soon. I think you'll really like it."
Keiko couldn't think of anything to ask herself, so she turned to Ulla.
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Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:55 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:30 pm
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"Outside of making sure the festival is running smoothly, I intend to enjoy myself, yes," Toshiko smiled. With a nod, Keiko led Ulla out of her tent and back out to the town. Outside, it was pretty obvious that some kind of celebration was coming as all of the homes, tents or otherwise, were decorated in one way or another to celebrate the season of summer. "Looks like they're taking it seriously," Keiko smiled as she walked toward the center of town with Ulla in tow.
The sun hadn't fully set yet, so a lot of the festivities were still being prepared, but most were almost done preparing, while a few were up and ready to go. There was a variety of booths up - food stalls, game corners, and a handful booths where colorful stories were being told. All the booths were in a circle facing the platform at the center of town, where Toshiko and a few villagers were standing. Finally, an Exploud hybrid spoke up, their voice carrying to the far reaches of the village without the aid of any technology. After thanking the participants (not all of which were native to the village as there were a few humans wandering around), he declared the summer festival having officially begun.
With a wide smile and a twinkle of childish glee in her eye, Keiko turned to Ulla. "So, which booth do you want to visit first?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:19 pm
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:58 pm
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Keiko giggled a bit as Ulla's tummy rumbled, but smiled acceptingly at the younger girl. "Sure thing!" the hybrid smiled happily. Leading Ulla from stall to stall, the pair eventually settled on a food stall with a surprising variety to their menu. Keiko read the menu attached to the booth above where the chef was taking orders, and was having a hard time making up her mind. A funnel cake would be amazing and was the typical fair dinner, but their pizza smelled absolutely divine despite not quite being of the same quality one would find in a pizza-centered restaurant. They had other options as well, but Keiko was more stuck between those two. "I'll let you order first, since you're hungrier than me," Keiko lied, to which her stomach quickly protested to by grumbling loudly. 'Hush, you. You'll get food in you soon enough," she huffed, looking down at her abdomen.
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:58 pm
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 9:28 am
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In the end, Keiko settled on their pizza. While the sugar on their funnel cakes would soothe her budding sweet tooth, the sugar would be much more visible if some of it got caught in her fur than the pizza's grease would. After paying for Ulla's and her's meals, Keiko found what looked similar to a park bench and sat down, leaving plenty of room for Ulla if she decided she wanted to sit while she ate. Keiko did notice when Ulla almost took her hand, and while she wanted to tell Ulla she wasn't too old to hold her hand, she didn't want to lessen the fact that Ulla was growing up.
When Ulla asked about our plans, she didn't get embarassed, but rather smiled, which proved that we'd been thinking about it. "We both want to finish our training first," Keiko answered, but then took the time to explain. "Channeling and being a hybrid respectively is still kind of new to us, and we want to feel like we're strong enough to protect our children without getting our Pokemon... our friends, in danger. Once we're comfortable with our abilities, then we'll plan a wedding. After we're married, we'll start preparing to start a family."
Keiko then gave a bittersweet smile and leaned back. "As much as having a baby right now would make me really, really happy, it's important to be ready and be smart about making sure the child is taken care of. Terashi said that, and I agree with him. We should be as ready as we can for the baby's sake."
With that, Keiko gave Ulla a genuine smile before taking the first bite of her food.
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 5:11 pm
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Ulla listened to Keiko's words. It sounded genuine, like they actually put some serious thought into this. For some reason, it made her think. Did her parents plan this way? "...So were you two not ready for me?" She said as she meant to just think about it, not actually say it out loud. Embarassed and ashamed that she did say that out loud, she immediately stood in front of her and bowed her head. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud! Er...no. That sounds even worse..." She started to overthink in my head as she merely sighed and sat down right next to Keiko.
"I really am sorry...Having my childhood ripped away from me. Having my parents missed all of my birthdays. I'm thankful I have Leon, really. He's been able to fill the void. And, I really am glad I have you, Ter, and all of Snagem. You guys are basically my adopted family. Leon was able to take care of me through the harder times. So, it's easier to take care of me. That was selfish of me to say. I'm just not sure, when its good to be my age. Or. To be a Snagem." She said as she started eating her food.
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 5:28 pm
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"To be fair, it's a lot easier to take care of a ten year old than it is to take care of a baby who can't do anything on its own. On top of that, you take care of yourself as much as you can, so there wasn't really anything to prepare for when it comes to taking care of you. That said, we would have adopted you regardless. You can't plan for everything, and some people have kids by accident before they're ready, so they do the best they can to improvise. Not that this was how we saw adopting you, but..." Keiko trailed off, catching her breath. "Honestly, Ulla, we're just happy to have you."
Keiko set her plate aside to give Ulla a gentle hug. "Just because your Papa and I are trying to be careful doesn't mean everything's gonna go according to plan, and whether it does or not, we'll love our baby regardless and do our best to take care of him or her, just like we're doing our best to take care of you and love you no matter what."
Keiko let go of Ulla and picked her plate back up. "Anyway, this isn't a dangerous mission, so don't be afraid to be a little childish, okay?" the Lopunny hybrid asked before taking a bite of her pizza.
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 5:54 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 6:23 pm
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Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:04 pm
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:19 am
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:15 pm
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