the traveling professor

What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Mac and Cheese. Anyone would after spending a few months eating the stuff. Just showing her a picture of it would bring her to grimace at the sight of it.

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

The television’s glowing, but it’s difficult to tell what’s on it. By this time of the night, it’s probably some infomercial, but that isn’t what she’s focused on. The light serves as a decent book light, and she flips another page in the packet of research she’s looking over. There’s a pen in her hand, and she jots down a few notes onto the margins here and there. It doesn’t seem to bother the slight weight on her shoulder.

She turns the page and continues to read, letting out a yawn once she’s halfway through. Her eyes feel heavy, but she can’t seem to close them. Instead, she lets her head lean on his, continuing with her work.

In the morning she’d wake with a crick in her neck, but, for now, she seems more than content. 

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

It isn’t the first time her article has been turned down, forgotten after a sexist remark. Her style of clothing and her apparent lack of a ring was not something up for debate in a professional setting. It wouldn’t be the last time, she knew, but it only meant she would try harder, find another way to achieve a standard they could never imagine.

She would carve a name for herself, and, if the world would later find them, so be it. At the very least, she was enjoying what she had and the liberties she was granted with the title she has.

In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

Or? Why can’t it be all of the above?

It depends on the situation.

In a professional setting, if the remark is in regards to her being female, she would be defensive. She wouldn’t act in an unprofessional manner and continue the line of thought, but would leave i t at one sharp remark before redirecting it elsewhere.

If it is a genuine criticism meant to improve and to point out weaknesses, she would strive to improve.

Either way, she would be silently self-deprecating for having such remarks in the first place.   

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

“As you can see, there’s a high rise in ‘Shiny’ Pokemon residing, here, in the Nature Preserve.”

Bianca took a second to take a deep breath, letting the air flow through her lungs. “Oh man– it’s so cool Professor! I think I managed to design a new app for that Rotom Pokedex for Alola! I think it could be so useful– at least, I hope it could be!!”

“It’s only fun if you enjoy going hours upon hours on something that you love.” Relate-able, of course, since Steven did the exact same thing when it came to his own research with geodes, continents, gems, and stones. Learning something new definitely was an intense drive, especially if he was working on a learning high. 

Pulled out of his thoughts, the man looks over at the professor with a genuine smile. She reminded him so much of professor birch in a way, where they kept their nose buried in information until they suddenly decided to go hop somewhere else to break away a bit. 

“Sounds fine by me, I wouldn’t mind having you as company. I’ll treat you too while i’m at it. We can always continue the research later on- when we’re full, of course. There’s a coffee shop not too far away from here too, so we can always bring back extra stuff for us to munch on.” 

Steven pauses for a moment when he turns on his heel. “The origins of pokemon… it’s mind blowing to think that the possibility could derive from fossils. Do you think?” 

“Ah, now that wouldn’t do. I invited you. At the very least, we could make it a dutch treat?” She smiled in return, placing the book onto the table and moving to stand. The chair was pushed back into place, and she gave her work a quick assessment, wordlessly inventorying the stacks before turning towards Steven once more.

“Of course, it would be one theory. The evolution of pokemon taking place in various ways. The sudden appearance of Klink from chargestone caves is one. The drastic change between fossilized pokemon towards pokemon today is another.”

“Then, with technology today, we’re able to create our own artificial pokemon. As one company has done with Porygon.” She waved her hand, although he had brought up the topic in the first place, she doubted it was one that he’d cared to engage beyond the fossils. Never mind how she knew all the technicalities between it all would make plenty of other’s heads spin. It was easier to keep it simple and short.

He chased after the spheal, but it was faster than he was. While trying not to slip on the flooring, Yuuki trailed the pokémon until he heard it barking … nearby?

Eventually, he noticed that the lady from before had disappeared from view. His grip on Loudred’s pokéball tightened as he walked in the direction of the barking, and realised that he was standing at the top of a (short) flight of stairs.

There, at the foot, was the lady from before. Her lab coat must be awfully crumpled now. The same went for her nicely-ironed pants.

“Are you okay?” Yuuki called out, cupping his hands to his mouth so he could be better heard over the eager spheal. “Can you stand?”

How embarrassing -- to be caught in such a poor state. 

She smiled either way, laughing a little at her own misfortune. Cupping a hand around her mouth, she waved up at him. “Hello there! Thank you for checking up on me.”

Brushing off her pants, she found that, indeed, her pants were now crumpled, her impecble coat now matched the stone and frost around them. How lame. Still, she forced herself to stand, feeling an odd twinge at her ankle and inwardly cursing herself. Was it sprained?

Daigo sighed again. When Uncle Juan said that this was going to be a perfect summer adventure, he sure hadn’t anticipated the incident at the airport. Neither did he care to mention that Kalos was absolutely packed with strangers, and languages he couldn’t even read.

Uncle Juan must have had a particularly wild time as a trainer, he eventually figured.

He patted Wing’s back idly. The skarmory clicked its beak in approval as it looked around for anything interesting in the city – there it went, one of those fancy dog pokémon that came in all shapes and sizes. Right now, that one sported a particularly hilarious combination of green and hat made out of fur.

Wing clicked its beak twice. Daigo looked at it.

“Yes, food,” he quickly agreed before Wing got any ideas, “Not one of those sandwiches though. They do it funny in Kalos.”

Aurea didn’t mind the strangeness of the sandwiches here in comparison to back home. It wasn’t like Papa and her hadn’t scrounged around for some kind of something that resembled food on their travels before --- but Daigo wouldn’t have liked all that. He’s always stuffed up in his room unless she comes around, and since they weren’t sleeping outside, maybe they could splurge just a little.

She just didn’t know the difference between their sandwiches and the ones in Sinnoh. They seemed kind of the same too her -- far more fancy than the ones in Unova. 

There was no way he could keep up. Hiking was an activity he did on occasion, but it wasn’t up some silly mountain. He wasn’t nearly old or tall enough for mountains yet, according to Father. Maybe in a couple more years, Father had said, and Daigo had nodded.

It wasn’t like he was particularly interested in the physical activity this time, anyway. Time he got to spend with Aurea was well worth the effort. As terribly bad as she had been with certain pokémon (he never really did understood why she couldn’t deal with a klang), he did recognise her as good company.

Sure, his tailor-made shorts and button-down shirt were grass-stained in a few places and he’d torn a corner of his shorts. But she had made sure he was safe and unharmed. She’d held his hand and pulled him up a difficult slope because the sportiest pair of shoes he had weren’t made for hiking on such rough terrain.

He shifted, and stirred.

She was quick to notice, stopping almost immediately to look down at him. Ah, she was always the tall one between them --- it helped that she was much older and girls always did grow faster. So, it was kind of natural for her to look down at him in the literal sense. (Never what it implied.) She turned away soon enough, realizing it probably wasn’t exactly the nicest thing in Hoennian culture or whatever, choosing to bring a free hand to comb her hair, lifting her hat as she did so.

“We should probably head down now,” she said, trying to make it sound like she was talking to herself. Daigo’s fam--security was probably roaming around some place nearby, trying to find them by now. It’d be bad if they’d got to them, or at least annoying. It meant she was gonna get lectured by way more people than necessary, nevermind their rough handling and ---

In short, it was just such as pain.

      BLAIR GIVES A wry smile at the chiding wag of the professor’s finger, amusement teetering on genuine, if there wasn’t the ever-present fear and concern of the truth sitting in the back of his mind. from the way she acted and spoke, it seemed as if she didn’t hear anything from cheren, and a part of him is relieved as much as he is terrified. he knows at some point she’s bound to bring his reappearance up to bianca or cheren, and if it’s the latter —–

this fleeting kindness and pride she offers to him is finished.

a small noise bubbles up his throat at the hand atop his head, eyes squinting closed as he allows the woman to toy with his hair affectionately. when was the last someone had done this sort of thing to him, treated him as a child and spoke so warmly? it’s all too nostalgic, he almost wants to cry – but he doesn’t. he won’t. he can’t.

at the very least, she’s offering coffee.

❛  anything for the professor!  ❜   blair chirps, moving a hand to fix misplaced strands of hair, courtesy of juniper’s greeting.   ❛  ahaha, unfortunately, you’re going to be disappointed in my pokedex… i haven’t really added anything new in a long time during my travels, i’ve been far too distracted with everything else around me.  ❜

❛  what about you, though? how have you been since we last saw each other? it’s pretty strange for you to be out this far from your lab…  ❜

she leans back, placing her hands on her waist. for some reason, it doesn’t disappoint her, knowing he hadn’t been able to fill it. perhaps, she accepts his alibi. at least, he looks well, sort of, physically. the fact he’s grown to her height is evidence of that. 

“good; I know the perfect place.” 

she places a hand against touya’s back, almost as though she wants to reassure herself that he is here, in the present, not an afterimage of what could have been. the thought brings her to laugh a little as she directs the two of them to the little cafe she had in mind.

“hm? is it?” 

and then it hits her.  

she’s always given them the impression she’s always waiting in the lab, hasn’t see? it’s fairly easy to do when she has her assistants there all the time to warn her --- or with bianca taking care of a few particularly pesky things that required her to stay. cheren only knew due to that little connection.  

“consider this a special occasion,” she answers more out of habit, winking as she pushes the door open for them. the little bell at the top of the door lets out a quiet jingle, and the little shop is just as vibrant as elesa’s gym -- it came with being part of nimbasa, the professor imagines. “just like our cup of coffee.”

because it feels like you’ll leave the moment i look away.

            “ My English reading is… “ It was… developing. Which was more than it was a few years ago, when all the signs and wording in this region were indecipherable shapes and symbols. She could easily text her friends now, and read messages from them—and reading basic books wasn’t difficult ( plus, no one questioned anyone as petite as her in the children’s section of the bookstore, for some reason ) “ It’s okay, I guess… but it’s still not great right now. Most of what I can read is informal stuff, or easy books—I can’t read academic texts like what I wanna use to find out more about this place. Isn’t it called, like… “ 

              She glanced down at the text in front of her, tracing along the word from left to right with her index finger ( that’s the right habit, isn’t it? ) “ It’s called the… the dream-yard, right? “ She enunciated each part of the compound word separately, deliberately, trying to make sure she was pronouncing it correctly ( inadvertently missing the purpose of it being compound ) 

                         “ Why is it called that? I was hoping the text would reveal something to me about the origins of the name… there’s some strange pokemon back in my home region that connect to dreams, nightmares, even astral projection. “ 

There was a sad smile crossing her features as she closed the book, resting her left hand over it. It ---that was a troubling time. It wasn’t what long ago, maybe just long enough for it to be forgotten by the younger generation. Whatever the girl was researching, it wouldn’t be found in these books. They wouldn’t carry the truth they’d muffled over time, or, at the very least, the truth of the event.

“The “Dreamyard,”” The professor repeated, “is known for pokemon well connected with dreams: Munna and Musharna. It’s one of the only places in the world where they can be found.” 

She stopped herself, knowing she was derailing from the main point.

“But the Dreamyard wasn’t always called that. The ruins there aren’t as old as you could imagine.” Glancing over these texts, she let out a sigh. She should have known, really. If she’d paid any attention in the beginning, they wouldn’t have wasted as much time as they had. “It used to be called “Pokémon Energy Laboratory.””