codeforhope | Voicemail

I've had cats before. They're not too hard to figure out.

[Feed them, pet them a lot, put them down when they fuss a lot, try not to send your assistant to hell in front of them. Easy!]

So you're a breeder, right? That's what whoever dragged you here decided you're supposed to do?

[That's the gist of it really, even with Pokemon. Though those are more likely to set you on fire if you piss them off or something.]

Mhm, that's right. I didn't really understand why at first, but now that I've been doing it for a while...well, it's actually very enjoyable.

Yeah...?

["Enjoyable" is not quite the word he'd attach to "let's make sentient animals screw", but to...each their own, he supposes...]

That's what I'm supposed to do, too, apparently. I've read the...thing that explains what we're supposed to do, like with egg groups and stuff. It's kinda over my head but I'll deal.

[...okay he'll admit, that part is weird, but the enjoyable part for him lies more along actually planning clutches. Egg moves and whatnot.]

Oh! Well, if you have any questions, I wouldn't mind explaining something, if you would like. Egg groups can be a bit complicated...you would be surprised what types of Pokemon are actually capable of breeding.

...Unless there's some sort of magic here I don't know about, I'm guessing we can't do anything with the genderless things.

[...well actually.]

Ah...there's actually a solution for that. There's a Pokemon called Ditto that has the capability to breed with most any species of Pokemon, no matter the gender...or lack thereof. It just won't be able to pass down any egg moves.

...Ditto. What, it just...copies things?

That's exactly what it does, actually. It can take on the appearance of anything it sees.

...Yeah, but if you copy a genderless thing, you get two genderless things.

Genderless thing plus genderless thing probably shouldn't equal babies.

I'm not entirely sure how it works, to tell you the truth.

[He...tries not to think about it too hard besides.]

I just know that they tend to be very useful to have around for breeding.

...Because they breed with everything even if they don't pass down any...egg move things. Got it, I guess.

I'll work it out eventually. Doubt I'll get anything as terrifying as those damn kittens you've got, but you never know.

You would be surprised! It only takes a few breeding pairs to end up with some very impressive Pokemon over time.

...what is your starter, if you don't mind me asking?

What? ...Oh, it's a. Thing. Hang on.

[GOD SCHULDIG WARNED HIM ABOUT SHIT LIKE THIS]

Horsea? One of those little seahorse things.

Oh! I don't see very many of those around, actually. If you do try breeding, I would suggest breeding some Horsea eggs. You'll likely get a lot of people wanting to have one.

I'm gonna try it eventually because that's what I'm supposed to do here.

[...Do people...generally just...ignore that here or...]

Well...you don't have to if you don't want to. Breeders do get certain benefits that normal trainers don't, such as being able to breed more eggs than normal or use certain HMs without badges. But I don't think anyone would force you, should you decide you didn't want to do it anymore.

[There's a good-sized pause at that.]

But that's what I'm supposed to do.

[He doesn't sound annoyed, per se, just...you can practically hear the ????, basically.]

Why the hell would I just decide not to?

[Chihiro hesitates for a moment himself before answering.]

...I'm sure there are plenty of reasons why you wouldn't. Not everyone's going to be good at it, or even...enjoy it, really, no matter what they were assigned to be when they got here. And if you don't enjoy what you do, at least a little...I just don't think you should continue with it.

[Especially not something like breeding, since so many...actual little baby things' lives are involved, here.]

...Whether you enjoy it or not doesn't really matter. If you were tasked to do something, you do it and you try not to screw it up. That's not hard.

[Again, while he's sounding pretty unyielding, he doesn't sound angry or anything - at least, not moreso than he usually does.]

[That's...hm.]

Well...I suppose that's true, if you want to think about it that way. We don't really know who decides what we do here, though...only that you can't really predict what you'll be until you get here.

I have a friend who was a trainer when he first arrived, then went home...and when he came back, he was a breeder instead.

Yeah, but it's like that for pretty much everything in life. You don't decide who you're gonna be when you're born, you just sort of are and you have to work with what you've got, right? Parents, gender, nationality, social station, all that. People don't really control a lot about their lives.

I don't get why this is any different, I guess.

[...wait a minute weren't we just talking about breeding.]

Mm...I suppose. You are right about that, Ginti-san. I guess it all depends on what you do with what you have, like you said.

[Yes?]

Right. So I don't get why it matters who picks our classification or our job or whatever it is you want to call it, or why they think we should have it. It's what we're here to do so we might as well do it.

People should pursue other interests too if they want to though, don't you think?

Why?

[And that's out there before he can stop it, and there's the sort of awkward hesitation that implies that he's got no damn idea what to do now that it is.]

...Forget it.

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