ohmyarceus | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[The little Eevee shrinks back a bit more. It's nothing Mimas is doing wrong! He's just... a very scared little Eevee. He'd been with his trainer earlier when a sudden loud noise had startled him enough to take off running, and now he's lost and today is not shaping up to be a very good day at all!]

[Oh no, poor little thing. Mimas chirrups softly, stepping closer and nuzzling the other Eevee's forehead, then scurrying back to take a tiny bit of half-eaten puff from Matt. He scurries back, dropping it in front of the other Eevee and swishing his tail a couple times. There we go, all better! Eat the nice food!]

[The little Eevee's eyes flick between the other Eevee and the offered treat. He does like puffs, but he is nervous about accepting them from this strange Eevee. Or maybe it is all right? He hasn't hurt him yet, right? But then, maybe he was just biding his time, waiting to attack!]

-bos! Phobos!

[The little Eevee's ears perk at that familiar sound, and without even a last glance back, he suddenly darts past the other Eevee, a bit down the path and then it is a mad scramble up into the arms of a worried looking blond, shoving himself against the front of his sweater vest as if he is trying to become one with it.

Armin meanwhile looks a little surprised at the sudden comet of brown fur streaking at him, but he manages to get a good enough grip on his wayward Eevee, giving the other trainer a sort of apologetic look.]

I'm sorry. I hope he wasn't a bother. He got lost.

Edited 2017-10-18 19:01 (UTC)

[There are normal things to say when one meets a new person. "Hello" is a good one. "Nice to meet you" is another. "It's all right, I'm glad you found your Pokemon" would be very suitable in this circumstance.

But no, Matt looks up at the newcomer and says:] Did you name him after Mars's moon?

[Armin blinks in surprise at that question, not expecting it.]

He is.

[Then comes the smile though. An unusual way to start a conversation, maybe, but one that appeals to his nerd's heart.]

I think you're the first people who has recognised it.

Edited 2017-10-21 21:35 (UTC)

[Matt grins brightly, getting to his feet and scooping up his own Eevee.]

This is Mimas. I almost went with Phobos myself, but I had a goldfish named that back home, so. Mimas.

Nice to meet you.

Saturn's moon, right?

[Armin has only been learning about this sort of stuff relatively recently. He's been trying to memorise as much as he can, happily spending hours burrowed deep in thick volumes teaching him about things that he could never even imagine existed back home. Still, he knows he's still at a stage where he might easily mix up all those different names and what moon goes with what planet.]

It's nice to meet you, Mimas. [And for a moment, his eyes flick down towards his own Eevee, still burrowed tightly against the front of Armin's sweater.] I'm sorry about Phobos. He's not good with strangers.

[Or basically anything else in the world.]

Exactly! [Matt says it so earnestly, without the slightest hint of condescension -- comes from having a little sibling, and the pure joy he got from seeing her learn new things. It's a similar feeling now, as he brushes dust off his pants and smooths Mimas's fluff.

Phobos gets a gentle half-smile. He gets being scared.] I'm glad you found him, then. He's adorable.

I didn't find him exactly. [Armin reaches up to, very gently, rest his hand on Phobos' back, hoping to calm the Eevee down.] I hatched him from an egg my friend gave to me. Though he doesn't really seem to have inherited his mother's personality.

[Does Matt know where Pokemon come from yet? Cause else he is going to be in for quite the surprise.]

...Pokemon come from eggs. [Matt looks down at Mimas, who blinks up at him innocently. Yes, that is where they come from. Duh.]

...huh.

[Of course Pokemon all come from eggs. Even the tiniest baby Pokemon knows that! Sometimes humans are very silly.]

I'm sorry, I had assumed-- Are you new to this place?

[Matt had looked so at ease that Armin had assumed that he had already been here long enough to know about things like Pokemon coming from eggs. Does he even know about evolution yet?

Does Armin get to Poke-nerd at him about evolution?]

Edited 2017-10-23 11:54 (UTC)

Ah, yeah, I'm...just arrived. Met Mimas and went for a walk. [And promptly got lost. There's a whole world of nerd that he knows nothing of.]

Has anyone explained anything to you yet? About this world or Pokemon.

[If not, that is a remarkable level of calm and acceptance he's got going on there.]

Not...in depth. The most I got was "do you want an Eevee that doesn't even know Scratch".

[Mimas looks very indignant, crawling up to curl on Matt's shoulder, ears laying back at the mention of his previous trainer.]

He'll learn that soon enough.

[Honestly, Armin doesn't exactly know when Eevees learn scratch off the top of his head, but it always seems to be one of the first moves young pokemon learn.]

Well, is there something you'd like to know to start with?

[Armin can tell him plenty, probably with far too much detail for a newbie to absorb, but it is probably best to start with any questions Matt might already have.]

Ah, I was really wondering whether some of these "moves" are inborn or whether they all need to be learned, and whether there's any algorithmic dependability to which traits are passed on.

[Meet your new BFF, Armin.]

[it has begun]

It's both actually. Or rather--

[It's nerding time.]

Pokemon can learn moves from four sources, so to speak. Every kind of Pokemon has its own normal move set. That's the moves they'll normally learn as they level up. And those are the same for all Pokemon of a particular species. For example, for these two [a short nod at both of the Eevees.] will eventually learn moves like tackle and bite. Every Eevee does.

But in addition to that, there is also something called egg moves. When Pokemon of certain kinds are bred together, their offspring will sometimes learn special moves that they otherwise would not have known. They will know those moves right from when they hatch.

And if you'd like your Pokemon to know even more moves, you can also teach them new moves by using a TM or HM, or by using a move tutor. A move tutor teaches your Pokemon a different move by practising it with them, whereas a TM or HM are just small devices you use on your Pokemon to teach them a particular move. Though I'm not sure how exactly they work.

[Has Matt taken out a journal and literally taken notes?

Yes. Yes he has.]

Amazing. Can different species interbreed? Is there any sexual dimorphism? How many Pokemon are there? How does someone become a move tutor?

[If Matt wants, Armin can bring out his notebooks later and they can compare nerdery.]

Sort of. Each species of Pokemon belongs to a certain egg group. I believe there are fourteen or fifteen in total. Pokemon that belong to the same egg group can interbreed, even if they are not the same species, but Pokemon belonging to different egg groups cannot. It, uh, it can lead to some very strange combinations.

[Do not ask him about Hot Skitty On Wailord Action. Do not ask him about Hot Skitty On Wailord Action.]

Apart from maybe inheriting an egg move, the resulting offspring will always be one species or the other though. There isn't really any breed-mixes.

[Ah, what other questions had Matt asked...]

Oh, as for sexual dimorphism, it varies. In many Pokemon species, there is no difference at all between the males and the females. Eevee is one of those species. In some other cases, there are small differences.

[Armin shifts Phobos in his arms a bit so he can free up one hand, reaching down to select a pokeball from his belt. With a quick toss, he releases a chipper looking Vileplume.]

For example, this is my Vileplume Holly. [Holly gives Matt a little wave.] With Vileplumes, you can distinguish the males and females by the spots on their petals. Ah, Holly, could you--? [He gestures slightly, and Holly, apparently immediately understanding what he wants, leans forward a bit, showing her large petals at Matt. Like a bow.] Thank you. See, both males and females have white spots on their petals, but in females like Holly, those spots are fewer but bigger in size. In a male, they will be smaller but more numerous.

[Matt inclines his head a little at Holly in return, because he has manners. But he's mostly just grinning widely at Armin, pleased and excited to be learning, excited that someone else is so excited.]

Wow. You're really good at this stuff, huh?

[Oh look, a polite one. Holly likes him. She might invite him to tea at this rate.

Armin flushes a little at Matt's compliment, raising his hands as if he can ward it off.]

I'm still just learning too. I haven't been here that long.

[Matt would be the best at going to tea. He's got so many manners. Crazy amounts of manners.

And he just smiles, encouragingly.]

You're an excellent teacher, for someone who's still learning. That's a rare gift.

[Holly does love people with manners! You wouldn't believe the sort of riff-raff she and Blume have to put up with sometimes. Some people just forget themselves at times, bless their hearts.

Armin looks clearly embarrassed, reaching up to brush his hair behind one ear, mostly just to give his hands something to do.]

Oh, I don't know-- I mean, it's mostly just like class, right? And helping people study.

[Do you know how often he had to help Eren study? He's learned about how to explain stuff, though his weakness is always his tendency to want to explain too much at once. He just wants to help people know everything.]

It's a good thing. My younger sister is the same way -- she loves learning things and talking about them. Sometimes people are sort of...they're not very nice about it, are they?

[He will encourage all the baby nerds.]

[Not very nice about it is a very mild way of putting it. But that might just be because Armin remembers being beaten up on practically a weekly basis as a child all for the crime of wondering what else might be out there in the world.]

That's one way to put it.

[Armin's about to ask him about his little sister when he realises something.]

Oh, I'm sorry. I don't think I actually introduced myself, did I? I'm Armin. And I introduced you to Phobos and Holly already.

[He had introduced his pokemon, just not himself!]

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theotherholt - 2017-11-11 07:23 (UTC) - Expand

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schachmeister - 2017-11-13 01:18 (UTC) - Expand

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

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Time to have some nerds meet

HECK YEA

LET THEM BOND TOGETHER AND FORM SUPER-NERD

FORM NERDTRON

THE NERD COALITION NEEDS YOU

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