Hoshi did, indeed, take the day off.
After Casca left – she couldn’t exactly call in sick, not with the extended Night Folk business going on – he spent Wednesday mostly unconscious. But after stuffing himself with the last of the beach leftovers and taking a brief second shower, he managed to drag himself out the door and into the nearest public library.
Ah, thank Arcus for air conditioning, he thought as he crossed the threshold; while the heat was back to reasonable, it was still much hotter than it should have been a few days from October. Hoshi made his way to the dictionaries section, took a moment to think, and then began scanning for the O section.
Lickitung, he repeated to himself as he browsed the shelves. Now that I’ve slept on it, I remember. That's not quite the name I heard before, so I'm guessing…
Damn, is there really only one by the Professor? The copy of An In-Depth Guide to Indigo Wildlife by Samuel Oak sat alone, sandwiched between two copies of Observations on Bird Migrations by Bustard Otis.
I’d have expected more. He pulled it from the shelf and found the volume was worn, the pages dog-eared by the rough hands of some snot-nosed child – but when he brought it to the nearest table and opened the cover, the words were more than legible enough.
He flipped through, a note of triumph playing down his spine as the time-yellowed pages revealed the Pokémon he’d seen the night before. He hadn’t gotten the best look at it in the darkness, and the illustration lacked colour, but the shape and name were correct.
‘Lickitung, the Licking Pokémon.
Habitat: Freshwater Wetlands
Adult Height: 1.2 metres (standing upright)
Adult Weight: 65.5 kg
Average Lifespan: Unknown
Once abundant along the southeast of Kanto, this amphibious Pokémon has seen a sharp decline in numbers since its traditional habitat was largely drained during the end of the Shogunate to make way for farmland. Though this callous disregard for nature is tragic, there is a silver lining in that a Pokémon once considered a common pest has transformed into a symbol of Indigo’s conservation efforts.
Lickitung resides as one of the crowning jewels of Fuchsia City’s Safari Zone, and is likely to maintain that honour for the foreseeable future. As for its use to Pokémon trainers, though it lacks the bombastic attacking power so many favour the humble lickitung can be a splendid anchor and travelling partner. Their saliva has paralysing properties, and makes a fine glue and reasonably safe anesthetic when boiled down. Though their skin is very sensitive to humidity they are otherwise extremely durable, and with their long lifespan – no individual has yet to pass away in captivity at the time of this writing – and reasonable intelligence, one will find this species to be a stalwart companion.’
Hoshi skimmed the rest of the page, searching through dietary habits and other facts, but he didn’t find what he was looking for. The triumph petered out.
What? But I’m certain I’ve heard about…
In frustration he flipped back to the front of the book, and sighed when he saw the publication date. 1979? Damn, this is older than I thought… I should've guessed from the language; nobody uses 'anchor' like that these days. For a moment Hoshi sat unmoving – and then he abruptly stood, taking the book up to the front desk.
“Excuse me,” he signaled the librarian, an older, balding man who seemed to be trying to make up for it with a bright blue, exceedingly well-groomed mustache. “Do you know if you carry a more modern printing of this book?”
Hoshi handed the tattered thing over, and the moment the librarian caught sight of the title his eyes widened. “Oh, I’m afraid not. You see, we actually had the good fortune to have all of our works signed by the Professor when he went ‘round after the war… But after his passing that signature became a very hot collectors item, and, well…”
People stole them all, Hoshi finished in his head.
“This is a recent donation. You could order an updated volume through us, if you’d like? Just pay the printing cost and it's yours to keep.”
Hoshi considered it. “…Maybe. I’ll think about it.” That would take weeks to arrive by mail, and I don’t think I can convince Kenny to wait that long on just a random hunch…
But I do have another idea. A potentially stupid idea, but if I’m right…
The man nodded at his answer. “Alright then. We do have some Pokémon encyclopedias by other authors, if you’d like a recommendation?”
Hoshi glanced back to what was, by a very large margin, the largest section of the library. “Do you happen to know if any of them mention lickitung having an evolution?” There’s a reason I went for the best first; the second-stringers would take me days to get through.
The man’s brows – a slightly less vibrant shade of blue – came together. “Hmm… Let me check the reference documents…” He kneeled behind the desk, and after a moment’s rummaging produced a very dusty cardboard box – and then another, and then a third. “Oh dear, it has been a moment since I’ve organised these…”
Hoshi stifled a sigh. “I’ll wait, then.” As the nearly-bald man began sorting for the information he was looking for, he went back to the shelves and entertained himself with a few historical novels.
----------------------------------------
Hoshi returned home knowing two things:
One, lickitung did have an evolution, a Pokémon named lickilicky. That was what he’d remembered winning that random tournament.
Two, the exact method to trigger that evolution was unknown – or at least he couldn’t discern the real method from the dozens of half-baked speculations that he’d found.
It left a bittersweet blue-and-yellow taste on the back of his tongue; he’d been right, but he was also increasingly convinced he’d have to do something potentially dangerous to solve the mystery. I happen to know someone who is very knowledgeable about secret evolutions…
I wonder – will Dabi get mad if I talk to him for a legitimate, Rocket-related reason?
Plopping down on his bed, Hoshi’s thoughts continued to churn. There’s no way he’s a complete psycho; the instructors seem to trust him, and they’re only the weird kind of crazy. But he’d also specifically singled Hoshi out and tried to intimidate him, so it was possible the midget had a chip on his shoulder. Is that just because I yelled at him in the Pokémart that one time, or is he like that with anybody who could possibly connect him to his civilian life?
The empty apartment was silent as he lay still. But while he was still fatigued from last night’s – or more accurately that morning’s – misadventure, the afternoon sun streaming in was making it completely impossible to fall asleep. After a few minutes the buildup of back-and-forth thoughts became too much, and Hoshi decided to go back out.
Whatever, I’ll think about it some more and talk to Kenny before I do anything. If he actually wants to raise the thing, I’ll just pass him all that shit the books said and he can decide if it’s worth sticking his neck out. But speaking of raising Pokémon…
I didn’t actually get a Pokémon last night, and if I so much as look in Diglett Cave's direction so soon I’ll puke. I could probably bag a magnemite or something if I head back out east, or make some money battling, but…
As he tied his boots his thoughts drifted to the conversation he’d had with Nerine, and more specifically that moment when he’d realised he was slowly morphing into a more handsome version of the Ditto – a ball of sweat and anxiety whose first option was always to cuss out his underlings.
That… isn’t who I want to be. I might not be the biggest team player in the world, but… I should be able to at least be a respectable leader, right? That’s something I can handle. And that starts with… His face moved in an expression he was too preoccupied to name. With putting the other grunts on the same level I put myself. Or at least somewhere close.
And I’m pretty sure Nerine and Puce left empty-handed too – so let’s start with that.
There was also Ryan… But Hoshi could only push himself so far from one day to the next. He probably isn’t even in town, anyway.
----------------------------------------
“So – no accounting for rarity or price of any of that, what would you want for your team?”
Route 6 was, he now knew, a lot wilder than the other path out of the city – but even accounting for that, Hoshi found that going into its shallows with a group was a different beast than walking it alone a few days ago had been.
Some of it’s the water, I think. The land north of the city was wet, completely flooded from the long rainfall. It made things take twice as long, because while Hoshi’s steel toes were waterproof enough to keep his socks dry so long as the water didn’t go up past his ankles, Puce and Nerine had no such protection. Which meant they had to go the long way around the soggy terrain, which meant that Hoshi was seeing bits of the route that were extremely unfamiliar to both his eyes, and his feet. But there are the Pokémon, too.
Lot of psyduck and poliwag out on the water. Battles in the undergrowth and treetops, too. A piercing cry punctuated his statement, some bird warning off an intruder further into the wilderness. Might actually use both my balls today…
“Well, yesterday I was hoping to bag a drowzee…” Nerine answered, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“I’m asking, like, fantasy stuff. Literally any Pokémon, doesn’t have to be local, doesn’t have to make sense.”
The teen made a low whine as she thought, so Hoshi turned to the other woman. “What about you, Puce?”
In direct contrast to the rest of them, Puce seemed to have more energy than usual; despite the implied sedentary lifestyle her home life had revealed, she was taking the short hike without the slightest trouble. “Oh, I haven’t- I haven’t really thought about it? I think I’d be fine with any Pokémon, really…”
“Sure, but there has to be some you find cooler than others, right?”
She dipped her head, avoiding a low-hanging tree branch. “Hm… I’ve always thought hitmonchan were cute?”
Hoshi grunted approvingly. I mean, I wouldn’t use that specific word, but that’s a pretty cool Pokémon.
“What about you, Mister Mutsu?” she questioned back.
“Tyranitar,” he answered instantly. “Or a magnezone, those things are gnarly.”
Nerine snorted. “You think your junkyard guy’s gonna have a larvitar lying around?”
“Hey, I specifically said fantasy.” The group dodged around a catfight between two meowth, and Hoshi’s fingers twitched. Oh hey, those look kind of strong. Should I..? The two empty balls on his belt felt heavy, their gravity drawing his hand towards them without his conscious input – but he snapped out of it. Probably not the best idea; I already have a normal type, and something tells me those wild cats wouldn’t get along with her. Or Crow either, for that matter.
…And I should probably see what Danny has first. You know, do the thing I came here to do.
A thin, rueful smile touched his lips as he continued. “But if you want to know what I think is realistic… Maybe a growlithe, or a mankey.”
Nerine hummed. “Fighting type to counter rock and steel, right?”
“Right.”
They passed the powerplant at a slightly different angle than Hoshi was used to, the building pumping a dozen streams of pure white vapour into the air. No electabuzz today. You know, I wonder if Surge ended up giving them that scrawny ‘mon… I half-expected to see it during our challenges, but it didn’t show. Maybe it had been meant to fight one of the two girls he was hiking with.
“Still planning on challenging Surge, Nerine?” Hoshi questioned, breaking the silence that had formed.
“Yeah,” she replied, and he had to catch his breath before continuing. Ugh, still feeling the spelunking from yesterday… Damnit, how does Puce have so much energy?
“Why a drowzee, then?”
“Type advantage isn’t everything,” she said, and Hoshi shot her a raised brow. “No, really. I’m not gonna build my team around whoever I’m fighting next, that’s dumb.” She returned his expression, raising her own brow. “I’ve got a few picked out already. Hypno, venomoth, a dark type if I can find one…”
“Oh, we should ask about houndour,” Puce broke in. “I remember my best friend in elementary school had one, and it was the most adorable thing.”
“Strong evolution, too,” Hoshi added.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Nerine grunted, the sound turning to disgust as she stepped in a puddle. Poliwag darted away as she lifted her now scum-covered shoe. “Damn it. Hoshi, how much further do we have to go?”
“Not far,” he answered. “Like five more minutes. You should be able to smell it any second now…”
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“Ladies!” Danny greeted as they came through the gate, slurring the word horribly as was his custom. He sprung up from his lawn chair, the edges of his sunglasses sparkling. “I’ve been expecting you! Come right this way, I’ve prepared a selection for your browsing pleasure–”
“Real Pokémon only, Danny,” Hoshi flatly interjected.
The man paused with his arms open in a welcoming gesture, but a moment later they dropped to his sides as he slumped. “Whipped, kid. They’ve got you whipped.”
Nerine shook her head as her eyes trailed over the massive piles of garbage. “Hoshi, are you sure this guy’s legit? All I’m seeing are grimer and koffing, and they’re obviously wild.”
“He’s legit – most of the time. And he isn’t dumb enough to try and scam Team Rocket, right?” Hoshi sent an inquisitive look his friend’s way, and received a frown in return.
“Fuck me for tryin’ to make a little money, huh? Fine! But you just lost your best friend discount, Mister Rocket!”
He stomped off into the detritus, and Hoshi followed with a smile. Hah, like he’d ever give a discount in the first place. “Come on you two, he really does sell the occasional good Pokémon.”
The girls followed Hoshi who followed Danny, and a minute later they came to an obelisk of trash, the tower of hollowed-out car bodies and other discarded metal reaching for the sky in a precarious-looking jumble. Hoshi felt trepidation as he approached; the thing looked ready to topple if someone breathed a little too hard.
But the junkyard’s owner had no such fear. He walked up and grabbed a car door, opening it and gesturing them closer. “Ladies first,” he said with a near-toothless grin.
Puce and Nerine looked at each other, and the latter shrugged. “If this is a weird sex-trafficing kind of thing, I’ll have my ekans Poison Sting your balls.” Her piece said, the teen stepped forward.
Her words bounced off Danny’s smile. “Kinky. And nah, that shit gets you shanked in an alley by an angry pops!” He laughed, and Hoshi rolled his eyes before stepping forward as well.
“Classy,” he muttered, climbing through the wreck.
The other side was about what Hoshi had been expecting: a series of large welded-together cages, most of them occupied. The interior of the hollow pile was lit by a single hanging bulb, and he sent a disgusted look at the reminder of his muddy adventure.
“Okay!” Danny exclaimed, the word punctuated by a heavy slam as he closed the door behind himself. “You’re looking for battlers, yeah? Got a good selection here – feel free to poke around, these guys are trained enough to not bite.”
Nerine walked from one cage to the next, inspecting them with a dismissive eye, while Puce lingered at Hoshi's side. “Um… Could you make a recommendation?” the huge woman asked, finally returning to her normal subdued demeanour. “I don’t know most of these Pokémon…”
Hoshi pushed his irritation down. Respectable. Leader. “Well, let’s take a look.”
The selection was actually better than he’d been expecting. There were the common meowth, oddish, and mankey, but also a few rarer Pokémon – just near the door he could see abra and jigglypuff. Damn, this is way better than the last time he showed me around – I should’ve guessed from how much bigger the camouflage pile is. The psychic types, in particular, stood out. “Hey Danny,” he called. “How do you keep these guys in their cages? Can’t they teleport?”
“They can; the trick’s to make ‘em want to stay. Keep food inside, keep it warm and dark, they love that shit.” He rubbed his hands together. “Five hundred for the little ones, six for the big guys.”
Hoshi sniffed. “We could catch one for free twenty paces from here.”
“That’s the thing, kid – you won’t.” The scrap seller’s smile remained wide. “They’re too easy to spook. These ones are used to being around people ‘cause I’ve been feeding ‘em, but the properly wild ones‘ll just ‘port away when you so much as rustle the grass. Trust me, the cost’s worth the saved time.”
Hoshi nodded, and mentally placed the smaller abra – but not the big ones; paying a hundred pucks for a few weeks of growth was downright criminal – in the maybe pile. “Eh.” He turned to the next cage. “We’ll see; maybe if there’s nothing better.” Kadabra are strong, but they also take a long time to evolve; by the time these guys reach that point, I’m hoping to get high enough to just buy my way into some stronger Pokémon.
A good chunk of the afternoon passed as the three inspected the poacher's wares. Nerine finished first; she was by a wide margin the least impressed with the selection, passing up whole groups without a second glance.
“How much for the venonat?” she asked after making the rounds, wrinkling her nose at the huddle of fuzzy bugs.
“Five-”
“Right in the balls.”
“…Three-fifty, and not a cent less. I gotta go all the way to the east coast for those things; they don’t like the cold air coming off the bay at night.”
The girl’s nose continued to wrinkle as she parsed through the man’s words, but her eyes said she was considering it. “Three hundred even, and I’ll buy a couple speakers or something on the way out.”
“Deal!”
As the two shook hands, Hoshi went back to inspecting a herd of three slowpoke. They lounged around a kiddie pool full of shellder, but something told him there wouldn’t be any slowbro evolving any time soon. These guys, the mankey, and the ghost type are my top three picks.
The mankey would fill the biggest hole in his team, while slowpoke was just a solid ‘mon in general – the evolved forms even more so. And low maintenance. They barely eat.
The ghost was a wild card; Danny himself didn’t know what it was – it was just an oddly deep shadow on casual inspection – but statistically speaking it was most likely a gastly. And yeah, that was the most common ghost type around, but it was still an incredible find. The problem is that it might not be a gastly; I don’t know anything about rarer ghosts. I’d be flying completely blind.
In the end, he settled on the safe choice; he paid Danny a relatively cheap two hundred for a common mankey, and tossed one of his empty balls. The Pokémon actually jumped for it, eager to get out of its cage, and the ball gave a tepid half-wiggle before ringing out its capture tone.
“Cool,” he said as Danny sent another of his official Pokémon, a large muk, in to retrieve the ball from the squabbling gang of perpetually-angry monkeys. “That’s two of us done. You feeling any of these guys, Puce?”
The woman looked over from the other side of the secret enclosure. “Um,” she stuttered. “Not- not really? I was hoping for something really simple like Potato, but…”
“Get a meowth, then. It's a normal type so you only need to remember the one weakness, and it should be easy to raise.”
“Oh… you think that’s a good idea?”
Hoshi nodded. “If you’re looking for simple, normal types are about as good as you’ll get. Meowth aren’t bad in battle, either.”
“Hold up,” Nerine called out. She walked away from where she’d been idly watching a couple poliwag swim in another kiddie pool, her lips turning down. “Puce and me have a plan, and persian doesn’t fit.”
He blinked. “A plan?”
“I, um, I’m not very good at battling,” Puce said, also walking over. “So Miss Rose thinks I should only use defensive Pokémon. So that I can…”
“So that she can stick to a rote strategy no matter what she’s fighting,” Nerine finished.
“Yeah…”
Hoshi looked between the two of them. Huh. I mean, it’s not a bad plan, but it… seems kind of… His brain fished for a way to word it inoffensively, before giving up. It seems like the kind of thing you’d only do if you’re an idiot who can’t remember the type chart. He didn’t say it aloud – but his expression must have changed, because Nerine scowled and crossed her arms.
“Whatever you think, Puce thinks it’s a good idea.”
“Hey, I didn’t say a word. But if the meowth are off the table…” He gestured with his chin. “Slowpoke’re right over there.” Remember: respectable. “Not that you need to buy something now,” he amended. “But this is the best selection we’ll be able to get without travelling out to a different city – or buying from the official League exchange.”
Danny snorted from where he was leaning against the wall, smoking his shitty homemade oddish-leaf smokes. “Sure, and pay out the ass.”
Exactly. Taxes on taxes on taxes. He eyed the woman as Puce fidgeted with the sleeves of her blouse, but then her expression firmed. “You’re right – if I want to keep up with the rest of you I need a second Pokémon.” She turned to Danny. “How much for your strongest slowpoke?”
Oof, this girl obviously doesn’t know how to haggle…
----------------------------------------
They left, various levels of pleased with their new team members – and with her two packs of quasi-illicit drugs, in Nerine’s case.
Not the worst way to spend a sick day, Hoshi thought to himself. Though I’m not looking forward to training this thing up. He’d heard a few horror stories about mankey and their evolution, but they were common enough he was optimistic. Can’t be too hard, or nobody’d use them.
They walked in silence most of the way, but as they came up on the city’s outskirts Hoshi remembered himself. “Hey Puce, Nerine,” he said. “I never said good job for the Gym thing, so… Good job.” Oh, fantastic. That didn’t sound sarcastic at all.
Puce immediately got a smile on her face, but Nerine narrowed her eyes.
“Thank You, Mister Mutsu! I’ll tell Potato you said that!”
“…Yeah.” The girl was silent for the rest of the walk into town, but when they neared her apartment she spoke again. “Hey Hoshi, can you stick around for a sec? I wanna talk to you.”
Hoshi blinked, and forced his face to remain even despite the suspicion attempting to form. “Sure. Puce, you fine to walk home yourself?”
“Of course – oh but actually, I won’t be alone at all!” She drew the second Pokéball from her belt – causing Hoshi to nod at her form; she’d improved substantially from the clumsy movements she’d started with – and released her new slowpoke. “Go, um…” The red light coalesced into a pink-furred mammal, its large but small-pupiled eyes and wide mouth giving the impression of a perpetual dopey grin.
“Um, uh… Bear?” she finished, looking at her companions for support.
Kind of boring, Hoshi thought, but he gave a thumbs-up anyway. Doesn’t even look that much like a bear… But whatever. I could think of a thousand worse names.
“Right, Bear! Do you want to walk home with me?” The large woman kneeled, causing her Pokémon to look up.
“Ohhh..?” it sighed… and continued to sigh, drawing the sound out further than even its admittedly large body should have found comfortable.
“Sounds good!” Puce chirped. “My house is this way!” She took a few steps, then waited for the slowpoke to follow – which it did, at a pace befitting its name. Hoshi shook his head in exasperation.
You know, I can’t help but feel they’re made for each other, somehow…
“Yo,” Nerine barked, drawing his attention back. She gestured with her chin, and the two made their way to her apartment without any further words.
----------------------------------------
Man, this place is kind of depressing…
The girl’s living space wasn’t dirty, exactly, but it was obvious she wasn’t really putting any effort in. No furniture beyond the bare essentials, no decorations, nothing.
“You wanted to talk?” Hoshi opened as the door closed.
Nerine turned. “Yeah.” She crossed her arms and gave him another stare, her eyes narrowed and searching in a way that made his spine curl.
“What?” he asked, straining to keep the red thread of anger winding through his head from bleeding into his voice. “I got something on my face?”
“That,” she answered. “What’s with that… fake cheer shit you’ve been doing today?”
His nostrils flared. “Hey it’s not- I’m not faking it, okay?” I suppose it’s good she noticed; that means I’m not just putting in the effort for nothing. But what’s with the attitude?
The searching expression failed to fade, and Hoshi's teeth clenched. What? Is cheer a bad thing, now?
“I’m just trying to be less of an ass, okay? What, do you like it when I jump off the fucking handle?” He stepped forward, and immediately the girl took a step back. “Huh? What’s this about?”
Then he stepped backwards, the pulse of rage countered by the image in his head: him, fat and unhealthy and going nowhere as the years went by, oblivious as his subordinates all called him the Mankey when his back was turned.
Nerine’s expression finally broke, her nose wrinkling as her head lowered a fraction of a degree. “It’s just… I can tell you’re putting it on, you know? Puce can’t, but she’s…” For a moment she chewed her tongue. “…As clumsy emotionally as she is physically. I think if you tried this with Kenny or Ryan – or your girlfriend – you’d get some funny looks.”
Hoshi took a moment to breathe, moving his eyes from the teenaged girl to different objects around the cramped apartment, trying to convince his brain to move out of fight-or-fight-more mode. “…Are you saying you prefer how I’ve been these last few weeks? A total hardass?”
She chewed on her tongue some more, and Hoshi’s eye was drawn to the slight discolouration of sleep powder under her eyes. “I’m not saying I like it,” she eventually answered. “But this is weirding me out. Does that make sense?”
“…I guess?” he said, exasperated. “I just…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to be the guy I’ve been, lately. That’s fine when I’m just… some guy, one of the assholes getting drunk after work. But this is more important than that, I’m finally doing something.” Another breath, the red waning and waxing in the corners of his vision. Go away. Just fucking go away, this isn’t useful. I’m talking to a fucking kid, I shouldn’t even be thinking of a fight. “Senior Grunt – that means something. It’s something that needs respect, from me before anyone else.” Even if I’m a criminal, I’ll fucking die before I lose my self-respect – that’s what separates a man from an animal.
Nerine’s eyes were narrowed again, though the texture of the expression, the little micro-details Hoshi was too emotional to parse out properly, were different.
“Ugh, I’m shit at this,” she said. “This emotional shit. I appreciate the effort, but it’s… Like, you’re still stressing me out, even if it isn’t on purpose. Go say what you just did to Casca.” She gestured with her shoulders, and some of the awkwardness bled away. “This went in a weird direction, but… thanks for today, I should say. I’ve gotta… sleep. Try and get my shit together before I try and go at Surge.”
Then the awkwardness returned with twice the force as they stared at each other for a moment. “…Yeah, okay,” Hoshi eventually said. “I’ll see you when I see you – good luck with the new Pokémon.”
He began to turn, and she gave a half-hearted wave. “Same to you.”
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Hoshi returned home for the second time that day – third, actually – to find his girlfriend wrapped up in blankets like an oversized metapod.
“Casca?” he said, pitching his voice gently; if she was actually asleep, he didn’t want to wake her.
A bleary noise came from inside the fawx-cocoon, followed by something a little more coherent. “Hoshiii,” she whined. “Safeguard suuucks.”
He couldn’t help a small snort escaping at her tone. “Safeguard?”
“For the powders,” she elaborated, sticking her head outside. Oh, wow, if she feels as shitty as she looks that really does suck. “With so many all over the place, medicine wouldn’t be enough… Uuugh I wanna sleep so bad but it won’t let me!”
Hoshi sat on the bed, placing a comforting hand on his girl’s covered body. “You need to go to the hospital?”
“No,” she replied, the word quicker and clearer than the others she’d said. “I’m not sick, it’s, what’s the word… psychosomatic?”
“I don’t think that’s quite now that word is meant to be used, but I get what you mean.” The poisons are there, but they can’t actually hurt her. Just make her uncomfortable. “What happened? No, before that, have you eaten?”
She grumbled. “I could eat.”
Hoshi nodded, and made his way to the kitchen area. “Soup?”
“Soup,” she echoed, and he got to work. Half a minute passed, and as he was putting the water on the stove another long groan sounded out.
“We didn’t even loooose…” Casca crooned. “Why does that make it feel worse?”
“Tell me about it.”
“Uuuh… I got to the academy pretty late, and my bitch of a team leader chewed me out…”