A Common[s] Occurrence [Tanya]

[Crispin Yates]

Luckily it didn’t take very long at all for the duo to get their teams back to tip-top shape. It seemed like Tanya was still having a hard time understanding most of what Crispin was saying, but all he could hope was if they spent more time together it would work itself out. He was still mildly miffed at the fact others around him always had a problem with how he spoke. It wasn’t as though they blamed them, but it also wasn’t as though he could particularly help how he spoke either. To him they were the ones that were hard to understand at times. He just always spoke the way his mom did, since she was really the only person that was constantly around growing up. Other people would change, places would be different, words would be inconsistent. It would make sense for his words to match the one consistency in his life.

But that was another story for another day. For now, Crispin sat in the Common Area with his new acquaintance and a Galvantula hat. The evolved Pokemon still loathed his Pokeball, but continued to try and nest in his trainers hair despite his larger size. Even with growing about half as big as most Galvantulas ended up, Jove still made quite the obnoxious fashion accessory. Crispin just didn’t have the heart to scold the now not-so-tiny bug for what he had done for most of his life. The bug didn’t know he shouldn’t any more!

Sitting in the corner of one of the couches with his ankle crossed on top of his knee, he raised his cup of mocha in a sort of toast to the girl who more or less dragged him to the infirmary before they finally settled here to talk. “So, tell me more aboyt our classmates dat oi'av yet ter meet. It wud be nice ter nu wat oi’ll be gettin' meself into.” He spoke slowly as he had been, hoping to make it easier for his new companion to be able to understand what he was saying. Sure, it felt silly to him, but if it made it easier for them to converse without her guessing what he was saying then it didn’t bother him.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya loved the Galvantula hat. There was something so token about it that just made Tanya giggle when she first saw it happen. Tanya looked up in her pokedex how tiny Joltik were in comparison to Galvantula. She occasionally looked up at it amusedly, helping lighten the mood in the Commons. She was pretty sure people had the occasional odd look at them, but Tanya didn't really care.

"Well, there are a wide variety of people. I could try listing them all, but that could take some time." Tanya explained, tapping her chin as she tried to come up with relevant people to talk about. "I've only met one other Nature Dorm person. Her name's Seria. She's a bit of an airhead, but she's an absolutely lovely person who is fascinated with Legendary pokemon. Talk to her about them and she'd basically become how I normally am." Tanya smiled cheerily at the end of the sentence, thinking for a moment about Seria. She wondered what she was up to at the moment. Then again, she probably should focus on Crispen at the moment. Tanya then decided to start talking again, thinking about the people she was friends with.

"Then there's this pair of friends I know. One's a guy from Bolt Dorm and the other is a girl from Mana Dorm. They're pretty intense gamers and it might be hard to make friends with them unless you play video games. Heck, the only reason I became friends with them was because I had a game console back at home." She paused for a moment, letting Crispen actually take in the information before she continued talking again.

" Then there's Astrid from Bolt Dorm, she's a pretty awesome chick who has a thing for robots and the like. Then there's my roommate, Annie. She's an ice queen through and through and she's pretty harsh towards people she's just met. I know another side of her, but that's a secret." Tanya winked at the end when she mentioned Annie, having a more personal connection to her than most people in the academy. When she thought about what she was telling Crispen, she had to admit they sounded really odd. She didn't even talk about herself, but she knew some people would have choice opinions on her.

"And that's only the tip of the iceberg. A lot of them can be eccentric, I'm no exception, but we're good people in the end."

[Crispin Yates]

Crispin listened intently as the other girl rattled off information about her friends.  There was a lot to take in, so he wasn't sure how much he would remember, but he did learn there was quite a variety of personalities to meet in his school.  When she seemed to be finished he just shook his head and smiled, taking a sip of his mocha.  "It sounds loike you've got quite de cru built up.  Ah've never really been wan for video games, but maybe oi can figure somethin' else oyt."

He tilted his head though, thinking for a moment.  Annie?  Bolt dorm?  Finally he nodded, blinking over to Tanya, "Wait, though... oi tink ah've met Astrid.  Twice, actually─once briefly in a cafe an' once again in a battle.  We didn't really blather much yet, though."  So, at the very least this brought his total acquaintance count to two.  Not terrible, but he wouldn't mind knowing more.  Jove hummed quietly from his perch, watching Tanya carefully.  The bug was usually pretty shy, another reason he was so fond with hiding in his trainer's hair, but he didn't seem frightened of Tanya.  It was probably because he could tell she didn't seem to want to run screaming from him.

Chuckling a bit at her last statement he shrugged a bit.  His eyebrow raised in obvious teasing as he responded, "'Ey, nathin' wrong wi' dat.  Bein' a wee eccentric is a gran' tin'!  Wat aboyt yer, though? anythin' oi shud nu aboyt before we're friends?"  He hadn't exactly said much about himself, either, but in his defense he didn't necessarily feel like he had all that many exciting things to say.  Of course, others may have opposing opinions, but hey.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya chuckled when Crispen talked about the crew she had amassed for herself. Thinking about it, she knew a lot of people from the academy. She couldn't help but throw herself into social situations, more often than not leading to the formation of friendships or acquaintances at the very least. Thinking about her experiences in that light, she grinned happily to herself at her ability to talk to other people.

Hearing that Crispen had met Astrid, Tanya's eyes lit up as she started talking about her. "You've met Astrid? That's pretty cool. You probably should try to find the chance to talk to her more. She's pretty awesome. In fact, I had my first ever pokemon fight here with her, which I promptly lost." Tanya could appreciate how good a battler Astrid was. Seeing her progress just made her want to get better, even when she reached bumps on the road that caused her to doubt herself. Even though she thought of that memory, Tanya didn't want to remember that one on one they had against each other. It was honestly better to purge it.

Tanya laughed at Crispen's teasing before putting a finger to her head and making an over-exaggerated thinking face. While she did exaggerate, she was still trying to think if there was anything to say about her. "Well, apart from the fact that I'm totally awesome, not really." Tanya joked, sticking out her tongue playfully before giggling at her own attempt at humor. "No but seriously, what do you wanna find out about me. I'm pretty open about stuff, so fire away."

[Crispin Yates]

Crispin nodded, shrugging slightly.  "You're roi, oi shud.  She seemed interestin' from wat oi saw, oi don't nu much aboyt de ins an' outs av music but she wus able ter go into aff inter crezy detail aboyt it."  When it came to things he didn't know much about, he was vastly interested.  The more knowledge the better, in his book.  Sure no one could know everything, but he'd like to know a lot.  He made a mental note to try and get to know the girl from before better as well.  Tanya was right, she did seem interesting.

While he didn't know much of anyone here, he appreciated the silly banter with Tanya.  He laughed as she spoke, "Well, that's a given.  Though, 'mmm,"  Crispin paused for a moment, scratching the back of his neck as he thought,  "Oi'm not sure, whatever yer willin' ter blather aboyt oi suppose?  Family, pokemon, wat clapsses yer loike best so far.  De seem goes for yer by de way, Ah've got nathin' ter 'ide."  It was painfully true.  The wanderer had been an open book most of his life.  In his eyes if someone had something to hide then they may not be very trustworthy, and he tried to be as trustworthy as they come.  

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya felt comfortable around Crispen. The tone of the conversation was light-hearted and that was something that Tanya could get behind. It was like they were on a similar wavelength, with Crispen responded in a positive way towards Tanya's teasing. Stretching in her seat and wiggling herself to get a bit more comfortable in her seat, Tanya looked over towards Crispen as he began thinking about what to say.

"Well, I guess I could start with my pokemon." Tanya thought out loud, looking to find two pokeballs. Looking happy when she found her pokeballs, Tanya took them out and released her pokemon. From her pokeballs came Dani and Daneil, her Dragalge and Lopunny respectively. Dani glowered at Crispen, moving towards Tanya and standing somewhat in between the two of them. On the other hand, Daniel bowed neatly, looking at Crispen and smiling before flourishing his ears and looking towards Tanya.

"These are the pokemon I started off with here. Dani and Daniel." Tanya introduced, gesturing towards the Dragalge then to the Lopunny. Noticing how her Dragalge was acting, she gave a sheepish look towards Crispen and made an effort to reassure him. "Don't mind Dani, she's just protective of me."

Dani continued to look menacingly at Crispen while Daniel, looking bored, started to brush his ears with his own hands. Looking at her pokemon, Tanya smiled before she looked back at Crispen. "Who are your starters?"

[Crispin Yates]

Despite the Dragalge's attitude towards him, Crispin tried to smile softly at her.  "Don't worry, oi want try anythin' funny.  If oi did, Jo 'ere wud never let me git over it."  Still, he didn't want to do anything to upset the protective Pokemon, so he didn't make any movements towards it.  To the Lopunny he smiled as well, nodding his head in greeting.  "'Tis nice ter meet both av yer, me names Crispin an' dis bugger is Jove."  The Galvantula chirped a light greeting before partially covering his face with his feelers, Crispin's hair apparently not doing an adequate job of hiding him. 

"As for me, Jo 'ere is wan av me starters, an' de other is Cecillia."  As he said his name, he took her Pokeball and released the Snubbull.  She blinked around for a moment before turning to crawl up onto the couch and huffing loudly as she settled in.  She eyed the larger Pokemon warily before tilting her head up at Crispin.  "She can be a contrairy wan sometimes, but she's a sweetheart.  Oi 'ad an Abra back outside av 'ere too, but 'course they wouldn't let me brin' 'er 'ere wi' me.  Pity, she wus part av de reasin oi enrolled 'ere." 

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya waved hi to Crispen's starting pokemon, smiling and giggling at how the pokemon were reacting. There was something endearing about the Galvantula and the Snubull. Dani, who didn't seem to sense any animonsity from Cripsen, moved away from the two and looked around the area, making sure that nothing was out of the ordinary. Daniel on the other hand waved hello to the Snubull, trying to soothe her nerves.

"You had your own pokemon outside of here? That's awesome!" Tanya exclaimed, grinning widely at the revelation. "My parents wouldn't let any of us get pokemon until we were "ready". We still had battles and contest competitions, heck, that was our life growing up, but we used my parents' pokemon. I guess being the best at battling in my house spurred me on to study here."

She opened her eyes wide subtly, surprising herself with talking about her motivations casually. While she was used to being open with her life, she had only recently met Crispen. He just seemed to be a really laid-back person, allowing her to feel comfortable with not thinking about what she said too much.

"Since I talked about why I'm here, I might as well ask why you came here as well." Tanya asked, crossing her arms and winking at Crispen.

[Crispin Yates]

The Snubbull blinked at the larger Lopbunny before grinning widely.  Her overbite made it look a bit more like a snarl than a grin, but it got it's intentions across.  Crispin smiled as Tanya went on about her life outside of here vaguely, and her awe at him having an Abra.  He shrugged it off though and nodded as she asked him to return the knowledge in kind.

"That's fair.  Well, me mom 'ad managed ter make a livin' wi' 'er trainin' an' oi almost 'oped ter do de seem.  She's de wan who caught me me Abra, but oi realized quickly oi didn't quite 'av de know-how ter train 'er as well as oi wud 'av liked.  Oi guess dat wus de main resson we decided ter git me 'ere."  Now that he thought of it, he felt it was a kind of silly reason.  Was it really just because he was having difficulty training one Abra?  His brow furrowed for a moment before he shook the thoughts out of his head.  He wanted to be a better trainer, that was all.  Surely.  

[Tanya Christianson]

"I guess everyone has different reasons for coming here, huh?" Tanya asked rhetorically, looking deep in thought for a second. While at times she thought her reasoning for coming to the academy was selfish, Tanya reasoned with herself that others probably had similar reasons for coming here. Hearing that Crispen had a pretty selfless reason for coming, a wash of concern washed over her for a moment, before quickly catching herself. She put on a smile for Crispen, not wanting him to know what was up.

"I guess the next logical question to ask is why did you choose the Nature Dorm?" Tanya suddenly asked, shifting the subject away from the topic they were on at the moment. Her words came out quick and forceful, and she took a moment to stop, probably realizing how she was talking to Crispen. "If you wanna know why I joined Wave Dorm, it's cause coming from Hoenn, though I didn't live on the beach, the tropical climates are where I feel most comfortable. Wave Dorm is close to the beach and has a great ascetic that made me feel comfortable, so I found it natural to join."

Tanya looked over towards her two pokemon. Dani was still keeping guard, and while Tanya didn't think she was in any danger, she didn't want to say anything to her pokemon to discourage her. Meanwhile, Daniel was trying to entertain the Snubull by dancing, obviously having fun while doing so. Seeing her Lopunny, Tanya giggled quietly, smiling cheerfully.

[Crispin Yates]

Crispin struggled to push his nagging thoughts of what the other reasons for him coming to the Academy may be and focused on the conversation at hand.  He nodded at her statement, but was obviously relieved at the change of subject.  There would be time for him to have an existential crisis later, on his own.

Thinking about it for a moment he tilted his head, his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth.  "Oi guess 'tis cos oi'm so used ter de outdoors.  Me mom an' oi spent lots av time campin' outside if we were too far oyt between towns while we traveled, so wooded areas became closer ter a 'ome than any.  May as well go al' de way an' live on an actual tree, wat de 'ell!"  He shrugged and laughed aloud as he finished, grinning.  One would think talking about basically living outdoors would be a sad thing, but not for Crispin.  It wasn't as though they were poor, after all.  

Cecillia watched the Lopunny and continued to grin her wide snarl-grin, standing up on the couch and trying to mimic him in return.  Crispin couldn't help but chuckle at the two, glad to see his Snubbull acting so silly.  She could be a brat sometimes, but she was his brat.