"Huh? No, I don't even know who that is," Abby said, sounding a bit like she was feeling threatened. Hearing this from both of them got both Keiko's and my attention. "Wait, what's going on?"
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 5:43 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
Leon was a bit confused by Abby's answer. "Ulla introduced them to you. The legally blonde dude over there is Terashi. While the hybrid here is Keiko." He said a bit irritated as he turned to face Ter. "Nothing really much. Absinthe just avoiding eye contact with Keiko is making me uneasy a bit. Making me feel like there is something going on between them."
"I KNOW him! I've met him before!" Abby tried to explain, though her anxiety by being pointed out like this wasn't making it easier for her.
"I think I know what's going on," I sighed, realizing that Abby hadn't seen Keiko as a hybrid before. After a bit of convincing, I managed to get Abby to follow me to the kitchen, leaving Leon and Keiko behind. I figured it would be easier for her if she didn't have some random dude calling her out in the middle of a crowd like that, though I'm exaggerating a bit.
"Don't be too mad at her," Keiko said to Leon with a bit of a sad face. "I was human last time she saw me."
Heavy stuff. SFW-ish, tho
Once Abby had calmed down a bit, I began explaining the situation. "Do you remember the brunette I was with when I met you a couple of years ago?"
"Yeah, what happened to her?" Abby asked. "I've been meaning to ask you what you're doing with that slutbunny-"
The door to the kitchen would suddenly slam. Loudly. The curiosity of it would be that nobody seemed to be around the door when it slammed like that.
"Don't call her that. Ever." I said sternly. Between the door slam and my words, Abby was effectively shocked into silence. "Keiko didn't choose to become a hybrid. It was forced on her."
Her shock didn't last long. "Whoawhoawhoawhoa. Whoa. So the bunny girl in there is the same girl as before?"
"Woman, but yeah. She's a couple of years older than me, in fact," I explained.
"Bull," Abby blurted. "The bunny out there, maybe. But the brunette from two years ago? Really?"
"Same person. And yes," I retorted.
"Dang. So... what's this crap about her being forced?"
"That's a bit of a story," I warned her. "Team Snagem's primary enemy is a group called Team Cipher. They're not all complete psychopaths, but the majority are, including their leader, Ein, who managed to not only obtain a Mewtwo, but infect it with the Shadow Virus - I'll explain that later if need be. To combat this, a former Cipher named Lovrina decided to build a hybrid army to combat what Ein called XD002 - his Shadow Mewtwo. To do this, she kidnapped Keiko somehow and used some kind of machine to not only hybridize her, but change her body to be used as breeding stock."
"Wait, what stock!?" Abby shouted in awe - loud enough for everyone in the lobby to hear her despite the closed door.
"You mean some chick took your girl and was gonna have a bunch of dudes-" Abby tried to say.
"Yes," I interrupted her.
Absinthe exhaled loudly at that. "Okay, gimme a sec. I gotta stab something real quick."
"Believe me, I know the feeling. I very nearly took Lovrina's life when I got to her. Thankfully, I managed to rescue Keiko before Lovrina's goons got a hold of her, but I wasn't in time to stop the hybridization process."
"What stopped you?" Abby asked, very clearly agitated.
"The knowledge that Keiko needed me more than I needed to blow off steam," I answered honestly, omitting the fact that Rala made me realize that instead of coming to the realization myself.
"Fair enough..." Abby replied, clearly forcing herself to calm down. "Okay, I've got some apologizing to do."
"What made you nervous about Keiko to begin with?" I asked. I knew she needed to be told what happened to Keiko, but I wasn't sure what started it.
"Her..." Abby started to say, a tinge of embarassment slamming her mouth shut. "It's, ah... she's a bit bigger in places than I remember? I mean, I'm not into chicks, but..."
"Not used to seeing large women?" I asked out of assumption.
"...kinda? Never seen a woman THAT large..."
I shrugged at this. "I'd say you're a bit young to have your preference set in stone, but I don't really have any room to talk in that subject," I admitted, having decided that I like females long before I was old enough to do anything about it, though I didn't show that side of me as often as some.
Abby opened the doors to find Leon and Keiko standing together. She started to mutter out an apology, but looking at Keiko reminded her of everything I told her about how she became a hybrid, and she wound up just giving Keiko a hug. Keiko was a bit surprised by this, but was usually happy to give someone a hug herself, if she felt like the person needed it.
"Sorry," Abby said quietly, though Keiko had no problem hearing her.
"It's okay. Sorry that you didn't recognize me. I've changed a bit since we last met," Keiko explained.
I smirked at the two, then turned to Leon. "That should take care of that problem," I told him.
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 7:18 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
"I'm not mad." He said to Keiko as he watched Ter bring Abby towards the kitchen. As they needed to talk about some serious stuff. "It's the fact that she couldn't speak her mind. When I was her age I said what was on my mind." His mind then went back at all those times. "Then again. That did land me in some serious trouble with my mom." He was then startled when he heard a very loud door slam. "....I remember that sound all too well." He sighed as he looked back at Keiko. He then became awkward himself, as he's never had a conversation between just himself and Keiko. Usually there was Ulla or Ter with them.
He then cleared his throat as his Zubat was now munching on more than one piece of Pokefood. "So uhm....I know I joke about this a ton. But, what's yours and Ter's relationship like with Ulla?" He asked as he was scratching his cheek. Leon was genuinely curious.
Right when Abby and Ter came back from talking in the kitchen, he sighed of relief. "Thank goodness. That was really tiring." He said as he put his hands behind his head as he started to relax.
"Just friends? I think,"[/] Keiko said a bit worriedly, put on the spot by Leon. "Terashi doesn't spend much time with her, just offers to help whenever she needs it and the like. I felt bad for her when I heard her parents and grandparents died and wanted to be there for her, but she has you so she doesn't really need me. So really, we're just friends with her." she explained, making sure not to mention that she'd thought about adopting Ulla multiple times as she felt that would make both Leon and myself awkward, as she hadn't shared those ideas with me, yet.
I gave Leon an odd look after Abby had been set straight. All you did was ask her a couple of questions. How was that tiring?" I asked him.
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 8:18 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
"I proclaimed that there was an issue at hand. I got your's and Keiko's attention by doing so. I spoke what was on my mind which led to you having to talk to Abby. It must have been quite the topic if you were to slam the door like that. I'd like to think it was something about some troubling matters. Something about Keiko, usually nothing really gets you upset. Unless it's about Keiko or yourself." Zubat finished the PokeFood as he gave the empty can to Leon. "Some stuff from our past we wish we didn't have to speak about. I'm sure it was something of that matter. Regardless. It was settled." He said to Ter as he looked back at Abby and Keiko.
"You know, for your age Abby. You're pretty innocent aren't you? About the whole coming of age where women start growing up. Has that hit you yet?" Not realizing he said too much personal stuff, usually Ulla would be the one hitting him. But this time it was Zubat as he bit his finger. "Ow ow ow!"
"You seem to know a lot about me for someone who has only joined the team recently," I spoke up, admittedly getting a touch irritated with Leon's accusations. "Besides, you haven't seen me fight a war, yet."
When Zubat bit Leon, I would have hit him, as well. I took more than a small amount of willpower to rein myself in. I half-expected Abby to explode, but she kept her rage in check, too, probably because she didn't want to mention what almost happened to Keiko in front of her. "I highly doubt that's any of your business," I told Leon, perhaps a small bit louder than I intended. Nevertheless, Abby did end up speaking for herself, as well. "You wouldn't be saying that if you knew what I just learned. Hell, if you knew a tenth of what I went through before I found my dad, you wouldn't even be looking at me like that, okay? I've seen some ~/~!"
I wasn't quite expecting to hear what I just heard, and Abby shouting that last bit didn't help matters much. I was half tempted to try to talk Abby into calming down, but Leon brought this on himself, in all fairness.
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:51 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
"I don't mean to poke at nerves. But, when you battle a person or with a person. You start to know their story." He said to Ter as he pulled Zubat off of his finger and returned him into his Pokeball. "Even though it was our first mission together at the Citadel, I learned a lot about you in that short amount of time. I learned the way you fight. I learned the way you hold your ground. I also learned what you hold dear. And that means a lot to me believe it or not. I may have not seen you fight a war. But I saw you fight there, and I trusted you with my life as you trusted mine." He said in all seriousness as he sat up with his arms resting on his knees. He then turned his attention to Abby. "Oh? Is it time to do a little sharing now is it?' He said as he cracked his knuckles one by one and his neck.
"With all do respect Abby. I didn't mean to upset you. I just talk without realizing that it might offend others. It's like I don't know the term of 'thinking it to myself'. But, if you do wanna share what kind of things you've been through go ahead. If you do, I'll be fair and share my story."
Fair enough, I supposed, though I didn't say it out loud. All eyes were on Abby at this point, but instead of falling back into nervousness, she seemed to get angrier. Eventually, she huffed and stormed off. "Who gives a crap about YOUR story?"
"And there it is," I sighed, expecting that behavior from the start. "Took her long enough."
"She could have gone a bit longer before reaching that point," Keiko corrected me. "She was actually kind of nice before.
"If you're wondering why we expected this, Leon, we know who her father is, and what he's done," I explained.
"It doesn't help that she's a teenager," Keiko added. "The teenage years can be a very difficult time for a girl." I nodded at this, but didn't say anything else.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 4:45 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
Leon kept a blank face as Abby stormed off. As she was out of sight, Leon bursted out laughing. "She's an interesting girl. I thought there was something interesting about her." He said as he looked over to Ter and Keiko. "It must have been interesting to meet her for the first time." He said as he could only think about when Ulla comes to that age. He was really missing Ulla a lot already.
"She was a lot less polite last time we saw her," I warned Leon. "Which had us wondering that something was up with her. In all honestly, that little explosion could have been a lot more violent due to several factors."
"The adolescent years are a tough time for a girl," Keiko added. "On top of that, she's in a new place pretty much by herself, so it's going to take some time for her to get used to everything."
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:40 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
"I guess she's growing on us then." He said as he looked at Keiko. "Parental issues I'm guessing? Well, whatever she went through in the past. I'm glad she is able to get going." He said as he felt one of his Pokeballs shaking. He searched his pockets as his Roselia with a concerned face. "...What?" Roselia walked over to Leon as she placed her arm on his head and pretended to ruffle his hair. At the moment, he knew what she wanted. He sighed as he placed Roselia on his lap. "This is awkward to ask coming from a family member of hers that is a legal guardian....but. How would you feel about being Ulla's parents?" He asked Ter and Keiko. He knew this was a very awkward time but, he needed to know if anything were to happen to him.
Leon's question took me completely off-guard. Keiko as well, but she recovered a lot more quickly than I did. "You're really okay with that?" she asked, which had me even more exacerbated.
"Okay, hold on," I said, needing to clear my mind in order for me to understand what was doing on. 'How long have you been thinking about this? Both of you?" It's clear from the way you talk about it that this isn't a spur of the moment decision on both your parts - and rightfully so, don't get me wrong - but... why? And Keiko, if you WERE thinking about this before now, why didn't you say anything about it?"
"I was worried you wouldn't want to," she admitted. "We're only boyfriend and girlfriend so far, and we did just get back together after... y'know. I thought that you might think it was too soon, or that you weren't ready for that serious of a commitment, or... I don't know..."
I sat there speechless for a moment, then sighed. "Honey, if we're old enough to have our own, we're old enough to adopt. And beside that, what we are is in love, and I don't really see how it needs to be any more complicated than that."
Keiko couldn't help but hug me when she heard me say that. She whispered 'I love you' into my year while she was hugging me, and I kissed her on the cheek, showing that I loved her, too. I wasn't quite ready to say it yet since we weren't alone, but I meant it.
"So, what's your reason?" I asked Leon. "I get that there are things that a little girl needs and a big brother can only provide so much, but you haven't known us for very long. I'm not accusing you of anything, I just want to understand your reasoning for coming to this conclusion." I explained, understanding that my demand for an explanation could come off as a bit harsh, especially since I may have slightly raised my voice due to being confused by what was suddenly brought up out of nowhere as far as I was concerned.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:47 pm
||Ulla and Leon||
"I've only come to terms with it after Ulla and I came back from Alola." He said as he started ruffling his own hair as this was really hard for himself. "Back there, I watched Ulla look at other families that were all together. I tried my best, but I know there's still some void some wants to fill. She's happy she saw some memories of her real parents. The work we do, this isn't normal for a 10 year old girl. I want her to have something that's a bit normal." He said sincerely as he could only hope he was doing the right thing.
When Keiko and Ter had their little moment, Leon faced the other way as he felt a little uncomfortable. He then heard Ter ask him about his reasons. "You're right. I haven't known you two for very long. In fact. I barely know you guys. But, like I've said before. When you battle with someone or against someone. You get to know them. So I can trust you to watch my kid sister.....Ter. One of these days, I'm gonna face Ein. And I hope Ulla isn't with me at that time. Because I know I won't hold back, all this hatred I have for him....for taking our parents away. From denying Ulla a normal life with parents. That's unforgivable. If anything were to happen to me. I want her to have someone, so she's not alone." He said with a bit of grief in his voice. "I know this is sudden. It's sudden for me as well. I don't like the idea of giving her away, I mean. How does that look on me? Her legal guardian can't take care of her. But, yes. I'm okay. As long as it's you guys."
"You certainly came to the right place to hunt down Ein and his lot," was the first thing I thought to say after I heard all of Leon's explanation. "As for Ulla. If you're sure, then we'll take care of her."
"We have to ask her if she's okay with us adopting her, too," Keiko pointed out. "This decision's going to have an impact on her life from here on out, so she should have a say in it."
I nodded at Keiko before focusing on Leon. "Once we've talked to Ulla about it, we can get the papers and make the transition legal," Once I said that, the thought of letting my own parents know what I was getting myself into came to me, and I couldn't help but sigh as a result. Talking to them about what I had planned was going to be a pain either way.
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