Leap of Faith [Starting]

[Vanessa / Viola Oldford]

Well, here they were.

Standing in the Emissary was a petite woman, cloaked in a long-sleeved shirt and long pants of an identical dull grey colouration. She looked young, but her light brown hair was peppered with grey. Said hair swept across one side of her face as if trying to hide it, and why she would want to do such a thing was easily revealed by the fact that it didn't hide that side of her face very well. Numerous slash marks covered the right half of the woman's face, and her eye socket was covered by a jet black eye patch, the only thing she wore that wasn't grey. Even her remaining eye was grey, albeit slightly flecked with blue if someone looked closely at her iris.

This was Vanessa Oldford. And Viola Oldford.

To outside impressions, the New Pallet resident of fourteen years--and Mi-aro resident of fifteen--who had often been called 'Two-Face' for her asymmetrical facial scars, was slightly wary, but mostly calm and stoic. The inside, however, was much more complicated. Nessie, calm down, hissed Viola's voice in their shared mind. You're going to get us hyperventilating at this rate.

Vanessa started to ring their hands, a bit of her nervousness bleeding into their expression as she bit their bottom lip slightly. I can't help it. I just...We're really here to get our starting pokemon, right? This isn't some...

Way to get the crazy person contained? Viola finished. I don't think the Ambassador can really do anything legally other than make us see a shrink, fat load of good it'd do us, even if she does help run the planet. Since, y'know, most people here aren't sociopathic monsters who abuse their power.

I know. I'm still nervous, La. She analyzes people. That's what they're always saying. What's she going to read from us?

That we're insane, but good people. She's smart, like the old man was. Otherwise she wouldn't have accepted the application in the first place. To all outside appearances, Vanessa and Viola seemed to have been staring into space with subtly shifting facial expressions the entire time, until Viola let out a sigh. Come on, let's get moving. The receptionist is giving us a funny look.

Vanessa didn't reply with words, but Viola got the general feeling of a mental nod before the two of them started down the hall to the Ambassador's office. Their single eye darted around, taking in their surroundings--they turned their head to the right frequently to catch what their left eye's movements alone couldn't--until they reached the proper door. Vanessa raised their hand to tentatively knock, and then Viola pushed the door open gently.

And since it was her idea to just enter after knocking, and because she wasn't the one of the two with a habit of stammering, it was Viola who first spoke as they peeked in. "Ambassador?"

[Olive]

The ladies noticed the ambassador's eyes flick up and back to her desk before she actually made a gesture for them to come in. With a pleasant nod she shook the womens' hand and extended her blessing for them to sit in the chair. She leaned against her desk with her head down for a moment, but after a time she cut the awkward silence, "You two are really brave you know." The ambassador turned nodded to the girls. Then, with a sudden slap on the desk, she turned to grab five pokeballs.

"My name name is Anita Nguyen, your ambassador. Now, let's see about your starter choices!"


"I've always believed that in order to learn more about yourself and grow as a person - or persons - you must face your fears and insecurities. I was very tempted to offer you two a Psychic Pokemon, but I eventually decided not to cross that boundary." She nodded and gestured to the Pokemon given.

"All of these have a few things in common. Either they share, or will eventually share, a split personality, such as Doduo and Magnemite, or they have the ability to evolve into more than one set of Pokemon. This is relevant because, while Tyrogue, Snorunt, and Eevee are all able to choose between different," she paused, "personalities, if you will, they will eventually choose one and the separate voices combine to become one stronger force."

Anita gave an amused shrug. "Now, I personally don't see anything off-putting with your 'disorder'," which she put in air quotes. Her brow twitched and she looked away for a moment. "If you ask me, I think you two are more sane than the professor, but what do I know?"

She then gestured toward a pamphlet on her desk. "And there are a few other choices if you don't like the ones I've chosen for you," she stated with a sincere smile. Anita was such a great person. She really cared for the community. No wonder she was the Ambassador!

[Vanessa / Viola Oldford]

The silence was not overly comforting, but the handshake and invitation to sit was. Viola was trying her hardest to not let Vanessa make them too fidgety in the chair, but neither of them were capable of completely blocking the other one's influence over their body, especially when it came to subconscious habits. Vanessa raised their hand and ran it through the hair that partly veiled their face, fingers toying with the mix of grey and brown strands. The premature greying has been going on since they were twenty, and to this day, they weren't sure what to think about it, when they stopped to think about it at all.

The simple statement of bravery stunned them, and they didn't how to respond. They didn't get much of a chance, since the Ambassador confirmed her identity--and given that they'd spent much of their time hiding away in New Pallet, the confirmation was welcome, even if they hadn't had much doubt it was her--and went to get the pokemon not long after.

The mention of psychics brought tension to their body, and it was Viola this time who started to toy with the veil of hair as a calming method as they swallowed a lump in their throat. They knew, from their years here, that most psychics, like most people, weren't monsters, but that had done little for their psychological scars. Images of sinister, glowing eyes still haunted their nightmares, paired with vengeful screams and the stare of the shadow of a person inside of Tessa's skin. That's what the Furies, all of them save Viola, had been. Shadows...

They shook the thoughts away, trying to focus on the explanation. Probably should have expected that she'd dig out pokemon that could relate to our situation... Viola commented mentally, eying the doduo in particular. A little hard to miss the implications of offering a two-headed pokemon to them, even if she hadn't just outright said it.

She probably figured they wouldn't be afraid of us if they understood, Vanessa observed, though she sent their eye over toward the snorunt, before the Ambassador made the most surprisingly comment of all and drew their gaze toward her again.

The visible eyebrow above their single eye shot straight up, and their facial expression was a bit hard to read as Viola tried to stare at her incredulously over being told that she found nothing off-putting about them--complete with air quotes around the word 'disorder,' and air quotes was not something they'd ever expected from the famous Ambassador--while Vanessa was trying to make them break into a big grin, but was mostly just accomplishing a lopsided smile. The comment on the professor was the final straw, and Viola tossed their head back and gave a short, slightly barking laugh, much of the tension in their body finally melting away. "Never met 'im ourselves, so we'll take your word for it."

See, Nessie? she added, mentally, What'd I tell you? Just like the old man.

Minus the beard, Vanessa commented, sending a few of Viola's chuckles tumbling from them.

Okay, yeah, not just like...But she's officially great.

Agreed. Losing the closest thing they'd had to a real, caring parental figure in their life had left a deep pain in them that five years had dulled little, and thinking of him did send a stab into their heart, but the odd parallel they'd found between Ms. Nguyen and the late Mr. Oldford sparked a bit of affection for this woman that they'd just met.

They glanced at the pamphlet, their eye flicking to a few species that were available. The sight of a torchic made them smile and brought back memories of their first day on Mi-aro. It had been a painful, emotional day--Vanessa had burst into tears more than once, despite Viola's attempts to comfort her--but the spirited combusken their kindhearted, patient physician kept had left an impression on them. A couple of others drew their attention, totodile with its sharp teeth and froakie with the vague memory of reading somewhere that it evolved into a dark type, but in the end they looked away and back to the five they'd been presented with.

Doduo was an easy one to recognize. They had a feral population out on Route Three, and their home with the old man had not been far from said route. They'd sometimes liked to watch the flocks of them running together, from a safe distance. It was one of the few pokemon they couldn't quite bring themselves to hunt for food, the other on that particular route being the feral torchic. Kind of a small one, don't you think? Viola thought to Vanessa as they eyed it.

Well, it is a domestic. Old world pokemon are smaller than new world ones, usually. They'd been told that more than once, but it had been their first time seeing the new world rattata and nidoran during those first few years that it had really sunk in. Nothing they couldn't handle now that they were an adult, as long as they avoided the venomous spikes on the latter, but it had certainly been a shock at the time.

They did feel an odd kinship with the two-headed bird, but ultimately drew their gaze to another familiar face, this time from somewhere much darker. Magnemite had been among the pokemon infesting the hellish city of their youth, but unlike many of the pokemon, they had rarely clashed with the humans, more likely to be found fighting one another or the occasional voltorb. They weren't sure how to feel about it as a consequence, but what Ms. Nguyen had said about magnemite growing to have a split personality made them stop and think, their eye glazing over for a few moments.

Eventually, a memory was wrested from the back of their mind to flash in front of them, from one of Viola's patrols before they connected. The image of a magneton floating around in the dead streets. Three heads. Three minds. The thought drew their eye back to the doduo again. They're three-headed when they evolve, too, aren't they?

I think so, yeah. They weren't sure what to think about that, either, and moved on to something that was more unfamiliar territory, the tyrogue.

For a moment, they looked both confused and thoughtful, trying to remind themselves what this small, humanoid pokemon evolved into. Even with fifteen years here, they still weren't very good when it came to knowledge of pokemon they hadn't faced themselves. Slowly, they remembered the image of a hitmontop from a book, then a hitmonlee, then a hitmonchan. Three again. Hitmonlee are supposed to pretty tough, right?

All of them are, I think. They're fighting types, after all. The idea did appeal to them. A tough pokemon who could keep up with them.

Their eye still moved elsewhere, however, to the snorunt Vanessa had brought their attention to earlier. Again, they had to stop and remember, but, when they did, that lopsided smile of theirs came back. Glalie, right? That's one of the ones they can turn into? Those always looked cool, and they're supposed to be good pokemon, right?

And the other one's froslass, I think. They're part ghost, aren't they? They have an advantage over psychics. Ghosts didn't have the immunity dark types did, but that was still an important factor to them.

However, there was one thing that made them shy away from the snorunt, that being that ice type species tended to radiate cold, and the idea of a friend that could give them a chill just with casual contact bothered them. Even if the snorunt wasn't that way now, they thought they remembered something like that about both of their evolutionary forms.

That brought them to the eevee, and their single eye stared into that pair of big, brown ones for a long moment, managing to look both piercingly studying and very uncertain. It was small and fuzzy, reminding them of their childhood teddy. In a lot of ways, it was the opposite of the pokemon they tended to gravitate toward. Dark colours, various sharp body parts, large, and imposing, that was what always drew their gaze, not soft bundles of fluff.

Not to mention, eevee evolved into espeon.

Along with a fire type, a water type, an electric type, a dark type, a grass type, an ice type, and a fairy type. Eevee had the most possibilities of any pokemon, if they remembered right. The capability to become nearly anything, to adapt to whatever life required it to be. There was a strange envy coiling in them at that freedom, that range of choice.

When they looked into those eyes, they didn't see the cold, unfeeling espeon of their nightmares staring back. They saw a young pup who had yet to make a choice in their life, or to have that choice forced on them by cruel outsiders. They saw innocence that had yet to be ruined. There was an urge to reach out and pull the little pokemon into their arms, an impulse that Viola would usually blame entirely on Vanessa but, right now, she was not so sure it wasn't one of their moments when they were in perfect sync.

Rather than give in, however, they instead breathed a sigh, leaned back in the chair slightly and shut their eye. "You sure don't make it an easy choice, do you?" Viola commented aloud, not opening the eye. "But...we think we get what you mean about the evolution thing, even if it's not exactly the same. After all, we weren't always in contact like we are now."

Vanessa spoke the next words, as she finally had the courage to. "Before...before that, i-it was like being in a cage, a-alone and afraid of...of everything..."  Even not taking into account the stammering, Vanessa spoke differently than Viola despite sharing the same vocal cords; even when she was happy, there was a slight edge to Viola's voice, an edge Vanessa didn't have, and Vanessa just had a different cadence in general that was her own.

Viola swapped in again. "And I was...just a shadow of a person, really. Cold, cruel, not having the capacity to give a damn, just having this anger inside of me I couldn't explain..." She didn't seem to notice she'd just sworn in front of someone important, just continuing on, "Now, we're...whole, you could say." Someone could argue that they weren't, that they needed to 'get better,' be one person again. Even if the chances of that weren't slim to none, since they weren't a natural case of the disorder, they didn't want that. They were one another's best friend, sister really, backing each other up.

No Vanessa without Viola, and no Viola without Vanessa.

"Th-though, I-I'd say only one of us is all that brave..." Vanessa commented, voice quiet, but still perfectly audible.

Viola shook their head with a chuckle. "You made friends with the scary voice in your head, Nessie," she argued aloud with a smile. "I'd say that's pretty brave."

"You're not that scary." The reply was slightly quieter, but still not enough to not be understood, and carried soft affection in her tone.

They weren't used to pouring their heart out like this--even the old man hadn't heard every gory or emotional detail of their story--and it was mostly for the benefit of the pokemon. Even if they supposedly had a connection through the various traits of their species, those pokemon should be aware of exactly what they were getting into with this strange, scarred alchemist.

They finally opened their eye, and their gaze landed on the eevee again. Still there. Finally, making a decision, they got up, walked over, and knelt down in front of the little pup. They offered a hand, palm up, the other hand brushing through their hair veil again; they could never cover the scars completely, even if the worst of it was behind the patch over their empty socket, but the movement revealed a bit more of the slashes than were usually visible

"A...a pokemon of one of y-your evolved forms hurt us...hurt us pretty badly, a-a long time ago." Vanessa took a steadying breath, and gave a smile. "But...you're not him. We know that. And we like you. Whatever you want to evolve into, whenever you decide, we'll help you achieve it. We promise."

The smile became more pronounced as Viola added, "What do you say? Want to come with us?"

[Olive]

"Eyou?" the Pokemon questioned with its head tilted. Eevee's eyes moved to their hand, slowly it moved forward, licked it, and rubbed its head in it. Guess that was a yes!

With that, Anita nodded and grabbed a few more things from her desk to gift the girls. "Here's an X-Gear that has my number installed, 5 pokeballs, 2 potions, and 2 full heals" she handed the items to them and then held out another bag that contained a Data Log, First Aid Kit, Berry Sack, Canteen, Tool Bag, Mortar & Pestle, Weapon Sheathe, and a Quiver. "You may also choose two of those."

[Vanessa / Viola Oldford]

A giggle escaped them, a sound that was all Vanessa, when the eevee reacted, followed by a more shared relieved sigh. Yes, this one was most certainly an innocent, but they'd been accepted all the same. Scars, mental illness, and all. That was scary, in its own way, being in a position to care for and shape a young mind like this. They'd always been in agreement that they'd make a horrible mother, after all. As Ms. Nguyen spoke up again, they gingerly picked up the little fluffball and cradled her gently with one arm as they took the X-Gear and various other supplies with the other, their lopsided smile firmly in place by this point. "Thanks."

The old backpack was one of the few things that had survived the fire that had consumed their home, and in it went the pokeballs, potions, and full heals. The X-Gear, instead, went into the pocket of their pants; they intentionally wore clothes with deep pockets for such essential objects. Even if it was purely for communication right now--an important thing in and of itself, don't get that wrong--the wealth of chips they would be able to install in it would make it a veritable army knife of technology and something good to keep close at hand.

Now, for the rest. Three more freebies were theirs to choose. Their eye, guided mostly by Viola, immediately fell on a sheath that looked like it was made for a short sword. Their hand, which would normally have fussed with their hair again, instead reached up to gently stroke their new eevee's head. We should get that...

La, we need alchemy supplies, Vanessa reminded her, gently.

Their gaze didn't leave the sheath. We can take three things. We'll grab the sheath, the tool bag, and the mortar and pestle.

The look on their face started to look distinctly frustrated as they, to outside eyes, appeared to be just standing there silently. As quiet as she could be, and as how often as she allowed Viola to take the lead, Vanessa was certainly no pushover in the privacy of their mind when she knew her other personality had her priorities skewed. We do need a tool bag and mortar and pestle, but we won't be much in the way of alchemists without any actual ingredients. We need a berry bag to carry the plants we find.

But if we're going to go out there, we need to defend ourselves. We need to carry a weapon, Viola argued.

Vanessa suddenly directed their one-eyed gaze toward the eevee in their arms. That's what she's for, isn't it?

Viola stared down at their new pokemon and gave a slow blink. Right. She felt foolish for not thinking of that, but this little thing didn't look like a protector, like the old man's scyther had. The eevee looked like something that they were supposed to protect.

Decision made, they reached in and pulled out the Mortar and Pestle, the Tool Bag and the Berry Bag and flashed another smile. "We'll take these, thank you." Vanessa said, her voice now quite steady compared to her previous stammering.

[Olive]

With a final nod Anita withdrew the remaining Pokemon and took the bag of items from them. "Inside those bags are five Poiup berries and a Hammer." Anita leaned back against her desk and the Viola and Vanessa in their eye. "As alchemists, I would like to task you two with finding as many new berries and herb recipes as you can." Her eyebrows raised and her head tilted slightly as she suddenly remembered, "I believe Mr. R's daughter actually found some sort of moss-like thing that she called 'Maemoss' somewhere on the Winding Path," an eyeroll interrupted her speech, "but the girl didn't document the find, and her pretentious little self doesn't 'feel' like finding any more at the moment." A frustrated sigh escaped her. "Anyway, if you'd like to pursue that, you could go to the market and ask Kourtney where she found it, or you could just go find it yourself. Of course, that's just one suggestion. There's a whole world full of new plants for you two to discover, honestly, I don't care which route you go, progress is progress."

She moved her fingers in the air as if she were counting something, then mouthed the word, 'okay' and went for the door. Her hands wrapped around the doorknob and she slowly pulled the door open and gave a smile. "Either way, I know you two are going to do great things for Mi-aro and it was so very nice to meet you. Remember to call if you need any help at all!"

[Vanessa / Viola Oldford]

Viola slipped the mortar and pestle into the tool bag to join the hammer as Anita took the remaining items away and recalled the rest of the pokemon. They weren't entirely sure how helpful a hammer was going to be in the days ahead--not that they were going to look a gift ponyta in the mouth, mind you--but the poiup berries would be very useful, both on their own and in any potential mixtures. They looked up to meet Anita's gaze when she started speaking again, and nodded. They sure weren't researchers, but they intended to find out all they could and make sure it was available to the people of Mi-aro.

What she said next, however, made Viola arch their eyebrow. Yes, because we are so very good at the kind of social skills required to convince a pretentious person to share their findings with us.

We could try, Vanessa commented, bringing the eyebrow back down again. And if she says no, we at least know that it's on the Winding Path.

Viola reluctantly agreed, but the assurance that 'progress is progress' was still a large relief for them. They'd do what they could for Mi-aro, and they sure weren't going to just sit idle. They loathed being idle. Vanessa moved their hand to gently pet the eevee in their arms again as they headed for the door Anita opened for them. They nodded and smiled at the mention of calling "Oh, we will. If we get a hold of any of that maemoss, or anything else promising, you'll be the first to know."

However, when they were about to actually step out of the door, they suddenly stopped and stepped back again. Their eye flicked back toward Anita, and an unsure expression crossed their face. Viola realized what was about to happen, but she just kept to the back of their mind as Vanessa gently placed their eevee back on the ground, made a motion that was supposed to mean 'stay,' and stepped closer to Anita.

They didn't know if this was some kind of big faux pas, and Vanessa, at least, didn't care too much. She hugged Anita, gripping her surprisingly tightly for such a small woman. "Thank you," she said, softly, voice wavering slightly as if she were holding back tears. "Thank you so much. For trusting us. For giving us this chance. We...we won't let you down, we promise..."

She let go and they stepped back. A hint of pink crossed their cheeks in embarrassment , all Vanessa. Viola sighed a little and rolled their eye slightly, which no doubt looked strange with their still-flushed face. "I thought we agreed we weren't going to do that, Nessie," she commented aloud, tone moderately teasing as the left side of their mouth twitched into one of their smiles.

Vanessa, following suit in speaking their conversation aloud, pointed out, "You sure weren't trying to stop me, La."

Viola shrugged. "True." They knelt down and picked up their eevee again. "Come on, bushy tail. Let's get something to eat and then see if we can't find Kourtney..." They headed out the door without so much as a 'sorry'--because they most certainly weren't sorry for the display of affection, regardless if it was a faux pas or not--and down the hall, eager to be outside in the fresh air again.

We're probably going to have to come up with a name for the little fuzzbucket, Viola commented mentally as they headed outside.

Yeah, we probably should, Vanessa agreed, as their eyes flicked down to the eevee pup. Have any ideas?

Nope. You?

Not a one.