Aiden snorted at Kaneda's mimicries. "Ex-actly," he gushed. "It's like... what's so wrong with raising a pokemon from an infant, and making sure it has the proper nutrition and a safe environment from day one?" Aiden was generally a laid back dude but there were three things that never failed to rile him up: competitions, insults to fire types, and people like the ones Kaneda had just impersonated. "It can get its vaccinations and arceus forbid it has a negative mutation of some sort. In civilization, you can get a doctor to look over 'em. In the wild, what happens? They just die?" Aiden shook his head and shrugged. "But what are you gonna do? I guess having some conviction is better than none, even if it is... horribly misguided." Not that Aiden was biased or anything.

Strictly speaking, pokemon with negative mutations were supposed to die out. That was the whole point of natural selection--it allowed the pokemon best suited to their environment to thrive. But Aiden was not a scientist and as far as he could tell, allowing wild pokemon to die when they could've lived a long life if they'd been domesticated was nothing short of a crime.

On a happier note, the boy seemed to enjoy her compliment. That, combined with the compliment about their bond, had Nutmeg grinning shyly, all traces of nervousness forgotten. Aiden beamed right along with her. "Thanks!" Aiden raised an eyebrow at Kaneda's follow-up comment though. "I heard they have issues with giving out starters to people who already have pokemon, so be careful with that. Are you going through the lab or the rangers?"

WORDS ► 275
POKEMON ► nutmeg the tepig
NOTES ► wizz • egg thread for heatmor +5 ruby gems (10)

Nutmeg lifted her head from Aiden's knee so she could interject. "The lab is a good place to go! Interacting with new trainers is always fun for the pokemon, even if they don't get chosen." She looked at Kaneda while she spoke and glanced up at Aiden when she finished, clearly expecting him to continue translating.

It was hard to focus on translator duties when your heart was breaking, though, and that's exactly what Aiden's big old softie of a heart was doing--splitting right in two. Even if they don't get chosen. Those words came from personal experience, and probably lots of it. He liked to tell himself that people had only left her in the lab for the same reason he'd left Cyndaquil and Rowlet--because another option had been better for them and not because the Tepig hadn't been good enough. But from the few conversations they'd had about it, most people skipped her over because of her weight.

They'd never talked in detail about exactly how many times Nutmeg had been offered to other trainers and Aiden hoped they never did. The new information would only make him angry, and anger was an uncomfortable emotion for the normally upbeat kid.

But his thoughts were running away with him again, and a long enough moment of silence had followed Nutmeg's words already. "She, uh," he began slowly, not quite making eye contact with Kaneda while he translated. "She likes that you're going through the lab. She says it's fun for all the pokemon to meet new trainers." He couldn't find it in him to share everything she'd said. "And that's cool," Aiden said, finally making eye contact when the conversation moved back to Kaneda's eggs. "Having a pokemon around will probably be easier on whatever hatches, too."

WORDS ► 299
POKEMON ► nutmeg the tepig
NOTES ► wizz • egg thread for heatmor +5 ruby gems (15)