[ti]open[/ti][001] all the other kids~

By the time the other new player approached, Taylor had gotten distracted interacting with the newly named Mumble and completely forgotten that she was supposed to be keeping an eye out for others to complete the tutorial with. When the stranger spoke, she jumped a little, but it didn’t take long for the wide, startled eyes to be replaced by a friendly smile. “Oh hi!” she grinned, rising from the crouch she’d been in and turning to face the stranger. “The ‘say goodbye to your mom’ tutorial? Yes, I am! I was waiting for someone to partner up with, actually!” She left the remark dangling, hoping that if he was here for the same then he’d volunteer. If he was here, it was likely he was, but you know what they say about assuming!

Her attention was quickly stolen from their conversation though by a second little voice. Dropping her gaze to much, much closer to the ground, the young woman failed to contain her gasp. ”Aww, aren’t you adorable!” she gushed, crouching once again to offer a hand to the Sprigatito to sniff. The grass-type’s question made her realise she hadn’t yet introduced herself. Oops.

”I’m Taylor!” she offered, glancing up to the stranger to make sure it was clear that the introduction was aimed at him, too. ”And this is Mumble! How about you?” Again, the glance was split between the starter and its trainer.

Mumble, for his part, was thrilled to make a new friend. Chirping enthusiastically, he flapped his flippers and bounced more than waddled his way over to the feline pokemon. <Hello! I’m Mumble!> The fact that Taylor had already made the introduction and so his response was unnecessary was lost on the little Piplup. He… wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box.

The tiny paw was damn near the sweetest thing Taylor had seen in a long time and it absolutely melted her heart. “Aww, you’re such a little darling, aren’t you!” She cooed quietly, so as not to speak over or interrupt the other character’s answers. Gently petting the Sprigatito’s head, she marvelled over how it could feel so real, like petting an actual cat in the real world!

“It’s great to meet you too, Lacrimosa!” She returned, desperately hoping she’d gotten the pronunciation right. The slip-up of almost giving his true name rather than in-game alias was one of the major reasons she’d decided to keep her real name, here. Taylor really couldn’t be bothered with keeping two identities straight!

“Wysteria’s a wonderful name for a Sprigatito!” she praised, noting just how unsure Lacrimosa seemed about, well, everything, and hoping to put him at ease. Of course, she failed to see anything sinister that might lurk past that, always eager to believe the best of people, even if she probably should have learned her lesson over such things by now.

Mumble, for his part, noted the names given and got rather stuck on the human’s. <Al-eye-meen-lak-ri-moh-sah?> He chirped, completely misunderstanding the aborted first attempt and mushing the whole thing together. Canting his head to the side; perhaps things might make more sense at a forty five degree angle. <That’s an awfully long name>.

<Ohhh…> Mumble breathed in response to the gentle correction. Well that was strange! <That must be lonely,> he observed, sympathetically. Taylor didn’t always respond to his commentary, especially when she was talking to other players, but she always seemed to be able to understand. In truth, the Piplup rarely communicated with speech when it was just the two of them, and was much more inclined to chirp and squawk wordlessly. He’d likely be completely fine most of the time if she couldn’t understand, but the little penguin didn’t think about it that hard and so had no idea.

Taylor nodded a little uncertainly in response to Lacrimosa’s question. “Yeah, I think so,” she replied. “Although I think it’s mom; singular.” A grin was sent the other player’s way. “If what I’ve heard is right, she acts like we’re all her kids and she raised us all, or something?” The logic really started to feel a little weird if you looked at it too long. “So I guess we’re siblings for the next little while!”

The how seemed fairly straight-forward, at least, and she nodded towards the cute little cottage they were loitering in front of. “I’d guess we knock?” She suggested with a shrug, stepping forward to do just that, Mumble sticking close to her heel as she moved.

“Coming! Just a minute!”

A few moments later the door opened to reveal…

A Medicham?

“Uhhhh…” Taylor stammered, turning a wide-eyed, what-the-fuck look in Lacrimosa’s direction. Surely their ‘mother’ wasn’t a Pokémon?

Thankfully, before Taylor could jump to too many irrational conclusions, a sweet, middle-aged woman bustled over and appeared behind the pokemon. “Well, it’s about time, you two!” She scolded with hands on her hips, a smile belying and softening the disapproving words. “I thought perhaps you’d spend the whole afternoon out on the doorstep! Come in, come in, I’ve got soup and sandwiches on the go, so you’d best make yourselves useful and set the table!”

Honestly, Taylor was a little relieved to see that Lacrimosa seemed to have the same moment of what the fuuuuuck as she did, when the Medicham opened the door. As soon as she'd realised that the Pokémon definitely wasn’t their mother, her face had flushed beetroot in embarrassment. The look of horror on the other player’s face had eased it slightly; humiliation loves company and all that. That was the saying, right? As she moved into the house, she pressed the back of a hand to one scarlet cheek. Interesting that even that physiological response carried over into this world. That was certainly one she could have done without...

She had to bite back a slightly hysterical giggle as they entered and the other player’s eyes went a little wide behind his stiff smile at the sight of the interior that greeted them. They really weren’t messing around with making it feel like a Mom™ lived here. An deep inhale pulled in the surprisingly delicious smell of cooking food – the devs were showing off here, for sure! – and Taylor practically skipped over to a random cupboard. She got lucky, stumbling upon the eclectic array of mismatched bowls purely by chance, and giggled when “Mom” corrected the other player.

“Yeah Lacri,” she grinned, a juvenile, teasing lilt to her voice. “Gosh, don’t you remember where the silverware is by now?” This was an exceedingly weird situation, and Taylor was handling it by leaning into the weird. That sounded like the most entertaining way to proceed, to her!

“Now Taylor, you leave your brother alone!” Came “mother’s” scolding voice, and she bit back laughter, adopting an appropriately penitent expression and fetching the bowls over to the table. Once the woman's back was turned she collapsed into silent giggles - gleefully mouthing the word brother to the other player in a sort of can you believe this? manner.