[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Terra nonchalantly nods back to the clever trainer, seemingly unphased by their incredulousness at his pirate's plunder of a find, before they abruptly stopped and began stroking their beard as he pondered the couple of questions unintentionally? posed by them.

"Hm....did not see any blood or.....signs of struggle damage on shells, so think the Dwebble they came from are alright.  Value on Shells, though....hm. Good size and shape, Pokemon Product, are Shiny, can probably be re-used by Dwebble or other Pokémon, minimal damage *Mumble Mumble* …Hm, estimate whole sale cost on all shells to be roughly $24000-$32000 based on being Rare Pokemon Products in good condition, so value would be $12000-$16000 if average person sold them, or $1200-$1600 per shell. *Beat, then shrugs* That is what I think. Never have run across or sold Dwebble sale before, so I am just guessing at their price."

Not sure if Nathan's had a first hand demonstration of the monk's hidden mercantile sense, but whatever the case they've got a prime example of it now!

(…)

At first, Terra looked taken aback by what the boy declared on his behalf, for they not only denied he was an almost complete cretin, but clearly stated/implied that if he kept trying to learn, he could be smart like him. Such a concept was almost inconceivable for the rugged wanderer, as a lifetime of being put down and/or overlooked for his intelligence by almost everyone had lead him to believe he was an idiot incapable of being knowledgeable about anything but his select fields of expertise. As a result, it made Nathan's challenging remarks more shocking, unbelievable, and bold than they should be, causing quite a stir within the normally stoic man.

This wasn't the first time he's heard such rhetoric, however. His family and the few friends he made back home also expressed similar faith in his intellectual capacity, so hearing the boy's words should only had validated what had been said. Right?

...Well, its not so simple, unfortunately. Due to aforementioned lifetime of discrimination against his intelligence and his relative isolation in both child and adulthood, such cruel notions had become ingrained in his consciousness, to the point he genuinely believed and accepted he was 'dumb' . Any sort of smart thinking on his part he usually attributed to his parent's teaching (if it were commerce/common upbringing Knowledge related), extrapolated from the wisdom/experience he gained throughout his time exploring/living in the wilds, or the smattering of information he worked hard at memorizing learning from various source, and not his own capacity for Knowledge.

As a result, the mountain of a man had inadvertidly formed a strong, self reinforcing notion that he was just a big, stupid guy only good at and for a certain for areas. Anytime someone said something to contradict that and insisted, he often believed they were only flattering/pitying him, or were just didn't know how idiotic he 'was', so he usually just convincingly agreed to avoid causing a fuss, his words having no real faith backing them. Up until now that worked perfectly, so...

"....*Smiles* Alright. I understand Nathan. Will take your advice, and work on being smarter for now on. Souds hard....but not impossible with your help."

...that is exactly what he did. He felt uncomfortable not being truthful to his friend, but he believe it was the right thing to do in order to spare their feelings and make them happy. Lying is bad, but not universally so, and the simple monk held that this was the case when it came to the matter of his smarts, so he felt justified for doing so to Nathan. Its all for the greater good, right...?

Of course, if Gallade is out and with Nathan, they could easily call Tarous shit on their lip service, but they'd also be able to discern the emotions/deep seated feelings that motivated him to lie to them. Continuing to bluntly convince them otherwise could work.....but it could also cause him to put down barriers and/or avoid the issue/them until sufficient time has passed if not handled carefully.

So, the question now was thus: Would Nathan call him out, or just leave things safely be?

(Oh yeah, I know all about how Low INT Not Equal Idiot, which I believe I've demonstrated in Terra amply enough. Problem is, my chara firmly believes otherwise, and has such low confidence/belief in that aspect of himself that convincing him otherwise will be a trail indeed. Heck, he just accepts and works around that he's 'dumb' without much negativity and matter of factly, so him never believing he'll truly get smart despite the contrary and have him contribute his learning to others/raw experience is not a problem. At least, not unless its made into one. Choice is up to you, mate! I'm happy to develop my character either way, really!)

Moving on from that (for now...), Terra looked intrigued at the glimpse the clever trainer gave him into their life, nodding and filing all said into his long term memory the best he can. Angie, meanwhile, was mostly perplexed by what they said, particularly the playful wink given to her. She knew their was significance to their words, but she couldn't quite recognize exactly what it was. How frustrating....oh well. She'll get the meaning in due time - she just has to be patience enough for it to come to her, or, bar that, learn. EXPerience is what makes a Pokémon grow, after all, so the inverse must be true as well!

He did inject once during their exposition on their background, however: "Uh....what does 'affinity' mean? Sorry for asking, but not sure about what you are telling me about it...." The seraph let out her own questioning *Zzzzzsssss?* as well, showing that she didn't understand the definition of it too. Shared ignorance on complex words must run in the family, eh?

As for accepting his entreaty for Pokechildcare and aid, he gave them a genuinely heartfelt smile, and bowed his head in gratitude.

"Thank you very much, my friend. *Thinks about it* …Later. Need time to.....think more and understand what Shiva told me, so I can remember it well. Maybe tonight, or tomorrow?"

*Thoughtful pause*

"Ah...almost forgot. What happened? *Points to where they came from* With you, and that Berry Bush? Was not......focusing on it, but saw you were excited and happy after......looking in it. *Beat* Did you find something good? Or something interesting?"

Gallade is out, obviously, but Nathan doesn't need Gallade's confirmation to fire back with, "I'm gonna hold you to that.  Stick around with this group long enough, and you'll be learning things from me left and right, I tell ya!  Well, stuff that I know really well, anyways, which is mostly going to be stuff related to History and general Pokemon knowledge...and I think you definitely have me beat in the Commerce and Wilderness Survival areas...but hey, maybe I can learn a thing or two as well.  We just need to ask each other the right questions.  That's what learning is, really: asking questions and finding the answers to them.  Or just gaining experience and expertise in certain areas by practicing them."  It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that Terra's been calling himself 'dumb' for a long, long time...

...but why call him out on it right now when that would most likely serve to damage things more than fix them?  Nah, Nathan will play along for now...with enough encouragement, things might improve for Terra eventually...though Nathan might need a little help to do so later down the line...time to make some secret plans...(*dun dun duuuunnnn*)

And yes, Nathan is completely serious when he says he's going to hold Terra to what he just said.  Nathan takes learning very seriously.  And what better way to encourage that growth than to actively encourage and help with guiding it?

In short, it's probably going to be a response that Terra wasn't expecting at all.

"...oh, affinity is...I guess you could say a kind of talent for something.  I actually have some ancestry that's really, really well known for having a particular talent for raising Dragon types.  In this case, it's more of the more...natural liking definition of the word, I guess you could say.  It's just...something I happen to be good at...but only because I learned about it recently and was taught how to...properly use those talents.  Before I'd learned about my ancestry, well...I had no idea how to handle Dragons so easily.  But after?  Definitely a bit easier to raise Dragon types.  More unruly ones are definitely still a challenge, but simpler ones like, say...an Altaria?  No problem.  My Snivy and Charmeleon are definitely a little more respectful than before as well, but they're not actual Dragon types, so that's about all I get from them.  Genie...I'm not really sure if she'd hear me out or not, though, to be honest...she's very...unique.  Still a Dragon, but...definitely not like most others of her Type, that's for sure..." Do note that Nathan doesn't mention that it's noble ancestry.

As for the pokechild care...

"...well, one piece of advice I'll give you right now, then: don't doubt your abilities.  If you start doubting yourself, your pokemon will start having doubts too.  You've done a good job with Shiranui, Genie, Melly, Lovely, and Basteele, so don't doubt your ability to raise a pokemon.  Sure, they might not have been babies when you got them, but you raised them well all the same, right?  I don't think there's any need for you two to worry, Anubi and Angie.  Though if Terra does need a little help, he's got plenty of people to ask for it. BUt yeah, Terra, tonight should be an okay time for me to give ya a lesson or two, no problem."

At Terra's comment on Nathan's rooting around in the berry bushes, Nathan blinks in surprise again!

"...wow, uh...I didn't think you'd noticed, to be honest...I'm not sure Shiva and Heart did...but, uh, I'm glad you did because that reminded me that that's one of the reasons I came over here in the first place...so, uh...yeah.  Funny story, but I seem to have a tendency of finding stuff in berry bushes...particularly Lum Berry bushes...I just had this...really, really good feeling that I'd find something in there..."

Nathan holds up what looks to be one Rock Type TM.

"And I found...this!  Stealth Rock!  Cool, right?  Well, what's cooler is...this!"

And then the 'one' TM is revealed to be 2 as Nathan reveals the second one that was behind the first.

"Two Stealth Rock TMs!  Two!  Such a rare and valuable TM, and I just found two of them lying around, hidden in a Lum Berry bush!  I can think of one pokemon I definitely want to teach it too, but I'm still considering what to do with the second one, to be honest..."