nostabbing | 004 | Goldenrod City

[It's late afternoon, it's eighty-six degrees and sunny, and here on a Goldenrod City park bench sits Parker with her hair pulled back in a ratty braid that dangles forgotten over one shoulder. She's basically commandeered the whole bench at this point, even though she's only occupying one small end of it; the rest remains wholly unusuable because it's covered in all manner of stuff, from Pokemon plushies to coin purses to potted plants to other odds and ends you might find at the prize counter of an arcade (and yes, there's a red-and-white Pokeball tucked away in there, too).

But despite the heaps of stuff (and the Poochyena in a fedora standing guard over it nearby, and the Vulpix with the diamond necklace for a collar sifting through it with interest), Parker doesn't seem particularly happy as she hangs out on the bench, silent but for the sound of the pencil scratching idly over the sketchpad propped against her knees. One word for her demeanor here might be "indifferent"; another few that could probably also fit would be "apathetic", "detached", "listless", or even just plain "bored".

Page by page, she's filling the sketchpad with drawings that, to all appearances, she couldn't care less about. Which might be more accurate a description than one might expect, really; this time, appearances aren't deceiving.

But eventually she sets the sketchpad aside, screws up her face for a ninety-second impromptu theater of Frustration: The Facial Expressions, and then reaches for her Gear to posit a burning question to the network: ]

~
Hey, so.

How do you know when you like stuff?

[...What? IT'S A SERIOUS QUESTION. ಠ_ಠ ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[... Well he's not smart in the slightest about emotions. This might be difficult.]

Personally, it's when I feel a positive emotion just by thinking about it.

[He might need some scientific methoding to do better at this later.]

[Oh, hey, it's this guy.]

Like what?

[Really, it's an honest question.]

Wouldn't you say 'joy' is a positive emotion?

[He's an engineer not a shrink or a philosopher he doesn't know.]

I guess. Or it could be the perceptional approximation of the neurological response to a bunch of external environmental factors that triggered a release of excess serotonin in your brain.

[Which would make more sense, really. But sadly doesn't explain the conundrum.]

If we're putting all of it in technical terms, then the word 'like' is a verb that would imply fondness for a certain object.

Fond•ness.

n.

- Liking or affection
- Strong inclination or preference

So on and so forth.

'Liking' then would be another neurological response to outside stimuli, much like other kinds of emotions.

[Oh, now that's a fair point. Though it does lead to a somewhat distressing conclusion that another conversation advanced earlier...]

So if you're not having that response, does that mean you're broken?

[Oh god what kind of conversation is this now.]

In the very technical sense, yes. Machines that don't work the way they're supposed to or have the wrong response to stimuli are considered broken.

Though humans very very different from machines.

[EVERY CONVERSATION IS A DIFFICULT CONVERSATION WHEN IT IS WITH PARKER and not involving stealing. And sometimes even when it does involve stealing.]

So how do you fix it? If it's a machine you just get a different part. You can't just get a different part for a person's brain.

[UGH NO ETRO WHY]

I don't know. I'm not an engineer for humans.

Me neither.

[Just a thief. With something seriously wrong with her. :| ]

Hey. How are the babies? Did you find homes for all of them and stuff?

Not all of them have new homes. Those that don't are staying with me.

Their moms must like that, huh.

Those that have stayed, yes.

There's one particular mother who wants her children released in the wild though.

Why does she want that? Will they be okay? Doesn't she want them?

She's an Illumise, and her species and the Volbeat species are very romantic Pokémon. She wants her children to find mates, and they cant do that if I keep them permanently.

[Oh. Okay, that's completely different, then. Crisis averted.]

I wonder if I should do that with the one I got today. I didn't mean to win him; they just kind of gave him to me and shoved me out.

Why would they do that?

[Ummmmm.]

Because I said I didn't want the psychic one.

[...Vehemently.]

[... wut]

I'll need a little more context.

Have you ever been to the Game Corner place in Goldenrod City? If you win enough coins, they give you a Pokemon as a prize.

I wasn't trying to win one. I just played the games and won a lot. And then I had a bunch of coins, so when I got to the counter they said I won a Pokemon, and they gave me one of those psychic fox ones. Abra. And I didn't want it, so I told them to take it back and give me my coins back, but they just gave me a different one instead.

[Oh, hmph that place B( It's a complete rip-off and he's not a gambling man anyway, despite wanting a particular Pokémon from there.]

Which one were you looking for?

I didn't want any of them! I was just playing the games and winning a lot.

I have one of these guys already, anyway. You know those little pink and blue dinosaur birds, Porygon? He's one of those.

[Internal screaming. Oh my Etro how does she end up with the one he wants ;A;]

Are you sure you don't want one? They're rare.

Really? Somebody left one in my PC like two months ago, and now I just got this other one.

[More like how does she end up with two of the one he wants, really.]

Porygons are only found in the Game Corners.

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