thenightsky | Victor Road IC Inbox

Noctis arrived about ten minutes after he told Ash he was leaving, shaking his coat off just outside the door before slipping inside with Ana the Weavile in tow. She was wearing a plush scarf to help protect from the cold--though honestly she was a pretty big fan of it--and seemed content to keep it on as she let out a greeting cry and made her way towards Ash and An Tintreach.

"Hey guys!" Noctis said with a slight wave as he headed over, grinning at the sight of the Pikachu's cream mustache and muffling a laugh. "Enjoying the hot chocolate?"

Ana hauled herself up onto a chair and clicked her claws on the table, looking at Noctis rather expectantly.

She was promised a warm drink!

"I know, I know! I promised." The prince shook his head with a grin, shucking his coat off and hanging it on the back of another chair. "What's all that?" he asked, motioning with a nod to the notebook.

"Hey!" An Tintreach immediately rubbed over her mouth with a squeak, to hide the evidence. Ash glanced at her and shook his head with a smile, unable to hide a small laugh as Ana gave Noctis a clear 'I am waiting for my hot drink' look.

"Oh yeah, making a list of all the presents I need to get. I wanna get something for each of my Pokemon too. So, I just need to figure it all out." He closed it and glanced at his cup. "Looks like I need a refill for some reason." An Tintreach refused to look guilty. In fact she made a point of sliding the glass to herself and sticking her tongue out at him. Yes, you do need a refill. Because this is hers now.

"I still have a ton of presents I need to buy," Noctis lamented as he sank down, glancing around and catching a waitress's attention with a smile. She came over after finishing with the table she was at, beaming at the boys and winking at their Pokemon.

"What can I get ya'?"

"Hot cocoas all around, please," Noctis said as Ana cheered, getting a laugh out of the waitress.

"Coming right up!" She bustled off and the prince turned his attention back on Ash, motioning to the notebook.

"Need any help thinking of ideas?" He only asks because it might help him as well. Just maybe. He's really clueless on this.

"Nah nah, I know what I'm intending to get for some people. It's mostly the Pokemon and money but it'll be fine." He waved it off, although An Tintreach clearly had a thoughtful moment before drinking of her (stolen) hot chocolate.

"So you don't have Christmas in your world, or anything like it?" Quick, topic change!

"Alright, alright," Noctis said, glancing at An Tintreach then back to Ash as he propped an elbow on the table and put his chin in his hand. "Nothing like it. I mean, we have holidays just nothing around this time of year and nothing called Christmas."

"Well, there's the religious side to it which...is a bit redundant here given I don't think there's Poke-Jesus, and then the holiday side." Ash smiled and easily lapsed into storyteller, sitting back as he began to explain.

"The religious side goes that the son of God, Jesus Christ, was born to a virgin named Mary. There's stuff about a King who hears of it and orders that the first born sons be killed, some wise men who hear and follow a star to the newborn baby, some shepherds who are the first to hear the news cos the archangel Gabriel tells them, and he's born in a stable because Mary had to go to this city while pregnant and there's no inns open when she gets there." There's a lot more to be added there but again, no PokeJesus so it was best not to get too caught up in it.

"So Christmas is about that if you're a Christian. I ain't but my dad's Catholic, which is a kind of Christian. But it's basically come to be a family thing. Cos everyone gets the day off for Christmas, people can get together. Me and my dad had a lot of little traditions for the day..."

~~Um, excuse you. Have you not heard about the word of our lord and savior Arceus?~~

"Huh.." Noctis let it all sink in for a moment before shaking his head. "That is a really strange story but I guess whatever works for people. Some of the stuff from my home would probably sound strange to others so I guess I can't really judge."

Wait.

"How could she be his mother if she was a virgin??"

Noctis, asking the real questions.

"So it's basically just an excuse to hang out with the people you care about?" he asked, eyebrow up as he leaned back to give the waitress that had returned room to put their cocoas down. He thanked her and she smiled politely before glancing at Ash and winking at him before heading off to bus another table. "What sort of traditions did you guys have?"

"That's the point, that it was a miracle and all! Immaculate conception and all." God didn't need to bang, God could just point at a lady and go 'you're pregnant now'. Which...is actually creepy and raises consent issues but when Ash tried to ask that in church the few times they'd gone, Oisin had quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and told him not to talk during the sermon.

"But yeah, that's pretty much how my family treated it." He smiled bright to the waitress, taking a sip of his drink. "Man...me and my dad would spend the morning together but at midday we'd head over to my grandparents. My auntie and her partner would be there too, so we'd spend the day with them. Singing songs, opening presents and having this fancy, traditional dinner. Turkey, roast potatoes, veg, sausages with bacon, gravy. A total feast." An Tintreach is sighing at the idea of all that food. She'd seen pictures of recipes Ash had found while researching what he was gonna do for Christmas dinner, and it all looked super delicious.

"My dad and grandad both played the violin. My aunt plays piano and my granny is all about singing. So, after we've eaten and like, watched a movie and lazed about a bit, we'd play some music all together. Christmas stuff but also just some old tunes we've sort of taught each other over time, or that's been passed down." Ash smiled, drifting slightly in his memories. "We'd play some games. Then in the late evening me and Dad would head home."

"..Okay that's really weird," Noctis said with a laugh, shaking his head. "You can totally keep that part of it for your world. We have enough weird stuff we don't need that to." It's all said in good fun as Noct lifts his cocoa to take a sip.

"That sounds like a lot of fun though. Just..all of that. We didn't have a whole lot of that in Insomnia." When your father's the king it's hard to get a lot of time with him. Regis had done his best and Noctis would never complain..but they had never had a lot of family stuff like that since they're family was really just the two of them.

Noctis smiled softly at that look on Ash's face, resting a chin in his hand as he set his mug down on the table with the other.

"So is that what Christmas is like here, too? I mean, from what you've heard."

"I dunno, this is my first Christmas here. I think it's more what people choose to make of it. Especially with people coming from other worlds and all; some people might celebrate it, some people might not. They sell kind of chirstmassy things, like trees and lights and all, but there's nothing religious on sale; no like, manger scenes or stuff like that. It does kind of feel like, it wasn't originally celebrated here but got brought over. I can't really say if it's from us coming in or from another region ages away."

It was odd but given this was his first Christmas away from home, he found himself noticing all the little things that were missing. Gloomy as London was, they did put up lights on the main streets and arrange some festivities, like the big tree going up and markets and such. And yeah they were in a market, but it didn't have the same atmosphere.

"For me, it's just about family and friends. So my current plans are to get presents for everyone." He avoided thinking about being alone on Christmas, or not seeing his family. He had his Pokemon. He wasn't alone.

"Huh. That's interesting to think about--stuff coming from other regions. I mean, this place is weird and all video game-like but it still must function like any other world would, right?" Noctis mused, starting to think a little more deeply about this world the more time he spent in it. Maybe it was time to do some serious reading about Johto and everything beyond.

"Everyone huh?" the prince said with a grin before he looked thoughtful. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun...I guess I need to start making a list of my own so I don't miss anyone."

He would probably still miss people and have to buy things last minute because this is Noctis we're talking about.

"Yeah...I remember hearing something about some Pokemon not being native to Johto and coming from other regions. That kind of thing happened back home, with people taking animals to other countries and then them going wild and all that. But normally it's a problem cos it fucks with the native wildlife, cos the brought in animals either go nuts and kill all of a species that didn't get hunted by something before, or they beat out another animal at like, making a nest and getting food, so that other animal gets endangered."

Ash tapped on his notebook thoughtfully. He'd been interested about how the world had been before it got so populated and, much like anyone who goes online to research something, he fell into 'click-link' hell and ended up learning more about animals than had been taught in his biology class.

"I admit it's just like, small things for my Pokemon. I can't afford to give them all something like, super nice." He admitted. But it was only his Pokemon! He could completely afford stuff for his human friends.

"I don't know how much of a problem we had with that sort of thing back home but I can't help but wonder if it's ever been a problem here. I mean, not all Pokemon get along, right? So there had to have been some issues that came up when they started moving around," he mused, thinking specifically about the Karp Squad and how others reacted to Gyarados.

Sadly Noctis had never been one to fall into click-bait hell since he..generally never spent time researching much. (Since it usually put him to sleep.)

"Hey, small things mean just as much as big things," Noctis said firmly, grinning afterwards then taking a sip of his cocoa as Ana let out an affirmative noise.

Ash shrugged. "I mean, there's gotta be some research about it. I'd be surprised if there wasn't something about us lot, given people popping in from another world is kind of the same deal; different people coming in and out, getting Pokemon and all that."

He slid his notebook to him, opening it so Noctis couldn't peek inside. "Yeah. But you always wanna give the people you care about the best, don't ya?" And given the presents Noctis had given him for his birthday, yeah, he wants to step it up and give him something just as nice. He had one idea already but, that was something he would put together personally. He just needed to find a way to make a playlist for Noctis' gear...

"True," Noctis mused. "I wonder if one of us, one of the people that's come from another world, has put together anything. I mean, we'd kind of be the experts on it in a sense."

The prince makes a mock pouting face, playfully trying to peer at the notebook before sitting back again.

"Absolutely! But sometimes there are small things you can give that hold a lot of meaning," he said with a smile, thinking about some of the items he had tucked away for the big day. Hopefully Ash would like some of the things he had for him already.

"True...but still." Ash threw Noctis a plotting smile. The one that said he had an idea in motion, which may or may not be legal. It's a mystery~

"It's nice to be able to splash out a little on your friends. Like I said, I'm gonna make sure all the Pokemon get something. But then I got some other people to buy for. One of them went all out for my birthday, so I gotta make sure I get him something rad." He even winked. Whoever could it be??

Ash you and your illegal plots.

"Well yeah, that's kind of what you do for your friends on their birthday. I'm sure he isn't expecting anything crazy, Ash," Noctis mused with a roll of his eyes and a faint smile. You dork.

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I really need a winking ash icon someday

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