lil-rebbitzen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lil_rebbitzen) wrote2010-01-02 12:24 am
lil_rebbitzen) wrote2010-01-02 12:24 am
Entry tags:
61 Illness
Hooray, I finally posted the fic as I promised! More Lil’ Vanni and Lil’ Seren! <3 I love writing these two as kids.
Happy New Year, everyone, and happy anniversary to me! The 31st was the one year mark for my first fic! ^^
Hopefully it came out alright, because I just typed 4k or so in under 24 hours... :/
Two parter, since it's fairly long.
Childhood saga, pt 2.
61. Illness
Characters: Lil’ Giovanni, Lil’ Seren, Alden Rochat, Gavriel and Dvorah Awres (Seren’s parents), Satoshi-Sensei (OC)
Rating: G...well, PG if you count Giovanni cursing in Italian...
61. Illness
Second in the Childhood series
Dictionary:
Ema/Emi- Mother, Mommy (E-mah, E-me)
Pareve- neither meat nor dairy, so “pareve chocolate” would be non-dairy chocolate
Yerushalayim- The native name for Jerusalem
fiore selvatico- Italian, "Wild flower"
Tovil oti latov
garesh et kol hapachad
tar'eh li she'efshar lihyot me'ushar
ten li lehar'gish
kol od anachnu yachad
sheha'olam kulo bishvilanu nolad*
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hello, son. How was school?”
“Okay, I guess. Um, is it okay if I bring a friend over?”
“Hm? Sure, if it’s okay with their parents.”
“Yeah, Mrs. Awres said it was okay.”
“Alright, then it’s fine.”
“Er, don’t I need to ask Mother too?”
“Nah, she’ll be fine with it, as long as you do your homework with no trouble.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good boy. Do you need me to pick you up, or is one of the chauffeurs doing it?”
“Mrs. Awres said she can, so Ser can pick up some play clothes first.”
“That works. Make sure to call if you get lost and need help getting from there to home. Now, I need to go. A trainer just came in wanting a match. Love ya, Iian.”
“You too, Father. Beat ‘em good!”
When Alden Moretti-Rochat had hung up the phone, he was happy to know his son had found someone to play with. The boy tended towards his mother’s personality, in that while he wasn’t exactly anti-social, he was introverted more than was probably healthy for his age. But from what he could tell, Giovanni actually did want a friend to play with, someone other than Alden to roughhouse with, and Alden was perfectly fine with this. So imagine Alden’s surprise when this “Ser” that Giovanni brought home turned out to instead be a very fragile looking, quiet girl, who hid behind the taller boy. “Hey, Dad!” His son chirped.
Alden resisted raising an eyebrow as he returned the greeting, making sure to be as hospitable as possible. Smiling, he held out his hand to the little one, “Well, hello, miss. Are you my son’s new friend?” She nodded, peeking out from behind ‘Vanni’, as she called her friend.
“Ser, he’s not going to bite.” Giovanni took her backpack away, and grabbed her hand, placing it in his father’s. “Dad, this is Seren, my friend from school. Ser, this is my father.”
“H-hello, Mr. Moretti-Rochat.” Seren said quietly, looking up at his friendly blue eyes, then quickly looking down.
Alden smiled, and gently tilted her chin up to have their eyes meet again, “Just Mr. Rochat will do. You have very pretty violet eyes, little one. You should look up more often so people can see how pretty they are.” His voice was smooth with a light French lilt, but with a hint of his Italian mother.
She blushed such a bright color that neither of the males could help but think of a Charizard’s flame, “T-thank you, sir. I shall try.”
Giovanni grinned. His father was an incredibly charming man, and knew how to use that charm to get people to do something, including something as seemingly simple as making a little girl a bit more confident… well, that remained to be seen, but he bet it would work. In any event, it seemed to get his mother to calm down, a miracle with as worked up as she got.
“Ah, where are my manners? Come in, Ms. Seren. Van, why don’t you take your backpacks to the living room. Oh, and the cat‘s been yelping for you, I think he‘s hungry or something. Silly spoiled Persian, and it‘s been here barely a year.” Giovanni nodded obediently, hauling the heavy bags off. “If you don’t mind me asking, Ms. Seren,” Alden started as he escorted her to the kitchen, “would you be the same Ser that’s been helping my son with his language homework?”
“Um, yes, sir. It‘s a little difficult, since Hebrew and Japanese are a little alike with sentence structure, but other than that, they aren‘t very much alike…” She remembered what he had said about her eyes and pushed the long black bangs that she normally hid behind away from her face, tucking them behind her ears. “But…He’s been helping me with my math, as well.”
A raised eyebrow, “Hebrew?”
She nodded, “Yes, sir, I’m Jewish. I just moved back here about a year ago, to Celadon, and then here about three months ago.”
“Hm, I’m surprised. Your Japanese is actually very good, though accented heavily. Can you speak English?”
Seren blushed, “Um, yes, my parents are both from the States, but they’ve lived here for awhile, so they learned Japanese before they had me. So I shouldn‘t have trouble when we start learning English next year, but…” she grimaced as she struggled to actually say the phrase as the Americans would, “English is a hard language to…say…when you…” -here she gave up and switched back to Japanese- “It is a hard language when your tongue is used to rolling ‘R’s’ and using what they call gutturals. English isn’t kind to a Hebraic tongue. Many of the native Japanese can speak it better than I, but I can read it. Writing it is a bit more difficult.” She demonstrated on a scrap piece of paper, and her Roman block letters were definitely more flowing than most. At least she might be able to write cursive when she learned more.
“Well, I want to thank you. My son’s struggled with that subject since he started this past fall. I am glad he has such a friend to help him.” His eyes drifted off to the side, “I wish I had at such an age.” The last was a whisper, more to himself than to her.
“Sir?”
His eyes darted back quicker than they should have, and he chuckled, “Ah, I’m sorry. Forgive the mutterings of an old man, cherie. Just reminiscing to my own childhood in France and Italy.”
“Both?”
“I visited relatives often.” His parents had actually been separated for many years before reconciling, but there was no need for her to know that, “Have you ever been outside of Kanto? I remember you mentioned just moving back.”
Seren nodded, tugging at one of her pigtails she had just fixed, “I was born here, but we moved to Isra’el until I was…five or six, I guess.” Her own light voice carried a bit of her parents’ accents, a mix of the American South, and her Israeli upbringing. “Ema said I have something called…dual citizenship?”
“So you can live there if you wanted to when you are older? That’s nice. I have only seen the Holy Land in pictures, but it seems beautiful.”
She beamed with a pride for the land she loved, “Oh, it is. You get to eat fresh fruit and vegetables everyday,” she said in Japanese, then accidentally went into Hebrew as a habit as she grew comfortable. After seeing his slightly confused face, she hurriedly translated. The translation she gave was not to be perfect (in fact it was rather imperfect), but “the shops are filled with spices, and you should see Yerushalayim in the sunset! The white stone reflects the pink and purple and orange so beautifully!” was probably good enough for now.
The poor child was not fluent enough in her non-native tongue to describe it better than that, but the original Hebrew gave the impression (of one familiar to the scents) of sweet and spicy tickling the nose as you shopped, the common scents filling the air and intermingling in a delicious bouquet that was in the market, the aroma of frankincense, the savory of cardamom and hyssop, the sweet of freshly squeezed mango and orange juice and of mint; fresh bread, almost paper thin and sticky to the touch, was a childhood favorite. The sunsets were too. It was hard to describe, but when she was older, she would realize that the buildings did not gleam white, they shone red gold on the horizon. She had lived outside the city, and would often stand on the roof watching the sun go down each day.
A voice yelled in Italian from upstairs. Seren saw a cream colored blur rush past the top of the stairs, with the young boy running after it. Ignoring the shouting, -and mentally reminding himself to talk with the boy about his language- Alden continued, “What is the shopping like there? I’ve heard it’s open air?” He had beckoned her to sit in front of him on a stool at the tan marble island in the kitchen, giving her a small homemade treat while they waited for his son, who, it seemed, from the yelling, was having a time catching the cat.
Even though she lived outside, she still went often with her mother to the bazaar, the vendors of the sook (the Arabic word for it) flaunting their wares, practically yelling, always promising to have the finest choice of food or clothes or whatever your heart desired at the lowest price. Her mother and she had quickly figured out which vendors they could trust: normally the Jewish ones, though a few Moslems did them well, not inflating the price. And of course, as is custom in the Middle East, that is always negotiable. She herself had learned from the time she was knee high to her mother how to bargain, often times buying spices for her mother when she was across the alleyway, all of ten feet away perhaps. Either way, whether the deal went through are not, most of them gave the little girl small gifts, perhaps some pareve chocolate or candy, or sometimes small toys. One time, a man who headed a jewelry store, dark eyes shining and tan face smiling, had given her a few handmade wooden dolls, a little family of them with a tiny plush camel, when she had come by looking for her mother in the market. The people, whether Jew or not, loved children dearly, and they played often in the streets between buildings with small balls or dolls. It was a simple, trusting culture, where honor and shame sometimes outweighed conscience, but the children could care less of such things. Let them enjoy themselves while they are little, the adults reasoned, for soon their little boys and girls, when they reached thirteen and twelve, respectively, would Bar and Bat Mitzvah and be considered adults and accountable to Torah and the laws of their forefathers.
Because she had been young enough not to go to school, Seren was allowed to go to her neighbors’ houses and inquire as to whether she could play with her friends. After the first time she asked, she quickly learned that after that she usually didn’t need to ask permission, a practice that would be frowned upon later in her life. In fact, the things she had learned in Israel as a small child seemed to be shaping her massively as she grew from a tiny little girl to a schoolchild, and the culture shock of going back to Kanto was giving her fits. She didn’t understand why the school children did not want to play with her, they in turn did not understand the ways of the light olive-skinned girl, her skin losing its deep tan over the few years after she came back; why did their parents frown at her when she randomly showed up at their doorstep and inquired about their children? This culture was alien, complex and untrusting of strangers. Even with the mixture of Japanese and other cultures, the locales had quickly created their own subsets of cultures and, unfortunately, Judaism was barely practiced, barely represented in these parts.
She had barely finished her tale of the marketplaces when a cream-colored cat entered the room and, seeing her in its spot, sat down in front of her, as if impatiently waiting, even willing her, to move. Seren smiled, “Aw, a Persian! Can I pet it, Mr. Rochat?”
“Be careful, he’s not always friendly.”
“ ’Kay. Hey, Persian, Vanni told me about you…” she carefully held out her hand palm down for the cat to sniff, which it did, and started hissing and arching its back.
“Persian! Don’t you hiss at her!” Seren looked up as she jerked her hand back and saw her friend standing in the archway, frowning at his feline friend, “She was just trying to pet ya.” Giovanni pulled firmly on one of its whiskers and the cat immediately lowered its head, as if it actually felt guilty for its behavior. “Found out from the local professor that Persians become calm when you do that. Just seems like an easy way to get bitten, but what works, works.” He was wearing some old jeans and a brown t-shirt now, “Sorry it took so long, trying to find the cat to give him something to eat. He ran off when I did find him.” He stuck out his tongue, “Silly cat’s finicky too.”
“I warned you Persians are rather fussy when you brought him home,” Alden reminded him.
“Well, he’s going to be good,” the boy glared at the cat, “aren’t ya?” Persian seemed to sigh and nod, mawring in response. “So,” He said, turning to his father, “how was that battle at the gym?”
“Battle at the gym?” Seren asked.
“Dad’s the gym leader here.” Giovanni said, black eyes shining with pride, “I’m going to run the gym one day, too.”
“Really? That’s so cool!” Seren chirped, bouncing a little in excitement, “I’ve never met a gym leader before! What kind of Pokémon do you use?”
Alden chuckled, “I specialize in Ground types. In fact, my Sandslash is outside with the others, roaming around the grounds. Would you like to see her?”
“Oh, yes, please, if it's not too much trouble.”
“Alright then,” the children swiped some of the chocolate chip biscotti fresh out of the oven as they went outside, the little girl more than a little impressed with the treats. Alden pulled his son over to him as she enthused, and whispered playfully, “Sweet little thing, though a bit excitable.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Heh, I’m sure I don’t. Reminds me of you when we came here.” His son shot a glare at him, “It’s culture shock, son. Just like you had to learn the social niceties of this culture, so too does she. I believe it would be nice to help her overcome that.”
“Trying… It’s…interesting.” Giovanni sighed, when he noticed that Seren was waiting, “whoops. Sorry, Essie, didn’t mean to make you wait.”
“It’s okay, I have a cookie! Ugiyah!” She nibbled happily on it, and seemed much more relaxed as they walked.
“Ugiyah?” He asked. In response, she pointed to the biscotti. “Cookie?”
“Yep! And it has shokolad too… Oops, I mean chocolate!”
Alden laughed a little, before looking around the place, “Hm, she‘s probably in her favorite spot,” He put two fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, “Blair! Come here, girl!” Seren spotted a previously unnoticed object move near a maple tree, and giggled as it came rolling up to them. When it screeched to a halt, the spiky, brown ball opened up, revealing a tan creature that reminded Seren a little of a mouse, with two claws on each forelimb. “Seren, this is Blair, she was my first Pokémon as a Sandshrew. Blair, this is Van’s new friend, so be nice to her.” Blair nodded, extending a claw to the girl, who gently shook it.
Petting her, Giovanni noticed something amidst the spikes, and gently pulled it out of the crevices. He held up some leaves, and chuckled, “I think she’s been digging around in the forest again. Looking for berries?” The Sandslash bobbed its head up and down again, chirping its name happily.
“The forest?” Seren asked.
“Yep, it’s really neat…say, after we do some homework, you wanna go play there?”
“Sure!” Alden handed her a small ball to toss to Blair, who bounced it around on its body before passing it back. She giggled, and quickly became fascinated with the game.
Watching the girl bounce the toy back and forth, twittering some Hebrew as she did, Alden leaned towards his son, “I’m going to hazard a guess that she speaks Japanese when she’s expected too, and when she’s nervous… she seems to revert back to Hebrew when she’s relaxed. Probably speaks it exclusively at home.”
His son nodded, “This is the first time I’ve seen her like this. She’s normally really…”
“Anxious?”
“Yeah.” Giovanni chuckled, “I blame the cookies. By the way, how’d the match go?”
“Well enough, I’m going to train Blair a bit more today, though. We beat the challenger, but they’ll want a rematch, I’m certain. I‘ll tell you more later; you have homework to do, and a visitor.”
Giovanni nodded, “Hey, Ser?” The girl looked up from playing, “We need to get some homework done if we’re going to play.”
She sighed, rolling the ball back to Blair, “Okay… see ya later, Blair!” Blair nodded, rolling over to its trainer as the kids went inside.
“They’re cute together, aren’t they, girl?” Alden smiled, petting her. The mouse nodded, “Alright, that trainer’s Pidgeot almost creamed us today…let’s work on our techniques!”
“Slash!”
~~~~
“Come on, Seren!” The young boy called to his friend, turning to see what was keeping her. It had taken awhile, but they had finished their homework, and they were on their way to having fun.
If she would ever catch up.
Seren emerged from the bushes, nicks and bruises covering her, “Vanni, you’re going too fast…” Persian rolled its eyes at how slow the human girl was. “I’m not used to running in forests like this.” She smoothed out the wrinkles in her pale green play dress, and frowned at the small dirt stains, “Emi’s going to be angry that I got this dress dirty.” The cookies were gone, and so was the sugar rush that had caused her to become giddy earlier in the day.
Giovanni shrugged, “So you got your dress dirty. I have some clothes you might be able to wear while one of the maids washes it.”
Seren stuck her tongue out at the idea, “your clothes are too big…and they’re boy clothes.”
He shrugged again, “So? Your mother will get onto you for wearing them?”
“It’s the principal of it. I’m supposed to be careful…”
“Come on, Ser.” Persian deftly leaped up with him onto a slightly rotted log that looked rather unsafe to Seren, “Live a little. Sometimes ya gotta get in a little trouble to have fun.” He extended his hand to her, and she looked at the precarious log with worry, “It’s safe.” He hopped up and down on it to illustrate, when the wood gave way, dumping him into the insect infested inside. “Whoa!”
Seren looked over the side to peek in, and smiled a little, “Safe, huh?”
“Shut up and help me out before these bugs decide I’m snack.” Giovanni grumbled, hating to be proved wrong, but especially in front of her, though he did not know why.
Seren pulled at the side of the log and barely was able to dodge the rotten wood spilling out of it from the piece that she had managed to get off, and she wrinkled her nose, “Ew, it really is rotting, if I can pull it apart.”
“Ain’t that the truth!”
“Shut up!” She grinned, having recently learned of his hatred of small places, “unless you’d rather stay in that tiny little spot, worms wriggling all over you…”
There was silence for a moment, and he sighed, “Okay, sorry. Geez, I was just agreeing with you. Boy, you females sure are weird.” A centipede looked over at him and seemed to sit back on its hind feet, possibly trying to figure if he was a predator or a rather large meal.
“I know, jus’ teasing,” she giggled, trying to pry more wood off, when she started to feel a little lightheaded; she stopped and put her hand to her head, “Oh, that was weird.”
“What?” He poked his head out of the hole she had managed to create, brown hair matted with wet dirt in front of his eyes, “You okay?”
“Yeah, just felt dizzy,” She looked at Persian, “Hey Persian, can you scratch at this to help me get Vanni out?” Persian looked at its friend and future trainer, and when Giovanni nodded, so did it. “Okay, careful.” He hurriedly pulled his head back in and shoved up against the back of the log, sneezing at all the mold in the air. The centipede scurried off. When she asked if he was ready, he yelled an affirmative, and Persian slashed at the wood. Chunks of wet wood flew out, and Seren ducked to avoiding getting hit by them, hoping that it didn’t make her dress any dirtier than it was. She glanced up and smiled at the large mass missing from the log, “Can ya get out?”
“Yeah, I think so…” The young boy coughed, pulling apart his bangs so he could see, and he managed to squeeze through the hole head first, landing on the ground with a thud. “Ow.” He mumbled, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m fine,” He said when she looked worriedly at him, “just landed on it wrong. You shouldn’t worry so much.”
“Okay…” She looked relieved, even if she was frowning a little. “So, where are we going, anyway?”
“There’s an awesome natural pool in here. It’s got a waterfall and water Pokémon, and everything. Did you bring your swimsuit?” She nodded, “It’s really fun to cannonball in.” The tilt of her head made him sigh as they walked, wondering if his friend ever did anything other than read, “I’ll show you. By the way, I heard there’s going to be a karate class starting at school in the spring. You and I are going to join it.”
“Huh? Why me?” She noticed the sound of water crashing.
“Cause you need to learn to stand up a little for yourself. I mean, I don’t really mind standing up for you…but you should learn to take care of yourself. You don’t want to be scared all of the time, right?” She shook her head, “Well, maybe this’ll help ya. Especially since in a couple of years we’ll be getting our trainers’ licenses. You can’t hide from a Pokémon you wanna catch. Ya gotta be ready to battle!” She mumbled an agreement, and he smiled a little, “I don’t really want to see you get hurt, you know? Your parents would beat me.”
“Nice to know that’s the only reason,” the small 8-year-old girl smiled as they walked. A few moments later, Giovanni pushed some vines out of the way, and beamed, “Here we are! Nice, huh?” Seren had to agree. The location he had led them to was a clear pond fed from a moderately sized waterfall, with a small number of Goldeen swimming around. Persian looked at the fish with a hungry gleam in his eyes, when his trainer said, “No, Persian, I just fed you.” The cat sighed, flopping down on the bank, defeated.
“Wow, the water’s so clear and pretty.” She looked around the grove, and spotted a tree with a trunk wide enough for her purposes, “I’m going to go change real quick.”
“Wait, I thought you wore your swimsuit underneath?” He asked with a raised brow as she skittered behind the tree.
“No…well, sort of!” She squeaked, throwing her dress over a branch.
“What’s that mean?”
“Not telling!”
He heard the zipper being undone on her backpack, and shrugged. Girls were so strange sometimes! He went behind another tree and quickly pulled off his own clothes so he was just wearing his red swim trunks. Emerging at roughly the same time as her, he smiled, “Hey, that looks nice on you.”
“S-shut up!” She blushed as red as the outfit she was wearing, but he wasn’t sure what she was getting so upset about. It was a nice, modest, crimson one-piece suit, that she had paired with a black swim skirt, and he had merely been speaking of the color combination looking nice against her olive skin. Strange indeed! He thought.
“Whatever. Cannonball!” He yelled, jumping into the pool with his knees pulled to his chest. Persian jumped back in alarm as the water splashed onto him, and he shook off in disgust, smelling strongly of wet cat, which was a smell only beaten by wet dog.
“Oh, I think I can do that!” She said, imitating him and hoping in as well. Persian failed to dodge her splash as well, and sighed, laying out on a rock warmed by the sun in an effort to both get away from the wet children and dry itself. Today was not his day!
A few hours later, the children emerged from the pond, thoroughly wrinkled and exhausted, but laughing all the same, byzantium and obsidian eyes shining together in mirth. Flipping her head upside down to dry her black-blue hair, “Hey, you said you’ll take over the Gym from your father one day, right?” Seren asked, patting it with a small pink towel.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. Why?” He was behind the tree from earlier, toweling himself off as well.
“Just wondering, what type of Pokémon will you use?”
“Earth, like him, I guess. Maybe some really strong Pokémon, like fire types, if not.” He put his clothes back on, and fluffed his hair dry as he came out from behind the tree, “I guess it depends on what happens on our journey.” Persian looked up at him and frowned, “And I’ll use Persian, of course. Can’t forget my buddy!” The cat meowed, happy to not be forgotten. “You?”
“Well, I like flying types so far, but I guess that’s because of that Spearow I feed all the time. Besides them, what I really find interesting are the Dragons…especially Dragonair. I’ve never seen a real one, but in the few pictures I’ve seen, they look so regal and majestic, powerful, too!”
“Yeah, they’re pretty neat, I would love to catch one and raise it up to a Dragonite. By the way, you almost done? It’s going to be getting dark soon.”
“Yep, just sticking my wet clothes in a plastic bag…done!” She hopped out, back in her soiled green dress, “I may take you up on the offer to get my dress washed. Though I’m really not fond of the idea of wearing boys’ clothes…”
As she went on, a thought popped in his head. Wasn’t there that flower patch near here? Hm… When she had finished her short rant about boys and their tendency to get dirty quickly, he slung his pack over his shoulder, “Hey, there’s something I want to go do real quick… you wanna come along?”
She shook her head, “I’m actually really tired at the moment…you can go on, though, I don’t mind! Persian can keep me company, right, Pershie?” The cat threw her a glance that indicated he didn’t appreciate the nickname greatly.
“Alright…you sure?” He really wanted to make sure she wasn’t messing with him. He’d see his mother say things like that to his father or him, she’d really mean something else, and then he or his father would be in the doghouse with her. He didn’t care to have that happen more than was necessary.
“Yep.” She nodded, petting the classy cat behind the ear, and she smiled as he leaned into it.
“Okay. I’ll be right back!” He said, running out of the clearing. A few minutes later, he slowed down, the forest becoming thick with brush and snares and other pitfalls. Pidgeys hopped around the branches with their parents, some more clumsy than others. In a few weeks, these babies would learn to fly from tree to tree, then in a few months, would set off on their own. He wondered if he could catch one for her later, as a present. He saw a Fearow fly overheard, and rethought it. She liked Spearows and Fearows… best be one of those. He wouldn’t mind catching himself a Pidgey when he was old enough, though; Pidgeot could be fierce little fighters!
Locating the flower grove, he spotted some wild roses, deep red in color, growing by themselves in a corner, and carefully picked some. “There is a flower patch near here, and I thought you might like a flower…” He practiced to himself, and felt his cheeks heat up; he hoped she didn’t think he was weird for liking the natural beauty inherent in the plants. “Maybe a few other flowers, too…daisies look nice.” He bent down to pick them, and as he rose, a familiar screech echoed through the trees. “Persian?!” He yelled, taking off in a run towards the pool, “Seren! Persian!” The only answer he received was the cat’s shrill cries, which grew louder as he approached, being careful not to trip more than he already was.
He finally burst into the opening, and saw why there had been only one answer to his calls. Seren lay motionless on the ground, with Persian standing overhead, pushing her with its head and licking her in an attempt to wake her. “Ser! Persian, what happened?!” Persian looked helplessly up at him, meowing and going on as he examined her. She was breathing alright, and her pulse was strong, but she wouldn’t wake, and he started to panic, “Merdamerdamerdamerdamerda! Why won’t she wake up?” He growled, before forcing himself to breathe, “Okay…think this through…gotta get her back to the house, Dad’ll know what to do…Persian, help me out here. She can’t be heavier than you were…” Persian ignored the comment, pushing the girl up, and as Giovanni squatted, against his back. He picked her up, wincing at the fact there wasn’t that much weight difference, to him, between the two of them. Persian picked her pack up in its teeth, and they started off towards the house as fast as they could. “Don’t worry, Seren…I’ll get you home…”
~~~~
Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…The noise slowly grew as Seren started to come back to consciousness, becoming aware of other noises, the light beyond her eyelids, the strong smells. Where…am…I? The thought came hesitantly, and she carefully opened her eyes a little, and found herself staring at a bright white drop ceiling, a fluorescent the source of the offensive light. Am I in the hospital?
“Yeah, you’re at Viridian General.” A familiar voice answered as she realized she had voiced the thought as well. She turned her head to see Giovanni sitting beside the hospital bed, staring at her worriedly, something that, later in their lives, would be more common than they wished. “You collapsed while I was away, and I got you to Dad so we could bring you here. Your parents are on the way, too.”
“Oh…” She bit her lip, then smiled, “T-thank you, Vanni…for rescuing me.”
He started to blush a little, “You’re welcome. Any idea what happ…” He was interrupted by the door opening, and a male and female entering, “Oh, hello, Mrs. Awres.”
The woman smiled and nodded. She was a very pretty redhead with light blue eyes, and rather tall as well, “Oh, sweetie,” she said, taking her daughter’s hand in hers, “Are you alright?”
Seren smiled back, “I think so.” She hugged the woman tight as she said it.
“Are you Giovanni?” Her father asked, and the boy nodded, a little intimidated. Mr. Awres was only slightly taller than his wife, but that made him about six feet tall, with dark brown, curly hair, and a matching, full beard. He wore a crisp blue shirt that had some odd blue and white tassels hanging from underneath, and ironed tan slacks. The man grinned, and held out his hand to the boy, who shook it, “Thank you very much for helping my daughter.”
Giovanni rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, “It’s alright. She’s my friend, I couldn’t exactly leave her…” He meant to go on, but was interrupted again by the door, this time the doctor walking in.
“Ah, Awres-san? Dr. Satoshi, at your service,” he gave a little bow, which her father returned in kind, “I have your daughter’s test results…” He didn’t seem to see the boy, “Seren-chan here seems to have had a seizure. Has she had them before?”
“Yes, Sensei. She had her first when she was about five. Was it tonic-clonic?” The doctor nodded, “Yeah, that’s it.”
“What’s wrong? What’s a seizure?” Giovanni asked.
The doctor raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. You and your father brought her in, correct?” The boy nodded.
“It’s alright, he’s her friend, and ours as well,” at the inquisitive look from the boy, he smiled, “You saved my little girl, you’re now a friend of ours.”
“Well, the cells in you brain turn on and off like little lights, and it tells your body what to do. Sometimes, in people with epilepsy, which is what Seren-chan has, some of the cells will all turn on at once, or not switch on and off quite right, and it will make the body do things, like shake, or cause a person to faint,” Satoshi-sensei explained, pushing his glasses up, “A new medicine for children with seizures just came out that helps them not have them so often. Sometimes it works so well they don’t have them anymore. We’ll start her on it tomorrow, and we’ll see how it goes.”
“How long will she have them for?“ Giovanni asked.
“Momma said sometimes it’s just for a little while, but sometimes it’s longer,” Seren said, squeezing his hand and smiling, “Just depends on the person.”
“Indeed. Could you please wait outside, little boy? I need to discuss private matters with the Awres family.” The doctor inquired.
Giovanni agreed, stepping outside, and sighed after the door closed. He was glad she was alright, but he started to feel a bit anxious. What if that had happened while they were swimming? What if she had been completely alone? He shuddered. Best not to dwell too deeply on it. “How is she?” Alden asked from a nearby chair.
“She’s okay, but she has something called…epilepsy?” Was that the word the doctor had used? “She had a seizure that made her pass out.”
“Hm, that would most certainly explain it. In that case, if you continue to be her friend, you’ll have to keep a sharp eye on her.” Alden said.
Giovanni’s eyes flashed briefly with anger, “I’m not going to stop being her friend just because she’s got that!”
“And never did I think or say you would. I’m merely warning you that this may happen again, and you need to be prepared for it. When the doctor’s finished, I will speak to him and her parents about putting together something for you to carry around, in case it happens again. I’m not entirely sure what it will entail you carrying or having access to, but…”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” his son sighed, looking back at the room, “I want to help her, want to protect her…”
“I know, Van.” He put his hand on the young boy’s shoulder, “and I’m proud of you for not running away from that.” The doctor emerged from the room, scribbling something on his clipboard, “Ah, Sensei, if I could speak with you and her parents for a moment, I’d like to find out more about this so we can be prepared in the future.”
“Of course.”
“Satoshi-san,” Giovanni began, “may I go see Essie again?”
“As long as you don’t excite her, it should be fine. Rochat-san, if you will follow me, her parents will be along shortly.” Alden nodded, going with the physician, and Giovanni ducked back into the room, where Seren and her parents were talking quietly.
“Hopefully the medicine will help you, sweetie, but you have to remember to take it everyday,” her mother said. He had obviously walked into an ongoing conversation.
“I know, Emi. It’s not like I’m that forgetful…”
“Dvorah, she’s really isn’t.” Her father interjected.
“I know, I know…” Dvorah sighed, running fingers through her daughter’s hair, which Seren leaned into; Giovanni made a mental note of that, “I just get worried for you, Aythi, that’s all.” Aythi? Giovanni raised a brow, then quietly knocked on the door. Dvorah turned, and smiled at the boy, “Oh, hello, Giovanni.”
“Hi, Mrs. Awres. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
“No, not really,” she shook her head, “Seren, we need to speak with the doctor for a few minutes. We’ll be right back.”
The children nodded, and after they left, Giovanni turned back to his friend, with a mix of fear and sadness, “So, what’d he say?”
“We just were talking about the medicine, that’s all. Side effects and stuff that could happen, but it doesn’t sound too bad.” She pulled her knees up to her chest, and chuckled quietly, “I think I can handle possibly having a headache once in awhile if it makes the seizures go away mostly, or all the way.”
He laughed as well, sitting on the bed next to her, “yeah, that sounds acceptable.” They sat in silence for a few moments, then, “What’d your mom mean when she said Aythi? Is it like ‘daughter’?”
“No, It’s part of my Hebrew name…we use it when I’m at synagogue, or when we have something special going on. Like ceremonial stuff.”
“Oh…Wait, part?”
“Yep, it’s Aythi Shelechet bat Gavriel.” He blinked in confusion, and she giggled, “sorry, ‘Aythi’ means ‘Season’, and ‘Shelechet’ is ‘Autumn’. ‘bat Gavriel’ is just ‘daughter of Gavriel’, my Daddy.”
“Autumn Season? Cause you were born in October?”
“Sorta… I was born during one of the Festivals we have in the fall, called Sukkot. I think you might call it ‘Feast of Tabernacles’.”
“Ah, yeah, I’ve heard of it…That’s pretty, Aythi.”
She blushed, “Thanks, for both that, and for saving me.” She started hugging onto his arm. He felt his cheeks heat up as she sighed happily. “Thank you for being my best friend, too.” she said, her eyes closed as she nestled up under his chin.
“Umm…you’re welcome. I…like being your best friend too.” He couldn’t say anything more for a moment, he was so nervous, then he finally muttered, “I want to try to protect you, Seren. I don’t know how good of a job I can do, but…I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, so I’m going to do my best!”
She nodded, “and I’ll try not to be so vulnerable for ya. Wait, does that mean we would travel together when we go on our journey?”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
She beamed, “that’s great! I can’t wait! It’ll be fun!” Then she stifled a yawn, “Well, maybe it can wait for a nap…” She curled up under the covers, still holding onto his hand, “If I don’t wake up before you go, I’ll see you later, right?”
“Of course.” She closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep. He squeezed her hand gently, “I don't want anything to happen to you…so I’ll become stronger, too.” His father came into the room to collect him, and he put the flowers beside her from earlier.
I’ll do my best, mi fiore selvatico.
* Lead me to the good
drive away all the fear
show me that it's possible to be happy
let me feel
as long as we are together
that the whole world was born for us
Happy New Year, everyone, and happy anniversary to me! The 31st was the one year mark for my first fic! ^^
Hopefully it came out alright, because I just typed 4k or so in under 24 hours... :/
Two parter, since it's fairly long.
Childhood saga, pt 2.
- Beginnings
- Illness
- Childhood
- More to come!
61. Illness
Characters: Lil’ Giovanni, Lil’ Seren, Alden Rochat, Gavriel and Dvorah Awres (Seren’s parents), Satoshi-Sensei (OC)
Rating: G...well, PG if you count Giovanni cursing in Italian...
61. Illness
Second in the Childhood series
Dictionary:
Ema/Emi- Mother, Mommy (E-mah, E-me)
Pareve- neither meat nor dairy, so “pareve chocolate” would be non-dairy chocolate
Yerushalayim- The native name for Jerusalem
fiore selvatico- Italian, "Wild flower"
Tovil oti latov
garesh et kol hapachad
tar'eh li she'efshar lihyot me'ushar
ten li lehar'gish
kol od anachnu yachad
sheha'olam kulo bishvilanu nolad*
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hello, son. How was school?”
“Okay, I guess. Um, is it okay if I bring a friend over?”
“Hm? Sure, if it’s okay with their parents.”
“Yeah, Mrs. Awres said it was okay.”
“Alright, then it’s fine.”
“Er, don’t I need to ask Mother too?”
“Nah, she’ll be fine with it, as long as you do your homework with no trouble.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good boy. Do you need me to pick you up, or is one of the chauffeurs doing it?”
“Mrs. Awres said she can, so Ser can pick up some play clothes first.”
“That works. Make sure to call if you get lost and need help getting from there to home. Now, I need to go. A trainer just came in wanting a match. Love ya, Iian.”
“You too, Father. Beat ‘em good!”
When Alden Moretti-Rochat had hung up the phone, he was happy to know his son had found someone to play with. The boy tended towards his mother’s personality, in that while he wasn’t exactly anti-social, he was introverted more than was probably healthy for his age. But from what he could tell, Giovanni actually did want a friend to play with, someone other than Alden to roughhouse with, and Alden was perfectly fine with this. So imagine Alden’s surprise when this “Ser” that Giovanni brought home turned out to instead be a very fragile looking, quiet girl, who hid behind the taller boy. “Hey, Dad!” His son chirped.
Alden resisted raising an eyebrow as he returned the greeting, making sure to be as hospitable as possible. Smiling, he held out his hand to the little one, “Well, hello, miss. Are you my son’s new friend?” She nodded, peeking out from behind ‘Vanni’, as she called her friend.
“Ser, he’s not going to bite.” Giovanni took her backpack away, and grabbed her hand, placing it in his father’s. “Dad, this is Seren, my friend from school. Ser, this is my father.”
“H-hello, Mr. Moretti-Rochat.” Seren said quietly, looking up at his friendly blue eyes, then quickly looking down.
Alden smiled, and gently tilted her chin up to have their eyes meet again, “Just Mr. Rochat will do. You have very pretty violet eyes, little one. You should look up more often so people can see how pretty they are.” His voice was smooth with a light French lilt, but with a hint of his Italian mother.
She blushed such a bright color that neither of the males could help but think of a Charizard’s flame, “T-thank you, sir. I shall try.”
Giovanni grinned. His father was an incredibly charming man, and knew how to use that charm to get people to do something, including something as seemingly simple as making a little girl a bit more confident… well, that remained to be seen, but he bet it would work. In any event, it seemed to get his mother to calm down, a miracle with as worked up as she got.
“Ah, where are my manners? Come in, Ms. Seren. Van, why don’t you take your backpacks to the living room. Oh, and the cat‘s been yelping for you, I think he‘s hungry or something. Silly spoiled Persian, and it‘s been here barely a year.” Giovanni nodded obediently, hauling the heavy bags off. “If you don’t mind me asking, Ms. Seren,” Alden started as he escorted her to the kitchen, “would you be the same Ser that’s been helping my son with his language homework?”
“Um, yes, sir. It‘s a little difficult, since Hebrew and Japanese are a little alike with sentence structure, but other than that, they aren‘t very much alike…” She remembered what he had said about her eyes and pushed the long black bangs that she normally hid behind away from her face, tucking them behind her ears. “But…He’s been helping me with my math, as well.”
A raised eyebrow, “Hebrew?”
She nodded, “Yes, sir, I’m Jewish. I just moved back here about a year ago, to Celadon, and then here about three months ago.”
“Hm, I’m surprised. Your Japanese is actually very good, though accented heavily. Can you speak English?”
Seren blushed, “Um, yes, my parents are both from the States, but they’ve lived here for awhile, so they learned Japanese before they had me. So I shouldn‘t have trouble when we start learning English next year, but…” she grimaced as she struggled to actually say the phrase as the Americans would, “English is a hard language to…say…when you…” -here she gave up and switched back to Japanese- “It is a hard language when your tongue is used to rolling ‘R’s’ and using what they call gutturals. English isn’t kind to a Hebraic tongue. Many of the native Japanese can speak it better than I, but I can read it. Writing it is a bit more difficult.” She demonstrated on a scrap piece of paper, and her Roman block letters were definitely more flowing than most. At least she might be able to write cursive when she learned more.
“Well, I want to thank you. My son’s struggled with that subject since he started this past fall. I am glad he has such a friend to help him.” His eyes drifted off to the side, “I wish I had at such an age.” The last was a whisper, more to himself than to her.
“Sir?”
His eyes darted back quicker than they should have, and he chuckled, “Ah, I’m sorry. Forgive the mutterings of an old man, cherie. Just reminiscing to my own childhood in France and Italy.”
“Both?”
“I visited relatives often.” His parents had actually been separated for many years before reconciling, but there was no need for her to know that, “Have you ever been outside of Kanto? I remember you mentioned just moving back.”
Seren nodded, tugging at one of her pigtails she had just fixed, “I was born here, but we moved to Isra’el until I was…five or six, I guess.” Her own light voice carried a bit of her parents’ accents, a mix of the American South, and her Israeli upbringing. “Ema said I have something called…dual citizenship?”
“So you can live there if you wanted to when you are older? That’s nice. I have only seen the Holy Land in pictures, but it seems beautiful.”
She beamed with a pride for the land she loved, “Oh, it is. You get to eat fresh fruit and vegetables everyday,” she said in Japanese, then accidentally went into Hebrew as a habit as she grew comfortable. After seeing his slightly confused face, she hurriedly translated. The translation she gave was not to be perfect (in fact it was rather imperfect), but “the shops are filled with spices, and you should see Yerushalayim in the sunset! The white stone reflects the pink and purple and orange so beautifully!” was probably good enough for now.
The poor child was not fluent enough in her non-native tongue to describe it better than that, but the original Hebrew gave the impression (of one familiar to the scents) of sweet and spicy tickling the nose as you shopped, the common scents filling the air and intermingling in a delicious bouquet that was in the market, the aroma of frankincense, the savory of cardamom and hyssop, the sweet of freshly squeezed mango and orange juice and of mint; fresh bread, almost paper thin and sticky to the touch, was a childhood favorite. The sunsets were too. It was hard to describe, but when she was older, she would realize that the buildings did not gleam white, they shone red gold on the horizon. She had lived outside the city, and would often stand on the roof watching the sun go down each day.
A voice yelled in Italian from upstairs. Seren saw a cream colored blur rush past the top of the stairs, with the young boy running after it. Ignoring the shouting, -and mentally reminding himself to talk with the boy about his language- Alden continued, “What is the shopping like there? I’ve heard it’s open air?” He had beckoned her to sit in front of him on a stool at the tan marble island in the kitchen, giving her a small homemade treat while they waited for his son, who, it seemed, from the yelling, was having a time catching the cat.
Even though she lived outside, she still went often with her mother to the bazaar, the vendors of the sook (the Arabic word for it) flaunting their wares, practically yelling, always promising to have the finest choice of food or clothes or whatever your heart desired at the lowest price. Her mother and she had quickly figured out which vendors they could trust: normally the Jewish ones, though a few Moslems did them well, not inflating the price. And of course, as is custom in the Middle East, that is always negotiable. She herself had learned from the time she was knee high to her mother how to bargain, often times buying spices for her mother when she was across the alleyway, all of ten feet away perhaps. Either way, whether the deal went through are not, most of them gave the little girl small gifts, perhaps some pareve chocolate or candy, or sometimes small toys. One time, a man who headed a jewelry store, dark eyes shining and tan face smiling, had given her a few handmade wooden dolls, a little family of them with a tiny plush camel, when she had come by looking for her mother in the market. The people, whether Jew or not, loved children dearly, and they played often in the streets between buildings with small balls or dolls. It was a simple, trusting culture, where honor and shame sometimes outweighed conscience, but the children could care less of such things. Let them enjoy themselves while they are little, the adults reasoned, for soon their little boys and girls, when they reached thirteen and twelve, respectively, would Bar and Bat Mitzvah and be considered adults and accountable to Torah and the laws of their forefathers.
Because she had been young enough not to go to school, Seren was allowed to go to her neighbors’ houses and inquire as to whether she could play with her friends. After the first time she asked, she quickly learned that after that she usually didn’t need to ask permission, a practice that would be frowned upon later in her life. In fact, the things she had learned in Israel as a small child seemed to be shaping her massively as she grew from a tiny little girl to a schoolchild, and the culture shock of going back to Kanto was giving her fits. She didn’t understand why the school children did not want to play with her, they in turn did not understand the ways of the light olive-skinned girl, her skin losing its deep tan over the few years after she came back; why did their parents frown at her when she randomly showed up at their doorstep and inquired about their children? This culture was alien, complex and untrusting of strangers. Even with the mixture of Japanese and other cultures, the locales had quickly created their own subsets of cultures and, unfortunately, Judaism was barely practiced, barely represented in these parts.
She had barely finished her tale of the marketplaces when a cream-colored cat entered the room and, seeing her in its spot, sat down in front of her, as if impatiently waiting, even willing her, to move. Seren smiled, “Aw, a Persian! Can I pet it, Mr. Rochat?”
“Be careful, he’s not always friendly.”
“ ’Kay. Hey, Persian, Vanni told me about you…” she carefully held out her hand palm down for the cat to sniff, which it did, and started hissing and arching its back.
“Persian! Don’t you hiss at her!” Seren looked up as she jerked her hand back and saw her friend standing in the archway, frowning at his feline friend, “She was just trying to pet ya.” Giovanni pulled firmly on one of its whiskers and the cat immediately lowered its head, as if it actually felt guilty for its behavior. “Found out from the local professor that Persians become calm when you do that. Just seems like an easy way to get bitten, but what works, works.” He was wearing some old jeans and a brown t-shirt now, “Sorry it took so long, trying to find the cat to give him something to eat. He ran off when I did find him.” He stuck out his tongue, “Silly cat’s finicky too.”
“I warned you Persians are rather fussy when you brought him home,” Alden reminded him.
“Well, he’s going to be good,” the boy glared at the cat, “aren’t ya?” Persian seemed to sigh and nod, mawring in response. “So,” He said, turning to his father, “how was that battle at the gym?”
“Battle at the gym?” Seren asked.
“Dad’s the gym leader here.” Giovanni said, black eyes shining with pride, “I’m going to run the gym one day, too.”
“Really? That’s so cool!” Seren chirped, bouncing a little in excitement, “I’ve never met a gym leader before! What kind of Pokémon do you use?”
Alden chuckled, “I specialize in Ground types. In fact, my Sandslash is outside with the others, roaming around the grounds. Would you like to see her?”
“Oh, yes, please, if it's not too much trouble.”
“Alright then,” the children swiped some of the chocolate chip biscotti fresh out of the oven as they went outside, the little girl more than a little impressed with the treats. Alden pulled his son over to him as she enthused, and whispered playfully, “Sweet little thing, though a bit excitable.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Heh, I’m sure I don’t. Reminds me of you when we came here.” His son shot a glare at him, “It’s culture shock, son. Just like you had to learn the social niceties of this culture, so too does she. I believe it would be nice to help her overcome that.”
“Trying… It’s…interesting.” Giovanni sighed, when he noticed that Seren was waiting, “whoops. Sorry, Essie, didn’t mean to make you wait.”
“It’s okay, I have a cookie! Ugiyah!” She nibbled happily on it, and seemed much more relaxed as they walked.
“Ugiyah?” He asked. In response, she pointed to the biscotti. “Cookie?”
“Yep! And it has shokolad too… Oops, I mean chocolate!”
Alden laughed a little, before looking around the place, “Hm, she‘s probably in her favorite spot,” He put two fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, “Blair! Come here, girl!” Seren spotted a previously unnoticed object move near a maple tree, and giggled as it came rolling up to them. When it screeched to a halt, the spiky, brown ball opened up, revealing a tan creature that reminded Seren a little of a mouse, with two claws on each forelimb. “Seren, this is Blair, she was my first Pokémon as a Sandshrew. Blair, this is Van’s new friend, so be nice to her.” Blair nodded, extending a claw to the girl, who gently shook it.
Petting her, Giovanni noticed something amidst the spikes, and gently pulled it out of the crevices. He held up some leaves, and chuckled, “I think she’s been digging around in the forest again. Looking for berries?” The Sandslash bobbed its head up and down again, chirping its name happily.
“The forest?” Seren asked.
“Yep, it’s really neat…say, after we do some homework, you wanna go play there?”
“Sure!” Alden handed her a small ball to toss to Blair, who bounced it around on its body before passing it back. She giggled, and quickly became fascinated with the game.
Watching the girl bounce the toy back and forth, twittering some Hebrew as she did, Alden leaned towards his son, “I’m going to hazard a guess that she speaks Japanese when she’s expected too, and when she’s nervous… she seems to revert back to Hebrew when she’s relaxed. Probably speaks it exclusively at home.”
His son nodded, “This is the first time I’ve seen her like this. She’s normally really…”
“Anxious?”
“Yeah.” Giovanni chuckled, “I blame the cookies. By the way, how’d the match go?”
“Well enough, I’m going to train Blair a bit more today, though. We beat the challenger, but they’ll want a rematch, I’m certain. I‘ll tell you more later; you have homework to do, and a visitor.”
Giovanni nodded, “Hey, Ser?” The girl looked up from playing, “We need to get some homework done if we’re going to play.”
She sighed, rolling the ball back to Blair, “Okay… see ya later, Blair!” Blair nodded, rolling over to its trainer as the kids went inside.
“They’re cute together, aren’t they, girl?” Alden smiled, petting her. The mouse nodded, “Alright, that trainer’s Pidgeot almost creamed us today…let’s work on our techniques!”
“Slash!”
~~~~
“Come on, Seren!” The young boy called to his friend, turning to see what was keeping her. It had taken awhile, but they had finished their homework, and they were on their way to having fun.
If she would ever catch up.
Seren emerged from the bushes, nicks and bruises covering her, “Vanni, you’re going too fast…” Persian rolled its eyes at how slow the human girl was. “I’m not used to running in forests like this.” She smoothed out the wrinkles in her pale green play dress, and frowned at the small dirt stains, “Emi’s going to be angry that I got this dress dirty.” The cookies were gone, and so was the sugar rush that had caused her to become giddy earlier in the day.
Giovanni shrugged, “So you got your dress dirty. I have some clothes you might be able to wear while one of the maids washes it.”
Seren stuck her tongue out at the idea, “your clothes are too big…and they’re boy clothes.”
He shrugged again, “So? Your mother will get onto you for wearing them?”
“It’s the principal of it. I’m supposed to be careful…”
“Come on, Ser.” Persian deftly leaped up with him onto a slightly rotted log that looked rather unsafe to Seren, “Live a little. Sometimes ya gotta get in a little trouble to have fun.” He extended his hand to her, and she looked at the precarious log with worry, “It’s safe.” He hopped up and down on it to illustrate, when the wood gave way, dumping him into the insect infested inside. “Whoa!”
Seren looked over the side to peek in, and smiled a little, “Safe, huh?”
“Shut up and help me out before these bugs decide I’m snack.” Giovanni grumbled, hating to be proved wrong, but especially in front of her, though he did not know why.
Seren pulled at the side of the log and barely was able to dodge the rotten wood spilling out of it from the piece that she had managed to get off, and she wrinkled her nose, “Ew, it really is rotting, if I can pull it apart.”
“Ain’t that the truth!”
“Shut up!” She grinned, having recently learned of his hatred of small places, “unless you’d rather stay in that tiny little spot, worms wriggling all over you…”
There was silence for a moment, and he sighed, “Okay, sorry. Geez, I was just agreeing with you. Boy, you females sure are weird.” A centipede looked over at him and seemed to sit back on its hind feet, possibly trying to figure if he was a predator or a rather large meal.
“I know, jus’ teasing,” she giggled, trying to pry more wood off, when she started to feel a little lightheaded; she stopped and put her hand to her head, “Oh, that was weird.”
“What?” He poked his head out of the hole she had managed to create, brown hair matted with wet dirt in front of his eyes, “You okay?”
“Yeah, just felt dizzy,” She looked at Persian, “Hey Persian, can you scratch at this to help me get Vanni out?” Persian looked at its friend and future trainer, and when Giovanni nodded, so did it. “Okay, careful.” He hurriedly pulled his head back in and shoved up against the back of the log, sneezing at all the mold in the air. The centipede scurried off. When she asked if he was ready, he yelled an affirmative, and Persian slashed at the wood. Chunks of wet wood flew out, and Seren ducked to avoiding getting hit by them, hoping that it didn’t make her dress any dirtier than it was. She glanced up and smiled at the large mass missing from the log, “Can ya get out?”
“Yeah, I think so…” The young boy coughed, pulling apart his bangs so he could see, and he managed to squeeze through the hole head first, landing on the ground with a thud. “Ow.” He mumbled, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m fine,” He said when she looked worriedly at him, “just landed on it wrong. You shouldn’t worry so much.”
“Okay…” She looked relieved, even if she was frowning a little. “So, where are we going, anyway?”
“There’s an awesome natural pool in here. It’s got a waterfall and water Pokémon, and everything. Did you bring your swimsuit?” She nodded, “It’s really fun to cannonball in.” The tilt of her head made him sigh as they walked, wondering if his friend ever did anything other than read, “I’ll show you. By the way, I heard there’s going to be a karate class starting at school in the spring. You and I are going to join it.”
“Huh? Why me?” She noticed the sound of water crashing.
“Cause you need to learn to stand up a little for yourself. I mean, I don’t really mind standing up for you…but you should learn to take care of yourself. You don’t want to be scared all of the time, right?” She shook her head, “Well, maybe this’ll help ya. Especially since in a couple of years we’ll be getting our trainers’ licenses. You can’t hide from a Pokémon you wanna catch. Ya gotta be ready to battle!” She mumbled an agreement, and he smiled a little, “I don’t really want to see you get hurt, you know? Your parents would beat me.”
“Nice to know that’s the only reason,” the small 8-year-old girl smiled as they walked. A few moments later, Giovanni pushed some vines out of the way, and beamed, “Here we are! Nice, huh?” Seren had to agree. The location he had led them to was a clear pond fed from a moderately sized waterfall, with a small number of Goldeen swimming around. Persian looked at the fish with a hungry gleam in his eyes, when his trainer said, “No, Persian, I just fed you.” The cat sighed, flopping down on the bank, defeated.
“Wow, the water’s so clear and pretty.” She looked around the grove, and spotted a tree with a trunk wide enough for her purposes, “I’m going to go change real quick.”
“Wait, I thought you wore your swimsuit underneath?” He asked with a raised brow as she skittered behind the tree.
“No…well, sort of!” She squeaked, throwing her dress over a branch.
“What’s that mean?”
“Not telling!”
He heard the zipper being undone on her backpack, and shrugged. Girls were so strange sometimes! He went behind another tree and quickly pulled off his own clothes so he was just wearing his red swim trunks. Emerging at roughly the same time as her, he smiled, “Hey, that looks nice on you.”
“S-shut up!” She blushed as red as the outfit she was wearing, but he wasn’t sure what she was getting so upset about. It was a nice, modest, crimson one-piece suit, that she had paired with a black swim skirt, and he had merely been speaking of the color combination looking nice against her olive skin. Strange indeed! He thought.
“Whatever. Cannonball!” He yelled, jumping into the pool with his knees pulled to his chest. Persian jumped back in alarm as the water splashed onto him, and he shook off in disgust, smelling strongly of wet cat, which was a smell only beaten by wet dog.
“Oh, I think I can do that!” She said, imitating him and hoping in as well. Persian failed to dodge her splash as well, and sighed, laying out on a rock warmed by the sun in an effort to both get away from the wet children and dry itself. Today was not his day!
A few hours later, the children emerged from the pond, thoroughly wrinkled and exhausted, but laughing all the same, byzantium and obsidian eyes shining together in mirth. Flipping her head upside down to dry her black-blue hair, “Hey, you said you’ll take over the Gym from your father one day, right?” Seren asked, patting it with a small pink towel.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. Why?” He was behind the tree from earlier, toweling himself off as well.
“Just wondering, what type of Pokémon will you use?”
“Earth, like him, I guess. Maybe some really strong Pokémon, like fire types, if not.” He put his clothes back on, and fluffed his hair dry as he came out from behind the tree, “I guess it depends on what happens on our journey.” Persian looked up at him and frowned, “And I’ll use Persian, of course. Can’t forget my buddy!” The cat meowed, happy to not be forgotten. “You?”
“Well, I like flying types so far, but I guess that’s because of that Spearow I feed all the time. Besides them, what I really find interesting are the Dragons…especially Dragonair. I’ve never seen a real one, but in the few pictures I’ve seen, they look so regal and majestic, powerful, too!”
“Yeah, they’re pretty neat, I would love to catch one and raise it up to a Dragonite. By the way, you almost done? It’s going to be getting dark soon.”
“Yep, just sticking my wet clothes in a plastic bag…done!” She hopped out, back in her soiled green dress, “I may take you up on the offer to get my dress washed. Though I’m really not fond of the idea of wearing boys’ clothes…”
As she went on, a thought popped in his head. Wasn’t there that flower patch near here? Hm… When she had finished her short rant about boys and their tendency to get dirty quickly, he slung his pack over his shoulder, “Hey, there’s something I want to go do real quick… you wanna come along?”
She shook her head, “I’m actually really tired at the moment…you can go on, though, I don’t mind! Persian can keep me company, right, Pershie?” The cat threw her a glance that indicated he didn’t appreciate the nickname greatly.
“Alright…you sure?” He really wanted to make sure she wasn’t messing with him. He’d see his mother say things like that to his father or him, she’d really mean something else, and then he or his father would be in the doghouse with her. He didn’t care to have that happen more than was necessary.
“Yep.” She nodded, petting the classy cat behind the ear, and she smiled as he leaned into it.
“Okay. I’ll be right back!” He said, running out of the clearing. A few minutes later, he slowed down, the forest becoming thick with brush and snares and other pitfalls. Pidgeys hopped around the branches with their parents, some more clumsy than others. In a few weeks, these babies would learn to fly from tree to tree, then in a few months, would set off on their own. He wondered if he could catch one for her later, as a present. He saw a Fearow fly overheard, and rethought it. She liked Spearows and Fearows… best be one of those. He wouldn’t mind catching himself a Pidgey when he was old enough, though; Pidgeot could be fierce little fighters!
Locating the flower grove, he spotted some wild roses, deep red in color, growing by themselves in a corner, and carefully picked some. “There is a flower patch near here, and I thought you might like a flower…” He practiced to himself, and felt his cheeks heat up; he hoped she didn’t think he was weird for liking the natural beauty inherent in the plants. “Maybe a few other flowers, too…daisies look nice.” He bent down to pick them, and as he rose, a familiar screech echoed through the trees. “Persian?!” He yelled, taking off in a run towards the pool, “Seren! Persian!” The only answer he received was the cat’s shrill cries, which grew louder as he approached, being careful not to trip more than he already was.
He finally burst into the opening, and saw why there had been only one answer to his calls. Seren lay motionless on the ground, with Persian standing overhead, pushing her with its head and licking her in an attempt to wake her. “Ser! Persian, what happened?!” Persian looked helplessly up at him, meowing and going on as he examined her. She was breathing alright, and her pulse was strong, but she wouldn’t wake, and he started to panic, “Merdamerdamerdamerdamerda! Why won’t she wake up?” He growled, before forcing himself to breathe, “Okay…think this through…gotta get her back to the house, Dad’ll know what to do…Persian, help me out here. She can’t be heavier than you were…” Persian ignored the comment, pushing the girl up, and as Giovanni squatted, against his back. He picked her up, wincing at the fact there wasn’t that much weight difference, to him, between the two of them. Persian picked her pack up in its teeth, and they started off towards the house as fast as they could. “Don’t worry, Seren…I’ll get you home…”
~~~~
Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…The noise slowly grew as Seren started to come back to consciousness, becoming aware of other noises, the light beyond her eyelids, the strong smells. Where…am…I? The thought came hesitantly, and she carefully opened her eyes a little, and found herself staring at a bright white drop ceiling, a fluorescent the source of the offensive light. Am I in the hospital?
“Yeah, you’re at Viridian General.” A familiar voice answered as she realized she had voiced the thought as well. She turned her head to see Giovanni sitting beside the hospital bed, staring at her worriedly, something that, later in their lives, would be more common than they wished. “You collapsed while I was away, and I got you to Dad so we could bring you here. Your parents are on the way, too.”
“Oh…” She bit her lip, then smiled, “T-thank you, Vanni…for rescuing me.”
He started to blush a little, “You’re welcome. Any idea what happ…” He was interrupted by the door opening, and a male and female entering, “Oh, hello, Mrs. Awres.”
The woman smiled and nodded. She was a very pretty redhead with light blue eyes, and rather tall as well, “Oh, sweetie,” she said, taking her daughter’s hand in hers, “Are you alright?”
Seren smiled back, “I think so.” She hugged the woman tight as she said it.
“Are you Giovanni?” Her father asked, and the boy nodded, a little intimidated. Mr. Awres was only slightly taller than his wife, but that made him about six feet tall, with dark brown, curly hair, and a matching, full beard. He wore a crisp blue shirt that had some odd blue and white tassels hanging from underneath, and ironed tan slacks. The man grinned, and held out his hand to the boy, who shook it, “Thank you very much for helping my daughter.”
Giovanni rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, “It’s alright. She’s my friend, I couldn’t exactly leave her…” He meant to go on, but was interrupted again by the door, this time the doctor walking in.
“Ah, Awres-san? Dr. Satoshi, at your service,” he gave a little bow, which her father returned in kind, “I have your daughter’s test results…” He didn’t seem to see the boy, “Seren-chan here seems to have had a seizure. Has she had them before?”
“Yes, Sensei. She had her first when she was about five. Was it tonic-clonic?” The doctor nodded, “Yeah, that’s it.”
“What’s wrong? What’s a seizure?” Giovanni asked.
The doctor raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. You and your father brought her in, correct?” The boy nodded.
“It’s alright, he’s her friend, and ours as well,” at the inquisitive look from the boy, he smiled, “You saved my little girl, you’re now a friend of ours.”
“Well, the cells in you brain turn on and off like little lights, and it tells your body what to do. Sometimes, in people with epilepsy, which is what Seren-chan has, some of the cells will all turn on at once, or not switch on and off quite right, and it will make the body do things, like shake, or cause a person to faint,” Satoshi-sensei explained, pushing his glasses up, “A new medicine for children with seizures just came out that helps them not have them so often. Sometimes it works so well they don’t have them anymore. We’ll start her on it tomorrow, and we’ll see how it goes.”
“How long will she have them for?“ Giovanni asked.
“Momma said sometimes it’s just for a little while, but sometimes it’s longer,” Seren said, squeezing his hand and smiling, “Just depends on the person.”
“Indeed. Could you please wait outside, little boy? I need to discuss private matters with the Awres family.” The doctor inquired.
Giovanni agreed, stepping outside, and sighed after the door closed. He was glad she was alright, but he started to feel a bit anxious. What if that had happened while they were swimming? What if she had been completely alone? He shuddered. Best not to dwell too deeply on it. “How is she?” Alden asked from a nearby chair.
“She’s okay, but she has something called…epilepsy?” Was that the word the doctor had used? “She had a seizure that made her pass out.”
“Hm, that would most certainly explain it. In that case, if you continue to be her friend, you’ll have to keep a sharp eye on her.” Alden said.
Giovanni’s eyes flashed briefly with anger, “I’m not going to stop being her friend just because she’s got that!”
“And never did I think or say you would. I’m merely warning you that this may happen again, and you need to be prepared for it. When the doctor’s finished, I will speak to him and her parents about putting together something for you to carry around, in case it happens again. I’m not entirely sure what it will entail you carrying or having access to, but…”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” his son sighed, looking back at the room, “I want to help her, want to protect her…”
“I know, Van.” He put his hand on the young boy’s shoulder, “and I’m proud of you for not running away from that.” The doctor emerged from the room, scribbling something on his clipboard, “Ah, Sensei, if I could speak with you and her parents for a moment, I’d like to find out more about this so we can be prepared in the future.”
“Of course.”
“Satoshi-san,” Giovanni began, “may I go see Essie again?”
“As long as you don’t excite her, it should be fine. Rochat-san, if you will follow me, her parents will be along shortly.” Alden nodded, going with the physician, and Giovanni ducked back into the room, where Seren and her parents were talking quietly.
“Hopefully the medicine will help you, sweetie, but you have to remember to take it everyday,” her mother said. He had obviously walked into an ongoing conversation.
“I know, Emi. It’s not like I’m that forgetful…”
“Dvorah, she’s really isn’t.” Her father interjected.
“I know, I know…” Dvorah sighed, running fingers through her daughter’s hair, which Seren leaned into; Giovanni made a mental note of that, “I just get worried for you, Aythi, that’s all.” Aythi? Giovanni raised a brow, then quietly knocked on the door. Dvorah turned, and smiled at the boy, “Oh, hello, Giovanni.”
“Hi, Mrs. Awres. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
“No, not really,” she shook her head, “Seren, we need to speak with the doctor for a few minutes. We’ll be right back.”
The children nodded, and after they left, Giovanni turned back to his friend, with a mix of fear and sadness, “So, what’d he say?”
“We just were talking about the medicine, that’s all. Side effects and stuff that could happen, but it doesn’t sound too bad.” She pulled her knees up to her chest, and chuckled quietly, “I think I can handle possibly having a headache once in awhile if it makes the seizures go away mostly, or all the way.”
He laughed as well, sitting on the bed next to her, “yeah, that sounds acceptable.” They sat in silence for a few moments, then, “What’d your mom mean when she said Aythi? Is it like ‘daughter’?”
“No, It’s part of my Hebrew name…we use it when I’m at synagogue, or when we have something special going on. Like ceremonial stuff.”
“Oh…Wait, part?”
“Yep, it’s Aythi Shelechet bat Gavriel.” He blinked in confusion, and she giggled, “sorry, ‘Aythi’ means ‘Season’, and ‘Shelechet’ is ‘Autumn’. ‘bat Gavriel’ is just ‘daughter of Gavriel’, my Daddy.”
“Autumn Season? Cause you were born in October?”
“Sorta… I was born during one of the Festivals we have in the fall, called Sukkot. I think you might call it ‘Feast of Tabernacles’.”
“Ah, yeah, I’ve heard of it…That’s pretty, Aythi.”
She blushed, “Thanks, for both that, and for saving me.” She started hugging onto his arm. He felt his cheeks heat up as she sighed happily. “Thank you for being my best friend, too.” she said, her eyes closed as she nestled up under his chin.
“Umm…you’re welcome. I…like being your best friend too.” He couldn’t say anything more for a moment, he was so nervous, then he finally muttered, “I want to try to protect you, Seren. I don’t know how good of a job I can do, but…I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, so I’m going to do my best!”
She nodded, “and I’ll try not to be so vulnerable for ya. Wait, does that mean we would travel together when we go on our journey?”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
She beamed, “that’s great! I can’t wait! It’ll be fun!” Then she stifled a yawn, “Well, maybe it can wait for a nap…” She curled up under the covers, still holding onto his hand, “If I don’t wake up before you go, I’ll see you later, right?”
“Of course.” She closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep. He squeezed her hand gently, “I don't want anything to happen to you…so I’ll become stronger, too.” His father came into the room to collect him, and he put the flowers beside her from earlier.
I’ll do my best, mi fiore selvatico.
* Lead me to the good
drive away all the fear
show me that it's possible to be happy
let me feel
as long as we are together
that the whole world was born for us
no subject
little!vanni is such a good friend~~
and geez, epilepsy... poor seren D:
His eyes drifted off to the side, “I wish I had at such an age.” The last was a whisper, more to himself than to her.
ffff now the part of my mind that's obsessed with historyfic wants to know his entire backstory. OTL
@ seren's description of israel
/adds to list of places to visit :D
He practiced to himself, and felt his cheeks heat up; he hoped she didn’t think he was weird for liking the natural beauty inherent in the plants.
that is so. effing. cute. x3 giovanni - criminal mastermind, leader of team rocket, and... plant lover? lol
She started hugging onto his arm. He felt his cheeks heat up as she sighed happily.
ah, young love &hearts
all in all, i think this is one of your best yet. :] i loved the descriptiveness, and gio & seren's relationship is tres adorable!
no subject
OTL?
*starts to come up with something*
/adds to list of places to visit :D
Cool! I'm hoping to go again when my brother Bar Mitzvah.
It's actually based very heavily (read: almost entirely) on my own experience living in the Middle East (I lived in Saudi Arabia for three years, and went to Israel in 2008)...oh, I can't wait to go back... =D Bob, I love that area.
that is so. effing. cute. x3 giovanni - criminal mastermind, leader of team rocket, and... plant lover? lol
I write him as a man with a great respect for classic and natural beauty. Flowers? Beautiful. Classic art? Beautiful. Women like Seren (olive skinned, dark-haired, bigger boned, with a bit of muscle on them, as well as plenty of curve while still healthy)? Beautiful. He really doesn't like the modern image of beauty, whether it is the lines of modern art or the American standard of beauty.
Giovanni: *sees random modern art* What the hell is that?
ah, young love ♥
Yeah, I like writing nice, innocent stuff like this. Especially since it's such a short time compared to the rest of their lives.
And it was refreshing writing something light after Bare. One of my upcoming prompts gets downright gritty (I'm actually going to do a flashback to MB attacking Giovanni, though I won't show anything), and Poison will be gritty as well (he almost dies from an infection after being beaten by her).
all in all, i think this is one of your best yet. :] i loved the descriptiveness, and gio & seren's relationship is tres adorable!
Awwwwwwwwwww! Thanks! ^^
Yeah, I love my descriptive stuff. When I get going, it can get interesting.
And I'm glad you think they're cute together. Despite the gritty stuff in their 20s and 20s, I'm trying to show their relationship going through phases. In the current stuff, they're trying to get back to a kind of innocence, rather than having to deal with the darkness of their past. The new kids in the family help a lot.
So glad you enjoyed it, though!!! It makes me Happiny! *shot*