Chapter 2:
There were of course more people than usual at the Elven pokécenter, the usual travelling tamers and trainers, a few local pet owners and tradesmen , but the most numerous were the new tamers, some accompanied by their friends and families, noticed Audren as he recuperated from his long distance teleport. He didn’t know why, but long range teleportation took a lot out of him, even with his Endurance blood gift.
Audren had wondered about coming with Aunt Caroline, but had eventually decided against it. No way was he going to get all emotional and stuff in public.
The Starter Ceremony was kind of an old tradition in Elven, and in most of Morbihan. Elven was a little town, smaller than it had been in past centuries, but its people were proud of their traditions, and there were always a little crowd of spectators when the new tamers received their first pokégirls. Audren didn’t particulary like this custom, but there was no point in voicing this particular opinion.
The mayor had come to make a speech that no one actually listened to, and would give the pokéball containing the starter pokégirl to the new tamers himself.
Audren greeted some of his friends come to assist to the ceremony, and found a place with the other tamers on the second rank to wait patiently, feeling the tiredness from his earlier teleportation slowly ebbing away as the mayor talked. He began to daydream, wondering what kind of pokégirl he would be assigned. Here at Elven, the starters were traditionally assigned by a committee, after evaluation of both tamers and pokégirls to see which pairing would be most compatible. What kind of person would be compatible with him? What criterions were used to determine who was compatible with whom? He also wondered what had the result of his psychic evaluation with the megami been?
‘Ah, well’ he thought, no need to worry about it, he would be fixed soon enough about his pokégirl anyway.
After an hour long speech, the mayor at last decided to proceed to the attribution of the starters.
The first tamer was called, given his starter in her pokéball, five empty balls, a pokédex, and the usual congratulations before a Nuse Joy came to lead him to one of the taming rooms. Goodness, it was so embarrassing, thought Audren as he waited for his turn.
His turn came fifteen minutes later, after six others boys and a girl, the mayor called his name at long last. He walked up to the mayor under the polite applause of the crowd, and received an ornamented golden pokéball, plus a pack containing five more balls that looked perfectly ordinary, as well as a normal looking pokédex.
“The pokégirl who has been attributed to you is a Tarot named Séverine. We hope you will be as good a team as we think you will be. Be careful, and may your efforts protect us all!” the Mayor said as he gave Audren his pokéballed starter.
Audren was led to a taming room by one of the pokécenter’s Nursejoys, the spectators giving the same artificial smiles and applauses as before. Audren found all of it somewhat creepy.
The Nursejoy, a named Celine, winked at him before she let him in the taming room.
Audren sighed. So now he was supposed to tame a girl he didn’t even know, in the austere room of a little pokécenter, with dozens of strangers just a few yards away? Magnificent, he thought. He took his new pokédex, and searched the entry about Tarots:
TAROT (AKA CARDCAPTOR), the Spirit Binding Pokegirl
Type: Very Near Human
Element: Magic
Frequency: Uncommon
Diet: Human Standard
Role: Variable Range Magical Assault and Support
Libido: Average
Strong Vs: Fighting, Ghost, Poison, Psychic
Weak Vs: Dark, Bug, Normal
Attacks: Baton Hit, Yell, Love 'N' Affection, Draw
Enhancements: Enhanced Agility (x3), Youthful, Enhanced Endurance (x3), Aura Sight, Disease Resistance, Phase Sight, Phase Touch, Spirit Sense
Evolves: Mystic (Normal, completed a deck of cards), Duelist (battle stress, Duel Monsters deck nearby)
Evolves From: None
Sighing again, he freed his his newly acquired pokégirl from her ball with a flash of light.
Before him appeared a four feet tall young girl with a youthful, oval face, almond shaped purple eyes, a small slightly upturned nose, long black hair that reached to her lower back, nascent curves, tiny hands and feet. She was wearing a black jacket and a black skirt over a blue top and a blue cyclist shorts, and was holding a black staff tipped by two pair of metallic bird wings, that was as tall as she was.
Audren sighed inwardly. She looked so young! How was he supposed to be sexually attracted to someone so youthful? He knew he himself looked younger than he was, but not that much. Well, he thought, if her body doesn’t do it for me, perhaps her mind will…
The girl looked around her, gulped, and then looked up at Audren, giving him a nervous smile.
“Hello. My name is Séverine, and I am a Cardcaptor.” she introduced herelf in a soft, shy voice, “ Are you my new master?”
“Hello Séverine. My name is Audren de Kermadec and I am indeed your new tamer. I’m enchanted to meet you. You can call me Audren when we are in private or alone, otherwise just call me sir. I’d like to project at least the appearance of professionalism, even if being a tamer is completely new to me. ” Audren answered, smiling back at the shorter pokégirl. He didn’t need telepathy to feel her nervousness. He decided that the first thing to do, was to put her at ease.
“Would you like to go on a date with me, Séverine? Unless you need to be tamed right now, I’d rather learn to know you better before we became more intimate. I just can’t help preferring to know the person I’m going to have sex with, and on whom my life will soon come to depend.” He tried to give her a reassuring smile, and she smiled back, visibly less nervous.
“I don’t need to be tamed immediately, Audren. And I would like to go on a date.” She accepted. Perhaps things wouldn’t be as terrible as she’d feared? This boy didn’t seem to be as bad as most of the arrogant little creeps she’d met at the ranch her parents had sold her to after she thresholded when she was only thirteen. She’d thought he would just pounce on her and tame her on the spot, but he’d been rather civil, for now. With any luck, he wouldn’t be one of those hormone addled morons and wouldn’t treat her too badly. The stories she’d heard about young tamers were often scary, and she had never been tamed by a human before, only by other pokégirls, so she found the prospect of her first male lover being one of those inexperienced teens she’d heard the other girls talk about kind of scary.
“That’s understandable,” Audren said, “but I’m not that inexperienced. I’ve been having sex since I was fifteen, and I don’t think it’s boasting to say I’ve gotten quite good at it. Uh; that sounded less pretentious in my head.”
Séverine looked at him with wide eyes. He was directly answering her earlier thoughts! Had she talked aloud without meaning to?
Audren realized what he did, and smacked himself on the forehead.
“I’m really sorry, Séverine. I’m a natural telepath. I should have told you earlier. I’ll try not to invade the privacy of your mind, but sometimes I can’t help hearing people’s thoughts. I’m so sorry. Hum, I guess I should tell you about my others, err… peculiarities, just in case. It’s only fair, since I read about Cardcaptors on my pokédex.”
Séverine nodded, still shocked, not so much by the discovery of his psychic abilities, which was after all a rather common trait, but by the fact that he had so easily picked up her thoughts, which she had long ago learned to protect against casual intrusion. In fact, he hadn’t even seemed to realize that the protections were there at all!
“I have nine known blood traits to this day, six blood gifts, and three blood curses. They haven’t all appeared at the same time, so it’s still possible that more could appear, even if the probability is low. My curses are Anaphylaxia, which makes me particulary vulnerable to bug-types attacks, Cold Vulnerability, and Rebel. My blood gifts are Strength, Endurance, Immutable Form, Telepathy, Monster Out, and Potent Spellcaster. I’m also a trained mage specialized in Transformation, Protection, Conjuring and Life magic; I’ve graduated from Vale less than a year ago.” He revealed.
“That’s quite a lot of blood traits,” Séverine remarked, “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone with that many of them before.”
“I have,” Audren said, “ At Vale, I’ve met a guy with thirteen of them, but he has the Limited Time blood curse, and also Tamer’s Disease, PokéGene and Fetish blood curses. He’s scarily powerful, though. Still neither him, nor me are powerful enough to measure up to most specialized pokégirls. I’ve trained with pokégirls all my life, but I can’t regularly outfight a mere Slicer and even a Witch’s spells are usually more powerful than mine. In the end, no matter the number of blood traits, I’m still a squishy human.”
Séverine giggled a bit at this, more because of her fading nervousness than because she thought he was funny. In fact, she didn’t find him very funny.
“So, shall we go now, mademoiselle Séverine? Oh, and while I’m at it, would you like me to change your name, or do you prefer to keep it?”
“I’d like a new name, please. My current name reminds me too much of my human life, but at the ranch it was still better than being called ‘Tarot’ or ‘Magical Girl’ or whatever the breeder would come up with.”
“So you are a thresholder, huh? Okay, I’ll give you a new name when we come back from our date. Now come, take my hand, and let us be on our way. The room is ours for the entire day and night, so we can take our time.” said Audren.
He offered a hand to the small pokégirl and smiled invitingly. Returning his smile hesitantly, she took his hand, which the young man lifted to his lips, laying a soft kiss upon her fingertips.
“I’ll try to make it a date to remember, promise.” Audren whispered, looking at a blushing Séverine in the eye. Then with a smile, Audren teleported them both out of the pokécenter.
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Elven was a small town, but not small enough that there wouldn’t be a few good restaurants.
The one where Séverine and Audren were currently eating was usually considered to be the best one, Chez Félix, where you could eat a cuisine based on recipe books from before Sukebe and made from the best ingredients. They’d come here after a long day of shopping, movies, and long discussions in the park.
Audren watched Séverine eating enthusiastically, all her nervousness seemingly forgotten. In fact, she almost looked like she had forgotten him, so intent was she on devouring the content of her second plate.
“How come you are this hungry? Didn’t you eat before they pokéballed you?” Audren asked.
“No, I was so nervous I couldn’t eat anything all day. I kept wondering what my master would be like, and the girls kept telling awful stories about new tamers getting themselves and their pokégirls killed or about them treating their girls so badly they evolved into Penances.” The small pokégirl answered between two bites.
“I can see why you were worried. I can’t promise you I won’t do something stupid and get us hurt or even killed, but I’ll do my best not to. And I’m not the kind of person who mistreats his pokégirls, or anybody, really. I don’t see the point in mistreating someone I regularly put in charge of keeping me safe, and I don’t like being around people in pain, it’s very distressing.”
“Not because it’s wrong? “ Séverine asked, looking at Audren intently.
“No, although it really is wrong. But sometimes, some things have to be done even if they feel wrong, so this is not always a reason that will stop my course of action. “
“I see; I guess that the reason doesn’t matter as much as the fact itself in that case, sir.”
“You’re probably right. So don’t worry about that, okay? As far as brutality is concerned, you’re safe with me. Although I might get a bit rough when we begin training.”
“Training, sir?”
“Well, yes. As long as we don’t know what the other is capable of, we can’t function as an efficient team. We’ll have to train together for a while before going after any serious threat.”
“It is a good idea, sir. May I ask you something?”
“Of course. You can always ask a question, I’ll answer if I can and if I don’t have an answer or don’t want to answer, then I’ll tell you.”
“Then, why are you doing this? Inviting me on a date, treating me to a restaurant, and the movies, buying me clothes I like, talking with me, instead of just giving me orders. I’m not complaining, it’s really nice, but I don’t understand why…”
“ I just want us to have a friendly relationship. We’re going to face many dangerous situations together, and I want us to be able to trust each other, and to know what to expect from the other in terms of abilities and personality. I think it’s an essential condition to our survival, and just as important it will make living together more pleasant for the both of us. At least that’s the plan.”
“And you intend to do this with a meal and a pretty smile?” Séverine asked, before clamping her hands on her mouth and looking guiltily at him.
Audren’s smile merely widened.
“So you think I have a pretty smile?”
Séverine blinked, and blushed.
“I’m sorry, sir. I spoke out of turn.”
“It’s okay. You’re not in troubles or anything. However, next time you feel the need to express this kind of idea in public…” Audren began to say, ‘Think them at me instead.’ He transmitted telepathically.
Séverine’s blush deepened and she nodded silently.
Audren took one of her hand in his, and squeezed her fingers softly.
“You’re so very cute when you’re blushing like that,” he whispered.
Whatever reaction Audren expected to his words, it certainly wasn’t the depited sigh that ascaped Séverine’s lips.
“Is there a problem?” he asked, a bit discountenanced.
“No sir, it’s just… I’m 16 years old, sir. At the ranch, the other girls were all very pretty, if not gorgeous. Me, I’m just cute because of this body that refuses to grow up. I look like a 13 years old girl, what kind of people are going to get interested in me?”
Audren winced under the wave of distress that emanated from his pokégirl. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing it softly, then rubbing his cheek against her palm, in a strangely cat-like gesture.
The Tarot answered the gesture by instinctively stroking his cheek with her thumb, a soft expression on her face.
“Séverine, were you afraid I took you out instead of taming you because I didn’t want you? You do look very young, and honestly, I have to say it makes me a bit nervous, thinking about having sex with someone who looks so young. But you’re not a child anymore than I am and I won’t treat you like one. I can feel that your mind is nothing like a kid’s, and that’s what matter most to me. Besides, we’ll have you evolve soon enough. You’re my pokégirl, and I won’t ever reject you, so put those kinds of thoughts out of your mind okay?“
Séverine gave him a slightly shaky smile.
“Yes sir. Can I make a honest remark sir?”
“Of course, What is it?”
“Your motivational speeches could use some work, sir.”
Audren laughed.
“You’re not the first to tell me that. So, shall we return to the pokécenter? I have to show my new pokégirl how much I like her.”
Séverine’s blush returned in full force, and she nodded with a enticing mix of shyness and eagerness.
Audren left a bill on the table, and kissing his Cardcaptor’s palm, he teleported them back to their room.