[FIN] Conflict of Interest

[BlackPidgeot]

Another summer storm had rolled through Camphoreon, leaving the city wet and overcast. The clouds only starting to roll out after having dumped their load on that portion of the island.

Yuri had been working and trying to earn some money, leaving him bored and discontent. He was a man of action, and liked to be out doing things, but lately there'd been a dry spell of things to actually do. His days were mundane and uneventful for the most part. A night of silly drunkenness being the only highlight as of late.

Today he was just taking a stroll out in the park, carrying his sword along with him as per the usual. Repede followed along at his side, with Astal trailing along behind.

The Eevee pausing as he spotted a mud puddle, not caring as the other two kept walking. The shining silver Eevee stepped over to the puddle, grinned mischievously at his reflection in the water before jumping in.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Alder walked along with his hands folded behind his back, gazing around and just in general appreciating the beauty of the park after the rain. He didn't exactly appreciate that his feet were a little wet, but that's what he got for wearing sandals.

His purple gaze shifted from the skies and the tree boughs overhead down to the path ahead of him, in time to see a shiny Eevee jump into a mud puddle. He paused before laughing boisterously, then aimed a broad grin at the normal-type. "Like jumping in puddles, do you?" It sort of reminded him of small children that enjoyed jumping in puddles to see how big of a splash they could make.  

[BlackPidgeot]

The Eevee though, didn't stop at jumping in. He proceeded to wallow and roll around in the mud, making quite a mess of his lustrous fur. However, he paused and looked up as someone apparently took notice. Hm.

"Vee vee," he replied back to the man rather matter-of-factly, taking the mud bath rather seriously.

Yuri had soon taken notice of Astal's absence though, and the Eevee's ears tilted as the man's voice carried from a distance away.

"Well, now I know how I'm spending my afternoon. Couldn't give me a break, huh Captain?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The man chuckled at the Eevee and its mud bath. "Ah, I see," he replied, as if he knew what the normal-type had told him. The voice from nearby caught his attention, and he half-turned to spot the raven-haired man with a grin. "This is your Eevee, I presume?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri paused and blinked once, a hand on his hip as he came to stand nearby, and took a look at the man who had taken notice of his Eevee.

"Yeah," he said simply, giving the guy a once over.

"And I presume that you're a trainer, old man?"

Granted that wasn't a conclusion that was difficult to come to.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The young man's words gave him pause before he laughed loudly again. "You presume correctly," he replied with a broad grin, then offered his hand to shake. "My name is Alder. What's yours - and are you a trainer?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

The man gave a small smile when the other laughed, before reaching his hand out to shake his hand.

"Yuri," he replied in kind. "That's some hair you've got there."

And the question of whether he was a trainer though, he gave pause before answering. "Nooot exactly. I was threatened with bodily harm if I didn't train the Captain here, but I'm not really into it."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Alder nodded with a smile, "Pleasure to meet you, Yuri." He blinked at the other man's comment, then laughed again. "You're one to talk, you know," he countered with a broad grin.

It faded to a smile as he turned to regard the shiny - though no longer very sparkly - Eevee. "Training isn't for everyone - a lot of people live comfortably with pokemon as their companions, and don't train them." Not something he ever did, but it wasn't something he looked down on, either. He knew plenty of people that had pokemon as friends, not as battling partners or as part of a team. "So his name is Captain?" Alder hazarded, gesturing to the rather muddy Eevee with an amused grin. "Does he always take mud baths?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Oh c'mon, I've got nothing on you," Yuri retorted in an obviously joking manner. True he might have long hair, but this guy had to have twice the amount of hair he had, plus Yuri's didn't resemble flames.

"Yeah, Captain Astal. Being dirty is kind of his thing. I found him covered in dirt and mud."

There was a moment's pause before an imaginary light bulb went off over Yuri's head.

"So yeah, you're a trainer. Know much about Eevees?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The man laughed aloud again. "Yes, I suppose you're right," he admitted with a chuckle. Yes, his hair was rather wild - though he suspected his grandson's hair would rival his in just a couple more years.

"Captain Astal, hmm?" He didn't know what Astal meant, but it sounded like a nice name. The sudden question made him tip his head to one side very slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Eevee? Well, I know a fair bit of them due to their popularity, but I've never owned one. Why do you ask?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Just wondering how the 'evolution' thing works. I hear they can change into different things."

Yeah, Yuri's training knowledge was rather limited but he was picking up things here and there.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah," the man brightened at the topic he knew about, and nodded, "That I can tell you. So you know that most pokemon, if they evolve, they simply evolve into one other pokemon, or on rare occasions they could evolve into one of two different pokemon? Eevee can evolve into, currently, one of seven different pokemon, though an eighth was discovered very recently and I don't know much about it yet, to be honest. All of Eevee's possible evolutions end with '-eon' - and they are Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolton, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, and Glaceon. The eighth is Sylveon." As he spoke, he pulled out his pokegear and pulled up an app that, after a few quick taps, displayed pictures of every known Eeveelution, which Alder then presented to Yuri so he could see. "Each one requires a stone of some kind, called evolution stones, for it to evolve. For example, to evolve an Eevee into a Flareon, you'd need to obtain a fire stone for it. Or for Jolteon, you'd need a thunder stone," the man explained, then paused to see if the other man was following or if he had any questions or comments.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri listened and looked at all the pictures as they were presented to him.

"So it's like with Growlithe except you have choices," he mused half to himself. He knew about the puppy Pokemon being able to evolve with a fire stone.

Repede, who had joined them silently at Yuri's feet, woofed his agreement. The one eyed Growlithe looking up at the two men impassively.

"Damn, there's so many." How was he supposed to choose?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Alder nodded at Yuri's conclusions, the latter making him chuckle lightly. "Yes, there are, but that's one reason they're so popular. They're very versatile pokemon, and can fill in quite a number of gaps in a team depending on how you choose to evolve them. But you already said you aren't exactly a trainer, so those reasons wouldn't really apply to you. You could always evolve him based on aesthetics," he suggested with a shrug before he went on, "or you could base it on his personality and what he likes to do."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri paused to think about that. He really wasn't the kind of guy that cared about aesthetics though. Personality sure, but he didn't much care what Astal ended up looking like.

"Usually I wouldn't really care what he evolved into," he admitted. "I'd be fine leaving him the way he is. But some pretty bad things have happened lately and I think I need some strong Pokemon on my side."