walkersystem | 4 ✶ video/action

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4 ✶ video/action

[Hello network! Today we have a pretty excited looking Molly who's keeping the camera turned around on herself as she's walking through a busy Goldenrod street. Her Natu is perched on her shoulder, on occasion chirping quietly to herself.]

This city is really big! I mean, I knew it'd be big, and I know it's not as big as New York, but it's really big compared to Violet.

Anyway, I bought a map, and I saved up some money, so ... does anybody know any good places that I should go to? Like your favorite spots or something? Everybody has those.

Okay, bye!

[She waves at the feed before she turns it off.]

[Action: she is anywhere and everywhere throughout this and the following days, having fun in following that tourist map of hers to well known stores and coffee shops and craft stores and town squares and yes she wants to see everything. Feel free to run into her anywhere.]

Audio, private to Jimmy: Hi Jimmy, I'm in Goldenrod now! If you still want to fly here.

Audio, private to Rin: I'm here now! Where are you? Can I come see you if you're not busy?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Molly recognises the story pretty quickly, but she doesn't comment on it as she reads it for the Smeargle. She catches on some words as kids do and doesn't keep the fastest pace, but she gets through the book pretty smoothly and then lets Hide pick another.]

[... well, or not, as he again opts for the same book, but as Kaneki protests Molly helps coax the Smeargle to pick another one, and they eventually settle on "Clifford the Big Red Growlithe".]

[Once through that, Molly sets it back on the pile of books and deflects Hide's puppy dog eyes.]

[... and reflects, at Kaneki,]}

I wonder if you can teach pokémon to read.

[Kaneki puts his own book down for a moment and pulls out one of the picture books from the bottom of the pile, offering it to the Smeargle. Though he would like to be read to more, he does end up taking the soft-backed book, opening it up in his lap so he can look at it.

Then, he turns to Molly, nodding.]

It's funny you mention that...I've actually been reading a lot with Hide, here, like I said. I'm not sure how well he's picking up on the words, but I think he's starting to understand some things without it being read to him.

[He turns "Shuckleberry Finn" on its face again, moving Hide's tail off the table so he won't get paint on the books.]

I've been showing him how to write kanji as well.

_{[Molly reaches for her bird again and Aria makes her way up to her shoulder where she settles happily just below Molly's ear. Molly gives her a quick kiss before she turns to look at Kaneki again with a curious frown.]}

What's kanji?

[Ah...that's right. Every day Kaneki is reminded that this definitely isn't Tokyo, and not everyone he meets would be familiar with what kanji is. He pauses for a moment and turns, fishing in his bag hanging on the side of his chair until he produces a pad of paper and a pen.

He flips a few pages over that have already been written on to get to a clean one, putting it down on the table so Molly can see.]

It's a Japanese writing system. Like this.

[He starts to write, slowly, until he has a few characters written.]

金木研

See? This is my name. "Kaneki Ken".

_{[She leans over the table to see what he's doing, and is immediately puzzled but intrigued. Those don't look like letters at all.]}

Really?

That first one looks like a house.

_{[... you know, just in case you didn't notice.]}

[He laughs a little, nodding.]

Yeah, it does. By itself, that kanji also means "Gold". But when you combine these, it makes my name.

[Kaneki taps the pen tip lightly against the paper.]

What's your name?

_{[There's a small "huh" as he explains. She really can't see how a house means gold, and then how gold can mean a name, but she's listening anyway. And she volunteers her name willingly, absolutely wanting to see it written down.]}

Molly Walker.

Molly Walker...

[He echoes, starting to write beneath where he wrote his own name.]

モリー·ウォーカー

There.

_{[She leans on the table with her hands braced against it, wanting to get as good of a look as posible on the little squiggles. They don't look anything like letters, but she really wants to know how they are, now.]}

How does it work?

[Kaneki shifts just slightly, moving his hand so Molly can have a better look at what he's written.]

Ah, well...it works a lot like any other system of symbols for a language, but Kanji can be read a lot of different ways, depending on what it is. There are a lot of different variants. It can be a little tricky to read, sometimes. But when you're writing Kanji, the parts of the symbol usually tell you something about what thing you're talking about.

For example, um...this is the kanji for water, and this is the kanji for tree.

[And he writes both...]

水 - water 木 - tree

[Like so.]

They look really similar, don't they?

So it's not like ... letters?

Wait.

_{[She picks up her backpack from the floor and pulls out a journal and a colored pencil, then opens on a blank page and starts copying the symbols down while she asks and listens.]}

Yeah, they are. The tree one's straighter though.

In a way, but not exactly. Letters make up words in English, right? With Kanji, the whole symbol itself means something, as do the parts that make it up. And different kanji together mean different things.

[When Molly suddenly starts copying what he's written, he feels something in his chest tighten. It's not uncomfortable so much as it's...a strange feeling of longing that he never thought he'd get during his time here.

He swallows hard, adjusting his grip on his pen as he watches her, turning his notepad a bit so she can see them upright.]

That's...why they can be tricky, sometimes. Some look a lot like others.

[He leans over a bit so he can see what she's written.]

Yours look good, though. Make sure this line here connects...or else your tree will turn into water.

Like this?

_{[She adjusts as he points it out, her own strokes obviously a lot less refined and smooth than his are, a little uneven in that way kids' letters often are. But with that comes a certain energy too.]}

So ... they're both letters and they aren't.

Yes, exactly. They take some time to learn, but once you know them it isn't so bad. And it really is a lot of fun, writing them.

[Hide nods firmly in agreement from across the table, looking up briefly from his book with the tip of his tail wagging.]

It's so weird.

_{[Which she says in that entirely non judgmental way. She just lacks the word she's seeking.]}

I didn't know you could write without letters. They look pretty, though.

They are pretty, I agree.

[He's idly writing on his pad now as he talks; not actually writing more kanji, but just moving his wrist to let the pen write in small circles to give his hand something to do.]

You can keep this paper with your name on it, if you would like. You can practice writing your name in kanji.

Thanks!

_{[She gladly takes the offered piece of paper, neatly folds it in half and tucks it between two of the pages. ... then she changes her mind and writes her own name beneath where he'd written it.]}

What was your name again?

_{[So she won't forget what it means.]}

My name is Kaneki Ken. But you can just call me Kaneki.

[He replies, resting his forearms against the table as he folds his notebook closed again.

For a moment, he seems like he wants to say something else, but doesn't. After a second, though, he changes his mind and continues anyway, reaching up to scratch the side of his face.]

If you...if you ever want to know how to write something else...I would be happy to show you, Molly-san.

_{[She diligently writes this down beneath his name in kanji. It's a mixmatch of neater and not so neat writing, and in different colors, but that has a lot of appeal.]

[She looks a little surprised at the offer too, but then she lights up and nods.]}

Okay! I'll ask you if think of anything.

_{[Putting the note in her journal again, she puts it back in her backpack and digs around a little.]}

Do you want to draw?

[Kaneki blinks, pushing his book aside for the moment. He'll have plenty of time to finish it back at the hotel, and now it's his turn to be surprised by her offer.]

Well...sure, I guess.

[He turns the pen around once in his hand, looking up at Hide still leafing through his big picture book. It seems that he's been looking at the same one this whole time.]

What do you want to draw?

_{[She pulls out her sketchpad from her backpack and picks up a number more coloured pencils that she just kinda drops in the middle of the table. It means help yourself, Kaneki. You can borrow them if you want.]}

I don't know. I just want to draw.

_{[... BUT WHAT IF]}

We could draw each other!

[Well that causes him to smile, even as Hide bends over to grab one of the pencils to examine, his picture book momentarily forgotten.]

Alright, we can do that. I'm...not all that great, but my friend and I used to draw some back home.

_{[When Molly notices Hide reach over to take one of them, she shoots him a smile and a quick "hang on" before she tears out a paper from her book to give to him. In case he also wants to draw.]}

You draw little houses all the time!

_{[Teasing, in that very friendly way.]}

I bet you're good at it.

[Kaneki exchanges his pen for one of the pencils as Hide takes the paper excitedly from Molly, putting his book aside and immediately getting on his belly on the table to start to draw.

He chuckles good-naturedly, starting to draw lazy circles on his paper again.]

Yeah, I guess you have a point, there.

_{[Molly, on the other hand, throws herself right into the drawing. She picks up a black pencil for starters since Kaneki has black hair, and watches him as she draws and starts carefully drawing the shape of his face.]}

Well yeah. I'm really good at points.

_{[Just nonchalantly, but again in a friendly tone, even as she gets a little distracted as she starts mapping the drawing out.]}

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