Junk Mail | Spring Cleaning

The sun was dawning, the skies were clear and bright, bird pokemon were chirping their unique melodies; each song echoing against each other in a harmony. What a beautiful morning! …and Iris was stuck inside due to some hooligans running amok in the cities.

The fused trainer hadn’t been involved in the riots that had riled up the population, and yet she, and many other innocent bystanders, were included in the lockdown. Whilst she understood the police’s precautions, Iris was not used to staying inside one building for long periods of time and it was starting to drive her stir-crazy. The freelance rescuer was used to spending hours, if not days, leaping between the trees to recover lost pokemon and people alike - trapped in a box, no matter how homely, was her worst nightmare. Her tail whipped back and forth restlessly, occasionally snapping quick enough to cause a whip-like crack, startling the birds she was watching outside her window.

“Grah! I’m gonna go mental.” She yelled, grabbing at her short hair in frustration. Lunging down, her hands gripped the rail, fully prepared to haul herself out of the windowsill. A metal creaking came from behind her and Iris glanced over her shoulder to see Alloy gently headbutting her elbow, as his siamese twin Carbon poked his head out the window - trying to figure out what his trainer had been yowling at.

Iris took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, patting Alloy’s cold metal casing to show the fusion that she was okay, grateful to the pokemon for grounding her. The trainer glanced around her living room, wincing as she realized the mess that had slowly been building up over the past week. The bookshelves laid bare and covered in dust, the books belonging to them strewn about the sofa, table and even the floor. Mugs from far too many cups of calming tea littered every flat surface and old leaves from Anya’s plants dirtied the pots and their surroundings.

Speaking of her roommate, Iris felt a flash of alarm when she noticed that they weren’t in the house. Was she running around outside in the middle of a lock down? A strong pang of worry wrestled with a feeling of envy as she pondered where the tigress could have gone.

Iris sighed again, bending low to pick up one of the discarded books, dusting off the cover as she peered at its title. Best to do something to distract her from uncomfortable feelings and as boring as cleaning was, it would serve as a good distraction.

“C’mon Alloy, Carbon,” She called, wincing at the thud she heard when Carbon bonked his head against the windowsill as he pulled himself back in, letting out a robotic whimper, “let’s get this place clean for when Anya gets home.”

Quiet footsteps announced Hera’s arrival, the coal-like female peering up at Iris with a disinterested expression. Iris smiled fondly at her first pokemon, patting the mawile fusion gently on top of her large maw, Hera allowing it for a moment before pushing Iris’ hand away with a growl.

“Gonna help me tidy Hera?” The trainer asked, pulling out a roll of bin bags from one of the drawers, gently bumping it shut with her hip as she pulled one free from the rest. Hera eyed the bin bags curiously before turning away, surprising Iris as the apathetic pokemon actually started to help tidy by picking up the books from the floor; putting them carefully between her maw’s teeth to avoid damaging the covers. Iris smiled fondly as she watched Hera diligently attend to her task. Alloy and Carbon eagerly started to help tidy as well; brushing their feathery body against the shelves, effectively dusting them until they shone.

Iris started scooping loose paper and scrap mail into the plastic bag, giving it a shake every so often to get the debris to the bottom of the bag. Grabbing a paper coffee cup, she threw it into the bag, flinching with a hiss of surprise as she heard a loud squeak swiftly follow. She opened the plastic bag, her brow creasing as she saw her little Frostfall staring up at her with heartbroken eyes.

“Frostfall! What were you doing in there?” Iris reached into the bin, swiftly scooping up the palm-sized creature and holding him close to her chest; the little joltik fusion letting out inconsolable squeaks. “I wasn’t throwing you away, you daft thing, you were sleeping in a coffee cup.”

It was clear that Frostfall wasn’t about to calm down anytime soon so Iris placed the small male on her shoulder, ignoring the bitter cold that started to seep into her skin from his icy encasement. Continuing her paper gathering, Iris paused every so often to squint in confusion at meaningless scribbles on a few scraps before putting them in the bag, frowning in annoyance whenever she found another spam letter. The outskirts of Grovehart weren’t exactly a popular residency, the plant life having reclaimed most of the older buildings, and yet spam letters still somehow managed to find their way into their mail box. 

One of which made her grit her teeth in bitter annoyance, a recruitment letter from Cynic. She knew of the group (who didn’t?) but quite frankly, the entire concept of factions and groups and the fight for supremacy between all of them made her skin crawl. No to mention, she thought, crushing the paper in anger, that it was all their fault that she was stuck in here to begin with!