well,,,

Look, I sorta don't know what to say because it is wild, but... I can't... not... post about this...???

I got a birthday box in the mail today that was literally stuffed to the brim with Littens. Canny and dedicated readers might be able to guess this, but the culprit was L. As I posted about the other day, we've been playing Pokemon Sun together, and Litten's my Thing right now. I routinely watch an arc of three episodes of the Sun and Moon anime about Ash's Litten and become Emotionally Compromised.

Seeing so many Littens at once, I thought of my birthday list -- "Litten anything" -- and was like, "Whoa. Ask and ye shall receive." But a) I didn't actually ask anyone for Litten anything, and B) I put so many Litten things on the graphic for visual symmetry, mainly. Emphasis on "anything," not "everything." Yet!! The coterie of plush Littens manifested!!!

And there were things besides plushies! Little figurines, from both boxes and, I think, gachapons? Because they came in those little plastic egg-type containers. And a necklace!!! And an origami book! Neither of those things pictured, but oh my god. I asked L:

Hahaha! Here's a better picture of the figures. They're all soooo cute, cry emoji.

I'm boggled yet tickled beyond belief. I believe this is technically a collection?? Like, all at once I now have a Litten Collection??? I think I really will need to collect more little figures, at least. They're so small I might conceivably be able to fit them in my doll-crowded bedroom. The plushies, well... I'll make room!

ALTERNATE POST TITLES:

• LISTEN
• an Abundance of Littens
• Litten to your heart
• Emotionally Compromised By Litten
• Aly & AJ - Litten!!!.mp3

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self-portrait of a trainer on her birthday

Well, I don't really post art here (I think I have posted a couple of Blythe sketches) but I have been playing Pokemon Sun and Moon -- both! -- and decided to draw my trainer. Then I decided she'd be holding Litten, because of course! It's my starter and my main source of serotonin right now!! Then I put her in my own clothes instead of the outfit she's wearing in the game, so it became something of a self-portrait in the style of Pokemon. Or at least, this is my attempt at the Pokemon style!

I never post art here because all I draw is niche hyperfixation stuff or portraits of my D&D characters. Not that this isn't niche hyperfixation art -- but I wasn't sure what else to do with this one, and my birthday's as good an excuse as any to post a self-portrait!

(I want to credit correctly: The embroidery in the background is from And Other Adventures Embroidery Co. I did not feel up to painting flowers but wanted some texture in the background!)

(It's my birthday, you can't stop me!)

Lately my bestie L has been playing Pokemon Sun on an emulator and streaming it for me via Discord so I can watch!! This has been incredibly fun because I don't have to do any battling or decision-making, but she lets me name all the Pokemon she catches, so I feel involved. Because she is incredibly enabling, she chose Litten as our starter and we named him "Li'l Boi." LI'L BOI YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING!

The Pokemon Refresh feature of Sun and Moon is wonderful... I love watching L clean and pet and feed Li'l Boi the Litten. So much so that I took a bunch of screencaps! Sooo cute! His little myaaas!

L's playing Sun, but I have Moon, and because L can't play 24/7 for me, I picked up Moon again. All the better to pet Litten with, my dears. This gave me further feelings on Pokemon Refresh, especially as compared to other features like Pokemon Camp in Sword and Shield. I also do like that feature, because yes, of course I want to play with Vulpix. Don't be silly. But Refresh really feels a lot like you are actively caring for your Pokemon, and when Pokemon are well cared for, affectionate and full of Poke Beans, they respond accordingly during battles. I've lost count of the amount of times I've said, "Diaper Baby, I love you!!" because my Vullaby (... named Diaper Baby) dodged an attack out of a developed relationship with me, or landed a critical hit, hoping to be praised!

I have been dipping into Shield again as well, in my hyperfixation, and I miss carefully brushing dust off my Pokemon! I miss the cute status messages about how in sync my Pokemon and I are, and how they are looking at me with intense eyes, or are curious about my fashion. Refresh is soooo cute.

Okay, this post was a Refresh to my soul! Thanks for putting up with it.

Birthday plans include:

• not sleeping enough (I already feel it)
• a pink birthday table courtesy my mom
• lunch with my mom and grandma
• watching stuff with bestie K!

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