I still vaguely recall where that plastic Eevee that sits on my printer came from…A little more than a decade ago, my sister and I were given these small little pocket-sized Pokémon playsets. Our obsession with the franchise was never higher back then, so, even the most basic of toys with the little critters were enough for both of us to go bouncing off the walls. Our imaginations put the sets through their paces, which came with three mini Pokémon figurines: a Pikachu, a Poliwhirl and an Eevee. Eventually of course however, the toy was shoved into a junk drawer when the next enthralling toy came around, and most of those old things likely ended up in the trash one way or another, a majority of it happening when we had to move out of the old home. Clearing out a particularly cluttered drawer, I was surprised to find, sitting there all by its lonesome, the Eevee. Nostalgia overtaking me, I grabbed the cute little piece of plastic and tossed it into a small compartment in my backpack. Over the summer it stayed there with a few other childhood keepsakes I managed to salvage, not sure where I was going to put it, and yet, I knew it had a place somewhere. College began before I even knew it, and as I was putting my stuff on tables and in shelves, I decided by random impulse to put the Eevee on my printer, since there was hardly any room for it anywhere else, and I didn’t want to just keep hiding it away. It was a nice place to put it, and I stand by that fact, since it still stands there, but…little did I know there was a better place…
I had frequented a Pokémon-themed fan site for nearly three years by this point in time, impressed very early on by how professional and likable the admins and the regulars really were, even if they all had some rather hilarious quirks to them. I felt a bit intimidated at first, as I usually feel whenever I start out in this sort of thing, but I also felt happily welcome soon after, and, after spending some time in the forum’s chatroom, as well as learning a thing or two about internet discipline (having spent very little time on forums beforehand), I gradually felt like I was a real part of the community. I had gotten along with a number of regulars, all charming in their own ways, but there was one in particular who I had quite a specific fondness for from nearly the very get-go. She was an eager sort of girl, a year or so younger than me, though we were both in the same grade at school. Everyone on the forum appeared to hold a sort of regard for her in some form, whether that was the teasing kind, the sibling-like kind, the hero kind, or just the straightforward best-friend kind. She was a great sprite artist and, at least, in my opinion, an even better musician, knowledgeable in several instruments, particularly the viola, as well as her own voice… that voice…Perhaps I should clarify on the voice just to make this clearer: it was angelic, it was cute (even if she claimed some of her friends thought it to be “boyish”), and it just had an aura to it that just made me smile like an idiot every time my ears had the good fortune of picking up her words, which, considering how we were usually communicating via chatroom, was an unacceptably rare occasion for the longest time. That changed however, come one evening in late October…
I had been gradually forcing my way back into the regular status on the site, despite the extra labors that college life was bringing, and I was making some steady progress catching up with my internet pals, along with writing and expanding the storyline and characters for my internet persona’s personal canon, the likes of which I began writing one-shots for, based mostly on an RP in which the character was participating in. Some people seemed to enjoy the writing, and I was always excited to see their comments on the works…especially when she commented on them. Having had such an appreciation for her own works and projects, having her respond so warmly to my own simple write-ups was some of the greatest encouragement I could possibly have. It motivated me to work harder when it came to fleshing out my characters and their motivations, and to create what I can only hope will be something to truly feel proud of once I eventually finish the whole thing…but of course that’s another tale to tell. The fact of the matter was this girl who I admired showed some small bit of admiration in return, and that made me very happy. Little did I know that this admiration was something much more than simple respect for a writer’s work…and little did she know I had been feeling the same way…Around that point, we had been discussing using Skype more regularly while in the chatroom, and eventually, that led to a few of us getting into Skype calls and exchanging contact info. I was hearing this girl’s voice more often now, and I was ecstatic because of it, even though that likely didn’t come through so well during the calls, since I’m not exactly the most graceful conversationalist when I’m nervous, and I was always nervous during these calls. You could say I was officially crush-struck by that point, and it was around then when the girl mentioned in passing having an internet crush of her own. When I read this, my heart skipped a beat before lumping in my throat…Thoughts ran wild in my head in speculation, but as much as I would’ve liked it to be true, I never gave myself the encouragement that I could’ve been the target of her secret compassion. It wasn’t long before I asked her if she’d tell me who her crush was, and, to my surprise, she was willing to tell me…in private. As I queried her, I felt a nervous tingling in my arms and I began to break out in a cold sweat. It reminded me of all those times in my high school theatre troupe where I’d be nervously waiting for the revelation over what part I had in the coming show…but in this case, I was waiting for the revelation over what part I had in this girl’s life. She told me to guess who I thought the person was, and I began to list my primary suspects, all of which I often caught her chatting with quite often…She said no for each and every one of them…my conscience was begging me to throw my name in the mix…I could feel my persona, Mr.RMA, screaming at me to just man-up and cut to the chase, even when I began listing off people who I knew weren’t the one even before her response. I couldn’t do it though…Something just wouldn’t let me slip my name in there, and I resigned to the belief that she was going to just tell me it was some newcomer or something that caught her eye…right when she asked me why I hadn’t mentioned myself yet. The cold sweat became a feverish headache as I sat there, almost too nervous to respond, my thick skull beginning to put two and two together, but still, stubbornly, unable to accept it. Why on Earth would anyone have a crush on me, this lumbering oaf who had less knowledge of social interaction than the average 2 year old? I didn’t deserve such a luxury; especially not from a girl like this…I firmly believed that…until she encouraged me to finally ask the question. I did so…and then the Skype call came…About three hours later, to my ultimate surprise, I wasn’t single anymore.
The evening of October 30th and the subsequent early morning of October 31st had a lot going for it: Halloween was coming ‘round the bend, and the Boston Red Sox had won their first World Series at Fenway Park since 1918. The latter event in particular should have been the most memorable moment of the night for me, but, strangely enough it was shoved back into being a nice side-thought…all because of that call. It’s amazing how fast your outlook on some things changes when you fall in love with someone…suddenly those campy, syrupy love stories don’t seem so nauseating, suddenly you find yourself just smiling out of nowhere as your significant other creeps into your thoughts, and suddenly you just kinda get a spring in your step because of your new, rejuvenated motivation for living. Everything felt brighter after that day, and all my troubles became easier to deal with…all because of one precious person. Perhaps, because of this, it just felt like fate that her username online was Shiny Eevee…Eevee was just becoming something of a theme for me this year apparently, and of course, it wasn’t long after that call that I remembered my little toy Pokémon on my printer. Just standing there on guard with its happy-go-lucky smile, it felt like the right place for it to be…but that’s not the only place anymore. That Eevee is a reminder now, and no matter where I go, I carry that reminder with me. It found its place in my heart, and that, truly, is the right place for it.
I had frequented a Pokémon-themed fan site for nearly three years by this point in time, impressed very early on by how professional and likable the admins and the regulars really were, even if they all had some rather hilarious quirks to them. I felt a bit intimidated at first, as I usually feel whenever I start out in this sort of thing, but I also felt happily welcome soon after, and, after spending some time in the forum’s chatroom, as well as learning a thing or two about internet discipline (having spent very little time on forums beforehand), I gradually felt like I was a real part of the community. I had gotten along with a number of regulars, all charming in their own ways, but there was one in particular who I had quite a specific fondness for from nearly the very get-go. She was an eager sort of girl, a year or so younger than me, though we were both in the same grade at school. Everyone on the forum appeared to hold a sort of regard for her in some form, whether that was the teasing kind, the sibling-like kind, the hero kind, or just the straightforward best-friend kind. She was a great sprite artist and, at least, in my opinion, an even better musician, knowledgeable in several instruments, particularly the viola, as well as her own voice… that voice…Perhaps I should clarify on the voice just to make this clearer: it was angelic, it was cute (even if she claimed some of her friends thought it to be “boyish”), and it just had an aura to it that just made me smile like an idiot every time my ears had the good fortune of picking up her words, which, considering how we were usually communicating via chatroom, was an unacceptably rare occasion for the longest time. That changed however, come one evening in late October…
I had been gradually forcing my way back into the regular status on the site, despite the extra labors that college life was bringing, and I was making some steady progress catching up with my internet pals, along with writing and expanding the storyline and characters for my internet persona’s personal canon, the likes of which I began writing one-shots for, based mostly on an RP in which the character was participating in. Some people seemed to enjoy the writing, and I was always excited to see their comments on the works…especially when she commented on them. Having had such an appreciation for her own works and projects, having her respond so warmly to my own simple write-ups was some of the greatest encouragement I could possibly have. It motivated me to work harder when it came to fleshing out my characters and their motivations, and to create what I can only hope will be something to truly feel proud of once I eventually finish the whole thing…but of course that’s another tale to tell. The fact of the matter was this girl who I admired showed some small bit of admiration in return, and that made me very happy. Little did I know that this admiration was something much more than simple respect for a writer’s work…and little did she know I had been feeling the same way…Around that point, we had been discussing using Skype more regularly while in the chatroom, and eventually, that led to a few of us getting into Skype calls and exchanging contact info. I was hearing this girl’s voice more often now, and I was ecstatic because of it, even though that likely didn’t come through so well during the calls, since I’m not exactly the most graceful conversationalist when I’m nervous, and I was always nervous during these calls. You could say I was officially crush-struck by that point, and it was around then when the girl mentioned in passing having an internet crush of her own. When I read this, my heart skipped a beat before lumping in my throat…Thoughts ran wild in my head in speculation, but as much as I would’ve liked it to be true, I never gave myself the encouragement that I could’ve been the target of her secret compassion. It wasn’t long before I asked her if she’d tell me who her crush was, and, to my surprise, she was willing to tell me…in private. As I queried her, I felt a nervous tingling in my arms and I began to break out in a cold sweat. It reminded me of all those times in my high school theatre troupe where I’d be nervously waiting for the revelation over what part I had in the coming show…but in this case, I was waiting for the revelation over what part I had in this girl’s life. She told me to guess who I thought the person was, and I began to list my primary suspects, all of which I often caught her chatting with quite often…She said no for each and every one of them…my conscience was begging me to throw my name in the mix…I could feel my persona, Mr.RMA, screaming at me to just man-up and cut to the chase, even when I began listing off people who I knew weren’t the one even before her response. I couldn’t do it though…Something just wouldn’t let me slip my name in there, and I resigned to the belief that she was going to just tell me it was some newcomer or something that caught her eye…right when she asked me why I hadn’t mentioned myself yet. The cold sweat became a feverish headache as I sat there, almost too nervous to respond, my thick skull beginning to put two and two together, but still, stubbornly, unable to accept it. Why on Earth would anyone have a crush on me, this lumbering oaf who had less knowledge of social interaction than the average 2 year old? I didn’t deserve such a luxury; especially not from a girl like this…I firmly believed that…until she encouraged me to finally ask the question. I did so…and then the Skype call came…About three hours later, to my ultimate surprise, I wasn’t single anymore.
The evening of October 30th and the subsequent early morning of October 31st had a lot going for it: Halloween was coming ‘round the bend, and the Boston Red Sox had won their first World Series at Fenway Park since 1918. The latter event in particular should have been the most memorable moment of the night for me, but, strangely enough it was shoved back into being a nice side-thought…all because of that call. It’s amazing how fast your outlook on some things changes when you fall in love with someone…suddenly those campy, syrupy love stories don’t seem so nauseating, suddenly you find yourself just smiling out of nowhere as your significant other creeps into your thoughts, and suddenly you just kinda get a spring in your step because of your new, rejuvenated motivation for living. Everything felt brighter after that day, and all my troubles became easier to deal with…all because of one precious person. Perhaps, because of this, it just felt like fate that her username online was Shiny Eevee…Eevee was just becoming something of a theme for me this year apparently, and of course, it wasn’t long after that call that I remembered my little toy Pokémon on my printer. Just standing there on guard with its happy-go-lucky smile, it felt like the right place for it to be…but that’s not the only place anymore. That Eevee is a reminder now, and no matter where I go, I carry that reminder with me. It found its place in my heart, and that, truly, is the right place for it.
.
