Behold, my first pokèmon fankid.
Name: Kamado Kaito (デンボク 海斗)
Gender: Male
Age: 19 (born April 17, 1875)
Height: 5'8"
Ethnicity: Galarian/Johtonian
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Gray
Home: Jubilife Village, Hisui
Relatives: Laventon (dad), Kamado (pa)
Pokèmon: Franklin (female Galarian slowpoke)
Likes: learning new languages, researching the lore/culture of different regions, writing in his journals, listening to stories, organizing bookshelves, sumo (to some extent), collecting foreign trinkets, spending time with his family
Dislikes: loud noises, winter weather, being compared to his dads, grass-type pokèmon, unnecessary conflict, unexplainable phenomena
Personality
Kaito is introverted by nature and has a small circle of close family and friends, most of them being adults. He’s slow to trust people he doesn’t know, but is quick to change if he finds them to be friendly and/or interesting. Most of the time, he’s very polite and values taking the road of least resistance above all else to avoid unnecessary conflict. Kaito has a tendency to be deep in thought and sometimes takes a moment to process if someone is talking to him. There’s nothing he hates more than when he can’t figure out how something works or why certain things happen, as he believes everything must have an explanation and there’s no such thing as a “mystery”. His curiosity is his ultimate downfall and the main reason why he gets into trouble, whether it be with wild pokèmon or his own dads.
Facts
Kaito was raised bilingual and is fluent in Galarian and the shared language of Johto, Kanto, and Hoenn. Along with those, he also knows a little bit of Alolan, Kalosian, and Paldean.
When Kaito was born, Laventon was 51 and Kamado was 46. By the time he turned 1, Laventon began using a cane due to problems with his back caused by a pre-existing condition and past injuries he got in the field. Kaito never admits it out loud, but sometimes he feels deeply resentful of this. He wishes his dads could’ve had him younger so he’d be able to spend more of his life with them without constantly worrying for their health.
He wants to be a librarian one day. The idea of being a conduit for people to connect to other lives and cultures through free access to literature has always spoken to him in volumes, especially as someone who struggles with socializing and has a constant thirst for knowledge.
He has one of the weakest immune systems known to man. Kaito’s extremely sensitive to cold temperatures and can’t take one step outside in the winter without at least five layers on. He’s also allergic to most grass-type pokèmon and nearly died from touching a paras once.
He owns an ever-growing collection of winter hats, books, and foreign trinkets because Laventon likes gifting things (this is also how Kamado obtained his suit of armor). Laventon knits the hats himself, as it’s a favorite pastime of his. Kaito finds them to be a little tacky, but he wears them anyway since they keep his head warm and it makes Laventon smile.
He has a bad habit of unknowingly being in people’s blind spots and accidentally spooking them. To avoid this, Kaito tries to stand where they can see him and, if not, makes sure they at least hear he’s in the room. He does this with his dads as well and they have to half-jokingly remind him that he’s not some common servant and to come stand by their side instead of 4 feet behind them.
Kaito was self-conscious when his facial hair first started growing in. It wasn’t until Kamado had a heart-to-heart with him about how change shouldn’t be something to fear and taught him how to shave when he started feeling more confident about it. One day, when he feels like it, he hopes to style his mustache like the depictions of samurai in musha-e.
Kaito’s love for the traditional folktales of other regions stems from when his dads used to tell him about the ones of their homelands when he couldn’t fall asleep, which was quite often. If someone were to have him recite, for example, the tale of the darkest day or the burnt tower on the spot, he could tell them from beginning to end without a single stutter.
Kaito has a few journals filled with unique stories from the various people he’s encountered. He tries to write each one in the original language they were told in as it helps him practice how to speak it. Kaito calls the journals his “storydexes”.
One of Kaito’s favorite hobbies is organizing his two bookshelves and the ones in Laventon’s lab. They don’t always need to be organized, but knowing how much Kaito enjoys doing it, Laventon or Kamado will swap a few books on the shelves each morning to see if he notices. They have to hold back their laughter when Kaito makes that little “hrrm…” sound before proceeding to put the books back in order. Kaito is aware they do this, but doesn’t care.
Having grown up around Kamado’s pokèmon, Kaito sees them as family. Among them, the braviary is the one he’s closest to. He’s gotten in trouble a couple times for sneaking his pokèball so he can fly over the arenas to try to get a glimpse of the nobles.
On clear, warm nights, Kaito and his dads like to go to Prelude Beach to stargaze. It’s a small tradition that Kamado and Laventon started before he was born. Kaito often uses these bonding experiences to ask if his dads have any good personal stories to share.
When he was a child, Kaito struggled with nightmares and would crawl into his dads’ futons to feel safer. Thankfully, they became less frequent once he got Franklin and she’s well-trained in waking him up if she notices he’s having one.
Because he accompanied his dads on survey trips since he was a year old, Kaito knows a lot about pokèmon behavior and their different abilities. However, when it comes to catching or battling, he’s horrendous at it. He calls it the “Laventon Curse”.
No matter how many times Kaito tries to slick his hair back for formal events, he can never get it to stay down. It always goes right back to its usual fluffy appearance.
When he gets excited, his whole body shakes and his fists clench up. It started when he was little and hasn’t gone away since. People tend to mistake it for anger because he keeps a straight face when he does it.
He practices sumo with Kamado in his spare time and, though Kaito is far from the best, Kamado never loses patience with him and does his best to be supportive. Kaito mainly wants to learn it because it helps boost his confidence.
His favorite region is Alola and he would give anything to explore it one day. Everything about it fascinates him, especially the tales of the island guardians and the kahunas. Any time he hears that the Ginkgo merchants have a new selection of books, he specifically looks for the ones about Alola and 1/3 of his bookshelves are already dedicated to it. Along with those, he owns a few trinkets from there as well, his prized possessions being an odd, glimmering stone, a ticket for a ride pokèmon, and a wooden carving of the guardian deity of Melemele Island. The alolans are also the only people he’ll actively seek out to talk to and, in his experience, are always the nicest. One family he met a few years ago at Prelude invites him to their lodgings from time to time to offer freshly-made malasadas to take back home. He and Laventon got Kamado hooked on them pretty quick and they occasionally save them for dessert.
The first region he ever visited outside of Hisui was Galar. His dads took him there when he was 3 because Laventon wanted to show him where half his roots came from. Because it was so long ago, the only things Kaito remembers from it are going to a very nice curry restaurant and the mudsdale-drawn carriages. Laventon has a framed photo on his desk of Kaito, with a ridiculously, big bow tie on, being held by Kamado on one of the mudsdales.
At 15, he got his first job as the Galaxy Team’s bookkeeper under the Supply Corps. His dads vouched for him in front of Commander Cyllene and, taking note of his organizational skills and quick learning, found it was the only reasonable job for him. So far, Kaito enjoys his job, as he doesn’t have to interact with many people and is allowed to have tea at his work station. Plus, getting to record and sort things while being paid to do it is reward enough for him.
Despite both his dads liking potato mochi, he despises it. The taste never appealed to him and he has several ways to dispose of it without anyone finding out. On the contrary, he loves curry, specifically when Laventon cooks it, and devours it within seconds.
Most of Jubilife knows who his dads are which, more often than not, leads to awkward conversations concerning whether he’ll follow in their footsteps. Each time, he has to tell them kindly that he’s not planning on becoming a pokèmon professor and certainly doesn’t have what it takes to be the next commander. It grates on Kaito’s nerves, but also serves as great motivation for him to work harder and be seen for his own achievements.
He doesn’t have many friends his age and prefers it that way. When he was younger, this worried his dads and they tried multiple times to help him make friends in Laventon’s classes (Laventon teaches pokèmon-centered classes to children on certain weekdays), but, instead of joining one of the study groups, he always ended up reading in the corner. It took some time for them to come to terms with the fact that Kaito wasn’t like most kids.
His wardrobe is a mix of both Galarian and traditional Johtonian outfits, ranging from a dress vest and trousers to a kimono and haori. He usually prefers the latter over the former as it’s more comfortable to wear and feels less constricting.
He carries a charm with him consisting of a comet shard from Kamado and a copper cufant figurine from Laventon. He wears it for good luck and is never seen without it.
He’s very fascinated by rotom and its ability to take over and control the odd devices that fall from the rifts. He even contemplated getting one once, but decided not to because of the mischief it tends to cause and its highly energetic personality.
Pokemon
Franklin: Originally received as a gift for Kaito’s 6th birthday, she’s his first and only pokèmon. He named her Franklin because he couldn’t tell whether she was male or female and thought it was a cool Galarian name. Since then, they’ve been inseparable and he brings her almost everywhere. For a slowpoke, she has a very high intellect and has saved Kaito on numerous occasions. If there’s a threat nearby, she’ll make noise and gnaw at Kaito’s hair in warning and, if he’s upset, she’ll rub up against his face and purr to make him feel better. The other kids used to poke fun at his “lame” first partner pokèmon and made jokes about turning Franklin into a delicacy. He performed a perfect sumo throw on a kid once for this and got in trouble with Laventon. Kamado, on the other hand, was very proud of him. He eventually evolves her into a slowking on his second trip to Galar when he’s 22.
That’s about it for now :]