seraphine & the story of izzy’s favorite berry (an update)
when izzy was first adopted, she was a pretty picky eater. most pokemon will eat whatever as long as it doesn’t involve their disliked taste -- in fact, many will eat their disliked taste, but this will make them feel more negatively towards their trainer.
yeah... not izzy. for her, (a modest pichu,) it was DRY berries or bust.
this would have presented an issue in itself, but seraphine herself was, putting it nicely...
spoiled. seraphine was spoiled, and she only liked her berries sweet. if it wasn’t sweet, why even call it a berry? it didn’t make sense!
prior to this, izzy had not had a preference when it came to which dry berry she would eat. but after a bout of supreme frustration from trying to figure out just what berries she could share with her new electric partner, seraphine sought the advice of a breeder, who suggested the only -- and i mean only -- viable option for them:
the cornn berry. he hesitated to even suggest it, given its rarity and therefore its cost if one didn’t want to grow it themselves (heck, even if they did, since you tend to have to buy one just to get started,) but he happened to be talking to one of the few people who didn’t have to worry about the expense. and even so, it could be an acquired taste for humans.
but seraphine, surprisingly, did acquire the taste. she would often pop off one of the kernels at a time and enjoy small bits of it (contrary to what one of the ‘dex entries’ says, i know, but this refers to cooking it; so i can only imagine that eating large, raw quantities won’t make it more palatable, but rather the opposite would). other times, she would buy large bunches of them and the two would spend the day making delicious treats with them. not for contests, or for healing capabilities -- just to chill.
because of the cornn berry’s rarity, izzy finds herself missing the taste very much. (this is an aspect that i’m not only keeping from her original favorite berry, but now it makes even more sense. what are the odds, huh?) she’s sure she could find humans who have them as she remembers where she and seraphine used to buy them, but she cannot bring herself to a) stoop to that level and b) risk running into her old trainer again. as much as she misses her, what would she say--what would she do, she--
-coughs- another topic for another day.