I’d like to say I get along pretty well with my family members. I consider myself an easygoing guy, so that probably helps. Out of my parents, I think I get along with Dad (Brendan) the best, but that’s mainly since we share the most hobbies. We both love spending time outdoors and learning about pokémon. The other reason is that Father, being a Gym Leader, and Mom, being a Frontier Brain, are both professional trainers, while I’m a coordinator, so sometimes it’s a bit harder to connect with them that way. Dad’s a professor, so we can just bond over loving pokémon. That’s not to say I don’t get along with Father and Mom though! Father had a brief stint as a coordinator back when he was around my age and was pretty good at it, so he often gives me advice on my upcoming contests. His perspective is pretty different from mine, so it’s always helpful to hear his opinion on things. Plus, I feel like it’s kind of impossible not to get along with Father. He’s just such a nice guy in general, haha. As for Mom, I guess sometimes she can feel a bit distant since we don’t have a lot in common, but I know she really cares about me and my siblings. Mom is definitely the one I go to when I need someone to help me through a difficult decision. She’s really good at laying out all the facts and helping me look at all possible approaches to a problem. Plus she’s really smart which is great for when I get stuck on homework!

As for my siblings, well, I wish I could say I got along with them all as well as I do my parents. Layla and I get along fine, but sometimes I feel like she tries too hard to be a perfect big sister, especially with our younger siblings. She was never too smothering with me, but she can be crazy overprotective of Eve and Edward. I keep trying to tell her that they can handle themselves, but as usual she doesn’t really listen to me. I think she thinks I’m a bit of an airhead or something. I wish she would come to my contests more, even though I get she’s busy with her Interpol work. Eve is a sweetheart and I would fight anyone who tries to hurt her, well, if I didn’t know she can handle anything herself just fine. I think people tend to see her as a delicate flower – pun intended – but she’s really pretty badass in her own right. Just ‘cause she doesn’t like conflict doesn’t mean she isn’t strong! I wish more people could figure that out. Also, compared to Mom’s empathy meaning she can always tell when something’s bothering me and be all fussy, Layla’s precognition meaning she’s always paranoid that something that may not even happen is going to kill us all, and Ed’s telekinesis meaning he breaks things with his mind every time he gets teenage hormonal (which is all the time), Eve’s plant-control powers are so much less of a bother, even though I know she could kill me with vines if she wanted to. But that’s the beautiful thing about Eve, she wouldn’t hurt a fly and makes pretty flowers to give me with her powers instead. I love you Eve. And as for Edward, well, I already gave my opinion on his powers (I don’t care that telekinesis is like, the most common esper power I will never forgive him for breaking my stereo when I didn’t let him watch an R-rated movie that one time). But really, I just want to be there for him. I know he’s going through his angsty teen phase or whatever, but he’s just so angry all the time it makes me kind of sad. I don’t know how to help him though, since he always gets mad at me when I try and talk to him. I hope he has someone else in the family, or a friend at least, who he can talk to…. I try my best to be a good big brother, but I’m not even living at home anymore so it’s kind of hard to be there for my little sister and brother. Well, as long as I’m trying my best, right!