Epilogue I: Changes

Nesrin (+ Sage!) Mahini | @nesrinmahini12 | 13 Jun 549, 6:43pm WUT (CKT-6)

Hey, @glide2_mistralton, why did you take the episode of "Humane Stories" you filmed with us off your upcoming schedule? https://glidenetwork.ua/schedule...

13 💬 | 14 🔁 | 134 ♥

Nesrin (+ Sage!) Mahini | @nesrinmahini12 | 13 Jun 549, 6:47pm WUT (CKT-6)

Welp, @glide2_mistralton blocked us. Guess that's our answer :upside_down:

25 💬 | 19 🔁 | 191 ♥

puta 2.1.5-rc7 (reál) | @c4ssIOpeia | 14 Jun 549, 4:11am CPT (CKT+3)

shit huh. hold on, I gotchu

2 💬 | 2 🔁 | 22 ♥

puta 2.1.5-rc7 (reál) | @c4ssIOpeia | 14 Jun 549, 4:49am CPT (CKT+3)

Hey @glide2_mistralton ur supposed to change the password on your router from the default one xdd jajajajajajaja https://libreupload.kl/u/YW1vbmd1cw0K...

79 💬 | 110 🔁 | 782 ♥

// transcript_s6e22_wip_280449.txt

 [B-ROLL FOOTAGE OF LILLYWOOD] 

NARRATOR: Sunnyside Heights is a small, quaint neighborhood on the northwest of Lillywood, a quiet town located forty minutes away from Mistralton. It's the perfect place to raise a family, with its many playgrounds, one of the largest public schools in the region, and a pediatric hospital located smack dab in its center. As beautiful as it is, though, it is not free from the woes of human life. Last November, Sunnyside Heights experienced a tragedy when Sage Mahini, a seven-year-old boy, was found dead in confusing circumstances. It was an indescribable loss for everyone, but the mother of the family, thirty-seven-year-old Nesrin Mahini working as a microbiologist for a company based in Mistralton, had taken it particularly hard.

 [B-ROLL FOOTAGE ZOOMS IN ON THE FAMILY HOUSE] 

NARRATOR: But then, an unexpected development at the beginning of February changed everything, when a Phantump unexpectedly showed up on the family's doorstep one night—and Nesrin believes them to be their lost child. Join our host, Pamela Hutchins, for this exclusive interview with the Mahini family.

 [INTRO SEQUENCE] 

 [EPISODE NAME: "LIFE AFTER DEATH? <WIPWIPWIPWIPW >"] 

 [TRANSITION TO THE INTERVIEW FOOTAGE, SWEEP FROM PAMELA TO THE GUEST. ZOOM IN ON THE SLEEPING PHANTUMP ON THE GUEST'S LAP] 

PAMELA HUTCHINS NARRATION: Hello, and welcome back to Humane Stories. Today, I'll be interviewing someone with quite an unbelievable story to tell, one she's been keen to tell for months now.

 [FADE TO PAMELA, START INTERVIEW AUDIO] 

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Good afternoon.

NESRIN MAHINI: Good afternoon, it is a pleasure to finally have a chance to tell the world my side of our story for once.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Before we talk about what happened in February, could you talk about the aftermath of Sage's death?

NESRIN MAHINI: Ahhh, goodness, it's hard to think back to that. What can I say? It broke all our hearts. I've always tried to be there for our kids, more than I've seen other folks in my position be, but it always came into that conflict with what it felt like I should be doing, you know that idealized image of a hardworking migrant. It's an awful, perverse one of course, but even if I knew better, I ended up kinda letting it push me into focusing more and more time on work because I was afraid I'd come off as the 'bad' kind of migrant, a horribly racist stereotype but I guess even if I knew better it still kinda got its hooks into me—and even my husband, too.

 [GUEST PETS THE SLEEPING PHANTUMP ON HER LAP] 

NESRIN MAHINI: I was busy with work most of the time; his job has him on constant work trips, you know. We had all we wanted in a way, could afford a preschool for our youngest, Aspen, but only had a couple hours a week to really spend time with our kids. I tried to take them for ice cream every weekend but of course, that's nowhere near enough, I was afraid of growing distant long before... this happened, and sometimes I feel that if I had tried to carve out more time for our kids all this could've been avoided.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Success isn't without its costs, indeed. So, what really happened that February night?

 [GUEST SIGHS AND LAUGHS WEAKLY] 

NESRIN MAHINI: Oh goodness, so much of it is a blur despite all the adrenaline. I stayed up watching something but don't remember what; it was like past midnight and suddenly I heard knocking on the front door. I come over and outside there's this tall, homeless-looking man, a Banette, and a Phantump. And then, the Phantump started talking to me in Sage's voice, and I realized it was her.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: That sounds terrifying.

NESRIN MAHINI: It absolutely was. I almost ran off in terror and called the c—the police when it happened. But yes, I realized it was Sage, just too many things lined up for me to deny that, and I took her in, and afterward, the rest of that night was just kinda a blur.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: That man and the Banette you mentioned—do you know who they were?

NESRIN MAHINI: Oh, I have no idea. Whoever that man was, he said nothing the entire time he stood there, and I don't think the Banette did either. We haven't seen them since. Though no matter who they are, they escorted my daughter back to me, and I sincerely hope they're doing alright, whoever and wherever they are.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: One spooky pair of bodyguards, if that's the case. Could you tell us what happened afterward?

NESRIN MAHINI: I remember the next morning well, it was... gods, I remember waking up and thinking I had the saddest and strangest dream, I was about to cry and then I spotted Sage sleeping beside me, and only then it all clicked in place, that kind of 'oh [EXPLETIVE], all this really happened', you know. And then since I was less tired I just felt all this loss and sadness all at once, everything I felt when she first went missing, and I ugly cried and held her for a while and was just so happy that she was back.

 [GUEST WIPES HER EYES] 

PAMELA HUTCHINS: How did your family react?

NESRIN MAHINI: My other kids were understandably shocked, though both differently. Aspen, my youngest, just gasped out loud and ran over to Sage and said how he was jealous that she became a Pokemon and I had no idea whether to cry or to laugh. That aside, he got used to it quite quickly, though kept asking for a while for her to show him some moves and she always got flustered and I had to explain to him that Sage didn't know any moves.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Does she... know any, now?

NESRIN MAHINI: I'm uncertain, actually. I spotted her playing in the backyard a few weeks ago, seemingly trying something out, so maybe she's trying to learn some? I don't know how this works in all honesty, we've never owned a pokemon.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Uh huh.

NESRIN MAHINI: As for my oldest, Azalea, she didn't believe it for a while. I remember us having this one strained chat a few days in. She told me I was going insane, and it hurt, but I couldn't blame her much. Though she apologized a few days later, overheard Sage chatting with Aspen, and finally tried talking to her herself, and then I guess it finally clicked for her, you know. I don't hold it against her, I'm just glad she eventually got around to accepting Sage again, and now she's trying to be the best big sister for her she can—even got her into trying out some makeup recently.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Mhm. What about your husband?

NESRIN MAHINI: Yes, that was a long and difficult talk between us once he got back from his work trip. He had a very hard time accepting it, kept worrying about my mental health, and couldn't believe it even after talking to Sage a few times. It took him a couple weeks to start turning around after he started running out of reasons and arguments for why this couldn't have been Sage, and he eventually got there and got over himself, but good gods these were some of the most difficult weeks of my life. We got closer to a divorce than we had ever been before. It was rough, but I'm just glad he came around on Sage.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: I can only imagine how shocking it must be to hear that your child has come back from the dead. Now, about that controversial part.

 [GUEST ROLLS HER EYES IN A VERY EXAGGERATED WAY] 

PAMELA HUTCHINS: You've said many times over the past few months that you've been on the receiving end of a lot of harassment and intimidation from the Unovan Government and the Pokemon League, correct?

NESRIN MAHINI: Yes, I have said that, and that's because it has been and continues to be true.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Could you elaborate on that?

NESRIN MAHINI: Well, it started when Aspen told some of his friends in kindergarten a few days after Sage came back, and then it spread fast. I received several calls, first from the kindergarten and then from other parents. At the start, they were just concerned, all 'Oh Nesrin, I know it's been rough on you but you should see a therapist sweetie'. Then when I kept reasserting myself that yes, Sage had come back, the mask dropped real fast. I sure didn't expect to be learning new slurs at almost forty, but life is full of surprises, I guess.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: What did these calls result in?

NESRIN MAHINI: Not much at the start, but then it got ugly fast. Aspen would come home crying because other kids told him his mom was crazy, and I ended up pulling him from that place soon after. Then, a week or so later, I got my first visit from the child protective services people. Which was terrifying. The guy they sent kept trying to nail me with something, but the only thing he could point out was that I had a '''pokemon''' at my house without owning it. The first thing I did once he left was go to the nearest trainers' supply store, buy a ball for Sage, and go through the paperwork for '''registering''' later that day.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: You sound rather frustrated at that.

NESRIN MAHINI: Why wouldn't I be? This isn't some stray mon, this is my daughter. The way everyone keeps referring to her as if she's some object I happen to own makes me sick. I don't even want to say she's a pokemon, she's a person who's stuck in a mon's body. I could go into an entire tangent on how I've had everyone constantly dehumanize her. It's been abhorrent.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Well, person or not, she still has the outward appearance of a pokemon. I can only imagine how much our laws would be thrown into disarray if we were to decide that 'some' mons are actually people, not to mention the legal mess involved with a legally dead person coming back from the dead.

NESRIN MAHINI: Then it sure sounds like they should be thrown into that disarray.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Quite a bold opinion. Either way—did the harassment stop at that one CPS check?

NESRIN MAHINI: Oh no, that was just the start. I constantly get mail from the state government accusing me of subjecting my children to psychological harm by claiming their sister had returned; I've had several CPS visits since then, but they couldn't find any dirt on me. I contacted several child psychologists around the country to get their opinion in writing about whether my children were in any sort of distress or experiencing abuse, and none of them found anything. Of course, nobody actually sending CPS checks on me cares one [EXPLETIVE] about my kids; it's long since become clear to me it's just an attempt to intimidate me into silence.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Because of your claims that Sage had come back as a pokemon?

NESRIN MAHINI: Yes, exactly. I've been in touch with a lawyer about this, and while I can't publicly say anything more than that yet, rest assured that I won't let them silence us. Sage is a person no matter the body she's in, and I won't rest until this country recognizes her as such.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: What about the League's response?

NESRIN MAHINI: Oh, gods. They've been just as rabid about trying to nail me with something, most often possession of a 'dangerous' mon without an appropriate license. But I went and checked and no, Phantump just aren't on that list! I know the list they're scaremongering about; I've had to learn about much more trainer nonsense than I ever wanted to for this, and Phantump just aren't there! And, even if they try to add them to that list now, it'll end up affecting a whole ton of people that own actual Phantump, we're talking thousands, and that's on top of the fact that those mon restrictions, as written in law, exempt people who already owned restricted species before they were added to the list. They're grasping at the flimsiest of straws and it would've been funny if it wasn't so frustrating and draining to deal with.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: You have mentioned an increase in what you called 'propaganda' coming from the Pokemon League in response to the controversy surrounding Sage.

NESRIN MAHINI: There's just no better way of putting it, really, as much as it sounds like I'm just stuffing my brain full of tin foil. I watched the messaging on all their public service announcements shift over these past few months from what it was before the sticking point of 'training is only abuse if done incorrectly, make sure to do it right', to just hammering on the message of 'mons aren't people and are fundamentally different and you shouldn't assume they experience anything like human emotions', which is just [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE], anyway. Even ignoring Sage for a moment, look at literally any mon playing around and tell me they don't experience happiness.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: What do you think drives that so-called 'propaganda'?

NESRIN MAHINI: That's the worst thing, I'm not even sure! I've been trying to be as specific in my messaging as possible once I went public with this. Some people end up reincarnating as Ghost-type mons, there's no shot Sage is the first-ever example of that happening, and we should expand our laws to accommodate those unusual, but still possible cases. From the messaging the League has been putting out in response, you'd think I was shrieking about mons and people being allowed to get married or something.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Well, wouldn't that actually happen if Sage were to marry a human down the line?

NESRIN MAHINI: No, because she's not an actual mon, she's a person stuck in a mon's body, that's the thing! I'm not gonna sit there and claim that every single mon out there is a person, that is absurd, but there definitely are other people, like Sage, that are in mon bodies.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Wouldn't there be a risk of a slippery slope from allowing this specific group of pokemon to be considered people in the laws of the land to some of those horrible outcomes like human-pokemon marriage?

NESRIN MAHINI: I don't see why there would be, assuming they care to limit it specifically to reincarnated humans. Though, hah...

 [GUEST PAUSES FOR ~40S] 

PAMELA HUTCHINS: ...Mrs. Nahini?

NESRIN MAHINI: Oh, apologies, it's just... you know, the conspiratorial side of me is really starting to think that they are trying to hide something big with how disproportionate their response has been.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: That is a very bold claim.

NESRIN MAHINI: I'm aware, and I'm not trying to justify it here and now. It's just that, you know, the severity of their response almost screams guilt to me, like they're covering something that I ended up stumbling onto. But I'm not gonna go into further detail on that right now, please continue.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: I see. Mhm. Well, has Sage... said anything about what happened in the three months she's been gone for?

NESRIN MAHINI: I have asked her a few times, but she doesn't remember much, aside from having spent a lot of time with someone she calls 'Yaksha'. I tried researching that name, and all I found was an entry or two in some old religious studies textbooks and a couple of forum profiles that have sat dead for fifteen years. But in general, I try not to pry Sage about it. It all makes her very anxious to think about and the least she deserves is not to have to experience that fear ever again.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: I suppose that's understandable. Another point that many have pointed out is that Sage's documents from when they were alive identify them as a boy, yet you've been referring to them as a girl.

NESRIN MAHINI: Yes, that's true. I've also talked to her about this, and it's another tricky, tense subject, but she's told me she's actually always thought she was a girl, even before her—her accident.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: Uh huh. Has she mentioned that beforehand?

NESRIN MAHINI: No, but again, I haven't been as present in her life as I wish I had been in hindsight. I can't really say to understand what drove this change, but I don't really think me understanding it or not matters one bit. It makes her happy to be referred to as a girl, and the few times she's heard someone refer to her as a boy it always upset her, so for me the choice is obvious—I wanna make her happy. Boy or girl, she's my child and I love her, and that's the only thing that really matters.

PAMELA HUTCHINS: But wouldn't you agree that allowing one's sex to be changed so easily would lead to—

 [THE PHANTUMP LETS OUT A LOUD YAWN AND STARTS WAKING UP] 

NESRIN MAHINI: Awwww, good afternoon, Sage!

 [THE PHANTUMP FLOATS UP FROM THE GUEST'S LAP AND LOOKS AROUND. IT GASPS AT THE SIGHT OF THE CAMERA AND FLOATS CLOSER, TAKING UP HALF THE FRAME] 

 [THE GUEST LAUGHS] 

NESRIN MAHINI: C'mon Sage, come back so we can finish this interview.

??????: Hello! Okay mom! [THE SOUND APPEARS TO BE COMING FROM THE PHANTUMP]

 [THE PHANTUMP FLOATS BACK TO THE GUEST'S LAP] 

 [PAMELA STARES IN SHOCK AND DROPS HER MIC, JUMPS AT THE SOUND] 

CAMERAMAN: What the [EXPLETIVE]—

 [TODO: REACH OUT TO EXECS / TIM AND ASK HOW TO EDIT THIS PART] 

// end of document