Char knew from experience just how horrible it felt to say something that, while well-intentioned, was not exactly the most effective thing to say. It was pulling that exact same move so many times in the past that made him so nervous about reaching out to Bulba.
So it felt really piss-awful to admit it, but this was... not quite what he'd needed to hear. He had three basic traits etched right into his very core, and Bulba had accidentally slapped them each in turn.
Char was true to his species, even if it made life twice as inconvenient. This included that deeply-ingrained sense of hierarchy, and as atrophied and lopsided as it was, it included a sense of honor. Maybe both Max and Char regretted the outcome of that week, but Char had been bested by someone stronger in a fair fight; to stick his fingers in his ears and pretend it never happened just to soothe his poor aching butt rankled at his pride almost as badly as the tattoo itself did. He might have been a pretty pathetic sight after Max had put him in his place, but even if Char had wanted to ignore his species' ways, flipping the game board like a sulking toddler would only lower him further.
Char, under normal circumstances, also had his species' tenacity deeply ingrained into him. Few words could rile him up quite as quickly as "you can't do it." Fearlessness in the face of daunting odds was a trait prized by trainers -- and one that came in very handy for those little starters that began their journey up against Onixes and Starmies. Char may have left behind a path studded by failures and mistakes, but the notion of giving up against a foe wasn't exactly one he entertained easily. To be faced with it in light of this crushing defeat was strangely frightening; being told "it's defintely impossible" only kindled that cornered, helpless feeling even more.
Not just for the basic, instinctive reasons, either. Char had been struggling with his weakness ever since he was a hatchling; the Aiden days had pressed onto him an inescapable fear that he simply never would be good enough, that he would be discarded as unimportant and eventually left behind. Bulba had been doing his best to seek out a silver lining, but the idea that maybe it was a good thing that Char was too weak to be seen as worthwhile didn't... seem especially silvery to Char. It felt a bit more like helpfully pointing out that Char's nagging little lifelong phobia was totally coming true again right here right now.
...Maybe he was a lot harder to understand than he thought he was.
Char... kind of laughed a little, a breathless sound that had more in common with a wince than anything. "Kid, don't." He looked away, abruptly folding his little wing fortress away on his back and pulling his tail in close to himself. No helpful grass-type pheromones here; this was uniquely Charizard body language... or lack thereof, maybe. A basic defense mechanism: if you're sick, act healthy. Save for the instinctive pulling-in of his tail, it was the equivalent of putting on a poker face. "Look, I'll... I dunno, I'll figure it out. Maybe this'll turn out to be good news. You'd have a lot less to sweat over if I were more reigned in, right?"
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
So it felt really piss-awful to admit it, but this was... not quite what he'd needed to hear. He had three basic traits etched right into his very core, and Bulba had accidentally slapped them each in turn.
Char was true to his species, even if it made life twice as inconvenient. This included that deeply-ingrained sense of hierarchy, and as atrophied and lopsided as it was, it included a sense of honor. Maybe both Max and Char regretted the outcome of that week, but Char had been bested by someone stronger in a fair fight; to stick his fingers in his ears and pretend it never happened just to soothe his poor aching butt rankled at his pride almost as badly as the tattoo itself did. He might have been a pretty pathetic sight after Max had put him in his place, but even if Char had wanted to ignore his species' ways, flipping the game board like a sulking toddler would only lower him further.
Char, under normal circumstances, also had his species' tenacity deeply ingrained into him. Few words could rile him up quite as quickly as "you can't do it." Fearlessness in the face of daunting odds was a trait prized by trainers -- and one that came in very handy for those little starters that began their journey up against Onixes and Starmies. Char may have left behind a path studded by failures and mistakes, but the notion of giving up against a foe wasn't exactly one he entertained easily. To be faced with it in light of this crushing defeat was strangely frightening; being told "it's defintely impossible" only kindled that cornered, helpless feeling even more.
Not just for the basic, instinctive reasons, either. Char had been struggling with his weakness ever since he was a hatchling; the Aiden days had pressed onto him an inescapable fear that he simply never would be good enough, that he would be discarded as unimportant and eventually left behind. Bulba had been doing his best to seek out a silver lining, but the idea that maybe it was a good thing that Char was too weak to be seen as worthwhile didn't... seem especially silvery to Char. It felt a bit more like helpfully pointing out that Char's nagging little lifelong phobia was totally coming true again right here right now.
...Maybe he was a lot harder to understand than he thought he was.
Char... kind of laughed a little, a breathless sound that had more in common with a wince than anything. "Kid, don't." He looked away, abruptly folding his little wing fortress away on his back and pulling his tail in close to himself. No helpful grass-type pheromones here; this was uniquely Charizard body language... or lack thereof, maybe. A basic defense mechanism: if you're sick, act healthy. Save for the instinctive pulling-in of his tail, it was the equivalent of putting on a poker face. "Look, I'll... I dunno, I'll figure it out. Maybe this'll turn out to be good news. You'd have a lot less to sweat over if I were more reigned in, right?"