smash_logs | Doot doot doot

Entry tags:

Doot doot doot

Who: Vinnie, Char, lemme know if you wanna do a thing at the Pokecentre too?
What: Skyping through to Kanto
Where: Pokecentre
When: Uhhh after June 27?
Warnings: Possibly swearing.

Okay, so his phone wasn't able to connect to anything outside of FDC, and the computers at school weren't doing so hot on that front either. But the PC at the Pokecentre had to still connect to the servers in their world, right? That meant, if he was lucky, he could get in contact with the Fuchsia City Safari Zone and let them know that... y'know. He wasn't dead or something. And not to throw out his bags - all his stuff still in there.

It took a bit of pleading with Nurse Joy to let him use Skipe on their computer so he could make a call, but when he rang... it went through! And thus came the lengthy explanation he had to give for literally disappearing right in the middle of his work experience program.

...All things considered, they were surprisingly understanding. Weird shit happened all the time when Pokemon powers were involved. Pokemon were fucking mysterious, especially when it came to Ghosts or Psychics. No one really questioned it or blamed him, since it was out of his control anyway.

"Al'right. Yeah, I'll get in touch once the trains are runnin' again so I can pick my stuff up. You sure? Okay... thanks, Aiden."

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Char still could not profess to be especially fond of Pokemon Centers, but he'd spent far too many times stuck on the ground after stupid injuries to ignore any more wing membrane punctures. Thankfully, that was something that they could fix up quickly and painlessly; it'd been a small injury, and those Audino nurses could work magic with Heal Pulse.

Even so, he planned to be in and out as soon as possible. Pokecenters were all about nasty-ass feelings of weakness and helplessness -- leaning on a tiny, sad-eyed Bulbasaur as he limped home after his unwelcome evolution, being stuck on a bed after a bullet found his tail, awesome and cool things like that.

But, I mean, he was already patched up and on his way out of the lobby. Surely nothing shitty and awful would happen here, right?

"Thanks, Aiden."

WHOA WHAT NEVERMIND EVERYTHING IS AWFUL AND NOTHING WILL BE OKAY AGAIN. That was a voice he knew saying a name he never expected to hear. Char immediately froze, his tail undergoing a bizarre series of contortions as it tried to process how it felt about that word. That word coming from that mouth. Which was here and not wherever-the-fuck-Vinnie'd-farted-off-to-who-even-cares.

Hope those months of Char pretending you didn't exist hadn't gotten too comfy for you, Vinnie, because he was suddenly staring a hole into Vinnie's head like his one single purpose on this green earth was to stare Vinnie down. He opened his mouth to seize on the name that made this whole thing such a big deal, but as was so common when the topic of Aiden came up, it all just kind of got tangled, and no words came out.

A feeling of unease came over Vinnie has he hung up his call, but he couldn't exactly place why. He chalked it up to the growing number of Shadow Bugs in the city, though - pretty hard to relax knowing they were growing more and more aggressive. At least he'd manged to tie up one loose end, that gave him some peace of mind at least. As long as this threat remained in the city, he had to focus on the here and now in order to keep everyone safe.

He glanced over to Nurse Joy and thanked her before turning around and--

...

Vinnie stopped in his tracks. Char...? On instinct, his pulse quickened - this was the first time in months that his old rival had even given him so much as a passing glance. He wasn't sure if the sudden pounding in his heart was a rush of excitement or dread, but the feeling quickly soured. In all his years of knowing the Charizard, he was pretty sure he'd never seen that kind of expression on his face. In fact, he wasn't even sure how to describe it. Only a split second had passed and he was fucking unsettled. "The hell...?"

What was this? Why now? And what the hell did he want?

It was really weirding Nurse Joy out too, he could tell - and Vinnie didn't want to cause a scene in the Pokecentre after she'd so kindly let him use the PC. Awkwardly, the Venusaur tried to meet that crazed stare as he asked, "Look, you... wanna talk outside or something?"

Okay, yeah, Char could maybe see how he was reacting kind of strangely. Maybe it was nothing, right? Aiden was a common name. Lots of people in the world were named Aiden. Just because Vinnie had apparently become buddies with an Aiden during his absence did not necessarily mean he was pals with Char's Aiden. (Char's? Kerosene's? Could he even really attach an apostrophe-s to Aiden like that anymore?)

"No," Char blurted flatly, without really thinking -- as much as he liked to pretend he'd made a lot of progress, his strongest gut reaction to his Aiden problems was still very much to run away from them, and it wasn't like he was bursting with reasons to wanna talk to Vinnie other than that.

"...Yes," he added a second later. Can't be so irrational. Probably a completely different Aiden, he reminded himself, and it was better to get that theory confirmed immediately than spend the next forever sleepless over the thought. And it wasn't like he really wanted to have this particular conversation right in the middle of the Center, either -- not only because he had become aware of the look that Nurse Joy was giving him, but because there was a pretty good chance that at least one person in a Pokemon Center would be able to recognize just what a panicked Charizard soul-flame looked like.

Char turned around and stalked out of the Pokecenter, not stopping until he was sure he was out of earshot of the entrance. Not many people loitered around outside these days, what with the shadow bugs and the creepy thing that the sky kept doing, so even if they were out in the middle of the city, he didn't have to worry too much about eavesdroppers.

"So," he said, in a casual offhanded so-how's-the-weather voice that probably fooled nobody, "who were you talkin' to?"

To be honest, Vinnie wasn't really expecting Char to say yes. It was a certain outcome, he was sure, if he'd tried giving the Charizard an order, but he was prepared to have a no spat in his face for the mere suggestion to talk. The fact that he said yes - even if it was hesitant - definitely meant something considerable was on his mind. What it was, Vinnie could only guess at blindly. But if it was enough for Char to break his months-long streak of ignoring his existence, it bore addressing.

Well, whatever got them out of the Pokecentre before they attracted any more attention. The Venusaur followed cautiously behind Char- it was hard to override the instinct to prepare for a fight, even if he knew the dragon was probably still intent on holding back.

It was weird to think that he'd actually miss the fights. At least with those, he knew what to expect. Now, everything felt like uncertain ground. Every step was a minefield.

He tried taking a peek at the Fire Type's tail to glean some clarity, but at best Vinnie recognized a degree of unease - he couldn't manage a translation more precise than that. It wasn't anything he remembered seeing as a Charizard himself, anyway.

And that attempt at small talk was just downright unnatural. Never in all their years had Char tried to just nonchalantly strike up conversation. But Vinnie hadn't the awareness to realize that who he was talking to was actually the crux of the dragon's obvious awkwardness.

"Just cut it out an' get to the point," he grumbled, too weirded out to play along.

Char wasn't sure whether it was deeply vexing or a huge relief that Vinnie had no idea that question was the entire point. He was equal parts desperate to just know and shy away from the topic at all costs, but was that really so surprising? Mixed signals had always been the status quo whenever the topic of Aiden reared its head.

What was he supposed to do with this, then? Just... ask? That'd be beyond stupid. Vinnie already knew that Char'd had a trainer before Green. Might as well just lay his every single secret bare on a platter. Or... maybe Vinnie already knew? Maybe Aiden'd mentioned the whole thing already. It'd taken a decade of being with Green before he trusted his team enough to let them see that much. The idea that Vinnie'd just blithely bulldozed his way into something that'd never stopped being so vulnerable...

"Don't tell me what to do," he snapped. The very first thing Vinnie does is drop a bombshell like Aiden's name, and he thinks he has the right to go getting impatient? Hell no. "You oughta be glad I'm talkin' to you at all. You think you can just show up whenever you want and act like you're owed something?"

Good to know that months of barely any contact hadn't lessened Char's ability to be an irrational dickhead. Vinnie bristled - the fact that he wasn't worth acknowledging had been hammered in pretty loud in clear already, thanks. Now he was supposed to just be grateful for whatever lousy scrap of attention he got from his rival? He couldn't think of anything more pathetic.

And why the hell was Char acting like Vinnie had just shoved himself into the dragon's business? A passing encounter at a Pokecentre wasn't exactly the same as barging into the centre of his life.

"Owed something? Excuse me for wantin' to address whatever was on your goddamn mind," the Venusaur snapped back, making no effort to hide his bitterness. "You're not talkin' to me cuz you missed our conversations, that's for fuckin' sure. I just thought I'd spare you the small talk - or do you really want t'know how the weather is in Fuchsia?"

Edited 2014-07-20 03:23 (UTC)

Fuchsia. Oh god, it had to be Fuchsia. It seemed way too horrible a coincidence to even consider, but Char didn't believe for a single second that Vinnie could have simply just somehow run into some other Aiden of Fuchsia City that had nothing to do with him. It had to be his Aiden. It had to.

Even without the name even coming up yet, Char was getting flustered. Even if Aiden's neglect was decades in the past, he'd never really found a way to be at peace with it -- even the vague threat of that being dragged out in front of someone else already had him feeling exposed and ashamed. Those bitter old instincts didn't need much to rear their head again. Laying the truth out would be too, too painful. It'd be so much easier to just get angry. Shut Vinnie up.

If it weren't for Bulba, hell, he'd probably have thrown a punch by now. But those months of pretending Vinnie didn't exist weren't for nothing, and Vinnie's absence hadn't changed Char's resolve to not be the reason for any more of Bulba's tears. Picking fights without even the vaguest hint of explanation was overreacting, right? No chance his little brother'd have any faith in him at all if the very first thing he did was knock his boyfriend out for no reason at all.

So, fine. He could do this. He was an adult. None of this was really a big deal, anyway. "Yes," Char hissed, voice tense with forced disinterest. "Go ahead and tell me about your trip."

Really? This was what Char wanted to do? The little shit was just being contrary on purpose, Vinnie was sure of it. But what exactly was the alternative? Call him out on it and get another hissyfit spat back in his face? That hardly accomplished anything. The alternative was waiting for the Fire Type to give into his incredibly transparent desire to punch Vinnie in the face, but that didn't look like it was happening.

Just play along, he told himself. It was like pulling teeth trying to get anything out of the Charizard that wasn't immediately abrasive, but it could be done. He just had to be... patient?

He had to relearn how to be patient with this asshole. Great.

Vinnie clenched and unclenched his teeth a few times before he could answer Char like a calm, normal person. "It was... good. Got t'see how the Safari Zone's maintained. Lot've long hours when the babies hatched in spring, but all the volunteers were real enthusiastic. Rangers were helpful teachin' us shit, too. I got t'babysit a lot've Nidorans."

There was a pause. He then stared at Char expectantly, his expression basically reading, anything else you wanna know?

The Safari Zone. It just kept getting worse and worse. He wasn't just in the same city as Aiden, but working in the same place. They were probably hanging out on a daily basis. This was the worst-case scenario, wasn't it? Char was certain that his being left behind wasn't a life-crippling locked-up secret for Aiden like it was for him. He must've told Vinnie. He must've, right? Trainers always talk about their Pokemon.

The thought of it just made Vinnie prattling off about entirely unimportant bullshit all the more unbearable. Like Char gave even a ghost of a shit about some for-profit tourist trap that let trainers pretend paying cash to throw rocks at Kangaskhans was some big contribution to Pokemonkind. Wasn't Vinnie supposed to be the infuriatingly direct one? In spite of his best efforts to show restraint, his tail had started twitching already, unable to completely stifle the desire to slap something.

"Fascinatin'," Char managed, though the word was about as far from sincere as it could possibly be. "Phonin' into work, then? Didn't think you had anyone worth callin'." It was about as close as he dared to edge toward the dreaded question: the barest roundabout hint of it, wrapped in a safe, comfortable layer of unnecessary insult.

The Venusaur frowned deeply - it was Char who'd gone and asked, but even when Vinnie answered him, all he got was painfully obvious disinterest and a slap to the face. He was aching to just get to the goddamn point already, because the more it dragged on, the more he felt like he was being toyed with by the Charizard's irrational mood swings.

"Just making sure no one thought I'd fuckin' died or somethin' when I got teleported back here," he snapped back, growing increasingly agitated.

Oh, teleported. Not even here willingly? Some overprotective little whisper in the back of Char's mind felt a pang of irritation at that. Not here because things are inching toward Aparoid levels of fucked up? Too busy having a grand old time with Aiden and precious little baby Nidorans? Part of him knew he was just looking for more excuses to be upset -- and Bulba was perfectly capable of deciding for himself whether or not Vinnie was being fair to him without his touchy big brother jumping to anything -- but frankly, it was really a lot easier to gather up reasons to be annoyed by Vinnie than not.

Not that he really needed more reasons when Vinnie still wasn't saying a word about Aiden. "Right. Sure things'd grind to a halt without you around. Bet they're really missin' you." Especially Aiden. He seemed to be really really good at missing Pokemon. ...Okay, no, he didn't really mean that. Char let his grip on himself slip a little: this time, his tail hit the ground hard. (A little too hard. It stung.)

The sound of Char's tail hitting the ground shook Vinnie a little - even in the midst of his frustration, he blinked. Char taking issue with him as soon as he got back? 'Missing you...?' And being so hung up on who Vinnie was talking to somewhere else? Suddenly, everything seemed to click into place. It made sense.

"...Is this about Bulba?" IT HAD TO BE. It was for Bulba's sake that the Charizard pretty much let the rivalry grow cold, but he was still a big brother. There was no other reason - literally no other reason - why Char would even bother with Vinnie anymore.

It had to be why this was happening here, away from the school and out of Bulba's sight, too. He didn't want his little brother to see the way he disapproved of The Boyfriend's antics. The pieces fit. Hell, Vinnie had been through those motions himself.

Oh, for fuck's sakes.

It'd be a lie to say Bulba wasn't a factor at all. His little brother meant the world to him, and he knew for a fact that Bulba took separation worse than even Char himself did. It was reasonable enough for Vinnie to guess it was about Bulba, too: the whole reason Char had suddenly gone so tepid toward Vinnie all those months ago was because suddenly their relationship had become about Bulba, not about any of their experiences.

But still: for fuck's sakes. What, was everything about Bulba? Char wasn't going to dignify that with a direct answer (big surprise there). All this dodging around what Char really wanted to know was maddening. That slap, overzealous as it was, had set his tail off; it couldn't hold still anymore, practically squirming itself into stressed knots. "Would you stop dodgin' the question? Tell me who you were talkin' to or fuck off outta here."

The lack of a direct answer only seemed to confirm Vinnie's assumptions - as if Char was actually going to admit to anything like a straightforward adult. But that being the case, Vinnie might as well answer him to satisfy that nagging, angry big brother side of him, right? To get him out of his face right now, if nothing else.

Sounding less angry and more defensive now, the Venusaur growled back, "Fuckin' hell, s'just a guy who works there. I rang reception an' he picked up." He didn't bother naming a name, since it wasn't as if Char would know who Aiden was anyway. The Safari Zone was the last place he'd imagine the Charizard's interests lay.

Just a guy. Just a guy! That was it? It was a weird feeling to hear Aiden referred to so dismissively. The person he'd spent years waiting fruitlessly for. The one he thought his life'd been meant to revolve around. The person who'd fucked up Char's whole concept of trust and interdependence so deeply that he was still kind of a trainwreck even now. Just a guy.

That couldn't be it. Was that throwaway mention supposed to satisfy him? He needed way more than just that. No chance Vinnie was getting off the hook with that offhand scrap of nothing. Char crossed his arms, raising his eyebrows at Vinnie. He said nothing, but under the thin veneer of eye-rolling impatience, there was a ravenous urgency in his eyes as he stared at Vinnie. Keep talking.

Edited 2014-07-20 07:41 (UTC)

There was an awkwardly long pause as Vinnie waited for Char to backhand him for something. It extended as he tried to figure out what else the Charizard was waiting for him to say, because... that had really been the gist of the phone call. What, he wanted more details now? Why? The passing idea of Char being suspicious of Vinnie cheating crossed his mind, but it was absurd to the point of being ludicrous - he definitely wasn't going to voice that possibility.

Just keep talking then, he supposed. If he couldn't tell what Char wanted, might as well run his mouth on the details.

"...My bags got left there, so I wanted t'make sure no one was gonna chuck it. Threw an excuse 'bout how I disappeared an' why I couldn't make it back - no one'd believe me if I told them 'bout the school an' all this Shadow Bug shit. Hell, they never even figured out I'm a Pokemon." Vinnie shrugged.

Edited 2014-07-20 07:58 (UTC)

It was like Vinnie was going out of his way to talk about every possible aspect except the one Char was so desperate to hear about. Of course he hadn't packed. Char'd already figured out Vinnie hadn't come back on purpose. Of course nobody knew he was a Pokemon. There was nothing even vaguely inhuman-looking about him, and it's not like humanized Pokemon were a widely-accepted concept in Kanto.

This was infinitely frustrating. Even if Char'd had the nerve to just ask upfront, it couldn't possibly be an option. With Vinnie already knowing Char had a different trainer once, it wouldn't be too hard to figure out why he had such a vested interest in Aiden. Might as well just recount the whole tale of his neglected years. Even just hinting too obviously was a terrifying thought.

So, what? Just sit here talking in pointless circles? Char shook his head. "Something I couldn't have already guessed," he demanded. "You take me for some kind of dunce?"

Round and round indeed. Vinnie was close to losing it. He had to keep every inch of restraint not to start shouting and causing a scene in the middle of the street. "Well I can't fuckin' tell YOU what you want t'know if you don't tell ME what you want t'know!" Which he'd already asked about in the beginning! And got slapped down! This could've all been avoided if Char wasn't so preoccupied with being a contrary, infuriating dick!

"I told you who I was talkin' to. I told you why. I told you what we talked about. There's really nothing else going on here. Fuck, should I ring him up again so you can interrogate him yourself?"

This entire thing was an exercise in frustration, but the thought of just up and calling Aiden sent a lightning bolt through him. Char backed up a pace, looking as if Vinnie had just dropped a rock on his tail. It wasn't like he'd never called Aiden before, sure, but it... he hadn't bothered to call in a long while. Conversations with Aiden were always confusing things -- he was never really sure if he felt better or worse for having done it.

But sitting around in the middle of a Pokecenter lobby, listening to Aiden and some other Pokemon crack inside jokes and reminisce about their Safari Zone days so far, hearing them make plans for whenever Vinnie came back to resume his Nidoran bullshit? Seeing Vinnie just effortlessly get along with someone Char'd never been good enough for? Smiling and laughing like he would never be able to do with Aiden?

Vinnie probably hadn't even meant it. Just a stupid frustrated remark, nothing more. Even so, he couldn't do this. It wasn't like there were a ton of Aidens living in Fuchsia City and working for the Safari Zone. He already knew which Aiden Vinnie'd been talking to, didn't he? And it wasn't like trying to get details was getting him anything worthwhile, was it? Char might have liked to build himself up as a tough-as-nails fearless Charizard, but this hit way too close to home.

"Forget it." Teeth bared defensively, Char backed up another pace. "This is a waste of my time, anyway."

This sudden reaction made Vinnie take pause. He'd somewhat expected the Charizard to huffily stomp off, all fire and bile, but there had been a flash of something else in the Fire Type's face. It almost looked like a jolt of pain.

Immediately, the Venusaur's mind jumped back to recall the way Char had been staring at him after the phonecall ended. That hadn't been rage or judgement in his eyes. Thinking about it now, it was more like... the look of someone who had their world shaken.

The person on the phone had been the first thing Char asked him about. It was the subject he went back to. It'd all been about Aiden.

Frustration slowly left the Venusaur's face as realization sunk in instead. It was a possibility that had never occurred to him before this moment, before seeing the Fire Type like this. Without the usual cycle of insults and indirection, Char seemed almost like an injured animal, limping away to lick his wounds.

There was still a chance Vinnie was wrong. He had a pretty awful track record when it came to how long it took him to understand his rival. But even if he was, well... it wasn't like he was getting anywhere by falling back into old habits.

Hesitantly, he ventured: "...Char? Do you know Aiden?"

The question seemed to suck all the air out of him. Char had been counting on Vinnie's frustrating inability to pick up on clues to work to his advantage for once -- this wasn't something he wanted anyone to guess on their own. The Kerosene part of his life was his most fiercely-guarded secret. Something only the most-trusted people in his life were given.

Vinnie... well, Char must have trusted him, if he'd already let on he'd belonged to someone else. But having that name pulled out of his hands before he'd been ready to let it go was a vulnerable feeling. To go from months of not saying a word to suddenly having Vinnie prodding at his oldest and deepest wounds was... this wasn't the kind of conversation he was prepared to have.

He opened his mouth to deny it. He could just ignore this, couldn't he? He hadn't bothered with Aiden in ages. Fuck that guy. Easy enough to lie about it. He used to lie all the time about this kind of thing. Aiden wasn't even important.

...Seconds passed. Char didn't say anything.

"Leave me alone," he finally spat, looking away. "Just fuck off."

Vinnie didn't leave. He didn't say anything.

He just stood there, at a loss, and once again feeling distinctly like he'd walked into the middle of something he didn't belong to. An outsider to years of memories that he couldn't hope to understand.

And because he was an outsider, there was nothing he could really say, was there? As if Char actually want anything to do with apologies or hollow platitudes anyway - and even if there were magic words that would make things better, Vinnie wasn't the person Char wanted to hear it from.

The Char he'd talked to last summer had been far more composed than the one standing in front of him. It was at least a little reassuring to know that somewhere along the way, the dragon had managed to make peace with the memory called Aiden. That meant it wasn't impossible to do it again.

Green was here. Bulba was here. Char belonged.

After several more seconds, Vinnie spoke again. His personal opinion on the subject wasn't going to matter, but if he had no way to win and nothing to lose, he may as well give it. "Even if you're happy here, I think it's okay t'miss him." He paused. "But if you don't want me talkin' to him, I won't."

"The fuck do I care if you talk to him?" Char asked, despite all his behaviour thus far indicating that he cared immensely. Even he, insecure and jealous though he might have been, could tell that it was all kinds of irrational and unfair to demand that kind of thing. Vinnie wasn't friend or teammate. Char probably wouldn't claim he was on Vinnie's side if ever asked. So what did Vinnie owe him, anyway?

Well, not his opinion, probably. Historically speaking, Char tended to not really love people shoving their opinion at him. Did he even really miss Aiden...? He was happy here, had a team he loved. Char knew that going back to Aiden wouldn't do anything for him, nor would he ever really be close with Aiden. He couldn't even say if he was Aiden's friend. Why the hell would he miss someone who'd made him so miserable?

Char bit his lip. Nothing about the way he'd freaked out about this suggested he didn't miss Aiden, did it?

"...You talk to him a lot?"

Now that he knew, it was obvious even to a dunce like Vinnie how much the dragon cared. The question felt like he'd been given a loaded gun, though - it was hard to know what answer Char needed, and which one would be a killing blow.

The truth was probably the best policy. As objective as he could make it. At best, the Fire Type's reaction was still going to be mixed.

"...He showed us around in orienteering, and about once a week we shared patrol shifts. But I saw less of him once hatching started and I got moved onto monitoring the eggs."

It was tempting to add that he seemed like a nice guy, or that he did his job well, but the Venusaur bit them back. They were just superfluous opinions. It wasn't like Vinnie knew Aiden deeply on any sort of personal level, no matter how friendly they were on the job. All that time, he'd simply been trespassing.

It wasn't fair to ask him.

Vinnie didn't need to have things that'd happened long before they'd ever met put onto his shoulders. Putting this particular question forth was just putting Vinnie on the spot, with no real graceful way out of it. It was easy enough for Char to act like Vinnie didn't mean shit to him -- he'd been doing that for months -- but he couldn't entirely overlook that there was something kind of shitty and manipulative about this.

It wasn't even a question Char really wanted to know the answer to. He could have guessed if he tried. Or just pretended that the least painful answer was the truth, for all the good it would do. It was unnecessary, it was pointless, and it was gonna hurt.

Char asked it anyway.

"Did he ever mention me?"

Edited 2014-07-21 06:34 (UTC)

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