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Week 21.
WEEK 21 It's been a while since you were last in Eterna City. While it seems you've suffered another setback on Sunday morning, hopefully it won't completely break your morale; there have been many losses lately, but you have to keep going, especially once the state of things in Eterna City become more clear to you upon your arrival there. The city, for lack of a better word, seems torn - the buildings seem almost patchwork in places, having been torn apart at the seams and replaced with things that seem to have come from elsewhere and nowhere all at once. Parts of other buildings, parts of trees, parts of roads, even - stay in one spot long enough and you can see it happen. It isn't ripples or pulses, like it was with Dialga; this is violent, something sharp and harsh whipping through the air in a burst of energy, tearing through all inanimate objects in its path and replacing them with something that frankly shouldn't be there. Thankfully, the cause of this doesn't seem to be targeting you; it will leave you unharmed, though your Pokémon are definitely aware of it and the rending will cause them to flinch whenever it fires off, regardless of if it hits them or not. It's likely a stressful time for them - just as it is for the locals, who don't seem too willing to leave their homes at the moment... POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES SURROUNDING ROUTES: PLAINS/FOREST SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY [OOC: Welcome to week twenty-one of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend.] |
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[There's no derision when she says that, though. It's...more considering, than anything. It takes her a little bit to mull that over in her head, really just trying to consider something. It's not like she intends to leave, and she's not going to just stop trying to show that care in the way she knows how...but...]
Does it bother you?
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[Like, it's definitely weird, talking about feelings openly like this; he isn't really the sort of person to sit here and try to figure out what he's feeling at any given time. But he's trying, at least.]
I've never really had anyone who was actually around for me. There was somebody once, maybe, but he stabbed me in the back pretty hard. I haven't bothered since then.
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On the other hand, boy is it a good thing he talked about that person in past tense. She's making the general assumption he's dead, but if he isn't, she will gladly ensure he is by the time she's done--]
...I can hardly blame you for the lack of trying, really. Not after dealing with a hideous cretin like that.
[She does at least calm after saying that, though. Kind of mulling that over, really.]
It's taken so much for you to even get to this point, then.
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[...]
I've told a couple of people about what happened to fuck up my face. We got ambushed in the jungle; I was the only one that made it out of there, and that's because they decided they weren't going to waste a bullet on me. So some fucker with a knife went to town on my face for a while and left me for dead. Not that I blame 'em for thinking that - I thought I was gonna die, too.
The part I don't tell anybody is how that happened because one of the guys working with us sold us out. He was the closest thing to...
[...]
...I dunno, he was there for me when I joined, when i needed someone to be there. I never did find out why he did it.
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Do pardon me for saying this, but that person is a complete and utter dastard.
[savor it, jake, this is the closest camilla will ever come to cursing, she sounds so fucking mad]
...I'm so sorry. That's so horrific, to think that someone who could be there for you like that could have very well been using you--that trust of yours was so wrongly used, by someone who was there for you. You didn't do anything to deserve that.
[There's a small pause, there, after she gets that out, turning away slightly. It sees her calm a bit before looking back to him, her look very serious.]
May I ask, then...what you would like me to do, if anything at all?
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[It's gentle, though, or as close as he gets to it.]
Besides, you're better at this whole thing than I am.
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[It's said with a bit of a worried tone, but she is at least smiling a bit at that.]
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[...]
I'm just kind of a mess, you know? I don't really know what to do with stuff sometimes, so I guess whatever's wrong with my head decides it's a good idea to get pissed off at it. It happens, it's not anything you're doing.
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If you're certain, then I won't press. Do know at the very least that I'm not angry with you for such a thing, nor upset about it. It's as you said; it happens without even thinking of such a thing. It does put me at ease to know that I haven't done something to warrant that.
[There is a little bit of a pause, after that. He has said that he won't tell her what to do, and that she's apparently better at this thing than him; she'll break the silence after a moment.]
Could I ask you something, then?
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Yeah, sure. Anything you want.
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Worry not; it's a rather simple thing. [...] May I give you a hug?
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Yeah, of course. Come here.
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Her arms wrap around his shoulders easily as she moves in, pulling him close and hugging him very firmly. Not too tightly, though she imagines it wouldn't hurt him too much if she did wind up going for a bear hug or something similar; she's always just been a touch gentle, but no less warm for it.]
You are so kind to me. Thank you, dear.
[...]
I'm very proud of you. You know that, right? [One of her hands goes to kind of rub his back a bit, but her tone's very fond when she speaks.] You've been doing everything you can to keep moving forward, despite everything working against you along the way. Everything in your life, and everything here...you've kept pressing on, no matter how unusual or grim the journey has been. You're so earnestly trying to find your own way, separate from all you've faced; not everyone has that sort of strength to press on. And yet, whenever I look at you, I see a young man who is doing everything he can to reject what those have derisively said to him. Who has become a person so separate from those who came before him, because he has done everything to ensure that.
Never, ever forget that.
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He freezes up a little at the first part of it - he hasn't done anything worth actually being proud of, he's pretty sure - but he doesn't manage to make himself interrupt her; as such, she just keeps going unimpeded and she's rubbing his back and honestly, he doesn't know when his grip started tightening but before long it's obvious that he doesn't really want to let go right now, to put it gently. It takes him a while to try to form a reaction that isn't just kind of burying his face in her shoulder, and even longer to acknowledge that there isn't going to be one and that's going to have to do for now.]
...Thanks. I...
[...He doesn't know how to finish that.]
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[...She'll hug him a little bit tighter in response, with no intention of letting go of her own either. This is great? This is great.]
I'm happy to remind you of it.
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God, I'm a damn mess.
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