Destiny Village ~ Hot Cocoa Therapy Offices

[Namohysip]

Fugu nodded. "You love them, then?" she asked, echoing something that Brisa had said during the battle. "It must be difficult when you know that it's all so fleeting. How do you see it now?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, slowly. "I ain't said this out loud afore now. But yeah. Both my partners in the fight with Lugia. At some point or other, I reckon I fell in love with them."

She laughed at herself, a tiny, voiceless sound.

"I love real hard an' fast, y'know. I'm used t'keepin' it in as best I can 'cause Frontier Town culture has elaborate courtin' etiquette an' frowns on open love. But I just can't help it. It just spills outta me."

She swallowed, considering the aftertaste of her confession.

"I feel a li'l like a fool. I told myself I'd rather have love fer however long I could, so long as I could, and now I'm strugglin' with the fear of pain to come, when I gotta say goodbye..."

She winced. This just got better and better.

"I even feel stupid fer thinkin' that there's anythin' that could come of this fer me t'lose. I don't got an abundance of confidence that either of 'em feels the way I do, or even if Astrid likes gals, fer heavens' sake. Let alone if they'll want a relationship, or mind me havin' multiplied feelings..."

...Oh, this explained why her heart had jumped when Starr mentioned liking girls. Brisa, you fucking moron.

 

[Namohysip]

Fugu nodded along, furrowing her brow sometimes, and then relaxing them in others. "Perhaps you should ask anyway to be sure," she said. "From what has been told to me, these memories may go away, but they may also return. You wouldn't want to wake up one day to regrets. Communication is important. Would you trust them with this confession?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa met Fugu's gaze for a bit, and bit her lip. She ran through every excuse, all the possible deflections. Fugu didn't let her get away with many of those. Good. That's why Brisa came here.

"Fer a long time, I sure wouldn't," she said, quietly. "But maybe I could do it now. Guess I gotta find my courage."

Rather than a shackle, the notion felt like a beacon.

 

[Namohysip]

"Finding your courage," Fugu said, nodding. "How will you do that?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa rolled her eyes and looked away. "'Sides gettin' absolutely shitfaced?" she asked. The sarcasm tasted foul in her mouth, and she apologised immediately.

"In all seriousness, I don't really know. I don't know when a good time would be. We got more matches comin' up, our most dangerous mission yet is gettin' scheduled, I got responsibilities..."

Well, she was taking a vacation soon with Starr. Maybe...?

"I'm about to have plenty of time to think about it," Brisa finished with a sigh. "So that's somethin'."

 

[Namohysip]

"You do have time," Fugu said. "Perhaps when you remember, when you have a moment alone with either of them, you can see. Do not let it eat away at you. How is this different to you, then, compared to preparing for a battle, or a mission? Is it... more personal?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa scratched the back of her head and groaned. "Preppin' fer combat is somethin' that comes easy t'me. I got the talent, I was taught well, and I've had practice. Love, though? Teacher, I tell ya, I ain't never been nothin' but single. C'mon. I don't have the first clue how not to fuck it up."

She laughed, just a little.

"That ain't quite true. Must be doin' somethin' right, fer us to fight like that t'gether..."

 

[Namohysip]

Fugu smiled faintly. "Fighting may come naturally, but other things do not. And to get better, you can only try." But certainly Brisa knew that. Perhaps hearing it would make it easier.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa gave a dry grin. "Fessin' up to a powerful crush as a trainable skill? Damned peculiar way to think of it, but alright. I'll try."

She took a languid stretch, shook off some of her remaining restlessness, focused . . . and changed. A luxray once more.

"Next time I see ya... I'll tell you how it went."

<><><><><>​

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave stepped through the door to the therapy offices, looking critically around. The Kommo-o receptionist from last time was there manning the front desk, again.

Owen'd tried to persuade him he should see Wheat, the Xatu. Waxed at length about how much he'd helped him. And also said that he'd done it by psychically making him talkative, and that his other job was interrogations, and that he was effectively doing subtle mind-control to redirect what you think about, and what the ever-loving fuck was that. Maybe it was working great to make Soda stop endlessly ruminating on thousands of people dying because of him, fine, but that wasn't exactly a problem Dave was having.

Brisa'd also highly recommended her therapist, Fugu the Samurott, and spoke of her like she'd just solved all her problems. At which he could only privately roll his eyes, but while battle therapy sounded fucking ridiculous, at least it didn't sound like any kind of psychic fuckery or omniscient god-entity surveillance. From what she'd said she just asked some questions while they sparred? However unlikely that was to work on any level (for whatever value of 'work' you could assign to this to begin with), and however goofy it'd be, at least it didn't make him want to crawl out of his skin.

"Hello? I'm here for Fugu. Apparently."

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, Dave! Good to see you. She's just down the hall, you'll see her office." She leaned forward and pointed down the way.

After a short walk and a somewhat longer wait, the door to one of the offices opened and the horn, followed by the head, of a Samurott poked out. "Mightyena Dave?" Fugu said. "...Mm. Hello. Please, come in when you are ready." She pulled back in. There were several scratch marks on the walls inside and Dave's keen senses would get a whiff of saltwater and charged energy. distinct scents usually associated with frequent battles. It was faint, only enough to get the blood pumping, eager, anticipating. For the average Samurott, she was muscular, like she could bench press her whole office if she desired. Down the hall, Bean was pressing a paw on a water dispenser, filling a cup. His pupil-less eyes seemed to wash over Dave, and he waved with a friendly smile before returning to his cup..

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave gave the barest acknowledging nod towards Bean. From what he'd heard Bean was the closest thing Cibus had to the regular human sort of therapist, which was only more unsettling given he was actually an omnipresent emotional void working for a superdeity organization.

Something about Fugu's office smelled like fighting, perked up some dumb Pokémon instinct in the back of his brain. She looked like she could casually flatten him into a fucking pancake if she wanted. He wondered, not for the first time, how the fuck he had let Brisa talk him into this again.

"So uh... how does this work?"

 

[Namohysip]

The door closed and Fugu sat behind a desk that looked surprisingly untouched from all the battle. It was either made from the most durable hardwood in the world or something was fishy about that desk existing in the room.

"Informally, I am known as a 'battle therapist.' Formally, I am known as a kinetic emotion theory and management psychologist." She tilted her head toward the wall to show a placard on the wall that appeared to be of her degree, which had a pawprint next to it that exactly matched the size and shape of her hand. Looked fancy.

"I'm aware that you are a human, so much of this sounds foreign to you. I think, before we go into this proper, we can start things in a way that is more within... standard practice." Fugu looked over a few papers, then pulled open a blank notebook. "After all, therapy won't be very effective if you cannot take the premise seriously."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Uh, okay."

How seriously exactly did she expect him to take this, here? She'd be waiting a long time if she wanted him to not think this was kind of dumb. If Fugu kicked him out for not taking it seriously enough, did that count, or would Brisa just insist he had to see fucking Wheat or Bean instead? "I mean, I'm human but I can fight just fine. That's not a problem."

 

[Namohysip]

Fugu shook her head. "I am sorry. I was more thinking about other humans that I have met, such as Thyme or Pita. They were uncertain with their new, Pokemon-bodied feelings. But that is not important now." Fugu made eye contact with Dave. It was an intense stare, but there was a soft light in her eyes despite it all. "Why don't we begin with some talking, then?"

They began with some basics. Getting to know Dave, the things he did regularly, it didn't really seem much like the typical therapy questions, and more a matter of familiarity. Fugu listened attentively, nodding, occasionally taking notes. Occasionally, when Dave mentioned something, during a pause, she would ask further, but it all seemed innocuous so far...

 

[Dragonfree]

So far the 'therapy session' was... fine. Not very exciting. Reminded him more of a cross between a job interview and a magazine fluff piece than anything else. Who are you? What do you do? What are your hobbies? What unique qualities would you bring to Hot Cocoa Therapy Offices? And then a bit about his family, Brisa, people in his life, basic opinions. No real tough questions. It was almost disappointing.

Fugu herself seemed mostly friendly, conversational, if a bit intensely focused. Who knew what she was planning for the fight part, though. He answered her questions, one after another, and waited for the bit where she... challenged him? Attacked him?

 

[Namohysip]

". . . and overall, it seems like you have a lot of your life well-managed, would you agree?" Fugu said, but then nodded. "I think I understand the basics of your daily life. You have a lot of support. What drove you to come to my office?" she finally asked, now that the backdrop was set. IT seemed like she was at least half-expecting Dave to say it was out of obligation.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Look, I don't even know at this point. Brisa insisted, and so did Mia, and I was too wasted to argue at the time. Mia somehow got it into her head that I've got some kind of brain damage."

There was a soft whine somewhere beside him. Shadow looked up at him with a pointed stare.

"This was all back when we had multiple entire apocalypses to prevent. Not exactly a great time for anyone."

 

[Namohysip]

There was a glint in Fugu's eye, like she'd spotted something. Leaving nothing to mystery, however, she tilted her head and asked, "Wasted?"