Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Namohysip]

Soda scowled at that question, even though it was a fair one. "Maple told me what happened. She said where to go if I needed to start anew, and she made me... an offer. Obviously, after what just happened, I refused. So, she agreed, she started taking me someplace to get my shit together, and..." Soda looked off, like he was ashamed. "And then I guess I had a moment of weakness. I said, sure, why not? I'll stick around. Because... she really was going to just let me go after reviving me. Just like that."

He tapped his claws on the table, thoughtful.

"Dunno. Something about that. I decided that she'd be better than nothing."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Hmmm." Dave scowled, prodding at his empty glass. "I guess."

He stood up, preparing to leave. He'd had his drink, and Mia'd patiently joined him for it; maybe he could take her to the training rooms for a bit, and they could talk about it. "You never answered me about what your actual name is," he said as he was about to get down from his seat.

 

[Namohysip]

"What, was 'Gun' not good enough?" Soda asked with a smirk, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "...Sorry, but that ain't... something I'm gonna give out right away. We left our names behind for a reason... Dunno if I want to bring it up even a little right now. Maybe... some other time." He waved Dave off. "I'm gonna hang around here for a while. See you."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

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The X-Eye Cauldron wasn't exactly Brisa's usual haunt, particularly after the glass-throwing incident, but the management hadn't decided to ban her and it was the best nearby drinking space. And gods, but she needed a drink. She spotted a free booth and approached the bar.

"Howdy. Table seven, God Squad's tab by way of Team Spectrum. I'll have a double whiskey and ginger, thanks." She turned to Starr. "What can I getcha? Don't gotta have anythin' hard, I ain't like that."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr followed in after Brisa, still half-surprised she'd been able to drag the Luxio away from the crossroads (she wasn't complainting, though).

"Just coffee. Black." God, she needed it after that shitshow.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, and indicated their booth with a nod. She didn't have to wait long for the drinks, but it gave her long enough to start overthinking how to talk to Starr. This had been the way for... weeks, now. Maybe even since they'd gotten out of that pit. She wanted to be around Starr any time she wasn't, and then desperately overthought everything when they were together. Being with Starr was just... totally unlike any friendship Brisa had known. She pushed her prepared lines out of her head and resolved to down half her whiskey straight away so she could just talk.

She took the drinks and joined her friend with a tired smile.

"Seems we can hardly catch a break, huh?" she asked. "We could fill a library with all the bullshit we've run into since arrivin', I reckon."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr let out a hollow laugh. "I'll say. I didn't mind when it was just, y'know, beat up a random-ass Legendary every other week. Could do without the Team Rocket conspiracy bullshit." Of all the things from back home to follow her here, why that?

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, her expression one of dust-dry amusement. "Yeah, all that stuff is wild t'me. Don't have nothin' like it on my world. I've caught up as best I can, but folks don't even seem to agree on whether Team Rocket is real, or fictional. A joke, or a serious threat. I'm told that 'mewtwo', the entire species, is their creation? Gods, what the fuck. I don't know if I can help it... At least I can still be of use in a fight."

She downed a fair portion of her drink, and instantly felt better, and then a lurch of dread at how much she'd have been drinking lately if it weren't for the constant rushing around attending to shit. She needed more things like that picnic with Astrid...

Don't think about Astrid.

"Uh, anyway, I take it you were... involved?"

Best not to speak too directly about the painful stuff. Especially here and now.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Oh. Okay, so Brisa didn't even know that much. Great. Where to begin.

Starr glanced away. "Can I just say that it's weird as hell that random-ass ordinary everyday stuff can just be not real. Like, I'm over humans not being real in half these worlds--really, I am. But then there's worlds where like, Pokemon exist but I guess they all got a collective lobotomy or something?" She paused just long enough to down some coffee while it was still hot.

"And then apparently some of the seediest shit in my world is, like in fucking kids' cartoons in Dave's world?" (Side note, she didn't even want to contemplate how screwed up that was.)

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, anxiety sloughing off her as the whiskey took to work and Starr complained about something comfortably unfamiliar. So long as Starr wasn't mad at her, Brisa found that the way she had of just streaming her frustration was easy to get caught up in. It was strangely... freeing.

"Yeah, it's like, nothin' you assume about yer own world applies to any other. Even the 'similar' ones. And y'know, half the shit I'm caught up in from home don't matter none to you, or anyone else here. Fuck, you already pointed that out to me, ha. And then Dave tells me that where he's from, some folks take issue with gals catchin' heartache fer other gals? What's that about?"

Brisa screwed up her face in contempt and confusion. If someone tried to give her shit for feeling soft for another girl, she'd beat the shit out of them.

"None of us have the same shit; it's all different shit. ...Still a bunch of sorry messes the lot of us seem to be in, though."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gave a small snort. Wow, what century was Dave from, huh. And then there was Brisa's world over here, giving people crap for, what, living in the woods? She idly found herself wondering what kind of random stuff from her world would come off as totally nuts to anyone here.

"It's not like that shit you went through doesn't matter here, it's just... not the kind of thing anyone here's gonna judge you for."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa frowned, sipped at her drink. She was smart enough to know what Starr meant by that.

"Anyone judgin' you fer yours? They oughtn’t to. I might not know exactly what yer history is, but I do know that even though it's dark, it ain't simple neither."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gave an impassive shrug. "Not like they know enough to judge. And I'm not planning on changing that anytime soon." Especially not considering the new development of possible Team Rocket spies in their midst. Fuck that.

Starr guzzled down some scalding coffee. Every so often her thoughts drifted back to that cave and she had to remind herself that it was real--she seriously told Brisa what she'd done. Sure, they'd been trapped with no hope of escape. Saving face hardly mattered when you half-expected you were gonna die. But still.

And Brisa wasn't disgusted with her. She didn't even know why that kind of screwed-up situation had even happened. She didn't know any of the reasons, even if they all were hollow and worthless. She'd just... accepted it.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, and flicked her tail in thought. "That's more'n fair. I can't say as most folks, even in this world, wouldn't blink twice at the like of what you told me."

'Most folks'. Not Brisa.

...But, if the two of them hadn't been stuck together in that pit, if Brisa hadn't been tearing herself apart over her own actions, if they hadn't been cold and hungry and afraid to die... would she have reacted the way she did? She hoped so, but she didn't know. Nearly three months since they'd escaped, and though she still didn't totally understand Starr, the torracat was now undoubtedly her friend. What if they'd never been trapped like that? Might they have missed out on this entirely?

"It must be hard," she said. "Not bein' able to talk to anyone about it."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr scratched behind an ear, letting her gaze slide back to the wall. She hadn't had to deal with keeping it all inside back home. Not when everyone around her already knew. Her team. Her friends. And now...

"It's getting harder. What with all that shit following me here now."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I thought it weren't the same shit, exactly? Not the same as from yer own world, I mean. That sonofabitch didn't seem to recognise you, right?"

Brisa shook her mane to clear her head. This wasn't the heart of the issue, now, was it?

"Even so, if it's weighin' on ya... You have a friendly ear any time y'need it, Starr."

She just hoped her friend would believe her.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr's claws dug into the table. "I know he didn't recognize me," she muttered through clenched teeth. "That doesn't make it any easier that it's my father causing all this shit. Or another version of him, whatever you want to call it."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Holy shit.

Brisa grimaced. "Wait, you're tellin' me that motherfucker is yer own goddamn pa? No kiddin'. Ah, fuckin' salt and sand and spit, I can't even begin to imagine how I'd feel in yer position... Gods, what with him havin' that kinda power 'n' all."

Wind and weather. She imagined Jesse at his peak of power, but without any of the good intentions, only that cold avarice she'd seen on Giovanni's face. The fella was downright evil, this she knew. What she wouldn't give to land one, good, jaw-shattering hit on that mewtwo.

"But hey," she added, with a dry smile. "My offer still stands to do somethin' awful to him for ya."

It was a joke, but... she meant it.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr let out an unexpected gut laugh. God, yeah, Brisa had offered to do that, hadn't she? It felt like forever ago. "I fucking hope you get the chance to. Hope we both do. Who knows. Maybe these screwed-up auras will be good for that someday. Can only hope."

She leaned her back against the booth, tail swishing idly. "You might've figured this already, but... that stuff I told you back in the cave. That all happened because he..." She paused, shaking her head. "I did that because I was loyal to the team above all else."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa gave a little chuckle of her own. "Yeah, imagine it. You 'n' me, dustin' that smug bastard together." It sounded like a real thrill. There was almost nothing she wanted more, in fact.

She held Starr's gaze evenly. Her friend was putting a kind of trust in her she only hoped she deserved. No matter what Starr told her, she would hold her judgment.

"With him as yer pa, no wonder. It don't take a genius to understand what kinda predicament that'd put you in. Somethin' must've changed, though. I figure y'don't mean to say you were still with Team Rocket when you were chosen fer this mission by Diyem."