Rocky Road ~ House of Brisa, Dave, Koa, and Owen

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa raised a brow, but wasn't fazed.

"You'll get used to his nonsense, Koa," she drawled. "Anyway, while we're talkin' powers an' all... I got the luxray vision I was expectin'. It's not a big deal. I can see through certain kindsa materials. I swear I won't use it t'find yer secret stash of vittles or whatever, ranger's honour."

 

[Flyg0n]

"I see," was all Koa could think so say. He didn't see.

The Luxray vision, at least, was something he was aware of, since Luxray's even on his world possessed that power. "Anyone else have any secrets to spill?" he joked.

 

[Dragonfree]

Owen's horns... came off? He was learning to become a tree? What the fuck.

Dave shook his head. He wondered if Brisa's Luxray vision could also tell what you ate for breakfast, and decided he definitely did not want to know.

"Brisa said that you have been training together," Mia said to Koa. "We should battle sometime."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa grinned. "Yeah, that seems like it would be fun." What would battling a familiar even be like? And for that matter, what was Dave's familiar? Perhaps he'd ask another time.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen grinned, then sighed. "Alright," he said. "Thanks, um, for humoring me on that. I'll try not to bring it up." He got out from his bed. "Anyway, let's get those dividers set up!"

Though he was now intensely curious on how thorough Brisa's vision was. Maybe they could experiment a little with each other.

<><><>​

 

[Dragonfree]

"I'm home."

Dave shut the door and collapsed on his bed without waiting for an answer. Talking with Bean had been kind of a dead end for the most part. Didn't seem to have a clue, or at least acted like he didn't have a clue, about the scale or origins of the organization. They'd learned a few things, Owen seemed pretty convinced at least that he wasn't the spy everyone was looking for, but all in all, mostly this was another thing to make Cibus even more of a labyrinth of overcomplicated bullshit.

God, he was exhausted. That fucking fight. A flash of memory, the sudden cessation of pain, staring down at a mangled Mightyena. He didn't even know why that wouldn't get out of his head, after everything else that'd gone on lately.

He felt the vague cold prickle that signaled Shadow forming somewhere beside him. "Don't really need your input right now, thanks," he growled.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Welcome back," called Brisa, from the kitchenette, amid industrious efforts to wash up. "Any news to tell, fella?"

She didn't pause the work, but she did look over her shoulder and add, "Care fer a drink of some description?"

The presence of Shadow put a cool edge on her happiness to have friendly company. Shadow always seemed to be out, sure, but it meant something was up, and it always brought her own shadow further to the front of her mind.

Somethin' on his mind. Not there's ever a time there ain't.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave let out a long sigh, rolled onto his back. "Well, Bean's not a spy. Interdimensional organization of god accountability is apparently too busy liberating souls from all the eternal torture dimensions to deal with genocidal tyrants extinguishing all mortal life, which is a real fucking cheerful thing to learn about the multiverse." He glanced over in Brisa's direction. "Anything alcoholic will do."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa grimaced. "Our worlds sound downright heavenly compared to that. Salt an' sand. Bear with me."

She finished the task at paw and fetched a beer for each of them. Nothing strong or fancy, but that was probably for the best. She'd been drinking . . . more than might be wise, of late. The move to her new house seemed a good moment in time to change that.

"Guess I feel some relief the fella ain't workin' against us but that's soberin' news t'hear. I don't like it one bit."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Yeah, no shit."

Dave rolled over again and shook his head, accepted the beer and cracked it open. "What have you been up to since the Worldcore, anyway?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shrugged and took up a sprawl on the backless couch she preferred, pried the cap off her drink, and took a swig first.

"Comin' to terms with my limits. Tryin' t'learn how to relax. Live a little. It don't come too easy t'me."

She sighed, and lightly shook her mane. "Also, I guess I'm in therapy now? Yeah. Yeah..."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Therapy? I hope it's not with fucking Bean."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Bean?" asked Brisa, confused for a second. "Ah, no. Not Bean. Fugu. The samurott?"

She scratched her cheek, wondered how much to tell Dave if he didn't ask. Or if he did.

 

[Dragonfree]

"No idea who that is." Dave sipped his drink. "But, uh, I'm guessing they're not secretly an emotionless husk putting up a fake-cheery front? Because that's what Bean is."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yeah, nah. Not that. She's good."

Brisa sniffed, wiped her mouth with the back of her paw. "She gets it."

When Dave looked unenlightened, she elaborated, not keeping eye contact. "She fights me. Uses a defensive stance, lets me go all-out without worryin' about her not bein' able to take it. Gets me in the headspace to speak honestly. An' she keeps me grounded the whole time, so's I can keep firin' Blacklight without burnin' right up."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave raised his eyebrows. It checked out that that was a Pokémon’s idea of therapy, he supposed, in the sort of way it checked out that Pokémon flirted by beating each other up.

“So you, uh, enjoyed it?” Did people enjoy therapy? Maybe Pokémon would enjoy therapy by combat. That tracked.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's mouth pulled into a tiny smile for a moment.

"I guess. It was . . . odd. But yeah, sure."

She looked back at Dave, and leaned her chin on her paw. "Y'should fight me some time, y'know? Y'got a lotta strength in ya lately. I could still teach you a thing or two, I expect!"

He didn't look enthusiastic, but then, he never had. That was Dave for you.

"Every fight has a reason to take place," she mused. "I fight a lot of folks fer the sake of fightin', others to help them get better at fightin', others 'cause I wanna understand 'em more, get closer to 'em. Fugu and I fight so I can talk about what's really goin' on in here–" she tapped her chest "–honestly, an' have someone wise around t'get me t'look at it properly."

She opened her mouth to talk about an example, and stalled halfway.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave glanced at her, sipping his beer. “I don’t know, I’m not quite Pokémon enough to be dying to fight people just for the hell of it. But more power to you.”

Brisa often talked about this idea of understanding and communicating with people through fighting, and had a literal move to do that, and it all sounded pretty ridiculous but at least Shining Whiplash objectively worked, so he could probably chalk that up to the cartoon Pokémon dimension.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Y'could do it as a favour to me," drawled Brisa. "Or 'cause it would make ya stronger fer the team. Or 'cause ya get a battle high just the same as I do, an' combat is healthier than this stuff."

She tapped her bottle with a claw to emphasise her point.

"I won't pester ya, though. It ain't like I got a shortage of asses to kick. There's half the team, and half the team's familiars, includin' Mia. Plus half the Colosseum reg'lars. Plus my students. It's like a dream come true, so long as I can keep from treatin' it like work."

Easier said than done.

 

[Dragonfree]

“A beer’s not going to break any of your bones. Or, you know, temporarily kill you. That’s a plus.” Shadow let out a quiet whine that he ignored.

Brisa did fight a lot. She sparred with Mia a bunch, which was good because the rest of the time Mia loved to be sparring with fucking Nate or his annoying familiar. “Are you in danger of treating it as work? I thought it was your favorite thing in the fucking world.”