Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Chibi Pika]

Starr's brow furrowed. She put on a casual tone and replied, "Well yeah, I don't know who the hell deserves it if you don't." She paused again, mixed emotions swimming in her chest. "So you think you'd want to do it, then?" she asked, a bit quieter. "Ascend, I mean."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa knew Starr well enough by now to know there was something she wasn't saying yet. Her ears dropped a little and she rolled on her beach towel to rest on her side, facing Starr. She dug a paw into warm sand, smiled faintly, and resolved to be honest.

"Kinda, yeah. I mean, there's no tellin' if I'll ever get the opportunity t'do it fer real, y'understand. But supposin' that I could... Then, maybe. I don't have much tyin' me to my home 'sides my sense of duty, an' a guardian legend serves that same duty in any case, so if I gotta go back, I don't got much t'lose by becomin' a zeraora."

She searched Starr's vaguely troubled face for the nature of her worry. Was this about . . . Brisa pushing herself too hard again? Or something else...?

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr nodded vaguely, eyes drifting out toward the ocean. "Right. Makes sense. I've always said you're better off leaving that shitty town." And that was still true, but...

She glanced back at Brisa. "So you think you'd be happy like that? Being a legend."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shrugged, and shook her head. "I dunno. If things back home work much like they do here, legendary 'mon just kinda... Get used to bein' lonesome. Luz met with Zeraora of Cibus, and apparently that gal don't got nor need friends."

She bit her lip, and followed Starr's gaze out to the ocean. Cibus' ocean always reminded her of everything that was peaceful and warm and bright . . . and unavailable for the most part back home. She'd made friends on this beach. Had fun.

"I don't much want a future like that fer myself," she muttered. "If I knew I'd have people as'd care about me? Then, maybe. But I don't wanna be lonesome again."

 

[Chibi Pika]

“Well, I’m glad that works great for them. Good for them,” Starr replied, a little too gruffly. She rubbed her eyes, searching for the right words. “I just… you shouldn’t have to be someone else for people to like you.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa caught Starr's emotion, mask though she might. It usually took a minute to figure out what Starr really meant. You shouldn't have to be someone else for people to like you. Brisa swallowed. Was Starr worried that Brisa was trying to change herself...? Perhaps it meant something to Starr that she didn't have to change, for Brisa to love her. Either way...

"I ain't tryin' to be anyone else," she replied, softly. "I'm jus' me. I only hope the 'me' back home meets someone like you someday."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr tilted her head back at Brisa. “Yeah? Well, I hope if you meet someone like me back home, they like you more than I did at first,” she said with a bit of a crooked grin.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa stuck her tongue out at Starr, then laughed. "Well I hope that if I meet someone like you, I don't kick her punk ass too hard on first meetin'."

Gods, she loved that stupid grin.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr dug her elbow into Brisa’s shoulder. “Funny, that’s not the way I remember it.” But it was good to think back on it as just some kind of fun detour before what they had now.

So there was a chance Brisa might go for it, then. Become Zeraora. Live the life of a lonely guardian. “I'm just making sure your dumb ass doesn’t start thinking about duty above all else the second you get home,” Starr went on.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa purred contentedly at Starr's ribbing. It had been a long damn time since those memories had troubled her. Wild how things turned out.

"Well... If nothin' here makes it back with me, I surely would," she replied, evenly enough. "But I've been thinkin' a lot about that, lately, an' I guess I really do believe things'll be different when I get back. I mean, I made contact with my fuckin' Pa, there's that golett kid I met just before I came here, and..."

A warm breeze ruffled her whiskers, smelling of sea salt and smoke.

"We've learned that we don't deserve t'be in pain fer ever," said her Shadow.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr eyed Sombra carefully. “That’s… good. That’s good. And look—if this was like something you’d had your heart set on or whatever, you don’t have to let me stop you, I just…” She trailed off, tail swishing in the sand. “I just want you to fucking like you.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa exchanged a look with her obsidian double. Be honest. Okay.

"I think without my memories of Cibus, the 'me' I'm goin' back to bein'... She'd want it bad, if she could just convince herself she was halfway worthy of Ascent. The 'me' right here'n now ain't so sure, though, 'cause... I like who I am now." She swallowed. Then, "I like who I am when I'm with you."

Go on.

Brisa put out a paw in the sand between them.

"I never wanted power like that fer its own sake, I just wanted to do right by folks an' fer them t'want me around. And I've never felt so much like that as I have here, with you. And knowin' that's even possible gives me hope it can happen again when I gotta go back. So believe me, darlin'... I'm gonna be just fine."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr closed her eyes with a bit of a smirk. She grabbed Brisa's paw and said. "You better. Otherwise, I don't know, I'd probably have figure out how to come check on you, and whose ass I'd need to kick to make things decent for you."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa felt half the tension in her body leave just from Starr's paw on hers. This always was Starr's way. Make a joke of it, threaten to kick ass, still manage to show she cared. Brisa wished she could make her lover understand how much it meant to hear stuff like that.

She smiled, and leaned forward to bump noses with the incineroar.

"I love you too," she said, quietly. "Thanks fer, y'know. Givin' a shit." Then, with a smirk of her own, "Not that I need yer help kickin' anyone's ass back home, hon."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr closed her eyes contentedly. "Oh, I know you can, but whether you will is a whole other thing. I've gotta be there to be the bad influence, you know."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yer the best fuckin' influence I've ever had," said Brisa, her smile wider than ever. "Nobody I'd rather have at my side when we fight that amalgamated motherfucker fer the final time."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr threw an arm around Brisa’s shoulder. “Last chance to show what we’re made of—that thing won’t know what hit it.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Too fuckin' right," murmured Brisa, leaning into the hug.

The two of them together were tough enough to take on gods. With Astrid, Owen, and a dozen other fantastic goddamn fighters beside them? They could take on anything.

And there was no-one she'd rather have beside her for this fight than Starr.

<><><><><>​

 

[IFBench]

Saltriv trotted along the shore, before coming to a stop near a small, rocky outcropping. "Here we are!"

They could see Sharpedo bluff not too far away, where Thyme and Pepper resided in this world, and where Team Sunset lived in their own world.

And on this beach, at this exact spot, is where their journey began, during a sunset.

Saltriv looked out towards the sea, waiting for their own sunset to begin.

 

[Navar]

"This place is so beautiful!"

Shiron looked at the horizon, feeling the wind blow on his scarf. He clutched it, forcing himself to smile. The journey was over. Soon, he would go home, and forget everything...

Shiron would be lying if he said that he wanted to go home already.