Poppin' Arms ~ Dorm Lounge

[Ambyssin]

"Esper is off doing whatever it is he feels like doing. I don't particularly care," Bahamut said. "His true counterpart was a loudmouth troublemaker until the day he died. I don't intend to rein in his doppelganger."

 

[Fusion]

"Yikes," Puddle winced. It looked over to Vix, not knowing what to really do.

"Do you miss the real Esper?" Vix asked, soft. "Come to think of it, you mentioned that you've lost a lot... I'm sorry."

"Yeah, that's rough buddy..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut shrugged. "I was thinking of him because of Darkwhite. And the Ultra Stone did the rest." He clicked his tongue. "I'm not going to hold any of it against him. Doppelganger or not, this Esper is his own person. He's not some child that needs babysitting."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle tilted its head, wondering how the fuck Bahamut did that sound. In its attempt to emulate it, Puddle just opened and closed its mouth repeatedly.

"Oh yeah, Darkwhite..." Vix hummed. "I kinda... miss her? Hope we can find her soon." She looked at Puddle, not knowing what the hell it was doing. "...But at least you don't have to look after your familiar, you can do whatever you want."

"What's. That. Su. Pposed. To. Mean?" Puddle asked, still doing that mouth thing. It bit down on its tongue, then held its mouth in pain. "Oh wait... I didn't feel that..."

Vix rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Anyway, what were you gonna do, Bahamut? If you were busy, I'm sorry for distracting you for so long." She was tempted to ask if she could tag along with him, depending on what that was.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I have work to do on my shield," Bahamut replied. "It's boring. And a single-person affair, I'm afraid."

He stepped back toward the doorway.

 

[Fusion]

"You overestimate what I would find boring," Vix pouted. "But I know better than to try and be a bother. Best of luck, don't hurt yourself." She paused. "...Can you even hurt yourself?"

Puddle, meanwhile, was a fair bit more nosy. It oozed over to the doorway, reforming and looking up at the giant cat. "How do you expect to work on a shield without something to hit it with? Single-person affair, you could just be blunt and say you wanted to go. Unless you're hiding something?" it put on a sneer.

Vix deadpanned, but said nothing.

 

[Ambyssin]

"It's not a normal shield."

Bahamut turned and departed the room without another word.

 

[Fusion]

"Vix ain't a normal shield either, you still gotta hit a shield to try it out!" Puddle huffed, following behind Bahamut. "Are you a loner or not? Ya can't keep flip-flopping between them!"

"No, Puddle, don't leeeeeeeave. Not you toooooo, Bahamuuuuuut," Vix said without feeling. She looked around, making sure she was alone. Confident that she was, Vix held her Litwick doll in the air, moving it around and making whoosh-ing noises.

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[unrepentantAuthor]

Drinks and a chinwag with Icetales was a pleasant way to pass some minutes, but Brisa's muscles and mind still ached. Time to think about an actual rest period back in her dorm. With any luck, she'd be alone—not that Kate was bad company, she just... She was still used to sleeping alone, in silence.

Passing through the lounge, she saw Nip. She hadn't had a chance to congratulate him on a good showing, yet, she should at least do that much—it was simple courtesy anyway, but they were also friends, weren't they? Regular sparring and a moment's small talk were more friendship than she'd had back home, even if it wasn't the closeness she had with, say, Owen.

"Howdy, fella," she called. "Kudos t'ya fer that performance in the colosseum, I gotta say. You gave us a run fer our money, an' no mistake."

 

[windskull]

After the battle at the collesieum, Nip had come to in the infirmary. He had been informed of the battle results — unfortunately a loss — treated, and released. Beneath the pungent scent of medicine, he *swore* he could still smell singed fur. And now he was ready to take a long rest, sleeping away the pain. Still, he had lingered in the lounge for a bit, debating returning to his room or finding some place quieter to sleep. Unfortunately, his usual haunt in the woods was well outside the bubble.

While lingering, a familiar voice caught his attention. His ear-feathers flicked, then he turned to see that Brisa, too, had returned. A second passed while he processed her comment, then he offered her a faint smile.

"Oh. Hello, Brisa. Congratulations on the win. It was an intense fight, for certain. But Starr's the one that deserves the credit."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Closer up, it was easy to perceive just how hard Nip had been hit in that last match. Physically and emotionally. The weavile still looked winded, despite his characteristically polite speech, and his scent was shot through with stress. Brisa wouldn't ever want to have held back in a fight, but she winced internally for his sake.

"Well thanks, partner," she replied. "Don't count yerself out, though. Starr made it to the end of th'match 'cause we saw how effective yer Triple Axel attack is beforehand an' made a plan to dust ya just as soon as we could. Don't tell me you got the post-tourney blues as well?"

 

[windskull]

Was it that obvious? He decided to not question the fact that others were feeling down after the fight. Icetales and Cynthian, Astrid and Vix, he was certain that he'd be more down on himself if he had been in their fur (or petals, or... wax?) But that was beside the point.

His gaze drifted to the side, and he reached a paw up to scratch at the side of his head. "Perhaps a bit. Don't get me wrong. I know I did well. Starr and I, we did a lot of planning. Put a lot of thought into our approach in both of our fights." They'd even adjusted their strategy in the fight against Owen and Brisa after watching the match, opting for a more defensive approach in hopes of surviving that nasty opening combo. Not that it had done him much good. "But the fact that I can barely take a hit is... frustrating."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa very much doubted that Starr and Nip had spent as long on strategies and training as she had with Owen. But to be fair, the two of them spent longer on those things day-in, day-out than almost anyone.

"You'n' me both, partner. My body back home was made of sterner stuff than this; it sticks in my craw to go down as easy as I do."

She'd never thought of it as too much of a liability, though. Fights with the team were over fast enough, and involved enough legwork from supporting teammates, that it was never a problem. Did Nip not see it that way?

"Y'know, after that showdown with the creation deities, we all ended up evolvin' an' swappin' our battle proficiencies around. Say that happens again someday soon. D'you reckon you'd want to be tougher, or would you still be fast as a thunderbolt with the punch to match, like y'are now?"

 

[windskull]

"You should consider yourself fortunate. I've never been the sturdiest, but I feel like I could take more than I can here."

His mind drifted for a moment. Snapping jaws. Burning fairy energy. He winced slightly, then caught himself and shook his head.

"I'd still have my strength," he admitted. "And my speed. I just... I wish there was a way I could better protect myself. Like... Remember our last big fight? The one against the radiant machine? I didn't land a single hit in that fight. And that's fine."

He paused, choosing his words carefully as he began to subconciously scrape his claws together. A nervous tic that in some ways helped calm him. "At one time it would have frustrated me — and I suppose it still did, somewhat — but I've had to make peace with not being the strongest, for the sake of our duty. But... I also was struck down before I could do much of anything. If I had taken even one more hit like that, I would have been dead weight for the rest of the fight."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa thought of all the occasions Nip had winded her in a private sparring session, and tried to muster up some sympathy for his present predicament. "You usually mess with my offence with yer Radiant techniques when we spar. That ain't good enough fer ya since the tourney?"

Hmm. Why had he gone down so much harder in the match? Because of her and Owen coordinating an alpha strike. That was just it, though; the team worked by synergy...

"Ya gotta remember th'team's a cohesive unit. We cover each other's weaknesses."

 

[windskull]

"That's true, but..."

But what good did it do against an opponent that could counter all of his skills. Someone like Joule, for example. Or...

No, he wasn't going to think about it. He wasn't going to think about her. She couldn't do anything to him so long as he was here, on Cibus. Besides, Brisa had a point. He may have been alone back home. But he wasn't alone here.

"Perhaps..." He shook his head. "Well, you are right. But still, I worry that there might come a time where that's not enough."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Alright, well... The important thing is that we pull through as a team an' keep control of the fight. Sometimes that means not every individual shines through, but it does mean everyone plays th'most essential part an' we do everythin' we can to keep each other fightin'. So far we've always done well in that regard, but . . . if our usual aggressive approach don't work out against Joule, maybe we oughta reevaluate our strategies. Try puttin' our eggs in more baskets, so to speak."

She wasn't sure what the weavile's expression communicated, exactly. He always looked vaguely fretful, which she figured was down to him being from a quieter, more rural culture than that of cosmopolitan Cibus. But it persisted even in quiet spaces with a long-time friend. ...If he considered her a friend, that was.

"Say, I reckon this is already the most we've spoken in one sittin', despite our regular trainin'. Yer a shy fella even by my standards. Still, I can tell there's somethin' else eatin' ya. I'll never pry into shit what y'ain't willin' to disclose, but... You know I consider you my friend, right?"

 

[windskull]

His attention, which had drifted away as he got into the mud of his inner turmoil, snapped back to Brisa. Both his ear feathers and his tail feathers perked up. Him? A friend? He'd had a few pokemon he was close to back home. Or used to be close to, at least. But the bonds he'd formed here were different, somehow, in a way he couldn't quite put his claws on. Even with how... reclusive, he'd been.

"That's... rather kind of you to say, especially with how little you know of me. For what it's worth, I think I consider you one as well. You're one of the most trustworthy mon I know."

Perhaps it felt like a weak compliment. But to him, it meant a lot.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Trustworthy. That was something she strove to be, for everyone. He really thought of her as someone he could put trust in?

"Stars, Nip, I... Thank you."

How strange, that she was having a conversation like this, former loner to former loner. Cibus was a strange place indeed, that such people could be brought together by Dark Matter of all things, and come to know and care for each other. What she had now was something unimaginable to the same luxio who'd stepped into Diyem's presence those several months ago.

"I used t'worry that I couldn't call folks my friends 'less we were downright inseparable. Truth is, when ya count on each other as much as we do, that's friendship. And... If'n you value yer privacy, I shan't ask after yer past or nothin', but I ain't disinterested, if y'take my meanin'."

 

[windskull]

Huh. Well, now that she said that. "I think you make a good point."

He quit scraping his claws together, staring down at them for a moment. It would be so easy to spill... everything. But something held him back. Maybe it was the fear of judgement. On one hand, he really did trust Brisa. And felt like she'd at least... understand. On the other... he still wasn't ready to run the risk of being outcast by the team. So he elected to take a middle road.

"I... don't know that I'm ready to talk about everything. There are things I'm proud of and things that I am... less proud of. But... I've been more or less on my own for a long time. I had Tempest - the ninetales that my familiar took the form of. But I had to... leave him behind a while before I was called here. Sure, there were other pokemon around us, and I could rely on those pokemon to have my back in a fight. But I couldn't really rely on them for much else. So... you'll have to forgive me, if I have a hard time opening up."