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

[Dragonfree]

What the fuck. Wasn't Owen like four hundred fucking years old?

"Hey. Already ate." He looked over the obstacle course. "What are you doing?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, Cal set that up for me," Owen said. "It seemed like a fun way to pass the time and take a break from other things. And it helps me practice being mobile while capsulated. Never know when that might be useful one day, y'know?" He grinned in his usual, goofy way, leaning back on an oversized beanbag he'd bought for himself.

"...What? Just because I'm ancient doesn't mean I can't be young now and then."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Well, have fun with that." Dave raised an eyebrow before throwing himself down onto his bed. "Have you been talking to your mirror-universe self much? Any tips for this dumb fight we're apparently having?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, yeah, we've been talking. But after a while we kind of realized that there wasn't a lot for us to talk about because we already... knew it all about each other." He chuckled. "We did end up talking a lot about our teams, though. some of them are more dangerous than others, I guess, but we'll need to be careful about them all. I guess he and I neutralize each other, in a way. Our fighting style is almost the same... Well, except for my tree thing. He says he doesn't have that. Won't tell me what he actually has, though."

Owen rolled over and flopped on the other part of his beanbag.

"How about you? Meet any of them?"

 

[Dragonfree]

“A few. The Emolga invited himself to my table at the X-Eye, I met the Zoroark when I visited Soda and had a drink with him, and earlier I was talking with that Nero guy.” Dave sighed. “Seem like the same sort of bunch as Spectrum. Crazy backstories, some shady shit happening in their worlds, kind of annoying.”

 

[Namohysip]

Owen smiled wryly at Dave. "Right, I guess that's a lot like us. Wonder if it has to do with that hero's aura or whatever... There definitely seems to be kind of a pattern from it all, huh? Bet you never ran into a lot of people like that back home... Your home's one of the most normal, right?"

 

[Dragonfree]

“I mean, it’s normal to me, but it sure feels like the majority of everyone else is from these worlds with no humans and a bunch of talking Pokémon living in towns and omens and legendaries.”

 

[Namohysip]

"I guess that's true. Maybe normal is relative. Or maybe a better word is... common. Yeah, common. I dunno which type of world is more or less common, though..." He looked at the ceiling, thoughtful. "I guess it's nice, though. That things can still work out here. Not every world has that kind of luck."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Yeah. Soda talked about that, how Pop is just so fucking nice that Cibus is a place where things work out and good prevails and everything is sunshine and rainbows. Sure isn't the case in my world."

Dave rolled onto his back, sighing at the ceiling. "Wouldn't you know it, cartoon utopias are better places to live. More at 11."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded idly, looking up. "Cibus isn't perfect, but it's got a lot of perks thanks to being in an era of peace. But just a few decades ago, it was a dangerous place where a Dungeon could twist your home and drive you mad. It's... complicated, when we've only been here for a few days. At least in your world, you aren't in danger of a rogue distortion turning your home into a living labyrinth... and that sort of thing becomes common." He glanced at Dave. "You always seem unhappy about things, even when they're good."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave's eyes slid towards Owen. "What, I'm supposed to be ecstatic about the existence of Happy Pokémon Land when I'm going back to my shithole universe in, what, weeks at the most? And my kids still have to grow up there, under these asinine fucking house arrest laws? And the Mia who's alive will be staying here while I forget she ever existed? And Brisa goes back to her shithole universe where nobody likes her and forgets she ever had anybody? Great, let's throw a fucking party."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen maintained his frown, looking skyward. "Yeah. And I have to return to my world, where I'll forget about how empowered I can be when not under someone else's control. Where the whole world's literally falling into a place like what Dark Matter tried--living and dead. And where everyone I love is probably going to forget who I am, and worse." He didn't look at Dave when he spoke, but his voice was a little lower. "Where I could be responsible for it, too, because of mistakes I've made.

"Doesn't mean I have to be miserable about it here and just make even happy moments worse. I'm not going to let world envy ruin my time here."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Your situation's shit too, and you think that means you should be happy about it? Don't think you're quite making the point you think you're making there, buddy."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen shook his head. "Good home, good friends, good food, and the world is saved here. I'm happy for Cibus." Owen gestured vaguely to the air. "I'm going back home to somewhere that doesn't have a lot of those things. But if I was unhappy about how good Cibus was, even though my home isn't the same, then I'm just making my time here unhappy, too. Then nothing is gained."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Well, if you've got a magic ability to just decide to be happy despite every reason not to be, that's great for you."

Didn't have to be all that magic, though, did it. Jean could sure perk up instantaneously when it pleased her, too. How the fuck Owen, four-hundred-year-old supersoldier, kept being reminiscent of her was a real mystery, though.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen gave Dave a curious look just then. "Good home, good friends, good food. Didn't I just give a few reasons why I could be happy?" He looked away again, giving Dave that brief moment of respite that he wasn't being questioned in his own home. Now, Owen spoke more in a reminiscent way. "When I talk to Diyem, he doesn't really focus on positive things because it's not healthy for him. It makes sense that he seems to forget or disregard the positive things happening to him, and focus on bad things instead, or even things in the future."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave narrowed his eyes at Owen. "...What's your point?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen blinked. "Huh? Just had me thinking." He glanced at Dave again, only briefly, and he seemed genuine. But an ancient creature like Owen could possibly not be genuine at all; there was no real way to tell, was there? "I guess it just has me thinking. My head's all scrambled, so maybe I don't have as much knowledge as someone who'd normally be my age. But imagine, someone like Diyem, you know?

"I bet it was a real challenge for Eien to shake something like that... Can't blame him, though. It's, like, the way he knows things. I wonder if in a weird way he's comforted by being unhappy, because it's familiar. Like, he doesn't like it, but it's also what he's used to, so when something changes, he'd go back to it anyway. Lingering on being unhappy even when he's not in a place where normally people wouldn't be unhappy." Owen rubbed his chin, thinking, as he puffed a small stream of blue embers from his nose. "Like how sometimes, I always want to be under someone's command. Because I'm used to it. Even if I also want to be independent."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave rolled his eyes. "I mean, I'm pretty sure Diyem is unhappy because he's an incarnation of darkness and negativity and being happy causes him literal physical agony, not because it's familiar." He glanced at Owen out of the corner of his eye; the Charizard looked innocently thoughtful as always. Dave clenched his jaw. "Look, what, you think I don't want things to be less shit? Like I'm here going oh, yeah, can't have my daughter live a halfway worthwhile life because the world being full of bullshit is just too fucking familiar?"

 

[Namohysip]

Another deep, pensive frown. "I don't know if anybody wants their lives to be worse," Owen said. "I mean, not unless they think they deserve it, but that's a whole different set of problems, I guess. But... I guess there's a difference between seeing a bad situation for what it is... and making everything else bad because of it, you know?" Owen drew little symbols of flame in front of him, which vaguely looked like Dark Matter's Core attached to Charizard wings. "Being forever focused on it instead of finding ways to be happy despite it. Even if they're little things. It's not like you're doing anyone a disservice by making things a little brighter, instead of doubling down on all that darkness."