a tale of two tragedies.

Victor didn’t need to place his ear on the door to be able to hear the complete anguish the woman was in. He didn’t think a score would cause this much turmoil for a person but then again…she had been judged rather harshly… He couldn’t help but to feel sympathetic towards her, he was disappointed too but for different reasons pertaining to scores and the judges behavior but that was another issue all together. “Miss Ursula…?” He called softly, unsure if she could even hear him over her wails but then again she could just be ignoring him. He waited for a little while before the sound of the toilet flushing caused him to perk up slightly as his patience was rewarded with just a glimpse of his fellow contestant.

He couldn’t see much of her but from what he could see she looked terrible. No doubt she had cried her eyes out in there and for all he knew she’d continue once he left. He frowned slightly when asked why he was there, a sense of sadness washing over him at the thought of someone actually being tactless enough to actually kick someone when they were down. “No, not at all madam I just…couldn’t help but notice you seem rather distraught and I thought I’d come and check on you…” He replied, voice genuine and full of concern. “I…take it you’re unhappy with Tobias’ score?”

So he’s not here to taunt. That’s all she needs to know to lose her shit even more--but out of relief, not anger.

      “Oh, God! I’m so unhappy!” she screams, and throws herself into Victor’s arms. “You fucking heard them! They didn’t all the way like his Appeal! They shouldn’t have given him that score! They shouldn’t have given me my score! Why does he always have everybody kissing his ass and I have everybody giving me the hate?”

Her tears form a small wet pool on Victor’s shoulder before she continues.

      “He abused me, you know. He sent a fucking Twitter mob after me telling me to jump in front of a bus.” Well, he didn’t send them, but as far as she knows, he totally did. “And he tried to make it look like I’m the only one who did wrong. Yeah I fucked up, but I…but I……”

She lets out another bawl.

@heartists​

“Good heavens!” Victor yelped, the lungs on that woman was enough to make him jump! Literally jump a good 3 inches off the ground! “What was that?!” He whipped his head around to see Ursula storming off…in tears? “Was that Ursula just now?” Oswald blinked, looking up from his cupcake to watch where she was walking off to. Mushi doing the same with a curious head tilt, nibbling her freshly made fish sticks.  Victor frowned a little as his eyes followed movement. From what he could hear of the shouting it had something to do with the current judging. Perhaps he should make sure she was alright…he had no ill will against her and well, he was just one to care he supposed. 

“…I’ll be right back you guys, just stay here okay?” His Pokémon nodded in reply before he turned to follow Ursula towards the bathrooms. 

She can’t stop crying. She can’t stop crying. She blows her nose on the toilet paper, throwing tissue after tissue into the bowl after a series of loud honking sneezes. She wants to scream words, but she can’t find the words to scream. She hunches over the bowl instead as though to throw up, her long hair dripping into the water.

She can hear someone outside the door. She could use a good pair of arms to cry into right now, but at first, her whole body’s too weak to answer. She just sobs, and sobs, and sobs, now forgetting to blow her nose, snot running down her lips just like the tears leaving bright shining trails on her face. 

He’s winning. He’s winning. He’s winning.

How can it be? Didn’t they see what he and his Twitter mob did to her? Couldn’t it be true that whatever she did to him, that very act of his alone would cancel it out? Weren’t they even now--can’t they both move forward on the same ground? Her true thoughts race too fast for her to speak them. Even as she wipes the snot from her face with another tissue and flushes. Even as she turns toward the door and opens it just a crack, toward a face she assumes won’t be up to any good.

138 points?!

      “They--they--they--”

She has one last chance to hold back. She’s not taking it.

      “THEY GAVE MY ABUSER 138 POINTS AND I ONLY GOT 36?!” Her voice breaks with the intensity of the scream and her tears start to pour. “Everyone’s talking about how I abused Tobias. Which I’m not denying. But nobody’s talking about how he abused me back! Isn’t the Twitter storm abuse? Isn’t not stopping it abuse? And you’re telling me they think he’s sincere and I’m not--”

A pause, to catch her breath.

      “But how? How? How is his performance literally any different than mine? Some people in the live chat were saying ‘oh Ursula said her trauma made her do it’--BUT HE DID LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING! He said his trauma from me made him do it and I--” She lets out another sob. 

      “How can Piper be crying? Are you fucking serious right now? The whole thing was about change and regret and she says it’s about how change is a sham? How can she see that? How can she say things like that? The whole thing was about change and she just liked it ‘cause it was dark. How could she be so biased? How come one of the judges gave Tobias bonus points for winning his battle when he said it made him uncomfortable? How is any of this fair? God--I--”

Here’s Ursula’s Appeal for the Galarian Stars Showcase!

the showcase is not up and running at the moment, though i was given the okay to post my appeals when finished a bit early. for my other one that i’m basically done with, i’m going to post it as soon as i’m done with my new fanregion lore over on @cosmoscourge, and then if i need to make any edits i’ll reblog it closer to the deadline to formally turn it in--as agreed upon.

There would be a smug expression on the ex-chairman’s face, noticing that his phone’s notifications were going off rather quickly. He knew that this would come back around to haunt her and he couldn’t help but laugh about it. Rose would enjoy what situation Oxford had made right now, but he couldn’t exactly let the Skitty out of the bag right now.

[text]: My goodness. Looks like someone lost their temper! [text]: Why don’t you explain yourself a bit more that some texts that don’t give an old man like me any detail? [text]: Though, I assume its about those screenshots. I didn’t promise that you could ruin his life.. I said there’s a chance you could.

Laughing to himself at the slightest, Rose would idle his thumbs over his phone’s keyboard. He’d scratch under a certain Miltotic’s chin before continuing to type away. No harm in adding salt into the wound, right?

[text]: Also your Milotic will continue to be in good hands. I can promise that at the very least!

i didn’t promise you could ruin his life. i said there’s a chance you could. is she going to fact-check that? no fucking way! why should she when that’s how she clearly understood it? doesn’t that count for something too?

[text]: NO TAHTS ONT WAHT YOU SAID YOU JERK YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED

[text]: GIVE ME MY FUICKGN PKOEOMN BACK YOU FUCKING LYIGN PIEC EOF SIHT

[text]: I DIDN’T GIVE YOU MY SIHNY FUCKISNG PKMON SO MY LIFE WOULD GET ROUINED

                     ❝  I don’t need to prove anything to you, Ursula.  ❞

When he’d started this conversation, Leon’s tone had been light and optimistic. He was getting to talk about love, one of his favourite topics! Of course he was going to go into it happy. But now all of that warmth had been sapped from his voice, replaced only by a tight professional coldness he usually reserved for interviewers who’d crossed a boundary.

Leon is pretty pissed off.

                     ❝  You want my honesty? Fine. People don’t like you, not because you’ve had cosmetic surgery, but because you’re generally quite an unpleasant person to be around. You’re vindictive, you throw tantrums whenever something doesn’t go your way, and you are so obsessed with beauty standards that you seem to think all of my popularity has come from pretty privilege alone. I don’t have to stand here and try to comfort you, but I try, because I want to see you improve and actually get some decent growth. I do think you’re capable of it, even though you’re currently very close to convincing me otherwise. I’m not denying that people have made nasty comments about your appearance or your surgeries, nor am I denying that I was spared that treatment, but envying everyone else for having a privilege you don’t isn’t going to win you any hearts or favours.  ❞

He could go into the technicalities of social interaction here. He could mention how celebrities tended to move in social circles that put them into contact with other celebrities, meaning that they’d be far more likely to find a friend or lover within that circle than outside of it. If he wanted to, he could delve into how bringing a ‘nobody’ into the celebrity spotlight would be such a drastic change of lifestyle that it’d stand a good chance of ruining any sense of peace or safety the relationship had. Going from total obscurity to having media attention be a constant part of your daily life would be a hell of a shift, and Leon would be willing to bet that someone unprepared for that whiplash would be inclined to call off the relationship no matter how drop-dea gorgeous they found their A-List amour.

But, really, while she was working herself up like this she obviously wasn’t going to listen to anyone but herself, and so attempting to actually get across his message would be little more than a waste of breath.

                     ❝  Since you mentioned my marriage: Dani and I met because we’re both immensely talented people important to our respective regions. Yes, we’re also attractive, but our relationship isn’t built on that. We got together because we have a bond forged on our mutual understanding of each other and what it’s like to be such a central public figure, and she gave me a sense of being known that I’ve never had with anyone else. Sure, I think that she’s absolutely the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, but our love goes so much deeper than that. When I say I adore her unconditionally and regardless of appearance, I mean it.  ❞

                      ❝  …But I don’t even know why I’m trying to explain this to you. Clearly having enough emotional maturity to consider that relationships need more than surface-level sex appeal is a little out of your capabilities at the moment, and I can only hope you look back on this conversation and glean something useful from it. After how much of an embarrassment you were at the Soiree, you’re pretty damn lucky I’m talking to you at all, but if you’re going to continue to be like this I think it’s best if we cut ties. We’re obviously not going to get along.  ❞

oh, of COURSE we’re not going to get along, she seethes inwardly. see, she’s been reading quite a lot about privilege and lack of it, and in terms of privilege, he’s showing all the signs. a privileged person can’t see the privilege that they have. a privileged person gets defensive when the experiences of a non-privileged person are mentioned. and then he has the nerve to tell her that this is a sign she HASN’T CHANGED?!

she hesitates for a moment before answering. yes, she supposes it’s true that she might have come across as oversimplifying things, and reducing all relationships to physical attraction. but at the same time--the truth about relationships has a pretty bias. and if he refuses to see that bias, she refuses to see his point of view.

      "you know, i’m starting to think we’re not going to get along either,” she spits right back. “i didn’t say that looks were the only thing that affected relationships. i was just saying that they play a WAY bigger role in relationships than you THINK. and you’re not even really acknowledging that, because you don’t have to. because both you and your wife are good-looking and apparently you can’t see how that helps you get into a relationship you want! do you know what you call someone who’s not good-looking but who has a good personality? a friend. any time us naturally ugly people hear ‘you’re like a sibling to me’ when dating is brought up or ‘your clothes look so pretty’ without complimenting your actual physical features, we know they’re just trying to say that we’re ugly. but you’ve never had to hear that in a condescending sense, now have you? and that’s just exhibit A of all the ways that you don’t see you benefit!”

she huffs.

you love with deliberateness. handwritten love letters quietly snuck into back pockets. you love with buckets full of affection in the simplest of ways. falling asleep on the way home. resting your head against someone's shoulder. you love with kindness. your love is noticing little things and remembering them. your love is listening and being listened to. your love is wanting and needing and being wanted and needed and choosing to fall in love again and again everyday.

                     ❝  I won’t pretend to be an expert on the coordinating world. With how much the sport itself focuses on beauty and aesthetics, it’s certainly not out of the question for such a scene to breed insecurity and demand impossibly high standards from all those within it. I’m sorry that people treated you like your looks were the only thing that mattered, and I’m sorry that you have had to deal with such unpleasantness from social media. You don’t deserve that.  ❞

She’s right, in that Leon has never had to be subjected to close media scrutiny of his appearance. By the time he’d started hitting those awkward puberty stages he was already beloved within the region, so that alone kept the media complimentary, and while he did have insecurities he’d never had them publicly dwelled upon. When it came to pokemon training, the area he excelled far above all others, appearances didn’t matter nearly as much as they apparently did in coordinating. Galar cared only about the entertainment value you and your team could bring to the stage - they were too busy looking at the pokemon to fuss about how pretty the Trainers themselves looked.

Yet, despite his sympathy for all she’s gone through and his admittance that they have been held to different standards, he finds none of that has swayed his opinion of true love and what it actually is. Surely, true love was deeper than outside aesthetics and the features a person was born with.

                     ❝  But… Forgive my bluntness, but I have to ask… Why do you care so much about others’ opinions? Worrying and overanalysing and holding onto every single piece of negative feedback isn’t suddenly going to make those people like you more. Letting them get under your skin like this isn’t going to give you the life you want, since, and I speak from experience here, you can never really be happy when your whole life is dedicated to being what other people want you to be. If you’re not being treated correctly within your current circles of friends, colleagues, fans, or whatever else, maybe it’s time you found some new social company. If your fans are saying things that upset you, block them or turn off comments altogether. If your friends only value you for your looks, then they’re not very good friends and you should find some new ones. The world is a massive place, Ursula, and I promise you there are people out there who can give you the acceptance you’re searching for.  ❞

                     ❝  …And when it comes to love, if your ‘Mister Right’ only wants you because he thinks you’re sexy, I personally wouldn’t consider that a very good match. Like I said, true love is about mutual understanding and that feeling of unconditional support, and all the sex appeal and natural beauty in the world isn’t enough to create those feelings if there’s truly no spark between you. If your love is real, it doesn’t matter how many people tell you it’s wrong, or destined to fail, or anything else. As someone who has had to face endless critiques about his relationship, from all sorts of people, please trust me when I say that you don’t need the whole world to recognise your love as genuine. All you need is for your partner to recognise that.  ❞

well, this all sounds great. this all sounds wonderful! this all sounds like the stuff that most people would really love to believe…

But she doesn’t.

      "i don’t see how you can say all that to me with a straight face,” she huffs. “well, actually, i can. it’s because you, like every single other person who spews that sort of talk, benefit from pretty privilege. people keep talking about privilege based on race, class, gender, whatever. what about privilege based on LOOKS? like i get that it’s not the same as race privilege or something, but you still can’t deny that you have it. you and your wife daniella both. you can tell me all these nice things all you like, but none of it changes the fact that it happens more to pretty people. NATURALLY pretty people. because if you got plastic surgery or a magical transformation to look better like me, some people treat you just as bad as if you’re ugly. it’s easy for you not to care about other peoples’ opinions like me, because you’re naturally pretty enough to get masses of people on your side and you’ll have more in your corner than i ever will. but when it’s me, and literally the entire world started out against me because i wasn’t pretty, how can i not care?

   “hey, paul……”

okay, he hasn’t immediately run off upon hearing her talk to him. she supposes that’s a good sign.

she neither smiles nor gives him a glare, as she tries to stuff down the possible unpleasant outcomes of this conversation.. maybe he’d yell at her again over something they fought over before. or maybe he’d have something snarky to say about the leaked spat she had with ursula and tobias over the sweet love soiree cards against humanity game. however, she brushes that thought from her mind. say what you want about him, he’s not the type to go chasing drama--she’s gathered that from the fact that whenever he encountered her, he wanted nothing more than to go in the opposite direction.

so maybe, just maybe, he’ll give her a chance.

      “so, i’m well aware of how you hate me,” she says, looking down briefly before resuming his gaze. “and listening to me might be the last thing you want to be doing right now. but i was hoping i’d find you again, because i just wanted to say…i’m sorry. i’m sorry for acting like a jerk around you all those times. trust me, it’s not just you who’s told me i can be a bit of a judgy judger.” nervous laugh.

      “in light of, well. you know. i’m sure you saw what went on after the sweet love soiree. in light of things like that, and thinking about everything that contest was supposed to be…i’ve decided i want to stop hanging onto old grudges and start trying to see the good in people. because i can judge tobias and ursula all i like, but if i don’t actually change myself, i’m not really much better than they are. so…basically, what i’m saying is, i’m willing to start over. to drop everything i used to have against you and really get to see your side of the story. would you…”

she pauses. this is probably too big of an ask.

                     ❝  First off, nobody is physically perfect. People can be attractive, either to a specific individual like yourself or to society and its current beauty standards, but they’re never perfect. Imperfections do not take away from someone’s beauty or sex appeal, so to push this idea of beauty being synonymous with perfection is not only false, but potentially damaging to those who are more insecure or more susceptible to pressure.  ❞

                     ❝  But, more importantly… Let’s consider true love for a moment. While I can only speak from my personal experiences, I never feel more truly loved than when someone sees my vulnerability or sees something I dislike in myself, and then chooses to love me regardless, possibly even more so than they did before. True love is seeing my fans stick by me and continue to support whatever endeavor I pursue, even though I’m no longer in Galar and can’t entertain them as frequently as I did before. True love is having my father continually support my Training career even though he’s opposed to the concept of catching pokemon. He might not understand my goals or what drives me to fulfill them, but he supports them nonetheless. True love is finding someone like Dani, a person who brings out the best in me while I do the same for her. We have founded ourselves and our relationship on this feeling of mutual respect and support, and it’s allowed me to finally come to terms with things that I never would have been able to had I remained single in Galar.

                     In my opinion, true love shouldn’t be about what people look like or if they’re both attractive or unattractive or anything like that. It’s about having people, whether they’re friends or family or a significant other or even your pokemon, who recognise your faults and allow you to work on them and move on from them. It’s the knowledge that they are there, offering that unconditional support even when you fail or feel like giving up. It’s having people who see the best in you and who work to draw it out, even when you yourself lose sight of it, and I for one think that’s really beautiful.  ❞

she can’t be angry at what leon is saying. it isn’t right to be. but then--that’s precisely what makes her angry.

how dare he tell her true love is blind? how dare he tell her all those campy things about why looks don’t matter? the media keeps saying such things left and right, and everybody certainly parrots it. but isn’t it scientifically proven that attractive people (such as tobias) get higher wages, are seen as more intelligent and trustworthy, and are even more likely to get lighter sentences with crimes?

is it……safe to check the news again? she takes a peek…

Never FUCKING mind.