THE WINDS RISE AGAIN.

how to adopt raihan:

           Oh no he feels…       So warm to the face. He must be blushing now – Or was he blushing already? He already knows he’s about to cry, and he gives a quiet little sob when Raihan presses their foreheads together.

                Warmer.       The sudden urge to lean in that eeeeeeeeeeeextra little bit to kiss the other rises up! And he’s gotta ignore that urge. Don’t kiss Raihan, don’t do it! But oh won’t he regret it if he doesn’t take the chance to do it now? Perhaps – But no, no no no.

                               Don’t do it.

         “Aye.”   A sniffle. “Y-you too, yanno? I’m here fer you too.”

              A squeeze to Raihan’s hand along with a shaky little chuckle.     “I do, yeah. But uh… I sorta like where yer hand is righ’now too.”

raihan would be quite the opposite of opposed to being kissed, and if it weren't for the situation, it'd probably be distracting him a fair bit, too; for right now, though, he's mainly concerned with making piers feel better.

(the thought does flash through his mind, though.)

"if i ever want your 'elp, i'll let you know."

he's careful about his choice of words here.

want and need are two different concepts.

as much as he may need, he's quite set on not letting himself want.

"suppose i can try braidin' it later, then."

piers's hand gets a squeeze back, and then raihan's thumb gently strokes the other's.

somewhat consciously, somewhat absentmindedly, his other hand begins playing with piers's hair. his movements are careful as ever, of course, and he falls silent for a bit.

it's not an uncomfortable silence, though, nor a complete, dead silence. it's that of a quiet night spent near a crackling fire as rain pelts against the windows, snuggled under a blanket with someone dear as you both begin to drift gently off to sleep.

      Leon watches as Raihan disappears out of sight, making sure to wait a moment and taking the opportunity to quickly double check that he doesn’t still have blood on his mouth. Satisfied that he’s given the other enough time, he crosses the street and opts for the stairs this time, not wanting to accidentally injure himself and need to feed again anytime soon. Even if Raihan had offered, he didn’t want to be uncouth and he certainly didn’t want Raihan to feel obligated to be a snack for him.

      Leon still almost trips on himself anyway when he sees just how large Raihan is, an he can’t resist the urge to let out an appreciative whistle. He’s impressed and his eyes light up again because he’s an absolute dork. Raihan might be the dragon type specialist but it doesn’t take a specialist to realize that he’s pretty fucking cool.

      Leon gets closer, seeming to forget his own hurry as he lets himself take in Raihan’s form fully like this. He can’t help it– his whole transfixation thing– but thankfully Raihan’s voice snaps him out of it before he stops to outright stare.

     “Not how I expected tonight to go when I texted you. I wasn’t expecting dinner or a piggyback ride.” Leon carefully strokes a hand along the scales between Raihan’s wings as he considered the best way to actually climb onto his friend’s back. He figures that if Raihan’s offering it’s safe to just… hoist himself up. It takes a little doing because he’s short and Raihan is bigger than any Mudsdale he’s ever ridden, but he manages with minimal kicking and flailing, at least. Thank goodness for years of experience being a jockey, he guesses. Once he’s settled in, he laughs giddily and adds: “Promise not to tell Charizard? She’ll get jealous if she knows I’ve been out flying without her.”

"you WEREN'T?" puffs of smoke escape the dragon's nostrils as he laughs. "me showin' up to give out scran an' piggybacks is a biweekly occurence, just 'appened to be your turn this time."

raihan lets leon get himself situated atop his back, letting out another huff of laughter. "i'll try, but can't in good conscience tell you i definitely won't tell 'er."

with that, he readies himself, stretches his wings out, angles them just right--- and then he's off running, and with a leap, his clawed feet are completely off the ground and his powerful wings are now what carry the two forward.

he's aiming high, and only lets his wings rest to glide along the wind when the ground is far beneath them and the lights of the city look nearly as tiny as the stars in the night sky. shame he lacks the proper riding gear for it, otherwise he'd show off a little and do some tricks while they're up here... oh well.

a shame, too, that the night is so dark; the sights beneath them in daylight would surely be a spectacle, but as it is now, there's little to see beneath them.

... rather, there would be little to see, but raihan can see just fine in the darkness, and considering his passenger isn't human either, they might both be able to enjoy the view. so he takes his time, deciding on the more scenic route, as opposed to the efficient.

they do reach their destination soon enough, though; the battlefield of hammerlocke stadium, where raihan lands and has to take a moment to resist giving himself a good shake, lest he yeet his poor companion right off his back.

Yes, Leon decides. He’s selfish for wanting to leave.

He’s known for his observance, his eagle eye for even the tiniest of details, so there’s no way that concern-sadness mix would have slipped past him. Despite how it may have seemed to suddenly fire off such a loaded question, he never wanted to worry Raihan. He was his rival, his best friend, and one of the few people who were keeping him grounded in reality here.

It’s a tragic state of affairs when you can count your reasons to stay in a region on one hand, but it was something Leon had had to get used to. After all, this wasn’t the first time he’d thought about what would happen in his absence. Had it not been for his friends and his brother, he’d most likely have disappeared the second he’d mastered Charizard’s wings.

But there was no need to dampen the mood with such talk. Instead, he forces a smile and brings his tone back up to that same practiced cheeriness.

                     ❝  Oh, no reason, really! There’s just been so much talk of change recently, I guess I wanted to make sure at least you were remainin’ a constant. I don’t know what I’d do without my number one rival there to keep me ‘n the team working hard.  ❞

                     ❝  Sometimes I just think about everything else that’s out there, y’know? Between the tournaments and Oleana gettin’ on my back about meetings, I haven’t really had much time to travel or see the sights. I keep trying to encourage Hop to take some holidays before he goes for an endorsement, but it’s all work ‘n no play with him. Gotta say, he’s nothing if not determined.  ❞

generally speaking, hiding his emotions is something raihan is an expert at; less to do with media attention, though, like many other members of the league, and more to do with raihan himself, and the standards he holds himself to rigidly.

concern for a friend, however, is nothing he ever tries particularly hard to hide, if at all.

raihan silently studies leon's face, and somehow, though his eyes and gaze are as soft as ever, his focus is still piercing.

"skies might change, but me, i'm always 'ere, yeah?" a pause. "an' i'm not talkin' physically. doesn't matter where you are, or what time it is. i'm 'ere."

raihan directs a pointed look at leon, and with a glance around their surroundings quickly locates a nearby rock wide enough for both of them to sit on. he plops down and promptly pats the spot next to him to invite leon to join.

"... pretty big world out there, yeah." he tilts his head upwards to gaze at the sky, clear, blue, and vast. "lots of lovely sights. 'aven't been everywhere yet, but i've been to enough places to know hoenn's definitely my favourite."

raihan glances back towards leon.

     When you live in Spikemuth, you eventually have one of two reactions to the world outside it. First: you start to appreciate the outside, the trees and the grass and the rain and the snow, all that much more and it makes you long for greener pastures. But, more commonly, second: you learn to turn your nose up at all those smug Galarians, those wealthy or privileged enough to get to live in that. It all reminds Piers of a song he wrote a long time ago.

     Something something, go and fill our lungs with water, something something, we won’t better love the air.

     Raihan isn’t something he turns his nose up at, though. The moment he hears the other shouting his name and flailing around in his town, Piers is already spinning on his heel and jogging over.

     “ Mate! You look a fuckin’ sight, ” He laughs to himself. Raihan is almost comically out of place, but Piers feels his tall-man woes. He’s almost as tall as the other is.

     “ Trainin’? Fuck yeah, mate, I’m down for that. Judas’s been itchin’ t’ get out an’ bust some ‘eads. ” The Scrafty twitches in his Dusk Ball, and Piers chuckles at his enthusiasm. “ What’d y’ got in mind? We gettin’ lunch afterwards? You gotta wine ‘n dine me t’ get the best ‘a my performances, mate. ”

     That’s a joke. That’s JUST a joke. TOTALLY  it’s just a joke. They’re JUST bros. Of course. Clearly.

raihan is bouncing in place so aggressively he's nearly outright hopping.

"aw, well, good weather always gets me energetic! my pokemon, too." a pause. "actually, well. pretty much any weather that ain't borin' gets us energetic, but you know. heh."

as for whether he's got anything particular in mind... he simply shrugs.

"nothin' specific! just wanna get out there an' enjoy the air, yeah? could maybe do some warm-ups an' then a friendly battle, you an' i. no dynamax, obvs."

"an' as for scran, do you one better, i'll cook somethin' up for us afterwards, 'ow 'bout that?" he puffs his chest out proudly. "am a right good cook, me. plus that'll make sure the menu's gonna 'ave something you want on it, heh."