Friend Shaped

“Grimsley~<3” (unovas_bitch) wrote:

So a really cute twink just tripped and faceplanted in the fucking sand… Nice ass though. 

“Grimsley~<3” (unovas_bitch) wrote:

Do I approach…?

“Grimsley~<3” (unovas_bitch) wrote:

Wait no- He got up.

“Grimsley~<3” (unovas_bitch) wrote:

Oh shit- I think I’m following this kid-

“Grimsley~<3” (unovas_bitch) wrote:

abort abort

“Trainer Wally” (pokethecutie) wrote: 

@rivaltrainerwally

Alola was hot, but hardly ever this hot, and in Po Town no less. The town was usually being rained on constantly, but for whatever reason the clouds had cleared that day and everyone was falling victim to the sun’s wrath. 

Kyanna was no exception to this, and by Arceus was she pissed and for once one could tell this just by looking at her. For someone who was born and raised in Alola, she really couldn’t tolerate intense heat for the life of her. 

Since walking all the way down to the beach like she normally would was probably a sentence to heat stroke, she had to resort to more desperate measures; filling the empty pool outside the Shady House.

Her Primarina had to do all the work, since she was the one water-type the woman owned, and a constant stream of Hydro Pump was significantly faster than using a hose. Kyanna just had to sit back and wait until she was done and suffer until then– and complain the whole time about how hot it was.

“Man, maaan.. fuck this fuckin’ heat. First fuckin’ snow an’ now this shit ?! Gah, just gimme back the rain already. Fuckin’ bullshit, this is.”

Apparently she was so wrapped up in her bitching that she didn’t notice Wally approaching, but when she did she immediately composed herself as best she could and played it off like she wasn’t throwing a tantrum over the heat which she kind of was.

“Oh, heya ! Didn’t hear you comin’ over the sound of Moana’s Hydro Pump– I’m tryin’ to avoid death by the sun, wanna join me ?”

It’s hot but not that hot. At least, Wally doesn’t think so. He might be biased though, having grown up in Hoenn where even when it rains in the winter it’s warm. And that’s humid warmth. The kind that makes your bare thighs stick to vinyl and leave sweat marks behind.  Wally has many, many memories of hot, sticky summer days spent indoors and unable to travel, because if he tried it’s like as not he would have passed out on the way to wherever he was going. This, at least is dry, even if that comes with unpleasantness of its own. Wally will take the discomfort of too tight skin over the air feeling like soup any day, thank you.

He would have thought that someone from Alola would agree, or at least be able to handle the heat well enough, but he’d be wrong apparently judging by all the cursing going on. Kyanna is taking this about as badly as any born and bred Sinnoh native. Maybe she’s not originally from Alola...?

He giggles when she finally spots him, having been there for a good few minutes already. Seems she was a bit caught up!

“A little warm?” He asks with a silly grin, drifting closer. The coolness he can feel drifting from the water is a little tempting... not that he’s going to tell Kyanna that. He has his pride.

“I thought you Alolans could handle the heat!” He teases gently “You wouldn’t last ten seconds during a Hoenn summer.” There’s a bit of a pang at the thought of his home region. He has his orders: stay in Alola, learn, train, be a productive member of Team Aqua. That doesn’t make the desire to go home any less there, just more frustrating. The one time he’s wanted to go home in what feels like years and he can’t.

Mood dropping a little he settles himself next to Kyanna, close to the edge of the not yet filled pool. Kyanna’s Primarina looks a little tired. He releases Azumarill from his ball and asks him nicely if he’d like to help Moana out with Aqua Jet. Azumarill is, thankfully, one of his more friendly (and obedient) pokemon, so he’s more than happy to help out. Wally tucks his legs up to his chest and watches the water line rise for a moment.

Hey everyone! Since we got a new plot update, I’m looking to start new threads on Wally in reaction to the update! Like this post and I’ll get back to you on what we want to do!

Open starter:

The bag that was previously dangling from his hand drops numbly from his now nerveless fingers. It crunches ominously on impact, and somewhere it registers that he may have just broken a few of his new hyper potions, but he’s not paying attention to that at all. Instead his focus has narrowed down to his phone, nothing else in the world matters so much as the message he just received.

“Something's going down, Magma HQ just got squashed. There’s a giant fucking hole in Mt. Chimney!”

It’s from one of his Aqua contacts, not Archie, but a person high enough up on the “food chain” that they’re his main contact for information. Team Aqua has never been formal in their communications, but there's a distinctly shaken tone to the message that Wally hadn’t yet encountered from anyone on the Team. There’s more information, something about Team Rocket and Galactic HQs but he doesn’t care.

There are pictures, oh gods there are pictures! His breathing hiccups; someone bumps into his shoulder, and as is typical of very friendly Alola, apologizes instead of yelling at him for standing dead still in the middle of the street, but he hears it from far away.

There’s a hole in Mt. Chimney.

The volcano-! It’s active! What if it erupts? And all the damage just from whatever caused the hole- His family.

Maybe it doesn’t make much sense to worry about them so much. Petelburg is far away from Mt. Chimney and Verdanterf Town is nestled in the mountains, about as safe from the volcano as you can get and still be on the main island. Just because he knows that though, doesn’t stop him from reacting with fear and panic. Just because they should be safe doesn’t mean they are! More than that, Hoenn is his home, and it’s in danger and he’s not there!

Is it possible to adopt someone who’s already a legal adult? Probably. She’s going to have to look into it, because Wally is darling. Malva laughs, one hand covering her mouth. Can’t have Wally think that she’s laughing at him, the poor dear. “You’re sweet,” she says, the corners of her eyes crinkling a little. “Confidence takes quite a lot of practice. I was naturally born with a good deal, but even I needed time to perfect it.”

Malva has never had any doubts about who she is or who she wants to be. It’s made it much easier to walk with her head held high. Still as natural as it is to walk through a room like she owns it now, raising her voice hasn’t always been easy. There were years when her headstrong need to be herself had come out in fistfights in the schoolyard. Now though, she knew far better ways.

She taps her chin as if in thought, though she’s already made up her mind on the matter. Wally needs a hand to steer him out from under his parents. That much is obvious. It would simply be rude to see such a situation and then just walk away, and Malva is many things, but never rude.

“You know, if you like, I could try to teach you. It isn’t always easy, but I could give you some tips. Like anything else, it takes time, but I think it would go much better if you had a teacher,” she says, letting a smile linger on her face. She’s never really though of being a teacher. There were a few young trainers she mentored once upon a time, and her girls in Flare. Malva would never call herself nurturing, but she’s got a talent for giving people a nudge in the right direction.

“Really?” He can’t help but ask it. Confidence is something that can be learned? The thought has never crossed his mind, to him it’s always just been something he does or doesn’t have. And he does have some, confidence that is. Not a lot but... he’s confident in his battling. That and he’s always managed to find a way to speak up when he needed to; that has to count for something.

Malva though she’s so... Wally doesn’t know how to describe it. It’s different from his fumbling determination. It’s like she’s never spent a day uncomfortable in her own skin, though she says otherwise. He wants to feel like that, like every step he takes is the right one.

“Yeah...” He says softly, “I’d really like that.” And he means it but it’s late and he’s so much warmer now, and really the bench doesn’t feel that uncomfortable anymore...

He must have been closer to Malva than he thought, because when his body droops from drowsiness he ends up slumped against her side a bit awkwardly. He wiggles discontentedly, more interested in being comfortable and too sleepy by now to consider how close he is to her, that they’ve only just really met, that she probably doesn’t want him laying all over her.

@rowansworstassistant

It’s not that Wally doesn’t want to talk to Lucas. He does! Lucas has been fantastic. They haven’t met up again since the conference in Jubilife City, but they’ve talked often enough. They’re... friends. Or at least, Wally likes to think so. He doesn’t have a lot of experience with friends that aren’t pokemon. He used to but... obviously he wasn’t that good at it.

(Thinking about Brendon makes him sad in a old, achy way.)

He doesn’t think he needs to have a lot of experience to know that you’re not supposed to lie to your friends, though. And he is, lying that is. He’s been lying for months now, ever since he returned home and joined Team Aqua. Now he’s squirreled away in a little hidey hole in Po Town, as private as it gets around Team Skull’s base, putting off his and Lucas’ weekly phone call. The same way he has been for the past two weeks.

So no, it’s not that he doesn’t want to talk to Lucas, he just... doesn’t want to talk to Lucas. Wally sighs in frustration, staring down at the glassy smooth surface of his phone. Whether or not Wally WANTS to talk to Lucas, doesn’t matter, it’s no longer an option not to call him, because now it’s an assignment. Call the pokemon professor’s assistant, find out what, if anything, he knows about how the pokemon are being affected by the odd changes in the weather, and report back.

It’s all kind of sad that he’s waited until he was ordered to call his friend to actually talk to him.

Wally settles himself more comfortably in his chosen hide away, firming up his resolve. He’s an adult, he can call his friend without having a nervous meltdown over it. Without giving himself anymore time to stall he selects Lucas’ number and sets up a camcall. His little portrait in the corner looks sick.

Rules: Mark the ones you’ve done. Use your result as your post title. Please, repost and don’t reblog!

Ah. So Wally, pokemon trainer, does recognize the name. It’s almost cute, in an inane way, watching the gears in his head turning, watching him shift back. Some days Cyrus relishes the idea that his name can be used to create fear and apprehension. He isn’t sure about today.

“Guilty as charged.” It’s flat, near emotionless, just barely colored with a dry humor most don’t usually pick up on. There’s no use denying it, after all; Cyrus doesn’t have anything to lose, not really, and it was his mistake anyway. He’d known his name and face has been coming up more in the news lately. If he was really concerned, he ought to have given another name.

But Wally the pokemon trainer does’t seem as if he’s about to give Cyrus any trouble. Seems curious, more than anything. Cyrus can relate to that. So he turns a curious eye back on Wally.

“Yes.” A drag of his cigarette is long overdo. He speaks on the exhale, smoke rising from thin lips. “I am that Cyrus. And what are you going to do with that information, now that I’ve given it?”

It’s a bit of a game, but honestly, he is curious. Is Wally going to startle and flee? Challenge him to a battle?  He almost asks. Instead, he sighs, says “I suppose it doesn’t matter after all, I’m not exactly looking to inspire conflict,” and nods pointedly at Wally’s bag. “You know, I would have lit that up for you. I suppose I could say I’m more curious what you’re going to do with the cigarette, if not smoke it.”

“Keep it.” He says it immediately; jerked from his mouth in reaction to something he can actually concentrate on instead of the swirling storm of What? currently trying to swamp him. It comes out rudely, deadpan in such a way that the “duh” left off the end is heard all the same. ... At least he managed to stop himself from saying “sniff it” instead.

He doesn’t bother elaborating, if Cyrus is that curious he’ll ask, and Wally doesn’t think he can form an explanation for why he’s keeping the cigarette anyway. He just wants to. He would feel embarrassed normally but these aren’t really normal circumstances, so he thinks he can be forgiven for being a little bit rude. It’s not like he stumbles on (probably) wanted criminals in back allies everyday.

... Speaking of. Why is he here?

“I- What are you doing here?” Not exactly the demand he wanted it to be, he still sounds too hesitant for that, but it’ll do. He should be more cautious if Cyrus is dangerous but... Wally doesn’t actually think he’s going to do anything to him. He would have done it already if he were. Right? “Aren’t you worried you’ll get arrested? Shouldn’t you be hiding instead of standing out in the open?”

“Uh.” Lucas has never considered himself to be particularly chatty. Usually, he’s just about the farthest thing from it. Talking means more people get to hear his weird, one note voice. More people get to stare and ask if he’s mocking them or trying to be funny. It’s not exactly his favorite thing to deal with. But Wally seems to be content to fill the air for the both of them. Which… is kinda nice.

“I like coffee,” he manages, once they’ve stepped outside. It’s nice out, although he’s always preferred cloudy days. He tugs at his hat a little, trying to angle it to keep the sun out of his face a bit better. Glancing over at Toasty, he considers the question for a moment. “He likes lemonade.”

His Pokemon have probably eaten more food meant for people than they have treats meant for them. Everyone always acts like it’s such a big issue for Pokemon to eat things meant for them, but as far as he can tell, it’s never been much of a problem, except for that one time Munchlax got a hold of a jar of peanut butter twice his size and ate the entire thing in one sitting, but Lucas is pretty sure that would mess up just about anyone.

He barely notices that Wally still has a grip on him until he lets go. Oh yeah, they probably don’t exactly need to hold onto each other anymore. The streets are far less crowded than the cramped hallways behind them, so he’s pretty sure Wally isn’t about to get trampled on their way to the cafe. Hands in his pockets he nods. “Yeah sure, sounds good.”

Falling into step at Wally’s side, Magmortar walking behind them now, he idly glances around them. “Have you seen much of the city?” he asks, feeling like he should probably say something. “Could show you around if you’re bored or something. After coffee, I mean.”

Kindness and generosity can be found in just about anyone, if you’re a trainer, Wally’s found over the years. Their business keeps the economy flowing sure, but more than that trainers are adored. People stare at them with stars in their eyes, equal parts admiration and longing, and call them daring adventurers. Trainers are the heroes in the stories, the exciting wanderer. People want to help trainers. Wally’s grateful, really, he never would have made it far without such kindness but... no one has ever been so interested in just him before.

Companionship is less readily available to those who spend their life on the road. Not to say that his pokemon aren’t enough, they are! They just also... aren’t great conversationalists. Neither is Lucas, if Wally is being honest. That hardly seems to matter though, when he’s so genuine. Lucas accepted his offer of coffee, he asked to show him around! He wants Wally around, unless he’s incredibly mistaken. He doesn’t want him to leave yet. That more than makes up for any awkwardness.

Wally beams at Lucas. “Really? I’d love that! I just got here a few days ago, I’ve never been to Jubilife before! Did you grow up here? What’s around? What are the pokemon like? Oh! I heard...”

Taking the cigarette and just holding it is odd enough. Cyrus’s hand is halfway back to his pocket for a lighter before he stops, head cocked slightly to the side, and just watches. It’s interesting, following the movements of the cigarette turning over in the kid’s nimble fingers. Something about that is familiar.

And then he puts it in his bag, just like one might do a pencil, a pokeball. Something about that is familiar too. Cyrus’s expression softens around the edges, a departure from his harsh resting face, the critical way he’d been eyeing the young trainer before.

“Ah.” He looks down, as if to hide the minuscule pull at the edges of his lips. It’s not a smile, but it’s as close as Cyrus ever gets. “Alright. I’m not certain it’s better form to be rude to those you’re familiar with, as opposed to strangers, but…”

It’s natural to trail off in thought, pause for another drag on the cigarette. For the moment, Team Rocket and Giovanni are pushed to the back of his mind. Interacting with strangers shouldn’t be as easy as Cyrus finds it, a reminder that he likes people more than he cares to admit. There’s a charm to the smalltalk, at least, after the ambiguous amount of time in the Torn World, followed by the six month stay in isolation atop Mt. Coronet. He wonders if his name will be recognized, after this long. The stranger is young, so he counts it unlikely.

“My name is Cyrus. I’m an astronomer. And you?”

Cyrus. It’s kind of a weird name actually, but it sounds familiar somehow. Wally wonders where he’s from, why he’s here. What would an astronomer want with a pokemon conference? Wally studies his new acquaintance's face but just like before, it gives nothing away. He’ll just have to ask then.

“My name is Wally! I’m a pokemon trainer.” He’s trying to be enthusiastic, now that he has Cyrus actually talking to him, but his heart isn’t in it, something about the familiarity of his name keeps nagging at him. “... You said you’re an astronomer?” Something about that snags his attention as well, and it shakes something loose from the depths of his memory. A report on the TV he only half listened to.

“... In other news Team Galactic is on the rise again in various parts of the region! This has many people understandably nervous. Previously thought to be deceased Team Leader Cyrus, no known last name, released a statement...”

And even earlier than that, years ago now, he remembers hearing about Team Galactic even all the way in Hoenn. About what they did, about what happened to them. Wally’s stomach swoops nauseatingly. It feels like too much of a coincidence but...

Perhaps there is a monster here after all.