bottlecaplogs | Impromptu Oran Sleepover

Entry tags:

Impromptu Oran Sleepover

Who: Oran newbies
What: Having fun with communal dens
When: Sometime after Mightyena gathered them up
Where: The Spire, low tier dens
Warnings: Will add if anything comes up, but not anticipating anything

[As everyone knows by now, the Oran Berries depend heavily on communal living, sharing a bed is simply to be expected. For some, this experience was temporary. Mightyena was kind enough to lend the mysterious misplaced Pokémon a place to rest, but now some of them have moved on.

For others, this is now a part of life, and it's time to get used to it. The Oran Berries value treating everyone like friends and family, after all, so you're expected to do the same! Why not have some fun with it?

Whether you've noticed your fellow newcomers are all gathering in one den, or you suddenly find yourself dragged into the the party against your will, everyone is invited! Everyone's going through the same thing, belong to the same guild, you gotta stick together.....right?]

[[ooc: Feel free to use this as a mingle log! We have nine Oran Berries (I think???) and although the dens are said to hold up to eight, I think some members are small enough that we should be able to include everyone!]]

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Right now is probably not a good idea, yup. You are better with nights than I am. Probably still doesn't pass safety checks either way. Definitely do not want to start a fire near where food is kept.

[ A bigger one than the one they already have, anyway. ]

[The water's starting to boil a bit, at least...]

Absolutely not! [It's important to keep the food safe and secure! Though...hm, there's a tidbit.] You are not an evening person?

Hmmm, sort of? If I am excited. If there is a good battle. Or something else to look forward to. Then there is no problem. I can keep going all day. I can even get carried away and almost miss the last train sometimes.

But between the two of us you are better with nights. It is weeeeiiird that you are up in the mornings when I am now.

I have never enjoyed mornings. But there is work to do, and I cannot sleep through the sun rising anyhow.

[So is that a natural tendency, one he never changed because he...didn't have to, back in the future?]

Haha. [ poor, poor Ingo, forced to rise with the sun in Hisui. ] I used to handle the mornings when we didn't have work. Fed our Pokemon. Took care of breakfast.

You usually only really woke up once everything was ready. Would stumble into the kitchen and go strrrraight for a cup of something to wake you up properly.

...that sounds nice.

[Having someone to take care of things in the morning for him like that. Ingo has never particularly expected to have anyone else so consistently around - he's never felt terribly inclined to seek a spouse, especially when he couldn't say for sure that there wasn't someone like that waiting for him someplace else. He's always imagined that, if nothing happens, he'll live alone until he grows too old for Wardenship.

........hey, wait.]

Did we live together?

Shared an apartment in Nimbasa. Was convenient, saved money on housing.

Did try separate places before in the past. Found there was no real point. Sharing the space was fine for us, you had your room and I had mine.

[ ... Emmet glances away, ears lying a little flat. ]

Your room is the same as how you left it. I haven't changed anything.

[ he went in to clean it, every now and then, keep things from accumulating too much dust, but otherwise ... he pretty much hasn't touched any of it. ]

That's quite a bit of space!

[Separate rooms! That's common enough in Jubilife houses, but not in the Clan; Ingo's only stayed over in places like that as a guest. But then Emmet goes on, and he feels foolish for having commented on something so mundane.]

Ah. Well. Thank you?

[Is that what he's supposed to say? Ingo doesn't remember the room or how he left it; that doesn't matter to him. But to think of Emmet carefully maintaining that space for him, all this time...a large part of him wishes he hadn't been so mired down in that loss, but a smaller part is...a bit gratified to know that he'd been missed so much. And then he feels guilty for that, so.]

[ Emmet just shrugs a little, or tries to approximate something like it from his current position before unloafing just a bit, freeing his front paws just enough so that he can lay his head down across them instead. It isn't that big of a deal? Putting anything away into storage would have ... what. Made it more real? Cemented it as a done deal? He's not delusional or in denial or anything, just... ]

Kept the space for you just in case you ever came back. Knew the odds especially after that long but. Weird things happen all the time. Ghosts, fairies, legendaries. Who knows.

[ Some might say that after a certain point, hope is just delusion, isn't it? It doesn't feel that way to Emmet, though. He's ... fine. He's been fine. More or less. He's been getting by. Five years, you learn to live with the absence, one way or another. Part of him sometimes wondered— well, no, that part isn't important. It's like keeping a light on, though; the beacon of a lighthouse at port, a light in the window, Chandelure's flames to illuminate the way home.

'There's a space for you here still if you still want it.' ]

Don't have to feel obligated though. Not trying to push. I am Emmet. Ingo is Ingo. But I know you don't remember. And that's okay.

...of course.

[It cannot possibly be that simple. It doesn't seem at all that simple to Ingo. But what is he going to do? Press? Insist to Emmet that he must have more complicated (more negative) feelings than that? It feels silly to be worried about the fact that everything seems fine. He looks down at his paws, then at the embers.]

Well, I suppose no one is going anywhere anytime soon in any case.

[ What's with that reaction...? Emmet also glances over at the embers, ...stares a little too long past them, then lays his head back down, ears pulled back. He opens his mouth to say something, hesitates, then goes through with it anyway. ]

... If I am doing something wrong, just tell me. I know that all this is probably still strange. It is new to you and it is a lot to adjust to.

[ Going from being alone to having a twin he basically didn't know about, that is. And Emmet isn't entirely the same as he was either, no matter what habits and routines he does and doesn't keep to. But he's trying. He's been trying to let Ingo set the pace of things without having to check in overtly, and therefore crowd or pressure. Keeping track of what he can and adjusting where he notices, without trying to make anything of it... Has he not been doing that well enough?

(Emmet's feelings don't factor in. He's fine! He's been fine. He's found Ingo again, so he should be even more fine than he has been. Anything else, he can deal with without making others have to for him. Should be able to.) ]

Something wrong? Why would you be doing anything wrong?

[Who said anything like that? If anything, Ingo's the one who's done something wrong! Not on purpose, to be sure, but he's done a great deal more to hurt Emmet than the reverse!]

Sometimes when I say or do something. You seem unsure. [ Which on its own would be fine and make sense, if Ingo was just trying to figure out how to respond, but... ] Not like you are not sure what to do but. More like you're waiting for something else to happen. Expecting something that does not come.

... Maybe I am just imagining it, though. [ An out. ] It is late. And sleep has not come easily, these past nights. I may be overthinking it.

Ah. I don't...well, no, you are not doing anything wrong.

[He should explain more. Explaining things is usually something like second nature for Ingo; he does a lot of it back home, sometimes more than people really want. But Pokemon and the mountain are subjects he understands well. This is...

Does he expect something else? Well, yes. Ingo just isn't sure what exactly that is. Should Emmet be angry at him? Should he cry? Should he ask him to come back to the room he so carefully maintained, rather than just assuring him that it's fine either way? Ingo doesn't know; he doesn't know what tracks Emmet's car typically travels. Maybe he really is just that easy-going. It's hard to say. It's hard to say a lot about Emmet.]

Though - you do not have to keep saying that it is okay.

It is, though. Because there is no one to blame. It is not your fault and there is nothing to do about it. Just is. So it's okay, because it has to be.

[ What's he supposed to do if it isn't? Is he supposed to be angry at something, sad that it happened? What's the point? What's wrong with skipping straight to acceptance when there's nothing else to be done for it?

(Unless Ingo left on purpose, originally, before whatever happened to displace him in time and space. Unless some of those trashy tabloids back then, like a broken clock, actually managed to stumble upon the truth. No. That is ridiculous. Too many sleepless nights. Doesn't make sense. They know where and when he disappeared.)

Emmet's head lifts. A tufted ear twitches. ]

... Your water is boiling, I think.

That is not -

[That's not how it works, that's not how anything works! Ingo's never thought that his amnesia was anyone's fault in particular. Maybe some of what came after - all the battles that failed to spark any more recollections, all the failed attempts to conjure those vague figures in more detail - maybe that was his fault. But surely not the initial loss? The circumstances were so strange that it was hard to imagine a person even could somehow do that to themselves. So it wasn't his fault, and he couldn't do anything about it - but it wasn't just okay -

The water is boiling. Ingo blinks dumbly at it for a second.]

........we never actually found the tea.

[ That, for some reason, makes him bark out a soft laugh. More of a yipping sound than anything, but. ]

Oh. No we did not. We rushed ahead, proceeded down the tracks without finishing checks first... How verrrry silly.

[Ingo laughs as well, of course rather louder.]

Ah, well, the water will keep a moment!

[He gets up to start searching. Watch there not even be any tea in here at all.]

[ Truly the funniest possible ending to the great tea sidequest is for there to in fact be no tea. At first Emmet works to get his legs underneath him, thinking to get up to help look too, but with Ingo's back turned to him, if just for a moment ... he's just going to let out a quiet sigh while he has the chance, gaze briefly flickering down and away, hopefully uncaught.

Slapdash, halting, clumsily, hastily; he's grieved. He's done it already, if privately, if reluctantly, if not entirely sure it even actually counted because he never actually could bring himself to believe Ingo was gone gone. He'd know, wouldn't he? Somehow? But the absence is still enough to count, at least where feelings are concerned, so he did. Took care of it, got it out of the way, pushed it aside, picked himself up to keep things running.

Why should he need to do it again here? Especially when Ingo is right there? Feeling sad, or angry at nothing in particular— isn't that what it would be? There's no need to mourn someone who isn't lost. So. ... So.

(If Ingo looks back before he manages to entirely school his expression, Emmet's smile is not quite as convincing as usual.) ]

Any luck over there? Need help searching?

Ah...I think this is tea?

[Ingo can't smell what's inside the jar exactly, but it's definitely some sort of dried leaves? Either it's tea or it's some kind of herb and they're about to have a terrible beverage! Cautiously, he tries to take it down and sort of...roll it back over to Emmet.

It's not okay. It can't just be like nothing ever happened. If they were close enough to live together, didn't something serious happen? But now that the moment has passed, he isn't quite sure how to go back and...

...and what? Insist that things not be okay? That sounds like madness, doesn't it? Maybe Ingo really should just stop and let things be...whatever this is, between the two of them. It feels strange and uneasy to him, but Emmet must be alright with it,. Isn't that what matters? Maybe it was always this way, and he's just aiming for some ideal that he made up entirely in his own mind.]

[ Is that how they're doing this. Well, surely the jar's sturdy enough for it. Emmet perks up to full attention, anyway, rousing himself enough to keep the jar from rolling anywhere it shouldn't. Tea or herbs, moment of truth...

Do they have cups, even? Is he supposed to put the leaves into the jug now, are they just using the water container as a sort of pot? That's fine, sure, he can do that, but will they be drinking out of that too? They really just rushed into this, didn't they. ]

Maybe. We should also look for smaller ... cups? Dishes? So we both can drink.

[ Maybe he'll try to look for them this time. Hopefully nothing gets dropped. Looking through the shelves again leaves him with his thoughts, but...

Something did happen, but it's fine. Nothing on that shelf. Something did happen, but they're fine. ... Aren't they? (Saucers and plates on that one.) If they aren't, then he just needs to figure out where to pick up the slack. He is Emmet. They should be okay. He should be okay. Ingo's been fine on his own, more or less, and so has he. (Oh. There they are.)

They should be better than they were, now. So why... ]

... I'm just glad you're all right. [ he says, coming back over to set carefully down the two mugs he's managed to find. His gaze stays low, fixed on the tea. ] You know. I don't remember if I said it already. Everything else, whatever else— less important than that.

It's nice, not having to wonder.

[Yes, this is probably the worst planned and organized tea-making Ingo has ever attempted! He turns to search the shelves for dishes as well, quieter this time until Emmet finds them first and he turns back to the fire as well.]

...this is not really ideal.

[He dumps some leaves in the makeshift pot anyway. They'll just...deal with it. He guesses. He keeps his eyes on the embers as Emmet speaks, trying to determine the most appropriate course of action.]

I can understand that. People go missing in the wilds sometimes. It is not...good, to find a body, but it is better than finding nothing at all.

[He knows how it works. He knows five years was an absurd amount of time to hold space for him. That space wasn't exactly for him, though, was it...? It's for the man he was before.]

It is not ideal but it is what it is. Truth does not stop being the truth because you dislike what it is.

[ And how.

Emmet yawns again, and settles back down to wait for the brew to steep. ]

Hmm. Finding nothing. [ Certainly found a lot of that. Negative space for anxious minds and true crime podcasts and who knows what else to fill in the blanks of. ] Room to wonder, yes. Wondered if it was my fault. Wondered if you were out there waiting, or in trouble, and I just wasn't looking in the right places. Wasn't looking hard enough. Or maybe if I had done something different. You wouldn't have had to go alone.

Still. No body meant there was still a chance. Even if it was small. And here you are.

Here I am.

[It would have been kinder to have left a body behind, perhaps. That's...not something that could work, from a purely physical perspective, but the Ingo from before seems gone nearly as surely as if he'd died. If he'd done it properly, Emmet could have moved on.

Maybe that's cowardly of him to think.]

Well, I do not see why it would have been your fault.

[He can't know that for sure. Maybe they'd been fighting; he doesn't know. But it seems important to reassure him, because now that they know what happened, it's pretty plainly not anything either of them could have accomplished on their own. Something must have happened to him.]

[ A single eye blinks at Ingo, a little curiously, maybe thoughtfully, the other obscured by softly waving fur. ]

Well. Dreams aren't logical. Late night thoughts, not so much either. You know too, don't you?

[ The kinds that find you once the sun's gone down and there's no work left to do, nothing to keep busy with. Wondering, wondering. If he'd noticed sooner, if he'd been with Ingo when whatever it was happened... ]

Like right now. You are thinking something ridiculous, I think. Like I would have been better off if there was no reason to hope.

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