Impromptu Oran Sleepover

[quirkynote]

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!]]

Comments

[outbounds]

It was not. That is true. But that is on me. Not you.

[ Maybe in some ways, it's easier to try to look for ways they could have done things different. That way, it makes it seem less like it was all up to chance— that these things just happen, outside of anyone's control. ]

I am doing something wrong if you are trying to take responsibility for something like that. We were, are a two car train. But what I do, what I say, that is mine. Not your fault.

[offtracks]

It is hardly your fault either.

[Maybe it isn't his fault. Probably it wasn't - even if he doesn't know what his previous life was like, Ingo has difficulty imagining himself abandoning everything and everyone without a word no matter how unhappy he might have been. But it certainly was not Emmet's fault!]

[outbounds]

I know that! I do. What I mean is—

[ A faint noise, low in his throat. ]

I am not saying this right. Sorry. [ He glances to the side, somewhat nervously, ears flattened and posture apologetic. ] This isn't ... it's not very cool of me. You weren't supposed to worry because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal.

[offtracks]

[Ingo frowns at him. This isn't...that isn't what he meant. Why should Emmet have to be cool about this? It is a big deal! But saying things like that only seems to be upsetting him further, so...]

It's - fine. I'm sorry, too.

[outbounds]

... Silly. That is what I am trying to say you don't have to be.

[ Can be, if he wants to, just doesn't have to be. ]

I've been trying to make this — easy. But right now, I ... Are you unhappy?

[offtracks]

Unhappy? Not at all!

[That seems too strong a word for it! Ingo is simply...uncertain? Perhaps a bit uneasy, in spite of Emmet's apparent efforts to the contrary.]

Why are you trying to make it easy? It cannot be easy for you. It's not an easy thing, in general, I understand that.

[outbounds]

It isn't. That's true. It's not easy, but trying to make it easier where we can shouldn't hurt. But also, if I wanted easy for me, I wouldn't have kept your room for you. Stuff like that. I am Emmet. I like winning, more than almost anything else.

[ the direct emphasis on him, though, and the question of why ... ah, he can't duck out of this very well, can he? not unless he tries to do something like pretend to or actually doze off mid conversation. ]

Mmm. Let me explain. Please? Need a moment to figure out how to say it.

[offtracks]

Of course.

[He'll wait, then. There's certainly things he could say, would like to say, but that doesn't seem very helpful.]

[outbounds]

Hmm. Okay. [ He resettles himself, posture straightening a little. ] Your question first. I am trying to make it easy, because why wouldn't I? Why would I want it to be hard? For you or for me? I do not see the point in feeling bad about how things are, because it doesn't do anything. I do not want to be angry, or sad, or afraid, or anything like that. So the fact that it is happening anyway because of these dreams is actually kind of annoying.

[ And only because of the dreams and nothing else, right. ]

But also, what you were saying. Uncertainty being difficult, and how it might have been better if I had closure, or let myself. Maybe! That might be true. I have heard it. 'I'm sorry for your loss.' 'This isn't healthy, Emmet.' 'Are you okay? How are you holding up?' 'It might be time to accept that he's gone.' A few days, weeks, months, years— time to move on! I am Emmet and I have heard it all and I understand—

[ Red fur ripples, counting out the seconds in time with his words. ]

I got tired of it. Tired of worrying people, tired of them acting like I was made of glass. So I reassured them. I am Emmet, I am a Subway Boss. Operating at 100% capacity. No need to worry.

But I wanted to hold space for you so I did. The feelings that come with that, they're on me. I wanted to and I chose to. That's what I meant earlier.

[offtracks]

[Ingo watches the red fur as it ripples. Emmet makes things sound so...simple? As if a person can decide they don't want to feel a thing, and then it goes away, just like that. Plainly it did not. He may as well have been dead; a person doesn't maintain a room for years on end because they're operating at 100% capacity.]

That sounds as though you were not doing well at all. Dreams or no dreams.

[outbounds]

Haha. You too, huh? I didn't want to say anything, you know. You weren't supposed to worry because you have your own stuff to deal with.

[ In an ideal world it would work that way. Mind over matter, this is hardly the time for misplaced and, more importantly, unnecessary grief, so it will not happen. Simple, clean, no fuss, no messiness. He's already done his fair share of it. Hasn't he? ]

I will be fine. Maybe— maybe it isn't right now, but I will be. Promise.

[offtracks]

...you should probably do a little more than just sit and wait, then. Of course you do not have to talk about it with me - [How could he possibly, when Ingo is the problem?] - but you should find someone to speak with.

[outbounds]

Ingo, I promise, I'll figure it out. I am Emmet; I do not say that lightly. It isn't like— I was just pretending, or anything. I kept everything running. I took care of our Pokemon, I took care of everything at Gear station, I took care of our passengers and employees. I didn't fall apart, or anything like that— [ or at least, if he did, it was privately, and not for long enough to be overly disruptive, ] isn't that enough?

[offtracks]

It is more than enough!

[Ingo keeps on feeling like he's derailed the conversation somewhere without realizing. He should really just pull the brakes. If Emmet wants to insist he's okay - maybe he really is okay. And that just has to be that.]

Of course - it's perfectly fine.

[He reaches, hastily, to try and pour the tea. It's clumsy, and a decent amount spills, but he's at least able to get their cups filled.]

[outbounds]

[ That honestly is the same as how Emmet's feeling right now too, because that's— he can tell when Ingo's trying to convince himself as much as he is the person he's speaking to?

(Right? He can, he thinks. And that was a somewhat abrupt motion for the tea; Emmet almost startles and makes for it himself.) ]

Ah, don't— well, I guess you are a fire-type now, you probably will not be burned, will you...

[ And so the cups get filled. A little clumsily, but they got there, and Emmet accepts one with care to try not to spill it. ]

... Thank you.

[ There's more he probably could, and wants to say, but it also feels like the more he's said, the more things got... Nevermind. Tea first. Maybe that'll settle the both of them some. ]

[offtracks]

Of course.

[He lowers his head to lap carefully from his own bowl; at least that much is a maneuver he's had to learn already. He'll keep quiet too, for the moment. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do, he thinks. He does not know how he and Emmet are supposed to fit together; he doesn't even really know Emmet's shape. Is this really just how he works? Maybe there's nothing wrong at all. How would Ingo know?]

closes eyes in my missing closing small tag up there

[outbounds]

[ Emmet, for his part, still makes a token effort to try to lift it up in his paws at first ... then gives it up as a bad job and also lowers his head to lap carefully at his own bowl.

He's quiet for a while, watching Ingo. Eventually, once he can't sit with the silence anymore: ]

... I don't know what you want me to say. Is there something I can do that would make you feel better about ... all this?

[offtracks]

If you are really alright, then I am as well.

[It's not entirely true. Not all of Ingo's worries are about Emmet. He's disturbed by how his failures have impacted him, and how he's refusing even now to acknowledge the great failure to remember, but he's also...worried, a little, about what comes after this. It feels distant, but - is he supposed to leave Hisui behind now? For someone he barely knows? Is he a bad person if he isn't...sure he wants to?]

[outbounds]

If you say so.

[ Is that ... it, then? He's said something wrong again, hasn't he? He's tried to convey what he needed to as clearly as he can, but, well. Ingo was always the one of them better with words.

(Needy, overly reliant, codependent, 'the younger twin'. Attaché rather than an independent entity. Well, it's all wrong, isn't it, he kept everything afloat, he did—

But the thing is, it's easy to think Emmet can't stand on his own, that he has to be part of a pair to function. Ingo seems to have been perfectly fine without Emmet.

If he dwells on that for too long...)

(In his dreams, waking or not, it isn't always that he wakes up to a too-empty apartment in Nimbasa. Nor is it that even here, Ingo simply disappears again, same as the first time.

Sometimes, the shadowy figure that is meant to be Ingo looks at Emmet, evaluating and assessing, and turns away of his own accord, having found nothing to keep him there without the obligation of a life spent together first.)

... He's not going to push. If Ingo asks, he'll talk. If not ... then Emmet will refrain, and let Ingo decide whatever he wants to. ]

[offtracks]

{Ingo's clumsy attempts to ask about Emmet's feelings have always just seemed to make things worse. He'll take Emmet's cues. Ingo certainly owes him that much.]

Very well, then! [.....] I suppose it was tea, then.

[It's not terrible. Certainly not the best cup of tea he's ever made, but at least it is identifiably tea. Not a guarantee, after how that whole process went.]

[outbounds]

[ It isn't really Ingo's fault, maybe. Five years, you learn to live with the absence, one way or another. You adjust. You convince yourself you're fine enough, and the rest follows.

You forget some things. From some angles, letting someone try to support you sure seems like you're burdening them unduly instead. ]

Congratulations. You found tea and not peppermint or basil.

[ Tentatively, faintly teasing. It's not terrible. It's tea, to be sure, a perfectly serviceable drink. ]

[offtracks]

Peppermint might not have been so terrible!

[Yes, teasing! This is much safer, let's just go to that.]

[outbounds]

Hmm, maybe not. Depends on how strong? Might've forgotten about it a little too long and then we'd just have mouthwash.

[offtracks]

Mmm, that's true. But it might have been pepper flakes.

[Spicy water...it couldn't really have happened, of course, not as sharp as his new nose has proved to be. But imagine!]

[outbounds]

Not very easy to sleep after that, I think. If you wanted me to stay awake, should have just asked.

[ Spicy hot water... ]