Life is ours, we live it our way

[explosivecombat]

Who: Isaac McDougal, Solf J Kimblee
Where: Ilex Forest
When: February 24th, sometime around ungodly o'clock at night
Summary: SLEEP IS CLEARLY FOR THE WEAK. Also getting awkwardly reacquainted with one another is much easier without pushy battling partners in one's face; it just doesn't make it any less...well, awkward.
Rating: G for the actual content, though both muns do have a tendency to turn the air blue in description, so...
Log:

After spending so many years more or less alone in the dark, Kimblee had come to accept that any patterns he may have had when it came to sleeping were completely shot and likely not going to be recovered very easily, if at all; given that he'd been spending all of his time with one person, that hadn't been much of an issue for long - due to the nature of solitary confinement, he had become accustomed to sleeping when he was expected to sleep as opposed to when he was actually physically drained, and as such after the first few days, his time spent in Johto had been on Archer's schedule.

But he was no longer with Archer - and it was almost nice, exactly how easily his routine had changed to accommodate his new partners.

Isaac and Kimblee tended to let Emmy have her privacy, not only due to her being the only woman, but the fact that even the embers of the fire burning itself out tended to provide too much light for Kimblee's liking in the otherwise pitch-dark forest; sleeping a good distance away provided both adequate darkness and a means to not wake Emmy up when they were both invariably awakened by something not long after falling asleep themselves.

Sleep came easily, at least as far as Kimblee was concerned; what with all the wild animals about and the occasional completely unexplained noise, it was getting sleep to last that was the trick. This particular evening wasn't an exception.

He wasn't even sure what woke him up; some harsh sound that registered in his mind without leaving a name for future reference. Horribly rude, really; either way, once he'd startled awake and gone through the usual routine - trying to see if there was anything immediately present that was going to murder them all, discovering that there was not, ensuring that Dorian was still curled up and completely useless asleep next to him, then quietly punching the hell out of those layers he tended to lie on in annoyance - he pushed himself up from where he had been lying, sitting up and locating the white ribbon he used to tie his hair up.

There was no sense in leaving it to fall in his face, and he would likely be up for a while besides; he had only been travelling with Isaac for a few days, but it had been long enough to know that after...whatever noise that had been, he probably wasn't the only one awake.

Comments

[glaciates]

"Once it becomes necessary? Why don't you just leave? You don't need him."

If this had been anyone else, Isaac would have questioned the relationship. It sounded like Archer was a horribly abusive boyfriend. But this was Kimblee and Kimblee was obviously straight.

"Why have you been working with him anyway? If he's this annoying on a daily basis, I would have ditched him a long time ago."

[explosivecombat]

Obviously straight indeed - even if Isaac was the only one to work that much out, Kimblee would be reasonably content with the knowledge that at least someone had, were he aware.

"We arrived in Johto within a very short time of one another; rather than attempt to take on the routes individually, we decided that it would be mutually beneficial to help each other train our Pokémon. It would make the process far easier to battle against another trainer, as opposed to trying to raise the creatures in battle against wild Pokémon alone; both the difficulty and the experience gained would increase along with our levels, and it would encourage strategizing and the like. Over time, I suppose you could say we formed a rather strong partnership of sorts."

He paused for a moment, bunching the fabric of his sleeve in his fingers as his grip tightened a bit. "He has his share of annoying tendencies, as people do. But he doesn't usually act like this towards me; his behavior has been increasingly bizarre over the last two weeks or so."

[glaciates]

Isaac listened quietly. His frown deepens after Kimblee is done speaking. "Did anything happen within the last two weeks?"

It wasn't any of his business of course, and Isaac quickly shrugs it off. "It isn't any of my business. Sorry about that."

[explosivecombat]

Kimblee glanced over at Isaac then, though he wasn't displeased with the question; if anything, it'd had the odd effect of seeming to calm him a bit. "Don't apologize, Isaac; I'm not bothered."

And that was...surprisingly genuine in wording, if a bit dismissive in tone. Perhaps he hadn't realized that discussing this was something he may have needed to do; perhaps it was simply the fact that Isaac wasn't being intentionally intrusive - it was a matter of curiosity, rather than an interrogation. Either way, he just offered a bit of a flippant gesture at nothing while he gathered his thoughts; something of a placeholder, really.

...it was more or less the gesture Archer had pointed out as needlessly flamboyant before, but details.

"He informed me that his interest in me was a bit more than strictly professional." That seemed as good a place as any to start; hopefully the hint would be gotten.

[glaciates]

"Well, good." He was never sure what to say in response to something like that. He didn't say anything else, waiting for Kimblee to either continue or change the topic. He was expecting the latter; he received the former.

"Oh you mean...?" That received a wide-eyed stare. "What so he's... interested in you...?" But why would he be...? Not that Kimblee wasn't interesting or anything - Isaac found him fascinating, after all - but romantic interest? In Kimblee?

"Why would he assume you're interested in men?"

[explosivecombat]

That wide-eyed stare of Isaac's was soon being mirrored; of all questions to be asked, he hadn't been expecting that...

And then? He laughed. Because really, it was a massive relief to be asked that in the first place.

"Oh, believe me, that's what I wanted to know; it came from completely out of left field, if you ask me."

[glaciates]

"Yeah, it just... You aren't..." Isaac frowns again, trying to find a way to describe it. "...Well, you're not like any gay guy I've ever met." Well, there was only one gay man he had ever met. Kimblee was nothing like him.

[explosivecombat]

Kimblee tipped his head a bit at that one, thinking for a second. "Well, I have to admit that Archer himself isn't exactly obvious. But I know what you mean."

[glaciates]

"No, I guess he's not." Isaac frowned. "You don't seem like that, though."

[explosivecombat]

"Well, I should certainly hope not; either way, he surprised me a great deal with it. I turned him down, obviously; however, I believe that...ah, confession of his had been beneath the surface for a while beforehand, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's why he's been acting so strangely."

Although the longer Kimblee considered that, the less it made sense, exactly; he had explained his actions immediately following the confession - he hadn't apologized for what he had done with Emmy, but it had been understandable, given all of the strange emotional highs everyone had seemed to be on. And Archer himself had seemed to understand. So why...?

"Of course, that doesn't explain why he continued to be so controlling after the fact - he seemed accepting of the refusal at the time, and he normally handles things by ignoring them entirely; I don't understand why he continued to act as though he wanted to lay some sort of bizarre claim to me after already being turned down."

He shook his head. "Again, I'll discuss it with him later; it's not important now." He smirked a bit, glancing toward Isaac as he did so. "After all, I have been rather enjoying myself these last few days. Let's not dwell, shall we?"

[glaciates]

Isaac didn't reply to any of that, frowning at the lake instead. He had no idea how he would have dealt with something like that. It must have been difficult for Kimblee to respond to that immediately, but at least things had sort of worked out at first...?

"Yeah. There's nothing that can be done about it now. A little time away should do you both some good."

He nodded and turned back to Kimblee. "Well, you don't need to worry about it right now. Eventually you'll have to confront it, but until then, you might as well enjoy yourself."

[explosivecombat]

"Oh, believe me, I intend to." And from the sound of it, he certainly meant it. He folded his arms across his chest again, but the gesture was decidedly more relaxed than the tight grip he had been maintaining before; the usual light tone was back in his voice again.

"After all, my present company is enough to make this trip worth the effort."

[glaciates]

Isaac once again found himself speechless, staring wide-eyed at Kimblee. That compliment was aimed at Emmy, not him, right?

"Y-yeah, Emmy does seem interesting."

He wasn't sure what to do with the idea that Kimblee was complimenting him.

[explosivecombat]

Well, that managed to gain Isaac another rather odd look from Kimblee's direction; he remembered this sort of behavior well from Ishval - at the time, he had dismissed it as nerves of some sort, given the obvious favoritism that had been paid to Kimblee by their superior officers. A few of the soldiers in Ishval had taken to treating Kimblee...rather well, in hopes that he would put in a good word; Isaac hadn't behaved anywhere near as awkwardly during the brief "visit" he had paid Kimblee in Central Prison, which had only really cemented that line of thinking. Clearly, something had rendered him disillusioned with the military, which had led to a lack of shyness on Isaac's part when dealing with Kimblee away from it.

Isaac had returned to the same sort of behavior here in Johto, however; initially, Kimblee was willing to attribute it to the sudden change in surroundings at first, but he had mentioned not believing he "deserved" remarks like that, hadn't he?

Oh, Isaac. Kimblee probably shouldn't have been amused by that, but...

"Some things never change, do they?"

[glaciates]

"Well... yeah... I guess..."

This was awkward on levels Isaac had yet to explore. He wasn't used to receiving compliments, much less from someone he looked up to - even if Kimblee was a douchebag and had ultimately laughed him out of Central Prison, he still did look up to the alchemist.

That caused him to go silent though, instead focusing on the lake rather than on Kimblee. It was much easier to be awkward in the lake's direction, after all.

"...Thanks."

[explosivecombat]

Conversations with Isaac had always carried a bit of a strange quality to them, in that Kimblee always knew that he should find them far more awkward than he actually did; he had an idea that the silences and hesitations and the general bluntness of speech should be discomforting or difficult to interact with.

Perhaps it was fortunate, then, that Kimblee had never interacted with people on a normal level; he knew, but at the same time, this was simply something Isaac did - it was just the way he talked to people, nothing more. Kimblee was well aware of it, and yet unbothered by it; perhaps that was why Isaac was so fond of him. Who knew.

"Of course, Isaac. There's no need to be so shy about it, you know."

[glaciates]

"I'm not..." Of course he was being shy about it. Isaac never knew how to accept compliments like that. It was awkward enough when he tried to engage anyone in any sort of conversation, and it only got worse when he was complimented.

That didn't mean he didn't appreciate the compliments. He just wasn't sure what to do with them. Was he supposed to compliment the other person back?

"...Well. Thanks again."