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

[explosivecombat]

Their time in Ishval certainly did explain a good amount, despite the fact that the time they had spent together there had been reasonably short; they had been assigned to the same district shortly after Isaac had arrived, before Kimblee had been sent into the Kanda district after the Rockbells. It wasn't that he thought Isaac had forgotten the discussions that had occurred there, but...

"I see." His voice was quiet, though it was in a way that was more contemplative than bothered. "I didn't realize that was still so important to you - I mean, surely at the time, yes. I understand that much. But now...?"

[glaciates]

Again Isaac didn't respond right away. The silence lasted too long, but he wasn't sure how to break it. As usual, he wasn't sure what to say.

"...I still like spending time with you, Kimblee."

It was such a simplistic statement, but it was true. Isaac caught the rock a final time and moved to brush the usual loose strand of hair out of his face. "You mean... a lot to me, Kimblee. I'm... not really sure how to describe it."

[explosivecombat]

...That...likely wasn't good.

Perhaps the recent fighting with Archer had made him overly suspicious - a bit too wary of what that sort of statement could mean, willing to read a bit too far into those sorts of statements to begin with - but the fact remained that it set warning bells off in his head, loud and sharp and completely unable to be ignored. The long pause before Isaac had said it definitely wasn't helping matters, either.

As such, it takes him a bit too long to realize exactly what his face is doing - he isn't glaring, but he's obviously displeased with the turn the conversation has taken; as soon as he realizes, though, he seems to settle a good amount, his expression shifting into something decidedly more relaxed. Casual, even.

"Well, I'm flattered, then." He wasn't. He really wasn't, and no matter how genuine his tone was when he said it, he suspected it still came off as unnatural, with a sort of deliberateness to it that he wasn't quite able to force out of his words.

...thankfully, he was spared from having to figure out how to salvage it by the sound of the Gear going off. It was obnoxious, really, though Kimblee had long since lost the ability to tell if it was naturally obnoxious or just coming across that way because of exactly how much he had been hearing it.

He waited until the actual sound had stopped before finding the stupid thing; he wasn't about to answer it while it was active, given that he knew well enough who was calling. And sure enough...it was a video message this time, and decidedly different from the yelling over voice that Archer had been subjecting him to all day. No, Archer actually looked flustered in the message he's leaving this time; it was immediately obvious that he hadn't slept in a while, as much as he was trying to hide that fact.

Kimblee couldn't exactly bring himself to care.

I don't know what you want from me. How can I fix this?

"Goddamn it, Archer..." The words were quiet, muttered under his breath, but still incredibly annoyed.

[glaciates]

What did he do? Isaac didn't look hurt exactly, but he certainly did look confused. He frowned at Kimblee's words. That sounded like he was just saying it. He had never been good at determining when people were lying to him, but Kimblee did seem to be a bit easier to read.

The phone went off and Isaac jumped a bit. He settled back quickly enough, shooting a glare at the phone when Kimblee pulled it out. He didn't say anything, listening as Kimblee complained softly.

Isaac finally moved, reaching out to grab the phone from Kimblee with no provocation. He didn't hold onto it for too long, instead turning and tossing it straight into the lake.

[explosivecombat]

Kimblee froze as the Gear was grabbed out of his hands; he knew that he really should have done, well, just about anything else on reflex, given that hesitating certainly hadn't gotten him anything in the past outside of a steel pipe through far too many of his internal organs, but the action was so unexpected - had it been anyone but Isaac he might have seen it coming, but as it stood? No.

"Isaac, what are you - " The words died quickly, rendered unnecessary as Isaac's next action answered the question for him far more efficiently than anything he could have said.

Oh. Oh, well, that was...

...Oh.

[glaciates]

Isaac had never lashed out quite like that in Ishval - but it had been seven years since then. Things had changed.

"Problem solved."

He was smirking slightly though, clearly he had considered doing that for quite some time. It was about time he got to spend some time with Kimblee uninterrupted.

...He wasn't sure why he wanted to spend time with Kimblee, but that wasn't the point.

[explosivecombat]

Well...yes. Yes it certainly was solved now, wasn't it.

"Has he been annoying you that badly, then...?"

[glaciates]

"He's been annoying you."

So yes, that meant he had been annoying Isaac too.

[explosivecombat]

"So he has..."

Well, at the very least he was managing to rein his facial expression back in, the wide-eyed staring replaced with something a bit more neutral. "It seems he's been a bit desperate to make amends."

[glaciates]

"He screwed up in the first place. He needs to accept the consequences of his actions and move on. There's no sense dwelling on it."

Isaac shrugged. It made perfect sense to him. He could understand why Archer would want to make amends - Kimblee was pretty awesome, after all - but he'd made a mistake. Constantly bothering Kimblee about it wasn't going to fix anything.

[explosivecombat]

Kimblee froze a bit at that response; it was the exact same thing he would have said in this sort of situation, had their roles been reversed, down to the wording. Surely Isaac hadn't put that much stock in what he'd said back in Ishval? He'd been aware that the man had liked him quite a bit back then, but to that extent...?

...well! It was incredibly flattering either way, wasn't it? To say nothing of a nice stroking of his ego; he certainly wasn't going to complain.

He tipped his head a bit in acknowledgement, his expression softening. "My thoughts exactly, Isaac."

[glaciates]

Again Isaac shrugged. He hadn't thought much about it before he'd said it; he wasn't aware just how his thought processes had changed since meeting Kimblee in Ishval. He wasn't aware just how much of an impact Kimblee had had on him.

"I figured you could use a break from him."

Besides, it wasn't like Kimblee needed that phone or anything!

[explosivecombat]

Oh, of course he didn't; it's not as though he spent large amounts of time on it keeping an eye on the network or anything.

The realization that Isaac had effectively cut off his means of communicating with everyone in Johto save for himself and Emmy would hit him later; for now, he couldn't say that he disagreed with Isaac's point.

"Well, he was being terribly persistent..."

[glaciates]

Oh of course not! Besides, Kimblee was spending time with him and Emmy, why would he want to contact anyone else? Not that Isaac was possessive or anything!

"Yeah, he was. Doesn't he realize that most people need time to cool off after a fight?"

Well, that wasn't really any of his business and Isaac let it drop with another shrug. "Anyway, you won't have to worry about that for awhile."

[explosivecombat]

"Indeed." Kimblee looked out at that lake again, folding his arms across his chest as he did so. "I have no intention of trying to avoid him forever; I imagine he'll render that rather impossible eventually, anyway. But any communication between us can wait until I return to Goldenrod City, once it becomes necessary."

[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?"