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[le_mat]

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[familyproblem]

[Longer confused whistle?]

[Having found and grabbed the ball, Gladion shakes his head a little while standing back up and then gestures to Silvally to back up a bit.] Give him some space. [Which it does, backing up a good two yards and watching intently.]

[le_mat]

[And Akira transforms into his horse form, knickering excitedly. His tendrils, now extending some from his mane, some from his tail, wiggling actively]

Here we go. Have any riding experience?

[familyproblem]

[Silvally whistles sharply. And then again! Gladion! Are you fucking seeing this shit?!]

On a horse, no. [Walks back to Silvally's shoulder, pats it (yes i am fucking seeing this shit), raises the Pokeball, waits for any objection - and then with a Sound Effect and a shimmer, Silvally is gone.

Or, rather, Silvally is in the ball, visible in miniature through its transparent top, if one were close enough to see that. Gladion wraps his hand around it for a moment, like a quick parting hug, then puts it in his jacket pocket and approaches Akira. Kind of eyes the distance to his back, pauses a few paces away, then bolts-and-jumps, planting his hands on his back and swinging a leg over. It's not quite a clean maneuver, but there's some kind of practice behind it.]

[le_mat]

[he whinnies, not used to a rider, but between Gladion's experience riding something and his tendrils being there if bracing is needed, he's secure enough]

Wow, real cowboy shit right there. Impressive.

[familyproblem]

Pokemon trainer shit. [And his own vines. If there's no objection, he's just gonna go around and loop those loosely around Akira's neck and chest, just enough to keep himself from jolting all over the place.]

[le_mat]

[He doesn't mind at all- in fact this makes him feel more secure in going faster. He paws the ground a bit before walking, quickly picking it up to a trot.]

I think I know which way to go, but let me know if I go off course.

[familyproblem]

Will do. [God. He's tired. Before too much longer, he leans forward a little and braces his hands on Akira's neck too, just so he doesn't have to focus so hard on sitting upright.

He has so much to explain to Silvally. And to the twins. And Akira, probably. No more restless anxiety about it, just weight pressing down on him, steady and exhausting.]

...I didn't do the right thing tonight. Just hope it wasn't too far down on the list of wrong things.

[le_mat]

What do you mean?

[Bringing Silvally here is all he can assume, but he can't say for sure]

[familyproblem]

Silvally isn't better off for being here.

[le_mat]

Ah.

[as suspected]

Well, it didn't turn human, so it's probably safe from the Fog and E+Lias affecting it directly, at least.

But... if it's your partner, maybe it would be happier being here to protect you.

[he 'sighs', the projection of his human voice echoed by a small huff of breath from his horse body]

Though I'm a biased on this kind of thing, so don't take my advice too seriously. You can always just ask it, right?

[familyproblem]

[HUFFSIGH that sounds a little bit brittle.] Yeah. [As does that, despite a touch of forced confidence.] It's just...something I'll be thinking about.

[Since he knows how a Pokeball works and that Silvally could hear every word out of his mouth if it wanted to listen in, he's not eager to dig any deeper into that out loud, right here. Whatever else he's feeling, he's not unhappy to see his partner. He could never insinuate that.]

It's been a big couple of days at our place. [What with the fog.] Tomorrow...the twins probably won't need too much of an introduction. [Though he's still worried about Ingo.] I need to show Silvally around. Figure out if there's anywhere I should be careful letting it out... [pause, audible Feeling of a Groan] Figure out its diet. I don't know about the pet foods they sell here.

[One of his long-running work peeves.]

[le_mat]

[The part of Akira that feels almost compelled to get into others' business, to help, to fix, wants to press the conversation further. But he also feels a kind of relief at letting it go- because how can he, in good conscience, give anyone advice on the morality (or lack of it) of bringing someone here? Of making a choice like that, without the other's consent, for their own happiness and comfort? At least Silvally is likely safe from the twisted degradation of this place- having it's will be manipulated over and over by an outside force, even if it is a more dangerous world than what it's used to. At least Silvally will likely be able to be happy like this, with a person it clearly trusts and cares for.

Akira has no right to talk about something like that, does he?

So he lets it go like a coward.]

I'm guessing it's a preditor?

[familyproblem]

[Oh god what a question.]

Normally it'd eat regular store-bought food, but...different world and all that. [like where does he even start with that, there's nowhere near the same amount of variety AND they obviously don't use the same ingredients here AND he thinks they're all kind of dodgy anyways...huff.] It needs a lot of protein, but it doesn't hunt, if that's what you mean.

[le_mat]

Hmmm. Yeah, kibble isn't great for a creature it's size. It's got a lot of filler. Never tried to feed it to Morgana- not that he'd eat it anyway.

Maybe a monster with a hunting instinct can take down a deer or two a month for it? Something that size probably needs to eat a lot.

[familyproblem]

...That's definitely in Ingo's wheelhouse. Probably better than chicken or whatever anyways. [Well shit. He hadn't even thought about that yet!] I'm growing some fruiting plants from our world, but otherwise it's just more groceries and more cooking. Going to add to our budget... [hm.] I ought to find out if I can...eat normally through roots. [hmmmmmmm bad. but he ought to do it but wow he doesn't want to think that thought.]

[le_mat]

Just make sure you're still eating enough. Just because we CAN live on just... monster food- [Humans] -doesn't mean we should. Good food is one of the real pleasures in life, you know.

[familyproblem]

[pffha.] How old are you? [As if that's some kind of old person thing to say and not just true??]

[le_mat]

[He throws his head a bit, his steps becoming purposely a bit more bouncy, but not enough to actually buck Gladion off]

Wow?? I'm only like, what, two years older than you?? I'm a cook, I'm allowed to say things like that.

[familyproblem]

[Gladion must be Early Morning Delirious because he absently pats Akira's neck as if to tell the horse shh calm down.]

I live with Ingo, there's no risk of going without soup and everything.

[But that's two mentions of Ingo in under a minute, which makes it very hard to not worry about yesterday. He and the twins do well living together, but they're never going to have a nice life in Ryslig. Things like Ingo's cooking aren't to be taken for granted.

Sigh through his nose.]

Yesterday we both - got hunger. He hunted. I had something ready.

[le_mat]

[He knickers and settles, feeling very amused with himself... until Gladion continues]

Ah. He's a manticore, right?

[It makes sense he would need to hunt, if what the phamplets said was true- like Akira himself only fresh kills would work, if for different reasons]

[familyproblem]

Right. And Emmet's a gargoyle, turned the day before.

[le_mat]

[Two hunters. At least Gladion wouldn't be hurting for supplies... but it has to be rough on all of them, going at the same time. Maybe it's a hormonal thing.]

How are you holding up?

[familyproblem]

Emmet hates the nocturnal schedule. And we'll be seeing less of each other because of the flipped sleeping hours. And Ingo...

[I mean what do you even say about that. What can he say that isn't something Akira, having already been through similar, knows. And he's met Ingo, so he knows a little about the kind of person he is.]

You can probably imagine.

[le_mat]

[He lacks human facial expressions like this, but a low sadness can be heard in his 'umhm'. Because, well, he can. He still thinks about his first, even though he's fed since both as a kelpie and as a shade.]

And you?

[No escaping by talking about the bros, bro]

[familyproblem]

[Slow...inhale.

This is one of those patented Gladion overthinking silences, where he's trying to dodge around saying something ungraceful or nonsensical or emotional by repackaging it into something impersonal and actionable, but there's just not actually a way to do that.

It drags on a little bit too long. Conscious of it, he takes a hand from Akira's neck and sticks in his pocket. Silvally, in its ball, nudges at his fingers, and some of the tension in his chest loosens.

Exhale.]

...I don't know how to describe what happened.