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 Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 8:43 pm
 Argyle's heart skipped a beat and then thundered like crazy. Grants hand in his felt like ice compared to his rapidly heating skin. "Y'mean, you really... I don't know. I think it's okay... I mean, I kind of don't exactly know how I feel about it. I'm pretty sure that I'm... gay, I just... I'm not 100%, y'know?" He was rationalizing like crazy, and he knew it. But in his head, he just wasn't ready to completely accept that he was gay.
"Could you maybe keep this to yourself? At least for now? Just until I really know for sure that I'm gay." Victor sat up and playfully shoved Abaddon. He hardly budged, but gave Vic a wry look, as if to tell him that it was too early for horseplay. "He's probably not looking at anything. He just does weird stuff sometimes."
He huffed. There was no way that those two should be taking this long in the bathroom. Another few minutes, and he was going to go make sure they were still alive in there. Come to think of it, that was exactly what he was going to do. He stood and grabbed his stuff, just in case he could take the place over if they were close to done.
"I'll be back in a bit. I'm gonna go make sure they haven't started making out in there or something," he drawled sarcastically.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 8:50 pm
 Grant gulped nervously. "Um, I could always h-help you with finding out," he stuttered. When Argyle gave him a confused look, he responded quickly. "I mean, like, we're traveling together. While on the road and when no one else is around, I could, like, hold your hand or hug you or something." He hated how he sounded like a school girl with a crush right now, but he couldn't help it; he was nervous. "And that might help you figure out if you like that or not. It'll be like friends with benefits, but without, like, sex and kissing and actual relationship. Call it, like, experimenting or something." He then realized he was still holding Argyle's hand, and the latter hadn't let go either. In fact, at some point, Grant realized Argyle was actually holding his hand as well, not just standing there while Grant held on tight. "And don't worry," he added. "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:09 pm
Argyle smiled brightly at Grant's suggestion. What he had said made sense, and he wasn't opposed to experimenting a little. After all, what's life without experience? "I think that would be fine... And thanks, y'know. For talking with me." Argyle's thoughts were interrupted with a knock on the door and a very unwelcome voice. "Hey! What in hell is taking you so long!?"Victor was a little annoyed. They had already taken the majority of an hour, and Grant had been complaining about being late. He raised his hand to knock a second time, but before his knuckles connected with the wood, it swung open and he received a positively hellish glare from his best friend in the whole wide world, Argyle.
It didn't take a genius to tell that he had banged his head on something, hard. A split second of concern crossed Vic's mind, but Argyle was obviously fine if he was okay enough to storm away by and glare like he did. Vic wasn't even sure what he had done to piss off Argyle so badly. He hadn't even said a word to him all morning, other than to ask if they were done in the bathroom.
He turned and shook his head, catching Grant in his gaze. They had been in there together for a while now, and after seeing Argyle's head, only one conclusion made complete sense to him. He turned his gaze to Grant, and nodded once.
"So, why'd you hit him?"
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:18 pm
Grant frowned, but understood where someone could come up with that conclusion. After all, who's first thought when seeing this sort of scene is that someone hit their head, and two guys came out to each other, agreeing to experiment? "He took forever in the shower," Grant said simply, standing up and shrugging. "Speaking of which, I didn't actually get the chance to shower. Would you mind?" Suddenly the door busted open, and in walked a very aggravated looking Argyle. Genesis blushed at the sight of him. Time to get my flirt on, she thought. Walking up to him, she noticed a knot on his forehead. He'd obviously been hit. "Oh, my gosh!" she cried. "Did one of those jerks hit you?!" she demanded of him. Sorrel trounced up to Argyle as well and took a close look at Argyle's bump. This is obviously self caused, but definitely accidental, she thought, frowning. But I'll let him come clean himself. It might help me figure out what kind of person he is. She sat and waited for him to respond to Genesis.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:42 pm
Vic cocked an inquisitive eyebrow. He had doubts about that reaction. Grant hadn't seemed that violent before... but if he was lying, there was probably a good reason. Still, Vic wasn't going to just let Grant believe that Vic took him for his word.
"You hit him because he was taking too long in the shower? Sure. Why not. You're a lot more violent than I thought, apparently."
He sighed loudly before stepping back out of the room. "Try not to take too long, huh? Other people have to use this thing too."Argyle pushed Genesis's hands away from his head, slightly more harshly than he needed to, but not so harsh as to make a statement. He told himself it was because his head was still hurting, and that was a factor, but he knew in his mind that his talk with Grant probably had more to do with it.
"I'm fine. Nobody hit me. I walked into the towel rack on the way out of the bathroom." His voice had a slightly airy quality to it, as though his mind wasn't quite fully in what he was saying. His talk with Grant had stirred up a bit of turmoil in Argyle's heart. On one hand, it felt like a huge weight had lifted off of his shoulders, but on the other, it felt like his head was imploding with thoughts and scenarios.
"And only one of them is a jerk," he added as an afterthought.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:58 pm
Grant winced as Vic saw through his lie so easily. While it was true that Grant wasn't a violent person, he'd been in his share of fistfights before, and even came out on top every now and then. But that was unimportant right now. Only two things were on his mind as he locked the bathroom door and started a warm shower: his upcoming fight with Pewter City's Gym Leader, Brock, and Argyle and him, laying on a beach somewhere, holding hands and smiling.
He washed himself quickly, stopped the water, dried off, put on new clothes (A blue muscle shirt, his signature black short sleeve hoodie, jean shorts, and some hiking boots), then exited the bathroom to find Vic sitting in a chair outside, obviously waiting for his turn at the shower. "It's all yours," Grant said.
As Vic passed him, Grant said hurriedly, "I lied." Vic paused, and Grant continued. "I didn't hit him. He ran into the towel rack when he got out. I just told you I hit him so it didn't look awkward with us both in the bathroom, him with a major bump on his forehead and me on the floor." After another pause, he said, "I'm sorry."Genesis couldn't help but giggle a bit. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking away the giggles. "That wasn't funny. Anyway, you gonna be okay? I can go ask Nurse Joy for some headache medicine if you need to," she offered as Grant walked in, showered and in new clothes. He was definitely dressed for a fight.Sorrel smiled when Argyle told the truth, but felt slightly mixed feelings when he pushed Genesis's hand away. Maybe it just hurt and that was a reaction? This one, Sorrel couldn't tell. So she shrugged, then jumped a bit as Abbadon nudged her leg. "Oh, hey, Abbadon," she said, bending down to match his eye level. "Are you wondering where your friend is? He'll be back shortly. I think he's cleaning himself." Abbadon must have understood, because he went to the door and sat in front of it, truly loyal to Victor. So cute, she thought. This is why I left on this journey. To see Pokemon in their natural activities. Wild and tamed both.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:19 pm
Vic relaxed his expression and gazed at Grant with laughter in his eyes. "No worries, man. Work on your delivery for next time, and I might believe you then."
With that, he turned and closed the door, locking it behind him. He immediately put his clothes on the side of the sink and turned on the shower. He waited for it to get warm, stripped down and hopped in. It took him a minute to wash himself, another to clean his hair, and another, just because he could.
After he was satisfactorily clean, he turned off the water and stepped out. He took a moment to brush his teeth and hair, then pulled on his jeans and socks. He took a moment to lace up his old military style boots before pulling on a grey t-shirt. He took one last moment to pull his signature thin leather overshirt with the Moltres design on it, pulling his necklaces out of the collar of the undershirt.
With that, he headed back for the room.Argyle tried to smile a bit at the blue-haired girls suggestion. He wasn't sure it looked as sincere as he would have hoped, but it was an effort. "No thank you. I'll be fine, really."
As Grant entered the room, Argyle caught himself tracking each move with his eyes. And for the tiniest fraction of a second, he wasn't able to tear them away. But he did, and low and behold, what did his eyes fine instead? The bookish girl talking to that creepy Absol. As it sat itself down in front of the door, he pondered how it expected Victor to get back in if it was holding the door closed. 'Stupid.'
"So when are we going to hit the road? I was hoping to catch a few of today's gym fights with Brock before I left town."
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:32 pm
Grant beamed at him. "That's perfect!" he cried, unaware he'd just been watched. "I'm scheduled to fight him today! You guys should come watch!" He looked around the room at them all, and his eyes fell on Abbadon sitting in front of the door. He walked over, and when the Pokemon looked wary, Grant whispered, "Hey, it's okay. I just came over here to tell you that if you're waiting for Vic, it'll be kinda hard for him to get in if your right in front of the door." The Pokemon tilted its head, then, understanding his mistake, moved out of the way, still near the door. "There you go," Grant said, reaching out a hand slowly to pet his head. Abbadon tensed, but gave him the benefit of the doubt. Grant patted his head for a bit, then turned back around to the others. "So I was right!" Genesis cried, pointing at Grant. "You are the other trainer Brock's facing today!" She pointed at herself, grinning broadly. "I'm fighting him, too!" She turned to Argyle. "Well, it looks like you'll be getting what you want, handsome." She then skipped over to her bag and grabbed her clothes and various hair products and body washes. It was her turn in the shower next."Um, I'm not sure that's gonna work," Sorrel said, referring to both Grant and Genesis. "According to what Professor Oak says, most gym leaders only battle one trainer a day. Their Pokemon need to rest afterwards, and that takes most of the day." She looked at Grant. "You said you scheduled an appointment with Brock." Grant nodded. "Well, then I think you should fight him today. Then, if you win, then we'll spend the rest of the day checking out the rest of the city and training our team. Maybe you can even take notes on Brock's style, Genesis." She glanced at all of them, realizing how long-winded of a speech that had been. "Sorry," she said, blushing.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:10 pm
Vic stepped in the room just in time to hear Sorrel's explanation about having to set up an appointment to take on a gym leader. It didn't take much more than that for him to decide that he didn't really need to take on Brock. He wasn't interested in taking the gym challenge. Maybe he would just take on some of the gym's trainers instead. He had just hoped to take on a few leaders to get the experience for whenever he opened up his own gym. His ghost and dark type gym. Ghost and dark type.
His thoughts from the night before came back to him. A Ghastly was the Pokemon who had planted the idea of opening a gym in his head in the first place. He loved the Pokemon he had dearly and wouldn't trade them for the world, but he really needed to get some Ghost types if his dream was ever to come to fruition.
After taking a moment to lie down on his bed, he caught the look of absolute disdain that Abaddon was giving him. "What!? You act like I've never left a room before!"Argyle couldn't fight the smile that graced his lips at the prospect of watching an actual gym battle. It would be great to finally get to see one. He wasn't too interested in taking on the leader himself. The gym challenge just wasn't something that interested him. He didn't like professional battles. He'd much rather battle for fun. He didn't need to prove that he was league material.
His heart dropped a tiny bit when Genesis called him handsome. He honestly couldn't tell if she was seriously flirting with him or if it was just how she interacted with people, but with the whole thing that had just happened with Grant, any advance from her was just a bit unwelcome. But until he really knew if she was flirting with him, he wasn't going to say anything.
As for Sorrel? He wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She was smart, that's for sure. But she was also young. Young enough to throw off his ability to socialize with her. Kids were weird to him. He tended to distance himself from them out of awkwardness. She was old enough so that he wouldn't avoid her, but she was young enough that he probably wouldn't be getting very close to her any time soon.
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:13 pm
Grant smiled back at Argyle. It was obvious the latter had never seen a gym battle before, and Grant thought that'd it'd be great to give him a great show, as well as to win his first badge. He needed to remember that, no matter what alternative motives he may have had, Grant needed to win for himself as well. After all, what chance did Grant have at becoming Champion if he couldn't even win his first badge. He looked at his watch, then said, "Alright, it's seven in the morning. My appointment at the Gym is at noon, so that's five hours of training." He turned to Genesis. "You should probably go make an appointment for tomorrow, then start training yourself. I don't know what kind of trainer you are, but gym battles are nothing like regular battles. Everyone could use a little extra training."Genesis nodded. "Alright, that's probably a good idea," she agreed. She looked around at the rest of them, thinking. "So, uh, what are the three of you gonna do? Anyone's welcome to come training with me. It's boring being alone.""I'll go with you, Genesis," Sorrel said, grinning. "I'd love to be there for the gym battle registering. And I'd love to study your Pokemon as they train." She blinked, then blushed, "Um, i-if that's alright by you a-anyway. I d-don't want to be a b-burden."
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:36 pm
Vic popped up from his place on the bed and scanned the occupants of the room. Training, huh? That sounded like fun, and he was rapidly becoming bored out of his skull. There was a decently pretty girl to look at, but she was busy swooning over the broody prettyboy that had designated Vic as his most hated enemy for some reason. Maybe it was his arrogant nature, or the cocky way he spoke, or maybe Argyle was just a sore loser who couldn't let a grudge go. Who knows?
Anyway, he hoped that he could get away with avoiding him for a while. But that was wishful thinking. It would either happen, or it wouldn't.
"I'll go and train with Genesis. I'm not staying in town for two more days, and if Brock's next two appointments are full then I'll just skip this gym. I don't care about badges anyway." In the back of his head, he hoped that Argyle might want go do something... anything, really, that was a decent distance away. He was killing Vic's mood just with his broody, broody presence. Maybe one day he would do something impressive and women would have broody babies in his honor.Argyle perked up at the prospect of watching a gym battle. He had been looking forward to seeing one for a long time. If Grant was the one who was taking on the leader, all the better. He had already made a bit of a connection with Grant, so he felt quite comfortable with deciding to stick with him for the day.
"If Grant is taking on Brock, then I'm going to tag along wherever he goes. I've wanted to watch a real gym battle for a while, and if he's having one, I'm gonna stick by him."
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:15 pm
It was a good thing that Grant happened to be putting something away when Argyle said he'd go with him, because otherwise, everyone would have realized just how happy Grant was to spend some alone time with the older man. He wiped the overly broad smile from his face, turned, and said, "Well, I guess that settles it. Argyle, if it's alright, we'll go to the PokeMart first to get some potions and antidotes, because the best place to train right now is the Viridian Forest, and there are bugs galore." He strapped on his one-strap backpack, now completely packed with all of his things, and waited for Argyle to finish getting ready.Genesis mentally groaned. Argyle had decided to go with Grant. He was beating her to everything: he was the first to face Brock, Argyle was going with him, he was gonna begin training first. Though they traveled together, Grant seemed to be her biggest rival so far. But she couldn't let him think he was winning (even though she had the slight thought that she was just being paranoid), so she put on a smile and said, "Alright, well, you two go get started. Sorrel and I still need showers, so we'll be here for a bit longer. Then we'll head to the gym, alright?" she said, showing that she wasn't trying to lead anyone and was open to any and all suggestions.Sorrel shrugged, a bit happy that she was going to get to study trainers training, as well as get to know Genesis and Mr. Victor better. Maybe next time, she'd get to go with Grant or Argyle somewhere so she can get to know them as well. "I'm happy with whatever," she said. "And yeah, I could definitely use a shower. After all, who knows what could happen? This could be the last time we'll be able to take one for a while."
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:49 pm
Argyle nodded and stood, pulling on his sneakers. He had been meaning to go by the PokeMart anyway. He had used his last few Pokeballs on his Cyndaquil, and he needed to load up. Potions and other supplies would be a good idea to pick up as well.
"Sure, that's fine. I need to go by the PokeMart anyway. We should get a move on if we're going to have time to train." He pulled his large messenger bag over his head and let it rest under his arm. He took a step towards the door, making sure to keep Grant between Victor's bloody Absol and himself.Victor cocked his eyebrow and stared purposefully at the empty space in front of him. Was that a twinge of disappointment he heard in her voice? Whether it was disappointment at him going or Argyle not, he didn't know. Why did that bother him? Probably because he couldn't stand how quickly she had jumped to his side for no other reason than his appearance. Yeah, that sounded like something that would bother him.
He stood and donned his Pokeball belt. "I'll wait here until you two get back from showering. Then we can go."
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 10:13 pm
"Well, isn't that convenient?" Grant joked, patting Abbadon on the head, then opening the door, holding it open for Argyle. When he passed, Grant turned to the other three. "We'll see you guys later," he said. "Who knows, we may end up meeting somewhere during our training." He turned, then stopped short. "Oh, also, I'd really enjoy it if you guys came to watch my battle with Brock. Hope to see you guys then." And with that, he turned, closed the door, and winked at Argyle. "Ready to go?"Genesis sighed gratefully at the offer of a shower. She grabbed a white tank top, a purple jean jacket, a blue jean skirt, some black leggings, and mountain boots like Grant, but with her own colorful laces, as well as her shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, perfume, and makeup kit. She winked at the others as if to say that she might be a while. "I'll go as fast as possible, Sorrel," she said, leaving the room. She walked to the bathroom, and sighed at the scent of man. Men always had the best scent, but it was time to replace it with girly scents.Sorrel sighed, realizing how long she'd be waiting for her turn, so she got comfortable on her bed again, pulled out a sketchpad, and began to draw Abbadon sleeping by the door. She loved to draw, something Professor Oak found funny, seeing as his last assistant liked to draw Pokemon as well. She wondered if, one day, she'd meet this Tracey Sketchem. She shrugged and went back to her drawing. In a matter of minutes, she had a rough sketch of Abbadon sleeping, with shading and all. She held it up for Victor to see it. "You like it?" she asked, smiling.
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 10:35 pm
Victor smiled at Sorrel's sketch. It was very well done; better than he could do, that was for sure.
He thought it was interesting that she was so artistic. If she could draw so well, why was she so intent on being a researcher? He supposed that both had their benefits. Maybe she just preferred researching Pokemon over drawing them. Either way, she was good at both subjects. She was a very talented girl.
He said as much. "That's great. Where did you learn to draw so well? I can't draw for crap."
His line of reasoning made him wonder... what exactly was he good at? Not as much as he would like to think. But there were a few things. Like arguing. And... well, arguing probably counted for two. That was good enough for him.
"For that matter, how did you become a Pokemon researcher at your age?"
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