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There is a reply from the peanut gallery to Isaac Merlo's defense of himself.[break][break]

Tulio, Temp's father, smiles and raises up a bottle of some fruit looking soda with a smile.[break][break]

"He would have punched you by now!"[break][break]

Then the man takes a swig from his bottle and just looks more amused than anything. Tempest was a man carved out of (both) of his parent's asses....[break][break]

"Granny Ravi isn't my grandma." Was Temp's only real reply. But he did, at least, clap Isaac on the back. His tribe was cool with a lot of stuff and used to Temp's bizarre happenings by now. The blond just didn't happen to know that.[break][break]

Plucking a pokeball from his pocket, Temp tossed it out to reveal a lavender Lapras. She cooed and gave Isaac a curious look. Temp didn't hesitate to hop onto her back, offering his hand to the other.[break][break]

"I know some little sand bars just north a ways. You cool if we go there?"

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They board the waiting pokemon. She gives another coo before starting out at a languid pace toward whatever destination they were headed. Temp grunted as he made himself comfortable enough to sit down; leg stretched out and head tilted back to enjoy the warm sun on his skin. Temp trusted Isaac Merlo, trusted him enough to close his eyes and savor the moment.[break][break]

He doesn't mind breaking it with conversation.[break][break]

"There aren't many of us left. We have to stick together." The story of his people was a sad one. The Hoyeon would probably never recover from the damages done to it- at least, they never would as they were now. So much information was lost and they were losing more every day. It was so hard to keep up with traditions when they didn't even understand half of why they did them or so many components had been lost.[break][break]

That made him sad to think about, though, so Temp just hummed and changed the subject.[break][break]

"I'm glad you're my friend, Isaac." The two of them had gotten into enough shenanigans together that Temp could really call him that. One of his friends. There was a flicker of something sad on his face, for just a moment before the easy smile came back.[break][break]

".... I actually don't have too many friends." Is admitted, just between the two of them. "A lot of people, all my life, have always kind of wanted... to use me in some way. So I always talk to people expecting they just want something from me. I usually... well, I won't go into my people pleasing. The point is that you've never made me feel that way." Opening his eyes back up, Temp turned his head to beam at the other.[break][break]

"Thank you for being my friend."

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Temp seems confused, or perhaps stunned, at the ferocity that Isaac Merlo displayed. For him no less. Usually only his family or Cillian Quinn seemed to care about him this much. It struck him, in some vulnerable place; a chink in a knight's armor pierced with an arrow. But Tempest only smiled, soft and warm and a little embarrassed.[break][break]

"I think Cil would get them before either of us." Temp laughs it off, a little. But it was heartening to know he had people in his corner.[break][break]

And he had been trying to not allow himself to be treated so cruelly. While he may not look it, may not act like, Tempest's self esteem was in shambles. It pushed and pushed for him to serve like a dog, as if that might earn him some strand of affection. Even in his relationship, which was as healthy and comfortable as it could be between two very warped people, Temp still worried. As if his mere presence would drag the people he loved and cared for down with him.[break][break]

"Likewise, brother." And it's a promise, then.[break][break]

The next line of questioning is one that sees Temp's smile turn more sour.[break][break]

He rolls around the question in his mind. It never made him any less angry to talk about. Usually, when people saw the vitriol that came from his replies. When they saw how he would not allow people to so neatly forget what their ancestors had done... they would turn away from him. Hell, even some of the other Tribes saw his indignation at their treatment as strange.[break][break]

Temp didn't understand why they weren't more angry.[break][break]

But Isaac had just confirmed friendship.[break][break]

So Temp speaks.[break][break]

"You wouldn't learn what happened to use in history books, anyway. Just passing footnotes." Oh, and his tone is so, so bitter.[break][break]

"The Hoyeon people were here before Hoenn was Hoenn. A couple hundred years seems like a lot on paper. Some of the elders of my tribe, though? They can remember when, by law, they weren't considered people." [break][break]

He snarled, lip curling in disgust.[break][break]

"People from Kalos and Galar came and stole everything from us. They burned out villages, destroyed our monuments, our heritage, and then forced us to live on these small patches of forgotten places they didn't want to deal with. Our men killed, our women raped, our children stolen. Those of us that lived were forced into poverty." And while Temp may had not lived it, the ripples could still be felt.[break][break]

"When the League took over, they may have passed laws that had people treat us like humans, but they didn't do much more to help the damage done. Pacifilog town is only whole because of us. We used to be nothing more than a floating shanty town before I was Gym Leader and they had to pour money into restoration." While one might think his voice would rise, Temp's tone kept an evil but hateful chill.[break][break]

"They don't care when we live or die because we're small and expendable. Pacifilog, Fortree, and Lavaridge are little more than tourist traps or places taken from our labor to make the government look good. We're dying, and no one cares."[break][break]

On that last line, his voice rises and breaks.[break][break]

Temp's eyes are furious and wet when he tears them away from the other man. He wipes them on the back of his hand before any tears fall.[break][break]

The wound Tempest bares over his heart is as deep as it is bloody and raw.

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Tempest sniffs again but he still doesn't cry.[break][break]

Isaac Merlo squeezes him tight and Temp feels something deep inside of himself wobble at the contact. It's hard to tell if it's his heart or something else. Perhaps it is the words. Because now, at Isaac claiming his care, the fierce hug, the feeling of belonging- the words wouldn't stop. He'd already spilled his guts to the other but like a bottle uncorked he couldn't stop the flow of words.[break][break]

"I-I remember. As a child, I begged my father for weeks to take me to sell fish in Slateport with him. I was so excited! I'd never been to the city before." Temp hadn't been more than four or five at most. His mother and sister had still been alive, then.[break][break]

"The man who bought the fish claimed they were old. Wouldn't give us full payment. But my dad had just caught them that morning." That happened almost every time- no matter how fresh, no matter where they went, it seemed like they would get cheated. But with no other source of income, they were forced to take what scraps they were given.[break][break]

"I.... I went to play with a little girl. But her mother pulled her away from me. Said I was... that I was a vermin."[break][break]

And that was just the first sting of it. Of being treated like something lesser for no good reason. Those comments became more and more as he grew older. They made him angrier and angrier.[break][break]

Temp took a shaky breath and shook his head. He attempted to smile but it seemed drained.[break][break]

"Thank you for listening to me, Isaac."

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Another small sniffle.[break][break]

But Temp just let out a cracked laugh and reached to ruffle Isaac Merlo's hair. This is what the blond got for being so much shorter than him![break][break]

"If you ever can bust me up! Today can be lesson one, but I expect to see you in the training room for lesson two!" [break][break]

Tempest was still a little weepy, still a little flustered, but as he did with most things: Temp smiled and tried to clear the air and be cheery about it. You didn't get anywhere brooding and moping about stuff all the time.[break][break]

Cue that as when the Lapras chose then to beach herself. Temp wobbled and almost lost his footing, barely hopping off and onto hot sand. The sand bar wasn't massive. Mostly flat except for one large piece of sandstone in the middle. A few scruffy and hardy plants stuck to the center of it.[break][break]

Tempest gave his pokemon a pat on the nose before calling her back into a pokeball.[break][break]

"Alright, you ready to beat some ass?"

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Isaac Merlo strikes.[break][break]

Temp gives out a surprised wheeze. It's followed by a bark of strained laughter.[break][break]

It was more instinct than malice that drove Tempest to act. He was a professional, after all, and these things were so ingrained in him it was hard to turn off that hind brain of reason.[break][break]

Instead of getting out of the way or trying to dodge, Temp dropped down so Isaac would grapple around his hips rather that take out his legs.[break][break]

When they hit the ground, he would roll to attempt and get Isaac on his back instead. One knee planted between the other man's legs, as a threat to his balls, and hands attempting to grab Isaac at the bends of his elbow and push down.[break][break]

If it worked, it would be a very suspicious position. But Temp would just beam down at the other.

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