The basket on his hip brought back memories.

But Chu-e just pushed those aside and grinned at John Sullivan easily, humming as he did so. "I didn't always used to look like this, ya know? Used to have arms thicker'n ya' neck before I got sick." It didn't bother him to admit; not like how it might have when his condition first declined. He found that he slipped into the old drawl he used to have about Doug. Mostly beaten out of him in Kanto but still buried inside of him.

He followed after the other, at a slower gait.

"I grew up in Solaceon. Mostly dealt with farm animals to fields, but..." He was familiar with them, if very out of practice. Doug could probably teach him a thing or two here.

"Hey, did you really eat all that food you ordered?" Chu-e had been dying to ask, ever since he got the bill- having had to leave a bit early due to getting sick, he hadn't gotten to see. Their 'date' had been short lived, sure, but the kid had been fun to chat with. There was no accusation or the like in his tone, though; just amusement.

He waited a beat for the other to answer, sinking his hands into a berry bush to search for the sweetest ones when he was close enough.

"Ya ain't setting a tall bar there, pal!" He said with a laugh, tugging at the collar of his shirt with a laugh, more or less ignorant to the results of Noah's training. "But I can believe it! Solaceon, eh? Must've been the purtiest cowboy in the farm!"

The youth grabbed two baskets that had been left near the rows and chucked one at the other man. They would need to see these filled to the brim several times over before they could go home.

"Ya bet yer butt I did! Place seemed fancy enough and ya loaded enough- no better chance to splurge than when a sugar daddy offers." He said with a cackle, his tone all but promising a repeat of such events if Choi ever invited him to eat again.

His cackling softened down to chuckles as he turned his gaze back towards the fields, a smile tugging at his lips.

"I was raised in the Viridian Countryside. Juuust outside o'the city. Used to be that me and the boys would steal some o'me granpops' berries, ditch chores and bike to the forest for some good ol' bugcatching." The nostalgia was obvious in his tone as he looked over the rows of berry trees, lazily reaching over to pluck one into his basket.

"John Alfie, John Bobby, John Cassey and John Douglas. Just 4 boys against the world. Those were the days." He said, smiling. And then it washed away. "Then the Rocket thing happened. Last I saw of Cassey his house was on fire."

---

TAG: Chu-e Choi

"Nah, that was my brother. I was always the one comin' home with bloody knees and dirt tracks on my face." He seemed amused at the memory, of how different him and his twin had been at the time. Yet, even with glittery nail polish, Chung-Hee had been the one to beat people's ass and stand up for him growing up. "After this, we can go out an' eat again if ya' want. Got too much money to spend on myself, nowadays."

Then the conversation turned a bit somber and bittersweet. Chu-e listened to the other as he carefully plucked the berries, humming when appropriate to signal he was still listening. He let the quiet hang between them for a moment when the other was finished.

"My biggest regret was Kanto." Chu-e started, slow. "I was there, ya' know? Front lines. I didn't see Viridian myself, but I heard about what happened. Fucked up." A lot of it was fucked up. A lot of it didn't have to go down like it did. "I always wish I had been able to do... more, I guess."

It was honest. Chu-e had been on the Rocket side but... that hadn't meant he enjoyed anything that happened. He had participated, knew for a fact he wasn't an innocent in this, but that didn't mean he had relished in the destruction and bloodshed like a lot of the Rockets at the time did.

"Something never felt... right about it. Hostile takeover or not, it never felt... I don't know. Nothing in war ever feels 'right'. I'm just trying to spare my own feelings, I guess."

"Nothing about it was right." Doug said both bluntly and incredulously, entirely bemused by Ki's words. Hostile take over or not? Spare his own feelings? What?

A tamato slipped off his grasp as he far too absentmindedly plucked it off the tree, drawing an uncharacteristic click of his tongue. He shook his head, bending over to pick it up.

He didn't understand the meaning of Ki's last few sentences at all. All he could grasp was that the other man was a veteran, and that he wished he could have done more.

That was at least something Doug could empathize with.

"Nothin' to regret. At least ya got to fight." Said Doug, brow slightly furrowed, eyes half lidded. "All we kids did was watch everythin' in the horizon go up in flames, useless to the last friggin'-"

His jaw set, tugging a berry off its tree particularly firmly. Then, he breathed in, and out.

"Ah, screw it. I'm gonna shut up now. Let's get this over quickly." He said, spent.

He hated thinking about this anyway.

---

TAG: Chu-e Choi

"When you fight in it, you just try to make sense of it. But war's senseless, so you end up..." But Chu-e just shrugged it off. It John Sullivan didn't get it, he didn't get it. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone, though." It seemed like that part of the conversation was over, for now.

So Chu-e focused on the Persim berries in his hand, checking each one's delicate fingers to make sure they were ripe before plucking them. He would let the air chill between them, since Doug seemed to be getting so upset. It hadn't been his goal to do that, not today anyway.

"Do you know anything about Budew?" He said, suddenly, to change the subject as well as give the other something to focus on. "I have one I need to evolve, to help out a friend. I'm, ah, well, I mainly know about Fairy and Normal types. Maybe Psychic types, a bit. I've never raised one before."

There was nothing senseless about protecting yourself and your loved ones, but he had given up on making sense of the conversation. It had been a while since he had met and spoken with someone who had taken part in the war, but this certainly felt nothing like those previous encounters.

War treated everyone differently indeed.

"I ain't much of a grass expert meself." He said, welcoming the change in subject, shrugging his shoulders. "I had a Roserade for a while, though."

A very short while- he had intended to trade it away.

"Most baby pokemon grow with love, they say. Budew... Think it was something about happiness and sun?" He said, scratching at his chin, squinting. "Just raise it like you would a normal plant, I guess!"

He shrugged his shoulders and forced a grin with practiced ease, glancing over his shoulder while plucking yet another berry.

"So. A friend, eh?" He said, waggling his eyebrows. "Sure sure. Gifting roses in february can give one pretty mixed signals, ya know?"

---

TAG: Chu-e Choi

'Sunlight and happiness? Maybe I should put it in my garden..." It was muttered almost to himself. Man, grass types were high maintenance. This is why he didn't fool with them all that often.

At the second part, Chu-e actually spluttered in surprise- before a laugh spilled out of him, loud and sudden. He dropped a berry into his basket and clapped a hand over his mouth, as if to stifle the noise.

"Oh Flames... no, no, nothing like that!" He couldn't keep the grin off his face though. Imagine! If he showed up with roses of all things to hand to Cillian Quinn! "He does have a very nice butt. His girlfriend would kill me, though!"

Then, he let out a small gasp as if realizing....

"Oh no... Doug, I do have someone... well... he also has a very nice butt! I haven't even gotten him anything! How will he know I have less than platonic thoughts about him if I don't get him something?"

"I've heard good things 'bout that, actually." Said the youth, scratching at his chin thoughtfully as he placed the basket under his arm, pursing his lips. "Never seen it in action meself, though."

His usual plant caretaker had been fully evolved by the time he got into gardening.

His foot launched to just barely catch the basket between it and his shins, breathing in sharply. Ki's laughter rang in the air as Doug tried his hardest to not squeak, the smack of the basket falling on his shin not too dissimilar from being kicked in them.

He had managed to pick up the basket just in time for Ki to gasp in horror.

"You sure like butts." Said the youth dryly as he fit the two charges underneath his arms, the youth tilting a brow at the other. "What'cha mean how?"

Doug only had one method of attack when someone interested him.

"Ya tell 'im you like his ass and ask 'im on a date, 'course." He said bluntly, his tone and expression leaving no room for doubt. He was completely serious.

This boy neither knew nor cared nothing for subtlety.

"Maybe give 'im a smile while you do. Ya know, one of these?" He said, turning around to face Ki, fixing the man with a flirtatious smile.

---

TAG: Chu-e Choi

"But Doug," Chu-e pouted, honestly pouted at the other. He grabbed for the boy's shoulders to give him a very gentle shake; he looked absolutely downtrodden (except for the gleam of mischief in his eyes, if John Sullivan would catch it). "Doug, what if he doesn't like my butt?"

He pulled away and- oh, yeah, it was really clear now that Chu-e was just being over-dramatic on purpose. He tore his arms away from Doug, tilts his head back and throwing am arm over his eyes. "You have the vigor of youth to back your future interests! But I'm drying out, old and haggard, as we speak! What if... what if he wasn't as impressed with my knife skills as I was his? I don't want to die alone! My womb barren!"

Peeking from under his arm, he grinned a bit before getting back into the act.

"Doug! Doug! You have to help this old spinster... you have to help me... pick out a present for an emo guy...."

"Uh. We talkin' 'bout a chef'ere or something?" He asked dryly at the mention of 'knife skills'.

Doug would have patted Ki, if he could.

"Ki... m'good man." He said, giving the other man his most empathetic look. "If yer ass ain't enough ya best hope he likes yer glowin' personality, cause that shit pie ain't gettin' you laid nor pregnant."

Only honest, practical advice in this neck of the woods. The death Pie spelled death over both all who consumed it and any future relationships.

Without Zac Ramsay and chryssa glasgow to bring balance and harmony (through their own individual brands of chaos), Ki was left with nothing but cold, hard, redneck facts.

"But 'ey, I 'ear chocolate ice cream will be on sale at the pokemarket on valentine's day."

He was barking up the mega-wrong tree if he was hoping a redneck would have advice on how to woo a goth-emo-thing.

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TAG: Chu-e Choi

"Chef? Oh! No, we threw knives at each other!" Chu-e waved that off as if it was the MOST normal thing to say, apparently not even going to give John Sullivan any context on why the hell they were doing that in the first place or why Chu-e had been so impressed.

"Can't do ice cream! I'm lactose intolerant... worst case, he tries to get me to eat some and then I'll be trapped in the bathroom all night." But, Chu-e did pout some after that. "My cooking is good, I was just out of my element! And that other guy who made a pie, he sabotaged me. I could totally tell." Sniffing, Chu-e tried to lick his still bruised pride over that particular pie- as if it was his fault that Zac Ramsay had teeth that were ready to fall out any second! His pie was delicious!

"Oh! Actually, I caught this really cute pokemon the other day at the Safari Zone. Maybe I should give it to him?" The pokemon in question was a Luvdisc- and Chu-e had no idea the heavy romantic implications of gifting that species.

"'Scuse me?" Doug said at Ki's words, blinking at the man with a blank smile for all of a moment before shaking his head, blinking again, and then tilting his head. "Are you a contract killer in yer off time or did ya just fall in love with yer mugger?"

Or worse, he had fallen in love with his mug-ee. He didn't know how Ki made money outside of berry-picking.

Well, whatever crimes Ki was or wasn't committing, none were likely to be as egregious as the lie he had just bold facedly spoken to Doug's very own face.

"Probably chipped Zac's tooth too, I bet." He said to the man wryly as he placed both baskets on the floor and began casually throwing the berries inside, still looking mighty unimpressed with Ki's blatant lies.

He couldn't fault the man's attempt at changing the topic, if nothing else.

"A Luvdisc? Uuuh... That's the heart shaped fish, right?" He said after a moment of recollection, pursing his lips before shrugging and grinning.

"Seems 'propriate! I would be over the hills if the lass gave me somethin' like that!" He said, grinning with a light flush at the mere thought. "And it'll definitely go over better than a pie anyway."

---

TAG: Chu-e Choi

"There wasn't even anything in it to chip a tooth on! Apples, sugar, cinnamon, some melted butter... the lady who we were helping already had the crust and top made." But as sad as it was, his defenses would fall on deaf ears. For shame, for shame. He had already sullied his reputation.

But, there were more important things to talk about! Like romance!

"Yeah! I think normally they're pink, but this one looks like gold. I got one of those, uh... new tickets the Safari is offering? Have you tried them?" Those Warden Tickets were pretty expensive if Doug knew anything about them, and they tended to not just let anyone use them. 'Ki' was probably getting stranger and stranger the more than Chu-e said to John Sullivan. "It was kind of boring but it was quick. I really wanted a Milcery and didn't have to stay all day like I normally do when I visit."

"You know, what about you, Doug? Any plans for romance?"