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i used to dream in the dark of palisades park

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POSTED ON Dec 8, 2018 18:03:23 GMT

[attr="class","gabrielpost"]something stops him from leaving this place. he can't quite place it, but there's something about the fact that lavaridge is so removed from the rest of the region. here, it's easy to forget the rest of the world. and even that surprises him. he's a man of knowledge, naturally drawn to the politics of the world with a keen eye and objective stance. he's one to start debates with strangers, go toe to toe with other intellectuals.

deep down he knows that it's slateport, that it's the growing threat of rocket that keeps him shuttered away. coward.

and as he's thinking this, spinoza rubs up against his leg, leafy ears trembling. he crouches down to scratch the leafeon behind his ears, murmuring promises that he's okay. and then he stands, rubs at his eyes. aristotle pads a few paces in front of them and only looks back when he reaches his destination: a quaint coffee shop by the entrance to town.

since the start of his stay at lavaridge, he's holed up in one of the town's two coffee shops, content with seeing the same faces every day (also unlike him). and yet today some of his restlessness finally shines through; he walks through the threshold of this coffee shop for the first time.

he snags a couple of pokebiscuits as he walks up to the counter and orders a red-eye.

Chu-e Choi

[newclass=.gabrielpost]font:10px calibri;[/newclass]
[newclass=.gabrielpost i]color:#D4AF37;[/newclass]
[newclass=.gabrielpost b]color:#D4AF37;font:bold 11px calibri;line-height:12px;text-transform:lowercase;[/newclass]

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POSTED ON Dec 8, 2018 18:41:49 GMT

Something's holding him here. Chu-e can feel it in twisting and churning in his bones. Every step he tries to take out this town gets heavier and he doesn't know why. He was just scouting, rumor has it that his friend Dorian was over the mountain and he intended to find him, but something was holding him back.

Maybe it was the air. Maybe it was the small town hospitality present. There wasn't anything else here, just hot springs and warm sand, a plethora of elderly people that seemed at odds with the Gym nestled at the edge of town. It was quaint enough that the few people he had seen around who lived here were already familiar with him, would give him a wave when he passed by, would spell his name right on his coffee cup and already have his order ready. It unsettled him.

It reminded him a place he hadn't been in almost ten years now.

Today would be his last day, though. Chu-e made sure of it. He checked out of his hotel even if he wanted so badly to stay and had his few things packed. The promise of one last cup of coffee was all that was holding him back now. When he finished it he would leave.

There were only two places that served coffee in this town and he had just happened to pick the one closest to his hotel. He had visited it every morning so far, would miss it when he left. The barista was working to get her sister something nice for her birthday. The waiter had been a down on his luck trainer before coming here. He didn't like that he knew these things.

Someone he hadn't seen before came and there was a strike of familiarity there, like a slap in the face. Chu-e ignored the feeling, chocked it up to the ethereal feeling this town was giving him. He just stared off into space as he had most days here and idly stroked Thomas as the Meowth flicked his tail in his lap.

"Mister Chu-e Choi? Your order is ready!" The barista called, all warm smiles like she was teasing him.

@gabriel
i hope this is okay! <3

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POSTED ON Dec 10, 2018 0:30:42 GMT

[attr="class","gabrielpost"]pins and needles prick at his neck. on the edge of his vision, he swears he sees a ghost. but he glances away as his name is called (incorrectly, and as such he starts to wonder if he should have just stayed with the tried and true coffee shop). he would have left it at that, could have left it at that, was on his way back out the door when aristotle, who'd been trotting dutifully behind him, suddenly wheeled around with a surprised yelp.

he looks down at the fox pokemon first, at his furrowed brows, tails all moving excitedly, confusedly, and then he hears the name. and suddenly he's not in this second-rate coffee shop anymore; suddenly he's in a region far, far away from here. he's surrounded by laughter, clouds of smoke, a life of watercolor, ink stains laden heavily enough to make something truly remarkable (and yet, at the end of the day, he'd been left with empty palettes, stiff, dry brushes).

the memories hit him like a wrecking ball, and gabriel, ever a man of composure, breaks. his fingers stiffen and the liquid inside the cup splashes over the cardboard rim. he lets loose a string of dicey words and then pulls himself back together.

and when he meets eyes with his friend (can he call him that still? when they could have been brothers? after he disappeared, left him behind without even the grace of a goodbye?) he goes slack-jawed. his eyes are wild, swimming with too much of the past, unable to comprehend how and why it's here in front of him.

"i--it's you."

Chu-e Choi
<3

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POSTED ON Dec 10, 2018 3:19:33 GMT

Movement, a glance up, eyes meeting, a bomb drops. The placid looks on Chu-e's face morphs into one of confusion followed by one of horror. His thoughts race and vision swims as he tries to put two and two together, reboot his brain and start the process all over again.

For a long time Chu-e has boxed up the parts of his life. There is a Before and an After that he keeps in two boxes very far, far away mentally. There is no overlap allowed. He does not dip into the Before box, it hurts too much when he pulls his hand back out, but now that box is slapping him in the face. Gabriel was a Before, neat and tidy, gone and forgotten not by choice but to guard his heart from breaking itself. The poor coping meant this moment was too much for him. Things resurfacing too fast. Warm nights together, visiting houses, first meetings, whispered secrets and so much more, more than anything he needs to remember right here, right now, in a little cafe in Lavaridge. Of all the places for this to happen it would have to be here, wouldn't it, where it was already a shadow of home?

Chu-e feels like this is a glitch, something that isn't supposed to be happening. The Gabriel he remembers is shorter than him and gangly as he grows into his body despite the small age difference. The one before him is taller, more filled out, a man now but still recognizable enough.

He feels small, smaller than he has in a long time, and he makes an ugly noise when he chokes on his breath.

"Gabby?" His voice is tinny and high, on the verge of something messy.

@gabriel
>:u

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POSTED ON Dec 10, 2018 3:49:36 GMT

[attr="class","gabrielpost"]for the first time in a very long time, he feels the itch. veins burn, throat dries, and his fingers curl (harder, harder, tiny red indents that will turn purple and fade, but will remind him of why this is bad, why he left that part of himself behind) and his thoughts are racing and there's too much brimming up inside of him and people are watching and his friend, his best friend is staring at him with a look he can't decipher.

gabby. and fuck, he can't help it--he looks away. he looks away and he hates himself for it.

but he can't be gabby anymore. he isn't gabby anymore. he is gabriel and it has taken him years to polish his tarnished wings, to stitch them back together when he nearly fell for the last time. he vowed he would never return to sinnoh, that he would never go back to his mother's house in hoenn, that he would cleanse himself of the past.

but how can he do that when his past is staring him in the face? when his past was never the one to wrong him. when he was the one who left everything good behind him (because he couldn't have it both ways--if he wanted to leave the bad, he needed to leave the good, too).

words can never amount to what he feels right now. the philosopher finally tongue-tied. all he can manage is

"i'm sorry."

Chu-e Choi
<3

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POSTED ON Dec 11, 2018 17:33:05 GMT

When Chu-e was in the hospital not long ago that the broken pieces in his grew back wrong. Jagged and warped. What he didn't tell the other was that they did that to protect the pieces that didn't break, the delicate parts of his heart that even The After couldn't take. But those parts of him feel laid bare to Gabriel in the here and now, after all this time. He wonders how the other's changed. He hopes its for the best.

"You never did anything." Gabriel had not been like the others. He had listened to what he said and believed him when no one else had. They had their differences, looking back there was a hunger and ache that Chu-e had not been able to replicate as a teenager, not understood till now. But Gabriel had still been one of his dearest friends. One of the first people he came out to, one of the first people who he told about What Happened after he felt brave enough to speak it into the open air. Did he blame himself?

Thomas perks his ears up, lifts his head to stare at the other man more with confusion than anything. He has not been with Chu-e as long as his other pokemon but he still hadn't ever seen the man like this before. It's concerning.

"I don't know what to feel right now." Is what Chu-e finally speaks, pulling his eyes down and away from his old friend, maybe in something like shame. He kicks the chair across from him out. A clear invitation.

@gabriel
>:u

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POSTED ON Dec 13, 2018 7:21:58 GMT

[attr="class","gabrielpost"]to know so much about someone, to share so deeply with another's pain--that's something you can't forget. regardless of how many years it's been, regardless of how many lifetimes ago it was, scars never truly heal. and he knows, he knows that regardless of what chu-e is saying right now, there's a wrong he committed that can't be made right. because that's the thing you don't realize until it's too late--you can't turn back time.

and still he's offered a chance for repentance. aristotle (he'd been so young during the transition) waits through gabriel's hesitancy. and when the man wearily takes a seat, the vulpix trots over to chu-e happily, tails fanning out as he rears up on his hind legs. brown paws rest against the boy's knees and he looks up with friendly doe eyes, a soft i remember you.

always a sweetness under all that ash, those mottled burns.

"he remembers," gabriel says, chin turning towards aristotle, but he looks at chu-e when he says it. i haven't forgotten. i never forgot.

"why are you here now?" he asks.

Chu-e Choi
<3

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POSTED ON Dec 14, 2018 20:59:26 GMT

When the vulpix approaches, Chu-e places his hand out for the fox to rub his head on if he so chooses. As much as this hurt Chu-e doesn't hold anything against Gabriel. There are people far more deserving of his wrath and in time he will make sure their comeuppance is grand and bloody.

Thomas peeks over, unsure, ears back but not growling, just wary. The Meowth lean over to sniff at Aristotle some before he deems him worthy, hops down from his warm perch to push his side against the other pokemon. He is one of Chu-e's more friendly companions.

"I'm here for work." Is what he finally answers with. Even if he trusted Gabriel then he won't tell him his real reasons. Did he know? Did any of them know the things he had done in the name of Rocket? He had always been so proud of it but here, in this tiny cafe with someone best left forgotten he feels only shame. "What about you?"

An easy counter to take the pressure off of himself for just a moment.

@gabriel
c:

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POSTED ON Jan 5, 2019 20:59:11 GMT

[attr="class","gabrielpost"]he used to know chu-e's tells. he used to be able to tell when he was lying, when he was pressing too deeply, asking too much, but now it's like he's looking at a stranger. but this tells him something too. chu-e has been through something.

we've all been through shit.

he swallows. he doesn't feel as though he has the right to press, but something about chu-e's words makes his stomach turn.

he's not often one to speak in plain truth. he boasts that he doesn't lie, that he can obscure his words to the point that his truth is unclear, disguised, but he throws the bones on the table now.

he thinks, suddenly, that he's never spoken it aloud before, not to anyone else.

"i came back for my mother, but she died before i set foot off the boat that brought me here." his heart is stone, voice steady, eyes hard. "and too much happened back then. i...had to leave."

Chu-e Choi
<3