Claude jumped off from his Salamence and pet its head before returning it to its Poke Ball. He walked up to his brother and observed the bar they were about to walk into. ”I can buy this entire place if I want to,” he scoffed.

     Claude didn’t listen much about the Rustboro thing, it didn’t bother him. So he just walked into the bar.

     He went over to sit at the counter and said to the bartender, ”Give me the best you have.”. The bartender immediately went to work on it. Claude liked that. No bullshits, just results.

     He was still wearing his sunglasses. He didn’t want to reveal how hard he had been crying over the past few days. He didn’t want people to know how vulnerable and weak he can become.

Laurence Anderson

    ”Ugh when am I ever serious. Oh wait you wouldn’t know because you weren’t there for most of my life.” he replied casually.

     The bartender placed a glass of alcoholic beverage in front of Mason with a wide grin, “This is my own concoction, I add-“ before the poor man could finish Claude already had some of the drink down his throat. He slammed the glass down on the counter. His lips smacked as he ruminated. Claude looked up at the bartender, ”Tastes great, keep up the good work,” he then smiled before chugging down the drink once again. 

     When Claude heard what his brother ordered he snickered, ”Are you serious,”.

Laurence Anderson

      Claude wasn’t bothered by his brother’s scolding. Why would he be? He was there for a drink, not for someone to explain to him what the contents of a drink is. 

     Though the thing that Lars said afterwards about the Galarian Highlands thing caught his attention. He was for sure going to ask for some later on. 

     He laughed amusingly when he was asked what he was drinking. Through his sunglasses, he looked straight at his brother, ”Does it fucking matter?”. A laughter then broke out from him once again. 

      He took another gulp of the drink before asking Lars, ”So where the fuck have you been?”. 

Laurence Anderson

    Again, Claude wasn’t bothered by the scolding. At all. ”Hey gimme some more!” he said towards the bartender. The bartender went on to fix a drink for him but he was muttering something like ‘bastard’, ‘unappreciative’, ‘why I deserve better pay’.

     Despite his goofy demeanour, Claude listened tentatively to what Lars said. Without looking directly in his eyes of course. When Leanne was mentioned, Claude immediately chugged down the whole, less fancier, drink the bartender just placed down. “Come on man!” the bartender exclaimed with a sad look. ”More please,”. The bartender sighed and went to pick one of the alcoholic bottles and uncorked it, pouring the contents in a smaller glass. ”Thank you.” Mason said with a smile. Then continued to chug down the whole content as well. The bartender seemed to have suspected this as he poured more into the glass. 

     ”Well for starters, that old geezer left us. Second of all, I already invited,” he paused for a while, unable to say his sister’s name. ”her,” he said instead. ”but she didn’t want to come with me to Unova. Oh yeah I went to Unova. My only job was to pose.” he laughed at the word, ”Can you believe that? I can’t imagine how easy it actually is to make some cash,”.

Laurence Anderson

    Claude couldn’t help but grin when Lars gave him that look. He accept and liked any signs and forms of amazements and attention, the things that he lacked when he was much younger. When his brother asked him that, he replied sarcastically, ”Oh the eighth wonder of the world!”. He then lift his glass to signal the bartender that he wanted another refill.

     ”HAHA! I Wish!” he laughed with a remark when Lars mentioned a nudist gallery. ”Oh I had it very easy. Your dearest father gave me TONS of money. I’d even be fine if I didn’t work.” he stopped for a while to chug the newly refilled glass, then motioned towards the bartender that he wanted more. ”I modelled for many kinds of fashion magazines. They’d dress me up and told me to pose, and so I did, naturally, I was good at it. And UGH the amount of clothes they would give me.”. An idea then came to him. He turned to look at his brother, ”Hey do you need any clothes?”.

Laurence Anderson

    Claude broke into a laughters when he witnessed his brother’s anger at the mockery he had hinted before. ”I’m just pulling your leg brother. Don’t be so tense,” he clarified before winding the alcoholic liquid down his throat. 

     The younger man wasn’t happy when his taunt didn’t get to his brother. He rolled his eyes at the question, ”Ugh I don’t care Lars. I literally do not care. Look at my face,” he instructed as he turned to face Lars. ”Now tell me how many fucks do I give about anything.”.
     
     Before Lars have the chance to even answer the question, Claude retorted back to sit properly and said, ”Correct. It’s zero fucks. Zero fucks given.”. Then he chugged down whatever was left in his glass. ”Refilllll!”.

Laurence Anderson

    Claude really hated it when Lars brought up the topic of Leanne again. He didn’t want to think about her at all. The reason he wanted to drink was to forget about her. But no, he had to ask.

     Rationality went out the window, buried emotions seeped away, a drunkard’s tongue couldn’t help but to speak for the heart. The man lashed at his brother. ”I don’t fucking know Lars! Did Dad tell us why he left me and Leanne? Did YOU tell us why you left me and Leanne? Did mom ever told any of us why she was missing for so many times and oh! How fucking shocking it was that she decided to disappear FOREVER. You’re all the same!”.

     He chugged down the whole content of the newly refilled glass. ”Leanne was the only one there for me.”. He said suddenly. His mind was foggy, he couldn’t think straight. Without realising it, a tear fell down from behind his sunglasses, down his cheek.

Laurence Anderson