Ooze

Just missin' Zac Ramsay and Selena Desmarais.

Saunas had a wealth of health benefits that anyone wishing for a longer, enduring life would have done well to learn of.

Doug knew none of them, but the heat felt great on his far too tense body and he enjoyed the solitude of it all.

So, to make sure he wasn't happy, the door swung open, and said solitude was banished as in strode one marginally familiar silhouette, the youth pausing midstretch for a moment before resuming dryly.

"Evenin', Mr. Silph."

He was seeing more naked flesh of a man several times richer than all of Doug's past lives combined then he ever thought he would see.

Not too bad a sight at all; but then, for all its faults, if there was one thing Hoenn was not lacking, it was hot people.

"I'm surprised ya don't just like... have one at home or somethin'." He said bluntly as he turned his gaze away.

Bah, he probably did.

"Maybe ya just wanted to enjoy some company?"

Fernando did present himself as a smiling, kind, charismatic man to the public... Even if half of said public seemed convinced he feasted on the blood of the poor for skincare.

---

CDhaTy0R
HEAT POINTS: 938

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH

OOZE

PRESPIRE YOUR STAMINA UNTIL THE BITTER END

“SULLIVAN,” he answers back with a curt nod. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

In fact, he hadn’t expected to see anyone, really. Hoenn proves large enough that non-league related ventures hardly end up with a familiar face. But, then again, Lavaridge is ripe with advertisements.

What Doug will see is not the glamor of a body well kept. The reality of its is that Fernando only maintains his shape and mass. Easy to cultivate with a precise diet of x amount of calories and scheduled routines of exercise. All that money gets well spent in regard to self-care.

Survival starts with a strong body.

It’s the cosmetic aspect he lacks. While his skin glistens with the undertaking of a daily exfoliation and lather, the scars still burn deep. They riddle him in vast numbers, lessons etched throughout his time in Hoenn and Kanto. Bruises and welts paint recent, minor details, but the fables lie in mangled skin wrinkled in unsightly folds.

His most prominent, a clear cut across the diameter of his waist, remains hidden beneath his towel.

“Home?”

Fernando squeezes out a mild laughter before sitting a few feet away from him. Enough to be close but not invade his personal space.

“I live in an apartment.”

Condo. Apartment. Close enough. Not nearly as grand as it could be but Fernando is humble in his possessions. The ones he doesn’t care about, anyway.

“I’m here on vacation, actually.”

NG9tyF46

HEAT POINTS: 817
John Sullivan

Ooze

Just missin' Zac and Selena.

"Was visiting Zac Ramsay." He said. "Had a favor to ask."

Doug approves of what he sees.

A battered, scarred body on a man of Fernando's wealth is proof of a life of action and service.

Doug is comparably untouched, his young body bearing the scrapes and scarring of youthful activity and military training but little else, the one under his eye notwithstanding.

Save for the massive X marking his torso as the treasure's spot. That- was a very unfortunate lesson.

"Sorry. Shouldn't have assumed." Doug said simply as the man took a seat besides him.

It was mildly shocking to hear that Fernando Silph lived in an apartment, but it made sense if he thought for a second instead of talking out of his ass.

He would have known for certain if Fernando lived as extravagantly as he could afford: the media would have been riding the One True Silph's ass even more than it already did.

"One last moment of respite before going back to the council, huh?" He said dryly. He would have said shit show instead, but he was trying to mind his words more carefully since the dinner party.

"Sorry we're doin' badly ya need to come outta retirement." He said after a moment, leaning back against the wooden walls while turning his gaze to the ceiling.

The one man who had retired from the council by actually finishing his tenure instead of disappearing into the void. And less than half a year after he had retired, they needed him back.

Figures.

---

ZkLvD1QM
HEAT POINTS: 906

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH

OOZE

PRESPIRE YOUR STAMINA UNTIL THE BITTER END

“HARDLY,” Fernando dismisses with a wave of his hand. “I’ve already resumed my position in the council. I’m mostly catching up now.”

Fernando lets out a muffled yawn as he stretches out his arm. One folds over his head while the other reaches out as far as it possibly can. The steaminess of the sauna proves more relaxing than he had anticipated. It’s almost refreshing.

“Sullivan,” he calls upon. “Would you care for some advice?”

tNlFRdyZ

HEAT POINTS: 770
John Sullivan

Ooze

Just missin' Zac and Selena.

"Well, ya were right last time." He said dubiously, face dry. He didn't specify what he meant, but given Fernando's apparent role in the League, the possibilities were endless. "I should probably listen."

Somehow, the lead up to it had him expecting some sort of backhanded, if appropriate, advice.

He thickened his skin before nodding.

"Yup. Hit me."

---

|14pc2Tg
HEAT POINTS: 864

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH

OOZE

PRESPIRE YOUR STAMINA UNTIL THE BITTER END

“PEOPLE ARE EMOTIONAL CREATURES.”

He changes hands as he finishes out his stretch.

“Pride, heart, ego. No matter how much we try to shut them out they bleed into our subconscious.”

He looks to the young Gym Leader.

“You’ll find more success with your colleagues if every other comment you make didn’t come off as disparaging someone else. You don’t need to put someone down in order to bring someone up.”

A3PT_gqm

HEAT POINTS: 693
John Sullivan

Ooze

Just missin' Zac and Selena.

"Thanks, Sir. I'll keep that in mind."

Fair enough, the man's impression of him was not unjustified: Doug had been hilariously abrasive at his dinner; emphasis on the adjective, if Katherine Fairburne's words were to be believed.

At least Fernando wasn't blasting him with extreme heat and bodily threats, unlike a certain other two. Not saying any names, Stormy Silph.

Whoops.

"On Sootopolis, a few of my soldiers died."

His gaze turned to his hands as he brought them closer, digits squeezing together tightly as his jaw tightened.

"Not to Rocket or Yveltal; but to the people of Sootopolis."

So had their fellow soldiers who witnessed it reported. Trampled, stomped, beaten by the masses. They had been incensed by Rocket- but did that matter?

Not to him, but a lot of really influential people kept saying they 'had no choice', so what did he know?

After a moment of silence, Doug leaned back against the wooden wall, his head bonking against it before he spoke.

"What do you think about the people's behavior cait alfric reported?"

He couldn't possibly be the only person who thought siding with a world renown mass-murdering, warmongering terrorist organization was unquestionably wrong, regardless of whatever sob story or personal qualms with the government one may had.

But it sure felt like he was at times.

"I seem to disagree with most of my colleagues on the matter- and to be frank, I would rather not be; I'm pretty bad at pretending."

Made it quite hard to follow Fernando's advice.

"Got anything? I could use a new perspective."

---

SYqj|ZIq
HEAT POINTS: 812

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH

OOZE

PRESPIRE YOUR STAMINA UNTIL THE BITTER END

THE MENTION OF SOOTOPOLIS COMES UP. There are a multitude of things Fernando can approach on the topic. But how much of it will do him any good? A decision is cast and he refrains from speaking further, making the deliberate choice to amend the holes that he can.

“It is what it is,” he mentions with a light sense or resignation. “Despite what we know to be true, more often than not, perception is reality.”

“There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with them but do you understand why think that way?”

He pauses.

“Understanding, whether they are right or wrong, can go a long way to mending viewpoints.”

yqid7D_4

HEAT POINTS: 659
John Sullivan

Ooze

Just missin' Zac and Selena.

'Perception is reality'.

Doug rolled those words in his mind for a moment, wondering if he was too dumb to immediately get the meaning of Fernando's words.

"You mean... people will believe what they want to believe."

The man didn't need his own words explained to him, but the youth certainly did, even if he had to explain it to himself.

"But I can't understand why anyone would wanna believe this. How anyone could'a forget so easily."

He couldn't forget no matter how much he wanted to.

It wouldn't have been the first time he tried to analyze that night. What he could remember clearly, at any rate; the memories were a bit fussy, even if the shame wasn't.

"Sympathy for the people of Hoenn. sympathy. 'The terrible circumstances of this region and the league's 'incompetence' justify-slash-excuse people looking towards a pack of well known murderers with a kill count larger and a list of war crimes longer than all of the world's nations' armies combined as an alternative'."

Because anything less than perfectly handling the random, ridiculous crap that happened in the region with a smile and skin thicker than a steel sheet was incompetence deserving of betrayal.

No, he was not bitter, whatever made you think that?

Obviously, he didn't agree, assuming he had even gotten it right. He saw Rocket as the source of most if not all problems that plagued Hoenn. He was certain they had made even the Megalopolan War worse somehow.

Rocket was a murderous fraud claiming to be the vaccine to a plague of its own making.

"I'm being unfair... obviously. They sympathize with the people of Hoenn, and are willing to forgive stuff that I can't."

He slumped against the wood, head craning back.

"They didn't sympathize with me because I was a drunk asshat. Because reading '2 soldiers died' on a report or hearing it on the news doesn't feel like a big deal; neither will mention their families being devastated, after all."

But that just his guesswork.

"But I can't claim I really know. Is that on the mark, sir?"

---

OhRE|lX7
HEAT POINTS: 717

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH

OOZE

PRESPIRE YOUR STAMINA UNTIL THE BITTER END

“NOT QUITE.”

The steam in the sauna clouds up as Fernando listens in. What he had expected to be a quick lesson passed from one generation to another looks to descend into full on lecture.

“People can only believe what they know, what they see, regardless of what is fact.”

He raises a finger slowly as he counts his examples.

“I live in an apartment but you had expected me to have a house with a sauna of it’s own. Why?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. It’s rhetorical mostly. “Whatever preconceived notions you have about me, others will as well. And, unless we sit down and clarify the truth, they will continue to think that regardless of the truth. That is their perception; that is their reality.”

Another rises. That makes two.

“So when you make comments like ‘we’re doing so badly you need to come out of retirement’, many people will infer you’re saying the League and it’s members aren’t doing good enough. When these people try their hardest, regardless of the results, and receive that type of disparagement, resentment forms.”

He smiles at Doug, closing his hands.

“And when that’s all they see from you. When they see it frequently from you, they don’t see an ally. They see someone who doesn’t undermines their efforts and cares little for them.”

830B0Ghz

HEAT POINTS: 609
John Sullivan

Ooze

Just missin' Zac and Selena.

"I've made an art of being a dumbass."

He really hadn't gotten it at all. Hell, far as he could tell, he hadn't even understood the question right.

"People only know what they know."

It sounded like an obvious statement when phrased in such a simple manner, but now that it had been spelled out to him bluntly, there was a little click in his head, like a piece falling into place.

Unfortunately, it just made him overthink.

Didn't his previous actions speak for him? Was it so easy for people to disregard everything they knew about someone the moment something new, unwanted came to light?

Was a single, drunken rambling above great displays of character?

Maybe.

Some people were willing to ignore Rockets' extensive list of past crimes in light of their new, as of yet unproven claims.

It seemed like all it took was for the league to do something they disapproved of for some to quickly turn to the 'new and improved' Rocket, with their many promises of a 'better' and 'brighter' future.

Whatever that was.

The youth rubbed his temples, already feeling his temper beginning to irk, and trying to shake it off.

That couldn't be right. Never had he considered Rockets' claims as being true. Not even once.

What was the threshold here? Where did the point of no return begin? Was there one?

He considered the people who blasted him for his drunken rambles; Greyson and Stormy and a chick he hadn't ever met; all people he had met precisely once before, or not at all.

Cait, Eva, Matias... All people of strong moral character, but none of whom had chosen to rebuke his behavior severely- beyond Cait's worry for his apparent alcoholism.

Things were clicking into place.

Kaida, Lars and Kim, who had worked alongside him at the raid. Kim's role in the league was to be the peacemaker; but Lars had for whatever reason wished to speak more with him, and Kaida had outright defended him in her own way, he had eventually found out.

His hands gripped his temples once again, rubbing them.

"What should I do?"

Turned out, he wasn't as used to being a public figure as he had thought, nor as adept at controlling his mouth as he would've liked.

All it took was one big failure for him to unravel.

Usually, he was the one playing peace maker for his friends. He hadn't found himself so at odds with people on the 'same' side as he did now.

"Should I just... Not say anything? Lie?

The one thing he knew was that he couldn't take down Rocket alone. He needed the league, the people- and he needed them to need him, too.

---

JAL8P1KJ
HEAT POINTS: 695

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH

OOZE

PRESPIRE YOUR STAMINA UNTIL THE BITTER END

“LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO REPLY.”

Unlike Doug, Fernando has very little in the way of managing his thoughts. An entire childhood of being groomed to partake in such activities makes this as easy as breathing. It’s one of the reason he remains in such an uncontested position despite his crooked demeanor and ill intents.

As long as he remains polished, none can dirty his reputation.

“Be curious. Earnest. Listen and probe, without judgement, or question, to understand those around you. Take out your opinion and assumptions and allow them to paint the picture for you.”

hlFz2jaG

HEAT POINTS: 572
John Sullivan

Ooze

Just missin' Zac and Selena.

A need to protest reflexively rose in him.

Perhaps due to their directness, Fernando's words felt like some sort of attack.

He wasn't the kind of person who needed to be told this. He didn't go into arguments just looking to shut the other party down!

But just as quickly as the need came, it died down in his throat.

Was he not, really?

Then what was that night all about? Just alcohol? Could he really say that? What about his first meeting with Selena Desmarais? Had that been the alcohol as well?

No.

Fernando hit the nail in the head. When he actually cared, he went at it just as anyone else would. Faster, too; Rocket was a quick way to test his temper.

He nodded after a moment, swallowing his protest down before meekly gesturing to the man to proceed.

"... And if I don't like the picture they paint?"

It was not like he was incapable of understanding were, say, the people of Sootopolis were coming from. He just didn't believe it to be a worthwhile justification.

Maybe he didn't truly understand it after all.

"Is that when I must lie? When I must agree? When I must argue? Once I understand where they are coming from... Should I just let it be? Accept people's opinions almost never change on anything?"

He leaned forward on his thighs, rubbing his temples.

"I'm tired. I really am."

It was like he lived in a different world from the average person in Hoenn, at times.

"Sometimes... sometimes it feels as if people don't see the crimes, just the promises. Like it's a political party instead of a terrorist cell."

Was he really supposed to 'respect' opinions on the matter when it seemed like they were being made by people with Alzheimers?

"I'm a 'glory seeking' asshole for calling the people who actually believe their propaganda fucking idiots. And fine, I'm an asshole; I generalized where I shouldn't. But... I just... I just I don't get it. I really... really don't."

It wasn't even debatable to him; nor to any Kantonian he knew. Why was the subject matter so up for debate when Hoennians were concerned? Of all things, this seemed like the most bipartisan topic of all to him.

"Every atrocity they caused seems to have been washed away in just 3 years... Do people need their families to be murdered by Rocket for the lesson to stick?"

---

yFuou4Yz
HEAT POINTS: 648

TAG: FERNANDO SILPH