It's strange to feel included in a community.

He'd not felt a sense of belonging in his youth spent with the Galarian Elite; they were far too focused on themselves to bring any sense of warmth or welcome. Rocket was like family to him but their bond was one of association.

When Tempest Quinn had invited him to this gathering that had clearly meant so much to him, the way it was described, Gavin was almost nervous to attend. But he does, because he wants to be a part of everything that is Temp.

He'd accept the paint, smile at those who met his gaze despite the anxiety fluttering in his stomach.

You're an outsider, here.

That feeling abates slightly with the warmth that his lover greets him with.

"Hey," he greets, soft. "Just tell me what I need to do."

When the paint is accepted there is approval there. The young woman who used her fingers to color his face was heavily pregnant. Cillian Quinn may be an outsider, sure, but it wasn't in their beliefs to discriminate. A test he wasn't even aware of, though, was passed.

Not being of the blood doesn't mean one can't be one of them.

As long as Gavin wears his paint, even if he is still an outsider, even if he is still new and strange, even if they are still wary- the smiles he receives will be a little more genuine, things will be a little more real instead of the forced politeness from before.

"Uh, well...." Temp's hands still fly as he turns over in his head where Gavin might be best suited. He almost fumbles one of the pies he's making and the old woman next to him clicks her tongue, making Temp flush.

"Take all these to the oven. Go help the kids with the fruits. Work your way up!" She barks out, sharp but not unkind. Her voice is thick with her accent, a more traditional Hoenn than the more modernized speech commonly used. Temp ends up shrugging and pauses only in his task to offer the filled bowl of pies to Gavin, picking up another so he can keep working.

"You heard her! Go help the kids for a bit."

Especially since being outed as Rocket, Gavin's used to the stares of others carrying disdain and judgment. He has always felt like an outsider, even in Circhester, but Hoenn had been all the more alienating.

But the people of Pacifidlog, outsider though he might have been, look to him with warmth.

Tempest Quinn blushes with a fumble and Gavin ducks his head to hide a smile, amber eyes shining with mirth as he dips his head. "Yes, ma'am," he acquiesces, and to Temp, "I'll catch up with you later, love."

He delivers the pies to the oven before asking where he might find the kids.

He shouldn't be surprised that he recognizes at least two of them — those he'd helped save from the pirates, the boy who'd taken a ride on Lugia's back. Gavin's smile of courtesy softens with a genuine fondness. He dips his head in greeting.

"All right, guys, what're we doing?"

He directs his amber gaze toward the oldest, assuming them to be in 'charge'.

Temp's pleased flush is all the answer that Cillian Quinn will get, the man quickly put back to task by the old woman next to him.

"Mister!" And Gavin does know the two children, both of which shoot up to greet him from their seats, trying to wrap grateful arms around him. The girl's hug is quick but strong, face beaming before she sits back down, but the little boy clings to Gavin tight, unwilling to let go.

"Where's birdie?" He asks, eyes wide, swinging his head around as if he might spot Lugia hiding behind someone.

"You're helping?" The oldest is a girl who looks about thirteen. It's incredulous, the rest of the kids glancing around at one another as confused as her, but they just shrug and go back to what they had been working on, for the most past. "Um... okay! Sit down! Right here!" A little bossy, or maybe just too gleeful at getting to order around an adult. Either way, she's unafraid of Gavin like many adults might be in the same situation.

Actually, while some of the children are shy, none of them seem afraid of Gavin. Curious or wary simply because Gavin is a stranger, but not afraid. A few of the younger ones stare at him like they might at a weird looking bug to try and figure it out.

A massive, purple yam, almost as big as Gavin's head, is shoved in his hands by the oldest girl.

"We have to get all the fruits and veggies peeled and washed!" If Gavin will glance around, he will see little hands peeling oranges, slightly larger ones using sharpened shells or scrapers to remove the skins from things like the yam. One enterprising boy is getting help from a Machop in cracking open coconuts. "You can start with this one."

The boy, who had separated from Gavin while he was being ordered around, sits next to the man and slides up to his side. He is plucking the skin off of a lime and peeling apart the segments inside.

"What's your name? Are you really Norma-Norma's boyfriend? Do you like dinosaurs?" The boy blinks, suddenly delighted by his own question before Gavin can even answer. "I like dinosaurs! Have you ever heard of Archen? My dad got me a book that had lots of pictures of dinosaurs inside! Did you know that Archen are all different colors and they can fly?"

Earlier anxieties abate as Gavin finds himself welcome among the children, ruffling the girl's hair and offering the boy a quick smile.

"She sleeps at the bottom of the ocean," he says, with the grave tone of one imparting wisdom. "Her name is Lugia."

He seems amused by the girl's bossy tone; she reminds Gavin of himself when he was young. He brushes aside the incredulous looks, assuming it isn't often that they get help from outsiders or adults, and accepts the vegetable that's thrust toward him.

It's convenient and maybe a little alarming that he carries multiple knives on his person, passing over his trusted Kanto blade (it had been used for purposes far less innocent, and could hardly be considered sanitary) to retrieve a small utility knife usually reserved for cutting boxes. As he peels the vegetable, careful and methodical, he spares a brief glance to the boy who returns to his side.

He's instantly bombarded with questions but doesn't seem to mind, a smile crinkling the edges of his eyes.

After the boy pauses for breath, he answers with the almost-truth. "My name is Gavin, Norman is my boyfriend," as strange as it was to call him by that name, "and I love dinosaurs. I study them."

He had also been a dinosaur kid, but he'd had no one with whom to share those passions until he was well into his studies alongside fellow enthusiasts.

"I have an Archeops! They can fly, but they also run really fast. Faster than us, even!"

"Was Lugia the big black pokemon that saved Kai and Kala?" One girl spoke up. She was busy slicing the larger fruits into smaller pieces. "Mada-Mada said she was scary looking but Norma-Norma said she was just a big sweetie. If she saved Kai, Kala, and Grandpa Oatie she has to be nice, though." Gossip was a favored pastime in Pacifidlog, and even though Cillian Quinn hadn't been around much, it had still spread to the children. No doubt he would be a hot topic for the next few days.

However, in the way the girl said that Lugia had to be nice, she was more suggesting that Gavin had to be nice.

Kai, since that seemed to be the boy's name, gasped and his eyes shone. He dropped the lime and leaned over to grasp at Gavin's sleeve, looking up at the man like he had just told him the holy word. "You're a pale-eat-toe-ah-low-gist?" Whispered, revered. "That's so cool! What's your favorite dinosaur?"

He was practically bouncing in his seat as he waited for an answer, earning a good-natured giggle from some of the other kids sitting in the circle.

"Gav-Gav, you've impressed Kai, but you won't win me over so easy!" It was the first girl, the bossy one, who was skillfully taking coconut flesh out of the shell. "Norma-Norma means a lot to a whole lot of us, so if you want to marry him, you have to make sure eeeeeveryone here likes you!"

Gavin nods. "Yes. Lugia can be scary, but she can be sweet, too. A lot like the ocean."

Tempest Quinn has told him of the ocean's importance to their culture, and Gavin knows it can provide life with its bounties but also steal it just as swiftly through storms and current. Lugia's not too different, he thinks.

Guardian of the Seas.

Kai seems utterly enamored with Gavin and Rocket's underboss is warm in return.

"I am," he affirms, understanding. "My favourite? Hm..."

He finishes peeling the yam, sets it down where instructed and unclips a pokeball from his belt. Amber eyes scan their close surroundings for an open space, after which he releases his Cradily from the capsule. Water seems drawn to the Pokemon thanks to its storm drain, lapping eagerly at the logs to which the plant-like fossil suctions itself.

"Cradily, I think. This one's been with me for a while."

He holds his hand out for another fruit or vegetable as he lifts his eyebrows at the girl.

"Well, he means a lot to me, too." He offers a conspiratorial smile. "And how might I go about winning you over?"

"Cradily!" Kai repeats back. Excited, the boy jumps up and runs towards the pokemon, intending to try and give it a hug before he examines it all over. He had abandoned his task but no one seems to mind; kids tended to lose track of what they were doing.

Meanwhile, since Cillian Quinn finished up, he was quickly given something else to work on for the feast.

"How? Uh..." The bossy girl trailed off, as if she hadn't thought that far ahead.

"You have to make sure you can take care of him!" A younger boy, the one with the Machop, butted in. A few of the other kids muttered agreement.

"My mom said that you have to be really nice to whoever you marry, too. You have to love them no matter what, even when they eat your leftovers." Another girl spoke up.

Cradily is a bit of an awkward Pokémon to hug, its long 'neck' swaying with the pressure, but no resistance is offered by the fossil. Luminous yellow eyes glint from the dark of what pretends to be a mouth.

As another fruit is pressed into his palms, Gavin's stomach growls in anticipation of the feast.

He covers his mouth with a hand to stifle a chuckle.

"Well, Temp— Norman," he corrects, "is more than welcome to my leftovers, so I don't see that being a problem."

He likes to think he can take care of Tempest Quinn, in the ways that matter.

We're good for each other.

"Will you make sure to give him a kiss every day? My dad always gives my mom a kiss before he leaves to go fish." Another helpful child chimes in. With Cillian Quinn's reassurance about the leftovers, many of the children start to pipe up with small requests of how Gavin 'should' take care of Temp and things he 'should' do for him. Mostly small things, sweet acts most couples will gladly participate in, as observed from loved ones or read in books.

"I know exactly what you have to do!" The bossy girl speaks up and stops the chatter. She sniffs, rubbing a thumb under her nose in a way she childishly thinks looks cool (and leaving a smear of mango juice there). The other kids hush to listen to her wisdom and authority. "This festival is to celebrate the harvest, but do you know the story? A woman loved this guy so much she dove into the water every day looking for stuff cause he was sick. Wanted to make him better, right?" She glanced around at the other kids who nodded, confirming her words.

"So, she pulls up more and more stuff and nothing helps, goes deeper and deeper, and she brought up trees and plants and nothing helped him! Then one day, she got all the way to the bottom and found the sun. You gotta dive down as far as you can and bring back something for Temp! If it's not something really cool then you don't deserve him!"

Gavin's lips purse as he withholds a chuckle.

"Cross my heart."

He readily agrees to their other demands, as well; most of them obvious things that the couple already do, married or no. It's not until the bossiest of their number once again speaks up that his attention sharpens.

This should be good.

He's not disappointed with her story of diving for the fucking sun, of all things.

"Well if that's what it takes, of course I would."

He finishes peeling another vegetable and sets it aside.

Tempest Quinn