but that's just it, isn't it? the best that nagi can ever hope to be is just enough. he shouldn’t want more. [break][break]

he shouldn’t, he knows. but.[break][break]

"yeah." nagi curls his toes, grounds himself in the sensation of grit between them, of the steady weight of sherlock balancing on his head — until he can look up at danny with his brow unfurrowed, the wry tilt of his smile back in place. "wise words, danny shifu."[break][break]

the waves lap at the shore; his eyes catch on the foaming white of the crests, following the ebb and flow of the water along the coast. life lessons with the bro on a beach by moonlight: nagi never thought he would have this in the cards for his future, but hoenn is, as always, full of surprises.[break][break]

"might just be moving blues. hoenn is…" he gropes through the dusty vaults of his vocabulary, and emerges from their depths with — "a lot."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

whatever may be inflicting nagi with stress, guilt, or burdens otherwise unseen, danny truly feels for his friend.[break][break]

hoenn is not a kind place. nagi doesn't have nostalgia or family to offset all the bad; all he has is danny, presumably.[break][break]

"did..."[break][break]

should he ask? yes. nagi is his friend, after all.[break][break]

"did something happen since you got here?"

[attr="class","ooc"]nagi miwa[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

it feels trivial to verbalise. nothing happened, actually. just a few words, a scare or two to take home. the corpse wasn't his; he wasn't hurt. [break][break]

guilt settles over nagi's shoulders, a heavy, wet blanket. it's not a weight he wants to lay over danny. if he were different, stronger —[break][break]

but he isn’t. [break][break]

"i saw," he starts, stutters to a stop. chews on the inside of his lip, and tries again. [break][break]

"... do you know about rocket?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

rocket.[break][break]

danny tenses.[break][break]

"...yes."[break][break]

coming from a man who essentially threw away his life to chase after a love he had once had. a love he had once thought was pure, just, and final.[break][break]

how wrong he had been.[break][break]

"did...did you run into them?"

[attr="class","ooc"]nagi miwa[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

nagi notices the stiffening of danny's frame. but to whatever underlying meaning there could be behind danny's sudden tension, he remains blissfully unaware. [break][break]

it's rocket, after all. who wouldn't be tense?[break][break]

much less someone who has lived under their shadow for the past year. [break][break]

"twice, actually." he shrugs, trying for flippant and falling short. "he didn't hurt me, though. i'm just... spooked."[break][break]

his eyes drop to danny's silhouette on the sands, wavering in faint glow of sherlock's candlelight. "have you?"
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

reluctantly, danny nods, head spinning with thoughts on how best to weave his lie.[break][break]

"a few times, yeah, but nothing too serious either."[break][break]

he swallows, feeling the tension in the air around them despite the calmness of the scenery.[break][break]

"it spooked me as well. fuck, it'd spook anyone."[break][break]

his heart breaks a little for nagi. the last thing he wanted for his friend was for nagi to run into trouble. but trouble seems to be everywhere in hoenn.[break][break]

"did he see you? what happened?"

[attr="class","ooc"]nagi miwa[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

"they were in alleyway. he saw me. we... talked." nagi's words fall out, one after another, chipped and brittle. what's a fun, conversational way to tell your friend you saw a dead body? "there was a dead body." [break][break]

he says it in a single breath. like trying to spit it off his tongue.[break][break]

“he told me it was a hit on a gang leader.” [break][break]

he shoves his cold fingers in his pocket. smiles, apologetic, into danny’s shadow. [break][break]

“... sorry. didn’t call you all the way out here for this.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

talked. danny isn't foolish enough to believe that's all there is to it. in his experience, there's little talking involved especially when dead bodies are involved.[break][break]

his heart sinks for his friend.[break][break]

"shit, nagi."[break][break]

"don't apologize. i just...i just—"[break][break]

i just wish i could've done something.[break][break]

but another place, another time, and danny could've been the one pulling the trigger. the one doing the 'talking'.[break][break]

"shit."

[attr="class","ooc"]nagi miwa[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

"shit," he echoes. [break][break]

there is a lot about danny that nagi doesn't know. that he doesn't know he doesn't know — all he sees, standing in the sands, is a familiar face. an old friend. [break][break]

someone he trusts, unconditionally. [break][break]

nagi has no reason not to. [break][break]

"i'm fine. on a scale of things." he rallies, best as he can; unwilling to let his friend hurt for him. "i'm still here." [break][break]

he kicks at the top of a pile of dirt with the side of his heel, sending a small spray of sand against danny's shoes. [break][break]

"have to make sure there's someone around to call you a nerd." [break][break]

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

nagi is still here, sure, but for how long? how long until whoever ran into nagi inevitably orders the middling web-novelist to be taken out? what if danny's the one assigned to do it?[break][break]

his mind races with thoughts and concerns but one stands above all:[break][break]

what the fuck are you doing, danny?[break][break]

and also:[break][break]

fuck rocket.[break][break]

danny can't leave but that doesn't mean he can't fight them. slowly, but surely, another path in his future carves.[break][break]

"true, true. no one does it better than you, a fellow nerd. actually, i'd argue an even bigger nerd."[break][break]

he kicks sand in return only to reach over to slap nagi on his shoulder.[break][break]

"come on. wanna battle?"

[attr="class","ooc"]nagi miwa[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

"nah. you're the bigger nerd." nagi gestures at the height difference between them. "see?"[break][break]

cutting their trainer's nonsense short, sherlock leaps off nagi's head and lands on the ground in front of him, flame bright and rearing to go. nagi huffs at the unusual show of eagerness — but he's glad for it. he grips the lifeline out of the mire of his thoughts; sets them aside, neat and compartmentalised, as problems for another day.[break][break]

with friends like these, what does he have to worry about?[break][break]

"show us the way, danny-sensei."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

"tch. whatever."[break][break]

danny huffs only to break out of the act almost instantly. he can never stay pretend-angry at nagi for too long. his friend's just too cute.[break][break]

nodding, he takes a few steps back and unhooks a pokeball from its holster before tossing it high up into the air. a heracross pops free, landing into the sand with a solid thumf![break][break]

"alright, buggy! let's teach these nerds how to battle."[break][break]

nodding, buggy gets into a stance he's seen danny practice in front of a mirror countless times. it's likely one from karate kid; an excellent movie.

[attr="class","ooc"]nagi miwa[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-heracross"]

sherlock follows buggy's lead and drops into a matching martial arts stance they've seen nagi poorly attempt to mimic before — from ip man, also an excellent movie. their tiny, stubby arms somehow still do a better job than nagi could ever hope to emulate.[break][break]

"right. um." nagi fumbles his way down the list of moves he remembers teaching his litwick, and lands on the one of two moves he had leaned on throughout the tea room challenges. "sherlock — will-o-wisp." [break][break]

sherlock's flame lights up, blue and bright, the ghost light darting across air towards buggy.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] DANNY HALL [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]