It was sweltering. Fern was used to the cooler weather of Galar–this was unreal. He was toiling under this sun, absolutely suffering. Even Cecilia, who loved warm, sunny patches, seemed to be sluggish from the sheer warmth of the weather. How was he expected to work under these conditions?[break][break]



And with a sparky horde of pikachu, at that. Little rodents…[break][break]



Luckily, he did have some suitable attire unlike the little emo waif he’d been instructed to meet. Of course, Fern very much preferred dressing nicely, but a white t-shirt was much more comfortable for the day. Okay, fine! He hardly had any comfy clothes that he’d be caught dead in out of doors, so that meant he was stuck wearing an oversized tie-dye t-shirt emblazoned with a big “I <3 WYNDON” across the front. A tourist buy from a trip to the big city with his da when he’d been like, thirteen or something.[break][break]



The sight of Levy was as unmistakable as the gaggle of little yellow electric-types in the short distance. “Ohhh, Levy~” Fern hailed, cupping his mouth with his hands. “Looking brooding as ever, I see.” He pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead and grinned at the younger man as Cecilia nudged up under his arm in an attempt to shade her wide head.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Levy Alinsky | m: pika pickup | lil bby bird...[break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon dragapult"]

He didn't have to wait too long, which he was supremely thankful for. Even the sparse shade he'd managed to lurk under didn't do much to stave off the heat for long so seeing Fern in the distance felt like a godsend. Not that he'd tell the other that, considering how full of himself Fern could be. It was easier having company, for some reason, ever since Wren left. Like maybe loneliness wasn't the only state of being. What a needy bastard he could be.

"I'm not brooding, I'm just waiting for you, thanks." He grumbled, a little snappier than he might have otherwise. He blamed it on the heat. Fern had somehow seemed to dress more fitting than Levy and yet... "The hell are you wearing?" Even if he wouldn't have warn anything with that many colors, he did envy the other considering he was sweating through his clothes.

He focused on the rodents in the distance with a sigh, "Let's get this over with, got places to be." No he didn't. He had nowhere better to be than out in the heat collecting electric rodents. That was so sad.

fern delaney | m: pika pickup

☉

“I think your default state is brooding, though,” Fern chirped in response. The snappy nature of the younger didn’t faze Fern in the least. He was used to working with Marza’s grumpiness, and honestly, he’d always been a bit unflappable in that arena. Cecilia sounded her agreement, trilling as she floated behind him. “Whatcha mean? It’s hot out, if you hadn’t noticed. Of course I’m going to wear a t-shirt.” Nevermind that it was probably the tackiest t-shirt he owned.[break][break]

Fern barked out a laugh, then dared to reach over and tousle the hair at the top of Levy’s head. “Sure ya do, bud.” Not missing a beat in his stride, he continued forward and took the time to release a newly obtained sirfetch’d as they approached. The white, duck-like bird held its leek sword aloft, prepared to start smackin’ the little squeakers like a big game of whackamole.[break][break]

“How’s that little friend of yours, hm? Also, how do you wanna tackle this? I got the issued pokeballs.” He slung down a shoulder bag stuffed with pokeballs assigned to them for the task. As many as they could manage. But Fern really didn’t care about that so much as he did the first question he asked. Nosy as ever.



[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Levy Alinsky | m: pika pickup | lil bby bird...[break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon dragapult"]

"I'm told it makes me seem mysterious." Or whiny, depending on who it was remarking on his trademark grumble. Levy still snorted at the other's justification to wear that ugly thing. "Well.. alright then." It wasn't like he was fashionable, by any means. If anything, he was regretting certain choices by deciding to go out in the heat dressed as he was.

"I do..." He remarked, though it sounded a degree more whiny than he'd intended it to, which made him feel stupid. Fern had a skill for provocation and Levy shouldn't be feeding it by giving him what he wanted. He crossed his arms, mouth shutting on another objection that he wouldn't give the other any dignity in hearing. This was so frustrating.

At least, he wasn't planning on giving the other any more responses, but that just wasn't good enough for Fern. They had a job to do and he wanted to gossip? Really? Of course, he did. This was Fern, after all. "He's fine, how should I know?" Instead, he decided to focus on the pikachu in the distance. This was clearly not what Fern wanted to discuss. "I don't know, figure we take as many as we can. Could light the brush on fire and force them this way." They were definitely getting zapped.

fern delaney | m: pika pickup

☉

Fern laughed—like held his stomach as his head tipped back for the guffaw that followed. “Mysterious? Is that the word for it?” He thought it just further accentuated Levy’s sullen demeanor more than anything else. But Fern wasn’t there to cast aspersions on the younger man. Not really. Nor did he care about Levy’s obvious judgment of his tacky, tie-dye shirt. It kept him cooled off mostly, and that was that.[break][break]

“You only wish you had such a cool shirt,” he still teased, grinning broadly as they drew closer to the horde of invasive pikachu. “Hmm? You sound so convincing…” he retorted with a soft snort. “If you actually had somewhere to be, you wouldn’t lack conviction.” Fern tapped his temple, giving the other a knowing look. That was the key to a compelling lie, after all. It almost required nearly believing it yourself, sometimes.[break][break]

“Aw that’s no fun. And here I’d thought surely your love life had to have moved forward some.” His smirk was smug as he turned back to the task at hand, immediately frowning at the suggestion. “Oh, a little firebug, are we? Do you have something to put it out afterward?” Out of curiosity, he lifted one of the balls and tossed it without care toward a pikachu near the fringes. With a glowing silver tail, it swatted the ball away, and turned toward them, cheeks charged with a burst of THUNDER.[break][break]

“You’re up, Galahad!” Quick as a whip, the sirfetch’d darted forward—between the two of them, but just ahead. The plant-crafted shield was held up as the thunderbolt came crashing down. It spilled around them in a crackling flood of light. “Feisty little squeakers,” he remarked with a laugh. This was fun.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Levy Alinsky | m: pika pickup | lil bby bird...[break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon dragapult"]

"Yep, that's what I'm told." Broody, that was what he was told and it wasn't exactly a lie. Levy had a lot of stuff going on in his head at all times of the day and he betrayed them with every doleful expression. He was aware, despite any efforts at the contrary. It helped being around wren rourke, who was always so damn chipper that it made him see the positive too. Without his bestfriend though, well... okay so maybe he had a bit of an unhealthy dependency and would probably pay for that one day. What else was new?

"Love life?!" He blurted a little loud. He scoffed, hands stuffing in the pockets of his jacket. "You're absurd. He's my friend, I swear I've told you this already." He had, probably more times than he needed to. It was beginning to become a nuisance. It was also bad timing for him to go and get distracted by what was clearly Fern poking for a reaction.

Especially when light filled the sky and lightning crashed down. "Go," He jerked his head to the side and Centiskorch followed the sirfetch'd. Covered by the shield, the bug pokemon lashed out afterwards with FIRE SPIN. Flames circled the group of pokemon. "See? Controlled."

fern delaney | m: pika pickup

☉

“You heard me!” Fern chirped back, smile wide and unbothered by the startled reaction drawn from the younger man. “I’m not absurd. Friends can have feelings for one another. It’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff.” Fern sighed, waving a hand, “Honestly, young grasshopper. You will learn. And based on even the scant things you’ve said, he’s so into you.”[break][break]

The sad truth was that though Fern was definitely trying to provoke the other, he wasn’t lying, either. So how long was Levy going to tiptoe around the whole thing, and be miserable for it? “I say shoot your shot. Why not?”[break][break]

Worst that could happen was that it wouldn’t be mutual, but this little friend of his sounded like literally inhumanly nice. Didn’t seem like much to be worried about. Not to mention the fact that Levy was wrong—it would hardly qualify as the end of the world.[break][break]

Levy proved him correct, of course. “That’s all well and good, but like I said, do you have something to put the fire out?” Ah, well. Guess that wasn’t their problem. They just needed to collect the pikachu. He tossed out another ball, this time at the group of rats who were too busy trying to figure out a way through the flames to be concerned with his catching them.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Levy Alinsky | m: pika pickup | lil bby bird...[break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon dragapult"]

"How could I not? You're loud..." Levy grumbled at that, not exactly wanting to be Fern's latest source of entertainment. That last thing he wished to do was discuss his apparent "love life", but there was also a sort of... strange desire to seek out answers. Fern was flirty, confident — right? He'd been around or whatever.

"Why do you even think that? How do you know?" He scoffed, definitely not prying for answers or anything. "It doesn't matter though, I'm no good so... it'd just hurt him." He paused, realizing he was saying far too much and rolled his eyes. This was just what the other wanted and he hated it.

"Because I'm complicated garbage, that's why. We're out stealing pokemon." He gestured at said pokemon, "Wren protects these guys... I'm just shitting on everything he believes in."

With a sigh, he called Centiskorch back and replaced him with Starmie, who quickly extinguished the flames with hydro pump. "Happy? Thought you were supposed to be chill."

fern delaney | m: pika pickup

☉

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, but it ensures my opinion never goes unheard.” Fern fixed him with a thin, smug smile. It was amusing, yes, and he enjoyed reading the younger man. But, well, it was a bit sad too, wasn’t it? Fern had only just learned the boon in forming a steady attachment, but that didn’t mean he’d never enjoyed dalliances. So either way, he couldn’t imagine keeping silent on any sort of interest felt. Casual or serious.[break][break]

In Fern’s opinion, Levy was only short-changing himself.[break][break]

“Just from what you’ve said about him,” he replied with a shrug, coy smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when Levy showed interest despite trying to pretend otherwise. “If you’re no good. Like, really no good, why would he stick around if not because he’s pining just as much?” Fern’s brows lifted at the other and then he turned to continue chucking pokeballs out at the pikachu.[break][break]

As Levy continued speaking, though, Fern cut a glance sideways and his smile tugged into a frown. “Shit, you’re still just a kid, Levy.” Pretty much, anyway. “Cut yourself some slack. You’re not that rotten.” And Fern thought he was dramatic.[break][break]

“Maybe, you know, trust him if he’s your best friend or whatever. Give him a little more credit than just assuming he’s going to kick you down for whatever idea of yourself you’ve got cooking up in that little emo head of yours.” In Fern speak: just shoot your shot, you ninny.[break][break]

Fire extinguished and a decent portion of pikachu contained, Fern huffed as he nodded. “Yes, happy.” His arms folded as he shot Levy another look, “and hey. I’m not all cotton between my ears, thanks. I can be chill. Less so if that fire had gotten out of hand and had drawn rangers to the site. Then we might’ve been detained, or forced to abandon our haul. Think ahead, Alinsky.”[break][break]

He stooped to begin tossing balls back into the bag they’d come out of. “Always think ahead. And don’t assume that just because someone is loud, they lack total awareness.” There was more than a hint of a lecture there for the younger Rocket, but he still looked up with a slight smirk. “Sometimes it’s the opposite.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Levy Alinsky | m: pika pickup | lil bby bird...[break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon dragapult"]

"Sometimes subtlety is better though." He retorted though there was no question that the other had a point. Maybe if he more readily spoke up, things would be different for him. Maybe he'd end up in less difficult positions. Yet his experience was different from Fern's. Life had never valued his voice so he learned to make do in other ways.

"He's a good person... doesn't know when to give up." For that, he was usually thankful. Levy never made things easy, but Wren never gave up on him, or anyone for that matter. This was really distracting, when all they should be concerned with were the pikachu. He'd come out here for a job, not to discuss his convoluted romantic feelings for his best friend. He couldn't handle regular feelings, let alone anything more complex than that.

He scoffed at that. How could Fern claim that so boldly, all the while ignoring the fact they were stealing pikachu from the wild to sell? Wren would never have understood that or allowed it. If he knew, well things wouldn't be quite so peachy in the other's book. Levy felt himself seesawing between achy softness and this vitriolic hatred he'd always had. It wasn't easy to balance and he usually failed to keep it internalized.

Yet somehow, unsurprisingly, he'd struck a nerve. It still wasn't something he'd expected to do with someone like Fern who seemed entirely unaffected by everything around him. His frustration, of course, was understandable. Yet, simultaneously, Levy didn't really care about those repercussions. Once again there was that duality, battling in him between letting it all burn and yet wanting to keep going for Wren's sake. Still, he was quiet through the brunt of the lecture. "Yeah sure," He muttered, stooping to pick up pokeballs, though he might as well have grumbled a "whatever" like a bratty teen, which was a little annoying to stomach. "Can we just get out of here already?"

fern delaney | m: pika pickup

☉