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This was a lot less fun than he'd thought it would be.
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Maybe he just wasn't a good magician after all. That was kind of the thing though, it was all a matter of performance skills and he liked to think himself rather skilled in that art. It was probably all he was good at — being dramatic and entertaining. In the end, it turned out he wasn't very good at that either. After the upset he'd caused with his last thieving debacle, Rook was really trying to turn over a new leaf. Try something new, maybe. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't supposed to be, right? Rook was delicate, even if he didn't like admitting to such.
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Admitting that he actually had no life skills or qualifications that made him good at anything, well that was a tiny bit soul-crushing. He was going to try again though, of course. Especially since Lam was going to be there. He had high hopes, after all Lam was his rock. He was his motivator. And yet...
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One looked at the frumpy snubbull he was supposed to entertain... he could tell that things probably weren't going to work out for him. "The raticate still had fun when I fell over.." That had still had at least a moment of enjoyment for the intended party. What was even the point of these parties? If he tried to give Rosie a party like this, she would hate him forever. That's why he always celebrated her birthdays in the privacy of the closet with a single lit cupcake.
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Kids weren't much easier than pokemon. Considering Rook had spent most of his own childhood getting bullied, well... things hadn't apparently changed much. They still bullied him.
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The first trick was the never ending hankerchief. Then, the disappearing candy pokecoin, which was awarded to the scowling pokemon who looked thoroughly unimpressed. Even the trick where he made Crumbs the Pidove appear from his hat. Nothing. He laughed nervously and looked at Lam. "Still think that?"

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lam logan // m: poke-party

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[attr="class","star2"]“Raticates are little brutes, though,” he offered in commiseration. “I guess that’s a fair point, but I’m sure this will be better.” Famous last words, am I right?[break][break]

Lam grimaced, but he tried to turn it into a grin. “Can you do…like, balloon animals?” He didn’t know, he wasn’t a natural performer like Rook was. Having caught Crumbs after he fluttered from Rook’s top hat, he stroked the top of his head as the pidove cooed.[break][break]

“Maybe it’s like the raticate, and would like if you fell down?” Bad idea, Lam. Way to add insult to injury…[break][break]

Inching closer to his boyfriend, Lam shuffled Crumbs into the crook of one arm, and then curled the other around Rook’s waist, chin reaching to prop on his shoulder. “You’ve gotta have more tricks up your sleeve, that’s your bread and butter, Rookidee.” He cooed the nickname, trying to draw any sort of smile from the taller man.[break][break]

As they stood there, though, his glance drifted back toward the surly snubbull. She clearly looked unhappy, but most snubbulls did, so it was a little difficult to tell. At least until some of the children at the party began to crowd around it. Maybe a bit too close for her comfort, even if they meant well.[break][break]

“Oh…” he pointed over at the scene unfolding, and the obvious nervousness of the pokemon, then looked up at Rook in silent questioning.

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Ikarus Rook // m: poke-party // outfit // my lil guys…

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[attr="class","star2"]Lam shook his head quickly, “No, no. That was a bad idea, sorry. Don’t do that.” Some people liked that sort of weird, slapstick humor though, so who knew? But Lam didn’t know the first thing about any of this. He was easygoing enough to interact with others on their terms, but entertaining? No way. He was always content to be more of a wallflower in that arena.[break][break]

Still, he hated to see Rook so downcast. It was just a matter of finding out what fit, or what clicked, right? He could understand to a degree—though it was art-involved, the gallery he worked at didn’t always feel like it was right. He’d just long adopted a ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ mentality about it where his wallet was concerned.[break][break]

As he leaned against Rook, his fingers trailed up and down the line of his arm. Even the pet name failed to bring a smile to his lips, and Lam felt himself sink a bit. Maybe he shouldn’t have expected Rook to find a job if it wasn’t making him happy or fulfilled, but what else were they supposed to do? They couldn’t live off of his paychecks and what little thieving brought in.[break][break]

His attention returned to Rook, though, as they watched the clearly unhappy snubbull. “You have an idea?” Lam was quick to follow the instruction, hurrying after him with Crumbs still under one arm.[break][break]

“I’ll come find you in a bit, good luck!” Lam has always thought himself to be decent around kids, but that was put to the test as Rook scooped up the involuntary center of attention and whisked her away. The children turned riotous, and despite his offer to show them how to juggle a pidove among some rubber balls, the favor soon turned to pig piling him instead as Crumbs squawked and flew to safety on the unmoving ceiling fan.[break][break]

Maybe he should get paid for today too.


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Ikarus Rook // m: poke-party // outfit // my lil guys…

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Leaving Lam to the mercy of the children was probably the hardest thing he's ever had to do. It felt like he was sacrificing his life partner to a herd of angry tauros. The kids were likely no less mean and impatient, so it still meant a lot that Lam was willing to go through with all of this. It wasn't even his job to be there, but he was.
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"You okay, little guy?" He said, safely outside where he could deposit the grumpy Snubbull on the ground. The pokemon looked up at him with a touch more relief in his eyes, before bobbing back in forth with a thankful grimace. "You're welcome, I know how you feel. It can be a lot some times." He recalled the treats tucked in his pocket and took out a handful. "Happy birthday."
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This likely wouldn't last, eventually the kids would find the snubbull again, but at least he could offer the little guy some space to breathe. He turned in the window and waved at Lam enthusiastically. The kids didn't seem to happy with his bunny partner.
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Sitting the snubbull up on a swing set, he rocked it back and forth. "You relax out here until you're ready, yeah?" Then he retreated back inside to a roar of children. "What? I made him vanish, he'll be back from the void in a couple of minutes." He walked over to Lam and linked hands with him. "I think I'm done with this job."


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lam logan // m: poke-party

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[attr="class","star2"] Rook stole away the snubbull with ease, and the pink pooch seemed grateful for it. It tucked into Rook’s arms comfortably. Immediately at ease with his rescuer. It was an interesting sight to see, considering he’d only ever seen Rook interact with his own few Pokémon.[break][break]

Very interesting.[break][break]

Movement out of the corner of his eye made Lam turn, and he smiled as he saw Rook waving through the window. It seemed to be going well with the snubbull, super well, so he shot a thumbs up back at his boyfriend. Maybe there was something worth exploring there rather than trying to navigate hectic parties.[break][break]

It was right about then that the children decided to riot, and it was all Lam could do to try and contain them again. Where the heck had their parents gone? Too busy socializing in the kitchen or something, probably.[break][break]

“Oh good, you’re back.” He could have heaved a huge sigh of relief as Rook returned, snubbull-less. Their fingers twined together as the kids protested the continued vanishing act, but at least the poor pup could get a breather. “Yeeeaahhh, doesn’t seem worth it. I’ve got an idea, though. He glanced over at Rook, grinning. “How much longer do we have to stay for you to at least get paid for today?”[break][break]

Unfortunately, they still needed the paycheck.[break][break]

Double misfortunate came when the kids decided to act on Lam’s distraction, barreling into him en masse and tackling him down at the bottom of a dogpile. “Rook, sosssss.” Oh to be the snubbull on his swing set, right about now.

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Ikarus Rook // m: poke-party // outfit // my lil guys…

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Without the Snubbull to distract the children, they were steadily getting overrun. Kids were mean, a lot more than Rook realized. Then again, he'd never been able to be snotty without consequence. Most of these kids had nothing to fear, especially with their parents sipping wine and laughing in the kitchen without a care in the world. Typical.
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"Okay, what's your plan?" He said with a little squeak as he was used as a jungle gym by an over eager toddler. "It's an hourly commission so, technically I've already gotten money. It does get affected by reviews though." That was the upside and downside of this job, aside from the unwanted babysitting aspect of it.
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Maybe if they were crafty, they could still manage to escape without suffering a terrible review.

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lam logan // m: poke-party

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“My plan?” He wasn’t the mastermind here, “I just meant like, an idea about what to do instead of this job, not how to get out of it.”[break][break]

“Well…does a bad review matter if you’re gonna quit?” he asked as he tried to stagger back to his feet, small children clinging to his arms. He was tempted to windmill them away. Well actually, if his pay got docked for it, that wouldn’t be good.[break][break]

Oh, but maybe they could do something. His eyes lit up as an idea came to mind. “Alright, kiddos! I think it might be cake time,” he announced with a clap of his hands. As if on cue at the promise of pure sugar, the children went howling in a pack toward the kitchen and back to their parents responsibility. Phew.[break][break]

“What I was gonna say, though, was maybe you should consider the whole trainer gig. You did, like, super well with that snubbull.” Just some food for thought, really. “We could even do it together, maybe, if you wanted. Something just tells me you might have a knack for it, more than you think.”[break][break]

They could talk about it more later. His fingers wiggled in request for the other’s hand as Crumbs fluttered down from his ceiling fan haven. “Let’s get out while we can, yeah?”


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Ikarus Rook // m: poke-party // outfit // my lil guys…

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"Oh.... right." He said, a touch daft. He could be a little slow to the draw at times, though he didn't like to think himself dumb (even if he kind of was). "No... suppose it doesn't matter." Bad reviews would only impact future work, which he had no intention of doing so it really didn't matter. Of course, he still needed to make sure he got paid at all, in the end. He could work with that though.
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Lam expertly worked the children's short attention spans (maybe it came from dealing with him and his short attention span, Rook didn't know). Inciting them with the promise of cake, well Rook was almost excited about getting cake, before remembering their only plan then was to get the heck out of dodge.
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"Trainer? You... think I'm good enough to do that?" Rook wasn't so certain that he believed that. However, if Lam was going to do it with him, well that felt less scary. "I mean if you're going to with me... sure. Okay... Sounds fun." He wasn't confident, but there was something romantic about the idea. So, he took the other's hand and ran for the closest exit. Their time here was done.
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lam logan // m: poke-party

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The only thing Lam cared about then was, in fact, getting them out of there. So long as Rook was paid for the day, and they left unscathed, that was all that mattered. Though he did catch the hopeful glint in Rook’s eye at the mention of cake. “We’ll stop at a bakery on the way home and get our own cake,” he commented with a huff of laughter. Though that dimmed some at the uncertain question that followed.[break][break]

“Yeah, definitely! You just seemed really natural with that snubbull,” he replied quickly, head nodding. And it wasn’t even a bid to console the other, or give him false hope. Lam just trusted his gut on it. Rook seemed skeptical, though, so he grinned and shrugged before bumping their shoulders together. “It’ll be fun, just take it a day at a time. Don’t have to be a pro at it from the jump.”[break][break]

But it did sound nice, didn’t it? Doing something together like that. Gladly, he let his hand slide into Rook’s as he pulled them away—snubbull still swinging happily away by itself, away from the rowdy hellion children. Seemed like a good birthday in his books.

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Ikarus Rook // m: poke-party // outfit // my lil guys…

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