gaultier was right. taiga knew that. everyone knew that. "hell, pigs will fly before that happens." of course, taiga was gonna argue the opposite was going to be true for the longest time. truth be told, she was afraid of being replaced and left behind. she had a lot of baggage and weight on her shoulders that pertained to things more detrimental than emotional trips to her past.[break]
if jaskier could move forward, she would undoubtedly be left behind.[break]
twisting the ring she wore on her proper ring finger, she seemed to zone out for a moment with this thought heavy on her brain. she wasn't wearing an engagement ring or anything of the like, but the little silver band reminded her of the words and thoughts they had been sharing of being hitched. just how much of what he had said was out of pity - out of need to protect her? while jaskier couldn't even take care of himself, he really did try for taiga and she knew that.[break]
only she was blind to how much she sacrificed for him in return, so she felt lacking.[break]
"eh, mr. gaultier, aren't you - like - only forty? yer not that old yet, come on!" already assuming his age was more advanced than it was, she went to give the lanky kalosian a strong pat on the back to cheer him up. as if to help cheer on the man, her charizard went to give gaultier a pat on the other side of his back, its eyes in happy crescents as it roared out an appreciative cheer. this left her bramblin to use mega drain to blast the mudkip down to size, a pokeball following.[break]

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@gaultier

His eyes went wide in offense at both Taiga and her Charizard. Forty? Forty?! THEY THOUGHT HE WAS FORTY?!

"I'm 34, you awful child," he hissed, aghasted by her words.

But he did have to give the redhead some credit. Here she was a little self-conscious of her own relationship. If he'd picked up anything from his time with Esmee, it was a strong sense of empathy. He'd learned to pick up on the emotions of others to either twist into his favor or to offer guidance to some degree -- Taiga was lucky today. He breathed out calmly and looked down at her.

"First, I apologize for snapping at you," he began. "Second, I don't think you have anything to fear. You've known each other since you were children, right? And somehow you found yourselves with one another again. Time and time again, you've come back to one another. I don't think that's coincidence, but I'm not the type to believe in fate either."

He paused for a moment, then looked at Taiga again. This time, he figured a joke might lift her spirits a bit.

"Besides, promises of engagement aren't often to force people together. It's not like the gesture was out of obligation. Engagements are for people who see a future together."

He wanted to finish off his statement in which he told the redhead that if the relationship were a trap, they'd expect children in their future instead of a wedding. But even the idea of such a thing haunted Gaultier. He could only pray to Arceus, or whatever god would dare to listen to a poor sinner, that such a fate would never befall the Velvet Room or any of their highly broken staff.

[ SKIPPING ]

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@taiga

gaultier apologized for something that just made taiga cackle maniacally. the redhead was laughing so much that she had to hold her stomach and wipe away at tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. she didn't quite know his age so she just guessed, but the way he broke his proper and high-strung outwards persona made her want to just give him a loving pat on the head. [break]
maybe esmee did have good taste after all, not like he really compared to the meathead hottie taiga herself had.[break]
"yeah, yeah. copium or whatever," she sighed as she absorbed gaultier's words. he was right and she knew it. his attempt to comfort her didn't fall on deaf ears, but she was also quite stubborn when it came to being helped in such a way. "we've known each other too long, really," she joked before wondering out loud, "but when you know someone for that long, i wonder how much of his past i remind him of. you ever had someone in your past that you cut off in order to move on from it all? kinda like a bad reminder of what once was?"[break]

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@gaultier

He supposed he could understand where Taiga came from in that aspect. While he had a few people who reminded him of his past, they'd been long gone as far as he was concerned. No need for him to dwell on what was gone. Perhaps he remained far too focused on his words to really pay attention to the pokemon that made themselves known to the pair. Gaultier allowed his Revaroom to take down the Veluza in the meantime so it wouldn't pose any problem among the duo.

"You make a point, but you both have the ability to make sure the past doesn't repeat itself -- you know the warning signs of relapse, so use them. Don't let what happened before now define what will happen and happens now. We're only human, but we're capable of adapting to change and evolving ourselves."

Perhaps he wasn't quite ready to talk of his own past with anyone who wasn't Esmee. It's not like it cut deep, he'd brushed most of it off by the present, he simply didn't wish to seek pity for the fill-in father figure he was forced to take the role of. To change the topic, his eyes caught a glimpse of the Salamence. A chuckle slipped out as he eyed it, then Taiga.

"Cute, you and your partner can match."

[ SKIPPING ]

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@taiga

"man i dunno, i'm sure most of 'the room' would argue i don't know piss all," she half-argued, not trying to be difficult but admitting to her faults. her issue with her insecurities could probably be handled easier than she thought, but she didn't like to think about hard things like those very often or for very long. it was difficult and made her turn to sampling her product, covering aggravating factors of her anxiety and depression with clouds of white.[break]
"OH HELL YEAH, LOOK AT THAT BEAUTY!" taiga yelled out in appreciation, a long-winded and heavily trucker-like whistle coming from her lips as she 'sic'ed her charizard on the dragon type (unfortunate it wasn't a fellow dragon type but this was neither here nor there). "jaskier's gonna think i'm copying him, if anything," she said stubbornly, a small speck of pink on the right side of her face to denote a stubborn blush that still fought hard to appear despite her beating back the satisfaction of indeed matching with her hot piece of ass. "what about you? you looking for something to give to esmee?" asking this question, she threw out a pokeball to follow the dragon grapple fight.[break]

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

@gaultier