the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park

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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 1, 2023 20:40:19 GMT
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The ground shifted strangely under Fox’s feet. He held out an arm for to pause. No matter what their ranking, Fox’s expertise in guerilla warfare and time in the bush gave him the edge in these sorts of close quarters.

Complaints of erratic behavior from both people and Pokemon were filtering in from large swathes of the countryside. Many League scientists, Fox amongst them, ventured the rifts were having something to do with the episodes. Given his and Lars’ experience with the Deep Sea rift at the center of Granite Cave, they’d been dispatched to deal with the encounters from this part of Hoenn.

This far from the rift things appeared normal… but Fox knew better than most that not everything was always as it seemed.

stretch of the imagination
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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 1, 2023 21:32:38 GMT
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Normally he’d be investigating the stuff closer to Lilycove and/or Verdanturf, as these were the places where he had the most ‘jurisdiction’ per se. However, though…

Something was coming. Again.

And it was out at Granite Cave, again, a.k.a. his claustrophobia was prickling at the edges of his concealed panic—if they had to go into the damned thing again he was definitely going to fucking pass because that was just. The extent of how much a man could take…

“What is it,” he breathed out quietly. Never having felt so mentally naked before, the ‘familiar’ press of the second consciousness that shared his headspace was still absent, even today…

“Is something coming?”

It… it may have been a question, but at the same time it felt like a statement.

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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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TAG WITH @foxgrove
faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 20:08:04 GMT
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They weren’t friends. They didn’t share secrets, industry, personal or otherwise; and Fox was far from gossiping like a giggling schoolgirl.

But Lars had been… different, ever since they came back from the Deep Sea the first time when Fox had pulled him back from the edge of the abyss.

Fox licks his lips, tilts his head.

“I think it’s already here,” he said, voice quiet in the gloom. He was calm, and alert but not panicked, and he hoped Lars could be counted on to remain the same.

There was a distant noise, like roaring, and the ground pitched. Fox jumped as a seam opened in the earth beneath his feet, hitting the ground in a forward roll and whirling at the end of it to look back at Lars.

Geysers of pink fog shot forth from within the ground, hissing ominously as everything between Fox and Lars became covered in a thin sheen of pink glitter.


stretch of the imagination

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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 20:16:01 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


At the familiar sight of pink smoke, he—

“Non questa merda di nuovo1!” he hissed, forgetting to words in the right language for a few moments as he backed away and the familiar, glittery sheen wrapped all around them.

Oh, fuck, here we go again!

Hopefully the other had read about the effects of the pink smoke from the Interdream Zone—considering that Fox had access to most scientific-related information that the government was willing to allow its scientists easy access to, he knew he was going to be in for another bad, bad time.

Shadowy shapes began to take form in his field of vision…



1 — not this shit again!


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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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TAG WITH @foxgrove
faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 20:51:15 GMT
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Phage popped forward in a burst of light. Protect, on me,” Fox ordered, charging forward towards the seam of pink gas. The prismatic protect bubble formed up over the two of them as he launched himself through the air-- the dream gas, which is what he suspected this was-- roiled and pressed against the rounded edge of the protect-- as he landed on the other side, boots sliding.

He fell a bit, fingertips dragging along the ground, pushing him back up to standing as he fell back in step next to Lars.

“We should go,” he said, having to lift his voice over the noise of the gas, rushing out like a waterfall. He reached out and fixed his gloved hand around Lars’ forearm, squeezing. “We shouldn’t get separated.”

A tall figure in a white lab coat materalized out of the mist beyond Lars and stepped forward.

“Lock,” the figment said, smiling.


stretch of the imagination

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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 21:08:25 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


“Whatever you do,” he went on quietly as the Protective screen snapped into place around them, “…don’t inhale the pink stuff. It has the power to make—”

The shapes in the mist, however (secretly mercifully thankfully) were not the figments from his own tortured nightmares every night that came to mock and haunt him—

So there would be no for the other to see. Which was a good thing because that was. Bad.

“Who’s that,” he inquired, staring at the stranger who approached from out of the pink mist.

Perhaps he should inform the other about the aftereffects of staying too long in the mist, but the way that this… this ‘person’ had called Fox by a different name had his attention.


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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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TAG WITH @foxgrove
faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 21:32:00 GMT
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Fox’s words died in his throat. He felt like his lungs were tying themselves up into knots within his chest.

The figure in the labcoat tilted his head, tousled blonde hair shifting over one temple. Eyes crinkling up in a smile. “Lock?"

“No one,” Fox said, and his words were fire. He pulled hard on Lars’ forearm, tugging him backward, wanting to go back the way they came but also keep the Ranger Captain solidly in between him and the dream figure. “He’s not real. We should go.”


stretch of the imagination

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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 21:37:23 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


For the—for the first time, was there… was there some kind of jealousy in his stare the longer this went on?

Surely not… for now.

“I—I forgot to tell you. That pink stuff… it shows whoever’s caught in its path… their deepest desires, their dreams they want to become a reality.”

(And was he jealous? Maybe. Maybe very slightly.)

He could feel himself being pulled backward, and for some reason his companion was extremely eager to put as much distance between himself and this other person as much as possible.

Maybe it was a good thing it wasn’t his inner demons laid out on display for the world to see…


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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 21:50:15 GMT
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Fox flinches at what Lars says, eyes dropping down and away. The first sign of weakness he’s shown. A crack in the armor.

“Impossible. I have no idea who this person is.” He digs in his heels and pulls. “If you don’t move I’ll leave you here.”

“Ouch. That hurts.” The figment laughs, placing a hand over his heart.

Move, Laurence.”


stretch of the imagination

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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 21:54:29 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


He was extremely tempted to answer something along the lines of ‘highly unlikely’, because that smile was also distracting him.

Him, distracted?! Why was he getting jealous over this… whoever this was?!

He then pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

Idiota, the reason I know what this shit does is because I’ve been exposed to this before!” he went on with a minute sigh, stumbling backward so they could get the hell moving.

Only thing is… why did it appear that whoever this figment of Fox’s imagination was, was only getting even closer?!


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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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TAG WITH @foxgrove
faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 22:07:14 GMT
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Lars finally, finally moves, and Fox has to stop himself from sighing in relief. He continues to pull, setting off at a strict march, away from the man in the labcoat, away from the seam in the earth that continued to spout pink gas, away, away, away; he doesn’t run, because it’s important to stay calm, and increased respiration would mean inhaling more of this-- this shit.

“Stop talking. You’ll breathe it in less.”

“Lachlann."

Fox freezes.


stretch of the imagination

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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 22:10:53 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


At the mention of the other name, Lars… actually froze.

“What… did he call you?” he breathed out, turning to look at the other, who was clearly intent on marching him away, as fast and as far away from this insanity as possible.

“I thought… you told me your name was Fox.”

Okay, now the jealousy was more evident in his voice.


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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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TAG WITH @foxgrove
faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 22:24:10 GMT
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Fox turns to look back at Lars, who has this weird edge to his voice-- it’s so apparent that for a second Fox is scared Lars has been poisoned, or something similar.

Turning is a mistake because it makes him look at the dream-figure again. “What does it matter?” he asks, voice a bit pained. “It doesn’t. This isn’t real. He is not real. Move on, Laurence.”

But he can’t bring himself to move. He’s looking past Lars, back to where the figure in the labcoat is still smiling at him.

He finds himself wondering, in an inane, far-away thought that swims just beneath the surface, too quick for him to catch and quell, if the figure can hug and it opens its arms.

Fox swallows a sob.

It would be nice to pretend. Even just a little bit.


stretch of the imagination

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Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 22:43:09 GMT
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“Did you forget what I said earlier, idiota,” he continued in that same quiet voice.

There it was: the stark evidence that this may have been real, at some point. No wonder there was an evident edge in his voice now. This was… this was honestly quite scary at this point in time.

“I’ve seen my dead sister in this mist, you know.”

Another small piece of deep lore shared. Another tiny little scrap.

“Not just her—even our dead mother, too.”

There’s just this tiny bit of longing in his tone, however it’s stolen away by the sight of the other person who’s now looking over at Fox with this pained expression.

“Tell me… who was that?”


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Ceej

Fox
He/they
Twenty-seven
February 14
Fuchsia City, Kanto
Pansexual
Eco-terrorist
Cadet
i am only a nameless soul heading into a pure, black void
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234 posts
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TAG WITH @foxgrove
faelan foxgrove
the inherent homoeroticism of sharing dreams [qq, c]
POSTED ON Apr 8, 2023 22:53:32 GMT
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Against all things, it is Lars’ proclamations of seeing the spectres of his dead family that snaps him out of his fugue.

“So?” he snarls, more venom in his tone than he intended, volume raising to a yell-- the first time Lars would hear him yell, ever. “You’re not the only one who has lost, Commander. This doesn’t make you special.”

The spell is broken. His hand had slipped down Lars’ forearm and came so, so close to touching his palm-- now it is snatched away, as though the Head Ranger’s touch is toxic.

“It’s none of your fucking business who that was.”


stretch of the imagination