[attr="class","sunandstars2"]

[attr="class","sunandstarsw"]

"ew," she argues immediately before letting them go with a laugh and making a face. "who is ms. carter?"[break][break]

her tease has sam leaning up and away, so that she can see knox properly. he twists enough to set knox down on the bed, sitting beside him and just holding her hand.[break][break]

"he's being polite." which wasn't a surprise but sam also didn't think he needed to be, because...[break][break]

"well that's just silly. i want you to be yourself." she explains, looking to knox with a warm smile. "i don't want the only meeting we have to be fake, or false. i don't have enough time left for that. so, just be you, okay? and i'll just be me."[break][break]

and we now see where sam gets his ability to speak his mind.

[attr="class","sunandstarst"]

knox prescott

[attr="class","sunandstars2"]

[attr="class","sunandstarsw"]

samuel carter is trading...[break][break]

magnezone[break]
[img src="https://github.com/msikma/pokesprite/blob/master/pokemon-gen8/regular/magnezone.png?raw=true" title="⚬ STURDY | LOCK-ON, METAL SOUND, MAGNET RISE, ZAP CANNON, FLASH CANNON, LIGHT SCREEN"][break][break]

metagross[break]
[img title="⚬ CLEAR BODY | MAGNET RISE, CONFUSION, ALLY SWITCH, HAMMER ARM, METEOR MASH, ZEN HEADBUTT" src="https://github.com/msikma/pokesprite/blob/master/pokemon-gen8/regular/metagross.png?raw=true"][break][break]

elgyem[break]
[img src="https://github.com/msikma/pokesprite/blob/master/pokemon-gen8/regular/elgyem.png?raw=true" title="gacha"][break][break]

to mint frost[break][break]

samuel carter is receiving bramblin[break][break]

mitchel kane is receiving scolipede and gliscor[break][break]

[attr="class","sunandstarst"]

mint frost, samuel carter, mitchel kane

[attr="class","sunandstars2"]

[attr="class","sunandstarsw"]

it was all he needed, something to hold and to care for. something to bring gravity to his mind and anchor him into the reality of now.[break][break]

his mother was dying, yes. his mother would be gone, yes. he had per-mourned her on the way, really. now? now he could focus on their meeting and just how perfect it would be despite it not going to the sam-plan he'd conjured in his head.[break][break]

"and you've got me." wrapped around him like this? nobody else had him the way knox did, not even his own mother.[break][break]

speaking of, he takes the steps needed to head to her door. she's sitting on the bed and she's scolding the television.[break][break]

"don't do that it's salt!" she laughs, beaming at the show that's meant to make fun of people who bake in mediocrity trying to do professional work. "oh gods, it's gonna come out awful!"[break][break]

sam is not phased or surprised that she hasn't noticed them. he simply walks into the room more, which finally gets her attention. she seems spooked, like she's seen a ghost. machines around her ding and blip to show her change in heart rate, her excitement, and she quickly throws her hands into the air with abandon.[break][break]

"samuel?!" she reels, giving off his full name without much thought. "and is this knox??? hugs!" her fingers beckon them closer, plucking into the air, all five of them. "group hugs, please please???"[break][break]

without a second thought, sam obeys, moving over to wrap his mother up in a hug. she's a bear when she takes them into her arms, squeezing the life out of them; she can't possibly be as weak as they say, she's still got her iron grip of unchanging love.

[attr="class","sunandstarst"]

knox prescott

[attr="class","sunandstars2"]

[attr="class","sunandstarsw"]

"and i you, my stars." sam reminds him before moving to give him a hug. it's silly, it's small, but it means so much to him.[break][break]

"but i know that you hate places like this just as much as i do."[break][break]

terrible times. he'd once done a mission with a man who soon became his shrink for a short time where he'd gotten locked in an elevator and had a panic attack due to his claustrophobia all within a hospital. and before that? times like this back when they didn't know if his mother would or wouldn't make it.[break][break]

but knox has the same worries and same hates toward this place. different events, same uncontrollable urge to disassociate. his own hands shake as he tries to hold knox tight, face turning into the crook of his boyfriend's neck, brows furrowed.[break][break]

a deep breath in, he holds. a few seconds later he leans back and slowly releases.[break][break]

"okay," he tells himself as he looks into knox' eyes. "i can do this."[break][break]

he's fearlessly stepped up to the plate to kill countless individuals. and yet this is what brings the ferryman to doubt himself. this is what he truly fears.[break][break]

loss of his loved ones.[break][break]

this is why he doesn't love easily. this is why he keeps people at arms length. [break][break]

"want a piggy back ride?" to most it would be a joke, but sam means it seriously. "to help our nerves?"[break][break]

his hands can't shake if he's holding knox' weight, and knox always feels better if he's being carried; or so sam remembers.

[attr="class","sunandstarst"]

knox prescott

[attr="class","sunandstars2"]

[attr="class","sunandstarsw"]

"a sufficient start." sam agrees, beginning to help the girl clean the arcanine.[break][break]

it's a large beast for sure. alecto helps by getting his hand soapy and getting up on the table, getting those hard to reach places and then wiggling his tail in the soap. he's more silly than he is help, but some help is better than none.[break][break]

sam is not the sort to speak out in the silence. he is comfortable with it. within the silence is truth. not everybody feels this way about the silence, and he knows this, so he is sure to relax his posture and show with his body language that if she deeps a conversation should be have, he's open for discussion.[break][break]

while every once in a while snapping his fingers at alecto's antics and stopping the ghost type from making mohawks across the arcanine's fur at random.

[attr="class","sunandstarst"]

Dolores Dacal

[attr="class","sunandstars2"]

[attr="class","sunandstarsw"]

knox makes it easier to breathe. makes it easier to get on the plane and not think about the countless ways they could die while they fly.[break][break]

as usual, when life throws him a curve ball, he's spiraling into the negative. there's no way out, for him, so it feels. out of habit his mind is clenching onto the only thing he knows to be real; death. however this is not a comfort to him in these time. it is a curse.[break][break]

the weight of death is heavy for him, today.[break][break]

they land in kanto and sam is already preparing a car to take them to the hospital. it's not a short drive and the whole time sam's moving to take knox' hand, lay on his shoulder, and overall try not and let his pessimistic side take over.[break][break]

the last thing knox needs to deal with is any nightmares... luckily alecto's been starved of them as of recent and he hopes that his old pal will come in handy removing them from his subconscious while he's asleep during these times.[break][break]

just like the old days.[break][break]

he walks to reception and gives his name. the women look both surprised and relieved. there is no doubt in sam's mind that his mother had talked well of him and knox to the nurses if they'd ask her and the person that she described did not, in their mind, look like the tattooed individual that stood before them.[break][break]

proof of that was in how they asked for an ID.[break][break]

walking toward the room, he keeps knox' hand tight in his hold. he had the driver take their things to the nearest hotel, not that he himself plans on staying there. he fully plans on sleeping in the hospital until she...[break][break]

sam's feet stop walking about three rooms away and he turns to knox, looking between his yes.[break][break]

"she... may look weak, compared to the photos i've shown you. i'm sorry we never had time to meet her in the prime of her health, and i'm sorry that you have to meet her for the first time with all of this added pressure.[break][break]

"i know you were nervous about this meeting."[break][break]

because despite how much he's going through, he thinks of knox in these moments as well.

[attr="class","sunandstarst"]

knox prescott

up for trade

misc. storage