Isaac grabbed Kepler’s jab at Ash also having opposible thumbs and ran with it in a way that had Kepler concealing giggles behind his palm again. It made him feel a little bit less like a jackass for pointing out the obvious. "Sorry."

This new concept of his own dagger-sharp humor used less like a weapon and more out of something like affection was completely foreign to him… but something he was quickly wanting to learn.

Ash’s interaction with Bongo was absolutely adorable and Kepler found himself wishing he had a Pokemon who was 1/10th that cute.

The blonde continues to wax poetic about his apparent death machine and Kepler catches onto something and cocks his head, curious. “What happened to it?” he asked, noting Isaac only spoke of his (less than trusty?) bike in the past tense.

Isaac also chooses to wax poetic about battling and Kepler drops his hand and leans his head to the side with a hum. He could appreciate a decently presented argument but… all his experiences with battling had been for the sake of his own life-- like against the cultists, or his abusers, growing up. It felt weird to take that and make it an everyday thing, like profaning something sacred, holy-- even though Kepler was the least religious person on the face of the earth.

“It sounds pretty when you say it like that,” he allowed, tipping his head towards Ash in acknowledgment of them both saying the same kind of thing. He was wary of driving the conversation down another dark path and forcing either Ash or Isaac to have to take a breather out in the kitchen, as he’d done before. “None of my Pokemon really… desire it, though,” he said, struggling to find the words. “They prefer to do mundane things like Ash said. Or at least I get the impression they do. Merc might be the exception to the rule but he’s… special.”

Mercury fell into canon-specific violence like a duck into the water-- but he wasn't bloodthirsty, didn't crave combat. He was really good at it, though.

Isaac Merlo Ashley Shepard

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