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It probably wasn't good to play with kids' naivety. Especially not in coming up with fake facts that he said with complete confidence. They whole-heartedly believed him too, so he felt a little bad in hindsight. Still, admittedly, it was kind of fun.
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"A natural liar, you mean." He laughed as Lam commended him being a natural. The question of food was enough to turn the children and himself into raving hungry monsters. His own belly gurgled with the vacancy within, so sad. Most of the children, Rook included, were not interested in granola bars. "Those are gross, right kids?" They all yelled in confirmation.
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He looked to Lam with a look of success for compelling the children to his side. "You know... this wouldn't be half bad. Having a kid." Did he really just say that? What a terrifying thought.

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Rook felt himself constrict, his breath hyperventilating as Lam stepped between him and his father. It wasn't that serious, old habits died hard. He shouldn't have flinched. He also shouldn't have provoked the old man. His fingers tugged at Lam's shirt, "Lam, it's okay." There was a sweetness there, a soft fuzzy sort of feeling at the realization that Lam had stepped up for him.
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His father had frozen in his stride, eyes darting between Lam and his son. It was an odd, dazed sort of reaction. Almost as if he'd barely realized that he stood. Maybe it was the realization that it wasn't the two of them. The tunnel vision had faded and there was suddenly another person to lay witness. Rook didn't know, but it irritated him how the man backed down. "No problem."
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Rook felt himself shake a little as he dipped down, picking Rosie up. Her disguise was busted and she was clearly upset. He couldn't quite blame her, she'd not had an easy time in this house either. She also hadn't signed up for this. He dragged her here.
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"I think we should go." He whispered to Lam. "I hoped this would go differently, but at least I realized something. I'm not the problem. I tried to make up to you for what I did, even though I shouldn't. I was just a kid." He shrugged.
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His father sat back down, hands running through his hair. Maybe he regretted it, but Rook was no longer willing to wait around to find out.

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"Of course I do." He laughed at that, because the question was ludicrous. How could Lam not see that capability. Regardless of that, Rook would always see his potential and believe in it.
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"Lilycove," He pondered on the place. It sounded nice, sunny. The kind of place people vacationed or dreamed of staying, right on the beach. "Sounds like your dream, warm beach and lots of birds." The sea kind, which were Rook's least favorite kind of bird, but there was water. Rook like swimming so maybe that'd make up for the heat.
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Bubblegum had calmed down, clearly disappointed that his papa had vanished.
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Of course, Lam was distracted by another bird, which he probably had a million of. It was cute though, that he still got excited regardless of how many he'd seen before.
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"Finally!" He groaned loudly as they made it to the top.

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Lam was the most encouraging person he knew. No one else could ease him through his fears and anxieties quite like Lam could. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as the kids met up with them. They didn't seem quite so wild up close and it helped that they had things to keep them busy. It would probably be a lot harder in a crowded room with nothing to do.
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When he'd been in school, it had always been hard for him to focus and his grades always suffered for it. So, it made sense that a lot of kids were like that and the great outdoors would prove a better babysitter than anything.
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It was also beyond adorable to see Lam interact with kids. In a way that made Rook feel a weird achy sort of way, which was kinda weird.
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Rook wasn't exactly a nature expert though so anything he didn't know, he simply made up on the spot. The kids believed him too, which was amazing.
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Though the pokemon he could identify, for the most park. "Hey things aren't so bad after all." He whispered to Lam as he passed him, pinky finger twining with his. "When's lunch?" He said, immediately followed by a demanding screech of children about lunch.

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"I agree, I think you'd make a great gym leader." Rook beamed at that. Though, maybe he was a little biased as there was nothing that Lam couldn't do in his opinion (except do anything bad). His belief in Lam was far higher than his belief in himself, which might have been a problem in most contexts. He just wasn't sure what he wanted to do with himself and wasn't sure he'd ever really know.
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"I'd like that, can go swimming." Though he always did get a nasty sunburn, no matter how much sunscreen he applied. Even then, a beach day sounded nice.
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Rook's eyes drew to a crobat, oblivious to the events that Bubblegum was currently causing behind him. Queenie knocked the bat out of the sky with a well-place CRUNCH and Rook followed up with a lobbed pokeball. Only to turn around to see that Bubblegum was causing a bit of a scene, throwing quite the tantrum over the bit croc daddy that Lam was catching. "Is he trying to find a new family?"

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This was far from his biggest move, considering he'd picked up all the way from Sinnoh all those years ago. They were simply moving somewhere a little more tropical (and warm, by extension). It was good for Lam's work and it would probably be good for him too. It would probably allot him a certain opportunity to better figure out what to do with himself. Living a life of crime was no longer optimal, as he never wanted to ask Lam to bail him out again.
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That was just embarrassing.
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Still, despite Lam's insistence otherwise, Rook wasn't certain if there was anything else that he was really good at. Not enough to lock a job down. He'd done a lot of odd jobs, here and there. Dumpster diving did sometimes uncover some goodies for resale, but he couldn't exactly make a living by jumping in dumpsters (Lam might leave him for being stinky).
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He was struggling to get things together. It was hard moving in to places. Suddenly, he was supposed to figure out where their lives would lead out. What if he was a bad organizer too? With a sigh, he regarded Miss Moony, who was studying him petulantly in turn. "What? I'm not good at this." It was a little exciting though. Or maybe that was his blood pressure. He felt sweaty, gross. He hadn't even done anything.
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Even the sassy liepard was starting to look at him with concern.
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"I'll be fine, maybe I should lay down?" On the floor? Where had they left the mattress.
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It was just a little hot out, he hadn't yet acclimated to the beach aesthetic (clearly, he didn't even have his bathing suit unpacked). Miss Moony moved, tail looping around his leg to nudge him towards the bathroom. His skin shivered with a sudden cold sweat, which was about the time he felt like he was gonna vomit.
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It was a disaster after that.
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"I'm in here," He groaned, as he heard Lam call from out front. "I feel a little weird."

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So, what do you need from me?
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Despite any of Lam’s misconceptions of those words (he was sure there were plenty), they weren’t unwarranted. Rook had done plenty to deserve a degree of hostility. He’d been a needy and problematic child, not to mention how things had left off. How he left him.
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Even then, Rook hoped that the distance might have given his dad time to become softer. Really, it was a stupid hope. He knew that time had only ever led to bitterness and rot. He wasn’t even any different with this, considering how he let his own dramatics boil over. Though their methods were different, loneliness affected them in similar ways.
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“I don’t need anything, dad. I just…” He shrugged, looking down. “It’s been years, thought you’d wanna see me. That you’d missed me, is all.”
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Maybe he shouldn’t have come. The regret twisted up in him, tightening as the seconds ticked by and his father was silent. His expression was unreadable, stony. There had been a time that he used to smile, Rook remembered that.
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“Oh I missed you alright. Didn’t stop you though.” His father nodded, a slow methodical sort of movement like he was mulling through his thoughts. His head jerked toward Lam, “Suppose you told your… friend here about all the money you stole from me, huh? Or are you here to return that too?”
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Rook flinched at that, glancing at Lam in a way that said: I can explain that. “No.. I didn’t… I don’t have any money. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… you were right, it was a dumb idea.” It wasn’t like he was perfect, afterall he’d spent years robbing other people of artistic skills that he didn’t have. He was a copycat, a liar, a thief.
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“I wanted to make you proud, I’m sorry I took from you. It just didn’t work out, that’s all.” He whined, feeling his throat twist up. That burning feeling formed behind his eyes, but resisted every need to cry. Don’t cry, that was a big no-no.
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“It just didn’t work out.” His father repeated, shaking his head. “I tried to help you, Ikarus, but you’re just like your mother. Desperate for attention, manipulative, dishonest, run away at the first sign of trouble. You’ve never committed to anything in your life, so now you wanna talk about it?”
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Despite everything, he snapped. “You didn’t help me, you beat me. It didn’t work either.” Tears bludgeoned the edge of his eyes. His throat twisted up, making his voice shrill and childish. “I ran away because I hated you. Everybody hates you. I didn’t want to talk to you about anything, but I’m here now. If… if you don’t wanna talk, that’s fine. I can’t make you.”
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His father stood up out of his chair so fast that Rook couldn’t help but flinch. Rosie thrashed in Lam’s backpack, toppling free onto the floor. Her bulbous head flopped around, disguise busted on the freefall.

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"No, he doesn't know." Rook said quietly back, still continuing to stare at the building until his brain caught up with the rest of the world. There was the trash can he found crumbs. Weeds peeked through the thick cracks in the foundation of the building. The paint was chipped and there was a layer of green mildew at the base. It wasn’t necessarily worse off than it used to be, but almost sort of a ghost of its former self. Still grimey, but in a derelict sort of way. “So, uhh, what now, though?” Lam's question finally caught up as well and he blinked. "Right, yeah. Sorry."
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Rook moved forward quickly, like he’d been given a little kick. Down the stairs to the bottom unit and then just a quick knock on the door, that’s all he needed to do. Instead, he stood in front of the door, studying how the frame had chipped and peeled. Was his father even still there? He felt stupid. Why hadn’t he checked ahead of time?
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His knuckles rapped against the flat surface of the door before he realized what he was doing. The panic that followed felt like an adrenalized kick to the system, but he didn’t run away. He didn’t want Lam to see that he was afraid. The span of time that stretched out after that felt like forever, but he was sure it was no more than a few minutes.
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The door creaked open, dusty light cast from within. The man that stood in the doorway looked exactly like him. Same eyes, tired. Same hair, trimmed but still somehow messy. Face a little sharper, prickly with a five-o’-clock shadow. He had a lot less kindness in his eyes than his son, expression hinging on “what the hell do you want?” kind of impatience.
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There was a shift, when he recognized him, but it was ‘barely-there’ cognizance. “Ikarus.” Not even a question, followed by a deep sigh. “I wondered when you’d be back.” Despite it, there was no accusation in the tone, but Rook couldn’t tell what it was. The older man looked at Lam, “And this is?”
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“This is my…” Rook swallowed hard, “this is Lam. Uh… and yeah… Hi, dad?”
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His dad nodded, stepping back. “Come in.”
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The interior was lit in a sleepy yellow glow. All the blinds were down, cutting off the sunlight. His dad’s piloswine was dozing on an over-sized pillow. It lifted with a snort, tossing its disheveled hair aside to look at Rook. The hog seemed to recognize him at least and he squatted down to give it a scratch. “Hey, boy, how have you been?”
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It was just a distraction though, to keep him from doing what he came there to do.
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He stood up straight, eyeing the cigarettes in the ashtray. The same old dirty armchair parked in front of the television. “Still smoking?”
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The old man waved a hand dismissively.
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Rosie squirmed in Lam’s backpack.
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“So, you’re back…?”
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“I am..” Rook wasn’t sure if he should add “for now” because otherwise it might seem like he was there to stay. He was there to ask for something. That was usually his father’s first assumption, atleast.
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The silence spilled out awkwardly. And then it came, “So, what do you need from me?” He lifted the remote and the television clicked off. Then he looked at Lam, “Want anything to drink?”
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Rook felt his lungs twist up with something raw. It wasn’t right, but he didn’t know how to respond to that. It was bizarre, everything about this. How was he supposed to respond?

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It was a little overwhelming, this world. Though it was natural for Rook to feel a little overwhelmed by it all, he was lucky to atleast have Lam with him to face it. As long as Lam wasn't too visibly worried, he was sure it would be a breeze. Right? (Right?).
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"I'm glad you're here too." It made him melt a little, to know he was the other's choice for this. As to be expected, and he was expecting it, Lam was preparing to take the brunt of the radiation. "What are you talking about? No way, we should do this together." There was no way he was going to stand behind Lam. Regardless of the situation, it didn't matter. Even if he was afraid of it, and the history they'd had within the deep sea. Though, he also knew that Lam could be stubborn.
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"Fine, fine. I don't like it though."
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