[attr="class","zeke"]abner turns away from him, pulling zeke out of his lull for a moment. the tension releases with a cacophony of coughs, and his "fuck me" face falls away into one of mild concern. zeke says nothing though; he is given no opportunity. abner dives back in, apparently not disrupted by his own coughing fit. it's zeke's turn to raise an amused eyebrow, this one more impish than devious.

a chuckle escapes the barely open lips and his face drops to the ground for an instant, as if to mask the laughter. it rises up to search for any sign of joking from abner, but the facial analysis turns up nothing. "a pants party?" the chuckle rises into a laugh, and he takes a swig of abner's drink that he said he was done with.

"i can show you back to my place, if you promise not to choke out on me." the mauville apartment he had when he still worked here had been signed for a year, despite being based in lilycove now. things change, people change, but leases are forever.

or at least for a year.

he doesn't care for an answer. closing his tab takes an instant but the time passes in slow motion. the debit card disappears into zeke's pocket while his free hand grips itself loosely around abner's forearm to drag him out of the bar and into the "open" mauville air.

the deliberation, the planning: it all ends in the simple plan of run and gun, spray and pray. "i'll follow your lead then, buddy." it's a stand-in for his temporary partner's name, and he reminds himself to ask for it at the earliest convenience.

despite having no name to call him, zeke is not uneasy or distrusting in the guy's presence. the eagerness to battle pleases him, and as it unfolds, zeke sees some expertise before him. the beartic had retained its rage, maybe even saved it for zeke's return. he watches in awe as the minun soars across the gap to confront the much larger pokemon. with a few moments of conflict, the guy's pokemon duo has the beartic on its knees.

"no need to tell me twice. roan! earl!" in this moment, zeke seeks to please his battling partner, prove that he is up to the challenge. the mawile appears beside him, the entire gap still separating her from the rest of the battle. the magmortar follows a moment later, his hulking body towering over the mawile. the magmortar's strength allows him to easily catapult the mawile across, her IRON HEAD shining in the dim light of the cave as she crashes down on the paralyzed beartic.

it all happens in an instant. "should be done. let's get going." he steps forward, feet still hesitant on the icy bridge. "i'm zeke, by the way."

[attr="class","zeke"]zeke fancies himself a forward man -- he does not skirt around the point, beat around the bush. not with this stuff, anyways.

but his eyes can't help but widen unexpectedly as the guy, abner, grabs his waist. mild embarrassment urges his gaze to scan the room for observers as he stands center stage, but the magnetism of abner's allure keeps zeke centered on his prize.

aside from the ocular muscles that bounce his eyes between abner's, not a muscle in his body moves. this is an entrancement, it's a mystical curse, but he doesn't care. nowhere in his mind does he think of fernando and getting back to work like he promised he would.

his tongue dances over his upper lip, perhaps a subconscious materialization of his desires. with abner's hand gone from his waist, zeke still does not find the courage to move. or, perhaps it is the cowardice to run.

the line between them blurs. "is that so?" it's a flirty little line, one he's said plenty of times before.

"you're welcome, then. for giving you such immense pleasure." gone is the stoicism, gone is the tough guy. gone is any form of inhibition, and all that remains is pure tension waiting to be fulfilled.

his gaze falls upon the drink in the guy's hand, eyes widening imperceptibly as he realizes the faux pas. in his distraction with everything going on above the drink (above the neck, specifically), zeke failed to noticed its presence. a laugh rises out of his throat, nearly breaking into existence before an interruption screws up zeke's face.

glass shatters over the man's shoulder, beer skittering across the floor like mice. the shock of the move paralyzes zeke for an instant, his eyes bouncing from the other man's, down to the floor, back up to the other man's.

an impish grin fights its way onto his visage. "you look parched. let me get you something." he flags down the bartender, though it isn't the one from before -- zeke can hear that one muttering under his breathing as he proclaims himself the one responsible for cleaning that up. "two gin and tonics." his own glass is empty, the beer eager to be replaced with gin to keep him from getting too bloated.

"i'm zeke." his body stands upright, forearms shoving off the countertop to bring him to his full height. zeke pushes his right hand out in front of the guy, thrusting his body after it. though he awaits a handshake, his shoulder already brushes against the guy's, the distance between them greatly diminished such that a phone book could not fit between them.

"so nice to meet you."

somewhere behind him, francie is making her way out of the bar, back out into the mall-like expanse beyond the old-timey doors.

somewhere behind him, the door to the men's bathroom swings for someone that isn't him, someone that doesn't know that bathroom like he does.

somewhere behind him, zeke's decision to go back to the hotel early to get back to lilycove was lying there abandoned.

everything is behind him except the one face he's been staring at all night, the one that looks like it is made of porcelain. as he gets closer to him, something tells him the porcelain has been shattered and taped back together thousands of times over. it only allures him more.

it takes a minimal amount of weaving and some liquid courage to get him over to the guy, but here they are, face to face. his burly arms slide across the bar top as a means to support him, eyes straight ahead for a second before looking up at the guy with a meager grin.

the stance could not be more casual -- neither could zeke's intentions.

"need a drink?"

his eyes stay down at his feet, keeping an eye on where he steps to ensure he doesn't slip in fall into the drink below. step by step, he makes his way back across the bridge, a voice pulling his eyes up into the space before him. "oh...yeah. i think there's more than just that beartic, too." it serves as his greeting to the other trainer, a grimace taking place of a friendly smile.

if worse came to worst, earl could have sent the thing to a fiery death. zeke refrained, his interest more in the integrity of shoal cave and the bridge. when the other guy mentions paralysis, zeke nods. "yeah, that could work. unfortunately i don't have anything on me that can paralyze, do you?" alone and stuck on the bridge, he had no interest in pursuing that route. but now, with another trainer? perhaps the route could be secured. he nods again, turning back to the bridge behind him.

"i didn't bring my amoonguss for paralysis, and i didn't bring any flying pokemon because i knew the place would be littered with ice types...guess i'm paying for that decision now." a chuckle escapes his lips and he looks back at his new acquaintance by convenience, eyes falling down to his own belt, which is decorated with 6 pokeballs. thoughts, ideas run through his mind. "best i can do is lower some defenses and actually battle. i just didn't really want to walk into a swarm by myself." especially without a lot of his main pokemon.

"so unless you're ready to clear out some baddies, we could try to find another way around." they're in this together now, whether or not the guy wants it. zeke looks to him with a hand on his hip, waiting for a decision.

the figure that emerges from the darkness is not one of...intimidating stature. it's a grown man, but resembles something more like a boy in demeanor. zeke's tension releases, shoulders relaxing just a bit as he looks at him. "oh, fire types." he mutters, a hand on his forehead once again to clear it of the sweat. suddenly he returns alm to prevent the pokemon from overheating himself, leaving munich out alone.

upon the other guy's inquisition, zeke looks over his shoulder at the massive hole in the wall. a path lies beyond it, leading anyone lucky enough to stumble upon it into the hidden depths of the fiery path. it's aura is mystical, ominous, and alluring all at once, dark lines converging at the end of munich's light's reach. zeke hesitates for a moment before answering. "there's supposed to be some hidden chamber off the beaten path down here. i heard people talking about it in town, wanted to check it out myself..." whatever it holds for him, its not enough for zeke to try and scare the guy off.

"i'm sure there's some tougher fire types down this way, if you're interested. i could use an extra set of hands in case things get dicey." his head nods toward the cave, arms curling up to rest his hands on the back of his head. the sleeves of his undershirt, the last remaining layer between his bare skin and the humid air, bunch up.

"i'm zeke, by the way. you should come with me." now he turns, broad back facing the kiddish man as he makes his way into the darkness, giving the boy no time to rationalize the decision. come or don't come. no sweat off zeke's back.

his eyes bounce between hers as she speaks, her own gaze off somewhere else. wherever it is landing, it isn't on him, it isn't here in this bar. it's something more. he recognizes the look from somewhere, but cannot place it. his eyes drop down to the glass that is nearly empty in front of him and shifts in his stool.

he sips again, head nodding as she comes out of her trance with embarrassment. "fancie myrtle, you might be onto something." the league is in tatters, communication is down to what feels like nothing. there have been significantly less broadcasts with the commissioner gone, and it sounds like talk between gym leaders is scant.

"hopefully my boss can fix that." he leaves no time for a response, his eyes falling to the glass. he picks it up, finishes it, and slams it down on the bar top beside the white napkin it soaked a ring of water into. a hand fidgets in his pocket and produces a pen, leaving a phone number on the napkin. "i feel like you should have this. it's mine. not sure what for yet, but, here." he slides the napkin over to her before getting up, eyes on the man across the bar.

"i'm going to go make bad decisions." it's all zeke ever does, after all.

sweet beads on his forehead while he walks. the back of his hand comes up to graciously keep it from falling into his eyes, though he knows more will come. he's on the fiery path, searching for something.

there's supposed to be a hidden chamber deep in the path. rumors have spread far enough to reach him -- though, with his new connection to silph, things don't have to spread as far. darkness shrouds the steamy tunnel, the light of his glowing electabuzz enough to give him a general idea of his immediate surroundings. he's been in here for 9 minutes already, his form staying close to the edge of the tunnel to feel its cracks and crevices for ways to slip in deeper. 

staying in here too long would be suicide; already, his fingers pluck at the center of his shirt to air it out. a futile attempt to remain relatively comfortable seems to ease his mind. to leave without finding what he's looking for would be another failure he doesn't feeling like enduring the weight of, and so he searches on. 

"oh, hell yes." the wall before him is brittle, moreso than anywhere else. it feels hollow to the touch of his calloused fingers, and so he unleashes alm, his nidoking. "horn drill. right....here." his finger picks the point he thinks will bring the false wall down. it takes only a moment before the sound of crumbling rocks fills the dark space. 

zeke swells with pride until the glowing is interrupted by the sound of footsteps. "hello?" are they here to stop him?

he feels her walls penetrate with the idea of a special someone, looking at her with that pensive look that always seems to make its way across his face. "you're a gym leader now. less traveling, right?" whether or not she is telling him the whole truth cannot be known, though the ex-cop suspects she withholds insecurities. he does not press.

she seems taken aback, apologetic and formal for his comment. "i was kidding, don't worry about it." he sips again, eyes slipping back to the guy across the way for just a moment.

her words bring him back to earth in an instant, pulling his stare off the guy and onto her. francie has a silly grin on her face that says 'busted.' his cheeks threaten to flush but somehow hold off, a wry grin slipping onto his visage in place of the flushing. "he is, but no...not officially looking. too much going on, you know?" his mind flashes to the child that flew off with the captured league officials in slateport, feet remembering the concrete sensation of the league HQ roof. then he thinks of the slateport vision regirock imparted on him, the one he refused to speak up about. the one that might have saved slateport. 

he's an eternal fuck up.

silph needs his full attention if they're going to turn things around. "trying to impress my boss these days." another sip.

"earl! fire spin!" water pools far beneath the duo, moving slowly toward the small delta that leads out of the cavern. ice crowds the surface of the water to remind the traveler of the frigid conditions. zeke's foot slips on the frost-covered bridge he stands on, one that stretches far across the wide river.

flames erupt at the entrance of the bridge, meant to block entry of an angered beartic. the silvery fur disappears behind the fire wall, a roar erupting with enough resonance in the air the release a few icicles from the cavern's ceiling far above, sending them crashing into the water below with a splash. zeke does not turn his back, does not move, does not breathe -- he is prey that freezes to avoid detection, waiting for the beartic to pass. the crackling of flames that burn on magmortar's head and across the bridge are the only sounds that go against the flowing water below for a few moments, and zeke's tension releases.

"that was...shit. thanks earl." the magmortar that looms over him nods and grunts before returning to his pokeball; the flickering fire spin the only thing remaining to signal his presence.

"guess i need to find another way deeper."

the water beneath continues to rush as his feet carry him back ti the other end of the bridge.

zeke manages to laugh, nodding his head slowly in response. "that means i'm gay, yes." he's spoken the line so many times before that it doesn't makes his heart skip a beat any longer. as she pushes the drink out from under her, he can tell she's perhaps come out of some odd, temporary daze. his own hand brushes against hers as he confiscates it and pushes it back toward the bartender.

"maybe we can get you another drink if you're good." the teasing smirk comes more and more easily as he loosens up, sipping the stout once again. "i'm zeke, since you asked." another sip.

the mention of a special someone stings him and transports him back a few months. he thinks about the bathroom of this place more often than probably anybody else does. he thinks about @scott probably more than anybody else does, too. the disappearing act is not unheard of, but certainly feels out of character for one of his oldest friends. they were on good terms the last time they spoke, right?

zeke nearly forgets to answer. "uhhhh no, no." casually and naturally his eyes glance to the guy he was looking at before, still planted in the same spot. he looks back to francie and takes another sip. "you?"