[S1 Trip and younger Gold, closed to gold_drum]

[serperiority]

The warm colours of autumnal leaves and the crisp, cool air of the changing season was similar, but not the same as it was in Unova, but even if it was, without him here, it simply wasn’t going be the same. The festival, too, for all the nostalgia it invoked in him, if it wasn’t going to lead him any closer to Alder or defeating him, it wasn’t something he should concern himself with now. He needed to train.
Things like eating sweets or enjoying the sights and sounds of a festival was for children and had no place on an adult’s world, Trip decided, and walked on.

… even with these thoughts, he still paused, briefly, here and there, to take photographs. The beauty of this season was ephemeral and while he no longer had any place here, he couldn’t ignore it or the way it made him feel, even as pursuing his goal overtook anything else…

Comments

[a pair of kids who think they're monsters, unable to give or receive comfort]

[gold_drum]

Gold sobs and hiccups, tears falling down his face, and he rushes to put the clothes on the bed before he gets snot on them. He tries to talk, to say something like 'it's not just the clothes' but the second his voice comes out it breaks and ends up a keening wail. He shuts his mouth, pressing his hands over it and just... hiccuping quietly for a while, turning away from Trip to try and not be heard. He tries to focus on anything that'd make him less likely to cry, but it feels like everything he can think of at the moment reminds him of Trip.

So he just stands there and cries quietly, facing away from Trip who's facing away from him.

[… there was an attempt.]

[serperiority]

That… was such a painful sight. Some part of him almost admired it, the rest was repulsed. Gold was trying so hard to smother his own crying. Did he think he wouldn’t allow it? But, Gold was a child still, in Trip’s eyes.

Just a child, yes…

He drew nearer, reaching for Gold… he couldn’t really embrace him, so he settled for holding his shoulders with a grave expression.

“… you can cry if you want to. You won’t be able to when you’re an adult, so cry as much as you need to now.”

[...well, as long as it works]

[gold_drum]

Gold keeps on sniffling quietly, but looks up at Trip when he feels his hands on his shoulders. He nods in response to Trip's words, not daring to try and make any sounds.

Adults can't cry? That sounds awesome to Gold. If only he could grow up into an adult quickly, so he wouldn't cry, wouldn't be weak, and would be able to buy a house and rely only on himself.

The thought comforts him a little. Even if it's difficult now, one day he'll be an adult. Even though he knows everyone will eventually hate him, it's fine because he won't need them anymore when he's an adult. He just needs to survive until that. So even if it's difficult to accept kindness, he'll have to accept it so he can keep living, even if it's from someone who doesn't like him, like Trip.

Gold's tears slowly dry up and stop, and he moves to dry his tears and his snot onto his own shirt, unless Trip stops him.

[it’ll do for now, kinda… + I should have more free time now!]

[serperiority]

Gross!

He quickly offered Gold a tissue.

“Clothes make the man, so you’ve got to take care of them and try to keep them clean… when you can.”

[gold_drum]

Gold takes the tissue and nods. He's never seen the point of keeping his clothes clean, but he does understand taking care of them, since he does only have the one outfit. For now.

Gold cleans his face and blows his nose. His face still has a sort of gross, stuffy feeling, but... He feels a bit better. He looks up at Trip, a bit shy.

"Umm, when you buy me new clothes... Can they be good ones?" Gold asks, hesitant, unable to really explain what he means by that. There's good clothes out there, he knows, clothes that are too expensive for anybody to waste them on Gold. But maybe Trip would do that anyway? Gold figures he'll at least try. If he's going to accept kindness, he might as well see how much he's allowed to have.

And maybe if he moves on like that crying spell never happened, Trip will forget about it and they'll never have to talk about it again.

[serperiority]

“Sure. Wouldn’t want to but something tacky or cheap enough to fall apart after you wear it once or twice, anyway.”

That’s better! Clothes, Trip can handle.

“We’ll go tomorrow, okay? We’ll probably have to head for Turnbloom City, there’s a market there… get some rest, okay?”

He really wanted to sleep, is what he meant.

“… if you need something, ask Nurse Joy or…”

He selected a pokeball, as he reclined, and lazily tossed it.

“Serperior.”

And settled back to bed. Sorry, not a night Rowlet.

Serperior blinked and looked to his trainer, awaiting orders.
“… right, you work better in daylight too. Okay, maybe Lampent.”

Serperior was returned and the more nocturnal Lamepnt was sent out. It’s a bit eerie, ghostly blue-purple flames flickering at its core and staring yellow eyes behind its glass-like body-face, but it only floated there and didn’t advance.

[gold_drum]

Good clothes! Gold doesn't smile outwardly, but he feels amazed that that worked. He wonders what else he could ask from Trip before he gets fed up with him.

Gold steps back when Trip brings out the Serperior, not having expected such a big Pokemon. But it's so cool! Gold wonders if he'd be allowed to touch it, before Trip recalls it and brings out Lampent instead. Gold's slightly disappointed, but tries not to show it. Lampent... Gold doesn't know what to think of it. The blue-purple flames were pretty, but the strange lamp-like shape and the glassy face made it unnerving.

Gold just stands there and watches Lampent from a distance, not daring to approach. He wonders how he's supposed to ask for anything from a Pokemon, but he doesn't want to disappoint Trip. He doesn't need help anyway, he's been fine on his own up until now, but if Trip's giving him help he should just accept.

"Um... Can Lampent show me where the bathroom is?" Gold asks Trip hesitantly. He doesn't want to bother Trip too much since he's noticed Trip wants to get some sleep, but he doesn't know how to talk to Lampent.

[serperiority]

“It’s been here before, so, yes.”

Responded without turning back to look at them.
Lampent began floating of. Not very talkative, but at least it was leading the way!

Maybe Trip could let him meet Serperior properly another time.

[gold_drum]

Well that's convenient. Gold nods, grabs the clothes Trip picked out for him and turns to follow Lampent.

It's a good thing Lampent was there, because Gold absolutely would've gotten lost along the way without it. Though, when Gold returns to the room like an hour later, wearing his newly borrowed clean clothes and looking more presentable, he hasn't spoken a word to Lampent the entire time. He keeps marvelling at how soft his clothes are on the way back.

He opens the door to the room carefully, peeking in to see if Trip's asleep yet.

[serperiority]

Lampent didn’t mind Gold’s lack of conversation, as it was a rather reticent and apathetic Pokemon…

Trip was, indeed, asleep and Lampent drew very near when Gold peeked inside.

Certain Gold’s no threat, it gave Gold a gentle nudge. Go on, it’s Gold’s room too. Lampent was only warm and cozy to the touch, but not hot or unbearable.

[gold_drum]

Lampent might've been warm to the touch, but it's body was also hard and metal-like, so the sudden nudge scared Gold. And when Gold gets scared, he gets defensive.

"Hey! Quit that!" he hisses quietly, so as to not wake Trip, as he glares at Lampent. He then marches inside (also quietly). He throws his dirty clothes somewhere out of the way, and checks the place where he hid his food. Satisfied that it's still there, he heads to bed. Since Trip seems to have taken the lower bunk, Gold climbs up to the top bunk with some trouble, and then just sits down in the corner of bed. He stares at Lampent, not comfortable enough with the Pokemon to be able to sleep when it's in the room, so he just stays awake for a while, thinking about everything that happened that day.

The gentle, purple glow of Lampent, shifting and weaving, keeps almost lulling him to sleep, but he startles awake every time, scared that he'll wake up to find himself back home, in his own bed. Everything today has been so unreal, so nice that it feels too good to be true. He listens quietly to try and hear Trip's breathing, to reassure himself he's not alone, and this is really happening.

Eventually, he really does fall asleep, unable to stay awake any longer.

[serperiority]

Hard and metallic, yes, but in a worst case scenario, Lampent would also be scorching to touch!

Unlike a dream, the room was still be in the morning, when the faint sunlight crept in through the gaps in the window shutters.

Trip might have gone off to train outside, by that point, unless Gold’s a VERY early riser! But he wouldn’t abandon him, Lampent would still be by his side either way, although in the day, Lampent might be dozing a bit.

[gold_drum]

Gold probably wakes up when he hears Trip get up, but he stays in bed and listens, keeping his eyes closed. It takes him a bit to realize where he is in his half-asleep state, but once he remembers yesterday's events, he realizes the sounds he hears are Trip's movements, and relaxes.

If Trip looks at the top bunk, he'll see Gold apparently asleep, huddled up in the corner of the bed, wearing the borrowed hoodie that makes him look even smaller. Once Trip goes out to train, Gold will move to lie on the bed properly, head on the pillow and body under the blanket and all, much more comfortable. He's asleep again by the time Trip returns.

[serperiority]

He slept pretty soundly for such a small child away from home, Trip noted when he returned. Must’ve been a really rough life to have no attachment to that place.

Maybe it was time to wake him.

“Thank you, Lampent, that’ll be all.”

The sleepy Lampent was returned.

“… hey. Gold.”

Time for breakfast!

[gold_drum]

This time, Gold wakes up with certainty that he's away from home, so he feels at peace. He blinks slowly, then sits up. Seeing Trip first thing when he wakes up feels... odd. Not a bad kind of odd, but he doesn't know how to feel, really.

"...Hey," he says, not sure what else to say. Or what to do, now. Trip seems like he knows what he's doing, though, so Gold follows along with whatever it is he's doing.

[serperiority]

“You should come down to have breakfast. They have places to sit, it’s cleaner than eating in here, so you don’t get crumbs on the beds.”

It’s not like anyone will take his food!

[gold_drum]

"I wasn't gonna eat here," Gold grumbles. Not right away, at least. He'll save the food he's got hidden for later. But he makes a note not to eat on the bed.

But the concept of breakfast has him interested, so he follows after Trip to wherever breakfast is. His usual breakfast is a slice of bread if he has that available, so seeing the Pokemon Center's breakfast setup has his mouth opening in surprise. His first instinct is to steal some food from it, but he decides against it when he remembers Trip doesn't like that kind of behavior, but he's not sure what he's allowed to eat. So he just follows Trip, and keeps looking at him for confirmation whenever he wants to take any food, making sure he's allowed.

[serperiority]

Trip gave Gold a brief nod whenever he looked his way, then waved a hand dismissively.
“It’s all fine, you can pick what you like. Just maybe stick to one of every kind of food, okay? One drink, one meal, one dessert… you’ll have other opportunities to try different kinds.”

He didn’t want Gold to get an upset stomach eating like, three desserts or something.

[this kid's allowed to choose anything and this is what he ends up with]

[gold_drum]

Gold nods seriously. One drink, one meal, one dessert. He thinks he knows what those mean. A drink is easy, a cup of something you can drink. A dessert is a cake, but he doesn't see any at the table. A meal is anything he can eat.

...He has no idea what to pick. He thinks he'll just get a piece of bread and some milk, since that's easy, but... there's so many things he could eat. He should just choose anything. Trip will tell him if he's not allowed to have something, right?

In the end, after a lot of thinking, Gold picks a traditional Johto breakfast set, with miso soup, rice, fish and pickled vegetables, only because it was the only meal that said "meal" in the name. No dessert at all, since he's not sure he can even eat all of what he got.

[… w o w]

[serperiority]

Trip raised his brows at the choices.

“… I heard Johto’s old-fashioned and traditional, but… wow, this takes the cake! Speaking of which, I guess you didn’t want any since you picked such a big breakfast…?”

Trip’s choices were buttered bread (from the Kalosian breakfast options), and something round and colourful (probably mochi) he quickly hid when Gold came back.

[gold_drum]

"There wasn't any cake," Gold says, taking it literally, then frowns at his breakfast. "Is this too big? I've seen people eat this for breakfast..."

And he always wanted to try it too, but if Trip thinks it's weird, maybe it is weird? He stares at his breakfast choice, wondering uncertainly if he should pick something else after all. He cares about what Trip thinks of him, after all.

No, wait, it doesn't matter what Trip thinks, Gold realizes. Trip will hate him anyway, so who cares? No matter how much Gold tries to make people happy with him it always fails in the end, so he'll eat what he wants to eat.

So Gold goes over to a table and sets his food down decisively, no matter what Trip might say, and starts eating with absolutely no table manners or utensils.

[serperiority]

“Ah… that’s a figure of speech. And it isn’t too big.”

Trip watched Gold sit down, assumed he preferred to eat alone (so did Trip), so he said nothing, until Gold began repulsively wolfing down his food.

“Hey, hey! Easy there. Like I said, the food isn’t going anywhere.”

Trip rushed over to try to stop Gold’s hands.

“You’re eating too fast! You’ve got to have good table manners. It keeps clothes clean and keeps you from grossing people out.”

[gold_drum]

Gold stops, and stares at Trip, tilting his head slightly. Good table manners? What's that?

But he does remember he decided to try to start pretending to be a good kid yesterday. Not grossing people out sounds like it'd be part of that. So he sets the fish he was eating with his hands down and sits up straighter.

"Okay. How do I eat then?" he asks, food still in his mouth.

[serperiority]

“First of all, don’t talk with tour mouth full. Swallow first. Speaking can wait. You won’t take so long chewing if you take smaller bites, too.”

Trip looked around, then went back for his tray of food, and set down again across from Gold, at the same table, and began demonstrating with his own fork and knife.

“With a fork and knife, you pin the spine with the fork and cut and pull apart meat with the knife. I’m… not too good with chopsticks, actually, but you can push the skin apart and then cut by pressing the meat with them, right? Fish is easy to cut be because it’s naturally pulls away in pieces. You can cut and eat small pieces.”

[gold_drum]

Gold listens intently, chewing his food, then swallowing. He doesn't get why that's a rule, but doesn't ask.

"I'm not good with chopsticks either," Gold says. Nobody ever taught him how to use them, so he just gave up on learning. Knife and fork though, he can use, especially with Trip showing how. So, small pieces, so it won't take a long time to chew, and no talking with food in your mouth. He can do that. He's pretty clumsy with the knife and fork, but he does manage. He eats a small piece, then makes sure to chew and swallow it before asking "What about the soup? Can I just drink it?" He's not sure how eating miso soup with a knife and fork would work, and he's pretty sure he's seen people drinking it from the small bowl, but he wants to make sure he's got it right first.