[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…

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[gold_drum]

A child in filthy clothes lurked through the crowds of people, going mostly unnoticed due to being so small. He didn't know why there were so many people, but he'd managed to snatch some free food off a table, so he figured he was having a pretty good day. Now he was looking around for somebody distracted enough they wouldn't notice their wallet going missing. After all, with so many people, he'd be a fool to not take advantage.

Aha! A guy totally lost on taking photos of leaves or whatever. There was something in his pocket. Hopefully it was a wallet, since Gold had no need for Pokedexes. Gold casually approached from behind him, reaching for his pocket...

[oof]

[serperiority]

Sure, he was distracted, that was true, but he knew he couldn't lower his guard outside, pickpockets are fairly common in cities. Old habits die hard. Besides that, he didn't like crowds and kept away from them. He was aware enough of the presence of something or someone near him and, so while Gold may have already caught hold of his wallet, Trip reached further back, before he even turned to see the little thief, to catch his arm or his hair, whichever was fine, just something so Gold wouldn't be able to make off with his wallet.

(... but hey, if Gold slipped his grasp, he could always send a Pokemon after him!)

[yep]

[gold_drum]

"Gah!" Gold lets out an involuntary yelp when Trip catches his wrist. Uh-oh. "Hey, what the fuck! Lemme go! Asshole!" He converts his fear reaction into anger, screaming at Trip as he tries to pry his hand off, scratching at Trips fingers and kicking at his legs. Though, Gold keeps his grip on Trip's wallet all the while.

[if this fails, that's it, Trip's throwing hands with a kid, pffffft]

[serperiority]

The mouth on that kid!

Trip blinked, stunned, at hearing the stream of vulgarities from such a small child, that he lost his focus, hands still gripping his wallet and the boy's wrist by instinct, that didn't anticipate the kick.

"OW!" he knelt to hold his leg, letting go of Gold's wrist, but wouldn't give up the wallet yet. "You rotten little brat... it's not yours!"


He first instinct was to just kick him back for what he did, but then Trip opted to not pull so hard (but not letting go) to trick Gold to ease up, before pulling as hard as he could, to knock him down, like it was a game of tug of war.

[gold_drum]

"Hah!" Gold feels victorious when Trip lets go of his wrist, and keeps pulling on the wallet, holding on with two hands. "It's mine now, weak shit!"

Trip's strategy catches Gold offguard, though. He thinks he's already won, then Trip yanks him back. Gold goes down with a yelp, losing his hold on the wallet and slamming his face on the ground.

Congrats, Trip! You've defeated a small child and received your wallet back! The kid lies facedown on the ground, a bit stunned, processing what just happened.

[serperiority]

“… you were saying?”

Trip pocketed his wallet, feeling a sense of satisfaction, but also a growing sense of pity.

He sighed and considered helping him up, but didn’t want him trying to rob him again, so… he nudged him with his foot.

“You’re not too badly hurt, are you?”

[gold_drum]

Alright, so Gold lost the battle of wits and is now facedown on the ground. Bearings regained, he gets nudged with a shoe, and tries to slap it away on reflex. Dammit, he's totally open to attacks right now. This is bad.

"Fuck off, what do you care," he grumbles, pushing himself up off the ground, and glares up at Trip, face covered in dirt. "You think you can hurt me? You're not that tough, weak shit!" He's showing his teeth, trying to intimidate Trip. It's probably not as effective as he'd like it to be.

[serperiority]

"Can you knock it off with the cursing? It doesn't make you sound as tough as you think," Trip said, raising a brow, but kept his hands in his pockets and took a few steps back to avoid getting hit again, but also, to avoid frightening the boy.

"... it just makes you sound crass. Anyway, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have already," Trip said matter-of-factly, then, with a sigh, started shrugging taking off his backpack (single-strap, cross-body, much harder to steal unless you wanted to carry him with it).

"What were you after? Food? Just money?"

[gold_drum]

"Fuck you," Gold says, perhaps predictably. "If you want me to stop then make me." He stands up, a bit wobbly, but keeps glaring at Trip.

The fact Trip steps back has Gold narrowing his eyes, uncertain. He's keeping a close eye on him, but also glancing around for a way to escape if needed. Trip is making a bit of sense, though. It's true he didn't hurt Gold, and he's keeping a distance, which has Gold wondering if this is one of those soft-hearted people who might give him something. Trip taking off his backpack also seems promising, and Gold locks his eyes on it. He thinks he could totally steal it if he wanted to, though.

"I already ate today," Gold says cockily, not realizing what a sad thing this is for a kid to say, "So I want money so I can eat tomorrow too. Duh."

[serperiority]

"Yeah... you look like a a depowered Gust from a Pidove could knock you down."

Maybe even a sneeze, looking at those legs.

What Gold said next shocked him again, this time, pity won out over everything else.

"... don't they have homes for kids like you? Like... an orphanage, I don't know, a shelter, a foster family, something? You're not getting food everyday...?"

Gold looked in too shabby a condition to be faking it, so, yeah, Trip felt swayed a bit more in the direction of pity than cynical suspicion.

[gold_drum]

"No I don't!" Yes he does. "Fuck off, prissy boy!" He stands straighter and stronger to show how good a shape he's really in.

Trip's next words confuse him though. He blinks, thrown off. He doesn't know half the words Trip uses, but he gets the feeling he's pitying him. Which is annoying, but it could get him to give Gold something.

"What? I've got a home, I dunno what you're talking about. I just ran out of food!" He thrusts a hand in Trip's direction, palm open. "So if you wanna gimme something, then do it already!"

[1/2; he......... is being a terrible person right now, I'm sorry, aaaand Gold hit a nerve]

[serperiority]

Now, that was below the belt.

Once the shock wore off and Trip managed to quell his own building fury (one that clearly darkened his eyes), he turned his head.

"First of all, I'm a man, not a boy."
He hated being called a child more than anything else, it wasn't how he viewed himself, and it always felt patronizing, and this little brat had to go and insult him twice?!
"Second, DON'T call me prissy."

Furious and restraining himself from lashing out any other way, Trip threw the (still-wrapped, at least...) food he was going to give Gold on the ground. A sandwich and a bag of trail mix.

[serperiority]

"Oops. My hand slipped," he said with an unpleasant smile. "Oh, well, I'm too prissy to hand it to such a dirty little thief anyway. Maybe you should just ran back until you learn some manners. Never heard the phrase don't bite the hand that feeds you?"

[you ever look at the character you're playing and think "why are you like this?" XD]

[gold_drum]

At the sign of anger, Gold flinches back, a second of fear on his face, but he turns it into a defiant glare almost immediately. He keeps quiet as Trip rants at him, keeping a close eye on him.

When Trip raises his hand, Gold covers his face with his arms, screwing his eyes shut, but when there's no strike he looks up, confused. Then he sees the food on the ground. He blinks, then looks up at Trip. That's a nasty smile, and a nasty tone of voice.

That makes Gold feel more at ease, oddly enough. An angry person is a genuine person, and Gold knows how to deal with that better than a person who seems kind and concerned. And despite being angry, Trip didn't hit Gold, and even gave him food.

Trip's all right, Gold decides, and goes over to the food Trip threw on the ground.

"Thanks, asshole," Gold says, oddly casual, gathering the food in his arms. For the first time in the conversation, he's not keeping a close eye on Trip or glaring. He even makes the conscious decision to not use the name that pissed Trip off.

[....... so much right now, BUT aw, Gold, that's depressing, have more self-respect ;_;]

[serperiority]

"... don't mention it," Trip said, rolling his eyes, and crossing his arms.

That one wasn't a new insult to him and he didn't care enough to contest it. It's not like he really disagreed.

At least the kid didn't dig his heels in or call him anything else that that suggested he was anything less than a man.

He wanted to just walk off while Gold was distracted, like he was some sort of pesky wild Pokemon he'd managed to throw off his trail, but now that his anger had faded and his bruised ego was soothed by demeaning someone else...

"... you're really hungry, aren't you? I take it you run out of food often?"

The flinch earlier disturbed him and he couldn't quite shake it off.

"... do you live around here? "

[turns out the way to befriend Gold is to give him food, no matter how old he is]

[gold_drum]

"Huh? Well, only when mom's away for a while," Gold says, arms tightly wrapped around the food he got. "So? I can take care of myself." His defensiveness is kind of half-hearted now that he's decided Trip's not a threat.

"Yeah, I live around..." Gold looks around, then looks again. Huh. Where is this, anyway? Did he wander off further away than he meant to again? "Umm..." Nothing looks familiar. Oh well, he's sure he'll find it if he keeps looking. He's got food anyway, so he'll be fine. "Yeah, somewhere around," he finishes with a slight shrug.

[the way to a man (or in this case, a boy)'s stomach, etc.--ack, just realized this never sent!!]

[serperiority]

"... your mom just leaves you alone? You don't have anyone else?"

While the younger boy searched, he felt a growing sense of dread.

"... you... aren't from around here, are you? Which region are you from?"

What a giant pain! He didn't have time to take care of some random little kid, but he couldn't just abandon him alone here either... he should at least get him to a good, safe place.

[no worries!! also gold really is like "guess i have to do this myself" *does not ask for help*]

[gold_drum]

"Yeah, I don't. It fucking sucks," Gold says, eyes hardening.

"Region? Uhhh..." Gold takes a moment to think. "Um, not Sinnoh... Joh-toh?" He pauses, glancing around. "Why'd you ask that? Isn't this New Bark Town?" But it doesn't really look like New Bark Town... How far did Gold wander off to? It couldn't be a totally different region, could it? Well, if it was, he's going to just have to deal with that.

"I guess I gotta find a place to sleep," Gold says to himself, not even looking at Trip anymore, and begins to walk off.

[thaaaat’s not reassuring at all!]

[serperiority]

That’s… nowhere near here! Not to mention, the kid mentioned two different regions.

“Wait, no! Get back here!” Trip shouted, half-commanding, half-desperate.

This isn’t something he wanted weighing on him…

“We’re both in an unfamiliar region! Unless you actually know anything about this Ultern.”

[just normal, non-traumatized kid behavior :)]

[gold_drum]

"Huh?" Gold stops when Trip calls after him, looking back. "Whaddaya want?" He glares, tightening his hold on the food Trip gave him. "I'm not giving them back." He mentally debates between opening the packages and eating them quickly or running away, in case Trip looks like he's going to try and take them away.

"Ultern?" Gold blinks. "What's that?"

[Gold…..]

[serperiority]

“It’s not about the food. I just want to tell you where you can stay here. The regional professor has a good place, the Pokemon Center also has boarding. If you don’t like those options, there’s a couple of nice hotels too… I can give you the money to cover a short stay until you get settled, you can get food and baths there.”

He didn’t really mean to be rude about it, but Gold sure looked like he could use them. He was just trying to suggest things with enough freedom of choice that Gold won’t suspect he’s trying to kidnap him or something.

Trip sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Still figuring that out, but this region’s called Ultern. Never heard of it or a number of its regional forms before. I’m from Unova, for what it’s worth.”

[gold_drum]

Gold blinks a few times, staring at Trip as he tells him about the places to stay. But even though Trip's trying to be nice and give him options, the idea of that many options has Gold's head spinning. He doesn't even notice the rudeness.

"Those are all... places I could sleep in?" Gold asks, awed. "And they have food too? Um... Where are they?" He walks a bit closer to Trip, only slightly wary. "I wanna see them!" He's not sure he can believe they're even real without seeing them.

"Oh... I've heard of Unova. That's where they make the movies," Gold says, nodding with recognition. "But I never heard of Ultern before either." He feels like he's on the same level of knowledge as Trip now.

[serperiority]

“Yeah, been to where the studios are too,” Trip said, smiling faintly. “You can see props and costumes from the movies.”

At least Gold wasn’t suspicious of him.

He hesitated a moment, then knelt down, careful not to touch the ground. Yeah, okay, fine, he was a little prissy, but he just liked to keep his clothes neat and clean.

“I’ll show you. The hotels are a little further off, in Turnbloom city, but the Pokemon Center’s right here in town… there’s also a bistro. Never been to it, but sounds like the name’s Kalosian, you wanna try the food there? Might be Kalosian.”

[gold_drum]

"Whoa! You can see them?" Gold asks, awed. He might now be under the impression most of Unova is The Place Where They Make The Movies. The only thing he knows about the region is the movies place, and the one person from Unova he knows has seen the movies place, therefore it is all The Movies Place.

Keeping your clothes clean? When you could just wear the same clothes until they fall apart? Inconceivable.

He takes a step back when Trip kneels down, still a bit careful.

"Kalosian?" Gold repeats. He's totally lost with all these concepts and words Trip's telling him about. Hotel? Bistro? Turnbloom City? Pokemon Center is the only one he's heard before. "Um, if I can eat the food then I'll eat the food? But I already have food so I need a place to sleep until I find my house."

[serperiority]

“Yeah. Pokestar Studio, near Virbank city… they get a lot of visitors, maybe you can see them someday.”

“Kalosian, the language, as in… like Kalos. Another western region, like Unova. Alright, let’s go to the Pokemon Center. Stay close, okay?” Trip said as he rose back to stand.

It seemed peaceful and quiet enough, there wasn’t much beyond the festival, paths and rice paddies, but he didn’t want Gold wandering anyway. Shouldn’t be too long a walk.