victory_road | Fourth Wall!

[The Clobbopus peers over the man's arm and looks at the leavanny. Good bug! Good humans and good bug! Oh, that's a relief. Here, he thought he was going to get bullied some more.]

Stuck? [Jotaro's expression darkens.] How do we get you out of here then?

[Jolyne suddenly summoning a huge, fucking dragon from a tiny sphere doesn't even shock him. Surprised, sure, but today was already so fucking weird anyway. If anything, he's more concerned about his daughter's blasé attitude.]

... Another Pokemon, I assume?

[The man moves the Clobbopus from his arm into his pocket and follows Jolyne's lead, getting on.]

[She tries her best, mostly, really!]

Kinda fond of being somewhere peaceful and being alive instead of being home and dead, if I'm being honest. [Nor should she be taking that so casually. Even while returning Stone Free to her ball and putting it back in her pocket.]

Yep. That's Tear. [At least the salamence is kind enough to hunker down to let them get on, since it's better to do than pitch a fit like most of her kind. It's clear just by how easy all of this is for Jolyne that she's been doing this for a while.]

If I got my geography correct, which I should, Sevii ain't too long of a flight from here. It's still pretty chilly since, winter, but it ain't this snow and ice bullshit. [... And, well, if he's gonna be here temporarily, might as well be somewhere familiar to kind of explain everything.]

Hold on, if you fall off she'll catch you, but still kind of sucks.

................Ah. Right. [They're both dead. That's right. He remembers what happened.

Jotaro tilts his hat over his eyes and says nothing more.

He grunts affirmatively, making sure he has a proper grip on the dragon with one hand before pressing Clobbopus closer to his body.]

[Good thing it's near impossible to talk to someone while in the air, because the silence would be awkward otherwise. But, well, at least it doesn't last too long as they're finally getting to one of the islands and the dragon is taking the wide open area (that USUALLY has wooloo, tauros, and miltank wandering around) to actually land properly.

Jolyne huffs softly to herself as she slides off, removing at least the largest jacket.]

This is one of the Sevii islands, at least. And the one I spend most of my time on these days. [... It's, well, an island. And there's a structure kind of attached to the island and a Lotad-looking houseboat not too far from the shore. It's fine, she's fine.]

Doubt anyone'll be out at this time, so should be pretty quiet...

[It's fine. The flight gives him time to think and compose himself - to strategise and figure out what he wants to say. When they finally arrive, Jotaro jumps off the dragon and nods to Tear in thanks. He then looks down at the Clobbopus, who looks dazed and disorientated but otherwise fine.

The coast is beautiful, even moreso when it's quiet. Jotaro's eyes sweep over the terrain. He feels calmer by the ocean...]

There better be seven of these islands, otherwise the person who decided the name is an idiot.

[JOTARO.]

[The feeling is mostly mutual on that front, though she's having to bite her lip to keep from laughing at that. He's not wrong, he's really not.]

There is. This is Two Island. Shit's usually pretty on the nose with naming around here, like a child named everything or something. [He might figure that out later. But she's pointing to the gym, first.]

So this place basically does cock fighting, though the Pokemon like fighting for the most part and it's until fainting, not death. There's a whole gym circuit and shit for it. That's the one here, which, uh, myself and my wife run. Also has an art gallery and windows and shit underwater to get a look at the Pokemon in the ocean. [She sure did just quickly gloss over that wife fact, will he pick that up is the question.]

And the weird lookin' houseboat is where I live, since it's easier than, like, building a whole house or something. No one else really lives here, mostly travel in from other islands.

[See, Sevii was almost a clever name: Seven plus the roman numerals for seven combined? Like he can respect that. Two Island? Fucking Two Island? Well, he's not a geographer so what does he know.]

I see. [The man looks to where his daughter points, taking in the information with a nod. Sumo, jujitsu and boxing existed, so he understood some people (and apparently Pokemon) liked that sort of thing.

... Jotaro's quiet. Very quiet.

A wife? A gym? A boat house? His daughter is doing so well.

He's so proud of her...]

I'm glad you found some sort of peace here. [It's probably too late for a congratulations, isn't it? Although the knot in his stomach tightens when he hears he's missed another significant event in Jolyne's life.] Seems like you're settled here - both with home and work.

Edited 2023-11-26 08:58 (UTC)

[No one questions it and this is why.

And it's the quiet that's slightly unnerving for her, she knows it's not a bad thing, necessarily, given that he doesn't seem upset and certainly isn't coming across like that. But it's also... the tension in the air that she's not sure the meaning of.

It's not until he's speaking again that she feels a little better about it, slowly nodding in confirmation.]

In a place where people can't really die and it's mostly peaceful, yeah, it's... been pretty nice figuring everything out and figuring out what to even do. [In hindsight it had been a rather strange thing to begin with and, well, it's not like anyone not native to this world can legally do the whole marriage thing. It's the thought that counts.] I can think of some improvements to it, if I wanted. Who knows, maybe the week time limit won't apply. [She can only hope, even while not saying it aloud for fear of potentially jinxing it.]

[And Jotaro is... relieved. Honestly, that's all he ever wanted for Jolyne: to be able to grow up safe and free to do what she wanted. Even if she had to go to some other world for it, he's glad she's happy.

Which is why he's surprised when she insinuates that. Of course, Jolyne doesn't hate him (She's more than proven it with her actions) but with Jotaro being so distant, he didn't think she'd want him around.

God, he can't help but smile.]

...Perhaps. Who can say. But you can still give me a tour, even if I disappear in a week.

[A place where she's entirely safe and the worst that can really happen is getting attacked by a Pokemon or something and, even then, she's usually got at least one of hers on her and they can take care of any real threat. It's kind of nice to be able to rely on someone if she needs the help and a hell of a learning experience after the years.

Not that it keeps her from keeping her own training of sorts up, of course not.

Oh.

Oh that's a smile and it's a little weird, at first, but it's also... nice? Comforting? Words that are strange being attributed to him but she knows she's changed and this is... kind of another chance to move on, right?]

Best to be starting with the gym, then. [She can't help but grin in turn, immediately reaching out to grab for his hand and start dragging him towards the structure. Also kindly ignore the talonflame that is trailing after them at a distance, it's probably fine.]

It's one of our days off from managing the whole thing, but it's still pretty cool to look at~ [Because like hell if she's going to run this gym thing while all of this nonsense is going on, thank you very much.]

Alright. [Jotaro gives a sigh but lets himself be taken by the hand. He follows along, a ghost of a smile still on his face even though he doesn't try to show it much.

Well, he has noticed the Talonflame but he won't bring it up until it causes problems. The Clobbopus gives a whimper, clearly having noticed too, but Jotaro pats the cephalopod on the head with his free hand.]

Do you just have to wait in there for the off-chance someone comes to challenge you?

Fourth Wall!

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