[FIN] Danger Room Dialogue

[TawnyAngel]

"Sure. And yeah.... You?" Aulus lent back against the wall, closing his eyes again to avoid having to make eye contact. "I wasn't expecting it either. Maybe it's a new addition." There was a lot more he wanted to say than that, but he also did not want to say it. The mission that was coming, what Izaya had said to him and... no, he couldn't, certainly not the latter anyway let alone how he had reacted to Izaya. Maybe the damned grunt was right, maybe he would just be a liability.

Phaethon gave a soft whicker, confused and worried, and clopped across the floor to blow warm air in Aulus' ear. Tortie was close behind but she flopped down at his side, head on her paws and tail twitching restlessly.  

[Gwennythe]

"I'm... I will be... fine." Tambrey settled on, then nodded slowly. "Maybe it is." She didn't sound convinced, however; expecting it or not it wasn't the point really- it was a training room; she wasn't supposed to expect things... The problem was the nature of what had shown up; electrical prods- she wasn't entirely sure how Aulus felt about them, but she knew her own fear. Perhaps he was similarly affected, she wondered silently, and then wondered if she should try and broach the subject.. Maybe it would help her to talk, at least, and /maybe/ that would help Aulus... She knew it was somewhat selfish, thinking of his welfare second hand in that way, but in the immediate aftermath of what had just happened, she found she couldn't help herself.
"I am sorry though.. I just, uh... I fell. I made you trip. I should have been... more prepared than that, I mean... It's electricity, sure... I have Gauntlet, I have Jubilee; yet I still can't just -deal- with," her right hand waved, carrying irritation at herself, at where the last prods had vanished "those..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah."

Aulus half pulled Tortie into his lap and tangled his fingers in her thick mane. He opened his mouth to say something but words didn't come out so he closed it again and swallowed.

"I don't...." He paused. "I mean I know it's not...." He hesitated. "I just...." He sagged, shoulders hunching slightly and head bowing. "It was so long ago now but at the same time it isn't, it might as well have been yesterday, it's.... Yeah." As his body language shrank his voice too had softened and that last 'yeah' was hardly more than a murmur. He didn't know how to explain himself, or even if he wanted to fully. He trusted Tam, she was his partner now but a part of him was still afraid that if she saw him as weak she wouldn't value him anymore. It was stupid but there it was.  

[Gwennythe]

"It wasn't long enough ago... It could never be long enough ago." Tambrey tried, finally looking over properly; she decided to move to sit against the same wall, wincing a little as her leg protested.

"You remember when we first came her, when we found Jubilee?" Tambrey ventured, carefully.  

[TawnyAngel]

When Tam came to sit nearby Aulus glanced briefly at her but only at her feet, he didn't want to make eye contact. "I guess not.... And yeah, I remember. Why do you ask?" He did glance up at Tam's face then but could only manage it for a moment before he looked back down at Tortie again.  

[Gwennythe]

"The very fact she was an electric type- that her entire being was related to the same... energy that was used to..." Tambrey sighed and shook her head, sounding a little more unsure herself "Anyway. She's a tiny bug and it took you and Paul to 'rescue me' from her."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh.... Yeah." Aulus risked looking up again, kept looking up this time with a strained smile and tired eyes. "Pokémon are different I guess, for me. I'd probably feel different if I actually got zapped by one though.... Tam... Look...." What was he even trying to say? It was hard to put things like this into words, he just wasn't good with words when he wasn't snarking or proselytizing or something. Just being sincere about private thoughts and feelings was difficult, probably because they often weren't all that tough.

"...I just wanted to say that, you know, whatever happens out there I've got your back, okay? No matter what."  

[Gwennythe]

She nodded a little, having something else to add, but waited while Aulus seemed to collect up the right words, until he finally came out with what he eventually did.

Tambrey offered a smile she hoped was reassuring, before replying with her own rather carefully considered words.

"I know. I mean; that's good to hear, and I appreciate it, but I know you have; just know I have yours in return?" She raised her hand to call Gauntlet down to them.
"This job... Hm. Before I came here there wasn't one attack, or one type, that I could truthfully say held any fear for me; outside this life was very 'safe', very tame, not that I appreciated that... Now though, I can't even watch contests if Starmie shows up- I have to turn it off... I flinch whenever a Pichu sneezes."
She sighed a little, and shrugged.
"This probably isn't making the point I wanted it too- kinda ramble when I'm trying to talk about this stuff.. Uh. Anyway; this life? It kind of... destroys you, I mean, what we were before- it takes that away... It's like I'm always having to constantly rebuild myself, but there are solid... 'bits'. Like a foundation, that's always there to support the rest of it." The dark haired agent frowned, opening her palm to let her Rotom hover and crackle just above it, being very careful not to flinch.
"Guess what I mean is that people are a part of that foundation, and you're one of them, if that's okay? So thank you, and I know, and likewise."  

[TawnyAngel]

"It wasn't what I expected, Team Rocket I mean... I mean it kind of was but I didn't understand what it was I was getting into." Aulus shrugged. He'd been angry; wanting to get away from everyone back home who he felt hadn't understood him, wanting adventure, maybe to prove how tough he was? He hadn't followed Claire thinking he'd live a safe life but he'd never imagined that cold white cell, that chair bolted to the floor, that hearing the pain of your friends could be as bad or worse than your own pain. "I guess I can't regret it though... never had friends like I do now before." Feelings. Difficult. "And you're one of them if I didn't make that clear and... thank you. It means a lot, for... yeah, all of the stuff you just said."

He considered giving Tam a friendly punch on the shoulder at that point but half way through the action he thought better of it and shuffled closer to her in order to put his right arm around her shoulders in a half hug.

"We'll be okay partner. We'll come back in one piece." All of them, they had to. He'd promised Alex he'd keep him safe last time and failed, he couldn't do so again and he couldn't fail Tam either, or even the rest of them who he cared about a lot less. The others were still part of Team Rocket; his team; his family, vicious and steeped in crime though it was.