[FIN] Here's Looking at You, Kid

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Seriously," she agreed heartily, and folded her arms over her chest. "That's something I don't even want to think about."

Anastasia took a single step forward but no more, not wanting to leave her trainer's side any further than that, and sniffed at his hand for a few moments. The chocolate smelled good, but the scent of a pokemon lingered. "Breee?" She churred softly, peering up at him with her bright blue eyes.

"She doesn't train as much as my other pokemon do," Sera admitted as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dawwwwwwwww. He couldn't help but love the Umbreon; her lovely looks and her obvious loyalty and- dawwwwww. "I train quite a lot," Aulus said, now looking back up at Sera though he remained crouched down. "Some more than others though, I guess my Absol Tortie is the toughest right now."

He kind of wanted to talk to Sera about things that were less fun actually.

He wanted to ask... to ask how she'd dealt with it and what if anything she was having done. Aulus was currently feeling very much as though he were an asset that needed to be repaired with as much expediency as possible which was good he guessed but... but.. but yeah.

How did he get off this subject though? It interested him but this felt like a unique chance that might be about to slide through his fingers.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well that was certainly unexpected; not that someone else had an Absol, but that someone else had an Absol they trained and that they considered their toughest pokemon. "I think my Absol's my toughest too," the brunette said with some surprise again. They had more in common than she'd thought. "I mostly train half of mine, but yeah, my Absol Isabella is my strongest." Unfortunately for Aulus, she was unaware of his desires for the conversation. Fortunately for him though, she had similar desires.

Anastasia had desires completely irrelevant to either of theirs, as she scooted another inch closer to lick tentatively at his fingers. They smelled of chocolate more than another pokemon, so maybe he had some on his fingers...?  

[TawnyAngel]

Sadly Aulus did not have any chocolate on his fingers but he did smile at the Umbreon, though that probably didn't compensate for the lack. As Sera spoke again however he looked up with his brows raised in mild surprise. "Really?" Freaky, but freaky in a good way he guessed? He nodded. "That's cool, they're great pokemon." He was currently trying to save up enough to put in a request for a mega stone for Tortie but it would take him a while, those things didn't come cheap to say the least.

Anyway though. Anyway. Right. So. How was he going to continue this conversation? It was a difficult topic; all raw, painful, awkward, in fact rather like the injury itself. He wanted to ask her how she'd coped with people treating her differently, if she saw herself differently now, all of that and... and he had no words.

Aulus looked back down at Anastasia but his smile had faded, replaced by hesitancy and uncertainty. "So... kind of a pain trying to carry a shopping basket and get things off the shelf, right?" he'd ended up putting the basket on the floor, putting something into it, and then picking it up again.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While she was a little disappointed at the lack of chocolate, it wasn't that big a deal, and so instead the Umbreon lightly bumped her forehead against his hand, hoping for further attention.

"They are," Sera agreed with a nod, then hesitated, "or at least, Isabella is. We don't see many other Absol running around," the brunette said with a mild shrug.

She was a little surprised when he switched back to the topic - given he'd moved away from it in the first place, presumably because it bothered him, so why would he willingly choose to go back to a topic that bothered him? - but she wasn't averse to talking about it, and her reaction was a little exaggerated by how well she understood that plight, "I know!" Though, granted, she could simply place the basket over her short arm, but only if it wasn't too heavy. "I usually bring one of my pokemon whenever I need to do shopping, and they hold the basket or bag or something for me because it's so hard to do s**t myself. But ugh, forget about shopping, what about just getting dressed in the morning?" She asked with a frustrated, forceful sigh as she flung out her good arm in an exasperated gesture. "Or showering, or putting toothpaste on your toothbrush, or doing your--well, you don't have enough hair to put your hair up, but lemme tell you something that's impossible to do: Put your hair up," the girl said rather frustratedly, folding her arms over her chest in her annoyance. She hadn't really liked to put it up before, and only really wanted to after she'd lost the ability to do so by herself. Funny how things worked sometimes.  

[TawnyAngel]

This stuff was difficult to think about let alone talk about but she got it. She got it. Even though it was difficult to talk about, even though he felt stupid and awkward and half feared some kind of judgement - though what kind he couldn't have said - it felt good to be understood, to not be alone.

"Right," Aulus continued, still kneeling down and rubbing the Umbreon behind the ears gently. It felt kind of weird holding a conversation with somebody who was standing up while he was not but the Umbreon was cute damnit, and incredibly soft. "And there's buttons, and shaving, and cutting things up, and operating a full sized dex, and typing." As he spoke he began to sound less hesitant, more vehement. It was stupid, everything was stupid, and Sera understood that it was stupid and agreed that it was stupid. "And everyone is so damn nice, unsolicited help from strangers," Aulus concluded with a dark scowl.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Anastasia began making pleased, contented noises as he rubbed at her ears and head, her large blue eyes closing as she enjoyed the attention.

"And trying to open a door when you're carrying something, and... Ugh, yes! That," she said emphatically, gesturing grandly at Aulus, "that right there. I can't stand it when people get it in their heads that we need help with s**t. 'Oh you poor thing, here, let me help,'" the brunette said, raising her voice a bit higher to properly mimic a voice, then roughly folded her arms over her shoulders. "I'd like them to take all their 'help' and shove it right up their a**. Who the ******** says anyone needs their help? I swear, if I need help then I will damn well ask for it, and the next person to try and shove it on me is getting b***h-slapped," she finished with a huff, her irritation clearly shining through her words, tone, and body language. How dare some people try to push help on her where it was unwanted, unasked for? Some people just thought they were so much better or something, or because they had two hands and she didn't, that she needed help no matter what it was because oh, the poor girl only has one hand - bullshit. So much bullshit. Ugh.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus decided that he rather liked this girl, she got it and she also shared key sentiments with him re: shoving unsolicited help into painful places. He sneered, still petting the Umbreon. "Seriously. I'd say shove it where the sun doesn't shine but they obviously think the sun does shine out of their arses. I bet they get a warm glow of satisfaction as they set out to Help the Less Fortunate. They probably make posts on their favourite social media site about global crises that they think are deep and insightful too, but that actually have all the depth of a small bird bath and all the insight of a dazed toddler. Bastards." He hadn't actually hit anyone over the matter yet but he hadn't been out and about much, even on base he was doing his best to avoid crowds on the off chance that somebody might say something. He dreaded running into Izaya.

"I've had more doors held open for me this morning than I have for the last ten years," Aulus added darkly. Maybe it wasn't a big deal, maybe it was one of those things he should be nice about so that more people liked him and... and... and ******** that s**t. Seriously. ******** it. How the hell had he decided that acting like that was even remotely a good idea?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera sneered as well, offering another irritated huff. As annoyed as she was at their shared problems, it felt wonderful to talk about. So very wonderful - much better than she ever expected it would. But then again, she hadn't really ever expected to discuss it with anyone who would understand her pain and hardship. It was probably a rather morbid thought, but she was quite glad to be talking to someone else who'd lost their arm. "Probably. Ugh, I hate people like that - think they're made of rainbows and sunshine and good feelings, and go around helping everyone they come across because it makes them feel good. Think they're such a good person - they're really just selfish and stupid. Ugh.

"At least it's just doors," the brunette said as she knelt down; if he was resting near the ground then she would, too. "The worst is when I'm trying to open a jar or a bottle or something - I can do it, it just takes a little while - and someone decides to swoop in and take it and open it for me before I can do it," she said, her expression morphing to one of bitter resentment. "I get that one a lot. Rather have people open doors for me than that s**t."  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus made an eloquent noise of disgust. "What? Really? They just grab it off you? What the hell? Ugh! Somehow I'm not surprised, though I wish I was. I haven't had that one yet but I can foresee it, they'll come up with a kindly smile and big concerned eyes. If they have a child with them they will then bend down to address them and tell them how important it is to be kind and helpful to poor helpless cripples, make us into a life lesson for their snotty sprog." Aulus made a mental note to only drink canned drinks in public at least until he figured out a more efficient way to open bottles than pinning them between his knees and then using his hand to twist the top off.

"Have you figured out a good way to brush people off, or has pure vitriol proved most effective?" Aulus asked, shifting slightly at a warning twinge from the scar on his leg; it didn't often bother him anymore but now he was missing a limb he wasn't taking any chances at all on having another stop working on him. "As you probably noticed just now vitriol is my current preference." Not that this was anything new for him of course but he didn't feel the need to add that.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yep," Sera affirmed darkly, though she pointedly refrained from adding that it was usually her own mother who did it to her own 'snotty sprog' - what the hell kind of phrase was that anyway? - and so she couldn't react too badly. "Pretty sure there's nothing that pisses me off more than that at the moment. Especially if they help without you asking and then expect you to be just so grateful to them for being so kind and generous and wonderful and just ugh."

A few silent moments passed on her part to try and rid herself of some excess aggravation, and she sighed as she rested her elbow on her knee and set her chin in her hand, idly tapping a finger on the side of her cheek. "In case you haven't noticed by now, that's kind of my current preference, too, so that's usually how I react too. Not sure what a good alternative is," she said with a shrug, then added, "though obviously I don't do that to everybody. Only the aggravating, annoying ones. Most people don't really do or say anything, or even care, though right after my accident I was almost positive that everyone was staring or judging me or thinking s**t about me or something," the brunette admitted with a frown, though she neglected to add that sometimes she still felt that way. That didn't happen too often, though.  

[TawnyAngel]

It certainly felt as though everyone was staring and judging him... but then he'd always felt like people were staring and judging - had for years anyway - only now he felt as though the judgements that were being made were different, were coming out on the side of pity rather than fear. Maybe he was wrong all together though, maybe people stared because he was an unusual sight but didn't really judge at all. Maybe.

"Well... snapping and glaring seem to work well enough, where they're needed," Aulus said after a moment or two with a slight shrug. He fell silent again then, wondering if he should bring up the next subject that had come to mind; replacements. He knew that really good limbs like the one that engineer girl had had were hellishly expensive and he was damn glad that he didn't exactly have to pay for his; in some ways being a commodity to be repaired was a good thing... maybe Sera couldn't get a good one, that would be awkward and having found somebody he shared this with he didn't want to make things awkward. "I guess at least my friends have been good," Aulus continued eventually. "I mean they don't get it but they don't try to coddle me. Couldn't have put up with that." He hadn't actually got to spend a lot of time with either Claire or Jerome since... since stuff but Alex and Tam had been great, though of course they were all a bit more used to terrible things happening than your average person and were dealing with unpleasantness of their own too. Regardless of the reasons they'd been good however he was just glad that they had been, that they were.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Mmh," she agreed quietly, adding a nod to affirm his statement. Reacting angrily usually worked when it was called for, but usually she didn't need to react that way. Usually she just ended up ignoring people, or not noticing them because no one said or did anything. Briefly she wondered what she should ask him, if anything, but then he seemed to want to steer the conversation, given how he'd been talking this whole time, and while she was tempted to steer it herself, being the spiteful little thing she was at times, she decided it'd probably be better if she didn't. After all, she knew much better than practically anyone else what he'd gone through, what he was feeling, and what he would continue to go through; she would've hated anyone who was unnecessarily spiteful or vindictive to her.

"Hm? Oh, that's good," she agreed with a firm nod, switching tracks and thinking of her own friends. "Mine have been, too. Only one of them sort of kind of understands maybe a little bit? Not really, though, but it's better than nothing. They don't coddle either, and they don't.. really act like anything's different, actually," she noted aloud with a soft frown. "I think they try to act the same way they always have, and act like it's no big deal, or stuff like that. It's nice, sometimes."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah." Aulus nodded vaguely, rubbing stiff muscles in his shoulders one side at a time as he considered what she'd said; his friends acted the same towards him too really he guessed, and that was what was good. He really wasn't good at thinking about this stuff which was probably because he kept trying not to, as though that would make it all un-happen and that was just stupid.

Avoiding the subject of replacements was probably stupid too, he wanted - needed? - to know Sera's thoughts because... because.... Well just because, okay? He didn't have to justify himself to himself! She got it, she'd been... well like she was for longer than he had and... stuff. Stuff. Yeah.

"So...." Right. Just talk. No problem. Aulus looked back down at the Umbreon, avoiding Sera's gaze. "I've been doing research into replacements. Is..." Ugh. "Is that an option you're considering?" He knew it was happening to him, and that ultimately it was what he wanted but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Having an arm was better than not having an arm and yet it wouldn't really be his arm, would it? Would it come to feel like it was? And there were so many things that could go wrong along the way, what if it didn't work at all? What would he do? What use would he be to Team Rocket, and what would happen to him if he wasn't of much use at all?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At his question, she similarly avoided his gaze, but for different reasons. Replacements; the subject her mother had continuously tried to bring up with her, to push on her, to convince her she needed, and yet never understood her daughter's feelings about them. Prosthetics had become a topic Sera avoided when possible, as it only made her uncomfortable or spiteful, or just plain stubborn - she hadn't needed one this past year, why did she need one now? She'd made her decision and she would stick to it regardless of what anyone said or did. "Well," she started, then hesitated, trying to think of a way to properly phrase her feelings into coherent sentences, "it is an option, but I haven't really been considering it. It's just -- it wouldn't be the same, you know? It wouldn't be my arm - my real one - it'd just be.. Well, just that - a replacement," she said with a lame shrug. "Plus a lot of the ones they showed me back after my accident looked really stupid and couldn't really do a whole lot - but I guess that's because they were cheaper ones or something? I dunno - so at that point it's like, would it really be better to have something that doesn't work that well? Or something like that. I don't know," she finished with a huff, a faint tinge to her cheeks. More expensive, complex and better-working prosthetics had been suggested to her too, which actually seemed a much better option, but she'd been fine this whole time without one - she couldn't very well go back on her firm decision she'd defended so vehemently, could she? No, she couldn't.