[FIN] What's Behind That Mask

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Yeah. I'm sure," the older male murmured, keeping an eye on Nate as he spoke of his sister. Was this possibly where they had some common ground? A weakness when it came to sisters? It seemed a little early to tell.

Blinking in bewilderment, Akira found himself more baffled than before. "...Harmless?" he repeated. What he'd heard being described - twisting people around fingers and all that - didn't sound like something that happened between anonymous internet strangers. Or maybe Akira was just relating it too closely to his own experiences, making it difficult for him to see any other perspective.

It was only occurring to him now, but...had he possibly been a victim of a 'troll' for years during high school and not even realized it all this time? From Nate's explanation, it sure seemed disturbingly accurate, but Akira hated to think it was so. That would have meant that all that time he had been used for nothing more than entertainment. And yet...that didn't sound unlike Ryuuzaki to have done something like that. He'd fooled him about a great many more things than that, after all.

He tried to pay attention as Nate gave examples, but it was difficult. What he'd already said had hit home and Akira couldn't shake himself from the idea that it fit the way he'd been treated by his first crush in every aspect since they'd first met. Was that why Nate charmed him so? And Seraphine, for that matter? Because the two reminded him of Ryuuzaki and the way that b*****d had teased and taunted him from day one?

Was he just a masochist, then? Or a fool? Or both? No, no, no, this was not happening again. He would not allow himself to go down that road a second time. He was going to play it safe and he was going to do things right. No more relationships beyond shallow friendship; besides, he would have been dishonoring Momoko as a widower, new life or not.

"Must be nice to know when people really mean what they say and what they don't," Akira answered, considering what Nate had said about his friend having known Nate wouldn't have snapped his game in half. "Because personally, I've spent most of my life trying to read between the lines and pick apart hidden meanings and I'm tired of it. I wish people would just be honest with me. That's all I want. No joking, no teasing - because you never know when a true word is spoken in jest."

The brunet looked up at Nate. Really looked at him. He was not Ryuuzaki. Ryuu was long gone. Nate actually seemed to know the difference between teasing between friends and cruelty involving emotions. Still, Akira wasn't ready to put his trust in anyone. After all, they'd barely just gotten to know each other. Maybe it would be easier in time to tell if Nate was truly the man he claimed to be - or rather, the man he claimed he wasn't.

Shoulders relaxing, Akira allowed the corners of his mouth to curve up a little. "You want to talk about trolling sisters?" he said. "Check out these piercings. Two little girls gave 'em to me at the same time while I was napping. With piercing guns. What'd Ellia do to you?"  

[Suudonym]

Nate offered a half-shouldered shrug, "I dunno, I mean I guess a lot of it is blind faith, you know? Take everything with a grain of salt and all that. But most of it is probably more reading the mood than reading some kind of hidden message. Like, if we're laughing and having a good time and you say an offensive joke and I'm like 'lol, I'm gonna kill you for that,' that's a lot different from if you accidentally spill a drink all over some mafia dude's expensive imported jacket and he's like 'yo, I'm gonna kill you for that.' One of 'em you're laughing it up, the other you hit the ground running." He spared a moment to blow the paper wrapping off a straw and insert it into his soda. "Words are easy, you know? You can say practically anything without even trying, so of course stuff that you don't actually, literally mean is gonna slip in there to express some kind of feelings."

This was feeling a bit of a tale of two cities. Sincerity was stifling. Feelings were stifling. If you couldn't coat it in some decent humor, how were you ever expected to swallow it?

The change in atmosphere was relieving, and Nate indulged in a full laugh as Akira shared tell of his sisters' deeds. "Holy hell dude that sucks. Though honestly I wouldn't have put something like that past El if she could get her hands on a piercing gun. Like, I could wake up to that tomorrow… and I'd only be mildly surprised by it." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the thought. "First thing that comes to mind for Ellia is this ********'…" He pulled a pokeball from his side and raised it in demonstration, "I mean don't get me wrong, Des is a bro, but getting dumped with a ********' pink Crobat out of the blue is like… why would you even. Pink. Named Destiny. I didn't even want a pokemon and she's like 'herp derp no returns.'" A partial frown. "Not quite the same as waking up to a coupla shiny new studs, but I was pretty pissed at the time. Now I just call him Des and say he's light red." He shrugged.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Akira sighed. "Then maybe I'm just terrible at reading moods. It would certainly explain a lot." Like his odd tendency to anger girls when he meant to comfort or help them. He smirked at Nate's given example regarding a playful joke versus an offended mafia member. "Sounds like one of those things that comes from experience and common sense - two things I'm in short supply of. Guess I'd better get some more."

Lightening up considerably after that, the brunet smiled at Nate's laughter and the talk that followed. "What? A pink Crobat?!" he repeated, his amusement punctuated by disbelief. "How do you even get something like that? Haha, wow." Akira ran a hand through his hair, grinning. "And it's a guy, too? He must be suffering as much as you do, if not worse."

Tossing his empty carton of fries, he finished off his water before tossing the cup as well. "Hey, Nate, I apologize," he told him, "for having such a stick up my a**. I'm still learning a lot after leaving that sheltered life of mine and some of it's a little hard to take in. I appreciate you putting up with me."  

[Suudonym]

"I guess it's the kind of thing you get used to, yeah," he said with a nod. "Knee-jerk reaction is probably a pretty good measure for atmosphere at any given time. If you feel like laughing, it was probably a joke. If not, likely not. And if you get it wrong, you'll be corrected and'll know better for next time." But damn was it weird to explain this kind of stuff. He found it unlikely that all residents of Sinnoh were like this but didn't particularly care to inquire further. It was what it was.

Still grinning, Nate raised his index finger, "Apparently, now, this thing is some kind of marvel of nature. Pokemon aren't my thing so I wouldn't really know any better, but El absolutely insisted that he was <********' majestic. That's probably the only way he can sleep at night, honestly." He paused, angling his still pointing finger so that it indicated his face and wearing a haughty smile, "Dunno if I have much room to talk with my goddamn kaleidoscope eyes, but hey, maybe I'm a marvel of nature too."

He waved a hand dismissively, "Eh, I've got my own bullshit you're putting up with, so you can call it even." There was a part of him that for a moment entertained the thought of apologizing for being all uptight at the hot spring, but it was a very small part and a very brief moment.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

He nodded, taking mental notes. It seemed such a silly, trivial thing for him to have to learn, but obviously he'd screwed it up somewhere along the way to take everything so seriously. One thing he felt he needed to learn from Ryuu, Sera, and Nate was how to get used to enjoying himself and just having and making fun of life.

Now that he no longer had the responsibilities that had previously weighed on his shoulders, Akira tried to tell himself he could take it easier and not treat everything like it was some business negotiation where he had to please everyone, be polite, make nice, and keep his head down. As Seraphine had put it, maybe it was time for him to 'grow a pair'. He couldn't be such a sissy with a stick up his a** forever.

"Is it really?" he asked aloud. He thought he'd heard something about these pokemon before - the rare one-in-a-million odd ball pokemon referred to as a shiny of its species. As of late, though, especially here on Kodo, there seemed to be a lot of pokemon genetically-engineered to have certain patterns, colors, and designs, so maybe he was wrong.

"Yeah, 'fraid I don't know too much about pokemon either. Heh, I have been curious about you, though," he admitted. "Don't start jumping to conclusions. I've been studying up on this silly legend about hair and eye color and how it ties in to genetics. Those eyes and hair of yours - do those run in the family, or is that just you?" He tilted his head. "I'd been thinking up until now that those were just contacts or something. Those are natural?"

"Tch, got that right," the older male snickered, grabbing his burger. He'd just have to take it to go, he supposed. "But I wouldn't mind putting up with it a little more if you would teach me how to drive." He got up. "Thanks for the dinner date, but I have to get to work. Night shift. It was fun, Nate."  

[Suudonym]

He shrugged; the Crobat indeed had a certain sheen to it that he could see someone describing as 'shiny,' but Nate wasn't aware of the true rarity of such a coloration beyond what his sister had described - and frankly, his sister's words weren't always the most trustworthy. Ambergris seemed to be a place more concerned with basic survival than with training pokemon.

At Akira's admission of curiosity, Nate laced his fingers under his chin and batted his eyes girlishly, wearing an excessive smile. "Natural as hell, sweetheart. To my great chagrin." He stuck his tongue out briefly, dropping the adopted facade. "Ellia's similar but a little less psychedelic. It's from my mom's side, but it skipped her. My grandad has some crazy s**t going on though, as I recall."

He moved to dispose of his waste, retorting loudly, "Now hey now, I'm offended!" The grin on his face, however, easily betrayed his jest. "Yeah yeah, drop me a line, I guess," he suggested, removing his phone from his pocket to offer his contact information. "My shifts are pretty random, but it's bound to coordinate sooner or later."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Something about the way Nate obnoxiously bat his eyes and put on a show made Akira want to shove his face away. He managed to resist, but rolled his eyes to the ceiling with a smirk, wondering what 'natural as hell' even meant as a term. Was he being sarcastic? Ugh, guess it was another of those things he'd have to learn to pick up on. The way he continued sounded as though they were real, though. "So those eyes came from your grandad going crazy?" he asked, his tone incredulous. "I guess I've heard taller tales..."

At Nate's claim of having been offended, Akira took a leaf out of Sera's book and stuck out his tongue. Taking out his own phone, he quickly put in the new contact and nodded. "You seem to be the sort that makes his own time when he wants it," he commented, sending a text with his own information. "But I'll do my best not to expect any commitments from you. Wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable."

Sticking his phone back into his pocket, he checked his watch and headed toward the door. "I trust you can make it back home without an escort?"  

[Suudonym]

"Oh I'll be fine, but you make sure to take care of yourself," he replied with a wink. "Big scary city out there and all."