[PRP] Boy Growing Up (Zacharie Birthday RP)

[Blood_Goddess]

One of the best things about living in a city that sat alongside the ocean was how cool the nights got in the evening, Though still carrying a muggy hint of the day’s humidity, but even that was a blessing when a ocean’s salty breeze would brush through and cool the air.
It made standing around outside not unpleasant, not that it was going to stop Kyle from finding something to complain about.
“If we were in Kanto we wouldn’t be waiting in any lines.” The tall man, his hair slicked back and styled in gel, hands shoved into his pockets and standing taller than the small group he was with.

“We don’t gatta wait in line here either.” A darker toned figure mutter casually in response, lifting his hand to his lips so that he could take a drag of his cigarette. “I know this joint.”

The tall man’s gaze snapped over to Jerome in an instant, his eyes widening slightly. “What? Then why are we waiting outside with everyone else?”

Jerome glanced over at him, making a gesture with his cigarette, and then shrugged “an s’nice out, right now.” He added

the small group standing together glanced around at the line of people they were standing among, come to think of it, they hadn’t even been lead there by Jerome, they had just naturally fallen into line with the rest of the civilians standing outside a club that Jerome had brought them to.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Having essentially grown up by himself, Zacharie hadn't put too much thought into holidays in the past.
That changed when his life was flipped upside-down and inside-out and tossed into the gutter for good measure. Sure he'd lost the only life he had ever known but he had gained a new life, a better life, and the best friend that a gangly, awkward kid could ask for. Holidays became so much more important when you had someone to celebrate with and buy presents for...

But he still didn't see much point in celebrating his own birthday.
Which was why he was a bit frazzled by the day's events.

Andre had insisted that he come and spend the day with him where the older Dubois had showered him with expensive gifts and stuffed him full of equally expensive food. It wasn't the first birthday he had spent with his brother but he felt like this year was a bit over the top...even for Andre. When asked about the importance of this particular birthday his brother had simply smiled and shook his head.

Zacharie didn't get it.

Jerome had wanted to take him to his first bar and he had no qualms with spending the evening with his best friend and their team mates...minus Kyle. But he was crammed into crisp, new clothes and shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other as he tried (and failed) to not look like he had no idea what was happening.

...He still didn't get it.

He picked absently at the soft material of the cardigan Kyle had bullied him into and pointedly ignored the curious looks his group was receiving from the group of chattering people behind them. Honestly, he wouldn't mind if they stood around outside all night...but he wasn't about to point that out.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Finishing his cigarette wasn't the only reason Jerome had decided to linger outside for a little bit longer. though he didn't express it, he was of course aware of Zacharie's uncertainty. So giving the youth some more time to gather himself might help his friend.

Jerome still moved a hand to the now taller man's shoulder, the one small and gangly boy that Jerome had met in the dark ally way years ago didn't exist anymore. who lived today, while still very much Zachaire, was a much taller, filled out young man now.
Speaking for a law abiding citizen, a person who lived under what society might consider more normal circumstances, turning 21 was the age one could legally obtain a drink of alcohol, Aside from a strange case with a red headed trainer he had shared some drinks with that was... who had admitted to somehow getting drinks legally before the age of 21.
But Zacharie he knew had not had any drinks yet. and while Jerome was fully aware of the fact that there would be a number of things that Zacharie would much prefer to do, Jerome was doing this more as a rite of passage, a step into manhood.
It would be an honor.

Jerome knew some pretty sketchy dives, in his days on the streets he had access to a number of bars that he wouldn't really deem as very safe, but with the expanding of the Griff's, and Jerome's new power over the gang, he had his pick of some places that would be a bit less... dirty for his team... and safer.

only half finished with the cigarette, Jerome took one last draw, exhaling the last of smoke from his lungs as he flicked the cigarette toward the wall.
"Aight, S'go in." Jerome told the ground who stilled seemed to be recovering from the news that they weren't going to have to be waiting in line.
With Jerome in the lead, the older gangster slunk his way up to the front. nodding his head at the bouncer who didn't need to take a second glance as he gestured Jerome and his group in, though there was something of distaste on his expression once Jerome had passed him.

Jerome knew it was nicer, though he hadn't been to this particular bar before. He was surprise to see just how modern and up kept it was, who knew what other kinds of shady things went down in a high roller place like this though.
Skipping the seats at the bar, and heading to a table reserved for special guests, a dance floor filled with dancing patrons, the music loud, but thankfully not obnoxiously so.
The lighting in the bar was bin, with strategically placed accent lighting giving it an eccentric feel to it.

Kyle paused at the table, taking a moment to cast his gave around the bar with a judgmental quirk of his eyebrow, though oddly enough chose not to say anything.
"See aren't you glad I helped you pick out something? You would have looked completely out of place.... or more then usual." Kyle sighed, pulling his hands out of his pockets and shifting to sit in at the table along with Kyle.

"Oy" Jerome grunted, placing his knuckles on the table and leaning forward a little "ain't puttin' up with bad vibes, we're here to have fun."

"Sounds like a plan" Kyle agreed, standing back up and heading to the bar, to odviously get a drink.

"so your first bar when you're 21 huh?" Jamie asked, the dark haired asian leaning over toward Zacharie "I remember when I turned 21! we went to a bar not nearly as nice as this. only we forgot to bring a designated driver with us"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie didn't really know what to expect of this evening but he trusted Jerome's judgement completely...so with a deep breath and a slight nod of his head he trailed after the group and into the bar.

It...definitely wasn't as bad as he had imagined it would be.

Not that he thought that Jerome would bring him somewhere seedy or disgusting but he had really only seen bars and dance clubs on TV. While there were too many people for his liking the place was clean, spacious, and altogether had a pleasant atmosphere. "It's nice..." He muttered, mostly to himself as he eyed the dancing people warily before he lightly leaned against the table though he shot Kyle a dirty look at the brunette's snarky quip. What did he care about his clothing? It's not like anyone was paying him any attention anyways. He chose not to bother with a response but stuck his tongue out childishly at the grunt's back as he walked away.

"This is my first bar ever." Zacharie said, turning his attention to Jamie. Was it common for people to sneak into bars when they were underage? "As you can probably guess this isn't my sort of 'scene'."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Nooooo" Jamie agreed whole heartedly.
"To be honest its not really any of our scene." Ryan answered, sighing as he leaned back in his seat "a place this nice? We usually go to pretty simple places."
Jamie nodded and grinned "You're really treating us this time Jerome."

The older man shrugged "F'yer ganna turn 21 guess it should be in style."

The young women of the group spoke up, her calm voice almost drowned out by the music. "Its nice to have a table like this... usually we just sit around and talk for a while, and drink. It'll be nice." she made a gesture to one of the seats for Zacharie.  

[insidiousEnigma]

A small smile twitched at the corners of his lips at Jamie's sarcasm and he gave a soft huff of a laugh as he gingerly lowered himself into the closest seat. At least they didn't have to sit on questionable bar stools, these seats were actually pretty comfortable. "I appreciate all of this, Jerome." Zacharie said honestly, taking another curious look around the room. "I hope it wasn't a hassle...it's just my birthday."

Whether or not he was 21 held no significance for him but he supposed that most people eagerly awaited the day they could legally go out and drink. Alcohol had never interested him...the thought of losing control of his motor skills and higher thinking scared him. But he supposed it would be funny to watch his team mates get drunk. "I'm sure we'll have a very enjoyable time."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome shook his head, "Naw, ain't trouble at all, 'sides, kinda like bein' able t'throw my weight round all these Griffs." He admitted with a single chuckle before he took took a seat.

By this point Kyle had returned to the table, pulling up the seat next to Ryan and sitting down, shortly after a waitress came up to the table with a tray, where she then started distributing drinks. one each for the Rockets, and pausing when it appeared she had an extra one.
"Oh oops, did I grab one to many?"

"Naw," Jerome answered herm just as a large half glowing Gengar was summoned from the shadows, reaching out to take the last drink from her, earning a jarred flinch from her. "Oh!"

With drink in hand, Bro floated down next to Zachaire, holding his glass out and clinked it to his drink.

"So what? Zacharie are we going to sing to you for your brithday? I've been practicing!" Jamie asked, holding his own drink out a little.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie stared down at the drink in front of him like most people would look at a complex math problem.

Confused and disgruntled.

He did smile at Bro as the ghost-type came to his side, raising his glass just a bit so the pokemon could knock their glasses together in a toast. He didn't know that pokemon could drink alcohol...or even had an interest in drinking, but he supposed if any pokemon did have an interest in it that pokemon would be Bro. "No." The purple-haired agent said quickly, his head snapping in Jamie's direction. "That's quite alright. You don't need to do that." Especially not in a crowded place like this where it would more than likely bring the attention of most of the patrons.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jamie placed his cup down with a more sever look on his face "Zachaire, there are just some things about a birthday that are required to take place... as dictated by tradition. Being embarrassed while a group of people sing one of the most awkwardly turned song in the history of singing is one of those things."

"So are we singing or not." Ryan asked

"No" Kyle replied

"Tradition! Kyle!" Jamie protested

"I ain't good at singin'" Jerome admitted, the Gengar hovering next to Zacharie shook his head slowly with wide eyes.
"But like... Happy Birthday man, S'kinda trippy that you're twenty one already. you've grown a lot in a lot of ways. S'pretty cool."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Thank God for Jerome.

Fairly certain that he had been saved from embarrassment, Zacharie shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not one for tradition." He said mildly, bringing the glass of whatever the waitress had brought them up so he could sniff at it. He grimaced at the strong smell of ethanol, barely concealed by some artificial fruit flavouring before gingerly lowering the glass back onto the table. "But uh...it's the thought that counts?" He shrugged as he turned his attention to Jerome. Hopefully closing off talk of birthday songs. "Definitely grown up from the kid you met in the alley 4 years ago?" He asked, grinning playfully.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"How did you guys meet anyway?" Jamie asked, seeing to have been pulled off of the insistent of tradition. "Were you really that young?"

"Uh... not really." Jerome answered "He was jus' small N'jumpy... more jumpy."

This seemed to spark an interest in the group as they settled into hear whatever story needed to be told, even Kyle glanced from the dance floor toward the odd team up at the table.

"Kids don't usually join team Rocket unless its for a really good reason." Jaimee pointed out "wasn't it Jerome who brought you into Team Rocket?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

"17 isn't so young." At least he didn't think it was all that young. "I was almost 18...a couple of months until my birthday." He cocked his head as he thought back on a time that felt to be centuries ago. "I spent a lot of time in downtown Camphoreon when I was younger. Looking for plants and equipment to use for my experiments and such. That's how I met Jerome, he was outside of a tattoo parlor that I was looking by when Jabari took an interest in him." He gave a soft huff of a laugh before taking a sip of his drink. He pulled a face as if burned his throat but cleared his throat, "We ended up talking for quite some time."

And Jerome had given him more attention in that mere evening than he had gotten in years.

"I had honestly thought that would be that last time I would see him but well..." He trailed off with a frown before shaking his head. "I got into an argument with my parents, my father did this," He motioned vaguely to his face with his left hand. "And Jerome was the only person that I knew at the time. If he hadn't come...I would have died in an alleyway." He paused thoughtfully, noticed his grip on his glass was tight, let go of the glass and dropped his hands to his lap. "Didn't have anywhere else to go so here I am."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Seventeen's pretty young." Ryan pointed out "I mean, when you take a look at it when you're older its young... its pretty young."
He finished with a shrug, showing that he was stating his opinion. Though Jerome gave a nod in agreement, As the oldest one at the table.

The other listened as Zacharie told his side, moving to look at Jerome when he picked in, watching Zacharie's hands disappear from the table top.
"bring'in ya into Team Rocket wasn't the best, but it was the only thing I really had for ya." Jerome admitted "think its made Team Rocket a little better though."
He let of a light sigh, and took a drink from his drink. "but naw, So I'm standing in this alleyway in this hood I know ain't that safe, and then ya got this kid diggin' round for flowers." Jerome chuckled " Ya know that sayin' bout the bunny who chills with lions."

Jamiee's eyes had widened at the story about his father scaring Zachaire;'s face. "I wondered where you got those..." she said "I'm sorry."

The others glacned to Jaimee, then back at Zacharie.

"why am I not surprised you were digging around for weeds..." Kyle pointed out  

[insidiousEnigma]

He supposed that as he was now, he would think that 17 was young for someone to be going through what he had been going through at that age. "Fair enough." He conceded with a slight nod as he reached to take another sip of his drink. It still burned on the way down but at least now he knew what to expect.

"I'd never been bothered before." Zacharie said in his defense. "If you just keep your head down and go where you need to nobody really notices scrawny kids rummaging through crates in the alleyway." He shrugged lightly but he couldn't help but smile at the thought that, in Jerome's opinion, he made the team a little better. His smile dropped a bit though at Jaimee's condolences, unsure of how to take it. "...You don't need to apologize." He muttered, awkwardly tugging on his sleeve. "I've come to peace with it." These scars were a reminder of who he had been, of what started him on the road to where he was now. And while perhaps being in Team Rocket wasn't the best thing in the world...he had made friends and found happiness here. "And just so you're aware, Kyle." He turned to give the other a haughty look. "Weeds can be used in a plethora of different medicines."