♕ FIFTH COMMAND | TEXT / ACTION [ILEX FOREST]

[determinator]

[An anonymous text has been sent out to all of Johto. All replies will be anonymous as well unless he screws up and anonfails which is highly likely.]

How do you deal with the loss of a close friend?

[For those of you in Ilex Forest, Archer is currently busy training his Pokémon. Or at least, that's what he'd like you to think he's doing. Every so often he'll check the Gear to see if there's a response to that anonymous text.]

[Today really isn't a good day. Archer definitely seems more distracted and agitated than usual, and he's been snapping at his Pokémon all day. Why? It's January 28th. Kimbley would have been twenty-eight today.]

Comments

[determinator]

Dorian and...?

[...Uh oh.]

I believe it evolves by a stone?

[Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. You're going to snap his arms off, aren't you. Okay, hang on, let's just find that stone and hand it over!]

Happy birthday.

[That's not sarcastic at all, actually. Since today is your birthday, right? It's Kimbley's birthday, so obviously it's yours too!]

1/2

[explosivecombat]

[...uh.]

Happy...birthday...?

[Well, any desire he may have had to snap your arms off is completely gone in favor of sheer, unadulterated "wat." He's not an idiot - he'll take the stone, and if you think you're getting it back then he will snap your arms off, but what are you even talking about.]

But it's not...

[explosivecombat]

[...and then suddenly, everything makes sense. Why that text hit the network now, why Archer has been so restless today...

...oh.]

...it would have been your friend's today, wouldn't it?

[determinator]

[What, you don't celebrate your birthday or something? Actually, that really wouldn't be surprising.]

[...No, apparently it's not your birthday? What...?]

Yes, he would have been twenty-eight.

[He pauses for a moment to reflect on that before shaking his head and quickly changing the topic.]

It's not your birthday today? When is your birthday, then?

1/3

[explosivecombat]

[Kimblee shakes his head a bit; he's noticed the abrupt subject change, but he won't call Archer on it for now.]

No, it isn't - that's not until April.

[Okay, hang on, let him put his pinecone down and find his other Pokeballs - Dorian, where are you...there you are, all right.

Dorian promptly proceeds to start whining, but that's pretty much quelled once Kimblee uses that damn Fire Stone on him; through some sort of...magic or something that no one fully understands, the evolution starts quickly, and by the end of it...]

[explosivecombat]

Well...I...

[...what the hell.]

[explosivecombat]

Excellent - this is absolutely lovely!

[Dorian, bb, u classy

oh my god Kimblee approves so hard

no seriously Kimblee sit down you are going to hurt yourself]

[determinator]

April? That's...

[Strange, but you've already moved on. Evolutions are always strange. Still, Dorian evolves and is suddenly a much larger classyfox! Archer smirks.]

Well, I'm glad you're pleased.

[No, seriously. He's never seen Kimblee this excited before. It's kind of stupidly endearing.]

[explosivecombat]

[NO BUT LOOK AT IT THO

d-dat class]

Oh, rather. It's really quite a nice evolution, to say nothing of th-

[...

... ... ...

...Dorian, are you seriously barking at him again

he is not picking you up]

Unfortunate that some things don't change to match, isn't it.

[determinator]

[...Oh wow. That's... really obnoxious.]

Very unfortunate.

[None of Archer's have changed after their evolutions either; it seems to be something that doesn't change regardless of the circumstances. Shame.]

I'm glad you're pleased. I wanted to hold off on giving you the stone until Dorian had learned some decent moves. Most of these don't learn any moves after they've been evolved by a stone.

[He didn't know that when he evolved Lucena, but she still learned some moves! Clearly she's just magical.]

[explosivecombat]

And I'm sure that's the only reason you held off.

[That is just the driest comment on the planet, Archer; he knows you better than that.]

As it stands, however, he seemed to have stopped learning moves altogether recently, so it all works out, I suppose.

[determinator]

Oh of course.

[The smirking like a douchebag really isn't helping matters much.]

Clearly my timing is excellent.

[explosivecombat]

Oh, clearly.

[Dorian, in the meantime, has decided that since he isn't getting any attention over here, he will just be wandering over to check out what the hell Mar...Mar...that dog of yours is doing. You are stalking down all the things over there, is there anything interesting...

Kimblee watches him for a moment before returning his attention to Archer.]

...odd that your friend and I should have been born on different dates entirely; I trust you've been holding up reasonably well, despite the date?

[determinator]

[Maróczy will look up when Dorian comes over. 'Sup classyfox, let's burn all the things!]

...Yes, I've been fine.

[If you think you're getting any sort of eye contact, you must be crazy.]

[explosivecombat]

[...okay, wtf, the helldog's actually fun when it's not being annoying on the battlefield? Come on, man, let's go kill some of those huge butterflies or something!]

Good to know, I suppose. I wouldn't want to think you were lying to me again.

[determinator]

[Fuck yeah! And of course he's fun, he's not like his trainer, man.]

Of course not.

[Overly defensive? Overly defensive.]

[explosivecombat]

[And for a moment Kimblee is quiet, apparently content to watch Dorian and Maróczy and...whatever it is they're doing (playing? setting fire to the entire forest? who knows, and more importantly, who cares?). His gaze is still focused in their direction when he speaks again; he's smirking a bit, though the expression isn't a particularly nice one.]

You're terrible at keeping things from me, you know.

[determinator]

[The silence isn't a good sign. He's too obvious about all of this, isn't he? Archer glances at Kimblee when he starts talking, and immediately looks away again.]

...It's not something I should bother you with.

[explosivecombat]

[...given that he knows what the issue actually is, Kimblee honestly agrees that that much is true. As much as he would like to avoid playing therapist for Archer, he often ends up doing so anyway; if he's going to be blunt, he doesn't want to deal with Archer's issues.

At the same time, if they're going to prove to be a hindrance, he's just going to end up dealing with them eventually anyway, isn't he.]

This partnership is based on mutual benefit, isn't it?

[determinator]

Yes. That's why I don't see how this will help you any.

[The point


his head.]

[explosivecombat]

[...okay, let's try to not facepalm just yet.]

Perhaps, but at the same time, this arrangement is supposed to benefit you as well, isn't it?

Although if you must think of it in terms of how it will benefit me, it's keeping your head clear from issues that may prove to be a problem later. Your partnership will be less beneficial to me if you're preoccupied with upsetting yourself with things that can't be fixed right now, anyway.

[determinator]

[That... really isn't something he had thought about before. Hold on while he considers this.]

[So by not discussing it with Kimblee, he's essentially hindering Kimblee? He's bothered by this, which is in turn altering how he's dealing with Kimblee, that much is true. So...]

My apologies, then. I hadn't considered that.

[...That said, he's not going to launch into a discussion here; he's not sure how exactly to start.]

[explosivecombat]

I thought as much.

[...and now we're just going to awkward at each other unless Kimblee fixes it somehow, aren't we. Um. Okay. Let's...start from the beginning or something.]

Has it been anything in particular, then, or...?

[...or just...generalized suck? how do we do this]

[determinator]

[Archer's silent for a moment before responding. He doesn't make eye contact or even look up, focusing instead on the ground, but not seeing it.]

...Today's his birthday. I've been trying to avoid thinking about it since arriving here, but it's been over four months since he died. He would have been twenty-eight.

[He doesn't elaborate for a moment, then finally picks up his train of thought haltingly.]

He... shouldn't have died. There must have been something I could have done. I don't... I don't know how to deal with this.

[explosivecombat]

...I'm not the sort to be oversentimental about things like this; I won't tell you to do anything like living your life in a way that he would approve of in order to keep his memory alive, simply because if he's anything like me, I'm well aware that that's horrible advice.

Whether he should or shouldn't have died is an entirely moot point; the fact is that he has. The circumstances don't matter as much as your reaction to those circumstances. If you must do something to vindicate yourself, keep living. Doing otherwise is just ensuring that he died for nothing, which is a hideous insult.