21st bloom; Retreat

[punchtheflowers]

[It was that time of year again. There was a small gift in the form of a satchel of tea leaves for the people that Vinnie considered family. Red got a strong, black tea; Marie, a sweet berry tea blend; Sasha's had spicy peppercherry as a base. Though not technically a member of his team, Voile still received a subtle, white tea.

However: this year, for whatever reason, Green and Blue's team also got a surprise present. Green tea was reserved for Green (ha ha); Bulba was paired with sweet-smelling jasmine leaves; Char had smoky, cinder horse mix; Jolt's was a refreshing oolong; even Nyx got something, a ginger tea. Blue, on the other hand, was given a chrysanthemum tea, and both Jock and Blake got classic belle tart seed.

Each packet was signed with a scribble of a flower.

Max, on the other hand, got a mug.]

= = =

I'm heading home for a bit t'check up on family. There's some shit I need t'take care of in Vermilion, too. I've got my phone if you need me - it's some sort've satellite thing, so it oughta work even if I'm not in the usual reception range.

M, Sis, you've been through this already. Be careful an' look out for V and everyone else. You'll be fine without me. Red...

...

Be there for them. I'll talk t'you when I get back.

= = =

[Ishimaru, Vivian, and Rick also received private emails. It wasn't as though Vinnie knew them very well, but he felt as though it was still worth saying something to them. A certain empathy spoke to him, as it were, even if he didn't have all the facts.]

I don't know you, and I don't know what happened, but if you did what you had to, then don't blame yourself for what was self-defense.

It'll be okay.

✿

Comments

[THE MOST DERAIL-ASS ACTION EVER ha ha hhhaa]

[rivalkidneypunch]

[Char, meanwhile, neither knows nor gives any amount of shits when Vinnie's birthday is, so is very confused by what he assumes must have been Bulba giving him surprise gifts. When he heads down for breakfast, he brings said mystery gift along so he can ask the kid about it.]

Uh, kid...?

[APPROVED AND ENCOURAGED]

[rivalsweetscent]

[There were probably some extra poffins getting made since he was already in the mood, along with the usual breakfast fares.]

Uh-huh...? Good morning.

[rivalkidneypunch]

[Ooh, poffins. He might be kinda hovering a bit, Bulba. Are they spicy. Are there spicy poffins.]

Mornin'. Look, uh, is today some kinda team anniversary or something?

[rivalsweetscent]

[Maybe there were. There were certainly spicy berries on the counter.]

Hmm?

[Bulba gave him a quick, slightly confused look before he looked back at his batter pot.]

Not really? Its just a good day for them. [You know. Assuming you were asking about poffins.]

[rivalkidneypunch]

[Well, actually he's talking about this mystery bundle of dried plant matter that was left at his doorstep, ssssooo actually probably two days ago was a better day for that.]

Huh? No, not the poffins, kid. I'm talkin' about this.

[Behold: mystery gift is being produced from his pocket, little flower-drawing tag and all.]

[rivalsweetscent]

[Wait, hold on a sec let him just... stir it that way and... OKAY, all right, he's paying better attention now.]

...

[He is giving that little satchel a very bewildered look, and for moment he can only come up with one response in his surpise:]

Oh.

[rivalkidneypunch]

[Oh, indeed.

...There might be a sneaky finger trying to sample the poffin batter whilist Bulba gives that satchel a look.]

I mean, I appreciate the gift, don't get me wrong, I just ain't sure what the deal is.

[rivalsweetscent]

[He totally got his finger in there and Bulba only noticed in time to shoo his hand out of it with a strange little laugh.]

It's tea. Do you want to try some?

[Cause there was some hot water in the pot from when Bulba had made some of his own, and he was kind of curious about what kind Char had gotten.]

[rivalkidneypunch]

Uh... sure.

[He said, around a fingerful of poffin batter. (Delicious, for the record.) Tea wasn't something he had often -- ever, in fact -- so he still remained plenty baffled, but if Bulba thought it was worth giving, then it was worth trying. He busied himself grabbing a mug.]

Why tea, if y'don't mind me askin'?

[rivalsweetscent]

[Bulba looked kind of thoughtful about it as he grabbed the pot and-- oh, wait, stirring the batter another way first.]

You don't need to put a whole lot in. Probably just enough to cover the bottom and a bit extra.

[A vine reached to finish the other job, picking up the pot by its heat-proofed handle for Char.]

But I don't think I'm actually qualified to answer that. It's not from me.

[rivalkidneypunch]

[Oh. That was news to Char. Bulba was really the only person he could think of that was both likely to give him presents and likely to sign said presents with a flower. He raised his eyebrows as he did as instructed, holding the mug out to that ever-helpful vine.]

Hold on, what? Who's it from, then?

[rivalsweetscent]

[TOO LATE he was already pouring the water into the mug with its tea, and now there was a new (pretty tasty) scent mingling in with the cooking poffins.]

It's from Vinnie.

[Nothing he ever thought he'd be announcing, and he sounded just as surprised as he looked a moment ago.]

[rivalkidneypunch]

[ha ha ha what a funny joke that is bulba]

No, seriously. Who's it from?

[rivalsweetscent]

[ha ha ha ha]

Ha. Strange but true. I got one too, which was weird enough on its own...

[rivalkidneypunch]

[Char stares down at the mug, now a lot less sure that he wants to drink it, no matter how it smells.]

Why the hell's he givin' you tea?

...Why the hell's he givin' us tea?

[He corrected his question quickly enough. He could believe Vinnie and Bulba having cutesy little present exchanges, maybe, but including any Green Team members beyond Bulba didn't make a lot of sense to him. Especially not Char, of all people. Theirs was not exactly a chummy relationship.]

[rivalsweetscent]

[Yeah, that was the part that was stumping Bulba now. He tapped the end of his spoon handle against his chin.]

Well, it's his birthday and he likes to give other people gifts for it.

I thought it might have just been for the guys on his team, but I guess... not?

[rivalkidneypunch]

[The parts about it being his birthday and also his ass-backwards choice to give gifts out probably both warranted some examination, but ha ha nope fuck that. Vinnie was going to be getting exactly zero birthday wishes from Char.]

That don't make no sense, though! I can't be the only one seein' how this makes no sense, right?

[Because Bulba it makes no sense. Tea. Present. For guy he hates a bunch. Why.]

What, is he just handin' shit out to literally everybody he knows, then?

[rivalsweetscent]

[Bulba shrugged. Look, he was pretty baffled too.]

It's definitely kind of weird but... hm.

[He thought about it, and about the sort of guy that Vinnie tended to be. It definitely didn't make any immediate sense, but last year he said he didn't want to hang on to stupid grudges didn't he?

Stir stir stir the poffin meanwhile. It was just about done.]

Maybe he appreciates you as a ri...val....??

[rivalkidneypunch]

[That felt like kind of a stretch, after a couple years or so of not being worth Vinnie's time. Significantly less of a stretch than "suddenly he really wants to be best friends," though, so there was that. Char still stared dubiously down at the mug in his hands, giving it a tentative sniff as if he half-expected to catch a note of Venusaur barf or something. Nope, just a smoky, vaguely herbal smell.]

Sounds a little bullshit to me. Y'think the rest of the team got stuff too?

[rivalsweetscent]

Maybe. I guess that would make sense if it was a rival thing, right? I guess. It'd be weirder if it were just you and me.

[IT WAS DONE. Bulba did whatever it was you actually did with poffins because they were part of a mystery, and set it off to the side so he could start another one.]

[rivalkidneypunch]

[If it were someone a little less blunt, Char might have figured that any gifts the rest of the teammates got were just camouflage, so the Bulba gift looked less out of place. The secrecy surrounding whatever friendy stuff they had going on, though, seemed to be more on Bulba's part -- Vinnie was a bit too bold for that indirect stuff.]

I still don't know if I'm buyin' it, kid. Do any of us even still think of us as rival teams anymore?

[His own dislike for Red and most of his team hadn't faded much, but even he had to admit that it was less about seeing it as a "Red team vs. Green team" competitive kind of thing -- he just thought Red and Marie were utter dickblots entirely on their own blatant-lack-of-merits. As for Vinnie, he was... well, still a dickblot too, but not that kind of dickblot. His own kind of dickblot, he guessed? Probably? This whole thing was just weird to think about.]

[rivalsweetscent]

[Had it ever been properly been brought up in conversation again, Bulba probably would have been fine with talking about it at this point. But as it was now, the topic was rivalry. Bulba cocked his head a bit.]

Maybe not. At least, not the sort we used to be.

[And it was probably evident enough that Bulba was pretty okay with that, but that wasn't really the most surprising conclusion, all things considered.]

Most of us have changed a lot, right? ["Most." Bulba also thought Marie and Red were still pretty big tits, personally.] It would make sense that other things would too... I think it's just a different sort of rivalry now.

[rivalkidneypunch]

Ain't much of a rivalry if there ain't no competin', way I see it.

[Char shrugged, raising his mug to his lips more out of unthinking autopilot than a conscious desire to drink any mysterious-motive-ass Vinnie tea. He hesitated, debating down to the last whether he really even wanted to accept this gift or not, but eventually allowed himself a little try. (One advantage to being a fire-type: your drinks were never too hot.)

It... wasn't awful. He guessed.]

Kinda funny, if you ask me. They were all the ones who were too good for that shit when they first showed up here, but... we're doin' a lot better than they are, ain't we?

[Not so much a boast as a still-sorta-confused statement. As much as he still would have jumped at the chance to beat the snot out of any of them, he... wasn't so sure if he had much to prove to them anymore.]

[rivalsweetscent]

[Bulba gave him a small smirk.]

Doesn't that just mean it's their turn to catch up?

[Not wanting to be too distracted by this or that, Bulba turned the heat off the burner for the moment and turned to lean against the counter. By way of competing, Bulba assumed he meant all the fighting. There had certainly been a lot less of that. He looked over at him.]

... We don't have to actually hate each other to compete, do we? We can still inspire each other to get stronger, and we can still fight... I don't think any of us dislike that anymore than we used to.

We just got different priorities. I don't think that's too bad, but that might just be me.

[rivalkidneypunch]

Yeah, that works nice, but only if there's any real interest in gettin' stronger. Seems to me like everyone's been gettin' a little too comfy in their ruts.

[He suspected this was another case of being the one who was too Charizard -- his hotbloodedness made him a lot more demanding, more impatient, but still...]

Guess I just got too used to them workin' so hard to keep just ahead of us. I'm carin' less and less about the hatin' part, but I friggin' hate the not carin'. Maybe we're doin' better, but it feels kinda like they all quit the game before we had a chance to earn our turn at a win.