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

[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.

[rivalsweetscent]

[It might have been more accurate to say that Bulba was just too Bulba. It was never as though he was a huge fan of the bitterness the whole rivalry had in the first place.]

Some of them, maybe. [Sasha seemed content with whatever it was she was doing. Marie might have hit the point he was willing to reach for. Red... who even knew. Vinnie was still trying, he knew. Bulba glanced at the mug in Char's hands.]

Some of them still care, they just... care differently now. That probably isn't your cup of tea but...

[Bulba paused when he realized what he said and shook his head with a dumb half-smile. But he stayed quiet for a moment, mulling that thought over.]

... But if things were still the same, what would we even be trying to win anymore?

[rivalkidneypunch]

[This was starting to stray into concepts that were a little hard to explain. He knew that Bulba really was not big on competition at all -- select members' tittiness aside, he probably would have loved if they'd switched to having contented hangouts instead of going head to head ages ago -- so he wasn't entirely sure how to convey the appeal inherent in the struggle itself. He gave a subtle nod down to his left shoulder, where that tattoo Max'd given him lurked under his sleeve.]

It's the same thing as this. Bein' strongest ain't really something you win and then you're done forever. It wasn't just tryin' to be Champion or whatever, it was... when it's a proper rivalry, you it's more about beatin' yourself than just beatin' each other. Tryin' to get better'n you used to be ain't something that's supposed to have an end point, the way I see it.

[Also: that poffin you made earlier. It still smells really good. He's eyeing it. Can he, Bulba. Because probably he's gonna. He needs something to make up for that unintentional pun.]

[rivalsweetscent]

Ah.

[He said it with a shrouded sense of understanding. He was sure he missed a deeper part of it- Char had taken most of his instinctual pride with him when Bulba had gotten a taste of what being a Charizard was like. He couldn't claim to understand that much to it, but to an extent... yeah, he got that. At least he thought he did.]

So it's kind of like... your actual rival is yourself. If you can beat someone you couldn't before, it just means you bested yourself. Something like that?

[PS: Bulba just went ahead and handed the poffin over. It was for you Char. Sorry about the puns.]

[rivalkidneypunch]

Something like that, yeah. But if they just stop givin' a shit about tryin' after they've got their win, then you ain't never gonna have the chance to earn that, y'know? I 'unno, guess I just can't stand gettin' left behind, even if they're movin' backwards.

[Aww yiss. Poffin, you are his. He said nothing about the mutual aspect of it -- Char was not somebody in the habit of caring about people, so obviously he did not get invested in that in the least at all ever.]

...Whatever. They can do whatever the hell they want. Still don't make presents from Vinnie any less weird, though.

[He said around a mouthful of poffin. Jeez, Char, don't talk with your mouth full.]

[rivalsweetscent]

I guess it depends on if they actually thought they won.

[Bulba moved to turn the burner back on now that the evidence of his poffin starts was getting gobbled up.]

You could always ask him about what it actually means though. The tea, I mean. Or for a match, I guess, if you'd rather figure it out that way.

[He glanced at the berries on the counter, then motioned towards what was left of the poffin.]

Would you like another one?

[rivalkidneypunch]

Who cares what they think? All I know's I ain't satisfied.

[He finished off the last of that poffin, his gaze drifting back down to the surface of his tea. ...It still sat weirdly with him, but Bulba was making sense: no point in speculating on it too much right now when he could just get things sorted out later. He shelved all those thoughts for the time being. There was breakfast to be eaten.]

...Yeah, sure, I could go for another.