[012] - Video

[liberatedhotcakes]

[Something doesn't seem right...]

...Mm.

[All things considered, he doesn't look as perplexed as he perhaps ought to. This probably means upon waking up, he spent a lot of time staring at himself in the mirror.]

I seem to have run into some difficulty.

[While it'd be comical if he kept his soft and delicate voice, it's not quite like that. Whatever the case, he addresses what's really important at a time like this.]

I cannot fit into my dresses.

Comments

[flowerofmtsilver]

[That was... an odd silence. Not one he expected. Vinnie was pretty sure he remembered right - there had been a network post a long time back, hadn't there? And... it was an Altaria?

His mouth opened, about to ask but suddenly, he held himself back. No matter what he felt about her, there was still a lot he didn't know. Just look at how many years he'd known Char, after all - and only very recently had he ever been allowed a glimpse into the kind of past he had.

All the same, it did feel like the ground beneath him was getting more and more uncertain. He'd never really thought about how much unknown territory there had been, all around him.]

...Oh.

[Maybe it was because of how lonely he'd been without any other Saurs in his life as a teen, or how much he took pride in being wild, but he just had to add:] Sorry. That must've been hard on you.

[liberatedhotcakes]

[There was something increasingly obvious. The idea that aside from his likes and dislikes and relationships formed at the academy (in addition to events), Vinnie and a plethora of other people really didn't know anything about Voile.

♦ He was a contest pokemon.
♦ He liked to sew and was a fan of home economics.
♦ He was an empath, though knowledge on that was not truly ever touched upon to full extent and usually interpreted at face value.
♦ He at least acted very nurturing. And for the most part was.

And that... was about it, wasn't it?]

Ah...

[He shifted, as if unsure of what to say or how to proceed, and thinking there was no way to cleverly pull the attention off of him. So maybe he owed it to someone to finally speak up for once.]

Nothing is ever 'hard,' per se. There's just always more. [Implying Voile had come to expect the bad since there was so much of it.]

[flowerofmtsilver]

[Always more? That was true - Vinnie felt like he could relate. It always seemed like he had so much farther to go, and at every turn if something could go wrong, it almost always did. For all that he'd been able to overcome, he was a fool to think that it meant the path ahead would be any less thorny. The optimistic, cock-sure champion had long been wrung out of him.

But he didn't believe for a second that things weren't hard for her. He couldn't imagine that long silence being anything except some hidden burden - though he couldn't guess at its true nature. It would be a very Voile thing in his mind for the empath to downplay her own sorrows.]

Y'know you don't have to carry everything alone, right? No one oughta expect you to be unshakable. It's okay t'have a hard time handlin' it all sometimes.

[liberatedhotcakes]

['I know,' was the obvious answer to that. Except it never came because in spite of Voile knowing that was matter-of-fact and to the point, he must not have believed it. Normal and typical Voile would have simply nodded along and went with the flow. But as it had happened with Sonny, the moment the Snorlax had tried to get him to open up a mite, Voile almost immediately shut him down.

On impulse, the same thing almost happened with Vinnie. The difference was that Vinnie had never broken her heart in any form. Whenever Sonny tried to take a position where he could help, all he felt was that Sonny was trying to make up for something in the past that Voile believed wasn't even possible. And it led to almost an immediate shut down of feelings.]

For all of the people I call friends, I feel that my burdens are mine to bear. Everyone has already their own share of difficulties and disappointments. And if I'm really honest about it, I don't feel I can truly rely on anyone and I haven't for some time. To me, that's fine. Because maybe I don't need anyone.

[He tapped at his chin with some thought, for he knew he was still slightly hard with his words, despite the softer tone he used to say them.]

[flowerofmtsilver]

[Vinnie's brows knotted in an expression of worry. He was conflicted - on the one hand, keeping everything bottled up really didn't seem like a healthy way to be. The Venusaur always felt like he could relate to Voile's selflessness in thinking of others, but now it was much more apart that she did so as an island. It wasn't possible to give and give and give of yourself indefinitely, especially when you were hurting yourself. Maybe it was his Grassy nature talking, but people needed people.

But on the other hand, simply trying to go out and impose his way of thinking, his judgments onto people rarely ever worked. Lectures were only words. No matter how reasonable he felt he was being, Vinnie had to come to understand that not everyone thought the same way. He had no idea what the Gardevoir had been through, after all. He needed patience.

Everything the Psychic said, in truth, spoke to him. Those long, painful nights where the wounded Venusaur cursed how weak he'd become, he had truly been convinced that he was dead weight to his friends and family. Feeling like his worth could only be measured in how much he could sacrifice for the sake of his family, a family that eventually no longer needed him. A trainer who'd forgotten everything he went through. And his own dying flame, determined to push himself to the brink of exhaustion just to feel anything other than helpless. The memories were all there, right underneath the surface.]

Voile... I understand th'feeling. I really do. But the last time I tried to do everything on my own, I ended up crashing hard. I don't wanna see that happen to you.

[liberatedhotcakes]

[There was that thing about being an empath—being a telepath. Vinnie could hide his sentiments around the others, but he was a piece of glass to Voile. He hadn't ever wanted to take advantage of it, except when Vinnie was neglecting himself. Truth be told, the Gardevoir was immensely relieved Vinnie didn't have the same abilities. It would have made it that much more difficult to refute his words and not hear some slight chiding in the tone. He expected that kind of behaviour, and he deserved it, after all.

Vinnie's words caused him to pause and he gave something of a subtle little nod. There wasn't a reason to argue it because he wasn't wrong. In the same token, it was hard just to take it without argument because Voile always wanted to say no one else was like him and therefore things had to be different. In other words, a self-imposed double standard.]

I can handle things. I have so far, after all. Nothing ever changes and it stays just the way it is. Since it isn't getting worse, then it's no more or less than what I already face.

[He lifted his shoulders in a shrug.]

At least that's how I view it.