Arnaud's - Evening - Clear
Nevena Solomon
Nev wasn't sure if she was more excited about the tournament for Kasimir and Eryk, or if she was excited for the tournament in general. She hadn't been to many of the pro-battling tournaments before, and she was glad that Aidan had invited her. If she were being honest with herself, she had been a little sad that they were going, and she wasn't. But then Aidan asked her, and here she was.
At Arnaud's.
With Aidan.
Clearing her throat softly, she glanced at the menu. Everything sounded so enticing, but she wasn't entirely sure what to get. She wasn't entirely sure why they were eating at separate tables, but she could not deny the view of the fountain. It was one of those made of marble in the shape of two milotic, circling around each other.
“This was nice of them to get us a table outside," she stated, glancing up from her menu towards Aidan. “It would have been nicer if we were all together, though."
Aidan had removed the jacket of his suit as soon as they were seated, draping it over the back of his chair. It wasn't exactly perfectly in keeping with manners at a place this fancy, but it was pretty obvious Ingrid wasn't going to give them trouble about it. She seemed to have recognized him, actually, but was being very professional about it.
At her comment, he snorted softly. "Cyrilla did that on purpose," he said, in the tone of someone explaining something non-obvious. "I'm betting right about now she's remembering that it's going to bite her more than any of us." He perused the menu slowly, furrowing his brows at it.
"I know nothing about Kalosian food," he confessed with a shake of his head. "Any recommendations, Doc?"
Nev wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but decided it wasn't worth the effort of trying to understand it. She'd learned awhile back that Cyrilla always did things in a way that seemed strange. Maybe that was just how Nev interpreted it? At the mention of food, though, Nev smiled.
“Of course," she started, glancing back down at the menu. “I'd recommend the Blanquette de Veau. It's really good, or," she paused to skim the other side, “boeuf bourguignon might be more to your liking."
“Oh, and then there's the coq au vin," she added. They seemed like things Aidan would enjoy if he didn't know too much about Kalosian foods. They were mostly meat heavy, and she knew that with his new routine, training the other two boys, he could use the protein.
He seemed to follow along with the choices, reading their descriptions and chuckling under his breath after the last. "Worried I'm not getting my protein now?" he inquired, amusement flickering in his eyes and a smile playing at the edges of his mouth. "I guess I'll try the blanquette then." His pronunciation wasn't too bad, actually.
"What are you getting?"
“Soupe à l’oignon," she replied easily. It had been one of her favorites, mostly because of the melted cheese. “It's my favorite," she stated, grinning in his direction. She set the menu down and glanced back towards the fountain. “I didn't say it properly," she began, turning back to face him. She wanted to make sure he knew how serious she was with what she wanted to say, and held his gaze for a moment.
“I wanted to say thank you, again, for inviting me along. I'm very excited to see how Kasimir and Eryk will do, especially since you've been training them." She was also a little upset that she hadn't been able to see much of Aidan's battling days. She had to make due with watching them on television or listening over the radio.
If he was fazed at all by the shift in topic, he didn't show it, only shaking his head slightly. "Like I'm gonna leave you on Cinnabar while our friends make pro-battlers out of themselves," he scoffed. "I know your research is important, Doc, believe me, but you're human and you deserve time off. I figured you wouldn't mind taking some of it to spectate some live events, is all. So you're welcome."
It wasn't just that her research was important. It was the fact that he was her friend, and that he'd thought of her enough to ask. For someone in their very early thirties, Nev didn't have a lot of experience with friends, but she was beginning to enjoy some of the benefits of having them. Like the fact that they thought of each other in ways that was heartwarming. In ways that made her own silly little heart flutter.
“Well, if that's the case, then you figured correctly. I just wish I could have seen you in your heydays. I bet you were great," she stated before realizing what she said. Sometimes she forgot that she shouldn't just ramble whatever she thought. “I mean, not that you aren't great, now, but..." there was just no saving herself that embarrassment.
Aidan laughed. It wasn't especially loud, just a chuckle, really, but it was accompanied by an amused narrowing of his eyes and a rueful shake of his head. "You don't know," he said, his tone accusatory, but only in a joking way. "Maybe I've just let my entire team get lazy and out of shape. I haven't properly had a battle in..." he trailed off, apparently doing some mental math.
"Four, five years?"
Nev gave him a flat look. As if she believed that. “Proper or not, you haven't let your team get lazy at all. Kas and Eryk are proof of that," she replied, rolling her eyes in a joyful manner. If that had been even remotely true, Kas and Eryk wouldn't have excelled as far as they have.
“And we both know Brick is too dorky to be lazy and out of shape," she added, speaking fondly of the garchomp. “If you wanted to, I bet you could storm the field again and be just as great as when you were the champion."
"Well, I'm glad to have your confidence," Aidan replied, shaking his head, "but I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon." He sighed, quiet enough that it was almost under his breath. "I do miss it sometimes, though. Gettin' those idiots trained for this thing reminded me what it was like, coming up the ranks myself." His eyes softened, seeming to look for a moment at something far away.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but that was a good part of my life."
“Oh?" she stated, a little intrigued by it. She didn't know much about Aidan's past, mostly because he never really talked about it. She knew the things about him that he'd told her, like he had been in a biker gang, been arrested. She never knew anything other than that; the other things she knew of him were the things she'd learned from his dossier as the champion. To be fair, she never really talked about her past, either.
It just hadn't been interesting, enough. Not as interesting as the lives of the others had seemingly been. Nev couldn't compare her life to theirs, or her life experiences because they were so few.
“You always did seem to enjoy it, at least from your recordings. If you do ever decide to go back to it, I'll..." she pursed her lips together, unsure of how she wanted to word her next phrase without sounding too ridiculous. “I'll be there if you need me. I mean, you won't, because you already have great connections and whatever, but... I'll be in your cheering section?" she wasn't entirely sure why that came out as a question.
Aidan's expression shifted, returning to something more like the present moment, and he smiled at her. "Means a lot," he said, inclining his head. "But... it's not really something I can just decide to do, you know? The work I do now is..." He paused, as if trying to decide on a term.
"Necessary, I guess. I know I'm not the boss but... I think he needs me. Or someone like me, at least. And I owe him too much to quit before his vision is realized."
Nev wasn't sure if she'd ever felt needed by anyone. The kind of work she did, it wasn't the same thing as what Aidan and the others did. They were trying to change the world in ways that Nev couldn't. Even with all of her research materials, there just wasn't much she could do. She couldn't offer anyone anything; not like Aidan could. He could give Gregorovich connections, but her? She could only offer her research, and that wouldn't be much. At least she didn't think it would be.
“Maybe... once his vision is realized you can do it," she spoke softly, folding her hands in front of her and dropping her gaze. She wasn't entirely sure what Gregorovich's vision was, but it seemed important to Aidan. Important enough that Nev felt something in her chest squeeze painfully. There was no place for her with him. The only thing she could offer Aidan was her friendship, but...
“In the mean time, I'll do what I can to help," she stated, smiling back up at him. It was the least she could do, even if it wouldn't be much.
He looked at her strangely at that. "I mean... you're literally making it happen, Doc," he said, shaking his head a little. "That research, and the machine... not even I know all the details exactly, but if it works, this is it. This is the biggest step we've ever taken. You're probably the most important person to NTR there is." He shrugged a little, as if that didn't really have much to do with him, in spite of his earlier words.
"But if you're talking about helping me, then... don't worry about it. Just keep doing what you're doing."
Nev wasn't entirely sure what to say. That was, perhaps, meant to be a compliment, but she wasn't sure. Was it? She settled on taking a drink of her wine, letting that coat her throat that suddenly felt parched. Arceus she was an idiot, sometimes.
“I'll try," she replied, focusing on the last part of his statement. “Doing what I'm doing, even though I don't really know what it is," because Arceus, she was an idiot. She still rambled when she was nervous, though she wasn't sure why she was nervous to begin with. She'd started feeling so at ease with Aidan, that something so simple as what he'd said was enough to make her insides feel like jelly.
“You've a way with words, you know that," she needed to stop saying things, now. She was only spewing nonsense.
"Really?" he replied, lifting one red brow. "Because I get the impression I'm not being too clear right now, if your confusion is anything to go by."
“Sometimes I forget how perceptive you are," she replied, offering a light smile. She was just confused about how she was helping him by just doing what she's doing. She didn't think she was doing anything profound or helpful. Unless he thought their friendship and the fact that they lived together was helpful to him. If that were the case, she could live with that. She could live with him and his friendship even if the crush on him seemed to be getting more and more... more.
“I'm just trying to sort through my own feelings on things and it can be a little difficult. I'm..." she paused, biting on her lower lip as she tried to think of a way to word this. “Hm, well, you know I'm not very good at things like this, but I guess it has a lot to do with... well, you and everyone else and it's just... it's been really nice. When you say things like that, it just makes me feel a little special, you know? I'm... well, um," she wasn't entirely sure where she was going with that, and now that she'd heard it out loud, she was sure it sounded ridiculous.
“I've never really felt like I was important or special for or to anyone."
Aidan's brows knit at that; his sigh was a quieter thing, almost troubled somehow. "I really don't get it," he murmured, regarding her with his head cocked to the side."Is it really just that no one pays attention, or...?"
The slight frown he wore deepened; when he spoke, his voice had lost the quiet contemplation of before and firmed to assertion. "I'm sorry," he said, with a faint shake of his head. "That you've never felt that. You deserve to, because you are. You're damn brilliant, Doc—even a meathead like me can see that. And even if you weren't... do you have any idea how rare it is for people to be as good as you? As kind?" He huffed slightly.
"Either of those things would be special on its own. That you're both is..." he paused, clearly searching for a word. "Extraordinary, plain and simple."
For a moment, Nev forgot how to breathe. The things he was saying, they were wonderful to hear, and she could understand, now, why people enjoyed hearing them. It made her feel light and airy, as if she'd float away like a feather on the wind. She'd never been told any of those things before. Her parents were always too busy with their own work that they sometimes forgot she existed. She was used to it, used to not being noticed for anything extraordinary.
The only things she was noticed for were things like how she used to be a large child. How she often didn't have friends, and was ostracized for being weird. Of course, she'd learned that being weird was their way of saying she was the smart kid. The geek that no one wanted to be friends with. Clearing her throat softly, she glanced down at the table where her hands were, feeling a light flush on her face.
“Thank you, Aidan. That it's you saying those things... it... it makes me happy," she murmured softly, unable to bring herself to meet his gaze. She was embarrassed, she knew she was. “It really makes me feel like I am all of those things. That I am brilliant and clever and good and kind," she continued. It wasn't that she'd ever done anything bad in her life, but Nev never considered herself any of those things. Good, maybe. Kind, in some ways. But brilliant and clever?
Not in the same way that Aidan made them sound. Swallowing thickly, she forced her gaze upwards to him, and smiled softly. “That's one of the reasons I admire you, Aidan. You're always unafraid to just be yourself, to say what you think or feel," she admitted softly. It was true; she wished she could be a little like that, but some part of her was still afraid that she'd make an idiot out of herself. That they would see how strange and weird she really was, and decide they no longer wanted to associate with her. She knew her friends weren't like that, but it was still a fear she had.
One she couldn't quite get rid of.
He shook his head a little, picking up the glass of brandy he'd ordered and shifting it around by turning his wrist, idly observing the liquid within. "Well I don't always say how I feel," he said, lifting his shoulders. He smiled though, and flicked his eyes up to hers. "For example, I haven't told Katia that she needs to fuck off because she's a despicable human being and as long as she cares so much about the approval of her family she'll never be anything else."
Aidan took a large swallow of the brandy and set it down. "Though that did feel good to say just now. I think there's probably things all of us aren't saying to each other, and that's okay. Sometimes they have to sit a while, before it's really time to say them."
Nev chuckled at that, smiling and feeling a little more at ease. “There's a time for everything," she replied. “Although I'm not entirely sure how you haven't managed to tell that woman, that. She's such a nightmare," Nev added as she chuckled. Nev suspected that she hadn't quite seen what Katia was capable of, but she trusted Aidan and the others to know.
“So, how far do you think Eryk and Kasimir will get in the tournament?"
He hummed slightly, apparently giving the question some thought. "It's tough competition, for this time in the season," he said. "This is the biggest qualifier there is, and the top five placements in it are auto-qualifiers for the finals this year, so you've got a lot of big names who don't want to deal with a whole season of travel entering." He rubbed absently at his eyebrow.
"That said, they're good, and no one knows it yet, so they have the element of surprise. I think it's possible they could place well. I think they're both capable of top ten. Beyond that, it's going to come down to their strategies, decisions in the moment, and the luck of the draw when it comes to opponents. There's some people I wouldn't want Nero to face yet that Rheinallt could breeze past, and vice-versa. You know how it is when dealing with the top ranks. Even one little difference in team comp or battle style can make a huge difference."
Nev agreed. There were so many different styles of battling, and it had always been interesting to Nev to see those. She wasn't the type to battle herself, and she wasn't even sure the last time she'd been in one, but...
“Would you mind having a mock battle with me some day?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. “I'm not exactly good at it, and I haven't really had one in a long time and I just... well I thought it might be fun to try it again," she said softly as she folded her hands on her lap.
"You making a run at the League, Doc?" Aidan asked, obvious humor in his expression. "It really wouldn't be fair to the rest of us if you were also a champ." He was clearly being lighthearted, but it didn't seem to be mocking, exactly.
With a nod, though, he continued. "But sure. Whenever you want, just say the word."
Nev laughed, feeling the smile stretch across her face. “Alright, I will. And who knows, if I enjoy myself, I just might take a run at the League. Then you can all come watch how awesome I am at it," she teased, shaking her head softly.
"Just remember little old me when you're the biggest name in Kanto."
At Arnaud's.
With Aidan.
Clearing her throat softly, she glanced at the menu. Everything sounded so enticing, but she wasn't entirely sure what to get. She wasn't entirely sure why they were eating at separate tables, but she could not deny the view of the fountain. It was one of those made of marble in the shape of two milotic, circling around each other.
“This was nice of them to get us a table outside," she stated, glancing up from her menu towards Aidan. “It would have been nicer if we were all together, though."
Aidan had removed the jacket of his suit as soon as they were seated, draping it over the back of his chair. It wasn't exactly perfectly in keeping with manners at a place this fancy, but it was pretty obvious Ingrid wasn't going to give them trouble about it. She seemed to have recognized him, actually, but was being very professional about it.
At her comment, he snorted softly. "Cyrilla did that on purpose," he said, in the tone of someone explaining something non-obvious. "I'm betting right about now she's remembering that it's going to bite her more than any of us." He perused the menu slowly, furrowing his brows at it.
"I know nothing about Kalosian food," he confessed with a shake of his head. "Any recommendations, Doc?"
Nev wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but decided it wasn't worth the effort of trying to understand it. She'd learned awhile back that Cyrilla always did things in a way that seemed strange. Maybe that was just how Nev interpreted it? At the mention of food, though, Nev smiled.
“Of course," she started, glancing back down at the menu. “I'd recommend the Blanquette de Veau. It's really good, or," she paused to skim the other side, “boeuf bourguignon might be more to your liking."
“Oh, and then there's the coq au vin," she added. They seemed like things Aidan would enjoy if he didn't know too much about Kalosian foods. They were mostly meat heavy, and she knew that with his new routine, training the other two boys, he could use the protein.
He seemed to follow along with the choices, reading their descriptions and chuckling under his breath after the last. "Worried I'm not getting my protein now?" he inquired, amusement flickering in his eyes and a smile playing at the edges of his mouth. "I guess I'll try the blanquette then." His pronunciation wasn't too bad, actually.
"What are you getting?"
“Soupe à l’oignon," she replied easily. It had been one of her favorites, mostly because of the melted cheese. “It's my favorite," she stated, grinning in his direction. She set the menu down and glanced back towards the fountain. “I didn't say it properly," she began, turning back to face him. She wanted to make sure he knew how serious she was with what she wanted to say, and held his gaze for a moment.
“I wanted to say thank you, again, for inviting me along. I'm very excited to see how Kasimir and Eryk will do, especially since you've been training them." She was also a little upset that she hadn't been able to see much of Aidan's battling days. She had to make due with watching them on television or listening over the radio.
If he was fazed at all by the shift in topic, he didn't show it, only shaking his head slightly. "Like I'm gonna leave you on Cinnabar while our friends make pro-battlers out of themselves," he scoffed. "I know your research is important, Doc, believe me, but you're human and you deserve time off. I figured you wouldn't mind taking some of it to spectate some live events, is all. So you're welcome."
It wasn't just that her research was important. It was the fact that he was her friend, and that he'd thought of her enough to ask. For someone in their very early thirties, Nev didn't have a lot of experience with friends, but she was beginning to enjoy some of the benefits of having them. Like the fact that they thought of each other in ways that was heartwarming. In ways that made her own silly little heart flutter.
“Well, if that's the case, then you figured correctly. I just wish I could have seen you in your heydays. I bet you were great," she stated before realizing what she said. Sometimes she forgot that she shouldn't just ramble whatever she thought. “I mean, not that you aren't great, now, but..." there was just no saving herself that embarrassment.
Aidan laughed. It wasn't especially loud, just a chuckle, really, but it was accompanied by an amused narrowing of his eyes and a rueful shake of his head. "You don't know," he said, his tone accusatory, but only in a joking way. "Maybe I've just let my entire team get lazy and out of shape. I haven't properly had a battle in..." he trailed off, apparently doing some mental math.
"Four, five years?"
Nev gave him a flat look. As if she believed that. “Proper or not, you haven't let your team get lazy at all. Kas and Eryk are proof of that," she replied, rolling her eyes in a joyful manner. If that had been even remotely true, Kas and Eryk wouldn't have excelled as far as they have.
“And we both know Brick is too dorky to be lazy and out of shape," she added, speaking fondly of the garchomp. “If you wanted to, I bet you could storm the field again and be just as great as when you were the champion."
"Well, I'm glad to have your confidence," Aidan replied, shaking his head, "but I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon." He sighed, quiet enough that it was almost under his breath. "I do miss it sometimes, though. Gettin' those idiots trained for this thing reminded me what it was like, coming up the ranks myself." His eyes softened, seeming to look for a moment at something far away.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but that was a good part of my life."
“Oh?" she stated, a little intrigued by it. She didn't know much about Aidan's past, mostly because he never really talked about it. She knew the things about him that he'd told her, like he had been in a biker gang, been arrested. She never knew anything other than that; the other things she knew of him were the things she'd learned from his dossier as the champion. To be fair, she never really talked about her past, either.
It just hadn't been interesting, enough. Not as interesting as the lives of the others had seemingly been. Nev couldn't compare her life to theirs, or her life experiences because they were so few.
“You always did seem to enjoy it, at least from your recordings. If you do ever decide to go back to it, I'll..." she pursed her lips together, unsure of how she wanted to word her next phrase without sounding too ridiculous. “I'll be there if you need me. I mean, you won't, because you already have great connections and whatever, but... I'll be in your cheering section?" she wasn't entirely sure why that came out as a question.
Aidan's expression shifted, returning to something more like the present moment, and he smiled at her. "Means a lot," he said, inclining his head. "But... it's not really something I can just decide to do, you know? The work I do now is..." He paused, as if trying to decide on a term.
"Necessary, I guess. I know I'm not the boss but... I think he needs me. Or someone like me, at least. And I owe him too much to quit before his vision is realized."
Nev wasn't sure if she'd ever felt needed by anyone. The kind of work she did, it wasn't the same thing as what Aidan and the others did. They were trying to change the world in ways that Nev couldn't. Even with all of her research materials, there just wasn't much she could do. She couldn't offer anyone anything; not like Aidan could. He could give Gregorovich connections, but her? She could only offer her research, and that wouldn't be much. At least she didn't think it would be.
“Maybe... once his vision is realized you can do it," she spoke softly, folding her hands in front of her and dropping her gaze. She wasn't entirely sure what Gregorovich's vision was, but it seemed important to Aidan. Important enough that Nev felt something in her chest squeeze painfully. There was no place for her with him. The only thing she could offer Aidan was her friendship, but...
“In the mean time, I'll do what I can to help," she stated, smiling back up at him. It was the least she could do, even if it wouldn't be much.
He looked at her strangely at that. "I mean... you're literally making it happen, Doc," he said, shaking his head a little. "That research, and the machine... not even I know all the details exactly, but if it works, this is it. This is the biggest step we've ever taken. You're probably the most important person to NTR there is." He shrugged a little, as if that didn't really have much to do with him, in spite of his earlier words.
"But if you're talking about helping me, then... don't worry about it. Just keep doing what you're doing."
Nev wasn't entirely sure what to say. That was, perhaps, meant to be a compliment, but she wasn't sure. Was it? She settled on taking a drink of her wine, letting that coat her throat that suddenly felt parched. Arceus she was an idiot, sometimes.
“I'll try," she replied, focusing on the last part of his statement. “Doing what I'm doing, even though I don't really know what it is," because Arceus, she was an idiot. She still rambled when she was nervous, though she wasn't sure why she was nervous to begin with. She'd started feeling so at ease with Aidan, that something so simple as what he'd said was enough to make her insides feel like jelly.
“You've a way with words, you know that," she needed to stop saying things, now. She was only spewing nonsense.
"Really?" he replied, lifting one red brow. "Because I get the impression I'm not being too clear right now, if your confusion is anything to go by."
“Sometimes I forget how perceptive you are," she replied, offering a light smile. She was just confused about how she was helping him by just doing what she's doing. She didn't think she was doing anything profound or helpful. Unless he thought their friendship and the fact that they lived together was helpful to him. If that were the case, she could live with that. She could live with him and his friendship even if the crush on him seemed to be getting more and more... more.
“I'm just trying to sort through my own feelings on things and it can be a little difficult. I'm..." she paused, biting on her lower lip as she tried to think of a way to word this. “Hm, well, you know I'm not very good at things like this, but I guess it has a lot to do with... well, you and everyone else and it's just... it's been really nice. When you say things like that, it just makes me feel a little special, you know? I'm... well, um," she wasn't entirely sure where she was going with that, and now that she'd heard it out loud, she was sure it sounded ridiculous.
“I've never really felt like I was important or special for or to anyone."
Aidan's brows knit at that; his sigh was a quieter thing, almost troubled somehow. "I really don't get it," he murmured, regarding her with his head cocked to the side."Is it really just that no one pays attention, or...?"
The slight frown he wore deepened; when he spoke, his voice had lost the quiet contemplation of before and firmed to assertion. "I'm sorry," he said, with a faint shake of his head. "That you've never felt that. You deserve to, because you are. You're damn brilliant, Doc—even a meathead like me can see that. And even if you weren't... do you have any idea how rare it is for people to be as good as you? As kind?" He huffed slightly.
"Either of those things would be special on its own. That you're both is..." he paused, clearly searching for a word. "Extraordinary, plain and simple."
For a moment, Nev forgot how to breathe. The things he was saying, they were wonderful to hear, and she could understand, now, why people enjoyed hearing them. It made her feel light and airy, as if she'd float away like a feather on the wind. She'd never been told any of those things before. Her parents were always too busy with their own work that they sometimes forgot she existed. She was used to it, used to not being noticed for anything extraordinary.
The only things she was noticed for were things like how she used to be a large child. How she often didn't have friends, and was ostracized for being weird. Of course, she'd learned that being weird was their way of saying she was the smart kid. The geek that no one wanted to be friends with. Clearing her throat softly, she glanced down at the table where her hands were, feeling a light flush on her face.
“Thank you, Aidan. That it's you saying those things... it... it makes me happy," she murmured softly, unable to bring herself to meet his gaze. She was embarrassed, she knew she was. “It really makes me feel like I am all of those things. That I am brilliant and clever and good and kind," she continued. It wasn't that she'd ever done anything bad in her life, but Nev never considered herself any of those things. Good, maybe. Kind, in some ways. But brilliant and clever?
Not in the same way that Aidan made them sound. Swallowing thickly, she forced her gaze upwards to him, and smiled softly. “That's one of the reasons I admire you, Aidan. You're always unafraid to just be yourself, to say what you think or feel," she admitted softly. It was true; she wished she could be a little like that, but some part of her was still afraid that she'd make an idiot out of herself. That they would see how strange and weird she really was, and decide they no longer wanted to associate with her. She knew her friends weren't like that, but it was still a fear she had.
One she couldn't quite get rid of.
He shook his head a little, picking up the glass of brandy he'd ordered and shifting it around by turning his wrist, idly observing the liquid within. "Well I don't always say how I feel," he said, lifting his shoulders. He smiled though, and flicked his eyes up to hers. "For example, I haven't told Katia that she needs to fuck off because she's a despicable human being and as long as she cares so much about the approval of her family she'll never be anything else."
Aidan took a large swallow of the brandy and set it down. "Though that did feel good to say just now. I think there's probably things all of us aren't saying to each other, and that's okay. Sometimes they have to sit a while, before it's really time to say them."
Nev chuckled at that, smiling and feeling a little more at ease. “There's a time for everything," she replied. “Although I'm not entirely sure how you haven't managed to tell that woman, that. She's such a nightmare," Nev added as she chuckled. Nev suspected that she hadn't quite seen what Katia was capable of, but she trusted Aidan and the others to know.
“So, how far do you think Eryk and Kasimir will get in the tournament?"
He hummed slightly, apparently giving the question some thought. "It's tough competition, for this time in the season," he said. "This is the biggest qualifier there is, and the top five placements in it are auto-qualifiers for the finals this year, so you've got a lot of big names who don't want to deal with a whole season of travel entering." He rubbed absently at his eyebrow.
"That said, they're good, and no one knows it yet, so they have the element of surprise. I think it's possible they could place well. I think they're both capable of top ten. Beyond that, it's going to come down to their strategies, decisions in the moment, and the luck of the draw when it comes to opponents. There's some people I wouldn't want Nero to face yet that Rheinallt could breeze past, and vice-versa. You know how it is when dealing with the top ranks. Even one little difference in team comp or battle style can make a huge difference."
Nev agreed. There were so many different styles of battling, and it had always been interesting to Nev to see those. She wasn't the type to battle herself, and she wasn't even sure the last time she'd been in one, but...
“Would you mind having a mock battle with me some day?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. “I'm not exactly good at it, and I haven't really had one in a long time and I just... well I thought it might be fun to try it again," she said softly as she folded her hands on her lap.
"You making a run at the League, Doc?" Aidan asked, obvious humor in his expression. "It really wouldn't be fair to the rest of us if you were also a champ." He was clearly being lighthearted, but it didn't seem to be mocking, exactly.
With a nod, though, he continued. "But sure. Whenever you want, just say the word."
Nev laughed, feeling the smile stretch across her face. “Alright, I will. And who knows, if I enjoy myself, I just might take a run at the League. Then you can all come watch how awesome I am at it," she teased, shaking her head softly.
"Just remember little old me when you're the biggest name in Kanto."