The Cloyster - Early Evening - Light Rain
Nevena Solomon
Nev sighed to herself as she glanced at the set up before her. There was guacamole, chips, and a bowl of nachos she'd just finished making. They hadn't had a proper game night in the last few weeks, mostly because Aidan had his trial to think about, and well... they really didn't have any time. She kind of missed those nights, and was trying her best to start them again. Aidan wasn't home yet; he'd had something to do at the office, Nev wasn't too sure, so she'd made it a point to have everything ready before he came home.
Basil trilled softly at her, tilting her head in an inquisitive manner. She was helping set up, too. “Oh, but you're right, Basil. What if he's tired and doesn't want to play?" Nev stated as she felt her eyes widen. What if he would be too tired from whatever he was doing back at the office? What if he just wanted to relax and watch PSPN? What if he wanted a warm bath, first?
“Oh, what should I do, Mama Basil? Should I just draw a bath for Aidan? Oh... wait, that would be weird, wouldn't it?" she stated as Basil gave Nev a flat look. “I just... well, you know," she murmured, as Basil sighed heavily. One of her vines tapped Nev's shoulder lightly in a comforting manner before she trilled and walked off.
“You're no help," she stated after the bayleef. It was too late to do much of anything else, so she supposed she would just have to wait until Aidan came home.
And about ten minutes later, she heard the key in the lock, followed by the sound of the door opening and a quiet sigh preceding Aidan himself into the apartment. He paused, like always, to remove his shoes at the entrance, hang his wallet and chain on the hook near the door, and shrug out of his jacket so he could hang it. The rhythm was familiar by now, enough so that she probably could have counted it out if she'd wanted to.
He entered the main living area, scrubbing both hands through his hair. Any semblance of neatness it'd borne was erased by the motions, leaving it sticking up in all directions, but that too was familiar. He cracked his neck to either side and rubbed at his nape, clearly noting the snacks on the table.
"Game night?" he inquired, lifting an eyebrow a little at her.
It really did take a lot of effort for her to keep her face from feeling like it was going to burn off. She smiled at him and nodded her head before frowning slightly. “Oh, but... we don't have to if you're too tired or want to just do something else," she stated. She really didn't want him to feel like it was something he had to do. She didn't want that at all. From the kitchen, she could hear Mama Basil trill softly as she usually did to greet Aidan, before rounding the corner with his favorite beer in her vine.
Nev had made it a point to keep it stocked because sometimes it was a beer night. “Since you just got home and all," she added.
"Thanks, Bas," Aidan said, taking the bottle and giving the pokémon the customary scratch behind her leaf before returning his attention to Nev, and her implied question. He huffed softly. "Of course I want to play, Doc," he said mater-of-factly. "Was just thinking the other day that it's been too long. We're probably rusty as hell by now, right?"
He moved to take a seat on the couch, picking up his controller and hers both in one hand as he went. He set hers down on the seat next to him, and turned the system on. "Thanks for getting things all set up—you didn't have to make fresh dip, you know."
Nev smiled and shook her head. “Of course I wanted to. It's been too long and... well I might have messed up the recipe this time. But it was already too late to go to the store to get a container so..." she trailed off, coughing lightly into her hand before taking her controller and sitting next to him.
“You're also probably right. We probably are rusty as hell, or rather, I'm rusty as hell. You'll likely be fine," she said once the loading screen appeared. “I mean, how many times did I get Balthazar killed in just the beginning when we first started out?" She huffed lightly to herself at that. She'd killed him at least fifteen times before she even learned the controls properly.
After that, she'd mostly managed to keep it to five or six times per level, except the water level. Arceus she hated that level.
Aidan laughed softly, getting their file loaded and reaching forward to dip a chip in the guacamole. He ate it as the screen loaded up the level they were last on—this was one of the more story-heavy parts of the game, where Maribelle and Balthazar had to gather the support of the nobles and commonfolk alike to strike back at the corrupt Emperor Daravon. At the moment, though, they were escaping through a sewer system after being caught out by one of Daravon's spies.
"Tastes good to me," he said, maneuvering Maribelle to lead the way down a darkened tunnel. "Can you cast your light spell? I think it's about to get dark."
“Maybe?" Nev replied as she glanced at her controller. It would take her a few tries, but she was almost certain she would remember how to do simple things like that. She pushed a button, hoping that it was the right one for the spell, however; it wasn't. Balthazar ended up jumping backwards into a trap, and Nev felt her brows furrow slightly.
“See, rusty as hell," she murmurmed softly before Balthazar respawned. “Let's see, was it this one?" she continued, pressing another button. “Ah! I got it!" she stated as Balthazar's hand glowed slightly.
“Alright. Just have to avoid the edges, and hope there aren't any pit traps in the sewer," but knowing her luck, she'd likely hit every single one of them.
He snorted. "You'll be fine. Just follow my path." Navigating the sewer took a while, but they were just about to the end when they passed into a room with a much higher ceiling, some kind of sluice chamber, it looked like, with gate controls.
"Boss fight," Aidan said, casting a range of buffs from Maribelle's more limited magic pool. Sure enough, from the water emerged what looked like an enormous feraligatr, only mossy-green and with even more teeth and a longer, lashing tail with spikes. "You know the drill, right?" He glanced sideways at her and grinned.
She blinked a little stupidly at him, momentarily dazed by his grin. He really did have a nice one, moreso his smiles when they happened, but they were rare. Not as rare as when Eryk smiled, but getting a smile from Aidan felt just as rare. She cleared her throat and nodded her head.
“I know the drill, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be much help. What's the phrase," she began, holding up one hand and wiggling her fingers, “butter fingers? I think that's what it is, and that's what I have. Remember how long it took us in the last area to beat the boss because I kept hitting the wrong button?" And also panicking but she didn't want to say that out loud.
"You'll do fine," Aidan said, his tone indicating that he wasn't worried. "I bet we get this guy in one go. Stay back and fling lightning at him. I'll handle the rest."
So saying, he maneuvered Maribelle into a charge; this immediately drew the monster's attention. It swiped for her with its tail, but Aidan's timing was good, and Maribelle jumped clean over it, armor and all, bringing her sword down in a heavy slash at the monster's flank.
“Oh to have your confidence," she retorted softly before rolling her eyes at herself. She needed to be more confident in her non-existent skills. She'd come this far with Balthazar, even if all she did was kill him more times than any other normal person would. She pushed the button for Balthazar's lightning attacks, however; she'd forgotten that they were currently slotted with fire attacks.
“Crap," she stated softly as the fireball hit the monster, regenerating some of its health. “And now we know not to use fire on it," she continued before trying to fix the spells. Once that was settled, she hit the button again, grinning to herself when the attack landed.
“Ha, gotcha!" she stated, briefly glancing in Aidan's direction before turning her attention back to the monster.
"Nice," Aidan said, using the time the boss spent recoiling from the attack on its weakness to unleash one of Maribelle's flashier sword combos. Because they'd invested in synergy skills, her sword crackled with lightning—the same element Balthazar was setup to cast with.
The combo's last hit took out one of the boss's legs; it staggered forward, shooting a jet of toxic-looking water from its mouth for Balthazar.
“Shit, shit, shit," Nev stated as she tried to get Balthazar out of the way. Unfortunately her hand-eye cordination skills were not what they should have been, and instead of dodging away from the attack, Balthazar rolled into it. Nev sighed heavily as she tried to keep Balthazar from being poisoned, shifting through his inventory to find an antidote.
“Alright, let's try that again, you shit," she murmured more to herself as Balthazar summoned another lightning attack. This one hit the monster square in the face, dealing almost double the damage. Head shots were always a good hit, but Nev hadn't really mastered them.
“Oh, oh," she stated as she tried to manuever Balthazar away from another attack.
“There, Aidan! Get it!" she nearly shouted when an opening for finishing move appeared. They were so close. One more hit, and they'd beat the boss.
"Getting it," Aidan replied, tossing a quick heal her way before lining up for another attack. This time he executed one of Maribelle's special cinematic ultimate attacks—Balthazar had them, too, but they were hard to get and Nev only managed it on accident sometimes.
With a final leaping stab, the red-haired paladin brought down the monster, which collapsed with a huge splash, and the victory music started to play.
"Got it in one," Aidan declared, setting down his controller and sticking one hand up for a high-five. He was grinning again, the corners of his eyes narrowed with the force of it.
“Hell yeah we did!" Nev replied as she slapped her hand against his with perhaps much more force than she'd intended to. She winced slightly as the stinging sensation in her hand subsided slowly before grinning in Aidan's direction.
“Even being as rusty as we were, we got it in one try," she continued, the grin stretching further across her face into a full blown smile. “We need to celebrate, hold on," she stated, standing from the couch and heading towards the kitchen where Mama Basil was washing the dishes. She trilled in Nev's direction, used one of her vines to open the fridge, and grabbed two beers. She handed them off towards Nev before making a vague shooing motion with her vine, causing Nev to chuckle lightly.
“Thank you, Mama Basil," she stated as she made her way back towards Aidan and the couch. “Alright, a celebratory drink is in order!" she handed the beer towards Aidan and held out her own bottle in his direction.
"Cheers," he said, tapping the neck of his bottle against hers and taking several deep swallows. "I think we're probably three-quarters of the way through at this point." It was a pretty long game, according to him, but it was also true that their progress was... well, a lot slower than most people's would have been. He'd never seemed to mind that, though.
She wondered about that sometimes. Even if he didn't seem to mind, she wondered if they would ever finish it before Project Nebula was finished. If they didn't, did that mean they wouldn't be able to? No. No, they could still play it. It was a multiplayer game, and it had an online mode, so if she left, they still had ways to play it. Right? But once the machine was complete, once it ran the way it was supposed to, she wouldn't be needed here any more. She wouldn't be needed and she'd have to leave because a new assignment might come up.
Or maybe they would have to leave on a new assignment. She felt her heart constrict in a painful manner, but smiled anyway. “Yeah. If... we keep playing, we might be able to finish it in about two weeks," though honestly that was being too hopeful. “Assuming I don't find new and interesting ways to kill Balthazar, but I think that's kind of my forte at this point," she continued, grinning a little sheepishly.
"You could make compilations," he suggested wryly, tilting his head at her. Perhaps some sign of her thoughts had made it to her face—he was terribly good at reading people in any case. "Something bothering you, Doc?"
She pursed her lips together and shook her head. “No, I was just... thinking is all," she replied. He really was good at reading people, and she'd found it so easy to let her guard down around him. Not that she really had a guard to begin with. Nev was never any good with people or socializing, but... that had changed through the year she'd been here. The year she'd made friends and people who didn't criticize or humiliate her for her oddities.
“It's fine, I promise. Nothing to worry about," she stated as she sunk into her chair a little further, taking a drink from her bottle. “Do you think I could make those compilations and put them on the internet? Like as, what do they call them, viral videos?" she asked, changing the subject slightly.
“I think they could be hilarious."
Aidan looked at her silently a moment longer. There was something soft about his eyes, which usually looked, well, sharper, but he seemed to take her at her word, or at least be willing to drop it because she'd indicated she wanted to. "Yeah, you could put it up on a video site for sure. Call it 'Balthazar's epic failures' or something. Honestly, if you wanted to play it again once we're done, I bet we could do a series of us playing through the plot. Watching you fall off things is pretty entertaining, so I'm sure some people would follow it."
Nev chuckled softly before pursing her lips together. “You know, as entertaining as falling off things is for you," she began, arching a brow at him, “it's not nearly as entertaining as when you get caught in one of the lightning spells. I think there were a couple of friendly-fire incidents in the beginning."
Of course, that was before they'd figured out how to turn that off. Otherwise she would have kept killing Maribelle accidentally.
"Oh so my pain is funny to you?" he drawled, placing a hand over his heart. The effect was rather ruined by the fact that he was using the other to take another drink. "I see how it is."
“Good, I'm glad you see it," she replied, grinning slightly before taking another drink. “It's not nearly as funny as my own, but I have to get my entertainment somewhere, right? Balthazar and I can't be the only ones suffering. You and Maribelle have to share in our misfortune," she stated, nodding sagely as if what she'd said was the most natural thing in the world. It wasn't, but that's how it felt to her.
"For better or worse, in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live?" he replied drolly. "Haven't we skipped a few steps there?" The look on his face wasn't quite a grin, but it was an unusual sort of smile. Almost sly.
He stood, though, reaching a hand out to take her empty bottle. "Better keep the place clean, or Mom will have our hides."
Nev snorted softly at his phrase. “I guess that means you're just going to be stuck with me if we skipped a few steps," she stated as she handed the bottle to Aidan. “And that's not entirely true. Mom would be the one keeping the place clean because she's a lovable dork that way. Right Mama Basil!" Basil trilled in response, though Nev wasn't entirely sure if it was in agreement or if Basil was yelling at her.
Aidan rolled his eyes. "How are you already this drunk?" he asked, but it seemed to be a rhetorical question, because he headed into the kitchen a few moments later. She could hear the low tone of his voice as he talked to her bayleef. "See?" he said, as if revisiting an old conversation with a friend. "Nothing. Totally oblivious." Whatever he was talking about, he didn't seem to be bothered by it, though.
Basil trilled softly as if she were agreeing with him before poking her head into the living room. She trilled at Nev before making her way back towards the kitchen. Nev pursed her lips together into a light frown.
“Now I feel out of the loop," she murmured before rolling her eyes at herself. She could feel her cheeks heat up, though when his first statement finally made it through her stupor. It was a known fact that Nev couldn't hold her alcohol. She didn't drink on a regular basis, and her constitution wasn't exactly that great when it came to alcohol. She sighed softly and shook her head, though. One of these days she'd muster the courage to tell him how much she wished his statement was true, for better or worse. Not in that kind of way, though. To even think of something like that was... well, it wasn't something she should be thinking about, anyway. They were friends. She should be happy with that, but...
Maybe she wasn't? Maybe she'd find the courage to tell him that, too.
Basil trilled softly at her, tilting her head in an inquisitive manner. She was helping set up, too. “Oh, but you're right, Basil. What if he's tired and doesn't want to play?" Nev stated as she felt her eyes widen. What if he would be too tired from whatever he was doing back at the office? What if he just wanted to relax and watch PSPN? What if he wanted a warm bath, first?
“Oh, what should I do, Mama Basil? Should I just draw a bath for Aidan? Oh... wait, that would be weird, wouldn't it?" she stated as Basil gave Nev a flat look. “I just... well, you know," she murmured, as Basil sighed heavily. One of her vines tapped Nev's shoulder lightly in a comforting manner before she trilled and walked off.
“You're no help," she stated after the bayleef. It was too late to do much of anything else, so she supposed she would just have to wait until Aidan came home.
And about ten minutes later, she heard the key in the lock, followed by the sound of the door opening and a quiet sigh preceding Aidan himself into the apartment. He paused, like always, to remove his shoes at the entrance, hang his wallet and chain on the hook near the door, and shrug out of his jacket so he could hang it. The rhythm was familiar by now, enough so that she probably could have counted it out if she'd wanted to.
He entered the main living area, scrubbing both hands through his hair. Any semblance of neatness it'd borne was erased by the motions, leaving it sticking up in all directions, but that too was familiar. He cracked his neck to either side and rubbed at his nape, clearly noting the snacks on the table.
"Game night?" he inquired, lifting an eyebrow a little at her.
It really did take a lot of effort for her to keep her face from feeling like it was going to burn off. She smiled at him and nodded her head before frowning slightly. “Oh, but... we don't have to if you're too tired or want to just do something else," she stated. She really didn't want him to feel like it was something he had to do. She didn't want that at all. From the kitchen, she could hear Mama Basil trill softly as she usually did to greet Aidan, before rounding the corner with his favorite beer in her vine.
Nev had made it a point to keep it stocked because sometimes it was a beer night. “Since you just got home and all," she added.
"Thanks, Bas," Aidan said, taking the bottle and giving the pokémon the customary scratch behind her leaf before returning his attention to Nev, and her implied question. He huffed softly. "Of course I want to play, Doc," he said mater-of-factly. "Was just thinking the other day that it's been too long. We're probably rusty as hell by now, right?"
He moved to take a seat on the couch, picking up his controller and hers both in one hand as he went. He set hers down on the seat next to him, and turned the system on. "Thanks for getting things all set up—you didn't have to make fresh dip, you know."
Nev smiled and shook her head. “Of course I wanted to. It's been too long and... well I might have messed up the recipe this time. But it was already too late to go to the store to get a container so..." she trailed off, coughing lightly into her hand before taking her controller and sitting next to him.
“You're also probably right. We probably are rusty as hell, or rather, I'm rusty as hell. You'll likely be fine," she said once the loading screen appeared. “I mean, how many times did I get Balthazar killed in just the beginning when we first started out?" She huffed lightly to herself at that. She'd killed him at least fifteen times before she even learned the controls properly.
After that, she'd mostly managed to keep it to five or six times per level, except the water level. Arceus she hated that level.
Aidan laughed softly, getting their file loaded and reaching forward to dip a chip in the guacamole. He ate it as the screen loaded up the level they were last on—this was one of the more story-heavy parts of the game, where Maribelle and Balthazar had to gather the support of the nobles and commonfolk alike to strike back at the corrupt Emperor Daravon. At the moment, though, they were escaping through a sewer system after being caught out by one of Daravon's spies.
"Tastes good to me," he said, maneuvering Maribelle to lead the way down a darkened tunnel. "Can you cast your light spell? I think it's about to get dark."
“Maybe?" Nev replied as she glanced at her controller. It would take her a few tries, but she was almost certain she would remember how to do simple things like that. She pushed a button, hoping that it was the right one for the spell, however; it wasn't. Balthazar ended up jumping backwards into a trap, and Nev felt her brows furrow slightly.
“See, rusty as hell," she murmurmed softly before Balthazar respawned. “Let's see, was it this one?" she continued, pressing another button. “Ah! I got it!" she stated as Balthazar's hand glowed slightly.
“Alright. Just have to avoid the edges, and hope there aren't any pit traps in the sewer," but knowing her luck, she'd likely hit every single one of them.
He snorted. "You'll be fine. Just follow my path." Navigating the sewer took a while, but they were just about to the end when they passed into a room with a much higher ceiling, some kind of sluice chamber, it looked like, with gate controls.
"Boss fight," Aidan said, casting a range of buffs from Maribelle's more limited magic pool. Sure enough, from the water emerged what looked like an enormous feraligatr, only mossy-green and with even more teeth and a longer, lashing tail with spikes. "You know the drill, right?" He glanced sideways at her and grinned.
She blinked a little stupidly at him, momentarily dazed by his grin. He really did have a nice one, moreso his smiles when they happened, but they were rare. Not as rare as when Eryk smiled, but getting a smile from Aidan felt just as rare. She cleared her throat and nodded her head.
“I know the drill, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be much help. What's the phrase," she began, holding up one hand and wiggling her fingers, “butter fingers? I think that's what it is, and that's what I have. Remember how long it took us in the last area to beat the boss because I kept hitting the wrong button?" And also panicking but she didn't want to say that out loud.
"You'll do fine," Aidan said, his tone indicating that he wasn't worried. "I bet we get this guy in one go. Stay back and fling lightning at him. I'll handle the rest."
So saying, he maneuvered Maribelle into a charge; this immediately drew the monster's attention. It swiped for her with its tail, but Aidan's timing was good, and Maribelle jumped clean over it, armor and all, bringing her sword down in a heavy slash at the monster's flank.
“Oh to have your confidence," she retorted softly before rolling her eyes at herself. She needed to be more confident in her non-existent skills. She'd come this far with Balthazar, even if all she did was kill him more times than any other normal person would. She pushed the button for Balthazar's lightning attacks, however; she'd forgotten that they were currently slotted with fire attacks.
“Crap," she stated softly as the fireball hit the monster, regenerating some of its health. “And now we know not to use fire on it," she continued before trying to fix the spells. Once that was settled, she hit the button again, grinning to herself when the attack landed.
“Ha, gotcha!" she stated, briefly glancing in Aidan's direction before turning her attention back to the monster.
"Nice," Aidan said, using the time the boss spent recoiling from the attack on its weakness to unleash one of Maribelle's flashier sword combos. Because they'd invested in synergy skills, her sword crackled with lightning—the same element Balthazar was setup to cast with.
The combo's last hit took out one of the boss's legs; it staggered forward, shooting a jet of toxic-looking water from its mouth for Balthazar.
“Shit, shit, shit," Nev stated as she tried to get Balthazar out of the way. Unfortunately her hand-eye cordination skills were not what they should have been, and instead of dodging away from the attack, Balthazar rolled into it. Nev sighed heavily as she tried to keep Balthazar from being poisoned, shifting through his inventory to find an antidote.
“Alright, let's try that again, you shit," she murmured more to herself as Balthazar summoned another lightning attack. This one hit the monster square in the face, dealing almost double the damage. Head shots were always a good hit, but Nev hadn't really mastered them.
“Oh, oh," she stated as she tried to manuever Balthazar away from another attack.
“There, Aidan! Get it!" she nearly shouted when an opening for finishing move appeared. They were so close. One more hit, and they'd beat the boss.
"Getting it," Aidan replied, tossing a quick heal her way before lining up for another attack. This time he executed one of Maribelle's special cinematic ultimate attacks—Balthazar had them, too, but they were hard to get and Nev only managed it on accident sometimes.
With a final leaping stab, the red-haired paladin brought down the monster, which collapsed with a huge splash, and the victory music started to play.
"Got it in one," Aidan declared, setting down his controller and sticking one hand up for a high-five. He was grinning again, the corners of his eyes narrowed with the force of it.
“Hell yeah we did!" Nev replied as she slapped her hand against his with perhaps much more force than she'd intended to. She winced slightly as the stinging sensation in her hand subsided slowly before grinning in Aidan's direction.
“Even being as rusty as we were, we got it in one try," she continued, the grin stretching further across her face into a full blown smile. “We need to celebrate, hold on," she stated, standing from the couch and heading towards the kitchen where Mama Basil was washing the dishes. She trilled in Nev's direction, used one of her vines to open the fridge, and grabbed two beers. She handed them off towards Nev before making a vague shooing motion with her vine, causing Nev to chuckle lightly.
“Thank you, Mama Basil," she stated as she made her way back towards Aidan and the couch. “Alright, a celebratory drink is in order!" she handed the beer towards Aidan and held out her own bottle in his direction.
"Cheers," he said, tapping the neck of his bottle against hers and taking several deep swallows. "I think we're probably three-quarters of the way through at this point." It was a pretty long game, according to him, but it was also true that their progress was... well, a lot slower than most people's would have been. He'd never seemed to mind that, though.
She wondered about that sometimes. Even if he didn't seem to mind, she wondered if they would ever finish it before Project Nebula was finished. If they didn't, did that mean they wouldn't be able to? No. No, they could still play it. It was a multiplayer game, and it had an online mode, so if she left, they still had ways to play it. Right? But once the machine was complete, once it ran the way it was supposed to, she wouldn't be needed here any more. She wouldn't be needed and she'd have to leave because a new assignment might come up.
Or maybe they would have to leave on a new assignment. She felt her heart constrict in a painful manner, but smiled anyway. “Yeah. If... we keep playing, we might be able to finish it in about two weeks," though honestly that was being too hopeful. “Assuming I don't find new and interesting ways to kill Balthazar, but I think that's kind of my forte at this point," she continued, grinning a little sheepishly.
"You could make compilations," he suggested wryly, tilting his head at her. Perhaps some sign of her thoughts had made it to her face—he was terribly good at reading people in any case. "Something bothering you, Doc?"
She pursed her lips together and shook her head. “No, I was just... thinking is all," she replied. He really was good at reading people, and she'd found it so easy to let her guard down around him. Not that she really had a guard to begin with. Nev was never any good with people or socializing, but... that had changed through the year she'd been here. The year she'd made friends and people who didn't criticize or humiliate her for her oddities.
“It's fine, I promise. Nothing to worry about," she stated as she sunk into her chair a little further, taking a drink from her bottle. “Do you think I could make those compilations and put them on the internet? Like as, what do they call them, viral videos?" she asked, changing the subject slightly.
“I think they could be hilarious."
Aidan looked at her silently a moment longer. There was something soft about his eyes, which usually looked, well, sharper, but he seemed to take her at her word, or at least be willing to drop it because she'd indicated she wanted to. "Yeah, you could put it up on a video site for sure. Call it 'Balthazar's epic failures' or something. Honestly, if you wanted to play it again once we're done, I bet we could do a series of us playing through the plot. Watching you fall off things is pretty entertaining, so I'm sure some people would follow it."
Nev chuckled softly before pursing her lips together. “You know, as entertaining as falling off things is for you," she began, arching a brow at him, “it's not nearly as entertaining as when you get caught in one of the lightning spells. I think there were a couple of friendly-fire incidents in the beginning."
Of course, that was before they'd figured out how to turn that off. Otherwise she would have kept killing Maribelle accidentally.
"Oh so my pain is funny to you?" he drawled, placing a hand over his heart. The effect was rather ruined by the fact that he was using the other to take another drink. "I see how it is."
“Good, I'm glad you see it," she replied, grinning slightly before taking another drink. “It's not nearly as funny as my own, but I have to get my entertainment somewhere, right? Balthazar and I can't be the only ones suffering. You and Maribelle have to share in our misfortune," she stated, nodding sagely as if what she'd said was the most natural thing in the world. It wasn't, but that's how it felt to her.
"For better or worse, in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live?" he replied drolly. "Haven't we skipped a few steps there?" The look on his face wasn't quite a grin, but it was an unusual sort of smile. Almost sly.
He stood, though, reaching a hand out to take her empty bottle. "Better keep the place clean, or Mom will have our hides."
Nev snorted softly at his phrase. “I guess that means you're just going to be stuck with me if we skipped a few steps," she stated as she handed the bottle to Aidan. “And that's not entirely true. Mom would be the one keeping the place clean because she's a lovable dork that way. Right Mama Basil!" Basil trilled in response, though Nev wasn't entirely sure if it was in agreement or if Basil was yelling at her.
Aidan rolled his eyes. "How are you already this drunk?" he asked, but it seemed to be a rhetorical question, because he headed into the kitchen a few moments later. She could hear the low tone of his voice as he talked to her bayleef. "See?" he said, as if revisiting an old conversation with a friend. "Nothing. Totally oblivious." Whatever he was talking about, he didn't seem to be bothered by it, though.
Basil trilled softly as if she were agreeing with him before poking her head into the living room. She trilled at Nev before making her way back towards the kitchen. Nev pursed her lips together into a light frown.
“Now I feel out of the loop," she murmured before rolling her eyes at herself. She could feel her cheeks heat up, though when his first statement finally made it through her stupor. It was a known fact that Nev couldn't hold her alcohol. She didn't drink on a regular basis, and her constitution wasn't exactly that great when it came to alcohol. She sighed softly and shook her head, though. One of these days she'd muster the courage to tell him how much she wished his statement was true, for better or worse. Not in that kind of way, though. To even think of something like that was... well, it wasn't something she should be thinking about, anyway. They were friends. She should be happy with that, but...
Maybe she wasn't? Maybe she'd find the courage to tell him that, too.