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Snippet #2819210

located in Kanto Region, a part of Pokémon: Atonement, one of the many universes on RPG.

Kanto Region

The Kanto region: filled with various pokémon and nefarious deeds.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Cyrilla Niav Character Portrait: Aidan Klein
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Footnotes

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July 11th
Cinnabar Shopping Center - Afternoon - Hot
Aidan Klein


Aidan killed the engine once the bike was comfortably in the parking spot, knocking the kickstand down with a booted heel and setting the same foot on the ground. Unfastening the internal strap of his helmet, he tugged the thing off with a sigh. Thankfully there hadn't been too much time for him to start sweating underneath it—it was a damn furnace out today.

Setting the helmet down, he swung off the bike and ran his fingers through his hair a few times to make sure it was standing up in its usual spikes. He didn't consider himself especially concerned with appearances, but he knew enough not to want helmet hair, anyway. He confirmed he had none in the mirror of his motorcycle, then headed inside.

Cyrilla's text had indicated she was in the food court, and it didn't take long for him to spot the palest head of hair in the room. Making his way towards her, he cleared his throat politely when he was in range, setting a large hand down on her head but not messing her hair up. He knew enough to know that, too.

"Hey, Little Ninja. You want to shop and talk, or eat and talk?"

“Let's eat and talk, I'm kinda starving," she said as she gave him a lazy smile. “I was also craving noodles so I was thinking maybe the new noodle place that just opened up," she stated, nodding her head in the direction of a store named House of Noodles. “They have something called jjamppong and I want to try it. It's supposedly made with a spicy broth."

"Noodles it is, then," Aidan replied, waiting for her to stand before he headed over to the shop in question and got in line. "On me today," he added, lifting his eyes to the menu board to gauge the options. He let her put her order in and got himself some pho, and the two of them made their way to one of the tables in the shop. He figured that was probably better since the bowls seemed to be the reusable kind, so it was probably better not to leave the place with them.

Once he'd slid into a booth seat, Aidan ripped the paper on the disposable chopstick he'd been given, separating them with a soft crack. The top of one ended up bigger than the other, and he frowned slightly, cracking off the extra on the one. No big deal, even if it looked weird.

"So, what's got you in the mood to hang out at the mall with me?" He had a feeling he knew, but it was generally better to let people explain things for themselves even so.

“Oh, you know," she began, cracking her own chopsticks and stirring her bowl for a moment, “it's a public area, people recognize you a little, and less chances of running into Marah by myself. Plus, I feel like we don't get to spend much time together as siblings, y'know?" The small grin on her face belied the stress she seemed to currently be under before she sighed softly.

“I also would like to get your advice on something," she muttered softly, taking a bite of her noodles and chewed in a contemplative manner. Once she swallowed, she seemed to steel herself before glancing up at him. “Marah's managed to get my parents to sell me off to someone else," she began, grimacing slightly at the choice of words it seemed.

It wasn't hard to guess why; that was shitty news and the shitty words were therefore apt to explain it. "Fuckssake," he said, shaking his head. "I don't get any of this shit at all." Expelling a long breath through his nose, Aidan lifted some of his pho with his chopsticks, finishing the bite before he spoke again. "So… basically you're engaged to someone who isn't Nero now? And that means you can't just act like you intend to get around to it eventually."

“Pretty much," she replied, taking another bite of her noodles. “It would be easier if they weren't so archaic, y'know? I'd be able to get around it somehow, but you know the Koga. They're everywhere," she began once she'd finished her bite. She sighed softly and ran a hand through her hair.

“They'd make it damn near impossible to avoid it, and would try and forge my signature or something else. But..." she paused, pursing her lips together as her brows furrowed, “Kas brought up a good point."

“Bigamy is illegal, and..." she paused as if she were trying to think of how she wanted to word her next statment, “they wouldn't be able to do anything to me if I were already married. The only problem with that is finding someone who wouldn't be easily intimidated or swayed by the Family."

“And... well, Kas, he said that I could, y'know, marry him," she spoke almost too quickly at the last part. She didn't seem embarrassed about it, if the expression on her face was anything to go by. She seemed more troubled by it. “I just... you know things are kind of awkward between us, and I don't want to make it any more than it already is. I'm not seeing any other solutions, though. That's why I wanted to run it by you, first. You've always been a big help with that." She offered him a half-smile.

Aidan had to let that one sink in for several seconds. He'd known Rheinallt and Little Ninja had it bad, obviously, despite any and all insistence to the contrary or personal hangups or whatever else. But even he definitely hadn't been expecting something like this.

In a way, it was a very Rheinallt move. Everyone was playing checkers, and that guy was on some completely different board, playing shogi or something similarly much more complicated. On the other hand, it was exactly not the kind of awkward, tentative kid-gloves handling he'd been giving this whole thing since they slept together. He almost wanted to think it meant something had changed, but… something else classically Rheinallt about it was that he'd definitely stick his neck out for a friend in a bind, even if it put him in an awkward position.

Aidan wanted to think he'd do that too, but he'd certainly never had to prove it like this.

He expelled a deep breath, taking another bite of noodles to contemplate it. "Well, it's probably going to be more awkward," he said at last. "But there's no way he didn't know that when he suggested it. So I think you can take that to mean he's willing to accept it. Or to put it another way, he thinks helping you is worth that. So, the question is: do you agree?"

He knew she didn't always, but her confidence had come a long way. Hopefully far enough that she was willing to let herself be helped instead of damning herself to a life she didn't want for the sake of someone else's convenience.

She seemed contemplative for a moment, chewing the bottom of her lip in the same manner. “I do agree," she finally said, but it seemed to trouble her still. “I guess what I'm more worried about than that is..." she paused, furrowing her brows, “I don't honestly know. I think I'm just scared, if I'm being honest. Of what, I don't know." She'd muttered it softly before she took another bite.

“I know he's not the type and I know he can handle himself, but there's still just this small part that's 'what if', you know? What if they do get to him? What if he decides that it's not worth it? I'm just... I know Kas isn't like that, but," she didn't seem to know how to finish that.

“It just feels like I'm doubting him when I know I shouldn't. And he doesn't really deserve that."

Aidan hummed. "Well, it's a pretty outside-the-norm situation, kiddo," he said, shaking his head slightly. "I think in this kind of scenario it's pretty natural to doubt a lot of things. I don't think he'd count it against you, all things considered. But if you're really worried about it, you could always just tell him how you're feeling about it, and see what he says." He didn't sound flippant about it, or talk down to her like it was obvious.

In a sense, of course, communicating was the obvious answer to problems that didn't need to be problems. But it wasn't like there were no genuine issues to worry about here. Even outside the context of her fucking insane family, there was a lot to worry about in deciding to get hitched, he figured. Aidan had avoided anything remotely close for as long as he'd dated, and by default now that he didn't. Also, sometimes communicating itself was much easier given as advice than actually done. There was no unsaying something, after all.

She half smiled at him and nodded her head. “I guess you're right, but even that's a hard can of wurmples to open. I'm sure you've noticed but we're pretty bad at communicating," she seemed to half joke, but she also seemed more resolved to try. “I guess a lot of it is just me worrying about more of the smaller things. Things that don't really matter when it comes to this situation," she paused for a moment as if to gather herself, “things like this wasn't the way I wanted to get married with him."

She laughed almost awkwardly at the statement. “I mean, you know, not the way if somehow we managed to even get that far, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind for a proposal," she smiled a little broader, though, and shook her head. “Thanks, Big Bro. I knew I could count on you and your advice," she said in a more confident manner.

“We'll see how the rest of this goes, I suppose," she chuckled almost as if she found something funny. “Who knows, maybe you'll be getting a brother-in-law. Just make sure you don't pull him any favors just 'cause you'd be related." She was obviously joking, but at least she seemed to smile more genuinely, now.

He was half-tempted to go bother Rheinallt until he did the proposal part more properly, but at the same time Aidan knew they weren't, emotionally, at that kind of point. It'd just make everyone uncomfortable to act like this was a normal situation like that, so he couldn't do much more than hum sympathetically as she spoke.

There was a chuckle when she finished, though, and he shook his head. "Like I'd ever give that guy an easier time of it for anything." His lips quirked into a smile. "I do that, and Nero starts complaining—justifiably, I might add. They both know you're the favorite but I have to treat them the same or it'd be a whole thing." He was half-joking, of course, but he did take treating them equally quite seriously.

Reaching across the table, he ruffled her hair gently. "I think you'll be all right, kid. For whatever that's worth."

Her eyes narrowed with her smile, “It's worth a lot, to me at least." She finished off her noodles before her smile morphed into a grin. “I suppose if we are going to do this thing, I'll have to speak with him about it. What do you think, Big Bro? There was a ring shop a few stores down, want to help me pick something out? The proposal might be shot, but at least I can find something that'll suit him. I'll surprise him with a proposal of my own."

Aidan snorted. "Yeah, all right. I'm game for it."