Third time's the charm [Ramses]

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Three solid weeks of visiting, and Penthus had only dented the strange man's collection. There were so many books - so many tomes he couldn't find elsewhere. Each time he brought a black book and recorded, but there was simply so much - so much to read, so much to right. He'd devolved into shortforming it all, each book converted into a unique shorthand that, realistically, only he could read. He'd wanted to record each book perfectly, so there would be more then one copy, but it seemed that simply wasn't a realistic option anymore. There were other options, though. Penthus didn't even look up from his notes as he spoke, not even checking to see if Ramses was in the room. Sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't. "What are you doing with all these books when you expire?"

[ramses]

Ramses bustled about in his kitchen, wringing his hands gently against his chest and worrying to himself. Penthus had come to visit again; in fact, the man was up in his library right now, jotting notes on his books and looking into his things. How many times had he visited already? This was perhaps the third, and unfortunately, poor Ramses wasn’t feeling any more comfortable with it than he had the first time he’d come around.

The kettle made that high pitched, pressured whistle and he took the thing off the burner, pouring the hot water into the pot and throwing in some loose leaf tea. He always made tea, whether the guests were welcome or not. Why the hell was he making Penthus tea, anyway? He didn’t even want him in his house.

Lips pressing into a tight line, he made his way up to through the maze and to the library with a small tray in hand, placing it down on a nearby table when he did get there so Penthus wouldn’t knock it over and ruin the already stained and aged pages. He was just about to scuttle back out like the mouse he was in the other male’s presence when a question was posed… and oh, what a question it was.

”I-I… Don’t know.” The thought had never really occurred to him, but it was macabre and unsettling nonetheless. He swallowed hard and waited by the door, as if asking Penthus if he wanted anything else before he left.

Nidoran Egg = 5/7 (50% shiny chance)

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Penthus didn't want to write anymore. His fingers were cramped, his back ached. Even so, they had work to do. He had to finish it, had to get it all done. How many more weeks would he have before Ramses got tired of him, and the resources of the library were lost to him? Oh wait, right, Ramses had no spine. Really, Penthus almost pitied the poor fellow. In fact, he did pity the poor guy. Penthus was by no means a social creature, but he could at the very least assert himself. Ramses simply couldn't. He balked at it. He couldn't handle it. One might have been able to consider Penthus's current line of thought charitable. It was certainly better then his normal thought process, anyway. He paused, considering, and then drummed his fingers on the desk. "You never go out, do you?" Yes, it was brutal to start, but the thought was there. That counted... right? "You should attempt to be more social. Interact. You need... friends. Significant others."

[ramses]

Ramses was the very definition of unassuming; he kept to himself and never bothered anybody else outside of what he absolutely needed to. At the age of nineteen, he’d struck out on his own and never quite looked back since. There were occasions were the loneliness made him want to scream, but the majority of the time, he didn’t mind it. It was… peaceful, to say the least, though as of late it had been anything but. Penthus had started weekly visits to transcribe his books and he swore a strange Pokemon had made residence in his house… if he could ever find it, that was. It looked like a set of gears and blended in perfectly with his surroundings.

Penthus’ question jarred him back to the present and he shifted nervously in his place, just wishing he’d leave him be like all the other times he came to visit. ”Not really… I don’t find a need to.” He could survive perfectly well mostly on his own, as he demonstrated over the past several years.

”I-I don’t… think I do…” Penthus had come in and was telling him what he needed, and Ramses was almost certain that whatever he needed didn’t entail the man in his library. He couldn’t say no to him; what little spine he had developed had been quickly yanked away by the second visit. There was just something about Penthus that made him squirm uncomfortably. ”I’m alone most of the time. I’ve grown used to it.” He’d chosen it, how could he not grow used to it?

Another nervous little shift. ”Do you need anything else?” Once again, trying to push the focus away from himself. He’d never asked Penthus any questions, but he didn’t have the guts to bring it up.

Nidoran Egg = 6/7 (50% shiny chance)

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What an answer. So bland and unassuming. It was almost enough to put Penthus off, but no, he was determined now. "Strictly speaking, no one needs anyone else. Most people can survive almost entirely on their own. Even so, interacting with other people can be.. enriching." That was the best word he could use to describe it, really. He wouldn't exactly call it good, but it was important to have others - if only so that the books wouldn't rot. "Being alone is certainly useful - productive, really, but it leaves something to be desired. Love and friendship, be they for pokemon or other humans, can do great things. They inspire. You can hardly expect friends to come wandering out here on their own, can you? No, you'll need to... to get out. To interact." Which was all very hypocritical, coming from someone who rarely left his apartment. He did though, sometimes, which put him head and shoulders above Ramses. Utterly ignoring Ramses attempt to shift attention, Penthus carried on. "The heart yearns for others." He was so damn fond of quotes, even if he didn't quite believe it himself. "You need them to better yourself. If not you grow complacent, willing to accept what you have rather then bettering yourself."

[ramses]

Ramses just gnawed at the inside of his cheek and tongue and bore it until he would be dismissed. Here he was, standing in his own house, and Penthus was chattering on about what he needed and what he didn’t. He’d lived just shy of eight years on his own, five of those being void of human interaction at least, and he turned out fine… sort of. If not a bit lonely at times, and if not unable to stand up for himself. Who did he need to stand up to, anyway? The mice?

But when he tried to shove the attention away from himself, Penthus just become even more resolute. Yes, that happened the first time too… and the second… and it’d likely happen the third and the fourth and for as long as he came to visit and as long as Ramses kept opening the door because he didn’t have the guts not to answer. ”I’m fine with the interaction I get…” No matter how occasional it may have been, and he absolutely insisted on it, no matter how meek he was.

”I’m… I…” And really, he was at a complete and utter loss as of what to say. Really, maybe it would’ve been better if he went downstairs and took a nap. Why was Penthus deciding to prod at his (more) personal life today, anyway? Usually it was a few brusque formal questions, but never something like this. He ends up staring at the floor again. ”I don’t know.”

Ramses tries to look up a little but can’t bring himself to do so. ”I’m not in the way of anybody… I’m fine with that.” Happiness wasn’t an issue; he lived a very simple life.

Nidoran Egg = 7/7 (50% shiny chance)

[ress6]

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Penthus was constantly bouncing between pitying Ramses and thinking he was outright pathetic. How did he manage to be so damned plain? Even by Penthus's rather subdued standards he was boring. "Is it the arm? You're fine without it. Most people won't even notice." Which was true. He got along well enough that he was more or less efficient with it. People weren't going to notice it about him right away - people just assumed he'd have two arms, and completely miss the fact that he did not, in fact, have two arms. A blind spot of sorts. "You're not in anyone's way, but you're not helping anyone else either. You need to get out. Explore. Expand your horizons." Even more hypocrisy, but Ramses didn't know Penthus well enough to know that. "I'll help, if we must. Plenty of nice bookish place in the city." Oh yes, He'd be going to the city one way or another. Penthus wasn't going to take a no. "It's not as if you're some contagious leper. You've yet to show any reason you have to hide out here, so unless you're sitting on some significant reason, you're simply letting your own worries control you." Something Penthus himself never quite did. He was relatively in control of his own worries. Confident. He was a lot of things, but obsessed with his own fears was not one of them.

[ramses]

Ramses sincerely thought he might be able to put up with all of this; the questions and the interrogations and the pushing and shoving until Penthus had what he wanted: transcripts of the books. What he hadn’t been expecting was it becoming so personal, or the fact that the man was picking his lifestyle apart and picking him apart. And the one thing he hadn’t been expecting to come up, because it hadn’t over the past two times he visited, was his arm.

If he thought he was being a mouse before, he should’ve seen himself now. He practically wilted at the mention of his lost limb, having always been a sore spot in more ways than one. It was one of those things in his memory that he sincerely wished he’d just forget; that one thing that he never wanted to have in his mind again.

It was still sinking in when the second wave came and it almost felt like his legs wouldn’t carry him anymore. Penthus wanted to bring him to the city, where he had no place to be, while all he wanted to do was hide. But he didn’t know why he hated the city so much and his own personal reasons why he just seemed so scared of everything. He barely knew who Penthus was, despite letting him into his house multiple times, and the same rule applied for the city. He didn’t know what was out there, but he knew it could hurt him, and that was enough.

”I just don’t like the city…” Ramses swore he was choking as he said it, his voice barely above a tiny whimper but there nonetheless. ”So… s-stop… please?” He knew it probably wasn’t going to stop the questions, but at least he could say he attempted it, no matter how feeble it was.

Nidoran Egg = 7/7 (50% shiny chance)

[ress6]

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The man wilted so visibly that Penthus once again almost changed his mind - but no. It was for the man's own good. He had to do it. He had to improve himself, or he'd simply rot away where he was, never advancing, never improving. People have to push forward, to improve themselves. It was a skill, a simple thing that everyone had needed to do. Ramses had forgotten that. Penthus drew himself to his full height, stepping towards the tanned man. He was taller - hard to notice, of course, because it wasn't significant, but he had two or three inches on the smaller man. Penthus was thinner, though. For all of Ramses isolation, he certainly did more physical work then Penthus did. Assembling the house alone was probably more work then Penthus would ever do. Penthus was simply far more intellectual. He didn't want to work - he had pokemon to do such things for him. The little whimper, the little beg, had zero effect. Penthus stepped forward again, now only a foot or two away. "Really, begging is unbecoming. I'm simply attempting to improve yourself. You need to advance. You have a great wealth of knowledge, but no way of applying it. You should seek a job. There a certainly several things that could make use of your skills."

[ramses]

His fingers were shaking now, small trembles that were still visible despite him clenching his hands into fists to try and keep them hidden. He sincerely didn’t want to back down; he knew he had to stand up to the challenge or else Penthus would just keep pushing him around. However, his logic said one thing, but his willpower said another.

It certainly didn’t help whatsoever when Penthus actually decided to stand up. He had a few inches over him for sure, but he just looked so… well, was ‘long’ a good word to describe a person with? Thin would’ve been better, but at the moment, the way he was stepping towards him, he wasn’t doing much thinking at all.

Everything just screamed at him to run. He wanted to run, but he soon found himself backed up against the wall and the door was much too far away for him to get to in proper time. Begging was obviously not phasing this man; whatever he wanted, he wasn’t going to be swayed from doing so, and what he seemed to want was to ‘help’ Ramses out of his isolation

Ramses held an arm out, placing it against Penthus’ collar and hoping he wouldn’t come any closer. Less than two feet between them had been the closest he’d been to a human in a confrontation in… years. And yep Penthus continued to insist that he had something to show the world. ”I-I don’t… Please stop…” There was a tremble in his voice that hadn’t been there before; he was just standing too close.

Nidoran Egg = 7/7 (50% shiny chance)

[Ω Tama Ω]

CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR EGG HATCHED!

[/style]

nidoran || male || rivalry || poison || level 02
leer || peck

[ress6]

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The funny thing about the situation was that, despite Penthus being taller, he was almost certainly frailer. if you ignored the Gijinka DNA, which Penthus opted to avoid using until he had to, Ramses could likely have taken Penthus out with one good swing. He was simply bigger. Stronger. Penthus was tall but frail, with minimal physical exertion making up his day. Even so, he sincerely doubted that Ramses was going to act against him at all - the man simply didn't have the willpower for it. "You're afraid, and yet you have no reason to be. You've let me into your house and I've done nothing to harm you, and yet you're mewling like an injured kitten. You insist that you're fine, and yet you downright refuse to stand up for yourself." If Ramses wanted Penthus to back down, he was going to have to assert himself - to show that Penthus was wrong. It wasn't something that was likely to happen, either. The proximity seemed to have made things even worse for Ramses, and Penthus slid all the closer for it. He could have reached out and touched Ramses without a word, but he kept his distance for the moment - not trying to reach out, in case it drove Ramses over the edge.

[ramses]

Ramses struggled to stop his shaking, but the man was standing much too close and only getting closer and it was killing his nerves. The man seemed to realize that close proximities made him uncomfortable and saddled up even closer. They were about a foot away from each other and he swore that he would perhaps die on the spot. Instead, he just stared with wide eyes and few words, not knowing what to do when confronted in this way.

He had no words to reply with, and that was as far as he was getting. He couldn’t even make up a coherent sentence in his head, let alone out loud. The levels of fear he felt at the moment were nearly unrivalled, other than the time at Epispect and a few close encounters with their various agents. He wanted to tell Penthus to get out of his house and not come back. He wanted to tell him to leave him alone, but nothing came out aside from a little squeak and then went silent again.

Penthus came even closer still, and he swore that if he were any closer to the wall, he’d turn into wallpaper.

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It was a game, now. How would Ramses react to things? If Penthus did that, how much would he break? If he did this, would it push Ramses enough to lash out, to have him assert himself? That was the end goal, really. The books were great and all, but he'd already copied three - the three big ones, and now it was time to give something back. That something, of course, was a little bit of a spine - something that Ramses was sorely lacking. There were so many things he could do - so many options. A touch, a glance, so many little possibilities, and the hard part wasn't doing them so much as it was choosing which to do. Perhaps a bit more torment would make it clear. Staying where he was, he leaned in a bit more. "You've probably never dated? Had a significant other? Would I be right?" Of course he was right.

[ramses]

Ramses was aware that if he pushed the other man away, he’d probably leave him alone. And even if he didn’t, he was physically stronger and should have had the trump over the gijinka, but the mental wall made it impossible to do much more than stand there and tremble. He had an impossible urge to hide his face as well, but his collar was low and he had a feeling that if he raised his arms, they’d just be pushed down again.

Penthus leaned in and he tried to lean back again, only to have the pipes on the wall push against his back and not allow him to melt into the wall, which he wished he was able to do now more than ever. His question, however, caused Ramses to stare, wide-eyed and highly confused. Did he ever have a… what?

A slow, cautious shake of his head towards his question. It was rather true; Ramses had never had any sort of significant other in his life. Hell, after he came back from the hospital, he was homeschooled to prevent his illness from spreading, even if they were reassured that he was no longer contagious. Minimal human contact, and then striking out alone at nineteen, it would’ve been no surprise. Then he hazarded a small ”Why?”

[/color], already brave for the situation he was in.

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