Home is where the heart is (for chiron_survivor )

[juststeverogers]

It started with the running away.

Every time Steve would be beside himself with worry and go looking about the Nexus fruitlessly until his friend would see fit to return back home to Steve. It didn't take long for him to simply message Adia and warn her to keep an eye out for the Braviary because he was loose again. He invariably went looking for her whenever he ran off from Steve's place. Steve thought moving to a new home with more space for the pokemon would make the pokemon feel more at home, but no luck there.

They've been talking about it for a while now.

Every so often Steve and Adia will chat over text, worry over that to do. What would be best for everyone. They nearly made a decision before spring came crashing down on Adia and hard. There was no time for less urgent matters like this. But things are resolved now, better than they were, according to Steve's friend. It's as good as time as any to have a talk.

"Alright everyone, we're heading to the park!"

Steve files them out of the house and makes sure to coax Bucky into coming along too. He and Adia both need to talk to their fine feathered friend.

Comments

[chiron_survivor]

Adia is already at the park, sitting on one of the benches, and she's not alone. Caspar has joined her, and so has his Tepig, who is trotting circles around his feet, eager to meet more pokémon.

Caspar looks far less excited by the situation. "Did you let Steve know that I'm here, too, so he can warn Bucky?"

Setting aside her messenger bag, she gives him a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine. It's time he got used to you, anyway." The over-protective act was admittedly a little amusing at times, but ultimately, if Bucky intends to stay by her side as much as he does, he's going to have to make room for Caspar. There's simply no way around that.

Tepig sniffs the air, then begins oinking excitedly. They're here!

[juststeverogers]

As always, Bucky will swoop ahead and down to meet Adia the moment he catches sight of her, pulling ahead of Steve and the others without much in the way of warning. The braviary has always been impulsively protective of her and even Steve reassuring the pokemon that she is safe now hasn't done anything to curb that.

At least Steve knows his friend is waiting for him up ahead. With Ethel in tow though, he won't break into a jog to try and catch up. It's best to go at her pace so no one is left behind. He offers a wave toward Adia and Caspar as soon as they come into sight.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting." And what is this? A little orange and brown piglet? Steve bends over to offer his hand for sniffs first and foremost while Sarah barks happily and runs around them both in circles. New friends, new friends! Ethel gives a courteous echoing cry to the piglet before wandering over next to Caspar's end of the bench and plopping down in front of him.

[chiron_survivor]

"Hi, Bucky." Adia pats his neck feathers as he settles next to her on her side of the bench. She looks over in the direction he flew in from, knowing that Steve and the others aren't far behind, and returns his wave happily. She looks in good spirits, and Caspar, who also waves, albeit half-heartedly, is far more relaxed as well. Whatever went down during that explosive riot on the Plaza, they've both apparently come out the better for it. "No, we haven't been here long."

Tepig snorts in disagreement. Not long? She's been waiting forever. She gives Steve's hand a cursory sniff before bounding right up to Sarah excitedly. Another fire type, hooray! Her nostrils glow with burgeoning flames as she practically vibrates with the temptation to show off for her new friend.

"That's Princess," Caspar says, amused by the piglet's enthusiasm. "I'm training her on behalf of Professor Madrone." He leans down and gives Ethel a welcoming pat, pleased that she decided to join him. He likes Sarah, too, but Ethel doesn't shed, which is always a bonus.

Bucky chirps in surprise, looking from the Tepig to the Cylon. Caspar is training a pokémon? Indeed, even while she horses around with Sarah, she checks in periodically with the Cylon. She seems rather pleased with the arrangement, too. Hmm.

"Looks like they'll keep themselves occupied while we talk," Adia remarks with a smile. "Come join us on the bench, Steve. I'm so glad we can finally get together in person." They had discussed Bucky plenty in text, but it was time to take advantage of the relative peace of the Nexus and come up with a workable solution.

[juststeverogers]

"Go have fun you two, but no firestarting, got it Sarah?"

Steve means it too. He's had more than a few things wrecked due to an overexcited growlithe breathing fire. They're just things though and importantly no one's ever been hurt from it. He's mostly trained it out of her by now. Ethel moves to get up when the people start making room to talk but Steve shakes his head.

"You don't have to go anywhere. Might be good for Bucky to have a moral support in this."

Sigh.

It's not been an easy few months of texting, but Steve's running out of ideas on what to do to alleviate the situation. He sees the cautious look the bird is giving him too, so Steve offers a shrug by way of apology. He doesn't seem sad though. Worried, but not sad.

"You happy here, Bucky? Adia and I have been talking for a while now. About...about how I think you'd be happier having her be your trainer full time. And not me. At first I thought it was just the apartment making you restless but...it's not safe to keep running off whenever you feel the urge to find Adia. I've-we've been worried. You stress molt when she's gone for too long. It's...I just want you to be happy, pal."

[chiron_survivor]

"I'll keep an eye on them," Caspar suggests, standing up and walking further into the park where Sarah and Princess are already frolicking. As much as he's complained in the past about Bucky's attitude, he's willing to give the bird some space. Ethel's a better voice of reason than he'll ever be, anyhow.

Bucky watches the Cylon go, then returns his attention to Steve, tilting his head in confusion. Happy? Of course he's happy. His two favorite humans are here. But in the last few months, that seems to have happened less and less frequently. He doesn't need to worry about protecting Steve so much anymore, but he worries when too much time passes and he hasn't seen Adia. Maybe he would be happier if she was his full time trainer. More importantly, she'd be safer.

"Brave?" he asks Adia, looking at her hopefully.

Adia smiles and pets his neck feathers. "Yes, Bucky, I'd like that, too. The logistics will be tricky -- you might need to live at Professor Madrone's for a while, but you'll won't have to keep flying off to find me." Bucky glances at Ethel and she adds, "And of course you'll still have playdates with Ethel and Sarah, and visit Steve. We want to switch who's training you for your comfort."

But.

"If you decide to be with me, Bucky, there's one thing you're going to have to understand. Caspar is -- he's my mate. My life partner. He's not going anywhere. And you know, a couple of years ago, you would have had every right to be suspicious of him, but he's not a person who is ever going to hurt me, not anymore.. So if I'm training you full time, Caspar is going to be around. He may even need to train you, too. Can you deal with that? Can you learn to get along with him, for my sake?"

Bucky ruffles his feathers a little. He looks over at Ethel again who rolls her eyes patiently. And then he sighs, deflating a little. "Airy." He'll behave.

Well, it's a start. "Okay." She smiles at Steve. "Okay, I think it's settled, then. Is there something we need to do to make it official?"

[juststeverogers]

"Hey, don't get that look. C'mere you punk."

Steve pulls the Braviary forward into a hug and soothes those ruffled feathers with a steady hand. Coming to this decision wasn't easy and Steve's still not sure it'll work out for good. But they can't keep doing what they're doing. It's not good for anyone least of all the pokemon.

"You can stop by anytime you like. I'll leave your roost in the backyard for when you visit. This isn't goodbye or anything like that. Just a change of scenery."

He steps away then and turns back toward Adia.

"Well, I read up on this sort of thing but I never put any of these three into those ball-things so I brought a bag of his favorite snacks I baked into those little poffin things they like so much. Berries don't keep fresh for very long so I tried my hand at some of the recipes the professor was telling us about." Steve pulls out a small bag of treats and hands it over to Adia. "I think there's supposed to be records and paperwork if this was an official thing but I don't have any of that either. What do you think, Buck? Maybe Adia ought to give you a new name to go with your new home?"

[chiron_survivor]

Bucky touches his forehead against Steve's in a gesture of respect. Steve was the first human who ever earned his trust, and that's a bond that they'll always share. But they're both protectors -- like Steve, he needs someone to watch over. And right now, that person is Adia.

"Brave," he says to Ethel. Take good care of Steve, okay? He doesn't need a physical defender, but Ethel and Sarah can give him the emotional support he deserves.

When Steve hands Adia the bag of treats, she takes a peek inside and smiles at what she sees. "Homemade Puffs? These look great. Don't worry about berries, we have plenty of them on Atlantis. Whatever else I need, I can get at the Poké Mart." At the suggestion of the name change, she blinks and looks at Bucky. "Is that... is that okay? Would you like a new name?"

The bird shrugs his wings. Sure, that's fine. He's a Braviary no matter what he's called -- most trainers don't even bother to name their pokémon. He's a little curious as to what sort of name Adia would come up with, as well.

Adia, however, is drawing a blank. "I'm a little put on the spot," she says with a nervous laugh. "I'm not that great at names... Caspar?" She waves at her boyfriend. "Honey, can you come over for a minute? I'm formally taking over Bucky's training, but I need to give him a new name. You're good at names, what do you think?"

Caspar thinks that the logistics of training Bucky are going to be a pain in the ass, but for once he keeps his cynicism to himself. Taking the name game seriously, he assesses the giant bird and says, "How about Zelus?"

"Oh! I like that. That's one of the four winged guards of Zeus's throne," she explains to Steve. "The personification of dedication and zeal." And jealousy, which has slipped her mind but not Caspar's. "Although, um. I don't know about naming him after a deity..."

"Karl and my sister named their daughter Hera," Caspar points out. "And neither of them got struck by lightning."

Adia rolls her eyes. "Okay, fair point. What do you think, B-- um." She smiles at the Braviary. "Would you like to be called Zelus?"

The temptation to reject the name because Caspar suggested it is strong. But... it is a pretty cool name. And Adia likes it. He nods proudly. Zelus it is!

[juststeverogers]

The fact that there's no real hesitation on Bucky's part to any of this tells Steve that he's making the right decision here. Still, there's no denying how bittersweet the idea is too. Knowing that his home will be a little quieter now without the braviary there all the time. Ethel bumps her head affectionately against Steve's leg once Bucky's spoken to her and rumbles a metallic 'Don~' up at them both.

Don't worry you big lugs. She's here to take care of Steve and keep Sarah in line as best she can. You're all so dramatic.

"So long as he's alright eating Earth berries there shouldn't be an issue. So far it's been pretty smooth sailing with the stuff I've been feeding them." He reaches down to rub at Ethel's head crest while Caspar heads back to the group. A new home. A new name. Enough fuss made over it that Bucky knows this is a special occasion and not some kind of casual swap. They really did think this through.

"Zelus, eh? I think it suits you." Steve knows even less about Greek gods than anyone else here so he just gives Caspar a grateful nod for the name. "Thanks for coming on board with this, Caspar." Steve knows it wasn't easy.

[chiron_survivor]

Adia smiles at Ethel when she speaks up, having a vague idea of the message she's trying to convey. "We'll visit plenty," she reassures Steve. "Even if I can find a way to settle him on Atlantis, he'll need to come back to the Nexus regularly for proper training."

Raising his crest, Bucky -- no, Zelus -- preens a little at the praise. He doesn't know anything about Greek gods, either, but the description sounds good to him.

"It's nothing," Caspar says, even as his subdued voice suggests otherwise. He'd been watching Zelus pensively -- it's taken a while to admit it, but he understands the bird's motivations well-enough that it's hard to harbor any sort of grudge. "Maybe we can finally start getting along." Zelus hops over to Adia and happily settles himself between her and Caspar and the Cylon can't help but snort. "See, he didn't even try to peck me that time. Progress."

"Zelus," Adia says warningly, both to assert her role as primary trainer and to test out the name. The bird sighs and moves around to Adia's other side. "That's better. Here, have a Puff." She reaches into the bag and gives him a treat.

Suddenly, Princess is trotting over excitedly. Did somebody say Puff? Are there Puffs being handed out? Caspar laughs and scoops her up. "You have to earn it first, Princess. Show Steve what you can do."

"Tep!" Caspar sets her down and she trots away a safe distance before letting loose twin flames from her nostrils. Straight into the air, of course, to avoid setting anything on fire.

[juststeverogers]

"Grow grow!!!" Are they doing fire games right now? Oh boy oh gosh golly yes Sarah does a little flip in the air with joy before sucking in a deep breath and shooting her flamethrower up into the air to try and compete with Princess' flames before Steve can tell her not to. The soldier heaves a sigh while Ethel grumbles at all the heat being tossed about but nothing ends up on fire so all in all it's a most impressive display.

"Alright, alright you two. Good job." Steve laughs and pats the tepig on the head when she trots back up to demand her treats. Sarah is close at her trotters already barking excitedly.

"You're both good guys." Steve tells Caspar and Zelus with emphasis. They'll learn to work together to keep Adia safe. He's sure of it.

[chiron_survivor]

Adia watches the display with a hint of nervousness -- she's never entirely gotten used to fire pokémon moves. Caspar pats her shoulder reassuringly. "I should have brought marshmallows," he jokes. "Good work, Princess. Sarah." He gives a Puff to the piglet who snarfs it up eagerly, then offers another one to Sarah. They've more than earned it.

As for the compliment directed his way, Caspar simply quips, "That's debatable," before coughing and adding, "For me, I mean. Pokémon don't have it in them to be bad guys. Not typically, anyway..."

"You're as good as you need to be," Adia says gently, making the Cylon blush. While he works out exactly what she means by that, she turns to Steve and says, "Oh, by the way, there's something I need to tell you, but I wanted to get the pokémon thing settled first. There's, um... well, you have an alternate in the Nexus. He's really nice -- just like you -- and he wanted you to know that he's planning to be mindful of the fact that you're here, too. So, hopefully it should be okay."

[juststeverogers]

Yesssssss puffs! Though Sarah doesn't snarf it up right away. She trots over to Ethel and holds it in her mouth so the other 'mon can get a bite out of it before she chows down on the rest. Sharing is caring! Plus, Ethel doesn't tend to do silly things like tricks for peoples' amusement. She'd never get a treat if Sarah didn't share them, she thinks.

"Good enough for Adia's good enough for me, pal." Steve chuckles slightly. He's known quite a few people who refuse to be labeled as good even when they tend to act it when it really counts. Best not to push the issue.

It would be--wait, what?

"I..what?" An alternate? That's a shock to the system. Objectively Steve knows it's possible being friends with one of the Jim Kirks that hangs around the Nexus. But himself? That's potentially dangerous, isn't it? Steve manages a distracted nod of his head while he thinks about this.

"Mindful. Sounds..sounds about right. Like something I'd do." It is himself after all, right? God that's such a trip trying to think about.

[chiron_survivor]

Caspar looks tempted to argue the point, but there's no use debating his own morality with someone as persistently kind-hearted as Steve, especially not with Adia around, so he shrugs and redirects his attention to Sarah and Ethel. Aww, that's cute. That's why he feels all warm and fuzzy and inside, not because he's a good guy or anything. Hmmph.

"He was watching your Nexus PSA," Adia elaborates. "That's how I could tell right away that he wasn't you. But I imagine it'll be confusing for other people without context." Same uniform, same weight-of-the-world heaviness on his broad shoulders. She smiles sympathetically and reaches out to pat his arm. "Hey, it could be worse. He could be you but... um, not nice. I had something like that happen to me once..."

That gets a raised eyebrow from the Cylon. He doesn't know about her incident with the cursed ice mirror. "You're talking about one of my brothers?"

"Mmm..." Adia looks away, as if embarrassed. "No..."

[juststeverogers]

That's what Steve's worried about. He's heard all kinds of stories and rumors about things happening in the Nexus. Just because a guy wearing his face shows up and says he's Steve too doesn't make it so. Hell, it could be Loki in disguise for all Steve knows and that thought sets the soldier on edge ever so slightly.

Until he checks this out for himself it's going to bother him. Steve knows it.

"You're right." He tells Adia. She's been through so much lately. Steve doesn't want to give her something else to worry about before he even knows if there's anything to worry about at all. "I'll have to keep an eye out for him. Thanks for filling me in."

[chiron_survivor]

She can tell that Steve finds the news disconcerting -- rightly so. It's an aspect of the Nexus that unnerves her, that it's possible to run into another version of yourself or a loved one. But she's fairly certain that there's nothing ominous about Other Steve. (Not that she's never been wrong about someone before, but...) "At least it won't be a surprise for you. You should talk to Jim and ask how he handles it."

Still hung up on what Adia meant by encountering a not-nice alternate, Caspar adds distractedly, "It's a real mindfrak seeing your face on someone else for the first time, trust me..."

The human conversation leaves Tepig looking bored. She trots over to Zelus and Ethel and introduces herself with a friendly "Tep!" Maybe the four of them could engage in a game of tag before it's time to go?

[juststeverogers]

"You'd think I'd be used to that considering this isn't really my body."

The mindfuck of seeing his face on someone else happens daily. Steve's gotten used to it. Somehow throwing someone else wearing that face into the mix makes it even more weird though. Adia's got the right idea. He'll have to talk to Jim and see if the captain's got any advice for dealing with this kind of thing. He doesn't really know the other Captaion Kirk very well so it's the only real option open to him.

The idea of tag makes Ethel give a bit of a scowl, but it won't take much promoting from Sarah and a bit of a nudge from Zelus for her to begrudgingly get to her feet and shake her head to limber up. Alright you kids. You asked for this. Ethel may not have the speed any of the other pokemon have but she'll still be running when they're out of breath and begging for mercy. Let the games begin.

[chiron_survivor]

Caspar blinks at Steve's admission. "What are you talking about?" he asks before Adia can redirect the conversation. He's only known Steve as the broad-shouldered do-gooder of the Nexus and beyond. "I thought you were human?"

Adia flashes Steve an apologetic look. Obviously this never came up in conversation between them. Hopefully he's comfortable explaining his transformation.

Ethel's scowl does not deter Princess, who bounces up and down impatiently until the other pokémon cajole the Shieldon into joining their game of tag. She races around -- not as fast as Sarah or Zelus, but she is a smaller target. The gleeful look on her face is evidence enough that she's having a wonderful time. Caspar tries his best to get enough playtime in with her, but nothing beats some good old school fun with other pokémon.

[juststeverogers]

"Oh I am." Steve gives a wry twist of his mouth that somehow isn't a smile despite it being fundamentally the same motion as one. "But my body was a lot smaller and a lot weaker up until--"

Here Steve falters because time is a tricky thing. It's been years for him since he was last in the Nexus but only months for the friends he left behind when he took the fatal blow from the Nexus invading augment. He has to narrow his eyes and try to remember how long they said it was here. Because he knows 'almost a century' isn't going to help clear things up.

"--I guess until a little over half a year ago."

Is that really all it's been?

Zelus is the fastest of all of them but in order to not cheat he's forced to be much slower hopping and trotting along the ground. It leaves Sarah as the all out quickest but she'll also be the first to tire. Princess has a similar attitude and Ethel's confident she can tag all of them eventually. Like a juggernaut unleashed she will doggedly follow them until one begins to flag and she can tag them.

[chiron_survivor]

"When he was badly injured during the Khan invasion," Adia adds, and Caspar lets out a quiet "ah" of recognition in response. He's heard plenty about the Khan invasion, in all its lurid detail, although he always paid more attention to how a certain psychopath took advantage of the mayhem that Khan brought to the Nexus.

"Didn't realize you had changed in the interim," he says, shrugging a shoulder in apology for bringing it up in the first place. "Wouldn't have minded an upgrade for myself, personally, but... yeah. That's hard to get used to."

And then he's content to let the subject drop -- ha and Adia both -- as they watch the pokémon play together. It puts a smile on Adia's face and takes some of the tension out of Caspar's shoulders.

Sarah is tagged first, burning out all her energy early on as predicted. Zelus flutters his wings once or twice, getting a little bit of lift in hi hops -- not cheating! But Ethel tags him anyway when he doesn't hop out of the way fast enough. Tepig lasts another minute or two before she misjudges the space under a bush and is tagged while trying to squirm away. Ethel lifts her head and lets out a triumphant, metallic cry. The Shieldon is once again champion!

"We should be heading back," Adia says, once the game is over. "Caspar needs to return Tepig to Professor Madrone's lab and I should talk to him about setting up some space for Zelus."

[juststeverogers]

There's a definite palpable feeling of gratitude when Adia steps in and the subject is dropped. No matter how hard Steve tries, trying to explain time and the Nexus leads to everyone getting frustrated in one regard or another. Steve's grateful enough to accept things for what they are and spend time with his friends here. Grateful to have not lost them as he has everyone from his old time.

It's only a little jarring to whistle and have only Sarah and Ethel trot over, though Zelus at least turns and looks at Steve out of habit before he makes his way over toward Adia with Princess instead. Steve smiles. He knows the braviary will be happy with this new arrangement once he's gotten used to his new surroundings.

"You all have a good evening and a safe trip back home." Sarah and Ethel each get headpats form Steve when they reach the soldier's side before he straightens up again. "Take care of them, Zelus."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia gets up off the bench so she can give Steve and the other pokémon a proper goodbye. "You have a good evening, too. I'll let you know how everything goes. If you think of anything else, just shoot me a text."

It's a little jarring for her, too, but she remembers what it was like to be solely responsible for a pokémon's welfare. This time she has a even stronger network of resources to draw from. "Ready to go?" she asks Zelus.

The Braviary lowers his head towards Steve, a gesture of respect and affirmation. He will take good care of them. Even... ugh, Caspar...

Pokémon playtime over, Princess oinks and tugs at Caspar's shoelaces until he relents and scoops her up, softie that he is. "Later," he says to Steve, and Princess oinks again. Goodbye, new friends!