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]

"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!