farawayplace | [in which the rich brat has to work for the first time in his life, probably]

"..."

Trip looked confused a moment. So confused, in fact, he didn't have much time to look more than slightly offended at the word "kid" in conjunction with his name.

Not everyone was from the same world, yes, this much, he knew, and there were even people who had had known different versions of people here, so... was this an alternate version of himself? Moreover, who looked like him?

"... I haven't met him yet, but it's possible we're from different worlds. Others have mentioned knowing a different Lillie from the one here, the one Ash knows. It stands to reason, if it can draw in others from those worlds, it could also draw in two or more iterations of the same person."

He watched him wave, gave the most minimal effort lift of his hand and wave of his fingers in response.

"A pleasure. It's Tristan."

... it's a joke. A certain, forgetful former Champion kept calling him that instead of Trip.

Gold loves making people confused. And he was barely even trying this time! This is great.

"Probably! Or you're him from the future," Gold says with a shrug. "But hey, you know Ash and Lillie too? Small world! But I'm kinda starting to think everybody knows Ash around here." Maybe Ash is famous or something.

Oh boy, you should not joke like that around Gold if you don't want the name to stick.

"Tristan, then!" Gold says, grin widening. "That's convenient! If you'd both been Trip then I woulda had to make up a new nickname for you! Like Triple or Trip-Trip or Big-Trip... Good thing you're Tristan!" He can tell Trip was joking, but he's taking it at face value on purpose.

"From... the future? You know a younger Trip?"

Trip wondered what it would be like to meet his younger self, if that's really who Gold had met, but also felt a fear and worry about disappointing his younger self. It's best he stay away. He wasn't what he'd hoped to be.

"I take it you've only met him here... yeah, Ash's Alola's regional Champion. He was taking part in the Masters 8, too. He's one of the strongest trainers out there."

That. Is immensely annoying, please stop that, Gold!

"Calling me Triple is the same as calling me Trip! Trip's already short for triple, Trip-Trip's ridiculous, that sounds more like a..."
~~A very annoying Pokemon?~~ But that's rude to Pokemon!

Triple, quadruple... what's the fifth and sixth equivalents sound like? He didn't even know!

"—like I'm a sixth. I'm not a Kalosian king, knock it off."

"Yeah? I said he was a kid, didn't I?" Gold says. If Trip didn't understand he was talking about a younger kid from that, that's not Gold's fault. "If you ever wanna meet him, come by Professor Banyan's lab! He'll probably still be there."

Gold's not entirely sure if Tristan here is actually future Trip or alternate Trip, but he figures he can probably rule out 'relative'. Unless there's some really complicated family drama going on in Tristan and Trip's family, and they won't recognize each other as family or something. Seems unlikely, but you never know.

"Oh, wow. I guess he really is famous! He didn't act like it at all, but he's pretty strong, so that makes sense." Not that Gold knows what a 'Masters 8' is.

Gold actually laughs out loud at Trip's annoyance.

"Yeah, I guess those all kinda suck! Relax, Tristan, I'm not gonna saddle you with a nickname you hate!"

So if you don't like being called Tristan, let him know! ...Not that he'll say that out loud.

Sorry, Trip just hates the word! And went right to thinking he’s being patronized rather than considering a younger kid as a possibility. He’s just insecure, totally not Gold’s fault.

Being laughed at is vexing, Gold is so… annoying! Gold seemed to be cut from the same aggravatingly carefree cloth as Ash and even Alder in his later years. Hearing him call him that when he acted a lot like Alder at ease was dampening his mood…

“… yeah, Ash’s humble like that.”

Okay, this isn’t so fun anymore, so he’s going to have to come clean. With a sigh, he waved dismissively.

“You can stop calling me Tristan, then… you were right. I’m Trip. Just Trip. Never met another me, though.”

No opportunity for strange family drama if it’s literally the same person, no!

Gold does his best to be annoying when there's a guy that's fun to annoy!

"Whoah, so you're really another Trip!" Gold exclaims. He's not surprised, but it's nice to have it confirmed. He looks over Trip with renewed interest. So this is how little Trip is going to grow up... "You grew up pretty cool! Hey, what should I call you if you don't wanna be Tristan? 'Trip' is reserved for the little guy since I saw him first, and you hated all my nicknames." If only thinking up nicknames for humans was as easy as nicknaming Pokemon...

If it were over some kind of network, Trip would’ve picked some pretentious alias, but standing face-to-face with someone… he can’t without embarrassing himself.

Even if he wanted to be ridiculous and demand some kind of lofty title instead of a nickname, Gold seemed like exactly the kind of person to run away with it and make it into an even bigger joke. He can’t jokingly demand to be addressed with something like “your highness” and not expect a silly voice or curtsy or bow.

How annoying…!

He pulled his camera out of his pocket and briefly considered taking the camera’s name (Olympus 1060.)

Maybe (Trip)² wasn’t so bad.

“…”

He could be pretentious (… in a self-deprecatory way) and himself after one legend or another.

The twin princes are out, he’s neither truthful nor idealistic enough, not to mention, he doesn’t think he’s exactly pure-hearted. Reshiram and Zekrom were both a bad fit… that left Zekrom, didn’t it? Existing on the boundary, cold and desolate, but offering up Void or Boundary as a name…

Alas, there was already a Lear here! So that’s one mad and penniless king out of the running, what else… Arthur and Mark are too close to Tristan.

“How about Icarus?”

Aiming too high, despite warnings, and crashing into the depths, that sounded about right.

“… it’s either that or Ma. Take your pick, unless you have any better ideas.”

Pause. Like purposeful emptiness in artwork or the silence between notes. Back to Kyurem, but in a more poetic way.

Gold just watches and waits patiently for Trip to think up his nickname. It's interesting, watching Trip. He's clearly the same person as little Trip, but so different. But, well, if anyone saw Gold when he was that little, they'd probably be shocked by the difference too.

...Gold takes a moment to imagine his younger self arriving here, and mentally cringes. He absolutely doesn't want anybody seeing that. No wonder Trip had a moment of trying to pretend to be a different person, Gold would do the exact same thing.

Trip was still thinking it over? How long is it going to take? If Gold had to think of a nickname for himself, he'd just go with the first thing that comes to mind. Like... Bread. Or Lettuce. Brettuce. Yeah, that's good enough.

While waiting, Gold turns to re-read the flyer Trip put up, and almost misses when Trip finally does speak up.

"Icarus?" he asks, looking back at Trip. "Or... Ma?" Wait, Ma? Gold blinks, wondering if he actually heard that right. He can't help it, he's bursting into laughter. "You- you want me to call you Ma? Like a mom?!" he manages between laughs. "If- if you wanna be my mom - haha - the spot is open and all, but," and he actually can't talk anymore through his laughter. Sorry, Trip, there's probably a deep reason behind that name, but it's too damn funny!

That backfired! That backfired so badly! How did anything he say manage to make Gold laugh?!

Indignant, huffy, even further humiliated.

“You…!”

Potential customer or employer, Trip!! Can’t be too rude!

Arms crossed and fuming, turning his nose up.

“For your information, ma as in mu! Absence. I gave it a lot of thought, I knew I should’ve gone with mu, that’d be easier for a…”

Kantonian...? No, he just assumed that's what Gold was, because he looked a lot like Ash.

"Sorry... I actually have no idea which region you're from or what language you'd find more familiar."

Kind of a stiff, stubborn pride buckling a bit under the weight of a needed apology. He really was trying his best to behave!!

Gold's laughter slowly trails off into just a few occasional giggles. Man, Trip - or Icarus - was fun! He reminded him of Silver in some ways.

"I'm from Johto!" he informs Trip cheerfully. "I dunno anything about mu or whatever, but Ma means either demon or mom as far as I know! But those two are basically the same thing to me." He shrugs with a lopsided smile, before brushing that subject aside.

"So, are you from Unova too, Icarus?"

"Geez!"

Trip couldn't help wincing at the joke at Gold's own expense and couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy.

"... yeah. Nuvema town, specifically. She isn't here, is she? Your mom."

As far as he knew, people seemed to arrive here independently, but it was worth asking.

"Same as the other Trip then." But he blinks at the concern, momentarily taken aback, but then lets out a well-practiced fake laugh. "It's not that big of a deal!" he lies. "But yeah, she's not here. Why? You wanna become my new mom for real?"

He's making another joke to deflect. But it feels nice to be able to joke about his mom so easily, with no worry of her popping up anywhere.

"Quit it!" Trip said, crossing his arms, looking offended. "I'm a man, I can't be your mom! It's just, if she were..."

Trip slowly realized there wasn't anything he could have done if she were, and went quiet.

He couldn't help himself right now, much less someone else...

"Yeah, of course you can't," Gold says simply, expression turning serious quite suddenly. Even his posture straightens. He's not in the mood for manly posturing, if that's what Trip's doing. "If she was here, what would you do? Fight her? That's nice of you, but don't worry about it. I'm doing fine."

That's Gold's way of trying to dissuade Trip from attempting it, without admitting he's afraid or implying Trip would lose. He knows saying those could easily have the opposite effect.

~~Unfortunately, posturing is a good chunk of what Trip does.~~

He can't even promise that much. Even if he's talking a big game, he'd be just as scared, even if he couldn't tell that Gold was too. He can't stand up to his own, would he even be able to stand up to anyone else's?

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked off to the side, gloomily.

"... glad she isn't. You're a trainer now, too, right?"

A slight, unvoiced worry that he'd have to go back to her if he ever did find a way back to his world.

Gold blinks in surprise at the question.

"Too?" he asks, not sure what other trainer Trip is referring to. "Well, yeah, but... Oh, are you a Pokemon Trainer too? That's great." The little Trip loves Pokemon after all, so it's nice to see he's grown up to become a trainer.

It never even occurs to Gold that Trip might assume his mom was a Pokemon Trainer.

~~If only Trip voiced that worry, he might get an answer!~~

Trip nodded. "Yeah, I am. Made it to the league on my first journey..."

Still looking down, but now with a little wry smile. "Lost in the first round, though."

"So... even if you go back, you can just stay on the road and not have to go back home, right? Or is she keeping tabs on you?"

He didn't quite think that she was a Pokemon trainer, but he was wondering if it was possible for him to avoid her!

"Really? Wow, that's great!" Gold claps, genuinely happy for him. Little Trip's gotten so far! ...He's absolutely not going to say that out loud, but it is hard to not think of the little guy when he sees the bigger Trip.

"Oh, nah, I'm never going back there again. I've got another place I can return to after my journey's over," he says, a bit of a soft smile reaching his eyes. "And I dunno if she really cares enough to keep track of me. So I'm fine!"

Fine except the constant, irrational fear that she'll show up anyway, that is.

Edited (posted too soon) 2022-12-30 21:22 (UTC)

Clapping? What is he, five? Trip felt like it should be something he'd feel patronized and condescended to for, but... he rarely ever got praise and hearing someone be happy for him like that... and it was someone who did know him, or at least, a younger him...

Rather than annoyed, he felt touched?

Someone congratulated him... someone applauded his efforts, not just his accomplishments or his being a prodigy, even though he hadn't even been all that successful, but did he even really deserve this praise?

He didn't know how to respond, his vision seemed to blur with unshed tears, but he kept as stoic an expression as possible and said nothing, lost in thought.

The reply his question brought him back to the conversation, albeit with a small delay as he parsed it and found his voice, somewhat weaker.

"... I'm glad. For your sake, I hope it's true, even if... it probably won't change how it feels. Like you still have to keep moving to avoid being found."

[it's sweet how easily Gold read him, Trip's still convinced he's being low-key, ffff]

[reading people is what Gold does best, it seems!]

[1/2; he's very good at it!! ^^]

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[… I was stuck for an embarrassingly long time on this!]

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1/2; Trip’s ego sure is getting deflated here, FFF

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