decrees: (INTEREST ♛ but can i kill it)
King ♛ Logan ([personal profile] decrees) wrote in [community profile] pokebox2013-01-10 02:42 am

LOCKED TO [personal profile] istheindustry

Summer was coming to Johto, and quite frankly, Logan was glad it was nearly here. He had been spending his time up north with Reaver, travelling to Mahogany Town, a remote little town that housed one of the Gym Badges they were in the process of collecting. Logan hadn't expected it to be so cold, even in spring. Finally it was beginning to feel like that awkward transition phase between spring and summer, and the heat was a welcome change.

They had arrived in Mahogany last night and had spent the better part of the day travelling to the Lake of Rage. Both of them had seen it on the map, but Logan hadn't expressed any desire to visit it until they had stopped in Mahogany. Yes, he understood that the badge challenge was important (he was the one who had been so determined to start collecting the badges anyway), but the badge wasn't going anywhere. Neither was the lake, but that didn't change the fact that he wanted to see it for himself.

Logan had always loved the water. The royal family had a small place in Millfields that they visited during the summers when the Hero Queen simply couldn't stand the heat anymore. Logan had loved exploring Bower Lake as a child, and it was something that never really left him even after all this time. He had only been to Bower Lake a couple of times since he took the throne, and had only brought his sister with him once. They had both been a bit too old to frolic in the ocean like children - at least, that was what they said until night fell and they were certain they wouldn't be spotted by any of the nobles that lived in the area. He remembered that evening fondly; but there were very few things about his sister he didn't remember fondly.

He brushed that thought aside, not interested in dwelling on the past. It never ended well. He was here in Johto now; he had to look out for himself - and only himself - though it was still something he was in the process of learning how to do. He was getting used to not having control over people, but taking care of himself was still something Logan hadn't really adapted to.

That said, he did look quite a lot healthier than he had in Albion. The darkness was still present around his eyes - and likely would always be, he was tainted, after all - but he had put on a bit of weight and the constant travel was doing some good for him physically. Of course, it didn't help that he was travelling with Reaver who would run on ahead if he was allowed. Logan still had difficulties keeping up with the ever-energetic industrialist, but he hadn't reached his breaking point yet.

The travelling today had been relatively light and easy; there were trainers to fight and plenty of grass to wade through, so speeding to their destination was out of the question. He was thankful for that. It did put them a bit behind schedule though; they would have to spend the night up at the Lake of Rage and return to Mahogany in the morning, but Logan really couldn't say he minded that any. If the lake was anything like Bower Lake, then he doubted he'd want to leave so soon anyway.

Speaking of the lake, it finally came into view amid the trees and Logan stopped short, staring. It was huge, possibly even larger than Bower Lake. The water looked clean and clear from where he was standing (though admittedly, it was still a bit hard to judge and it could just be wistful thinking on his part) and the shores were completely clear, no people anywhere in sight. Apparently this wasn't a very popular tourist destination for whatever reason. Logan found himself releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding, glancing side-long at Reaver for some sort of confirmation that the industrialist was as pleased with this as he was.
istheindustry: dalicious (Without leaving my fingerprints out)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 09:04 am (UTC)(link)
Reaver had admittedly been a bit surprised that Logan was wanting to detour already, especially so soon after arriving at their destination. Travelling was always a bit of an exercise in patience for Reaver - not that it really improved said patience any, he still had a notable lack thereof - due to the fact that Logan seemed unable to keep up for long periods of time; boundless amounts of energy were something that Reaver had always been blessed with, and though he often tried to rein it in for the sake of not simply giving Logan a heart attack mid-jaunt, exploring was always something that had fascinated him, and as such he had taken to Johto as he so often had taken to things back in the days before settling down in Millfields, before taking over Albion's industry and being handed obligations that kept him in one place for long stretches at a time.

...namely, he was getting into literally everything like a ten-year-old with attention-span problems, but he was trying, all right?

However, as much as Logan deciding that he wanted to see this lake for himself immediately had surprised him, he certainly wasn't going to complain any; really, the fact that he wanted to continue travelling was something that he was at least halfway grateful for - Reaver had never really worried about Logan, as it wasn't in his nature to worry about anyone, but at the same time he could acknowledge improvement when he saw it. Of course, it wasn't as though today was going to be extremely strenuous anyway; Reaver had never really been fond of the routes where the only options seemed to be dealing with tall grass or trainers that seemed to have disturbingly nervous dispositions and took barely making eye contact as an invitation to fight. At the same time, battles did mean money, and once Reaver had established that his creatures could thrash his opponents' with little difficulty, he wasn't opposed to taking them on for all they were worth.

Because clearly, some things would never change.

At any rate, however, he was eager to see this lake for himself, perhaps more so than he'd let on to Logan at the start; he'd obviously acquiesced to Logan's desire to undertake this journey in the first place, but that had been all it was for the time being. He had expressed his appreciation for the water to Logan once before, in a somewhat awkward conversational moment in Olivine (there were a lot of awkward things that had happened in Olivine), but it wasn't anything he had felt inclined to bring up again. Sentimental whatnot had never been his strong point, and his thoughts on such things certainly did border on sentimental; it was best to keep it to himself, really, and as such he had taken to Logan's announcement that they would be diverting themselves this way with a smirk and a sort of quiet bemusement, and little else by way of response.

Actually seeing the lake, however, was another matter altogether. The expanse of water was immense, especially considering the size of the clearing it was located in; surely some of it was due to flooding, to taking in the runoff from the last snows of winter, but even so, that idea made it no less impressive.

He laughed a bit, the sound quiet and involuntary and very, very pleased.

"Well, my dear, I certainly can't say that you have no taste when it comes to destinations - consider me impressed."
istheindustry: tatty_bye (I've been to every continent)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 09:42 am (UTC)(link)
Logan, that map isn't really good for much in general, when you think about it...

Ah, but at any rate - Reaver returned that half-smirk with a rather keen expression of his own; if Logan thought he was going to protest that proposal, he was completely mistaken. However, the enthusiasm that Logan was showing for all of this gave him a bit of pause; it was unusual to see Logan this excited, and as such Reaver was taking his sweet time in regards to seeing what he did with all that enthusiasm.

...and naturally, judging by the sudden hesitation, Logan chose that moment to either attempt holding on to the last shred of dignity he may have had, or to decide that the fish in the lake were making him nervous for some bizarre reason. Either way, Reaver caught up to him easily; even though he had taken to wearing other clothing recently (because travelling in white here without copious amounts of dyes at his disposal was not exactly a good idea) and the outfit he had on today was elegant but light, something he wouldn't be terribly opposed to getting wet, the leather gloves were still a constant and he wasn't about to ruin them. He gestured at the lake as he dealt with them, the motion an almost oddly natural follow-through to sliding one off.

"Waiting for something...?"
istheindustry: balverine (A friend with breasts and all the rest)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 11:02 am (UTC)(link)
To his credit, Reaver didn't say anything; for all appearances, he didn't seem to be paying that much attention as Logan undressed, keeping his head bowed slightly as he worked open the fastenings on the double-breasted coat he had taken to wearing - lighter than the one that had been brought here with him from Albion, but still enough to be obnoxious as the water went. However, while it seemed that his eyes were kept downcast, the fringe cut into the front of his hair made it rather difficult to tell exactly what his gaze was focused on, and to say that he wasn't stealing more than a few glances would have been a complete and utter lie.

Reaver wasn't unfamiliar with scarring, though he had very few himself - while his hands were marked up quite a bit, Resurrection Phials had been good to him, while his stock had lasted; even without them, he had augmented his guns years ago, and with Renewal and Power of Money on his primary weapon, he almost never scarred on a permanent basis and he was quick to recover from injuries (assuming, of course, that there were more people around to be shot, and there almost always were). The scarring on Logan's body was hideous, there was no denying that, and Reaver didn't want to look at all of it for very long; at the very least, Logan was correct in his assumption that the industrialist would know to hold his tongue regarding any remarks he may have wanted to make regarding it. He didn't ask him anything, because in the end, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know; the idea that Logan would actually tell him was less pleasant than the thought of never knowing at all, and so he contented himself with shrugging that jacket off once he'd gotten the clasps open, allowing it to slip off his shoulders haphazardly and leaving that with his gloves. The boots obviously weren't going to stay on either, but everything else was quite frankly clothing that he found he did not give a single damn about; he was quick to join Logan in the water, the coldness of it providing a rather pleasurable shock to his system before he surfaced again, running his hands immediately through the front of his hair to get it out of his eyes - his hair had been getting annoyingly long during his stay here, he would have to cut it eventually, but for the time being he was content to deal with it for a while longer.

He shook his head a bit before running his hands through his hair one last time; there...certainly were Magikarp in this lake, a few of them seeming mildly alarmed a few feet out because of the sudden presence of people, but otherwise? This was nice, actually.

"Really, if I didn't know any better I'd say this place was finally putting an effort in to endear itself to us, what with places like this cropping up along this little journey of ours."
istheindustry: balverine (A friend with breasts and all the rest)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 11:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Someone has to keep an eye on you, my dear," Reaver said, rolling his eyes as he spoke, though his words were light, obviously teasing. "And it's not as though this is something I'm opposed to, besides."

There wasn't much of a shift in his expression after that was out there, but despite the usual smirk, there was a bit of an odd look in his eyes when he looked at Logan again; whether it was idle curiosity or something else was a bit difficult to say.

"This certainly isn't Albion, however; I won't disagree with that." He paused for a moment, glancing out over the expanse of the lake before continuing. "Still rather missing it, then, I'm assuming?"
istheindustry: balverine (A friend with breasts and all the rest)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Reaver didn't answer that right away; for a good, long moment, he seemed rather inclined not to, actually, and the fact that he was back to his usual practice of not maintaining eye contact at all - he was looking just about everywhere but directly at Logan, really, the water, the trees, their belongings on the shore - really wasn't helping that impression any. However, when he did respond his tone made it clear that he'd been collecting his thoughts, rather than avoiding the remarks, and the words came fairly easily.

"Believe me, my dear, I understand entirely; I spent a good many years away from Albion's shores, and a good many years more before that convincing myself that I would really rather be anywhere else. I wouldn't trade any of my experiences for the world, mind you, and the countries I've explored have all been incredibly worth my while - though that does apply to some decidedly moreso than others..."

He trailed off for a moment, finally looking back at Logan; the smirk he was giving him was offset by that oddly focused look in his eyes.

"There really is nothing quite like returning home after all that, however."
istheindustry: balverine (Our thoughts compressed)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 12:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"The circumstances are a bit different this time."

It wasn't a pointed comment, and his tone was surprisingly devoid of cruelty; there was still the usual dry sense behind his words that he never quite seemed to be rid of, but all in all it was more or less a comment and nothing more.

Reaver never had been one to empathize, and this wasn't much of an exception. At the same time, Logan wasn't the only one not under full ownership of his own fate; the onset of summer wasn't something that Reaver was looking forward to.

But for now, the water was calming, and summer with all its unfortunate implications wasn't anything he wanted to focus on.

"You're still troubled by it. Understandably so, really." Again, not so much judgement as commentary, but still.
istheindustry: balverine (Default)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
That honestly got a bit of a derisive noise from Reaver's direction, along with a fair amount of eyerolling. "And I suppose you believe rebellions like this happen overnight? Please. Do keep in mind that I've met your charming younger sister, and with all due respect to her and her station, somehow I doubt she would have been able to formulate anything near as elaborate a plan as this without outside assistance. I daresay she didn't even come up with the majority of all of this herself."

While his voice was, again, not terribly cruel, and that odd smirk still lingered about his features, it was rather plain that he wasn't exactly going to back down on these points, either. "There have been numerous attempts on my own life since I've taken up my position; many of them have come from Page and her little faction. Given that I've never even mentioned such things to you and they weren't terribly common knowledge, and given that our little revolutionary hardly left the castle to begin with, where do you think she even heard of Page to begin with? Or any of the others that were laying siege to Bowerstone, for that matter?

"I won't argue with you if you try to claim you accelerated the process, but somehow I doubt your actions were the direct cause of it, because - again, with all due respect to your sister and her station - somehow I doubt a spoiled brat who's never known the outside of the castle would have even thought to do half of this on her own."
istheindustry: dalicious (Without leaving my fingerprints out)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"I said nothing to you regarding the resistance because they were hardly any sort of threat, at least not as they were; really, if I came to you about every little uprising that occurred in Bowerstone Industrial, then you'd tire of me rather quickly - and I certainly can't have that, can I?"

And judging by his tone, that was quite simply going to be that on the matter; there was very little sense in arguing, unless Logan wanted him to be stubborn. "As for the rest, I've been your friend and advisor for years - I'd think you'd know that that's what I'm here for by this point."
istheindustry: tatty_bye (I've been to every continent)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Reaver just laughed a bit at that, softly. "But of course; you only hired the finest possible." Despite the shameless egotism, however, it was clear that the compliment had pleased him.

"That said, however, there's no reason to be so shy about it."
istheindustry: balverine (A friend with breasts and all the rest)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
And Reaver certainly wasn't going to complain about that, though he did arch an eyebrow a bit at that non-admission before Logan continued on.

"Of course, my dear. And naturally, the same services will be extended to your sister, when the time comes for that."

...although the sheer thickness of the sarcasm there was likely more than enough to make it plain what he thought about that. Not looking forward to it, Logan...
istheindustry: balverine (My friend confessed she passed the test)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
And all that Logan received for his effort was the most dismissive gesture.

"Oh, we'll see about that."
istheindustry: dalicious (I've got my gun cocked tight)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"She's also far less of a prude, given what she was wearing at the point that she and our dear friend Page decided to force entry into my mansion."
istheindustry: tatty_bye (I've been to every continent)

[personal profile] istheindustry 2013-01-10 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
You heard him.

Despite that, however, he just laughs again. "All right, all right. Consider it retracted, if it offends you so."

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