thedifferencebetween

[Coming straight off of this thread.]

You're absolutely right about relationships being overrated.

Aw, buddy... weren't able to pull any tail last night? Don't let it get to ya, it's tough in this world. And I dunno how the hell old you are, actually, but if you're over thirty...good friggin luck!

I mean don't get me wrong - ya meet the right kind of person, shit develops, I'm not anti-relationship. I just think it takes a whole lot of really rare factors all lining up between two or more people to actually make something relationship worthy.

I've hooked up with...look, I'll be honest, I've lost count. Hundreds and hundreds of people! I've been in a relationship with like...five.

Thirty-seven.

[And he's only interested in men, which cuts his dating pool down even further.]

I've hooked up with... not hundreds of people. A few dozen. I wasn't counting either.

I'm not anti-relationship in theory either. But after the last one, I'm in no hurry to get into another. You give someone two, almost three years of your life and then when you tell them a few hard truths, suddenly you're cold and ashamed and a sell-out.

Really?

[Well that piques Jack's interest.]

Who keeps track? Fun is fun!

Oh sounds like you got burned bad. I know how that goes. But look, if they're not gonna want you for you, screw'em. Better off without'em. And if ya blow up something of theirs, it really helps get over all those icky breakup feels. Nothing beats the blues like a high powered laser and a tub of ice cream!

Oh god, I'd have been arrested. I'd have lost my job. I don't even know where to get a high-powered laser and h-- they've moved on anyway. I've moved on. It was... almost ten years ago? Oh hell.

But yeah. Really. I suppose legally I'd only be thirty-five due to some prior bullshit I was in before this--not that I even had a legal identity anymore back home due to that same bullshit--but I've lived thirty-seven years.

Oh, yeah, I guess people who aren't above the law have to deal with that kinda shit. Especially when they come from dimensions where it's illegal to blow up stuff. I didn't have that kind of problem!

Well I got some good news and some bad news for ya. Good news! I automatically like you more because you're another actual adult! Bad news...we're surrounded by infants. I dunno what it is, but this world grabs'em young. Like teenagers everywhere, and then a bunch of twenty-somethings.

Great. Amazing.

[A brief pause.]

I'm assuming it's also illegal to blow things up here?

Yeeeeah. There used to be a few more of us, but these days... ho boy, talk about slim pickings!

Yeah, it looks like general old Earth laws apply? But also all they can do is throw you in a pretty comfy jail for a couple of weeks or give ya community service. I don't get the infrastructure of this world, I never will.

So hey, question. How come ya never use video chat?

[Jack has his priorities.]

I--

[there is a long-ass pause]

--don't know.

[A few seconds later, the 'gear switches on to reveal...

Well. He's handsome, for the most part, in a very clean-cut way. Like a television newscaster. Which, in fact, he was at one point, albeit for local television only. Solidly built, with light brown skin gone a little sallow from lack of sun. Short-trimmed black hair, hazel eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. High cheekbones.]

I don't want to go into detail, but I was-- changed at one point. Unwillingly. Coming here gave me back... well, most of my old self back. I guess I'm not used to it, yet.

Hey, look at that, you're not a sewer dwelling mutant at all!

Cuz usually that's why people avoid video chats.

Also, I don't wanna know the details. We aren't at a point where I give any kind of a shit about your life before or whatever.

But hey, ya ever want a couple drinks and some casual hang-time, hit me up buddy!

Well. Tonight's my last night of Rocket Training. I'll have to celebrate somehow.

Well see, now we gotta go out and have a night!

[Jack takes stock of what he knows about this Steven dude. Artsy type, he's gonna guess, since he's a photographer. Real clean cut look to him, all that...]

I'm gonna guess you dig classy joints, there's some pretty nice upscale bars in Goldenrod.

[NOT PROFESSIONALLY. As a hobby. And most of what he used to photograph were models and dioramas and shit. There's a reason why his mind jumped toward bringing pokemon in for someone else to photograph instead.]

I wouldn't mind one of those.

[What he's really itching to do is ask where the local gay scene is, since he hasn't found it yet, but he's assuming Jack's straight until proven otherwise. Which means being quiet about his own interests until he's sure that Jack would be chill about it.]

Sounds good! I know the best really nice places and the best shitty dive bars, because let's be honest here...the in between ones aren't any fun at all!

But cool, cool, how 'bout I meet ya at the base an hour or so after they set ya free?

[Jack, on the other hand, simply assumes everyone is some variant of bisexual unless told otherwise.]

[That gets a laugh out of Steven.]

Sounds great.

I should probably actually finish my lunch before I have to head back. But I'm looking forward to it.

Ditto! See ya tonight!

[Well well, what a turn of luck!]

[Screw you, Tim, it's like he said...he's got no problems with his social life, assuming other actual adults are around. Jack's about ninety percent sure he's got a good shot at scoring tonight. Dude seemed bummed and lonely, but not looking for anything serious. That just screams 'fling opportunity'.]

[So Jack puts in some effort, a little cologne, a nice black sport jacket over his yellow Hyperion jersey and a pair of black slacks instead of his jeans. He's still wearing his yellow and brown Dad Sneakers, however. He shows up right when he said he would, with a pair of canine Pokemon as always - Miss Taylor Swift the debutante Furfrou and Havoc the Houndoom this evening. Tswift always makes a great impression.]

[He's in a good mood as they head over, he's obviously a well known patron at the bar he picked - a classy and old fashioned kind of joint, lots of dark wood and expensive looking art on the walls. He orders a bottle of sparkling wine for the both of them, since it's technically a celebration. He's all smiles and easy going jokes, honestly enjoying just a casual night out for a change.]

I tell ya, worst time I ever had in this world...shit, it's a toss up between the time I got stuck in a beach changing stall when inter-dimensional evil jellyfish were ripping through time and space or the time I got treed by a giant angry bear thing near Blackthorn. Middle of a blizzard, damn near froze my balls off.

[Steven doesn't have too many clothes here yet, but he changes into his nicest shirt and slacks, along with a pair of dress shoes. No cologne, but he doesn't have any here yet and anyway, he wouldn't just to have drinks with a friend. Which as far as he knows, this is.

He brings his two Rocket starters--Charley the Misdreavous and William-the-Bloody the Woobat--mostly because he wants to show them to Jack, see which he thinks are photogenic enough for his card company. (Both of them, he hopes. Pokemon Charley loved the idea of having her picture taken when he brought it up to her.)

He loves the bar almost immediately. It's the kind of swanky place that he likes going to with his straight friends and his work friends, which he assumes Jack is going to be. At least, Steven hopes they're going to be work friends. He's a bit crude and a bit of an asshole, granted, but he seems to do well by fellow Rockets and honestly? Steven's gamed with a lot worse people over the years than Jack seems to be. You can't be in nerdy circles, even on the downlow, without building up a tolerance for obnoxious shitheads.

And, you know, he's friendly and generous with his booze and most importantly an actual grown adult person. Steven could do a lot worse when it comes to drinking buddies.]

My god, and to think I was bitching because Fail Whale sprayed me in the face a couple times. I had no idea.

It's like that old song, I swear - all extremes, ain't no in betweens. Life's either tooth sickening sweet and all that, or the world's on the brink of ending. Or you're getting stuck up a tree by a Pokemon.

[Jack shakes his head, chuckling a little.]

But there's almost no consequences? You can't die here, you just...pass out and wake up in a Pokemon Center with one of the clone nurses looking after ya. I know, because some asshat tried to beat me to death this one time.

It didn't work.

[It should have, but...that was how this place worked. It's weird but he's not going to complain about it. He's always wanted immortality!]

But there's some cool stuff here, and I tell ya, I'd kill to be able to take apart some of the tech they use. The warp pads and Pokemon storage is a lot like things I've got back home. And I come from a state of the art space station I designed myself.

Jesus.

[Yeah, okay, let's not think about being beaten to death, not when it's been one of his number-one re-occuring nightmares since, fuck, about the time he realized he liked boys.

Steven will just. Drain his glass. And maybe pour himself some more.]

I mean, that's pretty damn impressive. I certainly couldn't do that. There's absolutely nothing like Pokemon storage or warp pads back home. Nothing. Hell, most people haven't been into space! I haven't!

Yeah, you're pre-expansion. That's what we call the time before Earth was just...all used up and we left it behind and colonized other galaxies. I actually made my empire on advanced tech - weapons, robots, luxury items. I started in computers - was kind of a prodigy, when it comes to computers - and I got into weapons and robots later on.

[Jack never misses an opportunity to talk about himself, even when he's not actively trying to impress somebody. Which he is. Tim got to him, earlier. It's as much a matter of principle as it is Jack being physically lonely and without prospects.]

Aside from the cannibals and the space monsters...future's pretty bright! But how about we don't talk about the terrifying reality of space colonization? We're having a fun night! A good time! Shit, I haven't hung out socially with another company man -[By which he means Rocket] - since my husband got yeeted back to his dimension. That was a couple years ago. Feels good!

Want another bottle of the sparkly, or ya wanna hit some harder stuff?

Harder. Definitely harder. Shots?

[It takes him a second with the wine, but then--]

Wait, husband? I thought you were straight.

Shots!

[That's an enthusiastic agreement from Jack. And then he laughs.
Loudly. He slaps the table because that's one of the funniest things he's heard in a while.]

Me? No, no, I'm like pizza. Everybody's welcome to a slice. Hell I was in a thruple for a while. Like I said, buddy, fun's fun! I've had three wives and one husband - common law. We were work partners and just...he got me. We understood each other, we spoke each other's language, he was hot as hell. Started out pretty casual but...like I said, when all the right factors line up, no reason not to go for it. We had a good run, I see him sometimes on the weird weekends when all kinds of people show up for a few days...

[He shrugs.]

But...uh...no, I am very much not straight and it never occurred to me you'd think I was. Especially considering the conversation leading up to me asking you out for 'drinks and casual hanging out'.

I mean, I thought it was going to be a friend thing. Since neither one of us was getting laid. Not--

My god, I could have asked you where the gay bars were.

[That. Wasn't what he meant to say. He'll just drain his glass again]

So. This was a hook-up?

The...oh, yeah, it's not like that here. Luckily this world has future-level views on the whole thing - nobody cares, two dudes just had a big public wedding, there's no separate anything. No one's getting segregated just cuz they like dick.

[It's no big deal, there's no need for special bars or clubs or whatever. It still boggles Jack that there was a time when it was different, that it used to be some huge complicated thing.]

And I mean obviously what this ends up as is up to you, I'm not some kind of creep, but...hey, I'm single, you're single, neither of us is looking for anything other than a little fun...let's just say fun is on the table.

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WHOOPS IT'S BEEN 2/15 ALL ALONG SSSSHHHH

NO WORRIES!

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