Sturdy As A Standing Stone. || Steven - Tumblr Posts

"Somewhere in a faraway land, there is a Flying-type Gym that floats 10,000 feet in the air. It consists solely of a walkway that has two paths--one toward where the Gym Leader stands, one toward where the challenger stands. The walkways are just wide enough to accommodate a few people or Pokémon standing side by side walking to either end--and neither of them have railings. Matsuba's Gym can't be scarier than that."

”Champion Steven.” Towa greeted with a simple wave, “I trust things have been going well in the region’s recovery from that weather calamity.”

"They have been," he says with a smile. "There's still some minor weather anomalies that we've been having to clean up, but it's nothing that Wallace and I can't handle." Especially true considering they've both just become the Archchosens of Groudon and Kyogre--and it was only fitting of two men of their social standing that their first duty was something so important.

He steps a little closer.

"You have helped a great deal. You may not have noticed me watching in all the chaos, but I saw you personally aiding civilians. The League would like to recognize your efforts. I do have gifts of my own in mind, but how else should we thank you?"

"Really, Steven. A cactus. You had the gardening power of a god at your fingertips--and you killed a cactus. Do you really think I'll ever let you live that down?"

"B-be quiet!"

⏳

"Well, Wallace, if you wish to tell embarrassing stories about me…I have one about you I would love to share!"

"This story also happened to take place around the time that Wallace and I started dating. Back then, Wallace was dreadful with any sort of Pokémon that wasn't a Water-type, whereas I was equally so with Water-types specifically. To understand each other better we each attempted to get out of our comfort zones and learn about Pokémon we were not used to, and to do this, we had an exchange. Wallace gave me a Mudkip, which he chose because it was part Ground as well as part Water, giving me a bit of familiar footing. In turn, I gave him an Eevee which he could evolve into a Vaporeon. But because I wanted to help him a little, I specifically chose an Eevee who had been the child of two Vaporeons. Eevee tend to take after the evolutions that either of their parents were, so I thought that giving him a water-aligned Eevee would aid him further in his ability to raise it. He needed all the help he could get--and in the end, it still wasn't enough."

He gives a quaint little chuckle.

"One day, Wallace and I were at the Sootopolis City beach together. I was sunbathing a good distance away from the water while Wallace was standing with his Eevee on his shoulder in the waves. He was playing one of his favorite games with his Luvdisc companion--giving her gentle underhand tosses into the water, after which she would swim back to him to be underhand tossed again. It was quite discomfiting to me when I first saw them do it, but apparently it's actually a common way in which fish Pokémon like playing with their Trainers. Well. Wallace thought--he told me later--that Vaporeon are half fish. And he thought that his Eevee, despite being a cat and cats generally disliking water, had enough of a fishlike disposition that she would like it. You see where I'm going with this, yes?" Steven laughs. "He took his Eevee off his shoulder and underhand tossed her into the water! I swear, I could have heard that poor little kitten screaming all the way from Petalburg Woods. I've never let him live that down, and neither has she. She still squirts him with Water Guns anytime she's mad at him, anytime she feels like it--or any time I tell her to."

"There is no faith in a man, not even in a brother. So girls, if you must love--love one another."

"Zinzin…" Flashes their wedding ring. "I'm literally right here."

Wallace and Steven walk into the Hearthome City Pokémon Center, clearly exhausted from their latest double battle--but in a good way, with the thrill of the fight still lighting up their eyes and broad smiles on their faces from the exhilaration. They're expecting just an ordinary Pokémon Center nurse on an ordinary trip…What they don't expect is to sense the presence of the Divine, so clearly imprinted on this woman's very being.

They can't help but stare for a few moments as they are greeted at the front of the line. What's this feeling of Mesprit that they feel around her? Wallace quickly remembers what to do after the surprise and hands his Poké Balls to her; Steven stares a little more, looking at her curiously--with a touch of confusion in the slight furrow of his brow as his head cocks somewhat to one side. The Legendaries never paid much attention to Pokémon Center nurses before. What makes this one different?

The confusion doesn't last for long, though, as Wallace nudges Steven to give his Poké Balls.

"Sorry about that. We'd like to have our Pokémon healed, thank you," Steven says, as he also hands over his Poké Balls for the machine. "Nothing major, just the usual."

"Say, you don't happen to have known Mesprit at any point, have you?" Wallace says. "I sense some of her around you. Are you the new Nurse Mia? I don't believe we've ever met before."

"Welcome to the pokémon center!"

"How can I help you?"

How much responsibility should a Champion have in the matters concerning their region?

(HEY STEVEN)

"This might sound like a surprise to you, considering I'm a Champion, but I don't think we should have all the responsibility. Hoenn actually has a Hoennese Council of Elders that works above the League, and as the League we're actually just one part of the larger governance structure in the Hoennese Peoples' Collective. One huge part of that is that we acknowledge the need to trust local governance structures to do their jobs. I would respect and listen to a village elder just as much as I would respect the Council. When we make decisions, we do so with a strong sense of interconnectedness and community--even in the days of Hoennese royalty like my family we all knew it was a bad idea for the upper levels of governance never to listen to their people. The League's power, the Collective's power and the Elders' power all comes from one thing: the fact we not only work for our people, we work with them--and we are them."

@blastburned (x)

"You saw Kyogre in the Cave of Origin?" Steven says, raising an eyebrow. Things must be different in his world--in Steven's world, someone not of Indigenous Hoennese descent would never be allowed in that most sacred of places.

"You are quite privileged to have had that experience. I've seen Kyogre myself--quite a few times, I live with my world's Kyogre actually, but there was no time like the first. They were in the Cave of Origin along with Groudon, and both were angry. Angry that they had been awoken. Alongside the Heroes of my region I was one of those who had to calm them, and it was like having to fight the land and the ocean itself--the might of the entire planet, compressed into that tiny space."

He even still has scars from both beings on his right shoulder that he wants to show, but his autistic desire to overshare wars with the discretion of the super-wealthy that he'd been raised with. Part of him does not want to get this personal with someone he's first met, but part of him doesn't see the harm in it…He'll make that decision later as they converse.

[Johto Moon Festival '24] YOU CANNOT ESCAPE

"And the winner of the 2024 International Coordinating Festival is....Wallace Kassai!"

Wallace strides forward from the contestants' seats at the front of the auditorium, stepping up onto the stage and doing a flip of his hair as celebratory techno music blasts from the speakers and the crowd leaps to their feet with a standing ovation. The Festival hasn't happened yet--this is all a dream, which a highly trained Archchosen such as himself would be able to realize--but he's expecting to win this year so much that it's not as though he has the humility to become aware. He grins and waves to the sea of anonymous faces cloaked in the darkness, then reaches his hand forward to shake the award presenter's hand before receiving his trophy. But instead of taking his hand with a congratulatory smile, the announcer hesitates.

"Excuse me, sir," she says into the mic, "but I believe you're the wrong Wallace."

The crowd and the fanfare music immediately quiet as Wallace stares blankly at her.

"Pardon?" He raises an eyebrow.

"You're the wrong Wallace," she says, louder and more confidently than before.

"Excuse me, madam--" he can't keep the tension out of his voice--"but there is only one Wallace."

"I don't see why there should be." She speaks as though such a clueless and ill-informed statement were common sense.

"Well, who is this imposter of mine?" he huffs, crossing his arms. "Surely there must be some sort of a mistake by the judges, for a mere copy's mimicry of my art could only ever be inadequate. He won't have my charisma. He won't have my panache. And most importantly of all, he could never have the Wallace Touch. It's as I've said many times before. You can't outdo the doer. You can't outshine the shiner, you know--"

No sooner do the words leave his mouth than he sees a blurry dark-skinned figure emerge from the backstage entrance on the other side of the stage. He can't see the details of the imposter's face, but he can see they're his same height, they're in the same clothes, they've dyed their hair the same way--every inch a shadow of him, and he's expected to believe that this mere shadow managed to outshine his glorious light? The announcer holding the trophy turns toward the newcomer with the smile and the prize that should have been for him, beckoning them to quicken their pace. And then, as they draw closer, he sees the detail on their face--and it's at that point that the dream completes its slide down into a nightmare.

Oh no.

It's Handsome.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

He screams, but no one hears him. His shrieks are drowned out in the ecstatic roar of the crowd--even louder than the cheers had been for him--and the celebration techno music in the background roaring to life as well. The announcer's face transforms into a Handsome one as she shakes Handsome Ditto's hand and places the trophy in their arms; they blow Wallace's famously elegant kisses from their Handsome Squidward face as they lift the trophy in one hand and waive daintily like a royal with the other. Then the accursed Pokémon cranes their head toward him--and winks.

He screams even more loudly than before, but still he goes unheard. He looks desperately to the crowd--but their faces have all become Handsome as well, and his screams become so loud that if he were in the real world, he would have become both hoarse and deaf. The noise closes in on him from all sides, and In the almighty din, he can't tell where his terror and the crowd's jubilation begins and ends....

"Wallace. Wallace, are you okay?"

He awakes to a bright afternoon light in his eyes, his back a little sore from falling asleep at the roots of a great tree. He recognizes the voice of his husband, Steven Stone, and feels the presence of his QPP, Zinnia. He gathers that both are standing over him, perhaps having felt his distress from wherever they were at in the Moon Festival and going over to see if he was okay.

He has not, however, seen their faces.

"I am now," he says, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "I just had a bad dream."

"Oh, that sounds awful," Steven says, as Zinnia offers him a hand up.

"It was," he groans, taking his partner's hand--and she gives him the nastiest little chuckle before she speaks.

"It sure would be a shame...if your dream got even worse."

He finally looks up at his partners.

THEY HAVE HANDSOME FACES TOO.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--!"

"Wallace! Wallace! Are you okay?!"

Steven cries out as he and Zinnia run toward Wallace, the "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" from his dream erupting into a Kyogre-like screech that echoes all across the Festival as the poor Archchosen jolts awake. As Wallace's partners approach, he backs himself up against the tree trunk he had fallen asleep against, his eyes wide with panic in the afternoon light. Between the dream that caused homesickness he had the other night and this one, he sure was having a lot of nightmares here in Johto. (Well, two isn't a lot, but it's two too many.)

"Please, no," he sputters. "Please tell me you're not--"

"Not what?" Zinnia looks quite concerned as she offers him her hand.

"Oh--I'm so sorry. I had the most awful dream," he says, heaving a sigh of relief as he notices that these are his real partners, neither of whom have Handsome Squidward faces. Ever aware of others' perceptions of him though, he hasn't failed to notice the small crowd that has gathered around his unmistakable Legendary scream. Great. He knows the press is going to be so, so unbearable about this already.

"What happened, man? Did we try to kill you in it or something?" Zinnia says, helping Wallace to his feet at which point he dusts himself off from the ground.

"Something like that," he sighs, for the truth is far too embarrassing for him to admit. Steven squints--he knows his husband isn't telling the truth--but being supremely discreet due to his upbringing, he doesn't want to pry.

"Oh, please, I know that's not it," Zinnia says, shaking her head. "Do you think I don't know you well enough not to know when you're lying to me?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he grumbles.

"Aw...You know I'm always a no-judgment zone--"

"I said, I don't want to talk about it." A low Kyogre-like growl creeps into his voice; gods know Zinnia wasn't always a no-judgment zone, even though she'd gotten better about it. The irritation goes away almost immediately, though, and he feels bad for having snapped.

"My apologies--I didn't mean to be so short with you," he says. "Shall we get ourselves some refreshments?"

As the three head off to find a booth containing some sort of sweet treat--hopefully some ice cream mochi or milk tea to cool off in the warm summer weather--Asteria's Handsome Ditto, in the form of Wallace, stands behind another nearby tree and smirks.

It knows.

It knows.

(Wallace's therapist: Handsome Ditto can't hurt you. Handsome Ditto: >:3333333)

"How fortunate for you, to have had such experiences," Steven says. "Some might consider such a deep affinity for the gods and the natural world a burden more than a blessing--I might have, before I was chosen by Groudon. But to feel my patron in the world around me has given me an understanding of my geological interests that I have never had before. I can't imagine life without it. I certainly haven't been able to see my rock collection in the same way as I have before."

He smiles as he sips his tea, as he mulls over Red's other words. He believes him, for sure. As one who is supernaturally gifted himself, how can he not?

"The gods could have been calling for just anyone, but your story also sounds as though you may be a chosen one of some sort," he muses. "Among my people, those who have experiences such as yours--hearing Pokémon, feeling the gods--are told that the gods have given them spiritual gifts. Of course, we are not taught to place all of our lives in the hands of the forces that lie beyond us that may have given us these blessings. We are taught that what we actually do for the community and in others' lives is far more important in determining our destinies and our place in the world than simply being born with certain advantages. A god may give someone the ability to talk to Pokémon, but the community will always value a virtuous one with no powers over a Pokémon whisperer who is apathetic to the community's needs--and we believe the gods think the same. It's much more important how you use your gifts--or what you do with a lack thereof--which is how I managed to become Archchosen of Groudon despite having no supernatural experiences whatsoever. I trust, though, that you've been using your gifts well. I can't imagine the gods of any Hoenn allowing you into their most sacred place otherwise."

He nodded in agreement, confirmation, and quiet understanding. People don't tend to approach the primordial powers and guardians with the calm that he did in his world either. Red called them "Old Sea", "Old Land", "Old Sky" for short, and he had kept those monikers to himself for a long time. He kept it quiet along with the information that he could simply... hear these huge beasts under the ground and feel them in the rain.

[Yes. That's true. Ten years ago, I came to Hoenn. Started noticing that I could hear something in the rain, if you can believe it. Something was talking to me not with language, so I listened for a while and eventually followed it. Cave has these underwater paths in. Went in to meditate and listen for a while.]

Most didn't hear him after the first admission that something was speaking to him.

[Was a few years after they were calmed the first time. Never actually settled their debate, I guess.]

Red took a cup of tea off the tray in front of him, and sipped at the bitter liquid, switching to signing with one hand.

[I think they were calling anybody to come out. Not a lot of people can hear Pokémon.]