I JUST REALIZED- WHEN POMNI SAYS CAINE DOESNT LISTEN AND HE SNAPS ITS BECAUSE THATS HIS FATAL FLAW!!! HE COULDNT DO WHAT HIS CREATORS TOLD HIM TO DO! NOTHING HE CREATED WAS WHAT THEY WANTED- HE COULDNT FOLLOW ORDERS. HE DOESNT LISTEN
So: I’m revisiting this concept to make it a full story. It might be short but I love the concepts related to the culture of AZ’s original society and the kingdom he eventually ruled.
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The dawn barely peeks through the horizon on a cold, late autumn day in the city of Lumiose. The breeze bats at the old structures, attempting in vain to knock them from their foundations as the world slowly creaks and groans to life. Parents begin the process of waking their older children, younger ones at their heels, and little Pokemon stir in their nests as the glow of morning washes over the valleys.
At Hotel Z, AZ slowly wakes from his slumber, begrudging the sun for a moment, reaching over and curling back into his pillows. Even as a young man, he was never much of a morning person, and never really turned into one despite all this time. Still, he has to get up, as he is very blatantly reminded by his beloved Floette starting to ruffle her flower in his face to wake him up. Clearly he’s slept in.
He shuffles through his morning routine, eyes half closed in remembrance of his ill gotten extra slumber, and makes himself look more presentable as he begins to wake up fully. He buttons his shirt and waistcoat, fluffs out his bow tie, and then moves to style his hair into its signature braid.
Until he feels a horrid twinge in his left hand.
Meanwhile downstairs, the twins are fighting over who gets to have the last egg for breakfast, and the other kids are thoroughly ignoring them. Naveen watches the morning stream from Canari with curios eyes as she talks about her morning routine, sipping on a glass of moomoo milk with a straw. Lida is chowing on some kind of meat, potato, and croissant concoction she made herself, clearly enjoying whatever it is.
You are enjoying a nice bagel, like a normal person. Arceus, these kids are so weird.
Eventually, you start to notice the absence of a certain giant man in the room, which is pretty hard to do when he’s actively in it, so you glance around to see if he’s come down yet. Perhaps you hadn’t noticed?
No, doesn’t appear that way, and frankly you were getting worried about him. So, of course, you decide to excuse yourself from the teen chaos and head upstairs to go check on AZ. You’re surprised when Floette actually meets you halfway, trilling softly in worry and tugging on your hand to try and bring you somewhere. Your heart sinks.
You actually sprint to AZ’s room, terrified for the worst, and barge in only to see AZ’s head whip toward the door in alarm. You sort of just..awkwardly stare at each other for a minute until Floette catches up and starts dragging you, or at least attempting to drag you, over to a very confused AZ.
“Floette? Is..something wrong? Is there a reason she’s brought you?” AZ says, his voice still sleep laden and raspier than usual due to it, worry flickering in his eyes. Floette coos sadly, slowly pulling your hand to him. It’s when your hand brushes his disaster of a braid attempt does he seem to quickly regain his senses and alertness.
“Floette, what are you doing?! Why would-no. No I am not..I do not require their assistance with my hair.” AZ snips, his voice a growl dripping with embarrassment as he gently pushes a your hand and Floette away. He steps back, takes a deep breath, and goes back to trying to fix his mess of a braid. But you see it. The blush on his face extends all the way to his ears.
You and Floette slowly look at each other, both confused and concerned about the normally even tempered man suddenly snapping at his friends. “AZ..what’s going on? Are you okay?”
“I am fine, just..I prefer to handle my hair on my own, or with Floette’s assistance. I..I was unaware she had decided to involve you.” AZ grumbles quietly, eyes flicking between you, Floette, and the mirror. He’s clearly uncomfortable, but you aren’t entirely sure as to why, until you notice the shake in his hands. It’s not a nervous one, but a pained response. His hands are hurting. He can’t do his hair because his hands are hurting him.
Oh this poor man.
“AZ…are your hands in pain? Is that why you’re struggling with this?” You ask him quietly, slowly walking over to the dresser where he’s lent on his hands, clearly frustrated. “Maybe I can braid it for you, if it’s hard.” You add quietly, wanting to help but unsure if he’d allow it. He tenses when you walk closer, reaching a hesitant hand out to his arm and petting it reassuringly.
A sigh leaves his nose, and he slumps a bit in defeat. Floette flits up to his face, nuzzling his cheek with worry in her little eyes. She just wants him to be okay.
“…Yes. I believe the physician referred to the condition as arthritis. My growth over the millennia has put strain on my body and my hands grow weary of movement some days. I feel..conflicted. But I fear I will regret not relenting to your aid.” AZ says, lowering his guard and slowly walking over to his bed. He sets himself down, and reluctantly motions for you to sit behind him.
You hop onto the bed and scoot yourself on your knees to sit behind AZ’s back. You actually end up having to stand on it to reach the top of his head, embarrassingly, and he watches you do all of this from the side, eyes pinned to the mirror. He seems to be very tense about all of this, for some reason.
“Okay..I’m gonna take the braid out now. Just relax.” You say calmly, reaching out as you speak and petting the back of his hair to let him get a handle on feeling your hands in his hair. He shivers and grips the duvet nervously, eyes a little wider and locked on you as you work, slowly unbraiding his earlier attempt. You pull out the ribbon at the bottom, and his hair splays out, delicate strands of white not unlike the furfrou you see on the streets every day. The thought makes you chuckle.
You set to work combing his hair with your fingers, working out any knots or loose hair until it’s a bit more manageable. Floette helps too, helping you separate out the sections of his hair and guiding your hands with her little, delicate ones as you go. During this time, AZ slowly begins to relax, leaning on the palms of his hands and humming in appreciation every time you apologetically scratch his scalp for him.
Eventually, you finish the braid and sigh, smoothing your hand over your handiwork and smiling. There’s weight to this braid you never realized was there.
AZ slowly blinks his eyes open, having dozed off a little from the relaxing moment. He turns partially to you, smiling gratefully and looking his braid over in fascination. “Well done..and thank you. You have..done me quite the favor. Your efforts are very appreciated.” He says, smiling warmly as he looks back at you.
“Any time!” You sat cheerfully, moving to hop off of the bed before AZ puts a hand on your shoulder, halting your movements. “Is there any way I could repay you?” He asks earnestly, tilting his head with a sweet smile. You think for a moment, before patting the hand on your shoulder with a sincere, soft expression on your face. “Just..take care of yourself. Alright?” You tell him gingerly, and head back downstairs to finish breakfast.
AZ eyes Floette with a small smirk, shaking his head as he says to his pokemon, “If you wanted to play matchmaker-“ before promptly getting whacked in the face with the eternal flower.
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I hope you guys enjoy this goofy little story. I headcanon that AZ’s culture ties a lot of significance to hair health and length, and braiding hair is something two people only do if they are family, or dating. For a friend to do this sits weird in his brain and makes him feel goofy feelings.
Anyway, if you have an idea or a prompt you’d like me to try, feel free to send an ask!
if you’ve followed me for any length of time you shouldn’t be surprised by this at all. you guys know how i am about my white-haired waifus 😤
catch me (if i should fall) (az x gn!reader, pokemon legends za)
The city was breathtaking from your perch, especially with Prism Tower all lit up and glowing gently against the dark night sky, and yet you could scarcely lift your head from your hands to enjoy the view.
What were you thinking? you scolded yourself, your cheeks hot with embarrassment. You’d always known your impulsivity would get you into trouble someday, and now here you were, shame-faced and flushed and mere seconds away from calling for the nearest Gogoat to take you as far away from Hotel Z as possible.
You wished you’d thought to bring a flying Pokemon along with you on this trip into Lumiose. Fleeing from the rooftop felt marginally less embarrassing than having to slink through the lobby just to reach the exit, especially if Az was still where you had left him, blank-faced and wide-eyed behind the front desk.
You groaned pitifully at the reminder of the older man, no doubt regretting every life choice he’d ever made to land him in the position you’d left him in, stunned into silence after one of his guests had just lost their mind and kissed him -
Oh, Arceus, why had you gone and kissed him?
Peering balefully between your fingers at the grand city spread out below you, you sighed. You knew why you’d done it - because you’d wanted to, because every time you passed through the city you were drawn to the little hotel and the pale-haired, soft-spoken, frankly massive man who owned it.
Because you had spent more nights then you could count sharing tea with him in the parlor, his Floette trilling gently as she bounced around his shoulders and yours. Because you had spent most of those nights unable to tear your eyes away from the sleepy curl of Az’s lips and the gentle flaring of his fingers as his beloved Pokemon flitted between his hands and brushed her petals along his knuckles.
Because you were a fool and a slave to your emotions and probably about to break something considering how seriously you had begun to contemplate scaling the walls to reach the nearest Gogoat station.
“Ugh,” you groaned pitifully, only to jump as your self-imposed exile to the rooftop was rudely interrupted by the jostling of a door handle. You twisted around, hoping against hope that it was Taunie or Urbain come to check on you, and felt your heart climb into your throat as a head of white hair and a stature far too tall to belong to anyone else but the object of all your turmoil slipped over the threshold.
Az’s eyes met yours at once, destroying any notion that he had come up here for any other reason than to find you. Your stomach curdled guiltily as you realized how many stairs he’d needed to take to reach you, and soured further at the sight of his fingers clenched tightly around the head of his cane.
“You didn’t have to come after me,” you mumbled, shame-faced, but the man only smiled, the tip of his cane thudding gently against the rooftop as he approached you.
“You ran off so quickly,” Az returned, and you flushed, viscerally reminded of the awkward shock on his face as you’d jerked away from his mouth.
“I’m sorry,” you blurted, bowing your head. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.” You definitely shouldn’t have run off like that afterward, either, but you could only handle one transgression at a time, and this one seemed far more pressing.
Silence settled between you, broken only by the muted scuff of Az’s heels against the rooftop before they quieted. You could feel his warmth against your side, closer than you had assumed he’d want to be, all things considered.
“Why did you?” his voice rumbled from above your head. You lifted your chin and caught his gaze, surprised at the lack of condemnation there. He didn’t seem angry or disgusted, or even truly upset. He just seemed… curious.
You couldn’t lie to him, you realized, even as the notion of telling him the truth settled like a lead weight in the bottom of your stomach.
“I’ve wanted to,” you confessed quietly, forcing yourself to hold his gaze. There was no use in hiding now. “For a while.”
“Ah,” Az breathed, dipping his head. Strands of pale, white hair fell over his brow, his eyes searching yours before they flitted away, settling on the city below. “I see.”
You tried not to deflate at his words. It was becoming more obvious to you - though it should have been painfully clear by his shocked expression after you’d kissed him - that Az didn’t return your feelings. You hadn’t truly expected him to, but that did little to soften the sting. Still, you couldn’t stand to let this awkward tension hang between you any longer, and so you opened your mouth - to apologize again, or to promise to avoid the hotel for a while, if that was what it took to set things to rights -
But Az spoke first.
“Surely there is someone… better suited for you.” His voice was a low mumble, his gaze fixed on the cityscape below. You braced for a gentle let down. “Someone younger, at the very least.”
You blinked. “Younger?” you repeated, glancing up at his face. There was a new, ruddy tinge to his cheeks that hadn’t been there before, and that, coupled with his sudden inability to hold your gaze, felt significant somehow, enough so that, despite yourself, a tiny flame of hope began to flicker within you.
Az cleared his throat, fingers fiddling with the head of his cane. Why did he suddenly seem so nervous? “Another trainer your age,” he clarified, his long braid shifting along his back as he rolled his shoulders. “A rival, perhaps, or a friend… ? Even Taunie or Urbain would make for a more suitable match.” A sigh escaped his lips before he added, “I am… much older than you, you know.”
The solemnity with which he’d said such a thing, as though you weren’t keenly aware of your age difference, surprised a laugh from your throat.
“I wouldn’t have kissed you if that bothered me,” you reminded him gently, and Az huffed, eyes cutting to yours.
“I suppose not,” he acquiesced, fingertips squeezing around his cane. He was looking at you as if he couldn’t make any sense of you, as if you were a mystery he had yet to solve. It was difficult to think clearly beneath the weight of that stare, and so you glanced away, rubbing at the back of your neck.
There was a chance you were only kidding yourself, attributing his nerves to some possible attraction when Az was simply trying to reject you as kindly as he knew how. You quelled at the thought of overstepping - again - and making him even more uncomfortable than you’d already managed, and so you did as any self-respecting trainer should when faced with an impossible opponent - you retreated.
“I should return to my room,” you mumbled, unable to lift your gaze from the rooftop. There was a tightness in your chest that made it difficult to speak or hold the man’s gaze, and you knew it was best to remove yourself before you embarrassed yourself further. “I’m sorry for - everything.” You managed a jerky bow before you turned to take your leave, saddened but certain that a little space was exactly what you both needed to put this whole mess behind you -
Only to find that you couldn’t move. Warm fingers had caught at your own, a heavy palm slipping against yours, and when you twisted around, it was to the sight of Az’s hand engulfing yours. Your heart leapt into your throat.
“Wait, please,” he rumbled, gently tugging you forward. You went without a fight, your pulse quickening as Az settled onto the lip of the roof, long legs folding carefully beneath him and cane abandoned as both hands came up to curl around yours. You had never been this close to him, you realized, not without kissing him, and as that thought settled hotly in the pit of your stomach, your face flooded with heat.
“Az - ” you started, only for the man to shake his head, strands of pale, white hair slipping along his cheekbones.
“If this is truly what you want,” he murmured, your breath sticking in your throat at the softness of his gaze and the warmth of his hands squeezing gently around yours. Your awestruck gaze seemed to fluster him, his voice faltering before he added, “If I am what you want - ”
“You are,” you croaked, and there it was again, that ruddy tinge of color high on Az’s cheekbones.
He nodded, once, and coaxed you to close what little distance remained between you with a gentle tug on your hand.
“Then,” Az smiled, the same, sweet curl of his lips that you’d cherished during your visits in the parlor. “If you’d like to try again… ”
You laughed, soft, happy, relieved, and answered him in the best way you knew how.
vaporwave
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ellievsbear
