#haunted memorial

[world-of-stones-and-colors]

@haunted-memorial liked for lar-bear uwu (X)

"...you can tell, can't you?" Spoken in a low, dare one say fearful tone from where Larry was resting on his haunches beside his fellow leader, face turned towards his frolicking Pokemon with a bittersweet smile on his face.

"The Pumpkaboo, I mean. You know." Inquisitive, still yet to be fully convinced no matter what the Pokemon in question 'told' him just a few moments before bouncing off to play with the others.

[world-of-stones-and-colors]

@haunted-memorial he can explain- (X)

When Larry's receptionist had told him he had a visitor, he'd simply assumed it to be one of the other league members, or perhaps the mother of the baby currently bouncing along in her walker around the room, coming in for a visit while on her lunch break. When it had been Morty that walked through his door, Larry was so pleasantly surprised that a smile had taken over his face, which left his receptionist wide-eyed as she ushered him through the door.

"You here for business, or just to see me?" And had his receptionist not just closed the door behind Morty, there might have been rumors to spread around if the flirtatious lilt to Larry's words had been heard.

The moment was rather quickly dashed however, by a baby repeatedly bumping into Morty's legs in her walker, the toys attached to the top of it giving a few rattles and rings with each jostle. "Oh, uh...that's Ava, I'm watching her for my neighbor. She works in the kitchens at the Eatery, which isn't the best place to have a baby." No shit.

Ava simply looked up at Morty with vacant eyes, seeing as he was too far away for her still developing vision to make him out as a person as opposed to a series of colorful smears. "Ah!" Yelled as she pointed at him for reasons only she would ever know.

"She says hi." Sure she does.

[psychic-master-will]

"My new besties know me well~!" And he returned the ghost pokemon he borrowed back to Ecruteak in exchange!

[world-of-stones-and-colors]

☕️ from Morty to Larry. ^_^

(X)

It was...different to have Morty in his life now, after so long of being alone. It wasn't that it always made the day easier to get through, but that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, even if the sun had long since set before he could leave. Sometimes, Morty even took the time to surprise him, his fellow gym leader always seeming to know when he needed it the most (and really, who was to say that wasn't the case? It wouldn't be the weirdest thing if he knew when Larry had reached a low and could use a pick-me-up). More often than not, it was an out of the blue call that gave Larry a much needed break, and other times, the best times, were when the man himself walked through his office door.

Morty didn't even need to wait to be let into Larry's office anymore, not unless someone higher than both their positions combined was meeting with the Everyman, but most of the time it was just Larry wasting away at his desk, hours having gone by without him even noticing.

Now was one of those times, it taking the chill of Gengar to snap him out of his number induced haze, he'd been buried so deep. Some might be annoyed by such an interruption, but Larry always had a smile springing to his lips at the familiar shudder, knowing by now it meant Morty was soon to step through his door.

"Intern's didn't give you trouble, did they?" Was asked in place of a greeting as his door clicked open, a final shudder along his spine telling him Gengar had left and presumably went back to Morty's shadow. "They're not used to seeing someone like you in a town like this. Pretty sure there's even a ghost story or two floating around."

[world-of-stones-and-colors]

@haunted-memorial cont. from (X)

While Larry wasn't exactly sure the sort of training Morty often put himslef through, he had become accustomed to hearing about the aftermath of injuries whenever they found a spare moment to talk over the phone. This was one of those rare moments where Larry was able to visit Morty as opposed to the other way around, and while he was technically there for work, he had plans to stick around a day or so after the other officials had left to 'follow up' with members of the Johto league, or in other words, spend more time with Morty while he could.

It was meant to be a surprise, one that had been dashed by Geeta, no doubt, with her needing to give Johto a 'heads up' on everyone that was going to be flying over, despite the group being the same one that traveled to every region's leagues. Or maybe he was just being bitter, assigning blame where there was none to be found. It didn't matter in the end, so long as he got the chance to see Morty.

Finding him bleeding wasn't exactly how he was expecting this visit to go, but that was the very state he'd found his...Morty in.

"What am I supposed to do, leave you here?" He had a feeling the answer would have been yes, should he be someone else. "Besides, I owe you one from the crater, remember?" Taking Morty's face in his hands, Larry tilted his head to the side to better assess the wound with a stony gaze, his expression so unmoving, it would perhpas be obvious to the other man just how forced it was.

"Doesn't look too bad...can you walk? Or do I have to carry you like a princess from this tower?"

[misfxts]

Johto opening it's doors left quite a bit to be desired for quite a few of the gym leaders, though Morty, despite his own reservations about using the theater that the kimono girls used for practice for the sake of these contests, saw it as something that was ultimately a good thing for the trainers of the region and for Johto itself... even if he thought that Ecruteak in general was a poor choice for this.

Going around, he had been asked to join in the judging, though even if he did decline, he was somewhat curious about it all. Heading in to go see if any of the girls are going to be participating, he runs into one of the coordinators, almost knocking her over.

Managing to catch her by the arm, he gives her an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, are you all right?"

from @haunted-memorial to Iris, //hello, I hope this is all right. I suck at plotting so, uh... :3

@haunted-memorial

Iris' status as coordinator and a member of the Adelaide Family demanded that she come to Johto for one of the first contests to be held in the region. Iris had always wanted to visit, Johto had such a rich and vibrant history that she wanted so desperately to learn but could never make the time.. so this was a win-win situation in her eyes, especially as the Ecruteak City was one of the cities she was most interested in.

The contest was to be held later in the month. The stage was available for the coordinators to run practice drills but only for an hour per participant a day to ensure that everyone had a chance.

Iris' time at the stage had finished, and she was packing up herself and Pokemon to leave when her Mareanie-- glittering pink and mischievous-- decided that Iris was taking too long to leave and darted out of the dressing room, leaving his master to scramble to shove the rest of her clothes into her bag and give chase.

Iris was so focused on making sure Mareanie didn't get hurt, snatched up or worse she didn't even notice Morty until it was too late. She nearly fell flat on her face from trying to dodge Morty-- thank goodness he broke her fall!

"A-Ah um..No t..the fault is all mine.. I w-wasn't looking where I was g..going.." Iris blinked, looking for her Pokemon who stopped as the collision happened, staring at his master and snickering.

[world-of-stones-and-colors]

🤒 @haunted-memorial to Larry. Ghost boy is going to scold him a bit, lol.

Get this man some soup! (X) @haunted-memorial

What Larry knew about even less than getting visitors, then having someone care about him, then showing emotions so tightly bottled up for someone else to see, was to have someone see through his facade. He'd gotten a lot of practice over the years, hiding how he really feels, there being times where if he broke away from neutrality it very well could have been life or death for himself or someone else. Not even his brother could see through it now (he hadn't gotten the chance to learn), but here Larry was getting scolded for something not one other person had realized through the day.

Where had he slipped up? He needed to know. He looked just as tired, ate the same meager amount, had fallen asleep at his desk during his lunch break like every other day of his life, and yet Morty had known he was unwell with near one look at him. Was it the man's supernatural abilities? Or maybe his Gengar somehow could tell? Larry could think of no other reason, there should be no way for Morty to know unless Larry himself told him, save inhuman means, which he had only done after the question of his wellbeing.

...wait.

Hunched over at his desk, his posture having slouched enough that he was near laying on it now, having given up holding himself upright after the question of his wellbeing, Larry started to laugh. By not knowing him, how he looked and acted day in and day out, no doubt that was why Morty had asked if he was well, and Larry had just assumed he'd seen through it all.

Maybe he was hoping he'd seen through it, or maybe he was just too ill to think that far in the moment.

"I just gave myself away, didn't I?" But for a man whose day was no doubt just derailed in its entirety only halfway through, he laughed, and he smiled as he started to gather up his thing to tuck into his briefcase without further fuss. "Tell my receptionist to clear the rest of my day and hold my calls? I'll reschedule everything myself, just in case you make me take tomorrow off too."

[world-of-stones-and-colors]

💫 - for our muses to go stargazing bc that goes well with a picnic :3

Dating Symbols (X) @haunted-memorial

By this point in his life, one would imagine Larry had some idea of what he was doing, and for the longest time he had, even if that was only because he ran through his day on a dissociative autopilot. He'd get up, go to work, come home, rinse and repeat. For years that had been his sole routine, and then one self indulgent night at a bar, Larry having stayed far longer than his coworkers, made a curve in an otherwise straight road.

So he went down this new scenic route; played some pool, talked about his past, broke some rules that left yet another dress shirt destined for the garbage, and somehow that ended up with him at a late night picnic with Morty. He hadn't realized it until laying on his back under the stars, pointing out constellations and making up a few with his fellow gym leader, that this was exactly what he needed. Something he had maybe wanted for a while now. He could have asked anyone to 'help get rika off his back and out of his office', but the first person he thought of, that he felt comfortable enough to ask was Morty.

"I still don't know what I'm doing, by the way." After all, the whole picnic idea had been Poppy's when Larry had not so jokingly asked her what people did for a date. There was also 'holding hands', 'getting ice cream', and 'hugging reeeaaaallllly tight!' left on the mental 'list' she'd given him, but he figured the idea of a picnic would work fine for now. The stargazing had just been a bonus, Larry not having a free moment during his day, so a picnic under the stars it had been.

"I...don't really think I mind, though." Which was something to be said by the man who had to plan out damn near everything during his workday (if he didn't, then he wouldn't get everything done, and if he didn't get everything done, he got his pay docked). "I haven't been able to relax this much in...in a really long time..."