Work Text:
“Ingo.” Emmet looked up from where he was dragging the brush across his brother’s nail, the black color shining in the living room’s dim light. “I have a question.”
“Yes, Emmet?” Ingo’s fingers were splayed out, but he still had the bottle of white nail polish balanced on his knee. He didn’t look up, though, the motion of the brush mesmerizing. Nail polish was used in Hisui, but wasn’t nearly as easy to acquire, so he’d forgotten how soothing it was to watch.
“We are transgender,” Emmet stated, somewhat redundantly.
“Yes?” Ingo responded, not seeing the connection between that and nail polish.
“You still look masculine. How? There was not any T in the past.” Emmet returned to painting Ingo’s nails, switching to the opposite hand now that the final nail on his right was done.
“Oh. That’s a good question,” Ingo nodded, “It wasn’t a complicated process, really. The Almighty Sinnoh – ah, Arceus, gave me it.”
“This explains nothing,” Emmet glanced up, his blunt tone not bothering Ingo. That’s just how he was.
“Hm. Well, it happened by chance the first time.
“I was going for a walk not too long after I arrived. I had gone up to the Highlands, as Lady Irida had told me that it was likely where I would reside after long. I was up on a cliff close to the Temple, having climbed up rather far, when I heard it.
“‘ Thou needest something, ’ a voice had called, and when I blinked, there was a kit in front of me. ‘ Return to myself in a week’s time. Farewell. ’ It told me. Thankfully, I still knew how to do it, somehow.”
“…You are telling me that a god gave you your hormones?” Emmet’s face twisted in confusion, even as his tone remained flat, only a slight uptick at the end.
“Indeed!” Ingo nodded, not a trace of humor in his booming voice. Emmet finished up with Ingo’s nails, and Ingo continued to speak as he began the second coat on Emmet’s white nails. “Every week, I sought it out. I could communicate with it at any high altitude place, but it preferred the Temple.”
“And it did not ask anything of you?” His brother’s face shifted into a suspicious, if worried, frown.
“No,” Ingo simply shook his head. “I gave thanks to it, but it never responded. However, I did bring it offerings from time to time.”
“Such as?”
“Beans.”
“…Beans.”
“It liked beans.”