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"What's this?" Tobias turned to see Nia standing in an aisle between the rows of shelves, holding some kind of wand, though he had no idea which kind. She looked at it, tossed it to herself, and then held it backwards; the knot at the end resting just below her wrist. "A practice sword or something?" She assumed some sort of combat stance; body angled sideways, one paw in the air over her head, most of her weight on her back leg, and the paw clutching the backwards wand held out before her. "Hiiia-ya!" she yelled, and swung the wand a few times in small arcs that looked silly and highly impractical, even if she hadn't been swinging a blunt object.
The charmander crossed his arms and leaned back against a shelf to watch her, deciding to correct her when she was done. Her movements gradually got more elaborate and less practical, incorporating wider slashes that left her open, and even a few twirls that left her back exposed. Neither noticed her aura flaring into her paws in a mostly-instinctual move, until she did a leaping spin that finished with her giving a war cry while bringing the wand down in a slash from above her head, ending with it held out before her again. Before the charmander could tell her she was holding the wand backwards, the aura she'd been unconsciously channeling activated the wand, and a pulse of energy fired out from the knot at the tip... right into Nia.
Tobias saw the brief flash of blue from the wand, but didn't notice the momentary blue spirals that briefly appeared in her eyes. He did notice the way she staggered back a step, and then wobbly corrected herself. Then corrected herself again as she almost staggered forward from overbalancing. He'd already started dashing towards her with a call of her name when he saw the wand flash, but stopped just out of reach of the wand if she turned to whack him with it. "Nia, look at me." he implored, gently. His partner turned to face him, almost tripping over her own paws twice as she did. Her eyes were unfocused and seemed to drift around his general direction rather than looking directly at him. She looked like someone who'd been hitting the fermented berry juice to a concerning and possibly dangerous level. Or, as she was, like someone under a Confusion status.
"Tobi-sss?" she slurred, eyes still not focusing on him. "Why are there... two… three of..." he could see her thinking though something as her ears dropped and then started to slowly lift back up.
He held his hands up and out towards her, placatingly. "Nia, there's only one of me. You're just Confused." He spared a glance around the storage room the two were in, looking to see if there were any persim berries or other recognizable status-curing items he could use.
"Fake!" while he'd been looking away, she'd apparently come to some decision, and by the time he'd snapped his head back to look at her, it was too late to dodge the pulse of blue energy that she'd thrown dead at him. It washed over him, but it didn't push him back; all he felt was a momentary tingling, especially in his head. Neither party saw as his eyes momentarily flashed with blue hearts.
The charmander refocused on his partner, shrugging off the energy pulse. In her Confused state, she probably hadn't been able to do whatever move that was properly. But she'd been getting a lot better at moves recently. Tobias recalled her slamming into a crawdaunt with a work up boosted quick attack, or using the regular version to rescue a caterpie with a mid-air catch. She’d also been getting better at fighting even without them, which reminded him of her sending him flying across the training ring with a double-footed kick to the chest a while back. That was some... impressive power she'd displayed.
However, he was dragged back to the present as he saw Nia start to tip forward, not quite correcting her balance after throwing her failed move at him. Quickly, he ran forward and caught her, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her back up. She was... very soft. And also very close. He was very focused on that fact, and it took him several seconds longer than it maybe should have to realize that he was holding her in an embrace. His face heated up even further (had it already been hot?) but he couldn't find it in him to let her go. Not her. Not someone he cared about like her.
"Tob-Tobias?" The riolu in his arms finally focused her gaze sort of on him, her eyes blearily looking between his face and then down at his arms still wrapped around her. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to come up with an explanation, but then she looked up at him and seeing her eyes this close to him chased any thoughts from his mind. Gently, he eased the two of them down into a sitting position, still holding her tight to him. Her soft fur and the muscles he could feel underneath were a distraction that kept him from saying anything.
That, and her touch felt... warm. Something about it eased a weight, a discomfort inside him he hadn't noticed. It was like being cold for so long that you blocked it out in order to keep going, and then finally sitting down by a fire and getting warm for the first time in a long time. His partner was that fire, and without thinking about it, he pulled her closer, leaning his head on her shoulder, drinking in her touch and letting it chase away the chill inside him. It felt so warm it almost burned, leaving him feeling like he needed to stay close to her and scramble away all at the same time, but he just… couldn’t bring himself to let go of her, to push away from that soothing, searing warmth. So he stayed there, burning from the embrace.
She gave a little giggle, and he felt his heart do funny things in time with her pretty laugh. "You're... really lacking in... touchy stuff, weren't you?" Some part of him wanted to protest that, but another part of him didn’t want to, because if he did she might abandon this. So he let the haze of her warmth swallow his complaints as he pulled himself further into her side. She pulled back a little, apparently trying to look him in the eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to look into her sunset-red eyes. He wasn't even aware of the faint whine that escaped his throat as she pulled away, and was only barely aware that he'd leaned in closer, chasing that warming contact. Nia giggled again, and this time leaned back into him, resting her cheek against his forehead, letting him bury his face in her neck-fluff. Tobias accepted the embrace, cuddling into Nia as she sat sideways on his lap, and just let himself have this moment. He couldn't bear to let her go, not after she'd managed to force her way past his emotional walls. He felt her wobble in his arms, and he gently shifted to keep her upright. He'd do whatever he could to protect her, no matter what it cost him. He couldn't let her go, not when he knew she'd take a large chunk of his heart with her if she did. But right now, that didn't matter, because he just had this moment with his strong, curious, powerful, courageous, intelligent, beautiful partner. (Some part of him wondered where the beautiful part came from, but that part was quickly smothered under the warmth dancing through his brain.) He felt his mind really just sort of shut down when one of her arms came up behind him and started stroking the back of his head, tenderly petting his worries away. She was being so gentle with that arm, while the other held him tight. She’d been getting strong; enough that she could at least hold her own in most fights. Enough that he wasn’t likely to lose her to a random outlaw. A vision danced through his brain of her suplexing an arcan-
His mind… did something odd, cutting that thought off before he could, something pushing Nia’s warmth to the forefront, drowning out the other thought before it could complete. He momentarily pondered on why that was before Nia gave another happy giggle, and her strong grip around him got firmer as she shuffled a little, and he decided not to worry about it now. It had been… a long time since he’d felt this… warm inside. He decided to just forget about his worries for a moment, just sit here and enjoy this moment with her.
He didn't know how long they stayed like that, in that wonderful moment, but some time after the embrace stopped feeling so much like it was burning and was settling towards a wondrously comforting warmth he felt Nia shifting in his arms, apparently trying to look at something. "Heeeeeyyy, Andyn... and... other Andyn... are you her sister?" Oh, great, the deerling was here. Tobias felt a brief flicker of annoyance, but it was quickly squashed by the warmth of Nia sitting with him. His partner was really good at making friends, something he sort of admired about her, but couldn’t really admit (except, for some reason, right now). Any embarrassment he might've felt about being seen like this was swept away with the receding chill that his and Nia's embrace was draining from him. Well, his partner wanted to visit with someone? That was fine, so long as he could keep holding her, he'd be fine. He couldn't bring himself to care about something other than snuggling with Nia right now. Besides, she could talk to someone else while they were like this. She was much more social than the charmander, and he wouldn't (couldn't) force her to give up her other friends, not when they made her happy. "Tobias decided to show he's really a big sweetie under all tha... grumpy-pants-ness. I was fiddling with that stick thing, then things got... kinda funny... and Toby's helping me!" The fire-type's already very hot face got even warmer and brighter as his entire head erupted with a blush at his kind-hearted, beautiful partner calling him a 'sweetie'. He was pretty sure he didn't deserve that title, and the embarrassment of being called that made him press his tamato-hot face further into her fluff (some part of his brain idly wondered if maybe he’d smell something floral leftover from the last time she took a bath). "Hey, where you goin..." It seemed Andyn had left. Tobias rubbed circles on the riolu's back, soothing her for her friend just leaving, like he'd never willingly do to her.
Some time later, he felt Nia shifting and vaguely heard the deerling saying something to Nia. "A persim? I love those!" Was Andyn giving her a snack? With everything going on, she deserved to have a little treat; something to help perk her up and bring back that smile and wonder for the world that he adored.
After a moment, he felt his partner tense up in his arms. Was something off? He pulled his head away from her shoulder and looked around the room, unconsciously tightening his arms around her. "Uh... Tobias?" he heard the confusion in her tone, and looked at her. Because he was still holding her, her eyes were right in front of him and oh, were they pretty. He forgot why he'd been looking around and found himself staring deep into the sunset-red of her eyes. Unfortunately, those eyes seemed to be full of worry. What was she worried about, could he do anything about it? "Tobias, are you... alright?" Oh, she was just worrying about him. That wasn't anything to worry about, he was fine. He probably said something to that effect, and leaned back into her, one of his hands drifting to gently and soothingly rub her back. Someone said something that he wasn’t paying attention to. "He's what?" Tobias blinked, then tilted his head to look. Oh, she'd been responding to something Andyn said. That was fine, she could talk with the deerling. But also, did she look sort of flustered? Did he do that? That thought made his face heat further and his heart fill with warm feelings. "Oh… Ok, uhm, what do we do about this… can we fix it somehow?" Was she worrying about the world again? It wasn't fair, how the fate of two entire worlds was thrust onto her. She loved this world, and the one she came from; someone so full of love, especially for someone like him, shouldn't have to deal with this. “That…” she shifted some to look at him, and her expression seemed… calculating? Was she planning something? It probably should work, she was smart; she’d handled a steelix with nothing but her wits, mostly-working aura powers, and blast seeds. “...might be difficult.” What was she working on? Whatever it was, he knew she could overcome it, she was good like that, even if she didn’t always see that about herself. "Alright." Nia was shifting in his embrace, and he lifted his head to meet her gaze again. "Tobias, could you, uhm, let me get up, please?" The part of him that was relishing in cuddling with her protested this, and he hesitated. "Please?" his partner implored him again, and this time he just couldn't bring himself to say no to those beautiful eyes. Reluctantly he loosened his grip on her, and helped hoist the two of them to their feet, keeping his hand clutched in hers. He could feel his body mourning the loss of the warmth of her touch, the 'chill' settling back over him, but he kept one hand held in one of hers, and the other on her shoulder.
And then that contact was broken altogether as something tackled him to the ground. Wildly, he looked around, desperately trying to find his partner; where was she, he couldn't lose her! He caught a glimpse of her running away, sprinting towards the exit. Why was she leaving?! He had to get to her, he had to! Sparing a brief moment, he turned and shot a burst of flames at the one holding him down. He didn’t pay attention enough to clearly see who, just that they were quadrupedal, and colored tan and orange. The other pokemon yelped, and dodged most of it, but in doing so, their hold on him slackened, and he was able to pull himself up. He ran after Nia, the only thoughts in his mind being getting back to her and making sure she was safe; only for the other pokemon to slam into him from behind, sending the two of them sprawling on the floor again. Panicked, he looked up just in time to see Nia sprint through the doorway, and vanish around the corner. Why was she leaving him? He had to get to her, to make sure she was ok! He clawed at the floor, scrabbling to get a hold that could let him get out from under his attacker. She couldn't leave him, not her, not her! She was going to leave him for another world where he couldn't go, he had to get to her, had to make sure she was ok, had to make sure he wouldn't see another tail have its flame of life go out-!
The world snapped back into focus, and Tobias went still where he was sprawled on the dirt floor of the underground storeroom. He could hear himself breathing heavily as the panicked desperation to cling to his partner faded with the Infatuation. The charmander took a deep breath, blinking away a clawful of tears. He flexed his fingers, feeling the dirt of the floor beneath him, trying to use that feeling to help ground himself.
"Flame-brain? Are you back with us?" Andyn asked from right on top of him, the deerling’s voice hesitant and concerned.
"Yes." He replied curtly, the residual memories stirred up as the status condition had cleared out having made him feel even less like talking than usual. "Now get off of me, kindling."
Anydn quickly stood up and got off him; let the charmander push himself up and dust himself off. "He's ok now, you can come back in!" She called out. Tobias kept his eyes on the dirt floor as his face burned with embarrassment. Entei, he'd been so... clingy! He'd been shamelessly snuggling into Nia, unabashedly clutching her like he needed her touch. Oddly, he could still feel a lingering haze of that... chill, was still the best way he could describe it, still vaguely present. He brushed it off as lingering effects of the Infatuation status, nothing he'd need to bother Nia about. She had enough to deal with without him begging her for hugs.
"Tobias, are you ok?" he flinched, hearing the concern in Nia's voice as his partner spoke up from right next to him. She'd gotten annoyingly good at reading him and he was sure he wouldn't be able to lie to her.
He just wanted to get away from this, so he grumbled out "I'll be fine," and started to head for the door, still not looking at either of them. "I just need a minute. I'm going to go for a walk. I won't go far." And with that, he left, as he tried to bury the part of him that still wanted to feel his partner's soft, faintly-lavender-scented fur on his scales.
And tried not to think about how much it would break him when she left for her world.