The Bitter Sting of Reality [Pearl]

Pearl probably shouldn't have been in Veilstone. It was a Nox-controlled city, for one, and it tended to hold one too many memories that were probably left undisturbed. Either way, Pearl had the tendency to go lurking around cities that he probably shouldn't have anyway. It was a habit, and it was getting rather hard to not break it.

He figured that since he wasn't getting too bothered in Veilstone ( and it wasn't like he was wreaking havoc on the Nox-aligned people, after all. he was actually keeping to himself. ), that he'd take the chance to explore. Just to be safe, though, he made sure that his pokeballs were easy to grab. While he was busy, mainly lost in thought but he was also looking around the city as he meandered on though, Pearl didn't even realize that he was making his way closer and closer to Thanatos. Though, one would think that the odd hair the other had would have caught the blonde's attention anyway. It wasn't like he wasn't attracted to oddities, his attention seemed to focus on anything that looked out of place anyway. Black hair with three white stripes covering half of it was, indeed, and oddity.

Before he knew it, Pearl was certain he was going to bump into Thanatos. " Thanny! " He went to cover up his almost-possible bump into a hug. Thanatos was someone he definitely recognized - that kid from the resort that he'd hang around with when he was actually there.

Pearl wasn't exactly sure why he instantly assumed this guy ( whom, at the moment, he had his arms wrapped around his torso ) was the same person from his childhood. What if, by some slim chance, he had just hugged a complete stranger? Would this be counted as sexual harassment otherwise- well, probably not considering he wasn't sexually harassing this familiar person. Pearl felt the figure stiffen, giving a curious frown when he didn't get any sort of answer back as quickly as he would have liked.

In fact, it seemed that this person was almost frozen.

Suddenly, the black haired nineteen year old pried himself from Pearl's arms, and the blond couldn't help but frown with disappointment. Sure, he probably would have done the same if some other random passerby suddenly came out of nowhere and hugged him - but this was most definitely Thanny. So, technically ( with the help of Pearl-logic ) he wasn't a random passerby.

Pearl returned the wide-eyed stare with one of his own, except his frown was curing upwards slightly into a grin. He was just barely grinning, but it was there. " Oh, you're so silly. " A laugh forced it's way out, as Pearl was almost certain that he was joking. He had to be joking, right? A sinking feeling in his stomach ( which, by the way, was very annoying ) only confirmed the fact that it seemed Thanatos was serious- completely and utterly serious.

Whatever grin he was beginning to form decided to turn into a frown as Pearl let out a sigh. Quickly, he covered it up with an awkward few steps back, coming to the conclusion that maybe - just maybe - Thanatos would need a jump start or something. A simple phrase or something to get his memory going again.

" It's me, Pearl. We played in the resort as kids. I didn't know you were still in Sinnoh, otherwise I would have called you earlier. " Or scheduled his day differently so that he was able to bump into him. Either way, Pearl was already planning the missed years the two had. " But how have you been? "

Waiting was never one of Pearl's favorite things. He was known to be impatient, but since his younger years he'd been working on it. The work paid off eventually, and he learned that he was physically capable of waiting - it just took a lot of self control. This was one of those moments, the kind that definitely took a lot of self control to keep himself from rambling on about how they were childhood friends and all the memories that were definitely overcoming him all at once. If one were to look hard enough, they'd probably notice that Pearl was having a hard time just standing still. He was practically quivering in place in anticipation for Thanatos to remember.

" Oh. Pearl. "

He grinned. Whatever doubts he had of the black haired young man forgetting him forever dissipated. " It took me a moment before I recognized you. What are you doing back in Vielstone? This was the last place I expected you to be. " Silently, he scolded himself for going off on another babble. The last thing Pearl wanted right now was to scare his old friend away. The hesitation before the other finally went with 'okay' wasn't anything alarming to Pearl. He figured that the war had different effects on everyone, and Thanny was probably one of the ones to take it harder.

" I've been good. I've been finding things to spend energy on lately, working on a few things. Same old, same old~ " Somehow, his grin managed to widen as he casually stuck his arms behind his head. " It's good to see you again. "