[PRP] the skills to be (jamie & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

It was not often one actually would see what was currently going on. Chief of Police Jeremiah Mercer sitting on a park bench, ankle balanced on a knee, while he had a stylus out of his 3DS (it was the Legend of Zelda NEW 3DS XL; he had a Zelda problem, it was real) and was tapping away at the screen.

Sometimes, just sometimes, you needed a break to catch 'em all. Also because he was due to try his team out against someone soon and, despite being busy, he was not going to break the meeting. (His phone was in his pocket, data turned on and activated as a hotspot. How else was he going to have reliable signal? Also that meant he could walk around if he wanted and not worry about losing connection. Let it be known that sometimes, just sometimes, Jeremiah Mercer was more than a little nerdy.)

saedusk

and then amidst all this angst and sadness and seriousness, this RP happened.
not that we can't have some seriousness but come on. pokemon.

 

[saedusk]

In the very same park on the very same day, Jamie was wandering around and waiting for his own meet-up with the local player he'd found on one of his favorite Pokemon forums. A year ago he would've been way too shy to even consider something like this. Now he was a tad nervous, but he wouldn't back down. Imagine making a new friend. How nice would that be?

It was almost time, only about seven minutes left to go, so he changed trajectory and headed for the meeting place. That was when he saw Jeremiah. Only the back of his head and shoulders were visible from this angle behind the bench, but he was easy to recognize.

"Hi," he greeted quietly, hands draped over the bench next to him. His own 3DS was still in his pocket and he didn't immediately notice Jeremiah's.

azuredreams

never not pokemon

 

[azuredreams]

When he heard that quiet greeting, Jeremiah was immediately looking over his shoulder towards Jamie with a small smile. His 3DS was flipped closed and set at his side, the one further away from Jamie.

"Hullo, Jamie." A gesture was made for him to sit down. "Been a while." Since they had a normal encounter, admittedly. "How are you doing?" Genuinely interested Jeremiah. Jamie was, after all, someone he considered a comrade in arms despite his youth.

That Jamie was constantly growing as a person, finding courage, certainly helped.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Smooth and easy, Jamie circled around the bench and took a seat. Whatever jitters he'd been dealing with over his upcoming meeting were temporarily replaced by a familiar sort of comfort. Honestly, this was a good thing, a moment for him to calm down and hopefully go into the meet up like his usual self.

"I'm good," he said with a small smile, "For the most part." There were ups and downs and sometimes it felt like there were more downs than anything, but good days did come along. This was a pretty good one.

"I'm taking a break from worrying today, though. Or trying. What about you? It's a nice day for the park."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was forgetting about his own meeting now that Jamie was here. It was good to see him outside of some world shattering event.

"I know what you mean," he said wryly. "Taking a break from worrying. Alg has been big on me relaxing and not constantly working." It was easy to tell, with the way he said work, that he absolutely meant both his job in Ashdown and his presence in other ashdown and his responsibilities as a Noble.

"So that means I'm here taking it easy and just enjoying the weather while waiting."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"That's a good thing," he said, nodding. Jamie absolutely understood where Alg was coming from. "I've been trying to get Shiloh to slow down every now and then, too. It feels like he's constantly going a mile a minute and trying to deal with way more than he should. I'm a little scared it's gonna come back to bite him soon."

With a small hum, he patted his palms against the tops of his thighs and his expression said he was thinking.

"Ah, well. If I can get us both to sleep at a reasonable hour, I consider that a victory." Jamie laughed. "So, anyway..." he started as he looked around, "What are you waiting for?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Just look after him, Jamie, and make him take breaks. It's all you can do because-" Jeremiah had a look on his face, one that spoke of understanding stubbornness and stretching oneself too thin. "-it's probably the only way he will. If he's anything like me, he'll prioritize what you want over pushing himself to do one more thing and take a moment to breathe."

A small huff escaped, a breath of laughter. "That is definitely a victory." Jeremiah was blinking then, as Jamie asked his question. A pocket watch was pulled out (way to be analog, Jeremiah) and popped open.

"I'm meeting someone in a few more minutes." Jamie was treated to a rare type of smile on Jeremiah: one that might have been considered shy when he was younger but now just looked slightly amused at being caught. He lifted up his 3DS with a hand. "Indulging my pokemon habit and meeting someone to play against locally that isn't Alg."

Or Cid.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Color Jamie surprised, genuinely, all over his face with permanent marker. "I didn't know you liked Pokemon..." he bumbled. Never in a million years would he think to label Jeremiah a Pokemon player. Then again, he should've known that age barred no one from enjoying video games.

Honestly, it was less the age and more the whole big, important police chief persona that had Jamie fooled.

"Wait-" Then it dawned on him and his eyes grew ten sizes at least. "You're meeting someone here to play Pokemon? In just a few minutes? Really?? Did you meet them on a forum?" He didn't even wait for an answer to his rapid fire questions, he just assumed, in some crazy way, he had to be right about this. "Was their username RainbowGoldfish?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I got into it when it came out. It was something to relax when I was burnt-out from work or writing reports." Jeremiah had nearly been thirty when it had come out originally but it had made it's impact on him. The fact that his 3DS was the newer Legend of Zelda model said he likely had an action adventure problem too.

Then he was blinking as he realized just what Jamie was implying and-

"Yes to." His eyebrows had risen in genuine surprise that it turned out to be Jamie (not so much that he played pokemon). "Hi," he said with a huff of breath; his usual soft chuckle, "I'm vintageimport."

Totally offering his hand.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"RainbowGoldfish," Jamie returned in rather sheepish greeting as he shook Jer's hand. "I can't believe it turned out like this." Sure, it would've been nice to make a new friend, to find more people interested in his hobbies that wouldn't judge him the way he'd been judged in high school, but he definitely wasn't disappointed in this turn of events. It was just... legitimately crazy.

"I've been playing since I was old enough to play games." His parents had gotten him a Nintendo handheld not long after they realized he wasn't quite as outgoing as the other kids. It kept him happy, at least.

"When everything started going online, I got super into competitive stuff. Breeding and battling. I didn't have to talk to people face to face, but I still got to play." He kicked his feet and let them sway.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Me neither," admitted Jeremiah. Yet he was happy with the circumstances all the same. While it would have been alright for it to be someone unknown, someone who would not necessarily recognize him for who he was (yet who wouldn't, given this world and his position).

"I can't say that I am competitive when it comes to Pokemon. There's a MMO I play that I can get that way with but not this. The lack of need for face to face helps, I think. This, however, is more about ... doing the best that I can and enjoying it." His lips twitched upwards into a smirk. "Not that I don't want to strive for better." A chuckle escaped. "Alg has actually lost quite a few hours to breeding the perfect pokemon he wants but he only got into it last year when I got him a 3DS."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"It can take so long to get the perfect pokemon," Jamie nearly exclaimed, his excitement palpable, before he realized it and settled down with a huff. "Especially in the older games. They didn't have as many tools for getting good ivs or even checking them and stuff..."

Honestly, he didn't know the depth of Jer's knowledge on the subject of perfect ivs or proper ev spreads, but it was a passion of his.

"Shiloh plays too sometimes, but he's really only interested in collecting things he likes." Jamie seemed to nod to himself as he said it. "Which I can respect. Sometimes it's fun just to play the game to enjoy yourself, too." Though he really only did so on a first playthrough these days.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah only knew those things sparingly. Mostly because it was the kind of in-depth thing he enjoyed but he did not, necessarily, have the time for it. "Honestly, I did not even know that IVs were a thing until we were able to check them. I was more casual then but since they've add that I've gotten a little more involved."

Since he could check things as that made him feel more accomplished.

"Alg didn't even have a 3DS until I got him one last year," chuckling, Jeremiah shook his head, "and then he just ... took to it." His eyes glinted impishly. "He actually named his starter Owlgernon. You can obviously guess which one he picked."

saedusk

omfg i am so sorry, SOMEHOW I NEVER SAW THIS TAG