"So, do you love me?" A different voice mumbled from behind him. It wasn't his own voice this time – it was a woman's one. She'd probably lifted it from someone she'd heard in a store or somesuch, and worked on perfecting it in her spare time. It was an unfamiliar voice, but he knew who was speaking and was used to hearing a multitude of different voices from her.

"You know I do," he said sleepily, eyes still half-closed.

"Mmm? How much?" She asked, her voice a little bit less dulled.

"More'n anything I've got, Rynn."

"What, really?" He opened his eyes now, her almost disappointed tone bringing him out of his half-sleep. "That's not hard. We've got more debts than anything else to our name,"

"Alright," he took a moment to consider his words, "More than anything or anyone I have or ever will own. How's that one?"

"That's more like what I wanted to hear." She pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him.

A moment of silence descended, and he took the opportunity to close his eyes again. He heard her take a deep breath, as though she was steeling herself for something. Anyone else probably would've been content with hearing that, but Rynn could never leave off once she'd started something... especially not now.

"Reckon you could prove it to me?" Her voice was quieter, but not fainter – if anything, it was even more deliberate.

His brows furrowed slightly over his closed eyes as he tried to think of what to say. He had a feeling that he knew what she meant by that, but couldn't risk having the wrong impression. She hadn't moved any or breathed harder or anything since she said it; was she just joking? Just another idle quip, like she so often threw out? Wouldn't be the first time; she especially favoured dirty jokes when she had an audience she could embarrass him in front of, although she at least had the tact to disguise herself as a human when in company. He couldn't think what would be appropriate to say, and the silence stretched out again.

Not wanting to let it fester any longer, he finally fell back on the only thing he could think.

"What?"

He felt Rynn's breathing hitch in her chest a little this time, before her illusory voice whispered in his ear again.

"Do you think you could prove it to me?" Her words were careful and her voice was as level as she could keep it, but it still trembled with something; anticipation? Nervousness? He couldn't quite tell.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked quietly.

"Best idea," she replied, those two words coming easily.

He wriggled out of her grasp and rolled himself around to face her. She was staring at him intensely, claws now held close to her chest.

"Bearing in mind that you're a Pokémon?" He hoped she would pick up on the implication – specifically that he thought it was a severely bad idea – from those words alone.

"Good eye, I hadn't noticed." her speech was gaining confidence, and an air of sarcasm. "Doesn't matter anyway, I can be anything. Anything."

"But you're still a Pokémon, and I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

"Who the hell's gonna find out from a Zoroark of all things? Unless you were planning on blabbing?"

"You know that I wasn't, but I mean I'm pretty sure it's heavily illegal. Like, more than just slap on the wrist and fine illegal,"

"How would you know? When have you been going around reading law papers or whatever the hell?"

"I haven't," he backtracked quickly, "I just mean, this isn't Hoenn or Sinnoh or something Rynn, there are laws here. I've heard things and I don't want to take that chance."

"Chance? No chance," She grasped his hand in her paws. "Point's moot, there's no chance of anything going wrong. Nobody would find out, I wouldn't let them."

"'Nothing will go wrong', famous last words of Rynn and -"

"Shut up," She shook his hand in her own, looking at him insistently. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Their gazes met and held, and they each stared into the other's eyes; her searching for any trace of acceptance and him searching for any trace of doubt in her own words. His mind was racing, trying to think of what would be appropriate to say; it was clear that this issue was deadly serious for her, and what he said could hit her harder than he might think. He decided to abandon subtlety but hopefully not tact, and steeled himself to say what had to be said.

"I can't, Rynn," he finally said. Almost immediately her eyes were cast down, ears drooped low and her grip on his hand loosened, He kept his gaze on her intently, willing her to understand. "I can't trust you – or us, with doing something like that. Too much could go wrong, way too much. I wouldn't throw you away just for something like a night's cheap pleasure. And, well... you're a Pokémon. I couldn't do that. I just couldn't."

Rynn stayed quiet. She took her hands back to herself and tucked her head against her chest, a sudden melancholy seeming to creep across her. He hoped to high heaven that he hadn't mortally offended her - even now he wasn't really sure what she was capable of if she were to go overboard. He was scared just to look away from her and back down to the sheets on the bed they were sharing.

An uneasy silence descended, and eventually he rolled onto his back, hoping she could consider the matter dead and not be too put out.

As he lay back looking at the roof, he thought about the implications of what she'd said. He'd wondered once or twice if she'd genuinely meant what she'd purported to be just a joke, but had never really considered it beyond a fleeting thought. They'd had an audience on most of those occasions after all, and surely she wouldn't have been so stupid or so crass. Neither would she give up the opportunity to entertain in favour of pursuing an argument, it was just who she was.

Now he wasn't sure if she'd been trying to hint at this for so long, and only just worked up the courage to really do something about it. A small twinge of guilt assailed him as that thought crossed his mind, but he was sure that what he'd said was best. He couldn't afford to lose her; as she herself had said, she was really the only important thing he had.

Minutes passed like this. He almost began to wonder if she had actually given up the ghost.

"You could trust me, you know." Her voice was quiet, but cut through the silence like butter. He turned his head and found her looking up at the roof like he had been, hands still at her chest.

"Huh?"

"I think we could, I think if we wanted to we could," She turned her head to look at him, all trace of bravado gone. Instead there was only hesitancy, mixed with a mote of hope. "There wouldn't be anything wrong with it. We're as smart as each other, I mean, hell, I talk better than you. You, uh… are you sure you don't want to?"

"We couldn't, Rynn," he said flatly. "We couldn't. We're too different."

"We're too different?" She asked incredulously. She pushed herself up to sit upright on the bed and spread her arms out, palms up, inviting him to look at her. "What? What about us is too different?"

"Well, let's see," he started sarcastically. "You've got the long red hair, every other part of you being covered in fur, you've got that bow-legged thing going on -"

"Gimme one thing that actually matters," she snapped.

"How about everything I just said, and more? We're different, Rynn. You're a Pokémon, I'm not."

"And you really think that that's enough reason? Huh? You really think that actually matters?"

"It does matter," he said, exasperation and desperation equal in his voice. "It's against the law, Rynn."

"Why? Because some old fart in his tower of power said so?" Her voice was full of disdain. "And you think that's good enough too? That's enough reason to ignore me, is it?"

"That's not why, and I'm not ignoring you," he growled, exasperation rising. "I'm telling you no. It wouldn't work, Rynn, and that it's illegal - that's not even half the reason."

"Then gimme the other half, that first half is stupid. You're acting as if anyone would find out."

"They could, Rynn, and if anyone did we'd probably be looking up at the grass!"

"Quit exaggerating and give me the other damn reason!"

"I told you, we're different! One of us is at a severe physical disadvantage here, Rynn, and – and doing that, it's supposed to be an act between equals. We're too different, alright?"

"When has that ever been a problem?" She said heatedly. "How long have we known each other for? What, does the fact that I've never, ever tried to hurt you mean nothing? What more do you want? How is that even a problem?"

"It is a problem, Rynn! As long as one of us can, you know, kill the other without half a thought, it is a problem."

"Do you really think I'd do that?" Her voice sounded a mix between hurt and incredulous.

"It's not about whether you would, it's about whether you could! And you could do that! Look at you, look at your claws! You look like a killing machine, Rynn! For god's sake, we can't... you know, we can't do that."

She was silent for a quite a few seconds, simply starting at him intently. Of course she had to respond eventually, she just couldn't help but prolong the argument he wanted to end. "Of all the stupid things I've heard you say, that probably takes the cake, you know."

"What?" He probably would've been offended if her comment hadn't been so unexpected.

"That's not what it's about. It's about being able to do that – to, you know, hurt the other really badly, and then not doing it. It's about trust, you know. You trust me, right? To not do that? As much as I trust you?"

"Uh - I guess -"

"And you know I'd never take advantage of that, right? How I could hurt you really bad, but I won't? Just like how you'd never take advantage of that Pokéball thing, right?"

"I…"

"Then what more do you need?"

"I – I just - What would you know about it, anyway?" he averted his gaze, unable to meet the conviction in her eyes.

"Probably a damn sight more than you," she sighed and dropped herself back down onto the bed. "Look, I know how it's supposed to go. Even with a 'proper' girlfriend, you could get hurt bad, but you're trusting her not to. It's not like I'm any different to that, right? Only different thing is how I'd do it... Not that I ever would in the first place. See, there's… I just mean, it's the same. There's no reason that we couldn't, or that we shouldn't, if you're worried about something like that. If you only wanted to, then we could. And… Well, are you sure you don't want to?"

"No, I'm not sure, Rynn," he grumbled. "How can I be sure? Even if you're right, then there's still, if we're caught or if anyone figures it out, we're toast. Especially me, I'll probably never get a job again, it's – it's a dirty thing, Rynn, I bet anyone who knows wouldn't give me the time of day. If that goes on my record…"

"It won't. Trust me," she said confidently, an air of bravado returning to her.

"No, so much can go wrong. How can you be sure?"

"It's real easy," she smiled. "Trust me."

"Will you think about it instead of just saying 'trust me'?" He snapped. "Think about it! What if anyone even guesses, Rynn? Anyone investigates and it's over. And, I mean – I just – what if, you know… what if you have a kid? How would we keep that a secret, huh?"

"Can that even happen, do you know?"

"No, I don't! Do you?" She shrugged, and he continued loudly. "There you go, that's another thing to worry about then. Not to mention that we're only barely keeping two mouths fed here. See what I'm trying to say here? There's too much that could go wrong. You can't just write it all off by saying 'trust me'."

She was quiet again for another moment, eyes cast downward and leftward, before she heaved a great sigh.

"I… I suppose if that's how you feel…"

"Rynn, I just – I don't want anything to go wrong. Please don't take it badly, Rynn…"

"I'm not, but… you're not just knocking me back because I'm… different, right? You were listening to what I was saying?"

"I was, and I'm not."

"And you know I meant what I said? I do want to, and I do think we could -"

"I do, Rynn. I get it."

"Just think about it," she said quietly. "I meant it."

"I will. You know that."

"Right," she said quietly. She flopped down onto the bed and rolled to face away from him. "Say... What do you think of a vacation someday? Hoenn, or Sinnoh, or someplace nice?"

His mind immediately leapt to all the problems with that idea - the cost, the arrangements that would need to be made, and none the least her not-so-subtle implication - but he didn't want to antagonize her anymore that night.

"Yeah, maybe someday."

"Okay. Goodnight." she mumbled.

"… G'night, Rynn."