Chapter 9: Homura vs. Elesa
It felt backhanded to lie to the girls about his own intentions, but Burgh felt justified given how cagey Homura had been about her end of the operation. Burgh knew she had old ties to Plasma; whether they were friendly or antagonistic was the unknown and he'd hoped their visit to The Colosseum could clear some things up. Burgh had awful people skills. Elesa was another story. She was the real reason Burgh became a Gym Leader. Being a leader wasn't just a matter of battle prowess, but also of public relations and disaster response and Burgh failed miserably the moment he had to address a crowd. Only through acting and his own art could he find a platform. Elesa? She was omniscient. Blink the wrong way and you accidently spill your rough childhood.
So, Burgh brought the girls to her. He warned her over email first and all she sent back was tickets to her show. The rest was handled.
Unfortunately, Kiki slipped away, and Elesa didn't stop her. After only a minute of conversation, Kiki gently took her glass, swirled the bright green cocktail and exited stage left, leaving Burgh with the grouchy engineer to deal with. He wasn't sure why either; Kiki was enthralled by Elesa's performance yet seemed so eager to leave once the show was over. He watched her click away in her wine-colored dress and blend seamlessly into the upper-class crowd like a wishiwashi joining a school. No one paid her any mind.
Burgh still hadn't clocked Kiki's motives. He wasn't entirely sure what the girl even did other than entertain Homura on occasion and carry her bags, but he was thankful Kiki could sort of keep the reigns on Homura's temper.
Emphasis on 'sort of'.
At the moment, Homura's arms were crossed, and her nails were quietly biting into her biceps in a desperate attempt to prevent the murder of Nimbasa's Gym Leader. Burgh had no idea who pissed in Homura's cereal that morning, but she wanted nothing to do with Elesa and every question tossed her way was answered with sarcasm or not at all. Homura even appeared to go deaf occasionally, though only when Elesa spoke.
She was welcome to hate her all she wanted (not that Elesa would ever deserve it) but he wished she could at least be civil about it.
But Elesa's smile never caved to Homura's attitude. She sidestepped the rude comments with the same grace she carried on the dance floor.
Elesa tapped her finger in thought. "You know, the engineering behind some of the special effects is brilliant! If you want, I can take you there after our battle for a private tour. I go back there often for a bit of solitude during the long nights, you barely notice the club there."
Homura's grip softened. "I would like that." She mumbled.
Elesa clapped her hands together. "Then let's waste no time! There's an official battlefield in the basement of the club, reserved for my entertainment." She said with a wink. "I say we sneak down there and get away from this crowd, how about you Burgh?"
Burgh was reluctant to leave his soft leather couch and free alcohol, but it never took more than a sentence from Elesa to convince him. "I'd be delighted!"
Elesa slipped off the stage and Zeke and Abrams followed suit. Homura stood as well, following on Elesa's heels. She'd taken her coat off and slung it over her shoulder like a vagrant's bindle. The suspenders on her suit were already dropping to her sides.
What a waste of a rental.
They wove through the maze of couches and Elesa brought them through an inconspicuous wooden door that blended right in with the paneling, save for a small brass knob. Burgh almost whacked his forehead on the frame and had to keep his neck bent uncomfortably to keep his forehead from scraping the ceiling. Elesa and Homura were fine as the ceiling just grazed Elesa's head.
He found it funny that Elesa was actually taller than Homura. With all the bristling Homura had done, he'd expect her to be the bigger person. Wider, yes, but Elesa was deceptively tall. Homura sat a few inches lower, but her broad shoulders and short legs made her appear squat next to Elesa's more graceful proportions. Burgh appreciated the subtle art behind height in modeling. Every man spoke like shorter women were superior yet gushed over figures like Elesa who were quietly taller than most of them, unaware that years of study and skilled perspective shots proved that tall women were desirable. Burgh can personally attest to that fact as well.
The passage ramped downwards and wound around the club like a gentle drain, filled with more random doors to send them all over the club. He'd been down them before; Elesa explained how they muffled sound and helped her crew move equipment around without breaking the immersion of the show. The purpose was so patrons would turn around and be surprised when a full spotlight materialized behind them.
Elesa stopped at one of the panels and nudged it open, filling the dark passage with warm golden light. It spit them out into a large, cold room, paneled with more wood, though it had a thick glossy finish to conceal the fire-retardant coating everything. The floor was a full battlefield. Not standard; it lacked the dirt and boulders necessary for rock and ground-types, but instead had a smooth, dark surface of thick glass like the surface of a lake at night. Burgh tested his foot over the white line and the floor glowed neon green under the pressure.
The tension in Homura's body relaxed. She squatted down and tested the floor with her fingers and then her palm. It glowed a cold cerulean blue that grew more intense the more pressure she applied. "Incredible." Homura whispered. "How can you have a pressure activated battlefield and keep it intact?" She asked.
Elesa appeared next to Homura, bent down, and grazed the floor with her fingertips for a set of soft yellow-orange orbs. Homura's blue shifted towards a deep violet. "Not pressure activated, presence activated. It's a powerful sensor system that can translate life into color. It reads your body chemistry, energy, aura, and even your emotions. Even the most subtle changes, like what you ate or how you're feeling can affect your hue. And if I touch you…" Elesa laid a hand on Homura's shoulder. Her posture tightened. The violet under her fingers turned a violent shade of scarlet. "Our collective energy will produce something completely different."
Homura shook Elesa's hand off and took her own hand away, but her eyes were still locked on the floor. Burgh was equally fascinated. He set his palms to the battlefield and envisioned Leavanny. The floor morphed into a vivid lime like the accent leaves on his partner. Then, he focused on memories of Plasma. The floor faded into a barely visible navy blue. "It's a machine that can read emotion. Elesa, the possibilities, I need revisit this!" Burgh exclaimed. His head swirled with fresh ideas that had been absent for months. There was so much potential to mess with color theory now, especially since he could now visualize his own emotions and shift them around. What each color meant; he wasn't quite sure. Green he could attribute to his affinity for bug-types, but that logic meant Homura would be a water-type trainer. No, it had to go deeper than that.
Blue was the harshest light on the human eye. Historically, an artist with shades of blue in their work were believed to be depressed, which is a solid explanation for her hue. However, it carried much more connotation than that. Intelligence, healing, the ocean, thought, rebirth, meditation, introspection, mystery, there were so many ideas attached to the idea of 'blue', it was honestly no easier to determine what it meant.
Homura stood up. Her last suspender finally flopped to her hip and her shirt pulled out in the back. She untucked it the rest of the way and crossed her arms. "Let's battle then, I want to see how well this floor keeps up." Burgh noticed she spoke at a lower register when Elesa was close.
Elesa grinned. "I knew you'd come around! And since you're the engineer here, I'd like to see if you can figure out how it works." She turned to Burgh. "And you, what it all means."
Burgh raised his eyebrows. He wasn't expecting her to throw a quiz his way, he figured the focus would be on Homura. A flutter of excitement blossomed in his heart at the proposition, Elesa always had the cleverest games up her sleeve. "I'm already working on it." Burgh said. Then, he reached into his pocket a withdrew a string of pokeballs he took from Homura at the start. As a Gym Leader and personal friend of Elesa's, he could carry them into the club and offered to do so for both the girls, though Kiki rejected his offer for whatever reason, leaving him with just Homura's. He tossed them to Homura who caught them without a glance. She looped the string through her belt-loops and snapped the buckle, so they sat comfortably at her right hip.
Elesa took the opposite end of the field with the toxtricity in tow and did a sharp heel-turn and dropped a hand on her hip. "Burghy, could you officiate for us?" Elesa purred.
"I would be delighted." Burgh stepped on to the ref's platform marking the centerline and drew his ascot off his neck. There was a tingle of excitement in his body; he had never seen Homura in a real Pokémon battle that wasn't life or death.
"Please never call him that again." Homura grumbled. She cut through the field and took the remaining box. It glowed a deep turquoise under her feet. He noted that her colors were always dimmer than his or Elesa's.
"Elesa, standard Gym rules?" Burgh asked.
Elesa nodded and Burgh turned to Homura. She had her hand over the belt. It hovered over Nyquist's ball for a moment, but then the floor shifted towards a brighter green as she switched to a ball towards the back of her row.
"This match will be a three-on-three knockout with returns! Homura, are you ready?" He called.
"Yup." She said, clutching a plain pokeball in hand.
"Leader Elesa, are you ready?"
"Absolutely!"
"Match start!" Burgh dropped his ascot. The second it touched the ground, Elesa waved Zeke onto the field. He sauntered over, took a fighting stance, and flared the sparks on his head.
Homura did an underhand toss, releasing the vilest Pokémon she owned on the field; a pile of literal garbage he recognized from the sewer.
Burgh pinched his nose. "When did you get a garbodor of your own?"
"Not long after I said I would. I don't like to waste time." She said. Garbodor belched furiously at Elesa, forcing her to take a few steps back.
"Homura, this is an enclosed room…" Elesa said.
"I'm well aware." She retorted. "Garbodor, body slam."
Elesa watched in horror as the garbage monster slapped right into Zeke. Zeke may be a poison type, but even he was visibly gagging as he desperately tried to remove himself from the sticky trap of sewer slop. The floor agreed, turning a sickly shade of puke-green.
"Zeke, discharge! Get it off!" Elesa ordered. A good play on her part, Zeke's discharge arced across Garbodor, forcing them to separate.
Unfortunately, Homura had a plan to take advantage of the space. "Belch." She said. Garbodor reared back and Burgh clamped a hand over his mouth and nose. Noxious green fumes erupted from Homura's Pokémon, wafting over to Zeke, and sadly, over to Burgh. His eyes watered and his chest hurt from holding his breath, but he refused to uncover his nose.
It wasn't very effective to Zeke, but it sure was to Elesa. She lost a fair bit of composure and looked a little green in the face. "Zeke, shut this down with eerie impulse." She said.
Zeke's belly flickered with energy and Burgh felt an invisible pulse roll outward from him. The floor picked up the attack, revealing an arc of dim yellow that passed through Garbodor, making it shudder. Its body shrank, reducing its strength significantly.
"That's better." Elesa said. "Now show her your overdrive!"
A grin cracked Zeke's scaly face, the floor below him shined yellow, and he set his hand on the scales of his chest. He strummed them like a guitar and electricity flared from his body and a bass roll that could blow out a speaker blasted the battlefield. It struck Burgh in the chest, nearly knocking him off the podium. Garbodor, unable to dodge, soaked the whole attack, its congealed sewage jiggling from the attack.
Garbodor sagged after the assault. To Burgh's surprise, Homura wasn't fazed. In fact, the floor glowed a zany neon green below her feet as she uttered, "Pain split."
Burgh bit his lip. Homura's battle style was evil. An aura surrounded both Zeke and Garbodor, forcing half the damage into Zeke and dropping his ragged body to the glassy surface.
"Body slam, again!" Homura commanded. The oversized colostomy bag lurched towards Zeke.
"Switch!" Elesa yelled. Zeke knew the signal. He waited until Garbodor launched the body slam and Zeke lifted his body on all fours, slipped out of Garbodor's path, and swapped behind him. "Discharge!" Elesa yelled.
Zeke's electricity crackled with power and his torso tensed.
"Back-pedal body slam." Homura said. Garbodor used its oblong body to quickly shift momentum. Zeke screeched and released discharge and Garbodor dove into it, burying Zeke in a pile of sewage with a heavy SCHLOP!
Electricity arced over Garbodor, eliciting something between a scream and a belch as it took the attack. Finally, the discharge died down and Garbodor lay motionless. However, that meant Zeke wasn't moving either. Homura crossed her arms and smirked at the pile of garbage burying Zeke, as well as the slimy snail-trail left by her Pokémon from just moving. Burgh resisted the lump of bile working its way up his throat. "Garbodor and Toxtricity are unable to battle!" He croaked out. He had to shut his mouth before the thick odor made him vomit.
"Well, that was…unpleasant." Elesa remarked as she returned Zeke. "I was hoping for a better debut battle for him, but no matter." She drew a luxury ball with two fingers and expanded it. The yellow light under her was tending towards and fiery red.
Burgh examined Homura's feet and noticed the same strange neon green. It was similar to the green he first saw for himself and when he was thinking of Leavanny. They had so little in common, so what did it mean? Homura's face was difficult to read as she only barely made any expressions most of the time and the ones she did show were probably somewhere between angry and annoyed.
Except a smirk. That appeared occasionally right after she insulted Burgh and just now after that…'battle' with Elesa, which Burgh would call more of an annoyance than anything.
Burgh felt the emotion click into place and nearly gasped out loud. Green was mirth and trickery. Well, that was his closest approximation, the specific emotion was difficult to encapsulate in one word. But a color? It fit perfectly, that green was the strange, bright feeling associated with pranks and insults.
It flickered under Homura's feet as she withdrew her next Pokémon. "Klinklang!" She said.
"Emolga!" Elesa tossed the ball with a graceful arc and her iconic electric flier appeared in the air with a glint in its eyes. Meanwhile, Klinklang popped into existence with the same vacant stare as usual, but to Burgh's surprise, the floor below it was a dim yellow.
Elesa's eyes narrowed at Klingklang, trying to make sense of the mess of gears floating before her. She pursed her lips. "Alright Emolga, quick attack."
Emolga's form tightened and sliced through the air towards Klinklang. Burgh knew it wouldn't do much damage against a steel type, but he also knew Elesa was just testing the waters. No doubt Homura was a tough nut to crack, even Burgh had no idea Garbodor could use pain split.
"Shift gear!" Homura said. Klinklang let Emolga glance off its gears, then took the chance to rearrange its body. Burgh remembered that form from before, but he discovered more detail without a drone gunning them down. The motion was fluid and practiced, but unlike any shift gear Burgh had faced in his gym. The end design was narrow, strong, and pointed like a predator's eyes with an easy opening to catch a limb or two in its teeth. "Gear grind, now!"
Klinklang raced towards Emolga with newfound speed. "Dodge with quick attack!" Elesa countered.
The two were locked in a dogfight, Emolga's agility vs. Homura's ingenuity, though Klinklang had no issue tanking Emolga's attacks. Unfortunately, Emolga was too small a target for the clunky gear Pokémon to keep up with and the fight turned rather boring quickly.
The floor under both trainers shifted to a light blue. Elesa chewed her bottom lip as she watched the battle. Finally, she changed course, "Volt switch!"
Burgh smiled. Volt switch was a brutal ploy Elesa tortured him with a number of times. She always chose a critical moment where an unexpected swap would destroy any strategy Burgh had managed. There was a reason she was the fourth leader, and he was the third.
Emolga dove into a quick attack just as volt switch kicked in, transforming the flier into a ball of light. In a flash, Emolga had returned to its ball and swapped places with an entirely new Pokémon.
However, that Pokémon maintained all the speed and inertia Emolga had, except instead of a 2 lbs electric squirrel, Klinklang now faced a full zebstrika bearing down on it.
Klinklang rang like a steel drum as Zebstrika smashed its hooves into it, crashing them to the floor. Klinklang quickly reassembled itself faraway, but its gears ground and buzzed against each other. Homura studied Zebstrika, the color of the floor flipping between green and blue rapidly.
"You really needed to bring out your ace on me, huh?" Homura said.
Elesa smiled. "I wouldn't say I needed to; the fight was just getting a little boring for my taste, that's all."
"Was Garbodor not exciting enough?"
Elesa's smile dropped. "Exciting is…not the word I would use. Anyways, Zebstrika, flame charge!"
Burgh felt the temperature rise as red tongues of flames laced themselves around Elesa's ace. Its back legs tensed and rippled. Zebstrika launched a brutal charge at Klinklang, the air shimmering in his path.
Klinklang barely skated away from Zebstrika, but Elesa was smart enough to train for that. Zebstrika banked and rocketed back, this time striking Klinklang head-on. The gear Pokémon broke apart on impact and only just reassembled itself as Zebstrika went for a greedy third charge.
Burgh glanced at the color on Homura's side.
Still green. There was no hint of fear.
Zebstrika eclipsed the gear Pokémon, his hooves just inches from a deadly strike. The color under Klinklang was a fearful blackish purple.
"Volt switch!"
Elesa's eyes widened.
Burgh but his lip. What was she thinking? Volt switch would only activate Zebstrika's motor drive and make things worse.
Then again, she had three Pokémon Burgh had never seen, but what electric or steel-type could even save her right now?
The lights exchanged, pulling Klinklang out from under Zebstrika in the blink of an eye. In its place grew a massive orb. When the move finished, a fat electrode appeared right under Zebstrika.
"NO!" Elesa shouted.
"Explosion!"
Electrode drew in light and Burgh shielded his eyes.
BOOM!
The shock wave battered Burgh's chest and knocked him off the platform. He scrambled back up.
A ragged hole smoked in the floor, sparking and sputtering. Zebstrika lay motionless in front of Elesa, many feet from where the blast had taken place.
Even the trainers weren't free from it as Homura wiped black streaks from her face and Elesa mourned the loss of her expensive outfit.
"Whoops, that had a little more juice than I needed. Thought Zebstrika would be stronger." Homura shrugged.
"LOOK AT MY SHIRT!" Elesa shrieked. Homura's face went red when she realized Elesa was holding it shut.
Homura's color went right back to scarlet. "Aw shit…"
Elesa approached Homura, slow and deliberate with a little sway in her hips. The floor flashed with bright red in each of her steps, like she was setting it on fire. "I think that is enough battling for me."
Homura crossed her arms. "So, ya get to know me better? Or do want more?"
Elesa smiled. Homura leaned away as she crossed into Homura's space.
"Our battle was incredibly telling. Using a Garbodor to disgust me? Immature. Pushing an explosion attack too far? Reckless. And when you had Klinklang out, I couldn't help but notice you missed a ton of attack opportunities, but I'm beginning to think that wasn't a mistake." Elesa seethed.
"Hey, I didn't ask to battle or come to a night club. I'm here for work." Homura said.
"Oh, I don't buy that." Elesa said. She leaned on her hip and smirked. "I saw the way you looked at me."
The scarlet light at Homura's feet grew intense.
"You flirt like a middle school boy." Elesa chuckled. She turned on her heel to face Burgh who timidly watched the two talk from behind the platform like a soldier hiding from a grenade. "Burghy, I'm going to go change before Homura's heart gives out. Go ahead and give her a tour of the place if you wish, The Colosseum is all yours!" Elesa disappeared through another panel after gracefully stepping over the smoking crater in the world's most expensive battlefield. The scarlet light still teased Homura as she gritted her teeth.
Burgh cleared his throat. "Well, that was certainly interesting."
"Your girlfriend is an asshole." Homura ripped her pokeballs off like a pull-start and thrust them at Burgh.
"She's not my partner." Burgh corrected. He buried the pokeballs in his pocket. Hopefully they'd have time to hit to Pokémon Center before they needed to be up at the crack of dawn.
"Oh, Burghy can you officiate? Oh, Burghy can you lick my boots?" Homura mocked in falsetto. Burgh stifled a laugh. Homura ignored him and wandered over to the smoking crater.
She picked up a shard of obsidian-like glass and examined it with her back to Burgh. He waited for a moment to see if she said anything, but Homura was silent. She conveniently picked a spot where the floor was too broken to read her.
Burgh felt like he was approaching a wounded stray at the moment. Homura was about as lovable as a cactus dressed in steel wool, but at the same time, he felt her embarrassment. Elesa was just as ruthless to him the first time she confronted him about his feelings, but in the end, being torn from his comfort zone and facing his feelings was the best thing for him.
Bitter medicine.
Of course, he acted with much more grace than Homura. It grated his nerves how shitty she treated Elesa over it. Thankfully, Elesa was no shrinking-wallflower, but Burgh still felt defensive. Not to mention, love for Homura was a much more precarious position. Elesa held the battle in private for a reason.
He walked up to Homura with his hands in his pockets and leaned over to see her work. She had the chunk of glass in her hand and dabbed the underside. A net of metal hairs poked out from the piece, sparking as they brushed her thumb. The fractured shard displayed scarlet on some parts and a drab navy in others. "Any idea how it works?"
Homura sighed. "Not entirely. These wires, they're like nerve endings, but I've never seen circuitry mimic it so well. It's hard to say if this is clever engineering or a living thing honestly." She replaced the shard where it came from and dug into the delicate internals.
"You know, I always thought machinery and biology were clearly separate spheres, but the more I've learned from you, the more I begin to question that notion." Burgh said.
"Glad you can be less close-minded." Homura said shortly. She pulled up a circuit board.
Burgh grimaced. Even compliments were impossible with Homura. He changed tactics. "So how does a circuit even work?" He tried.
Homura looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You really want me to explain electricity to you? Or is this just an attempt to dodge the elephant in the room?"
Burgh frowned. "I am genuinely curious, but yes, are you gay?"
Homura turned her attention back to the crater. "If Kiki didn't make it obvious with her big mouth already, yes, but that's not what's pissing me off right now. I've got a list of problems a mile wrong, getting outed is the least of my worries. Not like anyone could hate me any more than they already do."
"I didn't think that was the issue earlier, just how you've been all night. Were you afraid of Elesa? Jealous? Embarrassed?" Burgh said.
Homura threw up her hands. "Does it really matter? Why do you care? You clearly don't trust me, I know this whole schtick was a set-up to corner me and Kiki, I'm not a fucking idiot." She shouted. "But that's still not the problem. Frankly, I don't blame you for your lack of faith; I would do the same thing."
Burgh felt his heart drop. It wasn't like him to use underhanded tactics, but the whole Plasma situation had gotten under his skin. He never parsed the thought into words, but yes, he did suspect Homura of old ties with the group, and it felt horrible to see someone that way.
Especially someone so young. Too many people he arrested were the same fresh faces he faced in his gym.
"So why have you been so…acidic these past few days?" He asked.
Homura looked him in the eyes. "You wouldn't know and shouldn't know. You made a grave mistake jumping back into this. I know it's your duty, but I don't think even you fully understand what we're up against. There are much worse things than Plasma out there, that I can tell you."
Burgh felt a lump form in his throat. "Cryptic and ominous." He commented. "And you think it's better that we keep secrets and don't share what's going on?"
Homura stood up. "Absolutely."
"Is it because there's something incriminating about the truth?"
Homura froze. Burgh kept his expression neutral. She opened her mouth, then closed it and shrugged. "It's safer that you don't know. Let's just do something else." She shoved her hands in her pockets.
That was not the most comforting response.
Burgh followed anyways. He truly did want to give Homura the benefit of the doubt, even if it did end up biting him in the ass months down the road. He'd lived the consequences of his kindness many times before, but he could never learn his lesson. That's why he needed Elesa, she could put her morels aside when the situation called for it. She likely gleaned a lot more from her time with Homura then she would admit out loud, Burgh would have to consult her about it later.
"Fine then. Would you like to see my art?" He suggested.
"Oh boy do I." Homura said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She slung her jacket over her shoulder.
Elesa was probably Burgh's number one customer; she had high-class taste after all. The walls of her nightclub were lines with art, the majority crafted by yours-truly from oils in his traditional blended style. Many of his more popular pieces lined the club itself. Not his favorite, but they kept his career afloat through their easily digestible vibrance and simplicity. Accessible to everyone, though they lacked much meaning beyond being 'pretty'.
But Elesa didn't only purchase those fast-food pieces from him. Behind closed doors in spaces shared only with close friends were the ones Burgh poured his heart into. Unfortunately, his heart was not as pretty and vibrant as the crowd wanted, so only people like Elesa saw it.
And now Homura.
Burgh took her deeper into the tunnels around the club. Elesa had a few rooms tucked into the bowels of the building for personal use. He jiggled the handle of one, found it unlocked, and peeked inside to make sure it was empty before leading Homura inside. She dodged the heavy wood door as it closed, unwilling to uncross her arms to stop it from smashing her.
He gave a grand gesture. "This is my piece, Shell." He introduced. Homura's eyes softened for a moment when they fell on it. This particular painting never sold well and was the most passed over by critics. Not hated, just ignored. Such a fate was slightly heartbreaking but also earned, given its dark content. The center piece was a man, not a Pokémon and painted with a patchwork of dark blue-greens, grey, and black to drain the mood from it.
A solid representation of his post-Plasma period.
"Seems kinda…drab." Homura noted. Her tone was not insulting for once.
"Not my usual, huh? The public never likes these, but I still pour the work in for myself occasionally. Call it therapy." Burgh said with fading mirth.
Homura wandered up and stuck a hand out. Burgh winced watching her fingers smudge the glass. Some people have their own 'unique' ways of experiencing art. She traced the frame of the man, guiding her finger up his back and to the insect-like protrusions on it. The skin was painted brown, but not like human skin. No, this had green undertones to it. It was somewhat corpse-like.
"Shedinja wings?" Homura said.
Burgh nodded. "A Pokémon made from the empty shell of another. Hollow and effectively dead, yet still flying."
Homura cracked a smile. "Sounds depressing."
"Yeah. That's the point." That came out softer than he intended. Homura's smile dropped as a darker shade passed over her face. Nothing was said, but for once the two understood each other on a level neither had experienced.
"So," Burgh broke the silence, "I figured you would appreciate the technique of this one specifically. Can you guess how I made it?"
"Ugh, what's with you and Elesa? Does everything have to be a riddle?" Homura said.
"I asked a question, its not that hard." Burgh said.
Homura faced the painting. "Laundry isn't hard either, but I still don't want to do it." She squinted at the foreground, then swiped a finger across the glass. "I don't see a canvas?"
"Good eye." Burgh confirmed. "Believe it or not, I painted the whole thing backwards!"
"Why…why would you make it harder on yourself? Doesn't a normal canvas accomplish the same thing?" Homura said.
"Absolutely not!" Burgh said with way too much excitement. "By changing how I create a painting, I learn to see a whole new perspective. I painted this directly on the glass, which meant to top layers had to go on first. Imagine trying to highlight something that doesn't exist yet, now that's difficult."
Burgh was pleased when Homura looked mildly impressed. She re-examined the painting, catching all the fine details and piecing together the process in her mind. "You're actually insane."
"Every artist is!" Burgh said.
Homura re-crossed her arms but kept up a slight smile while admiring the piece.
Homura hurried back to the room after their little journey through Burgh's lesser-known art. His heartrate remained elevated after she left; he never thought Homura could appreciate his pieces. He originally chose Shell, hoping she could appreciate the technical aspects of painting, but he found a little more: someone else who understood his darker art. Why they shared that, Burgh wasn't ready to dig into.
He waltzed back to Elesa's personal penthouse above the club at her invite.
Tonight, was a good night.
He plopped himself on the long couch and spread his arms to either side of the headrest. Elesa stood at her vanity and wiped the foundation off her face, revealing a rosy complexion. "Burgh have you ever heard of emotional disconnect?" She asked.
Burgh reclined in the soft couch, feeling the alcohol and hours of social interaction starting to shut his eyes. "It sounds self-explanatory. A person is disconnected from their emotions." He said.
Elesa turned on the tap. "Yes, and it's part of a theory in psychology relating to a person's stress response." She held up three fingers in the mirror. "There are three types: masochistic, sadistic, and emotional disconnect."
"Masochistic is self-harm and sadistic means joy in harming others, but why would that be a stress response? And what does this have to do with anything?" Burgh said with a yawn. His eyes watered. Watching Elesa remove her make-up from behind was hypnotizing.
"It's how an individual processes stress. Some take it out on others and some on themselves. Maybe even a combination of both. Then, there are a rare few who put their hearts in a citadel, lock it, and swallow the key," Elesa's reflection locked eyes with Burgh, "much like your friend Homura. It's probably the best response for a bad situation unfortunately, but not easily unlearned. Emotional disconnect is a blunt hammer too. If you noticed the floor, her colors were much dimmer than a normal person, happy or sad." Elesa said. She set her washcloth down, squirted some face wash into her hands and buried her face in warm water while Burgh pondered her answer.
Some of his sleepiness ebbed away and he sat forward. "Homura has hinted at past ties with Plasma, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in traumatizing quite a few people during the height of their terrorism."
Elesa swiveled around, sat on the counter and crossed her legs. "But the question is: was the trauma something she witnessed or something she was involved in? We only captured around one hundred Plasma grunts at N's castle, many of which were young zealots, but there's no way Plasma only had that many."
"I don't think Homura is that kind of person." Burgh said softly. She was a misanthrope, but still, Burgh couldn't imagine a kid killing that old woman's yamper, especially Homura.
Then again, she didn't react when they discovered yamper's corpse. And then again, that could be explained by emotional disconnect. Burgh felt his throat grow tight.
The fact stands, she won't reveal her connection to Plasma for a reason and only trusted that to a dark-type master.
Elesa slipped off the counter, walked over, and tipped Burgh's chin to her face. Her pretty blue eyes looked cold and flat at the moment. "You and I both know what it's like to have to arrest the kids we faced in the gym challenges. We're leaders, we're supposed to be responsible for their safety and growth and yet that's were half of them ended up; at N's castle."
Burgh pushed her hand away. "I never got used to it. Even if Homura did, she's helping me now, I could at least give her a chance."
Elesa sighed. "I love how trusting you are of everyone; I wish I could afford the same view." She sat down next to him. "When you're a beautiful woman, mistrust becomes a survival tool. If a man buys me a drink, I have to ask myself why he's doing it and what he put in it. It's difficult to know who genuinely wants friendship anymore. Kindness can disguise cruelty and you can never be too careful."
Burgh studied his shoes. He wondered if Homura ever attempted the gym challenge, and he just didn't recognize her.
Elesa put an arm around him. "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to prepare you for the worst. That girl was just messing around and still managed to beat me without pulling that Metagross you mentioned. No kid just 'accidently' gets that skilled. It takes practice and experience and unless she's a hidden prodigy, I don't buy any innocent past. The floor showed a lot of disconnect between her feelings, herself, and more so, her words. But if it helps, she strikes me more as confused than malicious."
"Confused?" Burgh latched onto the phrase.
"I played off her pissy attitude as a crush; she clearly felt something, but that wasn't the source of her attitude." Elesa grimaced. "There's something eating her, and I don't think she knows how to react."
"Well, I gathered that given how protective she was over any information." Burgh shifted as the couch felt a lot less comfortable now.
"And I don't like how extreme it is. There is something horrible out there; that's what her body language told me." Elesa said.
Burgh stayed quiet. He was too busy rethinking all his choices from day 1 of the yamper investigation, wondering if the world would've kept turning had he never stopped the operation. A selfish wish, but the old stress that had festered in the darkest pit of his mind was starting to walk again after a couple years of peace.