Chapter 11: Only in the Mind
Passable. Passable, but certainly not good enough.
Bryce had been working on the guest room for a few minutes, taking the paint roller and going over any spots that had escaped his eye. Certainly, it was far better than it had looked before, but the whole thing was probably going to need a second coat.
Today was the day that he got all of the excess junk, everything that had been piled up over the years. As much as he didn't care for interacting with humans, Bryce had half a mind to just make a garage sale out of it all, then donate anything leftover. If the room itself had been untouched for that long, clearly the same could be said for the objects inside. Bryce sighed. Still, they weren't his things...so they'd be going into the attic. It was a good day to do so; the attic entrance was just above the garage, and the half that might normally have one of his folk's cars tucked inside would remain vacant for the remainder of the day, unless one of them decided to come back home early.
Thankfully the doorway and subsequent journey between the guest room and the garage were largely vacant of any decor that would get in the way. Having to clean out one room was enough of a chore. As Bryce reminded himself that it was for a good cause, he picked up the first stack of plastic boxes. Immediately, his hands gave an involuntary twitch; he was quite sure he'd be leaving a handprint on each side of the box he was holding. They weren't heavy, but only about half of the matching lids were even in the room with their appropriate match. With the top box having an open lid, complete with a few things sticking out, Bryce walked towards the door, pressing the containter tightly between himself and the wall just next to it.
When you have to carry something and a door is shut, it was one way of many to get a door open without having to put something down. As the door swung open and Bryce took a step back to resume carrying the box, he noted the square marks of dirt that it left on the wall.
Yeah, definitely a second coat of paint...and only after the room and everything in it wasn't showered in dust. Stepping down the hall and through the living room, Bryce made a mental checklist of what else to do about that room. The fan was probably nothing short of disgusting. After that, the closet shelves, then seeing if the bed in there was still usable. Using the same technique as before, Bryce opened the door to the garage.
As for the bed...that could go either way. It did have sheets and blankets that would keep it free of dust, and it was barely ever used, so it might still be okay. Then again, if any bugs had found it a suitable home, it would have to go. Bryce continued out to the garage, idly musing what Violet was listening to while he worked. He didn't want her working on this, anyway; it would ruin the surprise, even if it wouldn't be much of one. Beyond that, when school did start up again, he would have to leave her to her own work-or entertainment-for a good part of the day. Until then, he'd have time to figure out if there was anything she did need to learn before then to manage while he was gone. She certainly seemed to be capable of keeping herself entertained, but for hours at a time? That may take a bit for her to settle into something she was comfortable with doing.
Setting the stack of boxes down with a soft, unceremonious thunk, Bryce grabbed the pull cord, yanking open the hatch as the ladder slid down, the base of the steps landing at his side. It'd be easier to just get everything moved into the garage first, then take everything into the attic. With his body locked into the pattern it would be taking for a little while, it left his mind to let the teenager go into autopilot, mulling over anything it wanted to.
It was something that most kids could do in school, and typically only recommended for the ones that could get away with it thanks to their good grades. As Bryce worked on hauling more and more of the junk out of the guest room, it was mostly just a way to let his mind turn into little more than a music player. He was hardly the pinnacle for memorization, but music was something he could remember the lyrics to pretty easily. Of course, he'd rather make a thousand trips between the garage and the guest room if it meant not having to sing aloud, much less doing karaoke.
Back and forth he went with the same rhythmic pattern that came with any dull, monotonous task. It made him wonder how anyone could stand to go to an office, doing the same thing over and over, day in and day out. Then again, it was jobs like those-and like what he was doing now-that let one work without thinking, focusing on something more important. Bryce went back to his internal music. That line of borderline-meta logic was getting a bit too deep for someone not lying in bed in the early hours of the morning. His thoughts drifted back to music, mentally thumbing through a few genres before settling on something soft.
A few more trips went by, Bryce idly noting that even though he was only removing all the excess clutter, it genuinely did make the room look much better than before. Not livable yet, but better. Hmm, maybe Violet would like the song he was thinking about. They hadn't really listened to much soft, serenading music. He'd tried using it to get himself to sleep in the past, of course. The success of it, however, was minimal...and that was being generous. As much as he didn't want to admit it...some of the songs going through his mind would be fitting...to dance to.
Ugh, of all things she could have picked. But she managed swimming, he could manage doing this for her one time. Aside from the answer he'd given the Pokemon resident, Bryce thought a bit more about why the idea of dancing was nothing short of detestable to him. For one, it was expressive-far too expressive for someone like him. Beyond the simple answer of being introverted, he just wasn't...animated enough for something like dance. Besides, being touched in any regard that wasn't an absolute necessity wasn't something he cared for either. Then again, he'd made sure to hold onto Violet while swimming. It was a necessity to keep her feeling safe, but...ugh.
Normally he wouldn't think twice about how someone else could manage something that he couldn't. With Violet, though, she was far more...grounded? Mature? Different? Setting the final stack of boxes down, Bryce's mind settled on 'important'. She was more important to him, or at the very least, important enough that he wanted to understand her better. Was Violet really the open book she seemed to be, or was that just her appearance?
Bryce let the thought disappear just long enough to carefully test the ladder up into the attic. The wooden steps creaked slightly from his weight, but there was no indication they wouldn't hold. Good, he was already doing enough repairs for the day. He moved his feet back down to solid ground, grabbing a set of boxes before beginning the first trip of many up the ladder. At least the attic was just as cluttered as the guest room, which meant he could put all of the junk from there just about anywhere in the attic. Of course, he'd be going much slower while traversing something like an unstable ladder, but it was still an 'autopilotable moment', in its own way.
Thoughts of music resumed flowing in his mind, attempting to find something that he would feel a bit more comfortable listening to while dancing. It helped that he had a dance in mind, at least. Simple, and not too terribly touchy. His mind finally settled on a track, going over the melody and lyrics in his head a bit. Yes, that would do nicely. With his thoughts a little more situated, Bryce took the final steps down the ladder. He blinked. Huh. Guess that was it for the boxes. To think, people said having your head in the clouds was pointless. At least it could make the time pass faster, surely that counted for something. Bryce lifted the ladder back up, before tilting the hatch back up as it gave a slow, resounding creak until it settled back with a final slam shut.
No way was he cleaning the attic, not unless it resulted in being given a small fortune.
Well, as much fun as that was, Bryce was expecting the second coat of paint to be a bit less painful than that. As he walked past the laundry room, he opened one of the cabinets above the washer, pulling out a bottle of bright yellow cleaner. No point in painting the walls a second time if the fan in that room was going to drop dust all over the place. Surely it couldn't be worse than dealing with the boxes and days of getting the walls and carpet halfway clean.
Half an hour later, and a decision had been reached: it was worse. If the walls and floor of the room hadn't been cleaned in years, the fan hadn't been cleaned in decades. The moment that a few spiders came out from the woodwork, Bryce left the room, returning with enough cleaning supplies to easily drown any creature that dared to continue living in that fixture. It meant giving the room some time to air out, but that price was one well worth paying.
With the window open and the door closed, Bryce gave an annoyed sigh. He'd planned to get a bit more work done in that room, but for now, he'd have to take a break. Looking down at himself, it was clear that break would be spent by getting a much-needed shower. After a quick detour to put the cleaner back and the rags in the washer, he returned to his room, expecting to be greeted by his roommate.
She wasn't there. Only her music player, neatly sitting on the pillow, remained in her absence. If it had been a less self-aware alien Pokemon, Bryce might have been worried. Instead, he merely grabbed a set of clean clothes, making his way to the bathroom. Violet could handle herself, he could trust her to not do anything foolish, and most of all, he really needed a shower.
While the warm water slowly steamed up the room, Bryce wondered if he was being too controlling of her. Or not enough. It was kind of like baby-sitting, in a weird way. As long as she was safe, fed, and happy, that would do for now. Stepping into the shower, Bryce idly wondered if there was any sort of repercussion from her world if he was deemed as 'poor' in his efforts. No matter how much anyone, scientist or not, tried to romanticize this universe, it wouldn't be able to house Pokemon. Any one of those creatures would just be used like any other resource. Still, maybe there'd be some way to write to Violet after this year long trip for her was over. For the time being, Bryce was more than happy to scrub off all the dirt and grime that came with cleaning up a once disgusting-now slightly less disgusting-room. Not like that would have gotten him out of dancing, anyway.
Feeling much more human than he had a few minutes ago, Bryce quickly dried off, putting on a fresh set of clothes as he opened the bathroom door, the steam escaping into the hallway as the air chilled his skin ever so slightly. Even in the midst of summer, cold showers just weren't for him. Now he could pick up his previous outfit and gladly walk it right over to the washer, tossing it in. Taking a quick peek inside, Bryce made the executive decision to start a load of laundry; it had been almost full anyway. With that taken care of, Bryce slowly made his way to the hallway once more, turning to look out the window to the backyard.
Sure enough, there she was. From the looks of it, in the same meditative pose as always. From what Violet had mentioned offhand, how often Lucario meditated depended on several different things. Some were more akin to frequent meditation than others, but they also tended to meditate when they needed to clear their head or relax. Bryce watched for a few moments. Maybe she needed to process the whole 'swimming in deep water' thing. Unaware that he was even doing it at first, Bryce's hand rested on the doorknob, slowly turning the brass knob. The door opened without a sound. Not until the sunlight hit his eyes did Bryce even realize that he was outside. Why did he step out here anyway? To bug her? She was plenty content where she was, but if she did take notice of him, then she showed no signs of doing so.
Come to think of it...even without facing her, and with her still being several feet away, Violet almost gave off a peaceful vibe. It was as if meditation came as second nature to her-which was something, as he'd found out, wasn't always the case for every Lucario. A stray gust of wind swept softly through the neighborhood, making her fur blow in the breeze. Still she stayed put, as if she hadn't even noticed it, the air pushing her ears to the side ever so slightly. Bryce wondered...had he been doing meditation wrong, all the times he'd tried it? Finding a peace like that...seemed pretty much impossible. His brain was constantly running. Still, he gently sat down, legs crossed in the same manner as Violet's.
Telling his brain to focus on nothing was like telling someone to hold their breath until they exploded. Eventually it would just give. Maybe he could focus on the wind, or the small sounds that came from the neighborhood. Most of the time, it was only during the night that brought any semblance of peace...but today, with a light breeze, most of the locals still out of town, and with just the two of them there in that moment...he could hear the gentle sound of the grass rustling, the occasional bird flapping its wings...but at the same time, he felt as if he couldn't hear anything...as if his senses were switched on and turned off all at once.
He opened his eyes, seeing Violet looking at him with a soft, small smile. She offered a paw to help him up. Bryce looked at the outstretched offer for a few moments, slowly grabbing it and being lifted with ease. Hmm, she really did have the strength of a fighting type, even here. Perhaps they'd been out here for a while, but it didn't really bother him. Something definitely felt different than before though. Giving her paw a gentle squeeze, Bryce led Violet back inside. She followed wordlessly and without complaint, seemingly aware of what he was thinking.
But, at least for right now, it was less 'let's get this over with' and closer to 'now is as good a time as any' in his mind.
Bryce walked into the room, with Violet following and shutting the door behind them with her free paw. Looking over at his computer, he quickly moved his way through the internet, finding the song he'd been thinking of earlier in the day. The moment it started to play, he slowly turned back to Violet, hesitating only for a second before moving his free hand to her waist. She smiled softly again, her own paw resting on his back. He knew that she'd be willing to follow the steps, and she was a quick learner. Bryce stepped forward with his left foot, then move just a bit to the right as Violet mirrored the action necessary to keep each other at the same distance. Bryce kept moving slowly, sliding his feet together before stepping back with his right foot, then moving to the left. Violet followed, the pair moving that little bit quicker. Feet together, and then repeat.
It took only one more cycle before they fell into the rhythm in full, staying at a slow pace to match the soft serenade of music flowing through the speakers. That music was the only noise that either of them seemed to hear as they continued, the three and a half minute song feeling much more like three and a half hours...but in a good way. Bryce wasn't exactly comfortable with looking her in the eyes for that long, so he settled for her cheek, a spot that only altered slightly as her smile grew.
Finally, the song gently drew to a close, the two continuing until their music came to a complete and total stop before Violet withdrew her paw from his back. He did the same with the hand across her waist, continuing to look at her as she gently took his free hand, now holding both in each paw in a kind of thanks for indulging her in something he had been nervous to do. Not unlike her fear of swimming, after doing it...he wouldn't be opposed to trying it again.
Hell, what was she doing to him?
Author's Notes: Doing the first part of the author's notes directly after finishing the chapter (the very high bulk of which was written in one sitting), I look forward to reading this one back. I knew that I wanted to do at least one chapter with no dialogue between Bryce and Violet. For one, dialogue is my favorite part of writing, but I also don't want it to be the thing I rely on above all else. It takes all elements flowing together. The other reason is because of the physicality, the idea that Bryce may be capable of showing the side he's used to presenting-but physically, in the right conditions, his actions will occur on his own (be it cleaning, putting things up, showering, or even doing something that he might be afraid to). Many have said that 'if you force your body to listen to your brain, it will do anything within physical limits'. The inverse of that is what I hope to show here; if you just turn off the switch in your mind that dictates fear, there's far more that you think you can do within your mental limits'. From personal experience, a lot of our fear (social fear especially) comes from that switch. It's a good thing to keep on in many instances, but there are times where you know internally that opening up is the right thing to do...but in order to do that, you have to flip that switch off.
A lot of my reading interests have me perusing the "alien visits earth" or "human visits alien world", and more often than not, how they interact with the world comes in one of two shapes: alien has to essentially be, as put in this chapter, 'babysat'-constantly looked after and taught why it's not safe to go outside of the small bubble they have, or alien is able to walk/roam freely, and typically outside of some rude comments about them, are pretty much totally free. With the latter of those two being (in my mind) extremely unlikely for most worlds and the former used as a plot device for the alien to say "I wanna do what I wanna do" and cause the conflict of potentially being found out (or found out outright), I figured it would be best to have an alien wise enough to do their research and actually be smart about where they go and what they do. Of course, the intelligence of an ambassador combined with the aura-reading ability of a Pokemon also helps in that regard. Admittedly, I pretty much never used that in the original story. Probably because I was a very, very new writer and didn't know any better.
As a side note, the dance itself? Yeah, that's a waltz. I'm not much of a dancer, so something simple would suffice. Still, this story has (and will definitely continue) to help me learn about different facets that I never took part in, like with dancing. Like I said before, it's a story that keeps giving me the inspiration to learn more, a real gift that I may have otherwise just never decided to open.
Another topic here was that of meditation. The definition itself seems to vary from person to person, which hopefully came across in the differences of meditation between Bryce and Violet. It can be as simple as doing something like 'zoning out' and letting music or background noise take over in favor of your other senses (Bryce), or it can have a deeper meaning that can only come with the experience and understanding of someone who has done it for much longer (Violet). But what I do know, for myself, is that when it comes to something like meditation: forcing it will not work.
So for today, I'll borrow a bit of a song line-though it's not the one I was playing in my head when doing the dancing bit for the ending here:
Comments are always appreciated, and remember that, while winter approaches, when it's cold outside, show the warmth in your smile. -Delta