Hello! Apologies for not uploading when I said I would and my brief break from updating this story. To tell you the truth, I burnt myself out pretty badly and knew that I needed to take a breather because I was unhappy with all of my chapters. During that respite, pieces of a new character started to come together and now, along with being happier with other stories that I have written, I got to tackle a fair few chapters with him in. The character is Jorginho, Sammy's older cousin. He has been mentioned before and he had a letter chapter dedicated to him for The Diary of Baby Rey. In this update, we meet him properly! It's a bit of a long one as I wanted to capture his past and glimpses of his future which I am excited to go on to write about in just the one chapter. I hope you enjoy. It has an anime inspired feel to it as we go back to Team Rocket training days! :3
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned! Just a heads up, there's uses of weapons here during James' training. Nothing violent occurrs, but a knife is present and used to practice against a targetboard.
You can tell a lot about someone's eyes. Where they've been. Where they want to go. Where they will go. They can be the map of a person's entire soul mapped out.
A long time ago, James found himself wanting to look into a particular pair of eyes on one particular day. You see, in the middle of an occasion that was meant to be designated to being trained, as his gloved fingers roamed across the keyboard of a laptop before tapping away focally, he realised that someone had left him to his own devices entirely. Literally!
And didn't stop himself from speaking of such, leaving the screen lingering on the floor and hovering over the companion of his, tips of his own boot breaking the distance with another, identical one.
"Dude, why are you sleeping on the job?" James wondered, his black concealed hands catching onto the material of his lighter shaded trousers, tucking into where a purple belt encapsulated his slim waist. He didn't stop poking the other man with his foot, attempting to rouse him. "You're meant to be training me."
Silence. Nothing but silence until that was a fleeting moment that ended. Giving no indication that he was going to respond in this way, the other man's chest didn't even twitch before he suddenly lurched himself upwards.
He set free a sigh that was like he had swallowed all of the world's oxygen for himself and needed to rid himself of it before he burst.
"And you're meant to be a fun person to train." The male ran a hand through his floppy locks, the dishevelled and foppish appearance of his hair contrasting the curtness of his words. His studious eyes watched James move his hand from his hips to his own hair before correcting himself without offering an apology. "I thought that the activities would be more fun." He clarified, his lips, however, not quirking into a smile. "I didn't realise that I would be overseeing an only slightly more interesting version of computer club."
Although the younger of the two had roamed his fingers through his locks, perhaps searching for the ability to be equally as blunt in return, he was apparently unsuccessful because his arms soon folded across his R adorned chest.
James responded with gentility, in spite of the way that his constrictive body language might have led one to believe.
"I quite enjoy it." he let his opinion be known and after looking down at the older male for a minute longer, and into those deep eyes of his that were known and adored throughout the organisation, he decided to go back to what he had been doing before. "Enjoy your nap, Jorginho."
A wave of the gloved hand left Jorginho to it. And James really did prepare to resume practice his computer hacking skills, the way his lavender locks being pushed back and the two concentrative lines that pencilled between his eyebrows proving that this wasn't a show to get the older male to change his mind.
Even so, Jorginho did cast a watchful eye over at him, listening to the tap, tap tapping of his computer keys. However, try as he might to listen to the younger male and allow his broad torso to edge backwards, resting back against the floor of the Team Rocket training room, even his self that hardly gave up without a fight couldn't relinquish into meditative state like it had done before.
Allowing some minutes of wordlessness to speak between the two of them first and foremost, Jorginho then eventually retorted back to the first part of James' words, also covering the fact that the second uttering might have been equally as disinterested as he had set the tone.
Playing with his floppy locks, he followed James with his renowned eyes so he knew that he was speaking about him and him alone.
"Nerd." Jorginho said, this time looking as if he had an invisible puppeteer lingering at the top of his head, pulling strings and elevating his lips on either side in the smallest of ways. When James merely shot him a wordless look in return, his hands doing the talking on the keypad rather than his own mouth, he decided that he wanted more of a reaction. "I thought higher of you than to suspect that you were interested in dweeb nonsense."
It was peculiar how Jorginho was known for his eyes throughout the organisation – how soft they were and unhardened regardless of the work that he carried out and seemingly limitless for all of their innocence – when James himself had eyes that could do a lot of talking as well.
Utterly opposite with their meadow hue to contrast the soil of very real blades of grass that were Jorginho's, they still emulated an awful lot as they continually shot over to the older male. Again, he allowed action to do the talking while he successfully broke through another firewall without even looking at the screen.
Jorginho waited for a response to come. He knew it while James was naïve to it that all he had ever wanted was an equally quick retort.
"Please." James started, not as a beg for the older male to stop ridiculing him or an encouragement for there to be silence instead. Rather, he used this as a start to continue where he really wanted to head with his own words. "You're a bigger nerd than anybody else I know."
He chose to counteract Jorginho's claim rather than even defend his character, knowing that, unlike anybody else who could have wandered into the training room at any given moment and ear wigged on their interactions, it was done with complete and utter fondness.
Because James could silently albeit confidently reside in this knowing, that time as his eyes stopped honing into the features of the fellow rocketeer and onto the sharp illustrations of his laptop computer screen instead, Jorginho put his previous attitude to bed at long last.
Along with this, he gave up his hungry for rest stance as well and came to sit right by James, his shoulder bumping against his in a way that James understood before looking past him, seemingly right at what he was doing.
"You seem to be pretty skilful at this so I'm not entirely sure you even need my guidance." He told him, usually preferring to keep technology that had a never-ending plethora of functions far more than a stone's throw away but drawing his face closer to the screen in order to observe. Soon enough, James felt a hand on his shoulder rather than the equal body part of Jorginho's. "Come on, though. I think you've done enough of them for one day." Pads of fingers dug into the material of James' uniform, unaware that nails were bedding in too. "Let's get into the more physical training."
With a motion that resembled an ocean wave bobbing a water buoy off its peak and encouraging it onto the shore, James rid himself of Jorginho's touch and it wasn't because his short nails had started to pinch into his flesh.
For once, the younger of the two spoke of this with more than just his mouth clamping in a feeble line and a telling crevice appearing next to his lower lip.
"I'd much rather do this." He said and in the same manner that Jorginho had drawn his face closer to the screen in order to study, both of James' unclamped shoulders broke their distance with it. It looked as though he was protecting an infant child that he didn't want to part with. "I think I can complete the set by the end of the day."
Another silence. It goes without saying that that was hardly a rarity put forth by Jorginho. But just like his expressive eyes were a stark comparison to often the militancy of his own uniform, he could effortlessly bounce between submission and taking control.
He showed that he was no longer just going to allow either words or actions to do the talking.
"I'm sure you could." Jorginho's complimentary side allowed these words to tumble out of his lips before he reminded himself as much as James that the two of them were in the training room together for a reason. With a slick yet firm hand pressing against the lid of James' laptop, the device was suddenly closed on both of his hands. "But we have other training to sharpen you up on."
With moods that could be equally as changeable that the ones that Jorginho often displayed for only his close ones to see, on another occasion, James might have grown incredibly irritated with having a laptop screen shut down on his fingers in the middle of trying to complete his 'nerdy' task.
The truth was it didn't hurt, not really. And neither did the older of the two doing technically what he had meant to be doing all along. So, with a sigh that was practically that of blowing out a candle rather than Jorginho's veritable tornado, James slid his hands out from underneath the shield of the laptop computer screen and allowed it to be firmly shut.
James' fingers or ego might not have been wounded but he rubbed the one that could actually be seen together and against his other set of fingers. He waited for Jorginho to keep giving him instructions but was instead made to fill his vision with the sight of him removing his own R adorned shirt and his gloves along with it in one swift, slightly impressive motion.
So, they were now equals, were they? Surely the sass being omitted from Jorginho was his natural personality that James had come to know over the past couple of years rather than part of the training.
Even with this silent assurance, the younger of the two dropped his eyes up and down the silhouette of the other men, seeing that they were now matching in clothes the hue of midnight to embark on the continual training.
They hardly let team colours cause a rift or change attitude between each other at the best of times but James couldn't help but notice the way that he slipped into a different attitude of his own after Jorginho had removed a layer.
With the man in charge not fulfilling his role for a couple of passing moments, James decided to encourage where the occasion was going to lead them both.
"So what are we doing?" James asked, discovering his arms to be folding over his chest for the second time in a short space of time, two slim limbs folding over and half concealing the big red letter that connected both of those men.
Having just tossed his unwanted clothes to the side, Jorginho exhaled a sigh like this action was effort before he tousled his gloveless hands through his locks, rendering their appearance spiky rather than their previous boy-ish floppiness.
"I think I had better see how good you are at hiding from unwanted pursuers, and see if your skills in that area match hiding behind your own mighty firewall." Jorginho began. There it was again. Compliments rolled effortlessly off his tongue. No wonder he had more than half the women in the organisation falling off his feet, James observed, but knew he had no reason to be envious. "Why don't you clear up for a minute while I get this thing sorted?"
James didn't have enough time to fully allow his mouth to elevate in just the one corner at the way that Jorginho was being nice to him again, or even merely react in this way when he noticed he was being flattered. The older of the two gestured with one hand, first of all towards the gadget on his wrist that had been hiding under a glove and then towards the sparse clutter around the training room.
Trust him to get the gopher's task and feel like he was just entering the organisation all over again, James couldn't help but have these thoughts flicker through his mind. But then, he reminded himself that he was there to learn. And he was there to take orders. So he proceeded to pick up discarded clutter from around the room while the older one encouraged his wrist gadget to the right setting and the right hologram.
The lavender haired male viewed technology as a welcomed friend compared to how Jorginho felt about it but nevertheless, he didn't have a proper reason to glance over at him while he configured the next moments of the training session. He had seen that happen hundreds of times, and even done it himself when younger trainees were under his wing for the day.
Still, James glanced over at Jorginho for a few more flicks of the large clock hand and then he shot flickering gazes over to him once he had removed his laptop away from the training field and was reaching for his pile of discarded clothes instead.
Gone was the Orange Team top that he had previously adorned and now that he was without it, the only tell-tale sign on Jorginho from the opposing colours that they were was the slight citrusy hue underneath his fingernails as he typed on the hologram projector.
The smell from the same fruit was hidden and trapped underneath James' gloves. It had been a lunch break well spent. And now they were two equal men even if The Boss had given Jorginho strict instructions to whip him into better shape – or, as Giovanni himself had said – 'make him into a better man'.
"You better not have me leaping and bounding over those holographic mines like you did yesterday." James' lingering eyes caught onto the way that Jorginho's attention was beginning to hone back onto him and his mouth had started to part too. He got words in before he could be directed. "My ears were ringing all night."
Jorginho might've concealed his smile earlier on but there and then, it was set free and to a proper degree. Both corners of his mouth elevated equally on either side and although he tilted his head to the one side, he didn't actually tell James that it was probably the rock n roll music that he had been playing in the dormitory with Jessie and Meowth that was the real culprit.
Subtly flared nostrils and glinting in his eyes and even though the hologram omitting from his wrist wasn't being shown at that point, he informed the younger male what they actually would be doing.
"Not quite." He started, the extra light refracting off his irises at that point indeed being because of the gadget on his wrist. His forearm formed a straight line and he pressed it into loosely. With a waving, orbiting motion of his left hand, the hologram depicting a forest with voluptuous bushes could be shown at every of its three hundred and sixty degree angles. "I hope you can call upon your hide and seek skills as a child for this one." Jorginho continued. He was naïve to James' mouth pressing together in a line as he was to other things. "I'm going to teach you to hide from a pursuer that comes in from the top, in an airship or a helicopter."
With a mouth that was continually like the pencil marks he used to swipe across his school books to divide pages, James listened. As Jorginho waited for a response, he believed that his demeanour and his consideration was because of all that he had said rather than one particular part.
James was, however, pretty good at letting things go during that part of his life and with a hand that moved upwards to roam through his hair even if it really would have liked to lay flat out against his forehead, he soon enough nodded. His head bobbed up and down and he figured out the protocols rather quickly.
"And I assume that you will only redirect me if I'm making a massive mistake?" he asked. It was then Jorginho's head to break the distance from his neck before it stood prouder once more. Arm stretching back out in front of him and a different button on the gadget being pressed, the entire training room suddenly was alight.
The hologram that had been depicted just above the futuristic watch dissipated and portrayed itself all around the room instead, the stark white of the training room now showing the intricacies of the forest, Pokémon moving in and out like they really would be on the green earth and a canopy of trees and bushes to boot.
James knew that he wouldn't have done this if he was actually in the holograph suggested situation so he gave Jorginho a look with his eyes before his two arms crossed over each other, proceeding to rid himself of his own R painted shirt, tossing it onto the pile of the garments that the older male didn't want either.
That nod of the head from Jorginho came all over again. After James mirrored that motion, both of them knew that whatever he got up to from that moment onwards as to be taken as training and the man who was to be a guide needed to log it down later on as his full overview.
A pair of brown eyes followed his every move as, after surveying the situation for a couple of moments, noticing ever move and groove of the creaking trees up ahead and licking his then gloveless finger before holding it up to the wind, reading how that too was presenting itself in that moment, James prepared to move forward to where he felt best to conceal himself.
A booming voice halted him before he could break out into a proper sprint. Jorginho had an opposing dramatic flair that wasn't unknown but it sure could catch you off guide!
"The trees are creaking! The bushes are moving! The wind it howling! A thunderstorm engulfs the bleak black sky!" Jorginho announced, really setting the scene for James and speaking of the details that were quietly known just from the presence of the hologram. He banged his hands together for a realistic thunder clap sound. More words joined this noise ricocheting off the walls. "Where is best to take cover as the helicopter scans the area, wanting to tear you away from your surroundings?"
James continually halted although this time; it was the choice of words that Jorginho had spoken rather than the volume of them. He knew that it was important to get into the mode of these events really happening in order to see how successful he would be out there but he couldn't help but feel that he was taking the biscuit!
Adrenaline wasn't present for the lavender haired male at first. It was just the other thing that caused sweaty palms and heart palpitations. So he had to accept that pumping through his veins instead and use anticipation to fuel his next actions.
"I kinda wish the helicopter would rip me away right here right now…" James answered in a mumble, thinking that Jorginho was too busy using his lips to mimic the howling wind to hear him. He was mistaken from the way that his puckered mouth twitched into a restrained smile.
After the younger of the two whispered to himself to humorously make light out of a hard days training, he bolted to where he felt was best to take cover. Darting in between the blue, glowing, holographic depiction of the canopy of trees, he had had enough time to garner the weak spots and he settled on a strong one instead.
James decided to stop running, drop and roll before cowering under one of the rustling bushes. He tucked his body in tight, pulling his knees to his chest and activating shallow nostril breathing that got enough oxygen into his body while barely moving his chest or his stomach up and down an inch.
The lavender haired male in the story was reminded and I was too in hindsight that Jorginho was not supposed to call out and direct unless James was making moves that would put his life and the entire operation in danger if he was spotted by the pursuers.
Apparently he believed that this was thoroughly the case and with hair flopping down from their momentary spiked state all over again, Jorginho waved his hands up and down and he prepared to put James' mistakes to right.
His hands fell against his hips because if they had not been restrained, they would have continued to wave around in all directions.
"Did you not hear how I set the tone for you?" Jorginho began, flamboyance echoing out from his vocal chords so it was pretty much futile that he had controlled his hands from gesturing in the same manner. James held his breath from peeking out underneath the glowing outlined bush, and not because he was trying to hold himself back from pointing out that off duty people in the building had probably heard his instructions! "The wind is howling!" his mouth that was used to speak more than one language swapped in between his two most fluent ones which caused James to do more than let go of his breath. A smirk encapsulated his lips. "Remember?"
Knowing to control himself of his real actions that he wanted to set free because he was being tested, James set free a louder, longer bout of breath before rolling out from underneath his shrubbery cover.
If he was being trained and overseen by anybody other than Jorginho, he probably would have held his tongue in the same way that he had held his breath moments before.
But honesty was ironically the best policy and one that won out often between the two of them. James was then on his knees and his black uniform trousers felt the hooking of a thumb and forefinger on each side.
"Yes, and I remember you saying that the trees were creaking too." James answered back, trying to remain unfazed at the way that Jorginho wasn't bothering to hide back his expression and his gestures that told the younger male he was stupid. His wrist was lifted for a reason other than to look at his technological watch. "Yes, if the wind blows and the bush parts then I will be discovered. But it would be the same if I climbed up one of the trees, and I would risk falling to my death if the tree stopped merely creaking and actually snapped in half!"
James had moved his hands to his hips seemingly absentmindedly. However, if it was to tame his own telling actions then it wasn't a very job well done because his own hands started to gesture, expressing themselves as if they had a mind of their own while he answered Jorginho.
The older man's own touch fell again to his hips. His lips appeared fuller than usual and a dimple that was like a segment of the fruit that he had shared with James as part of their lunch presented itself while he considered what the younger male was saying.
Jorginho may well like to follow the path that he paved for himself and not even a loose Tauros or Bouffalant could bash him off course but he did at least hear the people under his wing out. He most certainly heard James out.
In retrospect, he tells me that this might not have been the best from the words that he heard Jorginho say!
Digits no longer resting on his own hips, the flats of the brown eyed man's palms clasped together. His thick eyelashes fluttered shut as he uttered words of Zen, apparently feeling the benefits of his meditation from earlier on after quite a long delay.
"Ah, what is meant to be will be, compadre. And if one is meant to fall then they will certainly fall." He preached, choosing to shut off his ears and turn the other cheek when he knew that a whisper called him a word that was far worse than a 'nerd' or 'dweeb'. It wasn't the wind! "I do see your point of view." Jorginho chose to reassure James by actually admitting, his palms ending their union with each other and gesturing out towards the younger male instead. "I hear you. But I don't like it. So let's move on to the next scenario."
And with that, Jorginho did something that agents head of training were not meant to do and he joined James on the training field. But it was in order to reach his hand out to him, lightly slapping him on the cheek to encourage him into properly moving on!
Needless to say, his head jerked and he scowled the older male away from him. But he did comply. And, before he knew it, he was moving on to scenario two and three and four and five. And he didn't do much better than he had faired with situation one!
Jorginho had him acting like he was being traced along a sandy beach, somehow needing to hide in one of the crescent moon shaped splintered boats in order to avoid whoever was on his tail. He had him traipsing across a desert surrounding, plotting the dips in the dunes and calculating which places he should not sink his foot before he ended up being taken hostage by an ancient ruin.
He was made to duck. He was made to dive. He was made to think on his feet. And he was made to sprint almost more than he had ever sprinted before. It goes without saying that there were bodily raindrops on his brow and his upper lip by the time they were done. But of course, even after those scenarios were finished, they couldn't be further from the day being completed.
Jorginho broke this to James right as he was allowed a five minute break to catch his breath and fill his mouth with more than profanities, his bottle of water washing away any taste of sweat and frantic hard work.
"I think it's important that I see how you handle your weapons next." He informed James, a hand slapping against the middle of his two shoulder blades not being the reason to which the younger male was taken over by the undeniable urge to cough and splutter.
James somehow managed to compose himself and after swallowing his mouthful of refreshing water and wiping more than just the residue of that from his top lip, he responded to Jorginho.
He still possessed a scowl that was like he was being tapped on the cheek again and as if he was withholding mouthfuls of water in case he wasn't given the pleasure of a hydration break further down the road.
"I swear to God, if you give me that thing of yours then I won't be trusted not to use it on you." answered James, dropping his bottle of water down onto the ground which didn't make a thump as it was cushioned by his pile of shirt and gloves entwined with Jorginho's own.
That empty hand gestured so the older male knew what he was talking about.
Jorginho forwent coming out with a different sentence, one that would cause James to revolve his eyes in his sockets and pretend to grimace in an opposing way, deciding that he liked it better when he was instructional rather than cheeky.
He knew perfectly well what he was talking about. He mocked a lasso with his own right hand and pretended to let it go with a 'wapush' noise before gesturing to the absence of the little gadget that was usually hooked along with his orange belt strap.
"Oh, sadly that old thing is in for repairs because that cat Pokémon of yours inhaled some herbs and thought it was a string to chase and ripped my baby to shreds." Jorginho said, and now that his hands were no longer being used to gesture a specific weapon in his arsenal, they folded over his chest, secretly comforting himself for what he was missing even if he played it off amiably enough. "I had other things in mind in mind for the next session."
In the same manner in which James managed to forgo reminding Jorginho that Meowth was not his and didn't belong to anybody but himself, he decided to stay quiet. And rather than guess what he would be dragged into, just waited for Jorginho to make things perfectly clear.
After how badly the previous training session had gone by making his way through different holographic terrain for the same repetitive purpose, he was starting to feel no longer as much as an equal as when both their team colours were invisible and it was just the two of them and learning to be achieved.
Funny, really, because James had been in the organisation quite a bit longer than Jorginho and with their naturally mutable personalities, there was hardly ever a reason to feel that one of them was higher on the pedestal than the other.
Looking back, this in itself was natural. Learning all of this was something he had never be interested in. But it was his own doing that had led him to this point. After all, he had more than just himself to make wise decisions for now.
James didn't bother to ask Jorginho what exactly he had in mind and the older of the two didn't initially speak it with words either, instead allowing his actions to do the talking as he brought the hologram gadget on his wrist back to life. He encouraged it into a different category of settings and chose the perfect depicted object for the occasion.
The lavender haired male couldn't help but feel the remnants of water in his mouth growing sour as realisation hit him when the glowing, blue etched target board appeared on the back wall of the training room. With an instructional waving motion of the hand from Jorginho after he momentarily looked up from configuring the settings for the training, James thought about taking those reluctant steps forward but he stopped himself.
Yet it wasn't that he didn't really want to put one foot in front of the other. Turning back, he looked past his shoulder at Jorginho with a slope of his neck, causing him to see the older male from an angle. None the wiser, he stared back and he waited for him to crack on.
There was a miscommunication between the two of them as, after James turned his body to fully face him and even held his hand out to him to boot, he was forced to allow his confusion to be known with words as well as actions.
"Are you going to let me have said weapon or am I expected to vault myself against the target?" he asked, the uninflected quality of his tone of voice unintentionally making his words sound drier, and even funnier than he had intended.
Still, Jorginho was able to portray his amusement with no more than his eyelashes clapping together once and his nostrils stretching subtly for another occasion. A jerking motion of his floppy fringe covered head informed James what the situation was.
Again, both of them needed words as much as they required actions.
"You know what to do." He encouraged the younger male, his arms folding over the black undershirt of his Team Rocket uniform in an unintentional way. Even so, it put it into James' mind what exactly was expected of him.
He might have groaned. But he did begin to rummage through their pile of clothes, reaching into the pocket of Jorginho's orange uniform trousers because he wasn't the kind like the older male was to carry that sort of weapon around the halls of the Team Rocket headquarters.
It's interesting the kind of things that you think about when trying to put off dealing with reality. As James slowly drew the package out from the pocket that was no bigger than six inches, it dawned on him then and only then the fact that Jorginho had been wearing the black, universal uniform of all Team Rocket members along with the trousers that were just for orange team members.
Maybe he had needed that nap after all! Seemingly, he had raced out of bed as soon as the alarm had gone off and put any old combination of clothing together.
In the same way that James had indeed roused Jorginho when he had been having some shut eye against the floor of the training room, the younger of the two started to feel toes within black boots pressing against the heel of his own ones in order to hurry him up.
James stopped dillying and he stopped dallying. He couldn't put it off for any longer. It was going to make the task at hand a whole lot trickier if he was to vault an actual weapon into various points of the target rather than an equal hologram. But that was what was required of him. So that is what he needed to do.
"I am definitely going to get Butch to train me next time." He mumbled as he rid the blade of its sheath and stood back up to his full height, taking ginger steps towards where a laser beam line was offered on the floor for him to stand behind.
That time as he muttered, he looked over at Jorginho and he spoke with enough volume so that he could undoubtedly hear it. He was meant to.
James knew that those words could cut deeper than any weapon he was holding and that was meant to as well! A brushing motion of the hand, Jorginho pushed his hair away from his face so much so that it resembled the younger male's in the morning, before he brushed it, taming it and putting the correct parting in.
His chin fell closer to the floor before it moved as he decided to find his own voice, retorting.
"Oh, please." Jorginho started, unintentionally copying James' example from earlier on in the day. To appear confident, he didn't fold his arms over his chest or hook his thumbs into his belt loops. "Training from Butch would be just smoking and drinking and him moaning about all the names that you call him." He retaliated with his own uninflected tone. More than just sharing this quality, the two men momentarily forgot about their loose quarrel as they realised that bar the last part, that statement didn't sound far off how their training sessions sometimes went! "Just have a go."
Jorginho added, his tone not altering any more or any less than before. This was assumedly one of the main reasons that, after allowing his chest to move inwards and outwards as he hesitated against the line laid out for him, James decided to comply with his words.
"Whatever you say." He said. He may have been complying but he still let it be known that his hesitance to use a proper weapon was not just his clumsiness and doubt whether he could skilfully sent it bedding into the target without splitting his fingers open too.
He wasn't as young as he used to be. A perhaps dramatic statement to say about a twenty year old and even more so for someone of that age to think that about themselves! But that was the truth. Gone was the Team Rocket beginner's naivety and apathy about accepting whatever tools were offered to him.
James often drew a line at the most violent ones, contrary to his joke about using Jorginho's own lasso on him. Still, with the blade then in his hand, he raised his arm close to his ear and prepared to take aim for the middle circle of the many lined target.
It was of course Jorginho who stopped him. He was wise enough to stop with words rather than actions because one wrong move could end badly for them both.
"Not like a dart." He warned, wise enough to advise with words but not wise enough to prevent his next actions. Ignoring the usual protocols for a second occasion, he made strides in his way that often resembled a youthful warrior and stood right next to James, instructing with sentences as well as demonstrations. "You want to hold it like you're not aware of what it can do. Like it's completely casual." He would have to continue fast or he himself would feel like his words were foolish. "Gentle hand. But a strong flick of the wrist."
James spied the weapon down in his hold and then he rotated his head towards Jorginho, his eyes flickering from his cheek to his prominently sculpted nose and not because of the closeness between the two of them. He had heard a lot of contradictory words in his time but he was not sure how he was going to manage all this things as well as making a successful dent in the target.
But he had to at least try, didn't he?
The lavender haired man steadied himself, at first just taking a breath and revolving his tongue around the roof of his mouth as if something else was taking up space in there. Then, he decided there was no time like the present.
The more that he overthought it, the less likely he was to piece together all of Jorginho's advice, he figured. He just needed to go for it. And go for it he did. Well, go for it he tried.
James suddenly vaulted the blade towards the target and Jorginho edged out of his way just in time to not only have it not bed into his skin but to see it slap straight into the floor, rattling and pinging as it hung half out of the wood of the training room floor rather than where it was meant to go.
The older of the two didn't hesitate to run a hand through his hair, messing it up all over again and this action speaking for itself so his mouth didn't need to find the words to how much of a bad attempt that was.
Then, James' mouth spoke of it himself so that Jorginho didn't have to.
"Well that was a brilliant attempt, even for me." He murmured with dryness, and after those words had been set free, his tongue roamed around in his mouth all over again, searching for an antidote to the embarrassment that he felt threatening to twitch in his stomach.
More than anything else than it could have possibly been, it must have been James having the guts to speak of his failure, albeit sarcastically, that encouraged Jorginho to almost have a change of heart. He knew that this wasn't expected of him, and he needed to remain the same and distant to those he was training in order to bring out the best in him.
However, though he would never dare to utter it, he thought that James and a most of his trainees were pretty great all over. And this realisation washing over him though he didn't for a minute allow it to sink into his skin, he had a change of words as much as he had a change of words.
As he watched James move closer to the target in order to squat down and free his weapon from taking a chunk out of the wooden floor, a roll grooved off his shoulders that was graceful in spite of his youthfully broad stature.
"Maybe you didn't have a proper lunch and it's messing with your concentration." Jorginho suggested, in the next few seconds not unaware of the look across the room that James was giving him as he yanked the weapon from its captor and attempted to then hold it in his hand in a more relaxed manner just to practice. At the same instant that the light travelled down the length of the blade, that jolt was then in Jorginho's eyes as he had an idea. It wasn't heard or known until he had cleared his throat. "How's that lady of yours getting on?"
Jorginho was still loitering by the line that James was meant to be standing behind, hands seeking refuge in his pockets as the younger male finally joined him. For half a moment, he looked past his shoulder over at the older male with a slope in his neck and those two frown lines pencilling in between his eyebrows for another moment in time.
Then, he found his mouth preparing to move before he could stop it, going against Jorginho's prior advice and holding the blade in his hand like it was a dart and the board was out in front of him, inviting him to take a chance.
James had the same urge to remind Jorginho that, like Meowth, Jessie didn't belong to a single person. But that notion in his belly died down as he remembered what reality they were in. And why, with stinging cheeks, he really did have more than just himself to think about.
"There's a time and a place for everything and me having a weapon in my hand is not the time to be talking about… my lady." He was copying two of Jorginho's words, it was true, and they had never sounded less like they belonged to him. His cheeks felt warm from the inside out as he lowered the weapon and momentarily forwent setting it loose, worried that his honesty would cause his fingers to get inflicted with wounds that shone far redder than his face. "What?" James knew he had to address Jorginho's own slope of the neck the more that it lingered. "Team Rocket relationships might no longer be discouraged but I will not readily be sharing my joy with everybody." He continued. A prompt quirking upwards of the single eyebrow from Jorginho telling him everything he needed to know. James remained firm on his point. "Before you know it, they want to get their grubby paws on a piece and share what has made me happy."
And with that, James surprised far more than just himself by going against Jorginho's tactic but not entirely. He suddenly vaulted the blade towards the target as if it was a dart but with a limper, yet more concentrative flick of the wrist as he did so.
It did not hit the centre of the target. But it didn't bed down into the floor either, instead choosing its own prime location of the outer rim. James didn't hesitate to allow a sigh be known after he had let his own words be known too.
Jorginho on the other hand remained silent, observing what had physically occurred as well as what he had encouraged until James had not only gone to fetch the weapon back for himself but was standing at the line all over again, ready to give it another attempt even if his perseverance would dwindle in the coming moments.
His eyes flickered as he could look at the younger male clearly and not just because of how little distance there was between them as they were shoulder to shoulder. Additionally, a twitch threatened to elevate his lips into a smile, his head jolting in the same manner.
"Trust me, you've got quite a lot on your plate right now and hardly anyone in this organisation would be willing to take on all of that. Even if the idea of stolen goods is tempting." Jorginho began, noticing how it was James' turn to have eyes becoming the blades themselves as light danced across them, looking over at him for a second and allowing his stance to be known. His hands may not have risen. But his broad chest seemed to soften as if speaking that no part of him meant any harm, or worse, disrespect. "Not everybody wishes to have someone true, much less to be a father."
Listening to what Jorginho had to say, James without saying a single thing of the sort showed that he had listened to all of what he had to say, both then and prior to that moment. He changed tactic all over again.
As he put his previous instructions into practice, he let loose his weapon at the same minute that he let words go as well, responding to what Jorginho had spoken to him.
"Well then they are foolish." He made it known and with that, he successfully made the best dent with the knife that he had made up until that point.
Granted, it still wasn't brilliant. And if Giovanni on the off chance wanted to spy his statistic and saw what kind of scores he was racking up, he would certainly be less than pleased. All that mattered was that the person training him was actually pleased. He wasn't wholly there and then. But they were getting at least somewhere. Jorginho was the few people that James didn't mind trying to please.
In the middle of going to fetch his blade away from the target for the third time in a row, James cast his eyes backwards to see what kind of state his words had left the older man in. He had chosen them carefully, not exactly talking about him per se.
While it was true that Jorginho moved around from assignment to assignment far too much to ever maintain a proper relationship, using his desirability with the ladies to his advantage and expecting no more than a single night with them, James had seen the way he was with the baby Pokémon and even the baby offspring of Team Rocket members when he passed by the crèche from shift to shift.
He may have been a bachelor at heart. But he understood that fatherhood was a desire of most. He couldn't go so far as to openly admitting that he was completely ordinary in that aspect.
Instead, he decided to tease James when they were shoulder to shoulder all over again, apparently wanting his red cheeks and flickering eyes to persist, that broader ball of shoulder of his colliding with the other before the attached arm had a chance of raising the weapon once more.
"Pretty special." He admitted, allowing this to be the only thing that spoke of James' blessings as well as the pang that threaten to catch at the pit of his stomach that wasn't quite for his body to feel but would grow as he got older. "Do you think that you're going to do what everybody else is betting will happen and give your child a J name as well?" he wondered. He knew that James liked to go against the grain but not so much as to act like he wasn't into the idea of doing something. He heard the word 'maybe' brush over his lips as he decided to hone his gaze on the target for longer this time. "If that is the case, I have a pretty great J name in mind."
Whoosh. The waiting game was over and James vaulted the knife into the target. It was technically a worse shot than even before but the force was there. Somehow, the lavender haired male was innocent to where Jorginho was going to go with his words as he was returning from fetching the knife all over again.
"I haven't even absorbed that I will have a baby to name yet and a girl to share it with, let alone even begun to come up with anything." he answered at first, taking a brief break in the training that he was engaged with in order to swap the blade from one hand to the other. Absentmindedly his right hand cupped over his belly as if he was the one growing his life rather than his partner in crime turned partner in life doing that for them. "I guess-" It dawned on James like day time was inevitably going to follow night. His eyes became the weapon as they bedded into the features of Jorginho. "Behave. My father would turn over in his grave if I gave my child a name such as yours."
Unlike how he would have often done, James didn't follow this moment of truth with words indicating that Jorginho should take no offence. Furthermore, his hands didn't even gesture this if his mouth didn't feel the need to candidly speak them.
After taking a long break of not doing this, Jorginho then felt his arms folding over his chest as he remained loitering by the line with James, still trying to train him to the best of his abilities. He knew that this was just a saying. And he knew that James had a fair point. He was also not unwise to the fact that if he was coming to terms with the two blessings happening so quickly in his life then he had probably not even told his estranged parents what had occurred in his life.
Regardless of the unspoken understanding between them, Jorginho decided to be bitter. And he acted as though he wouldn't look at the target and guide him anymore with his arms suffocating his chest and his nose nearly bedding into the ceiling.
"You're boring." He told him, limbs not faltering over the breadth of his chest for a single second. "Maybe if I had been training Jessie then I would receive the prestigious honour. But alas."
James revolved his irises in his sockets, mirroring the way that if Jorginho had been in charge of whacking the weapon against the target then he would have no doubt shown off some fancy, swirling sort of tricks in between each attempt as well as right before he set the blade loose.
Alas indeed. He wasn't going to allow himself to be drawn into Jorginho's antics, playful or otherwise. He was still holding the weapon in his left hand and intending to set it loose with that one just to make it a bit more interesting to his brain even if the outcome would surely be the same.
"You really are talking a lot of nonsense for someone who is meant to be the very peak of authority in this establishment." James put forth, the response from Jorginho being exactly the kind that he hoped for even if he would have been satisfied with any as long as he got his attention. From his peripheral vision and catapulting the blade with his left hand, he saw his jaw drop to the floor again and his arms grow limp as they loosened. "What are you trying to pull?"
At long last, he tried to be as direct as the straight line that Jorginho's knife travelled in. It still didn't make contact with any decent point of the target. But in those few minutes, all of that was a trifle. All that mattered was that the older male respected his directness enough to be honest in return.
Initially, he made a show of tightening his grip and fluttering his eyes shut, not wanting to look at the younger male. But when he sensed his eyes having antics of their own – revolving round and around – Jorginho opened just the one and decided to be truthful with him.
He couldn't contain his animated gestures and his flamboyance to boot as he couldn't restrict his answer either.
"I thought that talking about all this would get you to concentrate more and hit the damn target!" he announced, his gruff voice showing it's versatility by rising higher than his nose when it had longed to touch against the ceiling with haughtiness. "Big mistake." He confessed, lips pressing together and that orange segment appearing by his mouth once more. "Apparently realising what matters to you and who you're doing this training for is not doing the trick."
Jorginho set these words free. His expressions that could be so stilted when he was in the middle of a mission was the complete opposite there and then as James' shoulder added more distance to his own pair in order to go and fetch the weapon for another, repetitive time.
The look on his face was encouraged all the more by the fact that he had a back turned towards him. His big brown eyes could safely wonder if they had gone too far.
They went on to not only even out and compose themselves but then to listen too when James came back all over again, even if it was slowly, and after a couple of moments of considerations himself, say the words that popped into his mind from the minute that they did.
Tension threatened to take over his jaw as he held the knife that was in his mind a dart, wanting to let it go in the same way just to prove that his own tactics could sometimes be successful.
"Well maybe I'm failing to concentrate today because I don't know why I'm even doing this, much less if I want the family that I've discovered in Team Rocket to always be in Team Rocket." James suggested, his tone rising in substance and in depth but not in volume. A chuckle was encouraged to escape to combat the mottled colour slowly creeping up his neck and chest like crawling ivy. "It's no place for a baby." He realised. That time his voice still didn't increase in volume but his tone crackled once. He covered it with a cough that was futile because Jorginho was looking right through him. "I think I preferred it when you were hounding me over baby names."
James managed to wearily make a joke out of his differing hued flush and look back at Jorginho before sending the dagger out of his hand for what he hoped would be one last time. However, before he could go over and join his attempt which couldn't have been further from making its way into the prized centre of the target, he was stopped by a hand wrapping around the single ball of his shoulder.
It wasn't the kind of touch that was like a snake curling around it's pray. It was the kind that made you pause and think about things, before relinquishing when you realised that you didn't have to joke your way through emotions in that room.
"Hey." Jorginho began and for one single heartbeat that skipped in James' often racing chest when he understood he had more than just two team mates to provide for, he thought that he would encourage their conversation down a more visceral path. He should have known better. "Worst comes to the worst…" He did not have to so roughly swallow. "I'll check in on your little one in the crèche and make sure it keeps a good head on its shoulders."
And with that, James felt more than just a hand on his shoulder and it wasn't because this was a moment of connection between the two men. In the middle of a very serious round of training, they were finally on the same page but this wasn't the reason that he felt more than just the contact of a hand.
Jorginho lightly bashed his skull against James' one and now that the dagger had been set loose for still not the last time, he himself decided to go fetch it. It might have been just to switch things up on his own accord. But it might have been to give the younger male time to sit with everything that had been said, let alone expressed. Who knows?
The older of the two returned back to the younger of the two a couple of minutes later, true to his own ideas about him spinning the dagger in his hold before neatly returning it back to the person who was meant to be showcasing his skills.
Jorginho might have been trying his best. He might have been there for as much as he could possibly be in a time that was meant to be for training rather than speaking from the heart like they sometimes did when the early hours of the morning were approaching and they were a long way off from the top.
James had gratitude thumping in his pulse that was naturally more elevated those days. But he still told him of this in his own way.
"I think that is the worst of the worst." He told him and he was expecting to get more of an outward reaction from Jorginho which probably would have been deserved.
Thankfully, he was hardly likely to turn on any of his fellow members of the organisation, no matter what coloured uniform they donned and no matter what blessings they had received in their life while somebody else was still waiting.
Jorginho merely reminded James to concentrate. And with that, his instructions to help him improve with his weaponry got a lot more precise and it got a lot more gruelling. James had been foolish to wish that the latest throw would soon be the last throw!
Like the bottom seemed a long way off when they were right at the top, the end felt far more than a stone throw away. The more that Jorginho instructed, the longer that it felt. The more detailed words that he offered and the way that he even took James' wrist in his own hands to try and demonstrate a proper flick was utterly futile.
It just got worse and worse; the universe perhaps playing a cruel trick on James by proving to him what could actually be hell. And it was not Jorginho being a mentor to his unborn child!
The man with then disbelieved brown eyes found himself calling him out, giving words to each and every one of James' failures. He seemingly did not grow bored with this. And James seemingly did not get bored of making errors. Even if his mind felt like it was being tortured.
"Just out! Just out! Just out!" Jorginho was forced to call out, telling James even though he was hardly unaware of it when, for three times in a row, ended up with the blade sticking into the left hand side of the circle that it needed to be. One more throw occurred. The man with watchful brown eyes changed words. "Just in!"
It was then more than just the knife being vaulted from James that could cut deep if given half the chance. In those moments as his jaw contorted and he listened to Jorginho calling out over and over again, he didn't know if it was the words that he was uttering or his seeming lack of skill that was irking him so.
He managed to remain silent when he left the line in order to go and pick up his knife from that time bedding into the right side of where it needed to be. James took a concentrative inhale in; filling his air with lungs like he was drawing in luck and it was this that was going to lead him to success.
He took a concentrative inhale in. He cleared his mind of anything and everything. He put all of Jorginho's advice together, even welcoming and not flinching as his hands were around his wrist so the older male could assist with a better flick.
James spoke between a contorted jaw and clenched teeth as the weapon was raised towards his ear and ready to be set free.
"It's going to be just right." he put out into the universe, picturing the outcome of being exactly this as with his own might as much as Jorginho's, he vaulted the weapon out towards the target.
I wished that I had seen that as much as I wished that I could have been part of this story. And I wished that James had the outcome that he wanted too.
Before he even dared to look at the target and where the blade had landed, he knew that his meditative predictions that were a leaf out of Jorginho's book had not come to fruition from the way that that same man sucked on his own teeth, letting out an obvious noise as his lips pressed together.
If James spied the dimple on his cheek then he would have a mouth filled with bitterness as if they had shared a lemon over lunch rather than an orange.
There was a possibility that this could still be the case from the way that Jorginho decided not to hold his tongue, resuming his prior actions of calling out James' mistakes.
"It certainly wasn't just right. It wasn't just out either. It was a just in." Jorginho informed although, Christ, he didn't have to from the way that James was now looking at his mistakes as the older male left his side all over again to yank the blade away from the hologram. Apparently, he took more than just the weapon with him. A lightbulb struck over his face like lightning when he returned. "Hey, wait a minute…" he pondered, eyes flickering like he was working out an equation before the thunderous realisation turned to sunny glee. What a versatile man! "Is it just me, or are you absolutely feeling the name Justin for your kid?"
Silence. This time, a silence put forth by James rather than Jorginho.
Maybe he should have been happy. Maybe James should have been happy that he was one of the few people in Team Rocket that he could trust to be involved in his blessings without wanting to steal them for himself.
But truthfully, he was not. And he spoke of this with the grumble that rumbled in his throat.
With one, simple flicking motion of the wrist that Jorginho had taught him, he used this new skill against him and he dropped the weapon out of his hold, sending it safely clattering down onto the ground rather than into either of their boots.
Another groan was set free while words followed afterwards.
"I swear to God, I would honestly prefer just to name it Jorginho to shut you up." He muttered and with that, going over to sit with their discarded clothes pile before it could properly dawn on him what exactly he had said.
For a rare occasion, it wasn't going to dawn on Jorginho quite so slowly. An expression that somehow still shone through the dark soil of his eyes changed from hurt upon hearing a grumble and suddenly lit up like the sky was filled with rockets that their organisation actually had hardly anything to do with.
Utterly contrasting James plonking himself down on the ground to take a breather and then regret the words that he then realised that he had said, Jorginho was light on his feet and couldn't help but bound right over to James.
It was like all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once! He was hardly going to hold James or Jessie to this. But that didn't mean he would ever stop annoying them about it.
"Are you actually going to do that? Are you actually? I can think of no better way to mark the fact that I have been teaching you everything that I know in this establishment." Jorginho began by almost burbling, showing that it was a blessing and a curse to be as stoic as he sometimes could be. When he was the opposite, it came out thick and fast and unstoppable! He ignored James muttering the regretful words of 'I can' from behind his hands. "C'mon. You know you want to." Jorginho was suddenly sat next to him and encouraging his concealing digits away, face right in his as he pestered. "Look me right in the eyes and tell me how much you would love to name your kid after me."
And with that, two hands that were being gripped at attempted to push an unmoving chest and shoulders out the way but to no avail. With a reluctant gaze, James looked over at Jorginho and he didn't bother to fill the older male with broken promises that he would go on to make sure that was the case whether he and Jessie have a little girl or a little boy.
James didn't promise anything on that day. However, as Jorginho playfully gripped onto his wrists and bashed his shoulder incessantly against his, he couldn't resist looking into the eyes that so many other people adored. James felt a particular urge taking over him. And he smiled.
As he looked into Jorginho's glee filled eyes that so much reminded him of the soil that he could care-freely frolic in for hours as a child, he couldn't help but smile. And although he shook his head like he wanted to do the complete opposite, as he followed Jorginho's instructions for the final time that day and looked right at him, he realised something else of an entirely other sort.
He wasn't expecting James to make any promises. All he wanted was for him to be the best person that he could be. For his new little baby. For his newly nurtured love. For the organisation. For himself. To find laughter and humour in tasks he found tedious. To see more than was just underneath the surface.
Jorginho pestered him to do something he knew he didn't want. And in the end, when he looked into those eyes of his like he had been told to do, he discovered something that he knew he needed.
He just needed to be open enough to everything. And it would be that that would allow the joy of his new blessings to penetrate right inside him and to have the future that they wanted. Whatever it was that they wanted. They would learn along the way. And they would do it together.
You can tell a lot about someone's eyes. Where they've been. Where they want to go. Where they will go. They can be the map of a person's entire soul mapped out.
It's funny how we begin our story like that and we end it like that too. I wasn't part of this particular story. But I was part of this little fragment that I offer of another story.
You see, the gaze of Jorginho was something that James took along with him even if their paths stopped crossing for a very long while and even though they forgot the look of a long lost friend. When it was back in James' life again years upon years upon years later, he still read it clearly just as he had done when they were youngsters.
I remember it well as well.
It was the usual hub bub of a Sunday dinner of all those that I held dear and food was prepared to be served and drinks had already been flowing. Conversation was plentiful. It was one of those great occasions.
Somebody had been late to arrive.
They made their presence known when we were halfway through eating. To the rest of us, they slipped in rather gracefully and unnoticeably. But for someone else, they made quite an impact.
It was lucky for Jorginho that when Daisy swanned into the room and greeted her mother and her sister with a kiss on each cheek and held a hand out for James to kiss too that he had been finished with his mouthful of wine and put his glass back down against the white of the table cloth that was the same white innocence that she wore when she made her presence known.
Her presence was welcomed to most. It was cosy. It was familiar. However, for that one person, it was of another world. It was the kind that he had been waiting a lifetime to experience. But he hadn't realised that thing was missing from his life until it was right there.
James usually would've effortlessly, with his own wine filled glass sunk into observing Misty and Lynne interacting with their relative and shared a smile and a chuckle along with them. But on that day, he as well as I did, decided to glance over at Jorginho and Jorginho alone.
And it was then that we discovered the very point of this story.
Eyes often tell all. And Jorginho's were inadvertently doing this very thing as they gazed upon Daisy, waiting to be introduced with names rather than just curious, lingering gazes and smiles that simply couldn't help but form.
James then chuckled not because of something that Misty or Lynne said and it was the same for me too. He had seen that look before and so had I. James could see it in Jorginho as he had seen it within himself many times.
A glass filled with wine like the one that Jorginho could no longer dare touch brushed against his lips as he leaned back in his chair and watched furthermore.
That look was obvious. That man would never be the same again. And it was the kind of world revolving upside down that lifetimes wait for. And lifetimes are made for.
But that's for another day!
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) I've always had a soft spot for the organisation of Team Rocket as you can often tell and especially getting to slip in my own headcanons. This was a time that I've rarely written about and of course, like I said, Jorginho is introduced here! In this chapter, we see his relationship to Jessie, Meowth and certainly James, as well as glimpses of the person he will become when he reunites with his cousin, Sammy, later on down the road. It was fun for me to tie this in to the anime and how this is the training that James recieved before he and the rest of the trio get a bit more serious during the Unovan anime. And, most definitely, show a little bit at the end of who Jorginho becomes romantically linked with. My weakness is pairing my characters off :P Thanks again for reading and I will be back again on Wednesday with another chapter of this story so see you then!
Amy signing out :)