[Surprisingly, yes Darin did. Goaded Guzma good and hard, called him worthless without his Pokémon, all that sorta shit that got him riled and ready to fight. You know, the exact shit Darin ought not to be doing, yet here they are...
At Archie's question, Guzma's face goes a little blank.]
[Guzma sure seems to inspire some ugly shit in Darin, something Guzma's pretty proud of, but it does not look good on Darin at all.]
Tch... the prick'll know where he stands, is all. He's been too comfortable too long on that lofty moral throne of Bulushit of his.
[Guzma crosses his arms over his chest, shrugging.]
Maybe then he'll back the fuck off with all his tryin' to fix me nonsense. Idiot, ain't nobody who can fix me.
[It doesn't matter how much Darin tells Guzma he doesn't need to be fixed, or that he isn't trying, as far as Guzma's concerned he's lying to him. It's just been cowardly backpedaling since their confrontation at Fanport, and Guzma ain't having none of Darin's shit. To Guzma, Darin is the embodiment of everything he hates about Alola, he's just trying to dress himself up as someone who understands him, but Guzma's convinced he can't.]
[he doesn't know if that's how it'll go-- losing before when darin was on equal grounds with guzma just made him try all the harder, didn't it? archie can't for the life of him see how this is going to help anything at all, but... he's kind of done over-involving himself. not in the way he's given up on both involved, but rather... it's not helping! he's not doing it right! he doesn't know how to do it properly! pulling back and letting two supposed adults do their thing seems like the right thing to do.]
Is that really what he said to you? [again, genuine question. not a sarcastic ask.]
[Guzma looks to Archie with a stern stare, not exactly bothered by the question, but rather annoyed with the topic. Even though he's the one who brought this up in the first place. He crinkles his nose.]
More or less.
[Guzma bristles.]
He's implied it. Tryin' to be all friendly at me, tryin' to say he sees my "scars", that he'll be there to help me... not to mention his stupid speech he gave me before I paraded his beaten body on the network...
[All of that bothered Guzma far too much. It's almost funny in a sad kind of way, how much people extending help to Guzma is more of a threat to him than anyone promising him bodily harm.]
Saying shit like I'll "molt" and be vulnerable, grow... all that shit, and how he wants to be there to see it—fuckin' creep.
[yes, because someone wanting to see you become a better person and work past your pain is a "creep", good job buddy.]
[that... tracks with what he knows about how darin does things, actually. archie doesn't look shocked at all. he's also not surprised to see that darin went far too hard on it and likely blew the main chance he got to help guzma, though... that's not to say archie thinks that little duo is a lost cause. he's just... not really thinking about it at all.
part of him wonders, if the oto ramps up like it seems like they will, darin will back off. he can't be so intense about everything all the time, right?
...that in itself feels like a stupid question.]
He's always gone into perceived challenges with his hammer swinging.
[Really, he's just being stubborn about this. He's aware that he's gonna get a good beating in this too, and that he won't come out of this unscathed, but he's not allowing himself to doubt his capabilities.
As Archie mentions the demon, Guzma's expression falls a little more flat, a little more serious. Honestly, he knows about it, seen a bit of it in action, yet he's still not sure what to even think about all of that. There's some fucked up Pokémon who can pull some really messed up shit, but nothing quite like what's going on with Darin...]
...Yeah? How'd that go?
[He's not even gonna touch the different plane of reality shit, because honestly? It won't make him understand it any better even if Archie explained. Knowing more about that demon is far more interesting and relevant.]
Weirdly. I've spoken to him through Darin and in that dream, he's-- I don't know. Do you know Darkrai? That dark legendary from, uh... Sinnoh, I think?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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...did darin hold them over guzma? that doesn't sound like him...
archie's curious about one thing though:] Then what?
[it's a genuine question. guzma doesn't seem like the type who wants to take over the world or whatever.]
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At Archie's question, Guzma's face goes a little blank.]
...Huh?
[Nice.]
Whaddaya mean "then what"? Ain't it obvious?
[NOT REALLY, IDIOT]
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[he shakes his head as he says this. honestly, if he ever goes and looks over that public conversation he'll be shook.]
I'd rather not assume I know what you're plannin' or thinkin'.
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Tch... the prick'll know where he stands, is all. He's been too comfortable too long on that lofty moral throne of Bulushit of his.
[Guzma crosses his arms over his chest, shrugging.]
Maybe then he'll back the fuck off with all his tryin' to fix me nonsense. Idiot, ain't nobody who can fix me.
[It doesn't matter how much Darin tells Guzma he doesn't need to be fixed, or that he isn't trying, as far as Guzma's concerned he's lying to him. It's just been cowardly backpedaling since their confrontation at Fanport, and Guzma ain't having none of Darin's shit. To Guzma, Darin is the embodiment of everything he hates about Alola, he's just trying to dress himself up as someone who understands him, but Guzma's convinced he can't.]
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[he doesn't know if that's how it'll go-- losing before when darin was on equal grounds with guzma just made him try all the harder, didn't it? archie can't for the life of him see how this is going to help anything at all, but... he's kind of done over-involving himself. not in the way he's given up on both involved, but rather... it's not helping! he's not doing it right! he doesn't know how to do it properly! pulling back and letting two supposed adults do their thing seems like the right thing to do.]
Is that really what he said to you? [again, genuine question. not a sarcastic ask.]
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[Guzma looks to Archie with a stern stare, not exactly bothered by the question, but rather annoyed with the topic. Even though he's the one who brought this up in the first place. He crinkles his nose.]
More or less.
[Guzma bristles.]
He's implied it. Tryin' to be all friendly at me, tryin' to say he sees my "scars", that he'll be there to help me... not to mention his stupid speech he gave me before I paraded his beaten body on the network...
[All of that bothered Guzma far too much. It's almost funny in a sad kind of way, how much people extending help to Guzma is more of a threat to him than anyone promising him bodily harm.]
Saying shit like I'll "molt" and be vulnerable, grow... all that shit, and how he wants to be there to see it—fuckin' creep.
[yes, because someone wanting to see you become a better person and work past your pain is a "creep", good job buddy.]
I ain't nobody's morality project!
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part of him wonders, if the oto ramps up like it seems like they will, darin will back off. he can't be so intense about everything all the time, right?
...that in itself feels like a stupid question.]
He's always gone into perceived challenges with his hammer swinging.
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[Keep telling yourself that, Guzma.]
Either way, one of us is gonna break, and it won't be me.
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[he doesn't think darin will break either, though archie doesn't say that.]
Just... remember I can't heal you after it. You'll have to ask someone else.
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[That's just... how he is.]
Darin won't do shit to me, anyway. Without his demon master powerin' him, he's a pussy.
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[archie leans back with a little sigh.]
I've met that demon, you know. Not through Darin. Some fucked up different plane of reality shit. He's huge.
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[Really, he's just being stubborn about this. He's aware that he's gonna get a good beating in this too, and that he won't come out of this unscathed, but he's not allowing himself to doubt his capabilities.
As Archie mentions the demon, Guzma's expression falls a little more flat, a little more serious. Honestly, he knows about it, seen a bit of it in action, yet he's still not sure what to even think about all of that. There's some fucked up Pokémon who can pull some really messed up shit, but nothing quite like what's going on with Darin...]
...Yeah? How'd that go?
[He's not even gonna touch the different plane of reality shit, because honestly? It won't make him understand it any better even if Archie explained. Knowing more about that demon is far more interesting and relevant.]
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[there's a pause while he mulls that over.]
Weirdly. I've spoken to him through Darin and in that dream, he's-- I don't know. Do you know Darkrai? That dark legendary from, uh... Sinnoh, I think?
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[Look, he knows some stuff about other regions, but not a whole lot.]
He like that?
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[archie makes a face.]
He's probably enjoying all this conflict. That just makes it fuckin' weird.
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[Archie maybe wasn't meaning that, but also how wrong is he really?]
That's...fuckin' wack, man.
[It's not gonna stop him, but...]
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[archie just shrugs. he's not actually trying to talk guzma out of it; he believes that's a pointless endeavour.]
Long as he don't impale you on priapism, guess it doesn't matter, huh?