As it ultimately wasn't something he needed to endure or keep to himself, Jason decided to discuss his concerns with Maeve and Nanahoshi as they sat atop their pulled together beds in their respective pajamas. Ren was also present, but she was smart enough to realize that the conversation they were having wasn't one she should insert herself into, causing her to remain quiet.
"Well, since you're asking, I don't really see what the issue is..." Maeve admitted, shrugging her shoulders and frowning slightly before adding, "Like, I understand that you're bothered—and it's not like you've done a bad job explaining your perspective. Sex and stuff...it just doesn't register to us the same way it does to you..."
"I agree with Maeve..." Nanahoshi expressed with a nod, seated with a large Forretress plushie atop her lap, hugging and hunched over it as she reasoned, "To us, sex is novel and interesting, but it's not really an act of intimacy. I feel more excited from seeing you work hard than having your penis move in and out of me..."
"Right...?" Maeve appended, leaving Jason at a momentary loss before she met his gaze with flushed cheeks and confessed, "I personally like it most when you hold me from behind and kiss my neck and shoulders. It makes my body feel like it's on fire..."
"I like it when your hips smack against my butt, but it's because you seem to enjoy it and the vibrations feel pleasant..." Nanahoshi tacked on in her usual, impassive-sounding tone. Then, squeezing her plushie, her cheeks reddened almost imperceptibly as she added, "But I enjoyed it more when you held me after my loss. I think that's where the biggest disconnect lies between us. You stress over making us feel good, but what we want most is to feel cherished..."
"Cherished..." Ren repeated, her voice barely a whisper as her tail swayed slowly a few times behind her.
"I see..." Jason muttered, lowering his gaze to the bed's floral-patterned surface, taking note that the flowers in question were actually Vileplume, Gloom, and Oddish.
"Is it different for you?" Maeve asked, compelling Jason to raise his head and stare at her in confusion as she challenged, "Do you only enjoy being with us because we're able to have sex? I don't think that's the case, but I would like to hear your answer..."
"That's not the case at all..." Jason contended, shaking his head without a moment's hesitation. Afterward, he alternated his gaze between the two beauties, his expression serious and full of sincerity as he asserted, "Even if we weren't able to have sex, I would cherish you both to the best of my ability. That's part of why I'm so...frustrated. I feel like all I've done since coming to this world is disseminate corruption and complicate the lives of everyone I've interacted with..."
"You think too highly of yourself..." Nanahoshi countered flatly, leaving Jason slack-jawed, unable to offer an immediate response.
"Do you really believe you've corrupted us...?" Maeve questioned, tilting her head and pointing out, "Because I don't recall you attempting to force or persuade us. If anything, aren't we the ones who corrupted you?"
Nodding her head, Nanahoshi appended, "The truth is that you're a giant pushover. Most people would refuse or say no if they're asked or told to do something they didn't want to do. But since you try to look at things from other people's perspectives and don't want to hurt our feelings, you let us walk all over you..."
"It's honestly a little concerning..." Maeve punctuated, scratching her cheek with a wry, awkward, and slightly apologetic smile. She felt like she and Nanahoshi were ganging up on Jason, but since he had provoked the exchange, she felt compelled to be direct and honest.
"Is it wrong to not want to hurt people...?" Jason asked, mostly to himself as he lowered his gaze.
"Obviously not..." Maeve responded flatly, passing the buck to Nanahoshi with her gaze.
"Your problem is that you think you need a good reason to do and not do things," Nanahoshi stated. "But that's just not how most people think or behave. If you don't like something, you don't need others to understand or accept why you feel that way. Not everyone needs to be on the same page all the time, and there doesn't need to be a correct way of thinking. That's why we go on journeys—to see and try to make sense of things for ourselves."
'That was surprisingly deep...' Jason noted, raising his gaze to meet and hold Nanahoshi's. She was usually sharp-tongued and dismissive, so the fact that she was going to such lengths to help him overcome his disarray and doubt—he appreciated it greatly.
"Nana...since when were you this smart...?" Maeve questioned, sporting an expression of exaggerated shock.
"I will literally bite you..." Nanahoshi threatened, her expression and tone flattening into a deadpan.
"Yeah, and? You literally bite me all the time," Maeve countered, causing Nanahoshi's eyes to widen to their limits, her face flushing crimson as she glanced at Jason with a look that said, 'You didn't just hear that.'
Though he was a little taken aback by the rather abrupt shift in tensions, Jason looked up and averted his eyes as if he suddenly found the ceiling very interesting. It was clear to him that Maeve had said what she had to lighten the mood, but the revelation that Nanahoshi routinely bit her came as a surprise yet felt uniquely in character for the usually terse Steel-type Trainer...
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With his mind replaying his conversation with Maeve and Nanahoshi over and over, with special emphasis on the moment the latter mentioned they just wanted to be cherished, Jason found himself unable to sleep. To his left, Ren silently borrowed his shoulder as a pillow, her paw radiating heat through his chest and her knee drawn up, resting on his hip.
Turning his head to the right, Jason took in Nanahoshi's sleeping face, looking relaxed and content with Maeve hugging and spooning her from behind. He had presumed that he would sleep between them, but there wasn't enough space atop the queen-sized mattresses, and attempting to cuddle with them pulled together risked slipping between them.
"Jason can't sleep...?" Ren questioned softly, her raspy voice low, barely a whisper.
"Indeed..." Jason responded, turning his head to find Ren staring at him with her large, reflective red eyes. Lucario had excellent night vision. And in Ren's case, her eyes almost seemed to glow with an iridescent blue hue in the room's dim lighting.
"Can Ren help...?" Ren asked, the only emotions visible within her eyes being concern and earnestness.
"Hmmn..."
Instead of reassuring Ren that he was okay and telling her to go back to sleep, Jason raised his gaze to the ceiling in thought. Ren didn't sleep at night, and since she had napped for most of the day, the only reason she was lying beside him was to be close together.
'I suppose some late-night training wouldn't hurt...' Jason decided, pulling Sanctum's sup-space orb from his chest. When Ren saw it, her expression practically lit up, an excited smile adorning her face, and her tail smacking the bed's surface like a drum.
'Instead of worrying all the time, this is what I should be doing...' Jason thought, pulling himself and Ren into his Sanctum to spend several hours training together in the gym. He bruised his sternum attempting to brace a sand bag for her, but it was nothing her Heal Pulse and a long dip in his hot spring couldn't mend...
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With Maeve and Nanahoshi having matches at separate stadiums, Jason saw them off outside of their hotel before boarding the car that had come to pick him up and ferry him back to the Wyndham Champion's Resort. He had stayed up the entire night, so he planned to return and rest in his and Lillie's room until the early afternoon.
"We go on journeys to see and make sense of things for ourselves..." Jason muttered, recalling Nanahoshi's words, as he stared listlessly, with a faint smile, at the scenery and historic buildings passing by outside the car's window. His body ached, and his mind felt dull, but he felt as though he had gained a perspective he previously lacked.
With such thoughts in mind, Jason spent the nearly two hours it took to reach the hotel combing his fingers through Ren's fur as she borrowed his lap as a pillow. When he arrived, Lillie was once again waiting to greet him outside the elevator, improving his mood even further. He was a bit taken aback to learn she had called up a masseuse to help him relax, but he just thanked her and went with the flow, enjoying a deep-tissue massage that left him feeling like putty and in a deep slumber by its end...
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Following a particularly peaceful slumber, Jason awoke to find himself lying stomach-down atop a cushioned, faintly vibrating surface. Instead of emanating from beneath him, however, the vibrations originated from a large aquarium that had ostensibly been erected and populated while he was asleep.
'That girl is an angel...' Jason thought to himself, exhaling faintly from his nose and smiling as he pictured Lillie excitedly supervising the aquarium's installation while he slept. He didn't recognize the darkened room he was in, but he presumed it to be one of the two unused guest rooms within the suite.
Rising to a seated position, Jason resisted the urge to check out the aquarium and instead looked around for Ren's Poké Ball. It was on the nightstand immediately to his right, but when he picked it up, he found that it was empty.
'She's probably playing or training elsewhere...' Jason surmised, securing the empty ball to his necklace before rising from the bed and positioning himself in front of what he estimated to be fifteen to twenty cubic meters. It was large enough that he could enter, fully submerge himself, and even swim if he felt so inclined. As for its occupants, there were a pair of heart-shaped Luvdisc and a vast assortment of small, ordinary tropical fish and coral.
With the Luvdisc swimming forward and staring at him expectantly, Jason looked around for some food to give them. Fortunately, there was a metal cart full of it to his left, alongside a stepping stool and a slip of paper that informed him how much of each type of food he should spread across the surface.
While appreciating Lillie's thoroughness in his mind, Jason spent several minutes feeding and silently observing the fish in the aquarium before he decided he should probably make sure he was where he believed himself to be. Stepping outside into the comparably well-lit hallway confirmed he was within the Aether Foundation's suite, so Jason immediately made his way to the far end of the hall, where his and Lillie's shared bedroom was located.
Though it wasn't strictly necessary, Jason knocked when he reached the door, leading to a moment of tense silence before the door opened rather abruptly to reveal Lillie, who promptly beamed and questioned, "Why are you knocking? This room is as much yours as it is mine~" while pulling him inside.
Since Lillie was wearing cream-colored pajama shorts and a matching top, Jason wasn't surprised to find the rest of the room's occupants wearing similar garb. What did surprise him was that three of the room's occupants were Ellaine, Bianca, and Seren, leaving Jason wide-eyed and slack-jawed as she met his gaze with a smile, raised her hand, and asked, "Yo, did you miss me~?" in a playful, almost singsong tone.
"Immensely..." Jason responded, his skin prickling and a warm sensation pervading his chest as he joined the fairly large group, consisting of Lillie, Ellaine, Korrina, Maeve, Nanahoshi, Bianca, and Seren. Except for Wicke and Skyler, it was basically an assemblage of all the women he was in an active or tentative relationship with. There were also a significant number of Pokémon present, including Ren—who was wearing what looked like a gothic lolita outfit—but Jason prioritized the seven women and gave each a deep, impassioned kiss in turn...
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