Arven's Scarlet Desire

Chapter Fifty-nine - Spikemuth

In a dim and dingy little pub in Spikemuth, Marnie was sitting at the bar with her Morpeko. It was quite a nice day outside - a rare occurrence in Spikes, but Marnie preferred the dark. And she liked this pub. The barman was a big, silent bloke who detested people and preferred to sit in the corner watching a dusty old TV. The place was always devoid of patrons, because he would sigh with obvious resentment if a customer dared to bother him with a drink order. It was perfect.

Well, almost. The pool table had no pool cues - or pool balls, either, because otherwise the few patrons that ever came in might use them as weapons. And, of course the AC was permanently broken - so Marnie had to take off her jacket in the heat. She had also forgone the pink dress in favour of a sleek black skirt and top combination -she was trying to look a little older these days. She even wore her hair out today, and rolled her eyes at her own reflection, irritated at how nervous she was.

She was waiting for Leon. It wasn't exactly the type of place he was accustomed to, but if they met anywhere public there would be fans and photos and all that sort of fuss -he was the biggest star in the damn country. It was extremely inconvenient.

She downed her beer, and decided she better switch to whisky.

Morpeko was sitting on the bar, combing its whiskers, making little sparks flicker off them with its paws. She sighed, and the little mouse looked up at her, twitching its nose.

"Of all the stupid things I could've done," she muttered. "I had to go and fall in love with the most famous man in the world."

Morpeko just squeaked happily.

"Oh sure," she grumbled. "I know you like him. Everyone bloody likes him. He's so irritatingly likeable."

She laid her forehead down on the bar and made a loud noise of frustration.

"You alright there, boss?" The bartender called over.

Marnie waved dismissively. "I'm alright, Joe, don't get up."

"Wasn't gunna."

She looked over at the TV, then sat up a little straighter when she saw Scarlet's face appear on the screen. A sports reporter was narrating the story.

"... making record-breaking time for the eight Paldean badges. The sixteen year old Galarian has beaten the previous record by a mile - and a good thing too, as some people are calling for La Primera Geeta's achievements to be posthumously revoked after the incident of what is now being referred to as the Three-Day Paradox..."

Marnie cocked an eyebrow and grinned to herself. "I guess I'm just going to be surrounded by celebrities now, huh?"

Morpeko squeaked again, as Leon's face took over the screen - the report moved on to the international tournament.

Marnie clicked her tongue. "Goddammit."

His face was everywhere, it seemed. Morpeko kept squeaking excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot, and Marnie rolled her eyes, pulling out its Pokéball. "That's quite enough of that, thank you."

She put Morpeko away and took another swig of whisky, in equal parts dreading and yearning for Leon's arrival.

They hadn't seen a lot of each other after their return from Paldea - there was a lot to catch up on in their respective hometowns, so it wasn't surprising. Leon was back and forth between Galar and Paldea, attending to the International League, and Marnie was plenty busy at home. But as the weeks passed, she kept having more flashes of memory...

"...I'm going to make you cum, over and over, until you can't stand it anymore..."

"Hunnngh," she groaned and put her head back on the bar. They'd actually seen each other face to face about a week ago, at the Galarian Leader's celebratory function for the International League in Wyndon. Marnie hated those parties. They were always teeming with lawyers and sycophants and people who (privately) looked down on her.