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splenderai · 1 year

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i have some Thoughts about grusha and arven meeting (and eventually becoming friends) that i just need to get out

i hc that arven becomes an apprentice of kofu's and learns a great deal about cooking from the acclaimed chef

after getting to know more about arven - what he's been through, his positive attitude, the hope he possesses with respect to the future despite all the setbacks he's faced at such a young age - kofu suggests arven meet an acquaintance of his (who, kofu thinks, might really benefit from having a friend like arven)

he sends the young, aspiring chef to the chilly heights of glaseado mountain in search of some rare ingredients only found there, instructing arven to stop by the local gym and deliver a homecooked treat to its leader, grusha

arven doesn't know what kind of person will be running the gym on top of a mountain, but he definitely doesn't expect to meet an incredibly beautiful young man who accepts the package and then immediately begins to scold arven for climbing up a snow-covered mountain without any gloves, scarf, or hat to shield him from the weather

("you need to be more careful in a place like this," he says. "it's unforgiving. can take away everything from you in an instant..." his voice is as far away as the look in his eyes when he says that)

grusha invites arven over for tea so that kofu's foolish apprentice can at least warm up a little before heading on his way, and arven makes a well-intentioned comment about how he likes the minimalistic style in grusha's house, to which grusha snorts and offers a hollow "thanks" in response

(grusha doesn't tell him about the framed photos of him beaming with his snow goggles and snowboard in hand that used to adorn the now bare walls, the trophies from his numerous victories on the slopes that now collect dust deep in the closets, his first ever snowboard that used to take center stage above his couch in the living room... none of that belonged here anymore)

they make small talk over tea, even finding common ground when arven mentions his best buddy, the young champion who grusha recalls battling

arven, who has been on this journey of finding himself and going down this path that he's chosen for himself, asks grusha a question similar to the one he's been asking most people he meets these days:

"what made you want to become a gym leader ?"

grusha's brows knit together, and he merely says that he "had no choice"

arven, confused, asks why he had no choice, but grusha only shrugs half-heartedly in response

arven, again well-intentioned but horribly misplaced, tries to reassure grusha by saying that, hey, you don't have to be a gym leader if you don't want to ! you can become whatever or whoever you want ! sometimes it feels like you're stuck with the bad hand you've been dealt, but it doesn't have to be that way ! the world is your cloyster and all that, y'know !

without warning, grusha's unfocused eyes sharpen into a frigid glare that he fixes on arven, stunning the latter into silence, and before arven even has a chance to offer some sort of apology (was it something he said ?), grusha is standing up quickly (wincing almost imperceptibly) and excusing himself for he has "gym duties" to attend to, his tone turning bitter and even colder as he spits out that last bit

his entire encounter with grusha plays on loop in his mind as arven gathers the ingredients for kofu and makes his slow trip back down the mountain

when arven returns to kofu's restaurant, the older man asks how his time in the mountain went

arven, ever the glass half full kind of guy, recounts his trip fondly, mentioning all the pokemon he met and the breathtaking views from atop the mountain, but his energy wanes when he talks about his meeting with grusha

"i think i really upset him," he says, guilt etched into his features

kofu puts a reassuring hand on the young man's shoulder, a bittersweet, knowing smile on his lips

"it's not you, boy, i promise."

arven only receives some clarity on the issue when he meets up with nemona at poco path to hang out a few weeks later

they talk for a while, catching one another up on their latest adventures, and arven inevitably tells his friend about the encounter with grusha

nemona waves a hand, telling arven that he shouldn't take this one too close to heart, that grusha's kind of not the friendliest guy out there

when arven asks her if she knows why he hates being a gym leader so much, she tells him everything she knows

she lays grusha's past bare, fondly remembering seeing him winning championship after championship on the tv when she was younger until "that nasty leg injury" put him out of commission for good, which led him to become the super tough gym leader he is now, and oooh arven, you should see his altaria in action, it's such a pretty pokemon but man does it pack a punch ! (she looks like she's ready to run all the way up that mountain and challenge him yet again, arven thinks)

the puzzle pieces start to click into place with all this new information, and arven can feel his stomach sink

the conversation they'd had replays in his mind, and arven wants to shove his whole fist in his mouth as he remembers all the seemingly nice things he'd said that would definitely strike a nerve for someone like grusha

it's another month or so after his meeting with nemona, and arven finds that he can't stop thinking about the young man on the mountain

grusha, whose spirit has been crushed by the cruel weight of reality, much like his nearly was until he met his little buddy and saved his beloved mabosstiff with their help

grusha, who has walls as high as the frigid peak he calls home up around him, keeping everyone around him out

grusha, with eyes that remind him of the way the first rays of dawn hit the impossibly blue waters of casseroya lake, a sight he was fortunate enough to see while hunting for herba mystica with his little buddy

such beautiful eyes filled with an aching pain darker and colder than the depths of the lake they resemble

arven can't believe he didn't recognize the look sooner

he'd seen it countless times in the mirror

arven needs to see him again

#pokemon #arven #grusha #trainer arven #gym leader grusha #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #pokemon scarvi #much like arven i cannot stop thinking about the man on the mountain (and of course my dear arven)#if they don't have a ship name i'm going to coin it as #esperanzashipping #words with min

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rhythe · 1 year

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Apprentice chefs and their sporty partners

#halohaloshipping #esperanzashipping #pokemon sv #pokemon swsh #pokemon sumo #picrew #bea x mallow #grusha x arven #what do you mean these are rarepairs #the writers know if they met they’d be too powerful #rpg au

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splenderai · 1 year

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some more esperanzashipping (grusha/arven) thoughts because they are rotting my brain at an alarming pace:

there's arven, a young man barely in his twenties, graduated from the academy and now one of the esteemed kofu's apprentices, slowly but surely shedding the heavy, paralyzing weight of his childhood and adolescent trauma and moving forward, unsure of what the future holds but determined to make this dream of his a reality

and then you have grusha, in his mid to late twenties, who used to soar high atop the highest peaks and dominate the slopes, who's now suffocating under the crushing weight of reality, stripped of his wings and unable to chase his dreams, a hollow shell of the man he once was

life has dealt them both a horrible hand, they've each faced unimaginable pain and suffering in their young lives

and yet, what is so fascinating about them is that they're polar (no pun intended) opposites when it comes to how they face these challenges

arven keeps moving forward: when the professor stopped reaching out, he made his way to that dangerous crater, because hey you can ignore a letter, but you damn well won't be ignoring him in person ! when mabosstiff was gravely injured, he did everything in his power to restore his closest companion back to health, even going so far as to research these rumored mystical herbs that he'd be the first to find if it meant saving his cherished friend !

not only that, arven lets people in: he's kind of a jerk when you meet him, but he warms up to you pretty quickly, and he eventually gets emotionally vulnerable in front of you, telling you about mabosstiff and how he's going on this wacky goose chase all for him. he knows he needs your help, and he's willing to let his guard down around you for that. you see him at his worst, you see all his emotions, both positive and negative

above all, arven has hope: it's a flame that flickers at times, nearly fizzling out when mabosstiff seemingly doesn't react to the fifth herba mystica, but it persists, continuing to burn despite all the setbacks arven faces. he genuinely believes things will get better, and he takes this skill he had to pick up in order to survive (because there were no parents around to cook for him), something that directly reminds him of his painful past, and pours his soul into it, devotes his future to it, makes it something positive that he can share with others.

grusha, on the other hand, is paralyzed by what's happened to him, rooted to the very mountain that took away everything from him, feeling forced into a career he's not passionate about because that's all that's left for him now. he's bitter, hung up on what he lost, what's no longer attainable, and it's slowly but surely burying him

unlike arven, he keeps everyone out, far enough away so they can't see the emotions he keeps caged under lock and key. you catch glimpses of them when he battles, but then they're out of sight, out of reach, and you're met once again by the cool exterior of his

he lacks that hope that keeps arven afloat, that helps him shake off the past and make something positive out of the future no matter how uncertain it is

it's that hope, that way of fighting for his right to be happy, that i think arven can help grusha find

it will take time, no doubt, for their friendship to kindle, for arven to melt those icy walls that grusha keeps around him, for arven to help grusha see that he can be happy again, that he deserves it, that, yes, he will have to fight for it, but that arven is willing to fight right by his side to help him get there

arven has had his fair share of hurt to know how grusha feels, and he knows that crushing feeling of bearing it all on your own

he was fortunate enough to have his little buddy there for him when he was at his worst and the burden on his shoulders was at its heaviest

he wants to be there for grusha, just like that, to share that burden

grusha can be happy, will be happy

in that, arven has hope

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #grusha #arven #gym leader grusha #trainer arven #esperanzashipping #pokemon scvi #pokemon scarvi #i'm losing my mind over them pls holler at me about these two #words with min

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splenderai · 1 year

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i am back with grusha tattoo headcanons because i can't stop rotating him in my mind

- he has wing tattoos that start at his shoulder blades and wrap down his arms down to just above his elbows because a) he's spent most of his life on high peaks and catching air on his snow board and b) he has an altaria as his last pokemon, so i think wings are extra fitting. they look kind of like this picture:

- along one of his right ribs, he has a line of text in sinnohan that reads "the sky is yours" as a tribute to his late snowboarding coach. i hc that he was actually born in sinnoh (since grusha is russian in origin and part of the sakhalin islands is depicted in the sinnoh region) and would train on the slopes of mt. coronet with a skilled coach there before moving to paldea when he was in his early teens. that phrase was something his coach would always say to him. :')

- and, because i'm hopelessly obsessed with arven/grusha: much later, he gets sunflowers on his chest right above where his heart is because they remind him of arven. sunflowers are commonly thought to always face the sun, and to grusha, arven is like the sun. it's a symbol of positivity, of a better day when the sun rises again, an outlook that arven has both embodied despite all of his hardships and helped grusha adopt after years of feeling empty and hopeless following the accident. it's brilliant, just like arven's dazzling smile that lights up his features and makes grusha's chest swell. it brings a comforting warmth to even the coldest places, much like how arven was able to warm his frigid, closed off heart. they say sunflowers always follow the sun - grusha can't imagine ever looking away now.

#pokemon #grusha #gym leader grusha #arven #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #pokemon scvi #pokemon scarvi #esperanzashipping #grusha and arven have occupied my last two brain cells i had to make at least one tattoo about arven i'm sorry (i'm not)#words with min

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