#svern just has. a Lot of problems.

[darkestrellar]

Svern, despite making sure he got his hands on the Light Stone, was fully ready for the event that Reshiram might not wake up for him. He honestly didn't expect them to wake up for him, because, well... chronic liar etc with a track record that was far from ideal really doesn't look like a good candidate for Reshiram's hero on paper. Unlike the comments that the original protag gets about having a good and kind heart, Svern was no such thing, and he was fully aware and acknowledging of that. (If he hadn't been then it would have been a given that Reshiram wouldn't awaken).

But, Reshiram did awaken; prompted by Zekrom's presence plus Svern's conviction in his actions in the castle. However, it was his honesty about the person he was, and that he essentially presented (opened) his heart in its entirety for Reshiram to examine that allowed them to connect. Reshiram perceived everything about Svern in those moments, the kind of person he was at heart along with the layers of shit that had built up on top of that. Svern allowed this to happen, invited Reshiram to look at all of it and was ready to accept their decision regardless of what it would be - whether he ended up battling alongside them or whether they deemed him repulsive.

When it comes down to it, Svern is not an inherently deceptive person. He's the opposite. Part of his problem was that he was too perceptive and saw things as they were (and would call it as such, without regard for how others received it). This is still him. The rest came later as a result of things that happened and his experience in life.

Reshiram understood this, along with Svern's other feelings, and that's why they accepted him.

Reshiram and Svern don't completely click the way that someone "supposed" to be the protagonist would have (Svern forced his way into that role and it shows). By the time Reshiram met Svern, Svern was already deeply flawed. Reshiram sees both the copious accumulated flaws, the reasons for them being there, as well as what's underneath, and has been trying to help and "guide" Svern.

But Svern is also Svern, and while he does an excellent job at being a hero of truth in some ways, he's also still an actor and a liar and those deeply embedded behaviours won't go away overnight or just because someone asks him to stop. He's been using those methods to live for too long. So he does many things that are mostly inconsequential on a broad scale but which frustrate Reshiram, and he's stubborn about changing for the same reasons that he does all that stuff in the first place.

In the end, they did succeed in bonding, but it's a bond that has more friction than is ideal.

[twilighttheater]

but also 🌟 + Zekrom & Blanc

Send a 🌟 + a name and my muse will talk about their bond to that character! - Return of an old ask meme!

At least this one is much easier, if a bit funny to compare to the connection he's seen Svern have with Reshiram.

"Zekrom sort of has...expectations for me as a Hero of Ideals, but I usually never know that until after the problem has already passed. I don't entirely like feeling like I'm being... tested? But Zekrom also has a lot of confidence in me, and is someone I can talk to about every aspect of my life without sounding. Well... like I'm losing my mind." He gives a helpless shrug.

"It's sort of like having an aunt or uncle that just really believes in you I suppose, but because Zekrom is one of the major legends of Unova... there's a lot more responsibility than just making a family member proud. It does feel like that even so, and whenever I'm in trouble Zekrom is usually there to help if it gets really bad. It's not like I'm being left alone with these responsibilities, they express all the time that it's about both of us, not just me."

He sighs softly, "sometimes I still worry that I'm not entirely cut out for this, I started out my pokemon journey as just some weird kid with a Deerling that never changed with the seasons. That guy? The newest Hero of Ideals? Seriously?"

"But then Zekrom talks about how proud they are of me for everything I've been able to do and... survived to tell the tale about, and it helps."

"...Plus, Svern won't let me live down being a foolish idealist." He snickers quietly.

[darkestrellar]

mfw I realise I spoke the word out my mouth "mainverse svern is in a worse situation than fandomless svern bc he has a determined bad end whereas fandomless svern isn't past the point of no return yet" but simultaneously made the implications of how the fandomless shadow works significantly worse than the normal pokemon one

[darkestrellar]

albor (the reshiram in svern's alt verse) mayy come across lenient with svern and svern's grating habits, but it's because it's been years, and they know him as much as any being is capable of doing so, including that svern is a very difficult person to work with especially in terms of helping him. they have been trying to help him the entire time, as best they can with the way they are themselves, he just mostly refuses to get better beyond what he did back during BW's story. they also won't reject him outright since he hasn't done anything that really demands it, so they're both stuck in a relationship that is technically mostly functional but has much more friction than it should

[darkestrellar]

Subprime & Svern: 🤝⛔☀️ 🕴👯 // Krang & Svern: 💜 / ⛔, ☀️, 👯 (While I think Svern and Subprime will hang out to cause trouble and nonsense on purpose together when they're not otherwise being gremlins, it is whatever Krang and Svern develop that has more potential to be a... wholesome friendship eventually?)

Dynamics you're interested in!

🤝 coworkers ⛔ reluctant friends ☀️ friends of circumstance 🕴 partners in illegal activities 👯partners in crime trope

Heavy emphasis on the reluctant friends - and yeah, unless it were to be in a different verse from the shared one, I don't think Svern would ever consider Subprime as a "real" potential friend. (If it were to be plotted outside of the shared verse, the chance is MUCH higher, it's literally just because of Svern's bias toward Clarissa / to a degree whoever she likes and Subprime not exactly being aligned with that).

Otherwise though, no matter which way, they will definitely hang out and cause trouble and nonsense on purpose, that's easy :] Svern is always happy to have someone else to cause problems with.

💜 friendship / ⛔ reluctant friends ☀️ friends of circumstance 👯partners in crime trope

"Wholesome friendship" is a lot to ask of Svern unless with a freight train's worth of development, and will probably take a long time to achieve. That said, in a reverse way to Subprime's, this is more likely to happen when factoring in the shared verse, because of development Svern has later thanks to Clarissa / Chance - which is gonna make it a little easier for him to connect to others as well, Krang included. But it's still going to take years and a bunch of drama (Krang getting involved in that might be fun in a whole other kind of way).

To explain on the last part, Svern's personality is a huge reason why friendship with him is difficult, even if someone else gets around all the reasons not to be friends with him and likes him (even if begrudgingly). Svern's end complicates things a lot because he keeps an internal distance from others both unintentionally and intentionally. But the thing he's got going on with the Shadow makes it much worse, and would need to be factored in for any kind of deeper relationships.

It could involve anything from the danger of dragging in others into being involved with it (which he may or may not actually care about depending on the person, and possibly would even encourage - but likely not in this case because of Clarissa), to putting the other person off if/when they realise Svern has a Bigger Problem than just him being him, to, if anyone gets concerned about him and were to try help somehow, or get involved with the aim of "freeing" him (which is really the only end option if you want an actual eventual wholesome outcome), that risks fracturing the entire thing, because it's very likely to put Svern into an irrational paranoid and unpredictable state.

We haven't talked about that before so 👁️ something fun that we can bring up in plotting later if you'd like! Also sorry if this is rambly, I always feel like friendships with Svern are awkward to navigate

[darkestrellar]

Tempted as Clarissa may be to have ZED summon Thunderbird into the planet's atmosphere to come pick her and her apprentice up, it WOULD break around fifty different public and intergalactic bylaws. And while Clarissa isn't morally opposed to stomping on the feet of the local law enforcement, or making a few bored business commuters shit their pants when a literal war mech descends above the subway, it would rather inconvenience the rest of her and Svern's little stay. Maybe if it had been their last day on here it might have been fun stirring up the dust on their way out...

With nothing to do but wait on the train service to carry out their emergency repairs so they can get back on the move, Clarissa lays out on the platform with her hands tucked beneath her head as if cloudwatching (ignoring the sideye of fellow passengers). Just their luck to be trapped in the underground. She spends enough time in various bunkers and basements and space stations...at very least they could have gotten stuck waiting out in the open air, where she could feel the breeze wash over her skin and watch the rest of the city carry on around them.

The only air movement down here is the breath being shoved out from her chest as Svern, as if having waited all this time for a "seat" to free up, takes her newly horizontal orientation as an invitation to sit right in the middle of her goddamn torso. He might not be particularly heavy but Clarissa winces as Svern's unexpected weight pins her into the concrete, squishing her internals and jabbing the zip of her jacket into her flesh through her shirt.

Once Svern has settled himself, Clarissa returns to "skywatching", her face totally blank, despite the almost imperceptible tightness of her jaw at having Svern sitting right on her guts. This is all part of their usual little. Svern does something anybody else would react to, and Clarissa just doesn't. Or reacts wrong, or in a surprising way.

Minutes continue to drag along as the too-polite disembodied voice of the station announcement system rolls through its script of safety guidelines and non-updates. Svern shifts just a couple of inches in the wrong direction and Clarissa squawks and shoves him onto the platform.

"Get off, get off, get OFF! Before I either throw up on myself or you make me REALLY need to piss."

Opportunistic as ever, that was Svern. No seats available? No problem, just plant yourself square on top of your mentor instead.

He didn't actually look at Clarissa once while he was moving; just plunked himself right on top of her gut the moment the opening appeared. He knew exactly where (and how) to sit. To the onlookers it mightn't appear deeper than this redhead taking advantage of his companion's questionable choice to lie on the floor, using her as his personal cushion for the sake of his own comfort, but... this wasn't just about comfort, it was about discomfort.

Svern made himself nice and comfy, sitting with eyes up and forwards, still not so much as glancing down at Clarissa to check her reaction. Appearing content like that for the moment, he then waited patiently...

Clarissa silently put up with his weight pressing down where it definitely wasn't wanted. Svern kept a casual track of the time passing, sitting just as still and quiet, which was probably a lot easier to do when you weren't the one with someone's entire body weight pressing on your organs. One minute went by, then two, then an indeterminate number of seconds before he decided it was time to move on to the next phase of the plan.

That little readjustment to his seating position could have been just an innocent subconscious move, if he were someone else, maybe. But with Svern, nothing was ever innocent. He knew what he was doing from the moment he saw Clarissa move to lie down, and he knew what he was doing when he shuffled his butt over to ensure he was sitting in juuust the right way, so his weight was concentrated exactly where it counted.

Now, that should be enough to...

...Sure thing, he was sent tumbling off onto the concrete, with Clarissa's irritated exclamation as the prize for his inconsideration.

Svern made sure to give an indignant yelp of his own the moment he was evicted, as if he hadn't been aiming to cause Clarissa as much discomfort as possible, and he wasn't the primary one at fault here.

"You could've just ASKED me to move!" he complained, picking himself up (he was perfectly fine) and giving her an accusing stare.