Chapter Seven: Teams

Some days passed after Solder’s breakdown. Luckily, few cared. Or, if they did, didn’t think to mention it. He and Larcen hung around the guild, mostly. To recover and relax. Solder still struggled with his thoughts on Klefki, but in some sense they also released him. He didn’t have to worry about her anymore. Or town. Turns out Seafolk might be cursed because with just a couple days away from it and absolutely no plans to return, Solder had a new energy he hadn’t felt before. He held himself higher, food tasted better. He might have laughed once or twice.

Even being saddled with guild chores didn’t dampen his spirits. Early on, Brute noticed them loitering and took the opportunity to ask (aka: beg, hand on knees, green wings drooping behind him like wet paper) them to clean up the guild. They agreed. Only to quickly regret it.

It was a nightmare. A dusty, mildewy nightmare with no end in sight. Even through the strain of hauling trash and as he stood on the cliffs outside, lording over his burn pile of broken furniture and fishing crates, the guild still seemed full. Plus Solder couldn’t tell if he preferred Brute to hole himself upstairs and leave them two hands short or anxiously hover around them as they dragged trash outside, muttering with a nervous intensity Solder didn’t expect from the flygon.

Still, Solder savoured his own energy. Larcen seemed to notice, too.

“What drugs have you been doin’, kid?” he asked, watching Solder happily sweep the entrance. He shook his head. “Can’t believe you’ve been hogging them all. If you’d share like a cool friend, then maybe we’d be done by now.”

For Brute, the two of them didn’t seem like enough. He never stopped trying to recruit more guild members, but they were either busy; not actually busy, just pretending; or free and not bothering to hide how little they wanted to talk to Brute. The flygon seemed more and more distracted as the days passed. Something earnest and resolute built in his posture. He showed up less, with fewer words and more frustrated sighs.

So it wasn’t entirely surprising for Solder to wake up and find Brute’s sleeping form on a couch blocking the guild’s entrance.

Larcen and Solder decided to keep on working until he woke up, one eye pinned to the sleeping flygon

Then an hour passed.

By the time their patience wore thin, everyone else’s had, too. A small crowd of pokemon had gathered around the entrance, milling about, chattering and waiting for someone to wake him up.

Solder was shocked to find he knew nearly everybody gathered around. He was equally shocked that nobody just pushed Brute off the couch, but a quick break in the crowd revealed why. Brute had already woken up and stared, dishevelled but serious, back at the crowd.

“We’re having a meeting,” he croaked, wiping some grit from his goggles. He leaned off the couch, freeing his wings and giving them a quick buzz to straighten them out.

The crowd mumbled back. They must have all realised he wouldn’t move soon, because one by one they sat themselves on the closest thing to a chair they could find. Solder and Larcen grumbled to themselves as they had to settle for the stripped wooden frame of a chair. The harsh angles dug into Solder’s side and the seat was small enough that only one could sit on it fully, but it beat the floor.

Once everyone sat down, Brute seemed satisfied. He nodded and stood, moving into the harsh, artificial light of the guild. He seemed more… put together than the days before—or at least not on the verge of a panic attack—but his eyes were so squinted and red they stuck out even behind his red goggles.

He took a deep breath. “We need to pull this bloody guild together. We need to— to divide and conquer. Organise, raise money, recruit more members and— well, there’s so, so, so much more, but that’s good enough for now.”

He broke off from his speech, clasping his claws together in front of him. He probably meant to seem stoic, but his claws had a mind of their own. And if he’d expected a response, he got a mixed one. Solder shared dry looks across the room, Bastaya rolling his eyes between a disinterested Landy—and Unico, who’d taken the news with the enthusiasm of a hurricane. Some others gave halfhearted mumbles.

“F-first off, we need teams,” Brute continued, “of four. Each. We don’t— I don’t think we have enough right now for everyone, but that’s where recruiting can fill in the gaps. So… okay, go for it. I’ll be back with the forms.”

Brute scampered off. And he must have know the bomb he dropped because he fled up the guildmaster’s stairway right as the muttering crowd morphed into shouting, everybody scrambling to choose teammates before each other.

Thankfully, Larcen being clingy actually proved useful. Sure, the buizel didn’t need to throw himself over Solder’s lap the second Brute spoke, but Solder also didn’t need to use his collar as a cozy new armrest, and yet both things happened. Solder sighed as Larcen wiggled around and gave some weak protests. Eventually, he calmed down. Or fell asleep.

By the time Brute returned with a stack of papers and a pen, most pokemon had sorted themselves out. But not into quads. He looked over the lobby and sighed, fixating first onto Landy. The meowstic stood alone, flipping through a book as if he hadn’t even noticed.

“Who are you with?”

Landy paused, closing the book and folding it under his arm.

“Auloin and Veille are certainly the only pokemon I trust to keep up with me.”

“Are you… on speaking terms?”

Landy waved that off. “We should be once I elaborate on my plans for the feral who will, as we’ve agreed upon, be rehabilitated as the fourth member of our team.”

Before Brute could respond, the chattering started up again, all fixated on Landy. Larcen extracted himself from Solder to glare at the meowstic.

“You’re crazy, Landy, a feral? Oh, boy. Can’t wait for that to blow up in your face,” Larcen said.

“Oh, but it might be worth it. Our poor, blue baby’s going to meet his maker,” Bastaya chimed in from beside Landy. He gave a playful swat of Landy’s tails. “Tell me what he’s like when you get there, would you?”

Landy growled. His eyes lit up a pale blue in response. “Does nobody understand word choice? Rehabilitated was the operative term in the sentence. Also, Brute and I have already agreed upon my terms. I would not advise breaking them.”

His attention turned back to Brute. Everybody’s attention turned back to Brute. Solder still didn’t know enough to share the guilds anger; instead he took the opportunity to twist Larcen’s head fur into tiny braids while the buizel wasn’t looking. Still, if his experience with the chatot was any indication, a feral sounded like suffering for anyone remotely close to it.

He could be thankful for not wanting anything to do with Landy, at least. No Landy, no feral.

Meanwhile, Brute shivered under the sudden pressure. “Y-yes we already made a deal. I suppose I could sign you up as a foursome, but! But you’re going to break the news to Auloin and Veille.”

Landy nodded. Despite his reception, he walked up and accepted one of Brute’s forms.

Still, even though everyone looked like they had more to say, Brute ignored all complaints, avoided eye contact and moved on.

A group of four Solder hadn’t met stepped up next. Some long black-and-white, scarf-looking ferret lead the pack, with what might as well have been a walking ice sculpture standing beside it. A weird rodent perched on the head of the tall, purple lizard behind them. They caught Solder’s eye, gave a lazy salute, then went back to chatting with their friends. They moved like their own little gang already stepping up in formation, snatching a paper from Brute’s hand, then moving back to their little corner of the guild far, far apart from everybody else.

“Unico?” Brute asked, a shy note in his voice. “You’re ah… with Bastaya, right? And your brother?”

The green kecleon nodded so eagerly the clacking of his teeth echoed through the room.

“Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Absolutely! Bastaya’s eager and ready; my brother will be too next time I see him, I’m sure! And— oh, have you heard we’re setting up the shop again? It closed down so long ago I thought we’d be stuck in this rut forever, but this is just the push we needed, I think. A valuable opportunity! And plenty of profits for the guild, I assure you! You know, my father believed uncertain times were—”

“Yes!” Brute shouted, voice cracking, wings flaring behind him. In great news for Solder’s mood, it managed to shut Unico’s trap. “Thank you, Unico. I— I get it. You’ll need another member, but that brings us to—”

It was Solder and Larcen’s turn now.

“You two. You’ve done great work cleaning up, but…” Brute’s new almost-confidence crumbled a bit as he looked away. “Well, I mean, we ah… w-we still need new members. Two for your team, and one for Unico’s at least. So— so that’s your job now.” He held out his claws as if giving them a present.

Solder grit his teeth, jerking Larcen’s fur by accident and drawing a few tufts of orange and a sharp yelp from the buizel. Recruitment. He flashed back to all his attempts at basic conversation in Seafolk. Was there a worse job for him?

Landy, for his part, jumped off Solder’s lap in his defence. “Hey! That sucks! Cleaning’s a better job. Actually, why can’t we just team with you and haxorus? Easy! Now you’re the new recruits.”

Brute sighed. “Guild masters and their assistants can’t be on an active team, in case an emergency requires their attention at the guild,” he recited, as if from a script, “and, really. Can you make the money we need in time? Or take care of the paperwork? Everyone’s going to be cleaning, s-so please. Just try. Three Pokémon at least.”

Larcen held solid for a moment. He looked back at Solder.

Solder refused to look anything but miserable. Still, he shrugged, just wanting the meeting over with. They could always harass Brute about it later.

“…fine,” Larcen said.

He slumped back down. Right on Solder’s paw.

A sharp pain shot up his arm. He ripped his paw from under Larcen with a growl, cradling it to his chest and giving the buizel a withering look. Most of Brute’s response got lost in Larcen’s apology, but Solder gathered it was something about team names.

“Numerical designations are the most efficient idea, I think,” Landy said, suddenly interested, “I can take team one, for instance, and the other teams can fight over two, three, etcetera. In the name of pragmatism.”

“Oh, you’re exhausting. Where’s your imagination?” Bastaya said.

“This is about efficiency. It’s not as if any of us are town icons, so why bother?”

“I-okay, well, when you two decide…”

As they argued and Solder slipped out of pain and back into boredom, Larcen caught his eye. A sly grin slipped onto his face.

“Wanna be team Weasels?”

What a stupid name.

Solder snorted. “Sure.”

Larcen jumped up, one paw raised. “We’re team Weasels!” He shouted.

“Thank you, Larcen,” Brute responded with a relieved smile. He scratched his pen across his clipboard.

Landy broke off from his argument with Bastaya. He levelled a glare at Brute. “No, stop writing— it’s a terrible name that doesn’t fit with the theme. Neither of you are technically weasels, either.”

All he got was a nervous shrug.

Landy huffed, looking for a moment like he’d continue arguing. But he relented eventually, swishing his tails behind him. “I suppose we can still organize alphabetically.”

“Oh!” Unico jumped in, leaping from his seat with both arms spread wide. “Oh! Bastaya had a wonderful, brilliant idea! We’ll be team one, but the numerical one, not spelled out! We agree with Landy!”

Landy’s ears tilted back. He glared at Bastaya’s shit-eating grin. Fortunately, landy’s response was drowned out by Unico giving an over enthusiastic round of applause.

“T-that’s good. Easy to remember.” More scratching of the pen from Brute.

Landy looked miserable now, to everyone else’s joy. He stood, book closed between both paws, squinting in the distance like a solution waited outside. Meanwhile, the group of four Solder hadn’t met yet registered their name as Kill Point, complete with a group chant that absolutely shattered Landy’s dreams of a coherent naming scheme.

Considering how the cat had treated Solder so far, he revelled in Landy’s pure irritation.

Finally, Landy sighed, muttered: “I will get back to you,” in a slow, deliberate drawl and wandered off.

Brute shrugged.

“That takes care of that, I guess. Ah— back to work, everyone. We’ll be meeting every morning from now on, so— so be excited for that.”

Nobody spared Brute a second glance as they wandered off.

~( 0 )~

Solder and Larcen did end up following Brute back to his office to argue some more, but the flygon refused to budge. That and the lineup of other guildmembers waiting to argue with him got the duo kicked out of the office before too long. The best they got from Brute was a stack of old recruitment posters. The paper had yellowed with time, and according to Larcen they were about a decade out of date, but Team Weasels certainly wouldn’t be making new ones so they had to make do.

And unfortunately, recruitment meant wandering back into Seafolk again. Needless to say, Solder’s mood cratered.

“We’re not gonna recruit anybody if you’re glarin’ at them like that, kid.”

Solder shifted in his seat, flexing the muscles in his face. He hadn’t even realised he’d been scowling.

They’d taken refuge in a little restaurant on the outskirts of town, sitting on a mat between rows of planters. A great awning shaded them and the towering mountains faced them from across the street.

But Solder was focused on something else. Larcen had already finished his food and was now wiping crumbs off his collar. Solder still hadn’t got his. He’d been glaring at the lombre waiter—who balanced plates on his leaf-hat as he wandered from table to table, and had served three tables before even looking Solder in the eyes.

“Nothing good ever happens in Seafolk,” he said, growling as the waiter took a plate from inside and beelined to the other side of the patio. “And everyone sucks here.”

“I’m here.”

“You suck, too.”

Larcen rolled his eyes. “Okay, grumpy. we’re supposed to be keeping each other in line so maybe chill out a bit? I can rough somebody up in the kitchen if you want, you just sit there and relax.”

A tempting offer, but Solder let his silence speak for itself. He squinted at the served table, spotting a salad. A salad. How long did it take to make a salad?

Then a shift, a gust of wind. He shivered, struck by the uncanny feeling of being watched. He blinked, looking up, turning his head around. He caught a flash of blue around a corner, but just as he turned it vanished.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Solder leaned forward, trying to get a better view.  “Was someone watching us just now?”

“Uh, like half the staff?” Larcen pointed inside the building.

Solder followed his point. Sure enough, a collection of faces watched him through the entrance, squished into the narrow slit of a serving window. Once Solder noticed them, they all jerked back, awkwardly stumbling into each other to get out of the way. As if he wouldn’t notice. Solder grumbled, rubbing his muzzle and trying to keep his flames in. Still, some sipped out. He could feel them dance across his head, briefly scattering through the top of his vision. He tried rubbing his fur as if that would keep them in, but it didn’t do much except make him look feral.

He sighed. Ever since he’d figured them out, his flames had actually become harder to control. He needed more focus now, just to keep himself reigned in, than if he’d try to light himself on fire. And since there were no fire types nearby all the advice he got was useless. Just… focus, was all they’d say, shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe he’d find a book about it sometime.

Oh, wait.

And Larcen tried. Really, he did. Solder appreciated that. Sometimes, it even helped. Just a kind word and good energy to remind Solder that happiness existed. He’d been invaluable for keeping Solder from blowing up at the waiter, for instance. Or Brute. Or Landy. If Solder had been alone then…

Well, better not to think about it.

The clattering of doors sounded from inside. The waiter came out again. The waiter went back in. Solder wanted to slam his face into the table.

“Am I getting worse?” He mumbled, mostly to himself. Still, Larcen fixed him with a gentle smile.

“Nah, c’mon! What did we talk about?” Larcen said. “Don’t worry about yourself, that’s what I’m here for!”

Solder took a deep breath and hummed in agreement.

These things helped a bit.

Eventually, Solder got his food plus a two-word apology and insincere bow from the lombre. They ate, didn’t leave a tip, then bailed.

They came to town with two options: wait around on some corner and harass pokemon into joining the guild or awkwardly pin posters on every available surface until they either ran out or got shouted down. Since there were two of them and Solder made himself very clear what he’d rather be doing, Larcen convinced him to split the difference. Larcen got to do all the talking, leaving Solder with the posters. After a long back and forth, they decided to start at the market and work their way around.

True to his memories, the market was chaos. The frenzied shouts of hagglers filled the air, drowning out the quieter conversations between stalls. The smell of fish and salt made Solder wrinkle his nose, but Larcen didn’t seem to mind, practically skipping through aisles, offering a wave to every pokemon that looked his way. He also didn’t seem to mind jumping into conversation whenever possible—waiting behind shopping pokemon until they turned around. Then he hit them with a smile, shook their paw or flipper or… whatever and launched into his speech. Completely unpracticed, too. The buizel had an ease of speech that Solder envied.

But Solder wouldn’t be practising. He was happy to give encouraging nods from the sidelines, sticking by the wall and keeping an eye on the buizel as he shared laughter with a group of… Golduck. True to his theory, pokemon were too busy here to do anything but give him sideways looks as he tacked posters to the walls and stands of the market.

It didn’t take him long to finish his section. Then all he could do was wait patiently for Larcen.

As it turned out, the buizel’s enthusiasm had drawbacks.

“Whatd’ya mean, be pickier? We can’t afford to be picky! And I didn’t think any of my picks were too unpicky. They’re all great candidates.”

Solder raised his brows. Great candidates? Who? The old frog walking with the cane? Or the pack of kids that accidentally kicked their ball into the market?

Larcen seemed to read Solder’s mind. His whiskers twitched, tails swirling behind him.

“Well, okay, maybe not the kids, but everyone else sounded great.”

“I hope that old woman doesn’t fall for your pitch.”

“Oh, she was so cool! Did you hear she once swam all the way around the continent?”

“What? That can’t be true.”Solder blinked, turning to where she left. She might’ve been more spry than she let on, because she already finished filling her bag of groceries and waddled out into the street.

Wait.

There, in the mass of pokemon crowding around a fruit stand, Solder spotted a familiar shade of blue. He caught a tuft of fur, a tail, blue and white, before a hulking turtle cut through the path.

By the time the turtle moved, Solder had lost it again.

He clicked his tongue. “Someone’s definitely following us. Someone blue. And white. With fur.” He shared a meaningful look with Larcen.

It didn’t take long for the buizel’s eyes to widen.

“Really? Landy? You think so?”

“Who else could it be?”

Larcen didn’t answer. He just slid up beside Solder.

“Eh, whatever. If he wants to, he can just come up and chat. Not like anything’s stopping him.”

They paused, just watching. Side by side. Then Solder reminded himself that they had a job to do.

It didn’t take long to settle into a groove where Solder finished around the same time Larcen did. Thankfully, he also stuck to pokemon that could actually do the work. In no time at all, Solder looked back and realised they’d made it halfway through the market.

It wasn’t exactly stimulating work, though. He couldn’t be sure when the monotony snuck in.  It settled on Larcen’s face, in the bags under his eyes and the more frequent frowns. Solder already knew the problem—like they’d already discussed, nobody wanted to join the guild. It was impressive how quickly a pokemon could disengage themselves once they heard Seafolk Guild, transitioning from a polite smile and tilt of the head to this dead, glazed-over look, like they’d just washed ashore after a week out to sea.

Whatever drove Larcen early on vanished. He slowed down again, caught by something in the crowd.

Larcen stopped in front of a booth—empty except for some scattered trinkets on a red tablecloth. Nobody sat behind the counter, either, but Larcen still seemed so focused on the empty wood stools. Then he edged himself closer, leaning his elbows against the table. Solder caught a flash of motion. He blinked. An empty space stuck out on the table.

Solder shoved his way through the crowd, sparing no apologies even as some of the larger pokemon fired back at him. At the table, he caught Larcen by the wrist. Sure enough, he’d already wrapped his paw around some weird purple vial, contents sloshing from the motion.

“Hey,” Solder said, trying to be subtle as he moved to shade Larcen’s paw from sight. “Let’s get going, alright?”

But then Solder saw his face. It never looked natural to see the buizel’s expression screwed up like that. To see furrows etched above his brow, aging him.

“Larcen? Come on. Are you doing okay?”

“I mean, it’s fine if nobody’s there, right? It’s not even stealing anymore, I’m just… taking it so I can find the owner again. No big deal.” Larcen shook his head. But even as Solder pried, his grip didn’t loosen.

“Put it back.”

Larcen tucked the vial closer to his chest. “Did I ever tell you how it feels? It’s like… you feel like you’re gonna be sick and you know somethings going wrong, then…” He mimed an explosion with his free paw. “There’s that little thing in the corner. It’s worthless, but it’ll feel great when you get your paws on it.”

Larcen tried jerking it out of Solder’s grasp. Neither pokemon would budge.

“Just like, gimme one, please! We can— start tomorrow. I just don’t want to feel like dirt today.”

A desperate, pleading look struck Solder hard enough to catch him off guard, loosening just enough for Larcen to snatch the vial back and scoot away with a relieved slump of the shoulders.

Solder blanked at the behaviour. Didn’t Larcen want help? He didn’t seem like it. Yet there was clearly something wrong, because the buizel was acting like a completely different pokemon.

Maybe he just needed to be a little more forceful.

He pushed forward, reaching just as Larcen twisted, back to him. Solder huffed.

“Stop. If I let you have it, you’ll just pull the same shit next time.”

“Nah, it’s just one for old time’s sake, y’know? A souvenir! No big deal!”

Solder tried catching him on the other side, but he twisted again. And moved, scurrying to fit himself in the space between stands, back against the wall. It must have been spurred by some instinctive force in his mind, because the second Larcen realised he’d cornered himself, his eyes widened.

“Solder…”

He looked so small in the corner, filtered through the power of crowd noise and heat of the sun. He curled up in it like meat cooking in a pan. Hit Solder with a face close to pain.

Fine. Solder couldn’t tell if his frustration came from Larcen himself or whatever cosmic force let shit like this happen, but if he had to be the bad guy, he’d be the bad guy.

“Give me the fucking vial.”

Larcen tried to bat him away as he pressed forward, but he could do little except hold tight as Solder tried to wrestle the vial from him, struggling under the force of limbs as he tried to keep it away. Solder shoved his arm across his chest and, with a quiet grunt, finally got hold of it again.

Solder had to remind himself they were still in public, so their tug of war became something awkward and close. Just quick jerking of the limbs, yanking each other back and forth. Until something finally gave. The vial slipped from Larcen’s hand, sending Solder tumbling and it flying, clattering across the street until it smashed against the far wall. Some yelps sounded. Some growls, too, forced from the crowd.

Solder allowed himself a quiet moment to feel the stone dig into his back, pressing against his beating heart. Only then was he comfortable knowing nobody cared. He took a deep breath, glancing over to where the bottle broke.

Blue. Blue fur, white tails. Landy.

Solder blinked, waiting for the illusion to break, but no. Landy watched them from across the street, half-visible shaded by the red-striped awning of jewellery stand.

“Landy? So you were following us.”

The words didn’t reach him at first. Or maybe they did; Solder couldn’t tell what went on in those dark eyes of his, and he hung around like a stain on the brick wall across the street. Nobody paid him much attention even as he used his powers to tilt the awning further above his head.

The meowstic waited a moment before crossing the street. He padded across without a care for the pokemon walking through. There, he lingered above Solder, casting a long shadow over him as the crowd flowed around. Larcen rejoined after a while, sitting shakily at Solder’s side.

But Solder didn’t pay much attention to that.

“Why are you here?”

“What reason do pokemon usually have to participate in the marketplace? Obviously, I’m shopping.”

Solder glanced at Landy’s side, at his overstuffed bag and coils of… rope? Did he have any room left in there?

“You were following us, though. We saw you.”

“Not all of us are so narcissistic to believe the world revolves around them. I’ve been in town. So what if you saw me? Hundreds of pokemon have seen me, yet I still wouldn’t be stalking them.”

“Okay. Fuck off, then.”

But he didn’t. He didn’t seem to expect the rejection either with the way he shifted nervously on his paws. He folded his arms under his ruff of fur.

Solder ignored him, getting off the ground and dusting himself off.

“You two are in charge of recruitment, correct?”

“Sure.”

“That means your duties necessitate helping me catch a feral. I could use a fire-type.”

Solder paused, sharing a brief, baffled look with Larcen. He mouthed an emphatic no back.

“I told you to fuck off didn’t I?”

A deep rumble sounded from Landy even as his face stayed flat. It was eerie how still the cat’s expression was, deep in the shadow of his ears. He sighed deeply.

“I’ll give you two thousand P.”

Solder was about to repeat himself, but Larcen cut in early.

“We’ll do it!”

Unbelievable. Solder shot Larcen a glare that he shrugged off like rain. He wasn’t really comfortable being the fire type, let alone helping someone like Landy with his nonsense.

Solder scrambled to his feet,  pulled in close enough to Larcen that he could whisper.

“Larcen. No.”

“C’mon, that’s like, ten jobs!”

Ten jobs? Solder froze, putting it together in his head. He couldn’t’ pretend to be comfortable, but was one day of discomfort worth that much? He eased away from Larcen, rubbing a paw on his chin.

“...fine.”

“Excellent,” Landy responded, not missing a beat, “to be clear, I’d rather not work with you either. Regardless, I’m expecting you at the guild before the hour’s over, so hurry up. I refuse to reward slackers, so don’t expect any recompense if you’re late.”

He flicked his ears. Then he padded off, lugging that heavy bag at his side and pushing back through the crowd. Literally sometimes—Solder spotted the telltale blue glow of his powers, an invisible hand shoving pokemon to the side as he passed. Larcen hit Solder with a grin as the meowstic left, energy returned as if the past ten minutes hadn’t happened. Some sort of twitch or tilt made him seem uneasy, but Solder didn’t get a chance to scrutinise before Larcen shrugged and followed in Landy’s path.

“Let’s go, Solder. You heard our awesome, nice, very cool friend Landy, maybe if we’re fast we can come back and get some fancy grub before everything closes.”

He didn’t even wait, wasting no time to skip into the streets and leave Solder behind.

For his part, Solder was baffled by how fast Larcen had recovered.

Then he glanced at the empty market stall.

He couldn’t confirm anything, but even aside from the missing vial, he swore it seemed emptier.