[attr="class","beck"]"come on, my dear."

he reaches a hand towards his shoulder, holding it flat to allow rabbit to simply slide on. gently, he moves his hand to rest beside emma's, and he watches as rabbit crawls over, leaving a light trail of mucous.

"how does she feel?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Emma Wolfe

[attr="class","beck"]a soft chuckle escapes, followed by a brief biology lesson:

"her slime keeps her skin moist."

a familiar hand raises and where it once inflicted pain, this time, it moves to brush strands of hair to the side of her face, tucking them behind her ear.

"it helps her stay on land for days."

[attr="class","noodles"]Emma Wolfe

She glances at him, one brow raising above her sunglasses at the sound of his laughter. Its a foreign language, one shes never heard.

"I don't see your fascination with these Pokémon."

Even despite her flat response, she continues to awkwardly hold the creature.

Emma stiffens, however, as Theo's hand approaches her face. She can feel the warmth of it before his fingers brush her skin. He tucks hair behind her ear and she pulls away from him slowly, avoiding.

"Did you have something else to show me?"

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","beck"]"not bored, are you?"

it's said in jest, as though theo was capable of such a thing. he scoops a hand underneath rabbit, then lifts her off and back towards him, plopping her down on his shoulder.

he slides a hand into his pocket, calling out a shellos that's equally as sticky as pyukumuku, if not more. the pink shellos slides across the sand, approaching emma's foot.

"that's a shellos. her name's shelly."

[attr="class","noodles"]Emma Wolfe

Emma's brows furrow at his question. She remains silent, hands lifting and then lowering as he plucks Rabbit from the palms of her hands. Sticky residue remains and she attempts to shake it off rather than wipe it on her clothing.

But before she might be able to respond to his follow-up statement, ghost pain seizes her leg. Something brushes against her foot to trigger it, and all at once she can feel teeth sinking into her flesh, through muscle and into bone.

She gasps, face contorting into a grimace of pain and fear. Her training falls away in the face of trauma. The sudden onset fear makes her head ache, and she lifts one hand to her temple, hands shaking.

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","beck"]"emma?"

theo's quick to bend down to pull shelly away. he holds her in an arm, allowing her to slither along towards his shoulder.

his eyes narrow, searching, noticing.

"you're safe. it's just a shellos."

shelly releases small bubbles from her mouth that float up into the air.

[attr="class","noodles"]Emma Wolfe

Just as quickly as the fear comes, it recedes. It is like the ocean brushing up on the shore, sometimes leaving behind souvenirs. Emma sucks in a breath, toes flexing in the sand. He calls her name, questioning, and bends to pick up the Shellos.

But this time she doesn't choose to reach out and investigate. This time, her hands are kept at her sides while she fights for control again. Her heart beats faster in her chest, gradually slowing. Painful memories wash away, leaving her exhausted and uncomfortable.

"There were... Pokemon, on Mt. Pyre, that rose up from the dead. I had been sent to locate and recover samples from the tree we'd found."

She doesn't know why she's telling him this. He probably already knows, has already seen and read the report for that excursion. For the first time in forever, perhaps, Emma's voice is unsteady and small.

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","beck"]"sure. but you've survived worse."

he knows what's in the report, so what ghosts haunt her are lost on him. he clicks his tongue, almost disapproving in the way his gaze shifts away.

"you'll survive this, too."

[attr="class","noodles"]Emma Wolfe

Unsurprisingly, he does not care.

"You're not listening."

But she doesn't elaborate. Given his response and her frustration, she doesn't consider it worth her time.

THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","beck"]"fine."

the shellos has reached the top of his shoulder by now. she sits comfortably, doing her best not to eavesdrop.

"what do you feel, emma?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Emma Wolfe

Stubbornness, or an innate instinct to ignore and avoid leaves her silent despite his decision to press her.

He asks her an impossible question and she pointedly stares ahead, expression stoney and unreadable- except for the fact that her jaw is clenched.

"Disappointed."

THEO BECKETT