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As THEO BECKETT inched closer, BARNABY FINCH felt his last modicum of resolve fade away in the tide of the other man's warmth. There was little use in fighting sleep any longer. [break][break]

One slow blink, then two, then three. [break][break]

His eyes closed, but in Barnaby's final moments of consciousness he softly muttered, [break][break]

"...this is enough..."

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As expected, cruelty befitting the odd, poison-dripped prison they'd been incarcerated within flashed above on giant TERA CRYSTALS, to be viewed for all to see and learn from. The mavericks appeared first — hoisted by their insubordinate necks — and then their Pokémon. [break][break]

One unique capsule in particular caught BARNABY FINCH's eye. He recognized the Gigaton Ball
and the special URSALUNA on the screen from howard slayte's Route 119 Incident Report, knew it to belong to the ROCKET admin himself.[break][break]

Admin Fox. The only admin not chosen to reside within their ward. He took this into consideration as he attempted to glean the identities of others from the broadcasted wards, but didn't recognize anyone else in the brief glimpses shown by the TERA CRYSTALS overhead.[break][break]

Save for Shred Zeppelin, but he was practically a walking corpse anyway, half-dead and lower on Barnaby's priority list than the other prisoners. He'd take this into account when voting, as well as the opinions of others, including voices he recognized in the crowd: Michael Navidson, priam conrad, oscar clayton, freya morningstar accompanied by Aurelie Lefevre, THEO BECKETT, and Zev Harcourt. [break][break]

Unfortunately, the majority decided against his gut choice — even Elisabeth Fiorelli.[break][break]

"The decision doesn't matter so much as the action of choosing. We've witnessed what happens to those that go against our jailers..." Though his voice was level, BARNABY FINCH stared pointedly at the masks of Yuina Higashi and Grigori Sokolov.[break][break]

That being said, he'd rather see howard slayte spared, so Barnaby voiced his choice despite it going against the grain, "Weakling."[break][break]

Soon enough, the pull of the TOXIC CHAIN brings them together and BARNABY FINCH finds himself holding hands with Elisabeth Fiorelli and fern delaney.

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• notices howard & shred in different wards[break]
• oh no DOOOUG[break]
• recognizes several voices[break]
• voting weakling cause meh on shred,

wants to spare howard

• holding hands with elisa & fern


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[break]





Sand and heat give way to snow and frost. From death springs new life in a new simulation.[break][break]

Despite this, BARNABY FINCH continues where they left off, his curiosity piqued by THEO BECKETT's talk of infighting.[break][break]

"Our admin team works fairly well together," Though howard slayte might grumble about the added desk work he's given. "Is that not the case in other facets of the organization?"

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For a moment, Barnaby thought that, perhaps, he and THEO BECKETT weren't so different after all.[break][break]

"An understandable fear." He conceded, inclining his head in a tired half-nod. [break][break]

After all, it was a fear that was at the core of BARNABY FINCH's sense of self. A tumultuous childhood had instilled in him a need for ironclad control, not only over himself but over others and by extension ROCKET, too.[break][break]

It had been a driving factor for accepting MOLTRES as his patron.[break][break]

"More and more every day." An assurance paired with a gentle brush of fingers against the other's temple, sweeping stray strands of hair away from his face.[break][break]

"So no need to worry, Theo."

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BARNABY FINCH was reminded of that poisoned Galar and the battlefield where a monumental skeleton clashed with a dark knight.[break][break]

The desolation he'd felt then matched the simulated sands before them.[break][break]

"What stops us from skewing our conflicts in Hoenn in a similar way?"[break][break]

Though he already knew the outcome of this scenario, he readied himself to join the charge at THEO BECKETT's command.

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"What sort of wild Zangoose chase are you taking me on?" BARNABY FINCH called out to his URSARING from his saddle, a few paces back from where the bear snuffed at the ground. [break][break]

They'd gone off the main trail awhile ago in search of HONEY for his garden. For one reason or another, pollinators hadn't seemed interested in the place lately. He figured a little sweet attractant might entice a few to his berry trees.[break][break]

And in pursuit of that... maybe they'd gotten a little lost. But it was fiiiine. This was the middle of bumfuck nowhere, after all, somewhere outside of Fallarbor Town. There was no one around to care if he took some HONEY for himself. Right?[break][break]

Wrong. A surly-looking cowboy with a sharp tongue and an even sharper jawline definitely seemed like he cared.[break][break]

"Whooaa," Low and easy, he brought his RAPIDASH to a stop a few feet from the half-broken fence line. [break][break]

"Sorry about that! I think we're a little... lost?" Barnaby gingerly rubbed the back of his head, feigning ignorance while analyzing the situation he now found himself in.[break][break]

Hm. This tall drink of hillbilly probably didn't watch daytime television, so wouldn't know he was in the presence of a B-list celebrity. His loss. But also an annoyance for BARNABY FINCH, who usually coasted by on his renown. [break][break]

Meanwhile, Bernadette hadn't registered her master's preoccupation and simply continued to scramble over the fence — knocking over a few boards in the process — in order to reach her prize: the tree that a certain TAUROS happened to be resting beneath.

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"I'm glad to hear it." In that, he was genuine. [break][break]

Aurelie Lefevre had potential, after all. She'd shown herself to be an asset to ROCKET time and again. Now, the blacksmith had even curried her own favor with a wayward god. CALYREX had solely tasked her, out of all the tale-tellers, to do its bidding.[break][break]

It was a promising thing. BARNABY FINCH wanted to make sure she understood its gravity.[break][break]

"Enjoying?" An amused smile creased his lips at the thought. "Yes, I suppose so. Though we're still acclimating, Moltres and I." [break][break]

The admin's gaze traveled skyward and immediately locked eyes with his patron, as if the titan of a bird had been listening in on their conversation and was expecting the attention. A low, guttural hiss echoed out from deep in its chest; to the untrained ear the sound would seem sinister in nature, but in fact was rather amicable for the Pokémon. [break][break]

Barnaby's smile widened in response. A beat later, he turned back to the woman beside him.[break][break]

"And you? You've caught the eye of quite a special creature yourself." CALYREX was no ordinary Pokémon. Its actions here in their world would likely have lasting ramifications, as they had in that poisoned Galar.[break][break]

"How goes your work in that regard?"

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BARNABY FINCH’s eyelids fluttered open in mild surprise. [break][break]

His powers? He hadn’t even noticed the darkness burning around them in the moment, having been too caught up in his indulgence. [break][break]

“You noticed that, hm?” [break][break]

When he’d first started testing the limits of his abilities, Barnaby thought them useful for a myriad of things. Utility and malevolence melded together to create what he considered a fearsome array of tools at his disposal. [break][break]

Bending the darkness to his will seemed like such a sinister thing.[break][break]

But beautiful...?[break][break]

“...it didn’t frighten you?”

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There was little doubt to her double meaning. [break][break]

Just like himself, jayden cross, and fern delaney — all of their Avatarships were compromised.[break][break]

"The gods may have abandoned us all." It was a grim notion, but one he was sure she'd understand.[break][break]

When he felt her hand brush against his, BARNABY FINCH was quick to grasp it — squeezing briefly, but tightly around her knuckles.[break][break]

"I'm fine. We'll both be fine. We just need to bide our time and wait for an opportune moment to present itself," He warned, his voice a shadow of a whisper.[break][break]

Don't do anything stupid.[break][break]

"We'll get out of this together."

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