it's been months.

[break][break] jayden shouldn't be surprised. he's been busy with mission work, and when he gets like this he has the tendency to forget. the door creaks as he enters his bedroom, but rather than retreating to the shower to take off his mission gear, he turns to the small desk housing a myriad of plants.

[break][break] many of them are dead or dying, but there are a few still left over. for some reason, a few of the pots are destroyed and the berries half-eaten, as if a rodent had torn through them.

[break][break] reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a small pouch and the seeds fall into his palm. he plants a few more.

[break][break]

a nightmare.

[break][break] it happens often — perhaps not as often as it did before, but often enough nonetheless. he wakes up to the feeling of sweaty, twisted sheets, the feeling of hands wrapped around his throat, and the crazed, jagged grin of his brother bearing down on him. alexei. it had been weeks, maybe months, that he had thought of his psychopathic brother - of those sharp, sharp teeth, and of those blood-red eyes.

[break][break] cold water soothes his throat as he moves to his kitchen in his building in sootopolis city, the reflection of night time stars glittering in the sky above.

[break][break] usually, it would be nothing. usually, he wouldn't even think about it. for some reason, however, something draws him past his kitchen to his living room, to stare out at the endless abyss that is sootopolis bay.

[break][break] a flicker of translucent light, one that draws him over even still. his fingers grasp against his screen door, pulling it open, so that he can stare down at his garden. barefeet tread against the grass as he stands in the middle of the moonlight, his eyes glancing upon a creature that stay floating there.

[break][break] it's not one that he recognizes, at least not immediately. then, violet eyes fall upon a yellow crown and shimmering red jewels.

[break][break] "are you —"

[break][break] his words fall upon empty air. suddenly, as if nothing was there, jayden finds himself standing in the middle of his garden, palms open to the sight of unripen fruits. confusion flickers in his violet gaze; had he taken the fruit before it was ripe? it is unlike him.

[break][break] there is an unsettling sensation in his chest, and for some reason, it feels like it has little to do with his nightmares.

[attr="class","littlejay"]

he tends to the garden with the safety and care of someone who had just watched two youtube videos, scoured a pokepedia article, and has spent countless hours in the sootopolis library. as keen as jayden is on exploring that of the afterlife and the illusions that it sometimes permits, he is much less acquainted with life. in fact, in many ways, he is still learning about it — bit by bit — not what it means to simply exist, but to be alive.

[break][break] it feels wrong — doing it, without him, without them.

[break][break] "iris! don't overwater." the vaporeon looks up from where she is splashing about, her aqua tail landing on a nearby tree. she looks over at her trainer, before bouncing away alongside lada and hesus. jayden sighs.

[break][break] he wipes his forehead, turning a page of a book titled salac-love-you-a-lot. he is focused on the activity at hand, so he doesn't quite notice the intruder that breaches through.

[break][break] hesus notices, however. the umbreon growls at the morpeko who is trying to pick one of the still-growing salac berries nearby. he is quick to bite at the other with snapping jaws, taking no qualms about snapping the smaller pokemon up in it's jaws. fortunately, the rodent is faster. it squeaks and leaps out of the voracious pokemon's way, scrambling in the dirt as the dark fox gives chase.

[break][break] it's only through the commotion that jayden notices — his gaze darts up, and sure enough, hesus is chasing some pokemon in circles amongst the dirt.

[break][break] he's quick to act. a pokeball goes flying in the air, aiming for the morpeko's small form.

[break][break] better act quickly, before hesus makes a mess of things.

[attr="class","ooc"] + uses one pokeball

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] in the year that he's been situated at sootopolis bay, jayden has grown a fondness for his garden. while he is by no means an expert, there is something comforting about seeing something that he's planted grow and flourish.

[break][break] in the garden, his pokemon flounder in the open space. in particular, his grass-types, his serperior and cacturne tend to the flowering fauna.

[break][break] he notes all of the details in a little blue notebook that he keeps by an end-table in his living room. there are pages on crystablooms, all of the successes and failures over several months. from paxton concordas 's stolen notes, and more, there are weeks of research.

[break][break] but today's effort is not on the flowering parasites that have all but ceased to exist in sootopolis.

[break][break] today, he reads a book on tomato plants.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

☉

[attr="class","littlejay"] the tomato plants are growing well, so he decides to move onto basil.

[break][break] he finds this to be more difficult, especially in the wintry months of hoenn, which this year seem to be colder than most. from the book that he ordered online, he learns that basil is a tropical herb. it requires six to eight hours of sun daily. he considers asking Elisabeth Fiorelli for help, but considering her new position she more than likely has better things to do.

[break][break] (plus, there is something about unnerving about her now that he has played her roundez-vous route. maybe he should put a little distance between them for now.)

[break][break] spraying some water on his basil plants, jayden leaves and crouches down in front of the crystabloom. they are small and weak, in fact very difficult to cultivate with the loss of the tree of life. yet, somehow, they hang on the bring of disaster even despite of that.

[break][break] there's something intriguing about that, something that jayden can't give up. with a piece of charcoal, he draws one of their petals in his notebook, observing their growth pattern.

[attr="class","ooc"]

☉