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The boomburst is loud, crashing against delicate eardrums as it surges across the sand. Like a knife through butter, the sound-based move cuts through the grit acting as a vacuum. But when the dust settles and the pressure of the attack fades, all that is left standing is.. nothing. [break][break]

Noivern whirls, skin-stretched wings wrapping around her defensively before they unfurl to lift her into the sky. Her wide, noise-sensitive ears twist and swivel and turn, living in constant movement and anticipation. They tremble, as does the fur along her back. She lies in wait, ever turning, but there is simply nothing to find. It is as if the Latias never existed, she'd blinked and had missed it.[break][break]

Emma, ears ringing, stumbles away from the fight and back around toward Angelo. Given the turn of events and the need to protect her image, she opts for the safe approach. She fumbles at the hem of her dress, shredding it to tear off a strip of fabric. With a snap of her wrist she attempts to dislodge the sand particles stuck to it before inevitably wrapping Angelo's shoulder where the bleeding was the worst.[break][break]

It soaks immediately but with the added pressure of her hand against the wound, she hopes to slow the bleeding enough. [break][break]

Meanwhile, Noivern is being toyed with. The Pokemon is blasted from above and its wings fold, unable to catch itself or slow its fall. She tumbles over herself in the sand, wing caught beneath her body painfully. This would, ultimately, be the end of their disagreement. Noivern does not opt to continue and instead lies exhausted in the sand and would eventually pick herself up to merely fly away.[break][break]

And Emma is left on the beach with Angelo, though she steps away as the man's Togekiss approaches. The Pokemon's life dew proves helpful in stopping his bleeding, at least temporarily.[break][break]

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notes: noivern's boomburst misses and she goes on the frantic defensive[break]
noivern is hit by dragon and 1ko'd, will eventually fly away to sulk and lick her wounds[break]
emma rips her dress to stop angelo's bleeding

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Emma Wolfe

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“You don’t need to do that…” Angelo frigidly utters under his breath, barely resisting the urge to fiercely squeeze Ankaa’s plumage until his knuckles paled. His muttered words stretching far deeper beyond surface level meanings and civil dismissals of aid. [break][break]

There was no thank you as Anna (Emma Wolfe ) rips off a strip of fabric to serve as a makeshift bandage. [break][break]

And there was no apology for earlier, either. [break][break]

But there also wouldn’t be a public accusation to be found when they reunite with the others... [break][break]

There’s a familiar form of a Lapras approaching, sailing swiftly over steadily calming waters with figures clinging to its back. Bringing with it both a pang of relief to ripple through his mauled chest and a sudden tightening of his salt-stained lips. [break][break]

Mistrust spirals acidic in his gut, corroding whatever façade Angelo wore as a second skin one more time as he blinks towards the woman in the torn dress, a brittle edge of frost crawling around the rim of ocean blue eyes. He couldn’t shake what he had seen but with no evidence to present for her part to play in Melody Miro ’s death – accidental or otherwise – he’d keep his lips sealed.[break][break]

Placing shaky blame on Anna in the vicinity of others would create nothing but a shitstorm of problems and inconveniences for himself. And it wouldn’t bring Melody back.[break][break]

He shrugs away from Anna and Ankaa both, although only one is intentionally cold in its dismissal. As if her nails would sink into his flesh like talons, too.[break][break]

Ignoring how shifting muscles agitate slow healing wounds and the accompanying chirp of protest from his Togekiss as he interrupts her medical aid, Angelo instinctively makes to stand on weak legs, biting back a strained grunt. Pulled only towards the approaching glint of gold by a drive far stronger than his own self-preservation. Not letting the pain hold him back. [break][break]

“Let’s get the hell out of here. I’ll tell the others about… about the accident.” That last word thickens, like he doesn’t quite believe it himself. Even though a brief look should tell Anna that, for now, an accident was all it would be. [break][break]

In his peripherals as he begins to walk, something white and crimson suddenly flickers into existence further down the beach. Bright, amber eyes trained directly on him – patiently beckoning. [break][break]

Latias waits for him. [break][break]

Angelo’s footprints in the sand still, attention branching.



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He’ll keep Captain Dross’s shaking fingers a secret from the rest of the world, if she pretends to not notice his quiet, uneven exhale of relief when their bodies step close.[break][break]

His gaze searches steadily over her, fingertips holding onto the wrist that gently cradles his face. Squeezing calloused fingertips tight against a fluttering pulse in a message of silent reassurance. For him and her both.[break][break]

And although Skyler’s light from her sudden, smiling outburst doesn’t quite reach every corner, shadows still lurking in the depths of blue, a faint grin of his own ghosts at the edges of his lips. Tension easing off exhausted muscles at the release of an amused breath from heavy lungs, pulled forth as she insults him without harm. [break][break]

“Me? What’d I do now?” [break][break]

Helpless not to be drawn in, he bends into the captain to briefly rest his forehead against hers, ocean eyes briefly closing to willingly block out all else. Stealing a moment to let the warmth that now radiates in his chest, fierce and utterly incapable of being ignored, chase off the cold that had seeped into his heart. [break][break]

Hoenn. A legend. Every single soul. They can wait five fucking seconds as he submerges himself in this feeling. In her...
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His next visitor comes bearing a gift.[break][break]

A lump of sodden, blue material levitates towards him after he leaves Skyler and the others behind in the shallows to steal some semblance of privacy with a cherished legend from Alto Mare’s history. Angelo’s lost item psychically placed into his outstretched hands with squelchy care, bringing forth a disbelieving chuckle from the courier’s weary throat. [break][break]

“No way. That’s mine… Where did you find it?” [break][break]

Latias lets out a little chirp, head tilted and eyes closing – smiling in her secrecy. [break][break]

Angelo wrings out the jacket that had somehow survived the blast, ocean water cascading down onto the sand in glittering droplets. He’d be lying if he said he was relieved solely from a money standpoint; this one was his favourite, after all. [break][break]

It’s when he’s finished giving the denim a quick shake-off that Latias inches forward, floating a little closer with her nose pointed towards the pockets. Searching with curious, soft sniffs. [break][break]

Angelo stills, in both motion and breath, watching as she tracks after a scent that belongs to something he knows isn’t there. At least not right now. She wouldn’t find the Soul Dew in his pocket today. [break][break]

“I don’t have it with me.” Ocean eyes don’t waver from amber when they peek up at him, drawn by the reassuring words that leaves his lips. “But I left it somewhere safe. Trust me, nobody with a braincell would risk it.” There’s no securer place he knows, than the Sotally Tober with Clarabelle on duty.[break][break]

There’s a pause then, weight sitting heavy as he considers the appearance of the second half of the Eon Duo as she floats before him. [break][break]

Was she acquainted with the jewel he carried with him? Is that why she was here? Was she looking for it?[break][break]

When Angelo next speaks, his words hold deeper depths than a simple promise or a confident declaration. [break][break]

They tell of a protectiveness towards the consciousness that resided within the dewy sphere and an attachment that grows with each strangely comforting, incoherent whisper against his skin when he holds it. [break][break]

The Soul Dew – Latios – hadn’t been the only one to choose… [break][break]

“He’s safe with me.” [break][break]

He’d like to think there’s a shared look of understanding between himself and Latias then, that she recognised a bond that he would not see broken, even if no names had been uttered aloud.[break][break]

“But you know…” Angelo’s lips curl after a moment, weary from exhaustion that eats at his beaten body but genuine none the less, as an open palm is presented flat. “If you want to see him, you could always come with. It’s the least I could do as thanks.” [break][break]

An offer is laid bare. Warm and inviting in its gentle, unassuming persuasion.[break][break]

She’s as welcome to take it as she is free to follow the same warm, spring breeze he also wishes to fly…




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