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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Jan 14, 2019 9:18:01 GMT

fate had left them there together under the pretense of collecting some plant samples for research, but the excuse was as weak as the circumstance that made it through all chance to plague them with affliction.

"do you remember when we used to play here?" his question is portrayed on his face as he looks down at her, a sense of fond reminiscing obscured by the guilty pangs of regret crinkled like wrinkles on his forehead. it takes all his will power to avoid wrestling the silent vibration that goes off in his pocket, the never ending liveliness of his phone reminding him that his time is limited.

his attention is fixated on the fingers that demand both his attention and his hold. despite the tension, the silent friction that resides in the chasm of the time they spent apart, the serene nostalgia of the petalburg woods is enough to bring them back together. holding her hand had been a simple task back in the day, something done out of a childish attachment - a fear of being separated. it had been a fear that fernando had long forgotten and therefore fell victim to. now, having her fingers within his own confuses him, yet it invigorates the wild thumping in his chest. she feels soft, softer then he deserves, soft enough to melt away in his inner turmoil.

the heart wants what it wants but the amavi have a way around it. fernando is uncertain of how long it'll last but he clings onto her hand for dear life. he promises her himself as a heirloom from an oath passed years ago and today will be the day to fulfill it.

persephone amavi

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perse

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Jan 19, 2019 2:12:46 GMT

petalburg forest is one of the tamest semblances of wilderness in the region; a green strip dividing civilisation in the north and south, flat ground, reasonably weak and non-hostile pokemon. the magic it held in their youth is mitigated somewhat now that she knows the league keeps it so - a very expansive but ultimately cultivated nature reserve, fit for even the most inexperienced traveler to run errands between the two cities it connects.

persephone idly traces his knuckles with her thumb and wonders why none of this feels strange. or rather, it must, because her face is flush with the heat, but she can tell it errs more of the side of fever than embarrassment. she dismisses it as being overworked, or nerves at her promotion, or a combination of the two.

the sense of nausea is more difficult to explain away, so she doesn't try. this an opportunity for them to at least try to establish a sense of normalcy again, and detracting from it with probably psychosomatic complaints would achieve nothing.

"we really were deposited here for the most contrived reasons," she says, wrangling together a smile for him. "what was the purpose of learning the difference between an oran and sitrus berry root?"

FERNANDO SILPH

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silph

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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Jan 20, 2019 1:12:50 GMT

"perhaps." he's become increasingly oblivious these days. work and stress have a compounding effect and the astute mastermind, the man who knows it all, seems to have lost his touch. it's one of the many reasons why persephone's ailment goes amiss. the subtle clues are too vague for him to piece together her looming illness. "but i enjoy the time with you. it reminds me of our childhood."

he perks up at the question, knowing it like the back of his hand. well, not the exact answer but the lesson they cultivated from it.

"to understand the difference in their structure - why the sitrus takes so long to mature and harvest despite being the most popular choice of produce among trainers and health enthusiast."

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Jan 23, 2019 8:08:16 GMT

she smiles at his answer - more thorough than expected, but on second thought, of course he would memorised it down to clinical detail.

maybe it's the mention of their childhood that makes her weak, step faltering. an alternative version of events plays out before her eyes; one where her mother hadn't died, one where rocket didn't exist, and the wedge that drove them apart in the first place never occurred. her skin feels cold, covered in goosebumps, but her face burns with a fever heat.

they're at the deepest part of the forest now, which only means that they should be nearing the place that grand tree they once climbed still grows. as much as she would like to recreate that experience now, the unsteadiness of her hands tells her not to.

"do you mind," persephone begins, with a forced steadiness. "if we stop for a little bit." her smile is saccharine to make it seem like she craves an extra shred of his company (partially true), but more than that she hopes closing her eyes if but for a moment could make her head stop spinning.

FERNANDO SILPH

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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Jan 24, 2019 8:54:16 GMT

he's oblivious but not blind. once the signs become alarmingly apparent, fernando's the first to spring into action. "you don't look so good," he mentions out of concern, invading her personal space to take a closer look at her. he raises his hand to her head, touching her cheek with the back of his hand. she's warm.

too warm.

at a glance, she shows the symptoms of someone afflicted by STUN SPORE. but that's impossible. he'd been with her since they entered. his mind wanders to shroomish but their pollen isn't potent enough to take effect without being purposely spread. his instinct is to reach for his pokedex. "how do you feel?" whatever lies she tells will be rendered useless by the dex scan - or so he hopes. all he needs to know is what he's dealing with.

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Jan 26, 2019 17:54:09 GMT

she's grateful for his cool touch against her cheek, as fleeting as it is. persephone raises her own fingers to her cheek as if to feel the cold aftertouch.

regardless, clarity of mind comes and goes in intervals and she struggles to rationalise it in those moments of sharp lucidity.

persephone doesn't respond immediately, as if contemplating the question and what answer to give. lying to assuage concern is never a viable option with fernando because he always has a way to see through her, and lying about acute onset of illness in particular seems unwise.

"i'm not sure," persephone admits after a moment, letting her eyes flutter closed for a moment because the ground feels like its shifting underfoot. "nothing really hurts, it just feels like something's wrong with my head."

meeting his gaze, seemingly intense as always, at least steadies her somewhat as it serves as something of a focal point.

FERNANDO SILPH

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silph

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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Jan 27, 2019 3:46:28 GMT

their exchange is mutual but the concern is one sided. fernando doesn't trust her assessment nor his own. it is the pokedex that goes into detail, listing a series of possible ailments. some are natural, some have to be maliciously inflicted. fernando listens to the pokedex describe each one as he stares intently back at perse.

"it'll be okay. i'll take care of you." his reassurance comes out of instinct, a natural reaction with little reason behind stating it. the words just spill out, established as habit during the years he spent watching over her. persephone was always the ambition, the whimsical, the wonder, and he was always reserved enough to stay two steps back and analyze the situation before diving knee deep. the roles have changed but his methodology doesn't.

his first thought is to take her somewhere else. petalburg woods is not the place to treat her but that's only if she's able and willing. "can you move?" transporting her back to petalburg or rustboro to be examined is the ideal course of action but that's highly reliant on her. the list of possible causes starts to trim down when he physically enters her symptoms, her last comment honing the list down to three possible things with a decent confidence rate.

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Jan 31, 2019 6:35:28 GMT

persephone manages a shaky smile at his words although she's fairly certain it won't convince either of them. movement causes a rush of vertigo to her head, so she has to reach out and grasp fernando's forearm to steady herself. his close physical presence is as much a reassurance as his words.

and yet even though her head spun, persephone still feels an acute irritation at showing weakness to him again. he's no stranger to her vulnerability but she hates being brought down to this display of pain even so. more then anything she wants to regain her stoicism.

"sort of," she says slowly, turning her head stubbornly away so that he can't see her wince. it's not a headache; it's more than that, but eyeing the pokedex and the list of afflictions, persephone can't find the words to describe it more accurately to help him diagnose it.

more than anything she wants to sink to the earth and close her eyes for just a moment. "i'll be fine in a minute, i promise."

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silph

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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Jan 31, 2019 8:00:15 GMT

it's not often that he's delicate. at least not physically. but in this instance he treat her like precious treasure. each move is slow, deliberate to minimize any discomfort. she holds him by the arm and he uses his free one to type on his pokedex. it's tedious but it doesn't take more then a few buttons to pull up a list of necessary ingredients. again, taking her away is ideal but this is the next best alternative when considering their position.

he reads through the list twice to commit it to short term memory. it's easy enough when he pairs the image to a pokemon.

just as stubborn as her, fernando refuses to let her go. she clings to his forearm and he resorts to his other to juggle every activity. he pockets his pokedex and taps the ball mechanism to several pokeballs. beams of light erupt from each capsule and he's met with a familiar squadron.

"budew leaves, a paras shroom, skiploom spores, bellsprout vines, petilil petals, sitrus berries and roots. find as many of those as you can and report back. time limit is ten minutes."

orders are given and among his pokemon fernando trusts these the most to be able to carry out his orders. he doesn't expect everything but he'll make due with what he has. each pokemon splits off and retreats into the forest's depths to forage. he expects nothing but excellence.

persephone amavi

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perse

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Jan 31, 2019 16:13:20 GMT

persephone can hear the ingredients recited to his pokemon but can't quite form a connection between them through the haze in her head. maybe there was a benefit to their various excursions through the forest all those years ago after all. regardless, hearing his certainty in the commands given is reassuring, much like feeling of his warmth is.

her grip on him loosens, and she indulges her desire to cautiously sink to the earth. she doesn't expect him to join her on the ground because that's somehow too unceremonious for him, but this is preferable to standing because at least it means she's not afraid of losing her balance and falling entirely. persephone draws her knees to her chest and inclines her head to peer up at fernando.

"so what's the diagnosis?"

persephone tries to keep herself lucid by asking, because engagement with the situation will make her feel less passive, but the voice doesn't sound like it belongs to her; too tired, drained.

FERNANDO SILPH

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silph

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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Feb 1, 2019 5:22:18 GMT

assurance comes from certainty. in this case, it is neither a facade nor truth. fernando is not a doctor and has no clue what he's doing. his understanding of medicine and biology ends with the requirements of running silph - a minor dabble to understand the high level details of projects and undertakings of their pharmaceutical department.

when he feels her loosen, her weight bear down, fernando allows her to lay on the ground. she's right about him not joining her. instead, he uses this moment to peer around, glancing over their surroundings as he hears the inevitable sound of clashing not too far from their location.

"i have no idea."

his solution is absolute because his solution is everything. there wasn't a specific tailored result for what he deduced. no, instead fernando demands every ingredient listed. he will gather them in excess and make use of what he can secure. there's no guarantee that he'll be able to fetch everything he listed so he's playing it by the numbers.

the expense of the grass pokemon that he's pilfering from means nothing compared to her.

no one else does.

persephone amavi

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perse

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Feb 9, 2019 17:18:28 GMT

"oh," persephone manages after a momentary pause. for some reason, she still can't get used to fernando's honesty, especially when it comes with the admission of not knowing something.

persephone has to focus on him, on the outline of his figure, because it's all she can make out clearly, anchoring her - be it because of the way the light fell or because her vision blurs together, she can't tell which it is.

"i feel like i should have paid more attention to what makes up all those antidotes my mother tried to teach us."

she never expected any of that to be of any actual practicable use because it was all supposed to be just play-acting, attempting to keep a dying tradition alive. and yes, all of this is barely formulated small talk, but at least it helps her stay conscious.

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silph

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TAG WITH @silph

POSTED ON Feb 14, 2019 10:25:57 GMT

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honesty is a liability. fernando only uses it because maintaining a lie is impossible. at this level, to someone so close to him, putting up a front becomes unsustainable. she knows him too well. being upfront lets her know that this may not work and she seems fine with it. unfortunately for him, it's anything but.

"you and me both."

his initial thought was to respond with how her mother only wanted the best for them. something along the lines of how everything she said was important. what little intuition he has decides against it. better not to bring elysia up in her current state. it'll only bring the mood further down hill from here.

slowly, the pokemon start to make their way back. the lack of screams in the forest belie what actually happens. fernando can tell by how the leafs are shaped, the way they're cut from the stem, that his pokemon showed their might. the idea would sicken perse so he avoids addressing it.

"you'll be okay."

he finally has enough to make the first concoction. unfortunately he has nothing to hold the contents. so, with what little space he has, fernando juggles several budew leafs in his hand, using the other to tear them in half. the bellsprout root he has is also turn apart, exposing the vines innards and spreading what liquid it has onto the leafs. a push of his hand is enough to gesture at perse to take it. he's kneeling next to her, attentive.

"chew on this until dried and slimy. spit it out after."

persephone amavi

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perse

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TAG WITH @perse

POSTED ON Feb 20, 2019 19:45:00 GMT

she recognises the substance almost instantly, if not by the appearance, then by the smell and consistency of the mixture itself. budew leaves, other pieces of the local forest life.

it's unpleasant but not particularly surprising. what training she had with the ranger branch of the league as a cadet only reinforced the somber truth; ultimately pokemon sacrifices can, and need, to be made if it's for a greater human benefit.

fernando's concern is touching, and persephone is gracious when she accepts the mixture offered to her, duly following his instructions. the scene sparks a sense of deja vu, whether due to the familiar backdrop or to the prominent taste of the budew leaves. or maybe it's nothing, her mind playing tricks on her.

unsure if it is supposed to alleviate anything instantly, persephone waits for a moment before her lips quirk into a ghost of a smile.

"you look so worried." it's probably an obvious observation but seeing the expression on fernando's face felt somehow unnatural. it's sweet nonetheless.

FERNANDO SILPH

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silph

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TAG WITH @silph