He was supposed to go back to rest before heading to the next city.[break]
That was the plan.[break][break]

Attempting to study the Unown. That had been the topic of his most recent assignment, and while it had been the farthest from combat, the task itself had more or less been easy funding. Whether or not he’d been successful or not had ultimately been irrelevant (though he did have to admit, the day beforehand had been a little bit more eventful than he’d expected), but what mattered then and there had been how he was done.[break][break]

And yet...there he was. Unlike her, he preferred to be more perceptive— and the only small amount of saving graces (save for her obliviousness or ignorance; neither of which he couldn’t quite pin down) had been the hood that he wore. Amidst the crackling and flashes outside, it was only natural for him to have pulled it up, but upon noting the quickly approaching appearance of a certain other person, he’d frozen for all of a few moments before leaning against the wall a bit more, and had even gone so far as to turn to face it in attempt to hide his face a tad better.[break][break]

And then the power cut out.[break]
And then she spoke.[break][break]

He remained silent for a while longer before inhaling and sighing within a similar, deep manner.[break][break]

”...Much to my chagrin, yes.”

AYAME FUJIWARA[break]

☉

ah, of all the people.[break][break]

arceus certainly had a way of toying with her emotions. arceus certainly had a way with playing with her feelings, and making her feel like absolute shit. there's a soft sigh that escapes her lips shortly after hearing his voice, and thin fingertips wrap around her arms as she tries to warm rosy skin from the cooling, wet cloth. ".. what are the odds?" she asks, only to herself. though, doubtlessly, he's asking the same thing in his mind. [break][break]

it's almost laughable, that she can't run away from this situation, no matter how desperately she might want to. thankfully he's on the other side of the small chamber, so he can't see the expression on her face (but she has to wonder what he's thinking of). [break][break]

"what brings you to lilycove, ka--" she stops herself. stop calling him that. "asahiko?~"

Asahiko Hakuryuu

☉

The sound of his name upon her lips almost prompted a grimace to surface upon his face.[break][break]

And yet, as stubborn and persevering as a ground-type, he persevered. Silence had been the initial response to her words, though soon after a rise and fall of his chest and shoulders (a long breath breathed in, and a long breath breathed out), he merely shook his head to none other than himself before leaning his shoulder against the wall closest to him. ”...I don’t see why I’d be here for anything other than the norm,” he murmured with a faintly jagged touch within his tone. Verdant hues narrowed towards the corner of the encased room before him, and he crossed his arms before closing the former tiredly.[break][break]

He remained silent for a little while longer, furrowing his brows from beneath the shade of his hood as he allowed his weight to shift upon the wall a faint bit more, and breathing another, quieter sigh.[break][break]

”...This has been happening far more than I’d prefer it to…”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

a short, curt answer. [break]
typical. [break][break]

she's doesn't know why she expects anything less, by this point. after all, she's safe to assume that they were no longer what they were before. she can guess that he's trying to move on, and that she's only holding him back by crossing paths so often. for that, she's sorry, asahiko. "sorry" would never be able to describe how she felt, no matter how many tiems she'll think it. she's sorry that she left? she's sorry that she keeps coming back? she's sorry that she'll always seem to walk along the same path? she's sorry. [break][break]

she can't even smile hearing his words. she's too tired to smile, and it's too dark for him to be able to tell, isn't it? but she feels defeated, so she can only silently chuckle at her own misfortune. it's a tired and fatigued chuckle, used to bury the ache from the heart that throbs in her chest. "you don't like seeing me anymore?~" ayame asks, but she knows the answer - she's sure of it. she's sure that he loathes running into her, being reminded of a woman who ran off, and tells him nothing. [break][break]

'i still like seeing you' she wants to say. hold your tongue, ayame. even if you want to say it, hold your tongue (because you know you don't deserve to say that anymore).[break][break]

she's suffocating on her own heartache. who'd have thought she'd be feeling that, surrounded by the lingering scent of pumpkin spice in an elevator?

Asahiko Hakuryuu

☉

Silence.[break][break]

Silence alone had been her response, alongside an averted, glaring gaze towards the wall before him as he continuously leaned towards his side. While he had known rather well the sort of response he would elicit as a result of the treatment (regardless of whether it was inward or outward, for he knew the disdain that would come from it, in any case), the truth of the matter had been that he simply hadn’t wanted to deal with the situation at hand.[break][break]

Not when it happened too often, as it was.[break]
Not when he was trying so very hard.[break][break]

Once more, he breathed in within a slow, gradual manner, all before sighing it out between vaguely parted lips in a similar way. Shaking his head and closing his eyes beneath the shade of both hood and darkness, alike, he turned towards her- though rather than choosing to look her way, he merely bowed his head to himself while beginning to lower himself against both the wall and the floor. Steel himself. Brace himself. Commit to the matter at hand for as long as necessary, rather than forgetting what had been, for forgetting had been an impossible feat, in itself.[break][break]

Not when the one, clear reminder of such days stood before him.[break][break]
...Not when a face so dear (a face that he so dearly remembered and loved so dearly, and so adored in times long past, when it would offer both smiles and the faintest tinges of scarlet upon her rosy skin in response to select words and gestures) had been there, right in front of him, with no means of escape.[break][break]

”...Don’t joke about that,” he finally murmured after some time, breathing another sigh all the while. Lifting a hand and pressing it lightly against his face, he leaned further back against the wall behind him while beginning to rub his eyes in exasperation and fatigue. ”I highly doubt that’s what either of us need, at the moment.”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

they've both seen better days. [break][break]

his response is met with another smile on her lips, though not one of a facade, for once. it was of defeat. "... mmn.." she can only hum in response, just a few moments afterwards. no one was joking, despite the sing-song tone she plays to lighten the mood in this situation, she was being serious. she was being honest. [break][break]

a little too late. [break][break]

"i'm serious." her tone lowers as she leans back against the wall, head turned slightly to rest the side of it just beneath the railing. her gaze is turned to him, though she can't see much in this darkness. [break][break]

she doesn't expect an answer.

Asahiko Hakuryuu

☉

She glanced towards him.[break]
He turned his head away with eyes closed in exasperation.[break][break]

”That definitely makes two of us.” The words, themselves, were flat— though they held themselves differently in opposition to the common tone he spoke with. Amidst the immediate, almost sharpened retort, one may have been able to catch the faintest bit of…stress. Bitterness, even. ”I’d like to think I’ve made myself abundantly clear by now, just as you have.”[break][break]

He opened his eyes, albeit faintly and narrowly, to gaze idly upon the wall nearest to him through the darkness.[break][break]

”For the sake of making whatever amount of time we have to wait more bearable, just leave it be.”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

it's for the best. [break][break]

he's so desperate to avoid her gaze, it's almost endearing. it's almost amusing. it's almost painful. since he's found her, he's tried to glance away from her eyes. doesn't it hurt, ayame? does it ail you to know that he tries to avoid you, tries to refrain from speaking to you, because you've hurt him so? for leaving without a word, all for the sake of your revenge? the revenge was bitter, and it was sweet, but watching him as he is now, only a few feet away, she can say for certain that it wasn't worth it in the end. [break][break]

not if it meant leaving him the way she has. [break][break]

but what is there to do, when she's pit between the consequences of her own actions and a hard place? it's to be expected; this is her karma. though she's regret what she's said - desperately, and dearly - saying that shell take it back now will result in him brushing her words off, trying to move on. trying to move on from her. trying to leave her (which she expects, and wouldn't fault him for, but it still stings her heart nonetheless). [break][break]

perhaps he hates her, and it's for the best, as she leans her back against the elevator wall to close her eyes in thought. she'll let the silence between him, and the bitter words that cling and hang over her fill the space. though she knows, holding her arms, as her smile fades, that at another time, she would have leaned against his shoulder, whispering sweet words whilst playing with his fingers. they used to do that all the time. [break][break]

but this was for the best. the bitterness, the hatred, the anger and the tension was all for the best. [break][break]

... [break][break]

was it really for the best?

Asahiko Hakuryuu

☉

For a man whose closest companion had formerly been silence, it truly had a way of becoming so very deafening. It had been something to cause no shortage of discomfort for him, regardless of whether alone or with others— and especially in the face and presence of the very person he seemed all too destined to continue crossing paths with.[break][break]

Suffocating.[break][break]

Suffocating to the point of needing a deepened breath, and suffocating to the point of maintaining it within an upheaved chest in an attempt to properly savor and process it. The breath itself, however, simply joined the silence; as did the sigh that followed it; and as did the continuous gaze he allowed to linger upon the vague, dimmed sheen of the wall he focused upon.[break][break]

After some time, however, he became aware of a faint rustling upon his belt; bicolored hues of amber and viridian straying towards it in response. His fingers only grazed the capsule for a split second’s worth of time before the room illuminated faintly within the familiar flash that accompanied the appearance of a Pokemon, and he hadn’t even needed to hear the cries that came alongside her arrival as the features of her stubby little form shone within the short lived glow.[break][break]

He grimaced within the returned darkness, clicking his tongue softly and furrowing his brows while beginning to reach out.[break][break]

”Tch… Hanabi—” he murmured, swiftly, barely managing to graze his fingers along the drake’s scales before she so swiftly shifted away from her. A small, sighing hiss of disdain left his lips as the ever excited babbling of the dragon only seemed to quickly make their way towards the woman opposing him. ”Han—... Oi, Hanabi…!”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

sitting in silence is familiar, nowadays, when she reminds herself that it's alright for her to be without him. sitting here with her back against the wall is a little less bearable - because he was there? sitting not too far away from her, and yet so far away and distant. she knows now that there's nothing left to say, and after enough attempts to try and speak to him, only to be met with sternness and stoicism (not unlike how he was before, but now she can feel the disdain, and she's starting to believe that it's hatred). [break][break]

but ayame, isn't this what you wanted? for him to forget about you, and to leave you be, and for you to wallow and rot in your need for vengeance, and your anger alone. it's hypocritical for you to start pursuing and chasing him again. it's unreasonable, out of line and you have no right. [break][break]

the woman closes her eyes, head tilted and turned away (so she isn't tempted to open them, to try and get a read on his face). her arms rest against her stomach with her knees tucked closer to her chest. she intents to keep them closed and ride out the silence until the lights come back on, and until the elevator doors open again. [break][break]

that is, until she hears the soft footsteps and wobbling of a dragon pokemon, making her way over to the trainer. a pokeball on her belt quivers, as though knowing, but not daring to leave the confines as to not cause damage to the already small space. so she opens her eyes then, adjusted tot he darkness, and turning her head towards the little stubby arm reaching out into the dark. "hanabi..?" she speaks in a soft voice, only to let out a soft gasp at the baby dragon begins to paw at her, as though searching for her father's pokeball.

Asahiko Hakuryuu

☉

"Hana—... Tch…”[break][break]

A raise within tone and volume, alike, that had been caught as swiftly as it appeared, least the poor babe be caught amiss in fear and confusion. With a pensive guise of distaste strewn clear upon his face, he gazed through the darkness in tandem to the green scaled drake as she ambled about, barely giving the trainer within her sights the briefest of glances as she began to stir before leaning forward. Rocking hastily upon his feet and then onto his knees, he reached over once more.[break][break]

Though a sense of guilt dwindled within his heart upon noting the sound of disdain that left his own Pokemon once he’d managed to begin lifting her up and away (though not without some resistance as her little fingers grasped tightly upon the fabric of the woman’s clothing), he simply furrowed his brows all the more throughout his attempts to distance the two of them from the other side of the room.[break][break]

”Hanabi, please...” he sighed in exasperation, reaching over attempt after attempt to undo her hands. ”This is not the time for this…”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

"h-hanabi--" she'd help with prying off hands, had she not felt the vicinity of his. it's her own bubble, so she'll naturally get a feel when it's suddenly intruded upon. even if she knows it's just to try and retrieve the small dragon pokemon. though he won't react, nor notice it, he's gotten closer - she can feel it. so she refuses to move much in the darkness, in fear of touching him (in fear of him immediately pulling away from her touch, like she's something to be disgusted at). [break][break]

"hanabi, please, hanabi can't come out right now.." her expression softens, listening to the soft growls of the axew who clings on, trying desperately to find comfort in her father in this darkness. ayame doesn't want to push her off (the trainer is already busy doing that), so instead her body begins to move away. slight movements and shifting away, trying to put distance between herself and the pair. [break][break]

one hand plants itself into the ground and the other, closest to the dragon, begins to try and pinch to tug the cloth from the axew's stubby hands. of course there's care - until the surface she sits on abruptly stutters and shakes. rattling can be heard through the walls and she quickly attempts to catch herself against the wall. [break][break]

when the shuddering settles, her eyes crack open to find the light flickering a few times. then she glances up and--[break][break]

oh.

Asahiko Hakuryuu

☉

The chill of the wall had been the first thing to meet his senses as he found the heel of his palm dug against it.[break][break]

It moved swiftly as a sense of imbalance overcame him, with nothing but the remaining hand to maintain the hold he had upon the drake within his grasp. Hues of a bicolored brilliance widened within a faint, yet instinctive manner as the jolt shook him within bounds both physical and metaphorical, leaving him clicking his tongue as he caught himself[break][break]

Following that, he’d only needed to stare for a moment longer before hastily leaning back.[break][break]

Yet again, no words left his lips save for the ones used in an attempt to further hush the babe that continuously reached for the woman and her own Pokeballs, but after sparing her several moments’ worth of a pensive glance, he shifted his attention up towards the top of the cabin.[break][break]

The lights returned. Power was back.[break]
He glanced to the door, standing up quickly and sighing under his breath as the floor display began counting up again.

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉