kabedon? kabedon't. nagi has no comprehension of what's going on beyond experiencing sheer, primal terror. [break][break]

the charms of the fleur tea atelier's expensive, floral-scented toilets are lost entirely on him, as he scrambles backwards, straddling the toilet seat and attempting to climb halfway up the back wall like some kind of terrified house lizard. [break][break]

"what the fuck—" as nagi scrabbles futilely for a handhold along the smooth marble-tiled wall, the notes he had taken along his inner forearm during the tea room challenges slip in and out of view from under the sleeve of his hoodie — tantalisingly, like a victorian lady baring scandalous glimpses of her milk-white, bony ankle to her illicit lover on the other side of a smoky boudoir. that sweet, sweet 8pt font-sized lore, just barely within sight. “andrea, what on EARTH—” [break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau [break]

The PokéManiac's glasses shone the moment she noticed the scribbles on the boy's forearm. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! I wanna see it. I wanna see... everything!" She manically declared, sticking her tongue out, almost as if licking her lips in anticipation of a delectable meal.

If she had claws, she would have torn Nagi's hoodie to shreds. Instead, she settled for grabbing its seams and roughly pulling it over the youth's big head, before taking it off completely and throwing it over the booth's wall, like hanging clothes off a folding screen. She didn't stop there. She got on her knees, her blushing face hovering in front of Nagi's pelvic area, as she undid his zipper, and...

Well, this is as far as the narration will go. Fading to black, we shall leave the rest up to the reader's imagination. Suffice to say, neither of them would ever speak again of what happened in that restroom.

Several minutes later...

The duo could be found sitting in the dining area, fully clothed. Andrea's Munchlax, Doraemon, was wolfing down all the treats that were inside the gift basket, while the girl frantically jotted down on a journal whose hard cover was riddled with Pokémon stickers.

"There we go. Everything we learned and everything we saw is now written here. Shall we review it?" She proposed, setting down the journal in the middle of their table.

nagi miwa

☉

"ANDREA WHAT THE FUCK WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WRITE ANYTHING THEREFKDFJKSDHF— KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA— ”[break][break]

crash.[break][break]

and the scene goes black.[break][break]
[break][break]


pressing a complimentary bag of frozen grapes to the grape-sized lump at the side of his temple, nagi nibbles sullenly on a madeleine. [break][break]

if you asked me, you could’ve done with seeing a little less.[break][break]

but they resolved to never speak of it again, so he doesn’t say it. nothing happened in the toilet of the fleur tea atelier.[break][break]

“the first room,” he says instead, fidgeting with his sleeve. “the inscription was about sinnosian cosmogonic myth.” [break][break]

and one looked upon time's steady pace, and one looked upon the expanse of space — dialga and palkia. he shutters his eyes, rooting through whatever memory he has left that hadn’t been knocked loose by his painful dalliance with a very expensive, very porcelain, and very hard toilet seat. [break][break]

“... and moltres’ and her avatar. and the kindler clan. what do you make of that?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

"Sinnoh, huh? I thought about that too. It sounded very similar to the Original Story." Andrea checked her Rotom Phone, quickly browsing Canalave Library's archives, until she found the relevant snippet. "From itself, two beings the Original One did make. Time started to spin. Space began to expand." She read it aloud.

"The Original One, Almighty Sinnoh, Arceus... People say his name all the time, but is he a Pokémon or an abstract concept?" The young PokéManiac pondered, while sipping her tea. "Something doesn't add up, though... The Original Story mentions only two beings, while the inscription mentioned four." She said, flipping the journal open. "And one looked through its pane, and one looked for disorder to maintain... Who could those other two be? And why are they not mentioned in Sinnosian mythology?"

Then came the question of Moltres. This one was even more perplexing. "I dunno much about avatars." The draconic cosplayer admitted with a slight frown. She and Nagi discussing avatars was like the two most unpopular kids in school wondering what those in the cool kids club did. She hummed in deep thought. "Hmmmmm, who to ask about legendary Pokémon that have disappeared recently..." Perhaps someone else they knew could shed light into the mystery surrounding Moltres and her avatar.

nagi miwa

☉

nagi can only shrug in response to andrea’s barrage of questions, leaning forward for a better look at the notes in andrea's journal. lost to vagaries of history, or intentionally scrubbed from the records? nagi is, at best, an armchair theorist, not a theologian. but it does make him wonder — [break][break]

“and why, of all places, are these inscriptions here?” [break][break]

a high-class teahouse dedicated to intrepid battlers didn’t seem, at first glance, to be a place ripe for religious speculation. are they all just cryptic riddles for curious challengers, or is something larger at work? [break][break]

creation myths, missing avatars, pitch-dark rooms and unexpected feats of nature; the two of them, he suspects, are out of their depth. [break][break]

he raises an eyebrow as andrea hums. the movement makes his temple twinge. “you know someone?” [break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

Nagi's audible musings caused Andrea to sigh. "You're not helping me here. That just raises more questions!" She whined, leaning over the table and clutching her head with both hands. Seeing his trainer get frustrated, Doraemon reached out his cookie crumb and chocolate-coated paw, gently patting the girl's shoulder.

"We can't give up yet! We got through the Tiered Tea Room by using our wits and we can do the same here!" The young PokéManiac said, quickly recovering from her defeatist state. Browsing through her contacts list on her Rotom Phone, she nodded at Nagi's next query. "I know someone who might know something, but I'll have to ask him what he knows first, so I don't know."

So, while a separate conversation simultaneously happened on her screen, Andrea pondered what other clues they had to work with. "Let's circle back to that later. What about the second room? The trainer there spoke of Rayquaza and the super-ancient Pokémon, while the inscription mentioned something about two paths and an almighty god. Could that also be talking about Arceus?" She speculated.

nagi miwa

☉

"there's nothing wrong with questions," nagi says, with a shrug that tries and fails at nonchalance. [break][break]

he had always been the sort of reader who relished the rising action more than the resolution. the slow build of foreshadowing and the fever of the chase. questions on questions, the yawning abyss of a mystery in front of him; how could he not feel a thrill now? [break][break]

he digs the point of his elbow into his thigh, resting his chin the meat of his palm as he turns over andrea's question and the second verse over in his head.[break][break]

"maybe." his index finger taps a rhythm against the side of his cheek. "almighty sinnoh. it fits." [break][break]

"and the second half. do you remember what she said, before we... came back?" teleported back. nagi's voice falls lower, as he roots through his memory and repeats the cryptic lady's words. "halt your ambitions. stop seeking pacts with powers unknown. something-something regret and darkness." [break][break]

O you, who live in relative comfort dwell,[break]
I know your wish- it does not bode well.[break][break]

"the second verse's you. is it... us?" he pauses. "general us. hoenn us. not just us-us."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

Andrea tilted her dragon-hooded head confusedly at his words. "Came back... from where?" Unlike Nagi, she hadn't registered the whole incident as an interdimensional experience. She wasn't sure what had happened there, honestly. She just knew that it had been weird.

"I think she said something like..." The girl took off her nerdy glasses and assumed a more mature look. She placed one arm underneath her bust, pushing it slightly upwards to appear more top-heavy than her costume usually allowed her to look. "Stop seeking pacts with powers unknown. It only ends in regret and darkness." She finished the rest of the phrase, impersonating the mysterious, white-haired lady to a T, down to nearly perfectly replicating her maternal aura.

"That made no sense, though!" The Dragon type enthusiast complained, putting her glasses back on and slouching over the table. "Not everyone in Hoenn has the same wish. My wish is to become a Pokémon! And I'm gonna do it with the incredible power of science, not by making a pact with unknown powers! Unless I could turn into a Pokémon with black magic..." She stroked her chin, visibly tempted by the idea.

Andrea furrowed her brow, eyeing her fellow megane intently. "Say, what is YOUR wish?" She curiously inquired. No matter how many layers of clothing she removed from the man called Nagi, the inner workings of his mind were still an enigma to her. An enigma that she was suddenly intrigued by.

nagi miwa

☉

chronically-online enough to have a broad awareness of niche subreddits and self-aware of his own eccentricities, andrea’s declaration after her play-by-play, bust-for-bust re-enactment of the lady’s parting words is met with a quick, sideways tip of his head and internal hm. checks out.[break][break]

"... don't quote me, but i think black magic definitely counts as powers unknown.” [break][break]

he wonders, briefly, what a monkey’s paw situation with a wish like that could turn out. a hard-as-tacks, still-as-tacks hell of life as an eternal, unevolving metapod, maybe.

not that his own wishes wouldn’t come with a heavy price. andrea’s question gives him a moment of pause — a shadow of tension flickering over his features. his own wish, in comparison to hers, is less whimsical. selfish. all fruitless vainglory, futile ambition, as boring a story as they come.

which is why he should know better than to wish for it. [break][break]

“i want a bagel.” also, someone to pay for his server hosting. and a chair that doesn’t kill his back to sit on. “two bagels.” [break][break]

he shrugs, and drives the spotlight of the conversation away with all the finesse of a slow-footed tauros. [break][break]

“which pokemon? if you’re making deals with an evil witch, i hope you pick something good.” [break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

While not as revelatory or eye-opening as one would have hoped, Nagi's wish was a simple one. His paltry attempt at trolling flew right over his dragon-hooded companion's head, who took his words at face value. "Bagels, huh?" She repeated aloud.

It just so happened that Doraemon was about to gorge himself on a delicious-looking, cream-filled bagel. Andrea snatched the round pastry right out of the Munchlax's mitts, who cried bitter tears for his treat being taken away, but quickly got over it; there were still many treats in that gift basket. "Say aaaaah..." The draconic cosplayer opened her mouth far and wide as a demonstration, while trying to fit the bagel inside Nagi's own. "One bagel down. Now your wish is halfway fulfilled!" She added with the brightest of smiles. Never change, Andrea, never change.

After the bespectacled youth expertly tilted the spotlight back on her, the young PokéManiac contemplated her choice in the theoretical scenario he had presented to her. "Hmmmm, if I had to pick one, it would definitely be Hydreigon. Then Chomper and I would be like twins!" She opted, but almost instantly changed her mind, frantically waving her hands. "No wait! I'd pick Dragonite! No no, Goodra! Or rather... Salamence, Garchomp, Tyranitar, Charizard, Gyarados, Onix! Ugh, why do there have to be so many cool Pokémon!?" The girl groaned, the slew of options causing her mental exhaustion.

nagi miwa

☉

nagi doesn't say aaah as much as mrghfkl. [break][break]

the bagel smushes into a closed, unsuspecting mouth. cream smears over his cheeks, onto his spectacles. into his nose. as he desperately chokes down as much of the bagel as he can before he suffocates, he pictures the proverbial finger on the monkey's paw curling down. [break][break]

if this is what hand-feeding is like, he never wants it to happen again.[break][break]

while andrea weighs her hypothetical options, nagi discreetly blows the cream out of his nose into a napkin.[break][break]

"dunno. to trap people making wishes?" he answers. his voice still comes out nasal; he's going to be breathing in cream for days. "if i were an evil witch, i'd turn you into a dragon chimera. or a ditto." [break][break]

he sits back in his seat, oblivious to the spot of cream still streaking his right cheek. [break][break]

speaking of cool pokemon — [break][break]

"what do you think about enamorus?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]

Blissfully unaware of the fact that she'd almost drowned Nagi in sweet, floury goodness, Andrea tried to visualize what a 'dragon chimera' would look like, picturing herself as a Scylla-esque monstrosity with a woman's torso and a lower body consisting of many slithering dragon heads. Sadly, due to the writer's lack of a budget, no commissioned art is available at this time.

"SO COOOOOOL!! I wanna be a chimera right now!" The Pokémon-obsessed girl jovially exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with giddy excitement. Reaching for a spare napkin, she cleaned the sticky white stuff that trickled down the bespectacled youth's face. "That's not where cream is supposed to go. It's supposed to get inside your body." She remarked, any innuendos being purely unintentional.

Placing a finger on her chin, the young PokéManiac pondered over his next query. "Enamorus... She looked very regal, like a legendary Pokémon. Didn't that mysterious woman say that she was related to Spring? Assuming Enamorus is a 'she', of course. Calling it female just because it's pink is pretty clichéd. Pink can be a manly color too, don't you think? Slowbro is pink, after all. What's more 'macho' than a Slowbro?" The girl mused, getting slightly sidetracked.

nagi miwa

☉

for a heart-stopping second, nagi thinks that andrea is making her third, napkin-assisted attempt on his life for the day. when all she does is wipe at his cheek, with no well-meaning, misguided collateral damage, he thanks the callous, fickle unlucky stars watching over him for their benevolence.[break][break]

“gwah,” he exclaims anyway, leaning away from her outstretched hand. [break][break]

he scrubs his cheek with pad of his thumb, trying to rub off the residual stickiness. the innuendo in andrea's statement flies over his head in an elegant parabolic arc, landing in the back of his mind for him to remember off-handedly and stew in embarrassment about approximately a full week later.[break][break]

“maybe igglybuff?” he shrugs — the relative macho-ness of pokemon isn't something he has had the compulsion to rank. he steers the conversation back towards enamorus. "the lady in black called her the herald of spring. i’d never even heard of her before.” [break][break]

a beginning of beginnings. [break][break]

“arceus, moltres. springtime in the flesh." he says it with his usual veneer of placidity — but under the skin of his wrist, his pulse thrums with an anxious excitement. “it’s an all-star cast.”
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-litwick"]