[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]somehow, the thought brings some semblance of peace.

"i -- i'm not quite surprised."

she lets out a soft chuckle.

"the guardian deity has never been one to be conventional. it's... always been a bit on the amused side with everything."

tapu lele was, without a doubt, a creature of whims. the deity never did anything without knowing it would enjoy it. even healing came with some sense of carelessness, as if tapu lele knew it could inflict just as much pain as it did relief.

and sometimes, she wonders why she had ever been chosen by such a creature at all.

the concept melody brings is one she hadn't quite thought of before. it's food for thought, enough to gorge herself on until she's bursting at the seams.

she still remembers the feeling in her chest when tapu lele had moved on to another. the hollowness and then... the warmth. it had seemed as odd as it does now.

and maybe melody has a point... maybe the island guardian really had cared about her in its own deranged sort of way.

"it's possible," she murmurs. "i always wondered why it left my mist in tact, truthfully. i suppose in a way it had been a parting gift."

melody asks a question of her, then, and her eyes spark back to life as if summoned out of a dream, out of a purple mist.

"i'm not sure if my mist could do that but i might have a pokemon with sleep powder?"

a look of reassurance, tinged at the edges with concern, is quick to morph her face.

"you know you have nothing to worry about, right?"

she's as certain as she is motherly when she follows it up with a soft, "i would never let anything happen to you."

Melody Miro

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she understands the concept a little more, then.

the fear melody feels is not something she can simply erase with words and a comforting presence. it's invaded her bones, right down to the marrow. something like that isn't easily shaken... that much she knows all too well.

"yes," she murmurs. her smile is small but warm. "that's alright."

once melody's hatterene places her to sleep, illeana gets to work.

the machine hums softly with life. and after a few moments of calibrating the mri machine, a faint metallic clanging begins. somehow... it reminds her of a war drum.

the scans take a few moments to upload onto the screen. once they do, the scientist stares at what they hold.

her eyes narrow into slits quickly.

"what the hell?"

it's soft, barely audible. in the other room, with the help of her golurk, melody has been moved to a comfortable bed to sleep off the rest of her hatterene's influence. it leaves illeana by herself, quiet and lost in thought.

she pulls another medical file to be certain.

a small, yellow tab with black letters claims the file as a person, as someone more than just papers and analysis. the longer she stares, compares, and sighs... the more certain she becomes.

the blood analysis only confirms what comparison breeds.

there's another beat of silence before illeana's voice fills the room. it's hushed, as if she doesn't want melody to overhear.

"hey, it's me," she murmurs into the receiver of her phone. her eyes stray toward melody's sleeping frame before continuing. "i gave melody a physical as scheduled. i -- you're going to want to see these results."

faintly, the echoing tap of her heel against tile persists.

"i pulled your file to be certain but..."

she lets out a soft sigh and glances down at the papers around her. regardless of physical differences, the genetic structure is unmistakable.

"it's the nihilego toxin, dahlia goode."

her voice is confident when it returns.

"i'm certain i can recreate the cure. i'll just need a few days..."

Melody Miro