[attr="class","jaytop"]

[attr="class","littlejay"]

starlight sparkles in his eyes as he walks trudges down the shore, wearing nothing else but his noah faber patented shorts and an unbuttoned white shirt that billows in the night time breeze. half of him wonders if he should perhaps wear something warmer — the other half does not quite feel like trudging into his backpack to pull out a sweater.

[break][break] several couples sit on blankets of their own making as they prep for the firework show — one like many others on the night of slateport fest. jayden himself - like he does most times these days - finds himself alone. he knows that mint frost is probably about somewhere, maybe even luka chêne . maybe he'll see either of them.

[break][break] but fate is a funny thing — instead, it's who he does not expect to see that appears before him.

[break][break] a pause.

[break][break] "DEREK HOFFMAN ."

[break][break] the glow of fire flickering in the distance, jayden's gaze falls on the three unknown that float in front of him. without warning, his own unknown burst out of their pokeballs to join the three — an unknown-k and an unknown-v.

[break][break] "i didn't expect to find you here."

[attr="class","ooc"] DEREK HOFFMAN

[break] HOT SUMMER NIGHTS

☉

"...Me neither." The response is given out of reflex, both answering his physically being here, and also the state of mind Derek found himself in. After noticing this, though, he quickly snaps to attention. "Oh, hey! Uh... What about you though?"

Derek recalls seeing them with a group most of the time. Like mint frost, or Felix Gallagher. "Your friends decide to head in early or what?" Or maybe they ditched him.

While he didn't personally recognize it, this sudden idle chatter was a nice distraction from the worries that were doing their best to surface.

jayden cross | MISSION 2 OF 5

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[attr="class","littlejay"]

his lips purse in thought, brows furrowed together in confusion.

[break][break] "my friends?"

[break][break] he wonders who derek could be talking about. though, it does seem like a deceptively dad thing to say. the more and more he thinks about it, perhaps it isn't so strange that mint has such a young father.

[break][break] "i suppose," he says vaguely, even though he had no idea that DEREK HOFFMAN knew him, nor who he hung out with. "what about yours?"

[break][break] he watches the five unknown spin together above, their shadows from the fire flickering like ghosts in the distance.

[attr="class","ooc"] DEREK HOFFMAN

[break] HOT SUMMER NIGHTS

☉

"Yeah?" Why else would they be aimlessly wandering the beach? Well, maybe they enjoyed long walks with the sand beneath their feet. But when people were alone, a lot of the time they had a tendency to wander. Even if it were just the mind drifting from it's usual course.

"Mine too. Well, not that we're that close..." Most of the people Derek conversed with were one-offs. They spoke and then went their separate ways for another week or month or perhaps even a year. Callan was one of the few people he felt he could consider a true friend. If he weren't so busy with his band and gym, they'd probably be hanging out right now.

"Calling them my friend is easy, but I don't exactly see them often enough to really have that kind of connection." People in Hoenn were just nice. Friendly. But that wasn't quite enough for Derek to truly consider them all as such. He was a bit more picky than that.

jayden cross | MISSION 3 OF 5

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[attr="class","littlejay"]

"i can relate. i don't have many friends, either."

[break][break] he thought back to a conversation that he had with kepler brueshaber not that long ago. perhaps there were more like-minded people than he originally thought.

[break][break] "are friends defined by the frequency we see them?" his brow furrowed in thought. by that definition, he supposed that it was only recently that he and mint frost had become friends. then again, there was also the matter of the work that they shared, so it was difficult to define what separated them as companions of choice or necessity.

[break][break] "sometimes we are too busy to meet our friends," he comments. "though i don't think i care for them any less."

[attr="class","ooc"] DEREK HOFFMAN

[break] HOT SUMMER NIGHTS

☉

"Yeah, but friends are the people you want to be around."

Derek starts, looking up to his Unown as they dance around him and the fire. "So naturally you would make time for them, right?" Not that Derek could hold himself to that standard. He didn't have much of a grip on himself, between the gym, the woods—everything was slowly going to shit.

But even just running into someone you know could change your whole day. It doesn't even have to be significant, or a long time. Everything just seems more exceptional when it's by chance. And they had a word for that. Serendipity.

"I don't know. It's not that I am complaining, but things have been getting more and more hectic as of late." But that was just the way Hoenn was.

jayden cross | MISSION 4 OF 5

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[attr="class","littlejay"]

'... so naturally you would make time for them, right?'

[break][break] jayden blinks, as if it was the first time that he was considering such a subject. he hadn't once considered it. most of the people in his life had come and gone. even the people he considered to be close to them, he had never put them once before rocket. before his work. he'd merely just assumed —

[break][break] "it has been busy," he says instead, avoiding the topic of friends. the topic of their upcoming doom seemed - ironically enough - a much more familiar topic. "but that's to be expected."

[break][break] he stares up at the unknown circulating around them, wondering how many more secrets they might hold.

[break][break] "but i think the festival is a good place to relax," he says. "it's enjoyable."

[attr="class","ooc"] DEREK HOFFMAN

[break] HOT SUMMER NIGHTS

☉

"...Yeah, it has been."

Even though he started to drop in the leaderboards, it was still a lot of fun. The dunk tank. Diving for crowns and other treasure. Best of all was the Mantine surfing which brought him to memories of back home in Johto.

"I just feel weird. The world's ending. Or could end, whatever."

It made sense in some ways. They could all use a break. Enjoy themselves one more time. But with the dome, Derek couldn't go see his family. All he had was his friends, few as they happened to feel. And most of the time he wouldn't feel this way, but with the meteor on it's way...

"Guess I am just messed up about what's coming. Hard to take it all in." To save face in front of strangers, but especially close friends and peers. "Anyway, I think I am gonna turn in for the night. Need to make sure I get some sleep for tomorrow." Another field day in Slateport helped to keep one's mind off such things.

jayden cross | MISSION 5 OF 5

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[attr="class","littlejay"]

'did he really believe that?'

[break][break] jayden is genuine in his curiosity as he turns to the gym leader. did civilians and league believe so little in their leadership? or was it merely because they had never seen anything so horrifying as the end of the world?

[break][break] but that couldn't be true — they'd been at war before.

[break][break] he opens his mouth to say as much, however, the other man takes the time to leave. jayden is not in the habit of stopping others, especially when he has no reason to.

[break][break] "goodnight," he says instead, pushing himself to his feet. his feet slide against the sand as he follows the other towards the apartments proper. "i should head in too."

[attr="class","ooc"] DEREK HOFFMAN

[break] HOT SUMMER NIGHTS

☉