MARCH UPDATE

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POSTED ON Aug 4, 2022 9:04:14 GMT

Cillian Quinn, Tempest Quinn, and 1 more like this

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There is a flower that is only found in Sinnoh. They’re known as Diphylleia grayi. If you happen to have any in your possession, I would appreciate it if you brought some to my Sootopolis home.

It’s not really a home. One day, it might be, but as of right now, the truth of the matter is that Mars doesn’t have the time or energy to make the beautiful beachside house meet his ever so high standards. He hasn’t even officially moved, as made clear by the boxes still stacked in most of the spacious rooms. He can’t be bothered with it, honestly, for life had been too damn busy ever since he became an underboss.
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Ironically, that’s exactly why he needs this place, though. Because he had come to the inevitable conclusion that spending his nights in Sootopolis for at least half of the week would be the most efficient thing to do. The fact that it’s near Cillian Quinn and Tempest Quinn’s home is an added bonus.
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It’s a nice house. The kind of place she would have liked.
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That’s the problem, isn’t it?
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That these late summer days his thoughts keep wandering back to her, and even though Mars would gladly blame his new residence and label it as the problem, he knows that’s not the real reason.
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He should be in Sinnoh. He should be by her side. But, alas, that’s not possible these days, so Mars knows he will have to settle for what he can have:
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Memories, a bottle of her favourite liquor, and hopefully, the flowers she had once loved so much.

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[attr="class","tag"]Elisabeth Fiorelli

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Setting - Post DOTDD (Early July) / Pre CC[break]
Mission - Memorial Maintenance 🌟

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Lisa Bortiforte

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August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

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5'9" / 175.26 cm height

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TAG WITH @elisabeth

POSTED ON Aug 4, 2022 15:34:39 GMT

Martín del Mar likes this

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Diphylleia grayi. More colloquially known as the skeleton flower, or the chameleon of the woods.

And few men were such expert chameleons as Martín del Mar.

The large, umbrella-shaped leaves of this unusual blossom almost cradled the white flowers as Elisabeth gathered them in a stout vase, the tiny white petals fluttering with the movement. She carried it with great grace and care, for with the barrier in place, obtaining such a rare species of flora from Sinnoh was no easy feat.

More importantly, the recipient was someone she respected too much to disappoint.

This was a new place for her, this beachside home. Entering it felt like crossing a threshold, of a sort.

"Mars. A pleasure as always." Elisabeth met the gaze of the underboss with a smile possessing a hint of warmth, something that conveyed deference to his authority over her but also the familiarity of someone whose trust extended beyond obligation.

"I had wondered if holding onto these was a waste," she said, extending the delicate flowers to him gently, carefully. "I am glad to know their tender care has been worthwhile."

She didn't know why he'd asked her here personally. Why he hadn't simply gone to her flower shop, as he had so many other times.

So she waited, wondering if he might grant her an answer.

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Memorial Maintenance ✿ Outfit ✿ Martín del Mar

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Mars | Tuesday

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Canalave City, Sinnoh

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TAG WITH @mars

POSTED ON Aug 10, 2022 15:01:03 GMT

Elisabeth Fiorelli likes this

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He could have gone to her flower shop, that much is true, but also true is the fact that his time is limited. This is not how he had wanted to do any of this. Not how he had wanted to receive Natalia’s flowers, and not how he had wanted someone like Elisabeth Fiorelli to learn about something so personal to him.
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In the life of a man like Martín del Mar, adaptability is a necessity.
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”Elisabeth.” Despite everything, when he sees her, he smiles with the usual ease, as if his happiness were the weapon he wields against every obstacle life may throw at him. Yet, today, at this new home of his, that smile wavers and fades, for when Mars’ gaze falls upon the small blooms in the vase, his expression becomes pensive. ”I haven’t seen these in a long time… Thank you.”
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He’s careful when taking the flowers, as careful as her or even more – as if he were worried they might just turn to dust the moment they are in his hands. They don’t. Gently, he caresses a single petal, the sole sight of the flowers and the feel of them being capable of filling his heart with equal parts sorrow and nostalgia.
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If she were here to see them, she would have smiled. These flowers always made her smile.
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”Have you been to the memorial they’re building near where the tree was?” Only when asking this question it is that he pulls his gaze away from the flowers and looks at Elisabeth once more, thoughts of the now-gone Tree of Life bringing bitter memories of the terrible night of Necrozma’s attack. ”I’m taking these there, if you’d like to come.”
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Perhaps it’s something he’d be better off doing alone, but for some reason, this feels like the right choice.

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[attr="class","tag"]Elisabeth Fiorelli

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Mission - Memorial Maintenance 🌟

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Lisa Bortiforte

She/Her

August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

Bi/Heteroromantic

Bioterrorist

Underboss

5'9" / 175.26 cm height

Bury me in the roses and rot; I'll come back thorned.

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POSTED ON Aug 10, 2022 18:58:06 GMT

Martín del Mar likes this

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The way that Martín del Mar took the white flowers from her spoke of such exquisite gentleness it startled Elisabeth, somewhat. Everything the man did was possessed of a certain grace and ease, but in this moment, his manner seemed subtly different.

Lacking in self-assurance, Elisabeth realized belatedly. Something that she had once thought the man forever emanated like a shield against the world.

She'd always envied him that. Her own shields were far more manufactured, and shattered too often for her own liking.

Sensing his peculiar mood, Elisabeth politely turned her gaze from him to the boxes strewn about the beach home. It was the kind thing to do.

"This will be my first time at the memorial, then. It will be nice to visit it with you." A wistful sigh followed the admission. "I haven't... gone to Sootopolis often, to be honest. Since then."

So many emotions competed inside her for dominance, shifting like the tides, as she attempted to make sense of the Darkest Day. To make sense of all the ramifications thereof, for that matter: including her own rise in Rocket in the aftermath.

And other things.

"I've been meaning to congratulate you on your promotion," she said suddenly as she looked upon him, smoothly steering the conversation away from darker topics. "Underboss is well earned. Is that why you're moving closer to Sootopolis?"

Hers was a sincere praise, given with sweet earnestness.

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Memorial Maintenance ✿ Outfit ✿ Martín del Mar

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Mars | Tuesday

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TAG WITH @mars

POSTED ON Aug 13, 2022 2:25:36 GMT

Elisabeth Fiorelli likes this

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The Dawn of the Darkest Day. Thoughts of that night bring upon turmoil, his feelings concerning such events being too many and too diverse. However, above all else, rises a frustration that cannot be matched – much less denied. He had known this would happen, he had been warned, and yet he had been unable to stop it and protect Sootopolis. Just like how he had been unable to protect her back then.
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How is that after all this time, after everything he has done, he’s still this weak and powerless?
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His fingers move away from the flowers, resting on the vase, for he knows well that they’re not safe in his grasp. He feels like breaking everything he can get his hands on, but he can’t do that to something she had once loved so much. For Natalia’s sake, the flowers must be kept intact.
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”I don’t blame you for avoiding it, I may have done the same if I had been given the choice.” He wasn’t, though. All he had been given was a pile of new responsibilities and the task to deal with the aftermath of Necrozma’s attack, as if this were his reward for his efforts. Is he proud of it? Strangely, yes, even if it also feels like a punishment. Then again, when is Mars not proud? He’s even proud of Sootopolis for still standing despite everything. Perhaps this pride of his is also one of his weapons.
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And so it is that he walks by her side back to the entryway of the luxurious beach home. But, when Elisabeth voices congratulatory words, he pauses, and when looking at her, there’s a hint of something warm in his often unreadable amber gaze.
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”Thank you. I’m actually keeping my place in Mauville, but I realised I need a home here for the busiest days. Honestly, between this and my work at the bank, my schedule is tighter than ever.” It’s with a sigh that he reaches for the door, holding it open for her. Yet, for a second, he smiles faintly. ”I’ve been meaning to congratulate you too, Elisa. How are you adapting to your new position?”
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Through it all, he’s painfully aware of the vase he now holds in one hand, the small white blooms never leaving his sight. How many times has he seen them before? In life, in dreams, and in nightmares too.

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[attr="class","tag"]Elisabeth Fiorelli

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Mission - Memorial Maintenance 🌟

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Lisa Bortiforte

She/Her

August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

Bi/Heteroromantic

Bioterrorist

Underboss

5'9" / 175.26 cm height

Bury me in the roses and rot; I'll come back thorned.

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TAG WITH @elisabeth

POSTED ON Aug 13, 2022 6:52:00 GMT

Martín del Mar likes this

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With no lack of fondness, Elisabeth said, "You are a man who carries the burden of the world on your shoulders, Martín del Mar."

And perhaps it was for this reason, as they departed his beach home for the memorial, that she gently rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it with feather-light reassurance.

Hers was a delicate touch.

The way he carried the white flowers was as if he was afraid the slightest breeze would shatter them.

The reluctance in both of their steps as they approached Sootopolis was unmistakable. For their own individual reasons, the Dawn of the Darkest Day had transformed such pilgrimages. No Tree of Life sprawled overhead as they entered the city, and despite herself, Elisabeth found herself missing the sight of it.

"I am adapting well enough," she replied after a small delay. "I have been fortunate to have the mentorship of Cillian Quinn and yourself, which makes the transition smoother."

Mostly she had buried herself in knowledge, sifting through files upon files of previous wisdom once denied to her. Her own curiosity had been insatiable, and now, it sought answers with the freeing release of permission.

In this, too, Elisabeth turned to the man next to her for silent guidance. He, like her, hoarded knowledge.

Her footfalls stopped for a moment, pausing.

"Mars. Why did you ask me here today?" she asked suddenly, glancing up at him.

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Memorial Maintenance ✿ Outfit ✿ Martín del Mar

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Mars | Tuesday

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Canalave City, Sinnoh

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TAG WITH @mars

POSTED ON Aug 20, 2022 3:10:18 GMT

Elisabeth Fiorelli likes this

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There’s no Tree of Life. Most people would perhaps never realise what the gargantuan tree had meant to Mars, for his connection to it had never been as obvious and as true as that of people like bryan delarosa. His was more subtle, secret, but just as personal, because it had been within the realm they found in the Tree of Life that quite a lot changed for him. He had found new power and new questions. He had found himself linked to things way beyond his comprehension.
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Now the tree is gone and the lack of it brings frustration: it brings thoughts that maybe, just maybe, he would have found both understanding and the answers he seeks if he would have been able to return to that realm.
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With a deep breath, taking in the brine of Sootopolis’ air, Mars pushes the thought away.
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He’s not here for that. In fact, civilian as Martín del Mar is, anyone who sees him here would assume he just wants to pay his respects at the memorial they have only just begun building. It’s exactly where he goes too, although mostly, he wants to be closer to the water – to that sea after which he had named himself when coming to Hoenn because of the love both him and Natalia always had for it. Del Mar. Of the sea.
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”If you want me to be honest, I mostly just needed these.” He admits, giving Elisa an ever so slight smile while caressing one of the small petals. There’s something terribly melancholic about it. Something sorrowful. ”Every year, around this date, I go to Sinnoh and get these flowers. Our current circumstances have made that trip impossible for me this time, but I have to do what I can.”
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He has to. It’s a need.
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When they reach the water’s edge, Mars reaches down, placing the vase on the ground and looking at the waves.
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"These were Natalia's favourite flowers."
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He knows she'll recognize the name. He knows her to be smart enough to remember. She must have been curious about it, Mars would have been curious too in her place, but he truly appreciates the fact that she had decided never to bring it up until this day.

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[attr="class","tag"]Elisabeth Fiorelli

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Lisa Bortiforte

She/Her

August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

Bi/Heteroromantic

Bioterrorist

Underboss

5'9" / 175.26 cm height

Bury me in the roses and rot; I'll come back thorned.

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TAG WITH @elisabeth

POSTED ON Aug 20, 2022 3:28:02 GMT

Martín del Mar and BARNABY FINCH like this

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Elisabeth's own secrets were safely buried beneath proverbial briars and nettles; this thorny shrine was a place where she likewise kept the entrusted secrets of those most precious to her.

Cillian Quinn, who had shared much of his past, and other lurking specters in the darkness for her to be wary of. BARNABY FINCH, or as she knew him, Bee, and the mysterious circumstances they both seemed to always find one another in. Felix Gallagher, and the shadows that haunted them both in the Petalburg Woods. Rowan Wrynn, and whispered hopes and doubts that dared not be breathed aloud for fear of accusations of treason.

And, yes, the flowering Gracidea of one Martín del Mar.

The name Natalia had been etched in her mind when Mars wrote it on that alabaster stone, but she had never pried. The thought had never once occurred to her; Elisabeth wanted to know only what the underboss saw fit to give her.

She was patient, in that way, as all gardeners and poisoners were by trade.

"The barrier has impeded many imports," Elisabeth agreed mildly, though her attention remained fixed on the other words that Mars spoke aloud. That this was an annual pilgrimage, of sorts: something sacred in its homage. "I'm glad I could be there for you, then, when the rest of the world could not."

There was an implication threaded in the words: I want to be someone you can rely on.

And when he said that name aloud -- Natalia -- her wish was granted. Elisabeth's eyes widened slightly, that porcelain mask of her composure damaged by this single word, and she looked up at Mars wonderingly, as if unsure he had realized what he himself had done, or the significance thereof in the doing of it.

Her green eyes turned to the sea, and to the flowers beginning to mist in the sea spray. The translucence of the petals was breathtaking.

"She had excellent taste. I can see why you honour her in this way, each year."

She didn't push him, here. Instead she left him a gulf of silence to fill as he needed, with whatever sentiments he felt comfortable voicing aloud, or whatever quiet he found comfort in.

She'd bear witness, either way.

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Memorial Maintenance ✿ Outfit ✿ Martín del Mar

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Mars | Tuesday

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August 4th

Canalave City, Sinnoh

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TAG WITH @mars

POSTED ON Sept 11, 2022 3:12:19 GMT

BARNABY FINCH and Elisabeth Fiorelli like this

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How much can he share with Elisabeth Fiorelli?
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How much can he trust her?
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Mars is not oblivious to the fact that despite their work relationship and despite their budding friendship, the truth about their lives has been kept from each other. He’s not oblivious to how much she hides. And yet, as he kneels down by the water and gently places a flower upon seafoam, he wonders if this is something she deserves to know.
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She had seen Natalia’s name before. He had spoken it to her just now.
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Natalia whose smile was as if sunlight. Natalia who laughed with the ocean breeze. Natalia who saw poetry in the world and was fascinated by things most would never even notice. Natalia who loved him more than anything.
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”Yeah, she really did… about everything.” Yet she had died because of it. Because she had loved him. Because she had married him. Because she chosen him instead of anyone else.
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She had always loved him.
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Even back when no one else did.
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How could he share something so precious to him? How could he speak of her to someone who he is not sure will understand why she matters? Why he misses her? Why he’s so full of regret? Why he would do just about anything for the sole sake of seeing her one more time, if only to say his goodbyes?
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”Have you ever regretted something, Elisa? Truly?”
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He doesn’t look at her. He looks at the waters. At the petals that now appear as if delicate crystal, being carried away by gentle waves.

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[attr="class","tag"]Elisabeth Fiorelli

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Lisa Bortiforte

She/Her

August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

Bi/Heteroromantic

Bioterrorist

Underboss

5'9" / 175.26 cm height

Bury me in the roses and rot; I'll come back thorned.

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POSTED ON Sept 11, 2022 5:09:40 GMT

Martín del Mar likes this

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Regret.

Elisabeth had asked another man that same question, not so long ago, now. Her lips parted as if to speak before hesitating, her emerald eyes trained on the glassy petals that drifted, like foam, on the surface of the sea.

At last, she spoke in a voice heavy with the weight of its own words: "Yes. I would say I regret many things."

Watching Mars kneel down upon the shoreline felt humbling. As if watching a deity stoop down towards the earth to watch mortal doings, for a little while. Perhaps some part of her had imagined him as his larger-than-life namesake, and witnessing him in a moment like this one -- so far removed from the joyful exuberance that his Gracidea had evoked, a long time ago -- felt like another precious, rare thing that she kept close to her own heart.

"I was told once that regret means you did not make the best choice in the moment, and that regret therefore stems from that failure. I do not know if I agree with that, however."

She lowered herself beside him, her skirts gathering in the sand as the waves lapped at her knees. Her eyes remained fixed upon the peculiar blossom that floated on the water, possessed of a fragile delicacy that seemed prone to shattering at the first flutter of wind.

"I think we regret, because we intimately know the consequences of our actions and inactions. And it is human to wish to reverse the things that caused us pain."

A peace lily on a grave in Kalos blossomed in her mind's eye, solitary in its poignancy.

"In that sense, I hold many regrets. I do not know if holding onto them is worthwhile, but I do, nonetheless."

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Mars | Tuesday

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August 4th

Canalave City, Sinnoh

Bi / Demiro

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TAG WITH @mars

POSTED ON Oct 3, 2022 3:30:34 GMT

Elisabeth Fiorelli likes this

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Regret.
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Failure. Consequences. Pain.
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He has always known failure to be unacceptable, he has always known consequences to be severe, and above all, he has always known unbearable pain. At one point, he had to learn to stop allowing any of those things to fill him with regret. He learned to stand tall, to be proud, to apologise to no one, and to keep moving forward. ”Don’t just survive”, he’d tell himself. Don’t just get carried away by the currents. Man the sails. Take control of your own life.
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Conquer.
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How great must a regret be for even a conqueror to be unable to march past its tall summit?
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”Hmm…” Quietly, he considers Elisabeth Fiorelli’s response out of the respect he has for her, and as he does so, another flower is chosen and offered to the ocean with utter gentleness.
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”Tell me, Atlas, what is heavier…” Mars recites then, knowing that kneeling as close to him as she is, she will most definitely hear him. ”...is it the world or is it people’s hearts?”
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There is a nostalgic smile, marked by grief and sadness.
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Natalia had loved that poem, but she had said it to be full of lies. She had said that Atlas’ heaviest burden wasn’t the world, nor was it other people’s pain. It was his own regrets.
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”Sometimes I wonder if it’s heartless of me to regret so little or if I’m just deceiving myself and one day it will all come crashing down on me.”
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He watches the flowers and after a moment, he forces himself to tear his gaze away, calmly turning to look at Elisabeth instead. What are her regrets? What heavy burdens does she carry?
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”How do you do it? Live with so many regrets?”
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He has but one true regret. One that will never go away. The death of the son he was supposed to love and protect.
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His own grief is the one thing Mars may never be able to conquer.

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Lisa Bortiforte

She/Her

August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

Bi/Heteroromantic

Bioterrorist

Underboss

5'9" / 175.26 cm height

Bury me in the roses and rot; I'll come back thorned.

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TAG WITH @elisabeth

POSTED ON Oct 3, 2022 4:54:58 GMT

Martín del Mar likes this

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"I don't know if I would call it heartless, no. There's a pragmatism to living that way."

Elisabeth envied him that, if anything: the ability to wall up whatever self-loathing and regrets raged inside, silencing them with willpower alone. Her own attempts at doing so were surface-level, at best. Aloof composure and careful speech obscured the things she didn't wish to admit to, but did not erase them.

”How do you do it? Live with so many regrets?”

Had anyone ever asked her that question? No. The faint surprise it evoked in her, visible in the raise of her eyebrows, suggested as much.

It didn't seem a particularly impressive thing, to her mind. If anything, hers was a shameful admission, particularly for people in the lives they had chosen.

"When I was a child in Kalos and we'd go to beaches like this one," Elisabeth said instead, glancing at the petal-strewn waters, "my mother would remind me to be careful of the currents. She'd warn, 'If you fight the currents when they catch you in a riptide, you will surely exhaust yourself and drown.'"

She watched the ocean's currents rise and fall in answer to her words, cresting in the gentle swell of waves that rolled their way to shore. The skeletal flowers bobbed with the movement, cast in a glistening sheen of water.

"When the riptide takes hold of you, then, the wise action is to follow it to its destination. And even if the waves carry you far, you will land safely, and can find your way home."

Here she turned to Martín del Mar, a solemn look in her emerald gaze. When Elisabeth spoke next, her words were thoughtful and slow, as if mulling over something and giving it voice for the first time.

"Regret is like a riptide, to my mind. The more I try to fight my regret, or to suppress it, the stronger its grip is over me. So I have learned to accept it, I think. To ride out the waves of emotion for what they are, and let them take me to whatever destination they must. I don't seem capable of extinguishing them, so I have simply given up trying to do so."

There were too many regrets, perhaps, to stomp them all out.

Too many currents for any one person to successfully fight.

When she turned to see her reflection on the water once more, Elisabeth looked back at the face of a woman whom she had wronged, many times over, but was forced to reconcile herself with nonetheless.

"A regret is merely one more shadow you carry around with you, and in time, their weight becomes just as familiar."

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Memorial Maintenance ✿ Outfit ✿ Martín del Mar

[break]

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Azul

Mars | Tuesday

He/Him

August 4th

Canalave City, Sinnoh

Bi / Demiro

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1008 height

Veni. Videre. Vincam.

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POSTED ON Oct 4, 2022 2:47:06 GMT

Elisabeth Fiorelli likes this

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”To ride out the waves of emotion for what they are, and let them take me to whatever destination they must.”

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Elisabeth speaks of something so foreign to him, so different from the way he thinks, that even in this day that is so full of thoughts of pain, lost love, and grief, Mars finds himself to be amused by it. He will always fight, and that may just be the fatal flaw that one day spells his demise. Even if it does, he will die living true to who he has always been.
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Mars wouldn’t usually give much thought to his own mortality, but on this day he’s painfully aware of it.
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”Take things for what they are, hm?” He offers her a smile before his attention turns to the flowers, looking at them for a long moment. A petal is stroked with affection – as if this miniscule thing were cherished and precious. ”She would have found that beautiful… poetic, even. It would have made her like you.”
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Natalia had taught him to see beauty even in some of the most terrible things about this world. She had seen it all for what it was, never allowing herself to be deceived, and yet she had somehow loved this life that had been so cruel to them. She had taught him to love again. She had taught him happiness.
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Every single day, Mars reminds himself of this for the sake of her memory.
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He can’t go back to who he was just because she’s not here with him.
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She wouldn’t want that for him.
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”When we were children, she dubbed me Mars.” The smile is still there as he looks at the flowers, the memory one fond yet bittersweet. He holds the stem of one between two fingers. ”She said I never stop picking fights, that I will challenge anything that goes against my will and make a battle out of even the smallest of things. That I see life as my war to win.”
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He looks at Elisabeth once more, and right there, his smirk is faint, barely there, yet somehow still as sharp as the edge of a knife.
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”She said that it’s the best thing about me.”
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That was who Natalia was. Someone who was so often amused by other people and loved them for what they were.
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She truly had been the most incredible person Mars has ever met.

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[attr="class","tag"]Elisabeth Fiorelli

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Mission - Memorial Maintenance 🌟

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Lisa Bortiforte

She/Her

August 30

Camphrier Town, Kalos

Bi/Heteroromantic

Bioterrorist

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5'9" / 175.26 cm height

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POSTED ON Oct 4, 2022 3:49:47 GMT

Martín del Mar likes this

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Fleur Squelette

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She could sense it, this distinction between them: the lightness with which Mars carried himself, compared to the heaviness that seemed to weigh Elisabeth's every step.

Where he had learned to fight, she had learned to run.

She'd lost too many fights to hold confidence in her ability to claim victory without fail.

The smile that Mars offered her, here, spoke of something distant in its glimmer. Poetic, he called her, and this reminded her of the day they had met, speaking of nymphs, and gods, and flowers.

"It would have made her like you."

When Martín del Mar said this, it seemed like the greatest possible compliment a man like him could bestow.

A reverence fell as Elisabeth listened to him speak of his namesake, the one that had so often occupied her own thoughts in regards to the man. To hear that it was Natalia who bequeathed it upon him both surprised her and didn't; that he was a man who had fought all his life, from childhood onward, spoke to what little she knew of the man.

He held the petals with such disarming grace and gentleness. The mighty could respect the fragility of beautiful things.

"She knew you well, to name you so aptly."

Elisabeth let her fingers skim the surface of the water, causing ripples to venture forth and disturb the pale waterborne blossoms.

"You don't sound displeased with her assessment of you," she said, meeting his smirk with a soft smile of her own. "It is a flattering one, I think, in the end. And a true one."

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Memorial Maintenance ✿ Outfit ✿ Martín del Mar

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Mars | Tuesday

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August 4th

Canalave City, Sinnoh

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1008 height

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