[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie looked from Ruby and Isaac as they talked and gestured, a faint smile curving her lips. "The more I see you two interacting, the more I get how you became friends," she remarked. "You two have a lot in common, I think! Very self-sufficient and resourceful, very blunt and straight-talking, with a similar grim and cynical outlook on life."

Her tone softening, she added, "And I'm sure you both suffered your fair share of trauma and hardship that motivated you both to join Rocket and gain power within its ranks."

But that was the thing about power, wasn't it? Isaac had sort of articulated Aurelie's thoughts about the seeming futility of power-grabbing, though he naturally took a more ominous interpretation than hers. From Aurelie's perspective, if you kept trying to accumulate more power, more authority, but never felt like you had enough, then what was the point? Didn't that just make you a glorified hamster on a wheel, a Sisyphus pushing your rock to ever greater heights but never over the top of the slope?

"If only being powerful were an end unto itself, rather than the pot of gold at the end of an endless rainbow drenched in blood," she mused, perhaps a bit colorfully. "In my eyes—well, eye, perhaps," and one corner of her mouth twisted up in a dry, self-effacing chuckle, "it just makes the Beasts, admins, underbosses, bosses, and all the rest of them look damn silly. Fighting and scheming and conniving for something that never fully satisfies them, never slakes their appetite.

"But," Aurelie continued, her tone hardening, "I suppose you're right, Isaac, in that the drive for power usually comes at the expense of others, usually hapless underlings and unlucky bystanders. So, that makes it silly, tragic, and awful all at once."

Aurelie carved methodically through the brownie at the base of her sundae, swirling the fudgy chunks with the last of the melted vanilla ice cream before licking the chocolate and vanilla concoction off the end of her spoon. As decadently indulgent as it was, the brownie sundae was proving both comforting and energizing, both of which were very welcome at the moment. Quietly devouring her dessert also gave Aurelie a pause to listen and gather her thoughts.

She clamped her lips over the thought that, just like the admins and underbosses, Ruby and Isaac didn't believe in Walsh's war either. Yet, here they both were, also planning to risk their lives by plunging into the conflict. Of course, there was excitement to be had, experience to be gained, connections to be gained, and prestige and influence to be earned if they came out of it intact.

But what if they didn't come out of it intact? Would it have been worth it? What was the point?

To Ruby's offhand comment that she'd expected Aurelie would get conscripted into making weapons, the red-haired smith shrugged. "Eh, I don't think swords and knives seem strong enough to qualify as weapons when people are throwing around legendary avatar powers," Aurelie opined. "I bet people like that are basically an army unto themselves. A one-eyed lady with a hammer isn't likely to make them something that could fight off a monster like that."

Tapping her lips thoughtfully with her empty spoon, she mused aloud, "But seriously, you guys really are making me think about branching out more into armorsmithing now! It's not usually something I've made, except for costumes or historical reenactments, but—well, you never know if a steel plate across your chest might help deflect an ACID SPRAY or a BULLET SEED or something. I know ceramic is usually what they use in bulletproof vests, but those can be so brittle, and the potential shrapnel damage—yikes! I'd rather stick to what I know, which is metal."

Caught up in considerations about the practicalities of forging partial pieces of armor, Aurelie didn't really notice Ruby's stiffness at the idea of herself or Isaac being mysterious dark knights. She did perk up at Isaac's mention of an apparently-destroyed steel horse, though. "A steel horse? Blown up? What happened there?" she asked, trying to think of horse Pokemon and curious about the story behind his brief remark.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

When had that stopped anyone from wanting more? Hell, would Ruby be any different if she got a chance to make her life better? She couldn't say. With how much she'd already lost, would she want to get more and more to make up for it, or was the risk of losing it all again too great?

[break][break]"Anyone know who that is?" she asked about the Big Rocket Boss. She'd kind of forgotten that Hoenn's Rocket was just a branch. She was more used to self-contained syndicates that spanned a single region, if even that. Realizing that there was someone way, way up top controlling multiple regions of Rockets made Ruby feel even smaller.

[break][break]It was easier to focus on their own branch for now. "I dunno, some people at the meeting seemed excited about going up to the death rock. Weirdos."

[break][break]She just rolled her eyes at Isaac's continued teasing, even if she was a little bit grateful for the topic shift. Aurelie chimed in with a comment on how Ruby and Isaac had become friends, but the smith's softer next words froze Ruby's retort in her throat. It was true: Ruby had been through enough bullshit in her life to make Rocket seem like a feasible and even attractive option, and though she didn't know the details about Isaac's life, she knew from what he'd told her that he was in a similar boat. Aurelie was the only real mystery here, and Ruby knew better than to ask. It wasn't like Ruby herself wanted to talk about her past, either.

[break][break]"Isaac? Straight-talking?" Ruby instead asked facetiously. "Please. If I'm a knight, he's the court jester." There we go, another one for the levity stack. Grim and cynical outlooks on life, though... that one gave Ruby pause. She hadn't really thought of Isaac that way, but it was true in some respects. You kind of had to be that way to be in Rocket, even if you seemed carefree and even encouraging on the outside.

[break][break]"That's why you sneak up on 'em and stab 'em before they can do anything," she said, smirking, about the Avatars. She didn't know how well that'd actually work out in practice, but she wanted to keep the more light-hearted atmosphere going so she didn't have to worry about power and trauma and all that crap.

[break][break]Aurelie kept that ball rolling with her musings on armorsmithing. Huh, Ruby never knew that bulletproof vests were made with ceramic. Isaac's mention of an exploded "steel horse" had both girls confused. "Yeah, what the hell are you talking about?" Ruby asked. It couldn't have been a Pokémon, could it? No way Isaac would be so calm about one of his actual Pokémon getting blown up.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Knight, court jester, and hardworking smith," Aurelie commented as she looked around at the three of them with a chuckle. "What a cute medieval trio we'd make! Or I guess if you still don't feel too knightly, Ruby, you could always take the role of a hunter instead, tracking down and fighting their quarry. Eh, Snake Slayer Girl?" she added playfully.

When Isaac's ramblings led him to say, "Makes me wonder what'd happen if someone made a show of not voting, or voting for no option," at one point, though, Aurelie burst out laughing.

"Arceus! What do you think I was doing?" she exclaimed as soon as he finished speaking. "I never released a Poke Ball or cast a single vote for any of Walsh's terrible options! Not even when so many other people chimed in and played along with him! But—ah, yes." She let out a snort, and her lip twisted into a sardonic little smirk.

"You meant if someone important had made a show of not voting," she went on, crossing her arms. "Someone with real charisma and influence who isn't an absolute nobody in the organization. Agreed, that certainly would have been nice." She thought back to the summit, trying to remember who had said what amidst the hubbub of voices and viewpoints. "That sort-of-creepy underboss guy who owns the casino, the one who escorted Eris out, he at least spoke up and called everyone morons."

Aurelie hastily clarified, "I say 'creepy' because he has this sort of weird aura around him, and I'm pretty sure he must have some terrifying powers. I saw him jump off the casino roof, vanish in mid-air, and then reappear on the ground with nary a hair out of place! Isn't that crazy?" She shook her head wonderingly and let out a sigh.

"But even that guy, in the end, volunteered himself to go up on the...the 'death rock.'" The red-haired smith laughingly added air quotes around the colorful description, which honestly sounded pretty accurate to her. "So, so much for making a show of not voting or taking part."

Aurelie rested her elbows on the counter and leaned back against it, chuckling at Ruby's comment about sneaking up on an Avatar with a sword. "Pffft, if sneaking up and stabbing worked that well, then I'd never lose a fight to my Gallade," she quipped. "Well, maybe I'd still lose to him after he's undergone a Mega Evolution. Let me assure you, if there's anything worse than bringing a sword to a Pokemon fight, it's bringing a sword to a Pokemon fight and finding out that the Pokemon's got its own sword and knows how to use it better than you do!"

When Isaac explained what he meant by "steel horse," the red-haired smith just stared at him. Had he really been referring to a motorcycle this whole time? On one hand, it made more sense than getting an actual Pokemon blown up, but on the other hand... "Well, I mean, I could imagine there's an actual Steel-type horse Pokemon out there!" Aurelie mock-grumbled, throwing her hands up in the air. "Especially when you were talking about knights and the like. I really don't think anyone goes around riding motorcycles wearing a full suit of armor!"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

"Shit, me neither," Ruby said when she realized that she, too, had never seen Walsh before that meeting. Much like Isaac, she didn't spend a lot of time on the sub unless she had to for missions. Another thing they had in common, it seemed. Joy.

[break][break](Though maybe having so much in common with a fellow Rocket, even a goofball like Isaac, wasn't such a bad thing. It meant someone else understood.)

[break][break]"Damn, I would have loved to see you clown on the big boss." Ruby's smirk hopefully indicated that she wasn't being totally serious about that. "That explains how you deal with all this shit, though..." Ruby, meanwhile, mostly stuck to anger and taking it out on whoever or whatever got in her way. It had worked for her in Orre. Occasionally, though, even she could get positive in the form of thinking about her precious little sister and how Ruby was working to give her a better life that Ruby herself could never have. Okay, maybe that wasn't quite as positive as she'd thought...

[break][break]The idea of being a huntress rather than a knight had her grinning. "Heh, I like the sound of that. A lot more freedom, nobody to answer to but myself, and plenty to fight."

[break][break]"What the hell?" she asked about that underboss's weird powers. It sounded like more Avatar stuff. Then, she rolled her eyes. "Just goes to show that even the underbosses roll over for Walsh." She had to wonder what would have happened if the guy hadn't voted, though. Would Walsh have even cared and just gone on with everyone else's vote? Now that was something that Ruby genuinely wanted to see, as long as it didn't involve her or anyone she actually knew.

[break][break]She shrugged at Isaac's and Aurelie's assessments of weapons vs. Avatars, though Aurelie's was amusing enough to keep that smile on Ruby's face. "Sure, but as long as you've still got your Pokémon, it's at least closer to an even fight. But that's the thing: everyone's got Pokémon here. You expect those. You don't always expect a knife or a gun or something."

[break][break]Truth be told, she'd still been thinking in Orre terms when she'd suggested stabbing. Pokémon were more scarce in Orre, given the limited habitats for them to actually live in. Instead, people had to rely more on imports, whether legal or not, and not everyone could afford those. It made a lot more sense to carry a weapon in that region. Maybe that was why Ruby was so much more comfortable with carrying a weapon of some kind, even if she had a full team of six on her.

[break][break]"Wait, you had an Orre-made motorcycle?!" Ruby couldn't stop the shock from making her voice louder than it needed to be. "Goddamn, I wish I'd seen it. You don't see rides like that in Hoenn." Mostly because Hoenn didn't have large stretches of desert between its settlements and landmarks, but still! At least Aurelie's comment about riding one in full plate armor made the image suitably goofy instead of way cooler than Isaac had any right to be.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Leaning back comfortably on her elbows against the ice cream parlor counter, Aurelie absentmindedly pushed away her empty sundae bowl as she listened to Ruby and Isaac, her uncovered eye flicking back and forth between them. She nodded in agreement when Ruby also stated that she'd never seen the Rocket Boss before the summit. "Yeah, me neither. I'm just too new to Rocket and too preoccupied with my business, I guess. But we're certainly all aware of him now, and all wary of seeing him show up again in case he tosses us all into another horrific conflict."

As Isaac compared himself to a clown in the same breath that he reassured the red-haired smith that she wasn't a nobody, Aurelie broke into an impish grin. "Ah, Isaac, so noble and humble," she declared expansively, tossing her head, "despite also being the most accomplished and famous out of the three of us. Maybe instead of a clown, you should be a selfless holy man or priest, who mends other people's woes and suffering through his own purity of heart," she suggested teasingly.

"Besides, that fits better into the fighter-mage-thief-healer adventuring party, " she added judiciously, with the air of someone who'd played a lot of adventure RPGs in her time. "Well, without the mage, of course. But a Psychic-type Pokemon would probably work in a pinch!"

When Isaac spoke of her choosing not to vote during the summit, Aurelie snorted a little but also smiled pleasedly at the notion of anything she ever did being called "quiet and composed". She did agree that the gesture itself could've been more emphatic and compelling if she had been brave enough to publicly take a stand, though. "Maybe next time I'll bring a sword and light it on fire so I can wave around a flaming blade and really make a statement." She chuckled at the image but then shook her head. "But I think you're right. Anyone who doesn't fall into line would still get thrown out on their ear. Walsh's Rocket seems like it's only a democracy when you follow Walsh's own agenda."

Aurelie nodded thoughtfully at Ruby's point that people expected Pokemon, but they didn't always expect the human to fight too. "Hmm, I hadn't thought about it that way, but that's a good thought. You're both right; sometimes it's the unexpected that can turn the tide of a fight, even if it doesn't seem like much at first."

A lump of poignant nostalgia rose in her throat as she remembered her blacksmith father and jeweler mother working harmoniously together on a project to make weapons that looked merely like charming adornments: hairpins, rings, or necklaces that could stab, pierce, or garrote. It had been years ago, but she remembered it like it was yesterday...

Thus absorbed in her thoughts, she barely listened to the discussion on Orre-made motorcycles, a topic on which she would've had very little to say anyway. At the end, though, she did perk up when Isaac asked what either of them would do if they did possess the awe-inspiring powers of the Avatars of a legendary Pokemon, or something equally rare and formidable. It was like asking what you would do if you suddenly became a superhero.

"You know, I'm honestly not sure what I'd use it for," Aurelie mused, intrigued yet mystified by the notion. "I'm not exactly the sort that would fight for justice and goodness and swear to help everyone no matter what. But I think I would want to be a force that prevents war and physical conflict." A sudden smirk broke across her face. "So, an anti-Walsh, I suppose. Because war never seems like a good thing."

Then she added slowly, in a softer voice, "And maybe I'd want to punish those who betray others: friends, loved ones, comrades-in-arms. Well, unless they had a really good reason to do it, but it would have to be a very good reason. I'm not as sure about this one. But to deceive and turn on someone who trusts you and loves you..." She shuddered and grimaced, falling silent.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

"At least you keep us entertained," Ruby joked with a grin, but she was more impressed with her fellow Rocket than she'd ever let on, no matter how much that annoyed her. Aurelie was a lot more outwardly generous. "Nah, I think jester suits him fine. He gets to make people laugh and tell people to go fuck themselves." Her expression fell blank at Aurelie's comment on an "adventuring party," though. She was a mythology buff, not a gamer.

[break][break]Aurelie's refusal to vote had been her own way of standing her ground, and Ruby respected that. She'd even emulated it in the second round. "I'm surprised he let us not vote," Ruby said. "Guess it wouldn't look like as much of a democracy if he hadn't." If Aurelie had been one of the Admins, would she have been able to get away with that same behavior? Ironically, being in a higher position might have made it even harder for her to stand her ground. Another reason to think the scramble for power was bullshit.

[break][break]Aurelie proposed—probably jokingly, but still—bringing a flaming sword to wave around in protest next time. That badass mental image made Ruby grin. And then Isaac mentioned something about a "big dumb cult knife." "Do I even wanna know?" She did, actually.

[break][break]"Psh, your girlfriend has no taste," she said to Isaac with a roll of her eyes. That could have also been a jab at Isaac himself, but even Ruby thought that was too much of a low-hanging fruit to comment on directly.

[break][break]Isaac's question about what she and Aurelie would use an Avatar's power for had her biting down on her own teeth. Her answer was pretty simple, but it was too close to her heart to say out loud. She wasn't even comfortable saying it to Isaac, who had actually met Ruby's biggest secret and seen some less Rocket-like sides of her.

[break][break]Luckily, Aurelie spoke first. Ruby whistled lowly at her admission that she'd want to be an "anti-Walsh." "Damn, don't let him hear about that," she said with a huffed-out laugh. The way the smith fell silent after her slower, softer addition had Ruby thinking she had a personal reason for wanting to punish betrayers. Again, she found herself wondering how Aurelie had ended up with Rocket. Again, she was smart enough to not ask.

[break][break]"I'd just use it to kick the ass of anyone who tries to mess with me," Ruby said, shrugging off the weight pressing down on her. "Not like I'd just go around kicking everyone's ass, though. Just people who deserve it."

[break][break]That was true, but it wasn't the whole picture. What she wanted more than anything was to protect what was left of her family and never let anyone or anything hurt it again.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Isaac's humbler-than-thou pose of being just some insignificant average citizen of no importance would have been a lot more convincing if he didn't drift off after every other sentence to privately recollect some past adventure or accomplishment. Aurelie rolled her eye but shrugged and held her peace. I'm sure he thinks he's being nice, she thought cynically, and honest, for that matter. Everyone had their favorite conceits, and this one was innocuous enough—and hadn't yet gotten tiresome enough—to necessitate pointing out how the lad doth protest too much.

She rolled her eye again and let out a long, amused sigh when neither Isaac nor Ruby seemed to get her little "adventuring party" joke, with Isaac even disavowing any knowledge of games in general. Throwing up her hands good-humoredly, Aurelie exclaimed, "So, it turns out I'm the geekiest one in this friend group too, huh? What else is new? Just be glad that I left my slide rule and protractor at home, I guess!"

Eyeing Isaac up and down appraisingly, the red-haired smith admitted, "Honestly, though, bard is a good choice for you. And a good combination of court jester and healer to boot, like you said yourself. Sounds like you picked up at least a little geeky knowledge from your little brother after all, huh?" She grinned, mildly regretting not adding finger air quotes around "little brother" for a moment. "Ruby fights, I make stuff, and you crack jokes and patch everyone up. Sounds like a fairly effective trio to me."

Whimsically, it did make her wonder what Isaac's singing voice sounded like. She rather doubted that he'd sound very bardic, but you never knew. Now didn't seem like the most propitious time to suggest a future outing to a karaoke room, though, and besides, Aurelie had no idea if Ruby would even want to go either.

When hearing Isaac's story about his "big dumb cult knife"—which she vaguely recalled him mentioning when he'd visited her forge in Lilycove City, now that she thought about it—Aurelie let out a low whistle, impressed by the action-movie-like derring-do of his cult-infiltrating, hostage-rescuing, knife-claiming narrative. "That really does sound like an adventure! I can see why you miss that kind of excitement. But I bet," she added judiciously, "the actual knife is more of a ceremonial object than an actual weapon you could rely on in a fight. But I've no doubt it will look very intimidating!"

At Isaac and Ruby's reaction to Aurelie's comment about being an "anti-Walsh" by wanting to prevent war rather than starting one, the red-haired smith grinned crookedly. "Glad you both approve, I suppose! I don't know if either of us are really trying to 'make the world a better place,' though," she remarked, glancing speculatively toward Ruby. "Just a place that we'd be happier to live in. It just so happens that the things we don't like are the things that cause trouble or unhappiness for other people too.

"If anything, yours sounds like the most idealistic goal. Fixing things and making them right and all that," she added, looking back toward Isaac and rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Is there a Pokemon or power that lets you do that? Time travel to go back to when things went wrong? Or is that just the superpower you'd pick if you had a choice?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

At least Isaac could agree that there wasn't anything holy about him. For once, that wasn't even a personal jab at him; nobody in Rocket could be considered holy, no matter what their reason for joining was.

[break][break]"Uh-huh, sure," she said with a smirk when Isaac tried to deny knowing anything about that bard stuff. She kept that expression when Aurelie lamented her status as the geekiest member of the trio, too. As much as she wanted to make a quip about sleeping with such a nerd, she at least had the decency to not bring that up in front of a third party. (And, okay, she didn't want to discuss her sex life with Isaac. That'd be weird.)

[break][break]"Even if he did notice, I doubt he gave a shit about some grunts being sassy. It's not like you actually defied him or anything." Whether they voted or not, whether they made a big show about their vote or not, they didn't refuse to follow orders where it actually mattered. Walsh had put on a show of democracy and had done a decent job of keeping up that facade. But if he had forced people to choose one way or another, it could have been a different story.

[break][break]Isaac had apparently gotten the "big dumb cult knife" from the cultists who had caused a stir back in June, which was obvious in hindsight. "Damn, all I got out of that whole mess was an unwilling ice cream date and a pissed-off Beast." She still hadn't gotten with bryan delarosa about the "training" he'd offered, which Ruby was pretty sure would mostly be her and Delphi being put through the wringer. That would have been fine if it had just been about getting stronger, but with what had happened at the summit, she really wasn't looking forward to it.

[break][break]Ruby chuckled at how quick Isaac was to defend his girl, then raised her hands in a rare gesture of peace. "All right, I get it, she's smart. I'd say she should build you a new bike, but it sounds like it wouldn't have that same oomph to it."

[break][break]She grunted her agreement at Isaac's "Fuck war" sentiment. Plenty of Rockets were willing to capitalize on war for profit and Arceus knew what else, but a war, albeit a short one, had shattered Ruby's hopes of living a normal life. He went uncharacteristically silent for a moment, giving Ruby the chance to butt in with her own aspirations.

[break][break]She returned Aurelie's glance, then looked back to Isaac. "Yeah, I dunno where you got 'make the world a better place' out of 'kick people's asses.' I just don't want anything else to fuck me over." If she happened to help someone else in the process, she wasn't gonna complain. But Aurelie was right: Trying to make the world a better place for yourself tended to overlap with making it better for other people. Who would have guessed?

[break][break]A Pokémon that could travel through time? Now this was dipping into Ruby's own unexpected well of knowledge on myths and legends. She may not have been into that fantasy role-playing stuff, but she was a geek in her own way. It was easy to blame her sister for that, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't think old stories and such were cool as hell. "If you want time travel, you want Celebi or Dialga. But then you get into timelines and time paradoxes and all that crap." She rolled her eyes. Why did time travel have to be so confusing? "So good luck with that."

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie couldn't help but roll her eye and laugh at Ruby and Isaac's reactions to her own geekiness, with the good-humored and tolerant smile of someone who'd heard it all before. "Uh-oh, now that you both know my shameful secret—my second identity as a history and fantasy buff and a fan of video games and tabletop gaming—I bet you're both regretting befriending me now," she teased. "Better get out of this ice cream parlor quick while your reputations as stone-cold badasses are still intact!"

As a teenager, the red-haired smith might have been embarrassed and ashamed. For that matter, she probably wouldn't have been able to hold back on lecturing Isaac about the correct use of slide rules, which would've only worsened the mortification. But Aurelie knew they meant it in good fun, in the spirit of camaraderie, and so she smiled and laughed blithely along with them.

Besides, having learned more about the world now, Aurelie had started to realize just how privileged and fortunate she was to have grown up with the money and free time to buy books and games and read or play them for fun, not to make money or survive. Being geeky was, in many ways, a luxury. And, judging from the few hints she'd picked up about Isaac's and Ruby's upbringings, perhaps not a luxury that either of them had been able to enjoy for very long, growing up.

Listening to Isaac's proposal for their fantasy alternate egos' story arc, Aurelie grinned with enjoyment, before tilting her head to one side thoughtfully. "Sounds like you picked up quite a lot of fantasy knowledge from your little brother, Isaac. I like the idea of punching toward fancy ores, but…"

And here the red-haired smith gave a shrug. "I'm not really protagonist material, you know? Some people exist in the midst of epic, world-shattering, heartrending drama of lost loves, double lives, treachery, tragedy, glamour, intrigue, espionage, and destruction, but...not me. I say we make Ruby the protagonist," she declared, waving her empty spoon in the air for emphasis. "She can be the strong, brave warrior seeking money and glory. I'd repair her armor and weapons, and you can sing songs and tell stories of her prowess so that her fame spreads to all the regions of the world. Yes, I like that." Aurelie nodded to herself in satisfaction.

She whistled again in appreciation upon hearing their different stories of encountering Groudon cultists and Rocket higher-ups. "I really would like to see that big dumb cult knife of yours, certainly, Isaac," she agreed. "And ouch, Ruby. I hope that Beast wasn't pissed off at you, because yes, 'pissed-off Beast' is a much scarier thought now." After seeing just how fierce a Beast could be, Aurelie was doubly grateful that the only Beast she knew at the moment was oscar clayton, who'd been as friendly and laidback as she could've ever hoped for.

"I hope this ice cream date is a little less unwilling and more pleasant," she added. "At least we're definitely not pissed off at you. But we're also just a pair of sassy grunts, so I suppose that I could see the Beast being a lot more useful to know and learn from."

Again, Aurelie stayed out of the motorcycle conversation, though she smiled wistfully at the thought of someone making a sacrifice to construct something of value for a loved one. Her smile broadened a little as Isaac talked about the hypothetical world that the three of them might create if they had the power of legendary Pokemon. "Well, maybe someday our good intentions will catch the eye of one of those legendaries," she commented. "At least one of them surely would support ending war, or kicking the ass of people who deserve it, or going back in time to fix things that went wrong."

She let out a snort when Ruby promptly displayed an impressive knowledge of the legendary Pokemon and Isaac teased her for "catching Aurelie's nerdiness". "Oh, please, like knowing impressive things and being smart counts as being 'nerdy'," the red-haired smith scoffed, shaking her head. "I really wouldn't have guessed Celebi had that power, either! And I wouldn't have thought about time paradoxes and messing up timelines being a problem, for that matter."

With a grin, Aurelie added, "I just hope there aren't as many problems associated with forcing world peace on everyone and/or kicking bad people's asses and taking names."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT