[attr="class","littlejay"] "i can make you more," he says, as a peace-offering, before leaning down and folding the cookie into the child's grip. after all, if he held it too long, his hand might get tired.

[break][break] jayden walks with Eris Halla along the mossdeep shoreline, thinking of how close those stars could be to the barrier. how any one of them could drop like a meteor on them.

[break][break] after a few moments of silence, he speaks the words that are lingering.

[break][break] "how are you doing, eris?" to make sure nothing is left for question, he adds, "after the meeting."

[attr="class","ooc"] + mission: minior mayhem

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[attr="class","littlejay"] he blinks, a look of something near-affectionate in his gaze as he looks upon the luxray, before amending his statement. "i can make you some too," he says.

[break][break] because despite all the cruel things he's done, jayden cross has always been soft on pokemon. that was something that not even THEO BECKETT was able to beat out of him.

[break][break] as eris speaks, her only answer is silence as jayden contemplates what she has just told him. he knows better than to jump to conclusions. after all, she is just a child. there is a good chance that she does not even know what she is speaking of.

[break][break] "history favors the side of the victor," he says instead, in the matter-of-fact way that only he can, before asking.

[break][break] "why did you join rocket then, eris? why not just run away?"

[attr="class","ooc"] + mission: minior mayhem

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[attr="class","littlejay"] it's a story that he's heard countless times before, in the rumor-mill of the sub, or even in the smoke of war. after all, with any war there are bound to be victims. a young jayden cross had never concerned himself with it; a seasoned one knows better.

[break][break] he places a hand atop reiner's scruff, offering his hand out to the younger rocket should she choose to hold it.

[break][break] "you made the right choice," he says with the finality of someone who doesn't know any different. "rocket is your home. your family. we will protect you — and we can teach you how to protect yourself."

[break][break] there's something bitter in his throat as he thinks of MATIAS SILPH and all that he's done. even though Chu-e Choi is alive, there is something that he will never be able to give the elite four candidate of. his gaze narrows, violet eyes darkening in the night's cool air.

[break][break] "and MATIAS SILPH, we'll get him back. for you, and for chu-e. i promise."

[break][break] he takes a time to pause and then look up at the sky, as stars twinkle in the distance. he then turns his gaze back over to Eris Halla.

[break][break] "eris, have i ever told you how i met your ... pa?"

[attr="class","ooc"] + mission: minior mayhem

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[attr="class","littlejay"] "i know how you feel, but your pa can protect himself."

[break][break] it may seem difficult to imagine now, seeing as how different the former underboss had changed ever since he'd been "revived", but if there was one thing that jayden believed in more than anything else, it was the strength of Chu-e Choi and rocket.

[break][break] he reaches over to eris, clasping a hand gently onto her shoulder.

[break][break] "strength takes years to develop."

[break][break] it wasn't her fault that she was weak. that was what rocket was there for to foster.

[break][break] he pulls away from her for a moment, instead to look at the starlight streaking across the sky. there were a few more sparkles in the sky, reminding him of the star soiree.

[break][break] "yeah. he was different then."

[break][break] jayden pauses for a moment, as if to reminisce, before turning back to eris. "what i meant, though, was the first time that i met him in kanto. it was actually at that starbucks." he points, then, to a building in the distance before flashing a wry smile.

[break][break] "he asked me to kill myself."

[attr="class","ooc"] + mission: minior mayhem

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[attr="class","littlejay"] rocket certainly didn't.

[break][break] comets chase down from the sky as the minior shower commences and crash down on the sandy shore. but jayden's gaze is fixated on the young rocket.

[break][break] starlight is reflected in his eyes.

[break][break] "what do you mean?"

[break][break] jayden holds the gaze for a moment before looking down at a minior that has fallen from the sky, or at least it's remains. it's just crumbs from the stratosphere, looking no different from seashells in the sky. he picks a piece out of the ground for inspection.

[break][break] "of course i didn't," he says casually. "would you?" he shakes his had to himself, just as he places the pieces of meteroite into the sack that they brought along with them.

[break][break] "but i thought about it. i could've done it, back then. i knew it was what he wanted me to do — what he expected of me. but there's more to being in rocket than simply doing what's asked of you, eris." he straightens, looking back at her. "it took a long time for me to understand that myself."

[attr="class","ooc"] + mission: minior mayhem

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[attr="class","littlejay"] he paused.

[break][break] this isn't the first time he heard the story, nor would it be the last time. he was sure there were many people like Eris Halla, but in that, he could sympathize.

[break][break] "i was five when my father first held a gun to my head." he thinks of dmitri, of that cold-bloodless gaze, and the feelings of his father's fingers on his neck. "i was seven when he decided to do something with it."

[break][break] "fourteen, when underboss beckett tried to kill me."

[break][break] 'run' is what THEO BECKETT had told him back then. he'd spared him, just like rocket had spared eris.

[break][break] if they hadn't seen potential in her, then why wouldn't they have killed her too?

[break][break] "you and i are more alike than you think, eris."

[break][break] meteors fall from the sky in the form of minior, and jayden thinks of the ones that had fallen down in the star soiree, stab-wound to the chest. had he and Eris Halla ever talked about he'd taken the hit for her?

[break][break] "if rocket really took everything from you, you wouldn't be standing here today. rocket took as much from you as it gave to you. you were seven when they took everything from you, but you're nearly thirteen now."

[break][break] how much of that everything made up her current life now?

[break][break] his smile is wry. "back then, i didn't have anything to lose but i appreciate your faith in me."

[break][break] his parents had died, rocket had left him for dead, and then Chu-e Choi had asked him to kill himself. he was barely holding two-and-two together, with lawyers breathing down his neck for his father's fraud. it would've solved so many things to just die.

[break][break] the reason that he hadn't killed himself — ran much deeper than that.

[break][break] he mulls over the the question that eris lobs back at him as together they piece together the remains of the minior and collect them as is their duty.

[break][break] "i can't answer that question. i wasn't the one who killed your parents," he says. "but i do know one thing. do you not really think of rocket as family?"

[break][break] kneeling in the sand, blinking at eris, he says:

[break][break] "i consider you family, eris."

[break][break] his violet gaze pins her, the reflection of falling stars gleaming in his eyes.

[attr="class","ooc"] + mission: minior mayhem

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