"...You wanted me here?"[break][break]

Her emerald eyes widened with faint surprise, whatever residual red haze that had once misted them long lost to the chipping away of this decade on her own hardened psyche. Perhaps some of it was the Solgaleo's distant influence, leaving her briefly at a loss for words.[break][break]

Even in Rocket, her Avatarship with a Ruinous Beast had been a divisive thing; no one, certainly, had expressly stated genuine relief about having it on their side in the way that Kyle had just now. Some part of her had always felt paranoid that she was viewed as more enemy than ally in her new state.[break][break]

It was alarming, how quickly such a small expression of acceptance unmoored her.[break][break]

"I admit, I do not understand the Ruinous Beasts much myself," she confessed, brushing aside a strand of her dark hair. When she gazed at Wo-chien now, it was as if seeing it for the first time -- perhaps, here and now, was the first time she had been able to do so with clear eyes. "It's... mm. The bonds of Avatarship are difficult to define. But it feels tied to me, in a way, that seems more pervasive than most."[break][break]

How quiet her mind felt, in Hammerlocke. What an unexpected solace it was, to be weakened by the powers of another.[break][break]

Elisabeth pressed a hand to her temple, frowning for a moment, before she looked up at Kyle uncertainly. The briefest hesitation wavered in her gaze before she spoke.[break][break]

"I think it wants to go back, though," she admitted finally. "It wants something in Hoenn. I don't know what, but. It has a purpose there. It doesn't expect us to stay."[break][break]

There was a sense of transgression in speaking those words aloud. Still, she ignored the sensation of ochre eyes boring into her back with judgment.

[attr="class","ooc"] kyle lopez[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Her gaze followed him as he walked amidst the dandelions, seemingly content to enjoy the peace of his gardens. It was not difficult to imagine him spending every day meditating in a place like this, relaxed as he awaited an inevitable end to this saga.[break][break]

"I've fallen into my own routine, same as anyone else," she said, glancing away. It felt odd to admit to any relationships of her own. There was the girl, she supposed, but people misconstrued that as beyond the bonds of apprenticeship she had offered her. There was no reason to give that relationship anymore weight than that, surely.[break][break]

Similarly she didn't presume what BARNABY FINCH was to her, or what she was to him. Sometimes it felt more like they were one another's anchor of sanity, or at least, a tether to a mutual promise not to forget the world they left behind. Privately, she didn't think she gave him any solace. If anything, he was trying to give that solace to her.[break][break]

"I suppose spending time with the same few people I have been for the past twenty-or-so years. Attempt to ready myself for battle. Nothing too riveting."[break][break]

She plucked the errant dandelion seed from her teacup and blew on it, letting it scatter back into the garden.[break][break]

"And you?"

[attr="class","ooc"] kyle lopez[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The humble bouquet of white dandelion puffs sat uncertainly in her hands as Elisabeth peered up at him, attempting to read the king of Hammerlocke's intent. Nothing but the same placid smile answered that unvoiced question.[break][break]

How long had it been since she had been able to hold fresh flowers in her hands? Years.[break][break]

Decades, even.[break][break]

Her fingers curled around the vibrant green stems, wondering if she should voice her gratitude for such a small kindness aloud.[break][break]

"Did you know in the language of flowers," she said instead, moving to fall into step beside the former Champion, "that dandelions speak to rebirth? It's because they bloom in the spring, when winter ends."[break][break]

She'd rarely been asked to sell that flower, back when she pretended to be someone she wasn't: someone kinder, better, or 'happier,' maybe. That had been the dream, at least. 'Happiness.'[break][break]

It felt strange walking beside Kyle in the town center now, the looks they earned seeming as much due to him as due to the Ruinous Beast by her side. There was a dream-like quality to this interaction, as if it felt like something that shouldn't be possible in their day-to-day reality.[break][break]

"I hope that when the Winter Solstice ends," she said, allowing herself a sideways glance his way, "we find ourselves similarly able to pick up the pieces of whatever all this has been."[break][break]

To flourish again, anew.

[attr="class","ooc"] kyle lopez[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]