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Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 5, 2023 18:47:06 GMT

ana fell likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]ana fell was missing. Caleb Harcourt was stolen away. Two of the most important people in Isaac's life, in this world and the last, had been torn away from him in a single fell swoop. It was a stark reminder that, for all the power he had in Galar, he wasn't worth shit here.[break][break)

Fuck that.[break][break]

Isaac didn't have the backing of a god. He didn't have some big fancy name, or any name for that matter. He didn't have some destined right to rule. No, what he built in Motostoke had been carved out by his own two hands. He wasn't powerless. He was tired of pretending he was. He had more power than anyone, even he, had dreamed was possible.[break][break]

He'd find Cygne. He'd save Caleb. But first, before he could even dream of how to help them, he needed to start with what he could do.[break][break]

Ashley. The man he'd last seen yesterday, yet lost for the last 20 years. The man he'd confessed almost everything to. The man who'd he'd saved a chair for at his wedding, a best man that never was. The man who had been the gaping hole at the heart of the family he'd made for himself. The man he loved like a sworn brother.[break][break]

Finding him in the aftermath of that night was his highest priority.[break][break]

It was almost sunrise. Isaac was never really up that early, but for Ash, he'd make an exception. He always did. It was on a dock that he saw him, staring out across the sea as if it'd have all the answers. Maybe it would. But they'd never had much luck when it came to finding those in the past.[break][break]

Maybe they'd just have to make their own.[break][break]

"Hey," Isaac said, his voice a soft, quiet notice so he wouldn't end up startling Ashley. With slow, careful footsteps, Isaac approached the edge of the dock. He sat down by his brother's side, half turned to get a good look at him. "You holding up okay?"

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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played by

Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

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1,109 posts

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part of

TAG WITH @ashley

POSTED ON Jul 6, 2023 21:48:59 GMT

jayden cross likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

[attr="class","ashley1body"]

Twenty years ago, he'd stand here today, looking out at the sunsetting in the west, silver eyes longing for something more in this life, but realizing he was trapped. Imprisoned by heart and soul in a jail of his own making, awaiting the day the coffin would lower him into his eternal rest. Internal turmoil, physical pain. He could still feel the aches and pains of twenty years ago when he was forty-five.[break][break]

In truth, Ashley remembers the feeling well. It's been coming back to him in bits and pieces, shreds back and forth. He had a Dragonite at one point, he remembers. A gift from his partner, his love. She's... somewhere now. He can't fully remember her.[break][break]

Listlessly, his hand thumbs over the old shard of the crown he had. He felt as if he were twenty years wiser, trapped in an alien body that no longer felt like his own.[break][break]

He stands looking out at sea, the ebb and flow the last bit of relaxation he can feel as the sun rises from the east. On his hand, a ring now. Engaged. Yet, years of marriage were so much more than the engagement. Engaged again. Here again. Something he never wanted twice.[break][break]

Black bags sit under puffy eyes. How long had he cried? The strawberry ice cream he and kepler brueshaber shared was disgustingly fattening... over the life that they lost together.[break][break]

And all that came to a head.[break][break]

He should be happy now. He got to see everyone else he lost for twenty years. But the problem of it is, they were twenty years gone. To him, they felt like ghosts. Isaac Merlo, ana fell, Naia Kayode, mint frost, jayden cross, didn't matter. They felt like apparitions here to torment him, to pick and prod at him. He accepted that he may never see them again. Any of them. He missed them, but they lived on.[break][break]

They had lived on.[break][break]

Now. He's on the docks, seated. There's a hidden maturity in his face. Years of it that had sobered him to the same shit Isaac had told him twenty years ago... this conflict between the League and Rocket was fucking stupid. Entirely so. But they were expected to continue holding the torch, to keep pressing on. A good soldier fights on, right?[break][break]

Bullshit. All of it.[break][break]

So much blood, and for what? A stupid stone that Walsh now gets to wave around in his shit hands? The Kool-Aid tastes great after enough stockholm syndrome taints the flavor, no matter how bad it really was for them.[break][break]

Isaac finally comes. But he doesn't turn to face him. It felt like another ghost. He hears the blonde's voice, and all he can do is hold the shattered piece of olden crown. All he can do is stare. As Isaac sits down at the docks, Ashley's face shows a face of a man far older than he felt, staring at the reminder of what came before, his eyes are bagged and puffy, and his face was pale.[break][break]

"Hey."[break][break]

It's... heartbreaking to hear how broken he felt, the way his voice felt so barren of emotion. He still can't believe he sounded like this. How gross it felt to hear his younger voice, and yet the older voice he would come into felt like a far off memory. A dream.[break][break]

To his second question though, Ashley turns to see him. "No." Finally. Ghosts didn't have such vibrant, blonde hair, did they? His silver eyes were vacant, he had been zoning out. Like he was looking past Isaac. Far past him.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- Where do we even start?[break]
- Ash is currently staring at the old piece of crown in his hands. Twenty years wiser. The conflict is bullshit.[break]
- Doesn't turn to face Isaac as he approaches. His voice is a broken hello... his Pokemon are nearby, playing.[break]
- He finally sees Isaac... but sees a phantom. No. He isn't okay.

[attr="class","ashley1pkmn"]

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,402 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 7, 2023 3:47:08 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]Ash's weak, croaking voice snapped Isaac's heart right in half.[break][break]

In a way, it was heartening to know that he wasn't alone. He couldn't handle the idea of being the only person to remember Galar, to long for Galar, to see Galar as his home just as much as Hoenn had ever been. At the same time, it was heartbreaking to see Ash wrestle with the same struggle that he'd spent his last months in Galar grappling with. He was lucky. He cried every tear he had left to shed in the most secluded corners of his throne room, surrounded by the land he'd nurtured with his blood, sweat, and tears.[break][break]

How he wished he could have shared that farewell with Ash.[break][break]

He didn't try to smooth over it. He didn't try to say he was okay, despite all the evidence to the contrary. He didn't try to wave his concerns off, despite them visibly killing him. He didn't try to focus on Isaac instead, for once in his life not rushing to put him first. Ash's answer hurt, but it was the answer he'd hoped to hear.[break][break]

"That's okay," Isaac said, voice soft. "I mean, it isn't. None of this is. Just taking back twenty years of our lives like that . . . taking back everything we worked towards . . . everyone we've known . . ." In that moment, fury boiled in his guts anew. Who the hell did Calyrex think he was to foist that burden on them? Who did he think he was to take it away as soon as they'd found meaning in it?[break][break]

"But it's okay that you're not okay. I don't think any of us are. How can we be?" The ones who forgot were the lucky ones, and who knew what kind of longing or lingering memory would haunt them? Outside of them, you either remembered 20 years of agony, or had 20 years of bliss torn away from you. In either case, before or after, someone was gonna be in agony.[break][break]

"You wanna talk about what yours was like? Or is that just gonna make it hurt more?"

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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played by

Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

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1,109 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @ashley

POSTED ON Jul 8, 2023 22:26:43 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

[attr="class","ashley1body"]

Ah. So Isaac had it happen too. This... whatever the fuck this was. This nightmare? Plague? The twenty years that would now sit in his mind, remembered as fully as he could. Scraps, stitched together to a life that should have been, but never could be. It's twenty years that this crown was the only acknowledgment of. The proof that Rocket and the League could one day put aside every difference to be something.[break][break]

What a cruel joke.[break][break]

What was reality now? A figment of the past that had to be lived through?[break][break]

The thing is though, he helped cause the conflict. In his youthful ignorance, he slapped Zacian down with Reinhardt. It wasn't the Nidoking's fault, and he made sure the big guy knew it, but there was something to see a king cry like him. As if, telling Ashley he was sorry for what he did to him. The weight on the back of the beast. Ashley couldn't know what Rein was going through. But he wouldn't abandon the king either.[break][break]

Kings stayed together.[break][break]

It's okay not to be okay. Ashley fiddles with the crown in his hand, and as Isaac said to speak of what it was like... he looks closer. "Ashen fields. The stadium. The one known as Calyrex tells us to be heroes, gave us a prophecy... Hammerlocke. Haku-" His eyes prick with tears. That was right! His Dragonite was gone now. His distant, silver gaze was watery. Haku was gone. He remembered her so fondly, a faithful companion for fifteen years. She got to have a good life, and now...[break][break]

He clutches the fragment of the crown tightly. His hand started to shake. "-they crowned me a king... we fought for so many years... Chocobo... I got to finally build the orphanage I wanted. I was married... there was a kid. Kep, he-" The tears are flowing like the waterfalls now, as he feels the fragmented crown shard dig into his skin, the blood soaking it, as he realized how much was gone.[break][break]

And how much the two were left with now.[break][break]

It hadn't registered. And his head was thrown up, as he bawls. The sheer weight of it, pushing down on him as it buried itself deep into his soul. The reverberations of what was lost, now echoes on the breeze as he cries for nothing but ashes. If he had been tormented before, now? The cruel twisted gods had left him broken.[break][break]

And kepler brueshaber was in the same boat.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- The crown shard is dull. He begins to remember.[break]
- As he tells Isaac, it all comes in like flashes. Like reliving his life again. Ashen fields. Stadium. Calyrex. Heroes.[break]
- Hammerlocke. Haku. And he starts crying. Kingship. War. Chocobo. Orphanage. Marriage. Kid.[break]
- He wails to the heavens at the echoes of ashes.

[attr="class","ashley1pkmn"]

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,402 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 9, 2023 4:31:26 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]The second Isaac spotted the fragment in Ash's hands, he spoke up to confirm what Isaac was thinking. He had, indeed, shared the burden of king. Motostoke in the rusted shield, Hammerlocke in the rusted sword . . . even amidst the heavy, dour atmosphere, it was hard for Isaac not to feel the slightest twinge of pride.[break][break]

It figured that the Ruinous Quartet needed to keep them apart. Otherwise, they'd be unstoppable.[break][break]

Despite that, he kept his mouth shut. He waited. He listened. In some regards, Galar had been the biggest tragedy of Ash's life. He'd been separated from his friends and loved ones for 20 years. He'd been forced to fight for his life in an apocalyptic wasteland. He'd lost a dearly beloved Pokemon, the mere mention of them of coaxing tears from his eyes.[break][break]

In other ways, it had been a paradise. He'd reigned as a king and left his mark on the city of his hopes and dreams. He'd started up an orphanage, sparing countless children from sharing his fate. He'd married Kepler and even started a family together, the dream he'd seemingly resigned to an impossibility.[break][break]

Now the scars of the pain remained, while all that was left of the good was its absence.[break][break]

Ash didn't just shut down. He didn't just mourn. He openly wept as twenty years took their toll in a single, agonizing moment. His head twisted to the sky. His body crumpled to the ground. His tears spilled into the midnight sea, and his voice rushed with the howling wind. Ash had become the eye of a storm, and yet compared to the gods he was little more than a bawling child.[break][break]

As he crumpled, Isaac moved on autonomous reflex. He pulled Ash in for a tight, protective hug, nestling against him to prevent him from crumpling to the ground outright. His arms may not have had the strength of 20 years of rule, but his conviction burned every bit as brightly. Perhaps Ash would even feel the slightest wet spot from Isaac's own tears, though he did his best to hold them back. As much as he was hurting, this wasn't his time to cry. This was his time to be Ash's rock.[break][break]

"You and me both, buddy," Isaac admitted. Kingship. Family. 20 years of his life. Those, too, had graced his life. Those, too, had been torn away. "Let it out, man. Anything. Everything. As much as you need to, okay?"[break][break]

"I'm here. No matter what."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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played by

Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

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1,109 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @ashley

POSTED ON Jul 15, 2023 8:00:39 GMT

Cillian Quinn, jayden cross, and 2 more like this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

[attr="class","ashley1body"]

No amount of tears can bring it back. Nothing ends the pain. It's here, it's home, it's everywhere. He wept. It kept coming back to him, but it felt like it was fading at the edges of his memory. Every so often, it was harder to recall than previous. He didn't want to lose that. He kept the crown shard as a means to remember. To not forget. Their time in Galar.[break][break]

It all comes back, reinforced harder when he stares at the crown piece.[break][break]

All he can do is cry, and even when Isaac hugs him, it doesn't make the pain go away. It does lessen the agony and trauma. The torment and the strife, though slightly faded, still ever-present. All of the scars remained. But it was nice...[break][break]

It breaks him a little. "Twenty years, and you're still the same hugger that you were before." He laughs, tears pricked on his eyes, the light chuckle bringing to an end the twenty years of pain it was from seeing him. He does this, even if he can't hold it together. It's never going to mend the scars on the soul, but it is the care needed to alleviate it.[break][break]

"Glad to see that... hahaha." He's laughing, and though his heart hurts, his chest burns, he is able to return to it. In fact, this is new. This is... happy Ashley. That's right! He had this laugh when he was older. He felt happiness...[break][break]

He pulls Isaac into a tighter hug now. And now... the happier memories start to bleed in. "... I wanted you there as my best man." The longing and want. ana fell would have been there too. Hell, he wanted Hitoshi Inoue to come too. Crazy as that guy was. Eris Halla, @naya too... he wanted them to come. He wanted to share his happiness with them. jayden cross, mint frost, Cillian Quinn, Shalin Nariya. He wanted them to come... but...[break][break]

It hurts.[break][break]

It hurts, but now he had a chance to do it right.[break][break]

"I'm glad we're back... but it can't replace what's gone now." And that was the biggest pain point. What could have been. Stripped and taken away.[break][break]

Nothing will fix that now.

Isaac Merlo [break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- Missed his homie Isaac, the hugger. Notes how much he hasn't changed.[break]
- Isaac missed his wedding... so many people missed his wedding.[break]
- He's happy to be back, to reconnect, but... it still hurts...

[attr="class","ashley1pkmn"]

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,402 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 15, 2023 14:44:17 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac couldn't help but laugh at Ash's comment. For a second, his voice was no longer his own, instead having the boisterous timber of a king. Perhaps, as soon as Ash would notice this, it would snap back to Isaac's usual tone.[break][break]

"Oh, trust me. If you think this is a hug, you should've seen me back in Motostoke," Isaac admitted. "Turns out ye olde fashioned life as king gives you some incredible biceps. Who knew?" The combination of regularly fighting for his life and feeling more loved than he had in ages tended to have that effect.[break][break]

Ash was laughing, too. In fact, Ash was smiling. When Isaac had first seen Ash, despondent at the edge of a dock, he didn't know if Ash could do that anymore. But frankly, it had been gone longer than those 20 years. It was gone when Ash killed his father and, in place of satisfaction, found the void. It was gone when Ash first had his mental break on Mt. Pyre and made Isaac pay that price for him.[break][break]

This was the most genuinely happy Isaac had seen Ash in almost a year. It hurt to admit.[break][break]

"I saved a seat for you at mine," Isaac said, letting himself melt into his sworn brother's hug. "Honorary best man. Wasn't sure if you were in another city, or if you were just . . ." He didn't even want to think about finishing that sentence.[break][break]

"Gotta admit, didn't see "the same world but different" coming as an option. Man. That's surreal." It was weird enough that a small portion of Hoenn would always remember a strange, parallel Galar. Learning that there were two of those, ever so slightly different from each other, only made the situation more uncanny.[break][break]

Yet, for all of its pain, perhaps it had been a blessing in disguise. "You're right," Isaac admitted, practically feeling the pain radiate out from Ash's voice. "What we lost, we're never gonna get back. And it hurts, man. More than anything else."[break][break]

"But you know what we did get?"[break][break]

"Time. Twenty whole years of it. And a vision on what those years should be. What they could be. And the proof, right there in our hands, that its not because of any gods or monsters or wars. It was because of us." He fished his shield shaped locket from beneath his shirt, holding it to the jagged, blade-like fragment of Ash's crown.[break][break]

"Maybe we can't go back. But we can make a world they'd be proud of."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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played by

Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

awards

1,109 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @ashley

POSTED ON Jul 15, 2023 19:04:11 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

[attr="class","ashley1body"]

"Preaching to the choir." He oh so knew the bicep game of the king. Man swung around a shield against soldiers, and practically was able to lift kepler brueshaber like a feather. Of course, he doesn't tell Isaac this.[break][break]

That's kind of... private bedroom things. Lewd stuff.[break][break]

But the laugh, the happiness he felt, it was completely legitimate. Ashley was happy. Ecstatic. The scars did remain, and that was just who Ash was. But the thing about twenty years of happiness, well, what happiness he could scrounge from it... was how much good was in there.[break][break]

Hearing that there was a seat saved for him though as the honorary best man has him melt more. His hug tightens. He forgets how much he had worked out before in this current, twenty-five year old version of himself. He squeezes Isaac a little too hard... can't blame the guy though.[break][break]

Man missed Isaac something fierce. The dogs really did have something special, making two whole worlds to fix what was broken.[break][break]

But it's that optimism that returns back to Ashley.[break][break]

"Yeah. You're right... Arceus, man, I missed that positivity." It really was something. No matter how much glass half-empty Ashley saw the world, the glass half-full in Isaac's had him see it differently. And now, as he feels the shield locket, and the jagged blade fragment of the crown touch, he nods.[break][break]

"I'm gonna do it right this time."[break][break]

He smiles, and takes a breath in.[break][break]

"Your turn. What happened in... your... dog dream?" The fuck do you even call it?

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- Ash remembering his own biceps, and how much Kepler liked it OOPS. That's lewd stuff.[break]
- Missed that optimism. Their artifacts touch.[break]
- Isaac's turn. The fuck happened?

[attr="class","ashley1pkmn"]

[attr="class","ashley1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,402 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 16, 2023 18:09:06 GMT

Aurelie Lefevre and Caleb Harcourt like this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]"We will."[break][break]

By this point, Isaac didn't have a doubt in his mind. For all the setbacks the two of them faced, Ash was an incredibly strong person. He just didn't seem to know it. Now he had twenty years of making the world a better place under his belt to serve as a reminder of that fact. No longer were his goals some distant dream to be locked away while Rocket wormed its way into his heart.[break][break]

"I was one of Motostoke's kings," Isaac said, a fond smile already spreading across his face at the memory. "We took a city in the middle of a wasteland and gave it the best damn industry and education in Galar. And when Necrozma tried to knock it all down, we just built back up stronger."[break][break]

"If we had more time, we were gonna build the train lines back up. Get 'em criss-crossing all over Galar. Would've been a golden age, man. But . . . if that world's still out there, I'm sure they know what to do."[break][break]

He sighed. A part of him wanted to believe. A part of him knew it was beyond foolish. But there was a big multiverse out there, with so many twists, turns, and branches along the way. Who was to say there wasn't a chance?[break][break]

"I had a family, too." Mentioning that made both the pain and the triumph hit all the harder. "Cygne and I had two girls. Sabrina was a real spitfire. Went from a mischief maker to a lady ready to turn the courts upside down. And Iris was so precious, so sweet. Got her mother's brains, too. Way smarter than I was as a kid, that's for sure."[break][break]

"Wasn't just them, either. I finally reconnected with my little sib, El Sunderland. The only part of my old home worth keeping around. Arceus, it was nice making up for all the time that'd been taken from us. And Aurelie Lefevre was like the big sister I never had. Pretty sure I would've snapped if I didn't have her to ground me. Then there was Caleb Harcourt, my brother-king . . ."[break][break]

For the first time today, Isaac's smile dropped.

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

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POSTED ON Jul 21, 2023 22:52:38 GMT

Aurelie Lefevre likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

[attr="class","ashley1body"]

A king of Motostoke, huh?[break][break]

It's heartwarming. Really, it was. The brothers in arms had both been given the crown. But did either of them want it? The hilarious, weird, crazy part of it all was... Ashley kinda did. Did Isaac? He'd make a good one, that much was certain.[break][break]

Then came the rest of it. Schools. Educational systems, undeterred by Necrozma's hand. It's... empowering. They both were on different sides of the railroad track, yet they followed similarly. No, it wasn't just heartwarming. It really was a warm and fuzzy feeling around his heart. It brought no end to it.[break][break]

If that world was still out there...[break][break]

Isaac talking about his family, hearing the kids is like a shot in the bullseye. But here's the real painpoint. Cygne and Isaac did get married. Two kids. Two girls. Sabrina and Iris... kids who had lives, who had stories, who got to be people. They were people. They were real. The benefit to his own was...[break][break]

...[break][break]

Which is sadder? A kid who never got to live, or a kid who doesn't know why they no longer can and disappears? To Ash, no matter which way, its death. "You too, then." It has him stare back to the ocean. Close his eyes and just... set.[break][break]

Then Isaac goes on about his sibling, and another pain point snaps into Ashley's chest. Like a cannon shot directly into the chest. He had a sibling too. He did, she was out here, somewhere... so maybe he should look for her? Hearing Aurelie Lefevre being like a sister too reminds him of Selena Desmarais, Selena's own big sister energy...[break][break]

And then came Caleb Harcourt. Isaac trails off, and Ash immediately hones in on it. That can't be a coincidence, can it?[break][break]

"Harcourt... wait, that Harcourt?" Ashley almost sounds troubled at that. Because now he's thinking of Zev Harcourt, and his mind is reopening the wound that was his birth father's death. He can still feel the sting of the scar on his side. It only just dawns on him...[break][break]

Oh. Fuck. A sudden pang of fear comes over him.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- Ash listens for awhile. He listens way longer than he should be. Isaac was hurt just as bad.[break]
- He's in his own mind. And then... Caleb comes up. Harcourt. The name. Oh fuck. It can't be, right...?

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MADE BY GUNSMILE

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Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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POSTED ON Jul 22, 2023 1:01:07 GMT

Caleb Harcourt likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]"Yes. That Harcourt."[break][break]

It would have been a very dramatic and weighty line to end on, had it been the whole story. But this was Hoenn. This was the story of Caleb Harcourt. When were either of things so simple?[break][break]

"His brother, specifically. The one they put back on the traitor list half a year ago." You know. Just in case Ash didn't think this could get worse. "He's a lot like you, y'know. He was there in Kanto. He saw the worst. He did the worst. And then, one day, he realized just what it all meant."[break][break]

"So he started fresh. Tried to make things right."[break][break]

That was where their stories diverged. Caleb stayed away from the whole mess. He became a Ranger. He tried to confront the wrongs he'd committed, even as Rocket loathed him from the shadows and his distrust of the League simmered. Ash . . . well, both of them knew how Ash's story went.[break][break]

"We ruled together in Galar. He was my spear. I was his shield. Together, nothing could stop us. We brought Motostoke to a golden age, man. Didn't matter what we'd done before then. What we couldn't do. Who we were. For those twenty years, it felt like we were finally doing something right."[break][break]

He didn't waste time hanging on the dramatic pause. He didn't drag out the but. Every word he said made it clear that this was all too good to be true, so why even wait for the other shoe to drop?[break][break]

"The second we got back, Rocket took him. Where, I don't know. But so long as he's on that list, he's in danger. Whether because Zev Harcourt wants the kill for himself, or whatever masked sicko grabbed him is done doing Arceus-knows-what, or because Cillian Quinn's sick of all the treason and just wants to make an example, he's not gonna have much time. I don't know where he is yet. But damnit, I'm looking. Every day. And when I find him . . ."[break][break]

Isaac eased out from Ash's hug. His fists clenched. His shoulders tightened. There was a resentful focus in his eyes as helooked out across the sea. In that moment, he could have sworn the sunrise painted a red R across the darkened seas.[break][break]

"It's time."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

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POSTED ON Jul 22, 2023 1:21:40 GMT

Caleb Harcourt likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

[attr="class","ashley1body"]

The split happens again. That road again. The fork in the road. It's a road he's walked before, and it does nothing to inspire him. It's the eerie road to walk upon, seeing one way being salvation, and the other ruination. He sees both sides now. He knows better than anyone the struggles that sit upon that road.[break][break]

It's that important to him. It's the road he chose salvation for years ago. It's the the circle around he walked back here just under a year ago. His silver eyes look aimlessly forward, out at sea.[break][break]

He takes one breath in, and one breath out.[break][break]

"They'll kill him."[break][break]

He makes the choice to walk back to salvation. Once more. The road where he can get out of this hell. To help someone else like him. Even if he knows that doing so, will mean he's the one tortured. That he's the one who will be beaten. Whether Zev Harcourt, Cillian Quinn, or some other Rocket, hell, even Hitoshi Inoue or Selena Desmarais. He makes the choice. "..."[break][break]

It was time. Time to figure out where the line in the sand was.[break][break]

"I can try and help where I can. But you know what they'll do if I do that. To me. To kepler brueshaber." Ashley sighs, eyes out to the ocean again, the darkened sea with the sun rising on it, his silver eyes lose a little light. "... you know. You were right. Rocket, League... the moment we remove the societal pressures of both factions, we can work together. Galar was proof... it was-"[break][break]

"-beautiful. This conflict is a cancer."[break][break]

But he knows damn well, what will happen next. "When you get him out... cut radio contact with me for awhile, okay? They'll come after those you were close to. I'll be able to take it." Ashley isn't on the chopping block. He'll be safe...[break][break]

Right?[break][break]

He knows the pain of a man who wants to make up for what was done. Whoever Caleb Harcourt actually was, he'll be able to get out. He grabs at his own chest for a moment. A reminder from Walsh. A phantom pain.[break][break]

A reminder to the path of pain.

Isaac Merlo [break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- Knows damn well that this is Zev fuckin' Harcourt. The man will end em. Cillian too.[break]
- Disillusioned to the conflict, Ashley tells him to cut radio contact with him when he gets out. For now...[break]
- That's right. He's committing treason again. It's treason then.

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MADE BY GUNSMILE

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Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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POSTED ON Jul 22, 2023 2:12:26 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac wanted to say that he didn't have to. But he knew Ash. The idea of not being there for Isaac would be more torturous than anything Rocket could do to him.[break][break]

That was the rub of all this, wasn't it? The world was built on connections. Even in the midst of a region ravaged by war, people managed to find the place where they belonged. They learned. They grew. They hurt. They healed. They cried. They laughed. They loved. Even when things seemed at their most hopeless, just the simple act of living gave so many people the strength to press onwards.[break][break]

And Rocket didn't care about it one bit. They just cared about how they could twist it into serving them.[break][break]

This conflict was a cancer, indeed. And who was the one that started the fire each and every time? Would they have even been sucked into Galar had Rocket not piled onto Galar's dogs with all of their might? Would the League have even gone searching for the Seal Stone had Rocket not rushed for it first? What gave Rocket the right to assault Littleroot on the edge of the apocalypse while the League, despite everything, respected their sovereignty in Sootopolis?[break][break]

What gave them the right to snatch Caleb Harcourt away for whatever sick intentions they had in mind?[break][break]

The League had so much to answer for. But the conflict's cancer had infested them, just as it had infested the land they reigned over. Their reckoning would come. First, if the conflict was to stop, Isaac would need to face it at the source.[break][break]

Even if it was just to save a single life.[break][break]

"Its like we just said, huh?" Isaac said, his voice and face softening with each word. "We've seen what the world could be. Now we just gotta make it so. Show the people of Galar they were right to give us these."[break][break]

One day, they'd be a unified front. But that time would have to wait. "Ash-" Isaac started, concern bleeding into his voice. The idea of losing contact with Ash, even for just a little while, left his gut churning. But what was the alternative? Being torn apart by the faction war?[break][break]

Ash assured Isaac he could take it. Isaac didn't want him to have to. He wanted to grab Ash as soon as he grabbed Caleb and save them both from Rocket's fury. The idea of trading one life for another sickened him, even if Ash consented to it.[break][break]

"You could come with me." The heavy, downward tone to Isaac's voice made it clear he already knew the answer. "Then they can't get their hands on you, right? And the three of us could look out for each other. But . . ."[break][break]

"You're worried what'd happen to kepler brueshaber, huh?"

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

5'11'' height

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POSTED ON Jul 22, 2023 3:03:22 GMT

THEO BECKETT likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","ashley1"]

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"You know I can't do that." At least. Not yet. He looks behind him, and it's all fire and brimstone behind him. He looks ahead. It's fire and brimstone ahead. The only difference is when and where. But the same path, the same fork in the road is the split.[break][break]

I wish I listened to you the first time, THEO BECKETT.[break][break]

It's bittersweet now. Knowing that the closest thing to a father he had had warned him almost a year ago from coming back. Had done everything to get him from coming back. Had attempted to push him away from it, and Ashley accepted it, thinking there was nothing more to him than the runaway delinquent who would die to a bullet. But now, he had a burning need to fight the machine.[break][break]

Well. He wanted to. But right on the money, Isaac bullseyes it.[break][break]

"Yeah... I'd need to get him out too." Ashley can feel his heart burning, knowing that if he does stay, then his close proximity to Isaac puts Kepler in the crossfires. If he does go, he is leaving him to die. And if he takes Kep with him... then he damns his fiancee to the same fate. He looks to the engagement ring on his ring finger.[break][break]

He smiles quietly.[break][break]

"Can... you get Kep out, first? If... they can't use him against me, they can't break me."[break][break]

A big smile. Knowing what he's asking here.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT[break]
- He can't go with...[break]
- But he asks Isaac to help get Kep out first.[break]
- If no Kep, they can't break Ashley.

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MADE BY GUNSMILE

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Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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