MARCH UPDATE

949 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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4,314 posts

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TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 9, 2023 4:07:49 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 had never figured Genny for the drinking type. Sure, she was older than he was, but she always seemed a touch more innocent. The kinds of vices that the Hoenn region usually hid behind seemed to be the last thing on her mind. But who was Isaac to judge? She was an adult-ass woman. She could have a drink with a friend if she wanted to.[break][break]

Still, whether she could drink like a champ or was new to the art, Isaac figured he might as well pick the best place he could think of. Normally, that would've been the Howling at the Moon, but the idea of associating with anything Harcourt left a pit at the bottom of his gut. Shame. As a practiced bartender, he could've easily walked Genny through this.[break][break]

Instead, he decided to tap into his knowledge of Hoenn's other local haunts. What would be a better fit than a lovely tiki bar off the coast of Lilycove? With sweet, savory tapas, strong, fruity drinks, and a beautiful view of Hoenn's surf, sand, and sky, it was a unique experience the usual inland bars couldn't quite compare with.[break][break]

It was also a little slice of home. There was nothing like this even possible in Galar.[break][break]

For the time being, Isaac sat in his bamboo seat, a large umbrella keeping the Hoennian sun from roasting him alive. Did it always feel so hot? It was such a surreal feeling. His body himself wasn't uncomfortable, but his brain was still being thrown off by the heat. Then again, it was also being thrown off by the distinct lack of hair on his chin, so there were more than a few adjustments to make.[break][break]

And to think, those adjustments were the tip of an iceberg he couldn't even begin to grasp the enormity of.

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

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close tab

played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 9, 2023 4:25:20 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

That's the thing though. Genny isn't a drinker. She isn't usually a fan of having some random guy's arm around her waist either.[break][break]

We'll get to that.[break][break]

But with every sweet shot that gets in her, a little more inhibition gets out. Instead of being normal, she was acting more like a college party girl, downing shot, after shot. This one, ooooooh, it has a hint of pineapple in it. As she downs the shotglass, she frowns at the guy next to her.[break][break]

"GET OFF ME."[break][break]

Instead of slapping him, or telling him what for, Genny breaks his arm. Flat out, in the middle of the bar, and than spits on him after she's done. That's the ol' Ranger training. Taking a step to fix her much, much shorter hair, she moves with another set of shots, setting them on the table where Isaac was. It's no date, and frankly, she doesn't care if it were or not. She just wanted a friend to help her... to do what, who was to say.[break][break]

"Here ya go." She's a lot colder about it, a poutier lip from her face. It's a a much shorter cut for her vibrant orange hair that used to go down to her shoulder. Something she cut off after coming back. Just like her older self.[break][break]

"So, King Isaac. What are you doin' now? Where's your... hot wife?"[break][break]

She was already five shots in. She doesn't sound that sloshed. Yet.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR[break]
- Genny breaks some guys arm and has another shot. Comes back with two shot glasses.[break]
- Tipsily asks King Isaac what he's doing, and where his hot wife is. Yes. She calls ana fell hot. Bisexual QUEEN.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 9, 2023 4:55:41 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"]Genny hadn't let Isaac know when she arrived. It turned out that was because she'd been pregaming.[break][break]

Not everyone had been invited to the party. Seeing her drunk and disorderly, some fuckboy saw a chance to make a move. He barely lasted five seconds. It was Genny's furious shout that finally tipped Isaac off to her location, just in time to see her pry his hand off of her waist.[break][break]

"Pry" was a generous word. "Shatter" might have been a better word. The crack echoed across the bar, sending a flock of Wingull flying away from the disturbance. Some of the patrons cringed. Some looked ready to pick a fight. Security looked between one another, trying to weigh the intense assault with the victim's wandering hands. Eventually, with a shrug, one moved to escort him away. He didn't even bother to clean the spit off of the asshole's face; their verdict on the situation was clear.[break][break]

With her business handled, Genny joined a stunned Isaac as if nothing happened.[break][break]

Her voice was cold as ice, and she held her shot to Isaac with all the rigidity of a vending machine. "Thank you?" he said, his shock at Genny's new vibe immediately apparent. Once the surprise wore off, he glanced over to the man being escorted away. "Sorry that jackass was giving you trouble. But, damn. You got moves now."[break][break]

Maybe it wasn't the moves that were new. Maybe it was her willingness to use them.[break][break]

Isaac cringed a little at being called king. Frankly, even when he was in the role, it never quite felt right. Even when he embraced it most, he felt more like some kind of spicy mayor than actual royalty. But now that he was back in a body 20 sizes too small, it just felt jarring to hear.[break][break]

He'd grow into the title with time. That he'd make sure of.[break][break]

"I wish I knew," Isaac admitted, sighing softly. "ana fell flew off as soon as we returned. I've been looking for her every day, but . . . I don't think she wants to be found right now. And that kinda scares me." He looked anyway, because he'd rather find out she was ignoring him than find out she was dead in a ditch somewhere. But her absence made Isaac feel every bit as helpless as Caleb Harcourt's seizure did.[break][break]

"She didn't take us coming back well." Isaac looked at Genevieve. Her eyes were harsh, warmed only the slightest bit by the mention of hot women. She had a shot collection that made it clear she was drinking for business, not for pleasure. She gravitated right towards calling him a king, something even those he was closest to in Motostoke hadn't.[break][break]

He thought of how his own body and home felt so alien to him after twenty long years and a single long night. "I don't think any of us are."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

close tab

played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 9, 2023 7:28:45 GMT

Caleb Harcourt likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Shrugging it off, she downs the shot, tasting almost of fruit punch, as she slams the glass back down, only to have the waiter who was nearby move to deliver a bottle. A little apology for the jackass with the broken arm. Genevieve wouldn't say no. In fact, she liked the attention. She hardly got it these days.[break][break]

Or maybe after twenty years, she craved it so badly that even the guy's arm she broke was a desperate cry for it? She knew she could work the system a little. She was cute. She had the mojo.[break][break]

"Always had'em." she blows orange hair from her face, tucking a loose strand behind her ear. Her hair was short. Not so much that she still didn't have that little move she did, but enough so that she didn't have to spend forever combing it. She liked it shorter now. It made sense to her. Body dysmorphia and all that jazz.[break][break]

It gets worse when he seems to be distraught over his wife being missing. And the normal Genny would promise to go find her, make it her mission over the next couple of days to go out and search. Whole search and rescue mission, with flashlights, and Pokemon. Getting the Slateport crew on the down low.[break][break]

That was old Genevieve. Where were they for her when she needed them? Selfish as it is, she's bitter. Not for them. Or at them. No one reached out a hand. Turns out, people don't have the best interest at heart.[break][break]

"Sorry t'hear that."[break][break]

Pouring another shot for herself, she stares down at it, as Isaac says the one true thing. Oh yeah. Ever since they got back, it's been so messed up. Practically reverberating on so many people. But how can she blame her? Or anyone? She'd love to run away herself. But life doesn't stop when your dog dies.[break][break]

"All the more rea''n to drink. Wuh' abou' your number two?" She sounds incredibly interested, if not a little more than just tipsy. Maybe it was her rosy cheeks at the mention of Caleb Harcourt... no. It was a girl crush. A big girl crush she had a while back. And probably still does.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR[break]
- Free drink. Oh hey, look at that. Genny is pouring more. Sad about his wife though.[break]
- She pours another, and asks about Caleb. Her cheeks are red.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 9, 2023 17:27:37 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"]A quick, almost token "sorry to hear that," and then moving right on to the next one.[break][break]

How could Isaac even be offended? The Hoenn region didn't stop for anyone. It didn't stop for anything. The literal end of the world came knocking on their door, and yet Team Rocket fought to be the kings of the crater. 20 long years were lost in a dreamlike haze, and yet the League and Rocket went tomb raiding as if nothing happened. Gym leaders quit their jobs and people big and small went missing all the time, and yet nobody in the world batted an eye.[break][break]

Why should he be any different? What was so special about him?[break][break]

Nothing. There was nothing special about Isaac. He was just lucky to end up in a situation where he was listened to for a change. When he was, even a nobody like him could move mountains. Maybe if the Hoenn region just stopped and listened to its people more often, everyone else could have that chance.[break][break]

Genevieve had given up on those chances. Instead, she found comfort in the bottle. It had been mere days since they'd returned to Hoenn, and already the girl's warmth and light had been reduced to this.[break][break]

Maybe it hadn't been mere days. Maybe Isaac should have realized that the letters she once responded so warmly with became increasingly tense and sparse. Maybe he shouldn't have figured that, on the days she didn't even respond, she was "probably too busy." Maybe, when she wasn't among the people who paid Motostoke a visit, he should have taken the time to go over to Circhester and see her.[break][break]

But with his responsibilities, how could he? He had given all of himself to Motostoke. He had to.[break][break]

Genny's light hadn't been torn away from her suddenly, as it had been for Ashley Shepard, for ana fell, for @cil. No, it had slowly suffocated, withering on the vine in Circhester's harsh frosts for two decades. All of that being undone in the snap of Calyrex's fingers did nothing to change that. She had no friends. She had no heroes. Now all she had left was the bottle.[break][break]

And, potentially, bodies. She bought a drink for the guy she broke (as an apology? An invitation?). She called Cygne hot without a shred of hesitation. And now, speaking of Caleb Harcourt, her face took a distinctly different flush and interest sparked in her eyes.[break][break]

Both bartender and friend instincts kicked in, but Isaac tucked them away for later.[break][break]

"He's gone, too," Isaac said, bitterness on his tongue. Talking about both of them back to back made it clear to him just how useless he was. "I know where he is. But getting him out's gonna be the hard part. Its like . . . defusing a bomb, y'know? One wrong move, and. Boom."[break][break]

There'd be a boom, alright. But it wouldn't be Caleb. Not on Isaac's watch.[break][break]

"But this isn't about me. Are you doing okay, Genny?" It was a question nobody had asked her in Arceus knows how long. It was a question he should have lead today with, but had been too caught off guard to realize. It was a question that, tragically, was much too little and much too late.[break][break]

Like hell would that let Isaac stop him.

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

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played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 10, 2023 3:13:42 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Oh well. It wasn't like Genevieve was really into Caleb Harcourt anyways. Guys were the worst. They leave with a letter saying they were staying in their home region... not that Genny could really blame Elio. But it still doesn't sit well with her heart. Wait. What the fuck, that wasn't something she wanted to think about.[break][break]

She was still too few shots in. Eyes go to the shotglass, but she leans on a hand, elbow to the table. She's ruder than before. A lot of innocence dies.[break][break]

"Too baaaad... I lik'd him." She doesn't hold it back. The thing about liquid courage was that it was quite literally liquid courage. Drink it, bam, you can fight Giratina in a boxing match. Might still lose, but it's still a fight not normally made. And Genny was there. She was far past there, in fact.[break][break]

So when he asks how she is, she shrugs. "Oh, I'm GREAAaaAAT, Izzy! Can'ya tell?" Yeah... six shots in, and she's livin' like Larry, alright. Another shot full, another one filled. Hope, aspirations. Wanting to be the head ranger, and where does it get her? A mission impossible to predict, no more heroes, and a dream that's fallen like a star.[break][break]

"Com'back from my HOME LAND, where I'm BORN... and whatta I get? My boyfrien' breaks up'wi'me, Dokor Rhythm is gone, an- all the gifts from Kieran Roth and my ex... DIE. Jus'like that, Izzy." She grabs the glass. She throws it back like her college days.[break][break]

"S'yeah. I'm PEACHY."[break][break]

And mad.

Isaac Merlo [break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR[break]
- Open about her crush on Caleb Harcourt. Lies about being great. Regales about it all.[break]
- She's getting drunker.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 10, 2023 5:23:57 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"]"It isn't."[break][break]

"Too bad" was too final for Isaac's liking. This wasn't the end of the road for Caleb Harcourt. Isaac wouldn't let it be. He didn't care if he had to dismantle Team Rocket with with his bare hands to make it happen. He didn't care if he had to suffer in his place instead. He didn't care if it took months of bashing his head against a wall. He'd make it happen, damnit![break][break]

"I'm getting him back," Isaac repeated. "I'm making sure he's okay. And maybe then I can get you two in touch." Both Genny and Caleb seemed to have terminal cases of desperately needing someone to support them. It was ironic. Isaac would've loved to help Caleb find love, but his mind was in a million other places right now.[break][break]

Most of those places were on Genny, who less opened up and more flooded like a burst dam.[break][break]

He knew how much she cared about her Pokemon. Just the loss of one, Mr. Business, had left her inconsolable. He'd done his best to be there for her after hearing the bad news. Where was he for the next four? Arceus, he hadn't even known. How could he? The impossibility of it all did nothing to blunt the pain of his failure.[break][break]

There was one who should have been there, but he hadn't been. In fact, when Genny needed him most, he left. Rage burned in Isaac's guts. He knew people moved on sometimes, but . . . now? Of all times?[break][break]

Ugh. It hurt, seeing Genny like this. He knew it'd hurt the Pokemon that loved her just as much. But even trying to remind her of that felt like throwing their ghosts in her place. It would have been a low blow that she didn't deserve.[break][break]

Instead, voice gentle and eye pained, Isaac did his best to look at Genny head-on. "I wish I'd ended up in Circhester, so I could have at least been there to support you," he admitted. "Nobody deserves to have to go through pain like that, least of all you. Especially not alone."[break][break]

"I know I'm way too late, but . . ." Fear gnawed at Isaac's guts. If he said the wrong thing, he could royally piss Genny off. But he'd rather try and fail than leave her to wallow like this. "I'm here now. If you need to vent. Or mourn. Or just . . . rage at the universe. Arceus knows I've done my fair share of those."[break][break]

"Do you want to go to Mt. Pyre with me someday? So we can honor them?"

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

close tab

played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 12, 2023 3:50:25 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Nosedive.[break][break]

It's frustrating. Looking at this overwhelming ball of sunshine. Like... where does he get off? Stating he could make things work like this? And the spiral begins, and it isn't a pleasant spiral. Quite the contrary. It feels like pity. It feels like he pities her, and that-[break][break]

Angrily, she pours another shot, a pissed off look in a drunken face.[break][break]

And then he up and says he wished he was in Circhester. And it hits like a truck. Every feeling wells to the service at once. Twenty years of pain, bubbles and burns, and Isaac was now toiling with trouble.[break][break]

Crash.[break][break]

"Stop."[break][break]

For the first time, she bitterly bites with venom on her tongue, hazel eyes showing her own anger. The fact is, being an adult meant accepting the changes that happen. She was over her Pokemon dying. Dr. Rhythm was gone. Cardi B was gone. Lady Bloom, Ms. Clean, and Mr. Business were gone. She takes the next shot.[break][break]

And slams down her hand with the empty glass, her face red, her hazel eyes hot.[break][break]

"Don' you dare pi'y me." The words move like lava from her lips, as her eyes prick with the angriest set of tears she ever shed. She's reluctant to go further, but liquid courage pushes the best and worst of us. "You WISH you woul'have? Is tha'joke? You didn'. You were SURO'N'ED by love and frien's... my hero ignor'd me, and my lov'an'friens lef'or died. Y'u don't ge'to pi'y me." Now it was really coming out. The truth of the matter is, she wanted to make a difference. But really, the people that acknowledged her... were so few.[break][break]

She stared at him. Hateful. Spiteful. Bitter. Wanting to bite the world, to burn it down. But she just went on. "I ha'to pick myself up. Me. No'ne was ther'tuh do'et for me. So you c'n shove y'r pity ba'up your-"[break][break]

... she catches herself before she regrets it. Moves to pour another shot. And moves her fingers over the glass. She had made a scene, with people looking over to their table now. But she didn't care. Not anymore. That was the agony that was now Genevieve Cromwell.[break][break]

Alone.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR, COMPANION MUSIC PIECE[break]
- The first time Genevieve was truly angry... blowing up on Isaac in a drunken rage...[break]
- Tells him he doesn't get to wish things were different. He had friends around. She lost almost everything, and was ignored.[break]
- She fixed herself. By herself. Dr. Rhythm helped, but he died before she got there. She was alone.[break]
- Don't you dare pity her.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 12, 2023 5:12:28 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"]Genny's words burned bitterly in Isaac's gut. The worst part was, she had a point.[break][break]

Both he and Genny wanted to be spots of light in an unfair, painful world. Both of them were torn away from everything they knew and thrust into a chaos that made Hoenn pale by comparison. Both of them were forced to fight for their keep, day after day, until Calyrex decided time was up.[break][break]

But Isaac fell into the lap of a people that crowned him king. Genny fell into the shadows, alone and forgotten. Isaac's Pokemon grew stronger by the day, protecting him from the ravening hordes. Genny's fell one by one, leaving her survival all the more precarious. Isaac was surrounded by a found family, hand in hand with the love of his life. Genny was ignored by her heroes and came home to a breakup.[break][break]

What was the difference between them? He'd been the right man in the right place at the right time. That was it. His very existence was an affront to Genny, a reminder that life wasn't fair and had her in its sights.[break][break]

And yet.[break][break]

"You're right. I shouldn't." He paused at the edge of the abyss. Was it Genny he stared back at? Or was it someone else, a thousand times more familiar? " Cause clearly, you've already got it covered."[break][break]

Saying it hurt. But Genny wasn't in the mood to be coddled. She'd made that fact perfectly clear. And so, too, had he, when he spent the last two decades in Hoenn walking a mile in her shoes.[break][break]

"You really think all that love just fell right out of the sky? Yeah. Sure. Tell that to the unwanted bastard of a washed-up has-been." It was a strange, sadomasochistic dance, a mix of lashing out, tough love, and an attempt at genuinely reaching Genny. "He told me I was nothing, going nowhere, deserved nobody."[break][break]

"And I ate that shit up."[break][break]

"I didn't spend twenty years picking myself back up. I spent them crawling in the dirt, 'cause I didn't even think I was worth picking up. And he ended up being right, 'cause I sure as shit never challenged it. Ran away from home without a plan just to get away from it all. Went from a burden to a burnout in record time. And you wanna know what happened to that burnout?"[break][break]

"He died. The end."[break][break]

It sounded crazy. Isaac was right here, after all. Yet he spoke with the conviction of a man that had genuinely been fingertips away from the other side.[break][break]

" 'Round this time last year, there was some whirlpool to a digital world. And the sick fuck who ran it took everything from me. My name. My face. My memories. Whatever will to fight I had left. He broke me down to nothing, and then he told me to die so others could live. I didn't even question it. I just . . . let go."[break][break]

Silence hung in the air between the two. Finally, with a sigh, Isaac's exprrssion softened. "No clue how I survived. But I saw where my life was heading. So I gave up on giving up. Started letting people in. Started seeing what I could do. Stopped letting the old fuck's words rule me. I've lived more this year than the last twenty. And its not even close."[break][break]

"Pick yourself up. You should. But I'll be damned if I let you ruin your life the way I did."[break][break]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

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played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 14, 2023 1:02:24 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

A younger Genevieve would have never said that, but years of this shit, being said to herself over and over really takes it all home. She was a pity, right now, and as Isaac prepared to retort, she nearly threw her hand up to stop him. But she didn't. If she was a raging inferno, his words were like ice. A clash against one another.[break][break]

Then.[break][break]

He turns it around. He pinpoints his own baggage. How his father had beaten it into him he wasn't worth anything. Nothing. A stark difference to loving parents. Years of turmoil, running away to become a burnout. No longer a burden. And something about that resonates harder. She felt she was spiraling. But somehow... his words hung in the air. They hung over her head... some digital doppelganger took everything and died...[break][break]

... his expression softens, and now he wants to save her. Started letting people in, and now he's fine. And on his command, she looks at the bottle.[break][break]

Half-empty or half-full.[break][break]

She slaps her face, her hands now making two red hand marks on her face, as she pulls herself through some level of sobriety. What can be said to argue it? Could she even pity herself with a speech like that?[break][break]

There was one way.[break][break]

"I used to let people in ALL the time." She glares daggers, wielded and danced with. "Would they lemme in? Would ANYBO'Y help m'though?" It's so twisted, the corkscrew she was on right now. For one moment, she felt like she could work through this. "Every time... I got your letters... felt like summ wun cared." Her lip trembles, and her eyes sting, and now she's wiping her face, makeup running down.[break][break]

"It wasn't enough. You know ho'many times I cried myself to sleep?"[break][break]

Her head was on the table now. Her heart? Busted up.[break][break]

"I did pick m'self up. Cuz I didn'eed'em then. An' I don't nee'em now." She gets up from the table. "I'ma-" She walks out of the little tiki bar... out to a railing that overlooked the beach, so she didn't make a scene.[break][break]

She was crying though.

Isaac Merlo [break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR, COMPANION MUSIC PIECE[break]
- Man. Still hurts. She sobers herself by slapping her own face after hearing Isaac's tale.[break]
- Refutes she used to be open. No one was for her. Each letter he sent was like someone cared.[break]
- She cried herself to sleep too much... didn't need them then, and not now.[break]
- Walks out of the bar, and starts crying over a railing overlooking the beach.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 14, 2023 14:03:50 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"]In that moment, Isaac could see why Genny had chosen him of all people to invite.[break][break]

He couldn't keep acting like his words and deeds having impact was a surprise. Arceus' sake, he'd been chosen as a king because of them. It made him happy to be a light in the darkness for her nonetheless. It was just such a shame that it had only been enough to illuminate her tears.[break][break]

That was the thing about light, the thing Isaac had missed through his year in Team Rocket. The light couldn't save you. It could comfort you with its warmth. It could let you see more clearly. It could shine through the darkness when everything else seemed tl be hidden so far away. But it was weightless, ephemeral, leaving no lingering trace on the physical world.[break][break]

The light could never save you.[break][break]

Genny was right. The only person who could truly help her was herself. No amount of lights could change that fact. At the same time, the fact that none were even lit her way after she put so much into the world was an outrage. "It's bullshit."[break][break]

She picked herself up as she promised she would, moved to look out into the ocean. At first, Isaac wanted to give her space to breath. Then he heard that first choked sob and he knew he didn't stand a chance. Before he knew it, he was standing by Genny's side, keeping enough distance to give her space but standing close enough that she'd know she wasn't alone.[break][break]

"People suck sometimes. Whether they mean to or not." Isaac had no idea how many of Genny's heroes were selfish asshats and how many were just too busy trying to survive. Two gods fought, and that meant a third god's baggage was suddenly their problem. Twenty long years of a burden none of them asked to have, a sacrifice nobody volunteered for. "Life comes at us fast. And it doesn't give a shit about what we wants."[break][break]

"But does that mean you're gonna let it win?"

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

close tab

played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 15, 2023 0:26:54 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

There's a darker side to this. The unfortunate truth, the fact of the matter is, Genny had considered something in her mind awhile back. The edge was right here, and crossing it meant there was no going back. She hangs quietly off the side of the railing...[break][break]

And stares down.[break][break]

Light and dark were two sides to a coin. But they were concepts. Constructs at best. Genny had lived in that light. But the other coin was never something she ever thought she'd have to confront. She didn't want to. But the torment and anguish she felt has her teeter, and it has her totter, and it has her look at that edge again.[break][break]

Thing is though. The abyss doesn't scare her. In all honesty, she's not even worried about that edge, because it never occurs to her. She never knew it was there, and it never registered as an option.[break][break]

Dr. Rhythm wouldn't want that.[break][break]

Her sobs though were for those who fell into that abyss. Those gone. Those who hurt her. She bled for that pain, and what did she have to show for it? Little to nothing but memories. What makes it worse... is how it was getting harder to remember Dr. Rhythm. Lady Bloom. Ms. Clean. And Cardi B. She knew she had them. But it was like... blank spots were forming in her mind.[break][break]

Galar was fading. Slowly, but it was.[break][break]

"Izzy." She wipes at her eyes finally, runny mascara and broken dreams felt now on her arm. "I-"[break][break]

And she's over the edge. Not in a bad way, no. But in a disgustingly appropriate way. Because she had never drunk that much ever. And now her body was telling her to eject. And it wasn't a particularly pleasant sound. But as it finished...[break][break]

She reels back, re-adjusting her balance before falling backwards onto the pavement. "I nee'ed that." She wipes at her face, and turns towards Isaac, tears still dotting her eyes. "People suc'kall the time... I wanna bea'my heroes."[break][break]

"They don'get to win. I do. When I becom' hea'ranger." Genny's cheeks were red.[break][break]

Well.[break][break]

Not all the light got beaten out of her. There's still some fight in Genevieve Cromwell.

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR, COMPANION MUSIC PIECE[break]
- Her memories are fading... slowly. She's teetering on the edge.[break]
- When Isaac comes to follow, and speaks to her. About letting them win, she attempts to respond and then. BARF. Edge of barfing.[break]
- She feels better. Genny is still in there.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Jul 15, 2023 3:42:27 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"]To his credit, Isaac was quick on the draw. Genny's hair would be safely held back, ensuring no stray strands would end up getting caught in the crossfire. He'd also be close enough to make sure she didn't slip and bash her jaw on the guard rail, because Ow.[break]break]

With that, she'd purged her negativity and her bodily waste alike. Isaac would try to support her best he could, but if she was dead-set on sitting on the pavement he'd at least help gently lower her instead of letting her fall flat. The advantages of getting drunk with a friend instead of suffering alone were numerous.[break][break]

Isaac wondered how many times in Galar she hadn't been so fortunate.[break][break]

Genny looked up to Isaac, her voice resolute. She vowed to make sure her former heroes would lose, all while she rose up in their stead. Her goal was a simple one; head ranger, where she could ensure what happened to her never happened anywhere else.[break][break]

"Love the hustle. But its not them you gotta beat." Isaac looked out towards the horizon, to a world at the mercy of gods and kings. No matter how hard they tried to enact their will, the sun still shone atop a bright blue sea. "Its life, for throwing all this shit at you in the first place."[break][break]

He remembered the moments before they landed in Galar, where it felt like an entire army descended on Genny to try and heal her wounds. There were people out there who cared. There were people out there who respected her. But life had torn them apart from her and left her with nothing but frozen wastes in their stead.[break][break]

"You wanna know why I'm like this? Its because life's a bitch and tries its damndest to make me suffer. So every time I pull myself back up to my feet, I shoot it an extra-big smile just to rub it in." Spite. It was a powerful force of good, when you knew how to use it well. "That way, it knows it'll never break me."[break][break]

"Please, Genny. Don't let it break you."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Genevieve Cromwell

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

close tab

played by

Kiwi

Genny

She/Her

July 19th

Hau'oli City, Alola

Bisexual

Full Time Ranger

Elite Ranger

4'11'' height

if the path to strength is filled with dismay, i will evolve.

awards

631 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @genevieve

POSTED ON Jul 15, 2023 21:56:41 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","genny1"]

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Party girl from college, and she's feeling sick to her stomach, but the fact that Isaac pulled her hair back before the barf comets dropped like a meteors raining from the sky. Now, on the ground, and giving her own resolution, she feels her head still swimming, and swimming it most certainly did as she feels dizzy.[break][break]

Isaac's words were sweet. And the lesson is clear. Don't let this world break her. Don't let life break her. Keep the lights on. And though she wants to refute, she doesn't.[break][break]

Her head was swimming still, but she gets to her feet, as resolute as she can. Drunken and dazed, but not broken. She wiped at her face, the tears shed, the pain held up. Bending, but unbroken. That's Genevieve Cromwell. It was a shift in demeanor, true. Well...[break][break]

What were the positives of Galar? Few as they were, she had become self-sufficient. She forced herself to learn how to cook. How to shoot a bow. How to play an instrument. How to clean up her space. Her apartment was practically unrecognizable and clean, something that her fallen family would never praise. She learned how to be independent. She learned that while her heroes weren't there, she could be that.[break][break]

She learned she was enough.[break][break]

"It... I won'Izzy." she cries out, and though she smiles, it will never be what it used to be. Crumbled paper can't be perfect again.[break][break]

But. She wasn't a little girl who would let the world beat her. Not again.

Isaac Merlo [break][break]

NOTES

- OUTFIT, HAIR, COMPANION MUSIC PIECE[break]
- Dizzy from the barf.[break]
- Promises not to let the world beat her. She's bent, but unbroken. She wipes her face, and gets to her feet.[break]
- She's not who she was before. But she wasn't done yet.

[attr="class","genny1pkmn"]

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

MADE BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

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

awards

4,314 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo