she could fly. it's not as if she hasn't made the trip to sky pillar half a dozen times. before eva was chosen and after. but she has found some semblance of peace - with herself, her loved ones. the barbs she'd worn to keep others out, her anger festered, only left her own skin bleeding.

and though she'd hurt him too, king had tended her wounds. stood by her side even after she cut him too. she's not easy to love, she'd said. he isn't either, he assured. 

her arms rest on the ship's rail. the sea churns beneath them. somewhere out there are some of her dragalge and kingdra. the others, the more land dwellers, are scattered back about the neighboring isles, enjoying fish aplenty since the bubble's shattering. 

she's found it within herself to feel bad about what she'd done to annalise henderson. especially since she's still missing. 

the pillar is still a ways away. freya lifts a hand, fingering the dark black scale set over her collarbone. it still carries a faint warmth with it. she sighs and turns from the water. her gaze wanders over the few tourists that have come along. many of them are holding up their phones, taking videos of the water. the impossibly tall pillar, reaching up into the heavens. 

others are simply milling about. no one she recognizes is among them. 

it's nice, having this time to herself. 

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

The flash of white hair betrayed her.[break][break]

Elisabeth tilted her head, an eyebrow lifted, as she beheld the graceful figure of the dragoness on the other side of the boat. The woman's hand absently reached for a familiar black scale at her throat -- one that had been thieved by Elisabeth's own hands, not so long ago -- as her clear eyes remained fixed on the Sky Pillar ahead.[break][break]

Well, well, well. What a small world.[break][break]

At her heart, Elisabeth was an impulsive creature. Rising to her feet, she glided across the deck with a fleeting smile that suggested an acquaintanceship the other woman likely didn't feel.[break][break]

"Would you mind terribly if I joined you?" she asked sweetly, gesturing to the empty place beside the former councilwoman. "So many of the tourists are... well." A roll of her eyes signaled her displeasure. "Irreverent, shall we say."

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

she's afforded contemplation, a moment's respite to sift through the jumbled memories that have crashed over her in waves. she abandons the railing to find herself a seat, though her gaze never strays far from the blue expanse around them. 

more often, she's withdrawn the crown. it's kept tucked away when king is near, lest it give him headaches (she worries too much exposure may unveil the memories themselves, and she's strong enough to bear for both of them the burden of the twenty lost years.) but stanzas of songs, sung in her glory, lie restless in her mind. 

she held the status of a queen for twenty years and yet she cared nothing for her galarian subjects. hoenn is her home. her people. 

what would you say to being my partner? we can help rebuild the region. i want to do more than just march off to the warfront when needed. i want what i do to matter.

the back of her neck prickles. she turns in her seat, looking up at a woman she's never met, but who feels familiar all the same. 

"feel free," she says, skepticism flashing in pale gold. she looks at the tourists, then out at the spire, and back at her companion. "it's hard to appreciate something like the spire if you've no idea its importance." she shrugs. 

"do i know you?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"Possibly. Although does anyone really know anyone else?" Elisabeth remarked absently, before she seated herself down in the space she'd made for her. "People are as quick to misunderstand one another as they are to misunderstand that very pillar above us."[break][break]

The sight of the sea stretched out beyond them both, like bruised velvet folding out before a fast-approaching sunset. For a moment, the pink clouds rolling overhead seemed to look like plumes of roseate mist dancing across the waters. The mental image of Tapu Fini and fern delaney flashed in her mind before she filed it away.[break][break]

Surely that deity wouldn't show up here in this place. Not with so many eyes to behold her, at least.[break][break]

Elisabeth offered a sly glance over her shoulder, the whisper of a smile on her lips.[break][break]

"Why? Are you someone I should know?"

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

she used to think not, but now? she knows Eva Morales. she knows KING WAYLAND. she's seen glimpses of them no one else has. she's seen their souls bared. even here, even now, she can imagine king's snickering. the exact expression, movement, sound, he'd make were he here. 

inextricably linked, bound by twenty years forgotten by both, but not by her. 

her voice is familiar, but she can't place it. not with her dark curls and carmine eyes, plump lips rounding out the words freya herself had believed in the past. trust. she slipped into it - well, slid backwards into it. she begged for self-destruction and people like king said no. 

"no," she says; behind closed lips she runs her tongue along her teeth, considering. 

"and what importance is the spire to you?" she can't help the hard edge to her words. 

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

There is comfort in insignificance.[break][break]

That mantra floated back to Elisabeth, now, as Freya baldly denied both her infamy and renown: as a Morningstar, famed dragoness of Sootopolis, and as a former councilwoman, esteemed and gloried in battle and rulership.[break][break]

Still, Elisabeth didn't lift the veil of secrecy from her. Not yet.[break][break]

"I met the great creature that the Sky Pillar was supposedly meant to venerate."[break][break]

Unseen were the blisters and scar tissue that had healed in the wake of Rayquaza's flames; unheard were the screams that ripped her throat raw as she escaped the literal jaws of death that day.[break][break]

A wry smile creased her lips.[break][break]

"You could say it inspired a pilgrimage."

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

admittedly, freya isn't well-acquainted with the company Eva Morales keeps. but the way this stranger talks about the doctor's patron puts freya on edge. the spire's shadow falls over their part of the boat and freya turns, looking up at it. 

where elisa's burns are hidden, freya's ruined shoulder is visible around the thin straps of her shirt. the blood loss from the wound had nearly killed her that day in the deep sea when elisabeth found her. 

"then you're lucky," she says finally. "rayquaza and their peacemaker are a sight to behold."

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

A low, amused laugh sat at the back of her throat as she raised her head to better behold the silhouette looming in the distance.[break][break]

"A sight to behold, indeed. 'Lucky' to be beheld, though, I'm not so certain. I think a lot of people in Hoenn confuse encounters with the supernatural as a blessing."[break][break]

Her lip curled, and she rested her chin on her hand. How many Legendaries had she encountered since her arrival in Hoenn? Lugia. Tapu Fini. Necrozma. Tapu Lele. Xerneas. Groudon. Celebi. Rayquaza. Zamazenta. And of course, Wo-chien.[break][break]

Somehow that list still felt unfinished.[break][break]

"Do you think we venerate them out of fear, or jealousy?" She cocked her head at her companion, wondering. "How many just covet the power that these beings can bestow?"[break][break]

The intensity of her stare burned through any returned eye contact she received.[break][break]

"Mortal demigods can be the source of more chaos and suffering than the gods themselves."

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

freya doesn't see much humor in her own words; pale gold flickers back warily to her companion, tracing minutely her heart-shaped face and proud cheekbones. looking past the visage and trying to see her bones. but her lips keep moving and she keeps shifting, living and breathing being that she is, and the name on the tip of freya's tongue washes away with the tide. 

"are those our only options? fear and jealousy?" she's seen rayquaza for what they are - a god not practiced in the way of mortals. but freya has seen care from them. anxiety. felt feelings of hopelessness along their side while years passed them by in another realm. 

a headache forms at her temples, thinking about it, and she releases the gaseous memories. 

her lips do curl by the time elisabeth's done speaking. her remark brings the likes of FERNANDO SILPH and MATIAS SILPH to the forefront of her mind. egomania and mania. 

"because they're human," she says. "wielding the power of otherwise indifferent gods."

and then, suddenly, she remembers. rose water, delicate fingers sifting through her hair, green eyes pouring over a riddle better left unsolved. 

her shoulders stiffen. it will take her but a moment to reach for the pokeball around her neck. still, a myriad of thoughts race through her head at once, but she wrestles them down, shows teeth as she asks, 

"and which one was it when you accepted yours, elisabeth? fear or jealousy?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"Neither."[break][break]

A ring of ochre glimmered around her carmine eyes, gleaming like the fading light of a dying sun as her expression flatlined. A severity overtook her, its solemnity borne from a recollection she didn't enjoy recalling.[break][break]

The tenderness that Elisabeth had once shown the former councilwoman felt like a lifetime ago, her pale hands gently lathering and disentangling starlit hair as she patiently listened to an outpouring of confessions that were never meant for her.[break][break]

Elisabeth saw, too, the way the memories resurfaced for her companion, a visible flicker of recognition passing across Freya's features. Perhaps the dragoness's hand might stray to the Pokeball at her throat, and their experience in the Ultra Deep Sea find an unexpected encore here on the stage of a different ocean.[break][break]

Regardless, she wouldn't reach for a Pokemon herself. She no longer needed to, if she didn't wish it. Her Divine patrons came of their own accord.[break][break]

An unmistakable bitterness seeped into her tone as she turned her sights back to the darkening sky.[break][break]

"We were chosen for what we are, not because of what we wanted."

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

elisabeth. 

my friends call me elisa. 

freya doesn't remember what she said when she was in that bath, as her hands wiped free what she could of freya's lamentations. her regrets.

there is an acrid energy crawling out from under the dark-haired woman's skin. it's with immense self-control that freya doesn't recoil from the feeling. around them, people in their chairs shift uncomfortably. one stands with his partner, asking if he'd like to watch the waves some more. 

oblivious to the monster in their midst. 

the tugging at the corners of her emotion is an alien, albeit familiar feeling. chien-pao? she thinks, but that doesn't feel right. that aura had radiated like a freezing, bone-chilling anger. this is decay. this is rot. 

this is an old haunt, lingering in her still. 

her fingers curl. there are civilians around. she can't afford to let this get out of hand. 

"but what do you want, elisa?" her gaze flickers up to the sky and then back down, uneasy.

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"I want to no longer be wanting."

[break]

That had been her answer when asked this question so many times before, at least.[break][break]

Her transformation had denied her that path to peace, however: ripping and tearing at the fraying emptiness in herself until it became a void of unmet hunger.[break][break]

All around them, sheep-like people milled about, living their miserable, boring, everyday lives. How she envied them their idyllic, dull existence. How greatly she resented them their ignorance.[break][break]

Her fingers curled on the rail of the boat, nails digging into the side. She could feel the mist of the sea bathe her face in its salt and spray, reminding her of how far she remained from the earth that served as her source of strength.[break][break]

Somewhere deep beneath the surface, she wondered if Tapu Fini watched her, biding her time until FERNANDO SILPH next stood beside her.[break][break]

Whatever that fate might entail.[break][break]

"The same thing we think you want, Freya. Justice."

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

justice? she thought herself its blade once - the final retribution for those who threaten the sanctity of the region and its peoples. but it was a cloak of lies, wrapped in pink, and before that, her own warped fantasies of power for her greater good. 

pale eyes dart to elisabeth's hand. her fingers curl restlessly against the rail. carmine eyes seethe with a resolve freya has known before. one that has made her weary. one that had made her dangerous. 

past her, in the surf, freya glimpses glittering blue scales. it may not be her own, but if it is, she'll only need to keep elisa busy until the rest of her horde can be called. 

so she takes a breath. draws her weight into her core like KING WAYLAND taught her, and rams elisabeth off the side of the boat.

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉