the moon is close. it will be a long hunt tonight.

twin dragonair drift at her side. her sygna suit is donned but dormant, though it still affords her protection from the worst of the crater's elements. the moon hangs in the sky, swollen with a radiant white light, tinged with yellow. 

she's not meant to come alone on these expeditions, but being in a position of power gives her some leeway to bend the rules. not that she should. but she aches and whenever things start to spiral out of control, she puts herself in these damned situations in a wild attempt to make sense of it all. 

it's luck, maybe, that she comes upon the field without seeing an impossibly large or aggressive pokemon. she stands on the edge of it, looking at the celesteela spires reaching clandestinely up to the sky.

THEO BECKETT

28 discover a vast field filled with impossibly large celesteela that dwarf you inside. periodically, some will launch.

☉

the light screen quickly constructed from aeris tail is nowhere near enough protection from the churning waters that emerge out of a mega salamence's maw. sypha's tail slams into freya's backside, sending her hurtling down the hill and into the valley of celesteela. 

a mist teems, rolling over the hill in waves. aeris flutters overhead to meet the assailants head on while sypha slithers under the cover, freya's hand on her neck to help find her way. she leads her to cover in one of the towering celesteela. 

she reaches for the ball at her choker, but a sliver of moonlight falls over her face. and her hand drops, contemplative. outside, a paralytic wave crackles in the sky in an attempt to ground their new opponent. 

sypha teethes gently at her wrist, body twitching with the discomfort of her mistress' reactions. the salamence's green scales shimmer in the waxen light and freya recognizes it. starlit hair spills over her shoulders, chin raised, watching fervently through the exposed neck of this bastardized cathedral.

"theo beckett," she sings, half-smiling. "must we fight?"

THEO BECKETT

30 depending on the lunar phase, your character's moods may be affected for better or for worse.

☉

she's lived with salamence long enough that their threatening aura no longer affects her. aeris and sypha still coil tersely under the weight of the underboss' beast's gaze, made all the more unsettled by the unperturbed, almost pleasant, smile on freya's face. 

"i know what did," she says. she rests a palm against the inner wall of the celesteela's cape. the metal is cool to the touch. 

"this might be my favorite of them all, sans the jungle." nearby, the earth rumbles. she darts past theo, languishing by the wrought curtain of the celesteela's front, and watches one of its kin launch from the ground. 

"how are you?" she says over her shoulder. 

THEO BECKETT

30 depending on the lunar phase, your character's moods may be affected for better or for worse.

☉

"we're always adapting," she says and there is a pang in her words, a rip-tug-tearing at already-fraying bonds. her smile is sad and then it is wistful and then it is decisive. her fingers run along the interior of the celesteela. above, two origami warriors watch the trespassers with an eerie curiosity. 

aeris and sypha remain unaware of their onlookers, too wrapped up in their own worry for their mistress. 

"they hate me, theo. not all of them, but the ones that matter." she sighs. "it's a cruel world, needing to sacrifice happiness to do what's right. do you think it's the same here? in this world?"

THEO BECKETT

30 depending on the lunar phase, your character's moods may be affected for better or for worse.

☉

"because i have not accepted my fall from grace." the kartana are strong, hardy creatures and they have the home field advantage. freya's whispered words are cut through with an intricate, alien chittering. one of the twins falls, lacerated through with the force of the salamence's winds, and with the alarm raised, the celesteela they've taken haven in reacts. 

the ground shifts, the celesteela's columns closing under and around them. there is a shuddering explosion and her stomach leaves her as they launch. 

the other kartana leaves its fallen brother behind and slips through a crevice, out of sight (lingering, still, on the outside, waiting to slip into the councilwoman's waiting palm when this is all over). 

"would i have been good, you think? working for you?" she asks as the moon swells, closer and closer. 

THEO BECKETT

29 ride one of the aforementioned large celesteela in prompt 28 to reach the large moon in the sky. here, a large gathering of celesteela can be found, ready to launch again, perhaps to new worlds. due to supernatural means, being on this moon may cause your characters to want to stay and remain in this realm instead of going back home.

☉

"supposedly i work with FERNANDO SILPH too," she says with a cheshire grin. but both know she's just a knight and he, not even on the board, thumb and forefinger wrapped around her equine neck, forcing her into curving leaps by his design. 

"what would i be able to achieve?" she says. the celesteela continues to rumble and then, suddenly, it stops. she staggers as it lands and then she dares lift up the curtain. 

the rock glows beneath her. 

"couldn't we just stay here? and build our own empire of the moon? no faction lines to ruin it, no people to sully it." a contemplative pause. "but what's an empire without its people? an empress without a conflict?"

THEO BECKETT

☉

"oh, he's not so bad, as long as you don't get to know him," she says pleasantly. one boot crunches on the glowing stone. then the other. the curtain falls behind her and she spins outward, twin serpents following anxiously at her heels.

her arms swing slowly and when realization dawns, she takes a running leap and falls, and falls, and falls. her boots touch gently back down on the ground.

but we can fly here, she wants to say.

"i don't have a license to kill." that didn't stop you in the past. that doesn't stop MATIAS SILPH. that wouldn't stop FERNANDO SILPH. "but you do and - ah, yes. i want him gone. i want them all so far away. or maybe i can just stay here. i can stay far away."

THEO BECKETT

☉