charter boats oftentimes circle the sky pillar. some of them stop at its docks to let off tourists or gloomy sightseers such as herself. she had thought herself alone here after looking up at the ruined spire, but her dratini hisses lowly in her ear and she turns. 

moxie tilts her head, lavender eyes blinking slowly, tail curling in apprehension at the fairy-type pokemon. freya soothes her idly and offers a smile in return to the stranger. 

"looks like everyone else was scared off by the weather," she says. there's a light fog outside, threatening rain.

the swablu that flits through the air stands out amidst the gray. moxie gives a wriggle and freya stretches out her arm. the pink-scaled dratini drifts up the stonework, feathery fins outstretched on her crown, and burps a dragon breath in the swablu's face. 

the bird rebuttals with an attack of its own and moxie wraps around it, making herself deadweight to bring the two of them crashing to the ground. 

freya tosses a ball. 

"she's not the smartest fighter," freya admits with a chuckle. "oh, behind you. looks like we've attracted some attention."

fern delaney
catching swablu!

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they're a quiet company, softspoken in a way that puts freya at ease. which, in turn, makes her give them a bit of a once-over out of the corner of her eye. but she shakes away her trepidations with a toss of a stray braid over her shoulder, gathering moxie back up in her arms after the swablu disappears in a pokeball. 

"i lost a dragapult recently," she says as the dreepy floats gently down to their shoulder. phantom had been a valuable companion in her ventures into the ultra deep sea.

"he liked the rain too." 

moxie hisses in freya's arms and slinks off out on another hunt. there's a scuffle above them. dust poofs and then rains down with a light shower of rubble. freya tilts her chin, asking her new companion if they'd like to follow, and takes the spiral stone staircase up a flight. 

moxie's catch disappears in another flash of red light. 

fern delaney
catching zweilous

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"his death wasn't meaningless," she says, as though that means anything (it does, to her. it matters so much it hurts). her hands drift to the glyphs on the walls; the pads of her fingers trace grooves that are centuries old. moxie's soft rattling makes freya look up. 

bright yellow eyes peer down at them. half of the creature's ghostly tail billows into the wall. it looks past freya, to her amiable companion and the dreepy following behind it. only one dreepy drifts above its fin. she extends a ball with a tilt of her chin, moxie's coaxing enough of a draw to entice the dragon inside.

"yes," she says. "it reminds me of sootopolis. it reminds me of home."

fern delaney
catching dragapult

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the writing on the walls calls to her in ways she can't explain. it always has. she runs her fingertips over it and moxie slithers overhead, chuffing softly as she tastes the air with a forked tongue. her soft warning makes freya look up. golden eyes blink down at her, rimed with frost, and she dips her head. 

they do not loiter or tread this ground without reverence. 

and satisfied with her look, the froslass drifts away.

"you're not hoenn-native, are you?" she asks and then explains, "bit of an accent."

she shrugs her shoulders. "sometimes i forget i'm not from here. i was born in kalos, but...that never felt like home. not like here."

fern delaney
skipping!

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