Hesitantly she approached the island deity, unaware of the ghost that shadowed her every step. She remained ignorant of how the scent of lily-of-the-valley was now masked with sage; she had no concept of how the blonde of her hair had begun to pale like starlight; the scars he found on her arms would be invisible to her naked eye.[break][break]

The MISTY TERRAIN had only ensorcelled him, but in some ways, it left her blinder than him.[break][break]

"I don't have the answers that matter," she corrected him, lowering herself on one knee in order to see Tapu Fini more clearly. This gesture was born of an instinct she didn't know how to explain, but it had a resemblance to how a concerned mother might attempt to beseech a distraught and unruly child. Help me understand, that supplication conveyed. I won't be angry, I just want to understand.[break][break]

A prickling at the back of her neck alerted her to the sense she should be afraid, and though it seemed contradictory, her lack of fear was what frightened her most as she glanced behind her to face him.[break][break]

"You shouldn't have saved me," she said, unable to stop herself. "I don't know why you did. I don't know what she said to stop you. I was going to kill you, that day."[break][break]

Hers was a bewildered confession, attempting to make sense of something nonsensical. The only answer she could stumble on didn't make sense.[break][break]

declan walsh was wrong. He had to be.

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

His lips moved, but the words that came out sounded wrong. They came to her with the slowness of something dragged through tar, each syllable examined and re-examined to ensure she had processed it correctly.[break][break]

It took a few moments for that damning proclamation to register, its plea so quiet it could almost go unheard. He cut himself off before she could think to do so for him, and her face betrayed her as always, the astonishment giving way to confusion, hurt, and ultimately anger.[break][break]

"I see now. You mock me."[break][break]

She rose to her full height, face flushed red as she averted her gaze, attempting to make her way back towards where they'd entered. Where had she left her coat again? The dining area of the apartment, wasn't it?[break][break]

Her hands were shaking. Amidst all this mist, it was harder than it should be to see what was right in front of her.[break][break]

"You think I'll leap at the opportunity to do to you what I've surely done to your brother, is that it?"[break][break]

Why wouldn't he see her that way? Why wouldn't he believe her to be Rocket's whore, attempting to subdue powerful men at any opportunity? He was a clever man, and he wasn't above manipulating her in such a way.[break][break]

Pretend to be dumb, pretend to be drawn to the enemy, and you could make that vulnerability into a strength, couldn't you? That was the sort of man FERNANDO SILPH was.[break][break]

October was far away. Whatever had happened there was a fluke, a singular oddity she couldn't put her faith in.[break][break]

"Rest assured, Silph, you can spare me the act," she continued with audible contempt. "Neither of us needs to play those roles anymore."[break][break]

That had ended when she unmasked him, long before he ever unmasked her.

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Oh, but hadn't she liked playing that part with him? How that truth stung. Biting her lip, she fumbled to gather her coat about herself, doing everything to avoid looking at him.[break][break]

She'd liked being the lonely widow that called him at night, talking for hours about everything and nothing at all. She'd enjoyed playing florist in her cottage in the woods, looking forward to opportunities to venture out to Slateport or Lilycove to bask in his company for a little while.[break][break]

"It's your fault," she said suddenly, no longer caring how he perceived her words. "I was fine alone. I was happier alone. But you--"[break][break]

He'd reopened that door, and she'd let herself wander back into that forbidden corridor, curious like every other woman that should've known better. He'd reminded her what it felt like to no longer be alone, only to leave her bereft of companionship all over again.[break][break]

In a way, it was all his fault. That she'd eagerly pursued GIDEON GRAVES and broken his heart. That she'd recanted her earlier restraint and opened her heart to BARNABY FINCH, leaving herself vulnerable in the worst of ways. That she let herself indulge in MATIAS SILPH's delusions, tangling their fates together in a way that ultimately ended in the death of Hoenn's greatest champion.[break][break]

If he hadn't first tempted her out of her self-imposed isolation, would she have dared any of this otherwise?[break][break]

The resentment interwoven in her accusation surely sounded like music to Wo-chien's ears, if not to her other patron glowering across the room.[break][break]

"--you ruined me."

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Since when did you care about what I feel?"[break][break]

She'd not prepared herself for this kind of argument with him. Her hand ran through her hair with open agitation, unable to explain how much this line of questioning ate at her.[break][break]

He was still mocking her. Of all the things she'd thought he'd do to her, she'd not expected this kind of demeaning cruelty.[break][break]

What a joke he, his brother, and all of AQUA had made of her. No wonder THEO BECKETT had urged her as he did to play her part, sending her back to the other Silph like a good cog in the Rocket machine.[break][break]

"I don't know why I came here," she managed to say, pulling her coat closer about herself as she moved towards the door. "This was a mistake."[break][break]

She wished he'd struck her. She wished he'd made her dwell on anything but this.

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"What? Why would you want...?"[break][break]

She whirled back to face him, confusion drawn plainly on her features as she never reached the doorknob. No trace of the strange confession of mere minutes ago remained on his face. Instead she found the same baffling nonchalance that had characterized him since their odd meeting first began.[break][break]

The peculiar nature of this conversation had thrown her so far in one direction, and then abruptly into another, leaving her unsure which version of himself she was speaking with.[break][break]

Wasn't there a point in time when talking to him was easier than anything else in the world? She could hardly remember it.[break][break]

This didn't make sense. None of this made sense, unless...[break][break]

Her grip on her collar slackened, fingers trailing back to her sides as an unshakeable thought came to her and refused to let go.[break][break]

"What did she do to you?" she whispered. All the indignation melted away to be replaced by fear. "When she opened your heart, what did she find?"[break][break]

Did he even know? Was it even possible for him to know?

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"You're lying."[break][break]

It wasn't anger that underscored her accusation this time. She spoke with the evenness of someone sure of her belief, firm in her conviction as her emerald eyes met his single piercing glare.[break][break]

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry as she found herself intimidated by a dynamic that echoed a past better left forgotten.[break][break]

"The person you were when you spoke to me, back when I first came to Hoenn... That person was a mask. We both had masks, you and I. Maybe you know who you are--" And here she held his gaze, refusing to cow before his will now that she'd mustered her own. "--but you hid that person from me, didn't you?"[break][break]

Shaky breaths turned steady, a steeliness of resolve giving her back the composure that his previous words had briefly stolen from her.[break][break]

"The person you showed freya morningstar. The person you showed Darkrai's Avatar. That was someone different, wasn't it? And it wasn't this person you are showing me now."[break][break]

She jutted her chin out proudly, defiant.[break][break]

"So if you know yourself, tell me. Which of them is the real you?"

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Then that woman you met among the crystablooms was me. That woman who tried to kill you on that resurfaced island was me as well. And whatever is happening between us now--" She gestured wildly, the final remnants of the mist shimmering and fading out with the motion. "--I suppose this is me, too."[break][break]

The disdain on his face felt familiar. It felt steadying. I've unmasked you, she thought to herself, strangely triumphant. You can't fool me. It was the same bizarre, twisted satisfaction she'd felt when MATIAS SILPH dragged her to the lava of Mt. Chimney, intending to watch her burn.[break][break]

As FERNANDO SILPH soured towards this unwanted intruder in his home, her own world made more sense; the air she breathed in suddenly tasted sweeter, lingering with the faintest residue of pixie dust.[break][break]

"But people like to think they know us," she said coolly, reflecting his own observation back at him, "don't they?"

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]