Paxton, by all accounts, had done worse. But today, he feels like he understand the survivors of DESOLATE LAND a little better. He'd seen the footage released to the public and some of the wounds in the aftermath as well. It was 10x worse experiencing it. Somehow, parts of his skin had been burnt in the event. His body had lost a lot of fluid. The cramps that had crept up had been awful. And at the end he was lucky to have not burnt his arm off from passing too close to the magma.

"Ha." he said, forcing the laugh, scratch just above the bandages covering up the sites on his arm used for the multiple ivs he'd been given upon his arrival with the rest of the team. "Feel like it too." he said, leaning on the door frame for a moment longer before his eyes find a simple chair nearby.

He closes the door behind him and moves to drag the chair closer to the elite four's bedside. "How are you feeling?" he said, eyebrows furrowing together as he looked over the rest of the man recovering before him. "You survived primal poisoning. I think." he said looking over at the equipment around Matias. "Couldn't say. The nerds form SAPPHIRE know better than me." he had just overheard it.

MATIAS SILPH

"Mmm...kyle lopez 's doing, right?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed with the same concern he'd felt upon finding out about PENELOPE LIVY 's own fiery resurrection. "You know, I always felt like that power would kill him one day." he said as he glanced over at Matias' monitors. "I guess it did, just not the way I thought it would."

"Yeah? Headaches?" he pointed at his own chest. "Chest pains?" He added before growing quiet. He held no personal affections for the dead- sorry, missing Champion. But he knew certain individuals in the League did. Matias and Kyle being one of the closest men he knew of.

"Could just be shock." Of. You know. Everything.

MATIAS SILPH

"Ho Oh's blessings, only partially studied." he murmured, off handedly. If only he'd been more diligent. Then again, knowledge of the full extent of their champion's powers wouldn't have done them any good. "Glad that's the extent of it." As far as he knew, no other personnel had suffered too great an injury during the events of PRIMEVAL.

He lifted a hand to pinch at the side of his neck, pushing at a knot. "Most of my severe sunburn has been taken care of so they let me walk. Now it's just damage control." he said. "To put it bluntly, I'm still not sure what dahlia goode 's gonna do with you. I'm hoping with the studies on Primal Poisoning we can secure some proof that you were not in your right state of mind." he took a pause before adding. "Not that I doubt you, but I think it's easier to argue when you have hard proof of the imbalance in your psyche." he said.

"What do you want to do, Matias?"

MATIAS SILPH

"You would've stayed out of Sootopolis? Area Zero? Mt. Chimney?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. Though, he didn't fault the man for wanting to rest. His reputation must have chipped away at his mental state jsut as much as Groudon had. "You'd still be a pain in the ass."

A liability to contend with. As of now, dahlia goode seemed to prefer keeping all avatars under clsoe supervision. "At worst, you'll lose your seat in the E4 and be forced under internal review and even more rigorous observation...but...I can see any sentence forced on you come with the caveat of 'serve the League with Groudon' and get good behavior points. But I'm trying to be...positive. And I've been looking over the records of similarly disgraced avatars and council members alike..."

In truth, injured or not, insane or not, Matias was an Elite Four for a reason. One of the most tenured members. His power, combined iwht the likes of Greyson Connors , Melody Miro , and Navy were vital to any sort of security plan they came up with.

"Do you still want to see her?" he asked, digging into fresh wounds while Matias was still placid and thoughtful in his hospital bed.

MATIAS SILPH

"No. You'd get involved regardless of what anyone said, in any crisis. You'd make your situation worse." he said, glancing over the Avatar. He didn't want to see things escalate to the levels if Primeval again.

"Elisabeth Fiorelli ." he confirmed. "What were your reasons before?" he asked, tilting his head at the man. He'd already expressed his disgust at Matias' actions once, but it still made him tense up a little.

Even if she was a bitch, had given Matias the fake key to power he had craved so badly, she lived by no fault of her own? He holds back a snort. A woman like that? It must eat her up to know she survived because a man let her live. If her RVL is anything to judge her by. He hadn't had the pleasure of dealing with her yet, and he hoped he wouldn't either. His meeting would be- should be...swift. Efficient. Easy. Paxton wouldn't make the same mistake as others: to let her talk. 

He was starting to read the reports on her as well. She was dangerous up close. Conniving with a knack for survival. Though men typically went down for her- with her, women also seemed to find it hard to match her. He wondered how much of it was personality or power? After all, she was the only recorded dual avatar on Hoenn.

"Why would you do something like that?" he asked, interrupting his own thoughts on the matter. Surely, he could have sensed something amiss when he began to lose it? But he waits placidly in his seat.

MATIAS SILPH

The RVL huh. There was still questions aorund how it worked exactly. But he was starting to think it was like RKS, pulling data from somewhere and putting it together in scenarios it thought best. There's varying degrees of believability sure but it's still mostly unknown how it had this information.

"So a lot of it was Groudon's push for land then." he paraphrased before looking over the man before him. Matias and him had never discussed love or even had something remotely close to locker room talk. Truth be told, that was CALLISTA MOON to him but that was to be expected when she was his longest known friend. Everyone else was dead or missing. The alternatives in Kanto weren't...great.

He thought he knew about Matias' love when he found out about his relationship with Eva Morales . They were involved heavily back in Kanto, especially after as the last of the freedom fighters. At least, that's what he supposed. Neither had told him the details and he didn't ask. "Why did you think that? Isn't she everything you're not?" Rocket. Backhanded. Verbose. Paxton tries not to judge, but in his mind there's serious doubts as to the real reason he followed Elisabeth Fiorelli . It's not Matias fault he was stupid enough to fall for her honey pot.

Just like the myths. But he doesn't dig into it any further. Groudon was pacified, for now. Hopefully for the rest of Matias' tenure as its avatar.

"You mean a distrust for the League?" he arched an eyebrow at his friend, unwilling to let this go without further understanding. Elisabeth had been dangerous. She'd also managed to tap into something that under Groudon's influence, had been all the more stronger. Doubts against dahlia goode maybe? He couldn't agree with all her decisions, but it didn't mean he doubted her. She simply trusted more than Paxton could. But what was a leader without vision?

"You did." he agreed, eyes darkening with a mix of frustration and worry as he looks to the ground. He sighs through his nose before adding. "Hopefully, it's a mistake you can fix. But it'll take time, and effort. Even with Groudon affecting you in ways we hadn't thought of before, a lot of people will see what you did instead of who you are."

Paxton couldn't change that. Matias had done something heinous. Consorting with the enemy? Emotional catharsis or not, the region would see it as another E4 getting their dicks wet.

"The incident- PRIMEVAL, has made a stronger case for psychoanalyzing avatars. After what you mentioned Groudon was doing to you, me and a few others have been pushing for more tests, more often, to make sure this doesn't happen again."

MATIAS SILPH