She's found herself alone in a garden, all the grunts that had attended with her dismissed and sent away. The fertile ground of the Ultra Crater proves more potent than she realizes, and her hands tremble as they touch the soil, eyes fluttering shut as she attempts to return to her roots.[break][break]

It takes a rewiring of the mind -- a forced alteration of the psyche. Nonetheless, she tries.[break][break]

Her heartbeat relaxes as she centers on the right face to evoke the emotion she requires. Subtly, a green tincture begins to spread out across from her fingertips as rolling grass encircles her. A soft smile on her lips follows, and willowy stems begin to uncertainly peek up from the ground, flowering shyly as blue-hooded forget-me-nots and red-lipped rosebuds.[break][break]

But the heady thoughts of BARNABY FINCH are difficult to hold onto, and they slip away like water through her fingers. The smile fades, and with it the ground browns ever-so-slightly, caught off-guard by the realism that assaults her in the form of THEO BECKETT's sneer.[break][break]

Her emerald eyes open, and the red soil bleeds all around her, what little greenery she'd attempted now proof she's neither in control of her mind nor her heart. The harvest is nothing more than a withered flower, dead on its stem.[break][break]

When she hangs her head low in defeat, she doesn't realize the cliff above her has found a new resident, or that she finds herself in his line of sight.

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

05 harvest the fertile soil or plants of the land.

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Moonlight dances down the cliff-face, casting a milky pallor over the darkness of night. She's grown comfortable at this hour ever since Tapu Fini's blessing; she's not invincible, but in these moments, she imagines this must be what that feels like.[break][break]

Her hands, stained blood-red from this alien earth, are wiped fruitlessly against the black fabric of her clothing. An exhale, an inhale, and she rises to forget yet another experiment in futility.[break][break]

Destruction it is, then. That's all she's good for, isn't it?[break][break]

It's the same idea as his that causes her to turn around, seeking a place to build encampment before morning dawns -- promising an even more unbearable heat than the one they endure now. Only then does she realize she's been beaten to the chase by another solitary traveler navigating this place.[break][break]

Paranoia prompts her to accuse him first, tensing as a hand moves to a Pokeball at her belt.[break][break]

"Did you follow me?"

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

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

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"You must think you're very funny," she replies quietly, the comment stinging more than it should as her hand lowers from her Pokeball.[break][break]

There's only so much she believes about this, and only so much influence she suspects a being like Tapu Fini can have over a man with a will like FERNANDO SILPH.[break][break]

A line like that, she thinks, is what he suspects she wants to hear -- what he suspects men like his brother used to get her to lower her guard and unveil her heart. All the more proof he doesn't know her.[break][break]

If only she knew.[break][break]

"But you've found me," she sighs, having ascended the dunes and found her way to his side. She raises her hands in mock surrender, nonetheless sincere about her disinterest in fighting. "Congratulations. What will you do now?"[break][break]

If he wants to taunt her, she's willing to do the same, parroting his last words to her without flinching.

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

24 involve themes of romance, loss, or forgetfulness in some way.

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Suggestion can be a powerful thing. Watching him toil and labor, she cannot help but assume she is expected to do the same. Absurd, really, to believe he'd want her to stay here.[break][break]

More absurd to think this isn't a trap of some kind, or to assume he isn't intending to harm her. But he hasn't yet.[break][break]

And even if he did, would Tapu Fini let him?[break][break]

Moments of indecision pass, fleeting like grains of sand through an hourglass, before she finally releases a Pokeball of her own. It is different than the one she'd reached for earlier, and one he may even recognize.[break][break]

The DUGTRIO pops its heads out of the ground, looking about with open fascination at the bloodstone crater, before delving in to assist with a ROTOTILLER. There are no Gracidea flowers here this time, nor shy Shaymin peering through flora to watch them work.[break][break]

They were different people before, when they gathered like this. She tells herself that, but she's not sure how much she believes they've changed.

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

24 involve themes of romance, loss, or forgetfulness in some way.

[attr="class","pkmn"]

His rebuke stirs a competitive fire in her. She inhales deeply, the sigh that hisses through her teeth mildly chastising in its condescension.[break][break]

Her Dugtrio understands this side of her without being informed, and the digging becomes more rigorous, clump after clump of bleeding clay tossed aside to match the shovel's tempo. It's become a game to the Pokemon, evident in how cheerily they partake in the task and how eagerly they sneak peeks at the trainer who's their presumed rival.[break][break]

"The correct way to respond to help," she reminds him, "is to say thank you."[break][break]

Though she isn't sure why she's helping in the first place, she's too stubborn to back down at his behest. It does however bring to mind how little she knows, and whether or not her assistance is hurting more than helping in practice.[break][break]

"What are you searching for?"

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

05 harvest the fertile soil or plants of the land.

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Like a moonbeam that slips through the smallest fissure in a stone wall, the misunderstanding slides into place with perfect precision. Where he imagines a desert, she recalls an island of pink-hued flowers, and a clumsy admission of inadequacy as they dug into dirt to plant seeds of gratitude.[break][break]

"By your own admission, you aren't much good at this," she says, as surprised as anyone else to find herself teasing him. The start of a small smile is stifled, pushed back by what self-preservation she yet retains. "It doesn't surprise me you want to be taught."[break][break]

Though he'd always been easy to talk to, back when he didn't know what she was. Hadn't he?[break][break]

Her Dugtrio's three heads bob up and down in utter delight, continuing their quest with the renewed vigor of victory. The planted shovel marks the defeat of their lowly human opponent, and their superiority gives them the enthusiasm to delve deeper and deeper underground.[break][break]

She kneels down, oddly game to guess at this riddle he's posed to her, and she clicks her tongue in turn. Old files on her desk at the Rocket headquarters come to mind, things she skimmed back when they seemed unimportant and unnecessary. She curses herself for her disinterest in Rocket's grander agenda, for how little curiosity she has about the world's greater designs.[break][break]

"Megalopolan artifacts?" she ventures, recalling a report that mentioned finding one or two in this place. It would shock her if the League hasn't already discovered the same. "Or is something else drawing you to the middle of nowhere?"

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

Context: GRACIDEA

[attr="class","pkmn"]