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The future will tempt you, the present will indulge you, but the past will shackle you.

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POSTED ON Jul 27, 2024 21:13:02 GMT

He's probably right, unfortunately. Every Rocket from the older era is a broken mess, their scars buried deeply in an attempt to avoid the pain.

Even the ones who survived and looked well-off were likely shattered. Even the position that Howard now filled belonged to someone who would likely never recover. That was his curse as one of the newer generations of soldiers.

"It doesn't matter what your dreams are." A deep sigh followed. "It's the fact that you had them at all."

As long as every person had something that drove them forward, Howard would support it. There were a minute handful that he raged against, like Chu-e's successor who now held his curse, but he had acknowledged almost every other struggle that had driven them to Rocket.

Dreams were what guided them all, for the world gave them little and took much in return.

"Then who are you?"

Chu-e Choi

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An observer of eons cannot feel the warmth of another.

POSTED ON Jul 27, 2024 21:29:11 GMT

Eris Halla likes this

[nospaces]

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"I don't know. I never had a chance to find out."[break][break]

Chu-e stands in a contemplative silence for a few long moments, eyes on howard slayte but looking at something far, far away.[break][break]

"I wanted to study mythology. I used to pour over books and wonder why all the stories were the same but also so different from one another. How the original translation can be twisted to suit someone else's needs. I think I would have liked to pursue that."[break][break]

A shake of the head.[break][break]

"But then I was....." Chu-e pauses, lets the words fade. Makes a frustrated face before shaking it off and continuing. "Rocket offered me a hand when no one else bothered, after. Instead of learning cultural variances I was taught the best ways to separate skin from muscle. I was twelve."[break][break]

Slowly, carefully, Chu-e sits back down in the chair next to the bed. He feels very, very tired.

"What were you doing when you were twelve, Howard?"

[attr="class","tag"]howard slayte

[attr="class","notes"]

notes

[break]
🔗 chu-e x howard cyber REAL

[attr="class","pkmn"][break] Shadow Delcatty - Sparklefur - Female - Destabilize - tri attack, disarming voice, thunderbolt, solar beam, uproar, blizzard, dig

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POSTED ON Jul 27, 2024 21:57:22 GMT

Eris Halla likes this

"Being told that I was too old to be playing with dinosaur bones."

It felt childish compared to what Chu-e just said. The evaporation of youthfulness was a great tragedy. Everyone grew up, but nobody should have to forget what their childhood was like. Even if his had been spent loving archaeology and being mocked for it, Howard Slayte had a childhood.

Chu-e Choi had Rocket.

It was all he had.

It had left him with little to show for it.

"But in the end, we both ended up here. I just got here later than you. Both of our dreams were turned to ash because of this shithole of an organization." It's treason, but treason from a dying man is not grand. It is expected as the life leaves his body. "You told me a story of a Darkrai, once."

They both knew the story.

"I think you would've figured out that story's original intent. Why it was written, and if it had ever happened."

Chu-e Choi

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Ji-Hoon Ki

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twenty seven

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An observer of eons cannot feel the warmth of another.

POSTED ON Jul 29, 2024 3:14:43 GMT

Eris Halla likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","twtgm"]

[attr="class","main"]

In the end, it didn't matter. Whatever Chu-e could have been was taken away from him before he even realized what he lost. Now, he was here in a room with a man he hated but also held some masochistic affections for. He isn't even sure why at this point.[break][break]

"I think the worst part. Is being so convinced you were helping someone. Then you look back and all you see are all the people you hurt."[break][break]

It feels like a joke. Chu-e huffs out a bitter laugh in spite of it.[break][break]

"Maybe there's some universe out there where the daring archeologist uncovers some ancient ruins... for a cute and wonderful mythologist to butt in because of some glyphs on a wall. Maybe those two can actually stand each other."

[attr="class","tag"]howard slayte

[attr="class","notes"]

notes

[break]
🔗 chu-e x howard cyber REAL

[attr="class","pkmn"][break] Shadow Delcatty - Sparklefur - Female - Destabilize - tri attack, disarming voice, thunderbolt, solar beam, uproar, blizzard, dig

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Admin Fox

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The future will tempt you, the present will indulge you, but the past will shackle you.

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POSTED ON Jul 29, 2024 4:16:31 GMT

Eris Halla likes this

It's an amusing thought. A world where those two individuals could tolerate one another.

Yet Hoenn is a void that swallows the best version of each person, turning them into a monster that devours its own humanity to survive. That Chu-e would never exist here, nor would the ideal version of Howard ever exist. Maybe he never had.

Where had that archaeologist gone, he wondered. When he donned Rocket's garb? Somewhere along the line, he had changed from an archaeologist who loved the past to someone carrying the weight of the world. He had changed, and not for the better. Team Rocket had not stained his soul, his soul had stained Team Rocket.

It was why, when he looked back, he saw the people he had killed in Dewford. Lives he'd never be able to recover.

"I bet they could've." A deep sigh. "They would've been wonderful together, and they would've pissed off my parents something fierce."

A tinge of longing entered his voice.

"But that archaeologist is broken and that mythologist never existed."

Chu-e Choi

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Ji-Hoon Ki

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twenty seven

june fifteenth

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An observer of eons cannot feel the warmth of another.

POSTED ON Jul 29, 2024 7:20:43 GMT

Eris Halla likes this

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"It's okay to mourn for that." [break][break]

It seems contradictory for Chu-e to offer that kind of advice. Every since Necrozma had finished using him like almost everyone else in his life, all Chu-e had done was mourn. Mourn for the life he never had, mourn for the life stolen from him, mourn for time missing. Mourn for Eris Halla and the broken promises between them. Mourn for a person who had died a long, long time and only left the husk that was Chu-e Choi behind.[break][break]

He didn't really want to mourn anymore.[break][break]

"Some days when you look in the mirror, you're just going to see a worthless sack of shit and think to yourself 'that guy would be better off dead'. But the person telling you that isn't right. Even if it feels like it in your bones, and you're so tired and everything hurts and it would be a lot easier. [break][break]

"And one night you might lure a stranger to your house while you're drunk, under false pretenses, and try to goad him into choking you to death. That doesn't mean you're right for doing that."[break][break]

It was the closest thing that Chu-e would ever give to an apology.

[break][break]

It was only right to give howard slayte some sort of warning or advice, from one hollow body to what-would-become another.

[attr="class","tag"]howard slayte

[attr="class","notes"]

notes

[break]
🔗 chu-e x howard cyber REAL

[attr="class","pkmn"][break] Shadow Delcatty - Sparklefur - Female - Destabilize - tri attack, disarming voice, thunderbolt, solar beam, uproar, blizzard, dig

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Admin Fox

He/Him

May 9th

Rustboro City

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Archaeologist

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5'9 (with hat) height

The future will tempt you, the present will indulge you, but the past will shackle you.

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POSTED ON Jul 29, 2024 7:45:51 GMT

Eris Halla likes this

It wasn't completely your fault. I was a fool. I'm not good with tech, never have been. Born in the wrong century."

To most, it felt like a bout of narcissism to leave behind a time of prosperity and invention. For the admin, it felt like he was born a century too late. He would've been content in a world of budding archaeology and paper and books and scrolls, but unfortunately this was an era of information and technology.

"You shouldn't be preaching the value of life. The purpose of living. You of all people should be dead, but you finding purpose in denying purposelessness is..." He closed his eye. "Right."

Howard couldn't accept his life's meaning. It was worthless and droll at this point, and a light would eventually be lit. Yet still...

Still...

There was an objective to fulfill. A region to save.

"Hope suits you."

Chu-e Choi

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Ji-Hoon Ki

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twenty seven

june fifteenth

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intel

---

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words drip like honey dear how sweet it is to hear

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An observer of eons cannot feel the warmth of another.

POSTED ON Jul 29, 2024 18:21:12 GMT

[nospaces]

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"If you keep saying nice things to me I won't like you anymore. Kindness is just a thing people use against you."[break][break]

It doesn't sound like Chu-e believes that.[break][break]

With a soft groan, Chu-e stands back up. It is with careful consideration he edges closer to the bed, looms over the other from the side. Leans down, braces his palms flat on the edge. He lowers his voice to ensure only howard slayte can hear it.[break][break]

"Don't be like me and wait till you're dying to try and find yourself, Gemstone." This time, the teasing nickname doesn't curl from his lips like an insult.[break][break]

A hand is lifted. Hesitates before gently carding through the one-eyed man's hair with a tenderness neither of them deserve.

[attr="class","tag"]howard slayte

[attr="class","notes"]

notes

[break]
🔗 chu-e x howard cyber REAL

[attr="class","pkmn"][break] Shadow Delcatty - Sparklefur - Female - Destabilize - tri attack, disarming voice, thunderbolt, solar beam, uproar, blizzard, dig

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played by

Magnetic

Admin Fox

He/Him

May 9th

Rustboro City

Bisexual

Archaeologist

Rocket Admin

5'9 (with hat) height

The future will tempt you, the present will indulge you, but the past will shackle you.

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