memory can be such a funny thing. the best and the worst always manage to get filed away into the endless amounts of cabinets stored in the mind. kept for safety, for comfort on a rainy day, for protection from the monsters in your past. sometimes there's more bad than good, more darkness than light. sometimes it's a deep sea of trauma and other times, it's nothing but sunshine on a clear day. and always, the smallest things seem to revive the memories you keep hidden away, the memories you try your hardest to never let see the light of day.

in her case, it's the native pokemon of the sinnoh region that bring the monsters of memories back to the spotlight.

another starly flutters by overhead and the avian doesn't go unnoticed by the woman. in fact, she tenses at the sight. the memories she's locked away behind padlock after padlock surge forward with such strength it's difficult to not allow them to take over the empty spaces of her mind. they spread like a disease, infecting and infecting until there's nothing else but foul reminders of the past, short clips coming in waves like the ocean licking at grainy shores.

angry voices, cruel hands, dark rooms, strange liquid on the floor. it comes in intervals, brief and haunting all the same and she's drowning in the current of past times. and isn't that the oddest thing about memories? they can't hurt you anymore, they only exist in your mind, and yet they're suffocating, traumatizing, deadly. her pace quickens, hands clenching into white knuckled fists at her sides. could she outrun them? possibly. will they catch up in the end? definitely.

but she has to try.

the starly and the memories it brings fade into the tree line as she hurries along. the soft affectionate rumble of deus behind her almost grounds her back into the here and now but the reminders of her past still linger in the shadows, where the light can't reach, watching and watching and waiting for the right time to rise again. for now, they're stuffed back into a cabinet, locked away extra tight despite the knowledge that they'll escape again. they always do.

safari uwu
passing <3

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

her mind is too distracted, too absorbed with itself to notice deus has begun to stray. the discolored automaton drifts away from the path she has set for them, away from her back and toward another blob. it's pretty, the golem decides with another minute of observation. pretty and green and it looks soft, squishy, bouncy. instinctively, deus' fingers flex at its sides, clay and stone slightly creaking beneath the movement. what would happen if it touched the blob? would it pop? would the automaton be able to use it as a bouncy ball?

ah, but it's a creature and not a ball and it's looking at the behemoth with curious eyes. an unspoken moment passes between the two and then, it's gone. the blob retreats into the bushes as illeana turns her head with parted lips to ask her companion a question. she finds the golem staring almost sadly at the newly still leaves. a large hand rises, fingers wiggling in a wave, and then they're moving again.

deus rejoins her side and the solosis is forgotten with a soft gust of the wind. there's other things to see, other things to pet and touch that the disappointment it had felt before fades into excitement. and with it comes a happy rumble and a large hand seeking the smooth skin of illeana's palm against clay.

safari uwu
passing <3

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

the snapping sound of teeth mashing together draws her attention. the noise itself is almost a nauseating one, the kind that brings a shiver rushing down your spine, sets your hair on edge. goosebumps rise and she's raising her idle hand to rub at the skin of her arm. beneath her fingers, the bumps slowly ease only to rise again when the sound grows louder with each step she takes. is the source closer now? what are they stumbling upon?

turns out it's a gible, unhinging and rehinging its jaw over and over in a symphony of teeth clashing together. is that a habit of the small dragon's? or is it out of pain? are the sinews of its muscles causing discomfort? is the marrow of its bones aching with something she can't see? her lips part to question, to fire off inquiry after inquiry if only to be able to help.

and then, it stops and wanders off as if nothing had just occurred, as if it hadn't just sent her skin crawling with its teeth alone. curious little thing... oh well, the noise is gone and her body is slowly relaxing again. deus is none the wiser, instead giving a soft tug at their connected hands. a gentle reminder that they're still wandering, still on a little "date". the nature walk continues while the gible disappears into the bushes with a rustle, off to terrorize the next safari goer with the sound of grinding teeth.

safari uwu
passing <3

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","illiepost"]

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","illiepost"]

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","illiepost"]

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","illiepost"]