Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

His face scrunched up slightly as he considered her words.

"Just looked like a pot to me, so... must've been her, right?" He said, scratching at his head.

Was she trying to communicate those feelings, or had they simply slipped without her realizing?

Yuina ended up connecting the dots for him, the word temple making him freeze in place.

"Right... right!" He said, slapping the side of his head. "I'm so dumb, I forgot all about it!"

A long time ago— not that long if one only accounted for hoenn years—, before he became her avatar, he had looked into Tapu Lele, interested in her healing ability... back then, for not entirely altruistic reasons.

There was not much documentation on the Tapu Lele of Hoenn— non that a high school drop out with a poor attention span and a poorer yet grasp of the internet could find, at any rate— but he had found information on the much more well known Tapus.

"It must be Hoenn's Temple of Life!" He declared.

In Alola, where the Tapus were still worshipped to modern day, the ruins of ancient structures of worship for each Tapu still stood. The Tapus were not often found inside, but it was not rare to spot them nearby either.

"I completely forgot after meeting her." He said as he flopped back besides Yuina, eyes wide.

Why wouldn't he? Tapu Lele had never even hinted at it until now.

Though...

"What about it, though...?"

They knew (or thought they knew, at least) the dream to have been about the temple now, but— What did Tapu Lele want him to do about it...?

He laughed.

"Surely she doesn't want me to go find it or somethin', right?"

Surely not. The lack of easily found documentation on it, that no one ever spoke of any tapu ruins on Hoenn, that nobody even remembered Tapus had once even existed in Hoenn until their reappearance less than 10 years ago...

Those temples were long lost by now, worse than even 'ruins', they could well be rubble. Not to mention— he was pretty sure it was located on an island— of which there were countless ones all around Hoenn, if it was even in Hoenn's archipelago.

Surely his matron wouldn't want something that unreasonabl—...

"... Oh, f*ck me."

---

TL;DR:

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

A shrine... A shrine...? Doug snapped back up into a seating position, his hand cupping his mouth as his mind began putting things together.

"There was... a deeper chamber inside." He said, eyes narrowing in focus. "It looked... no. Felt cozy."

Thinking about it, though, it didn't seem cozy to him. Not terribly so at any rate. There had been something like an elevated platform in there, surrounded by vegetation.

"There was... a cauldron there. I think there was... a bed?" Or had the cauldron been the bed? Was there ever a bed, or was it just an impression he got...? "Hn... sounds, sounds..."

Lele's giggling had been there, but didn't really tell him anything.

"I remember... singing." He said after a moment. "And people... Fruit and flowers..."

Silhouettes of people. baskets of flowers and berries...

---

TL;DR:

One Last Hope

Ft. Aubre McKenna-Settentrione

He nodded slowly at her words.

Right. The other doctors— professionals to be sure, perhaps famous in their respective fields, even— were likely careful. Spoke of chances, made no promises.

Fair enough.

"You know? That's fair." By comparison, Doug might've well looked like a snake oil salesman. "Perhaps I should err on the side of caution more often."

He mused with a smile as he stood up, patting his hands together before glancing down at her.

"How about a demonstration, then? To clear up any doubts before we go proceed?"

---

TL;DR: Nice to meet you, Ms. McKenna.

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

Yuina spoke, and he took a deep breath in response, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling. One deep breath in, another one out.

It had been a long while since Lele had managed to frustrate him this much. Perhaps that had been the goal— who knew with her.

He released one final breath before nodding.

"Right. Good idea." She was the smarter of the two, after all. "Hmm... I saw... an island, I think."

He hadn't really seen any beaches or gotten an overview of the place, but the lush, jungle like vegetation he recalled (barely) did resemble the sort of flora one would find around Hoenn's many deserted islands far more than the one found on the mainland.

Though the myriad of flowers seemed a bit off.

"I saw a lot of a... a stone structure Wasn't made of bricks, though..." He said, pursing his lips at the words. "I think. It was like— hmm... like it was carved into a cliff face?"

He remembered somewhat crude, yet intricate design elements on towering walls. A gaping maw leading inside.

"There were... pillars inside. And patches of grass... And flowers. I think there must've been holes in the ceiling... or mountain? Lots of sunlight." It was a stream of consciousness at this point, just saying the first ting he could recall.

"There were tracks with flowing water inside..." Aqueducts, rather.

It sounded like a fancy covered garden.

---

TL;DR:

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

He forced a snicker, pecking her forehead and bangs a few more times.

"Clever girl." He said, wrapping an arm around her.

She had a point; he should've known better than to keep things to himself... he would've been frustrated as hell if it were the other way around.

He settled the side of his head onto the pillow, looking at her warmly as he gathered his thoughts.

"Yeah. Sort off." He said. "But... this is a first for her."

He hesitated to use the word 'communicate' when referring to Lele, but this was probably as closest and as clearest as it had ever gotten with her.

"She's never used dreams before." He mused— wait, was that right? He recalled something, back with Lucia Aldrete... or did he? Was that a dream too...?

He flushed.

"And I don't even know what the hell she was showing me!"

---

TL;DR:

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

He felt her stir before the first mumble came out of her mouth, instantly feeling guilty as her voice reached him.

"It's nothing. Just... Ugh. Lele bein' Lele. I think." He said softly as he turned unto his side to face her, leaning over to peck her forehead. "Sorry for wakin' ya. Go back to sleep, love."

Yuina had a hard time sleeping (without him, he liked to think) as it was; he didn't want to be the reason she didn't get a full night's sleep on a work day.

Tapu Lele's nonsense was for him to parse anyway. He was the supposed expert.

---

TL;DR:

Implicit Duties

The second step. ft. Yuina Higashi

He awoke slowly.

For a moment, the world remained blurry and awash in a curtain of pink, his vision slow to come into focus.

He rose on the bed, feeling the Yuina Higashi's warmth desert him as he looked around.

It was dark still— well past midnight. The only light in the room was what little filtered through a thin slit between the curtains.

All was normal.

"... Tch." He grunted, reaching over to stretch his neck. "_{Can't ever just say what'cha need...}"

The only thing not normal was his dream, and the left over feeling in the back of his mind that there was something he needed to do— and it was not just his medic work.

"Uugh." He groaned, flopping back unto bed besides Yuina, mattress shifting slightly beneath him as he stared holes through the ceiling.

---

TL;DR:

ANSWERS

ft. Navy, illeana reyes, Noel Parker, Andrea Vaneau, FERNANDO SILPH

Doug slowly shrugged his shoulders and pressed his palms together in apology, winking at the poor secretary. "Just bear with us, 'kay?"

The poor secretary was only doing their job as part of the massive corporate machine. It wasn't his fault FERNANDO SILPH had chosen the absolute worst day possible to turtle in his office.

In general, he wasn't quite as... well, gunho about the whole thing.

He was there to confirm what he believed he already knew, and get some instructions on how to proceed from a man he usually perceived to have his shit together.

Fernando really did himself no favors by making them wait, though. The longer they were kept, the longer the radio silence continued, the more suspicious everything relating to the notice seemed.

"Yes they can." The soldier informed the sheriff. "But hey, at least we get to skip on the carnage if they do."

He said it all so brightly one could almost be forgiven for missing the sarcasm.

---

TL;DR:

WAR DRAFT

NOTICE

Yuina Higashi. You've received a text from John Sullivan:

Only learned about it when I saw the poster.

Don't trust it.

Tear them off if you can.

Love you, see you at home.




P.S. I'm thinking pasta for dinner tonight, what'cha peckish for?

---

TL;DR:

daybreak

With freya morningstar

There was no answer.

Hours passed, and eventually, the double doors going into the operating room peeked open, a slightly familiar head sticking out.

"Psst. Pssssst."

The facemask and hair net made him a little more inconspicuous than usual, but overall, there should not have been difficulty spotting Doug as he stuck out one hand and gestured for the councilwoman to come closer.

"We're done in there. Wanna come in and look?" He said, tugging down at his mask and grinning at her.

---

TL;DR:

Island Hopping

ft. Yuina Higashi

"Well I think she sounds lovely." He said, bumping his shoulder against hers. "But what do I know?"

His gaze was drawn away by Daikenki's barking, his body half turning towards the sound as he lightly cocked his head, giving their newly joined sprite a lazy look.

"Well, he looks like he's having fun." He mused, arms moving to his pockets. "Have you two chatted recently?"

---

TL;DR: Beach Doug

WAR DRAFT

NOTICE

dahlia goode. You've recieved a text from John Sullivan:

There's a picture of the poster above on it. The caption reads:

what

FERNANDO SILPH. You've recieved a text from John Sullivan:

There's a picture of the poster above on it. The caption reads:

what

freya morningstar. You've recieved a text from John Sullivan:

There's a picture of the poster above on it. The caption reads:

what

PENELOPE LIVY. You've recieved a text from John Sullivan:

There's a picture of the poster above on it. The caption reads:

what

---

TL;DR: