when elijah is not toiling under the slateport sun, he works out of the quietest corner of oldale. there, with his chipped wood door, overgrown drawers, and rooted chairs, he hides away like a drilbur.[break][break]

away from the metal disconnect of the submarine. away from the convoluted circuitry of society, the shnarp bioelectricity of presence. of touch.[break][break]

elijah pulls the newspaper down from his face. he grumbles and crumples the latest hnn, tossing it aside for his gogoat to chew.[break][break]

"hello." the apothecary makes it a point to cut his greeting at the proper length. "whaddya need?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

ambrose orion

[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gogoat"]

eventually, the door opens. just a smidge. the hinges are stubborn and the wooden frame is chipping at its edges. shards off discolored white pigment fleck off with one final push as a gogoat's button nose and horns forces itself into view.[break][break]

soon after, the cliff face of elijah's scowl juts above. his lips flatten as his gaze matches benji's—and his oddish.[break][break]

"what do you want?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

benji sawyer

[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gogoat"]

"knew you kalos fuckers were dangerous."[break][break]

elijah's tangrowth follows them out. vines spread across the flesh-fitted walls like proliferating bacteria. they attempt to sense danger. attempt to feel the biorhythms of life and suspense in this vessel forgotten by the gods.[break][break]

"smells fresh too." elijah matches camellia's gaze. he does not panic—but his stern look still betrays a healthy tinge of alarm. "shit!"[break][break]

instinct takes over. elijah grabs camellia, yanking her out of the room as his tangrowth's vines withdraw like coiling snakes.[break][break]

he hushes as a megalopolan corpse lurches out of the room. the same bioluminescent plants that had led their way here grow out of the poor soul's eye sockets. its nostrils. [break][break]

blinded, the possessed alien searches for them by sound.[break][break]

elijah looks to camellia, expectant and dangerously curious of her skills.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Camellia Lemaitre

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

elijah leans in to the skeletal square of death. his nose wrinkles at the stench. the futuristic dust. alien bones scatter like xylophone keys from camellia's foot. and through the macabre music, elijah swears he can see a face peeking back at him through a cracked skull's eyehole.

08 the deeper one ventures into the realm, the more you become paranoid.

"either you clean toilets or... you're a killer." the apothecary rubs his eyes and the eyehole becomes pure darkness. "i'm no stranger to the latter."[break][break]

his tangrowth plucks a bioluminescent plant. like a hairpin, it is thread through its vines.[break][break]

elijah holds his head.[break][break]

"spot anything fucked up yet? and i'm not talking about the bones."

[attr="class","ooc"]

Camellia Lemaitre

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

somehow, the old saw right through elijah. or they lived through so much already that his prickly persona did little to phase them.[break][break]

he rolls his eyes. pupils cling to the ceiling of his lids as he flips through weathered, slateport-sun beaten faces.[break][break]

elijah is quick to dismiss the compliment. no words. just the stubborn arching of a stern, stiff brow. he grumbles, voice like disturbed rubble.[break][break]

"you're imagining things." the apothecary says. [break][break]

a squeak springs from the planter. the cyndaquil stirs, shaking dirt from its small body. flames return to the mouse's back. and like a curtain unveiling the magic trick, tangrowth vines recede.[break][break]

"there. the picture of perfect health." elijah says. "come back on the weekend. i'll be waiting. don't double cross me now."

[attr="class","ooc"]

nabi park

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

"i'm not going to my lose my lunch, but i'm not about to go lean in and sniff the flesh tubes like they're roses."[break][break]

camellia takes the lead. elijah soon follows—after he dislodges his boot from mucky meat growth from the soiled floor, that is.[break][break]

he crosses the threshold. eyes the glowing flora that spirals outward from the festering, oozing walls of this alien ship.[break][break]

"follow the lights?" elijah proposes.

06 involve bioluminescent sea plants in a meaningful way.

he lobs a pokeball up, and before it hits the ground his TANGROWTH emerges with a shiver.[break][break]

"been meaning to ask... if this shit doesn't phase you," the apothecary asks, "what's the worst you've seen then, hm?"[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Camellia Lemaitre

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

the tangrowth responds to nabi park's gratitude by rustling its vines. each leafy tendril shakes like a twirling yarn mop being squeezed of muck.[break][break]

"kari's vines plant itself in the soil." elijah says, cracking his neck side to side. "sucks the poison out and squeezes it into the dirt where it's neutralized. ugh, dunno what to compare it to. yogurt tubes? a shitting intestine? whatever."[break][break]

elijah sighs. his breath is heavy, but loose. relief finds his slackening shoulders while he grabs a green garden trowel.[break][break]

"been meaning to ask... how'd you find me?" he does not look at her as he shovels contaminated soil into a bag marked for disposal. "not saying you shouldn't have come. i'm the best in this shithole city... but i'm usually not someone's first choice."

[attr="class","ooc"]

nabi park

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

before them, among the muck of festering poisons, flesh and pools, stands the quaestor lucis. the vessel has long since lost its pride, its luster. pulsing rot has begun to claim its alien metals. sleek paneling is now ichthyotic skin, quivering like severed froakie legs.[break][break]

elijah pulls the collar of his shirt over his nose and mouth. he clears his throat. "fuckin' foul. are you regretting this yet, or am i the only one less than excited about being sent here?"[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

Camellia Lemaitre

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

she likes flowers.[break][break]

it's as simple as that. elijah softens some. the steel carapace thins enough for his skin to warm.[break][break]

"then you do some work for me. attract people to my stall. just for the weekend." elijah says. "don't got a lot of business. don't know why."[break][break]

he looks like he's scowling.

[attr="class","ooc"]

nabi park

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

nabi had no money and elijah had no patience. yet, the apothecary was neck-deep in his work. he had crossed the point of no return when the soil bags had been torn.[break][break]

even then, he would not confess the tear in his own heart as the cyndaquil struggles for breath.[break][break]

"no money?" elijah's hands smooth the soil, cool dirt crumbling richly through his fingers. "you ever worked for an apothecary before?"[break][break]

he raises a stern brow.[break][break]

"i don't know if i can trust someone who'd get their pokemon hurt like this to run to the bank and back."[break][break]

despite his brutish approach, the cyndaquil seems to settle into some sense of ease. his tangrowth's vines proliferate with one wrapping around the fire mouse itself.

[attr="class","ooc"]

nabi park

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

"nuh uh, you're not getting out of this that easy." elijah tosses a small bag of soil to nabi. "pour it into the planter. don't bury your cyndaquil. she's not dead yet."[break][break]

he pulls out another sack of garden soil. tears the corner apart with his teeth like a mightyena. grumbling, he begins to pour the cold bulk around the sick cyndaquil's pathetic form.[break][break]

his tangrowth murmurs. a vine coils around them and settles into the dirt. the green glows as it begins to siphon poisons.[break][break]

"huh." elijah says. "really thought you'd be the crying type."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

nabi park

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-tangrowth"]

as team nebula makes their mark within the hellish snowscape, elijah continues his bombardment.[break][break]

foul acid sprays forth against javelins of ice. when they collide, they crash and crumble, for the acid freezes in mid-air.[break][break]

elijah brushes off the frozen drool. he is careful not to pry flesh with icy tags.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]

ngxY7Ez9

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]

"that's one ugly fucker."[break][break]

elijah stands by his victreebel. vines wrap around his thighs to anchor him and his pokemon in place.[break][break]

on its thick lip, the pitcher plant pokemon's drool crystallizes into ice.[break][break]

"STOCKPILE." elijah swats snow away from his face. "then SPIT UP, llere"[break][break]

from the victreebel's gut, a rumbling commences. a thick glob of digestive juices is fired like an 1812 cannon.

[attr="class","ooc"]

82Mdm4Oy

[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-victreebel"]