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Insistent pointing and trilling baby babbles lead Michail to Luka's bedroom. The door is open just wide enough for the Togepi to slip through, and no light seeps from the crack.[break][break]

Like the rest of the apartment, a pink-and-white interior is cast in shadow. The air is thick with melancholy, though the gloom seems concentrated over a lump of blankets on the bed. Toffee cries out and wiggles his arms, and the lump begins to move.[break][break]

"Who's there...?" Her voice is muffled under the blankets and sounds raw, ragged. There comes some further shuffling and a few pink curls escape her little nest, but her face remains hidden.[break][break]

"I'm not, um..." A sniff. "S-sorry, I'm, erm...I-I'm not feeling well, s-so please come back later."[break][break]

---

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Luka's private pity party is over as soon as Remiel opens the door.[break][break]

She practically leaps off the sofa to intercept him, suspecting that he'll try and leave again as soon as he notices her presence. And for once, her instincts are correct. Luka grabs him by the arm before he can open the door, her hand clenched in a vicelike grip. It's a desperate and pathetic act, but she really doesn't care.[break][break]

"Wait," she begs, "J-just a moment. Please."[break][break]

She looks awful. Dark bags rest under eyes that are red-rimmmed from crying, and her hair is limp and unkempt. She's wearing the same clothes he had left her in, with one of his large cardigans over top.[break][break]

"Please, I just..." Her hands tighten around his arm so tightly that were he to try and stiletto away again, he'd likely just take her with him.[break][break]

"I-I just want to understand," she stammers, her voice thick as she tries to keep a dry sob contained in the back of her throat. "I don't...what did I do wrong? I'm so sorry, I thought...I-I thought things were going well...[break][break]

This isn't her first heartbreak. Far from it. But grief still manages to slip past porcelain ribs and bury itself deep in her patchwork heart. And yet, deep within still lives a bubble of hope; a frantic, foolish wish that maybe they can work things out, and everything will return to the way it was before.[break][break]

It doesn't matter if he doesn't love her. She can bear that— but she can't bear to lose him forever.[break][break]

---

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Berry gives the strange man a cursory sniff before he steps inside. The markings on her cheeks quiver as her nose twitches but ultimately, she allows him to pass.[break][break]
Luka's apartment is unusually dark. Sun filters weakly through curtained windows and the air tastes stale— not unpleasant, but it carries the lived-in heaviness that comes when one hasn't left their home in a while.[break][break]

There comes no answer to Michail's call, however. But nonethel0ses, he's swarmed as soon as he crosses the threshold. Baby babbling grows louder and louder as Luka's brood of Togepi burst from her room and run towards him, their upset chirping and distressed faces making it clear that something isn't right. Toffee, the leader of their little flock, grabs Michail by the pantleg and begins to tug, trying with all his tiny might to pull the man towards Luka's bedroom.[break][break]

---

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jayden cross's knock receives no answer.[break][break]

And frankly, it's to be expected. It's Luka's birthday after all. The common assumption would be that she's spending it out and about, socializing with friends or on a date with Remiel Calcifet.[break][break]

But after a few moments of silence, there's a sound behind the door. Softly padding footsteps and the sound of something heavy dragging behind them. The doorknob twists and the door swings open—[break][break]

Behind it, a cream-and-pink Furret stands on her hind legs, blinking up at the man standing there. Her tail thumps once on the wooden floor as beady eyes stare at Michail intently, assessing him.[break][break]

From deeper within the apartment comes other sounds of life. Worried chattering of at least a dozen Togepi and a vague shuffling can be heard, followed by distinctly human sniffling.[break][break]

---

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"You did, but..."[break][break]
Her eyes flutter closed as they fall into silence. Luka presses her cheek against Michail's heart, comforted by the sound of it's steady thrum, the warmth and sureness of their embrace. His hands hold her steady, solidifying his presence in a way that's a little bit awkward— but it's so like him that she really doesn't mind.[break][break]

"How was I supposed to know that?"[break][break]
Luka turns her chin up to face him, realizing a moment too late that their faces are too close together. Her ears go red as she pulls back, having forgotten for a moment that her particular brand of clinginess is no longer appropriate.[break][break]

"It's just...it's natural to worry about your friends, isn't it? So...s-so no more disappearing, okay? Can you promise?"

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"What?"[break][break]

It takes a moment for Remiel's wordss to register. But when they do her face crumples in an instant, her saccharine smile replaced by confusion and hurt. A horrible, sinking weight settles into the pit of her stomach.[break][break]

She'd pictured a hundred ways this conversation could go. Most were sweetly idealistic daydreams, soft words and softer kisses and promises of a blissful future together. And she'd considered the opposite: that maybe he didn't feel the same now, but he could someday.[break][break] Never had she imagined such cold rejection. It feels like the air has been knocked from her lungs, her breath a trembling gasp as she stares at the back of Remiel's head.[break][break]

He couldn't even look her in the eye as he tore her heart out.[break][break]

"No—"[break][break]

Before she can protest, he's gone. Though she lunges towards the place he'd once stood her hands close around nothing, grasping empty air. Luka staggers backwards, limbs like bent lilies as she sinks into the floor. Her eyes, still fixed on the spot he'd left her, blur with tears.[break][break]

"What am I going to do?" she sobs to no one. "If I lose you, I'll lose everything."[break][break]

---

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That night, Luka cries herself to sleep on his sofa.[break][break]

The next day, she tries to remove her things from his closet but breaks down again. When sleep comes to claim her this time it finds her curled up in the bed they had once shared, wrapped in blankets that still smell like him, head resting on a tear-stained pillow.[break][break]

On the third day she remembers she still has to eat to live. The stale cookies Earl Grey had left out are a poor supper but they're better than nothing. She stares at the wilting flowers left on the table and chews without tasting.[break][break]

She's still there the following day, a mournful wraith haunting the empty apartment. Listlessly, she floats from room to room, passing the time by perusing Remiel's small library or dialing a number that always goes straight to voicemail. Sometimes she merely sits by the window, staring out at nothing. And she waits.[break][break]

He has to come back eventually. And she'll be right here when he does.[break][break]

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"I'm sure! Go on, keep it! I like the strawberry flavor better anyways," Luka insists, hiding her hands in the folds of her skirt should Derek try to give the box back. "Besides, it's a gift. And it'd be rude not to accept, you know!"[break][break]

Though she teases, her lip juts into a pout. But same as before, she can't keep up the act long. A sunny smile replaces it as the tips of her ears pinken.[break][break]

"Mmm! The Pocky game is like, you know. I-it's silly..." It's her fault for bringing it up. Her embarrassment is no one's fault but her own. "You, um. Y-you hold one side of the stick in your mouth, and someone else has the other end. And, erm...you try to get to the middle without it, um, breaking."[break][break]

Nervous laughter floats between them. "See! L-like I said, it's just a silly little game."

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Ah.[break][break]
She'd forgotten there was anyone else here.[break][break]
Bare feet pad down the staircase as Luka wanders down towards the kitchen, still half asleep and bleary eyed, and dressed only in the button-down Remiel had left discarded in his room. When he calls out her name she manages to focus her attention on him, and her sleep-addled gaze slides over to the person sitting across from him.[break][break]
She squeaks in surprise and bolts back up the stairs, ears burning.[break][break]
"N-nice to meet you!" she shouts down. Though her blushing face is hidden the embarrassment in her voice is palpable. "Um! What? Oh...s-sure! Erm, just...ah, l-let me, um...I-I'll get ready, a-and I'll meet you there!"

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"Yes. Um...w-well, kind of."[break][break]

Careful steps draw her closer to Remiel, pulling her in while he continues to pace, as though performing a pas de deux. A hundred times she wants to take his hand, and a hundred times she stops herself. She's still confused, searching for the right words— she wants to tell him she loves him, but doesn't know where to begin.[break][break]

Green eyes drop to the floor as teeth sink into her bottom lip. Her hands twist into her skirt to give her something to cling to. The silence stretches on between them as she waits for bravery to possess her, like ghosts do.[break][break] When Luka finally speaks she does so carefully, constructing her words like magic spells that might repair this rift between them.[break][break]

"I know I've said it already, b-but I think it bears repeating. I'm sorry for coming that day. I'm sorry for getting involved when I should have just stayed home and, a-and putting you in danger while trying to protect me. It was...stupid of me. I-I thought I could handle myself, but I was wrong."[break][break]And hadn't she suffered enough for her mistakes? She'd buried two of her Pokemon. If Luka had more self-worth perhaps she would be furious with her lover for icing her out when she needed him most.[break][break]

"I just...I couldn't help it. A-as soon as I thought you might be in danger I had to go and help. I know I couldn't protect you this time, but I'll do better. I promise! I- I'll work harder, a-and get stronger so that I can stand by your side properly. Because I..."[break][break]

This is it. Luka knows that as soon as she confesses, his fangs will sink too deep into her neck to pull away. And she walks into the wolf's mouth with a willing and open heart.[break][break]

"I love you, Remiel."[break][break]

And once she says it, the dam bursts and all her feelings flood through the cracks between her fingers. The weight around her heart seems to lift as she gazes up at him with hopeful, sparkling eyes.[break][break]

"I love you! A-and I know it's probably obvious but I really needed to say it anyways. Ever since I met you, the world just seems to be a more beautiful place. Even now, when things are so dark and uncertain, every minute feels like a dream. I-I feel as though we can make it through anything, so long as we're together."[break][break]

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A hopeful smile flutters into place as soon as the door opens. For a moment Luka forgets all her troubles as she gazes up at Remiel, the look in her eyes so obviously enraptured that it's a wonder he hasn't guessed at the depths of her feelings yet. Perhaps an actual confession is unnecessary, a silly formality...but it feels important to her nonetheless.[break][break]

And unfortunately, her joy upon seeing him doesn't last long. For there's no warmth in the gaze that meets her own, blue eyes frosted over and unreadable. The flowers she'd spent so much time and thought on are plucked from her hands like weeds.[break][break]

She wonders if he can read them, decipher the symbolism woven through every stem and hanging off velvet petals like dew. But if he can, he makes no indication. He barely even glances at them, and pays her even less attention. A lump forms in the back of Luka's throat as she watches him walk away, but she swallows it down.[break][break]

"No, um...n-no thank you."[break][break]

Luka lingers awkwardly in the doorway, her gaze fixed on the flowers Remiel had discarded so flippantly. Mere weeks ago the apartment had felt so open and welcoming, a home that the two of them were slowly building together. Now it feels colder, somehow, and she feels like a stranger here.[break][break]

But she swallows thickly and dons as bright a smile as ever, unwilling to let this little blip put a damper on her spirits. Every couple has their rough patches, don't they? And Luka believes, fully and truly, that the love she has for him is enough to get them through this.[break][break] She greets Earl Grey with a softly cooed 'hello' and taps a finger against polished porcelain, happy that at least someone in Remiel's home wants her around.[break][break]

"I just wanted to talk for a little bit. Is that okay?"[break][break]

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Eva's question is met with a permissive nod of the head. And Palmier seems to bask in the attention, posing expertly for the rotomphone as though she were born for the spotlight. She makes it very easy for the ghostly device to snap photos of leafy limbs and the brilliant bloom atop her head, so similar and yet wildly deviated from the Lilligant Hoenn and the rest of the world is used to.[break][break]

While the photoshoot commences in the background, Luka and Eva continue their chat. The former leans against the edge of a sturdy desk, one foot kicking idly. She notices that Eva's attention is mostly pulled towards her Lilligant, but can't help but follow the threads of her own queries. When the scientist releases a Growlithe, she gasps.[break][break]

"That's the one! That's it exactly!"[break][break]
Luka clasps her hands, but there's no expression of joy on her face. Instead confusion clouds her features, and a vague sense of foreboding settles around her.[break][break]
"It was alive though," she clarifies. "It looks like stone, but it was real. Moving around. Uhm...well, kind of. Someone was trying to freeze it." [break][break]
And though they'd rescued it, their efforts had still come at a cost. Even though it wasn't her Pokemon, Luka won't ever forget the Golem that had been doomed by altruism.[break][break]

"It was months before Hoenn started experiencing any distortions though," she says with a frown, staring at the Growlithe while her Lilligant twirls another pirouette in the background. "So I don't know...I have no idea how the poor thing got there. Ah— it was a museum in Slateport. I'm not sure if there's any evidence left there though..."[break][break]

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