His shaky breathing falls into rhythm with her own, and although she doesn't reciprocate his hug, the strength shared between them slows her hyperventilating. He speaks against the curve of her ear and the words and the weight seem to topple in his favour more than her own.

They both come from the same place, her pain is his own, just newer and fresher.

"What if-- what if I can't.."

What if she can't heal? What if the pain stays with her and grips her as tight as it was now, forever? It was as if a piece of her had died along with him. She had felt dread the moment his phone number had gone to voicemail. A part of her had known something was wrong, and she had waited.

She had waited because she was selfish.

"I should have been here."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

The last clack draws her attention back, and she realizes that the game is over. It makes her laugh, a short, breathy chuckle.

"Intrepid, that's an interesting description. I'm not sure I've ever heard that one before."

But she nods, pressing her lips to the back of her hand while she leans against her pole. Eventually, when she realizes that he's putting his own away, she moves from her position to place hers on the rack as well. Her eyes trail back to him once more, to his lips pressed against the glass as he finishes his drink.

His request lifts her eyebrows and he doesn't wait for her. So she follows him, leans against the bar beside him.

"You wouldn't happen to horseback ride would you?"

virgil roach

☉

'Mon amour d'argent,' is whispered from across the room. Unease washes over her with cold, cruel hands down the back of her neck. She realizes, as soon as she sees it, that what she's looking at is dread manifested in human form.

Calla McCoy.

Her twisted smile leaves an uncomfortable combination of butterflies and fear in her stomach, and she forces herself to not return the gesture. Not even when she steps closer to her, not even when the woman's eyes never leave her own.

Instead, she finds the pointing finger of the man with the blue hair. He points for a moment, waves at her, and then his attention is promptly taken by another man that she also recognizes in some capacity.

It seemed everyone knew everyone in Rocket - she was the only one who knew no one.

In an attempt to shake off the hound pursuing her, who bore yellow eyes and blood red hair, Remi pulls away from the wall to merge herself deeper into the fray. Along the way she bumps into a certain Cillian Quinn, with whom she makes eye contact with briefly before moving on.

Now close to the raised platform, her attention is drawn by the moving presentation and the man announcing the intentions of this gathering.

"Testing stages?"

Her voice is a whisper as she glances over the entire room. Dozens of people, all who walked through these doors willingly. But had they known? Were they aware of the consequences they'd agreed to when they stepped through that door? Because she hadn't.

And yet a very real part of her felt.. excited. Anticipation replaces her dread, as well as a sense of whimsy or wonder. Artificial avatars? Without the need for the legendary themselves? What would have happened had Roman known about this?

But just as she opens her mouth to volunteer, that blue-headed man with the pointing finger takes the words right out of her mouth. She hesitates, but frowns and steps forward anyway.

"You nearly pissed yourself in the middle of a black market trade."

Remi side-eyes him, but comes to a stop at his side.

"I'll go with him."

mint frost

☉

Remi barks a sarcastic laugh, the noise a sharp exhale from her nose as she stares down at the woman who is clearly hiding her distress behind tired eyes and whatever is in the bottom of her flask.

"Sounds like you need therapy, girlfriend."

Another laugh.

"You and me both, I bet."

And eventually, once she's picked up and put away the warm pokeballs full of Kakuna--

"The League hasn't done much for me, either. My brother died and I didn't hear a word of it."

@winifred

☉

"Hm. You might be right about that."

Remi watches, doing her best to not appear bored, and purposely avoiding staring at the Magnezone as much as he does to her. Pokemon could be such weirdos, it was why she kept her ranks so small.

That and she was lazy and probably a terrible Pokemon trainer in terms of attention to each one. Go ahead, League, call Pokemon services.

"I take it you're here for pleasure, then?"

He knew city names, but he was describing them as if he were also just passing through. She's honestly surprised to see that he doesn't have a journal out jotting down notes.

pass

paxton concordas

☉

She snorts, taking his silence as an answer.

More and more Pokemon arrive to meddle in their awkward conversation. Remi has to wonder, frankly, why either of them have stuck around so long. Had they even moved from their spot? Or had the Pokemon simply continued to find them?

A familiar streak of blue and pink catches her attention, and anticipation replaces her amusement. What was one more thief for her band of thieves? Pangoro shambles forward, blocking the path and preventing the Sneasel an easy escape. Given his familiarity with the species, Pangoro easily overcomes the wild Pokemon, enabling the woman to capture it.

capture attempt on sneasel

MATIAS SILPH

☉

When he approaches, arms reaching for her to console, she doesn't move. If he hugs her, he would feel the pain wracking her body. She trembles against him, unable to stop the tears that overflow and the foreign noises that leave her.

She hasn't cried in years, and never in front of him.

"I was supposed to protect him."

But instead, she had run because she was afraid. Because the man holding onto her now had been married, had had a life bigger than her own. He had a future where she had been grasping at straws and pretending to stay afloat.

"I don't know what to do."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

"Great."

She exhales hard through her nose, arms crossed over her chest and her paperwork tucked behind her in the process. She leans heavily on one foot while staring at the agitated Dracozolt.

"This is the first time I've seen one of these things. They promised me an easy trip and a heavy purse at the end of the road."

Remi rolls her eyes now, catches the man's award-winning smile and scoffs.

"What do you suggest, since you know so much?"

mission: life, uh, finds a way

valentine besoras

☉

Remi follows the direction of his gaze, mostly out of habit. It keeps her mind occupied and distracted, keeps the pressure off the impossible weight in her chest that threatens to bury her.

Seeing through the eyes of someone else was always her crutch.

But here she is now, following his gaze through the reflection of her glass, unwilling to truly perceive. He catches her then, and she lifts the glass to her lips to avoid talking about the situation further. Remi grips the glass tighter, fingertip pressing hard against the edge of the glass.

"Hm, yeah."

All of a sudden, she seems far away. The glass is set down and she leans her cheek against her thumb while its wrapped around her pole. It doesn't even occur to her that he's almost won without stopping.

"No," she scoffs, chewing the inside of her lip. "I just don't know where to go from here."

virgil roach

☉

"Worse? What a pessimistic response, and a disappointing one. Should I walk away now, then?"

After all, if it were going to get worse...

That didn't sound like much fun, given the fun they were already having.

This time, however, she spots a moment of weakness. Like a predator, she takes advantage. She pulls down, hard and fast. She doesn't even bother to remove another article of clothing before doing it, confident in her approach.

pCTk2HMG

mission: pokemon hunter

KING WAYLAND

☉

And just like that, the world doesn't feel like it's closing in on her so tight. The room around her stops squeezing the breath from her lungs, the light in his eyes doesn't absorb every spare crumb of strength she still has left.

"Fine."

His sharp stare is piercing, grounding, and she relents in her verbal assault to take a minute and just breathe. She leans back in her chair, rubs the space above her eyepatch with ferocity before exhaling.

And then she listens.

What she hears, at first, through frustration and grief, is excuses. But what she sees, for the first time in a long time, is the truth. Only once does she glance back at the Unown, only because he mentions their rarity. It sparks in her, down the line, an opportunity to pursue these Unowns later on.

"Why do you think it did that? You're telling me that you have no suspicion behind its 'kindness'? It's a Pokemon, not
a human being with empathy and emotion."

The fact it 'speaks' is even more cause for being unsettled.

Remi glances up, finding his gaze once more.

"Yes. It is a dragon deity from Unova. My-- we were.. deeply invested in legendary Pokemon who shared typing with dragons."

Cillian Quinn

☉

He might have, but he would have a damn good memory given how recently she'd moved into the area. Though, granted, her arrival had been quite.. intense given the circumstances of her stay. Picking a fight with Killian Decker in the training complex on the submarine, picking a fight with @elliot over a bowl of homemade soup, and most recently (or yet to come), picking a fight with Cillian Quinn over avatar bullshit.

"Nope, though that is the first time someone has asked that instead of 'you aren't from Hoenn, are you?' Maybe I'm starting to adapt to this fucked up society."

She laughs, though the tone of it is sarcastic. Remi side-eyes the man for a moment, amusement glinting in her one visible eye. He had an accent, sure, but she wasn't exactly the type to be curious about that. Hoenn seemed to attract all kinds, and yet.. people were so damn suspicious anyway.

"Have you?"

She laughs, not really looking for an answer. Remi glances down at the bucket, focusing on the rhythmic noise of the milk hitting the bottom of the bucket. His follow-up statement amuses her, as noted by the pursing of her lips and the tilt of her head.

"What, you don't like money? You don't just do good things out of the kindness of your heart?"

Rowan Wrynn

☉

Talk of this 'Tree of Life' had reached even the likes of Remi Cassel. Of course, that was because she was an avid eavesdropper, and the more information she could get regarding mysterious circumstances around Hoenn, the better.

Her brother had come here seeking answers and he had found them- at the cost of his life. So she was here to do the same, hopefully without the 'till death' part.

"You good, dude?"

But she, too, turns around to see that they are being pounced upon by wild Pokemon.

bryan delarosa

☉