What are the five stages of grief? Grief, anger, denial, depression, acceptance.

Remi was certainly in stage one, approaching stage two rapidly. Anger boils beneath her skin, festering in her tense muscles. She can feel a charlie horse in her neck approaching, the vein in her temple jumping with every step she takes. Her agitation, her fear, her anguish, it all boils over into a migraine. The sun is too bright, forcing her to wear her sunglasses - but it helps to hide the tears streaming down her face.

She had gotten nowhere with the rangers, both heads two daft and oblivious to the goingson around them. Realistically, she knew it wasn't their fault. They were doing their jobs, and she had experience with the short rope rangers could be kept on. They could only do so much.

But they hadn't done nearly enough.

The woman furiously wipes wetness from her cheeks, sucking in shaky breaths as she slams through the front doors to step outside. They crash against the side walls with almost enough force to break. They rattle in their hinges, and she's almost certainly left a dent in the wood. She doesn't care.

"Fuck!"

Her voice shakes the same way her legs do, but she sucks in a breath to stop herself from sobbing.

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

"Mmm.."

She pouts along with his complaint, lips displayed in a pout, offering a slight tilt of her head with the limited movement she's granted. Her chin remains captured in his palm, but she goes along with the bite.

"Depends on how tightly you hold on."

How much of what he had said was truth? Was she just another notch on his belt, or did he genuinely mean it when he said he'd missed her? Did he care when she left, or was this for show?

Did it even matter?

"You have right now."

Remi slides her fingers up and against his chest overtop of his shirt. His canvas is familiar, warm, strong.

NIKO MANNER

☉

The rumor train is a tricky, fickle bitch. You could only pry so much before the entire thing fell to dust at your feet, never to be mentioned or addressed again. Swept under the rug and forgotten.

But now the door was left wide open.

Now the temptation to explore was right there, so close, all she had to do was compromise her body and her values.

The answer should be obvious- but the desire, the desperation to know more, to understand was greater than self-preservation.

And the trickle of temptation is cruel, too.

This is everything you wanted, once.

But the thought of being Rocket's guinea pig didn't really sit well. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to deter her. Remi hangs off the wall, shoulder pressing close in order to keep a low profile. If she was lucky, maybe she'd go unnoticed and escape with valuable information relating to avatars and her brother and what had happened to him.

That's funny.

Remi scans the room, but stops short on a shock of bright blue, minty green hair. She blinks, frowns, squints, stares.

Is that.. the bathroom guy?

mint frost

☉

"Nothing some pesticide wouldn't fix."

She was not above erradicating the entire species if it meant never having to deal with them again.

"Hmm.. wouldn't hurt. I'm sure the science guys can probably make something fucked up."

They better, anyway, or this was a waste of her time. Maybe they'd come up with some new weapon or toxin or paralytic she could use for her hunting. That'd be sweet.

"C'mon, I've got some empty balls I picked up for the road. Figured they'd come in handy, and what'dyou know."

She tosses a few to the girl before stepping up to gather and capture the Kakuna closest. In between, she shoots a text off to the bossman in charge of their assignment with a thumbs-up emoji and a winky face.

"What do you think they'll post online? 'League sucks?'"

@winifred

☉

"Hm. I could tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya."

Her eye twinkles with mirth. Not that she wasn't capable of it, because she was, but in this case she was definitely joking. Not that they had the sort of relationship for him to know that.

It was too late to overthink it, now.

Remi returns her gaze to follow the man's movements, from the way he sets down his cigar right down to the bend in his hip.
When she looks back up, the only ball he has left to sink is the eight. She had to wonder if that was a euphemism for her current situation.

"Both."

Briefly, her focus fades as she disappears into her thoughts. She thinks back to where she had started, clad in ranger gear and with a clear-cut goal in mind. How far she had fallen.

But at least her experience with Pokemon had aided in where she was, now. It was the little things.

"Do you need something moved?"

virgil roach

☉

"Why are you slow-blinking at me? It's creepy, dude, stop."

It quite literally makes her shy away from him, avoid making eye contact. She blinks rapidly, trying to break the spell that he's definitely trying to put on her. Why are people such weirdos?

Fortunately, wild Pokemon continue to meander past. In this case, a Nidoqueen challenges the pair of them and is quickly put down by the man's 'mostly harmless' tin can. As it skids to a halt by his feet and he sucks it up into a pokeball, Remi glances back up at the guy. He seems so nonchalant despite his clearly defined power.

Hoenn people were nuts, confirmed.

"Can't a girl have both? Business and pleasure?"

The bit about the herbal remedies didn't intrigue her, she was just here to be sarcastic and snarky. Though.. now that he mentioned it, maybe that was something she should be looking into. Better than normal potions? Huh.

One of the nearby boulders turns out to be a not-boulder in the shape of a Golem. Remi's Pangoro makes short work of the Pokemon- though not with the same confidence and apparent strength as the Magnezone, that thing is a beast. With both paws, he slams down on the rock-type Pokemon with a grunt.

And does it again and again because Golem is a badass, apparently, too.

But it eventually falls and Remi captures it.

capture attempt on golem

paxton concordas

☉

Guilt trickles with ice-cold fingers down the back of her neck. She remains steady, attention wavering slightly from either side of his face in quiet study.

But she can see it, the sadness, the longing.

And she'd seen it before.

"Mmm.. well you know I don't stay in one place for too long, love."

Demons followed her, offering up their wicked words and cruel intentions. She was a monster, running from the truth.

NIKO MANNER

☉

"Is that skeleton twerking?"

She snorts out laughter and she's thankful that she hadn't taken a sip of anything beforehand. Burning alcohol coming back up through her nostrils was never a good look.

When she stops laughing, she realizes tht Lulu Flint has offered the bottle. That makes her laugh more - how drunk is she?

"I was only kidding. Keep that shit to yourself, girlfriend, tequila will fuck you up."

So she pushes the bottle back to her, offers a flirty wink, and downs another jello shot.

Lulu Flint

☉

Frustration and lack of awareness lead to her snatching the glass away originally in order to finish her drink. She's assumed, naturally, that he had aimed to pluck it from her fingers, but had the decency to ask rather than just take.

But she was used to people who just took, and so she took it for herself.

However... Gabriel's hand reaches out a second time, and she hesitates. Her eyes flick up from her glass to his gaze. She isn't sure what it is that she finds behind his heavy stare, whether it be friend or foe.

He must be something though, for her to have spoken to openly with only half a glass of whiskey in her belly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Before the alcohol begins to settle.

It felt like something her mother would say if she got too sloppy.

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

"He doesn't."

She glances back at him, her irritation growing.

"But I haven't heard from him in months. We always check in, even when we're angry. This isn't like him. Something's happened."

With one gulp, she finishes the rest of her glass. It burns all the way down, makes her face contort. But it gives her control where she feels like she's losing it.

"I don't give a fuck if he wants to be found or not. He's my twin, and he's my responsibility."

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

She scoffs, pulls her hand away with a lazy drag across the fabric of his pants, back into her lap to clutch the glass.

"No. He stopped telling me things years ago. Just enough to appease me, to let me know he's okay."

But he'd sounded.. happy. Excited, distracted, rather than irritable and far-away. She'd caught a glimpse of the real Roman, the boy she'd grown up with. Her best friend, her other half.

And now.. where was he?

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

Subtly, she squeezes.

"He told me he had found something real in connection to legendary Pokemon and avatars. He's been obsessed with the idea ever since we were little kids, more so now than ever."

What with the sudden influx of people who had actually accomplished such a bond, his inspiration and desperation had grown.

"The last I heard from him, he said he was in Hoenn. Didn't say where, or what he was doing."

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

Closer.

His hand pinches, pulling her toward him, tilting her chin up. He is direct, precise, practiced. And he watches her carefully, with the same intensity that she is so familiar with. She smirks, and is therefore willing to be lead.

"It's good to see you, mon loup."

She flashes teeth in a grin, stepping closer still.

"I missed you too."

NIKO MANNER

☉