He hummed in thought, narrowing his eyes.[break][break]

”...Yes, but in that case, let me phrase it differently.”[break][break]

He tapped his fingers against one another within their loose embrace, eventually resting his atop atop the both of them throughout the continuous guise of pensiveness directed towards none other than the nurse accompanying him.[break][break]

”You agreed. You said you felt like you’d come far.”[break][break]

He sat up a bit straighter, furrowing his brows with a faint purse of the lips.[break][break]

”If that’s true, then that implies you’re happy with who you are. …Are you happy with who you are?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: life's a beach

☉

”It’s one of the things I wanted to hear.”[break][break]

With a soft sigh, he narrowed his eyes towards the spaces further by his flank. He eyed a couple of seats and the like laid out—likely by the beachfront and its primary caretakers—before pacing towards them, taking a brief reprise in the form of a seat.[break][break]

”Self reflection is another thing,” he went on, ”with self-actualization being another.”[break][break]

He lifted his arm with his picker in hand, stabbing it into the sand to stand for itself before leaning forward with his hands folded betwixt the space of his knees.[break][break]

”...You’ve had ample time to do the former, but where do you think you are in terms of the latter?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: life's a beach

☉

”You’ve quite the dramatic and pessimistic mindset if that’s how you’re viewing it,” he murmured, furrowing his brows.[break][break]

He watched the sands beneath his feet for a small while longer prior to shifting his attention towards his own Pokemon as they scuttled about. Bicolored hues met those of brown as a familiar, golden fox met his gaze, and though the look they shared had been silent and wordless, there seemed to be some minor conveyance as the creature floated towards him upon noting the pensive expression upon his face.[break][break]

After being nudged a couple of times, the man breathed a soft sigh, handing his bag off to the Kadabra to tend to. He returned to his thoughts as the psychic type floated away, as if to give him space.[break][break]

”Let me ask you…” he mused on, quirking his lip while finally bringing his eyes upon her once more. ”What do you think is necessary for personal development?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: life's a beach

☉

”...I wouldn’t quite say it’s jarring.”[break][break]

Spoken in nothing more than genuine truth, as idle and flat as his tone had always been. His gaze lingered upon her for a while longer as the smile stretched upon her lips—whether true or not—before he merely shifted his attention towards the shoreline once more.[break][break]

”...If anything, it’s a relief, to some degree,” he mused on, quirking his lip with half narrowed eyes as they scanned along the sand. ”It simply shows that you’ve grown and developed in your absence. …I’d say that’s a good thing.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: life's a beach

☉

The chill of the wall had been the first thing to meet his senses as he found the heel of his palm dug against it.[break][break]

It moved swiftly as a sense of imbalance overcame him, with nothing but the remaining hand to maintain the hold he had upon the drake within his grasp. Hues of a bicolored brilliance widened within a faint, yet instinctive manner as the jolt shook him within bounds both physical and metaphorical, leaving him clicking his tongue as he caught himself[break][break]

Following that, he’d only needed to stare for a moment longer before hastily leaning back.[break][break]

Yet again, no words left his lips save for the ones used in an attempt to further hush the babe that continuously reached for the woman and her own Pokeballs, but after sparing her several moments’ worth of a pensive glance, he shifted his attention up towards the top of the cabin.[break][break]

The lights returned. Power was back.[break]
He glanced to the door, standing up quickly and sighing under his breath as the floor display began counting up again.

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

"Hana—... Tch…”[break][break]

A raise within tone and volume, alike, that had been caught as swiftly as it appeared, least the poor babe be caught amiss in fear and confusion. With a pensive guise of distaste strewn clear upon his face, he gazed through the darkness in tandem to the green scaled drake as she ambled about, barely giving the trainer within her sights the briefest of glances as she began to stir before leaning forward. Rocking hastily upon his feet and then onto his knees, he reached over once more.[break][break]

Though a sense of guilt dwindled within his heart upon noting the sound of disdain that left his own Pokemon once he’d managed to begin lifting her up and away (though not without some resistance as her little fingers grasped tightly upon the fabric of the woman’s clothing), he simply furrowed his brows all the more throughout his attempts to distance the two of them from the other side of the room.[break][break]

”Hanabi, please...” he sighed in exasperation, reaching over attempt after attempt to undo her hands. ”This is not the time for this…”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

For a man whose closest companion had formerly been silence, it truly had a way of becoming so very deafening. It had been something to cause no shortage of discomfort for him, regardless of whether alone or with others— and especially in the face and presence of the very person he seemed all too destined to continue crossing paths with.[break][break]

Suffocating.[break][break]

Suffocating to the point of needing a deepened breath, and suffocating to the point of maintaining it within an upheaved chest in an attempt to properly savor and process it. The breath itself, however, simply joined the silence; as did the sigh that followed it; and as did the continuous gaze he allowed to linger upon the vague, dimmed sheen of the wall he focused upon.[break][break]

After some time, however, he became aware of a faint rustling upon his belt; bicolored hues of amber and viridian straying towards it in response. His fingers only grazed the capsule for a split second’s worth of time before the room illuminated faintly within the familiar flash that accompanied the appearance of a Pokemon, and he hadn’t even needed to hear the cries that came alongside her arrival as the features of her stubby little form shone within the short lived glow.[break][break]

He grimaced within the returned darkness, clicking his tongue softly and furrowing his brows while beginning to reach out.[break][break]

”Tch… Hanabi—” he murmured, swiftly, barely managing to graze his fingers along the drake’s scales before she so swiftly shifted away from her. A small, sighing hiss of disdain left his lips as the ever excited babbling of the dragon only seemed to quickly make their way towards the woman opposing him. ”Han—... Oi, Hanabi…!”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

”...Still rather vague, but I suppose it’s better…” he hummed, glancing along the sands in her direction from the corner of his eye. He thought upon the response he’d been given before reaching over to take another piece of debris.[break][break]

He tapped his finger upon the handle of his pole idly once he’d transferred it to a bag as it floated by, eying the Kadabra that sent it over for just a moment before bringing his attention back to his partner.[break][break]

”...It’s a rather aggressive way of putting it, though.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: life's a beach

☉

”...As it tends to do, yes,” he murmured, flatly, while eying her for a while longer.[break][break]

Whether knowingly or absentmindedly, his eyes narrowed faintly in thought as she continued along with the specks of trash and other debris that she seemed intent upon. After several more moments, he inhaled deeply before sighing within a similar manner, gazing along the sands beneath them before taking care to skewer a smaller number of waste, himself.[break][break]

”I’m sure you’re aware I meant something a bit more in depth in terms of an answer goes, though.”

MARISOL SIMONE[break]
mission: life's a beach

☉

He hadn’t the time nor patience for the scenario that had so inconveniently unfolded before him.[break][break]

To have encountered the person within his vicinity that night (and begrudgingly, he acknowledged, for several nights thereafter) had truthfully been one of the least preferred outcomes he could have even bothered to consider, especially in light of their prior encounters beforehand. It had been the least preferred; it had been considered with dismay; it had been unwanted.[break][break]

Yet, there they were.[break][break]

Regardless of his own biases and the like, however, he had never been one to turn a task down, whether or not it may have been major, or whether or not it may have been the most trivial thing one could have ever beheld within their lives. Thus, he simply turned his attention away mere moments after seeing the drake (of whose disdain and moodiness had been all too familiar, and all the more judged in light of knowing the reasons of him being as such), instinctively eying the direction in which the path to the beachside resided.[break][break]

For a brief moment, he truly did hope the others would take longer.[break]
Long enough for his helper to finish in a timely manner, without distraction.[break][break]

Bicolored hues strayed forth towards the horizon, narrowing softly as the brows atop them furrowed in thought. ”Given I have the materials, most likely,” had been his response, simple as it may have been. With a gaze lingering upon the distance, and then upon the ripplying sheen of the waters accompanying it, he inhaled deeply before beginning a stride to join the golden scaled dragon.[break][break]

He paid little mind to whatever sort of looks he may have garnered upon nearing, instead kneeling down to begin gathering the smaller pieces of lumber.[break][break]

”...Worst case, I’ll sleep outside of the shelter if I can only manage one,” he sighed, clicking his tongue while beginning to snap leaves and branches from the remaining trees around him.

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]
mission: deserted island

☉

Needless to say, it was…nice, at the very least, to see some sort of change in heart. Though he hadn’t personally known her in the past, there had still been a multitude of things he’d noted from the last times he’d interacted with her and her own; things that he, truthfully, had thought about rather constantly when their interactions had still been new, altogether. Within the years that passed, however, came other priorities, alongside other happenings, in general.[break][break]

Ultimately, he hadn’t expected to cross paths again— and certainly not with a whole new identity, nevertheless.[break][break]

And yet, she was there, and she happened to be his task partner. Since meeting and confronting her about her and her identity (after a fair amount of research and digging to bridge the gaps, of course), he’d found that they crossed paths a few more times after the fact, and as they met earlier that day, he’d given her a simple greeting and confirmation of the reason she had been there.[break][break]

As he paused to gaze upon his accompanying Pokemon in thought, however, he found himself eying her for a small amount of time before inhaling and sighing, consecutively, as he reached over for another piece of debris.[break][break]

”What exactly happened in the in between, if you don’t mind me asking?” he mused, sparing her a glance from the corner of his eye. ”The years that appear to be off record, that is. …The ones between ‘her’ and you.”

@marisolbreak]
mission: life's a beach

☉

Though she hadn’t let go, he merely pried his hand away again upon feeling her grasp falter, though the reason she’d done so hadn’t been lost to him. With a bitter glare spared for but a moment, he clenched his jaw before taking several, quickened paces away as a means to put distance between them, all while reaching across his chest for another Pokeball as it resided upon a harness over his form.[break][break]

”We never met here.”[break][break]

The look on her face was excruciating.[break][break]

”Hopefully, we won’t meet again.”[break][break]

The cracks within her tone already echoed within his mind.[break][break]

Almost with a tear—hastened and desperate—he pried the aforementioned capsule from where it resided, only flicking his finger against the button to reveal a familiar, yet still altered hound. By the time he was fully manifested with fur of ashy hues visible for them to see, his trainer had already stepped over to climb and sit atop his back.[break][break]

”Go, Kagu,” had been his initial choice of words, only to be followed by a louder, ”Go, Kagu! Please!” upon the initial pause his companion had taken at the sight of the woman by them. What started as a gleeful front upon seeing her swiftly turned into a flinch of shock and confusion at the tone his trainer maintained.[break][break]

Crestfallen and questioning, the Arcanine gave another glance towards the other trainer before turning and beginning to make his way down the mountain.

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉