Zero acknowledgement. Zero hesitation.[break][break]

Not to her, but only to the ever rustling capsule residing upon one of few belts secured upon his person. In response to the shaking and the like only growing violent with a relentless demand of presence, his hand instinctively clasped tighter upon the containment as he pressed on. Though the woman calling out to him (questioning him, much to his chagrin, with no avail that he would ever intend to offer within this moment of abscond) hadn’t so much as perceived his specific reactions, his expression had tensed all the more as he remained turned away from her through the distance he’d sought to place between the two of them.[break][break]

Malice. Disdain. Pensiveness.[break][break]

Though it was all visible upon his face as he walked along, it was all irrelevant.[break]
All he needed to do was leave.

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

He hoped so, so very dearly that it wouldn’t happen.[break]
And yet, there they were.[break][break]

Even without everything said and done, there had been a subtle, yet almost suffocatingly pained twang within both body and soul, alike; a matter that had been unseen to her, though still ultimately expressed through the ever hardening gaze that he’d directed towards the ground. As if urging himself to continue forth, his form had remained leaned forward as it had naturally done in favor of his earlier steps; a natural stance that showed a means of departure, only foiled by the mere fact that he lingered. Altogether, the scenario in question had been borne of her actions. It had been her choice to leave. It had been her choice to leave him with little more than a memento of what they had been, and it had been her complete, deliberate decision to throw the past aside so easily- and for what?[break][break]

All he had were questions that she had refused to answer.[break]
All he wanted to do, after all that time and turmoil, had been to move on.[break][break]

...And yet, there he was, at her mercy. Over the past several months, he’d thought to himself. A lot. He’d thought about the events of the past, as well as all of the discrepancies and chance encounters that he’d experienced. The pain resounding within his chest during those very moments had been little more than a newcoming, fleeting emotion; rather, it had been nothing more than a recurring, revisiting tenant of his very soul that sought to provide little more than struggle, and hardship, and torment within his living and waking hours within the very moments in which he’d thought himself to be safe. There it was again. Beating. Assaulting. It threw him down with such malice and tenacity, again and again, and it had been more than warranted to claim that he was tired of it.[break][break]

His fingers curled into a gradual fist before long.[break]
His nails dug until his palm.[break][break]

Then, with a final attempt at resolve and false clarity, he lifted his arm, faintly, prior to swinging it down. Within a single motion, he tore his wrist from her grasp and began to walk once more, all while hues of viridian burned such with such exasperation upon the path before him. ”I’m not going to do this right now, Ayame,” he muttered with a low bite, clutching the capsule closed ever further as he proceeded along. ”We’ve done this far enough, by this point. Leave me be.”[break][break]

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

His intention had been to leave. That much had been obvious enough, and with how briskly his stride had become in such a short span of time following his initial footsteps, it had also been safe to assume that he wanted anything but to linger, and that he would have done much to ensure that he could properly be on his way. Within an instinctive manner, he’d shifted a hand down onto one of the capsules upon his belt upon noting it begin to rustle. A glare overtook those green hues of his as he noted it, and something akin to a curse crossed his mind as he continued forward, clutching onto it all the while.[break][break]

...And then he found himself stopped.[break][break]

Instinctively, his body tensed as the feeling, and although he hadn’t brought himself to turn to face the source of the voice that spoke to him (he would be nothing short of daft to not know the source, anyways), the hand of the respective wrist that she grasped curled within itself. Lightly. His jaw clenched lightly as he inhaled slowly.[break][break]

”...Don't, Ayame,” he murmured lowly, furrowing his brows as he kept his gaze upon the space in front of him. ”Please. ...Don’t.”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

Silence.[break][break]

Silence alone had been her response, alongside an averted, glaring gaze towards the wall before him as he continuously leaned towards his side. While he had known rather well the sort of response he would elicit as a result of the treatment (regardless of whether it was inward or outward, for he knew the disdain that would come from it, in any case), the truth of the matter had been that he simply hadn’t wanted to deal with the situation at hand.[break][break]

Not when it happened too often, as it was.[break]
Not when he was trying so very hard.[break][break]

Once more, he breathed in within a slow, gradual manner, all before sighing it out between vaguely parted lips in a similar way. Shaking his head and closing his eyes beneath the shade of both hood and darkness, alike, he turned towards her- though rather than choosing to look her way, he merely bowed his head to himself while beginning to lower himself against both the wall and the floor. Steel himself. Brace himself. Commit to the matter at hand for as long as necessary, rather than forgetting what had been, for forgetting had been an impossible feat, in itself.[break][break]

Not when the one, clear reminder of such days stood before him.[break][break]
...Not when a face so dear (a face that he so dearly remembered and loved so dearly, and so adored in times long past, when it would offer both smiles and the faintest tinges of scarlet upon her rosy skin in response to select words and gestures) had been there, right in front of him, with no means of escape.[break][break]

”...Don’t joke about that,” he finally murmured after some time, breathing another sigh all the while. Lifting a hand and pressing it lightly against his face, he leaned further back against the wall behind him while beginning to rub his eyes in exasperation and fatigue. ”I highly doubt that’s what either of us need, at the moment.”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

Eyes forward, both literally and metaphorically. In the event that the crimson winged creature saw fit to glance towards the man as he trailed behind, he would have spotted the rather solemn and generally stoic expression upon his face; an observation that - while normalize, in some regard - would have proven to be somewhat odd in atmosphere, specifically. There had been something dull within his eyes as he followed along, and his gaze merely focused upon the lush greenery before him as they walked along.[break][break]

He only bothered to look around for any potential threats.[break][break]

Before long, however, the sound of running, flowing waters caught his attention, and after pausing momentarily in order to assess the direction, he glanced over his shoulder. A quick, yet louder whistle sounded across the clearing, and before long, the other two companions of his pushed through the bushes, glancing between their trainer, as well as the butterfly accompanying him with some minor degree of surprise, confusion, and concern, all the same.[break][break]

”Tamashi, follow Hana,” he’d said outright, confirming the subtle, silent wonders that the two Pokemon had upon noting the insect. Nevertheless, he lifted a hand and gestured for the remaining, blue furred creature with him to follow along before beginning to walk again. ”Fishing should be easy for you. Reiki, I’ll show you the way back to camp. Memorize the way, then go back to meet those two to escort them back.”

AYAME FUJIWARA[break]
mission: deserted island

☉

Although faintly, the smile upon his lips broadened more; the tug of his lips prompting a soft raise of the cheeks as he nodded and tightened his grasp upon her hand. ”Mmn. The pleasure is all mine~,” he said, returning the shake with a touch of lingering him towards the end of his words. Peering over towards the dragon of his afterwards, he released her hand following the gesture, and instead slipped it back into the cross of the arms that he’d located it within prior to her arrival.[break][break]

”No, though… I can’t say I am.” His attention briefly shifted towards the Kadabra nearby as he continuously resided upon the fence, seemingly and contently snacking upon a pumpkin spice flavored poffin that was purchased for him at some point before arrival. Reaching out, the trainer gently gave the creature’s head a pat before peering towards the woman, once more. ”My homeland is Johto- Ecruteak City, specifically.”

DAPHNE STONE [break]
mission: wooloo who cry wolf

☉

The voice struck a chord somewhere within him.[break][break]

Truth be told, despite the ongoing occurrences and voices that had been bustling within his midst as he originally strode off, there had been some means of familiarity that rang true within him at what little words she’d uttered, prior. Familiarity. Familiarity had been the one, primary thing to have pried at him, again and again, over such a short span of time, and upon noting the response spoken his way (as short and idle as it may have been, though it - alongside the subtle discomfort upon her face - had been the means of avoidance that further solidified his thoughts), he found his gaze lingering upon her further.[break][break]

It shifted towards the Pokemon that lingered. It focused upon the direct gaze maintained by his and her own as they spoke with one another, and the more he acknowledged the sight, he realized that his assumptions had only been nothing more than right.[break][break]

After a small while, he looked towards her, once more.[break][break]

”...May I ask your name?”

AYAME FUJIWARA

☉

The sound of his name upon her lips almost prompted a grimace to surface upon his face.[break][break]

And yet, as stubborn and persevering as a ground-type, he persevered. Silence had been the initial response to her words, though soon after a rise and fall of his chest and shoulders (a long breath breathed in, and a long breath breathed out), he merely shook his head to none other than himself before leaning his shoulder against the wall closest to him. ”...I don’t see why I’d be here for anything other than the norm,” he murmured with a faintly jagged touch within his tone. Verdant hues narrowed towards the corner of the encased room before him, and he crossed his arms before closing the former tiredly.[break][break]

He remained silent for a little while longer, furrowing his brows from beneath the shade of his hood as he allowed his weight to shift upon the wall a faint bit more, and breathing another, quieter sigh.[break][break]

”...This has been happening far more than I’d prefer it to…”

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

Returning to Johto, sadly enough, wasn’t such an easy thing to do.[break]
Not when it took a fair amount of preparation to move regions, to begin with.[break][break]

As such, he hadn’t quite been able to visit the proper graves and the like of his family, but after some exploration of the region before him, he’d found some other places to be able to seek some form of refuge within. By no means had it felt the same as physically seeing the monuments and the like of his actual kin, being able to speak his own, silent hymns and the like before a general monument had been better than nothing.[break][break]

Before long, his hands unclasped, and he gave a quick look towards the dragon hanging upon his shoulders while beginning to walk. A soft smile tugged upon his lips at the sigh of the small cheek pouches that had puffed out as a result of some snacks he’d given her beforehand, but as he began reaching towards his belt to grab a couple more for her, he paused briefly at the feeling of minor impact. Lowly, he gave a quick groan before turning his head with the intention to give a quick apology.[break][break]

He found himself staring, instead, as a sense of familiar tiredness welled within him.[break]
The look upon her face hadn’t helped.[break][break]

He’d almost brought himself to speak (especially at the feeling of the drake perking up at the sight of the woman), but the truth of the matter had been that they were both equally as exasperated for the same reason. After some time, the words that had been caught within his throat had gradually subsided, and with a vague clench of his jaw, he merely narrowed his eyes a faint bit more in thought.[break][break]

Rather than responding at first, he simply turned and began to continue his stride away.

AYAME FUJIWARA [break]

☉

So many damn, renegade phone numbers.[break][break]

Honestly speaking, he didn't know how his number kept getting passed around, and frankly, he also didn't care about the methods in the slightest. What he did care about, though, were all the numbers that kept getting added to his ever growing list of blocks. One day, it was the standard spam call. Credit card number, SSN, all that good shit.[break][break]

This was the first and hopefully last time he'd get someone that introduced himself as Big Brother Ed, though.[break][break]

Was it some sort of gang nickname? Hell if he knew. Again, he didn't care- and there were more pressing things at hand, apparently, as the sight in front of him unfolded in all of its obscure (and honestly pretty concerning) glory. With an exasperated sigh on top of the urge to roll his eyes into the back of head and then some, he reached for a vacant Pokeball hanging on his belt and tossed it at one of the Steelix.[break][break]

All he literally wanted to do was pass through the area.[break]
Hell if he could catch a break, though.[break][break]

oU4DJcxt

@tag [break]

☉