Somehow, that hurt a thousand times worse.

Spencer swallows, but her mouth and throat feel painfully dry. She doesn't look at him, his closeness is already painful enough. Once upon a time, they had been hopelessly, sickeningly in love with each other. Best friends, partners, devoted.

"Okay."

For a moment, tears well in her eyes and she glances away to press her cheek into her shoulder. Hopefully, he would see it as nothing more than another flash of pain from her ankle, and not her heart breaking.

CIAN MAHER

☉

Spencer stares back at her niece, admittedly puzzled and thrown off by her candor. Was she saying that she had beat up a trainer and stolen some of their money? What were the kids up to these days?

Spencer slow-blinks, but pushes the thought away because, in the end, she didn't care enough to worry about scolding her sisters kids. It wasn't her place, and she'd probably steal people's money too.

"What are you thinking for Jessie?"

And she nods, redirecting them toward the boutique that the girl has pointed out.

gabrielle black

☉

For a second, just a fraction of a second, she wonders if the man is oblivious to her advances or simply dodging them. Or stupid, which admittedly seemed to be her cup of tea. Perhaps that's why, even though she squints at his lack of understanding, the thought of sushi is certainly tempting. Isn't it an aphrodisiac?

Maybe he was listening. That right there puts a smile on her face.

"Sounds delightful."

Their interlocked fingers are warm, and she brushes her thumb against his knuckles affectionately. She even leans into him, driven to smitten heights through talk of food and physical affection. He was, perhaps, just a warm body on a lonely night-- but he was special, too.

mission: ren faire

andres buenaventura

☉

"Mhm."

She's probably being a bit rude, but she's never been one to be smooth. She operates strictly on her own schedule, and that is how it has always been. Selfish, arrogant, impulsive.

"Sure. See you at dinner."

Spencer offers a brief, forced smile before collecting her purse off the counter and heading back the way she'd come.

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

Through the panic and the pain and the ringing in her ears, she has a moment of clarity that brings her some semblance of hope. It's fleeting, quickly drowned out by fear and the thunderous sound of her heart pressed close to the inhumane noises behind her. She doesn't want to look back because she fears what she's seen, what she's heard, what might be waiting just over her shoulder.

Part of her wonders if maybe, just maybe, she laid still enough and breathed slow enough, all of this would wash away. That this was just a nightmare, or that the monster would leave her be. Play dead, play dead, play dead. But she can't, because she doesn't know how to. All she knows how to do is fight.

So she turns her head, eyes wide with horror at what she becomes witness to. The Deoxys seems to dissolve into ink but airborne, and it seizes the man she had come all the way out here with. Some nameless, supposedly innocent individual- though she had to wonder why he stood so brazen and confident against this horrific threat. Why he stood there now, why he didn't run, why he allowed this Pokemon to enter his body. Because that is what she saw, a sort of willingness to cede.

At this point, surely, someone has noticed something awry and called the police. Even amongst tall stalks of corn, surely someone has noticed explosions and fighting in a maze that was meant to be kept safe and simple. The manhunt for the missing teenagers should have brought attention to this spot, so surely, when Spencer starts to scream at what she's seen, someone is there to help pick her up off of her feet and ask her questions.

But she is the only one who has seen the Deoxys enter Killian's body. There is no trace of the creature, no proof. No amount of ceaseless babbling and pointing of fingers could probably convince anyone, especially if Killian protested or tried to leave. She had nothing but broken bones and fear.

"There-there was-- an- an- an alien, and it just entered that man's body."

Killian Decker

☉

Spencer retreats, hands sliding down the girl's arms to squeeze her hands before letting go. She smiles, tilts her head and furrows her brow to conveniently hide the loneliness in her smile.

"'Course I am, Jessie, I always am."

Jessica Manner

☉

"Yes--"

She answers impulsively before warmth fills her cheeks and she glowers at the man to hide her fluster and confusion. It is not altogether convincing, but the bite to her next statement might rectify it.

"Not if you're going to be weird about it."

But the truth is she misses him. Their time apart had been painful, if expected and necessary. Spencer, unfortunately, was nothing if not impossible and prideful, and unforgiving at the best of times.

"The old boy misses you. Don't let your dislike for me prevent you from seeing him."

CIAN MAHER

☉

The world spins around her in a dizzying array of noise and colour. It is positively too much, enough to leave her feeling nauseous and out-of-body. She can't focus, she can't think, she can't feel. The ground rushes to meet her, but she is without sensation other than the familiar crunch of gravel beneath her weight.

Spencer blinks, the motion painful and nauseating as she struggles to focus on the shapes looming above. Fear grips her, the urge to run or to scream leaving her paralyzed. Involuntarily, the woman vomits, retching and gagging as she struggles to breathe. Her ribs ache as she pushes herself to her knees.

Deoxys speeds past her, overlooking her. She is insignificant in this instance, and for that she would find herself thankful - that is if she lived to tell about it. But the momentum of the legendary Pokemon's approach forces her into another bout of coughing and gagging, bile spilling from her lips as she fights her body for control.

All she can do is crawl, her ankle dragging behind her at an angle that suggests a break. Tears well up in her eyes but she pushes because the adrenaline running through her veins warms her and gives her impossible strength. She can see the creature sizing up the man she'd just been with, she could see it overpowering the alien Pokemon he controlled. What thin barrier it held up was breaking, but no words come out of her mouth.

She can't speak, she can't think, she only knows that she needs to run. Survival instincts overpower her heroism- and Spencer Hale has never been a hero. Her thoughts dwell only on herself, on her safety, on whether or not she would make it out of here alive.

Am I going to die here? Am I going to be devoured by an alien? Will anyone even notice I'm gone? I'm not fast enough. I can't stand, I can't run. I can't-- I don't-- I'm scared.

The woman's thoughts rampage out of control, hysterical and terrified. Tears spill down dirty, bloody cheeks, nails bite into the dirt as she drags herself away. At the forefront of her mind, however, and the heaviest burden that assists in her crying is a face she sees waiting for her just out of reach.

CIAN MAHER.

Killian Decker

☉

"Yeah."

She grows quiet, grows sad, distracted by fond memories and wistful thinking. So much had changed in so little time.

Spencer swallows hard, surprised and hurt by his request.

"Why don't you tell him yourself? He likes you way more than he's ever liked me."

CIAN MAHER

☉

"Sure."

She's never really thought of it that way. In fact, she had sort of come to resent the place. It felt.. empty. Full of memories, good and bad. Mostly bad, the more that she thought about it. Or maybe the bad was just more prominent, fresher.

Once upon a time, her house had been full of him, and now..

"I--" he interrupts her in her moment of weakness, with her ankle throbbing and her heart full of pain.

"They're good. They still hate the dog."

CIAN MAHER

☉

People were capable of wearing two different faces.

"No one does."

But nausea and discomfort swell in her belly, flipping like an omelet gone bad. Maybe it is the sight of the naked bird carcass he lifts out of the sink. Maybe it's the thought of how he thinks he's going to effectively clean the sink to not get food poisoning later.

Or maybe it's the conversation altogether. Whatever it is, Spencer feels a spike of sudden, violent regret, and she turns on her heel.

"I just remembered I have.. a date."

No she didn't.

But she didn't feel like staying anymore. She didn't feel like talking about her sister to the man she'd once held fluttery feelings for. She was better than that.

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

"Let's both do red."

And, suddenly affectionate in spite of her own flaws and her own, typically selfish personality, Spencer reaches out to hug her niece again. This time, just a little bit tighter.

Jessica Manner

☉

The thought of going home, in this state, knowing full well none of her spoiled, shitty cats would help her?

"No.. maybe not."

Words die at the tip of her tongue, stubbornness unwilling to let her yield. What she might like is not what she wants, is not what she is willing to ask for. For him to stay with her.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

Does he still stop by her window? Probably not. He had another partner now, he didn't mean anything to her anymore- she didn't mean anything to him.

So she focuses on the throbbing in her ankle.

CIAN MAHER

☉