He blinked, hearing the topic shift somewhat suddenly.[break][break]

Truthfully, it caught him slightly off guard, prompting him to give a small smile in both amusement and thought as he pursed his lips softly. A hum escaped him as if emphasizing the aforementioned thought, and he relaxed further against the cushions of the chair behind him.[break][break]

”Ahhh… Yeah, but I’ve never really been big on that sorta stuff, though. Not in depth, at least,” he laughed, shaking his head. His tongue clicked softly a couple of times in instinct as he paused shortly in order to gather his thoughts. ”Like…I’ve always loved books and writing, myself. Sci-fi stuff like this is one of my vices, honestly…”[break][break]

He shrugged, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck softly.[break][break]

”...Just a simple teacher, though,” he went on, chuckling. ”Super techy stuff isn’t really in the resume~.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

...A friend, huh?[break][break]

Given the situation at hand, it would’ve been an understatement to say that he was intrigued by the mystery person in question (it was hard not to be when he had just been told that they could possibly have the power to make a concept that he thought of—a concept that, all things considered, he’d thought had been absolute bullshit—a reality), but the fact of the matter was that questioning as such might’ve been a bit too much.[break][break]

He barely even knew the woman across from him, after all.[break]
Curious as he was, he normally hadn’t been forward enough to push for finer details about acquaintances, let alone acquaintances of acquaintances.[break][break]

So, in light of that, the first words to leave his lips in light of the conversational trajectory had been, ”Yeah, but I guess there’s not much you can do~,” as the whisper—soft as it may have been—managed to catch his ears.[break][break]

He smiled, eying her for a while longer before peering back to the paper once more.[break][break]

”...It’s cool that you’re that passionate over a fictional concept, though~.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

Far be it for him to misunderstand bluntness as someone of the same mind, sometimes, but he did have to admit that being on the other side of it was a bit…jarring.[break][break]

Not always, but sometimes. Nevertheless, however, he kept a front of genuine interest as he listened to the words she spoke to him, all while casting an occasional glance towards the pages before her— seemingly and specifically when she seemed to begin running her pen along the paper, once more. The equations, themselves, had been things that he’d already known were beyond his expertise and comprehension from the very start.[break][break]

Even then, though, he had to admire the amount of actual thought she was putting into the matter.[break][break]

It was flattery beyond what she’d likely ever know to him, specifically.[break][break]

He hummed as he listened. He hummed as he processed.[break][break]

After some time, a smile of both understanding and curiosity tugged upon his lips as he narrowed his eyes. With a soft, humming sigh, he leaned further back into his chair again.[break][break]

”Ahhh… So then it’s really just the state of…our technology? Machinery? That kinda stuff?” he asked, raising a brow. ”...That’s, like, the main inhibitor, I mean?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

Holy fucking shit, this looks like my elementary school handwriting.[break][break]

A thought far from spoken, of course, and buried far beneath an eager and curious spark within his eye as he leaned over—ever so slightly, of course, lest he risk invading her space—in order to observe the diagrams and such she’d offered into his line of sight. He hummed in idle response and acknowledgment of her later words, raising his brows and glancing towards her from the corner of his eye as he noted the latter end of it.[break][break]

”So the stuff in the book is actually possible, then? Maybe?” he asked, a tone of faux (yet perfectly guise) inquiry coating the words as they left him. His lips pursed in further interest that had been less faux, and he shifted his attention towards the page once more. ”Not every day you see that, honestly… So how realistic is it, then?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

With naught a speck of judgment, he simply gave a shrug in response, smiling a bit more. Shaking his head faintly soon thereafter, he leaned back in his seat while resting the book he held more comfortably within his lap as he crossed his legs to further promote his own comfort.[break][break]

”I mean…I’d like to say I like silly~?” he mused, a chuckle twined clear within both tone and words, alike. Bicolored hues of a crimson and golden curiosity shifted towards the paper by her once more, and he nodded in the direction of both it and the all too familiar book within her vicinity. ”You just seem really sucked into what you’re doing, I guess. Kinda hard not to be curious.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

...There’s no way that can’t be it.[break][break]

There were a number of things that he considered himself to be an expert in— and for rightful reason, at that. Reading between the lines had been one of them, albeit sometimes to the fault of overthinking. Consideration had been another thing. Honesty (with anything other than things about himself), offering advice, lending an attentive ear…[break][break]

…Espionage and other things related, in days long past.[break]
And in relation to that, the ability of remaining incognito.[break][break]

It may have been something for someone of his stature to require more effort in (what with being both blessed and cursed with a height that was roughly a little bit over a foot tall than the average man), but it was something that he was confident in when he needed to be— and so he was personally relieved to note little to no glances towards his own being as a certain person seemed more than intent on…[break][break]

…Well, on scribbling away, by the look of it.[break][break]

He’d had another book in his hands—initially for the sake of genuinely reading, but later for the sake of laying low—as he passed by and caught a glance of what the scribbles had seemed to amount to by chance. Oddly enough, she seemed engrossed to the point of being unaware of her surroundings. It hadn’t mattered who passed her, and it hadn’t even mattered that he’d been seated a bit closer for quite some time.[break][break]

At some point, he eyed her for a little bit longer before reaching over towards the small coffee table by her, tapping upon it a few times in attempt to catch her attention.[break][break]

”Hey, uh…” he started off, smiling in equal parts confusion and curiosity alike as he nodded towards the paper she’d been occupying. ”You…mind if I ask what that is~? You’ve just been really focused on it. Kinda curious.”

MARISOL SIMONE[break]
notes

☉

Needless to say, he hadn’t needed to be told twice.[break][break]

All things considered, to bolt onto a streak of ice and ride it as if it were the wave to a surfer would’ve normally been a suggestion he wouldn’t have taken lightly by sheer virtue of how risky it would’ve turned out to be if done improperly. It only took one slip, after all, for balance to be lost, and for a bone to be broken on impact.[break][break]

In the situation they’d found themselves in, though, there wasn’t much of another choice to be had.[break][break]

So, without missing so much as a beat, he jumped onto the base of the ice closest to him, hunkering down and leaning his body forward as much as he could in order to salvage and maintain his own balance. Though stumbling a bit due to the sheer momentum at first, he quickly situated his feet upon solid ground as the icy path ended, quickly pressing himself down and beneath the shade of the shrubbery the other settled herself into.[break][break]

He held his breath.[break]
He waited.[break][break]

..After what he could’ve only assumed to be another clap of thunder, he found that it was a bit too silent.[break][break]

Skeptical, he simply lingered as he was for several moments more before lifting himself just enough to glance over the leaves hiding them. Empty skies, by the look of it. No surging winds, no flashing streaks of lightning.[break][break]

No large, roaring bear.[break][break]

”...You’re shitting me…” he murmured, narrowing his eyes.

EUN-HA PARK [break]
mission: surviving space-time

☉

”Actually, I’ve been curious about this for a while—”[break][break]

Though they’d been walking and talking for a decent while (there always seemed to be no shortage of literary topics to talk about with her, which he honestly found his own joy in), he couldn’t help but bring himself to a pause at the note of a certain thought that crossed his mind. Within said pause, he lifted a drink that he’d gotten to-go before they’d set out onto the route, taking a quick sip before going on whilst eying her.[break][break]

”It’s honestly kinda weird I haven’t asked this, now that I think about it?” he mused at first, turning a bit more with the intention of further facing her. ”But, like…what *did* actually get you into novels? Reading them, general interest, whatever.”

PERSEPHONE CARTIER[break]
notes

☉

Though instinct had been a concept of immediate nature, and though his immediate instinct within moments such as the given would have been to shy away abruptly at her touch, his mind had seemingly disabled the ability for any sort of avoidance.[break][break]

After all, such had been what he had done for so long until the given point, and there, as he stood crumbling before her, and as everything that he so desperately struggled to keep hidden from her and the neighboring world in the name of self proclaimed strength and pride, it had been all too late to prevent the fall from happening, altogether. While blurred vaguely through the filter of tears welling within his sight, the image of her fingers nearing him and his own had been far from lost from him. An innate desire to tear away called, distantly, within the back of his mind. Desperately. Pleading.[break][break]

And yet, as the chill of her touch laid grace upon his skin, it became irrelevant.[break][break]

Swift and ever chaotic had been his mind within those moments, though there came a subtle sense of approaching and enveloping calm with the feeling. A low, instinctive, cracked, ”I-I—...” ended as swiftly as it began in what had been intended to be a defiant response, but as the gentle hush of her voice met his ears, he found himself weakened in both body and soul within the aftermath. With brows furrowed and eyes narrowed, he glared absentmindedly upon the ground further off to the side prior to allowing them to veil over; a filter of darkness briefly overtaking his senses as he merely allowed her the opportunity to move his hand away and replace it with her own as it lay atop his cheek, and then jaw, and then wherever elsewhere.[break][break]

Her thumb moved so carefully and softly against his cheek, and within the time that it had done, he simply…stopped. Succumbed. Listened, finally, and thought upon the words offered both presently and beforehand to him. Before long could pass, his eyes opened once more to gaze idly upon the distant floors surrounding them as remnants of the crease of his brows lingered in pensive thought.[break][break]

They found themselves dwelling within hues of radiant rose and darkened hazel in due time.[break][break]

He gazed, deeply, into them. Silently. Idly. Pensively. He accounted for the words spoken to him (for him, he knew, within his begrudging moments of weakness), and with enough silent repetition within his head, they very well began to make a breakthrough. They voiced themselves within his lines of thought again, and again, and again; a persistence so fleeting to begin with, yet frighteningly strengthened and prominent with each reaffirmation. The confidence that eluded him had remained just that, but within the threads of logic that they seemed to bring back to him, he inhaled deeply and shakily prior to sighing out similarly so.[break][break]

”...I—... I-I don’t care if you’re uncertain. I’ll listen to you…” came the words to continue his ongoing descent; quiet, and broken, and seemingly faltering to the ear— yet in spite of the scenario at hand, and in spite of the display he so vehemently hated of himself in the dimness of that night, there had been a clear sense of genuineness within his claims, and an even bolder and invincible sense of conviction within a gaze of crimson and gold that had been fleeting only moments prior. ”I told you I’d be here. I told you I wouldn’t leave you again. I’m sorry, I love you, and I—...”[break][break]

He paused, gathering his thoughts once more.
His gaze averted in said thought for only a moment before meeting hers once more.[break][break]

Shattered, yet vaguely revitalized.[break]
The perfect guise and exhibition of certitude, blazing through the shadows of doubt and uncertainty preceding it.[break][break]

”...I’m here to listen to you,” he spoke softly, narrowing his eyes as he moved the palm of his hand against hers, just as she had done with him. Though the tears had still been within conscious mind, the attempt to hold them back had been lessened within the matters of greater importance that his eyes (baned by uncertainty and insecurity) had been blinded to. ”You want me to talk to you. …I want you to talk to me. …Anyone else can talk to me, but with you, it means so, so much more. Hearing it lets me know you trust me. Hearing it lets me know you’re really, actually with me.”[break][break]

He lifted his other hand, mirroring it against her other cheek within a soft, yet firm caress as he eyed her.[break][break]

”...I—... It lets me know I didn’t hurt you as much as I think I did— that it really is as…fine as you say it is. So please— if you do trust me, and if you are confident about it, let me listen to everything, because I will listen…”

EUN-HA PARK [break]
mission: slumber party

☉

”...Ah, man, you’re shitting me.”[break][break]

All things considered, seeing the reason that his little land shark had ambled off so suddenly lightened the load on his shoulders a little bit, but even then, there was a sense of tired exasperation that swiftly overcame him as he noted the familiar hues of red and azure from afar. Immediately upon noting them, he made a jog over, though slowed with a subtle curiosity as he saw a second creature interacting with his own.[break][break]

”...This is why you decided to disappear?” he mused with both judgment and sarcasm, alike. His lips pressed flatly (though not without a small tug upward, as well) at the familiar, signature little sound that the Gible gave in responsive approval, gesturing towards the dual type by him.[break][break]

A touch of defeat broadened his smile as he gave another sigh, nodding and crouching in order to tap a free Pokeball atop the other Pokemon’s head.[break][break]

”...You guys can just duke it out later, then, I guess~.”[break][break]

(tl;dr: catch attempt)

@tag[break]
notes

☉

”Uh, excuse the fuck outta me…?! What does being a teacher have to do with scoping a place out...?!”[break][break]

Was he confused? In awe? Absolutely flabbergasted with every single fiber of his being? Yes, yes, and also yes. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, he likely would’ve stayed on the topic a bit more (once they were safe, he absolutely would come back to it to try figuring out her line of thought), but given the limited time at their disposal, he merely settled for picking out a place as quickly as possible.[break][break]

Much to relief, it was apparently something he was beaten to the punch for, and with a final, skeptical glance towards the gradually freezing bear afar, he clicked his tongue before nodding. Turning towards his companion, he nudged for her to go on first, going, ”Go, then, go...! Lead the way! Go!”[break][break]

…Never minding how bears were actually good climbers, but that was something he hadn’t really wanted to dwell on with how, yet again, their options had been limited.

EUN-HA PARK [break]
mission: surviving space-time

☉

”The fuck makes you think I know…?!” he yelled, only glancing back for just a moment to eye the ice type as it followed through with its command. ”It’s a fuckin’ Ursaring on steroids? The fuck do you want me to say…?!”[break][break]

He furrowed his brows, quickly surveying the incoming scenery for anywhere they might have been able to hook into. All the while, he moved his remaining hand back down to the capsules once more, pressing them against the button of one of the earlier Pokeballs to reveal the same Riolu he’d recalled for her own safety, alongside a following Umbreon and Rookidee.[break][break]

After a moment’s worth of debate (any more would’ve likely been more of a bane than a boon, anyways), he brought himself to a stop, turning around to further survey the situation they’d left behind, giving a quick command of, ”Orev, Scary Face!” as well as, ”Anino, Confuse Ray! Alke, Copycat Orev!”[break][break]

He watched as the bear rushed once more, though seemed to give another roar in disdain after becoming subject to the Confuse Ray. Much to his relief, however slight, he watched carefully as the double use of Scary Face seemed to further hinder it before eying Eun.[break][break]

”You see anywhere to hunker down into? Larger brush, foliage— anything?”

EUN-HA PARK [break]
mission: surviving space-time

☉