Onyx was quiet for a long time, torn between the movie and watching Andres sleep; he kept rubbing his back the entire time, unused to the casual stillness the moment presented.

When he was certain Andres was deep asleep, he began to talk.

"I came over to tell you... I talked to my sister. Or, a spirit who claimed to be her, anyway. It may have just been... a trick. Or, like, a reflection of my subconscious, or what the fuck ever." His voice becomes choked with emotion and he swallows it, nuzzling into Andres' hair. "She sounds the same, Andres. As the day she died. It was like looking into a mirror. I wanted to badly to bring her with me but... like I said, it was probably just a trick. We didn't get to talk long but when we did it was like... god, it was perfect. A-- a completeness I never think I'll get again. I don't know if people who aren't twins will understand. Maybe your sisters do? I don't know. I've spent so long trying to forget her because if I think about her too much I'll get sick. I know she wouldn't agree with... me. The me I've become."

He shifts a little, pulls Andres up a little higher on his chest. Like a shield.

"But I think... I think you're the first thing she'd be proud of me for. Maybe not all the time, but... how we are now. Times like this... where you make me different. Better. It's like around you... I keep turning out to be more than what I was before. And I think she'd be proud of that."

[attr="class","mintag"] andres buenaventura
lay right down beside me, dear

He gets more of an answer than he had any right to expect.

“Huh,” he says, feigning thought as he continues the slow pattern of dragging his hand up and down the span of Andres’ back, hoping to lull him to sleep. From the way he was slurring his words, it didn’t seem too far off.

The movie is rather bright and pastel-colored. It reminds Onyx of the taste of Neopolitan icecream.

[attr="class","mintag"] andres buenaventura
Cuddle monster engage

Vatin takes point, running like a scouting rabbit: he dashes ahead to cover, pauses, and then runs back. Onyx, and then Andres, follow in his wake.

Onyx’s haunches are definitely up. His opinion of the Tangle was more ambivalent than most-- he didn’t really give a fuck. Back in Galar, as long as you had a Pokemon with you, you were safe. But the fact that the Tangle has magically transported here, somehow-- or a version of it, at least-- is definitely alarming. He’d have to be an idiot to not be alarmed, and Onyx was dumb, but he wasn’t an idiot.

“Anything familiar yet?” he asked, turning back over his shoulder to look at Andres, trying to ignore the disembodied giggling and the goosebumps rising on the back of his neck.

[attr="class","membot"]andres buenaventura mission: clefable in the feywilde

[attr="class","memboc"]☉

“Wes Anderson kinda mystery,” Onyx repeats, tabbing through options. One arm comes up to warp around Andres’ shoulders and stroke slowly up and down his back.

He doesn’t know what the fuck a Wes Anderson kinda mystery is so he eventually just types Wes Anderson in the search bar and looks at his options. None of them are really his vibe so he closes his eyes, scrolls back and forth randomly a bit, and then hits select.

It’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

“What makes it a Wes Anderson kinda mystery?” he asks, genuinely curious, though he’s aware Andres will probably be asleep sooner rather than later.

[attr="class","mintag"] andres buenaventura
Cuddle monster engage

Andres falls into step behind him and the closeness is a grounding comfort. Onyx won’t admit it but he’s fast become used to the feeling of the other man in his space, the way their orbits seem to mesh perfectly, strategically.

They press on into the strange field and the terrain dips down into a small valley. Back in Galar there would be massive wide open spaces like this, filled with nothing but huge telephone pylons and the occasional farmhouse for miles.

Almost as if on cue, there’s a strange, warping noise, and Onyx turns to see a-- a giant telephone pylon, feet behind them, that hadn’t been there before. And in the same breath that Andres is thinking of Glimwood Tangle, the grass begins to thin and a small path through the valley leads into dark, tangled trees.

“We’re not in Kalos anymore, Carol Ann,” Onyx says.

Vatin comes racing out of the underbrush, skidding to a stop in front of Onyx. He stomps his back foot twice and points back the way he came.

“He found a trail. C’mon.”

And he walks into the woods.

[attr="class","membot"]andres buenaventura mission: clefable in the feywilde

[attr="class","memboc"]☉