Needless to say, the scream hadn’t been lost upon him— especially when he could hear amidst the rushing waves surging around him and his Gyarados. As the distance between the two of them only served to lengthen as the serpent beneath him brought him closer to the people in the distance, but even then, he took care to move a hand towards the belts he wore, quickly tapping the button against one of the Pokeballs secured upon it to release a familiar Staravia, and then an Unfezant from the next one beside it.[break][break]

”Look— if you’d feel more comfortable on the ground, you can wait by the shore…!” he called through both air and comms, alike; his voice and tone heightened and louder within the moment. ”I can just bring whoever I can to you! If you still wanna follow along, just keep an eye out for stragglers, and Columbia and Pollux will do their best to keep you up and stable…!”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: kyogre soaker (bws)

☉

”Sounds like a plan, then,” he hummed, taking his fingers from the earpiece before averting his attention towards the path directly before him.[break][break]

He followed the sight of the specks of white he’d seen just moments prior, slowing down into a careful, calm stride upon seeing the Absol properly. With his Hattrem in tow, he gave a sigh before instinctively softening his smile as his eyes met those of the horned creature’s, all while another Aromatherapy began to emanate from his own Pokemon.[break][break]

”I gotcha, buddy. You’ll be fine~...” he said simply, nodding softly towards the beast as he continued on within his steps. He noted the look of stress and disdain upon the dark type’s expression, as well as the manner in which it softened as the move did its work. ”Cooome on. C’mere—”[break][break]

Getting closer in itself was an easier task.[break]
It was the sudden pain he felt that made things all the more difficult.[break][break]

There were no words spoken—there could be no words spoken, as far as he was concerned, between man and Pokemon—and yet the moment his palm rested firmly against the Absol’s shoulder, an aggressive shock registered within his mind, and with an abrupt scream, he pulled both hand and arm back while clutching his elbow.[break][break]

Needless to say, the calmness imbued within the beast only served to diminish upon hearing the sheer volume of the scream.

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: absol absolved (bws)

☉

He stared at her, dead in the eye.[break][break]

”...I…know I’m the one who suggested it, but you actually—...” he started off, narrowing his eyes all the while. The words stopped abruptly as he decided he needed more time to process the situation, though.[break][break]

Before much longer could pass, he stood up with a faint degree of haste—a faint degree of purpose—before reaching over towards one of the compartments. With a quick ’click’ to open the door, he swung it open just enough to begin sifting through the items dwelling within it, soon turning back around with a life vest in hand.[break][break]

”...Come on, man. Getting in the water knowing you can’t swim?” he sighed, holding it over the edge of the boat. A smile of amusement, concerned, and disbelief, all the same, tugged upon his lips as his brows furrowed. ”Isn’t safety supposed to be your whole thing~?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: corsola conservation

☉

The waters rushed by him rapidly.[break][break]

Save for name, he always figured that he’d held little relevance to the makings of the world— but even then, and even as he, a civilian, hadn’t had much of an involvement in aiding the authorities, he took it upon himself to go out and help to the best of his abilities, nonetheless. Thus, atop the back of his own serpent did he ride, holding tightly against his scales as he hunched himself over; his feet laid as secure as they could be against the beast’s form as he was ferried along the water routes he so dearly knew.[break][break]

”I think I can see a couple more people up ahead…!” he called out, fingertips pressed firmly against the earpiece he’d be nothing short of thankful of for remaining secured. ”I can’t tell if they’re civvies or not, yet, but I hope you’re ready to come down and grab them if they are…!”[break][break]

Unlucky ass swimmers chose the wrong day to enjoy the waters.

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: kyogre (bws)

☉

”...I think that’s the last of them…”[break][break]

A low hum escaped his lips as he peered across the area, narrowing his eyes in thought and focus, alike, before he began to walk through in further examination. All in all, calming the Absol in the area proved to be a much easier task than he’d assumed it would be, and all it really took was a couple of good uses of Aromatherapy before they’d wrangled the bulk of the creatures that found themselves in the mountains.[break][break]

All that was left was to check for stragglers, so with a watchful eye (and a wistful, pensive glance towards a particularly familiar tombstone in passing), he jogged as quickly and silently as he could through the pathways; his steps light in respect of those that rested within the area.[break][break]

He came to an abrupt stop upon seeing a flash of white from the edge of his peripheral.[break][break]

”Ahhh. Mari, I found another one,” he said, tapping a finger against an earpiece he’d long since secured within his ears. ”How far down did you guys go? I’ll bring it over to you if I can...”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: absol absolved (bws)

☉

”Aaaand yet, you did it all by yourself— riots be damned~.”[break][break]

After what had more or less felt to be a smaller eternity, the man inhaled deeply before quickly and comfortably breathing the breath back out, a smile lingering upon his lips as he shifted himself around. Shaking his hand free of the remaining specks of water that clung upon it, he rested his back against the bench, once more, eying over the edge of the boat opposing him and into the waters.[break][break]

After some thought, he leaned across the way to take a seat closer to where she was, leaning an elbow against the edge beside him and leaning his head against his knuckles with an idle amusement.[break][break]

”Did a lot more complaining than problem solving, though— I’ll be honest about that~...” he hummed, eying down at her fingers as they clasped the boat. He blinked, furrowing a brow. ”...Aside from that, though, you…can swim, right?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
mission: corsola conservation

☉

Just like everything else, it all looked so different.[break][break]

Even if they were just pathways, they looked so different. Hazel hues scoured the terrain before him, a pensive spark within either of them upon noting the various discrepancies betwixt vision and memory. It hadn’t mattered whether they were big differences, and it hadn’t mattered whether they were smaller differences.[break][break]

They were differences, all the same.[break]
Things that he had to catch himself up with.[break][break]

”Maybe I should’ve moved back into Rustboro, instead~...” he chuckled to himself within a soft, absentminded manner, straying a hand to gently rub against the neck of a particular, little lizard as she draped herself so comfortably over his shoulders. He gained a quiet hiss in content. He turned his head towards her, slightly, with a smile. ”Mauville’s good enough, though. …It’s more ‘me’ anyways, don’t you think~?”
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] @charname [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-salandit"]

Though the lot of her words proved far from heard, it had been the last statement she’d offered to him that resonated within the core of his being.[break][break]

While he may have forged himself into a force to be reckoned with within his fields of expertise, and while he had grown to be as prideful as his very namesake, he truly did find himself at the mercy of thought after thought— and it just so happened that the latest words to have been uttered had served as nothing more than an instigator. The smile remained at first. It lingered, wistfully, within a gentle embrace upon idle lips, but before long, it seemed to fade away entirely as a sense of thought enveloped his being.[break][break]

It soon returned, though within a shadow of its former shine.[break]
Pensive. Wry, almost.[break][break]

”...Flattered as I am, Sister, I’d…honestly beg to differ~...” he hummed, a weak chuckle softly surfacing betwixt muttered speech. Hazel hues remained upon the edge of the platter before him prior to a raise of the chest; the feeling of air rushing beneath the bones and tatters dwelling beneath in expansion of the lungs before being expelled, entirely. ”I did leave for a reason, after all. Just as it seems you ended up doing, I…always had a mind of my own. A path of my own.”[break][break]

He tapped, softly, against the fork nearby before clasping it between the tips of his fingers.[break][break]

”Even to this day, I don’t…entirely know if it was what he wanted— to inherit the company, himself, that is.” The prongs of the utensil within his grasp tapped softly against the ceramics beneath it. Once. Twice. ”But…as far as I know, he was the best suited of us all~. With all of my selfish need for self validation and personal accomplishment, I doubt I could ever do his role justice, and I…really do believe that me not being there to pick up the pieces was for the best.”[break][break]

A lighter touch to a smile, despite the selfishness.[break]
Genuine amusement. Genuine belief in the words he spoke.[break][break]

”I’d…like to think he’d be proud of the outcome, though.” He pushed the side of the fork against the food before him, carving off another piece at long last. ”Messy as everything was, you seem to be happy where you are. I‘m definitely happy where I am, and, well…when I visited Ana, she seemed more than capable to handle everything she’s in charge of, at the moment~...”[break][break]

It all had to count for something, after all.

DAPHNE STONE [break]
mission: slumber party

☉