She tries to ascertain the feelings behind the words, but he's frustratingly hard to read. Doesn't he care for Regice? Even a little bit?[break][break]
She suspects that he does, and it is for that reason, more than any other, that he distances himself from the frozen golem. The enemy of love isn't hate.[break][break]
It is apathy.[break][break]
"I'll check with Lulu," she sighs. It doesn't matter which one of them studies it, not really. "It can stay with us until we've tested it for instability, but after that, it should return to you. It belongs with you, Howard."[break][break]
Whether he likes it or not, he has wrapped himself up in the very same threads that bind her to the Unown. His are the multi-colored strands of history's follies, the price of innovation, but eventually, he, too, will be given a choice. Too many believe such threads are a blessing, but Nomi knows the bloody truth of it: they are chains, shackling them to a terrible purpose.[break][break]
"I've met Zacian," she confirms. "Do you know what her Avatar did, Howard? Foolish man that he is."

TAGS – howard slayte[break]
NOTES – Set immediately following the events of HYPERBOREA[break][break]
"With silver spears may you conquer the world." -The Oracle of Delphi

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Tempest Quinn[break]
NOTES – SOCIAL[break][break]

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Her smile falters. Begins to tear at the seams. She doesn't frown, but her expression clouds over. She furrows her brow, remembering, then, that she'd recently escaped a prison that had tried its absolute best to kill her.[break][break]
"I feel - " - like I died a hundred times, a hundred different ways, each one more horrific than the last - " - okay."[break][break]
She sucks in a breath, sighs it out nice and slow. It's true: she's okay enough to function. She's okay, because there's really no other choice. To crumble now would be to abandon their world to whatever fate the DRK Triad has planned for it. To fall apart, right before the end? It's not viable. It's not a hypothesis she's willing to test.[break][break]
"Have you ever felt truly helpless, Kepler?" The question tumbles through her lips. "Brought lower than you could ever imagine, by your own weakness?"

TAGS – kepler brueshaber[break]
NOTES – SOCIAL

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Nomi jerked back when he jerked back, and Meltan Day was momentarily interrupted by Shred's howl of pain.[break][break]
"I'm sorry!" Nomi held up her hands in surrender. "I won't touch it anymore. It hurts that much, does it?"[break][break]
It looked like it hurt. The skin was raw, blackened like a burn, and peeling away in large, flaky chunks. It was, all things considered, gross.[break][break]
"Let's try a different approach," she decided. Rummaging around in a desk drawer, she pulled out a notebook and pen, flipped to the first blank page, then readied herself for copious note-taking.[break][break]
"What can you do, now that you've been marked? How does it make you feel? Not physically, per se. Mentally and emotionally. Do you..." - she considered the right words, tapping pen against paper - "...do you feel connected to anything? Like, some other entity?"[break][break]
She couldn't say for sure, but things like this - they didn't just happen. Usually, legendary Pokemon were the perpetrators of humans suddenly having strange, inexplicable powers.

TAGS – Shred[break]
NOTES – SOCIAL

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Later, the so-called Visionary will stare empty-eyed and disbelieving at PENELOPE LIVY's blood caking her knuckles, splattered across her face, staining her clothing. Later, she will find it impossible to stop shaking, hands and arms burdened by a terrible aching, tears streaming down her cheeks. Later, she will finally, finally, understand the cost of parker jones's undying loyalty, the price paid for loving Nomi so fiercely: a boy in a hospital bed beat half-to-death, and he's only the period at the end of a sentence underlined in shadow.[break][break]
Later, she will think of Elisabeth Fiorelli, and question whether her advice had always been a ruse for ruination to creep its way into her heart.[break][break]
Perhaps they are all doomed to rot. Somewhere else, amidst the corpses lining Petalburg, howard slayte understands this better than most.[break][break][break][break]
A tremendous force throws her off the Councilwoman, and though she screeches in protest, blue crystal shattering, the surge of magma overcomes Nomi. The water is stained red, and still, it rises - threatening to drown everything in its path. Steam hisses angrily as the elements clash, and Nomi tries to get her bearings only to be frozen in place by a voice in her mind.[break][break]
Have they even told you?[break][break]
Elisabeth Fiorelli? She believes it.[break][break]
My fellow beasts of ruin can be so secretive sometimes. Even towards those around them.[break][break]
Not jayden cross, she thinks, forcing the PSYCHIC energy out of her mind. Not my brother.[break][break]
Nothing you've done has mattered.[break][break]
She pulls on the thread that binds her to the Unown, wills them to let her leave this hellscape, but nothing happens. ENVY roils in the depths, and she knows it's still watching her, that vile fish ( - it's not her fault, she could have been swayed, its machinations corrupt her like rusting metal - ). Nomi thrashes, trying to stay afloat, and manages to release Lilac, who's gem glows bright amidst the gloom of war.[break][break]
"Take me away," she begs the Starmie. "Anywhere but here."[break][break]
Holding on tight, Nomi beckons for Kallistatus to follow. Lilac blasts one final attack - a HYDRO PUMP - at PENELOPE LIVY and her Patron, then uses the momentum of the rushing water to fly through the waves.[break][break]
- your lucky day - [break][break]
The echoes of Father Winter are ripe with pity.[break][break]

TAGS – BATTLE OF SOOTOPOLIS[break]
NOTES[break]
- PRELUDE[break]
- Nomi goes berserk punching PENELOPE LIVY, but a combination of retaliatory magma and the rising sea threatening to drown them separates the two women[break]
- Penny's stolen PSYCHIC attack hits Nomi full force, and the Councilwoman is able to sow seeds of doubt about Nomi's sibling bond with jayden cross, given he is also bonded with a ruinous beast and ruination is coming for them all...[break]
- Chi-Yu's MEAN LOOK prevents Nomi from using her teleportation powers, so she is forced to release her Starmie in order to survive Kyogre's wrath/the dangerous sea-levels.[break]
- Starmie uses HYDRO PUMP to blast itself away from PENELOPE LIVY and Chi-Yu[break]
- The Starmie and Nomi begin swimming away towards C1, Kallistatus following[break]

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To Nomi's utter horror, the beam of HIDDEN POWER diverts, arcing away from PENELOPE LIVY and towards Nomi. Kallistatus turns to stare at her, its singular eye uncharacteristically blank - as if it weren't really seeing her at all. It begins to glow, generating another attack.[break][break]
"Kal! What are you - ?"[break][break]
Nomi is forced to dodge as another HIDDEN POWER seeks her. Panic grips her, tightening her chest, and all of a sudden, she can hear Nisa Holo's voice cackling inside of her mind.[break][break]
There is no use in convincing them with platitudes. In the end, they are but building blocks. Mere tools to construct and deconstruct reality under the parameters of the universe.[break][break]
Had Holo followed her here? Father Winter had been playing his enigmatic mind games at the Space Center, the Triad obviously watching her from the shadows.[break][break]
"NO!" She screams, clutching her head. Tears of frustration and fear stream down her cheeks. She has lost so much, she cannot let them take the Unown back. Kallistatus had chosen her.[break][break]
parker jones's broken and bleeding face surfaces, the coldness in her eyes, the disgust, and, worst of all, the disappointment.[break][break]
Love should be enough.[break][break]
Through the haze, crimson eyes lock with gold, and perhaps aided by the AURA OF AUTHORITY, she strains with all of her power to reach the Unown, and for a second, Kallistatus falters in confusion.[break][break]
Please, she begs. Return to me. There and back again, remember?[break][break]
Something snaps into place.[break][break]
The shiny blue Unown winks out of existence, appearing once more by Nomi's shoulder. It faces PENELOPE LIVY, and this time, its eye is narrowed angrily.[break][break]
It was her, hums the Collective. She's the one trying to hurt you. Trying to hurt everyone.[break][break]
"You monster," Nomi declares, glaring at Penelope.[break][break]
The battle between Greyson Connors, mint frost and raphael dos plumas rages around her, but she pays them no mind, her focus entirely on the Coveted. Magma ripples across the ground, burning everything in its path, until steam rises in thick, billowing clouds as the fire meets its watery match.[break][break]
"Me? I'm the one hurting people? You're the one using your own power so recklessly." She's yelling now. "What about the civilians? What about the innocent? What about the homes you've burned? You are a hypocrite, Councilwoman. You have allied with a Beast of Ruin because you are ruin. Your heart is black with sin."[break][break]
Blue crystals crawl across her palms, coat the backs of her hands. Her fingers flex, newly strengthened. Subconsciously, she calls upon reality to rewrite itself, building a familiar weapon.[break][break]
[break]
With massive gauntlets made of blue crystal, Nomi launches herself at Penelope the only way she knows how - having watched parker jones fight a hundred times, she channels all of her rage and grief and power into the punch. Tackling Penelope to the ground with a splash, she begins to pummel her in the face, the only war she's ever really wanted to fight: the one between her and this awful woman who has made it her mission to tear Nomi apart.[break][break]
All around them, the sea continues to rise.[break][break]

TAGS – BATTLE OF SOOTOPOLIS[break]
NOTES[break]
- PRELUDE[break]
- Nomi is at B2[break]
- PENELOPE LIVY's SPOTLIGHT turns Kallistatus against Nomi, and the HIDDEN POWER is redirected towards her instead of the Councilwoman.[break]
- Nomi momentarily freaks out about the DRK Triad taking control of her Unown[break]
- Realizes, through sheer WILLPOWER and her Avatarship bond with the Unown, that Penny is the one doing this, not the DRK Triad. Kallistatus snaps out of its confusion, and returns to Nomi.[break]
- Nomi confronts Penny, exposing her hypocrisy. Using her REALITY RE-WRITING POWERS, Nomi forms massive crystal gauntlets around her hands and launches herself at Penny, attacking her parker jones-style.[break]
- Nomi punches Penny in the face![break]
- Using Salac

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Everything has a cost.[break][break]
She's no alchemist, but Nomi knows a thing or two about equivalent exchange. GIDEON GRAVES will never speak to her again. Isaac Merlo will forever wonder why she didn't join him on the other side. Every convocation with a so-called enemy chips away at her sisterhood with Lulu Flint.[break][break]
For so long, she has patiently endured the consequences of her actions: the choice, in particular, to rise within Rocket's ranks. For so long, she has graciously accepted Parker's distaste for their organization, a reflection of her own self-loathing for resorting to criminal activity to - to what? Survive? Protect her sister?[break][break]
Nomi has reasons. They all have reasons. She can still see the torn limbs of her parents, the blood pooling around their remains.[break][break]
For the first time, she looks at her lover with anger.[break][break]
"Don't you dare treat me like I'm okay with this," she snaps, pulling away too quickly, cracked ribs snarling. "Like I haven't risked everything to demand both sides stand down."[break][break]
All she'd done was tell the truth. This war is a waste. Would it have been better to lie? To paint over the stench of death with pretty tales of heroism?[break][break]
She wants to scream, pull her hair out, teleport into the Unown Dimension and die of heartbreak.[break][break]
Promise me something, Howard. Don't make the same mistake I did. Don't try and do anything alone.[break][break]
"You should go."

TAGS – parker jones[break]
NOTES – Takes place immediately following the events of this thread

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"Come in!"[break][break]
She'd been highly intrigued when ameena abadi had contacted her about the desire to study a shadow Unown together. Nomi was familiar with Cillian Quinn's mastery over shadow Pokemon, so it had not surprised her to hear that he had assisted the other scientist with completing such a transformation. Nomi was excited to find out how to replicate it, as well as test her powers given the corruption.[break][break]
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Nomi exclaimed, with genuine sincerity. "I have long admired your work with dreams."[break][break]
She wondered if Lulu Flint had taken an interest in Ameena's studies, considering dreams were a large part of her own specialized research. Surely the two had connected, but if not, perhaps Nomi could make the introduction.[break][break]
Kallistatus winked into existence, shimmering blue under the office's bright fluorescent lights. It stared at Ameena with its singular eye, as if trying to decide something.[break][break]
Anomaly detected, Nomi felt through their bond. But there was something else too...was it fascination? Curiosity? It seemed her companion was as eager as she was to get to know this shadow Unown and its mistress.

TAGS – ameena abadi[break]
NOTES – Mission

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Frustration dissipates in the face of the unexpected. To her surprise, Greyson pulls out an object, something he'd obviously been preparing to show her from the start of their meeting.[break][break]
Nomi stares at the empty bottle, blinking owlishly, straining to see what might be inside of it - perhaps it is so small, the naked eye cannot discern it? But then it is Greyson's turn to look shocked, and as he sputters out an explanation, Nomi instantly understands.[break][break]
"Of course it was," she agrees, unable to keep the small, amused smile from her lips - the sort of smile only the informed can express in the face of ignorance: not at his expense, but because she is genuinely excited to enlighten him.[break][break]
"Infinity Energy needs an organic host, in order to be useful. If you try and contain it without quickly allowing a living being to absorb it, it will disappear on its own somewhat rapidly. And even if you could stabilize it enough to bottle it long-term, it would still be of little use to you in that state."[break][break]
She holds out her hands, as a classroom lecturer might.[break][break]
"Sygna Suits, Avatars, the abilities of Pokemon - they are powerful precisely because they involve the channeling and processing of Infinity Energy from within an organic host."

TAGS – Greyson Connors[break]
NOTES – SOCIAL[break]

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At the mention of illeana reyes, Nomi's expression grew distant. Their last meeting had been...tense, to say the least. She considered the Alchemist an ally - she'd fought beside her in Ultra Space against their collective enemies, after all - and had no reason to distrust her like she did PENELOPE LIVY, but...she could not quite pinpoint why the idea of working with her on this made her feel apprehensive rather than hopeful.[break][break]
She needed to spend more time with Palkia. She needed to understand what it was truly capable of, and the dangers it might pose to the region - so she might weigh the benefits. Knowledge was power. Knowledge was salvation.[break][break]
"It's a good idea," Nomi answered, finally. "But her power is...immense. There are risks. I will reach out to her, though. I agree that her help will be necessary, in the end."[break][break]
Calm as she was now, it was strange to remember the Pon with her cudgel, smashing people in the prison in fits of rage and sorrow. This version of the little ogre was so adorable as she followed Kallistatus with innocent starry eyes.[break][break]
"They can sense one another, yes," she replied. "Kallistatus always knows when agents of the Triad are near." It had saved Nomi's life more than once. "Perhaps it's possible to find them via the Unown Dimension. The problem is, I can't stay in there too long...something always perceives me."[break][break]
She shivered, despite the fact that she was sitting in warm sunlight.

TAGS – Andrea Vaneau[break]
NOTES – SOCIAL

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His gaze is intense, but she has prepared for it. Her closeness with Lulu Flint has paid off in more than just sisterly affection; Nomi is familiar with the machinations of Darkrai, the way the shadows will feel as if they are closing in around her - attempting to drain the life from her limbs.[break][break]
"Kanto's army. Kanto's funding. Kanto's technology," she answers automatically. "Monroe and his troops could be put to use rooting out the Triad, but instead we throw all of them into a - " she holds her tongue, chokes back the word pointless " - war with the League."[break][break]
She knows that she walks a dangerous knife-edge. She knows that respect is warranted. Self-preserving. She has made a promise to parker jones not to die needlessly.[break][break]
And still, she risks asking the one thing that might matter more than anything else - that she finally has an opportunity to draw forth from the obfuscator.[break][break]
"I understand how advantageous it will be for us to claim more Hoenn territory, I do," she insists. "But it's a short-sighted victory, if the entire region gets destroyed soon after." She pauses. "If I may be so bold, sir...do you not see the DRK Triad as Hoenn's greatest threat? And if not...why not?"

TAGS – declan walsh[break]
NOTES – SOCIAL | Takes place directly following EVE OF WAR[break]

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The opposite of love isn't hatred. The opposite of hatred isn't love.[break][break]
The enemy to both is apathy.[break][break]
Greyson Connors turns away, leaving Nomi and PENELOPE LIVY to their fateful clash, choosing not to interfere. Magma releases, and Nomi stares it down like a deerling caught in the headlights of her own demise. How ironic, to be murdered by the one called coveted, when it is Nomi who has known true devotion, who has been made whole by someone else's loyalty. She closes her eyes and pictures parker jones and hopes the end is quick.[break][break]
What's wrong with you?[break][break]
Her eyes snap open. Pillars of stone the size of small buildings have sprung up around her, but it is a shimmering psychic barrier that stops the magma. Flecks of flame spray in all directions as it dissipates. A single feather floats in the air beside her, and then she sees him: her savior.[break][break]
"Neon," she whispers, sluggish mind still working overtime to try and catch up with her hectic surroundings. "Father Winter was at Mossdeep. Did you see him? I think he might have followed me - " She blurts it out with complete disregard for the dangers still threatening them. PENELOPE LIVY advances, her entire demeanor akin to a snarl.[break][break]
The ground begins to shake violently, and Nomi stumbles. Someone else (raphael dos plumas) has arrived, but Nomi cannot waste a single second longer trying to make sense of the situation. If only her heart would stop hammering, her head would stop spinning: as soon as the Councilwoman reaches her, the ENVY would - [break][break]
And then, as if suddenly being submerged in a bath of icy water, her mind clears.[break][break]
Something washes over her, and she shivers. Clarity returns as if she had never been concussed at all. Never been rattled by Father Winter at all. Never been brought low by the tragedies of war at all. She is reconstructed anew, reborn from ash, healed by something greater.[break][break]
Something that believes in her. Trusts her to do the right thing.[break][break]
A regal canine steps from a portal, familiar in its splendid glory, and Nomi understands.[break][break]
Not apathy. Authority.[break][break]
Kallistatus pops back into existence, glowing with the power of infinite possibility. Nomi straightens, glaring at PENELOPE LIVY with sharp eyes, unburdened.[break][break]
"Your vision has returned," she observes. "A shame. I had hoped to permanently blind you."[break][break]
A beam of HIDDEN POWER blasts forth towards the Councilwoman.[break][break]

TAGS – BATTLE OF SOOTOPOLIS[break]
NOTES[break]
- PRELUDE[break]
- Nomi is at B2[break]
- Nomi watches in horror as Greyson Connors turns away and PENELOPE LIVY's magma rockets towards her[break]
- Luckily for her, mint frost arrives just in time and saves her from a fiery death. raphael dos plumas follows suit, and the two of them keep the Leaguers at bay. Nomi frantically tries to tell Mint about Father Water.[break]
- All seems lost to chaos, until Greyson Connors's AURA OF ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY washes over Nomi and gives her the same benefits it does the League allies standing with Greyson (approved by Snubis). This is because, due to their current scientific partnership, Greyson subconsciously considers Nomi an ally despite her Rocket allegiance.[break]
- Kallistatus (shiny Unown-K) returns to the battlefield and attempts to hit PENELOPE LIVY with a HIDDEN POWER.

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Somewhere, in an alternate timeline, there's a version of Nomi that joined the League government. Her experiments help improve infrastructure, aid environmental protection, and increase efficiencies in civilian daily life. She works with the likes of Eva Morales and illeana reyes, and together, they make some truly groundbreaking discoveries. They change the world with their brilliant minds, and they never do it from the shadows. It's a sisterhood of salvation, a heroism without caveats, a job she can be proud of.[break][break]
"No," the Rocket Head Scientist answers, voice small. "That's not what this is."[break][break]
Ugly truths smell like death, or maybe that's just the graveyard that was once Mossdeep.[break][break]
"But I want to."[break][break]
It comes out like a prayer. She presses her forehead to Parker's. Tries not to drown.

TAGS – parker jones[break]
NOTES – Takes place immediately following the events of this thread

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