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[attr="class","star2"]Imbalance.[break][break]

Their sense of self had been rattled– uprooted by the creature who had attached itself to them. By their injury in the deep sea. By everything that has occurred in the last months.[break][break]

This disruption simply happens to be the most glaringly obvious.[break][break]

“Where are you goinnnngggg?” they whine, but tapu koko doesn’t deign to make any response to them. The island spirit continues to zip through the Sootopolis streets and down to the quiet shoreline.[break][break]

“You won’t find any more shards down here, you know!” Even this does not deter it, so with prolonged mumbling and grumbling, Fern follows.[break][break]

Under the glow of moonlight, the water lapping at the shore, and reflecting against the old, white stone is a calming sight. Not that it does much to put Fern at ease. The darker coloration of the tapu koko allows it to blend easier with the dark, though not wholly. As it drifts out over shallow waters, there are glimmers of faded orange.[break][break]

“What’re you looking for?” they ask, far more curious than before—much to their annoyance. The admin stops short, though, at the familiar figure in the near distance.[break][break]

They squint through the dark at Elisabeth Fiorelli . But Fern is reluctant to expose their new attachment, and by consequence, their hand more than it already has been. So for a moment, they only watch her at the water— as sleepless as they find themself too.

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---

Elisabeth Fiorelli FERNANDO SILPH // tapu hours[break]

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[attr="class","star2"]Morning light shines through the windows of what should be a perfectly mundane start to the day. Instead, what Fern gets is chaos.[break][break]

At wit’s end, they desperately text jayden cross . Especially when showing up at Marza Volchitsa ’s the night prior ended in a power outage, a fried ac unit, and a very pissed beast.[break][break]

If Fern kills the power again, better if it’s at their place. They wait for him with anxious pacing, the movement faster than they really register.[break][break]

“Mischa, Mischa.” They step aside to let him in.[break][break]

Static clings to the ends of their hair. Lifting it in odd strands as if the air around them was charged. Because, well, it is. If it seems like Fern is restless and on edge, it’s because they are. Sleep? How do they have time for that?[break][break]

“I’ve developed a complication.”[break][break]

Said complication is currently positioned in front of a bookcase in Fern’s den—pulling everything off of it in search of the defunct primal shard that they managed to snipe back when it wasn’t looking. Behind the tapu koko is the wake of its path of destruction.[break][break]

Couch pillows and cushions. Loose papers. Overturned chairs.[break][break]

They point helplessly and wail. “It’s ruining my house!”[break][break]

Electricity crackles at their own fingertips, drawn out accidentally by their agitation.

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---

jayden cross // tapu hours // recent past[break]

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[attr="class","star2"] Fern separates themself from their rocket identity in a fundamentally different way than Jayden does. They’re not quite sure he’ll ever understand what they mean when they say what they do.[break][break]

Down in the very fibers of their being, Fern only belongs to themself. Nothing else. They are loyal to Rocket, yes, but that does not mean they are composed of it. It does not construct their dna.[break][break]

Perhaps it is seen as selfish, but Fern is his own. It won’t be taken away or dismantled so easily.[break][break]

Or perhaps it will be, for how easily this subject makes them knot up with distaste and envy. Maybe they aren’t their own anymore, but nor are they Rocket’s.[break][break]

Perhaps they became his at some indiscernible moment that they can’t put a pin on.[break][break]

And because of this, it becomes easier for Fern to look around that glaring difference between them. To not mind it quite so much.[break][break]

It feels like a cheap way to have made him reassure them, but it wasn’t necessarily meant to be an implosion of their embarrassing jealousy. Not initially. They’re not a perfect creature—they’re full of petty spite and vindictive tendencies when they feel wronged.[break][break]

But hopefully the way they relent quickly is enough to compensate. They do not fight the way he draws them in, and instead leans into it. Their head rests in the crook of his shoulder and neck, warm, shaky breath heating the skin there.[break][break]

“I’m sorry,” they sound pathetic and small, and not at all like their normally put upon confidence. At some point, their arms had wound their way around him in response.[break][break]

A frantic edge in their gaze is all that betrays their anxiety. “It’s easier to expect the worst. From anyone.” Especially from those kept closest. “I just- you didn’t lead with that, and you sounded so..”[break][break]

They’re not sure how to put the right word to it.

[break][break]

---

jayden cross // m: doubt[break]

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The thought to regret later: how bad can it be?[break][break]

Their hand slaps down on the purple chunk as it glows. Within seconds their sight is assailed by the onslaught of color and light that whir through their mind to take shape in the form of strange scenes.[break][break]

It’s all very galactic, isn’t it? Unfortunately, they’ve never been much of a sci-fi guy, so much of what they see zooms over their head, but it’s still pretty jarring. It’s familiar, though–that was, if deoxys had been swapped for necrozma.[break][break]

“Yeah, you weren’t kidding about those hallucinations, huh?” they mutter once the visions fade. A hand pushes through their hair before they shake their head in an attempt to clear the searing visions that linger there.

Discomfort prickles at the back of their neck, and they glance over at Cillian warily. “What happens now? Is it gonna implode or something?”

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---

Cillian Quinn // rks: wishing star // where to? [break]

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[attr="class","star2"]His hand finds Fern’s again and there’s a quiet hum of relief in their chest. It’s still too dark to really see them, but soon enough the scene is morphing and shifting around them before they can proceed any further into the ruin.[break][break]

“Is there any rhyme or reason to this?” they ask as they’re spit out in the Mauville streets when the world settles around them again.[break][break]

The metallic clink of the coin goes unheard by Fern, but they don’t miss the familiar black and white hair combo, or the sharky grin leering out from a dank alley.[break][break]

Facing their bad side, Father Winter’s voice sounds somewhat muted. An underwater feeling. But they wouldn’t care to hear what he has to say anyway.[break][break]

They glance over at jayden cross, “I don’t feel much like humoring him. Do you?”
[break][break]

---

jayden cross // rks: stage 2, father winter // vote: attack [break]

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Their nose wrinkles when they grin at him. “No, I’m fun and inquisitive. It’s different.” They insist as much, but their hand doesn’t pull from his as they drift further into the darkness.[break][break]

It’s a grip that tightens the longer they walk. No light is cast from them, or anything around them. That curious feeling starts to wane in favor of unease.[break][break]

Then one by one they blink into view. “Are those—“ they begin before sudden force yanks Jayden’s hand from theirs. They feel the sharp snap of their back hitting the wall, their air whistling harshly from their lungs.[break][break]

Their hands fumble to the sides, searching. “Mischa?” Their own voice feels muted compared to the drowning chorus in their head.

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---

jayden cross // rks: unown // ouchie [break]

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[attr="class","star2"] Something flares up in them at the insistence of their allegiance. Fern stares back, a frown evident as their voice sharpens. “No. I am me. I am not Rocket, I am a part of it.” They would not allow that to be confused. Not ever.[break][break]

But the severity of that argument soon washed away next to the repercussions of their jealousy. Also only theirs to own.[break][break]

Why would I want that?[break][break]

“I don’t know-“ they bleat back, shoulders shrugging helplessly. “Because-“ Fern shrugs again. Because i'm not enough? Because I can’t keep up?[break][break]

The harshness of hands planting on their shoulders makes them wince. Even then, though, the words he speaks cause a kick of relief so strong that Fern feels much of the fight evaporate on the spot.[break][break]

They can feel their stupid bottom lip wobble.[break][break]

“You didn’t say that. Why didn’t you start that way?” It had been vague and unsettling. They feel crazy now—like they’re wrong to have put this conclusion to his prior statement. But they don’t feel wrong for it, either.[break][break]

Their voice shrinks down to something tiny. It’s wobbly and confused and pitiful and they hate themself a bit for how they turn into a mess so easily where he’s involved.[break][break]

It’s terrifying.[break][break]

The last time that Fern danced close to a feeling like this, they felt burned by it in the end.[break][break]

Their knees feel like they’ve gone to jello and if it weren’t for the other’s hands clamped to their shoulders, they might have crumpled right there on the spot.[break][break]

“You didn’t say it back,” they repeat it softly, mostly for themself.


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jayden cross // m: doubt[break]

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