the years that have lapsed have not changed him much. he's grown more cautious, as caution comes with age in his line of work. those who don't learn it end up in body bags. 

sharper, too. always able to read people, but what used to intrigue him is now petty drivel. his hunger for intrigue is not so easily sated and he finds himself wanting constantly. 

so how lovely it is that she approaches him like a hunting animal, how remarkable when he feels surprise. a shiver creeps over his skin and he tilts his head, leaning into a warmth that isn't there. 

"i was hoping you'd want to find out," he says softly. 

Lulu Flint

☉

he can think of several dozen reasons for why not, but several hundred more for why yes. so it's with vigor that he turns away from the fantastical sight and goes to follow after yumi. 

ianthe shares the same sentiment as kaori, but coronabeth is more than happy to lope down the grand staircase, softly yipping in time with the music box lullaby. 

"a whole lineage of royalty, it seems," he comments, palms sliding on the stone rail. he walks two steps down the grand staircase and, bemused, holds out a hand for his companion. 

"would you do me the honor of accompanying me to this dance?"

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

he abandons the painting in lieu of the castle's window. stained glass lay on the stone, covered in a thin layer of dust. he peers outside and is, quite honestly, taken aback by what he sees. a world of machinery, like something out of a steampunk novella. 

while the ultra crater had proved intriguing, this is something else entirely. and suddenly he finds himself hungry for all the other rifts there are; all the other possibilities in every other world. 

ianthe and coronabeth stand at attention too, heads cocked similarly to kaori's. 

he hears it too. 

several hundred feet below, shapes move. oh. startlingly quick shapes that lumber with purpose through the portcullis. he clicks his tongue to the two vulpix and looks wryly at yumi. 

"i know we probably ought to go away from the whimsical noise, but eh, what's that saying about curiosity and the cat?" nothing bad, surely. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

he's not yet laid eyes on kaori, or other shadow pokemon, for that matter. so interest sparks instantaneously and he hungrily watches the pensive indecision on the creature's face as it deliberates on whether or not to adhere to its mistress. 

soon after her departure comes the sound of screeching metal and then silence. crown and ianthe tilt their heads, but otherwise don't react to the noise, too busy sniffing about their surroundings for anything useful.

"keep an eye out behind us," he instructs the vulpix and they pad in unison as the rockets move on from the prison room. 

metal bits, some of them still sparking, lay scattered about moth-eaten carpets. upon the walls are matching tapestries on tall ceilings adorned in mechanical gold filigree. he crouches to sift through whatever kaori had broken, but he quickly loses interest. 

at the far wall, framed by velvet curtains, is an oil painting.

"fascinating. there are humans here?"

Yumi Hasegawa

26 examine worn down paintings of an "original color magearna" held by what appears to be a small, regal and unidentifiable girl in the mechanical kingdom's castle.

☉

alecto waves sharp fingers from within the confines of nikkari's shadow. nikkari ignores the exchange between the two pokemon entirely, though he does wonder just how many more of hers are hiding within the crystal landscape.

"i've found the most important claim they're not," he fires back. his weight falls to his heels. some primal instinct to take a step back hits him as soon as she advances, but he stays his ground - twinkling eyes, languid smile, every bit enticed by the new mysteries he's yet to discover about her. 

"it's been years. of course you're different, but people don't change at their core. not really. it's the superfluous bits that are stripped away." tumbled stones, faceted diamonds. 

Lulu Flint

☉

they have their own means of entering this particular distorted universe, which is a blessing considering the rise in league security. crown and ianthe are dropped as soon as the light dies down; the primal crystal goes inert and leaves nikkari and his companion alone in...a dungeon?

"so you said you've been here before," he remarks to her as he moves forward, curiosity getting the better of him. 

the machinery is like nothing he's ever seen. he's read the reports, of course, but seeing it in person is an entirely different experience. both his vulpix ears are flicking intermittently, hearing music their master can't, and only crown paws at her ears in distress. 

"i can see why you wanted to come back."

Yumi Hasegawa

17: using the primal crystal pilfered by ZEV HARCOURT, BRYAN DELAROSA, PRIAM CONRAD and LEVY ALINSKY, teleport directly into the castle's dungeons to discover a coal engine room. the engine is dormant and may require particular pokemon to power it again...

☉

ianthe doesn't care much for photos, but she postures nonetheless. if it's of import to her trainer, it is to her. when all is said and done, she shakes out her fur and pads a couple paces away, leaving nikkari to regretfully pull away from yumi and place an at ease smile on his face. 

"thank you," he says and reaches out for the carriage door to allow her in. there's no question about it - he'll see her returned safely home, even if he knows she has a shadow. 

"i have my work cut out for me, you know. i'm not sure how i'll be able to find something for our next venture that compares to tonight." a dazzling smile, a hollow pang. "good night, miss hasegawa.

"it's always a pleasure, being in your company."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

the imp hums silly warning lullabies, but those startlingly bright sapphires slip back into the abyss of his shadow. its song is faint, but it lingers there - a horrid backdrop to a dramatized rendition of two star-flung souls meeting together again at last. 

"i haven't," he admits. the past is gone, but it's so much closer to him. he is looking at her and he is seeing yesterday's eyes under the fringe of her bangs. 

frustration, as it only ever has when he's around her, settles into his bones. the crossness does not flash across his face, but there is a rigidity to his normally languid stature. she has every reason not to trust him. she always has. 

"they say you're still one of the most brilliant minds in rocket. you know i have a penchant for wanting to know important people."

Lulu Flint

☉

she bristles and he thinks interesting, but his eyes only relay a soft apology, a quick dart of sorry that i overstepped. nonetheless, she gives him an answer and that is just as telling. his crooked arm draws closer, giving her just the slightest inclination of his thanks for her trust. 

and then they're through the exit and she is pulling away. they come to a stop outside the streaming line of other audience members. ianthe stays standing, watching them. she's not one to dirty her tail. 

"thank you for inviting me." and because he is not one to forget, he smiles and adds, "did you still want to take that picture?"

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

"it's hard to say," he says after a moment. on the one hand, who wouldn't want a chance to live out two decades of their entire life, knowing you'd be able to come back to the present? on the other? well, he's read what few reports there are. those that remember do so with a heavy burden. and those that don't - well, they count them lucky.

"i'm inclined to say yes, for the experience more than anything, but i've no wish to return to the actual past. i wouldn't change a thing, if i could."

except, perhaps, for rinc. 

"and you? would you change your past? if it meant your present might change too?" 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

looking at her now reminds him of the past. it reminds him of another man's shadow. that lurching indignance that she was always far too good for the good-for-nothing waste of space he hadn't even known was dead. 

he reached out. confirmed her story. they were gone. he didn't ask after the details. it doesn't matter anymore.

why don't you want to know? he looks at her and when she takes a step forward, alecto grasps the corner of his shadows. sharp claws dig into stone and sapphires gleam under the surface of his long figure. she cackles a warning, untrusting of her approach. nikkari stays firm.

"i told you - i wanted to see you." he smiles. "do you not want to see me?"

Lulu Flint

☉

"more difficult," he says, simplistic in his obvious tone of but you don't need me to tell you that, do you? he thinks, though, that she would have done just fine given the extra obstacles in her way. especially considering she would have had a family name to string a foothold for herself.

"oh, but it's so very hard not to do that, even if only for a moment, especially when it's as though we've been there these past few hours." he shrugs on his coat and does up his buttons as they leave, nonchalantly offering his arm out for her again. ianthe falls into step behind him, nose twitching. 

he makes a face. "honestly, i would have been inclined to agree with you, but who knows what's possible now? time travel? i've heard talks of some colleagues of ours who lived in an alternate galar for two decades."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉