He won't even look at her, when he says it. At least FERNANDO SILPH has the decency to face her, whenever he feels compelled to lecture her on harsh truths.[break][break]
The sting of rejection carves scars into her bones. She is only a job to Fletcher Hyland. An inconvenient one.[break][break]
"Turn around," she orders, standing in a sudden flurry of swishing satin. If she is to be discarded, she wants to ensure it is on her terms. Silphs are many things, but they are not cowards - not like this man who skulks in her doorway. "Turn around and be honest with me, for once."[break][break]
Dark eyes glare, and she does her best to ignore the squirming in her stomach. She's used to being alone, elevated upon the pedestal of fame. This, too, will pass.[break][break]
"Are you going to leave me, Fletcher?"

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – Mission[break]
Cozy Outfit Vibes

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Delilah preened at the compliment, basking in the obvious appreciation for her fashion sense. Clearly - based on the woman's appearance - she was in the company of someone equally devoted to the art of looking one's best.[break][break]
Everly...[break][break]
Yes, that was familiar, wasn't it. All of a sudden, a younger version of the blond rippled across Delilah's memory, and her mouth parted slightly with the Oh! of recognition.[break][break]
"Alison! Of course! I do remember," Delilah exclaimed, horrified at having struggled to recall the other woman's name. She was losing her touch, it seemed - or perhaps it was stress. Silphs were fond of overworking themselves, after all.[break][break]
"I'm so sorry," she continued, tone sincerely apologetic. "The last few years have just been so hectic - lots of travel, and my brother's wedding getting cancelled last second - "[break][break]
She shook her head as if to clear it, then smiled with renewed grace.[break][break]
"You were brilliant, Alison."[break][break]
And she had been: visions of elegance, beauty, and charm came rushing back to Delilah. Alison had been one of the few performers truly capable of contending with Delilah. She'd always meant to follow up with her - a collaboration for the Lilah makeup brand would have been perfect - but unexpected complications had interfered, as was often the case for busy celebrities such as herself.[break][break]
"What brings you to Hoenn?"

TAGS – Alison Everly[break]
NOTES – MISSION | Outfit Vibes[break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"And what if it doesn't?"[break][break]
Heat rises as her tone hardens. She glares at Fletcher, a suffocating helplessness threatening to tunnel her vision. How dare he consider - for even a second - that it would bring her peace for him to abandon her to the whims of fate.[break][break]
"What if the war is the perfect cover for my...my would-be kidnapper to get close to me, hm? Makes sense, doesn't it? So many Rangers and officers sent off to fight - I'd take advantage of that, if I were a criminal. Wouldn't you?"[break][break]
Thunder rumbles in the distance, echoing her discontent.

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – Mission[break]
Cozy Outfit Vibes

[attr="class","pkmn"]

He stays and he says all the right things.[break][break]
But for some reason, it falls flat. Maybe it's the neutrality. Maybe it's the slight discomfort in the way he stands there, indecisive in his lingering. Maybe it's the fact that it isn't really her brothers that she's worried about.[break][break]
A sudden irritation graces her delicate features for a moment, and her lips part, but no words come out. Rarely does anyone make her feel so...flustered. Like she doesn't actually know who Delilah Silph is supposed to be.[break][break]
"Of course," she agrees. It's not what she'd wanted to say, she realizes. Talking about them. She'd wanted to...bring up the war. Because she'd - because she'd wanted to - [break][break]
"And you?" She asks, blushing furiously for no discernible reason. "Have they...have they requested you, too? At Mossdeep or Petalburg or Sootopolis?"[break][break]
"They" being his superiors at the police department. "They" being The League.[break][break]
"Is this the last time I'll see you?" She askes, quieter. Smaller. "For a while?"

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – Mission[break]
Cozy Outfit Vibes

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Rain patters against the window, droplets tap-dancing to an impatient rhythm. He's better prepared this time: instead of dripping water all over her kitchen floor, as he did on the night they first met, Fletcher Hyland haunts the threshold in dry clothing, boots removed at the door.[break][break]
Delilah wrings her hands all through his usual summary of the week's investigations, a routine report delivered in a familiar monotone. She can barely hear him over the sound of her own heartbeat, for she is oddly unmoored. Her thoughts are scattered, her nerves in disarray.[break][break]
A poignant silence falls over the pair, once he's finished. He will leave if she doesn't stop him, as he usually does, not wishing to take up too much of her evening.[break][break]
"My brothers have been deployed to the warfront," she hastily murmurs, hoping that this time, he will linger. "It seems tensions between the League and Rocket have escalated. There are whispers of Kanto forces on Hoenn soil."[break][break]
She sits at the table, a forgotten cup of tea before her, draped in white satin and a simple summer robe.[break][break]
Let him go, she chastises. He still has work to do tonight.[break][break]
But she doesn't. Dark eyes framed in long, mascara-clad eyelashes stare up at him, pleading.

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – Mission[break]
Cozy Outfit Vibes

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"It just feels as if I have unfinished business here," she reminded him. "In and out, I promise."[break][break]
Not that Fletcher Hyland would really be able to stop her, if she wanted something bad enough - Silphs were a determined lot, predictably entitled and stubbornly resilient.[break][break]
They faced the entrance to a tunnel system, presumably leading down into some sort of mining operation below the mechanical city. The door was, frustratingly, locked - and there was no sign of a key.[break][break]
"Do you think you could open this?" She eyed Fletcher. He was a detective - surely he'd picked a lock before.[break][break]
Moxie and Millie were once again flanking her on either side, sniffing the air expectantly, ears and tails twitching with anticipation. They never seemed entirely at ease within this kingdom; danger lurked around every corner, after all.

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – mechanical kingdom #3[break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The mountains of bones were a harrowing sight. She ought to have scurried after Fletcher, intent on getting as far away from this cursed realm as she could.[break][break]
But she followed her protector's gaze, noticing the bright, blood-red Pokemon. Scattered chunks of glossy metal gears lay strewn about the chamber floor. A massive panel had pinned the strange Pokemon to the ground, twisting its body into painful angles.[break][break]
"Wait! There's an injured Pokemon here."[break][break]
She moved against her better judgement - once more ignoring her own safety - to crouch beside the dying creature. It looked as if it were trying to cry out for help but...soon enough, the eerie glow of its gaze flickered out, plunging the area into a deeper darkness.[break][break]
"No!" she exclaimed, frustration mixing with sorrow. "I didn't make it in time."[break][break]
Millie padded over, nudging Delilah with her nose. A soft white light surrounded the Umbreon as she called upon the power of MOONLIGHT. It washed over the inert Pokemon, but the mechanical creature did not stir.[break][break]
"It's okay," Delilah sighed, settling her hand atop the Umbreon's head, but it was unclear - even to her - whether she was attempting to console her companion or herself.[break][break]
Troubled eyes, beautifully outlined, found Fletcher's, staring up at him from the floor.[break][break]
"Am I really so useless, Fletcher?"

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – mechanical kingdom #2[break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Delilah sputtered, coughing, as the tightly compacted earthen shield around her collapsed, sand pouring onto the floor. Long lashes fluttered open, eyes watering, expecting to find herself in some horrifically injured state. But besides the familiar twinge of her healing ankle, and the expected aches of adulthood, she felt no surge in pain.[break][break]
"Fletcher?"[break][break]
He was alive, too. His Sandslash had apparently cushioned them as the elevator crashed into the ground floor. She could see patches of brown dirtying her bodyguard's red hair: debris from the SAND TOMB. A shaking hand ran through her own waves of black, and she felt grains of sand grinding together between her fingertips. That was going to be a pain in the ass to get out...[break][break]
She probably looked a mess, but vanity did not seem all that important all of a sudden - given the near death experience.[break][break]
"Thank you," she murmured to Rocko. It had been very quick thinking on the Pokemon's part.[break][break]
Heart still pounding with adrenaline, Delilah stood upright, turning to face the front of the elevator. Moxie and Millie were already investigating the exit, and she was relieved to see that the Umbreon and Espeon were also relatively unscathed.[break][break]
Luckier still, the doors had apparently cracked open upon impact, wide enough to pull all the way and step out.[break][break]
"This place seems intent on killing us," she commented, a half-hearted joke. Only then did her gaze alight upon the piles of white stones stacked ominously around them, difficult to fully make out in the shadowy depths of the kingdom.[break][break]
She narrowed her eyes, took a few tentative steps towards the nearest stone.[break][break]
Empty eye sockets stared up at her, jaw extended in an eternal, haunted scream. Not a stone. A skull.[break][break]
They were surrounded by piles of bones.

TAGS – Fletcher Hyland[break]
NOTES – mechanical kingdom #2[break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

A GIFT

FROM Delilah Silph[break]TO ameena abadi

[break]
FEEBAS ♀[break]
Adaptability[break][break]

MOVESET[break]