sylvie is asleep. after a late night call that had her working until around 4 in the morning (the brains had gotten in the garbage disposal, for gods' sake), she'd almost passed out, still bloodied on her bed by the time she got home. except she's too careful for her own good, so she'd dragged her sorry self into the bathroom, scrubbed the traces of grime and sweat and blood from her skin, and had elysium eat her ruined boots.

cassie had been told not to wake her unless the world was ending so she sits up above the wine cabinet, tail twitching, watching aaron and his pikachu cry out for the former's slumbering kin. 

she tilts her head and a glass on the counter next to aaron topples off the granite and onto the floor.

several moments later, sylvie is in the double-doorway connecting the living room to the bedroom, wearing boxers and an oversized sleep tee. her hair is mussed and falls over her shoulders rather than strung up in a pony and she looks absolutely, positively agitated. 

"aaron, did you break into my house?"

aaron faust

☉

tonight may be busier for her than she thought. she typically enjoys curling up on the couch with cassie in her lap, thumb wedged in the spine of a book, a glass of red in her free hand. 

her siblings tell her she should get out more so she finds herself saying, "sure, yeah. you get me out of here in one piece and i'm all yours."

and maybe she can learn whatever the woman knows too.

kennedy quinn

☉

she knocks the toe of her boots against the ground, moving around an annoying bit of gravel that had wormed its way in there. maven waits stoically beside the rift, fingers pattering against her thighs. 

"oh. right," she says and she almost doesn't give him hers in return. she's always liked being the nobody, the faceless void behind the mask. 

"it's sylvie."

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

she doesn't actually know the answer to that question. is it a good thing if a creature that supposedly has an affinity with the natural world thinks this is all well and good? this could have been hiding under their noses for years. 

"after the day i've had, i'll take a leisurely walk," she agrees nonetheless and stretches her hands up. her fingers lace together, resting on the back of her head, and allow her a moment to take some heat off of her. 

"looks like we're getting somewhere, though. see those crystals up ahead? they're getting thicker. i think we're getting close to the chasm. won't be long until we can climb out of this hellscape and hey, maybe get a drink somewhere?"

SERAPHIM

☉

madly scribbled notes and incomprehensible, half-rotted journals - that makes up a majority of their findings as they search the hospital. they pick through different wards. when they come upon a congested room of them, they decide against taking on an entire horde. 

when they find a fire escape in the back, they're greeted with fresh air. 

"if there were, i think they'd have found it by now." and maybe they have. maybe leaving this desolate place has cured them. "i suggest we don't stay too long."

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

maven's tapir toes tread neatly around the broken glass and detritus that litters the ground. her trunk swishes, dozy eyes lifting to watch the cacturne, her brave knight, as he walks into the trap she'd sensed. 

she does not bother warning him. 

the needles sink into the megalopolan's flesh and yet it does not stop. it does not cry out. it makes a gurgling noise in the back of its throat and steps forward, sinking those thorns deeper into sagging flesh. 

sylvie knows a corpse when she sees one and when it takes another step, she snaps crossly at maven. the tapir lifts a pink hand and twirls her fingers, separating deteriorating muscle from bone. 

"stay on guard," she whispers. "there may be more."

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

thin blades of grass sprout between her toes and cassie pounces about almost playfully. the scratches and grit on the pads of her paws start to heal over, leaving her a bundle of rambunctious energy. 

sylvie shrugs off her jacket and folds it in half to drape over her shoulder. she hadn't exactly been expecting the heat and clingy humidity down here, nor the tropical plants. 

"good thing we found each other then," she says. "not much good in battle either."

no, they tend to be the distraction.

or the clean-up crew.

"your shaymin feel good about this place? like this is...normal?"

SERAPHIM

☉

if it's meant as a slight to her, sylvie allows it to slide right off her back. she'd rather put off an air of incompetence than give rise to any suspicion about how she has the skills to be down here by herself. she's good at skirting the truth.

"research?" she says, interest piquing. 

"either way, glad i ran into you, but you were right. we ought to head out in case it catches our - well, my - trail. appreciate the favor. not sure i've much to offer in return."

kennedy quinn

☉