[attr="class","rosepost"]Souls? Into things? [break][break]

Keiko was no theologian, but she felt comfort in talking about her faith. "I like to think Almighty Sinnoh and Arceus came to be at the same point in time," she explained, "but there are differing opinions. Some say that Almighty Sinnoh was Arceus' first born." She didn't think birth order had anything to do with power or domain or righteousness. Almighty Sinnoh was who she prayed to, not Arceus. [break][break]

Eris' second question brought her to a full stop. "...of course it is." She furrowed her brow, then thought about it longer. Was Eris referring to the episode of Dialga in Littleroot, the very one Althus Rex had told her about? "I don't know why Almighty Sinnoh would send Dialga down; perhaps Dialga is enforcement for Her faith." They looked similar, but not identical, based on the scripture. "I am unsure what happened in Littleroot building up to that appearance." [break][break]

Without a doubt, Almighty Sinnoh had Her reasons. "What is your faith, if you don't mind me asking?"

[break][break]Eris Halla [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Keiko woke with mild alarm as the sensation of pressure came with her trickling awareness. But she wasn't being suffocated by one of her pokemon - Rex was lying on her. Was he a cuddler? [break][break]

She disentangled herself carefully, unaware of how much space she had initially claimed in the shelter. She left him to keep sleeping. It was early; the sun was only hinting at rising in the horizon, so the beach was dark. She traveled it just fine, however, and dropped her clothing to take another dip in the water. [break][break]

Gallade stayed close, stood on the shore like a sentinel, which she found endearing. Though she doubted a sharpedo or something would travel so close to the island and get her, she was flattered he felt like protecting her was a higher priority than whatever else he did on the island. There were certainly more trees to cut. [break][break]

The sun rose, and she found a school of fish far too interested in her kicking feet in the water. With some focus, she pulled up a curly form Tatsugiri from the water. "Aha!" She grinned as she held it up overhead, an unexpected but completely welcome victory. Her skills were up to par if she could react fast enough to catch the quick one-foot-long fish.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Keiko had a lot of flaws: stubborn, judgmental, chronically type A. But among her greatest strengths was her ability to go horizontal and immediately conk out. [break][break]

In other words, she was already snoring on her back by the time Rex entered the shelter. She had sprawled out to take more than her fair share of space, and she hadn't had the foresight to remove her hair pins which left her hair looking disastrous as it pressed against the ground. One hand rested over her stomach, which slowly rose and fell as deep sleep already claimed her. [break][break]

She dreamed of nothing.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Keiko stepped through the spatial rift and into the Ultra Desert with an awed smile. With the two of them off on another adventure in the wilds, it was bound to be an exciting day. She waved her phone as they stood side by side in the desert. "I have a full charge on this baby, so I can take plenty of pictures." She hadn't seized the opportunity to do so in the mechanical kingdom, but she wouldn't make that mistake twice. [break][break]

"I heard some Rangers talking about this place, and the advice I got from them is to not drink water you're offered, alright? It's, uh, usually not what it seems." Vague, but she didn't get specifics from them. "We gotta keep our mind right because there are some illusory pokemon out here." That, and the heat might take 'em out. [break][break]

She only got a few steps in the desert when she felt the earth shake. She turned to him with a furrowed brow, then to her Slowking. Slowking shook his head, not the cause of this one. [break][break]

And then the biggest orthworm she'd ever seen shot out of the ground and lurched towards them.

[break][break]silverio delfino | 02 involve gigantic orthworms who attempt to hunt you using tremorsense.[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]That was a lot of faith to put in a pokemon. She wasn't so confident about Gallade. She wouldn't leave her pokemon unattended for long. Togekiss was not as chaotic as Pelipper, but she was a glutton and would eat an orchard clean of berries if you turned your back. Her pokemon needed supervision to avoid being menaces. [break][break]

Either Rex was getting lucky with his pokemon or she was unlucky with hers. Or a combination of both. [break][break]

Stepping into camp, the presence of Gogoat stood out to her. "Gallade should've taken care of him if he was really so reliable." Her grumbling was audible. But she'd said earlier that she would let it go... even though she really wanted to skin the damn thing. A gogoat rug would unironically be nice - for camp or for home - but she didn't think Rex could be persuaded. [break][break]

She beelined for the shelter, keeping a sharp eye on the bastard pokemon. She hoped he'd run off while they slept.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]The Arctovish appeared and took Keiko aback. She'd never seen something like this... and it looked rather strange. "Um, maybe bonking this one is okay." She gnawed her lip as Tinkatink charged with a battlecry. Her hammer overhead and her feet pounding the earth, the fairy had eyes for this adversary. She jumped into the air and swung the hammer from overhead, bringing it down and bonking the recovered fossil. [break][break]

The Arctovish didn't seem phased by the attack. In fact, it seemed to interpret it as a sign of friendship and leaned in to nuzzle the fairy. What the hell?[break][break]

And Tinkatink liked it. "Freak," she murmured under her breath. But if the Arctovish made Tinkatink happy, she supposed they'd make a good pair.

[break][break]water/psychic/dragon || CATCH ARCTOVISH W SPAWN W ADMIN[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]It was a very passionate reaction to a silly response of hers, but she didn't mind very much. She liked Rex when he wasn't running his mouth. That timelessness creeped up on her again, and she didn't realize how long she'd been caught up in his embrace until the need for air burned in her lungs. [break][break]

He tugged her close, so she wrapped her arms around him, still trying to gather her scrambled thoughts. She furrowed as he echoed her prior sentiments about worrying later, and she slapped lightly at the back of his head while they were hugging. "Don't mock me," she scolded, pulling away with a pout. "We can address this later. It's, um, the pragmatic thing to do." She wasn't like him, being all... free-spirited and worry-free. It was about energy conservation.[break][break]

"Let's hurry up and get back. I think we've left your pokemon to their own devices for too long."

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]She was used to some high velocities as a frequent flier, rider, and otherwise rapid-traveling courier. That said, when the elevator descended so sharply, she blacked out. [break][break]

She woke on the floor of the elevator. A groan spilled out of her mouth as she dared to lift her head, dizziness and nausea suffocating her. She heard the tail end of Silverio's question. "Never... better." She pulled herself up slowly. She thought, at first, that it was her pounding head that filled her ears with a pulsing, stuffy sound. [break][break]

As she got to her feet, however, it was clear to see that the noise stemmed from the hallway-like mine shaft ahead of them. Dozens of carbink lined the walls, picking away at the stone maze. "What the fuck have we stumbled into?"

[break][break]silverio delfino [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]She hadn't expected him to react that way. [break][break]

In a small, confused voice, she echoed, "Three days and two nights?" But he'd reacted to the timeframe, so... [break][break]

Oh.[break][break]

"It - nothing, I said nothing, it's - don't worry about it." She could feel her face getting warm. She knew what he was going to harp on. She tugged her arm to get her hand free of his grip, wanting to cover her face. "Don't be stupid." She wished she had a pinap in her hands to toss at him right now.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Stubborn. But she wasn't sure she'd win this battle of wills. He was earnest in his offer, but that only made it hard to look at him. She didn't want to leave him here. "I think it stands to reason that I'd survive better solo than you would," she said with a poor excuse of a laugh. But the conversation was too heavy for levity. [break][break]

"Okay," she finally said, helpless against his good will. "I'll do it. But how soon is soon? I don't... let's wait until tomorrow night, yeah? Give Pelipper a three days and two nights to return." Her turnaround for large parcels sat firmly at that time. Pelipper was only carrying himself, so there was no excuse for anything longer. [break][break]

She reached out to hold his hand. "Let's worry about that later, yeah?" A concession, and a willingness to hold off on cementing a plan that would've never been possible in a different place, in a different time, with different company.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]