@eliz

... well. [break][break]

she couldn't fault him for being honest. and.. honestly, that was the answer that she was more or less expecting. alex himself was.. definitely someone for the people, and someone who was a great asset to the company (more than what she could ever offer, that is. she didn't even have the slightest clue of where she should be starting, if not being fuelled by both grief and rage towards the vile creatures that had taken her dearest brother away). but she knows - and god, does she know - how she has to bury that pain and that anxiety, deep into the depths of her heart. no matter how it may have weighed on her, and no matter how she may have wanted to cry about it. it didn't matter, now did it? it shouldn't matter. not while she was at work, and not while she was sitting in front of a man who worked under her. [break][break]

her hands grip along the papers on her desk, and she taps a bundle of it against the surface of the wooden table. "there's no need to apologize." she speaks, with an attempt to put a small smile to her lips. she doesn't wish, at all, for the people around her to feel her own grief - not when they already had more than enough to handle on their plates. "alex had that effect on people" she says, air filling her lungs as she takes in a deep breath, and quietly recalls much more.. simpler days (days where she didn't have to worry about inheriting the company, again). [break][break]

... speaking of, there was something that she needed to clear up, and something that she needed to know. [break][break]

"one last thing," she tacks on, this time, with emerald eyes raised to lock in, and maintain eye contact "before my brother's passing, had he assigned any larger projects to your group? if the company was at a standstill, there is something i would like for you to prepare for." something that she should have brought up in a larger meeting, but still, something that she'd feel more comfortable with, knowing that there was a second person to help her out.

I'M ALIVE. STILL.

@eliz

if she didn't know any better, she'd think he was anxious. [break][break]

but who wouldn't be? suddenly being called up to the office, instead of being sent an e-mail. just what exactly was she thinking? though this was probably less cruel than the suspense that came with staring the inbox down. what was she supposed to do to ease the morale of the company workers? what was she supposed to do, to make sure that things were running smoothly? what was she supposed to do, now that the eyes were on her once again, and this time as the permanent heir to an empire across generations? it was too much (it was always too much) for her to handle. it was too much for her to grasp. it was--[break][break]

"yes. please send the report to my secretary once it is completed." she speaks in a stern tone, devoid of any anxiety that was so strongly flaring and festering in her heart. daphne was okay. she had to be okay, because she was now the ceo of the company (not just a stand-in, or someone to look pretty. she was the ceo, responsible for the lives. responsible for the legacy she doesn't know to handle).[break][break]

the brunette quietly eyes a few number of sheets - papers that she was sorting out, pertaining to alex's death - before raising a gloved hand to rub the bridge of her nose. "in addition, lucius." emerald eyes narrow into an instinctive glare, verdant daggers only barely missing the man who stood before her. [break][break]

".. how has the company been holding up, in general, since my brother's passing?"

I'M ALIVE

@eliz

she was stressed. [break][break]

she was tired. it'd been a fair amount of time since alex's passing, yet the days never failed the drudge on even longer. she feels the weight crushing upon her shoulders, the reality that the company was going to be held up by her, of all people (never her mother nor her sister, who already knew so little about the cruel world that hoenn would have been). alex had been the only person who was properly trained up, in the full, to take over as the head of devon. as the eldest? she didn't go without training, but she hadn't gotten anything to the degree that alex did. would she be competent enough? would she be able to handle herself? the anxiety and thought creeps up on her mind. [break][break]

it will be okay. it had to be okay. the weight of an empire rests on her shoulders, so she had to be okay. the last thing she wanted was to pass the company away, around, without a name of its own. her pride wouldn't allow it (pride? it was a new term to her. it was a foreign word to a woman who'd lived her entire life shrouded in humility). [break][break]

daphne sits at a familiar desk, free of dust with the frame of the family together. it was one of the few things alex liked to keep while he was at work, and she never had the heart to turn it away. "and just when you came back to hoenn.." she sighs, pen in hand writing along the surface of paper. "i'd like to think that i was doing a good job taking care of the company in your absence, but you upped and left shortly afterwords" her lips curl into a slight frown, as her other hand gently rests against her forehead "it's a little unfair of you." [break][break]

back to work. there was quite a bit for her to manage but, thankfully, there were project managers who took care of the majority. the woman glances up, after a young man had entered her office with the same stern expression as her own. what was his name..?[break][break]

"lucius." she starts, eyes glancing back down to the papers for but a moment, before they turn back upwards to him "i haven't received your yearly report, yet. how is the progress on it?"

I'M ALIVE

@jude

there's no point. [break][break]

no point in sticking her head in the past while she needed to help with the relief effort. no point in troubling herself with more than what she could chew. starting small and doing what she could, should be enough; right? the other workers from devon had already received their orders, and there was no need for her to breathe down their necks. [break][break]

a peppy voice rings through the air, as a young red head began to approach the woman. ah, a bright sight in the ruins of disaster. maybe her sunny attitude should help the icy woman relax a bit. "do you have any pokemon that can help with clearing the debris?" she asks, gesturing to her pyroar as an example.

"there could be people who took shelter when the war started, and i wanted to clear everything out in case there were people trapped in." and speaking of debris, daphne pulls out a second pokeball - this time sending out her garchomp with the intention to have it cleave through larger pieces. [break][break]

"and thank you for the help," she starts, offering the young woman a semblance of a smile. it was the most she could conjure up at the moment, anyhow. "my name is daphne stone, a pleasure."

@jude

she had hoped to not revisit the site. [break][break]

unfortunately, things will never go as planned (they never have, so she's lost the incentive to hope for more). she had to arrange the funeral after the relief effort made some change and, giving her just enough time to readjust in the seat of devon, she immediately mobilized the company to assist with the effort. the majority of staff hired for this were already working with reconstruction of destroyed buildings, damages caused by flooding, and so forth. otherwise, it wasn't her responsibility to tend to the families who had lost their loved ones. [break][break]

even when she knows the feeling all too well. [break][break]

the woman sighs, with blissey at her side. she had also brought her fair share of pokemon to help with the clearing of debris, with the healer pokemon acting on standby in the case where someone would get hurt in this process. meanwhile, she stands at the entrance of a destroyed building as a result of the flooding caused by wailords. many, many wailords..[break][break]

and kyogre, of course. [break][break]

daphne sends out her pyroar, who stands tall at her side. thankfully, he would have been big enough to fit through the broken frame that used to be a door. "garnet, exude some heat from your body." she waves her hand to the regal feline, prompting a growl as it treads the puddles, hoping to evaporate it with each sizzling step. she calls out from the frame, hoping to grab someone's attention. "could someone help in here?"

tag

it was no good. [break][break]

though she tries to maintain her emotions and her composure, the soft, hoping comforting smile of hers wavers until it disappears quickly with each passing attendant. she doesn't have it in her heart to approach others. she doesn't have it in her heart, weighing so heavy and grieving her brother's death. her mother and sister were still alright, and she's worried about how they felt, being told that they couldn't even come to their son and brother's funeral. no, that's not what her little brother would have wanted. that's not what he would have done, if it were her. not when he knows that they need to stay safe. [break][break]

there was a reason he sent them away. a reason that she understood, and would keep under lock and key to her own tomb. [break][break]

she was tired. tired from the war. tired from the death. the last funeral was already enough to throw her off and smash her down, but she knows that after the funeral, she will have to take the mantle of CEO once again. a title she would sooner toss aside in favour of her own life, yet the burden of abandoning a family legacy would haunt her til her death.[break][break]

she can only nod towards Kaida Adachi, who was trying to be thoughtful of the people. "thank you," she says. she doesn't blame her nor Orion Lykos in the slightest: they had to do what they could and, at the time, it was protecting hoenn from the beasts that invaded their home. more guests began to pour in, one of them being silph himself. a business partner, one of which who she knew alex didn't speak too kindly of during their playful banters. yet still, she never made the attempt to pry further. [break][break]

maybe one day, she will see if she can soothe the relationship between the two companies. one day, when she wasn't as vulnerable. [break][break]

she gives FERNANDO SILPH a nod in passing, her eyes fixated on the guests who would arrive afterwords. cait alfric was silent, passing by as she entered as stone only gave her a nod in acknowledgement. her composure faltered, and she wonders if she could make it through the day. the funeral director stands with staff, out of the way to ensure that the proceedings go as planned. [break][break]

"benoit." she snaps out of it, briefly, at the sound of a young man's voice. a familiar one, who has served the league with her brother. Thomas Benoit too, was being solemn with those mentioned earlier. there was nothing else she could ask for, and that alone touched her heart. even more so when a supposed stranger, @sanvi, had come all the way out here to mourn the loss of a man whom she didn't know much about. though she couldn't avoid it, she was grateful. [break][break]

there was nothing to say to Stormy Silph nor @senon by the time they had entered, with her heart weighing heavy. she knows that, asides from her, how deeply it may have weighted on the young woman. she hopes that they could meet another time, later during the ceremony. she hopes that she'd be able to see her, again. [break][break]

but then the clergy member arrives, and she takes a deep breath. a short speech of "the viewing will be ending in ten minutes" was abrupt, notifying the guests before stepping back down. she, too, would need to take a look at his body and deliver her final words.[break][break]

with that in mind, she peels herself away from the doors of the home, and walks to stand at the end of the coffin. hands are held together in her lap, as she quietly acknowledges those passing by to offer their own words. she can only quietly eye her brother's picture, mounting and surrounded by flowers, before they drift down to the body that was desperately embalmed to be presented.

notes

tag

she didn't want to be here. [break][break]

she didn't think that she would be here. she didn't want to be here. hands shaking, clutching a fist as nails dig into the palm of her hand. she couldn't bring herself to drive herself, only having the energy to get up early for the sake of dressing herself in the appropriate attire. there was a part of her that wanted to get this over with, and there was a part of her who didn't want to come at all. she could run away, couldn't she? a third time. she could run from hoenn a third time, leaving devon to another management. she never liked the business. she never liked doing business to begin with, but obligation was going to eat at her (it always ate at her, skinning her alive to drag her back in, kicking and screaming). [break][break]

even when she wanted to run, her feet wouldn't let her. there was no one else who could take her responsibility off her shoulders, anymore. [break][break]

after the death of her father, she had wished to never revisit an event like this. at least, not so soon. at the doors of the home, leading into the chapel, she hesitates. her fingers curl, the words are already threatening to clog themselves up in the lump of her throat. [break][break]

(she wanted to scream. she wanted to cry; she never even gave herself that chance finding her brother's corpse, washed up in the sands, nor even when she was going to the hospital, anxiously waiting for the announcement she dreaded.) [break][break]

a weight on her shoulders, she pushed through the doors. there were crowds of people, ranging from the funeral home employees to devon's, all gathered with occasional chatter before the proper ceremony. the casket remained opened, flowers scattered to decorate the irreversible injuries of a dead man's corpse. at the very least, there was an attempt to restore him such that he could look at peace when presented in an open casket. daphne walks past it, clad in a suit as she forces herself to move. [break][break]

it was time to properly greet some of the guests at the entrance, with something of a small smile. after all, she wasn't supposed to be throwing her grief onto others when they first walk through the door.

i FINALLY MADE IT HGXHAJDKA