"i will." dominic doesn’t stop marcel when he makes to leave, following his movement with a half-lidded gaze.

"thanks for the help," he adds flatly, vaguely acerbic when he looks down at the writing marcel had etched into the pages; something cryptic at best, and utterly useless to him. one corner of his mouth remains upturned into a sneered smile.

marcel maeda

dominic's gaze finally slides from marcel to the pages, and then to the empty hall. he tries to remember what it feels like to feel fatigue settling in his bones, but that sensation had been taken from him too - all that is left is a gnawing type of exhaustion that he can't quite brush off.

"you finally getting tired?" dominic drawls, the flatness of his tone softened with something like levity. "need me to tuck you in?"

marcel maeda

dominic already knows it won't happen, but the visual of marcel at one of the lower district clubs amid strobe lights and deafened by the pulse of music brings a ghost of a smile to dominic's face.

"great, you'll really like them." dominic lets the silence stretch out, watching marcel peruse the printed text for several moments and eventually discard the file. he arches an eyebrow and wonders if he's imagining the tension in marcel's body language.

"no luck?"

marcel maeda

dominic catches sparks flashing from a patch of wild grass but averts his gaze. sparks, he decides, are a bad omen. dominic quickens his pace and keeps walking because he doesn't want to be accosted by some random, wild pokemon out of nowhere.

skipping!

dominic doesn't quite manage to stifle his chuckle. he leans forward, both elbows on the table, eyes alight with mirth. he's given up on the multitude of documents spread out between them.

"please, marcel. i'm perfectly content," dominic practically purrs, something self-satisfied seeping into his smirk. his needs and wants, he suspects, are much simpler than maeda's.

"maybe you're just looking in the wrong places? why don't i introduce you to some friends next time we're in slateport."

marcel maeda

walsh didn’t tell him about this; about the way his skin will shift in the shadow as though bleeding off the bone, as if there’s something sitting between it and the flesh below.

it’s fine; he found the remedy at the end of a line and he can still taste it. dominic wants to laugh at his hands but the crush of bodies around him prevents him from stretching them out far enough. there are multiple platforms - he knows this because he’s ascended one to pace at the perimeter. he knows these faces, and he recognises these voices.

dominic balances his pokemon’s capsules between violinist fingers, and when he calls out, his voice sounds ragged and foreign; "who is coming up?"

against the ceiling, dominic’s silhouetted shadow moves without him.

open, mission (bare knuckle beat down)

dominic hesitates for a long moment, uncertain how much samuel knows about the exact nature of the thing that binds him and walsh, and then raises a shoulder in a shrug.

"sure," he says, nonchalant. "better than i knew cadis. or silas, or his ol' papa." which, perhaps doesn't say much, because even though he had been underboss under all three, their interactions were always limited either by professional constraints (the former) or insanity (the latter).

"you'll like him." he didn't know that - in fact, no he didn't think samuel would like walsh - but he spoke with the same reassuring conviction he used exclusively when talking a brand new teenage grunt through their first mission.

Samuel Boothe
skipping

dominic glowers at the no smoking sign outside the entrance to the safari zone and drops the hand that been reaching for the box inside his jacket pocket. do they have a rocket member on lilycove local city council? this regulation needs to be overturned via legislative means.

he enters through the gates, though his enthusiasm had been somewhat dampened.

safari poggers

SPOILER: Click to show

PREMIUM SAFARI TICKET
purchasing for 50PD

TYPE 1 EVOLUTION
redeeming from pokeathlon
spinarak → ariados

TYPE 2 EVOLUTION
redeeming from rapid strike endeavour
honedge → doublade

TYPE 3 EVOLUTION
redeeming free stone evolution from mission
doublade → aegislash

ROWAP BERRY
redeeming from tower challenge
applying to umbreon

SHINY SWAP
redeeming from tree event
applying to magnezone

TM / TR
purchasing for 60PD
gengar, hypnosis → skill swap

TM / TR
redeeming from rapid strike endeavour
gengar, mean look → disable

KASIB BERRY
redeeming from tree event
applied to gengar for a total of 7 move slots

MOVE TUTOR MOVE
redeeming from cram-o-matic
gengar, learns role play into its new empty slot

MOVE TUTOR MOVE
redeeming free fighting move from rapid strike endeavour
darkrai, disable → focus punch

SALAC BERRIES x2
purchasing for 100PD

PASSHO BERRY
purchasing for 350PD

— TOTAL: 560PD

pkmn-hoenn.boards.net/thread/9585/misete-yo-1-pkthn
pkmn-hoenn.boards.net/thread/9931/simple-pkthn
— 200 medals

pkmn-hoenn.boards.net/thread/9419/summer-surprises-beach-party
— 500 medals (100, 150, 100, 150)

REDEEMING
egg + egg tutor move

dominic doesn't entirely believe him; the plain answer doesn't warrant the defensiveness nor the hostility. dominic fixes marcel with a contemplative stare, brow arched.

"that wasn't so hard, was it?" he drawls, watching him handle the papers. "but no, i'm not happy. that actually makes me... very sad for you." dominic doesn't even pretend to sound sad as the beginnings of a smirk quirk at the corners of his lips.

marcel maeda

he doesn’t quite know what did it exactly, but dominic’s sure he’s got merlino pinned down; dominic thinks he can see the seams.

"good kid, had a lot of promise," dominic says after a moment that’s long enough that he deems it to be respectful to speak again. it is true, but he would have said it even if it weren’t. there’s a wistful quality to the timbre of his voice.

dominic parts his lips, words forming on his tongue, but he tucks the thought away, opting instead to study gavin with particular scrutiny. he’s accustomed to catching minute, hair-pin gestures, mostly because they serve as an precursor for more dangerous motions - attacks, the drawing of pokemon capsules or firearms. expressions are harder for him, and the variation in voice even moreso.

for now, he decides he’s said enough.

Cillian Quinn