dahlia + dominic

you, me, shipping container at the slateport docks.

alternatively, i kinda had this thought in the back of my mind for a while but it never came up. i wonder if dahlia may have said or done something while she was in rocket "custody" that would have added to dominic's then-just-burgeoning desire to kick-start that coup? maybe he overheard some of her conversation with silas and had a :huh: moment.

just a thought, anything else would probably be strongly affected by that (if it were to happen).

elijah + dominic

uhhh...... come to the next drinking party with priam, zacharias and dominic. not really sure as to the exact extent of elijah's involvement with rocket dealings beyond some of the type:null stuff though, and i'm not going to do ask for another "heal my pokemon" plot. maybe dominic will try to pressure elijah to tell him about type:null idk. anyway, come drinking i guess.

elijah + perse

"i'll get back to you with something more substantial too, so don't worry! my brain will be COOKIN."

i was going to post something and then saw this from last march. very sad.

does elijah grow plant valium or something? idk perse is a recluse now but i just want to thread with the only person who supposedly thinks she's a neat e4 member pepehands.

dahlia + perse

i just think she's neat :)

noah + perse

what can i do to make sure she's invited to the wedding?

the sun hurt his eyes when he got out of the car, slamming the door with just a little more force than was necessary. they had parked a distance away from verdanturf - where the last of the little cottages gave away to wilderness - and still had a while to walk to the flower field were he had been assured their quarry lived.

dominic withdrew three capsules from the inside of his jacket and released the inhabitants with a practiced motion, gesturing for them to follow. while the houndoom bounded ahead, seemingly in high spirits, and the klefki clipped itself to his belt, the honchkrow circled above them as they walked.

the idea was to capture the gardevoir and sell them off overseas, but if a few do die in the process? well that's just too bad, isn't it? they always folded either to his houndoom's flames or became ripped to shreds ripped in its fangs, and dominic never liked things that break so easily.

and this time he has someone with him that can prevent those things from happening.

"watch, priam," he said with a flat, heavily sardonic tone. "zacharias will finally demonstrate his mastery of pokemon to us."

mission

priam conrad + @zacharias

sometimes when he's idle and alone for too long, dominic pulls out the passport issued to him after rocket's defeat and stares at it with something between disbelief and disdain.

zack campbell it says in bold letters. resident of mossdeep city, born in vermilion. he supposed it made sense: mossdeep was destroyed so putting him from a location that cannot be easily traced is pragmatic, and having him originate from kanto explained away the slight dialect he carried.

but... zack campbell?

he slid the passport into a pocket inside his jacket, repulsed and unwilling to look at it for a moment longer.

wild

zack campbell wears an unassuming uniform of monochrome colours; t-shirt with the contest orgainsation's blue lining the collar, sweatpants, comfortable work wear. a loose bandana and an employee pass bearing his name and photograph both hang around his neck, the pass freshly issued after he was recommended to their boss by his brother, max campbell. apparently nepotism reaches even here.

he's totally unassuming save for two aspects of his behaviour. first, as he pulls along the trolley with soft drink boxes along with Eva Dumont's orbeetle, he is silent but for the chime of jangling of keys at his belt. secondly, he doesn't blink when someone makes an entrance with their tyrantrum (Goro Shimizu), not even bothering to turn around at the burgeoning commotion.

dominic halts the trolley alongside @zacharias and priam conrad and pierces the tape sealing the top box with a flourish of a particularly viscous pocket knife. sticking his hand inside the box, he thumbs past the safety goggles, ear plugs, face masks, and whatever else gear eva thought it appropriate to pack. when he withdraws his hand, he's holding a can of soft drink, which he passes over to priam.

"here ya go, kiddo. don't tell anyone," dominic says with a drawl clearly imitating the announcer's speech as it's broadcast over the speakers.

as eva voices her desire to move on (with which he whole-heartedly agrees), dominic cranes his neck to watch the the handful of people approaching the guards with an expression of pliant, well-meaning concern. is that the league head scientist? he averts his gaze to hide the way his features darkened.


tl;dr: employee restocking the drink machine, joins @zacharias and priam conrad with Eva Dumont. mocks cooper armstrong's voice. gives priam a soda. watches the guards, looking for an opening.

dV4f3cdL

dominic stared at the magby and blinked twice rapidly. he strained every single available brain cell trying to construct an escape plan where a magby is useful and came out wanting.

could its head be like a battering ram or something? probably not, the pokemon suffered enough and he's been doubting the structural integrity of its cranium for a while now.

dominic's frustration manifested in a desire to pummel the pokemon with his fists (because the alternative was pummeling zacharias), and dominic had to make a conscious effort to still himself.

"why," dominic said, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "do you have that one with you?"

@zacharias

dominic thinks he looks serious and almost sober when he meets priam's gaze (briefly) before his eyes slide off to the blood splatter on the windshield left behind by the spheal.

"don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," dominic said darkly. which is actually his default answer to any question he's not sure of.

and... did they just drive past an adult version of his croagunk? when did that evolve? dominic swivels his entire body around, putting down a window to yell at the wild toxicroak.

"i didn't let you out. go back to your ball."

he throws his croagunk's pokeball out the window directly at the wild pokemon in a bid to return it but doesn't wait to see what happens next. dominic dips back inside and slumps into the seat with a sigh. it's been a rough day.

"a better question is where are we going, priam?"

priam conrad + @zacharias

dominic is on zacharias's heels to clamber inside the car and narrowly avoids getting his hand caught in the door as it was swung open.

as he throws the crate onto the back seat, dominic's gaze meets that of a wild, hoenn native pokemon standing on its hind legs to eat from a trashcan. the blue and yellow canine blinked at him with a calm, worldly gaze, and he could have sworn he at least knew the name of this one, it was on the tip of his tongue...

the car lurches slightly and dominic ducks inside to avoid being left behind with the car's original driver.

"i hate it here!" he howled from the back of the car, thrashing almost violently against the back of the zacharias's seat like a wounded animal.

"just drive in a straight fucking line, priam!"

he leaned in until he was practically wedged between the two front seats for a second. priam was doing a great job, and dominic let him know by gesturing vaguely at the dashboard and gearstick before flopping back in barely concealed despair.

priam conrad + @zacharias

dominic opened his mouth to protest but when he heard the sound of something being destroyed, he snapped his jaw shut and followed in zacharias's footsteps to the bedroom.

interesting.

he arched an appreciative eyebrow at the armful of television and helpfully tore the wires connecting it to the circuitry of the wall, giving zacharias some freedom of movement.

"where are you putting that? dominic drawled as he flung himself on the bed. "will it even fit in whatever shack you're renting?"

unable to stay idle for very long, dominic pulled himself to his full height again, bouncing very slightly on the mattress as he surveyed the room with an appraising glance.

catching sight of a dressing table with some jewellery prominently displayed, dominic dropped to the floor again, stripped a pillow of its pillowcase and started shoveling the necklaces, bracelets, rings and anything else that got in the way inside. when he was done with the surface items, he pulled open the drawers and scooped everything in as well for good measure.

@zacharias

dominic didn't help burke with the door.

"shame," dominic said, though his tone indicated he didn't think it was a shame at all.

when zacharias was done he followed him inside, eyes narrowed against the darkness. the houndoom snapped it's jaws in anticipation, tongue lolling out of its maw hungrily, prompting dominic to roll his eyes and return it to its capsule. the dog really can get obnoxious about these things.

dominic exhaled a sharply - an amused scoff - and jerked his chin toward the gloom.

"go on, then. show us what you can do, burke."

in the absence of anything else to do with his hands, dominic's fingers twitched for his pack of cigarettes and keeping them still proved a conscious effort.

@zacharias

he really didn't know how he felt about the alien beast but the content it spawned was a gold mine. the corners of dominic's lips twitched into brief smiles as he continued scrolling through his phone, perusing blacephalon-related rocket memes.

he was so distracted that he actually forgot about the ice cream cone. he also didn't notice the orange eyes staring at him from the shade of a tree. he didn't hear the smack of paw prints on cement, and the croagunk did nothing to alert him as the perrserker snuck up on them.

in fact, he only noticed the wild pokemon when it snatched at his ice cream cone, forcing him to recoil so as to avoid being nicked by the perrserker's METAL CLAWS.

"hey!" he snarled, flinching back violently.

dominic was left sitting there is disbelief for a moment as the wild pokemon began to retreat, but he leapt to his feet a second later, hurling an empty pokeball just for the satisfaction of hearing it bonk the perrserker on the head.

catching!

-75 PD
KLEFKI
PRANKSTER
crafty shield play rough spikes mirror shot heal block switcheroo

shiv