#- I don't know why it so deeply bothers this grown man that I win games sometimes but apparently it does *shrug*

[isfjmel-phleg]

I read a book I really enjoyed (a new TSG retelling, no less!) in a few eager golollops whenever I had time today. It was refreshing not to be disappointed, and I love it when the reading experience is not just mildly pleasant but gripping.

One more workday and I get our one (1) spring break day. So ready for this.

[lostonehero]

also: universe 2 half-Zoroark au! Here’s some ideas

when Emmet lands in hisui he doesn’t know that ingo is also there (maybe he fell into a rift) so he kinda wanders around for a bit

runs into some Hisuian zorua, they recognize him as a Zoroark but a kinda weird one (because he’s dark type instead of normal/ghost, also the half-human thing) anyways they immediately love him because he catches them dinner and they bring him to see the adult Zoroark

the adults for their part are deeply impressed by his strength but also concerned about how he’s alone. The other Zorua there start asking him to play with them and he obliges, illusioning himself into another Hisuian zorua and chasing them around (he used to play the ‘illusion yourself into a Pokémon and chase your twin around game’), all the zorua are now sold on him because he catches dinner AND plays with them instead of being boring like the other Zoroark? Absolutely they have a new brother now

Emmet is forcefully adopted by the large group of zoroarks, which he’s mostly fine with (still looking for a way home because he misses the trains and a way to track down ingo but the zoroarks have grown on him, the zorua have picked up on his train lingo and repeat it and love it when he tells them stories about the battle subway even if they have no concept of what a subway is)

Note: Hisuian zoroarks still shed despite being part ghost, so Emmet has yarn for days, even teaching a couple of the zoroarks how to knit with claws

Anyways he goes out on trips around the area often, looking around, and he runs into humans sometimes. He wears his coat and hat along with a new pullover knit from Zoroark fur (so it’s red and white) but he’s let his fur grow out because it’s cold, and he usually doesn’t bother with an illusion unless he actually sees people

His team and ingo’s came with him! They get along well with the zoroarks

so rumours spread of the white-clothed figure, a doppelgänger of Warden Ingo followed by 15+ zorua at all times. He’ll challenge you to a battle if you get close, and you won’t win. Sometimes he’ll use two Pokémon at once

The player character (I think you said it was Akari in a previous ask?) gets curious and drags Ingo to go see this mystery

Ingo immeditally gets hit with "I know this man but I don't know why."

All the Zoroark are like "another weird child to adopt" and they just start to travel into lady Sneasler domain to bring food and toys

She is very confused

Ingo can't stay long because he passes out after a bad headache

Emmet doesn't even notice them because he is currently in a pile of zorua and half asleep

Ingo ends up back in the pearl clan but now with a strong desire to return but everyone is telling him don't and you'll get yourself killed

Then a tiny zorua comes in and just goes "Mom wanted me to get you."

Ingo is like who left this child unattended and everyone else is like that is a omen don't touch it why are you picking it up leave it alone

The MC does eventually go on her own to face Emmet she looses but then they have a long talk and Emmet realizes she knows where his brother is and demands to be taken there

The guards at the pearl clan attack on site but it doesn't do much damage

[marshmallowprotection]

It was three days after it that another soft knock came at the door. Unknown was asleep on Lilas lap, so she quietly called out for them to come in.

She expected it to be Spicy, but she didnt expect to see the bags under her eyes, which always seemed to be there, much darker. Her skin much paler than normal, and her eyes seemed to be red and puffy, as if she just finished crying.

She could see bandages poking out from her sleeves and the neck of her turtle neck.

Spicy looked at Unknown, before sighing softly. "I came to apologize, but I'll do it later. Sorry for bothering you." She whispered, already turning and leaving.

"Wait. What do you want to apologize for?" Lila whispered back, knowing that if she was the one who told Unknown, it might go better than if Spicy did.

The look Spicy gave her when she said that screamed 'Are you fucking serious?'

Spicy dropped her gaze to the floor, and Lila saw how tired, how exhausted she looked.

"For everything. For comparing him to that monster, for avoiding him, for making things more difficult for him than they already were, for making him have to babysit me? A lot of things." Spicy could feel the tears pricking her eyes, and was glad that her long bangs covered her eyes for once.

"... I don't expect him to forgive me. I most likely wouldn't. I... I just don't want him to hate me." I don't want to be abandoned again. Her voice was small, hands slightly trembling as the claw marks on her arms and neck started to throb in pain again.

Spicy blinked the tears out of her eyes as she reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out two cloud pendants, one with lily of the valley painted on it, and the other with lilac. On the inside of them, a picture. The fact that Spicy wasn't in them didn't mean anything.

Handing them to Lila, before backing away towards the door to leave, Spicy froze at what Lila said.

"I think... I think he'll forgive you, even if he doesn't say it."

One beat if silence, two. Then

"... I don't deserve to be forgiven after saying something like that."

The soft click of the door closing was heard as Mint eyes stared at it.

What bothered Lila the most was that she knew Spicy believed it.

Her outstretched hand fell flat at her side the minute that the door opened. She frowned and looked back at the white-haired man that had taken space in her bubble by falling against her form not long ago, and then shifting to something that Spicy had clearly worked hard on. 

They were just kids, and that was the thing that she was the most upset about. She didn’t know a lot about what he had gone through thanks to that wicked woman that had threatened her life on two occasions already. 

But, if it had been bad enough to make him seethe and see red? Then she could only imagine what those other two were dealing with. It reminded her of the way that her own sister had used to try to redirect pain and misfortunate from their parents by stepping in and claiming the attention shift to her as the favorite of the family. 

She knew that feeling, she knew it very well. Her heart was breaking for every single person trapped in this place. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. She may not have come here willingly but it was obvious that the real monster here was the one disconnecting everyone and using them like pawns when they people who barely held on. 

“Your pain runs deep,” she said, the fingers on her free hand smoothing down his messy locks. “But, don’t you think that their pain runs just as deep? How did you feel when you were brought here?” 

Mint eyes were open, he had been awake the entire time. “...I don’t remember all of those days,” the exhaustion in his voice was clear. He was often more honest whenever he was bleary-eyed and off the elixir, and she could hear some kind of sincerity in his voice. 

“Do you know what it’s like to want grown-ups to be proud of you? Or, what it feels like to want to know that the person that’s supposed to be looking out for you to care?”  

Silence. 

Lila clasped at his hand and set the trinket within his fingers. He stared down at it and the familiar flower as if it were taunting him. He remembered this, and he remembered how it made... no, not him, someone else, feel like there was light in this world and he was crushed for it. Why had he been crushed? Because he hadn’t been strong. 

Unknown was slowly spiraling more and more as he discovered what it felt like t be in charge of someone vulnerable, and while he didn’t know how to be a kind or caring person, his rough regard and warning... his games, his taunts, they all bleed into his anger and passion. His warnings were laced with double meaning but it wasn’t his fault those brats were sensitive. 

It hadn’t been Ray’s fault, either, had it? 

He grits his teeth as that memory came and faded into the darkness. 

“Forgive me, but I think they both really care about you,” she mumbled. “I think they want your acknowledgment. Not an apology, but... maybe you could tell them that you’re trying to...” 

“I’m not looking out for anyone,” was his blunt response. His fingers still clutched onto the charm like a lifeline. The hasty and sputtered apology from Bree written in her hand was one thing. He hadn’t thought she’d go that far, but he’d already given her a second chance. He didn’t apologize. 

He let you live and he let you know that you had another shot. 

The same thing, he figured. 

“Didn’t you lie about the... the elixir for me?” 

“That’s— That’s different,” he said, bluntly. He was quick to look into her eyes with a warning. “I’m not going to waste elixir on my assistant. You already need me for everything and you already do everything I tell you to do. I don’t need you out of your mind all the time. I want you to have clarity when I win.” 

Lila breathed in, deeply. She knew that there was no winning with him, but at the same time, she knew that he was... trying? His venom wasn’t as strong as it had been before. “She’s supposed to help us... help you achieve your goal, and as far as I can tell, she thinks the world of someone like you. So, can you... show her that you appreciate that?” 

“What do you take me for? You think I want to play house, princess? We don’t have time to play pretend.” 

“No, no— No, that’s not what I meant. I meant... couldn’t you just give her a hug or something? She was on the brink of tears because she regrets saying what she said to you. You know what it must feel like to say things out of anger and not mean them,” she hurriedly said. “I mean... they’re just kids. Don’t you know what that feels like?” 

A heavy chuckle escaped his lips. It was more bitter than anything. “You really have a warped perspective of the world if you have faith in monsters, silly little fool. You think the demon is going to play nice?” 

“Even demons are capable of kindness if I want to believe in them,” the words hung on the air. “You need her for your goals. She believes in you just as I’ve decided to believe in you. So, don’t you think you should offer them what you’ve shared with me?” 

“...” 

“...Just think about it.” 

Those words would compel him to hunt them down.