#sure he’s definitely smaller than Lysandre

[toiletphotoshoot]

[mysticmistral]

I just beat Pokemon Sword, haven't started the DLC yet. Have some memes about one of my favorite characters.

Totally not based off of real life events.

Just my thoughts and opinions on the game below....

Bede deserves to have a good life not under Chairman Rose, make is own goals and not think about appeasing someone who forgot his name even though apparently Rose took him in. He probably sees Rose as a father figure after loosing his parents and is trying to get the chairman to acknowledge his achievements for once and not focus on the champion Leon. It must suck to lose your chance at proving yourself to someone endorsed by the very being you want to defeat just to get your father figures attention.

I felt bad for beating Hop. Not as bad as I did defeating Wally back in ORAS but still. Hop gives off the feeling of someone who was always in his brothers shadow, who's just known for being the champions little brother. I feel like his family didn't help much at all with now much Hop is obsessed; he breaths to become the champion to just feel equal. Maybe he wants his family to notice him for once, no longer neglected. He loves his brother clearly, but he's a bit over obsessed. I like that he becomes a Professor Assistant for Sonia and doesn't focus on trying to be Leon, but to be himself.

Leon is an okay champion, I kinda got tired of everyone being 'undefeated' this and 'undefeated' that. If I was at the legal age to buy alcohol and swore to start a drinking challenge, I would be dead. It was his only trait, and a trait shouldn't be your accomplishments. His little gimmick of getting lost is fine, it was mildly amusing at times. He seems to treat Hop like another Galar citizen, not his little brother. Like another person who idolizes him. I don't know if he was just never around, but I would think an older sibling would try to tell the younger to follow their own path and make their own goals, not allow an unhealthy about of idolization (is that a word?) He got the champion title at the age of ten, so what did he do for the years after? Never see his family?

Sonia is okay, but she's more of a book than a character, that and a Revive giver. I think we as players should be the one discovering the lore of Galar, not her. She got an arc more than the player and she did literally nothing but point out The Darkest Day, something I feel like the player could've done and it would've added a bit more accomplishment for the player in figuring out.

I miss petting Pokemon. That's kinda weird, but it added a bit more bonding to the whole thing, not just swinging around a toy or throwing a ball. Why would some Pokemon even find that amusing?

Chairman Rose is eh. I liked how he wasn't all 'take over the world evil' like others, he had good reasonings but nevertheless, he is a businessman and political figure who the people look up to. They know how to cut corners, but Oleana is there for that. He's too busy and focused on work, like how he doesn't care about the champions words or spend time with Bede, as he forgot the kids name at one point. He's so passionate about this future like Lysandre was in Kalos, and yet he just gives up after you defeat him? Never to be seen again? Lysandre died after standing his ground for his beliefs (cool motive, still murder), no matter how flawed they were. I mean, Rose is a bit more... Mature I guess, to accept the Jail time, but I think one last conversation would have been great. Oleana is just boring, her theme is great along with Rose's but we don't know anything more than she's the party pooper assistant who does the more extreme stuff to make sure Rose's goals are achieved. One Marcos Cosmos (Is that the groups correct name?) guy asks if he have dang LIFE INSURANCE. As in, you die and your loved ones get money. Sure the after conversation is he had some other kind, but Oleana would definitely kill people. The company would do something about it.

Ghost Girl Paula. Rest in Peace. Kid in Frank's house.. Who da HECK you talking to?

There's no Absol in the game, I refused to get the game until I could get my hands on one. Once I get through Crown Tundra I'm getting an And I with Super Luck, get some eggs from them, put them in Pokemon Home, get them out and use an Absol for my journey when I restart.

The animations are... Ehhhh. I love that you can't see the pixels and stuff like the 3Ds. I wish the game had a flying animation for the Flying Taxi, not gonna lie. But Hop's animations are just Hau's from Sun and Moon. But the Pokemon still are stiff and just hop??? There's no turning animation??? The Pokemon can't follow you even though there sprites are in the game? The SCALING! A TREEVANT IS NOT SMALLER OR EQUAL HEIGHT THAN A LUCARIO! Everything is so dang out of proportion! Treevant looks like the size of a kid!

I personally would've liked to see some familiar faces. I liked how Looker appeared in all of the 3Ds games and had a major role in XY and Sun and Moon. Or maybe that was Ultra S/M, I can't remember. I want to see Lillie as a fully fledged Trainer, or Lusamine back in the good light, or Emma from XY who was left to look after Looker Bureau or AZ, or fricken Zinnia from Oras who left! I've been wanting to see Zinnia for so long! Those after story characters who grew on you, unlike those annoying Sworbert and Shielbert guys. I wanted to kill those guys. The only -bert I care for is Siegburt.

And I wish they had color wheels for skin tone, hair and eyes.

That is all I have to say about it. It's a good game, just not one that sticks out. Kinda sad about Megas being gone but I guess Dynamax and Gigantimax is fine too...

[oppressiveliberator]

romance headcanons.

→  repost, do not reblog.

((FOREWARNING I do mention a protag ship as well as an incest ship, but aside one or two other implications it only comes up once I think. Also this is a fucking mess so it’s under a cut. Someday I’ll write concisely but today is not that day!))

name: Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius nickname:  Ghetsis; G-Cis; Lord Ghetsis; [Holy] Father gender: Male romantic orientation: Debateable. Gray-Aromantic? May not experience romantic attraction, but enjoys or will get into relationships to some degree. Will definitely indulge someone’s feelings for fun. preferred pet names: Lord. Master. Sir. Father. Basically, if it’s a dominance-expressing petname, he’s good with it. Depending on who it’s from something like ‘dear’ could also be acceptable.

relationship status: Single, but has or has had repeated partners and hookups. May be or have had been married in some verses? favorite canon ship(s): Canon as in officially shown or implied?  The closest we’d have is probably Ghetsis/Zinzolin lmao. . . . favorite non-canon ship(s) so far:  I mean I ship more or less anything as long as it’s interesting/has potential and my muse wants to roll with it but.  I fuckin love me some Ghetsis/Hilda. Ghetsis/Zinzolin, Giovanni/Ghetsis, Lysandre/Ghetsis, a hard to explain one but I like the concept of like Ghetsis/Reader, not in that I’m the ‘reader’ but that the reader is a ‘fan’, grunt, etc, so I guess Ghetsis/ghetsis fandom, and I have a real big ‘guilty’(read: i enjoy it and it’s harmless fiction so i don’t really feel that guilty, but people will definitely be real unhappy to hear it but fuck it it’s not like I’m forcing it on anybody) love for Ghetsis/N or other members of his family.  But Ghetsis goes well with like everybody tbh depending on what you’re after.  opinion on true love: Ghetsis finds that romantic feelings are, in general, for weaker persons.  True love is self-love, and letting yourself love or enjoy as many others as you’d like.  Of course, true love directed at him isn’t shameful or pathetic at all, and if he finds himself attached to somebody. . .well, he’ll admit to feeling weak for them, but it’s not something that makes him in any way less perfect.

opinion on love at first sight: You’ll love him at first sight. How weak do you have to be to just see somebody and be romantically infatuated with them?  You don’t even know anything about them.  Pathetic.  You’re going to get yourself into trouble, silly pet! 

how ‘romantic’ are they?: MMMMMMM Ghetsis is. . .willing to be romantic and would probably enjoy doing so because it makes him feel impressive.  Plus, pleasing a partner or object of affection increases the likelihood they’ll be attached to him, and thus he can benefit off of or use them for longer. . . .  So if you mean like in terms of reasoning, uh, he’s not super prone to thinking about other people more than himself at all. .. but in terms of actions and what he’ll be willing to do, he’s gonna be a big show-off and treat you real nice and spoil you.

ideal physical traits: Smaller and/or physically weaker than him. Feminine, especially with long hair, especially girls with long hair.  Shapely/curvy girls are good.  Healthy, strong, but weaker than him--strong enough to put up a fight, maybe. Expressive--shows a lot of emotion and reacts openly. Traditionally attractive, especially in a feminine way? I imagine he’s oddly attracted to people he can identify as having similar features to himself. . .not sure if that’s narcissism or something else entirely.   But, to be honest, he’s not too picky--he’ll act like he is, and he’ll certainly talk like he is, but. . .so far he isn’t. female: No specifics

male: No specifics ideal personality traits: Intelligent. Submissive.  Expressive.  Eager to please. Interesting. Fighty. Honestly, he’s attracted to people who’re either easy to use or hard to get.  Depends on how hard he wants to work for it.  To an extent, materialistic--being easily won over with expensive things and fancy dates.  Clingy. Loyal. Faithful. Lost. Exploitable.

unattractive physical traits: In general he’s more attracted to traditionally attractive people, so if you’re traditionally unattractive, he’s fairly likely to be offput by it? Unhealthy, unclean, generally not caring about your appearance at all? But he remains not too picky.  If you’re unattractive in some way, it just makes him look better--and gives him something to hold over you.  So he won’t be too bothered by it unless you’re, like, disgusting in some way he doesn’t want to put up with.

unattractive personality traits:  If you aren’t obedient, subservient, willing and/or wanting to see him as your superior, try and dominate him (and not have anything worth him letting you do so for,) etc. . .well, you’ll have lower chances.  Unintelligent(and yet, you’d be so much easier to mess with if you were. . .)  Gossipy, bad at keeping secrets(bragging is okay, telling the world his plans is not--it’s okay if you tell him about what other people do, though, that’s fine.)  Bossy, although he’s willing to put up with some of this. . .it’s hard to say, because he’s interested in people who’re subservient to him or express a lot of interest in him, but also in people he’d have to chase/who he’d have to struggle to have. . .but if you intend to get in the way of his plans or you’re uninteresting(and not physically appealing or you don’t have anything to offer/for him to gain, if you try and, like, overthrow him or take command of him without him seeing benefit to it(for example, RR!Giovanni is allowed to dominate and order him around because Ghetsis wants him to feel in charge to better take advantage of him) then you’re gonna have a harder time getting his interest.

ideal date: He loves to spoil a motherfucker.  Fancy restaurants, shows, trips, whatever you’d like as long as he won’t hate it himself.  Also, spending time at his castle, lavishing him--uh, you in attention and affection, parading you around, evangelizing and liberating Pokémon together, things that mean he gets to show off. . .he’d probably like an escape room if you were competent enough not to infuriate him through the whole process. Although, in his current, fragile, sickly, weakened state. . .the idea of something simple like a walk outside, going to a park, something lowkey seems especially nice. . .but also if you just stay in and hang out, that’s good too.  He’s not so open with it, but since he’s not in his usual position of power, he’s a lot happier than he lets on if you’re just. . .with him.

do they have a type?: Weak-willed men and spunky women.  Or something like that lol.  People he can gain something from. People he can’t have?  He may have incestuous personality disorder????  i have it in my head that he’s somewhat attracted to his own family due to having this understanding of historical royal families intermingling to keep their bloodlines ‘pure’.  But it’s not an active part of the blog character, like you’d probably never find out if I hadn’t said it just now, yeah?  

average relationship length: Until he gets bored or you outlive your usefulness or you break up with him when you realize he’s abusing you.  So, like, hookups are regular, but if they don’t count. . .a few months to a year.  But it’s probably not exclusive.  On his end.  If you’re fucking somebody else and finds out rather than you just telling him. . .he probably won’t be too pleased about it.

preferred non-sexual intimacy:  Worship him. Obey him. Being leaned against. Being held onto. Putting an arm around you or on your lower back or near your neck as if leading you or showing possessiveness of you. Being kissed.  Petting on the hair and back and so on.  Whispering. Leaving marks.  Things that make you respond, especially if they fluster you.

commitment level: You belong to him now. You are his until he's no longer interested.  It likely won’t be an exclusive ordeal, but you’re stuck with him until he decides otherwise.  Even if you leave him, expect him to pursue unless you have reason to believe he’s lost interest.  Then again, choosing to leave may spark his interest in chasing you. . . .

opinion of public affection: Public affection is an expression of his ownership of you and of your affection towards and desire of him.  It’s good shit.  He’s into it.  Expect surprise kisses, his arm around you, holding your hand if he’s able, close proximity and disregard of your personal space, pulling you into his lap, him openly referring to you as being his or with him. . . .

past relationships?: He’s definitely had plenty.  I say he and Zinzolin definitely had some kind of D/s shit going on.  I’m open to other preestablishments too, if they can be explained in some way.

tagged by: everybody’s doing it, so I stole it from everyone tagging: Do things I would do, like steal memes.  But not things that I would do like accidentally use the ‘post’ keyboard shortcut before you even finished clearing the formatting of the post.  Don’t do that.

[adventures-in-drabbling]

Lacewoodshipping Week Day 7: Hello/Goodbye

I DID THE ENTIRE WEEK 

the achievement is real omfg. I’ve never managed to keep to one of these before, baha.

This, as per the usual, became both wildly out of control, deviates totally from the prompt, the end is SUPER ABRUPT, and it was written between midnight-3:20am because what is a sleeping pattern.

If anyone wants to actually read something that does kind of stick to the prompt, I did actually do a series of alphabet oneshots, and G and H actually happened to be Goodbye, Hello, and bonus prequel Fight (to  be read in the order Fight , Goodbye, Hello). I haven’t read any of these back because I’m far too tired to deal with my old (awful) writing skills, but if you fancy dealing with my old (awful) writing, go nuts!

I’d like to thank @monsycamour AGAIN for organising this lacewoodshipping week! It’s been amazing to throw myself back into writing for this ship, and in a week I hand in my final project thesis of my masters degree, and I’m free from uni! (at least until I get the PhD position I’m aiming for lmao lmao). Until I figure out what I’m doing with my life, I’m gonna have a load more free time (hopefully), and I 100% intend to finish rewriting my old fics! So, the Sinnoh series rewrite will be completed, Written Words is going to be re-edited, probably rewritten and completed, and I might even finish the alphabet drabbles (because I’m fairly certain I only made it up to like, H or I or something and I have like, half finished oneshots for the rest of the alphabet just hanging out in my hard drive). I also might expand on a couple of these shipping week oneshots! 

HYPE.

Also, for fic clarification, I headcanon Serena as beginning her Pokémon journey around 19/20 (I know there was a little conflict with the ages of the player character ingame and such, but w/e, that was my age when I was playing so there we go lmao), with the main campaign lasting around a year or so, and her eventually becoming Champion around 20/21ish.

enjoy!!

---

The first time they meet, Serena is a strange mix of nervous and excited. It had taken some time, but she had finally made it to Lumiose City – and it was amazing. Even as she entered the city from Route 4, the atmosphere totally overwhelmed her – so many people moving confidently through the streets, the shops and cafes and attractions all begging for her attention. Still she resisted the urge, following Sina through the South Boulevard to the Sycamore Pokémon Lab.

“The professor can’t wait to meet you. You can find him on the third floor, so hop in the elevator!” the research aide grinned at Serena, clapping her hands together in excitement. Serena tried to smile back at her in return, though she’s fairly sure she only managed a slightly sickly looking grimace, before moving to the aforementioned elevator, eyeing the slightly rickety looking mechanics before gingerly stepping inside and pressing the button for the third floor.

She wiped her slightly sweaty hands on her skirt, straightening her clothes as the elevator rose to her destination. Heart jumping in her chest, Serena slid her way through the door before it had fully opened, gazing around the surprisingly bare room. Two desks sat before her, alongside a couple of bookcases overflowing into stacks of books on the ground, and what appeared to be a semi-temporary screen wall partitioning off a portion of the room into a more private area.

Before she could move more than a few steps, however, a figure in a lab coat rounded the partition wall – Professor Sycamore.

“So,” the professor grinned down at her, stopping a small distance ahead of where she stood and propping a hand on one hip. “We finally meet!”

Serena let out a faint laugh, tension ebbing out of her at the relaxed aura that surrounded the man. “It’s about time,” she agreed, remembering her manners and sticking a hand out in front of her. “Hello, Professor Sycamore. I’m Serena.”

“Oui, oui, fantastic!” He closed the space between them to grab her hand, shaking it up and down so enthusiastically, Serena was jostled by the force. “Come this way, won’t you?” He let go of her hand (turning away before he witnessed her shaking it in relief) and motioned toward the wall partition, leading the way around to where a slightly more grandiose desk (absolutely littered with papers) lay.

What followed definitely constituted as one of the more bizarre experiences of Serena’s lifetime. Being told she had a… what did he say? Je ne sais quois? Followed by a battle, being gifted a new Pokémon and some sort of strange stone, the rest of the ‘gang’ showing up, being asked to help with Mega Evolution… By the time Calem and the others had begun to head out, leaving Serena behind with the professor, Serena was more than a little overwhelmed.

“Everything alright, Serena?” the professor asked once he realised she had yet to leave. Serena nodded quickly, rearranging her bag on her shoulder and laughing a little.

“Yes, of course! Sorry professor,” she grinned, raising a hand in a small wave. “Goodbye!” He raised a hand in reply, but just nodded at the new pokeball in her hand.

“Take good care of Squirtle, OK?” A smile spread across his face. “Not that I have any doubt you will do a fine job,” he added. Serena nodded eagerly, before making her escape around the partition to chase after her friends, and maybe convince them to tour the city full of shops and cafes with her.

---

Since their first meeting, Serena and the professor had met a few more times throughout her journey – Courmarine City, Lysandre Café, their slightly heartwrenching conversation in Couriway Town after everything with Lysandre… Sycamore had been visibly shaken during that particular encounter. Even so, he departed with a cheery promise of a surprise (though Serena was convinced his cheer was mostly a façade ), and a hint of a treasure of his to be found in the town.

When she finally located the inscription at the train station, she squinted as she read it out. "To the person reading this,” she began, tracing her fingers over each word. “What are you like now? Did you become who you wanted to be? For starters, what was the person you wanted to become even like? I don't know, but it would be wonderful if you can boast that you're living each day to the fullest. To future Sycamore. From the Sycamore dreaming of the future.”

With a morose sigh, she let herself drop to slump on the bench next to the ‘treasure’, hand still pressed against the inscription as she thought of the conflicting emotions on Sycamore’s face during their last conversation. She was fairly certain the past Sycamore who carved a message into a train station bench certainly couldn’t have predicted the alarming events of the last few days.

“Am I becoming who I wanted to be?” Serena whispered to the ceiling, tipping her head back to stare up at the roof and pressing her fingertips against the words beside her.

She didn’t sleep well that night, plagued by dreams of what had happened within the Team Flare Secret HQ, ending with the image of a younger Sycamore – without the lab coat – staring back at her as the HQ crumbled around him.

---

Despite the questionable quality of Serena’s sleep now that images of the crumbling HQ plagued her at night, she somehow managed to beat Diantha, taking the mantle of Kalos Champion as her own. The parade at Lumiose was beyond unexpected – she might have bothered to actually wear something nice had she known she was going to be thrust into a spotlight the second she arrived in Lumiose as requested by the professor – but she enjoyed it nonetheless, allowing herself to relax at the afterparty at the lab with their closest friends and family.

As the night began to draw to a close, Serena  held her drink close to her chest as she peered around the room for the one person she really wanted to talk to. The professor had presented her with the Honour of Kalos during the public ceremony, dark circles under his eyes that he had clearly at least tried to hide with some concealer. At Serena’s concerned look, he squeezed her hand lightly as he handed the award over with a quiet promise of “We’ll talk later.” However, though he had made another speech at the beginning of the party, Serena hadn’t seen him since.

Slipping away from the main body of the party, she summoned the elevator and stepped in – it still looked rickety, but she was more willing to trust it now she’d been in the lab as many times as she had. She didn’t even have to step out at the second floor, a quick glance around the room after the door opened told her that there was no one there.

Stepping out on the third floor, however, the temperature instantly dropped. Making her way around the partition to Sycamore’s desk, she found the doors behind it flung wide open onto the balcony beyond, the silhouette of Professor Sycamore leaning on the railing illuminated by the bright lights of the city. His lab coat lay abandoned on the desk, and he suddenly seemed smaller without it, less an imposing figure of authority and direction, and instead more… human.

“Professor?” Serena tentatively broke the silence, skirting around the desk and stepping onto the balcony into the brisk air of Lumiose City.

As if broken from a trance, Sycamore jumped at her voice, spinning around to face her.

“Ah, Serena, désolé,” he apologised, the bubbling liquid in the champagne flute clutched in his hand sloshing wildly with his movement. “I just needed some air, I can come back-“

Serena cut him off with a wave of her hand, moving to his side and leaning on the railing to mirror his previous position.

“Don’t worry, Professor. I could use some air too, I just wondered where you were,” she reassured him, letting her own (empty) champagne flute dangle by the rim over the edge of the balcony.

Sycamore reassumed his position, twirling the stem of his glass in his hand with a sigh and let the silence stretch between them.

“Professor…” Serena broke after a few minutes, shifting her gaze to the man beside her as the quiet tension finally became too much. “Are you… alright?”

Sycamore shifted uncomfortably, refusing to turn his gaze to her as he hung his head. “I…” he began, but trailed off, the silence pressing down heavily on the pair.

“I still have nightmares,” Serena blurted, and that made him look up at her. “Lysandre is there. So is the legendary Pokémon, and then… then everything is crumbling, and I’m running but I can still hear him behind me.”

“Serena…”

“You’re there too, sometimes,” she added, and his eyes widened in surprise at that. “You as you are now, or sometimes you when you were my age – or at least,” she glanced to the side, an embarrassed flush rising to her cheeks as she thinks maybe she’s said too much. “How I imagine you probably looked, anyway.” She met his gaze once more. “But I have them. Every. Night.” She hesitated for a moment, then balanced her glass on the railing and moved her hand to lay it on his forearm. “We’re allowed to grieve,” she reminded him softly. “And we’re allowed to hurt.”

Sycamore breathed in deeply, breaking their gaze to tilt his head back and stare at the sky above them, his eyes shiny. “You are wise beyond your years, Serena,” he chuckled, though his voice was tight, threatening to catch in his throat. Another moment of silence before he continued. “I keep replaying our conversations in my head, Lysandre and I,” he admits, his voice soft and quiet, an uncharacteristic change from his usual confident and strong air. “Trying to see if I should have noticed earlier, if I could have saved him from… his own delusions, I suppose.”

Serena tightened her grip on his arm, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. “No,” she replied firmly. “There wasn’t anything- if someone had any idea- this isn’t on you, professor.”

“Augustine,” he replied quickly, moving his wet gaze back to her face. “Unless you want me to start calling you Champion, I believe we are past the point of formalities. Especially talking about this.” Serena searched his face for a moment before nodding slowly.

“Okay. Augustine.” The name felt thick and foreign on her tongue, but a thrill of excitement ran through her, her fingers twitching slightly in their grip on his arm. “We can’t keep wondering what might have happened had we acted differently,” she added, her voice hushed.

Augustine sighed again, pressing his hand over hers on his arm. “Oui,” he conceded. “I know. Yet I still can’t help it.”

Serena twisted her hand to press their palms together, twining their fingers. The slight intimacy of the gesture felt strange, but the comfort it offered won over her hesitation.

“We need to support each other,” Serena squeezed his hand. “You, me, the others who were there. We don’t have to suffer alone.” She watched curiously as Sycamore balanced his still full glass beside her empty one, before pulling her into a tight hug, hunching over slightly to rest his chin on her shoulder.

“Thank you,” his voice was close, right beside her ear and she couldn’t help a slight shiver at the proximity even as she wound her arms around his back. “You’re the first… to really say anything. Diantha tried, but it was… too soon.” Serena squeezed him.

“You looked like you needed to talk,” she replied softly.

They both fell quiet, drawing what comfort they could, but neither moved from their position. At least not until a wolf whistle pierced the air from the boulevard below, followed by a chorus of laughs and jeers. Serena whipped back, scowling down at the group of guys stumbling along below them – clearly on their way back from some bar - and jabbing her middle finger up at them. A few more laughs, but they continued on their way without consequence.

“I apologise about that,” Augustine said nervously, his glass back in his hand and a respectable distance put between them once Serena turned back to him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Serena waved it off, jamming her freezing hands into the pockets of her skirt as the chill in the air finally began to register. Augustine still looked slightly uncomfortable, his gaze following the group of lads up the street. “It’s fine, Augustine,” Serena reaffirmed, moving to bump his shoulder with her own. “Though I really should head back to my hotel. It is late, if the bars are turning out, and today has been… exhausting.”

“Of course,” Sycamore grabbed her glass from the railing and motioned inside, moving together to shut and lock the balcony doors behind them as they moved back into the building.

“Thank you for everything, Augustine,” Serena bowed slightly as they waited for the elevator to arrive to take her back downstairs.

“Ah, do not thank me,” Sycamore laid a hand on her shoulder. “I am truly so proud of you.” He chuckled as her cheeks became pink at his praise.

“It’s all because of you!” She argued as the elevator door slid open. She stepped inside, slipping from his grasp and turning to face him, raising a hand to wave farewell. “Goodbye, Augustine!”

“No,” he cut in quickly, half-entering the elevator to grab her hand mid-wave and squeeze it lightly. “Not goodbye. That always seems so… final. And I think we’ve had enough finalities for a while, at least.” Serena grinned, but nodded in agreement.

“You make a fair point,” she conceded. “Not goodbye, then. See you later?” Sycamore smiled and winked, bringing her hand up to press a light kiss to her knuckles.

“Tomorrow, perhaps?” he asked as he released her hand to step back, out of the small elevator. “Allow me to buy you dinner in thanks for… everything. And as a celebration of your achievements, Champion.”

Serena grinned, her cheeks reddening further. “That sounds wonderful,” she agreed. “I’ll message you in the morning?”

“Sounds like a plan, ma chérie,” Sycamore nodded. “I look forward to it.”

“Same here!” Serena laughed, finger hovering above the button for the ground floor. “See you later, Augustine!” At his wave, she pressed the button, waiting for the door to close before clumping against the wall and pressing a hand to her pounding heart.