c3p-0h

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

Location: Beryl Town
Interacting With: Ikkou @Yankee; Mags @Brose

Kazu was still reeling at the sight of her cousin - yes, her cousin, who was for some reason here instead of in Sinnoh - when he flashed her a very familiar look of panic. And just like that, instinct kicked in and Kazu was striding through the crowd towards Ikkou. Astra gave a confused chirp, not sure why they were suddenly deviating away from the sweet yummies she'd been promised.

Indigo eyes darted over the scene, taking in Ikkou's familiar - if slightly altered - shape. The little golden Pokemon chiming over his shoulder. The garishly loud woman all but looming over him as his shoulders tensed, his hands raised. A flash of something angry and protective sparked in Kazu. Her route never wavered as she marched towards them, bumping shoulders in the crowd, ignoring the startled voices as she passed.

The woman moved away from her cousin (lucky her) and in moments, Kazu had finally reached him. She stretched up a hand (and up, and up - when had he gotten so tall?) to grab his shoulder.

"Ikkou." His name was barely out of her mouth, her eyes finding his, when suddenly her arms were wrapped around his middle, hugging him tight. Kazu had never been much of a hugger - playful tousling of hair or an encouraging hit to the shoulder had always been more her speed. But for some reason, all she could do in this moment was hold her family close as something warm burned behind her eyes. She squeezed, like she could burrow into him. Then she pulled back suddenly, looking up at him. She blinked, trying to reconcile this young man, nearly a full head taller than her, with the little adolescent boy who’d tailed after her whenever she’d visited Hearthome, and exchanged postcards with her as she drifted from region to region with her tireless mother.

"You - what are you doing here?" Movement and color caught her attention from around Ikkou’s arm. The woman was coming back, purpose in her step. Kazu’s expression snapped to one of bored, detached judgement that she’d practically designed to piss off all the arrogant showboats she’d had to put up with over the years. "And who’s the mascot?" she asked loud enough to be heard.

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

Sorry for the hold up, will be working on a post when I get home from work today!

Realms of Sun & Shadow

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It was a short time after the Prince left the temple that Tia found herself hiding under the covers of her bed, eyes wide, cheeks burning, as she played their interaction over again in her mind.

Why had she touched him??? Temporary insanity? Overpowering intrusive thoughts? And she’d cried in front of him. How, in the name of the burning sun, was he ever supposed to trust her to competently do her job?

Tia sank deeper into the mattress, her hand tracing up to where he’d showed her. Her fingers pressed between her ribs again - where she was meant to drive a dagger on him. She pulled her hand away like it burned her. She swallowed. Squeezing her eyes shut, Tia wiped at the ghosts of tear stains on her face. She allowed herself another few moments of wallowing.

Then she forced herself to emerge from under the blankets and get to work.

Caring for the temple was familiar, even if the structure itself was new. She donned a thin robe over her oversized sleeping robes to clean out the soot and ash from the brazier, and added fresh wood to feed it through the new day. Then she cleaned, and changed into fresh clothes for the day complete with a scarf, blue and gold-embroidered, to cover her scar (her scarf from yesterday was long gone - not only had she left it in Orion’s home, but it had been positively coated in blood). She reached for her hair-needles to pin up her long, pale hair, but drew her eyebrows together when she couldn’t find them. She only had a set of smaller ones, too little to hold all of it back. Instead of her usual bun, she settled on only pulling the top layer of her hair back into a smaller up-do, the rest of it hanging thick down her back.

Then she lit incense through the temple, whispered daily blessings, and collected her letter to deliver to Pleiades. She hoped the High Priest would have a response soon for her - and she could remove at least a single layer of her subterfuge here.

Tia stepped out of the back entrance to the temple, with one last chore on her list: to remove the sign she and Pleiades had created last night. Whatever contaminants had been in the water last night would be gone by now. It was her first full day to be spent in Dawnhaven - she wanted to ensure that her temple, the springs attached to them, whatever sanctuary Aelios could provide, was open and welcoming to all.

Voices rose to meet her at the top of the stairs. It seemed that some had already taken to the springs, even so early in the morning. Her eyebrows pulled together. Had they not seen the sign?

…Apparently not. Because when Tia made her way to the spot where they had staked it into the ground, there was nothing but a lantern and a small hole in the dirt filling with snow. She paused, looking around. Had someone… taken it? Tia couldn’t imagine why, not when it was just parchment and a broken broom handle.

Tia spun in place, looking for any trace of it. But it was nowhere to be seen. This was surely on the bottom of the list of priorities she had to deal with. Perplexed, Tia sighed.

Well, one less thing to clean up, she supposed. She turned, to head back into the temple –

Only to stop, looking back over her shoulder as the voices grew to a commotion.

In the end it seemed she did have another chore before heading into the town: helping an ailing blight-born woman into the temple. Hands glowing, her heartrate spiking, she, along with two other women (was… was one of them a cyclops?), helped the cunicular patient into a spare bed in the warmth of the temple.

It wasn’t yet ten in the morning, and already Tia found herself exhausted by the day, her barely-recovered stores of magic depleting once again.

This was how Tia greeted Dawnhaven on her first full day in the settlement, letter in hand as she went to deliver it to Pleiades and then report for the town meeting.

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

Location: Beryl Town
Interacting With: Ikkou @Yankee

Kazu wound her way through the streets of Beryl Town, taking in the sights. The little town was bustling with color and activity, themed decorations and eager participants bringing an unmistakable joy. Kazu couldn’t help but smile as she walked. She even pulled on the wires of her earbuds, popping them out and letting the festival flood her senses.

She felt… weightless. There was a giddy novelty in letting her feet carry her without thought, not worrying about schedules or obligations, or keeping an eye on anyone but herself and her Cleffa - and the new egg weighing heavy on her back. But even if her attempt to offload it had failed, Kazu couldn’t find it in herself to mind. So what, she had an egg. It was cracked, sure, but tough as nails and close to hatching. And whatever Pokémon came out of it would be hers. She had the makings of a team.

A giggle bubbled out of her as a stray piece of confetti fluttered past her nose, the colorful paper barely brushing her skin. Astra echoed a chirp, feeding off her trainer’s good mood.

An aroma wafted through the air - something sweet and fried. Astra perked up, her little nose twitching. Then she chittered excitedly in Kazu’s ear, nuzzling deeper into her hair.

“Okay, okay!” she laughed, reaching a hand back to still the little Cleffa. Kazu had largely ignored the food stalls in the town square, as crowded as they’d been. But hey, they had all the time in the world to go where they pleased. She started mapping the town in her head, trying to remember the best route back to the festival. She’d spent the past week exploring Beryl Town, getting used to Starre’s local flavor. It wouldn’t be hard to make it back to the square. “You know this means braving the crowd again, right?” Cleffa chirped in affirmation.

Keeping hold of the straining straps of her backpack, Kazu wove through the town until that sweet scent grew stronger. Soon enough she was on the outskirts of the festival again. The crowd had thinned some, and it seemed like the food stalls had been largely picked clean. But maybe there’d be something small she could grab for Astra.

But as she moved through the crowd, a voice froze her in place - a very familiar voice that she hadn’t heard in years. It was a little lower than she remembered, a little stronger, but there was still that sweetness, that upbeat helpfulness. Another voice blared out like a horn, overpowering it - but it made it easier for Kazu to find the source. Kazu spun, eyes wide as she searched. And sure enough, there was that silver hair, the blue eyes, his open, eager expression.

“Ikkou?”

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

@Enzayne sorry to hear about your troubles, you do what you gotta do. Hope the tumult eases!

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

I’ll work on a small post in the next couple days just to get Kazu back near the crowd and within spotting-distance!

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

Haha yeah I thought of her when I was looking over the map info. I mostly went with tourmaline because I think that path has a more interesting variety of pokemon to go for.

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

I’m pretty flexible, but I think I have a slight preference to head for Tourmaline town - but if someone else feels strongly about going the other way then I have no problems with that. :)

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

It seems like Noah’s last post took him and Kazu out of the main town center/crowd if I’m reading that right? Kazu’s unlikely to try diving into the fray again, but maybe Ikkou could spot her since he’s looking for her? Either in the crowd or maybe the ikkou/mags/alex party (seeing Alex will also throw Kazu for a loop lol) head out or something… idk we don’t have to complicate things lol. I’m game for whatever gets the cousins to see each other.

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams

@Brose look, i'm sorry, i know we're supposed to be forming the party but that's just what kazu wanted to do lmao. if you don't have an immediate reason for noah to keep engaging with her, then if nothing else kazu will be locked into the group the second she sees ikkou - we can reconvene there lol.