Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
It took maybe forty-five minutes to get from the dance studio to his place, but to be fair she had given up walking about ten minutes in and flagged down a cab. Senara was a lot of things right now but physical strength had never been--and never would be--her selling point. Anyway. She figured out which of the tall, tall buildings of Bass was the one he was residing in and made her way straight to it, checking for cameras and, then, realizing she could not care less, pulled her Banette hoodie from her purse and pulled it on, shrouding her face, before coming right up to the door and picking the lock.
She wasn't usually this impatient. In fact she was usually very, very good at waiting for a mark or the right opportunity to get what she wanted, but she wasn't thinking clearly now.
oCMO0M36p_. [+20 Crime Skill]
The lock was opened easily and she slipped inside, hood still drawn over her features and hair tucked in to avoid the obvious pink curls from being seen by cameras. She went through the mailboxes to be sure his was among them...but, oddly, found none. He had still given this place as his address to Arietta, though. Had he lied? Or maybe he was using a fake name like the one on his ID...or, well, that was his mother's maiden name, right? So...ugh, too complicated for her right now. Her head was killing her.
Why do I care?
She went to the stairs and started walking rather than bothering with the elevator. It was a bitch of a walk, but she had taken a cab for the sake of preserving her strength for this. Elevators had cameras and were too closed-space for her liking. Stairs it was.
Why do I care??
Of course, more time to reach the apartment meant more time to question why she was even here in the first place. She didn't have any stake in this relationship drama. To her, Gabe was a partner in crime. His love life wasn't her problem--especially not his lack of a safe, sane, or stable love life. Arietta was inconsequential. She was too sweet and too nice for this world; it wouldn't be kind to her if she kept reading people so very, very wrongly. But she was just another too-good-for-this-sinful-world girl among hundreds. She just so happened to be one mixed up with Gabe, and Gabe just so happened to be mixed up with Senara, and Gabe just so happened to have thrown himself off the back of a Charizard flying high enough over a lake that if he hadn't been caught he--
Dammit dammit dammit dammit DAMMIT.
I shouldn't care! I don't care! They're both idiots! They deserve each other!
So. Why. Am. I. Here. Now?!
Senara reached the door number/letter the address stated. She rubbed her eye, hissed slightly in something between pain and irritation--thank God she wasn't crying from the ache in her legs, that would make this look so bad--then raised her hand up and...
Slow down. If this isn't his place, what is my excuse.
Wrong apartment. Duh.
Alright, continue.
...knocked at an audible but not overly loud and dramatic volume.
The sounds of shuffling behind the apartment door would be the first sign of life within. A light would be flicked on and bleed out into the hallway under the door. After that, the sounds of feet on carpet would thump that way before a pause. The sound of a chain being slid and a lock being placed in the door to brace it from being forced open would come very briefly. And then it would open.
It was not Gabe that stood there but a woman far older. Senara would know her immediately from research on his family, though. This was very much Sarah Alim if a bit more worn and torn than her cuter younger pictures suggested. Her far paler yellow eyes rimmed with darkness underneath stared at Senara guardedly. Her dark hair, a mix of deep purple and a few strands of noticeable grey, was pulled back into a ponytail at the back of her neck. She wore a simple but very loose t-shirt and stretchy workout pants. On her feet were grey and pink bunny slippers. “Can I help you?” she rasped.
When the door opened she did, for a second, think it was Gabe, just from the colors the woman in front of her had to her skin, eyes, and hair, but the moment passed very fast. It was replaced by a mix of dread and amusement fighting for territory in her stomach. This was Gabe's mother, right? Was this her apartment?? Hahahahah, is he still living at his mom's house?! Oh my God, that's fucking perfect. She then remembered, again, that he was nineteen and it wasn't all that pathetic for a nineteen year old to still be living at their parent's home. But he was just so...smug, and so high-and-mightier-than-thou. Him still living off his mama's money just made that whole image of him so much funnier.
If he even did live here, of course, and hadn't given this address as a cover-up.
I did not want to talk to his ex and his fucking mother in one day. I'm going to kill him.
"Um, hi!" Senara adopted the same sweet, slightly air-headed smile as before, but didn't try to thicken her accent this time. No need to look that foreign right now. "You're, uh, Gabriel's mother, right? I was actually looking for them. I'm friends with them and just came from the studio--he left his ID there, and this was the address they had on hand?" To prove she was being honest--as possible--she pulled out Gabe's trainer ID, but put her finger-tips over the last half of his first name and his last name. No need to find out that mommy dearest didn't know about a name change or the like. No sir. Not her job.
"Is he here? Or, um, if not, do you know where I can find them?"
|QYralYTp_ [CHARISMA + 0 ROLL (HAHAHAHAHHA WTF DICE???)]
Sarah’s eyebrows furrowed, and her once neutral expression darkened. A low series of Arroian words came from her lips as she closed the door briefly. The sounds of feet leaving only to return a moment later mixed with the sounds of the chain being pulled out of the door. Sarah stood there with her coat on her shoulders and some tennis shoes on her feet. “What in hell did he get himself into now?” she demanded, her voice still raspy. Her hand extended and she seemed to be waiting for the trainer ID to be placed in it. “Arceus be damned if you’re part of one of his skeezy gangs, I will hang you upside down out a window myself.” Well, it was clear enough where Gabe got his threats from now and again. There was still some tiredness to her features, though, even with a more intense look in her eyes.
Even your mother thinks you're sketchy, Gabe. Dear Yveltal.
Senara's smile weakened at the corners after Sarah had gotten more dressed and had the door open more. Her hand pulled back the ID on reflex, brow furrowed over her two visible (one working) eyes. "Wh..." Shit. She didn't want to be seen as anything sketch by anybody, especially not a stranger. She had a reputation to uphold, dammit! And her association with Gabe was not going to tarnish it just because he was apparently much worse at looking innocent like she was. She took her hood off just to be sure her face would be more visible to the woman in the doorway, smile more worried (and nervous).
"Nothing skeezy! I'm Senara, I'm just his friend...? We dance together, that's all!"
Her hand was held out and she wondered if it would look worse or better if she held onto it. It wasn't her business if he had changed his name on his ID and not told his mother, but she really didn't need any distractions right now. It was also the only reason she had on her to track him down. On the other hand she wanted to hand the thing off before. This would work. So she did, placing the little piece of plastic into Sarah's waiting hand.
She met her eyes then looked down, fingers anxiously--played up, but not entirely fake--fiddling at her chest. "Um, was that a 'no' on knowing where he is? I...had some things to talk to him about...a-about, um, personal things...?" Play dumb, be vague. Worst comes to worst I use the same dumb excuse and hope this woman's a sucker like Ari.
Ari? Ara? What should I call her? Which one does he use, so I can avoid it?
Sarah’s brows furrowed more as Senara pulled back on the ID. Her hand dropped and then set itself on her hip momentarily. Her eyes flicked over Senara slowly carefully. As the item was held forward, though, she took it, looked over it, and sighed. Another series of Arroian words came, these slower and a bit more toned. She seemed... unfazed by Gabe’s name change (or gender change or anything for that matter), and it was perhaps clear that she was either aware of it already or had expected it. The prior would be the actual case.
The question, however, had her pocketing the ID for now. “He’s probably at his boyfriend’s house if he’s not traveling,” she answered with a small irritated huff. A touch of Arroian escaped from her again, and she reached up to rub her temple. “If you want the address… I’ll give it to you.” She seemed a little hesitant again, guarded and considering. Her eyes flicked up and down Senara carefully judging her.
"Oh, yes, please! That would be perfect!" Senara let out a soft sigh of relief, her hand on her chest. Her smile grew and warmed just enough to be friendly but not to come off as creepy or over-acted. It took effort to keep it on her face. "Thank you so much. I was going to head out to Plum really soon--I don't want to miss him. Thank you again!"
Meanwhile, in the safety of her mind, she was absolutely losing her shit.
A boyfriend?? Oh God, oh GOD, if Ara finds out about this one, too, this is going to be a fucking train wreck!...or not! I can talk her into believing we're poly or some shit--that's a thing, right? Ugh, but she said he's incredibly possessive, would he be able to pretend that or would he give it away? He can hardly keep from looking like a villain, I don't know how good an actor he is...unless he saves that act for me. A flattering thought.
Just...improvise. Improv is where I shine. And he still can't kill me if his boyfriend is in the house, right? Unless he's into it. Oh, Arceus, what if he's just as bad as they are??
She made to look like she was ready to leave as soon as she got the address. If she didn't go ASAP she would probably chicken out before she even made it down the stairs.
Sarah frowned but slowly nodded. She shifted sideways fishing up a sticky note pad off of a table next to the door and scribbling something on it with a pen before holding it forward. The numbers were to a house of all things not too far south of where they were currently but a ways that a taxi might be necessary. “Tell him to come home for Christmas,” she said after a moment before closing the door again right after.
Senara accepted the note, smiled, nodded, and went down the stairs a few floors...and stopped, drew in a breath, and slouched against the wall. She really, really did not want to talk to his mother today. She had done so much lying and so much sweet, saccharine bullshit today that it made her feel sick--her headache still hadn't gone away from her talk with Arietta--and this did nothing to help that. Why couldn't she just find one asshat in Bass and antagonize him and then go about her normal business guilt- and nausea-free? Was this fate getting on her for agreeing to this insane heist plan in advance?
She gathered her stomach up from her knees and made it the rest of the way down, shedding her hoodie and stuffing it into her bag before she walked through the door in case of a security camera. She went down the road to flag another taxi, still stewing.
The road's so dark. Ugh. This is going later than I wanted it to.
Is this headache from being tired?
A cab pulled up and she fed the driver the address on the note, then leaned back in the seat and contemplated. She wanted to go back to her hotel room and snuggle Baby Girl and not need to worry about this mess until the heist. Why was she even still doing this?
She squeezed her eyes shut. Then, after a moment's thought, opened her purse to pull her patch from inside it to put over her eye. It felt a little better, but it didn't change how damn dark everything looked right now. Maybe she could badger Gabe into making her coffee or something. Or guilt him into it, with his mother's message.
At least she cared enough to ask for him back. Hahah, mine would rather--
The cab stopped and she opened her eyes again. With a friendly smile and slip of Pen to the driver she stepped out and went to the door. It was...a nice house, honestly. Did they live together? Was it just the two of them? She wasn't able to afford her own house with a working salary, so maybe the boyfriend had money. Or he was as big a thief as Gabe and the two of them bought this house with ill-gotten gains. Hm. Not bad.
She pulled her hair out of the stupid twin-tails on her head--I'm done playing dumb, if boyfriend answers the door he's just getting an exhausted friend from out-of-town or some shit--but it didn't help her headache. Senara then rung the bell besides the door.
Gabe had fully intended to ignore the ring of the doorbell. He was in the middle of cooking dinner and Amell could take two seconds to fish out his keys and actually enter the house like a normal person instead of relying on him if he was in a hurry. Mumbling softly to himself as he poured the last of the chopped ingredients into the soup, he looked at the door again and found that no Amell wasn’t coming through the door. Ugh… Alright fine. Turning down the heat, he rounded the kitchen and started over towards the front door again.
He opened it without thinking. “Did you forget your keys again or—“ His eyes had been raised upwards expecting a much taller man. They dropped slowly right after to then fixate on Senara instead. He blinked slowly not entirely processing she was there. “What the fuck—“ escaped form him right after.
Hah, the look of dumbstruck surprise was almost worth all this nonsense. Senara met the startled look on Gabe's face with a smug, still quite exhausted smirk, and without an attempt to get in by asking she snuck under his arm--Suffer, tall person--and stepped into the houses' foyer. Here was where she would come up with something cool and sneaky like "Did you really think you could keep secrets from me" or "So this is where you live? Looked nicer online". But she was so exhausted and the inside of the house was so bright compared to outside that she just snickered and went, "Gotcha, bitch~"
Once in she turned around, rubbing the corner of her real eye with her palm, still able to smirk quite efficiently despite her exhaustion. "Before you say anything. Yes, I totally stole your ID. You knew that, probably. I looked you up online and through a grape-vine of absolutely epic proportions--which, by the by, includes--" she listed the address she'd gotten from the studio, from Arietta, to his mother, which admitting aloud was probably going to get her choked but she could not care less right now, "--wound me up here. You're graced with my presence. Is the alleged boyfriend home, or am I too early?"
Ugh, the lighting was so bright in here it was hard to keep her eye open. And it was all super purple-ey, too. Who in their right mind used purple bulbs for their house lights. She blinked rapidly and tried to pretend she wasn't squinting like an idiot.
Way to kill my "I have the upper-hand here" rant, over-saturation.
"Also, would it kill you to have, like, one name for me to scan the bank boxes for? I went through like six before I found the right one. Which means I win the extra thirty, right?~"
Gabe immediately twisted around as Senara stepped under and around him. Gotcha, bitch…. And that was Gabe immediately deadpanning. Oh. Oh, lovely. He closed the door and walked past her and looping back around to the kitchen— mostly to keep his back to her as he went around. Raising the temperature again, he leaned then over the bar to look at her.
His features remained neutral but internally he was… screaming. Senara…. had done much, much, much more digging on him than he’d ever wanted. And then some. How much did she know? How much did she assume? What if anything did she say to Mom? And then some? The particular shade of purple and blue in his aura flooded with darkness, and the particular sheen it normally had of silver was dulling by the second. It cracked and crackled like the fire it was even if he was completely unaware of it now.
“Well, congratulations,” he finally decided. “Though who owns this house isn’t a boyfriend,” he corrected with a small laugh. “He’s a sugar daddy.”
"Aw, what's wrong? Can't take it when you dish it out, Mr. Lemme Show Up at My Job?Boo-hoo~" Senara let out a string of giggles, following Gabe's retreating back into the kitchen of the house. It was darker in here at least...or...was it? Her eyes still hu--eyes?
Senara brought her hand up to her eye-patch covered, fake-eye holding socket and pressed the blunt of her palm into it. Wha--how--? How was she feeling pain in there? Was her eye in wrong? What the hell? She bit back a small swear and forced herself to keep her spine straightened and her narrowed eyes on Gabe. He wasn't looking at her, so she could keep the pain and confusion hidden in her voice and it would be fine. It helped that he was so damn angry. She was eating this up under all the headache-ing.
"Arceus, cet endroit a un éclairage de merde." She muttered, then pulled herself back together. Then promptly fell apart at his open admission of who owned the house. Not a boyfriend, but a-- "A sugar daddy??? Oh, Arceus...what the hell Gabe?! To think, I thought for a second that you might have some sort of dignity! Whoopsie-daisy." She cackled behind her hand, the other still holding her "eye". Ow. "Actually, no, y'know what? That tracks! If you'd been able to keep up a steady relationship long enough to have a house with the guy, I would have never been able to find you. Lucky for me!"
She took a step back and...swayed, slightly. Senara had to close her eyes to get her balance back. "H-Hahah, fuck, and what's with the rave lights in here? I know what the term 'love nest' means but, yikes, it doesn't need to look like a nightclub, too." Why couldn't she get the blackness out from her eyelids? Even if it was bad lighting, there should still be some sort of color coming through the skin to her eye...what the hell...
A laugh, light, airy, almost amused escaped from Gabe. “Well, lucky you.” His aura was… almost black then though, dark angry a swirl of emotions but none of them great. She’s disposable… he reminded himself. Absolutely, entirely disposable. Could he hide a body from Amell? Eh, probably.
…What was… she going on about, though? The light was clear and yellow lighting at most? Wait a second was she drugged? Serves her right if she was. It would make her that much easier to dispose of. He moved, slowly, fluidly back around from the kitchen, easing the temperature off the stove again so the pot wouldn’t boil over. I could crush her, break her. It wouldn’t be hard. He could probably even have one of his Pokemon do it. She was in his house after all. He had access, all kinds of it. And she was distracted. Just prey there.
Why did the dark hurt worse than the light? Why the hell did it permeate through the skin of her eyelids and keep drilling into her like this? It hurts...fuck it hurts. Senara took another step back, still wobbling on her heel, before she managed to open her eye again and found he was looking at her now. The lighting was so dark she could hardly see him in it, whatever kind of not-sense that was. She kept her hand tight on her eye-patch, but the other reached for something to catch herself on. Something caught her just so--the counter or something, she was just unable to see it through the...okay, no, no no no, this was not light, it wasn't normal, she was--something was going wrong. What happened?
She hadn't eaten or drank anything aside from what she had on her. Nothing tainted, nothing drugged, nothing poisoned...but God, her head and eyes just hurt so much...
I can't keep standing. I can't. I can't. I'm going to fall. What do I do?
"...g-Gabe...?" Her voice wavered, cracking in fear. The hand on her face lowered just enough to reach forward instead. Her eyes were both closed again, clenched tight pain, teeth grit tightly shut. She still managed to whimper, "I...my head...it h...hurts...hel..."
It was already so dark, she wouldn't have realized she'd fainted, even if she could.
The way Senara’s voice cracked had Gabe freezing. What was— She was reaching out to him like that… just… like that and then she was falling and— Without thinking about it, he caught her. Without thinking about it, he’d bolted the last few half-steps to her and snagged her arm and shoulder right before she hit the ground, momentarily suspending her before hooking down and around to hold her and then carefully lower her to the floor.
She… she was out? Gabe fidgeted and then raised a few fingers to check her pulse. Oh fuck why couldn’t he find her pulse??? Oh wait was that it??? Fuck he couldn’t tell. Gritting his teeth, he looked towards the door. Amell was going to be home any time now, and the last thing he needed was some passed out possibly dead body here and ugh. I was just about to kill her anyways but… But the look in her eye, the way her had reached out. Damn it…
Fishing out his phone, he dialed a number. The person who answered gave a passive ‘alright sure come on by’, and then it was Gabe’s job to figure out how to actually transport her. Well, that turned out to be easier than he expected with plenty of rideable Pokemon handy. He picked Clopper for her discretion and reliability. The Gogoat was quick to help Gabe pull her onto her back and then head out.
Soon enough, they were a ways away in a questionable clinic area. Nails, the questionable medical practitioner from the phone, was muttering softly to himself and directing Gabe on where to set Senara. Laying her out on a medical bed, Gabe watched as Nails then set about basic vital statistics and then drew a few samples of blood for later. “She’s stable now, I’m going to run some tests with these in the meantime but if I do find something, you’re going to have to take her to an actual hospital,” Nails spoke quietly. Gabe already knew their practices, though, all too well.
Looks like they’d just have to hope she woke up. Ugh….
The woman sitting at the desk in front of her, with black hair cut to just above her jaw, did not respond to her question. Senara brushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, eyes narrowed, staring down at her with as much vitriol as she could muster. She was still so young, though, that it stung her eyes to try to keep so angry and not burst into tears.
C'est mon père! Je veux le voir!
The woman glanced at her daughter over her shoulder, steel-green eyes devoid of...any visible emotion. Not anger, not hate, not sadness, not cold amusement. Nothing. It put a pit of ice into Senara's stomach. Then the moment passed. She returned to her work.
"Ingrate. Ses capacités sont gaspillées sur vous. C'est dommage."
--
She felt pickled.
There was probably a more medically sound way to describe that feeling--the feeling of her arms and legs and body feeling heavy and dense, like they were full of needles and also of thick vinegar--but that was the most accurate way she could think about right now. Pickled. At least it wasn't bright anymore. There was still a weirdly gray tint from behind her eyelids but it didn't hurt as much as the pitch black light did. What was that?
What was any of that? What is going on...?
Her fingers twitched against the mattress and her brow furrowed, stirring just a little.
"...nnm..."
Senara cracked her eyes open--one was still under the patch, that was good. But the gray light was still there, drifting in and out of sight like those sparkles one gets in their eyes when they've clenched them shut too tightly for too long. It flickered like flame when she could see it, thought. Gray and blue fire, softer than it had been before, but...
Sadder...somehow...why does it make me...
Something wet slid down the side of her face but she wasn't fast enough to catch it.
Gabe had pulled up a chair and sat right up next to Senara’s bed. He had been fidgeting with his phone when the noise hit his ears (however quiet it was) and made him look up. He didn’t miss the tear but didn’t mention it. “….Welcome back to consciousness,” he spoke trying to force as much lightness into his voice as possible. It fell flat, though, very flat. “Nails says you have 2 months to live.”
He was immediately clonked by the medical pad of a dark haired young man with striking blue eyes. “Don’t harass my patients when they’ve just woken up, Gabe,” was the monotone, quiet order. Gabe let out a forced laugh at that.
Senara's voice felt rough even though she couldn't have been out for too long. Or. Had she been? She wasn't hooked up to anything and this was definitely not a hospital, she had to be somewhere shady, which would not have been for something long-term...well, that would have been her logic once her brain caught up with the rest of the world, which it was still in the process of. Her eye moved before her head did just because it was a lot easier. Her neck hurt. There was still a lot of gray, but it was still softer. Sadder.
Gabe was in the middle of it. He'd been in the middle of the black lighting and the violet as well. But this was much easier to look at. Not nearly so saturated, not so painful.
She glanced from them to the person behind him, calling her "his patient". Ah, of course Gabe would know where a shady back-end clinic was. Why did she assume "shady" or "back-end"? Because it was Gabe, for once, but also...
"You...let s-some...MCR reject...heal me?" Her lips twitched into the weakest smile she could make, but it didn't last. She closed her eyes again. "...haah, merde...my aching head...what the hell happened t-...to me?" Senara drew in a breath, words rambling from her mouth before her brain could green-light them. "And why the hell am I still seeing these...colors over you...? It was pitch black b-back...there...it hurt to look at..."
Gabe Alim WC: 270 She would have said Panic at the Disco but she was more into MCR. :P
At the comment from Senara, Gabe snorted and looked back at Nails. Nails looked unamused as if he had heard this ten of thousands of times over. At the follow up comments, though Gabe looked forward again, and Nails looked down at his chart. “You passed out,” Gabe pointed out immediately.
A sigh escaped from Nails as if perhaps Gabe had cut him off from formulating his thoughts. A pause, and Nails was speaking now. “Your vital stats say you’re perfectly healthy. The blood tests I could run immediately are clear. We’ll need a day or two for some of the tests to show anything.” Nails flipped a page on the chart. “Visualizations could be signs of chronic migraines or blood pressure disorders— the latter of which you don’t have to worry about; I checked,” Nails commented quietly, monotone. “Are you predisposed to anything like that? Or have family history of such?”
Mod Call
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