This world is inhabited by creatures that we call pokemon. People and pokemon live together by supporting each other, but now the scourge threatens the safety of the entire region. Kohaku has become a dangerous place, where children stay at home and only brave souls go adventuring.
Welcome to KOHAKU. Come for the nightmares. Stay for the tea and crumpets.
The season is SUMMER. It is easy for survivors to forage for food from the land, as there are entire abandoned farms ready for harvest. On the downside, you can smell the corpses.
swarms
GRAND OPENING !
Welcome to KOHAKU REGION's grand opening! If you're interested in joining, come check out our grand opening giveaway!
Emily watched as Jayden spoke, his voice full of anger and confusion. His eyes were lifted to the sky, as if the clouds would answer his questions. But of course he was met with silence, and his eyes once again turned back to her. But he wasn't looking at her; he was looking through her and into his own head.
"The future...is a heartless bitch." Emily didn't cuss often, but when she did she was being serious. "We all want to take our future into our own hands; to mold it into what we envisioned for ourselves down the road. But...sometimes things happen in our lives that we can't control." She stepped closer to Jayden, keeping her eyes firmly on his. She felt for him and she wanted him to realize that not everything in life was so bad.
When she was almost a few feet from his face she stopped, only to then smile at him, her head slightly tilted to the side. "My goal is to live a happy life. Regardless of what fate has in store for me. Why should we want anything more than that?" citrus
She didn't get it. Not that he'd expected her to 'get it' in the first place, but what was most upsetting about the way she reacted was the way she reminded him of her. "So you'd rather sit back and let 'fate' decide things for you?" He argued, still scowling, still staring at the sky. "Waiting for uncertainties around the corner and unfortunate tragedies with the slightest misstep? Is this the future that we shouldn't try to change?"
Breathe, he told himself. Composed himself, blinking slightly, lowering his head, staring ahead, but not at her. "There's times where it feels like there's another person's hands on the reins of my life. I shouldn't feel like a stranger to myself, but sometimes I do." And that small part of him still wondered why she was still here, because he'd expected her to shake her head and leave with disgust awhile back.
"Life is about purpose. If you don't have a purpose, life means nothing." Life was about motivation, about ambitions and revenge (but he left that part out). "Don't you have goals, dreams? That's the future."
Emily watched as Jayden spoke, his voice full of anger and confusion. His eyes were lifted to the sky, as if the clouds would answer his questions. But of course he was met with silence, and his eyes once again turned back to her. But he wasn't looking at her; he was looking through her and into his own head.
"The future...is a heartless bitch." Emily didn't cuss often, but when she did she was being serious. "We all want to take our future into our own hands; to mold it into what we envisioned for ourselves down the road. But...sometimes things happen in our lives that we can't control." She stepped closer to Jayden, keeping her eyes firmly on his. She felt for him and she wanted him to realize that not everything in life was so bad.
When she was almost a few feet from his face she stopped, only to then smile at him, her head slightly tilted to the side. "My goal is to live a happy life. Regardless of what fate has in store for me. Why should we want anything more than that?" citrus
And suddenly, he was in the past again, at the ceremony, standing in the audience watching a middle-aged man and standing next to that girl as he spoke those fateful words. Time-skip, fast forward, spitting bitter words from the backs of his teeth as he ran down the stairs, her right behind him screaming, crying --
He blinked, the vision disappating. "We all want a lot of things." It came out better than he'd imagined, his voice even, a little bit quieter than he had been seconds ago. "But if you make poor choices that lead to a poor future, don't you think that its up to you to control how that future continues?"
She was close, a little close, but all the churning waves that splashed restlessly on the bridge supports told him that stepping without looking was a bad idea, so he didn't back out or away. "Maybe you can tell me something, then." Snapped his eyes so they were locked on hers, eyebrows sharp against his features. "What makes life 'happy'?"
She stayed quiet as Jayden spoke. He seemed to be recalling past memories, and she couldn't comment on such things because she didn't know anything about them. Although she wanted to tell him that the past was the past, she really didn't know what is past was all about. People's pasts could haunt them forever, so it seemed.
But when he looked to her, eyes locking onto her as if for some divine answer, the trainer had to stop and think. What was happy? Happiness..."It's different for everyone." Her words came out slow, as she was taking her time to choose said words carefully. Jayden was a hard person to read, and she didn't want to piss him off any more than she probably already had.
"For a researcher, finding new discoveries makes them the happiest. For those that have always had a close relationship with their family, being with family makes them the happiest. For me...being on this adventure makes me the happiest." At this she turned around, moving her eyes to the ocean. Watching the waves splash against the dock seemed to help her with her train of thought. "But really, not every moment in your life will be a happy one. But the fact that you can experience these things; happiness, sadness, anger...they're all part of being alive. And that's the best, isn't it? Even through everything else...You're alive." citrus
He laughed, again, this time lighter, a little less bitter and grating and like he'd just swallowed sandpaper. It was a small thought, a sentimental thought. Childish, foolish, but it struck something in him and made that thing glow slightly, though he wasn't sure what. "I've been dead for the last two and a half years. Trying to find out who I am and what my purpose is." If he - if people - lived without a purpose, then they were worth more dead than they ever were alive. But only if they weren't willing to try and change that.
"I don't like the way I live now. I'm trying to change it, but there's got to be limits to set, goals." He glanced upwards, briefly, pupils flickering to a cloud that drifted past his view. "Don't set goals, and it's like flying into the sun. All that's waiting for you is to fall, crash and burn. I set goals to reach them - that's my happiness. And I'll get to those goals by any means possible." Happiness didn't have to be restricted to one, single, thing, he knew, but trying to understand how this 'adventure' they'd been sent on was happiness posed another problem altogether. Because to him, this was nothing but a hassle, and he'd never met anybody who shared those same, simplistic ideals.
"I've met a lot of people on this 'adventure', and I'd like to think I've understood a lot of things, but I'm sure as hell I don't understand a thing about you." Her energy, her ideals. The way that they could talk like this by the docks and have him still not understand whether it was optimism or simply 'wistful thinking'.
Emily laughed when Jayden commented on the oddity that was, well, her. It was true that she had an unusual way about her, but that's how she'd been her entire life. Had she been any other way..."I guess this is just who I am. And honestly I like myself. True there are some times when I do things that make me wonder why I am the way I am but...In the end I can't really STOP being me, you know?"
A light blush crossed her face again when he mentioned that he'd never met anyone like her before. She shrugged, holding Mirage close to her chest. "I haven't met anyone like you either! So I guess we're even huh?" When he spoke his goals, however, Emily's blush faded as she listened in closely. Her eyes widened at the fact that he was indeed searching for someone, and that made her want to help him even more.
"Alright! With my help I know we'll be a great team!" she called out, pulling one hand free to ball up into a fist in the air. "I'll definitely help you find your friend and then I know you'll be happier!" citrus
"What's there not to get?" Rolled his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh as he used one hand to push bangs out of his face. "Nothing about you makes sense to me. That's all there is. We're different. Really different." And in a way, maybe that was what was making him stick around, and vice-versa? People were supposed to be like her, book-easy to read, giving him the way to push all their buttons with a simple twist of his wrist. That was how he'd known it his entire life. "I don't think I've met somebody like you before."
Help him? There it was again, that sentimental thinking that he couldn't understand, the core element that she'd been trying to project from the moment they'd met, but he couldn't bring light of. Yet, he decided humor the thought. "Change." Change his environment, his future, himself. "Strength to bring about that change. That's my goal." Licked his lips, smirked, then chuckled.
"I'm searching for someone, too. Someone special."
Emily laughed when Jayden commented on the oddity that was, well, her. It was true that she had an unusual way about her, but that's how she'd been her entire life. Had she been any other way..."I guess this is just who I am. And honestly I like myself. True there are some times when I do things that make me wonder why I am the way I am but...In the end I can't really STOP being me, you know?"
A light blush crossed her face again when he mentioned that he'd never met anyone like her before. She shrugged, holding Mirage close to her chest. "I haven't met anyone like you either! So I guess we're even huh?" When he spoke his goals, however, Emily's blush faded as she listened in closely. Her eyes widened at the fact that he was indeed searching for someone, and that made her want to help him even more.
"Alright! With my help I know we'll be a great team!" she called out, pulling one hand free to ball up into a fist in the air. "I'll definitely help you find your friend and then I know you'll be happier!" citrus
A lot of things that she said were sentimental and so simple, to the point of being childish. But every once in awhile she would say something that made him think, really think. Except this time he felt a slight prickle of bittersweet envy, something that prickled at his stomach until he sighed, and then it was gone. "That's not a bad thing. Liking yourself, I mean." And as he said it, he realized that he actually meant it, almost wished that he could like himself like her, but he couldn't. "You don't like yourself, people around you don't like you either." Like him, she couldn't possibly be like him because she didn't know him, probably didn't even like him. They'd leave after the conversation got boring, then never see each other again (except he knew, somewhere, that they would, he just wasn't sure where).
Shrugged his shoulders, slightly, at her, inclining his head to stare at the waves and recall mudkip and drifloon, who looked like they were starting to get bored (and therefore, sleepy, which was bad). But then, he still had to wonder. "You've never met someone like me. Really?" People like him were all over the place, he wanted to say. They're - he was - the kind of person that everybody else hated, and the fact was so simple that it was confusing. Confusing enough, he justified, that he hadn't known what he'd said until she raised her fist up in the air and proclaimed she would help him, and his eyes widened, because it looked so much like a promise (so much like back then that he had to keep himself from wincing).
"Hey." He said, scowling, one hand grabbing her shoulder and his eyes trying to lock with hers. "Don't make promises you can't keep. It's not that easy."
(haha sorry about the wait, I should be back to normal now in terms of posting <3)
"I really haven't! You confuse me. Sure, I've met people who are just downright mean. But there's something about you that makes me feel that you're not bad. You've just...had a bad life, which in turn makes you upset." she mused, watching Jayden as he recalled his pokemon. He really was an astounding subject for her to study.
But then he grabbed her, locking eyes as if she'd just said something horrid. Emily's eyes went wide, but she couldn't help but blush awkwardly. "H-hey! Why would I make a promise I couldn't keep?" she asked, blinking her eyes rapidly. She was a bit scared at his reaction, but she stayed limp in his grasp. He wouldn't hurt her...Right? All she'd done was try to help him... citrus
The same, she did the very same thing those years ago, with her fist in the air and her eyes shining and (did they kiss? he wasn't sure if they kissed or not but it was probably a cheek kiss, nothing special). "I'm not upset about anything." But even as he protested that, he knew that he was upset, upset about a lot of things that were out of his reach, out of his control but that he wanted to control and wanted to change. "What is it about me that's confusing? I'll simplify it for you."
His pupils flickered around, darting past hers, around, and finally, finally he could see her, and his hand snapped back, like it'd been burned (because he did the same thing to her, years ago). "There's circumstances." He snapped, then felt bad about it, but wasn't sure why. "It's...complicated." Got out at last, fingering at a lock of hair on his head. It might've been a problem that had a solution, but if she followed him down this path, it would only be path to inevitable failure, like he'd expected from the get-go.
What was confusing? Emily had almost forgotten why she was confused by him in the first place. She placed a finger on her lips, as if trying to recall forgotten information. "Well...I'm not sure really. At first I thought you were mean. But I know you're really not. I guess I'm not as confused as I am...well...upset for you."
When he snapped Emily flinched, but he calmed his tone down a bit. Circumstances? Complications? "No there's not." She stated simply, shrugging her shoulders. "If I knew I couldn't help you I wouldn't tell you that I could. That wouldn't be right." citrus