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!
if there's any silver lining to the fact that the last man that sophia will probably ever love lies comatose, then it's that he doesn't have to watch her cry.
the tear streaks are dry now. instead of using her hands to wipe away her ruined makeup, sophia used them to hold zahir's still-warm hands. they have always been warmer than hers, even in this state.
(sophia still remembers daniel's clammy hands on the day that the nerio police department asked her to identify the bloody body in the bag)
she had already talked to the (more experienced) doctors. his condition looked plemty grim. the warmth is hope that sophia doesn't need and the closure that she doesn't get.
It was through sheer coincidence that Aaron had found himself at Nerio City in this particular moment. He takes a seat by Sophia's side, eyes fixed upon the heart meter that blipped faintly. He would have come too if it were her lying in the bed instead.
Aaron's hands clutch a worn-out tissue box. It's half-full, ready to be used some more.
He wonders if anyone aside from Zahir has seen this woman cry.
"I'm a mutual friend," he'd said to the front desk.
"He is in critical condition."
"I know." Aaron had very little trouble leaving a disgruntled secretary or nurse behind. His aura seemed to warn them not to stop him. Of course, the only Agent he had any history or personal connections with were Iskander, but he supposed that the other Agents were, for now, his ragtag allies. That was good enough.
This isn't the first time that he's sat at a hospital bed, but his parents were lucky enough to pass from natural illness.
a nurse stops by to pass her a cup of tea. sophia lets it sit, untouched. the only thing that can make her look up is when the doctor comes to give updated medical reports.
when she had arrived, sophia saw zahir's dad leave the hospital in a taxi. she didn't get to see mr. brand's expression, and she's almost regrets that.
he doesn't know, but she doesn't think that she would be able to face him like this. sophia wonders what things would have been like if he had never rushed to pax that night.
maybe she would have been able to keep her other life from him, maybe not. regardless, a normal human would have had no place being where zahir was.
Aaron rose from his seat, silently slipping out of the room without a warning. The way he moved showed that he had a clear destination though. It must have been some hours since Sophia had received notice about Zahir's condition. The man thumbed the elevator button's down arrow, waiting patiently for the lift to arrive.
The elevator took him to the basement of the hospital. There, Aaron found the building's humble cafeteria. Sophia would want something simple, he figured. He ended up with a bowl of warm cinnamon and brown sugar oatmeal. The photographs of the foods never actually looked like what they were advertising, but it would do for now. He mixed the hot water in, stirred, before covering it with the disposable lid it had come with. After grabbing a spoon and a bottle of water, he was set.
Aaron had left Sophia and Zahir alone for approximately twenty minutes. He opened the door again, quietly setting the tray of oatmeal and water upon the nightstand.
"You should eat it while it's warm," he said to Sophia.
sophia composes herself when aaron comes through the door. her sorrow isn't something that he needs to see. that is her own business.
her heart falters when he tells her to eat. it's a feeling of deja vu when she realizes that her history is repeating itself. zahir had done this for her once, hadn't he? the loss of her only brother had meant that sophia would often forget to feed herself. zahir had noticed and saved her from her own grief.
maybe it was quite inevitable that she would fall for a diciple like that (what else could he be with all that adoration in his now-lidded eyes?).
she tires of loving and losing and lamenting.
sophia isn't ungrateful enough to refuse aaron's efforts, however. she gives the life support another glance before shifting her chair and picking up the spoon.
"...thanks"
the first bite is enough to remind sophia of how little she wants to eat when her childhood friend is lying in an intensive care unit. regardless, she reminds herself that she doesn't need to be a nutrition expert to know that she doesn't want things to be the way that they were seven years ago. if she wants people to stop worrying about her, then she should give them less to worry about.
Granted, Aaron was not prepared to shove the oatmeal down Sophia's throat and insist she eat it. She needed the food to keep her strength, but he was also very aware that she as a big girl and could take care of herself.
"Just eat."
There were no other words necessary. He won't console her; he won't tell her things are going to be okay. He won't tell her he knows how she feels either. There is something on her face that tells the man that he wouldn't quite be able to understand her sadness. On the other hand, Aaron was never very good at the whole empathy thing. He's not sure what he can do for her sans take a seat at her side, also eying the comatose Zahir. He hadn't heard any details about the accident if there had been one. Byte had picked up on a distress call (the Porygon-Z managed to do some helpful things), and Aaron had managed to track it all the way back to the hospital.
It was through sheer coincidence that Aaron had found himself at Nerio City in this particular moment. He takes a seat by Sophia's side, eyes fixed upon the heart meter that blipped faintly. He would have come too if it were her lying in the bed instead.
