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!
Since the scourge had fled from Nerio, they'd retreated to Lake Pax, making Pax too dangerous to explore and the rest of the region eerily safe. It was disturbing, but it gave her the spare time to travel to Juno City.
There was nothing in Juno City for her, nothing except Delta. Had she promised to visit him? She thought so, but she didn't remember anymore. She'd had a lot of other things on her mind. If she had, her visit was long overdue.
She'd left a voicemail on delta's c-gear last night. In theory, she was here to catch a boat from Proserpina back to Sol City. She could've (should've) left today, but a short detour to Juno wasn't so irresponsible, was it?
Somewhat lost in a city she'd only visited once before, Neo fiddled with the map on her c-gear until she thought she was in the right place, the right address, standing in front of the right door.
the house was a modest one by neighborhood standards -- in a place where the houses were all clean and their lawns neatly manicured, with a fountain or some sort of feature in the yard, iskander's house stood out simply because it wasn't as elaborate or neat as the others were. unlike a few of the houses on his street, his garden did not boast a gardener trimming hedges into cute pokémon shapes as if the scourge had never happened. (oh, but it was real. one lived in the basement of the eltanin family home -- imagine mummy's anger if she found out!)
the knock sounded heavy and solid, and the door creaked open. it wasn't iskander, but instead, the butler. his face was as butler-like as it could get; he had one of those faces that said 'i serve', but the expression he wore bordered more on 'who are you' as he looked over neo. the butler's lips were pressed into a thin line, before a familiar voice drawled from the upper floor --
"it's neo, isn't it?"
leaning on the banisters and glancing down at the slightly-open door was iskander. he cracked an easy grin, waving cheerfully at her -- his complexion was paler than it had been since he last saw neo, but that was less of a pressing issue than ensuring his guest was welcomed into the house.
"oh, move aside, tresillian," said iskander, "and get us some tea -- well, whatever she'd like."
he came down with a spring in his step, holding the door for neo as tresillian disappeared into the back to fashion them some sort of snack. (or go a tad too far and come up with something their neighbors would, iskander thought.) he watched the researcher for a moment. had he been expecting her to hold up to her end of the promise just like he had? iskander didn't know. people were fickle things, and he was almost certain that he had upheld his end of the bargain because he could work from home -- and aaron was a fantastic companion when it came to gathering data.
When it wasn't Delta at the door, Neo blinked, politely expressionless and she tried to sort out who exactly that was, because it sure as fuck wasn't the guy she expected to see. (It was also not the neighborhood she expected to find, but people were full of surprises these days, it seemed.)
"You seem well," she said, although he somehow looked less healthy than before. At least he seemed in better spirits--and better accommodations.
Before the butler left, she turned for a second, as if to chase him down before she changed her mind. "Tea is fine," she called to his rapidly disappearing butlerness. She didn't need anything really, but that man had come and gone faster than she could have stopped him. She also suspected Delta wouldn't let her stand in the way of him playing host.
She entered through the doorway, and she didn't know what to do next. Was she supposed to... sit somewhere? She wasn't entirely sure she was supposed to touch anything in here. What if she broke something?
Honestly, she shouldn't have bothered seeing him again. But she had.
"Because you thought I'd forgotten about you, or because I'd die out there?" She asked, a bit surprised, but then she smiled--or she tried to, she was out of practice at smiling. It took more energy than she remembered, but it was revitalizing somehow. "Either way, I'm deeply offended."
tresillian was a strange person when it came to non-butler affairs, such as answering the door. answering to his beck and call was a different thing altogether, or so iskander felt. "it's fine if tea isn't your ... cup of tea," said iskander, "he could get you something else; that's what he's for." his gaze fell on the empty space where tresillian used to be; the entire reason why he was still in the house was because iskander felt that he was a package sort of thing. kind of like fish and chips -- can't have one without the other.
he let her in, gesturing for her to move upstairs where the study was. his house was sparsely decorated, but whatever little they had were either rares, antiques, or collectibles -- a set of hello skitty from mctauros (he'd sent tresillian out to obtain them, even if the man protested), and another set of hello skitty, except more recent (tresillian had protested again, but iskander would have none of that).
"we'll be in the study, tresillian," iskander called out in the general direction of the butler, before stepping unto the first step of many, "well, both, i think." a small laugh escaped him as he noticed neo's attempt at smiling, but it was just the way he remembered her to be. she hadn't been at her happiest the few times they'd met -- and at the yagi-head, the masks and darkness made it difficult to notice anything more than larger movements -- and of course, the masks themselves.
"... i was worried," iskander said after a pause and a few more stairs, "because of nerio and all the things that transpired there. i don't know what really went down, but i'm glad that you didn't die. if you forgot about me and was still alive, i think i could live with that -- no one really remembers much in this time and age." but he himself never forgot; he couldn't. he just wasn't equipped to do that, and whatever he heard or saw, he could bring up in his mind as if he had just witnessed it a moment ago.
he reached the top of the stairs and led the way to the study. it was more like a library -- books lined the room from floor to ceiling, there were a few armchairs, and a desk overlooking the rest of the neighborhood and their polished houses. the curtains were drawn over the windows, however; what illuminated the room were a few yellowing lamps.
the head of a sawsbuck stared blankly over an empty armchair.
"this is where i've been spending the rest of my time."
"Tea is fine," she said quickly. "Really, it is. I just don't want to be any trouble. For you, or for him."
Nerio had left her gaunt and sleepless, which was strange considering that she'd put herself on a strict schedule of regular meals and rest. She'd just found that she had little appetite (or perhaps she'd spent too much time with J), and at nights she'd rather not dream. Neo didn't mind the Dream World, but sometimes she found herself in a darker, stranger place that she'd rather avoid.
She followed him up the steps, and the smile seemed to come easier after she'd spotted the skitty collection carefully curated like priceless artifacts.
"Some people remember well, but I think they're the same people that'd rather forget," she said. If she spoke for herself, she didn't say so.
When she entered the library, for a moment, Delta has disappeared--and so had the rest of the world. Captivated, she turned to the first bookcase, skimming the titles, the gold-foiled years of publication on musty spines, the crisp smell of newer editions, a full-bodied blend of laserjet ink and old paper. The words were hard to make out in the dim yellow light, but to her they glowed, effervescent. Her hand traveled along a shelf and then several others, fingertips perilously close to the books but never touching--as if that'd be sacrilege.
She heard him speak, but it was far off. "A good place to be for the rest of time," she whispered, more to herself than to him.
neo's words hit him, and once again he found himself relishing in the moment where he finally had someone intelligent to talk to. it wasn't a slight at anyone else (but tresillian), no; it was just that neo happened to not be an agent, and occasionally she brought up things and topics that were interesting to him. upon second thought, most of the agents didn't speak much and preferred keeping to themselves. was he the only one who associated with the common folk? probably.
iskander stood under the sawsbuck, watching neo approach the bookshelves and glance over his collection of books. in his opinion -- it was just a modest collection, and there were new books he'd rather have but did not, simply because getting rid of the old ones would be a shame. tresillian wouldn't let him convert the other rooms into a library, either, because then the entire house would be filled with books and that was simply not allowed.
that was why he started spending more time in the library of lost things -- sometimes he brought books back from there, but he found that they didn't really last. only in his dreams were they tangible, and when he woke, they dissolved into air. it was frustrating, but he coped. "you can read them, you know," iskander said, "i don't mind. some of them probably are in want of being read."
the collection of books ranged far and wide; occasionally, if a topic interested him, there were more. some collections only featured one or two from the series. "i --" he was cut off by a knock on the door. it was no doubt tresillian.
"sir?"
iskander went over to the door, and let him in. "try not to disturb her," he said, as tresillian set the tray down on the oaken desk. the butler gave him an odd look; before pouring the both of them tea -- it was an english sort of tea, not like the type which he had drank in the one-room apartment in nerio. the tray was filled out by a slice of cake and several other dainty little desserts.
tresillian, it seemed, had took it upon himself to do whatever he could whenever a guest was around. on usual days, iskander explicitly told him not to bother -- it was just the two of them. they could just eat sardines from a can.
the butler left, shutting the door soundlessly behind him. iskander sank into an armchair, the one where the sawsbuck wasn't staring at him, and watched neo wander amongst books.
There were few books in Decima Town. There was the local library, her lifeline and antidrug while she grew up, more her home than her own house, but it had been sparse and held a poor collection. Most of its books were for children, and once she'd gotten older, Neo had to rely on the stray anthologies and hand-me-downs from her neighbors. When she was old enouhg, she had left for Hespera. The libraries there were grand places indeed, but cavernous and hollow like a cathedral. There was a magic there too, like magnetism, but cold.
She liked it here. It was comforting, like the warmth of a hearth--like home, like a feeling of belonging.
For a while, time stood still for her, and then Tresillien entered. She stood in a daze, frozen by the shelves, but she turned her head to watch the butler come and go, slightly confused--then Neo remembered that she was a guest in someone's house
Snapping out of her reverie, she turned back to Delta. "Sorry. I was a little... distracted," she said with a nervous flourish of her hand, both dismissive and apologetic. She took in her surroundings, at long last--there were more than just books in the room, after all. "It's a lovely collection. I'd love to stay read them all, but I'm not here to spend time with the books--"
Neo pointed to the sawsbuck, which she suddenly noticed out of the blue. It baffled her. "You hunt?" She paused and revised the question. "You hunt?"
"it's fine." iskander was quick to reassure her that everything was fine; it honestly made him happier to observe someone else for once, than being the one who was watched and questioned the same few things that cropped up whenever they dropped by for a visit. neo was like a breath of fresh air in stagnant juno, where everyone was happy to fill the family coffers with work, business partners and generations of capable men. "i mean, i don't mind you or anything, because it's you, neo, and i guess it's been a long time since anyone has been over."
it wasn't exactly a lie. people didn't visit all that often -- barbecue fridays weren't upheld all that often, because cameron scared the neighbors and the neighbors complained to tresillian and iskander had to lay low for a while. the eltanin family seemed to have to stick to certain social standards, apparently, because barbecues horrified the house opposite with all the smoke and inhuman growling (rapture's fault, not his).
iskander was prepared to talk about books, but he was not prepared to talk about the sawsbuck in the room. neo's accusation made him jump, and his expression changed to one of surprise and hurt as he looked at her.
"no, i do not -- i thought --" he paused, following her finger to the sawsbuck mounted on the wall. the head stared straight into him -- why yes, thank you very much, he was technically a hunter out to bring out a new world order -- iskander quickly averted his gaze. "-- i never knew how terrifying staring a sawsbuck in the eye is." he staggered up from the armchair and over to where the tea was.
"-- i thought you knew i don't really agree with battles," he finally admitted, stirring a cube of sugar into his tea, "this is my family home. lots of things related to family -- that sawsbuck is one of them. tresillian wouldn't let me remove it because it was already there for a long time." more like it wouldn't sit well with tresillian to see the wallpaper a different color from the rest, iskander thought, and the room wouldn't be the same without the opportunity to have a one-sided conversation with it upon encountering a plot twist in a book. it was more personal sentiment, less family business, but neo didn't have to know.
"i think my father hunted it. or my grandfather. this house is ancient, like the other houses on this street." his teaspoon clattered against the saucer; were his hands shaking? "we're just not as well-kept because appearances can be tiring to keep up." he peered over the rim of his teacup, and blew on the surface of the tea.
Talking with a decapitated sawsbuck looming down upon her was a little eerie and a lot disorienting. Neo was comfortable dissecting the dead or burying them, but she was a whole lot less comfortable with the concept of stuffing up a corpse and planting it on a wall.
You haven't noticed it was terrifying before?, she wanted to ask, but she left that sentiment hanging in the air. There were things about Delta, little things, that never seemed to add up. She'd stopped asking, stopped demanding straight answers, but until the facts lined up, Delta never needed to doubt that she'd return again. There were still clues to gather.
She liked mysteries, up until they were solved.
It wasn't that he didn't answer questions, he did, usually. They were just entirely normal, and Neo couldn't tell if they were evasive, or if they simply weren't the answers she wanted to hear. Maybe Delta was completely normal after all. A completely normal man that just so happened to be on a first name basis with at least one hades agent, that also just so happens to have a sixth sense for the scourge, and that she found fishing at Lake Pax all alone.
She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a little bad about the accusation. "Yes, I know you're fond of violence. That's why it--" she looked for a diplomatic way to say that it was disturbing as all hell, "surprised me."
Neo joined him by the tea and assorted pastries. She supposed she'd have to eat something; she didn't want the butler to feel like he'd come up short. She touched a teacup and ignore it after she felt that the cup was still quite hot. Instead, she tried the cake. It tasted like cake.
She heard the clatter of a teaspoon more than she saw it. She could push and prod if she wanted. "Your father and grandfather--yet its just you and the butler here?" she asked, as if changing the topic to something less sensitive. Idle pleasantries only. "No siblings? No visitors either. It must be lonely here --and dull, besides for your butler's company. I'm sorry I didn't visit sooner."
She set the cake down and tried the tea again. It was slightly cooler now, although still too hot for drinking. "It doesn't sound like you have that much in common with your family."
"it's just the two of us, yes. it gets a bit boring considering how tresillian usually is with things, but i manage. we both do -- did, until i decided to go help out where the scourge was." iskander sipped his tea, and found it as strong as it always had been. tresillian had never been fond of doing whatever he did half-heartedly. "we had a magnificent row when i got home. it's almost like a classic scene wherein the butler's been waiting for the young master to come home after years of journey, only for them to engage in a heated argument because that's how things were supposed to go. oh, and that i wasn't being the son i ought to have been."
he didn't know if he wanted to bring up the rest of his family to neo. those were subjects he never wanted to tread or touch upon, considering how far away they were from the picture, but he supposed that if one zoomed out far enough, the picture would be sufficiently large to contain all the little bits and pieces.
"i do have a brother, but let's leave my family at that. it's not really nice gossiping about family in a home where they once used to live in.
"at any rate, living here is dull, but i have my books -- getting immersed in another world is an experience that makes time pass really quickly for me," said iskander, "and with the curtains drawn, you never know what time it is until you glance at the clock or until tresillian brings me something to munch on. nothing beats a visit from someone else not of this house, though. it's almost like taking a vacation, but not really."
he gave the library a glance. suddenly, it seemed a lot less empty and vacant with another person in the room. it was a good sort of change, though. "you're always welcome to visit, neo," said iskander, "i don't know what it's like on your side, but you're a friend, and i'll gladly host you whenever you're in the area." he doubted that she would be around much, though, as juno wasn't exactly scourge central. it was where all the freshmeat started out, running around with unvaccinated pokémon and ill-fated hopes and dreams.
The thought of Delta in any sort of row was hard to imagine. She'd tried to test his temper before, to no avail despite her best efforts. "He must've been worried," Neo commented. She set down the cake, only half eaten around the edges precisely where the frosting was (or had been, before she'd eaten it). "I would've been worried, and it isn't even my job to worry over you."
No discussion of family, then. Fine. He could have it his way. She nodded understandingly, and she finally tasted the tea. It scalded her tongue, so she blew on it lightly before taking another sip.
"I'll try to be around more," she said, making the promise before she'd really considered the consequences of it. She tried to think of how that'd even make sense. She had no business here. "Eos works out of Juno--as I'm sure you know. Mordecai has been talking about staying in the area, to assist the new recruits. ...Although I'm not sure I approve of coddling them."
Neo made a face, distasteful--although not of the tea. The tea was fine, brewed strong but pleasantly robust, harmonious even. "But Mordecai's a breeder," she elaborated, as if that explained everything.
"he was. i could tell because he raised his voice at me." iskander glanced at the door, as if expecting to see tresillian standing there, eavesdropping on the conversation. he snorted, shaking his head at the idea. the butler meant well, and he understood that. at the same time, he was already twenty, and therefore, could damn well walk off on his own for a bit. it was an argument that had been flogged like a dead horse. thinking about it made iskander balk, but neo's words made him smile.
he was glad that she said she'd be around more. it was probably a mixture of relief and something else that lingered as he sipped his tea. (ah, still hot, but tasted good as ever.) "yes, i'm aware of that. i checked with the officer; my application is still being processed. apparently no experience with pokémon makes them think twice about accepting you, and that's kind of a damper, honestly," said iskander, exhaling. he couldn't help it, though. he really was a civilian, albeit a smarter one (or so he'd like to think), and that was really it. no sort of past history with pokémon, unless one counted the sawsbuck head in this very room.
"... who's mordecai?" iskander picked up a pink-coloured pastry and bit into it. it had some sort of cream filling, which surprised him; tresillian had somehow decided to take things to a different level with each new guest to come to the ancient house. "a breeder? i assume he breeds pokémon, but how is that coddling them?"
he supposed that neo meant holding their hands and guiding them through the gym challenges, but that didn't seem to be the case if the person in question was a breeder. it didn't make much sense, but then again, not many things seemed to make much sense when it came to eos. it was almost as if they were more disorganized than the agents were in the beginning.
"well ..." iskander's voice trailed off, as if making a sudden realisation, "you're lucky, neo, to have a lot of friends. wasn't there a J, and then now a mordecai." he smiled wistfully. "that's enough to push you into using plurals."
Somehow, Neo hadn't actually expected him to apply for the eos program. She didn't like the idea for a host of reasons: because she couldn't imagine anyone less suited for violence, because she didn't trust him, because she didn't want to see him hurt.
Her lips pursed tightly, discontent with the news. "No reason to rush into a death trap," she said.
"Mord--yes, he's a breeder. He was the first person from Eos that I met. Not really a fighter--well, I've never seen him battle. I've heard it happens on occasion." She'd heard he'd beaten the froslass agent. That was a rumor yet unconfirmed though. She wasn't entirely sure how that could've happened. "He would provide them with vaccinated pokemon, with powerful pokemon, with guidance, so that they go further, and faster, without chance of failure.
"But they higher they climb, the harder they'll fall--and everyone falls eventually."
Neo was quiet for a moment. She held the tea, basked in its warmth, but didn't drink it.
"It's good for now, while we're all still alive. I should be thankful."
iskander glanced at neo, smiling a small smile at the eos comment. death trap or no, he figured that applying couldn't hurt; he didn't lose out either way, and in his eyes, that was already a good sign. he listened to the short quip about mordecai. a breeder, huh. probably had all his pokémon shiny and vaccinated against the scourge -- sure enough, neo confirmed his thoughts. everyone would be equipped with non-corruptible pokémon, and make their job twice as difficult.
maybe not, considering how much strength all the others were starting to gain over time. maybe they'll have the upper hand for a while, but if this mordecai person -- no. iskander chided himself for even considering the idea of meeting this breeder. neo had continued speaking while he attended to his thoughts, and he returned to the researcher's comment about being thankful.
he nodded. "the lesser the amount of casualties, the better," said iskander, "no one should really die in battle." and then he remembered mneme, and felt that he had said something inappropriate. "... sorry. i think i might have said something insensitive." he set the teacup back upon its saucer, sighing.
perhaps it was time to move on to a different topic. something less depressing, considering neo had visited and he ought to talk about something else other than current events.
"how's phoebe been?" he asked, remembering the reuniclus. she had been a great help back in the apartment when he burnt his hand. "staying real cool, i hope?"
"No--no, you're fine. It's alright. We go out there to die, so no one else has to," Neo said. "That's the theory, anyway. It makes it easier to sleep at night."
She wasn't sure how long that would last though. Neo remembered when the Eos program first began. People were more hopeful back then, and the ruins of Decima and the survivors from Bacchus let the media rally the people easily.
Somehow, the people she'd become closest to in the program had survived. She considered that luck. The rest--and there were so many--had fallen, defeated and dead, over the last few months. Neo couldn't honestly say that their sacrifice had been worth it.
She brightened up at the mention of Phoebe. "She's great! Happy, all things considered. She wasn't injured in the last few battles, so she's just been patching up other pokemon. She's not a very good nurse, but I think she enjoys it."
Neo shifted to reach for her bag. "If you want to talk to her, I have her here."
Since the scourge had fled from Nerio, they'd retreated to Lake Pax, making Pax too dangerous to explore and the rest of the region eerily safe. It was disturbing, but it gave her the spare time to travel to Juno City.
