Hope RAN. She was gonna keep running, too, until she found someone Inarian to meet so she could show them how good Gemini and the royal family were. She ran and ran, past boring stupid flowers, and a boring stupid babbling brook (that wasn't NEARLY as tranquil as the ones in Gemini, she was sure, despite having never felt tranquil in her life.) She also ran past a boring lake and a boring porcupine WAIT - 

She stopped so hard, she tripped over herself, slamming down on the rocks and dirt with a force that only an idiotic child could brush off. She yowled in pain but mostly in ANGER because this creature had DONE HER WRONG. He'd distracted her! Well, this could be the first Inarian she'd teach a lesson. She was a......representative.....of GEMINI!!!! In a fraction of a second she was back on her feet, bouncing straight up from her fall like a rubber ball. 

The porcupine glanced over at her. It chewed on a leaf. It waddled like, two steps maybe. It kept chewing the leaf. What a fucking bastard.....

"Oh buddy, you made a BIG MISTAKE. You're messing with the WRONG PRINCESS." The girl said. Her brow furrowed. She began to stalk the porcupine, like a cat would stalk its prey, hidden in the cover of the tall prairie grass. Except there was no tall grass, and she wasn't hidden, the porcupine already knew she was there, and was watching her. And also the porcupine was bigger than she was an covered in spines, so it wasn't really prey. And Hope was not a cat, no matter how she wiggled her butt. She was pretty sure she'd seen Jonas do this once and so it made sense for her to also do this.

"Your head will be added to the wall, like all who shame my family!" She shouted. She took another step forward. Time to die, fucker!!!

[Note: Set well before the journey to Inaria. I wrote this a while back on discord and just never posted it here.] 

The princess was going to visit her sick brother as he slavered and growled to himself in a pit beneath the healer's tree. She headed down, her and the hunter inside of her, together with their black blood and their pale eyes. Funny how things in Gemini happened twice. Images repeating but inverse.

Science is about reactions. Science is about how things effect each other. The tree was big and had many rooms. Deimos was looking for just one. It was dim here. Her eyes reflected from the distant glow of foxfire within, the only light. Up ahead. Time keeps happening. The future looks just like reflections of the past through a mirror. The thin red thread that kept Deimos chained to the earth had snapped when the counterbalance fell.

When the princess reached her brother in the hollow beneath the old, old, tree, she spoke like she'd spoken before, except this time she bore a little red flaw, except this time she was as hollow as a nautilus shell, except this time gravity was shifted, except this time she wanted to do what she hadn't wanted to do before.

Kariya and Tauro had told her their secrets. Had told her about the disease. Had told her where it came from and what it did. Her sweet little brothers, dead now, had given fragments of a code as their parting gifts. Deimos would piece together the miles of broken DNA, Kariya and Tauro's words the cipher, the hunter growling in her chest.

A little bug had whispered once, in a place Deimos couldn't hear. “I̬ͦ͘ẗ́ͩ̈ ̴̮͗w̌̓̏o̪ňͦ̉'̅̏̍t͍͊ͫ ̔ͣ̾mͥ̈́̚ả͙ͅt͚̙̘t͋ͨ̒e̔̐̂r͍̭̐,̍̿͆” The bug had whispered.

“I̍͑̈́t̅̒̃ ̪͞ͅw̑ͪ͋o̷̞̽n̙̦̔'̑ͨ̍t̄ͨ͊ ͗ͪͪc̑ͧ͟hͬͯ̈́ả͑͌n̤ͨͨg̦͗͜e͌ͩ̎ ̦͇͓ã͐ͥnͭ̆̂y̜ͯ͝t̓̑ͧh͋̍͝i̝̰̩n̷͑̇gͪ͗͒.̇̎̇”

"Brother."

[div align="center"][a href="http://pokemon-victory.boards.net/"][img src="https://s25.postimg.cc/pdrwmt43z/Jm3_NJ5vf_o.png" style="max-width:100%;"][/a][/div]

@Reath

#d17d00

The day had slipped soundlessly into evening, with the final bits of sunset receding behind Alteron's vast mountain range. Sinking, sinking, sinking. With it the night came fowarded, ever creeping. Stars dotted a bright, cloudless sky, as the pale faced moon illuminated from the heavens above. It was a rare occasion, usually Alteron's climate made it quite difficult to see the moon, the land was often covered by a dense fog that snuffed most of the light out in a haze glow like that of a lighthouse.  

There was a breeze, though the air was relatively warm, save for a slight chill brought on by autumn, frogs still croaked and crickets still chirped. The last songs of summer.

However, there was an oddity wandering about tonight. The haunting white light of the moon shone down onto this pale one's form, turning the cream of his coat pale yellow and sickly white-silver. He tread with careful, quiet paws. His narrow head always turn, vivid orange-red eyes alert and scanning, with those large ears forever twitching to every slight noise.

Little Set, weak, scary boy. So easily spooked, taken refuge in a pack of monsters, misfits, and the like. When he came to Alteron's doorstep, meek and softspoken, he was met by the red woman and her amber gaze. How it carved into him, just like His. He was unsure what she was, be it temporal or some otherworldly beast offering him a place among this forest wrapped in fog.

Mumbling prayers lowly under his breath, the pale boy turned in the blink of an eye, stance wide and trembling, feathery tail low and curled around his hind legs. A snap of a twig and he darted until he came by the lake side. The moon rippled at the very center of the waters, and Set couldn't help but look behind him and shrink. "I just wish to drink, please." His voice called out weakly, teeth chattering together as his body shook. "I-I beg whoever is there." For mercy, for peace.

For the night is dark and full of terrors.

Her friend came to her and told her of an invitation. She smiled at him-- she hadn’t been back to the pack of violets and fresh starts in so long. Since before all of this. Before Gemini. She left under duress. She would return different than she had been then. Perhaps she could put what had happened on crusted snow to rest. She would like that. It would be better. Her children could grow like Gemini’s wildflowers and they could forge a stronger bond than they’d had before.

That was, of course, the hope.

They took their time. They gathered their young and on one sunny morning, began the journey to visit Inaria. She ensured, this time, that the children had permission to come. Even the children of the captives Shark and Rita, under the watchful eye of an elder sibling, joined them. It would be a good experience. When they came home, perhaps the matter could be put to rest. She would take this time to get to know the pirate captain’s children.

(Oh, how little she knew. Of them. Of her own children. Of the things that would pass between them, like sand sifting through cloudy water.)

It was a long walk for such short legs. She offered to carry those that grew tired, and in due time Inaria’s purple trees dotted their horizon. It was best to address them now, before overeager children scattered, energized at the opportunity to explore this new and bountiful haven--

“We’re almost there,” she tells the group, casting a smile back at the nearest child. “Listen up! There’s a few things I want you to remember during our stay.”

GROUND RULES.

“Inaria is our ally. Treat their home and their people with respect. Behave as you would in your own home-- or better. Remember, you are all little diplomats of Gemini! The relationships you make here will be the future for both of our packs. I expect all of you to be on your best behavior. I hope you’ll make friends! Explore, have fun! Inaria is a beautiful place.”

It seemed reasonable enough to her. She had not been on the previous trip, but she hoped to correct some of their inexperienced blunders-- not checking with every parent… she did not recall any particularly hairy issues with the children, but it was best to be safe. They were, of course, only children. But it was true-- what they started here today would be the future for them, for Gemini, for Inaria. There was one last thing…

“Additionally...” she started, stressing the word to draw any diverted attention back to her, “At the start and end of each day, you are to check in with a chaperone. Take note of who they are before you start exploring,” she glanced back to the adults and older siblings that helped corral the group. “Please introduce yourselves so everyone will know your names,” she asked of them, before continuing, “Each of you will be accounted for every evening before bed. If you fail to check in, someone will have to look for you.”

She pauses, before adding dryly, “Which will be very embarrassing for you if you decided to just not check in.” Oh, the horror. Oh, being grabbed by the ear and publicly dragged back home. Say it isn’t so.

That was it. It was relaxed, so far as rules went. Be kind. Be respectful. Let people know where you are. Fair, right? At least she hadn’t implemented the dreaded buddy system. Though, she had thought about it…

“We’re here,” she said at last, tipping her head back to howl that very same message to Inaria-- they would know soon enough, whether they liked it or not, that Gemini WAS HERE.