The Fifth Element

The King is Dead but the Queen is Alive Closed RP Blog Wild Encounters

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Kantonese Curiosity | OPEN

Lusamine left Bill’s facility behind, first exploring Cerulean before heading off again on her own. According to official records, she’d been treated and released, and now was free to make her way back into society after some time away, being taken care of, and making short trips for family purposes. With her newfound freedom, Lusamine decided to pay an important visit to a city she hadn’t seen in years.

It took her no time at all to find herself in Fuchsia, home of the Safari Zone. Years earlier, she had known the warden, and participated in conservation efforts around the zone, helping to address certain concerns of the reproduction of local environs for certain pokemon.

Her other desired stop on her tour was Saffron, to check on Silph’s work. In the meantime, though, she perused Fuchsia, heading toward the Safari Zone, observant, cautious, and steady as she went.

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Japanese title: Mane Mane Psychotropic

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The Cracks in Our Foundation | Lusamine & Gladion

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aetherealprecedent:

How presumptuous.

“A false idol has no business telling-” a god what to do. Too harsh. “If you don’t want the Foundation then you have no business deciding my involvement. I don’t want to be rude but I trust you only as much as you trust me. Neither of us is in a position to be bargaining. I’m only giving you a warning, Gladdy. I’m coming back. Bill, Lillie, they did help me for whatever it’s worth. Your sister brought me back. She was so beautiful when I saw her last.”

She shook her head, audibly swallowing. Her pride, maybe? No, never that. This was all true. She’d recovered physically, and escaped from a kind of psychological treatment she deemed unnecessary. Informing Gladion of her plan to return could be dangerous, but she would need to earn his trust at least a little bit if she would ever succeed. She needed her family no more than ever. What was left of it, anyway.

“I know you won’t want to see me,” she said. “I know you won’t think I’m okay, but I have never forgotten my original goals even if I was poisoned by my research. There is always a cost. You will see me soon if you want to. If not, I will make certain we do not meet. You may think me selfish, or crazy, but I only want what is best for all of us. I will not abandon myself, but I will protect you if I can.”

“I’m doing what I need to, here, for the Foundation.” You only ever did what you wanted to. You only ever did things to make everyone fit into your perfect little world. News flash, mother: that world of yours isn’t real. And trying to make it so hurt a lot of people. 

That’s what he wanted to say. But he didn’t. 

The last thing he needed was to make her angry, especially with the warning that she was returning. 

“You’re right, I don’t want to see you. Not yet, anyways. Come see me when you’ve figured out that not everyone wants what you seem to think is for the best. And I don’t need protection. I’ve lived without it long enough.” 

Deep breath. Sigh. “You’ve done some horrible things, okay? And you don’t seem to get it. I still care about you, but…I’m not ready. I’m not sure when I will be. And I’d prefer you keep out of things but I know you won’t. So goodbye for now, Mother. Please just–focus on getting better and stay away until you are.” 

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“You think I don’t know that?” she said under her breath as Gladion continued speaking.

Delusional though she was, she realized as she woke up under Lillie’s care that Ultra Space and the beasts were only something evil. They couldn’t help her realize her goals in any case but they were much more sinister as well. Perfection, beauty, immortality? Pure and noble, but the Beasts wanted to use her to destroy things. She wanted only to protect, right? To protect.

“But Gladion,” she said, a measured, unsettling calm in her voice. “Though you condemn me for what you could see,” she began, choosing to leave out her early life. He knew nothing of her before Paradise, or before motherhood. He couldn’t understand anything before he became aware, and so she continued, “you must remember that you chose to leave. You cannot decide if I am better or not without knowing what wellness is. Perhaps I am less beautiful than I once was. How would you know?”

She hung up the phone before she heard a response, her last question losing the metered speech. Glancing over her desk, she began to work within the computer she had set up, and before long, she’d hacked the feed of the cameras on the outside of the Foundation. She ignored her emotions, though she expressed nothing on her stone-like face, tears appeared. Would it be the right thing to do? She would have to return to Alola. There was no other home, anymore. No point in being kind to anyone. They would only disappoint her. Her family. Her beautiful family. How ugly they’d become. 

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The Cracks in Our Foundation | Lusamine & Gladion

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aetherealprecedent:

Little sounds. The elevator, smooth as it was, running, the doors opening, Gladion’s deadpan lack of conviction. Hints, secrets, small revelations. He was watching things. He’d gone to check on something. He must have gone to see for himself if anything was amiss. He’d be watching them. He’d be extra careful, and she couldn’t blame him. How good of her son not to trust her. A smart and more adjusted boy than the one who’d run away.

“I want my life back,” she said, very quietly, avoiding a break in her voice.

She was quickly calculating every move she could make. Vulnerability could appeal to him but he’d know if she faked it. Was she even faking it? The cool, measured voice she put on was more a charade than any time she spoke with passion one way or the other. She might have been deranged at times, but she spoke from her soul, whatever was left of it.

“I have no reason to lie to you,” she said. A lie. “I’m going to make things right. I’m going to come home. I won’t abandon the Foundation the way-”

She’d let her voice rise too much, she took a breath, and she sank back into a logic loop.

“You’re only borrowing my Foundation, son. There is a camera in the back left corner of the elevator. What are you so nervous about?”

Slightly taken aback by her next statement, Gladion remained silent. He held back a scoff when she mentioned having no reason to lie. Of course she wouldn’t abandon it. There was nothing new to be said, and if things were secure down here, then–

He stiffened. “I’m not borrowing anything. Do you think I wanted this position? This responsibility? I took it because it fell to me to do so. Because you weren’t fit for it in those moments.”

Taking a deep breath to try and control his rising emotions, Gladion continued, “I’m not nervous. I just don’t want any more people or Pokemon getting hurt, especially not because of your ambitions.” Delusions, he could have said, but that was probably too harsh, and that wasn’t all her fault. 

He was shaking, shaking because he loathed and feared and loved her all at once, but he couldn’t let that slip. His mother was a brilliantly complex woman, he knew that. And he certainly didn’t want to give her any leverage against him. But the shuddering in his chest wasn’t going away. 

“I don’t want you involved here,” he said point blank. “Not right now, and not for however long it takes for you to prove to the world and to me that you’ve reformed. That you’re–okay.” 

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How presumptuous.

“A false idol has no business telling-” a god what to do. Too harsh. “If you don’t want the Foundation then you have no business deciding my involvement. I don’t want to be rude but I trust you only as much as you trust me. Neither of us is in a position to be bargaining. I’m only giving you a warning, Gladdy. I’m coming back. Bill, Lillie, they did help me for whatever it’s worth. Your sister brought me back. She was so beautiful when I saw her last.”

She shook her head, audibly swallowing. Her pride, maybe? No, never that. This was all true. She’d recovered physically, and escaped from a kind of psychological treatment she deemed unnecessary. Informing Gladion of her plan to return could be dangerous, but she would need to earn his trust at least a little bit if she would ever succeed. She needed her family no more than ever. What was left of it, anyway.

“I know you won’t want to see me,” she said. “I know you won’t think I’m okay, but I have never forgotten my original goals even if I was poisoned by my research. There is always a cost. You will see me soon if you want to. If not, I will make certain we do not meet. You may think me selfish, or crazy, but I only want what is best for all of us. I will not abandon myself, but I will protect you if I can.”

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The Cracks in Our Foundation | Lusamine & Gladion

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aetherealprecedent:

Silvally, of course, he had evolved the experiment, hadn’t he? It had been successful, the creation aspect anyway. The beast killer was no beast killer but it was a functional beast capable of evolution and learning. A smart boy, a capable one. If only he’d stayed maybe she-

“You know I have no idea how he is,” she said, cold. But then, with more life in her voice, the kind of drained sadness of a worried mother, “It was in the papers, everywhere. He was well when I left, and he treated me with kindness, but I couldn’t keep waiting around any longer. I’m sure you think I’ve made some kind of mistake. Are the security cameras still working?”

Back to cold. Her voice, metered and specific, had sunk during her speaking, perhaps a bit against her plans. Was she sorry? Questioning her choices? When had she last spoken to her son that hadn’t been hateful? But he hadn’t hung up. He was still on the phone. She could still hear him breathe.

The honesty was harsh, but it was honesty. As she continued speaking, however, any slight reassurance that he’d had dissipated. She was asking about the security cameras? Was he that transparent? 

Well…it was still his mother on the line, with all that implied. He tried not to let his growing unease into his voice. 

“They were working, as far as I knew, but I’m suddenly having doubts,” he deadpanned. He was walking now, getting onto the elevator to head towards the labs, fear growing of what he might find. 

He just didn’t want any more Pokemon suffering. Especially not those he’d already seen go through so much. So, as the elevator reached the lab floor, he inhaled once, twice, and then said: “Is there something you’d like to tell me, Mother?”

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Little sounds. The elevator, smooth as it was, running, the doors opening, Gladion’s deadpan lack of conviction. Hints, secrets, small revelations. He was watching things. He’d gone to check on something. He must have gone to see for himself if anything was amiss. He’d be watching them. He’d be extra careful, and she couldn’t blame him. How good of her son not to trust her. A smart and more adjusted boy than the one who’d run away.

“I want my life back,” she said, very quietly, avoiding a break in her voice.

She was quickly calculating every move she could make. Vulnerability could appeal to him but he’d know if she faked it. Was she even faking it? The cool, measured voice she put on was more a charade than any time she spoke with passion one way or the other. She might have been deranged at times, but she spoke from her soul, whatever was left of it.

“I have no reason to lie to you,” she said. A lie. “I’m going to make things right. I’m going to come home. I won’t abandon the Foundation the way-”

She’d let her voice rise too much, she took a breath, and she sank back into a logic loop.

“You’re only borrowing my Foundation, son. There is a camera in the back left corner of the elevator. What are you so nervous about?”

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The Cracks in Our Foundation | Lusamine & Gladion

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aetherealprecedent:

“Can’t a mother call her son?” she asked. An empty sigh followed that, she knew well enough that her relationship with Gladion was too broken for that to be anything but a sick joke with no punchline but Gladion’s emotional wellbeing. “You’re right, I do want something.”

Lusamine only skipped a single beat between that and the next sentence, but her entire thought process began in that moment. She had thought of the various responses Gladion could have, including this measured detachment. The poor dear, she’d caused him so much trouble. But hadn’t he done just the same?

“Type: Null. You took one of them to an apparent kind of success outside of Faba’s original intentions. I have heard another was given away with the approval of acting Aether Foundation President Gladion Ancolie. There was a third. What have you done with it?”

Somewhere in her soul she wanted this to be a conversation about the two of them, but how could she be Lusamine again with nothing to show for it? Her son had taken her experiment, and then her world. The Foundation had been very near to all she had, and now it was in the hands of her estranged child. He probably didn’t even want it. She couldn’t have all her work in the hands of an uninterested fool. 

Most mothers certainly could. He no longer considered his own one of that category. Keeping that thought to himself, Gladion clenched his jaw as he waited for whatever her request would be.

He couldn’t pretend to be surprised that Type: Null was what she had chosen to ask him about. It was taking one of them and running away to Alola’s islands that had caused the final break in their relationship, after all. “Mine goes by a different name now,” was all he said at first. He was thinking what his next move should be. Contrary to what Lusamine may have assumed of her son, he had inherited more than her looks. He knew how to calculate, too.

“Nothing,” he said. As he responded, he had pulled up the security cameras surrounding the secret lab where the final Type: Null was still housed. Everything appeared to be fine, but as soon as he hung up, he would go look for himself. He made sure not to allow his breathing pattern to shift, no matter how the nervousness swelled in his chest.

“How’s Bill?” he asked. Both of them were very well aware that she had slipped off from his care some time ago, but it was meant as more than just a barb. If Gladion’s mother ever wanted a relationship with him again, she needed to tread carefully with her response.

Your move, mother.

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Silvally, of course, he had evolved the experiment, hadn’t he? It had been successful, the creation aspect anyway. The beast killer was no beast killer but it was a functional beast capable of evolution and learning. A smart boy, a capable one. If only he’d stayed maybe she-

“You know I have no idea how he is,” she said, cold. But then, with more life in her voice, the kind of drained sadness of a worried mother, “It was in the papers, everywhere. He was well when I left, and he treated me with kindness, but I couldn’t keep waiting around any longer. I’m sure you think I’ve made some kind of mistake. Are the security cameras still working?”

Back to cold. Her voice, metered and specific, had sunk during her speaking, perhaps a bit against her plans. Was she sorry? Questioning her choices? When had she last spoken to her son that hadn’t been hateful? But he hadn’t hung up. He was still on the phone. She could still hear him breathe.

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The Cracks in Our Foundation | Lusamine & Gladion

She could have been anywhere in the world. She could have done anything with her life, now. She was free that way, but it did come with a certain kind of price. Everything haunted her in vivid but broken detail. Pieces of this, pieces of that. Nihilego. Lusamine required a return to normalcy. She was done being limited again. She’d come so close. What exactly she’d come close to didn’t matter much. With all her capability she didn’t belong anywhere but at work.

With this in mind she had vanished into the aether, contacting no one directly for some time, biding her time while trying to figure out any sense of a plan, but she’d been dramatically and brilliantly cautious. But she needed to know things she couldn’t find on her own this time.

By these metrics she developed a short plan, with no end game. Only a way of beginning. From a phone she’d rigged to be untraceable and undetectable by other devices, to pinpoint her location or see who was calling, she dialed an old and familiar number she would never, ever forget.

And it rang for a moment, and then he picked up.

“Hello, my son,” she said evenly. “How is Paradise?” 

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A call from a number that couldn’t be traced was never a good sign. He almost didn’t pick it up. But it might not be what he was expecting, right?

Of course it was what he was expecting.

His mother had disappeared. Just poofed from the face of the earth. He’d asked to be notified if anyone should hear any word of her, but no word had come. But it seemed like when it came, it came directly from the source.

“Hello, mother.” Detached, as detached as he could manage. “It’s fine.” Ruined, by what you did, and now I have to clean up your mess, he almost said. But he didn’t. There was no point in being petty for the sake of it.

He shifted his feet, hand tightening around the phone as he swallowed back whatever his emotions might be. He could deal with those later.

“So what is it you want?” he asked. She would never call without reason. Lillie, maybe, but not him. She’d loathed him for far longer than she had his sister, after all.

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“Can’t a mother call her son?” she asked. An empty sigh followed that, she knew well enough that her relationship with Gladion was too broken for that to be anything but a sick joke with no punchline but Gladion’s emotional wellbeing. “You’re right, I do want something.”

Lusamine only skipped a single beat between that and the next sentence, but her entire thought process began in that moment. She had thought of the various responses Gladion could have, including this measured detachment. The poor dear, she’d caused him so much trouble. But hadn’t he done just the same?

“Type: Null. You took one of them to an apparent kind of success outside of Faba’s original intentions. I have heard another was given away with the approval of acting Aether Foundation President Gladion Ancolie. There was a third. What have you done with it?”

Somewhere in her soul she wanted this to be a conversation about the two of them, but how could she be Lusamine again with nothing to show for it? Her son had taken her experiment, and then her world. The Foundation had been very near to all she had, and now it was in the hands of her estranged child. He probably didn’t even want it. She couldn’t have all her work in the hands of an uninterested fool. 

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The Cracks in Our Foundation | Lusamine & Gladion

She could have been anywhere in the world. She could have done anything with her life, now. She was free that way, but it did come with a certain kind of price. Everything haunted her in vivid but broken detail. Pieces of this, pieces of that. Nihilego. Lusamine required a return to normalcy. She was done being limited again. She’d come so close. What exactly she’d come close to didn’t matter much. With all her capability she didn’t belong anywhere but at work.

With this in mind she had vanished into the aether, contacting no one directly for some time, biding her time while trying to figure out any sense of a plan, but she’d been dramatically and brilliantly cautious. But she needed to know things she couldn’t find on her own this time.

By these metrics she developed a short plan, with no end game. Only a way of beginning. From a phone she’d rigged to be untraceable and undetectable by other devices, to pinpoint her location or see who was calling, she dialed an old and familiar number she would never, ever forget.

And it rang for a moment, and then he picked up.

“Hello, my son,” she said evenly. “How is Paradise?”