Void Missions (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
voidmissions) wrote2022-05-15 05:21 pm
voidmissions) wrote2022-05-15 05:21 pm
MEMORY SHARE: 12 OF BEETROOT EVENT (May)
JEMA'GRETHY MEMORY SHARE
The caves of Jema'grethy will allow for a few different ways for memories to be interacted with. But for most, such as those entering in bonds, it will be seen like a vision in their head, putting them in the position and perspective of whose memory it is.
For people sharing bond memories, and also memories being shared while moving through the Memory Cave, this is the spot to place said memories! It's not necessary if you'd like to write it during the thread, but hopefully convenient for others. Just make a toplevel with your character's name in the header, and remember to include any content warnings thereafter for each memory, as applicable!
For people sharing bond memories, and also memories being shared while moving through the Memory Cave, this is the spot to place said memories! It's not necessary if you'd like to write it during the thread, but hopefully convenient for others. Just make a toplevel with your character's name in the header, and remember to include any content warnings thereafter for each memory, as applicable!
Eva Iden'no
Bonding Memories - for Sera
First Memory - last 48 hours
"Goodnight, Miztrezz," the synthetic female voice of the porygon says, emanating from the inbuilt speakers that allow Lele to speak to you wherever you are. You jab the button at the same time as Satoru snaps off a two figured salute behind you; the leather jacket squeaks, indicating it's new or dragonhide. It could be both. He did go to Blackthorn last week with several of his friends and the whole subregion's the place to find dragonhide products. The city itself is the best place, what with it being the capital and all.
You absently recall a photo with Lance from years ago and grin to yourself.
"'Va?"
"Nothing, just recalling when I got the Rising."
"Didn't that take you, like, two times?"
"Did not!" You huff with a glare. Never mind you very nearly hadn't gotten the badge in one go. Dragons were no joke. "And you know it."
"Yeah, yeah!"
You roll your eyes. At least you didn't take as long as he did to get the badge.
The lift doors ding open and you both enter, Satoru jabbing the button for the flight deck with more force than needed, Senna's pokeball in hand already.
"You got that in Fusube, yeah?" you ask as you turn to face him.
He blinks. "Wha? huh?"
"The jacket," you say, giving him a once over. Birds, but he looks good in the blacks and browns, with subtle dark blue accents and bronze buttons. Maybe you should start thinking about putting a band on him, before the Oaks decide he's better served as political leverage. He's Kazuko, Unmarried, and twenty-five... A small civil thing, maybe?
But he's an Oak... You can think about it later, and ask his mother about it. For all you know they consider him married already.
"Mmm." He spins Senna's 'ball on his finger with a half-smirk. "It was a steal."
You blink, cock your head and he grins, jumps the 'ball in the air then catches it as he rakes a hand through his hair. Show off, you think as beams, like some sort of model in one of those hair care commercials. "You like?"
"You look cute," you say with another look over, drinking in the details. Gods. He looks good in leathers, but then again, he looks good in anything. From the purple shirt he wore back as a young teen to tailored kimono to wet shirts, to jeans, slacks, cargo pants. He made everything look good, and the leather just makes it all the more apparent. A bit like he's stepped up his game. "It suits you."
"Thanks, Leaf."
There's no bite to the foreign word, yet you still flip him off out of habit. He barks out a laugh and you grin despite yourself. "Shut up, Blue!"
His answer to that is to poke his tongue out and you roll your eyes. Yet you wouldn't have him any other way; he's perfect as he is and you love him for it. You spend the rest of the shortish ride up making sure the earpiece is secure, that Roro is strapped into your pocket, your pokegear is under your own jacket, and wondering if this means he has a new harness for Senna. That if he does, would it match what he's wearing? Probably. Boys are a bit like that after all and you know Satoru pays attention to fashion.
Cool air washes over you as you exit the lift and step out onto the flight deck behind Satoru, boots echoing on concrete. In the setting sun, his leathers gleam and you can see the faint scales.
The stitch work is blue, not black like you'd first assumed and you know that pendant of his gleams a vivid blue in a reminder of its origins as a water stone.
"Hey," you call out as you both head towards separate wooden platforms at the centre of the roof. "What dragon's that from?"
"What, you want one too?" He calls as your boots hit wooden stairs.
"No," You retort, boots heavy as you climb the stairs, Wingthing's premierball in hand by the fifth step. "Just curious. Doesn't look like hakuryū."
You know what dragonair leather looks like. That isn't it.
"'Cuz it's not," he calls back once he's reached the top and you scowl. Cheater. He took the stairs two at a time.
It's enough to make you forget the follow-up question as you hurry to catch up, taking the last few in a run. He doesn't have to make everything a competition, damn him. Yet, you feel a little better as you watch him unball Senna and then duck as the adult pidgeot half flares her wings as she settles into her new location, talons digging into the wooden decking.
His own fault for being so close to the giant bird. You are, at this point, pretty sure Senna has a corviknight in her lineage, given she's nine feet tall, seven at the shoulder. At least she's a true adult.
Maybe you shouldn't blame your boyfriend, given you do the same thing when you unball Wingthing. Not that you're that close and Wingthing's wingspan isn't as big as Senna's, but habits.
Whatever. Focus on your predator, not his. "Hey girl."
You are calm and confident as you walk up to the aerodactyl, whose nostrils flare as she takes in her new surroundings. Even having seen her grow from a tiny baby more wing than body, Wingthing is still a sight to see. A scaly, grey 'dinosaur' with wings that stands close to six foot at the shoulder, she is a towering apex predator of a pokemon. Intelligent, too, but all reptiles are and you know her crocodilian eyes track you. Her nostrils flare again as she takes in your scent and you grin.
Gods, you love her, even if the amber was obtained under deceit. But that's neither here nor there and but one of many secrets you'll take to the grave.
You offer a hand, and then there's a gentle nose butt and, a low, growl-like purr. You rub her nose with a soft 'easy, girl. That's it,' and check the harness at the same time, never mind you put it on a mere ten minus ago. It's a basic, but sturdy, leather riding harness with metallic green buckles you know like the back of the hand, but safety first, always. Safety and making sure she's happy and settled and ready for the flight.
You know she has been since the harness went on, but you need to be sure.
"Yo! Leaf! You ready?" You blink and glance towards the voice to see Satoru already mounted on Senna, the pidgeot shifting as she readies to take to the air. "Or you too busy oogling your 'tera?"
"Gimme a sec!" you call back, trying not to huff. You were not oogling her, you were admiring her. There is a difference. Anyway, the only one you want to oogle is your boyfriend.
"K~!"
"Si'en," you whisper with an eyeroll, and Wingthing lowers herself to the ground rumble-purr. You clamber up with well-practised ease and belt into the basic tether-and-belts attached to the harness, then pull down flight goggles as Wingthing rises.
"Tsu," you say as you lean forward, hands fisting around the harness for added stability.
And then, you take to the air with a whoop of delight, and, even knowing that your idiot of a boyfriend is in the air before you doesn't matter.
This is your time now; just you and him and as you bank left towards the Dragon Mountains, you hear him in your ear:
"Wanna go hunting?"
Your face hurts from the grin. "Sure!"
Positive
"Yeah?" you blink over at Hisa , the eleven-year old's face oddly serious as she sits next to her sister on one of the many benches scattered about the massive park that is Amity Square. At least this part is mostly empty of people. "What's up?"
She points to the grassy areas; you spy one of the Square's comfey in the grass. You think you know what she's about to ask. "How'd the grass end up pink?"
You didn't expect that, not with how many books Hisa reads, yet grin anyway.
"Well, that's Muhl-"
"Short answer!" Both say in unison.
"Or we'll be here all day, and we've barely seen all the park!" Atsu adds.
"You're no fun," you grumble at the newly minted trainer, or it is rookie now. It's hard to tell, given she's more or less survived the season. Probably rookie; she's only got four on the belt and not including her azurill. Said baby pokemon's nested on her lap, resting, not sleeping. Based on the size, you think it's probably only two months old at best. Maybe younger, given how dark the tail bandings still are; dark enough it's easy to see where the myth of the zigzag tail came from. "We've walked at least half already."
You know so, mostly thanks to Roro. Also thanks to the rotomi, you've been able to look up things on the fly; same with Atsu, though you have a feeling she comes here often.
"Yeah, but we've still got the other half to see!" she chirps. "And you and Hisa're only here for another day and we've still got a lot to do."
She has a point and you know it. While you can stay longer, you do have work- and so not thinking about that. Family time first, work later. Much later.
"Yea! And, you use big words!" Hisa whined and you want to retort that scientific words are not 'big words', and she's a bookworm who reads dictionaries for fun, but you don't have the chance as the child charges on. "So you gotta tell us in simple ways!"
"Is that so?" You ask with a teasing grin that only widens at the twin glares from your siblings. "Ok, ok. Yeash, you guys are hard."
"No we're not!" Hisa says with a frown that reminds you of Aunt Emi. You think she's been taking lessons.
"Uh huh," you say as shift, propping elbow to knee and chin to hand as you stare at the grass, eyes picking all the tiny details that help you ID it as Muhlenbergia capillaris. Eyes flick to your siblings and you offer a loose grin. "So, what was the question again?"
You know what it was, of copurse, but these are your sisters. You can't be that easy on them.
"Why is the grass pink?" Hisa says, though it's less question and more statement. A judgemental one with all the seriousness of a pre-teen behind it.
"It's fairy grass; muhly," you say simply and smirk at the sceptical looks. "What? you wanted the simple answer."
Not your fault.
"We're not drongos, sis! We know what it is." Atsu says with a sharp glare that almost, almost makes eye contact. "Why is it pink?"
"Why are ruriri blue?"
"Genes and DNA, duh. Everyone knows that," Hisa retorts, arms crossed. "We're covering that in science, you know."
Atsu snickers and you roll your eyes with a small headshake and smile.
"It's basically the same thing; the plant's DNA makes it pink. It's related to the nezumi-gaya - the stuff we have in Kanto. Dad sometimes makes baskets out of it," you add at your sibling's blank faces.
"But that's not pink," Hisa jabs her finger at the grass, as if it had somehow offended her.
"This one isn't native to Yamatai," you say with a shrug. "It's endemic to Orre and Guyana."
"So someone brought it here?"
"Reckon so, yeah."
"But why?" Hisa asked, head tilted and face scrunched in confusion. "Isn't that, like, heaps of work?"
"If you go with seedlings and not seeds. As for why..." you glance back at the grass then shrug. "Because it looks nice, and, if I'm right, the grass'll start to flower soon."
"Huh, can you tell?" Atsu squinted at the grass. "It just looks pink."
"Yeah!"
"Look closer," you say. "I've already spotted it."
"Huh?"
"Oh!" Atsu points with a grin as her azurill starts to make its way back up to her shoulder. "There's pokemon in there. Is that why?"
"Part of it." You stare back at the pair of sceptical looks then shrug. "Hey, you're the ones who told me to keep it simple."
"Whatever. I wanna see it closer."
You and Atsu barely manage to grab Hisa before she can dart over to the pokemon.
"Even if they're used to people, they're still wild." Atsu scolds, voice serious. Your own face matches, even as you keep an eye on the fairy-type while Atsu continues to talk. "If you startled it, then what?"
"BUt I wanna see it-" Hisa whines, more sulk than sullen.
Atsu doesn't relent. "It could have attacked you, Hisa." She sighs. "They have ones you can pet and look at near one of the cafes."
"Really?"The eleven-year-old brightens, and you wonder how much of that she absorbed. You'll have to tell mum and dad when you meet back up for dinner at one of the most low key places that don't cater to trainers.
Atsu nods and slowly releases her sister's wrist. You follow suit, but remain ready to grab her again just in case. Gods only know how stubborn pre-teens can be; more than that, you know well how fickle any pokemon can be if startled, tame or not. It's, thankfully, not needed and the comfey seems more interested in the grasses than anything humans might be doing.
"Then let's go! Sis can buy us lunch!" Hisa calls as she takes off.
Atsu squarks and runs after her. "HEY, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE WAY!"
Your wallet already feels lighter as you hurry to catch up before the gremlins can conspire to order the expensive things on the menu. Oh well. It's worth it. "Wait for me!"
CW: Death mentions, Pokemon battle. Light Gore. Pokemon are not nice!
It's safer in a group given it's winter. Given they're out past the bounders of the town, past crop fields and farms and into the wilds of scrubland and trees. Given they don't know if they'll be looking for someone still alive... or a body.
Eva hopes it's not a body. She doesn't think she can deal with another one in as many jun. Yet... Yet given the nature of the distress call Pallet got- No. She has to hope they're alive. Alive, up a tree. Alive with a broken arm. Alive, Mewdamnit. Alive, even if it's been ten minutes since the call. It's possible and she knows it.
Alive, please.
"It hasn't been a bad year..." Kate mummers, the Unovan's voice hoarse from her recent sore throat. Should she be out? Probably not, but Kate never went anywhere without at least two escape ropes around her waist. They all have one on them, too, so it's fine.
It has to be, and by the Mating Flights, this would be easier if they could have teleported, but that's not how it works.
"It really hasn't," Daisy adds, hands stuffed into pockets. "We've no yukimenoko incursions. Only that rogue 'dos, and all the other winter predators haven't come near town."
They all shudder at the memory. The gyarados had only been small, yet it'd been twice as vicious as normal and killed one, and injured a good dozen people before it'd been driven back. But at least it wasn't a froslass.
"Yet," Erin murmured, hand buried deep in her pokemon's fur. "None of them have, yet."
"Don't tempt the Fox," Eva retorts, gentle yet firm, as she glances at Roro, checking the coordinates again. "We're getting close. Eighty or so metres." Please be alive. "Spread out."
"Right," they say with a nod, and slowly, the group fan out as they walk, hands near belts. Just in case it was a body. Just in case it was predators they'd have to drive off.
Just in case.
75. 70. 65. 60.
The air feels colder now, somehow. Eva shivers as she rubs her hands together. This is odd. It shouldn't be this cold and she debates bringing out Nona as she sees Kate and Daisy stick closer to their fires for warmth.
"Ice?"
"It wouldn't be unheard of."
"Could be a ghost, too," Kate says with a small shrug and they fall silent.
"It could be a young furīzā?" Daisy asks after another twenty metres.
"Yeah, Nah," Eva says with a shake of her head. "The League would've sent one of the keepers out with us if there was one of them in the area. Let's just focus on the here and now."
Eyes flick to Roro. 35 metres to go.
Overthinking leads to people getting killed, and, as the strongest trainer in the group, it's her Duty to keep them all safe. With that in mind, Eva straightens as she wraps the mantle of Champion around her once more. Once a Champion, always a Champion.
30.
Her hand settles on Tanknator's 'ball as the air chill continues to drop. It's odd but if there is a young articuno in the area, it would line up with what she knows.
Then Princess growls.
A glance down -his ears are pricked and his furs bristled enough to be a jolteon, wings half-flared. Eva stops, holds up a hand to halt the group as their pokemon bristle and posture to an unseen threat. "Something's not right."
"No shit, Watson," Kate hisses back as she points up and to the right, her typhlosion's mane of dark quills, hair, and 'feathers' brightening to a ghostly, purpleish flame-like effect as Yami pads out to plant itself between human and threat. Eva follows her gaze and her blood near freezes with fear.
"Birds take us..."
Cryogonal.
Not even twenty-five metres away from them and she knows they should leave, but with the way several of the strange, living, tentacled snowflakes hover above the three on the ground... Eva swallows. That's a feeding formation.
This isn't going to be pretty at all. Swears she sees what could be two young vanillite with them, but she couldn't be sure. Not when the largest of the cryogonal was probably at least two metres long. The leader and if she knew her pokemon -and she did- that was the meanest of the bunch, too.
Its cold, icy blue gaze lands on the group and the air temperature drops--
"Eva?" Kate.
"Cold wave. That thing has Cold Wave."
"Spirits," the Unovan hisses and Eva nods, eyes never leaving the ice-type. "We need to get what's left of the body."
Eva's already moving but Princess is ahead of her. Don't think. Act. You are a Champion. You know your Duty. Yami and Kate are not far behind. 'Nona and Helmutt are out before Eva knows it, the pair heading into the fray while Mio, Hiro, and Akumu follow.
This is going to be rough if they don't have more pokemon with fighting, rock, steel, or fire-based attacks. But they have to get that body.
The thing's 'mouth' opens and its two blue-banded but otherwise translucent tentacle-like things spill out-
"Em! Se! Mo!" "Para!" "Gem!" "Dance! Claw!"
The attacks hit the Leader's Ice Beam (or is it an Aurora Beam?) Hard to tell and doesn't matter. It's an ice-type. Don't think, just do. Time speeds up in a wild battle, everyone knows that. This isn't an arena battle.
Eva mentally shakes herself, slams up shields just in case there's any more shocks, and focuses on her pokemon, trusting the other three can handle themselves.
"Te!" She yells, watching as Princess catches three of the things in a telekinetic grip, only to dodge what could have been a rapid spin from a smaller cryogonal. He lobs a moonblast at it, while Hellmut unleashes a Stone Edge on the captive cryogonal while weathering a hail of ice shards from, presumably, a cryogonal.
Somewhere in all of that, too, she hears someone scream in pain, but she can't-
"Em!" Eva swallows as 'Nona leaps into the air as he attempts to roast the Leader with a flamethrower. It misses -the damn thing's fast- and the thing's eyes flash as it takes a swipe at the ninetales, 'Nona twists, lands- just in time for ice spikes to slam into him, drawing blood.
Fuck-
Her head whips around, eyes darting around until they land on the culprit. What she had assumed was a vanillite isn't, though it looks like the 'snowcone' pokemon in many ways. It's something worse, something that will haunt her sleep for the next while.
"TSURAMA! Two of the fuckers!" She all but screams, at the same time as 'Nona breaths flame in its direction.
"On it! Mio, Gem!" Erin calls back. Eva can hear the pain and fear in her voice, yet she turns away as the persian hurls rocky energy at the icicle pokemon. She has other things to focus on and it's probably not that bad-
She ducks just in time to avoid a cryogonal's attempt to take her head off with a Rapid Spin. In a heartbeat, Tanknator is on the field next to Erin's smeargle, while Kate's own banette's out as well.
Eva's gaze sharpens. Don't think about the pain. Act. She lets the world melt away as she hears ice crack under the force of an attack. Someone cries out. It's all chaos and noise, yet between all of them, it doesn't take long to either drive off or kill the wild pokemon. She's not sorry, either, as she looks at the remains of several of the icy monsters. Not when she sees the wounds on 'Nona -the ninetales withdrawn to keep it from getting worse, the way Yami's limping before Kate - also limping from the gash on her calf- recalls it, the cuts Daisy's sporting-
Erin's hand is over her bloodied face, the heel of her hand pressing into her eye, the uncovered one wide with pain- and Eva's heart drops. No--
"Erin?"
A green eye focus on her. "'M good-"
"No you're not." Not by a long shot. "Get back to Masara, now!" Eva barks as she hurries over to help her friend recall her pokemon and activate the Escape Rope.
It's only three of them now-
and-
-the bodies.
It takes everything she has not to throw up then and there at the sight. It's not one but five. Three of them are pokemon, but that doesn't change the horror of it all. All of them have the signs of rapid freezing. Humans with greyish-yellow skin, clothes torn open to reveal the flesh, pale and dead pokemon, near solid bodies... or what's left of them.
At least there's no blood, but that doesn't make it any better. Not by a long shot. Not when the three pokemon are birds; mid-stage. She can't breathe, can't stop shaking and damnit all she's better than this. She can't think and her foot connects with one of the dead cryogonal as hard as she can and it goes skittering across the ground.
It makes her feel a tiny bit better but it doesn't stop the tears.
If they'd gotten there sooner- If Fluffy could have sensed them- if if if-
"Eva." Wide eyes lock onto Kate's pale face. She can see her own horror reflected in hazel eyes. "Come on. Help me and Namami pull this one over here-"
"Right." Eva swallows. She can break down later. She has a job to do and that's getting the bodies back to Pallet for identification and then storage as they track down the families.
Gods. She hates winter.
Memory Cave Misc.
First one - baby Skeeta!
But now you can look at them, and dad holds you securely, so that, no matter how much you have twisted to press hands against the glass as you stare at the small, vine-like creature that never seems to be still even at rest, you won't fall. It's a tangela. A cute one (and far cuter than the last pokemon you saw). It's so green and cute and you could look at it for hours and hours.
It reminds you of the vines you like, the ones on the side of the house that bloom in spring.
"You like?" Dad says with a laugh.
"Uh-huh." You nod, not taking your eyes off it. "It's green! Like leaves!"
"It's a grass-type, that's why," Mum says.
"Like Aunty Emi's goat!" That you're not allowed near without supervision, which is really sad because it has the coolest green fur and awesome horns. It looks nice, but Aunty Emi says it could hurt you if not careful. She probably means like a bite or a scratch or the like, because you don't think it goes into the Arenas.
"Yeah. Should we go look at-"
You shake your head with a Frown. You don't want to look at any more pokemon. They're not going to be as awesome as this one. "This one! This is Skeeta!"
It's the name of the tiny articuno on Adventure Hour. The tangela is small; maybe the size of a ruler. It's not very big, yet, so it's Skeeta. you know mum and dad don't get it, but that's ok. You do and that's all that matters.
Dad pulls you away as mum talks to someone - the assistant, you think? It's boring grown-up talk so you don't listen, more interested in watching the ever-shifting vines, and then after what seems an age, dad puts you down as the assistant hands you the small pokemon.
"Be gentle, ok?" She says as you wrap your arms around the tangela. "She's a baby."
Your eyes widen. "I will! Promise!"
You carry Skeeta all the way back to the teleport station.
A recent battle.
You are in Alola and this is a show battle. But it doesn't matter. Your heart hammers in your ears and adrenaline courses through your body. There's a dull roar of a crowd around you as you watch Princess race across what seems to be some sort of hard-packed arena flooring, up against something much larger and bull-like, though that clearly doesn't deter the clefairy. Even at this distance, you know his eyes briefly glow a pale pink as the three-tailed bull is pinned in place. You feel a smile on your face; it's unable to move or even dodge as Princess rears back and lets loose with a sparkling icy breath that dusts the creature with ice.
Your gaze swaps to a rotom-powered tablet at your side; it shows a mostly blank-faced Satoru, but you can tell he's frustrated. You smirked a little then turn back to the battle. So sad, too bad, but this is your battle, this time. You are sure of it.
Eva meets one of her gods
It's the blue that grabs your attention first. Blue feathers shine and shimmer in the reflected lighting. It's like they're made of ice, though you know the truth. They're merely coated in it. The tail's much the same, the longest feather easily a metre and half in length. Yet, the bird isn't that big, maybe 80cm tall and probably isn't that heavy on the woman's arm, though you can tell she's bracing herself somehow. It could be smaller and lighter, too, but either way it's young. There are no jesses on it, meaning the woman with it is either its keeper or someone from the League. Possibly a researcher?
You're not sure, and while familiarity tugs your mind -hair that shade of red is from the Sevii's-, you ignore it. She's not important. Not when you know what bird this is. Know it in your heart as you stare at it, slack-jawed and mesmerised; unwilling to blink. You know this bird. You've dreamed about it. You grew up with tales of it and how the adults bring blizzards even in summer.
You worship it and you've helped with the yearly offerings. You've never carried one of the basics up to the
It's one of your gods, and your hand goes to where you know the pendant sits, even though you can't feel it through gloves and jackets. It takes a few tries, but eventually, your tongue works again. "L-Lady Furiza?"
It's a whisper, yet it feels louder than it is, like you've broken some sort of taboo just by speaking.
"It's alright," the older woman says. "You can come closer. She won't bite."
It's then you notice who the red-head holding the bird is and your eyes go wide. "Ah-" Way to go, Eva! This is Lorelei of the Elite Four, one of the stongest trainers in Kanto. "Okay?"
She smiles and you come closer, mindful of the way the bird follows your every step. There's a power behind those eyes. Power with an alien and unknowable sentience; it befits a god.
A young one, but a god nonetheless. Powerful. Glorious and you wish you had something fresh to offer it. You don't - all you have is empty snack wrappers and pads. The food's back at base camp and if you 'Rope out now to get some, you know you'll probably never have another chance like this.
"You worship them, don't you?" Lorelei asks.
"Y-Yes," You nod once you've come to a stop a few feet away. You can't stop staring at the bird, yet somehow you manage to tear your gaze away. Staring too long could unsettle it, and the last thing you want to do is unsettle a god. "T-The Myu branch of the Four."
"Would you like to pet her?"
"I can?" You squeak- and duck your head, face flushed, eyes wide. "But-"
It's a god. Six badges or not, you're just a Rookie. This is Lorelei of the Elite.
"Yes. It's fine, if that's what you're worried about."
You glance up to see the smile, and at the encouraging nod, you swallow and come closer. Your voice is stronger, now. Still filled with awe and reverence, but confident, too. "Tell me what to do?"
She offers you a beaming smile and does so. You think you passed a test. You're not sure, but as you reach out, you know you'll remember this for the rest of your life.