Slateport was the home base of home bases, in a manner of speaking; a place to touch down in before leaving again into the wilds that had long since become more familiar than the city one was born in. Wander lust some people called it and of course "they always come back and stay where things were familiar", which was true to an extent. Mother lived here and not too far from the contest grounds, Devyn had always enjoyed the contests as all those in contest cities did so as the preliminaries rolled on for the Grand Festival she made her way to where the best of the best would be competing. The sheer convenience of Slateport holding the contest and not Ever Grande like last year meant that she had somewhere to stay even if it was just her old room. It provided a certain privacy that no Pokémon Center or Hotel could afford with thousands of fans packing the city from the Region and untold numbers from places far beyond the ocean.
She was staring at the screen lost and confused and disgusted to the core of her being with this thing and what it encompassed, disgusted by the rules that she'd had to follow since she was a child in school which involved not talking to anyone or using the bathroom in public. Disgusted by the complete and utter oddity that exuded from her like steam from the smoke stacks of ships that came into the harbor but Arceus damn her she couldn't let go to save her life because it felt too damn good. Tears of shame trickled down her cheeks as she fought against the crushing waves of nausea weighed against need, coupled with that intense inner hatred and longing that came when abstinence just became too much. The painful feelings and unknowingly cruel jokes that came from a strange time in which she had been ostracized by those around her, for both obvious and obscure reasons, battered at the surprisingly gentle psyche that had strengthened, into a substance harder than Steelix core metal Ice Breaking Barges that came into the harbor once a year in late fall on their way south, beneath the physical, moral, and spiritual training that had become part of an everyday routine.
The hateful words bore at her for years and as it was beginning to be too much everything in her world changed as rapidly as it had those years ago. The vivid memory of what had happened hit her with a force previously unknown and unimaginable in its intensity and it was almost painful to keep hold the skin there was so sensitive, the aching there so intense that it was almost enough to drive her completely insane but she was stronger now and therefore could withstand this punishment far longer than she could have before. No amount of previous training could slow the fire rapidly consuming everything within her at those images and no other images could stop them not even those from Saffron City, the sex capital of the world and the fact that her last visit to Kanto had revealed that some of the sick bastards that lived there actually used their Pokémon to… pleasure themselves… the very thought made the bile rise higher and for her to violently shake her head back and forth although she wasn't sure if that had more to do with the pleasure that was slowly but surely knotting the muscles of her abdomen and thighs or the repulsion but at this point it didn't matter.
She looked into that clear cerulean blue hazy and unfocused, an unbearable tightness around her and not even what she had endured beneath The Under could stave off her release, she was lost to the liquid fire pouring through her veins boiling until she had a captive sun beneath her skin as blistering as the nurseries that Deoxys was supposed to have been spawned from. She couldn't hold the fire inside anymore and it burst from that place low in her belly accompanied by a low sobbing cry of relief and shame and anguish and disgust mingled into one sorrowful sound was all she managed to articulate before the last of the cry was lost in wordless hollow pleasure, caught in the terrible satisfying waves she couldn't help herself as her body curled sideways and liquid warmth covered her left hand before her right. She felt the damn thing softening now, the aching granite hardness a thing of the past now between her fingers though she knew that it would wake her up later in the night or maybe two nights from now demanding attention and like the dutiful teenager with the snooze button she would comply. Sobbing into her sheets she curled further into a ball arms staying tucked against her stomach and the place where the damnable liquid still oozed against her lower belly, closing her eyes she would content herself to spending the night alone and bleaching the sheets tomorrow.
Those dreams were filled with bitter hatred at those who were cruel to her, the lingering excitement and fear of her ordeal in The Under, and that which broke her spirit at Meteor Falls.
-ooo-
Heavy duty industrial drier whip were a godsend as in water hot enough to scold skin took care of both the sheets from her bed and all the white clothes that she had not had the opportunity to wash on her way back from the Northern Sands. That was one of the benefits of having a mother that dyed silk and other high quality materials rich and vibrant colors, you could hide your sheets with your clothes and not suffer the embarrassment of two washes, the washing machine in the house was one of the best although it wasn't used primarily for washing and the drier was coated with a non-stick surface that was hosed out after every use. Her mother had come up with a brilliant two step system that involved heating the material to a temperature just below its flash point and adding in finely crushed brilliantly colored ore she got from her husband, who was a miner up at Meteor Falls for the winter months and a fisherman in the warmer spring and summer months. When she was done with the grinding process all you had left was a substance with the feel of powdered sugar, added into the water it made a hot syrup like brew that was washed three times and dried twice, once on a rack in the sun or under the UV Bulbs in a room in the basement and once in the drier, to create some of the more vividly colored textiles on this side of the world. Put bleach or additional colors in it with white sheets and not only do you get some serious tie dye swirls but you get the cleanest sheets this side of the factory that makes them.
She pulled the black cap further down over her ears and closes the door to the living room sized laundry room stepping into the very sunny kitchen, the weather seemed to work in adverse here it never really rained here in Slateport unless there was a storm coming in. The moisture ran up north and slammed Fortree day in and day out to the point where you almost never got a dry day here it would rain maybe once a day but it would be cloudless and stop shortly after beginning, like Lilycove during the summer months. Here though, in early spring it was perfect weather to head to Slateport with the multitude of businesses that actual hand crafted their arts were setting up to dispose of the surplus created during the frigid winter months here.
The brilliant sunny yellow theme room somehow managed to cheer her spirits more than the fact that this early in the morning this time of year her father was northwest mining his ass off which was a good thing; she didn't think she could handle him and his comments. He would be home later this week but by then this would be just a bad memory and not something as recent as it was now. She knew without searching that her mother was undoubtedly in the 'Sun Room' which was a converted porch/living room/atrium that was attached to the street side of their house just off the central market place setting up her wears and talking to potential customers and previous clients come to pick up orders. Leaning her lithe form against the cheery counters inlaid with hand painted designs of leaves and some flowers actually pressed beneath the thin sheet of glass that covered the granite countertops she stared out the wide window into the alley way and tried not to think about her shame which, as she predicted earlier, had woken her up in the wee hours of the morning, when the sky was grey and the horizon line was a pale lime, demanding her attention. Obediently she had palmed the throbbing thing and recalled her last adventure to Orre and the things she had endured willingly and eagerly to be accepted into a tribe that was feared, hated, terribly misunderstood.
Barefoot she turned to her left and opened the icebox door searching for the coffee grounds that her mother kept in the freezer for freshness, it worked and made the woman happy who was she to complain? It wasn't the only weird quirk the family had by far and that wasn't going to far as to mention the defect she, her aunt, and three of her cousins shared. You just had to go with it and make the best out of life as you could, the identity crisis of teenaged years took on a whole new meaning but the five of them identified and responded to both the female and male pronouns. Winter moss green eyes flicked upwards in response to the weight that chose that moment to situate itself on her head and rub her ears affectionately. The heat of those little hands were too warm for the season but it was comforting and the little nipper had been sitting on top of the box waiting for her to open it and lean that 6'1 frame over to peer inside and jump upon.
He nipped at the top of her cap and received a playful swat high on his flank for it, an acknowledgement that while they didn't play last night they would later today but not now. Obediently he moved to cling to the plain white t-shirt lay his head on her shoulder, the affectionate little monkey just wanted attention from his mommy and she'd give him that because he did deserve it. Setting the grounds into the filter and filling the pot with water she proceeded to turn on the stove and pull out the eggs, and pancake mix from the fridge checking the dates although she knew that she didn't have to, it was another one of those things that her mother was spastic about.
She set him to work climbing to the higher cabinets set around the windows to get down a large mixing bowl, a small skillet, the non-stick spray to grease the skillets and cookie sheet with. The eyes were blazing heat by the time she expertly cracked four eggs onto the black surface and poured the first perfectly circular pancake into the other. Turning she saw the cinnamon furred monkey sitting on the table carefully laying out pre-cut cookies on the sheet pre-sprayed, he worked with diligent fingers that held an agile flexibility that she admired and envied on some level. Already as a baby he was showing promise and talent, his enormous ears twitched and fluttered with the flow of voices coming from the door that led to the 'gallery' where they could both hear the voices of customers and the soft spoken lilt of her mother. Strange and somehow right to hear it again after so long away from home, dismissing that thought she got back to work.
Busy work like this didn't bother her, not when she moved the first three sheets of cookies into the oven to bake and fed the little nipper bits and pieces of pancake. Earlier, when she'd first woken up and showered with the rising of the sun, she'd gone out back to feed the other inhabitants of the house who had greeted her graciously. It wasn't that there were favorites played amongst the nonhuman inhabitants of the peaceful converted inn, they weren't really required to stay indoors or outside, the choice rested entirely with them but the scent of the sea salt and sweetness of the florists that lived nearby was a potent thing that when coupled with the lullaby of the waves against the beach and temperate climate that never rose to terrible far over seventy-five during the day and never dropped beneath a cool seventy who wouldn't want to sleep outside?
The oven dinged roughly the same time as she finished washing the skillets and setting the pancakes and eggs onto the table with two places set by the little nipper, who now set with his flaming little tail wagging furiously eating a pancake the size of his considerably small head. Devyn grabbed two tea towels and pulled each of the sheets out to cool enough to be put onto the serving platter and taken into the other room for the pleasure of the guests and neighborhood children who knew that Mrs. Alexandria gave out cookies to anyone who wanted them and who was polite in asking.
Smiling at the thought of seeing kids she hadn't seen in a season and maybe some of the new contestants in the competition coming up she fed herself and the little nipper a generous portion of eggs and pancakes before washing the plate and placing it on the drying rack. Making quick work of the steps to the second floor at the far end of the kitchen by the back door she made a quick left into her room ignoring the bare bed, she pulled on one of the 'work shirts' she owned with the family name on the back and her own in a black oval on her left breast over the plain white one and pulled on an apron that contained some simple art supplies like charcoal pencils, a thin flexible wire, appointment cards, pens, and a rainbow of thin fine point color markers.
Back downstairs she checked the button on her hat also advertising the family name and name of the business, scraped the still hot but now edible cookies onto a platter which she carefully picked up and backed through the doubled hinged doors to the 'Gallery' and work to relieve her mother for breakfast and entertain the masses.
-ooo-
Slateport during the time of the Grand Festival was a time of great unrest and unease which seemed a stark contrast to the general hoopla and festivities that raged all throughout the port town, it was spring and having been release from the bitter winters here frozen by the chilly wind from Pacificlog carried by the west jet stream it seemed like even the spirits of the natives were thawed and had come out to play. The place could rival Jubilife City during the right time of year although she had to admit being "that kid from Sinnoh" seemed to be weighing against her although much to her chagrin the blonde seemed in complete and total control of the situation and at ease with the vernacular and habits and products that the city now seemed to be bursting with.
Trying not the shrink in on herself Dawn tried to decipher some of the authentic Slateportian cuisine which seemed to range from seaweed wrapped rice to a kind of fruit filled tarts and other sweets and everything in between. Trying not to feel too dejected the sixteen year old let her twenty-four year old lover ease her through a region she obviously was very familiar with through the restaurant districts to the gambling advertised Slateport. She was sure that at night the board walk must've been lit up like Jubilife during the New Year's celebrations with the number of hotels and adventure planning sites, tourist traps of all shapes and sizes.
Though she was sure that Cynthia had said something about going to the only place she would ever stay when she came through by port or land, somehow she got suckered into staying for longer periods of time on each visit. Apparently Devyn lived here, while she had personally never met Devyn the common assumption was that whoever it was was a member of Blue Archeology, which most of Cynthia's friends were so, here she was being led away from the flashing lights and ringing music of one armed bandits and a plethora of other machines to wasting your money in towards the thriving shopping districts making it a point to avoid the main street leading down to the pier. This seemed like a strange thing to do when you considered that most of the hotels were further back away from the pier giving the local markets their traditional place in the city. Most of the residential areas were set startlingly close to the water which seemed like a stupid thing to do and she would've voiced that but then she saw where they were headed. Her eyes widened in shock, impossibly shiny and impossibly blue.
"You said that you still weren't sure what look you were going to go with for the contest right?" the hand in hers tightened its grip and it was reassuring to the marrow of her bones, no she wasn't sure and being so far from home didn't help with that feeling although she was sure that her lover being originally from Unova of all places knew what the feeling was like. Nodding silently she kept her eyes fixated on the strange building bustling inside cheerfully with a sign outside covered in loudly painted art proclaiming that it was 'Alexandria's' with no further explanation of why the notice boards outside were covered in childlike drawings and inscriptions, nor why the porch that she guessed had come into this world white was also covered in brightly colored splotches matching the whole front of the house including the door. "This is the place to be and you'll get a jump on the rest of the competition especially those who haven't secured a place in the next rounds next week."
That her blonde haired stormy eyed companion was right about, in the last competition she had secured her place in the Grand Festival here in Hoenn snagging one of the last spaces open prior to the close out of the Bicentennial Grand Festival, five ribbons wouldn't cut it here it was all about skill and precision and she'd managed it by the skin on her teeth, securing the reserved spots was the difficult part that would rank you up high enough to see some appeals before it came your turn to strut yourself in front of the best literally in the world. She'd been on full panic mode; if you won a Bicentennial you had bragging rights literally for the next fifty years, and Cynthia had brought her here of all places. This place was legendary, her mother had paid an unreal amount of money for a dress that she had worn for the most spectacular victory over her rivals at her last contest.
She wasn't normally one to judge a book by its cover by the cover was looking pretty unappealing, especially considering the sheer famousness of the place, though as she watched several smartly dressed businessmen walked out onto the porch smiling and waving at someone back inside the screen door. Tripping over herself and some school children running to cluster around a teenager who'd walked out shortly after the businessmen carrying an enormous tray and pulling a cart of paint, nothing too spectacular about the teen except maybe the tiny silver handprint on his cheek left by a Pokémon, or so Dawn guessed baby's didn't have such finely formed control of their hands to do that, tall and lanky she guessed high fives maybe 5'9 5'10 5'11 maybe 6'0 possibly 6'1, unremarkable dark brunette hair either cut short or kept under wraps by a black baseball cap with more silver handprints on it, maybe it could contain other shades and blends to it but the sun was blocked from the porch by the awning.
She felt the elation of the, am standing next to her come in through her hand, an old friend and a Slateportian? Was this Devyn? As Dawn's thought raced she depended almost solely on her lover to keep her on her feet in the slowly thickening market crowd and didn't notice that she was standing on the porch meeting that person and the Chimchar of her shoulder both of them smiling. Up close she realized how either tall this new person was or just how short she was, Cynthia had already towered over her at 5'8 but the other girl had four inches easy on the twenty four year old.
She watched as her lover threw arms around the boy's neck and he embraced her, lifting her easily off of her feet and popping her back with the fierceness and the swing of the bear hug she'd been caught in. He pressed a familiar, almost familial, kiss on her forehead and Dawn felt a bond that was more intimate than friend and borderline on siblings. Setting her down he looked at her and grinned a lopsided thing that made her smile back. The man was absolutely infectious, and he had dimples… deep ones.
-ooo-
Seeing Cynthia was an expected and much anticipated surprise, the blonde seemed to light up when she half pulled the young teen she was walking with up the stairs and all but attacked her for the hug. Her rock in a hard place in her life she had saved Cynthia at the age of fourteen and ever since the two year gap that should have seen them in two very different social castes, dependent on the year they turned ten, had not meant anything. This was the sister that she never had, the first person that she had met later in life that honestly did not care about her defect and called her friend anyway. A refreshing thing to experience.
Turning her attention down to the awestruck girl she offered a hand. "Hello, I'm –" the rest of the words died in her throat as the prickling along the back of her neck told her that she was being watched. As a blooded member of Blue Archeology the instinct of danger and wrongness had been what had saved her life too many times over to count as soon as the sensation set in her eyes snapped up searching for the source of the disturbance. And that was when her day when from bad to worse.
Devyn felt her body harden to the point where she was sure that in its haste the skin had split like a crushed melon, like she hadn't attended to that shameful need the night before; her eyes met those unmistakable cerulean depts. She had seen those eyes dark with need, pale with concern and pain, and sparkling with admiration and gratitude too many times over their short relationship to not know them when she saw them.
"Solidad…"she wasn't sure if she said it out loud or if she just thought it and didn't have time to spring over the railing and chase her down like she had in the past because the blonde's fingers came up to snap in front of her face and the two shared a brief conspiratorial look sharing more in that fraction of a second than she could with words shaking her head to bring her back onto track. Legs aching to move, body fiercely demanding that she chase down her mate in an imitation of the traditional mating habits of the untold millions of Mightyena and Absol all across the Independent Nation of Hoenn. It was a good thing to because she didn't know if she could reasonable talk about her brief and intense three weeks with Solidad or if they would go at it like the animal that Devyn would have chased her down as. Silently cursing and thanking Cynthia she composed herself and swallowing she continued.
-ooo-
"-Alexandria, folks around here and Cynthia call me Devyn." That voice was a low husky base with the subtle undertones that held a singing quality, deep but not effeminate, purring kind of lilt to it that seemed to be the general accent of all of Hoenn but unique enough to make it Slateportian. Strange. It was strange but not exactly unattractive because he was a very attractive man. He seemed to have lost a step because he has skipped over his name though she guessed that Devyn was shorthand for something long, something that she would get tongue tied shouting in pleasure because if that thing in his pants was any indication of his ability with it then he was more than enough for her. Dimly she wondered what drew that sort of reaction from him, her eyes had not caught what his had but then she had been too busy examining him which was the only reason she had seen because he had shifted his stance hiding his problem from view with a subtle illusion.
"Nice to meet you, Devyn." She offered a hand to the man politely, eyes now drawn away from this hidden friend because it was no longer her eye candy. It made her wonder though, his voice… the subtle mannerisms… a question arouse but not one that she could ask and expect an answer, she would have to puzzle him out with her detective skills and cover it was another not so subtle question.
"My dear friend told me that you're in need of a look to make you shine for the Bicentennial." Shooing the children around them he made his way to the front door, beckoning them inside.
"Okay so what's the skin tone that we're working with here? From there can we reach out select the colors that'll best compliment your appeal and then accents to back light your Pokémon and your seals?" Confusion burned in her mind though what she was hearing made sense even as they were made to take off their shoes before entering the traditionally run house, beckoned up a set of rose wood stairs to the second floor where bolts of multiple colored fabric sat on displays waiting for be browsed, while several people walked the open floor that had obviously been taken out, walls broken down and expanded upon to create a bigger space.
"Cynthia, I zoned out while Devyn was talking and now I'm confused, is Devyn a b-" she was cut off so abruptly with a kiss that it made her dizzy, that was a question that you didn't ask and information she couldn't glean from Cynthia easily, more questions surrounding her lover, like asking anything that had anything to do with the actual work of Blue Archeology. She was losing her touch steadily after she let that man catch her snooping around, since she hadn't been asked back for another adventure with the blonde and their group. "Our Devyn is special." She breathed intimately against the dark haired girl's lips, "Don't bring it up."
-ooo-
Devyn pretended not to hear as she made her way to the only door facing the open gallery upstairs, she had no doubt that the blonde knew where to go and what had happened. She slipped through the fitting rooms to the back door that held the templates for different dress designs taking a seat behind one of the high tables in a low chair quickly unfastening her belt and reaching down to rearrange herself inside to fit against the inseam of her leg. With the natural curvature to the left she had very little choice as to where it would fit but the sensation of her fingers just moving it through her boxers was more than enough to make her whimper.
Composing herself she took in the silent treatment she had received from Dawn, she knew where the girl's eyes were drawn to and despite the question smelled a rat in the air. Maybe the others was right about her but she doubted it, Dawn was not smart enough for something like that and being smart was what would insure her survival Cynthia's lover or not. Her mind raced as she recalled every last detail about what would happen if they let the Dragon Master do as she would, Dawn wouldn't last three minutes locked in a room with that demon. A sound drew the nipper down to the table and she looked up to find Cynthia come into the room and felt the damn thing harden again, how messed up did she have to be to enjoy the thought of what the demon would do to Dawn? Well… she had spent time in The Under doing things that people would consider immoral and would petition to make illegal. Okay so maybe she wasn't normal for more reasons than the raging, pulsating thing against her left thigh, exhaling slowly she pulled the catalogues up onto the table and gestured for them to sit.
It was going to be a long day.
-ooo-
She could've never made the mistake when she felt that connection across the street, the electric connection that coiled in her belly like a storm on the sea, it struck lower like lightning touching the earth and set off a whirlwind of sensation in her womb. She ducked around the corner into one of those corridor alley ways that housed all sorts of interesting shops and stores, heart racing she couldn't believe what she had seen though she wasn't sure why she couldn't believe it. Her heart hammered in her chest as she was taken back to a place that she had enjoyed greatly, on the way to Rustboro City she had gone out for a jog one early morning. The mist had covered the ground thickly at knee height and she hadn't heard the boots that came swiftly after her, the whisper of something on the damp leaf strewn ground was the only thing that hinted at something chasing her. Hands secured around her waist and dragged her to the ground; a laughing man had her on top of him and kissing him senseless in her fright within seconds.
It was unbelievable that she hadn't thought that she would see them again here of all places, while hell had broken lose over the ocean she had done nothing but talk to him and he had told her that he lived in Slateport and was an avid fan of contests although he made a lousy coordinator himself. "My first try ended horribly, I decided to just try my luck as a Guardsmen instead. Within a week of training my Feebas evolved into a Milotic. I haven't the heart to try again, if she decided to evolve doing something else then our collective heart just isn't in for competitions." The story had had her laughing into their fourteenth hour of being trapped.
Heart racing she ran, fleeing like a wild and primal thing through the woods. Being blinded by the wind and the frantic motions of her hair mirroring her heart and mind had little to do with her erratic rush, she was moving now like one did when being chased through dense underbrush and trees, relying more on that animal tingling in the back of her neck than any external sense.
Arceus, she remembered sharing that small limestone cave on Route 115 during "The Storm of the Decade", swept their by fate or a lahar if you didn't believe in such a thing. Being trapped on that shelf for four days she'd learned a lot more about Devyn Alexandria more than she intended. They had become intimately close and he was exceptionally good with children but something had drawn him away and it hadn't been another woman. He had gotten into a fight with another man, a violent fight that had ended with him throwing the man out of a window and the very next day he had broken up with her privately and left Verdanturf Town in an explosively public argument that he had staged with her over breakfast. He had said that it was safer that way and remembering the fight she couldn't help but agree with him.
She remembered the feel of Devyn beneath her, elegant hands gripping her waist pulling her closer and closer, driving deeper and deeper, the sensation of her nails in a strong back and the taste of salt on her lips from those tears as she eased the ache there for her sweet, sweet Valentyne. Took away that shame and when it was over disappeared, the secret she'd taken from there. She ran blindly and somehow came back to the hotel she was staying in, back into the room, shaking legs failing beneath her she sank to the floor. The last time she'd seen Devyn had been three years ago and now barely out of his teens she saw that boy again but those eyes… those green eyes misted with a silver grey… shuddering she hugged herself and wished that she could just will those arms around her again.
